It was the year 1824 A.D.
The night was brutally cold outside the stone walls of the Royal Institute for the Blind ( or L'Institut Royal des Jeunes Aveugles as it was commonly known in Paris). All of the boys were sleeping in their dorms.....all of them except one.
A young man with short curly blond hair wandered the hallways, with his hands placed firmly on the wall to guide him. He hummed a little ditty to himself, but immediately stopped when he heard the wheezing sound of the TARDIS's landing.
"Who is there?" he called out.
The young man was now standing still in an eerily silent hallway, trying to remember what direction he'd heard the sound come from. Then the double doors of the TARDIS made a brutally loud creaking soun, and the young man spun around to face this great police call box in all its glory.
Dr. Smith, along with his neice, Penny Robinson, and her schoolteachers Don West and Ann MacGregor, stepped out of the TARDIS and greeted the young man. Don offtered the youngster a handshake, but then quickly retracted it.
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry," he said. "I didn't know you were blind."
"Do not mention it," the young man replied. " It's something that I get a lot from the general public, and, now that I think of it, I also seem to get a lot of apples to the head too. They're fond of that sort of thing."
"Apples to the head?" Penny asked surprised.
"Yes, it's something we blind people get a lot. But the strange part is that it's not the pain from the apple that bothers me; it's the ignorance that sighted people display towards me that really puts a big lump in my throat. But, from the tone of your voice and your lack of knowledge of the blind, I can safely assume that you are not from around these parts, yes?"
"You assume right, young master," replied Dr. Smith. "We are travelers, and we're a long, long way from home. Er, this may sound strange but...could you please tell us what year it might be?"
"What year it might be?" the youngster replied in confusion. "I think if you're asking a question like that, you should probably get some rest."
At that mo ment the Headmaster of the Institute barged down the corridor and started screaming at the young man. The young man was supposed to be in bed, and it was against the rules to be wandering the corridors at night.
The Headmaster's name was Dr. Sébastien Guillié, a slender man with short, dark wavy hair and jet-black sideburns. He was dressed in a large suit and, on most days, he would look very presentable in it, but he had been working the night shift for quite some hours now, and he looked like he could collapse from exhaustion at any moment. His face was red, his shirt was wrinkled, and he was missing a dress shoe on his right foot.
After yelling at the youngster for a few moments, and sending him off back to bed, Dr.Guillié then turned to face Dr.Smith and his companions.
"...and I'm assuming you're tresspassers. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't summon a gendarme right now and have you arrested!"
Dr. Smith never liked taking the higher authority over him, and he also didn't like someone from a lesser species accusing him of a crime so, without thinking he barked at the Headmaster and told him to immediately leave the building, without even fully realizing who the Headmaster was.
"You order me to leave this building, do you?" Guillié asked Dr. Smith. "You have certainly got some nerve, my friend! Do you have any idea who I am?"
Quickly realizng this argument was spiralling out of control, Don quickly intervened and separated thet wo men before any real violence could occur. He knew that Dr. Smith wouldn't cause any real harm, but could not be as sure about the Headmasters, so he quickly clasped his arms around his torso and restrained the man.
"Release me!" the Headmaster screamed.
At that moment, two associates of Dr. Guillié ran down and separated Don from the Headmaster. Then they proceeded to restrain Penny and Ann.
"Make one move and they're dead!" one of the men screamed.
"Please sir," Don said. "This is all a misunderstanding. We never meant to hurt anyone. Please let our friends go."
The two men let go of Penny and Ann, and everyone started to relax and calm down. Don apologized, but Guillié refused to accept it, and said there would be consequences for his actions.
Guillié confiscated the TARDIS from Dr. Smith's possession, and told him that if he wanted this "strange looking box" back, he and Don would have to work for it at the school, until Guillié deemed them worthy enough to have it back. As for Ann and Penny, they were ordered to leave the school at once, and were escorted off the premises by one of Guillié's associates.
The next morning Guillié stormed into the basement of the school were Don and Dr. Smith were sleeping, and yelled at them to get up.948Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj1DTt88ORb
Guillié considered Don a young man, and therefore ordered him to do manual labor for the entire day, and Guillié considered Dr. Smith to be a weak old man, so he was forced to help slave away in the kitchen all day making the meals for the school boys. Both men quickly realized that the living conditions in this school were very poor, and there was little or no help given to assist these blind youngsters with their daily activities.
Later that day, Don was scrubbing the floor tiles in a hallway when he noticed the young man from the night before approach him. Now that there was some light in the room, Don could see his face clearer. There wasn't anything special about this young man's face, but for some reason, Don thought that he looked kind of familiar. Don knew that this time period was somewhere in the past, but he still wasn't sure of the exact date, and he thought to himself that this man was likely a figurehead of some type of historical event.948Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ94cvqBrC40
"Hello again, my friend," Don said, smiling. The youngster stopped in his tracks for a moment, and then spoke.
"Sacre bleu! You're the man from last night. I know your voice. Everyone's talking about you, word's gotten out so fast of that scuffle with Dr. Guillié. I'm impressed. Not too many people that I know have the courage to stand up to him like that."
"I''m not the one you should be thanking. It was my friend who provoked him and got me into this mess," Don replied. "Well, it's time we introduced ourselves. I'm Don West."
"Louis Braille, at your service, sir," the youngster replied.
That was when Don realized who this young man was. Louis Braille was none other than the man who had invented a reading method for the blind. A very intelligent man, but his work was often overlooked because of the ignorance of sighted people. Don remember Ann telling him about Louis a few years back, but other than that, there wasn't much mentioned about him in 1960s Earth.
The two of them talked for a short while longer, and then Louis expressed that he had to go to class. When Don offered to walk him to his classroom, Louis refused and said that if anybody caught Don doing that, he might get into even more trouble. Blind people were forbidden to have guids, unless the guide was a teacher of the school. For the rest of the time, however, the boys at the school were instructed to use the wall to help guide them instead.
While Don was talking with Louis, Dr. Smith was in the kitchen helping the school's faculty serve lunch. With their help he had prepared a soup made from some old wilted vegetables. Most of the boys never ate the content inside the soup, preferring to drink the broth insitead. Nobody had the courage to taste whatever was in the soup, and after a full day's work in the kitchen, Dr. Smith could understand why. There was nothing but overage, moldy food in the whole place, and making a "leftover" usually meant using wasted food from a month ago. The food they served wouldn't kill you, but it could certainly make you sick if you had a weak immune system.
After the meal Dr. Smith was cleaning up, and he put his hand into his pocket to grab something. To his surprise, his hand went right through a hole that was in his pocket. He gasped and his eyes grew wide with fear. That pocket was where he always stored the key to the TARDIS, and now it had fallen out onto the ground somewhere. If any person ever got a hold of that key, they'd surely turn it in to Dr.Guillié who still had the TARDIS in his possession, and the thought of him having the power of time travel made Dr.Smith quiver with fear.
Quickly he began looking around the kitchen floor, but the key was nowhere to be seen. He looked everywhere, high and low, but he soon came to the conclusion that the key was not in the kitchen. Dr. Smith began to worry, and thought it best if he went to Dr.Guillié and tried to get his TARDIS back before anything else could happen.
Unfortunately something else did happen. As Dr. Smith was making his way through the corridors towards Guillié's office, he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw something engraved on the wall. It was a symbol, and there could be no mistaking it.
It was the Seal of Rassilon....the symbol of the Time Lords!
Dr. Smith immediately took a step back in fear. He hadn't been on the run for that long now, and he was shocked that the Time Lords managed to find him so quickly. They were here, and they were probably stalking him right now, waiting for the right moment to make an arrest. Dr. Smith needed to get out of this time period, and fast!
He ran to Dr. Guillié's office as fast as his aged legs would carry him, and barged into the room with no regard for knocking.
The office was a small room, with two chairs, a desk, and a large painting of a swan hanging above the desk. Guillié was sitting behind his desk, looking very cross at Dr. Smith.
"You dare to barge in like this?" Guillié bellowed. "I will not warn you again, old man. One more false move and I shall surely summon a gendarme!"
"I have come to ask a favor of you," Dr. Smith pleaded. "I would like to have my blue box back."
Guillié glared at Dr. Smith, without even raising an eyebrow, sitting there as if he were frozen solid. He had seen quite a few things in his lifetime, but an odd old man asking for his wooden box back was definitely one of the weirdest things he had ever encountered.
"You dare ask me for that silly box back? Why is it so important to you, anyway? It's just a wooden box---or maybe it's a wooden box that you have stolen, eh? I could not help but notice the word POLICE engraved upon it, and you are clearly no lawman. I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that until you finish working here, my answer is no."
It was at that moment that a retired Navy captain entered the room, one Captain Charles Barbier. He stood in the office with pride showing off his very expensive uniform. His ego was the size of the moon, and because of the contributions he had made to protect France, everyone in his mind was supposed to worship him when he was nearby. In his own image, he was superior to all men, and even Guillié agreed with that fact.
"Captain Barbier!" Guillié said with a smile. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit, good sir?"
Charles stuck his nose high in th eair and began to speak in very elegant and pure unaccented French.
"My good friend, I have come because a student of yours dares to say that he has improved my night writing system. He has given it the name of 'Braille' and is taking all of the credit for it, when in fact it is my invention, and my original method is obviously better than his improved one. Whatever improvements he has made to it cannot, clearly, bet better than the original system I created. I have come to inform you that I will be speaking to this student, one Louis Braille, and warn him that if he tries to present my night writing to the public and take credit for it, there will be consequences."
Barbier then turned and left the office walking away very fashionably with his nose still high in the air. Dr. Smith decided that he had no further business in the Headmaster's office, so he decided to leave as well.
The next morning Don was fixing a wooden railing on a staircase when he heard something that shocked him. He was working right next to a door, and couldn't help but overhear a conversation that was happening on the other side.948Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE42uO79ESM
"That's an old Type-40 TARDIS the old man has. You really think it still works?" One of the voices said.
"I sure do," the other replied. "For an old Type-40, it seems to be in pretty good condition. It's no doubt got some faulty circuits, so you probably won't be able to control what time period you end up in, but, nevertheless, it will get you out of here safely."
"That's good. I'm tired of living in 1824. It was just our luck that this Time Lord happened to pop up, but I also fear that he might get in the way of our plans. I need you to get rid of him. Do what you can, but just make sure that he's dead by the end of the week."
"I understand, sir. You can trust me to get the job done."
Unfortunately Don couldn't listen to any more of the conversation, because it was at that moment that Louis Braille and one of his teachers turned the corner and started to approach Don.
Louis was wearing a black suit and looked very professional. He was well groomed, but had a strong expression of fear on his face. Nevertheless, he looked ready and prepared for what would be the first demonstration of Braille to the outside world. His teacher, who was guiding him, also wore a similar suit, and had a very serious expression on his face. The two passed by Don without saying a word, and proceeded up the staircase to the entrance of the school for the demonstration.
Louis was aware of the threats that Barbier had presented to him the previous day, and was also aware that Braille wasn't his original invention. He knew that it if weren't for Barbier's method, called night writing, Braille wouldn't exist today.
Night Writing consisted of 12 raised dots per letter, but that was too much for a single fingertip to feel. Louis's solution to that problem was to reduce the number of raised dots to 6 per letter, thereby avoiding confusion. He had invented his own writing system for the blind, and night writing was nothing more than an inspiration to him.
As the front door to the school opened, Louis half expected there to be lots of people waiting outside anxiously, and in anticipation for this demonstration. Unfortunately there was not a single person standing outside the door. In the whole street was practically empty. Louis waited, and waited, and waited some more, and after 6 hours of standing in the entrance of the school, somebody finally showed up to view his presentation.
It was an old short man, with a long beard, a hunchback, and a cane. He did not wear a suit, but he had a nice-looking shirt on, and was definitely a middle-class Frenchman. His eyes were old and weary and he did not look impressed with what Louis had to offer.
"God did not mean for you blind scum to read," he said in a raspy voice. "You're creations of Satan himself! You have sinned in your past lives, and this is how He punishes you! Being blind is a sin, and you have to accept the punishment, and part of that punishment entitles that you do not---and will not---have the ability to read or write---ever!"
Louis just stood there without saying a word. He didn't appreciate these kinds of people accusing him of being Satan, and he had long ago made up his mind that he would never answer to any of them. In his mind, they wouldn't give him respect, wouldn't give him the time of day to defend himself, so why should he try. The old man just stared at Louis for a moment, and then bumped in on the head with his cane.
"Sacre bleu! Are you deaf as well as blind, young man? I've just accused you of being Satan. Have you nothing to say for yourself?"
Louis just stood there in utter silence, hoping that the man would soon give up and go away. There was another short pause before the old man hit Louis again, and then decided to walk away.
It had been a tough day for Louis, but it was unfortunately going to get a lot worse. Almost as instantly as the old man had left, Barbier arrived. He stood in front of Louis with his hands crossed, and was contemplating what he would do with Louis next. After some time thinking it over, Barbier's frown turned into a smile, and he started to laugh at Louis.
"Don't you feel ridiculous?" he said with a grin. "Nobody cares about your writing system...nobody cares! It serves you right, too. If you steal from another person, you must be prepared to face the consequences."
"I did not steal from you!" barked Louis in a loud tone. His frustration was getting to him, and he felt like he was going to break in two at any moment.
"But of course you have, boy. You have taken my night writing system, made something very similar to it, and you've had the gall to take credit for it."
Louis muttered something under his breath, and knew that if he had perfect vision, he could see where Barbier was standing and give him a good punch to the nose.
Barbier then proceeded to walk up close to Louis and whispered in his ear.
"If this invention of yours becomes a success, I will order my men to come to your school at night....and murder you in your sleep.'
Barbier turned to walk away, but before that, he stopped in his tracks to express that he smelled a rat in the room, and that this rat's days were numbered.
That night, while everyone was asleep, Don and Dr. Smith decided to do some exploring of the school. Both of them were now aware of the full situation invovling the mysterious conversation, and the missing key to the TARDIS, and they both thought it best to start looking for some answers. They went back to the room where Don had heard the conversation coming from, and decided to look around.948Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdyb05evyVr
The room's furnishings consisted of a small desk, a large bookshelf filled with dusty books, and a small lampshade that dimly lit the place. It was totally empty, which gave Don and Dr. Smith some time to search the place. Fortunately, though, it didn't take them long to find some answers.
Dr. Smith had put on his reading glasses and was examining the books when he came across one written in old Gallifreyan text. Dr. Smith quickly grabbed the book, but it was stuck in place. After trying to wiggle it around, to try and see if it would come loose, Dr. Smith suddenly heard a "click sound" and the whole bookshelf slowly started to swing open.
It led into another room that had a familiar humming noise in it. There was a console in the middle of this room, uch like the one in Dr. Smith's TARDIS, and as Don and Dr. looked around the room a little more, they realized, there could be no mistaking it, this room was indeed a control room for another TARDIS.
At closer inspection, Dr. Smith quickly realized that the control circuits were damaged, and he came to the fast conclusion that this TARDIS was no longer functioning.
"A broken TARDIS!" Dr. Smith exclaimed with glee. "But who does it belong to?"
"Who knows, Dr. Smith?" Don replied. "However, I do think you should come and take a look at these numbers. It says 'Type-53 TARDIS.' Does that mean anything to you?"
"Oh, yes, yes it does, West. It means that this TARDIS is from the same time period as I am front, and I'm afraid that whoever owns this TARDIS is after mine. So I must find my TARDIS before this other person can make off with it."
"Well, let's get to it, then."
The two men walked out of the TARDIS, careful to make sure that everything was in its proper place, and that nobody could tell anyone had been in there. Dr. Smith and Don searched the school for Dr. Smith's TARDIS for a few more hours, but then gave up when they had no success.
The next morning Dr. Smith was with Guillié in his office, helping him file some paperwork. There wasn't a word spoken from either of the two men, until Barbier walked into the room and broke the silence with his complaining.948Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ70YDsGmAeF
"Come on, old man," he said to Dr. Smith. "I thought Dr. Guillié had said you would bring me breakfast in bed while I stay at the school for the next few days."
Before Dr. Smith could answer, Guillié intervened.
"My apologies, sir," he said. "This man was helping me with some paperwork. Why don't you get the younger man to bring you breakfast instead?"
Barbier wrinkled his nose at Guillié. "You specifically told me that this would be the old man's duty, not the young one's."
Guillié sighed and looked down at his paperwork, trying to ignore Barbier. "Well, if that's how you feel about it, why don't you go back to bed and I'll get the old man here to bring you your breakfast?"
"No, that will not be necessary anymore. I am already out of bed and ready to begin my day. I will go to the kitchen and fetch it myself."
He turned to walk away, but then spoke again. "....because SOME PEOPLE are too lazy to do it for me!"
A few minutes had past, and then all of a sudden a loud noise of a gunshot filled the air. Dr. Smith and Guillié heard Barbier scream, and both quickly ran into the hall to assist him.
He was lying on the ground with a bleeding leg, and a hooded figure could be seen running away down the hall. Barbier looked up with a pair of evil eyes at Dr. Smith and yelled at him.
"NOW YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DON'T DO YOUR JOB?! YOU GET OTHER PEOPLE TO TAKE THE BULLET FOR YOU!"
Guillié looked shocked. "You mean that bullet was meant for Dr. Smith?"
"OF COURSE IT WAS! THAT HOODED FIEND THOUGHT I WAS THE OLD MAN GETTING BREAKFAST. THAT'S WHY HE SHOT ME IN THE LEG!"
At this point others had heard the commotion, and had come to assist Barbier. Teachers and students, including Don and Louis, who seemed both surprised at what had just happened, quickly crowded the small hallway to help.
Two teachers had taken Barbier under their arms, and helped escort him to get some medical attention. As they slowly walked down the hallway to leave the school, everybody could hear Barbier scream: "I WILL GET YOU FOR THIS OLD MAN! AND YOUR LITTLE FRIEND LOUIS BRAILLE TOO!"
A few hours later everything had quieted down, but Guillié was still on the huntdown for the man who had shot Barbier. However, everyone was so shocked with what had just happened, nobody noticed the hooded figure leave the school. The search party found nothing, and Guillié believed it was best to get some patrol around the school for the safety of the students.948Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡncp63ODdyl
The Royal Institute for the Blind had a reputation to uphold, so Guillié didn't dare tell the public about the incident, or the police, so his only choice for patrol around the school was to hire the men who used to work for Barbier, and make a deal with them to keep the shooting incident a secret.
At the time the patrol began to roam the hallways, Don and Dr. Smith both agreed that even though it was their third day of working for the school, they couldn't afford to stay around any longer. The two of them started to search the school for the TARDIS again, but it was becoming harder with all the sailors walking around the corridors. Fortunately, though, they did have some success when they came across a strange-looking hatch that led to the basement.
They crept down the dusty old stairs, only to find a small room with two poles in it, and Ann and Penny chained up, looking very scared.
"What happened?" Don asked.
Both of the girls looked in terrible shape, and it seemed as if they hadn't had anything to eat in days. Their hair was out of place and they had dark circles around their eyes.
"Oh, it was horrible," Penny started. "We were being escorted out of the school as planned, but suddenly the man who was taking us had a change of plans. He said he knew we weren't from this planet and that he could recognize the wheezing sound of a TARDIS anywhere. He started to ask us all these questions about the TARDIS, what class it was, what time period we were from..Of course, I didn't tell him anything, but then he locked us up in here and told us we'd only get out once we co-operated."
Dr. Smith was listening very closely to what Penny was saying, and then all of a sudden smiled.
"What are you smiling about, Dr. Smith?" Don asked.
"It just occurred to me that the Time Lord we've been searching for has been right in front of our eyes the entire time. One of Guillié's associates is indeed a Time Lord!"
"All right, that solves one myster," Don replied. "But we still need to get the TARDIS back, and we have no idea where Guillié has hidden it."
"So I guess that means we just keep looking," Ann concluded.
Meanwhile, back at Guillié's office, Louis was trying to convince the Headmaster that Barbier was going to kill him, but Guillié just smiled at Louis and laughed.948Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTRdofoihKS
"You really think Barbier is out to kill you?" he asked.
"Yes, I do. He thinks I have stolen his invention. He thinks I am the one responsible for shooting him in th eleg, and with his men patrolling the school, all he would have to do would be to give the order and I would be dead."
"Nonsense. I will not allow a student of mine making up stories about other people trying to murder him. It simply isn't true!"
"With all due respect, Headmasterr, I have another demonstration of my invention to the public tomorrow. With all the sailors guarding me at the event, it would be a perfect time to make the kill."
"Again you are speaking nothing but nonsense. Those sailors are there to protect you from that attempted killer who is still on the loose, and I will not permit you to make the demonstration unguarded."
Louis didn't want to hear any more of what Guillié had to say. He carefully held on to the wall and slowly guided himself out of the room. He knew that if Dr. Guillié couldn't protect him, the only other adults he could trust were Don and Dr. Smith.
Later that evening Don, the Dr. Smith, Penny, and Ann (also referred to as the TARDIS crew) were sitting in the school's Common Room, trying to figure out what they would do next. Louis had already told Dr. Smith how he wanted protection, but Dr. Smith knew that he couldn’t interfere with history. It simply wasn't done. 948Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡynTT3cRWK1
"I really don't know," Dr. Smith began. "There isn't a single article ever written that says I protected Mr. Braille, so if I'm not written down in the history books, I am not supposed to protect him."
"But don't you see, Uncle Zachary," Penny pleaded with him. "If you don't interfere with history, Louis Braille could die tomorrow."
"Nonsense, my niece! If the history books state that Mr. Braille won't die tomorrow, but will die from illness in 1852, that is the way it will be. I will not interfere with the course of history. Don't you remember what I told Ann during our visit with the Aztecs, Penny? You cannot rewrite history, not one page!"
This time it was Ann's turn to intervene. "But what if the history books missed something, and you did protect Mr. Braille from harm; it just was never documented. If you don't interfere with history and try to stop Barbier, the future could be drastically altered."
"She's right, Uncle Zachary. I know the rule of time that you live by, but if you don't break that rule, Mr. Braille could die tomorrow."
Dr. Smith thought about the situation for a moment, and then he spoke up again. "Then that settles it. We shall all attend the demonstration tomorrow, and I will only interfere with history if it is absolutely necessary. Agreed?"
They all nodded at him, and had faith in Dr. Smith that he would take the proper course of action tomorrow. Time was ticking, with no sign of the TARDIS anywhere, and with a setup for a possible murder attempt in the morning, everyone knew that tomorrow would be a very bleak day indeed.
When the sunrise peaked through Louis's bedroom window the next morning, he was already awake and ready for his demonstration. He had a lot of anticipation that he would actually get a crowd today to watch him, but he also knew that if he had a crowd, not even a wounded leg would stop Barbier from getting his so-called "revenge."948Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ1LNTwtile
Ten sailors were outside surrounding the front entrance of the school, and all the students and staff had come to watch the event. Louis was now dressed in a suit, standing in the center of everyone, looking proud, ready to show off his invention to the world. The TARDIS crew was standing next to Louis, with Dr. Smith at Louis's side, and everything seemed to be going according to plan---until Dr. Smith spotted Guillié in the crowd.
It wasn't the sight of Guillié that frigthened Dr. Smith, but it ws the fact that standing beside him were his two associates, the same two from the first night Dr. Smith had arrived in 1824, and he knew that one of them had to be the Time Lord he was looking for.
Quickly, while nobody else was looking, Dr. Smith asked Penny if she recognized which associate was the Time Lord. She stared at the one who was standing to the left of Guillié with fear. That associate was dressed in a suit, had a pair of glasses, and short brown hair, but Penny instantly knew that it was this associate who was the Time Lord.
Just then, the associate standing to the right of Guillié whispered something in the Time Lord's ear, and slowly walked away from the crowd into the school. Dr. Smith was now very worried that something would go wrong, and his fear only intenstified when he spotted Barbier sitting on the roof of a nearby building.
From a distance, he looked very small, but there could be no mistaking him for someone else. He wore a uniform, like he always did, and had a long-range rifle placed on his right arm in the firing position. Dr. Smith wished he could warn someone about Barbier, but he was afraid that if he did, everyone would start to panic, and he would lose sight of the other Time Lord. Whatever could happen next, Dr. SMith knew that he had to keep eyes on both Barbier and the Time Lord, because either of them could strike at any moment.
Everything was in place for the demonstration, but shortly before it began, the other Time Lord walked up to Penny and glared at her.
"Haven't I seen you before?" he asked.
"You should know," she explained. "You were the one who locked me and my friend in the basement for three days."
"Ah, yes, that's correct...and if you try any funny business here today, I have ordered the other associate of Dr. Guillié to shoot all four of you."
Dr. Smith walked up to the other Time Lord and put himself in front of Penny. "And might Dr. Guillié know about your plan?" Dr. Smith inquired.
"No," replied the Time Lord. "...and that's the beauty of it! I'm forced to stay undercover, just like you. But---if you do anything that threatens to blow that cover, I will get the so-called ‘hooded figure’ to shoot you dead.”
“So it is YOUR friend who is responsible for Captain Barbier’s injured leg,” remarked Dr. Smith.
“No, he’s not my friend. Just human I pay to rid the world of certain people. You know, old man, I really don’t mean you any harm. I only want to get out of 1824 and back to my own time period, but the only way I can do that is if I leave you stranded here.”
“I am aware of your situation, kind sir. We saw your broken TARDIS and-“
Dr. Smith trailed off at the sight of Barbier raising his gun high in the air.
“And what?” the Time Lord asked.
Dr. Smith the Time Lord, and focused all his attention on Barbier. Just then Dr. Smith noticed one of Barbier’s sailors look up at Barbier and nod. He then proceeded to aim his own rifle at Louis and fired.
Without taking the time to think it over, Dr. Smith quickly pushed the Time Lord in front of the line of fire, and the bullet went straight through his chest. The dead Time Lord fell to the ground in front of an unharmed Louis, who couldn’t have seen what happened, and was totally unaware of the situation.
At that moment though, everybody started to scream and run. A few more shots had been fired, and all of the sailors ran down the street and disappeared. Through all the chaos, Dr. Smith noticed Barbier wasn’t sitting on the roof anymore, and he then decided to guide Louis safely inside the school. The rest of the teachers were busy doing the same for the other students, and once everybody was safely inside, Dr. Guillié did his best to calm everybody down. Lots of the students were asking ‘what happened?’ or ‘who got shot?’ and Guillié tried to answer the questions to the best of his knowledge.
Dr. Smith was worried that the Time Lord would change his appearance, and would come back to create more trouble, but when he looked out the window, Dr. Smith saw the other Time Lord’s body still laying on the ground, motionless.
“Ha-ha!” Dr. Smith remarked to himself. “The Time Lord was already on his last body! What good stroke of luck this is!”
His smile then shortly turned to a serious expression when he saw the hooded figure lying on the ground, not far from the Time Lord, with a bullet through his chest.
“Oh dear. He must have accidently gotten shot when the sailors fled to safety.”
Dr. Smith then turned away from the window and went back to helping calm the students down. The havoc was over, everyone was safe, but many people were still concerned about their own safety. Dr. Guillié explained to the rest of the school that what had happened here today would never leave the four walls of the school. Nobody would ever know of this incident, and because the hooded figure was dead, Dr. Guillié could convince all of the students and staff that the shots were fired from this masked murderer, and not from one of Barbier’s sailors. The students however, still needed proof, so Dr. Guillié brought them outside one by one to assess the situation themselves, and touch the hooded figure's body so they could feel there was no pulse within him.
True, Barbier and his men escaped, but the rest of the world seemed like a peaceful place again. But Dr. Smith was still reflecting on what he just did. In his own mind, he should have never pushed that Time Lord in front of the line of fire. It was a reflex action; he couldn’t help it, but he also couldn’t help thinking that the bullet should have hit Louis. There was no guarantee the shot was going to kill Louis, and after a short time of recovery he could have been back on his feet again.
As Dr. Smith thought to himself some more, he noticed Guillié walk up to him with a very serious expression.
“I suppose I should thank you. Were it not for you, a student of mine could have been killed, and this school’s reputation could have suffered greatly.”
Ann overheard this remark and decided to give Dr. Guillié a piece of her mind. “Is that all that's important to you?" she asked. “Your school’s reputation? Don't you even care about Mr. Brailles’ well being?”
“But of course, Madame! You didn’t even give me a chance to finish! Yes, it's true; I am many things. Some people have often told me I’m cruel and insensitive… but one thing is for sure; I do generally care about the well being of my students. Were it otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to take this job in the first place.”
“I wish,” Louis said, who happened to have been standing next to the Dr. Smith, and heard the whole conversation. “You do realize that if there was another school for blind men in France, I would leave this place in an instance.”
“But there isn’t another school is there?” Dr. Guillié snapped. There was a short pause and then he said to Louis in a calm voice, “…but I do believe I owe you an apology young man. You tried to warn me of the dangers, and I didn’t listen. I promise that if you can keep this incident a secret from your family, we can arrange a deal of some sort. I know a lot of influential people in France who could maybe start advertising your unique Braille system around the city…and beyond!”
Louis smiled at the thought of publicity, and held out his hand for Dr. Guillié to shake. After that, Guillié turned towards Dr. Smith and sighed.
“For saving one of my students lives, I am giving you your wooden box back. I have already asked a few of my men to bring it down from the safe in the attic, and it is waiting in my office when you are ready.”
Dr. Smith smiled, and thanked Guillié for his co-operation. Penny also thanked the man, but made a remark that they still didn’t have the key to the TARDIS.
“Do you mean this key?” Louis asked as he held out the key to the TARDIS. “I was walking through the hallway when my bare foot happened to step upon it, but don’t ask me why I was walking in my bare feet, that’s a long story.”
Dr. Smith took the key from Louis’ hand, thanked him for everything he had done, and ran back to Guilliét’s office with Don, Penny, and Ann close behind. Being in 1824 for four days had taken a toll on all of them, and they couldn’t wait to get back to the TARDIS, where they could be surrounded by high technology again.
As the double doors to the TARDIS opened, the four of them all smiled at the sound of the familiar humming noise. It was good to be back somewhere where you could call home, and it was good to know that they would never have to see the mad man Barbier or Dr. Guillié ever again. Dr. Smith was almost ready to leave, when he remembered something important.
“Good heavens! I almost forgot!” he said as he ran into another room in the TARDIS. He rummaged through an old hope chest until he found a small item that looked like a grenade. He ran out of the TARDIS, down the hall to where the other TARDIS was standing, opened the bookshelf, and threw the grenade-like object in it. The bookshelf then closed, and the Doctor could hear the faint sound of an explosion.
“There,” he said out loud. “I used a self imploding bomb! It should keep anybody from accidentally coming across this broken TARDIS in the future!”
He smiled and headed back to his own time machine, and as Louis Braille heard the faint sound of the wheezing TARDIS from his classroom, he knew that he’d probably never see Dr. Smith again, but he also knew that from now on things would be different around the school. The students would start to use his method of Braille, and Dr. Guillié would help distribute it around the world for other blind children to enjoy.
Unfortunately though, things didn’t go exactly according to plan. Although Louis would later teach at this school, and all his students would adore the method of Braille, the general public would still despise it, and Braille wouldn’t reach the public outside of the school for many decades. Louis was considered a failure in his time, nobody but the students in the Royal Institute for the Blind would use Braille, and everybody else hated Louis. He would later die in 1852 due to illness, and it would only be after his death that the rest of the world would start to use Braille. However, the name Louis Braille would be passed down from generation to generation, and Dr. Smith knew that his legacy would still be alive in the 51st century, after all… even some Time Lords are blind and need to read.
THE END
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