Welcome to the Ruddy Doctor Caches, a series of puzzles linked together loosely with a whimsical story following the various regenerations of my favourite Time Lord.
The puzzles are nestled away in passages linking the various Doctor’s regeneration scenes, so you’ll need to skim at least through to find the goods and the occasional clue. You can assume coordinates are N 52° 51.XXX' W 001° XX.XXX' and will need you own pen and tweezers. All were conceived and placed by Doctor RuddRobins + checked and difficulty assessed by Mrs RuddRobins.
The notes at the end are random Docfacts not needed to complete the puzzle. I hope you find it all mildly amusing and it keeps you out of trouble for at least a little while J
The Ruddy Doctor 20: The Key to Time
[Guardian's abode]
(Wind chimes sound in the flat area with a white rocks as a backdrop and a few small plants around. A wicker peacock chair stands under a sunshade next to a small table carrying a decanter and glasses. A man in a white suit with a red carnation in the lapel fades into view, seated on the chair.)
GUARDIAN: Doctor, you have been chosen for a vitally important task.
DOCTOR: That's very flattering, sir.
GUARDIAN: It concerns the Key to Time. You know of the Key to Time?
DOCTOR: Well, I've heard a few stories. Old legends, myths, that sort of thing.
GUARDIAN: It is no myth.
DOCTOR: Sorry, sir.
GUARDIAN: The Key to Time is a perfect cube, which maintains the equilibrium of time itself.
(A holographic image of a spinning cube appears for illustration, then fades away.)
GUARDIAN: It consists of six segments, and these segments are scattered and hidden throughout the cosmos. When they are assembled into the cube, they create a power which is too dangerous for any being to possess.
DOCTOR: Well hidden then, I hope, sir.
GUARDIAN: There are times, Doctor, when the forces within the universe upset the balance to such an extent that it becomes necessary to stop everything.
DOCTOR: Stop everything?
GUARDIAN: For a brief moment only.
DOCTOR: Ah.
GUARDIAN: Until the balance is restored. Such a moment is rapidly approaching. These segments must be traced and returned to me before it is too late, before the Universe is plunged into eternal chaos.
DOCTOR: Eternal chaos?
GUARDIAN: Eternal as you understand the term.
DOCTOR: Look, I'm sure there must be plenty of other Time Lords who'd be delighted to . . .
GUARDIAN: I have chosen you.
DOCTOR: Yes, I was afraid you'd say something like that. Ah! You want me to volunteer, isn't that it?
GUARDIAN: Precisely.
DOCTOR: And if I don't?
GUARDIAN: Nothing.
DOCTOR: Nothing? You mean nothing will happen to me?
GUARDIAN: Nothing at all. Ever.
DOCTOR: Ah. What do they look like, these segments? How will I know them?
GUARDIAN: They're all disguised.
DOCTOR: Yes, I thought they might be.
GUARDIAN: They contain the elemental force of the universe. They can be in any shape, form or size.
DOCTOR: Then how will I recognise them?
GUARDIAN: You will be given a locator.
DOCTOR: Thank you.
GUARDIAN: And a puzzle.
DOCTOR: A puzzle? Please, sir, on an assignment like this, I'd much rather have traditional coordinates. In my experience, puzzles mean trouble. I have to research them and decode them and check them and couldn't I just, couldn't I just have coordinates?
GUARDIAN: You will find your puzzle waiting for you in the Tardis.
DOCTOR: Very well, sir. If you insist.
GUARDIAN: One final thing, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Yes?
GUARDIAN: I am the White Guardian. In order to maintain the universal balance, there is also a Black Guardian, and he also requires the Key to Time, but for a different purpose. An evil purpose. He must not get it. Doctor, at all costs, you must prevent that.
DOCTOR: How am I to prevent that?
GUARDIAN: Beware the Black Guardian.
DOCTOR: Beware the Black Guardian.
GUARDIAN: Beware. Beware.
(The Guardian picks up his glass of green wine and fades away.)
(TARDIS – Romana 1 [Tall, brunette, statuesque, aloof, wearing a floor-length white dress fastened only at the waist, and her hair held up by a tiara} is examining the puzzle.)
(Calufrax + Kroll) (jethrik+Astra) statue
jethrik + Calufrax + seal + statue
seal (jethrik + Calufrax + Astra) (seal + statue)
DOCTOR: What's this?
ROMANA: According to my instructions, it's the puzzle of the Key of Time.
DOCTOR: Ah.
ROMANA: Very exciting, isn't it?
DOCTOR: Yes, I suppose it must be for someone as young and inexperienced as you are.
ROMANA: I may be inexperienced, but I did graduate from the Academy with a triple first.
DOCTOR: I suppose you think we should be impressed by that, too?
ROMANA: Well, it's better than scraping through with fifty one percent at the second attempt.
DOCTOR: That information is confidential! That President. I should have thrown him to the Sontarans when I had the chance.
ROMANA: Oh, do you want to know how that works?
DOCTOR: I know how it works. Oh, that's clever. That's very clever. Ah! The clues are the answers. Or are the answers the clues?
ROMANA: I'll look up those coordinates, shall I.
DOCTOR: No, there's no need.
ROMANA: Well, don't you want to know where it is?
DOCTOR: I know.
ROMANA: Oh.
DOCTOR: Just a matter of experience, you see.
ROMANA: Yes, of course.
DOCTOR: I expect the thing we’re looking for is disguised appropriately too. More or less.
Notes
The Key to Time, also known as the Key of Time, was a powerful and legendary artifact which the Guardians of Time used to maintain the equilibrium of time itself.
Existing at every point in time, its shape was that of a perfect transdimensional crystalline cube, an orderly pattern extending through four dimensions, comprised of six segments pieced together to gain the full power of the Key. Temporary segments could be created if one had enough components of the original Key to access at least some of its power, but this was dangerous as the Key's segments were linked on a fundamental level.
The Key to Time was originally created by the Grace — powerful beings from outside of time who used the Guardians of Time as their agents, though the Guardians claimed to have forged the Key, and the Jewel, from primal materials.
Caches in this series
The Ruddy Doctor 0: Gallifrey Falls (GC9GNNW)
The Ruddy Doctor 1: The First Doctor (GC9GMW0)
The Ruddy Doctor 2: The Second Doctor (GC9GMW3)
The Ruddy Doctor 3: The Third Doctor (GC9GMW6) *
The Ruddy Doctor 4: The Fourth Doctor (GC9GMWA)
The Ruddy Doctor 5: The Fifth Doctor (GC9GMWE) *
The Ruddy Doctor 6: The Sixth Doctor (GC9GMWF) *
The Ruddy Doctor 7: The Seventh Doctor (GC9GMWK) *
The Ruddy Doctor 8: The Eighth Doctor (GC9GMWR) *
The Ruddy Doctor 9 Bonus: The War Doctor (GC9GMWW) *
The Ruddy Doctor 10: The Ninth Doctor (GC9GMWZ)
The Ruddy Doctor 11: The Tenth Doctor (GC9GMX1) *
The Ruddy Doctor 12: The Meta-crisis Doctor (GC9GMX4) *
The Ruddy Doctor 13: The Eleventh Doctor (GC9GMX9) *
The Ruddy Doctor 14: The Dream Lord (GC9GMXC) *
The Ruddy Doctor 15: The Twelfth Doctor (GC9GMXG)
The Ruddy Doctor 16: The Thirteenth Doctor (GC9GMXK) *
The Ruddy Doctor 17: The Fugitive Doctor (GC9GMXW)
The Ruddy Doctor 18: The Valeyard (GC9GMY0) *
The Ruddy Doctor 19: The Comic Relief Doctors (GC9GMY7) *
The Ruddy Doctor 20: The Key to Time (GC9GWN3) *
The Ruddy Doctor 21: Time & Ruddy Dimensions (GC9GWMZ) *
The Ruddy Doctor 22: Bonus2: Day of the Doctor (GC9GWMP)
- Indicates a bonus co-ordinate included in the cache