—–“Doctor…” Holly asked.
—–“What?”
—–“Doctor!” Artemis shouted.
—–They were referring to the swirling ball of light that wouldn’t leave them alone. It was pulling them Both in.
—–The Doctor ran in from a corridor behind the main console, and watched the ball of light consume them.
—–“Well.” He said. “Bugger me.”

—–Holly was a bit disoriented. She looked around. Her vision was hazy. She recognized the gold coral formations and glowing green hexagonal center console of the TARDIS. They were in the same place. Artemis was sitting in one of the control seats.
—–“I was worried about you.” He said. “Took you about half an hour to come to, and you had a pretty nasty bump to the head.”
—–“Are we…” She started. “What happened?”
—–“That was a time-space distortion.” Artemis said. “The Doctor pulled us out of the past so we could help him in the present.”
—–“Wh… Hm?” She said.
—–“I had to.” Said the Doctor. “You mysteriously disappeared from the TARDIS two years ago.”
—–“Looking at the controls…” Artemis started, looking at a display on the screen, “There’s a loop in time, and the TARDIS fell through it.”
—–“Yea, and I have a bit of a problem with that.” The Doctor said.
—–“Can’t you just…” Holly asked. “Give me a minute, I need to get my head on straight. Can’t you just fly out?”
—–“Go outside.” Artemis said. “I think you’ll see our problem.”
—–Holly did as she was told. She ambled outside. The landscape was bleak. Everything was black, there was no light source, yet she could see everything clearly.
—–She thought there must be mirrors positioned around, because she could see her own face and body standing all around.
—–She reached up and touched one of their faces. The other Holly took her hand gently and put it back at her side.
—–“Hello.”
—–Holly bolted back into the TARDIS.
—–“What the Darv?”
—–“So you see our problem.”
—–“I see us, getting out of here.” She said. She started flipping controls around on the TARDIS. She didn’t know how to fly it, but she imitated the Doctor, and hoped she’d end up somewhere.
—–“Holly, we can’t!” Artemis said.
—–“Why not?” She shouted.
—–“They’ve used silver chains and anchored us to their dimension.” Artemis replied. “We have to convince them to let us go.”
—–“Okay,” Holly said. “Explain to me what happened.”
—–The doctor was about to talk, and Artemis cut him off.
—–“Doctor, it’s really not like me to need explanation. People will complain.”
—–“Who?” The Doctor said. “We’re trapped in a time-free wasteland surrounded by an infinite number of Hollies, who’s going to complain?”
—–“You know,” Artemis said metafictionally, “People.” He paused for a second. “The Paradox loop that we fell through centered around the two of us. There are only two versions of me, one back on earth and you’re talking to the other, because I haven’t time traveled that much. But Apparently your timeline has been changed a large amount of times. Those Hollies out there are Hollies that were erased from History when time travel changed something in your life. But you can’t make nothing from something, they had to go somewhere, so they came here. So when we fell through a paradox centered around us, we went to the world where every version of you, past, present, or future.”
—–“And,” The Doctor cut in, not used to being the one hearing the explanation and not giving it, “The versions of you that traveled with me before being changed tipped off the others to how they ended up there. They’re mad.”
—–“Doctor,” Holly said. “I’ve only traveled with you a week. My timeline can’t have changed that many times.”
—–“Some of them come from alternate timelines, some of them come from the future.” Artemis said, cutting across the Doctor once again. “Either way, you should go negotiate with them.”

—–The TARDIS’s double doors opened and Holly stepped out.
—–“Hello,” She said.
—–“Here’s the deal.” Said a Holly in a black T-Shirt with the number “27” across the chest.
—–“No pleasantries?” Holly, the real Holly, asked.
—–“No.” Said 27. “I happen to know that ship is big enough to bring us back to the real world. You’re going to take us back with you.”
—–“Hold on one second?” Said real Holly.

—–Back in the TARDIS, Holly was asking what to do.
—–“They want us to take them back to the real world.” Real Holly said.
—–“We can’t.” Said the Doctor. “Because—“
—–“Because that would actualize all of the universes they came from, tearing a small section of the universe into a billion different pieces, completely destroying it.”
—–“You know,” said the Doctor, “That’s starting to get obnoxious. The whole ‘Stealing my explanation time’ thing?”
—–“Sorry,” Artemis said smugly. “I’m not used to having people around who can explain a situation as well as I can.”
—–“What section of space?” Holly asked.
—–“Most of—“ Artemis started. The Doctor cut across him.
—–“Most of the Lower Elements, the tip of Florida, and a sizable amount of China.” The Doctor grinned at Artemis, who did not look happy.

—–Back outside, Real Holly tried to explain why they couldn’t take the other Hollies back with them.
—–“Unacceptable.” Said 27. “Let me give you a little bit of incentive. Hollies!” She called. “We’re taking out… How about… Number 56 is getting pretty insufferable. Take her out.”
—–“What?” Said a Holly that the Real Holly inferred was Number 56.
—–All the other Hollies aimed their hands at her. Orange sparks flew from the tips of their fingers, lashing at 56, each one zapping away a chunk of her. Within seconds, 56 was gone.
—–“We’ve figured out a way…” Said 27, “To reverse the healing magic. If you don’t take us back with you, we’ll do that to you and your friends, and take the TARDIS by force.”
—–The Real Holly was suddenly struck with an idea. She looked back at the silver chains that held the TARDIS down. She knew that the TARDIS could dematerialize if the chains were any material but silver, but she knew the effect silver had of anchoring things to whatever dimension they were in. There were only two chains, bolted down to the ground, crossing over the top of the TARDIS.
—–“Let me… Conference with my… Companions.” She said. As she said this, she nudged the door of the TARDIS open with her foot. She nonchalantly took hold of the two chains. “I’ll be right back.” She backed into the TARDIS, simultaneously releasing orange sparks from her hands, melting through the chains. She slammed the door behind her and locked it.
—–“Go!” She shouted.
—–Artemis was already on the controls.
—–“How?” Said the Doctor.
—–“Doesn’t matter how, we’re free to go!”
—–Artemis and the Doctor successfully piloted the TARDIS up through the loop.
—–“We’ve got to seal it.” Artemis said. “Doctor, do you know how to do that?”
—–“I do. Holly, press this button…” He held her hand down on a smallish black button, “And Artemis, spin this wheel as fast as you can.” He took a breath. “Here’s what we’re doing.” He took a long piece of yarn out of a compartment in the Console. He started tying a knot, but didn’t pull it closed, leaving a large loop. “This big loop is the one we fell through.” He stuck his hand through the loop. He pulled it out and pulled the knot shot. “We’re pulling the loop into a knot, making it so that we never accidentally fall in again.”
—–“Ah yes!” Artemis tittered to himself. He understood all about time loops after studying the demon materialization predictions.
—–“Makes… Sense.” Said Holly. “Listen, can you send us back so we can get those two years back?”
—–“No.” said the Doctor. “But you just missed two years of my life. That’s the beauty of a Time machine, you didn’t miss anything outside of here. I can drop you off at any point in time.” He paused. “That is, if you want to leave.”
—–“I think we can stick around for a few more trips.” Said Artemis. Holly agreed silently.

Some other stories by P5:

• The Book that Shouldn't Exist
• "Reboot" Prologue
• "Reset" Series (Classic P5 Series)
• No, you can't host your own contests. Sorry.