Got To Be Some Changes Made

The Dark Lord studied the look on the Doctor's face, as he arrogantly told them they were to help him. It was one of an easy triumph, as if he had done this kind of thing before, expecting others to bend over backwards to help him and his own personal problems.
"Yes, after you tell me one thing you've ever done for me." he demanded.

He heard of course static across the comlink, but no words from the Doctor.
"That's right. Sorry kids," he said to Jenny and the Doctor, "But I'd rather spend my time around those who can be a little more...civil." Alec said, cutting the gravitational link like a knife through butter.

He channeled his vocal communicator towards the Meddler's Tardis, speaking as clear as possible.
"'Ello, Meddler, Adagio," he said in turn, "I'm afraid I'll have to force my company on you two for a bit longer. I'm working on getting to you, but until then, I'm on my way." he said, grinning.

He threw his hat on and replaced it with a black fedora, his usual.

Traveling clothes sounded perfect. Adagio hoped that he would have something appropriate. Some trainers would be a huge improvement too, she'd hate to run around in heels. A chime went through the hallway suddenly and Adagio heard Alec. Smiling she replied after the Meddler.

"The more the merrier! Thanks for joining us."

When the Meddler explained what exactly they needed to do Adagio listened intently. These Cuckoos brought to mind the picture of clocks to Adagio and she had to bite her lip to keep her from saying something stupid about it. She would not fall into that trap just like she refused to comment on how much bigger the Tardis was on the inside than the outside.

"Me? Better idea?" he asked, "Its almost like you've never met me."
The comment was full of unseriousness.
"But all things considered, I don't see why we don't just nuke 'em and get it over with. I'm sure our Tardises together have enough firepower.

"Nuke who?" the Meddler rejoined. "Besides, I don't have a War TARDIS. I've got a Type 67. Maintenance and temporostellar construction. She's powerful, but she's not designed for combat."

He turned his attention back to his companion. "Anyway, the wardrobe... It's fairly spartan, unfortunately. My TARDIS was designed for a crew of six, and it wasn't designed for exploration or pleasure cruises or diplomatic missions, so it's pretty utilitarian. You should be able to find something that will work, though. Ah! Here we are. You'll see what I mean."

He pushed open a door, made of the same grey hexagonal flagstones as the rest of the hall. Inside was a vast room, several stories tall with catwalks and platforms, all of which supported racks and shelves filled with clothing and machines of indeterminate function.

The Meddler shifted uneasily as Adagio began to search the wardrobe. He loved his TARDIS, he really did, and he'd adjusted long ago to the spartan lifestyle her design required. But he was always faintly uncomfortable when guests entered, feeling that they deserved something more impressive. To hide his discomfort, he began to talk.

"Yith," he began. "If I'm remembering correctly - and assuming that whatever edited away the Earth didn't alter it as well - is a rogue planet. A world that is no longer gravitationally bound to a star. All of its heat and light come from radiation in the core, and from interactions between the planetary magnetosphere and the galactic wind."

Adagio examined a rack with casual efficiency, holding up one shirt after another. I should really organize this room, one of these days, he thought.

"The species we're going to visit - the Cuckoos -" his face twisted with contempt, "Are time travelers as well. Psychic time travelers. They maintain records of everywhere they visit, and even of timelines they've visited that no longer exist. They should be able to tell us what the changepoint was." He paused. "Assuming they'll talk to us."

"Uh, are there shoes in here?"

"Shoes?" the Meddler repeated, "Yes, second level, back wall."

Adagio disappeared out behind several racks of clothing on the second level. "Wont we have to compare two different time lines though? One where the Earth continues and one where it doesn't? What I mean to say is what if an event from the past triggered the future of the Earth's destruction? We'd have to compare everything against each other," she called.

"Excellent thinking," the Meddler answered back. "Although something as dramatic as the destruction of a planet doesn't require the examination of every single possible historical event, so we won't have quite as much to examine as you're afraid."

He leaned against the wall, ticking points off on his fingers. "The first big one will be to check the status of the seed planetesimal, to see if the planet even formed. Then, if it was formed, we'll need to see if it was ejected from the solar system, or if it was destroyed by the impact with Theia. That gets us through the Late Heavy Bombardment Period, which means the end the ability to destroy the Earth with relatively simple macroscale engineering."

"After that?" He shrugged. "Assuming the Cuckoos will even let us use their records, it should be a various matter of checking which Terrestrial sentient species is the last one they have records of, and then seeing how and when they died out. Once we have a time and cause, 'all' we have to do is stop that cause."

A smile. "Of course, that's easier said than done. But I've pulled off some pretty major temporal shifts in my time."

"Okay, I'm ready to get to work!" she announced, walking down the stairs with her dress in her arms.

He gestured towards an ordinary-appearing laundry chute hatch in the wall. "You can toss that in there. The TARDIS will clean it and return it here. Probably make a copy for the archives as well, if I know her."

"Thank you by the way."

"You're welcome, although maybe a bit premature." He tried to smile reassuringly. "I'll get you fixed up with a suite later, unless you want to get a nap now. But we should probably check back in the control room first, see how much longer until arrival."

Putting the dress in the chute like she was instructed, Adagio clapped her hands together and walked back to the Meddler.

"I'm fine. I'm way to awake to go to sleep anyways"

Following as they made their way back to the control room, Adagio heard Alec speak and almost jumped. She forgot that they were still on an open frequency. She had no idea what was being talked about exactly, but she figured it had to do with the Tardis somehow.

"How are things on your end Alec?"

Adagio felt kind of weird and useless, and she knew that Alec probably would not want to talk to her, but she would give it a try anyways.