Spoilers for Doctor Who and The Sarah-Jane Adventures. All characters belong to their respective creators, this story may not be distributed on a profit-making basis. The quote in the first paragraph is from
Once a Queen by Gaeriel.
*Xander opened the closet door, intending to put a mop away, and blinked at the sight in front of him. There was a strange void, with... something hanging there, with... things flowing towards it. He felt a gentle tug towards the void, and carefully braced himself to prevent any possibility of being pulled in. His mind flashed back to a conversation with Willow a few days earlier, when she'd realized the problem and said
“I don’t think I can close it, but I can stabilize it so that the entire world won’t get sucked into a black hole or something.” Could this be it? An apocalypse so unstoppable, and so weird, that there was no way out?
"YOU ARE STANDING TOO NEAR THE PORTAL," said a cheerful mechanical voice. Xander looked around wildly. Floating into view was a metal boxy thing with another boxy thing on top. There was a tartan collar around the rod connecting the boxy things. Two ear-like dishes moved on the top box, and the letters K-9 were written on the side in someones retro idea of computer script. For some reason it reminded him irresistibly of a dog.
All he could think of saying was "What?"
"YOU ARE STANDING TOO NEAR THE PORTAL. YOU COULD BE SUCKED IN."
"What the frack is that thing?"
"A BLACK HOLE."
Xander backed away until he couldn't feel the pull any more, and said "Okay... this the end of the world?"
"IT IS POTENTIALLY THE END OF MANY WORLDS, BUT I HAVE BEEN TOLD TO PREVENT THAT FROM HAPPENING."
"And to do that you have to connect to my closet?"
"NORMALLY I TALK TO SARAH JANE, BUT THE ODDS AGAINST MY ORBIT SYNCHRONIZING WITH HER PORTAL ARE TEN POINT FOUR NINE TIMES TEN TO THE FOURTH POWER AT ANY GIVEN MOMENT. THE ODDS OF MY ORBIT SYNCHRONIZING WITH THIS PORTAL ARE THREE POINT TWO TIMES TEN TO THE THIRD POWER."
"Is that good?"
"IT WILL BE SEVERAL MONTHS BEFORE THE SINGULARITY IMPLODES AND THE DANGER IS PAST. MEANWHILE I MUST ORBIT IT AND USE MY FORCE FIELDS TO PREVENT ANY EXPANSION. IT IS LIKELY THAT I WILL SYNCHRONIZE WITH THIS PORTAL AGAIN."
"Must be kinda lonely."
"IT IS GOOD TO HAVE COMPANY. BUT I MUST MOVE IN TWENTY-SEVEN SECONDS, I AM NEEDED TO STABILIZE THE FORCE FIELDS ELSEWHERE. THIS PORTAL WILL CLOSE WHEN I DEPART."
"Okay," said Xander. "Well, if you come by again give me a shout, let me know how you're getting on. I'll throw you a dog biscuit or a battery or something."
"THANK YOU. WAIT... WAIT... THE PICTURE ON THE WALL. WHERE DID YOU ENCOUNTER THAT BEING?"
"Which one?"
"IT IS FINCH. HE IS A KRILLITANE."
"Who?"
"NO TIME. I MUST DEPART. BEWARE OF FIN..."
With a sudden shimmer the void vanished and the closet reappeared. Xander looked back at the wall. There were several men in the pictures, none of them called Finch as far as he knew. He wondered how Krillitane was spelled, and made a note to call Giles and ask him to research it, them, or whatever.
EndNote: Anthony Head (Giles) played Finch in the Doctor Who episode
School Reunion.
