A/N: Hello everybody! It's been quite a while, hasn't it? Well, for those of you joining me from Seeing Double, I must apologise to you - it has fallen through. Nearly two years on, I've lost the muse and I suspect my readers did too. So it has been shelved. However, that means I now have this lovely new story for you all. Hope you enjoy! ~ZackAttack~
CHAPTER ONE
"So when we stick the tip of the wire into the Bunsen burner…"
It was Friday afternoon in Chelsea Grammar School, about a minute before the final bell. By this stage, the Chemistry teacher could have had a fencing match with the year head at the front of the class and nobody would have bothered to lift their head. Yet, inexplicably, they all had to pretend to be interested in flame tests.
That is to say, nearly all of them.
For Jennifer Mills, Chemistry would only cease to hold her interest once she shuffled off this mortal coil. Even then, that would only be because the gestation cycle of the various decomposer microorganisms would suddenly prove more interesting. Jenny was a born scientist, through-and-through. Since the ripe old age of six, when she marvelled at the strange fizzy result of Coca-Cola plus Mentos, Jenny knew that nothing short of an illustrious career in industrial chemistry would do. That resolve had mellowed recently to become 'biochemistry', but no matter. Jenny knew that she would take triple-award science as one of her choices at GCSE, as many science A-levels as school would allow, and then study Natural Sciences at Cambridge University with emphasis on Biology and Chemistry. Yes, she knew what she wanted, how to get there and what she needed to do.
So that is why Jenny had no trouble whatsoever in fixing her gaze on the nichrome wire now trembling two inches from a gently hissing blue Bunsen burner flame. Her pen was poised ready over her file block, ready to scribble down the colour.
Strontium –
"…we get this beautiful red colour."
Jenny refused to let herself gasp. No true scientist, she imagined, would actually gasp. It didn't stop the spectacle before her eyes from being utterly fascinating, though.
Strontium – Red
The harsh chatter of the bell jolted Jenny from her reverie, and she dolefully began to pack up her books and papers. The teacher looked as if he were about to make some parting remark or instruction to the class, but dismissed it as pointless and instead began to clean off the wire.
"Sir?" asked Jenny, "Can you mix the colours? Like, if you were to mix strontium and sodium salts and burn them together, would you get orange?"
The teacher paused for a moment and adjusted his glasses. "Hmm, I suppose so. You'd have to be careful what salts you picked, though, because they might displace. Just a thought."
"Displace? What do you mean?"
"You don't need to know that yet," the teacher waved. "That's next year."
"Oh come on, sir!" pressed Jenny. "Don't do this to me, please!"
The man let out a sigh he had uttered many times before on similar occasions and walked a well-rehearsed path to the cupboard. He withdrew the GCSE Chemistry textbook he kept there and held it out to Jenny, refusing to look at her.
"I would like it back before registration on Monday," he said with a feigned air of annoyance.
Jenny strode out of the room, her hair billowing in her wake. "Absolutely, sir."
The path down to the bus park was practically empty after the delay, so Jenny walked along on her own, humming quietly to herself. There were several routes down to the bus park, but Jenny preferred this slightly longer one, as it took her past the sixth form garden. She liked a peek over the hedge to see what the gardener was up to.
Not much had changed over the week, apparently. Most of the plants were the same as ever. He had pruned the roses, though.
Oh no, wait, there was something new. There was a little group of stone statues standing in the corner in front of the shed. They looked like angels.
"Creepy," said Jenny to no one in particular. "Wouldn't want to meet one of those on a dark night."
She looked around the garden, wondering where on earth the gardener was going to put them. It seemed to her as if there just wasn't any room.
Jenny squinted and looked back at the statues. How many did he have to fit in? One, two, three… She started. There were five statues standing there, but she could have sworn that there were six a moment ago. Where could one have gone?
Jenny laughed at herself. It was Friday afternoon. She was going crazy, clearly. Statues don't just disappear.
She shouldered her bag and trudged off down the path. Still, Jenny couldn't shake the feeling that somebody was watching her.
Jenny's weekend was uneventful. She had a fair bit of homework and wanted to fit in that extra reading on displacement, too.
Two people disappeared over the weekend and they hadn't been found by Monday. Jenny wasn't quite sure why she cared about this particular missing persons thing. Perhaps it was that the police had absolutely no leads at all.
"There's usually something!" Jenny exclaimed to her mother during her homework.
"Oh I know, dear," said Sophie, her mother, "but maybe they've missed something."
Jenny snorted. "You'd think two days into the investigation they'd at least have an inkling."
She looked at her watch. It was past eight o'clock and still her dad wasn't home.
"Where's Dad?" Jenny asked.
Sophie nearly dropped the spoon she was holding. "What?"
"Well it's after eight and he's not home yet."
Jenny watched as her mother slowly turned round with a cheerful smile on her face. "Oh, well, he's probably just…running late or something!"
Something was wrong. Jenny could feel it, and she knew her mother could feel it too. Her dad would have called.
It was a family agreement that phones weren't to be used during homework, but Jenny quietly pulled her phone out of her pocket and checked 'Find Friends'. Her dad's phone location was unreachable.
Jenny swallowed nervously. "Mum? Dad's phone isn't on 'Find Friends'. Do you think maybe we should–?"
Sophie cut her off. "Yes. Yes I think we should probably get worried. I've tried his phone five times but it goes straight to voicemail. I'm going to call the police."
The words cut right through Jenny. It was right and proper and it was what she expected her mother to do, but nothing could have prepared her for it.
Sophie was in her husband's office so the phone call was muffled, but Jenny wasn't interested anyway.
Just then, the doorbell rang. "I've got it!" said Jenny as she sprang from her chair.
A man in a tweed jacket had his back to the door, but he spun round once Jenny answered. "Hello! Is this the Mills' house by any chance?"
"Yes…?" said Jenny tentatively. "Who are you?"
"I'm the Doctor," said the man. "I'm here about your dad."
Jenny forgot herself and gasped. "But…but he…"
The Doctor frowned. "Hmm?"
"We only just rang the police! Mums still on the phone! How did you…?"
The man glanced at his watch and winced. "Oh. I'm early. Sorry. Mind if I come in?"
Without waiting for an answer, he pushed in and clomped through the hall. Jenny's head spun for a moment as she closed the door, confused. "Sorry, do you mind if I see some ID? You could be anyone!"
The Doctor spun round yet again. Clearly it was something he did a fair bit.
"Yes! Of course! Here you go." He produced a flip wallet and flashed it in front of Jenny. She snatched it and frowned.
"It's blank. Where's your ID?"
"No it's not!" exclaimed the Doctor. He snatched the wallet back and studied it. "It says here, look! Inspector John Smith."
Jenny peered at the wallet again. "It really doesn't. You've either gone mad or you think I'm stupid."
The Doctor looked perplexed and put the wallet away. "Right. That's interesting. Nobody round here has ever thought that."
"Round here? What do you mean?"
The man laughed in an attempt to dismiss the issue. "Gosh, you're perceptive, aren't you? Clever monkey! So…"
He swished away and started wandering around the kitchen. "You appear to have lost your dad, then? I lost my dad when I was quite young."
"Oh really?" asked Jenny politely. "How old were you?"
"Ooh, I was about seven hundred and something. It's not really important."
The Doctor moved swiftly on. "Quick question – what does your dad do? Where does he work?"
"In a bank in Chelsea. Quite near my school actually. He's on security…but not evenings or night shifts. He should have been home about two and a half…three hours ago."
"Right. And does this bank have gargoyles or statues or anything? Sculptures? Anything like that?"
Jenny considered. "No. Don't think so. There's engraving in the pediment but they're not statues. Why?"
The Doctor looked cryptic. "No reason. Don't worry about it."
"No, it's just because school just got new garden ornaments. They were statues of angels. Is that important?"
It was as if somebody poured a bucket of ice down the Doctor's neck. "Angels? Did you say angels?"
"Yes. Why?"
He suddenly looked very serious. "Well then I think I have my answer."
Jenny looked away for only a second, and when she looked back, he was over at the door, about to leave.
"Wait!" she called and ran at him. "Do you know where my dad is?"
He stopped. "Yes. Well, maybe. Hopefully."
She lifted her thick woollen coat and scarf and began struggling into them. "Then I'm coming with you."
The Doctor looked taken aback. "Hang on, no, you can't, it's too dangerous."
Jenny was undeterred. "If you're saying that you can find my dad, then I trust you more than anybody else at the moment. The police don't seem to have a clue."
"Trusting a strange man who arrived in the dark? Bit silly?"
She shot him a withering look. "Please. You act like a seven-year-old and you tried to fob off a blank piece of paper as ID. I'm shaking in my boots."
The Doctor let out a sigh. "Fine, but don't blame me if something happens to you."
Jenny suddenly had a realisation. "Oh, wait! Mum will be wondering."
She scampered to the table and scribbled a quick message.
Off to find Dad! Back soon. Love you xxx
"Done. Let's go."
The pair strode purposefully down the street towards the corner. Jenny's mind was spinning as she tried to process everything that was going on. "Where are we going?" she finally asked.
"We need transport," came the reply.
"Transport?" Jenny's heart gave a lurch. "You mean Dad's far away?"
The Doctor chuckled. "You don't know the half of it."
They arrived at the end of the street outside a large blue wooden box. The Doctor began to rummage about in his pockets, presumably for a key.
"Now what?" said Jenny, exasperatedly, "We're running out of time!"
Again came the chuckle. The Doctor turned to Jenny. "Time is the least of our worries."
He flung open both doors and strutted through.
For the second time that day, Jenny found herself gasping. This is extremely unprofessional, you know, muttered her subconscious. But Jenny didn't listen to her subconscious.
"It's…it's…"
"Bigger on the inside? Yes, you're not the first to mention that," said the Doctor.
Jenny slowly crossed the threshold. "A ship in a bottle. You've crammed this massive room into this small box without it being unstable. How did you manage that?"
The Doctor preened. "It would be rather complicated science, actually."
A frown. "Try me."
"Well. The console room is actually in another dimension. Both of us, right now, are standing in – another – dimension!"
Jenny considered for a moment and then nodded her head slowly. "Got it. So we actually crossed between dimensions when we entered the box?"
The Doctor blinked. "Um…yes. Yes, we…did." How in the name of Gallifrey did she actually understand that? Impressive.
Jenny glided up the ramp and circumnavigated the console, taking everything in. "So, if we're in another dimension with that door serving as the link, that must take a lot of power, right? I take it this thing doesn't run on unleaded?"
"The power source is actually an exploding star. It's suspended in the act of exploding, right in the middle of the TARDIS. That's what we're standing in right now, by the way. A TARDIS. Time And Relative Dimension In Space."
"Oh, I see, so it's a time machine? Cool." Jenny seemed for all the world completely nonplussed.
The Doctor strode up the ramp until he was level with her. "No, see, that's not how it works! You're not meant to just…believe me! You're meant to be amazed!" He pouted. "Everyone else was."
Jenny rounded on him. "Well forgive me for being a little preoccupied at the moment!" she snapped. "I'd really rather just get my father back."
The man winced. Of course she was right.
"Ah. Yes, sorry. Completely understand."
She stood, arms folded, tapping her foot. "Any time today would be nice."
The Doctor sprung into action. "Today wouldn't be much use for this one, I'm afraid!"
He darted to the console and thrust the space/time throttle aggressively forwards, dumping the engine release lever as he did so. Jenny was thrown sideways against the guard rail and let out a yelp, then began to laugh.
"It's quite a ride!" she yelled.
"I think there's a word you're searching for," said the Doctor. "Geronimo!"
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