Chapter 1: Completely Wrong Direction
"Oh shit, I'm going to be late."
Katie rushed through the shops at Heathrow, attempting to get past the crowds to people of all different ethnicity so she could get to the gate. She was supposed to catching a flight to New York City to be meeting with a couple of friends for a small holiday – well she wouldn't be going if she missed her flight!
"Excuse me, out of the way! Watch out! I've got to be somewhere important!" As she turned the corner, expecting to see even more people, Katie was surprised. No one was there.
She turned around and everyone who was standing in her way had just disappeared. As she retraced her steps, the shop assistants had disappeared; the chefs and waiters working in the restaurants had gone as well. "OK, this is weird…" Katie ran towards her gate to see if there was anyone else was there, but it was the same. No living soul was in sight. Suddenly, she heard a noise. Quite a soft sound but loud enough for her to be able to hear; after pondering on the thought of running away, she decided to investigate – after all it could be someone who was like her, lost. Or it could be the something that caused all the people to vanish and could be coming after her. Katie walked slowly towards the corner where she had heard the noise come from, taking caution as she looked around the corner.
"Ahh!" Katie shouted as she poked her head around the corner, only to come across a face which was only fifteen centimetres away from hers.
"What are you doing here?" The man asked.
"Catching a flight, that's what people do at airports. What are you doing here?" The man removed his face from her personal space and began to look around. He was dressed rather oddly – the man wore dark brown trousers with a light brown tweed jacket, red braces and a red bowtie.
"Sir, are you supposed to be in a meeting or business class?"
"Why on earth would I be there?" He said as he turned around to face Katie looking quite confused.
"Well I just thought since you are dressed rather… smartly, with your bowtie and all."
"It's cool, bowties are cool." The man adjusted his bowtie smiling "See ya!" He began to run down the hall pointing a small metal contraption in his direction. Suddenly, he paused for a moment before running back towards Katie at full speed. "Wait a minute! Why are you here?"
Now it was Katie's turn to look utterly confused, "I told you already. I'm catching a flight-"
"No no no; I know that! But why are you still here? Take a look around… no one is sight. My sonic screwdriver is only picking up two life forms, you and me."
"Sonic what…? Are you sure you're alright?" Katie looked at the man with such a strange look, he may as well have been a ghost. "Who are you?"
"I'm the Doctor."
"The Doctor? Doctor Who?"
"Oh I love when people say that! It's just the Doctor."
"What do you mean, 'just the Doctor'? You have to have a name."
"Yeah, and mine's the Doctor. Who are you?" The girl gave him a curious look at him before opening her mouth.
"Katie. My name's Katie."
"Nice to meet Katie–" Before he could respond, a deafening noise filled the almost empty terminal. "RUN!" Katie felt his hand link with hers and they ran in the opposite direction to the noise.
"WHAT'S GOING ON?" She shouted.
"NO TIME TO EXPLAIN! GET IN!" The Doctor pointed to a blue 1960s police box.
"WHAT? I'M NOT GETTING IN THAT! THAT'S SUCH A STUPID PLACE TO HIDE, THEY'LL FIND US STRAIGHT AWAY!"
"WELL, IT'S EITHER YOU COME WITH ME OR YOU STAY HERE WITH THEM!" Suddenly from around the corner, to Katie's amazement, was the shop mannequins she had passed earlier.
"WHAT…? BUT THAT'S NOT POSSIBLE?!"
"IN OR OUT?" The Doctor held out his hand, waiting for her response. Katie hesitated, 'I can't just run off with some mad man with a box!' then again, she didn't want to die either. She grabbed his and the Doctor pulled her inside, falling on the floor in the process.
"Thank you for breaking the fall." She added.
"Pleasure." Katie stood and the Doctor followed suit. "Right then, we need to get away from here and go somewhere safe. Where did you say you were going Katie?" Katie didn't reply. She was too busy staring at her surroundings. Inside the box, there was plenty of room – too much room. "I know, it's a lot to take in. Go on then, say anything. I've heard it all."
"This shouldn't exist" She just managed to say. "The dimensions… the technology… the physics… this shouldn't exist…"
"Well Katie, it does!" The Doctor ran up to the console. "She's called the TARDIS. With her, I can travel anywhere I like."
"Anywhere?"
"And when." He smiled when he saw Katie's face light up. "And we need to get away from this airport. Those Autons may look harmless, but trust me, they can be deadly."
"What happened to the other people?" Katie asked with a concerned look on her face.
"They were re-located, obviously not interested in them…"
"What about those things? The… autons?"
"Well that is what we are going to find out. Let me drop you off first, where are you going?"
"Uh, New York."
"Right then, NYC baby!" The Doctor pulled a few levers on the console and suddenly the whole room began to shake. "Don't mind the movement! It happens all the time!"
"Not a very good driver are you?!" Katie asked as she grabbed on to the railings on the side of the main control panel, attempting to stabilise herself.
"I am a very good driver, it's supposed to do that!"
"What's that then? Make people feel sick!" Finally, they felt a jolt as the TARDIS landed.
"Right then, I'll drop you off and you can be on your way."
"Oh, OK then." Katie looked down at her feet, 'Just like that?' she thought. The Doctor almost skipped down the stairs towards the door and she followed suit. "It was a pleasure meeting you Doctor."
"You as well." He replied as he opened the door. Katie sighed and stepped out of the TARDIS door. "Uh Doctor…"
"Yes? What's wrong?"
"I told you I needed to be in New York, right?"
"Yeah?"
"Well…" Katie pulled the Doctor out of the TARDIS by his jacket sleeve. "This is not New York, that building there is the CN Tower, you've landed us in Toronto! We've travelled in the completely wrong direction!"
"Oh, sorry… Why would the TARDIS bring us here?" The Doctor ran back to the console and his eyes glanced towards the screen above them. "Apparently, this was the desired destination. She keeps doing this, sorry she's a Type 40 TARDIS."
"TARDIS? You keep talking gibberish and I have no clue what it means!"
"Alright, calm down dear! We don't want all of Toronto to know what a TARDIS is." The Doctor emerged from the box again. "I guess while we're here we should find something to pass the time."
"Why can't we just take off again?"
"When we left Heathrow, did you see the sparks coming off of the console?" Katie nodded. "The energy used to get us here powered her right down; normally this wouldn't be a problem but during my previous trip, I travelled to a completely different galaxy where the inhabitants attempted to steal my TARDIS' artron energy to use as their own. The Slitheen – nasty family."
Katie listened to the crazed man who stood next to her and listened. Some of the story she found ridiculous, other parts were mesmerising. "So we have to wait here until your TARDIS is ready to fly again?"
"Precisely!"
"And then you'll take me to New York?"
"Sure. Until then, let's find something to eat!"
"So, why are you travelling to New York?" The Doctor asked sipping his cup of tea. The pair had stumbled upon a pub called 'Jack Astor's' which seemed nice – just a place to chat.
"I'm supposed to be meeting my friends out there." Katie replied as she nibbled on their chips. "I was going to be spending a week there for relaxation and then six months to do some work experience with the New York Times."
"Oh, you're a journalist!" The Doctor smiled and put down his tea. 'It's been a while since I've met one...'
"Well, 'aspiring journalist'. I was hoping that working for them might boost my chances of entering the world of reporting and media." Katie sipped her glass of water and continued her interrogation of the Doctor she began back in the airport. "So you're a doctor of what exactly? Of medicine?"
"Of everything."
"You can't be a doctor of everything – that would take years upon years of learning and work."
"Well I've got a time machine, so there!"
After hearing all of that, all she could do was smile at him. "You're mad you know?"
"Best thing there is." The Doctor whispered and mirrored her smile. Suddenly, the two of them heard a beeping noise close to them.
"What's that?" Katie asked.
"Ah, it's my watch and it's telling me that the TARDIS is now able to fly again! Come on!" The Doctor quickly put on his jacket, "Have you got any money?"
"Only US dollars-"
"Good, they'll do!" Katie hurriedly took out $10 and left it at the table before the Doctor got grab her arm and race out of the pub. "Back to the hill we go!"
After about 10 minutes of running through the busy streets of Toronto whilst trying not to get themselves killed by the traffic, they eventually made it back to the hill where the Doctor had parked the TARDIS.
"Ah, she looks so much better." The Doctor exclaimed.
"It looks exactly the same…" Katie commented.
"Oh don't listen to her, she doesn't know what she's talking about." He cooed as he stroked the sides the box for a couple of seconds until he turned around to find Katie staring at him in the strangest way. "Anyway… New York!" The Doctor raced back inside the box and began to fiddle with the controls. Katie followed suit, but without as much haste.
He muttered to himself and then realised she was still by the closed door. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, it's nothing…"
"I've travelled to so many places and met so many people to know that when someone says 'nothing' there is something."
"It's strange… taking all of it in. I don't even know you and here I am, in Toronto and I arrived here by a 1960s police box called a TARDIS. If I told anyone, they would think I'm crazy." She let out a little laugh as she climbed the steps to reach the console.
"But you like it?" He enquired.
"…yes." She looked up at the central column, intrigued. "Definitely."
"Well, Katie… I could drop you off in New York or…"
"Or what Doctor?"
"Or you could come with me."
Katie paused for a moment and stared at him, "Where?" She asked.
"Wherever you like." He punctuated each word.
"Why?"
"Because I'm here and you're here, so why not?" He began to fiddle with levers and buttons again.
"All of time and space and you choose me. Why? I'm insignificant in history; unimportant."
The Doctor stopped what he was doing and slowly lifted his head to look at her. "Don't ever say that." He responded slowly; he began to walk towards her until they were as close as they were during their first meeting in the airport. "Don't ever say that. In all my 1000 years I have never met anyone that wasn't important. And yes I am over 1000 years old, does that bother you?"
Katie was amazed, this man she had only met an hour ago had come to the conclusion that she was important. "Nope, I'm fine with it."
"So, what do you say? Want to see the universe?"
'Take a deep breath and speak from your heart' "Yes." She replied smiling at the Doctor. "Yes Doctor, I Katie McArthur want to travel with you." After a quick moment of just staring at each other, the pair just laughed. The Doctor patted her head and bolted back towards the console and pulled a couple of levers.
"Right then Miss McArthur, you might want to hold on to something. Welcome aboard the TARDIS!"
A/N: This story was actually inspired by my experience at FanExpo 2013 in Toronto when I met a guy outside the CN Tower who was dressed as his own Doctor (in the photograph) and was doing cosplay shots with different people. We chatted for a while and took some awesome shots which I think could have been used for a DW promo poster.
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~ kppancake xx