1st June 1990
Linus woke up with a smile. For some reason, he felt as if today was going to be a good day. Maybe it was because it was the last day of school, or possibly it was because Lucy hadn't rudely awakened him like she usually did. Linus got up, had breakfast, got dressed, got his lunch ready and his schoolbooks in order before heading out of the door and towards the bus stop.
Already standing there were Charlie Brown and Sally. Linus walked up to them. "Good morning Charlie Brown. Good morning Sally" he said to them.
"Hey Linus, how are you today?" Charlie Brown asked. "I feel pretty good today, actually." Linus replied.
"Is it because of me?" Sally piped up, hoping for a romantic response.
"No, Sally. It's because it's the last day of school!" Linus responded cheerfully. Sally ignored what he said, secretly hoping for a different answer. Not long after, the bus arrived. Sally, Charlie Brown, Linus and the other children waiting at the bus stop all got on the bus. Sally sat next to Linus at the back of the bus with Charlie Brown. The three of them decided to pass the time by playing rock, paper, scissors.
"Rock! Paper! Scissors!" they shouted. Linus got scissors, Sally got paper, and Charlie Brown got rock. "Everyone seems to have both won and lost." Linus spoke.
It was not long before the bus arrived at school. Sally got off the bus and went to her class, whilst Linus and Charlie Brown went to their class. Charlie Brown was relieved to find that they were early for school, for once, and they took their seats inside the classroom. As the bell rang to signal the start of the school day, Miss Othmar walked into the room.
"Good Morning, class" she said in a clear authoritative voice (which to the untrained ear, sounds like the Wah Wah noise made by a muted trombone).
"Good Morning, Miss Othmar." The class all replied in unison.
"This morning, class, in the field of science, we are going to learn about the human heart!" Miss Othmar announced cheerfully. Almost instinctively, Charlie Brown put his hand against his chest, as if to check his heart was still beating. "Are you okay, Carlie Brown?" Linus asked, looking concerned. "I'm just nervous" was Charlie Brown's reply.
"Are you all still listening?" Miss Othmar asked, looking straight at Linus. "Good, then I'll continue. As you all probably know, the human heart is situated near the middle of the body, inside the ribcage. What you don't know yet is that there are many places in your body where you can measure your pulse. Firstly, the wrist. Now children, the way you measure your pulse is with three fingers (she shows he index, middle and ring fingers so the class can see) and if you place them on your wrist, you should feel a pulse."
Linus put his three fingers to his wrist. He didn't feel anything. "I'm probably not doing it right" he thought. He checked his heart. THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP. "That was four thumps." Linus thought, suddenly alarmed. This was very strange, and somehow, he had not noticed it before, but he could not deny it now. He had TWO hearts! He kept thinking about what he had just discovered until lunchtime. Charlie Brown was sitting on a bench outside, opening his lunchbox. Linus went over to him.
"So, what do you think about the class we had this morning, Charlie Brown?" Linus asked him. "It wasn't too bad, it was strange, but not as strange as you falling asleep, Linus." He replied.
"Hmm, I don't remember ever falling asleep, Charlie Brown. Are you sure about that?"
"Well, Linus, your head was resting against the desk, for a second I thought you had fainted." Charlie Brown responded.
"I probably had fainted." Linus said. This made Charlie Brown feel slightly guilty for not noticing the difference. "How long was I out?" Linus asked him, concerned.
"About 10 minutes." Charlie Brown replied. "What baffles me is what could have made you faint in the first place." He asked, confused.
"Well," Linus began "when Miss Othmar told us to measure our pulses, something very strange happened."
"And what was that?" Charlie brown interjected.
"Charlie Brown, you know when you check your heartbeat, you hear two thumps." Linus started. "Yes, Linus?" Charlie Brown responded. "When I checked my heart, I heard four thumps. Which means, that I must have two hearts."
"Well that figures." Charlie Brown muttered. "Are you going to tell anyone else?"
"I'll tell my parents, since they probably know already, and try to understand the answers they give."
Just then, Sally arrived. "Hi there, big brother, Hello, Sweet Babboo!" Linus rolled his eyes. "Can I ask you something?" she asked "Do you love me with all your heart?" she asked.
"Which one? Linus replied, smirking. Charlie Brown began to smirk as well. "I don't get it." Sally complained. "You'll understand it eventually." Charlie Brown told her. At that moment the bell rang to signal the start of afternoon classes. "Good grief! Is it that time already?" Charlie Brown exclaimed. "See you soon Sally" he said. As he and Linus went to class, leaving Sally to ponder what on earth Linus meant by "Which one?"
The rest of the school day went by quickly. Before long, the school bell rang and everyone, including Linus, Charlie Brown, Sally, Lucy, Rerun, Pig-pen and Schroeder went home. Linus, Lucy and Rerun arrived at their house. Whilst Rerun went to play with his toys, and Lucy began to sit at her psychiatry booth, Linus went to see his father, who was in the kitchen, cooking.
"Good evening, son." Linus' father said to him. "Dad" Linus began "why did you never tell me I had two hearts?"
"We thought you'd be able to work that out by yourself." Linus' father replied. "Here's the key to the yellow toyshed. You'll find the answers to your questions there."
With that, Linus took the key and went out to the garden and stood in front of the yellow toyshed. He pondered why it had been locked all of his life, and why he was never allowed to enter it before. It was just a toyshed after all. It could not possibly tell him anything. I didn't have a mouth, for starters. He put the key into the door and turned it, unlocking the door.
As soon as he touched the handle of the door, he instantly remembered that he had forgotten to bring his blanket along with him. So he locked the door, took the key out and ran off to his room. There he found his blanket, lying on his bed. It was a while since he last felt the need to carry it, but somehow, he thought it would be a good idea to bring it. Something about the mysteriousness of the yellow toyshed made him apprehensive. Having retrieved his blanket, he ran back out of the house and back towards the yellow toyshed. He turned the key in the door again, before turning the handle of the door, and he pushed the door open.
What he saw surprised him greatly. He was utterly convinced that from the outside, it looked very small. He looked at the shed from the outside again, and found that he was right, it was small. The inside, by comparison, was huge. This room alone was at least a good few feet wider and longer than the shed outside it. The interior resembled something like a control room. It was shaped like a hexagon, and the walls were white and had lots of little roundels on them. The console in the middle of the room had lots of switches and buttons, but Linus thought better than to start pressing them at random. Also left on the console was a post-it note. It read…
Dear Linus, I knew you would end up reading this at some point. I assume right now you're wondering what this shed is. I would much like to tell you about this in person, however. If you wish to meet me, just push the lever that I've stuck a post-it note on. I've already pre-set the destination to my house, in a place called Gallifrey. I hope to see you soon.
Your Grandfather, Felix Van Pelt.
"So that's where our Grandfather has been all this time. Gallifrey. Where could that be?" Linus asked himself. He walked around the side of the console until he found the post-it note, which read: "pull me". He touched the Lever. "Good evening, Linus" said a voice inside Linus' mind. "The voice speaking to you telepathically right now is the TARDIS in which you are standing. Strange, is it not?" Linus didn't know how to answer. "Pull the lever. Your grandfather wants to see you." Linus pulled the lever. The TARDIS began making a VWORP VWORP VWORP sound, before it started flying through time and space. Linus held on to the metal rail on the edge of the walkway to prevent himself being flung around by the TARDIS' spinning. "How I predicted that I do not know." Linus said to himself. The TARDIS then stopped, and went quiet. Linus knew he could step out of the TARDIS at this point. He opened the door, blanket in hand, to see where he had landed.
Standing in front of him was a man that Linus recognised immediately as his grandfather. He looked very much the same as he did in the family photos he'd seen of him. He looked a lot like Linus, especially with regards to his hair, except age had made his hair turn grey. He was also taller than Linus, which was no surprise.
"Welcome, Linus, to my humble abode. I understand you have many questions to ask me." Felix said. "Grandfather, why do I have two hearts?" Was Linus' first question. "Please sit down whilst I make us some tea. This may take a while to fully explain." Felix responded. Linus did as he was told and he sat at the table and looked out of the window. What he saw surprised him at first, but after thinking it through, seeing the sky red and the grass orange seemed normal compared to many of the other things that he had just seen. He pondered whether Gallifrey was the name of the planet rather than just a place name. All he knew, was that his grandfather would tell him everything very soon. Just then Felix was pouring him tea.
"To answer your first question, Linus, you and I, we, have two hearts because we are not human, Linus. We are Time Lords, native to the planet of Gallifrey. Time Lords, as a race, have the power to fly across time and space in a TARDIS, which stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. Your Tardis can take you anywhere in the universe at any point in time. Have you understood all of that so far?"
Linus nodded. "There are a few thing you need to know about time travel. Rule 1…"Felix began
"Never cross your own time stream." Linus interrupted "and rule 2 is, never change a fixed point in time, but it is necessary to try to prevent history from being changed by somebody else." Linus continued.
"Well done, Linus." Felix began "Rule 3 is simple, don't jump out of the TARDIS whilst it's moving. I can't think of anymore rules. "I do have a few bits of advice though." Felix takes a fairly large book off of a shelf. "This book contains details on some of the better known species in the universe. Take a good read of it before going anywhere. Knowing is half the battle, as they always say."
"You mention battles, does that mean I have to fight?" Linus asked, picking up on that last sentence. "Possibly, depending on where you're going. Not all species are friendly, and it would be dangerous to explore the galaxies on your own. Bring a friend or two. The TARDIS will tell you anything I missed, including how to pilot it. See you soon Linus." Felix said, wishing Linus a safe journey home. Linus got up, thanked Felix for giving him answers, and went back to his TARDIS, still in the form of a yellow toyshed, with his blanket wrapped around his neck like a scarf.
He re-entered the TARDIS rather confidently, until he remembered that he still didn't really know how to fly this ship yet. "What more do I still need to know" he asked, apparently to nobody. As if to answer his question, a light switched on in the corridor in front of him. Linus walked over to find a door on his right, which led to a room that looked much like his own bedroom. He sat on the bed and closed his eyes. At that moment the TARDIS began to impart information on how to fly the TARDIS into Linus' brain. Linus opened his eyes, and returned to the console room, setting the co-ordinates to return to Earth (specifically the TARDIS' previous location, in the garden). And pulling the lever. He held on tight to the railing as the Tardis began dematerialising. When the TARDIS rematerialised, The TARDIS chose this moment in time to give Linus a sonic screwdriver, which Linus picked up and looked at. It was silver, red, and blue, somewhat resembling his shirt and his blanket. "What is this?" Linus asked. "It is a Sonic Screwdriver, a multi-purpose tool. Try it." The TARDIS replied. Linus pushed the slider on the screwdriver, and the Screwdriver began emitting red light and made a strange high pitched noise (the noise every sonic screwdriver makes). "So what does it do?" Linus asked, still unsure as to what it did. "You'll find out" the TARDIS replied. Linus put his sonic screwdriver in his pocket before exiting via the front door, whilst carrying the book that Felix had given him.
Linus got home and looked at the nearest clock. He had been gone half an hour. Linus' father was still cooking. "So, how was Gallifrey?" he asked. "To be honest, I didn't really see much of it." Linus replied. "Most of what I saw was grandpa's house. May I ask a question?" Linus replied.
"And what would that be?" Linus' Father asked.
"Should my friends know anything about this?" Linus asked.
"You might as well. Lucy came running to tell me that she saw your space-time toyshed disappear, and I know she'll blab on about it. You might as well give them the full story." His father told him.
"I will do. Should I ever let them in the toyshed?" Linus asked again.
"So long as you don't do anything that can get them killed, I'll allow it." He said.
"Understood." Linus replied. "I'm going to go to the table now." Linus said, walking across to where the dinner table was. He sat down, using his blanket as a back rest, and waited until dinner was ready.
Dinner was served hot, and as Linus began to tuck in to the food his father had cooked, Lucy began to speak. "SO NO ONE bothered to tell ME that the toyshed could DISAPPEAR! And HOW did it disappear anyway?" She said, loudly.
"I think Linus is the best person to answer that" their father said.
"Lucy, you may be surprised to hear that the toyshed is actually not a toyshed, but a machine that can travel through time and space. You may also remember that Felix, our grandfather, moved away to a faraway place called Gallifrey. You probably don't know that Gallifrey is a planet and that Grandpa and I belong to a race called the Time Lords. The toyshed is mine to pilot. Nobody else here knows how to fly it."
"Well I'm not flying with YOU." Lucy remarked.
"Have it your way." Linus responded, smugly. Lucy kept silent for the rest of the mealtime. Having eaten a large amount of food, Linus was excused from the table. He brought his blanket and his book up to his room, where he sat down to read. The cover read: Major aspects and creatures of the Universe, Volume 1. By The Doctor. Linus read the book until it was bedtime, when, exhausted, he fell sound asleep.