It was a blazing hot summer and seagulls circled the beach, squawking boisterously as they soared- ready to swoop down on unsuspecting holiday-makers and steal their sandwiches.
With a loud wheezing noise, the TARDIS started to materialise in the centre of a pier, landing neatly between a kiosk and a stand of small plastic seaside windmills. As the ship materialised fully, the windmills spun wildly in the breeze of the landing TARDIS and finally as the ship stopped, the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki exited the doors and were greeted with thunderous applause from the crowd outside. To the spectators, the blue box was the latest street entertainment to grace the seaside town and the occupants were illusionists appearing by a magic trick. Vicki was the first to bow, followed by Ian and then finally the Doctor, tipping his straw hat at the audience. Barbara let out a shy smile and then whispered to Ian.
"He's loving this! He likes to make a grand entrance, doesn't he?"
Walking past the revellers, the Doctor noted to his companions that it appeared to be a leisure resort of 20th century origins- though much to the disappointment of Ian and Barbara- a little beyond their time of the 1960's.
"Well it seems a shame to waste an opportunity to visit a funfair," Vicki said excitedly, staring up at the multitude of rides in the distance as her body moved to the sounds of repetitive arcade music. It was all so different from Vicki's own time she told them, where leisure normally consisted of using thought-machines and travelling in space-ships rather than using slot machines and driving dodgem cars into other dodgem cars.
"I don't suppose an hour or two would do any harm, let the child have some fun," the Doctor said, patting her on the head affectionately.
"We could all do with a breather," Barbara said. She took off her cardigan in the warm sun and tied it around her waist, allowing the sun's rays to reach her bare skin. "Though I'm not sure about this heat."
"You know we've crossed deserts, Barbara?" Ian said with a smirk.
Barbara frowned. In the heat she was even less in the mood for his teasing.
Ian took a deep breath and sniffed the air. "Fish, chips and vinegar, I've missed this."
"Don't forget a good saveloy, and smell the sweet things too- candy floss, toffee apples, stick of rock," Barbara said.
The Doctor scoffed, holding his lapels in a haughty gesture. "All the wonders of five-star dining hmm?"
Vicki tugged at Barbara's sleeve, her eyes wide with excitement as they scanned everything around her. "Oh we can eat anytime, come on, there's so much more to do. Look at that giant wheel thing, bet the view's great from up there!"
The travellers' eyes all looked upwards at the same time to where a large funfair ride stood pride of place in the theme park.
"Alright, alright!" Barbara gave in to Vicki's impatience and began to follow her but as she looked to the beach; her eyes were drawn to something on the sand that seemed out of place and peculiar. Ian looked at his friend noticing the colour had drained from her face.
"Barbara, what's wrong?" he said.
"I thought… I saw… something." She said the words slowly, her eyes fixed on the spot where a strange figure stood still among the holidaymakers, unseen to everyone else but completely visible to her. The image of the figure was fading, inconsistent, ghost-like, fuzzy like a television set but with the clear outline of it being a person.
"What was it?" Ian asked, tapping her on the shoulder gently.
"Oh it was there I promise you, a person, or a thing that looked like a person. Doctor, it was right there, no one seemed to notice it."
The Doctor drummed his fingers against his chin and pursed his lips together. "Well whatever it was is hiding from sight now. I wouldn't worry, if it wants to make another appearance I'm sure it'll make itself known to us. Come along; come along, to the funfair."
Barbara turned to Ian. "Why is it he's never reassuring?"
…
From the highest point of the big wheel ride in a small rickety cage-like capsule, Ian, Barbara and Vicki waved enthusiastically to the Doctor who looked like a small insect from the height of the ride. They were sure he couldn't see them from the ground but nevertheless they waved anyway, enjoying the view that went on for miles, showcasing the beach, the nearby town and even further inland.
"I feel rather dizzy," Vicki said as she looked down to the ground.
Barbara pulled her young friend away from looking between the bars. "You were the one who wanted to come up here."
"Yes, well, I have a bit of a confession. I'm not exactly very good with heights."
Ian let out a belly laugh. "So you decided to come on this thing?"
"Well I like the views," Vicki protested. "And I'm not afraid of funfair rides, its just I didn't expect to feel so strange when I got up here."
Barbara rubbed her friend on the back. "Well the rides almost over, can you hang on until then?"
"Of course, but let's not mention this to the Doctor, ok?" Vicki looked at them for confirmation but as she looked past Ian, she suddenly stopped talking and shivered as she stared hard at the beach.
"Vicki, what's wrong?" Ian asked, waving his hand in front of her face to break her from her trance. "Feeling dizzy again?"
Vicki squinted and rubbed her eyes. "No, it's not that, it's just, I think I just saw what Barbara saw, a figure on the beach sort of fading and unclear. Look, its there, can't you see it?"
The teachers turned their heads with synchronicity to where Vicki was looking and announced that they too could see the figure, glistening in the sunshine and hovering above the sand.
"But no one else seems to see it!" Barbara said.
Ian rubbed the back of his neck. "Come on, let's wait until this ride is over and tell the Doctor."
…
When the ride had finished, they found the Doctor across the street from the beach, lurking around the food stalls, excitedly like a child at Easter time being given a batch of chocolate eggs. They were amused to find him placing bits of candy floss into his mouth with satisfaction. "The consistency of a cloud," he said as he saw them approach.
Vicki giggled, remembering another such occasion where they'd arrived at an alien fair and the Doctor had first developed the taste for the pink sugary treat. It looked like he'd come back for seconds!
Ian smiled at the sight of the Doctor's face with the little pink bits of floss still attached to his chin, making him look as though he'd sprouted a pink beard in the moments they'd been separated. The sight was one he never expected to see, thinking back to the cantankerous old man they met in the junkyard. The old man had certainly changed in the time they'd spent with him, and it was a pleasing change to witness. Once they had gotten to know him, he seemed less like a miserly old suspicious man and much more like an eccentric and whimsical wizard, almost as if he had been peeled away, layer by layer until the goodness came to the surface.
Barbara, more concerned with the matter at hand than the Doctor's candy floss obsession, decided to get straight to the point. "Doctor, we're very sorry to interrupt your lunch, but we have important news."
His attention diverted immediately from the treat unto his companion. "What is it, my dear?"
"We all saw that thing again, out on the beach."
The Doctor watched Ian as he nodded in agreement and then looked at Vicki. "Well, my child, is this true?"
Ian and Barbara exchanged glances. Why did he need confirmation from Vicki to believe them?
Vicki told him what she saw and the Doctor chuckled. "Well, hmmm, sounds an interesting little mystery. We shall investigate. We came to a funfair, but we didn't expect a ghost hunt, did we hmmm?"
He peered down at Vicki cheekily and chuckled vigorously, tickling her chin with merriment.
…
Manoeuvring past a horde of holiday-makers, the travellers managed their way to the beach. Barbara had been particularly anxious to find the figure before it disappeared again. Strangely, it didn't seem to terrify her in the way something unexplainable usually did. There was something about the figure that felt sad to her, that seemed as though it was calling for their help- after all, why could no one else see it except themselves?
Vicki, taking much longer than the others, threw her shoes off to the side of the beach and felt the warm sand between her toes. She relished in the sensation and looked sheepishly as her three older friends turned back to see where she was. "Well, I might as well get to experience the beach at the same time as investigating," she said.
The others turned back around, walking ahead of her and readily across the beach as they surveyed the area as though looking for a missing child.
"It was over there somewhere," Ian said, pointing, "near that purple umbrella."
"I thought it was a red umbrella," Barbara debated.
The Doctor harrumphed and shook his handkerchief at them. The heat was clearly getting to him.
"Never mind the colour of the bumbershoot, its clear whatever that thing was you saw has gone walkabout."
"Oh no it hasn't!" Vicki said as she held her hand above her eyes to block out the sun. She peered out onto the horizon, right out to sea. She pointed. "There it is- there's our mystery friend."
The Doctor's face showed many different emotions at that moment and Ian could see the old man was curious- excited in fact. The figure seemed to glisten in the sunlight and was almost hovering above the water like a mythical sea creature rising from its secret lagoon.
"We've got to get out there, try and make contact," Barbara said. She felt a strong drive to communicate with whatever the creature was.
"Anyone got transport?" Ian said, grinning. "Where would we get a boat?"
The Doctor chuckled and then tapped him playfully. "My dear Chesterton, we are surrounded by the sea, sand and people. How hard can it be to acquire one measly boat?"
…
"Not so easy was it?" Ian was taking great satisfaction in being right- the power-boat acquiring having taken them considerably more time than the Doctor estimated- and he didn't even mind that it had taken well over an hour if only to see the old man's expression. In the time it taken to get the boat, Ian had enjoyed the sunshine but Barbara had circled the group, applying sun tan lotion onto her friends to make sure they didn't burn. She was also trying to ignore the nagging feeling that they were too late and the figure out at sea would have faded away.
As they all clambered noisily into the boat, Barbara sat at the driving seat and started up the motor, not wasting any time in idle conversation about who would drive. She knew it would result in an argument between Ian and the Doctor anyway.
"Do you know what you're doing?" Vicki raised a sceptical eyebrow as she clung to the side of the boat for dear life.
Barbara wasn't entirely happy whenever Vicki had the notion that people from the 20th century couldn't do anything but she shook it off as a genuine query and got back to her task.
Vicki then explained she'd never seen a power-boat before, so used to vehicles that travelled in space, rather than ones that travelled on the waves.
"Oh well my father used to be quite the sailor," Barbara said proudly. "He used to take me on all kinds of boats. It's quite simple when you know how."
Ian clutched his stomach, feeling it churning. "Just try and remain low to the water if you don't mind."
It didn't take too long to reach their destination and it was with great relief that the figure was still hovering over the water in the same spot it had been when they seen it from the beach. As soon as the boat ground to a halt and the motor switched off, there was a strange noise coming from the blue, a crackling sound, hissing and spluttering like an old radio set not used for many years. Words could be heard between the crackles almost as if a radio was trying to tune itself to the right frequency.
"It's trying to communicate," Vicki said as they eagerly listened to hear if the voice became clearer.
Patience worked, and within minutes the voice they could hear became less muffled and eventually more and more words became audible. As the voice became clearer, it seemed to enhance the image of the being along with it, and within moments the figure was more than a fuzzy blur- it was a definite person, a human! The only problem they could see was that the person seemed to vanish and then re-appear every few moments before they had a chance to properly introduce themselves. The human also seemed to be holding some sort of electronic device.
"It's a human female," the Doctor said, peering at the woman who was a semi-faded picture in front of him.
"My name is Cassie," the woman said, her voice still a little unclear. "How can you see me?"
The Doctor rubbed his chin. "I'm not entirely certain, but then I don't know the circumstances here. Perhaps it would be wise if you gave an explanation, hmmm young lady?"
Barbara leaned over from her seat, trying to get a better view of the woman. "We're not angry or afraid of you; we just want to make sure you're alright. We saw you a few times and you seemed lost."
Cassie hesitated, she wasn't sure what she was going to tell them or even how they could see her. After a moment's thought, she spoke. "I'm a time traveller. Can you believe that about me?"
Ian laughed. "Oh we can believe it alright!"
"We're time travellers too," Vicki said, leaning forward in the boat and accidentally jerking it one way so that Ian nearly toppled overboard. Fortunately he clung on before he had a chance to be lost at sea and then Cassie wouldn't be the only one in need of rescue.
Barbara sensed that Cassie was unhappy even before they started talking in depth. Although the woman was ghostly, pale, and her expressions unclear, Barbara could still feel the sorrow surrounding her as though she carried an aura of pain with her, carrying it around, an extra weight, like Jacob Marley forced to wear chains for eternity.
"That must be why you can see me," Cassie said. "I'm lost, stuck between time and dimensions, stranded in the in-between worlds."
The Doctor spluttered. "But how can that be?"
She showed him the device she was holding- a small box with wires protruding from it. Ian took a glance over it but it looked so ordinary- how could it be so significant? He supposed it was like the fast return switch in the TARDIS, unnoticeable until it became of great importance and in the end almost deadly.
The Doctor asked if he could examine the instrument and when she agreed he took it delicately in his hands and gasped in amazement as he stared at the device cupped in his hands. He even used his monocle which he only got out for very important inspections. "Fascinating!" His voice rose higher in pitch. "Time travel in the palm of your hand."
"Like those travel dials on Marinus?" Barbara asked.
"No, my dear, those travel distance but not time, though I suppose it has some of the same principles." He turned back to face Cassie. "How on earth did you have access to such technology, what century are you from?"
"I was from the 27th century. I invented this specific technology but when the use of time travel was deemed too dangerous by the government, I went against the rules."
She disappeared for a moment and it was with baited breath that they all waited for her to reappear. When she materialised, she was still shimmering beautifully under the afternoon sun.
"You mean you used time travel illegally?" Ian said, looking at the Doctor and wondering whether the old man too was time travelling when he wasn't supposed to be. It never occurred to him before that it could be forbidden.
"Yes I was so close to finalising my studies on the effects of time travel, I wanted to know everything." A tear ran down her cheek, and though she was barely visible, the tears seemed metallic somehow. She then faded again for several moments, constantly in and out of focus like an old camera.
"Time travel is not a game," the Doctor said, almost ready to give a stern lecture.
Cassie sighed. "But you are also time travellers, how is that possible?"
"I have my own machine and I'm most definitely not of your race. Did you not consider it possible for someone else to travel in time? My people have superior knowledge in this area," the Doctor said, clutching his lapels with an egotistical stance.
"Oh Doctor, please, this isn't helping!" Barbara said, unsure of why the Doctor felt the need to judge someone else's motives involving time travel when he interfered with it all the time. Having been on the receiving end of a 'don't re-write history' lecture, she knew too well the Doctor's haughty attitude when he felt he was in the right.
The Doctor softened, taking a quick glance at the young woman. "I'm sorry, my dear, I never intended to presume things about your nature."
After the apology, Barbara turned to face Cassie "You say you're stuck, but how did that happen?"
"I didn't have time to make final modifications. The police were onto me and I made a split second decision to make the time jump. It was during the jump that the device malfunctioned and I was unable to fully materialise in the place and time set by my invention. Instead I have been simply in-between, the machine unable to materialise me and also unable to send me back home."
"You must have been terrified," Barbara said.
"I was at first, wandering around, realising there was no one I could communicate with and nowhere to repair my invention. After a while it wasn't terror anymore, just emptiness."
Barbara sighed. "It's awful, to be all alone, trapped between dimensions."
"It's been a lonely existence, no-one to interact with. I've paid the price for my risk."
Vicki felt extremely bad for the woman, after all, life was all about adventure and she understood the desire for seeing and trying new experiences. "You didn't deserve to end up stranded."
"And there's no way we can bring her back into the real world?" Ian directed his question at the Doctor.
"I'm afraid I've never encountered such a problem, my boy."
"Well we must try," Ian said firmly, "after all, being stranded is something Barbara and I know all too well."
Ian tried not to let on to the Doctor just how much even talking about home hurt him. It'd been so long since they'd seen London in 1963- they were starting to feel as though it never existed. He looked over at Barbara- she too displayed the same look of sadness, of utter homesickness. There was no question in their minds that they needed to help the woman and fast before she lost all hope.
"Surely the TARDIS could help?" Vicki said.
At the sound of Vicki's suggestion, the Doctor chuckled excitedly. "Oh my dear Vicki, you have given me a wonderful idea."
"I didn't really say anything."
But the Doctor ruffled her hair enthusiastically, speaking quietly in an excited manner about theories the others could only imagine.
"You think you can do it?" Barbara asked.
"Oh I couldn't be sure of that," he replied, his eyes darting back and forth. "But there is always a chance, isn't there, hmmm?"
Vicki looked over at Cassie. The woman was looking at them curiously but still fading in and out of focus throughout the Doctor's conversation with himself. Even if they could get her back to the ship and try whatever it was the Doctor had in mind. Did they have a chance to save her before it was too late?
"We need to get you back to our ship," Ian told Cassie. "Do you think it's possible for you to climb onto our boat and go ashore?"
They all watched in anticipation as she hovered over the boat and then seemed to make herself comfortable next to Barbara, not quite seated but floating above the seat instead. Even though the situation was a dire one, Vicki couldn't help but feel amused at the sight. She'd always loved the idea of the supernatural and felt as though she had her own ghost friend.
"I'm grateful for you're help," Cassie said, her voice quivering with emotion, "though I'm not sure anything can help my situation."
Barbara reached out to lay a hand on her shoulder but as she did so, her hand went right through the ghostly image. She tried to ignore it, not wanting to draw attention to the fact that Cassie's life was literally fading away. "At least see what the Doctor has in mind."
…
When they arrived at the TARDIS, and made their way inside the magical doors, they showed their guest into the console room and watched as she floated around the central console, observing all the machinery and buttons and levers. She flew past the hexagonal unit several times.
"This is your time and space machine?" she asked.
The Doctor bristled with pride. "Quite so."
"It's spectacular!"
He watched as she made a few more turns around the console and then he stopped her in her tracks by standing directly in her path. "My dear, I think we should discuss my idea."
She stopped still, shimmering wildly against all the lights of the console room. "What is it you propose to do?"
"We're going to re-materialise you by de-materialising the TARDIS, with any luck you shall re-appear in your own time once the TARDIS works out your form."
Ian, Barbara and Vicki exchanged worried glances.
Ian stepped forward and ran his fingers through his hair. "Hang on a minute, Doctor. How do we know she'll materialise fully, what if she de-materialises forever instead?"
The Doctor tapped his chin with his fingers. "Hmm, yes, well of course I have no evidence of what shall happen. I'm afraid it's never been done."
"So it's only a fifty-fifty chance?" Barbara said. "She could go home but she could also disappear somewhere into the vortex or whatever it is?"
"Well it's not a perfect solution, I'll admit, but wouldn't you risk it to get home once again hmm?"
Ian and Barbara looked at one another, neither having the answer to the question.
"I'm still not sure about it," Ian admitted. It wasn't about himself and Barbara getting home, it was worrying about the safety of another person, one they'd be responsible for.
"I want to try it," Cassie said as she circled all the travellers, leaving a cold breeze tickling their arms as she passed. "I need to at least try."
"But you could disappear forever," Barbara said, a tear forming in her eye at the thought of it.
"I think I want to risk it. I took a risk and it got me here, maybe it'll get me back. And what's the alternative, Barbara?"
"So you want to go?" Vicki asked, much more willing to allow the trial than her sceptical friends. She was very curious as to whether the Doctor's experiment could work.
"Yes, I want to try."
Ian and Barbara held out for the other's hand and watched as the woman stepped a pace forward to where the Doctor was waiting with his hand stationary above one of the control panels. They were incredibly anxious but knew that it was not their decision to make. One day maybe they would find themselves making the same kind of choice.
"When you are ready we can begin," the Doctor said softly.
"I'm ready."
She looked back at Ian, Barbara and Vicki and they could see that she was trying to smile though her face remained weak and ghostly, as if she was paralysed with fear. "Thank you for your help. If this works or not, I'm still glad I met you all. I never thought I would meet other time travellers but here we all are, doing something no one else in the world is doing."
"We're lucky," Vicki added.
"Ready my dear?" the Doctor said but Ian and Barbara remained quiet as their new friend prepared herself for her next adventure.
"Do it, Doctor, before I change my mind."
The Doctor's hand slowly reached for the button and he pressed it three times before twisting several dials and checking the scanner screen. A noise filled the room and then there was a shaking as the ship started to de-materialise with that usual 'coming and going' sound the rotor made when it moved up and down.
As the rotor started to screech and whir to a halt, there was a blinding flash of light. The team of travellers all stepped back, shielding their eyes from the light and feeling their way to the corners of the room. When the light returned to normal and they all stood on opposite ends of the console room, they realised that Cassie was gone completely.
"Did it work?" Vicki asked. "Where is she?"
The Doctor searched for any indication of the woman's pattern and where her location was but he looked bewildered as he looked at the buttons and readings. "I'm afraid I'm not certain, my dear."
"So she could have disappeared into oblivion?" Ian asked.
Barbara wandered over to Ian and took his hand again. "Or she could have got home, could be back with her loved ones right now. Will we ever know, Doctor, what happened here?"
The Doctor simply shook his head.
Barbara's eyes filled with tears. She wanted desperately to believe that Cassie had made it home but without the certainty she felt troubled and afraid.
"We must believe that no matter the outcome, she is at peace," the Doctor said.
Vicki looked upwards, deep in thought as she reminisced about their encounter with another time traveller. "I think she made it."
As the young girl linked her arm through the Doctor's and started to tell him all her theories about the experiment, Barbara turned to face Ian. Sadness swept over her.
"Oh Ian, if there's a chance she made it, do you suppose there's a chance for us too?"
Ian lifted her chin up. "We were very unwilling adventurers, Barbara, once upon a time, but we've been through so much. One day that adventure's going to take us back and we'll find a way to see home again, just you wait and see."
Barbara rested her head on his shoulder and let out a smile. One day they would get back. One day.