The Doctor, Rose and Jane are in the control room of the TARDIS, facing the center console. The TARDIS has just landed, rather gently for once. The two companions turn their gaze from the exterior display to the Doctor hoping for information or instructions.
Without the slightest hesitation, the Doctor begins his rapid monologue, "We've just landed upon Sarapis Prime, a world much like Earth, in that it has large cities, mountains, oceans and such. The major differences are a rather high oxygen content in the atmosphere along with a large percentage of gasses in the place of nitrogen, such as Argon and Xenon (quite extraordinary, really), hence the green sky. And the people here (well, I suppose that you can call them people) are rather standard humaniform (well humanoid looking anyway). They are actually saurian (you know, lizards and the like) and have thin and very sharp teeth and golden eyes." The Doctor smiled at the two companions, Jane and Rose, who were both wide-eyed and open mouthed at the explanation.
"Well, anyway", he continued, "this is not a good neighborhood, and, Jane, you will have to remain in the TARDIS at all times. Do not, I repeat, do not leave the TARDIS for any reason".
Jane shook her head, threw up her hands and said, "Fine", with a note of exasperation.
"Oh, and you can continue your training. You'll take care of that, won't you TARDIS?" the Doctor said, as if he expected an answer. "Well, anyway, there are jumpsuits ready for us to 'blend in', so to speak, though nobody will believe for a second that we belong here."
The Doctor and Rose left the control room only to return moments later in silky jumpsuits reminiscent of pearl. "Well", Jane began, "don't you two look stunning!" She was half joking of course, and wished that she could have a jump-suit like that.
"We're off", exclaimed the Doctor. And, with that he and Rose left the TARDIS. Jane looked at the door as they went out and wished that she could have gone with them. After all, she had faced danger before, and it didn't sound all that bad. Oh, well...
Jane suddenly realized that the TARDIS could provide her with any cloths that she wanted. "Tardy, would you make me an outfit like theirs?" she said, as though she were saying, "please, please, please". The TARDIS rumbled softly in the affirmative. "Oh, thank you", Jane crooned.
Jane ran to her room, and there in the closet was the silky jumpsuit that she wanted. As she reached for it, she discovered that it felt more like flannel than silk. The material was thick and soft, but very light in weight. She quickly put it on and went about exploring the TARDIS.
When she came to an unexpected dead-end, she was puzzled. "Tardy, this went through yesterday."
The TARDIS rumbled softly in reply.
"Training? Now? I was just..."
The TARDIS interrupted with a stronger rumble.
"Really? I'll enjoy it?" Jane replied, a bit surprised.
The TARDIS answered by the faintest rumble.
"OK, ok", Jane responded. "Let's go to the training room..."
The TARDIS rumbled a little stronger.
"Not the training room?" Jane was a bit confused.
A very faint rumble, almost teasing reply.
"The control room?" Jane said with a bit of wonder. "What on earth... or wherever... Oh, OK. Here I go"
When she reached the control room, there was a small chair next to the main console. Then came a quick, firm rumble. Jane knew a 'sit' command when she heard one.
However, as soon as she sat down, the chair quickly rose up so that she was now looking down at the controls. A holographic display appeared in front of her and she reached out to touch it. Delighted, she quipped, "The Doctor never used anything like this!"
The TARDIS rumbled in what seemed to be a laugh.
"Old school, huh?", Jane giggled. "So, what am I supposed to do?"
The TARDIS rumbled a long set of instructions.
"Wait", Jane interrupted. "Wait, wait, wait! Time travel? I'm not supposed to go anywhere. The Doctor will be angry..."
The TARDIS rumbled a brief explanation.
"Ten minutes into the future? Same place? Um, technically, not going anywhere?" Jane thought for a moment. "So I won't be leaving the 'TARDIS for any reason'!" She had to laugh at that. "Well, this should make my wait for the Doctor shorter, anyway!" She giggled. "Let's go!"
Suddenly, Jane found herself on the floor with no memory of how she got there. The last thing that she remembered was telling the TARDIS to proceed with the time-travel of ten minutes into the future without moving. Jane began to get up from the floor, feeling very sluggish, like she was just getting out of bed in the morning. "Tardy, what just happened?" There was a long pause. "Tardy?" Jane prodded.
After a brief moment, the TARDIS rumbled a very long and drawn out explanation of the factors that were not taken into consideration, and…
Jane interrupted, "You are sounding like the Doctor! Please, just tell me what happened, are we alright, and will we see the doctor soon?"
There was a long pause followed by a rather unsatisfying short rumble.
Jane looked at the display on the center console and saw that there was another TARDIS just outside, or at least it looked like a TARDIS, except that it was yellow. The sky was red and the buildings were a mud-brown. Everything looked like Sarapis Prime, except the colors were very different - very wrong. Something was very, very wrong. The TARDIS rumbled a slightly longer explanation of what happened.
"So", Jane began, "we entered an alternate universe and WE are broken?"
The TARDIS rumbled that Jane should place her hand in the mark on the console.
There in front of here was a handprint - not just any handprint, but her handprint, in bright watermelon pink. She was sure that it had not been there before, but she was beginning to get used to the TARDIS changing things around. "OK, so...I place my hand here and..."
Suddenly she saw and heard things that she hadn't seen or heard before. "We need to talk", came the soft, female voice from nowhere.
"Who are you?" Jane asked.
"I am TARDIS, or as you call me, Tardy" came the reply.
Startled, Jane quickly pulled her hand back and everything was normal again. "Tardy?" No response. Carefully, slowly, she placed her hand on the print again.
"Jane", Tardy began, "you are the future."
Jane ignored the statement, and asked, "How come we can talk now?"
Tardy responded, "I've had to make adjustments. The Doctor went through similar adjustments when we first began traveling together. This connection will make our communication more efficient." The TARDIS paused. "You are the future."
Jane was so taken by the sights and sounds, and the new voice of Tardy that she almost forgot about the problem at hand. She shook her head to come back to the moment. "How are WE broken?"
"You have not been fully restored." Tardy continued, "I was not aware of your special qualities. You are the future."
"Wait, wait, wait..." Jane drew a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to make sense out of all of this. "How am I the future, and what has any of that got to do with any of this?"
"The Doctor", Tardy began, "is not just 'old school'. He is from the last generation of Time Lords, a generation from which no new generations can arise. You are the first new generation of Time Lords in many thousands of years. I did not even have a record of your existence until you arrived." There was a long pause, "I was, however, told to expect you."
"Told by who - I mean by whom?" Jane spat out the sentence. She was frustrated by all of these things that didn't make sense.
"I do not have a memory of who it was who told me," Tardy confessed, as though embarrassed. "I am damaged as well. I have lost many partial memories, and of those memories that are completely gone, I cannot tell, since there is nothing to remember - only empty space."
"OK." Jane was becoming frustrated. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly through tight lips, almost a whistle. "Let's just go back to where we were", Jane suggested, as if that were the obvious course of action.
"We cannot do that", Tardy explained, "because we have no point of reference in this universe. We need to find that point before we can return."
By this time, Jane had enough. She needed time to let it all 'soak in'. She disconnected herself and went to the kitchen: she was suddenly very thirsty. When she arrived at the kitchen, she was stunned to find her handprint on every appliance - in bright watermelon pink. "The Doctor is not going to be pleased with handprints all over everything in the TARDIS", Jane said sarcastically. And, as soon as she said it they were gone; only to reappear a moment later in pale white with a rim of green on the bottom.
Jane went over to the refrigerator and placed her hand on the newly-colored print, and Tardy said, "The Doctor will not see the prints, only you will." Jane tried not to smile; she wanted to stay angry with the TARDIS for a little while longer.
She took a deep breath and opened the refrigerator only to find it filled, top to bottom, with every kind of beverage imaginable - most of the flavors she had never heard of. Since she couldn't decide, she closed her eyes and grabbed the first one that her hand touched.
"Mango Wall-er-berry", she read aloud. With a shrug, she opened the bottle and took a trial sip. It was sweet, tart, and tingly, almost like bubbles, but more like a gentle electric shock. She drank some more, and felt the tingling all the way to her stomach. The tingling faded slowly after each swallow. "Mmm. My new favorite", she said with satisfaction.
She reached into the refrigerator for another Mango Wallerberry and walked slowly to her room (this was definitely a two beverage occasion). Maybe she could figure this problem out. After all, she was stuck in an alternate universe with a TARDIS that should be able to get her back to where she started, just after she left. Right? There had to be a way to get back. Right?
After hours of browsing through books written in Circular Gallifreyan, full of charts and figures and formulae, Jane fell asleep and dreamed. She had the sensation of movement, as though she were slowly falling. "Help me!" came a small voice in the dark. "Come and save me!" still another small voice in the dark. Jane could not see anything and she felt as though she were floating in space.
Little by little, she began to see two small patches of faint light, and heard the voices again. But, how to get to them... Jane reached out her right hand to try to grab one of the small objects, and as she did she noticed that she too was glowing faintly. As she reached again, she began to draw near to the object. She reached even harder, now with both hands and eventually caught the two little lights. Then she woke up.
Without knowing why, Jane reached into her drawer and took out her Fob Watch and her SilverMetal. She hung the Fob Watch around her neck and placed SilverMetal in the right hip pocket of her jumpsuit. With confidence she walked into the control room, up to the little chair, sat down and placed her right hand on the handprint, that, apparently, only she could see.
"Tardy", Jane began, "I'm ready. Let's get back."
"Not yet," Tardy responded. "I've found the problem."
"OK. What?" Jane said, as if she were ready for anything. After all, problem found - problem solved. Right?
"Look behind you", Tardy replied firmly.
Jane turned slowly in her chair. What she found was a wall of what appeared to be water. Suddenly, a cold fear came over her, like she was drowning. She began to shiver. "Tardy, what is that?"
"Ante time", Tardy responded.
"Anti-time? Like anti-matter?" Jane replied, confused and very frightened.
"No. Ante Time - it is the past pushing into the present. Time going backwards." Tardy responded, with a concerned tone. "The Ante TARDIS in the alley is effecting all of my systems."
"Can you do something? How did it get in here?" Jane was beginning to panic.
"I cannot do anything. I only know that this has to be resolved quickly. The past must not cross over into the present. You must stop it!" Tardy was almost commanding.
"Stop it? Me?" Jane was reeling from the events surrounding her. Her hearts were pounding, and she was breathing heavily, as though she had been running. "How can I stop it?"
"You are the future", Tardy began. "You must push back Ante Time."
"Push back..." Jane thought.
"You must help me", Tardy pleaded, "save me."
Help me - save me. It started to make sense to Jane, but she couldn't quite explain it. She took the Fob Watch in her left hand and SilverMetal in her right and started to walk towards the Ante Time. "I am the future", she began to chant. "I am the future", low and to herself. "I am the future", she held out her hands with her treasures held in tightly-clinched fists. "I AM THE FUTURE!" she screamed as she pushed back on the watery wall of Ante Time. Jane could feel something like electricity coming out of her hands and she saw Ante Time begin to glow a sickly pale yellow-green. "I AM THE FUTURE!" she screamed and pushed with all of her might.
Suddenly, Jane found herself on the floor of the control room, next to the little chair, exactly where she was a few hours ago, when all of the problems started. Jane began to get up from the floor, feeling very sluggish, like she was just getting out of bed in the morning. It seemed as though all of this had all happened before. Confused and shaking, she asked, "Tardy, what just happened?" There was a long pause. "Tardy?" Jane prodded.
The TARDIS rumbled an answer.
Jane looked for the chair, got up and sat on it. "I did not fall off of the chair!" she argued. "What just happened?" She looked around for her hand print, but did not see it.
"Tardy", Jane began to ask, "where are we?"
"Sarapis Prime", came the rumble. Jane looked at the exterior display and saw that everything looked the way it did when they first landed: green sky, pink buildings, all the same.
"How long has the Doctor been gone?" Jane asked slyly.
"Ten minutes and 17 seconds", came the rumbled reply.
"What have we been doing?" Jane demanded.
"We were going to begin training you in time travel, but you fell off of the chair", the TARDIS rumbled.
"GRRRR!" Jane got up off of the chair and stormed out of the control room back to her room. She paced back and forth, angry and confused. Something was just not right. She carefully went over everything that happened while the Doctor was away, step by step.
She did not fall off of the chair, she was quite certain of that. If she had just 'fallen off of the chair'... She opened her top drawer - nothing. She reached up to her neck and felt the Fob Watch. She reached into her right pocket and found SilverMetal. "Aha!". If she had merely 'fallen off of the chair', she wouldn't have her Fob Watch and SilverMetal with her.
Jane quickly ran into the kitchen and opened up the refrigerator. "Mango Wallerberry", she read with satisfaction. She took one, opened and sipped it with her eyes closed - yes, exactly as she remembered: tingly all the way down.
She opened her eyes and closed the fridge only to find her handprint on the door, this time mostly watermelon pink, with a bottom edge of white fading to green. She reached out and placed her hand lovingly into the print. "Good work today, Jane", Tardy said softly. Jane smiled and, for the first time in her life, felt a tear of joy roll down her face.
Jane wiped her face and walked slowly back into the control room. When she arrived, she noticed that her chair was missing. "Only when I need it", she thought. Today was a good day. A really good day.
Just then, The Doctor and Rose came running in. The Doctor, quite out of breath, shouted, "TARDIS, set coordinates for Earth, Paris, France, July 13, 2054, 11:00 AM local time!" The TARDIS began the familiar sound of time-shifting. He turned his back on the control panel and breathed a heavy sigh.
The Doctor turned his gaze upon Jane. "Mango Wallerberry?" he asked. Without waiting for an answer, "That's an interesting combination, since the two come from different galaxies!"
"Well", the Doctor said, apparently intentionally changing the subject, and addressing Rose, "that went quite well, I think!"
Rose, shocked, puzzled and slightly angry, responded, "Quite well? Nearly getting our heads ripped off by a gang of hungry lizard people?" She snapped, "Quite well, indeed!"
"So", Jane began slyly, "you two weren't gone very long…" Looking downward, she ran the tip of her finger around top of the Mango Wallerberry bottle.
"Mph", the Doctor replied. Changing the subject again, as only the Doctor could, "How was your training today, Jane? Anything new?"
Jane stretched and took a deep breath, "I learned a few things." She took a sip of her Mango Wallerberry, and said, nonchalantly, "Fell off of the chair…" She turned, grinned widely and began walking slowly off to her room. The Doctor raised one eyebrow...