** **
The Master had scooped her up over his shoulder before she realized what was happening. He walked back the direction he'd came, down to the TARDIS, completely ignoring her yells and fists pounding on his back.
Once inside the TARDIS, he put her down. Zoe stared at him in fear mainly based in surprise.
"Sit," he ordered in a cold voice. Zoe immediately dropped Indian style to the floor. The Master rolled his eyes.
"On the jump-seat, ape!"
Zoe had never moved so fast.
With one disdainful glance at her, he simply started setting controls on TARDIS console.
Zoe's single heart beat erratically, pounding in her chest. 'This can't be happening, this can't be happening' repeated in her head like a mantra, desperately trying to keep her grounded to reality. Either it wasn't working, or this was real. So she sat, tense and waiting for whatever the Master was going to do next, and trying to figure out what the French toast was happening to her mind.
Suddenly the TARDIS took flight. She yelped like a kicked puppy and dug her fingernails into the battered material of the jump-seat. The room tilted roughly and she fell forward off her perch, straight into the Master's legs. He growled and shoved her out of the way with his foot, attention otherwise on the flat-screen.
The room pitched and rolled and shook. It seemed to go on and on. The sentient ship moaned like she was in pain, with sparks flying and creaks created an ear-splitting symphony with a klaxon. Zoe swore in her head when the cloister bell started going off.
"What in the name of Omega are you doing?!" she yelled, anger overcoming any fear.
The Master said something (obviously bad) in a language she didn't understand as some sparks landed on his face. "Mind your own beeswax!" he snarled.
Zoe looked to the domed ceiling in exasperation and disbelief. Using a phrase from 10-year olds really lessened the fear factor of an evil mastermind.
She was grumbling under her breath about BBC pay-cuts when the lights went out and the TARDIS landed with a thump.
For a moment the only sound was hissing from the console. Then a low mauve light flickered on and lit the surroundings a bit. The first thing Zoe noticed was the Master leaning over the console with his hands gripping the edge like it was the only thing keeping him up. She swallowed her fear.
"K-Koschei?"
A sigh was her only answer. He then straightened up and walked to her. She stared at the hand he offered.
Putting hers in his, she noticed it was clammy and shaking. She tried not to put much pressure on it much as she got up; she had a feeling it would pull him down if she did.
Once eye-level, Zoe noticed the beads of sweat along his hairline and the hollowness of his eyes.
"Are you okay?" she whispered in the mauve-cast and wrecked room.
The Master snorted. "I'm dying. Had to give myself- literally- to help the TARDIS through the void."
Zoe's mouth made an 'o' in shock. "Will you regenerate?"
He didn't seem to be surprised she knew about that aspect of Time Lords. "I'm on my last. Still, it doesn't matter. This me would have ceased to exist anyways once you fixed the time line."
Shaken by this turn of events, Zoe said the only thing she could think of.
"I'm sorry."
The Time Lord just stared blankly at a point over her shoulder. "C'mon," he said flatly. "Your new life awaits outside."
The surroundings of the TARDIS, as they stepped outside, weren't especially encouraging. It was dark and they'd landed in between two large brick buildings. It seemed like a business district of London.
"Where are we?" Zoe asked.
The Master coughed before answering. "London, 2005, around midnight. Probably winter or early spring, too."
"You can say that again," Zoe mumbled, wrapping her arms around herself. The cool air filtered through her sweater, hitting her skin with pin-pricks of ice.
"So now that you've kidnapped me and are forcing me to do your evil, alien, bidding, what's next on the agenda?"
"That's up to you."
"What?!"
"Me and the TARDIS will fade from existence soon. You'll be on your own."
"But… what am I supposed to do? I don't know anyone here!" she cried indignantly.
"You know the Doctor."
"Well I don't see him around! What do I do till I meet him?!" she snapped.
"Look," the Master growled. "You're the one that knows so much about Bad Wolf! You figure it out! I've done my part."
Zoe just looked at him with tears of frustration and fear in her eyes. How could this be happening? She just wanted to sleep then wake up back in the tent.
The Master saw her distress and let out a sigh. "Wait one minute." He disappeared back inside the TARDIS for several minutes before returning, coughing violently. Even if he had abducted her and was a villainous son of a gun, Zoe couldn't help but be concerned for him. She always had been a softie.
When the coughing fit was over, the Master held out to her a familiar brown coat. She smiled as she took it and ran her fingers over the fabric.
"Janis Joplin," she murmured in joy. She slipped the coat on over her shoulders. It was far too big and hung off her shoulders and almost brushed the ground, but she didn't care. This was the first good thing that had happened since this fiasco began.
Zoe turned to the Master and beamed at him. "Thank you."
He simply nodded. "The TARDIS had that out for you, along with this." He held out a plain, black shoulder bag that zipped at the top.
"Bigger on the inside," the Master said as she peered into it perplexedly. "There are some other things in there as well I think. And I have this." He reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a miniature disco ball, except in the shape of a pyramid.
"It's for storing data. While we were in your universe the TARDIS took in the complete internet, along with all electronical and radio devices from all of time up to your day. Every software program, e-mail, phone call, movie, song, television show and website that ever existed is on it."
Zoe looked at it in awe. "Thank you," she breathed. This was her only link to home.
"I can do this much for you. I took you away from your family," the Master said in a soft tone.
She met his eyes and tried to convey her thanks in her face. He seemed to understand.
"Just put it by something with a monitor or screen and twist the top. Oh! And take this." He dug around in his own jacket for a second and pulled out a handful of bunched up pound notes. "There's a hotel across the street."
They stood there for a moment just looking at each other. Finally Zoe gave a small shrug.
"Guess this is good-bye then."
The Master nodded and turned to go back into the TARDIS.
"Koschei!" He stopped at her call. "I- I can't believe I'm doing this but… I forgive you." And with that Zoe gave him a small kiss on the cheek and walked out of the alley.
She'd reached the sidewalk and was about to cross the street when she heard the TARDIS de-materializing. Her head whipped around and she swallowed nervously as the blue box faded from view. She was all alone.
"Good-bye Master. You weren't all bad at the end of the universe."
** **
Zoe woke up in a cocoon of covers. She'd gotten twisted up in them during the night and had to fight her way out to stretch.
As her body brushed up against the sheets she realized they were wrong. They were a little scratchy and rough and her pillow was thin. It was a lot like a hotel bed, and hadn't she been in her sleeping bag? That was when her mind left the last of its sleepiness behind and remembered.
"Ughhh…."
Zoe sat up and groaned. Making fists, she rubbed her crusted eyes clean and flexed her tight muscles, then padded to the little bathroom.
After splashing water on her face she raised her head and looked in the mirror. The reflection made her wince.
Her brunette hair was a tangled, dirty mess. There were bags under her green eyes and a new pimple on her nose. She was sore from stress and sleeping on a lousy mattress and judging by the clock, she'd missed the free breakfast.
Oh- and there was the little fact that she was living in a television show.
On her own.
Zoe wasn't normally a crier, but she figured she had an excuse this time, and let herself slide to the floor and sob her big heart out. Only four words ran through her head: This. Can't. Be. Happening.
** **
A few hours later she'd drained every last tear from her body. Using the little shampoo and conditioner and soap the hotel provided she took a long shower, scrubbing herself vigorously and leaving her skin red and a bit raw.
When she was done and dry she decided to catalogue her possessions. She'd somehow managed to keep her knapsack with her last night, although she had dropped the torch when Koschei (she would never call that version the Master) threw her over his shoulder.
The knapsack was the one she used for backpacking, so it didn't really have clothing or toiletries. There was her digital camera though, with lots of pictures she'd took on it, along with energy bars and trail mix, a half-empty water bottle, army knife, hat and gloves, notepad and pencil, Spanish phrase book, and some sols, the monetary unit of Peru.
After that, Zoe decided see what was in the bag the Master had given her. She had gotten the impression he didn't know all of what was in it, so she figured the TARDIS must have put it together somehow. She'd flopped in bed as soon as she got in the room last night, and hadn't examined it yet.
Now Zoe opened it and dug her hand in. She had to put her arm all the way up to her shoulder in the bag to feel around before her fingers fell on something cool and cylindrical, and pulled it out. It was the sonic screwdriver.
"What the Hand of Omega am I supposed to do with this?!" she said out loud. "It has, like, 5000 settings and I only know the one for barbed wire!" She shook her head, but smiled all the same. If nothing else, it made a cool sound and lit up.
She set it on the table and delved into the knapsack again. Soon her hand brushed against something. It was a banana.
Zoe went into hysterics. Something about her fragile emotions and the unexpected, though appropriate, gift drove her over the edge, into uncontrollable laughter.
When the hysteria faded into a smile, she set the banana next to the screwdriver and searched the insides of the bag again. This time she found something like cloth. She withdrew it and shrieked in joy.
"A bra!" Hurriedly she put it on. She never slept in one so when she'd been kidnapped it was when bra-less. Putting one on gave comfort only a perfectly fitted and supportive piece of lingerie could give. She sighed in contentment. Her joy was doubled when the next find in the knapsack was a matching set of knickers.
After a moment of admiring her new garments in the mirror she finished searching through the bag, revealing a pear (she snorted), socks, and the Doctor's psychic paper (the most useful thing next to the bra). That was it.
Zoe sighed in disappointment. She'd really been hoping for some more money. The Master had given her enough for another few night's stay at the hotel, but nothing else, and she had no idea how long it would be till she ran into the Doctor, which was another issue to figure out.
"One thing at a time, Zoe, one thing at a time," she murmured to herself.
** **
Her enemy stood silent across the street, mocking her. Zoe paced, wondering how she could approach this. Did she dare? Would it work?
Finally deciding to take the risk, Zoe reached into the pocket of the brown coat and pulled out the sonic.
Holding it discreetly she closed her eyes and aimed it at the target. She pushed the button, simultaneously flinching and…
Shouts of surprise fell upon her ears and she gently opened one eye and then the other to stare at the scene.
Money was actually shooting out of the ATM, just like in The Runaway Bride. She watched slack-jawed as people grabbed handfuls out of the air and cars ran over bills that drifted to the ground. Breaking into a grin she used the sonic on the machine once more, this time making sure to stuff her pockets.
It had worked! She had decided on a whim to try it and it worked! She hadn't even messed with the settings on the screwdriver. Maybe the TARDIS had foreseen her difficulty and pre-set it for her.
Whatever the reason was, she had cash, and her smug grin stayed in place as she strutted into a shop.
** **
Zoe didn't realize she was crying till she tasted salt. She was in the library using their computers to look up her family in this universe.
"Of all the things for this flippin' cosmos to keep the same," she whispered to herself, and minimized the screen with the death announcement of Grace Mary Sheehan: her mum.
Apparently her mum and dad never met here and so she'd never been born. Neither of them had married, and just like her original universe, her mum had died of cancer.
Well, at least she could visit her grave. That was something similar.
Actually, the two universes were identical, except for the obvious lack of Doctor Who, Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures, and anything connected them. Those things, her non-birth, and the fact that Rose Marion Tyler had died as a baby with her father in a car accident were the only differences as far as she could tell.
There was still a Jackie Tyler though, and Mickey Smith, Martha Jones, Donna Noble, and everyone else that had travelled with the Doctor. Even the Brigadier was here, which made her smile. She would have to remember to arrange meeting him with the Doctor.
Speaking of the Time Lord, she found conspiracy sites (one for L.I.N.D.A.) mentioning him, but nothing else. The date here was the 3rd of February, 2005. No Auton invasion had happened yet, and her best guess as to when it would happen was the original airdate of the episode Rose, which was on March 26. It wasn't much, but it was the only information she had to go on.
** **
One Month Later…
Zoe bit back a triumphant shout as she left Henrik's. It had taken a while to establish a background (with the help of the data pyramid, which had a program for it), but she'd finally been able to get a resume that the store would accept. She was now officially a Henrik's shop girl and one step closer to the Doctor.
She decided to treat herself and eat at a pricey place. Well, it wasn't really a treat. After she'd figured out this universe was so much like hers, she'd used the knowledge of 2005 from her data thing-y to place "bets" on certain racehorses and teams. It wasn't exactly moral, but it was better than making ATM's spit out cash.
With her ill-gained funds she'd set herself up at a nicer hotel by the Millennium Wheel and bought pretty much anything she wanted. Not that she was channeling her inner Paris Hilton, but her Time-Vortex-Absorbing skills weren't cheap. It was the least this universe could offer after taking her from her own.
Apart from giving herself a history here and "setting up shop" so to speak, she spent her time brushing up on her Doctor Who knowledge. She embarked on a marathon of episodes from the first ever to the last broadcast.
Koschei hadn't been kidding when he said every broadcast from the past to her present. The data pyramid even had the original broadcasts from the sixties, which meant she got to see the missing episodes- every new fan's dream.
She also experimented with the sonic screwdriver in her free time. After taking note of the setting for cash spewing and verifying the barbed wire one, she chose random settings and took notes on the results. So far she'd started 17 accidental fires, drained the power to the hotel twice, ruined 5 i-pods and 6 mobiles, hacked into the F.B.I. by chance, melted 76 miscellaneous items, and shattered 245 glass objects.
On the upside, she'd found the setting to unscrew screws. She'd gleefully spent an hour taking apart the furniture in her room after that discovery, only to realize the setting didn't put them back in.
Needless to say, Zoe learned to carefully put away her valuables before practicing.
** **
Two Weeks Later…
"Cheers!" Zoe cried along with her friends, and clinked glasses over the circular table. Tomorrow was the 25th, and if her calculations were right, the day the Doctor would blow up her job at Henrik's. There was only one problem- she wasn't in charge of the lottery money. One of her new friends from Henrik's was. The name? Shireen. Go figure.
Shireen (whose last name was Horner) apparently lived in the Powell Estates and was dating Mickey Smith, if things could get any weirder.
It seemed Shireen was filling the role of Rose in these cases. At first Zoe had wondered why she hadn't just travelled with the Doctor in Rose's place as well, but as she got to know the girl better she realized why. Shireen was fun and humorous and normal. Very, very, very, normal. As in, boring and narrow-minded normal.
She was a wonderful friend, though. Zoe had gotten to know her well, and through her, Mickey and a few other kids from the Estate. Shireen just wasn't companion material.
Zoe hoped she could still call her a friend if she went missing for a year, though. Shireen reminded her of her friends back home, on her world- content with what they knew.
Zoe had been like that before the abduction. Like any Whovian she'd wished she could see some of the things the Doctor did, that it was real to an extent; but all that time she had miraculously managed to stay grounded in reality.
But she wasn't one to fuss over something that couldn't be changed. If something (like being taken to live in a telly show) happened, she dealt with it. She refused to be shaken. She moved on. She adapted. She took things in stride. She had learned that from the aftermath of her mum's death. She'd learned to keep living, and that was what she was doing now.
Maybe that could make her a good companion. That and the fact she already knew a lot of the stuff coming.
Zoe banished all these troublesome thoughts for the night, and toasted to the future with her new best friends.
