"On the journey of life, which is more important? The end to it and the purpose we fulfilled, or the journey itself upon which we ventured? The answer… or the question that we originally had?"


Please pick up. Please pick up.

"Hello? Artemis, is that you? What in the name of hells is happening over there?" Holly stopped. "Gods, Artemis, say something." All she could hear was breathing.

"He's gone," sobbed Angeline.

Holly unleashed a 4-second litany of Gnommish swear words, then calmed down. "What happened?" D'Arvit. Did Artemis tell her about us? How much does she know? "Do you know where he went?"

Angeline shook her head. "No… he was behind me, and then… I turned round and there was a man there. And this ring. He…" She choked back dry sobs. "He always wore this ring, since before last time he vanished. I thought maybe it could help… Please."

Holly was still in a state of shock. "Where are you right now?"

"Back at the hotel. Hyatt, in Morristown. I shouldn't have dragged him along, it was all my fault…" The line fell silent.

"I'll be there as soon as I can," replied Holly. She sprinted out the door of her apartment and was gone in a second. Artemis, where the hell have you got to?


The rapid transfer and reassembly of one's atoms in a completely different universe is a somewhat euphoric experience. Unfortunately for Artemis, it also disorientates you quite a lot. As a result, he took a dizzy step, and fell over.

The closest analogy to what just happened would probably be being put in a tumble drier. Where is this? thought Artemis. He tried to get up, but gave up; his muscles still felt weak.

"…he doesn't trust me, or you. He won't ever really understand us, the way we are." A man speaking somewhere close.

"Sylar, shut up!" A girl this time. American, both of them.

"Claire, I'm sorry, but – " A car door slammed, and two more doors closed somewhat more sedately. Artemis managed to get up just in time to see a car pull away, as the occupants continued their argument within.

They hadn't seen him.

Artemis dusted himself down, and looked around for his mother and brothers. Not there. They weren't visible anywhere, so he reached for his mobile and pulled it out, about to phone his mother, when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around to see a chunky-looking man looming from the alleyway.

Why is it, he thought, that every time something like this happens when Butler isn't around, I always make a mental promise to buy a mini-gym for the mansion and never get round to it?

"You look lost." The thuggish-looking man smiled. You're coming with me. "Are you lost? I can give you some directions if you want."

Artemis's lip curled slightly. "No, thank you." He turned to leave, but the hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled him backwards into the alleyway. Oh, shit.

"Now, that wasn't very nice. All helpful, and he sneers at me!" The man leered at Artemis. "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. You look rich. Passport, phone, cash. Now," holding out a hand, "give it to me."

The boy fumbled in his pockets for his cash, and reluctantly passed over his phone. "It's encrypted. You won't be able to use it. And I flew the plane here, I don't have my passport."

The thug's eyebrows shot up. "No passport? An Irish rich kid in the US with no passport. That sounds illeeegal to me, so you got two options here. One, gimme everything you got, and I know you're keeping something, so don't bother to hide it. Or two, I get all your stuff anyway." He leaned close to Artemis. He has really bad teeth. He should see a dentist. His breath stinks. "What's it gonna be, then?"

As an answer, Artemis turned, kicked the man in the... well... you know... and sprinted for the alley's end. Faster. The man yelled something at him and lumbered after Artemis, trying to chase him, but he had too much of a head start.

A second thug stepped out and knocked him unconscious with a baseball bat 6 metres short of the end, next to some garbage bins.

"Fancy phone," said the second thug, Artemis slung over his shoulder. "Are we ringing them? We could do with the extra cash."

"Yeah, we're ringing them," replied the first thug, wincing at the pain. "$250 each way sounds good to me in return for a kid." He flipped open Artemis's phone, and fiddled with it, growing annoyed as it refused to cooperate with him. "What the hell is an eternity code?"

"No idea. Try star hash to unlock it, that usually works on Nokias."


Please pick up. Please. I need to talk to you.

Someone finally picked up the phone at the other end. "Yes?"

I almost laughed. I hadn't heard her voice for a while. It's probably just as well that way, though. She left; she was sensible. "It's me. You did give me your old phone, after all. What happened, in the end?"

Silence. Then, "I decided to… reassess my priorities. Jack decided he needs someone to be a doctor there. I did do my training, after all," she said, with a touch of pride. I smiled at the words. It seemed almost ironic, really. Two doctors, talking. C'est la vie, mais pas en rose.

"Anyway, I'm glad to hear you'll be all right."

"The other woman. The red-haired lady. Donna. She won't be?"

"No." That wound still hurts, a lot. My fault. "She's forgotten everything. I had to take away those memories; she would have died otherwise. I still don't know which would be worse, her funeral, or her looking at me without any recognition." My voice caught. "At any rate, I've seen her future. She'll be happy, and safe." She gets married in a few years, too. A nice husband. She will be happy. But that won't stop me missing her.*

"…what are you doing right now, then?" Martha sounds uncertain as to whether she wants the answer to the question.

"Nothing. I… just wanted to talk, really. I miss having human company, in a way." It's a lie. I do need company, but I am doing something.

I placed the package on the doorstep. Donna will be happy tomorrow morning at any rate; Christmas day, with a present from a mysterious stranger.

"Anyway, I'd better hang up. Why is it that aliens always land on Christmas Day and cause problems?"

I smiled. "No idea. Perhaps they just love Santa Claus. Anyway, I'll talk to you later." The phone clicks as she slides hers shut. My smile fades quickly after.

It's tempting to stay and watch Donna's reaction, but I can't. If she sees me now, she might get entirely the wrong idea about me, or her mother might come out. Which would be worse? I wondered. Probably Donna thinking that I'm stalking her, really. I made my way back to the TARDIS, and sat down on the steps, leaning against the rails.

Just as well, really, since she chose that particular moment to power into life. Without me doing anything. Unusual. I grabbed the railings and staggered over to the controls, pulling levers. She wouldn't respond.

I let go and sprinted over to the set of controls on the other side, at which point the TARDIS did a 180° rotation and unceremoniously dumped me on what had, quite recently, been the ceiling.

Remind me to redecorate and get rid of all the extremely painful knobs on the walls some day soon, please.


2 minutes later…

I groaned. Fortunately, the TARDIS was the right way up. Unfortunately, I also had a new collection of bruises. I managed to lever myself off the floor, and stared at the display. From what I could see, it appeared to be Fort See, New Jersey, 2008-ish. A company card popped up on the screen. A logo of a split strand of DNA.

"Pinehearst?" I tapped in the company name and searched for it, narrowing down my results to biotech companies.

No match

"What do you mean, no match?"

It means that no company under those specifications exists

I put my head in my hands and sighed, calling up a location map of where this mysterious company's head office was.

Distance: Unknown, potentially 1km NNW

"What do you mean, you don't know how far away it is?!!"

No comment

Oh well. Might as well do this the old-fashioned way. I opened the door, and walked out into the sunshine of the good ol' US of A.


* All my thoughts listed here, as a general note, are the ones that actually have some importance here. I actually think about several things at the same timp, but putting in so many footnotes would be difficult. Also, it would be embarrassing listing absolutely everything that passed through my mind, and not everything that went through my mind can be translated directly into English because the right words don't exist yet. -The Doctor