Chapter 2: Time I am
"Time I am, the destroyer of the worlds,
who has come to annihilate everyone.
Even without your taking part all those arrayed
in the opposing ranks will be slain!"
Bhagavad Gita 11:32
"I've got to get a car," Emma thought as she hailed a taxi. One of the hackney cabs pulled to a stop in front of her. As she got in, the driver turned to face her.
"Where to?" He asked.
"The observatory please," Emma blurted.
"Right." The driver punched a button on the meter before rolling back into traffic. On a normal day, the drive to the observatory seemed to be over before it began, but today every second felt like an eternity. As they pulled up to the observatory, Emma quickly threw a bill towards the driver as she jumped from her seat. "Miss, your change!" he called.
"Keep it!" she yelled as she hastened towards her building.
"Emma," came a voice. Emma glanced and saw her colleague Tiffany getting out of her car. "Tony text you too?" Tiffany asked.
"Hey Tif. Yeah and I hope they didn't cock up too bad," Emma replied.
"Why was that cabbie smiling so big? He looked kinda pervy," Tif said.
"I think I gave him a fifty," Emma sighed.
"But the ride is only twenty! That's a thirty quid tip!" Tif gasped.
….
Emma threw open the doors to the building. "Tony you wanker! If you messed up my project I swear by my parent's grave, I will chop your knob off and feed it to Felton," she screamed.
"She's pissed," said one of the interns poking his head out from the kitchen, "And it only took her thirty minutes to get here."
"Cough it up," said the other, holding out his hand.
"But I've only got a fiver," said the first, pulling out the bill.
"Don't think I'll forget about the other five quid either," said the second snatching it away.
Tony sheepishly edged his way past the two to stand far enough away from Emma so she couldn't reach him without stepping forward. "I promise it wasn't my fault," he said, "but in a few of the images there is a strange...anomaly."
"Show me," Emma seethed. Tony turned starting down the hallway.
"Follow me," he said. He made his way towards Emma's office. He pulled the chair out as Emma sat down at her computer. He then navigated to the file that held the images and pulled them up. "Several of them are still usable," he said to allay some of her anger. "There are a few that the stars around the images block out what we were looking for," he said. "Like we always say, 'O sun, to tell thee how I hate thy beams.'" He quoted John Milton. He scrolled to the next image at the lack of laughter at their inside joke. "And this is where it gets real strange." He enlarged a section, "Here is the star we where looking at to detect a wobble, in one of the photos we took last night this appears." He clicked on the next image in the same area. Only this time the star was obscured by a pale white and navy blue streak.
"What is that?," Emma pondered.
"Look there, that looks like letters," Tiffany said, "but what does it say?"
"P-o-l...Police maybe?" Emma said. Tony switched to another image.
"See, in the corner, the blue wooden box with a white sign." He said. The door opened and closed behind them.
"It's a police call box," said a man's voice as the smell of pipe tobacco filled the room.
"Dr. Turncoat," Tony whispered.
"Phil!" Emma smiled, "Back from sabbatical?"
"Oh yes my dear, I see you've managed to not burn the place down in my absence," He chuckled, "Despite the tykes we've taken on. One of them saw me smoking and wanted my autograph. Had to explain to the poor chap that I was not J.R.R. Tolkien and that he is, in fact, dead."
Emma giggled, "It's good to have you back," she hugged him and breathed in his familiar scent.
"Now, what was it you were saying?" Tiffany broke them up.
"Right, it looks like a police call box," Phil said.
"A what?" Tony asked.
"Back before your ephones and such.." Phil begain.
"I think you mean iphone, Phil," Tony interrupted. Phil glared at Tony.
"That's Doctor to you, and if you ever interrupt me again, I will fail you. As I was saying, before mobiles, these boxes were how you would contact emergency personnel. But I haven't seen one since oh... the late 60's."
"That's because it only looks like a police box," the door flew open to reveal a man in a blue suit. "That's actually a TARDIS."
"A what?" Phil asked.
"Doctor," nodded the man, "that would be my ship."
"You fly around in a call box? It must be awfully cramped," Phil commented.
"Well, it's roomy when there's only one person," the man replied.
"What type of energy does it use? I mean to say how does it work?" Phil asked.
"It runs on artron energy," the man said.
"Artron, hmm. Is that one of the things they're working on at CERN?" Phil asked. The man made to speak but Tony broke in.
"Wait, wait, wait...So you're telling me that you think you can fly around in a phone box. And you believe him Dr. Turncoat? Who is he?" He turned to the man, "Who are you?"
"I'm the Doctor." He said.
"No...he's the doctor," Tony stated, pointing to Phil.
"Doctor Phillip Turncoat yes...but I'm the Doctor." he said.
"Doctor..." Tony lead, expecting a name.
"Just the Doctor." He said.
"Oi, you're that bloke from this morning," Emma shouted.
"I'm sorry," the Doctor said, confused.
"I almost knocked your lights out this morning rushing to get here," she groaned.
"Sorry, don't recognize you," the Doctor said, "What's your name?"
"Emma, Emma Hartford," she responded.
"Nope. Only Emma I know was killed by General Stenx. So, Em." He began.
"It's Emma! No one calls me Em. Not since..." she trailed off. Not since her parent's death. No one besides them was allowed to call her Em, except Blake. She forced the thought away.
"So, Emma if you'll excuse me," He walked over to the computer, pulling out a small metal tool with a porcelain handle. A blue light came out of the end as he pushed a button, along with a slight pulsing whistle.
"What are you doing?" Emma asked as the pictures flickered on the computer screen.
"Well," the Doctor began, concentration clearly etched on his face, "The problem is my TARDIS has been stolen. And these pictures have the last known coordinates of the TARDIS. So I might be able to track it's motion in these pictures and...Aha...got it!" The Doctor exclaimed.
"Got what?" Tony asked.
"The location of the TARDIS," Emma suggested.
"Exactly," The Doctor nodded.
"So where is your spaceship Doctor?" Phil asked.
"Westminster Abbey," The Doctor said.
"Westminster Abbey?" Emma asked, bewildered.
"Yeah, you know the big Gothic stone one." the Doctor said.
"I know what it looks like thank you! But that's all the way in London proper, a good hour from here," Emma said.
"Right," the Doctor inhaled, "I'm going to need a car."
….
Tiffany pulled up to the curb as Emma and the Doctor waited for the pop of the locks. They quickly piled in. As Tif pulled off, Emma turned to the Doctor, "So you really don't remember me?" She asked.
"No," the Doctor said flatly.
"'No harm done? Funny thing time?' Any of that?" she continued.
"Well, time is a funny thing, but no," the Doctor replied. Tiffany glanced at Emma and pulled out her mobile, Emma's mobile buzzed.
Tif: Do you know him?
Emma: No, but I swear I met him earlier.
Tif: Do you know if he can be trusted?
Emma: No...but I do trust him.
"Oi, keep your eyes on the road!" the Doctor exclaimed, pulling out the metal cylinder. As he pressed the button, their mobiles turned off.
"What did you do?" Tif yelled, "What is that?"
"It's a screwdriver," the Doctor replied.
"I've been around tools," Tif said, "And that is no Phillip's!"
"Right, no, this is mine. Not Phil's." the Doctor said.
"No, I meant Phillip's head screwdriver," Tif groaned.
"Oi, don't get naughty with me. What you and Phil do in your spare time..." the Doctor replied.
"Nevermind," Tif sighed. Emma glanced back at him.
"Alright, who are you?" she demanded, slightly annoyed by his wry smile.
"The Doctor," he replied.
"No, I mean your name," she pressed on.
"I already told you, it's the Doctor." he said.
"I will pull over right now if you don't tell us," Tif yelled.
"Alright! It's John Smith," he said.
"Pull over," Emma said, turning to Tif. Tif slowly eased the car off to the side and then turned to face him.
"Show me some ID or else you're out," she said, "Emma trusts you. Normally that would be enough, but that trust is starting to wear thin." He rummaged through his coat, grimacing slightly, until he produced a leather wallet.
"Here, look at this," He said, handing it to Tif.
"John Smith, PHD of Astrophysics, UKSA," Tif said, "So that's your real name... and you're actually a doctor."
"Let me see," Emma said and Tif passed the wallet to her. "Where is the ID?" Emma asked.
"Right there," Tif said, pointing to it.
"Tif...this paper is blank." Emma whispered.
"What?" the Doctor called, surprised.
"Yeah Emma, it's right here," Tif encouraged.
"Tif!" Emma said sternly, "It's blank. There is nothing here but white paper with a weird fractal gloss."
"That's impossible," The Doctor mused, "the only person on Earth I'vemet naturally immune to psychic paper was well...William Shakespeare."
"On Earth?" Emma retorted, "You say that like your not on Earth often... That call box really is a spaceship, isn't it?" The Doctor nodded. "And that means that you're a... a space traveler with high tech gubbins, like a 007 astronaut" Emma stammered. The Doctor nodded again. "Oh the people at University will love this," Emma said. Tif glanced at Emma.
"You're buying into this, yeah?"
"Well that would explain the wand...er, screwdriver," Emma said flatly.
"But he looks so...average."
"Oi, you lot look average!" The Doctor retorted. Tif sighed.
"Well, I guess we should keep going." She turned the key and the engine roared to life again. Pulling back onto the road, she accelerated and merged with the flow of traffic. As they drove a little ways, Emma turned to the Doctor, "So when you say William Shakespeare..." she trailed off.
"Yeah, I do mean the 16th century playwright," The Doctor finished.
"Oh, Have you got a time machine too?" Emma joked. The Doctor nodded.
"Time and Relative Dimension in Space, TARDIS for short."
"God, I hope you're not crazy," Emma sighed, turning forwards as they continued down the road headed for Westminster.
