Next Day, Coal Hill: "Good morning class, are we sitting comfortably?" asked the Doctor to his high school class. The idea of him teaching again in a human school and saying that exact same line was something he could never have fathomed when dealing with those Krillitanes, but such was the curse of the Time Lords he figured. He just hoped something he'd promised he would never do again, wouldn't happen this time.
"So, since I'm your new temporary teacher why don't you fill me in on what you've been learning about," said the Doctor. He looked around at the students, one of whom conveniently was Kalenda who apparently didn't recognize him from yesterday, and waited patiently for a volunteer. Finally a student raised their hand.
"Yes?" said the Doctor.
"We were learning about the Russian side of the conflict during World War II," said the student.
"Ah, yes, that was a fun time wasn't it?" said the Doctor with a mildly bemused expression as he remembered an incident during the war involving the Ice Warriors. It hadn't been funny at the time but that was the beauty of history, with hindsight you could always laugh at your previous actions.
"It wasn't that funny sir, thousands died," chimed in a student.
"I know," said the Doctor soberly, World War II was probably the closest this world would ever get to the Time War at this point in time. "But who was the real killer during that part of the war?"
"The weather sir," said another of the students raising their hand.
"Correctamundo!" said the Doctor happily as he pointed at the student. Realization then struck in as to just what he had said and his head dropped crestfallen.
"Damnit," he thought in shame during one of the few times he actually cursed. Noticing the students staring at him the Doctor immediately returned his attention to them.
"But I was hoping we could focus on more recent history," said the Doctor shutting his history book closed, after all he knew it all, he'd practically lived it at one time or another. "I'm of course talking about an event that happened here about five years ago."
Most of the students seemed confused about what he was referring to, but a few seemed to have a faint idea. Kalenda meanwhile stopped staring at her notebook and looked up at the Doctor with muted interest.
"Any of you have any idea what I'm alluding to?" asked the Doctor looking around. To his surprise Kalenda raised her hand.
"Yes Ms. Savrod?" said the Doctor.
"Does it matter?" she said. "I seriously doubt every moment in time is a history making event."
"Of course it matters!" exclaimed the Doctor. "Whatever you do, no matter how insignificant has a ripple effect on everything else. Take what I just said. There are some of you out there who will go investigate what happened five years ago. During that course you will check out books, ask others about it, and in turn that will affect even more events in history. And so on and so on throughout time."
A student raised their hand. "How about a better example?"
"Real or fictional?" asked the Doctor. "Because if you want a real example you need look no further than World War I and it's connections to World War II. When World War I ended, Germany was forced to pay extraordinary grievances to the Allied Nations for its part in the war. This led to a severe strain on the German economy which was only further damaged when the Great Depression occurred and resulted in rampant inflation. This coupled with the other nations attempting to recollect on the debts Germany owed them so they could help their own economies, resulted in a near complete collapse of Germany's economy which allowed Adolf Hitler to rise to power and well you know where it goes from there. And even this is an abridged version of what really happened. Following World War II there was a massive decolonization effort that either went very well or very badly. Case in point Vietnam where the United States finds itself embroiled in a bloody war with the North Vietnamese to try and prevent what they term a 'domino theory' of worlds falling to Communism. As for how the war ends, the United States will…well I guess we'll just have to find out how well they do."
"How about a fictional example?" asked the kid.
"Well I can think of one involving the Hand of-," began the Doctor when suddenly the bell rang. The students all began to file out as the Doctor sat behind his desk and clasped his hands in front of his mouth.
"That was an interesting answer to my question," said Kalenda walking past him.
"I do aim to please," said the Doctor with a smile as Kalenda tipped her head at him and walked out of the room. The Doctor quickly pulled out his sonic screwdriver and examined its readings but it came up blank on the girl as to what use she would be to a Dalek.
"Wonderful," the Doctor grumbled as the mystery continued as he leaned back in his chair twirling the device in his fingers.
"Knock, knock," said the headmaster at the doorway. The Doctor immediately sat up and faked using the screwdriver as a pen as the headmaster laughed.
"You don't need to worry about working hard in front of me," said the man with a smile. "I just wanted to formally welcome you to our school."
"Oh I've been here before," said the Doctor.
"Really?" said the man.
"Oh yes," admitted the Doctor. "My gr…niece was enrolled here about five years ago before her mother moved out of the country."
"Oh, what was she like?" asked the headmaster.
"I always affectionately thought she was an unearthly child but yeah she was knowledgeable way beyond her years," said the Doctor. "Her teachers were Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton."
"Oh…right," said the headmaster. He had replaced the previous headmaster who had died under mysterious circumstances around the same time the entire school was nearly destroyed but he still knew about those two teachers who had appeared three years ago after a mysterious two year absence.
"Do they still teach here?" asked the Doctor slightly hopeful to see them again.
"I'm afraid not but I'm not really sure why," the headmaster admitted. The Doctor nodded.
"Well I think I'll go get something from the cafeteria," said the Doctor standing up.
"Uh, if you don't mind, for our school paper we always interview the newest teacher to come our way. They'll be contacting you during lunch if that is okay," said the headmaster.
"Fine by me," said the Doctor smiling as he got up, shook the headmaster's hand, grabbed his newspaper and headed out the door. He walked down to the cafeteria and received his meal before taking up a seat where he could keep an eye on Kalenda Savrod. The Doctor unfurled his newspaper in front of him and began reading the article on yesterday's event with the two girls, which he attributed was the reason there was an air of silence in the cafeteria. As he kept reading the article he heard the noise of someone dropping a mess of items on the other side of the table.
"Must be my interviewer," thought the Doctor slightly annoyed at the whole concept. He briefly glanced past his paper and was startled to see the woman from yesterday organizing her stuff. The Doctor quickly hid behind his newspaper as the woman finished organizing her stuff.
"Hello," said the woman trying to get the Doctor's attention. Smiling the Doctor dropped his newspaper.
"Hello yourself," said the Doctor with his trademark smile. The woman's expression turned to one of shock.
"I do not believe it," she said.
"Nor do I, yet here we are together again," said the Doctor eating one of his chips. "But forgive my saying this, but you seem to be a little old to be going here."
The woman shook her head while rolling her eyes. "I don't go to school here, I am a college student who is helping out with the school paper here for college credit."
"You must really love journalism," the Doctor commented.
"I do, now can we get this interview over with?" said the woman impatient.
"If you insist," said the Doctor lightly as he reached for his lemonade. The woman placed a tape recorder on the table while taking out her notepad.
"So you are Professor John Smith is that correct?" asked the woman.
"That's right," said the Doctor with a mild grin at his old alias back in action.
"A little overqualified aren't you?" asked the woman.
"Better to be over prepared than under prepared," responded the Time Lord.
"And what are you a professor of?" asked the woman.
"Time And Relative Dimension In Space," answered the Doctor. "TARDIS for short."
"TARDIS?" said the woman distracted as if searching some distant memory.
"You've heard of it?" asked the Doctor interested.
"No," said the woman coming to attention again as she wrote down the word TARDIS followed by a question mark.
"So what's your name?" asked the Doctor curious.
"I'm a Smith like you," the woman admitted as the Doctor sipped his drink. "Sarah Jane Smith."
The Doctor nearly choked on his lemonade hearing that and began coughing profusely before he wiped his mouth with his sleeve.
"Are you okay?" asked Sarah Jane.
"F-fine," said the Doctor at a loss for words. He couldn't believe it, this young woman really was her, and he had been completely oblivious to it. Looking at her now he could see the Sarah Jane Smith that would one day become his companion in five years her time. Of all the people he could've encountered on this mission and it was her, Rasillon must really have been watching over him today.
"So Professor," continued Sarah Jane.
"Doctor," said the Doctor.
"What?" asked Sarah Jane confused.
"I'm a Doctor, I haven't been called Professor in a long time," said the Doctor recalling Ace's nickname for him.
"Well Doctor Smith," continued Sarah Jane.
"Uh, just address me as Doctor please. It's not ego related it's just what I like to be called," said the Doctor trying to contain his growing excitement over meeting up with his old friend again.
"Okay, Doctor," said Sarah Jane confused. It took all of the Doctor's will not to get up and shout in triumph.
"Listen Sarah Jane," began the Doctor anxious to make amends.
"Ms. Smith," interjected Sarah Jane.
"Uh-what?" asked the Doctor confused.
"We're not on a first name basis Doctor," said Sarah Jane rudely. The Doctor's expression immediately fell at that and a look of sadness crept over his face as he looked at his meal severally downtrodden. Sarah Jane saw his expression and sighed deeply.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been rude," she began.
"No, no, you're right," admitted the Doctor lightly nodding his head. "You barely even know me and here I'm acting like I've known you for years."
"Yes but it's still no excuse," said Sarah Jane putting down her notepad. "I guess I just view you as a rival for this story regarding those two schoolgirl's strange deaths."
"I know, but I don't want it to be that way. I think between the two of us we'll be able to solve this mystery much better than if we were on our own," pleaded the Doctor.
"Are you certain?" asked Sarah Jane with a hint of doubt on her voice.
"I'm certain," said the Doctor with conviction.
"But I don't even know you," said Sarah Jane pushing back from the table.
"Hopefully I'll be able to fill you in on most of the details while we work," said the Doctor. "But I will tell you this. I'm not with UNIT and I'm not a teacher. But everything I else I said to you was the truth."
"About wanting to stop that 'dalek'?" Sarah Jane recalled. The Doctor nodded solemnly.
"I know it is responsible for this and I know that she is somehow connected with it," said the Doctor pointing at her right shoulder far behind which was Kalenda.
"And what makes you think that? She could have been at the wrong place at the wrong time and merely escaped," suggested Sarah Jane chewing on the edge of her pencil in thought. The Doctor shook his head.
"I know the Daleks and believe me when I say they are not choosey in picking their victims. She is still alive and it must be for an important reason and we need to figure out what that is," said the Doctor.
"And just what is a Dalek?" asked Sarah Jane.
"I'll tell you later," said the Doctor. "Why don't you dig up what you can on Ms. Savrod and I'll collect what I can on the Daleks and then we'll meet up later to discuss it."
Sarah Jane eyed the strange man curiously. She'd gone from silently loathing him to being equal partners in the span of just a few moments and it had her a little off guard. But still...there was something about him that she couldn't quite pinpoint that her inner voice told her she could trust him.
"Very well," she said, her mind made up. The Doctor smiled happily.
"Fantastic," he said rubbing his hands together. "I'll see you at that café down the street after school."
Sarah Jane nodded before she realized she had failed to conduct her interview.
"Believe me, when all this is done you'll have a much bigger story than you could possibly have imagined," said the Doctor sensing her thoughts before he finished his food and headed off leaving the reporter a little shocked before she collected her stuff and left as well.
Nearby: Kalenda watched the two go in silence as she shrugged them off as she looked down at her notebook were she had scrawled to the best of her ability the image of the thing she had seen yesterday.
"What are you?" she continually wondered. Something about that being kept nagging at her subconscious. She didn't know how but she knew she had seen that thing before, but where and when she didn't know. It was the same with that new teacher. She had never seen him before but she somehow knew him as well but again she didn't know how she knew this either. The only other thing she was positive about was that the two were somehow connected and she had encountered both together at the same time. But when, that was the question. And more importantly, who could she trust of the two, the creature or the teacher? The creature had been more violent but it had protected her while the teacher seemed passive but she can sense he was conspiring against her with the reporter. She had a feeling both of them knew the answers she was seeking but which of them it was, was beginning to frustrate her more than anything. It was making her angry, all of it, and she slammed her fist on the table. As soon as she did a massive jolt went off shocking her hand. Grimacing in pain, Kalenda shook her hand furiously to let go of the tingling sensation.
"Damn static electricity," she thought upset before quickly gathering her things and leaving the cafeteria along with the rest of the students. Unfortunately, she failed to notice two things. One, that outside the windows high above the cafeteria, a black domed-shaped object was watching her intently and two, that it was looking at the area where hand had been, an area of the plastic table that was now slowly melting…
After school: The Doctor watched Kalenda leave the school as he took one last reading of her from his screwdriver.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
The Doctor looked at the device in shock as it had picked up the recent presence of a dalek propulsion system nearby, specifically near the upper windows of the cafeteria. The Doctor was silently livid at this fact that Sec had been so nearby and he had remained completely unaware of this. His entire body scrunched up as his inner rage threatened to explode before he forcibly calmed himself down. The Doctor swallowed deeply before forcing himself to analytically assess the situation the way only a Time Lord could. Sec had been there, but he didn't attack him, which made no sense.
"Unless he did not notice me," thought the Doctor with dawning realization. That must have meant Sec was so focused on something else in that cafeteria that the Doctor had somehow escaped his attention. The Doctor knew instinctively knew what that was. It was her, the girl, Kalenda. She was somehow the key to all of this and the Doctor needed to find out very soon why or else her life might very well be in grave danger. With no time to waste the Doctor headed off for the café and his meeting with Sarah Jane.
Elsewhere: Kalenda aimlessly wandered down the street distracted with her drawing of the metal object clutched in her right hand. She had thought her life complicated yesterday morning, now it was even more so. And so she continued wandering in a daze not sure where she was going. Eventually she found herself lost in an unknown part of town on a desolate street not sure where to go next. She sighed deeply and hung her head low when she heard the sound of a mechanical device was heard and she saw a dome-shaped shadow creep along the ground towards her. Looking up Kalenda saw the black-shaped creature from earlier.
"Hello," she said. The creature again said nothing and just stared at her. Kalenda sighed as he rolled her eyes at the thing. The creature then advanced on her and the girl held her ground not willing to give an inch to this 'thing'.
"What do you want?" she said angrily as the thing stopped right in front of her. The plunger tilted upwards on the creature and aimed right at her face but nothing happened.
"Either do something or don't," stated Kalenda darkly. The plunger lowered and slammed into her stomach causing her to fall over.
"The hell was that for?" she demanded of the thing.
"DEFEND YOURSELF!" the creature barked. Kalenda growled angrily as she got back up and was immediately knocked down again.
"DEFEND YOURSELF!" shouted the creature again.
"Why should I?" demanded Kalenda. "You're the one who's being the jerk! Why should I obey you?"
"DEFEND YOURSELF OR BE EX-TER-MI-NA-TED!" shouted the creature brandishing its silver weapon stalk at her.
"What?" shouted Kalenda still on the ground not getting up. "You would kill me just like that?"
The creature's eye-stalk moved up and down as if nodding.
"Why?" Kalenda demanded.
"THAT IS WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A DALEK!" the creature, apparently a 'dalek' shouted at her.
"Dalek?" said Kalenda softly. That name meant something to her. She had heard it before, but when…
"NOW DEFEND YOURSELF!" shouted the Dalek interrupting her thoughts.
"I'll show you defending myself," Kalenda growled as she rolled up her right sleeve angrily. She roared angrily as her first went flying at the Dalek but it got stopped by an invisible forcefield.
"The hell?" she said stunned as her first just hung there in midair pressed up against something she could not see.
"YOU HAVE FAILED," said the Dalek aiming its weapon at her.
"You cheated!" shouted Kalenda at it.
"IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE. YOU HAVE FAILED AND WILL BE EX-TER-MI-NA-TED," said the Dalek coldly. Kalenda whole body began shaking at that statement. Here she was going to be killed by a creature she didn't know, for reasons she couldn't comprehend, and without the answers she had been searching for. All of her rage began to pour out of her at all of it and it was all directed at this creature.
"Like hell I will," she said darkly. Then something extraordinary happened. Kalenda's right fist that was pressed up against the creature's invisible shield began arcing with electricity from no apparent source. She pulled back her fist in shock and looked at it as more electricity shot across it somehow not harming her in the slightest. She looked up at the Dalek as pure rage crossed her eyes.
"You will be exterminated," she growled as she launched her fist at the thing. The resulting explosion blew Kalenda off of her feet and sent the Dalek a few feet backwards with dust and debris scattering everywhere. As Kalenda lay there coughing, the Dalek advanced on her to loom over her body.
"YOU HAVE SUC-CEE-DED," was all it said.
"Hooray," said Kalenda a little lightheaded while still on the ground. She wasn't sure what had happened but it gave an air of satisfaction that she had gotten some concession out of the creature. To her surprise the plunger on the creature lowered for her to grab a hold of as the creature that seemed to revel in death and destruction helped her too her feet. Kalenda brushed herself off and stumbled briefly only to collapse on the creature, this time without it's forcefield on.
"Ah!" she said in pain as she withdrew her hand from the creature after it had started burning. Turning to the thing she saw the imprint of her hand briefly on its dome before it vanished.
"What was that for?" she said drawing away from the thing.
"CONFIRMATION," replied the Dalek. Kalenda eyed him curiously as she held her hand.
"Of what?" she asked softly. Before the Dalek could respond, the sound of an engine was heard and the two watched as a police car roared out from around a corner. Kalenda looked back at the Dalek quickly only to find it gone as the police car stopped next to her and two police officers got out and surrounded her.
"What do you want?" she sneered at them, wanting to have been left alone with the Dalek for only a few moments more.
"You're a witness, and possibly a suspect, to a murder investigation and we're here to question you at the station," said one of the officers.
"Do my parents know about this?" Kalenda demanded. The officers nodded.
"They were to bring you in themselves but when you didn't show up after school we began to suspect you'd skipped town so we came looking for you," said the officer as he opened the door to the back. "Now will you come along peacefully or not?"
Kalenda tried to see if she could summon that energy from earlier but all she got was a brief spark that escaped the notice of the officers.
"Must be tired," she thought looking at her fist. With little other options she got into the back upset as the door closed behind her and the cop car took off, with a Dalek in pursuit.
A/N: Don't worry, expect classic Dalek collateral damage in the next chapter.