3,145 Years Earlier
Somewhere in the timestream…
"Are we really going to see the Beatles perform, Doctor?"
The Doctor looked up from the center console to blink at his two young traveling companions, Sarah Jane Smith and Surgeon-Lieutenant Harry Sullivan—both of whom had been watching him plot the coordinates from across the room.
"Well of course we are, Sarah," the Time Lord responded, sounding ever so slightly affronted. "I said I'd take you, didn't I?"
"Ah, but saying and doing are two different things," Harry pointed out, crossing his arms over his chest. "We've been tossed off course before. Sometimes I get the feeling this TARDIS of yours has a mind of its own."
"You'd do well to listen to that feeling, Harry," the Doctor said, a small, enigmatic smile twitching at the corners of his wide mouth as he turned his attention back to the colorful switches, buttons, and monitor screens that dotted the top of the white, hexagonal console. "It just might keep you out of trouble."
"Speaking of trouble," Sarah Jane spoke up, "is that light meant to flash like that?"
"What light? Where?"
"Just there," Sarah Jane pointed, sharing an amused look with Harry as the Doctor dashed around the console, the dangling fringes of his multicolored scarf sweeping the TARDIS floor as he moved. She couldn't help but wonder how he managed to avoid tripping over the gaudy thing.
"I say," he said, poking at the blinking button, and then at a few others. "That's odd."
"What is it, Doctor?" Harry asked, dropping his arms to his sides and moving a bit closer in his curiosity.
The Doctor flicked a few switches, then stepped back to scratch a thoughtful hand through his tousled mop of curly brown hair.
"Something has triggered the alarm on the time path indicator," he said distractedly. "But there doesn't seem to be any sign of a craft or—"
He cut himself off, scooting about ninety degrees to the left to check a softly bleeping monitor. "No, wait…there," he said with a decisive nod. "Yes, there appears to be some sort of gravity disturbance just beyond the time vortex; possibly a rogue singularity. The gravity pull must have set off the alarm. Nothing to worry about. I'll just—"
Sarah Jane cried out as a sudden burst of sparks plumed from the undulating time rotor at the console's center, forcing the Doctor and Harry to jump back to avoid getting scorched. Alarmed, the Doctor batted at his scarf, making sure all the lingering sparks were extinguished.
"Now, that shouldn't have happened," he commented, sharing a glance with the breathless Harry and Sarah Jane before striding back up to the now smoking controls. "Whatever was causing that gravity disturbance must have passed through the vortex and come out the other side." He frowned, rubbing his chin. "Can't have been a singularity, then."
Turning around, he noticed the concerned, puzzled looks on his companions' faces. Realizing his speculation was only worrying them, he tried to lighten the tense atmosphere with a grin.
"Well, whatever it was it's gone now," he said. "And we're still on course. We should materialize in Liverpool with just enough time for a quick stopover at the nearby sweet shop before the show."
"Ah ha," Sarah Jane smiled. "Out of jelly babies again, are we, Doctor?""Very nearly," the Doctor nodded, his broad grin returning as the TARDIS juddered under their feet.
"And here we are!" he proclaimed, opening the doors and striding out into the brisk early evening air. "Liverpool, England, 21 March, 1961, precisely as promised." Looking back at his excited companions, he said, "All right, let's be on our way. If memory serves, the Cavern should be just down the street and to the left. Of course, I don't have to remind you—"
"Oh, we know, Doctor," Sarah Jane interrupted with mock seriousness, taking his arm and sharing a grin with Harry as the two of them mimicked the Doctor's voice: "Don't wander off!"
That's it for the prologue. Tune in next time for Chapter One!
Thanks so much for reviewing! I was terribly nervous about that first section!