"Doctor, you're not going to die." Clara said to the Doctor, who was standing stony-faced by the control panel. The girl, Annie, had gone to bed, led by Clara, after she began hyperventilating and claiming that it was 'my fault' and 'I need to go back'. When Clara returned to the control room, she found the Doctor mulling over the revelation of her having something to do with putting the Doctor in danger.
"I'm not afraid of dying, Clara!" The Doctor cried out, moving away from the younger girl's concerned self. "You know that."
"Then why do you seem like you need reassurance?" Clara asked, her brown eyes wide and searching for answers in the other man's dark and wise ones. "You and I both know this girl is supposed to 'save the doctor'. But that doesn't mean it's you!" She exclaimed. "When I tucked her in, she mumbled something about a Dr Suresh." Clara had guided the reluctant girl into bed, pulling the sheets over the girl's shivering body. Clara heard her mumbling about explosions, and a doctor, and a strange solar eclipse. At first she dismissed this as random thoughts of a hysterical girl, but after seeing HeroTruther's message again, she realized that it didn't have to be The Doctor. It could be a doctor Annie knew, a friend that somehow ended up here, in this universe, trapped from home. Why couldn't it be this Dr Suresh?
"We'll just wait until she wakes up, and then we can find out if she knows any doctors that needs saving."
I woke up in a strange bed. It wasn't as soft as my bed back home, and yet it feels like I've been sleeping in this bed for months. Where the hell am I? I thought. Then everything came back. The summit. The explosions. Appearing in the TARDIS. "I'm in the TARDIS, aren't I." I mumbled to myself as I pulled away the covers and got up, realizing that I was still wearing the clothes from the Summit, which suspiciously did not have blood stains on the grey tank top I chose to wear. I need to go back. It doesn't matter how, but I need to get back! My friends...My brain was going to explode if I keep worrying like this. "Okay, deep breaths, Annie. Deep breaths." I said to myself as a way to calm myself down, taking big gulps of air. First things first, I need to try to figure out where exactly am I, and how do I get back. I mean, I've sort of figured it out, that I'm in an alternate universe where Doctor Who is real, and my world, as I knew it, was not. But how am I supposed to get back?
I walked out of the room and began to wander aimlessly through the infinite corridors of the TARDIS, until I emerged at the control room. The Doctor and Clara were there, and they were discussing something, their heads bent together, talking in hushed whispers. I couldn't eavesdrop, so I made my entry as noticeable as possible, causing both of them to spring away. "You're awake!" The Doctor said, failing to conceal a deck of cards, which I knew were the cards used as a guide to relaying condolences in the nicest way possible, thanks to the television show. I was surprised they got everything right, but I was more concerned that there were some bad news which needed the aid of those cards as a bringer of news.
"I feel much better now." I said. Clara beamed at that.
"That's great! So, let's talk!" She said, both the Doctor and Clara moving towards me. "So...have you had any epiphanies or anything? Something to jog your memory on any doctors needing saving?" I shook my head no.
"I don't..." I trailed off. "I don't know." I shrugged my shoulders in defeat. I'm not super friendly with any doctors. I mean, sure, my best friend wants to be a pediatrician, but she's technically not a doctor. I sighed in disappointment, a little peeved that I couldn't figure out who this 'doctor' is. Maybe it is the Doctor. Maybe he'd land neck deep in trouble, and I could save him from whatever.
"What about your Dr Suresh?" The Doctor pressed on, causing me to blush. God, was I sleep-talking again? Way to go, Annie, of course you'd mumble nonsense about some guy you've only ever met once. Thank god Rosie wasn't here to tease me...Actually, no, I do wish Rosie was here. She may be insanely quirky at times, but she always has been the one who somehow knows what's going on.
"No." I said flatly. "He's not...he won't need any saving." I shook my head. "I've only ever met him once." He's just a guy I met, who I admit, is incredibly handsome, but that's just it. Nothing else to it than what it is.
"Oh." was all Clara said. She was disappointed that I couldn't figure out who was I supposed to save, and why he or she needed saving.
"I'm sorry I couldn't be much help." I offered. Both the Doctor and Clara were silent. Well, until Clara's phone rang. The Doctor and I watched as Clara answered her phone with a chirpy "Yeah?" The caller spoke for a few moments, and Clara replied with a short answer, and then she hung up.
"We're going to have to not focus on this doctor for a while, I suppose." Clara said, turning to us.
"Why is that?" I asked, confused. Shouldn't we focus on this doctor...?
"UNIT needs us. Well, the Doctor, specifically, but you're coming too." She grinned.
They have to stop walking so fast.
We were in the UNIT base (location: CLASSIFIED) in London, and both the Doctor and Clara are just walking expertly through the UNIT workers, heading towards the main control room, while I'm stuck stumbling about behind them as everyone kept bumping into me in a hurry to whisper at their colleagues, saying "Is that the Doctor?". I mean, yeah, he's like royalty here, but mind the short one, please! Anyway, somehow, I ended up surviving the stampede of awestruck UNIT agents to enter the control room with the Doctor and Clara, and it looked exactly like Doctor Who imagined it to be. Less people, more advanced and super high-tech equipment set up in the room. And in the centre of it all stood Kate Stewart and Osgood (the human or the Zygon?), who were both expecting us. Well, the Doctor and Clara obviously. Definitely not me.
"Who's this?" was Kate Stewart's first words to me. "You know we don't authorize unspecified visitors into a UNIT base!"
"It's fine, she's with me." The Doctor waved a hand lazily at her.
"I'm Osgood." said the human embodiment of my Tumblr account (much smarter, of course), who wore her hair in a simple ponytail. She had a lab coat on, with a friendly smile. I resisted telling her that I knew exactly who she was, instead introducing myself to her.
"Why did you call us down here?" Clara asked, straight to the point.
Kate Stewart nodded at Osgood, so she launched into her explanation. "At approximately 5:28 pm, London time, a man was found in the River Thames shortly after an underwater explosion detonated in said area. The man was found miraculously unharmed, but he seems to have a bad case of amnesia, as he has no clue to where he was or who he is." Whoa.
"Where is the man now?" The Doctor asked.
"Safely with us, in one of our heavily protected cells." Why would they lock up the poor man like that? I thought, and there was no way I was letting that thought go unheard.
"That's outrageous!" I cried out. "The poor guy must be so frightened!" I couldn't help but feel sorry for him, whoever he is. I mean, how would you feel if you ended up in the River Thames, a bomb just went off and you've been put into custody of scary UNIT agents? I'd be wetting my pants on one hell of a day!
"That man is highly dangerous to himself and to others around him!" Kate Stewart exclaimed. "Look, I have no idea to who you are and what your business is with the Doctor, but this is my investigation, and I do not need you of all people to criticize what I and UNIT do as an organization!" I made a 'Gee, I'm sorry' expression and took a step back. All of them (minus Kate, she was looking away) stared at me in shock.
"I'm sorry, it's been a real rough day, and this mysterious man is not helping." Kate said apologetically, rubbing her temples.
"Trust me, we all need a break for this crazy day." Clara said, obviously talking about me and my sudden appearance in the TARDIS earlier.
"Has he said anything? Any clues to where he's from, who he is...?" The Doctor asked.
"Believe me, we've tried, but he wouldn't budge." Osgood said, but I wasn't listening. Instead, I was staring at one of the security footage in one of the UNIT cells, where they held the man they found in the River Thames earlier. This man was sat in a flimsy metal chair by a table, the kind of set up they would use in interrogation rooms in TV shows. He wasn't facing the camera installed in the room, of course. But he had a mop of now dried, curly black hair, and he was wearing the exact same clothes he wore when I first met him.
It was undoubtedly Doctor Suresh, and he was here. With me. In this alternate universe.
As soon as I mentioned that I knew who UNIT's mysterious man was, Kate leapt with joy and led me straight to him.
Well, no, that was not how it happened, but nevertheless, I stood in front of the door of the containment chamber, nervous like a schoolgirl going to meet her principal. The Doctor, Clara, Kate Stewart and Osgood were in the Observation Room on the other side, watching. And on the other side of this door, was someone who could help me understand what I'm doing in an alternate universe, where the only thing familiar about my home, was him. Him with the lopsided grin, the toothy smile, the mysterious glint in his eyes. Someone I'd been hopelessly crushing on since he first made it to newspaper covers, thanks to his Evo research. It's a little silly that I didn't recognize him earlier. Maybe it was because I was so shocked at seeing him in real life that I'd deny every evidence pointing to him.
I took a shaky deep breath and twisted the doorknob, pushing the door open. Inside was Dr Mohinder Suresh, him barely noticing me entering the room. "I've told you before, and I'll tell you again, I don't know how I got here!" He cried out in frustration.
"Well, that makes two of us." I said, pulling the metal chair back and taking a seat. It was then that he lifted his head from his gaze of the floor, and his eyes widened when he saw me, finally having a familiar face in this strange world. He sat up much straighter, as if I've finally caught his attention.
"Annie? How did you-? We were at the Summit!" He looked around like some wild, frightened deer. "Were they lying when they said they didn't know anything about Evos?"
"I'm as confused as you are." I stated, clearly not helping. "But I think I've figured out how we got here." I said, lowering my voice to a whisper. "Somehow, we've arrived in an alternate universe."
"That's impossible, the methods of transportation would be instrumentally unachievable!" He cried out. Is that even a word?
"Hey, you're the scientist." I surrendered, putting both hands up. "Are you familiar with the television show Doctor Who?" I asked him. He looked at me like I was insane. I wouldn't blame him, though. When he didn't answer, I continued. "I think we've somehow ended up in that universe."
"You're crazy." He exclaimed. "This...this doesn't happen! Travelling through dimensions is highly unlikely, and so is travelling through television shows! Reality would break apart if we take another step!" He said, shaking his head, making his curls shake violently.
"Have you got a better theory?" I asked him, and that instantly shut him up. I took his cold hands in mine, and before I could get a single syllable out, the scenery around us shifted and changed. I didn't need to be a genius to find out what was going on.
We were travelling through dimensions.
