Hello everyone! Thanks so much for all the support for this story! It's wonderful hearing from all of you and encourages me to write even more! Thankfully, I've gotten some time to sit down and work on the next couple of chapters. Enjoy!

The Imaginary Sock

Chapter Three:

Strange New World

"What's your friend doing?" asked Adisa after the Doctor stepped into the TARDIS and closed the door.

"Oh, he's just working on something to deal with the door," replied Clara. "It'll probably be boring."

"Really? I think that sounds cool."

Of course she would, thought Clara. This was the girl who had basically rebuilt tiny nanoids to do whatever she wanted them to do. Even so, the Doctor probably didn't want to be disturbed at the moment. That, or he didn't quite trust Adisa yet. Clara suspected the latter. She would have to come up with something to keep them busy.

"So, what do you do for fun besides reprograming robots?"

"Well, I chat online-"

"I think you've mentioned that already." She regretted it immediately. Apparently the Doctor's rudeness was starting to rub off on her.

Adisa blushed. "Oh sorry…" she mumbled.

They stood around in silence for a while. The nanoids slid off the wall, and H.E.I.N. reformed himself into his humanoid form. He walked over to the door and began examining it more closely. Clara racked her brain for some topic of conversation, even though Adisa seemed content enough to stand around in silence. She scanned the titles of books on the tables until one caught her eye. Clara felt a tightness in her chest.

"You're a fan of maths, I take it," she stated, unable to take her eyes away from the textbook.

"Huh?" replied Adisa. She then looked down at the same book. "Oh yeah, I am. Math and physics are my favorite subjects in school."

"They still have school here, then?" asked Clara. "Do you take all of your classes off of that screen, too?"

"Yeah, I do. I suppose everyone else does as well."

"Are you the only one in your class?" inquired Clara. She knew from experience that one-on-one instruction could be very effective, but that hardly seemed efficient on a large scale. Plus, she imagined it would be boring. Clara could remember falling asleep in her biology class, even though she had her friend Lauren sitting next to her. If she'd been by herself, she probably wouldn't have learned anything.

"Yes, just me," responded Adisa. "H.E.I.N. sometimes sits with me while I'm having my lessons, but he already knows everything so he's mostly just company. Plus, I have to worry about him spoiling the endings to my favorite books."

"Snape kills Dumbledore," the A.I. announced proudly.

Clara couldn't help but laugh a bit. Adisa exchanged a confused look with H.E.I.N. who shrugged. "Sorry," Clara apologized. "I grew up with that book series. It's just funny seeing that people still consider that spoiling it."

"You grew up around when Harry Potter was written!" exclaimed Adisa, her eyes wide. "But that would make you over a thousand years old!"

"Well, I didn't just live through that whole time," explained Clara. "The TARDIS can travel not only through space, but also time. I actually came here from my gran's house. We were celebrating Christmas and-"

"Your gran?"

"Oh, my gran is my grandmother. My dad's mother," elaborated Clara. She felt her throat constrict a bit. She hadn't let her thoughts dwell on her gran since leaving with the Doctor, so she hadn't realized how much she missed her.

"So she's your parent's parent," said Adisa.

"Exactly," replied Clara.

H.E.I.N. focused his eyes on a blank space of wall. Two beams of light were projected from his eyes, creating two overlapping ovals on the wall. Inside the field of light was text in a type of diagram. Clara saw her own name at the bottom, and connected to it above were the words 'Mum' and 'Dad'. 'Dad' was then connected to the word 'Gran' written above it.

"Ancient human beings called these social units families," stated H.E.I.N., his eyes never blinking. "A diagram such as this is referred to as a family tree."

"If I had my whole family on here, it would keep spreading out farther and farther," added Clara. "I could add my other grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins-"

"That's so many people," breathed Adisa. She appeared to be in some state of awe as she examined the family tree on the wall. "Do you know all of them?"

"No," admitted Clara. "Some of my cousins live quite far away and my gran is the oldest living member of my family. I do know other people, though, who are not part of my family."

"Your friends?" guessed Adisa.

"Yes, and my students. I am a teacher where I come from."

"A teacher," defined H.E.I.N., "Is an individual employed in the education of younger or less informed members of society. Teachers work in buildings called schools."

"Everyone goes to school together?" questioned Adisa, hugging her arms around her. It appeared to be one of her many nervous gestures, noted Clara. "Isn't that distracting? How would I ask my questions if everyone else had questions?"

"It's not so bad," Clara reassured her, placing a hand on her shoulder. Adisa slid uncomfortably away. Clara noted not to try that gesture again, for it appeared to unnerve the girl. H.E.I.N. gave Clara an apologetic smile and then walked over to Adisa, placing his own hand on her shoulder. The girl relaxed and looked much calmer. "For the most part, students listen quietly when I teach. As for questions, I try to take as many questions as I can from all of my students. If any of them need more help, then they can come ask me after school in the classroom."

"Okay," responded Adisa, although Clara could still sense a hint of doubt in her voice. "I don't know if I'd like that."

"I guess it must seem pretty strange to you," mused Clara aloud. "To me, your world seems pretty strange, but I suppose it's because I don't live in it." She remembered what the Doctor had asked her to do before going inside the TARDIS. "How do you lot make decisions as a society?"

"Like a government structure?" asked Adisa. "I'm not very familiar with how it all works, but I think there's some kind of voting that passes through the Mainframe."

"What's the Mainframe?" questioned Clara. It sounded like something the Doctor would be interested in.

"The Mainframe is a supercomputer through which all earthlings communicate. It also maintains the programs that create all artificial intelligence systems, such as myself," answered H.E.I.N., switching the diagram he was projecting. The new diagram was much more thorough than the last. It had a similar shape with the Mainframe at the top as a kind of distant ancestor while there were several smaller computers and other things which Clara assumed were software programs listed on the expanding branches below it. H.E.I.N.'s name was listed at the bottom. "I am approximately twenty-three percent Mainframe programming."

"I guess everyone except me has some kind of family tree," stated Adisa sadly. "I never really thought about how I got here before."

"I'm sure the answer is out there somewhere," said Clara, giving the girl her most reassuring smile. "Maybe this Mainframe knows."

"The Mainframe may have records on your origins," mentioned H.E.I.N. earnestly. "Would you like me to search the database?"

"Wow, that would be great!" exclaimed Adisa. She bit her lip. "That won't cause you too much trouble, will it?"

"I may need to power down for a while, depending on how many records I go through," admitted the A.I. with a shrug. "I don't mind that, though. It seems to be important to you, so it is important to me, too."

Clara found that to be rather sweet, which was weird considering he was an artificial intelligence interface. Every science fiction novel she had ever read portrayed artificial intelligence as cold and calculating. Of course, she knew there was most likely some kind of exception out there. If Daleks could turn good and Sontarans could be nurses, then there was no reason an A.I. couldn't have feelings.

"So, you'll look it up," prompted Clara.

"Of course!" replied H.E.I.N., stopping the projection. "Running inquiry. Family tree of Adisa King. Searching records database."

The A.I. remained silent for several minutes after this, although Clara felt as if she could feel all of his energy being put into this search. Adisa appeared to be holding her breath. The girl leaned in with her eyes focused entirely on H.E.I.N. as if her stare alone could cause him to find the answer faster.

"Found," he finally stated. Clara felt her own breath catch in her throat. Adisa appeared ready to fall over onto her face. He smiled, his demeanor turning bubbly. "You have one new message from Knightwalker333!"

Clara's mouth drop open. "I thought you were looking for Adisa's records!"

Adisa staggered backward for a second before catching her footing. "Sorry, he does that," she mumbled, her face once again red from embarrassment. "The algorithm probably ran too long and he got interrupted by another request. Knightwalker333 is one of my friends."

"Okay," said Clara. "What does Knightwalker333 want?"

"I dunno," responded Adisa. She turned to H.E.I.N. "Open Knightwalker333's message."

"Of course!" exclaimed the A.I. with a smile. "Hello, Nova153!"

"That's me," explained Adisa, shooting Clara a side glance.

"I'm starting a game of Galaxy Racers. Do you want to remote into the game? Passcode is 8675309."

"Ooh, I love Galaxy Racers!" squealed Adisa. She then looked over at Clara and blushed. "Sorry, it's my favorite game."

"No need to apologize!" protested Clara. Just when it seemed like Adisa would break out of her shell, she had retreated once again. Clara hoped she wouldn't have to keep egging the girl on all day. Goodness knew she already did enough of that with her students. "What is Galaxy Racers all about?"

"It's the best! Galaxy Racers is a racing game with different vehicles based on the terrain because there's, like, thirty different settings to start with and around five hundred once you've unlocked all of the secret levels-" started Adisa. She bit her lip. "Do you want to play?"

"Er… sure? Sounds like fun." Clara followed Adisa into the back room. Maybe playing a game with Adisa would help reveal more about the current state of the Earth. At least it would kill some time while the Doctor was working on whatever gadget he was surely building in the TARDIS.

OoO

The x-ray goggles were simple enough to design, initial plans only taking up a small corner of his blackboard. Not that he really needed the plans, but this face was apparently very fond of visual representations. That and talking aloud to himself, which was the current activity in which the Doctor was engaged.

"32nd century," he said, pulling the monitor to face him. "What do we have on Earth in the 32nd century?"

He began to carefully gather the parts he would need for the goggles on his workbench as the TARDIS conducted her search. No need to litter the floor with endless knickknacks and doodads. The Doctor was neater this time around. Well, a little bit neater. Neat enough to allow maximum room for books, pacing, and scribbling with chalk.

The TARDIS made a beeping noise, causing the Doctor to look up at the monitor. "I know this century is boring, but you must have something more than the weather reports from 3166!" he grumbled. "Humanity should be learning and growing! Spreading out! Exploring the universe! They're well past the point of first contact with extraterrestrial species recognized by the general public. Ships should be coming and going from this planet, so why is humanity sitting at home like a sack of potatoes?!" He sat down on the stairs, leaning his head on his hand. "I don't remember this. Of course there are things even I forget, but I would have remembered this. This is important, this is… unnatural."

The TARDIS hummed sadly and dimmed the lights a bit. She pulled up some news reports on election results and interstellar tariffs as she continued her search. He stood up and walked back to the workbench on the lower level. There was no point in just sitting there sulking. He would just have to give the TARDIS time.

The Doctor smirked as he worked on fitting a tungsten anode. Perhaps this century wouldn't prove as boring as he first thought. "51st century motor tech should do the trick. Unless the 32nd century is the new 51st as far as technology goes. I'll have to ask someone about that some time. It should be able to take on a door at the least." He finished the last of his adjustments on the x-ray goggles and fixed them onto his head. The Doctor flipped a switch on the side of the goggles and looked at one of the compartments surrounding the central column behind him. He could see the various pipes and wires the compartment typically hid from plain sight, which was a good sign. Good enough that he was willing to take the goggles out for a test run. Before stepping outside he checked the monitor again. She had added a lot of text from chat rooms to the other information she'd found earlier. "When will these pudding brains stop making so much excess noise on the internet? I don't need to know their opinion on time lapses in the self-replenishing of food in fridges. Throw that bit out. Focus on the chat room filters. Someone out there must know something."

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