"Well, well, Sarah Jane Smith, what a pleasant... surprise." Ruby's voice showed that for her, it was no surprise at all.
"Ruby White," Sarah Jane replied through gritted teeth. "How did you escape?" she couldn't help asking.
"Oh, I made a bargain with someone – none of your concern," Ruby dismissed airily.
Sarah Jane narrowed her eyes but let it pass for the moment. "I hope it didn't take twenty years to escape?" she enquired, hoping the exact opposite.
"Oh no, not at all," Ruby laughed. "But there was a particular advantage to coming to this time. The only problem was I needed you here too. But now that you are, I'll waste no more time." She readied her gun.
"You're going to shoot me? That's not like you. You can't feed off the emotions of someone who is dead," Sarah Jane said, playing for time – and she was proud of how cool her voice was.
"Oh I'm not going to kill you – yet. This is loaded with sleeping darts. I thought that would be the closest I'd get you to cooperating." Ruby fired the gun but at the same time, Anna, who had been listening at the door, threw herself at Sarah Jane so that they both fell over, and pushed the button on the time travel machine. They vanished into the past leaving Ruby in an empty house to scream with rage.
They landed hard on the attic floor. Anna quickly rolled of Sarah Jane and offered her a hand to pull her up.
"Are you ok? I'm so sorry I landed on you."
Sarah Jane laughed. "Anna, you just saved my life – do you honestly think I mind if I get a bruise from it? Anyway, it should be me asking you if you're ok – you have just travelled twenty years into the past."
Anna grinned and looked out of the window. "This is really 2011? That's amazing!" She studied the old fashioned cars driving past. Then a thought came to her and she turned back to face Sarah Jane.
"I'm minus five!" she breathed.
Sarah Jane smiled at her excitement, remembering how she had felt on all the times she had travelled through time with the Doctor.
"But how did you know that the device had regained enough energy, or how to use it?" she asked.
Anna shrugged. "I guessed how to work it from watching you, but I didn't know if it had enough energy – that was just luck."
"You guessed how to use it from just watching me set the coordinates?" Sarah Jane studied her with a sceptical expression. "I'm inclined to think you've seen one before."
"I wish I knew," Anna sighed. "Anyway," she continued, wanting to draw the attention away from herself, "who was that?"
Sarah Jane quickly recounted her previous encounter with Ruby White. "But the thing I would like to know," she concluded, "is how she escaped, and why she travelled twenty years in the future."
"Or how she knew you would go there," Anna pointed out.
Sarah Jane nodded, her expression worried. However, then she remembered herself. "Anyway, we can worry about that later. The more urgent problem is the Slitheen."
"Slitheen." Anna recognised the word. "They're aliens, right?"
"Yes. Of the worst kind. All they care about is making as much money as possible, and this lot plan to extract all the earth's oxygen and sell it as spaceship fuel. We need to stop them and rescue Clyde and Rani." She paused. "Do you know who Clyde and Rani are?"
Anna nodded slowly. "Yes, I do. But..." she hesitated. "How do you know they're still alive?"
Sarah Jane looked at her gravely. "I don't. But they've got to be." They held each other's gaze for a moment, seeing in each other's eyes the possibilities they both wanted to ignore. Sarah Jane looked away abruptly.
"Mr Smith, I need you." Steam erupted from the wall as Mr Smith opened out, accompanied with the familiar fanfare.
"Sarah Jane," the Xylok greeted her in even tones, and, before she could say anything, "I have received an urgent message."
"Play it," Sarah Jane commanded.
The iridescent crystal background was replaced with the image of a pretty teenage girl who was familiar to both of them from the colour of her eyes to her worried expression: it was Anna. Sarah Jane looked at the real Anna for answers but she only stared at the image of herself in shock – it was clear she had no recollection of this.
"Sarah Jane?" the recorded Anna began. "You don't know me yet but I know you, and I need your help. This is the year 2031 and, well, it's Ruby White – I know you've met her before – and she's kidnapped my parents. I don't know exactly what she's up to but I know what she does to people – draining them by feeding on their emotions – and I can't let her do that to my parents, or anyone else, and I don't think you would either. You see, my name is Anna Smith. My parents are Luke and Maria. I wouldn't be asking this of you, especially as you aren't from my time, but you're the only person I could think to tell because Clyde, Rani and the future you are investigating in the Himalayas at the moment where there's no signal, and I needed to tell someone because I know – there's no time to explain how – that she's coming back to get rid of me." In the background a crash could be heard and the recording of Anna froze. "That's her, I have to go!" The screen went blank.
They looked at each other in disbelief, Sarah Jane's reason for wanting Mr Smith forgotten. "Your parents... are Luke and Maria," she said slowly and then, after a few moments, "that at least explains how you know me: you're my granddaughter!" She laughed in amazement and held out her arms. And Anna, previously so lost and vulnerable, felt wanted and at home enveloped in Sarah Jane's kind arms. They stood their embracing for a while, drinking in the feeling of being reunited with someone so dear to them, and although they had not known they had been missing anything, now that they knew, they felt the loss keenly. When they pulled apart, both pairs of identical green eyes were wet.
"But what about Luke and Maria – what can we do?" Anna's anxiety returned. She might not remember her parents but she knew who Luke and Maria were in the same way that she knew Sarah Jane.
"I don't know, but if we don't stop the Slitheen, there won't be a future Luke and Maria! We've got to deal with the Slitheen first."
Anna nodded in agreement.
"In which case," Sarah Jane continued, "we need vinegar!"
She received a strange look. "Vinegar?" Anna repeated.
"Yes. Slitheen are calcium-based life-forms so they react fatally with acetic acid – vinegar for example. Do you not remember that?"
Anna shook her head. "I can't remember much, even if I know who I am now."
"It must have been Ruby who wiped your memory."
They ran down to the kitchen. After several encounters with the Slitheen, Sarah Jane always had some vinegar stashed away somewhere, and they quickly found one full bottle of vinegar. Sarah Jane passed it to Anna and looked into the cupboard to see if there was any more. She just turned round to conclude she only had the one bottle as Anna crumpled to the floor, the bottle of vinegar rolling away from her and smashing. A moment later she came to and sat up blinking.
"Are you alright?" Sarah Jane asked worriedly, on her knees beside her.
"Yeah, I'm ok. I had a sudden surge of pain, that's all – it was nothing." Sarah Jane's frown deepened. Anna's glance fell on the broken glass.
"Oh I broke your last bottle of vinegar! I'm sorry."
"It's alright." Sarah Jane helped her up. "We'll just have to get some more."
But they had no car, as Sarah Jane's was still parked in front of the library, so they couldn't waste time walking to a fish and chip shop, and couldn't risk teleporting to a public area. There was only one solution: Gita.
Sarah Jane walked slowly down the garden path to the Chandra's house, cursing silently with every step. Gita answered the door almost immediately and greeted her with her usual enthusiasm.
"Hello Sarah! What can I do for you?"
"Hi Gita, I was wondering if you had any vinegar?" Gita gave her a strange look. "I've completely run out, and I was planning to make some... some chutney."
"Chutney."
"Yes!" Sarah Jane said, improvising wildly. "I'm having some friends coming over later in the week and their very fond of chutney."
"I'll go have a look." Gita bustled back into the house and returned a few moments later with a bottle of vinegar.
"Thank you so much! Must dash... see you later."
And with that, she turned and hurried back to her own house, clutching the bottle in amazement that it had worked – when on earth had her excuses got so astoundingly pathetic?
Anna was waiting for her in the hallway. "Got it," Sarah Jane said, holding up the bottle. "Now, I'll just set the coordinates for the library and we can teleport there, seeing as I have no car. Oh, by the way, chutney does have vinegar in it, doesn't it?"
"Sometimes," said Anna, clearly worried for Sarah Jane's sanity.
"Good. Right, the coordinates are set – put your hand on the device."
"Wait, do we have a plan?"
"I'm afraid I never have time to make plans," Sarah Jane answered, holding out her arm.
Anna grinned, touched the device, and together, they disappeared.
