The next morning Rose awoke to the Doctor's face hovering above hers.
"Doctor, what are you doing, it's…" she glanced over at the alarm clock before flopping back down with a grunt, her arm covering her eyes, "it's 6:30 in the morning!"
The Doctor grinned before giving her a kiss, "yes I know. I thought you would get angry if I woke you up at 5:30, so I let you sleep for another hour. You don't have to thank me though."
"Doctor?"
"Hmmmm…" he responded, already jumping off the bed.
"I'm angry now. What possible reason is there to be waking me up at 6:30 in the morning?"
He turned back towards her, brows creased in confusion. He thought she would be happy that he had let her sleep in. Humans! They would sleep there whole day away if they could. He found it frustrating enough that he had to sleep a few hours every night, but he certainly didn't want to waste any more time than necessary on it.
"Oh well Rose, we've got places to go, people to meet. I want to check that my transistor is still working just in case any messages come through. And we need to head over to the university to do a little more research on our mysterious professor before we talk to him. You know, read his thesis paper, snoop around a bit. Now come on, up and at 'em! Time is wasting!"
Rose scrubbed her face. She knew it was useless to try to go back to sleep now. He would probably be pacing around the room glancing in her direction every 30 seconds until she decided to get out of bed. Not very conducive to getting more rest. She sat up and sighed. Why couldn't she have married an alien who liked to sleep 12 hours a day instead of one who hated the very idea of sleep?
"Alright Doctor," she acquiesced, "I'm gonna take a shower and when I get out, there had better be a large mug of coffee and a hearty breakfast waiting for me, got it mister?"
Eyes twinkling, he kissed her again before heading for the door, "anything for you my dear," he said with a wink.
The transistor was working perfectly, hidden from prying eyes by a clump of bushes. A message was being continuously played into the crack, but there still had been no reply. The Doctor seemed slightly disappointed in this, but quickly recovered as he remembered the intrigue happening right in Vancouver.
Once they arrived at the University, they headed straight for the library to read Professor Baker's thesis paper as well as some research papers that were not available on line. The papers mainly dealt with mathematical models of how the extra dimensions needed for string theory to be valid could be related to our own. Rose was only vaguely aware of what any of it meant, though the Doctor tried to explain it.
"You see, Rose, you lot (that's what he always called humans when he was trying to sound extra clever) have only discovered three dimensions: up/down, left/right, and front back. But there are many more dimensions than those three. There are at least eleven. Of course the Time Lords discovered that millennia ago."
"Of course," she mumbled, rolling her eyes, "are we finished in here than?"
The Doctor nodded, returning all the journals back to their proper spots, before grabbing Rose's hand. They made their way to the elevator and, after consulting a campus map, headed for the Professor's office.
When they arrived at his office, Professor Baker appeared to be preparing to leave. He was gathering up books and papers and trying to shove them into an already over stuffed brief case. Rose had to suppress a giggle at the image it created. He looked exactly as one would imagine a physics professor to look, right down to the tweed jacket.
"Oh, I'm sorry," he began once he noticed them, "my office hours are over, but if you'd like to make an appointment?"
The Doctor stepped up, whipping out the psychic paper (he was eternally grateful that Rose had had it on her when she first ended up in the parallel universe).
"We're visiting from Oxford," he said, showing the paper to the professor, "we are just doing some interviews with the faculty here for a research project we are a part of."
Professor Baker pursed his lips and glanced up at the Doctor. "It's just a blank piece of paper," he said, nodding towards the psychic paper.
The Doctor's eyes widened as he turned the paper to face himself.
"Ah, erm, that is,…" he floundered, his mouth opening and closing like a fish.
Finally Rose stepped in to rescue him.
"We aren't actually from any University. We're just visiting from England, and we're big fans of your research. We've read a lot of your papers. We just wanted know if you would allow us the honor of sitting in on one of your lectures?"
The Professor's cheeks reddened a bit. He looked flustered for a minute before calming himself enough to analyze Rose and the Doctor. He looked between them, trying to assess their sincerity. Seeing the eager smiles on both of their faces, he acquiesced.
"I'm only part time now, but I have a lecture tomorrow at 10:30. You may sit in. But be prompt. I do not take kindly to being interrupted!"
With that he gave a nod of dismissal, gathered up his cane and brief case and began heading out the door. Rose and the Doctor glanced at each other in surprise before quickly following him out and allowing him to lock up behind them.
As soon as they arrived outside, Rose turned to the Doctor.
"He wasn't fooled by the psychic paper."
"No, no he wasn't. That has happened a time or two before. People who are geniuses, very strong minded don't see anything. Shakespeare for instance only saw a blank paper too. But still, it is another interesting tid bit to add to our mystery."
Rose chewed on her finger, "so, what do you think, is he an alien?'
The Doctor pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver, analyzing it.
"Nope." He replied, popping the 'p.' " I scanned him while you were talking. He's as human as you and…. Well as human as you are."
