DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Doctor Who, unfortunately D: I own Odie's plot, and Odie's little settlement of immigrants. I am trying to make this story as accurate as possible, but when many sources contradict themselves, according to Doctor Who, I will ALMOST always take the TV-info as the correct. I, also, do not own the adventure that the group embarks upon in the middle of the chapter. That is an excerpt from the novel 'The Time Travellers' by Simon Guerrier.
"Susan, hand me that temporal flux rectifier, will you?" Susan promptly handed her grandfather the item which Odie had dubbed 'the squirrel pacifier' in her mind, due to the end of it looking sort of like a pacifier shaped like an acorn. The TARDIS had been moving quaintly through the time vortex for a while now. The Doctor had insisted that he fix the scanner, before they went anywhere else. This, in itself, had been such a big shock to everyone, so it was no surprise when Barbara announced she was going to try and catch some sleep.
Especially in light of what she'd gone through less than two hours ago.
Ian had gone back to his room too, and Odie was attempting to pass time. At the moment, that meant sitting in the console room, observing the two aliens repair the TARDIS's scanner. That was one thing she'd never thought she'd see, despite all of the wondrous possibilities while travelling with the Doctor; him actually repairing the TARDIS. He always spent so much time defending it, claiming it was working perfectly, him repairing it sort of felt like him surrendering, holding up a white flag.
"Now, I need the new tube." Odie blinked. It actually used a tube? Well, there you were. Odie sighed, as she jumped to her feet. That didn't disturb the two at all, though, and Odie smirked. They were so preoccupied.
"I'm going to go map some more of the TARDIS, guys," she announced, earning her absent grunts from the Doctor, and a smile from Susan.
"Okay. We'll see you later," she said with a smile, and Odie laughed.
"Much later. Good luck," and with these parting words, she skipped along out of the console room, and back to her room, where she knew she'd left the Mapper. The Doctor had never told her what his little device was called, so that was the name she had chosen for it. The route from the console room to her room was getting so familiar to her, she'd probably be able to walk it in her sleep, she realized, as she arrived at the door. She entered, smiling affectionately at the walls of her quarters for a few seconds, before she fished the Mapper out of one of her drawers, and departed on her newest adventure, hoping to find just as many ridiculous areas as they did last time.
"I think we're beginning to materialize," said the Doctor. "Perhaps I shall know now where we are." Ian had his arm around Barbara, helping her sit down, before turning to the Doctor. The old man had his back to them, busy at the complex series of controls. He waggled levers and switches, tutting to himself as he did so. He hesitated, checked the results, then banged his fist down on the console.
"Now look at it," he snapped. "I can't see a thing!" Ian quickly made sure Barbara was comfortable, with Susan looking after her. Barbara waved him off, as if she'd feel better with him out of the way. She still hadn't recovered from the whole insecticide-incident, but she couldn't stand being a nuisance. Knowing better than to argue with her, Ian did as bidden. He took his place by the Doctor, who gazed up at the scanner. Static danced across the screen.
"We've landed in a snow storm, have we, doctor?" asked Ian, adjusting his cuffs.
"We've not even landed at all," said the old man. "The ship has run aground inside of time and space!" He tapped his forefinger against his top lip, as if to hide his evident excitement.
"That's not right," said Susan, from behind them. The Doctor didn't answer, his eyes still fixed on the screen.
"Is it bad, Doctor?" Ian prompted.
"Of course not," he replied. "We just need a bit more power." He made his way to the far side of the console, working buttons and dials as he went.
"We are safe, though?" Ian persisted.
"Of course we-" The crash knocked Ian off his feet. The lights went out. Ian tried to rise, but a second violent lurch sent him tumbling the other way. Odie stumbled into the console room a few seconds later, having returned from her mapping of the TARDIS when the beeping on the Mapper had alerted her to their, presumed, materialized state.
"What's going on, Doctor?" The Doctor didn't answer her, as he hauled himself back to the console. Ian watched his hands work the controls in a blur. The eerie glow of the time rotor cast strange, frightening shadows. Ian got to his feet, glancing round at the girls. Barbara, her own tiredness forgotten in the crisis, was helping Susan up from the floor.
As he hunched over the instruments, working desperately, the strange lighting drew out the Doctor's distinctive features. His expression was stern.
"What was it? What attacked us?" asked Barbara.
"Something was trying to get into the TARDIS!" said Susan. The Doctor ignored them, busy at the controls. The central rotor shuddered, then began to rise and fall again.
"Is that even possible?" asked Odie confused, as she wobbled to the console, supporting herself on it.
"Well..." huffed the Doctor. But he didn't get any further. Once more something outside crashed into the ship. Ian dashed round to help the old man to his feet.
"There is something out there!" said Ian.
"Impossible!" said the Doctor, again reaching for the controls. "Nobody could possibly-" But Susan was pointing up at the scanner.
"Look!" she gasped, horrified. They all turned to look. Tumbling outside in the darkness was a young man in a lab coat, wide-eyed and silently shrieking. Odie dashed from the police box as soon as it materialized, ignoring the Doctor's protests. Susan and Ian had been close behind. Barbara had waited, and not just because of exhaustion. When the man in the lab coat appeared on the scanner, she had seen the Doctor's face. It showed horror, plain and simple. Not disbelief or amazement. Even now Barbara could see him stalling as he fastened his cloak. He knew something. About the man on the screen, or how he'd got into the vortex, or at least what such a thing meant. Whatever it was, it terrified him.
Odie and Susan looked happily at the party going on all around them. It was hard to believe, after so much death, so much pain, that something as simple as a party could lift their spirits so. Then, Susan jumped into the wine. Odie laughed as she left Susan with some of their new friends, the vagrants, the displaced scientists who were going to build a new world from scratch. She, instead, walked to the Doctor, who were sitting on a crate with Barbara and Ian, sharing a glass of wine.
"Do you know, Chesterton, I had no idea of your aspirations to fly my Ship."
"Don't worry" said Ian. "We're just passengers."
"Well, I hope you're more than that!" He took a sip of wine. "You're thinking about getting home, aren't you?" Odie winced as that particular subject came up again, but she none-the-less walked the rest of the way to the group, smiling as she settled next to Ian.
"This is not far from where you guys left off, right?" she asked. Ian nodded, turning his head towards Barbara.
"We could stay here, you know," he said.
"Barbara?" asked the Doctor. Barbara looked away, not knowing what she wanted. She watched party. Louise and Griffiths were dancing arm in arm, the people around them clapping in time to the music. People told stories, vagrants who until today had never spoken to each other sharing the lives they had known. They were all different, and yet each future could have been improved. This party was a celebration for recovering lost lives, but it was also about a renewed sense of purpose.
Tomorrow, they were going to change the world.
Susan came over to them, offering Ian a half-bottle of wine. Her cheeks were flushed where she, too, had been drinking. The Doctor put his arm around her waist, indulging her this once.
"We'll be going soon, I suppose?" she said.
"Yes," said Barbara, her mind made up. "Let's leave them to it."
"You don't want to stay?" The Doctor asked Susan. She turned to face him, amazed. The Doctor held her gaze.
"What we've done here," he said levelly, "will be noticed. We might not be safe any more." Susan threw her arms around him.
"I'll never leave you!" He relented, patting her back.
"I know you won't," he said into her ear. "I know." It didn't seem possible they could ever be parted, and yet the Doctor's eyes were on Odie's. She could see how pained he was, how much his need to protect his granddaughter tore against his need to keep her close. She wondered again just how much of that fear was real. Were his own people truly so cruel, that they would harm Susan?
"I think we'll try to get you home," he said.
"Us?" said Ian, glancing quickly at Barbara. "You really think you can do that?"
"You doubt me, young man?"
"Of course not, Doctor." Smiled Ian. "If you say you can do it..."
"We're close to your own time here. It's merely a question of adjusting the date, and travelling in time but not space." Susan pulled back from him.
"It's not that easy," she said. Barbara was less worried about his ability to steer the Ship than the others. Another question seemed more pressing.
"If you can get us home," she said. "Knowing what we do, can we change what we've seen from happening?" The Doctor regarded her gravely.
"You mustn't interfere with history," he said.
"But you can't tell us that now!" laughed Ian. "We already know we change history every time we step out of the Ship."
"Yes!" snapped the Doctor. "And that's what gets us into so much hot water!"
"I'm sorry, Doctor," Odie pointed out. "But rather than it being us changing history, I think it's your curiosity." Ian looked to Barbara, as the Doctor began complaining about Odie's disrespectful way of addressing him. She took his hand. Was it possible? Could the Doctor get them home? She didn't want to get her own hopes up - and she knew from experience the Doctor was less in control of his Ship than he let on. But to get back home, to see her mother, to be back where she belonged...
"Yes, please," she said. "If you can, then take us home." The Doctor nodded. He led them round the dancing, singing revelry and over to the Ship. As she reached the doorway, Barbara glanced back.
Louise and Griffiths were still together, too wrapped up in each other to notice. It would only cause a fuss to say goodbye. The vagrants - no, the test pilots - were laughing and singing and alive.
"Some rest, a change of clothes, and then 1963," said the Doctor as he opened the door to the Ship. The others trooped in behind him. Barbara paused in the doorway. Only one person met her eye. The old Ian watched her. He smiled, sadly, letting her go. Barbara nodded, and followed her friends into the Ship.
"A pity Griffiths was more interested in Louise, hm?" Odie teased with a smirk, as she and Susan shared a chaise longue in the console room. The grown-ups were off, resting, changing clothes or whatever they did. Not having the Doctor in the console room was strange. Odie was so used to seeing him there, he seemed like a set part of the interior.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Susan maintained with a level face, but as Odie started laughing, she could tell Susan had a hard time not breaking into laughter as well.
"Of course you don't."
"But they do suit each other, you know," Susan pointed out, and Odie snorted.
"Yeah, they make a good couple. It's going to take a man like Griffiths to handle Louise," she pointed out with a shudder. She still remembered, quite vividly, what manner of person Louise's future self was, and she hoped, for everybody's sake, that Griffiths could keep her in line.
"Louise isn't that bad off! Ian and Barbara changed her future by staying with her," Susan attempted to defend their newest friend. "Anyone would become bitter if left to face something like that alone."
"Yeah, I suppose so," Odie admitted, sighing. Louise had had it rough, even Odie had to admit that. Susan furrowed her brow as she saw Odie's thoughts darken, and she pushed the young girl a bit, causing her to almost fall off the chaise longue. Susan stared, wide-eyed, at her, while she swung her arms in large wheels, attempting to regain her balance.
"Hey, what's the big idea?" Susan giggled feverishly when Odie finally got her body under control.
"You looked ridiculous!"
"Oh, ridiculous, did I? I'd like to see how elegant you'd look, if I pushed you over the edge," Odie grumbled with a frown, until she had become so swept up in Susan's good mood, that she too began laughing. This was the exact time where the Doctor re-entered the console room, now donning his black frock coat again. Odie had a suspicion it was among his favorites.
"What are you two laughing about, eh?" the old man asked with a big smile, and Odie and Susan looked at each other for a brief second, before laughing again. This caused the Doctor to sigh, and proceed to simply ignoring the two teenagers.
"Oh, you were mapping the TARDIS before we landed in London, right?" Susan asked with a smile, and Odie nodded. "What did you find?"
"I found the wardrobe," Odie said with a grave voice, and the Doctor looked behind him.
"I trust you did not make a mess in there?" he asked sternly, and Odie quickly shook her head, forming a halo above her head with one finger.
"No no, just wandered about a bit," she promised. "I also found a very big, very dense forest."
"That would be our rainforest," the Doctor explained, and Odie blinked.
"What's the difference between a rainforest and a normal forest?" she asked, and Susan laughed.
"Well, a rainforest is different, because it has a higher amount of rainfall per year. Rainforests are found around the equator of your planet," Before Odie had a chance to ask, just what the 'equator' was, the Doctor interfered.
"The Equator is the middle belt of your planet, Odie, right in the middle of the North and South Pole," he explained, and Odie nodded.
"Right. Around the equator, there's something called 'the monsoon trough', which is where the winds from the north and the winds from the south hit each other. And that causes massive rainfalls," Susan continued, and Odie nodded thoughtfully.
"But, Susan, there is something I don't understand."
"What is it?"
"Why do you have a rainforest in the TARDIS?"
Barbara and Ian entered the console room after getting some well-earned rest, and the sight that met them was somehow, strange. The fact that the Doctor was the console wasn't anything new, but Susan and Odie were on the floor, sitting around some sort of a map. As Barbara approached the two girls, she realized that it was, in fact, a map of Earth.
"What's this place called then?" Odie asked, pointing to a specific area of the map.
"That's Australia," Susan indulged. "It's home to a lot of unique animals, like dingos, sort of wild dogs, kangaroos and koala bears."
"What's a koala bear?"
"Small, grey, furry teddies. They are quite adorable," Susan said with a smile, and Odie nodded thoughtfully. "Oh, hi Barbara!" The two girls now noticed the woman standing above them, and Barbara smiled in reciprocation to their greeting.
"What are you two up to?" she asked, sitting down next to Susan.
"Susan is teaching me about Earth. I wanted to know where the equator was from New Orleans, and it kind of escalated from there," Odie admitted, and Barbara furrowed her brow.
"Why did you want to know where the equator was?"
"Well, I found a-" She was interrupted when the TARDIS stopped it's strange humming, announcing to the crew that they had landed. The Doctor reacted with a series of annoyed grunts, lightly hitting the console with his handkerchief.
"It's not clear! It's not clear at all!"
In the end, I did succeed in getting out another chapter before I went to sleep x) Yay me. Now, this was another interlude, evidently, and the next couple of chapters will concern the Dalek Invasion of Earth. I am not quite sure as to how many chapters I'll make it yet. So far, I have all the dialogue written down, and that alone is about 10,000 words! Sheesh! Well, I'll hopefully have the first chapter up tomorrow! Good night and Good day!