Chapter Forty-Two— Indonesia, 26 August, 1883, and Indonesia, 27 August, 1885

Trees erupting in flames all around them, Mavi ran as though her life depended on it, which she knew it did. Her hand was still held firmly within the Doctor's, and despite his injuries, the Doctor still carried both the children: Adi under one arm with Kezia tightly clinging to his bare back.

She stumbled, and the Doctor hauled her to her feet.

"Run!" he shouted.

"I am!" she protested breathlessly, but she doubted he heard her. She could scarcely hear herself over the crackling fire and the hiss of the falling pumice and the low rumble of the volcano.

"Come on! We're almost there!"

As much as she struggled to keep up with him, she struggled to understand his words. They made no sense. They were still halfway up the mountain, deep within the heart of the forest. They were nowhere near the shore. How could his ship be anywhere near here?

He pulled her through a narrow gap between two trees, and then came to an abrupt halt.

"Ah! There she is!"

"Who?"

"My ship. The TARDIS."

"What? Where?"

"Right in front of you!"

He gestured at a tall wooden box standing on end on the far side of the clearing, painted some sort of dark color, illuminated by the flickering light of the fires surrounding them. There was a man-sized door on the near side, and oddly, some kind of lantern set on the very top. Despite the gloom of the night and the increasing smoke in the air, she could see that there was writing of some sort above the door.

It was a strange sight, sitting all by itself in the middle of the forest.

"But that's… that's just a crate."

He didn't seem offended. "Finest ship in the universe."

She turned and stared at him in horror as realization struck. She'd aided—no, more than that, she'd followed a mad man halfway across the island, in the middle of a disaster no less. And by doing so she'd risked her children's lives.

As the ground began to shake again, she realized she was still holding his hand. Angrily, she yanked it back.

Seemingly not realizing anything had changed, the Doctor set Adi on his feet and walked over to the crate, reaching into the pocket of his trousers and pulling out a key on a long chain. He unlocked the door and went inside.

With Kezia still on his back.

Her heart in her throat, she lunged forward.

Before she could reach the box, the Doctor stuck his head out of the door.

"Come on, hurry up." He disappeared back inside.

She burst through the door.

And stopped.

Her jaw dropped. Blindly, she reached out and grabbed onto something—a metal railing, her mind catalogued—in order to steady herself.

"Oh," she said.

She stared at the cavernous space in front of her: at the round, glowing lights set into the walls; at the rough, metal grating that made up the floor; at the oddly shaped something that sat in the middle of the room; and at the soaring glass column that erupted from its center and stretched to the vaulted ceiling.

"It's impossible," she whispered.

As the shock of her surroundings subsided, she pulled off the scarf covering her mouth and nose, noticing Kezia perched on a beat-up bench at the other side of the room, her scarf in a pool on the seat next to her. The young girl had a look of wonder on her face as she stared around herself at everything.

"Not impossible, just a bit improbable," the Doctor answered. As he spoke, he lifted up a section of the grating, revealing a bin set in the floor. He began rummaging through it and after a moment, pulled out a jumper identical to the one he'd loaned to Adi.

At the thought of her son, she whirled around to face the door. To her relief, he stood behind her. He'd already removed his scarf, leaving it looped around his neck, and his mouth was agape as he stared at the ceiling.

"Close the door," the Doctor ordered as he pulled on the jumper. "You're letting all the smoke in."

Adi moved to obey, and the air cleared.

Slipping off the Doctor's leather jacket, Mavi handed it to him. "What is this place?"

"It's called the TARDIS. It's my ship." After pulling his jacket back on, he grinned at her and ran a hand along an arching strut that reached up to the ceiling. "Finest ship in the universe."

"But… but… but it was just a crate!"

The Doctor looked affronted. "Outside, it may have looked like a crate, but as you can see, it's much more than that."

"It's as big as our house!" Kezia chimed in.

"Bigger," Adi corrected, his voice tinged with awe. "It's enormous. Far bigger on the inside than the outside."

The Doctor grinned, looking pleased at their comments. "Yes, yes it is. And it's what's going to get you home."

He moved to the thing in the center of the room. It was then that Mavi noticed the upper surface contained all sorts of bits and pieces of things: things that spun, things that moved back and forth, levers and pullies and lights that glowed in all the colors of the rainbow. She had no idea what any of them did. But this was a ship, she reminded herself. She knew ships had odd things that raised the sails and controlled the direction the ships sailed. These things must do the same. Oddly, there was one thing she did recognize: a mallet hanging from the edge of one of the panels. She wondered what that was for.

The Doctor stood in front of one of the sides. His hand hovered over a series of switches in front of him. After hesitating for a moment, he frowned. He looked up, an uncertain look on his face.

"What is it?" Mavi asked.

"Well, I just realized…" he paused for a moment, then continued in a rush, "I don't know where you live! Can't put the coordinates in if I don't know where you live." He flashed her a wide grin, one that didn't look entirely genuine, and Mavi got the impression he'd almost said something else entirely.

"We live up the hill in the third house past the big tree," Kezia volunteered, reciting the instructions Mavi had drilled into her as soon as they'd begun selling at the market.

The Doctor turned to the girl and gave her a soft smile. "Thank you, Susan. That's a big help." He turned back to Mavi. "Unfortunately it's not enough. I do have an idea, though, if you're willing to try it."

Mavi swallowed hard, a wave of nervousness in the pit of her stomach. "What do you need me to do?"

"Come here."

As Mavi crossed the room to join him, the Doctor scanned the controls, muttering to himself. "All right, where did you put it this time? I swear, every time I need something out of the ordinary… Ah, there it is!" Without looking up, "Stand right here, Mel, and hold onto this." He gestured at a handle set between a spinning wheel and big lever.

She took hold of it, and looked up at him questioningly.

"Now all you have to do is think about your home. As clearly as you can, picture it in your mind, and my ship will do the rest."

Mavi stared at him, searching for signs he was making a joke at her expense, but he seemed serious. Well, the request was no stranger than anything else in his ship. She nodded then closed her eyes and concentrated.

"Is it magic?" Adi asked.

"Well, seems a bit like it, but no," the Doctor answered. "My ship is telepathic, can get inside your head, and under certain conditions can tell what you're thinking."

Mavi's eyes flew open, and she jerked her hands away from the handle as if it were a viper set to bite her. "Will it hurt?"

"No," he assured her. "I promise you won't even feel it."

She bit her lip uncertainly, a nervous habit she'd had since childhood. The whole procedure seemed impossible, even frightening in a way. But in the end it all came down to whether she trusted him. And as odd as the last twelve hours had been—as odd as he was—everything he had told her had turned out to be true, from his prediction of the explosion of the volcano to the location of his incredible ship, almost exactly halfway across the island.

Not to mention the fact that he'd saved Kezia's life. That had to count for something.

No. It counted for everything.

With a sigh of inevitability and determination, she grabbed the handle again and closed her eyes.

"Okay, Mel, do you have it clear in your mind?" he asked.

"Yes," she whispered. Home, she thought. I want to go home.

She heard echoing footsteps as he moved across the floor grating then a series of clicks. These were followed by an odd groaning howl. It grew louder and louder until it filled the room.

After several long moments the sound died away, replaced with a quiet hum. She opened her eyes. Blue-green lights in the central column were moving smoothly up and down. The glow gave the Doctor's pale face an odd greenish cast.

"You did it, Mel," said the Doctor. His voice was odd, deeper than before, and there was something different about his accent that she couldn't put her finger on. "It worked. That's a relief. Wasn't sure it was going to."

Somehow that was more frightening than the volcano.

As she let go of the handle, the Doctor circled the controls, randomly flipping switches, pressing buttons, and spinning things. After he bumped into her reaching for a knob set near the glass column, she realized she was in his way. She retreated to sit next to Kezia on the bench, hoping to reassure her daughter that everything would be all right. Then she realized she needn't have bothered; instead of fear, there was a look of curiosity on the girl's face.

"All right, hang on!" said the Doctor, and pulled on a lever.

Mavi opened her mouth to ask what he meant, but she was drowned out as the deafening noise returned. As the entire room gave a sudden heave, then shook like the wagon did over a section of gravel road. She fell off the bench and landed hard on the floor. Kezia, who had immediately obeyed the Doctor by clutching the back of the bench, laughed with delight, as did Adi, his arms wrapped around one of the tall columns holding up the ceiling.

The grinding sound was replaced by a high squeal, then with a loud thud the room lurched again and was still.

As the sound died away, the Doctor pulled her to her feet.

"We're here."

"Where?"

He gestured at the door. "Go see."

Adi ran to the door, Kezia on his heels, and flung open the door.

"Wait!" Mavi cried. "It's not safe out there!"

But the children had already run outside, followed closely by the Doctor. She rushed to follow.

"We've moved!" she heard Adi say.

"What? We can't have…"

It was daytime, the sun high overhead, not a sign of the smoke and fire they'd left just minutes earlier. And they were in a meadow at the top of a hill, a field of tall green grass and brightly colored wildflowers, a field she knew as well as her own name. In the distance, barely visible behind a small cottage, the smooth waters of the bay reflected the clear blue of the sky.

"But where are we?" asked Adi. "This isn't…"

"Yes, it is," Mavi said wonderingly. "It's my home. But… how?"

She turned to the Doctor.

"It's like I said. The TARDIS gets into your head. She saw where you wanted to go."

Mavi looked around herself, marveling at a place she'd never expected to see again, a place she'd loved almost as much as she'd loved Arun.

"Mel, I'd ask you to come with me…"

She looked up at him. He was watching the children as they wandered around, exploring.

"But I can't. My life is too dangerous, particularly for children. Today was just a walk in the park compared to what it usually is."

She nodded. "Besides, I don't think it's really me you want to come with you." She smiled at him. "Go find her," she urged. "She may surprise you."

He grinned, an expression that turned into a wince that he tried to hide. He nodded at the children. "Take care of Jamie and Victoria. They're great kids."

She turned back and watched them for a moment. Adi was chasing Kezia across the field. The same field she'd played in as a girl. She smiled.

Behind her, the TARDIS's loud groaning sound made her start. She whirled around. A rush of wind coming from the Doctor's ship lifted her hair, causing it to swirl around, and the lantern on the top began to flash on and off like a signal light. With a loud screech, the ship began to fade, then completely disappeared.

Adi ran up behind her. For the first time, Mavi noticed he was still wearing the Doctor's jumper. "Where's the Doctor?"

"Gone," she told him.

"Where?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "Could be anywhere."

"But we forgot!"

She reached up and ruffled his hair affectionately, then straightened it out again. "Forgot what, sweetheart?"

"He said he was supposed to take medicine, but then we all forgot about it."

Instinctively she glanced back at the place the TARDIS had been. There was a square of flattened grass where the ship had stood, the only sign that it had ever been there. She bit her lip, then turned back to Adi. "He'll remember," she assured him. At least she hoped so, thinking of the wince he'd tried to hide.

A shriek broke the silence, and Mavi spotted an older man and woman running up the hill. As tears sprang to her eyes, she ran to join them.

"Mum! Dad!"

When she reached them, she was caught up in an enormous hug.

"Mavi, you're safe! You're safe!" her mother said over and over while her father cried.

Later, gathered around the table in the small cottage where she'd been raised, they had a hearty meal of chicken and roasted vegetables with a tart for afters. In celebration, her father said, for the return of his daughter and her family. They expressed their sympathies for the loss of Arun, which they'd heard about from visiting fishermen, and had immediately opened their hearts to their grandchildren, as she had hoped they would, despite Adi threatening to eat them out of house and home.

After the children had been sent out to play, she explained about the Doctor, saying only that he had been someone who had saved Kezia's life and had brought them home in his ship.

"When we heard about Sebesi…" her mother began.

"You knew where I was?" Mavi interrupted.

"Oh my dear, we've always known. Arun would occasionally visit us, telling us all about you and the children and talking about bringing you back here for a visit someday. He even gave us that."

Her mother gestured at a picture on the wall, a childish scribble still recognizable as Mavi and Arun and hinting at the talent Adi would develop. Mavi had thought the drawing long lost, but evidently it had been here the whole time.

"When we heard about Sebesi, we thought the worst," her father was saying.

"What about Sebesi?" Mavi asked.

"After the volcano, they said there were no survivors," he told her. "But thank God, here you are! And with your children too."

"But where have you been all this time?" asked her mother.

"What do you mean?" Mavi asked. "After the volcano exploded, we came straight here."

"But you couldn't have," her mother said. "Krakatau exploded two years ago."

As she stared at her parents in shock, the children burst through the door.

"Mum, Mum, look what we found!" Kezia said excitedly.

Adi held out a key on a long chain. As it swayed back and forth, it seemed to glitter with its own light.

"Keep it," she told him. "Maybe he'll come back someday."