'Well, that was a shit-show', Cassandra thought glumly, erasing the various equations and algorithms marked upon her blackboard with a frustrated groan.
The 25 year old had spent the better part of the last month perfecting her maths, in the hopes that it would lead her to it, but obviously, not.
Raking an angry hand through her red hair, she tugged it out of its ponytail, twirling a strand absentmindedly between two fingers, thoughts whirring a mile-a-minute in her own head.
For what felt like the millionth time, Cass wished she had someone with her, someone to throw her thoughts at, to talk with.
Hell, someone to share a cup of coffee with, she'd even take endless blabbing about nothings while she was it it.
Anyone, really.
But there was no one, she was as alone as she'd always been.
Hell, the only constants in Cassandra Oracle's life were her job (youngest head of the inter-dimensional and relativity unit in NASA thank you very much) and her old coffee pot, which she'd happily named Harry.
Don't ask her why, she just felt like the machine was a Harry, deep down in its mechanical soul.
Shaking her head, she picked up one of the many discarded pieces of chalk on her floor, heading back towards her board with determined, well…determination.
She was a genius, after-all, one of the brightest minds of this century, if her professors and every other person she'd met were to be believed, so one tiny, insignificant, time-bending, universe-altering, equation would not be the thing to bring her down.
As her hand made contact with the green board, her eyes widened, a stray thought, one she'd previously dismissed as stupid making its way into her brain once more.
"Surely not…" she mumbled, "I mean, I've calculated the probabilities, and they were slim to none. But then again…"
Hand moving quickly, equations began forming on the board, clearer and clearer in her mind. The girl chuckled in disbelief, shaking her head happily once she'd stopped.
"Well, that's the last time I doubt myself again." She announced to the empty lab, turning on her heels, and quickly running to her computer, beginning to input the finally finished algorithm in.
If she was correct, and she firmly believed she was, the algorithm, once inputted into a device with significant power, and since she'd long ago tinkered with both her computer, and the electricity grid it was hooked to, it did, should open passage between universes.
Or it would electrocute her to final, permanent death.
Cass found that she didn't care either way.
Grinning manically, she pressed enter, giggling as she watched the lights flicker in a crazed motion, electricity rushing a beak-neck speeds through every device in her lab, flickering a bright, blinding white as it reached her fingers, "Here we go!"
———————
"Who the hell are you?!"
The startled, very British, rather infuriated, voice was what caused Cass to open her eyes, and the redheaded girl looked around in disappointment, mumbling, "Goddamn it, it failed again. I didn't want to create another trans-earthly transporter, I already made one of those!"
The room she was in was small, lived-in, almost. It had all the normal makings of a suburban family's living room, with two people, an older woman and a younger man, both who seemed weirdly familiar to her, staring at her in befuddlement.
"Right," she groaned, standing up, "Can either of you tell me exactly where it is I've landed? I need to alert the agency and request a transport."
The woman's jaw dropped, and she yelped, "Who the blooming hell are you?! You just..you just appeared in my living room!" Growing quiet, a look of realisation fell on her face, and she whispered, frightfully, "Are you an alien?"
Cass didn't want to laugh, she really, really didn't. But honestly, who could blame her? This very human woman, had just, with the most serious tone asked her if she was an alien.
As though aliens were very much a real thing humanity had discovered.
Huffing out a breath, the girl righted herself, before shaking her head happily, "Good joke, honestly, haven't had anyone crack me up like that in fucking ages!" Tilting her head at the woman, she raised her hand in a small wave, "Hi, Cass Oracle, 26, quantum physicist, very much not an alien. And you are?"
"Jackie Tyler," the woman responded back, eyes wide open.
Cass' eyes narrowed slightly at the name, the resemblance striking her at once. She looked exactly like the actress who'd portrayed Rose Tyler's mother in Doctor Who, and apparently, she had the same name too.
"Huh, strange," she murmured, before turning to look at the man, and joking, "let me guess, you're gonna say you're Mickey Smith, right? Banking in on the near-identical resemblance and all."
"I am, Mickey Smith," he replied slowly, face set in a serious expression.
Now, generally speaking, Cassandra prided herself on her intuition. Normally, she could tell if someone was lying immediately, a niggling a the back other head warning her of any duplicitous intentions as soon as the words were spoken.
But it wasn't working anymore.
This man had just said that he is, in fact, the fictional character of Mickey Smith, with a completely serious face, and she hadn't felt even an inkling of bad intentions.
Of a lie.
Which meant that her intuition was broken or something, because for the love of Christ, she can't have transported herself into her favourite TV show.
Walking closer to him, eyes widening slightly, she whispered, "You're not lying, are you? You're being one hundred percent honest. You're Mickey Smith, she's Jackie Tyler, and if I haven't managed to fuck up the fictional timeline, that's real nook, fuck knows how, somehow, Rose is in the TARDIS with the Doctor having a fucking ball!"
Sensing her growing panic, Jackie slowly approached the girl, placing a motherly hand on her shoulder and walking her to the couch, "Why don't you take a seat love. I'll make you a cuppa, and you can tell us everything, because I'm very confused."
Cass nodded slowly, and within minutes, found herself on the sofa, a cushy blanket over her shoulders, and a steaming cup of black tea in her hand.
Taking a tentative sip, she had to physically withhold the grimace of disgust from appearing on her face, remembering that she very much was not a tea person, rather preferring coffee.
Bitter, somewhat abusive, black coffee, to be precise.
Looking up at both Jackie and Mickey's expectant faces, she sighed, before beginning, "My name is Cassandra Oracle, I'm the head of NASA's secret inter-dimensional and relativity unit, and somehow, in my search to discover how to travel across universes, I've launched myself into yours."
—————
It took hours to explain it all, or as much as she could, really.
Being a scientist, she understood, more than anyone, the devastating effects foreknowledge can have on the timelines, and so she'd decided, that until she figured out exactly how to get back home, she would hold off on her knowledge of their lives, and the events that were to occur.
Unless someone was dying…or she really wanted to show off.
Basically, she'd play it by ear. And hopefully, once the fucking Time Lord showed up, he'd be able to offer her some help.
Thankfully, both Mickey and Jackie seemed very receptive of her information and warnings, the boy more so, since her'd planted himself beside her, and joked with a contagious grin, "Jackie, I think we've somehow stumbled on the one person who may finally give the doctor a run for his money!"
Looking at the young man, she questioned, "Tell me, Mick, how close are we to Christmas?"
Based on what they'd told her, that last time they'd seen Rose had been when as she'd left in a blind hurry to save both the Doctor and Jack, and Cass knew, that had been when the dumb blonde had absorbed the Time Vortex into herself, turning into the Bad Wolf.
And so, based on what she knew of the show, the redhead figured the next time they'd see her would be at Christmas time, with the tenth, Cass' favourite doctor.
Mickey's smile grew at the casual nickname she'd uttered so seamlessly, and he replied, " 'bout a month or so, I reckon? Why? Is it important, Christmas?"
Smirking, Cass threw him a teasing wink, before murmuring, rather proudly, "that, honey, is a spoiler."