Chapter Five
The ride back to the Tardis was a silent one. Kate was attempting to give the Doctor the peace and quiet he needed to absorb the information while the Doctor was endeavoring to control the anger that threatened to spill over. It really wasn't their fault. They had done everything he'd asked to the letter. Sarah was always wandering off. Apparently giving her a new identity hadn't changed things that much. She'd just wandered farther than she'd ever wandered before. He remembered a time during his third regeneration when she'd successfully been transported off the Earth to Metebelis III and she had survived that. He had to keep reminding himself of his own words. Sarah 'was' a survivor. She 'was' alive somewhere. He just had to find her. He'd feel it if she were gone, wouldn't he? He thought he would and that thought would be the thing that kept him going.
The car stopped beside the Tardis. "Doctor please let us know if, I'm sorry, when you find something out. Oh, you'll need this." She pulled a cellphone from her pocket. At seeing the Doctor's questioning face she explained. "It's a cell phone. I'm the only one listed in the contacts list here." She pointed to a display on the bottom of the phone and pressed it. Instantly her phone number came up on the screen. "Just press the number and it will ring my phone directly. I'm sure you can adjust it to make the two phones connect once you leave the Earth. If…sorry when you find them call me and we'll make arrangement to get everyone home and settled back on Earth." Kate handed him the phone and gently touched his arm. "We are all very sorry."
"It wasn't your fault. I will find her. As soon as I know anything I'll let one of you know. Thanks for the ride Kate." the Doctor smiled at Kate as he left the car and shut the door. He placed the thick sheaf of papers under his arm, the phone in his jacket's inside pocket before removing the key and unlocking the Tardis door.
Once inside the Tardis door, he leaned heavily against it. He pushed off the door and climbed the metal ramp, his footfalls sounding heavy, which matched his mood. He held the papers out in front of him. "Well old girl, she's done it again. I told her to stay put. Hell, I thought she'd have to stay put! But she still managed to wander off, way off this time!" He circled round the central console and hit the combination of buttons and knobs that would dematerialize the Tardis, placing her in the time vortex.
He left the console room and walked deeper into the Tardis, continuing his conversation with his beloved Tardis. "This is our only clue." He held the stack of papers up to no one in particular. "Between you and me, that girl was never meant to stay on Earth, no matter what name she uses. She was born for space travel. Still…you would have thought she could have waited…" He was getting aggravated, at exactly who, he wasn't sure. It wasn't his friends' fault. They did their best. It wasn't even Sarah's fault. It never occurred to him to program her to 'stay' on the Earth. He never thought she would have the option to leave. Once again, it was the Time Lords' fault. If they hadn't insisted on interfering in his life…this was pointless. He had work to do.
He entered the astrophysics lab and laid out all the paperwork on the table before him. "This is going to be a long night." he said aloud. He laced his fingers and stretched them before him. He pressed a button on the table and a screen rose from the left. A transparent keyboard appeared before him. He opened the first folder and began entering the information from the paperwork into the Tardis' databanks. Kate had been thorough; he'd have to give her that. She'd included every bit of information she had, star charts on that day, climate conditions, information on Moonbase Alpha, psych profiles on Alpha's key members and their last message, she'd even included a disk detailing all of Moonbase Alpha's main computer security codes. When the nuclear waste exploded, there must have been a trail. Was it still there and could he still follow it? And what about Alpha's distress beacon that must have automatically come on?
Seeing the trajectory they took, he knew they would eventually run into several black holes. Depending on which way they came out of the black hole… He sighed and wove his fingers behind his head. It was highly unlikely the Moon would have stopped along the way and attached itself to another planet, so in all likelihood they were still on the move. Because of other planets' gravitational pulls, they may on occasion slow down allowing them to visit other worlds but that could in itself be very dangerous for novices.
He picked up one of the disks and loaded it into the Tardis. Searching the personnel files he found what he was looking for. Moonbase Alpha was commanded by John Koenig. He read through the psychological profile and smiled. He seemed levelheaded, on paper anyway. Maybe he 'could' keep them safe. There were so many variables in space and for the inexperience traveler, things could go bad fast. Still, from his profile he seemed like the sort who could handle it. But they didn't know they had Sarah with them. She could attract trouble as easily as he could.
He began reviewing the Tardis' star charts, comparing the information he'd received from Unit and the information the Tardis was giving him. Before he realized it eight hours had passed and he'd fed most of the information Unit had given him into the Tardis' databanks. He rubbed at his eyes, unable to absorb any more information. "I'm sorry Sarah; I have to take a break." He rose and left the lab meaning to head to the kitchen to get something to wake him up.
However the Tardis had other ideas. No matter what direction he went in, he always ended up at his bedroom door. "Fine, you win." He threw his hands up in the air. "I assume there's some reason you have for wanting me to leave you alone with the data." He looked up and continued loudly, "At least I hope there is." Then quieter he added, "I'll get a little rest and you," he pointed to the wall, "get to work." He walked into his bedroom and closed the door. He crossed to his bed and before he had time to process this new turn of events with the Tardis, he was asleep and dreaming of Sarah who was floating away, always just out of reach.
Elisabeth opened her eyes and reached to her left and turned off the alarm. It was another work shift and another work day on Moonbase Alpha. She rose and headed for the bathroom. Looking in the mirror she could barely remember the existence she'd had on Earth. So much had changed in her life. Gone were her adoring students and the quiet life she'd once enjoyed on Earth. Sure, there were still quiet times to be found on Alpha but you were continually reminded that anything could happen at any time and your time and life really weren't your own.
After the Moon had left Earth's orbit she'd been stranded and Moonbase Alpha had inherited a new member, a member that had no training in virtually anything that they needed help with. In six months' time she'd floated from section to section, never really finding her niche. That is till she'd had the good fortune of being joined by Captain Alan Carter for dinner one night. She was eating in the cafeteria by herself, feeling miserable. He'd walked in and asked her what was wrong. She had spent the better part of the next hour telling the handsome blonde Australian about all the jobs she'd had and still hadn't found a place on Alpha where she thought she was actually making a difference.
"Why don't you let me train you to be a pilot?" he asked, his Australian accent somewhat soothing to her ears.
"Me, a pilot?" Elisabeth replied incredulously and let out a small nervous laugh.
"Sure, why not? You said you've learned to read star charts. I could teach you to fly. I bet you'd be great!" he said enthusiastically.
"Don't you need to…I don't know…ask someone, the Commander about all this?" Elisabeth stated.
"Yea, but he trusts my instincts. I think you'd make a great Eagle pilot. You're smart and from what I've seen, levelheaded. And just between you and me," he leaned forward conspiratorially first looking left then right, "you're more shall we say…even tempered than half the pilots we have, me included at times. What do you say? Can I ask the Commander for permission to train you?" Alan gave Elisabeth his best smile.
"I have to say I'm more than flattered by the offer. Sure, I'll try. But if you find out it's not a good fit then I want you to tell me, deal?" Elisabeth extended her hand.
"It's a deal." Alan shook her hand. He stood up and picked up his tray. "I'm going to go talk to the Commander now. I'll let you know as soon as I have an answer." He turned to go then turned around and said, "Get to bed early tonight. I have a feeling you'll begin your training tomorrow." He smiled again before leaving.
That was over six years ago. Since then Elisabeth had quickly moved through the ranks becoming one of Alpha's top Eagle pilots. It had been a lot to learn but Alan had been patient and she had been eager. She enjoyed her job on Moonbase Alpha and the responsibility it entailed. She finally felt like she had a contribution the community could use.
She splashed her face with water and dried it with a towel. Looking in the mirror she saw a picture of herself but it didn't appear current, her hair was flowing in curls around her face. She was wearing a peasant type dress with white sleeves and a purple patterned bib. She was in a green field with an orange in her hand. Before she could process the scene any further, it was gone. Elisabeth stood looking in the mirror confused. It felt so…familiar, just for a moment. Then the feeling was gone. In its place was the reflection she saw every day. Her hair was pulled severely back into a high ponytail with her long hair flowing down her back. She shook her head and twisted her ponytail into a bun before securing it on top of her head.
"That hasn't happened in quite a while." she said aloud to herself. She walked back into her room and looked at the empty bed her roommate had previously occupied up until a month ago. Her roommate, Billie had married someone in the Hydroponics section. Elisabeth thought of all the roommates she'd had since being stranded on Alpha. There had been seven, all now happily married. It was a common joke on Alpha that if you want to get married, you should move in with her.
Elisabeth crossed to the closet area and slid the door aside and removed a fresh uniform. Single men on Alpha were constantly asking her out but she only accepted a few dinner invitations and always kept the relationships on a friend only basis. None of the men ever really appealed to her romantically. Her commlock buzzed and she picked it up from the bedside table. "Baker." she answered.
"Elisabeth," Alan Carter began, "Command Center has picked up a signal from a new planet. We'll be in Eagle range in twenty two hours. There will be a briefing in three hours in the main Eagle hanger ready room." The ready room had been built out of necessity after they left Earth's orbit. It had previously been a large storage room adjacent to his office.
"Yes Sir, I'll be there." Elisabeth told Alan's smiling face.
"All right, see you then. Carter out." Alan told her. 'She is such a nice person', he thought. But she'd shot him down as well as every other single man he knew. Still, she was a loyal friend. Looking down at the computer's report, he shook his head. The information taken from Voyager was scarce. The planet was designated D5-Gamma-Z-Alpha and located in the Seventh Galaxy. It has three moons of its own. That was all Voyager One's extensive hard drive had to say about it. Apparently there had been a meteorite storm when the probe had gone by and it had been unable to glean any other information from the planet.
Three hours, fifteen minutes later, Alan Carter stood in front of several long tables staring at his pilots seated before him. "So that's all we know about the planet, that and these long range photos salvaged from Voyager's hard drive. The group looked at a red hued planet and its three moons on the individual view screens located in front of each of them. Alan looked over his pilots one by one. When his eyes glanced over at Elisabeth he stopped. She had the look of confusion on her face. He could see she was trying to figure something out. "Elisabeth?"
For her part, Elisabeth was once again trying to make contact with a sense of quickly fading familiarity. This was insane. How could she recognize this planet? Yet for just a split second, she did. And for that one split second it filled her with a sense of immediate horror. But as many times before, the feeling was quickly gone leaving her confused.
"Elisabeth is something wrong?" Alan tried again.
"No Sir just lost in thought. Sorry, it won't happen again." She knew it was a lie as soon as it left her lips. But who was she lying to? Was it herself or Alan?
"No problem." he smiled. "So," he began, pacing back and forth in front of the group, "the only information we have on this planet is that it has an atmosphere, an atmosphere and gravity that is near enough Earth normal that we won't require our helmets when we land. Long range scans have indicated Milganite." Milganite was needed not just to keep their life support systems functioning but it also had valuable medical uses according to Dr. Russell. "We'll go down for a limited recon and evaluate the planet for habitation as well as hopefully find Milganite."
"Captain Carter, is the planet inhabited?" Bill Frazer asked as he scratched his dark curly hair.
Elisabeth smiled. She had introduced the newly married Frazer to her former roommate, Annette.
"The probe was slightly damaged in a meteorite storm and that particular bit of information was damaged as were ground pictures. So all we have is what you see in front of you. We have four pictures taken as the probe passed by." What he didn't say was that the data banks showed that the probe had entered the planet's atmosphere but all information concerning the planet other that the four pictures had been deleted. It was assumed by the Commander and the Professor that it was deleted in error after a meteorite storm. But Alan felt that was a bit too convenient. Still, he wasn't the one in charge. He was told to investigate the planet as he'd been told dozens of times before. And as before, he'd do as he was told. Still…for some reason this planet left him with an uneasy feeling.
"In twenty hours we will be in range of this planet. Are there any more questions?" he asked, as he looked over the group. Seeing no one move, he continued, "We'll be taking an Eagle that Professor Bergman has outfitted with testing equipment to make an evaluation for potential planetfall that will be piloted by Baker and Frazer. As usual, as soon as a determination has been made, we here at the base will either be readying for Operation Exodus or readying ourselves for the next leg of our journey onward." He finished with a smile as the group let out an audible groan. "Baker, Frazer," he started as he stared at the pair across from him, "I wish I were going with you but the Commander has insisted that I run a recon on the three moons. They are uninhabitable but if we make planetfall we'll want to know all we can about our new home. So good luck and be safe." He turned off the large display at the end of the room and turned to the group. "That's it. Everyone back to work." Without a look back he left the room as the others followed.
Frazer turned to Elisabeth and said, "So I guess it's just you and me and the Professor."
"The Professor, you and me and if I know the Commander there will also be several men from security and who knows how many others." Elisabeth added.
"I guess I better break the news to Annette." he said as he stood and pushed back the plastic chair he was sitting in.
"Tell Annette I said hi." Elisabeth smiled.
"I will and I guess I'll see you in the Eagle soon." he smiled and left the room.
Elisabeth sat at the table and stared straight ahead with a feeling of dread. She wasn't sure what was causing the feeling, but it was there nonetheless. She closed her eyes and took a deep calming breath. She repeated it several times but it didn't help. She shook her head trying to physically throw the emotion away to no avail. She stood almost shakily. "This is crazy." she said aloud. There was no valid reason for her to feel this way…still. Moving away from the table she headed for the door and the launch pads. She decided to table her emotions for now and go on with her work.