The morning brought birdsong like twinkling crystal dancing in the wind
through the window. It was a calm enough way to wake up and Tegan turned
on her back. Still naked, she felt cool in the morning breeze. The sheets
were mellifluous across her hips and the touch of the early morning air was
murderous on her naked chest, but she found she just wanted to stretch and
stay where she was.
But the empty space next to her in the bed brought back memories of the night before and she glanced over at it in mild annoyance. The Doctor was gone. And with her luck, she thought viciously as she sat up and pulled harshly at the sheets, he had left the planet without her.
"Bloody bastard," she sighed as she padded across the floor to the chair where her dress was. "He's probably left without me. Damn man never could understand..."
It took her ten minutes and several tries on the knots at her shoulders before she was presentable to stumble down the corridors in search of the Doctor. She found him, standing with Peri, in the courtyard below their room. She had slowed to a fast paced walk, but drew up short as she rounded the ivy covered column. The birds were still loud and she was jostled as she moved through the crowds. Her loose hair flittered about her and her feet were bare; she hadn't thought to tie back the hair or slip on her shoes. Her dress was therefore less than formal, but it was still like those around her: archaic, but beautiful.
Everything was like a warm dream: sandstone columns, what looked like tumbled marble for the walkway, and orange etching on the smooth warm silica look of other columns. Against the cool blue of the sky and the gray white clouds, the colors were vivid. But even the artist in Tegan had little time to appreciate the surroundings. She centered on her friends.
"Doc..." she said quietly. Her heart slowed and she felt that she was able to take a breath again.
He turned to glance at her, his hands in his pockets. In the shadow cast by the wide brim of his hat, she could see his blue eyes. They centered on her hair, then her eyes and then fell to look at her dress, then continued to her feet. The small smile on his lips matched the spark in his eyes. "Good morning, Tegan," he said, good-naturedly. "And no, I haven't left without you."
"Rabbits and spit," she muttered, moving past the last of the crowd to him. Peri smothered a smile in the back of her hand. With a frown, Tegan reached up to feel her hair, immediately knowledgeable that her braids had loosened and slipped in the night. With a set to her chin, she straightened her back and continued the rest of the distance to join her friends.
Even if she had missed her friends in the rush of people in the courtyard, she couldn't have missed Peri's dress, nor the color of it. A heavenly blue that brought out her eyes and the peach ivory color of her skin, the dress nearly sparkled in the sunlight. There was not a strand out of place on her head. Tegan felt at her own disshelved braid and she patted at it.
Tegan felt her friend's hand tucking her loose braid against the back of her head as Peri asked: "So it's not really a destination, Doc?"
"Sumeria? Heavens no," the Doctor replied. "No, no...and as such, Peri, it will take some engineering of the transference circuits to deposit us where we want to be. The splendid thing is that our destination specialist is quite up to that challenge."
"Tren?" Tegan asked. "Good Lord..."
"Well, Tegan," the Doctor replied as he cleared his throat and leaned over to adjust her dress high on her shoulder. She frowned and pulled to straighten the dress; there was a distinct feeling that she was forgetting something. "It appears that our destination specialist is a bit of an adventurer himself. He has our transport planned."
"Is it too late to gather the TARDIS?" Tegan asked.
"Yes, rather," the Doctor sighed. He turned to usher both she and Peri away from the center of the courtyard. "This isn't a planned destination and this visitation I'm planning isn't quite sanctioned by the government in power here on the Eye. Returning for the TARDIS would only draw attention to us." His smile widened and Tegan rolled her eyes. His inner child was coming out to play. "Besides, it's rather interesting to do it like this and Tren wants to accompany us. Ah, and here's just the man..."
The Doctor walked off at a fast clip, leaving Peri and Tegan in the shade of the ivy. Tegan could see the smaller destination controller listening by the edge courtyard. "Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" she asked, quietly. "Peri, are you sure you don't want to come with us..."
"And pass up a few days of lying by the pool and spa life? Are you insane, Tegs?" Peri laughed. She turned to look at her friend. "Besides, I think that you and he will be gone for only a little bit. Tren seems not to be keen on a long term trip."
With rolled eyes, Tegan commented: "It'll be a first."
"Yes, but it's not like the TARDIS, Tegan; it's not like the old girl will mess up and not bring you and he back. You'll have those transfer bracelets...and he's quite adamant about no time displacement during the travel..."
"True," Tegan breathed. Her smile for Peri was wide. "There might be hope for us yet." She sighed and turned to her friend. "How was your evening? I see you've changed dresses. Cripes, I hadn't thought to..."
Peri laughed. "To take other clothes from our shopping stash before you spent the night with the Doc."
"Hell's teeth," she cursed quietly. There was no malice in her friend's eyes. "Well, yes, if you really want to know. I was rather caught unawares that he wanted to... But it wasn't that..."
Peri's laughter died, but her smile remained, tinged with happiness for her friend and a tenderness that made Tegan's throat tighten. "I don't know what happened to the two of you before I met you, Tegan. I've never asked, but I know you're close." Turning into the sun, Peri squinted and sighed. "You're not embarrassed about it, are you?"
"Hell no," Tegan replied. "The only problem I might have is if you thought...well that..." She took a deep breath. "Rabbits! I didn't want you to think that we were any less friends or that the Doc had any less fondness for you than you thought he did... It's not like I know what's going on with it all...the man is..." she growled under her breath which elicited a smile from Peri. "God's teeth, I never know where I stand."
The Doctor turned around and waved to the both of them, but Tegan could feel that his eyes were on her. Peri giggled. "And that surprises you? How?"
"Touché," Tegan muttered. "It looks like we're wanted."
Peri looped her arm through Tegan's and confided, a little warmly: "Obviously."
** The sun was high overhead, harkening the noon into the afternoon, when Tegan, Tren and the Doctor returned to the position where they had transported to the Eye. The warmth as it spread across her body reminded her of a Spring Day; the rays were intense but only warm, not hot like summer. Somehow, she had rearranged her braids into a resemblance of order and had gathered her shoes.
As they made their way to the arrival pad, Tegan with her arm looped through the Doctor's, she noticed that all the other women about her wore metallic and jewel tone dresses. "Good Lord, they're all the same style, but the colors..."
"Hmm, bright aren't they?" The Doctor muttered in return, settling his hat more firmly on his head. "Although I must admit a preference for the silver, Tegan; it becomes you."
Tegan sighed and continued to keep pace with her friend (a small voice in her head would not allow her to call him her lover). "You're improving."
"I am trying," he replied.
"Well then," she began, "how about you explain to me again what it is that's going to happen here. That would be considered a laudable effort."
He stopped his smile from erupting by clearing his throat. "We're attempting to travel to Ancient Earth, Tegan."
"But not time traveling," she responded.
"No..."
"Why not?" she pressed. His arm tightened and she was brought up short as he stopped quickly. She noticed that he was keeping them a fair distance from Tren. The younger humanoid was bent over a small table. Three bracelets rested on the surface and were similar to the ones they had worn to the destination spot on the Eye.
He sighed and closed his eyes. "If we were to time travel, Tegan, we would have to do so to a location where there was no set spot of destination. You see, it is similar methodology to Gallifreyan Time technology; Rejuvina technology cancels out spatial and temporal probabilities thereby making only one set transversed plot. The only differing factor is that the Rejuvians have plotted the courses previously and have found places where the probability is one. There is no such preplotted spot in Sumeria. Additionally, if we travel to a non plotted point, it will be noticed in their tracking center. I would prefer that the main controllers not know where we are."
Tegan frowned. "That's a bit unsafe, don't you think?"
"Oh, Tegan," he muttered. "We are perfectly safe. Besides, there is no time distortion needed from this starting place. It's simply a side jump...if one avoids the rather convoluted contained temporal side dimensions..."
"Oh that sounds just lovely," she replied as he began to walk slowly, pulling her along gently by her hand.
"You don't have to accompany me," he whispered.
"True. But you love it when you have an audience," she retorted. "And you're not going anywhere without me, you daft Time Lord."
He smiled, tightly, but she could see it grow as they neared the specialist. The smaller man turned to glance up at the Doctor and then down at her. "Ready, are you, Doctor?"
"Yes, quite, Tren," the Doctor said. He stopped and gently removed Tegan's hand from his arm and clasped her hand. "I'm to understand that you've completed programming the bracelets?"
Tren bestowed a wide, excited smile on the both of them that reminded Tegan of a used car salesman. The man picked up the bracelets: circlets of steel with jewel colored small buttons and knobs. They looked to be expensive silver jewel encrusted Tiffany bubles to her eyes. The sun caught the edge sending up a glint. "Of course I have, Doctor." He lovingly turned the object over in his hands. Tegan found his happy, enthusiastic look to be somewhat disheartening. "I've patched in directions as best as you were able to discern from the etchings on the column. I have to admit that I adore makeshift changes to the patterning in the circuits."
"Hmm," the Doctor said, holding out his hand. The junior technician handed over the bracelet after a moment of hesitation. After a few quiet moments, the young man danced away to pick up another bracelet. Tegan watched the Doctor fished a small jeweler's glass from one of his pockets, and examine the back of the bracelet and, apparently, the circuitry. "Quite well done, Tren."
The young man beamed from the approval. "Thank you, Doctor. The endorsement of a Time Lord is a great thing for a technician. Of course, I'm still working my way up the ranks, you know," he turned to address Tegan. "I'm a destination specialist for the next cycle until I have done my duty and then I shall be transferred to my new post. With the recommendation of a Time Lord..."
"Yes, well..." the Doctor cleared his throat. "Our excursion isn't...condoned, Tren. I can't write a recommendation based on this...particular...destination, but I could speak highly of your theoretical base..." He turned the bracelet over and approached Tegan. "May I have the honor, Tren...?"
"Of course," the lad replied. As the Doctor's cool hand enclosed hers and the icy circle of steel was closed over her wrist, he came over to explain his work. "It works simply, Doctor, Miss Tegan: the red knob will transport you there. Pressing the green and blue buttons in tandem will complete the internal circuit and bring you back. We will use the launching pad as one would with a normal trip."
"You talked him into this, didn't you?" Tegan hissed, finally.
"I simply suggested that the circuitry could be rewired to deliver us to our destination," the Doctor sighed. "He's very enthusiastic about it all, as you can see."
"Your suggestions," Tegan sighed as the Doctor clicked his matching bracelet on his wrist. "Your suggestions are more like mandates for people like him. Cripes, if he doesn't worship the ground you walk on."
"Well, that could happen with more regularity," the Doctor sighed, snapping his bracelet closed.
"Ego," she warned. She saw her own eyes reflected back in the steel, distorted by the arc of the bracelet. "Are these safe...will they get us where we should go?"
"Ye of little faith," the Doctor muttered, frowning at his bracelet. He clicked it shut and turned to Tren who was securing his bracelet on his arm as well. Before Tegan could ask any more questions, he leaned over and pressed the red button on her bracelet and his own at the same time.
She yiped as the world dissolved into nothing around them. Her stomach fell, twisted as reality left her. She could only imagine that this would be the feeling of traveling as the TARDIS without the bubble of reality it contained about them. Only the Doc's cool hand as it closed on her hip let her know someone else was there.
With a sigh, and a fight to calm her nerves, she surrendered to the pitch black around them.
"And Tren?" she whispered.
"With us," the Doctor replied immediately.
"And where is here?"
"Nowhere," he responded. "And everywhere."
As usual, he made no sense of all to her, but she did what she had done for all her time with him and trusted him.
But the empty space next to her in the bed brought back memories of the night before and she glanced over at it in mild annoyance. The Doctor was gone. And with her luck, she thought viciously as she sat up and pulled harshly at the sheets, he had left the planet without her.
"Bloody bastard," she sighed as she padded across the floor to the chair where her dress was. "He's probably left without me. Damn man never could understand..."
It took her ten minutes and several tries on the knots at her shoulders before she was presentable to stumble down the corridors in search of the Doctor. She found him, standing with Peri, in the courtyard below their room. She had slowed to a fast paced walk, but drew up short as she rounded the ivy covered column. The birds were still loud and she was jostled as she moved through the crowds. Her loose hair flittered about her and her feet were bare; she hadn't thought to tie back the hair or slip on her shoes. Her dress was therefore less than formal, but it was still like those around her: archaic, but beautiful.
Everything was like a warm dream: sandstone columns, what looked like tumbled marble for the walkway, and orange etching on the smooth warm silica look of other columns. Against the cool blue of the sky and the gray white clouds, the colors were vivid. But even the artist in Tegan had little time to appreciate the surroundings. She centered on her friends.
"Doc..." she said quietly. Her heart slowed and she felt that she was able to take a breath again.
He turned to glance at her, his hands in his pockets. In the shadow cast by the wide brim of his hat, she could see his blue eyes. They centered on her hair, then her eyes and then fell to look at her dress, then continued to her feet. The small smile on his lips matched the spark in his eyes. "Good morning, Tegan," he said, good-naturedly. "And no, I haven't left without you."
"Rabbits and spit," she muttered, moving past the last of the crowd to him. Peri smothered a smile in the back of her hand. With a frown, Tegan reached up to feel her hair, immediately knowledgeable that her braids had loosened and slipped in the night. With a set to her chin, she straightened her back and continued the rest of the distance to join her friends.
Even if she had missed her friends in the rush of people in the courtyard, she couldn't have missed Peri's dress, nor the color of it. A heavenly blue that brought out her eyes and the peach ivory color of her skin, the dress nearly sparkled in the sunlight. There was not a strand out of place on her head. Tegan felt at her own disshelved braid and she patted at it.
Tegan felt her friend's hand tucking her loose braid against the back of her head as Peri asked: "So it's not really a destination, Doc?"
"Sumeria? Heavens no," the Doctor replied. "No, no...and as such, Peri, it will take some engineering of the transference circuits to deposit us where we want to be. The splendid thing is that our destination specialist is quite up to that challenge."
"Tren?" Tegan asked. "Good Lord..."
"Well, Tegan," the Doctor replied as he cleared his throat and leaned over to adjust her dress high on her shoulder. She frowned and pulled to straighten the dress; there was a distinct feeling that she was forgetting something. "It appears that our destination specialist is a bit of an adventurer himself. He has our transport planned."
"Is it too late to gather the TARDIS?" Tegan asked.
"Yes, rather," the Doctor sighed. He turned to usher both she and Peri away from the center of the courtyard. "This isn't a planned destination and this visitation I'm planning isn't quite sanctioned by the government in power here on the Eye. Returning for the TARDIS would only draw attention to us." His smile widened and Tegan rolled her eyes. His inner child was coming out to play. "Besides, it's rather interesting to do it like this and Tren wants to accompany us. Ah, and here's just the man..."
The Doctor walked off at a fast clip, leaving Peri and Tegan in the shade of the ivy. Tegan could see the smaller destination controller listening by the edge courtyard. "Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" she asked, quietly. "Peri, are you sure you don't want to come with us..."
"And pass up a few days of lying by the pool and spa life? Are you insane, Tegs?" Peri laughed. She turned to look at her friend. "Besides, I think that you and he will be gone for only a little bit. Tren seems not to be keen on a long term trip."
With rolled eyes, Tegan commented: "It'll be a first."
"Yes, but it's not like the TARDIS, Tegan; it's not like the old girl will mess up and not bring you and he back. You'll have those transfer bracelets...and he's quite adamant about no time displacement during the travel..."
"True," Tegan breathed. Her smile for Peri was wide. "There might be hope for us yet." She sighed and turned to her friend. "How was your evening? I see you've changed dresses. Cripes, I hadn't thought to..."
Peri laughed. "To take other clothes from our shopping stash before you spent the night with the Doc."
"Hell's teeth," she cursed quietly. There was no malice in her friend's eyes. "Well, yes, if you really want to know. I was rather caught unawares that he wanted to... But it wasn't that..."
Peri's laughter died, but her smile remained, tinged with happiness for her friend and a tenderness that made Tegan's throat tighten. "I don't know what happened to the two of you before I met you, Tegan. I've never asked, but I know you're close." Turning into the sun, Peri squinted and sighed. "You're not embarrassed about it, are you?"
"Hell no," Tegan replied. "The only problem I might have is if you thought...well that..." She took a deep breath. "Rabbits! I didn't want you to think that we were any less friends or that the Doc had any less fondness for you than you thought he did... It's not like I know what's going on with it all...the man is..." she growled under her breath which elicited a smile from Peri. "God's teeth, I never know where I stand."
The Doctor turned around and waved to the both of them, but Tegan could feel that his eyes were on her. Peri giggled. "And that surprises you? How?"
"Touché," Tegan muttered. "It looks like we're wanted."
Peri looped her arm through Tegan's and confided, a little warmly: "Obviously."
** The sun was high overhead, harkening the noon into the afternoon, when Tegan, Tren and the Doctor returned to the position where they had transported to the Eye. The warmth as it spread across her body reminded her of a Spring Day; the rays were intense but only warm, not hot like summer. Somehow, she had rearranged her braids into a resemblance of order and had gathered her shoes.
As they made their way to the arrival pad, Tegan with her arm looped through the Doctor's, she noticed that all the other women about her wore metallic and jewel tone dresses. "Good Lord, they're all the same style, but the colors..."
"Hmm, bright aren't they?" The Doctor muttered in return, settling his hat more firmly on his head. "Although I must admit a preference for the silver, Tegan; it becomes you."
Tegan sighed and continued to keep pace with her friend (a small voice in her head would not allow her to call him her lover). "You're improving."
"I am trying," he replied.
"Well then," she began, "how about you explain to me again what it is that's going to happen here. That would be considered a laudable effort."
He stopped his smile from erupting by clearing his throat. "We're attempting to travel to Ancient Earth, Tegan."
"But not time traveling," she responded.
"No..."
"Why not?" she pressed. His arm tightened and she was brought up short as he stopped quickly. She noticed that he was keeping them a fair distance from Tren. The younger humanoid was bent over a small table. Three bracelets rested on the surface and were similar to the ones they had worn to the destination spot on the Eye.
He sighed and closed his eyes. "If we were to time travel, Tegan, we would have to do so to a location where there was no set spot of destination. You see, it is similar methodology to Gallifreyan Time technology; Rejuvina technology cancels out spatial and temporal probabilities thereby making only one set transversed plot. The only differing factor is that the Rejuvians have plotted the courses previously and have found places where the probability is one. There is no such preplotted spot in Sumeria. Additionally, if we travel to a non plotted point, it will be noticed in their tracking center. I would prefer that the main controllers not know where we are."
Tegan frowned. "That's a bit unsafe, don't you think?"
"Oh, Tegan," he muttered. "We are perfectly safe. Besides, there is no time distortion needed from this starting place. It's simply a side jump...if one avoids the rather convoluted contained temporal side dimensions..."
"Oh that sounds just lovely," she replied as he began to walk slowly, pulling her along gently by her hand.
"You don't have to accompany me," he whispered.
"True. But you love it when you have an audience," she retorted. "And you're not going anywhere without me, you daft Time Lord."
He smiled, tightly, but she could see it grow as they neared the specialist. The smaller man turned to glance up at the Doctor and then down at her. "Ready, are you, Doctor?"
"Yes, quite, Tren," the Doctor said. He stopped and gently removed Tegan's hand from his arm and clasped her hand. "I'm to understand that you've completed programming the bracelets?"
Tren bestowed a wide, excited smile on the both of them that reminded Tegan of a used car salesman. The man picked up the bracelets: circlets of steel with jewel colored small buttons and knobs. They looked to be expensive silver jewel encrusted Tiffany bubles to her eyes. The sun caught the edge sending up a glint. "Of course I have, Doctor." He lovingly turned the object over in his hands. Tegan found his happy, enthusiastic look to be somewhat disheartening. "I've patched in directions as best as you were able to discern from the etchings on the column. I have to admit that I adore makeshift changes to the patterning in the circuits."
"Hmm," the Doctor said, holding out his hand. The junior technician handed over the bracelet after a moment of hesitation. After a few quiet moments, the young man danced away to pick up another bracelet. Tegan watched the Doctor fished a small jeweler's glass from one of his pockets, and examine the back of the bracelet and, apparently, the circuitry. "Quite well done, Tren."
The young man beamed from the approval. "Thank you, Doctor. The endorsement of a Time Lord is a great thing for a technician. Of course, I'm still working my way up the ranks, you know," he turned to address Tegan. "I'm a destination specialist for the next cycle until I have done my duty and then I shall be transferred to my new post. With the recommendation of a Time Lord..."
"Yes, well..." the Doctor cleared his throat. "Our excursion isn't...condoned, Tren. I can't write a recommendation based on this...particular...destination, but I could speak highly of your theoretical base..." He turned the bracelet over and approached Tegan. "May I have the honor, Tren...?"
"Of course," the lad replied. As the Doctor's cool hand enclosed hers and the icy circle of steel was closed over her wrist, he came over to explain his work. "It works simply, Doctor, Miss Tegan: the red knob will transport you there. Pressing the green and blue buttons in tandem will complete the internal circuit and bring you back. We will use the launching pad as one would with a normal trip."
"You talked him into this, didn't you?" Tegan hissed, finally.
"I simply suggested that the circuitry could be rewired to deliver us to our destination," the Doctor sighed. "He's very enthusiastic about it all, as you can see."
"Your suggestions," Tegan sighed as the Doctor clicked his matching bracelet on his wrist. "Your suggestions are more like mandates for people like him. Cripes, if he doesn't worship the ground you walk on."
"Well, that could happen with more regularity," the Doctor sighed, snapping his bracelet closed.
"Ego," she warned. She saw her own eyes reflected back in the steel, distorted by the arc of the bracelet. "Are these safe...will they get us where we should go?"
"Ye of little faith," the Doctor muttered, frowning at his bracelet. He clicked it shut and turned to Tren who was securing his bracelet on his arm as well. Before Tegan could ask any more questions, he leaned over and pressed the red button on her bracelet and his own at the same time.
She yiped as the world dissolved into nothing around them. Her stomach fell, twisted as reality left her. She could only imagine that this would be the feeling of traveling as the TARDIS without the bubble of reality it contained about them. Only the Doc's cool hand as it closed on her hip let her know someone else was there.
With a sigh, and a fight to calm her nerves, she surrendered to the pitch black around them.
"And Tren?" she whispered.
"With us," the Doctor replied immediately.
"And where is here?"
"Nowhere," he responded. "And everywhere."
As usual, he made no sense of all to her, but she did what she had done for all her time with him and trusted him.