CHAPTER 3

TEMPORAL SURFING

The Doctor was under the control console trying very hard to look busy. Across the room his companion Mel was watching him in annoyance. The petite redhead looked as if she were about to begin teaching an aerobics class as she stood leaning against an exercise bike, which she had been trying to get the Time Lord to use for the past few minutes. She was bound and determined to get his weight down whether he liked it or not.

The Doctor had opted for not.

"Come on, Doctor," Mel said enthusiastically. "Five minutes. It'll do your cardiovascular system a world of good."

The Doctor winced and added this to the long list of reasons why he had tried to avoid meeting Miss Melanie Bush, none the least of which was to avoid what seemed the inevitable reality that he would become the Valyard, the twisted creature of evil he had seen at his mock trial. His current objection, however, stemmed from something far less depressing. It was the fact that at times his companion could be a little too perky for his liking.

The Doctor threw a quick glance in her direction and shook his head. "No, sorry, too busy," he replied tersely, returning to his hiding place beneath the console.

"Now, Doc—"

Mel's admonition was cut off when the TARDIS shook violently. She was thankful she was holding onto the bike, otherwise she would have been thrown to the floor.

The Doctor bounced to his feet and was studying the instruments before his shaken companion knew what had happened. The TARDIS shook again, and he automatically grabbed the console to stay on his feet, his eyes darting from one instrument to another. "It's a localized temporal disturbance!" he gasped in a delighted tone. "Mel, do you know how rare these are?"

Another violent shudder threw Mel into the console as she was trying to cross the room and she grabbed hold to keep from being thrown into the wall the next time. "Not rare enough if you ask me," she replied shakily.

The Doctor didn't seem to hear her. "I've always wanted to study one of these," he said gleefully, rubbing his hands together. "Fancy a little temporal surfing?"

"What?" came the horrified reply.

"If I can do this right, we can surf along its length and find out where it's going."

"Or where it's been."

The Doctor scowled. "No, no, I'm sure we're traveling in the right direction." His hands flew over the controls as he spoke. The violent shaking slowly subsided to be replaced by a gentle rolling motion as though they were traveling on the open sea. "Now, let's have a look at you," he said as he activated the scanner.

The shutters opened to reveal an image that made Mel's mouth drop open. She was used to seeing the swirling image from inside the vortex, but this looked like the vortex had been turned inside out, the colors folding in on themselves to form a single tube that twisted and bucked like a rope being shaken at one end. The TARDIS skimmed along its surface, shuddering slightly whenever it got too close to the band of erratic temporal energy. "That's your temporal disturbance, is it?" she asked, becoming more fascinated by the second. "What caused it?"

"That's a very good question," the Doctor replied. "There are several theories, but few have ever attempted to get near enough to find out. They're not exactly the tamest of phenomenon."

"You mean they're dangerous."

Picking up the edge in his companion's voice, the Doctor smiled broadly. "Oh, we're safe enough. If the TARDIS can withstand the stresses of moving in and out of vortex, a little temporal distortion won't even scratch the paint. Especially since we happen to be on the outside."

"Doctor, what exactly is a temporal distortion? Twisted time?"

Clearly impressed, the Doctor glanced up, his face aglow. "That's a very good analogy, Mel. Twisted time. I'll have to remember that." He returned his attention to the console. "The theory is it's a rogue time eddy from the vortex that twists out of control in a tight band for a short time and then dissipates when it runs out of energy."

Still hanging onto the console in case the TARDIS decided to start shaking again, Mel observed, "Sounds a bit like a tornado."

"Well, they do call them twisters, don't they?"

"I didn't think you were ever going to find him," K'ell'k said in an exasperated tone as the image of the TARDIS appeared within the globe.

"It took longer than I thought, but that doesn't affect anything. Let's just hope…." l'X'el's voice trailed off as the TARDIS started to bounce along the length of the temporal distortion. "Ha! That's got his attention. I told you he'd come."

"He's not here yet," his brother pointed out sourly. "In fact, he's not even on Earth yet. And, I might add, neither is the Ambassador."

l'X'el was so caught up in what he was watching that he momentarily lost track of what he was supposed to be doing, which was controlling the final destination of the temporal distortion. A loud beep from the computer brought him back to reality with a jolt and he struggled with the console a moment before sitting back, a sigh of relief escaping him as the SILVER TRIUMPH exited the end of the temporal corridor, the TARDIS not far behind. "There, you see? Earth," he said as though everything were perfectly normal.

K'ell'k was not taken in. "I saw alright. You almost ruined everything mishandling the temporal corridor. I thought you said you knew how to use this thing."

"I do!" l'X'el snapped defensively. "Now be quiet while I get everything stabilized."

The colorful image on the viewer suddenly vanished, as did the delighted expression on the Doctor's face. He scowled down at the console, flipping switches and twisting dials, apparently to no avail. "Blast!" he exclaimed. "Lost it."

"Lost the temporal disturbance?"

"No. Lost the position of the termination point." The Time Lord thumped the console in frustration. "How am I going to properly collate the data without a termination point?" He continued to struggle with the console, moving quickly from panel to panel. "Perhaps I can narrow it down—" He broke off, stopping in his tracks and scowling down at the readings. "That's odd. It's moved."

"What's so odd about that?" Mel wanted to know. "It was moving an awful lot while we were following it."

"No, no, no," the Doctor said without looking up, shaking his mop of blond curls. "It seems to've…bounced. Jumped back a few years from where it was originally." Looking up, his eyes were practically dancing with excitement. "They're not supposed to do that."

"Can you still find the termination point, then?"

"I can try."

Mel turned to see where they were, the image on the viewer not what she expected. "Doctor, that's Earth out there."

"I know," he replied absently. "It's bounced at the end here too! Skipped along two months or so. Incredible! I think I can narrow down the termination to a two week—"

"Doctor!" the exasperated Mel exclaimed, leaning close to his face to make certain she had gained his full attention. "Don't you think I might've been interested in knowing this temporal whatsis ended on the front doorstep of my home planet?"

The Time Lord gave her an injured look. "Your home planet isn't in any danger from this temporal whatsis, Mel. It's already dissipated."

His companion grudgingly accepted this and straightened, throwing a quick glance back at the scanner screen. "Okay, we know where we are. Do you know when we are?"

The Doctor gave her an irritated look through his eyelashes before glancing at the readings. He scowled at them a moment before looking up. "Best guess, late twentieth or early twenty-first century. That's the best I can do until I clear the feedback from the temporal disturbance."

Mel gave him an irritated look of her own. Then a sudden thought struck her and she turned back to the image on the viewer. She had not been traveling with the Doctor for long, only a few months, but it was still long enough for her to see how erratic the TARDIS was. It was also long enough for her to realize that she might not get the chance to visit her own time zone again for a very long time. The Doctor was already muttering something about tracking down the termination point of his illusive temporal disturbance, which apparently had to be done from orbit and might take up to two weeks. So why couldn't she take advantage of the time to track down a few friends?