Edmund Woods Academy, England
"I think I agree with Jane Austen when she said that no one other than herself could ever like Emma Woodhouse," Rhonda Barron, a year eleven student in Victoria Harris' British Literature class, responded when Victoria asked the class what they thought over the development of the titular character in Jane Austen's novel. "She seems like nothing more than a spoiled posh girl who may act as if she cares about people when she really just wants them to fit her standards of how someone of that society should be like, or else she becomes very judgmental towards to them."
"That's a good reflection, Rhonda, but wouldn't you say there are moments when Emma wanted to go against societal expectations, like when she wanted to set Harriet Smith up with Mr. Elton despite her social status being unknown at the time?" Victoria asked in response. She always loved hearing the different opinions people had on this novel, especially since her own perceptions of it had changed rather drastically since she first read it at the age of twelve due to her desire to read a "novel for ladies". Back then, Emma Woodhouse seemed like the kind of woman she aspired to be: a sophisticated, wealthy woman who knew perfectly where she stood in the world and wanted to help all those around her find as much happiness as she did. Now, she blushed over her old admiration for her (in no small part because when she gave the novel to Jamie, he thrusted the book onto the floor as hard as he could and asked her how it was possibly that she could like a book that was so dull and prissy), having a similar opinion as Rhoda had, but with perhaps a little more understanding towards Emma's personality and circumstances, due to living so close to Austen's time in her early years as much as her old prissy personality.
"As far as I'm concerned, Emma seems to think that she can use Harriet to the best of her ability because she sees Harriet as a simple and silly girl who just wants to follow her blindly," Rhoda answered. "If she could have ended up with Mr. Elton, Emma would have been happy mainly because she was once again right, not so much because a lower class girl would be marrying a rich man. At one point, Emma even wishes that she was like Harriet just so she wouldn't feel so upset all the time. To her, it's all about knowing your place or else being a threat to her, as she saw Jane Fairfax and then Mrs. Elton."
"I agree. She uses people all the time," Daniella Johnson said. "I'll even say that she makes me like Fanny Price from Mansfield Park a lot more now."
Victoria laughed. "Well, I warned you all that you'd see Emma Woodhouse as a controversial character. I will admit that my feelings about her have changed quite a lot since the first time I read the novel. Back when I was a teenager, I had this desire for all things glamorous, and so to me…"
But before she could finish this statement, the brisk voice of Madeline Whitman, the headmistress, came through the loudspeakers, announcing, "Miss Harris, may you please report to the office immediately?"
Victoria glanced around the place anxiously. "Well, class, we'll have to hold back our discussion for a while. I'll be right back as soon as possible."
Rhonda examined her closely as she left. "Miss Harris, is there something wrong which you don't want to tell us about?" she asked.
"I have no idea, Rhonda," Victoria admitted. "But hopefully, everything's going to be okay for me." She then went through the door and rushed over to the headmistress' office.
Mrs. Whitman, a tall and plump woman with a stern demeanor yet a deep concern for the teachers and pupils of her school, gave Victoria a concerned look as she entered. "I just got a call from a Laura Benton, Victoria, and she said that she had to speak urgently with you on an important matter. I have no idea whether this means good or bad news."
"Oh, dear," Victoria responded worriedly. She'd thought all her major problems would be over after she'd admitted the truth about herself to Laura and her uncle John during her dinner with them and then got a call from Michael Truman apologizing for what he'd done to them at Northern Horizons and letting them off the hook for all they'd done on that day. There were some issues going on with Rose on account of her happening to have the Doctor inside her mind (a story that Victoria had found both very amusing and scary), but Laura had insisted that she shouldn't worry too much about it, since UNIT would be handling the situation to the best of their ability.
Upon answering the phone, however, Laura sounded quite cheerful. "How's everything going, Victoria? It feels like a while since we've last spoken, hasn't it?"
Victoria chuckled. "Laura, you had me very worried for a while," she said. "I almost thought you were going to inform me about an alien invasion or something else of serious concern."
"Well, if you want to know the truth, what I have to tell you could come across as both good and bad news. Think you can handle hearing the whole thing, Victorian girl, or are you still vulnerable from your last big scare?"
"Now, Laura, I thought I told you that I'd become a lot bolder from my twenty-four years of stranded on modern day Earth," Victoria insisted, keeping her voice down so that Mrs. Whitman wouldn't be able to hear everything she was saying. "How do you think I could have been able to knock out Elaine if I hadn't had all this time to learn?"
Laura laughed. "You have a point there. Anyway, part of the big news as that UNIT has finally been able to locate the TARDIS. It's in Paris, being kept in an alley by a gypsy named Nina Bonville, just as we'd originally heard from Jo Jones."
"That's good to know. And was it Nina that contacted UNIT?" Victoria wanted to know.
"It was her and one of the Doctor's more recent assistants that got in touch with UNIT," Laura explained. "The other one they heard from was Dorothy Mcshane, better known to the Doctor as Ace. They're both very feisty ones according to Uncle John, and they're willing to meet us up in England if they're able to get the TARDIS working on their own."
"And UNIT is seriously going to consider letting them do it?" Victoria asked.
"Of course not, but they're so determined to go through with it that Uncle John is wondering whether sending in five UNIT troops over to Paris to help them was really necessary," Laura said, clearly amused by the whole incident.
"Well, neither Jamie nor I ever learned how to work the TARDIS on our own, so as much as I hope these two ladies will be successful, I can't expect them to be able to do it alone," Victoria said.
"The thing is, Nina insists that she's been able to make a psychic connection with the Doctor, and that he's giving her instructions on how to operate the TARDIS, which leads me to the bad news on this whole situation."
"And what is that?"
"The Doctor's time inside Rose's mind is being limited. He's determined to stay long enough to help Rose fight off whatever it is that's haunting Northern Horizons, but he really has no idea when he might be sucked out of her," Laura explained.
"That's going to leave Rose at a major disadvantage if he does so. She'll probably be left defenseless," Victoria responded worriedly.
"Which is why the Doctor has enabled Rose to communicate with several other psychics she's met, including Sarah Jane Smith, another former companion," Laura said. "From what I heard from Heather Marsh, one of the students here at St. Teresa's, Rose already managed to contact her yesterday, just as Sarah Jane was preparing to leave for Washington DC."
"Did Sarah Jane still leave after getting her message?" Victoria asked.
"She did, since her physical presence isn't required for her to be able to help Rose out. However, according to Heather's mother, who was with Sarah Jane at the airport, a storm in Florida caused the flight to go down, and she's now going to have to wait a couple of days for another flight to DC to arrive," Laura answered.
"Sounds like bad luck," Victoria said.
"It sure does indeed, Victoria, but believe it or not, that's still not all," Laura said. "You know that woman I told you about who showed up in Uncle John's house while Harry Sullivan was visiting us and admitted to being a Time Lord by giving us a note?"
"Yes, I remember. Did you end up finding out who she was?"
"She happens to be none other than the Doctor's granddaughter, Susan Foreman," Laura responded. "On the day when Truman gave us those calls apologizing for what he'd done, Uncle John says that she showed up once again and told him that because she'd just revealed her identity to Rose Tyler, she was now going to tell him the truth about herself, and man, did she tell him a lot."
"Did she explain anything about what was going on with the Doctor?" Victoria asked. She remembered the Doctor talking about having a family that he missed during her travels, but he'd never given her their names or what specifically it was that they did. In the mid-eighties, when she came in contact with Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart while he was visiting New York with his family, he'd given information on the Time Lords and the planet Gallifrey, but he never said anything about the Doctor's family, leading her to assume that when the Doctor spoke of a family, he may have simply been referring to the Time Lords in general or a group of close friends he'd had while in Gallifrey.
"He was in quite a bit of trouble when he returned to Earth. The Time Lords tried to assassinate him, and just at the moment he was supposed to die, he somehow turned invisible and ended up on Earth while still in such a state. Getting inside Nina's head was what ended up saving his life."
"Oh, goodness!" Victoria exclaimed. So much for the Time Lords being like family to him.
"Susan's now in UNIT HQ, giving assistance to all troops on what's going on and what their next course of action should be. According to Uncle John, she's just as capable of leading as the Doctor is, even though she does have some of her own eccentricities, her wanting to keep her identity a secret for so long being just one of them," Laura went on.
Victoria laughed. "I don't have a hard time imagining that."
"Neither do I, and I only know about the Doctor from Uncle John's stories," Laura said. "My dad used to hate it when he would tell them to me and my brothers, saying that they were nothing but nonsense, but part of me always believed that there had to be some truth to them. After all, Uncle John always seemed to be coming across one scrape or another at work, and no other soldier I've heard of ever faces that much trouble if they're confined to the countryside of England the whole time."
"You make a good point there, Laura. Also, I understand perfectly well what it's like to have someone not believing your stories," Victoria said, with unpleasant memories of her time with the Harris' starting to be triggered.
"So, that's all I can tell you for the moment. Better have you getting back to class. I know for sure that Sister Margaret must be worried about what's taking me so long, since I'm supposed to be helping out with a lesson on artistic achievements during the Renaissance era" Laura said.
"And my students are probably just the same, especially since I left them after a lively discussion on Emma," Victoria said with a smile.
"Of course you'd want to teach your class that one, Victorian girl," Laura said laughing. "What better way to have secondary school students learn about the limitations of matchmaking and the importance of sticking to social norms then to read that book? A call back to the good old days, isn't it?"
"Now, Laura, I just wanted to show them all what they can learn from a character that displays so much contradictions, making her friends happy while also looking down on others at the same time," Victoria said. "And the more I read it, the more I'm glad that society has gotten as far as it did in the past seventy hundred years. I've probably changed just as much as the norms have changed."
"You can say that again. And by the way, did you ever meet Jane Austen during your travels?"
"No," Victoria admitted. "I really wanted to, but the Doctor couldn't get the TARDIS to go to her time period. Also, Jamie insisted that if he ever did meet Jane Austen, then he'd give her a piece of his mind over how dreadful he believed Emma was. Let's just say he didn't share my fondness for the book."
"Who could blame him? I certainly found myself hating Emma Woodhouse when I read that book in sixth form," Laura said. "Now, it was fun getting to talk to you again, Victoria, but I really should get going. Goodbye, and I hope we'll be able to sort out this whole business with Rose soon."
"Goodbye, Laura, and I promise to be as much help to you as I can," Victoria said before hanging up and getting back to her class.
