They Call Her The Vortex
Part Four
by
Sabrina Lonewalker
Her Thief had been called back to Earth by the Brigadier because of some scientists that had mysteriously vanished. He was still white haired with that craggy, handsome face and those merry blue eyes, the one thing that never seemed to change about him. TARDIS set them down in the lab, precisely where she had been for the entire year they had been marooned by the Time Lords who, now that Omega was gone, again totally ignored her thief.
She waited and suddenly, he was gone, she could feel it. She was concerned now, he wasn't at UNIT and usually, she could feel wherever he was unless he had time traveled but, how could he do that without her? She began running a series of internal scans until...There! She found it, a trace, a time travel beam had taken her thief. She followed the trace until she found where he was but she was still unable to reach him. She knew he was alive, at least but that was all she knew.
It was three days later when he walked back into her control room and he smiled hearing her happy humming, along with a subdued grumble. He walked over to her central column, "Sorry about that, old girl, wasn't exactly my choice you know. Dratted Sontarans. Listen old girl, we have another companion. She was dragged back in time with me and she's proved herself to be rather resourceful. I think you'll like her, her name is Sarah Jane Smith. She will be joining us in a few, she's getting clearance from the Brigadier right now."
TARDIS hummed in understanding and now, she tried something, a tenative thought crept out of her to him and she was relieved when she saw him smile, "Of course I know you'll make her welcome, old girl." After a few the new companion walked in, looking around at the size of the control room then, she looked at the Doctor. "Bigger?" was all she said. The Doctor laughed as TARDIS hummed. "It's called dimensional transcendentalism, Sarah Jane, basically a pocket dimension with a real world interface. You ready to visit places you've never seen?"
Sarah Jane nodded, wide eyed and The Doctor threw the main lever and TARDIS demateralized. The Doctor could swear that his old girl was laughing. She was, laughing with joy at being back where they both belonged, out in time and space. She loved moving through time and space. She thought about a scene she had noticed and had looked deeper at. It was of some humans on long pieces of wood actually riding ocean waves! She found out it was called "surfing" and that's how she felt every time she was moving through time and space. True, she was a part of the time vortex but, it was so much larger than anyone else knew, except for her of course. She still knew everything that happened in it but right now, she was having so much fun carrying her Thief through the universe.
The Doctor was saying something to his new companion when he saw what was on the Tardis monitor screen. It was showing her going through the Vortex like a surfer riding the waves. He grinned and took Sarah Jane off to show her her new living space. Tardis had seen into the young woman's mind and had, hopefully, prepared the space as the girl would like. Of course, her Thief would tell her if things needed to be changed.
It was a few moments before he came back and he moved around the console as usual. "Hmm, what say you my old girl that we take Sarah Jane to the future? Not Earth's, someplace more in keeping with what she expects. any suggestions?" Tardis grinned and showed on her screen the planet Talapasis 6. "Perfect! They will be celebrating their New year when we arrive. She will love it!"
He spun some dials and off they went.
End Part Five