Huge thanks to Vilinye, whose well timed review rescued me from fanfic depression. Also to Vilinye (again, lol), bagel and lilycullen1997 for adding this fic to their alert list. I think I've pretty much cracked the plot of this, so once I've shaken off the Evil Cold of Doom, I shall progress rapidly, I hope. Enjoy this installment!

Chapter Four

'Sarah Jane.'

"Team Sarah Jane" turned as one to see Haresh Chandra coming up to them, his black brows meeting in a strong line over his aquiline nose.

'Great, it's my favourite person,' Clyde muttered, earning himself a dig in the ribs from Rani, who smiled up at her father.

'Hi, Dad. What's up?'

For a moment, Haresh's smile flashed before he returned to his official-headmaster-persona.

'I wanted to apologise to Sarah Jane for losing Sky. I'm deeply sorry; I honestly don't know what's happened. The most I can tell you is that she's not in any of the school buildings, and there's definitely no danger – the fire brigade are leaving now,' he ended, nodding towards the bulky firemen who could be seen clambering into their trucks. His next words were said against the backdrop of fading sirens. 'Is there anything I can do to help?'

Sarah Jane managed to smile. 'Thanks, Haresh, but I think I'll be fine.' She paused to glance at her young friends. 'Actually, you could help by allowing me to borrow Rani – just until we find her, you know? Rani and Sky have become very close.'

'She asked if I'd be her sort-of sister,' Rani contributed, giving her father the big-eyed little-girl pleading look she knew he could never resist. 'Honestly, Dad, I really could help.'

Haresh glared at Clyde. 'And I suppose you're going to go along for the ride as usual, Langer?'

Clyde nonchalantly put his elbow on Sarah Jane's shoulder. ''Course. Couldn't leave these two to look for the kid without me, could I?'

'Hmmm,' Haresh said. 'Take them both, Sarah Jane, if you're sure they're not going to get in the way. I'm sending all the kids home now anyway; there's no point in keeping them here when the electric's still out.' He frowned. 'It's really very strange. I was given to understand that the back-up generator would always kick in when this sort of thing happened, but apparently not.' He shrugged and a smile ghosted across his features again. 'Well, I'll leave you to it. See you later, Rani, and give us a shout if you do need help, Sarah Jane.'

'I'll do that. Thanks, Haresh,' Sarah Jane called as he left them, his tall suit-clad form disappearing into one of the school's side doors.

'Finally!' Clyde hissed. 'So, what's the plan, Sarah Jane?'

'We've got two things to worry about,' Sarah Jane began, her hands going to her hips as she thought aloud. 'First: Sky. Haresh said she's definitely not in any of the school buildings, which rules that out, so we'll have to search the grounds … but I don't think she's far. I don't believe in coincidences; the problems with the school's electricity must be linked to her disappearance. And then there's that,' she went on, gesturing to the phone in Clyde's hand.

Clyde turned his phone over and over in his hands, studying it. 'You think the phone's on the blink 'cos it's connected to the internet. I need to go back into school anyway; I left my gear in the computer lab. I could check –'

'The electric's off, remember?' Rani interrupted. 'There'll be nothing to see.'

Clyde grinned. 'Sure about that? One thing I've learned after all this time: never say never.'

Sarah Jane nodded. 'Yes; Haresh said the failure of the generator was odd. That message on your phone and Mr Smith is also – odd. Check the computers, Clyde, it won't hurt. And here,' she finished, tossing him her sonic lipstick. 'You might need this.'

Clyde grinned again as he caught it neatly. 'Thanks. Never thought I'd be so glad to see a lippy. And, I've got my own little gizmo, my torch. Laters, girls!' He sauntered off, his leisurely pace picking up into a run as he rounded the corner.

Sarah Jane sagged back against the wall, as if Clyde had taken her fortitude along with her lipstick. 'Sky,' she whispered. 'Where are you?'

Rani's eyes went to the park across the road from the school. 'Could she have run off into the park?'

'It's a big park,' Sarah Jane said despairingly. 'How could we find her?'

'Wouldn't the watch help?'

'It's gone flat,' the older woman told her, double checking the gold-fronted watch on her wrist. 'I checked that just after I phoned Mr Smith. That's why I'm certain there's more to all this than meets the eye. That watch is never supposed to die.'

Rani took her arm, gently pulling her away from the support of the wall. 'C'mon, then. We'll just have to do it the old-fashioned way.'

Meanwhile, Clyde was quite enjoying his trip through the dark and deserted school corridors. When there was no immediate danger of rampaging aliens, it was kinda awesome being able to play James Bond with his super-slim mini torch and Sarah Jane's sonic lipstick. All the same, he didn't linger; he was as worried about Sky as his friends, and was eager to rejoin Sarah Jane and Rani as soon as possible. Consequently, it was not long before he was outside the door of the computer lab – and he blessed Sarah Jane's foresight: it was locked.

'This'll sort that,' he told it, firing a sonic beam at the lock and grinning when he heard the 'click' of it unlock. 'Cool. The lippy strikes again.'

He pushed the door open and stopped on the threshold.

Power cut or no power cut, every monitor was glowing, THE END IS NIGH picked out in the same neon shade that Clyde had seen on his smartphone screen.

'Freaky,' he muttered, heading towards his seat to extract his bag from where it lurked in the recesses under the table. He glanced at the computer's 'pizza box' as he bend over, and his eyes widened. 'Even freakier. There's no lights. Something's keeping that message on-screen, but it ain't the lecky…'

He grabbed his bag and backed out of the room, half expecting the door to jam shut beyond the powers of the sonic, trapping him. He gave a sigh of relief when his imaginings did not come to pass – only to break off in a muffled exclamation when someone grabbed him as he emerged into the blanketing darkness of the corridor.

'This is hopeless,' Sarah Jane said after fifteen futile minutes of scouting the park. 'Sky's no outdoor fiend. Why would she have run here in the first place?'

'Maybe she's not in the park,' Rani agreed, her eyes scanning as far as she could see. 'Short of going through every single bush, I don't think we'd find her if she is.' She glanced at Sarah Jane. 'She does know how to get home herself, doesn't she?'

Sarah Jane groaned, one hand rubbing the back of her neck. 'I doubt it, Rani, she's never had to –'

'I've got it!' Rani burst out. 'K9!'

Sarah Jane gave her a weary look. 'We need Luke for that, and Luke got a new phone when Sky got hers. In fact, they've got the same model. If we can't get hold of Sky –'

'We won't be able to get hold of Luke,' Rani finished for her despondently. Her phone vibrated, and she glanced at it carelessly, only to turn to Sarah Jane with a beam. 'We're saved!'

'How?'

'That,' she answered, wagging her phone back and forward in front of the older woman's face, 'was Santiago. He and Jo are in Oxford, something about a fee protest –'

'They can find Luke!' Sarah Jane finished for her, grasping her arm and giving it a little shake. 'I'll phone Jo right away.' She broke away from Rani and pulled out her phone, her hands trembling a little, and made the call.

It rang. And rang.

'It is ringing, but she's not answering,' Sarah Jane murmured. 'Try Santiago's. Surely between the two of them – oh, Jo! Jo, it's Sarah Jane Smith here, we met –' She stopped and rolled her eyes at Rani, clearly cut off by an avalanche of words from the other woman.

Rani snickered, finding it all too easy to imagine how Jo had responded.

'Listen, Rani says you're in Oxford? Right. I see. I was wondering –'

Yet again she was cut off, but Sarah Jane Smith had not been a journalist for forty years without learning how to get her own way when necessary. She interrupted the stream of words with a firm 'Jo, I need your help. I need you to go to Pembroke College and ask for Luke Smith. It's urgent - What?'

What is she saying? Rani mouthed at her, but Sarah Jane held up a hand and started talking again.

'That's exactly why I've phoned you, all the kids have smartphones these days…' She flashed a quick smile at Rani. 'Except the sensible ones like Rani and your Santiago – Really? You think? OK, I'll expect you later, then.'

She took the mobile away from her ear and looked at it. 'That was interesting.'

'What?' Rani demanded. 'What did she say? Are they coming here? Is she gonna bring Luke?'

Sarah Jane looked down at her phone, one finger tapping its smooth shell. 'She said she was about to try to contact me,' she began slowly. 'Apparently she had a call from Liz, who used to work with the Doctor – she's had problems with her computer as well. That same message: the end is nigh. Jo wondered if it's only affecting people who know the Doctor…'

'The Doctor must be in trouble!' Rani exclaimed, her mind whirring. 'Maybe that's what upset Sky; didn't you say that she's acutely sensitive to electrical vibrations, no matter how tiny?'

Sarah Jane stared at her. '"The whole universe might just shiver",' she quoted softly. 'That's what the Doctor said to me, last time. That if he ever died, the whole universe would shiver…'

'But it's not,' Rani pointed out, starting to jog. 'We're the only ones who're noticing. Perhaps he's not dead yet… What time are Jo and Santiago coming?'

'As soon as possible,' Sarah Jane told her. 'They're going to collect Luke and K9, and come straight here.' She threw Rani a smile. 'That was brilliant, Rani: once we have K9 we'll be able to find Sky and hopefully discover what's going on with the Doctor!' With that, she picked up speed and jogged on ahead, leaving Rani following, shaking her head.

If I'm that fit when I'm her age…

'There you are!' Clyde burst out aggrievedly when they returned to the school car park. 'What were you thinking, just disappearing like that when you know I've no phone? What if you'd got into trouble?'

'We didn't,' Rani soothed. 'We just went into the park to look for Sky.'

The indignation that had stiffened Clyde's posture vanished, and he relaxed, his features creasing in worry instead. 'But you didn't find her,' he said, stating the obvious.

'Luke's on his way, we hope,' Sarah Jane told hm. 'With K9, Jo and Santiago. Once they're here, we'll be able to find Sky and get to the bottom of this 'the end is nigh' business.'

'It was on the school computers,' Clyde remembered. 'It was freaky. It wasn't anything to do with the lecky, 'cos none of the lights were on – that message is powering itself, Sarah Jane!'

'We'll stop it, don't worry.' She glanced at her phone's outer display. 'It's almost three, and –'

'Over here!' a voice yelled from the row of thick bushes that lined a strip of land to one side of the school grounds, making Rani and Sarah Jane jump. 'She's over here!'

Sarah Jane started running, and Rani glanced at Clyde as they followed on her heels. He was wearing an odd expression.

'It's that Al kid,' she said accusingly. 'What were you thinking, getting him roped into all this?'

Clyde's only response was a sheepish grin.

TBC

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