So no reviews as of yet, which I can understand. It might be a bit of an odd story this one, but once the thought popped into my head it wouldn't leave me alone. I will continue posting for now, because I can see that people are actually reading this, even if they're not reviewing. I have the fully finished story on my computer by the way, so I'm determined to post it all at some point.
Again, reviews would be lovely, especially because I'm not really sure where I'm going with all of this.

2

Purdey was appointed her own desk on the Grid, also with one of those strange looking computers on it. She had no idea how it worked, and she felt uneasy at the thought of telling the others, since everyone seemed to be completely at ease in using them.

She sunk into her chair and let her head rest in her hands as she tried to regain her shaky breathing, while at the same time trying to think of her next move. Naturally she had to figure out what she was doing here, and of course how she had ended up here. After pondering over these questions for a good fifteen minutes, she came to the conclusion that she would just have to go along with whatever this world was supposed to be, and do her job as best as she could, until she found more clues about her current situation.

She looked up, and noticed the Grid was buzzing with activity. A few people were moving across the Grid balancing great piles of files in their arms, while others were hunched over a computer screen doing god knows what. She decided to take the bull by the horns and just jump in at the deep end. Working for MI-5 probably wasn't the same as working for the Ministry, but it still meant fighting the bad guys, so how different could it possibly be?

"Is there anything you'd like me to do?" she asked as she approached Ros, their Section Chief.

The older blonde eyed the newbie up and down suspiciously, before answering the question. Purdey sensed straightaway that Ros would be the most difficult to get along with.

"Yes, as a matter of fact. We've been monitoring the movements of a group of Russians who have been entering and leaving the UK on a regular basis over the past few weeks. Amongst them are four FSB officers, but the identities of the other five are unknown. Now we've been trying to find more on them, but no luck so far. We did manage to intercept some of their phone lines, but they're being very careful and are constantly speaking in code, which we're still in the process of decrypting. So I want you to help Ruth monitoring their calls and keeping an eye on the CCTV footage."

Purdey just nodded in response. Half of what Ros had just said had passed her by completely. FSB, CCTV, Purdey had no idea what she'd been on about. Hesitantly, she approached Ruth's desk.

"Ros told me to come and help you uh, monitoring the Russians?" she said.

"Good, I see she's not making life too difficult for you on your first day," she replied with a smile.

Purdey was glad when the day drew to a close. It had been long and tiring, and she longed to be at home, wherever 'home' was supposed to be. She had only just started to realise that she had no idea where to go after work. She didn't know where her house was, if she even had a house. She decided that going back to where she lived in the 70s was her safest bet, so she got on a bus, hoping that this would be the case. During the bus drive she rummaged through her handbag and retrieved some keys, one of which looked suspiciously like the one of her little basement flat.

As she got out of the bus and walked into her street, she breathed a sigh of relief. It was the first hint of familiarity she'd seen all day. The street looked more or less unchanged, apart from a few different front doors, and the inevitable modern looking cars parked outside on the road.

She walked down the 21 steps, heart pounding in her chest as she did so. She stuck the key into the lock, and was surprised to see that it opened. She gasped in surprise as she stepped inside. It was unmistakably her flat, but at the same time it was completely different. The interior was no longer lilac, but a creamy white colour with furniture in the same colour to match. On one wall hung a large flat screen, which Purdey identified correctly as a television. She closed the door behind her and let herself sink into one of the white leather sofas in the sitting area, closing her eyes for a moment. There was only so much a girl could handle in one day.

Purdey awoke from a restless sleep, still feeling no better than before. For a moment she was disorientated, and panicked as she took in the seemingly unfamiliar surroundings. But then she remembered where she was, disappointed at the realisation that it hadn't all been a bad dream after all. She glanced at the odd looking clock on her bedside table, and noticed it'd only just gone four in the morning. She wasn't due on the Grid for another five hours, but decided to get up anyway since sleep was no longer an option.

She wandered into the small kitchen to make herself a cup of tea, and then retired to the sitting area to curl up on the sofa for a while. As she sat down, she realised she was sitting on something hard. But before she could check what it was, the television suddenly sprang to life, blasting its noise through the small flat and nearly giving Purdey a heart attack.

The thing she was sitting on was a black, long rectangular thing, with numbers and symbols on the wide variety of buttons it contained. It also had a power on/off button, which made Purdey quickly realise that it had to be somehow connected to the television. After fiddling around with it for a bit, she had it more or less figured out and started flicking through the channels. She was amazed at the amount of channels that were available, but appalled at the sight of what was being broadcast. She eventually stumbled upon a channel called 'The History Channel' and decided to watch it, figuring she could do with a crash course in events that had happened in the last thirty years.

For the next few hours, Purdey went through a whirlwind of amazed, shocked and horrified emotions as she watched recent historic events unfold before her very eyes. The end of the Cold War, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Gulf war, the end of Apartheid, the events of 9/11 and so on. It was hard to believe how much had happened, and how much the world had changed.

Purdey decided she had seen enough for now, and needed some time to let everything sink in. Another look at the clock revealed that it was now seven-thirty and that she needed to start getting ready for work.

TBC