Chapter Ten: Beginning

Jenny slept badly, which wasn't surprising. Every time she closed her eyes she saw her parents keeling over, short-circuiting. Memories of her life kept whirling in her mind, and with every second of them she wondered what was real. Was all of it fake, or had the Browns simply been inserted in the place of her real father?

And what of him? She couldn't make him out. He was like no-one she'd ever met—that she could recall anyhow. That would make sense, if he really wasn't from Earth, which she was beginning to accept. But there were still so many question marks over her own life, her memories, her very existence—she couldn't shut her mind down, it was too chaotic.

Eventually, in the very early hours, she sat up and decided to venture downstairs. Sarah Jane had made up a guest room for her, with the promise that she would be safer there than at her old home. Jenny was grateful, but lying alone in the dark with insomnia was torture. She needed a distraction. Maybe she could find a book, or watch the telly quietly.

As she slipped out of bed, she heard a creak from the ceiling above her. Remembering someone had mentioned an attic, she decided to see who was up this late, and if they would be in a mood to talk.

She made her way up the stairs, not hearing any other signs of life, and into the attic room.

The first thing she saw was a huge blue wooden box in the middle. It had the words Police Public Call Box on the top and there were windows in it. Looking around, she saw a whole cluster of various knick-knacks that were alien to her—perhaps quite literally. She walked around the box in curiosity, and found the door was open. Sounds were coming from inside.

"Hello?"

Something was dropped, and there was the sound of footsteps before the Doctor appeared in the entrance. "Jenny! You're up late. Are you all right?"

"Couldn't sleep," she replied. "And you're up late too."

"Nah, don't sleep much, me. Won't need a full night for at least a couple of days." He paused. "Wanna take a look inside?"

"What is it?"

"It's my ship. And yours too," he added as an afterthought.

"Might it help me remember?"

"I doubt it, you've never seen it before. Never had the chance to show you." He sounded sad, but before she could enquire further, he shook it off, smiled at her and stood to one side to allow her entrance.

"Oh," Jenny said as she saw inside. "Wow. That's … incredible." If there had been any doubts about her extra-terrestrial origins, they vanished the moment she took in the ship. "It's beautiful." After the initial shock had worn off, she raced around the console, giggling and taking in every detail.

"I'm glad you like her." If she wasn't much mistaken, something like pride was shining in the Doctor's eyes as he watched her.

"So spaceships are called she, are they?"

"Well, this one is. She's called the TARDIS. And she's sentient. Say hello."

"Er … hello, TARDIS," Jenny said unsurely.

The Doctor chuckled. "She won't answer back. Her methods of communication are much more subtle than that. But I think she likes you."

"How can you tell?"

"Telepathic connection; I can feel it. Besides, she's loyal, she likes anyone I do."

Jenny spotted a doorway. "There more! Can I explore?"

He grinned and nodded.

She wasn't expecting him to follow her, and he didn't. She took the first right and found herself in a large kitchen, lined with cupboards and a huge walk-in freezer. She was sure it was bigger than the entire of the Browns' lower floor, and left quickly before she could continue comparing. She continued on in a straight line, passing several doors, and picked a random one.

This time, she was in a bedroom, huge and decorative. It was empty of personal belongings save for a few cardboard boxes on the bed. One was labelled 'photos', one 'souvenirs', and the other 'gifts'.

Curious, Jenny opened up the 'souvenirs' box, and saw a mass of unidentifiable knick-knacks. A warning shiver told her it might not be a good idea to play with them, and she closed the box before leaving the room.

She wandered further, discovering a swimming pool, a garden and a crazy golf course, but as she realised what a maze the corridors were, she started worrying about finding her way back. As much as she wanted to kill time, she didn't want to get lost. She'd just decided to try and find her way back and turned round, and found herself back where she started, staring at the Doctor in surprise from the console room doorway.

He smiled at her. "Found her homing passages useful, eh?"

"How …?"

"Same way you could fit a city in here. Dimensionally transcendental." He patted one of the coral structures fondly. "So, finished exploring?"

They left the TARDIS went into the kitchen and the Doctor made them both tea. "Are you sure you want to talk about all this now? I don't want to give you information overload."

"It's better than lying awake wondering. I need answers, Doctor."

He flinched slightly, as if unprepared for her use of his name. She felt slightly bad, but was resolute—she wasn't ready to call him 'Dad' just yet.

They talked. The Doctor told her about his home world, and that it was gone now, although he clammed up on the how. He told her of the war on Messanine and how she'd been born. He told her how they'd separated.

Knowing she'd been grown as a soldier wasn't doing much for Jenny's self-image, but she appreciated his honesty—he could just have easily left that part out or lied altogether. But he knew she needed the truth, and she was grateful, although accepting it was another matter.

After a while the conversation petered out. The Doctor seemed reluctant to overdo the detail, and Jenny was turning the information over in her head, wishing she had the memories to go with it—all right, maybe not the one of getting shot, that had to have hurt—but the rest.

They sat in companionable silence. Jenny even dozed off in her chair at one point, but woke again quite quickly as it wasn't very comfortable. The Doctor asked her if she wanted to go back to bed, and she shook her head.

"Not ready."

He just nodded understandingly, and offered her a hot chocolate.

As he rummaged through Sarah Jane's cupboards trying to find the cocoa, Jenny's eye fell on a post-it pad by the phone, and with nothing better to do she read through the contents: Strazer & Loukem, Criminal defence, followed by a local address and phone number.

She read through a few other things, then came back to the post-it. Those were interesting names, she thought.

Then she smiled. "That's funny."

"What's funny?" the Doctor asked.

"These names. I'm good with anagrams."

"What anagram?"

Jenny picked up a pen and started rearranging the letters, lightly crossing off each as she placed it, then handed the pad to the Doctor after he'd set down two mugs. "You'd think it was deliberate."

His eyes widened as they fell on the pad, which now read, MASTER RULEZ OK.

TBC …