Mansfield Road
Outside of Harris Manchester College
University of Oxford
Oxford, England
9:30 a.m.
Emily Smith exited her college and walked quickly down the street and turn onto South Parks Road toward the examination school. This was her first year as a tutor and although she only had three students; she had an intense desire to see them succeed. Theoretical physics was a difficult field to succeed in even for the brightest of students and Emily's success made her a star in the field at the relatively young age of 29. She graduated from high school at the age of 15, attended Oxford taking a double first in physics and chemistry by the age of 18. Then Emily moved to Harvard University to complete her master's degree and return to Oxford for her doctorate. She spent two years at the John Hopkins University working as a research scientist until boredom made her seek out Oxford again. Luckily a post for a tutor in physics was open and with her credentials, Emily was a shoo-in for the position.
Her heels tapping on the cobblestone streets; Emily knew that it was more than luck that brought her to Oxford. It was fate. During the two years she spent in Maryland, her mother was diagnosed with cancer. Making trips back and forth between Baltimore and her mother's house in the Uffington had been difficult and exhausting, but ultimately rewarding. Not only did Emily get to spend these last days with her mother, she also found out some news about her father.
Unlike her schoolmates, Emily grew up not knowing her father at all. There were no pictures of him, her mother rarely spoke of him and Emily had to admit that she did not even know his name. Yet as Emily began to accelerate through her academic career, her mother often murmured that Emily got all of her talent from 'her father.' Still, he remained, to Emily, a mysterious figure; a man who lurked on the shadows of her small family. Growing up, Emily rarely gave much thought to the man she felt had abandoned her, but she knew that her mother was obsessed with him. Asha had never dated anyone since Emily's father left and Emily often caught her mother staring into the sky, whispering as if she was waiting for someone to return. Emily often found herself angry with her mother for wasting her life on some unknown man.
Turning her head, Emily watched as students, having completed their exams ran for the door. Looking through the crowd, she found her three students, George, Frank and Sherri. She had worked with them until two in the morning when she was too exhausted to carry on and had walked home. Young and with a fresh supply of Red Bull, the trio continued their studying until dawn. Emily had warned them that they needed sleep prior to an exam. Of course, they did not listen. Dragging themselves toward her, George, Frank and Sherri moved more like zombies instead of soon-to-be college graduates.
"Well?" asked Emily.
Frank and George both hugged her without saying a word and shambled on. Sherri looked at Emily and burst into tears. Emily hugged her student without saying a word and as she looked over her shoulder, she saw a man staring at her intently. He was tall, slender with dark brown hair and brown eyes. There was something familiar about him, although Emily could swear that they had never met before. Pulling away from Sherri's hug, Emily handed her pupil a pack of tissues and listened as the girl told her tutor how badly she had messed up her exam and how she was never going to graduate. Only half listening, Emily looked over the girl's shoulder at the strange man. He smiled at her and Emily felt a blush creep into her face. Was this man flirting with her? Normally, she would be thrilled since he was quite handsome, but something about it felt wrong. Turning her attention to Sherri, Emily saw that her student had calmed down and she urged Sherri to go home and get some sleep. Turning back, Emily saw the man was gone. Now free to look for him, she walked through the entire building but he was nowhere to be found.
Opening the front door, Emily walked outside and scanned the street, but the stranger was lost to her. Emily shuddered. The whole situation felt unsettling. She had a feeling that she was going to see that man again. Soon.
7:00 p.m.
Dining Hall
Harris Manchester College
Emily Smith was neatly dressed in her favorite black dress and heels as she walked to the dining hall. While formal dress was required for faculty dinner, the steward rarely enforced it. Still, Emily had an overwhelming feeling that she needed to look her best for tonight's dinner. She thought about the man with brown eyes and wondered why he felt so familiar to her. His presence was unsettling and she had difficulty concentrating on anything else all day. Who was he? Why was he staring at her? What did he want?
Still, she was pleased to be informed by the department head that her students—Frank, George, and Sherri—had passed all of their exams with superior marks. Emily had run to the nearest pub, the White Horse, where she knew they would be holed up, to inform them. Frank ordered ale for everyone to the loud cheers of the bar patrons; Sherri burst into tears and ran outside to call her family with the good news and George grabbed Emily and planted a kiss on her that was so deep Emily could still feel the pressure of his lips against hers even now. She should have been embarrassed, but she was so thrilled to have her first three students succeed that she did not mind at all.
Standing outside of the dining hall, Emily tapped her lips and found her thoughts wandering again to the brown-eyed man. She shook her head. Why was she so obsessed with thinking about this man? Ever since her husband disappeared, Emily had rarely looked at any man sideways. The loss of Jack had been too difficult and the idea of dating again made Emily feel like she was replacing him. Emily had to smile to herself; she had indeed become her mother.
And at that moment, she missed her mother terribly. She wished that her mother had had a happier life instead of pining away for the man who had deserted them both. Still, Emily returned to Oxford with a mission of her own--to find her father.
Climbing the stairs, Emily opened the heavy wooden door and walked into the dining hall. Unlike most Oxford colleges, the dining hall at Harris Manchester was rather small. It was sparsely decorated and contained three long wooden tables for dining. The steward was directing the servers and the dining hall was full of loud, rambunctious conversation. Scholars, who spend the entire day teaching and reading, spend their entire evenings debating and fighting. Although Emily always enjoyed good conversation, tonight she wanted to dine and go home. Finding a spot at the end of one of the tables, Emily sat down. Lucky for her, the other scholars were engaged in deep conversation and her presence had gone unnoticed. Grabbing her napkin, Emily placed it on her lap and sipped some water when she turned to her right. Startled, she nearly jumped out of her seat. It was the man with the brown eyes again. His eyes were gleaming brightly and he seemed overly excited about seeing her again. Once more, Emily felt unsettled on the sight of him. He seemed harmless enough, but why was he so interested in her?
"Hello!" said the man, who sounded positively bubbly.
"Hello." returned Emily quietly, wondering if she should call for the steward.
"I'm the Doctor." said the man.
"Dr. Emily Smith." responded Emily. "You said the Doctor. Doctor of what?"
"Just the Doctor" said the man, happily buttering a piece of bread.
Emily felt annoyed with him. She didn't like being stalked and what kind of name was the Doctor anyway?
"Well" said Emily. "What do you want from me?"
The Doctor, as he called himself, looked amused. "What makes you think I want anything from you?"
Emily began to answer, but realized that he was right. She did not know this man and was being overly aggressive against someone she didn't know. Her mother would be appalled. Looking at the man, Emily felt strangely connected to him, but she didn't know why.
"I must apologize for my rudeness." said Emily. "I got very little sleep last night."
The Doctor didn't seem offended in the least. "No problem." "I understand you're the best in your field—theoretical physics, is it?"
Emily felt her body relax. While she was not up for academic conversation, she was thrilled that the conversation was steered in a safe direction. For the next hour, she explained her work in theoretical physics, particularly her specialty of predicting the changes of physical phenomena as the result of alien contact. The Doctor said very little, occasionally nodding, but focusing on her as if he recognized her from some past life.
Without warning, as she was going into detail about the impact of time events on physical phenomena, the Doctor leaned over and touched her on the face. For a moment, Emily felt the warm of his hand and saw a flash of her mother. Asha was in some sort of alien place and she was laughing as the room was spinning round. There was a man shouting something and running around the control area at full speed. Emily had never seen her mother so happy and the image of it almost hurt. As quickly as the image came, it was gone and Emily found herself hyperventilating. The Doctor had gotten her water and was holding the glass as she took sips of it. Emily felt her entire body shaking and tears running down her face. The Doctor signaled the steward and told him to take Emily home. As she walked out of the dining room, Emily looked back and saw the Doctor still staring at her with an expression of overwhelming sadness on his face.
At home, Emily took a long shower hoping it would wash away her pain and exhaustion. Climbing into bed, she dreamt of the spinning alien room and instead of her mother and the phantom man; Emily saw herself and the Doctor and they were both laughing as the room spun them toward their next destination.