Chapter 3
"Luke!" Sarah Jane yelled up the stairs.
"I know I'm coming!" Luke yelled back, throwing on his tie and rushing down the stairs to grab some breakfast before meeting Rani. Luke froze, dead in his tracks as he saw Pandora, still in a rather fitting black nightgown sat at the table eating a bowl of cornflakes. "We don't have these where I come from." Pandora said, scooping another spoonful into her mouth. Sarah Jane was buzzing with excitement that morning; it seemed she'd been chatting a great deal with their strange guest.
"Mum? Is Pandora a..."
"Alien?" Sarah Jane finished, "Yes, she is, but don't you worry Luke, we're looking after her, I need to talk with her parents about certain things you don't need to worry yourself about." Sarah Jane smiled and nodded to the seat by Pandora, "you can sit there for breakfast."
Luke tried to smile at her, failing terribly to make a good impression. He didn't like the way his mother was so accepting of an alien life form. For the years he had lived, he had hardly crossed paths with nice aliens, no encounter had gone accordingly yet suddenly Sarah Jane was willing to accept a young alien girl she knew nothing about into their home and feed her breakfast? Luke poured milk into his cereal and got some orange juice and sat by Pandora. She wasn't really paying attention; she was laughing and chatting to Sarah Jane about something about her 'planet.' For once Luke didn't feel at all smart, he knew nothing about this girl and to top it all off he was being completely ignored by his own mother for an alien girl she'd known for less than two days.
He was more than happy to leave the strange sight and head out the door. Rani was just about to knock when Luke opened the door. Rani flashed a smile at him before taking in his haunted stare. "Whoa, you look like you've seen a ghost." She gasped.
"Try an alien sitting eating breakfast in your house." Luke mumbled, swinging his bag around one shoulder and proceeding forwards. Rani quickly sped up pace to join him. "What do you mean? Sarah Jane allowed an alien in your house?"
"It's that Pandora girl, she turned up suspiciously early this morning, said she was being chased and now suddenly mum's looking after her." Luke couldn't help but let out a strained sigh at the end, if he didn't know any better he'd say his mother was treating Pandora like her daughter. All laughs, smiles and super bubbly, making her breakfast and accepting her to stay the night. But she had said something he remembered on an account of his amazing photographic memory. "Mum said she had to talk to Pandora's parents, I bet it's about whoever was chasing her!"
"Who was chasing her?" Rani urged.
Luke sighed and shook his head, "I have no idea."
Rani was still asking questions when they got to the school gates, she was shocked to realise Pandora wasn't human. But honestly, she knew something was different, but for some reason she seemed to let the idea she was an alien slip past her on her list of theories. As they entered the school, Clyde ran to their side. "And what are we talking about?" He grinned.
His grin soon faded after the two filled him in on all details they were currently aware of. "What bothers me the most is that mum didn't tell me one detail about Pandora, not what kind of alien she was and not one thing about why she turned up so strangely on our doorstep."
"Well Lukey boy, it's a good thing you have me. We'll ask Sarah Jane head on what's up with the new girl." Clyde said winking and nudging Luke playfully. Luke wasn't amused.
The school day was over a little too quickly for Luke's liking, he was dreading to see Pandora with his mother, let alone the fact that Clyde had somehow manipulated his way into the situation. It would be one unforgettable and 100% awkward evening for all of them. Just as Luke suspected as he opened the door with Rani and Clyde by his side he heard the sickening laughter of the unwanted stranger. It was coming from the attic. "Great so Sarah Jane told the misfit about Mr Smith?" Clyde snarled.
"We don't know that for sure!" Rani protested, rolling her eyes, "for all we know they could just be talking up there, believe it or not it's not just a house for an extraterrestrial super computer."
"We have to go up there!" Luke said, taking a step forward only to be held in place by Clyde's steel grip. "Calm yourself Lukey boy; we have to do this in the nicest manner possible. We should eavesdrop first!"
Rani rolled her eyes but couldn't stop herself from grinning along with Clyde, "he's got a point." She said with a small smile.
So the three headed up stairs as quietly as possible, pressing their ears against the door of the attic. "I have hacked into the computer mainframe in the home of the Naflinks, planet Desdreya." Came Mr Smith's loud voice.
"Good, maybe we can sort out this whole robot ordeal." Pandora's stressed voice came next.
The rest of the words were mumbled for a while until everyone instinctively took a step back from the door, "It's my life I can do what I want!" Pandora roared, the walls rattling with her anger. There was more mumbling before the kids tried to work out what Sarah Jane's voice was saying. "We are happy to accommodate her whenever she wishes." Sarah Jane said in a high voice.
"Yeah, I can do that! See? I have someone to look after me." Pandora insisted.
The air went frigid between the friends. Rani and Clyde glanced at Luke who was staring wide eyed at the door. "Did she just..." he began.
Clyde nodded, "Sarah Jane just gave an alien a free ticket to her house."
That was the time the door decided to give way and let the three friends fall onto each other in a heap exposing themselves in front of Pandora and Sarah Jane. "Were you kids spying on us?" Sarah Jane said it with such anger, Luke felt afraid. They nodded apologetically. "You wouldn't tell us anything mum." Luke said, building up the courage further and further, feeding his anger through the thoughts of Pandora. "Why do you care so much about Pandora?"
For a moment, Pandora's face went completely blank, except her eyes became golden and moved like she was reading a book. "I remind Sarah Jane of the Doctor, I am youthful and she likes me. She wants her own youth back. She's using me as a new Doctor" Pandora took a deep breath and looked at Sarah Jane her eyes fading back to a misty blue. "I can't believe I thought you were a friend." Pandora said, tears welling in her eyes. She hovered her hand over her watch and with one small movement she disappeared in a flash of light.
"Wait so if she's like the Doctor..." Clyde started.
"And that thing on her watch must have been..." Rani joined.
"Yes, it was a time travelling device!" Sarah Jane said angrily, "and now she's gone!"
Luke moved to Mr Smith, "can you scan the room for any time particles?" Luke asked.
"Processing..." Mr Smith began.
"What are you doing?" Sarah Jane asked, staring wide eyed at the place where Pandora had been.
"Mr Smith can pinpoint exactly where Pandora went if he can find time particles left over from the rip in time and space she created to leave."
Sarah Jane nodded fiercely, "then do it!"
"Particles found, the rip in time has taken Pandora to the year 3022."
Everyone gasped, staring at Mr Smith in awe. "So her time thingy really works!" Clyde said, slapping his hand over his mouth in shock.
Rani cocked her head to the side, "how did she get her hands on something like that?"
"She made it!" Sarah Jane blurted, unable to keep the secrets any longer. She turned to see the three staring at her in confusion and fright. She dropped her head in defeat, "sit down everyone, I'll tell you everything."
After a long two hours of explaining, Sarah Jane faced the children and tried to smile. Luke was blinking in surprise, Clyde was sitting with his mouth wide open and Rani was the only one looking moderately satisfied by what Sarah Jane had said. "So Pandora is a super smart alien who can't die and on top of that she can heal people and travel in time thanks to a time machine she made herself?"
Sarah Jane nodded slowly, "pretty much..." she said quietly.
"I still don't get it." Clyde said, "Why would you allow some alien no matter how smart and nice she seems to stay with you instead of her parents who were worried enough to send robots after her!"
Sarah Jane sighed and rolled her eyes, wishing this part hadn't come so soon. "Everything Pandora read from my mind is true." She said, "I would have wanted to help her no matter what, but when she told me about how she could never age or die and how she could travel in time... she sounded like the Doctor and, if she can travel anywhere... she could find the Doctor."
Luke shook his head, "I don't like her."
Clyde scowled, "I don't like her either."
Rani bit her lip and looked at the two, "well we don't really know her that well... But, I mean... she seems..." Rani looked down at the ground and then finally lifted her gaze to meet Sarah Jane's. "I'm sorry, but she seems too strange... I mean before I saw something on her..."
Sarah Jane perked up, "what did you see?"
Rani shrugged, looking at Luke and Clyde for support but from what she could tell they had no idea what she was talking about. "I saw something glistening in the air around Pandora, like something was radiating from her body..."
Mr Smith took this opportunity to speak, "The Desdreyians have powers beyond all belief, Pandora holds more power than the average Desdreyian, some creatures as well as humans can see the atmosphere around a creature with such power, conflict with what it radiates from its body." He informed.
Rani only nodded her head briefly before returning to Luke and Clyde's side. "The girl spells trouble; I think we should just let her run!" Clyde snorted, turning to face Mr Smith. As the group considered this, the floor beneath them began to rumble, the walls vibrating with a coming presence. Dust flustered the room, lodging in the throat of each of the children. Choking, Rani tried to speak but was unable to. Sarah Jane motioned for them to get out of the attic, but to her dismay she realised it was the entire house shaking. "Look!" Clyde said, staring wide eyed out the window.
"We haven't been lifted off into space have we?" Rani groaned.
Clyde shook his head, "No, but look the road is shaking too!"
And Clyde was correct, the entire street was buzzing. Sarah Jane shook her head slowly, "Oh no, Pandora's parents must have found out that she's not in our care..."
"What would they do?" Luke asked, afraid of the answer.
Suddenly everyone cringed as they heard the heart pounding sound of the hinges of the front door snap into pieces.
"Everyone outside!" Sarah Jane said, pushing them in front of Mr Smith. "Mr Smith emergency teleport!" The children and herself were smothered in a dim blue light as their molecules split apart sending their atoms through to just outside their front door. Rani shrieked seeing what appeared to be two large metallic humanoid robots. They were covered heavily in blue and red metal armour and had large round helmets as heads. They had four large square fingers on each hand which were being used to pry the doors open and make a hole big enough for them to get inside.
"I think I could shut them down with my sonic..." but Sarah Jane was cut off by a bright light from behind. Everyone turned to see Pandora with a wild ferocious face; she looked dangerous, almost feral. Her hair seemed to be slightly out of place as she was suddenly standing by the robots. Everyone stared in awe as she jumped perfectly in the air landing on one robot and cleanly ripping its head off. The other turned to her attempting to grab her, but she was too fast. Her eyes seemed to flash to a golden colour forcing a rake that had been leant against the front of the house flying straight through the middle of the robot. Both were left spraying small sparks on the floor. She looked at the group of friends and then back at her watch, fiddling with the dials and promptly disappearing in another flash. "What just..." but before Clyde could finish the four shrieked, diving forwards as another flash took them by surprise as Pandora appeared behind them.
"Sorry, I had to tell my parents about the robots." She said, smiling apologetically at the frantic expressions that stood before her. She stood perfectly straight as her eyes turned golden. "Prepare for teleport." She said in a robotic tone. Everyone stared as her eyes flashed from blue to golden as a faint blue light hung over the dismantled robots and teleported them from the door where they lay.
No one spoke, they all were too confused. Pandora tried to smile, lifting one arm to the broken door. Everyone followed her arm as the door lifted from the ground and clicked back into place through the now fixed hinges. She flashed a cocky grin and sped to Sarah Jane's side. She bowed slightly and looked up at Sarah Jane sadly. "I am truly sorry for my behaviour, from seeing into your mind I can tell you have every right to compare me to your friend. He left you, but I promise you I won't do that."
Sarah Jane had to keep the tears from her eyes, "Th-thank you" she stammered, pulling Pandora into a hug which the rest soon followed into.
"That time machine is amazing it took you under two seconds to go to your parents and back to us!" Rani said after the hug was over, grabbing Pandora's arm and examining it fully. Pandora tried to smile even though the attention was quite overwhelming. "Thank you, I am working on other things as well including my first ever living experiment."
Luke's eyes widened, "Living experiment? Can you expand on that?"
Pandora nodded, "Oh sure! Well, I have been hiding out in a small warehouse protected by my homemade cloaking device; it's very small but has all the stuff I need. Basically, I found this black wolf with a broken paw in the forest. I fixed his paw but wanted to do so much more! I decided to replace his vocal chords with human one's and boost his intelligence to a human level!"
"That's..." Luke began
"Brilliant!" Sarah Jane finished, glaring at Luke as if she knew he was going to say something negative.
Pandora shrugged, "I made him a black cloak so humans wouldn't freak out seeing a wolf walking and talking like one of them. He ran away though, he has the strangest notions to save people. That's why you found me in that factory, I was tracking him but he'd run off after seeing you."
Rani shook her head, "no you must be mistaken we've been chasing a cloaked figure around for months, he's been trying to bomb random warehouses that were all linked into making some kind of hair tonic." She looked at Luke and Clyde who nodded in agreement, "your experiment has been causing all kinds of trouble!"
Pandora raised her eyebrow at how serious everyone seemed to be staring at her. "No, Baramba wouldn't do that. He's been trying to stop the real culprit. His name is Zuron and he's from the planet Proxy. Their race is dim-witted, slow and not very intelligent however, Zuron being the runt of the family and having a rather unusually high IQ took it upon himself to prove the galaxy that their race is the best by causing a series of explosions around the world to destroy the Earth."
"I'd say you know too much. I don't trust you. And who's Baramba?" Clyde sneered.
"The robots could have killed us if Pandora wasn't here!" Sarah Jane said defensively, taking Pandora's shoulder. Pandora smiled innocently, but on the inside she was hurt. "To answer your question Clyde, Baramba is my dog, my wolf, my creation. And I know he'd never do anything bad!"
"I don't believe you we've only ever seen one person and that was your mutt!" Clyde hissed, ignoring the fact Pandora seemed to take a dangerous edge.
"Enough of the fighting!" Rani insisted, getting between the two, "Whether Bara- Baramba did those things or not I think it's in our best bet to find him!"
"Rani's right." Luke agreed, turning to Clyde who nodded quickly not making eye contact with Pandora who returned that aspect.
"Ok so it's settled, we find Baramba!" Rani smiled.
"And the best way to find his location is through Mr Smith!" Sarah Jane beamed.
Pandora's face lit up, "I have a tracker!"
The group of friends ran into the attic enthusiastically. Pandora slid a small flashing green light out of her pocket, opened a drawer on Mr Smith as if she knew his every detail and stood strongly in front of him. "Mr Smith, scan this tracker and pinpoint Barambah's locations."
"I do not believe I am obligated to taking your requests Pandora." Mr Smith said slyly.
Sarah Jane rolled her eyes, "well from now on you are! She is a part of our group now!" she beamed, hugging Pandora's shoulder.
"Very well. Yet another dog I must put up with." Mr Smith said lowly, as his screen flashed up with a map of Britain.
"Affirmative!" K-9 chirped from the corner.
Luke, unable to stand the constant attention to what he considered an enemy, walked over to K-9 and began to stroke him. Clyde came over to kneel by Luke. "You alright mate?" He asked.
Luke nodded, rubbing her forehead slightly, "I can't trust her."
"I know how you feel." Clyde snarled, glaring at Pandora who obviously saw but chose not to react.
"Pandora seems fine at the moment; just give her a chance you're acting like a couple of two year olds!" Rani hissed, dragging them both to their feet and guiding them to Sarah Jane's side.
Mr Smith's map began to flash a green light and as he zoomed in the light was pinpointed exactly on yet another abandoned hair tonic warehouse. Luke raised his eyebrow; "Is that just a coincidence?" he pried, smirked sideways to Clyde who returned it. Pandora shook her head furiously, "Baramba has been following this guy, I even have pictures, and I've seen him before you know!" She scowled, typing the co-ordinates into her watch furiously. "I know why he's targeting hair tonic warehouses, they never made hair tonic someone in the media was manipulated to write about it though, probably where you got your information from."
"Yeah because we're just dumb compared to you." Clyde said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
"A little immature perhaps." Pandora chuckled, "but everyone respects the Human race you can sure put up a fight."
Clyde blushed and looked away angered that his sarcasm hadn't hurt her at all.
"I'll go and get Baramba!" Pandora insisted, attempting to press her watch.
Sarah Jane grabbed her harshly, "whoa, no way! What did I say? It's dangerous!"
"I was doing fine before I met you." Pandora whined, putting a hand on her hip.
"Fine!" She sighed, seeing all the broken faces. "You can all come, just touch the watch, and make sure you're all touching the watch!"
Everyone put their hands warily on the watch and Pandora fiddled with the dials. "Ready?" she asked. Everyone nodded as they disappeared from the attic and reappeared in a cold grimy factory's interior in a flash of light.
Clyde fell to the ground, Rani held her head in pain, Sarah Jane was surprisingly unaffected and Luke was crouched holding his stomach. "I feel sick." He said weakly. Rani and Clyde groaned in agreement as Sarah Jane helped them up to their feet. "Sorry first time teleporters, I haven't worked out all the bugs for humans yet." Pandora said dismissively, walking forwards holding out her tracking device which slowly began to flash faster and faster.
"Baramba is close." She said, stiffening suddenly, "but someone else is closer."
Suddenly, Pandora was gone. She was running. Fast.
It took her mere seconds to reach the far side of the factory where she grabbed a familiar scaly foe. "ZURON!" She cried, grabbing the creature's neck and forcing him into the wall which bent under the pressure. Zuron's hood fell down revealing pink scaly flesh, green snake-like eyes and a purple forked tongue. He was positively repulsive. Pandora had him against the wall with one hand, and was digging into his cloack with the other fishing out yet another bomb. "I knew you were planting these!" She snarled as an electric bolt surged out of her finger tips and melted the bombs wiring destroying it entirely. Zuron seemed timid, wide eyed and frightened. "Please, I'm sorry don't hurt me!" he cried.
"We won't!" Sarah Jane called from behind Pandora. The children still looked pretty unsteady on their feet but attempted to stand strong by Sarah Jane.
Pandora grumbled to herself, chaining Zuron's wrists up with a pair of silver cuffs previously hanging from her pocket. She then folded open a picture that seemed to be his wanted poster and tied it to his torso. He whimpered as Pandora's eyes turned a deep golden. "The shadow proclamation holding facilities." She said in a slick powerful voice which sent shivers down Rani's spine. Within no time, Zuron was gone.
"I guess I should apologize. That was defiantly not a wolf." Clyde sneered, holding out his hand for her to shake. "Mates?" he asked.
She grinned lopsidedly and shook his hand hard. "Mates." She agreed.
"Not that I'm not glad that you two have made up or anything but..." Rani couldn't finish, fright had struck her too badly. She was recoiling in shock as she saw another cloaked figure at the end of the hall with glowing orange eyes. Sarah Jane took Luke, Rani and Clyde close to her and motioned for Pandora to do the same, but Pandora hardly noticed. "Baramba!" She cried tears seeping from her eyes. She was by the cloaked figure in no time, hugging him so hard he was lifted from the ground. Two thick black paws hung from the bottom of the cloak as she twirled the figure around.
Pandora linked arms with the creature, guiding him in front of the friends. Clyde wrinkled his nose at the sight of the creature, Rani stared wide eyed and Luke seemed intrigued. Creating a human intelligence in a...
The cloak was pulled down revealing and black wet snout. ...wolf! Everyone crowded around, unable to say a word as they saw a real, black furry wolf with yellow eyes stand fully balanced on his hind legs. His tail stretched out from a hole in the back of the cloak and it wagged furiously as he embraced Pandora. "Pan!" He exclaimed, his voice sounding surprisingly like the one of a teenage boy's. Pandora smiled, pulling out of the hug and holding his front paws. "I missed you so much, where have you been!"
Baramba snarled, looking in the direction of the dented wall. "I was tracking Zuron. I didn't want you to get hurt so I went alone."
Pandora laughed steadily, "I am practically indestructible, a bullet to the head couldn't slow me down!"
Baramba shivered, "don't ever try that..." he whispered, hugging her again. Afterwards he turned his attention to the wide eyed companions. He let a small growl rupture from his snout before Pandora playfully thumped him on the arm. "These are my friends. This is Rani, Luke, Clyde and Sarah Jane!" She said 'Sarah Jane' enthusiastically and hugged her around the shoulders to which Sarah Jane blushed. "I am honoured to meet you all, Pandora and I have heard a great deal of you, from our own alien fighting we have never been more impressed by any other human!"
"Thanks." Clyde said, chuffed.
"You fight aliens..." Luke sounded neutral, he felt an anger he wasn't sure he'd ever come across before. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.
Baramba bowed and linked arms with Pandora. "We have never been more impressed." He repeated slowly, looking towards Pandora. "We should be on our way, there are many more..."
"I'll stop you there!" Pandora said hurriedly. "We're not going anywhere; I gave my word I would not leave Sarah Jane's side."
Baramba seemed to take on a different nature. His tail swished slyly from side to side and his claws became visible on each paw. Sarah Jane drew the children back. "We must stay on Earth?" Baramba hissed.
"No... Not really. I actually have a plan, a quest as such!" Pandora said, muttering something into Baramba's ear.
Baramba perked up and they both chuckled to themselves.
"Well then, three kids and a talking dog, it's starting to feel like the Scooby gang." Clyde snorted.
Rani and Luke both nudged him at the same time causing him to fall forwards slightly. "Ow!" He hissed rubbing his arm angrily.
When Clyde had been dropped home and everyone got out of the car, Rani waved to Sarah Jane before disappearing into her house seemingly inconspicuously. Pandora lifted her head to see Luke studying her. Sarah Jane was scratching Baramba who had sat himself in a dog-like position by the door step. His tail wagged affectionately as they disappeared inside leaving an awkward silence between the two teens. "I don't think I trust you." Luke said lowly.
"Hey, that's your call!" Pandora tried, using a joking tone. Her smile left when Luke turned to leave. She slapped her head with her palm and ran over. "Wait!" She hissed, grabbing his shoulder. He turned, meeting her blue sparkling eyes. She looked down embarrassed and smiled. "I'm not good with social stuff and after seeing into your head I know you weren't good to begin with either, what's your secret?"
Luke bit his lip, the closeness of their bodies making him nervous. "I-I have good friends." He stuttered, rubbing his arm idly.
Pandora smiled, "So I can be your friend too?" she asked, almost seductively.
Luke smiled feeling himself draw into her. "Sure." He squeaked.
The two climbed closer and closer to each other before Pandora suddenly shot backwards. "Thanks!" She beamed, running into the house in a flash.
[To be continued]