Space Jumping

I have been in the fifty- first century for over a month now and no sign of The Doctor. I had my monthly check up tomorrow that I had promised Dr. Leck that I would go to if he kept my secret. I wasn't too fond of check up's, even when I was a human. It would remind me too much of my past.

I was slowly getting used to life in the fifty first century. I was sad sometimes when some things reminded me of the past, torchwood, all my friends, they were dead but then I remembered that I was a time traveler and I could still go back to when they were alive, if they ever gave me back River's vortex manipulator. Every night I would stare at the stars through my bedroom window and wish The Doctor back to take me to my Jack.

This Jack was so different than the Jack that I new. This Jack followed the rules, was punctual and had a tight knot of close friends that I couldn't seem to break including Jack's partner and brother, Gary. I stayed far away from him as I could, remembering what he did to the Torchwood team in the future, which I hoped to change.

I wondered what had happened to him to make him so… different. Then I decided that I didn't want to know. What ever it was, it had to be major for him to change his life like that. I guessed it had something about the time agency but I couldn't remember what it was from the show.

That was a problem. Over time of not traveling with The Doctor, my mind began to forget little bits and pieces of the show. I had to work harder to remember certain details. Shouldn't my Time Lady brain remember it more than my human one? Well, I'll ask The Doctor, if he ever gets here.

I walked in to the academy with Jack behind me, taking the steps two at a time. There was a reason why today I was excited about coming in. The other trainees, especially Joan, Evangelia, and Mary were planning a skydiving trip since it was our day off. But we weren't skydiving from the sky, we were skydiving from the planet's outer shell and into the atmosphere, well they called it Space Jumping.

When I commented about being pulled apart from traveling so fast, they laughed. They reassured me that there were no more casualties since that death seven years ago. Part of me was still hesitant but after Joan sat me down and showed me video's of people who had done it and had fun, It convinced me enough to tag along, my adventure side letting out and pushing my fears away.

"Susan!" Came a voice from behind me.

I turned around and saw Jack standing at the corner of the hall of which I had just jogged. I ran back to him and asked, "What?"

"Be careful today." Jack said with a shy smile on his face.

I raised my eyebrows. "No one knows about this." I told him, folding my arms. "How'd you find out?"

Jack smirked. "I have my sources." Then his eyes grew serious. "Just be careful, okay. Space Jumping's a dangerous sport."

I smirked a bit, turned around and started walking away. I turned my head back over my shoulder and said, "I didn't know you cared." I teased him. I ran before he could retort back.

As I entered the trainees lobby, well it wasn't our lobby though we certainly claimed that it was. Squeals of high pitch joy hit my ears as soon as I entered. "Susan!" Mary, Joan and Evangelia squealed. Since we were the only girls in this training group, they were excited that I joined, well forced to join.

"Glad you could make it!" Evangelia squealed.

Mary was the shortest. She was a little overweight, had short brown hair, brown eyes, round cheeks and clear laughter lines. Evangelia was the tallest. She had blond hair, blue eyes. Her face was shaped like an oval and had a birth splotch on her right chin.

Joan was in the middle with silk-like dark hair, rounder face and green eyes. Her eyebrows outlined her eyes, making them seem darker than they probably normally were. Her makeup was applied heavily.

"Yeah, Mary was worried that you wouldn't show up." Joan said with a smirk on her face. "Told you she'd show. She's not going to just ignore a challenge like that."

"That's what I'm worried about." Mary said in a soft voice. Out of the three, Mary had the sense in the group. She was the logic, the common sense. Joan was the instigator and would grow up trouble at every turn. Evangelia, well she was the girl in the group. She gossiped, squealed about celebrities but if you ever got her mad… well lets say you would end up in the hospital for six months.

"Guys, thanks for your concern, but I've done way more dangerous things then Space Jumping."

"Name one." Joan said smirking.

"Well-" I started, not wanting to give away my adventures with The Doctor. As I thought of a proper answer that they would believe the door opened to reveal my challenger and his supporters. My challenger was Victor Fire. The bully who had, at one point, bullied every single person in this room.

This challenge would tell if Victor would win his bet or lose it. We had gotten into an argument about bullying and Victor had challenged me to a Space Jumping competition, knowing that I hadn't done this before. If I won, he would leave everyone alone. If he won, he had bragging rights and got to continue his reign of terror on the other trainees.

"So, how's my competition?" Victor asked, walking up to us. "Scared yet?"

"You wish." I retorted. "I've done more dangerous things than Space Jumping before, unfortunately I can't tell you anything because their classified." I fibbed.

Victor crossed his arms across his chest. "I don't believe you."

"Then why haven't I not backed down yet? I'm from the twenty- first century. We couldn't do anything like this so why aren't I backing down?"

Victor smirked. "Because you like a real challenge."

I smiled and said coldly, "Oh yes I do."

I stood next to the open door, looking down on earth from the shuttle. I gulped as I realized just how high we actually were. "Ohh, are we scared now?" Victor asked me through our com. unit. We wore a space suit with two small oxygen tanks strapped onto our back with the parachute between the two.

"No, of course not." I said and glared at him. "I'm ready."

"Alright then." Edward said next to Mary. Before hand, on the ground, we picked two people who would time us and would help us if anything went wrong, hopefully nothing did, I had just gotten done from my earlier punishment from Miss. Jackson. "Prepare to jump."

Both Victor and I stepped up to the open door and held onto our respective sides. "On three." Mary said, her voice breaking. She was still the only one who thought we shouldn't do this. I had a tiny bit of doubt but I pushed it away.

"One." Edward said.

I glanced at Victor who had bent his knees already for the jump. "Two." Mary's voice echoed from my helmet.

"Three!" They both shouted and Victor and I jumped.

The rest was a blur. I remembered falling fast. Orange in front of me as we descended into the atmosphere. Then something slammed into me, hard. I remembered pain in my left shoulder and trying to pull my reserve because my regular parachute won't open.

Then Blackness.

I opened my eyes to see Dr. Leck's face hovering over me. I groaned and tried to sit up but Dr. Leck's strong arms pushed me back down, or maybe it was because I was still week. "What happened?" I asked.

Then from the other side of the room I heard Jack's voice, "Victor stabbed you on the way down." He got off from leaning on the counter and walked over. "I told you to be careful."

I rolled my eyes. "Is this another lesson on I told you so's?" I asked in a grumpy voice, pouting.

"Yep, she's fine." Jack said. I stuck my tongue out at him and Jack sighed. "Well, let's get you back to my apartment. Miss. Jackson has let you have a couple days off. Oh and your friends have been waiting for you to wake up." Jack said friends in such a way that it almost sounded like he disproved my friendship with them, granted they were the ones that suggested Space Jumping, but I'm sure they didn't realize that Victor was a dirty rotten bastard.

I sighed. "I'll talk to them tomorrow. Let me get some food and proper rest first."

"Very well." Jack said. "I'll be waiting by the shuttles." Jack turned and left the room.

"That wasn't very smart of you, you know." Dr. Leck said.

I sighed. "I know, I know. But I couldn't continue to let him torment people." I argued. My eyes started to try to close and I fought to keep them open.

"Just next time be more careful." Dr. Leck told me. "Go to sleep, I'll wake you when it's time to leave."