Dearest Readers,
I just thought that now would be a good time to say that I do not live in and have never been to London. I live in Perth, Australia, and am just a really big fan of Doctor Who.
Thank you.
Love Gabielle
PS: Please Read and Review. Virtual hugs to anybody who does :)
"Where are you going now?" Acatha shouted across the station. When he didn't answer, she threw up her arms in disbelief and followed after him, frustrated. What was it with men and not answering questions? She grew up with her father, brother, and male teachers doing it all the time. Sometimes, she would ask them questions she already knew the answer to, just to see if they would answer her correctly, or even at all.
She caught him up across the road from the precinct. He was looking up at the thing in the sky, taking acute interest in the patterns on the underside of the disc. "Blimey," he said. "This is one of the most beautiful spacecrafts I've ever seen! Apart from mine, of course."
Acatha was startled. She didn't know which question to ask first. Should she ask 'You've seen more than one spacecraft?' or 'You have your own?' He didn't even seem to notice that she was there. She made her decision.
"What's three time fifteen?" she asked him.
He ignored her, still looking at the underside of the ship. She sighed, and clocked him over the back of the head.
"OW!" he shouted, rubbing the back of his head. "What was that for?"
"I've asked you at least three questions this afternoon, and you haven't answered one of them."
"Three times fifteen is forty-five," he sighed. "I'm surprised a female of your age didn't know something like that. Where we are going now is Oxford, don't ask me how or why, you'll find out soon enough. The Stiltskins... I'll get to them later." He paused, and then looked at her oddly. "Do you have a camera?"
"Yeah," she said, surprised at his request. "I have one in my car. Would you like me to go get it?"
"Yes, please," he said. "We're going that direction anyway. Pip-pip!"
And he sped off. Acatha, still confused at the strange turn of events the afternoon had taken, and mostly the strange man she had met, whose name she was fairly certain she didn't know, took off after him again. As she walked on the path of the same street she always walked to visit her sister at work, she took in the sudden differences the thing in the sky had caused. The shops had closed up early. She was fairly sure that one of them had been looted while the traffic ceased to move forward. The man from the real estate company that was always so cheery whenever Acatha saw him was worried about something, and rushed around in the street seeing if anybody was hurt.
Acatha walked into a pole. That's what you get for not paying attention, Ack! she imagined her younger brother saying, laughing at her. She shook her head, which made the pain worse, she realised, and started off back to the concert hall again, giving due attention to the path this time.
When she arrived, 'John Smith' was leaning against the outer wall of the Grand Pavillion. "There you are!" he said. "I thought you had gotten eaten or something!"
"Eaten?" she asked. "We're in Greater London, what on Earth is going to eat us?"
"You don't want me to answer that, do you?"
"Probably not," she said, moving over to her car. She unlocked the door and reached into the glove box. After about a minute of ferreting around, she found what she as looking for, and pulled out a digital camera in it's bag.
"Excellent," he smiled. "Over here, now." He walked with purpose to a blue box, the words "Police Box, Free Call," written over the top of it. Getting to the door, he pulled a keyring out of his pocket and rifled through them until he found the right one.
Once again, Acatha's brain swirled with questions. Though this time, she knew which one to ask first.
"It's three foot square?" she asked, disbelief clear in her voice.
"It's bigger on the inside," he shrugged.
"I don't see how a three foot box can seem bigger on the inside... It's a three foot box."
"Just, get in, will you?" he said.
"I didn't even notice this thing here before. It's right next to my car... How could I miss it?"
"Perception filter," he smiled. "You don't see, unless you know it's there."
"Isn't that like most things?" Acatha asked.
"That's why it's genius," he grinned, and walked through the door.
Warily, mostly because she'd heard stories about strange men who lured unsuspecting women into small spaces and killed them, and partly because she was adamant that this was a three-foot square box, she followed after him.
It took her a second to realise. And then her jaw dropped to the ground.
Lucy James sat down at her desk and dialled her sister's mobile phone number. It rang out. Confused, she hit redial, and brought up the file about the murders. What had the man been saying? That they wouldn't find a murder weapon? She highly doubted that, but when the phone rang out a second time, Lucy felt it best to see. It would preoccupy her from worrying about her sister.
She quickly dialled the number for the forensics department. Two rings.
"Forensics," Peter Stalk answered. Lucy felt faint for a while, and then regained her composure.
"Peter, it's Lucy," she said. Usually, when she said 'James' on the phone, the person on the other end would get confused, and it would generally end with one of them hanging up. "Have you got any leads on the murder weapon yet?"
"Negatron," he said. He was very into... strange things. "We've run all the regular things, guns, knives, clocks, blades, nothing. We're going to start looking at other things, though there really isn't much you can stab with. Any leads on the rest of the case?"
"Nothing," she sighed. "Thanks, Peter. See you later."
"Seeya," Peter said, and hung up the phone. Lucy did the same, imagining how good it would be to be going out with Peter.
"Holy moley," Acatha breathed. "You weren't kidding."
"About what?" he asked.
"It really is bigger on the inside!"
"Oh, yeah," he shrugged. Then something dawned on him. "Oh, I missed it! That's always my favourite part!"
"Part?" Acatha asked.
"Yeah," he said. "Usually when people come in here, they run out, run around it, and then run back in screaming 'It's bigger on the inside!' It's really quite a laugh... Oh, never mind. Are you ready?"
"Ready for what?" she asked. He flicked a switch on a circle board, and the police box went rocking from side to side. Acatha fell over.
"That," he said simply. When the whirring sound was over, Acatha heaved herself up with the rail and rubbed her head. She hit the same spot going down as she had earlier, walking into the pole.
"Are you coming?" he asked, poking his head back through the door. She hadn't even seen him leave.
Making sure she had her clarinet, she followed after him.
"Oh, my God!" she screamed suddenly. "We're at Oxford. How the hell did we get to Oxford so fast?"
"I'll explain it to you later," he said, walking fast, purposefully.
"You better!" she said excitedly, taking out her phone. "Oh, just wait until Cameron finds out I'm here... Oh."
She looked down at her phone, and then to the man.
"What is it?"
"Lucy called me. She must be looking for you... You weren't supposed to leave."
"Call her back, and hand the phone to me," he said. Acatha hit redial and handed the phone to him. "And, direct me to your brother's room. I have no idea where I'm going."
She shook her head for what felt like the billionth time that day, and headed towards the building where her brother spent his days. Acatha didn't know why he stayed at university overnight. London was only an hour drive away, and she constantly found herself missing the company of her little brother at home. Her sister, thankfully, had moved out. You could only take Lucy in small doses. And being stuck at home with only her mother was almost torture.
When she reached her brother's room, she knocked on the door.
"Come in!" his room mate, Axon, shouted.
Acatha opened the door slightly. "Axon," she said, surprised. "Where's Cam?"
"Astronomy building," Axon said, not looking up from his book. Axon was majoring in Literature, and he forever had his nose in a book, except for when he was sleeping, or in the shower. Not that Acatha knew.
"Thanks," she smiled and closed the door behind her. She tapped John Smith on the shoulder and motioned for him to follow her. There was a loud booming sound just as they reached the Astronomy building. Somebody, in a voice that Acatha recognised, swore from inside.
