AN: This is a short extra chapter, giving a little insight into how things are going for Mickey as he goes dimension hopping. We'll be back to regular Tuesday updates next week.

Chapter Four: Walking Through Worlds

Mickey took the dimension cannon from Dr. Malcolm Taylor. "You're sure you've got the telemetry fixed?" he asked. "I'm not going to end up in that universe where the Nazis won the war again, am I?"

Developing the dimension cannon had been remarkably easy. The walls between the worlds were getting thinner by the day, and they already had the basis of the technology in the old hoppers.

Targeting the cannon on the correct universe had been trickier, and Mickey had done his share of running as he hopped from world to world.

Malcolm beamed and nodded rapidly. "Oh, yes sir!" he insisted. "Once you gave me the phone that belonged to Miss Tyler, it was easy to lock onto the universe that signal originated from. You shouldn't have any problems landing in the right spot in space."

Mickey raised an eyebrow. "You're being cagey, Malcolm," he said knowingly. "You saying that I might land in the wrong time? Like, I'll be there, but I won't find the Doctor or Rose?"

Malcolm's eyes darted away. "Well, I know you should land close to where the Doctor's TARDIS is. That's the signal we've homed in on. But that doesn't mean you'll be able to find them. I'm afraid that bit is up to you. You are the field agent, aren't you?"

Jake laughed. "He's got you there, Mickey," he said.

Mickey grunted. "All right, fine. You two can laugh all you want, but maybe when you're done, you could run the controls so I can fire this thing up. I don't know if you've forgotten, but we've got a universe to save."

After that, everyone got down to business. Mickey was suited up in short order, with the control for the dimension cannon strapped to his waist.

"Ready?" Jake asked from the control booth.

Mickey straightened his shoulders and nodded. "Ready."

A moment later, he felt the now-familiar tingle as the cannon shot him through the Void and into the universe on the other side. His ears popped as he stepped out onto a street he immediately recognised as being in London.

He looked up and sighed. Even in London, he could see more stars than were visible from the darkest places Pete's World. His brow furrowed momentarily, because he if could see that many stars, it meant he was too early. If the stars weren't going out here yet, the Doctor and Rose wouldn't be ready to help them. One of the few things they knew was that the event making the stars go out originated here, in the prime universe.

The return button rested heavily on his hip, and he considered it for a moment. Then he shook his head. If this was London—his London—he might still learn something of use if he stuck around.

The first thing he did was find a newspaper to check the date. January 10, 2009, he mused. He'd left Torchwood on April 5, 2012. So Malcolm was right, and our universe runs ahead. Unfortunately, that made it almost impossible to guess how far forward he needed to jump to catch the Doctor and Rose at the right time to help them.

A vendor on the street corner was selling chips, and Mickey bought some to eat while he poked around. The greasy, salty food confirmed that this was indeed his own universe—chips in Pete's World were a sweet treat, dusted with cinnamon sugar. More than once, he'd been grateful Rose hadn't been stuck there, just because he'd never have heard the end of how horrible it was to do that to chips.

A commotion caught his attention, and Mickey waded through the crowds of people standing along the side of the street. He blinked a few times when he saw little white blobs skipping and hopping down the street. Then he remembered what Malcolm had said about the dimension cannon landing him close to the TARDIS.

That's right, he remembered. No ordinary days on the TARDIS.

On cue, a spaceship appeared in the atmosphere overhead. If there's a spaceship… He scanned the rooftops, and finally, at the top of a fan skyscraper, he thought he saw three figures. And there they are. He shook his head and watched with the crowd, wincing when one woman was dropped by the tractor beam.

After the spaceship left the atmosphere, the streets of London filled up with people celebrating. Mickey threw away the remnants of his chips and watched. It was tempting to use the dimension cannon to track down the TARDIS. It was a time machine, right? So couldn't the Doctor just… jump ahead to the right time, take care of the entire bloody universe, and then go back to travelling?

But the cannon team had explained to him that it didn't work that way, and though he didn't understand temporal mechanics, he trusted the people who did.

His hour was almost over when someone tapped him on the shoulder. Mickey turned around to look at a ginger woman.

The woman smiled at him. "Listen, there is this woman that's going to come along. A tall blonde woman called Sylvia. Tell her that bin there, all right?" she said, pointing to a bin on the corner. "It'll all make sense. That bin there."

The woman took off without waiting for a response, which was too bad, because the dimension cannon beeped, and Mickey knew it was about to pull him home. He shook his head and walked away from the crowd, hoping he could get to the nearby alley before the cannon worked.

Going back to Pete's World always felt a little bit like being pressed through an opening a tiny bit too small. Mickey wasn't sure—he'd have to ask the Doctor—but he suspected it was because he didn't actually belong in that universe. Hopping back to his original universe was the only time he'd gone through the Void without coming out feeling like he'd been compressed two sizes.

"Well?" Jake said as soon as he shook the feeling off.

"We finally found the right universe, and the Doctor," Mickey said, "but we're a few months early for them, at least. They still have stars."

In the control booth, Malcolm sighed loudly. "I miss the stars."

Jake nodded. "Then we'll keep trying until we get the timing right."