Eventually, though, we ran out of Rift and the TARDIS hung under her own power in a universe the Doctor didn't recognize. He was uneasy and that rather scared the rest of us.

Talking Turkey 3

Chapter 3: Swiss Family TARDIS

The TARDIS had managed to warn him that she was going down and doing it fast, that there was an Earth under her in the skies and she was making for an island that should be uninhabited in the Southern Portion of the Pacific basin. It should be mostly unexplored at this point in this Earth's history...for this Earth was the mid-17th Century. After that, what happened depended on how bad the crash was and how long it took the Doctor to rewire her for this universe's vortex. In their present circumstances, that could be years.

:WHO:

"Impossible. The parts I need to fix her I can't get here...it's too early in the history of this Earth for that...and I can't go looking for somewhere I can find parts for her without fixing her. She's going to have to do it the slow way, self-repairing, her." Ninth was not amused. He looked at Wayne. "Robin and Nightwing go off exploring more since we took out those pirates on arrival?"

"Yeah. They took Kurt and Storm with them. You were busy and it's not as if we're amateurs."

"Good point. Myra still saying 'I told you so?'

"Of course. Well, TARDIS did manage to release her barns if not the house, so at least there's no livestock in the ship now." Bruce was grinning at him shamelessly, reaching out to tickle the unwilling Doctor's newest charge under the chin.

Ninth's left eyelid actually twitched. He'd woken up this morning cuddled up to a young chimp instead of Rose. So much for hammocks under a tree. He supposed he'd made one too many 'stupid ape' remarks. He sighed and scratched the young ape's head, it refused to leave him, now that he'd fed it milk in a bottle. TARDIS might not be able to fly or dematerialize, but she could still provide the rest of their needs just fine...he just wished Sexy would stop laughing at him.

~~~~~~: WHO :~~~~~~~

Robin, Nightwing and Nightcrawler giggled as Batman went flying face down in a large mud flat as the small boy they were trying to catch dodged at the last second, screeching in panic and the pair of fully mature Great Danes with the boy introduced their teeth to Bruce's backside with his screaming encouragement. Eventually the lad called them off and then disappeared into the underbrush, yelling back that 'pirates' deserved the dogs chewing on them.

As Robin and Nightwing descended to the ground to aid Bruce, Nightcrawler took to the highest branches and tracked the lad back to where he lived. He stayed, listened and finally returned. When he BAMFed back into the circle of firelight, he chuckled. "He's a normal boy, lives with his parents and elder brothers on the other side of this island. They've been shipwrecked apparently." He looked over at the Bat. "You okay?" He asked, trying not to smile as he observed the way Bruce was being careful to remain on his stomach.

"Will be. So, the dogs were just protecting the child. Can't really argue with results." He answered with a pained smile as he heard the sniggers his boys were trying to silence without notable success.

"You catch a name to go with that family, Kurt?" Old Myra asked, suspicion clear in her tone.

"Robinson, why?"

She groaned, swaying on her log by the fire. "Doctor's Luck isn't Lucky...never has been, save once only." She pointed at Rose. "When he found her, t'was worth all the rest, for she loves him truly. So, tell me, Doctor, Robinsons, yes, family of five, three lads and the youngest able to bring Batman to his ruination...at the first try. In a Storybook Universe...with a pair of fawn colored Great Danes."

He stared at her. "Shit. Swiss Family Robinson...that kid is Francis. Gotta be."

"Yes, probably...but if so, they're missionaries, Nine. Clean up that mouth. Best part is that this is your ballgame, Doctor. Just remember that here, the unabridged version is true history and we've already altered it by taking out those pirates. So, this is your problem since it involves a historical edit. I'll help of course where I can, but we're going to be here for the next...how long?"

"At least a three year span and probably more. And there will be more edits, since we can't avoid the Robinsons now that Francis has told them of our presence."

"So, Kurt and Bruce's boys will build us an above ground home of our own, site the TARDIS in an upstairs location for her safety. We have to plan for hurricanes, after all, and that will be the best place for her to bring her outer shields to bear for us all, Robinsons included. With the pirates gone, it's unlikely that sea captain or his grand-daughter will be intercepted so I suppose that particular ripple is already in progress."

"Yeah. Nothing we can do about it, either."

"Very well then. We're limited to what we can do in the here and now. My forte is growing things so I'll do my part by starting a garden, select an area for orchards and perhaps see if there's some sort of safe, soft natural fiber growing nearby, like flax or cotton, that can be woven. Oh, what else? We'll need a list of things too, the things that should be obvious. Don't need me for that." Myra's eyes tracked the tropical sun and nodded. "Plenty of of daylight left. Time enough to do a bit of looking around. Richard, your arm, youngster. I'll take your escort."

Ninth didn't say anything as Myra took advantage of the Nightwing version of Grayson's presence to try to find gardenable foods to bring back seeds, cuttings or saplings from. He got the others organized into useful groups himself after the old woman and Nightwing disappeared into the jungle. Finally, as the first of the stored wooden planking in the TARDIS were being brought out, he gathered Rose to himself and they went out to try to find the family of Missionaries who would be their neighbors on the Slow Path.

He was still very much not amused.