Chapter 1: Designated Number

"I cannot believe you!" Rory shouted in disbelief at The Eleventh Doctor as the group ran into the TARDIS, the doors shutting behind him.

"Why not?" The Doctor smiled with a playful gleam in his eye, surrounding the controls to his ship. He started the sequence for take off, the machine buzzing and humming to life. "We got out alive, didn't we?"

"Barely!" Rory shrieked, a look of incredulity on his face. "You were caught philandering with the ambassador's daughter!"

"I do not philander!" The Doctor argued, pointing a finger at Rory. "I was extracting!"

"What? Her tongue?" Amy snorted as she hovered around the screens.

"As a matter of fact, I was!" The Doctor argued hysterically, although he was trying to play it cool. "The Honaxians are known for exchanging information through physical touch, and mouth-the-mouth is usually the best way to do it."

Amy snickered with a shake of her head while Rory rolled his eyes and groaned. "You do realize we'll never be allowed back there, right?"

As the TARDIS took off, the Doctor smiled. "The banishment will only last three centuries, as per their protocol. Nothing to worry about. How's about Hungary for our next stop? I could use a good goulash."

As The Doctor fiddled around with the controls, trying to find the right time and place for some Hungarian cuisine, a red dot appeared on one of the screens. Amy peered at it curiously. "Doctor, what's this red dot mean?" she asked.

"What red dot? We're going to Hungary now, no time for red dots," he replied as Rory went to the screen Amy was looking at.

"There's a red dot flashing on the screen," Rory pointed out.

The Doctor sighed before walking around the large console to the screen in question. "Oh, that dot," he breathed in annoyance. "That is..." the screen flashed with static for a few moments before broken images appeared. "That's new, what is th-"

The TARDIS suddenly jolted and heaved, metal groaning as the three were tossed about. Explosions erupted from the console and the two humans screamed for The Doctor to explain what was happening.

"Not this again!" The Doctor growled with a shout, trying to get his machine to settle.

The TARDIS ceased its jolting and the lights went out, smoke emanating from the middle console. Rory helped his wife up and cradled her cheek to check for wounds. "You okay?" he asked her.

"Yes, I'm alright," Amy replied softly, shaking her head and coughing from the smoke. "You?"

"Yeah."

The Doctor was now panicking as he flicked switches and pressed buttons. "Blimey!"

"Can we get the lights back on?" Rory asked as he and Amy came over to the console.

"No..."

"Why not?"

The Doctor groaned, clearly distressed from the TARDIS no longer working. "Because the TARDIS draws its energy from the universe and we are no longer in our universe. The time vortex is completely gone!"

Amy's face went pale as the Doctor looked around the floor, searching for something as he pulled out his sonic screwdriver. "Then where are we?" Amy asked, sounding a bit worried.

"We could be in several different places. The Silent Realm, for example," he grunted as he lifted part of the floor up. "And that is outside the time vortex, hopefully we're not there."

"Where else could we be?" Rory inquired in a panicked state as he held part of the floor up, The Doctor crawling down into the floor.

"A parallel universe," The Doctor stated matter-of-factly, buzzing his screwdriver about before finding what he was looking for. "Aha! There we go! Found it!"

The Doctor popped back up through the hole with a big smile on his face and an object in his hand, which was glowing a dim green.

"Insignificant power cell, but it still has power! Just need to charge it and we'll be back in our universe in twenty four hours!"

"I bet I could fix that in five minutes!" an unfamiliar voice echoed inside the TARDIS. "Which alternate reality are you from?"

The gang froze when the voice sounded all around them. The Doctor eyed his companions, all of them mirroring a shocked expression.

"Sorry, what?" The Doctor asked, genuinely surprised that not only was the person speaking of alternate realities, but was also boasting about being able to fix his TARDIS in such a short time frame.

"The designation number of your reality. What is it?"

"Um...sorry, I've simply forgotten the designation number. Busy day, what with extracting intel and planning a trip to Hungary for some goulash and a thermal bath," The Doctor said, slowly moving towards the door. "I don't suppose you could check the number for me?"

The Doctor moved his eyes about, waiting with anticipation for the voice to answer the question. An answer never came, however.

"Hello?" The Doctor called out before looking at Rory and Amy strangely. "Is it just me or did that woman sound American?"

Rory threw up his hands. "Typical. We hear a disembodied voice and the first thing you comment on is the accent," he said with a huff at the end, putting his hands on his hips.

"It's still information, you can tell a lot from a person just by their accent," The Doctor said before reaching for the door. "What planet they're from, which country they possibly reside in..."

"So we're on Earth? In America? In a parallel universe? Or...alternate reality," Rory shook his head as if he'd just gotten a headache. "Is there a difference?"

"It varies," he replied nonchalantly, slowly creaking the door open to have a peek outside. "Parallel suggests two different universes lined up against the other, so think of it as traveling sideways. An alternate reality, however, suggests we may have very well skipped through multiple parallel universes into one not even close to ours, and even one that stands with no parallels.". The Doctor took a breath in through his nose to smell the air. "Funny. You don't smell like typical Earth or American air."

"But we're safe?" Rory asked hopefully.

"Too many variables, especially since I'm unfamiliar with this timeline. We don't know if we're in the past, present or future. We don't know if there's an apocalypse, a revolution, a war, or an extinction level event occurring. We don't know which species holds dominion on the planet, nor do we know if they're hostile or friendly. So...the probability of us being safe is..." The Doctor sucked in air as he calculated in his head. "Zero point zero zero zero zero five to the hundredth power percent."

"Lovely," Rory answered with sarcasm, a bitter and helpless look on his face.

"Well, I don't hear any explosions, roaring or screaming," Amy pointed out as she got closer to the door, peeking through under the Doctor's chin. "Seems very calm out there."

Rory moved in under Amy, his head under her chin now as he gaped about through the slightly bigger crack of the door.

There was a hallway and there was blue and white lighting shining through, and the smallest glimpse of what appeared to be a large, slightly curved window. Reflections of ripples appeared in the window and the trio gasped before smiling.

"That looks so surreal," Rory laughed quietly.

"And pretty," Amy added.

"Yes...come to think of it, though, the air here...it's quite...thin, and yet we're not showing signs of hypoxia," The Doctor observed. "Things are...more echoey here. Hang on," The Doctor said as he pulled out his sonic screwdriver, buzzing it as he took measurements. A surprised look appeared on his face. He was simply flabbergasted. "That's impossible."

"What's impossible?" Amy asked with a grin.

"Percentage of safety has dropped down to zero. We need to stay in the TARDIS, we need to leave. Now."

The humans pulled their heads in and The Doctor shut the door. "Why isn't it safe?"

The Doctor shut his eyes, trying to come up with a plan. There was no way it was possible.

"Doctor?" Any prodded, looking a bit worried. "What's wrong? Where are we?"

The Doctor faced the married couple and sighed with a slight frown. "I'm so sorry, but I'm afraid we might already be dead."

And with that, the TARDIS suddenly jolted violently, knocking things about once more.