Chapter 8: Yesterday Feels So Far Away
[Sheffield, England / 2018]
The 13th incarnation of the Doctor wandered idly around the TARDIS storage rooms, looking for a container in which to store a sizable amount of henna powder. She had really liked learning about and getting mehndi designs drawn on her hands by Yaz's great-grandmother in Punjab in 1947—despite everything else that had happened on that trip. In any case, the Doctor had enjoyed the designs so much that Yaz had finally caved to her pleas and gotten henna powder for her along with instructions on how to properly mix and apply it. Said instructions may have gotten lost somewhere in transit, but that didn't matter to the Doctor. Yaz could show her what to do.
After fruitlessly searching for an empty, clean container, the Doctor finally sighed and gave up. "Any chance you could help?" She asked the TARDIS aloud, looking up at the ceiling. It took an inordinate amount of time for the time-ship to respond with the equivalent of a mental shrug.
"Well you're not bein' very helpful today. What's got your wires in a twist?" The Doctor huffed, not bothering to wait for a reply as she carefully set down the plastic bag of henna powder on the floor next to a pile of old TARDIS console parts. She climbed onto a stack of heavy metal crates, intending to check the top shelf of the cupboards along the wall. (Why couldn't her magnificent ship move things just a little lower to the ground when she needed them? Was that too much to ask? The Doctor wasn't too short this time around, especially compared to Earth's average height for women, but she was still about six inches shorter than most of her previous regenerations. It was starting to drive her mad.)
She hoped Graham and Ryan would be back soon. Ryan was just the right height for looking on the top shelves of cupboards. He and Graham had gone to a local chip shop down the road from Yaz's grandmother's place, and had promised to bring back a snack for the Doctor too.
"What are you doing up there?" Yaz's voice startled the Doctor, her foot slipping off the top box on the stack she was standing on, and sending her and the boxes toppling to the floor. When everything stopped crashing down all over the place, the Doctor found herself flat on her back, staring up at a concerned Yaz.
The contents of several boxes and crates— including empty paint cans, gardening tools, a concerning number of ritually-decorated animal skulls, three toolboxes worth of wrenches and pliers from different galaxies, Victorian Earth silverware, seven tangled balls of copper wire, an extremely old collection of sonic screwdrivers that hadn't seen the light of day for at least four centuries, pieces of half-finished devices, and a collection of truly bizarre neon handbags— were spread out across the floor.
"Are you alright?" Yaz asked anxiously. She was kneeling beside the Doctor, looking a little shocked.
The Doctor groaned. "Owwww..."
"Sorry! I really didn't mean to scare you. Didn't realize this would happen," Yaz said, grimacing at the mess around them.
The Doctor flapped her hand dismissively through the air before letting it drop back to her side. "Nah, not your fault," she said. "It is a bit embarrassing though. Haven't been that clumsy since…Hmmm, when was it? Oh, right, my eleventh body. Now that was an interesting one. A bit odd when it came to culinary tastes, but overall—"
Yaz interrupted her with an endearing laugh. "As much as I'd love to hear it, the TARDIS flashed a ton of lights at me from the console just now, when I walked in. It looked important."
The Doctor scrambled to her feet, pulling Yaz with her before thrusting her hands into the pockets of her coat, feeling around for her sonic. "It depends on the lights, really. The console doesn't have that many this go around. It's kind of a shame, but I love it anyway. Have you seen my sonic?" She asked, glancing down at the mess at her feet.
She thought she'd just put the sonic in her pocket a few minutes ago. Where had it disappeared off to now? She really ought to make some kind of automatic recall function for it.
Yaz spotted it lying underneath a huge tangled ball of wires, beside a silver device with dials and a blank black screen on the front. "There it is, under the wires."
The Doctor tossed the ball of wires away and grabbed the sonic off the floor along with the silver device. "Oh, this! I've missed this! I haven't seen it in, I don't know, at least three regenerations," she said excitedly, turning over the rectangular device in her hands. It had been a long, long time since she'd used this timey-wimey detector. She couldn't recall why or when she'd last used it, but it must have been for something…timey wimey.
Yaz shuffled her feet. "Doctor, the TARDIS was flashing lights at me, remember? Thought you would have known already, but—"
The Doctor jerked her head up. "Oh, yes! Right. TARDIS. She's been acting up all day. Got distracted." She pocketed her sonic and the silver device. "Well, come on, Yaz!" She said with a grin, dashing out of the room.
The console was indeed lit up with flashing lights, some of which the Doctor knew hadn't been there the night before.
"What's all this about?" The Doctor asked aloud, approaching the console curiously. Her ship didn't seem to be on high alert, but she wasn't entirely calm either.
A mixture of sadness and guilt mixed with a fierce need to DO SOMETHING NOW flashed briefly through the Doctor's mind.
"What? Why? About what?" The Doctor asked, hands on her hips as she looked around the room with growing confusion.
There was only silence from the time ship, a silence that lasted much longer than usual. She seemed to be carefully considering something, but what she was considering, her pilot couldn't parse out.
"Doctor? Is something wrong?" Yaz asked quietly, joining the bewildered Time Lord at the console.
"Not sure…" The Doctor trailed off, experimentally pressing a few buttons in an attempt to stop the flashing lights. Nothing worked. "It would help if you could be a little more specific," she said impatiently.
"Me?" Yaz asked, startled.
"No, not you, Yaz. The TARDIS. She's not answering." The Doctor said. She ran a soothing hand over a button and lever-free section of the console. 'What's got you so wound up today?' She projected the question telepathically instead of out loud, as this current incarnation of hers tended to do.
Another, stronger wave of urgency swept through her mind, followed by the faint impression of a churning navy ocean, and the distant, pitch black silhouette of a colossal pyramid. The structure was backlit by three moons, one pale pink, another pale blue, the third pure white.
Then, as suddenly as the hazy image had arrived, it cut off along with the flashing console lights. The Doctor's breath hitched. Where had that come from? What planet had that been? She was sure she'd never seen it before.
"Doctor? Something wrong with the TARDIS?" Yaz asked.
The Doctor raised her hands to her head, lightly rubbing her temples. "Probably not," she said with a small shrug. "Like I said, she's been acting a little off today. I'm sure it will be fine. I've seen stranger things from this ship, let me tell you."
The TARDIS hummed indignantly.
The Doctor smiled faintly and corrected herself. "Some, and by that I mean most, of those things were quite possibly my fault."
Yaz laughed. "I can't believe you forgot to tell us your ship was telepathic until now."
"I hope it's okay with you. That's why you can understand all those alien languages we run into."
"Wow," Yaz said, "that's amazing. I remember you mentioning that a while ago, but I didn't really get the TARDIS' role in translating everything until now. Useful to have a universal translator wherever we go."
The Doctor nodded, smiling wider now. She was so glad she'd fallen into just the right train in Sheffield and met her new Fam right after regenerating. Remembering those kinds of new beginnings helped her through the darker times, when friends were harder to come by and the Doctor had to walk through all of space and time alone.
Just then, the doors of the TARDIS were flung open and Ryan and Graham came through, hands laden with various bags full of snacks.
"Hey Doc, we got you some chips. We also got a few other things from the supermarket because we didn't know what kind of foods you liked," Graham said, setting down two bags of crisps and a container of mini pastries.
"Oh, you didn't have to!" the Doctor said quickly, surprised by the kind gesture. Humans. At their best, they were always wanting to share food with others.
"Here." Ryan handed her a small takeaway container of warm chips, and then presented a chocolate croissant to Yaz.
"Thanks," Yaz said, happily accepting the pastry and taking a bite. She closed her eyes, savoring it. She loved everything from the bakery it had come from, a little place just a few blocks away. Their pastries were almost as good as her grandmother's cooking, though from a very different part of the world.
"Did talking to your gran go well?" Ryan asked her.
Yaz opened her eyes and nodded. "Yeah, it went really well, actually. I'm not exactly sure if she knew it was me back in 1947 or not, but I think she might. She didn't say anything about it directly though."
"I guess that's good," Ryan said.
"I see why traveling back to see your own family can be a bad idea though. I don't regret going back to see my gran, but I get it. It wasn't anything like I expected."
"It never is," the Doctor commented, leaning back against the console and popping a chip in her mouth. She usually didn't indulge in chips these days, being far more interested in showing her friends the wonders of the universe than experimenting with Earth foods (again), but these chips were actually quite good. Looking at the bags of food, she was suddenly struck by an idea. A brilliant, sunny idea.
"Where should we put this stuff?" Graham asked her.
"I was thinking…" the Doctor began, "how would you feel about a trip to the beach? We could bring some of that food along with us. I hear Florida is nice this time of year."
"Florida? In the States?" Ryan asked skeptically.
The Doctor shook her head, setting down her chips on the console and starting to set the necessary coordinates. "No, the planet, although the two are very similar, actually. Did you know Earth flamingoes are descended from the dominant avian species on Florida? They're actually quite nice once you get used to them being eight feet tall. It's also really warm and sunny on the northern continent. Nice beaches with soft white sand too."
"Sounds…nice?" Yaz didn't seem entirely sure about her answer.
The Doctor grinned. "It is, I promise. How about it, Fam? A holiday at the beach with snacks courtesy of Graham and Ryan!"
Ryan, Graham and Yaz looked at each other.
"Sure, I guess. Never been to Florida anyway," Yaz replied, finishing off her croissant.
Ryan was more enthusiastic. "It has to be warmer than Sheffield. Some sun might be nice for a change."
"As long as I don't end up getting chased by eight-foot-tall alien flamingoes, I'm happy to go to any Florida, the state or the planet," Graham said. "Shall I get my swimming trunks?" He asked the Doctor, already starting to turn toward the TARDIS doors.
"I mean, you could, but I'm sure the wardrobe room is around here somewhere. I think there's a whole section for swimming costumes. I'm sure you'll find something you like," she said, gesturing over her shoulder in the general direction of the hallway where she'd last seen the entrance to the wardrobe room.
"What about towels? Umbrellas?" Yaz asked.
"And sunscreen! You three may not sunburn as easily, but personally, I don't want to end up looking like a tomato," Graham added.
"Look in one of the storage rooms next to the wardrobe. I think the TARDIS put all of the beach items somewhere around there," the Doctor said.
Leaving the bags of food against a wall in the console room, Yaz, Ryan, and Graham dashed off to find said beach items and get changed. This left the Doctor to her own devices, which mostly consisted of wondering whether she should also change into a swimming costume or not. She couldn't remember the last time she'd worn anything remotely related to swimming.
The TARDIS certainly had an opinion on the matter, which became quite clear when a number of women's swimming costumes appeared on the console. The Doctor rolled her eyes, quickly picking them up and heading down the nearest hallway to her room.
"Honestly, why do these have so many ties and hooks in annoying places? How am I supposed to actually swim or run in any of these? Not all of the beaches on Florida are open to impromptu nudity, you know, which is definitely something that could happen with these useless little hooks and strings! You could have at least found me a one-piece at least…" the Doctor grumbled. The lights overhead simply flickered merrily in response.
"Fine," the Doctor relented.
Out of nowhere, something crashed to the floor a few levels above her, followed by a shriek of surprise. The Time Lord came to a halt, staring suspiciously up at the ceiling. She hoped her companions hadn't gotten too lost while looking for the wardrobe room. Perhaps she should have gone with them? Oh well. She could sort it later; at least that particular room didn't migrate as often as the kitchen. (Quite honestly, she wasn't sure she'd ever found the kitchen until her fourth or fifth body.) She still remembered the time Amy and Rory had woken up (together, of course) to find that the kitchen had merged with their bedroom overnight, and they were surrounded by half of the kitchen's breakfast-related items. Of course, that had only happened because the TARDIS had picked up on the Doctor's thoughts about inventing a device that would serve someone a nice breakfast in bed without fail, and decided to play a practical joke on her passengers. The resulting incident had been a surprise for all involved. The Doctor still felt a bit scandalized remembering it now.
Then she shook her head, forcefully halting that train of thought before it went any further. It wouldn't do to dwell on the past, no matter how wonderful and dark and brilliant and full of love those times had been. Like so many others that the Doctor had loved, Amy, Rory, and River would live on in her memory. Besides, right now she had a seaside holiday to plan.