Chapter 31
I feel my eyes flicker and my vision fade, but something's different.
Steady, girl. You've seen far more shocking things than this.
I blink twice, shaking my head.
"You all right?", the Doctor asks inquisitively, nudging at my hand he's still holding.
"Sure. Peacheeee-y. Just saw-".
Ray stops my incoming rambling. "You guys, let's move and talk later, okay?".
The Doctor searches my eyes. I'm fine, really, I try to tell him without saying it. He seems satisfied with my non-answer and we climb into the back of a van.
"Yeah, about that, tell me, Agent Ray", the Doctor asks, "are you the same agent Ray I've gathered is in a relationship with an agent Carol that arrested us, or are there many Rays around?". —-
"Carol doesn't know that we're setting you free", he replies quickly. "Actually, nobody knows. Or needs to know".
"Ooh, secret plan, Zoe!" The Doctor cheers, his mood suddenly changing. "We love secret plans", he adds.
"We sure do", I add, but I don't share his enthusiasm, still a little distracted by having just seen him wander around with Chloe in what looks like the near future.
"Is this the beginning of it? Is that why you told her I was her?", I ask him.
"Look, whatever idea or excuse we can come up with now, it doesn't really matter, does it?".
"You didn't answer".
"Well, I suppose I could tell her you're from a parallel universe. Or, even better, that you're her time lord clone from her future but I'm not going to tell her that, am I?".
"But it's such a cheap excuse. I have no basic information about her, I can't for a second pretend to be her!
"Zoe...".
"You'll tell her that to make sure I don't go any close to her".
"I'm sorry", he says. "I... It's already happened. Will happen. We saw it".
"I know".
"What are you two going on about? Geez-" Jack cuts us off, as the van bumps. Those guys are clearly driving faster than these streets are designed for.
"Ehi. You", I turn and face him. "Look at my face".
"No need to ask, pixie", he smiles. I have to force myself not to smile back. I catch the Doctor's eyes rolling wildly to the ceiling.
"No, but look. Take a proper look at my face. Seen it before?".
He stares at me. "You do look familiar, actually".
"She looks oddly identical to that prodigy trainee", Ray chirps in. "don't pretend you never noticed her".
"Sure did". I stay silent as he winks at me, his glacy eyes scanning me again. "different style, though. Couldn't really place it at first".
"You said trainee", the Doctor repeats, back to the point. "Has she been assigned a vortex manipulator? What, even if she's not an agent yet?".
"These days, not even every proper agent has one. Since the anomalies increased, their use has been highly reduced- you two should know better than us that this timeline isn't gonna hold that much stress forever. Time travel is strictly for emergency nowadays. Mostly what we deal with is damage control".
"So, if a trainee was using a vortex manipulator-".
"Unlikely. Coordinates training only comes after they get the instrument. Most agents can't even use those things. And anyway, each manipulator and its use are registered. Any unauthorized attempt to use one would immediately show up on the system".
"Here, check it", Ray adds, handing me his tablet. There's a chart with names and pictures, most static, some blinking with data about time and location. "These are the operating ones".
I look at the Doctor. The active time travelling agents are not more than fifty, maybe, on a total of what, two hundreds? I thought there were more. No wonder why River Song was so jealous of her own device; they must cost a fortune on the black market if they're so scarce to come by.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?", I ask the Doctor, again, who's still looking at the screen.
"Yeeeah- so, what happened here? When did the anomalies begin to be a big fussy problem instead of staying just a regular nuisance caused by exposure to time travel?", he asks.
Ray, on my side, has something like an irksome reaction, but the car is still bumping so I don't really know if it's a reaction to the question or, just bothered about the uneasy drive.
"That's what we are trying to investigate". Jack says, a little defeated.
"You are, as in you two? Is this the secret plan?" I ask him.
"It's more a secret task force rather than a secret plan", he explains. "Or, uhm, actually a secret investigation". He sounds somewhat tired, ashamed maybe, that their investigation is not bringing about any relevant results. "Ritter, the head of the Agency, assigned us with finding out what the hell is happening. So far, we can't find an origin point, a connection between the anomalies, a common trait, nothing. But of course, you already know all that, right?".
"Riiiight", the Doctor says, not sounding the tiniest bit convincing to me. I remember what Jack said when he saw us on the street. They said they would send help. I'm sure the Doctor remembers it too. "I need a better read at these files", he says, tapping Ray's tablet in his hands. "I don't want to sound snob, but it has to be something related to the vortex manipulators".
"Of course, Doctor", I sigh. "Doesn't sound snob at all. But we have to start from somewhere. Ray, you gave us back our screwdrivers... what about the prototype? Do you have it?" I ask.
"No, uh, no", he says. "It's in storage".
The Doctor and I stare at him. Like it's in storage would make it unaccessible. He understands.
"Well, we'll have to retrieve it".
"But it's in storage".
Again, so what?
"It's in the basement. Storage room is guarded, and given the nature of it, somebody is probably analyzing it".
"No one should analyze it but us", the Doctor says, sternly, then looks at me. "And if you're the only team investigating the anomalies, I don't see why anyone would. Anyway. You and Ray go recover it. I'll try to get all the available data from here and we'll meet at the Tardis"
"The... Tardis?", Jack asks.
"My prototype was made with a sparkle of the Tardis core. If I can get it back, we can align it with the Tardis and try to retrace its steps, see who used it".
As much as it pains me to say it, I know what I have to do. "I'll need a trainee uniform".
Jack looks at me, getting it right away. He smiles and it's so good to see that I smile back.
"I will also need psychic paper, a scheme of the agency headquarters building, an access point to hack their servers, and a slice of apple pie".
The van steers into an underground parking and stops.
Jack smiles again. He jumps down and opens the doors to let us all out from the back. "At your service, ma'am", he salutes.
"Oh don't salute-" I cannot finish the sentence because he quickly types some coordinates on his vortex manipulator, vanishes in a flash.
"-me." Two seconds later, he reappears. Holding a t-shirt and some trousers folded on his right arm, a baseball cap and combat boots in his hand. In the other hand, what looks like a take away bag from a bakery.
The Doctor raises his eyebrow looking at me sideways.
While I change behind the van back doors, Ray takes the tablet back from the Doctor's hand and types some commands into the time travel tabs. "Are you deleting the log of this quick escape?" The Doctor asks looking over his shoulders.
"I am".
"But -" I start, thinking.
"I know - I mean, if an expert programmer were to check the script, they would still find a log of a previous log being deleted. But no trace of the deleted travel. And as you can see, the only users deleting logs are me and the Captain, and only to hide our secret investigation, for Ritter, you know.".
"Sure", the Doctor nods. He steps closer to me, helping to fix my hair under the cap, almost imperceptibly stroking my head. "Be careful out there, rockstar", he whispers, a little more worried than I like. I nod trying to hide how much I am not amused at trying to pass myself for Chloe, after all that is happened.
Jack doesn't let the exchange go unnoticed. "So, power couple?"
Me and the Doctor make the weirdest faces. "You two look just as… powerful" I reply. "Have you been working together long?".
"Couple of years", he replies, winking at him.
I follow Ray inside the building.