The Nowhere Hotel

The Doctor wakes up fresh from a new regeneration struggling to find out who he is. Then after arriving in a strange hotel he meets a girl who doesn't remember who she is... or who the other two people inside her head are.

PART 5

The Doctor opened the door to the TARDIS and leant out, taking in the world around him. A busy street in the rain, the sound echoed around him as he looked out to a diner across the road from where they had landed.

"Earth… for real this time. Early two-thousands?" He said, almost as if he were asking the TARDIS.

"Hey!" The Doctor heard George's American accent behind him, "Where in the hell do you think you're going?" George shouted.

The Doctor turned to face him, "Hungry?" he asked.

"What?" George frowned, leaning against the console.

"We've landed opposite a diner; they have a sign out front that claims they have the best pancakes." The Doctor walked over to him as he spoke, "I think we ought to test that theory, don't you?"

George blinked at him and looked around the console room, "Are you talking to me?"

The Doctor laughed, "Yes, now are you coming?"

"Are you asking me on a date?"

"I wasn't," he laughed, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck, "But I hope somebody found that funny."

"Okay…?"

"Come on, you must be starving, all those years locked away in that hotel." The Doctor grabbed George by the wrist and pulled him along before he could protest. They ran through the rain and quickly entered the diner, taking a seat in one of the booths opposite the counter. He looked up at the rain hitting the window beside them and smiled.

A waitress headed over to them with a pot of coffee and a notepad.

"Can I get you two anything?" She asked, a cheery smile spread across her face, "Any coffee?"

The Doctor placed their mugs in front of her, "Two coffees would be lovely, and two of the best pancakes please."

"Coming right up, sugar!" She grinned and poured out their coffee, "You got some little packets of sugar and creamer on the table just there behind the menu. And just give us a shout if you need anything else." She turned away and quickly headed behind the counter to the kitchen.

"So, George?" The Doctor asked, clasping his hands together as he looked at him across the table.

"Yes?" George replied apprehensively.

"You want to know what's going on?"

"Yes."

"Are you going to remember it?" He asked.

"You did something to my… her head. I can see things that they see."

"Good to know. Right. So you appear to be trapped. Stuck in this diner if you will. You can't ever leave, but you can have as many pancakes as you like."

"But you brought me here!" George protested, slumping down in his seat.

"Maybe so, but the real question is how did you get here?"

"This still isn't explaining why I'm trapped in some girl's body."

The Doctor laughed weakly, "No I suppose it's not. You're aware of McKenzie and Vera now?"

"Yes."

"Do you remember them, from before?"

"No, I don't know either of them."

"Well, the three of you all take up residence in her head…" he took three packets of sugar and lined them up in front of his coffee mug, then held them all together, ripped the tops off and poured the sugar into his coffee, "Three separate minds combined together."

"What the hell?"

The Doctor sighed, taking a sip of his hot coffee and instantly regretting it. There wasn't nearly enough sugar. He looked down at the table and picked up his cutlery. He placed a paper napkin in front of George and rolled his knife, fork and spoon inside the napkin as he spoke.

"You and Vera have been placed inside McKenzie's mind, while remaining separate people you can't all have control of her body—" he stood the collection of cutlery up and pulled at each individual piece, eventually tearing the napkin.

George frowned and stared at him eyes wide with his jaw hanging open.

The Doctor sighed, "If only the pancakes were here, I'd be able to explain this so much easier."

"Will you shut up about pancakes!" George snapped, brushing the cutlery and torn napkin aside.

"You take up a small amount of space in McKenzie's already full subconscious. When she and Vera get exhausted, you come to the surface, then back to McKenzie again."

George dropped his head onto the table.

The waitress walked up to their table and placed two plates of pancakes in front of them.

"Here you go! Just ask if you want extra syrup."

"Thank you," said The Doctor, "These look amazing."

"So I hear these are the best pancakes." McKenzie asked.

The Doctor turned to see her sat up again, smiling. Her voice was back to normal, he was sure this was McKenzie.

"Oh yes," replied the waitress, "That's a guarantee!"

"What makes them the best then?" She asked.

"Secret family recipe, passed down through generations. Let me know when you want the bill, sugar!" She winked at them before moving on to another table.

The Doctor looked down at the mountain of syrupy pancakes in front of him. This was his first meal since his regeneration, suddenly he realised he was absolutely ravenous.

"Oh shoot…" McKenzie said quietly.

"What?" The Doctor asked between forkfuls of pancake.

"I hope you're planning on paying for this because I don't have anything."

"Hmm." He swallowed, "I hadn't thought of that."

There was a small moment of silence before laughter took them over. He found he enjoyed the sound of her laughter and the way she scrunched up her face when she laughed. It was good to see her enjoying herself.

"So it worked then?" He asked.

"If you mean opening my mind so I could see what George and Vera see, then yes. It did work."

"Good." He smiled, "Have you been able to remember anything else?"

"I'm not sure." McKenzie frowned, poking her pancakes with her fork, "I've got bits and pieces, but they're all blurry."

"It'll come back." He tried to sound reassuring then decided to change the subject, "Do you know where we are?"

"A diner?" She smirked.

"Anything more specific…?"

"Hmm…" McKenzie narrowed her eyes and The Doctor watched as she looked around the diner for a moment. "I want to say Earth? But I'm just going off the architecture and the… smell. I'm not entirely sure how I know that though."

"Very impressive, but you say that like you're not human."

"Why would I be? You obviously aren't. You found me in a hotel outside reality… remember?" She wiggled her fingers at him.

"Good point. I had a hunch, but figured I'd hear it from you first."

"I think they were human… George and Vera I mean. I think I've been to Earth before… wherever we are now looks a bit dated though, retro Earth." She smirked.

The Doctor laughed, he hadn't really thought about it before but there was no way to tell what time period McKenzie originated from. She could have been from the fiftieth century for all he knew. She also wasn't human. Not obvious to a passer-by, but looking at her now he noticed she happened to be especially pale skinned and her eyes practically glowed green. He had no idea where or when she could be from. She could be anyone, just as she had stated.

"I came here with something; I was part of— Something." She sighed in frustration.

"Hey, it's okay. Don't try to force it."

"I won't. I'm sure it'll start to come back soon. I think the hotel must have done something to make me forget…"

"You're probably right." He paused, realising he had nearly finished his pancakes before McKenzie had even started, "Did you pick anything up from my conversation with George?"

"I think I get what you were going for." McKenzie smiled, "The diner is meant to represent my mind, where George and Vera are trapped, and the pancakes are my body!"

The Doctor almost choked as he looked down at his forkful of syrupy pancake. He closed his mouth and put down the fork, trying to laugh off his reddening cheeks.

"I mean—!" McKenzie also started to blush, laughing along with him, "The pancakes represent control… though they may be trapped in the diner, they can still have pancakes." She cut her plate into three sections; a small, a medium and a large. "And these sections represent how much control we each have. Is that sort of what you were going for?" McKenzie smiled, taking a forkful of the larger section of her pancakes.

"Exactly!" The Doctor said, pointing his fork at her, "Well, no. Not exactly. Or at all really. But sure? In essence."

McKenzie raised an eyebrow at him and stuck out her tongue. The Doctor grinned back at her before returning to his pancakes.

"I have to admit. Those were pretty good pancakes," McKenzie smiled, "Not that I can really say I've had pancakes before." She shrugged.

The Doctor shared a laugh with her, then turned to look for the waitress. By now she was probably waiting for them to ask for the bill. If they were really going to dine and dash they had to pick the perfect moment to sneak away.

"This has actually been really nice… Our little pan-date." McKenzie giggled to herself.

"Sorry?" The Doctor turned back to her, having not really been listening to what she was saying.

"Pan-date, pancake date, date where we consume pancakes… pan-date!" She seemed to have greatly amused herself with her wordplay.

The Doctor hummed a small laugh, equally amused. He tried not to focus too much on the word date, but he did like that she thought of it that way… although he wasn't exactly being a good date as he was currently scoping out the waitress so they could escape without paying.

He noticed the waitress talking to two people, they wore blue jumpsuits and a logo on the back. A planet in chains. He watched as they followed the waitress through to a back room.

"Well, I assume it's a date?" McKenzie smirked, "You took me away who knows how far… we kissed, we went for a meal—"

"McKenzie, we have to go." The Doctor stood and grabbed her hand.

"Oh, right now?" She stood and he pulled her close enough to whisper.

"Listen to me, we have to go now. Don't say anything, just keep your head down and follow me back to the TARDIS."

McKenzie nodded and squeezed his hand. The Doctor held tightly onto her as they quickly made their way out of the diner and across the street. It was still raining. As he opened the TARDIS he heard a voice shouting from behind them.

"Stop right there!" it was a similar sounding voice to the ones he'd heard in the hotel.

"Time to go!" The Doctor pulled McKenzie inside the TARDIS and slammed the doors shut behind him. He ran to the console and set the TARDIS to take them away.

"Do I need to press this button again?" McKenzie called out to him, pointing to the small green button as she held onto the console.

"Oh, no! Should be fine!" He smiled as the TARDIS quietened down.

McKenzie shrugged as she looked down at the console, biting her fingernail as she seemed to be in thought.

The Doctor had taken them out into space. He'd parked the TARDIS just behind Jupiter a few hundred years in the past. They might be able to follow them to a regular Earth diner but there was no way they could track them into his TARDIS. They must be time agents or something, this whole thing stunk of space-hoppers… but why? Who were these people? They must have some kind of trace on McKenzie… no matter where they went eventually someone would be sent to find them. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair as he thought; new face, new companion, same old running. They had escaped for now… they surely had some time wherever they went before whoever was tracking them showed up.

They could go anywhere… so the only question was: where to next?

The Doctor looked over at McKenzie, she was still trying to figure out his console. As if she ever could. He laughed to himself.

"What was that?" McKenzie asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Nothing. Nothing at all." He threw himself into one of the jump seats and looked up at her, "So… McKenzie. Where do you want to go?" he asked.

"Well, I was trying to remember place names… but I kept coming up blank. However, I did remember something. Men of war… man oh war? I'm not quite sure."

The Doctor furrowed his brow and stood up, "There's such a thing as a Portuguese Man o' War?"

"Isn't that a jellyfish?"

"Actually," he said, matter-of-factly, "It's a siphonophore, which isn't a single multicellular organism like a common jellyfish, but a colony of specialised minute individuals called—" he stopped noticing McKenzie staring blankly at him, "Zooids." He laughed awkwardly.

"I think it must have been a name or a title?" She laughed along with him.

"Right, of course…" The Doctor rubbed his chin as he thought, then moved to the console. He reached for the larger screen with a keyboard attached and dragged it around the matrix till it rested in front of him. He began to type, searching for something he was certain he remembered, "Ah! Here it is, an interstellar cruise liner called the Man o' War… not the best name in my opinion. It toured oceanic planets."

"You know, that does sound familiar. Even if it's not… it sounds kinda fun." She smiled, looking over the screen with him before returning her attention to the console.

"Yeah, it does, doesn't it? It was running its maiden voyage around the late forty-ninth century, only ever ran once…"

"Awh… that's a shame then." McKenzie shrugged.

"Why? It means there's only one ship you could possibly be on! We'll have to be careful though, because if you are on it we don't want to run into you—"

"Wait, what are you talking about?"

"Oh, didn't I mention? This is a time machine!"

McKenzie's eyes widened as she looked up at him, tearing herself away from the console, "No!"

"Yes!"

"But that's impossible!"

"Yet here we are." The Doctor offered her his charming smile and raised his eyebrows at her.

McKenzie narrowed her eyes at him, "Okay then. Riddle me this Doctor Time Machine. If you can seemingly go anywhere, any when… pretty much do anything or see anything that you could ever want… why did you end up in my coat closet?"

The Doctor shrugged, "I'm still not sure why… but aren't you so very glad that I did?" He winked at her.

McKenzie rolled her eyes, "All right then, Captain. Take us away!"