This was not the time to collapse. Even though my mind was racing and all of my senses were on high alert. Nothing so far had hinted at danger and the lack of memories was an issue I could do nothing about for the time being.

And still… When I stood in the TARDIS wardrobe to get a warm jacket and looked in the mirror I felt my strength fading. The calm facade I had maintained during breakfast now crumbled under its own weight. Everything was new and strange and yet I had just walked without thinking and had ended up in here. Some buried fragment had remained in my - that there is a wardrobe. And it was the strangest thing.

My body didn't need my mind to find the sections of this large place I needed. There, in that corner, I found comfy jeans and the rack a few metres further had a collection of dark hoodies with chequered embellishments. The jacket in my room should be warm enough. We would visit a place that might be a little chill but not cold.

I traced my fingers over the cloth of several items, bewildered by how familiar this felt. There was no doubt that the others were telling the truth about the loss.

"Seems like you don't need help navigating," a mocking voice said from behind me. I spun around and found the Master there. He stood with folded arms leaned against a wardrobe. "I was almost hoping I could talk some style into you for once."

"This's stylish enough." I tapped against my hoodie. "Don't need any fancy stuff. 'S just me."

The Master tilted his head and looked me up and down. An unnerving moment. It was as if he was judging every single atom of me and it made me want to shrink. He himself looked rather stylish, with the black jeans and red polo shirt, above it a black leather jacket.

Smirking, he stepped closer, hands in the jacket's pockets. There was an aura of danger around him that was almost palpable. I had noticed it the first time already and also in the kitchen. Now that I was alone with him it was almost suffocating. My whole body screamed at me to run away.

But a tiny pin prick deep inside my chest made me want to stay.

"So, you have no idea at all who I am," he stated more than asking. His look wandered over my face, searching. "And I'm not allowed to tell you, lest I want you to have memories that aren't your own."

I sighed. "Yeah, that seems to be the conclusion."

"Stupid human brains." The Master tipped against a random, blue button down shirt, making it shake a little.

"Sounds like you wouldn't have that problem in case of amnesia." Could that be true? To me it sounded strange, but that maybe was only because I was so familiar with the workings of humans. Too much curiosity.

"Not from what I know. But our brains work differently. Much more advanced." He chuckled.

I raised my brows and shook my head. "So far I've seen nothing that would even suggest that you and the Doctor are aliens. This place here is amazing, true, but it could also just be underground somewhere."

The Master glared at me with an undefined look, then nodded. "Yeah. Humans look a lot like us. "Then he grinned and stepped closer. "I can show you."

And before I could do or say anything, he grabbed my hand and yanked me towards him. It wasn't rough, but sudden and it made all of the calmness I had clung to crumble away in a single moment. My heart rate skyrocketed and my body couldn't decide whether to freeze or to flee. I glared up at the strange man in front of me and all I could see was his roguish smile that looked like that of a predator to me at that very moment.

"Stop it!" I cried and yanked at my hand. Somehow my body reacted on its own and I leaned all of my weight backwards. Out of reach, out of proximity. Away. Away from the unknown. Away. The Master didn't let go, but his expression changed and I suspected it to turn angry. A split second of potential frozen in a single moment. I tore at my hand once again and screamed.

"Don't touch me!"

I fell.

At least I thought I would until the clothes rack behind me caught my stumble. My pulse slowed minimally and I clutched my hand to my chest as if it was burnt. But no, it only felt strange, tingling with warmth that should be pleasant, but didn't want to be. I looked up at the Master and his face wore a mixture of confusion and something else I couldn't name.

There was no anger.

He let the hand sink that still hung in the air, outstretched to hold a memory that was no more. He swallowed, then stepped back.

"I didn't want to hurt you," he muttered. "Just…" He placed his hand in the middle of his chest. "We have two hearts. That's easy proof."

Only that. No outburst, no attempt to harm or force or touch. I waited for another few seconds and when nothing happened I finally allowed myself to breathe again and to step away from the rack.

"Oh." It was all I could muster to say.

The Master balled his hands to fists and looked away. He was fuming. But he didn't let any of it out on me.

Something new. Usually, when people were angry, they always used me as a target for it. But not him. For whatever reason and no matter how much my instincts screamed at me that he was dangerous…

"Sorry," I muttered. "Just… makes me really uncomfortable when people I don't know come too close. I never know what they want to do to me."

The Master pinched his eyes shut so tight it looked like it might hurt. Then, suddenly his eyes shot open and his look landed on me, full of darkness and hate and all things I had no name for but made me shiver. He huffed. "Whatever. I didn't even expect you to come back. This doesn't change anything, come to think of it."

"What… do you mean?"

"It means, little husk," he sneered, "that I'm leaving you to your own now and mind my own business." He wriggled his fingers at me with a cruel grin. "Bye bye."

With that the Master hurled around and marched away, leaving me not even an opportunity to answer anything. His steps echoed through the wardrobe for a small eternity. Only when they had completely vanished did I let out a shaky breath. Tears tried to fight their way to the forefront, only held back by the shock of the situation. I clawed at the clothes rack to keep myself from collapsing. My body suddenly felt too weak to stay upright and so I ended up on the ground, rocking back and forth, my arms wrapped around myself as tightly as possible.

This was all just a strange dream. It would end. I would wake up. There would be no aliens and I would still be in my shabby apartment, searching for meaning that could nowhere be found. It would be bad. I would hate every second of it.

But at least I wouldn't be so damn scared anymore.

.

After picking some clothes I went back to my room. There still was time before they wanted me to leave the ship. I was nervous about it. Out there could be who knows what and I still had no idea if those people actually meant well. It seemed like they did, but when had that ever meant anything?

My mind wandered back to the scene in the wardrobe and I shivered. Why had he even been there? Only to scare me? One moment he had actually seemed quite nice, but then he had snapped so suddenly. And that look. It didn't need much face reading skills to see that he hated me.

My eyes landed on a small rectangular device on the desk and I picked up the old smartphone. At least that had been true. It really had been in here the entire time. Now that I had it, though, I didn't actually know who to even contact. First of all, no one would believe me and secondly… there was no one who would even care.

I scrolled through some old chats and forums, checked the few social media apps I had, but seldom used. No new messages. From no one. The youngest one was a conversation with Max, a guy I had never met and didn't even know what he looked or sounded like. But he was as much into theories about aliens and parallel dimensions and what have you as I was.

The last response was almost two years old.

Nothing from my sisters, nothing from any of the people I met to catch Pokémon with. A few rejection emails from jobs I had applied to. Spam.

And that was all.

For a moment I wondered if the phone had reception, guessing that we probably weren't on earth anymore, but it had no problems connecting with the Internet. One more point that made me doubt the whole alien story. It was too good to be true anyway.

There were a few photos on the phone. Most of them were of random plants and animals from my town. A single one was of the Doctor as he tried to catch a big bird of sorts. I couldn't make out what it was. Then came a few that showed old buildings. Some of them looked medieval, a few as if stemming from the set of a steampunk movie.

And then nothing. For at least eight months or so there had been no new addition.

The phone hadn't even been on when I had found it, so I probably hadn't used it much. Weird. This life here could hardly be so thrilling that I hadn't thought about chatting with anyone. And it definitely should be interesting enough to yield a lot more photos, given that I loved to take them.

A knock at the door startled me out of my pondering.

"Are you there, Lucy?" It was the Doctor, sounding chipper as ever.

"Yeah."

"Oh, good, good. Brilliant! Let's get to the med bay before we leave. I just want to check if all vitals are alright."

I tossed the phone on the table and opened the door, looking up at a smiling face. "Yesterday you said you didn't find anything."

"My sonic didn't." He waved said object in front of my face and pocketed it again. "But I want to do a proper scan too. Just in case. That alright?"

I nodded and let him lead the way. Those hexagonal corridors were confusing enough. Weird then, that they felt so familiar to me. Not only that, somehow I could also feel something like a presence in them. The TARDIS probably. If the ship truly was sentient then this made sense. And it would confirm the weird conversation in the bathroom this morning.

Soon, we reached another door and inside was the first actual proof that this couldn't be human technology. Either that or we were a lot more advanced than they wanted us to know. The room absolutely deserved the term med bay, looking exactly like you would imagine one after having seen enough sci-fi movies and series. There were a few beds that looked surprisingly comfy, meant for more than just a quick check. Then there was, of course, the assortment of devices and tools along the walls and on shelves and pretty much everywhere I looked. Someone must have collected all of them, I decided. Not many devices appeared to match the style and technological state of the others.

"Ah yeah, don't mind the chaos." The Doctor waved me over to one of the comfy looking beds. There was a monitor next to it and a small tablet attached to a movable metal arm carried what might have been syringes and other tools. But none of them told me much. "I like to collect a few things. Here and there. Sometimes… okay, maybe a little too often, but anyway. Sit down, this'll be quick. Won't hurt, I promise."

"That's what they always say." I smirked, but sat down and observed the Doctor as he rummaged through a cabinet and then handled some of the blinking machines.

He approached with a small, but long device, grinning. "Got me. It might sting a liiiittle. But's not as bad as the needles humans use. And completely sterile."

I shrugged and rolled up a sleeve, letting him put the instrument on my skin. I saw no needle, but felt a short sting when he pressed a button. Not much difference to what I remembered from previous doctor visits, but I kept that to myself. Those kinds of pain usually were neglectable and didn't bother me much. A high pain tolerance, as I had once gotten told. I had no idea if that was true, but instead of recoiling I liked to watch as the device slowly filled with the deep red of my own blood. A fascinating sight somehow.

The Doctor put the cannula into a bigger device and let it rest there before applying a patch to the tiny wound on my arm.

"That's done. Now let's get some DNA scans and a few molecular patterns and maybe also a closer scan of that mark on your chest. I still don't know what it is…" With one swift motion he produced those old 3D paper glasses from his jacket and placed them on his nose. "Definitely a high density of void particles, but other than that… Here, take a look yourself."

He handed me the paper glasses and pointed at a mirror a few steps away. Perplexed, I looked at them before carefully slipping them in front of my own glasses. The world instantly looked weird and wrong and I had to fight a short burst of nausea, before getting myself under control again. What a curious way to look at anything, but as soon as I neared the mirror I understood.

Even through my clothes I could clearly make out a small ring of floating black particles on my chest, right where the moving symbol sat. I waved my fingers through it, watching fascinated how the particles swirled away and around my hand, but always returning to their previous position.

"What are they?" I asked. "I mean… not the name. But what are they?"

"Just… stuff. Background radiation." The Doctor shrugged. "Beyond the Time Vortex there is only the void. And it's exactly how it sounds. There is nothing. Nothing at all. Not even time. Sometimes you can travel through it. And if you do, those particles cling to you for a while. I've just never seen them arrange themselves into any sort of pattern before."

"Riiiiiight…." I made. "Time Vortex… and a place that is basically nothing."

"Oh yes!" He beamed. "The space between parallel worlds."

"You do realise how crazy that sounds?"

"Yup!"

His smile didn't falter and he happily rocked back and forth on his heels, regarding me with a twinkling look, all while letting different devices wander over me from all sites.

"You'll have to prove at least some of those things for me to believe any of it," I drawled. He practically danced around me. "Could all still be some weird underground Umbrella Corp thing and I'm not going to help you develop any viruses. Just for the record."

Now the Doctor's face fell. His lips pursed. "No viruses and other stuff. I'm not the Master. That'd be his domain. No! Nope!" Suddenly the grin popped back up. "Just here to have some funsies! See the universe and awesome places and meet some interesting fellas!" With a dramatic gesture he spread his hands. "And our first stop will be a biiiiiiig huge old market right in the centre of the feremto nebula. You loved that place. There was everything! And everyone. From everywhere! No better place for a first contact with aliens!" He stopped and tilted his head. "Weeeell… second contact. But to you they'll also look alien. That should convince you. And maybe shake some memories awake. What do you say?"

I was about to say that he talked way too much and way too fast, but I also kept that to myself. He seemed like a nice guy and I didn't want to make enemies on my first day. So I only nodded. "Yeah, sounds fun. Let's go."