Episode 3 – Virginian Adventure

The Lost Doctor

Episode 3 – Virginian Adventure

 

The time lord known as the Doctor gave a light blinking gizmo in his hand a frustrated look as he walked along the countryside. Lights were blinking, readings were read and indications had in fact been indicated. None of which were leading the Doctor anywhere in particular.

Which, of course, was not the point of the gizmo. The point was to lead him somewhere quite specific.

“Where are we again, Doctor?” Sami asked. She wore a light sun dress and twirled an umbrella she was using for shade over her shoulder.

“Uh, Virginia I believe,” the Doctor said, looking up from his gizmo to examine the scenery. “Yes, yes, Virginia.”

“Oh? The United States on old Earth? I read about this place.”

“Not quite yet, my dear. We are still on English soil for now. Still have, oh, I don’t know, two or three decades yet before the Yanks set off on their own.”

“Well, either way we must stop off at some of the local restaurants.”

“Still searching for the best crepes in the universe?”

“Not just the universe, but time as well,” Sami corrected. “The last place we went to was not bad at all. But the one in New New-York was still my favorite.”

“I suppose while we are here we could go over to Paris. We can get some real ones there…” The Doctor thought for a second. “May have to change the year to be safe, but that shouldn’t be an issue.”

“Paris!” Sami squealed and spun both herself and her umbrella.

“Ah, yes, Paris. Been a while since I was there. I think… Then again, I might be there right now.”

The gizmo began indicating something new. The lights caught the Doctor’s attention and he fiddled with at least two controls before starting to walk again.

“So, what is it you are looking for?”

“Well, that is the problem, mostly. I don’t know. We’ve been trying to follow the trail of the vortex wave that Ey and Yu saw on their planet, but these things aren’t easy to track down.”

“Which is why we are here? Several thousand years in the past on Earth?”

The Doctor stopped walking. Sami nearly walked into him. He gave her a face. She returned a face. He gave her a different one. She giggled.

“Right. See the wave didn’t start here. Nor did it end here. But here has something to do with it. I think.”

“You think?”

“Most of the time.”

And the two set off again, side by side.

“A vortex wave is like a ripple in water caused by something falling in it. It will set out in all directions in time and space. Here, now, is before the ripple. But there is something here linked to after the ripple.”

“So that should help you find the ripple?”

“Maybe. I’d rather find the water drop.” The Doctor said.

“That makes sense.”

“The only issue is that I am not sure what exactly it is we are looking for. You’d think it would be polite and be obvious.”

“Like that robot we found on Talas V?”

“Yes, just like that.”

“Or the sea monster we saw on that cruise ship on Poseidon?”

“Yes, like that too…”

“Or the…”

“Hello there!” a voice called out. The Doctor and his companion looked over to the young man standing off to the side. He was tall, long hair pulled neatly back.

“And not bad looking either,” Sami mumbled to herself as he started to approach.

“What?” The Doctor asked, still only paying partial attention to anything that wasn’t his gizmo or whatever it was it was looking for.

“Nothing,” she smiled.

The young man walked over to the two. He was wearing nice but sturdy travel clothes for the time and a large rucksack over his shoulder.

“Good to see some friendly faces this far away from home. Are you from Beverly Mill’s Place? Oh, sorry, it is Staunton now, isn’t it?”

“Uh,” the doctor started, half hazardly stuffing his gizmo into his pocket. Such things would be out of place in this time, and while the man had seen it, he had not commented. Yet.

“We are travelers,” Sami said. “But we have not yet been up to Staunton. And what brings you out here?”

“Land survey, actually,” the man said. “For Lord Thomas Fairfax.”

Sami gave him a coy look and the man nearly blushed.

“Oh, how rude of me, I am George,” he said. Sami extended her hand and he kissed it softly. “George Washington, at your service.”

“George?” The Doctor said off handedly.

“Why it is a pleasure, Mr. Washington,” Sami said. “I am Samantha.”

George turned and shook the Doctor’s hand.

“And I am the Doctor,” the Doctor said. “Say, by chance, George, have you seen anything strange?”

“Strange… like you two?” he said.

“Well, maybe. Strange as in not normal.”

“You mean like that thing you had in your hands and stuffed into your pockets?” George said, pointing to the pocket in the Doctor’s coat that had his gizmo in it.

“Well, yes, but not that, exactly,” the Doctor said. This Washington character was quite observant.

“And what is that thing, Doctor?” George asked with curious look that turned his eyes downwards to the pocket it hid in.

“Nothing, nothing really.”

“You hid it quickly for something that is nothing, sir.”

“Ah yes, well, it is really too complicated to explain. Maybe. Besides, what I am looking for is out here, somewhere. I just don’t know where…”

“Or what,” Sami added.

“Or what,” the Doctor conceded.

“I did see a rock formation just a league or so away.” George commented. “The creek runs below it, looks just like a bridge. I even climbed up the wall to carve in my initials.”

“Really now?” Sami said. She took George’s arm and gave the Doctor a look. “Why don’t you show us?”

The two started to walk. The Doctor thought for a moment.

“Wait! Sami, we are looking for something…” he started.

“Something you don’t know anything about Doctor,” she said over her shoulder. “So going this way is no different than going that way.”

And the Doctor had to admit, she had a point. The three set off in the direction of this rock bridge and Sami and George made small talk. She held his left arm as they walked. This Washington was also a bit of a charmer, it would seem. He was a good looking chap, and his name sounded familiar. The Doctor shook his head. His memory was still not what it was. At least, he thought so. He did remember being able to remember more things.

The land around them was quite lovely, the doctor admitted. It was also nice to just walk through and look. So much of this place, this Virginia, was changed so quickly.

As they were walking, George reached into his pocket and pulled out a fist sized blue rock. He started tossing the rock up and catching it in his right hand as he did. In the sun the rock started to glow a bit.

At first the Doctor didn’t notice. Then he did, but didn’t think much of it. Then he did think of it, and then those thoughts were upgraded from ‘not much’ to ‘much’.

“Hey! Where did you get that?” The Doctor said, trotting up to walk beside the pair. George stopped tossing up the rock and held it in his hand.

“This?” He eyed the rock. “Oh, nowhere. It is nothing, really, Doctor. Nothing at all.”

“Let me see that…” The Doctor reached out for the rock, but George held it high and away.

“First, Doctor, you will stop talking to me as if I am a fool. I am well educated for my age. What does your, whatever it is called, do?”

The Doctor glanced at Sami. Sami gave the Doctor a look that said ‘you walked into that one’, which, of course, was true.

“Apologies, George, I did not mean to offend.”

The Doctor pulled his gizmo out of his pocket and showed it to George, who gave it an inquisitive but confused look.

“Uh, what is it?”

“You know, I never really got around to naming it,” the Doctor started. “But it works similar to your eye, actually.”

“My eye?”

“Yes, as your eye collects the light of the outside world and send that information to your mind, this gizmo collects outside information our eyes cannot see, and brings that to here,” the Doctor pointed to the screen, “in a way that our eyes can see.”

“Are you hunting ghosts, Doctor?” George asked, incredulously.

“Not quite, but it seems you understand the principle. Now your blue rock there, if it attached to what it is I am looking for it will clue us in to what kind of things to scan for.”

George thought for a moment and then slowly handed the rock to the doctor.

“You are an odd one, Doctor.”

“I’m sure he’s never heard that before,” Sami said.

The Doctor examined the rock for a second. It was a crystal for sure, power crystal maybe? He opened the gizmo and dropped the rock into a small compartment. The lights lit up and scanning things started scanning. George watched with fascination as it happened.

“I will have you know that I am quite odd,” the Doctor said. “Thank you very much.”

Sami giggled at the Doctor.

“Ok, so now we make some adjustments, here,” the Doctor turned a few knobs. The display showed a few random shapes and a small round circle.

“What is this circle?” George asked. “It seems fixed in space… uh wherever it is you are looking with this thing.”

“Down,” the Doctor said. “And that is probably the center of the Earth. Uh, yes, yes it is. Right size and everything.”

George continued to stare the gizmo.

“May I?” he asked.

“Sure, but please be careful.”

“Naturally,” he replied.

George took the gizmo and started looking about. The scan mostly showed shapes and blurred things. Whatever they were the Doctor seemed to have little interest in them.

“Well, he is an interesting one,” The Doctor said to Sami as George wandered a few paces away. “and familiar too…” “You do see to find the interesting ones, Doctor,” Sami said.

“Doctor! I see a man,” George said. He was a few paces away and had frozen in place, staring down at the gizmo.

“Did he say a man?” The Doctor said, already walking towards George.

“I think so,” Sami said.

The three stood around the gizmo and looked at the screen for a second. Indeed in the center of the screen was a man. After only a moment, he was joined by a second. They were fiddling with something on a table.

“Let me see,” the Doctor said. He took the gizmo and turned the knob a few times, zooming the image in.

“Huh. That is in fact two men,” the Doctor said. “Good job George.”

“Where re they?” he asked.

“Uh…” turn knob, check gauge, “two or three kilometers down. Or so.” Check again. “Maybe two or three hundred… I think there is a decimal point missing somewhere.”

“Hundred?” George asked incredulously, “Down?”

“It seems you have found what you were looking for, Doctor,” Sami said.

“It seems we have, doesn’t it. Now the question is,” the Doctor was pointing at the screen, but looking at Sami, “how do we get down there?”

“Doctor, he’s looking at us,” George said, still fully fixated on this thing in his hands.

“What? That can’t be…”

The three looked back down at the gizmo. One of the two men was indeed looking up at them, straight at them, in fact. He was speaking to the other man as he did. They seemed to be doing something coordinated.

“What do you think they are doing, Doctor?” “Not sure, actually. I am still not sure they are looking at us. Maybe I should add a microphone to this.”

“Is that a cannon?” George asked. The two looked back at the screen. The second man was turning something. George moved the gizmo a bit to get a better look.

“Odd, it does look like one, doesn’t it?”

George looked back at the first man, then back at the turning thing.

“That is a cannon, Doctor. I have seen those before.”

“Inconceivable,” the Doctor said. “Look, they can’t see us and that….”

He looked again. He looked harder this time at both the men and the object that was now pointed right at the three of them.

“Well, it does look like a cannon for sure.” The Doctor thought for a moment. “Sami, it is that time.”

“That time, Doctor?”

“Yes, the time when we run.”

“Oh good, I was worried we wouldn’t be doing that this time.”

“Doctor?” George asked. The Doctor simply nodded a few times in response.

“Very well,” George said.

The three took off, running back towards the direction they came in. The ground where they had been standing lit up with a soft almost pleasant light before erupting in a flurry of energy that sent chunks of earth and trees high into the air.

“Well, that was exciting,” Sami said with a big smile on her face.

“Not sure that is how I would have phrased it,” George said.

“Oh you should have seen it a few trips ago… the ground just melted. Not very eventful at all.”

“If you say so…”

“Ok you two, may I suggest we continue this elsewhere?” The Doctor interjected. The two looked over. There was a rumbling beneath their feet.

“Behind you Doctor!” Sami called.

A metal cylinder, not unlike an elevator, had shot up from below a few meters behind the Doctor.

“Run!” The Doctor called. And the three set off again. More metal shafts appeared from below. The Doctor saw soldiers emerging from within pointing and giving chase.

“Why is it that the bad guys always seem to have time to make matching outfits for their minions?” The Doctor commented.

Sami screamed. Both the Doctor and George stopped and turned, but she was not to be seen.

“Sami!” The Doctor called.

“Down here!” A voice said from a nearby opening. But it was not answered. Instead Sami heard the Doctor say very loudly.

“She must have gotten lost, she does that.”

“Oh, oh, yes, quite!” George said as well. “Your men will need to look more. Find a field of flowers and check there. She is a girl, after all.”

Sami stomped her foot on the ground and nearly said something, but stopped herself. The boys had been captured. And while true she was in some sort of hole at the moment, it was keeping her hidden. So for now it was a good thing.

It just meant more climbing and hiding and saving the Doctor was in her future. These were things she was getting quite good at, however.

“Private, take these men below. Take three guards with you,” a man with Lieutenant markings said. “You four, go find the girl.”

“Ah flowers,” George reminded him.

“Indeed,” the lieutenant said.

The four men assigned to the Doctor and George lead them back to one of the metal cylinders. As the Doctor had thought, they were subterranean elevators.

“Impressive,” he said looking at them. “These are very well designed, if I may say so myself.”

The private looked unimpressed and motioned with his gun that the two should enter. The Doctor sighed, but complied. The two stood inside with the four guards around them pointing their weapons.

The descent was a bit longer than even the Doctor imagined it should be. The elevator had an impressive speed and smooth ride. The designer deserved a compliment.

At the bottom the doors opened into the base they had spotted on the gizmo. It was well polished and looked remarkably new. That was something else: bad guys always seemed to have the new stuff.

The Doctor glanced over at George. For a man from the 18th century he seemed to be taking all of this pretty well. And, more importantly the Doctor noticed, was keeping his head about himself.

“In here,” the Private said, opening a room. The two were shuffled inside and the door closed behind them.

The Doctor started surveying the door. Standard slide to one side type, controls on the wall… Which were disabled he discovered as he started pushing buttons.

“Well,” the Doctor started. George was standing on the other end of the room looking out of the window. The room was obviously not a jail room. It was probably a conference room, or a waiting room. There was a long couch that faced the windows, a table behind against the wall.

The windows looked out into the core of the Earth itself. The room was filled with a near water like ripple of both dark red and brighter orange as liquid metal outside moved with convection currents.

“What keeps it out there?” George asked.

“A force field, no doubt,” The Doctor answered.

“I have to sit,” George said, and went back to the couch and sprawled out. “This is a bit much for me to take in, Doctor.”

“And you are doing a good job. That field of flowers thing was kind of brilliant, actually. Though I suspect Sami will have something to say to you.”

George smiled and the Doctor turned back to the window. It was a sight, that was for sure. The room was also picked on purpose for retaining them. The window focused a reminder at where they were, which would increase difficultly of escaping.

“Does the view remind you of something, Doctor?” A voice asked from behind. It was deep and darkly familiar.

The Doctor turned. George was standing now. His face and visible parts of his arms were covered in familiar black markings. His eyes had turned a solid red. He had a devious smile on his face.

“I left you at the bottom of that pit,” the Doctor said, eyes wide.

The beast possessing George Washington’s body smiled and began to pace around the room.

“That you did Doctor. Or should I say, ‘you will’? These time things get so confusing.” George paused and smiled again. The Doctor just coldly stared at him. “You are a hard man to find.”

“I had some practice at that,” The Doctor returned. “What are you up to? If you hurt him…”

“Calm down, Doctor. I will not harm him. I merely needed a voice,” the Beast said, shaking his head slowly.

“Ok, then tell me what is going on?” The Doctor crossed his arms. A seemingly innocent motion, but one that confirmed he had remembered his sonic screwdriver. Ideas were coming to his head. None of the ideas were very pleasant, however.

“Truthfully Doctor, I myself am not sure what is going on, but it comes as no surprise to me that I find you at the middle of it.”

“In the middle?”

“Are you ever anywhere else? I come with a warning, Doctor. He knows you about you now. And he is looking for you.”

“Who?”

The beast just smiled.

“I will put you back where you belong,” the Doctor said. “Too much was lost for you to be out.”

The Beast had walked George’s body around the room and stood now at the opposite end.

“While your concern for me is noble, dear Doctor, it is unwarranted. Time has already decided where I will spend eternity. Whatever hiccup is causing this will be patched up soon enough, of this and your ability, I have no doubt.”

The Beast looked about the room.

“Your problems, Doctor, are a bit more basic. A door, for example.”

The Beast ran his hand over the controls and the door slid open. The Doctor swiftly came to George’s side, nearly forgetting the original situation.

“Now, Doctor, I am going to spend some time in a lovely garden.”

The Beast gave a smile that made the Doctor uncomfortable. Then the red left George’s eyes, the markings from his skin. The man stumbled forward, and the Doctor caught him before he fell.

“That was strange,” George said. “Did I black out?”

The Doctor looked him up and down.

“Yes, uh, yes, something like that.”

“Oh you got the door open,” George commented.

“Right, seems I did,” the Doctor said, giving George a once more look over. “Be quiet and follow me. We need to get to an elevator.”

 

**

 

Sami waited in the bottom of the hole she fell in for a bit. When she was sure that the sounds of the people around her were gone, she waiting a bit longer. Then she started climbing up the dirt and rock walls.

Thankfully the fall had done little more than scraped up her leg and knocked the wind out of her. Still her new dress was in an awful state. Which was a shame, it was already lining up to be one of her favorites.

Once at the top, she poked her head up a bit to look around. The area looked empty of people, but she looked twice just to make sure.

Carefully she climbed out of the hole and moved quickly away from the wide open field to a line of trees nearby.

“Ok, self, what is the plan?” She mumbled to herself. “Well, down, of course. But any additional ideas?”

The Doctor wasn’t one for carrying around weapons, but Sami thought that now would be a nice time to have a few. Usually this happened when the Doctor was in trouble.

And yet, she thought, he always seems to get out of things ok.

There were some sounds from the nearby field. Sami leaned behind a tree and saw two of the soldiers walking together looking for something, presumably her.

They had their guns over there shoulders and some sort of electric stick in their hands.

Stun batons? She thought. Now that would be useful.

Sami thought for a second and gave a deep sigh. She had a plan, but part of it, at least, she didn’t like.

“Oh well, a girl has got to do what a girl has got to do…”

Grabbing the side of her dress, Sami gave a hard yank, ripping the side open a bit higher than would be deemed modest. Another sigh and she pulled a bit at the top as well. She took a deep breath and screamed, then screamed again. Seeing the soldiers look her way she ran straight for them.

“Help me! Help!” she screamed running straight into the arms of the nearest soldier, burying her face into his chest.

“There is a bear! A big one, help!”

Sami looked up at the man with her best ‘lost little girl look’ making sure that her cleavage was properly visible.

“We will protect you,” he said with a smile.

“Oh thank you,” Sami said, and sent her knee as hard as she could between his legs. The private bent over and Sami grabbed the baton, sticking it into the other soldier first. Then she got the one on his knees. Both men lay on the ground passed out. Sami picked up the second baton, deciding the guns were a bit much, and headed back the way they came.

“Ok, now for an elevator,” she mumbled, heading to where they first saw one. The first one that had popped up was gone, but not far from that another one stood out from the ground. Sami pushed the outside control and the door opened. She stepped in, hitting the down button. As the door closed, Sami held each stun baton in her hands, ready for whatever was on the other side of the door.

 

**

 

George and the Doctor slipped out of their room, the Doctor closing the door behind them. He also spent a moment with his sonic screw driver on the control panel.

“If they think we are stuck in there, then maybe they won’t look for us,” he said. George seemed to agree and then set off.

The hallways were clean and there were not many doors, meaning there wasn’t many places to hide either if they were stumbled upon. Naturally, they were stumbled upon in one such place. Ahead of them around a corner the Doctor heard footsteps. He turned, but the hallway was much too long to get away.

George pointed at a ladder and started to climb. Quickly the Doctor followed and the two slipped onto scaffolding in the ceiling as the Lieutenant and a few of his men turned the corner.

Nearly below them, the men opened a door and went into another room. George and the Doctor moved quietly along the scaffolding to the other side. From their vantage point they could see and hear into what looked like a control room.

“As we have received no new orders, the ones we have still stand. Anyone with suspicious technology shall be held here until further instructions arrive,” the Lieutenant said.

“Sir, forgive the question, but any word on when the station crew will be coming?”

“None, Sergeant.”

“Sir, I must continue my protest of this situation. No one on this base knows even what it is supposed to be doing, much less how to fix anything. If something were to go wrong…”

“Your protest has been noted, but I will note it again,” The Lieutenant said. “Sergeant, I agree with you, I do. But I cannot do anything. Our orders are to safe guard and monitor, and until the Commander says otherwise, and that is what we are doing.”

“Yes sir.”

There was an uncomfortable silence in the room.

“I’ll report to everyone when I know more. Dismissed.”

The two others saluted and turned and left the room. The Lieutenant stood for a moment and then cursed before walking out of the room himself. The Doctor looked at George. George looked at the Doctor. Both smiled and slid the grating to one side.

First George, then the Doctor, dropped down into the control room. There were monitors on one wall, a table with a holo display near the middle and a standard rack of knobs, switches, leavers and dials on the opposite wall.

“I find it very interesting that they don’t know what this place is for,” the Doctor said. “Doesn’t make much sense…”

“Maybe there was a personnel issue?” George offered. “Like a storm that caused the boat to be late?”

“Possible,” The Doctor conceded. “None of these things are simple, it would seem.”

The Doctor made his way over to the monitors and started fidgeting with one of the keyboards. Fidgeting turned to full scale meddling in only a few moments.

“I’m not sure what you are doing, Doctor, but I see Sami on your wall,” George said. The Doctor looked up. One of the monitors was showing security video. Sami was walking through the hallways with to sticks in her hands.

Another monitor showed a few soldiers walking down another hallway.

“Sami is right out that door,” the Doctor said, an urgent tone in his voice. He ran to the door opening it. Sami had just walked past, still not aware that several men were heading in her direction. The Doctor grabbed her from behind, spinning her around and into the control room. The door closed before the others came around the corner.

Now Sami was not prepared for this interaction. So when the Doctor grabbed her she reacted. She reacted by jabbing not one, but both of the stun batons into the person who was holding her from behind.

The Doctor let out a hiss and slide to the floor releasing Sami. Sami looked into the room and saw George and knew immediately what had just happened. She turned around, dropping the batons.

“Doctor? Doctor?” Sami smacked is face, lightly, a few times. “Doctor??”

“Well, at least now I have all three of you in one place,” a voice said. The Lieutenant was standing at the other door with three of his men. Two of the men looked familiar to Sami. They were holding their rifles this time.

Sami stood up. The Lieutenant waved his rifle at her and she followed, moving over to George.

“I also want to thank you for incapacitating him. I suspect that he is the most trouble out of you three.”

“Oh you have no idea,” Sami mumbled.

“Whatever you did to our door is proving to be hard to undo. Unfortunately for you, this means we will have to stuff you in a closet for some time. I do hope you understand.”

“I understand what a closet is,” George said. Sami noticed there was a bit of earnest? No that wasn’t it. A bit of something in his voice.

“But I’m not sure I understand the mechanisms of your doors. What is it that makes them swing left and right?”

“You are not with them, I am guessing,” the Lieutenant said.

“Well, I was walking with them, but we did travel separately to this area…”

There was a beeping from the console, followed by a flashing read light, followed by more beeping. Soon a voice from the computer spoke.

“System overheating. System overheating.”

“Well, that was a good nap,” the Doctor said, stretching as he stood. He looked about the faces of the others in the room. “Sami! What happened to your dress?”

“I was trying to get you to notice me, Doctor,” she said with a playful smile. The Doctor blushed slightly, and she giggled. Trouble, he thought, through and through.

“What did you do?” the Lieutenant said. He now focused their weapons on the Doctor. He stepped closer.

“Oh, this?”

The Doctor flipped a switch.

“Warning.. warning…”

“If you touch one more thing…”

“What? You’ll shoot me? Seeing as how you don’t know how to stop what I’ve just started, I’d suggest that would be a bad idea.”

“And what did you start?”

“Melt down of the shield system. Should be about two minutes or so before it collapses. Then the pressure and heat of the earth will destroy this base. Will be quite fantastic, I assure you.”

The men behind the Lieutenant looked at each other.

“If I were you, Lieutenant, I would evacuate.” The Doctor smiled. “Now.”

The Lieutenant stood fixed on the Doctor for a full ten seconds before speaking. The silence was filled with the worried looks of the men behind him.

“Private, evacuate the base, all hands to the safety pods.”

“Yes sir!” the Private said, running from the room. “All hands! Evacuate!”

“Good day, Doctor,” the Lieutenant said. “This match is yours.”

And then he was gone, leaving a confused George, and smug Doctor, and an impatient Sami.

“What just happened?” George asked.

“Well, you see…”

“So sorry to interrupt what will no doubt be an exquisite explanation of your brilliance, Doctor, but can we have this conversation outside?” Sami said.

“Oh, right!” the Doctor extended her his arm. She took it. “This way!”

The three ran out into the hallway back towards the elevators. The base rumbled a bit, shaking the floor. Soldiers were jumping into single pods on the side of the base. The Doctor stopped for a moment as one pod near him closed off and then disappeared. There was something oddly familiar about the sight.

“Oh Doctor?” Sami said in a sing-song voice. She and George were in an elevator. The red lights of the base and urgency of the voice were increasing.

“Right!”

He leapt inside and Sami hit the “up” button.

The elevator shaft rumbled as they went up, shaking the elevator side to side.

“Force field must be collapsing below,” the Doctor commented and pulled out his sonic screwdriver and started fidgeting with the controls as they ascended.

“What does that light thing you have do?” George asked.

“Well, you certainly are a curious one, General,” the Doctor said. “Err, George, I mean. The sonic screwdriver can do lots of things. And at this moment I am using it to turn off the breaks in the elevator.”

“Turn off the breaks?

The shaft rumbled again, back and forth. There was a sound of groaning metal throughout the elevator.

“Yes. About half way up the elevator will start to slow down. We need speed.”

“And when we get to the top?” Sami asked.

“You know, I didn’t think of that…”

The elevator broke the surface, but rather than slowing or stopping as it normally would, shot up into the air. A streak of fire and hot compressed gas followed it. Into the hillside of Virginia it tumbled before rolling some distance and coming to a stop.

A moment passed before a very dizzy and slightly bruised Sami emerged, followed by the two men.

“Well, that was fun!” she said and spun in place. “Oh, sorry about knocking you out, Doctor.”

“No worries, my dear,” the Doctor said.

“That was truly something,” George said. “And to think, Father said that this would be a boring trip.”

“Things are never quite boring around here,” Sami said.

The Doctor smiled, then stepped forward grabbing both of George’s shoulders.

“Now, my boy, you must not talk about this when you get home. People will not understand. Instead tell them of how the country side looked, and of the natural bridge you found.”

“Of course, Doctor,” George said. “As fantastic of a story as this was, who would believe me?”

“Who indeed,” the Doctor said.

The three took a long stroll along the hillside. Sami insisted on seeing the bridge since they had been so rudely distracted earlier, and George complied. As the day came to an end, George headed back to his camp, the Doctor and Sami off to the Tardis.

“You did something to him, didn’t you?” Sami asked.

“Oh, just a slight subliminal suggestion. He’ll remember this, but think of it more as a dream he had out here under the stars.”

“You don’t usually do that,” she added.

“I finally remembered who he was,” the Doctor said. “I didn’t want to chance our interaction or the presence of this base would change his fate.”

“Sorry you didn’t get any answers,” Sami said.

“Oh I got some answers,” he smiled big. “Unlike the men down there, I do know what that station was for. Which is all the more reason why I destroyed it.”

Sami raised one eyebrow, her expression saying “care to enlighten us?”

“Remember how I said that this was before the water ripples? That station was serving as an anchor in time allowing someone whose timeline is after the ripple to travel back before the ripple.”

“But didn’t we do that?” Sami asked.

“Yes but we are different. The ripple isn’t in our timeline. This station was set up to allow travel back on one’s own timeline. Something the Paradox don’t really like.”

“The Paradox?”

“Bedtime monsters for Time Lords,” the Doctor answered. “So… Where next?”

“I am pretty sure you promised a lady some Parisian crepes.” Sami said, playfully batting her eyes a few times.

“Why so I did,” the Doctor said, throwing a switch.