Kayley stood and looked through the doors of the blue box. Yep, it was still too wrong, too big inside. She'd stay here, thank you. The Doctor and Michelle stood at a mushroom shaped console at the room's center, heads close together. He seemed to be showing off the controls. She was engrossed. Kayley felt a strange stirring of fear. She cleared her throat and the two looked up, mildly startled and, possibly, a little resentful at the intrusion.
The Doctor clapped his hands. 'Ah! Kayley. Your sister and I were just talking, and we don't believe your cure is going to work. More extensive measures are called for, I'm afraid.'
'Well, come out here and tell me what I need to do.'
'Oh, that's easy. Just keep Amy awake and the tactile hallucinations will be quite harmless and only slightly whimsical. We'll trot out to Bilholly, find out what the antidote is, and be back right away.'
Michelle said, 'It's a time machine.' She walked to the doors and smiled at Kayley. 'We can be back at the exact second we left. You'll never know we were gone. Neat, huh?'
'But what if the sword guy comes back?'
'Exact second, Kay. Relax. It'll be fine.' She leaned close. 'I'm going traveling, honey. Be right back!'
The last thing Kayley
saw before the doors closed was the Doctor flipping switches on the console.
The creaking, grinding sound filled the small room and the TARDIS faded away as
if it had never been there. Kayley fought the temptation to test the empty air;
she didn't want to know what would happen if, on its return, the TARDIS
materialized around her hand.
She waited. One second,
five, twenty.
'Amy, you awake?'
'Umm.'
'So, what happens if you fall asleep?'
'Ohh… Yeah, he explained that. Me awake, nice dreams. Sleeping…'
'Amy?' Kayley
turned. Amy was snoring softly. The muttering man sat across the table. He
grinned at her with startling blue teeth. His eyes were pitch black, like a
doll's or a shark's. He muttered something.
'What?'
He spoke slowly. 'I
said… awake… nice dreams… asleep… nightmares…Now… thirsty…' He stood and
the sword appeared in his hand.
Kayley stared at the
sword, the sleeping girl and the empty space where the TARDIS had been.
Muttering with hungry glee, the stranger crawled across the table toward her.
To her vast relief
Kayley heard the TARDIS arrive behind her. Amy stirred and blinked owlishly.
The stranger snarled as a bright lance of light shot across Kayley's shoulder
and into his eyes. Kayley turned to berate her sister but was struck
speechless.
Michelle stood there,
coolly blowing a wisp of smoke off the barrel end of a small weapon. She
twirled it on her finger and holstered it in one smooth motion.
'Hey, Doc,' she called, 'You got it right! Finally!' She looked down at Kayley and winked. Her eyes shone. She jerked a thumb toward the unseen Doctor. 'Late for his own funeral, that one.'
'Actually, remind
me to tell the story, sometime,' said the Doctor from inside.
Kayley stared at her
sister. Why did she look different? More importantly, what had happened to her?
Her slightly morose, occasionally merry sibling who lived on coffee and snacks
and whose only exercise was turning pages, had been replaced by a vibrant imposter.
One who even now was looking around the stock room as if she hadn't seen it for
years. Oh. Now she was staring at her.
'Aw, will you look
at you! C'mere!' she said, catching her unresisting sister in a tight
embrace. Kayley allowed it for a moment before indulging her indignity and
shrugging her off.
'Oh, no you don't! I'm mad at you! Where have you been? It's been fifteen minutes and you said you'd be right back! Amy fell asleep and that creepy guy came back! And why are you dressed like Han Solo?'
The Doctor leaned out of the TARDIS and passed a yellow slip of paper to Michelle, who smirked and tucked it in her pocket. 'I told you it was 'Amy'. Hah!'
The Doctor snorted. 'Try to remember everyone's name when you're my age. Perhaps I should insist they should be like 'Kayley' here and wear name tags?'
'Oh, there you go with the age thing, again. At least you remembered we'd want the laser lance. Anyway, Kayley, what's up?'
'Huh? What do you mean? I just told you!'
Michelle and the Doctor exchanged an uncomfortable look. He cleared his throat and pointed at Amy. 'I'll be right over here…'
Kayley, arms crossed, waited. Her sister nodded to the door leading to the bookstore and Kayley followed. Michelle sighed, touching the cases and displays as she made her way to the front door. Peering out, she chuckled. 'You can't blame the Doctor. We really intended to be right back, you know. But it turns out that Bilholly…' She snapped her fingers. 'Ah! Doctor! Bilholly!'
'Strange fruit! Of course!'
'Anyway, it turns out that there was also a thriving slave trade on Bilholly, and an alien female who can cook fetches a big price.'
'But you can't cook.'
'They assumed I could. After getting out of that we had to fit a randomizer because it turned out the slavers were working for some kind of super alien guardian something - he had a stuffed bird on his head, can you believe it? – and well, time flies. Anyway, bird head is all sorted out and we came back as soon as we could. It's just that a lot has happened.'
She turned from the window and looked at Kayley. In a low voice she said, 'Did you say it was fifteen minutes for you? Take a look at me. I've been away for nine years.'
Kayley's stunned realization that this was true was interrupted when the Doctor called from the stock room, 'Time to go! Off to Bilholly and the cure! Ugitfey empustay!'
Kayley followed Michelle back to the TARDIS. She gestured at Amy, who sat stock still with a small blinking device on her forehead. 'Are you leaving her here again? Why not take her with you? Why can't the doctor just take her?'
Michelle paused. 'Can't. It's not safe. Psychic circuits and hallucinogens don't mix. Just stay here – the Doctor's put a delta wave suppressor on her so it should be safe here for now. Be right back!'
With that, she stepped
into the blue box and shut the door. Wheezing, groaning, it faded from view for
a brief moment and then reappeared. It was battered, scrapes and pock holes
marring the faded finish. The door opened and a young man (correct that, Kayley
thought, a gorgeous young man) stepped out, winked, and scanned the room with a
handheld device. He wore a tight black suit of flexible armor.
'Hey, it's Earth! Early days, too! Come on out!'
After a mild jam at the door two children trooped out, gazing around with curiosity. The oldest tapped a button on her watch. 'Uncle! It's 20th Century! Can we visit the Brigadier?'
The Doctor, unchanged, emerged. 'No, I expect he's rather busy right now. But here's why we came here.' He smiled and pointed at Amy. 'There she is, children! Amelia Pond, my sleeping princess. And this is Kayley.'
An amused voice came from the TARDIS. 'Correction, Doctor. Kids, meet your aunt Kayley.'
Michelle, smiling, emerged. 'And these little rascals are Elise and Ethan. Say 'hi', kids.'
Kayley gazed at the two
curious little faces and saw the resemblance. An odd joy bubbled up within her.
'I suppose that makes me your brother-in-law, then.' the young man said, 'I'm Bill. Pleased to finally meet you.'
Still entranced by the
grinning kids, Kayley gave her new brother a perfunctory hug. A thought struck
her.
'How long were you away this time? And don't try to blame it on the bird guy again!'
The Doctor and Michelle
exchange a dark glance.
'No, I'm sorry, sweetie,' said Michelle, 'it was something else. In about twenty years or so you'll understand. Just.. Listen, when the sky changes go to this address. The people there will hide you.'
Elise and Ethan
murmured, 'Daleks', in hushed awe.