The Search for Felicia
The Doctor followed Sigrun into the console room and immediately went to the scanner. “Just as you said, Sigrid,” she said after she looked at the scan results.
“So, Felicia is in an earlier version of the TARDIS?” Jia’hale (now dry but still au naturale) asked as she entered the console room.
The Doctor pointedly made eye contact with Jia’hale as she said. “Yes, she is. Now we need to find out which earlier version.”
She turned back to the scanner and ran an analysis on the scan data. The result soon came back.
The screen said:
Type-40 TARDIS, younger identical capsule. Inter-chronal data suggests immediate previous incarnation.
‘That’s better than an earlier incarnation,’ the Doctor thought. The earlier Post Time War incarnations would not have reacted well to an intruder in the TARDIS, and it would be difficult, although not impossible, to go pre-Time War.
“Where is she then?” Sabir queried, as he ruffled his brown hair.
“She is, or was, in my twelfth incarnation’s TARDIS. Therefore we are going to look for him at a time when she is travelling with him,” the Doctor answered.
“Wouldn’t it be easier to just look in Norwich?” Danielle asked. 'him?' she wondered.
“Not necessarily, Danielle. She wanted to continue travelling, remember?” Jia’hale answered.
“Right,” Danielle said, trying not to look at her.
“Alright, this is going to take a while, and the TARDIS may still go off course,” the Doctor said.
“I guess so,” Sabir sighed.
“Doctor, we are arriving somewhere,” Sigrun pointed out, as she noticed the TARDIS sounds changing.
“Tau Ceti III, a good a place as any I suppose, but I don’t remember being there. On the other hand, Felicia will certainly change events,” the Doctor said.
“Your earlier self may look for you?” Jia’hale asked.
“That is a possibility too,” the Doctor considered.
The TARDIS landed. The landing was rougher than usual.
Sabir went to the doors. “Let’s have a quick look,” he suggested.
“Yes,” the Doctor said.
Tau Ceti III
4 July 2211
The Doctor, Sabir and Danielle exited the TARDIS. “Are you sure that you don’t want to come?” Sabir asked.
“It is unlikely that we would find Felicia on our first attempt,” Sigrun said from just inside the door.
“True,” Danielle said.
“Watch the TARDIS. If we’re not back in a day, come after us,” the Doctor said.
“Right,” Sigrun said, as she closed the door.
“Ok, this way,” the Doctor directed...
In the TARDIS
Sigrun turned to Jia’hale. “So, why didn’t you want to go and look?” she asked.
Jia’hale looked back at Sigrun. “You know why,” she said.
Sigrun rolled her eyes. Jia’hale’s proclivity. ‘She really doesn’t like wearing stuff, doesn’t she?’ “So what are you going to do in the meantime?” she asked.
“Not sure, maybe some sparing?”
“Um, sure,” said the not-so-sure Sigrun (given that Jia’hale was usually not-so-modestly attired when they spared).
Jia’hale saw Sigrun’s discomfort. “It won’t take long.”
Sigrun breathed heavily in and out as she calmed herself. “OK,” she finally said. “But if I feel too uncomfortable...”
“You can stop,” Jia’hale interrupted.
“Deal,” Sigrun said, sounding slightly relieved.
The two friends then left the console room.
A few hours later, the Doctor, Danielle and Sabir returned to the TARDIS. “That was a waste of time,” Danielle said.
“Not entirely, Danielle. We did solve that mystery,” Sabir said.
“Oh yeah,” Danielle said.
“Not a total waste of time, Dani,” the Doctor said, as she opened the TARDIS doors. She found the console room empty. ‘Of course they would be off doing whatever,’ he thought.
“Where to next?” Sabir asked.
“Another random destination,” the Doctor answered.
“Are you sure?” Sabir asked.
“Yes, Sab, I’m sure. If I plot a course, to a place that I do remember, it is likely that we will arrive before Felicia does,” the Doctor said, as she walked up to the console.
“I suppose so,” Sabir said.
The Doctor set the TARDIS in motion.
The TARDIS in flight
After she had set the TARDIS in motion, the Doctor left the console room.
Sabir looked at the console. The current destination was Colorado Springs. ‘America? Unlikely!’ he thought.
“Come on, let’s see what Sigrun and Jia’hale are up to,” Danielle said.
Sabir turned to him. “Sure,” she said.
Danielle and Sabir arrived at the TARDIS’s gymnasium a few minutes later. Sabir looked in, and quickly turned around “Aggh!”
“Jia’hale is bare?” Danielle asked.
Sabir nodded.
“And yet she and Sigrun are sparing?”
Sabir nodded again.
“I imagine that Sigrun must be uncomfortable.”
“I guess so. Besides all I saw of her was that she is dressed as she usually is for that sort of activity.”
“Still...”
“I think they’re using padded quarterstaffs,” Sabir added.
“Let’s do something else,” Danielle suggested.
“I’ll be in the library.”.
“I’ll be in bed. It has been a very long day.”
A while later, an exhausted Sigrun dropped to the floor. “Come on Jia’hale. We need to stop,” she said. She was tired and covered with sweat. Her pixie-short blonde hair was sticking to her forehead.
“Yes, it has been a rather long exhausting day,” Jia’hale said as she moved away. She placed the padded quarterstaff back on the rack. She walked back to Sigrun. “I’m going to bed. See you at breakfast.” She brushed against Sigrun as she went towards the door...
Sigrun stood up and watched Jia’hale leave the room. “What just happened?” she wondered. She definitely needed sleep. She put own padded quarterstaff away, then went back to her room. She was soon fast asleep.
The ‘Day’ after Felicia’s disappearance
Sabir entered the kitchen to find Daniel already there. “Good morning,” he said.
“Have you been to the console room yet?” Daniel asked. He looked at Sabir. He was dressed in his usual clothes, referencing an obscure British science fiction series, different to the one from the day before.
“I came straight here.”
“I think we may have landed somewhere.”
“Let me have breakfast first.”
“Sure,” Danielle said with a smirk.
Sigrun entered the kitchen a short time later. She saw that Danielle was brewing some coffee and that Sabir was making an omelette. “Having your usual large breakfasts, are you?” she asked.
“Yes, my metabolism hasn’t changed just because one of my friends has disappeared,” Sabir said.
“I still have my appetite, Siggy,” Danielle said.
‘Siggy’ sighed as she grabbed her cereal. She didn’t like that nickname.
“So, where do you think we are?” Danielle asked.
“Earth, first or second millennium AD,” Sigrun said.
“Is it that predictable?” Sabir asked. ‘I would have thought the 1st millennium BC too,’ he thought.
“It is, of the places we have been since the TARDIS began going off course, less than 10% were not on Earth, and less than 15% of those on Earth were earlier than the fall of the Roman Empire or later than the Drahvin invasion that we had just stopped,” Sigrun said.
“I disagree,” Danielle said.
Sabir turned from his cooking. “Please don’t fight over breakfast!” he said with a shake of his head.
“We will discuss this later,” Danielle said.
“I promise you that,” Sigrun said.
Sabir breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to his cooking.
A while later, but while the three were still eating their meals, Jia’hale entered, still bare...
Sabir dropped his knife onto his plate.
“What?” Jai’hale asked.
“You’re usually attired when you come to breakfast,” Sabir replied.
“Maybe,” Jia’hale said as she flicked her hair so that it fell down the front of her torso.
“More than that,” Sigrun said, remembering the previous night’s sparring session.
“I’m hungry and I have eaten like this a few times,” Jia’hale said.
“Just don’t make a habit of it,” Danielle said, looking her in her dark brown eyes.
Jia’hale rolled her eyes as she went to get her cereal. “We’ll see,” she said.
Sabir sighed.
A short time later Danielle and Sabir exited the kitchen and went towards the console room.
“What were you thinking?” Danielle asked.
“What?” Sabir asked.
“The way you confronted Jia’hale.”
“Every time I have seen her at breakfast, she was dressed.”
“There were a few times prior to now in which that I recall she wasn’t.”
“Maybe.”
“That’s not all is it?” Danielle asked.
“Of course not, I miss Felicia!” Sabir said, almost in tears.
“She’s out there somewhere, we’ll find her,” Danielle said reassuringly.
“I know, thanks.”
They entered the console room.
The Doctor was there. “Morning, had a good sleep?” she asked.
“Mostly, but I’m still worried about Felicia,” Sabir said.
“We’ll find her,” the Doctor reassurred.
“Where are we?” Danielle asked.
“We have landed on a southern Pacific Island in the 1850’s. It should be relatively safe,” the Doctor said.
Sabir thought for a moment. “Let’s explore it,” he said.
“I agree,” Danielle said.
“What about the other two?” the Doctor asked.
“Let’s just go without them,” Sabir said.
“Are you sure?” the Doctor asked.
“Yes,” Sabir said.
“Let’s go then,” the Doctor said.
26 March 1850
Bora Bora
The Doctor, Danielle and Sabir emerged from the TARDIS. They could see the sun rising in the distance.
“Polynesia?” Sabir asked.
“I did say the South Pacific, Sab,” the Doctor said.
“It’s just that we haven’t been to Polynesia,” Sabir said.
“Good point,” Daniel said.
The Doctor closed the TARDIS doors. “Let’s find out what’s going on here.”
The trio entered a settlement located a kilometre away from where the TARDIS had landed. “It seems like a normal Polynesian village,” the Doctor said.
“I’ll take your word for it,” Sabir said.
“Only seems like it,” the Doctor said, “there could be anything here.”
“Of course.”
“Let's find out what those things could be.”
“Yes,” Sabir said. They then went further into the village.
Back at the TARDIS, Sigrun exited her quarters. She was concerned about Jia'hale. There was something 'off' about her, that had become apparent after Felicia's disappearance. 'She needs help,' she thought. She then went to Jia'hale's quarters and knocked on the door. There was no response. “Jia'hale? It's Sigrun?” Still no response. 'She's somewhere else,' Sigrun realised. She sighed, realising that if someone did want to hide deep in the TARDIS that they wouldn't be found.
'Still, I will try the areas she frequents first, before giving up.'
Sigrun entered the kitchen. She found it empty.
Next was the Console Room. It was empty. 'Of course.' She looked at the scanner. “Bora Bora, huh?” Of course, they had to land in a tropical environment after Felicia had vanished, and something was going on with Jia'hale. “OK, 'old girl',” she said, considering that if the Doctor called the TARDIS that, she could too. “If someone is hiding somewhere aboard, you would know where they are?”
There was silence for a second. The TARDIS gave a noise as if replying in the affirmative.
“And the scanner can scan the interior?”
The TARDIS gave the affirmative noise again.
“Right. Locate Jia'hale,” Sigrun directed.
Then there was an alarm sound.
“Error?”
The TARDIS was silent.
“You can't locate Jia'hale?”
More noises.
“The Doctor wouldn't want me to use the Scanner to find her?” Sigrun thought for a moment. Certainly that made sense. The Doctor wouldn't want her companions to use the Scanner to spy on her other companions. 'But how to get past that restriction?' she considered.
After a few minutes, she still wasn't sure. “Look, something may be wrong with her. I'd like to be able to help.”
More noises, and a list of directions appeared on the screen.
“Thanks,” she said.
Having followed the directions, she found Jia'hale in a room that reminded her of an indoor greenhouse. “Jia'hale?”
“Sigrun?” Jia'hale asked, as she came out from behind a particularly large plant.
“I have been looking for you.”
“You have?”
“Yes. I'm concerned. You've been, reclusive, since Felicia vanished.”
Jia'hale nodded. “If she can vanish like that, then any of us can vanish.”
“That's not all, is it?” Sigrun asked. It was obvious that there was something else up with her friend.
“No. But that's all I can articulate at the moment.”
“You want to talk to the Doctor instead?”
“No. But you have to give me time,” Jia'hale said.
“But you can't just wander the TARDIS alone. You can spend time with myself or the others.”
“I suppose so.”
Outside the TARDIS, the Doctor and the others found the village largely deserted. “What's happening?” Danielle asked.
“I have no idea,” the Doctor answered. “Can't wait to find out!” She whipped out the sonic screwdriver and ran a scan. “Nothing out of the ordinary.”
“Where do we start?” Sabir asked, as he looked around.
“The chief's hut,” the Doctor said. “He should be there.”
There was a commotion around the hut as they approached. Some of the warriors turned with their spears raised.
“Uh oh!” Sabir said.
The Doctor raised her hands in a peaceful gesture. “Wait.”
The warriors stopped. “Why are you here?” It wasn't any of the warriors. It was the Chief.
“We were sailing by,” the Doctor began.
“You have no right to be here.”
“What if you need help?”
“We don't. That's what I don't like about you Europeans! You think you're better than us!” the Chief raged.
“I'm not like the others,” the Doctor said.
“I have no proof of that!” The Chief then signalled and the warriors seized the Doctor and her companions.
After talking to Jia'hale, Sigrun had returned to the console room. She was still concerned, but she was happy that they had talked. However, the TARDIS beeped and a message came up on the console.
The Doctor needs your help, Sigrun.
“Huh?”
If you don't go, she will do something she will regret.
'I guess I better get moving,' she thought. She then ran out of the ship.
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