The Doctor and Quinn were halfway back to the
Morgendorffers’ house, when they heard a strange noise. “What was that?” Quinn
asked.
“No idea,” the Doctor answered. He took out the sonic and
ran a scan. “Inconclusive! What do you mean ‘inconclusive?”
“What’s inconclusive?” Quinn asked.
“It’s unsure if the person was human or not.”
“You mean they’re a hybrid?” Quinn asked.
“Yes, of a sort.”
“Of a sort?”
“Mostly human, with some genetic engineering,” the Doctor
clarified.
Quinn nodded in understanding. “Are they getting closer?”
she asked.
“No, they’re keeping their distance. But I think they’ve
been following us the past few blocks.”
“But not from the portal?”
“No,” the Doctor answered. “Whoever they are, they’re
certainly from this side.”
“So, we keep going?”
“Yes.”
Kim, Ron and Rufus arrived back at the portal. “Lawndale.
It’s a town in northern Maryland, close to the border with Pennsylvania,”
Wade said after Kim had reported her findings on the Middleton side of the
portal.
“Right,” Kim said. “But are there any records of a portal
in the town?”
“I’ll see what I can dig up,” Wade responded. “But
we are dealing with time travel here.”
“Of course,” Kim said. “That would be too easy.”
“There aren’t any records of a portal.”
“But?” Kim prompted.
“There are references to ‘strange events’ occurring in
early-to-mid May of 1999, so something is definitely going down.”
“Thanks Wade.”
“So, we’re going to get involved?” Ron asked.
Kim gave him a look.
“Of course, we are.”
“Whatever happened in Lawndale is almost certainly going
to spill over to Middleton.”
“So, what now?” Ron asked.
“We’ll wait, and come back here tonight. It will be
daytime in Lawndale.”
“Sure.”
Daria saw Quinn and the Doctor as she turned a corner. ‘There
they are!’ She jogged up to them.
They quickly caught up.
“Let’s recap,” Daria said. “We have confirmed that the
portal connects Lawndale to Middleton in a few years in the future.”
Quinn nodded.
“Yes,” the Doctor said. “But we don’t know who is responsible
for the portal, nor what’s going on in Middleton.”
“And why Lawndale and Middleton?” Quinn asked with a
giggle. “There is nothing remarkable
about either of them.”
“Spoilers,” the Doctor commented.
‘For Lawndale or Middleton?’ Daria wondered. ‘Probably
the latter.’
It seemed Quinn had similar thoughts. “Nothing remarkable
about them now,” she clarified.
“We shall return to the TARDIS first,” the Doctor
decided.
“What will that prove?” Daria asked.
“Probably not much, but I do need to scan the portal from
there. I didn’t get much data on it from the sonic,” the Doctor explained. He
flipped said device in his hands.
‘Right,’ Daria thought.
“Let’s go then,” Quinn said.
“But what about that mysterious genetically engineered
person?”” Daria asked.
“Probably not a good idea for them to follow us home,”
Quinn added.
“I’ll come up with a plan,” the Doctor said.
“That doesn’t inspire me with confidence,” Daria said.
“It will be a good plan.”
They were silent as they approached the Morgendorffers’
place along the back lane. They paused just short of the place. “You can come
out now,” the Doctor said.
A sound as of a whip was heard and a figure swung down
from a tree in front of them. “Hello,” the young man said. He took out a card.
“Peter Parker. Agent of UNIT.”
Daria looked at the card. “You seem to be a little young
to be an agent of the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce.”
Peter shrugged his shoulders. “Well, I’m still in
College. I only work for UNIT part time.”
“What does UNIT know about what’s happening in Lawndale?”
the Doctor asked.
“Not much, Doctor,” Peter answered. “They sent me to
assist after the satellites picked up the TARDIS and shortly afterwards, that
portal.”
“You said, not much,” Quinn said as Daria opened the rear
gate.
“That’s it, that there’s a portal. I know that the
Morgendorffer teens are also involved, but not who is who.”
“I’m Quinn.”
“Daria,” she said as she followed the Doctor to the TARDIS.
Peter followed Quinn into the TARDIS. The descriptions
didn’t do the interior justice. “Wow it is bigger on the inside!”
“That’s hardly original,” the Doctor said from where he
was looking at the console. Both Daria and Quinn were looking also.
Peter closed the door behind him and approached the
console. “Although I was expecting it to
be more, white.”
The Doctor scoffed. “It hasn’t been like that for quite a
while.” He turned back to the console. “I was right. It is that device in that
building generating the portal.”
Pictures of the device came up on the screen, answering
Peter’s unvoiced question.
“There is also the question of what is powering it. I
have no idea of what it is.”
The screen changed again, focusing on the mysterious
power device.
“I haven’t a clue,” Peter said.
“There isn’t much data here,” the Doctor said. “He turned
to Peter. What do you know about Middleton, Colorado? That’s where it leads, a
few years in the future.”
