Running Across Timelines (The Sentry Reports Book 1)

Dalek

In a dark, quiet museum room, a wheezing noise broke the silence as a blue police box materialized. The doors opened and three people stepped out.

"So what is it?" Rose asked, following the Doctor as he looked around the room. "What's wrong?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Don't know. Some kind of signal drawing the Tardis off course."

"Where are we?"

"Earth," the Doctor replied. "Utah, North America. About half a mile underground."

"And when are we?"

"Two thousand twelve," the Emissary answered, feeling along the wall for a light switch. The Doctor nodded along, examining a display case.

"God, that's so close," Rose said, tilting her head. "So I should be twenty six."

The Emissary flipped a switch and the room lit up. Rose looked around in awe.

"Blimey," she gasped. "It's a great big museum."

"An alien museum," the Doctor agreed. "Someone's got a hobby."

"They had to have spent a fortune on this," the Emissary mused, looking over a display case containing rocks. "Chunks of meteorite, moon dust."

"That's the milometer from the Roswell spaceship," the Doctor pointed out to Rose.

Rose looked into a different case and gasped as she recognized the contents. "That's a bit of Slitheen! That's a Slitheen's arm. It's been stuffed." The Emissary walked over to see.

"Oh, look at you." Both girls turned to him. The Emissary blanched at what he was looking at, while Rose looked confused.

"What is it?"

The Doctor turned away from the Cyberman head. "An old friend of mine. Well, enemy. The stuff of nightmares reduced to an exhibit." He sighed, looking at the Emissary. "I'm getting old."

"Is that where the signal's coming from?" Rose asked. Both Time Lords shook their heads.

"No, it's stone dead," the Doctor explained. "The signal's alive. Something's reaching out, calling for help." The Doctor touched the display case, making an alarm go off. Armed guards rushed in, surrounding the trio and cutting off access to the TARDIS.

Rose glanced at her companions. "If someone's collecting aliens, that makes you two Exhibit A."

~~~

The trio was brought into an office like room.

"And this is the last," a young man was saying. He was showing his boss a metal thing. "Paid eight hundred thousand dollars for it."

"What does it do?" the boss asked, taking it.

"Well, you see the tubes on the side?" said the young man, pointing them out. "It must be to channel something. I think maybe fuel."

"I really wouldn't hold it like that," the Doctor piped up. Rose and the Emissary exchanged exasperated looks.

"Shut it," said Goddard.

"Really, though," he insisted, "that's wrong."

"Is it dangerous?" the young man, Adam, asked.

The Doctor shook his head. "No, it just looks silly." He reached out for the item, then froze as the guns clicked all around him. Van Statten handed him the object. "You just need to be delicate." He stroked it gently and coaxed several notes out of it.

"It's a musical instrument," Van Statten realized.

"And it's a long way from home," the Doctor said.

"Here, let me." Van Statten took the instrument and rubbed on it harshly. The Emissary winced at the screechy sounds he produced.