Running Across Timelines (The Sentry Reports Book 1)

The Empty Child

Rose ran into the console room as the TARDIS jerked wildly. She was a little shocked to see that the Doctor was alone, since she knew the Emissary had developed a habit of sitting up with him long after Rose went to bed, and then she was in the console room before Rose was, every morning. At this point, Rose wasn't sure either alien ever even slept. The TARDIS jerked again and nearly sent Rose careening into the wall. The Doctor ran around the console, flipping switches.

"What's going on?" she asked him. "What's the emergency?"

"It's mauve!" he answered. He sounded far too excited for her liking. She shook her head fondly.

"Mauve?"

"Universally recognized color for danger," the Emissary said from behind her. Rose turned to see the Time Lady walking in with a cup of tea in her hands. "What's mauve?"

"Wait, what happened to red?" Rose asked them.

The Doctor waved a hand absently. "That's just humans. By everyone else's standards, red's camp." His voice took on a reminiscing tone. "Oh, the misunderstandings. All those red alerts, all that dancing."

The Emissary flipped a switch and the flight stabilized a bit more. "Doctor, what are we chasing?"

He flipped a screen around so she could see the transport on it. "It's got a very basic flight computer," he told the girls. "I've hacked in, slaved the Tardis. Where it goes, we go."

"You did what?!" The Emissary shook her head at him. "Honestly, I left for two minutes."

Rose suppressed a snicker at the exasperation in her voice. "Slaving the TARDIS, that's safe, is it?"

"Totally," the Doctor answered.

"No," the Emissary said at the same time. As if agreeing with her, the TARDIS suddenly jerked with a loud bang, spilling the Emissary's tea and sending both girls toppling to the floor. The Doctor winced at their glares.

"Okay, reasonably," he corrected. "Should have said reasonably there." He offered the Emissary a hand up. She took it and went straight to the console.

"Doctor," she said, looking at the screen. "Whatever it is, it's jumping time tracks."

Rose got a better grip on the railing. "What exactly is this thing?"

"No idea," was the Doctor's answer. The Emissary rolled her eyes, but didn't comment, more concerned with helping him fly the TARDIS.

"Then why are we chasing it?" Rose asked. The Doctor looked up at her, face serious.

"It's mauve and dangerous, and about thirty seconds from the center of London."
~~~
"Do you know", the Doctor asked as they landed, "how long you can knock around space without happening to bump into Earth?"

Rose pretended to think. "Five days?" she guessed, a teasing grin on her face. "Or is that just when we're out of milk?"

"Of all the species in all the universe and it has to come out of a cow," he grumbled. The Emissary laughed.

"What do you have against cows?" she asked. Both girls were laughing at him.

The Doctor ignored the question and swung the screen around to look at the tracking. "Must have come down somewhere quite close," he mused. "Within a mile, anyway. And it can't have been more than a few weeks ago. Maybe a month."

Rose stopped laughing in shock. "A month? We were right behind it."

"To be fair to him, it was jumping time tracks," the Emissary said. "Even I would have been a bit off."