Running Across Timelines (The Sentry Reports Book 1)

Bad Wolf

The Doctor fell out of a dark cupboard, head spinning, then groaned when the Emissary landed on top of him.

"Sorry, sorry," she said quickly, scrambling to her feet and offering him a hand.

"What is it?" he asked as she pulled him up. "What's happening?"

"I don't know," she said, looking around the room they'd fallen into. "My head is still spinning, I don't remember anything."

"Oh, my God!" A blonde girl ran in before the Doctor could answer. "I don't believe it! Why'd they put you in there? They never said you were coming." She paused when she noticed there were two of them. "Oh, there's two of you. That's new."

"What happened?" the Doctor asked. "We were..." He stumbled and fell. The Emissary tried to catch him, but she was just as unsteady as he was and she went down, too.

The blonde helped them both up. "Careful now. Oh! Oh, mind yourself!" she smiled sympathetically at them. "Oh, that's the transmat. It scrambles your head. I was sick for days. All right? So, what're your names then, sweethearts?"

"I'm, uh, the Doctor," he said slowly. He waved a hand at the Emissary. "She's the Emissary. We were, er..." he trailed off. "I don't know, what happened? How..."

"You got chosen," the blonde said.

"Chosen for what?" the Emissary asked.

"You're housemates!" the blonde said cheerfully. "You're in the house. Isn't that brilliant?!"

"Yeah, brilliant," the Emissary muttered. She looked around again, her head starting to clear. They'd fallen into a flat of some sort, which explained the housemates thing. Two more people, a man and a woman, stood next to a large screen with some sort of eye on it.

"That's not fair," the man complained. "We've got eviction in five minutes! I've been here for all nine weeks, I've followed the rules, I haven't had a single warning, and then they come swanning in."

"If they keep changing the rules," the girl joined in, "I'm going to protest, I am. You watch me, I'm going to paint the walls."

"Would the Doctor and the Emissary please come to the Diary Room?" The blonde led them over to a couch in front of the screen. "You are live on channel forty four thousand. Please do not swear."

The Doctor just stared at the screen. "You have got to be kidding."
~~~
Rose groaned as she woke up on a hard floor. A man with dark skin leaned over her.

"What happened?" she asked.

"It's all right," he said, helping her sit up. "It's the transmat. Does your head in. Get a bit of amnesia. What's your name?"

"Rose," she said, looking around. She didn't see anyone she knew. "But where's the Doctor?"

"Just remember do what the android says," the man said, ignoring her. "Don't provoke it. The android's word is law."

Rose shook her head. "What do you mean, android? Like a robot?"

The man looked around as a floor manager called out instructions. He stood quickly, pulling Rose with him. "Come on, hurry up," he said. Rose swayed and he put his hands on her shoulders. "Steady, steady."

"I was travelling," Rose told him. "With the Doctor, the Emissary, and a man called Captain Jack. They wouldn't just leave me."

"That's enough chat. Positions! Final call! Good luck!"

Rose pulled away from the man. She shook her head. "But I'm not supposed to be here."

The man, apparently named Rodrick, took his place behind the podium with his name on it. "It says Rose on the podium," he told her, waving a hand at the podium next to him. "Come on."