Slowly Shining (Book Two of The Creators Saga)

Rise of the Cybermen

"Fine," the Alchemist groaned.

"We're fine," Mickey nodded, helping the Alchemist up. "We're OK."

"She's dead," the Doctor breathed, staring at the TARDIS in shock. "The TARDIS is dead."

"You can fix it?" Rose asked hopefully.

"Nothing to fix," the Alchemist whispered, sounding heartbroken as she laid a hand on the remnants of the rotor. "She's perished. Last TARDIS in the universe, and now they're extinct."

"We can get help, yeah?" Rose asked.

"Where from?" the Doctor asked.

Rose shrugged. "Well, we've landed. We've got to be somewhere."

"We fell out of the vortex, through the Void, into nothingness," the Doctor shook his head. "We're in some sort of no place. The silent realm. The lost dimension."

Mickey poked his head out the door before looking back in. "Otherwise known as London!"

"Say what?" the Alchemist blinked before running after him - and standing in the doorway as she stared wide-eyed at their surroundings.

"London, England, Earth," Mickey confirmed before going to a discarded newspaper. "Hold on." He picked it up to read as the others exited the TARDIS. "First of February this year. Not exactly far flung, is it?"

The Doctor and the Alchemist remained staring at the sky as Rose looked around. "So, this is London," the Doctor began.

"Yep," Mickey nodded.

"Your city," the Alchemist continued.

"That's the one."

"Just as we left it," the Doctor went on.

"Bang on."

"Gotta say, I don't remember the zeppelins," the Alchemist finally said.

Mickey's gaze shot upward, and his eyes bugged out at the zeppelins passing overhead. "What the hell?" he gasped.

"That's beautiful!" Rose gushed.

"OK, so it's London with a big international zeppelin festival," Mickey tried to pass off.

"Those don't exist," the Alchemist said apologetically.

"This is not your world," the Doctor shook his head.

"But if the date's the same, it's parallel, right?" Mickey asked with a grin. "Am I right? Like a parallel Earth where they've got zeppelins. Am I right? I'm right, aren't I?"

"Good job," the Alchemist praised with a smile.

"So, a parallel world where," Rose began before pausing.

"Oh, come on, you've seen it on films!" Mickey told her, both him and the Doctor ignoring what the Alchemist and Rose noticed, the Alchemist walking over to Rose's side supportively and taking her hand. "Like an alternative to our world where everything's the same, but a little bit different, like . . . I don't know, traffic lights are blue, Tony Blair never got elected - "

"And he's still alive," Rose whispered, looking at an ad for Vitex Life, her father's work . . . with her father on it. "A parallel world where my dad's still alive."

"Don't look at it, Rose," the Doctor told her, even as she stepped forward. "Don't even think about it. This is not your world."

"But he's my dad, and - " Rose began, reaching out to touch the ad.

It turned into a small film, and Pete smiled and said, "Trust me on this."

Rose blinked. "Well, that's weird. But he's real!"