Deviation Actions
Chapter 8 - Interlude
A quarter of an hour later, the companions met the Doctor in the console room.
“Vile has been taken into custody?” Tamsin asked.
“Definitely, we are free to go on our way,” the Doctor said.
“So, are we going on our way?” Felicia asked.
“Yes,” the Doctor said. He input a random course on the console and set the TARDIS in motion.
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“Where are we going?” Kiara asked, once the TARDIS was in motion.
“Anywhere, to a indeterminate location, in an attempt to find Felicia’s Doctor, she needs to return to him,” the Doctor said.
“I guess so,” Tamsin said aloud. Silently she thought, ‘She can’t stay here, she would invariably give the Doctor hints about his future.’
“Good idea, but the TARDIS wouldn’t know where to find its future self!” Felicia said.
“Not necessarily. I once found out that the TARDIS had catalogued console rooms that didn’t exist yet,” the Doctor said. “Perhaps it knows where it is going to be shortly after the incident in which you are transferred here.”
“That makes no sense, a catalogue of console rooms that didn’t exist yet?” Tamsin asked.
“That was what she said,” the Doctor said.
“Still makes no sense,” Tamsin said.
“It doesn’t have to,” the Doctor said. “The important thing is that it is likely that we will find Felicia’s Doctor.”
“I suppose so,” Tamsin said.
“I hope that you’re right,” Felicia said.
As the Doctor left the console room, Kiara sat on a chair and looked at the console readout in thought. “It just says, Random course plotted,” she said.
“No mention of an intercept course?” Tamsin asked. She brushed her right hand through the bottom of her hair.
“No. It only says ‘Random course plotted,’” Kiara said. She then thought ‘We’re going somewhere, but it isn’t where the Doctor will be after Felicia comes back here.’
“Keep an eye on it, whilst Tamsin and I talk about our respective universities,” Felicia said.
“Okay,” Kiara said. She focused on the console, whilst keeping an attitude such that she would still hear what the others were saying.
“There is not much to talk about. When I am there, I am studying History at the University of Exeter,” Tamsin said, when she and Felicia had moved over near the interior door.
Felicia was curious “But what is the University of Exeter like?”
“Rather Cool, the on campus life is lively enough and the academics are rigorous. I guess I wanted more than that though, to experience the history I studied first hand.” Tamsin explained. “Where do you study?” she asked after a moment, not sure if Felicia had told her before they had arrived at Ilkona.
“The University of East Anglia, I had finished my second year in my Economics degree when I started travelling with the Doctor. It was the end of the summer vacation when the TARDIS started going off course,” Felicia said.
“You did say that you had only been travelling with him for five months,” Tamsin reminisced.
“Yes,” Felicia confirmed.
“I guess that you’ve got to know him well?”
“How well do you know him?”
“Even after the length of time that I have travelled with him, which I suspect is over a year, he’s still rather mysterious,” Tamsin admitted.
“It’s the same here. I feel I know him, but there are still many mysteries in his personality,” Felicia answered.
“I totally agree.”
After further discussion about the Doctor, they continued talking about their experiences at university.
...
Many hours later whilst all of them were in the console room there was a jerk, and the Cloister Bell rang briefly...
The Doctor got up first. “Strange,” he said, as he looked at the scanner.
“What is strange?” Tamsin asked as she got up.
“We have entered another universe,” the Doctor said.
‘Another universe?’ Felicia thought.
“Does this happen often?” Kiara asked.
“Not very often, most of the time the TARDIS wouldn’t be working properly,” the Doctor said, puzzled.
“Why would that be?” Felicia asked.
“More importantly, where in that universe are we?”
“The TARDIS runs off the Vortex in its native universe. Another universe, therefore no vortex,” the Doctor said. He went to the scanner. “We’re in some sort of military complex in central Colorado.”
The companions could see that the TARDIS was surrounded by gun-toting MPs. ‘That’s not good,’ Tamsin thought.
“Let’s find out about this universe, shall we?” the Doctor said as he went towards the door...
