Doctor Who: Facing Tomorrow

Facing Tomorrow

The Doctor shifted around the TARDIS, fiddling with controls and trying to lock onto Sarah's time-space coordinates. He combed a frail hand through wild locks of near-white hair as the ship hurtled into flight. Abruptly, the ship appeared to almost fight back; loud screeching sounds bounced around the console room and a huge eruption of sparks and fumes threw The Doctor to the clinically cold floor. The Doctor dragged himself to his feet and dusted off the chest of his luxurious velvet coat, when he heard a sharp feminine voice through the smoke, on the other side of the TARDIS's central console.

"No no no!", a thick yorkshire accent proclaimed. "You're about 50 years out, and the location is all wrong, you never listen to me!" The bizarre woman bashed at the console with an angry fist.

"Might I ask what you're doing on my ship?", The Doctor questioned, stepping through the dispersing smoke and standing proud over the woman that had appeared before him. She had short, blonde hair, a soft face with energetic eyes, and a mismatch of attire; vibrant blue trousers that were cropped over poorly polished military boots and bright yellow suspenders stretched over a deep navy t-shirt. The fabrics appeared to be from early 21st century Earth, but the collection of garments didn't resemble any fashion trends from the era that The Doctor knew.

A large smile filled the mysterious woman's tiny face, and her eyes appeared to double in size, "Wow, just brilliant. Just absolutely brilliant, huge fan, and look at that..." she delicately tapped his shoulder as she slowly sauntered around him. "Still rocking the velvet look, just brilliant!" Eyes still locked with The Doctor's, she confidently flicked at switches and clicked at illuminated buttons on one of the console's control panels. The Doctor flicked her hand and gave her a displeased scowl.

"I'm not sure who you are, or what you're doing in my TARDIS, but I'm in a bit of a hurry and I don't have time for chit-chat", The Doctor explained. "Nasty business with the Daleks, you see, my friend has gotten herself stuck in one of their traps. She's a smart girl, she knows how to keep herself alive, but I must hurry on my way before she gets in too much trouble." The Doctor's eyes scaled up and down the stranger, trying to make sense of her.

"Sarah Jane! Oh, I've missed Sarah, I really must check in on her at some point." The lively woman stretched over the malfunctioning console, examining the readouts on its various displays with curious eyes. "But I really must get back to my own TARDIS and my own timeline." She pulled on one of the console's many levers, which caused a frenzy of sparks to cascade from the system and a painful murmuring sound to echo through the trembling control room.

The Doctor focused on the strange figure, examining her every move: the way she handled the TARDIS's controls so confidently, the way she spoke, the way she looked at him with such familiarity, the way she composed herself and stood with such authority. He had a theory but surely it couldn't be true.

"Oh come on, you must have figured it out by now", she proudly proclaimed, "I can see it in your eyes, or my eyes if you want to get technical about it."

It was true, the wild, strange, mysterious woman that stood before The Doctor was, in fact, The Doctor. She certainly wasn't a face he recognised from his past, therefore she must have been an incarnation from his future.

"My goodness," he chuckled in disbelief, "I wasn't expecting-"

"Neither was I, it's brilliant isn't it?" she announced with pride as she showcased her brand new body with an excited twirl and a graceful bow. "Tried out a few new looks before I settled on this one, I was a grumpy ol' scot before this, magnificent eyebrows on him though." Suddenly, her bold eyes lit up and she clicked her fingers, almost as if to snap herself out of the moment and remember the task at hand. She launched at the console and grabbed the system's main display.