He was at the airport.
Specifically Manchester airport. He had only sat down for five minutes and had drifted off momentarily. He tried to recompose himself, trying not to get embarrassed that he had just fallen asleep in public, but nobody seemed to have noticed anyway.
He stood up and walked over to the toilets.
Once inside he went over to the sink and looked at himself in the mirror. He looked a mess. His hair was becoming a bit untidy and was in desperate need of combing, he’d grown a little bit of stubble on the flight over and his tie was askew.
He straightened himself out, slicked his hair back a little and splashed cold water on his face.
“Much better,” he said to himself. He smiled and left the toilets.
He made his way across the arrivals hall and headed towards the railway station which was situated just outside of the airport.
He walked through the sky link that connected the terminals to the station and looked out of the curved windows that looked out over the airport complex. The sun was beginning to set and a little bit of the snow they had gotten had started to melt.
Good. He didn’t like snow.
Eventually he reached the escalators leading down to the platform and purchased a ticket from the self-service booth.
He looked up at the departure board. Not long to wait. There’d be a train in three minutes that would take him straight to Manchester Piccadilly.
Sure enough the train arrived and Cole boarded it.
He took his seat in the quiet carriage and closed his eyes again. He was determined not to fall asleep, but if he did, he was sure that falling asleep on a train was not as embarrassing as falling asleep in arrivals.
Slowly but surely, as the train made it’s way out of the station, he found himself drifting off. It was only when some kids ran past him in the aisle that he woke…
…And found himself back in arrivals.
He looked from left to right, unsure of whether to move, unsure of whether this was all just a dream.
But no, he was definitely back in the airport.
He checked his watch. He had left arrivals fifteen minutes ago at 7:37pm and sure enough it was fifteen minutes later. So he hadn’t been dreaming. He had really boarded the train, fallen asleep and somehow ended up back here.
He started to panic and got to his feet. This time he walked briskly from arrivals and back to the train station.
There was another train due to arrive in five minutes, and so he waited.
Five minutes passed and Cole boarded the train once again. He sat down, this time in a regular carriage, and forced himself to stay awake. And he waited.
They went through the tunnel that would take the train under the motorway when…
…He was back at arrivals again. And this time he knew it wasn’t a dream. So was he going mad? He started panicking and this time ran to the taxi rank outside.
He hopped into the nearest black cab.
“Piccadilly please.”
“Right-o,” said the diver, putting his foot down on the pedal.
He was just beginning to relax when the taxi turned the corner to leave the car park and…
…He was back at arrivals once again.
Cole screwed his eyes closed and rubbed his forehead. And then, from outside, he heard the screeching of tyres and cries of shock outside.
He got to his feet and made his way outside following the small group of people that were running towards the car park exit. In the distance he could see the taxi he had just been in a few seconds before. It had crashed and someone was helping the terrified driver out of the drivers seat.
Cole could overhear him babbling to people who were helping him out.
“He just vanished. He just vanished. Like a bloody ghost.”
Cole run his hands through his hair, looked at the car park exit and ran full pelt towards it. A car almost hit him, but he carried on running. He just got to the exit when…
…He appeared back in arrivals…
On board the TARDIS, the Doctor was flicking through a pile of old books that he had gotten down from the TARDIS library. Occasionally he would turn to a page and spend what Caroline thought was an age reading something, and then he shake his head, close the book and go onto the next one.
“What exactly are you looking for?” asked Caroline.
“Information,” he replied, blowing dust off the cover of a red, leather-bound book.
“Information on what?” asked Caroline.
“On the Ancestor’s.”
“You mean what Captain Nivere belonged to?” she asked, remembering back to the mystery name that had been mentioned on Theen.
“That’s right,” he said, sitting down, putting his feet up on the console and turning to the end of a particularly thick, black book.
“Have you tried looking it up on Wikipedia?”
“Funny,” said the Doctor, giving her a sideways glance.
“Your life is just a bunch of riddles, isn’t it?” she said, sitting down on the sofa near the stairs and turning to a dusty book written in a foreign language.
“Indeed it is. Well, it is at the minute.”
Caroline looked up when she heard a beeping sound coming from the Doctor.
“Alarm?” she asked.
“In a way, yes,” he said, taking his pills out of his pocket and taking a few.
“Aren’t you going to talk into your tape recorder? To Aleema?”
“It’s AleeNA,” corrected the Doctor, “and no, there’s no point. The TARDIS is still refusing to take me there. And I still can’t get messages to my friend.”
“And me?”
“Still no joy with that, unfortunately,” he said, throwing the heavy book onto the floor with a large ‘thud’.
“And your scans haven’t come up with anything since you cleared out the system?”
“No. Nothing at all. If you’ve got some form of hidden power it’s buried deep inside. The TARDIS just can’t detect it.”
Caroline sighed. “And what about Danny?”
“Where is he?” asked the Doctor, looking around the console room.
“In his room. Says he has a headache. Again.”
The Doctor tutted. “I need to have a good, long chat with that young man. Especially after what happened at Sherman prison and then with that putty monster.“
“So, we’re calling it a Putty Monster now. Is that it’s official designation?”
“What happened down there was difficult for all of us.”
“What was it that Walters was talking about? When he said you’re half a man.”
“I’ve been through a lot,” said the Doctor. “A considerable amount actually. It takes it’s toll sometimes.”
“What you two need is a holiday. What I need is a holiday.”
“I’m game,” said Danny, emerging from the inner doorway that led to other parts of the ship. “I reckon somewhere in the Pacific would do me.”
“How you feeling?” asked Caroline.
“Good,” said Danny with a smile. “I’m feeling…better.”
“You’ve been through a lot,” said the Doctor, jumping to his feet and flicking a few controls. “What with the Apparite taking over your body and then your silly plan of letting Tressure take control of you. And it must have taken it out of you fighting against Walters.”
“Hey, we won, didn’t we?” said Danny, flopping down next to Caroline.
“Yes, we won,” said the Doctor, “but what about what happened back at the prison?”
“What do you mean?” asked Danny, sheepishly.
“Kate said you attacked her.”
“What!?” spluttered Caroline.
“When did she tell you that?”
The Doctor thought for a moment. “At the funeral.”
Danny laughed. “Don’t be stupid. She was dead.”
“She came back and spoke to me.”
“Why did you attack her?” asked Caroline, her arms folded.
“Is that Apparite still in you?” asked the Doctor. “Think about this, Danny. I need to know.”
“No,” said Danny. “Don’t be so stupid.”
“Be very careful about what you say to me,” said the Doctor, grabbing his sonic screwdriver and shining a light into Danny’s eyes.
“Get off,” said Danny, pushing him back.
“There doesn’t seem to be anything. A little pressure behind the eyes…”
“Stress,” said Danny. “Like I said. I’m game for a holiday.”
The Doctor looked down his nose at him and then nodded. “Okay. But if you need to speak…speak to me.”
There were a series of repeating beeps coming from one of the panels on the console and the Doctor looked intently at a readout.
“Anything exciting?” asked Danny, hoping to draw the Doctor away from the previous discussion.
“Hmm, maybe,” he said. “Hold tight you two. We’re off the Manchester airport.”
“Really?” asked Danny, leaping to his feet. “Surely we don’t need a plane to go to the Pacific.”
“I’m afraid this isn’t a holiday,” said the Doctor. “This is a genuine trip to Manchester airport.”
“Aww,” whined Caroline. “Why?”
“The TARDIS is picking up an interesting power source. I’ve never seen anything like it…I don’t think.”
“Hey, if we can get to Manchester airport, perhaps I can take the train back to Thornsby and try and get some answers from my parents.”
“I’m afraid not, Miss Parker,” said the Doctor, turning the lever and setting them on course for Manchester. “This power source is coming from January 2003, a little bit before your time.”
“Yeah,” she said, “but even still. I’d be able to get some answers.”
“No, I’m sorry,” he said sadly, “I can’t have you risking the web of time.”
Caroline sighed and sat back down. She wondered if she’d ever see home again. She glanced over to Danny. Since coming on board the TARDIS they had gotten more and more distant, and now with this talk of Danny attacking people…she wasn’t sure what to believe anymore. Indeed she’d even witnessed it back in the TARDIS when he attacked the green alien guy. It wasn’t like Danny. It just wasn’t.
A few minutes later and they were ready to land, but something was wrong. The TARDIS was shaking and rumbling and the engines sounded like they were grinding against something.
“What’s up?” asked Danny, crossing over to the console and flicking a few switches.
The Doctor slapped his hand away. “The TARDIS doesn’t seem to want to land at the airport.”
“Does this machine ever go where you want to go?” asked Caroline, joining the two men at the console.
“Sometimes,” said the Doctor. “Maybe,” he added quickly.
The engines continued to grind and sparks flew from underneath a panel.
“Alright, alright, old girl,” he said, patting her on the side of the console. “If it hurts you that much then we’ll not land there.”
“So we’re not investigating this power source?” asked Caroline.
“We are,” said the Doctor, “but we’re going to have to land on the outskirts and take a train into the station.”
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