Skyshock (A Doctor Who Fanfiction)

Chapter 1: The Science of Deception

Entering the time vortex, I took a couple of right turns. Then a left. Then another left, just for the heck of it. I ended up somewhere new.

I sniffed the air, then picked up a fallen leaf from the bustling sidewalk and licked it. Hmmm...

"21st century. 2010s, I'd guess. Europe...England...London!" Okay, so perhaps not very new. Why did I keep ending up in this place?

"Late January. Mid-winter!" Gosh, it was cold. I was still dressed for Alice's birthday party in late spring of 2003. People were stopping to stare at this point, watching the strange, dark-eyed person who was talking incessantly to herself. They likely couldn't place my age--no one could. My best guess was that I was around the 1000s.

I was attracting far too much attention. Straightening, I shrugged one shoulder, then the other, checked to see that my sonic screwdriver was still securely in my inside pocket, and set off as if I, like all the others on the cold sidewalk, had somewhere important to go, which I probably did, though I didn't know it yet.

As I walked, I went under a singular transformation from partygoer to businesswoman. I casually snatched a man's briefcase from beside him as he waited for a bus. Just for good measure, I took his tie, too. He didn't notice until I was well away, further up the street, though I could hear his angry yells all the way across.

Straightening my tie with one hand, I slipped the long dark trench coat off a woman walking then other direction with my other. I shrugged it on contentedly. My disguise, as usual, was perfect.

Now, to work.

I walked nonchalantly into a tall, glinting building, strolling through the lobby without a glance to anyone. Suddenly, a security man was grabbing my arm, pulling me back.

"Identification?" He growled.

"Identif--ah, of course." I took out my psychic paper and handed it to the man, who first attempted to read it upside down. "I'm sure you'll find all is in order." I sniffed loftily, holding out my hand for the paper. With trembling fingers, the guard replaced the paper in my hands.

As I glided serenely up the escalator, I vaguely heard the security guard mumble to himself, "Isn't Jesus a guy?"

I stopped at the eleventh floor, because eleven is my lucky number. Smiling to the hurried-looking man walking down the hallway with a stack of papers in his hands and a pen between his teeth, I walked straight into the closed door of an unsuspecting office.

"Ow. Owww." I groaned. Looking up and down the hallway to make sure the man with the papers was gone, I procured my sonic screwdriver and made a rectangle around the edge of the door with it. Inspecting its readings, I realized telepathically opening doors haven't been invented yet. You actually have to open these things by hand. "Primates." I grumbled, waving the sonic screwdriver at the door handle and hearing it make a satisfying Click!

I stepped inside, closing the door behind me. "Why hello." I said to the surprised-looking gentleman sitting at his desk. "Would you be so kind as to explain the nature of your illness, and then get me a bucket of ginger and gravy?"