The Time of Change

UNIT

My husband is still hanging precariously out the open TARDIS door, speaking into the phone installed on the outer panel. "No kidding!" he shouts at whoever is on the other line. Leaning anxiously against the console, I watch him as we veer sharply to the left, and I reach to grab his hand on instinct. I'm not fast enough. Before I can blink, he tumbles over the threshold.

"Doctor!" I scream.

I bolt toward him just in time to catch his feet. A loud gasp meets my ears, and I try to muster enough strength to get him back inside. Only now do I realize I have sorely mistreated the muscles in my upper arms. "I can't pull you up!" I call to him. "The best I can do is keep you from falling!"

"That's all I need, love! Remind me—we'll start doing couples' pushups after this!"

A moment after he speaks, I hear him exclaim in pain, and when I look down, I see the phone swinging away from him like it's just collided with his face. Far below him, I see tiny dots I assume to be houses peppering the fettuccini-shaped lines that must be roads. Terror coils around my heart, and I tighten my grip around his ankles. I turn my gaze upward instead, leaning slightly out of the door to try and see what's carrying us. Every few seconds, I can just barely make out the blurred lines of propeller blades whipping around in circles.

From the phone that flaps around freely next to the Doctor, I hear a woman's voice saying, "Doctor, can you hear me? I don't think he can hear me."

He grabs it just before it smacks him again and bellows into it, "Next time, would it kill you to knock?"

I laugh in spite of myself. He holds the receiver away from his ear, and once more I can hear a woman declare, "I'm having you taken directly to the scene!"

"Whoa!" he yells as my hands falter. "Sorry!" I reply. His upside-down face grins up at me devilishly. I shake my head and will my palms not to be sweaty.

"I'm just going to pop you on hold!" the Doctor shouts into the phone. He lets it fall away from him and flails his arms around like a baby bird learning to fly. Even through my fear, I find this amusing. Somehow, he manages to contort his body enough to catch hold of the edge of the threshold, and he wiggles his shoes out of my grip.

I start to ask him what he's doing, but he leans against the bottom of the threshold, steals a kiss, then drops.

A scream tearing through me, I scramble over the edge to look for him, but all I can see are his legs dangling below the base of the TARDIS. As if in confirmation, she tells me, There are lots of things to hold onto down there. He's fine.

I sit back, finally able to breathe again, and start to laugh as the relief settles in.

The helicopter carries us a little farther, and within a moment I see a huge white building looming toward us. There appears to be a great lot of people standing and staring up at the approaching machines. Far too many for comfort are dressed exactly alike. Their uniformity pricks at my brain: soldiers. Fantastic. I crane my neck to look into the sky as the helicopter begins to hover in place. Slowly, it starts its descent to the concrete ground. I can't hear anything over the metal blades beating the wind, so I naturally glance down at the Doctor. I do this just in time to see his shoes clomp to the concrete, and he unsteadily strides ahead a few steps. I get to my feet, grasping the side of the TARDIS for support, as I'm lowered safely to the ground.

"Attention!" shouts one of the soldiers, and as one, they all salute.

The Doctor stiffens with his hand raised officially to his forehead, mirroring the group before us, and I hear him ask quietly, "Why am I saluting?" He lowers his arm, shaking his head at himself, and I tremulously step out of the TARDIS. He turns at the sound of my sneaker scraping the sidewalk; in one stride, he moves toward me and hugs me tightly. "You okay?" he whispers.