Untold Knowledge (Doctor Who x Genius Fem! Oc) [Book 1]

Chapter 80: Gridlock

"Fancy a trip into the future?" Echo asked as she and her Doctor entered the console room together.

Martha, who had been waiting for them, stood from the jump seat with joy practically exuding from her entirely. "No complaints from me." she answered with immense glee.

"How about a different planet?" the Doctor asked happily as he and his girl worked the controls as quickly as they could. Almost as if they were playfully in challenge with one another.

"Can we go to yours?" she then asked with great curiosity. "Planet of the Time Lords? That's gotta be worth a look. What's it like?" Martha could hold back her excited questions back, only wanting to know more.

"Well, it's beautiful, yeah." he answered absentmindedly. Mainly, he was holding back for selfish reasons. He wanted to pretend, for just a moment, that they hadn't lost everything. That they weren't orphaned by their own hand.

But Martha hadn't yet noticed the somber energy that surrounded them. "Is it like, you know, outer space cities, all spires and stuff?"

"I suppose it is." he replied, grateful for Echo's comforting presence and silent emotional support.

"Great big temples and Cathedrals?" Her anticipation and need to know more only mounted as the conversation continued. "Lot's of planets in the sky?"

The Doctor's gaze became vacant as memories began to flow effortlessly to the forefront of his mind. "The sky's a burnt orange, with the Citadel enclosed in a mighty glass dome, shinning under the twin suns. Beyond that, the mountains go on forever. Slopes of deep red grass, capped with snow." Both he and his Echo felt the remembered grief of such a massive loss. Even though she never belonged to Gallifrey, she had always felt a kinship to the Time Lords. In her mind, they were the closest thing to being her intellectual equal.

"It's  location being in a binary star system just two-hundred million light years from your Earth."

Martha couldn't help but beam with amazed awe. "Can we go there?" eager to know more about the strange, attractive man that was now one of her best friends.

The Doctor immediately became joyous, "Nah, where's the fun for me? I don't want to go home. ( liar 😥 ) Instead, this is better. Year five-billion and fifty-three, planet New Earth in the galaxy M87. Second hope of mankind. We're slap bang in the middle of New New York. One of the most dazzling cities ever built."

Echo felt great expectations as she planned their first adventure. Steal a flying car and do awesomely dangerous tricks before the cops catch up to them. But as they all walked out, it immediately became apparent that wouldn't be their course.

The Tardis was stood in a narrow alleway with rain pouring down by the bucket full. "Oh, that's nice. Time Lord version of dazzling." Martha said sarcastically as she pulled her jacket closer.

 "A bit of rain never hurt anyone. Come on, let's get under cover." he replied with a grin, leading the way. As they went, they found themselves in some sort of plywood ghetto.

"Well, it looks like the same old Earth to me; on a Wednesday afternoon." she commented as she and Echo waited for the Doctor to get a monitor they'd found to work properly.

"And the driving should be clear and easy, with fifteen extra lanes open for the New New Jersey expressway." a virtual blonde woman said with a large smile before an image of the high-tech Manhattan complete with flying cars appeared on screen.

"That's more like it." he praised. "That's the view we had last time."

Echo nodded and looked around again. "This must be the lower levels, then. Right at the base of the tower. The under city, if you will."