Doctor Who: Surprise Holiday

Chapter 9: The Doctor Returns

The Doctor happily hummed as the TARDIS materialized. He had debated going off on a separate adventure, or even several adventures before circling back for Clara, but decided in the end to simply skip forward two weeks. His joy turned into concern as he read the results. The TARDIS had arrived at the correct location, but had overshot the time setting by nearly six months.

"Come on old girl," he said to the TARDIS. "You can do better than that!" He made a minor adjustment and pulled a lever.

The TARDIS made a rude sound and refused to budge.

The Doctor frowned. "What's gotten into you? I know you and Clara haven't always seen eye-to-eye, but lately the two of you have been getting along splendidly, yes? You like Clara."

The TARDIS made a rapid series of happy beeps.

"Well, there we are! Let's go get her." Smiling, the Doctor reset the time coordinates and pulled the lever once more.

Still nothing happened.

He frowned and pointed an accusing finger at the time rotor. "Now you're just being stubborn. Don't make me override the safeties!" he called out. "I will, you know!"

The TARDIS made a harrumphing sound. Clearly, she wasn't going to make things easy.

Meanwhile, another distraction got his attention. There was an annoying, muffled thump of Earth music inside the TARDIS—late twentieth or early twenty-first century by the sound of it. As he looked around, the tune abruptly stopped. He gave a mental shrug and went back to making adjustments on the console. His efforts were interrupted by a knock at the doors.

That in itself was unusual. The perception filter should have prevented anyone from taking notice of the TARDIS—unless someone was purposefully looking for it, or looking directly at it. He hesitated for a moment before walking around to the nearest monitor. It showed a young couple standing at the TARDIS doors, nude, thankfully, which he took as confirmation he was still on the right planet.

He breathed a sigh of relief. He had thought it might be Clara, but as long as it wasn't her, there was still a chance he could fix things, travel back and pick her up at the appointed time. As he watched, the couple glanced at each other. The man reached out and hesitantly knocked on the TARDIS doors a second time.

The sound reverberated deafeningly, as if the hoards of Genghis Khan were once again trying to crash their way inside. The TARDIS had amplified the sound—her way of nudging him to go answer the door. He decided to ignore the couple and instead focus on coaxing the stubborn TARDIS into doing his bidding.

That annoying tinkle of music started up again. It came from the pile of Clara's clothes, which were right where she had left them half an hour ago, TARDIS time. The Doctor walked over and quickly found Clara's mobile phone. It indicated an unknown caller.

Curious, the Doctor touched the green icon. "Hello?" he said with some hesitation.

"Are you going to open the bloody doors or not?" came Clara's voice. "My friends are waiting outside."

The Doctor groaned and stamped his feet in frustration. "Oh no no no no! You did not just now call me on your own mobile!"

"I have," Clara said. "Why? What difference could it possibly make?"

The Doctor quietly moaned, trying to keep his frustration under control. "You should have called the TARDIS phone directly! It can non-deterministically receive calls anywhere in time and space. The same cannot be said for your mobile."

"I couldn't very well call the TARDIS, now could I?" Clara said rather tartly. "That number is stored on my mobile—the very phone you are holding in your hand, I might add. I don't have your number memorized, but I do know my own, thank you very much!"