Children of Galifrey: A Doctor Who Fanfiction

Chapter 2

I don't start freaking out until I can't feel my brothers hand anymore. I try to turn and look to see if he is still next to me but I can't move. I try to call out his name but my mouth refuses to open. What if he wasn't holding on tightly enough? If he has fallen into the vortex then his fate will be much worse then anything the Daleks could concoct. 

Before I have time to think about it I feel the vortex slipping away. I land hard on a concrete surface. My whole body aches and my stomach feels like it has been put through a blender. I get up right away and look around frantically for Runner. I get up too fast and my vision goes black for a few seconds. I am hit with a sudden wave of nausea. I resist the urge to throw up what little I've eaten. I hear someone groan behind me. I turn and sigh with relief. It's Runner. He's okay. Lying on the floor with his eyes still shut and his face a deep shade of green but alive. Unlike me he takes his time getting up and seems to avoid the dizziness that overtook me. He, however, cannot resist the urge to vomit. He does this for almost a full minute. I sit with him while he does but can do nothing more than pat him on the back sympathetically and offer a few words of encouragement. When he is done he sits holding his head in his hands. When I am confident this is nothing more than a headache I look around where we landed. It looks like a large abandoned warehouse. It seems to go on forever in every direction. Old equipment and wooden boxes lie around in useless heaps. Birds fly around in the high ceilings chirping and fluttering about.

"Are you okay?" I ask when he finally looks up at me.

"I'm fine." He replies groggily, "That was awful, where are we?"

"Don't know. The man who brought it to me didn't know either." I shrug. I breathe deeply taking in the air and analyzing it as I do. A high concentration of Nitrogen but enough oxygen for a Galefreyen like species to survive. I sniff the air. Water vapor, Carbon dioxide and a few other things that I can't quite catch. I bend down and pick up a few pieces of dirt from the floor. I smell that and then set a tiny bit on my tongue. Then I spit it out and wipe my finger on my tunic.

"Well?"

"Earth... I think Somewhere in the Americas. Anywhere from the 19th to the 22nd century." It's more of a guess than anything else. It isn't an exact science and I have never been very good at it.

Runner sighs and rolls his eyes. He repeats the same steps I just took. "Oh yeah, Earth. You're off on where though. I'd say Europe, England... maybe Scotland. 21st century most likely the first 20 years of that century."

I glare at him. How is he so good at that? How does he so easily remember everything about other planets in solar systems a billion light years away from our own when I can hardly remember everything about our own. He grins obviously thrilled at the prospect of beating me at something.

 "Okay genius" I smirk, "Don't be such a show-off."

He shrugs, "I can't help it if I'm just that good."

I punch him lightly on the shoulder. He feigns pain and then breaks out into a burst of uncontrollable laughter. It's good to hear him laugh again. I hate to end this moment but we do need to get to work. The technology on this planet will be primitive at this point but I can work with it. I need to set up some kind communication with Galifrey and maybe even rig the manipulator to be able to send us back. I stare at the vortex manipulator, still strapped to my arm. We will be going home

"What are you thinking Thief?" Runner is staring at it too.

"I'm thinking we need to go home... when the time is right. This was only supposed to be for a one-way trip but I think I can fix it."

"Why did we leave in the first place? We shouldn't have just abandoned them like that."

"Dad wanted us safe. I can't argue with his orders, Runner." I answer distracted by the manipulator. I already have taken it off and am starting to take it apart. It proves difficult with only my fingers. The parts are too small even for my own tiny, bony fingers. I let out a frustrated sigh. I suppose it doesn't matter anyway, I am not an engineer what little I know of technology comes from a few introductory classes.