Fixed in Time (Doctor Who Fanfiction)

Getting Noticed and Making Decisions

Over the next year and a bit, I got used to the routine that had had me on edge since the Third Doctor had turned up. I worked in the hospital five times a week, mostly taking night shifts, and I soon had seen much more suffering than I'd ever desired to see. On the other hand though, I'd had the wonderful privilege of being able to ease some of the suffering that was going on, and that definitely made the intense work worth it. Generally my mornings were spent in my laboratory, working under the head scientist Larry. My research there involved magnetic and ionic repulsion, and it's application in scientific processes. About a third of my time was spent traveling all over Europe, attending conferences and surveying projects. I was really starting to get noticed, and I wasn't sure if I liked it or not.

Two and a half years after Jo Grant first arrived, an amazing event occurred. The Doctor and UNIT were whisked away to an antimatter universe created by the incredibly famous scientist Omega himself! Of course, he'd gone mad and wanted revenge on the time lords but he was alive (sort of) and that amazed me because I'd always looked up to him as a great scientist. The Doctor reunited with his first and second selves and together they stopped Omega and saved the universe. In return for his help, the time lord's gifted the Doctor with a new materialization circuit. This meant that the Doctor could travel in time and space again freely, and, obviously, he jumped at the chance, and whisked Jo away with him to see the universe.

I wasn't there for any of that, being off at a conference in China, but when I came back home and was told by UNIT everything that had occurred, something soon happened that was probably more important than anything else, at least to me.

Well, first of all, the Doctor came back to visit, the same way he did in the old days before his exile on Earth. He and Jo and I drank tea together in my small little house and discussed their adventures and how UNIT was managing and all that. One thing the Doctor told me was that he'd just had what he believed was his final encounter with Koschei for a long time.

"He doesn't seem to be focused on earth at the moment," the Doctor said. "Besides, he's on his final regeneration. It's quite possible that he never comes back."

It was a few days after their visit that I found out that the Doctor was wrong, so very wrong about that.

Now, you see, this is important that it be kept secret, because not even the Doctor knows this happened. It was an occurrence that would make him worry too much and so I figured it was only fair to keep it from him.

Well, okay, I'll elaborate. I was kidnapped by the Master.

I was on my way to London hospital after dinner one day when the wind picked up around me and I was surrounded by a TARDIS. Those time machines have the amazing feature of being able to materialize around objects and phase them inside the abstract dimension without the use of the door.

So, very simply, one moment I was outside, the next I was in Koschei's TARDIS.

"Hello, Susan." I whirled around to see him standing at a pretty neat console, covered in TARDIS controls and with the time rotor pumping up and down as the TARDIS flew away from earth. I clenched up in shock as I realised what was happening.

"Take me back Koschei!" I exclaimed, but by the livid way he stared at me I figured it wasn't going to happen.

Calmly he moved his scanner towards me. I stared at the screen in confusion, taking in the varied images and names that were displayed.

"Where would you like to go?" Koschei inquired and I furrowed my brow. Really? I'd been kidnapped so that I could travel with him. Goodness me, my friends were childish.

After my silence had persisted for a while, Koschei took back the scanner and set his own course. "You know what Susan? You should be grateful. I rescued you from the tedious, pointless human life you were leading, and now you can truly shine, taking your place with me as one of the liberators of the universe."