FIVE

 I followed the Doctor as I stepped cautiously outside the TARDIS. The air was thin as though the atmosphere wasn’t meant for me to breathe as though I was on the surface of an alien world or displaced in time…But I was back home. In Birmingham city centre, standing in Victoria square at the top of the steps as the fountain’s water gushed below. Sometimes it was like we were invisible, no one seemed to have noticed us materializing. It was like you had to know about the blue box to see it and even if someone accidentally saw the TARDIS the perception filter takes over, unless of course the TARDIS wanted to be seen.

 I breathed in deeply and began to acclimatize to my surroundings, I wonder if it’s possible to get time travel sickness? I surveyed the area to work out what time period we found ourselves in.(The TARDIS date readings were still unreliable and kept going on the blink) It was always a hive of activity in this part of town, the daily hustle and bustle of city life but as I saw a group of people in an orderly queue which stretched around the civic offices I was immediately struck by such an usual site as the people of Birmingham appeared to be queuing to get in the city’s museum and art gallery. It was a somewhat unexpected and unprecedented sight. Had we accidentally stumbled into a parallel world?

 “By my reckoning we’re about a year and a half in your future Anna…” The Doctor interrupted my thoughts.

 “So what difference does that make?” I automatically replied but then the penny dropped. “So there could be a  future version of me out there, two versions of me in the same place and time?…” The Doctor nodded warily and with a quick mental calculation, well a quick count on my fingers, I worked out we were in September 2009. “Back home again, so soon…”

 “It as though the TARDIS is in tune with your thoughts and feelings…” The Doctor mused.

 “But that doesn’t make sense, I don’t want to go home…Well not yet.” In between other worlds and future times it felt as though we kept returning to Birmingham even in my dreams and a virtual reality world. And the idea that the Doctor’s magnificent time machine was in tune with me and my tiny mind was quite ludicrous.   

 “Or maybe the TARDIS is being pulled in by some big event yet to happen here…” The Doctor continued with his ominous deductions and then suddenly pulling himself up sharply as though turning away from the temptation of exploration. “We really shouldn’t be here Anna. It’s very dangerous crossing over your personal time line. You don’t want to discover anything about your future neither of us do. And if the two versions of you were to meet, well it could a blow a hole…”

 “In the space/time continuum which could cause the collapse of the Universe…” I nodded knowledgably, continuing his train of thought and agreeing with the Doctor implicitly. “I know, I’ve been travelling long enough with you Doctor to be aware of the risks.” I concurred wholeheartedly, even though at times the Doctor really could be such a drama queen.      

 “That is of course if there is a future version of you to meet.” The Doctor added without thinking, he then swallowed anxiously, staring at me with deepening concern as I suddenly felt the ground shift from under my feet.

 “Yeah cheers for that thought Doctor.” I rolled my eyes and huffed at the Doctor’s insensitivity, sitting myself down on the fountain wall before I fainted. I wasn’t being blasé but it actually hadn’t occurred to me that I might be dead. Though then again, I might still be travelling through time and space with the Doctor…

 The Doctor sat down beside me and placed an arm around my shoulder and smiled awkwardly. “Sorry about that Anna, me and my big mouth… My meaning kind of got away from me… I was just thinking…” The Doctor’s voice trailed away and we were silent for a moment as the chattering crowds passed us by, September is always a mild month as the sun beat down on our backs.

 Feeling better, I had a little stretch and as I got to my feet I patted the Doctor’s hand and kissed him on the cheek to show there were no hard feelings. “ Of the worst case scenario?” I added smiling.

 “Well yes and no…But as you know Anna time can be rewritten and when you travel with me, it changes you and your life is suddenly up in the air, nothing is properly settled. You could still be out there somewhere.” The Doctor leapt to his feet and smiled, pointing to the skies. “Maybe you decided not to go home. We should just go, a thousand years in the future that’s a walk in the park. But for you Anna, this is too close to home.” The Doctor made his way towards the TARDIS.

 “Wait…Remember what you said earlier, the TARDIS might have bought us here for a reason?” The Doctor gazed back dubiously at my reasoning and enthusiasm for sticking around. Maybe he thought I was daft enough to look myself up or maybe he thought I was going to abuse my time travelling privileges and check out the winning lottery numbers for the week…“What? Why are you staring at me like that?” I placed my hands on my hips and squared up to him. “I’m alright now Doctor, I just felt a little strange, it’s was a bit of a shock that’s all.” But I still felt a little strange as I  glanced around me, I could feel eyes burning into my back, I was sure someone was watching us…

 But I was certain we were here for a reason. It was like the TARDIS knew something, it reminded me of when I first returned home to see my parents. The TARDIS had jumped forward in time by a week, at the time we put that little blip down to the hungry Hoix in the vicinity. But as we would soon discover there had always been something more powerful and important waiting for us in this city, a big event drawing the TARDIS in.

 “Hello Earth to Doctor… Is Mr super brain bored with listening to me?”

 The Doctor had been gazing off into the distance, he turned his head with whiplash speed to face me. I recognized that animated look, I knew the Doctor had found something interesting and couldn’t resist.

 “Now why are all those people queuing to get in the art gallery? That’s an unprecedented sight.”

 “Don’t start Doctor.” I added warningly, I could say what I wanted about the people of my home city but the Doctor most certainly wasn’t going to make some sarcastic remark about the West Midlands and Art.

 “I wonder what could be so interesting…” The Doctor scratched the back of his head.

 And that’s when I noticed the billboard advertising the exhibition of the “Staffordshire Hoard” the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold ever found. I tapped the Doctor on the shoulder and pointed.

 “Perhaps it might have something to do with that… I wouldn’t mind having a look myself, surely a harmless afternoon’s occupation?”

 “Anna… I don’t wish to alarm you but…” The Doctor had seen something else as he turned to face me, his hands rested on my shoulder as though to brace me for some terrible calamity.     

 “Your parents have just come out of that art gallery and they’re making their way towards us.”