Chapter Text
The shaking knocked Romana off of her feet. She grabbed at the console but her hands slipped off and she hit the floor and rolled up against the underside of the console. Smoke poured out between gaps in the floor panels.
"Joyce!" She shouted above a steady whining noise filling the control room. "Joyce?" She repeated when there was no response. She tried to get to her feet but was knocked down again, the time banging an elbow hard enough to cause her to cry out.
"K-9?" Romana shouted from from where she was lying on the floor.
"Yes, Mistress?" K-9 said. She could hear him rolling towards her.
"Status, K-9," she said. "Where is Joyce?"
"Searching, Mistress," K-9 said, followed by the high pitched sound of his sonar. Romana winced. She'd been unable to tune that to a frequency that she couldn't hear or feel through her head.
"Found, Mistress," he said. "In the hall. She is unresponsive."
"Lucky her," Romana said under her breath. Focusing on the direction she'd heard him coming from, she started crawling towards them. "Idris?" The was no response to that, not even the light mental touch Idris preferred to use. "K-9, what is the status of Idris?"
"Unknown, Mistress. Idris is not responding to the usual queries," K-9 said.
"Can you clear this smoke?" Romana said, as she crawled in the direction of his voice. It smelled, and was making her eyes water.
"Affirmative," K-9 said. "Venting control room."
"What is wrong with her?" Romana asked. Reaching K-9, she pulled herself into a sitting position.
"Unable to determine, Mistress," K-9 said. "Unrecognized physiology."
"Unrecognized? She's human. Mostly," Romana said, looking over K-9 at Joyce who was curled up into a small ball in her baggy clothes.
"Incorrect, Mistress," K-9 said.
"Ah," Romana said, realizing what probably had happened. "Check your databanks for the race Furling. And what's causing that noise?"
"Furling. Unknown," K-9 said. "May be related to or be misidentified as the fictional race Ferengi."
"Ferengi?" Romana mumbled, rubbing her ears. "Never heard of them."
"Part of the popular human entertainment, from the late 20th century, known as Star Trek," K-9 said.
"If you say so," Romana said. Suddenly the noise stopped. "That's better," she said. "Thank you Idris," she added to the gentle prodding from her TARDIS. "No, we won't be allowing the Time Lord known as Missy access to your control panel in the future," she said. "She is no longer welcome."
Taking out her sonic, she started scanning Joyce, who remained unconscious. "Any ideas, Idris?" She asked, hoping Idris, who, unlike K-9 was native to this universe would know something about Furling. A name popped inter her head. "Janet?"
"K-9, do we know a Janet?" Romana asked, not finding anyone by that name in her memories.
"No, Mistress," K-9 said.
"A little more information would be helpful, Idris," Romana said. Images of a short woman in a blue uniform flooded her mind, followed by an image of Samantha Carter. "So, a friend of Samantha's," Romana said. "Can you find her at an appropriate time and place?"
There was a brief bell sound, and the distinct sound of a TARDIS materializing as it began moving through time and space.
"K-9, watch Joyce," Romana said, once the subtle feeling of the TARDIS moving stopped.
"Yes, Mistress," K-9 said.
Brushing her clothes and brushing her hair back from her face, Romana stepped out of her TARDIS. The TARDIS was standing between some kind of motorcycle and another structure, in a driveway next to a small house. Frowning, she walked onto the porch and over to the entrance. Knocking firmly several times, she waited for someone to answer her knock.
"Romana?" Sam Carter said, opening the door. "What brings you here?"
"Idris," Romana said, nodding towards her TARDIS. "This is where you live? Interesting." She looked around for a moment. "Do you know a Janet? Apparently she's a medical specialist of some kind."
"Yes," Sam said. "She'd here actually. Just got back from a trip and we're catching up." She carefully looked Romana over with an intense gaze. "Are you injured?"
"A little shaken up, but I'm fine. Does your friend knowing anything about Furling physiology?" Romana said.
"Furling physiology?" Sam turned and yelled back into the house. "Janet, we need you out here. Bring the First Aid Kit, please."
There was the sound of someone rushing around, and then the woman Idris had shown Romana appeared with a large box with a large red cross on it. "What's going on?" She asked Sam.
"Don't know yet. This is Romana, she's a friend," Sam said. "I'm assuming whomever needs help is in your TARDIS?" Sam asked.
"Yes," Romana said. Turning, she quickly headed back to the TARDIS, Sam and Janet following. Entering the TARDIS, Romana called out to K-9, "Any change?"
"No, Mistress," K-9 said. They rushed over to him and Joyce, who was still curled up into a ball.
"The robot dog is new," Sam said, as they watched Janet examine Joyce.
"Is he? Where are we in your timeline?" Romana asked, frowning, and wondering what she could say, not that she really cared about timeline integrity. Things usually worked out in the end.
"Joyce and I just got back from a trip. Met some interesting people, and a mad scientist," Sam said.
"Hmm," Romana said. "Something about singing cats?"
"Pussycats," Sam said. "A band."
"You're the mythical Sam?" A weak voice said. "And you saw the Pussycats? Darlene would be so jealous."
"How is she?" Sam asked, looking over at Janet and the young woman.
"Just overwhelmed," Janet said. "Whatever happened was a serious shock. She just needs some quiet for a few hours."
"Is that," Sam said, surprised, looking at Romana.
"Yes," Romana said.
"She looks very young," Sam said. "Joyce?"
"Yes?" Joyce said, wincing. "You're Sam? We've met?"
"We will, in a few years," Sam said. "How did this happen?"
"Some crazy lady," Joyce said. "She tricked us into giving her a ride to some place called Gallifrey. I think she was trying too hard. And then something happened when we tried to leave."
"Missy," Romana said. "She tried to hijack us, but we managed to get away."
"And now I'm stuck like this," Joyce said, grumbling. "I can't go home like this."
"Stuck?" Janet said, helping her stand. "This isn't normal?"
"Everything is so loud," Joyce said, "and I've got pointed elf ears!"
"Her senses are amplified," Sam said, answering Janet's unasked question. "Apparently Furling have enhanced senses."
"And pointed ears," Joyce said, pouting. "Whoever came up with that was smoking something. Why?"
"We don't know," Sam said.
"Do you have a Starbucks?" Joyce said. "I think an espresso would help me very much."
"If you are overly sensitive, that won't help," Janet said. "I'd recommend no coffee, especially espresso, for several days."
"That's no fun," Joyce said sadly.
"Sam has some Rocky Road ice cream in her freezer," Janet said, guiding Joyce out of the TARDIS. "I find it helps almost as much."
"We don't have to leave right now, do we?" Joyce said, looking back at Romana. Romana just waved her through.
"Why doesn't Joyce remember this?" Sam asked. "Meeting you and traveling in the TARDIS."
"You know time isn't truly linear, Samantha," Romana said. "I can't answer that. She may still remember it or something may be blocking her memory of this trip. Some Time Lords have developed a defensive selective memory to protect their knowledge of their timeline from their past selves. I think that is silly." She shrugged.
"If you say so. Who is this crazy lady?" Sam asked. "Should we be concerned about her?"
"It's hard to tell," Romana said. "Missy is from my original universe, though I don't recall meeting her in any of her previous or future regenerations, though there are legends of the chaos she has caused. She does seem a bit off center mentally. Hopefully she'll find this universe boring and will go home."
"You'll warn us if she sticks around?" Sam said.
"Of course," Romana said. "We should probably go rescue your Janet from Joyce. She can be a bit manic like that, even without coffee. Introducing her to Starbucks was definitely not my best idea."
"Yes," Sam said. "Before the ice cream runs out."