The Doctor reveals some interesting facts about Earth, it’s history, and it’s future as he helps Cathy come to terms with her destiny…

After removing the dress and corset, the Doctor quickly searched for something different to wear before settling on a leather bombardier’s jacket with a Flying Tigers insignia painted on the back and a white silk scarf.

As he looked at himself in the mirror once again, he muttered, “Jack would love this jacket.” He then set out for the control room with Simon close behind.

After several minutes of wandering down countless corridors without any sign of an end in sight, the Doctor stopped dead in his tracks and Simon bumped into him from behind. “Sorry,” Simon muttered.

“Where were we heading again?” the Doctor asked, looking confused.

“Control room, I believe you said,” responded Simon growing irritated.

“Ah, yes.” The Doctor then set out again, leading Simon down hallways, up stairs, and around corners, pausing each time they passed a door to open it and take a peek inside. They looked in ornately decorated bedrooms, an ultra modern sitting room, a prehistoric cave, and what from the echo sounded like it must be a huge space that was completely devoid of light.

Eventually, Simon’s irritation got the best of him and he snapped, “Are you sure you know where you’re going?”

“Of course!” the Doctor replied as he came to a halt in front of yet another door. He opened it and to Simon’s great surprise they saw John Lennon sitting on a stool with an acoustic guitar, singing away. The Doctor muttered, “Sorry,” and closed the door again. They then started back on their way.

Meanwhile, back in the control room Stella said, “You’ve nabbed purse snatchers and saved babies from burning cars. Why are you so hesitant to do this?”

“Well, they’re not like the same thing at all, are they?” she countered.

“No, but…”

“But nothing. Those things I did were reflex. They needed to be done and I was there. Nothing more,” Cathy explained. “This is something that would intentionally draw attention to me, and your family. Do you really want that?”

“Oh come on! We’ve been around the block a time or two. Dealing with the press is old hat. And I promise that Simon and I will help you deal with them.”

Just then the Doctor and Simon opened the door and came into the control room. Stella turned to them and asked, “ Where have you been?”

Simon stated, “He got us lost.”

“Did not!” whined the Doctor. “I knew where we were all along!”

“Then why’d you feel it necessary to open every door we walked past?”

Much of the Doctor’s usual bravado having evaporated he timidly said, “No reason.”

“Ha!” Simon shouted.

Returning to normal, the Doctor directed his attention to Cathy, “So tell me Lady Catherine, are you ready to begin?”

“Not even on a bet!”

Stella interrupted, “But she’s going to do it anyway.”

“Good, good,” said the Doctor.

Cathy stared at Stella and hissed, “Thanks ever so much for your help…not!”

As the Doctor looked at various dials and gauges on the console, Simon went over to Cathy and took her in his arms. She melted into his embrace and asked, “What are we going to do?” Simon didn’t say anything in response, but just continued to hold and comfort her while her mind spun at breakneck speed.

The Doctor went to the main entrance doors and opened them, allowing everyone to see that they were once again where they had begun their journey. “Right, the first order of business is to get in touch with this Des character and see if he’s still interested in doing the documentary.”

Simon offered, “That’s simple enough. I’ll give him a call. I think it’s safe to say he’s probably still interested.”

“Yes, but is that in the show or your fiancé?” interjected Stella.

“A bit of both, I’d say,” commented Simon.

“I still don’t know about all this,” whined Cathy. “Here I was hoping to live a simple life doing my research and…” she allowed the thought to trail off unfinished.

“Cathy,” urged the Doctor. “This is just an extension of your research.”

“Hardly,” retorted Cathy. “My little furry creatures are my research. All the rest of this?”

“Catherine, if the rest of this as you put it isn’t done, your furry little creatures won’t be around anymore for you to study.”

“That doesn’t make it any easier, you know.”

The Doctor took a gentler tone, “I know. But if something is important, it’s rarely easy. Is it?”

Simon cleared his throat and said, “I’m going to step outside to make that call to Des.” He then went through the door with Stella following close behind.

“Doctor?” Cathy began tentatively. “Why me?”

“Why you indeed,” the Doctor retorted. “You have the scientific credentials for your word to carry some weight. You are an attractive young woman.”

“Well…” interrupted Cathy.

“Yes I know, I know,” commented the Doctor. “You are about to be wed to a nobleman, which gives you some celebrity. And most of all, you’ve proven yourself to be of exemplary character under fire. In short, there is no one better suited to the task.”

“I still don’t know,” she countered. “What happens when my secret gets out? Won’t that undo everything we’re working toward?”

“That’s why you need to be preemptive on this point.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, although she thought she might already know.

“I mean tell the world yourself before someone else does it for you.”

“I don’t think I can,” she sighed.

“Of course you can, Mua ’dib.”

“Gee, I’ve never been called a mouse shadow before,” Cathy giggled.

“Yes well, it does seem to work a lot better as a science fiction novel.”

Stella overheard the conversation and asked, “What do you mean?”

The Doctor sighed before saying, “Let’s just say Frank played a little loose and fast with the facts.”

Cathy looked stunned as she replied, “What? You mean the whole ‘Dune’ series is true?”

“Not the whole thing,” the Doctor said.

“It can’t be,” a bewildered Stella added.

“Well, that’s sort of why he came back in time to publish. In the future when it was written they thought it was a load of rubbish.”

Simon came back into the Tardis saying, “Everything is lined up. We will meet Des at the Beeb this afternoon to do an interview where we’ll tell the world all about you, then you’ll start pre-production on the first of what he hopes will be many installments.”

“We?” asked Cathy skeptically.

“You didn’t think I was going to let you go through all this alone did you?” asked Simon. Cathy headed straight for Simon who then took her into a gentle hug.

“This is happening quite fast, “Cathy said on the verge of hyperventilating.

Before they realized what was happening, the Doctor had closed the door and begun manipulating the controls once again. The column came to life for a brief moment, then came to rest for a second at which point the Cameron’s car appeared in the control room.

After another round of button pushing and lever pulling, the Tardis again came to life. This time when it came to rest, the auto no longer appeared in the Tardis and following yet another quick jump the Doctor made his way to the door.

Stella asked, “What was that all about? What happened to the car?”

“I brought it with us. Thought you might need it,” said the Doctor as he led the way outside.

When they exited the Tardis they found themselves in Bristol at the BBC studio. Standing waiting by the door was Des with a huge grin beaming from within his beard.

As the troupe approached, Des said, “Cathy! Great to see you again.”

Simon said dryly, “Good to see you too, Des.”

Ignoring his friend, Des led the group into the studio where they would be shooting the interview. As they waited for the crew to finish up their preparations, the Doctor led Cathy aside for a moment.

“I should probably tell you, I haven’t been entirely truthful with you,” he confessed.

“What, like that wasn’t the future?”

“No, that bit was true,” he stated. “It actually has nothing to do with what we’ve discussed thus far.”

“What? And is it relevant?”

“In a manner of speaking,” he muttered. Then he spoke a little more clearly, though still quiet enough to prevent others from hearing, “You see, when I was a student I made this horrendous mistake in my astrophysics class one day and destroyed the planet Glis Minor.”

He paused before continuing, “I felt rather guilty about this, so I borrowed a Tardis and went there just before the end and collected as many of the indigenous beings as I could. The planet was inhabited exclusively by these little rodents, so there I was with all these mice running around the ship. I searched for a planet with an identical ecology and found it here, in England.”

Cathy interrupted, “Are you telling me what I think you are?”

“Yes,” he admitted. “Dormice were originally of non-Terran origin. I still feel rather guilty about what I did to their home world, so when I found that they were in trouble here I had to come help.”

“So all my research is for nothing?” Cathy asked, starting to feel a tightening in her chest.

The Doctor said more loudly than he intended, “Not at all.” Then in a lower voice, “Your work has been of great interest to me. That’s why I’m here. It was your work that brought their plight to my attention.”

To be continued…