At the End of the Road

by Ghost Note Pony

Chapter 2

Daniel blinked. "The Doctor? Doctor of what?"

"Oh, anything I need to be," she said as she walked inside. "Lovely house this is, I can see your mum everywhere in it. Is this your fam?"

"Um, yes..this is.."

"Dr. Sheridan, lovely to meet you..and you must be Zoe. I heard all about you from your Gram," said the Doctor, smiling warmly at Daniel's wife and daughter. Criosa narrowed her eyes, folding her arms.

"Doctor of anything, you say..does that include veterinary medicine?" she said evenly. The Doctor shrugged as she walked briskly over to the couch and glanced at the envelope.

"Oh good, you've read the letter. Right. Let's get going, then." Criosa held up a finger, throwing a sideways glare at her husband.

"Not so fast. What makes you think we're going to go along with you, no questions asked, just based on some trick letter?" she said disdainfully. "I'm supposed to believe some middle-aged woman dressed in off-brand hipster..whatever..is a doctor of anything 'she needs to be' and is going to lead us to my husband's father, a man who was lost at sea before his son was born and who supposedly traveled through.. time..with my mother-in-law but was never mentioned by her at all until this..letter arrived right after her funeral." She fixed the Doctor with a withering scowl. "I don't buy it..you're a total fraud." Daniel wasn't used to seeing someone else as the recipient of his wife's ire, but it was just as unnerving.

The Doctor sighed and shook her head gently. "A bit of skepticism can be useful in the right places, but right now is not the time. You just need some evidence, that's all. Right. Now, let's discuss the anatomical significance of the.."

Zoe tapped her dad's shoulder. He leaned down to listen to her, noting in passing how much taller she'd gotten in the last few months. "This is going to take a while, isn't it?"

Daniel nodded. "You know how your mother gets." He listened to the conversation, marveling at the Doctor's breadth and width of knowledge of his profession and how rapidly she could lecture upon it. Criosa's face was steadily falling even as she interjected the most complicated questions he had ever heard from her only to have the Doctor comprehensively answer them without the slightest hesitation. Zoe had gone to the window and was looking quizzically through it.

"Dad, there's a..huge blue thing on the porch..it says..'Police Public Call Box' on it?!"

"What?" Daniel said quietly. He stood up and walked over to her. When he first saw it, he thought like he was looking at an impossibility..how could the Doctor have carried this onto the porch by herself? It looked too bulky and heavy for even a very strong individual to move any significant distance. The feeling of familiarity that he had been experiencing ever since she arrived seemed even stronger now.

He walked over to the front door and opened it, looking out at the front of the house. He could see the driveway and front yard which were illuminated by a strong light at the top of an old, slightly rusted antenna tower next to the house. He didn't see any footmarks or any other indications of an object being dragged through the grass or the gravel. The air was rank with the scent of rain and he saw a far off flash of lightning but otherwise, the weather was calm. He took a step outside and turned towards the blue..thing..on the porch, his mind racing as he tried to figure out some angle he had missed, something obvious that he just couldn't think of at the moment. He gazed at the object, trying and failing to find anything rational about its presence.

"Hey Dad, I think they're just about finished," said Zoe, breaking his reverie.

"Oh..oh, thank you, Zo," said Daniel. He took a breath and stepped back inside. His wife was standing, looking rather crestfallen while the Doctor had taken a seat on the couch. She had gotten out part of his mother's tea set and was drinking from a teacup. Smells like chamomile..my mom's favorite.

Criosa shook her head slowly and said "Well, you have more knowledge and experience by far than any other vet I've ever known. I'm..willing to believe that you're more than qualified to call yourself one. Everything else you've said seems impossible, though."

"'Oh day and night, but this is wondrous strange! And therefore as a stranger give it welcome. There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy,'" said the Doctor as she finished her tea. "Oh, that's lovely. Now, then, let's be off."

"Yes Doctor, we've all read Hamlet," said Criosa with a hint of irritation. "So where are you taking us? Do you know where his father is, somehow?"

"I think you should all sit down for this, to be honest," said the Doctor. She put down her teacup and stood up. Almost before they knew it, Daniel and his family were sitting together on the couch. "Right. Now, this is one of the things your mother didn't tell you, Daniel." She paused. "Your father is from another world entirely. I don't know if he's alive or not right now, but he's not on Earth."

There was a long silence. I...must have misheard her somehow, with that accent, Daniel thought. Otherwise, that statement is absolutely preposterous. He turned as his wife suddenly burst out with a loud, raucous laugh.

"I'm sorry, Doctor..honestly, you are the most brilliant person I've ever met and I'm sure that you could somehow find a way to locate my husband's father on this planet. But to say that he's..an alien of some kind?" she said with a wide, fallacious grin. "I've heard there's a thin line between genius and insanity..and it looks like you crossed it a long time ago." Her smiling countenance instantly vanished and was replaced with a cold stare.

The Doctor shrugged and said, "Well, that's not the first time I've been accused of such..won't be the last, either." She leaned forward, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly. "Now, I could persuade you otherwise with a few words, but I know that you won't be satisfied without some empirical evidence." She motioned to the door. "Daniel, I saw that you took a peep at m'TARDIS just a bit ago. Not surprised..your mum and the TARDIS got along really smashingly," she said wistfully.

"TARDIS? What is that supposed to be?" said Criosa, shaking her head ruefully.

"Cri, it's the..ah, blue box that's sitting on the front porch right now..it's..um, how she got here. Somehow," Daniel said, a bit sheepishly.

Criosa gave him a dubious glance. "A blue box. Really."

"Yes, it's right there," he said, turning and pointing, "And I don't know how she got it there..or what those noises were just before she arrived, but I think we should take a look..why not?" She glared at him for a long, uncomfortable moment, then sighed and stood up.

"Fine..let's go see this TARDIS..whatever..thing." The Doctor had already started for the door. Before Daniel could follow, Criosa beckoned him and Zoe over. "This is likely a trick..keep your eyes open," she said in a low hiss. Before either her husband or daughter could respond, she was already walking swiftly towards the porch; the Doctor had left the door open.

"Ah good, you're all here," said the Doctor when they all got outside a few moments later. "So, this is m'TARDIS," she said, gesturing to the blue box. "With her, I can go anywhere in space and time," she said proudly.

"Right...sure...." said Criosa under her breath. Daniel gave her a caustic look and took a step forward.

"So..this is what you and my mom were traveling in?" Even if she's right somehow how could something like this...be capable of something that extraordinary..?

The Doctor nodded. "Quite right, Daniel. There's definitely more to her than you might think." Daniel looked more closely and saw there was a double door, the left side of which had a black placard with white lettering; all he could make out on it was "Police Telephone Free For Use of Public" and "Pull to Open" on the bottom. The Doctor opened the rightmost door and gestured. "Let's go inside, now. Everything you'll need for our journey is in there."

Daniel and his family looked inside the TARDIS, all of them focusing intently. Daniel shook his head..he knew he had been there before..it made no sense at all, but it felt like home. He took another step and gazed more deeply into it.

He fell to one knee with an instant, massive headache. "What..what the.." he said, gasping loudly. The Doctor shook her head and quickly stepped over to help him up.

"Don't look at it too closely until you're inside, Daniel..you might lose yourself otherwise," she said in a far more serious tone than anything he'd heard from her previously. Daniel nodded and looked away, towards the still and dark woods.

"What are you talking about?" said Criosa. "All I see in there is a wall with an old-fashioned phone; why you are freaking out about that?"

"I don't see that, Mom," said Zoe, leaning forward. "It looks like..I don't know..everything's in there..all creation or something..and it's telling us to come inside."

"Zozo, that's absolute nonsense..you know better than to say things like that," said Criosa, frowning. The Doctor, though, smiled approvingly.

"She's a lot closer to the truth than you think. Now, Daniel..I think you're going to have to close your eyes to get in. I'll guide you."

Daniel looked back at his family. Zoe was nodding encouragingly while Criosa's face was oscillating between indignation and resignation. "Okay..let's go," he said, closing his eyes. He felt the Doctor's surprisingly firm yet cold hand guiding him forward over the creaky boards of the porch he and his mom had spent so much time together on..especially in the summer evenings, drinking lemonade and watching the fireflies after getting all the animals in.

"Right. Mind your step," the Doctor said as they entered. Daniel immediately felt very warm, welcomed, and loved. Gemütlichkeit..that's it. That's what I'm feeling.. The surface felt odd under his formal shoes but solid enough to walk on.

"You can open your eyes now, Daniel," the Doctor said. He slowly did so and gasped, taking a step back involuntarily. He quickly turned around and saw the other side of the entrance to the TARDIS inset in a giant wall with interwoven hexagons. Just before that were more hexagons surrounding an irregularly shaped archway. He turned again and gaped in astonishment at the center of the large, unimaginable space he found himself in.

There were two concentric circles elevated about the floor upon which he stood; the outermost one had a deep blue floor with inlaid hexagons at its cardinal points along with white horizontal lines between them. The inner one was elevated slightly above its companion and had six large golden wooden structures that resembled crooked fingers all around its perimeter; a seventh one rose from the very center, ringed with a riotous array of wires, devices, and contraptions that Daniel couldn't make any sense of.

The rim of each circle had an intricate set of similarly indecipherable runes on them. All of this was enclosed by an extensive cluster of towering blue, seemingly crystalline hexagons, fading to a golden color at their base.

"So, what do you think?" said the Doctor, her voice full of pride.

"I...um...the.." Daniel said, feeling genuinely dumbfounded for the first time in many years. Then, a thought came to him. "The..interior is incongruous with the exterior..?!"

The Doctor laughed, clapping her hands. "Well, that's a different way of putting it. Right, let's get your fam in here and be on our way." She turned and walked vigorously towards the entrance. "Zoe, Dr. Sheridan, you can come in now," she said, calling through the open door.

Zoe ran in enthusiastically and stopped suddenly. Her eyes widened and her mouth fell agape in wonder. "Dad! This..this...is..AMAZING!" she said gleefully. "Why didn't Grandma tell us about this? We wouldn't have told anyone!" she said, gesturing wildly. "I can't believe she was riding around in..in this!"

"Well, not exactly," said the Doctor, smiling. "The TARDIS changes as I do. I didn't look like I do now when I knew your Gram, actually."

"What do you mean by that, Doctor?" said Daniel. At this point, he didn't know how many more shocks he could take but he was also ready to believe almost anything.

The Doctor was about to respond but was interrupted by the sound of heavy footfalls. They all turned to see Criosa stomping inside, her head down. "I don't know what kind of smoke and mirrors you've got going on here, but it's a very impressive...illusion.." she said as she looked up. She halted and her eyes widened as she looked all around. In all the years that Daniel had known his wife, he had never seen her look this shocked or bewildered. She started gasping rapidly, putting her hand on her chest.

"Well, Dr. Sheridan..is this sufficient evidence for you?" said the Doctor gently.

"I...I...I'm starting to believe..this..this is too much," she said, breathing heavily. Daniel ran to her side and put an arm around her shoulders, but she waved him off and took a few deep breaths.

"I just have one question, Doctor. Why us? Why us when you have..all of this?" she said dejectedly, gesturing around her. "You can go anywhere and any..when, and you're spending your time with dumb humans like us?"

"Criosa," the Doctor said sharply. "I don't want to hear you calling yourselves dumb or stupid or any such rubbish. I know very well all the good and evil, the compassion and the cruelty and everything in between that humans have done..and will do." She paused, tapping her chin rapidly. "What year is this, actually?"

"2019," said Daniel and his family in unison. The Doctor looked astonished for a split second before resuming her usual expression.

"Oh..oh dear..right, anyway, humanity as a whole has such..massive, wonderful potential in the long term..provided you get there. I've had many human companions before, actually. And, not to brag or anything, but I've also saved this planet from invasion or destruction on..quite a few occasions," she said, her tone bittersweet.

"So..extraterrestrials are real," said Daniel slowly. And apparently, my father is one, he thought before fearfully dismissing that particular idea. "But why would aliens want to go after this particular planet..which is, as I'm sure you know far better than any of us, extremely insignificant on the cosmic scale?"

The Doctor paused. "They have their reasons..just as I have mine. Right. Let's get ready to go."

"But where are we going?" said Criosa in a subdued manner. "And if you are an alien as well, why do you look so much like us?" The Doctor smiled and started walking towards the console at the center.

"She was right about you..so many questions..well, my physiology is quite different; the main points of interest are that I have two hearts and a much lower body temperature, to put it briefly. As to where we're going," she said as she started rapidly adjusting levers and flicking switches, "That's something else you'll have to see for yourself."

She ran to the other side of the console, turning knobs and peering into what looked like monitors from Daniel's perspective. "Oh, right, before I forget..don't worry about your practice or Zoe missing school or anything like that. No matter how long it takes to find your father, it'll be tomorrow morning when we come back. Right," she said with a grin. "All's ready."

Daniel tried to take a few deep breaths but his heart was racing as he frantically pondered the situation. His mother had accompanied a time-traveling alien for an unspecified amount of time. During that time, she had met his father. He must have been from another humanoid species that they encountered..otherwise, I could never have passed for human..assuming this is all somehow true. Heh, it's no wonder that DNA test couldn't determine anything about my paternal origins, he thought, a bemused expression on his face.

"Doctor?" said Zoe, looking around. "Where are we going to sit when you blast off..or whatever it is the TARDIS does?"

"Well, we're not going to blast off," said the Doctor thoughtfully. "No need to..and I don't think the TARDIS would like that if I tried. Instead, after you're all in bed, I'm going to throw this lever here," she said, quickly pointing to it, "and when you wake up..we'll be there."

"And..where are we going to sleep?" said Criosa, glancing about. "This floor doesn't look all that comfortable."

"Oh no, that would be rude of me," said the Doctor, folding her arms. "Perish the thought. No, your bedrooms are down that corridor over there," she said, quickly pointing to their right as she made a few more minute adjustments.

"Oh..alright. Thank you, Doctor," said Criosa, walking in that direction. "I am rather tired, come to think of it," she said under her breath. She covered her mouth as she walked, yawning loudly. Daniel looked at his daughter and she seemed to be just as exhausted. She followed her mother while yawning and stretching.

"Good night, Doctor!" she said over her shoulder.

"Good night, dear," said the Doctor. "I'll be here in the morning." Daniel had so many more questions to ask, but he abruptly felt more fatigued than he could ever remember feeling. He trailed after his family, mumbling something resembling "Good night" to the Doctor.

The entrance to the corridor was hexagonal and completely dark, but as they entered, it seemed to shift and turn into the hallway in the upper level of his mother's house. Daniel started and turned around; there was only the same darkness behind him.

"This is so weird, Dad," said Zoe, groggily. "This has to be a dream.."

"Well..let's just get in our beds and go to sleep..might be the only way to wake up..and escape.." said Criosa. They continued towards the bedrooms, Daniel marveling at how accurate the decor was along with how the floorboards creaked in the same places.

He and Criosa entered his old bedroom, exactly as it was when they had gotten up this morning, except for their pajamas, which were neatly laid out on the bed.

"Mom? Dad?" said Criosa from the guest room across the hall. "Do I need to brush my teeth, too?"

"No, Zozo, just go to sleep..we'll see you in the morning. Good night, we love you," Criosa said absently as she quickly changed into the muted long-sleeved shirt and yoga pants that were on the bed. Daniel was quite glad to take off his formal wear as well and put on a blue t-shirt and pajama pants. Without a word, Criosa slipped under the covers and snoring quietly within a few seconds.

I guess she figured this wasn't worth talking about anymore. Well, we'll just wake up tomorrow morning and it'll all be over.. he thought as he sat on the bed, turned off the lamp, and put his phone in its usual spot on the nightstand. He then did the same with his wedding ring as he got under the warm flannel sheets and feather comforter.

He was asleep before he knew it.

When he awoke after a deep and dreamless rest, the room was still dark. That's strange, he thought. Although, we did go to bed rather early last night..when did we go to bed, anyway? He glanced over at the digital clock that had been in this room since he was in elementary school, but it was blank. What, did another storm roll through here and knock out the power? He reached for his phone, but knocked it to the floor; it hit the carpet with a subdued thump. What the..my hand feels really weird..like..something's missing. He shut his eyes tightly and tried to go back to sleep.

An indeterminate amount of time later, he sighed and opened his eyes. Well, she's still sleeping, somehow, he thought, glancing over at his wife in the very dim light. Something looked odd about her hair, though..it seemed like it was a far brighter shade of red than it normally looked. He rolled back over, wondering why his body felt so much smaller than normal..and why his hair felt so much longer. And why does it also feel like there's something..hairy attached to my rear?

He snorted and sighed. I need to figure this out..I'll go to the bathroom and turn the light on in there. He tried to gently take his covers off and eventually managed to after several attempts. I can't feel my fingers at all..what is going on.. He tried to sit up and unceremoniously fell off the bed. He groaned as softly as he could, listening intently. Criosa stopped snoring for a moment and it sounded like she was moving around a bit. Then, with what sounded like a soft whinny, she resumed her slumber.

OK..next problem. Why aren't my legs working correctly, either? Did I have a stroke or some other neurological episode while I was sleeping? Could it be botulism? He thought for a few moments, then shook his head. No..none of the symptoms match. He slowly tried to stand up again and managed to prop his hands on the bed, but when he let go and tried to turn and walk, he lost his balance and fell heavily on all fours.

This is like nothing I've ever read about..this has to be a dream or a dream within a dream..or a lucid one..perhaps it all started when the Doctor arrived.. He took a few breaths and tried to orient himself.

Okay..the bathroom should be straight ahead. If I have to get there while walking on my hands, then so be it; no one's here to watch. To his surprise, he found that he could move quite easily while doing so. The bathroom door was slightly ajar and he was able to push it open with whatever was masquerading as his hand.

He walked in and shut the door behind him, hoping the click of the latch bolt would be sufficiently quiet. When the door was closed, he went to the leftmost wall and propped his left arm against it. Then, he tried reaching for the switch with his other limb, hoping he could push it up from the bottom. After a few tries, he was able to flick it on and let himself down.

The recessed lights activated and he winced from the sudden glare. He found himself looking at the wall as he opened his eyes..the whole room seemed significantly larger to him compared to yesterday. OK..time to see what happened to my hands. He took a deep breath and looked down.

Instead of arms and hands, his extremities resembled that of the forelimbs and hooves of a horse. He snorted disgustedly as he turned his right hoof over and looked clinically at it. If I'm going to dream I have horse limbs, how could I screw up the anatomy this badly? He took a few steps over to the sink and pulled himself up on the countertop. While his rear legs couldn't quite touch the floor, he was able to get enough of his front knees onto the surface to support himself.

He slowly lifted his head and then gasped in terror. He still had his light blue eyes, but his blond hair was now a striking shade of yellow..and had become a mane. He slowly glanced over his shoulder to see that he had a tail, colored the same shade as his mane; there also seemed to be strange markings on his hindquarters. He looked back into the mirror and saw that the rest of his body was now a vibrant blue. His ears seemed close enough to a horse's, but the muzzle and general shape of his head were not close to being accurate.

Wait..why do I have a horn on my forehead? I'm...a unicorn?! He started breathing rapidly and tried to pinch himself with his hooves but had no luck. Okay..I can still work the faucet...wake up...wake up...wake up.. He pushed the handle up and to the right with a hoof and then ran both of his forelegs through the stream of cold water.

He didn't wake up.

He splashed the water on his face.

He didn't wake up.

He stopped the water and took a deep breath. There was a brief silence.

He began to scream.

Author's Note:

Version 1.0