LANE CHANGE: Chapter Two of a Daria/Doctor Who crossover

Perpetrated by: Ranger Thorne

Grumbling, Jane flung open the door and marched into the house. She almost snarled at the two people who came out of the kitchen to see what was going on.

"Jane, what's wrong?" Quinn asked.

"What's wrong?" Jane shot back as she turned to glare. "Do you know how fast the Earth is moving under us?"

"About a thousand miles an hour on its axis," Quinn calmly answered, "and about a hundred thousand around the sun. Why?"

"Can you feel it?"

After a glance at Trent, Quinn looked back at her and nodded. "Yeah, if I think about it. Why?"

"I felt it today," Jane answered. "Or rather, I started feeling it today. Just as I was about to start class."

"Started feeling it?"

"Are you okay, Janey?" Trent asked. "You look a little green."

"Spent the last couple of hours puking my guts out." Setting her briefcase next to the stairs, Jane shook her head before saying, "I'm sorry I'm snippy but they made me take a cab home in case I got dizzy and passed out again."

"You passed out?"

"Would you please stop it with the questions," Jane requested. "Between the spinning of the planet and the spinning in my stomach I just want to lie down for a while."

"Okay," Quinn agreed.

"Sure," chimed in Trent.

"Great. Hey, if I feel up to it we can go out for dinner tonight. My treat."

"Actually I'll have to skip that," Quinn told her.

"Oh?"

"Yeah." Smiling a little, she said, "I'm going to be testing the new time rotor system."

"Really?" Jane smiled back. "I thought you couldn't get it to work."

"I think I can get a couple of trips out of it in its current state. So," Quinn held out a hand, "I'm going to see if I can get a signal or some kind of clue to where there might be a wrecked or damaged TARDIS." The smile faded. "I'm hoping I can do something like an organ transplant and find a working time manifold that'll fit."

"Then go to Decelaraptinguildintshtad."

"What?" Quinn and Trent asked in unison.

"Decelaraptinguildintshtad." Seeing the confusion, Jane explained, "When the Doctor was here he said that's where he woke up. He said there were a lot of wrecked TARDISes on the planet. If there's a chance you can get the part you need it's there."

"Decelaraptinguildintshtad." Quinn nodded. "Great. Hey, you want to come with me? I could use the extra hands. And besides," she smirked, "the TARDIS feels a lot more stable than a planet when you're feeling it spin."

"Hmm, lie in bed and feel the planet spin or get off of it so I don't feel it spin." Smirking, Jane nodded and said, "I'll go with the not spinning, thank you. Just don't get us lost."

"Never happen," Quinn promised.

The smirk widened as Jane asked, "Where have I heard that before?"

======

Jane stepped into the bedroom a half hour later and pulled the key from her pocket. She had changed into a pair of jeans, her old boots and T-shirt from high school with an oversized red smock. As she stepped inside the wardrobe , Jane noticed Quinn was already at the consol and dressed in her now-usual outfit of black shoes, blue jeans, a dark pink high necked shirt and a black Eisenhower-style jacket.

Looking around the room, the only difference Jane could make out was the time rotors. Instead of a clear tube extending all the way down it was now translucent with four red LED light trails running along the outside. The lights were blinking in a sequence equal to the faint sound that vaguely reminded Jane of a heartbeat. There was a difference to that as well, she realized. A digital 'woo' had been added, now giving the TARDIS' 'heartbeat' a digital touch.

"I've been checking the system," Quinn was saying as she touched the controls, "and Decelaraptinguildintshtad is within range."

"You never said what was still wrong," Jane pointed out. "Something about a time manifold?"

"That's what it's called, but it's more of a capacitor," Quinn told her absently. "It holds temporal energy until the TARDIS slips into the time stream, when it releases it. Then," she moved around to a few more of the stations as she spoke, "when you rematerialize it absorbs a lot of energy back." She looked up and smiled. "We only need it to hold on while we dematerialize. It'll probably fail before we get there."

"So why is there a certain range?"

"Safely measure. If we go too far away it might cause a cascade failure and cause something we need to rematerialze to fail." Quinn looked up at the rotors as she ran a hand over the controls. "Come on, boy. You can do this." She looked at Jane to see that the older woman was smirking at her. "What?"

Decelaraptinguildintshtad's sky was a deep purple, with the blue sun barely above the horizon. The hill overlooking the ocean was dotted with a few large rocks, bare ground and cubes of various sizes. Along the beach below were a few blue boxes. Out on the horizon a large cube rose out of the water. One corner of it appeared to be eroding away. Every few seconds a black spark seemed to rise from it only to fade a few seconds later. Up the hill and away from the beach, the hills hid what was on the other side.

The quiet was broken by the sound of Quinn's TARDIS making its appearance. After a few seconds the wardrobe settled into existence and was silent.

Quinn exited with a shaky-looking Jane close behind. Looking over her shoulder, Jane asked, "Is your TARDIS stuck like the Doctors's?"

"Huh?" Seeing that Jane was staring at the TARDIS' shape, she smiled a little as she explained, "No, I just have a default setting. Sometimes I want my TARDIS to stand out. And a large wooden wardrobe really does. Especially on a planet with nothing else on it." Turning her back to the ocean, Quinn began to walk. "Come on, the sensors detected a TARDIS over the hill that should have the right parts." Looking down she added, "And I don't want to be here any more than I have to be."

Jane walked along behind Quinn so that she could look around. Noticing the cubes, she knelt down and lifted a few of them in her hands. One disintegrated, leaving nothing behind. Another, however, seemed to pulse with a faint light.

"Would you come on?"

"Sorry." Standing, Jane slipped the cube into her pocket and hurried to catch up.

======

Deep in the heart of the TARDIS, the Cloister Room was dark as the partially revealed orb imbedded in the floor in the center of the room sat quiet. Then, with a flare of light, flames appeared on torches along the walls. A shudder went through the room along with the sound of metal being stressed beyond its limit as the orb suddenly parted far enough for a withered hand to grasp onto its edge and begin to claw its way free.

======

"Where's the rest of it?" Jane asked Quinn as they stood before the open TARDIS. From where they were standing it looked as if something had ripped most of the control room off of the ship and left the rest behind. All of the control surfaces were gone, leaving only a part of the floor before the hallway.

"It's dead," Quinn told her with a shaky voice. When Jane looked at her she was surprised to see unshed tears in her eyes. "This TARDIS lost its pilot and its heart has died. It's slowly integrating with this universe, which means it's dissolving."

"Why is it dissolving?"

Quinn was angry as she looked over toward Jane, then stopped as she saw the confusion. "Sorry. Just." She looked away. "A TARDIS isn't made with steel and wire. It's made of mathematics and what can only be described as good intentions I guess. That's why they have to stay in their own little dimension."

"Mathematics can't have a solid form in our universe," Jane realized with a nod. "So as they become part of our world they lose their physical form."

Now surprised, Quinn looked at her again. "It took me over a month to understand that."

"You gotta pick up stuff like this if you hang around with Daria," Jane explained.

"I guess. This way." Heading off into the depths of the dead ship, she wait to see if Jane was following.

"I wonder if this is a TARDIS, too?" Jane asked as she pulled the small cube from her pocket. There was a small spark, causing Jane to flinch and drop it. As she watched, the cube bounced onto the floor of the TARDIS and began to pulse. Before Jane could retrieve it, the cube melted away, seemingly absorbed by the floor.

"Jane!" Came Quinn's voice from the corridor.

"Coming!" she called back. With a final glance to where the cube had been, Jane headed into the ship.

======

"I can't believe this thing looks like a plastic sheet," Jane complained as she carried the rolled-up part under her arm. "And I also can't believe how small this hall got back there." Glancing down, she could see the dust on her knees.

"I still think it was smaller when I went through it earlier," Quinn commented. Another identical part was under her arm as well. "And these aren't really plastic sheets. It's just that they've lost part of what makes them real. We'll have to let them sit for a while before we can install them. I just hope one of them is still good."

"So that's why you got two of them," Jane said as she glanced back over her shoulder. "So we're going to be here a while?" she added.

"Yeah. Probably a good thing, too. It'll give me time to fix that mess in the control room."

"Just promise me the rest of the ship won't explode on the way home, okay?"

"One little fireball and now you're scared."

Rolling her eyes, Jane turned back as they came out of the corridor. "Oh, right, like I'm not suposed to . . . be . . ." her voice trailed away as she looked around. "I thought this thing was dead."

"It is," Quinn confirmed.

"So why is it growing back?"

"It can't be. But," she let the rest of the sentence die as she looked around. Most of the consol room had regrown in the short time they had been deeper in the ship. The consol now sat in the center, with a few lights dimly lit. The walls had reformed, with square panels and recessed circles. As she watched, Quinn saw the edges of the doors start to form. "Uh oh." Moving past Jane, she said, "I don't know how this thing will respond if we try to take parts out of it while it's alive, so we should go."

"But," Jane didn't move as the redhead exited, "it says it's okay with it."

Quinn stopped in the doorway and looked back. "Come on, Jane!"

"Okay, okay, I'm coming." As she went through the door, Jane felt something in the pocket of her smock but was too distracted to find out what it was.

======

"Quinn," Jane protested as they came over the hill and saw the wardrobe, "I'm telling you that thing spoke to me."

"I'm not saying it didn't," Quinn argued, "but why would it okay us taking parts out of it? I still think it was a trap of some kind."

"So I'm a scardy-cat because there was a fireball on your TARDIS but the fact that another TARDIS spoke to me means there's something wrong?"

"You're making my head hurt," Quinn complained. "Look, how about we put these parts in the TARDIS then we can go back and look, okay? I'd almost bet it's back the way it was before. You go in and if you're not careful you get trapped inside."

"So you think the TARDIS is eating people now? You're getting paranoid." After making her statement Jane sped up, leaving the redhead behind.

"And you're," she began only to stop. "Never mind."

======

Somehow, Jane knew where they were inside the TARDIS. It surprised her that she had never gotten lost on it as she had when the Doctor had taken her and Daria home from that planet they'd accidently landed on. But not on this one, and she'd been deeper in it that she had been the other.

The two sheets had already stiffened and started to grow, now over five feet tall, seven feet long and three inches thick. Quinn had maneuvered one so that it would grow into its proper position, with the other going into a nearby storeroom. "It'll be a while yet," she informed Jane.

"Good," came the cool reply.

"I'm going to be working up in the control room."

"I think I'll wait here."

Shaking her head, Quinn walked away muttering, "Now that's an adult behavior for you."

Jane glared at the other woman's back until she was gone. "She's right," came the admission. "I don't know why it would bother me so much. I just," she paused to shrug, "feel a little protective for some reason." With a sigh she turned and headed up the corridor. "Quinn, wait."

"What?" the redhead snapped as she turned and crossed her arms.

"I'm sorry about being snippy. I guess I'm just a little jealous of all this."

"Jealous?"

"Yeah. I mean, I spent ten years getting my doctorate, but you learned more than I ever will in five. And now you've got this," Jane gestured around them to indicated the TARDIS, "and all I can think about is how I'll never get the chance to know what it's like."

Quinn chuckled once before she leaned against the wall. "Jane, the Prydonian Academy was on a planet not entirely in regular space/time. Every month I spent there was about the same as three on Earth." Smirking, she added, "That's why I was so tired all the time."

"Three months?" Jane's eyes widened as she thought. "But that would mean you should have aged fifteen years."

"Temporal mechanics are not, like, my best subject," Quinn admitted, "but I think it has something to do with Gallifrey being only partially in a different space/time continuum." With a shake of her head, Quinn blew out a gust of air and said, "Trying to figure it out gives me a migraine. All I know is that you age at the same rate as outside the planet while inside you do three times as much." Her expression soured. "Or you did until the war."

"Yeah, now that is something I do not envy you about," Jane told her. "The Doctor said you were a hero, but there wasn't anyone around to give you a medal."

"I don't want a medal, I want my sister back," Quinn growled. She looked away for a second before saying, "Sorry."

"Hey, I'm in total agreement. You know, Quinn, you're very different than you used to be." Jane gave her a slight smile. "I guess you grew up."

"Being shot at can do that to you." Chuckling, she looked up the corridor. "Let's fix the TARDIS so we can get home."

"I'm with you on that. I'm getting hungry."

======

"Uh, Jane?" came Quinn's voice out of the hole she had climbed into a minute earlier.

"Yeah?"

"You didn't by any chance come down here and do some repairs, did you?" A familiar mane of red hair was visible before her head came up through the hole. Looking at Jane, who was leaning against the consol, she said, "Someone's been working down here."

"Doesn't the TARDIS do some repairs on its own?" Jane asked as she stood up and moved closer.

"Those look different," Quinn explained. "This looks like someone was fixing things by hand. It's very neatly done but it's not the work of the ship."

Leaning over, Jane rested her hands on her knees. "But aren't we the only ones on the ship?"

"Unless we have a stowaway somehow." Pulling herself up so she could sit on the side of the hole, Quinn looked up and said, "TARDIS, how many people are aboard?" When there was no response, she frowned. "TARDIS, please respond."

"I take it it's supposed to say something?" Jane asked as she straightened and looked around.

"The voice recognition system should have given me an answer." Standing, Quinn moved to the center console. As she checked the controls, she told Jane, "It looks like the voice command program has been terminated." Looking up, she added, "This wasn't an accident."

"Someone else is on here with us?" Jane asked, suddenly very nervous.

"Yes," came an unfamiliar voice from the corridor, "but not just anyone." The figure was wearing a hooded robe that hid his features, but the hand that was stretched out with a weapon of a kind Jane didn't recognize was withered and gray. "I am the Master."

"Daria mentioned you," Jane said.

"Daria?" The voice carried menace. "The Doctor's grandchild? You know her?"

"Knew," Jane corrected. "She and the rest of the Time Lords are gone."

"As you're supposed to be," Quinn chimed in. "The Doctor told us you'd, like, been pulled into the Eye of Harmony."

"And I was," he confirmed. "But something has happened to the Eye. It allowed me to claw my way free. Now," he motioned toward the door with the weapon, "while I wouldn't mind killing the both of you, I think I'll leave you both here. That way I'll know where to find you if I need you."

"Need us?" Quinn asked as she complied.

"My life energy is fading," he told her. "But I have a few ideas on where to find more. If they don't work out, however . . ."

"You'll come back and drain us," Jane finished. "No thanks."

"Too bad." The weapon gave off a flash of light as Jane grabbed her shoulder. As she spun to the floor, the Master gestured toward Quinn. "Take her with you or I'll take her head off with the next shot."

"But my TARDIS --"

"Your TARDIS or your life. Now move!"

As Jane gasped in pain, Quinn helped her to her feet and out of the TARDIS. There she carefully set the woman on the ground then turned to face the figure now leaning against the door frame of the wardrobe. "Okay, you win," she said. "We're outside."

Jane struggled to her feet then took a step toward the renegade Time Lord. "Quinn, don't let him take the ship," she hissed.

"You are trouble," the Master told Jane. "I don't have time for trouble." This time the shot caught Jane in the chest, sending her back to land hard on the ground.

"Jane!" Quinn moved to check Jane's neck for a pulse as she heard the door to her TARDIS close behind her. As the sound of the ship reached her ears, her fingers confirmed that Jane Lane was dead.

======

Sitting on the beach, Quinn looked out at the black shape being eroded by physics and the elements. Not having the heart to move her yet, Jane was still up where she had fallen with her hands now crossed over her heart.

"What do I do?" she asked no one. "I can't just sit here. The Master will come back for me, I know it." Her look of concern faded to one of anger. "And he stole my TARDIS! That's like being a horse thief back in Texas. Or it should be, anyway."

With a groan, she crossed her arms over her knees then lowered her head. She wasn't sure how long she stayed that way, only that she held the pose until she noticed a shadow was blocking the sun. Frightened that it might be the Master, she gasped and tried to crawl away until she realized it was another woman.

She had intense blue eyes, with auburn hair swept straight back and reaching down to midway down her shoulder blades. She was pale, with full lips and a lean shape to her face. The shape of her eyebrows and other facial features seemed oddly familiar, but at the moment, she was looking in confusion at the shocked look on Quinn's face.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," the woman said to Quinn. Her alto voice had the barest inflection of a Souther accent.

Seeing that it wasn't the Master, Quinn scrambled to her feet and scowled at her. "I thought you were someone else," she admitted. "Now who are you and what are you doing wearing Jane's clothes?"

The woman's eyes widened as her jaw dropped. "What do you mean 'wearing Jane's clothes?'" she finally asked. "I'm wearing Jane's clothes because I'm Jane!"

"Jane's dead!" Quinn snapped at her.

"Then how am I standing here?" Crossing her arms in front of her, the woman claiming to be Jane looked smug. "Answer that one, princess."

"Princess? I'm not a princess, you, you . . . taker of dead people's clothes!" Scowling, Quinn moved toward her. "Now tell me who you are and how you got here and why you stole her clothes."

The smug look became confusion. "Quinn, what did the Master do to you? I mean, he shot me a couple of times but I guess it was on stun or something. Did it have a confusion setting, too?"

"How do you know my name?" Quinn asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"How do I --" Rubbing her temples, she took a couple of breaths before looking at Quinn once more. "You are Daria's sister. I am Daria's best friend. It only makes sense for me to know just who in the name of Vincent Van Gough you are."

"But I saw you. I mean her, killed," Quinn argued. "He shot you, I mean her, and you had no pulse. And here you stand, but you don't look like yourself or herself and you're still wearing the same clothes that have holes where you I mean she was shot but --"

"Quinn!" When the redhead stopped, 'Jane' went on, "Thank you. Now, what did you say about me not looking like myself?"

"You look different."

"Different? What, my hair a little messed up?"

"No, it's a different color and longer," Quinn answered. "If you're really Jane, your eyes are the same color, but a little different shape. And you're face is more narrow. You kinda look like you're annoyed about something." She didn't say who the woman reminded her of, Quinn wasn't ready for that.

"I think you've been hit with something that's scrambled your brain. But, there's a quick way to prove it. Let's check the ol' hair color." Reaching up, she pulled a length of hair around to where she could see it. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw the auburn lock. "This isn't mine," she said in a whisper. Releasing the hair, she stared at her hand. Instead of the long calloused fingers she was use to, these were almost dainty and more evenly proportioned to her palm. Bringing up the other hand to confirm it, she fell back onto the sand as she continued to stare at them.

"These aren't my hands," she muttered. Looking up at Quinn, she asked, "What happened to me?"

"I don't know," came the admission. "The only thing I can figure is that you must have regenerated. if you're really Jane."

"I'm Jane. Or at least I thought I was." As she climbed back to her feet, she motioned back toward the path she had followed down the hill. "I woke up back where the TARDIS was. The Master took it, didn't he?"

"Yes."

"So how do we get home?" Jane gritted her teeth. "Home. Great. How in the name of Leonardo Di Vinci do I explain this to Trent?" There was a chuckle as she shook her head. "How do I explain it to me, for that matter?"

"Let's worry about surviving the night for right now, okay?"

"I hadn't thought about that," Jane admitted. "Okay, what do you suggest?"

"Um," Quinn thought for a moment, "let's see what we've got to work with." Kneeling, she began to empty her pockets. A ring of keys and her pen. "Now let's see what you've got," she said to Jane.

"Not much, I'm afraid." Searching her pockets, Jane found her wallet, pocket computer, key ring and the key to Quinn's TARDIS. "This isn't going to be much help," Jane said as she added it to the pile. Putting her hands in the pockets of her smock, she stopped. "What's this?" she asked.

"Looks like another key," Quinn observed.

"To what, though? I don't keep keys in my smock. They fall out too easy." Jane looked at it closely. "So where did it . . ." Her eyes widened. "Quinn, when we were in the other TARDIS I thought I felt something in my pocket. Could the TARDIS have put it there?"

"If it did," Quinn replied, "that means that the ship has chosen you for it's pilot."

Jane looked at the redhead and smirked. "You mean I was right?"

"Let's hope so." Grabbing her belongings, Quinn stood. "Let's go see your TARDIS."

======

"It was right here," Jane protested as she looked around them. The ground where the TARDIS had been resting was devoid of any signs that a ship of any kind had rested there. "I know it was."

"So where is it now?" Quinn asked. Looking around, she saw the barren ground, a few small tufts of dead grass, a palm tree and a few rocks. "It should be here."

"You think it could be hiding?" Leaning against the tree, she frowned. "If I had the time I think I'd freak out. When I woke up this morning I knew who Jane Lane was. Now," she counted off on her fingers, "I can feel the planet spinning through space, and yes I feel it here, too, but now it feels natural. Two, I had black hair and, from what you're telling me, a different face. Three, I've been marooned on an alien planet by some evil Time Lord, all of whom are supposed to be gone. And four," she wiggled the four fingers, "I've been given a key to a TARDIS that's decided to not wait around for me to come back."

"Sorry about getting you into all this," Quinn said in a quiet voice.

"Eh, no problem." Leaning her head back against the tree, she sighed. "Just what in the name of John William Waterhouse are we going to do, now?"

Quinn watched as she felt guilt at the thought that she had brought Jane here with her to a lifeless planet. Quinn started looking around. Putting her hands together, she brought them to her chin as she smiled. "A lifeless planet!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah, so?" Jane looked around them. "There's not an ice cream shop to be found."

"Lifeless. Don't you get it?" Quinn pointed over Jane's shoulder.

Looking around the trunk to see behind her, Jane said, "I still don't get it."

Jane turned back to see Quinn looking up. Following her gaze, Jane saw the green leaves of the palm tree. As her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open, she felt behind her for the trunk. Turning, she grinned and kissed it. "You beautiful thing," she told it.

"Find the key hole," Quinn ordered. "It'll probably look like a knot or something."

"Here," Jane held one finger on the hole while she dug for the key with the other. A few seconds later a section of trunk opened to show a fully-formed control room on the inside. "Now how do we get in?" Jane asked. "That's a pretty small -- AHH!" she finished as Quinn shoved her into the trunk. She seemed to compress slightly as she reached the doorway and slipped inside.

Quinn followed her a few seconds later. By then, Jane had gotten to her feet and was looking around in wonder. The room was the same as it had been before, but with the regrowing process complete. Jane's grin was wide as she looked around as if trying to memorize every inch of the room. As she did, Quinn walked past her to the control panel.

"Everything's working," she reported a few seconds later.

"Huh?" Jane came out of her near-trance to look at her. "What was that?"

"The ship is working," Quinn repeated. "It looks like the manifolds regrew along with the rest of the ship."

"Yeah." Jane looked around again. "This is fantastic. I can hear it in my head." She looked back at Quinn. "Tell me again, how can I hear it in my head?"

"How about we get home and worry about that later?" Quinn asked.

"Oh, yeah." Jane walked up to the controls and looked at them while scratching her head. "Cool. Wish I knew how to fly this thing."

"I'll teach you," Quinn promised. "But how about we start tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Jane agreed a she stepped back. "But can we make it back without blowing anything up?"