So Alien Lisa’s (AL’s) birthday was…well, today actually. However, she wasn’t really in a celebrating mood. She’d been having nightmares about the Tenth Doctor being shot by a Dalek and, therefore, wouldn’t let him out of her sight. She clung to his arm and went just about everywhere with him.
But this was good because he could keep her out of the house while the others planned her surprise party.
It wasn’t a huge ordeal since they were going to the Inkwell later on so V’s lot could join when they could, but they still had things to plan. They’d ordered a cake shaped like the house from Duff and they had a few very special guests coming as their birthday present to her. They decorated the game room since it was far too humid to be outside.
Doc10 lugged Lisa into the house after conning her into helping him repair the TARDIS’ chameleon circuit. Again.
“I wish you’d stop trying to fix that thing,” she said from her position on his arm. “Near all your companions like the TARDIS the way she is.”
“Yes, Lisa,” he replied simply, opening the front door.
The house was unusually quiet, though AL could hear the guys upstairs. She wondered what was going on until Doc10 brought her to the game room and everyone yelled “SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”
“Yike!!” AL shrieked, then laughed. “Oh, guys!” She hugged everyone.
“We’re hoping this’ll take your mind off your nightmares,” said Adam.
“Yeah,” agreed Jesse. “Relax and take a load off for a few hours.”
Truth be told, the nightmare had been bugging her, so she threw herself into the party and started to have a good time.
She was digging into the ribs when a whistle reached her ears. No, it was four whistles, different pitches…and one sounded like a duck’s call.
“Hey, did you guys hear that?” AL asked, glancing at Radu and Clark in particular. Their hearing was better than hers, Radu’s especially.
“Hear what?” Jamie asked.
“Whistles…” AL said, straining her ears, listening for them. When she didn’t hear anything, she shrugged it off, still puzzled, and went back to the ribs.
The four whistles sounded again. This time, everyone looked up, searching for the source of the sounds. AL didn’t notice that all the guys were grinning. They knew who it was.
“What the hell?” AL said, standing and going over to the pool table they’d turned into a buffet table. “Damn, those whistles sound so familiar…”
“Fancy that!” said a British-accented voice. “You’d think she’d remember us.”
“I know!” said another, slightly higher pitched, voice, this one with an American accent. “After all we’ve been through together.”
“Aye,” said a Scottish accent that wasn’t Jamie. “I bet she forgo’ all the engines, too.”
“No,” said a last American voice. “She wouldn’t do that.”
AL’s eyes went wide. “Wait a tic…that sounds like…”
From behind the soda bottles came four 18-inch men in conductor’s uniforms. Two had beards and mustaches – one with dark hair and one with gray hair. The other two were clean-shaven – one, again, with dark hair and the other with wild dirty blonde hair.
AL rubbed her eyes, not believing what – who – she was seeing.
“Happy birthday,” the four conductors chorused along with the guys.
“Mr. Conductor! Junior!” She leaned over the table so they could hug her, then she turned to the guys. “Did you guys bring them here?”
They nodded. “To surprise you,” said Tommy.
“You were talking about them a lot,” said Jack. “So we brought ’em here for your birthday present.”
AL squealed happily and hugged all the guys again, then she made the proper introductions. “Mr. Conductor, this is Hooks, Luke, Tommy, Data, Adam, Jesse, Jamie, Clark, Jack, Radu, the Fifth, Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Doctors and Erik hiding in the corner over there. Guys, this is…well, they all are Mr. Conductor.”
“Except me!” said the blonde.
AL giggled. “Yeah, that’s Mr. Conductor, Junior. How’s that railway by the beach?”
“Couldn’t be be’er!” he said, grinning.
“And the North Pole?” she asked of the dark-bearded Mr. Conductor. Since he was the first of the family she’d ever met, he was Mr. Conductor…period.
“Rather chilly,” he replied. “But wonderfully busy. I do like to keep busy.”
“Oh, I know. How about Stacy and everyone at Shining Time?”
“Shining brightly!” said the dark haired, clean-shaven Mr. Conductor. He was the last in the family line, thus far, to live at Shining Time Station. She’d use their common nickname, Mr. C.
“And Thomas and Percy and James and Henry and…well, all the engines on the Island of Sodor?”
“Really useful as always,” said the gray-bearded Mr. Conductor. He had taken over for his British cousin when he’d left for the North Pole. AL would think of him as Elder Conductor for the time being, since he was the oldest of the lot.
“Awesome,” said AL. “Join the party, guys.”
“Don’t mind if we do!” said all four of them and AL found some small plates for them.
They were just cutting into the cake when the doorbell rang. Luke and Hooks (riding on Luke’s shoulder) went downstairs to answer it.
AL heard the door open then a surprised “Great Scott!”, a yelp from Hooks and a sudden wind had picked up outside. Everyone trundled downstairs (the four Conductor Cousins riding on AL, Tommy, Jesse and Jamie’s shoulders) to see what the commotion was.
It was RiftDoc looking very surprised. AL figured it was because he hadn’t met Hooks before. At the sight of the newcomer, three of the four Conductors vanished in a cloud of gold dust. Only Junior remained, still sitting on Jamie’s shoulder. He was more outgoing than his shy cousins.
“Hey, Doc,” she said, coming to the front of the group. “Take it easy. That’s Hooks. Nothing to be scared of. Come on in.”
She could tell he was trying to calm down; the wind he’d kicked up was stopping. Hang on…hadn’t V said something about him being jumpy around magical things? Well, she’d have to take care of that, though there was something she had to know first.
“Doc,” she said, “if magic and such makes you jumpy, how’d you get here?”
“Well, I’m used to the portals since I’m around them so much with Victoria’s fandoms coming and going.”
“I see. Well, since you’re here, want to join the party?”
RiftDoc blinked. “Beg pardon?”
“Today’s my birthday.”
He blinked again, then his eyes went wide. “Great Scott! I completely forgot! You told me at the Inkwell the other day to come over and meet Tempest and Mistral and I didn’t even check what day it was. I’m sorry.”
AL had to laugh. “Hey, no problemo. Come upstairs and have some food and then we’ll go see Tempest and Mistral. And relax. You don’t have to worry about anything here.”
It was then that Junior, still perched on Jamie’s shoulder, caught RiftDoc’s eye. “Er…” he stammered, more wind picking up, which was strange to feel inside. “Lisa…?”
“What?…Ohh,” she said, realizing and a second later noticing that the other three had disappeared. “Doc, take a chill pill and relax, okay? That’s Mr. Conductor, Junior. Junior, c’mere.”
The little Scot disappeared from Jamie’s shoulder and reappeared on AL’s. He bowed to the surprised cyborg and made a small (hah!) salute with two fingers. “C., Junior, at your service. Dinna be afraid.”
“Speaking of…” said AL. “Mr. Conductor, please come back! Doc’s a friend of mine and he’s just as scared of you as you are of him.”
There was a beat then the other three Conductors reappeared on the kitchen counter. They shifted nervously. AL introduced them to RiftDoc.
“Erm…hello,” said RiftDoc.
“C’mon, Doc. If you’re like my Doc, you like trains, right?”
“…Yes.”
“Well, Mr. Conductor has more stories about trains than anyone I know. They come from an island called Sodor and talking trains live there.” At his dubious expression, she said, “Really! I’ve been there!” She sighed. “Come on. Let’s go get cake.”
They all traipsed upstairs and AL served cake to everyone; RiftDoc was impressed with the house-shaped confectionary – and had relaxed enough that the wind had died down again – and helped himself to that and the food. She wound up sitting with the Conductor Cousins and listening to stories of Thomas the Tank Engine and the other trains on the Island of Sodor. She noticed RiftDoc listening in and beckoned him to join them.
“One story should be just enough time for everyone to finish eating,” she said. “Mr. Conductor, tell Doc about Thomas.”
Junior wasn’t much of a storyteller, but the other three whispered to each other and decided to share the narrating duties amongst them. The three of them blew their whistles simultaneously and, as they spoke, it was almost as if he could see the little blue engine puffing along the railway.
Come the end of the story, everyone had gathered around the little men. Even Erik. AL had to chuckle. “See? Not so scary, is it? Well, c’mon. Let’s go see Tempest and Mistral.”
In the end, only AL, RiftDoc and the four Conductors (Elder Conductor and Junior on AL’s shoulders and Mr. Conductor and Mr. C on RiftDoc’s) went and the guys smiled to themselves that she had seemed to forget about her nightmare. En route, they told RiftDoc about Shining Time Station and the people there – manager Stacy Jones, engineer and mechanic Billy Twofeathers and resident troublemaker Schemer. They told about the jukebox that played on its own – due to, said Elder Conductor, an actual band of people slightly smaller than himself living inside it.
“Shining Time sounds very interesting,” said RiftDoc, but his voice died once he saw the unicorns. “Great Scott…” he whispered, a small breeze picking up around him. AL couldn’t tell, though, if it was due to him being in awe or slightly nervous.
AL smiled. It amused her to see everyone’s reactions to the unicorns; it was rather like peoples’ reactions to the inside of the TARDIS.
The two unicorns they were looking for were grazing near the stream. Tempest was completely storm-cloud gray; his daughter Mistral was lighter in color with fluffy white wings, white horn and yellow mane and tail.
“Hey,” said AL to the two unicorns. “Tempest, Mistral, this is RiftDoc from V’s neck of the universe. And you remember the Conductor family.”
“Hello,” said Tempest, causing RiftDoc to jump and gust a breeze towards them, Mr. Conductor and Mr. C clinging to the collar of his coat to keep from being blown off. “Don’t be afraid. We all are capable of learning to speak English once we’re old enough.”
“I jus’ learned!” said Mistral proudly, fluffing her wings importantly.
“I told you about the unicorns,” said AL. “Didn’t V’s lot mention they could speak English?”
“No,” he answered.
AL frowned. “Remind me to have a talk with them. Anyways, Doc’s got this problem, guys. The weather responds to his emotions and he wants to learn to control his power. I figured you could help.”
“Certainly,” said Tempest. “That’s how we started. In fact, Mistral had some control even before she was born. Though so could I, I’ve been told.”
The filly blushed from nose to tail and RiftDoc raised his eyebrows. “Is that so?”
She nodded sheepishly. “I made it rain an’ snow a lot.”
“In summer,” said AL, grinning.
“Yeah, well…” stammered Mistral.
“Mistral actually has more control than I do,” said Tempest. “She can do one thing I can’t.”
“What’s that?” asked RiftDoc.
“My weather shield!” she declared. “I can make a pocket of no weather to protect me an’ someone else standing next to me.”
“She protected Erik the first time he came here.” AL explained. “The only problem is that, when she shows off, she has the tendency to disrupt the normal weather patterns. So if she’s trying to keep it from raining, that’s when we get a thunderstorm when it wears off.”
She blushed again. “I can do better now.”
RiftDoc smiled. “I suppose I should count my blessings that my power only works within a five-mile radius from myself instead of the whole area.”
“Yeah. And what happens here has the tendency to happen on Earth and vice-versa. Specifically, where my alter ego lives. That’s why things are so much hotter here than they were a couple years ago…because she moved from Jersey to North Carolina. At least we haven’t had any snow, which the guys are happy about. So, can you help?”
“Yeah!” said Mistral, ready, willing and eager.
“Of course,” added Tempest.
“I’d like to say hello to Wind Chaser,” said Mr. C.
“Aye,” said Junior. “Me, too.”
“Okie-dokie,” said AL, transferring Mr. Conductor and Mr. C from RiftDoc’s shoulders to her own. “We’ll leave you alone so you can chat. Find us when you’re ready.” And, grinning, AL and the four Conductors left RiftDoc with the two equines.
RiftDoc watched them leave, then turned to the pair. “Everyone seems to be familiar with each other around here.”
Tempest nodded. “We’ve all met each other at some point or another. With Lisa, it’s hard to keep track of a timeline that won’t make your head ache.” RiftDoc had no idea how he accomplished it, but he could have sworn the older winged unicorn was smiling. “So,” he continued, “what would you like to work on?”
“Control,” said RiftDoc simply.
“Have you practiced?”
He shrugged. “It takes far more concentration than I’m used to.”
“You’ll never build tolerance if you don’t practice regularly. Even if it’s only for a few minutes with something small.”
“Yeah,” agreed Mistral. “I used to…well, I’ll show ya.” A storm cloud no larger than RiftDoc’s fist appeared in front of the filly’s nose complete with miniature bolts of lightning and miniscule raindrops.
“Remarkable,” said RiftDoc. “That’s very impressive.”
The cloud evaporated and Mistral – though RiftDoc, again, thought he was imagining things – smiled. “Thanks! When I was little, doing that would make a big storm, but not so much now.”
“I practiced much the same way when I was young,” said Tempest. “Perhaps you can try.”
RiftDoc looked uneasy.
“Don’t worry,” assured Tempest. “Whatever you produce we can counteract.”
“I’m not sure,” said RiftDoc worriedly. “This power is awfully strong.”
“We’ll be fine. Just start small.”
RiftDoc sighed and thought about what he was going to attempt and which of his emotions caused what. He knew that when he was sad it would rain, when he was afraid there would be heavy wind, anger produced storms that ranged from thunderstorms to hurricanes, determination caused that wind that irritatingly billowed his coat out, being nervous caused a mix of wind and sometimes rain, annoyance caused a temperature change and happiness – what there was of it – simply made it a beautiful day.
“We’ve already seen you conjure wind,” reminded Tempest.
“Yes, but that wasn’t a conscious effort. That was due to uneasiness.”
“I realize that, but why don’t you make something more of it?” He proceeded to kick up a gust of wind that caught the tufts of what were probably the Alnilam equivalent of mature dandelions (they were bluish-gray instead of white). The wind swirled the tufts into a cyclone-esque shape then carried them away.
“I’m not sure if I can,” admitted RiftDoc.
“You said your emotions make it work, right?” asked Mistral. At his nod, she continued, “So think of somethin’ that makes that emotion but think of the emotion in one spot.” That storm cloud reappeared and hovered over a bright orange flower in the multicolored grass. “This flower must be thirsty on such a hot day. So thirsty that it’s sad. Very sad because it has nothing to drink. Being sad means rain.” Well, that sounded familiar. “I may be sad because I’m thinkin’ ’bout this thirsty flower, but the flower is more sad – ”
“Sadder,” her father corrected gently.
“But this flower is sadder cuz it’s so thirsty. The sad flower makes rain, but the rain gives the flower the drink it needs and, so, the flower is happy!” The cloud vanished and noticed RiftDoc and Tempest looking at her with odd expressions on their faces. “What? It made sense to me!”
They had to laugh. RiftDoc located another flower, this one purple, and thought about what Mistral had said. Well, truth be told, he wasn’t sad that this flower wasn’t getting any water. He just couldn’t get into that mindset. He rubbed his chin, thinking. Something sad that this flower, were it sentient, could also experience? He stared at the plant, thinking.
He happened to notice that this particular flower was secluded from a group of similarly colored ones by a good couple of yards. The thought of being separated from one’s…friends and family made him think of Marty, still on the other side of the Hedge. Thinking of Marty always made him upset…and here came the rain. Concentrating as hard as he could, he tried to direct his line of thinking: This flower had grown apart from the rest of its kind, so, in essence, it was alone. This flower was alone and it missed the others like it. It was this flower that was sad, not him.
So slowly that he didn’t even notice it happening until a good ten seconds later, the rain that had been directed immediately above his head had moved on to the lonely purple flower. Once he realized he’d done it, his concentration broke and the rain vanished.
Both Tempest and Mistral neighed in delight. “Wonderful!” said the former.
“You did it! Toldja so!” cheered Mistral.
RiftDoc smiled. He’d done it!
AL and the four Conductors returned, applauding. “We saw what you did. Congratulations.”
“Very impressive,” said Mr. Conductor.
“And practice makes perfect,” said Elder Conductor.
“Even a little bit every day helps,” said Mr. C.
“Aye,” agreed Junior. “But dinna be afraid to take a holiday once in a while.”
RiftDoc nodded. This was, he felt, going to be quite an adventure.
The End
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