Mr. Marriner's long-awaited answer to that whole pesky Gallifrey-is-dead problem...
Paul Marriner sat in the lunchroom of the Junior Gazette one evening trying very hard to understand what it was about him that his daughter hated. Sarah had a gift when it came to getting Jennifer to eat, but he could never quite find the right combination to get her to eat when he tried to feed her. It was always a battle of wills between the two, and somehow or other, he always lost-and wound up wearing whatever it was she didn’t want to eat for his troubles. This experience is one that parents have always struggled with-he was in no way unique in that. He, however, had a reputation to live up to as an alien know-it-all who mysteriously had all the answers to every problem and Jennifer was refusing to help him keep this intact.
Kate Roberts was the night supervisor of the Junior Gazette and she, of all the staff on the paper, had been the least comfortable with Paul taking over the paper and marrying Sarah. She knew he was an alien and was never comfortable with this knowledge. Having had him play tricks with her mind hadn’t helped matters any. She feared him at some level, but watching him be undone by a baby was terribly amusing and she delighted in watching him reach his wit’s end. She had gotten to the point where she’d stop whatever project she was working on and go watch him try to feed the baby just so she could laugh at him. Baby Jennifer never threw food at her, after all. Paul took her jibes with remarkable good grace. There was nothing ever said about it between himself and Kate, but there seemed to be an understanding that this was payback for what he had done to her in the past and that he would in no way lift a finger to prevent her from having a laugh at his expense.
One evening after he’d tried and failed yet again, Kate came in the lunchroom and sat down beside him. He was expecting his usual roasting at her expense, but she had other ideas.
“Question for you,” she said. “Is there such a thing as parallel worlds?”
He turned to her and cocked his head slightly. “Not exactly a question I’d expect from you.”
She smiled. “Eddie bet me a fiver I wouldn’t read a science fiction novel cover to cover. I’m determined to make him pay up.”
He sat back in his chair and chuckled. “Well, everything I’ve read in my Time Lord studies says the answer is ‘yes.’ There have even been cases on record where it is possible to travel between parallel universes in extraordinary circumstances.”
“So somewhere there’s another me?” Kate asked.
“Oh, yes. Somewhere there is a world where Lynda died in the fire. Somewhere there’s a world where she escaped on her own with no outside help at all. Somewhere there’s a world where I was always human. I suppose there’s probably even a world where there are no Time Lords at all. Not sure I like the idea of a world with no me, but there you go.”
“And somewhere there’s a world where you can feed your daughter without starting a riot.”
“Exactly! Now why can’t this be that one, Jennifer? If you’re such a smart baby, why don’t you find a way to tell me what you want to eat?”
The baby looked at him and then looked at the vending machine. The machine whirred a bit, a cup dropped out of the dispenser, and from inside the machine came a spray of reddish-pink sludge out of the nozzle and into the cup. Paul walked over after it finished, pulled the cup out, and sniffed the contents.
“Strawberry, rhubarb and Ezolean glurab fruit,” he said. “Nutritious. But did you do that, little one?”
The baby laughed in reply.
“That one is gonna give you hell when she wants to borrow the spaceship, Dad,” Kate said, almost pitying him.
“You have no idea how true that will be,” Paul sighed. “I can only hope that one day, she saves the world before she gives me an ulcer.”
Kate Roberts was the night supervisor of the Junior Gazette and she, of all the staff on the paper, had been the least comfortable with Paul taking over the paper and marrying Sarah. She knew he was an alien and was never comfortable with this knowledge. Having had him play tricks with her mind hadn’t helped matters any. She feared him at some level, but watching him be undone by a baby was terribly amusing and she delighted in watching him reach his wit’s end. She had gotten to the point where she’d stop whatever project she was working on and go watch him try to feed the baby just so she could laugh at him. Baby Jennifer never threw food at her, after all. Paul took her jibes with remarkable good grace. There was nothing ever said about it between himself and Kate, but there seemed to be an understanding that this was payback for what he had done to her in the past and that he would in no way lift a finger to prevent her from having a laugh at his expense.
One evening after he’d tried and failed yet again, Kate came in the lunchroom and sat down beside him. He was expecting his usual roasting at her expense, but she had other ideas.
“Question for you,” she said. “Is there such a thing as parallel worlds?”
He turned to her and cocked his head slightly. “Not exactly a question I’d expect from you.”
She smiled. “Eddie bet me a fiver I wouldn’t read a science fiction novel cover to cover. I’m determined to make him pay up.”
He sat back in his chair and chuckled. “Well, everything I’ve read in my Time Lord studies says the answer is ‘yes.’ There have even been cases on record where it is possible to travel between parallel universes in extraordinary circumstances.”
“So somewhere there’s another me?” Kate asked.
“Oh, yes. Somewhere there is a world where Lynda died in the fire. Somewhere there’s a world where she escaped on her own with no outside help at all. Somewhere there’s a world where I was always human. I suppose there’s probably even a world where there are no Time Lords at all. Not sure I like the idea of a world with no me, but there you go.”
“And somewhere there’s a world where you can feed your daughter without starting a riot.”
“Exactly! Now why can’t this be that one, Jennifer? If you’re such a smart baby, why don’t you find a way to tell me what you want to eat?”
The baby looked at him and then looked at the vending machine. The machine whirred a bit, a cup dropped out of the dispenser, and from inside the machine came a spray of reddish-pink sludge out of the nozzle and into the cup. Paul walked over after it finished, pulled the cup out, and sniffed the contents.
“Strawberry, rhubarb and Ezolean glurab fruit,” he said. “Nutritious. But did you do that, little one?”
The baby laughed in reply.
“That one is gonna give you hell when she wants to borrow the spaceship, Dad,” Kate said, almost pitying him.
“You have no idea how true that will be,” Paul sighed. “I can only hope that one day, she saves the world before she gives me an ulcer.”