Starting Over
Title: Starting Over
Rating: PG-13
Length: 5,100 words approx
Fandom: The Sarah Jane Adventures (with Doctor Who references)
Challenge: Femgenficathon 2009
First posted: 16th October 2009, in femgenficathon
Summary: Moving to America was supposed to mark the end of Maria's alien-investigating activities. But that's not the sort of thing it's easy to forget. And sometimes it seems as if the universe so arranges itself that things just happen to some people ...
Notes: In the SJA canon timeline, takes place shortly after Mark of the Berserker. Written for prompt #61: "Invest in the human soul. Who knows, it might be a diamond in the rough. -- Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955), American educator and civil rights activist; founder, in 1904, of a school for black girls which eventually became Bethune-Cookman University, a black university in Daytona Beach, Florida; and advisor to Franklin Delano Roosevelt." Sort of used in the development of one character, but not the main theme.
Intellectually, Maria knew that adjusting her body clock for a different timezone couldn't really take months. But as she walked blearily into the kitchen, dropped onto a seat at the breakfast bar, and glared at the radio -- which her dad had tuned into his favourite nineties rock station and then turned up far too loud -- she was quite prepared to blame Washington time for her resentment at not being able to stay in bed at least an hour longer.
"What have you got on at school today?" asked her dad, who was disgustingly cheerful for a man who'd already been up two hours.
"Just the usual. English, math -- sorry, maths, it's rubbing off on me -- technology ..." And the Cool Kids thinking they were cool, of course, but that was an occupational hazard wherever you went to school.
Dad snorted. "Earth technology, I hope?"
Maria laughed, although not without a little pang of regret. "Afraid so. Who are you hacking into today?"
"I don't do it all the time, you know," he said, sounding rather hurt.
"Sorry."
The radio went to the news, which was at least quieter than the rock music. A Republican politician was complaining about something. A Democratic politician was complaining about something else. And just for variety, politicians of both parties were complaining that the Potomac River barriers had failed to prevent it overflowing its banks recently. Although given the shaking the whole planet had gotten -- gotten? It really was rubbing off -- when being flown through space by the Daleks and then back again by Sarah Jane's ... er, friend, it was a wonder it had settled down at all. Maybe she could blame her body clock woes on that?
"For your information, young lady, I'm conducting security audits for the Pentagon. It's quite an honour for them to hire a non-American, although I suppose these days anyone who isn't an ali --" Dad thought better of it and coughed. "Er, coffee? You look like you could use some."
"No kidding."
The news bulletin had run through all the regularly scheduled doom and gloom the network had been able to find and reached the final light-hearted story. "... And it seems muggers in Washington are striking it lucky these days! Usually when the police find a suspicious bag of powder, it turns out to be full of narcotics, but a man arrested yesterday was in possession of a large amount of gold dust, of all things." The newsreader laughed. "The Police Department say that's a new one even for them. So far, no-one has come forward to claim it ..."
"Wish I had a few spare bags of gold dust," said her Dad, grinning.
Maria groaned. His wit hadn't improved as a result of crossing the Atlantic. "Oh right, like the new job doesn't pay you enough?"
"Don't be cheeky!"
*****
"... and just to show you that mathematics has always had practical applications, the ancient Egyptians actually developed the techniques of geometry in order to measure astronomical distances and build pyramids -- Miss Jackson, are you with us today?"
Maria started. She wasn't sure if it was the lack of sleep or just a touch of boredom, but her mind had definitely been wandering. She could hear giggles and a mocking whisper of "I bet she knows all about it anyway" from the back row -- presumably Annabel Williams and her little clique, who all seemed to think she was an utter nerd. Just because of that one time in science class when she'd known the exact distances between the Earth and various astronomical bodies!
Well, all right, the usual distances.
"Sorry, Mrs Barker. I was, er, just thinking about what you were saying." That wasn't, strictly speaking, true. Her mind had drifted back to Bannerman Road and Sarah Jane.
Mrs Barker looked sceptical. "I see. And do you happen to know why the Egyptians built in a pyramid shape?"
She answered without thinking. "Aliens taught them." There was a gale of laughter from the rest of the class, and Maria turned bright red. "Well, that's the claim anyway," she added, as jokily as she could manage. "I don't suppose they did really. But the papers say they're all over the place now, don't they?"
There were renewed splutters from behind her; doubtless Annabel and her girlfriends were practically wetting themselves with suppressed laughter. Maria sighed. Most people on Earth didn't seem to have fully absorbed the idea of aliens on the planet yet, even if it had now been officially acknowledged -- although to be fair it was considerably easier to get a grasp on the concept when you'd personally met several of them.
It was clearly going to be a long day.
*****
"What on earth did you say that for?" said Dad, looking up from the Metro section of the Washington Post in order to chuckle at her frustrated lament.
"Well, it's true!" Dad raised his eyebrows and Maria was forced to add, "Sarah Jane told me once when I asked her about the things she'd done. There were these powerful telepathic aliens who used pyramids to imprison one of their enemies on Mars and -- and you didn't know that, did you."
"No. I'm not sure I wanted to, to be honest." Her dad looked at her in a manner that showed far too much comprehension for Maria's liking. "Look, I know you miss it ..."
Maria rolled her eyes. "Well yeah. Wouldn't you?" She hesitated. "Don't you?"
Dad hesitated in turn. "Well ... all right, I do. A bit. Kind of. But --" Maria had suspected there was a 'but' to follow "-- look, Maria. I know it's all boring and everyday of me, but you're my only child. It scared me silly every time you got involved with Slitherins and --"
"Slitheen, Dad."
"-- sorry, them, and mad computers and the rest and ... I do feel bad that you miss it, sweetheart, but I can't help being kind of glad that you're safe and sound here." He sounded unapologetically apologetic, which was quite a neat trick. "Do you understand?"
Maria got up and hugged him. "Yeah, of course I do. You know that. It's just hard to adjust."
"I know. Stuck with boring old me, eh?"
"Oh shut up. Anything interesting in the paper?"
"More about that mugger with the gold -- no hang on, it's some other bloke." Dad's eyes rapidly scanned the page. "It says here they arrested him for DUI -- small fortune in gold bars in the trunk of his car -- won't explain where he got them -- no banks or bullion dealers have claimed the gold belongs to them yet. Tell you what, I wish it --"
"-- belonged to me," Maria finished for him. She grinned. "Anyway, maybe it won't be boring. Sarah Jane had a theory that things simply, like, happen to some people, some, I dunno, resonance of the universe kind of shapes events around them, and if you've been in contact with them it kind of rubs off on you too. She said it's probably the result of spending too long travelling through the time vortex."
"Through the ... I really don't want to ask, do I? Was that what this Doctor bloke told her?"
Maria shrugged. "Don't think so. It was just something she came up with when she noticed that they seemed to get into trouble everywhere they landed."
*****
"Oh look, it's one of the Space Girls!"
Maria gritted her teeth and kept walking down the street, thinking vaguely of getting a coffee somewhere. Annabel Williams just wasn't going to let this one go, was she? It had been more than a week now, and her group were still pointing and giggling every time they saw Maria. All right, she'd coped with far worse things than the popular girls thinking she was totally uncool, but it didn't stop it being really annoying.
She found a Starbucks and was just sitting down with a latte when Annabel and her friends walked in, saw Maria in the corner, and made mocking Mr Spock salutes in her general direction. Maria turned hastily away to glance at the TV screen on the wall. It looked as if it was actually showing something interesting for once, which made it all the more frustrating that she couldn't hear what Trinity Wells was saying. The scrolling ticker was reporting that some people had tried to break into a top security government military research facility, but been foiled by the alarms. It was the sort of potential oddity that would have set her alarms off a few months ago and prompted a request for information from Mr Smith, and Maria had to look away. Suddenly, she missed it so much it felt like a kick in the stomach.
She left quickly. As she passed her annoying classmates, Annabel pointed the large blue crystal on the ring she was wearing at Maria, and made a bleeping sound as if firing an imaginary raygun. Maria quickened her step; she'd stared down the barrel of the real thing, and she didn't think it was all that funny.
*****
Her dad looked very pleased with himself when she got back. He seemed to be waiting for her to ask why, so she did. "What's up, Dad?"
"Oh, my intrusion detection systems have just proved their worth. You'll never guess what happened."
"Not the lab break-in?"
Dad's face fell. "Well, yes. I designed the entire system, as it happens. Data collection, administration, accounts, the lot. The security suite spotted the intruders almost as soon as they got in. Bunch of amateurs, really."
"Human?" asked Maria with a grin. She couldn't resist.
"Very," he replied, with a reproving look. "Just small-time gangsters by the sound of it, although they must have had some sophisticated kit to even get past the front doors."
"There you go then! There must be loads of aliens knocking around Washington. Even if it is a harder target than London."
Dad rolled his eyes. "Not everything is to do with aliens, Maria."
*****
"Seen any more aliens yet?" Annabel Williams smirked at Maria as her little gang pushed past her to get out of the classroom.
Maria began to move away down the corridor, then thought better of it and turned back to confront her. She'd just about reached the end of her tether on this one. "Not yet, but I'm working on it. Even you can't have missed them this last couple of years! Daleks ring a bell? You might have noticed the whole planet being kidnapped? The Sun nearly going out? The Moon nearly crashing into us?"
"Yeah, well ..." Annabel huffed; she didn't seem to have a good answer to that. "You seem to think they're all over the place. Not that you'd know any more about that than we would, even if you are, like, some kind of alien fangirl." Maria bit back her reply; even she had to admit that her part in events would be hard to believe. The other girl sneered. "I suppose you think those gold thieves are really aliens in disguise, like, trying to steal Earth's wealth for their king!"
"The gold thieves? No." Maria tried to look innocent. That thought actually hadn't crossed her mind, although she kind of wished it was aliens ...
Annabel rolled her eyes at the obvious implication that Maria thought some other thieves might be aliens, and her sycophantic friends tittered, although not without a slight underlying note of alarm which evidently annoyed their leader. "Anyway," she said mysteriously, "I know who they really are."
That caught Maria's interest, but she wasn't going to give Annabel the satisfaction of letting her see that. "Yeah right. What was it you said? Oh yeah, not that you'd know any more about that than I would." She turned away.
"I do so know then!" said Annabel indignantly. "Listen, I saw this stupid boy who's always trying to hit on me down by one of those warehouses by the river. He was sneaking in with one of his dumb gang buddies, the one who's always flashing gold about."
"So? He's probably just pretending to be a rap star or something."
"Duh. Those two that got arrested, they're part of their gang, yeah? That must be where they hide out!" The other girls were giggling at both of them now, and Annabel looked very disgruntled at the idea that Maria might not believe something she said. "Look, I'll prove it to you. Come down there after school and I'll show you. Or are you too scared?"
Maria hesitated. She didn't think this was a great idea, but as someone who had stared down the barrel of a raygun, she couldn't bring herself to back down over the possibility of meeting a few thugs. "All right then. If we're careful."
*****
Maria had kind of hoped that Annabel might be bluffing, but unfortunately she wasn't. She led her to a run-down warehouse by the waterfront, and as they reached the door Maria looked around nervously. Whatever she'd done before, she didn't especially want to meet a bunch of headcases with guns. "Right, look, Annabel," she said urgently. "We need to be very careful. We have to look for a place where we can get in without leaving an obvious trace ..."
"Oh yeah? And how do you know all about it?"
"I've done this sort of sneaking-around thing before," said Maria, feeling as if her hand had been forced. She tried to explain in as matter-of-fact a way as she could. "I was with an older friend, though, we were investigating, and although somebody pulled a gun on us, my friend had ... this cool high-tech weapon that got us out of it."
Annabel gaped at her; she obviously didn't know whether to believe this or not. "Yeah, right," she replied, although there was just a hint of uneasy respect there.
After all that, Maria fully expected the place to be locked up so securely it would be impossible to get in, but their luck was in -- or possibly out -- and she found a loose window round the back next to the door. Once inside they crept silently across the floor of the warehouse, and Maria found herself reluctantly impressed; Annabel, for all her faults, clearly had guts. There were some boxes piled in an untidy heap in a dark corner, and the two girls exchanged looks; Maria didn't expect to find anything much in them beyond rats, but it seemed a shame to come this far and not look.
"Shall we?" she whispered.
"OK," murmured Annabel, forgetting even to sound snide.
The lid wasn't very well-fitting, and working together they managed to prise it open. Annabel gasped, and Maria just stared; even in the poor light she could see the glimmer. The box was stuffed full of gold -- gold in the form of bars, gold dust, lumps of the raw metal, and even some strange-looking ornaments that were probably worth a fortune just for the workmanship.
"OK, I think we need to put this lid back now and get out of here," said Maria slowly. She knew her voice sounded unsteady. Annabel nodded silently.
They'd fitted the lid back as best they could when they heard the sound of the door opening, and they did the only thing possible; they ran for it. For a moment Maria thought they were going to be trapped, but then she spotted a door and they dived through it into what turned out to be a small store cupboard; it was a bit cramped, but it was a hiding place, and that was all that mattered.
Oddly enough, the worst thing about waiting there was hearing sounds of activity, but not being able to tell what was going on. There was muffled cursing -- with a detached part of her mind that was trying not to think about how much danger they were in, Maria noted it sounded very human -- then a far-off buzzing sound, then for a few minutes there was silence. After that there was the sound of a door opening on the other side of the warehouse, and a conversation taking place -- well actually, it sounded more like an argument, all low mutters and angry but indistinct replies. Then they both jumped at a shout that carried across the open space: "Look, man, it's hard getting in that place! I don't care what you pay, won't make it any easier! If you just gave us a bit more help ..."
Annabel's eyes widened, and she mouthed at Maria. "That's Gangsta Boy!"
Maria couldn't hear what the answer was, but it obviously wasn't favourable, as Gangsta Boy's reply was even angrier. "Yeah yeah, too dangerous. Well, you'll have to let us get on with it and hope for the best, won't you?" There was a definite undercurrent of fear beneath the bravado. They heard him stomp back across the warehouse, and then a door slammed, rattling the windows; if this was how he normally left it wasn't surprising that one of them had come loose.
With a sinking feeling, Maria heard the unmistakable sound of people looking in the boxes. She exchanged scared glances with Annabel, then to her horror realised that the reason they could hear so well was that the door hadn't shut properly. Footsteps approached rapidly, and Maria had a moment of sheer terror as the door was flung back. She raised her hands, fully expecting to find herself on the business end of an AK47.
Annabel made a choking sound. Maria just stared in resigned disbelief.
Their gun-toting captors looked almost as scared as they were. They had high domed foreheads, more facial fur than was strictly necessary, and wore uniforms that were festooned with gold ornaments in the way most people stitched on badges. And the guns pointing at them definitely hadn't been made in any factory on Earth.
*****
The aliens stared at them, clearly nonplussed. They seemed vaguely and frustratingly familiar, yet somehow out of place. Try as she might though, Maria couldn't remember why, and unfortunately this time there was no way of calling on Mr Smith's databanks to help.
The taller of the two jerked his or her gun at them and said "Move."
They moved.
The aliens took them through a set of doors at the far end of the building and then along a long corridor that seemed to be heading downwards and out under the Potomac. Annabel looked as if she wasn't sure whether she should be petrified or furious; fury won out. "Why didn't you tell me this might happen?" she hissed.
"I did!" Exasperation overcame Maria's own fear. "You know, all that 'it might be aliens and if so it's really dangerous' stuff?"
"Well of course I didn't believe you, geek girl," said Annabel scornfully. "Now look at me! Kidnapped by the Bling Monsters!" Maria hoped devoutly that whatever translation unit the aliens had wasn't too good with slang. "Look at them! They probably want to round up as many pretty young Earth girls as they can and take them to their planet to be love slaves in their gilded pleasure dome!"
Maria sneaked a glance at the aliens. If anything, they seemed even more horrified by this concept than Annabel was. "Where are you taking us?" she asked, trying to keep her voice level.
The aliens hesitated. "We are taking you to our leader," said one of them eventually.
"Oh that's so original," muttered Annabel.
They had arrived at a pair of large golden doors, and these opened into what was unmistakably a spaceship. Their leader seemed slightly older, but was most easily distinguishable from the others by the fact that he wore even more gold ornamentation, and as Maria looked around she noticed that many of the everyday working parts of the spaceship -- well, as everyday as it could get for someone who'd only ever seen the insides of two other spaceships -- seemed to be finished in gold too. It was all a bit overwhelming, like walking into an interplanetary Caesar's Palace.
"Er -- hi," she said. "Who are --"
"We found them hiding in the building, sir," interrupted one of their captors. They hadn't lowered their guns.
The leader stood up and inspected them. "Young humans, not yet full grown," he mused. "Do they not have adult supervision in this age?"
"What?" asked Maria blankly.
"Who are you, humans? Why are you spying on us?"
"We weren't! We were just ... curious about this warehouse."
"And what business of yours is it to be curious?"
"Well, we're a curious spec --"
None of them had been paying much attention to Annabel, which turned out to be a mistake. She made a sudden dive for the control panel, taking off her crystal ring as she did so. "Nobody move!" she yelled, holding the ring close to the panel, which was of course coated in gold. "This stone is made of pure corbomite! All I have to do is bring it into contact with gold plate and it'll blow us all sky-high, we came prepared for you! Put down your guns!"
The two guards actually hesitated, and their leader looked nonplussed. Maria seized her chance -- wait, corbomite? Oh, never mind. "Well done Operative Williams," she said crisply. "We're from the --" fortunately inspiration came quickly "-- Agent Smith Task Force. Perhaps we can talk about this like civilised people?"
The aliens looked at each other. "Are you a representative of your government?" asked the leader. He seemed to have serious doubts on this point. "Erm, law enforcement, do you call it?"
"No, Task Force Smith is separate from the government," said Maria, inventing desperately.
"We're outside the police!" cried Annabel dramatically. She seemed to have caught the idea, but Maria flashed her a warning glance. It wouldn't do to go too far over the top; their story wasn't exactly credible as it was.
"We did hear rumours of an Earth intelligence task force, sir," muttered one of the guards.
"We're beyond the United Nations," said Maria. "But we do ... have access to their resources when we need them." She fought an urge to blush; she was sure that wasn't quite how her father would have phrased it. She attempted a winning smile, hoping it wasn't their idea of a challenge for a duel to the death; but she'd had time to assess these aliens now, and they didn't really seem to be the world conquest type. It made a refreshing change. "We prefer to deal with this sort of situation quietly, without involving the regular authorities. Less publicity that way. Perhaps we can help you? We've got experience of this sort of thing."
"Bah, what could you know of us?" snarled one of the guards.
"Your race was even more primitive than ours was in this era --" added the other with a sneer, then stopped abruptly at a look from his leader, as if he'd just said far too much.
Something went click in Maria's mind.
That was where she'd heard of these creatures before! One of Sarah Jane's adventures -- a tale of the far future, an alien planet of gold allied with Earth in a desperate war against Cybermen, a race called something like -- Vegans? Vogons? No that wasn't right ...
"You're Vogans." That certainly got a startled reaction. "Of course we know of you, we're not as primitive as you think," she added with more confidence than she felt. "But what are you doing here now? Your people aren't supposed to make contact with the human race for centuries yet." That was pure bluff, but after the little exchange between the guard and his leader it seemed like an educated guess.
"How can you know this?"
"We have our methods," she said crisply, then before they could question her on the point added hastily, "But I'm afraid they're chrono-classified. So how did you get here?"
The lead Vogan hesitated for at least a minute, then came to a decision. He pressed a large gold button on a control panel, and a viewscreen opened up to show a swirling mass that made Maria blink and look away. "Through this. Not through choice."
"Er, is that what I think it is?" asked Maria, hoping that the Vogan would elaborate, because she really didn't have a clue what it was.
"It's some sort of ... wormhole thing, isn't it?" said Annabel in a hushed voice, and Maria started. She'd forgotten the other girl was there for a moment. "I saw it on --"
Maria jumped in hastily. "You're not cleared for that, Operative Williams," she snapped. References to whatever handwaving science fiction show Annabel might be about to mention weren't going to help. Then again, maybe she had a point ... "Wait, you're saying that's a temporal connection of some kind?"
"Yes," said the Vogan sadly. "We were in a great battle. We took hits from a Cybership, and barely managed to escape. But when we tried to use our damaged hyperdrive, it malfunctioned and opened this space-time corridor. The other end came out here and we crash-landed in the river, although fortunately our displacement shields held and hid us. We've been trying to get home ever since."
"And where do the Gangsta Boys come into it?" asked Maria, wincing as she said it. Annabel's style seemed to be rubbing off on her.
The Vogans looked almost embarrassed. "They were conducting some ... business transactions of their own by the river and saw us emerge. We offered them gold in exchange for help. Our control system burnt out coming through the corridor, but the scans they conducted for us -- " he held up an odd-looking gadget "-- showed that compatible components were to be found in a particular research building. Unfortunately our allies failed to procure them, and we didn't dare to make ourselves known to the planet as a whole. There's no telling what it might do to the timeline."
Maria almost grinned. This was perfect. "I'm not surprised," she told them. "You need to deal with professionals who can arrange for what you need to be supplied, not amateurs who try to break in -- or get out of their tree on the proceeds before they've even tried."
"Out of their tree?" asked the Vogan, mystified. Evidently his translator did have problems with slang.
"Er, technical term. We can help you, no problem."
"We can -- um, Agent Jackson?" It was Annabel who seemed to be trying to shut Maria up now. Maria beamed at her.
"Yes, we can. Stand your weapon down, Operative Williams. For a reasonable price, of course ..."
The Vogan nodded; he seemed almost reassured by this, as if he'd expected a human to say that. "How much gold do you want?"
"Well ..."
*****
"They're not gangsters, they're aliens."
"What?" Alan Jackson choked on his pizza as Maria walked in with Annabel, and made this announcement as if she was merely discussing today's English lesson.
"Relax, Dad, they're only trying to get home."
"Well, that's original," he muttered. He looked stunned. "How did you find out? And what about --" He jerked his head at Annabel, who had been unusually quiet on the way back.
"Long story. But she knows, don't worry. We need your help though."
"Help?" Dad said the word with foreboding, as if he had a very good idea what sort of help his daughter might be about to ask for. "Is this legal?"
"Well -- no, but no-one will notice if you're as good as I think you are."
"Don't flatter me, young lady. What do you want? And do I get anything out of it other than the risk of being locked up?"
"Well, we kind of want you to subvert your own system at the research lab and set up a fake delivery order for some of that hi-tech kit ... As for payment, the aliens can do you a nice line in gold dust and gold bars? You did say you wanted some."
*****
"I can't believe that actually worked."
"What, Dad?" Maria stood on the banks of the Potomac, watching the strange distortion that was the Vogan ship slipping back to its own time and place through the space-time corridor. She would be tired in the morning again, but this time she didn't care. Annabel was with them, staring in amazement. "I had every faith in you."
"Don't be cheeky!" After a moment or two, he added, "This isn't that resonance thing you were talking about, I hope. It's not going to keep happening, is it?"
"'Fraid so. Well, probably. Laws of the universe and all that."
Dad groaned. "You know, I really hope Sarah Jane was wrong." He brightened as something occurred to him. "Anyway, you don't even have anything to detect aliens. I'll see you in the car, OK?"
Annabel spoke up for the first time in quite a while as they watched him walk away. She seemed subdued. "You really did know all about aliens, didn't you? Do you, like, do this sort of thing all the time, then?"
"Not now. And not all the time. But -- yeah, I did it a lot. It's amazing, isn't it?"
"Yeah." She forced a laugh. "I'm supposed to be the cool one round here, right? But you're like, cooler than me by about a million times."
Maria smiled at her. It looked like there was actually decent stuff in Annabel -- well, once you got past the trite and irritating exterior, anyway. She wondered if this was how Sarah Jane had felt when Maria herself had first stumbled into one of her adventures. "Tell you what, you could always help me out if we find any other aliens to investigate ..."
"Really?" Annabel was so excited she forgot to sound laid-back. Then her face fell. "But we don't have anything to detect aliens, do we?"
"Well ..." Maria's smile became a grin. "Funny you should mention that." She reached into her pocket and took out an odd-looking golden gadget. "I asked for this as part of the price of helping -- just as a souvenir, I said. It's one of the Vogan compatible technology detectors. I reckon that if we use it in reverse, it'll show up any alien tech."
"Wow." Annabel shook her head. "Even cooler. After all, the papers say they're all over the place now, don't they?"
Maria chuckled. "Don't be cheeky!"
Additional Notes:
The Vogans appeared for the first, and as far as I know only, time in Doctor Who in Revenge of the Cybermen in the first Fourth Doctor season (the gist of it being that gold is inimical to Cybersystems and therefore a great weapon against them). The reference to aliens using pyramids on Mars is to, um, Pyramids of Mars from the following season. Both featured Sarah Jane Smith, although the second of these is generally considered far better than the first.
Annabel's 'Corbomite Maneuver' does show sufficient familiarity with Classic Trek to suggest that she's actually a lot more geeky than she pretends to be among her kewl friends.
There were various references to New Who and SJA canon, of course, but noticing those is left as an exercise for the reader! This was posted shortly after Prisoner of the Judoon which started series 3 of SJA -- fortunately, nothing in the series seemed to contradict it that I could see, and indeed the reference to Maria helping to hide aliens when The Mad Woman In The Attic came along a week later actually supported it. Gotta love it when that happens. I rather like the idea of Maria taking the lessons she learned and setting up on her own, with her own sidekick.
My apologies for any flaws in my American scenes and characters, but I'm afraid the US setting was a canonical given. :)
Rating: PG-13
Length: 5,100 words approx
Fandom: The Sarah Jane Adventures (with Doctor Who references)
Challenge: Femgenficathon 2009
First posted: 16th October 2009, in femgenficathon
Summary: Moving to America was supposed to mark the end of Maria's alien-investigating activities. But that's not the sort of thing it's easy to forget. And sometimes it seems as if the universe so arranges itself that things just happen to some people ...
Notes: In the SJA canon timeline, takes place shortly after Mark of the Berserker. Written for prompt #61: "Invest in the human soul. Who knows, it might be a diamond in the rough. -- Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955), American educator and civil rights activist; founder, in 1904, of a school for black girls which eventually became Bethune-Cookman University, a black university in Daytona Beach, Florida; and advisor to Franklin Delano Roosevelt." Sort of used in the development of one character, but not the main theme.
Intellectually, Maria knew that adjusting her body clock for a different timezone couldn't really take months. But as she walked blearily into the kitchen, dropped onto a seat at the breakfast bar, and glared at the radio -- which her dad had tuned into his favourite nineties rock station and then turned up far too loud -- she was quite prepared to blame Washington time for her resentment at not being able to stay in bed at least an hour longer.
"What have you got on at school today?" asked her dad, who was disgustingly cheerful for a man who'd already been up two hours.
"Just the usual. English, math -- sorry, maths, it's rubbing off on me -- technology ..." And the Cool Kids thinking they were cool, of course, but that was an occupational hazard wherever you went to school.
Dad snorted. "Earth technology, I hope?"
Maria laughed, although not without a little pang of regret. "Afraid so. Who are you hacking into today?"
"I don't do it all the time, you know," he said, sounding rather hurt.
"Sorry."
The radio went to the news, which was at least quieter than the rock music. A Republican politician was complaining about something. A Democratic politician was complaining about something else. And just for variety, politicians of both parties were complaining that the Potomac River barriers had failed to prevent it overflowing its banks recently. Although given the shaking the whole planet had gotten -- gotten? It really was rubbing off -- when being flown through space by the Daleks and then back again by Sarah Jane's ... er, friend, it was a wonder it had settled down at all. Maybe she could blame her body clock woes on that?
"For your information, young lady, I'm conducting security audits for the Pentagon. It's quite an honour for them to hire a non-American, although I suppose these days anyone who isn't an ali --" Dad thought better of it and coughed. "Er, coffee? You look like you could use some."
"No kidding."
The news bulletin had run through all the regularly scheduled doom and gloom the network had been able to find and reached the final light-hearted story. "... And it seems muggers in Washington are striking it lucky these days! Usually when the police find a suspicious bag of powder, it turns out to be full of narcotics, but a man arrested yesterday was in possession of a large amount of gold dust, of all things." The newsreader laughed. "The Police Department say that's a new one even for them. So far, no-one has come forward to claim it ..."
"Wish I had a few spare bags of gold dust," said her Dad, grinning.
Maria groaned. His wit hadn't improved as a result of crossing the Atlantic. "Oh right, like the new job doesn't pay you enough?"
"Don't be cheeky!"
*****
"... and just to show you that mathematics has always had practical applications, the ancient Egyptians actually developed the techniques of geometry in order to measure astronomical distances and build pyramids -- Miss Jackson, are you with us today?"
Maria started. She wasn't sure if it was the lack of sleep or just a touch of boredom, but her mind had definitely been wandering. She could hear giggles and a mocking whisper of "I bet she knows all about it anyway" from the back row -- presumably Annabel Williams and her little clique, who all seemed to think she was an utter nerd. Just because of that one time in science class when she'd known the exact distances between the Earth and various astronomical bodies!
Well, all right, the usual distances.
"Sorry, Mrs Barker. I was, er, just thinking about what you were saying." That wasn't, strictly speaking, true. Her mind had drifted back to Bannerman Road and Sarah Jane.
Mrs Barker looked sceptical. "I see. And do you happen to know why the Egyptians built in a pyramid shape?"
She answered without thinking. "Aliens taught them." There was a gale of laughter from the rest of the class, and Maria turned bright red. "Well, that's the claim anyway," she added, as jokily as she could manage. "I don't suppose they did really. But the papers say they're all over the place now, don't they?"
There were renewed splutters from behind her; doubtless Annabel and her girlfriends were practically wetting themselves with suppressed laughter. Maria sighed. Most people on Earth didn't seem to have fully absorbed the idea of aliens on the planet yet, even if it had now been officially acknowledged -- although to be fair it was considerably easier to get a grasp on the concept when you'd personally met several of them.
It was clearly going to be a long day.
*****
"What on earth did you say that for?" said Dad, looking up from the Metro section of the Washington Post in order to chuckle at her frustrated lament.
"Well, it's true!" Dad raised his eyebrows and Maria was forced to add, "Sarah Jane told me once when I asked her about the things she'd done. There were these powerful telepathic aliens who used pyramids to imprison one of their enemies on Mars and -- and you didn't know that, did you."
"No. I'm not sure I wanted to, to be honest." Her dad looked at her in a manner that showed far too much comprehension for Maria's liking. "Look, I know you miss it ..."
Maria rolled her eyes. "Well yeah. Wouldn't you?" She hesitated. "Don't you?"
Dad hesitated in turn. "Well ... all right, I do. A bit. Kind of. But --" Maria had suspected there was a 'but' to follow "-- look, Maria. I know it's all boring and everyday of me, but you're my only child. It scared me silly every time you got involved with Slitherins and --"
"Slitheen, Dad."
"-- sorry, them, and mad computers and the rest and ... I do feel bad that you miss it, sweetheart, but I can't help being kind of glad that you're safe and sound here." He sounded unapologetically apologetic, which was quite a neat trick. "Do you understand?"
Maria got up and hugged him. "Yeah, of course I do. You know that. It's just hard to adjust."
"I know. Stuck with boring old me, eh?"
"Oh shut up. Anything interesting in the paper?"
"More about that mugger with the gold -- no hang on, it's some other bloke." Dad's eyes rapidly scanned the page. "It says here they arrested him for DUI -- small fortune in gold bars in the trunk of his car -- won't explain where he got them -- no banks or bullion dealers have claimed the gold belongs to them yet. Tell you what, I wish it --"
"-- belonged to me," Maria finished for him. She grinned. "Anyway, maybe it won't be boring. Sarah Jane had a theory that things simply, like, happen to some people, some, I dunno, resonance of the universe kind of shapes events around them, and if you've been in contact with them it kind of rubs off on you too. She said it's probably the result of spending too long travelling through the time vortex."
"Through the ... I really don't want to ask, do I? Was that what this Doctor bloke told her?"
Maria shrugged. "Don't think so. It was just something she came up with when she noticed that they seemed to get into trouble everywhere they landed."
*****
"Oh look, it's one of the Space Girls!"
Maria gritted her teeth and kept walking down the street, thinking vaguely of getting a coffee somewhere. Annabel Williams just wasn't going to let this one go, was she? It had been more than a week now, and her group were still pointing and giggling every time they saw Maria. All right, she'd coped with far worse things than the popular girls thinking she was totally uncool, but it didn't stop it being really annoying.
She found a Starbucks and was just sitting down with a latte when Annabel and her friends walked in, saw Maria in the corner, and made mocking Mr Spock salutes in her general direction. Maria turned hastily away to glance at the TV screen on the wall. It looked as if it was actually showing something interesting for once, which made it all the more frustrating that she couldn't hear what Trinity Wells was saying. The scrolling ticker was reporting that some people had tried to break into a top security government military research facility, but been foiled by the alarms. It was the sort of potential oddity that would have set her alarms off a few months ago and prompted a request for information from Mr Smith, and Maria had to look away. Suddenly, she missed it so much it felt like a kick in the stomach.
She left quickly. As she passed her annoying classmates, Annabel pointed the large blue crystal on the ring she was wearing at Maria, and made a bleeping sound as if firing an imaginary raygun. Maria quickened her step; she'd stared down the barrel of the real thing, and she didn't think it was all that funny.
*****
Her dad looked very pleased with himself when she got back. He seemed to be waiting for her to ask why, so she did. "What's up, Dad?"
"Oh, my intrusion detection systems have just proved their worth. You'll never guess what happened."
"Not the lab break-in?"
Dad's face fell. "Well, yes. I designed the entire system, as it happens. Data collection, administration, accounts, the lot. The security suite spotted the intruders almost as soon as they got in. Bunch of amateurs, really."
"Human?" asked Maria with a grin. She couldn't resist.
"Very," he replied, with a reproving look. "Just small-time gangsters by the sound of it, although they must have had some sophisticated kit to even get past the front doors."
"There you go then! There must be loads of aliens knocking around Washington. Even if it is a harder target than London."
Dad rolled his eyes. "Not everything is to do with aliens, Maria."
*****
"Seen any more aliens yet?" Annabel Williams smirked at Maria as her little gang pushed past her to get out of the classroom.
Maria began to move away down the corridor, then thought better of it and turned back to confront her. She'd just about reached the end of her tether on this one. "Not yet, but I'm working on it. Even you can't have missed them this last couple of years! Daleks ring a bell? You might have noticed the whole planet being kidnapped? The Sun nearly going out? The Moon nearly crashing into us?"
"Yeah, well ..." Annabel huffed; she didn't seem to have a good answer to that. "You seem to think they're all over the place. Not that you'd know any more about that than we would, even if you are, like, some kind of alien fangirl." Maria bit back her reply; even she had to admit that her part in events would be hard to believe. The other girl sneered. "I suppose you think those gold thieves are really aliens in disguise, like, trying to steal Earth's wealth for their king!"
"The gold thieves? No." Maria tried to look innocent. That thought actually hadn't crossed her mind, although she kind of wished it was aliens ...
Annabel rolled her eyes at the obvious implication that Maria thought some other thieves might be aliens, and her sycophantic friends tittered, although not without a slight underlying note of alarm which evidently annoyed their leader. "Anyway," she said mysteriously, "I know who they really are."
That caught Maria's interest, but she wasn't going to give Annabel the satisfaction of letting her see that. "Yeah right. What was it you said? Oh yeah, not that you'd know any more about that than I would." She turned away.
"I do so know then!" said Annabel indignantly. "Listen, I saw this stupid boy who's always trying to hit on me down by one of those warehouses by the river. He was sneaking in with one of his dumb gang buddies, the one who's always flashing gold about."
"So? He's probably just pretending to be a rap star or something."
"Duh. Those two that got arrested, they're part of their gang, yeah? That must be where they hide out!" The other girls were giggling at both of them now, and Annabel looked very disgruntled at the idea that Maria might not believe something she said. "Look, I'll prove it to you. Come down there after school and I'll show you. Or are you too scared?"
Maria hesitated. She didn't think this was a great idea, but as someone who had stared down the barrel of a raygun, she couldn't bring herself to back down over the possibility of meeting a few thugs. "All right then. If we're careful."
*****
Maria had kind of hoped that Annabel might be bluffing, but unfortunately she wasn't. She led her to a run-down warehouse by the waterfront, and as they reached the door Maria looked around nervously. Whatever she'd done before, she didn't especially want to meet a bunch of headcases with guns. "Right, look, Annabel," she said urgently. "We need to be very careful. We have to look for a place where we can get in without leaving an obvious trace ..."
"Oh yeah? And how do you know all about it?"
"I've done this sort of sneaking-around thing before," said Maria, feeling as if her hand had been forced. She tried to explain in as matter-of-fact a way as she could. "I was with an older friend, though, we were investigating, and although somebody pulled a gun on us, my friend had ... this cool high-tech weapon that got us out of it."
Annabel gaped at her; she obviously didn't know whether to believe this or not. "Yeah, right," she replied, although there was just a hint of uneasy respect there.
After all that, Maria fully expected the place to be locked up so securely it would be impossible to get in, but their luck was in -- or possibly out -- and she found a loose window round the back next to the door. Once inside they crept silently across the floor of the warehouse, and Maria found herself reluctantly impressed; Annabel, for all her faults, clearly had guts. There were some boxes piled in an untidy heap in a dark corner, and the two girls exchanged looks; Maria didn't expect to find anything much in them beyond rats, but it seemed a shame to come this far and not look.
"Shall we?" she whispered.
"OK," murmured Annabel, forgetting even to sound snide.
The lid wasn't very well-fitting, and working together they managed to prise it open. Annabel gasped, and Maria just stared; even in the poor light she could see the glimmer. The box was stuffed full of gold -- gold in the form of bars, gold dust, lumps of the raw metal, and even some strange-looking ornaments that were probably worth a fortune just for the workmanship.
"OK, I think we need to put this lid back now and get out of here," said Maria slowly. She knew her voice sounded unsteady. Annabel nodded silently.
They'd fitted the lid back as best they could when they heard the sound of the door opening, and they did the only thing possible; they ran for it. For a moment Maria thought they were going to be trapped, but then she spotted a door and they dived through it into what turned out to be a small store cupboard; it was a bit cramped, but it was a hiding place, and that was all that mattered.
Oddly enough, the worst thing about waiting there was hearing sounds of activity, but not being able to tell what was going on. There was muffled cursing -- with a detached part of her mind that was trying not to think about how much danger they were in, Maria noted it sounded very human -- then a far-off buzzing sound, then for a few minutes there was silence. After that there was the sound of a door opening on the other side of the warehouse, and a conversation taking place -- well actually, it sounded more like an argument, all low mutters and angry but indistinct replies. Then they both jumped at a shout that carried across the open space: "Look, man, it's hard getting in that place! I don't care what you pay, won't make it any easier! If you just gave us a bit more help ..."
Annabel's eyes widened, and she mouthed at Maria. "That's Gangsta Boy!"
Maria couldn't hear what the answer was, but it obviously wasn't favourable, as Gangsta Boy's reply was even angrier. "Yeah yeah, too dangerous. Well, you'll have to let us get on with it and hope for the best, won't you?" There was a definite undercurrent of fear beneath the bravado. They heard him stomp back across the warehouse, and then a door slammed, rattling the windows; if this was how he normally left it wasn't surprising that one of them had come loose.
With a sinking feeling, Maria heard the unmistakable sound of people looking in the boxes. She exchanged scared glances with Annabel, then to her horror realised that the reason they could hear so well was that the door hadn't shut properly. Footsteps approached rapidly, and Maria had a moment of sheer terror as the door was flung back. She raised her hands, fully expecting to find herself on the business end of an AK47.
Annabel made a choking sound. Maria just stared in resigned disbelief.
Their gun-toting captors looked almost as scared as they were. They had high domed foreheads, more facial fur than was strictly necessary, and wore uniforms that were festooned with gold ornaments in the way most people stitched on badges. And the guns pointing at them definitely hadn't been made in any factory on Earth.
*****
The aliens stared at them, clearly nonplussed. They seemed vaguely and frustratingly familiar, yet somehow out of place. Try as she might though, Maria couldn't remember why, and unfortunately this time there was no way of calling on Mr Smith's databanks to help.
The taller of the two jerked his or her gun at them and said "Move."
They moved.
The aliens took them through a set of doors at the far end of the building and then along a long corridor that seemed to be heading downwards and out under the Potomac. Annabel looked as if she wasn't sure whether she should be petrified or furious; fury won out. "Why didn't you tell me this might happen?" she hissed.
"I did!" Exasperation overcame Maria's own fear. "You know, all that 'it might be aliens and if so it's really dangerous' stuff?"
"Well of course I didn't believe you, geek girl," said Annabel scornfully. "Now look at me! Kidnapped by the Bling Monsters!" Maria hoped devoutly that whatever translation unit the aliens had wasn't too good with slang. "Look at them! They probably want to round up as many pretty young Earth girls as they can and take them to their planet to be love slaves in their gilded pleasure dome!"
Maria sneaked a glance at the aliens. If anything, they seemed even more horrified by this concept than Annabel was. "Where are you taking us?" she asked, trying to keep her voice level.
The aliens hesitated. "We are taking you to our leader," said one of them eventually.
"Oh that's so original," muttered Annabel.
They had arrived at a pair of large golden doors, and these opened into what was unmistakably a spaceship. Their leader seemed slightly older, but was most easily distinguishable from the others by the fact that he wore even more gold ornamentation, and as Maria looked around she noticed that many of the everyday working parts of the spaceship -- well, as everyday as it could get for someone who'd only ever seen the insides of two other spaceships -- seemed to be finished in gold too. It was all a bit overwhelming, like walking into an interplanetary Caesar's Palace.
"Er -- hi," she said. "Who are --"
"We found them hiding in the building, sir," interrupted one of their captors. They hadn't lowered their guns.
The leader stood up and inspected them. "Young humans, not yet full grown," he mused. "Do they not have adult supervision in this age?"
"What?" asked Maria blankly.
"Who are you, humans? Why are you spying on us?"
"We weren't! We were just ... curious about this warehouse."
"And what business of yours is it to be curious?"
"Well, we're a curious spec --"
None of them had been paying much attention to Annabel, which turned out to be a mistake. She made a sudden dive for the control panel, taking off her crystal ring as she did so. "Nobody move!" she yelled, holding the ring close to the panel, which was of course coated in gold. "This stone is made of pure corbomite! All I have to do is bring it into contact with gold plate and it'll blow us all sky-high, we came prepared for you! Put down your guns!"
The two guards actually hesitated, and their leader looked nonplussed. Maria seized her chance -- wait, corbomite? Oh, never mind. "Well done Operative Williams," she said crisply. "We're from the --" fortunately inspiration came quickly "-- Agent Smith Task Force. Perhaps we can talk about this like civilised people?"
The aliens looked at each other. "Are you a representative of your government?" asked the leader. He seemed to have serious doubts on this point. "Erm, law enforcement, do you call it?"
"No, Task Force Smith is separate from the government," said Maria, inventing desperately.
"We're outside the police!" cried Annabel dramatically. She seemed to have caught the idea, but Maria flashed her a warning glance. It wouldn't do to go too far over the top; their story wasn't exactly credible as it was.
"We did hear rumours of an Earth intelligence task force, sir," muttered one of the guards.
"We're beyond the United Nations," said Maria. "But we do ... have access to their resources when we need them." She fought an urge to blush; she was sure that wasn't quite how her father would have phrased it. She attempted a winning smile, hoping it wasn't their idea of a challenge for a duel to the death; but she'd had time to assess these aliens now, and they didn't really seem to be the world conquest type. It made a refreshing change. "We prefer to deal with this sort of situation quietly, without involving the regular authorities. Less publicity that way. Perhaps we can help you? We've got experience of this sort of thing."
"Bah, what could you know of us?" snarled one of the guards.
"Your race was even more primitive than ours was in this era --" added the other with a sneer, then stopped abruptly at a look from his leader, as if he'd just said far too much.
Something went click in Maria's mind.
That was where she'd heard of these creatures before! One of Sarah Jane's adventures -- a tale of the far future, an alien planet of gold allied with Earth in a desperate war against Cybermen, a race called something like -- Vegans? Vogons? No that wasn't right ...
"You're Vogans." That certainly got a startled reaction. "Of course we know of you, we're not as primitive as you think," she added with more confidence than she felt. "But what are you doing here now? Your people aren't supposed to make contact with the human race for centuries yet." That was pure bluff, but after the little exchange between the guard and his leader it seemed like an educated guess.
"How can you know this?"
"We have our methods," she said crisply, then before they could question her on the point added hastily, "But I'm afraid they're chrono-classified. So how did you get here?"
The lead Vogan hesitated for at least a minute, then came to a decision. He pressed a large gold button on a control panel, and a viewscreen opened up to show a swirling mass that made Maria blink and look away. "Through this. Not through choice."
"Er, is that what I think it is?" asked Maria, hoping that the Vogan would elaborate, because she really didn't have a clue what it was.
"It's some sort of ... wormhole thing, isn't it?" said Annabel in a hushed voice, and Maria started. She'd forgotten the other girl was there for a moment. "I saw it on --"
Maria jumped in hastily. "You're not cleared for that, Operative Williams," she snapped. References to whatever handwaving science fiction show Annabel might be about to mention weren't going to help. Then again, maybe she had a point ... "Wait, you're saying that's a temporal connection of some kind?"
"Yes," said the Vogan sadly. "We were in a great battle. We took hits from a Cybership, and barely managed to escape. But when we tried to use our damaged hyperdrive, it malfunctioned and opened this space-time corridor. The other end came out here and we crash-landed in the river, although fortunately our displacement shields held and hid us. We've been trying to get home ever since."
"And where do the Gangsta Boys come into it?" asked Maria, wincing as she said it. Annabel's style seemed to be rubbing off on her.
The Vogans looked almost embarrassed. "They were conducting some ... business transactions of their own by the river and saw us emerge. We offered them gold in exchange for help. Our control system burnt out coming through the corridor, but the scans they conducted for us -- " he held up an odd-looking gadget "-- showed that compatible components were to be found in a particular research building. Unfortunately our allies failed to procure them, and we didn't dare to make ourselves known to the planet as a whole. There's no telling what it might do to the timeline."
Maria almost grinned. This was perfect. "I'm not surprised," she told them. "You need to deal with professionals who can arrange for what you need to be supplied, not amateurs who try to break in -- or get out of their tree on the proceeds before they've even tried."
"Out of their tree?" asked the Vogan, mystified. Evidently his translator did have problems with slang.
"Er, technical term. We can help you, no problem."
"We can -- um, Agent Jackson?" It was Annabel who seemed to be trying to shut Maria up now. Maria beamed at her.
"Yes, we can. Stand your weapon down, Operative Williams. For a reasonable price, of course ..."
The Vogan nodded; he seemed almost reassured by this, as if he'd expected a human to say that. "How much gold do you want?"
"Well ..."
*****
"They're not gangsters, they're aliens."
"What?" Alan Jackson choked on his pizza as Maria walked in with Annabel, and made this announcement as if she was merely discussing today's English lesson.
"Relax, Dad, they're only trying to get home."
"Well, that's original," he muttered. He looked stunned. "How did you find out? And what about --" He jerked his head at Annabel, who had been unusually quiet on the way back.
"Long story. But she knows, don't worry. We need your help though."
"Help?" Dad said the word with foreboding, as if he had a very good idea what sort of help his daughter might be about to ask for. "Is this legal?"
"Well -- no, but no-one will notice if you're as good as I think you are."
"Don't flatter me, young lady. What do you want? And do I get anything out of it other than the risk of being locked up?"
"Well, we kind of want you to subvert your own system at the research lab and set up a fake delivery order for some of that hi-tech kit ... As for payment, the aliens can do you a nice line in gold dust and gold bars? You did say you wanted some."
*****
"I can't believe that actually worked."
"What, Dad?" Maria stood on the banks of the Potomac, watching the strange distortion that was the Vogan ship slipping back to its own time and place through the space-time corridor. She would be tired in the morning again, but this time she didn't care. Annabel was with them, staring in amazement. "I had every faith in you."
"Don't be cheeky!" After a moment or two, he added, "This isn't that resonance thing you were talking about, I hope. It's not going to keep happening, is it?"
"'Fraid so. Well, probably. Laws of the universe and all that."
Dad groaned. "You know, I really hope Sarah Jane was wrong." He brightened as something occurred to him. "Anyway, you don't even have anything to detect aliens. I'll see you in the car, OK?"
Annabel spoke up for the first time in quite a while as they watched him walk away. She seemed subdued. "You really did know all about aliens, didn't you? Do you, like, do this sort of thing all the time, then?"
"Not now. And not all the time. But -- yeah, I did it a lot. It's amazing, isn't it?"
"Yeah." She forced a laugh. "I'm supposed to be the cool one round here, right? But you're like, cooler than me by about a million times."
Maria smiled at her. It looked like there was actually decent stuff in Annabel -- well, once you got past the trite and irritating exterior, anyway. She wondered if this was how Sarah Jane had felt when Maria herself had first stumbled into one of her adventures. "Tell you what, you could always help me out if we find any other aliens to investigate ..."
"Really?" Annabel was so excited she forgot to sound laid-back. Then her face fell. "But we don't have anything to detect aliens, do we?"
"Well ..." Maria's smile became a grin. "Funny you should mention that." She reached into her pocket and took out an odd-looking golden gadget. "I asked for this as part of the price of helping -- just as a souvenir, I said. It's one of the Vogan compatible technology detectors. I reckon that if we use it in reverse, it'll show up any alien tech."
"Wow." Annabel shook her head. "Even cooler. After all, the papers say they're all over the place now, don't they?"
Maria chuckled. "Don't be cheeky!"
Additional Notes:
The Vogans appeared for the first, and as far as I know only, time in Doctor Who in Revenge of the Cybermen in the first Fourth Doctor season (the gist of it being that gold is inimical to Cybersystems and therefore a great weapon against them). The reference to aliens using pyramids on Mars is to, um, Pyramids of Mars from the following season. Both featured Sarah Jane Smith, although the second of these is generally considered far better than the first.
Annabel's 'Corbomite Maneuver' does show sufficient familiarity with Classic Trek to suggest that she's actually a lot more geeky than she pretends to be among her kewl friends.
There were various references to New Who and SJA canon, of course, but noticing those is left as an exercise for the reader! This was posted shortly after Prisoner of the Judoon which started series 3 of SJA -- fortunately, nothing in the series seemed to contradict it that I could see, and indeed the reference to Maria helping to hide aliens when The Mad Woman In The Attic came along a week later actually supported it. Gotta love it when that happens. I rather like the idea of Maria taking the lessons she learned and setting up on her own, with her own sidekick.
My apologies for any flaws in my American scenes and characters, but I'm afraid the US setting was a canonical given. :)