Beyond Time

Authors Introduction:-

This is a little short story I've wanted to get my teeth into for a while. I loved the Sarah Jane Adventures. Whatever bad things I can, and have said, about Russel T. Davies I did like his work on the Sarah Jane Adventures. I sometimes feel that that was where he belonged. Puttering about with Children's TV, not serious Sci-Fi which believe it or not Doctor Who is

Anyway the point. I've got a week off work so I decided to get some jobs done around the house. All the while watching some DVD's in the background. At the bottom of my Dr Who box I found the whole SJA series.

It had been awhile since I'd seen them so I picked my favourite episodes and made a day of it. While this was going on I remembered my idea and decided to finally throw it together. This was the result.

We all know the reason the show stopped was the sad loss of Elizabeth Sladen but I think it had the legs to keep going. Sarah Jane Adventures was lead by her, but had a strong enough ensemble cast to pull it off. Tommy Knight (Luke) and Daniel Anthony (Clyde) are a pair of strong actors who I'm certain have good careers ahead of them. Anjli Mohindra (Rani) started off a little weak, but she quickly fell into step with the others.

With these three there was enough talent to keep the quality of the show up. More than that death is a part of life. The wasted potential of this tragedy does gnaw at me a little. When I wrote Epitaph (my other post-Sarah Jane story) I wanted to show how they lived on with their grievous loss and the impact that it made.

Of track, but important when I was younger my Grandmother died. I knew about death intellectually, but the impact was something I wasn't ready for. I know that this can't be unique, death effects every child this way. The same with the Bannerman Road Gang. Thing is I and we have all kept on going and so would the gang. Instead we're left with the quickly edited caption at the end of the last episode and the leaked scrips of the unrecorded episodes. There's no ending there, no solid impact. Death shouldn't be an ending, but a new beginning for these people.

In my opinion they shouldn't have ended like that. We should have had a full season where we see the impact and weight behind this death. Where we see Luke, Clyde and Rani fill in the gap left behind and then we can have "The Adventure Continues…" as much as you want. So this is my Coda, shall we say, for the series. For me this is the true end now. Beyond the inevitable death, the legacy. The one thing we are all remembered for in a way beyond time…

Disclaimer:-

The Sarah Jane Adventures was created by Russel T. Davies for the BBC. All characters and settings belong to them. I'm only borrowing them and make no profit from the work.

Haresh Chandra knocked on his Daughter's door. 'Rani, Sky. It's time for breakfast!' Since Sarah Jane had died Sky was staying with them until Luke finished university. Somehow it was all legal and above board, they even had the paperwork to prove it.

On the other hand he'd long since given up trying to understand just how anything connected to Bannerman Road and the Smith family could happen in any reality he was familiar with.

There was no answer from the girls and he knocked again. 'Rani, Sky are you two alright in there?' He waited for a silent moment. A dozen irrational fears sprung to mind before he took a breath. 'I'm coming in.' Haresh announced and opened the door.

The room was empty.

Dashing inside he looked for some sign of where they could have gotten to. They were their last night, they had to have been. The room was a mess, more so than usual. Like someone had left in a rush. 'Gita! Their gone!' he shouted searching the room.

'Gone? Who's gone where?' His wife called back just as he found the note on Rani's desk. 'Haresh? Haresh! Who's gone?'

Blinking hard Haresh read the note twice more, it said the same thing both times but didn't make anymore sense. He tried aloud. 'Hi Dad, sorry to scare you but somethings come up. Got to go, I'll try not to be late for school. Rani. PS Sky's coming with us. Don't worry, love to mum.'

No sooner had he finished than Gita ripped the note from his hand. 'What's going on?'

'Read that and you know as much as me. I'm telling you Gita, this last four years I don't know if I'm coming or going.'

'What are we going to do? Call the police?' His wife panicked.

'Gita, hold on.' He took hold of her shoulders. 'She's left a note, the police won't do anything. You know Rani, she wouldn't just leave a note with no reason.'

'What reason could she have to leave in the middle of the night, and take little Sky with her?'

'I don't know and I'll get answers when I do get the chance to talk to her. I promise I will Gita. In fact I'll do it right now.' Setting his shoulders Haresh took the note and went to the phone. Pulling out the pad on the table he called his daughter's mobile. It didn't ring, just jumped to voice mail.

'Any answer?' Gita asked hopefully

Haresh shook his head and tried Sky's phone. Again it skipped to voice mail. Knowing that if Rani was getting herself in trouble Langer would be there. For the third time he rammed in the number and got nothing but a recording. Either all three were off, or their batteries were out. Rani was always keeping her's charged, and the odds were that one of them should have picked up. He didn't want to even guess at what the odds were all three were off by accident.

Whatever was happening he liked it less and less. Putting the phone he turned to Gita. 'They've got to be together somewhere and their phones aren't working.' he told her and took a breath. 'You stay here, call me if they turn up. I'll do the same if they do turn up at school.'

Gita looked at him like he was crazy. 'What then? Haresh our girl, our little Rani, could be in danger. She could be hurt! Calling out for her mother, all alone!'

Haresh was just as scared as she was, but he couldn't afford to panic. 'Gita, if we call the police now we don't know what could happen. For all we know they could be at school right now, waiting for me. Look I'll call you as soon as we know anything.'

They weren't at the school. even when the bell rang for first class the three of them were still missing. Gita would be half out of her mind with worry by now and he wasn't much better. Knowing he had already put it off too long he picked up his phone and was ready to call 999 when he heard student's making a noise outside.

Two very expensive, very black, cars pulled through the school gates and came to a stop. Haresh watched as three people, dressed in highly decorated military uniforms, got out of the first car. One looked American, in full dress blues, the other two were in dirty green British uniforms. Haresh was no expert by he could have sworn they were all generals of one form or another. Out of the second car came his daughter, Langer and Sky.

He was stunned, he knew that Sarah Jane had some connection with the military, but he never dreamt they would still be interested in his daughter. Then something amazing happened. The general's, as one, saluted the three children.

By now the crowd outside had grown. Students were filling the car park as word spread like wildfire that something strange was happening. Haresh should have been out there, but he didn't want to miss a minute of what was happening outside.

Langer and Rani gave them a lazy salute back and the Generals nodded. There was a brief moment where they shook hands and the army officers grinned before getting back in the car and drove off.

It took most of the first period to get the students back into class. Between them Sky, Langer and Rani somehow managed to dodge giving them straight answers. The closest anyone got to an answer was that they just caught a lift from Sarah Jane's old friends, and made some new ones.

Even when he cornered Rani about it after school she gave him a smile, said she was sorry and it would't happen again. He'd see how long that would last.

The answer was almost a month. This time it was the middle of the school day and even more spectacular. Instead of an official car this time it was a large helicopter.

Haresh first heard it as he was crossing the quad during lunch time. Students running around like an aimless heard of cattle. He wasn't obsessed with neatness like some headmasters, he just wanted a little order. In the right time and place all this dashing around was alright, like when students had to get to class. Instead that was when they were the slowest.

When he heard the helicopter's blades he looked up to see where the sound was coming from. It was one of the big military ones with two rotors on top. It came over the horizon like aircraft always did but straight at the school. Living in London, even on the outer edges, meant aircraft were fairly common, but never like this.

As it got closer Haresh could tell it was slowing down, heading right for them. The awed gasps from the students got louder and that's when Haresh noticed the winged symbol on the side belonging to U.N.I.T. He'd seen it before and knew what was happening.

They'd come for Rani again.

Pushing past the gawping children he searched for his daughter. Finding her with Langer as ever. The Helicopter stopped above the yard, hovering as it spun lazily. Students backed away. They were scared now, more scared than curious. Haresh had been scared as soon as he recognised the symbol.

While still in the sky the sides of the Helicopter opened and four back ropes flew down to the ground, quickly followed by four men. All dressed in black and wearing red berets. Zipping down the ropes the four men stopped inches from the ground and dropped free. The ropes pulled back up and the Helicopter began to land. Three of the solders started waving at the students to back away. The other one pulled out a tablet computer and started looking around. As soon as he saw Rani he stopped, double checked his computer and marched up to them.

'Miss Chandra? Mr Langer?' he asked officiously.

'That's us.' Langer said and the tablet beeped.

'Voice recognition confirmed.' a robotic voice chirped up as the Helicopter landed behind them. 'Clyde Langer, Security level Vermillion-Gold four.'

The solder stood even straighter. 'Sir, ma'am. We have orders from Geneva. You're to be briefed in the air.'

Haresh grabbed his daughter's arm. 'Now just a minute. This is my Daughter and I am headmaster here.' he told the man. 'Just what is going on?'

'It's okay Dad, I have to go.'

'Sir I'm afraid I'm not authorised to know. All I am aloud the divulge is that we have a code Black. The Archive has been breached.'

Whatever that meant it was enough for Rani to brake his hold on her. 'Dad I've really got to go. I'll tell you what I can later but right now we have to do this.'

Langer was already moving. 'Come on, we don't have time. Sorry sir!'

'Clyde's right.' Rani looked at him and Haresh backed off. He knew his little girl was growing up but he had no idea how fast. Not until he looked at her like that. 'I'll see you later. Look after Sky, she'll be angry she missed this.' With that she was gone. Running to the helicopter that took off almost before they had got in.

It was hours later and Haresh was biting his thumb watching the news. A freak storm had sprung up in Yorkshire. Tornados, thunder bolts and hailstones the size of footballs. The news showed what was unmistakably U.N.I.T. solders blocking the road and trying to hold off the news crews

Gita hadn't let Sky out of her sight. The little orphan had pouted throughout most of the day. She wouldn't say what was going on, but complained endlessly about being too small to do any of the important things. The two of them were sat in the kitchen, playing boardgames. Gita didn't want her to watch the news. Said it would give the girl nightmares. Which meant he had to worry with the news muted. He couldn't hear what was happening but from the fact that the pictures had been repeating for the last hour, with cutaways to the solders picking up their barricades Haresh was sure it was over.

The door opened, 'All I'm saying is if they're going to keep something called the Apocalypse Tablet, maybe they need better security.' Langer said.

'It's the most secure site on the planet Clyde.'

'And we've broken into it three times now, that's all I'm saying.' It was the closest Haresh had gotten to the truth, but Gita took that moment to interrupt.

After that there was no chance of getting a straight answer of either of them.

Haresh had given up trying by that point and started looking into things on his own. That lasted almost a week before he got a very official phone call asking him to stop.

When Rani told him she'd had to call in a few favours to keep him out of prison he was only half convinced she was joking. He didn't stop though, not really. Reading newspapers he began to keep a scrapbook of anything to do with U.N.I.T and the unexplained. Looking for something, some connection to Rani and some way to explain it

It was tedious work. Rani had watched and worried as he became almost obsessive of collecting everything he could find. Reading and re-reading it over and over again but Haresh felt justified. If she wasn't going to tell him then he'd just have to find out, one way or another. Gita thought he'd just picked up a hobby. The truth was the more he learnt the more confused he got. U.N.I.T. had been a round since the 60's. They just popped up out of nowhere and operated all over the world. Mostly in secret, only rarely being noticed and always mysterious.

Sarah Jane Smith was somehow connected to them and even though she was now dead whatever she had taught his daughter involved them. The more he investigated the more he was convinced of one thing. U.N.I.T. was dangerous.

There was a knock on the door. As he was the only one home at the moment he went to answer it. The man on his door step was older. He had a shaved head and a short goatee beard, shot through with grey. 'Mr Chandra. Can I come in?' he asked quietly

There was something familiar about the man. 'Sir, do I know you?'

'No, but I know you.' The stranger said. 'I know you've been looking into your daughters work. I can tell you what it is.'

Haresh looked at the man. 'How would you know more about my Daughter than I do?'

'Because, to the right people, she's very important and you deserve to know the truth about just how special Rani is.' There was a note in the man's voice Haresh couldn't place. Almost sad, but proud at the same time. It was the same way Rani talked about Sarah Jane.

Confused, but weeks of getting nowhere had frustrated Haresh to the point he didn't care where answers came from. 'Alright, come in.'

'Thank you.' He entered, playing with an oversized watch. 'It might take a while. Could I have a cup of tea?'

By the time the stranger had left the house it was late afternoon. Mr Chandra was fast asleep, the Retcon he'd borrowed saw to that. He hadn't been lying when he told Chandra he should know the truth, but it had to be in his own time. The man would have worked himself into a neurotic wreak trying to get at the truth. As he had done once before.

So a little subliminal command here and a mind wipe there and he'd give up the obsession. Over the years the Stranger had picked up a few tricks on how to cover his tracks. He looked up and at the attic window across the street. All these years and things hadn't changed.

The same tree, the same driveway only thing that changed was the people. Up there his wife was still alive. The old Bannerman Road gang. Even missing their mentor they still saved the world a million different ways.

Clyde Langer, father and grandfather several times over, smiled to himself. His family up there thought the worst, and the best, was over. They didn't know just what was coming. What the future held.

He laughed aloud as he tapped away at the Vortex manipulator on his wrist. Their adventure would last a lifetime and beyond.

End Beyond Time

Authors note:-

Clyde the Elder would be, in an ideal world, played by Avery Brooks. AKA Ben Sisko in Deep Space 9. I can't think of a more perfect fit, if you can please leave a review! (yes I know he's american, he could pull of the right accent)