The TARDIS was on its way through the vortex again, carrying the Doctor and

me inside. It always felt strange and yet wonderful when we went traveling through the whirl of space and time. And I was in no hurry to get home.

"What if I gave you a nickname?" The Doctor was saying.

I laughed. "You can try, though I doubt that you could come up with something very good."

He thought for a moment, tapping his chin as he looked up into the central column. "Well, you're a blonde, you're short..."

"Thanks a lot!" I said jokingly.

He grinned, not looking away from the column. I could see the gears turning in his head like clockwork, evidence of the Time Lord in him.

"I've got it!" he shouted, throwing his hand in the air. "Sputnik. It means 'fellow traveler' or 'companion' in Russian, not to mention the historical significance."

I turned the name over in my mind. It sounded nice. Hesitatingly, I whispered it into the air. It felt wonderful on my tongue. He smiled at the look on my face.

"You like it?"

I nodded, trying desperately to hide my elation at being nicknamed by the Doctor.

The TARDIS came to a halt with a thud. We checked the scanner to be sure we were where we needed to be.

"That can't be right," said the Doctor. His eyebrows were furrowed in concentration. We both squinted at the screen.

"Doesn't that mean we're..." I said, pointing to a particular symbol on the screen.

"Yeah..."

I could tell he was confused, and he liked it. I got the feeling that he would be dragging me by the hand, out the door and into the world waiting outside. So I took initiative this time.

"Come along, Doctor," I shouted gleefully as I pulled him by the hand down the ramp and out the door. He took hold of his coat along the way and locked the door behind us. What we found waiting was more confusing than any place we had been to yet.

We were in a building, sometime in the future by the look of it. The TARDIS was parked in the corner of a conference room, tucked behind a large table. A window to our right revealed a futuristic looking city, one that looked strangely familiar...

Suddenly it hit me. The reading on the scanner just moments earlier. It made sense now. We were in another parallel universe. We were living fiction again. I ran to the table and looked at the screens placed in front of each seat. They displayed the Star Fleet insignia.

Star Trek.

"What was that?" the Doctor asked, coming up beside me.

Had I said that out loud? I looked over at him. He now had his coat on and as he leaned over me, I caught a glimpse of the sonic screwdriver safe in his pocket. A smile crossed my face. Everything about the Doctor made me happy.

"Star Trek," I said again. "We're in another fictional universe. This one belongs to Star Trek. The revamp movies, if I am correct." I looked over my shoulder to the city outside. It looked like London from the J.J. Abrams rendition, Star Trek: Into Darkness. I had just seen that movie a few days before leaving with the Doctor last time. How long ago was that? A week, maybe more. I wasn't sure.

"Fascinating…" the Doctor breathed, looking at the screen. I laughed. He wasn't making a reference, but it still fit perfectly.

Everything was starting to kick in. The excitement of looming adventure, the amazing things I anticipated seeing, the things I was ready to do. It was time to begin. I ran to the door and the automatic sensors opened the hatch to admit the Doctor and me through.

We were in a hallway, and we were alone. There was no one there. A few voices could be heard at one end of the hall. Otherwise, the place was empty.

"Listen Sputnik, I don't think these guys will take kindly to strangers being in their headquarters, so we had best disguise ourselves," the Doctor whispered.

I nodded. "That looks like a closet there. Let's see if there are any spare uniforms."

We tiptoed to the particular door. It was locked, of course. But with a short sonic session, it slid open as we slipped inside. Sure enough, at least two of each color uniform was hanging at the far wall. After a long, internal debate, I took a red one, since my preferred area had always been linguistics should I ever get into Star Fleet. I went behind a shelf and changed into it. Luckily, the dress was a little longer on me than I remembered it being on the girls from the revamp movies, ending just above my kneecap. There were some spare boots as well and I pulled a pair of those on. I bundled up my clothes and stepped out from behind the shelf. The doctor wore a blue uniform, just like Spock's, minus the commander gold rings on the sleeves.

"Let's put these in the TARDIS before continuing," he suggested, nodding to our bundles of clothing. We tiptoed back to the conference room and I tossed my clothes just inside. The Doctor took the sonic from his coat pocket and tucked it into his belt before laying the coat aside and locking the TARDIS doors again. And then we went exploring.

Down the hall, we found a corridor that shot off to the right. The voices were louder here, so we made our way down the corridor, slowly and carefully. That's when the Doctor stopped me with a hand on my arm.

"We shouldn't be creeping along here. If we are to fit in, we should walk like we're supposed to be here."

I nodded, straightened, and continued on. We passed a few windows until we found the source of the voices. A jumble of people was filing down the perpendicular hall, a line on either side of the wide space.

"Might as well," the Doctor shrugged.

We slipped in line and prepared to wait a while. I looked around, up at the ceiling, down at the floor. The walls in this hall were a dark grey instead of white like the other. Up ahead, the walls seemed to get even darker.

Before I knew it, we were at the end. Two officers, one to each line, stood at the threshold of a large room. They were giving each person a tablet after asking a few questions. Suddenly, it was my turn.

"State your name, rank, and department," the officer said, not looking up from his work on the podium he stood behind.

What? I thought. What am I supposed to say?

I came up with the best answer I could.

"Sputnik…Ensign…Linguistics," I said haltingly.

The officer tapped the tablet for a moment, then handed it over to me. "You are assigned to the U.S.S. Enterprise. Proceed to the left." He waved behind him. I could now see that the room was a hangar with multiple shuttles parked along the walls.

I followed the officer's command, trying to wait for the Doctor, but when he got his orders, he began walking to the right of the hanger. I gave him a worried look and he waved me on. With great effort, I saw him mouth the words, "Just go. We'll meet up later."

I had a hard time believing that. Still, I continued to the third shuttle in a long line of them. An officer checked my orders and gestured for me to go inside. I heard someone say something about "first wave", so I guessed that we were going up first. There were only three seats left open in this one. I took the one tucked in the corner and buckled in. Two more people entered, took the remaining seats, and then we were being sent out into space.

There was a window near my seat and I watched the stars go by. The darkness, vastness, and beauty of space captivated my mind. Then I saw the docking port and the ships arranged around it. There it was, the Enterprise. It looked wonderfully white against the darkness, like a shining pearl in a black sea.

In a few moments, the shuttle landed in a hangar on the ship. We were ushered out and made to stand in a poor formation as the other two shuttles were emptied of their passengers. After everyone was lined up correctly, a superior looking officer came out of the passageway in front of us, holding a tablet larger than the one in my hand. He went down the lines, sending each individual onward with a wave of his hand. A lifetime passed and he stopped in front of me.

"Sputnik?" he asked.

I looked him over. Blue shirt, black hair, pointy ears, and those unmistakable eyebrows. This was Spock.

The realization had incapacitated me for the moment and I stood, open mouthed, staring up at him.

"Sputnik?" he repeated. "Is that your name?"

I blinked. "Y-yes…sir. Kristen, Kris for short, Sputnik."

He took a moment to look me over. He settled his eyes on my face and I could feel my cheeks burning. "Interesting name. There are two different cultures and languages in that name."

"I'm a diverse kinda gal," I replied with a nervous laugh. What was that? Stupid, stupid, stupid.

With a shake of his head, he looked down at the tablet in his hands. "It says here you are a linguist. What sort of linguistics do you specialize in?"

Another silence ensued as I grappled for an answer to give. "I'm…fluent in French and English, sir. And I know small amounts of other Earth languages."

"Any Xenolinguistics?"

"Not really, sir."

He sighed, tucking the tablet under clasped hands at his belt. "Technically, you are not qualified to be on the Enterprise. However, another linguist might benefit us on this mission." He took my tablet from me, placing his under his arm. "I am assigning you to the bridge," he said as he typed. "You will be working with Lieutenant Uhura. Proceed forward and report to the bridge."

He held the tablet out to me, but I couldn't take hold of it just then.

Lieutenant Uhura. The bridge. I'm going to be working with the helm crew from Star Trek. How…?

Spock was getting impatient. There were many others waiting to be assigned and there was no time to lose. I took the device from him and a step toward the corridor. I watched him move on to the next new recruit for a moment, then started for the bridge.

Of course, I got lost. I had no clue how to get to where I needed to go. I think I asked for directions three times at least, but I finally made it to the lift that would take me up to the bridge. My heart was pounding as each floor passed by with a bright light. My feet became like lead when the lift stopped. And then the door opened.

The bridge.