18: Jailbreak

“Hey Shakira, its Ursula’s birthday tomorrow so we’re all going out, you wanna come?” Farrah asked. She was sitting on Shakira’s balcony with her and Saghira, drinking tea and watching the city below.
“Of course I do”, Shakira said, now wondering what to get her. “How is she?”
“Great but she’s been missing Dr Vogl a lot lately…I miss him too.”
“Where is he? Can’t she fly to Earth’s Germany and pick him up?” Saghira asked, a little jealous that Farrah had not only started her job as an art teacher, but was loving it, while she had to wait another two and a half months to even begin studying.
“He’s in jail.”
“He is what?” Saghira’s eyes, as dark and beautiful as Shakira’s, widened.
“Dr Vogl got really drunk one night, broke into a zoo and bred animals of different species”, Farrah sighed. She thought he knew better than to run around doing drunk science.
“So…he is crazy?” Saghira had no idea of what to make of this man.
“I guess he can be, but he’s really sweet once you get to know him. One time it was my birthday, but I was staying in the clinic, so both him and Ursula got a cake for me.”
“Awwww!” Saghira smiled. “But Shakira, didn’t you essentially get Farrah out of a similar situation?”
Shakira smiled. “Yes I did! So you are thinking the same thing as me?”
Saghira replied with a faux-smug “But this time I beat you”, and stuck her tongue out.
“So you’re gonna break him out of jail?” Farrah asked them. Shakira got up to find her laptop.
“You were broken out of that hospital”, Saghira stated.
“I’m sure the jail he’s in has more security guards”, Farrah said flatly. Shakira returned with her laptop and turned it on. “How do you spell the name of the jail that Tom is in?” she asked.
“Like this….” Farrah typed in the name of his jail. “And how exactly do you plan on getting him out?”
“We are going to pilot the TARDIS directly into his jail cell, it will be easy. No security guards, no hitmen, no guns, nothing! And I know what I am getting Ursula for her birthday!” Shakira explained. “And now…”, she said after a while, for she was hacking into that very jail’s computer system, and then, after a few more minutes, she finished her sentence with, “I have……found it! He is in Block D!”
“Can I see where it is?” Saghira asked, leaning over as Shakira turned her computer towards her. “It doesn’t seem that hard if you are used to landing your TARDIS inside buildings.”
“I have landed mine in rooms without windows, so it will be easy for me. Farrah do you want to come with us?”
“Sure! If we’re not gonna be in there long I won’t get too tired.”
“Of course we won’t, who would want to be in a jail for any more than a few minutes anyway?” said Saghira, as she got up and found a mirror to straighten her hijab. The three then entered Shakira’s TARDIS, which was sitting in the corner of her living room.
“Okay….” Shakira said to herself. “Farrah’s timeline, so 2009, May…aghjshaf…Germany, Bavaria-“ she added something else incoherently, then pulled the lever so her TARDIS would take off. When her flying, spinning machine was over the prison, she took the wheel in order to guide it into Thomas’ jail cell. “And one last…there!” she announced, as the TARDIS landed exactly where she had intended it to. “I can see him!” Farrah exclaimed, once she could see out of the viewing window. Before Shakira or Saghira turned around, Farrah unlocked the door and ran straight out. “Doctor Vogl!” she yelled, startling the grandfatherly-looking man. As Shakira’s TARDIS landed silently, he just continued reading his newspaper instead of being aware of what was going on.
“Farrah? Is this even real….what is that closet thing you came out of and why is it bigger on the inside?”
“Yeah it’s as real as anything can get…I missed you and so does Ursula!” Farrah wrapped her arms around him, and he hugged her back. Shakira and Saghira appeared at the door.
“These are my friends…Shakira is one of my doctors too and Saghira is her sister”, she said, pointing first to the woman in the orange salwar kameez, and then to the woman in the black abaya with white and gold flowers embroidered onto it.
“Salaam aleikum”, they said at the same time. Saghira added, “This is a TARDIS, it stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space, it is a machine that allows you to travel anywhere in time and space, and yes they are always bigger on the inside.”
“Amazing!…so you are aliens like Ursula?” Thomas asked.
“Yes, Thera is a lot like Earth, just as Ursula’s homeworld is”, Shakira explained. “We are wondering if you would like to visit her?”
“That would be marvellous!” he declared. “And I don’t even need to pack, as I have nothing here.”
“What is going on in there? Why are there women’s voices?” demanded a security guard, as other prisoners began to take notice and believe their eyes, prompting a fast return into the TARDIS. Shakira rapidly entered the co-ordinates to Ursula’s house, and pulled the lever on the console yet again. Soon enough, they landed in front of the duplex that the half-Sontaran woman lived in, as the sun was setting.
“This is her house? It might as well be in 1950s Earth”, he noted, finally seeing for himself what Ursula had been talking about for years. Shakira and Saghira knocked on her door at the same time, until she opened it.
“Hello girls…Tom? It is really you?” she gasped.
“Yes it is me, I am free now!” he announced.
Ursula ran to him. “Oh Tom! I was so worried about you! And please be more responsible in the future!” she ordered, while they were in each other’s arms.
“I will, my dear…I suppose I am staying here for a while yes?”
“It will be the safest thing, Farrah is with me now too.”
“I’ll explain everything that’s happened over the last month”, Farrah said.
“They said you were getting worse!” Thomas finally stated, unsure of the reality.
“They lied…things are getting really weird back home.”
“I guess we should go now”, said Saghira, with Shakira agreeing.
“I will see you tomorrow!” Shakira then said to the three, as both she and Saghira slipped back into the TARDIS to go home. It was clear that Ursula and Thomas were family, in their own way.
(A/N: I LOVE YOU AYESHA AHMED!)

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