Pleased that his new acquaintance accepted his offer, the Doctor ran around the TARDIS adjusting seemingly incongruous controls. The pitch of the time machine changed as it powered up to full song. “Well Fred, I can promise that you will have supper. The fab part of it is where? Ancient Rome? Perhaps at the Argolin pleasure hive? I know! Vortis! That would be brilliant!” The Doctor grow more excited and animated with the idea.
With a wink and the flip of a final switch the TARDIS began to phase out of regular time/space. “Strap in Fred, I’m about to give you the ride of your life!” The ship shuddered as the City took hold of it. The Doctor and Fred shifted through time, held in space looking for a vortex to escape this dimension.
Somewhere in a rainforest in Brazil, a butterfly beat its wings. In another timeline, a Dalek burped inside of its metal shell. It is possible that in the layers of the multiverse that some version of the Doctor and Fred escaped the grip of the City, but in this reality they found themselves throttled about the control room. The ship phased back into linear time/ space on the third floor of one of City’s libraries.
“That was somewhat unexpected, and a tad disappointing. I SO wanted pancakes, and the Menoptra are remarkably good cooks for insects.” The Doctor stepped out of the ship’s door, and locked it behind them. Pacing around the library, he had another aha moment. Fred ,I need more power. Something is behind this City, and I intend on finding out what it is. The seemingly ridiculous presence of the call box was ignored by a fastidious librarian. Almost as quickly as the Doctor had blinked into Fred’s life, he strode off looking for cold fusion generators, clues about what was holding his ship in place, and syrup laden breakfast items.