Story [Doctor Who] By Routes Most Unusual (Martha Jones travels during the Year That Never Was)

Title: By Routes Most Unusual
Author: Idrelle_Miocovani
Timeframe: during the Year That Never Was (Series 3)
Genre: humour, drama, adventure
Characters: Martha Jones, OC
Summary: When trying to get from Australia to North America, Martha Jones is forced to consider more unusual methods of travel.
Notes: This little sketch was spawned from this thread in the JCC.
Dedication: To Ish and Mar, because it?s your fault.

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[b][blockquote]By Routes Most Unusual[/blockquote][/b]

Martha Jones had always wanted to see Australia. There was something completely entrancing about the country ? the exotic wildlife, summer in December ? but she?d never had the chance to travel when she was in med school. Then she?d been swept into the TARDIS and with the entire universe open to her, Australia had faded to the back of her mind. But now she was back on Earth ? most likely for good ? and her old longings were coming back to her. Life had been so easy. Once upon a time, she had friends who went on trips every year, and she had dreamed about travelling with them whenever she heard their stories.

She hadn?t realised that her first trip to the beautiful country would be under the cover of darkness, running through the wilderness, clinging to strangers for aid, hoping and praying that she could carry out her promise without being caught. With the whole planet under the thumb of the worst oppressor any country had ever seen, every passing day provided a new challenge.

For example, travel. Who knew that getting from one place to another could be so difficult. It was worse than being stuck on the freeway during peak hour, back when cities had freeways and peak hours. Travel was near impossible ? but she did it anyway. Hitching rides, plotting courses? it was practically an art form.

It was dusk. Martha was sitting under a tree on the coast of the Timor Sea, in some forest that used to be a park. Or at least, she thought it used to be a park. In every single country she had visited so far, parks had gone completely wild. Their caretakers, like everyone else, were too afraid to do their job, so the trees went untrimmed and weeds had invaded.

She really couldn?t complain. Forests were just about as safe as you could get. Toclafane didn?t like forests; the branches and leaves obscured their flight paths. Usually Toclafane would just slice them up ? that was their standard response to things they didn?t like ? but forests proved to be much, much more resistant than people.

Martha did wish she had better shelter, but there were no people who lived out here. They were all locked away in their houses and flats in the city, hiding in their basements, boarding up their windows. She had managed to speak to several families and passed along her message, but mostly she was ignored. A lone figure, wandering the streets.

?It would make an interesting film,? she muttered, rubbing her hands together to keep them warm. She lost her gloves several weeks back; she couldn't for the life of her remember what had happened to them. She sighed and gazed out a break in the trees at the murky red sky.

[i]I hope he gets here soon?[/i]

She had trekked around Australia and New Zealand. Now she had to somehow make it to North America. How she would manage it without a plane, she had no idea, but she would have to make do. North and South America were the only continents she hadn?t hit yet, and she needed to get there?

The waves roared as they crashed against the sand. Martha shoved her hands into her pockets and blew out a puff of air. Her eyes closed; the waves were reminding her of those relaxation CDs you used to be able to buy. She began to nod off? surely it was just her imagination that she was sitting here under a tree in [i]Australia[/i], waiting for a boat that would take her to her next destination? it was all in her head; she wasn?t really travelling the world, spreading a story tha

 

You wrote it!

And it's great fun, I must say.

Forests FTW!

Ouch...

Understatement of the year.

Monty Python!!!

Teehee.

Why do I have the feeling that last sentence was actually directed at Ish and me?


Seriously, though - lovely, fun vignette!

 

And not too terrible for putting it together with only a couple hours of work? Hence the reason I called it "sketch" - I don't think I've ever written a ~2000 word fic this quickly!

Well, I think it's funny...

Slapstick! Poor Martha...

Oh, and for the record, you are correcting my grammar slip because originally this was supposed to be written in present tense, and then I decided to change it to past tense half-way through working on it. Naturally, I didn't catch every single verb when I did the switch...

Understatements make the world go 'round!

Trust me, Ethan is a Monty Python-spouting Aussie.

Well, it seemed an appropriate explanation as to why Martha has to kayak across the Pacific Ocean to escape Australia...

O rly?

Glad you had fun, Mar. I went through a lot of pain to write this - including waking up at 3:30 in the morning with the urge to write it, an urge which I had to shush until tonight since I really needed my sleep and I was busy all day today. The things I do for you...

 

Should've been called Bruce, then...

 

But see, that would have been way too obvious. It's funnier this way.

... I think.

Be proud of me, Mar. Be proud.

... I need to stop replying to my own thread. Bad, Idri, bad!

 

LOL, it was wonderful to see Martha getting a little levity, even if it was because of a suggestion to kayak.