Surprise!

Sorry to disappoint but this isn't a new story, I actually posted it here on Fanfiction a couple of years ago. I took it down because I'd intended to self publish it as the original story it started life as as (I had the idea and twisted it around to fit Samcedes, not the other way around). But obviously that hasn't happened and probably never will so I've decided to leave it back here for the fandom. I know there aren't many of you left but for those who stayed I wanted to give something back. (Plus those who've watched the recent series of Dr Who you'll know there's something at the beginning of one of the episodes that brought this fic right back to my mind.)

For those who haven't read this story before, on the one hand it's a departure from what I normally write and on the other hand it isn't. The first time around some people said it was like the Hunger Games because of the Sector concept. I still haven't seen it (I know!) to make a comparison but it wasn't my intention to make it similar to anything else and the Sectors is just a backdrop so I can't really change that.

This first part isn't really the first chapter. It's just the Prologue/Author's Note/Scene Setter. I still think this is important because it explains why the characters are the way they are.

So please enjoy!

Vicky x

The Journey Outside is an AU story is set in a dystopian World which is split into numbered Sectors, each populated with people of their own 'kind'. It wasn't always that way, but nobody can really remember how it all came to be. No one knows what came first, the Sectors or the cultures contained within those Sectors. It just is and everyone accepts it as their reality.

For the majority life is simple. 95% of them are born, grow up, live and finally die in their home Sector with no real desire to leave or explore the outside World. There's no real attraction or encouragement to explore beyond what they already know. Each Sector is a 'World' in itself, clearly defined and extremely large in size, much as modern 'States' in current day America are, encompassing vast swathes of rural areas as well as multiple cities. But the differences between the inhabitants are far more marked, with each Sector having its own 'culture', traditions and belief systems which are strictly adhered to at risk of punishment. In many Sectors the punishment for disobedience is severe but not necessarily thought to be unjust. Each Sectors is vast, often several days travel to cross, self-contained and self-sufficient which perpetuates the lack of desire to leave or learn anything of other Sectors. Everything anyone could need to have or know is already exists in one place.

Although everyone in this parallel universe speaks the same language, there are clear distinctions in the speech and accents of each Sector. As well as the often strikingly different physical features such as skin colour, hair type and genetic features, other things such as styles of dress, food preparation and even types of rulership also separate the inhabitants of Sectors from their other numbered counterparts.

Yet despite this twisted and segregated world, in each generation and within each Sector there are a tiny minority who do dream of something else. They might not quite know what that something else is, but they dream of it anyway. Where this strange desire comes from is a mystery, as are some of the other things that these individuals seem to be able to Perceive, but to those who experience this desire, it's all consuming, even to the point of driving a few of the affected individuals to madness after dealing with a lifetime of the frustrated desire for something different.

Between these vast Sectors are smaller Transit Sectors. The few who are intrepid enough to dare travel, negotiate their way through them at the risk of their own lives. The one thing that all Sectors agree on is the distain they hold for the Transit Sectors. Despite the fact that they're a necessity, providing links for the export and import of basic items as well as trade, they are places that most Citizens seek to avoid, the one area where people of all Sectors actually do mix and see things they would never experience in their own Sectors. Due to the general avoidance by the masses, they're places most frequented by the underclasses, the unwanted and especially the criminal community.
Only a few from each Sector are brave enough even to seek legitimate employment in these areas out of fear of those they might encounter. For the dreamers however, the Transit Sectors are the only way they get to experience anything other than the Worlds in which they are born and destined to die in.
It is a different World.

But here's the thing…

For all these words, and descriptive details, this story isn't actually about this dystopian World. It's simply the backdrop, the curtain of the stage with the players under the spotlight.

Because in a world as complex and fractured as this, the real stories aren't the ones about the world itself, but about the individuals within it.

This, my dear readers, is one such story…