"I don't care what that alien said, these are not a size 6!" Donna moaned, trying in vain to shuffle her foot around inside her new boot. She yelped as the leather caught on a blister.
"I warned you, they'd do anything for a sale," The Doctor told her, not looking up from the TARDIS's console. He flicked what appeared to be an overly large pinball launcher and the room began to shudder.
"I knew a guy like that down the market, managed to get my mum to buy three different types of..." Donna began, before she was thrown bodily across the room. "What the hell do you think you are doing!?" She shrieked, trying to regain footing.
"It's not me!" The Doctor replied, dancing around to the main computer. Buttons were flashing various shades of violet and the normal whirring had become a sickly whine. "Oh, no..." He started, cranking down the nearest lever and typing madly "No, no, no, no!".
The TARDIS hurtled through space, slicing deep lines in the cosmos as it went. The void twirled around it, knocking the box back and forth through all 4 dimensions. Inside both Timelord and companion grabbed hold desperately, trying to avoid losing their grip on the floor. The lights began to pop, glass shattering across the room, shards suspended in the air as the TARDIS spun uncontrollably.
"What's happening?" Donna demanded, red hair swirling around her face. "I'm warning you, if I don't get out of this..."
"Solar flare as I set the co-ordinates!" The Doctor replied, reaching his arm out desperately as he tried to regain control. "But it shouldn't have done this..."
"Well tell it that you're very sorry!" Donna screamed, narrowly avoiding a piece of airborne glass.
"Don't think that will really work if I'm honest!" The Doctor replied, rolling his eyes. Even when being thrown through space he still had the capacity for sarcasm.
And then it was over. The TARDIS landed with a thump and both occupants fell down, Donna clutching at the railing, the Doctor cradling his ship's hub. "There now," He whispered, stroking the console "All better,"
Donna looked at him, her eyebrows raised almost above her hair line. "Would you two like to be alone?" She asked, crossing her arms and leaning back against the wall.
"What?" The Doctor asked, confused "No, why?"
"Never mind."
"Soooooo where do you think we are?" The Doctor asked, getting up from the floor and grinning.
"You mean you don't know," asked Donna incredulously.
"Nope, not a clue." The Doctor said, his smile widening.
"But you got us here!" Donna objected, moving over to where the Doctor was now standing. "How can you not know where we are - besides don't Timelords have a homing thing? Like one of them pigeons? You always know where you are!" The Doctor look down to her, his brow creasing.
"Homing pigeons?"
"I don't know!" Donna responded, whacking him lightly on the arm.
"Well, we don't. I'm just a very clever person with a good knowledge of History. And Geography - awful at art though, never got on with it." He laughed, skipping forward towards to TARDIS door. "You see I thoooought we were off to the lovely sandy beaches of Uogosolov, but now with those flare, well. Could be anything out there..."
There was a pause.
"Five quid says it's got more than one sun!" Donna said, catching up to the Doctor as he dashed to the door.
"10 says it's inhabited!" The Doctor replied, opening the door with a flourish and diving through.
"Oh." Donna said, looking around.
"Yeah." The Doctor replied, following her gaze.
There was nothing. Zip, nadda, not a thing. Just ground and sky, stretching away from them. No suns or inhabitants to be seen.
"Well this is a bit of an anti-climax." Donna sneered, squinting her eyes to see if there was anything she was missing.
"Hmm, that's odd." the Doctor murmured, disappearing behind the TARDIS.
"What's odd?" Donna asked, following him. "It's just a tree Doctor, we see them a lot you know." She told him, after see what he was looking at.
"Not the tree, this place." The Doctor replied, still in that same thoughtful tone. He whipped out his glasses and ran a finger down the bark of the tree. After observing it closely, he reached out tentatively with his tongue and licked the tip of his finger.
"Well?" Donna asked.
"It's a tree."
"I can see why you are idolised by millions you know." Donna told him, debating whether to laugh or throttle the man.
"My charm and good looks?" The Doctor asked, flashing her a cheeky grin. "Right, I fancy a walk - what do you think?"
"Nah, not interested thanks." Donna told him, well aware that she would be following him around the wasteland. Sure enough half an hour later the two of them were still walking and nothing had changed.
"Go on then, what's odd?" Donna asked, trying to gain some sense out of her guide.
"Look up, what do you see?" The Doctor replied, continuing to trudge across the dreay landscape.
"I don't know," Donna told him, as she craned her neck. "Sky? Grey? What should I be seeing?"
"And when was the last time you saw a sky like that?" The Doctor asked, his hands in his pockets.
"Well when there was that snow a while back, it was all white then." She said, after a moment's thought. That had been fun at first, that snow. Then after a while, when you couldn't leave your house and the trains were up the spout and you were stuck playing board games and watching day time TV, the novelty wore off slightly.
"That sky is not just grey Donna, it's ALL grey." the Doctor told her. After a moment he was aware of how poor an explanation this was. "Look, the universe is...well let's call it black. It's nothing right? And all that is up there is grey, no clouds, no sun, no stars, no anything. It's like when you do a drawing and you just fill up a space with one colour. It's grey."
"So its grey, you've taken me to places with 5 suns and rain that falls the wrong way round - forgive me if I'm not that shocked." Donna responded, kicking the ground and watching dust blossom upwards. The Doctor didn't answer, instead he pulled out a small pebble from one of his many pockets. Taking careful aim he threw it upwards. After a second or two it came down again.
"Ah ha!" The Timelord exclaimed, running forward and re-pocketing the stone. "You see?"
"No. And why do you carry a stone in your pocket?" Donna asked, bafflement written across her features.
"Never know when it might be useful, and you see if I had thrown the stone it should have continued onwards, arced in the air and then fallen over..." He tilted his head, a clear indication of complex calculations occurring, "...there." He pointed at an equally uninteresting piece of ground.
"But it didn't." Donna said, humouring him.
"Noooo it fell here." He said, bouncing downwards as only the Doctor could, to the small space where the rock had landed. "Meaning it was stopped in its journey and fell down!" He smiled encouragingly, willing his companion to realise what this meant. Donna smiled, her face brightening.
"Still not getting you!" She said happily and the Doctor sighed.
"It means that we are enclosed, that there is something around this planet keeping us in, like a bubble. The stone hit the edge and came down here!"
"Fascinating." Donna told him. "And someone just painted the inside of this bubble I take it? Besides if we landed here then wouldn't we have burst it?"
"It's a metaphor Donna, leave it alone." The Doctor told her, springing up and continuing to walk forward. Donna groaned.
"Wait, Doctor what's that?" She asked, moving past him and trying to make out the object in the distance. They launched into a run, as if the object might run away from them if they were not quick enough. "Oh you are kidding me!" Donna breathed as the object came into focus.
It was a blue box. Their blue box as a matter of fact. And a tree.
Donna sank down to the ground. "Oi what you doing?" The Doctor asked, as he opened the TARDIS door.
"I'm sitting, what does it look like? All that walking has done a number on my feet." Donna told him. "And these bloody boots!" She began to yank them off her feet and stretched out her toes. "That's much better."
Deciding that it would be best to let this one go the Doctor returned to the TARDIS and started trying to work out quite where they were. After several minutes he lent back, bemused.
"Well that is interesting..." He said to himself, making one last attempt at the scan. The TARDIS buzzed as she worked, leaving the Doctor free to begin on repairs.
Fifteen minutes later he walked out, the last of the windows back in place.
"So?" Donna asked, having sat up from her previous lack-of-sun bathing spot.
"We are nowhere." The Doctor concluded, scratching the back of his head. "At least... we are nowhere the TARDIS can locate."
"But that's impossible isn't it? Doctor, Doctor you said that the TARDIS could find anywhere," Donna said, slightly panicked.
"She can, but this... is nowhere."
"Nowhere like Hull is nowhere or like nowhere, nowhere?" Donna asked, trying to grasp the concept. The Doctor grinned.
"Nowhere as in, there are no coordinates, no reference points, no markers - this place doesn't exist. We shouldn't have been able to get here..." He trailed off, looking around. After a moment he started walking again, this time in another direction. Donna settled down, nail file in hand. He returned swiftly, only to run off again. This continued for a while.
"This doesn't make any sense!" The Doctor howled. Donna by now was making her way through one of Agatha Christie's classics. She snapped it shut.
"You're not getting anywhere?"
"No!"
This made up Donna's mind. "Let's go,"
"We can't,"
"Why not?"
"Because we... because we can't."
Donna was close to smacking him again. "Why, what now? Because there may be a chance that underneath this place is a hive of activity? Or because you want to claim it? What are you waiting for?" She almost screamed. The Doctor raised his eyebrows, taken aback by the sudden outburst.
"No, Donna I mean we literally CAN'T. The TARDIS needs a point of reference, until we know where we are... we're stuck." He concluded with a shrug.
"Great. Bloody brilliant. Stuck on the dullest place in the universe. Woops de bleedin do." Donna moaned, pulling her knees into her chest.
"Look I'm sure we will find a way out of this, I just need to think." The Doctor said, trying to help his friend. "If there is nothing round here then it has to be that tree." He continued, moving up to it almost cautiously. "What's so special about a tree?"
"It's got leaves?" Donna said sarcastically, glaring at him.
"Well yes it's got leaves, that's obvious but...but it's got leaves! Donna! You're a genius!" The Doctor exclaimed. Counting under his breath he moved around the tree.
"I am?" Donna asked, confused.
"But it couldn't... no, that's impossible..." The Doctor murmured, counting again.
"Enlighten me?"
"Well there are no constants in the universe, well," The Doctor corrected himself, "there aren't meant to be any. But there are numerical facts, numbers - irrational numbers that keep everything working, like," He clicked his fingers, "e! e's a great number, I love and e."
"e is?"
"It's the number used to work out lots of different things on a linear plain, slowest route to infinity and all that, but that's only two dimensions. Height and length."
"As lovely as this maths lesson is, are we going anywhere?" Donna asked, her patience waning.
"Yes! You see there are 4 dimensions, well," he took one look at Donna's face, "well, we will say four for this purpose. Anyway, to travel in space, distance and time you need to have a very different number."
"The magic number?"
"The magic number. It's programmed into every TARDIS, it's really what gave Timelords the power we have, had even. It's called Relx, we were running out of letters, and it's approximately 9.572."
"That's a bit small isn't it?"
"It's not the size it's how you use it Donna, now! Have a guess how many leaves this tree has?"
"9.572?"
"Oh yes!"
Sure enough one of the leaves had been sliced just short of the midway line, and the Doctor would have bet his sonic screwdriver that it was cut to exactly .572.
"This explains it! The reason we are nowhere is because we are moving, right now, in this bubble. This odd little time bubble! And this is what's powering it all!" The Doctor beamed, patting the tree. "Which means that this is very, very interesting. Because I don't think this is a tree at all."
"But you said, earlier you said it was." Donna pointed out.
"I did didn't I? But Trees can be very realistic and all I saw was that it was alive and you know what else is alive?"
"Beetles? Rocks? Turnips?" Donna tried, well aware that she was no longer a part of this conversation.
"That big o'l box behind you."
"What, that's a TARDIS? That tree is a TARDIS."
"No." the Doctor said, leaning back "It uses the same basic principles though, and I reckon this has a Chameleon circuit, which means..." He reached down, pressing various bits of the ground until he heard a click. The ground slid back, reveling a complex network of wiring. Sonic in hand the Doctor bent down, reaching through the electrics.
"Can I help?" Donna asked, feeling a little useless. "Only I think I may loose you if you delve any deeper..."
"Got it!" The Doctor crowed.
"Got what?"
"I got the door!"
With that the floor caved in. Doctor and Donna hurtled downwards in complete darkness, one screaming the other trying to find foothold. Lights flashed around them, odd scenes and places, events that had happened, or would happen or might happen flickered as they fell.
As suddenly as it had begun, it stopped. There was no unpleasant whack of the ground, just stasis. They were being held in mid air by some unseen force. An electronic voice emanated from around them.
"Bio scan commencing." A green light washed over the pair. "Bio Scan complete. One Human, One Timelord. Biocodes accepted match. State Passcode."
They looked at each other, both lost for words.
"... bubble?" Donna tried.
"Bubble? The Doctor asked incredulously. "Really?"
"Well I don't know do I!" Donna retorted, "Ok, cat, shark, Capricorn, shotgun!"
"Passwords invalid." The voice told them. "Unauthorised entry is not allowed, you will now be removed."
"No, wait!" the Doctor said, aware that he had seconds before they both plummeted to an uncertain end. "Wait, revive protocol 7? 42? 1million? Override system? Forgotten Password? Blue screen of death? Wait! Memory upload 5, 2, 4?"
The system paused. "Access code accepted, you will now be taken to your preset,"
This time there was no falling, just a sense of being somewhere else.
"Where are we now?" Donna asked, looking around. The place resembled a beach, not your white sand tropical island stock, oh no. This place looked more like the place your gran used to take you on family holidays, where the sea was arctic and the best part of the day was the hot chips on the way home.
"At a guess I would say that physically we are probably the same place we always have been. Or everywhere. We exist as probabilities" The Doctor answered cryptically. "Mentally I reckon we are in an in between space. We have accessed the fail safe of this things defence system."
"And that's a beach?"
"Well no, none of this is really real. It's like a test. Like..." He sort around for the right way to explain. "Like when you forget your password on a computer and you have a secret question that you have to answer to get your password back?"
"So we are meant to know this thing's mother's maiden name?" Donna said, running her hand through the sand. It seemed so real, then again things with the Doctor were rarely as they seem.
"Bit more complicated than that..."
"Ah." They began to walk, a nice change from all the running Donna thought. She looked down, scanning the ground for any clue as to why on earth they might have landed here. "This place will go on, just like the other one right?" She asked, looking into the distance.
"Probably," the Doctor told her shrugging, "it's just a computer program really. With our minds directly hooked up."
"That's a little weird,"
"You'll get used to it."
"What are we looking for anyway?" Donna asked, casting her eyes around. "A sign?"
"I don't know," the Doctor said fairly, his hands firmly in his pockets, could be anything, sand, sea, anything."
"You know, why make a beach like this? You can make anything, why a beach like this? You could be in the Caribbean!" Donna pointed out, looking down at the discoloured sand. "There is even the tacky little shells you get round here."
"I like it here, reminds me of somewhere actually, can't quite put my finger on it..."
"Doctor, you said it could be anything, this clue?"
"Yep, anything at all - why?"
"How about...clouds?" Donna asked, her eyes fixed on the sky. The Doctor followed her gaze.
"Donna Noble I could kiss you!" He yelled as he saw what had attracted her eye.
"Please. Don't. It's just that no one ever looks up..."
Sure enough scrawled across the sky was one word.
"Cheers?"
"Cheers."
"Well what does that mean?" Donna asked, "Like, hurrah! Or something?"
"Possibly, give it a try?" The Doctor said fairly. For half a minute both of them stood on a virtual beach yelling every exclamation of joy they could think of. It was a baffling site.
"Think we can rule that one out."
"You think?"
The sea lapped gently in the background. It's murky greenish blue consuming the Doctor's vision. He moved suddenly, dragging Donna with him. Thrusting his hand into the water he retrieved two goblets, full to the brim.
"Cheers Donna, Cheers! As in, bottom's up!" He said gleefully.
"I am not drinking that mate," Donna told him as he trust the water at her.
"No choice, enjoy"
"I hate you."
"I know."
They drink heavily, Donna trying not to heave up the salty water. No mad falling, but the world blurred and colours matted together in an odd fashion.
"Great, a bloody desert!" Donna whined, letting the sand fall through her fingers. "First a beach, now a desert. This computer is insane."
"Not the computer the programmer, now shh a sec," the Doctor said, waving his hand at his infuriated friend.
"What?" Donna stage whispered.
"Can you hear that?"
"Evidently not."
The Doctor began to climb up the nearest sand dune, clawing at the stuff in his hast. When he was at the top he called down.
"Come and look at this!"
Donna rolled her eyes and followed with all the enthusiasm of a child on their first day back to school. When she reached the top she was panting.
"Virtual or not, this place is killing me! I...oh," Then she saw why they were up here. Because in front of them was not more sand. But there was a lot of water.
"We've shrunk." she said, eyes widening.
"Or the world's got bigger, either way..."
They began walking, feet sinking downwards into the sand and soon both of them were panting. Donna could not help but be reminded of PE back in school, walking long distances in impractical clothes. Well, hopefully they would not be doing this in pants and a vest. But if it got any warmer she might be tempted. Shaking her head, she decided against it.
"It's a giant shell," Donna said, stroking a finger down the sleek surface. It had been about half an hour and this was the only break in the sandy scenery. So naturally they had walked inside it, at least there was shade. "I feel a bit like one of them snail crabs, the ones that use cans and things as houses."
"Hermit crabs."
"Like the frog?"
"Never mind..." The Doctor lead them inside, sonic screwdriver held up, the only light source. The small blue bulb lead them forward, deep into the shell's centre.
"So you carry around small rocks, screwdrivers and god knows what else, but you don't bother to bring a torch?" Donna commented, holding onto the brown jacket. The Doctor was about to reply when something began to emerge up ahead. The Doctor held the screwdriver higher, illuminating the path in front of them. Tilting his head he caught Donna's eyes underneath his arm. They shared a look.
In front of them stood two doors in the darkness. It was implied the rest was wall. Nevertheless it did not stop the Doctor approaching the darkness, licking along the wall.
"How's it taste?" Donna asked, leaning back into her hip, eyebrows raised. The Doctor's face contorted, nose crinkling as he stuck his tongue outwards in disgust.
"Salty." He told her, fingers pulling at the tip of his tongue as he tried to remove the taste.
"I'm shocked." Donna told him, taking the screwdriver.
"Oi!" The Doctor said indignantly as Donna began to examine the doors.
"Dead," She murmured, looking at one door. "Alive." After seeing the other. "Well I know which one I'm going for!" She told him, lookingover her shoulder. Taking a step forward, she reached for the alive door.
"No Donna!" The Doctor cried, yanking her back and ending up in a heap. "It's a test."
"Well if it's testing whether I want to be alive or dead I think I'd rather be breathing."
"It's not as simple as that." The Doctor told her, pulling himself up and offering her a hand.
"Well, what's it about then?" Donna asked, taking his hand and giving him a look.
"...I don't know yet,"
"Oh great..."Donna rolled her eyes "You don't know well why don't we go with my idea?"
"Because if we get this wrong we might die?" The Doctor pointed out, shaking his head and pulling a hand through his perfectly messy hair. "Ok, so two doors, two choices? Two opposites?"
"Two words?"
"Thanks Donna, helping."
Donna raised her hands up in defeat, turning on her heel and tossing him the screwdriver. It flickered out. "Lomous?" She suggested as the Doctor rapped it against his hand. He chuckled,
"Afraid no magic at work here, just pure scien..." His face lit up in the darkness. "Donna that's it!" He cried, the screwdriver lighting up once again.
"Harry Potter?" Donna asked confused. "Only I don't think he actually exists... does he? Does Harry Potter exist?!" She almost screamed. The Doctor paused,
"No Donna." He shook his head, "No Harry Potter doesn't exist."
"Then what did you get me all excited about then?"
"Science?"
"Phf, I get enough of that hanging around with you spaceman, nothing to be existed about!"
"Not just any science," The Doctor told her, "Quantum mechanics."
"Oh that's so much more interesting..."
Diving up to the doors he looked between them wildly. "Schrodinger's cat."
"Bless you."
"Now you are just doing this to annoy me."
"...duh."
The Doctor moved back to where Donna stood, once again lighting up the doors.
"In quantum mechanics there is an experiment called schrodinger's cat," The Doctor explained. "Basically, the idea is that if you placed acat in a room with something that has a 50/50 chance of killing it..."
"Charming!"
"Look it's hypothetical! No cats were actually used."
"So why is it called?"
"Shh, anyway. The box is sealed and the spectator does not know if the cat is alive or if it is dead. This means that, technically, it exists potentially in both states. Alive," He flicked the light to the first door. "And dead."
"Woh woh woh, hold on." Donna said, pausing the Doctor mid rant. "Something can't be both alive and dead."
"Well no," The Doctor explained. "It's POTENTIALLY both, so we don't know, as the observer which it is for certain."
"Like, when you don't know the footie scores, so the team could have one or lost?" Donna asked.
"... Sort of." The Doctor told her, returning to the doors.
"So which one do we take?" Donna asked. "If the cat is both then...?" The Doctor nodded, uncertainty clear.
"I don't know."
After ten minutes he stood up. "It's simple." He murmured. "Too simple."
"What?" Donna asked, her legs having fallen asleep and her brain swiftly beginning to join them.
"Well, we should just take both doors at the same time." The Doctor said, pacing.
"But...?"
"But Schrodinger's cat is too basic, too simple! Timelords are taught it along side nursery rhymes."
"Wasn't simple to me..." Donna told him, out of courtesy he did not respond.
"This is just too easy, someone made a TARDIS, well almost, and there defences are massages in the sky and children's riddles?"
"Well the security questions are never hard." Donna pointed out, head resting in her hand. "Like, what was your first primary school - ifit was too hard you wouldn't remember it."
"Yeah, but that's if the computer knows it's you right? That's what happens if you forget your password, not if you are trying to hack in."
"It let us in?" Donna pointed out. "Scanned us as gave us the thumbs up." The Doctor paused in thought. "Must have thought we were the bosses and just needed to double check."
"It was a Bio scan Donna, one human one Timelord. That's the codes of whoever made this,"
"Wasn't you in a past life was it?" Donna asked suspiciously.
"Noo," The Doctor said dismissively. "Well. I don't think so."
"Would you have remembered? I mean you are solving all these puzzles?"
"Yes I would, or I would have blank memory space, look I didn't make this!"
"Fine. So what do we do?"
They ended up in silence once again, the Doctor staring in vain, hoping the Doors would show him some answer.
"Forget this, I'm doing it." Donna said, reaching out for the alive door.
"No Donna, we don't know!" The Doctor said, holding her wrist.
"No, we don't. But unless I get out of here soon I am going to go crazy. Doctor I think this is right." She told him, looking upwards into dark brown eyes, eyes that were so much older than the rest of his body. "Trust me."
"Alright." The Doctor said, sighing deeply and letting go of her hand. "On my count though." Reaching for the dead door he inhaled."3,2,1, Open!"
"Doctor?" Donna breathed, reaching out. "Are we still alive?"
"Yes Donna." The Doctor replied, equally as quiet.
"Then why are we whispering?" Donna asked,
"No idea, look, I think there is light ahead." The Doctor replied, returning to normal volume. Sure enough there was light approaching, only a little more literally then most people would have assumed. It was coming at them, at a gradually increasing pace. When finally it hit, the world shone, stars lighting up every angle.
"Wow..." Donna said slowly, looking up at the sky, a sky full of stars.
Never on earth was a sky so full, the floor seemed to melt away until they were existing amongst the galaxies. The Doctor smiled, eyes crinkling.
"It's the view from Galifrey." The Doctor told her, looking around at the familiar constellations. "Before the war. Half of these don't exist anymore..."
"It's magnificent," Donna said honestly, breath stolen but the view. "This was every night?"
"Oh yes." The Doctor told her. "I remember camping out once, me and... me and a friend." He paused, reaching up behind his head in nervous habit. "And we didn't sleep. We sat out and tried to find every constellation in the sky. Every one."
"Did you manage?"
"Of course not! But," He turned, a boyish joy glinting in his eyes. "It was fun as anything."
"I can imagine." Donna laughed, thinking of a young Doctor half asleep staring up at the stars, probably imagining which ones he would travel among.
"There was a rhyme we used, an old one, to remember where they were." The Doctor continued, lost in his own world. "To the right you look at the night, there you'll see stars one two three. Above your head the pirates sail, a train chugs on without it's rail. Kukat trees and honey bees, goats and moats and streams and seas..."
"That's ridiculous." Donna laughed, he chuckled.
"It was for children, not the real names of course, but they damn sure looked right. It was so bloody long that rhyme, we sat there making up new verses - trying to find words that rhymed with the actual names. Ended up rude of course."
"All the best ones do."
Donna looked to him, still staring at the stars, lost in a distant memory. Suddenly she pitied him. Here was a man, so brave, so strong - he could take on the terrors of the galaxy but he was too afraid to come to terms with his own childhood. She reached out a hand, holding his tightly.
"What do you say we work this one out ay?" She asked, snapping him out of it.
"What? Yes. Yes! Good plan."
"Where do we start?" Donna asked, looking around. "It's just..sky."
"Oh this one's easy." The Doctor grinned. "Well, obvious at least."
"Do tell?"
"If home you seek, then look for the sword, beneath it's blade your find your reward." The Doctor pointed upwards at a patch of stars. "We walk this way."
"Is this how you remember all your stuff?" Donna asked as they set off, "With rhymes?"
"Oh yeah." The Doctor told her, shoving his hands in his pocket. "Obviously, great poets us timelords, the carbonic reactor's connected to the red wire, the ethomol adaptor's connected to the yellow wire..."
They could barely walk for laughing.
"Just the one door this time." Donna said, looking at the door in front of her. "The exit?"
"I reckon so."
"You're not going to tell me that this is pavaroti's Dog's Flee complex?"
"Nope,"
"We just walk through that door?"
"Seems that way."
"You'll forgive my scepticism, but you seem a little reluctant." Donna smirked, looking to him.
"Well... I don't know what's on the other side of that door, and you know the way that makes me feel..." Donna rolled her eyes, knowing the answer. "Excited!" They both dashed for the exit, opening it out and stepping through into the world beyond
"Well isn't this a bloody let down?" Donna sneered. "It's a flipping desert!"
"No Donna, it's just a bit dusty." The Doctor said, pulling her forward. He reached down, stroking his finger through the dust and sniffing it. "High in iron, it's safe though."
"Good to know."
"But it's real."
"Now that IS good to know."
As they began to explore further it became clear that they were on the edge of some sort of village. A collection of huts were clumped together, mud structures and clearly not very far advanced.
"I thought you said a timelord built that system, this...doesn't look so technologically sound." Donna pointed out, observing the houses.
"Think of the tree Donna, things are rarely as they seem." The Doctor told her, tapping her nose. "Look, people!" People indeed, they appeared smaller than humans and on closer inspection their skin appeared to by almost translucent in the light. Their hair was very light, barely visible in the bright sunshine. "Let's go say hello!"
"Doctor, what's that?" Donna asked, pulling him back as a shape appeared in the distance. Shouting followed the shape, which soon appeared to be a young woman, a human by looks. Or at least, humanoid. Her skin was fair but slightly tanned, her hair dark and whipping around her face. Blood spattered her body and it was clear she had been in the wars. The aliens scattered as she approached, nearing the Doctor and Donna with every pace. Stepping out, the Doctor caught her,
"Woh, slow down." He asked. He was rewarded with a slap.
"Get off me!" The woman yelled, kicking upwards. "I need to get away!"
"From what?" The Doctor asked, but the question was soon answered. From where she had arrived armoured aliens began to appear, weapons glinting.
"Run!" The girl screamed, looking them up and down. "For Gods sake, run!"
"More running." Donna whined, rolling her eyes as she followed the Doctor and the girl. The landscape was incredibly dry, with a few oasises offering pools of mucky water and dark green plants. Three suns burned in the sky, keeping the planet at the high temperature. Rocks were scattered everywhere, huge piles of the and this was what provided the trio with shelter.
The girl sat against the Doctor, panting heavily.
"Why were they after you?" Donna panted, leaning her head against the Doctor's shoulder.
"I ran away." The woman responded, also panting. "They weren't too fond."
"Were you a prisoner or something?"
"Or something." The Doctor remained silent while the girls conversed, focusing on one sound. Thump thump, thump thump. His own heartbeat. Only this one wasn't his own. This one belonged to the girl in front of him. He sat, taking in the living breathing woman in front of him.
"Well I'm Donna, this is the Doctor." Donna was saying, suddenly it was as if an electric shock had shot up the girl's spin.
"The Doctor?" She asked, eyes widening as she turned to look at the man behind her.
"The one and only." Donna said as the two stared at one another.
"Oh my god." The woman breathed, reaching out to touch his face. "Is that, really you?" She stuttered, hand holding his cheek. He nodded, eyes searching hers. "Why don't you recognise me?" She asked, he shook his head, trying to find her. "It's me. It's Romana, it's me. Oh Doctor!" She dived forward, hugging him tightly.
"Romana? Romana!" He laughed, holding her against him, feeling the familiar beat. "How, how are you here?"
He asked, unable to believe it. "You made this place?"
"No, it wasn't me it was..." But she was stopped in her tracks. By a spear. Always a conversation ender.
"Oh great." Donna moaned, just as she was knocked out, the timelords swiftly following
Donna awoke in Romana's company, a force field of some sort dividing their two cells. Romana was sitting up against the wall, looking lost in thought. Was that a timelord thing? Donna wondered, if this girl was one of course. What else could she be? The Doctor had said a timelord made this place...
"Well well well, aren't you a blast from the past." Came a voice from above the Doctor's head. "I almost couldn't believe it when they brought you in, had to run quite a few scans to make sure." And hand landed next to his head. The fingernails were bright red. "I mean, the Doctor, HERE, just when I needed him most, he appears."
"Who are you?" The Doctor asked, unable to move to look.
"Where are we?" Donna asked, finding no windows, or any clues to their whereabouts.
"Nowhere." Romana replied, picking at her toes. "In a bubble outside of space and time. On a planet that was stolen."
"Stolen? Who could steal a planet?"
"Don't you know me Doctor?" The voice asked, a face coming into view. Young and attractive, auburn hair lighting up a pale face. "I'm hurt." The Doctor looked around, the equipment was all high end stuff, even if it had seen better days. "After all the time we spent together." A sinking suspicion rose within the Doctor, as the pieces started to fall into place. The security system, the table, the lab. But it couldn't be?
"The Rani."
"Who's The Rani?" Donna asked, confused. "Sounds like a rash."
"She's a timelord." Romana told her, "A dangerous one, I was chasing her when the timewar began - we needed her. Unpredictable as she is, she is still brilliant. An asset. So I wanted to find her myself. And I did. Unfortunately by that point, well, it was too late."
"The timewar had gone too far, I looked for Galifrey and found nothing." The Rani told him, picking up a syringe and playing with it idly, "No one left." The Doctor grimaced. He remembered that day too well. "Just me and Romana. We fought, we fought for so long Doctor. Always her wanting to bring me to justice - as if there was anyone left to pass any."
"I had nothing left." Romana explained, almost desperately. "It was all gone, what else could I do but my job?"
"It took me years to find a solution, years. I couldn't kill her, too valuable. One of the last timelords. And I couldn't manage her alive." The Rani said, drawing the needle across pale skin. "So I needed control. And a place to stay indefinitely, where no one would find me."
"What did you do?" The Doctor asked, watching the needle as it almost pricked her skin.
"She brought me here as a human." Romana told Donna, guessing the question she had been longing to ask. "I wouldn't obey her otherwise you see, but I'm timelord now." Donna nodded, her suspicions confirmed.
"But how?"
"I needed Romana onside, she's too bright not to be, so I removed the bit of her that was pestering me, the timelord bit." The Rani said casually, placing the tool down and leaning over the Doctor. "She was human, no memories, nothing. Just a little girl who needed a friend. I was that friend."
"She took care of me like no one else had, she made me feel safe, loved. In return I was devoted to her, knowing no other way to be." Romana said dully, remembering a previous life. "I had no morals, no guidance other than she gave me. So we made this place. It was easy really, when you knew how. I was bright, for a human. No offence." She paused, flashing Donna a brief smile. Donna raised her hands.
"None taken."
"And we hid here, living in our own little world." The Rani finished, touching the Doctor's hair.
"What happened?" The Doctor asked, almost pityingly.
"She needed me, she needed timelord biocodes other than her own and I was the only source. She gave me back my body. And took away my life."
"You stripped that from her?" The Doctor asked slowly, disbelievingly. "All of that trust? Why? In Rassilons name?"
"I had no choice Doctor." The Rani said quietly, leaning against the edge of the table. "My work demanded it."
"She wants to create a formula, one that allows a timelord to regenerate indefinitely." Romana said, leaning up against the force field. "And she needed me to study, along with herself of course. All that I had learned, my entire life was a lie that day. Back came my duty, my responsibility. My memorise."
"You destroyed her." The Doctor shook his head beneath the bonds. "How could you?"
"It wasn't easy!" The Rani yelled, slapping him, her own tumultuous hurt echoing through her hand. "I didn't just gain a test subject Doctor. I lost my best friend."
"For science." Romana whispered. "It was all for science. Everything she does. Not evil or cruel, just in the name of progress. Work that one out."
"The Doctor said that all of you, the Timelords - sorry do you have timeladies?" Donna asked, causing Romana's lip to twitch.
"No, fraid not. Political correctness was never our strong point."
"Well, he said that you were all gone, killed in the war." Donna said slowly, hoping not to cause offence. "And you look so young, I mean, how old are you?"
"Just under 700." Romana told her, raising an eyebrow. "And previous president of Galifrey." Donna's mouth dropped.
"No. Way." She gaped, taking in the slight young woman. "But you're, I mean, what happened?"
"The Timewar happened." Romana told her bitterly. "I was voted out, put in charge of a minor misson. Well, an impossible task."
"What?" Donna asked, not put off by Romana's reluctance.
"I was to find The Rani, the woman running this place." Romana explained. "She was a genius, scientifically speaking. Truly spectacular. But she never adhered to any kind of regulations or morals. But, despite their better judgement, the counsel wanted her help - thought she might be able to find a way to destroy the Daleks once and for all."
"Well, you found her," Donna pointed out, moving against the force field. "Job well done I say."
"Yeah but too late, by the time I had found her the war had gone too far, we were trapped outside. She had made herself a nice little base, guards and everything. I had nothing, as far as I was aware everyone had ever known was dead. I was captured."
Donna listened sympathetically, but there was a burning desire to know more, call it the gossip in her. The Doctor never spoke of the Timewar, or his home, and her was a girl who could tell her everything. It was too good to pass up.
"What's it like, Galifrey I mean?"
She asked, trying to sound casual. This time Romana really did smile.
"What was it like Donna, I fear the Galifrey I can describe to you is long dead."
"Ok, before the war then."
"It may have even been dead then."
"You know what I mean!"
"Fine. Galifrey... Well it was not too dissimilar to your earth, three suns of course but other than that... red grass. Fields and field of it. Everything was affected by the vortex of course, but it was beautiful Donna, believe me. The oceans were so light you could see the sun's reflections and on a clear day you could see every major city from a peak called Mt Fian." Romana laughed. "I walked up there once."
"What happened?"
"It pissed with rain."