Rose stepped out of the corridor and into the main console room. The Doctor was already there, flipping switches and pressing buttons on TARDIS. The ship hummed and whirred in response, its gears grinding loudly. Grinning broadly, Rose skipped up the incline and ran over him.
"Hello!" he smiled, turning to face her. Rose responded to him by wrapping her arms around his middle and giving him a squeeze. He chuckled softly at her.
"So," Rose pulled back. "What are we doing today?"
"Well—" the Doctor broke off as the TARDIS lurched to one side. A loud beeping sound was heard echoing through the room. Rose gripped the main console, trying to stabilize her balance.
"Distress signal!" the Doctor called as he spun the computer monitor to him. Red words in Gallifreyan flashed at him, in tune to the beeping.
"Locking on!" he yelled using his foot to push down a lever. "Might be a bit of—"
The TARDIS gave a tremendous jolt throwing Rose and the Doctor to the floor. Rose let out a yelp in surprise. Cautiously she pushed herself up on her knees, so that she could peer over the main console at the Doctor.
"—Turbulence," the Doctor finished. "Sorry."
Rose rolled her eyes and stood up. Brushing herself off, she glanced over at her friend. The Doctor was already halfway to the TARDIS doors.
"Come on, Rose!" he said opening the doors. "Let's take a look!"
Rose ran over to him as he stepped out. Instantly, a wave of heat rushed over them. Rose's eyes watered and she coughed as smoke and steam billowed up around them.
"Whoa!" the Doctor walked around. "Now that is hot!"
Rose gazed around at the room they had just walked in. Red light glowed around from the many machines that stood there. Wires dangled down from the ceiling and a loud buzzing noise could be heard. It looked like they were in the boiler room of some spaceship, the machines working furiously and puffing out steam.
"Whuff," Rose huffed glad that her hair was pulled back. "It's like a sauna in here!"
"Automated distress signal transmitted," a computer voice sounded overhead. Rose looked around and wiped her forehead.
"Venting systems," the Doctor bent down to look at one of the machines. "Working at full pelt, trying to cool down."
Rose shrugged off her jacket and set in down on one of the machines. She adjusted the straps of her tank top as the Doctor looked around.
"Well," he frowned at the room. "Wherever it is we are."
He looked about the room and squinted his eyes against the steam. He could just barely see a large iron door in the red glow. The Doctor walked over and pulled the divider, grunting as he forced it open.
"Well, if you can't stand the heat," he began as they walked out into a corridor attached to the ventilation room. "Well, that's better."
The moment Rose stepped out of the vault, the loud sound of running feet met their ears. Rose spun around to see three very sweaty people running towards them.
"Oi! You two!" One of them yelled as he jumped over another door portal.
"Get out of there!" Another person, a woman, screamed.
"Seal that door!" the last person said to the other man. "Now!"
Rose jumped out of the way as the fist man ran past her to close the vault the Doctor and her and just stepped out of. The Doctor had an inquiring look on his face as he took the three people in. The woman had brown shoulder length hair caked with grease and oil, much like her two other companions, and big questioning eyes. All three of them were breathing heavily and covered with grime and sweat.
"Who are you?" the woman snapped at them. "What are you doing on my ship?"
"Are you police?" the younger of the two men asked stepping away from the now sealed door.
"Why would we be police?" the Doctor furrowed his brow.
"We got your distress signal," Rose said.
"If this is a ship," the Doctor looked to the woman. "Why can't I hear any engines?"
"It went dead four minutes ago," she huffed as she regained her breath.
"So maybe we should stop chatting and get to Engineering," the other man growled glaring at the woman. "Captain."
A loud alarm sounded and the five people looked up as the computer voice spoke, "Secure closer active."
"What?" the now determined Captain glanced at one of the men.
"The ship's gone mad," the man murmured. Rose looked behind the Captain to the long corridor. A young woman was running their way with a box of tools in her hands, evading the doors sliding down behind her.
"Who activated secure closure!" she called when she reached them. "I nearly got locked into area twenty-seven!"
The last bulkhead slammed down behind her.
"Who are you?" the woman asked noticing Rose and the Doctor. The Time Lord opened his mouth to answer but Rose beat him to it.
"He's the Doctor and I'm Rose," she said looking past the woman to a small porthole on the ship. "Hello."
The Doctor's eyes followed her as the computer came through the intercom again, "Impact projection forty-two minutes twenty-seven seconds."
"We'll get out of this," the captain nodded to her crew. "I promise."
"Doctor," Rose whispered staring out the window. Her breathing had sped up and she felt her heart pound in her chest.
"Forty-two minutes until what?"The Doctor narrowed his eyes at the captain.
"Doctor!" Rose yelled staring out the porthole. "Look!"
The Doctor ran over to his companion and stood behind her. His eyes widened as he gazed out the window to the direction the ship was heading. A great yellow star burned up at them, its surface covered with flames curling toward the ship. The Captain glanced at them sorrowfully. Her voice quavered as she spoke, "forty-two minutes until we crash into the sun."
"How many crew members on board?" the Doctor jumped away from the porthole and ran over to the captain. Rose watched him, trying to slow down her breathing.
"Seven, including us," she said.
"We transport cargo across the galaxy," one of the men spoke up. "Everything's automated; we just keep the ship space-worthy."
"Call the others!" the Doctor ran over to the ventilation room's door. "I'll get you out!"
"What's he doing?!" the younger man gasped as the Doctor struggled to open the portal.
"Doctor, don't!" the captain roared at him. But it was too late; the Doctor had already unlocked it and pulled it open. Searing heat spat out at them, knocking the Doctor to the floor with a yell. In a flash, Rose was at his side, kneeling down and seeing if he was injured. The young woman from before pulled a welding mask from her box over her face and ran over to the vault, forcing the door shut.
"But my ship's in there!" the Doctor yelled.
"In the vent chamber?" the younger man croaked in disbelief. The whole crew gazed at the Doctor like he was mad. The Doctor pulled himself to his feet, his teeth gritted angrily.
"It's our life boat!"he said.
"It's lava," one of the men retorted.
"The temperature's going mad in there," the young woman huffed pulling off her mask to look at the thermostat. "Up three thousand degrees in ten seconds and still rising."
"Channeling the air," the younger man put in. "The closer we get to the sun, the hotter that room's gonna get."
"We're stuck here," Rose looked fearfully at the Doctor. The Time Lord was breathing heavily now and looking around at the crew.
"So, we fix the engines, we steer the ship away from the sun!" he nodded. "Simple! Engineering down here, is it?"
The Doctor ran down an empty corridor to the side, not bothering to see if anyone answered. Rose went after him, casting a quick glance at the Captain.
"Yes," the Captain said with a quick nod. The rest of the crew followed them down quickly.
"Impact in forty twenty-six," the computers voice called out.
-DW-
After a quite a lot of running, the six persons reached the engine room. The Doctor didn't bother with the stairs, and jumped down to the floor, catching his breath.
"Blimey," he said to no one in particular. "Do you always leave things in such a mess?"
"Oh my god," the Captain gasped.
"What the hell happened?" her crew member said. The engine of the ship lay before them in bits and pieces, wires thrown over it and sparks flying out. It looked as if someone toddler had gotten his hands on it and had preceded to rip it apart.
"Well, it's wrecked," the other man stated gesturing to the machine.
"Pretty efficiently too," the Doctor bent over engine to examine it. "Someone knew what they were doing."
"Where's Korwin?" the Captain said glancing around. "Has anyone heard from him or Ashton?"
"No," one of the men said. The Doctor moved over to the engine's computer and looked over it. Rose came up beside him.
"Do you mean someone did this on purpose?" She asked fearfully. The Doctor's eyes flicked over to her and then quickly darted back to the machine. The Captain went over to an intercom and turned it on.
"Korwin, Ashton? Where are you?" she spoke into it. "Korwin, can you answer? Where the hell is he? He should be up here."
The Doctor pulled out his brainy-specs as numbers came on the screen. His eyes scanned the computer, getting all the information he could about this ship.
"Oh, we're in the Torajii system! Lovely!" he said gleefully. "You're a long way from home, Rose. Half a universe away."
"Yeah, feels it," Rose tried to match his happy tone.
"And you're still using energy scoops for fusion," the Doctor walked over to the captain. "Hasn't that been outlawed yet?"
"We're due to upgrade next docking," the Captain said quickly, walking away from the Doctor and back to the engine. "Scannell, engine report."
One of the men walked over to the engine computer and began tapping it.
"No response," he sniffed after pressing a few buttons.
"What?" the captain said in disbelief. Rose moved closer to the Doctor, her arm brushing his briefly. Frowning slightly, he looked down at her with concern. He could see she was scared. Her eyes were haunted and her body was shaking ever so slightly. The Doctor racked his brain for something to say that would comfort her; to tell her everything would be alright.
"They're burnt out," Scannell's voice broke through the Doctor's thoughts. "Control's are wrecked, I can't get them back online."
Oh, come on!" The Doctor pulled off his specs. "Auxiliary engines! Every crafts' got auxiliaries!"
"We don't have access from here," the captain said. "The auxiliary controls are in the front of the ship."
"Yeah, with twenty-nine password sealed doors between us and them," Scannell sneered. "You'll never get there in time."
"Can't you override the doors?" Rose piped up.
"No, sealed closer means what it says," Scannell turned and glared at her. "They're all dead-lock sealed."
"So a sonic screwdriver's no use," the Doctor muttered.
"Nothing's any use," the man said angrily. "We've got no engines, no time, and no chance."
"Oh, listen to you!" said the Doctor. "Defeated before you've even started! Where's your Dunkirk spirit? Who's got the door passwords?"
The Time Lord turned back to the Captain.
"They're randomly generated," the other crew member spoke up. "Reckon I'd know most of them. Sorry, Riley Vashti."
The man gestured to himself with a cocky smile.
"Then what are you waiting for, Riley Vashti?" the Doctor nodded to him. "Get on it."
"Well it's a two person job," Riley turned behind him to unhook two large contraptions from the wall. "One'll take this for the questions, the other to carry this."
Riley pulled what looked to be a square backpack over his shoulder with one hand, and showed the Doctor a large magnetic clam in the other.
"The oldest and cheapest security system around," he huffed. "Eh, Captain?"
"Reliable and simple," she said coolly. "Just like you, eh, Riley?"
"Try to be helpful, get abuse," Riley grunted. "Nice."
"I'll help you," Rose left the Doctor's side and took the clamp from Riley's hands. "Make myself useful."
"It's remotely controlled by the computer panel, that's why it needs two," Riley adjusted the machine on his back and started down the engine room with Rose slowly following.
"Oi," the Doctor called out, reaching forward to catch her on the arm. Rose turned back to him with a questioning look.
"Be careful," he said, pulling her in for a quick hug.
"You too," Rose smiled when he released her. The Doctor's gaze followed her as she and Riley ran out the door.
"McDonnell! It's Ashton," a voice came in through the intercom, forcing the Doctor to turn away from the spot where Rose had been.
"Where are you?" the captain ran over to the intercom. "Is Korwin with you?"
"Get up to the med-centre now!" Ashton's voice barked. Without a moment's hesitation, Captain McDonnell ran past the Doctor and out the doorway. The Doctor followed, leaving Scannell and the other crew member in the engine room.
They passed by Rose and Riley in the corridor, earning them a few confused glances. McDonnell rushed by and ran up the steel stairwell with the Doctor at her heels. The computer's voice came over the speakers once more, stating out their impending doom:
"Impact in thirty-four thirty-one."