Title: Time Break
Author: Captainbanana
Rating: K / Universal
Pairing/Characters: Rose, Tenth Doctor, TARDIS
Setting: TARDIS
Disclaimer: Not mine, if it was I could buy all the box sets, and shackle the cast up in my room ;)
Summary: what happens when the TARDIS lands in a universe where the laws of physics have no meaning? Even The Doctor can't rely on his superior Time Lord Senses
A/N: Constructive criticism very welcome. I'm learning the writing ropes, so anything to improve my work is greatly appreciated. Comment, praise or constructive are very welcome and feed the inspiration.
Suddenly the TARDIS was thrown out of the time-space vortex, spinning violently into the unknown. The TARDIS's tracking systems had malfunctioned. The spaceship was not showing up anywhere on the locator device and the gravity controls had also stopped working.
The Doctor was certain about one thing only. They were falling towards the ground, fast. Too fast. There was no way of slowing down. The TARDIS would splinter. They would be in the void forever.
The Doctor, holding onto his main panel to stop himself float away, stared at the screen in horror. They were about to crash into solid barren rock with no chance of survival. This was it, they were going to die. They didn't stand a chance. He looked up at Rose, floating uncontrollably around the room. He had sworn to always protect her but it was too late for that. He couldn't even tell himself she would die protecting a planet or species; they would destroy the land below them.
As his body was tipped upside down in the zero gravity, a jumbled mass of objects fell from his pockets and floated around the room. Pieces of string, wire, stones, foil, sweets, odd pieces of alien junk, ever-lasting matches, a banana and rock cake made with real rock off of Spandaclout. To his right a shiny object spun around in the air. It was his sonic screwdriver. Determined not to be separated from it he grabbed it in his right hand. Then to his left a small silver ball with strange symbols on it spun around in the air. Automatically The Doctor stretched out with his left hand and took hold of it.
By the time he realised he was floating away from the TARDIS's console, the Doctor was very concerned. However unlike Rose, he did not panic at the latest addition to his problems. When you had been travelling time and space, battling ferocious monsters, saving planets, and occasionally having to regenerate after one of you idiotic human companions made a mistake, you stopped worrying about every little thing, otherwise he would never have time to do anything.
He turned the ball slowly between his fingers. It was his trusty five-dimensional compass. But this time the reading was disturbing strange. The psychic readouts were far too high for what should be possible in the TARDIS without him being able to pick them up and the magnetic field was changing every second. It was mystifying.
A small spark of inspiration flickered through his eyes, the mildly arrogant grin of triumph spreading over his lips. "If I'm good, if I'm very good — which I am — then I might just be able to stop this," he said quietly to himself. "Now I need to get back to the TARDIS console, but how?"
As he looked around behind him he realised he was only around one and a half metres from the wall and about the same distance from the ceiling. There, slowly pulling herself around the wall at his height was Rose. She was quite near and with just a few more movements she would be able to help him over before his body started to move away again.
"Hi there stranger, did you fancy a wander?" Rose asked with a cheeky grin. She had to call it to him twice more though before he heard her as the air was very thin. They were forced to adopt psychic communication, an unpleasant, painful process at the best of times.
With an almighty tug from Rose, the Doctor was soon holding tight to the wall. A quick calculation picked out a fairly direct route back to the console. The odd pair set off side-by-side, pulling themselves along ob ridges, rails, and anything else they could grab onto. Once or twice one of them started to float away and had to be dragged back, but otherwise it was an uneventful journey.
The Doctor glanced around the readings of the many pieces of equipment, tapping randomly at different ones with a confused expression on his face.
Rose was grimly gripping on by his side, carefully holding his compass up for him. She didn't have a clue what he was doing, the only thing that concerned her was on the screen; the ground tumbling towards them—fast. She forced her breathing to become controlled, her body to function as well as could be expected under the circumstances.
The Doctor caught sight of the panic-stricken face and tense muscles as she stared into the screen before her. He had to get them out of this, if only to uphold his promise he'd made on their fateful meeting.
But what could he tell her for now? He had some suspicions, but that wasn't much to go on. He could be entirely wrong and still end up disintegrating the pair of them. "Rose," he barked in a commanding voice that ordered attention.
She looked up at him; she looked even more scared than when they had faced the Daleks.
His voice softened a bit. "There's a chance that is merely an illusion, but I can't know for definite. I think it is a thing called a Móbus universe. It is millions of Móbus strips interwoven. If it is then I can set a program to get us out. But if it isn't then…" his voice trailed off and he stared miserably at the floor.
He then explained a Móbus strip briefly to her. It is a long, thin strip of paper that if you turn one end of it over and attach the ends then it only has a single side. It meant that all the laws of physics were of no use here, anything could happen.
She didn't understand in the least, but did understand that if the Doctor said there may be a way out of it, she would put blind faith in him every time. He had gotten her into some sticky situations before, but he always got her out. "We've got to try," said Rose decisively. "What do you need me to do?
The Doctor smiled at her, a sparkle of excitement glistening in his eyes. "Right, you just hold tight to anything you can," he said reassuringly. "There will be a great gust of wind pulling us towards the doors. It will get rid of all the corrupt atoms in here that have caused this. Then we will be back to normal."
Suddenly the TARDIS doors crashed open, a force stronger than a hurricane dragging on them. Many items in the room were unaffected, but Rose's shirt and shoes were being pulled, thus lifting her from the ground. She hung on for dear life. Her fingers were slipping off the console rail. She was sliding. It was going to consume her. She was going to die. "Oh my God, I'm going to be eaten by a piece of paper," she shouted in terror, misunderstanding The Doctor's explanation.
Suddenly her fingers slipped and she let go. He screamed as she flew towards the doors. There were black whirling circles racing towards her. They were like gigantic mouths with menacingly large, sharp teeth. Several Other objects were also flying outside. The circles were attacking them; crushing, grind, chewing. She never stopped screaming as she flew towards the door.
The Doctor himself was not physically affected. He was being torn apart though at the sight of her pleading, petrified eyes. He could do nothing to help her. He could only hope he was right.
Her ear-splitting scream suddenly turned to a terrified whimper as she became level with the door. She flew out. She gave one last blood-curdling shriek as she flew into the mouth of the hole. Then all the wind left. The TARDIS doors slammed shut. The Doctor stood there dazed, the resounding echo of her tearing him apart. He had been wrong. He had killed her. How could he tell Jackie?
He dropped to his knees, tears now streaming from his eyes. "Rose Tyler, I love you," he cried out brokenly.
Someone cleared their throat from behind him. He spun round, his eyes almost dropping from their sockets. She was there, standing before him, alive and beaming at him, happier than she had been for months. He jumped up and hugged her, turning crimson with embarrassment as she had heard him speak his true emotions to her.
"Did you say something when you were on your knees, doctor? I couldn't hear you," said Rose innocently.
The Doctor merely smiled and shook his head, tears of relief pouring down his face.
Rose claimed that she knew what was going on after being in there. They had fallen into an intergalactic video game. They were still alive with all the lost possessions replaced, and would have to fight their way out.
"Now I know just what to do," said Rose. "But first we must rest and recover." She collapsed under sheer exhaustion and allowed sleep to take her.
The Doctor silently picked her up in his arms as she fell into a deep sleep. "Yes Rose, you rest now," he breathed. "And tomorrow we'll do it all over again. But this time I promise we'll get out." He put her into a comfy armchair and wrapped her up in his jacket.