All around me was pure chaos. I was in the way and getting shoved around as I just stood there, but there was nothing else I could do and there was nowhere I could go. I had done this. Started the chaos, I mean.
I sat down, staring out the window to see the approaching sun. It was all my fault, the death of these people. I stared out the window until I heard a funny noise that I had never heard before. I had nothing better to do but to check it out.
I stared at the thing that had made the noise. It was a tall, wooden, blue box that would have only fit one person comfortably. I studied the box and found the doors. Right then, a man in a brown, pinstripe suit and tie opened the door and stared at me. "Hello…" He studied the ship and me.
"Um… Hi?" I waved slightly. He was skinny and tall, and I was short and average, so I had to look up at him. "Are you here to save us?" I looked up at him hopefully. Maybe someone had sent a distress signal.
"Save you?" He looked confused and then closed the door of the box and patted it. "She knows what she's doing…" He trailed off.
"Who?" I asked, confused.
"The tardis." He said matter-of-factly.
"The what?" I was still confused.
"Time and Relative Dimensions In Space. T.A.R.D.I.S. Tardis. " He tried to explain.
"Right…" I still didn't get it. "Can you save the ship? I… I messed something up and we're headed straight for a nearby sun." I trailed off. Our ship was possibly big enough to make a piece of the sun break of and hit a planet or burn all the planets in the nearby solar system.
"Show me the control room." He looked urgent as I began to show the way, going right through groups of panicked people, yelling, "Move!" at people who were being stubborn. The man didn't seem to know whether to be impressed or frightened.
"What's your name anyways?" I looked up at him.
"The Doctor. Yours?" He studied his surroundings as we stopped for a breath.
"Lilly." I nodded.
"Have any family back home, Lilly?"
I shook my head. "Not really. I live in an orphanage. My sister can be taken care of by others." I looked down at my feet.
"I'm sorry." He looked sympathetic.
"Don't be. Do you travel alone?" I looked at him.
"How did you know I travel?" He looked surprised.
"You look the type." I nodded.
He looked at me funny, and I shrugged. "I sometimes have a friend with me, but not this time." He nodded and looked like he didn't want to talk about it. He coughed. "So, control room?" He looked at me expectantly. I suddenly remembered the crisis at hand.
"Right!" I grabbed his arm and dragged him through the groups of people and to the control room. He began to study the equipment.
"Are you a passenger or worker?" He asked.
"Worker." I nodded, wondering what that had to do with anything.
"How did this happen?" He began to explore, opening doors and cabinets full of wires and tools.
"I pulled the wrong lever." I sighed.
"Is there a wibbly lever?"
I looked at him strangely. "The one I pulled." How did he know about the wibbly lever?
"What? The wibbly lever is always right!" He looked shocked.
"Ummm…?" I tucked a piece of ginger hair behind my ear. I don't know why I trusted this man with all of these people's lives, including mine, but I just did. It made sense. He could get back to his blue box and leave us, but instead, here he was, trying to save our arses.
"Well…" He took something from his pocket. It was long and silver with a blue tip. He pointed it at a few things and pushed a button and a funny noise and light emitted from it.
"What's that?" My curiosity got the better of me.
"It's a sonic screwdriver." He said matter-of-factly without looking up.
I just blinked. "Oh… Of course."
He laughed a bit. "Bit odd, eh?"
"Just a bit." I teased, smiling. "Try examining that one." I pointed to a lever in the corner. "I thought about pulling it, but I figured I did enough damage…" I shrugged.
He took my advice and pulled it. "It'll slow us down at least. Thanks." He grinned at me.
"Shouldn't I be thanking you?" I asked the odd man, confused.
"No. Well, not yet anyways." He grinned. "Is it dead bolted?" He pointed to the array of buttons and metal cabinets. I didn't know what that had to do with anything, but I just nodded.
"Everything in the control room is but the wooden cabinets. Most are just locked if they're important."
"Damn." He muttered. "The screwdriver doesn't do wood or dead bolted things." He explained as he saw my face. I must've looked awfully confused.
"Okay…" I thought for a moment, trying to figure out what our options were.
"You're sure that you pulled the wibbly lever when you started this?" He looked serious.
I just rolled my eyes. "Yes. Positive!" I sighed. We weren't getting anywhere. At this point, we were all doomed.
"Where is it? And where's the captain?" I pointed to the lever and bit my bottom lip as he realized the lack of a captain.
"That's a funny story really…" I hoped that he'd just ignore it.
The Doctor examined the lever and looked at me with raised eyebrows. "What do you mean by a 'funny story'?"
"The captain left me in charge before we even took off. He put it in autopilot and just told me to come check on it every once in a while…" I trailed off, now realizing how stupid I was for going along with it.
"You mean he let a young girl steer a huge ship jam packed full of people!" He asked, very surprised. He obviously disapproved.
"I'm eighteen and I have my ship license! I had to get it early for the orphanage!" I was not only defending the captain, but I wanted him to think I was good enough. I wanted his approval.
"Nevertheless…" He sighed. "Is there a manual?" He began to use the 'sonic screwdriver' on the lever. I just watched him. He sure was an interesting man. He definitely wasn't human. He was too smart and far too clever for his own good. When I realized he had asked for something, I ran off and opened a cupboard or two until I found the dusty manual.
"Good luck finding-"
"Found it!" He cut me off and began to follow the books instructions.
"But most of that book is in other languages…" He amazed me around every turn and obstacle. I couldn't believe him.
"The tardis translates everything for me in my head." He said with a grin. He must know how he drives people crazy. He drove me crazy anyways. It was a good crazy though.
I shrugged and looked out the window for the first time since we entered the control room. I didn't want to know when I was going to die, but I was alarmed by how close to the sun we were. We were within 10 miles of being burned. Since the Doctor slowed us down, we were going very slowly. Maybe he could save us in time.
"How long are those directions anyways?" The Doctor had been running around the room like an idiot for about five minutes now. He was pushing buttons and pulling levers and spinning wheels. He seemed used to multitasking.
"Almost there!" He laughed. How could he laugh during this? After a few more levers, he grinned cockily. "Back on course." He said as the ship jerked and turned a different direction.
"Bloody hell… You did it!" I squealed and hugged him. The Doctor just laughed and held me tight. I didn't realize that I had been shaking in fear.
"If I knew I couldn't have saved the ship, I would've brought you to the tardis and saved you." He comforted me, but I shook my head.
"I wouldn't have come with you, Doctor." I looked up at him and let go of him.
"No?" He looked almost hurt.
"I couldn't have lived with myself knowing I practically killed all of these people and probably more." I explained quickly. "Nothing against you, Doctor."
He pondered this for a moment, agreeing with me. "Well, I supposed that's very honourable." He smiled and I beamed. I finally got the approval from him that I wanted. "But now that they're safe, would you like to come with me? I mean to travel around the universe?" He raised his eyebrows. "You could be a very good mate… Quite helpful possibly as well." He looked serious. I began to think about it. "It also travels through time." He nodded.
I thought for another moment before looking at him. "I couldn't do this knowing that people don't always survive the chaos. And I have complications to figure out back home… " I sighed, thinking about my sister, who wasn't really my sister.
"Are you alright?" He looked genuinely worried and concerned about me. This was new, but well liked.
"Well… Not really… My sister is actually… My daughter." I looked at my feet, my whole face going red. "I live in a small community and it's frowned upon of course… Everybody just thinks that she's a little girl who I say is my sister to make her feel better since I've been at the orphanage my whole life… I want to tell her, but I don't want to confuse her or have her ashamed of me." I sighed. I could already sense his disapproval.
"Tell her. Please." He seemed as if he knew what he was talking about. "I've dealt with what might, even though the circumstances I dealt with aren't very likely to happen to you I do suppose, happen if you don't tell her. It's not pretty." He looked at me over the frames of his glasses.
I took this into consideration. "Thank you, Doctor. Will I ever see you again?"
"If you're in trouble, I'm sure my tardis will find you." He winked and walked out to the main room; where his box sat. I followed him out. People looked relieved as they sat with family and friends. The man that saved their lives walked past them without them knowing. He didn't demand a thank you, or even a smile. He just walked in to the curious blue box and it slowly disappeared. I just smiled and stood there.
I had just met the most amazing man I would ever meet.