-Chapter 1
"So, where do you plan on taking me?" She asked the man as he worked the steering. She made her way to the control panel and leaned her crossed arms against it.
He turned his attention toward her, a soft smile spreading across his usually smug visage, "You're the birthday girl. I'd think it only fair if you take the reins this time about, don't you think?" He answered as he pushed a lever forward.
"How am I supposed to choose?" She muttered, lifting herself off the panel and making her way to him. "You're the one with all the planets in that big head of yours." She jested as she came to a stop at his side.
He raised a surprised brow at her, "Oi! Rather cheeky aren't we?" I'd have you know, my 'big head' is average sized, even by human standards." His hands motioned about the air, emphasizing particular words for what seemed to be dramatic effect. He had a habit of embracing the theatrical whenever he needed to prove a point.
"Could've fooled me." She quipped back, "And of course I'm cheeky, a bit more than usual I'm sure, but it's my birthday, I'm allowed an extra dose of cheekiness, thank you very much." She enjoyed their back and forths, their playful banter. The woman turned her gaze to the numerous buttons and levers that peppered the control panel. "Anyway, why is all the pressure on me?" A finger brushed up against one of the flashing buttons. "Isn't it your job to surprise me?"
He reached out and pressed down on a crimson colored knob, next to the button she was toying with. "My job?" He questioned, "Do I look like a professional surpriser? Going about time and space...surprising people?" There was a moment of silence that wafted about the two.
"That's exactly what you do." She answered back, still faced. "You literally pop up on a random planet and surprise everyone. Not like we can get a warning you're coming or anything. Just the Doctor and his blue box, shocking entire civilizations. All so you can invite someone over and wait for the whole, 'bigger on the inside' shtick. " She nonchalantly retorted, before turning her eyes back to him. "Or am I wrong?" she confidently challenged, a smirk only accentuating that fact.
He raised a finger at her, in a futile attempt to rebut her, but fell short at how right she was, "Right, well...you're still too cheeky." The Doctor childishly said, before going back to the controls. "Alright Clara, one surprise coming right up." He felt that familiar twinge of excitement building at the base of his spine at the idea of piloting his beast of a machine. His forever enduring companion, his TARDIS. The Doctor moved around the circular control console, hands working at the switches and levers as he went by.
It crawled up each vertebrae, that excitement, that curiosity for what's to come; the unknown of the universe waiting for him. Then he felt the warm of it reach the curve of his neck and fill his throat. "I should apply you know." The Doctor unconsciously said. "For surpriser." He clarified.
Clara took in what he said and gave him a questioning look, "Professional surpriser? Is there such a thing?" She pondered to herself for moment.
"Of course, did you think I was making things up earlier. Most planets have a surpriser." He continued to make his way around, twirling his body about to reach a particular device now and again. "Really fun, now that I think about it. Going out and surprising random people. The look on their faces." The Time Lord stopped briefly to feign a look of surprise.
Clara covered her mouth to hide a giggle, "One look at that chin and I'd be making that same face." She said.
"Oi!" He said, quickly reaching for his chin. "It's a nice chin. Don't be mean to my chin. It has feelings." The Doctor let the idea of his chin take the forefront of his mind before shaking it loose and getting back to work. The signature whooshing of his departing time machine filled the room as he pulled a lever back. The TARDIS let out a series of exasperated groans to mark their journey through time and space. "Right then, well then, off we pop."
Clara couldn't hold her glee and ran toward him again, "Where exactly are we popping off to then?!" She couldn't tell if this was the biggest smile she ever had, or if it was a close second.
The Doctor leaned in and grinned, "Now...can't ruin the surprise can we." He answered.
Clara felt the urge to know growing. The Doctor was being clever and she wanted to question him again, but decided against it. "No...we can't." She said.
"Professional surpriser, remember?" He tapped the edge of her nose in admiration. "It'll be worth it, don't you worry."
His finger against her nose caused her cheeks to turn a soft shade of red, and it reminded her of why she traveled with him. She noticed something odd, something that she didn't usually see when looking into the ancient Time Lord's eyes; A tear etching its way down his cheek. "Doctor…" She said.
"Yes?" He asked.
"You're crying?" She replied.
She wasn't being clear, "Say again?"
"You're crying."
The Doctor gave her a puzzled look and felt the curve of his cheek, his fingers moistening at the touch. He eyed said fingers a tad longer.
"Are you okay?" She said, her eyes unwavering.
He paused for a moment and he felt a headache coming on, but just as quickly as it came it vanished. The Doctor looked back at her, "Of course, why do you ask?" He brushed his wet fingers against his purple frock coat. "That was a bit odd now, wasn't it?" He shot her a wide smile, and a metallic taste appeared on the back of his tongue.
"Yea, a bit odd." She repeated plainly.
The Doctor didn't have enough time to react as his body was sent careening against one of the hand rails that lined the room. The TARDIS jerked forward and from side to side and all the while sent its two passengers tossing about the room. The Time Lord took hold of one of the levers for stability and propped himself against the panel. "We're flying through something nasty!" He yelled over the shower of sparks erupting around them. The 'whooshing' the TARDIS was known for, was cutting in and out, failed attempts to dematerialize to another location.
"Doctor..! What's she going through!?" Clara said, as she was sent crashing to the glass floor. The sound of the cloister bells rang against her ear, and a series of ruby tinted lights flashed overhead. "That can't be good." She muttered to herself as she stood to her feet.
The Doctor pulled a monitor toward him, "What!?" He eyed the monitor closer, "That's not right, that's not possible." He added on.
Clara looked at him, "What's not possible?" She said, frustratingly.
The Doctor turned his gaze toward her, "We're flying through a hurricane."
"A hurricane...is that what you said? Because, we're in space right. Can't really have a hurricane in space now can we." She paused for a moment, "Can we?"
He felt a smile spreading across his countenance, "I guess we're about to find out." An abrupt laugh involuntarily slipped out at the situation they found themselves in. Then with one last shake of the time machine, he was sent flying into the wall of the room and everything around him went black.
"Doctor…Doctor" The words came through muffled, lost in the shut off parts of his mind. "Doctor...wake up!" They came a bit clearer this time around, making more sense, and his body softly shook from side to side. "Doctor!" It was loud and piercing now, and his eyes shot open, his body sitting upright instantly.
"Right! Hello!" He replied as he stared at Clara who sat next to him, his brain processing everything around him. The Doctor's eyes scanned the room and with the exception of the soft ring of the cloister bells and the vibrant red light still flashing above them, everything else was dark, void of power.
Her arms wrapped around him in a hug, "Thank God, you're alright! I was trying to wake you for nearly an hour! " Clara said desperately, tears welling in her eyes.
Surprised by the hug, he gave her one of his own. "Hey, come now. Don't worry. I'm fine. Just nodded off for a tic." He pulled back from the hug and cupped the sides of her face with his hands, "It'll take a lot more than a temper tantrum to get rid of me now, alright?" The Doctor reassured her. "Now, why don't we find out, what exactly we ran into, eh?" He smirked and made his way to his feet. "So, I said something clever before I decided to take a nap. What was it again?" The Doctor questioned, as he made his way to the control console.
She wiped the tears away and had found comfort in the feeling of his hands against her cheeks. It was like nothing to him. He was back at it, questioning and working out the situation, and it gave her the confidence to stand on her own two feet again. She pondered the question for a moment, "Hurricane, you mentioned something about a hurricane." She said, pointing a finger at him.
"Yes! Hurricane! I do enjoy a good hurricane!" He said, attempting to work at the controls, "I went hang gliding in a hurricane once. Did I ever tell you that?" He didn't give Clara any time to respond, "Not exactly the best idea, but It's one of the best ways to dry off after spending the day swimming." He paused for a moment, "If you don't mind the occasional piece of debris flying past you that is." He added on, as he continued working. "But what I never heard of before was a hurricane in space." The Doctor looked up, away from the controls and to Clara. "I do enjoy not knowing things, it keeps me on my toes." He shot her a gleeful smile and continued typing. "Theoretically, hurricanes in space can exist, given the right conditions." The Doctor explained.
She was enjoying this, the way he rambled on and on when he was working out a problem. He enjoyed being clever, and she knew he enjoyed it more when she was around to see it. "And what conditions are those?" Clara said.
"Oh, a bunch of complicated boring things. But when those boring things come together, they can make something that is a tad bit less boring." He swung a monitor at her as he continued speaking "Let's say for once, that these conditions presented themselves in perfect alignment. Eh?"
Clara grabbed the rotating monitor and let her eyes scan the screen, only to find it black. "Doctor, there's nothing on here." Clara said.
"Of course not, there's isn't any power left in the TARDIS." The Doctor nonchalantly replied, "Now when you have these perfect conditions together: rotational speed, gravity, density, space debris, and heat." The Doctor's hands motioning about as he spoke.
"No power? Doctor, what do you mean there isn't any power left in the TARDIS?" Clara said, a worried looked began to grow across his face.
"What do you think I mean, there isn't any power left in the TARDIS. I thought it was pretty easy to understand." The Doctor answered, breaking off from the thought and going back to deducing the situation, "If they were to combine in a particular way, they could, in theory, form a sort of, 'galactic hurricane' capable of engulfing entire systems." The Doctor finished speaking, and looked up at Clara's annoyed face.
"Doctor...If we don't have any power left, how do we plan on getting out of here?" She said sternly.
"Oh, right. Yes. We don't." He said, his eyes shifting between the console and his companion. "The TARDIS used up all her energy to shield us from the hurricane. She's shut off everything with the exception of basic life support." He said.
"No, that's not right. I saw you typing away, working at the controls. You were getting ready to take us home." Clara said.
He gave her an open smile and a nervous laugh came out, "Oh, that. I was just doing that for show to be honest. Thought it'd comfort you to see me working, while I explained the direness of our situation." The Doctor said.
she stood there, dumbfounded, "Well, aren't you the kindest." Clara said sarcastically.
"Oh, thanks. I was hoping it'd help." The Doctor replied. He wasn't exactly known for picking up sarcasm in moments like this.
Clara ignored the dead monitor, "Are we at least out of the storm?" She said, eyeing The Doctor for an answer.
"If I had to guess...no." The Doctor said, leaning against the console. "We're just in the center of it." He added on.
"The center?" Clara questioned
"Yes, the center." The Time Lord said, as he crossed his arms over his chest. "The eye of the storm. Every hurricane has one, even galactic ones. It's the only reason why everything stopped. But eventually we're going to pass through it and hit the other side of it." A subtle twinge of worry crawled along the top of his brow.
"Right, that's not good then." Clara said, "So we're stuck in the eye of a giant hurricane in the space with a ship that has no power. Do I have that right?"
The Doctor rubbed his forehead in thought, "That's about right."
"How long will it take before the TARDIS can recharge?" She said.
"Depends, given the current state of the ship, the amount of damage she took…" He went quiet briefly, "I'd say about 18 hours." He resumed.
"18 hours, that's not so bad. How much longer do we have until we hit the other side of the hurricane?"
The Doctor went quiet in thought again, "Given the amount of time we were sent shaking around from the initial start to the end, and going off of Jiku's laws of vacuum dynamics in relation to a spinning object in space, I'd say we have...14 hours before impact." He looked up at her as the words left him.
"14 hours, now that's bad. And we're going to get blown across space if we get hit again without a proper working TARDIS?" Clara could feel her pulse beginning to pick up.
"That'll be the least of our concerns, The TARDIS can only keep up basic life support for another 5 hours at the most. She redirected most of the power to keep the shields up to survive the impact." The hope was fleeting from The Doctor's voice, something not so easily achieved.
Clara made her way to his side, putting a hand on his shoulder, "Come on then." She said to him
He raised a brow at her, "Come on what?"
"You know, come up with something clever." She nervously smiled.
"Something clever?" He replied.
"Yes, something clever. This is the part of the conversation where you come up with something clever, after telling me how horrible everything is." That shaky smile still holding.
The Doctor looked at her in silence, every passing second feeling like an eternity between the two.
"Don't do that…" She pleaded.
"Do what? I'm not doing anything." The Doctor said.
"Exactly, you aren't doing anything." Her smile finally faded away, "It's like you've given up. You aren't supposed to be the one to give up."
The Doctor's brow knotted in irritation, "There's nothing we can do Clara, It's your birthday and we're stranded in the middle of a hurri-" He was abruptly cut off by the sound of knocking; knocking against the sapphire double doors of his TARDIS. He instantly turned his attention toward the ship's entrance.
"Was that a knock?" Clara questioned, as another series of knocks filled the room.
"Yes it was." The Doctor answered. He pushed off the panel and made his way closer to the door.
"That can't happen, we're in the middle of a storm" Clara followed a few steps behind the Time Lord.
"It can't…" The Doctor trailed off, coming face to face with the door.
"Doctor, be careful!" Clara held onto one of the hand rails.
"How exciting…" He said through a smile as he slowly pulled the door open. As he did, a wall of ivory light filled the room. The Doctor used an arm to cover his eyes, but there was no point and soon everything went black again.
*****ERROR: Emotional Circuit Malfunction…
*****ERROR: Emotional Contamination Detected…
*****ERROR: Reality Bleed Detected…