The TARDIS is swallowed by a dinosaur, the Doctor has regenerated and Aderyn is still struggling to get on with Clara. But what could make life easier? Self repairing robots that use any parts they can find? Going undercover with the Doctor in a school? Keeping the Doctor from loathing Clara's boyfriend? Nothing is easy with the Doctor involved. Part 10 of the Broken Girl series.
I DO NOT own Doctor Who.
Quite a crowd had gathered along the bank of the Thames. They stared in fear and disbelief at the impossible sight before them.
Four figures pushed through the throng, following the path a young policeman had taken.
Inspector Gregson turned when he heard an officer call his name. He sighed with relief when he saw four familiar faces "The Peculiars, at last," he said to himself, before rushing forward to greet the Veiled Detective. "Madame Vastra, thank God. I'll wager you've not seen anything like this before." In one fluid movement, Vastra raised her veil and threw it back over her head. "Not since I was a little girl."
Aderyn and Jenny stared in awe at the dinosaur wading through the Thames. As Big Ben merrily chimed the hour, the dinosaur roared at it.
"Big fella, isn't he." Jenny said.
Vastra smiled at her "Dinosaurs mostly were this size."
Jenny shook her head "No they weren't. I've seen fossils."
Vastra raised an eyebrow and replied with some indignation "I was there."
"Of all the adventures, of all the things in time and space, I've never seen a dinosaur before." Aderyn said quietly, more to herself then anyone.
"That's all well and good," Gregson said "But what is the dinosaur fellow doing in the Thames?"
"It must have time travelled." Vastra said, as though this was the most obvious answer and she couldn't understand how he hadn't come to this conclusion by himself.
Aderyn took a small device out of her pocket. It was a series of lenses and wires housed in a circular brass frame. The buttons on the side flashed briefly as she switched it on and fitted it neatly over her eye, with a hook slipping over her ear to keep it in place. She looked up at the dinosaur again, this time seeing it in an x-ray view. "There's something in its throat," she said, adjusting the lens. It focused and zoomed "It looks like a box." Jenny stretched out a hand. The scanner in her glove beeped a few times. Jenny looked at the readings and smiled "That's how it time travelled."
Gregson was always left confused by the conversations held by the Paternoster Peculiars. They were a peculiar group indeed. He always left them to their conversations, though he was rarely told anything, aside from the outcome of their investigations. But this was slightly more serious then a thief or a murderer, who were always dealt with quickly and efficiently. Now they were talking of time travel as though it were a normality. Later that night, as he lead in bed, he would realise that, given the peculiarity of the peculiars, it was likely to be normal for them.
He cleared his throat politely to draw attention to the fact he was still there, it wasn't a good idea to interrupt them when they were discussing a case unless he wanted to be on the receiving end of a severe telling off.
"How could it have time travelled?" He asked.
"Something it ate," Vastra said to him, but she quickly returned her attention to Jenny and Aderyn "We can't risk it travelling again."
Aderyn began to hastily twiddle her sonic screwdriver "I'm signalling. She is responding but, understandably so, she doesn't want to move. We'll have to try and find another way to get her out."
"Is there another way?" Jenny asked.
"Watch and learn. If I can get the right setting then I can vibrate the dinosaur's chemo-receptors." Aderyn shifted the settings repeatedly. She'd had to mend her screwdriver recently after an encounter with a particularly vicious thug that had delivered a powerful kick to the screwdriver while it had been in her pocket. Since then the settings had shifted themselves around several times and she hadn't relocated them all yet.
"The chemo what?" Jenny frowned.
"Chemo-receptors. Otherwise known as the eject button," Aderyn raised the sonic and pointed it at the dinosaur. "This won't be big on dignity." It coughed and retched. Soon enough a blue box was deposited on the river bank. Strax and Aderyn peered over the parapet. "It's the Doctor's box." Strax said. Aderyn smiled at the TARDIS as a globule of dinosaur sputum landed on the sand with a muted splat.
"It would appear so," Vastra responded quietly. But she wasn't looking at the TARDIS. Her attention was still on the dinosaur. "But how did it get there?"
"It laid an egg!" Gregson exclaimed.
Vastra stared at him in disbelief "It dropped a blue box marked police out of it's mouth. Your grasp of biology, it troubles me," She took several round, squat tripods out of a bag and handed them to Gregson "Place these lanterns on the shoreline and bridges encircling the creature at twenty foot intervals. They will emit a signal that will incline it to remain within their circumference." She turned quickly away from him and headed for the steps to the shore.
"What about the box?" Gregson called after her.
"Leave that to us, Inspector," Aderyn shouted over her shoulder as she struggled to catch up with Vastra, Jenny and Strax. "I bet Clara has something to do with this." Aderyn said under her breath when she caught up with Jenny.
"Name your bet." Jenny said cheerfully.
This wouldn't be the first time that Jenny and Aderyn had placed a bet on one of their investigations. But they never bet with money. In this day and age money was too valuable a commodity. Besides, it was far more entertaining to bet with other things. The problem was, Aderyn was running out of things she was willing to bet with. She was having to be cautious about the stakes now after she had lost a bet and had to surrender the manuscript for her latest novel. She was still waiting for the opportunity to get it back. Then Aderyn was struck with a sudden idea. Usually, she and Jenny would split the housekeeping duties between them. But there was one thing she hated doing more then anything else.
"A week of cooking." she grinned.
"You must be certain." Jenny said, sealing the bet with a hand shake.
"So it is the Doctor then." Aderyn said, rushing to catch up with Vastra, who was waiting patiently for them at the bottom of the stone steps that lead to the shoreline. Aderyn had tried to keep the hope from her voice. But she knew she had failed.
"A giant dinosaur from the distant past just vomited a blue box from outer space. This is not the day for jumping to conclusions," Vastra said. She took a step towards the TARDIS. Then stopped as though she changed her mind "Strax, if you wouldn't mind?"
Obediently, Strax strode to the TARDIS and banged loudly on the door. "Hello? Exit the box and surrender to the glory of the Sontaran Empire."
Strax and Vastra blocked Aderyn's view of the door, but she heard the door open, a voice say "shush" and the door close again.
"Doctor?" Strax said, knocking on the door again.
The door was opened again and a Scottish drawl spoke quickly "I was being chased by a dinosaur, but I think I managed to give it the slip." The door was slammed shut and then slowly creaked open.
"Sneezy? Dopey? Grumpy!" the Doctor stared, a little unfocused, at Strax. He took a few staggering steps out of the TARDIS and spotted Vastra and Jenny "The green one and the not green one. Or it could be the other way round. I mustn't prejudge." The TARDIS door, which had swung closed behind him, creaked open again and a very dishevelled Clara took several exhausted steps onto the river bank.
"Oh you remember," the Doctor waved his hand at Clara and frowned. Eventually he said "Thingy. The not me one. The asking questions one."
"Clara." Aderyn prompted.
"It might be Clara. It might not be, It's a lottery." The Doctor said.
"It is Clara." Clara shouted.
"I'm not ruling it out," He looked up at the dinosaur, which had begun a frequent bellow "Oi, big man, shut it," there was a brief pause "Big woman, sorry."
"Doctor you need to calm down." Clara said.
But the Doctor paid her no attention, continuing to address the dinosaur "I'm not flirting by the way."
Clara turned desperately to Aderyn "I think something went wrong."
When the Doctor turned to face Clara, he spotted Aderyn for the first time. "I remember you. The Bird one. Have you regenerated? You used to be shorter, with shorter hair. And green eyes. What happened to the green eyes. I liked the green eyes."
Aderyn raised an eyebrow at him "I haven't had green eyes for a while."
When the dinosaur let out a pained roar the Doctor turned to Vastra. "Your sonic lanterns, turn them down. The frequency is too high. It's giving her a headache."
"Giving who a headache?" Jenny asked carefully.
"My lady friend," The Doctor turned to the dinosaur again "That's just an expression. Don't get any ideas."
"How do you know that?" Strax asked.
"Come on, Clara. You know I speak dinosaur." The Doctor said without turning.
"He's not Clara. I'm Clara." Clara shouted with undisguised annoyance.
The Doctor turned to them, frowning "Well, you're both similar heights. Maybe you should wear labels." He took a staggering step backwards "Why are you doing that? you're going all dark and wobbly. Stop that."
"I don't think we are." Aderyn said slowly.
"Never mind. Everyone take five." The Doctor swayed, closed his eyes then fell face first into the mud and sand.
"Well then, here we go again." Aderyn muttered.
Jenny sidled up to her and whispered "He regenerated. Are you still happy with your bet?"
"I'm not ruling anything out." Aderyn whispered back.
