Chapter Three
Somewhere, in a swirling vortex that exists outside of Time itself, flew a police box that was not a police box.
But now instead of the usual one Doctor and one to three companion, Six's TARDIS held four Doctors and five companions. But still, this console room was not as crowded as Eleven's TARDIS, which now held twelve people.
Ten, Three, and Eight were doing the flying, and Six was poking about in one of the white roundels on the sides of the walls. Fitz was trying to help his Doctor and the two others who were jumping around the console, but every time he would touch a button one of them would slap the back of his hand. It was starting to throb at this point. The girls were chattering on the side.
"What do you think is wrong with the TARDIS?" Jo asked. The other girls looked perplexed.
"Dunno, but it can't be good," Donna offered.
"I'm hungry, do you think the Doctor has anything to eat?" said Jo.
"Yeah. Go through this door, down the corridor, stay to the left, third door on your right." Peri directed.
"Thanks."
"Does your Doctor cook like mine?" wondered Anji
"How does he cook?" Donna asked her.
"Well, somedays Fitz and I get treated to a 5-Star meal, but the next day he manages to burn the toast!" Anji laughed.
"Oh yes, my Doctor does that! Except he also manages to lose the kitchen. How do you manage to do that?" The two girls chuckled together.
"How do I manage to do that?" Six asked. "Simple- the TARDIS likes to change her floor plans every five minutes." This statement was backed up by Jo's return.
"There was no third door," she said.
"Six, what are you doing?" Ten asked.
"You shall see when we get there!"
"Get where?"
"Wherever you're flying us, of course!" Six looked exasperated.
"Where are we going?" Anji asked.
"Somewhere where only the TARDIS knows, my dear girl," Three said. "At any rate, she thinks that we're close. Come and see."
The team clamored around the scanner to see where they were headed. But with the absence of pilots, the TARDIS landed rather bumpily, and all of its occupants crashed to the floor on top of each other.
"Ow!"
"Gerrof!"
"Doctor, you're stepping on my leg!"
"Oh, I'm so sorry!"
Ten stood up. "Well, wherever we are, we're here."
Eight took a look at the scanner. "But where are we?"
"Doesn't it say?" asked Three, curious. He walked beside Eight. "You're right, it's completely blank. Take a look, Ten and Six."
He shoved the scanner so everybody could see it. All it showed was white static.
"Huh," Ten rubbed the back of his neck. "How about we go outside and check?"
"One step ahead of you," came Donna's voice. Ten stood at attention, looking this way and that for his companion. He finally relaxed when Peri pointed towards the door. Donna was standing outside, her hands on her hips, and smiling smugly at her Doctor.
"I was wondering when you would think of coming out," she smirked as he approached.
"And now for the really astounding portion of this trip- minus you and your faces," Donna said. "Look!" she pointed at the TARDIS.
Ten turned around to see that the others were exiting from a perfectly ordinary rock, not a police box. As Six stepped out, Ten said, "So that's what you were doing, fixing the circuit."
"Yes, though now I know that I need to break it because everybody after me still has that police box."
"Oh, I like the police box," Ten said.
"Yes, I do too," Six agreed. "But I just have a feeling that we might need the TARDIS to be a bit more inconspicuous this time."
"You did a better job than last time, Doctor," Peri commented.
"Last time?" Fitz was curious.
"He fixed it before, but it worked a little too well!" Peri laughed. "What was it again, a church organ?"
Six was not amused. "Come along." He strode off, leaving everybody to try and catch up.
A short while later, the group stood on top of a cliff. Below were large fluffy things. The team couldn't decide what they were.
"We should go down in teams," Fitz offered. The Doctors agreed. Three, Ten, Donna, Fitz would go down and investigate, and the others would stay up top and try to figure out where they were.
"And if we don't come back in ten minutes, come looking for us, all right?" Ten instructed. With that, the group split, half sliding down loose rock and the other half- as Fitz put it- watching Eight. Six had chuckled slightly at that.
At the bottom of the hill, the two Doctors and Fitz landed easily. Donna however, took a tumble. She clutched her ankle, and winced in pain. Ten hurried over.
"You okay?"
"Yeah," she responded, though Ten was not sure if he could detect sarcasm or not. He asked her if she could move her ankle. She tried. It moved, but she nearly passed out from pain.
As Ten was tending to Donna, Fitz wandered over to the fluffy things. Three had identified them as goats. But these were very big, almost twice as big as the average ones on Earth.
"They're actually kind of cute," he thought to himself. He reached out his hand to pet it. But just as he was about to lay his hand on the top of its head, it opened its mouth and he froze.
"Doctors," he said softly. "It… it has… teeth!"
"Of course it has teeth," Three explained. "How else can it eat?"
Another goat crept closer to Ten and Donna and opened its mouth too. They froze like Fitz.
"Three," Ten said cautiously. "Come over here very slowly. Don't make any sudden movements."
Three picked his way to his future self. "Oh good grief! Would you look at that?"
"I am looking at it!" Donna snapped. The goat decided that it wanted to snap too. Its two inch long canines swiped the air, nearly tearing Three's cloak.
"Come on!" Ten practically shoved Donna up the slope and motioned for Fitz to come. Fitz didn't hesitate. He grabbed Donna's wrist and began to assist Ten in dragging her up. Three took the rear, kicking back at the goats who tried to follow them.
They scrambled frantically up the slope, rocks skidding downwards. A few goats were hit. The companions cheered every time one backed off.
Peri could hear loose rocks falling. "Doctor…?" she pulled on Six's sleeve. Eight ventured a little closer to the edge. "They're coming up, but they look like they might need some help." He reached his arm out for the climbing group to grab.
Slowly, each member was pulled up. Panting, Fitz looked over the edge to see if the goats were still pursuing them. They were, and they were practically flying up the cliff, barely touching the side before taking another great bound. In another leap, the highest one would make it up.
"Keep going!" Fitz yelled. He turned sharply, grabbed Anji and Eight by their arms, and pulled them back.
Jo dashed forward and pulled Three and Donna away. They were pulling themselves up when the goat Fitz saw arrived. This one was bigger than the rest, and crashed into Ten. He went down. Six shoved Peri toward Fitz, Eight and Anji and ran to his future self.
"Come on!" he said as he tried to lift Ten up. Ten groaned slightly, but began to move around. Sadly, Six's coat was to the goats what a matador's flag is to bulls- and by now there were about four man-and-Time-Lord-eating-goats than anybody would ever want. The biggest one charged, and its head hit Six square in the back.
"Oof!" Both Doctors were now at the goat's mercy.
Three turned around as Six got hit. He had to stop and think at how ridiculous this danger actually was. Goats! Attacking his future? As if!
"Come on!" Three yelled. But sensing that just shouting would get him nowhere, he raised his sonic screwdriver. "Cover yourselves!"
Six and Ten threw themselves as far away from Three as they could. Rocks threw themselves away too, as Three used the screwdriver to create mini blasts of energy. The two grounded Doctors tried to crawl away to safety, but they were hampered by the blast and stampeding goats. They finally found an opening and they ran towards it and their companions. They shook little rocks and pebbles out of their hair and spit them out of their mouths, and as they drew nearer, Three could hear them complaining and fighting.
"Why couldn't you have moved? Then everybody's past and future would still be relatively safe!" Six snapped. "And not to mention, that this is my favorite coat!"
They slowed down as they approached Three.
"Yeah, and it's our least favorite coat," Ten sassed back, pointing to Three and himself. "And since majority rules, well…" He clicked his tongue, and Six, very annoyed by now, huffed.
"I've only distracted them, you know," Three said, trying to get down to business. "We still want to get back to the TARDIS so they don't keep hunting us."
They ran after Eight and the companions, when they found them all walking around.
"What's wrong?" Ten asked.
"We can't find the TARDIS!" Anji exclaimed.
