Yay for reviews (and followers, too)! Thanks to Yhoretta, especially, for pointing out some important things to keep in mind. Oh, and see if you can spot the Star Trek reference. Happy New Year!
The ship gave an almighty thump, and shut off abruptly.
"No, no, no!" the Doctor cried, and frantically sprinted around the TARDIS console, jacket flapping behind him.
"Doctor, what's wrong?" Adric asked, trying to follow the Doctor's rapid movements. "Have we landed?"
"No, we haven't landed!" He stopped his frenzied activity for a moment, and cupped an ear upwards. "Actually, I think it's the other way 'round. Why must I always neglect those damn shields?" he asked himself, slamming the console with his palm.
"You mean to say something's landed on us?" the boy inquired nervously, and began backing towards the center of the room, gazing about as if he was looking for dents in the curved ceiling. Footsteps, perhaps?
"It could be a creature, it could be another ship, it could be a horde of those parasites from Deneva, but we can't know unless we look. It either has the capabilities of draining our power, explaining the loss of energy, or it just hit us hard enough to knock out a few key circuits."
"If we don't have any power, we can't use the computer to get a look."
"No, but I suppose I could just stick my head out the door, right?
"Er, Doctor, I don't suppose you're aware that space doesn't have any air?"
"Adric, calm down! The TARDIS can generate a sort of…bubble, so we can open the doors and y' know, not die. And I have a spare spacesuit or two if that doesn't work out." He remembered his time spent outside the Urbankan ship and shuddered. Even if that spacewalk was a few incarnations back (his fifth, specifically), he had absolutely no desire to repeat the experience again.
"So, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go have a peek outside."
"Doctor, isn't there another option? I mean, we could try to shake it off or something."
"Quit dramatizing the situation! Honestly, I'll just open the doors quick, poke my nose out, and hope anything isn't poking out at me."
The Doctor strode over to the wooden doors, opened them, and then slammed them shut as if something had burned him and slumped to the floor.
"What's wrong? Are you all right?" Adric asked, rushing over and peering at the folded figure, who was breathing hard, head on his knees.
"There...wasn't...an air bubble," he gasped out, opening his eyes. "Loss of pressure outside...threw me off...a little, but I'll be fine."
"I told you we should have tried to shake it off!" Adric cried indignantly. "I may not have much space experience, but I know how to deal with bad guys. Trust me, I've had my fair share!"
"Adric, we can't throw it off, either. For the same reason there wasn't an air bubble for me to breathe from-we've lost power. I thought the air pocket was an organic part of the TARDIS, like a few other key components, but it looks like I was wrong." Seldom was the Doctor wrong about his ship, but then again, seldom was he forced to step into the emptiness of space. "I suppose I'll have to go on a hunt for a spacesuit."
The search would be made more difficult by the craft's loss of power. Most lights were down, with the exception of the console room, due to the limited supply of reserve power, which was draining along with the rest. Databanks would take too much energy to power up, and so the suit could not simply be 'looked up' by the ship's internal computer. It was down to good old torches.
"I want you to stay here," the Doctor stated as he grabbed a spare torch from under the console. "This ship is far too large and if we get split up in the dark…" He shuddered. "Just stay in this room, all right?"
"But-" Adric wasn't allowed to finish his sentence, as the other being had already run off down the darkened corridors of the ship.
Adric leaned against the console and watched the ceiling for activity. The thumping had stopped, though he could still tell there was something out there.
But that was the problem with such an adventure as this. Traveling with a man he didn't know, through all of time and space (or at least two spots, as agreed) had its drawbacks, as many of the Doctor's companions had learned before him. The Doctor had a way of making people feel hopelessly inadequate, even unintentionally. And so Adric was faced with a dilemma: should he do as the Doctor said, and stay in the console room, inactive? Or should he take a chance and try to impress him a little bit? No, not impress. Should he prove himself?
Proving was the nobler route, although riskier. As long as he stayed where he was, he wouldn't technically be disobeying the Doctor's orders, right?
Adric thought for a second, and then realized that even if he was stuck in the console room, he was stuck in the console room. What better place to stay than the nexus of the entire TARDIS?
And what better problem to solve than the problem of energy supply- the thing that meant the Doctor would have to risk his life? However insufficient Adric felt around the Doctor, the man was his ride home, and therefore his responsibility to protect as well as he could.
Adric laid down under the ship's indicator panel and got to work. The wiring was not of the material he was used to, but was arranged in much the same way his books back on the mountain showed. Engineering was just an advanced visual mathematical concept, and if the boy thought of it like that, the work would fly by in no time.
He bound together the last frayed wire he could find, and waited for the lights to brighten and the dials to spin.
But instead, he heard a voice, radiating from the center of the ship, calling his name.