A Christmas Invasion
A/N: Hey guys! I'm back with a Doctor Who Christmas Special that is filled with laughter, sadness, danger and tricks! Christmas with the Doctor has never been simple so I couldn't allow it to be simple either! Keeping with tradition, this will be an interesting story that will include elements already known in the Whoniverse! Now, on with the reading everyone!
Disclaimer: Any content that is recognisable as not my own belongs to their respective owners and is not in any way an attempt on my part to try and pull them off as my own. Readers be aware that content found to be similar to persons either fictional or real life is coincidental only.
It was Christmas Eve; my last two trips with the Doctor hadn't been anything special. I'm sure it was the Doctor making a conscious decision to take me to places he knew without a doubt held no danger. Even though yesterday was our scheduled meet and adventure, I hadn't been able to get away and so had not met with the Doctor. I had to wonder if he took that as meaning that I did not want to travel with him anymore. As yet I hadn't made up my mind about it either way, but it had been nagging at me ever since 1858. I sighed and looked up at the clock which told me it was 8:30 in the morning. Shaking my head and stepping out of my bedroom, I went in search of my family. Everyone was sitting in the lounge room, watching television. My youngest sister Tamara was on her Ipad, likely Youtubing, Tenile was playing with her DS, my mother was preparing for Christmas lunch the next day and my father seemed to be zonked out in the chair.
It was strange with them not knowing where I disappeared to every Monday, of course to them I didn't disappear. Now that it was Christmas, or at least, Christmas Eve, I found myself even more conflicted about whether or not I could continue to travel around with the Doctor. It was harder to get away with eyes always on me. At uni it was easier, the Doctor picked me up after classes and we went wherever we wanted, but now that I didn't have anywhere to go daily, I found it was almost suffocating.
I slumped onto the lounge and stared at whatever program was on TV, though I really wasn't paying that much attention to it, the news never held anything good, so I didn't really want to watch it anyway. It was as I was heading back to my room that I had to stop and strain my hearing. If I wasn't mistaken, I could hear the sound of the TARDIS materialising. Despite my earlier thoughts, I found myself grinning and smiled at my mother. "I'm just going to go for a walk mum, I'll be back soon." My mother nodded without looking up and headed out the door and down the street to the paddock.
As I got there, I saw the TARDIS and was glad that he had come back. I walked up to the doors and knocked quickly. It took a moment for the doors to open and I found myself standing in the console room looking around in distaste.
"What is that look on your face for?" The Doctor asked, sitting on the railing and watching me.
"You don't celebrate Christmas?"
The Doctor jumped off of his perch and shrugged. "Apart from the fact that it is a Human tradition, sometimes it's Christmas, sometimes it's not, I could celebrate every Christmas in the Universe at once, it's kind of lost its meaning for me. I haven't done Christmas in a long time."
I shook my head and scoffed. "Well it hasn't lost its magic for me, buck up! We're decorating!" I told him as I started to look around and visually memorise the shape of the TARDIS so that I would be able to go through the stash of decorations I had secretly been buying exactly for this occasion.
"You knew I wouldn't have decorated didn't you?"
I nodded and grinned at him, "I've been given a few tips about travelling with you." I told him, counting on my fingers how many trips it would take to bring all the decorations here. The Doctor must have decided that I wasn't going to say anything else because he cleared his throat, causing me to look at him and spoke.
"What do you mean by that?"
I smirked and shrugged, "I've been told I'm not allowed to say anything, just think of it as a gift from everyone you've ever travelled with. Okay?"
The Doctor looked at me sceptically for a while, before nodding and letting the matter drop. I smiled at him and gestured around the room. "Great! Now where do you suppose we could put a tree?"
DWPC
I smiled to myself as I headed back to the house. The Doctor had agreed to keep out of my way as I was decorating the TARDIS, so he had gone down below the console to do some repairs, or upgrades, or something of that nature that I hadn't really been paying attention to when he had spouted all those big, long words without a breath. I shook my head and laughed softly to myself as I returned to the house and helped my mother with some of the cooking before returning to the garage to lug some of the stuff to the TARDIS.
In the end it took me about three trips to get everything down there and I had to sneak past my parents and my sister so that they wouldn't ask me what I was doing. It was a hard trip, but eventually, I got it all into the console room and was about to start putting it all up, until I remembered I still had one more thing to get.
"I'll be right back, I forgot the tree topper."
The Doctor nodded at me from where he was examining some of the wires from the console. Though he didn't seem to have really heard me. I rolled my eyes and left the TARDIS, making my way back to the house.
As I came into the garage, I found Tenile waiting for me, a bowl of cornflakes in her hand. She was sitting on the lounge tapping her foot on the ground. I smiled at her and leaned against the wall. "What are you doing down here?"
"Are you moving out?"
I arched my eyebrow at her. "No. What made you think that?"
She gestured past me. "You've been moving bags out of here all morning. I was wondering why."
I sighed and walked over to pick up the Star. I was going to use this as the tree topper for the Christmas tree in the TARDIS. "It's none of your business." I told her, stepping back around the lounge and out of the garage.
Tenile stood up and followed me out, pulling the roller door down behind her. "I think it is my business, Teigs. You've been acting really weird over the past few weeks and I wanna know why."
I ignored her and headed up to the house. She continued to follow me, but I was not paying any attention to her. I didn't know how I would bring it up, let alone explain it. Besides, if I did tell her about it, how would I go about talking to her about leaving? I couldn't even explain it to myself.
"Come on, Teigs, give me something to work with here!"
I shook my head and headed into my room, looking around for the snacks I had been hoarding. If I was going to celebrate Christmas with the Doctor, then I was going to do it right,
"Look, I've just been busy alright. I have things to do." I snapped.
Tenile glared at me and sighed leaving my room. Relieved, I grabbed my bag and headed back to the paddock. The TARDIS was a time machine anyway, surely no one would notice.
DWPC
I walked back into the kitchen. I had dropped the last of my bags off in the TARDIS and now that I was feeling guilty about Tenile, I needed to apologise. My head was not screwed on correctly and I had to admit that I was happy she had noticed. Besides, she would probably hate me if she found out about this from a third party. It would be nice to have someone to cover for me from time to time as well. I found Tenile sitting on the lounge and nodded for her to follow me.
I walked into my room and turned to face her, I sighed as I did so, this was going to be hard to talk about.
"Tenile, I have to tell you something and it is going to be hard to hear, a little weird and you possibly aren't going to believe me." I told her, thinking it would be easier just to jump right in.
"You're pregnant? You've got a boyfriend? You got a boyfriend pregnant? You're part-zombie? You got me things? You have friends? You're moving to Fiji? You got me things? You got me a pony? You got me more things? You got me an EB Games membership? You got me Little Big Planet? You've finally realised the glory of Pokémon and SpongeBob? You-"
I covered Tenile's mouth with my hand and shushed her. "No, none of that. Well yeah I got you a present, but that's-"
Tenile had shoved my hand away from her mouth. "You got me things? What things?"
"Never mind that now, that's not what I need to tell you. Can you please just listen?" I asked, sitting on my bed and pulling her with me.
She quickly deposited her Cornflakes on the chair and turned to face me. She scrunched up her nose. "This sounds serious. Who am I killing? Do I need to get Megan down here to help? We'll straighten 'em out."
I rolled my eyes and shook my head, though I couldn't wipe the smile off of my face. Tenile and I didn't always get along, but she was fiercely loyal when she had to be. "Well, you're not killing anyone. That would be bad. But… I kind of met some-one."
Tenile's face brightened, and she narrowed her eyes. "Oooh, so you did meet someone. You've got yourself a gentleman friend? Does Mum know?" She asked in the most distasteful of accents before taking a mouthful of cornflakes again.
I frowned and tilted my head slightly. "Well, I wouldn't exactly call him a gentleman," I told her, blinking as I realised what she had said. I shook my head vigorously, waving my hands like an idiot. "God no! It's not like that, ew!" I needed to get this out in one swift blow. "He's an alien called the Doctor and he travels around in this thing called the TARDIS."
Tenile's eyes glazed over in disgust. It took mere seconds for Tenile's brain to make the necessary connections and she spat her cornflakes all over my keyboard. "Teigan! Get some class! Is that some kind of euphemism?!"
I looked at her, my eyes widening in sudden realisation. For the second time I shook my head furiously. "No, not like that, Tenile, God! Didn't you hear what I said? He's an alien. His spaceship is called the TARDIS."
Tenile still didn't seem to understand what I was trying to say because she just stared at me as if I had started speaking another language. "What are you talking about?!"
I sighed; obviously this discussion was going to require visual stimuli. I grabbed her by the arm, rolling my eyes as she grabbed her beloved bowl of cornflakes and pulled her through the house and out the door. My mother, who had been calling out about where we were going stuck her head out the door to call to us. I turned towards her and waved her off. "Just taking Tenile down the street for a second, I need to show her something. Be back in about half an hour!" Of course my mother wasn't satisfied with that answer but I was already too far away to hear what she was saying. It was a stifling hot day, not at all surprising for Christmas in Australia. Still, it was more than annoying.
Tenile twisted in my grasp. "Ouch Teigan! What the hell, let me go!" I ignored her clawing at my hand in favour of turning the corner and running across the street. The Doctor had parked the TARDIS in the paddock and I needed to get Tenile there quickly, before she called an asylum on me. I already thought I was crazy once, I didn't want to go back there again. Finally I saw the familiar blue box and my face broke out into a grin. I turned to Tenile and stopped running. Tenile stumbled to a halt and turned to look at me. She was livid.
"Teigan! What is going on? That hurt, look at my wrist, its red! My cornflakes are half empty from spilling it all the way up here. What is wrong with you?!" She asked, breathing heavily from the running. I immediately felt bad. Maybe I could have handled this better.
"Look T, I'm sorry, honestly I am, but you weren't listening to me, you were looking at me as if I'm crazy."
She raised her eyebrow and brought more cornflakes to her mouth. "Aren't you? Look at what you are talking about, aliens, Tar-something, meeting a spaceman, come on, if I said all those things, you would call me crazy, because it IS crazy! Aliens don't exist and if they did, they would not abduct you!" She turned her head to the side, furrowing her brow as she finally noticed the TARDIS. "The heck is that thing?" She asked, moving closer to it and examining it. "Looks like a big wooden box thing."
"That was eloquent." I noted, shaking my head.
"Well what would you call it? Is this what you brought me to see, because I am not seeing anything special, apart from a big, blue, box with Police written on it."
"Tenile meet the TARDIS, TARDIS, this is my idiot sister Tenile."
Tenile looked at me again, her face betraying her worry for my mental health. "Now you're talking to it?" She threw her hands up in the air, narrowly missing losing her cornflakes. "That's it; I'm taking you to mum, right now."
I held my hands up to her, pleadingly. "Give me two minutes? If I can't convince you in that time, I'll let you take me to mum okay?"
Tenile sighed and gestured for me to continue, cornflakes going to her mouth again. "You have one minute."
I nodded and gestured to the TARDIS. "This is the TARDIS. She is a spaceship, but, she can move through time as well as space. That's what her name means, Time and Relative Dimensions in Space." I pushed on the door, but it did not open. I looked at Tenile; she was tapping her foot, judging me. I proceeded to pull on the doors. "It will open, I swear, I'm not lying about this and I'm not crazy!"
Tenile looked at me and then the TARDIS sceptically. "It's a phone box. A phone box in the middle of a field. A phone box in the middle of a field in Australia. It does not fly. The best it'll do is gather dust. The only weird thing about it, is where it is. I'll admit that's strange, but a flying phone box? Come on."
I was growing more desperate now. "I SWEAR IT OPENS!" I began to forcefully pound on the doors. "Doctor! You open this door, right this minute!"
Tenile started to move towards me slowly. "Teiggy, sweetie, come home. With me. Come on." Tenile placed her hands gently on my arms. My knocks grew more violent.
"FOR GOD SAKE OPEN THIS DAMN DOOR YOU COW!"
Tenile looked at me with an expression I could not place. I feared that she thought my mental state had actually disintegrated. This was not going the way I had planned. In fact, it wasn't going anyway, at all.
"Come on Teiggy, it's okay, you've been under a lot of stress lately, perfectly natural. There are people who can help you."
I threw Tenile off of me, "Bloody Hell Tenile! I'm not some mental patient!" I told her. "Stop treating me like one!"
Finally, the TARDIS doors opened and I made a mental note to kick her later. I pushed Tenile inside, because she couldn't see from where she was.
For the first time in Tenile's life, she actually dropped her cornflakes.
DWPC
"Are you kidding me?" Tenile asked, looking around the room, her hands shaking.
The Doctor peeked out from where he was under the console, wires hanging over his head and shoulders. "Oi, watch it! The old girl doesn't like people dropping food on her." He warned shaking the Sonic at us threateningly. "Who are you?" He asked, noticing Tenile.
I walked over to the railing and hung over it, so that I wouldn't be talking through the floor. "That's my sister Tenile. Is there a problem here?"
The Doctor looked at me, confusion evident on his face. "No, why, what's wrong? Were you banging on the doors?"
I nodded, "stupid cow locked the doors on me, wouldn't let me in."
The Doctor shook his head bemused. "She hates strays."
I frowned. "Strays?"
He nodded. "Yeah, you guys, strays, that's what she calls you. My companions, the strays. Apparently she has always called you that."
I furrowed my brow and looked at the console behind me. "That's a bit rude isn't it? Am I really a stray?" The TARDIS seemed to hum in response. It seemed that she did indeed think of me as a stray. I was more than a little offended.
"But, but it's bigger on the inside." Tenile said, looking around, walking outside, walking back in and grabbing my shoulders and shaking me. "It's bigger on the inside!" She then looked down to her spilled cornflakes and pouted. "And I dropped my cornflakes!"
The Doctor frowned in my direction and gestured up to where Tenile was. "See, she's got it. It's bigger on the inside; she should have been my companion, not your silly Harry Potter reference."
Tenile walked over to her cornflakes and watched as they seeped down into the bottom of the TARDIS. "I've changed my mind," she said, "it's not you whose crazy, it's obviously me."
I shook my head and looked over at her. "No, you're not crazy, this is all real, I swear."
Tenile shook her head vigorously. "It can't be. This is insane! People don't fly through time and space in blue Police boxes."
I shook my head at her and walked over to drop my hands on her shoulders. "What will make you believe me?"
Tenile looked from me, to my hands, to the console and then back to me. "It really flies through time and space?" I nodded. "Then I demand to be taken to Ancient Greece."
The Doctor looked up at this and frowned.. "Excuse me, demand? This is not some taxi service, I hope that's not how you speak to your services."
I raised my eye at the Doctor. "Really, that's what you're going to fight with?"
The Doctor shrugged and moved up the stairs to the console. "I'm just getting in so you understand."
"Can you please take us to Ancient Greece?" I asked, because I knew Tenile wasn't going to.
"Anywhere specific?"
Tenile shook her head, "Nah, you can surprise me."
DWPC
The doors of the TARDIS swung open and we ran inside. "I BURNT DOWN ROME!"
"I can't believe you tackled the Emporer!"
The Doctor stopped at the Console, "Yes, that was rather surprising. Someone should have told the Emporer not to run with lamps."
I looked at the Doctor, "why, should he have been expecting to be, -" I looked at Tenile, "TACKLED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!"
Tenile shook her head and frowned, looking at the floor, "I thought he was going to burn the place down! I was trying to stop him."
"Well, you got your wish!" I told her, throwing my hands up in the air, "Rome is on FIRE!"
I looked at the Doctor and caught the look that he was quickly trying to hide before continuing, "tell you what though… Nero!"
"I know!" Tenile exclaimed, jumping up excited.
The Doctor went back to fiddling with the TARDIS and I pulled my sister over to me.
"So what do you think? TARDIS, time and space… flying, blue box."
Tenile smiled at me and looked over at the Doctor. "Still no air conditioning though." She said, as we both leaned against the doors of the TARDIS. I nodded.
"It's amazing, the things I've seen, oh Tenile, you wouldn't believe the things I've seen."
Tenile smiled at me and grabbed my arm, "well come on, we need to get this place decorated."
DWPC
"No, no… oh not there, Doctor! Look, don't-" the tree toppled dangerously to the side. Tenile rushing to hold it in place as I moved the Doctor away.
"Just leave it to the experts!" Tenile called over her shoulder, struggling to hold the tree in place. "Teigan! I need a hand!"
I pointed to the console and looked at the Doctor. "You. Go there. No touchy Christmas tree."
Eventually he got the message and stepped away from the tree and over to the console. "So sorry, I'll just be over here, trying to fix… something."
"How about the air con? Get some fresh air going on around here." Tenile called over to us, hiding a smirk. "Big old space ship, think it'd have an air con or something." She added, lowering her voice so that only I could hear her.
"I heard that!" It didn't work, apparently.
I walked over to Tenile and helped her push the tree over the railing and tie it in place. We used tinsel as rope, because it was more festive. Tenile and I grinned at each other and looked at our handy work. Now that the tree was tied and in place, we would be able to decorate to our hearts content. This was going to be fun.
"Uh, might need to take a rain check on that kids." The Doctor called, waving us over to the console.
I stared at the screen, there was a dot bleeping in and out of the radar. "What's that?"
The Doctor looked from me to Tenile and developed a twinkle in his eye. "It's a space ship."
Tenile was curious, her eyes popping out of her head in an almost cartoon hilarity. "A space ship? A space ship over Earth? Seriously?"
The Doctor nodded. He was completely in his element right now. "Yep, space ship, up in the sky, just past Saturn, should be here in a matter of days."
"Days, why so long?"
"They've dropped to impulse, barely moving at all, almost like they've lost engine power to the extreme."
"You wanna go and check it out, don't you?"
The Doctor nodded, "you know me so well." He flipped up a lever and we were off again.
DWPC
Materialising on the deck of a ship, the Doctor was the first out of the TARDIS, shortly followed after by Tenile and then me. I looked around at the interior of the ship, it wasn't anything I had ever seen before, but I'd never been in a spaceship before either. This was my first spaceship. The TARDIS didn't really count.
"Where's this ship from then?" I heard Tenile ask. She was at the other end of the corridor, looking at the panel by the door.
"Are those Pyjamas?"
I looked over at Tenile; the Doctor had walked over and was tugging at her top, feeling the material. Tenile looked down and suddenly she went slightly red and looked over at me, before we both started laughing.
"Oh, I didn't realise! This is hilarious!"
"I wore pyjamas in Rome!"
"You tackled the Emporer in your Pyjamas!"
The Doctor looked between us and decided that asking would not really be in his best interest, instead, he moved Tenile out of the way to get a better look at what was going on with the panel. It had lit up when Tenile touched it and was now making a strange noise. I closed the doors of the TARDIS and walked over to Tenile, wiping the tears from my eyes, which had appeared when I was laughing.
"Oh Tenile, what an impression to make on a space alien, you have no class."
Tenile looked down at her pineapple shorts and singlet. "Says you, you're the one who randomly met up with a time travelling space alien."
I shook my head, but conceded to her apparent knowledge, I had to admit I was enjoying this a little too much though.
The Doctor turned to us, still looking over the controls before pulling out his sonic screwdriver. "You sure you don't want a jacket or something?"
Tenile shook her head. "'Least I'll be remembered 'ey? No-one'll forget me in a hurry."
I nodded at her logic, before moving over to the Doctor to find out what was going on. "How you doing? What's taking you so long?"
The Doctor frowned as he moved his sonic over the controls a second time. "I'm not exactly sure to be honest. I mean, this is a space ship, that's obvious, but I can't…"
He pressed a button and the buttons sunk back into the panel, almost dissolving, opening to reveal a mass of wires.
"That's definitely strange."
I looked at him, "looks like a bunch of random wires to me, what gives?"
Tenile moved over to us, seemingly bored of being by herself.
"Why are they all different colours?"
The Doctor looked between the both of us. "Domestics," he mumbled, causing me to slap him on the arm, before he continued. "The reason it looks like a bunch of random wires, is because it is a bunch of random wires."
I looked at him, my face blank; Tenile was staring at him, obviously willing him to continue.
"Don't you see, it's a mixture of all different technologies, alien technologies, there are all sorts of things in here. Cybertech, Restech, Sontarans, everything, there's even stuff that I don't recognise, and that's saying something."
Tenile looked at me and I gave her a sympathetic nod. Tenile rolled her eyes and moved away from the door, spotting something she found interesting, I turned away from her and looked at the Doctor. "But what does that mean? Scavengers?"
The Doctor shook his head, "could be anything, but my guess is … no don't touch-"
Tenile jumped away from a panel on the wall as the door slid open revealing six figures in strange body suits.
"Arms in the air!"
The Doctor glanced at me, "I knew it, RoboForm's."
Tenile and I immediately threw our hands up, backing away from the door, and knocking into each other.
The Doctor sighed and joined us in the middle of the room. "I thought I told you not to touch anything."
Tenile looked at him, "I don't recall that, if you're gonna take me on these adventures, I need a step by step set of instructions about what I can and cannot do, like not touching buttons on a wall for example."
The Doctor looked at me, exasperated. I giggled nervously and shrugged, "I'm the sensible one?" I offered, looking nervously between Tenile and the Doctor. Tenile's arm was obviously starting to get tired, because they were hanging lazily in the air; I couldn't believe she was being so nonchalant about this.
The Doctor groaned slightly and looked at the RoboForm's. He was about to speak, but Tenile beat him to the punch.
"Take us to your leader, my arms are killing me."
I shook my head and looked at the Doctor, his face was carefully blank, but the fact he kept his eyes trained forward told me what I needed to know.
DWPC
"What have I told you about pressing buttons?!" I asked Tenile, slumping down onto the metal seats provided in the makeshift gaol cell.
Tenile shrugged, "you specified red buttons. It was green, green is good, it means go!"
The Doctor looked over at us from where he was leaning against the bars. "Maybe on Earth, but in the rest of the Universe, a green button calls for assistance."
"See… good."
I rolled my eyes and looked towards the Doctor. "What are we going to do now; this has got to be the makings of the worst Christmas ever."
The Doctor thought for a moment. "Yeah, funny about that, the RoboForm's were involved once before when I was on Earth for Christmas."
I looked at him. "What do you mean? I don't remember space ships on Earth. When was this?"
He shook his head, "you don't remember it? Royal family on the roof? Great big space ship over London, 2005?"
"Did that really happen, I thought it was a hoax. I don't remember much from then, I was only… 9?"
Tenile sat down next to me. "Course it did, makes perfect sense, why wouldn't aliens go to England? 'least it's not America."
I looked at Tenile and smirked. "That's true.
The Doctor shrugged, "I didn't stay around to see how they handled it. I reset the universe once, so I don't know what actually happened and what didn't anymore."
I thought about that for a second. "Sorry, what?"
"Reset the universe, Big Bang Two."
"Big Bang Two, seriously?
"Giant box called the Pandorica and everything."
"How'd you manage that?" Tenile asked.
"Quite a long story actually."
"We have time." I told him.
Tenile smiled, "Wait, what about the black boxes? Those things that appeared out of nowhere and stuff?"
"Yes, that was aliens."
"I had one of those, called it George, I found it on the way to school, it was good fun."
"Until it started playing the Chicken dance. Over and over and over." I added.
"It was good for the first five times, but then it just got annoying."
"The Australian government came and took it soon after that."
The Doctor shook his head. "Yes, that was part of a plot to wipe out all life on Earth, I stopped it though."
Tenile sighed wistfully. "I miss George."
The Doctor raised his eyebrow at Tenile and I had to keep from laughing. He was definitely going to have a difficult time trying to figure her out, he still hadn't figured me out and I was an open book.
"So… what else has happened on Earth? I heard about the Battle of Canary Wharf and there were heaps of theories about those ghost people, but we didn't have too many in Australia."
The Doctor nodded. "You don't have a time rift there. So, there isn't much that happens that goes on about the rest of the world."
"What about the Hospital on the Moon?" Tenile asked, moving to lean on the wall.
"Yes, yes that was real. A bunch of Judoon were searching for a Plasmavore, though they didn't really know that, they were just looking for anyone alien."
"So… since you're an alien."
The Doctor nodded. "Yes, we got out in the end though."
Tenile frowned. "Plasmavore… like blood drinker? Vampire?"
The Doctor nodded. "Kind of, space vampire. She was a shapeshifter, not outwardly, but she could change her internals, if that makes sense."
I laughed. "Not really."
The Doctor leaned back on the bench. "I would be dead actually, if Martha wasn't there to help. Martha Jones, Defender of Earth and a Medical Student."
I knew about Martha from the book in the library, but I decided it was best not to bring that up. "I can't believe all of that really happened. What year was that?"
The Doctor frowned. "2007? I think. Long time ago now. Very long time ago."
"I was only about 11 or 12, only just started high school. The thought about people on the moon made me excited. I can't believe it."
"You still find it hard to believe, even after all this?" The Doctor asked, getting as close to us as he could, even with the bars that separated our cells.
I shook my head. "Not really, guess I just needed something to say. You know, to keep the conversation going, I hate it when it's quiet."
"Unlike me, I wish you would shut up half the time, but no, you just keep talking, annoying me with boring stuff I don't want to listen to." Tenile added, flicking me in the shoulder.
I turned around to her and glared, before turning back to the Doctor. I stood up and walked over to where he was, feeling the bars in front of me. "What are these bars made out of any way? It almost feels metallic."
The Doctor nodded at me. "Well done, close, but not quite. This is made up of a Rhenium, Tungsten mix, with just a little bit of Aluminium. Helps bind the others together."
"So… they probably used the Aluminium to bind the metals because they scavenged it from somewhere else, right?"
Again, the Doctor nodded. "Turning into a real little scientist aren't we?"
I looked at him and raised my eyebrow at his tone of voice. "Careful you, I can still kick you from in here you know."
The Doctor shrugged slightly, before his tone turned serious. "Have you decided yet?"
I sighed, immediately realising what he was asking. Then I shook my head and leaned against the bars. "No."
"No as in you haven't decided, or no as in you won't be staying?"
I chuckled slightly, but there was no humour in it. "No as in I haven't decided. It's a big decision. As I said, I was really enjoying it, I was and I still am, but… I'm just not really suited to the dangerous kind of life, you know?"
The Doctor nodded. "If it's any consolation, I would miss you if you were gone."
I smiled at that and nodded to him, "I should hope so, I'm not someone easily forgotten, neither is my sister."
The Doctor looked over at her then, "what is wrong with her anyway?"
I snorted and was about to reply when the sound of doors turned my attention elsewhere. I moved a little away from the Doctor, beckoning Tenile to me. I felt a lot safer knowing she was closer to me than the door.
The Doctor walked over to the bars and frowned at our captors, those RoboForm's. "I do so very much hope you've a good reason for this. Those benches are hard, it's Christmas on Earth and the kids won't be happy if they miss it."
The RoboForm's didn't speak but proceeded to open the door to the Doctor's cell and beckon him out. I looked at Tenile and then at the Doctor. I hoped he knew what he was doing because I didn't want to be left here alone. I didn't know how to fly a TARDIS!
"What, okay, sure… where are we going?" He asked, joining the three outside and turning to look at us. "It appears they only want me, just hold on and I'll go and meet the Queen, or King or whoever it is that has hired them this time, I'm sure we can come to some sort of understanding. Don't wander off."
I nodded and watched as the RoboForm's walked the Doctor out of the room, the door sliding closed with a resounding ting.
"Brilliant, just great, absolutely perfect."
Tenile looked at me. "What's your problem?"
I rolled my eyes, "he just told us not to wander off, so now, we kind of have to."
Tenile looked at me and raised an eyebrow. "Well of course we're going to wander off, since when have I ever listened to anything that man said?"
I looked at Tenile and shook my head. "Well, I was kind of hoping to just wait here, hope for the best, but, we have to do something, it's kind of essential."
"What on Ear- sorry, what on a space ship are you talking about?"
I shook my head, "never mind, I'll tell you later, but it's got to do with moving the plot forward, come on, let's see if we can find a way out of here."
Tenile and I moved around the cell, trying to find a weak point, or something we could use to jimmy the lock. After a while, Tenile frowned and looked at the bars, "you know, for an alien space ship, this cell is oddly human. Does the TARDIS change the way I perceive things as well?"
She had asked the last part sarcastically and I shook my head. "No, don't be stupid, they're scavengers and they've been to Earth before. Weren't you listening?"
"What, they couldn't find better technology?"
"Oh, don't be so stupid, this is makeshift, remember, they just grabbed what they could at the time."
Tenile shrugged and continued to look around the room.
DWPC
After what seemed like hours, but I really didn't know how long, I was about ready to give up.
"Teigs, over here, I think I found something."
I walked over to where Tenile was standing, inspecting the hinges of the cell door. She was rubbing her fingers along it. "I wish I had my glasses, but I think this is worn down. Like, if we could put enough force to it, we might be able to break it."
I looked over her shoulder and when she moved out of the way, I leaned down to see what she was talking about. "Yeah, I think you might be right."
Tenile smiled to herself, glad she had found something useful. "Only one problem though."
She looked at me, "what?"
I sighed and moved away from the door, "we won't nearly be strong enough on our own, we need something stronger, maybe like a pole or crowbar, something to give us leverage, this was thrown together haphazardly, there has to be something."
Tenile thought for a moment and clicked her fingers. "There is!" She ran over to the seat and pulled one of the legs from the bench. "Here, we should be able to use this."
I grinned at her and took the leg. "Now you're getting it! There is always an escape route; you just have to use your head!"
"And a little bit of brute force!"
"Definitely, now come on, and help me jimmy the door."
DWPC
"So, do you actually have any idea where we're going?" Tenile asked, as we crept silently through the corridors of the space ship. We had no idea where we were or what we were supposed to do now, but I was determined.
"Not as such, no, but I figure we can just stumble across something, that's what usually happens in the movies, right?"
Tenile shook her head, "movies are fake, this is real life, what are we supposed to do?"
I turned and looked at Tenile, pushing her up against the wall as I heard footsteps. After several moments the footsteps disappeared, and I looked at her. "I know they're fake, obviously, but I have nothing else to go on. I'm grasping at straws here, this has never happened to me before. I don't know what to expect here. I'm trying okay?"
Tenile sighed and rubbed my arm, "I'm sorry. I'm being stupid, let's just hurry and find something useful."
Tenile and I continued walking, occasionally ducking into corridors or behind walls, to avoid being detected by the RoboForm's. We didn't even know if we were headed in the right direction, but there wasn't much else we could do. Eventually however, we came up to a door.
"Do you think that panel would open it?"
I looked at the panel and shrugged, "who knows, probably, but I wouldn't suggest-"
The door slid open and I looked at Tenile's hand on the panel. "What did I just say?!"
"You didn't finish the sentence…"
I just glared at her and pushed her into the room.
DWPC
The room was circular, and there was a control panel in the centre, facing a window. The room was almost completely empty otherwise.
"Wandering 'eh, 'move the plot forward' she says. Whatever … we've been wandering forever and what do we find? A control panel in an otherwise completely empty room."
"A control panel in front of a window, showing us space." I told her sarcastically.
Tenile frowned, "what… oooh, right… of course!"
I sighed and rolled my eyes, "now, how do we fly this thing, where's the manual?" I looked around the control panel, looking at the buttons.
Tenile shook her head "there won't be a manual Teigan; it's a space ship, not a furby."
I raised an eyebrow at her, "cars have manuals Tenile, and this is just a bigger, out of space, version of a car."
"You don't even have your Ps yet."
I rolled my eyes and pressed one of the buttons I had been examining. Something that resembled a manual popped up in front of me. I grinned at Tenile. "Told ya."
Tenile stared at me, not quite able to believe what just happened. I turned away from her and quickly scanned through the index.
"What, now it's in English? How can you read that? We're in space, on an alien space ship; do they all speak English now?"
I shook my head at her, "did you not notice that you were able to perfectly understand everyone in Rome?"
"I will point out that it was the middle of the night, and I only spoke to the Emporer and that was after I tackled him." She told me, still not believing what was happening.
I sighed and showed her the manual. "This is probably in some alien dialect I have never even heard of, but see the thing is, when you travel on the TARDIS, she gets inside your head and translates everything. So, when we hear English, we are really hearing something else and we reply in whatever language they… yes?"
"Are we speaking English or alien?" She asked, her hand high about her head.
I smirked. "I would assume we are speaking English, because that is our mother tongue and also the only language we know."
"It could be our father tongue, don't be sexist, we don't have time for that."
I shook my head and went back to my reading, "be quiet, I'm busy, do yourself a favour and find something to do, but don't press any buttons, turn any knobs, pull any levers or flick any switches."
I watched as Tenile moved around the room and turned back to the manual.
It wasn't until a few minutes later that I heard Tenile again. "Hey Teiggy, Teigan, Teigs, Teigala, Teiggypoo, Teiggyloolala, TeigyTeig, TEIGAN!"
I turned to her, "WHAT!"
She had her hand over something, "watch this!"
"NO!"
But it was too late, Tenile had already turned it. We lurched violently as something below us powered up with a gentle rumble.
"What did I say about touching-" There was a sudden jolt and I turned to the window, just in time to see an asteroid shatter into hundreds of pieces. We were then thrown to the ground by the accompanying shockwave. I somehow managed not to smack my head against the console but did hit my head on the ground.
"What, that's it?" Tenile asked, getting up from the ground and flexing her arms. "That always looks better in the movies, I was expecting something, well, something more explosive."
I got to my feet slowly and glared at Tenile. Holding my head, I groaned, "you just blew up an asteroid! That key could have done anything! What did I say about touching anything?"
"You said not to and I quote, 'press any buttons, turn any knobs, pull any levers or flick any switches.' That was clearly a key, I checked."
I growled at Tenile, exasperated and looked back at the manual. "For god sake. Sit in that chair, and don't touch a single thing! Or a multiple thing. You know what; just sit on your hands."
Tenile walked over to the chair and did as I instructed. I turned away from her and was about to return to my reading, when she called my name again.
"Teiggy, Teigs, Teigan, Teigala, Tei-"
I turned to her, "what is it this time?" I tried extremely hard not to yell.
"IT'S A SPINNY CHAIR!" She exclaimed, spinning the chair around as proof. At least she was still sitting on her hands.
"HOW OLD ARE YOU?!" I asked, throwing my hands up in the air, finally losing my patience.
Tenile stopped spinning, "I'm seventeen, have you been travelling for so long you've forgotten what year it is?"
I breathed through my nose trying to calm myself. "No, I was just seeing if you were aware of your own age."
"Well, if you put seven and one together, you get-"
"Don't even finish that sentence. I mean it; you are this close to getting a smack in the face." I told her, turning away from her and looking at the manual again. Hopefully she would get the message and shut her mouth for two seconds so that I could read.
As I was going over the manual, I came across a layout of the ship and I made sure to look over all the details, it may come in handy at some point later and I had a feeling that if we needed to go somewhere, knowing the layout would be good. I paid special attention to where the TARDIS was in the cargo hold in relation to the Control room, the Gaol and the Engine room, three places that were easy to find. This way we would always have an escape route.
"Teigan."
I ignored Tenile and flipped back to the manual.
"Teigs."
I read over some of the systems, taking special notice of what not to press.
"Teiggy."
"Hey Tenile, according to this-" I looked over my shoulder and froze. Tenile was sitting in the chair with her hands in the air. At the door were two RoboForm's with guns pointed at us. I laughed nervously and turned around fully, putting my hands to the air.
"Would you believe us if I said we were looking for the bathroom?"
The RoboForm's gestured for us to follow them with their guns.
"Nah, didn't think you would."
Tenile got up from her chair and we were cuffed with some weird sort of laser and marched back through the corridors and back into the cargo hold.
DWPC
The Doctor looked up from his cell when he saw us being escorted in. He sighed and shook his head.
"What did I tell you about wandering off?"
I shrugged innocently and rubbed my wrists where the laser had burnt my skin. "It's kind of a rule with you that the companions wander off when the Doctor says not to, you should have figured that out by now."
Tenile walked in after me and dropped to the floor out of annoyance. "All that work for nothing, we didn't even find out what they were after."
The Doctor ran his hand through his hair, "yeah I didn't have much luck either. RoboForm's are usually the hired hand of another species, the Sycorax, Racnoss, that sort of thing, but this time they seem to be on their own. At least that was what I could get from it all. They have this leader, well sort of and he was giving the commands, like a big computer."
I sat on the bench and tapped my foot waiting patiently. "If anyone is interested-"
"Not now Teigan, I'm thinking." I raised my eyebrow and shrugged, leaning against the wall. If he was going to be like that, then fine, I was going to let him. He would regret it later.
Tenile looked over at the Doctor, "but why are they here, Doctor? Did they run out of fuel? What did you learn?"
The Doctor sighed, "I didn't learn much unfortunately, after last time, they were careful not to let me near anything I could have used. They pretty much had me standing in the middle of the room, talking to a giant computer. I did learn that they were travelling to the sun for something and had to make a pit stop, though I don't really know why."
"You know-"
"We're brainstorming Teigan, shut it." Tenile told me holding up her hand.
The Doctor ran his hand through his hair again. "I have no idea why they suddenly lost power, or why they would have allowed the fuel to get so low, it's inconceivable."
I eventually grew bored of the Doctor and Tenile blowing me off and stomped my foot angrily. They both looked at me and I nodded. "I know why they're here."
The Doctor blinked at me. "Why didn't you say anything?"
My mouth dropped open. "I tried, but the two of you were treating me like some illiterate grade schooler. Must I remind you that I am not a grade schooler?" I looked over at Tenile. "And you! Who do you think you are, telling me to shut it, I know more about this stuff than you and you think you can just go off and decide that I don't have a right to speak?" I glared at the both of them. "Next time, ask me before you write me off."
The Doctor dropped his gaze, knowing that he had messed up again, but Tenile kept her head up, she was just being her typical self and she was apparently not going to fall for it.
"As I was trying to tell you before… when Tenile and I were brought back here we had been in the control room, and I got to doing some… light reading." I started, spreading my hands before me. "When one finds oneself in the need of operating an unfamiliar system, one should always," I glared at Tenile, "read the manual."
The Doctor was nodding along, but it was clear that he was not certain where this was going. "You read the manual on how to fly the ship?"
I nodded, "but that's not all, I stumbled across the schematics of the ship, I know how to get back to the TARDIS."
Tenile rolled her eyes. "Well, that's nice, we can dream of space before we die."
I shook my head, "I'm not finished, on the schematics, they labelled the fuel content of the engines. Apparently it runs on an element that is hard to find in this and most other galaxies."
The Doctor nodded. "Okay, that seems pretty stupid, but not uncommon, this is a Pirate ship after all."
I sighed and leaned back against the bars. "This is not what I had in mind for my first Christmas in space, Doctor, not at all."
The Doctor sighed and looked sadly at me. "I know, I'm sorry."
Tenile stepped over to us. "Biggest problem now though, we have to figure out who's behind all of this."
I nodded. "You said they were hired hands, or that they worked for someone else… do you know anyone who would try to do this?"
The Doctor shrugged and ran his hand through his hair again, "well, there are a couple I can think of. The Daleks, but it's not them, they would just invade completely. This isn't the Cyberman beat, the Slitheen tried to destroy the Earth once, not that long ago really, 'bout seven years ago."
I frowned, "really? I don't remember that."
The Doctor smiled, "oh, that was the one with the spaceship hitting Big Ben. It was the first time I'd encountered a bunch of aliens faking a crash. I stopped them in the end, they wanted to sell the Earth piece by piece. Blew up Downing street."
I nodded, "wait, that was you? Dude."
The Doctor shrugged and looked over to the bars around us. "How did the pair of you get out last time anyway?"
Tenile was the one to answer this, "well… Teigan and I actually had no idea how to get out. But we figured that we had to try something, so we jimmied the door, took it right off the hinges."
"But I doubt we'd be able to do that again, rekon they've wised up to us."
The Doctor nodded, "that does seem likely, yes."
I sighed, "then how we gonna get out?"
Tenile smirked, "I have an idea."
DWPC
The guard walked into the cell and Tenile proceeded to knock him over the head with a metal bar. I blinked at her. "I can't believe that actually worked."
The Doctor shook his head. "Nor can I."
"It works in the movies. At least we're out, now come on, let's get out of here, we need to find out who's behind all this."
"The Engine room is down this corridor." I told them as we headed out the door and turned left.
"How do you know?" Tenile asked as we all crept along the corridors together holding onto whatever we happened to be able to reach. The Doctor was in front, myself in the middle and Tenile at the end. I had grabbed the Doctor's jacket and Tenile was tugging on my hand.
"Schematics remember, I memorised them in case they were needed. I can get us to anywhere from the central control room."
The Doctor looked over his shoulder at us. "Really?"
"Okay, not anywhere, but to the Engine room, the Cargo Hold, or the weapons bay, there's also a couple of airlocks we might need to use at some point."
Tenile pulled on my hand slightly. "You can't even find your way 'round the shops. How can you memorise schematics?"
"Hey, I can too, sometimes."
The Doctor shook his head. "Can you do it or not?"
"I can, I memorised it, I promise, I know how to get to those places at least, I promise."
The Doctor nodded and quickly pushed us all up against the wall as a group of six or seven RoboForm's marched down the corridor. It was all so strange, but it was rather thrilling.
"Dammit Doctor," I whispered as we continued. "You'll turn me into an adrenaline junkie."
The Doctor shrugged. "It's not my fault, I don't go looking for trouble, I just fall into it."
I shook my head. "Maybe you should just be more careful."
Tenile squeezed my hand. "I blame the TARDIS."
The Doctor nodded. "Oi, don't diss the old girl. She takes care of us."
"Well, she's not taking care of us right now, is she?"
Tenile and the Doctor started getting into a small, quiet argument. If it were true the TARDIS took care of us, maybe she took him to where he was needed, perhaps she wanted me to stay, I didn't know the reason, but she was definitely a sneaky cow.
"Well, whatever the reason, I just hope we find out all we need in the Engine room."
DWPC
The Doctor examined the engine as Tenile and I looked around for other clues. We weren't sure what it was that we were looking for, but if it was important, surely it would be labelled as such. Or something of that nature anyway.
The room looked about how I would expect a spaceship engine room to look like. Big containers labelled with things I didn't recognise, pillars, tanks, control panels. It was emptier than I expected, but what did I know about engine rooms?
"SAMARIUM! Of course!"
Tenile and I ran back over to the Doctor. He was reading through a bunch of text on a screen.
"What's Samarium?" I asked, leaning over the Doctor's shoulder to see what he was reading, but he was moving through it faster than I had ever seen. It was remarkable.
"Samarium is a rare element that isn't found on many habitable planets. Or much of anything really. It's in its most abundant on planets that don't contain any form of life. Unfortunately because of this, it has been mined to near annihilation." The Doctor explained, talking nearly too fast for me to pick up.
"So it's like super rare? So why go to Earth for it?" Tenile asked, tilting her head slightly.
The Doctor smiled at the question. "Samarium is rare on Earth yes, but it is even rarer everywhere else, and entirely illegal to use in most of the Galactic Ports."
We both nodded. Trying to take in all that the Doctor was saying, but it was becoming increasingly more difficult to keep up.
"Even though it is rare on Earth, the RoboForm's have the technology to simply collect the whole lot of it and teleport it into the cargo hold, or directly into the engine. But there is one more thing that Samarium is used for…" The Doctor continued.
I raised my eyebrow to him, wondering where he is going with this, until something I read in the schematics suddenly sprang to mind. "Neutron Capture!"
"Yes, I was getting to that." The Doctor shook his head.
Tenile looked between us confused, "What is Neutron Capture?"
The Doctor turned to Tenile and began to rattle off an enormous amount of information. "Neutron capture is a nuclear reaction in which an atomic nucleus and one or more neutrons collide and merge to form a heavier nucleus. Since neutrons have no electric charge they can enter a nucleus more easily than positively charged protons, which are repelled electrostatically. Neutron capture plays an important role in the cosmic nucleosynthesis of heavy elements. In stars it can proceed in two ways: as a rapid r-process or a slow s-process. Nuclei of masses greater than fifty six cannot be formed by thermonuclear reactions for example, by nuclear fusion, but can be formed by neutron capture."
The Doctor finished his talk and Tenile just blinked at him. "English please?"
I smiled, "they're going to build a sun."
Tenile gestured to me, and looked at the Doctor. "See? That's all you had to say."
The Doctor shook his head. "They aren't just building a sun; my guess is they want to create the ultimate weapon, what better weapon then one that appears natural?"
I frowned, "but why would they want to destroy something with a sun?"
The Doctor shrugged and was about to say something when we suddenly heard another voice.
"It is not for the purpose of a weapon, but for the purpose of life."
Tenile, the Doctor and I all turned around and stared at the creature that had spoken.
"Ugh. What is that thing? It's like a giant piece of radioactive snot. With Claws!" Tenile hissed to us.
I had to hide my laugh by burying my face in my top, but the look on the Doctor's face was all too obvious.
"Slitheen! I thought so!"
The Slitheen frowned, "I am not Slitheen; they were my cousins. I am June Blon-Velck Nax Soon Hostrozeen."
"From Raxacoricofallapatorius." The Doctor added, pleased with himself.
"Raxawhat?" Tenile asked, gaping at the giant green alien before her.
" Raxa…corico…fall…apatorius." I repeated slowly, not sure if I was saying it correctly.
The Doctor clapped me on the back joyously. "Well done! Couldn't have said it better myself."
"June from Rax, got'cha." Tenile said, winking at me and the Doctor.
"If you don't mind, I was talking." The alien told us, and it appeared to be glaring at us.
I bit my lip; I knew this was not going to go down well. "Doctor, is that a female… or not?"
The Doctor looked at me and frowned. "That's rude, she's obviously female, think what you must look like to her, bet she knows your female. Actually, she would, she can smell you. Best sense of smell in the galaxy this lot."
I went red and Tenile laughed. "Of course, Teigan, can't you see her feminine wiles at work?"
The Doctor shook his head and looked at the alien. "I apologise for my assistants, they are a little… dazed at present."
Tenile opened her mouth to say something, but at a look from the Doctor, I hurried to cover her mouth with my hand, laughing nervously.
The Doctor looked back to the Hostrozeen and gestured open handed to her. "I'm sorry ma'am, you were saying?"
The alien scoffed and shook her head, looking at the three of us. "I was telling you, we are not attempting to create a weapon, but a machine for the creation of life."
The Doctor nodded for her to continue.
"We Hostrozeen, have been commissioned by the Raxacoricofallapatorian Government to reheat an ice planet at the edge of our galaxy. It is needed for the abundance of elements it holds."
The Doctor stepped away from us and closer to the Hostrozeen woman. He gestured to something that could be used as a seat. The alien nodded and moved to sit with him on the seat, smiling in a way that kind of freaked me out; though I was sure she was being pleasant enough.
"Please, continue."
"The planet … millions and billions … wanderer … about half the size of Raxacoricofallapatorius … great."
The Doctor thought for a second. I moved over to them, pulling Tenile with me. I was interested in their conversation, but I couldn't hear much of what was being said whilst they were over in the corner.
"So you need to scoop the sun to create another sun?" I asked, looking at her.
She smiled at me and I had to stop myself from shivering involuntarily. "Precisely youngling."
I frowned, "why not just drag it closer to the sun that it's orbiting?"
"You can't just drag planets about. You could ruin the whole system." The Doctor told me, looking round to see that I had approached.
The alien nodded. "Yes, exactly, so we need to build a different sun, and because it is on the edge of our Galaxy, it should not cause too much of a problem."
The Doctor shook his head at this, "no, it shouldn't be too much of a problem if you handle it correctly."
The alien looked appalled. "I should remind you Doctor that I have a Thanmo, in String Theory as well as a Tonsabab in Sun Management."
I raised my eyebrow and looked at the Doctor. He shook his head. "The Raxacoricofallapatorian's equivalent of a Doctorate and a Masters."
"Doctor; I am extremely surprised that you are being so good about this. I had heard things through the Grape vine about your attachment to this planet."
"Well, I am attached to it, but that doesn't mean I won't help a good cause, all you're doing is scooping the sun, right? I mean I know it's illegal in some places, but it's not illegal here, so I guess it's okay."
The alien seemed to grow slightly nervous at his words and I had to wonder what was happening.
"Yes, quite so." She replied before getting up to leave. "I trust you can show yourselves out? I am wanted in the control room, so if you will please excuse me." With that she made her leave of the engine room and we were left to make our own way back to the TARDIS.
Tenile pulled me aside before we were about to leave, "Teigs, I don't trust her, she doesn't have a nose."
I looked at her, "what?"
Tenile sighed, "She doesn't have a nose. Do you not understand the significance of this?"
I shook my head. "Tenile, she does have a nose, its little and round and pops out and has holes and stuff. It's a nose. Their sense of smell is recognised as the most superior in the galaxy."
"I don't care, it barely classifies as a nose, she can't even pick it, come on, it's not a nose."
I shook my head. "I'll stop you there. Okay, I don't trust her either, something was… off, but there's nothing we can do right now but concede to the Doctor's knowledge… alright? Just leave it."
Tenile sighed and nodded. "Okay, fine. Let's just go."
DWPC
Whilst on the TARDIS, Tenile and I continued with our decorating as the Doctor did some follow up scans. He had been very twitchy since we first left the engine room, but I didn't know why. Eventually he was bugging me so much that I just had to ask.
I walked over to him and leaned against the console. "What's wrong?"
The Doctor looked at me and sighed. "Something she said back there, it doesn't make sense."
I looked at him. "Doctor, what do you need? What can I do to help?"
The Doctor shook his head, "there's nothing you can do, it's not good."
I stepped in front of the Doctor, "what do you need."
"I need to know how big their Samarium tanks are."
"Thirty-two Kalvic Metres."
He looked at me, "what?"
I smiled at him. "Thirty-two Klevic Metres."
"Thirty-two Kelvic Metres?"
I thought for a moment and then nodded. "Right, Kelvic, that's what it said."
The Doctor's face broke into a grin and he kissed my forehead. "Yes! Thank you!"
"I keep telling you; ask me before you give up, okay? I might not be a smart as you, but I have a good memory, and I learn things. I also read." The smile on the Doctor's face had thrown me a little, I wasn't used to it. It was nice. I hoped he would smile more often, he always seemed like a grump.
The Doctor nodded at me sheepishly and pressed a bunch of numbers on the scanner. I left him to his work and continued to help Tenile with her decorating.
It wasn't too much later when the atmosphere in the room seemed to darken considerably. I shivered and looked over at the Doctor; he was staring at the screen. He was almost shaking, his right hand was clenched on the screen and his left hand was splayed, white knuckled, against the console. I didn't know what I was supposed to say in this situation. He had been angry before, but I didn't know why he was angry this time. He usually tried to keep it under control after what I said in 1857. I looked at Tenile and she nodded at me, I nodded back and took a tentative step towards the Doctor. I stopped before I reached him and watched as he tried to control himself. I licked my lips and gesture for Tenile to stay where she was. It was bad enough that she was here in the first place, I wasn't sure how the Doctor was going to react, and I didn't know what was wrong. I silently started to write my will in my head, making special note that I didn't want anything to go to my sister.
"Doctor… are you alright?"
He didn't move, just continued to stare at the screen. I thought for a moment that maybe he had died, and I just hadn't realised yet. He was now eerily still. It was very unnerving.
"Is everything okay?"
Again he didn't move, nor did he answer and I thought about moving closer to him, but I hesitated.
"Doctor… what's wrong?"
The Doctor proceeded to ignore me, or he didn't hear me, I couldn't tell which. I stopped moving for a moment and thought about the last time this happened. I threw caution to the wind, stepped up next to the Doctor and pulled him towards me into a tight hug. Again, he simply stood there, not moving. I thought for a moment that he wasn't going to respond in the same way as he had last time, but eventually I felt the Doctor grow rigid in my arms and then relax. He didn't return my hug, I'd accepted he wasn't a hugger some time ago, but it was good to get some response from him.
"Guys…getting diabetes over here."
I shook my head and a smile slipped onto my face as the Doctor pulled away and sighed.
"I'm sorry about that."
I shook my head and left my hand where it had fallen to his arm. "Don't be sorry, we all get mad sometimes, it's just a difficult emotion for you."
The Doctor sighed, seemingly not noticing, or not caring where my hand was. "I always used to be angry at something."
I thought he might continue the thought, but when it became clear he wasn't going to, I continued "that doesn't mean you're a bad person, nor that you should apologise. I tend to hold my feelings in too, but a good hug from a friend is all I need."
I smiled at the Doctor as he put his hand over mine, before he let my hand go and I moved it away, he turned back to the screen and sighed again, gesturing to it.
"So, you going to tell me what all of this is about?" I asked as Tenile made her way over to us.
The Doctor nodded and moved the scanner into a position where we could all see it. He pointed to something on it; it looked like a projected estimation of what was going to happen with the sun. It looked like the sun was losing its mass and because of that, it was not burning hot enough to keep the Earth warm. The Earth became an icicle.
"What is this for? Why are you running these calculations?"
"A tank that big will be able to hold more than what they are going to need to take from the sun."
Tenile looked at the scanner, "so? Why is that significant, maybe they just accidently got the wrong size, what makes you think they are going to fill the whole thing?"
I ran my hand over my face as Tenile asked and shook my head. Why didn't she just listen to the Doctor and be done with it.
The Doctor nevertheless continued on as if the question was valid. "When dealing with this sort of thing, you can't allow it to float around, it needs to be kept in a tight space, not in a half empty tank or it would be worthless. That's how I know."
Tenile looked at him for a moment I didn't know what she was seeing, but it must have meant something to her because she sighed and nodded.
"So, what do we do, Doctor? Can we fix this?" I asked as he flicked a switch that turned the scanner off.
The Doctor nodded. "We can try, but I have no plan and I honestly don't know how this is going to go down. This wasn't supposed to happen. I hate it when this happens."
Tenile smirked, "you're like a danger magnet, mate, geez."
I nodded in agreement with Tenile and watched as the Doctor just shook his head at us. This mission, or whatever we were calling it, was going to be delicate. Delicate and secret. Two things neither Tenile, nor the Doctor, were.
The TARDIS suddenly jolted, tossing us all to the ground. I grumbled as I struggled to get back to a standing position.
"You would think that after over a thousand years, you would learn how to drive this thing." I told him, glaring.
The Doctor looked slightly offended and waved his hand at me. "I can drive her just fine, bumpy landings sometimes happen, it's just a thing." He then preceded us to the door. "If you're going to be rude, get out."
I rolled my eyes and grabbed Tenile's hand as I walked out. However, when I stepped outside the door, I blinked up at the sun in my eyes. Looking around I realised that we were back home, in the familiar paddock near my house.
"Hold on, isn't this-"
Tenile stopped when she looked at me, I was frowning to myself. Why on Earth would the Doctor have brought us here, was there any point to it. "Maybe this is where they are at the moment?" I thought out loud as I looked around, but couldn't really see anything significant.
"Doctor why-" I turned around to ask the Doctor why he had brought us back here, only to see him shutting the doors.
Tenile frowned and starting banging on the doors, followed by me, as we were both shouting. "What are you doing?!"
"Where are you going?!"
"Doctor open this door, right now!"
"Let us in!"
However, tried as we might, the doors were not budging. "TARDIS, don't be such a cow! Open the doors, you know what he's trying to pull, don't let him do it!"
"TARDIS!"
Soon it was too late, as the TARDIS started to disappear in front of us. "No! Come back! Doctor! Don't leave us here!"
"We can help!" Tenile called, although by this point, the TARDIS was gone.
I sighed and slumped to the ground. I was never going to see the Doctor again.
A/N: Sorry, guys, but that's all we have time for at the moment. But don't worry, I will be back on Boxing Day with the second half of 'A Christmas Invasion' but you all have to wait, even though it's already written and I'm actually just editing it, but I didn't mean for it to be quite so long, but that's just what happens, kept thinking of new things. Merry Christmas though, look forward to hearing from you all on Boxing Day!
~Angelycious
