Lucie Miller stood back from the TARDIS exit door as the Doctor set up what looked like a mortar for lobbing grenades at the enemy in war films. The heavy TARDIS doors opened inwards which made the already cool temperature of the large room plummet as the freezing Atlantic air blew in. The Doctor loaded a rocket into the pipe device and leveled it so it would fire its projectile out the doors. They were using a mortar because they or rather then Doctor couldn't find anything more suitable for firing rockets out of.
The mortar didn't look like ones she'd seen in war films or in museums it looked a little more high-tech. The Doctor explained as they walked back to the console room that he got it from –he had hesitated to use the word 'stole'- from the year 2122, apparently it was the property of another time traveler who wanted to change history by killing a member of Earth's government. The Doctor then launched into an explanation on how this would've affected the future of earth and indeed this mysterious 'web of time' he kept talking about whenever changes in time came into their adventures. But Lucie got the answer she wanted in the end, that the mortar looked high-tech because it didn't rely on gun powder or high explosives but a high pressure system connected to it. The Doctor could at times rabbit on a bit.
She was feeling motion sickness again, as she looked outside the TARDIS doors she could see the dark starry sky which was constantly shifted position as the TARDIS exterior shell was buffeted by the waves outside while the interior remained calm and level.
"Stand back" said the Doctor as he lit his third rocket and stepped back as it fired out through the doors and up into the air where it exploded in a shower of sparks like a firework.
She decided it must look really funny for anyone who was looking down into the TARDIS while it was at this angle, not just because the box would appear bigger on the inside but because they would see two people who appeared to be standing halfway up a wall as if it was the floor and from her point of view it was the floor.
The Doctor, after the third rocket, went up to the exit, knelt down at the threshold of the TARDIS and grabbed the edge of the Police Box shell and stuck his head out into the scene outside. It was obvious why he had to grip the TARDIS threshold, so gravity wouldn't force him back inside. This was a pretty confusing idea to Lucie that if you tried to step outside the TARDIS as it was now then gravity would try to pull you back down inside it. But as soon as you entered the TARDIS again you'd be forced back to the 'floor'. She decided not to think of this, though she could understand what would happen she couldn't get her head around the how.
"We're moving away" the Doctor said pulling his head back inside the TARDIS.
"Didn't they see the rockets you fired?" Lucie asked
"They should've but I'm starting to think there is no one onboard" the Doctor stood mussing
"Why would someone abandon a floating ship in the middle of the ocean?" Lucie asked as if the Doctor's idea was stupid
"Ever heard of the Mary Celest?" the Doctor asked as he moved back towards the console and flipped a switch which closed the exterior doors. "There we don't want her to roll over and fill with water while we're away."
"Of course I've heard of the Mary Celest and…" she paused as the Doctor's next sentence registered "where are we going?"
"Back to the storage room" he said as be began walking back towards the large interior door.
"What for? What makes you think there's no one on board the ship?" she asked as she ran to catch him.
"Because the lights are off in all the port holes, no experienced crew man would leave his ship completely blacked out in the middle of the ocean." The Doctor explained as he lead her through the labyrinth of corridors and rooms that made up the whole interior space of the TARDIS. The Doctor said the interior could be the size of a small city, as if he wasn't sure, and it felt like one because it took them ten minutes to get to the storage room he wanted to get to. They had passed several other storage rooms on the way there but they were all filled with other bits and pieces of useless junk some of which had a thick layer of dust covering them. Has he never heard of 'spring cleaning' or a vacuum cleaner?
As they entered the correct storage room the Doctor began pushing boxes out of the way, despite the place being in complete disarray the Doctor seemed to know exactly where the object he wanted was. He put one heavy looking box on top of a tower of them and they overbalanced and fell to the floor in a heap. The boxes kicked up a bit of dust which was collecting on them before the Doctor disturbed them.
Lucie waving her arms to clear the air, she sneezed. She noticed a few of the boxes had split open as they landed and Lucie could see a pile of electronic gadgets the function of which she could only guess.
"All this high-tech machinery and you don't even own a Hoover?" she said.
"Ah ha!" came the Doctor's voice triumphant as he held in his hands an outboard motor like one you'd fit to the back of fishing boat. He handed it to Lucie who nearly collapsed under the weight of it.
"What do we want this for?" she asked as the Doctor picked up something else, a long reel of rope, attached to which was a grappling hook. Then she put two and two together. "Wait a minute are you doing what I think you're going to do?"
"That I'm going to use the outboard to bring the TARDIS closer to the ship and then use the grappling hook to climb up on board?" he asked, Lucie just nodded. "No of course not" came his reply, but then what was the point of the two things? The Doctor swapped the heavy outboard motor so Lucie held the rope and grappling hook while he carried the much heavier outboard on both his arms.
"I'm going to use the outboard to bring the TARDIS closer, 'then' use he grapple hook to tether the TARDIS to the ship 'then' climb up it" he said as he whirled around and began walking back towards the control room.
"But that's the same as… oh forget it" The Doctor was just being flippant again.
The Doctor had attached the outboard motor to the roof of the TARDIS and operated it as he sat down over the police box sign on the front of the box. Lucie stuck her head outside the TARDIS for a brief second so she could see what she was getting in for. The water was about a third the way up the side of the TARDIS which was good because otherwise the outboards short propeller wouldn't have reached the sea otherwise.
With a couple of tugs at the motor cord it sprang and coughed to life with a rumble which became much less as soon as the Doctor dipped the propeller into the sea. They began moving forwards towards the dark ship, progress was slow at first because the box like shape of the TARDIS meant it wasn't going to cut through the sea as effectively as a pointed boat shape.
As they got nearer Lucie discovered that the ship was not painted black as she had suspected but was in fact white and its name could be clearly seen in gold letters on the bow, 'Cairo'
When they stopped with a slight impact into the ship which nearly caused the TARDIS to roll over, Lucie handed the Doctor the grappling hook, one end of the rope had been tied to the base of the TARDIS console so when it caught the box wouldn't drift away.
The Doctor gave the hook a little slack and lowered it a little over the edge. Lucie ducked back inside the ship as he began whirling it over his head like a cowboy with a lasso. It whirled around his head incredibly fast before he let go, allowed it to fly up into the air and fall straight back down into the sea with a splash.
"Hmm, nice going Doctor" Lucie mocked as the Doctor reeled it back in for another try. As he was doing this the sound of the night, which was mostly filled with waves lapping against the TARDIS and the ship, as well as the noise of the TARDIS gently impacting the ship, was broken by a much louder noise. They both looked upwards to see what it was. The noise was the rotor blades of a helicopter which was coming in to land at the aft of the ship a big bright search light kept illuminating the aft deck.
"Who do you think they are then?" she shouted over the loud blades which despite being about 50 meters away were kicking up quite a gust.
"Could be the coast guard" the Doctor shouted as he now held the grappling hook in his hand again, he tried the same trick again to get it up the side of the ship, but failed to get it high enough to catch on anything but the hull of the ship. Lucie had seen when the search light illuminated the ship that the hook would never reach so far up if the Doctor kept trying to throw it up like that.
"Doctor you'll never get that hook all the way up there like that" she said as she took the grappling hook from him and disappeared back into the TARDIS.
"Lucie what are you…?" he began to ask peering down into his machine when he saw Lucie load the grappling hook into the mortar. She then began fiddling with the controls before the Doctor could protest. She pulled down a lever and hissing noise started to come from it.
"How do you work this thing anyway…" it fired out of the mortar nearly hitting the Doctor in the face but it narrowly missed as he leaned back out of the way. The grappling hook soared into the air with much greater force then the Doctor could manage by himself the rope flying after it. A loud clang indicated it had caught on something and the way the rope hung told them it wasn't going to come loose.
"I think that's another point to me, ay Doctor?" Lucie said her lips upturned into a slight smug smile.
"Yes, well… good work" he said clearly lost for words and tried to disguise it by giving the rope a couple of tugs to make sure it was absolutely secure. "Right, I'll go first then you follow" he said as he began climbing the rope.
"Hang on a bleeding minute!" Lucie shouted "I'm not dressed for climbing!" she regarded her attire which was a pair of jeans, trainers and a blue hoodie with the hood down.
"You know where the wardrobe is" he called back continuing to climb the steep rope which he managed at a considerable rate which surprised her. Lucie stamped her foot and walked away to the wardrobe. It was then the Doctor noticed as he was halfway along the rope that the engines of the helicopter had been shut off. Whoever had landed on this ship, they weren't in any hurry to leave.