They hadn't seen the console in what felt like ages.
"This is pointless, Doctor. Clearly, we're pawns right now."
"You play chess?"
"No. I could never get the strategy bit down. I was more for obliterating the opponent with no thought beyond a few turns."
The Doctor laughed. "That could work."
"It does. Until I end up sacrificing a queen for a bishop."
"Hey, I wonder what would happen if we did that."
"Did what?"
"What if we split up? Then, it's two chess games instead of one."
Rachel sighed. "Haven't you seen movies? When they split up they always end up dead. If this were typical Hollywood fare, we'd split up, I'd die, then the villain would taunt you about it until you die."
The Doctor chuckled. "Good thing we're not in one then."
"Fine," Rachel said with a shrug. "I'll go this way."
"Just remember, Rachel. You punched an alien in 2020 Kiev. I think you'll survive."
As she crept through the never-ending corridors, Rachel pondered her recent breakdown. She had always known herself to be moderately stable, sarcastic and adaptable, with hints of a hero-complex, not to mention over-analysis of self-
She laughed, finding herself on a familiar track of circular reasoning that led to angry journal entries.
"I should've been a psychologist, not a history geek. Or whatever I am now."
"Should've given me more lessons before shoving me off into the Time Vortex," the Doctor muttered as he tracked a sprite through the TARDIS.
He had intended to land somewhere warm and sunny, a comfortable place where he could fully explore the TARDIS before something like this happened. But she had other plans, it seemed, and here he was, lost in his own ship.
It was true that she shifted on occasion, but there were always signs as to where you were.
If one only knew what they were.