That final word rang through her like a heavy bell being struck.
She opened her eyes and gasped, 'What was that?'
She looked up at the familiar dome-roof of the console room, and in that moment she contemplated closing her eyes and keeping them shut for eternity until someone, preferably not the ghost thing with the big ears or until time itself stopped and the universe came to an end. She would be waiting a long time.
She opened her eyes again and looked down her body, down past the red dress and past her wiggling toes, to the door that she had previously assaulted.
The floor felt warm against her back, a distant fire burned down there; when she turned her head, resting her ear against it she felt a faint beat that coincided with the glow of the golden sphere hovering in the cylinder. She fancied she could hear something flowing underneath, a current, the flow of blood of some sort, maybe? Besides the word that rang through her head, the doctor, another flavoured it, an echo, like the two words were two one and the same. She heard it in her dream as well – the TARDIS
She turned over and lifted herself off the floor, stabilized by the railing. She held tight, fearing that the door might swing open and she would be sucked into space like in the movies. But that was silly, she wasn't sucked out before, the most harm she came to was when she fell to the floor, and even then it was a soft landing.
This room felt familiar to her now, even though it bore a different face. It had never donned this visage, this silver and black motif, nor had it ever looked so ornate. The room she stood in was a miniature cathedral, a cathedral of time and space and relative dimensions.
She walked up the ramp and rested a hand against the hexagonal console, feeling the warm silver. It should have been cold to the touch. She looked at the silver overhanging the sides, curving inwards at the base at knee height, a bold choice, she thought.
'TARDIS', she said, her eyes widened and her mouth relaxed, the letters, things began to click, 'Time and Relative Dimension in Space', the last word hissed softly off her lips
The sphere brightened. Something told her this thing, whatever its purpose, heard her, another instinctual flicker belonging to the Time Lords, as hardwired into her body as fight or flight was into humans.
The golden light bathed her face, and her green eyes brightened making them look richer than before. She blinked once as her pupils shrunk. It was then, time, just for a moment, seemed to slow down just for her and the console in front of her. She began to smile a slow burning smile, a smile reserved for long lost lovers.
'Are you okay, dear?', she said, rubbing the silver lining back and forth, 'I am sorry I didn't recognise you...it won't happen again', she allowed her hand to fall down to her side.
She reached down her stomach, down towards where the pain used to be, this was the spot where the tendril entered. But there was nothing there, her skin was unbroken. Her body was healthy but her memory was wounded; thousands of tendrils still wove through them. The ghost-recording asked her what her name was and automatically she searched for something human; Sarah, Jane, Donna, Martha, Rose. She was unaware what meaning those names had to her, but they were not her name.
'I'm missing something, aren't I?', she said to the TARDIS, frowning.
She looked at the light again and sighed, turning away to explore. That was when the glow increased. She faced it again but the light lessened. She furrowed her brow and turned again but the light wouldn't let her, it was searching for her attention. When her eyes adjusted the warm golden energy seemed to reach out and from that moment she was lost in the eye of the TARDIS.
The Doctor lurched forward towards the console. A trail of blood followed him from the door of the TARDIS, a broken red line, short spots where he was able to pressurise the wound, long slivers where he wasn't.
'By-golly that was difficult', he said, 'But she'll be alright'
The TARDIS' engines worked away, ignoring him. He lifted his blood sodden shirt and it squelched between his hands, staining them. The wound was ragged and deep but he couldn't see baby emtrox. It was burying itself deeper inside.
'Not my best look, right? It's a-', he gulped and let loose his first cry of pain. He wiped his nose even though the blood would look far less appealing than the snot, 'Anyway, as I was saying, it's a bolder fashion statement than a stick of celery. You can laugh at celery but you can't laugh at a fella when he's dying!'
He stopped and looked at his hands. They began to glow, foreshadowing the inevitable, what was to come
'She'll be alright, won't she?', the Doctor sank down to the floor, holding his head in his bloodied hands, he could feel it sticking to his hair. Again, the TARDIS ignored him, there was little it could do until he regenerated. It was always there for him but it never said a word.
'Please talk to me', he said, a child like glimmer shining through his voice.
He looked across to the other end of the room, rocking back and forth against the console, the whites of his eyes pronounced.
'Please'
Then like a punch to the gut he felt the final call. He took a deep breath and stood up. He turned around to look at the console.
'I'll see you on the other side'
He held out his arms, raising them slowly, and held back his head. He was ready for what was about to come and part of him looked forward to it. Sooner or later he was going to run into his ninth self as well, what a surprise that would be...what a surprise it was.
Any minute now golden arcs would come streaming out from under her sleeves like fire. Any minute now it would melt his damaged self and recast him anew. He was time's phoenix and any minute now the storm of light would rush over his skin and rebuild him.
Any minute now...any minute now.
And it did.
The light of the sphere died down almost whimpering out as she staggered back. It was like they both let go of the same length of rope at the same time. The light in the sphere slowly filled up again resuming its casual glow.
'I'm the Doctor', she said, baffled
'I'm the Doctor?', she was unsure, she patted down her chest and gasped, 'But...nah! That can't be right'
She held her hands up in front of her and laughed. She jumped up and down in the spot and spun around.
'I'm the Doctor!'
Her enthusiasm died down when she looked at the console. She scanned over the alien looking symbols and complicated arrangement of dials, but now they symbols didn't seem so alien and the dials made a little more sense than before. However, there was still a grey cloud in her head. She held her hands over the console, looking as though she expected an emtrox to come bursting out from underneath, scared to mess with the layout in front of her. She drew her hands back and shook her head.
'So how does this thing work?'