Chapter 6 - Dysfunctionality
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, but I have a pair of socks with K-9 on them and that's pretty much the same thing, right?
The last of the three currently active TARDISes somehow managed to materialize in a closet. It was, admittedly, a very spacious closet (seeing as it allowed enough room for police box inside), and could even now be considered bigger on the inside, but the mistake was not left unnoticed. In fact, when Ten pulled the doors open, he was very confused to see another, metal set staring back at him.
"What?" he said incredulously, tapping at the solid surface.
"We appear," Romana said, "to have landed in a closet."
Ten pushed on the door. It didn't budge.
"There is a distinct lack of a handle on the door," provided Three.
"That's how I knew it was a closet," Romana sighed.
Ten stared at the place where the handle would be, if this was an ordinary door not intent on ruining his day.
"I was going to sonic it," he bemoaned. "But there's nothing to sonic. How do you open a door that doesn't want to be opened from the inside?"
"Sonic it anyway?"
"Break it down!"
"Pick the lock?"
"How?"
"Actually check your landing coordinates..."
"Shush, Romana!"
"Look for another way out?"
"It's a closet."
The Doctors and their companions would likely have continued arguing about the merits and impossibilities of assorted closet-escaping methods for more time than was really wise (or necessary) had the door not suddenly opened. A young man in a plain, grey technician's uniform stared at them.
The TARDIS crew stared back.
The young technician rubbed his eyes as if in disbelief. Where had all these people come from and why exactly were they in a closet.
Perhaps more importantly, how did they even fit in there?
"Hello!" said Five cheerfully, pushing his way towards the front of the crowded doorway. He extended his hand as if to shake it. "I'm the Doctor. Or at least one of them."
"How?" asked the technician blankly.
Five looked a bit taken aback. "You just... shake it."
The technician blinked, shaking himself to clear some of the confusion. "I meant how are you all in there?" he asked.
"Dimensionally transcendental," Ten said, offering no further explanation as he stepped into the room. The others followed suit. "I'm also the Doctor," he added.
"As am I," said Three.
"I'm the Doctor," said Four. "Subtle difference."
"That's a lot of Doctors," the technician said blankly, he was still very confused. "I'm just Mike."
"Wish you saw how many there were before..." Tegan grumbled.
"Nice to meet you Just Mike," Ten said, looking about. "Can you tell us where we are?"
"You mean other than standing in a closet?"
"No I think we've moved past that bit," said Three.
"Erm... you're on the Aqua 5 research station," said Mike. "Just off corridor 63."
"And where's Aqua 5?" Five inquired.
"...on the planet Vobnomeer, like the rest of the Aqua stations," Mike said. "Sir, are you feeling alright?"
"Fine, fine," Four said, prematurely answering for himself.
"Vobnomeer... that's the system as well, isn't it?" Romana added.
"Yeah..." Mike said carefully. These closet-people were weirding him out.
"Thank you, Just Mike," Four said. "We'll figure out the rest from here."
Before they could do so, however, there was a sudden flashing of lights, mostly red ones, lighting the room in an eerie and slightly menacing glow. A radio at Mike's waist crackled to life.
"Hydrotechnician 6931, we have another breach to report,"
"I noticed!" Mike snapped, unclipping the little silver module and holding it to his mouth.
"We'll need you up at control, are you available?"
"Yeah. Hey, were we expecting visitors?" Mike asked, carefully eyeing the large quantity of new arrivals.
"None were logged in the system, why?"
"I found some all the same."
"Bring them up with you then. But hurry - looks like one of the power lines to corridor 89 has been severed."
"I'll see what I can do."
There was a slight crackle and the radio fizzled off. The lights kept flashing in their erratic premonitions of warning. They stood in silence for a moment.
"Well, I assume you heard all that," Mike said to the time-travelers, finally.
"What do they mean by 'breach'?" Martha inquired.
"Pretty much what it sounds like, c'mon, we can walk and talk," Mike said, motioning to the doorway at the other end of the room and heading in that direction. The others followed.
"So what do you research at research base Aqua 5?" Three inquired as they started walking.
"The environment, mostly," said Mike. "Biologists, ecologists, meteorologists... other-ologists, all gathered in one place to study how best to improve living conditions, use resources, that sort of thing."
"And am I to infer that it's an oceanic environment?"
Mike looked at him incredulously. "Considering the entire surface of the planet it water... in a word, yes."
"I see. Now about that biology department..."
The conversation up front continued much the same for some time, the Doctors posing questions, Mike still responding in disbelieving incredulity, and Martha, Romana, K-9, and Tegan's occasional interruptions.
"Is it just me," began Nyssa, turning to Sarah Jane, "or are we being somewhat left behind?"
"I was thinking the same thing myself," she replied.
"I'd like to know more about this breach..." Adric muttered, motioning towards the flashing lights all around them.
Nyssa and Sarah Jane exchanged glances, then stopped dead in their tracks Adric soon followed suit, the three of them now simply standing in the hall. They could hear the others' voices dying away slowly as they continued on their path.
"Why, they haven't even noticed we're gone!" Nyssa said.
"All the better," smiled Sarah Jane. "Makes it easier to investigate."
A/N: Sorry the chapter today's a bit short - I'm currently prepping for a large trip that may mess around with the scheduling of this story a bit. I promise you one thing though - the intended number of chapters remains the same, so even if my assorted adventures cause me to miss an update, you'll just get an extra one later.
That being said, I'm not quite sure what going to be happening with timing for a little bit - I'll be in a drastically different time zone for about a week and a half. But as best I can figure out the wibbly-wobbliness, the countdown shall continue. Today's 45 days to the 50th!
Your reviews are fabulous, everyone. Very encouraging, motivating, and fun to read when you start asking questions. Thank you immensely!