YOU BROKE OUR SPACESHIP!
Partial Synopsis
The 7th Doctor and Ace, very early in their travels together.
At some point in his many adventures, long before he met Ace, the Doctor encountered the Gigglebugs. (Don't laugh – they are a very proud people!)
The meeting was most inauspicious, as he accidentally stepped on their spaceship during a moment of inattention.
Gigglebugs are daring adventurers, dashing and brave. They have to be.
The enormity of space is daunting enough for human sized species – imagine how big it looks if you are only two inches tall!
Unfortunately, this daring exploratory crew has had to face the fact that they just don't have much chance exploring a universe that is so indecently over-sized - and they are planning to return home when they meet the Doctor.
And witness his destruction of their only means of transport.
Naturally, the Doctor feels honour-bound to make up for his error, and promises to get them home if he is able.
He salvages what he can of their ship, and together they rig the hibernation units with a self-contained power source, so that the Gigglebugs can sleep away the journey.
It fits neatly into an old tobacco tin.
This is fortunate as, at this stage in his never ending journey, the Doctor cannot accurately predict where the Tardis will take him!
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Now the party can start – Ace is in the house. (Okay. Tardis.) And she is bored. She tries a bit of tidying up, just for something to do, but loses interest pretty rapidly. The Doctor only notes this as it seems most uncharacteristic behavior for a teenager.
And then they arrive on a planet whose inhabitants set off a niggling recollection at the back of the Doctor's mind. They are on Giggletron Prime, and he suddenly remembers his long-term 'guests'.
Unfortunately, Ace has thrown them away.
It is now imperative that the fast-return switch operates accurately and efficiently, as the Doctor has also learned something that he was not aware of when he first met the Gigglebugs.
By some strange cosmic coincidence, or inconsiderate quirk of Fate, the proud little people are almost exactly identical to a popular brand of construction toy on Earth, the Tardis' last port of call.
When they find themselves re-animated on Earth, the Gigglebugs will have to survive in a terrifying environment.
Their natural reaction is to look for help wherever they can find it and, as they don't expect any assistance from the giants that rule this world (or their horrifying pets.) They instinctively search for people their own size.
Surprisingly enough they find some.
But they are not much help.
YOU BROKE OUR SPACESHIP!
Sample Narrative
Ace sauntered into the 'odds and ends' room of the Tardis; casually lobbing chocolate raisins into her mouth from a bag she'd found in her room - hoping the Professor would notice her skill so that she could shrug it off as nothing.
She couldn't see him at first, but as a stuffed Dodo flew into the air for the first time in its existence, she heard him muttering behind a giant plastic thruppenny bit.
"Where can they be?
'Under here?
'Aaargh!
'No! No! No! This is a catastrophe!"
Ace found him kneeling on the floor with his head thrust into a wall-cupboard that was rapidly losing its contents.
"What you looking for, Professor?" she enquired, causing him to start and bang his head on an antique 'Space Invaders' arcade game console.
"Owww! Ace! Don't sneak about like that!" he yelled, then returned to his rummaging.
Ace popped a few more raisins, then raised her voice. "I said, what you looking for, Professor?"
"Floo! Pruu! Xlarnee! Baru! Ugwub, Fribble, and Glub!" He shouted back, punctuating each exclamation with an object thrown over his shoulder.
Ace stood stock still, totally astonished. Her eyes were wide as saucers and her mouth hung open.
She didn't even notice the chocolate raisin that bounced off her nose.
Was the Professor swearing? Did Time Lords even have naughty words? Or was he having some kind of fit… or worse! A mental breakdown?
Suddenly relief flooded her face. "Oh I get it! You're doing that old kids program!' She frowned, 'It's a bit before my time, but I'm pretty sure you've got the names wrong."
The Doctor finally hauled himself around to face her, looking rather perplexed. "What are you talking about Ace?" he enquired.
"You know,' she gestured, scattering raisins around the room, 'Camberwell Green, that T.V. show for children! Now, how did it go…?"
She was interrupted in her musing, as the Doctor said "Ace, we need to talk."
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(Elsewhere.)
Ugwub had been watching the squad of space soldiers for some time, ignoring the complaints from below.
They were a fine looking bunch of fellows, and remarkably well disciplined! They hadn't even blinked once!
Suddenly, one of the giants ran in and began to move them around, putting some into vehicles or gun emplacements; whilst others were placed on various items of gargantuan furniture around the room.
They were remarkably stoic about it, but then Ugwub supposed it would have been unwise to argue with the giant. Various questions and comments rose from the Gigglebug pyramid supporting him.
"What can you see?"
"What's going on?"
"Are we there yet?"
"Ow! Get your foot out of my face!"
This last came from Fribble, who was directly below Ugwub.
He bent down to shush his grumbling crew, and then returned to his observations.
Ugwub was totally unable restrain an involuntary shriek of absolute terror at what happened next.
Panic rippled through the chaps below, accompanied by extremely nervous enquiries as to the cause of the Captain's distress.
Ugwub was shaking as he told them. "The giant picked up another soldier – and then he pulled his head off!"
Little whimpers of fear rose from the ranks and Pruu, never the bravest of Gigglebugs, fainted outright.
This was most unfortunate, as he was at the bottom of the pyramid.