The Tardis wasn't having the best week. This statement was arguably irrelevant for a time machine, but it was the best the Doctor could come up with in his mind. The console had frozen up again, something had managed to freeze up the whole Tardis.
He missed the roundels on the earlier incarnations of the Tardis, they were designed to enable him to view anything that might be a threat outside. Both he and the Tardis decided to take a more carefree method of going about the universe. Or maybe he simply liked the idea of being surprised, he forgot after all this time.
Still, if someone had taken the time to ensnare him, it'd be rude not to acknowledge their efforts.
The Doctor stepped out of the Tardis and almost fell into a bottomless of certain death. It was at times like these the Doctor wished he at least had an umbrella to catch his fall like the old days. At least he managed to get a grip on the Tardis, but that left him dangling out into the unknown.
Fortunately he wasn't alone.
A woman stood on a nearby plateau of metal. She wore an orange jumpsuit and had her black hair in a messy ponytail. She had a strange shoes and stranger white object that was shaped like a gun.
"Hello down there," the Time Lord said. "I'm the Doctor. Care to help a Time Lord not fall to his death?"
The woman was silent. She just stared at him. It was difficult to discern what the woman was thinking, which was usually something the Doctor was very good at.
He didn't have much time to worry about that as the Tardis lurched forward. His grip was slipping and the only nearby place to land was a metal panel. If he didn't fall to his death, he'd be breaking his legs. The woman stared blankly at his peril.
"Not to pull you away from whatever's going on in your head, but I wouldn't mind some assistance!"
The Tardis lurched forward again, harder and the Doctor lost his grip.
Both his hearts skipped a beat as he plummeted towards his doom.
A flash of orange blinded the Doctor the second before he hit the panel. However he only hit empty air. The Doctor spun about, confused by the shift in gravity and the feeling that he was higher up than he was before. He fall was stopped by someone catching him.
The Doctor looked up to see that the woman in the orange jumpsuit had him cradled in her arms.
"Um, thanks." The Doctor said.
The woman nodded as she let him down to the ground.
The Doctor looked at the woman's attire more specifically. The boots looked like they had suspension control: she could fall from any height and support the weight of a full grown Time Lord. He scanned the white gun, apparently a portal gun according to his scan, which explained the two portals. So that was how she did it, the Doctor grinned, very clever.
"Well done." Doctor said. "What's your name?"
The woman looked at him but didn't speak. He realized that she seemed to be unable to speak. There was a way around this.
The Doctor leaned in and pressed his forehead into the woman's. This was much less jarring than the usual method of telepathic link. While the woman's mind seemed to be a jumble of confusion created usually from hyper sleep, but a name did surface.
"Chell," the Doctor said. "It's very nice name."
Chell nodded, it seemed like she didn't express herself through smiling or frowning, and possibly couldn't blink. The Doctor couldn't remember the last he met a human being who seemed incapable of blinking, she'd do wonders against the Weeping Angels.
"Alright, Chell," the Doctor said as he looked up at the Tardis. "Is there a way to widen the size of that portal, because I'd prefer my Tardis to be on the ground if you don't mind?"
Before Chell could do anything, the mechanical hand that held the Tardis pulled it away.
"Oi," the Doctor screamed. "Give that back. That doesn't belong to you!"
The mechanical hand was immune to the Doctor's protests as the Tardis vanished from sight. Things were not looking up for the Time Lord, but he didn't have much that could help solve this situation.
The only person he could rely on was his silent but impressive ally.
"You wouldn't happen to know what took my Tardis?"
Chell nodded.
"Let me guess, I wouldn't like to find out."
Chell shook her head.
The Doctor sighed, things could never be easy, but that just made sure they were never boring.
"Well I'm going to go get it back anyway. Could you help me get there?"
Chell nodded, a serious flash came into typically blank eyes. Apparently she had some business as well. The Doctor decided like all bad things that come his way, they'd be explained soon enough.
The Doctor and Chell made their way through several hallways along the way. Empty offices and broken computer monitors lined the halls like hollow tomb stones of industry. The Doctor couldn't imagine what could cause such isolation.
"There you are."
The voice came like a sledgehammer to any sense of safety in the Doctor's mind. It sounded feminine, intelligent in all the wrong ways, and the way Chell seemed to grow angrier at the sound proved things were about to get bad.
"Oh, you brought a friend," The voice said. "Your file says you didn't deserve friends. I guess mistakes can happen, but don't worry, the rest of your failures are on file, as they should be."
"Well that's quite rude," the Doctor said. "What reason could anyone possibly have to be so rude?"
"It is not rude if it is fact, "the voice said. "I am GLaDOS. My passion is science. A passion this mute maniac beside you has defied continually. I am correct in assuming you're the stranger who arrived in the time travel device?"
"Depends," the Doctor said. "Would that make you the one who took it?"
"And if I am?"
"Well then things are very simple," The Doctor said. "Give it back, let her go, and nothing needs to get difficult."
"Ha, Ha, Ha,"GLaDOS droned. "That was so funny, I forgot how to laugh. That was a joke. Just like the idea that you think you can match wits with me. But perhaps seeing you try to stay alive with this troublemaker might be excellent for science. She refused to go into the incinerator once her tests were complete, and I had promised cake. Enjoy working with this rude, mute, monster. I certainly plan to enjoy what happens, for science."
GLaDOS left them a moment later. The silence was as irritating as her voice. It also didn't help that the camera in the corner of the hallway proved they were being watched.
A flash of blue and orange dislocated the camera from the wall with a spark.
The Doctor turned to see Chell lower the portal gun. They exchanged a look that said that'd pit their wits against GLaDOS, whoever she was, and get out of there. Despite her silence, the Doctor could see peculiar brilliance behind Chell's eyes.
Together, they decided they could face whatever comes their way. And so they began their merciless trek through the maddening labyrinth of GLaDOS' design.
Hopefully it would be worth, they were promised cake after all.
