Chapter Seven
"Now, I'm sure Sheldon's questions are valid…"
The Doctor stopped speaking and held up his hand when Sheldon opened his mouth. Leonard, Howard and Raj fought to keep from laughing when Sheldon shut his mouth.
"As I was saying," the Doctor said. "I'm sure Sheldon's questions are valid and I will answer them in time but for now we have to figure out how we're going to stop the Daleks and get the planets back in their proper orbit. Any ideas."
"No, but I have another query. How are we able to breathe and keep warm if we're away from the sun?" Sheldon said.
"Ah, well, my theory is there might be an atmospheric shell around the planets that holds in the air and heat," the Doctor said.
"Your theory…so you don't know for sure," Sheldon said.
"No, I don't at this point. I only just got here, I haven't had time to have a proper look around and see what's keeping in the heat and air," the Doctor said.
"When you say shell, what do you mean? A plastic shell covering the Earth?" Sheldon said.
"No," the Doctor said with a sigh, "a force field that's been generated by the Daleks that covers the entire planet and…"
"What? You couldn't do that, that's only the kind of thing that could happen in Star Trek or Star Wars or…"
"Sheldon!" Leonard yelled. "We have more important things to worry about right now, okay?"
"Fine," Sheldon muttered while the Doctor shot Leonard a grateful look. "I'll suspend my questions for the moment so we can work for the greater good."
"At last, thank you!" the Doctor said. "Just suspend disbelief if you have it and listened to me. The Daleks need these planets for a reason. Donna and I figured out that the planets fit together like parts of an engine but we still need to find out their purpose and…"
He trailed off when the lights suddenly went off.
"Hmm, apparently the alien has forgotten to pay his light bill," Howard said to his friends.
The Doctor ran around the console, trying to see what had happened.
"We're caught in a chrono loop," he said.
He paused when he reached Sheldon and noticed he was about to say something.
"Yes, I know, you don't believe a chrono loop exists. Trust me, it does," he said. "The Daleks captured us so you better believe in them if you know what's good for you and…"
He paused when he noticed Sheldon wasn't even listening to him and had an odd look on his face.
"What's wrong?" he said to him.
"Nothing, nothing," Sheldon said quickly. "Just hearing things."
The Doctor nodded. He walked back around to Rose and checked his monitor. While he informed everyone that the Daleks were taking them off the Earth somewhere, Sheldon shook his head. Leonard came up beside him.
"What was it?" Leonard said as Howard and Raj came up behind him. "What did you hear?"
"Nothing, I heard nothing," Sheldon insisted.
Leonard shrugged and he and the others walked over to the Doctor. While they listened to Rose explaining about the darkness. Sheldon glanced around, trying to locate the source of the heartbeat he heard. Seeing nothing that could have made it, he shrugged, figuring it was just an auditory hallucination. He turned his attention towards Rose as she was finishing her explanation about the darkness.
"So…we have to stop the Daleks, the darkness and find a way to get the planets back to their orbits," Jack said. "This is getting more complicated by the moment."
"Better that way," the Doctor said. "We might get bored if we get everything over with too quickly."
He shrugged when everyone gave him an odd look.
"I don't like being bored," the Doctor said.
They felt a slight jarring and the TARDIS stilled.
"DOCTOR, YOU AND YOUR COMPANIONS WILL COME OUTSIDE AND SHOW YOURSELVES!" they heard a deep voice saying outside.
"We better go outside or they'll break in," the Doctor said.
"What? You told me nothing could get through those doors," Rose said.
"You have extrapolator shielding," Jack added.
"The last time we fought the Daleks, they were scavengers and hybrids and mad. This is a fully fledged Dalek empire, experts at fighting TARDISes, they can do anything. Right now, that wooden door is just wood."
"So why did you build it that way?" Sheldon said.
"I didn't, Doctor Cooper, the police box is a disguise," the Doctor said to him.
"Why did you disguise it as something that could be easily broken into then?" Sheldon countered.
"Shits and giggles, alright?" the Doctor said, glaring at Jack who was shaking, his mouth opened as he silently laughed. "I decided it'd be more fun to design my ship so it could be easily broken into rather than standing inside a steel and force field encased ship going nyah, nyah, nyah to my enemies. Any more questions?"
"Yes, what's your real name?" Sheldon said.
"Anyway," the Doctor said, sprinting towards the door while Jack bent over laughing, "come outside and give yourselves out with me and you better quit laughing, Harkness, before I throw you out the door first."
"Sorry," Jack said as he winked at the others and walked towards the Doctor.
The others followed him but Sheldon, on the way to the door, suddenly stopped when he heard the heartbeat again. He frowned and looked around. He was about to ask the Doctor where the heartbeat was coming from but the Doctor and the others were already heading outside. Sheldon raised his eyebrow at that and shook his head, deciding to stay and find out where the heartbeat was coming from. Meanwhile, he heard the Daleks gloating about capturing the Doctor.
"Sheldon, you might as well come out, you're no safer in there," he heard the Doctor say.
"Are you kidding?" Sheldon called back. "I can hide somewhere in here. I'd rather be in here hiding than out there getting killed."
"He does have a point," Leonard said. "I saw that ship; there was a lot of doors and places to hide."
"What are we waiting for, let's go back inside!" Howard said.
"That won't work," the Doctor said.
But before Sheldon's friends could get back inside, the door slammed shut.
"Hey! We wanna get back inside!" Sheldon heard Leonard say.
"I didn't do it! I didn't touch a thing," the Doctor insisted.
Sheldon was about to say something when he heard the heartbeat again. It seemed to come from behind him. He heard someone pounding on the front door and the Dalek accusing the Doctor of treachery.
"Me? The door just closed on its own," he heard the Doctor say.
"Nevertheless, the TARDIS is a weapon and it must be destroyed!"
Sheldon heard a thunk seconds before he was thrown off his feet. He grunted when he hit the grail and looked up, feeling the TARDIS plummeting.
"I hate your spaceship, Doctor!" Sheldon yelled.
