A/N: Apologies if anyone thinks this chapter is crap but... well, I haven't had much time to write so this chapter is pretty short and I seem to have a problem with writing the Doctor when he's on his tod. (tod means on his own for anyone not in the know :P) But it is starting to wrap up after the next chapter. Hopefully. I only want this one to be about thirteen chapters long. AND THANKS FOR BEING SO FRACKING AWESOME EVERYONE!! xD I love you all. Like cookie dough. And I LOVE cookie dough. ((drools))
Chapter Ten
Hindrance
After several more fruitless attempts to get back inside the hall of mirrors, the Doctor gave up. He stood in front of the doors; arms crossed, and stared at the building in deep thought. He couldn't figure it out, but it was like he was running through a tunnel only to come out in the place he entered. It was possible, it had happened to him before in his Tardis, but not in such a small place.
Bizarre.
Still frowning, he turned and walked towards the android, which immediately creaked into life on his approach.
'I'm sorry sir but I'm going to have to-'
'Oh shut up you.' The Doctor replied, climbing into the booth. 'Tell me something useful for once.' Immediately, he started rewiring the android, resulting in various twitches and creaks from it. Then something happened that he didn't expect. The androids head blew off with a shower of sparks.
The Doctor climbed out of the booth and glanced around, finding the head lying smoking on the ground. With a sigh he headed over to it and picked it up.
'Well that's just fantastic.' He mumbled, dropping it back down. 'Now what?'
He racked his brain for a solution. By now it was obvious that someone, or something, wanted Ashley in the hall of mirrors and wanted him out. For what reason though was unclear. More than likely had something to do with the ghostly apparitions inside. More than likely? God now he was understating everything.
'Just once,' he mumbled as he tossed the android head aside. 'Bit of relaxation for once. Is that too much?'
The image of the control panel on the side of the building hit him suddenly and he blinked. Then cursed himself for not thinking of it straight away. He raced around the outside until he reached the blown fuses and rotten wires and hunched in front of it.
'This can't possibly be behind it,' he mumbled aloud as he examined the dead wiring. He thought for a moment. 'Unless…'
The Doctor got his fingers underneath the edge of the panel face and tugged on it. It fell off in his hands and he grinned at what it had been covering.
'Oh clever,' he said, pushing on his glasses to peer at the spotless, perfectly in tact control panel. 'Confusion bond. Very, very clever.'
Whoever was behind all of this was very good with electronics. The android had been quite badly wired but that could have been a rushed job. This though, this was top of the range. Only a fully qualified electrician could come up with this. It was almost even too good for the Doctor to figure out. Almost.
He pulled the sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and began the process of turning off the confusion bond. Perhaps even return all the moving walls to their original places. Then he should be able to find Ashley easily and get her out of there. But it seemed there were a few security firewalls he had to break down. Whoever built this had gone to great lengths for it to keep on running for a long time.
'What's all this for, eh?' The Doctor mumbled to it. 'Why go so far to keep people out? Just what is it you're hiding?'
He felt a sudden chill and shuddered so much he nearly dropped the screwdriver. He glanced around, actually feeling a pang of unabridged fear that he hardly ever felt. It disappeared quickly. There was nothing around him. Not a soul, so the saying goes. He gathered himself and went to turn his attention back to the control panel when something caught his eye. The small piece of white paper was held down beneath a stone. It fluttered lazily in the gentle breeze.
The Doctor hesitated, glanced around, and then picked it up. He frowned at it, and then grimaced. 'Oh I've never been able to read backwards writing properly.'
The note was written back to front, like the way a normal letter looked when you put it in front of a mirror. The Doctor rubbed his eyes and put the paper close to his face.
'Doctor, it's me…' He read, then rolled his eyes. 'I saw a woman in the mirror and when I touched it I got sucked into this little room with three other people. They say they've been trapped in a time lock and can't get out. You have to help us. PS, if you help us get out I promise I'll never wander off ever again.'
The Doctor sighed. 'That'll be the day.' He mumbled. He scrunched up the backwards note and pushed it in his pocket. He turned back to the control panel and clapped his hands. 'Right then my friend. Looks like you are hiding a pocket of stopped time from me. Let's see if we can find it together.'
He moved forward once again with the screwdriver, but before he could return to work something hard and heavy hit him across the back of the head. When he wasn't knocked out straight away, the attacker followed with a swift kick to his temple.