I've reached Chapter 10. And we're still not done gathering companions…
Sorry if you think this chapter is boring. The story'll get moving when the companion collecting is over, I promise!
The next morning Aisha was awoken by Adric, the young ghost was shaking her shoulder.
"What…?" she mumbled, "Adric?"
"We have a problem." Adric said
Aisha sat bolt upright.
"Is it the Valeyard? Is the TARDIS okay? The others…?"
Suddenly there came a crash from the corridor, raised voices and Aisha could clearly hear Tegan telling someone to quit it. Adric sighed.
"Jamie and Jack are fighting." He explained, "Jamie thinks that a comment Jack about Tegan made is not appropriate and called him a pervert. Then Jack responded and… well you can guess can't you?"
"Oh yeah." Aisha said, getting to her feet, "Maybe I haven't made the best choices so far."
"Jamie! Jack! Stop it, please!" Susan's voice cried over the racket
Aisha flipped her old black cap onto her head and opened the door, it looked a fearsome tussle they were having. Aisha couldn't quite make out what either of the men was doing but Susan was standing in the doorway to her room and Tegan was already dressed and made up. Aisha looked at them.
"Okay, you two grab Jack." She said, "Me and Addie'll get Jamie."
They nodded and went forward, successfully separating the two men. Now they could see that Jack's shirt was torn and his lip bloody, and Jamie's nose squashed and he was holding his knife. Aisha grabbed it and he let go of it.
"I've told you two, we need to get on with each other!" she said
"Aye, but he called Tegan a demeaning name!" Jamie said
"Jamie, I told you that it doesn't mean that!" Tegan said
"It's none of your business who I flirt with!" Jack shot back
"Can we all just please stop arguing, fighting and flirting for one moment?" Susan asked, "We're still vulnerable while the Doctor is out there."
"Yeah, heaven knows how he managed to get another TARDIS from where we abandoned him." Adric piped in
"The TARDIS!" Aisha said, letting go of Jamie
She ran off towards the console room to see how the old time machine was holding up, the others followed her, Jamie and Jack forgetting their fight for the minute.
The console room was now half-reformed. The first pillar that had crumbled and reformed was now circular and round, and looked as if it were made of marble. Another section that had re-formed was now dark and gothic. The screen on the wall had now been miraculously fixed and was broadcasting a picture of the sun rising over the buildings of Cardiff. The console and the walls opposite the screen however were still the way they had been before. The wire mesh floor was streaked with oil; the TARDIS had obviously been throwing up all night. As Aisha skipped over the patches of oil to get to the console the TARDIS gave a low whine.
"Rough night?" she asked it, "I'm sorry. I wish I could help. But I need you to try, just try and get us to the next person."
The TARDIS hummed, and then with the familiar whooshing the centre column moved up and down and the TARDIS de-materialised into the time stream. The others either went back into the corridors to do things or stayed in the console room, all standing in patches that weren't covered in oil. Fortunately Jack was in the console room while Jamie had gone to his room, so it seemed this morning's argument was over.
When she heard the sound she knew that something was wrong. The TARDIS never came, NEVER. The Doctor was always too busy, and she was only contacted if something was seriously wrong that needed her help. Or K9's. Thank god Luke was at school she told herself. As she tried to drag herself out of bed the door went, she heard K9's little motor running and he somehow opened the door. Sarah Jane had no idea how he did it, but he'd been able to do a lot of things he'd never been able to do since Aisha, the clone of the Doctor had dropped into their garden one night through a time rift. Some of these things had been achieved after she'd left though and Sarah suspected that Luke had been experimenting with the robot's inner workings and upgrading him without her knowledge. As Sarah pulled on her dressing gown, and blew her nose to clear it (as she had a cold) she heard K9's voice:
"Greetings mistress."
Sarah froze, there was only one other person K9 would call mistress besides her. She quickly ran downstairs, and stopped when she saw the strange woman in the purple suit petting K9. But it was Aisha, she was wearing the old black hat and it clashed magnificently with her clothes now. Aisha stopped as soon as she saw Sarah and stood up. She cleared her throat.
"I'm afraid I need your help again." She said, "And K9."
"Has the Doctor been abducted again?" Sarah asked
"In a sense." Aisha said, "I'll explain when we get to the TARDIS."
"But you haven't told us what the matter is." Sarah said
"He's gone bad Sarah Jane." Aisha said, "The Doctor wants me dead, he wants my friends dead, and now I'm here, he'll want you two dead as well."
"So you're rescuing us?" Sarah said, as she slipped on shoes and stepped outside
"Partly. And also gathering together a team of old companions to help me complete my mission." Aisha said, as they made it to the TARDIS, "Sarah, he's asked me to kill him. At least he did when he was still good. I have to, to save him, and to save the whole of time and space."
"That was your father's job wasn't it?" Sarah teased, trying to lighten the subject
"Well, I am his successor." Aisha said, "Reluctant or otherwise."
Aisha opened the door, and walked inside. As Sarah entered she saw the mess the console room was in and the fact that part of the console's casing was now melting away and being replaced by clear plastic.
"Are you re-decorating?" she asked, as K9 trundled in, steering around the oil patches
"No, the TARDIS is just re-forming itself to suit me." Aisha said, "It's an automatic process, very much like regeneration. Only thing is, it makes her ill…"
Suddenly there came another loud crash from the corridor, and Adric came rolling through the door backwards. He crashed into the TARDIS console, upside-down, his wings splayed at odd angles. As Aisha helped him up, he rubbed his back.
"They're not fighting again are they?" she asked him
"Jamie just couldn't let it lie… Jack's just tried to flirt with him now!" Adric said
"It's complicated." Aisha said, noticing Sarah's glance, "Adric, can you please try and fill in Sarah and K9 on the latest developments in our situation? I'm going to try and pull the boys apart again."
As she went she pulled off her hat, and it landed on K9's head, making him look really strange. As he turned to Adric suddenly it slipped over his eye plate.
"Help! I cannot see!" he said, "Mistress! Help!"
Sarah walked forwards and pulled the hat off K9's head. Then she got up and looked at Adric, who seemed ill at ease with this responsibility he's just been handed.
"So, what's your story?" Sarah asked him
That night Aisha had a quiet word with the TARDIS and despite its illness it managed to re-jig the rooms in its sleeping corridor so that Jack and Jamie's rooms were as far apart as possible. Sarah and K9 were now sharing a fairly spacious room, which had been Sarah's when she had travelled with the Doctor.
Because the TARDIS was still re-forming Susan had told Aisha that they were not moving anywhere and that evening had gone out shopping with Tegan for supplies. They'd come back two hours ago and were now asleep in their rooms. Aisha and Adric were in Steve, trying their best not to listen to the TARDIS' gurgling and whines.
"Everything's going downhill Addie…" Aisha complained as she slumped in one of the two chairs in the room, "The TARDIS is sick, there are clashes going on right under my nose, and the Valeyard's still after us all…"
"It'll work Aisha." Adric said, as he floated around the room, "You might be young, but the Doctor trained you well. Even if you aren't the Doctor most of them are looking at you as if you were. Now that their Doctors are gone that is…"
"There are still four of us to get." Aisha said, "And I fear one of them has already been taken by the Valeyard…"
"Who?" Adric asked
"It doesn't matter, there's someone else." Aisha said, waving it away, "I just wish I could have saved them… if Tegan didn't need time to get used to having you around her again, I could have gone for them first. Warned them…"
"You're doing the best you can." Adric said, coming down to her level, "It's not your fault."
"That's not the only mistake I've made." Aisha said, stroking the bandages over his wing, "That was a nasty cut he gave you…"
"It's almost healed now. You made sure it would be by insisting I got it covered." Adric insisted, "And it makes no difference. I'm still around; I'm still able to protect you. That's all that matters. He won't separate us."
"No, he won't." Aisha grinned
Looking through the door Jack laughed as they started to kiss again, he turned to Tegan.
"You were right, this is unmissable!" he said to her
This chapter just goes on a bit too much, and it just reiterates a lot of what's been said before…
One thing's for sure though, some of the team have no qualms about watching Adric and Aisha kissing… -,-;
Basically I covered two companions with this one. Sarah for Three (because I've only seen full episodes of Three with SJS in them) and K9 for Four (because I can't imagine Four without his trusty metal dog by his side…).
In case you're wondering, here's the list to companions and the Doctors they cover:
Susan – One
Jamie – Two
Sarah Jane – Three
K9 – Four
Tegan – Five
? – Six (It'll probably be Peri)
? – Seven (Probably Ace, she pwns!)
? – Eight (although his is the one Aisha suspects has been captured)
Jack – Nine
? – Ten (no, it WON'T be Rose!)
As for Eleven and Twelve… well, let's count Aisha and Addie as those maybe? (Even though the Doctor never knew Adric was still there until Chapter 2…)
