Once the TARDIS had materialized in a bumpy landing, even for the Doctor. Rubbing her stomach, Kayla walked out of the police box with the Doctor following, his brow furrowed in concern.
"I dunno what's wrong with her, she's sort of...queasy. Indigestion, like she didn't wanna land." He said as he gazed up at the TARDIS, speaking about the groaning and wheezing noises the TARDIS had been making.
Kayla just rubbed her stomach slowly, not feeling the best, "Maybe we should go. I honestly want a calm adventure.
The Doctor turned to look at her with a worried look, "You sure? I mean…" before he could finish his sentence, the door of the cupboard that they had landed in slid open.
"Open Door 15." A computerized female voice announced.
Exchanging a look, the two walked out and looked around, their curiosity getting the better of them. Or, to be more exact, Kayla could tell that the Doctor would be absolutely crushed if they didn't explore just a bit. Besides, it wasn't like something could happen if they just looked around.
'Fine. Let's just explore.'
Looking over at Kayla with a grateful smile, the Doctor hugged her tightly for a second before going back to looking around, "Some sort of base...moon base, sea base, space base...they build these things out of kits."
Kayla nodded and smiled a bit, "I know, I helped to make some of the kits."
For a second, the Doctor started to laugh, but then when Kayla gave him an odd look, his mouth opened a bit, "You're being serious?" he asked in shock.
The brunet just shrugged, "Time Agent."
Nodding to himself, the Doctor led the way for the couple.
"Human design - you've got a thing about kits. This place was put together like a flat-pack wardrobe, only bigger. And easier." The Doctor was saying in an almost rant like fashion to Kayla as they walked through another door.
"Open Door 17." The computerized voice said.
Not wasting a moment, the Time Lord, took Kayla's hand and strode into the room, almost dragging the brunet behind him. Closing her eyes in more annoyance than confusion, the brunet waited for the Doctor to finish talking long enough to notice that she seriously didn't want to be there, "Oh, it's a sanctuary base!"
"Close Door 17."
"Doctor-" Kayla tried.
But the Doctor just waved his hand, "Not now. This, however, is just amazing! Deep Space exploration. We've gone way out. And listen to that, underneath..." Pointing to the ground, he paused for a second, "Someone's drilling."
Kayla frowned, 'Doctor, maybe we should go back to the TARDIS…' She said in a worried tone.
The Doctor turned to look at her, "Why?" he asked, speaking aloud, "Kayla, you don't look so good."
Instead of telling the Time Lord that yes, she didn't feel well and wanted to go home, the brunet pointed to wall and read in a clear voice, "Welcome to hell….followed by gibberish."
Whirling around, the Doctor looked at the wall for a second before hurrying forwards, Kayla following behind him with a sigh, "What does that say?" he wondered to himself as he studied the symbols.
"It's gibberish, it's not going to translate." Kayla told him.
The Doctor nodded once, and then shook his head, "I don't even recognize it. This writing is old. Very old. Impossibly old." Straightening up, he headed over to the next door and started to open, all the while speaking to Kayla, who, as always, was next to him, "We should find out who's in charge. We've gone beyond the reach of the TARDIS' knowledge. Not a good move. And if someone's lucky enough—"
"Open Door 19."
Kayla nearly screamed as she took the Doctor's hand and hers. Though they didn't stumble backwards, they did gape, dumbfounded by the sight of flesh colored creatures with large, stereotypical alien eyes and tentacles for their mouths. All wearing the same uniform, the brunet couldn't help but notice a glass ball in each of their hands.
It was the Doctor who recovered first and spoke, "Right! Hello! Sorry! Uh...I was just saying, uh...nice base!" he said awkwardly, causing Kayla to sigh and shake her head. If these things were hostile then they were screwed.
And then, as one, their balls lit up and a computerized male voice said, "We must feed."
The couple exchanged a worried look, "You're gonna what?" the Doctor asked.
The creatures didn't show any sign of hearing the Time Lord, "We must feed." They repeated.
"Doctor…we should go." Kayla suggested softly.
"We must feed." The creatures continued.
Grabbing Kayla's hand, the Doctor pulled her with him to the other door, only for it to open and more of the creatures start to walk towards them, all the while chanting in unison, "We must feed. We must feed. We must feed."
Backing up slowly, Kayla pressed her back against the Doctor and kept them circling, which is why she was the one who spat out, "Damn it," as yet another door opened, allowing even more creatures to come in.
"We must feed. We must feed. We must feed."
Realizing that they were completely and utterly screwed, the Doctor decided that if they were going to get fed on by these creatures, then he would go down protecting Kayla. So he grabbed Kayla, pulled him behind her, and took out his sonic screwdriver and leveled it threateningly at the creatures.
Slightly rolling her eyes, the brunet hissed mentally, 'I can protect myself, thanks,' and then slipped out her slightly broken if she used it multiple times in a row sonic blaster from her pocket to also point it threateningly at the creatures.
"We must feed. We must feed."
Still protecting her, the Doctor pressed back until Kayla was the only thing between him and the wall, keeping the brunet safe, as always.
"We must feed. We must feed. We must feed. We must feed. We must feed."
A creature stepped forwards, "We must feed." The thing shook the white ball he was holding and tapped on it, "You. If you are hungry."
The Doctor lowered his sonic screwdriver, ignoring Kayla's warning hiss to not let their guard down, but instead, he asked the creature who had spoken to him and Kayla, "Sorry?"
"We apologize. Electromagnetics have interfered with our speech systems." The creature said, sounding honest, causing Kayla to slightly put down her gun a bit, "Would you like some refreshment?"
Moving a bit from behind the Time Lord, Kayla glanced over at the Doctor, who shrugged, "Uhm..." he started awkwardly, his voice eventually trailing off as he realized he had no idea how to respond.
Luckily or unluckily, depending how it would turn out, the female computerized voice suddenly chimed out with, "Open Door 18." A man flanked by two other guard wielding men hurried into the room.
"What the hell...? How did...?" the man that was being flanked spluttered at the sight of Kayla and the Doctor. His face only grew even in redder in probable shock as he spied Kayla, who had denfesivly raised her gun at the sight of the men with guns, "But you only come if…!We haven't done anything wrong!"
Lifting up his comms. he spoke harshly into it, "Captain...you're not going to believe this. We've got PEOPLE. Out of nowhere. I mean, real people. I mean two…living...people. Just standing here, right in front of me. And one of them…" he swallowed roughly, "One of them is the Kayla Hark.
The Doctor glanced over at Kayla sharply, causing the brunet to gaze back worriedly, 'This is very, very bad.' She warned him through their link, 'If they think I'm a threat…' her voice trailed off, her worry seeping into her mind and to the Doctor's. Just wanting her to feel better, he hugged her slightly, forgetting just for one second that they didn't like her.
And then any peace from the Doctor went flying to hell as one of the guards pulled Kayla roughly away from the Doctor and, before the Time Lord could protest and vouch her safety, handcuffed her.
"Are you alright sir?" He heard the man who had been flanked by the guards asked in what was probably a concerned tone, "Did she hurt you."
At the mere thought that Kayla would ever hurt him, that this person thought she had, the Doctor all but growled at the man, "Of course she didn't." he hissed at him in a voice he was struggling to keep level, "She's my fiancé, we're getting married."
The man blinked for a second, but before he could do anything else, like handcuff the angered Time Lord, the base started to shake and sirens started to blare, causing the man to grab Kayla by one arm and start to literally drag her to the door.
"Through here! Now. Quickly, come on!" he ordered.
Not leaving Kayla alone with these morns, the Doctor quickly followed after them, making sure to note how many times the brunet winced so he could use it to torture the man later.
When the group arrived in the control room, the Doctor was ready to kill the seven people in the room with them.
They had hurt his Kayla.
And he was pissed.
"Oh, my GOD. You meant it." A man gasped out, eyeing Kayla and the Doctor in shock.
"People! Look at that! Real people!" A younger woman added in.
Instead of being kind or anything like that, the Doctor glared at the crew, causing them to all flinch at the enraged Time Lord's stare, "Let Kayla go." He said in a quiet tone.
The man that had taken them to the room looked at the Doctor in confusion, "But she's Kayla Hark." He pointed out, "She's going to kill us all."
"No I'm not!" Kayla protested.
Rolling his eyes, another man shook his head, "We can deal with this later. We're in a middle of an alert. Danny, strap up, the quake's coming in! Impact in thirty seconds!" he snapped.
Instantly heading over to Kayla, the Doctor drew her down with him to the floor and covered his body with hers, 'I'm going to kill you.' Kayla threatened mentally.
'I don't put it past you.' The Doctor replied with a bit of a smirk.
"IMPACT!" the man who had snapped at the others yelled just as she base shook violently, only for it stop as quickly as it had happened.
Starting to stand up, the Doctor held out a hand for Kayla, "Oh, well, that wasn't so bad-!" he started to say in a soothing tone to Kayla, but one look from the brunet caused him to crouch down once again and cover her body with his.
'You idiot.' Kayla hissed as the base shook even more violently than before.
The shaking seemed to go on forever, and at one point the Doctor flinched at the sound of an explosion going off next to them…and then it finally stopped.
The snappish man from before straightened up, "Okay, that's it." Instantly, the man who had dragged them to the control room with a rather futuristic fire extinguisher, "Everyone all right? Speak to me, Ida?"
"Yeah, yeah!" a female said that was presumably Ida.
The man nodded once, "Danny?"
"Fine." Danny replied.
"Toby?"
"Yeah, fine."
"Scooti?"
"No damage."
"Jefferson?"
"Check!"
"And we're fine." The Doctor snapped, "No thanks to you." He added in a grumble.
Kayla just rolled her eyes, "Ignore him, he's protective." She said with a wave of her hand.
"The surface caved in." the still unknown man explained as he pointed at a monitor, "I deflected it onto storage 5 through 8. We've lost them completely. Toby, go and check the rocket link."
Toby, a young male, frowned, "That's not my department." He complained.
The man rolled his eyes, "Just do as I say, yeah?" he ordered with a snap.
Grumbling under his breath, Toby headed off.
Rolling her eyes, Ida, a lovely older blond woman, spoke up, "Oxygen holding. Internal gravity 56.6. We should be okay."
Kayla raised her hand as if she was in class, causing the man who seemed to be calling all the shots glowered at her, "Yes?" he asked in a dry, sarcastic voice.
"Can you open the roof?" she requested.
Scooti blinked in confusion, "Well yes, but it's a vacuum out there."
At this, Kayla looked over at the Doctor, who shrugged, "Then why is the roof shaking?"
Ida and Scooti exchanged a look, "Were you not sent to kill us then?"
The brunet nodded, "I quit. The Time Agency stole my memories." She explained sharply.
"How can we know that you're telling the truth?" Jefferson challenged.
The Doctor all but growled as he stepped towards the elderly man, "She's my fiancé. She will not harm any of you."
Ida grinned at Scooti, "You were right." She praised.
The younger blond smirked at the elder one, "I told you so." Scooti said before aiming a honest smile at Kayla and the Doctor.
"You're not joking. You really don't know? Well - introductions. FYI, as they said in the olden days. I'm Ida Scott, science officer." She indicated a slightly older man "Zachary Cross Flane, acting Captain, sir...you've met Mr. Jefferson, he's head of security. Danny Bartock. Ethics committee."
Danny smiled sheepishly, "Not as boring as it sounds." He promised.
Kayla grinned just a tiny bit at the boy, but the Doctor just rolled his eyes and wrapped a protective arm around Kayla's waist as Ida went on, "And that man who just left, that was Toby Zed, archaeology, and this..." she placed a gentle hand onto Scooti's shoulder, "... is Scooti Manista. Trainee maintenance."
Once again, Scooti smiled at Kayla and the Doctor, but this time she fluttered her fingers at them, "And this...this is home." Ida turned a lever which started a whirring noise from the ceiling.
Zach waggled his eyebrows, "Brace yourselves. The sight of it sends some people mad." He warned in a slightly joking tone.
At first, the room was flooded with blood red light as an overhead window was slowly revealed. And then Kayla and the Doctor gasped as one at the sight of a black hole right above them that was relentlessly sucking in light.
"How is that possible?" Kayla asked in awed confusion.
The Doctor nodded in agreement, "That's a black hole." He stated, "We're standing under a black hole."
"We're in orbit." Ida explained softly.
The Doctor shook his head, "But we can't be..." he protested, squeezing Kayla's waist.
Ida sighed, "You can see for yourself. We're in orbit." She pointed out.
Tearing his eyes away from the amazing view, the Doctor turned to stare at Ida, "But we CAN'T be." He protested rather harshly.
Suddenly, a hand went through his hair, causing him to relax just a bit, "Doctor…calm down." Kayla said in a soft, soothing voice.
Smiling gratefully at the brunet, the Doctor turned his head back to Ida, who looked quite taken aback by the display of affection, "How?" he asked simply.
"This lump of rock is suspended in perpetual geostationary orbit around that black hole without falling in. Discuss." Ida explained in an almost lecture like way.
Kayla shook her head, "I – this isn't possible."
Nodding in agreement, they turned away from the group, "We need to go." The Doctor hissed.
The brunet sighed, "I know wanted to leave when we arrived, but now…this is amazing."
Turning back to the crew, the Doctor shook his head, "We're leaving."
Rolling her eyes, Kayla nodded, "Our ship is just back there…" she indicated towards the door they had come through, "habitation area three."
Zach stared at them in sudden worry, "Do you mean storage six?" he asked.
Kayla started to nod, only for her eyes to widen, "Doctor…five through eight."
Swallowing hard, the Doctor looked at Kayla, "No." he moaned, "You don't think?"
The brunet nodded once, "I think so."
"We have to check." Grabbing her hand, the Doctor pulled Kayla after him through the hallways.
Having opened all the other doors as quickly as they could, the fact that Door 16 wouldn't open was upsetting, but when the computerized voice chimed, "Door 16 out of commission," Kayla nearly sobbed.
"Can't be, can't be!" the Doctor repeated furiously as he banged on the non-opening door.
Kayla hugged him tightly from behind, "I'm sorry Doctor." She whimpered as she buried her face into his shoulder, "I should have made us leave."
The Doctor whirled around suddenly and hugged the brunet back, "It's my fault." He corrected with a shake of his head, "I should have listened to you. Now we're stuck. I'm sorry."
And so, the two stood there, their arms wrapped around each other.
Having returned to the back to the control room, it seemed that luck was not on their side.
"What do you mean you're digging into the planet?!" Kayla all but yelled her question.
"The ground gave way. My TARDIS must've fallen down right into the heart of the planet. But you've got robot drills heading the same way." The Doctor agreed with a nod, his voice very urgent at the thought of his TARDIS getting crushed.
Zach just shrugged helplessly, "We can't divert the drilling." Shaking his head, he turned and headed off.
For a second, the Doctor stood with his hand in Kayla's, stunned, but then he hurried after the man, Kayla following willingly behind him, "But we NEED our ship. It's all we've got. Literally the only thing besides each other."
The man turned around and stared at the two in annoyance, "Doctor, Kayla, WE'VE only got the resources to drill ONE central shaft down to the power source, and that's it. No diversions, no distractions - NO EXCEPTIONS. Your machine is lost. All I can do is offer you two a lift if we ever get to leave this place, and that...is the end of it." With a note of finality in his voice, Zach turned and stalked off.
Their mouth's gaping open the Doctor and Kayla just stared at the spot where Zach had been standing until Ida approached the two, a kind smile on her face, "I'll uh - put you on the duty roster. We need someone in the laundry." Nodding to herself, she followed Zach from the room.
"Open Door 1."
'Doctor, what are we going to do?' Kaya asked her Bonded mentally as an Ood left the room, leaving the two alone.
"Close Door 1."
Both slumping against a control panel, the Doctor shrugged both physically and mentally, 'I don't know Kayla. I've trapped you here…' For a second, he seemed to want to say something to Kayla, but one look at her large brown eyes made him look down at the floor, 'I'm sorry.' He decided to say.
Kayla just shook her head, 'Never be sorry Doctor. We're in this together.'
The base shook under them, causing the Time Lord and Lady to tense up a second before hugging each other tightly.
And when Kayla had fallen asleep in the Doctor's arms, the Time Lord looked down at his Lady and kissed the top of her head, "I'm sorry." He whispered to her hoarsely, a tremor in his voice as he thought of the pain she was in.
So, the TARDIS is gone and Kayla and the Doctor are trapped on an Impossible Planet!
Sorry this is so short, but how I have the next chapter set up made having this one shorter a better idea.
But never mind that, WE HIT 50 REVIEWS OMG! I am seriously so happy and I want to thank you all for going on this writing journey with me and reading Kayla Harkness' two books. You all rock and I luv you.
Also, how would y'all like a AU story for Kayla where she was also left behind by the Doctor with Jack. I have a few little lines floating around in my head. If y'all would like it, then I'd probably start writing it once I'm more ahead with my chapters.
And review time:
LilyMayRose: Yep! And I should be back on track, which is great!
Aka-Baka Hoshi: I see many punches from Kayla to the Doctor, but not many crows...
Slytherin TARDIS Hunter: I'm glad you liked the little spin for Jack, and trust me, when I was reading A Game of Thrones...oh God did I get so many weird looks.