A/N: Sorry about the wait. School work, exam revision. I hope you enjoy...
The ground beneath Martha's body was moving, shuddering, the vibrations coming from somewhere deep within the space station, as if it was angry. As if it was a giant beast, awakening from a deep sleep.
The room in front of Martha was spinning, almost spiralling out of control, and with every aching shriek of pain which emanated from her arm, her mind became a little fuzzier. Tears came to her eyes, which could no longer see. "Doctor..." She managed a whisper. She screwed up her face as the pain in her wrist worsened, and she clutched it, praying for the pain to stop shocking through her, for the room to stop shaking her up as if she was a milkshake. What could she do? Her spinning head wasn't something she could control. She tried to hang on to shreds of consciousness, but with a deep pang she realised that they were too far away. All she could feel was her eyes, wet and stinging with tears, that feeling of moving, being slid around on the floor by the shaking station, knowing that there was absolutely nothing she could do to stop her from smacking into a wall and being killed. And her pain. The never ending, terrible, splitting pain.
"It is hoped that you have enjoyed your time competing in the MGAAI's first challenge. Please prepare for inter-black hole suction." Robot woman's voice cut through Martha's vision like a wasp sting, clearing her head with a sharp pain, and juddering her vision intoexistence again.
Everything was still shaking around. But at least Martha could see the door handle. She groaned, her whole body screaming at her to lie back down and just die, but she grabbed onto the handle with a shuddering hand, and jammed it down, almost dragging on it. Then she pulled, and the door swung open, revealing the corridor, now completely on fire with red flashing lights. Martha's heart rate picked up.
The station rocked like a boat on a stormy sea, and Martha fell flat on her back, hearing a horrible thud, and feeling it miliseconds later. She groaned in effort, pulling herself up, still cradling her arm. She screwed up her face in effort as she began to stumble down the corridor. When she tried to break into a run, she stopped abruptly with a resounding swear at the pain shooting through her arm. Her angry voice ricocheted off of the walls and ceiling, crashing into her again, as she tried desperately to cover ground, heading in what she hoped was the direction of the TARDIS. -But even if she was going in the right direction, how long before-
"Repeat: Please prepare for inter-black hole suction."
Inter-black hole suction, to Martha's mind, no matter how confused and tortured it was, did not sound like a good thing. She fought back tears as she continued to drag herself down the corridor, dust beginning to cloud from new cracks in the ceiling. She noticed that her once green top was now almost completely unrecognisable: grey and dirty and torn. Funny the things you notice when you're about to die.
About to die.
A few steps in front, a terrible tearing noise sounded, and a moment later, a collosal chunk of the ceiling exploded free, crashing to the ground and sending out shock waves of dust which competed with the shock waves from the collision. The dust flew into Martha's eyes and mouth, and she coughed, her body desperately trying to rid itself of the debris. The path in front of her was slowly clearing, and there was a chance that she could drag herself over the fallen patch of ceiling. She attempted it at first with many groans and grunts and shrieks as she fell back down, pain splitting her arm. But finally she managed to get to the top of the pile of debris.
"Repeat: please prepare for inter-black hole suction"
Something huge and heavy collided with Martha's shoulder, falling from the corridor above, knocking her flat, a sharp pain tearing through her face. Another scar to add to her growing collection. She struggled to breathe through all the dust, as she turned to see what had fallen on her.
Her struggling breath caught.
Tears came to her eyes, clearing them of dust.
Shattered glass was scattered far, and at the centre, Octupulon. His robotic base smashed to smithereens. His purple eyes fluttered, his tentacles twitched, and he saw Martha in the corner of his eye. He croaked, and Martha knelt down, clutching one of his tentacles, as he struggled to breathe without his robotic support.
"Octu-" Martha couldn't deny that whatever she'd though he couldn't do, she'd become fond of Octupulon. He was a good man (octopus), and he'd never made snap judgements. Never come to unfair conclusions. Always been the meek, nervous, helpful one. Martha knew that whatever octopuses couldn't do, that, in her book, they could always be kind. And now he was dying. Nearly dead.
Martha's eyes clouded with even more tears, which blurred Octupulon into a purple mass, red lights flashing off of his body. She tightened her grip on his tentacle, and she swore she could feel him squeeze back. Then his eyes closed, and he was still.
Sirens wailed in Martha's ears, and crumbling walls threatened to crush her, but her being was filled with anger. She stood, almost calm. She set her jaw, grimly. She began to battle on, chunks of ceiling missing her by inches, the sirens fading to background noise, probably deafening her.
"Doctor..."
She needed to get to him. -Where was the next MGAAI base? She didn't know. -Would the files say? The ones in the reception drawer? Martha's whole world was turned upside down suddenly, as her body was flung from the floor, smacking into the ceiling and rolling her around, bits of wall flying around her. The ceiling became the floor, and she dragged herself up, astonished that she was still breathing.
Time, for Martha, seemed to warp, then. She was inside her own little bubble, battling on and on, her body taking more and more pain, until she learned to block it out, and just use sight and sound.
"Repeat: Please prepare for inter-black hole suction. Counting down: in twenty, nineteen, eighteen.."
Martha scrabbled over pieced of ceiling, alight with the red lights of sirens. The sirens had turned into mocking laughs. Or at least, Martha's mind had warped them into that. They were cackling at her, the poor little human girl, trapped on space station, going to die...
She gritted her teeth, and, somewhen in the next few seconds, she was scrabbling at the doors of the TARDIS, arriving back in the now unrecognisable reception room. She thought she could see the leg of a desk somewhere in there, but she didn't know for sure.
The TARDIS key.... she pushed her unwounded hand into her jacket, and grasped the small piece of metal, jammed it into the lock, and twisted. Within a matter of seconds, the door was open, and Martha was pushed into the TARDIS, her body scraping against the metal gangway, the doors swinging shut of their own accord behind her, with a boom. The TARDIS was protecting her, for now at least.
She could still hear the banging and crashing outside, and, straining with every muscle in her body she staggered to the controls, and slumped across them, hitting them with all her remaining strength, pushing every button, pulling every lever as if trying to rip them off. If she hadn't been so weak, she would have savaged them by now.
"Take off! Go on! Take off!" She screamed.
Nothing was happening.
"I don't know how to fly you! Will you just leave? You're going to die, I'm going to die- Go on! Follow the Doctor!"
Still nothing.
Martha screamed in frustration, and turned and slumped against the controls. Maybe the TARDIS would survive. Although she did have her doubts- the words black hole didn't sound survivable. At all.
And then Martha had an idea.
A/N: Thank you so much for reading, and as always I'd love love love a review. Thanks to all my regular reviewers :) I love you guys.
Now, I should really be doing revision, so I'm gonna quickly do some advertising, and then I'll be gone. I've started another story, The Childhood Drawer. Synopsis: Amy and the Doctor come to Leadworth because of some strange alien signals, and Amy bumps into someone who she hasn't seen for years. Her childhood drawer opens, and secrets are revealed. And if you want to know what "her childhood drawer" is, and also what a Fraglashian might be, then you can read it. If you want.
So, that's my advertising done :)
Thanks for reading, again. x