The Doctor ran. He'd not been paying any attention to where he'd been going, and now he felt helplessly lost. He'd been too worried about trying to get away from whatever was hot on their heels. There was some relief to his panic when he ran into the console room. But a quick glance was all he needed to know that this wasn't the console room.
"We're back at the beginning." Tricky said.
"No. This is an echo room. The console room is the safest place on the ship and it can be replicated an infinite number of times. The TARDIS is protecting us." The Doctor said. He ran to the console and paced around it quickly. He finally settled by the scanner and started to fiddle with the controls. In his haste, his hand brushed carelessly against something. It was a pair of Aderyn's glasses. He watched as they fell from the console and vanished before they hit the floor.
"Where did that go?" Tricky asked.
The Doctor allowed himself a half smile "There's another room."
Clara and Aderyn sat in silence. Aderyn had given up on pacing and sat on the floor against the console. She had her eyes closed. But she opened them when something dropped into her lap. She looked up, expecting to see Clara by the console. But no. Clara was still sat on the steps. She was staring at Aderyn, eyes wide in horror.
"They appeared out of nowhere." She said quietly.
Aderyn looked at what had landed in her lap. She stood quickly and whooped triumphantly.
"There's another room." She exclaimed. She put the glasses on the console and began to fiddle with the controls.
"What do you mean another room?" Clara asked, running to join her at the console.
"This is an echo room. The console room is safe and can replicate as many times as necessary. The Doctor must be in another echo room."
"There they are." The Doctor whispered to himself. He watched as a shadow by the console stood, and another shadow joined it.
"Why can't we see them?" Tricky asked.
"It's like a light switch. Two positions. Flickering at super-infinite speeds. We're only together for a brief second. But there maybe a way to get them here. Aderyn will know that."
_
"Can't we just walk out of here and find the other room"? Clara asked. She followed Aderyn as she circled the console.
"No. It doesn't work like that. But I might be able to overlap the two echoes. I'm going to need your help," In a few quick steps, Aderyn was the other side of the console "See that blue button, when I say, press it," Aderyn worked the controls with expert precision.
Clara looked down at the console, scanning it for the blue button. She found it and hovered her hand over it. Aderyn's actions became more frantic as the console protested at the commands.
"Hit the purple one next to the blue one," Aderyn yelled over the fizzing of the console. "No, not that one. That's the door release."
But it was too late. Clara's hand had already connected with the wrong button. The door to the console room opened and the two creatures lurched in. Clara screamed in alarm. Aderyn moved around the console and pulled Clara away. They soon found themselves backed against the wall. Aderyn really wished the door was there.
_
"They've got in! I need to isolate their position then I could grab them." The Doctor shouted as he heard Clara's scream. A robotic voice from the doorway distracted the Doctor from the console.
"Console room, echo imprint of the original." The Doctor ran forward and grabbed the scanner from Gregor's hand.
"You're coming with me. I need you to get me out of here." Gregor said, striding into the room.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," The Doctor replied impatiently "Just need to borrow this first." He sonicked the scanner and swung it around the room.
"Scanning for female human," The Scanner beeped. The Doctor pointed it this way and that, hoping to find them before it was too late. "Unidentified human," The Doctor sonicked the scanner again and held it out in the same direction that Clara's signal had come from "Unidentified hybrid."
The Doctor smiled "Found them."
_
Aderyn was digging through her pockets. She was certain she had something in her pockets that would be useful. Then she remembered that the Doctor had a strict no weapons rule. That meant she habitually emptied her pockets before entering the TARDIS. All she had was the sword around her waist. But Aderyn didn't think it would be useful against whatever these things were.
Clara had other ideas. She stepped out from behind Aderyn and drew the sword, holding it out in front of her with a shaky hand. Aderyn knew this wasn't the time to argue. But as soon as it was the appropriate time, Clara would see that it wasn't just the TARDIS that could throw a tantrum. Instead, Aderyn ripped the sword from Clara's grip, her hand steady, her stance that of a professional. "Come on, Doctor," She whispered to herself "You've found us. I know you have."
_
The Doctor switched through settings on the sonic screwdriver with a speed he had never known. He pointed it in the direction the scanner indicated and saw an, almost, transparent image of Aderyn and Clara. Aderyn was stood firmly in front of Clara, her sword drawn. He threw the scanner back at Gregor and ran towards Aderyn and Clara. He grabbed Clara's wrist and was able to, just about, catch Aderyn's sleeve. With a heave, he pulled the two women through into his echo room. Clara was still in a panic and pushed the Doctor away as he tried to steady her. Aderyn was breathing deeply and glaring with a terrifying fury. She strode furiously towards Clara. She pushed the sword into the Doctor's hand and grabbed Clara's shoulders. The Doctor recognised the look in Aderyn's eyes and knew that there would be trouble. Instinctively he moved towards her, momentarily fearing the Clara would be on the receiving end of a punch. But Aderyn just steadied her and, with alarming kindness, said "Calm down, we're safe."
"Ok." Clara breathed. She took deep breaths, trying to wrestle her heartbeat into a normal rhythm. Aderyn let her hands drop back to her side and turned on Gregor and Tricky.
"So which one of you was it?" She snapped. Tricky pointed at Gregor. Gregor pointed at Tricky. Aderyn crossed her arms and tapped her foot.
"I better get the right answer because we're not going anywhere until I do," She raised an eyebrow, looking at the two men the way a mother would look at a disobedient child. Gregor dropped his hand and Tricky continued to point at him.
Aderyn held out her hand "Whatever you took I want it back now." Immediately, Gregor took his pack from Tricky and handed the circuit over to Aderyn.
"Sorry." He muttered.
"You took a circuit from the ARS room?" Aderyn said through gritted teeth "No wonder she's been throwing a tantrum." Aderyn put the circuit on the console and fondly patted the central column.
Having regained her wits, Clara balled her hand and punched the Doctor's shoulder with as much force as she could.
"Ow," the Doctor whined "What was that for?"
"What do you keep in here?! Why have you got zombie creatures? Good guys do not have zombie creatures. Rule one," she punched him again "Basic storytelling."
"Basic survival rule," The Doctor pouted "Don't hit someone who has a sword."
"Like you'd know how to use it." Aderyn snorted. She took her sword from the Doctor but didn't replace it in the scabbard.
The Doctor looked at the blade with distaste "Why don't you put it away?"
Aderyn sighed "You should know the rule by now."
"What rule?" Gregor was eyeing Aderyn with distrust.
"Once a sword is drawn then blood must be spilt." Aderyn said with a glare.
"Well then why did you draw it?" The Doctor huffed.
"I didn't," Aderyn spat. "She did."
"Well I wasn't about to die without a fight." Clara snapped.
"We would have been fine if you hadn't have pressed the wrong button." Aderyn snapped back.
"There's more then one purple button."
"I did say the purple button next to the blue one." Aderyn's sword hand twitched.
It was a small movement but the Doctor saw it "There is more the one blue button." The Doctor said quickly.
"Trust you to take her side." Aderyn hissed.
"And what is that meant to mean?" The Doctor said. He knew it was pointless arguing with Aderyn. She always won. She was too much like her mother. Arguing with Rose had always been pointless as well.
"You know exactly what I mean." Aderyn was starting to build up a head of steam. The Doctor knew he was starting to get in over his head. But he wasn't going to back down. He was, however, secretly a little bit happy that Gregor interrupted.
"All right, all right - a deal's a deal. You got the girls back. Now cancel the self destruct." Gregor said quickly.
Aderyn's glare turned into a frown as she looked from Gregor to the Doctor "The TARDIS doesn't have self destruct."
Gregor and Tricky frowned at the Doctor, who smiled guiltily at them.
"So you're telling us we're safe?" Tricky asked slowly.
The Doctor smiled "Safe-ish. Apart from the monsters and the TARDIS reinventing the architecture every five minutes. Guys, don't worry, the countdown's a fake. Look, just give me just a second. I'll turn it off." The Doctor pressed a few buttons on the console and an alarm blared.
"We're not safe are we?" Aderyn asked.
"No." The Doctor replied.
"It's something really bad isn't it?"
The Doctor nodded "It's extremely very not good."
Aderyn sighed "Engines?" The Doctor nodded and Aderyn winced.
"Something you want to share with the rest of us?" Clara asked.
The Doctor opened and closed his mouth a few times, tilted his head from one side to the other, then cleared his throat "It appears the engine is damaged. We're in trouble, Clara. Proper trouble. It needs fixing or we're toast."
"Can we fix it?" Aderyn asked. She looked over the Doctor's shoulder at the scanner. Engine overload. This wasn't good. There was only a slim chance that they would be able to repair the damage. But to do that they'd need to actually get to the engine. They couldn't do this remotely.
"Maybe." The Doctor said quietly. He walked away from the console, down the stairs and stopped next to the central column. The others followed suit, catching up with him just as he sonicked a panel beneath the console. The panel fell inwards.
"Where are we going?" Tricky asked.
"Bit of a detour," The Doctor said, peering into the darkness beneath the console "Through the centre of the TARDIS."
