Yep so, exams are cancelled. I'd say I'll start uploading regularly but...eh who am I kidding?
Disclaimer: I only own Kate, the rest belongs to the BBC.
Anyway, enjoy :)
The TARDIS had landed.
Well, perhaps "landed" was an understatement. "Collided" appeared to be much more appropriate.
The flight deck was almost completely dark. The calming orange-y - yellow lights had blown, leaving the only source of light to be coming from the still-glowing Psychic Paper within the little slot next to the time column.
It was silent, save the occasional bong-like noises from the TARDIS and the small hiss of smoke. There was the sound of shifting bodies as the thrown-around travellers began to recover from the rocky trip.
From where the Doctor had previously been standing, a hand rose up from the darkness, slightly illuminated by the Psychic Paper, and began to lazily drag itself around the accessible part of the console (which wasn't that large), searching for something. Only a small part of a grey-sleeve covered forearm followed the hand up, the owner apparently having no strength to properly rise at that moment.
Meanwhile, the shifting noises were now accompanied with three different sets of disoriented groans. The sharp jerk of fabric against the glass floor was heard, followed by a dull thud and a hiss of pain from an unpleasantly surprised Yaz.
"Ow! Graham! That was me you kicked!" She snapped into the dark, her silhouette suddenly shooting up in response to the heavy shoe hitting her leg.
Another dark figure bloomed into life next to her, albeit a lot more slowly. A black blob which appeared to be Graham's head turned to look at Yaz. He let out another long groan, and rubbed his head as he tried to come to his senses.
"Oh? Sorry, Yaz…"
Ryan was the last one to rise, and his shadowy figure immediately began to spin around in apparent panic at the unusually dark surroundings.
"Oh my days…what happened? Why's it so dark?" He blurted out, before muttering "…oh no…please don't be dead..."
His panicked mutterings seemed to finally spur an equally disorientated Doctor into speaking, as a slightly slurred voice emanated from the darkness beneath the hand still fidgeting around the console.
"Don't worry guys…everything is fine, completely normal. 'ang on…"
The floating hand finally reached its destination, and found a few brightly coloured switches which were quickly flicked upwards.
Almost instantly, the pain-filled bongs of the TARDIS were replaced with a whirring sound. The displays became alight with Gallifreyan once again, and this sudden burst of light was shortly followed by the time column before the entirety of the flight deck blossomed with the amber light, spreading out from the centre until the place returned to its warm and welcoming orange glow.
The four dishevelled heaps on the floor squinted at the onslaught of light, each of them having to blink quite a bit in order to adjust. Unfortunately, the TARDIS' return to normal did nothing to help them recover. In fact, it just made it worse, as each on squinted as they all somehow experienced the exact same throb in their heads.
The Doctor was the first to make any attempt to rise, her hand now gripping the console like a lifeline as she struggled to pull herself up. Her hair fell in front of her eyes as she shaking rose to her feet. She huffed as she spoke in a meagre attempt to waft her hair back to its original place.
"Well!" she exclaimed brightly, before scowling and throwing her hair to the side with her free hand "that…er…that could've been worse!"
She straightened up properly, smoothing out her now bedraggled looking coat. Graham stared at her as if she was completely insane, which he often did. In fact, it was so common to see that ultimate shock cross the man's face that everyone around him had developed the ability to know exactly what he was going to say just by judging how creased his brow was.
He gestured first to himself, and then to his fellow companions, still struggling to find the strength to stand up.
"Could've been worse? 'Ave you 'eard yourself, Doc'?" He trailed off and began to mutter to himself, shaking his head in dismay "'could've been worse' she says..."
Anyone else would have agreed. The Doctor clearly did not.
"Well, it could've been!" she retorted, shrugging "we just left the universe. We could've fallen into the void for all eternity, you know!"
This was evidently meant to be reassuring to her friend, judging by the beaming smile on her face. However, all it seemed to do was make Graham even more queasy, and all the remaining colour drained from his already pale complexion.
Yaz grimaced, pausing in her efforts to stand to scrunch her face up at the Timelord whilst still gripping onto the crystal pillar.
"Yeah, maybe a story for another time, Doctor,"
The Doctor nodded in agreement, mouthing the word "sorry" as her beaming smile turned into a cringe. She looked away, and retrieved her Psychic Paper from its little slot. After a final, quick glance, the leather wallet was folded and slipped back into its inside pocket.
Ryan's silence, meanwhile, had proven beneficial as he rose somewhat sturdily, tongue poked out slightly in ultimate concentration, arms extended like beams either side of him. He grinned, smug, at his fellow companions, impressed at his own quick recovery. It was unusual for him to be able to get to his feet so rapidly after a particularly rocky ride, and it had surprisingly brought out a competitive nature, and he now almost constantly had the need to be the first one to stand. He wasn't alone. Yaz would also always make a scramble to stand up before the others, and almost always won. Because of the unbelievable dizziness and utter bamboozlement these kind of trips caused, standing up was almost like competing in an Olympic event, and for once, Ryan had finally won gold.
He smoothly (ish) strode over towards the Doctor to join her at the console (perfectly in the knowledge that Yaz was scowling at him). Once there, he stared at the displays intensely, trying, as he and the other always did, to make sense of the odd symbols.
"So, are we in the right place?"
The Doctor folded her arms, and nodded slowly, looking slightly unimpressed. However, if one studied her expression closely, they could detect the smallest hint of, for some reason, dread.
Before anyone could notice, however, the Doctor somehow realised, and quickly put on a fiercly curious furrowed brow.
"Yup, looks like it. We're not too far away from the message sender, either,"
In response, Ryan clapped his hands together, and gave an odd skip as he almost bounded past the Doctor, headed towards the door. His boundless energy was not uncharacteristic, even after he had been thrown around by a tantruming TARDIS. He gave a small "woop" in excitement as he clattered down to the wooden doors loudly.
"Alright! Let's go then! Spooky dimension here I co-!"
"No, no no no...wait,"
Her voice was incredibly, and unusually, stern. Stern enough for Ryan to come to a reluctant halt, like he was fighting against a strong length of rope yanking him back towards the centre of the flight deck. Masking a sulky pout, he slowly span back around, his disappointment instead manifesting itself in his slumped posture.
The Doctor stepped back, hand cupping her chin, boot tapping rapidly on the glass floor as she descended into the depths of thought. Her companions closed in (Graham and Yaz were finally on their feet) in an attempt to read the Doctor's expression.
"Doctor?" Yaz began cautiously "is everything alright?"
No response. Nothing happened for the next ten seconds, not even the slightest sound or movement. Then, very slightly, the Doctor's upper half began to tilt forwards as she leaned in towards the console, lips pursed a little, like she was going to say something incredibly important incredibly quietly. The others followed suit, leaning in, hoping to catch a snippet of whatever the Doctor was about to mutter.
Then, suddenly, she snapped back into a standing position, making everyone else stagger back in utter surprise.
"Oh! That's it!"
She whipped around, immediately breaking into a sprint as soon as her back was to the console, making a mad dash towards one of the large amber hexagon which decorated the walls of the flight deck.
Completely alarmed by the Doctor's unexpected outburst, the others glared after her angrily. Life in the TARDIS was surprising and stressful on its own. The Doctor luring them into suspense and then scaring them out of their skins was never well received.
Yaz rested her hands on her knees, exhaled sharply, straightened out again and placed both hands crossly on her waist.
"Really not necessary. You couldn't have just told us what it is in a normal way?"
The Doctor raised her voice to reply to Yaz whilst keeping her back facing her. The hexagonal decoration was apparently capable of opening, revealing a rather untidy storage cabinet behind it. The Doctor was now rooting around within the mess, engrossed in the search for something that was still a mystery to her companions.
"Just maxing out your adrenaline, Yaz!" She responded, somewhat proudly "keeps you fast! Might be useful. Worked wonders for Bill and Nardole," she gave a small gasp "ah…here we go…:
Her search through the messy hexagon cabinet had been successful, as she yanked four oddly-shaped objects from its depths, tucking them under her arms as she attempted to hold them all at once. Several annoyed huffs later, all four objects were firmly in her grasp, and she awkwardly stepped back to close the hexagonal cabinet door with her elbow, which shut with a soft click.
She swivelled around again, albeit much more slowly this time in order to keep the objects firmly in her hold. Taking careful steps, she jerked her arm towards Yaz, telling her to take the strange object from her hand. Yaz took it, evidently confused, but not saying anything.
The object was quite weighty. It appeared to be a clear plastic-looking mask, with a black rim and a tube at the bottom of it, connecting the clear plastic to a circular black…thing…at the end of it. Upon closer examination, it appeared to be a filter encased in more of the black material.
Yaz looked up to see Graham and Ryan also holding the objects in their hands, examining them with the same look of confusion. The Doctor fiddling about with her own object, adjusting a few straps that were attached to the mask in a T-shape.
Graham looked up at the Doctor, having a vague idea what what the object was but not fully understanding why he had it.
"What's this for, Doc'?"
The Doctor said nothing, and instead fanned out her hands under the straps, making them stretch. She lifted up the mask, and proceeded to yank the stretched straps over her head. She shifted the mask down until it covered her face head to chin and rested comfortably. A hidden switch was pressed near her ear. There was hiss, and the Doctor's face became alight with a bright white glow as a hidden light switched on within the mask.
When she was done, the Doctor extended her arms out either side of her, and struck a pose, grinning broadly.
"Whad'ya think?" She beamed, voice sounding slightly metallic due to the mask "it's an oxygen mask, Graham. Get yours on. The atmosphere is toxic,"
She stepped past him, ignoring his alarmed glance to herself and the others as he stretched his mask's straps over his own head. Yaz and Ryan did the same, slipping the masks awkwardly over their heads and letting the plastic parts settle under their chins. Graham muttered darkly to himself, adjusting his own, slightly uncomfortable mask.
"Would've bin useful to know that earlier…"
After all masks were secured by the Doctor and (somewhat) comfortable, all four of them gathered in the small alcove right next to the door, squishing in next to each other as the Doctor unexpectedly held up a hand to tell them to wait.
Her expression became serious, and her hand reached in to the right inside of her coat, and her tongue poked out in concentration as she dug around in the seemingly endless pocket. Finally, she pulled out her oddly-shaped Sonic Screwdriver.
Still, she didn't give the go ahead, and instead began to repeatedly press the little button on the screwdriver. The tip flashed amber a few times, before switching colour to a bright white, remaining on as the Doctor kept her thumb pressed down on the button, making the small device look like a torch.
Finally, she addressed her friends, maintaining her serious look.
"Right. Listen closely. I've never been here before, so I have no idea what to expect. We know someone's out there, probably injured. I can't activate the scanners properly here. We don't know what else or…who else…may be out there,"
They didn't need to ask. The other three knew she was talking about the Master. Even the Doctor didn't know where exactly they were and it was possible that they had managed to end up in the Kasaaven's dimension, and there was a chance that the message had actually been sent by the renegade Timelord in the knowledge that the Doctor wouldn't be able to ignore it.
The Doctor too, didn't mention it, and instead carried on with her previous warning.
"So, stay close, do what I tell you, and keep a look out,"
She gave a meaningful glare from behind her plastic mask, looking, for some reason, at Ryan in particular. He became nervous, and then nodded in firm agreement. Out of the three companions, Ryan indeed had the biggest tendency to wander off, and that was not ideal at that moment in the slightest.
"Right, right...gotcha,"
The Doctor seemed to think that this was good enough, and she knew that the other too were unlikely to stray far. So, the stern frown disappeared, and the excited smile made a dazzling reappearance.
"Good! So, should we head out?"
She was met with two enthusiastic nods and one hesitant nod from Graham.
"If we say no, we've gotta go anyway, right?"
The Doctor considered it briefly, and then nodded.
"Yup," she stated bluntly "off we go!"
Not waiting from a response from Graham, the Doctor stepped back to open the wooden door with its signature creak, and took a brave step out into the unknown, excited beyond excitement at the prospect of what possibly lay past those doors.
The unknown was boring. Unbelievingly so.
Luckily, it wasn't the Kasaaven's realm. The landscape was completely barren and unbearably grey. The only hint of colour diversity was the slightly darker yet still stormy grey sky. There was nothing on the horizon, nothing to break the seemingly endless dull block of greyness.
It was eerily quiet. There wasn't even a gush of wind, which was a common characteristic of barren dimensions. It was pressing down on them on all sides, and was so dense one could almost hear it, until it got so heavy one began to doubt whether they actually had ears at all.
The ringing silence was broken by a whistle of fake admiration from Ryan. The Doctor, who was no about two metres away from the TARDIS doors, turned around. Ryan was the first one to have stepped out after her and, after being smacked in the face with a grey block, pulled his face so much that it was surprising it wasn't touching the ground.
"Not bad. Bit grey," he said after a pause.
Yaz was next, and pretty much reacted in the exact same way.
"Bit of colour wouldn't go amiss in this place," she muttered, looking at her own clothes to make sure she hadn't somehow become colour blind.
Graham hadn't appeared yet, and his silhouette was still visible against the bright amber interior of the TARDIS. The Doctor sighed, and called out to him, putting on a falsely sweet and happy voice whilst still trying to persuade him to join them outside.
"C'mon, Graham!" She called, voice echoing throughout the emptiness "it's lovely and vibrant out here! You'll love it!"
There were chuckles from the younger companions, and Graham's scowl was almost audible. A oxygen-mask-cladded head peaked out of the deep blue doors, followed by a set of shoulders and a pair of arms, a torso, legs and finally, feet. He shut the door softly behind him as he stepped out into the barren grey plain.
He stared around, squinting, immediately off put by the "wrong" feeling of the place. He shivered, but he wasn't really sure why.
"Blimey, Doc', the things you drag us into..."
The Doctor didn't say anything, and just shrugged in a "not my fault" kind of way. The sonic screwdriver was still buzzing in her hand with the bright white tip, creating a shiny beam which burst into the darkness as she lifted it up. It swept across the floor as the Doctor began to search, looking for anything out of place.
The other three began to spread out, following the Doctor's lead whilst making sure to not go too far. The Timelord herself was having a hard time getting the existence of the place.
"Nuts, this place," she said, astounded by some of the readings on the sonic screwdriver "this isn't even a planet we're standin' on. This is the dimension itself. Goes on forever, accordin' to this,"
Once again, she surveyed the environment, finding an odd amount of amazement in a place so dull. It was unbelievable that it could possibly go on for infinity, constantly unbroken by anything. If she wasn't currently on a rescue mission, she'd perform proper scans, and probably would explore much more than one small radius.
Right now, however, time was of the essence. With the toxic atmosphere it was unlikely that whoever was out there would survive much longer. So, the Doctor broke herself out of her daze, preventing her from drifting off into a standing stupor and helping her focus on the task at hand.
"Goes on forever?" Yaz repeated from somewhere behind the Doctor "how are we s'posed to find someone in 'ere, then?"
The Doctor didn't turn around to face Yaz, and spoke to her as loud as she could through the mask over her shoulder.
"Don't worry about that, Yaz! Whoever sent that message is really close! Just keep an eye out!"
They both fell silent, partly to concentrate in the increasingly odd-feeling environment, and partly because the ringing voices were somehow unnerving in the pressing silence. It was like being there was inherently wrong. Like their presence was disturbing some ancient law within that dark dimension which was never ever supposed to be broken.
The screwdriver was flickering.
The Doctor had thought that it had gone briefly a few seconds ago, but had concluded that it was a trick of her eyes. But now, it was clearly flicking on and off. She hit it a few times, and it became more stable, but she knew that wouldn't last long. Whacking something was not the most practical way of solving an issue. Whatever this place was, it was making a very complex piece of equipment falter. They couldn't stay there for much longer. Something was terribly wrong with that place and every instinct that the Doctor had was telling her to get out of there as quick as possible.
"We can't stay here…" she muttered, biting her lip before raising her voice "do we have anythin' yet?"
The first "no" came from Yaz, and the second "nope" from Ryan. This only added to the worry and the need for haste. They couldn't stay, but they couldn't leave. If someone was in this universe then they were in genuine danger, and it would never weigh lightly on any of their consciences.
Luckily for all of them, Graham had apparently struck gold, as his voice echoed out wirh evident shock from behind the TARDIS.
"Um…Doc'! I think I 'ave somethin' over 'ere!"
It was like his words had activated a magnet in the Timelord as she suddenly zipped off in Graham's direction, large grey coat flapping behind her like a cape. She dodged the TARDIS, sidestepping around it smoothly. Yaz and Ryan followed behind her in a slow jog, never managing to muster up the same bouncing energy that the Doctor always seemed to have.
Graham was a short way behind the blue box, bent over with his hands resting just above his knees. The concerned lines on his face were illuminated by the light of his mask, and he was staring intently at a shadowy figure that appeared to be lying down by his feet.
Seeing the Doctor sprint round the TARDIS, he lifted up one of his hands and rapidly waved over the Doctor.
As the Timelord got closer, the still-flickering sonic screwdriver began to highlight the features of the shadowy figure. At first, it looked like a brightly-coloured animal, with a fluffy white and blue tail. But as she got closer, she saw that it had a vaguely human anatomy, and was dressed in what looked like a blue jacket, lighter blue jeans and deep purple boots. It had large, pointy, dog-like ears on what appeared to be it's head, and another blue stripe inbetween them which ended in a sharp point.
She gave a gasp of recognition, and her mood seemed to lift significantly.
"Ah! It's a Mobian! I love Mobius…we should go there sometime!" She skidded to a halt opposite Graham, on the other side of the so-called Mobian "there are these huge loops in the middle of cities that you can-"
She stopped talking abruptly at the three looks of "not the time" being shot her way, and she nodded with an embarrassed admittance.
"-right, right…not important…okay…"
Breaking away from her tangent, the Doctor began to examine the screwdriver in her hand, and began to fiddle with it until the flickering white light returned to its original yellow-orange and started to buzz loudly as it usually did.
The Doctor extended her arm, pointing the tip of the screwdriver at the Mobian, and started to scan it, seeing if it needed any immediate help before being brought back into the TARDIS.
"It it alright?" Ryan asked quietly, not wanting to break the Doctor's concentration.
It took a short moment for the Doctor to answer as she scanned the Mobian from head to foot slowly, making sure nothing was missed that could either provide a problem for the Mobian or a problem for the travellers (she had heard that certain Mobians could be incredibly problematic if they were working for the planet's dictator, and it was vital that the Doctor made sure that this Mobian wasn't one of them).
Thankfully, it didn't seem to be one of them, and was the . It was a Mobian she-wolf, according to the scan, and had a reading of a kinetic ability. Electricity, apparently. That wasn't an issue. She had met a few electrokinetics in her time, and they tended to be in good control of their ability, and it was highly unlikely that, being a Mobian, that wolf was an exception.
"It's a "she", Ryan," she said, somewhat sternly "looks like she's just unconscious. She's inhaled a lot of the gas, but not enough to be lethal," she paused as she directed the screwdriver at the Mobian's head "yep, she's definitely the one who sent the message. Good news, I think she's fine. Looks like we got here just in time,"
Graham frowned.
"Thought you said this atmosphere was toxic?"
The Doctor crouched down to inspect the Mobian closer, checking her for any physical industries and making sure the sonic's reading of her pulse was actually accurate.
"It is, but Mobian animals tend to have higher resistance to this sort of stuff," she said, rolling the Mobian over so she was facing up "I'll be honest, though, this one is pretty well off, even for a Mobian. Something must have increased her resistance further,"
She shook her head once again as she was tempted to go off onto another tangent. She finally switched off her sonic screwdriver and replaced it into her inside pocket. There was something strange about the wellness of the wolf, considering that she had been in such a deadly place for at least an hour, but that wasn't necessarily important at that moment.
Taking a deep breath, she hooked her arms underneath the shoulders of the Mobian, getting a secure grip on her before awkwardly hoisting her up whilst also attempting to stand up without falling backwards, grateful that wolf was only about a metre tall and fairly light. She hoisted the Mobian into a partial fireman's carry over her shoulder.
Making sure she wasn't going to drop the Mobian, the Doctor looked over the wolf's blue cladded shoulder towards her companions.
"C'mon, we better get back to the TARDIS," she said, before nervously glancing over her shoulder "and quickly. This place is givin' me the creeps and I think I just heard a growl, and I don't wanna wait around to find out if it was real or not,"
Yeah, I know, not the best. Still getting used to writing a Doctor Who fic, and writing with four characters. Usually I don't write with that many characters in one bit and I tend to write very badly when trying to compensate for them all.
I'll get used to it. Promise XD.
Also, this chapter was originally meant to be combined with the next one. I know that this means three consecutive chapters inside the TARDIS (sorry lol). But don't worry, the next chapter will finally get them out of the damned thing.
Anyway, once again, if you are reading, thank you. And please, if you are seeing this, stay safe, stay inside if you can, and stay happy :)
Hope you enjoyed!
Feel free to drop a review!
~W.O.T~