Next chapter is on the 13th of June.
Missy is the first to wake up in the aftermath of the Master's mistake, head ringing and throat dry. Her lungs hurt and she coughs, eyes watering and crouches low to the floor to check on Florence, the woman slumped to the ground in front of the dashboard.
"Florence?" the Time Lady asks, shaking her shoulder slightly.
The woman doesn't stir.
"Are you awake, Florence?" She asks again, shaking the human lightly again, not too concerned given the adjustments she remembers making to the other woman's biology but still more than a bit worried given the drifting state of her mind.
She is most likely unconscious or having some kind of trouble processing things. Mistress's brief reach into her mind finds a mess of colour and lights, void of meaning. She gets a response to her presence but it's weak, more natural recognition than anything truly sentient. The Mistress pulls the pins from her hat, resetting it on her own hat, more an act of habit than anything, and then works free her companion's, crushed between her head and the access panel of the console.
She pulls out the hat pins, releasing it from her head, and slips them into her pocket.
She keeps low to the floor, and tries shaking Florence again, pulling her up slightly and her head into her lap. She places two fingers on her neck, against her pulse.
The Master coughs loudly.
"Argh! I hate it when this happens- these things never come with proper safety!" He grumbles, climbing out of his seat to stand on wobbling legs before carefully lowering himself to the floor as he begins hacking again in the smoke which is quickly collecting in the small room.
"Oh for fuck's sake!" He says, spying Missy who is still counting beats, "We don't have time for you to be mentally frenching the human you think you're in love with. You know humans die all the time for all sorts of things and we will too if we don't open the bloody doors soon." The Master yells, turning around and shoving the Doctor's leg out of the way in an attempt to get to the door. Nardole wakes at the noise and wrinkles his nose.
"Did I really lose so badly at chess again?" He asks the room before looking down at himself and then at the Master scabbling over the Doctor and Bill, still both prone on the ground, and Missy, cradling Florence's head.
"No, you idiot, now go see if you can get the Doctor up- don't stand up-" she warns as Nardole immediately goes to stand "- we could use someone who might possibly have two brain cells to rub together." She says, sneering at the Master who rolls his eyes and pulling Florence further into her arms. The girl's mind is worryingly nonsensical and the Mistress can't help but worry that she's going to lose her again, mind playing over that though as she holds onto her companion's body.
Nardole goes over to wake the Doctor up and manages it after quite a lot of not so gentle shaking as Missy gave Florence. The Time Lord wakes with complaint and confusion, asking Nardole to make him a coffee and attempting to go back to sleep once before sniffing slightly and his eyes snapping open.
"Where are we? Why does it smell fake?" He asks, trying to get to his feet but struggling with Bill on his chest.
"Bill!" He exclaims, grabbing the human by the shoulders and shaking her, "are you okay?" He asks and then looks to Nardole and to Missy.
"We need to get somewhere stable, with some clean air," he says, looking down at his companion, "hopefully with some kind of basic medical supplies if something's wrong." He says.
"Working on it!" The Master complains, kicking at the door which whines unhappily, venting a little smoke each time he does, "unlike some of us!" He coughs out, arm over his mouth.
"Go help him." the Doctor asks Nardole and then softer to Bill, "hang in there."
Florence gasps, wincing and turning herself over in the Mistress' lap and curling up as much as she can. The Time Lady jumps slightly, grabbing her companion's hand, which she squeezes back tightly, and holding the back of her head.
"Are you okay?" She asks, wincing a little herself at the pain which is going through Florence's mind.
"Hrm- pain in head, above eyes, might be sick. Keeping eyes closed, might go away." Florence manages to get out, "sorry." She says, shutting her mind.
Missy's pain goes instantly and she breathes a little easier.
"Thanks," she murmurs, petting the back of her companion's head who groans a little.
"No problem." She wheezes out, words joining together.
There's a crash and a screech of metal against metal and then the smoke quickly starts venting out of the ship through the door, stuck open, the Master already climbing out, bent over and breathing heavily to get the smoke out of his lungs, Nardole clambering out too.
The Doctor manages to stand, holding Bill after a brief period of juggling with her limp body.
"Help me carry her." He demands of Nardole who takes his hand to help pull him out into the smoke filled crater they've created.
The Mistress watches this and looks down to her struggling companion and curses. She doesn't want them to get left behind but she isn't really in any condition to move, let alone unsupported.
The Time Lady looks around and finds her parasol on the ground. Stretching she can reach the handle and she does, pushing it into the floor of the ship, now useless, and uses it to help herself and Florence stand, forcing it into the woman's hand as she continues to hold her head, face still crushed in pain.
The Mistress holds the other hand, slips it over her shoulder, and puts her hat back on her head gently.
"We're going to try moving- we can't be left behind." She says softly.
Her companion nods, gasping at the pain from that and stopping almost immediately.
"Okay- yes. Sure." Florence says in a way which is not at all helping the Time Lady's concern.
They both make their way to the door, going as quickly as Florence can without retching.
"Where are we?" She asks as they emerge into the smoke still streaming from the ship.
"One of the solar farms I think. There's a hologram sky, little bit of atmosphere." The Master says, breathing in deeply. His mind prods at Missy's, something taunting about her 'pet' being okay.
Then there's a child's voice as they wander through the smoke.
"Who are you?" They ask, appearing wreathed by the fog the smoke is creating before dissipating.
"Hello, small human. We're from downstairs and we might need your help." The Doctor says, squatting to eye level of the human and smiling hopefully, "You see, my friend is injured and I need to look over her better- do you know if there are any adults nearby?" He asks.
The Master scoffs, rolling his eyes.
"Hazran will probably be looking for me by now." The child muses.
The Doctor's eyebrows raise and he nods, smiling.
"An adult? Can you bring us to her?" He says.
The child nods.
"Thank you," the Time Lord says earnestly and then, "what's your name?" as he stands, shifting Bill's weight slightly.
"I'm Alit." They say, looking over all of them for a second curiously before turning away, walking back through the smoke.
When their ragged group of seven comes to the porch of an old farmhouse they come face to face with a rather tired and worried looking woman, rifle in her hands.
"Where the hell were you, Alit? Get over here. Who are these people?" She shouts out over the gap. Alit hurries over to her.
"I found them in the field- there was a lot of smoke and then all of these people in the middle of it. He said they needed help for his friend." The child says.
The woman seems to soften, eyes going over them, assessing them for something.
"Well, none of them look like the scare-crows. I suppose we can let them in," she says, "and later you can tell me what you were doing out in the field when I'd told everyone not to." She finishes, eyeing the child suspiciously.
"Fine." Alit says, in the voice of every child who knows they have no lee-way and will have to admit that they did something they shouldn't have for what they know the adults will see as a silly reason.
"I don't suppose you happen to have a spare bed or two?" Florence says, trying for a smile, head still pounding, "we've been through a lot in the last few hours."
"And maybe a cup of tea?" Nardole adds, stepping to the front of the group.
"Interesting priorities…" Hazran says, looking at Nardole as she gestures them inside, the edge of a smile coming onto her face, "come in. We don't have much but we have enough beds for everyone at the moment." and then to the Doctor, "and we'll see what we can do about your friend." She says.
"Thank you." He says earnestly, stepping up the rickety front steps, Bill cradled close to his chest.