Travelling with the Raggedy man

by The Time Lord Oracle

Amy Pond and her cousin Chelsea Willows were 7-years old when the newly regenerated 11th Doctor crashed into their lives. They meet him again when they were adults and they join him in the TARDIS for adventures in time and space. But Chelsea is somewhat wary of the eccentric man-child Doctor, and with cracks popping up all over time and space, it's gonna be an interesting time.

2. The Beast Below

Travelling with the Raggedy Man

The Beast Below

Thanks to Charmed2100, Goddess-of-the-forest1013, Spiderflash 1273, SpringSummerWinter97, blackkitsue, Jessenia22, Kuroppoi Kitsune, Tfbooks1, jasxntodd and kirvanessa for favouring and following this story.

Amy, still dressed in her nightclothes, floated outside the TARDIS, the Doctor holding onto her ankle. "Come on, Pond." he said as he pulled the Human back in, "Now do you believe me?"

"Ok, your box is a spaceship." Amy nodded, "It's really, really a spaceship. We are in space, whoo! What are we breathing?"

"I've extended the air shell. We're fine." the Doctor told her and turned to Chelsea, who was standing by the console. "D'you want a go, Willows?" he asked her.

"Nah, I'll take ya word for it." Chelsea replied

"Suit yourself." the Doctor shrugged, then something below caught his eye and he squatted down to get a closer look. "Now that's interesting." he murmured, Amy crouching beside him and Chelsea joining them. They all saw a huge spacecraft flying beneath them. The spaceship looked like a metal turtle shell with what appeared to be skyscrapers on top of it. "The year 5.5/apple/26, the sun expands and roasts the Earth." the Doctor rambled, moving over to the console, "And the entire Human race packs it's bags and moves out. Whole nations migrating to the stars. Isn't that amazing?" he asked the two women, who were both still looking at the passing ship. "Girls, I've found us a spaceship.

~8~

The trio were soon looking at a diagram of the ship on the TARDIS' monitors, the Doctor using one and the women looking at the other. "This is the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland, all of it, bolted together and floating in the sky." the Doctor announced, "Starship UK. It's Britain, but metal. That's not just a ship... that's an idea." The monitors showed scenes from the ship's interior. "That's a whole country, living and laughing and... shopping." the Doctor commented as the feed showed a marketplace, "Searching the stars for a new home."

"Can we go and see?" Amy asked eagerly

"Course we can." the Doctor replied, setting the controls to materialise the ship on board Starship UK, "But first, there's a thing."

"A thing?"

"An important thing. In fact, thing one..." the Doctor said, looking at the two women through a magnifying glass, "We are observers only. That's the one rule I've always stuck to on my travels. I never get involved in the affairs of other people or planets."

Chelsea raised a brow at this. "Really? That's not what I've heard." she commented.

"What d'you mean?" the Doctor challenged

"I didn't just sit around doing nothing for two years, Doctor." Chelsea told him, "I've read up on you and I found out you're always getting involved in other people's affairs."

The Doctor was about to reply when something on his monitor caught his eye. "Ooh, that's interesting." he commented

The women looked at the other monitor to see a little girl in a school uniform sitting on a bench crying. "So we're like a wildlife documentary, yeah?" Amy asked, having not heard the Doctor and Chelsea talking, "Cos' if they see a wounded cub or something, they can't just save it... they've got to keep filming and let it die." She and her cousin watched the crying girl closely. " That's gotta be hard. I don't think I can do that." Amy said, "Don't you find that hard, being all attached and cold?"

Suddenly, both women saw the Doctor appear on screen next to the little girl, who got and moved away. The Doctor looked into the camera and waved. "Huh, he moves fast." Chelsea remarked, then she and Amy moved to the doors. They stepped out of the TARDIS to find themselves at the marketplace they'd seen on screen. Above them was an arched glass ceiling though which they could see the stars.

"We're in the future." Amy breathed, looking around in awe, "Like... hundreds of years in the future. We've been dead for centuries."

"Oh, lovely, you're a cheery one." the Doctor remarked flatly, remembering Rose Tyler being the same on Platform One. "Never mind dead, look at this place." he told the women, "Isn't it wrong?"

"What d'ya mean?" Chelsea asked, looking around. Nothing seemed amiss to her. People were happily milling about the marketplace, going about their everyday lives with no indication of anything being wrong.

"Use your eyes, notice everything." the Doctor instructed

"Is it... the bicycles?" Amy guessed, pointing to some people riding around on a rickshaw, "Bit unusual on a spaceship, bicycles."

"Says the girl in her nightie." the Doctor teased

"Oh, my God! I'm in my nightie!" Amy gasped. In her excitement, she'd forgotten she was still in her nightclothes. "Oh, shut up, Chels." she huffed to her cousin, who snickered at her.

"Sorry, Ames." Chelsea said as she managed to stop snickering, "But there was nothing stopping you from putting some clothes on before rushing out. That's what I did." She gestured to her t-shirt and tracksuit bottoms.

"Now, come on, girls." the Doctor interrupted, "Look around you. Actually look."

"Doctor, we can't all be geniuses like you." Chelsea retorted, "Care to tell us what we're supposed to be looking at?"

"London market is a crime-free zone." a tannoy speaker announced.

"Life on a giant spaceship, back to basics." the Doctor explained, "Bicycles, washing lines, wind-up street lamps. But look closer. Secrets and shadows, lives led in fear. Society bent out of shape, on the brink of collapse. A police state. Excuse me." He ran over to a table and took a glass of water from it, then he set the glass down on the floor and looked at it intently for a few seconds before putting it back on the table. "Sorry, checking all the water in this area." he told the baffled patrons, "There's an escaped fish." He tapped the side of his nose and re-joined his companions. "Where was I?"

"What was the point of that?" Chelsea asked him

"Don't know." the Doctor waved her off, not ready to reveal what he'd just found out to the women just yet, "I think a lot. It's hard to keep track. Now, police state... do you two see it yet?"

"Where?" Amy asked, still confused.

"There." the Doctor replied, snapping his fingers and pointing to the little girl from earlier, who was sitting on a bench nearby, still crying while people just walked past her, ignoring her.

"One little crying. So?" Amy asked as they went closer and sat down on the bench opposite the girl.

"Crying silently." the Doctor told her, "I mean, children cry cos' they want attention, cos' they're hurt or afraid. When they cry silently, it's cos' they can't stop. Any parent knows that."

"Are you a parent?" Chelsea asked him

The Doctor avoided the question. "Hundreds of parents walking past this spot and not one of them's asking her what's wrong, which means... they already know, and it's something they don't talk about. Secrets. They're not helping her, so it's something they're afraid of. Shadows... whatever they're afraid of, it's nowhere to be seen, which means it's everywhere. Police state."

Just then, a lift bell pinged and the girl got up to go in the lift, passing a booth that contained a smiling clown figure which turned to watch her as it passed. "Where'd she go?" Amy wandered

"Deck 207, Apple Sesame block, Dwelling 54A." the Doctor recited, "Oh, you're looking for Mandy Tanner." He reached into his pocket and produced the girl's student ID card. "This fell out of her pocket when I accidentally bumped into her." He handed the ID to Amy. "Took me four goes. Ask her about those things, the smiling fellas in the booths. They're everywhere."

"But they're just things." Amy shrugged. She couldn't see anything amiss about them. True, they looked rather creepy, but she supposed they were just a futuristic version of the Zoltan machines.

"They're clean." the Doctor told her, "Everything else here is battered and filthy, look at this place. But no one's laid a finger on those booths. Not a footprint within two feet of them. Ask Mandy, "Why are people scared of the things of the things in the booths?'"

"No. Hang on, what do I do?" Amy blustered as she stood, "I don't know what I'm doing here and I'm not even dressed!"

"It's this or Leadworth." the Doctor retorted, "What d'you think? Let's see, what will Amy Pond choose? Ha-ha, gotcha!" He checked his watch. "Meet me back here in half-an-hour." He jumped to his feet.

"What're you going to do?" Amy asked him

"What I always do. Stay out of trouble." the Doctor replied as he walked away. "Badly."

"So much for not interfering, eh, Doctor?" Chelsea called after him and stood to go with Amy only to find that her cousin had already gone. She turned back round to see that the Doctor had gone too. "Ok, don't mind me. I'll just wait here till ya both get back." Chelsea muttered as she sat back down to wait for the others to return.

~8~

Chelsea passed the time by sitting on the bench and watching the scene unfolding before her. She was a rather observant person, preferring to stay in the background and watch the world go by around her. She noticed some men in black hooded cloaks skulking around and worked out that they were some sort of secret police who were spying on the public. As the men passed her, Chelsea lowered her head and tried to look as if she belonged. It worked as the men didn't even give her so much as a second glance.

Presently, a woman in a red cloak and a white mask approached her. "Are you the Doctor's companion?" the woman asked

"Uh, who wants to know?" Chelsea asked uneasily

"A friend." the woman replied, then checked a mini computer pad that she was holding. "He's in the engine room. Come with me, we need his help."

"No offence, but I don't know who you are or indeed anyone on this ship." Chelsea replied, "How do I know you're not gonna arrest me or something."

"I'm afraid you're just gonna have to trust me." the woman told her, "You're new to this ship and you don't really have a choice."

So Chelsea reluctantly went with the mysterious woman.

~8~

Meanwhile, the Doctor had reached Starship UK's engine room. He climbed down a ladder, placed his hand on a wall and pressed his ear to it to have a listen. "Can't be." he frowned and scanned the wall with his sonic screwdriver. He then saw a glass of water on the floor and lay down on the floor to stare at it.

"The impossible truth in a glass of water." a voice said and the Doctor looked up to see the masked woman standing there, Chelsea with her. "Not many people see it. But you do, don't you, Doctor?"

"You know me?" the Doctor frowned as he got to his feet.

"Keep your voice down." the woman urged, "They're everywhere. Tell me what you see in the glass.

"Who says I see anything?" the Doctor asked suspiciously

"Don't waste time. At the marketplace, you placed a glass of water on the floor, looked at it, then came straight here to the engine room. Why?"

"No vibration on deck." the Doctor stated, "Ship this size, engine this big, you'd feel it."

"Oh! And the water in the glass would vibrate." Chelsea realised, looking at the glass and noticing that the water inside was completely still.

"Exactly." the Doctor confirmed, "So I thought I'd take a look." He opened a power box on the wall. "It doesn't make sense. These power couplings, they're not connected, look." The wires inside the box were just dangling loosely. "Look, they're dummies, see?" He crossed over to the other wall and tapped it. "And behind this wall, nothing. It's hollow. If I didn't know better, I'd say there was..."

"No engine at all." the woman confirmed

"But there has to be" Chelsea said, "We saw this ship flying through space. How can it do that without an engine?"

"The impossible truth." the woman stated, "We're travelling among the stars in a spaceship that could never fly."

"Like Chelsea said, how?" the Doctor asked

"I don't know." the woman answered, "There's a darkness at the heart of this nation. It threatens us all. Help us, Doctor. You're our only hope. Your other friend is safe. " She handed the Doctor a device. "This will take you to her. Now go, quickly!" And she began to walk away.

"Who are you?" the Doctor called after her, "How do I find you again?"

The woman turned back to face him. "I am Liz 10. And I will find you."

The Doctor and Chelsea both heard a crashing sound and so they looked around. When they looked back, they found that Liz 10 had gone. "What is it with people and disappearing?" Chelsea commented, "First you, then Amy, and now her."

"What were you doing with her, anyway?" the Doctor asked her

"She came up to me about 15 minutes after you and Amy left me." Chelsea replied

"Oh, I thought you'd gone with Amy."

"I was gonna but she went on without me then I saw that you'd gone so I had no choice but to wait in the market then that woman approached me and said she knew where you were and needed your help."

"Amy forgot about you?" the Doctor raised a brow

"Ah, don't worry about it. Happens all the time." Chelsea waved him off, "I actually prefer not to be noticed. So, um, are we gonna find Amy now?"

"Yeah, I think we'd better." the Doctor replied, and so they set off to find Chelsea's cousin.

~8~

The Doctor and Chelsea followed the trace on the device Liz 10 had given to them to a corridor lined with doors. Mandy Tanner was sitting outside the one where Amy's signal was coming from. She informed them that Amy had been captured by the men in black cloaks and they'd brought her here to vote. The Doctor soniced the door open and he and Chelsea entered to find Amy sitting in front of four screens which were playing a recording of herself. In front of Amy were three buttons: one marked 'forget', another 'protest' and the third 'record', while a clown booth stood in the corner of the room.

"This isn't a trick." the Amy in the recording said, "You've gotta find the Doctor and get him back to the TARDIS. Don't let him investigate. Stop him. Do whatever you have to. Just please, please get the Doctor off this ship!"

Upon seeing the Doctor and her cousin, Amy hastily shut the recording off. "Are you ok, Amy?" Chelsea asked, looking at her cousin closely. Her eyes were red, like she'd been crying. "What was it?" Chelsea asked her

"I don't know." Amy blinked, "I've chosen to forget something, but what?"

Chelsea helped Amy out of the chair and the Doctor climbed onto it to scan the light fitting above them with his sonic. "Yeah, your basic memory wipe job." he said as he checked the readings, "Must've erased about 20 minutes." He jumped down and started fiddling with the screens.

"But why would I choose to forget?" Amy wandered

"Cos' everyone always does." Mandy spoke up, "Everybody chooses the forget button."

"Did you?" the Doctor asked her

"Doctor, look at her. Does she look old enough to vote?" Chelsea asked rhetorically

"She's right, I'm not eligible yet." Mandy confirmed, "I'm 12. Any time after you're 16, you're allowed to see the film and make your choice. And then, once every five years..."

"And once every five years, everybody chooses to forget what they've learned." the Doctor stated, "Democracy in action."

"How do you not know about this?" Mandy asked him, "Are you Scottish too?"

"Oh, I'm way worse than Scottish." the Doctor replied, "I can't even see the movie. Won't play for me."

"It played for me." Amy said

"The difference being the computer doesn't accept me as Human." the Doctor replied

"Why?" Amy asked, then remembered what the Doctor had said when Chelsea asked him if he was an alien. "You look Human."

"No, you look Time Lord." the Doctor waved her off, "We came first."

"So there other Time Lords, yeah?" Amy asked eagerly

The Doctor stiffened at that question. For him, it had literally only been yesterday that the Time Lords had briefly returned to the universe and tried to destroy time itself, forcing him to send them back to their doom. "No." he replied tactfully, "There were, but there aren't... Just me now. Long story. There was a bad day. Bad stuff happened, and d'you what? I'd love to forget it all, every last bit of it, but I don't. Not ever." Cos' this is what I do, every time, every second. This."

Chelsea wisely decided to change the subject. "So, um, d'ya wanna see if the movie will play for me?" she offered

"No, I've got a better idea." the Doctor replied, "Hold tight. We're bringing down the government." And with that, he slammed his hand down on the protest button. The door promptly slammed shut, leaving Mandy outside the room and the time travellers inside. The clown inside the booth turned it's head to reveal an angry, snarling face then the floor began to slide open, forcing the trio to back into the corner. "Say whee!" the Doctor cheered and both women screamed as they plunged into a chute.

~8~

The trio landed on what appeared to be a heap amid a pool of foul-smelling liquid. "High-speed air cannon." the Doctor said, jumping to his feet, "Lousy way to travel." He took out his sonic and scanned their surroundings.

"Where are we?" Amy asked as she and Chelsea struggled to their feet.

"600 feet down, 20 miles laterally, puts us at the heart of the ship." the Doctor replied, "I'd say... Lancashire. What's this, then, a cave? Can't be a cave. Looks like a cave."

"Looks like the Death Star trash compactor." Chelsea commented. "And it bloody honks!" she squirmed as she throw a piece of rubbish off her shoulder.

"Yes, but only food refuse." the Doctor replied, sniffing a piece of rubbish, "Organic, coming through feeder tubes from all over the ship."

"The floor's all squidgy, like a water bed." Amy said, kneeling down and feeling the floor.

"But feeding what, though?" the Doctor muttered to himself.

"Yeah, the floor feels all rubbery." Chelsea commented, nudging the floor with the toe of her trainer, "And it's all slimy."

The Doctor suddenly heard a distant moaning and stood up, realising where they were. "Er... it's not a floor..." he began, putting his sonic away, "It's a..."

"It's a what?" Amy asked, standing up as well.

"The next word is kinda the scary word." the Doctor said, "Ya probably wanna take a moment, get yourselves in a calm place. Go 'omm'."

"Doctor, stop patronising us and just tell us." Chelsea told him irritably

"It's... a... tongue." the Doctor grinned

"Oh, my God!" Chelsea groaned

"A tongue?" Amy questioned

"A tongue." the Doctor confirmed excitedly, "A great big tongue."

"This is a mouth?!" Amy spluttered, "This whole place is a mouth? We're in a mouth?!"

"Yes, yes, yes, the Doctor confirmed, "But on the plus side, roomy."

"How do we get out?" Chelsea hollered

The Doctor took out his sonic again and flashed it around the mouth to provide illumination. "How big is this beastie?" he wandered, "It's gorgeous! Blimey! If this is just the mouth, I'd love to see the stomach."

"You speak for yourself!" Chelsea burst out just as a grunting echoed through the mouth.

"Though not right now!" the Doctor said hastily

"Doctor, how do we get out?" Amy hollered, neither she or Chelsea being too keen on the idea of becoming a monster's dinner.

"Ok, it's being fed through surgically implanted surgical tubes." the Doctor said as he looked around, "So the normal entrance is..." He turned round to see the teeth of a closed mouth behind him. "Closed for business.

"We can try, though." Amy said, she and Chelsea rushing forward.

"No! Stop, don't move!" the Doctor hollered, but it was too late and the mouth heaved in agitation. "Too late. It's started."

"What has?" Amy asked fearfully

"Swallow reflex." the Doctor replied before they were all knocked flat on their backs. The Doctor recovered and began using his sonic on the walls of the mouth.

"What're you doing?" Amy asked him

"I'm vibrating the chemo-receptors." the Doctor answered

"In English." Chelsea demanded

"The eject button."

"How does a mouth have an eject button?" Amy asked.

"Think about it." the Doctor said simply, putting his sonic away.

"Oh, God, no!" Chelsea groaned as she realised what the Doctor meant.

All three stood to see an enormous wave of bile approaching them.

"Right then, this isn't going to be big on dignity." the Doctor said, straightening his bow tie, "Geronimo!"

Amy screamed while Chelsea threw her arms over her face and braced herself as the wave reached them.

~8~

The Doctor was the first to recover when it all was over. He found that they'd been thrown up out of the mouth and were now back on the ship. Amy and Chelsea were both sprawled unconscious next to him and both were absolutely drenched in chunder. The Doctor scanned them both with his sonic and found that Amy was unharmed but Chelsea had sustained a broken arm. "Sorry, Willows." he muttered to the unconscious woman. Her first trip with him and he'd gotten her injured, not a good start. He moved to examine a nearby door just as the women came to. "There's no sign of concussion." the Doctor told them, "Chelsea, you've got a broken arm, so sorry about that, and yes, you are both covered in sick."

"Where are we?" Amy asked

"Overspill pipe at a guess." the Doctor replied, trying unsuccessfully to open the door with his sonic.

"Oh, God, it stinks." Amy groaned as she stood up and helped her cousin up.

"That's not the pipe." the Doctor replied

"Can we get out?" Chelsea asked, wincing from the pain in her broken right arm.

"One door, one switch, one condition." the Doctor replied, moving to show them both a button on the door, a button that was labelled 'Forget.' "We forget everything we saw. Look familiar? That's the carrot." The lights came on to reveal two clown booths. "Ooh, here's the stick." the Doctor said, "There's a creature living in the heart of this ship. What's it doing there?" he demanded as he walked closer to the booths. The clowns turned their heads to reveal frowning faces. "No, that's not going to work on me, so come on. Big old beast below decks, and everyone who protests gets shoved down it's throat. That how it works?" The clowns' heads turned again to reveal angry, snarling faces. "Oh, stop it. I'm not leaving and I'm not forgetting and what're you fellas gonna do about it? Stick out your tongues?"

The booths opened and the clowns stepped out, revealing them to be robots. "Just had to open ya big mouth, didn't ya?" Chelsea groaned as the robots began to advance menacingly towards them.

At moment, Liz 10 stormed in sans mask and fired a pair of blaster pistols at the robots, blowing them apart. She twirled her pistols on her finger ala John Wayne and holstered them then turned to the trio. Now that she wasn't wearing her mask, they could see that she was a stately-looking black woman with curly hair. "Look who it is." the Doctor remarked, "You look a lot better without your mask."

Liz 10 turned to Amy. "You must be Amy. I'm Liz. Liz 10."

"Hi." Amy waved, wisely opting not to shake the women's hand given that she was currently covered in sick.

Liz turned to Chelsea. "Hello again, Chelsea. Sorry about ya arm. And the sick." She headed for the door. "You know Mandy, yeah?" Mandy Tanner entered the room. "She's very brave."

"How did you find us?" the Doctor questioned.

"Stuck my gizmo on you." Liz replied, tossing him an electronic tracker, "Been listening in. Nice moves on the hurl escape. So, what's the big fella doing here?"

"You're over 16, you've voted. Whatever this is, you've chosen to forget it."

"No. Never forgot, never voted." Liz replied, "Not technically a British subject."

"Then who or what are you?" the Doctor narrowed his eyes suspiciously, "And how d'you know me?"

"You're a bit hard to miss, love." Liz snorted, "Mysterious stranger, MO consistent with higher alien intelligence, hair of an idiot..." The Doctor pointed like he was about to argue but then ran his hand through his soaked hair instead. "I've been brought up on the stories." Liz continued, "My whole family was."

"Your family?" the Doctor questioned

Just then, one of the robots began to twitch. "They're repairing." Liz warned, "Doesn't take 'em long. Let's move." She led them out of the overspill pipe and into a corridor. "The Doctor." Liz explained as they walked, "Old drinking buddy of Henry XII, tea and scones with Liz II. Vicky was on the fence about you, wasn't she? Knighted and exiled you on the same day. And so much for the Virgin Queen, you bad, bad boy!"

"Liz 10?" the Doctor questioned as the penny dropped for him.

"Liz 10, yeah." she confirmed, "Elizabeth X." She spun round suddenly. "And down!" The others hit the deck as Liz fired her weapons at a pair of clown robots that had snuck up behind them. "I'm the bloody queen, mate. Basically, I rule." Liz said as she holstered her weapons, then she led down another corridor. "There's a high-speed vator through here." The Doctor stopped suddenly and looked into a closed-off lift shaft. Behind the grating were two tentacles sticking out of the deck and thrashing about wildly. "Oh, yeah. There's these things." Liz said, "Any ideas?"

"Doctor, I saw one of these up top." Amy remarked, "There was a hole in the road, like it had burst through, like a root."

"Exactly like a root." the Doctor stated, "It's all one creature, the same one we were inside, reaching out. It must be growing through the mechanisms of the entire ship."

"What, like an infestation?" Liz asked

"Someone's helping it, feeding it."

"Feeding my subjects to it." Liz said angrily, "Come on. We've got to keep moving." And she fumed away, Mandy following her.

The Doctor stayed where he was. "What is it?" Chelsea asked, noticing that he looked like he was going to be sick and not because of the chunder that was all over him.

"Oh, girls." the Doctor sighed, looking sympathetically the tentacles as they banged against the bars, "We should never have come here."

~8~

Liz led the time travellers to her state room, where they all had a wash to rid themselves of the chunder and the Doctor was able to put Chelsea's broken arm in a makeshift sling. "That'll do for now." he told her, "I'll fix it when we get back to the TARDIS." He then carefully tip-toed through the maze of water glasses on the floor. "Why all the glasses?" he asked Liz.

"To remind me every single day that my government is up to something, and it's my duty to find out what." Liz replied, lying back on her bed, rather frustrated at the turn of events.

"A queen going undercover to investigate her own kingdom?" the Doctor remarked, picking up Liz's mask.

"Secrets are being kept from me. I don't have a choice." Liz replied, "10 years I've been at this, my entire reign, and you've achieved more in one afternoon."

"How old were you when you came to the throne?" the Doctor asked, pacing around the room.

"40." Liz replied, "Why?"

"What, you're 50 now?" Amy questioned, putting her hair up, "No way!"

"You don't look it." Chelsea added

"Thanks." Liz smirked, "They slowed my body clock. Keeps me looking like the stamps."

"And you always wear this in public?" the Doctor asked, sitting on the bed, still holding the mask.

"Undercover's not so easy when you're me." Liz replied, "The autographs, the bunting..."

"Air-balanced porcelain." the Doctor stated, "Stays on by itself, cos' it's perfectly sculpted to your face."

"Yeah, so what?" Liz frowned

"Oh, Liz. So everything." the Doctor muttered thoughtfully.

Suddenly, the doors burst open and four of the hooded men Chelsea had seen skulking about the marketplace entered the room. "What're you doing?" Liz demanded angrily, "How dare you come in here!"

"Ma'am, you have expressed interest in the interior workings of Starship UK." one of the men said, "You will come with us now."

"Why would I do that?" Liz asked coolly. In response, the men's heads turned to reveal angry clown faces, like the ones in the booths. "How can they be Smilers?" Liz flinched.

"Half-Smiler, half-Human." the Doctor realised

"Whatever you creatures are, I am still your queen." Liz said to the Smilers, "On whose authority is this done?"

"The highest authority, ma'am." a Smiler replied

"I am the highest authority." Liz glared

"Yes, ma'am." the Smiler replied, "You must go now, ma'am."

"Where?"

"The tower, ma'am."

~8~

The smilers escorted the group to a large medieval dungeon-looking room which contained high-tech machinery and a grating through which they could see more of the tentacles. "Where are we?" Amy asked as they looked around.

"The lowest point of Starship UK." the Doctor replied, "The dungeon."

"Ma'am." a grey-haired man who reminded Amy and Chelsea of the Demon Headmaster approached Liz.

"Hawthorne." Liz recognised him, "So this is where you hid yourself away. I think you've got some explaining to do."

"There's children down here." the Doctor said, noticing a load of kids in the room, "What's that all about."

"Protesters and citizens of limited value are fed to the beast." Hawthorne stated, infuriating the Doctor, "For some reason, it won't eat the children. You're the first adults it's spared. You're very lucky."

"Yeah, lucky us." the Doctor growled, "Torture chamber of the Tower of London. Lucky, lucky. Except it's not a torture chamber, is it?" He examined the equipment. "Well, except it is. Except it isn't. Depends on your angle." He strode over to an open well which contained a pinkish lump that looked alarmingly like a brain.

"What's that?" Liz asked

"Well, like I say, depends on the angle. It's either the exposed pain centre of big fella's brain, being tortured relentlessly, or..." He tailed off as a device on the ceiling shot a bolt of electricity at the brain.

"Or?" Liz questioned

"Or it's the gas pedal, the accelerator... Starship UK's go-faster button."

Chelsea clapped her uninjured left hand over her mouth in horror as the penny dropped. "Oh, God. That thing's the engine!" she breathed

"And this place down here is where they hurt it, where they torture it, day after day, just to keep the ship moving." the Doctor confirmed, moving to another well and removing the grate. "Tell you what, normally it's above the range of Human hearing." One of the tentacles shot up out of the well. "This is the sound none of you wanted to hear." the Doctor said, and used his sonic on the tentacle.

A bloodcurdling scream filled the room. Amy, Liz and Hawthorne all covered their ears. Chelsea wasn't so lucky and had to endure the terrible screaming. "Stop it!" she yelled at the Doctor, who switched the sonic off and the screaming stopped.

"Who did this?" Liz demanded to Hawthorne.

"We act on instructions from the highest authority." Hawthorne replied grimly.

"I am the highest authority." Liz glared, "The creature will be released, now. " Hawthorne made no move to comply. "I said now!" Liz snapped, "Is anyone listening to me?"

The Doctor looked down at Liz's mask, which he was still holding. "Liz, your mask."

"What about my mask?"

The Doctor tossed it back to her. "Look at it, it's old. At least 200 years old, I'd say."

"Yeah, it's an antique, so?"

"Yeah, an antique made by craftsmen over 200 years ago and perfectly sculpted to your face." the Doctor said, "They slowed your body clock alright, but you're not 50. Nearer 300. And it's been a long old reign."

"Nah, it's 10 years." Liz insisted, "I've been on the throne 10 years."

"10 years. And the same 10 years over and over again." the Doctor stated, moving over to a table with a computer screen on it. "Always leading you here." He gestured to the table. On it were two buttons; one labelled 'abdicate', the other 'forget'.

"What have you done?!" Liz stared at Hawthorne

"Only what you have ordered." he replied gravely, "We work for you, ma'am. The smilers, the winders, all of us." He turned the screen on and a recording of Liz played.

"If you are watching this... If I am watching this, then I have found my way to the Tower of London." the Liz in the recording said, and the real Liz sat down in shock as the screen changed to show a diagram of a large creature that looked similar to a whale but with tentacles. "The creature you are looking at is called a Star Whale. Once, there were millions of them. They lived in the depths of space and, according to legend, guided the early space travellers through the asteroid belts. This one, as far as we're away, is the last of it's kind. And what we have done to it breaks my heart." Everyone watched the recording in solemn silence. "The Earth was burning, our sun had turned on us, and every other nation had fled to the skies. Our children screamed as the skies grew hotter. And then it came, like a miracle. The last of the Star Whales. We trapped it, we built our ship around it, and we rode on it's back to safety. If you wish our voyage to continue, then you must press the forget button. Be again the heart of this nation, untainted. If not, press the other button. Your reign will end, the Star Whale will be released and our ship will disintegrate. I hope I keep the strength to make the right decision."

"I voted for this." Amy shivered and turned to the Doctor. "Why would I do that?"

"Because you knew if we stayed here, I'd be faced with an impossible choice." the Doctor said grimly, "Humanity or the alien. You took it upon yourself to save me from that." He suddenly turned angry. "And that was wrong. You don't ever decide what I need to know."

"I don't even remember doing it." Amy protested

"You did it. That's what counts."

"I'm... I'm sorry."

"Sorry doesn't make it alright." the Doctor said coldly. He moved to walk away but Chelsea blocked his way.

"Leave her alone." she snapped, coming to her cousin's defence, "You saw what happens to everyone who protests. If Amy hadn't have chosen to forget, she'd be dead by now. Would you rather that happened?"

The Doctor avoided the question. "When I'm done here, both of you are going home." he growled

"Good." Chelsea retorted, "Cos' if this is how you treat everyone who travels with you, then we don't want to be with you." And she moved out of the Doctor's way, allowing him to go over to the instrument panels and start messing about with them.

"What're you doing?" Liz asked the Doctor cautiously

"The worst thing I'll ever do." he replied wearily, "I'm going to pass a massive electrical charge through the Star Whale's brain. Should knock out all it's higher functions, leave it a vegetable. The ship will still fly, but the whale won't feel it."

"That'll be like killing it." Amy breathed. What the Doctor was planning to do was basically a lobotomy.

"Look, three options." the Doctor growled, "One: I let the Star Whale continue in unendurable agony for hundreds more years. Two: I kill everyone on this ship. Three: I murder a beautiful, innocent creature as painlessly as I can. And then I find a new name, cos' I won't be the Doctor any more."

"There must be something else we can do." Liz tried, "Some other way."

"Nobody talk to me." the Doctor snapped. "Nobody Human has ANYTHING TO SAY TO ME TODAY!" he thundered, sounding and looking very much like an angry, self-righteous god who believed everyone else in the room were scum not worth the time of day.

A stunned silence fell among the Humans, which was broken when Chelsea said quietly; "Suit yourself, Time Lord." And she and Amy turned their backs on the seething Doctor, both deciding to try and find a fourth option, one that kept the ship flying while setting the Star Whale free at the same time.

Both young women were sitting on a bench trying to think of something when they were pulled out of their thoughts by some children entering the room. "Timmy!" Mandy gasped, running over to a boy, "You made it, you're ok!" Timmy didn't reply, he was too shaken up. "It's me, Mandy." the girl said as she tried to comfort her friend.

Amy and Chelsea watched as one of the tentacles reached up and tapped Mandy on the back. Rather than lunging at her, it let her and Timmy pet it. It suddenly dawned on Amy and Chelsea, the solution to this mess. "You'd better have this one." Chelsea encouraged her cousin.

Amy jumped to her feet. "Doctor, stop." she said as she hurried over to him, "Whatever you're doing, stop it now!" She turned to Liz. "Sorry, your Majesty, gonna need a hand." She pulled the Queen over to the buttons on the table.

"Amy, no!" the Doctor hollered as he rushed over, but he was too late to stop Amy, who slammed Liz's hand down on the abdicate button. The Star Whale bellowed loudly and the whole ship shuddered violently. Then after a moment, everything settled. "Amy, what've you done?!" the Doctor breathed

"Nothing at all." Amy replied calmly. "Am I right?" she asked Hawthorne, who went over to check an instrument panel.

"We've increased speed!" he spluttered in disbelief

"Yeah, well, you've stopped torturing the pilot. Gotta help."

"It's still here." Liz gasped, "I don't understand."

"The Star Whale didn't come like a miracle all those years ago." Amy explained, "It volunteered. You didn't have to capture it or torture it, all that was just you. It came because it couldn't stand to watch your children cry. What if you were really old, and really kind and alone? Your whole race dead, no future. What couldn't you do then? If you were that old, and that kind, and the very last of your kind..." She turned to look at the stunned Doctor. "You couldn't just stand there and watch children cry."

~8~

A little later, the Doctor was standing alone on an observation deck looking thoughtfully out at the vast expanse of space beyond. Presently, Amy joined him. "From her Majesty." she said, holding out Liz 10's mask, "She says there will be no more secrets on Starship UK."

"Amy, you could've killed everyone on this ship." the Doctor said seriously. On the one hand, he was glad he hadn't had to lobotomise the Star Whale, but on the other hand, he was rather alarmed at how recklessly Amy had gambled everyone's lives like that.

"And you could've killed a Star Whale." Amy countered

"And you saved it." the Doctor conceded, "I know, I know."

"Amazing though, don't you think?" Amy mused, "The Star Whale. All that pain and misery... and loneliness. And it just made it kind."

"But you couldn't have known how it would react." the Doctor pointed out.

"You couldn't." Amy said, "But Chelsea and I have seen it before. Very old and very kind, and the very, very last. Sound a bit familiar?" And they both hugged. "Hey." Amy said, pulled back.

"What?"

"Gotcha." Amy grinned and they hugged again.

Chelsea stood a short distance from them, watching them. She'd decided to give the Doctor a wide berth after his earlier outburst. She'd heard stories about how the Doctor believed himself to be a god who was better than everyone else. She'd taken them with a grain of salt but his outburst had caused her to believe that maybe the stories were true after all.

~8~

The trio were soon walking through the marketplace back to the TARDIS, the Doctor and Amy side-by-side and Chelsea trailing a short distance behind them. "Shouldn't we say goodbye?" Amy wandered, "Won't they wonder where we went?"

"For the rest of their lives." the Doctor replied, "Oh, the songs they'll write! Never mind them. Big day tomorrow."

"Sorry, what?" Amy stared and looked at her cousin, who gave her a look that told her that she hadn't said anything about the wedding.

"It's always a big day tomorrow." the Doctor said, oblivious to Amy's true meaning, "We've got a time machine. I skip the little ones."

They reached the TARDIS and the Doctor unlocked the door. "You know what I said about getting back for tomorrow morning..." Amy began, "Have ye ever run away from something because you were scared, or not ready, or just... because you could?"

"Once. Not long ago, actually." the Doctor replied, recalling his previous incarnation's fears about his forthcoming regeneration and the subsequent prevaricating.

"What happened?"

"Hello!" the Doctor grinned, gesturing to himself.

"Right." Amy laughed, then became serious. "Doctor, there's something I haven't told you..." She suddenly heard a phone ringing. No, hang on. Is that a phone ringing?" she asked as they entered the TARDIS, "People phone you?"

"Well, she is a phone box." the Doctor replied, moving to the console to prepare for departure while Chelsea just stood in the doorway, pointedly avoiding getting involved in the conversation. "Would you mind?" the Doctor asked Amy.

Amy traced the ringing to one of the auxiliary consoles and pulled out the mobile phone Martha Jones had left in the TARDIS. "Hello?" she answered, "No, seriously, who?" She pulled the phone away from her ear and addressed the Doctor; "Says he's the Prime Minister. First the Queen, now the Prime Minister. Get about, don't you?"

"Which Prime Minister?" the Doctor asked

"Er, which Prime Minister?" Amy asked into the phone. "The British one." she told the Doctor a moment later.

"Which British one?" the Doctor rolled his eyes. Clearly Amy didn't possess Donna Noble's temping skills.

"Which British one?" Amy repeated into the phone and her eyes widened at the answer. "Winston Churchill for you." she said as she passed the phone to the Doctor.

"Oh!" he said as he took the phone and put it on loudspeaker. "Hello, Winston, what's up?"

"Tricky situation, Doctor." the voice of Winston Churchill said over the phone, "Potentially very dangerous. I think I'm going to need you."

"Don't worry about a thing, Prime Minister." the Doctor grinned, "We're on our way." He hung up and piloted the TARDIS back into the Time Vortex.

"Are we really gonna meet Winston Churchill?" Amy asked excitedly

"All in good time, Pond." the Doctor replied, "First you need sleep. Bedrooms' are down the stair, through the door, down the corridor. Night-night!" And so Amy headed off downstairs. Chelsea began to follow her when the Doctor called to her. "Chelsea, wait a moment." Chelsea reluctantly stopped, rather uncomfortable at being alone with the Doctor. "Time to get that arm of yours sorted." the Doctor said

"It's fine, just leave it." Chelsea mumbled, not meeting his gaze, "It's not important."

"Of course it's important." the Doctor countered, "Nothing's more important than the wellbeing of my companions."

"You could've fooled me." Chelsea said to herself

The Doctor overheard her. "Alright, look, I'm sorry about earlier." he sighed, "I was out of line and I regret it. You were right. Amy had no choice and I was a bit harsh on her."

"A bit?" Chelsea scoffed

"Alright, I was a total dick and it was uncalled for." the Doctor admitted, "I didn't mean anything I said. I was angry and wasn't thinking rationally. And I'm not trying to make excuses, but I've had a rough last few days and I'm still discovering myself. I'll try not to loose it like that again, promise."

Chelsea studied the Doctor for a moment and decided that he seemed sincere. "Alright. What can you do about my arm?" she asked him

"Come with me." the Doctor replied and led her down the stairs and through the corridor to the TARDIS' med-bay. "Right, take a seat." he instructed Chelsea who sat down on a bed while he crossed over to a cabinet and pulled out a device that looked like a supermarket price scanning gun.

"What's that?" Chelsea asked apprehensively

"Dermal regenerator." the Doctor replied, crossing over to her, "It'll regenerate your broken bones. Hold still." He removed the sling and ran the dermal regenerator over Chelsea's arm. As he did so, Chelsea felt the pain in her arm lessen until she couldn't feel anything at all. "There we go." the Doctor said as he finished, "How's that?"

"Better." Chelsea replied, flexing her now healed arm, "Um, thanks, I guess. Am I ok to go now?"

"Yeah, course." the Doctor replied and Chelsea got up to leave. "Um, are we good?" the Doctor called after her, "You and me, are we good?"

"S'pose." Chelsea muttered. Although she was grateful that he'd healed her arm, she was still rather weary of the Doctor. "Anyway, night."

"Night." the Doctor called after her as she left the med-bay. The Doctor was thoughtful as he watched the young woman leave. He couldn't help but feel rather parental to Chelsea. Maybe it was because she'd lost her father during a battle he'd been responsible for, or maybe it was because she seemed to be something of a wallflower, or maybe it was a combination of both, he couldn't say for sure. He noticed she seemed rather wary of him, which he couldn't blame her for after his earlier behaviour, but he determined that he was going to try and encourage her to open up and trust him. He hoped that maybe tomorrow's visit to meet Winston Churchill could help with that.

Author's notes: And here we have another chapter. Sorry it's been a while, but I've recently started a part-time job which means I don't get as much computer time as I used to. So, The Beast Below is complete. I'm not overly fond of this episode as it's a mediocre mess. I especially don't like how much of a dick the Doctor is to Amy in this episode, so I've tried to remedy that. To explain about Chelsea's personality, I noticed that the majority of the Moffat-era female companions were rather flirty and domineering so I decided that Chelsea wouldn't be like that. She's more of a wallflower, mostly staying back and letting Amy do most of the talking, but she does come forward to defend Amy when the Doctor is being a dick to her and she's more talkative when Amy's not around. Regarding the Doctor and Chelsea's relationship, I'm thinking they'll have more of a parental/sibling relationship with the Doctor working to try and get Chelsea to open up more and Chelsea being a voice of common sense and reason to the Doctor. I'm not sure if their relationship will turn romantic. I'm actually thinking that a platonic relationship will work better. So, hope you like the new chapter and I hope to see you next time.