The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS, a child-like smile across his face as he looked out into his new surroundings. As he turned the lock on the wooden police box door, he observed cold, rusted metal walls and a large window with heavy metal shutters. He was in a hallway of some sorts, though he didn't know where yet.
"Now then," he said to himself. "If I were a distress beacon, where would I be?" He looked around, whipping his sonic screwdriver out of his tweed jacket. It's tip flashed green as he scanned around. "Well I guess I would not be anywhere, I would be put somewhere I had no control of…And I know what that's like…" he said, turning up his face as he remembered the time his own people had forced him to live on Earth as a punishment.
He had gotten an SOS message and being the man he was, he was unable to ignore it. With his sonic screwdriver showing no signs of finding the beacon he frowned at it and walked down the hallway. He had not walked far when he saw it. A skeleton sat on the ground below another big window. It had on it an orange spacesuit. "Oh…" Said the doctor with a hint of sadness, it wasn't uncommon for him to appear too late, however that didn't make it any easier to deal with.
A small red blinking light was shining on the suit, the beacon. "What got you then…?" he asked the corpse as he crouched down next to it. The spacesuit seemed intact and he could see no marks on it- obviously whatever had killed this person had done so without ripping her suit. He could make out a name tag on the suit, as well as lights flickering. "Must be running on backup power...which means there could be others alive… though this place looks a little run down..." he took out his glasses and read the name badge on the spacesuit:
"Holly Yelps… Nice name. I promise you, Miss Yelps, I will find out who did this to you." he said softly to the body. If there had been eyes to close, he would have closed them out of respect, however there was nothing but empty sockets. He stood up and looked at the window in thought before pointing his sonic screwdriver at it. "Now if you're in a spacesuit, and this window has a shutter on it that means-" but he was cut off as the shutters opened and he felt his body being sucked towards the open air. He had been right, he was in space on a ship.
However, what he had not counted on was the glass on the other side of the shutter being broken. He let go of his sonic screwdriver in shock, and it flew out into the vacuum of space. Fortunately, he managed to grab a hold of the edge of the window and with all his might he pulled himself back in. His eyes darted around frantically, he knew the type of window and to his luck it was the type that had a manual release. His eyes were drawn to a big red lever which he pulled with a jolt. Much to his relief the shutter closed and he fell to the floor.
"Ok, note to self, never open shutters." he said, gasping for breath as he got up onto his feet again. "So, I have learned we are in space, this ship is unstable and I just lost my sonic screwdriver, not one of my smartest moves, I must admit." he moaned to himself. He saw little point in mourning its loss, he could get a new one from the Tardis later. He walked down the corridor, noticing it was curved. "So I'm in a space station ring, then." he thought. He soon came to a large door with a small panel next to it. He pressed the button as it stuttered but eventually slid open. It looked to be the bridge? Or some sort of control room. It looked a right mess, whatever had happened to this ship must have happened quite a long time ago. Vines covered the walls and overgrown plant pots laid smashed on the ground. He walked over to the controls and had a look at them. The year on the display read 2075. He engrossed himself with the console to try and find out what had happened. He checked the logs, almost blank like they had been wiped. Apart from one log.
"Year: 2025, Cargo picked up from Earth at 18:00. Should be able to get it to Velatrom within the week if Yelps can fix that worp belt but knowing her it could be quicker to get a replacement." The doctor laughed a little.
"So, she was an engineer huh? So what's she doing away from the engine room…" He looked up and jumped. At the door he had just come though was a weeping angel, blocking his exit.
"Oh hello there, couldn't be bothered putting the kettle on? I see how it is." he joked as he stood up to face it. The angel stood with its arms out to the side. The doctor knew it was a sign that there was only one angel, for if two looked into each other's eyes they would be frozen in time so, as it made no attempt to shield its eyes, the doctor deduced it had to be alone. "So let me guess, you're the cargo and you zapped the crew of this ship back in time to a point where nothing stood in this spot so they died in the vacuum of space while you ate up the energy that was created, did you?" The angel was stone and could not reply but as the doctor backed away he could not help but blink.
However, the angel didn't come closer, but instead had scratched something into the wall. "Almost?" The doctor read out. He was confused. He wanted to turn and run out the door at the other end of the room but that would mean taking his eyes off the angel. "Of course… If that was the case then why would a body be on this ship…
"This is not your normal behaviour..." Then he spotted it. The angel was smiling. They rarely smiled. "Why are you smiling then? Know something I don't?" Of course he got no reply as he reached the back wall. He had no one to run to, however the angel had not zapped him while it had the chance, maybe it wasn't trying to? He knew it was a risk, however, he blinked.
When he opened his eyes he cursed himself, now not only was he without a sonic screwdriver but also without a Tardis. He suddenly noticed that although he was still in the same room, the vines which once covered the rusted walls were gone, in fact, so was the rust. People stood all around him. They looked surprised and a woman pointed a gun at him.
"Who are you and how the hell did you do that?!" she cried out. His eyes flew to her name badge, she wore a similar suit to Yelps, however her name was listed as "Capt. Dilly Creek" thinking quickly he put his hands up.
"Don't shoot, I have my ID in my pockets!" he said, putting on a scared voice.
"Yelps, check him" Captain Creek called as he saw a young woman walking towards him. This was Yelps then. He spoke as she reached into his pocket and pulled out the psychic paper.
"My name is Doctor John Smith of the Intergalactic Spaceship Board of… Inspections," He said, trying to make up something off the top of his head, hopefully that the psychic paper would not let him down.
"His ID checks out Cap," said Yelps, who was reading it. The Captain gave her a scowl and came closer, the doctor could barely hear her whispering.
"How many times, Yelps, not in front of the crew!"
She seemed to compose herself before facing the doctor again and lowering her gun.
"So, Mr Smith, why are you inspecting our ship?" She asked, still sounding suspicious. The Doctor remembered back to the ship's logs he had read in the future.
"I heard you were heading to Velatrom but you have a faulty worp belt, am I correct?" He asked, smoothly.
The Captain sighed.
"Yes, it's a minor issue, I can assure you Doctor, no need for any inspection." she said dismissively... rather too quickly, the doctor reconded.
"Well, either way I am afraid my transmat back to my own ship will not activate for another 24 hours, so I am sure you will understand if I have a look around as I am here?" the doctor lied, clasping his hands with a grin.
Before anyone could say anything he turned to Yelps. "Ah yes, you look like an engineer, mind showing me the engine room?" She seemed to freeze up and looked over his shoulder to see the captain's face. She nodded slowly.
"Of course, Doctor Smith," Yelps said nervously as she led him out of the main room. Once he had gone the few other members of the crew who were milling around returned to work. Captain Dilly Creek, however, had a new task at hand.
"What's your game, Doctor Smith?" the captain muttered to herself as she started checking a panel.