Lieutenant Adventures Series 16, Episode 7, 16 September 2022. Cosmos Part 3.

Previously: Just then, there was an explosion on the console and sparks flew out of the Telepathic panel.

The Lieutenant was very worried and quickly moved around to the panel and examined it.

The Telepathic panel was completely faded, it was dark and grey.

The Lieutenant's heart sank. He had lost the Telepathic panel.

The Lieutenant sighed and looked around the TARDIS. He now only had a functioning steering panel. He did not know what to do. He closed his eyes, looking for Engross. 'Contact,' he said.

Engross was right there, smiling back at him. 'Hmmmm, yes, contact, indeed,' she said. 'I knew you'd come to me when you were in trouble. What do you want me to do for you?' she asked.

The Lieutenant grinned. 'I have an idea to help you out soon, but I wondered if you can help me out first. I'm looking for the prison ship the Clockwork Droids are on,' said the Lieutenant.

'Yes, of course, I know, but I needed to hear you say it,' said Engross. 'You're going to the Void, the hologram horse still works, it will bring you to that ship but you have to be very careful because they have that ship now,' she said.

'Yes, and going on board to trap them on what is now essentially their own ship,' said the Lieutenant.

Engross nodded. 'It is going to be tough, Lieutenant, good luck,' he said, breaking contact.

The Lieutenant opened his eyes and took a moment to steady himself.

The TARDIS dematerialised.

'Thank you!' exclaimed the Lieutenant to Engross.

The TARDIS locked onto her co-ordinates, she was running out of energy, fast, but she had to try her best for her Time Lord, she knew he had to finish what he started. Taking most of her remaining strength, the TARDIS locked onto the Void and plummeted toward is, shaking violently in the process.

The Lieutenant fell against the console. He felt helpless, there was nothing he could do to help his TARDIS. He briefly caught sight of himself in the central column and saw marks on his neck. 'That'll be left over from the Master,' he said to himself, and used enough regeneration energy to heal his neck back to how it had been when he regenerated.

The TARDIS mostly powered down and spiralled down into the Void, landing with a thud.

The Lieutenant felt the impact ring throughout the whole room, like he had never felt a TARDIS thud before and he was genuinely concerned for her health. 'Are we there?' he asked himself as he moved towards the door and opened it, staring out into whiteness. He stepped out of the TARDIS and looked around. It was strange to be here again. He looked around the side of the TARDIS and saw the familiar, flickering hologram horse that was the teleport to the former prison ship of the Clockwork Droids. He turned around to directly face it and just stood staring at it for a while. Finally, he took a deep breath and walked up to the hologram and right through it.

In what felt like an instant, the Lieutenant was stood on the prison ship, looking around himself. He seemed to be in a sort of long corridor. He turned around to see a series of cells behind him. He then knew where on the ship he was. These cells, dozens of them, had once imprisoned the Clockwork Droids in a state of stasis. He wasn't an expert on these cells but he was going to assume that if he stepped into it he would not go into stasis. He stepped forward and an alarm went off all around the ship.

The Lieutenant cursed himself and looked up and all around himself. 'Of course!' he exclaimed. 'Motion detectors, detecting anything on board which is not their species,' he said to himself. There was no time to think now. He ran forward to the nearest cell, pulled the door open, all doors of all cells opened with it, they were all linked. He stepped in, closed the door again and did his best impression of being in stasis, staring straight ahead.

'Intruder on board!' exclaimed the alarm voice.

There was the sound of creaking as the Clockwork Droids identified the direction of the alarm and began making their way towards it.

The Lieutenant backed as far back into the cell as he could, trying to get ahead of the Droids. He knew they'd been waiting for him. No-one else was going to accidentally find a hologram in the Void, of all placed, and accidentally follow it to the ship.

'Lieutenant!' exclaimed a robotic voice, that had not yet seen him but was heading towards him.

The Lieutenant breathed shallow breaths and stared straight ahead.

The Clockwork Droids, together, turned the corner and, on seeing the Lieutenant, stopped, staring at him, confused. Due to his recent regeneration, they were not sure it was him.

The Lieutenant counted, out of the corner of his eye, he was about five steps from the cell door, they were about seven steps from the cells. His plan might work. He didn't dare move his eyes. He took his time and chose his moment well, then he took a step forward.

Just as the Lieutenant thought, the Clockwork Droids, all of them synchronised, took a step forward with him.

The Lieutenant tried not to look relieved but he had a hunch his plan was going to work, especially as his guess on not going into stasis himself had worked, that was because the Gate did not recognise his species as the one which belonged behind it. He took three more steps forward so that he was right near the cell door.

With the Lieutenant, the Clockwork Droids, again, synchronised, took three steps forward with him.

The Lieutenant, not moving his eyes, surveyed the door, waiting for his moment, he would need to give it a shove and then move quickly.

The Clockwork Droids beat him to it. 'It is the Lieutenant!' exclaimed the Droids.

The Lieutenant's heart sank but he made an executive decision and launched forward, shoving open the cells' doors and stepped out.

The Clockwork Droids, synchronised with him, launched with him and stepped into the cells.

The Lieutenant slammed all the doors, he hadn't managed to catch all of them but he was proud of those he had caught.

The Clockwork Droids realised they had been played at their own game and turned around to face the Lieutenant but their stasis kicked in and they powered down. Even those outside of the cells powered down at that moment.

The Lieutenant watched them and, just to make sure, took a step towards them. They remained still. He stood back, satisfied with his work. He then looked up at the motion detectors and set off in the direction the Clockwork Droids had come from. It led to a control room. He searched for about an hour for something to do with the motion detectors, to shut them off. He finally found it and shut it off. 'Thank goodness for that,' he said. He made his way back to the cells and looked at the post the skeleton keys had once hung on. He had forgotten about the skeleton keys! He then relaxed a bit. If there were going to be keys here, he was allowing someone, in the future, to release the Clockwork Droids. He smiled slightly and looked back at the dormant Droids. The ship was, once again, a prison ship. He then reached out and touched the post, which brought him back to the Void. Once back in the Void, the Lieutenant briefly looked at the hologram horse and smiled. 'Until next time,' he said, turning to face the TARDIS and re-entering it.

Once in the TARDIS, the Lieutenant closed the door and leant against it, knowing the journey he had against him and sighed. 'You're nearly there, Lieutenant,' he told himself. He pushed himself off the door and went in search of his trench coat. He knew it was somewhere but not where he left it. He descended a flight of stairs and found it scrunched up against the engines. He retrieved it, flapped it out and put it back on. He hated it but he wanted to look his best for what was ahead of him. He climbed the stairs back to the console and strolled around it slowly, full of emotion, as he inspected every panel which was dead. 'You won't last another journey,' he said to the TARDIS. 'I'll kill you altogether. I'll help you,' he said, stroking the console.

The Lieutenant stood, looking at the console for a moment and then moved around to the Telepathic panel. He stood looking at it for a bit, then be held up a hand and it began to glow with regeneration energy.

'No, don't,' said Engross telepathically.

'I'd may as well,' said the Lieutenant, 'I can. You helped me, now it's my turn.' He put his hand down on the Telepathic panel and transfered his energy into the panel and did not lift his hand until the lights were restored to the panel and it shone brightly again, full of life. He lifted his hand, then and, still glowing, he moved around to the Navigation panel and placed his hand onto that panel in the same way, again, not removing his hand until the panel, once again, shone brightly with coloured lights. Then he lifted his hand and the glowing stopped and he smiled, happy with his work. He then punched in the co-ordinates for Trenzalore and moved around to the steering panel. He looked up at the central column and grinned. 'Here we go, one more time, you can do it!' exclaimed the Lieutenant as he yanked the Master Lever.

NEXT TIME

He pushed himself off the door and went in search of his trench coat. He descended a flight of stairs and found it scrunched up against the engines. He put his hand down on the Telepathic panel and transfered his energy into the panel and did not lift his hand until the lights were restored to the panel and it shone brightly again, full of life. He walked off, into the town, in search of people, sights, scenes, fun, work, food, for himself, a life.

The Lieutenant

Liam Hickey

Engross

Jenny Lynn Swift

Director

Darwin Meads

Writer

Liam Hickey

Producer

Caitlin Parker

M/S 2022