It was late when she wandered back to the TARDIS, alcohol bringing a rosy glow to her cheeks and slowing her pace to a comfortable stroll.
What's the point in this bar, she wondered, stuck out here in the middle of the desert?
She pushed her TARDIS key into the lock and let herself in. Lights on the control panel blinked at her. She locked the door behind her and then wandered over, yawning, to see what had gone wrong now.
S'pose the type of people it attracts are the kind that aren't bothered about isolated locations. The kind of people who want to avoid the more reputable establishments on other planets. Jim must be making a fortune in trade 'ere.
The navigation system was offline again. She sighed, thought for a moment, and then gave one of the panels a good kick.
She smiled as she rechecked the readout. Navigation system back online.
She'd intended to do a little reading before bed, but tiredness seemed to have settled on her like a shroud. The Doctor would have teased her about her human metabolism if he'd been with her, and she found herself smiling at the joke he wasn't there to make.
She made her way to the kitchen, deciding that a mug of hot chocolate was required before bed. As she boiled the kettle her eyes drifted to the Doctor's chair at the large wooden table. One of his jumpers was still slung over the back of it. She hadn't gotten around yet to tidying it away.
If she was honest, she was too scared to go into his room. She wasn't ready yet, to pack away the little traces of the Doctor that were scattered around all over the TARDIS. It would be like her Dad's trophies; tidying them away was some sort of sad symbolism, an acceptance that he was never coming back.
Tomorrow, she decided, she would travel to the future. For the present, she was taking her mug of hot chocolate to bed.
Rose hit the floor, hard, as the wall of the TARDIS briefly became the floor before it righted itself again, groaning like a ship in a storm.
It took a few seconds for her sleep-muddled senses to make sense of what the Hell had happened, and to work out why she was on the floor, the entire right side of her body stinging. It was as if someone had tipped the TARDIS over... but she was sure that was impossible...
Scrambling to her feet, she grabbed the sonic screwdriver, dashed out of her room and down the corridor. The TARDIS lurched again, sending her spinning into the wall. The floor started to judder.
She gasped in shock as she stumbled into the control room. The entire control panel was ablaze with lights, lit up like a Christmas tree.
More important, however, was the man.
He was tall, dressed only in a pair of tattered trousers. His skinny torso was streaked with mud and blood, a gash running from his shoulder to his navel. He held one of the screens in his hands, his forehead pressed against it.
"'Ow did you get in 'ere?" she demanded, brandishing the sonic screwdriver as she looked him up and down.
He turned his head and gave her a piercing look from blue eyes that seemed somehow familiar. "I know your face," he murmured, his voice cracking, "But I can't remember your name."
Realisation dawned and her knees almost buckled as a sick feeling took hold of her stomach. The word seemed stuck in her throat but she swallowed and managed to force it out into the world. "Doctor...?"
His eyes widened. "Rose." It was a statement rather than a question.
A choking sob rose in her throat and she felt herself sliding towards the floor as her legs turned to jelly.
The TARDIS seemed to leap sideways and she hit the floor rather harder than she had intended. As the TARDIS rolled like a barrel in water, she found herself sliding towards the wall. Without warning, the ship turned completely upside down. She flailed madly for a handhold, failed to find one, and hit the ceiling just as the TARDIS righted itself again.
She fell from ceiling to floor, landing on her left arm. A sickening crack was audible over the groaning of the time-machine and Rose screamed in pain. She had never broken a bone before, but she knew with absolute certainty she had broken at least one now. Tears forced themselves from her eyes but she struggled to her feet,holding her damaged arm to her body.
The Doctor hadn't moved. He was still clutching the screen.
She'd been bounced across the control room, and he hadn't even looked over to make sure she was okay...
"What the Hell is going on!" she shrieked, the pain making her voice shrill.
He muttered something, but the noise the TARDIS was making drowned out his words.
She stumbled across the control room, almost blinded by tears, breathing ragged.
It hurts it hurts it hurts, oh God it hurts so much.
"Where are we?"
"I want to go home," he murmured. Close to, she could see a dark bruises beneath his coating of blood and mud. There was another gash across his forehead, still glistening with blood, almost hidden by his mop of reddish hair. His eyes were slightly glassy and the sick feeling in her stomach intensified. She recognised that glazed look; he wasconcussed.
"Doctor... your planet doesn't exist anymore," she whispered.
"What?" His shoulders sagged. "No..."
She felt hot bile rise into her mouth as the movement revealed his back to her for the first time. The flesh was a bloody pulp. He'd been beaten...
Beaten so badly. And I wasn't there to help him. Oh God.
He fell to his knees beside her, a strangled sob escaping his throat. The TARDIS shuddered again and she tried to think through the pain.
Have to get out of here. Time to understand later.
The readout on the screen had turned itself back into the dancing letters. She thumped it with her good hand. The words became English, but they were still dancing.
"I can't read it when you make it dance!" she howled, as the agony in her arm rose to a crescendo.
The words stopped dancing.
+Navigation system offline+
+PROXIMITY WARNING: TEMPORAL TEAR+
+LIFE SUPPORT LOW+
+Structural integrity 34+
+PROXIMITY WARNING: TEMPORAL TEAR+
+Inertial dampening offline+
She swore, repeating the obscenity under her breath, an crude mantra. She punched in co-ordinates as quickly as she could, praying they had enough power, enough oxygen to make the journey, that their trip into the remnants of Gallifrey had not damaged the TARDIS to the point where the trip through space would tear it apart.
Beside her, she could hear the Doctor crying. "Rose... oh, Rose."