A/N: Chapter 100! Who'd have ever thought that it would go this far? Thank you all so much, enjoy the chapter and let me know what you think! Oh, and apologies for any spelling mistakes or grammar errors.
"Hey, are we really going to risk it?" Bram asked his brother, all geared up and ready to go. "That thing is spewing poison. We should blow it back into space."
But Gregor wasn't listening to him, he had other ideas in his head. "Get your gear."
"Hey, I don't take orders from my kid brother." Bram protested, really not happy with his brother always bossing him around all of the time.
The Doctor was watching them both closely, because he just knew that something was going on. "Don't try and form sentences, all right? Stick to what you do best." Gregor told him, passing him his hammer and tapping him on the cheek.
But there was something else that the Doctor was confused about. "Tell me, since when does an android need a blast suit and a respirator?"
"Flesh coating." Bram answered, before anyone else could. "Same as us, he'd burn up. Right, Tricky?"
The youngest of the men, Tricky, was almost ready to go now as well. "No fear, no hate, no pain." He told the Doctor, before wandering over to the TARDIS, ready to get on with the mission.
The Doctor wasted no time in joining them at the blue box, and pulling out his key, trying to get the door open but struggling a little. "Salvage of a lifetime?" Gregor still wasn't entirely convinced, but he had a back up plan at the ready.
"I feel pretty confident I can deliver on that." The Doctor told them, before finally kicking the door open. "Here we go."
The moment the door was open, more smoke came billowing out, and the three men put on their dark goggles, ready to follow the Doctor into his ship. Once they were inside, they were all more than jut a little confused. "I don't get it." Gregor said as the Doctor walked straight towards the console. "I thought she was lying on her side."
"The TARDIS is special. She has her own gravity. I'd explain if I had some charts and a board pen." The Doctor told him, knowing that there was no way to explain it, but more importantly there was no time to explain it. Kari and Clara were somewhere, and he needed to find them.
"It's… it's… it's bigger…" Gregor didn't really know how to say it, but the Doctor sure did.
"On the inside." He finished. "Do you know, I get that a lot."
Tricky was the next person to make a comment, after having a look around with his torch shining brightly. "Whoa. Awesome."
"Well put. 'Whoa' and 'awesome'." The Doctor told them, before flipping a switch on the console, turning on the extractor fans and clearing the room of all the smoke and fumes. "Safe to breathe." He announced, resulting in everyone taking off their respirators. "Okay, now, the last thing I remember, you were both right here. Come on, Kari, talk to me." He was wandering around with his sonic screwdriver in his hand, trying to find Kari and Clara.
"How big is this baby?" Bram asked, still totally overwhelmed by what he was seeing.
The Doctor put his screwdriver away and turned to look at the man. "Picture the biggest ship you've ever seen. Are you picturing it?" Bram confirmed that he was, as the Doctor walked past him. "Good. Now forget it, because this ship is infinite."
"Take you hours to find those girls." Gregor said, still speaking with no emotion in his voice, something that the Doctor had picked up on.
"Days. Plus this whole place is toxic. They could be dead by the time I reach them." The Doctor told them, knowing that Clara was more at risk from the fumes that were floating in the air than Kari was. "So, here's the mission. We're going to find them in one hour." He announced, taking them all by surprise.
"We?"
The Doctor knew that they hadn't seen it coming, and he knew it was one step ahead of them. "You're my guys for this." He told them seriously.
But Gregor was ready to protest. "That wasn't the deal."
"It is now." The Doctor told them, standing in position at the console, ready for what he was going to have to do next. He knew they would need a little encouragement, and he was ready to give them that.
"What makes you think we'll help?" Bram asked, not entirely sure what was going on.
The Doctor quickly pulled down the two levers he had his hands on, and a count down began on the monitor in front of him. "I just activated the TARDIS self-destruct system. One hour until this ship blows." There was a serious look on his face, and Bram was the first to make a run for the door. "Don't try to leave. The TARDIS is in lockdown. I'll open the doors when Kari and Clara are both by my side." Nothing was going to stop him from finding Kari, nothing.
"You crazy lunatic!" Bram shouted at him still struggling to try and get the doors open.
"My ship, my rules!" The Doctor shouted back angrily. Right now, he was a dangerous man to cross. His Kari was in danger, and being on his bad side was not a good place to be.
Gregor and Tricky moved around the console to where the Doctor was staring at Bram, who was still tugging at the doors. "You'll kill us all. And the girls." Gregor told him, trying to make him see some form of reason.
"They're going to die if you don't help me. Don't get into a spaceship with a mad man. Didn't anyone ever teach you that?" The Doctor told them, knowing that Kari would have giggled at that. Even when she wasn't there, she was still in his head. "Okay, a little gentle persuasion." He said, now that all three of them were trying to get the doors open. He flipped several switches over, already knowing exactly what he was going to do. "Say thirty minutes." He pressed a button on the console, and the timer jumped from fifty nine minutes to twenty nine minutes.
The men were all horrified at what he had just done. "They'll die even quicker now!" Bram shouted.
But the Doctor was going to keep his cool now. "We all perform better under pressure. Anybody want to go for fifteen minutes?" The Doctor put his finger on the button, and they all rushed towards him, hands out in protest, telling him not to do it. "It's your own time you're wasting. Salvage of a lifetime. You meant the ship. I meant my wife."
No one said anything as they followed the Doctor, his sonic screwdriver back in his hand, the end lit green as it buzzed away. The corridors were lit with the angry red lighting partially, and the Doctor know that they had to move quickly.
"Guys, guys, look." Gregor called, getting the group to stop. "I think we should split up. It's our best chance of finding the girls. You know it is."
The Doctor wasn't too happy with that idea, he didn't like having strangers in the TARDIS, and he certainly didn't like letting them wander alone. He knew that they picked up scrap, salvaged what they could, and that meant he didn't trust them. But Kari was there somewhere, protecting Clara. "Don't touch a thing. The TARDIS will get huffy if you mess." The Doctor said, before walking off.
The Doctor missed what Gregor told his brother to do. "Keep in radio contact, all right." The man said to Tricky, who quickly went to follow the Doctor. "Get back to the console. Strip it apart." Bram nodded at him and went back the way they had just came.
Gregor carried on walking, a small device in his hand that kept bleeping. "Everything." A female computerised voice called from the small handheld device.
"What? Report."
"Everything, behind that door." The computer said once more, causing Gregor to stop and look at the door he was standing before.
"Everything?" It was clear that he didn't believe it, that he wasn't entirely sure that his computer was working properly.
"Sensor detects everything you could possibly want." That was all the man needed to hear, before hitting the button to the side of the door, watching it slide open. "Everything."
What Gregor could see confused him. He had no idea what it was, or how much it was worth. All he could see was what looked like a tree of wires, with big bulbs of light hanging down from it. "I don't understand. Give me a price tag." He said, wanting to know more.
"Incalculable."
A frown formed on his face. "What?"
"More valuable than the total sum of any currency." The computer replied to him. "Living metal. Bespoke engineering. Whatever machine you require, this system will build it." A smile formed on his face as he held onto his laser cutter. He knew what he had to do now.
He had just turned on his laser cutter, ready to cut through the metal, ready to take what he could. "No! No, no, stop!" The Doctor shouted, rushing into the room with Tricky right behind him. "Please, don't. Don't touch it. Please, she won't let you touch it." He said, knowing that things would get even more dangerous if he didn't listen to him. "I can feel a TARDIS tantrum coming on." He said, holding onto one of the glass bulbs with some intricate Gallifreyan writing on it.
Gregor was annoyed that he had been interrupted, but with the Doctor there, he could gather more information. "What the hell is this place?"
"Architectural reconfiguration system." The Doctor told him, still gently holding the bulb. "It reconstructs particles according to your needs."
"A machine that makes machines?" Gregor was getting more and more excited now. As far as he was concerned, he had hit the mother load.
"Yes. Basically." The Doctor told him uncomfortably. He had been lucky to walk in when he did, the TARDIS was protecting Kari, Kari was protecting Clara, he couldn't let anything else go wrong. The next thing he knew, Gregor had grabbed one of the bulbs. "What are you doing? No, no, don't. Don't!" The Doctor cried. "If you walk out of here with that circuit, the TARDIS will try to stop you. Now listen to me. Look, the clock is ticking. We must find Kari and Clara."
But Gregor didn't listen to him, and he yanked of one off the bulbs, the lights on the others all going out for a brief moment while a horrible screeching noise sounded out around them. The Doctor and Tricky both put their hands over their ears while Gregor walked over to where the door was, or should have been.
"What the… Where's the door gone?" Gregor asked, as Tricky joined him, taking a look for himself. They both knew that they had all come in that way, but now the door had just disappeared.
The Doctor knew that there was no other way out. "Ever seen a spaceship get ugly?" He asked, knowing that this wasn't just affecting them, but it would he happening to Kari and Clara as well. He just hoped that they were somewhere safe, and that the TARDIS really was looking after them.
"This isn't happening." Gregor commented, feeling the wall and trying to find the door so that he could get out of there with his priceless hoard.
"She won't relinquish it. Her basic genetic material."
Tricky was at the wall as well, feeling it, trying to work out what had happened, when Gregor tossed something to him. "Torch it." He said, resulting in Tricky looking at him in confusion. "I said, torch it." Gregor then said, only with a lot more anger in his voice.
But the youngster was smarter than the other man. "Can't you feel it, Gregor? The ship… the ship's in torment." He said trying to get the man to understand. "Like it's a living thing. You can't hurt it."
Gregor just took the device from Tricky, and got it ready himself so that he could torch the wall. As he did, the door suddenly appeared. "What's the matter, TARDIS? Scared to fight me?" He asked, heading out the door with the glowing bulb in his backpack.
There was a grim expression on the Doctor's face, because he knew it wasn't over. He knew what the TARDIS was capable of, he had seen what she would do to protect Kari, he knew that she would go further to protect herself.
He got himself out of there and started to follow the two men. As they went, the Doctor noticed something, and he knew it would only be a matter of time until they noticed it as well. "It's the same." Tricky finally said as the reached the same junction yet again. "It's just the same."
"It's diverting us, spinning a maze around us. We will never reach Kari in time, and Clara is with her." Of course the Doctor was worried about both of them, but Kari was… well, she was his Kari, she meant everything to him. She kept him grounded, she kept him sane. She stopped him from making stupid mistakes, and she got him out of trouble when he did make mistakes. He needed her more than anyone would ever know. Gregor just ignored him and started to walk away. "Hey! Hey!" The Doctor called, chasing after him, only for them to arrive back in the same place.
"It's just the same. Again." Tricky said, knowing that it was just going to carry on now. It was frustrating him, but he knew there was nothing he could do to stop it.
"No point building walls." The Doctor told them, knowing what the ship was doing and why. "You'll just know how to smash them down. It's found other ways of controlling you. Smart bunch, Time Lords. No dress sense, dreadful hats, but smart. If you want to get out of here, let that circuit go. It is creating a labyrinth." The Doctor was really starting to lose his patience now, and Kari wasn't there to calm him down.
Only Gregor didn't answer him, it was Tricky who was talking, but not to them. "Bram? Bram, can you hear me? Bram, the ship is alive. Get out of there. Bram, don't touch anything. Bram, you've got to get out of there fast.'" He knew what the man was up to in the console room, and he knew it meant trouble. He really did seem to be the smartest one out of the lot of them, even if he was an android.
While the Doctor was stuck in a labyrinth with the two strangers who were meant to be helping him, Kari and Clara were dealing with their own problems. "Okay, so what actually happened?" Clara asked as they walked through the corridors.
Kari let out a sigh, she really hated having to explain things sometimes. "The Doctor took the shields down when he put it in basic mode, and because the shields were down, we got caught in a magno-grab. That disabled the TARDIS, causing everything to go absolutely mental and for us to be walking around completely lost." Kari was deliberately leaving out everything else that she knew.
"Right, so all we have to do is make it to the console and we'll find the Doctor and everything will be fine." Clara said hopefully. Kari simply nodded at her, knowing that it really wasn't going to be that simple. "Well, since we're lost, we might as well try in here." The woman said, opening one of the doors and stepping through it.
Kari let out a sigh as she closed the door behind her and looked at the contents of the room. The first thing that she saw was the same thing that Clara had noticed and was stepping towards. In all honesty, she had completely forgotten about that room, the room filled with memories of friends long lost.
"Hello, Melody…" Kari whispered, running her hand along the side of the cradle, before her hand lightly spun the stars and planets mobile hanging above it.
Clara was now looking at her strangely. "Do you know whose cot that is?" She asked, watching Kari closely, who simply nodded at her a little. "Who does it belong to?"
"The Doctor, it's… it's his, when he was a baby. It's his cradle." Kari told her, trying not to think too much of River. She missed her, she hadn't seen her in what seemed like forever, and she only hoped that she would see her soon.
"But you said 'Melody'." Clara reminded her, having actually heard her whisper.
Kari closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Uh, yeah, Melody was the last baby to use it. It was a bit of a hectic time, her parents were desperate, and this was all that was to hand, since we weren't on Earth." Although she hadn't been there yet, she just assumed it went pretty much how she knew it.
"I thought you were going to say that she was yours and the Doctor's daughter. Where is she now?" That was probably the worst question Clara could have asked her, but Kari knew she was just curious.
Ignoring the first comment that Clara made, she found her reply. "She's out there, somewhere. Causing trouble, knowing her. Oh, the things that woman does." Kari couldn't help but chuckle a little, knowing that River would always be causing trouble. It was just who she was, she definitely took after her mother in that way.
Clara looked at her and shook her head. "No, sorry, not getting it. Woman? How long ago was she here?"
She knew that she had to explain it a little more, even though she really didn't want to. "Melody Pond, daughter to Amy and Rory Pond, best friends of the Doctor. Born on an asteroid in the midst of a war, stolen away in the chaos. She grew up as her parents best friend, and they never knew it was her." Kari explained, not sure how much she could tell the woman. Clara had never met River, but she would at some point. "But anyway, she was all grown up when we found her, she wasn't baby Melody any more, she was River Song. She was my best friend, well, she still is."
With out realising it, Kari had let a few tears slip down her cheek. "I'm sorry, I didn't know." Clara said, gently resting her hand on Kari's arm.
"It's fine, not many people do know." Kari told her, quickly brushing away the tears. "Maybe you'll be lucky and you can meet her one day."
Clara smiled at her, before going and looking at more of the things that resided in the room. "What is all of this?" She asked, picking up a cardboard model of the TARDIS.
"Memories." Kari replied, spotting a purple jacket and feeling her eyes tearing up. She was getting upset when she knew she would see all those people again, but the Doctor, he didn't have that chance. There were so many people that were lost to him, and he had a whole room as a reminder. "You know, we should go, Clara. All of this stuff is special to the Doctor, we should just leave it alone."
But Clara was too busy investigating, and being nosey, picking up a magnifying glass, before spotting a black umbrella. Kari had a really bad feeling already, because she knew that they weren't alone in there, and she wanted to get out. That bad feeling grew when a growl flittered through the room, and Clara let out a gasp.
Kari quickly grabbed a hold of her hand. "Come on, we need to go." She whispered, before dragging her out of the room.
"Okay, what was that thing?" She wondered, as Kari kept a tight hold of her hand. But Kari didn't answer her, she kept her mouth firmly shut. "Kari, what was that? What was in there?"
"Nothing, it doesn't matter." Kari told her, which resulted in Clara stopping and refusing to move. "Clara, we do not have time for this, we have to go." Kari warned her, knowing that they were being followed.
"Just tell me the truth, is there something here? Is there something here that shouldn't be here?" It was clear that she was serious, and that she wanted a truthful answer from Kari.
A sigh escaped from Kari's lips, and she was about to reply to the woman when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. "Clara, now really isn't the time. Now, move!" She ended up grabbing onto Clara's arm and dragging her along with her.
Luckily, Clara didn't seem to protest too much, as she heard the growling noise coming from behind them. "Uh, yeah, okay." She muttered, her heart racing in her chest. For Clara, this would have been the perfect time for her to explore the TARDIS, but she knew something wasn't right, and she wished Kari would tell her.
The pair of them kept on running, past the observatory with an old Victorian telescope inside. Clara actually would have been impressed if she had the time to stop and look at it and not running away from something she didn't know about. She just about managed to get a glance at the gigantic open air swimming pool, with a pair of flippers sitting by the ladder into the pool.
"Quickly, in here." Kari whispered, dragging Clara through a door way and into a large room. As they leaned against the shelving, she let out a slight hiss of pain, before looking at her hand. She could see the letters finally starting to show through, but it still hurt.
"You knew it was going to burn, did you?" Clara asked her, watching her carefully. Kari just nodded at her. "You picked it up so that it wouldn't burn me?"
"Yup. But it doesn't matter, it will heal quickly." Kari told her, before hearing that growling noise again. "Shush." She ended up saying, as they both took a step further into the room.
Clara now had a better view of where they were, and she looked up at the rows and rows upon books, and the height of the ceiling. "Now that's just showing off." Clara said, absolutely amazed with the size of the library. "Is this where you and the Doctor usually hang out then?"
"Uh, sometimes we do, depends on what mood we're in." Kari told her, glancing behind herself every now and again, keeping an eye out for what was following them.
"How many books are there?" It was easy to see that Clara was impressed with the size of the library, but Kari knew that there was one library out there that was bigger than the one they were standing in on board the TARDIS.
Clara's question was something that Kari couldn't really answer, because she really didn't know. "I have no idea. I've spent so much time in here, but I have no idea how many books the Doctor has. I wouldn't even like to guess, because I just know that I would be wrong." She answered, as they walked further in.
"The Doctor really does like to show off, doesn't he?" Clara asked, her eyes scanning all the bookshelves as they passed them.
Kari couldn't help but chuckle a little. "Oh, you have no idea. He had over seven squash courts, I mean why does he need seven? It's not like he can play on all of them at the same time, is it?" She rambled, remembering when they actually lost half the rooms in get through to the bubble universe. "Sometimes I just think he is greedy, as well as the fact that he really does like to show off."
"I don't know how you put up with him sometimes." Clara told her, a small smile on her face. "Doesn't the protective way he acts get a little overbearing at times?"
That was something else that Kari didn't really know how to answer. She knew that the Doctor could be protective, she had seen it often enough, but it never seemed that bad to her. "It's just who he is, Clara. He has always been like that, but I know it's only because he cares. Sure, there are times when I think he is getting a little too much, but you just have to say something to him, and he calms down." She explained to her. The Doctor was who he was, and Kari loved that about him, over protectiveness as well.
"You really do love him, don't you?" Clara's smile just grew bigger.
"Just a bit, yeah." Kari replied, a smile on her own face now. "Look, stay here a minute, do not wander off. I need to just check on something." What she really wanted to find was her own sonic screwdriver. She knew that the Doctor would be looking for them, and she knew it would be so much easier for him to find them both if she had her screwdriver for him to home in on.
Clara just looked at her with a frown on her face. "Why? What are you going to do?"
"My screwdriver, I need it, and this stupid dress doesn't have pockets." Kari groaned. "Seriously, why do I keep picking dresses that don't have pockets? Why do I always forget my bag when I need it the most? Just stay here, and do not move." Kari told her, before rushing through the library. She was hoping that the TARDIS would be kind, and shift the rooms around, letting her get to her room without too much hassle and too much time.
While she was gone, Clara done exactly what she was told not to do, she wandered. She couldn't really help herself, the library was huge, she wanted to look around and investigate it. She had no idea how long Kari was going to be, and she wasn't going to stand in the same spot until she came back.
There was one book that seemed to catch her attention, one book on a stand, all on its own. The book itself was rather large, an old leather cover surrounding it. Clara looked at the title of it, engraved in a piece of metal that was stuck into the cover, 'The History of the Time War'. Of course, she couldn't resist it, and she opened it and began to read.
Something in the book managed to get her attention even more. "So that's who…" She whispered to herself, before the book what slammed shut with some force, taking her by surprise and causing her to let out a yelp.
"I thought I told you to stay put." Kari growled at her, not impressed that she had poked her nose into that book.
Clara was taken back by her sudden attitude change. "I'm sorry, I just… I'm sorry." She said, not really know what else she could say.
"You read it, didn't you?" Kari asked her, glaring at her, really not happy. "You read the book, didn't you?" She didn't understand why she was so angry, she knew Clara was going to read it, she knew what the woman was going to see in there. Maybe it was because it was the Doctor's book, that it was something he didn't want other people to touch, to know about, that got her so riled up.
"You know, don't you? You know what the book says." Clara asked her, before they hear a clanging noise, followed by a growl.
Kari knew that the creature was with them, and that they needed to get out of there. She quickly grabbed Clara's hand and pulled her between the bookcases, trying her best to keep calm. She had her screwdriver now, the TARDIS had actually put it in the library for her. "Not a sound, Clara, not a sound." She whispered, listening to the creature growling and snarling.
Without warning, she dragged Clara to the ground, before pulling her out of their hiding spot and into another. The both crouched on the ground, listening, and waiting. Kari could different voices, and looked up to see the row of bottles on the shelf above her. That was when Clara leaned back, and one of the bottles spilt. But Kari was quicker, and caught it before anything could spill out.
Kari put her finger to her lips and held up her other hand. The creature was getting closer, and she could really feel her hearts pounding in her chest now. Although she knew what was there with her, it didn't stop her from being afraid, in fact, it actually made her feel worse.
As they waited, the growling became louder, and Kari knew that it was almost time for them to make a run for it. She looked at Clara and nodded, who gave her a short nod in return. A second later and the creature rushed past them, giving them the time they needed to run out of the library and into the corridor.
"What the hell was that thing?" Clara asked as they ran as fast as they could, wanting to get as far away from the library as they could.
"You don't want to know, Clara, trust me, you do not want to know." Kari replied, watching where they were going and just praying that the TARDIS would help them get to the console room. "Console room, come on. Console room. Please, Sexy, take us to the console room." She muttered, hoping that the ship could hear her and would help them.
Kari couldn't believe her luck when the console room appeared in front of them at the end of the corridor they turned down. "Oh, thank you so much, you Sexy thing. You are absolutely amazing." Kari called, rushing into the room, with Clara right behind her.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you." Clara cried, rushing over to the console and kissing it.
"Starting to warm up to her now, are you, Clara? Want me to leave the pair of you alone?" Kari asked her, a smirk on her face.
Clara just looked at her. "Oh, shut up." She said, before noticing something wrong. "No! The door. Where's the door gone? No, you can't do this."
But Kari wasn't panicking, she was just standing at the console, waiting. "I can feel a TARDIS tantrum coming on…" Kari muttered, before grabbing a hold of one of the monitors and picking something up from under the console. "Clara, just calm down, yeah? Everything is going to be fine." She said, using the pen she had just picked up and writing on the monitor in front of her.
Although Kari and Clara were safe in the console room, the Doctor was still stuck in one of the corridors with the two men still, and they had just heard a scream. "Channel's dead." Gregor told them all, confident that it was his brother who had screamed.
"We've got to help him. Gregor, do something! Do something!" Tricky ordered, getting very frustrated and annoyed with the man.
"It's too late." Gregor spat back at him. "He's gone. Just worry about the salvage."
Tricky couldn't believe what he was hearing, and nether could the Doctor really, but he was going to stay out of it, for now. "You care more about that circuit than you do about him." Tricky shouted, ready to start a fight.
The Doctor knew that he needed to step in now, because they had other things to worry about. "Your concern for your brother is really touching." The Doctor pointed out, breaking the two apart. "The android is more cut about it than you. Now, will you two stop bickering and listen. There is something else down there."
As the two men listened to their earpieces, hearing a hissing sound, the Doctor was scanning with his screwdriver, trying to find out where that something else was. "We've got to get out of here." Tricky said, really starting to get unnerved. "Gregor, give it back. Give it back to her." He said, going and yanking the bright bulb out of the other mans rucksack.
But Gregor turned on him. "What are you doing? You're always on the side of the machines!" He said, just as the bulb dropped to the ground and rolled away.
"Fellas!" The Doctor shouted, looking at his screwdriver as he got their attention. "Multiple life forms on board the TARDIS with us. I am getting a massive signal." He told them, backing up into the junction and standing with the other two.
"Where are they?" Tricky asked, just having that sinking feeling that it was going to be bad.
"You're not going to like the answer." The Doctor told them, before looking a little nervous himself. "About two steps away." He whispered, before there was a low growling noise. "One step." They all slowly turned their heads when they heard a snarling coming from behind them, before they all screamed and made a run for it. "Gregor, look out!" The Doctor called, looking at the monster. "Careful! Gregor, no! We have to stay together." The man had ran off the other way after picking up the circuit once more, with the conjoined monster blocking the way. "Come on, run. Tricky, run." The Doctor told him, after helping him up and looking at the creature. "I'm sorry."
The Doctor and Tricky ran through the corridors, doing their best to get away from the monster and find their way back to the console room. Eventually, they did make it. "Back where we started." Tricky said, sounding a little disappointed.
But the Doctor knew it wasn't as simple as that. "No, it's an echo. The console room is the safest place on the ship. Well, second safest, Kari's room is the safest, but that's not the point. It can replicate itself any number of times. It's trying to protect us." He explained, walking around and around the console.
"Because I tried to give back the circuit?" Tricky asked, trying to get it all straight in his head. One minute the TARDIS was fighting them, then next it was protecting them.
"Team TARDIS." The Doctor replied, before he knocked a few things off from the console, which never landed on the floor, but disappeared instead.
Even Tricky had noticed it. "Where did… where did that go?" He was definitely freaked out, and regretting having anything to do with grabbing the ship in the first place.
That was when it twigged in the Doctor's head. "There's more than one echo room." He told him, before noticing a shadow walking around. "Hey, look. Look!" He pointed to where it was moving around the room. "The TARDIS has got them safe. That was them. That was them there." He said, before looking down at the broken monitor. "Ha! Oh, oh Kari you are brilliant." He said, before Tricky came and looked at monitor.
"A message?" Tricky asked, before reading it out. "'Waiting for you Doctor.' Who wrote that?"
The Doctor couldn't help but smile, he knew that it could only be one person. "Kari. Kari wrote it, they're both here, they are both safe." He couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.
"Then why can't we see them?" The man asked, looking around the room. He couldn't see anyone, only shadows.
"It's like a light switch. Two positions, flickering at super-infinate speeds. We're only together for a brief second." The Doctor told him, before pulling down a lever. "Shush." The pair of them listened, and they could faintly hear voices talking. "I can hear Kari."
"Clara, calm down. It's all right, everything is going to be fine." He heard Kari saying. "No, Clara, don't open that…" The next thing they heard was another woman screaming. "Any time now, Doctor!"
"She's let it in. She's let it in!" The Doctor cried, knowing exactly what Clara had just done. "Ah, if I can just isolate their positions, I can nudge the alternation, reach in and grab them." He said in a panic as he rushed around to the different control units.
"Screwdriver, Doctor! My screwdriver!" He heard Kari shout, her voice echoing over the screams of Clara.
The Doctor let out a slight chuckle. "Always one step ahead." The Doctor said, a small smile on his face.
"Console room, echo imprint of the original." A computer voice called, before Gregor appeared in the room with them.
"You're coming with me. I need you to get me out of here." Gregor said to the Doctor, just wanting to get out of there with his prize.
The Doctor, however, had other ideas and quickly used his sonic screwdriver on the device that the man was holding. "Scanning for female human. Scanning for female human. Unidentified human." The computer called.
"It doesn't know Lancashire." The Doctor could easily lock on to Kari with her screwdriver, but Clara kept moving around, getting out of reach, meaning he couldn't get her. "It doesn't know sass." The Doctor added, before it started bleeping. "Yes! It's found Clara as well. It's found her." He told them, before turning on his sonic screwdriver, and the sound of Clara screaming flooded the room, and so did Clara. The Doctor grabbed a hold of her hand, and pulled her through. "It's all right. Clara, I'm so, so sorry. Sorry. Please, please forgive me, Clara." He said, trying to get her to calm down.
Instead, Clara just looked at him angrily, before punching him on the arm. It was clear to see that she was really annoyed with him. "You… you…" She really didn't know what to say to him.
"Ow! Okay, so we're not doing the hugging. I get that now." The Doctor replied, rubbing his arm. The next thing he knew, someone had slapped him around the back of his head. "Ow!" He cried before spinning around to see who had hit him.
Kari was standing there, glaring at him. "Take long enough, Doctor?" She asked him, her hands resting on her hips. "Did you not see the message? Did you not hear me at all?"
The Doctor ignored what she was saying and just grabbed hold of her, hugging her tightly. "I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry. I'm sorry." He whispered to her, burying his face in her hair. He didn't want to admit it, but he had been extremely worried about her. "I'm sorry, Kari. I'm sorry."
She let out a sigh, knowing that he had been worrying and that it really wasn't his fault that it took so long. "All right, I forgive you. Just don't do it again." Kari warned him, pushing him away a little.
Kari noticed a frown forming on the Doctor's face as he looked at her. "What happened?" He asked, concern flooding his voice as he spotted the dried up blood on her head. "You're head…"
"Doctor, it's fine, I just hit it and got knocked out when someone decided that the TARDIS was the perfect salvage and we got caught in a magno-grab." Kari answered, glaring as best she could at Gregor. Her glare was intensified by the fact that her eyes had started glowing, because she was starting to get angry.
The Doctor pulled a cotton hanky out from him pocket, glancing over at Clara who was still trying to calm down. "Are you all right?" He asked his Kari, wiping away the blood a little.
She gave him a small smile. "Yeah, I'm okay. I would say that the hit to the head has made me hallucinate or something, but I know that isn't the case." The Doctor could only look at her, knowing exactly what she was talking about. At least he knew that Kari understood everything that was happening, and he knew that he wouldn't have to explain anything to her. Kari knew exactly what was after them, and what was going to happen next.
A/N: Well I hope you guys enjoyed that chapter. I have a little something special up my sleeve, it's going to be a good week, but you are going to have to just wait and see what happens. Keep your eyes peeled!
A big hello and welcome to all of those who have favourited/followed the story recently, glad to many people are still reading this, 100 chapters in! As always an absolutely massive thank you to everyone who takes the time to leave me a review. You guys total rock!
I'm going to go and plot in the corner now, big week ahead, big big week…
Pippa.