3. The Lounge.
Chloe's mother, Crystelle, is entertaining guests when Chloe arrives in the lounge, unannounced, strapped into an ancient parachute that she is sitting on and wearing goggles of the era she has just visited. The guests, Alan and Belinda, look around to see Chloe sitting in an armchair in the corner of the room, her height incongruously boosted by the packed parachute. .
"Chloe, please knock when you come in," Crystelle chides gently. "And what have you got on? Where have you been?" Many apparent dangers run through Crystelle's mind as she looks at Chloe, horrified. She tries to control the anxiety in her shaky voice.
"Mum, the Doctor, you've got to help him!" Chloe manages to stutter.
Guest etiquette demands that Crystelle can't just suddenly go and help.
"It'll wait, Chloe," Crystelle says as calmly as she can. She knows the supreme urgency that might be beckoning her, but time machines can wait; they're good at that! They can surely find when to go back to and go there from any moment?
"I'll finish my coffee, first, anyway," Crystelle says with composure. "Oh, and do go and change out of that ridiculous kit! Everyone else is wearing summer clothes." .
After the guests have left, Crystelle rushes to Chloe's room. "Now we can go and help," she says with focussed urgency. "How can we best help?"
"Mum, you have your borrowed Tardis," Chloe says (ref. 12). "Can we go and land it inside a tiny plummeting plane and rescue the Doctor? He's in deep difficulty."
This sounds tricky. "Where could I land it inside a tiny aeroplane?"
"But your Tardis only needs a flat panel, and it can become a door?" Chloe asks.
"I've only ever done that when I've noticed a handy panel, and the plane has been stopped on the tarmac, and I've had time to do it, and persuaded my Tardis to go there," Crystelle says (ref. 13). "I've never materialised the Tardis at speed or in a tiny aircraft that might not have a handy flat panel. And then, what about the date, the time, the place?"
"Let's try, Mum," Chloe pleads.
Crystelle doesn't need persuading, but she needs to see a clear way forward that will work, not just clutching at straws. She has developed a clear, practical mind which can help at times like this.
Crystelle's borrowed Tardis is parked in the house. They go in and walk to the Console. Crystelle has enabled Voice Control, or she would have no chance of flying it.
"Please, Tardis," Chloe says, "we need to save the Doctor. He's in a tiny aeroplane heading groundward. I've no idea even what the year is, but my wristwatch Tardis just brought me back home from there. Can you help?"
The Tardis screen goes red, indicating, perhaps, that the Tardis is unable to help.
"It can't access the data on your wristwatch!" Crystelle says.
"Or if it can, it can't tell what to do with it," Chloe says. "It doesn't know how the miniature access port is made."
"Or what it does," Crystelle says. "You told me your wristwatch Tardis doesn't even use the Time Vortex!"
"Can we enclose the Doctor in the small plane?" Crystelle asks her Tardis.
The Tardis monitor screen goes red again.
"Either he's plummeting and locking onto the speed is a problem, though I doubt it, or my Tardis just can't find out where the Doctor is from your wristwatch."
Chloe and Crystelle look at each other. Oh, help!
Will they be able to help the Doctor?
"Please tell me what happened," Crystelle says as they walk through to Chloe's room.
She hears the whole story, including the layout of the tiny aeroplane.
"I have an idea," Crystelle says. "How many people can your wristwatch Tardis take?"
"I've no idea," Chloe says. "I've never tried more than just me, and once I took my pet mouse."
"Just how big is the cockpit of this tiny plane?" Crystelle asks.
"Tiny, mum," Chloe says. "What did you have in mind?"
"If I hold your hand, and I hold the Doctor's hand, you might have a free hand to press the activation button," Crystelle says.
"But it's so cramped," Chloe complains. What if you overlap into part of the plane structure as we materialise?"
"We'll just have to risk that!" Crystelle says. "I'm ready! I have another plan, too. I'll take my Tardis summoner in case I see a flat panel."
Chloe sits on a chair and Crystelle sits on Chloe's lap. "Can we swap please, mum?" Chloe groans. .
"Yes, of course."
Chloe sits on Crystelle's lap. "Hold my hand, mum," Chloe says as she thinks of the aeroplane with the Doctor in it and presses the activation button...
The chair suddenly isn't nearly as high or as comfortable. "Just as well I have some padding!" Crystelle says as she recognises that they have arrived in the tiny plane. .
The wind whistles past the plane's open cockpit canopy. Chloe reaches forward to grab hold of the Doctor.
She feels around.
"Mum, he's not there!"
"What? Then let's get out before we hit the ground!"
"Where is he?"
"Never mind that, we must just get out of here!" Crystelle screams as the ground rushes up towards them.
Can they leave before hitting the ground? Chloe hasn't tried her wristwatch Tardis much. This really is testing it.