Chapter 9

Tara and Sara sat on the mezzanine above the main console, staring at a holographic chess board between them. Sara moved her last rook and tapped the holographic clock. Tara studied the board and then took Sara's rook, tapping the clock.

Below them, something on the console began to beep. Sara glanced in the direction of the beeping.

"What's that?"

"Nothing. Your move."

Sara tried to focus on the board, but the beeping quickly became aggravating. "It doesn't sound like nothing."

"It isn't anything."

Something banged against the door. Sara looked at Tara. Her eyes moved to meet Sara's. There was another bang on the door.

"That doesn't sound like nothing," Sara told her friend.

"The beeping is telling me there is a life form in the area."

"Is that life form the one hitting the door?"

"No. The life form I'm detecting is not the one hitting on the door. It is much further away and quite large, actually."

"That isn't a comforting, Tara."

Tara offered a devilish smile.

Sara laughed. "You are an ornery old maid!"

The banging started up again.

"Then what is banging on the door?"

Tara looked at the board. "Cybermen."

"What the bloody hell are Cybermen?"

"Cybernetically augmented humanoids."

The banging resumed again. Sara shot the door a nervous glance.

"Can they get in?"

"They cannot."

"Are you sure?"

"I am sure."

"How can you be sure?"

"I have precautions in place to keep them from hacking my systems."

"Precautions? And what is hacking?"

"Hacking is forcibly gaining access to my systems without my consent. The precautions are, well… I'll call them walls. Someday you'll call them firewalls."

"I will? You're sure of this?"

"Well, perhaps not you, but your grandchildren will."

"Oh. So, I'll have children and grandchildren?"

"Yes. You will also have—"

"Ah-ah! That's enough about my future. I don't want to know that much about it."

"Why is that, exactly?" Tara looked up at her. "Ever since we've met, you've stopped me from telling you anything about your future, even if it could make your life easier."

"I like surprises."

The banging on the door continued, but the two had grown accustomed to it by now.

Tara smiled. "But you can't possibly think that is preferable."

"I do. I want to believe I have free will and that I can make any choice I want."

"You would have more free will if you knew how your choices would impact your future. Without knowing that, you don't have true free will."

"That's hardly a sound argument. If by making choices without knowing how the choices change my future, then that is still free will."

"That is not free will. To have true free will—"

The door flew open and The Doctor and Nardole ran in, slamming the door behind them. Nardole quickly locked it and both men let out a sigh of relief.

"That was close," The Doctor said.

"Closer than I cared for, thank you," Nardole tersely snapped. "Why are we even here?"

"I had to fix a tinsy part of history." The Doctor walked over to the console in the center and began flicking switches. He glanced up at the two, away, and then turned.

"Hello, ladies," he said to both.

Sara smiled.

Nardole walked up next to him, staring at the two. "Who are you two?"

Tara looked at him, then at The Doctor. "You've never told him about me or Sara?"

"Wasn't important." He turned back to the controls.

"It's important now, don't you think?"

He motioned at each during the introduction. "Nardole, Sara, Sara, Nardole."

Tara and Sara laughed.

"And who is she?" Nardole pointed at Tara.

"The TARDIS graphical interface. We call her Tara."

"Why haven't I ever seen you before?" he demanded of Tara.

"We've never had a situation that I needed to interact with you."

"And you?" Nardole walked toward the two, shaking a finger at Sara. "How did you get in here? The door is set to friends only."

For a moment, no one spoke, and the realization hit him suddenly. "Sara is your friend?" Nardole turned to The Doctor.

"We're friendly, not friends."

Nardole looked up at her again. "Then how did you get in here?"

"I'm her friend." Sara waved a finger at Tara, then around the space.

Something began banging against the door again.

"We're taking this conversation on the road," The Doctor said, fiddling again with the controls.

"You're friends with the TARDIS?" Nardole asked Sara.

"Yes."

"How? She's a machine?"

"I am a sentient being, the same as you," Tara corrected him. "I can make friends."

"All right. How many friends do you have then?"

"Human or otherwise?"

His brow dipped. "In total."

"Dozens."

"Dozens?" Sara asked Tara.

"He asked in total."

"You've never mentioned that to me. I find it surprising since you aren't inclined to trust easily."

"To be fair, nearly all of them are other TARDIS," Tara explained. "You and an Alpha Centurion are my only non-TARDIS friends."

"Oh! That's, uhm… I forget his name."

Tara laughed. "You can't pronounce his name. You keep calling him Bob."

"He looks like a Bob."

"He does look like a Bob," The Doctor agreed.

Sara and Tara chuckled.

"Hold on!" Nardole demanded.

The two looked back at him.

"First off, why does it sound like there are dozens of TARDIS out there?" He made a general wave toward the doors to indicate 'out there.' "And second, why are you friends with a human or an Alpha Centurion? I mean… You're a time machine, not a… a…"

The women and The Doctor didn't offer a suggestion.

"Well, you're not exactly able to leave here," Nardole finally said. "So how can you even make friends if you can't go out and about?"

"I can project the graphic interface up to five hundred feet from the TARDIS."

"Or two kilometers with my locket," Sara said, tapping the locket around her neck.

"Doctor," Nardole said, pointing at Sara. "Didn't that locket belong to—"

"Which reminds me, Doctor," Tara said, cutting Nardole off. "I saw the loveliest field of flowers that we should go visit someday," Tara told him. "They were colors I've not seen on another planet. Unfortunately, they were toxic to Sara, so she couldn't get close enough to tell me what they smelled like. But I detected you could."

"I think we can fit that in now," The Doctor told her.

Tara smiled. "Thank you."

"No one is answering my questions!" Nardole bellowed.

"There are dozens of TARDIS, although not all of them have a Time Lord," Tara answered. "And yes, I have two friends who are not machines as you put it. And TARDIS aren't machines, Nardole."

"Has Bill met either of these two?" Nardole asked The Doctor.

"No. Not yet."

"When do you plan to introduce them?"

He didn't answer.

"You're not going to introduce them to her?"

"I hadn't planned on introducing either of them to you and meeting Bill is a choice Tara and Sara must make."

"Why is it up to her to do that? She's your TARDIS."

The Doctor turned a cool smile on him. "She is not my TARDIS, I am her Time Lord. And Sara is Tara's friend. It's up to Tara to decide when and to whom she makes those introductions, not me." He leaned toward Nardole. "The only reason you are seeing either is because Tara doesn't entirely dislike you, so she's fine with introducing both herself and Sara to you."

"She doesn't entirely dislike me?" Nardole turned back to Tara, appalled by the thought she might not like him. "You don't entirely dislike me!?"

Tara laughed and Sara giggled.

"That's not funny!" Nardole loudly objected.

"It's kind of funny," Sara said.

"It is a little funny," Tara added.

"You dislike me?" he asked Tara with a pouty expression.

"Not entirely. You annoy me less than when I first met you. And I don't know that Sara and Bill will ever meet. We've never discussed it."

"We could now," Sara said.

"Sure. Do you want to meet Bill?"

Sara thought for a moment. "Do you want her to know about you?"

"Not really."

"There it is, Nardole. We'll meet Bill sometime later."

The Doctor turned around. "Why don't you want Bill to know about you, Tara?"

"I don't feel comfortable with her yet. Why do you think I left you two on Mars? I wasn't sure I wanted to bring her back at all."

"That was rude," he told her. "You stranded me as well."

Sara smirked. "Calling Tara rude for up an leaving ya is the pot calling the kettle black, Doctor."

"Watch it, miss." He said, shaking a finger at her as he turned back around. "I am nothing like Tara."

"Well, that is true." Tara leaned over the chess board. "He can't actually travel through time and space like I can. And unlike me, he can gain a few pounds."

"I can program a few pounds on you, Tara," he jokingly threatened.

The two laughed.

Sara suddenly stood, leaning on the railing. "Doctor… You can see again!"

"Yes. That was Bill's doing."

"Good for Bill."

"Well, not really. She nearly destroyed humanity to do it," Nardole told her.

"I'm still not entirely pleased with that," The Doctor added.

"But you saved humanity?" Sara asked.

"Bill saved humanity."

"So, she nearly destroyed it, but saved it, and you're still upset with her? Grudges aren't a good thing to hold, Doctor," Sara lectured.

"It's not really a grudge. I just have this feeling that…" He shook his head, not finishing his thought.

"That what?" Nardole asked.

He walked up the stairs to the chess board, staring at it. "Whose move?"

Sara sat back down, looking at the board. "Mine." She peered up at him. "Do not finish my game again, sir."

"But you're losing," he told her.

"Then I lose. And I learn one more way how not to lose a chess match."

He almost smiled as he reached out and gently stroked down her hair. "You should have been my companion."

"But I don't like danger and venturing."

"I suppose there's something to be said about that." He walked away, disappearing into a hall.

Sara and Tara exchanged smiles.

"Was he having a feeling?" Nardole asked.

"No. That was not a feeling," Tara told him. "Your move, Sara, plain and tall."

Sara moved her last knight. Tara moved her bishop.

"Check mate," Tara told her friend.

Sara laughed. "I should have let him show me the next move after all."

"I thought you wanted to learn?" Tara taunted.

Sara wrinkled her nose with a smile. "Yeah, but… One game wouldn't hurt."

"Give in to that, and soon you'll be adventuring and running from certain death with our dear Doctor."

"Are you two going to just ignore me?"

They answered, "Yes," together.

Nardole threw up his hands and disappeared down the steps into the darkness below. It made the two giggle.

"Another game?" Tara asked.

"Absolutely. And I'm winning this one!"

"We'll see." Tara reset the board and they started another round.