Doctor Who

Stop the Clock

Part 3

"It's not my fault!" Birdie said desperately, gesturing at the broken cube that he had been using to stop and start time. The Doctor just glared at him as she waved her sonic screwdriver over it.

"What do we do?" asked Yaz, concerned.

"What about me?" asked Leverton more urgently. The group turned to see the man strangely contorted, parts of his body twisted at awkward angles.

"One thing at a time,"said the Doctor, turning the cube around in her hands.

"Why are you all blurry?" Leverton continued, sounding as if he was slurring his words. "Why is it going dark?" His face, a portrait of fear, slowly stopped twitching, before the man was frozen in place, one foot in the air, one arm pulling at his leg, another waved above him. He looked like an absurd work of art.

"What's happened to him?" Hopkins asked in concern.

"He's run out of charge," the Doctor said. "He's entered normal time, if it existed. I told you, weren't you listening to me." The Doctor suddenly looked up in horror.

"Yaz!" she said urgently. "Ryan! Graham! Whatever you do, don't stop moving."

"Aye?" asked Graham, confused.

"As long as we keep moving we should be able to hold off the effects for a short while," said the Doctor, suddenly jumping up and down on her feet. "We're like batteries with a little juice left. Just keep moving."

With that she dashed outside, her companions following. Birdie and Hopkins took one look at their comrade, before deciding that there was no honour among thieves, and they had far bigger things to be concerned about. Hopkins knew one thing though. If they somehow got out of this he would go right back on the straight and narrow, just like his mum wanted.

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"Where are we going?" asked Ryan, as they ran behind the Doctor.

"Back to the TARDIS," said the Doctor.

"Do you have any idea where it is?" Ryan asked. The Doctor stopped, concerned, bouncing from one foot to another. Their walk to the hideout had admittedly taken quite a while, and they had gotten lost a few times trying to figure out where the trail exactly led, resorting to using the sonic as a tracker at some points.

"Knew there was something I was missing," she said, taking a look around. "You," she said, turning to Birdie. "How do we get back to Roald Dahl plaza?"

"Give me the device," said Birdie, holding out his hand.

"Didn't you hear the Doc?" asked Graham. "She said it was broken and it needed fixing."

"You're going to rat us out to the cops," said Birdie. "That's my get out of jail free card."

"I'm the police," said Yaz. "And you're lucky I don't have my handcuffs on me. But this isn't the time or the place."

"Quite right Yaz," said the Doctor. "How about you?" she asked, turning to Hopkins.

"Well..." said Hopkins slowly, his eyes darting to a fuming Birdie.

"Going to need you to decide quickly," said the Doctor. "We don't have a lot of time. Literally, in this case."

"It's this way," Hopkins said meekly.

"Traitor," said Birdie angrily, taking a swing at Hopkins, only to find his blow slowly travelling through the air. He looked at his fist, perplexed, before using his other hand to yank it down.

"Don't stop moving!" said the Doctor urgently. Her companions blinked, before running on the spot like her.

"This way," said Hopkins, leading the charge. Everyone followed him, Birdie looking sourly at all of them.

"What caused this anyway?" asked Yaz, as she jogged alongside the Doctor. "Was it the TARDIS?"

"It would explain why she didn't want to land here," agreed the Doctor. "Her landing in a place with no time would be like you lot arriving somewhere with no air. Oh my poor dear, she must be struggling terribly at the moment. But if I hook up the cube to the energy from the rift it should be enough to jump start time."

"Should be?" Yaz asked, concerned.

"Time Lord technology got a little... unreliable, near the end of the Time War," admitted the Doctor.

"Time War?" asked Yaz.

"Never you mind," said the Doctor, instead focusing on where Hopkins was leading them.

"Who are you lot anyway?" asked Birdie, as he jogged behind the Doctor.

"Just travellers," said Graham. "You know, if there was going to be this much running, I'd have stayed home in Sheffield."

"Why did you use the cube thing to rob places?" asked Ryan. "You could have done so much good with it?"

"Yeah, well, world's never done any good for me," sneered Birdie. "Why should I go round returning the favour?"

"Not everything in life is about you mate," said Graham. "Maybe if you thought about others we wouldn't be in this mess."

"Oh spare me your sappy talk granddad," spat Birdie. "You sound like my parole officer."

"He's got a point you know," said Ryan.

"Right, that's it," said Birdie angrily, but he never got a chance to finish his threat. His untied shoelace took this exact moment to trip him up, both figuratively and literally. He flew through the air, landing hard on the pavement. Graham and Ryan paused, looking back at him, debating to help.

Birdie snarled and pushed himself up... only to find his feet floating in the air, having been caught by the freezing effect. His arms flailed wildly before they too froze in the air. Brad 'Birdie' Edwards hung in the air, gravity clearly taking time off from affecting him.

Ryan and Graham stopped and looked at him in concern, debating whether to tell the Doctor.

"Come on!" she said urgently, Ryan and Graham snapping round to see her urgently gesturing to them. Both men started back up, but for Graham it was as if he was running through water. Water that was rapidly becoming ice.

Ryan had more luck, making a bit more distance, before realizing his grandfather wasn't next to him. He turned to see the old man slow down, as if he was a wind-up toy that had run out of charge.

"Doctor!" Ryan said urgently, running back to help Graham out.

"Don't touch him!" said the Doctor urgently, turning back round and running to help. "He's gone back to normal time. Touch him at this speed and you might kill him."

"We can't just leave him," said Ryan.

"Ryan, I know it's hard, but he'll be fine once time gets back to normal."

"No he won't," said Yaz, concern in her voice.

"Yes he will," the Doctor replied.

"No, he really won't," said Yaz, pointing to the car directly in front of Graham. In their haste the group had ignored the fact that there were cars all around them, all of which would be travelling at normal speed if time had been normal.

Speeds that Graham was now in sync with, while standing directly in front of one. The four remaining members looked at each other, it being clear what was about to happen: The moment time restarted Graham was going to be hit by the oncoming vehicle. But without being able to touch him, there was no way to move him to safety. For all intents and purposes, Graham was roadkill waiting to happen. And there was nothing they could do about it.