"Hello?" Ryan calls out to the empty console room. But there was no answer. He shrugs and steps closer to the now darkened console.
To say it felt weird to be there, alone in the quiet room, was an understatement. Every time the gang went to sleep, the Doctor usually stayed up, tinkering something in the main engine, which was somewhere underneath the walkway. Or she would be picking some stuff from the console, while heavily arguing with the TARDIS itself. It had been weird at first, but it was a thing they all had gotten used to.
But right now, there room is empty and the lights are off. As he approaches the console, the lights turn again, as if sensing him entering the area. There is blinking light image, coming from one of the screens and he touches it.
He always feels a bit guilty when he touches anything in the TARDIS, The Doctor having made clear that nobody was touching anything but her. But now the screen became alive underneath his fingers and a message appears.
"Landed in 11th century England, Yas and I went to check the area out. Stay put, we will be back asap."
Ryan furrows his eyebrows at that.
11th century England? Why they landed there at the first place and why they didn't wait until the rest of them were awake?
But finally, he shrugs.
It doesn't really matter.
He wants to see now what 11th century looks like.
Abandoning the screen, he starts walking towards the door. He is stopped by the shuffling from the other end of the room.
"Morning, Ryan!" Graham greets his grandson cheerily.
Ryan stops walking and waits for the older man to come closer. "Morning!"
"Where are the others? Yas, The Doc?" he asks, looking around and peeking underneath the console room.
"They left us a message," Ryan says and points to the screen near the console. Graham rises his eyebrows and walks closer to see what is written in there.
"11th century England?" he asks out loud, while Ryan is standing halfway to the doorway. He had sensed that he might not be the only one who would want to check the new place and to his amusement, he was not wrong. Graham turns to face Ryan and starts walking towards him as well.
"Let's check it out?" Ryan asks, a small smile playing on his lips.
"What about Doctor's note? Should we stay put?" Graham queries, but there is not any enthusiasm behind his words.
"We are just gonna look and not going to be far from the TARDIS, in case they come back." Ryan explains looking at Graham.
Graham smiles widely at this. "All right. Let's see what we got here."
Before they even get to make two steps towards the exit, the doors of the TARDIS fly open with a bang, as Doctor rushes in, eyes wide in one part fear and two part worry. At first, she doesn't even notice two of her companions standing there and she rushes past them towards one of the side panels of the room. She drags out some wires and a box that is suspiciously round and starts to shove them into a bag that materialized from nowhere.
"Doc?" Graham asks tentatively, utterly confused about what is going on.
"Oh, Graham. Ryan. Didn't see you there. Sorry. No time to talk. Need the cables. And battery. Now." She keeps talking while she is cramming everything in the bag. When she is finished, she jumps up and races towards the console.
"I need your help, guys." She announces, pushing row of buttons on the console and TARDIS making groaning noises at that.
"Sure," Graham agrees. "As soon as you tell us what's going on. And where is Yas?"
Doctor stops for a second and looks two of the guys standing there. "Sorry, I cannot stay for long, Yas needs me."
"Where is she?" Ryan asks now, seeing the obvious distress on the Doctor's features.
"She was pulled in by a portal. I was sonicing it and she disappeared." Doctor explains in a hurried manner. "Lucky that I was sonicing it. I now know what the portal is for. But I need your help. I need you to fly the TARDIS."
"You what?" Graham and Ryan exclaim in unison, shock on their faces.
"You heard me," the Doctor completely ignores their amazement and keeps pushing and turning the buttons and valves, typing in some information and touching the screen.
"You mean fly the TARDIS like you always fly it?" Ryan finally asks, utter shock still ringing through in his voice.
"We haven't even started to understand the machine yet," Graham adds.
"She is not a machine, Graham," Doctor grumbles. "She is a living being. Inside a box."
"Sorry, Doc. But you cannot be serious."
"Of course, I am, Graham!" Doctor proclaims. "I set everything up so you just have to turn on this here," she points to the one of the valves in the middle of the console. "and then just push the big red button here," she points to the big red button right next to the valve.
"That's it?" Ryan furrows his brows again, confused by the hurricane force of the Doctor sprinting around in the TARDIS.
"Yes. It will come to my call, I synced it up with my sonic. It just has to be activated manually. And that's what you guys will be doing."
"But what about Yas? And you?" Graham still wants to know.
"I am going to get her. That's why I need you guys to fly the TARDIS. Because I will not be here."
"I am confused," Ryan confesses. "How are we gonna get her if we are flying away?"
The Doctor groans in frustration. "I don't have time for this."
She makes the mistake to look to the pleading eyes of Ryan and she sighs. "Okay. Long story short. Yas was pulled in by a portal. But the portal is an access to the time-dilation field where the time is running in a different pace than in here. My sonic picked up that the dilation is slower than the time flow in here. I need to activate the portal and go into the time-dilation field. The time will be running slower for me and by the time we will find a way out of there, you will be old and probably dead. So, I need you guys to activate the locator so I can activate the beacon in the sonic when I get out. So, the TARDIS can find me and land where I am. Did you get all of that?"
Ryan just stares at Doctor for few second and then nods. "Okay. Turn the valve and then push the big red button?"
Doctor smiles. "Yes. Good lad, Ryan. See you guys very soon."
With that, Doctor turns around and whooshes out of the door, closing it with a bang.
Graham shakes his head. "What just happened. Did you understand what she was saying?"
"A bit yeah," Ryan nods. "Yas is in trouble and she is gonna save her but time flows differently there?" He hesitates. "So, she wants us to drive the TARDIS to them if they get out of the portal?"
"Ah. So, we are not checking out the 11th century England?"
"Apparently not" Ryan shakes his head. "Shame. Would have been cool."
Graham steps closer to the console. "Was it this valve?"
Ryan nods and observes Graham turning the valve. Then he gets closer himself as well and pushes the big red button. The TARDIS groans at first but then starts to make whooshing sounds they have been used to, meaning the TARDIS dematerializing.
"Here we go," he mutters and looks at Graham.
"I hope this works." Graham mutters back. "I don't know how to get back to our own time if we lose Doc."
"Indeed," Ryan nods and they grab the console as the TARDIS starts to shake.
Doctor is panting heavily when she reaches back to the row of stones. She throws down the bag and fishes out the cables and the round thingy that is actually a battery. While it is small and beautifully decorated with Gallifreyan symbols, it's a useful thing in a time of need.
She curses when she realizes that she only took one and is almost ready to sprint back to the TARDIS, when she hears a telltale whooshing noise of her TARDIS taking off.
She sighs. "No going back now."
She sonics all around the small thin stones that the portal had used an she finds an input area. She shoves the wires in haphazardly and attaches the battery to it. Pushing in a row of symbols in the round surface, she activates the battery and hears the humming sound of the stones. She sprints to the activation stone and pushes it gently. As before, the symbols appear to the surface of the main monolith and she sprints around it, pushing the now familiar images in there.
As she predicted, the thin light of the portal starts shimmering between the thin stones.
"I knew it, battery was empty. How 21st century."
She walks towards the shimmering mass of light and squints her eyes. "I hope I am right about this."
She takes a deep breath and murmurs. "Geronimo!"