The ship's alarms were blaring, the lights flashing urgently, maroon. Everything looked strange in the altered lighting. And Clara wasn't sure if it was she who had been detected, or if someone else had triggered the alarms.
Clara was in a key part of the ship, surrounded on all sides by vents, piping, and wires, just the kind of room someone would need if they wanted to set the self-destruct. Of the mess of wires in front of her, some of them had been stripped, cut, or joined with other wires. Finding this junction had been easy; finding the wires to the self-destruct mechanism easier; but actually initiating the setting was tricky, even with her sonic. It was possible though, as she had done this before, and while the actual technology may be vastly different, some things never changed. A few seconds later and she heard a click, then the ship's impending demise was broadcast over the comms.
"Self-destruct initiated," a chipper voice announced, undoubtedly artificial. "This ship will self destruct in 100 parsibles."
That was her cue to leave. Clara didn't know how long a parsible was, but she guessed it was enough time to get off the ship. Usually these things gave the crew enough time to change their minds and disarm the devices, but with Clara's tampering, this crew wouldn't be able to stop it.
She hurried back to the Tardis, the crew too busy to even notice her; she made it through the ship uncontested. She turned into the final hallway before the Tardis, and ran right into the Doctor, literally. Both of them stumbled, and then regained their balance.
"Doctor!" Clara exclaimed, and noticed that the Doctor was carrying an unconscious woman under one shoulder. "Who is that?"
"Another victim," the girl explained. "Fell unconscious from psychic shock. Long story, I'll explain later. Would you mind taking her back to the Tardis?"
"Uhm, sure," Clara replied, taking the unconscious girl from the Doctor.
"Oh, and would you lend me your sonic?" the Doctor asked, taking Clara's sonic without waiting for an answer. "Thank you!" she called over her shoulder, running down the hallway.
"Doctor! What? Where are you going?!" Clara called after her, but she was already gone.
The girl ran down the hallways in a mad dash. Just like Clara, she made it to her destination without as much as a suspicious glance in her direction. Everyone was running around, desperately trying to find the source of the tampering and stop the ship's destruction. No one had time for one small, white-haired girl.
She burst into the laboratory, which was deserted, as the scientists themselves were out helping with the self-destruct problem. She changed the sonic screwdriver's settings and began waving the device over the machinery. She walked around the entire room, hacking the systems, taking readings, and rewiring everything.
"What are you doing? The ship's about to explode, we have to get out of here!" Peter said, appearing in the doorway, waving at the girl, trying to get her attention, sounding panicked.
"Peter!" the girl exclaimed. "You're alright! Gage said you'd all been transported somewhere with these alien devices."
"No, they just got the others. I wasn't part of the experiments," he explained. "Please, tell me what's going on. What do these aliens want, what's happening?"
The girl paused, frozen for a second. Then she turned toward Peter.
"Perhaps you'd better tell me," she said, waving her sonic over Peter.
'Peter' disappeared, his disguise shifting in and out of focus before settling on the alien's true form.
"How did you know?" the Asudine asked.
"Peter was part of the experiments. I collected all this data, and I'm sure he's in there somewhere," the girl said, motioning around them. "Besides, I trusted Will."
"Trusting one of those primitives?" the Asudine said, almost snorting in its derision. "And here I thought you were intelligent."
"Those 'primitives' have a knack for survival that both our species could learn from, not to mention their almost demented sense of loyalty to those they care for. Gage wouldn't jerk my chain, or make a mistake like that, not when it came to the people he loves," the girl said.
"That's wishful thinking, more than that, it's reckless."
"Yeah, I'm a world-class reckless, wishful, idiot. So sue me," the girl replied. "But I think you already know that the ones that survive and live on are the ones that adapt. It's what's kept your crew alive all these years, am I right? You chose those you cared about you, your crew, over any ethics or morality, and you sacrificed dozens of living beings to keep them safe. So I don't think really you have the right to judge anyone."
"You talk like I'm the one behind this, like it is my crew and ship. Like I am the captain."
"No, I doubt you're the captain. But I'm guessing you were a senior officer. And I'm guessing that when your captain died, probably in the crash, you were the one left in charge. You weren't ready for such responsibility, but it was thrust upon you, and you felt that you had to do everything in your power to keep your crew safe."
"Yes…" the Asudine said. "But how could you guess that?"
"Just a feeling of familiarity," the girl replied. "Don't worry, your troubles will be over soon. You're going home… if you can stop the self-destruct in time, which, considering your species' reputation, I think you can."
"You are mistaken, even if we stop the destruction protocol, then all that will await us is more useless experimentation, more deaths on our hands, more justifications."
"There are two kinds of experiences: ones that make you better, and ones that make you worse. You did what you thought you had to do to protect those you care about. But if you don't learn from this experience and become a better person, then yes, these deaths will all be on your hands and you'll have become a monster. So don't disrespect their memories. Become a better person. I'm giving you your second chance."
"It won't matter, we will die on this planet, and no one can save us."
"And that's where you're wrong," the girl said, smiling widely. "You see, I'm a Time Lord, as in, lord of time. So I'm pretty handy with the time travel gig. I've already rewired your systems, and in, oh, five minutes or so, you'll be back home, more or less on time for tea."
"But that's impossible!"
"Entirely," the girl said. "That's why all your experiment stuff will mysteriously go kaput after the trip, computer memory erased, systems fried beyond repair, your luck only having carried you through time and back again. Sorry, got to conserve continuity and all that jazz, I'm sure you'll find it in your hearts to forgive me."
"Just who are you?" the Asudine asked.
"The Doctor," she replied. "And you're welcome."
Clara dragged out both of the Svinge'vat guards from the Tardis, they were conscious, but couldn't seem to hold onto any thought for more than a couple seconds. Then Clara went back inside the Tardis and waited, all the while the countdown grew nearer, and while she figured that she was safe in the Tardis, the Doctor was still outside, and every moment that passed came with more uncertainty. Finally, she was near panic, and so she decided that she needed a distraction.
She went over to the Tardis console and studied the controls, the Doctor back in her universe had taught her how to operate the Tardis, but the controls here seemed to be slightly different and she wasn't sure that she could fly it.
The doors opened and closed with a loud creak followed by an echoing bang. Clara looked up and sighed with relief, it was the Doctor.
"Where did you go?" Clara asked.
"Sorry, I had to give a moving speech," the Doctor replied, walking up to the console, she tapped Clara's sonic to the machinery, transferring all the data she had collected to the Tardis. Then she handed back the sonic.
"Did it work?"
"No idea," the girl shrugged. "In fact, I may have just let a murderous psychopath escape."
"Not for long," Clara said. "This ship will explode in a few minutes, taking all these monsters with it."
"Yeah, self-destruct," the girl said. "So, when did you become so deadly?"
"When aliens killed everyone I loved and threatened everything else."
"Oh right… adaptability."
"I adapted, and I'm alive. The Doctor, my Doctor, didn't, couldn't, and he died."
"Right… so, anyway… what was I like, before this?" the girl asked.
"You were… different," Clara replied. "Counting my brief encounter with your past self in this universe, I've known three versions of you. The first was very kind, and sort of goofy, but it was him hiding his loneliness with cheerfulness. He liked being the Doctor, being a hero and saving everyone. The other two didn't hide what they felt, they were abrupt, abrasive, and angry, and a part of them hated being the Doctor, or they just got tired of it, sometimes they didn't even try saving everyone."
"Which did you prefer?" the girl asked.
"They were all the Doctor."
"And now I am… wow, that's a lot to live up to… so, how do we fly this thing?" she asked.
"You mean, you don't know?" Clara asked, more than a little worried.
"Nope, not a clue."
"Well, why don't you try, it might come back to you."
"I'm sure that won't end badly," the Doctor replied sarcastically, but she studied the console anyway, looking for a hint of where to start.
She stood in front of the multitude of buttons, levers, screens, and other miscellaneous controls, looking at them all with uncertainty.
"Is it coming back?" Clara asked.
The Doctor shook her head, no. She walked around the console, and then walked around it again.
"Doctor," Clara prodded.
The Doctor sighed. "Well, here goes nothing," and then pulled a lever at random.