Chapter Three.
Jacque looked puzzled.
"But.." he started, but the Doctor cut him off.
"I don't know how or why, it just is," he answered firmly.
"Well how do we get into it?" the man with the glasses asked.
"Stan!" cried Gemma suddenly, causing the Doctor to jump. "Can't you see the Doctor is obviously as confused as us? Give him time to think!"
"Ha!" laughed Jacque. "Gemma has a crush on the Doctor!" Gemma blushed a deep shade of red.
"Don't be silly," she said, and made herself busy looking at the wardrobe. The Doctor couldn't help but grin. He winked at Jacque and Stan before stepping over to Gemma.
"Aw, don't listen to them, Gem," he said as he placed an arm around her shoulder. "You don't have a crush on me, do you Gem?" He looked at her closely and saw she was blushing furiously now. The Doctor chuckled before wandering back over to Stan and Jacque.
"Well, it's definitely a TARDIS," the Doctor said. "No doubt about it. And back to your question on how to get in, I have no idea." They stood there silently, each thinking their own thoughts. The Doctor's mind began to wander to thoughts of Rose. She worked here, at Torchwood, on this parallel universe. He had to find her.
Then the Doctor's thoughts strayed back to the TARDIS that was sitting right in front of him.
"How can there be a TARDIS?" he muttered to himself. "How can that be? And how do we open it?" He began pacing back and forth, deep in thought, when he had an idea. He pulled his sonic screwdriver out and pressed it at the handles.
"Nope," he murmured as he tried the doors again, but they stayed shut tight. "Stupid thing should open for me, I'm a Time Lord!" The Doctor let out an exasperated sigh and kicked the wardrobe in frustration; the doors popped open.
"Oh," the Doctor said. Then he stepped forwards and looked inside. The others followed behind him and gasped in admiration at the sight before them.
"It's so big," murmured Gemma quietly and the Doctor nodded.
He stepped inside and the others went to follow, but the Doctor motioned for them to stay put. He looked around him in awe of what he was seeing. It looked different to the inside of his TARDIS; the walls, ceiling and floor were all made of a silvery metal and the controls in the middle were set out differently.
"Wait there," the Doctor called out to the others who were peering into the TARDIS in fascination.
The Doctor turned towards a corridor and jogged along it. There were several large metal doors on either side of the corridor. There were more corridors branching off in every direction, so the Doctor decided to head back before he got lost. He climbed back out of the TARDIS and grinned at the three people standing in front of him, mouths open in shock.
"It looks amazing in there!" said Stan.
"Oh, that it is!" answered the Doctor. "But I would like to know how there could be another TARDIS and I never noticed it before."
"Well, you're the genius," said Jacque. "You should be able to figure it out." The Doctor remained silent for a moment.
"Right, I'm going to have a fiddle around with the controls, see if I can find out where it's been all this time," the Doctor said. "Just wait up here, I won't be long."
The Doctor jumped back into the TARDIS and headed over to the main console. He gazed at the screen in front of him, but it was blank. He began playing around with some buttons and levers, concentrating hard. Nothing seemed to work; the TARDIS may as well have been dead. Outside the TARDIS, he heard the sound of the door opening and footsteps as another person entered the room. Then an extremely familiar voice began to speak.
"I've got the files you wanted," the female voice said, echoing around the room and carrying down inside the TARDIS.
"Ah, thank you Rose," the Doctor heard Stan answer.
And the Doctor's hearts skipped a beat.