Chapter Four: The Lost Princess

"I would take you back now, but I have yet to help my friend in the future." The Doctor looked intently at the TARDIS's monitor and pulled one last switch. "Okay, I've taken us two years into the future, about 126 T.E... I'm not sure this is the right year, so I'll have to go downstairs and check the TARDIS records." "What should I do then?" asked Clara. "Right now, we're orbiting the Earth, so I guess you can just watch the monitor to make sure we don't crash into any other spacecraft, okay? I'll be right back." the Old Doctor jogged down the stairs and Clara sat down to watch the monitor and sighed. She wondered about what the Doctor meant by 'other spacecraft'... The radar showed nothing, and when Clara opened the TARDIS doors, the only other spacecraft she saw were a lot closer to Earth than the TARDIS was. Suddenly, the TARDIS shook violently, throwing the now-distraught companion to the floor, and the engines stopped, filling the console room with a disturbing silence.

Cinder was on watch as the Rampion orbited Earth. Wolf, Scarlet, and Thorne were asleep in their cabins, and Cinder had a comfortable view of Earth as she checked the net feeds in her retina and watched the different scans on the ship's screens. "Is there anything outside we might run into, Iko?" asked Cinder as she twirled a wrench in her cybernetic left hand. "Negative. Why are you still on watch, Cinder? You were supposed to wake Scarlet thirty minutes ago for her shift, and you need your sleep." the feminine android voice rambled from the speakers and Cinder cut it short. "Iko, it's fine. Scarlet needs her sleep more than I do. Besides, and extra shift won't hurt, it's only midnight!" Iko used to not be a ship, but due to unfortunate circumstances involving a mean stepmother, the android had been disassembled and Cinder had only been able to get Iko's default personality chip.

After a few more minutes of peace and quiet, Iko's voice came suddenly from the speakers, making Cinder jump. "What the-" "What is it? Did someone find the Rampion?" Cinder asked frantically, thinking they should have repainted the hull. "No, it's actually really weird... Just look at the feed." Iko pulled up a view of the outside of the spaceship on the screen. There, floating in the black abyss was a tall blue box. Immediately, Cinder's retina scanner pulled up all records concerning the thing. Turns out, it was a Second-Era Police Box used to call authorities before comms and cell phones were invented. "But why is it in space?" Cinder muttered to herself. The little light was slowly blinking on top, and she even thought she saw the door on the side open for a second, then close. "Hey, this is interesting," Iko pulled up a similar picture of the blue box on a wanted poster on a different screen, along with the feed that came with it. "Looks like Levana's after the box too, along with its two occupants." "Well maybe they can help. Do you think we can catch the box in the Cargo hold?" "We can most certainly try."

With some steering effort and tricky maneuvering, Cinder and Iko were able to float the box into the Cargo Hold. As soon as the room was sealed and filled with oxygen, Cinder ran towards the room, he metal foot clanging loudly with every other step. When she got there, her first thought was that the box was taller than she'd thought. Tougher too, considering that it still had power, despite being only made of wood. The little yellow light at the top still shone merrily and the Police Box looked clean and orderly. Suddenly, the door swung inwards, and Cinder quickly loaded a tranquilizer dart into the gun hidden in her finger. There's no telling what's going to come out.

"Clara, I told you to let me know if we were going to run into something!" said the Doctor, heading towards the door. Clara huffed and followed him. "And I was going to, If I saw anything, but believe me, this caught me totally off-guard!" The time travelers reached the doors and walked out, shutting the door behind them. They were met with the glare of an angry cyborg girl with dark messy hair, tan skin, and a silver metal hand and foot. "Oh, Cinder. It's just you." the Doctor, relaxing immediately. "I thought it might've been one of those pesky Lunar ships." "Who are you? And how did you even survive space in that box of yours?" "Oh, I see how it is. Timey Wimey I suppose. I know you, but you haven't met me yet. In fact, we're good friends in the future!" Clara nodded helpfully, hoping this 'Cinder' wouldn't kill them with her finger gun. "You're not lying..." she said uncertainly. "But you're going to have to explain yourselves to me and the rest of my crew before anything else happens. Iko?" "Yes Cinder?" said a voice from hidden speakers. "Wake the crew up and tell them to come to the kitchen. We have guests."

Thanks for reading what I have! I promise to update ASAP, and feel free to let me know of any grammatical errors or Off-Canon mistakes.