Chapter 4: by panfs (sorry that too so long!)

Phil looked back at Dan, with eyes wide with wonder and a bright grin. Dan's mouth was still open, his face pricelessly stunned at the sight in front of them. His gaze darted around the room, as if he was trying to locate a point of logic or recognition, but unable to find one, he turned to face Phil.

"Am I officially mental now?" He sounded so concerned that Phil couldn't suppress a small giggle, but he walked over and grabbed Dan's hand, squeezing it tight.

"I don't think so. Well, if you are, then I am too, and it can't be too bad if we're mental together, right?" They both fell silent again; left wordless at the wonder they'd just entered.

"It's so impossible, I feel like I'm Harry-freaking-Potter or something, this is just insane!"

"Not impossible! Just improbable." The Doctor strolled out from behind the tall column in the center of the room, shoving his hands into his pockets. He leant back against the bench that encircled the column, covered in a multitude of knobs, levers and switches, and looked down at the two boys, standing cowed before the police box doors.

"Welcome to the TARDIS! Yes, it's a bit overwhelming at first but once you get to know her, she's really not that scary at all!" He patted a long green lever with an affectionate smile.

"She?" Phil wrinkled his nose up in confusion, "What do you mean she, it's not a person- is it?"

"No, it's like a ship, yeah? A spaceship? You always call ships 'she'!" Dan looked at the Doctor for confirmation but there was no response. Captivated by a small flashing light on a blue panel, the Doctor was leant over, tapping the button beside it, frowning.

"Well that isn't meant to happen- what's going on, ey?" His murmurs were so quiet that he appeared to be talking to himself. But, as his cooing continued, it became apparent that he was actually talking to the ship, questioning it and prodding at several aspects of the counter.

Edging forwards, Dan following soon after, Phil stepped up to stand beside the Doctor and hesitantly tapped him on the shoulder, causing him to spin sharply on the spot.

"What, yes? Hello!" His smile was back, but it seemed a little more panicked than a moment earlier. "Anywhere in time and space she can take us! How brilliant is that?"

The boys exchanged an excited glance.

"Anywhere?" Dan was getting over his shock, the thrill of such possibilities taking hold. "Like, we could go back to the days of pirates?"

"Or we could go visit Queen Elisabeth!"

"Or the Beatles?"

Phil grabbed Dan's arm. "We can go to the future Dan. Like, spaceships and warp speed and-"

The Doctor coughed, pointedly.

"You do realise this is a space ship? Which means we travel in time, but also in space. Any planet, any when, we can visit!"

They stopped their stream of enthusiasm, turning to him with naïve grins spread across their faces. So much potential and joy, so much zeal and so little an understanding of what it meant to be afraid. This was always his favourite part- when it's all so new and the scope of their imagination was their only limit. He remembered all too well what it feels like, the wonder of the universe suddenly within your grasp.

Dan's voice cut across his musings, catching him by surprise-

"Can we go visit your planet then?" Phil nodded in agreement, as Dan continued. "Is your planet the only one where humans can time travel or is it just- wait, are you from the future? Oh my god I can't even get my head around any of this!"

"But Dan, he said he wasn't a human remember? So maybe he's not from the future, just from a planet that has space travel, right Doctor?"

They both turned to the Doctor again, waiting as he stumbled over his words to configure the best way of explaining his past, Gallifrey, the fall of the Time Lords. A sudden buzzing noise from the console served as a suitable distraction from the subject, and he whirled around, turning his attention back to the small light that was bothering him earlier.

"Doctor?" Phil sounded a little less certain this time. "Is everything okay with the- with the TARDIS?"

"It's all fine, nothing to worry about! She's all over it, literally- she has a self-repair mechanism that should be kicking in any second now so don't you worry, it's probably nothing." The Doctor continued to fiddle with the knobs, looking more and more concerned with every passing second.

Dan stepped forward, attempting to put himself into the Doctor's line of vision. "Any second now? If there's nothing wrong, why does it- she need to use a self-repair mechanism?" The Doctor continued to avert his gaze, answering into the mechanisms.

"Well, when I say probably nothing wrong, you could say that there might be something wrong but nothing worth worrying about. Well, not worth worrying about yet. Unless something sets off the extrapolator which would-"

With a giant lurch, the Doctor and Dan were suddenly knocked to the ground, Phil falling back onto the padded bench beside the console. Looking up, he saw the central column suddenly begin to move vertically, like a giant valve, up and down- and a loud wheezing sound filled the room, as every surface vibrated and they were tipped again, Phil slipping off the bench to join Dan on the floor.

The Doctor was struggling to regain his balance, grabbing at the switches, shouting out, 'No, no! Don't do that now, not on their first day! Come on; just try to-" and then he was thrown backwards onto the metal floor, falling silent as his head impacted with the surface.

They crawled over to the Doctor, the ship apparently still trying to throw them back and forth, the sounds and flashing lights only increasing, but were unable to rouse him; even Dan's steady slap across his face didn't bring him back. Clutching each other and huddled, terrified, Dan and Phil watched in silence as the entire ship came to life, indifferent to lack of a captain, carrying them away into the stars.

Yay! I hope you liked it! What on earth could happen next? I don't know :D

Virtual bananas and lots of thanks for EnderBlaze23, animefangirl-isnotonfire, Moonfruit Infusion and jpuddleduck22 for their lovely reviews :D

Until next time!

xxx panfs