House Call

Chapter 10

Eleven couldn't believe what this evil ship had done. He couldn't even begin to fathom how a TARDIS could kill another TARDIS in cold blood. It just didn't make any sense. However, as he shook and shouted at Sally, he noted that she looked unfazed. She was like a statue. She didn't care that she had drained his wonderful, beautiful old type 40 TARDIS like some parasitic leech. Instead, she just stood there completely unmoved.

Devastated, he finally released her and stepped away feeling numb. He shook his head and pointed at her accusingly and said, "You…you've no right to that to my ship. It's like murdering your own kind! I'm warning you, stop."

Sally robotically replied, "I'm hurt. I need to heal."

"No, not like this!"

Rose suddenly saw the lights begin to dim inside her TARDIS. She was scared and ran to where the vines were wrapped around the control console inside their tool-shed like ship and cried out to Joe.

"No! She's draining her to death as well. We have to stop her. She has to stop!"

Rose then reached down to pull at the vines and tried to yank them free, but they wouldn't budge. Joe suddenly felt his singular heart still as he watched his precious baby-girl of a ship begin to go the way of her predecessor.

He firmly narrowed his brow and marched up to Sally and stated, "Fine, you want healing than you need our help, but you won't get any unless you let go my ship."

"I'm hurt."

Irked, Joe raised his voice and said, "Yeah, I heard you the first time, but unless you want help from the Doctor than you need to stop, now!"

The leather-clad man's words seemed to break through and with a wave of her hand the vines receded from both time-ships. However, Eleven's TARDIS was still dead and Joe's was barely alive. Though the moment the vines were gone from the controls, Rose rushed inside and checked her power reading and status.

Joe followed close behind and looked over her shoulder at the screen. He scanned the data and anxiously ran his hand through his wild brown hair.

"How's it look?"

Rose answered, "Pretty bad, but at least it's nothing a good recharge can't fix. Most of the new rooms are gone. Including the library."

"Damn, we just redecorated."

Rose craned her neck to glance up at him and said, "Well look on the bright side, we might actually have room for the new wardrobe."

Joe scuffed and moved back outside of the tool shed and waited for her to follow in out before shutting the door and locking the door with the key and his sonic just in case. He turned and saw that somewhere inside the blue TARDIS, Eleven had wiped out a stethoscope and plugged the earpieces into his ear before approaching Sally with a cold look.

He paused and picked up the end of the stethoscope and hovered it over her chest. "Now, hold still and let the Doctor have a look."

Tentatively, he scanned her chest and listened for any anomalies, while Rory tried to figure out what he was up to. The male-nurse inched closer and shyly said, "Uh, not to be rude, but what on earth are you doing? I mean, I thought what's her name—Sally was fake, so doesn't she not have a heart beat?"

Eleven grumpily replied, "I'm not looking for her heartbeat, Rory. I'm trying to see if there is anything wrong."

"Yeah, but isn't that a stethoscope?"

"No…yes…yes it is a stethoscope, but it isn't an ordinary stethoscope. This specific stethoscope allows me to hear all sorts of wibblie wonkies."

River smirked. "Is that the official term?"

Eleven straightened up and stared at her and said, "Oh yes, absolutely. Now, all we have to do is locate the problem."

However, Amy frowned and said, "Yeah, but isn't is fake like the everything else in the castle? What's the point in looking at her, if she isn't real?"

"Ah, but this particular TARDIS has created this avatar and we can ask her what's wrong"—he then turned back to Sally and said, "So, what's ailing you?"

"I'm hurt," she stated simply.

Joe rolled his blue eyes and crossed his arms over his chest and said, "That's all she's been saying. 'I'm hurt,' but where? It is the Time rotor or the huon flow? I mean, what is it specifically?"

Rose narrowed her brow and said to Joe, "Yeah, and what's up with having an avatar anyway? Our TARDIS doesn't have one and either does the Doctor, so why'd this one got one then? I mean, what's the point? Hasn't she got a pilot? You know, a designated driver?"

"Oh…" uttered Eleven in shock. "Right."

Joe was deeply impressed. It was like Rose pointing out the obvious. Tenderly, the two shared a meaningful look and smiled. Joe loved how smart his girl could be. Then, still in a starry eyed fashion, he explained, "Yup, that's right. Every TARDIS needs a pilot. They need a psychic link in order to operate or they can't work properly. They just go donate and hibernate until they get reconditioned or decommissioned. But a TARDIS without a pilot is like any machine. It requires an interface or it ends up a fancy paperweight."

The bow-tied Doctor said to the avatar, "So, Sally…where is your pilot?"

The redhead beauty paused and then slowly tilted her head at the bow-tied man like he had asked her something strange. Her vision seemed to grow inward and gradually she looked away and said, "Everything burned…the whole world was on fire and they came like an endless wave. The Madam President ordered us to continue fighting. To fight the horde until our last breathe. I flew into the mouth of the lion's den and was tossed away. Arcadia fell Lorettamalfrankadorabellmay, or Loretta was near death."

Suddenly, Joe drew cold. He didn't expect Sally to give her recount of the Time War. He felt his palms sweat and his poor human heart pound wildly inside his chest. He hated that he had yet again stumbled upon another victim of the Time War—another creature damaged by his harsh judgement on that fated day. There was now no telling what sort of damage Sally was left in or what extremes her pilot—Loretta—had to make. Joe was so disturbed that he thought he was going to be sick. It was his doing that caused Sally to turn cannibal on her own sister-TARDIS.

However, the eleventh Doctor was more focused than his alter half twin. His only tell on his discomfort was a pull on his left ear and an awkward shuffle of his feet. Own wounds would not distract him. He wanted to stay on task and sharply spun on his heel in thought and said, "Right, the Time War. Very nasty. All sorts of things could go wrong, but you escaped. You didn't get trapped in the time-lock. How?"

Sally only answered the Doctor with silence.

"I see…no reply. I guess you don't know or you're not telling me. My guess is that A, Loretta tried to desert or B, you somehow avoided the explosion and escaped."

"I'm not a coward," said Sally.

"Well, somebody ought to be! Now, back to the question. Where is your pilot?"

XXX

TBC

XXX

Woo! Well, there is a lot of talking in this chapter, but hopefully Eleven and Joe are getting somewhere, but don't worry. Sally isn't going to let the cat out the bag that easy.

Thanks for reviewing/commenting: TwiCloiser89, Bad-Wolf-Jen and Kabooshka. I'm glad you like my evil TARDIS idea.

Please review. Thank you.