"There's got to be a way up," I mumbled. I may have been terrified but I also had a stubborn streak and I absolutely refused to give up now. Frantically I spun in a circle looking for something, anything that might help. I noticed the panel then. Since I was desperate I sprinted over to it, praying that there was something on it that could help me. I read the descriptions in the same sort of panicked frenzy that I usually reserved for the last fifteen questions on the ACT when the five minutes left was called.
"Emergency hatch access!" I shouted in exultation and wasted no time in pressing the appropriate button.
I twirled around as I heard a mechanical moan. The metal in the wall under the hatch was slowly pushing out at regular intervals, creating a ladder leading up to the hatch.
Jeni raced around the corner at that moment. She saw the ladder and raced for it. Since she was faster getting to it than I was, she began to hurriedly climb it as I hurried across the corridor. I stopped at the bottom of the alien ladder to shove the Superhacker in my pocket with my pencils, the sphere, eraser, extra lead, and my MP3 player. As soon as it was secure, I hastily climbed the rungs and pulled myself up and onto the hull of the ship. The moment I was on my feet, Jeni yanked me onto the force-field and both of us took off at a sprint.
We darted through the woods with an abandon born of adrenaline and fear. For once in my life, I didn't mind the branches tangling my long hair and the thorny brush stabbing into my legs through my blue jeans. That didn't mean that I was any more graceful than I usually was. My ankles twisted and turned as my feet found the uneven ground difficult to negotiate. I stumbled and staggered as Jeni, with her shorter stature (thus making it easier for her to avoid low hanging branches) and superior balance, sped along in front of me.
Blind panic caused me to not realize that Jeni had come to a halt and I smashed into her back. Usually that wouldn't have been a problem, but I usually wasn't running flat out at a speed that might have enabled me to actually place in the four-hundred meter run had I managed to summon this sort of speed during a track meet. Jeni and I both slammed into the side of the TARDIS, which was the reason Jeni had stopped in the first place.
"Sorry," I muttered as Jeni slowly got back up.
Surprisingly, she didn't scream at me. She turned and yanked futilely on the door of the TARDIS.
"It won't open," she grunted as she pulled with all her strength on the door.
I grabbed hold of the door as well, although I knew that I wasn't any stronger than Jeni was, and gave it a few good tugs.
It was then, while we were desperately trying to gain entrance to the TARDIS, that the Pician ship exploded.
I spun, feeling the concussive force of the sound in my throat and chest, and watched the massive fireball lash out against the blue sky. Even from where we were, I had to shield my eyes against the sudden blast of hot wind.
"Do you think…?" I began to ask, before my nerve gave out.
"Do I think what?" Jeni asked. She'd produced lock picking tools from the tiny backpack that she always carried with her and begun to work on the TARDIS's lock.
I didn't finish my question.
"Do I think what? You know I really hate it when you people do that! When you start a sentence, finish it!" she demanded, having already forgotten about our argument in the ship.
"Do you think that he made it?" I asked quietly. The question hung in the air for a long moment.
If Jeni realized how very sincere that question was and how very much it mattered to me that her answer be comforting and reassuring, she certainly didn't express it. In a tone that was uncomfortably close to a retort, she replied: "How would I know?"
Author's Note: It seems as if I have less and less to say... The only thing I want to get out of the way with this chapter is the reminder that this being told through the eyes of someone who has very limited knowledge of the Doctor, so of course she doesn't realize that this sort of close call is pretty typical of the Doctor.
I should also thank schwans and MadnessMakesUsInteresting for reviewing the last few chapters. I love hearing what all of you think of this, both what you like about it and what you would like me to try to improve. (And I'm sure for everything that's good about this story, there's a dozen little things that could have made it better.)