Chapter 2 – That Niggling Feeling
Tall deep purple fronds, of something like a palm tree, blocked most of Dani's view. The ground was covered in a pale blue substance that felt like snow. It was cold and draped over everything. Looking at the Paper for guidance, it simply told her to explore, not much use after all.
Peering through the fronds, past the almost burgundy trunks, something silver jutted up into the chilly air. It seemed to be a building of some kind, with large towers and reflective windows.
She approached cautiously, not wanting to disturb the silence.
'Get inside.'
She followed what looked like a road into a large empty courtyard, only to see guards at the reflective doors.
'Show the paper to the guards, I'll get you inside.'
So, walking with confidence up to the large entrance, Dani confronted the two guards.
They were very human-like, but had deep blue skin, and were all a little on the large size, with no hair on their heads.
Holding up the wallet, the two guards bowed low and opened the doors to allow Dani to pass.
Looking at the paper in amusement as she entered the building, Dani noticed that it said she was an ambassador from the Tethnarack Quadrant.
Raising her eyebrows, she smiled and looked around the expansive room, a huge glass staircase leading up ahead of her. It was like a palace… all silver and white, like it belonged to the Ice Queen in Narnia…
Ignoring the stairs for now, she headed for a tiny door near the back of the room.
"Dungeon… Interesting…"
Dani opened the door and shut it behind her as she descended the steps behind it. The way wasn't lit by natural light, but nor were there any torches or bulbs, it just seemed to ooze out of the walls. Reaching the bottom, Dani glanced about.
Ambassador or not, she highly doubted people would want her down here.
'Second last on the right.' Said the paper.
She followed the instruction and reached the room in question, and peered through the tiny window by standing on her tippy-toes.
Inside there was a man. He looked human, with his floppy dark hair and what looked like a tweed suit and bow-tie. She knocked on the door and caught his attention. He grinned and waved another bit of paper at her, a second to the one in the wallet.
She couldn't hear him through the door, so he sent her a message through the paper again.
'Hello brilliant you! Could you get me out of here now?'
She nodded and looked around for some keys; they resembled twigs, pure white twigs with all sorts of strange twisty bits. She tried each of them, and just like in the movies, it had to be the last one.
The door opened with a slight hiss, and the man tumbled out, landing on top of her.
"Are you alright?" Dani asked, worry betraying the voice she was trying to keep steady.
"Hello! I'm the Doctor! Nice to meet you!"
Footsteps sounded on the stairs, more than one pair, with voices carrying ahead of them.
"… not due for another week yet. We have to find her; she must be trying to assist that dastardly Doctor."
Dani and the Doctor scramble up and dashed around to hide. The Doctor got back in his cell, but left the door open, but not visibly so.
Dani used a small table to help her get above the staircase door, laying uncomfortably on the smooth… stone? Or was it metal? She didn't have time to speculate as four people entered the corridor them.
They all checked to see if the Doctor was still in his cell, and pleased, they left again, but stationed one guard to keep an eye on things.
Silently as she could, Dani slid out of her hiding place and moved up behind the guard. He found that the Doctor's cell was open and so when he opened it to question the Doctor, she pushed him inside. The Doctor leapt over him and shut the door securely behind him.
The guard hammered on the door, but the pair outside couldn't hear a thing. They smiled at each other for a moment before bursting into a fit of giggles, much to the distress of the big blue man in the cell.
"I didn't get to introduce myself. I'm Dani. And you're the Doctor… right?"
"Ah… yes, now how did you come across my wallet? I was lucky I had an extra bit of it, or I really would have been in a bit of a pickle!"
"Someone dropped it in the street, I followed them to give it back, and well… It led me here!"
"Actually that was me. I used the sub-tronic waves remaining in this system from my last journey and followed it back with the link in the two bits of Psychic paper!"
Dani just nodded, not really understanding what he was talking about, but after seeing what she had, she decided to just go with it.
"So is that blue box yours?"
"The TARDIS? Yes, of course, I trust she brought you here neatly?"
"Um… yes?"
"Good! Now let's get out of here…"
The Doctor headed for the stairs and Dani followed reluctantly.
Who was this strange man she'd rescued? He seemed very wise, and yet at the same time, very childish.
Reaching the door at the top of the stairs, Dani and the Doctor paused, looking for guards. Dani started to move towards the door, but the Doctor stopped her.
"I've got to get my screwdriver back."
"A screwdriver? Can't you just buy a new one back on Earth?"
"Not one like this. It's a Sonic Screwdriver!" He said proudly.
Sighing, and wondering if she'd picked up a madman, Dani followed him once more, this time up the glass staircase and through the double doors at the top.
It led into a vast open space, with high, thin windows lining the walls between the silver pillars that looked too fragile to hold up the extensively decorated ceiling. At the far end, a large chair stood, empty, but covered in deep purple robes, recently abandoned.
Next to this chair was a small glass pedestal, and upon it, the Sonic Screwdriver.
The pair walked swiftly towards it, but before the Doctor could grab his prize, Dani halted him.
"Nothing's that easy Doctor. Let me try."
Not waiting for an answer, Dani stepped up to the pedestal and examined it carefully.
She noticed a darker section of glass underneath the Sonic, and smiled.
"I think it's a pressure pad, or something of the like. Do you have something that weighs the same as it?"
The Doctor rummaged in his pockets and came out with a couple of packets of gum, an elastic band and a pencil.
Dani took them and stuck the gum to the pencil with the band, then carefully moved it over to the Sonic, and made the switch.
Holding very still, Dani waited for a few seconds before standing and giving the strange contraption back to the Doctor.
"I am so glad I love adventure movies…"
"Right! Now we can get out of here!" Grinned the Doctor.
"I think not!"
This new voice was loud and booming, full of authority.
It belonged to a large blue man, dressed in rich purple robes, with a silver crown upon his head.
Guards rushed out from hidden doors in the walls and formed a loose semi-circle around the intruding pair.
"Doctor…" Dani whispered, "Do they know what an umbrella is?"
"I don't think so… What have you got in mind?"
Dani stepped forward, brandishing her umbrella at the king.
"You will let us go, or I'll shoot."
"With what weapon?" The king asked nervously.
"This is an… Atomic Disintegrator! It can reduce you to atoms in a second. Stand aside, or face the consequences!"
The strange blue people moved out of the way, and, keeping her umbrella trained on the king, Dani and the Doctor left the throne room quickly, and were halfway down the stairs when one of the guards shouted;
"It's a fake! The scans show no weapon! After them!"
The Doctor grabbed Dani's hand and ran for the door, raising the Sonic Screwdriver, and opening the doors as he went.
The pair made it to the courtyard and leapt over the raising drawbridge, landing on the other side and taking off running again.
It was Dani's turn to lead the way, back to the blue box known as the TARDIS, back through the purple forest.
They pushed the heavy fronds out of the way, making them whoosh back into place with a whomping noise against the trunks.
The box was waiting for them, the light glowing faintly and it made another 'dong' noise, as though impatient for their return.
The Doctor pushed Dani through the doorway, slamming the door shut on the laser fire raining down upon them. The ship shook and groaned in protest.
Buttons were pressed, switches flipped and lights made to flash. The creaking returned and the TARDIS jolted around as it dashed through space and time. It came to a halt after a few seconds, everything at an angle. The Doctor was clinging to the console, but Dani slid across the floor to the doors. She hit them and they opened, she held tightly to the handle, hoping it would hold her weight.
"Doctor!" She screamed in fear. Although she wasn't being sucked into the vacuum of space, she could see it, and the huge ship that had them in a kind of tractor beam. It was slowly pulling the TARDIS back to it, and the TARDIS was fighting back. However the jolting was loosening Dani's grip, she screamed for the Doctor again, and felt something hit her arm. Looking she saw a rope, which she grabbed onto tightly, and found herself pulled inside, the doors shutting themselves behind her.
"You alright Dani? Of course you are! But are we? Come along Dani, let's get out of here!"
He flipped another few switches and the TARDIS screeched in protest before coming free and spinning off into the Time-Vortex.
They landed with an audible thud and Dani opened the door, to the pouring rain of the high street in her home town.
The Doctor appeared beside her, pulling a dark hoodie over his head and putting his wallet in his pocket.
"Time to give you the wallet then!" And off he dashed into the rain.
Realising what was going on, Dani took off after him. There was something she'd forgotten to tell the Doctor, there was a creature in the building site.