The Two Doctors and Hatters
Space Station
The Sixth Doctor and the Fifth Hatter knelt before a large wall panel in the middle of the stations kitchen, behind the rakes of hanging meat, working on unscrewing the panel as Peri stood back, watching them work.
"Ah!" the Doctor smiled happily as the panel came apart from the wall, and peeked his head through the darkened space within that seemed to slide deep into the ship, "This looks big enough to get down".
"Well, can't we just take off?" Peri sighed, walking closer towards the TARDIS with a longing look as she ate the banana the Doctor had found in his pocket.
"We still have to find out exactly what happened here," the Fifth Hatter explained to her patently, straightening, and moving around the edge of the rakes to look over to her.
"Doctor, Hatter, look!" she suddenly called urgently, and they looked back over to her to see her crouching beside the body of an Androgum, half hidden beneath a table, and with a large blood stain on the front of his shirt from where he had been stabbed.
The Time Lady stepped around the rakes and across to her, kneeling on the ground beside her, wrapping a comforting arm around the girl, who looked quite distressed, "Come away, Peri…" she began quietly, trying to guide her away.
The Sixth Doctor, on the other hand, took a slightly harsher approach, "We haven't got time to bother about dead Androgums, Peri," he told her sternly.
"Doctor," the Fifth Hatter shot him a sharp look.
Peri quickly stood and let the Time Lady guide her away from the body, looking back to it, "Well, how…how do you know it's an Androgum?" she questioned, wringing her hands.
"I know an Androgum when I see one," he waved her question off, gesturing to her, "Come on!" she hurried over to him as the Time Lady followed at a less hurried pace, not very pleased with the lack of sympathy he was showing the girl who was obviously upset, but she also knew it was just one part of this regeneration. They moved closer to the gap in the wall as he lightly pushed Peri towards it, "Right, shouldn't be too far down," he remarked to her, nodding through the gap, "Just put your hands over your head, and slide," he mimicked putting his hands above his head as he spoke.
"What happens if I get stuck?" she looked at him, looking a little nervous.
"I shouldn't advice that," he said to her, "We'll be right behind you".
"Okay, okay," she nodded, and the Time Lords helped her up through to sit on the edge of the gap, before sliding down as she squealed slightly, disappearing out of sight.
"My turn," the Fifth Hatter stepped forward and began to climb up, but the Sixth Doctor grabbed her arm, helping her to climb up properly. She paused as she reached the edge of opening, glancing at him with a small smile, "Good thing I wore shorts with this skirt".
He coughed, blushing bright red, but she didn't notice as she let go of the edge of the opening and allowed herself to slide down after Peri, "Yes, right…" he mumbled to himself before climbing up to the opening and sliding down after the woman.
The slide ended quickly and the Time Lady found herself falling onto her knees upon landing on hard, metal grating, wincing. She jumped to her feet and stepped back as the Sixth Doctor followed after her, his landing just as ungraceful as hers as he landed with a groan on his side. Peri stepped forward and helped the Fifth Hatter back onto her feet, giving her a chance to cast her eyes around.
They had landed on a small, metal platform, only dimly lit with bits of pipes and girders all around them, some brightly coloured, but as the Time Lady narrowed her eyes to try and look through the badly lit space, she noticed that there was a few walkways dotted throughout the space.
The Sixth Doctor cringed as he slowly sat back up, casting the slide they had just come down a look, "That was a bit further down than I expected," he remarked, groaning as his back ached, not that he would tell the Hatter that. She would just tease him for not being more careful reeling that tiny fish in.
"Well, it's all right coming down," Peri frowned slightly, looking worriedly around, "How are we ever going to get back up again?"
The Fifth Hatter reached out and pattered her arm comfortingly, "Oh, I'm sure we'll find a way," she tried to assure her, casting her eyes back around the darkened space, "There will be service hatches throughout this entire place, we need only find one to get out".
"She's right," the Sixth Doctor nodded, moving to stand, when he hit his head against a pipe, "Ow!" he yelped, scrunching up his face painfully as he placed his hands over his head.
Peri bit her lip, eyeing him, "You…you did say it would be cramped," she reminded him quietly.
He rubbed his head and slowly climbed onto his feet with the Time Lady's help, "Thanks for reminding me," he shot Peri a quick look.
"I'm sure you'll be fine, Doctor," the Fifth Hatter cut in, stepping in between them, giving him a pointed look, "Isn't that right?"
"Yes, of course," he sighed, knowing that trying to argue wouldn't get him very far, not when she was still a little annoyed at him for his lack of feeling from before. He held his head higher, "This way, I think," he said to them, moving to led them off through the structure, carefully walking on top of girds.
"How can you tell?" Peri asked as she followed after the Time Lady.
"He doesn't have a clue," the Time Lady muttered softly so that only Peri would hear, struggling to hold back a laugh, "Time Lord or not, he's still a man, and therefore he's incapable of asking for directions".
The Sixth Doctor cast them a smug look over his shoulder, not having heard a word she had said, "Well, apart from possessing an unerring sense of direction…" the brunette gave Peri a pointed look, "All service ducts lead this way…"
"Not quite," she shook her head as he turned a corner, off into a different section, and just to humour him, she followed after him.
"They must lead up to the control centre," he finished, before coming to a stop as they found themselves in a dead end, "Ah," he sighed slightly, glancing back over his shoulder to the girls, quite grateful for the poor lighting or else they would have seen his blush.
"You were saying, sweetheart?" the Fifth Hatter raised her eyebrows at him, her tone teasing.
He coughed and quickly looked away from them, "Just got a little…turned around," he murmured more to himself then to the girls, trying ignore the highly amused looks on their faces.
He turned and began leading them down another section, carefully balancing on top of the girders as they walked, holding onto pipes as they passed them.
"Oh!" Peri exclaimed, making the Time Lords look back to her in concern to see that she had almost fallen, her eyes wide as she held on tightly to a pipe, trying to steady herself.
"You all right?" the Sixth Doctor questioned her as the Fifth Hatter helped her regain her footing on the girder.
She tried to laugh it off, "Sure," she swallowed, still feeling her heart racing from the near miss, "Can't remember when I last had so much fun".
The Time Lady gave her a understanding smile and held out her hand to her, wiggling her fingers, "Here, hold onto my hand," she told her, "At least if one of us falls, the other might have a chance to catch them," Peri took the offered hand as the brunet shrugged, "And besides, Time Lords have better balance then humans".
"Thanks," Peri gave her a grateful look. They began walking again when the Fifth Hatter stopped suddenly, almost making Peri run into her, "What's wrong?"
The Sixth Doctor paused up ahead of them to look back, "Everything alright, Hatter?" he asked her, giving her a mildly concerned look.
"Yes, I just thought…" the Fifth Hatter frowned, narrowing her eyes as she looked passed the Doctor, trying to see through the dark, "I just thought I saw something move ahead of us," she informed them, "But it's gone now".
He eyed her for a moment longer as Peri looked alarmed, "Probably just the light playing tricks," he said after a moment, waving it off, "Nothing to worry about".
They set off walking once more, but the Time Lady couldn't help but get the feeling that someone was watching them, just out of sight, and if that was the case, then perhaps someone had managed to survive. She dearly hoped that was the case.
They continued to make their way deeper through the structure, until they reached a ladder leading up to a platform on the level above them. The Sixth Doctor went first, followed by the Fifth Hatter, and then Peri, who was panting slightly from all the walking.
The Sixth Doctor held out his hand towards the girl as she climbed the ladder, "Here, take my hand," Peri took his hand and he helped her to step across from the ladder, and onto a girder, "Good girl".
"Oh, it would help if we could see," Peri grumbled slightly, trying to catch her breath as the Doctor began walking along the girders, carefully balancing.
"I'm sure we're getting closer now," the Fifth Hatter commented, trying to sound more cheerful then she actually felt as she followed after the Sixth Doctor. She still couldn't shake off the feeling that they were being watched and it was making her feel nerves.
"Just far enough to scrape the skin off another leg," she huffed, casting her eyes around at all the pipes around them, "What is all this stuff, anyway?"
"Oh, fluidic streams," the Sixth Doctor replied from just ahead of them, glancing back over his shoulder to the Time Lady, "Interesting application of the idea," he remarked and the Hatter nodded in agreement, "Think I detect Dastari's hand in the design".
"Yes, it does have his flare to it," the Fifth Hatter agreed, looking around with a small smile, "It's almost impressive".
"Almost?" Peri questioned, sounding slightly amused.
She shrugged, "Well, I am a Time Lady. My standards are rather high, especially when it comes to science and technology".
"Ah, there," the Sixth Doctor called, moving across to a long, flexible pipe that ran between the level below and above them. He grabbed it and began unscrewing the join in the pipe as the girls caught up to him, the Time Lady leaning closer towards him to watch, "There, you see?" he detached one of the sections of the pipe and held it out for Peri to see, looking quite pleased.
Peri frowned at him, looking a little uneasy, "Should you have done that?"
"I wouldn't worry about it," the Fifth Hatter waved off her concern, looking thoughtfully at the pipe where a clear liquid started oozing from out of the joint, "It's perfectly safe and they're self-sealing".
"Now that fluid…" the Sixth Doctor began, nodding to the pipe in his hand.
A funny growling, grunting sound echoed from somewhere around them from out of the darkness, making Peri and the Fifth Hatter's heads snap up, but neither of them could see a thing in the poor lighting.
"Doctor," Peri breathed, her eyes wide, "Hatter…"
"Yes," the Time Lady said quietly, swallowing as she stepped forward so that she was standing in front of Peri, just in case anything should attempt to attack them, "I heard it, too".
"…carries a signal," the Sixth Doctor continued, completely oblivious to the girls and the funny growling sound, "In the same way that the signal in an electronic circuit is carried by the flow of electrons," he started re-screwing the pipe back together as the growling sounded again, "The interesting thing about a fluidic device…"
"Doctor!" Peri shouted urgently, starting to panic.
"What?" he frowned, looking around to her, annoyed by the interruption of his lecture.
"I thought I heard something," she tried to tell him, glancing at the Fifth Hatter, knowing that he was more likely to pay attention if she mentioned the Time Lady, "The Hatter heard it, too".
"She's right, Doctor," the Fifth Hatter nodded as he turned to her, still not looking pleased by the interruption, "There was a funny…growling sound".
"We were trying to listen, but you kept on talking," she added quickly, giving him a look.
The Sixth Doctor huffed slightly, "I was imparting a little information," he defended himself, fixing Peri with a stern look as the girl sighed, "When you ask a question, you should listen to the answer, my girl, otherwise, you will gain absolutely no benefit from being in my company…"
The Time Lady cleared her throat, shooting him a pointed look, "Oh, and I suppose that I'm only here due to my wonderful taste in hats".
"Fine," he sighed, inclining his head towards the Hatter, "Our company," he corrected himself before turning back to Peri, waving a finger at her, "'It is the province of knowledge to speak, and the privilege of wisdom to listen,'" he quoted, reaching inside his pocket and withdrawing a bright yellow handkerchief, using it to wipe his hands clean from fiddling with the pipe.
Peri rolled her eyes, "Privilege," she repeated, her tone sounding tense.
"Yeah," he nodded, not noticing her tone as the Time Lady closed her eyes tightly, shaking her head tiredly. Oh, she really was starting to miss Lily.
"I can't tell you how privileged I feel," she said sarcastically, "Having been half-frozen, and asphyxiated, and cooked, and then forced to clamber through miles of pipe…"
"Good," he smiled slightly, completely missing her tone as he tucked his handkerchief back inside his pocket, "Because we have about another mile to go".
The Fifth Hatter ran a hand down her face, sighing heavily, "One of these days, Doctor, you're are going to end up getting slapped by one of your companions," she muttered, feeling amazed that Peri hadn't slapped him by now due to something he had said or done.
He glanced back to her, looking confused, "What was that, Hatter?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Oh, nothing, sweetheart," she quickly lied, giving him a bright, cheerful smile, "I was just remaking upon your wonderful collection of quotes you seem to have spinning around that curly head of yours".
"Well…" he held his head higher, looking quite smug and pleased as a faint blush covered his cheeks, "I do my best, my dear".
"And we are all very proud, but I do believe that we ought to be continuing on our way, yes?"
"Quite right," he agreed, still looking very pleased as he turned and began to lead them down another section, "Come on".
Suddenly, another growling sound sounded around them.
"Ah!" Peri cried, hearing the sound, trying to look around to find the source, "Listen!"
The Sixth Doctor frowned and stepped back over to her, "What is it?"
"I heard it again!" she told them, sounding fearful, looking to the Time Lady as she stepped closer to her, looking concerned, "There's…there's something down here with us".
"It's not possible," he shook his head at her, "You're imagining it".
"I tell you, I'm certain I heard something!"
"Hydraulics," he argued, shrugging.
"What?" she blinked, turning back to him.
"Well, I suppose that could be an plausible explanation," the Fifth Hatter said slowly, still not seeming completely convinced, "Some of this pumping system must be quite old, there's bound to be a bit of noise, and this place is a little unnerving. It's to be expected that we would be on edge after what we saw upstairs…"
Another growling, snarling sound echoed from out of the dark, making the three of them all freeze, even the Doctor heard it that time, and grabbed the Hatter's hand, holding it tightly.
Peri swallowed fearfully, glancing back to the Time Lords, "Well, that's the fiercest pump I ever heard," she remarked shakily.
"There's something down here with us," the Sixth Doctor commented, sounding as if he was the one who had worked it out in the first place.
"Really?" the human woman rolled her eyes at him.
The Fifth Hatter shook her head at him, "No need to sound so surprised, Doctor, we've only been saying that practically since we first climbed down here".
He ignored their remarks and began moving down another section, forcing the girls to follow after him, until they came across a control box attached to one of the girders, "Ah," he smiled slightly, looking up towards the ceiling, "We must be under the central control area now".
The Time Lady carefully stepped across to the control box and opened it to reveal several coloured coded switches inside, "And this is exactly what we've been searching for," she broke into a smile, exchanging a pleased look with the Doctor beside her.
Peri watched them with a wary sigh, "Well, I just hope you two know what you're doing".
The Sixth Doctor shot her an exasperated look, "If we didn't, we wouldn't be doing it," he resorted, shaking his head at her, "Do have a little faith," he turned back to the controls.
"It just looks very complicated…"
"Not at all," he waved her off as he and the Time Lady began fiddling with the controls, "These type 49 systems are colour-coded," he explained to her, "Defence mechanisms in red…" he began pointing the detachable lines out, "Power supplies in yellow, and so forth. All we have to do is disarm that computer," he shoot the ceiling above them a look, "Than, hopefully, we'll get some civil answers out of thing".
Peri looked around, catching sight of a ladder a short distance away, "There's a ladder over here," she informed them.
"Yes, we've already spotted that," the Fifth Hatter told her, not looking away from the controls, "It leads up to the central control area…" she trailed off, a frown crossing her face as she glanced at the Sixth Doctor, "You know, I can't remember what blue is supposed to stand for".
"Hmm, I can't either," the Sixth Doctor agreed, frowning at the blue line with a thoughtful look, before shaking his head, shrugging, "Oh, well…"
Peri stepped back over to them, "Can I help?" she asked.
"No, no, no," he focused his attention back on the controls as the Time Lady tried to remember what the blue line was supposed to do, "This is a job for the experts. They often booby-trap these computers to prevent tampering".
"Oh, yes, they can be quite nasty, too," the Time Lady remarked darkly, glancing over her shoulder to Peri, "If I recall correctly, Berbury's noose was a favourite".
"What's that?" Peri questioned curiously, moving towards the ladder.
"Bye, bye head".
"Oh…" she grimaced. She gave herself a shake and began to climb down the ladder, deciding to leave the Time Lords to what they did best.
"Do you know…" the Sixth Doctor frowned deeply, turning to the Fifth Hatter, "I wish I could remember what that blue line serves".
"It's going to drive me insane, I just know it," the Fifth Hatter groaned, giving the blue line a frustrated look.
A few minutes passed and the Time Lords were no closer to remembering what the blue line was supposed to do, when Peri's voice called from the level below them, "Doctor, Hatter!" she shouted, making them look up, "Over here!"
"What is it?" the Sixth Doctor called back, returning his attention back to the controls, almost sounding bored.
"I…I don't know…well, come and see!"
"In a minute," he replied absently, fiddling with the control.
"I'll go and see what she's found," the Fifth Hatter remarked, moving over to the ladder, beginning to climb down it, "Who knows, a little bit of time away from trying to figure out what the blue line does might help".
He finally looked up and over to her, frowning, "Just be careful, Hatter," he told her, his eyes moving to roam around the darkened space, "We don't know what might be around here".
"Yeah, yeah," she rolled her eyes slightly, more amused then annoyed as she climbed down to the next level. Once she reached the bottom, she tried to look around for Peri, and started walking across the girders.
….…..The level above…..…..
Once the Fifth Hatter had disappeared out of sight down the ladder, the Sixth Doctor returned his attention back to the controls, but he couldn't help but feel just a little worried about letting the Time Lady go off on her own.
He gave himself a sharp shake, forcing himself to focus, "There," he smiled slightly, slotting one of the lines back into place, "That should just about have done it".
Suddenly, Peri screamed and a growling sounded echoed up towards him, making him jump.
"Get away from her!" the Hatter's voice cried out.
"Hatter, Peri!" he shouted, but in the moment that he turned his head, gas began billowing out from a grate above the control box, right into his face. He blinked, his eyes growing suddenly very heavy as everything turned to blackness and vaguely, he felt himself falling forward before he passed out completely.
….The level below….
As the Fifth Hatter moved along the girders, she spotted Peri crouching on the ground of a platform that seemed to be covered in some sort of old blanket, almost appearing to be a nest. She smiled and opened her mouth to call out to her, when she saw something else.
A figure was approaching Peri from behind, covered in a blanket. The Time Lady didn't even have time to try warning Peri when the figure suddenly jumped on Peri, knocking her onto the platform, making her scream.
"Get away from her!" the Fifth Hatter shouted desperately, trying to hurry across the girders to Peri, but in her hast, her footing slipped and she found herself only just managing to catch herself from falling by grabbing a hold of a pipe, her hearts racing madly in her chest.
"Hatter, Peri!" the Sixth Doctor's voice called from above them, sounding very worried and afraid.
Peri struggled on the platform with the person while all the Fifth Hatter could do was try to hold onto the pipe, dangling in mid-air…
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