And then
- nothing.
She prised one eye open. She was surrounded by gold and green, bathed in a warm light.
'That was a close one, eh?'
Noelle marched over to the Doctor and punched his arm.
'Ow-'
'What the hell was all that about?'
The Doctor didn't reply.
'I could have died! I was this close -' She held her fingers up in his face, a centimetre apart. 'to being dinosaur food. This close!'
'I shouldn't have-'
'And where's that stupid cage?'
'Ah.' The Doctor pointed to a monitor screen. 'It might be out there still.'
Noelle squinted at the image. The bigger, non-compsognathus longipes were huddled together, only a piece of metal to be seen between them. 'Did they - did they kill it? The dinosaur, I mean.'
'Cage yes, dinosaur no.'
'Translation?'
'The dinosaur is in the Tardis. Somewhere. I'm not entirely sure where it got to. Hopefully not in the wardrobe.'
'So all that was for nothing?'
'Not for nothing. I like to think it was educational.'
'And the lesson learned is?'
'Don't take guests to the Jurassic period.'
Noelle shook her head. 'So what are we doing about the dinosaur? Wandering about the Tardis, still.'
'I'm sure it'll turn up eventually.'
'You're not going to look for it?'
'Well, it survived long enough when it snuck in the first time.'
'Is that really your main concern?'
'Well, I'd rather not have a dinosaur scuttling about, but I doubt I'd find it even if I looked. It's a very big ship, this. Great for hide and seek.'
'So we could have died and we've solved nothing.'
'Think of it as a 30-minute trial period.'
'You were testing me?'
'What? No.' He stepped close to her, leaning down until he was at her height.'You've seen that it's dangerous now. You know that anything could happen to you.'
'So what's the trial for?'
'An offer.'
'Which is?'
'All of time and space.'
Noelle was speechless. She thought of all that danger. The panic. The fear.
The euphoria of adventure. The wanderlust burning inside of her. The opportunities. The chance to be somebody.
She smiled up at the Doctor. 'Okay.'