"…Then he finally listened to me that it wasn't the robot king after all, it was in fact the real one. Luckily I was able to re-attach the head as he attached it back on backwards" Star finished telling Rory the story in one breath as she sat cross-legged next to him as he sat on the jump seat and the Doctor wondered around the console.
Rory blinked at how different Star was now compared to her last body. She was a lot more…hyper, if that was the best way to phrase it. So far, she was a lot nicer but the Doctor had warned him that she had always had a temper and so he warned him to look out for it as she would probably still have it. He looked at Amy as she came down the stair, "Do you believe any of this stuff?"
"I was there." She remarked.
"Oh," the Doctor jumped as a small beeping alarm went off, "it's the warning lights. Im getting rid of those, they never stop!" he slapped the console.
Rory walked over to Amy and spoke quietly to her.
There was a knocking at the doors and they all looked over.
"What was that?" Amy asked as she and Rory walked over.
"The door knocked," Star blinked, walking towards them.
"Right." Rory nodded slowly, "We are in deep space."
"Very, very deep." The Doctor agreed as the knocking continued, "And somebody's knocking."
Star knocked back on the door, "Do you want to build a snowman?" she asked in a sing-song tone.
"Now." The Doctor sighed, "Quote Disney now!"
"Well why not!" she pouted, "I saw my chance and I took it!"
She opened the door and grinned seeing a small box floating there, lit from inside, "Oh, you beauty!" she reached out to grab it but it whizzed past and into the TARDIS, zooming to the TARDIS and hitting the Doctor in the chest. He held it between his hands.
"A box?" Rory frowned.
"What is it?" Amy eyed it.
"We've got mail!" he beamed as Star skipped over, "Time Lord emergency messaging system. In an emergency, we'd wrap up thoughts in psychic containers and send them though time and space. Anyway, there's a Time Lords out there, and it's one of the good ones!"
"You said there were no other Time Lords left." Rory reminded him.
"There are no Time Lords left in the universe, but the universe isn't where we're going!" he threw the box to Amy. "See that snake?" he pointed at it."
"The Corsair!" Star breathed.
"Fantastic bloke. He had that snake as a tattoo in every regeneration. Didn't feel like himself without the tattoo. Or herself, a couple of times. Ooh, she was a bad girl."
"He was a nice man." Star smiled, "he didn't tell me off for sneaking out of the Academy."
"You snuck out?" the Doctor looked at her.
"I got bored." She shrugged.
"And you didn't get caught?"
"He caught me."
He stared at his daughter in amazement before the TARDIS sparked and shook, almost knocking him to the floor.
"Whoa!" Rory hung on, "What's happening?"
"We're leaving the universe!" Star exclaimed, excited as she and the Doctor rushed around the console.
"How can you leave the universe?" Amy shook her head.
"With enormous difficulty!"
"Right now we're burning up TARDIS rooms to give us some welly." The Doctor twisted some knobs and presses some buttons, "Goodbye, swimming pool. Bye scullery. Sayonara. Squash court 7. Movie room."
"No!" Star pouted, "Not the movie room!"
"We'll get another one when we come back." He promised.
"Why can't you get rid of your room?!"
"I need my room!"
"I need the movie room!"
"You can get a new one!"
"You can get a new room!"
"Well it's too late now!"
She huffed and sat in the jump seat, sulking away, making the Doctor pilot alone.
The TARDIS stopped with a jolt.
"Ok." Amy breathed, "Where are we?"
"Outside the universe." The Doctor beamed, "where we've never, ever been." She went over to Star and nudged her, "Yeah? Somewhere new."
She looked up at him, "I want a new movie room."
"I promise you'll get one 10 times better." He crossed his hearts.
"Good."
The power winded down and the lights dimmed.
"Is that meant to happen?" Rory frowned.
"It's the power," the Doctor gasped, "It's draining the power," he tried to pull a lever but nothing happened, "Everything's draining!"
"But it can't." Star argued, "That's impossible!"
"What is that?" Rory asked.
"It's as if the matrix, the soul of the TARIDS has just vanished." the Doctor said.
"Where would it go?" Star wondered, "Come on!" she headed out the doors, the Doctor behind her, Amy and Rory following. They slowly stepped out to stand in a large junkyard of some sort.
"So what kind of trouble's your friend in?" Amy asked.
"He was in a bind, a bit of a pickle, sort of distress." The Doctor mumbled, looking around.
"Aw, you can't just say you don't know."
"But what is this?" Rory frowned, "This scrap yard at the end of the universe?"
"Not end of, outside of." Star corrected.
"How can we be outside the universe? The universe is everything."
The Doctor put his arm around Rory's shoulders, "Imagine a great big bubble with one of those tiny little bubbles on the outside."
"Ok."
"Well, forget it," Star told him, "It's nothing like that." she put a hand in the side of the TARDIS, "She's completely drained."
"So we're in a tiny bubble universe, sticking to the side of the bigger bubble universe?" Amy confirmed.
"Yes," The Doctor nodded as Star said, "No."
"But if it helps..." the Doctor continued.
"Still no." Star laughed.
"This place is full of rift energy. She'll probably refuel just by being here. Now this place, what do you thing. Eh?" he threw some dirt into the air, "Gravity's almost Earth-normal, airs breathable, but it smells like..."
"Armpits," Amy supplied.
"Armpits." he nodded.
"Where did this stuff come from?" Rory wondered.
"There's a rift. Now and then, stuff gets sucked through it. Not a bubble, a plug hole. The universe has a plug hole and we've fallen down it."
"Thief, thief!" someone shouted in the distance, "You're my thief!" they looked to see woman with big hair in a blue Victorian styled dress, running towards them, pointing at the Doctor. An older man and woman chased her, wearing mismatched clothes.
"She's dangerous!" the older woman warned, "Guard yourself!"
"Look at you!" the shouting woman grabbed the Doctors shoulders, "Goodbye! No, not goodbye, what's the other one?" she kissed him quickly and pulled away.
"Watch out!" the older man called as he and the older woman pulled the woman back, "Careful, keep back from her!" the Doctor wiped his mouth and ran a hand through his hair. "Welcome strangers, lovely. Sorry about the mad person."
"Why am I a thief? What have I stolen?" the Doctor asked, eyeing the woman.
"Me," she stated, "You're going to steal me. No, you have stolen me. You are stealing me. Tenses are difficult, aren't they?" she gasped and ran to Star, hugging her, "You're my maddy!"
"What? Im not maddy," Star shook her head, trying to pull away. She loved hugs but when hugging a random person who was calling her, her maddy; it was quite uncomfortable and odd.
"Yes you are!" she insisted, "You're my maddy!"
"Oh, we are sorry, my doves." the older woman apologised, "She's of her head. They call me Auntie." she shook the Doctor hand.
"I'm Uncle," the older man added, "I'm everybody's uncle. Just keep back from this one, she bites!"
"Do I?" the woman grinned, "Excellent." she pulled the Doctor face down and bit his neck.
"Ow!" he cried as everyone tried to pull the woman back, "No, ow, ow!"
"Oh, biting's excellent!" The woman cheered, as the Doctor rubbed his neck, "It's like kissing, only there's a winner!"
"Sorry, she's doolally." Uncle told them.
"No, I'm not doolally. I'm...I'm...it's in the tip of my tongue. I've just had a new idea about kissing. Come here, you!" she lunged at the Doctor who ran behind Stat, using her as a protective shield.
"No!" Auntie pulled her back, "Idris no!"
"Ooh, but now you're angry," the woman, Idris, tilted her head, "No, you're not. You will be angry. The little boxes will make you both angry."
"Sorry?" the Doctor frowned, stepping forwards, "The little what? Boxes?"
She laughed, grabbing his chin, "Your chin is hilarious!" she turned to Rory, "It means the smell of dust after rain."
"What does?" Rory shook his head at her.
"Petrichor."
"But I didn't ask."
"Not yet, but you will."
"No, no Idris," Auntie pulled her back again, "You should have a rest."
"Right, yes. Good idea. I'll see if there's an off switch," she fell forwards in a faint as Star managed to catch her before she hit the ground.
"Is that it?" Uncle asked, "She dead now? So sad."
"No she's still breathing," Rory called as he took her from Star and checked her over.
"Nephew," Uncle turned to a green-eyed Ood, "Take somewhere she can not bite people."
"Oh, hello." The Doctor smiled at the Ood.
Amy jumped seeing it, "What is that?"
"It's just an Odd." Star reassured her.
"Oods are good." The Doctor added, "Love an Ood." He walked over to it, "Hello, Ood. Can't you talk? Oh, I see, its damaged, may I?" he gestured to its translator and opened it.
Star slapped his hand away, "You'd somehow turn it into a bomb. Let me." He gestured for her to step forwards, "It might be the wrong frequency…" She mumbled.
"Nephew was broken when he came here." Auntie told them, "Why, he was half dead. House repaired him. House repaired all of us."
Star closed the Oods translator and voices filled the air around them, "If you are receiving this message, please help me. Send a signal to the High Council of the Time Lords on Gallifrey. Help! Im still alive! I don't know where I am. Im on some rock-like planet."
Nephew switched the translator off.
"What was that?" Rory frowned, pointing at the Ood, "Was that him?"
"No, no, it's picking up something else." The Doctor breathed as he and Star looked shocked.
"But that's…" she shook her head, "That's impossible."
"Who else is here?" the Doctor rounded on Auntie and Uncle. "Tell us. Show us! Show us!"
"Just what you see." Auntie gestured to them all, "It's just the four of us, and the House. Nephew, will you take Idris somewhere safe where she can't hurt nobody?"
Nephew picked Idris up and took her away.
"The House?" Star frowned, "What's the House?"
"House is all around you, my sweets. You are standing on him." Uncle jumped on the spot, "This is the House. This world. Would you like to meet him?"
"Meet him?!" Rory blinked.
"We'd love to." The Doctor answered.
"This way." Uncle began walking off with Auntie, "Come, please. Come."
"What's wrong?" Amy asked the Time Lords, "What were those voices?"
"Time Lords." Star breathed, "It's not just the Corsair."
"Somewhere close by there are lots and lots of… Time Lords." The Doctor swallowed.
He took Stars hand and walked off after Auntie and Uncle. Amy and Rory behind them.
~.~
They followed Auntie and Uncle to a cavern with a grate with a glowing green light beneath it. He stood next to it and gestured them over, "Come, come, come, you can see house and he can look at you."
Star exchanged a look with the Doctor before they both walked over and peered down the grate.
"I see," the Doctor nodded slowly, "This asteroid is sentient."
"We walk on his back," Auntie added, "Breathe his air, eat his food..."
"Smell its armpits." Amy finished quietly.
"And do my will," Auntie and Uncle spoke in union, a voice speaking through them, "You are most welcome travellers." the Doctor looked up, alarmed as Star frowned.
"Doctor...Star..." Amy began, hesitant, "That voice, that's the asteroid talking?"
"Yes, so you're like uh..." the Doctor stepped back from the grate as Star skipped back to the Ponds. "Sea urchin, hard outer surface, that's the planet we're walking on. Big squashing oogly thing inside, that's you?"
"That is correct, Time Lord." House answered.
"So, you've met Time Lords before?" Star frowned.
"Many travellers have come through the rift. Like Auntie and Uncle and Nephew. I repair them when they break."
"So there was Time Lords here then?" she asked, trying not to get her hopes up just to have them fall away.
"Not anymore, but there have been many TARDISes on my back in days gone by."
"Well, there won't be anymore after us." the Doctor told House, stepping down back to the trio, "Last Time Lords. Last TARDIS."
A pit formed in Stars stomach. Even see knew it wasn't a great idea to tell them it was the TARDIS. If Winston Churchill tried to get his hands in it, who know who else would, many have tried and failed to get their hands on the TARDIS.
"A pity. Your people were so kind. Be here in safety, Doctor. Star. Rest, feed, if you will."
Auntie and Uncle relaxed coming out of Houses control.
"We're not actually gonna stay here are we?" Rory asked quietly.
"Well, it seems like a friendly planet," the Doctor shrugged, "Literally."
Star turned to Auntie and Uncle, "Are we allowed to look sound a bit? Love exploring."
"You can look all you want," Auntie smiled, cupping Amy's face in her mismatched hands, "Go, look. House loves you."
The Doctor clapped, covering up that he noticed her hands, "Come on then gang, we're just going to...see the sights."
~.~
Star stopped and frowned swearing she heard someone call out, "Thief!" and "Maddy!"
It seemed the Doctor hear it too as he shushed Amy and Rory to be quiet.
"So as soon as the TARDIS has refuelled, we go, yeah?" Rory asked.
"No," the Doctor shook his head, "There are Time Lords here. We heard them and they need us."
"You told me about your people and you to me what you did..." Amy hesitated knowing it was a touchy subject for both Time Lords.
"Yes, yes, but if they're like the Corsair they're good ones and we can save them."
"And tell them you both were responsible for the destruction of all the others?"
"No, that I was the destruction. I can explain. Tell them why I had to."
"We were BOTH responsible." Star corrected, 'You're not alone in this!' she took his hand and squeezed it as they walked off.
The Doctor smiled sadly at her. Knowing that she blamed herself for the planets destruction because she was a survivor, she had survivors' guilt.
"You want to be forgiven." Amy cut him out of his thoughts.
The Doctor fell silent so Star answered for him, "Don't we all?"
Amy nodded at that, "What do you need from me?"
The Doctor patted his jacket, "My sonic screwdriver. I left it in the TARDIS. It's in my jacket."
"You're wearing your jacket," Rory pointed out.
"My other one".
"You have two of those?"
"Have you seen his bow tie collection?" Star countered.
"Bow ties are cool," the Doctor defended, straightening his up.
"Yes they are!" Star grinned, mimicking him and straightening her tie.
"I'll get it," Amy sighed, "but Doctor, listen to me, don't get emotional because that's when you make mistakes."
The Doctor mock-saluted, "Yes boss."
"I'll call you from the TARDIS," she tossed him her phone, "Rory look after them." she headed back to the TARDIS.
Rory look hesitant to leave her alone.
"Rory look after her." Star called to him.
He smile gracefully and ran off, leaving the Time Lords alone.
~.~
A few minutes later Amy's phone rang in the Doctors pocket, he pulled it out and answered it.
"Hey," Amy called, "We're here, screwdrivers in your pocket yeah?"
Star grabbed the sonic from his pocket and he grinned at her, "Yeah, it's around somewhere. Have a good look."
Star turned to sonic on and they could hear a lock click before the Doctor ended the call.
They ran through the tunnels, following their senses.
"Come on!" the Doctor muttered, "Where are you? Now where are you all? Where are you?"
"Just...just calm down." Star breathed, closing her eyes to get a better sense of them. Her eyes snapped open and she frowned, pulling a curtain back to reveal a small alcove.
"Well, they can't all be in here." he spotted a cabinet in the wall and he pulled it open...
...And their hearts sank seeing around 10 of the glowing distress boxes. All of them with voices crying out for help.
The Doctor looked back as Auntie and Uncle approached behind them. Star staring sadly at the boxes, trying to identify any of them.
"Just admiring your Time Lord distress signal collection," the Doctor swallowed as he realised the horrible truth. Their hope, dead. There really was no more Time Lords, "Nice job. Brilliant job. Really through we had some friends here...but this is what the Ood translator picked up, cries for help from the long dead..." he turned to them, "How many Time Lords have you lured here the way your lured us? And what happened to them all!"
"House." Auntie began, "House is kind. And he is wise..."
"House repairs you when you break!" he advanced dangerously in them, "But how does he mend you?" he scanned them with the sonic, looking at Uncle, "You've got the eyes of a 20 year old."
Uncle gave a small smile that looked more like a grimace, "Thank you."
"No, no, I mean it. Literally, your eyes are 30 years younger than the rest of you," he ripped of Uncles hat revealing, "Your ears don't match, your right arm is two inches longer than you left, and goes your dancing, cause you've got two left feet. Patchwork people. You've been repaired and patched up do often. I doubt there's anything left of what used to be you." he put the sonic away and grabbed Auntie bigger arm, "I had an umbrella like you once."
"Oh, now, it's been...it's been a great arm for me this..." she held up the arm and the Doctor noticed the snake tattoo near the wrist.
"Corsair..." he breathed.
"He was a strapping big bloke, wasn't he Uncle?"
"Big fellow," Uncle nodded his agreement.
"I got the arm. And um, Uncle got the spine and kidneys."
"Kidneys." he sneered, "You gave us hope and then you took it away. That's enough to make anyone dangerous. God knows what it will do to me!"
"Run!" Star barked at them, her eyes glowing red.
Auntie ran off as Uncle backed away, grinning, "Poor old Time Lords. Too late. House is too clever." he scampered off.
The Doctor and Star stood glaring after them.
The phone went of a moment later, "No sonic screwdriver," Amy called, irritation in her voice, "Also the doors seem to have locked behind us. Rory thinks there's a perfectly innocent explanation but I think you lied to us..."
"Time Lord stuff," he replied, "Needed you out of the way."
"What? We're not good enough for your smart new friend?"
"'The boxes will make us angry,'" Star recited quietly, "How could she know?" she looked up at the Doctor.
"Doctor, what's she talking about?" Amy huffed.
"Say put," the Doctor ordered her, "Stay exactly where you are," he and Star ran off, ending the call.
~.~
They ran into a room, spotting Idris sitting in a large cell, her eyes closed.
"How did you know about the boxes?" the Doctor demanded, "You said they'd make us angry. How did you know?"
"Ah," Idris smiled, "It's my thief and maddy."
"Who are you?"
Her eyes snapped open, "It's about time."
"Who are you?" he repeated.
"Do you not know me?" she stood and walked to the cage's bars, "Just because they put me in here?"
"They said you were dangerous."
"Not the cage, stupid. In here." She gestured to her head, "they put me in here. Im the…oh, what do you call me? We travel. I go..." she imitated the wheezing of the TARDIS.
"The TARDIS?" Star blinked.
"Time and relative dimension in space. Yes, that's it. Names are funny. It's me! I'm the TARDIS."
"No. you're not!" the Doctor shook his head, "You're a bitey, mad lady. The TARDIS is up and downy stuff in a big blue box."
"Yes, that's me. A type 40 TARDIS. I was already a museum piece, when you were young, and the first time you touched my console you said…"
"I said you were the most beautiful thing I had ever know." The Doctor breathed.
She turned to Star, "and you said…"
"I said you were beautiful. A true beauty." Star finished, thinking back to when she saw her for the first time, she had gone with her two best friends for one's 100th birthday. It was the first TARDIS she had seen the inside of, she really was beautiful.
"And then you stole me," Idris continued, smiling, "And I stole you." she looked at Star, "I was so sad when he left you behind."
"I borrowed you." the Doctor corrected.
"Borrowing implies the eventual intention to return the thing that was taken. What makes you think I would ever give you back?"
"You're the TARDIS?"
"Yes."
"My TARDIS?" Star cleared her throat and he winced, expecting a slap, but none came. He looked at her but she just looked at him expecting him to correct himself, "OUR TARDIS?"
"My Doctor. My Star. Oh! We have reached the point in the conversation where you open the lock."
The Doctor soniced the lock and Idris stepped out, studying their faces, "Are all people like this?"
"Like what?" Star frowned.
"So much bigger on the inside? Im…oh, what is that word? It's so big, so complicated. It's so sad."
"But why?" the Doctor wondered, "Why pull the living soul from a TARDIS and pop it in a tiny human head? What does it want you for?"
"It doesn't want me." She sniffed his jacket.
"How do you know?"
"House eats TARDISes."
"House does what?" Star blinked, "What do you mean?"
"I don't know." She shrugged, "it's something I heard him say." She nodded to the Doctor.
"When?" he frowned.
"In the future."
"House eats TARDISes?"
"There you go." She put a finger on his lips, "What are fish fingers?"
"When do I say that?" he asked, muffled.
"Any second."
"Of course! House feeds on rift energy and TARDISes are bursting with it. And not raw. All lovely and cooked, processed foods…"
"Mmm…fish fingers." Star smiled, cutting him off.
"Do fish have fingers?" Idris questioned.
"But...but…but you can't eat a TARDIS. It would destroy you…unless…"
"Unless you deleted the TARDIS matrix first."
"So it deleted you." the Doctor chuckled.
"But House just can't delete a TARDIS consciousness, that would blow a hole in the universe. He pulls out the matrix; stick it in a living receptacle and feeds off the remaining Artron energy. You were about to say all that. I don't suppose you have to now."
"We sent Amy and Rory in there!" Star cried, "They'll be eaten."
The Doctor quickly pulled out the phone, "Amy! Amy! Rory, get the hell out of there!" they ran through the tunnels and back to the TARDIS.
"Doctor, something's wrong." Amy replied.
"It's House. He's after the TARDIS. Just get out, both of you!" Star shouted to them.
"We can't. You locked the door, remember?"
"But we've unlocked it." The Doctor insisted.
"You stupid well haven't!" they heard the cloister bell ring, as they came insight of the TARDIS and saw the inside going dark, "Doctor, I don't like this."
The Doctor tried to sonic the door open as Star tried snapping her fingers, nothing worked.
"Open!" Star yelled, trying to open them by force, "Open!"
"Doctor!" Amy shouted, "Star!"
"Amy! Rory!" the Doctor also pounded on the doors.
The TARDIS began to dematerialised, forcing them back.
"Rory!" Star screamed. "Amy!"
The Doctor tried to call Amy, "Amy? Amy, can you hear me?" he turned it off, hearing only static, "ok. Right. I don't…I really don't know what to do…" he smiled to himself, "That's a new feeling."
"Come on!" Star grabbed his arm and they ran off back the way they came.
~.~
"It's gone!" the Doctor shouted as they ran back into the room where Idris was sitting. Auntie and Uncle in the back.
"Eaten?" She looked up in alarm.
"No it left. Not eaten, hi-jacked. But why?"
"It's time for us both to go, and keep together." Auntie said as she and Uncle sat down.
"What do you mean go?" Star asked them, "Where are you going?"
"Well, we're dying, my loves. It's time for Auntie and Uncle to pop off."
"Im against it." Uncle remarked.
"It's your fault, isn't it, sweets? Cos you told House it was the last TARDIS. House can't feed on them if there's none more coming, can he?"
"So now he's off to your universe to find more TARDISes."
"It wont." The Doctor stated.
"Oh, it will think of something." Auntie waved him off before falling over with a groan. The Doctor ran to check for a pulse.
"Actually, I feel fine." Uncle stood up only to fall to the ground aswell.
"You're not dead. You can't just die!" the Doctor shouted.
"We need to go where I landed, Doctor, Star." Idris told them, urgently, "Quickly."
"Why?" Star shook her head.
"Because we are there in 3 minutes. We need to go now!" she began running before stopping in pain, "Ow! Roughly, how long do these bodies last?"
The Doctor quickly scanned her with the sonic, "you're dying."
"Yes, of course im dying," she grabbed the sonic from him, "I don't belong in a flesh body. I could blow the casing in no time. No, stop, don't get emotional. That's what the orangey girl says. You're the Doctor focus." She held the sonic out for him.
"On what? How? Im a madman with a box, without a box!" he took the sonic back, "im stuck down the plughole at the end of the universe on a stupid old junkyard!"
"2 things!" Star interrupted, "1: im a mad girl and I don't need a box. 2: it's not just a junkyard, it's a TARDIS junkyard!"
"Oh!" the Doctor blinked realising that, "come on." He began running off before stopping and turning to Idris, "Ooh, sorry, do you have a name?"
"700 years, finally he asks." Idris commented to Star, who giggled.
"But what do I call you?"
"I think you can call me…Sexy." She smirked, she turned to Star, "And you can call me Old Girl."
"I already do." She laughed.
"Only when we're alone." The Doctor flushed.
"We are alone." Star pointed out.
"Come on then, Sexy." He grabbed her hand and Star's in his other and ran off.
The Doctor scanned the junkyard as they ran to it, climbing on a hill looking down at the collection.
"Valley of half-eaten TARDISes." Star breathed.
"Are you thinking what im thinking?" the Doctor grinned.
"Im thinking that all of my sisters are dead." Idris remarked, "That they were devoured, and that we are looking at their corpses."
"Ah. Sorry. No, I wasn't thinking that."
"No. You were thinking you could build a working TARDIS console out of broken remnants of a hundred different models. And you don't care that it's impossible."
"It's not impossible as long as we are alive."
"Besides Rory and Amy need us," Star added.
"We're gonna build a TARDIS." They ran into the valley.
"You're completely mad." Idris called after them.
"Thank goodness." Star grinned, "Otherwise this'd probably never work."
~.~
Idris stood in the shell of the console they had managed to build, examining a piece of equipment, "Bond the tube directly into the Tachyon Diverter." She called.
"Yes, yes. I have actually rebuilt a TARDIS before, you know." The Doctor strained as he dragged a piece of wall by a rope, "I know what im doing."
"You're like a 9 year old trying to rebuild a motorbike in his bedroom. And you never read the instructions."
"I always read the instructions!"
"There's a sign on my front door. You have been walking past it for 700 years. What does it say?"
"Its says…" Star began but Idris put a hand over her mouth, silencing her.
"I want to hear this." She smirked.
"That's not instructions!" he defended.
"There's an instruction at the bottom. What does it say?"
"Pull to open."
"Yes, and what do you do?"
"I push!"
"Every single time. 700 years. Police Box doors open out the way."
The Doctor threw the rope down and walked over, "I think I've earned the right to open my front doors any way I want!"
"Your front doors?" she raised her eyebrows as Star watched, highly amused, "Have you any idea how childish that sounds?"
He turned away muttering, "You are not my mother!"
"And you are not my child!"
He turned back to her, "You know, since we're talking with mouths, not really an opportunity that comes along very often, I just want to say, you know, you," he pointed at her, "Have never been very reliable."
"And you have?"
"You didn't always take me where I wanted to go." He walked away again.
"No, but I always took you where you needed to go."
"Ooh!" Star jumped up, "look at us! Talking!" she cheered, "how amazing would it be if we could always talk? Even when you're inside the box?"
"You know im not constructed that way," she answered, "I exist across all space and time, and you both talk and run around and bring home strays."
"Hey!" she pointed at her, "He brings the strays." She and the Doctor rushed to Idris's side as she fell, and caught her just in time.
"You ok?" the Doctor asked her, deeply concerned.
"One of the kidneys has already failed," she told them, "It doesn't matter. We need to finished assembling the console."
"Using a console without a proper shell. It's not going to be safe."
"This body has about 18 minutes left to live. The universe we're in will reach absolute zero in 3 hours. Safe is relative."
Star went to levitate the wall the Doctor had been dragging as he helped Idris up, "Hadn't we best get a move on, old girl?" she grinned.
"Hold on," the Doctor frowned, "If you could do that, why didn't you? I put all that strain in dragging all the heavy stuff while you sat and searched through wires!"
"You could have asked." She shrugged.
He pointed a playful warning finger at her before rushing off to get a time rotor.
"Why do you call me maddy?" Star asked after a few minutes working in silence.
"Because you are mad." She told her simply. "My maddy," she tilted her head to the side, "you like the mad hatter."
Star looked down at what she was wearing; now she thought about it her style was like the mad hatters.
They looked up to see the Doctor carrying the time rotor, Star ran over to help carry it.
"You'll need to install the time rotor," Idris called to them.
"How is this going to make it though the rift?" the Doctor asked, as they slipped the rotor into place, "We're almost there," they double checked everything was in place, "Thrust diffuser. Er, Retro scope. Blue…thingy."
"Do you wonder why I chose you all those years ago?" Idris asked as she sifted through the junk.
"I chose you. You were unlocked."
"Of course I was. I wanted to see the universe, so I stole a Time Lord and I ran away. And you were the only one's mad enough."
"Right," the Doctor clapped, joining Idris, "perfect. Look at that. What could possibly go wrong?"
A piece fell off.
"That's fine that always happens. No! Hang on! Wait!" he grabbed three velvet ropes, handing each to the girls and they attached them to the console. "Right, ok, let's go. Follow that TARDIS!"
The Doctor and Star typed a few commands as Idris caught sight of herself in the mirror and screwed up her face as they worked.
The console power down.
"It can't hold the charge," Star sighed, "we can't even start it."
"There's no power!" the Doctor glared at the console, before spotting Idris looking in the mirror, he put his hand over it, "We've got nothing!"
"Oh, my beautiful idiots!" Idris smiled, "You have what you've always had, you've got me." she kissed her fingers, her eyes glowing gold with the power of the vortex, before she tapped the rotor, powering it up.
They grinned as the familiar wheezing noise sounded as a golden circle of energy surrounded them and they dematerialised.
They flew through the universe, the golden shield around them.
"Woo-hoo!" Star cheered.
"We've locked onto them!" Idris shouted, "They'll have to lower the shields when I'm close enough to phase inside."
"Star, can you contact Amy or Rory?" the Doctor asked.
"Tell them to go to the old control room," Idris said.
She nodded and closed her eyes, focussing, 'Rory!' she cheered, 'Your ok. You have to get to the old control room.'
'How?' he replied.
'Oh.' she blinked, 'Hold on,' she snapped her eyes open and turned to Idris, "How do you get there?"
Idris rolled her eyes and used the console to telepathically message the boy herself, "Hello pretty. I'm putting the route to the old console in your head. When you get their use the purple slider in the nearest panel to lower the shields."
"Pretty one." the Doctor scoffed.
"You'll have about 12 seconds before the room goes into phase with the invading matrix. I'll send you the passkey when you get there." she took her hands of the rotor, ending the transmission.
'Good luck!' Star finished.
"You know there aren't any old control rooms," the Doctor remarked, "They were all deleted or remodelled."
"I archive them." Idris replied, "For neatness. I've got about 30 now."
"But I've only changed the desktop, about a dozen times?"
"So far, yes."
"You can't archive something that hasn't happen yet!"
"You can't!"
"Honestly daddy," Star shook her head at him, "She's an eleven-dimensional being, are you seriously doubting her?"
"Keep going!" the Doctor edged her on, "You're doing it, you sexy thing!"
"See, you DO call me that." Idris laughed, "Is it my name?"
"You bet it's your name!"
She put her hands back on the console sending the words 'crimson', 'eleven, 'delight', 'Petrichor,' before she stumbled back.
"They did it!" Star cheered, seeing the readings, "Shields are down!"
"Star..." the Doctor began.
"On it," She called, closing her eyes, 'Rory! You need to get out of the way or you'll be atomised.'
'Where are you coming through?' he asked.
'No idea,' she admitted to him.
'Oh, great. Thanks.'
'Sorry.'
"It's not going to hold!" Idris cried.
The Doctor pulled a lever and the appeared inside the previous console room, on the ramp.
"Doctor!" Amy smiled, "Star!" she ran to hug them.
"You're ok!" Star smiled in relief, hugging the Ponds.
"Not good." Idris groaned as she tried to stand, "Not good at all..." they rushed over to help her sit down, "How do you walk around in these things?"
"Were not quite there yet...just hold on." the Doctor told her, "Amy, Rory, this is...well...she's our TARDIS. Except she's a woman. She's a woman and she's our TARDIS."
"She's the TARDIS?" Amy pointed at her, wide-eyed.
"And she's a woman. She's a woman and she's the TARDIS."
"Did you wish really hard?"
"Shut up, not like that!" she turned to Star as she burst into a fit of giggled, "You shut up too!"
Star continued to giggle as she helped Idris to stand, "Hello. I'm...Sexy."
"Still, shut up!" the Doctor flushed.
"Environment has been breached," House called around them, "Nephew kill them all..."
They looked sound for the Ood.
"Where's Nephew?" Rory frowned.
"He was standing where you materialised." Amy pointed.
"Ah, well, he must have been redistributed," the Doctor rubbed the back of his neck.
"Meaning what?" Rory eyed him.
"You're breathing him," Star grimaced.
"Eurgh!" Amy gagged as she and Rory covered their mouths.
"Another Ood I failed to save," the Doctor muttered.
"Doctor, Star, I did not expect you," House commented.
"Well, that's us all over, isn't it?" the Doctor clapped his hands, "Lovely old unexpected us."
"The big question is now you're here...how to dispose of you. I could play with gravity..." they fell to the fall, struggling to get up, they jumped to their feet when it suddenly stopped, Idris collapsed as Star caught her quickly as Rory came over to help, "or I could evacuate the air from this room and watch you choke," they gasped for breathed as the air was sucked from the room.
"You really don't want to do that!" the Doctor panted.
House returned the air and they all too deep breathed, "Why shouldn't I just kill you now?"
"Because then we won't be able to help you! Listen to your engines. Just listen to them. You don't have the thrust and you know it. We're your only hope for getting outbid your little bubble, through the rift and into our inverse. And ours is the one with the food in! You just have to promise not to kill us. That's all, just promise."
"You can't be serious." Amy gaped.
"I'm very serious. I'm sure it's an entity of its word."
"Dad!" Star called, tears in her voice, "She's burning up!"
"She's asking for water." Rory added.
"Just hang on, old girl. Please, just a little longer."
The Doctor knelt next to her, taking her hand and stroking her face, "Not long now. It'll be over soon."
"I always liked it when you called me...old girl." Idris rasped out.
"You want me to give my word?" House cut them off, "Easy. I promise."
"Fine." the Doctor stood back up, leaving Star hold Idris hand, offering all the comfort she could, "Ok. I trust you. Just delete, ooh, 30% of the TARDIS rooms, you'll free up thrust enough to make it though."
"Activate sub-routine Sigma 9." Star called.
"Why would you tell me this?" House asked.
"Because we want to get back to our universe a badly as you."
"And we're nice." the Doctor finished.
"Yes. I can delete room..." House remarked, "And I can also rid myself of vermin, if I delete this room first. Thank you Doctor, Star. That was very helpful. Goodbye Time Lords. Goodbye little humans. Goodbye Idris."
A bright light filled the room...
~.~
...and the group appeared back in the main console room, in the same positions as they were.
"Yes, you could do that," the Doctor smirked, "But it just won't work. Hard wired fail-safe. Living things from rooms that are deleted are automatically deposited in the main control room."
"But thanks for the lift!" Star smiled innocently.
"We are in your universe now." House called, "Why should it matter to me which room you die? I can kill you just as easily here as anywhere. Fear me. I've killed hundreds of Time Lords."
"Fear us." Star countered, "We've killed them all." she turned to Idris as she whispered to Rory.
"I don't understand," Rory shook his head at her, "There isn't a forest in here."
"Yeah, you're right," the Doctor agreed with House, "You've completely won. Oh you can kill is in oodles of really inventive ways, but before you do kill us allow me, my daughter and our friend Amy and Rory to congratulate you in being an absolutely worthy opponent."
"Congratulations." Star forced a smile as the Doctor began clapping and forced Amy too as well.
"Yep, you've defeated us. Me, my daughter, our lovely friends here and last but definitely not least the TARDIS matrix herself, a living consciousness you ripped out of this very control room and locked up into a human body and look at her!"
"Doctor, she's not breathing!" Rory called urgently.
"Enough!" House shouted, "That is enough."
"No. It's never enough." the Doctor stated, "You forced the TARDIS into a body so she'd burn out safely a very long way away form this control room. A flesh body can't hold the TARDIS matrix and live. Look at her body. House."
"And you think I should mourn her."
"No." Star stood up and glared, "You should be very VERY careful about what you let back into this control room."
Idris opened her mouth and the vortex energy flew out of her.
"You took her from her home." the Doctor continued.
"But now she's back and she's free!"
The energy streamed through the room, changing the green light back to its golden light.
"No!" House shouted, "Stop this! Ow! Stop this now!"
"Look at her go!" Star grinned, "Bigger on the inside! You see, House?"
"Make it stop!"
"That's your problem!" the Doctor chuckled, "Size of a planet, but inside you're just so small!"
"Make it stop!"
"Finish him off, old girl!" Star smirked.
House moaned and yelled as the TARDIS took her home back. Idris's body disappeared.
"Doctor!" Idris called, "Star? Are you there?" they turned to see a projection of her body glowing from console, "It's so very dark in here."
"We're here." the Doctor and Star walked over.
"I've been looking for a word. A big, complicated word, but so sad. I've found it now."
"What word?" Star whispered.
"Alive. I'm alive!"
"Alive isn't sad."
Rory held Amy close as they watched for the other side of the console, giving them a bit of privacy.
"It's sad when its over," she continued, "I'll always be here. But this is when we talked and now even that has come to an end. There's something I didn't get to say to you."
"Goodbye?" the Doctor guessed.
"No, I just wanted to say…hello. Hello Doctor. Hello Star. It's so very, very nice to meet you."
"Please! We don't want you to. Please!"
They were forced to step back as the projection faded with the familiar wheezing and a bright light. "I love you." They faintly heard Idris.
The Doctor pulled Star into a hug, comforting each other and sharing their pain.
~.~
Star sat in the harness under the console, swinging slightly as she worked on some wires, the Doctor standing over her. Amy and Rory watching them from above.
"How's it going under there?" Rory called down.
"Just putting a firewall around the matrix," Star called back, "Almost done."
"Are you going to make her talk again?" Amy asked.
"Can't." the Doctor said.
"Why not?" Rory frowned.
"Spacey-wacey, isn't it?" Amy guessed.
"Well actually it's because the Time lords discovered that if you take an eleventh-dimensional matrix and fold it into a mechanical then…" he began to explain when Rory touched two wires together.
Star looked up and glared at the Doctor, "its spacey-wacey."
He held his hands up and pointed at Rory, who grinned sheepishly, "sorry." He cleared his throat, "At the end, she was talking she kept repeating something, I don't know what it meant."
"The only water in the forest is the river." Star recited.
Rory nodded, "she said we'd need to know that someday. It doesn't make sense, does it?"
"Not yet," the Doctor agreed and then saw Rory's expression, "You ok?"
"No." he admitted, "I watched her die. I shouldn't let it get to me, but it still does. Im a nurse." Amy came and sat at the bottom of the stairs.
"See that's called being alive," Star smiled at him, "best thing there is. Being alive right now, that's all that counts." she went back to the wires, "Nearly finished. Give me 2 minutes."
"Then we're off." The Doctor remarked, "The Eye of Orion is restful, if you like restful. I can never really get the hang of restful."
"What do you think old girl? Where next?"
"Look at you three." Amy smiled sadly, "it's always the three of you, isn't it? Long after the rest of us have gone. You pair and your box, off to see the universe."
"You say that as if it's a bad thing," the Doctor looked at them, "but honestly, it's the best thing there is. The House deleted all the bedrooms. I should make you two a new bedroom. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
"Ok, this time, could we lose the bunk beds?" Amy asked.
"Bunk beds are cool. A bed with a ladder! You can't beat that." They looked at him and he sighed, "It's YOUR room. Up those stairs, keep walking till you find it. Off you pop!"
They started walking up the stairs when Rory stopped. "Doctor, do you have a room?" he knew Star had one, she'd seen her in it, in her last body, she was there a lot, but he'd never seen him in one.
Amy grabbed Rory's arm and pulled him off.
Star connected two wires and they sparked.
"Ha!" the Doctor exclaimed.
"It was meant to do that!" Star stuck her tongue out at him.
He pouted.
~.~
The Doctor threw his cloth down and looked up at the rotor, and smiled before he looked back to see Star sitting at the door looking out at the stars, he sighed and sat next to her, "What is it?"
"Im her maddy." She replied quietly.
"And…that's a bad thing?"
"No! It's just…I dunno…"
"You can tell me."
She leaned her head on his shoulder, "That's just it. There's nothing to tell. She has a nickname for me and that's that."
"Come on," He helped her up and headed to the console, "Are you there?" he looked up at the rotor, "Can you hear me? Im a silly old…"
"The Eye of Orion," Star cut in, "Or wherever we need to go."
A lever pulled down on its own and they dematerialised. They gripped onto the console and stumbled.