Another week, another chapter! And it's a big one to make up for the delay last time (2,346!) So without further ado, here's chapter 6.
Enjoy!
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Chapter 6 – Arrival
It was just as Jackie was beginning to think the hellish ride would never end, there was a resounding crash. The floor righted itself beneath her feet, and the room fell silent.
Wherever it was, they had arrived.
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Jackie's footsteps echoed loudly on the grating as she scrambled to her feet. She still clung tightly to the guardrail, sending a suspicious glare towards the TARDIS console.
"Y' finished then?" she asked, warily standing straighter. "Not gonna knock me off me feet again?"
The TARDIS didn't answer, sitting silent and lightly smoking. Jackie wrapped her arms around her chest and hugged herself tightly. The dull silence after the loud journey was fairly creepy; and the occasional hiss of a steam vent was doing nothing for her nerves.
Still. She was a Prentice woman. Bravado was her middle name; well actually it was Angela Suzette, no matter what Pete might have said on their wedding day.
"I, Peter Alan Tyler, take you, Jacqueline Suzanne Suzette Anita…"
Honestly, that man! But that was beside the point. Jackie glanced up towards the TARDIS room with a look of mild irritation.
"If we've ended up on Mars, I'm going to kill you."
The TARDIS exterior doors creaked open in response.
"Is it safe?"
A green light flickered tiredly on the dashboard of the main console. Jackie glanced nervously towards the exterior doors, suddenly reminded of the grilling she gave the Doctor in Downing Street.
"I'm talking to him. 'Cos I've seen this life of yours, Doctor; And maybe you get off on it, and maybe you think it's all clever and smart, but you tell me. Just answer me this. Is my daughter safe?"
But he had kept her safe. He and this machine of his had brought her daughter home safe every time.
"Is she safe?"
Jackie took a tentative step towards the open doors.
"Will she always be safe? Can you promise me that?"
She paused in the doorway, looking out onto a dark, rocky landscape.
"Ah but trouble's just the bits in-between! It's all waiting out there, Jackie, and it's brand new to me. All those planets, and creatures and horizons. I haven't seen them yet! Not with these eyes. And it is going to be fantastic."
Rose believed in him. Rose believed in this machine. They had brought her home safe each time.
"But it's not safe, Rose."
"Mum, if you saw it out there you'd never stay home."
It could only a few steps outside, just see what they meant. And Rose would be safe in the TARDIS for a little while. She had the Doctor with her (sort of) and the TARDIS could protect her (she hoped). Just for a minute. A small smile tugged the corner of her mouth.
"I'm jus' 'eading out then!" Jackie called out to the silent TARDIS. "One small ste' for me an' all tha'." She grinned as her foot touched down lightly onto the alien world. Lifting her foot again Jackie's grin widened as she looked at the print she'd made. In the year one hundred trillion, Jackie Tyler of 2007 had made her mark.
With her body practically tingling with excitement, Jackie Tyler stepped out of the safety of the TARDIS, and set out alone into the year one hundred trillion. The desolate landscape was, in its own way, breathtakingly beautiful. Jackie gaped at the vastness of it. Just of the ridge which the TARDIS stood on, she could see what she could only describe as a giant beehive carved into the rock face. Only, it wasn't a beehive, it was more like a city. Jackie could just make out where roads and what she could only describe as houses were cut into the stone. She spun on the spot trying to take it all in. No wonder Rose wanted to keep traveling, she thought. If this is what it was like to step out of the TARDIS each time (although Jackie supposed she would normally have had a chattering tour guide telling her exactly what she was looking at) Jackie could understand why. Maybe trouble was just the bits in between. Maybe the Doctor was-
Jackie tripped over something and landed ungracefully on her rear. She had been stepping backwards, looking around in amazement when her trainer caught on some sort of squishy rock by the side of the TARDIS and she had, quite inelegantly, fallen over it. Jackie turned her head to see what she had fallen over when she caught sight of the sky above her. She hadn't thought to look above her head when she stepped out of the TARDIS, but now from her prone position she couldn't do anything but. It was blank. Complete unending night. Jackie couldn't see a single star in the sky, only blackness that almost seemed to suck and pull at her from where she lay. It almost made her dizzy, that emptiness. It was like she had suddenly gone blind. There were no clouds that she could see, or anything that looked like it might be covering the night sky… just emptiness. Jackie suddenly felt very small.
Shaken by the feeling of emptiness, Jackie turned her head to where she knew the TARDIS would be, suddenly needing the reassurance of the odd little blue box. It was as she turned her head that her eyes caught the soft, squishy material that she had fallen over.
And she screamed.
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"Wot the bleedin' 'ell wa' tha'?!" yelped Jackie as the entire room lurched to the side, knocking her from her seat beside the Doctor's bed. As she struggled to her feet the TARDIS gave another great jolt, sending medical instruments flying as the walls flashed an ominous mauve.
Rose didn't reply. She had quickly braced herself against the Doctor's stasis chamber as the first tremor hit but was now staring in dumbfounded shock as the Time Lord's eyes popped open. But instead of his usual warm chocolate, they blazed an eerie gold. He stared blankly ahead as wisps of golden dust curled soothingly around his head. Rose braced herself against his bed as her knees gave way. She knew that that light. It looked like… no! But he couldn't be! They had gotten him into the stasis chamber in time! He wasn't-
There was a third great lurch which felt to the two humans on board as if the TARDIS had tried to roll on the spot. Jackie stood, rubbing her arm from where it had collided with one of the tables. "Wot the bleedin' 'ell wa' tha' all abou'?" She grimaced before freezing and listening carefully. Barely noticeable, but getting louder, was the distinct sound of the time rotor initiating the dematerialisation circuits. Rose barely looked up as Jackie fled the room; instead, her attention was solely on the Doctor. He couldn't do this to her again! They had gotten him into the stasis chamber in time hadn't they? He couldn't be regenerating!
The Doctor cringed and twisted within the stasis pod. His face contorted in pain and panic.
"Off…" He muttered, hands fisting at his sides. "Get it off…" The TARDIS rolled again. "Get…away." The TARDIS lurched again, seeming to pick up speed.
Rose held on tightly as the TARDIS began to buck and roll through the time vortex. "Doctor?" she gasped, trying to battle both the spinning floor and the feeling of panic that didn't quite seem to be her own. "Doctor, can you hear me?" She grunted as the TARDIS heaved and painfully slammed her against the pod again.
"Ro…Rose?"
"Doctor!"
The Doctor's eyes were still glowing as he turned to face her. His face still twisted in pain.
"Bad Wolf." He said before sagging back on to the bed. Rose's headache flared as her own eyes became lightly tinted with gold.
"Why is she running?" asked Rose through gritted teeth as the TARDIS whirled again, "What's scared her this much?"
The Doctor slammed a fist against the inside of the stasis pod causing the lid to retract. "Something…something" He gasped in pain, sitting up on the bed. "Something that shouldn't be. A… argh! An anomaly, in time." He doubled over in pain and Rose reached up to steady him, still battling her-not-quite-own panic.
"What do we do?"
The Doctor grinned; an odd expression that was still twisted with pain. "We wait. We let her run."
And so the panicked flee through the time stream continued, the TARDIS ripped through the vortex. In the medical bay, Rose and the Doctor (who, despite the continued glowing eyes, was becoming more Doctor-like) held on. It was just as Rose was beginning to think the panicked ride would never end, there was a resounding crash. The floor righted itself beneath her feet, and the room fell silent.
Wherever it was, they had arrived.
"Well." Said the Doctor, eyes losing their golden lustre and dimming to their usual chocolate. "We've landed." He hopped off from the bed and Rose caught his elbow as he stumbled.
"You alrigh' there, Doctor?" asked Rose, her own eyes dimming back to their usual shade. "You should be in bed! You were shot!"
The Doctor grinned, standing straight and rolling his shoulders. "Nah! Nothing to worry about with that little thing!"
Rose gaped at him.
"You were shot! How is that a little thing?!"
"Ah." The Doctor's eyes widened. "Well… yes. I forgot about that." He tugged at his ear. "Well, it's all sorted now!" He grinned, shrugging his suit jacket on before noticing the heavy bloody stains that darkened the front chest panel. He took it off again. He looked at where his jacket had been tossed by the TARDIS and sighed unhappily. "Oh, my coat! I love that coat! Janis Jopin gave me that coat!"
"Doctor!" interrupted Rose, annoyed. "What do y' mean 'Well, it's all sorted now'?" she folded her arms across her chest and glared at the suddenly sheepish Time Lord.
"Ah… well, about that." He rubbed a hand across the back of his neck awkwardly. "Well, I just needed to slip in to a quick healing coma and problem solved! It was only a little bullet really so…" He trailed off at the unimpressed look on Rose's face. "Ah… sorry?"
Rose huffed and shook her head. "So you're all fixed now?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "I was worried for nuthin?"
"Ah well… not exactly nothing!" He grinned again, opening up a spare cupboard that Rose hadn't noticed before. Inside was a row of identical brown, pin-striped suits. "I would have been in serious trouble if you hadn't gotten me in to the stasis chamber as quick as you did." He smiled at Rose fondly. "Clever girl."
Rose tried not to smile at the praise.
"Was that a smile?"
Rose scowled at him. "No."
The Doctor grinned, knowingly. "That was a smile..."
"No it wasn't."
"You smiled..." he teased.
Her scowl deepened. "No I didn't."
The Doctor pouted. "Oh, come on, all I did was heal a teeny bullet wound! It's not like I brought you're mother to the end of the universe."
"You know she's still on board?"
"Ah."
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Once again outfitted in his beloved pin-stripes, the Doctor and Rose left the infirmary and headed towards the console room. The Doctor grabbed Rose's hand and amicably swung it as they walked along.
"So where is that mother of yours then?" asked the Doctor, glancing around somewhat nervously. "She's not going to ambush me around the next corner is she?"
Rose giggled. "'ow should I know?" She asked. "I've been with you 'aven't I? She's probably gone to make a cuppa though."
The Doctor cringed slightly. "Urgh, you're mother on my TARDIS. Talk about domestic."
Rose walloped him on the arm as they strode into the console room. Dropping her hand, the Doctor bounced over to one of the monitors attached below the time rotor.
"So when are we then?" asked Rose, stepping up to the Doctor's side. He absent-mindedly took her hand again as he pulled out a pair of brainy specs.
"Ah."
He sat back onto the jump seat, pulling Rose with him.
"Well?"
He rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. "The year one hundred trillion."
Rose glanced towards the door, excitement sparkling in her eyes. "So what's out there?"
The Doctor lowered his hand and removed his glasses. "I don't know." He said.
Rose gaped at him in amazement, a light smile teasing around the corner of her mouth. "Say that again. That's rare."
He smiled half-heartedly. "Not even the Time Lords came this far. We should leave. We should go. We should really, really go."
"Oh, if you think there's going to be trouble, we could always stay inside and go somewhere else."
They turned to face each other. Rose's mouth twitched. The Doctor's eyebrow raised. Rose spluttered against her mirth and they lost control on their laughter.
"Should we go investigate then Lewis?" the Doctor asked, offering Rose his arm in a gentlemanly way.
Rose grinned. "An excellent idea, Sarge." She replied, taking the offered appendage. "Maybe we should go an' tell my mum first though?"
The Doctor shrugged carelessly. "Weeell… we could." He grinned a devilish smile. "Or we could go outside, have a bit of a poke around, you know, check it's safe, and then we could go find your mother."
Rose's grin matched the Doctor's. "The old team?"
"That's more like it!" he cheered, pulling her towards the doors. "Hope and Glory, Mutt and Jeff, Shiver and Shake."
"Which one's Shiver?" asked Rose, mildly concerned that the Doctor was, in his own clever way, calling her an elephant.
"Oh," he grinned, eyebrows waggling. "I'm Shake."
Rose was tempted to give him another wallop on the arm when a scream came from outside. The grin fell from Rose's face. She knew that scream.
"That's my mum!"
Without another word, the pair of them dashed out of the TARDIS doors and into the endless night.
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Whoop! Another chapter done (and on time this week!) granted I wrote it all today but still – it's a biggie 2,346 give or take a few YGLABNs.
I wanted to spend a bit more time on what it would feel like for Jackie to first step out of the TARDIS – especially without the Doctor there to tell her what was happening. And while I'm 99% certain all of you know EXACTLY where they are, I wanted to really capture the feeling of mystery that would come from this kind of experience. And yes – the parallels to Rose were completely intentional! Like mother like daughter eh?
Tbh with you I'm a bit stuck on the next chapter – I don't really want to write a direct lift of Utopia but I've kind of written myself into a corner. I have two ideas in my head at the moment but I can't quite decide; So let me know what you think:
Do you want to see the Master or not?
Drop me a review and let me know!
Love and Hugs,
Spannerspoon out.