So sorry about the glitch, I should have checked! My mistake.
Tia finally caught up to Clara, who was roaming outside on the grassy plain.
"Did you enjoy breakfast?" Clara gave her a brilliant smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
"Ah, yes, it was very nice. I was very surprised." Tia smiled back, hoping Clara was catching onto what she was trying to say. Damn it, Clara was much better at this than she was. Her face could mask whatever she wanted to, whenever. "So, what do you think about this place?" Tia asked, trying to determine what Clara already knew about the place.
"It's not too bad. I mean, the outside is great, but watching the grass grow is a bit dull." She faced the big Victorian style house. "You know, from the house, you can see all of this from the windows. The house is pretty and neat and all, but I think the bedroom and the kitchen could do with some clean up. It's a little bit dusty." She accented some of the words, which Tia could catch on.
'We're being watched everywhere, inside and out. Even the windows in the house, the kitchen and the bedroom are a way of spying on us.' Tia figured out. She presumed the 'clean-up' meant some way to get rid of these bugging devices.
Clara paused and lowered her voice. "Oh, I checked out the attic before as well. That exceeded my expectations. It was spotless-clean, and so closed off. I think I might go there to read. Such a private space." The ends of Clara's lips tilted slightly upwards.
'They can't see us from the attic!' She quietly realised. 'Of course! They would have a control room somewhere that overlooked all the spying things. They can't bug that place because it will interfere with the overall control node.'
"Let's head back then. It's uncomfortable standing outside without proper gear." Tia replied.
The house seemed normal, except for the small door that led to the basement, which was a gigantic laboratory stocked with whatever she wanted. Clara was still upstairs doing god knows what. Tia felt so insecure and uncomfortable, now knowing that they were watching. From upstairs, she heard a shatter.
"Clara!" She raced upstairs to find broken vase. Clara was on the ground, having a coughing fit.
Tia brought her a glass of water, and the cough died down.
"Come on, let's get you up." As Tia helped her up, she felt Clara discretely pressing a small piece of paper into the palm of her hand.
"Sorry, I think my flu is getting worse." Clara said. "I might go and have a rest." She said and left the room.
When Tia opened the note, she saw Clara's rushed handwriting: "6:00pm, attic."
oOoOoOoOoOoOoO
At 6:00pm, the grandfather clock in the living room chimed. It was such an elegant piece of art, probably ruined by the army so they could install another spying device.
Tia walked up to the attic to find Clara already there, pacing around.
"Tia!" She hugged her. "I am so sorry for all the inconspicuous hints. I didn't know how to communicate with you. They are watching everywhere."
"No, no. I got all your hints. Don't worry. How did you figure all this out?"
"Oh, I've picked up things here and there. I learnt to see through perception filters while I was travelling. Before you woke up, I walked around, scouting the place. Nowhere is safe. There are so many cameras and bugging devices everywhere." She gazed at the watch. "From what I've figured, the lights on the cameras turn off for fifteen minutes every three hours. I'm assuming that's when their shifts change and their watchers are exchanged. That means we have fifteen minutes before we have to go back down."
Clara led her in front of a big, heavy machine. "Any ideas on how to turn this thing off without triggering the alarms?"
Even though this big machine was being used for terrible purposes, Tia stood there in awe. There were only three of them ever developed in the universe, and she was standing in front of one of them. Tia excitedly broke the machine apart like a child opening a Christmas present, and saw the complicated wiring inside. "I can try. I think I can manage in three hours. There's a workshop in this house, with all the appropriate tools. I can try working on a virus to send a fake signal of us 'working on the poison'."
"Okay." Clara said. "Our fifteen minutes is nearly up, we better go back down. See you in three hours."
When Tia started going downstairs, Clara stopped her briefly.
"Wait." Clara looked at Tia with her big, sad eyes. "Look into my eyes and promise you will never create that poison. No matter what they tell you to do."
"I promise." She lied, looking into Clara's eyes and gently grabbing onto her wrist, secretly taking Clara's pulse. Tia wasn't sure if Clara had collapsed intentionally or by accident. If it was the latter, Tia knew she was running out of time.
She sighed as she walked down. 'Just as I thought.' She whispered to herself. Clara's pulse was weaker than she had hoped.
oOoOOOoOoOooOoOoOoOoOoO
Three Hours later- back in the attic.
"Just a little bit here…" Tia fixed the last wire through the controller. Suddenly, the green lights emanating from the controls turned blue.
Clara paused in half hooray pose and looked at Tia in confusion. "Is blue good?"
Tia gave it a little thump and the colour changed back to green.
Tia jumped up and down and hugged Clara. "YES! Very good. The controllers will now see a random image of us doing normal everyday actions – I'll be down at the lab 'creating' the poison, and you'll be 'assisting' me doing so. Now that we're free from their control, come on!" She took Clara's hand and led her to the lab.
However, neither Clara nor Tia noticed the smoke and the blinking red light that followed after.
Halfway down the stairs, Tia caught Clara as she was tripping down the stairs. "You okay?" Tia asked, as she helped her up.
"Yes, fine. Sorry, I'm always so clumsy." She shook her head gently, frowning. Clara knew something was up with her body. She'd noticed how much harder it was to move around. The fact that she didn't have a total control over her body frustrated her.
Seeing the frustration on Clara's face made Tia sad. 'Keep pretending. Just a little longer and everything will be fixed.' Tia repeated in her mind.
"Sit here." Tia gestured to a chair when they finally reached the lab. She ran to a counter, grabbed onto the ends of different coloured wires and began to connect them to Clara's life support.
Clara momentarily frowned in confusion then she gasped.
Tia smiled. Clara was so quick at getting things. "You're connecting the wires onto the bracelet because it's connected to the Doctor!" She excitedly shouted.
"That's the idea!" She ran up to a monitor on the walls. "Nothing can get in or out in this place. This place is basically a hologram room. We're still in the ship – I figured it out when I heard the humming." Tia placed her ears on the ground and heard a gentle humming.
"Well, nothing can get out except… perhaps… archaic signals." She smirked. "The Doctor once told me about his love for Earth."
"You've met the Doctor before?" Clara asked.
Tia nodded. "And you too. In my past, your future. As the Doctor put it, it's timey wimey. We spent some time together." She said, pondering the past that is yet to come for Clara and the Doctor. "But back to archaic signals! I learnt ancient earth Morse code when I was little… and I know how to send the signal. To the military, they'll think they are random taps. But to the TARDIS… she can home in on the signal and open a communications link between us!" Tia pressed something and a looping messaged repeated itself. Short short short, pause, long long long, pause, short short short.
"SOS." Tia explained. "A universal signal for help." She peeled the wires off Clara's bracelet. Clara observed the lights flickering in the same pattern as the Morse code.
"Wherever he is, it will take him maximum of two days to find our location and home in on the signal. Now… the fun begins." She pressed a button, and the illusion of a house disappeared only leaving a black room with green grids.
"So this is the hologram room." Clara muttered, looking at it in awe.
The walked around the edges of the room until Tia stopped.
Tia pressed a button and they were faced with empty corridors. She gave Clara a cheeky grin as she offered a hand.
"Miss Oswald, care to join me in escaping this spaceship?"
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
TARDIS
"Tiana Gatford." The Doctor intensely stared at the book. "There's something off about you."
He shook his head and threw the history book across the library in frustration. "What are you hiding? Tell me your secrets. Why are you the only one who can make the poison?" He sighed as he watched the countdown on Clara's body clock. Every second counting down hurt him more and more. The worse part was that he already knew where they were.
"I'm sorry Clara. I can't rescue you until I know what Tia is." He accidentally knocked a thin book out of the library shelf.
He opened it and gasped in realisation. He sprinted to the console room in a manner of urgency.
Clara was in danger.