Hi guys, Xavier here on the first chapter of the Deadly Plot. Thanks for reading up to this point and enjoy "Trouble in the TARDIS".
I
The Doctor walked around the console, operating the TARDIS as he went. His companions, Michael and Clara, stood back, conversing. "The Doctor looks bothered." Michael observed. "Maybe there's something wrong with the TARDIS?" Clara replied. "Well whatever he's worried about, I just hope we won't end up in a disaster like last time." The Doctor looked back, staring at his companions, who were in turn staring at him. "Why are you staring at me?" he asked, his strong Glaswegian accent shining through. "No reason." Clara said. "No, I can see it in your eyes," The Doctor said. "What's wrong?" He turned to face his companions. "It's just that," Michael answered, "You look bothered." "I always look bothered." The Doctor replied. "Yes, you just look a little bit more bothered than usual. Is there something wrong with the TARDIS?" "Of course not! I would know if there was something wrong with the old girl." Just then, a spark flew from the console. "Right." Michael said in an unbelieving tone. The Doctor seemed to regret that last statement. "OK, maybe there is something wrong with her. I'm trying to land her in Paris, but she doesn't want to." "But you promised we could go to Paris! You promised that nothing would go wrong this time!" Clara said. "Yes I know I promised, but there's not much I can do to fix this problem." "But I thought you knew how to fly this thing!" Michael said, angry at the Doctor for his idiocy. The Doctor replied "First, it's not a thing, it's a she. Second, if she doesn't want to land, then she doesn't want to land!" "But that's not good enough Doctor!" Michael said. The Doctor seemed to give in. "OK. I'll see if I can get her to land, for you." He walked down to the door leading further into the TARDIS. "Well come on!" the Doctor said, beckoning them over. "This isn't a one man job, you know!" Clara and Michael looked at each other unsurely, but followed the Doctor.
"We've just got to get to the Control Panel!" The Doctor said, leading the way. "It's got to be around here somewhere." "Don't you know where the control panel is?" Michael asked. "Well no, but it shouldn't be too hard to find it…" This didn't reassure Michael. Michael had been travelling with the Doctor for 3 months now. He had a pretty boring life before meeting the Doctor. He was 17, the youngest of the three time travellers. He was born in Cardiff, Wales, but when his parents divorced when he was 7, he moved with his mum to London. He met the Doctor when he was at work, in a shop in the heart of London. The Doctor ran in, Clara in hand, running from what looked to be a huge moving pile of jelly. They asked him to help hide from that thing. As a reward, the Doctor offered a trip in his time machine, the TARDIS. One trip turned into two, two to three, and now, Michael was a regular part of the TARDIS crew, accompanying the Doctor and Clara. Although the Doctor has opened his mind to the universe, he still found the Doctor rough around the edges. Michael saw how cruel he could be, how cold and calculating he could be. He was unsure about the wisdom that the Doctor claimed he had, especially when he couldn't fly his own ship!
The Doctor took a left at a crossroad, then another left, then a right, then another left, then right, left, left, right, straight ahead, right, right, right, right, left and finally another left before he stopped. There were two doors, one on the left and one on the right. Although they had past multiple doors on their way here, these were different for the Doctor. He opened the door to the left, only to be momentarily blinded by the extremely bright light coming from within the room. He shut it quickly. "Not that one!" He remarked. "You don't say." Clara said. He walked to the second door and opened it. "Ah! Here we are!" he exclaimed.
The three of them walked into the room to see the walls covered in flashing buttons, levers and lights. It was a tall room, there was a moveable ladder to reach the higher buttons, similar to a library. The room had a very dark shade of blue, which would have made it had to see in there, if it weren't for the bright flashing lights. What do we do now?" Clara asked. "We've just got to find the root of the problem." He walked to one side of the room and randomly pressed a relatively small, flashing button, only for the room to violently shake. He quickly pressed the button again and the room returned to normal. "I don't think that's it." The Doctor remarked. Michael rolled his eyes. He tried another one, this time a constant red. The lighting turned a deep, dark blood red. He pressed it again, and it returned to blue. "Let's see…" The Doctor said, pondering which button could be the problem. He started to pace, thinking about what to do, appearing deep in thought. Michael saw a screen in the middle of the room, so he and Clara walked to it. He pressed a button on the screen and the screen lit up. On the screen were a bunch of symbols, all overlapping each other, none of which either Michael or Clara could understand. "Doctor?" Michael asked. "Not now, Michael! I'm trying to think!" "But Doctor," "Not now!" "DOCTOR!" Michael yelled. "What?" "I think we've found the problem." The Doctor turned around to see Michael and Clara at a screen. "Oh. Yes, I knew that was there." He walked towards the centre of the room, trying not to blush from embarrassment. "I was just testing you."
The Doctor analysed the data, all in Circular Gallifreyan. "That's it!" The Doctor exclaimed. "What is it?" Michael inquired. He pointed to a particular group of symbols, in red, compared to the rest of the symbols, which were blue. "It seems that the TARDIS is running low on Protosol." "What's that?" Michael asked. "It sounds like medicine." Clara remarked. "I guess you could say that. It's a very rare mineral. It helps to maintain all of the TARDIS' operating functions. Without it, it would be impossible to use the TARDIS." "OK," Michael said. "The problem is, it can only be found on the planet Zephon Alpha." "What's the problem with that, Doctor?" Clara asked. "You see, the people of Zephon Alpha are cold and unwelcoming to strangers." The Doctor continued. "Sounds a bit like you, Doctor." Michael remarked, which earned a small laugh from Clara and a scowl from the Doctor. He continued "They don't allow any outsiders except for those from the Red System. We, of course, aren't one of them." "So how are we going to get that mineral then?" Clara asked, worried. A sly look covered the Doctor's face. "We'll just have to go undercover."
"Perfect." Raspor said, excited that his plan was finally in action. "Everything is falling into place. The Doctor's machine is malfunctioning. The only way to fix it is to go to Zephon Alpha." He raised his wrist piece to his mouth. "Halo," Raspor started. "Yes Raspor?" Halo replied. "Get the representative of Zephon Beta on the line." "Yes sir." Halo obeyed. Then, the representative from Zephon Alpha was on the call. "Hello, Lorak, what can I do for you?" "It is time. Alert and ready your guards." "Of what, Lorak?" "Tell them to look out for a group of hooded fellows. They will try to steal some of your Protosol from your mines." "How come, Lorak?" "You see, representative, this is all part of the plan. The Doctor is coming to Zephon Alpha."
And that brings us to the end. The next instalment will (hopefully, if I'm not bogged up with homework) come next week. Thanks for reading and feel free to give feedback in the comments!