The grating of the wheel against the rail made a satisfying noise as the train started up again. He loved that—a mechanical wheezing that made it sound like the whole thing was pulling at itself to come alive. He patted the chair next to him. Lovely train, it was. Ever since he was a little boy, the Doctor had loved trains. Everything about them fascinated him; they connected people around the world by travelling fantastic distances quickly in a huge metal box—by using thousands of kilometres of placed metal. It showed history and human dedication to him: people had spent so much time laying down those tracks that he was now using, and that would be used for so long.

It made him giddy.

He loved trains so much that he was on his way to finally achieving a major goal in his life: to become an engineer for trains. He had spent years studying for it and had finally found a job opening with a train company that was highly respected. He would make a great addition to Bad Wolf rails, he was sure of it. He was so certain that he had already paid 3 months in advance for an apartment right next to the station. Luckily for him, prices near the station were lower, so even his little amount of savings would be good enough for him to start up until he got a salary. And if he didn't get the job, well… He'd find something else. Something with trains, obviously, but he couldn't stay at home anymore. He needed to learn to stand on his own two feet.

And oh, how he would jump on those feet and go running. He would love this, he was certain of it.

The train slowed down again as they reached the next stop. He could barely contain his excitement, but for the sake of social norms, he had to. He glanced up at his three bags, secured on the holders above his head. It was a new start, on every front. Away from his family, away from anything he's ever known to go work with trains. Oh, the honour!

He once again had to remind himself of where he was. Right, public place. The train once again started up, and once again the wheezing sound put a smile on his face. Someone walked passed him and smiled quickly when he gave her a grin. She sat down a bit further. Another person enjoying the wonderful world of trains.

He really hoped he would get accepted. He mostly had no doubt, as he knew what he was talking about, but a small part of him still feared he wouldn't make it. And then what would he do? He wasn't very good at anything else, in general. Yet he didn't let those thoughts diminish his joy at the possibility of being accepted.

But something else did. Something sounded wrong. Something in the walls seemed to crackle, and the shifting of the wheels made a sound that was slightly too high. Something was up with the engine, making the place shake weirdly.

Huh. He got up. He hadn't seen the ticket collector yet, meaning he had no idea where he was. Maybe he didn't need the middleman and could talk to the conductor directly. But then again, based on the speed of the train, the next stop wasn't in about 10 or so minutes. They weren't in a hurry.

He asked the woman who had passed him before if she could pay attention to his bags, and he walked off.

There was usually always someone on the train, but there could always be exceptions that he couldn't account for. He passed by a few different sections, loving the way the doors opened automatically as you pressed a button.

After about 4 sections, he found the ticket man, who has in the middle of checking someone's card. His machine beeped, and he smiled at the man before moving on to the next few people. The Doctor stopped him. "Hi—sorry," he smiled kindly, "I think there's a bit of a problem."

He pushed him back slightly till they reached the in-between of two wagons. The ticket man looked at him oddly, which was understandable—he just didn't want to cause unnecessary panic. "Something's wrong with the engines, I think, and I'm not sure the conductor knows about this…?"

The ticket collector looked at him with an even more confused look. "What? How'd you know that?"

The Doctor tapped the wall. "The vibrations caused by the engines, sir. They sound off."

He frowned at him. He'd already been having a long day of getting harassed by people who didn't have their tickets in order, he certainly didn't want to deal with a lunatic at the moment. And insane was exactly what he thought him to be. "Right, sir. Obviously. I'll report this, so please return to your seat."

The Doctor stayed still. He wasn't an idiot, and he understood right away that he didn't believe him in the slightest as he started to move back to do his job—away from the conductor. "No, I mean it," he added. "Something's off. I'm an expert, you see."

The man smiled at him with an obvious underlying annoyance. "Of course, sir."

The Doctor's adam's apple bobbed. The natural shakes of the train both caught them off guard, making both of them lose their balance. As he racked his brain to explain that this could genuinely be a serious matter, the ticket man left him behind to continue his work. The Doctor almost felt bad for him, he was obviously so tired that he hadn't noticed he came from the other way. Almost. Because now, he wasn't going to stop him from going to the conductor.

And that's exactly what he did. He continued down the wagons, getting more nervous as he went on. The ticket man announced their next stop, and it was at that point that it hit him. He was an idiot. The train was going too fast because something was wrong with the engines. The train was going way too fast to be approaching a station. He knocked on the door twice before forcefully opening the door.

The conductor turned around in slight panic. "What? What are you doing here?"

"Hi, sorry," he took out a card with his credentials. They weren't real, but sometimes he needed to fake authority for anyone to listen to him, and he didn't feel bad about it. "Train engineer here. I noticed something's wrong—with the engines, no?"

"What are you talking about? Nothing's wrong."

The Doctor got closer to the controls, and just like he felt, their speed was way too high. "They announced the next train stop but at this point, it would take you a full 7 minutes to reach a stop, and that would be if you started right now, with the highest brake possible."

"Don't tell me how to drive my train, big E," he spat, crossing his arms defensively, before realising he did need to start slowing down and reached for a lever instead.

It did nothing. They didn't slow down at all. He released it and pulled it again, but once again, nothing happened. The man stuttered as he stared at the Doctor.

"Okay, so the brakes aren't working?" he asked. The man only stared back with his mouth agape. Before the man could go into a full-fledged panic, the Doctor grabbed him by the arms. "Hey, man, I need you on this. Get it together and we can fix this."

Something shifted in his eyes. He took a deep breath. "Right…"

"First of all, notify the next station that you won't be stopping, so they can clear the tracks and have people back off, alright?"

He grabbed one of the communicators to his side and asked for someone, his voice wavering with every word.

They weren't slowing down naturally. This train was large enough that it should start slowing down after a while, but it wasn't. It was a constant speed, however, so they weren't speeding up either. The Doctor ran a hand through his hair. Maybe the engines were stuck and perpetually speeding them up as much velocity that they were losing, but that was a low chance. And also the brakes, what was up with that?

As the man put his communicator down, the Doctor ordered him again. "Ask her what's wrong."

The man nodded before picking up another communicator. He sighed deeply. "I hate doing this."

Before the Doctor could comment, he flicked on the thing and spoke into it. "Hey, Rose?"

An intrigued hum was heard in response.

The Doctor opened up the consoles, but everything seemed fine. He took out a blue screwdriver from his pocket and took a better look.

The man cleared his throat, suddenly sounding a lot more confident than he had before. "I need you to do a full check. The brakes don't appear to be working, and there's a gentleman here saying you could have something wrong with your engines."

"W—What?" she stammered. "That's impossible, I don't feel anything."

"Check again," the Doctor said, pulling on a blue cable. "There's something wrong."

A few seconds of silence passed. The Doctor stopped his tinkering and put his head up, waiting.

After a while, he got his response. "Oh, you're right. Something with the engine," she said, sounding even more worried than before. "I don't know what's happening to it, but it seems to be continually turned on."

"Right," the Doctor closed the console. "Yet the lever is fine, it's not stuck or jammed. Something else is powering the engines."

"It's from the… added battery, I think," Rose added.

"Oh." The Doctor scratched his sideburn. "The kinetic energy, creating an infinite feedback loop." It made quite a bit of sense, he just hadn't expected it at all. Regenerative breaking. Electrical trains used the kinetic energy from slowing down to power back into a battery so that they could reuse the energy. It was a good system, it saved a lot of energy. He didn't remember exactly how much, anywhere from 20% to 50%, but it didn't matter. He'd look it up later.

The battery took the kinetic energy and somehow added it straight back into the engine. So as you slowed down, the engine would speed up the train about 20-50% (seriously, what was it?) of what you were slowing down, making virtually no difference in your speed.

Now, to solve it… "Disable everything. Get the engine off, completely. Manually brake."

The conductor stared at him as if he were telling him to blow up the train. "Isn't that—"

It's moments like these he wished he was famous. Maybe then people would listen to him on the first go. "Yes. It's damaging for the engine, but if we don't stop this train soon, it'll crash into another one. You can change the engine later, but if we crash…"

"Alright, alright. I get it. But engines cost a lot, no? I don't think they'd—"

"Are you serious? Yeah, I'm sure they'll be real happy when you crash two trains and kill hundreds of people," he said, trying to make every word ooze with sarcasm. As if human life was comparable to a damaged engine. The nerve of some people.

He picked up one of the communicators. "Rose, right?"

"Y—yes?" she timidly answered back.

"Hi." He smiled. "We're going to shut everything off, okay?" he asked rhetorically, but warmly.

"Er. Yeah?"

He put down the communicator and pointed at the conductor. "Tell the station we're going to use track 9 to emergency stop. Tell their other cargo to use track 8 instead to continue, and that they should be slow as they reach the station to avoid any accidents. I'll turn off everything right after."

The ticket man walked in. "Hey, the—" He noticed the Doctor. "What in tarnation…?"

The conductor gave him a thumbs up as he talked in the communicator. When he finished, he put it back down. "He's alright. He just saved the train, I think."

"Not yet," the Doctor said, ripping out a thick cable from the console. The lights powered down. Luckily, it was in the middle of the day, so it wouldn't be very noticeable to the passengers. But all the colourful lights on the console faded, and it was both worrying and slightly depressing.

"People are complaining that we missed a stop, is—"

The Doctor pulled a lever, sending everyone forward quite forcefully. "Hold on," he added, unhelpfully.

The train slowed down significantly, a screeching sound coming from the wheels.

"Alright. We're, er, too far," the Doctor said. "I can fix the engine from here, probably, enough to lead her back to her main station. But the other passengers are going to have to get their own way back since that'll take a while."

Everyone was sent back slightly more as the train came to a full stop.

The ticket man stared at him. "What?"

"Go on then," he waved them away. "Go do your job, I'll do mine." He took out his screwdriver. "Oh, and tell people to not stand on the tracks. For some people that's not common sense," he added.

The conductor and the ticket man stared at each other until they both decided to leave him alone.

The Doctor walked out a minute later. He saw how they were trying to talk to the passengers, who clearly were very confused and angry. At least they were alive, he thought, as he walked to the front of the train.

Rose. He hadn't been able to see her face before—not properly, as the train was going too fast, which seemed like a trait of this particular driver—but now that he had a good look at her, he noticed how young she was. Must be a new train, which might explain her lack of self-judgement. Her eyes were closed, and he didn't really want to bother her, but he had to know.

"Hey," he said. She opened her eyes and looked at him. She was quite shy, he noted. "You alright?"

"I think so," she said. She sounded tired. Understandable, he supposed, considering they weren't made to stop that quickly. It would certainly take a toll.

He pulled at his ear lobe. "How's the engine? Did restarting reset it?"

"Yes, it did." She looked away. "It, er, fried it off."

"Ouch," he scrunched his nose reflexively. No way that felt good. "Sorry."

"Not at all." She smiled lightly. "You basically saved everyone. Small price to pay."

He sighed and deflated. At least someone understood for once. "Thank you for understanding. Still, I'm sorry."

Before he could say anything else, the conductor walked up to him again. "Hey buddy, what now?"

"I'd say drive backwards. Warn the station of which track you use, though, obviously. Take it slow, and then fix her engine properly there. She shouldn't drive anyone else until that's done, it could easily happen again." He stayed silent for a moment. "Actually, if you don't mind, I'd like to come with. That way I'm right there if anything happens."

"Sure, I don't care," he said and sighed. He nodded at Rose before walking back into the locomotive.

The Doctor gave a wave to Rose and followed the conductor, who he later learned was called George.

He had a pretty good time helping George drive the train back. He knew how it worked, but to actually be driving it was a whole other experience. George wasn't too happy with him driving his precious train, but the Doctor was careful—and had saved them all an hour ago, so he let his childlike wonder be filled.

While they drove back, George warmed up to him slightly as he told him what he was doing here—that he had moved to work with trains, and that he was so excited to be interviewed tomorrow. George was a bit quiet after that, but the Doctor paid no mind. He was content. He also remembered later that his bags were still on the train. And he lived right next to the station. So, he was quite glad he took the train back.

When he arrived at the station, he stayed behind while George went to clock out of work. He took a further look at the engine. A part would need to be replaced to make sure it wouldn't happen again, so he took the entire thing apart. While he was wondering where the storage would be, George walked back with a woman by his side.

The Doctor happily greeted her. He refrained from complimenting her on her gorgeous grey hair. She stared at him and the many mechanical pieces scattered around before frowning at him.

George sighed. "I know he looks a bit… yeah. But, he was great. Good in a crisis, too."

As the Doctor realised what was happening, he felt like actual stars filled his insides.

"Would you like to work for us?" she asked.

He almost couldn't believe it. George had snitched on him. We-ell, in a good way. He kept down his tears, as much as he wanted to burst out crying and hug them with all of his force.

"Yes," he said with a calmness he didn't feel. "Absolutely."

No way this was happening. He was already hopeful for tomorrow, but now he didn't even have to wait anymore. They had just offered it. He didn't care about anything else—he would do it for free.

"Alright, perfect. We needed one…" she said. "You can start tomorrow, we can fix a contract right before you start."

She said goodbye to George and explained a few other things, which basically boiled down to some contractual things he didn't care about, his schedule, and other legal requirements. They'd still have to see his CV or something. He forgot to tell her that they already had it since he'd applied before, but he'd tell her that when he'd remember the next day.

For now, he was on cloud nine. She showed him around the place, and he took the pieces he needed for the engine. She quickly introduced some of the trains, but most of them weren't there, so she shrugged it off. He'd get to meet them with time, anyways.

Then they got back to Rose. Apparently, he was right in his assumption—she'd been very young, and barely been up and running for a year.

Although Sheryl, the woman, had told him they couldn't legally pay him for any work he did that day, he insisted on fixing her up anyways.

He noticed a further fault than just the engines. The engines were easy to fix, but then he noticed a problem with the heater, too. It wasn't a massive problem, as they were in the middle of summer and they didn't need it yet, but Rose hadn't told him. Which pointed to a further, much bigger problem.

However, at this point, Sheryl was about to call security to have him removed from the grounds, so he gave up. She didn't seem to understand that it wasn't literally about the heating, but possibly a proprioception issue. Or worse, she was lying. But he had no reason to believe that that was the case, so he dropped that train of thought.

However, -his joy remained steadfast. He had just acquired his dream job, and there was no need for a plan B! Which was good news, because he truly sucked at coming up with plans. He laid his worry for Rose to rest and went to his new home, the Tardis Hotel, where he happily walked up seven flights of stairs with his three bags without even noticing his own building fatigue.

Tomorrow would be truly brilliant.