I stand in the shower of my room, ridding myself of the debris from the explosion. I quickly change into my pyjamas before grabbing a book from the bookshelf and slipping into bed. Physically I felt exhausted but my mind wouldn't shut up. It kept repeatedly playing Gwyneth's words and the daydreams I keep getting, sometimes with new things added. I stare blankly at the page, the words not registering in the slightest. Conceding I crawl out of the bed, sliding a hoodie over the top of my holey T-shirt and black short biker shorts. A walk should help subdue my racing mind.
The dreams and vision never seemed in order, some were of a little girl meeting two people - who I assumed were her parents - on a gorgeous red planet with silver trees and a large dome shaped city, others were of a soldier fighting against pepper pots using inhuman abilities on both the red planet and another, one more golden with beautiful ivory buildings. It hurt to try and order the fantasies, as if my brain was being ripped out of my skull. A dull throb behind my eyes warns me to stop dwelling on my issue, instead I focus on where to go. The TARDIS is infinite, there are to be many rooms dedicated to entertainment. I could go to the pool for a swim or maybe try the kitchen. Baking seemed to always relax me in a weird way. It kept me focused on measuring and mixing instead of my swirling thoughts.
I shuffle down the corridors, following the flickering lights on the floor in hopes that the TARDIS was leading me to the kitchen. Humming a tune under my breath I finally make it to the kitchen, the oven and lights turned on for me. I slide over to the radio on the side, turning the dial on the small device to flick stations. I patiently wait until classic rock slowly seeps from the speakers. Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy by Queen fills the room, quiet enough that it doesn't wake my companions but loud enough that it drowned out my mind. Swaying my hips I dance around the kitchen, gathering the needed ingredients to make cookies. When picking up the flour bag the bag spilt, a white cloud emerging and slowly settling on me and my clothes. Giggling I wipe my hand on my cheek hoping to rid myself of the flour.
I contently mix the ingredients, losing myself to the music and familiar actions of baking. My previous worries and thoughts no longer plaguing my mind. I slide over to the oven, baking tray in hand filled with unbaked cookies. Crouching down to the oven I stare at the multiple dials and switches, he couldn't have a normal oven could he? Yes the oven is on but I don't know what temperature or how long I should leave the cookies in. I rock back on my heels huffing. Placing the tray down on the side I spin a few dials and a random switch I seemed to have turned the hob on and made the machine make a random noise. I sigh, tilting my head back I look up at the ceiling.
"Hey T, any chance you could help me?" I ask, hoping the TARDIS would assist me. After a few minutes of silence I scoff at the sentient ship, no help from her then. Giving up I flop backwards to lie on the floor, arms and legs splayed in a star position. My eyes flicker closed, childishly sulking at the fact the ship had ignored me. I listen to the music still echoing through the room, enjoying the peace. My sulking though is interrupted as the Kitchen door swings open, footsteps approaching my laying form. I snap my eyes open to watch as Doc stands nearby watching me curiously, his leather jacket missing which left him in a jumper and jeans. He steps closer, his feet now next to my head. Tilting my chin back I look up at him smiling at him. He peers down at me, his eyes flicking over my body his eyes hesitating slightly at my bare legs before snapping back to my face. The TARDIS did listen, she must have sent the Doctor to help me, "Hiya Doc, I need help with the oven, I'm making cookies. And your oven is most definitely NOT from my time period. Like why is there so many dials and switches. Also what's with the little screen?" I ramble, shooting up to stand. Now toe to toe with the man, he leans backwards nodding before sidestepping me. I watch curiously as he turns to dials, flips a switch and taps the screen. He scrolls on the screen before selecting 'Baking' he picks up the cookies, placing the tray into the main oven and leaving it. He spins on his heel, facing me now. He the steps past me towards the fruit bowl, returning with a banana and an apple.
He ever so politely throws the apple at me, sitting down at the kitchen table. I follow perching on the wooden chair. "Thanks for the help, is there any chance there is a manual for the oven. I'd rather use that than annoy you every time I want to bake." I explain.
"There should be a manual in the library, the TARDIS should help you find it." he answers, taking a bite of his banana. "It doesn't annoy me. Helping you. It gives me something to do, even if it is for five minutes." I nod smiling at the alien.
"Mmm yes, the whole not sleeping thing." I mumble, not believing him.
"Yes, the whole not sleeping thing." he mimics. I roll my eyes, taking in his appearance.
"I wasn't lying when I said you have dark circles, you should really go and sleep. You look like you haven't slept for centuries."
"Sometimes it isn't as simple as just sleeping." he mumbles, I stare at him for a few seconds.
"Nightmares." I state simply. His eyes snap to mine before wandering around the room. Almost looking for a way to flee. "I get them to, why do you think I'm baking at a time like this? Well I'm assuming the time is late, it's not like you can tell."
His lips tug slightly either at my rambling or at my attempt to make him at ease. "Your zoning out thing." he starts, moving the conversation away from himself and to me. "You're not zoning out are you, I think you're seeing things."a
"That's one way to make me sound crazy." I mumble, disgruntled by the topic change. "The answer is yes, I see things. Always about this one person, either as a little girl or a soldier on alien planets." I move my gaze from the Doc's curious one to the oven. Resting my chin on my palm. "They're just daydreams. I have pills for them, it got to a point where I was more zoned out than lucid but they made me feel weird though so I stopped taking them. It's getting bad though, again. Do you think we could stop by my apartment to get the pills?"
I glance back at the alien sat across from me, his expression still curious. He nods slowly, watching me as I finish my apple.
"I have a feeling that these aren't simple daydreams." he states, not explaining further. I watch him, hoping he would give something away. His eyes flick up to meet mine, the hard blue of his eyes meeting my different coloured eyes, one a forest green colour and the other stormy grey. I suddenly yawn quite loudly, cutting off the staring contest. "Go. Sleep." he orders gently. "I might even sleep as well."
~1~
The TARDIS gently raised the brightness of my bedroom lights to wake me. I roll onto my back, the harsh light burning my drowsy eyes. I wince slightly before pulling myself out of the bed. I change my clothes quickly; sliding on fishnet tights, short lacey black slip on dress and an oversized earth brown knitted jumper. I twist my hair back into a claw black butterfly claw clip. Doing some simple makeup and eyeliner I slide my docs on before strolling to the console room. It seemed Rose hadn't awoken yet as I perch on the spinning seat, fiddling with my jewellery. I spin around, keeping myself entertained until the others join me.
After a few moments my chair abruptly stops spinning, I tightly grip the sides yelping slightly at the sudden stop. I look to see the Doctor grinning at me his hand holding the seat still. I playfully stick my tongue out at him, hopping down from the chair.
"Are we ready Doc, is Rose up yet?" I question, leaning against the glowing console.
"Yup, getting ready. You humans do take your time." he whines, fiddling with the controls. "Right a quick pit stop at Earth for your pills and then back into time and space."
I nod along, pulling the sleeves of my jumper over my hands. Do I really want to get those pills. My thoughts stop as Rose enters the room, she adorns a new outfit. Must've done the same as I and gotten one from the TARDIS. She wore light blue flared jeans, a dark grey t-shirt and a pink hoodie.
"Bloody hell you took forever, now we can go." Doc exclaims, flitting around the console. "You live on the estate right?" he asks me, I nod moving to grip the railing. With a mad smile he slams down a leaver. Pointing at a button in front of me for me to push he runs to the other side of the controls. I press it down, causing us all to go flying to the right. "What did you do?" he shouts at me, over the rasping of the time machine.
"I only did what you told me to!" I shout back, he runs back around the console. Grabbing the monitor which is filled with circular patterns and flashing light. "What does that mean?"
He glances at me and then to Rose, said person is clinging to one of the coral structures, her hair in her face. "It means, we're being hijacked. Well not hijacked, no one can hijack the TARDIS. Whoever they are is trying to get our attention to go to them. It's a form of distress signal, except however receives it has no choice in whether they're helping or not. So we're being dragged." he answers, rushing about. THe TARDIS jolts and knocks about. Our bodies flinging about, I'm forced into the railing causing pain to shoot across my hip. Well that's going to bruise. Eventually the TARDIS stops, our bodies flying to the floor. I land nearby Rose, whilst Doc lay somewhere on the other side of the controls. He shoots up, as if we hadn't just been flung around the time machine. Rose and I on the other hand groan in pain, slowly clambering to our feet before watching the doors carefully. God knows what's on the other side of those doors.
"So Doc, where and when are we?" I ask, stumbling over to the Timelord.
"We are on some sort of spaceship in the year 2178, humans have recently created interstellar travel. Have colonised at least 3 nearby star systems and have just begun their travel across the stars. So the question is. Why are we needed?" he riddled off, prancing over to the doors. Rose and I follow closely, the three of us exiting the TARDIS in a bundle of nerves and excitement. Our trio is met by the inside of an atypical metal spaceship, something one would have expected when thinking of aliens. The corridors empty, illuminated by the beams of light running down the path on the roof. I slide ahead of the group, heading over to a doorway nearby. As I approach the doors open, hissing slightly as they move.
The new room contained crates, multiple crates filled with random things. I peer curiously into one, the crate contained bags of preserved food. All vacuum packed. I slide the lid of another crate off, peering down to see a shit tonne of bullets. Nearby a crate full of guns that were too tall for the lid to fit.
"Doc.. these crates have guns and ammo in." I state, turning back to my companions. Except there is no one there. "Oh fuck me."
"Gladly would doll, except I don't know who you are." a voice calls out from the other side of the room. I spin around to see a pervy looking white man, greasy brown hair and uncut beard with his gun pointed straight at me. "How 'bout you come over here, i'll tie you up and we go see the boss. We can have some alone time then."
"Thanks. But no thanks." I state, spinning on my heel running at the door. I skid to a halt in the corridor, choosing right before sprinting that direction. I hear the man's loud footsteps behind me, quickly gaining on me. I turn corner after corner until I trip over some wiring on the floor. Falling forwards, I catch myself with my hands, scrambling to stand I stumble forwards. Suddenly a hand wraps around my hair yanking me backwards, I cry out at the sharp pain.
"C'mon dollface, let's go see the boss." he states, leaning his face way too close for comfort before grabbing my wrists. He harshly pulls them behind my back, binding them with zip ties. He purposely tightens them till they cut the blood circulation.
"Fucking bastard, that's too tight. Let me go!" I shout, twisting in his grip. He grumbles, gripping my hair once again causing me to cry out again. He stalks down the corridors, dragging me behind him quite literally by the hair.
We eventually come to a stop in a room filled with people. They were crowded around something or someone. Pervy man, sharply tugs my hair, dragging me through the crowd.
"Fucking bastard, stop that. I'm not a dog." I cry out, stumbling over my feet as I'm dragged.
"Then stop whining like a bitch." he snaps back. "Hey boss, look what I found." he announces. Pushing me forwards and kicking my knee out from under me.
"You dickhead." I snap, spitting at his feet. I uncomfortably tug at my bindings, glaring up at the man in front of me. A dark skinned man stood facing the crowd, his face also bearded and his clothes slightly worn.
"You don't happen to be Alula do you?" he asks, I narrow my eyes at the man. Weary of him since I had just been dragged like an animal to him. "A nice lookin man and woman just came through here searching for you. They've gone for refreshments. After all you're our guests." he explains, I nod slightly.
"If I'm your guest then why am I tied up like a prisoner." I state, watching the men and women around me. He nods to the pervy man who stoops down dragging a knife under the plastic and breaking it apart. I snap my hand to my wrist, rubbing them to alleviate the pain.
"Show our guest the refreshments Mikhail." the 'boss' says.
"Wait, you know my name. What's yours?" I ask.
"Avalk." he answers before nodding to Mikhail the perv.
I follow the man down corridors, our travel this time rather short. We enter a white cafeteria-like room with some people scattered eating. I glance around, hoping to catch the sight of my companions. I spot Rose's hair and hoodie before she spots me. I sprint away from Mikhail towards them, leaping at the girl wrapping her in a hug.
"Holy shit. Never let me wander off again, I've got a bad feeling about this place." I start, smiling at Rose. Her face remains impassive, looking at me in slight confusion before collecting her food and walking off to eat. I spin to Mikhail, who had began to leave the room. I chase after him.
"Where is my other friend, the man?" he ignores me, shrugging my arm off. Huffing I trail the perv, hopefully he'll either show me where the Doctor is or lead me back to Avalk. Keeping closed I follow the man back down the corridors, we re-enter the same room as earlier. Avalk stands nearby, watching expectantly as Mikhail enters the room. Deciding to hide before I create a terrible plan I stuck behind a pile of broken and dismembered electronics.
"Does the girl suspect anything?" Avalk questions, his tone hard.
"She questioned the whereabouts of the male, she also showed distrust of the blonde." Mikhail answers, his posture soldier like. Arms held behind his back and feet shoulder width apart.
"Report if she shows too much interest in the male, and run some scans on her. Make sure she is human, after all the man isn't." Avalk orders, nodding in finality to the perv man. I watch as Mikhail salutes before spinning on his heel and exiting. "Nick, check up on our prisoners. Run some more tests on our newest addition." The man adds, now addressing another white man, this one with blonde hair. The man follows his orders, walking past me and down the corridors.
Choosing to follow Nick, I stopped down after him. We eventually make it to another set of doors, everything in this ship looks the same. Slipping in after him, I duck behind some crates, peering over them to watch. The new room had three figures tied up, their heads bowed. A futuristic looking camera in front of the closest, that must be the scanner. Nick walks over to the wall, flipping a switch which causes the lights to blink on after a moment. I withhold a gasp at the sight of the Doctor restrained, his arms above his body holding himself up. His shoes barely touch the floor. His jacket lay thrown on the floor, they had allowed him some dignity leaving him in his jumper and jeans. The other two figures were alien-like. One with a feminine figure, blue-ish skin which held white strips over her arms, dark chin length raven hair held back in a hair tie; this person had been stripped to her bra and shorts. The other was a more masculine build, his skin tone human-like and olive; closer to the skin tone of an italian. The alien thing about him was his antennae and tail. Both a few shades darker than his skin, this creature was also stripped, revealing a complex and intricate tribal tattoo. Blonde short hair sat on top of his head, a total contrast to the other. The only similarity the two strangers held were the injuries, they looked as if the two had been whipped or struck with something. The raw skin bleeding leaves smudges of red. I glance around hoping for something to use for protection, I won't be any use if I'm caught.
Whilst I was admiring the other captives, Nick had gone around switching the camera looking machine on. Pulling out another chain to connect next to the Doctor. Ah, that must be for me. How nice of him. My main query is why Doc and the other two are being scanned and seemingly tortured, this ship seems to be a cargo ship. What would a cargo ship have to do with aliens. Maybe they're stowaways, they could be the ones who sent the distress signal. They look distressed.
I shift around, careful to remain hidden behind the crates. A metal pole catches my eye. Hard and long, I could knock someone out with that. I hold it tightly with both hands, shifting to watch as Nick throws the chains around, attaching it to the roof. With his back turned I make my advance, creeping behind the man I swing squeezing my eyes shut as his body drops.
"I really hope I didn't kill him. I want my first murder to mean something." I mutter, kicking the man slightly before tying him to the chain that had been put up for me. Oh the irony.
"Alula?" Doc groans, looking up at me. I smile brightly at the bound man.
"Gods, I leave you two for a few seconds and you get captured and make friends." I tsch grabbing the timelords leather jacket and removing his screwdriver. "Hello by the way, my name is Luna." I add, introducing myself to the other two who had been staring at me.
"Syndra." the male states. Nodding to the female next to him, "This is Pen."
Nodding, I turn to the Doctor "Just aim and think right." he nods watching as I proceed to free him.
"Where is Rose?"
"She was in the cafeteria, I saw her first. She isn't herself though, she didn't even recognise me."
"They probably drugged her." he explains, I nod finally getting through the restraints. His body drops at the sudden change, falling slightly. I hold him to me, allowing him to recuperate. "Thanks." he mutters.
"Free the others I'll check the door. Last I heard they were looking for me, I'm sure it won't be long until a search party is sent out." Doc nods at my order, freeing the other two. "Mind telling me why you were all strung up like cattle?"
"Realised I was alien after doing a scan on me without me realising. When you wandered off Rose and I came across Avalk, asked why the distress signal. He said he didn't send it. Explained that they were having an issue with a few stowaways, I offered to help. A few minutes later Rose is being taken away and I'm stuck here." he tells, scanning the other two as they huddled together. "Syndra said that they were escaping from poachers, them and two others. When Avalk first found them it was shoot first ask later. He killed one of them."