Chapter 6: Aboard the Ship
As Susan exited the house that she had slept in, waving the owner a quick goodbye, she found the Doctor waiting for her. Hearing her footsteps, he glanced up, and grinned.
"Spaceship's still there. Wanna see it?"
The two ran back to the place from the previous day, and, sure enough, it was still there, though it was now emitting a low, buzzing sound.
"What's it doing?" she asked, slightly puzzled.
The Doctor narrowed his eyes and strained his neck towards the ship for a few seconds, before answering. "It's sending out a signal to- someone. Or something. Or a group of somethings, or something. I can't make out what it's saying. Um… anyway! I guess, let's… get aboard?"
Susan glanced at the ship and back at the Doctor. "And how are we meant to do that?"
"Well, I was thinking about this all night, aand…" He lifted the sonic above his head, and pressed on the button as hard as he could, grabbing on to Susan. Before she could ask what he was doing, they had appeared in a small, oval room. The walls were grey, and there was a small, glowing blue strip going around. The centre of the room was a small circle, with a diameter of around one metre. There were metal shelves around the walls, with various gadgets and things. When the Doctor wasn't looking, she grabbed a small, pistol looking thing, which was convulsing blue liquid. Shivering, she remembered the angels. Glancing around, she saw a three-paned window, giving an amazing view of the town below.
"Where are we?" she asked, attempting not to tremble, as she placed it into her inside pocket.
"Um… let's see… technology is… human… 2344 AD… ish… a more impressive feat of engineering than anything in your time period… no offence… teleporter and all that…"
"Sorry…" Susan said. "Did you just say… more than any- wha?"
"Oh, did I mention?" he asked, grinning, "It's the cupboard!"
"No…" she said, her jaw dropping. "This?"
"Yeah!" he answered, now smiling broadly. He pushed a round door, which she had not noticed before, inwards. It revealed another round room, this time enormous. There were doors like the one they had just exited all around, at various intervals. The room had another large, light blue dip in the middle in the shape of a circle, which were showing two holograms, one of the round Earth that she was used to seeing, and another of the flat Earth that she supposed they must be on right now.
Looking through the holograms, she saw a large amount of tables and chairs situated around the room. On the tables there were assortments of books, laptops, and documents, but there were many more strewn across the room.
"Looks like someone left in a hurry."
The Doctor turned to her. "It does a bit, doesn't it?"
They began checking rooms. The first room they checked was another cupboard, though this time it actually looked like a cupboard, with wood walls and barely any breathing room. The next looked like a twenty-first century bathroom, complete with a walk in shower and spare towels.
"It's strange…" Susan muttered to the Doctor, "It's like an architect went around time travelling like you, but picked up random rooms."
The next handful of rooms all looked like they matched the room they had come from. One was a lab, and the other was a long corridor, ending in another door. They walked up to it, and there was another, much shorter corridor, this time with a plaque above the wall saying 'ecaep ni emoc ew'. Both of them gazed at it with puzzled expressions.
"The TARDIS translates all languages, so why can't we see this in normal English?" he asked, glancing down at Susan.
"Oh no, I was just wondering what it meant," she said, looking at his expression. The Doctor sighed.
"May as well continue then,"
Anyone who correctly guesses what it says wins!