2. In the Tardis.
"I'll prepare a containment, but it'll take a while for the Tardis to make such a thing." .
"There's a pressure cooker in the kitchen," Alyssa suggests. .
"Okay! That'll contain it for now!"
They go to the Tardis kitchen. It had been installed before he acquired the Tardis, but used when he had a companion who enjoyed cooking (ref. 1). Alyssa is still holding the invisible alien bug. She indicates the cupboard, and the Doctor retrieves the large pan with a clamping lid and opens it.
Alyssa carefully places the invisible creature in the pressure cooker.
"I want to see it," the Doctor says. He appears beside her with a bag of flour and pours a whole load onto the creature. It sneezes cutely! .
"I can see what it is now," Alyssa says. "Like a giant woodlouse!"
"Or a Pholoxate!"
"What's one of those?"
"It's one of those," the Doctor says, pointing at the creature. .
"Is it harmful?"
"Yes!" .
Alyssa quicky clamps down the pressure cooker lid and twists it closed and locked.
"Are we safe now?" Alyssa asks.
"Far from it! Leave it in here and get out fast!" .
As they head for the door, drawers start to fly open and kitchen utensils fly across the room towards the pressure cooker. .
Once beyond the door, the Doctor pauses before walking towards the Control room.
"I should have prepared the Tardis containment while it was still happy in your hands."
"How can we get rid of it? Do we chuck it into a star?"
A faint grinding noise can just be heard in the distance coming from the Control room. .
"That might be overdoing it a little."
"Can it really attract all those kitchen utensils and send them flying across the room?" Alyssa asks.
"Yes, and that's what was happening with the cricket ball. It was attracting it - an object near it that was loose, hard, and could fly towards it."
"What would have happened if the ball had hit it?"
"Ingestion probably. You can't kill a Pholoxate by crushing it." .
"Doctor, why didn't it hurt me when I picked it up?"
"Ah, you were gentle with it. You did exactly the right thing. Also, your new Ring of Confidence may have helped." (Ref. 63) .
He turns to the Tardis console and starts meddling with a few switches. An image of the pressure cooker in the kitchen, covered with cutlery and cooking utensils appears on the screen.
"There, we can keep an eye on it!" .
"What do we do with it?"
The Doctor pauses for thought. "I'm not sure yet."
"Could we cook it?" Alyssa asks, "It's in a pressure cooker! But I'm not eating that thing!"
"No, certainly not, but ... it will cook!"
The Doctor frowns. "Steady on, that cooking idea was only an idea. I didn't mean to actually cook it!" . The Doctor's looking at the monitor screen with some disgust. .
"Why not?"
"There are quicker and more painless ways to deal with it."
"Like what?"
"Like ... it doesn't matter now. It's cooked!" .
"How did that happen?"
"That Voice Control thing was on! Just now, when I mentioned it! The Tardis cooked it! It was quick enough to start the cooking, but very slow to stop it!" .
He enjoys having a go at the Voice Control. It had been broken for centuries, possibly millennia, but one day one of his companions had fixed it (ref. 1)! Ever since then things might go awry, as he would say, in an extra way! .
"So, it isn't a danger to us now?"
"Only if we fail to destroy the pan it was cooked in without opening it! Now it's cooked it's highly toxic! It was toxic in attitude before, and toxic in nature now!"
"Oh, Doctor, it's disappeared from the kitchen! Look at the screen!"
The pan has clearly disappeared from the kitchen! .
"Where is it now?"
The screen unexpectedly automatically changes to show a pan drifting away from the Tardis towards a local star. The Doctor winces – surely this is the Voice Control acting again! .
"That saves us the bother!" Alyssa says, "Thank you, Tardis!"
"Hmm. What about its friends?" the Doctor asks critically. "One minute it was looking forwards to a fast-food cricket ball snack at the cricket ground, then it's gently picked up, all okay so far. But it doubtless didn't like the hardness of the pan, or maybe being trapped inside it!"
"Will it have called its friends?"
"Of course it has! Wouldn't you if you were trapped? The question is - will they come to the Tardis, here in space near that star, or to the Cricket ground?" .
"Are people in danger at the cricket ground, Doctor?"
"Yes, we need to protect them! But if we take the Tardis to the Cricket ground, we might further endanger them there!"
"Could you drop me off there and go? Then the Tardis won't be a magnet for its friends."
The Doctor ponders for a moment. "You would certainly be in danger. Take the bag of flour so you can see the things ... And stay sweet towards them! An angry one of them could kill you in seconds!"
Alyssa quails. What a burden she feels she's carrying! One false move and she's dead! .
She wishes there was a proper gun room in the Doctor's Tardis! She'll only be armed with a bag of flour! .
Maybe the Doctor has more plans!