Chapter 5

In the Time Capsule Ops centre, Jamie and Michelle are lying on the deck with only their legs are sticking out of two sides of the console. Various tools and devices are scattered around them.

"Shunt the deuterium from the main cryo pump to the auxiliary tank."

"The tank can't handle that much pressure."

Jamie poked his head out for a moment. "Where'd you get that idea?"

Michelle looked out at him. "It's in the engine specifications."

"Section four of the TARDIS instruction manual?"

"Right."

"Forget it. The Doctor wrote it." Jamie put his head back in the console. "A good engineer is always a wee bit conservative, at least on paper. Just bypass the secondary cut-off valve and boost the flow, it'll work."

Michelle smiled to herself and then went to a panel and worked it briefly.

Jamie crawled out of the console and went to a dead operational control panel. "Well, if we've done our jobs properly, the engines should be coming back on line, about, now."

They watched the display for a moment, then slowly the console came to life and blinking lights filled the panel.

"You were right, the auxiliary tank is holding."

Jamie smiled at her and then indicated the main console. "Control is yours, Michelle."

"Hey, you've got more experience than I do."

"I may have more experience, but, I've never wanted to be anything else but an engineer. Take charge, Michelle."

A small bond was beginning to form between the two of them.

"All right." Michelle took control of the console and Jamie moved off to the engineering panel.

In the Sphere, the TARDIS was still in orbit around the star. A huge solar flare billowed up behind the ship, part of the flaming plasma brushed against the the shields of the TARDIS. In the Control Room, the Doctor, Carolyn and Nita were at the console. The ship rocked.

"Shields still holding, but down another fifteen percent. Doctor, I've restored helm control, and you have partial space power."

"Good. Do we have any way to open a hole in the sphere?"

"No, Doctor. The exterior shell is composed of carbon-neutronium."

"Carolyn, we need to find a way out of here. Begin scanning for another hatch or portal that might still be open."

"The interior surface area is over ten to the sixteenth square kilometers. It will take seven hours to completely scan the surface."

The TARDIS shook again. The Doctor gave Carolyn a look.

"I will try to speed up the process."

The Time Capsule was in orbit above the same circular hatch that the TARDIS saw earlier. Jamie and Michelle were looking at a monitor which showed a view of the same portal that the TARDIS saw earlier.

"The TARDIS artron trail leads right to this point."

They both studied the image of the portal for a moment.

"It looks like some kind of doorway."

"I'll bet you two bottles of scotch that they're inside the sphere, and that they went in right through that hatch."

"No bet here. The question is, how?"

"Look at the momentum distribution of the artron, it would take a space engine at full reverse to put out a signature like that."

"So they didn't go in willingly." Michelle examined the diagram for a moment, then pointed to something. "This looks like some kind of communications array."

"Aye. We found hundreds of them when we did our initial survey seventy-five years ago."

"Did you try hailing them?"

"Sure. That was standard procedure of the Time Lords. They did it right before we crashed."

"Hailing is the Doctor's standard procedure too..." Michelle trailed off and it was clear that she was onto something here. Jamie looked at her in curiosity. "Jamie, what if these aren't communications arrays, what if they're access terminals, which are triggered by subspace signals on certain frequencies?"

Jamie caught on quickly. "Frequencies like a standard ship's hail."

"Exactly. When the TARDIS saw this terminal they probably did the same thing your Time Lord hosts did seventy-five years ago – opened a channel. Only this time it triggered something which activated that hatch and pulled the ship inside the sphere."

"A nice bit of reasoning, Lass, very nice indeed."

Michelle flashed a smile of thanks, but they still had a problem. "We could trigger the hatch, but we'd probably be pulled in like they were."

They thought for a moment, and then Jamie suddenly got a twinkle in his eye and turned to Michelle with a grin. "Maybe all we need to do is get our foot in the door."

Michelle looked puzzled, but Jamie was suddenly animated and full of energy, and for the the first time, he was like the Jamie the Doctor had told Michelle about.

"If we trigger the hatch with a subspace transmission, we might not be pulled inside if we keep our distance from the sphere – say a half million kilometers. Then, when the hatch starts to close again, we move in, and use the time capsule to jam the hatch open and hope the TARDIS can escape."

Michelle looked at him as if he'd gone completely mad, but Jamie was already moving toward the engineering panels and starting to work.

"You can't be serious. That hatch is huge. It could crush this ship like an egg."

"The shields will hold lass, don't you worry about that. I know how to get a few extra gigawatts out of these babies."

Michelle put her foot down. "Jamie. This is crazy. I am not going to let you…"

But Jamie would not be denied so easily. He turned to Michelle and his face was a mixture of conviction and entreaty. "Michelle. I've spent my whole life figuring out how to make crazy things work. I'm telling you, one engineer to another, I can do this."

There was a moment as they looked at each other, and Michelle searched her own heart and instincts for what to do. Finally, she made the decision. "All right. Let's do it."

Jamie smiled, and then, united in purpose, they turned to the console.

The ship was moving on space power and it came to a stop in space.

Jamie and Michelle were at the controls.

"We're at five hundred thousand kilometres."

"Engines 're ready."

Michelle took a deep breath, then plunged ahead. "Okay. Here we go." She worked the console.

The hatch slid open. From around the circumference of the circle, three beams reached up into space and searched for a ship, but found nothing.

Michelle and Jamie were watching their consoles.

"Come on, there's nothing out here, give it up. I still can't open a channel to the TARDIS, there's too much interference. We'll have to wait until we're right in the doorway."

The pilot beams failed to grasp onto anything, and finally shut off. The hatch now began to slide closed.

"That's it. Let's go! Full power."

They both worked the controls.

The Time Capsule moved into the middle of the doorway as the hatch was closing and then stopped. Suddenly the hatch encountered the deflector shield of the time capsule and the hatch stopped.

In the TARDIS Control Room, the Doctor, Nita and Carolyn were at the console.

"Doctor. There is an audio message from Michelle."

The Doctor nodded and Nita worked her panel.

"This is Michelle, do you read me, TARDIS?"

"We read you, go ahead Michelle."

The Time Capsule was shaking and the engines were roaring with the strain as Jamie worked.

"Understood. Set co-ordinates."

The Time Capsule was still stuck in the hatch. There was a sudden violent shake, and one of the panels exploded. Jamie rushed over to check the damage. "The plasma intercooler's gone. The engines are overheating."

"I've lost helm control. Michelle to the TARDIS. Doctor, we won't be able to move this ship out of the way when you get here, you're going to have to destroy it in order to escape."

"How long will it take us to reach them?"

"With space engines operating at sixty percent power, it will take one minute forty seconds."

"I can't hold her together much longer, we've got about two minutes before the engines go critical."

"I'm going to materialize the TARDIS around Jamie and Michelle."

The TARDIS dematerialized.

The Time Capsule was falling apart, shaking badly, consoles starting to spark and explode, the lighting was flickering and the engine noise was a shriek of overworked metal.

"It's coming apart, Lass. I can't do anything else."

The TARDIS began to materialize aboard the Time Capsule, around Jamie and Michelle.

The Time Capsule was still caught in the doorway. Suddenly the ship started to explode, just as the TARDIS dematerialized. The hatch started closing.

The TARDIS rematerialized outside the hatch just as it slammed shut.

Jamie and Michelle were standing in the TARDIS Control Room.

"There now. That wasn't so bad, was it?"

Michelle smiled back at him.

Jamie and Michelle were walking along a corridor. For once, Jamie was listening to Michelle tell a tall tale and they were both in good spirits.

"So, this alien space 'baby' – which was about the size of a four-story building – really thought the TARDIS was its mother."

"You're pulling my leg."

"No, really. It was 'suckling' power directly from the ship's fusion reactors – so the Doctor changed the power frequency from twenty-one centimetres to point-oh-two centimetres."

"You soured the milk."

"That's right."

They both laughed and then a slight touch of sadness came over him. "Enjoy these times, Michelle. You're the companion of a time traveller, it's a time of your life that'll never come again, and once it's gone, it's gone."

Michelle stopped in front of the door to the Control Room.

"I thought you were going to pour me a drink in the galley."

Michelle smiled. "I have a better idea." She indicated the door and then they both entered the Control Room. Jamie was surprised by what he saw.

The Doctor, Nita and Carolyn were all standing next to the open doors of the TARDIS, and just outside was a large shuttlecraft. Jamie was stunned as he looked over the gleaming ship. "You're giving me a shuttle?"

"Call it… an extended loan. Since you lost the ship you were on while saving ours, it seemed only fair."

"It's not much to look at…"

"Lass, every woman has her own charms, ye just have to know where to look."

"It's a little slow, but it'll get you to Earth… if that's really where you want to go."

Jamie looked at the ship, and they saw a change come over his features, he seemed rejuvenated. Jamie turned to Michelle and smiled broadly. "Earth is where old men go to retire… maybe I'll end up there someday, but not just yet."

The Doctor held out his hand. "Bon voyage, Jamie."

"Thank you, Doctor. For everything."

Everyone said goodbye and Jamie shook hands with all of them before he and Michelle moved off to the shuttle for a final moment. Jamie glanced back at the others. "They're a good team."

"Yeah."

Jamie looked at the TARDIS. "And she's a fine ship. But I've always found that a ship is only as good as the people who take care of her, and from what I can see, the TARDIS is in good hands."

There was a moment between the two of them… they shook hands, and Jamie got into the shuttle.

The shuttle flew off and the TARDIS dematerialized.

THE END