The bustling streets of Aostea hummed with the electric buzz of hover vehicles and the chatter of a thousand different species. Amidst this cacophony, Ffynnon Garreg, Ffynn to those who knew him, a Cyndaeran cab driver, guided his battered yellow hover cab through the neon-lit canyons of skyscrapers. His skin was a mesmerizing tapestry of deep green crisscrossed with golden, and his eyes, the color of shimmering emeralds, scanned the skyline for potential fares.
Suddenly, a thunderous crash shook Ffynn's cab as something—or someone—struck the roof. Ffynn slammed on the brakes, sending the cab into a spiraling descent before he regained control. The impact triggered all the sensors, the cab's AI automatically droning. "You have been involved in a vehicular collision."
"No drek!" Muttered Ffynn as she struggled to regain control of his careening hovercab. Glancing over his shoulder, he was amazed to realize that someone or something had plummeted through the roof!
He stabilized the gyros and pulled over to the side, resting in the shadow of a towering skyscraper to stay out of traffic. Sighing to himself, Ffynn looked in the backseat to assess the damage.
Whatever or whoever it was had smashed right through the crummy roof of the old cab, landing in a tangle of gangly limbs and wild ginger hair on his back seat. Awfully pretty limbs, to be honest. What a waste.
'Hey, any survivors?" Ffynn asked-and jumped when a cheerful, distinctly British voice chirped from the back. "Blimey! That was a bit of a rough landing, wasn't it?"
He caught his breath as a woman sat up amongst the pile of debris in the back of the cab. A rather pretty woman, in fact. No more than that, she was, in a word, beautiful. Miraculously, she appeared to be relatively unharmed. Her clothes were rumpled, her long red hair was in disarray, but she actually seemed to be unharmed otherwise.
As Ffynn stared, he saw that she had eyes like the sky on a warm, sunny day, with fiery red hair which seemed to defy gravity, sticking out in all directions.
"Who—what—how did you just fall through my roof?" Ffynn sputtered, his gravelly voice filled with disbelief.
"Well, that was one way to hail a cab!" the woman exclaimed, her British accent thick with adrenaline. "Wouldn't recommend it though." Brushing debris from her shoulders, she glanced up revealing pale skin dotted with freckles. The woman's eyes widened with excitement. "Oh, brilliant! A Cyndaeran! I've always wanted to meet one of you lot." She leaned forward, her warm smile broadening. "Bit far from home, though, aren't you? Gone walkabout or something?" Before Ffynn could reply, she leaned back again. "Oh, sorry about the mess, by the way," quipped the woman, brushing debris from her shoulders. "Was a long way down."
Before Ffynn could process the surreal situation, a barrage of laser fire peppered the cab's exterior. Glancing over the woman's shoulder, he saw a security drone, all gleaming metal and red sensor lights, zipping towards them through the crowded sky. Sleek, black, and menacing, it bore the silver insignia of the Cognitech Dynamics- a well known intergalactic tech company based on Ithos.
The woman's eyes widened, a mix of excitement and fear dancing in their depths. "I don't suppose you'd fancy a quick get away?", she squeaked.
Stunned into silence, Ffynn simply nodded and slammed his foot on the accelerator, sending the cab careening through the crowded skyways. "Name's Ffynn, by the way" he grunted, weaving through traffic with newfound urgency.
The Doctor grinned, her hair whipping wildly as she peered out the shattered rear window. "Hello, Ffynn. I'm the Doctor. Oh, hard left!"
Ffynn complied, the cab narrowly avoiding a massive holo-billboard. The Cognitech security drone clipped it, momentarily falling behind.
"What the frack did you do to piss of tall, dark, and menacing back there?" Ffynn asked, his curiosity finally overcoming his professional demeanor.
The Doctor's eyes sparkled as she grinned mischievously, "What can I say? Some rather hinky things arose, were cleverly overcome in a kindasortamaybeishy way. Just a typical Tuesday, really, or is it Thursday?"
"Listen, lady," grumbled FFynn, "I don't know what cockamimmy drek ya got yourself into, but I'm not looking for any trouble—"
"Oh, trouble's my middle name," the Doctor quipped, flashing a manic grin. "Well, actually, it's Theta, but that's neither here nor there. Sharp right!"
Ffynn muttered a few Cyndaeran curses under his breath as he sharply whipped the cab towards a rapidly approaching side alley, clipping a vertical holosign.
The Doctor gasped, glancing back at the now fritzing display. "Certainly hope you're insured."
"Hey, no backseat driving!" His hands tightening on the controls, his Cyndaeran heritage allowing him to sense the very atoms of the cab vibrating with tension. Crygg was gonna kill him for sure over this! The Scryggian cabbie dispatcher might be diminutive but had quite the temper, and authority to match.
"Good idea," stated the Doctor. "Bit of a stye back here anyway." With that, she raised a strange small device, which emitted a golden glow as Ffynn snapped, "Hey!" Then to his surprise, the energy shield separating the front and backseats shut itself down. Then the pretty lady referring to herself as The Doctor began to awkwardly scramble over the seats, forcing Ffynn to struggle to drive the cab while avoiding getting smacked by flailing limbs. "Sorry. Pardon me. Ooofff! Gone all topsy turvy now."
As she did so, Ffynn couldn't help but notice how colorful her outfit was. A pretty blue coat worn over a lovely yellow blouse with matching floppy bow at the neck, grey plaid pants with matching suspenders, and a colorfully striped scarf. Lucky, she hadn't choked herself with that on the way down! It was certainly distinctive, while both accentuating and obscuring her slender figure.
"Ah, much better." Straightening up in the passenger seat, she ran her hands through her hair. This only caused it to fall in messy waves around her face. After initially fussing with it some more, an adorable frown made its away across her full lips. With a sudden gasp, she whipped around and looked back out the now shattered back window.
Startled, Ffynn glanced anxiously at the rearview, trying to see what had caused such a reaction as she exclaimed unhappily. "My hat!"
Ffynn muttered to himself under his breath before saying, "Seriously, lady? We're being chased by a trigger happy security bot, and you're worried about a hat?!"
The Doctor turned and slumped back down in her seat in a huff, as she murmured sulkily, "I liked that hat."
"You're crazy, you know that!" Grumbled Ffynn, slashing across six lanes of afternoon traffic to try to shake off their pursuers before doubling back a few blocks, then spinning up six stories, before finally slowing to an idle pace. "Pretty but frackin' crazy!"
"So I've been told," chirped the Doctor, before adding with a nonchalant shrug, "but I prefer to ignore idle gossip really. Some people can be sooooo judgy." She waved off this last statement with an weirdly vague waving of her hand.
Ffynn's mind reeled. Just moments ago, he'd been worried about making his quota for the day. Now he was being chased by a Cognitech drone with a madwoman who'd fallen from the sky. This was not how he saw his day going, that's for frackin' sure.
"Well, at least, we've finally lost 'em," he said.
He then turned a corner, and suddenly another gleaming black drone burst of an alley in hot pursuit.
"Drek!", he yelled as he floored the turbines and twisted the already straining gyros.
"Determined little things, aren't they?" Observed the Doctor, bracing herself with her long arms and legs.
"Ya think, Doc?", grossed Ffynn.
The drones, meanwhile, separated, one going high while the other went low in an obviously defensive formation.
"Frackin' hells," yelled Ffynn, throwing the cab into a spin, straight down through the artificial canyons towards a rooftop garden far below.
The Doctor's fiery red hair whipped in the wind blowing through the hovercab from its shattered roof and broken rear window, her cerulean eyes widened. Her long blue coat flapped open, revealing her yellow blouse and grey plaid suspenders. "I guess this works too!" she shouted, her voice carrying a hint of excitement despite the danger.
Ffynn grunted as he pushed the hovercab's throttle to its limit. His green stone skin and the spiky purple crystals small pebbles that rose from his head like a strange cyberpunk hair do glinting in the city lights. "Guess you made quite the impression on em, Doc!" he growled, his grumbly voice barely audible over the whine of the engines. The cab weaved between towering skyscrapers, narrowly avoiding collisions with other vehicles.
Behind them, the menacing drones buzzed angrily, their red sensors glowing ominously in the night. Laser blasts sizzled past the cab, leaving scorch marks on nearby buildings. The Doctor ducked down in her seat, her mind racing. "Story of my life." Peeking over the seat, a laser beam just missed her head. Letting out a startled yelp, she ducked back down again. "Excuse you!", she yelled, her face pale. "Could put an eye out that way!"
Ffynn risked a glance at his passenger, "Stay down, lady!" He grumbled, swerving to avoid another volley of laser fire. The cab shuddered, and warning lights flashed on the dashboard. "Drekit!"
"Language!", admonished the Doctor mildly.
"You know what, lady," he said, "I'm all for conversation, but could you just shut the frak up a mo? This isn't exactly easy you know…"
The Doctor gasped indignantly, "Well…rude!"
The drones drew closer, their high powered turbos whining menacingly.
The cab's screen was beeping insistently.
Ffynn cursed, his stony fingers gripping the steering wheel tighter as he doubled the gyros while cutting in the braking thrusters: a trick he'd learned in the canyons of Lythos. The cab groaned indignantly protest as it made the turn.
"Think we lost em," said Ffynn. Then he glanced into his rearview display.
Two more drones were rapidly bearing down on them.
"Son of a…", exclaimed Ffynn in annoyance. "You tin cans wanna play? Let's play!"
He then cut his hover jets and pushed the stick hard forward.
"Hold on! Things are about to get bumpy!"
Ffynn's cab rapidly spun and dove —- straight dow, through the flurry of maglev limos, scurrying cabs and startled speeders.
The Doctor's mind raced, memories of past regenerations flashing before her eyes. She'd faced worse odds before, hadn't she? But as the drones closed in and the cab plummeted, a cold fear gripped her hearts. This might be it – the end of the line.
Then the last minute, Ffynn powered up the systems, just above the street, frightening pedestrians. Then speed off, making a right, then a left.
Then running into a dead end.
"Oh. Oh, that's not good!", murmured the Doctor. Despite it all, she actually looked pleased with the excitement.
"Look you," said Ffynn, "Last thing I need is advice on driving. Got it?"
Turning in a sudden loop, he whipped the cab sideways. The Doctor watched in awe as some of the drones, unable to adjust their trajectory in time, smashed into the backwall of the alley, exploding in satisfying bursts of flame and shrapnel.
As the dust settled, Ffynn slumped in his seat, exhausted but alive. "Can't believe that actually worked! ", chirped The Doctor. Placing a hand on his shoulder, her eyes shone with gratitude and admiration. "Oh, oh that's was truly brill" she exclaimed.
But their relief was short-lived. As sirens wailed in the distance, the Doctor's expression turned grim. "Never rains but it snores," she said softly. " The Doctor groaned, diving into the back seat. "Quick! Head for the old industrial district."
The cabbie's rocky brow furrowed, but he complied, merging back into traffic with a burst of speed that slammed the Doctor against her seat as the cab swerved, narrowly avoiding a swarm of delivery drones. In the distance, more security drones were beginning to gain ground, their sirens now audible over the city's din.
As they entered the industrial district, a familiar blue box came into view, nestled between two derelict warehouses. The Doctor's hearts leapt. "There! Stop right there!"
The cab screeched to a halt, and the Doctor fumbled in her pockets for payment. All she found was a yo-yo, a packet of jelly babies, and a fossilized tooth from an extinct Martian megafauna. "Er, bit of a cashflow problem at the moment. Know what? Come with me."
"What?"
"Come with me," she blurted out. "I mean, you could stay here with our angry friends back there, or come with me. Possibly see all of time and space—what do you say?"
For a moment, Ffynn found himself conflicted. On one hand, he had responsibilities and such here. On the other hand, the Doctor was right. Those drones and whoever was behind them wouldn't simply give up because the Doctor had left. Whether he liked or not, he was involved now.
"That's me," the Doctor winked, dashing out of the cab. "So what do you say? Coming or staying?"
The whine of the security drones growing deafeningly near settled for him. Snatching up his battered jacket from the cab, he cracked a weary smile. "What the hell. Let's go, Doc!"
"Yay!", exclaimed the Doctor happily, dancing in place as she clapped her hands. She then sprinted for the TARDIS, fishing out her key, with Ffynn following suit. Just as her hand touched the lock, a crackling energy net descended from above. The Doctor ducked and rolled, the net missing her by inches.
In one fluid motion, though, she unlocked the TARDIS door and dove inside, dragging Ffynn in behind her. The familiar hum of her ship enveloped her, drowning out the drone's angry buzzing.