Entry Nineteen - Vesper

We stayed at the Powell Estate for two days. Mum was ecstatic and I am not sure Mickey left for the entire time. There was plenty of room with the TARDIS which the Doctor moved into my bedroom, mum wasn’t entirely happy about that but it was better than the living room and with everyone sleeping there it was impossible not to leave it in the courtyard. So in my bedroom it stayed and it was sort of like a big sleepover for two days. But then we all start to get antsy and we all knew it was time to shove off. The Doctor moved the TARDIS to downstairs and I collected up my laundry, kissed mum goodbye, hugged Mickey (knowing this would be the last time I’d probably ever see him), and then went down to the TARDIS.

Ariella was staring at the sky, well, the sun to be exact, and the Doctor was probably inside. I paused in front of her, about to ask if she was going in, but she spoke first.

“It’s mine, you know. That’s my star, the one I was born with and the one I will die with.” I hadn’t ever really thought of that. Each Nyklus was born at the same time as a star, Ariella’s was our sun. It seemed like such an expansive lifetime I couldn’t even fathom it.

Also, I’d seen it die. My first trip with the Doctor, I’d seen the sun expand and engulf the Earth with it, I’d been thinking of my planet, all the things left on it, even if there weren’t people. It had been hard to watch, but now all I could think was that I had been standing on Platform 5, and across the universe, on Jacowitz, Queen Ariella was dying.

But then she’d seen her fill and we both walked back into the TARDIS.

We decided that we’d had a bad enough time of it lately so the three of us, The Doctor, Ariella, and I, thought it’d be nice to have a bit of a fun day. Not that we’re not all big fans of trouble, because we obviously are, and the running, that can be brilliant too. But after everything that’d happened lately the Doctor set course for the planet Vesper which is a little bit like what Las Vegas looked like in films and stuff. It was like walking onto the set of Ocean’s Eleven complete with good looking blokes and high rolling casinos. And this apparently covered the whole planet.

The Doctor landed the TARDIS in an alleyway off of the high street and immediately after exiting we were engulfed by people. I know that Ariella had done her fair share of travelling at this point, with us and probably in her past and all that, but Jacowitz is such a docile place I am always convinced that Ari’s going to be overwhelmed with places like this.

Instead she nearly jumped up and down clapping her hands. The Doctor looked ridiculously chuffed, and I couldn’t help laughing with glee at the whole thing.

“Well, then,” he said after several moments of us all looking around at the all the people and tall buildings of neon and bright colours and everything, “to the casino?”

Ari and I exchanged glances then looked back at the Doctor, “Yeah!”

Ariella had plenty of money and insisted that she use her credits instead of the Doctor using jiggery pokery on an Instacredit machine, which, well we all knew was all kinds of wrong anyway. It seemed that the Doctor was very good at a game that very closely resembled poker and I wasn’t so bad with the slots. They both seemed to think it was very amusing that whenever I won a game I’d scream shrilly and jump up and down. I couldn’t quite help it though! It was fun!

A bloke that very closely seemed to resemble Brad Pitt seemed very taken with Ariella and had her blow on his dice every time he’d throw down at the table. He ended up winning quite a bit and gave Ari a million credit chip as a reward. She wasn’t going to take it but I told her that she should because the bloke was good looking and he seemed to like her without knowing that she was the Queen of the Nyklus, which was pretty impressive in my book. Then again, I’ve always been a sucker for a pretty boy. And this one was pretty.

But Ariella didn’t seemed entirely interested so instead of pushing it I leaned my hip against the gaming table in the same fashion that I leaned it against the TARDIS console and bit my bottom lip. “Any chance for a drink?” I asked.

And the next thing that I knew we were in the casino bar, the classy one with no strippers or dancers gyrating on the tables, with a bottle of something called Argo Tequila which the Doctor assured me tasted nothing like Earth tequila. He was right on that account. He poured us all tiny glasses of the stuff, I was a bit wary of drinking it without mixing it with something but he assured me it wasn’t necessary, and we toasted to Vesper. It tasted nothing like Earth tequila, if anything it tasted like a strawberry sundae. It didn’t look like Earth tequila either, it was a sort of misty purpley pink colour that looked much like Jacowitz’s sky at sunset. I immediately held out my glass for another go, and he poured three more glasses. This time we toasted to Antalusians. Then we toasted to being alive, and to spaceships, and to Kit, and to mum, and aspirin, and the TARDIS, and Ariella, and me, and the Doctor and by the time we finished our second bottle of the stuff and had moved on to Maugini liqueur we were, all three of us, well pissed. Superior physiology or not.

I would have thought that the different physiologies of the three of us would give us different the liquor different effects in our systems, but as it was explained to me the next day over a full on fry up (which, I don’t care where or when you’re from, is the only cure for a hangover) the distillation process and added something or other, it was a very long and confusing explanation which I was only half listening to, had properties which would react similarly with physiologies. Still, I maintain that I was much more pissed than either of them. But, that, apparently, was the reason that he’d chosen that particular kind of liquor (which earned a raised eyebrow from me, as I had the distinct impression that he’d wanted to get pissed).

Anyway, Ariella started talking about one of her advisors who she considered to be particularly slimey (her words). We all giggled like school children because it’s a very un-Ari like thing to do, speak poorly of anyone. I teased her for being almost human after all, she scoffed and I pretended to be offended. This advisor apparently thought Ari was too young to rule Jacowitz, which I could understand to be a valid concern seeing as though she’d taken the throne at an extremely young age, but that was ages ago. Now she was well into her thousands, maybe millions, I hadn’t asked it seemed rude.

The Doctor, of course, had no problem. “How old are you now, Ari?” I shoot him a glare and Ariella giggled a bit. He actually did look a bit sheepish, “Right. Women. I’m not meant to ask that, am I?”

We both laughed and then Ari answered him anyway.

Then we started reminiscing about all the adventures we’d been on together when she travelled with us before. The sea of space mines we’d gotten stuck in when we’d popped out of the Vortex to check a bearing. The spice factory on Guarentula, which I remembered smelling exactly like curry, and the star fields in the Lex Sphere. But then the Doctor started in about the aquarium on Bellalux Five and we both stared at him blankly.

(this was when Ari travelled with us the first time, she was apparently the only one aware the TARDIS was taking photos)

He blinked several times. “No really?! I’ve never taken either of you to Bellalux Five?! Oh that’s it, we’re going to Bellalux Five!” he tried to get up then but ended up tripping on his own two feet and falling back into the plush seat he’s been sitting on. Both Ariella and I laughed into hysterics.

“I think I’ve sat on my spectacles,” he said. He hadn’t. It was a shot glass.

The Doctor poured a few more drinks of the Mauguini and then engaged into a conversation with Ariella about something which I could not focus on so I got up, glass in hand, and went to investigate the rest of the bar, especially since I could now hear some sort of… frankly, horrible music coming from the just opposite the bar. I moment later I went running back, “They’ve got karaoke!” I practically yelled.

Ariella looked slightly horrified but the Doctor’s face lit up like a child on Christmas and we both hightailed it towards the little stage. Ariella trailed behind us, Maugini bottle in hand and watched in horror as I did a, probably, very poor rendition of a Spice Girls song (they didn’t have much 21^st century Earth music to choose from), and when the Doctor decided to take the stage she nearly keeled over shouting “Oh don’t!” and “You must be joking!”. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t help and he got a standing ovation from a group of little blue aliens in the corner. He said it didn’t mean much since that race was known for its tone deafness, but I still thought it was hilarious. We went back to the bar and ordered something that I can not pronounce (not even sure my tongue could make those movements), and toasted to embarrassing Ariella. I remember my head going a bit fuzzy then, and then the next thing I remember is waking up in the TARDIS console room.

I was curled up on the jumpseat in a very awkward angle and was, for some reason, wearing the Doctor’s coat. I found him tucked up in the bathtub and Ariella was drinking a very large cup of tea in the galley. Without a word the Doctor set course for a greasy spoon in 1960’s New York City.

We figured we’d nurse our hangovers before Bellalux Five.

Entry Eighteen - Earth

After a very eventful trip to a space station with time windows and Madame de Pompadour the Doctor figured there was a need to show me how to get the TARDIS home. The programme had always been there, of course, and he’d activated it one time but it wasn’t something that I knew how to do myself. He showed me which buttons to press and which lever to crank. I listened and I demonstrated when he asked me to do it for him but my heart wasn’t really in it. I sort of always figured that if he couldn’t be driving the TARDIS than I wouldn’t really be either.

At this precise moment, I was very glad that I’d paid attention. Up popped his holographic image of himself speaking to me and whir when the time rotor but I was already back towards the door where Ariella had stayed with the Doctor. He was breathing normal and his one heartbeat was steady, but that didn’t stop me from worrying about the lack of the second. I wondered if Time Lords could survive with one heart, and… uh, I hate to write this down because I think that probably he will read it and not be very happy, but I didn’t want him to have to regenerate. I mean, I know that he’s the same but… it’s not.

But anyway, the TARDIS seemed to understand the urgency of the matter and so we went hurtling through the Time Vortex faster than I had in a long while. It was an exceedingly bumpy ride, which I couldn’t tell if it was good or not, I had two thoughts, keep the Doctor safe, and land somewhere quickly, the two were hardly mutually exclusive. And then suddenly the whole TARDIS sort of tipped and it felt very much like we’d just crashed into something. Everything in the console room shifted, the three of us were thrown, and then it was still.

Ariella picked herself up, and looked at me with wide eyes, “Where are we?” she asked, and I bit my lip.

“Home.”

Ariella visibly blanched and I had to stifle a laugh that was hardly appropriate. “Home?” she asked, “As in, Earth, as in…” her voice got very low, “Jackie Tyler?”

“Don’t believe a word he’s said,” I told her and then looped an arm around the Doctor and indicated to Ariella to do the same on the other side. We opened the door and went out.

And there, quite to my surprise, was Mickey running down the road to meet me. I blinked, “Mickey?!” I said and he grinned.

“Yeah it’s me, what’s happened? I didn’t expect you back so soon and then I heard the TARDIS. What’s happened to him?” he looked a bit wide eyed, and then helped.

“Mickey,” I was a bit dumbfounded. It wasn’t so long ago that I’d seen him. Of course I’d seen him last when we left him behind on a parallel universe never expecting to see him again. If I hadn’t been supporting the Doctor I would’ve hugged him. “When is it?”

“February 3^rd.”

Oh. So… well, he didn’t seem to not recognise the Doctor so it was clearly after that Christmas, just after it would seem. That was a bit weird. We’d never done that before. All trips home were done linearly, time-wise. The Doctor said it was easily on mum that way, which made sense to me, but this was different, the Doctor wasn’t piloting the TARDIS and now we’d, well… I supposed that it didn’t matter all that much really. And it was quite a help that Mickey was there to help with the Doctor, actually. I wondered if the TARDIS had done that on purpose.

Between the three of us it wasn’t too hard to get the Doctor upstairs. Mum was just sitting there reading a magazine on the couch watching telly and apparently hadn’t heard all the ruckus of us coming up the stairs. She jumped up, ran over, and helped us get him to the couch. I explained what had happened, leaving out the bits where I was about to be a slave and had, well, willingly sacrificed myself. She got all mother hen in the way that she does. She got a cold flannel and pressed it to his forehead and everything before switching on the kettle for the rest of us.

“I don’t reckon he can drink any tea in that condition,” she said, coming back into the room and adjusting her hoodie, “but do you think it’d help?” Then, “This isn’t gonna become a habit with this one, is it?”

I was collecting the mugs for the tea and paused for a moment, yeah, well if this was February then it meant that the last time they’d seen us the Doctor’d been all laid up too. I peered around into the hall and noticed the nearly repaired doorway into mum’s room. “Mum,” I said, “we’ve been here, in between Christmas and now, that was ages ago.”

Mum looked confused for a moment, and then just said, “Oh.” And I felt badly because I could tell she was thinking about all the things in my life that she’d never know and probably never understand. But then she turned her attention to Ariella whose eyes got very wide at mum’s attentions. Previously she’d only asked briefly who she was and I’d practically barked “Ariella!”, but now she was giving the Nyklus Queen a proper once over. “So, who’s this then, properly?” she said, forcing on a cheery smile and changing the subject completely. I returned to the room.

“Mum, Mickey, this is Ariella Lavizsia, she’s Queen of a planet called Jacowitz, Ariella, mum – Jackie, and Mickey,” I said with a gesture of my hand.

Ariella smiled, quite demurely and politely but looked a bit like she wanted, more than anything to flee to the TARDIS for safety. “It’s lovely to meet you, I’ve heard a lot about-”

Mum’s eyes sort of bugged out, “Queen?! You’re telling me we’ve got royalty in our home? No warning, just popping in, nothing in the cupboards and the place not even tidied!”

I nearly laughed, but didn’t. “Mum, it’s not like we had time to phone ahead or anything.”

“Well I know, sweetheart, but-”

“Really,” Ariella broke in with her calming voice, and even though she spoke softly we all turned towards her, “I don’t need anything special, I-”

“But, your majesty,” I almost cringed as mum spoke, “I can send Rose out, or Mickey, I’ll send Mickey I wouldn’t want to leave you all alone without someone you know, and he’s…” she guestured towards the Doctor, “well, he’s well knackered it’d seem, we can get some cakes or something. And the good tea in the boxes, you know the ones Mickey, slides open? And you’ll have to get something I can cook, we’ve just got leftover Chinese in and I couldn’t possibly serve takeaway to royalty, and-”

“Blimey, Jackie, don’t you ever shut up?”

All four of our heads spun around back towards the Doctor who was still lying on the couch, but now his eyes were open and he was his spectacles which were hanging a bit funny.

“Doctor!” Ariella cried and nearly flung herself on the side of the couch in a very good impersonation of Florence Nightingale.

“Hello,” he said smiling at her, and I went round to the end of the couch, he made a show out of looking round, “Well I see you paid attention to the Emergency Protocol One tutorial,” he said to me in a voice far too cheery for the fact that he’d just been unconscious for the greater part of an hour. Then again, he was the Doctor, and he tended to do that.

I grinned back, “I did,” I said, “how are you? Your heart wasn’t working, is it better now?” I almost reached forward and rested my hand on his chest to see but didn’t.

“Oh, fine, you know, just a bit sore.” And then he went on talking about everything and nothing at the same time. Remarking on mum’s hairstyle, the presence of Mickey (he shot me a glance at that but seemed satisfied that I’d not told him anything about his future), apologising to Ariella for having to meet my mum (Mum and I ‘Oi!’ed at the same time). And his heart was back to normal. I could have cried from relief. But I didn’t.

Then mum came back with the tea and passed it round to everyone. Ariella seemed to have gotten a bit more comfortable and mum had stopped falling all over her (maybe it was the way the Doctor and I were treating her like we always treated her, like a normal person) and the Doctor was happily sipping his tea while we all listened to Ariella recount the last Sontaran invasion. For about ten minutes it looked like all the drama was over for the day.

“Rose,” the Doctor said and I looked at him all smiles until I caught the expression on his face. “Rose, what did you give me, when I was out, you gave me some sort of medicine or something, what was it?”

Nothing so far as I knew. I racked my brain, Ariella gave me a concerned look, again. I shook my head, “No, nothing.”

“Oh, yeah, well that was me,” Mum said seemingly just catching wise to the conversation. All three of us whipped our heads round to her. “Well it was just a bit of children’s stuff, he said he was sore and Suze left a bit of stuff over when she was here last with little Terese.” We all continued to stare. “All right I’ll go and get it!” she said and then got up to the kitchen. By the time she got back the Doctor was practically purple and had already activated his respiratory bypass. “My god! What’s happened to him!?” she cried holding up the bottle, “it’s just Acetylsalicylic Acid!”

Mickey was on his feet crossing his arms and looking very confused, he made a face and half shrugged, “That’s just aspirin.”

The Doctor’s eyes got very wide and Ariella and I gaped at mum and Mickey. “Aspirin?!” we said at the same time. Then I finished, “Mum, he’s allergic to aspirin!”

Her hands flew to her mouth and I could tell how apologetic she was, I shouldn’t have been cross cause she was just trying to help but I could hardly help it. This whole thing was really bending my nerves and my stomach sort of churned with worry, actually I was starting to feel nauseous. But the Doctor sort of launched himself off the couch and grabbed the bottle from mum at a full pounce and examined the label. Then he made some sort of noise that sounded like he was being strangled. Mickey ran and got him a sheet of A4 and an old nibby pencil from my room, and I had to give him props for understanding what it was that the Doctor needed.

“Epi Pen!” Mum shouted.

“Have we got an epi pen?” I asked, confused, not thinking it would do much good anyway.

“Hospital?!” she said once she realised we did not have an epi pen.

“Mum!” She was quiet after that and the Doctor scribbled on the paper holding it out for us to read. “Potassium, sugar, Vitamin C, zinc… we’re supposed to find these things?” He nodded vigorously. “Mum! Have we got bananas?” She shook her head. I gaped, even the Doctor was still, he grabbed the paper back, flipped it over and wrote in large letters; ‘NO?!’

“Well, I said, we’ve nothing in!”

Ariella jumped up from the couch and ran, out the door, slamming it behind her. I hardly noticed, “Okay, orange juice then?” Mum ran into the kitchen and came back with an almost full container, which the Doctor hastily drank, and then actually looked a bit better. I checked the list, “Have we got zinc mum?” she had already brought in the sugar.

“Zinc?! Why would we have zinc?”

“For colds and stuff, you know, it’s meant to make you better!” She looked a little helpless, I turned back to the Doctor, “What has zinc?!”

He seemed to be able to push a bit of air through his throat, at last, and managed some words. “It’s in a lot of metal things, I don’t know, oysters!” I looked at mum, she shook her head, “They use it too coat pills in the future, Rose, you know what I’m talking about!”

“Pills,” I said, wracking my brain, wondering if we had any of that stuff in the TARDIS, probably, I wondered- “And food supplement pills?” he nodded, and I fished in my pockets. “Like desert pellets?!” I asked extracting the large amount of them that I’d pilfered from the Antalusian ship. Apparently, yes, cause he grabbed them and downed about ten in eight seconds.

This time when he spoke it was a little more clearly, “Sugar, and potassium, where’s my coat?”

I started towards the door. As far as I knew his coat was in the TARDIS, he hadn’t been wearing it before and I could see it in my minds eye thrown over the coral columns, but before I even had a chance to open the door Ariella bust in toting a huge box of banana donuts. “Potassium and sugar!” she said, breathlessly, she’d obviously run. The Doctor waved her over and grabbed a donut, and shoved it in his face. By the time he’d finished his third he was quite back to normal, but no one begrudged him a fourth.

Then, he, quite calmly, picked up his tea cup and washed the contents down the kitchen sink. Before grabbing the children’s aspirin bottle, walking to the balcony and tossing it down into the courtyard below. He didn’t tell me at the time, but thank god it was children’s aspirin. When he came back he smiled, hands tucked into his pockets and started rocking on the balls of his feet and said, “Right then, who wants tea?”

Entry Seventeen - Above Jacowitz (5)

Unfortunately it was about at this time that I felt the vent start to buckle, which was frankly the last thing that I needed. We were just above a large group of the Antalusians and if this ventilation shaft didn’t hold we’d soon be in a heap among them, I didn’t quite fancy the idea. I gestured towards Kit to get back. He looked at me curiously. I had to try very hard not to roll my eyes at him. “Go backward, there’s too much weight here, this thing’s not gonna hold, it’ll break and we’ll fall.”

“And falling is bad, yes?”

I nodded, “Yes.” But my explanation was cut short as Kit started backing up and suddenly the whole metal structure around us splintered and collapsed sending us sprawling to the room down below. I didn’t move immediately, not because I was hurt, but mostly because I was aware that I would soon be surrounded by a great many large lizard like creatures who’d be snapping their jaws at me for not being where I was meant to be. I wasn’t even entirely sure what it was that I was doing on this ship so I didn’t even know if they would or would not kill me. I was fairly sure that my stillness was meant to be some form of playing opossum.

But that couldn’t really last for long, and I knew that, and I opened my eyes. The Lizard King already had Kit’s arm grasped in his meaty paw and that caused me to sit straight up. “Let him go, it wasn’t his idea,” I said, not thinking because if I had been I would have been sure that the Lizard King was not exactly one to care who’s idea it was.

“It seems that you are a feisty one, Miss Tyler,” he said to me. “I suppose that we should not be surprised. Our sources tell us that the Doctor’s companions are often feisty.”

I stood to my full height, which was about one half of the Lizard’s and put my hands on my hips. “Well, I’m here. I’ve been stuck in your prison, I’ve seen what you’re doing. I think its sick, which you know, and I am fully convinced that this has nothing to do with your economy in the slightest degree; I think it’s all about revenge. All because the Doctor foiled your little plan back on New Earth, well I was there to. I pulled the lever, I doused all those new humans with the disinfectant cure so you might as well just take your revenge out on me and leave the Doctor and Jacowitz alone. And while we’re on the subject why Jacowitz at all?!” I sucked in a breath then, realising that I’d gone on quite a bit.

The Lizard King looked me up and down and then began to chuckle, a deep belly laugh that shook his own body. He let go of Kit’s arm and he moved quickly over to me, standing in front of me a bit in a very gentlemanly manor, though I thought it was just as likely to get him killed as anything else.

“You amuse me, girl,” the Lizard King said, “perhaps when all is said and done I shall make sure that you find a place in my household. I could use an amusing slave such as yourself.”

The amount of unworry I had to that remark should have frightened me but it didn’t, because the king was on the move now. He went over to a strange and intricate looking machine, large buttons, perfect for his large hands, and wires that I could tell would have been exposed, were covered in a thin glass. It as shiney and new and I wondered very briefly what it was before my question was answered for me.

“You have many questions, Miss Tyler, this is not a surprise. But this is not a film from your planet. I am neither villain nor hero, and I feel no need to relay my entire plan for you. You insist upon misbehaving, do you want your friends to suffer for it?” And then he pushed a button on the machine and I realised, that was the telepathic inhibitor. It was sending waves through everyone and everything that had telepathic abilities right now and they were in pain.

“No!” I shouted, “Stop it!” He flipped the switch again.

Now obviously I didn’t want everyone on Jacowitz to be in pain, especially not Ariella or the Doctor, but the Antalusian’s demonstration had just helped me enormously.

I edged my way closer to Kit so that we could converse quietly and I explain my plan. This whole time the King had been focusing all his attentions on me. Kit was seemly just some sort of extra piece that had happened along. But if travelling with the Doctor had taught me anything it was to never underestimate the abilities of simple people. I told him my plan and then I ran.

The Lizard King did not seem bothered, not in the slightest with a wave of his hand there were instantly several guards upon me, holding both my arms quite tightly, actually. But the purpose had been served. Because at the same moment I ran, so did Kit and he ran towards the telepathic inhibitor and quickly smashed it with the bracelet around his wrist. The Lizard King had opened his mouth in a sneer towards me but spun when he heard the shattered glass. For a moment everything was still and then he spun in a roar, slapping me hard across the face, I could tell there’d be bruises in the morning, he might even kill me but now everyone on the planet was safe, small price to pay. And if everyone on the planet was safe then that meant the Doctor was safe, and the TARDIS would work again and that might just mean-

My train of thought broke off as the familiar sounds of the TARDIS materialising filled the room. Everyone froze. I nearly cried.

“What is that?!” Kit called to me from his captive station across the room.

“That’s help,” I said back and couldn’t help the grin that spread across my face as the TARDIS door opened and the Doctor stepped out, hands in pockets and with that really very menacing look he gets on his face from time to time.

“Right,” he said, searching out the Lizard King and then making eye contact, “you have something that I want back. You okay, Rose?” he asked not taking his eyes off the Lizard King, and probably his peripheral vision on the rest of them.

“Yeah, you know,” I said back, not quite able to keep the grin out of my voice.

The edges of his lips quirked a little too but his expression remained stoney. “You have one chance. Give her back to me and leave Jacowitz in peace.”

“Doctor, they’ve got slaves,” I called out.

“Right, give her back to me, leave Jacowitz in peace, and free your slaves and I’ll let you go. It’s a good offer, you should take it.”

The Lizard King was still for a moment and then he began his belly laugh again. “We have heard of your arrogance, Doctor. There is nothing that you can do to stop us, we know of your abhorrence of violence, we know-”

“I’m not sure where you’re getting your information from,” the Doctor said, “but don’t ever mistake an abhorrence for violence with peaceful. But you’re right. There’s nothing I can do to you. I’ve done my research too, you’re a very impressive lot, doesn’t mean you can’t be stopped.” The Lizard King laughed and the Doctor sighed and then opened up the door to the TARDIS. Ariella stepped out.

She was wearing some sort of weird… well I’d have to say headdress, but it looked more like one of those things they put on people’s heads when they’ve fractured their spine. And it connected from her head to a sort of… ray gun? There really wasn’t much of a way to describe it. But she exchanged glances with the Doctor and he nodded and she closed her eyes and the next thing that I knew every single one of the Antalusians were unconscious on the floor.

Kit gaped, “Are they dead?” he asked me.

I leaned over them, “No, sleeping. What happened?”

“Time for explaining later,” the Doctor said bounding over to the ships controls, a very proud look on his face. I picked my way across the room and stood near him. His hand sort of hovered for a moment and then he turned back. “Rose, don’t you ever do that again.”

I opened my mouth and left it hanging there, I realised I looked a bit like a fish. I supposed I should have expected that sort of reaction, but I, well, I didn’t really fancy being yelled at right at the moment. And I was about to say so but all speech was muffled cause I found myself pressed into one of the most phenomenal hugs that have ever come round. I couldn’t quite help burying my face in his shoulder.

About three hours later (yes vast exaggeration) it felt like everything had just gone back to normal, all that scary stormy Doctorness that freaked me out sometimes was gone and he was back to his grinny self. “Basically,” he said, setting some controls, “I build that… thing, which will obviously be needing a snazzy name, to enhance Ariella’s telepathy and tap into a particular wavelength and-” he seemed to notice Kit for the first time as he rounded about to flip some more switches. “Hello, sorry, Rose, who’s your new boyfriend?”

“This is Kit, he’s been a slave here since-” I didn’t get to finish my sentence because the Doctor had pressed a button and the whole ship started to shake. There were several loud explosions and we all ducked for cover.

The Doctor was the first one up again, “No no no no no! They were isomorphic controls! An unfamiliar finger touches it and the whole thing goes kablewy!”

“Technical term? Kablewy?”

“Very!” he flipped some more switches, “there’s… I can’t do anything, we’re being pulled towards the largest heat source, which is of course the pink sun. Sort of a self destruct. We have about five minutes.”

Kit took off running down the hall, no doubt back to where the rest of the slaves were being held. I looked at my wrist, “They’ve all got teleport bracelets on, it’s sort of like a prison thing. Like a, um, force field! But it does both, can you fix the teleports?”

The Doctor grinned, “Oh, just watch me!” he said and started pulling out all kinds of wires and tubes and lots of things I just didn’t recognise. Neither Ariella or I could do much to help so we went to keep an eye on the sun and our approach while the Doctor worked. It took all of two minutes and when he was done the sun was looming so large and pink that it almost filled the whole frontal shield and both Ari and I were pretty damned nervous.

“Rose,” he said after a moment, and we both turned back, “you know what to do if something happens to me, right? You remember.”

I hesitated before answering. “Yes, I remember.”

“Okay,” he said, “Good.” Then, I’m sending them all to Jacowitz, hospital wing, we’ll go check on them, I promise.”

“Doctor,” I said a bit warily and Ariella at my side took a step forward.

“Doctor what are you going to do?” she asked, and he just kept his eyes trained on the teleporting device and then he flipped a switch.

The whole table shook and a blue light started from the core of the device and worked its way out blindingly. Ariella and I were both thrown backwards and once we’d both recovered from having the wind knocked out we both looked towards the Doctor, who was now lying in a crumpled lump on the floor.

I think I might’ve screamed, and Ariella scrambled over to him and checked his pulses. “He’s alive!” she said, the relief evident in her voice, “Only one of his hearts is working though.”

“But,” I felt a bit paralysed.

“Rose,” Ariella said, “Come on, help me get him to the TARDIS, we’ve got to get out of here. Now.” I looked out the window and realised just how right she was. We’d have moments before being getting too close to the sun. We each grabbed onto the Doctor and pulled him into the TARDIS. Slammed the door shut, and I activated Emergency Protocol One.

Entry Sixteen - Above Jacowitz (4)

I wasn't really thinking when I said what I did, but up in an alien ship I didn't quite feel the panic that I would have expected. Cause I knew that if I had been thinking, I would have made the same choice. Of course that didn't mean I wasn't terrified.

From Jacowitz the ship had looked like something straight out of film they would've shown on a Bank Holiday Monday sort of like this:


Of course we were far away and it was through a psychic layer, but from the inside it looked vaguely as if it might look like that from the outside. Everything was chrome and smooth and it couldn't very well see any seems, like the whole thing had been made out of one smooth piece of metal. Or grown that way, if that was possible.

I had expected to teleport directly into some sort of holding cell with a big burly looking crocodile thing guarding me, and was a bit surprised to see that it was on the case. I was in some sort of hallway that seemed to lead endlessly in both directions. I wasn't sure which way to go, but I knew that I had to pick a direction. And I wasn't naive enough to think that the Lizard King bloke had just given me free range of their ship, I just wasn't sure how this was meant to work, so I started walking in one direction figuring that it had to lead somewhere.

The first place that I reach seemed to be some sort of canteen. I am not sure why I was not expecting to find a canteen on this spaceship, of course the lizard creatures had to eat but with their giant jaws and claws and so on I had sort of, well, I'm ashamed to say, I had figured them to be a bit more savage than to each regular space food. That's not to say I expected them to eat people but that wouldn't have surprised me. Instead I recognised synthetic vegetables and fruits. And those little pudding pellets that the Doctor always said were pointless because what was the use of pudding if you were ingesting quickly. There was nobody about so I took a couple of the pudding capsules, just cause they were more portable, and stuck them in my pocket in case I couldn't find anything to eat later on. Then I went back round and continued my exploration.

After a while more of smooth hallway I cam across a set of doors. There was nothing written on them so I pushed through hoping for something. Inside was a stench like I've never smelled before. And I have smelled some very foul things throughout time and space. It was like rotting flesh and excrement and sour milk all at the same time and I gagged. Might've vomited if I hadn't covered up my face and mouth immediately. And as disgusting as it was, I had to see what it was that could have made that sort of smell.

Inside there were more people than I could have imagine fit into the space. They were piled in some sections, I wondered if they were even alive, others were laid out in rows, asleep, but clearly breathing. There was rotting food placed to one side of the room, waste in the other. I'd never seen anything so disgusting in my entire life or travels. I could hardly move for shock.

I didn't move, in fact, until I heard a voice behind me. "Rose Tyler," it said and I spun. The Lizard King.

"What is this?!" I said, in a bit of a shakey voice, "Why are all these people just stuffed in here? Why isn't it clean? What's going on!" I realised that my voice was slowly raising so that by the time I finished the sentence I was full on yelling.

"They are being incubated, we are waiting for them to reach the right age."

"Right age for what?!"

"For slavery of course, we do not get a good price for the children. Once they are eighteen. That is the right age, until then, they wait."

I was shocked. Slaves? "What's the point?!" I yelled, unable to quite hold back my anger. "Why?"

"Our economy was destroyed, we must continue the Antalusian way."

"And what is that? Killing? You've no other way to boost your bloody economy? You have to use humans as test subjects and slaves?"

"You are an inferior species. A young species. We have been around for billions of years beyond the human Empire. You are arrogant. You are small. And you are predicatable. Even you, Miss Tyler, have done exactly as you were thought to do. You brought yourself here of your own free will."

I swallowed, "What's that meant to mean?"

"As I said, we have done our research." And with that he lumbered away, gigantic tale swinging and left. Leaving the door wide open. I'd expected him to lock it. Not quite knowing what else to do I started following but as soon as I reached the door I was thrown backwards by some sort of invisible force and skidded on the floor, the wind knocked out of me for a moment.

"It's the bracelets," a voice said and I followed it to a, well frankly quite fit, bloke who was huddled among the other, mostly unconscious, would be slaves. "Hi," he looked a bit bashful actually, "I'm Nikitarunatar, people call me Kit."

I smiled, despite the situation. He looked like maybe he was a couple of years younger than me, I'd peg him at about seventeen, but he was tall and strong looking, blondish dirty hair chiseled features. The kind of bloke you saw in films that took place at American schools. "Hi, Kit," I said after a moment, "I'm Rose. What do you mean it's the bracelets?" I examined the teleporter that was still strapped to my wrist.

"They keep us in. Once a boy, Jules, got his off, broke his hand in the process, and ran through the doors. He lasted three days before he was brought back. There's nowhere to run."

I thought for a moment. They clearly had pods, and teleport technology. There was a way off this ship, I just didn't quite fancy breaking my hand in five places to find it. I looked around the room, and sighed, "How long have you been here, Kit?" I asked.

He shook his head, surprised at my question and then laughed a bit before he realised that I was serious. "But," he paused, confused, "I was born here."

I gaped. "What?"

"We all were."

I looked around. There were probably hundreds of people crammed in here. Unsanitary and reeking. I couldn't imagine it, and I wondered if I had just sold myself into slavery. I asked him about their lives here and he told me, about how their parents had been taken away before they could remember and how they'd been raised by a droidbot, how that they didn't know where they were from besides here, but that they'd been told they were humans who originated on the planet Earth. I told him about Earth and he was rapt with attention. He told me how they were put into a kind of sleep for all the hours of the day besides three, when they ate and fraternised, which he seemed surprised was encouraged. I wasn't surprised, I knew why the Antalusians would want them to fraternise. So that they could make more slaves, the next generation of slaves. It made me feel a bit sick. I asked him why it was that he wasn't sleeping and he told me it was because he didn't drink the tea, he'd tried to convince more of them not to drink it, but they'd said it was better to sleep. I made a mental point not to drink any tea.

It was only then that something caught my eye above me, a vent. It didn't make sense to me that it would be there and no one would try to ever use it to escape. I pointed upwards, "Ever try that?" I asked, but Kit was looking me up and down in a way that I wasn't entirely sure about. "Kit?"

He reached out and touched my side, running his hand over my stomach in, well, quite a seductive way. I started, "Kit, what are you doing?"

"Have you already got a copulation partner?" he asked sort of confused.

My mouth dropped open, "Uh, no. Yes? Which would stop you from looking at me like that?" I said. Yeah, he was attractive, I'd say, but that didn't mean I was gonna start shagging him an hour after we'd met, or ever. "Let's go with yes?"

"I understand, what was it you were referring to earlier?"

I was a bit taken aback by his rapid change of subject, I shook my head, "Oh, mate, we've got to get you socialised," I said and then stood pointing at the vent. "Has anyone ever tried climbing through there?"

He looked at it like he'd never seen it before. "No. What is it?"

"It-" I broke off, this bloke knew nothing, I supposed that 'copulation partner' should have been my first clue. I explained to him about climbing through vents and then he helped me up by putting me on his shoulders and I went into the vent, pulling him up behind me.

It was roomy enough for humans, but an Antalusian wouldn't ever make it through this tight space. I wasn't sure where it was that we were heading but we obviously went in the right direction when we came out to a very good viewing area, just about the Antalusian craft's bridge.
More tomorrow...

Entry Fifteen - Jacowitz (3)

They looked like gigantic upright crocodiles, their thick tales sweeping behind them heavily. They had on what appeared to be some sort of Dutch clogs, painted bright colours and made, not of wood but, of some sort of synthetic wood like material. The style of shoe made sure that they had to shuffle down the walk rather than walking properly and on their heads they appeared to be wearing some sort of headdress that brought an afro to mind. I might’ve started laughing then and there if the Doctor hadn’t looked so perplexed and they hadn’t been sporting some killer jowls and tails that looked like they could break my neck if swung properly. They looked a little like this:

Only standing up. And with afros.

In a moment the largest and most colourful lizard creature, henceforth called the Lizard King, opened his massive mouth and started speaking. My mouth hung open for several reasons. Firstly, he spoke in a high clipped accent, sort of sounded like Tony Blair actually, and not the gruff growling I had expected, and secondly, because I could not understand a word that he was saying. I blinked several times and then glanced at the Doctor for some sort of explanation. He didn’t have to answer before I realised, it was because the TARDIS wasn’t translating.

“Um, hello, yes. Uh, my friend here only speaks English, I don’t suppose-” the Doctor started, scratching at the back of his head in the way that he did.

“Of course, Doctor,” the Lizard King said and then nodded politely in my direction. I started. How did these creatures know who he was?

The Doctor didn’t look all that comprehending either though, in fact his eyebrows drew together in that confused expression that he gets and his mouth started to form words that never came out. Finally, fairly true to form, he said; “What?”

“Ah, I see,” said the Lizard King taking another step forward and the Doctor, probably unconsciously, stood in front of Ari and myself. “You do not remember us, it’s not a surprise, but we know you. You travel from planet to planet, meddling in the affairs of others. It was through these meddlings that we became aware of you indirectly. And how you caused the horrible deaths of thousands of our kind.”

“I’m sorry?” All three of us said at the same time.

“The Antalusians, us of course, had a very close working relationship with the Sisters of Plentitude, perhaps them you recall.”

Well, I certainly did. “Ah,” was all the Doctor said.

“They were good workers, willing to do work that would only sully our hands, but they did not have the technology they required. We developed this. The greater part of our economy was in conjunction with the experiments and progress that the Sisters created. For years and years all was well, people were cured, healed, treated, we understood that there were several malfunctions with the Flesh, as the Sisterhood began calling them. Their brainstems began to function quite on their own, but things like these are necessary. Sacrifices must be made in order to progress the universe. From our research it would seem that you should understand this, Doctor, you who have killed thousands.”

“Hold on!” I said, getting a bit outraged there, but the Doctor put a hand on my elbow to quiet me. Didn’t surprise me.

“The Sisterhood was killing thousands of innocent people, that is not right, even if it’s saving others. I will never apologise for that.”

The Lizard King looked a bit angry at that, “Because of your meddlesome actions, Doctor, thousands of Antalusians have perished. The Sisters incarcerated, the Flesh catalogued and sent free to roam New Earth.”

“I’m sorry,” Ariella said, speaking up for the first time in awhile, “New Earth?”

The Doctor looked at her confused, and I had to admit I was a bit surprised that she’d not heard of it either, the Nyklus were among the higher beings and thus were rather informed about most systems in the universe. The Doctor opened his mouth to speak but then closed it, “Oh,” he said, “Hold on, New Earth doesn’t exist in this time, not as New Earth and the sisters wont come into existence for about a million years.”

“Yes, we have followed you,” the Lizard King explained, “through time and space.”

The Doctor racked his massive brain, “Antalusia, Antalusia… you don’t have that sort of technology. You can’t travel in time and while you’re pretty impressive on the technical end I sort of think that a telepathic inhibitor is beyond you too.”

“Nothing is beyond us,” the Lizard King snarled, “but you are correct, this technology is not ours. We have a benefactor.”

“A what?”

“That is unimportant. Now, Doctor, you will come with us.”

“Um, well, thank you for the kindly invitation but I’ll pass.”

“It is not a choice. You will come with us or we will activate the telepathic inhibitor. You and every living thing on this planet will suffer from an onslaught of every negative thought, every sorrow, every bad experience that you’ve ever suffered. For the Nyklus and their extensive lives that should be quite a few, and for you Doctor, after doing our research that should be a particular punishment.”

The Doctor looked a little paler but, well, he is the Doctor so he stood firm. “I can help, your economy can be restored-”

“It’s too late for that now. If we let you go now, with an empty promise to help us, then we will lose you forever. We can not risk that.”

“But wait!” Ariella chimed in, “If you’ve done research on the Doctor than you’ll know that he helps people! That’s what he does!”

“We can not be certain of anything,” the Lizard King looked rather resolute.

Up until this point, I’d been rather quiet. My brain was working at a million miles per hour, but, not being the Doctor and all, that just meant that it was going in circles. I couldn’t think our way out of this, not like he could. And I didn’t want him getting on that ship with them. Who knew what they’d do to him. But I also knew that given the choice that was presented to him he would never cause the Nyklus any pain. He would go with them. He would subject himself to whatever they had planned for him. I couldn’t let that happen. If I couldn’t save the world, I could save the Doctor, and I suddenly found myself speaking without thinking at all.

“Take me,” I said, “he can help. He’ll find you what you need, he can do anything, I’m just a human being, but he’ll come back for me. He wont just leave me.”

“Rose!” the Doctor and Ariella said at the same time, both of them looked quite horrified. But really, without the Doctor I was back at Christmas, with the Sycorax and my stolen words, and now I wouldn’t even have the TARDIS to hide in. The Doctor could fix it, it was what he did, there wasn’t anything that I could do. I was the much better choice.

He took a hold of my wrist, circling it with his thumb and forefinger and all I could think was ‘this is the last time he’s ever going to touch me’, startling myself. I had to shake my head to push the thought away. “I’m not letting you do this,” he said.

The Lizard King looked me up and down. I could see that he was thinking about it seriously. If he’d done his research the way he’d said he might not know of me, but he might know of Sarah Jane or that Romana who he took to Paris or any of the other companions that he’d taken through time and space. The King would know that he wouldn’t leave me. And if he hadn’t done his research as well as he seemed to think then the Doctor’s currently display might do it. I looked the lizard in the eye, and I could tell that he believed me. “It’s already done,” the he said, and then took a thick band, strapped it around my wrist, and before I could say anything I could feel my molecules start to shift in that familiar teleporting feeling, and the next thing I knew I was staring at a metal wall.

More tomorrow...

Entry Fourteen - Jacowitz (2)

Sorry the further parts of this story were not posted until now. Usually when it comes to time and space the TARDIS is a bit impenetrable to the Doctor’s landing in the wrong time issues, but for some reason that was very technical and very long when the Doctor tried to explain it to me, we just jumped forward a little bit over a week and my blog stayed in the same place. So… well, sorry. Oh! And I got a new myspace via some spectacular jiggery pokery if I do say so myself. It's:

www.myspace.com/timeandspaceandrose

Anyway, on with the story.

The TARDIS did not turn back on. The Doctor continued flipping switches and stuff until it became painfully obvious that, for the time being, there wasn’t anything he could do to fix it. It was a bit like when we landed on that parallel world with Mickey and everything died. He didn’t seem quite as depressed or defeatist though. Mostly, I am sure, because he knew where we were, and it was Jacowitz, which has all kind of technology he would probably be able to adapt to help with the ship.

Plus, I was fairly sure, so I was positive that the Doctor had deducted, that the TARDIS’s malfunction had something to do with the telepathic inhibitor that he’d talked about earlier. And to be honest that freaked me out a lot more than anything else. Because if the TARDIS was going out then that probably meant that there wasn’t much time until the whole thing went pear shaped and I was the only person left on this planet not in immense pain.

“Okay,” the Doctor said clapping his hands together and then running one of them over the console in a bit of a consolatory gesture. I could tell he wasn’t pleased about her going out, but he was thinking the same things that I was thinking. “So,” he continued after his brief, TARDIS stroking, interlude, “this sort of technology would take enormous amounts of power, and so far as I can tell it’s got to be short range, meaning, either a) here on the planet or b) on some sort of ship or mobile space station. So!” at this point he was pointing both fingers in the air and looking a little manic. So, not all that different from usual.

“We need to find whatever it is and stop it before all my people are incapacitated,” Ariella finished looking very determined. Which wasn’t really all that surprising. Ariella, despite being the youngest ruler of her planet, she’s a very good Queen.

“Right, yes! Which means I’ve got to make a modulal interflux detector!” he said and then, without any further ado, grabbed a torch and disappeared into the bowels of the TARDIS without another word.

Ariella and I looked after him for a moment before turning back to each other. “Hi!” I said, sort of a bit more cheerful that I probably should’ve and she sort of sighed before smiling back. I sighed too. “I’m sorry that every time we see you, Ari, it seems to be because something horrible is happening to your planet.”

It seemed like Jacowitz got far more that it’s fair share of trouble under Ari’s reign, but really it wasn’t that way at all. Jacowitz, for one, is a peaceful planet, and does not have the defence systems of other planets, save for it’s psychic layer which covers the planet and keeps out unwanted guests, though hostile invaders always seem to think that to be a minor obstacle. But also, the Nyklus live for millions of years, and Ariella became Queen after only sixteen of them, so her reign is a particularly long one. In millions of years the planet is bound to come across a lot of trouble.

She smiled, warmly in that Ariella way of hers, “I, of course, would not be adverse to a visit in a time of peace, I just…” she trailed off sighing a bit, “I use the psychic paper only when necessary. I do not wish to be a burden.”

I laughed then, not quite realising that she was serious, “Ari,” I said, confused after a moment, “you couldn’t ever be a burden, don’t you know that? I loved it when you travelled with us, I love coming to help when you’re in trouble. And so does the Doctor, you know he does, really. Right? He lives on this stuff!” She smiled, but looked down, and I sat on the jumpseat in the darkened console room and patted the seat next to me. Ariella sat down too. “He goes looking for trouble, Ariella, you remember…” I laughed, “remember that time on Boroxan when he practically talked that strange looking fellow into banning us from the movie house? They had the best popcorn in the universe too; I swear it was sort of caramel and… something else.”

(photo of Ariella and I from awhile ago)

“Toffee!” the Doctor said re-emerging from the corridor with a bunch of stuff in his hands, “And sort of a butter rum… fantastic stuff that is, we’ll have to go back sometime.”

“We can’t!” I pointed out, “You told that strange looking man that he was a rubbish projectionist because the colour was off my point eight something or other.”

“Well, it was!”

Ariella broke into a smile and shook her head, “You could only leave it to you two to be bickering over a cinema when someone is playing with a telepathic inhibitor over my planet.”

I felt a little guilty about that. Even the Doctor managed to look sheepish, “Well, if you could just hold that, Ariella, and Rose, this,” he handed out little bits of machinery for us to hold and began constructing something that looked like a small television set with detachable aerial and some very strange looking controls. He worked silently, and with is tongue practically touching his nose, for about ten minutes and then grinned like the maniac that he is and proclaimed it “Done-a-roo!” before promising never to say that again. Then, with one more swift TARDIS stroke and (I swear) a mumbled promise to be back soon we popped outside the Doctor tuned his little telly, aimed it at the sky and about point five seconds later all three of us were thrown backwards landing at the base of the TARDIS and a massive, and I mean massive ship became visible above the shimmering psychic layer. It was all chrome and polished and quite unlike most real spaceships and more like something that they would have come up with in fifties cinema.

“What-” Ari began but then as we watched, to her shock, and everyone’s horror, the ship opened up and a smaller, more compact, pod emerged from it, paused for a moment over the psychic layer before both Ariella and the Doctor grabbed their heads in pain again and the pod made it’s way easily through the layer and into the Jacowitzan atmosphere.

By the time Ariella and the Doctor had recovered sufficiently, the pod was landing about fifty metres away. A moment later the doors opened and out stepped some very colourful, and very frightening figures.

Entry Thirteen - Jacowitz

It's been a few days since I last posted, but it's been a very busy couple of days, I assure you and you'll get to hear all about it.

The Doctor and I were watching the star Pushlinsus turn into a supernova from the TARDIS. He said it was something that I really should see, once in my life at least, because it would outshine the Earth's sun and any other sun I'd ever seen, for about a week, but the beginning part was the best, he said, when you could still look at it without retinal damage. He amuses me greatly. Also, it's a great source of energy for the TARDIS, and we might not have to swing round Cardiff anytime soon in order to soak up the rift energies like we did last year with Jack.

Plus I always love having the TARDIS doors open when we're in space. I mean, proper space, not the Time Vortex. It's a bit chilly but beautiful. Like nothing any one could ever imagine. It's just you... and space. It makes you feel tiny. But in a good way. So I was standing by the doors looking out and the Doctor was running maniacally around the console flipping switches and things when he abruptly stops what he'd doing and starts digging in his coat pocket with such gusto that I had to turn around and see what it was he was looking for.

Psychic paper, it seemed, message specifically.


It seemed that Jacowitz needed us. Which could only mean one thing... well okay, it could have meant several things. But it could only mean that Ariella, Queen of the Nyklus (the species who live on Jacowitz), needed to see us.

Ariella Lavizsia is brilliant. I love her to bits, I've met her a couple of times and she even came travelling with us for a time, but she had obligations, a planet to rule and very important decisions to make, so after a time we dropped her off just where we picked her up. She's the youngest ever ruler of Jacowitz and her people are just brilliant. They're telepathic. Actually they don't even speak aloud much at all except when talking to other people. And they live for millions and millions of years. And every Nyklus who is born is born with a star... humans don't have anything so brilliant. Anyway, Ariella's got her own blog up here:

http://queenariella.blogspot.com/

in case you are interested. Though, she is awfully busy. Not entirely sure how often she will be keeping it up. This is her:


But anyway, I read the message over the Doctor's shoulder and nearly jumped up and down. He gave me a very amused look and then went over to the console, reset our course, and sent us into the Vortex and towards Jacowitz.

I sort of... well, skipped towards the console smiling all giddy like I get sometimes when I get very excited for things and said, "Do you think it's the Sontarans again?"

Oh I forgot to mention that Sontarans attempt to invade Jacowitz every five thousand years. Like clockwork. We've helped them out with that a few times.

The Doctor grinned, flipping switches, and shook his head, "Only one way to find out," he said and the time rotor groaned the whole room shook. I had to hold onto the console for support, and the Doctor hammered at a particularly sticky button with his mallet. "Okay, now that is weird," he said as the TARDIS felt like it was rammed from the side.

"What's weird?!" I shouted, cause the time rotor seemed like it was being exceptionally loud and things were rattling around. Now I could obviously tell that things weren't entirely normal, but I am not entirely sure that I even know what normal is anymore.

"Something is spatially disrupting the TARDIS's transference. Wait, no, it's... I don't know, an encumbrance."

I shook my head, loosing my balance just slightly as the TARDIS jerked again. "What?!"

"Let's just say not normal and leave it at that."

I opened my mouth to say something else but it was at this moment that the Doctor threw a lever, the TARDIS made a cracking noise, the time rotor groaned and suddenly it felt and sounded like we'd hit something very hard. I flew to the other side of the room and the Doctor ended up draped awkwardly over the jumpseat, but everything was still.

It took me a minute before I could move, but after I'd gotten my wind back I sat up. The Doctor was kneeling right next to me. "Rose!" he said, and I got the impression that it wasn't the first time he'd spoken.

"Fine. I'm fine," I said, shaking my head to clear it. Nothing was broken, I was fine.

He grinned, "Well, that was a bit of a rough landing. We can probably rule Sontarans out for that sort of mess up. Nasty things they are, especially if you're a Rutan, but that's not their sort of thing."

I had no idea what he was talking about but before I could even get up off the ground he'd bounded up and dashed out the door. I was right behind him, but when I got out the doors Ariella was already in the Doctor's arms.

I wasn't jealous.

At all.

When they finally stopped hugging Ari smiled at me and I got the same treatment. "Oh I'm so glad you're here, Rose!" she said, in one of those ways that always freaked me out because I knew that she'd met the Doctor before and after me, and I didn't like to think about that.

But I smiled, because it was Ariella and she's one of my favourite people in the whole universe and hugged her back just as well. "Me too," I said, and when we were finally finished with the hugging I had to ask. "Is it the Sontarans again?"

She shook her head, "I don't think so. If it is then they are using technology that's not their own. Cloning, yes, teleports, absolutely, but this is something that's been building over the past few days, and it's... we'll there's something off with the telepathy. And plus they'd be about three thousand years too early."

"Off?" the Doctor asked, doing that ear tugging thing that he does when he's perplexed.

"Yes, off, I do not know any better way to describe it. Sometimes, in order to communicate, we've had to think harder than usual. And that was a the beginning. My head, and my people's heads, have been muddled and fuzzy. There is something wrong. I can sense it and they all cry out in my head asking for my help. I have tried all I can think of. And sometimes there is even pain!" She seemed very distressed, which didn't surprise me because it did sound quite distressing. And just then, as if the accentuate what she was saying both she and the Doctor cried out and grasped their heads. I took a step back, wide eyed, but it soon passed.

"Like that!"

"But," the Doctor shook his head, "this sort of technology should be impossible!"

"Well it's obviously not," I threw in my two cents.

"But it should be. C'mon, back to the TARDIS," he bounded off like he always does. "This sort of thing was just supposed to be theoretical... No one's managed to ever build a telepathic inhibitor before, but if I was going to make one I can think of the perfect testing ground and we're standing on it."

I realised at this point that my mouth was hanging open like a fish. I closed it. "Well what's it going to do?"

"It attacks anything with telepathic capabilities," he explained, punching things onto the monitor.
"Yeah, but... this is Jacowitz, doesn't everyone have telepathic capabilities."

Ariella looked very alarmed with the Doctor's prognosis. "Yes!" she said, "it's how we communicate, it's how we live!"

"And you've got telepathic capabilities," I said to the Doctor. He nodded and made a bit of a face. "And so has the TARDIS..." he nodded again. "So... am I the only person on this planet that hasn't?"

"'Fraid so."

"Right, well... that's comforting."

"It'll be okay, we just have to work fast, figure this out before the signal gets strong enough to cancel out everyone's brains."

"Cancel out brains!?"

"Well," he waved a hand, "something like that. But that's not going to happen."

I didn't like the sound of it, though I imagine Ariella liked it worse considering the ways she was now wringing her hands and getting that determined expression on her face. The Doctor typed a few things into the monitor and, flipped a few switched and grinned for a minute and then everything went dead. Everything.

"What?" he said.

Ariella and I exchanged glances.

"What?!" he said again yanking a lever several times, but nothing seemed to come back online.

"Has something happened to the TARDIS?" Ariella asked, but the Doctor didn't even seem to hear her.

"What?!"

The TARDIS did not turn back on.


More next time....