9.4 Eye of The Storm
Lily jumped at the sudden yell of glee behind her. She had finally become used to the kitchen being somewhat more secluded after the disruption caused by the HOST. So much so that she was sat happily eating her porridge dressed only in the towel she had left the shower with.
She glanced over her shoulder to see the Doctor, haring around the console and throwing levers seemingly at random. A flash of sparks from one of the large supporting pillars made her flinch.
“There!” The Doctor yelled triumphantly “Kitchen and library back in the front!”
“You know it’s disturbing enough that the TARDIS moves rooms when you aren’t looking, I was in the kitchen this time!” more sparks flew about the console as she drew nearer.
“Grab that red lever!” the time lord instructed with a wave of his hand. Lily rolled her eyes and did as he asked. The handle was warm to the touch and it fought her grip.
“I don’t think I hold it for long” Lily protested, sweat already stippling her brow.
“Ichigo, stop hiding up there and give Lily a hand!” The Doctor yelled. A flash of flesh and Ichigo, in her boy form, leapt from the balcony and jogged to take Lily’s grip with one hand, cheekily pulling the towel off her as he did. Lily thumped his arm and grabbed the towel back.
“If you’re free Lily, tell me what you can see on the scanner!” The Doctor called as he dropped his head under the console and assaulted its innards with a lump hammer. She moved to peer at the Old TV lent on the console panel.
“Er, it looks like someone’s gone mad with a plate of spaghetti and a dartboard” the deck below her shuddered in time with the Doctor’s attentions. Until suddenly everything stopped. The glass cylinder that dominated the central console stopped its steady rise and fall and the constant whine of the engines settled into a whoosh and hum that told its crew they had landed.
Lily Jumped once more as the Doctor appeared behind her, wrapping his arms around her bare shoulders to move her slightly aside.
“An inverse opportunity wave? That’s impossible...” he stroked a finger over his lip as his mind worked on the data he was reading. “Well obviously not, maybe it’s just really, really, REALLY unlikely.”
“in English fir those of us tha’ ‘ave nae idea?” Lily teased him with her Scot’s brogue.
“Right well it’s complicated but...” he moved away from the console and threw himself on the battered seat nearby, pulling a length of string from his pocket. He pulled it taught as he held it up.
“Time is like this bit of string from where you stand it’s a big long line. But if you travel through occasionally it has dire consequences.”
“What did we hit?” Ichigo asked
“Why do you assume it was me?” the Doctor frowned and teased the end of the string with his nail. Ichi pointed at the smoke still wafting in the wan blue light that suffused the console. “Well not this time anyway. Something passed in the vortex. It was a very primitive something and it had caught a piece of the vortex in its slipstream” he pulled the strand of string free, back along its length and tied it about halfway along.
“That’s not good is it?”
“That’s an understatement.” He sucked at his teeth then bounded up to the console. “We better get out there and find out what it’s up too” threw a couple of switches then ran around the console and down the sloping deck too the doors. As yanked them open the Ship shuddered under an external explosion.
“Sounds like I’ll need to get dressed” Lily sighed and ran for the wardrobe.
When Lily caught up with The Time lord he was stood at the edge of the alleyway the TARDIS had chosen to land in. The weather seemed happy to suit the yellow mini dress that complimented the blondeness of her hair. It strove to lighten the Doctor’s mood but his glance toward was too dark.
“There’s a single source of the disruption, and it’s mobile. Suggests to me that it’s a being who has a made a very nasty choice in holiday destination.”
He waved the sonic screwdriver ahead of him, and even lily could hear the whine change pitch.
“Doctor there’s all sorts of alarms going off in here!” Ichigo yelled from the TARDIS doorway.
He glanced back just as the screwdriver moved into screech mode. Lily spotted an athletic Goth woman pelting along the street.
“There goes our suspect!” she called as she started after her.
“Be careful, just find out who it is and get back here!” The Doctor ordered “she’s probably behind that explosion too!” he stood at the end of the alley, torn in following Lily or not. Ichigo’s call dragged him back inside.