Fixing The Problems

Storm Warning

The Tardis materialised as The Doctor spoke to himself: "Tardis manual. Tardis manual, Tardis manual - not here, are you? I really must sort through these shelves properly some century soon." He said as he rustled through books.

"What are you doing?" Celestia asked him, still yawning.

"I'm trying to find the Tardis manual." He answered. "Oh! Agatha Christie, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, first printing, signed. With the last page missing. Tut. Now I'll never know who done it. T'cha!" He said as he threw the book aside.

"Do you need help in there?" Celestia asked him, finding this situation hilarious.

"No, I'm fine." He said. "Now, let's see. War and Peace, the I Spy Book of British Birds, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Just look at the binding on this one." He showed the book to Celestia, making her chuckle. "Published Eighteen Thirty-One and in mint condition too. Now, isn't this the edition with the preface all about that time when.." He was cut off by Celestia:

"Yes! Yes it is, Doctor." She said, realizing what he was going to say. But he seemed to be too busy to hear her.

"In the Summer of 1816 we visited Switzerland and became the neighbours of Lord Byron. At first we spent pleasant hours on the lake, or wandering on its shores, but it proved a wet ungenial Summer, and incessant rain confined us for days to the house. Some volumes of ghost stories fell into our hands. 'We will each write a ghost story,' said Byron. There were four of us." Well, that's wrong for a start. "I busied myself to think of a story, one which would speak to the mysterious fears of our nature, to curdle the blood and quicken the beatings of the heart." The Doctor read from the book, "Oh, Mary, Mary. Well, you could have told a real story."

"Doctor, stop arguing with a book." She said, rolling her eyes. The Doctor was about to respond when he heard the sudden Tardis materialisation sound.

" Emergency stop? But that's not happened in centuries. Let's just see if the scanner can shed a little light on what's going on there in the vortex." He said as he and Celestia looked at the scanner.

"Incredible. A time ship crashing and again. And again!" She exclaimed.

"It's caught in a glitch in space time.  Hiccuping through its last moments forever." The Doctor said.

"What a terrible way to never die." Celestia said, The Doctor nodded in agreement. Suddenly they heard screeching noises that sounded like they were coming from a bird.

"Oh, no. Vortisaurs." Celestia realized.

"Swarming to pick over the debris. Get away from there, you vultures! Leave that wreck in peace. It's no use. Unless. Yes. If we can just spin the Tardis a little closer." The Doctor finished for her. They both worked on the controls.

"That's right, shoo, shoo! Back to whatever wormhole you crawled out of. Now, let's see if I can do something very clever. If I can use the Tardis to nudge the wreck on by a fraction of a second at the very end of the cycle it's caught in, those poor devils aboard can rest at last. Touch wood. Wait for it, Celestia, wait for it. Impact now!"

"Doctor, I don't think it's a good..." She was cut off by the crushing sound.

"Well, I misjudged that." He said, as he helped Celestia stand up.

"Yeah, no kidding." She rolled her eyes. Apparently, he chose to ignore her today.

"I'm not ignoring you." He said as though he just read her mind.

"Clearly." She said. Then they hear The Tardis sluggish materialisation sound.

"Come on, come on." He focused back on the situation.  "If we don't dematerialise very soon, old girl, we'll get caught up in the smash ourselves, and..." He was cut off by the sound of birdlike screeching.