Until We Burn | Dr Who

Chapter Twenty-Three: Alternatives

It hasn't been long since the events on the spaceship. They are still vivid in my thoughts, constantly replaying, especially when I am with the Doctor. 

Of course, he doesn't know. As far as he is aware, I simply comforted him after Reinette's death. Mickey's words worry me, though. If he is right and everybody we've come across has known the truth, it can't be long before the Doctor finds out. I don't want to imagine what he'll think of me.

It seems like the worse thing to happen was not him turning me down. This is much worse.

Blearily rubbing my eyes, I enter the console room to find the Doctor and Rose laughing loudly, chattering away. Mickey stands over the console with his finger holding a button down. I wait for their story to come to an end before clearing my throat. "Hi. Uh, what's the button for?"

Mickey shrugs. "The Doctor told me to."

I peer down at it, recognising it from the many times I have tried to understand the workings of the ship. "Okay," I cautiously reply, "and... how long ago was that?"

"About half an hour ago."

The Doctor tries hard to supress a smile. "You can let go now."

It beeps softly as he withdraws. "Well, how long's it been since I could've stopped?"

Rose and I do our best to avoid looking at each other. We know that one glance will be the end; she's already on the verge of more laughter. "Ten minutes..." the Doctor admits, "twenty... twenty-nine."

"You just forgot me!"

"No, no, no. I was just— I was— I was calibrating. I was just— No, I know exactly what I'm doing."

The console ignites with a burst of sparks and billowing smoke, shaking the ship violently. I wildly grab for something to catch myself but it's not soon enough. My head bangs against the mesh flooring as I fall.

The veering of the ship seems all the more uncontrollable but everything is strangely muffled. Fighting off the unexpected urge to throw up, I struggle until Mickey helps me to my feet.

"What's happened?" I hear Rose shout.

"The Time Vortex, it's gone! That's impossible, it's just gone!"

Our eyes meet through the dark and I find myself slipping, falling deeper into shock and exhaustion.

I'm not sure how long it is before someone shakes me awake. A quiet groan is all I can manage. "Inara?" the Doctor calls. "Inara, are you all right? Are you hurt?" He gently opens my eyes, shining his sonic right into them.

"Ow."

"I know. I know, I'm sorry. Do you think you can tell me where you are, Inara?"

Behind him, I see two Roses stumbling to their feet. "No use asking that, is there? We don't even know where we are."

"You're not wrong." Sighing, he helps me up, setting me down on the seats as I try to catch my breath. "That's okay, there we go. I think you might have a bit of a concussion."

Still processing his first round of questions, I wince and bring a hand up to massage my aching skull. "Yeah, I think I'm hurt. My head..."

The sparks have stopped now but smoke still pours out of the charred console. "She's dead. The Tardis is dead."

Rose follows him as he paces around, trying various buttons and levers to see if anything works. "You can fix it."

"There's nothing to fix. She's perished. The last Tardis is the universe, extinct."