Until We Burn | Dr Who

Chapter Fifty-Eight: Deja Vu

"Get down!"

A projectile of light bounces off the console. The doors slam shut.

I can't stop tripping over my own feet. My lungs burn.

To the console. I press buttons and pull levers and utter prayers that grow louder by the second.

The Doctor grabs Martha by the shoulders and steers her around to face him. "Did they see you?"

"I don't know!"

"But did they see you?"

"I was too busy running."

My vision blurs. I wipe my face and keep flying the Tardis.

Pull that lever. Or was it supposed to be the little dial next? No, it was definitely the lever. I'm certain I remember something about inputting coordinates around this point? I forgot to take the handbrake off. Run to the other side.

I lean around the pistons but the tremors of the Tardis still set them out of my line of sight. "Doctor, where do we go?"

"Martha, it's important. Did they see your face?"

She blinks. Shrugs. Eyes wide. "N-No. They couldn't have."

They rush to my side and I start dragging up a chest from under the mesh floor panels. Ignore the witches screaming inside the crystal ball. Ignore the jewels and books. There has to be a useful gadget somewhere. He always has a useful gadget somewhere. Why isn't there a useful gadget?

The screen beeps. "They're following us."

"But you've got a time machine!"

"Stolen technology. They've got a Time Agent's Vortex Manipulator. They'll follow us wherever we go. Right across the universe. They're never gonna stop." He runs a hand through his hair. Lips parted. "Unless... I'll have to do it."

"Miss Luscinia?"

I give up on the chest. I can't focus on anything in there anywhere.

A hand brushes against my back. I don't look up.

"Martha, you trust me, don't you?"

She tries a smile. It doesn't come. "Of course I do."

"'Cause it all depends on you."

"Miss?"

He moves past me to reach into the depths of the chest. She looks to me for help but receives nothing. All I can do is watch him. "What does? What do I do?"

He stands again and holds up a silver fob watch. I recognise the swirls of Gallifreyan writing across it. Cogs in a machine. "Take this watch. My life depends on it. This watch, Martha. This watch is—"

"Miss Luscinia!"

I wake with a start to the smell of fresh linen and a dull ache in my chest. My eyes grow accustomed bit by bit to the light.

A knock echoes from below. The call comes again, "Miss, are you there?"

I rub my eyes, untangle my hair from in front of my face, and rise from the bed. A blanket wraps around my shoulders to cover up the immodesty of my white nightgown. Drawing the heavy, floral curtains and opening up the window, I peer down into the street.

A young man grins up at me. Stubble dots his strong jaw like gold and  emerald eyes pierce mine. "There she is," he cheers, words rounded by a thick Norfolk accent.