Emerald Green

Stay for Dinner

Emerald Green

Chapter Eighteen

Stay for Dinner

"No, no," the Doctor was saying, a few hours later. "You need to hold the light blue button on the helm panel down while you release the time-rotor handbrake, then set the plotter, then twist the gyroscoptic stabilizer, and then run your finger across the...what did you call it?...pearl pad."

Molly clung as tightly to what looked like an updated zig-zag plotter as she could with one hand, and a switch with the other. It took a minute for her to convince her brain that letting go of the plotter wouldn't actually send her hurtling into space, and then she slowly released the plotter and pressed the button and flipped the switch, then let go of the button and moved the plotter, and then twisted the...gyro-something...and then swiped her hand over the pad.

"Good!" the Doctor said with approval. "Now, three steps to the right, and spin the – the – the thingy, four times counter-clockwise." Molly took the three steps, and reached for the crank the Doctor had indicated, but the Doctor shouted, "Counterclockwise!" She adjusted her hand and spun it the right way. Or, left way, rather.

She wasn't sure why she'd thought learning to fly the TARDIS was a good idea. Theoretically, yes, an excellent opportunity any Doctor Who fan would die for. In reality, she had only just started to stop feeling like she was going to vomit every time she remembered they were in space. It was like someone afraid of heights deciding to fly a plane.

The Doctor, at least, was encouraging. Mostly. At times he was a bit like James when Molly had tricked him into letting her drive his Porsche 911 despite not knowing how to drive manual and only just barely being able to drive at all, but whenever she got something right, she could feel the Doctor beaming from the other side of her. That made it worth it. Sort of.

"Molly, focus!" he shouted, and then pushed her out of the way. He moved so quickly she wasn't quite sure what he did until he had already stepped back and gestured for her to take his place. "You almost crashed into 1561!"

The obstacles were a lot more interesting than driving through the country, anyway.

Molly stepped up and flipped a switch he indicated. "What next?"

"Okay, okay, now...walk around to the keypad, and...gently...press the top left, bottom right, and then the middle button twice. Then pull the lever."

She moved around the console, repeating the directions to herself, until she pressed the keys – top left, bottom right, middle, middle – and then pulled the famous lever, and was rewarded with that wonderful TARDIS landing sound. She turned to the Doctor with wide eyes. "Wait – did I just – are we -"

"Landed!" He shouted, rubbing his hands together. He leaned into the monitor and pointed into it. "Perfectly, too, by the looks of it." He turned towards her with an uplifted hand, and Molly gave him a high five.

"Are you serious?" she breathed. "I just flew the TARDIS somewhere?"

"Not just somewhere! London, 2015. We'll just pop out for a bit."

Molly leaned towards the monitor, and saw that they were parked in an alley, with people walking around a few feet away down the street. "I can't believe I just flew the TARDIS."

"And we didn't crash!"

She wanted to be smart about him expecting them to crash, but honestly, she was surprised, too. "This is amazing."