The Hidden Room in the TARDIS

Chapter 2

"You can't help me," the Doctor said.

"Who said I can't?" I replied.

"Let's see. Uh... I did. Just now. You're a human, anyways. A simple domestic-minded human."

"Rude and ginger," I replied. I put my hand on the door of the TARDIS, feeling the smooth wood under my fingers. He had already unlocked it. It's not exactly good manners, I know, but I really wanted to see inside. "Anyways, I know all your enemies just as well as any of your other companions, maybe more."

I don't like to brag, but I have practically memorized the episodes, not to mention the extra books and special additions to the show and everything.

I gave the door a little push and, to my surprise, it opened. I glanced inside for a second, before it shut quickly as the Doctor snapped his fingers to shut the door. I grinned for a second. It's just like River Song told him. He can open the door of the TARDIS with a snap of his fingers.

Playfully, I snapped my fingers, knowing it wouldn't work, but still, wishing to impress him with my knowledge that he could control the TARDIS in such a way. Suddenly though, the door opened. The Doctor gazed at the open door for a few seconds and then looked at me, scanning me from top to bottom as if searching for something. The smile in his eyes was gone and he looked serious. His mouth hung open in shock. Then, all at once, he regained his composure.

"I think you better go in then, actually. Uh... Just a warning, culture shock, it's-"

"Smaller on the outside," I completed. "I know."

He stared at me. "That's a-"

"A second. I know."

Every single time, I always was shocked by how shocked the new companion was at the inside of the TARDIS. I thought it was silly. The TARDIS is bigger on the inside. Simple, once you get over the whole space thing. But even now, I had to stare at the size. It truly was formidable. The middle pillar of sorts with the blue tubes that move up and down cast a glow on the entire room. All the controls looked haphazard, but in an elegant sort of way. The hum of the TARDIS was steady now. It was certainly an awe-inspiring sight. I have only ever seen glimpses.

The Doctor looked at me expectantly for a second. When I met his eyes though, he glanced away quickly, as though embarrassed. Then he mumbled something about going to his room to get something.

"And DON'T touch anything. I don't want to end up on Clom again. Clom is a useless planet. Who'd want Clom?" he said more clearly.

I rolled my eyes and mutter a promise not to touch the controls. It would be a nice to look around, but I wouldn't touch anything. I certainly wouldn't want to end up on Clom either.

He left and went down a corridor to his room and I looked around again, but this time I didn't really see anything. I just thought about what had just happened. And I thought about everything that had happened earlier in my life. All the little things that I had dismissed. Were they really all the work of the Doctor?

I thought back to every single time I saw a dalek around the corner. The time the living plastic invaded the streets and killed my family friend of a long time, Clive. The time the Titanic almost crashed into London. The time when the Master mad a paradox machine, I remember it, though no one else can. The Cybermen screaming upgrade at me. The time I locked eyes for a second with the tenth doctor as he rode down the street in a UNIT truck and I lay on the sidewalk, trying to expel the poisonous gases of ATMOS from my body. That was the other time the Sontarans were here.

All these time and many more, he had saved the Earth. All these time, I had seen it. And I didn't forget any of it. I just dismissed it. Maybe I had not slept enough and was imaging things. Maybe it was just a dream. But now, all of it came flooding back, over the dam of ignorance I had built. These things, these memories demanded to be acknowledged. Suddenly it made me dizzy. Maybe that is why I didn't quite recognize the Doctor when he came back into the control room of the TARDIS.