HARMONY (a Doctor Who Novella)

Chapter 14

At first, the Doctor refused to talk to them. Nor would the Time Lord accept any assistance with the controls as the ship was pressed for increased speed. On they raced through the Vortex in pursuit of the other Tardis. One that had apparently run amok and stolen its pilot. When pressed, the Doctor told them, in no uncertain terms, to shut up and let him think. A moment later those words were tempered with gushing techno-babble explanations about what could happen within the Vortex if the other Tardis was mortally wounded. The words annihilation and The Howling figured prominently. Neither sounded remotely promising to Rory. Not a heartbeat later they were told to shut up again. After which the Doctor told himself to shut up, following the words with a sound smack to his own face. Mad, Rory thought. Utterly mad. Box or no box. The Doctor was utterly mad. Perhaps they all were.

"No..." the Doctor whispered, riveted by something the Time Lord alone could interpret as screens of looping Gallefreyan code flowed over every monitor. For the briefest moment, a smile played about his lips, only to be tempered by an expression of near horror in grey-green eyes.

"Doctor!" Amy called over the din. "What is it? Is he all right?

The Doctor looked at her, hard. Rory knew that look. Their world was about to go pear-shaped. Again.

"Amelia Pond, do you trust me?"

"What? Is this really the time for--"

"Do. You. Trust. Me?"

"Yes!" she shouted across the control panel, then repeated it more quietly. "Yes."

"Aren't you going to ask me?" Rory asked, gripping the flight console as the ship continued to pitch and rock. "Or doesn't my opinion matter?"

"Why?" the Doctor asked, flipping switches and mashing buttons. "Has the answer changed? You've never completely trusted me. Quite right, too."

"But--"

"That's it!" the Doctor cried. "I'm bringing them onboard!"

"Onboard?" Rory gasped, struggling to keep both feet in contact with the floor. "You're bringing the other Tardis inside this one? I thought you said it was dimensionally unstable?"

"Not--any--more!"

And with that the Doctor slapped the final controls and bounded down the stairs. Typically, Amy was off like a flash, Jackie Tyler's West Highland Terrier in pursuit. Rory stared after her. The Doctor was off on a lark and Amy Pond was right behind him. Even now, after so long. After so much. And in spite of a thousand mixed feelings, Rory loved her for it.

They raced after the Doctor, following down endless white corridors that seemed to shift as they ran, as if the Tardis itself were creating the shortest possible route. Lights guttered and a gust of air swept past them. Leaves... leaves? scattered down the passageway as they pushed open towering doors to reveal a great cathedral of a room and ... the other Tardis.

The Doctor pressed a hand against the other ship's door release. Nothing happened. A second attempt met with the same result. The sonic screwdriver was employed next. Internal mechanisms tumbled like some great, complicated lock, but the door remained closed. Another sonic blast revealed an access panel beneath the isomorphic touch pad containing an array of Gallifreyan symbols which the Doctor rapidly tapped in a series of codes, none of which worked.