The Littlest Timelord: The Fall of the Eleventh

Chapter 32

A/N - For being patient with me, you'll be getting two chapters this weekend. One today and one tomorrow. I hope you like getting a little look at Elise's future. We still won't meet her mystery guy (officially at least) for another book. But you might guess it by the end of this book. We'll just have to see...

The Doctor woke up to voices whispering. He pulled himself from under the wreckage of the TARDIS and approached the three men.

"It's rude to whisper. Hi. I'm the Doctor. And you are...?" He examined the names on the men's jackets. "Er, Van Baalen and Van Baalen. Van Baalen and Van Baalen. That's going to get confusing later."

"We found you drifting," Van Baalen said.

"Yeah, your ship was junked up pretty bad," the other Van Baalen said.

"What broke my ship was a Magno-Grab. Found this remote in your pocket." The Doctor held up the remote. "Eh? What are the chances? Outlawed in most galaxies, this little beastie can disable whole vessels unless you have shield oscillators, which I turned off so that Clara could fly. Dammit."

He paused for a moment, realizing Clara was with him. "Clara. Where is she? Girl, about so high. Feisty. She's still on board. Along with Elise!"

Elise hadn't been the control room with them, so there was no telling where she was in the ship.

The Doctor ran towards the TARDIS, but the third man grabbed his arm.

"No, wait. Your pod is leaking fuel. If they're still in here, they're dead." By the way he spoke, it was obvious he was an android.

The Doctor looked around and saw respirators. "Ah, respirators." He ran over them.

"We can open the doors for a split second, reach in and grab her," Van Baalen said.

"Trust me, we can't. Now please, help me get them out."

"I'm telling you, she fried..." the android said.

"Shut it, tin mouth," Van Baalen snapped, "What sort of fee are we talking?"

"If you help me get her out, you get the machine, all the scrap, eh?" the Doctor suggested.

"It's not worth the risk. Four feet of metal? Nah," the other Van Baalen said.

"What if I can guarantee you the best haul you've ever had?"

"Bram, open the bay doors," Van Baalen told him.

"No, no. Please, stop. Listen, listen. Right behind those doors is the salvage of a lifetime."

Elise woke up on the floor of her room. She was lying in her bed when there was a loud bang. Her room was bathed in red light and the cloister bell was ringing.

"Well this is not good."

She picked herself up off the floor and left her room. Elise gasped when she saw the condition the TARDIS was in.

Cables hung from the ceiling and wreckage was scattered along the floor. Her poor blue box.

Elise snapped out of it. She needed to focus if she was going to find Clara and her father. She couldn't afford to be scared at a time like this. She needed to be brave. Elise walked towards a bulkhead door.

A red light was flashing above the door.

"Okay, not going that way." She knew better than to try and open that door.