As We Keep Running

Floor Four

The little air vent was slightly uphill, so as the Doctor and I crawled, we would slide a little bit downwards as we went. That caused things to go a little slower than I would have liked. Still, as we crawled, we talked and I realized that the Doctor had more to him than just a tweed jacket and a sonic screwdriver.

"You see," he said, crawling behind me, "Rose wasn't just a companion. She was my best friend. Leaving her was by far the toughest thing I've ever done."

"So why did you do it?"

"I had to. I had to let go. Continuing with the same companion for too long only puts them in more danger."

"So someday you'll leave me behind, too?"

He was silent for just a moment. "Yes. Someday I will have to leave you. Either I leave you, sad, or you die somewhere else, which I couldn't stand. Of course..." He stopped himself.

"Didn't you say that something happens to me in the future, and that's why you're with me?"

He stopped crawling, and I looked back at him. "Oh, yes... I'd nearly forgotten."

He continued crawling, and I turned and looked ahead of me again. "There!"

A few feet in front of us, the little tunnel opened up to a big room. I couldn't see a whole lot of that room, but I could tell that it was definitely a huge room. The Doctor crawled around me, and I was glad. Having him in front made me feel a lot safer.

Pretty soon, he reached the opening. I couldn't see what he saw, but he laughed loudly, and it echoed throughout the larger room. "Incredible!"

I could see him one moment, and then he was gone. "Doctor?" I quickly went to the opening. I couldn't see him, but the room itself really was incredible.

It was the core of the tower, just a massive cylinder with two rope ladders up the middle. The walls were steel. The cylinder seemed to go up forever. I looked down. The Doctor was swinging on a piece of rope that connected the little tunnel I was still in to the two rope ladders in the middle of the cylinder.

"Come on down," he smiled a pained smile at me, and I realized that just because he was an alien didn't mean he had all of the upper arm strength he wanted.

He was working his way towards the flimsy rope ladders. I secured my hands on the rope before swinging the rest of me under it, letting out a little yelp as I did so. I held on for dear life, for below me was nothing, and like the space above, it seemed to go on forever.

The Doctor, hearing my little scream, looked back at me. "You okay?"

"Yeah, you could call it that."

I started making my way down the little rope, every moment petrified that it would snap under my weight. It was one hand in front of the other for quite a while. The Doctor stayed ahead of me.

I'd finally reached the one foot gap between this rope and one of the rope ladders. The Doctor was already one one of the ladders. I realized that if I wanted to go up at all, I'd have to jump. So I did. And missed.

I was falling, soaring through the endless vertical tunnel. Not a sound escaped from my mouth, for the wind would steal it away. I wondered: was this the fate the Doctor felt guilty of? Was this the reason he'd taken me in the first place?

And then I was secure. I felt his cool hand around mine, lifting me safely onto the ladder. He'd caught me. The Doctor had saved my life. He looked at me once I was secure on the ladder.

"Don't think I'm letting you go that easily."