The Companion

Leaning against the bench, I watched the Doctor mutter away to himself as he continued to whiz the wall with the screwdriver. I found it very interesting that he was familiar with this phenomenon and even more so that he’d arrived just in time.

“Any luck?” I called over to him.

“None so far. This can’t be possible… how can this be possible?” he answered.

“You tell me,” I said.

“Right! I know what to do,” he said, backing out from behind the cupboard. “I will be right back.”

“Wait, where are you going?”

“I need to check a few things.”

“But… but you said you’d tell me what was going on,” I protested.

“Ah… well you see… turn of events… not so much time,” he said, bouncing nervously on his toes.

“Well, you definitely used the word promise which, technically means you have an obligation to fill.”

I watched as he stood there, expression barely changing before I saw him mentally give in and walk over to me. He took a deep breath and placed his hands on my shoulders.

“A long time ago… or maybe not that long ago… there were cracks in the skin of the universe. All across time and space and all because of my TARDIS. I had to reboot the universe to repair the cracks or they would continue to feed and erase people from reality and that is exactly what’s happened. I need to see how widely the cracks have reached. Maybe if I can do that somehow, I’ll be able to put a stop to this one.”

At this point the Doctor started to get nervous again and I could tell by his tone and behaviour that this situation was potentially lethal and possibly on a universal scale.

“Let me help,” I said.

“Let you… what?”

“Let me help.”

“Do you realise how dangerous this could be?”

“Well… no… but it looks like you might need a hand…. And admittedly, time and space sounds quite exciting… please?”

I watched as a smile spread across his face and had barely any time to reconsider before he grabbed my wrist and pulled me out the door.

“Oh it has been a long time since I’ve been able to do this,” he said to no one in particular as he ran across the car park just as a car door opened nearby.

“Do what?” said Harry, stepping out of his car, arms crossed.

“Harry,” I said, slightly surprised. The Doctor and I stopped at the sight of him. “What are you doing here?”

“Well generally I pick you up… in case you’ve forgotten. And uh, Doctor, what exactly were you going to be doing with my girlfriend?” said Harry, frowning slightly.

“Just step inside that box and I’ll tell you everything you need to know,” said the Doctor cheerfully, indicating a blue Police Box on the grass that I hadn’t realised was there until now.

“Are you fucking with me?” said Harry.

“There’s no need for language, Mr Styles. Come on,” said the Doctor and he pulled both of us towards the box.

“Don’t you think it’ll be a bit cozy in there, Doctor?” I asked.

“I get that a lot. Just wait until you get inside,” he said, excitedly, leading us up to the doors. He let go of our arms to get a key out of his pocket. As he did so, Harry turned to me.

“Kylie, what’s happening?” I couldn’t tell if he was disappointed, upset or confused.

“The Doctor needs our help… well I offered to help him anyway,” I said carefully.

“Help with what?”

“You remember that crack?”

“Yeah… but its just a crack isn’t it? From traffic or something, we decided…”

“According to the Doctor, it isn’t. He said something about a crack in the skin of the universe, potentially deadly. I don’t know about you but since I can’t think of another explanation for the other night… I think I believe him.”

“A crack in the skin of the universe?”

“Yes, Harry, that’s what I said.”

“But-“

“Oi, get in here you two!” the Doctor called. I hadn’t even noticed that he’d opened the door of the Police Box and already stepped inside. As I peered through the door I gasped.

“That can’t be possible…”

“How the…?”

“We don’t have time to stand around,” said the Doctor emerging from the box. “Well, actually maybe we do… time, does funny things to your head. But my point is, I’d quite prefer if we could get going.”

Harry and I slowly followed him inside but stopped just as we passed the threshold for we now had a full view of the interior. How could so much room fit into one small box?

“Its… but its…” I stuttered.

“Yes, its bigger on the inside. I get that all the time,” said the Doctor from what appeared to be a multi-sided console upon which he fiddled with a few knobs and dials. Going up through the centre of the console was a large glass cylinder that held fluorescent turquoise lights, which gave the space a mysterious feel. My eyes wandered around the room to see more than one staircase, which could only mean that there were more rooms… how was this even possible?

“You could at least close the door,” said the Doctor, rushing past us to do so, pulling both of us out of our dumbstruck states.

“Doctor… how can we be inside here if… if we’re in a Police Box?” said Harry, almost struggling for words.

“This is the TARDIS. It stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space. Its merely one dimension sat inside another. But that’s not all it does as I assume you’ve figured out,” said the Doctor, grinning excitedly.

“It’s a time machine…” I said in wonder, taking a few steps closer to the console.

“That’s exactly right!” said the Doctor, clapping his hands together before rushing back up to the console.

“An actual time machine?” Harry muttered to himself, looking around in utter disbelief.

“Technically time machine and spaceship rolled into one. But you just wait until you see where I’m taking you. Although, you might want to hold on to something,” said the Doctor.

Harry and I made our way to the console area, which was surrounded by a metal barrier housing some technical looking panels to the left and straight ahead. There were three chairs tucked in beside the panels and staircases. I lowered myself slowly onto one of the chairs and gripped the underside, looking up at Harry who had taken to holding onto the barrier beside me. He looked exactly how I felt: nervous yet excited.

“Right… ready?” said the Doctor, grinning over at the two of us, hand hovering over a leaver.

I exchanged a quick look with Harry before we both looked back at the Doctor and nodded eagerly.

“Ok, let’s take a short stop in the future, shall we?” and with that he pulled the leaver down and everything around me began to shake and lurch violently, the lights upstairs began to flash in different formations and above the center column some large wheel-like contraptions began to turn.

I gripped the underside of the seat even more tightly as I was thrown around. Harry seemed to be gripping the barrier for dear life, almost losing his footing. Over the Doctor’s excited laughter I could hear a peculiar noise that sounded something like a metal water bottle being dragged over a school desk… some kind of deep mechanical grinding sound.

The Doctor whooped as the TARDIS continued to… do whatever it was doing before coming to a sudden halt causing me to tip forward and almost fall off the seat. After regaining balance I looked down to see Harry sprawled on the floor, curls awry across his forehead.

“You all right there, bub?” I asked, giggling as he pushed himself up. I offered my hand to him, which he took gratefully.

“Yeah, I’m fine. My back is still in place,” he said, stretching it out a bit.

“Sorry about that, the TARDIS doesn’t always allow for a smooth ride… I could really use River’s help at times like these,” he said, apparently unaware that he’d mentioned someone unfamiliar.

“River?” Harry asked.

“An old friend, haven’t seen her in a while. Not since…” said the Doctor trailing off slightly before picking up his cheery tone once more. “Anyway, if you could please step outside.”

Harry and I made our way to the doors, opening them cautiously. I watched as Harry’s eyes widened.
“Where are we?” he asked.

“Space,” said the Doctor.

Notes