How to Save the Universe

What's the plan? Fight or Flight

Alaina's heart froze.

The voice that had echoed across the room was high, cold and completely inhuman. Going against everything her instincts were screaming at her to do, Alaina slowly looked up.

The Doctor was standing beside her, staring into the farthest corner of the room. Alaina's eyes followed his gaze hesitantly, but the shadows were too thick to make anything out.

As it was, their portion of the room wasn't much brighter. Alaina could barely make out the distinguished ( and handsome) looks of the Doctor in the red light that pin pointed them like a searchlight in the darkness.

"Who's there? Why have you brought us here?" The Doctor's voice was calm, but rough with authority and a slight trace of outrage.

With a jolt Alaina's heart seemed to have decided to work again. Furiously pounding in her ribcage as if it were trying to break free and escape this nightmare.

"Sss...sss...ss..." A quick and halting hissing sound echoed through the dark. Alaina's eyes widened with horror as she recognized it as laughter. Adrenaline quickened her breath as fear rushed like an icy poison through her veins. Wrestling with her emotions, Alaina got to her feet and stood by the Doctor.

"You've hurt our feelingsss, Doctor." Another hissing voice, lower than the first, echoed out of the black corner.

"Oh, wouldn't want to do that now would I?" Taunted the Doctor. Alaina's hazel eyes flicked to the Doctor's chocolate brown ones questioningly.

"We were teleported...?" Alaina let her question float into the inky blackness.

"Yesss, we brought you here little one," A third voice hissed.

Alaina bristled, "Little one?" she growled. The Doctor placed a restraining hand on her shoulder and gave her a warning look before turning again.

"You still haven't introduced yourselves properly," the Doctor called out, "That's not very polite."

Out of the corner of his mouth he mumbled to Alaina, "This is a different teleport than the one from the alley. Not as powerful..."

"Ohh but we've been introdusssced, before Doctor remember...?" The reptilian voices replied in unison. The chorus of hissing sent a shiver down Alaina's spine.

"Sorry, you go to a lot of places, see a lot of faces, and learn a lot of names in my line of work. Can't remember them all!" The Doctor shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back and forth jauntily. "Sometimes I see people after they've met me but before I've met them!"

A flicker of movement caught Alaina's eye, whatever was in that corner was coming out. Angry hissing filled the room.

"WE...ARE...THE CAUCHEMAR!! WE WILL INHABIT THE EARTH! AND THERE ISSS NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT DOCTOR!"

It was a living breathing nightmare. A monster of legend. The shadows slipped away, the dark red light gleamed and glinted off of black scales and slowly the origin of the voices was revealed. Fangs glistened with venom, yellows eyes glowed and flashed in the light. Three pairs of eyes. Three pairs of fangs. Three heads.

Alaina almost screamed -would have screamed but before she could draw in enough oxygen to do so the Doctor cried out-

"Cover your eyes!"

Alaina ducked her head down and put a hand over her eyes just as the Doctor pointed his sonic screwdriver at the red light in the cieling.

With an angry buzz the light flashed, becoming a thousand times stronger and blinding the alien as it lunged for them.

The Doctor grabbed Alaina's arm and dragged her out of the stumbling three headed reptile's path as it hissed in agony and anger.

"What the hell are we supposed to do now?!" Alaina cried looking at the Doctor. They were trapped in a pitch black room (the light had burnt out after the Doctor's trick,) with no way out and no TARDIS.

"There has to be a door here somewhere! Help me find it!" Said the Doctor as he began running his hands along the walls.

Alaina frantically began searching as well, heading in the opposite direction of the Doctor. She ripped off her fingerless gloves in order to search with her whole hand instead of just her finger tips. Smooth, warm metal passed beneath her hands as the creature continued to hiss angrily somewhere behind her in the dark.

"You will pay for thisss mammalsss!" The heads were hissing angrily and snapping at each other as their clawed hands swiped at the air, still blinded. Oh I'm so hurt. "Mammals." Oh yes I'm really insulted now. Alaina thought sarcastically.

Suddenly, Alaina's hands found something protruding from the otherwise featureless wall. Yes! Alaina began pushing, twisting, tugging and otherwise beating the crap out of the protrusion as she called to the Doctor, "Over here! I've found something!"

Four heads snapped up and turned towards her -the Doctor and the Alien. The alien gave out a low hiss of pleasure as it began scrambling towards her. It's three heads bobbing up and down as it's long, wicked tail swished back and forth.

"Al!" Yelled the Doctor, the monster was going to reach her first.

"Oh shit..."

Alaina's hands frantically beat at the wall and suddenly a panel slid back and more red light poured forth revealing a huge tank of yellowish water with thousands upon thousands of tiny eggs floating in it. Alaina stared unblinkingly at the sight before her. But before she could comprehend what she saw sharp talons wrapped around her waist pulling her away from the tank. Fu-!

"Let her go!" Cried the Doctor his eyes ablaze with fury as he ran forward. Quick as lightning the creature's tail whipped around and seized the Doctor as well...

2 hours later...

Tap...

Tap...

Tap. Tap...
BANG

"Holy-!" Alaina bolted straight up and immediately regretted it. Her head hit something hard above her and she almost lost consciousness again as her forehead screamed in pain.

"Finally!" The Doctor's voice rang out.

"Ow! Where the frak are we?" Alaina angrily rubbed her head and tried to look around but she could see nothing but blackness.

"The Cauchemar put us in these holding cells -Tritanium walls, deadlock seals, and fleanian security wires around the door jam -I've been trying to get out for over an hour now -almost broke my sonic screwdriver trying to reverse the current in the wires -We're not getting out until the Cauchemar decides to let us out."

The Doctor's words rushed together in one long sentance. Alaina's head gave a protesting throb when she tried to figure out what he said. Her hands reached out into the dark towards the Doctor's voice but they had only gone about four inches when her hands met wall.

"What the-?" Alaina quickly felt all around her and met wall, wall, wall, wall. She was trapped. There wasn't more than six inches in any direction. It was as if she had been buried alive in a small metal casket. No...no, no, no! No. Nonononononono!

"Oh my god. Oh my god. Ohmygod!" Alaina panicked. Well, to be accurate, Alaina freaked. Her breathing became erratic, her mind raced wthe fear and adrenaline, her hands desperately pounded on the walls around her in vain.

"Al!" The Doctor called.

Alaina continued pounding her fists on the cool metal walls.

"Al!" -Nothing.

"Al listen to me!" -Nothing but the sound of pounding fists.

"ALAINA!" Alaina jerked, the pounding stopped.

"What?!"

"Calm down!"

"Why don't you calm down!" Alaina spat.

"Oy! I'm not the one freaking out!" The Doctor pointed out.

"I am not freaking out!"

"Yes you are!"

"Noo. I'm not."

"Yes. You are."

"No. I'm not."

"Yes!"

"NO!"

"YES!"

"Well forgive me for being afraid of small spaces!" Growled Alaina. Silence.

"...You're claustrophobic?" The Doctor asked.

Alaina paused. He's got to be kidding me.

"Nooo, I love small spaces. Can't you tell?"

"Sorry, I didn't realize...Just take a deep breath ok? I'm going to get us out of here... Somehow..." Alaina heard the electric buzzing of his sonic screwdriver again. She shifted in hercell coffin, something was jamming into her back.

Alaina put her hand behind her and pulled out whatever was stabbing her.

"Oh my god. I'm such an idiot." It was her bag.

"Hmm?" mumbled the Doctor, it sounded as if his sonic screwdriver was in his mouth. "Ow! I hate fleanians! Sadism is supposed to be a hobby not an obsession!"

...

I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear that...

Alaina quickly began fumbling around her bag. Usually it was hard to find anything she wanted in the bottomless pit that was (literally) her bag, but in the dark the task became ten times more difficult.

Ten minutes later (and a lot of strange grunts from the Doctor) Alaina finally found a flashlight.

"Phew," she sighed.

"What are you doing over there?" Called the Doctor as once again his electronic screwdriver buzzed in the dark.

"Nothing!" Alaina replied unconvincingly, "Ah ha!" She pulled out a little leather pouch from her bag, shoved the flashlight in her mouth and took out little silver tools from the pouch.

"That doesn't sound like nothing..." The Doctor said suspiciously, the buzzing stopped. "You're not going bonkers again are you?"

"Nmph." Alaina grunted negatively as the flashlight made it hard to talk. Her hands worked efficiently in the small space twisting the small tools in the deadlock seal.

"If you are, just start singing. You can't panic and sing at the same time." Said the Doctor.

Alaina took the flashlight out of her mouth to respond, "Have you gone completely off your rocker?"

"Maybe. But it's fun! Come on, sing along with me, 'I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts, doodly doo..." The Doctor trailed off waiting for her to finish the line.

"...No." Alaina put the flashlight back in her mouth.

Every ounce of the previous panic that had clouded her mind was now focused into her hands. Her fear making her movements slower than usual.

CLICK

"Yes!" Alaina quickly swung open the small door above her head and wiggled out of the small enclosure.

"Did you... just get out...?" The Doctor asked incredulously.

"Yup!" Alaina said as she went to work on the Doctor's door. The work going much easier now that she wasn't so cramped and afraid.

"But -I -You can't-" Stammered the Doctor, "How?"

"I picked the lock." Alaina replied simply, as the Doctor's door swung open and she shone the flashlight on his shocked face. The Doctor grinned up at her.

"Brillaint! I never thought of that! And well, even if I did, I'm out of paperclips and I don't wear bobbypins." The Doctor shimmied out of his cell.

"What do we do now?" Alaina asked, dropping her lock-picking tools back into her bag. She allowed her self a small victory dance in her head before looking the Doctor in the eye. He called me brilliant! Eeep!

"We're going to save the Earth! Come on!" The Doctor dragged her away as they ran down the small hallway along numerous cells like theirs, the beam from Alaina's flashlight bouncing with her movement.

"Well you're certainly well prepared aren't you?" Said the Doctor eyeing the flashlight.

"A lesson I learned the hard way."

They came upon another door and the Doctor put his finger to his lips. He pointed the sonic screwdriver at a small panel next to the door and it slowly slid open a few inches.

It was obviously the control room, the creature they saw before was in front of a red panel tapping keys, it's heads hissing to each other.

"It'sss almossst time!" Said one head.

"Yesss. Sssoon our babiesss will hatch and we will sssend them down to eat all the humansss!" The middle head replied.

"Leaving the Earth at our disssposssal!" Hissed the third.

Uh oh... Alaina thought, Now what?

"Hmm, if only I could get to that console..." Whispered the Doctor, "I might be able to slow down the hatching process."

"How long would you need?" Alaina asked.

"Depends, probably five minutes or so, why? What are you thinking?"

"Simple, I distract six-eyes over there long enough for you to stop the hatching process, we give the couchmads-"

"-Cauchemar," corrected the Doctor.

"Yeah them. We give them the choice to go on their way or..."

"Or what?"

"Um, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it," said Alaina.

"And how exactly do you plan to distract a three-headed lizard with teeth, claws and a wicked tail for five minutes?" The Doctor cocked one eyebrow.

"I've always wanted to do that!" Said Alaina nodding towards his brow as she pulled a wooden stick, six feet long, out of her patchwork bag Mary Poppins style.

"And don't worry about me, I can hold my own, you just make sure you get to that console as soon as its back is turned ok?"

"Wait! Al, no! It's too dangerous!" But it was too late, Alaina was already slipping through the door. The Doctor's concerned face peered around the wall into the room. This was not what he had planned for the day, he thought. But then again, he never really planned much of anything...

"Oy! Lizard breath! Wanna play?"