Before You Die

“Benjamin,” I sighed, trying very hard to keep my cool. “Where the hell is the Doctor?”

“Well, we got separated when they brought us in here. The guy guarding my door said something about him being in high security.”

“Does he have his sonic screwdriver with him?” I asked, praying the answer was yes.

“Er…no,” he replied and my hopes fell but I almost had a heart attack, even in my youth, as he pulled it out of his pocket and threw it to me.

I held it in both my hands as he looked at me curiously. “What are you going to do with it?”

“This,” I said finally finding the right setting and turning around to face the Tardis. The buzzing seemed to rise in pitch as I muttered, “C’mon. Work, work!”

Finally I heard something click and the Tardis door opened with a loud squeak as I put the screwdriver in my pocket.

“In,” I ordered Benjamin who didn’t need any prompting to see the famous Tardis.

“What did you do?” he asked as he stared up at the ceiling.

“I opened the doors?” I responded, wondering what he was referring to. “I think a 2 year old would’ve realised that.”

“Does it normally do that?” he inquired, inclining his head towards the screwdriver.

I looked at it carefully before shrugging, “Maybe,” and running up to the controls. I brought up a building layout of a series of tunnels that went underneath the whole carnival as Ben slowly made his way towards me, looking like a kid in an amazing toy store.

Examining the blueprints, I discovered that every tunnel leading away from the Ferris wheel was blocked off. Pressing a few commands on the screen, I found myself with three different coloured dots amongst the tunnels.

“The red are the Deknera,” I explained as Ben came up behind me. “The blue, Gangores, yellow, human, and the green is Timelord. This is us here,” I said, pointing at a small yellow dot in a dead end drain which the Deknera had turned into a dungeon.

“Why is there only one dot?”

“Because the stupid Tardis doesn’t recognise me,” I murmured flicking a few switches and hearing the Tardis make a groaning noise in response. “Oi!” I started. “It’s not my fault you didn’t pick me up on your radar.”

Ben just sat back and watched me quietly for the first time until I finally turned around and he said, “You do realise it’s an inanimate object?”

“You’re an inanimate object,” I said, using my stupid comeback as an excuse to hide my weirdness just as another dot appeared next to Ben’s yellow one on the screen.

“Not so inanimate,” I continued smugly as I saw the half green, half yellow dot standing there. Looking across the screen, I searched for another green dot finally finding it across the other side of the complex guarded by two Deknera who seemed to be moving around a lot. There were two blue dots there too. Oh, that was why.

“So, the Gangores are fighting the Deknera guarding the Doctor which is a perfect distraction for us to get out of here and over there.”

“Can you even fly this thing?” Ben asked worriedly, running his hands over the controls before I snapped his fingers away.

“Yes,” I replied quickly. “But hold onto something.”

Hitting a few dials, I hoped and prayed that the Tardis would land in the Doctor’s cell and not halfway across the Atlantic. As it began its short flight, I tried to make it as smooth as possible and when we landed I ran straight out of the Tardis not bothering to check anything that was outside. But without even seeing, I knew the Doctor was safe.

“Stop fighting!” he was yelling out through his bars. “Look I get that everyone wants a piece of the Doctor, but I am really tired of this constant noise.”

“You would be,” I sighed, leaning against the doorframe.

“That is my position,” he exclaimed, turning around and waving his hands. “Move!”

I took a step backward and he took my place, a moment later he said, “Can you stand outside? This doesn’t work when no one’s watching.”

“No,” I replied, running back up to the controls. “We’re leaving.”

“Of course we are,” the Doctor sighed. “But we’re only going up to the surface eh? I want to figure out what’s going on with the Deknera and the Gangores.”

“You and me both,” I murmured, resetting the controls.

“Ben!” the Doctor exclaimed greeting him with a complex handshake involving a few claps and clicks that both of them knew. That must have been what they’d achieved in the small time they’d been together before they’d been separated.

“A handshake,” I muttered, shaking my head as the Tardis took flight.

Up on the surface, there was no sign of life and it appeared that the carnival had closed for the night. Ben and the Doctor’s laughs were the only noise across the darkness.

“Will you two shut up?” I asked, turning around.

They either didn’t hear me or purposely ignored me but a few seconds later, the Doctor stopped smiling and stared past me. Through the silence I heard the soft treading of feet.

“What is that?” Ben murmured.

“That, my friend, is what I spend most of my life trying to avoid.”

“War?” I inquired.

“No, an army of green miniature dinosaurs,” the Doctor responded sarcastically. “Of course a war.”

“Gosh Erica,” Ben said with a wide smile.

“So, army of Gangores on the horizon,” I stated. “One or two, I’m willing to deal with. But an army?”

“Well, there’s really only one thing we can do isn’t there,” he said, looking at me and Ben.

“Are you seriously going to say it?” I asked. It was like, his line. I was amazed he hadn’t said it before now.

“Would you like to?” he questioned as the thumping noise of feet grew louder and a Gangorian voice called towards us.

“You are outnumbered. Surrender.”

“Well, I guess that answers that,” The Doctor concluded. “RUN!”