Chapter Text
All was well with life aboard the Doctor’s magnificent timeship. The spacious control room was humming as the time rotor remained stationary, with the crew having not yet chosen a destination.
The Doctor remained where he could usually be found - leaned over the console tapping buttons and pulling levers on one of the panels on the hexagonal console, his face bathed in the teal glow emanating from the luminescent time rotor, encased in cylindrical glass.
The bow-tie wearing alien strode across the upper platform and leaned over the metal railings, peering down to the floor below. For a few moments, he simply watched with a smile, enjoying the sight of his friends having fun.
The pointed object sailed through the air like an arrow flying from a bowstring, embedding itself into its target with deadly precision.
“Haha, in yer face!” Becky exclaimed proudly. “Bullseye!”
“Dude, that is nowhere near!” Bayley snorted.
“Yes it is!” Becky stated defensively, in no uncertain terms that she was now winning the game. “Look!”
Becky strode over to the darts board which had been pinned onto one of the walls covered in a hexagonal pattern. Making sure to hunch her shoulders up to be as big as she could possibly make herself to hide what she was about to do, the Irishwoman quickly plucked her red-tipped dart and replaced it an inch to the left, relocated so it had actually hit bullseye.
“Ya see?” Becky turned, pointing to the board. “Bullseye.”
“Dude, what do you think I am?” Bayley put her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows. “An idiot?”
“Nah, lass. You look like the girl who just lost the game,” Becky declared, a smug shit-eating smirk plastered onto her features.
Before Bayley could retort, a high-pitched buzzing noise filled the room. Before their eyes, one of the yellow-tipped darts moved a couple of inches to the right, knocking Becky’s dart completely off the board and sending it clattering to the floor.
Becky scoffed in disgust as she looked up, to see the Doctor aiming his Sonic Screwdriver at the top, the emerald green-tip illuminated. Upon releasing the button, the handy gadget stopped buzzing, and all was still on the dartboard.
“Actually, it looks to me like Bayley wins,” the Doctor announced.
“In your face, Becks!” Bayley whooped. “Loser!” she continued her obnoxious post-victory celebration, throwing her arms out and wiggling her shoulders right in front of Becky.
“That’s not fair! You cheated!” Becky exclaimed, crossing her black leather jacket-covered sleeves.
“I’d say I just evened the balance,” the Doctor shrugged, flipping his Sonic Screwdriver in the air before catching and replacing it back into the inside left pocket of his purple frock coat.
“What are you always sayin’? Two wrongs don’t make a right?”
“In the main, yes, absolutely,” the Doctor countered. “But the world of darts is a whole different ball game. Which is odd really when you think about it, considering there are no balls involved. Never really understood that phrase; not every game has to have balls involved. Actually, come to think of it, basketball, golf, tennis, and football of course…okay I suppose I’m beginning to see a pattern there-”
“Doctor?”
“Yes, Becky?”
“Are we actually gonna go somewhere today? I thought we were supposed to be having a beach day on Penopticon 12? You know, where you said the whole planet is one giant beach?”
“Well of course we are! Just as soon as Sasha and Charlotte get back.” The Doctor took a step back from the railings, looking around the console room as if the empty air would contain the answer. “Where are those two?”
“I’m texting them,” Bayley said as she tapped away on her phone. A matter of seconds later, her phone pinged with a response. Bayley chuckled at Sasha’s amusingly flippant response and looked back up at her friends. “They’re on their way.”
One thing they’d discovered since Sasha’s safe return all those months ago was that she and Charlotte had developed a need to spend quality time together, just the two of them.
Which was fine. The five friends still hung out plenty on board the TARDIS, in between their daily adventures exploring the very best (and sometimes mediocre) which the universe had to offer.
And frankly, the other three were equally overjoyed for their friends. Despite how much Becky faked a gag anytime the two showed too much PDA around them, their love was a beautiful thing. After everything they’d been through, all the trials and tribulations, they’d emerged with a bond which was beyond precious. After how the Master had abducted Sasha, tortured her and tried to poison her mind, she certainly deserved to rejoice in her new relationship.
It was Sasha and Charlotte’s proclivity for alone time which made communication through phones a necessity aboard the TARDIS. The TARDIS was vast. Impossibly so. In fact, the Doctor had claimed on several occasions that the TARDIS was infinite. There were rooms for practically every recreational activity, from libraries, to cinemas, to swimming pools, to gaming rooms, to golf courses, to spas, the list went on. Searching for wherever those two had gone could take days.
Yet after only a few minutes, their favourite blue-haired and blonde-haired couple walked through the door, hand in hand as they almost always were these days.
“Hey guys, impatient much?” Sasha asked with a cocky grin. “I know we’re amazing to be around, but don’t be so clingy.”
“You said you’d only be an hour,” Bayley pointed out. “And why are you both so wet?”
To the logical mind, it would be easy to discern that Bayley was referring to the fact that both Sasha and Charlotte’s hair had clearly been recently soaked, and neither of the two had gotten round to drying or styling before being summoned by Bayley’s text.
But to people with their minds comfortably in the gutter like Sasha and Charlotte, the two exchanged a look before simultaneously busting into uproarious laughter.
All too late did Bayley realise her vital mistake, her expressive brown eyes going wide with realisation of her accidental innuendo.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Sasha was finally able to simmer her cackling down to a snicker, enough to speak at least.
“No dude, I didn’t mean it like that,” Bayley began trying to be heard over the guffaws, but knew it was a lost cause until her friends quit laughing like they couldn’t stop.
In the meantime, a chuckling Becky clapped Bayley on the shoulder. “Lass, I think what these two get up to in private has nothin’ to do with us.”
“Don’t worry, Bay. Come with us later and we’ll show you,” Charlotte offered with a wink. “You too, Becks, if you’re game.”
“Hell, even the Doctor can join in,” Sasha smirked.
“I’d love to!” the Doctor gladly beamed seemingly with delight at being involved, before furrowing his brow in confusion. “Hang on, what are we doing again?”
“Beach day!” Sasha and Charlotte both exclaimed with frightening synchronicity, which had Becky and Bayley groaning almost in perfect time with each other.
“I hate it when they do that,” Bayley rolled her eyes, although the effect was somewhat negated by the smile curving her lips.
“Any other votes we stick these two in the sand and leave them to get themselves out?” Becky asked. While Bayley eagerly raised her hand, Sasha and Charlotte turned to gasp in horror at each other.
“You wouldn’t!” Sasha exclaimed.
“Easy sweetie, they’re just jealous of our chemistry,” Charlotte pulled Sasha tightly into a hug, kissing the top of her girlfriend’s still sopping wet head.
“Uhh, a ding-dong, me and Becks have tons of chemistry!” Bayley scoffed, looking insulted, a steely determination in her eyes to rectify this grave dishonour. “We even finish each other’s-” she turned to her friend.
“Quinoa!” Becky declared proudly, like she’d given the golden answer. Unfortunately for her, that wasn’t quite the answer expected of her. But after traveling for so long and being so close to each other, it really should be. “Wait,” Becky furrowed her brow. “That was your quinoa in the kitchen, wasn’t it?”
“Becks, you’re the only one around here who even eats that stuff,” Bayley couldn’t help laughing. Not for the first time, she was pleased Becky hadn’t lost her silly sense of humour. The dark period in which Sasha had been taken from them had been like losing a limb. Each of them had coped differently, changed forever by the harrowing experience, even after they’d rescued her.
Although Becky was a little more serious these days, she was still the pun-loving Irishwoman they all knew and loved.
“Besides, I don’t think we want any of their… chemistry ,” Becky screwed her face up in distaste, pronouncing it lowly as if it was a dirty word.
“Ew, Becks!” Charlotte remarked. “Besides, I think what you’re referring to is more biology than chemistry.”
“Hmm, you lot seem to have developed a sudden fascination for arguing amongst yourselves,” the Doctor mused aloud with all the subtlety of a nature documentary narrator. “Funny, I thought you were all excited to go to a beach planet.”
“He’s right, I wanna get my tan on,” Sasha declared, rushing up the stairs and tugging her girlfriend along with her. “C’mon guys, let's go!”
With the Doctor having boasted about Penopticon 12’s facilities including complimentary beach attire produced on an individual basis upon entry, they were all currently overdressed for the beach, intending on storing their present clothes in one of the many locker points.
It’s just as well they did. For when the Doctor threw open the doors and they stepped outside, they were not faced with the clear teal skies and sand stretching for miles around which had been promised. Instead, they had to brace themselves and lean into the gale blowing into them like a hurricane. It was impossible to actually see what colour the sky was, considering the entire area was shrouded in a dense fog, reducing visibility to stretch no further than beyond their outstretched fingertips.
“Did you not check the forecast this morning, Doctor?” Becky had to shout to be heard above the roaring wind.
“It shouldn’t be like this!” he shouted in explanation. “It's supposed to be sunny skies all year round, never so much as a cloud! Something must have happened here!” Reaching into his frock coat inside pocket, the Doctor whipped out his Sonic Screwdriver and flicked it open, the metal claws extending. Now mixed in with the rushing wind was the buzzing of the Sonic, the emerald light glowing to illuminate the path immediately forward, acting like it was clearing a path directly ahead for them. “Stay close together!”
His four friends had no problem with that, considering that there was no telling what was waiting for them in the fog.
The five members of Team TARDIS continued stumbling forward in a tight-knit group. Following closely behind the Doctor was Charlotte and Sasha, the two girlfriends just as close together as they normally were. Instead of walking hand-in-hand as they usually did, they had opted to walk arm-in-arm, for extra security. Although neither woman would deny the added bonus of being keenly aware of each other’s musculature at all times. Bringing up the rear was Becky and Bayley. While they weren’t typically in the habit of holding hands, neither wanted to risk losing the other in the fog, silently agreeing that the best chance was to stay in constant contact.
As it turned out, the cause of the freak weather conditions turned out to be nothing more than a malfunctioning terraforming system. The same system responsible for keeping the beach planet swimming in sunlight and waves perfect for surfing lapping at the sandy shores all year round had developed a severe glitch. Failing to fix the problem, the company who ran the planet had simply abandoned the lost business venture until they were able to find a solution.
What they had been missing was the Doctor. With only his Sonic Screwdriver, it was simple enough to locate and repair the fault. Like magic, the fog began to disperse. But not entirely. The Doctor warned that Penopticon 12 would experience some weather anomalies for days to come before returning to the perfect clear skies and dazzling sunshine it was famous for.
Although fog still made visibility poor on their way back to the TARDIS, they at least didn’t have to contend with the force 9 gale making movement strenuous. Instead, they were easily able to walk back, although the fog was still dense enough to see no further than a few feet around them at a time.
At last, they made their way back to the TARDIS, the blue box a welcome sanctuary from the poor weather.
Only too late did the Doctor spot the signs that this blue box painted in a duller and less vibrant shade of blue was not their TARDIS.
“Wait, stop, that’s not-” he tried to call out, but it was too late. Sasha was already pushing the doors open and stepping inside.
Sasha and Charlotte suddenly coming to a stop caused Becky and Bayley to bump into them from behind, knocking them a foot further into the mysterious room which was both like the console room they were familiar with. And yet, not at all at the exact same time.
It had all the familiar features of the TARDIS console room. There was a hexagonal console dominating the centre of the room, with the time rotor encased in a glass cylinder shooting up towards the ceiling. Except this console was far more round. Instead of a grey metal, each panel looked to be made up of a transparent material, illuminated by the green glow emanating from inside the console, of the same luminescent colour as that filling the time rotor. Six support beams were located around the room in a circular arrangement, each one connecting to the top of the console unit. Instead of the familiar metallic circles adorned with Gallifreyan symbols, the top of this console unit was simply made up of three disc-like rings of the same colour as the support structures, before extending up to the ceiling. Thick black cables drooped across each support beam from the walls to the ceiling.
Another feature of this expansive room bigger on the inside was the fact they could actually see everything clearly! The room was fully illuminated for every inch, rather than the lower level of their console room being sparsely lit. And unlike their console room, this TARDIS console room only consisted of one single floor, although there was visible access beneath the mesh like metal floor to allow access beneath the main console unit.
The walls were a golden metal, though they were comprised of familiarly-shaped roundels. Everything about this room felt so familiar and yet so alien at the exact same time.
“What the-” Sasha began to exclaim, before a man stepped from around the console unit, having been hidden previously behind the time rotor.
“What?” the man with brown hair stuck up and styled forwards asked, his hands leaving the console as he took another step further. “What?” he repeated louder, some of the TARDIS console's green glow casting on his brown pinstriped suit, his cream and red converse shoes rattling the metal mesh floor. “What?!” he exclaimed, his voice raising in pitch.
“Doctor?” Bayley called out, not taking her eyes off the strange slender man on the opposite end of the fever dream of a TARDIS console room.
“Yes, I know, don’t panic,” the Doctor said reassuringly from behind them, using the same tone they recognised him using in times whenever something odd was happening, and needed them to stay calm.
“Yes?” the man across the room answered almost at the same time, as though he was answering Bayley’s question.
Sasha, Charlotte, Bayley and Becky all turned to exchange confused glances, before all of them turned to stare expectantly at the Doctor, who’s eyes had widened like they did whenever he was processing the enormity of a situation.
“Okay, this is going to be a tricky one.”