Chapter Text
“This…is…incredible!”
She could see the Doctor roll his eyes at the cliqued remark. She had repeated it at least three times by that point, but she didn’t care. Not once she’d stepped into the TARDIS with its remarkably un-spaceship-like appearance. She stood within a cavernous room, upon a deck with a large console right in the middle. Underneath her feet was some railing, and underneath that was a level of machinery that glowed from the shadows. Rose reached for the rail beside her and clung on tight.
“I can’t… believe it… it’s bigger…”
The Doctor looked at his monitor screen with a grin on his face, and decided to help her along a little. “On the…”
“…inside.”
As the words left her lips her hands flew to her face to cover her eyes and the sudden tears that formed there. The Doctor noticed this, and after a pause took a cautious step towards her. But before he’d gotten halfway she’d already recovered, and had fallen into a fit of laughter. He looked at her in confusion, before returning to the console.
Rose was beside herself. Once she had gotten over the initial shock, she was eager to look around. She spent the next few minutes exploring the TARDIS, touching the walls that looked like limestone but felt as strong as iron, and drifting off into the corridor on the left. What she found was a great many doors lining a hallway in which she couldn’t see the end of. Each doorknob was polished and ready to be turned and opened. The odd temptation was almost too much for Rose to resist, and she was about to enter one, before she remembered herself. There was obviously no limit to how large the spaceship was, once she’d seen the entirety of it fit inside a novelty blue police box. She promised herself that she’d get to explore every single room, but only when she’d had a proper word with its driver. There were certain questions that she needed answered. With this, Rose turned back to the main room.
“I’m surprised you’re still here, and not with your head stuck into one of the rooms. She’s got a trick or two in store for you, I can feel it. Take it as a welcome present.”
“What? Who has?”
He fixed her a look, which she was already beginning to recognize as his sceptical-human face. “The TARDIS. The ship that you’re standing on right now? It’s alive.”
“No way…”
He didn’t bother to wait for another response, before launching into a familiar speech. “Oh yes, it is. She’s my ship, and she stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space. She’s a sentient being, this one.”
There was a cylinder at the centre of the console, reaching all the way to the high ceiling, and it emitted an eerie blue light. The Doctor placed a hand against it, which caused the light to pulse and brighten. Rose watched as the light from the cylinder changed. Before her eyes it developed a golden sheen, and began to swirl and twist beyond the walls of its container. Rose could hardly believe her eyes and looked to the Doctor, who only nodded in assurance. It was always a delight watching a person’s first meeting with his TARDIS, and he could see that Rose was enjoying it as well.
The lights had turned into a gentle breeze all over her skin. It tingled at her fingertips and brushed the tip of her nose. Rose laughed, in awe at all that was happening. She could feel the TARDIS, as if it was a spirit. A warm welcoming spirit, which liked to tickle people. Rose couldn’t help but giggle and hold her stomach as the spirit poked at her belly inquisitively. Finally the Doctor intervened and made shooing gestures above her head until the strange sensations ceased.
“Go on, get. Think she’s had enough of being tickled, now. Don’t worry, you can play with her later.”
Rose could hardly keep up with what he was saying, but didn’t ask. In all her time spent looking for him she’d spent hardly any of it on what she’d do once she succeeded. Sure, she’d had wild dreams of being whisked off in a grand spaceship, or of visiting the headquarters of the brigade which called themselves the ‘Doctors’. While the last one had obviously fallen through, the former idea was now fast becoming a reality. Here she was, standing in a spaceship controlled by a living spirit that was bigger on the inside, and piloted by an alien called the Doctor. Rose hadn’t a clue as to what was happening.
“So…” He’d just thrown a lever all the way over, which caused a rumble to course through the walls. It snapped Rose out of her thoughts and back to the present. She looked at him, confused.
“What’s happening?”
Another lever thrown and another growl from the lower deck of machinery. Rose hoped he knew what he was doing. The Doctor was then darting back and forth around the circular console, twisting a knob there and typing in what looked like the first keyboard ever invented. It would have forced another giggle from her if the entire room hadn’t made a loud screech and shuddered at that very moment. Rose was thrown onto the ramp and landed on her hip.
“Next time, hold on. Or, even better, make yourself useful, and give me a hand!”
The ground below them was moving, shifting and humming. She looked up, the walls were shaking, and sparks were flying from the console. As quick as she could Rose picked herself up and ran up the ramp.
“What the hell is going on!?”
“You wanted to know about me, Rose Tyler? There’s only one way to do that.” Rose recognised the adventurous glean in his eye. He was fixing her with another one of his brilliant smiles.
“Come on, we’re going to go somewhere that’ll blow your puny little human mind. You ready?”
“B-But, I—” Her head was spinning, just like the room around her. She was back to reality now, and all her sensibilities came rushing back to her. “I can’t go with you, wherever you’re going, I gotta get back to my mum, and Mickey…”
The Doctor gave another scoff before replying. “Did I forget to mention that this is a time machine?”
“Time machine? No way…” Rose stared hard at him, expecting him to start laughing. But when he returned her stern stare with a nod she gasped. Her gaze returned to the cylindrical heart of his ship.
“No frickin’ way…”
“Yes, yes it is, now hold on, or you might land right on your skull the next time.”
The tremors and shaking increased, and Rose hurried to follow his lead. She leaned against the foam-covered rail, unsure of what she was waiting for. She heard more banging from behind her, which turned out mostly to be the Doctor’s doing. Then all of a sudden there was a bang that was far too loud to be him, and the force threw the both of them onto their backsides. As Rose lay on the grating with her eyes squeezed shut, a hissing and wheezing noise came to her ears. And before she knew it, two firm hands were pulling her up to her feet.
When she opened her eyes the Doctor was back at the console, eyeing the monitor. For a moment she puzzled over how quickly he’d returned to his station after helping her, but she soon forgot it. A quick survey of the room showed no damage, although it felt as if they’d just been flung into a tornado.
“What happened!?” Rose brushed off some dust from her denim jacket.
This time she didn’t have to turn around to see his face to know that he was smiling. She could hear it in his voice. “Why don’t you go out and take a look for yourself?”