shivver13 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shivver) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
tenminutesaday2022-02-18 04:24 pm
shivver) wrote in tenminutesaday2022-02-18 04:24 pm
Entry tags:
Fill: Challenge #18 (Doctor Who)
This totally unedited and unpolished. I was reminded of this story idea yesterday and went looking for the WIP I really thought I had, but couldn't find it, so I wrote it (again) as it fits the challenge. I really thought I wrote this already... :/
“And there!” the Doctor proclaimed as he shut and secured the panel on the TARDIS console. His bright smile radiated pride in his work. “Temporal navigation is back online. Didn’t I say it would be a simple repair?”
“You did,” Turlough agreed. Standing opposite the Doctor, he craned his neck to watch his next moves. “So we’re back on the way to Atafia then?”
“In a jiffy. Let me just put this back online.” The Doctor poked three buttons, adjusted a dial, then threw the final toggle to route power to the navigation. With a weak, dismal fwee-ooooooh! the console and all the lights in the room winked out and the two were plunged into absolute silent blackness.
“Doctor!”
“The TARDIS is down!” came the squeaked reply. “Completely shut off. Turlough, what did you do?”
“I didn’t do a thing! I’m not even touching the console! What did you do?”
“Nothing! There’s nothing in the navigation system that could do this.” Frantic button clicks filled the air. “Not even a response.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Yes! Pull the emergency release.”
“What?”
“The emergency release,” the Doctor replied amongst the clicks. “It’ll flood the system with reserve artron energy, in effect jumpstarting the -”
“I meant, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Where is this release?”
“Under the console. It’ll be a handle, well, a hard loop you can -”
A loud thunk was followed by a cry of pain. “Blast!” howled Turlough.
Shuffling footsteps accompanied by a strange wobbling noise issued from the direction of the corridor that led deeper into the TARDIS. “Doctor!’ came a stern Australian voice. “What’s going on? Everything’s cut out.”
“Just a temporary power outage, Tegan. It's under control.”
“Why don’t I believe you?”
“Just, just give me a moment. I’ve almost got it. Can you go find Nyssa and make sure she’s all right?”
“I’m right here, Doctor.”
“Oh, good, good. Turlough, don’t pull the release. I think I’ve found the auxiliary power switch.”
“There’s nothing down here that I can find,” came the reply.
“Oh. Maybe the release was under the console in the last configuration. No matter. This should do it.”
As soon as the switch clicked into place, the TARDIS’ ambient hum returned and the lights flicked on. The Doctor glanced around to see Nyssa by the door to the corridor holding a cake, Turlough leaning on the console, his finger on the emergency shutdown and a devious smile on his face, and Tegan holding up a large poster board which might have read “Happy Birthday!” if it had been right-side up. The Doctor took a step back, the confusion plain on his face.
Tegan rolled her eyes. “Happy birthday!” she yelled, to push the point home.
“This was a ruse?” the Doctor murmured.
“Of course,” Turlough replied. “We figured out how I could shut down the TARDIS, then I sabotaged the nav to keep you occupied. It was kind of a waste, though. We didn’t need to go through all this effort, if you ask me.”
“No, I don’t think you should have,” the Doctor mused, “especially since it’s not my birthday.”
“Yes, it is,” Tegan countered.
“Why would you think that? You don’t know anything about the Gallifreyan calendar or when I might have been born.”
“But you must have had an origin date and time, mustn’t you, Doctor?” Nyssa asked.
“Well, yes…”
“You’ve always said there are countless planets out there, and they must all have different lengths of revolution around their stars and different rotational times.” She stepped up to the Doctor and held the cake out to him. “There must be one planet out there on which it’s your birthday.”
The Doctor smiled and accepted the cake. “I suppose there must be. Thank you, all three of you.”
The three companions shouted, “Happy birthday, Doctor!”
“And there!” the Doctor proclaimed as he shut and secured the panel on the TARDIS console. His bright smile radiated pride in his work. “Temporal navigation is back online. Didn’t I say it would be a simple repair?”
“You did,” Turlough agreed. Standing opposite the Doctor, he craned his neck to watch his next moves. “So we’re back on the way to Atafia then?”
“In a jiffy. Let me just put this back online.” The Doctor poked three buttons, adjusted a dial, then threw the final toggle to route power to the navigation. With a weak, dismal fwee-ooooooh! the console and all the lights in the room winked out and the two were plunged into absolute silent blackness.
“Doctor!”
“The TARDIS is down!” came the squeaked reply. “Completely shut off. Turlough, what did you do?”
“I didn’t do a thing! I’m not even touching the console! What did you do?”
“Nothing! There’s nothing in the navigation system that could do this.” Frantic button clicks filled the air. “Not even a response.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Yes! Pull the emergency release.”
“What?”
“The emergency release,” the Doctor replied amongst the clicks. “It’ll flood the system with reserve artron energy, in effect jumpstarting the -”
“I meant, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Where is this release?”
“Under the console. It’ll be a handle, well, a hard loop you can -”
A loud thunk was followed by a cry of pain. “Blast!” howled Turlough.
Shuffling footsteps accompanied by a strange wobbling noise issued from the direction of the corridor that led deeper into the TARDIS. “Doctor!’ came a stern Australian voice. “What’s going on? Everything’s cut out.”
“Just a temporary power outage, Tegan. It's under control.”
“Why don’t I believe you?”
“Just, just give me a moment. I’ve almost got it. Can you go find Nyssa and make sure she’s all right?”
“I’m right here, Doctor.”
“Oh, good, good. Turlough, don’t pull the release. I think I’ve found the auxiliary power switch.”
“There’s nothing down here that I can find,” came the reply.
“Oh. Maybe the release was under the console in the last configuration. No matter. This should do it.”
As soon as the switch clicked into place, the TARDIS’ ambient hum returned and the lights flicked on. The Doctor glanced around to see Nyssa by the door to the corridor holding a cake, Turlough leaning on the console, his finger on the emergency shutdown and a devious smile on his face, and Tegan holding up a large poster board which might have read “Happy Birthday!” if it had been right-side up. The Doctor took a step back, the confusion plain on his face.
Tegan rolled her eyes. “Happy birthday!” she yelled, to push the point home.
“This was a ruse?” the Doctor murmured.
“Of course,” Turlough replied. “We figured out how I could shut down the TARDIS, then I sabotaged the nav to keep you occupied. It was kind of a waste, though. We didn’t need to go through all this effort, if you ask me.”
“No, I don’t think you should have,” the Doctor mused, “especially since it’s not my birthday.”
“Yes, it is,” Tegan countered.
“Why would you think that? You don’t know anything about the Gallifreyan calendar or when I might have been born.”
“But you must have had an origin date and time, mustn’t you, Doctor?” Nyssa asked.
“Well, yes…”
“You’ve always said there are countless planets out there, and they must all have different lengths of revolution around their stars and different rotational times.” She stepped up to the Doctor and held the cake out to him. “There must be one planet out there on which it’s your birthday.”
The Doctor smiled and accepted the cake. “I suppose there must be. Thank you, all three of you.”
The three companions shouted, “Happy birthday, Doctor!”
no subject
More of this team is always okay. You definitely got 5/N/T/T down .And I love the surprise ending.