Chapter Text
The station was shaking again. Not violently this time, not with bone-deep juddering that meant hull damage, or decompression, or everyone onboard suddenly discovering religion at the exact same moment, but with smaller, constant tremor that had settled into the walls over the last eighteen hours; the sort of vibration that crawled up though metal walkways and settled somewhere behind the eyes until everyone living on the station looked permanently sleep deprived and mildly homicidal.
"Tell me again," Rory said carefully, one hand braced against the corridor wall as the lights flickered overhead for what had to be the sixth time in ten minutes, "why couldn't we have landed somewhere normal?"
Ahead of him, the Doctor didn't slow down. He was all elbows and frantic movement, coat flapping behind him as he stalked through the overcrowded corridor with the sort of focused energy Amy had learned usually means three possible outcomes:
- imminent death
- impossible brilliance
- or both simultaneously
"Because" the Doctor said, waving the sonic screwdriver vaguely in the air while nearly walking directly into a passing service drone, "normal is boring, Rory, and also this station's sending distress signals on seventeen frequencies, which is either very rude, or concerning"
"I'm leaning towards concerning" Amy muttered
The corridor around them was chaos.
Humans and species Amy couldn't even begin to identify shoved past carrying crates and tools, and half- disassembled bis of machinery, the air thick with smoke, steam and overlapping voices. Somewhere deeper in the station an alarm blared twice before abruptly cutting out mid-warning. Nobody even reacted anymore. That felt reassuring.
"Oh, definitely concerning" the Doctor corrected absently, stopping suddenly, enough that Rory nearly walked into him. He squinted toward the ceiling, expression sharpening.
"That shouldn't be happening".
"What shouldn't" Amy asked
The Doctor pointed upwards. The ceiling lights dimmed, brightened, and then dimmed again.
Then, from somewhere above them:
A loud metallic clang.
Followed by: "OW. Right, no, that one was my fault."
The Doctor froze.
Amy blinked.
Rory sighed with the deep exhaustion of a man who had travelled with the Doctor long enough to recognise the exact sound of incoming problems.
Above them, something scraped loudly through the ventilation system.
Then: "Could someone hand me the blue wire before this entire section loses gravity?"
The Doctor's face lit up.
"Oh, I like her already"
"Absolutely not," Rory said immediately
Another bang echoed overhead.
"Sorry!" the voice shouted, apparently to the station itself.
The Doctor was already moving.
"Doctor - "
Too late. He darted sideways through a maintenance door before either Amy or Rory could stop him, bounding down a narrow service corridor thich with pipes and exposed wiring. The lights here flickered worse, shadows stretching long and strange across the walls while somewhere nearby machinery groaned in protest.
Another clang rang out overhead.
Then muttering.
Then: "No, because if you explode now, after everything I've done for you, I'll actually lose my mind."
The Doctor stopped beneath an open maintenance hatch in the ceiling. A pair of legs dangled out of it. Small legs. Scuffed boots. Bare knees littered with bruises, purple and yellow, like healing galaxies.
The owner of the legs was apparently halfway inside the stations ventilation system.
"What," Rory said flatly behind him "am I looking at?"
The legs shifted violently, a shower of sparks burst from the open hatch.
"Nothing to panic about!" the voice called immediately.
"Those are panic sparks" Amy shouted upwards
"Only littles ones!"
The Doctor stepped closer, staring upwards with open fascination.
"Hello!" he called.
The person inside the vent started so violently they smacked their head against something metallic with a painful thunk.
"OW-"
The legs kicked once. Then a head appeared upside down through the hatch. She couldn't have been more than twenty, long blonde hair spilled downwards in messy waves, escaping what looked like a failed attempt at a braid, sometime several disasters ago. Huge round glasses slid dangerously down her nose as she squinted at them upside down, one cheek stained with grease.
Bright blue eyes blinked owlishly at the Doctor. There was a wrench tucked into the sleeve of her oversized jumper.
"...hi?" she said.
The Doctor grinned instantly.
"Oh, definitely keeping this one".
"Doctor," Rory warned.
"I heard that," the girl informed him.
"Good hearing!"
"Vent carries sound."
She disappeared back upwards before anyone could answer, muttering under her breath, while metal clanged ominously overhead again.
The Doctor practically vibrated with curiosity.
Amy exchanged a look with Rory, that look pretty much said: Oh, no.
Above them: "Okay, if someone down there doesn't mind, I need a second pair of hands, unless we all want to experience gravity horizontally."
The Doctor immediately rolled his sleeves up.
Rory closed his eyes briefly.
"No," he said
"Yes," said the Doctor.
"No"
"Yes!"
Another violent shower of sparks rained from the hatch.
"Little urgent now!" the girl called.
The Doctor beamed, and Rory knew with absolute certainty that their lives had just become significantly worse.