Doctor Who: Panic Moon Ch. 17

'Hello, D!' Nat beamed, her previous unhappiness apparently forgotten.

'Hi, Natalie!' Twelve waved manically, causing both of the other girls to roll their eyes; mission of paramount importance, huge risk to Time itself, not to mention alterations to their own personal histories, and apparently nothing could make Twelve act with the seriousness the situation demanded.

'Doctor,' Sera said levelly. 'I could swear that you're late. Which is a very troubling concept, considering.'

'Late? Me?' He scratched the back of his head, taking a moment to look back at the interior of his TARDIS. 'No, never. You must be mistaken. This old girl would never make me late, would you, dear?'

He actually paused for a moment, as if expecting the TARDIS to reply. Sera and Em looked at each other, both reminding themselves that this man would soon be piloting them through freefall in the Time Vortex. Sera felt like someone had just walked over her grave.

Apparently, this was a worry that did not affect Natalie; she patted the door of the TARDIS fondly before shouldering past the Doctor and into the time machine itself. She had always held great affection for the old blue box, but she wasn't alone in that; Sera knew she was smiling, just to look at it. The TARDIS was completely, utterly brilliant.

She would never admit it, but a chill had gone down her spine when that lovely groaning noise had heralded its arrival. Sera loved that noise. It was an awesome noise.

'Where are we going now?' She asked, as the Doctor ushered her inside. Not waiting for his answer, she went straight for the control column, grabbing the scanner screen and hitting the controls, running through the list of pre-approved destinations. She smiled, happy that they at least got this time, in transit to their next destination, to recover; their Chronosuits were good for travel through time, and maybe short hops across continents, but they were absolute pants at interstellar travel.

She remembered that Nat had been the test subject for that; all her enthusiasm had counted for nothing when she had jumped, discovered that myriad radiations and gravity wells in deep space had played merry hell with her navigation software, and found herself stranded on Alpha Metraxi. That had been a fun little pickup.

'New Earth,' The Doctor, their ride out, stepped up beside Sera. There were worse ways to travel, 'Selestene Arcology. Sander's hometown, actually. Nice place. Bit boring.'

'He means quiet,' Em deadpanned, spinning in her seat beside the controls. 'He gets bored if he doesn't have to run everywhere, preferably away from something.'

'When she's right, she's right,' Twelve grinned. 'Shall we, M'Ladies?'

'Onward and upward, I suppose,' Sera said, silently adding, 'Let's just get this over with. We've got parents to get home to.'

Slowly, the TARDIS powered back on, slipping into the Vortex with that lovely old groan. The sound made her smile. It reminded her of home.

To be continued...