BFST07 - Life Science by John Binns

Author:John Binns [Binns, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub

The Reproductive Cycle

Matthew Griffiths

How could you get claustrophobic inside the TARDIS? wondered Peri. She'd been walking for hours now, and the further she went, the more she felt that the space was closing in around her. Not physically, but somewhere further along the corridor, where the roundels tapered dimly into the distance, and just around the edges of her vision. It was making her dizzy She stopped for a moment, leaning against the wall.

She shouldn't have skipped breakfast. She was convinced the Doctor had lost the kitchen, though, and she had just discovered the food machine was out of order, so she hadn't really had much choice. She rubbed her forehead. What was with the TARDIS anyhow? Nothing seemed to be working any more. The Doctor had spent weeks taking the console apart and shouting at it, but he hadn't got any nearer to the problem. She suspected he'd made it worse. These weeks had been the longest she'd ever spent in the craft, and it was starting to feel like home, in an awkward sort of way.

She remembered her college room-mate, Janine, telling her about a summer she had spent in a Winnebago, driving round New England. It had rained constantly, and she and her boyfriend had had to stay the whole time in the vehicle. They'd split up when they got back to New York. Winnebagos weren't designed for living in, said Janine, they were just a way of taking your troubles around with you.

Her feet ached. She took off her high heels. Definitely not the shoes to storm out in, she reflected. She lifted her foot, taking the sole between her hands, and tried to rub the pain out. She winced, and hoped the Doctor hadn't lost his shoe cupboard as well. The lighting dropped, flickered for moment, then settled for being half as bright as it had been. Peri looked at the ceiling. Just one more minute, she thought, then I'm on my way.

She pushed herself back onto her feet, her shoes in one hand, the other toying with her St Christopher's. A machine that travelled through time and space, she thought, and this was as fast as she could move, hobbling barefoot along the corridor. Ouch.

A door came into view on her left. Peri stopped, looked at it for a moment, then pushed it open. A light stuttered on as she went in. 'Great,' she muttered. 'I've found the TARDIS icebox.'

The room was full of wooden crates. Two or three of them looked like they'd been jemmied open and were spilling circuitry and electronic components across the floor, and a roundel was hanging ajar, the interior glowing a dim green against her face. One of the boxes had the words 'energy cells' stencilled across it, but, turning it into the light, Peri could see that it was empty. 'All outta juice,' she sighed. 'You and me both.' And the Doctor still had the nerve to tell her to keep the place tidy. She slung her shoes inside, then pulled the door shut behind her.

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