"That went remarkably well," Damon commented as he and the Doctor stepped across the threshold of the TARDIS.
The Doctor nodded, moving over to the hexagonal control console. "I didn't think the Arcalians would start a war in the first place. They are too peaceful. It's part of their nature."
"Then how come Lord Ferain sent us in the first place?"
"Well, he doesn't have my experience of the Universe at large. That is where I differ most from Ferain. I have been out there, roamed the cosmos and seen what life is like on other worlds. For Ferain it's all just pictures on screens and numbers on charts. He has never been away from Gallifrey. He doesn't know how the rest of the Universe lives."
Damon thought about this as the Doctor set the TARDIS to dematerialise. While he was loyal to Lord Ferain, he had grown to respect the Doctor during their brief association as Ferain's main trouble shooting team for the Celestial Intervention Agency. The scruffy little Time Lord had a trustworthy quality about him. He was the sort of person you would follow into danger without a second thought. And his opinions were starting to rub off on his young travelling companion.
As the TARDIS plunged through the time/space vortex, the Doctor turned to Damon. "Now, I think we have time for a cup of tea before we reach the Capitol. Real tea, not that synthetic stuff they produce at CIA headquarters." The Doctor beamed. "Earl Grey or Assam?"
"Assam, please Doctor," Damon replied. It seemed not only were his horizons broadening under the Doctor's tutelage, but so was his palette.
Ten minutes later, as they sipped their tea in a small galley area just off the main console room, Damon's sharp hearing detected a chiming noise from nearby.
"I think there's an alarm going off in the console room," he told the Doctor.
"Nonsense," the older Time Lord said. But he put his cup down on its saucer anyway.
As he did so, the saucer started to move. Not much, but a vibration caused the cup and saucer to dance across the table. The Doctor stopped their progress before they rattled over the edge.
"I think maybe we should investigate," he said, getting to his feet.
At that moment, the TARDIS gave a sickening lurch and the room was plunged into darkness.
***
The lighting came back on a few moments later, but at reduced power. Damon picked himself up slowly from the corner he had been flung into. The TARDIS was still behaving like a ship caught in a storm.
The Doctor was also rising from where he had landed. He picked up a couple of pieces of broken saucer.
"Wedgwood," he said, frowning. "Josiah himself made it for me. Such a shame."
"What's happening, Doctor?" Damon asked.
"I don't know, but I think it's time we found out." Putting down the broken crockery, he squared his shoulders and walked carefully out into the corridor, keeping himself upright as he made his way to the console room.
Damon followed, bracing himself against the roundels. When he reached the console area, the Doctor was already stood over the controls. He activated the scanner.
Harsh red light spilled into the room from outside. On the screen was a seething, swirling mass, as red as blood. At its centre was a pulsing circle of white. They appeared to be looking down into the circle from above.
"It's some kind of gravimetric sink hole," the Doctor said, glancing at Damon. "We're caught in the graviton flux. It's pulling us in."
"Can we escape?" Damon wanted to know.
"I hope so," the Doctor told him. "If we don't, there is a strong possibility that the forces at the centre could crush us."
"I thought TARDIS's could withstand great pressure."
"They can," the Doctor replied. "But everything has a limit."
Damon watched as the Doctor dashed around the console, flicking switches, pressing buttons and pulling levers. The engines of the craft, deep beneath their feet, groaned under the strain. But the view on the screen was getting nearer, not further away.
"It doesn't seem to be working," Damon said.
The Doctor looked grim. "It isn't. I'm not sure what else to do." He looked up at his companion and Damon could see the despair in his deep blue eyes.
***
"I hope you've dragged me away from my office for something really important," Ferain told the technician on duty was he walked into the monitoring section of the CIA compound.
"It's that Type 40 TT Capsule, Lord Ferain," the technician said.
"The Doctor?" Ferain's face darkened into a scowl. "What has he done now?"
"The Capsule was on course from the Arcalian homeworld, when it began deviating from its flight path."
"Have you tried activating the recall circuit?"
"Yes, my Lord. It doesn't appear to be working."
"Has the Doctor been tampering with his TARDIS?"
"I don't think so, my Lord. The Capsule appears to have been drawn off course by a natural phenomenon."
"Can we do anything to help?"
The technician shook his head. "Nothing at all, my Lord."
Ferain frowned. "Then may Rassilon protect them now."
***
The Doctor turned from the scanner, his face grim. "Better brace yourself," he told Damon. "We'll reach the event horizon very soon."
"Then what?" Damon asked, his voice cracking with anxiety. He hadn't even reached his first regeneration yet. He didn't want to lose his life out here in the empty void.
The Doctor shrugged. "I really don't know," he admitted. Damon suddenly realised that the fact he didn't know upset the diminutive Time Lord more than the uncertain fate awaiting them.
As the scanner screen closed automatically, shutting out the now blinding light, he heard the Doctor muttering under his breath. It sounded like the Gallifreyan hymn of Remembrance.
Then the Universe turned inside out.
***
"The TT Capsule has passed the event horizon," reported the technician.
Ferain nodded once. "Very well. Keep a monitor lock on that vortex until I tell you otherwise."
The technician was surprised. "You think they could have survived that?"
Lord Ferain almost smiled. "I have learnt never to underestimate the Doctor."
***
Time bent. Reality warped. Matter shattered into a million pieces. The world skewed sideways, sending the senses screaming and running for cover.
Slowly Damon came round after what seemed like a billion years of torment. It was immensely painful for him to even try and open his eyes. But he gritted his teeth and tried anyway.
When his location finally resolved from the black and grey blur, he realised the Doctor was bending over him, concern etched into his already lined face. If possible, the older Time Lord looked more crumpled than usual.
"Ah, you're back with us," the Doctor said, beaming. "How do you feel?"
"Like I've fallen from the roof of the Prydonian Academy and hit every carving on the way down," Damon managed to croak. "What happened?"
"We passed through the maelstrom," the Doctor replied. "We survived."
"So where are we?" was Damon's next question.
"The other side I suppose. I've not checked yet. I was more concerned about you."
Damon sat carefully and the Doctor helped him up. When he was sure that his young companion was steady on his feet, the Doctor moved to the console and activated the scanner.
"Oh my," he exclaimed at the scene outside the TARDIS.
Damon didn't think he had ever seen so many spaceships in his life and certainly never in such a small volume of space. The variety of design and size alone were mind-boggling.
The Doctor was operating controls, checking readouts. He glanced over at Damon when he finished.
"We're in a pocket dimension, probably held stable by the energy drawn into the vortex we passed through. There is no obvious way out. There are minimal power readings from a handful of those ships, but the majority are lifeless and drifting."
"It's incredible," Damon whispered.
"Have you ever heard of the Sargasso Sea?"
The younger Time Lord shook his head, his eyes still held by the screen full of ships.
"Well," the Doctor explained, "it was the name given to a stretch of Earth's oceans that, due to a combination of natural phenomena, caused sailing ships to become trapped in a small area of sea. This seems to be a space equivalent."
"All these ships were drawn here by the vortex we passed through?"
The Doctor nodded. "It would appear so."
"Could there still be anybody alive on those ships?"
"Hmm. Good point, Damon." The Doctor moved around the console, adjusting the controls. "A passive scan should reveal any life forms," he said as he worked.
A couple on minutes later they had the results. A diagram of the pocket dimension had replaced the view on the screen. Two pulsing red lights showed the only life in the area, beside themselves.
"Just two survivors of all those ships?" Damon said quietly, hanging his head slightly.
The Doctor was studying the two signals. "This one seems strong," he said, indicating the one towards the centre of the graveyard of ships, "while this one is weaker." The other signal was towards the edge, close to their own position.
"What should we do?"
"I think the stronger reading can wait," the Doctor decided. "We should check the weaker one, see if we can help in any way."
"Do you think the TARDIS will work? We are outside our normal space."
"It should do. The console seems undamaged and we have good power readings. Now, if I lock the tracking controls to that signal and dematerialise..."
The Doctor's voice trailed off as he pushed home the final lever and the TARDIS took flight.
***
Air and matter were roughly displaced by the noisy arrival of the TARDIS in a gloomy corridor. As it solidified with a thunk, one of the doors creaked open and a scruffy, dark-haired head popped out.
The Doctor stepped into the corridor, followed by Damon. The young Time Lord gazed around while the elder locked the doors.
"Another darkened spaceship," Damon declared. "I'm really seeing a variety of locations travelling with you, Doctor."
"Irony, Damon? You are learning," the Doctor beamed before leading the way down the dim passageway.
They walked slowly down the corridor, checking rooms as they passed. But there was no sign of the life form they were looking for. As they turned into another passage however, they did encounter intelligent life of a sort.
"Maintenance droid?" Damon asked.
"Hopefully," the Doctor replied quietly. Then he grasped his companion's arm. "It's seen us!"
Indeed, the floating metal sphere had turned and was gliding towards them. The Doctor and Damon began to back away slowly.
"Halt! Identify yourselves!" came a mechanical voice from the robot.
"We come in peace," the Doctor said, raising his hands. "We mean you no harm."
The robot continued to float towards them, but now a stubby tube emerged from the front of its body.
"I suppose it's too much to hope that that isn't a gun," Damon commented.
"I think you could be right," the Doctor admitted.
"Stop! Stop or this unit will fire!"
The Doctor and Damon stopped. The robot closed the remaining distance between them.
"When I say run, run," the Doctor whispered to Damon.
Suddenly, there was a flash and the robot exploded. The Doctor and Damon were thrown to the deck on their backs by the force of the blast.
"Is it time to run yet?" Damon asked as he helped the Doctor to his feet.
"Damned droids," muttered a voice from behind them. "They not taking me to the centre!"
The Doctor and his companion turned, to see a small scaly being standing behind them, brandishing an energy pistol. It looked the two time travellers up and down.
"So, who you?" the being asked.
"Well, I'm known as the Doctor, and this is my friend Damon. And you are?"
"Me Kesk. Me last one."
"How do you mean, last one?" the Doctor asked the reptilian alien.
"Last one not taken. Droids come, take others. Not take Kesk, Kesk too smart for dumb machines."
"Where were the others taken?"
"Taken to centre. Big ship. Droids come, take others to centre."
"How long have you been here?" Damon wanted to know.
Kesk shrugged. "Don't know. Can't measure time here."
The Doctor frowned, deep in thought. "So everybody else has been taken to a big ship in the centre of this floating scrap yard by the droids."
Kesk grinned. "You catch on quick, for humanoid."
"Thank you," the Doctor replied, smiling slightly. "Didn't you ever think that there might be a way out at the centre?"
Now the reptilian's face clouded. "Don't know. Nobody ever return. Maybe you right. Maybe there way out at centre."
Damon looked over at the Doctor. "Do you really think this big ship at the centre holds the key?"
"Well, it does seem to be where the action is," he replied. "Now, Kesk, how would you like it if we took you with us to the centre?"
"You got ship? She fast ship?"
The Doctor grinned. "She has her moments," he said, leading the way back to the TARDIS.
