The TARDIS returns and we all quickly run back inside. The Doctor hands over his roll of film for developing.
"What's wrong?" Emma asks, looking at Clara.
"I just saw something I wish I hadn't."
"What did you see?"
"That everything ends."
"No, not everything. Not love. Not always."
"Right, done. That's it. Gather round, gather round. Roll up, roll up" the Doctor says. They have made slides from the negatives. I activate the projector with my sonic screwdriver.
"The Ghast of Caliburn House. Never changing, trapped in a moment of fear and torment. But, what if she's not? What if she's just trapped somewhere time runs more slowly than it does here? What if a second to her was a hundred thousand years to us?" I say.
"And what if somebody has a magic box. A blue box, probably. What if somebody could take a snapshot of her, say, every few million years?" the Doctor asks, a shot of a dark woman in a white coverall, running, pops up.
"She's not a ghost. But she's definitely a lost soul. Her name is Hila Tacorian. She's a pioneer, a time traveller, or at least she will be in a few hundred years" I say.
"Time travel's not possible. The paradoxes..." Palmer gets cut off by the Doctor.
"Resolve themselves, by and large."
"How long has she been alone?" Emma asks.
"Well, time travel's a funny old thing. I mean, from her perspective, she crash landed three minutes ago" I say.
"Crash landed? Where?"
"She's in a pocket universe. A distorted echo of our own. They happen sometimes but never last for long" the Doctor blows up a blue balloon, then a red one "our universe. Hila Tacorian's here, in a pocket universe. You're a lantern, shining across the dimensions, guiding her home, back to the land of the living."
"But what's she running from?" Clara asks.
"Well, that's the best bit. We don't know yet. Shall we see?" I ask, the next slide pops up "oh" there is a thing behind a tree.
"What is that?" Clara asks.
"We don't know. Still, not to worry" the Doctor says.
"So, what do we do?" Emma asks.
"Not we, you. You save Hila Tacorian because you are Emma Grayling. You are the lantern. The rest of us are just along for the ride, I'm afraid. We need some sturdy rope and a blue crystal from Metebelis Three. Plus, some Kendal Mint Cake" the Doctor says, the rain has stopped when the Doctor, Clara and I run back to the TARDIS.
"Can't you just, you know?" Clara says.
"What?" I ask.
"Fly the TARDIS into the parallel universe?"
"Ah, it's not a parallel universe. It's a pocket universe. Plus, it is collapsing. I mean, the TARDIS could get in there all right, but entropy would bleed her power sources, you see? Trap her there until the entire universe decayed back into the quantum foam. Which would take about three minutes, give or take, you know" I say.
*Music room*
A thick silver cable and other wires run from the TARDIS into the house. A large crystal is held in a cradle at head height. Clocks have been placed around the room. Emma and Palmer are wearing coats.
"What is that?" Clara asks.
"A subset of the Eye of Harmony" I say.
"I don't..."
YOU ARE READING
The Oncoming Storm ²
Fanfiction(UNDER EDITING) What happens when the Doctor's wife travels with him through time and space. Seer: a person who is supposed to be able, through supernatural insight, to see what the future holds. Oc reader
