тнє ℓαѕт qυєєи // тнє ∂σ¢тσя

The Girl In The Fireplace

"No, I've checked all the smoking pods. Can you smell that?"

"Yeah, someone's cooking."

"Sunday roast, definitely." Theta uses the console to open a door behind them. The far wall is panelled, and contains a blazing fire in an ornate fireplace, with an ormolu clock on the mantlepiece. Exactly like the bedroom at Versailles, "Well, there's something you don't see in your average spaceship. Eighteenth century. French. Nice mantle. Not a hologram. It's not even a reproduction. This actually is an eighteenth century French fireplace. Double sided. There's another room through there."

Rose looks out of a porthole in the same wall, "There can't be. That's the outer hull of the ship. Look." She pointed looking back at us to make sure we where looking too. "Hello."
Theta speaks to a young girl in a nightgown who is kneeling by the fire on the other side of the fireplace.

"Hello." The young girl smiled gently at us as we looked back at her through the fireplace. "What's your name?" Theta asked her gently, "Reinette." She answered softly. "Reinette, that's a lovely name. Can you tell me where you are at the moment, Reinette?" I asked her with a small smile.

"In my bedroom." She spoke looking around her room to make a point, "And where's your bedroom? Where do you live, Reinette?" Theta asked, "Paris, of course." She looked at him like he was insane. "Paris, right!" He nodded along with her, "Monsieur, mademoiselle, what are you doing in my fireplace?" She asked once again, "Oh, it's just a routine fire check. Can you tell me what year it is?" I asked her with a small smile as Rose an Mickey watched on.

"Of course I can. Seventeen hundred and twenty seven."

"Right, lovely. One of my favourites. August is rubbish though. Stay indoors. Okay, that's all for now. Thanks for your help. Hope you enjoy the rest of the fire. Night, night." Theta rambled with a smile, "Goodnight Monsieur." She spoke walking away to her bed, "You said this was the fifty first century." Mickey spoke with a frown looking at us unsure.

"I also said this ship was generating enough power to punch a hole in the universe. I think we just found the hole. Must be a spatio-temporal hyperlink." Theta spoke as he raised an eyebrow, "What's that?" Mickey asked, "No idea. Just made it up. Didn't want to say magic door." I snorted at him causing him to smile an wink at me. "Magic door would have been cooler."

"And on the other side of the magic door is France in 1727?" Rose asked frowning as she watched us, "Well, she was speaking French. Right period French, too."

"She was speaking English, I heard her."

"That's the Tardis. Translates for you." Rose spoke not really paying much attention to him anymore. "Even French?" Mickey asked looking to me, "Yeah." I confirmed to him. "Gotcha!" Theta smiled widely, "Doctor!" Theta has found the switch that rotates the fireplace, quickly grabbing my hand he pulls me into his chest as the fireplace rotated.

Reinette is asleep and I noticed It is snowing outside. Reinette wakes with a start, "It's okay. Don't scream. It's me. It's the fireplace man and woman. Look. We were talking just a moment ago. We were in your fireplace." Theta lights a candle with the sonic screwdriver. "Monsieur, that was weeks ago. That was months."

I looked over at her with a frown standing at the window, "Really? Oh. Must be a loose connection. Need to get a man in." I spoke smirking towards Theta who smiled at my joke. "Who are you? And what are you doing here?" Theta looks at the clock on the mantel, the ticking is fairly loud. "Okay, that's scary." I spoke with a worried look, "You're scared of a broken clock?"

She asked with a scoff under her breath, "Just a bit scared, yeah. Just a little tiny bit. Because, you see, if this clock's broken, and it's the only clock in the room, then what's that?" Theta asked with a raised eyebrow, Tick tock tick tock. "Because, you see, that's not a clock. You can tell by the resonance. Too big. Six feet, I'd say. The size of a man."