Checkmate (Doctor Who fanfiction)

Something In Her Eye

"On my count, then. God be with us all. Three. Two. One. Fire!" Octavian said. The lights went out and Amy and I shoved the wheel as hard as we could. River came over to help us. I felt the wheel spinning. It was working. Thank god.

It opened and people rushed through. I was going to make sure I was going last so everyone else got through, which was a mistake. The Doctor shoved me through before him and I jumped away from his touch instinctively.

We got through the second door to the secondary flight deck where The Doctor stationed himself behind a control panel.

The wheel started turning again and Amy looked up. "Doctor!" She said. He was working on a control area. Octavian placed a device on the door. "What are you doing?" She asked.

"Magnetized the door. Nothing can turn that wheel now," he said proudly. The Doctor smirked.

"Yeah?" He said. The wheel started to turn in notches.

"Dear God!" Octavian said.

"Ah, now you're getting it. You've bought us time though. That's good. I am good with time." He continued to work as he spoke. The wheel on a second door to the right of the main one started to turn.

"Seal that door. Seal it now," Octavian ordered. One of the clerics I think was named Marco obeyed.

"We're surrounded," River said. The left doors wheel started spinning.

"Seal it! Seal that door," Octavian said. "Doctor, how long have we got?"

"Five minutes, max," The Doctor answered.

"Nine," Amy said.

"Five," he argued. She gave him a look that said he was crazy. Which I had to agree with, to be totally honest.

"Five, right. Yeah," she said. He went back to his work.

"Why'd you say nine?" He asked.

"I didn't," she said. I raised my eyebrows at her. Either she was trying to be a pain or something was wrong. I was leaning towards the first option, so I decided not to push it.

"We need another way out of here," River said.

"There isn't one," Octavian answered. The Doctor looked up.

"Yeah, there is. Course there is. This is a galaxy class ship. Goes for years between planet falls. So, what do they need?"

It clicked. Ahhh! Hope! Hope GLORIOUS hope! They had to breathe!

"Of course!" River said.

"Of course what? What do they need?" Amy demanded.

"Can we get in there?" Octavian asked. The Doctor walked over and started searching a wall.

"Well it's a sealed unit, but they must've installed it somehow. This whole wall should slide... up! There's clamps! Release the clamps!" He ordered. But since no one else had a sonic screwdriver, he did them himself.

Amy, still clueless, looked a little frustrated that she didn't understand. "What's through there? What do they need?" She asked. River looked at her.

"They need to breathe," she said. Up the wall slid. That isn't something I thought I'd be saying this morning. Anyways, on the other side of it was a...

"But that's- that's a-" Amy couldn't seem to finish.

"It's an oxygen factory," River said. Amy looked at it slowly.

"It's a forest!"

"Yeah, it's a forest. It's an oxygen factory."

"And if we're lucky, an escape route," The Doctor said. Amy's shock hadn't subsided when she said, "Eight."