Running Through the Stars (Book One of the Bad Wolf Chronicles)

Chapter Twelve: Bad Wolf

The Doctor fell out of a spinning cupboard with a groan, slow to get up. "Oh my God!" someone yelped, and he saw a blond woman in a white jacket run over. "I don't believe it! Why'd they put you in there? They never said you were coming!"

"What happened?" he managed to ask, accepting her help in standing up. "I was - "

"Careful now," she told him as he stumbled a little. "Oh! Oh, mind yourself! Oh, that's the transmat. It scrambles your head. I was sick for days. All right? So, what's your name then, sweetheart?"

"The Doctor, I think," he replied, still trying to get his bearings. "I was, er . . . I don't know. What happened? How - "

"You got chosen," she replied simply.

"Chosen for what?"

"You're a housemate! You're in the house! Isn't that brilliant?"

"That's not fair!" someone groaned, and the Doctor looked up to see a man in a T-shirt glowering at him. "We've got eviction in five minutes! I've been here for all nine weeks. I've followed the rules. I haven't had a single warning, and then he comes swanning in!"

"If they keep changing the rules, I'm going to protest, I am," a dark-skinned woman in pink brought up. "You watch me. I'm going to paint the walls."

"Would the Doctor please come to the diary room?" The Doctor looked up, hearing the voice, and obediently shuffled through a door with a stylized eye on it, and sat down in a comfy chair. "You are live on Channel 44,000. Please do not swear."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "You have got to be kidding."

***

Jessie rolled her neck around, groaning as she woke up. "What happened?" she asked groggily.

"It's all right," a male voice replied, and as she regained focus, she saw a dark-skinned man bending over her. "It's the transmat. Does your head in. Get a bit of amnesia. What's your name?"

"Jessie," she replied, sitting up. "But where's the Doctor?"

"Just remember: do what the android says. Don't provoke it. The android's word is law."

"What do you mean, 'android?'" she asked. "It can't be a phone. A robot?"

"Positions, everyone!" a woman barked out. "Thank you!"

"Come on, hurry up," the man told her, helping her stand. "Steady, steady."

She stumbled a little, leaning on him for support. "I was traveling with the Doctor and a man called Captain Jack. The Doctor wouldn't just leave me."

"That's enough chat," the floor manager told her. "Positions! Final call! Good luck!"

"I'm not supposed to be here!"

"It says Jessie on the podium," the man told her, and she blinked when she did indeed see her name on the podium. "Come on."

"Hold on," she said slowly, standing next to him, seeing his podium read Roderick. "I'm going mad. This looks like - "

"Android activated!" the floor manager announced.

Jessie blanched when the robot in front of them lit up. "Oh my God," she gasped. "Android. Anne droid."

"Welcome to The Weakest Link!" the Anne droid announced.

***

"I can't open it," the Doctor muttered as he used the sonic screwdriver on the surroundings.

"It's got a deadlock seal," the blond explained, watching him. "Ever since Big Brother 504 when they all walked out. You must remember that."

The Doctor pointed to an alcove that had a picture in it. "What about this?"