Lost in the Universe

xxii

"Chan, it's working, tho!" Chantho eclaimed as the two of them gasped, looking around surprised at the lights and the noises the generators were making.

"But how did you do that!" Yana marveled at him. "You are brilliant!" Nina cringed at the word.

"No, no," she stepped in. "Don't say that. It goes to his head," she told Yana, a smirk on her face. The Doctor gasped in fake shock, a hand over his chest.

"What?!" He yelled out. "I would never let anything go to my brilliant head!" Nina shook her head and scoffed, rolling her eyes. He laughed at her reaction before going back to work on the rocket's commands.

They all worked together as the alarms roared, telling the troops to retreat and the humans to start bowarding the ship. They worked in silence until the Doctor found out that the combustible material that was mainly powering the thing was food.

"You are a genius!" The Doctor praised him.

"Says the man who made it work," Yana shot back, his ears red in humility.

"Ooh... it's easy coming in at the end but... you're stellar," the Doctor affirmed. "This is... this is magnificent. I don't often say that 'cause... well, 'cause of me," the Doctor bragged. Nina scoffed, glaring at him. He really did let it all go to his head.

"Well, even my title is an affectation," Yana denied. "There hasn't been such a thing as a university for," he looked up, trying ti recall. "Over a thousand years. I've spent my life going from one refugee ship to another."

"If you had been born in a different time, you'd be revered," Nina affirmed. Yana didn't believe her, that's for sure. He even chuckled at her comment. "I mean it. Throughout the galaxies," she assured him.

"Oh, those damned galaxies. They had to go and collapse. Some admiration would have been nice. Just a little. Just once," he sighed.

"Well you've got it now," Nina reminded him, a soft smile on her lips. "But that footprint engine thing. You can't activate it from onboard. It's gotta be from here. You're staying behind," Nina guessed, though it sounded more like a statement, like she already knew he was staing behind.

"With Chantho," Yana confirmed. "She won't leave without me. Simply refuses."

"You'd give your life so they could fly," the Doctor said, his face sympathetic.

"Oh, I'm a little too old for Utopia," the professor dismissed. "Time I had some sleep." Nina smiled sadly at him, but completely understood. She, too, was too old.

"Professor," a voice called through the intercom. "Tell the Doctor we've found his blue box." The Doctor let out a childlike laugh and put his hand for Nina to high-five him, which she did. Jack called them over to a screen where the TARDIS could be seen.

"Professor, it's a wild stab in the dark, but I may just have found you a way out," the Doctor told him, but Nina barely heard it because from her spot behind Jack, his voice was muffled. She didn't know why until she started to hear it again, the drums. Her face went blank as her head began to flood with this unknown rhythm that for some reason, wouldn't leave her alone. Before she even knew it, the Doctor had ran off, and the noise of the TARDIS reappearing in the room.

"Extra power!" He yelled, pulling an enourmous cable out fo the TARDIS and connecting it to a cable from the rocket. Nina took a step back and leaned over a counter, placinf her hands behind her to support herself. This was the seconf time she felt like she was about to pass out. "Little bit of a cheat, but who's counting. Jack, you're in charge of the retro-feeds."

At the same time, Martha and Chantho walked back into the room, both holding some boxes and containers int heir hands.

"Oh, am I glad to see that thing," Martha sighed in relief when she saw the TARDIS parked in a corner of the room. It was only then that the Doctor realized Nina was still standing there, her breathing rapid as she tried to keep herself up. He immediatly ran to her, releasing his grip on the cables he was working on.