"...and we'll just coast in for a nice visit to the Prohibition era and see if we can shake things up a bit in Chicago and--you okay?" the Doctor paused in his cataloging of all the things they would do that day in Prohibition era Chicago, a grin playing across his face as he took in the sight of a disheveled Brianna with her hat over her face. He raised a single eyebrow and tapped the fedora so it would fall back on Brianna's head.
"Oh, yeah, fine, what were you saying?" Brianna asked, releasing her death grip on the rail and playing it cool as she edged away from the center console.
The Doctor laughed and jiggled a knob on the center console, sending the TARDIS rocketing in the opposite direction.
"That wasn't supposed to happen..." the Doctor muttered. The man in the bowtie took another circuit of the console and re-examined every fact and figure about their destination. "Come on, old girl, what's wrong? Where are you taking us?"
"Is everything alright?"
"Yes, fine, brilliant even," the Doctor assured his companion just as the TARDIS ground to a halt. "We seem to be somewhere in the Horsehead Nebula. And there's something about the TARDIS' wiring that's unhappy." The Doctor dove under the console, shouting to Brianna that she should go ahead and explore ahead of him because he had to see what was wrong with the TARDIS.
Brianna would have sworn that she had heard the Doctor refer to the TARDIS as "sexy" just as she slipped out of the door, but it was completely possible that she was imagining things from the stress of an emergency landing. Where they had landed in the Horsehead Nebula was a mystery to Brianna, but the sky was full of a purple mist, and you could actually see the wind picking up the dinner plate sized leaves of exotic trees. It was like misty blue gray hands pulling the leaves up to dance. Brianna took three steps from the TARDIS' front door and immediately fell into a ditch, once again dislodging her fedora.
"I really need to get a fedora that fits..." Brianna muttered, struggling to find some way to stand when it seemed she had fallen underneath something. A pair of strong hands lifted her up under her armpits and brought her to a standing position. "Thanks, Doctor, is everything--" Once Brianna's fedora was off her face, she turned around to see what had helped her to her feet and stopped short. The creature that stood before her was clad in a scaly sort of armor. Where she presumed its neck was was a ring of squid-like tentacles, but over its face was something that looked like a gigantic dirty white sock. "DOCTOR!!!"
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"Observe, a footprint of the Callimadraga. It is shaped somewhat like a humanoid footprint with one distinct difference that it has an extra toe located at the heel of the foot." A bespectacled gentleman in a lab coat pointed out the footprint on the ground with a green laser pointer for the benefit of his students. The group of students sketched out the footprint with surprising accuracy, but it would come down to their illustrator to record the footprint for posterity.
But the illustrator's mind was elsewhere. While her colleagues could think of nothing but the fascinating Callimadraga, Lizzie Claire thought of the stars back home. More specifically watching the stars trace their way across the sky from the perch on her family's boathouse. She smiled.
"Lizzie Claire! We need you!" The lead scientist beckoned Lizzie Claire over to the footprint, indicating how much of the surrounding dirt he needed illustrated. Taking up her old-fashioned pad of paper and sketching pencil, Lizzie Claire silently set to work as the scientists looked for another footprint to observe. She was meticulous in her illustrating and could only focus on that while she was doing it, otherwise the drawing would be worthless. "Look! Look at that! It appears we'll be able to observe a rare decapitation ceremony!"
Lizzie Claire's ears perked up and she looked around the group of scientists, taking a silent count of everyone and establishing that indeed everyone was present and accounted for, so there was no need to worry that Annabelle had gotten lost amongst the trees and was about to be decapitated. Standing on tiptoe to see over the heads of the scientists, Lizzie Claire caught sight of a small platoon of Callimadraga carrying what looked like a young lady in a fedora.
"It appears to be a human sacrifice that the Callimadraga are about to decapitate! Oh, this is a rare treat!" the lead scientist was saying just as Lizzie Claire took off at a run after the group of Callimadraga. "Lizzie Claire! Where are you going?! We need you to illustrate the Callimadraga scat!"
But Lizzie Claire heard none of this as she raced behind the Callimadraga, keeping them in sight but keeping out of sight herself. She was a bit out of breath, but she managed to keep up with them, listening to their clicking language and watching them carefully.
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"But the head is deformed," a Callimadraga complained, indicating the fedora on Brianna's head. "Should we not merely remove its intestines to skewer for earrings?"
Brianna raised her hand in the cage where she had been placed for the time being. "I'm fully willing to donate my intestines for accessory purposes. I'd love to keep my head."
"Silence, prisoner!" the Callimadraga said all at once. There were at least five of them, all tall and imposing, and though they couldn't agree on whether to go through with the decapitation ceremony, they could all agree that Brianna talked far too much.
While the Callimadraga discussed the various pros and cons of actually decapitating their prisoner, Lizzie Claire managed to sneak up next to the cage near Brianna.
"Psst!"
"Who's that?!" Brianna demanded, whirling around and looking for the "psst"-er.
"Shhh..." Lizzie Claire bid Brianna, motioning Brianna to crouch down so they could speak at closer quarters.
"Who are you?" Brianna asked, lowering her voice to a level that she hoped the Callimadraga couldn't hear. Though it wasn't quite a whisper, it was somewhat lower than her usual speaking volume.
"I'm Lizzie Claire, I'm here to rescue you!" Lizzie Claire declared, smiling as she did. She gave no thought to the lock on the cage or the group of Callimadraga guarding the cage as she had all the confidence in the world that she would succeed.
"What about the lock on the cage and the group of squid things guarding the cage?"
"Don't worry, I've got it under control."
With that, Lizzie Claire straightened up and approached the Callimadraga. She tapped one of them on the shoulder and grinned.
"A suitable sacrifice!" the Callimadraga rejoiced.
"I don't think so," said Lizzie Claire, not pausing to consider that she actually understood what they had said. Taking a complicated ninja/yoga pose, Lizzie Claire began chanting a mixture of seashell, rabbit and Italian. As she did, the Callimadraga swayed and softened their postures, crossing toward the cage and releasing Brianna.
"Come on!" Lizzie Claire said, pausing for only that second to beckon Brianna out of the Callimadraga base. Continuing her chanting, Brianna led Lizzie Claire from the base. Once they were out in the open air, Brianna took Lizzie Claire's hand and dashed off to the TARDIS.
"You saved my life!" Brianna exclaimed as she ran, tugging Lizzie Claire along behind. "Your ninja skills are amazing!"
"It was nothing, really," Lizzie Claire said.
Finally, when the two reached the TARDIS safely, the Doctor popped out of the door and announced that all the wiring was perfect and that the TARDIS had never looked better. After making quick introductions and explanations, Brianna asked if Lizzie Claire could join them on their adventures.
"Well...why not?" the Doctor said, grinning and welcoming Lizzie Claire into the TARDIS. And with that, the three travelers took of for their next great adventure.
THE END
 |
| The Doctor |
"Geronimo!"
- The Doctor
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