The shrill ringing of the Tardis phone halts Clara in her tracks just as she reaches the door to leave.
She turns slowly and walks back toward the two Time Lords in her sitting room who are both staring at the box.
"There you go, you've got another playmate," Clara nods toward the time machine.
"Hardly anyone in the universe has that number," Peyton says quietly.
"Well, I've got it," says Clara.
"Yes, from some woman in a shop," the Doctor mutters. "We still don't know who that was."
"Is that her now?"
"There are very few people it could be," Peyton folds her arms as the Doctor steps toward to grab the phone.
He opens the compartment but before he can grab it, Clara speaks up.
"Don't!"
"Why not?" The Doctor frowns.
"Because if you answer it, something will happen."
"Like what?" Peyton raises an eyebrow.
"A thing," she grumbles.
"It's just a phone, Clara," the Doctor says. "Nothing happens when you answer the phone."
He picks up the phone from the receiver and lifts it to his ear.
• • •
Peyton screams, tossing the memory worm down on the table.
"What's happening?" Clara yelps beside her.
"Don't touch it!" Peyton warns, grabbing the wrist of the woman next to her, holding it back from another memory worm on the table.
"Where are we? How did we get here?"
"Who are you?"
Peyton looks across the table to see two strangers. The man, who spoke, seemed human at first sight, but metal circuitry on the side of his head tells her he's been augmented.
"Sorry, what's going on? I don't understand," he continues.
"What is that thing?" The woman next to him groans. She wears a black hood and dramatic eyeliner but what is more interesting to Peyton is the way the skin on her cheeks shifts as of trying to change form.
"It's a memory worm," Peyton explains.
"What happened to your face?" Clara asks, staring at the woman.
"It deletes your memories," Peyton continues despite being interrupted.
"How did I get here?" She asks.
"The same way we all did, but we've all forgotten," the Doctor says.
"Yeah, and who are you?" She looks the three time travellers up and down.
"I am the Doctor," a voice says, but it's not from the man sitting next to here. Instead, it crackles as if from a speaker. Peyton looks to the briefcase in the centre of the table, seemingly the source of the sound. "A Time Lord from Gallifrey. I have agreed to this memory wipe of my own free will."
"I am Peyton Barrett," the recording continues, this time Peyton hears her own voice emanate from the briefcase. "Half-human, half-Gallifreyan. I have agreed to this memory wipe off my own free will."
"My name is Clara Oswald... human. I have agreed to this memory wipe of my own free will. Do I really have to touch that worm thing?"
"Yes you do," Peyton's voice replies on the recording,
YOU ARE READING
The Time Lord's Apprentice
Fanfiction"But, you're impossible!" "Yeah, and the world is ending, I don't think now is the time." Peyton is an orphan, taken from her mother as an infant by the Unified Intelligence Taskforce. She is raised separately from other children because she is spec...
