Waiting On A Rival

Chapter 32

Once we left the house, Rosita came up to the next Doctor. She worried, "Doctor! I thought you were dead!" Contradicting her angry face, Rosita hugged him.

"Now then, Rosita. A little decorum." He shrugged her off.

"You've been gone for so long." She turned to me. "He's always doing this, leaving me behind. Going frantic." I nodded.

"What about the TARDIS?" The next Doctor checked. My smile turned up at the mention.

"Oh, she's ready. Come on."

The two went ahead, leading us to the TARDIS. "I'm looking forward to this," the Doctor decided.

They lead us to some stables with no horses. Instead, it looked like someone was living there. The next Doctor confirmed, "You were right though, Rosita. The Reverend Fairchild's death was the work of the Cybermen."

I asked, "So, you live here?"

"A temporary base, until we rout the enemy," he explained, "The TARDIS is magnificent, but it's hardly a home." I rose my eyebrow. Not a home? A TARDIS goes on for infinity and if someone went far enough in it, there would probably be an actual home somewhere in there. I inquired, "And where's the TARDIS now?"

"In the yard."

The Doctor eyed the luggage that was laying on a makeshift table. "Er, what's all this luggage?"

"Evidence. The property of Jackson Lake, the first man to be murdered. Oh, but my new friends are fighters, Rosita, much like myself. They faced the Cybermen with a cutlass. I'm not ashamed to say, they were braver than I. They were quite brilliant." The Doctor began scanning the luggage. "Are you whistling again?"

"Yes. Yes, I am, yeah. Yeah." Rosita's eyes widened a bit when she saw the sonic so I just placed a finger on my lips slyly and winked. I took a suitcase off the pile.

"That's another man's property," She stated.

"Well, a dead man's" I agreed while opening it up.

The Doctor talked to her to take the attention from me, "How did you two meet, then?"

"He saved my life. Late one night, by the Osterman's Wharf, this creature came out of the shadows," she said with a little bit of fear, "A man made of metal. I thought I was going to die. And then, there he was. The Doctor. Can you help him, sir? He has such terrible dreams. Wakes at night in such a state of terror."

The next Doctor, having heard the last part, included his opinion, "Come now, Rosita. With all the things a Time Lord has seen, everything he's lost, he may surely have bad dreams."

"Yeah," I confirmed. My hand felt something cold and stiff in the suitcase. I pulled it out to reveal an infostamp. "Oh, now. Look. Jackson Lake had an infostamp."

"But how? Is that significant?"

"Doctor, the answer to all this is in your TARDIS," he reassured, "Can we see it?"

The next Doctor smiled and announced, "Mister and Missus Smith, it would be my honour." With that, he led us to the yard. I looked for the blue box and wondered what the interior would be.