Kobeck raised his shoulders. 'O-kay, but I don’t see how that can help. Su-san is dead.'
'That wasn’t my Granddaughter! She is out there!' shouted the Doctor, pointing a finger towards space.
Kobeck was confused. He again shrugged his shoulders and simply replied 'O-kay.'
'Come.' said the Doctor, heading towards the lift.
Kobeck gave a glance to the fur-clad individual behind in reception who had been listening to their conversation.
'I’m sure it’s just shock,' gruffed the receptionist.
'Could be,' replied Kobeck, shuffling after the Doctor, 'could be.'
~~~
Dean’s fighter banked right and then left before finally spinning.
'I think I’m going to be sick.' heaved Susan.
'Take it easy, Dean.' said Nola over the intercom.
'Hey, I’m sorry Susan.'
'I know,' she said, 'you couldn’t resist.'
'Ha ha,' he drawled in a deep accent reminiscent of a country and continent on old Earth called America.
'Nola, Cherry,' said Dean. 'How about we show Susan our party trick?'
'Party trick?' asked Susan.
'It’s our pista resistance!' cooed Cherry.
'What do you do?'
'Don’t worry. No more twist or turns.'
'Then what?'
'You’ll see.' laughed Dean.
~~
Kobeck trailed behind the Doctor who was marching at quite a pace towards Kobeck’s ship.
'Can’t you take your own ship?' asked Kobeck.
'What’s that?'
'Can’t you take your own ship?' Kobeck repeated.
'My craft hasn’t quite got the manoeuvrability that it needed for this endeavour.'
'You mean you can’t fly it pro-per-ly.'
'I suppose your statement may carry a certain credence.' admitted the Doctor.
'I see.' slurred Kobeck.
'Come on, we must hurry!' The Doctor turned and made for Kobeck’s ship where he quickly climbed on board the long nosed steel craft.
Inside the Doctor settled himself in the passenger’s seat. Kobeck joined him and buckled up.
'Where to then?'
The Doctor pointed forward.
'Out there!' he replied.
~~~
The three fighters zoomed towards a cluster of asteroids.
'Where are we going?' asked Susan, who could no longer see the gigantic structure that was ‘Planet 10’.
'There’s some, shall we say, interesting anomalies coming up.'
'What kind of anomalies?'
'You’ll see soon enough.'
As the fighters passed around and over the asteroids Susan saw numerous whirling golden fractures in the fabric of space itself.
'What are they?' she asked in wonder.
'Miniature fractures in space.' replied Dylan.
'I don’t understand.'
'I was a cadet with the Time Agency, you heard of them right?'
'No.'
'Oh, okay, well they, the time agency, did some experiments out here and these are the results, they’re craters in the ground, if you like.'
'Tears in space?'
'That’s right. You’re pretty smart.'
'Thanks.' replied Susan.
'Why did you leave?'
'The Time Agency?'
'Yes.'
'I was a loose canon, a rogue.' explained Dean with pleasure.
'He means he kept failing his exams, Susan.' inserted Cherry, as Dean drew a breath.
'Yes, anyway, I know these pockets like the back of my hand.'
'I don’t think it sounds like a good idea'
'Trust me Susan, I wouldn’t lie to you!'
'Nothing to worry about Susan,' replied Nola over the intercom, 'we’ve done this hundreds of times. It’s fun!'
'These holes, if you want to call them that,' began Dean, 'they go no where, we’ll fly in one, see the inside and fly out of the one next to it. There’s no danger!'
'I’m not sure about this.'
'Here we go.'
The three fighters arched upwards and dived straight into a gap in space.
'Woo hoo.' cried Dean, as they passed through into a swirling sea of colour and light. Susan couldn’t help but be amazed at what she saw. They were passing through the space, just like the TARDIS did, but she’d never seen the actual physical form of it just a grainy image on the TARDIS’s scanner. She could almost touch it.
'Pretty amazing huh?' said Dean.
'Yes, it is.' admitted Susan.
'Ok, we’re coming out.'
The fighters shot out from the centre of the hole and turned and lined themselves up for the next. In the distance Susan could see the asteroids they’d past a few moments earlier.
'I think I’ve seen enough.' said Susan.
'Ok, come on just one more.'
'Just one more then.' agreed Susan.
'Dean,' said Nola.
'What is it?'
'I’m picking up an incoming ship and…' stuttered Nola.
'Ah damn. Could be the authorities. Strictly speaking this area of space is out of bounds, too dangerous, but danger is my middle name.'
'Ok girls, we’ll hit this one and head home.'
'But Dean,' said Nola.
'Tell me in a minute!' Came the reply.
The three crafts once more dived into a dark fissure.
'Yeah' shrieked Dean, as over the intercom as Cherry also whooped.
Unexpectedly the three ships seemed to pass through a barrier as they all shook in unison. At that moment the control panels on the fighters lit up and a red coloured light flashed intermittently above Susan’s head.
'Oh no, oh no.' moaned Dean. 'This isn’t good.'
'What’s happening?' asked Susan.
'I’m not sure.'
'Dean, the readings I picked up.' said Nola.
'What?'
'When we emerged from the first tear, half an hour had past in just a few minutes.' There was an explosion on Nola’s control panel. She screamed as the craft lost power. Dean glanced out of his cockpit window to see Nola’s ship falling behind his and Cherry’s.
'Hang on Nola, we’re coming to the exit.'
'Stay with us babe.' added Cherry, whose own ship then began to lose power.
'Cherry, are you ok?'
'My fuel cells have ruptured, I can’t…'
There was a loud explosion. Dean and Susan watched in horror as Cherry’s ship fragmented, Nola unable to control her lifeless fighter collided with the debris.