Chapter Nine: A Sinking Feeling

“But however hard you try you can't run forever. Everybody knows that everybody dies and nobody knows it like the Doctor.” River Song, the Forest of the Dead

                For a fleeting moment Rebecca was sure that the Doctor was wrong, that she wasn’t on a transporter but actually a way to kill particularly stubborn prisoners. Her mouth forced itself shut and her eyes slammed closed, as if that would save her from suffocating. She could hear the drumming of her heartbeat in her ears as her mind ran through every single possible way that she could die down here. Instead of focusing on the dirt pressing around her, she tried to turn her thoughts to the Doctor’s hand in hers, which she was squeezing tightly. It was a much more pleasant thought.

                It took Rebecca a few moments to realize that she didn’t feel any dirt pressing around her, and the Doctor seemed to be breathing perfectly fine. At last when her body forced her to breathe, she squeezed her eyes even tighter, waiting for the dirt to fill her lungs. When the dirt didn’t come, she wondered if her body was did her an unexpected favour and she died before she even took a breath of the dirt. But no, she was still holding the Doctor’s hand, and unless he died as well she was still alive and breathing.

                Finally Rebecca’s curiosity got the better of her fear and she decided it was time to open her eyes. Her entire body was shaking, and her eyes refused to open. Her natural instincts wouldn’t let her, telling her to protect her eyes. A good minute had passed and she wasn’t dead yet, so why did she feel so afraid?

                Before she knew what was happening, her eyes flew open as if they weren’t hers to control. Her entire vision consisted of dirt, dirt, rocks, a random fossil, and more dirt. Her pulse quickened to a dangerous level and her breaths turned into gasps. All of her childhood nightmares came back to her in this moment, being buried alive and trapped, alone, in a box with no escape. But she wasn’t alone, she realized. She was with the Doctor, and he was right next to her, holding her hand. And she was breathing perfectly fine, not one speck of dirt entering her lungs. Even so, all she wanted to do was close her eyes and shut out it all out, but her eyes wouldn’t let her. She was safe. She was with the Doctor.

                It was still another minute before Rebecca could get her breathing under reasonable control, using her very force of will to control her childish fears. Once she finally managed to, she realized that the Doctor was staring at her the whole time, which caused her face to turn a bright red. “What are you looking at?” She demanded, her voice a lot sharper than she intended.

                “Nothing,” The Doctor said, looking away. “Nothing at all.”

                Rebecca was more than a little bit ashamed at the way she snapped at the Doctor. “…sorry, didn’t mean to snap at you…” She apologized slowly, still holding onto his hand. “I guess I’m still a little shaken up…”

                “No worries,” The Doctor said, smiling a bit. He shifted his position a little bit to be more comfortable, and it was then that she realized just how much room was in this transporter pod, and why only one person was supposed to be in there. It was cosy to say the least.

                “How are we alive, anyways?” Rebecca asked. “I mean, we are going miles underneath the surface of the Earth.”

                “Anti-gravity bubbles and an oxygen tank,” The Doctor said, smiling even wider at her question. “Basically, we’re sinking through the earth in a bubble. A super-strong anti-gravity bubble.”

                “Wow,” Was all Rebecca could say. “That’s… amazing.” Even though just seconds before she was terrified at what was happening, she was suddenly filled with awe. Did the Doctor get to see things like this all of the time? She envied him a little bit, but not too much. She was still in awe.

                “Yes, it is very interesting,” The Doctor said. “It’s certainly a very interesting to see the inside of the Earth.”

                Rebecca turned more towards the dirt on the outside, watching as it rushed by her line of sight. Now that she knew that the dirt would not fill her lungs and kill her, it was actually very relaxing looking at the various things she found in the dirt. She allowed her thoughts to drift, wandering to other places and other times.

                She was far lost in her thoughts when she felt a small object come in contact with the side of her head, causing a sharp short-lived burst of pain. “Ow!” She exclaimed, then looked down to see what had hit her. A one-pence sat fell to the ground, the source of her pain. “What was that for?”

                “It’s a penny,” The Doctor said, as if that explained anything.

                “So?” Rebecca said, glaring at him.

                “A penny for your thoughts,” The Doctor explained, then smiled as if it were the funniest thing in the world. “I know it’s a bit cliché, but I was curious. What’s on your mind?"

                Rebecca glared at him for another moment, completely taken by surprise by the question. Since when did he want to know what she was thinking? Sighing, she decided to let him in on what she was thinking about. “I just don’t get it.”

                “Don’t get what?” The Doctor asked.

                “You,” Rebecca said simply. “When I first met you, you ran away from me as soon as I saw you telling me to forget about you. Then, fourteen years later, you seem to want to help me. Or, at least you seemed interested at why I remembered bananas. And then you leave me again! You seemed like you didn’t want me in your life at all, and you threw me out of the TARDIS. Now you’re acting like nothing ever happened. It just… it just doesn’t make sense.”

                “…you’re right, it doesn’t make sense,” The Doctor said. “It wouldn’t to you, or anyone else. You’re not the first, you know. There’s been others that I’ve met… the most wonderful of people, so curious… and so naïve. They never understood the dangers that travelling with me could bring… not until it’s too late. I just wanted to end the cycle now… I wanted to make sure that no one else was dragged into danger.” He smiled a little bit, as if he were forcing himself to lighten the mood. “But I suppose it’s a bit too late for that, isn’t it?”

                “Y-yeah,” Rebecca said, caught a little off guard. He did mention this before, but she thought it was just a ruse to get her out of the TARDIS. “I suppose it is. But you can’t blame yourself for that. I mean, it wasn’t as if you didn’t try to keep me away. It was my choice.”

                 "But I'm still responsible," The Doctor replied. "If I tried harder, maybe..." He was about to go on, but obviously thought better of it. "But it's no use going on about it. Does it make a little bit more sense now?"

                 Rebecca nodded, not knowing what he wanted her to say. "I did have another question, though. If you wanted to leave me when you were there in the forest, why didn't you just go to a completely different galaxy or something? You said that your TARDIS can go anywhere in time and space, so why did you stay here?"

                 The Doctor smiled a little bit, as if he were amused by the question. "I was wondering if you were going to ask that question. The thing is, I can't go anywhere eelse."

                 "You can't?" Rebecca asked."Why not? Don't tell me that there are rules to time travel."

                 "No, it isn't rules that are keeping me here," He clarified. "It's just that for some reason, the TARDIS won't take me anywhere else. Trust me, I've been trying. That's why you saw me working on the TARDIS earlier; I was trying to figure out what's wrong. This isn't the first time that the TARDIS has been a little...temperamental."

                 Rebecca was a little bit amused by the fact that the TARDIS had a life of its own, a personality that could change just like any other person. "So what you're saying is that your TARDIS won't let you leave."

                "Exactly."

                 "The TARDIS must really like me then," Rebecca said, smiling at the idea. "Perhaps even more than it likes you."

                 "That's completely impossible," The Doctor replied. "Anyway, I have a question for you now. It's something I've been meaning to ask you."

                 "Okay..." Rebecca said, a little bit concerned. What question could he possibly have for her?"

                 "Can I call you 'Becca'?" He asked her, looking directly in her eyes. He was completely serious.

                 "Um. Why?" Rebecca asked, a bit confused.

                 "Because,” The Doctor said. “Becca is easier to say. Besides, it sounds cooler than Rebecca."

                 "Sure, I guess," She said after a moment of debating. "If you really want to. No one's called me that before, that's all."

                 "If you don't want me calling you that, that's fine," The Doctor said.

                 "No!" Rebecca said a little too quickly. "No, you can call me that. I kind of like it."

                 "Great," The Doctor said."Becca." He added at the end, pronouncing the words carefully, as if he were savouring the taste.

                “Does that mean that I can call you ‘Doc’?” Rebecca asked.

                “What? No. Absolutely not,” The Doctor replied instantly.

                “Aw… why not?”

                “Because I said so.”

                “Come on, I’m letting you call me Becca, why can’t I call you Doc?” She pressed.

                ”At least Becca is a good nickname. It sounds cool and--and sophisticated. Doc, however, doesn’t.” Rebecca was about to protest further when suddenly the transporter around them came to a grinding halt. “Looks like we’re finally here!” He said cheerfully, glad that the topic of calling him ‘Doc’ was, for the moment, resolved.

                “Looks like,” Rebecca said with an inward sigh. She wouldn’t let this die; later, when they weren’t in danger, she would bring it up again.

                The Doctor held out his arm like a complete gentlemen. “Shall we?”

                Rebecca smiled and linked her arm with his. “We shall.” The door slid open and they stepped out.

Author's Note

I know, I know, that the trip down to where the homo reptilia live wouldn't be this long, but I decided to use my creative license and extend their trip a little bit.

This chapter is more dialogue than anything else, but it (okay, MOST of it) is important to the plot. Two questions for you, my lovely readers.

1. How was the dialogue? Did it seem like it flowed, did it sound rehursed, natural, etc. Anything would be useful.
2. Any tips at all for how I could make the Doctor act more like the Doctor?

Also, another thing that doesn't directly relate to the story. Do any of you know where I could find cool Doctor Who quotes other than Wikiquote? I'm running out of good ones to use and I still have a lot of chapters left.

Reviews

[~goh~]

CRAP. I FORGOT TO REVIEW THIS.
1. It was super natural :3
2. Try to make the Doctor a bit more random, and give him a more '5-year-old' view of the world, like he normally does. You know, he's naturaly curious.
I found a qoute site a while back, but I don't remember what it was...

[compositionc]

1. Natural. Awesome.
2. He sounds pretty good, maybe he needs to be randomer and spontaneouser sp?

AND WAIT JUST A MINUTE
I CALL THE DOCTOR DOC

[SamBug]

The dialogue is fantastic. Nothing really needs to be changed. I enjoyed it. Flowed well and was just natural.

Okay I really like this book so far. It's really really interesting and I'm glad I picked it to read because I usually have a short attention span and can't pay attention while sitting at a computer (too much internet) Usually its just a real book that keeps my attention. But this one really kept me hooked and I enjoyed it. Better get going on that next chapter so I can get going on reading it!

[obvious pseudonym]

1. Your dialogue is great jos. Lol u keep asking that. But it's really good
2. The dr is pretty good but he's missing his curiosity and random statements like how he views the world like a five year old seeing all this for the first time

LOOK I GAVE YOU A WHOLE CRAP LOAD OF QUOTES AND YOU HAVEN'T EVEN USED HALF OF THEM. SO I'M NOT GIVING YOU ANY MORE.

[halflives]

Heh heh. Doctor Who is AMAZING.
1. FINEFINE. I giggled at the Doc and Becca.
2. Nope. He's perfect.
WATCH. THE. SHOW.
AND THERE WAS DOCTOR/REBECCA RADIATING OFF THIS CHAPTER. LIKE, THE CHAPTER WAS SCREAMING IT.
Otherwise, well done.

[DontBlink158]

1 The dialogue was good and it did flow naturally. It was good and sounded (with the penny) like something the Doctor would do.
2 Im not sure maybe more random satments, or say something about bow ties, he always says "bow ties are cool". Yes thats it. BOW TIES!!!!!!!!
Google it i found some cool sites a ways back just saying doctor quotes.