Waking up in the TARDIS

River groggily arose from a plain white bed. Scanning her surroundings, she was pleased to find the walls adorned with familiar white circles. The events of the previous night slowly came back to her: the planet Dulkis, and the Quarks, who knew robots could party that hard? And then she drunkenly stumbled her way into the TARDIS. But wait, the Doctor hadn’t come to Dulkis with her, and these walls were a different colour to the ones she was more familiar with. Suddenly she felt the TARDIS lurch, and she sprung out from bed and peeped out of the door. To her surprise, she saw a little man with a beatle like hair cut and scruffy clothing anxiously make his way to the power room, it was her husband, or rather, the man who would one day be her husband. Dammit, she’d stumbled right into the Doctor’s past.

It was hard to not go to him, especially with that adorable little pout of his, but that’s the price of marrying a time traveller River lamented. Well, she best not stick around much longer, it would be pretty awkward having to explain her presence here if the Doctor or one of his companions walked in on her. But just as she raised her vortex manipulator she saw that her clothes were covered in what looked like volcanic ash, of course, Dulkis. Well, she could hardly go roaming around looking like a coal miner, and what was that smell- Oh God! No, she definitely needed a shower first.

Peeling off her soot covered clothes and unclipping her vortex manipulator, she stepped into the showers and rinsed herself off with a healthy dose of warm water. After a long and thorough scrubbing, River finally Turned off the water and dried herself off, her hair regaining it’s natural poof once more and she wrapped a towel around her body. Just as she reached for her vortex manipulator however, a loud vibration caught her attention.

River forgot about leaving for a moment and began to search around the bedroom, trying to find the source of the vibration. She found nothing, but yet the vibration became louder, more intense, and her ears began to ring. River pressed her hands against her head in pain and tried her best to focus, “Concentrate on one thing!” She heard her husband shout, presumably directed at his companions in the console room. River tried to focus on a roundel, trying to guess whether it contained medical supplies, wiring or brandy, but it was to no avail, the vibration was too strong. And when the noise reached it’s headsplitting peak, the walls of the bathroom broke apart and River fell into a black void.

Her towel flew off of her body and it disappeared from sight before River could grab hold of it again. Looking around the void she saw various panels of blue wood, and in the distance she caught sight of a familiar hexagonal console with two people gripping tightly to it. It wasn’t just the bathroom that had broke apart, it was the TARDIS itself! As the distant, high pitched screams of one of the Doctor’s companions echoed, the naked archeologist spiralled into the mist below.

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Author’s note: This story takes place during the 1968 Doctor who serial ‘The Mind Robber,’ as a result there will be various references to the events of that episode within this story.