Lost Companions Chapter 6

"Looks like this is turning into our base," Donna commented as they entered the diner again.
River sat down in a booth and scooted back to make room for the Doctor. "Well that's no good," she said. "Stick around here long and we'll end up accidentally destroying the place."
"We can worry about that later. Right now we need to find out what's going on," the Doctor said as everyone else sat down.
"I have a theory," Rory said.
"Maybe we should find out our enemy's purpose first," Martha suggested. "That will make how they're doing it easier to guess."
"Sure it will," Rose grumbled. "Except that we have no leads and no way of guessing who our enemy is, let alone their purpose."
"I have a theory," Rory stated.
"We do know that they're really powerful, Rose," Amy countered. "Which limits our options a lot more than you'd think."
"Can't be angels," River said, thinking. "They're clever, but not near as organized enough for this."
"Damn, that was my theory," Rory muttered, his comment going unnoticed by the others.
Donna narrowed her eyes. "It's not necessarily a group. Could be just one person."
"Well if it is, that limits our options even further," Martha said. "We don't know a lot of enemies who could pull this off on their own."
Rose was slumped in a chair facing the booth that everyone else had piled into, and although her body language didn't change, she raised an eyebrow. "It could be two enemies, teaming up."
Amy tsked softly. "The possibilities are endless."
"Yeah, good point," Rory said. "It could be anything in the galaxy. It might be something we've never faced before."
River opened her mouth to speak, but fell silent as the Doctor stood suddenly. "I wonder," he said.
The Doctor had been sitting in between River and Martha, but now he made a show of leaping up from between them, swinging over and landing on the booth chair behind everyone. "Something's off here," he continued as he got off the chair and stood between the seated Rose and Martha. "When we tried to send Martha home, she was sent back to the TARDIS. But we're sitting here now in a diner and nothing's happening. What are the rules here? How far can you three go?"
He jumped over Rose's feet and to the door of the diner, stopping only for a second to call behind his shoulder, "Rose, Donna, come with me."
Donna was up and following him instantly. Rose hesitated for a fraction of a second before following as well.


The Doctor ran for about a minute, going until the diner was just out of sight over a hill, about half a mile from the tall and glittering metal spire that was Torchwood. Donna and Rose caught up with him quickly. "What exactly was the point of that?" Donna asked as she caught her breath.
He held up a finger to say "wait" and offered no further explanation.
Sure enough, around two minutes later, River, Amy and Rory could be seen running over the crest of the hill and to the waiting Doctor.
"What happened?" Rose asked. "Where's Mar-"
"She disappeared!" Rory gasped.
"What? What do you mean?" Donna said, raising an eyebrow.
"We were sitting in the diner," River huffed. "Looking out the window to see what you three were up to. When we looked back, Martha wasn't there."
"Thought as much," the Doctor said, beaming proudly. "Come on everyone."
He set off running again. "All the bloody running!" Rory yelled. "Do you ever stop to explain yourself?!" Nevertheless, he followed everyone else down the hill.
The Doctor led them back to the TARDIS and threw open the doors. "Oh clever," he murmured. "Very, very clever indeed."
Lying on the floor in front of the TARDIS console was a rather dumfounded-looking Martha.
"How did I get here?" she asked.
"Well that explains one mystery," the Doctor said as everyone walked inside.
"Mind explaining it to us, the less-intelligent ones?" Amy asked irritably.
"I thought it was obvious. We've now learned the rules of this teleporting... thing our enemy has set up."
"Oh," River said slowly. "I think I see."
"What?" Donna said, exasperated.
"The teleport link is connected to me," the Doctor explained. "Not the TARDIS. If you, Rose or Martha go a certain distance from me, you instantly get sent to the TARDIS."
"But that's not the only thing you've figured out, is it?" River asked.
"No, it's not. Through that little experiment I learned that the teleport doesn't work if someone's looking at the target, or can see the place they'll be teleported to. That also explains the TARDIS' turbulence."
"What does turbulence have to do with teleporting?" Donna asked.
"Our enemies are using the turbulence as a sort of distraction." River said. "That's why when you all passed out, Martha was here when you woke up – you weren't conscious to see her get sent here."
"Am I always the guinea pig?" Martha asked no one in particular.
"And that's also why Martha disappeared when you all weren't looking?" Rose clarified.
"Exactly," the Doctor said. "So, now we know the rules." He looked up to the TARDIS ceiling and shouted, "What comes next, mysterious enemy? What's our next puzzle?"
Although no one was really expecting an answer, everyone found themselves holding their breath. As expected, however, no reply came. The Doctor glanced at everyone in the room. "I'll get them yet."