It had been quite a trying time for the Doctor. With the resurgence of the Master, now a woman calling herself Miss Tarae, the Doctor felt her past catching up and was feeling the usual angst of a functionally immortal being. She just sat in a chair, staring at the console. She could feel the TARDIS trying to reassure her, but it was hard to accept. William arrived. “Hey, Doctor,” he said. “Amy said she found something she wanted to show us. …Doctor?”
“Hm?” asked the Doctor, snapping out of her trance. “Oh, Amy? Yes? What about Mrs. Pond?”
“…Miss Rose,” corrected William. “Is the hedgehog girl not the first Amy you traveled with?”
“…No, but…” The Doctor returned to staring at the console.
“…But?” asked William.
“Doctors of human and alien origin, behold!” came Amy’s voice. She stepped into the console room as if she were on a runway, wearing the same outfit her future self wore!
“Ooh! Amy Blackrose enters the room!” cheered William. “Looking fine as ever!”
“Amy Blackrose, huh?” mused Amy. “There’s a name for this look! Dark, yet beautiful! What do you think, Doctor? …Doctor?”
“Oh, for the love of-! Earth to Doctor!” complained William. The Doctor snapped out of her trance again and gave Amy her attention.
“Oh, hello again,” she said. “More knowledge of the future?”
“I’m not that Amy yet,” replied Amy.
“Oh. Then where did you find her outfit?”
“Over in the TARDIS wardrobe. You like it?”
“Yes, yes, I do. …Very…very becoming,” replied the Doctor.
“Oh, come on, Doctor!” said William. “Put some life into it! Her natural pink works well with the black of her clothes!”
“What’s wrong, Doctor?” asked Amy. “Feeling homesick? We could always visit Earth in William’s time.”
“Earth isn’t my home, Miss Rose,” replied the Doctor as she stood up. “I’m a Time Lord…a Time Lord that walks further in eternity than the rest of her race ever did.”
“It’s what Miss Tarae said about that Timeless Child stuff, isn’t it?” asked William.
“Yes. …A Time Lord lives longer than a human, and I’ve lived longer than an average Time Lord, thanks to what I learned about myself,” sighed the Doctor. “…I’ve lived almost 10,000 years now.”
“So, you’re…middle-aged?” asked Amy.
“Middle-aged?! Miss Rose, I’m ANCIENT by anyone’s measurement! …And now a renegade Time Lord with the moral compass of a petty dictator has the same lifespan as me.”
“Would chasing her make you feel better?” asked William.
“No, it won’t. I’ve played that kind of game before and hated every move I made.”
“Well, maybe telling us what this Timeless Child stuff is all abOOOAAAAAHHH!” Amy’s sentence was cut off as the TARDIS suddenly lurched! Everyone grabbed the console to steady themselves as the Doctor made several corrections. Soon, it was back in normal flight. “What was that, Doctor?!” yelped Amy.
“I’m not sure,” replied the Doctor. “It was almost as if the TARDIS lost power for a second.” The TARDIS then made its arrival sound. “…We seem to have landed in a relative safe place in space-time, so I can conduct repairs,” muttered the Doctor. She switched the scanner on.
“…It looks like a corridor,” remarked William.
“A big one,” continued Amy. “And dark purple all around.”
“…How annoying,” muttered the Doctor. “I feel like I’ve seen that kind of architecture before. …I better jog my memory. You two coming?”
The trio left the TARDIS and went down the corridor. It was clear that the people using it were giants, almost six meters in height on average, not accounting for the 3-meter clearance from the ceiling. “Hm…rather peculiar,” mused the Doctor. “The air feels familiar, but I can’t place it.”
“Can anyone hear that buzzing?” asked William.
“I thought I was hearing things after the TARDIS shook,” replied Amy.
“No, I hear that buzzing too,” confirmed the Doctor. “Sounds like…a force-field. Come on.” The Doctor led the way down the corridor. They then arrived at what looked like a detention block with giant cells guarded by force-fields. They had a slight purple tint to them, but were transparent enough to see the occupants. There were five prisoners in total…and they were all humanoid robots with the tallest one being six meters. They all looked like they had various parts from cars and trucks of the 1980s. “Oh dear,” realized the Doctor.
“Doctor?” asked William. The tallest robot, a red and blue robot with antennae and a faceplate over his mouth, looked up from his seat and saw the trio.
“Humans!” he said in a bass voice. “How did you get on board?!”
“Entirely by accident, Optimus, I assure you,” replied the Doctor. “And Amy and I aren’t humans. She’s a hedgehog from Mobius, far off in the future, and I’m the time-traveler bringing her and Dr. William Davies here with me through time and space.”
“Not human?” asked a white robot with a pair of black horns on his head and a medical cross on his shoulders. “And time travel? …Do you have a blue box for a time machine?”
“Ratchet! Old friend!” said the Doctor. “I haven’t seen you since that battle in London. The Decepticons almost destroyed the Terminus Blade fragment that day, right?”
“I don’t believe it! It IS you, Doctor!” said the medical robot, Ratchet.
“Hang on, you said ‘Decepticons’,” said William. “And called that robot…” He was pointing at the red and blue robot. “…Optimus Prime?!” he gasped. “Doctor, you actually MET the Transformers?!”
“I was a black Scotsman the last time I met them, but yes,” replied the Doctor.
“Doctor, what are you doing here?” asked Optimus. “This is a prison ship under Megatron’s direct command!”
“No wonder the architecture looked familiar,” gulped the Doctor.
“Guys, could someone fill in the lost hedgehog?!” called Amy. “What ARE the Transformers?”
“A race of naturally occurring robots from the planet of Cybertron that can change their shape into a vehicular mode,” replied the Doctor. “Robots that can think and feel as we do. Unfortunately, they’re a species defined by civil war between the Autobots, these poor fellows, and the Decepticons.”
“From what I’ve heard, the Autobots are people that care about life and freedom,” said William, “while the Decepticons are blood-thirsty conquerors.”
“Yo! Doc! Behind you!” called the voice of an Autobot with door wings and a visor over his optics.
“Well, well, well!” came a nasally voice. The Doctor and her companions turned to see a robot with wings and rifles attached to his upper arms. He was reddish-orange and white. “I thought I saw a TARDIS here, so to hear that YOU, madam, are that blonde man with the vegetable on his lapel-!” continued the robot.
“Oh, you have got to be kidding!” complained the Doctor. “Starscream, are you still sore about the cricket bat to the face?! I panicked after YOU picked me up like trash!”
“You made me the laughingstock of the Decepticon Empire, Doctor!” shrieked the new robot, Starscream. He then spotted Amy. “…I see you still have a taste for the feminine companions, Doctor.” He then grabbed the hedgehog!
“AMY!” called William.
“PUT HER DOWN!” demanded the Doctor.
“Hey, that’s a new dress, you creep!” shouted Amy.
“Silence, fleshling!” cackled Starscream. “Now, Doctor, what say we go have a nice chat on the bridge? Unless, of course, you want me to turn the pink thing into a black, pink, and red paste!” Starscream had evidently not learned rule 1 of holding Amy Rose hostage: when doing so, make sure she doesn’t have an arm free. Amy summoned a huge, red and gold, mallet-style hammer. Starscream’s optics flickered. “…Erm, where did you-?” He get far with his sentence. One minute, he was holding Amy, assuming her to be a damsel in distress. The next, he was clutching his face in pain with both hands after Amy boomeranged her hammer between his optics. Amy landed on her feet and held her hammer with both hands. “WHY, YOU PINK RAT!” screeched Starscream.
“I’m a hedgehog, not a rat!” snapped Amy. She then brought her hammer down on Starscream’s foot! Starscream hopped around in pain, then the lights went out briefly.
“…Doctor, isn’t that what happened with the TARDIS?” asked William.
“So the Decepticons AREN’T the source of the power fluctuations,” remarked the Doctor.
“Doctor, I’m going to enjoy squishing you!” snarled Starscream as he recovered.
“I hope, for your sake,” said Optimus’ voice, “you can do so quickly.” Starscream then looked at the shadow on the floor. …That was NOT his shadow. He turned around to see that the Autobots were on the wrong side of their cells’ forcefields and looked ready to give him a beating!
“…Eh heh heh,” laughed Starscream nervously. “Erm, this was all a misunderstanding, Optimus. You understand, right? I was merely following orders and MEGATROOOOOOOON!” Starscream then transformed into his alt-mode (an F-15 Eagle fighter jet) and took off!
“Autobots, Doctor, we must secure the bridge!” called Optimus.
“Optimus, there’s no way Starscream and Megatron are the only Decepticons on this ship!” protested the Doctor.
“We have to risk it!” insisted Optimus. “Autobots, transform and roll out!” The Autobots assumed their alt-modes (Optimus turning into a red White Freightliner WFT-8664T cabover semi-trailer truck, the Autobot with a visor and door wings turning into a Martini Racing Porsche 935, Ratchet and his red twin turning into Nissan Sunny-Vanette Coach SGL’s with Ratchet’s paintwork and accessories making him into an ambulance, and the smallest Autobot turning into a yellow Volkswagen Type 1). “Doctor, you and your friends will want to come with us,” offered Optimus as he opened his doors. The Doctor and William then climbed into Optimus’ cab. The Doctor was ready to grab the steering wheel…only there wasn’t one in front of her.
“Erm, Doctor?” asked William as he took the steering wheel.
“…Right. American. Left hand drive,” remembered the Doctor. Meanwhile, Amy climbed into the Volkswagen.
“Ooh! Pink seats!” she said as she got in.
“Name’s Bumblebee, and you?” asked the Volkswagen.
“Amy Rose from Mobius. WAY far off in your future.”
“Nice to meet you!” With those introductions out of the way, the Autobots gunned their engines and Optimus led the charge…right into a volley of Decepticon fire!