There was nothing worse than being stuck just outside the action, having to work from second hand information. From people describing the touch, trying to work out what they were seeing without the ability to look at it himself. He hadn't realised just how much Danielle's eyesight had needed correcting with her glasses.
He hated being stuck in the TARDIS. Normally his time machine was a help, but with her in such a terrible state all she had become a prison. An infinitely sized prison, granted, but still a prison.
Not only that, but his wife was just outside that prison. He could talk to her, he could see what she saw. But he couldn't touch her, he couldn't save her. She was saving him this time around. And she was doing a great job, but then again he'd never doubted her. His job now was no more than a data analyser. He took whatever she and Clara gave him and tried to work out exactly what was drawing the dimensions from the TARDIS and stealing people from the estate.
Clara.
Clara was really started to take liberties. He watched her hold his wife's hand, take her kisses happily and check her over when she was hurt. He had to stand at the TARDIS console and do nothing to stop her trying to show off, to entice his Danielle. She'd never fall for it, after all she loved him dearly, but watching Clara trying to pretend to be him and using it to get closer to his wife was incredibly frustrating.
He'd seethed as she'd cupped Danni's face, checking her over for a cut that was barely there and one that he should have been frantic over. He fumed because she hadn't protected his wife better, that she had been more bothered about her boyfriend than her friend. Most of all, he was angry at how she was able to touch his wife, and yet he was stuck in the TARDIS as they ran from the threat.
Without anything physical to do, he had to step up his game. Now he knew that they were dealing with something beyond their universe, which meant he had to shove all of his normal thinking right out of the window. Well, if he had a window. He did technically have a little door he could shove them through, but the sentiment really wasn't the same.
So, frantically musing out loud it was. At least Danielle did like to hear him work. She did love him being 'all smart'.
"This explains everything," he told them both, spinning on the spot in his excitement. This was something new. This was what travelling was all about. "They're from a universe with only two dimensions. And, yes, that is a thing. It's long been theorised, of course, but no one could go there and prove its existence without a heck of a diet."
"That's all well and good," Danielle replied. "But what do we do now? They just ate that couch up. We can't stop that, can we?"
"I'm working on that," he said dismissively. "Give me time, my Pet. This is all new even to me. Isn't it exciting?"
"The police woman died," Clara pointed out.
"But yes," Danielle said. "Apart from the death, and the fact you're stuck in the TARDIS. Well… maybe exciting isn't the best word… Should we head back to the source?"
From the monitors linked to their optic nerves, he could see they were already walking down the street, most likely in the right direction for the estate. "Yes, that would be best," he replied, moving away from the monitors and another part of the console, already calibrating exactly what he needed. "Now I know I'm not looking for something of this universe, I can increase the sonic's scan, look for parameters..."
"Sorry, what... that sweetie?" Danielle asked. "You… breaking up..."
He frowned, jogging slightly as he headed back to the monitors. The images were flickering, black and white static replacing the views he should be seeing.
"Oh, right, blowing out that window's possibly affected the earpieces," he explained. "Take them out and sonic them."
The screens went dark for a moment as the pair did what he asked, then they flickered back to life again. Clara's had a view of Danielle, who was moving shuffling the TARDIS around so she could hold it with both hands, which was mainly what he could see on hers. Then she looked up at Clara, whose minute facial expression said she was surprised to be caught looking at her. He glared at the screen; he'd told her about eyeballing his wife.
"Is that better, sweetie?" Danielle asked him. The screen didn't flicker, and her voice came in loud and clear.
"I would say so," he replied and on Clara's screen she smiled happily, relieved that they weren't cut off permanently. He had to admit that he agreed. Not being there to ensure her safety was the worst thing about being trapped in the TARDIS. At least the one good thing about Clara's silly little crush was that she would also do everything in her power to ensure the same.
Clara and the local started walking, but it became obvious pretty quickly that Danielle was falling behind, her eyes low and on both the ground and the TARDIS, like she didn't want it out of her sight.
"What's wrong, my Pet?" he asked. Her gaze quickly rose. He'd caught her out. Clara briefly looked back, but he didn't check her monitor to see what look Danielle sent her way to make her continue on without a word.
"It's just..." she started, trailing off for a moment. "Well, this is all new, and if it wasn't for all the death it really would be exciting and all that. But, it is new. What if we can't work out how to stop them? What if it's irreversible? What… What if you're stuck in there?"
Her voice hid none of her concern, and the way the TARDIS moved in her arms suggested that she was hugging it tightly. It was definitely a thought that had crossed his mind amongst the other hundred thousand he'd been trying to process. He didn't want to entertain the possibility, but it definitely was one.
"The TARDIS would eventually restore the dimensions she's lost," he explained, which was a guess on his part to be perfectly honest but he made sure to sound like it was an obvious answer. "You and Clara would just have to train in back to London instead."
"Really?" Danielle asked, sounding unsure and he shrugged to himself.
"Of course. Once the dimensions are being left alone, she won't have her efforts drawn away. It'll take a bit of time, but she'll repair herself. She always does."
"You're right," she replied. "I know you are. I would just rather be trapped in there with you than out here without you, that's all."
"Let me assure you, the feeling is entirely mutual," he promised. That also may not have been exactly true. Without the TARDIS she may have been stuck on Earth again, but if something was to go wrong then she would at least survive. However, he would always prefer her by his side.
She fell silent, but her walking didn't speed up and her gaze didn't raise from the floor. She still wasn't reassured that everything would be okay, and he hated that.
He glanced at the tiny doorway in the middle of the wall, shaking his head at himself. This was ridiculous, but at least it would work. And if she also felt better by it, then at least it wasn't purely for himself.
He walked over, knocking on the tiny door with his finger before opening it. Danielle had stopped and he could just about see her looking down at the box. He stuck his hand out, just to the wrist, blocking his view completely. But, a moment later her fingers linked with his and he heard her giggle.
"You sentimental old fool," she said softly and he gave her a squeeze. "Thank you."
"Do you have faith in me, my Pet?" he asked.
"You know I do," she replied like he should have known better. He just liked to hear her say it. "Always."
"Then I will sort this out," he promised. "You know I don't like you out of my sight for long."
She giggled. He had to wonder what a sight she was; walking down the street, happy smile on her face, holding a hand that was coming out of a small box. "All you have to do is tell Clara to look at me and you'll see me," she pointed out. "You're the one out of my sight."
"Seeing you through someone else's eyes just doesn't cut it, my Pet," he told her. "I like to watch you work in person."
"What? With my smart glasses?" she teased in reply.
"Hey!" Rigsy shouted from further ahead and the Doctor frowned to himself. "They can't do that. Hey! What you doing?"
~0~0~0~
Clara couldn't hear Danni, but she could hear the Doctor. She tried not to listen in, but it was hard when she had a direct line to his end of the conversation. It was sweet that he was trying to reassure her, but Clara knew him better than that. Danni might take his words as a promise to fix it, but she only heard him trying to give her hope that he could do it. At this point of time, though, it was false hope. If it was really from another universe, how were they supposed to kill it?
It didn't seem fair to lie to her like that. But, if it kept her running if and when they needed to, Clara could understand him doing it. And, hopefully, he would be able to pull through on the promise and she'll get to her date on time.
She and Rigsy stayed a little ahead of them, though, as if giving them privacy. Pretending that she couldn't hear him in his ear.
"Hey!" She snapped out of her thoughts as Rigsy stormed forward, into the tunnel with the murals of the missing people in it. "They can't do that. Hey! What you doing?"
She sped up in her steps, seeing the sight that had caused him such outrage. His community service group were in the tunnel, getting ready to paint over the images of the missing people.
"Our job," snapped the man he'd approached. He must have been the leader. She could see it, he seemed a bit of an arse. "You're on report, by the way. Late back from lunch."
She could understand the large reaction, though. His aunt had gone missing after all, and this was there to remind people that she had existed in the first place. She'd be furious if someone tried to paint over something that reminded her of her mother.
Danni appeared at her side and Clara tried not to scowl at the way her fingers seemed to be interlinked with the Doctor's through the TARDIS door. She was supposed to be her wife. How was being undercover going to work if they kept insisting on breaking it?
"What's going on?" she asked Clara with a frown on her face.
"Oh, they're painting over the mural," Clara replied and Danni turned back, looking at the walls with the frown not moving.
"The mural," she stated slowly before her eyes widened. "Oh my god!"
"Danielle? Talk to me!" the Doctor demanded.
"It's the murals. They're the people. Like PC Forrest," Danni quickly exclaimed.
"The missing people! They're in the walls!" the Doctor confirmed frantically. He quickly dropped Danni's hand, dashing back into the TARDIS, slamming the door shut behind him. Danni went back to hugging the box with two arms instead of one.
"What do we do?" Clara asked, firmly and calmly. They could panic but it wouldn't do them any good.
"Act normal, but get everyone out," the Doctor told them both.
Clara nodded to herself, leaving Danni at the entrance to the tunnel as she walked over hands in her pockets, pretending to be casual. "They're very realistic," she stated to the group. "Who painted them?"
Rigsy, who was still a little riled up, turned to her. "I don't know. A local artist," he offered, hoping that she was going to back him up. "Probably a grieving relative."
"Did you ever meet them?" she asked him, turning her back on the rest and meeting his gaze, making sure he knew how serious this was by giving him a pointed look. "Or did they just appear after people disappeared?"
"And who are you when you're at home, love?" the man in charge asked as Rigsy seemed to understand exactly what she was suggesting.
Clara reached into her bag without looking, brandishing the psychic paper to the man. "Health and safety!" she declared, with full confidence that the paper would reflect this for her. "This subway is unsafe. Everyone needs to leave right now."
The man took the wallet off her, then promply shut it and shoved it towards her. "This is blank," he replied, annoyed. "Try again, sweetheart."
"What?" Clara, Danni and the Doctor all exclaimed at the same time.
"That's impressive," Danni continued. The man didn't look particularly talented in that area, but she knew it was possible for people to beat the psychic paper.
"It takes quite a lack of imagination to beat psychic paper," the Doctor corrected.
"Stan. Do your job," the man commanded. A man stepped forward, towards the mural, paintbrush in hand. Danni shot forward.
"No, don't!" she screamed but it was too late. The moment the paintbrush touched the area he was sucked into the wall. The moment his image appeared, the rest started to turn, the paintings blurring as they moved.
"What is this?" one of the men cried. "What are they?"
"They're wearing the dead like camouflage," the Doctor told the pair.
"Forget Stan. Your friend's gone," Clara told them all.
"Danielle, get out of there!" the Doctor exclaimed and Clara definitely agreed with him. They had already started backing out slowly, so at least everyone's self preservation was in tack.
"We need to move," she said firmly. "Now."
None of the men were complaining and they turned and ran out of the tunnel. Danni didn't, but of course she didn't. She was watching the way the paintings seemed to melt off the wall, falling to the floor in a river of black water. She wanted to try and work it out, Clara could see the cogs moving in her brain, wondering if maybe they could build a barrier, or even if there was a way to bring them back to life. But they didn't have time for that.
She reached out, forcing Danni to let go of the TARDIS with one hand that Clara then held onto tightly. "Danni-Girl, run!" she commanded, practically dragging her out of the tunnel. It took a moment, but she felt Danni start to run and soon they were side by side.
"We need somewhere strong," the blonde told her. "Somewhere we can haul up in while we work out what the hell to do next."
"Preferably somewhere with a large, open space," the Doctor agreed. "Somewhere you can all stay far away from the walls."
Luckily the men had all seemed to have a similar idea, as they were all heading towards the railway station where the TARDIS had first landed. A large open field did seem like a good idea, but it also offered no safety. Clara's eyes scanned the area and spotted a large corrugated iron shed.
"In there!" she called to them, and they all dove into the large shed. The men ran deep into it, past all the train carriages. Clara didn't let go of Danni, but pulled out the sonic to scan the area. If anything was wrong, the Doctor would tell them about it.
"Are we really hiding from killer graffiti? This is insane," one man said.
"I agree," the Doctor replied in their ears. "We'll have to think of a better name for them than that."
"I'm not too sure the name is that important," Danni hissed frantically in reply. "Their friend just was sucked into a wall and we might be next. What do we do?"
"This is a vital stage," the Doctor explained quickly. "This little group is currently confused and disorientated but pretty soon a leader is going to emerge."
Before the Doctor could tell them that he wanted it to be Danni, before Danni even had a chance to agree with his words, Clara was striding forward, head held high. She was the Doctor now, she could totally do this. She was the boss, after all.
"I'm on it," she declared, leaving Danni to watch her in surprise. "George. George, isn't it? Can you watch that area? If you hear anything, anything moves, you shout, okay?"
As she walked towards the group, the leader stormed towards her angrily. "He will do no such thing until I get some answers," he told her but she continued to walk past like it wasn't fazing her at all. "Who are you? That's what I want to know. Impersonating a government official. Trespassing on council property."
She rolled her eyes in exasperation, suddenly understanding why the Doctor had no patience for people any more. Instead of being worried about being eaten by the walls, this man was petty enough to be angry about her breaking council rules. She turned. "Seriously?"
"Seriously!" he retorted. She stared for a moment at him, wanting to shake him for being such a bloody idiot, but that wasn't going to work. She needed to keep a level head, be in charge, keep everyone safe. If they didn't follow her, she had no chance of saving any of them, including Danni.
"Fine, I'll tell you who I am," she told him before leaning in closer. "I am the one chance you've got of staying alive," she hissed. "That's who I am."
Then she turned away from the group, leaving them to ponder on her words as she scouted an exit route. She confirmed that the doorway at the back of the room led somewhere they could navigate, then made her way back over to Danni.
The blonde had been watching her little performance with furrowed brows, and Clara couldn't help the little voice wondering if she had been impressed. Even from right at the start, after their first trip to Akhaten, all she had wanted to do was impress Danni. The woman hadn't seemed to like her then, and no one could dislike her. She had never been able to handle knowing that not everyone liked her even at her insistence otherwise. Now, though, it was more. If Danni was impressed with her act, then maybe she was just doing everything right.
The Doctor always took time to reassure her, even when the situation was dire. So she smiled at Danni, who tried to smile back but it didn't light up her face like it normally did. She was probably scared. Clara could sympathise. She reached out, cupping her cheek, keeping her smile big.
"Hey, we're going to be fine," she promised. "We'll get out of this."
Danni nodded. "Oh, oh, I know," she replied. "I'm just worried about… well, you know." She lifted the TARDIS slightly to illustrate her point and Clara let her hand slide down to her shoulder, giving it a squeeze.
"I know, but everything is going to be okay. Have faith in me, Danni-Girl. I'll get us away from here, you'll see."
Danni didn't reply, but the Doctor did. "Welcome to my world," he drawled. "So what's next, Doctor Clara?"
"Lie to them," she replied simply.
"What?"
"Lie to them," she repeated. "Give them false hope. Tell them they're all going to be fine. That's what you do with Danni all the time. Give her false hope when you don't know if you're going to be able to save her."
Danni continued to look at her with furrowed brows, confused by her words. Clara felt bad about bringing it to her attention, but that was what she needed to do next. Convince them she had everything under control so they didn't question her.
"In a manner of speaking," the Doctor admitted, validating her thought process. "It's true that people with hope tend to run faster, whereas people who think they're doomed..."
"Dawdle. End up dead. You always lie to her to keep her running," Clara retorted. She took a deep breath. She needed to get on with it.
"Is that what you just did?" Danni asked her before she walked off. "Give me false hope?"
Clara shook her head. "No, no, of course not," she replied reassuringly. "I'd never lie to you about to something like that. But you won't get worked up if I tell you that I'm not sure how yet. You understand, they don't. It's only false hope when you have no faith to back it up."
Danni nodded slowly. "Fair enough," she said. "Could you just..." she motioned to her ear. "Remove that from your ear for a minute? I need to have a talk with my husband."
Clara felt a little bad about getting him into trouble, but there was a tiny part of her that made her feel rather pleased as well. "Of course. I'll be over there," she motioned to the men. "Give me a shout."
Clara popped the earpiece out and walked off, leaving them for their moment. That was a mistake. The Doctor never gave people time for 'moments' when they had a gun to their head. She didn't really think about it until she was already away from the pair, but she knew Danni would be happier with the moment so she let them be.
"So that's what I sound like," the Doctor drawled and Danni shook her head to herself.
"No it's not," she said lowly. "I never thought I'd have to have the talk with Clara."
"The talk?"
"About how people seem to misunderstand my husband," she explained. "I thought she understood. She did use to understand. Something's changed."
The Doctor knew exactly what. Clara was starting to see Danni as more than the friend she had claimed she was. The feelings were starting to rise to the surface and she was trying to wedge a gap between the married couple. Luckily the last year had shown them both that no one would ever succeed with that, but he could spot the effort a mile away. He could only sit back and hope that she would realise her behaviour soon enough and they could get back on track.
"Being me is a lot of pressure," the Doctor explained. "Not everyone can be as smart and as talented..."
Danni shook her head, a smirk pulling at the corner of her lips. "You're an idiot," she retorted. "Love you."
"Love you too, my Pet."
"Do you have a plan?"
"Yes. Well, kind of," he replied. "And I think it's time to act on it."
She nodded. "Clara!" she called over and the teacher looked over. She motioned to her ear to let her know it was safe to rejoin the conversation. Clara popped the earpiece back in and walked over.
"Right, here's something that might help you," the Doctor said to them both, getting back to business. "Do you remember the graffiti from the estate?"
~0~0~0~
It was a shame that the two dimensional creatures hadn't wanted to talk in the way the Doctor had hoped they had. He'd really hoped that they weren't there to harm the people of Earth, and he really tried to hold onto that as the remaining group ran down into the depths of the tunnels and as far away from the threat as they could.
Well, actually, was it really possible to run away from them? They had no way of knowing where these creatures were, or how far spread their reach was. Perhaps they had cornered themselves deep underground, but it was the only option they'd had.
And, once again, he was stuck inside the TARDIS as his wife and his friend ran for dear life with what remained of the motley crew. Well, maybe not his friend. Apparently Clara saw him as something a lot darker than he had thought she had, something he had hoped he'd proven himself not to be. Not only that, but she was using the opportunity to try and win Danielle to her side again. Seemingly exposing how he was 'lying' to her.
Instead of dwelling on how he really needed to evaluate Clara's motives for being on the TARDIS, he set to work. Having seen the creatures in action and being able to get some readings off them, he sat down at his workbench and knocked up something that actually might be useful.
"Doctor, we've got nowhere to go," Danni told him. "The exits are all blocked. They've flattened the handles to all the doors."
"Rigsy, where's the next exit?" Clara asked.
"The only other one I can think of is where the old line joins the new, but it's a fair walk. Getting through that door would be quicker," the young man explained.
"But we can't, can we?" the Doctor heard the foreman snap. He rolled his eyes as he continued to put his makeshift gadget together; some people just were made to suck the hope out of every situation.
"I might be able to help with that door," he said out loud to the pair, overestimating himself just in case. "Give me five minutes."
"Should we wait here?" Danni asked him.
"No, we should keep moving," Clara answered before he could even suggest just keeping an eye on the area. He wouldn't be much longer with the device – which he really needed a name for – so leaving their best exit wasn't the best idea. "We can always loop back if and when..."
"When," he murmured to himself, slightly annoyed at yet another jab. Something really must have changed since the last time they'd seen her because she always showed off to Danielle, but this was something new.
"The Doctor finishes his thing. We don't want to get caught out by standing still." It was as if the more danger they seemed to be in, the more she needed Danielle to know she was in charge. He remembered a time when he could tell her to wait for him and she actually would stay where she was and wait. He'd not had any other companion who was like that, even Danielle liked to run into danger head on at times. Whatever happened to that Clara?
Oh, yeah, she jumped into his timeline. That probably hadn't helped.
Perhaps Danielle may have a point about his behaviour regarding her safety. Clara was obviously anxious to keep her out of immediate danger, so much so she was actually not thinking about the bigger picture and getting them all safe indefinitely.
He quickened his pace. He could work on that later too.
"What is it you're working on?" Danielle asked him.
"I think I've figured out a way to restore three dimensions," he explained, pushing the casing onto the device. He hadn't needed five minutes. He'd barely needed one. He smirked to himself. He was so clever. "At least on a small scale, say door handles."
"So, what's that, then? A de-flattener?" Clara asked, sounding less than impressed. He couldn't blame her. That was a terrible name.
He smirked to himself, pulling a little piece of masking tape off the roll and quickly scribbling on it. "We're not calling it a de-flattener," he replied firmly before heading for the doors. He held the device out of the tiny opening and Clara's hand snatched it off him.
"This should be able to restore dimensions," he explained. "You see what I've called it?"
Outside the TARDIS, Clara tilted the device to show it to Danni, who immediately giggled to herself. "Oh, that's so clever," she praised. "I like it."
"Two D is. Two Dee Iz?" Clara read off with a frown. She didn't get it.
"No, no," Danni corrected. "It's two and dis. You know, Twodis? Like TARDIS? It's a play on words. It's cute."
Clara cocked an eyebrow, baffled at why Danni thought it was such a good name. "You two are made for each other," she commented.
Danni nodded. "I know," she replied happily, like having puns in common was a good thing. "How do we use it?"
"Just point it at the handle and press the button," he replied as Clara strode over to the door. "Go on, then, give it a try."
She pointed the large sphere at the top of the Twodis at the door, pressing the button. A green light lit up on the end, illuminating the flattened handle. It shook, it made a whirring noise, then it started heavily smoking. Then, with a crack and sizzle, it turned off. The handle was still flat and she deflated slightly. Nothing was ever easy, was it?
"Long way round it is," she muttered.
Danni frowned as a quiet alarm came from her earpiece. "Doctor..."
"Danielle, Clara," he replied before she'd had a chance to ask. "I don't know how, but they're doing it again. They're leeching the TARDIS!"
"How? Your doors are closed," Clara asked.
"They've changed frequency. This time it's different."
"What do we do?" Danni asked, lifting the TARDIS up to her face. "How do we stop them?"
"You don't," he replied. "Not yet. We don't know how to. Here, pass me the Twodis."
Danni snatched it from Clara, surprising the other woman slightly, before opening the doors and pushing it through. "So more running?"
"More running," the Doctor confirmed. "Keep moving. I'm going to fix this."
"Are you safe, though?" Danni asked him as Clara headed back to the little group. "Theta, are you safe?"
There was a pause. "As long as you keep moving, I will be," he replied, which didn't reassure her in any way. But she tightened her hold on the TARDIS and jogged to Clara's side. She could keep him safe while they ran.
She didn't like how helpless she was. For some reason being outside of the TARDIS didn't seem like much of a benefit to her now. Inside she could have been more helpful. He could have directed her to help much easier, she could have done research. This was completely new and completely dangerous and nothing she had learnt over the last few hundred years could really help except 'get away as far and as fast as you can'.
"I don't know," Clara was saying to the last three men from the group. "He's not sure. He's getting readings all around." She pulled out the sonic screwdriver, trying to find a setting that might actually help them locate where the creatures were coming from. They needed to run, that was obvious, but they couldn't just run straight into the open mouths of the things that wanted to eat them.
"Oh, that's just great," Fenton, the leader, snapped. "Sounds important but means absolutely nothing. Can you tell your friend..."
Before he could finish a giant, 3D, hand reached out from the way they had been heading. It picked up another of the men – Al – and took him off down the tunnel. His screams echoed until he was no longer there to scream, and they all just stared after him in horror.
"Of course. The next stage," the Doctor whispered. "3D."
Danni tapped Clara on the arm repeatedly as the ground began to move, lumps appearing all over as the creatures followed through with their next stage. People began emerging from the dirt, their images flickering as they struggled to replicate the people they had stolen.
"Run. Run now!" she exclaimed and the group turned and ran away from the creatures. A quick look over her shoulder showed Danni that the creatures weren't going to sit by as their prey got away. They were being followed by a group of barely-together zombies. If she hadn't been in the middle of it, it would have been ridiculous.
~0~0~0~
"Doctor? The door. The handle's flattened!"
The Doctor looked up from his place, back at his workbench, then quickly finished off his alterations to his brilliantly named device. At least Danielle had appreciated his play on words. Hopefully, though, this time it would stand up to its fabulous name.
He popped the case back on then headed to the door, handing it back out to Clara. "I've boosted the output!"
She took it off him. "And it will work this time?"
He closed the door, hoping that he sounded more sure than he felt. "Absolutely."
He rushed to the console to see both women watch the handle pop back out into existence. The now-not-so fluorescent pudding brain opened the door and the group rushed inside, ready to run away.
"Clara, stop!" he shouted before they got far, an idea springing to mind that might actually buy them some time when they really needed it. "Use it again. It can reverse the process." She did just that, but then didn't move once it was flattened like she should have. What was she doing?
"Clara, we need to move!" he heard Danielle shout.
"Wait," Clara replied and he watched as the handle popped back out once again. She wanted to see if the creatures could reverse their reversal. That was very clever, actually. He should have thought of that.
"They have a new ability. Of course they have. Now they're 3D, they can restore dimensions," he commented, letting her know that she was right but in such a way Danielle would think he'd already worked that out.
He rushed back over to the blackboard where he'd been jotting down his own thoughts and equations. He'd been trying to work out what to do next, but there was nothing he could do from such a confined, powerless space. Even his workings seemed to just be scrawls of numbers and letters. If only he had more power. The Time Lords were masters with dimensions. The TARDIS was just proof of that. If he could just power her up, then none of this would be an issue at all.
In front of his eyes all his calculations seemed to come together and he rushed back to the console, checking just what he had at his disposal. It wasn't enough, but now now he knew how to get more. Each time the creatures changed dimensions, either for themselves of the environment around them, there was a large spike in energy all around them. If he could just gather that energy, pump it into the TARDIS...
"Clara, do you want the good news or the bad news?" he called to his friend and current counterpart on the outside.
"We're in the bad news! We're living the bad news!" she shouted back. He ignored her.
"The good news is I've come up with a theoretical way to send them back to their own dimension," he told them both.
"Get on with it, then!" Danni cried, sounding more out of breath than he would have liked. "There's only so much tunnel we can run down!"
"And that's the bad news," he broke to her gently. Clara had stopped in a small opening on the side of the tunnel. She was looking between Danni and where they had come. Hopefully he could see her in the flesh soon now that he had a plan. "The TARDIS doesn't have enough dimensional energy to pull it off."
"What do you want me to do about it?" Clara snapped.
"Apparently these things can pump it out as fast as they can steal it," he explained, giving them both a moment to see if they could see where his train of thought was going.