T.A.R.D.I.F Episode 1.5

    WHooSHwhOOshWHooSHwhOOshwOoooGRRRRRRRRRIIIIiiiiinnnnd... 
     Madison looked up from the bookshelf. It was her turn to choose where they were heading, and she'd been in the middle of choosing a book- typically a three hour long process- when the usual gentle whirring of the machine turned into a horrid grinding. Then it stopped all together.
      She looked down from the first level. "Keeper?" she called "What's going on? What's wrong? Did we break down somewhere?"
       The Keeper was currently running frantically around the center pillar console- or the C.P.C- checking readings and pressing seemingly random buttons. Rory was stumbling out of the kitchen, still wearing an apron and carrying a spatula. He looked up at her.
        "Maddy, what's going on?"
        "Wish I knew." she shouted back. "And how many times do I have to tell you-"
         She was cut off by the entire ship lurching to one side. Madison nearly fell off the railing of the upper library. Rory, meanwhile, fell over and got smacked in the face with his own spatula, then knocked his head on a door frame. The Keeper was the only one who managed to retain his balance. He darted around the C.P.C a few more times, slowly bringing the vessel back to it's proper aliment.
          "Everyone all right?" he called out when he finally stopped. 
          Rory groaned. "I've had worse."
          "I've been better." Madison frowned. "Keeper, where are we?"
          The Keeper sighed as he helped Rory to his feet. "I'm afraid I don't know, dear girl. We've crashed. That's about as far as my knowledge extends. I don't know why, and I don't know where." He grimaced. "I hate not knowing things, it puts me off my tea."
           "Crashed?" Madison's voice sounded frail and small, even to her. The Keeper climbed up the stairs to her, helping her up. 
           "It will be alright, Madison." He soothed. "There isn't any real problem unless the red lights come on."
            The mentioned lights chose that opportune moment to flick themselves on. Madison's throat felt tight. The next thing she knew, Rory was having her breathe into a paper bag. She reflected on how useful it was to have a son of the Greek god of medicine around.
            When she was calm again, the Keeper got down from the perch he had acquired on the book ladder. He had several books tucked under his arm. Madison couldn't make out the titles, but they looked thick and old, just the way the Keeper liked them. 
           "Are you quite well now, my dear?" the Keeper waited for her to nod. "Good. then let us go see where we've landed. The screen is shot, and I haven't the time to repair it at present. We shall have to do it manually."
           "Manually?" Rory questioned. "You mean, like, go outside?" 
           The Keeper looked at him as if he'd sprouted another head, or suggested outlawing tea. "Well, what did you think I meant?" he said indigently. "Send out dogs with trackers and a camera? We haven't the time or supplies for any such thing. Come," he said briskly "Let us take another step towards adventure!"

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    White, that was what was all that was outside. Blank, uninterrupted white. Nothing. 

     Madison wasn't sure if it was vertigo or butterflies in her stomach. There was a sense of wrongness all around. As if space itself had been ripped away and replaced with… a blank page. 

       "Oh dear," the Keeper murmured. "Oh dear, what's wrong dear girl?" 

      Madison turned to see him lightly stroking the frame of the T.A.R.D.I.F.

      Rory, meanwhile, looked as if he was going to be sick. He looked at his spatula as if wishing it was his gladius. 

      "Keeper?" Madison whimpered. "Where are we?" 

       The Keeper turned to her, looking a bit surprised she was still there. He frowned, creating a few more lines in his wrinkled brow. 

        "I'm afraid we've landed in the Inkspace, the space between books." He explained. "Normally we travel through this to from one book to another. Occasionally, we stall here. Typically when someone can't make up their mind of where they wish to go." He glanced at Madison, who blushed. "I didn't think it was possible to crash here. I thought we would just land in Huckleberry Finn or Inkheart or perhaps a nice story like Hunger Games, though I suppose that might not be a nice story to land in. Perhaps Little House on the…"

      "Keeper!" Rory snapped. He took a deep breath. "Okay. So, we're in the space in between books. Can we use the T.A.R.D.I.F to get out?"

        "I'm afraid that to do that I'd need to replace the ether wires, which can only really be found in A Never-ending Story. And we can't get there because…" he gestured to the now floating mirror. 

       Rory pinched the bridge of his nose. "Right." he sighed.
       "Um... I don't suppose we could walk there?" Madison asked.
       They both turned to her, incredulous expressions on their faces. 
       "Walk?" they both exclaimed.
       Madison hunched her shoulders a bit. "I just meant, well, we're already here, so couldn't we just walk to The Never-ending Story, get the e-ea-ether wires, then walk back? You must know the way, Keeper. And since the last story we visited was Mockingjay we can't be too far off."
        There was a pause while the two men considered this. They looked at each other, realizing how often they forgot how valuable Madison often was. Given the fact that both of them had a tendency to over-think things, Madison's under-thinking tendency often kept them from stepping to far from reality.
        "Well," Rory said finally. "Why couldn't we?"
        "There is a bit of radiation," the Keeper pondered. "But i don't think it's anything to worry about." he clapped his hands together. "All right then! Let's walk!"