ONE
Rose
The Doctor twisted the vector tracker, yanked the dimensional stabilizer, and smacked a variety of buttons seemingly at random. I watched him, grinned excitedly. He pumped what looked like a bicycle pump on the side, and then slapped the side excitedly. “Bada-boom-ba!” he exclaimed. “Away we go!”
I felt the TARDIS shudder violently beneath me, but I didn’t care. I savored the feeling, because it felt as good as a hug from a friend, or the warmth of a hot shower after a long day. There was so much comfort in the erratic jostling of the TARDIS in flight, and I could tell the Doctor felt it too, even as we both held on for dear life and he pressed down buttons with both hands and one foot.
“Push the temporal shifter, would ya?” he asked, his Converse slipping off the console with a thud.
“The what?”
“Green button with the red thingy on it. Just there, next to the purple blinky thing.” He nodded to it. I pressed it with a wry smirk.
“Is that a technical term? ‘Blinky’?”
He stuck out his tongue at me. “Wait till you see where we’re going!” he yelled over the sudden burst of noise.
We careened to a stop and I felt the wind smacked out of me as my gut bashed into the safety railing.
“Ow! All right, that was fun,” he groaned. He’d tried to put his foot back on another button, but we’d stopped so violently that he’d fallen on his back on the ground, one leg in the air.
“You okay there?” I asked, suppressing a laugh.
He frowned at me. “Yeah. Don’t laugh.” He jumped up, brushed himself off, and said grandly, “You ready for this?”
“You have to ask?!” I was jumping up and down. “Where are we?”
“The planet of Aristotle, first inhabited by a humanoid race in the year 2654. It is currently the year 3000.” He crossed to the door and threw it open. “It’s gorgeous, especially now. Cleanest air you’ll ever inhale.”
He stepped onto the ashen ground and dust puffed up, causing him to cough. He waved it away, squinting around. “Oh no,” he said after he’d finished hacking. I joined him, looking out.
The landscape was a wasteland, the sky a dirty yellow and clouds of smoke filled the air. What looked like a vaguely New York skyline sprawled in the distance, completely in ruins. The Doctor’s brow knit together, his expression grim. “This isn’t right.”
Before either of us could speak, however, and man dressed in a dirty overcoat appeared seemingly from nowhere, grabbed me by the arm, and hissed, “You fools! Get out of the open!” He tugged me away, and the Doctor was at our heels at once. A siren wailed eerily in the distance, and suddenly the ground trembled beneath our feet. I finally spoke as the man shoved me behind a large pile of rubble. “Oi, buddy, watch it,” I growled. He merely waved the Doctor next to me.
“Stay low,” he hissed, and the Doctor squatted on his heels, looking pensive. He waited till the ground stopped shaking to speak.
“What was that?”
The man stared at him. “You don’t know?”
The Doctor’s expression became darker. “If I knew, I wouldn’t be asking, now, would I?”
The man hesitated. I sighed. “Look, where are we?”
“Good question!” the Doctor exclaimed. “Oh, see, this is why I like you, Rose.” I flushed.
“This is the outskirts of New William, on the coast of Marlowe Bay,” the man said, interrupting our banter.
“That can’t be right,” the Doctor frowned.
“Why, what’s wrong?” I asked.
“That’s just… where I meant to go,” he said meekly.
“Did you get the date wrong?”
“Another excellent question!” he exclaimed. He whipped around to look at the man. “What’s the year?”
“Oh, now you gotta know THAT—”
“Just answer the damn question,” I snapped.
“It’s the year 3000,” the man stuttered, abashed. The Doctor stared at him.
“You sure?” he asked. The man nodded, confused. “New William, Aristotle, 3000?” The man nodded again. “Sure we’re not a few planets off?” The man shook his head no. “A few miles?” Another no. “A centimeter?” the Doctor asked desperately. When the man shrugged, the Doctor dropped back onto his butt quite suddenly, looking flabbergasted. “Well, that’s a first, anyway.”
The man blinked. “Who are you two?” he asked.
“I’m the Doctor, she’s Rose,” the Doctor replied, jerking a thumb in my direction. “And you?”
The man stuck out a gloved hand. “I’m Chris,” he said grimly, shaking our hands. “Welcome to the end of the world.”
***
You're welcome, dears. You're welcome. XD
