Title: Gossamer and Spiderwebs
Author: sevendayloan
Characters: 10th Doctor, Martha
Rating: All Ages. Maybe Teen, just to be safe.
Summary: The Doctor and Martha find strange happening in the small town of Spinning. Being the adventuresome duo that they are, they decide to explore.
A/N: Okay, so I admit it. I actually stole this prompt from redismycolour, a Jack/Ianto challenge community. It just fit so perfectly with an idea I've been toying with that I nabbed it for my Whofic. My bad, guys! Anyway, blah blah please read and review. Constructive criticism is welcome and appreciated, as always. Oh! And the two OCs, Ellie and June are totally throw-away characters, by the way. Just in case you were getting worried. For plot introduction only. ;)
Listen. The minstrels sing,
In the departed villages. The nightingale,
Dust in the buried wood, flies on the grains of her wings
And spells on the winds of the dead his winter's tale.
-Dylan Thomas, A Winter's Tale
Chapter ONE:
"How come I've never seen it before?" Ellie called suspiciously, as she rapped on the decaying wooden door. "I mean, we've been living here all our lives, and it's not as though Spinning is a big place. There's no way it could've stayed hidden this long. Especially not right next to the school."
"Who cares?" June retorted. "It's new, and I want to do a bit of exploring. Besides, somebody's obviously found it before us, look at all the stuff inside! All those costumes, not to mention the toys. They must be using it as the storeroom for the school play or something." She fumbled with the bicycle she still held precariously balanced against her hip, trying to keep it upright, before letting it tumble to the ground with a sigh. "Stupid thing needs a kickstand so bad," she muttered, more to herself than to her companion.
Ellie grimaced slightly. "See, that's just it though," she said, as she pushed back a handful of her long brown hair. "This place looks like it's been shut up for ages. How come there's all this stuff inside? Like at sewing kit on the table; it looks almost new!"
The building did look like it had been boarded for ages; June had to give her that. The paint on the walls and doors was chipped and peeling, so far gone that it was difficult to tell what colour the paint had actually been. The watery winter sun reflected brightly off the cracked bits of glass and plastic that used to be small, but majestic, windows. Now, they just looked broken and sad, spider web fissures gleaming incandescent in the light. Plywood covered the holes where the glass had shattered completely.
If she stood on her toes and peered in through the cloudy plastic of the widows at just the right angle, June could make out the faintest details of what was inside. There were the costumes, yes, and the blue plastic bin clearly labeled "TOY SOLDIERS." But there was something else too, lying stretched across the otherwise empty floor.
With a twitch of her finger, she beckoned Ellie over to the pane. Hesitantly, the other girl cupped her hands over her eyes, and peeked into the room. "I'm not sure about this," she murmured, picking nervously at a loose thread. "I want to explore and all, but this is a little weird. Besides, what if we get caught. It's trespassing, you know!"
"Of course I know!" June laughed. "It wouldn't be any fun if it wasn't!" She skipped gaily over towards the decaying double doors. The two of them had walked all the way around the building, looking for ways in. They'd found several doors, all locked tight, except for one in the very back. It looked as though that lock had been bashed in and broken, although the door still didn't open. A few minutes of picking and prying has told June that it was being held shut from the inside.
She reached her hand through the foot wide gap and groped blindly along the wall, hoping to find the rock or wood bar or whatever it was that was keeping the door closed.
"Oh, let me," Ellie sighed with a roll of her eyes.
"I thought you didn't want to go in," June teased. She shoved the other girl playfully.
"I don't." But she rattled the door all the same. After a few seconds she ran it, her shoulder knocking into the rotting wood with a solid thump, as though she was a rugby player, going in for a tackle. She fell to the floor with an undignified "oof" as the door gave way and swung open. Dust swirled around the pair, dancing in soft, muted spirals in the light.
"Lady-like," said June as she raised an eyebrow.
"Of course it was."
"Bit creepy, though, isn't it?" June whispered. "All this plywood and spiders, I mean." Ellie nodded in agreement and shoved her hands deeply in her pockets. Was it getting colder out, or was it just her imagination? She suppressed a shudder.
The air felt thick and boggy, even their footsteps seemed muffled somehow, as though there was some kind of damper placed on the room. It smelled sort of weird, Ellie thought as the two of them wandered. Like mildew and old socks. Kind of sour. It tickled her nose, and she rubbed at it hastily, not wanting to sneeze.
"What's that?" June whispered, nudging her friend. She had pulled up the hood of her jacket, though she wasn't quite sure if it was to ward of the cold or that nagging feeling that she'd had since they had entered the room. She decided it was the former.
"Um, a sort of ball gown, I think," said Ellie as she strained to follow June's finger in the dim, murky light. "Or did you mean the clown costume?"
"No, behind that." June took a few hesitant steps forward before casting a backwards glance over her shoulder. She caught sight of Ellie's worried expression and smiled reassuringly. "C'mon. Let's go check it out!"
It was glowing. That was all they could tell. A soft green light that pulsated warmly, drawing the girls in like moths to a candle. They hovered over the ball of light and in unison, they both reached out a hand to gently stroke the blinking orb. Such a nice colour. Such a nice shape.
And then everything was black.
"Hello? Are you alright?"
With a groan, June opened her eyes and watched blearily as a face slowly swam into view. A tall, thin man in a crisp brown suit kneeled on the ground beside her, spiky hair bobbing comically as her eyes began to focus. Next to him sat a young woman. The woman was holding Ellie's chin and peering into the other girl's eyes, as though she was checking to make sure she wasn't ill.
Which is weird, June though to herself, because why would she be ill? She winced as her head throbbed. She couldn't quite remember the last few minutes, somehow, and this headache was keeping the memories tantalizingly out of reach.
"No concussion," the woman reported.
"Wha…what?" June asked. Her mouth was dry, like it had been stuffed with cotton, and her voice cracked just slightly when she spoke. She turned towards the strange man. "Who?"
"Yes, precisely," said the man, his face breaking into a thousand-watt grin. "I'm the Doctor, and this," He jerked his head over to where the woman still sat next to Ellie, "is the lovely Miss Martha. And you are?"
"Erm, June, I guess."
"You guess?" asked the woman, Martha, with a look of concern. "Are you okay? What happened?"
June glanced over at Ellie who sat in a daze, propped up against the wall of the building. It was almost noon, and June could see their bikes glittering in the sun, just a few feet away from where they were sitting now. Where we must have left them, June thought with a frown. But when was that?
"Yeah, I'm fine. We're fine. I-I dunno what happened though. I can't quite remember. One minute we're with our bikes, and then the next…" She trailed off and looked at Ellie expectantly, waiting for the other girl to fill in the gaps.
"We must have fallen, said Ellie muzzily. "We musta…we must have hit our heads or something." She rubbed at her temple, as if to prove the point.
"What, both of you?" The Doctor asked, peering at them worriedly. "At the same time?" He pulled his sonic screwdriver from his pocket, and surreptitiously scanned the pair. He frowned at the readings, and tried again a little more obviously.
"What's that?" Ellie asked. "The little buzzing thing?"
"It's a torch-"
"It's a sonic screwdriver-" The Doctor and Martha answered simultaneously. Martha gave a little sigh, but she went with the Doctor's story all the same. "It's a sonic screwdriver," she amended, with a shrug. "Way to 'lay low' Doctor. Nothing at all out of the ordinary about alien tech, is there?"
"Come on, I'm a Time Lord," the Doctor chided. "I save the earth, remember? It's my job to be noticeable."
"You're completely crazy," June muttered under her breath.
And with a smile the shone so many times brighter than that midday sun, the Doctor turned, and lead Martha away. When they were just out of earshot, they continued the conversation.
"Same readings as before in the Tardis, I'm sure of it. Basic polychromataform wave, registering at least a six on the thyron scale. It's unmistakable. Those girls were giving of the exact same signal." He ran his fingers through his unruly hair, causing it to spike ever so slightly more than usual.
"But how?" Martha asked, perplexed. "They were human, right? Why would they be giving of that wave thingy?"
"Oh yeah," said the Doctor, "Human as they come. Nice, bland, ordinary, typical old Homo Sapiens Sapiens. Blundering in, as usual. Always making a muck of things with their exploring and adventuring!" He gestured wildly as he spoke, each movement offering an exuberant, if slightly patronizing testament to the human race. "My guess is that they ran into whatever was emitting the signal," he continued, "and the residual traces are just lingering around them. Should be fine and dandy by tomorrow."
"Is it safe, then?" Martha asked, shoot a concerned look over at where the girls still sat, dazed, on the ground.
"We-ell…"
Martha put her hands on her hips.
"Probably, well, maybe." the Doctor finished. "Well, not at all. But if should be fine with a little bit of help. Locate the signal, contain whatever was producing it, and bam! Everyone's safe, and we get a bit of a vacation in a quiet New England town. Though," he said casually, leaning against the old brick wall. "We could just escort them back into town and then go."
"We could," Martha responded mildly.
"The problem would probably take care of itself."
"It could."
Then, with a mercurial grin, the Doctor bounded back over to the abandoned building. "Welcome to Spinning, Martha Jones!" he called with a look of approval. "It's adventuring time!"