Chapter 1: The ruins of Androzani part 1
My name is Melody Pond, when I was a little girl, my mother had an imaginary friend, and when we grew up, he came back. He's called the Doctor, he comes from somewhere else. He's got a box called the TARDIS which is bigger on the inside and can travel anywhere in time and space, he ran away from me, and I've been looking for him ever since. That's why I study archeology here at Luna University, you could say that I've dedicated my whole life to finding this man. I probably sound like a crazy stalker now. I wouldn't say I was a stalker, but I am definitely crazy. Why am I looking for him again? Well first of all because he is my only ticket out of here, being stuck in one time zone is so boring. But he also seems to have some sort of significance in my life, in a way that my life seems to be centered around this one man. Doesn't sound very feministic, but it's true. I was raised to kill him, but according to what he said, it sounds like I'm going to become the love of his life. Now, I don't really believe in love, that's the stuff of fairy tales. The Doctor may be some sort of whimsical fairy tale character, but I'm not. Still, it's a very intriguing mystery, how could a girl resist?
"Oh, excuse me, miss Song?"
"Please, just call me River already."
"Not gonna happen miss Song."
That's one of my classmates, his name is Marcus. He's helping me locating the Doctor. He's an enthusiastic conspiracy theorist, he could never resist this. An immortal man with an ever changing face, always found where danger lurks, it's like christmas for him. Oh you're wondering why he calls me River Song? Well, that's the name the Doctor called me. I still have no idea why, that will be the first question I ask him once I finally find him.
"I think I've found a sighting a little closer to home. 'The spectrox conflict' of the 5060s."
"I'm sorry, I must have slept through that lesson."
"Androzani? Sharaz Jek? Morgus? Not ringing any bell? All right, whatever. You see, long story short, twin planets, Androzani Minor and Androzani Major, human colony, there was a big conflict between the outlaw Sharaz Jek and the chief chairman Morgus. A small bloody war, and reported sightings of a young blonde man in white and red clothes, with a plant on his jacket, and a presumed dead young girl in his arms, running across the battlefield of Androzani Minor."
"The Doctor! There has been other sightings of him looking like that!"
"Exactly, but it seems like the new government of Androzani denies all about that man being involved with anything, or even existing. I smell conspiracy!"
"Seems like you and I are taking the first ship to Androzani Minor."
"Not Minor. That's impossible. The air may have become cleaner, but you see. There used to live these monsters in the planet's caves, Magma beasts. There used to be few of them, but they've been crawling all over the planet now, multiplying like rats. Besides, it's at Major all the political fuss is, maybe we can get some statements."
"Political corruption, air pollution, Magma beasts, sounds like my kind of planet."
We skipped a lot of classes that day to get to Androzani Major. Not a lot of people went there, considering the planet's reputation. We had to repeat the place's name three times before the chauffeur got it. Honestly people have such bad taste nowadays.
Marcus was continually talking about his conspiracy theories about the Doctor on the trip. About how the title of the Doctor was passed on to different time travelling agents of some secret intergalactic organization, bend on taking over the galaxies. But other times the Doctor was a ghost, the spirit of a dead universe, haunting every coner of the universe containing death and misery. Honestly that boy should probably be a sci-fi writer instead of an archaeologist.
I started wondering what I would even do, once I found the Doctor, if I could. I had been raised to kill him, but in a moment of the silly romantic thoughts of an easily affected young girl, I had given up all my lives for him. It would be a huge waste to kill him now. I have been studying him for a long time now, and most of what the Silence has said about him, seems like absuloute bogus. From the looks of it, he's been helping a lot of people. Human and alien. That's why they call him the Doctor, he makes people better. But not all seemed to think that. Lots of civilisations still exist because of him, but a lot have been destroyed because of him too. Some people call him 'the oncoming storm' and 'the bringer of darkness', too dramatic if I may say so myself. But which man would I meet? The warrior? Or the healer?
For that moment I just thought 'it doesn't matter right now, I'm not gonna meet him anyway'. This wasn't the first time I had been looking for him, I had been all over the damn place. Meglos, the sense-sphere, the ood-sphere, no sign of him anywhere. Why would today be any different? And oh how wrong I was.
When we arrived at Androzani Major, I was surprised. I had heard Marcus describing it as a horrific place. He described it as an ugly, dry, environmentally damaged place full of ugly buildings and war. But what I saw, was simply beautiful. You could tell the planet had been through much, but how do I explain it? It just looked so green now. The air was clean, the buildings were clean, and people looked happy. Running around, being typical people.
"Well you're horrible at descriptions Marcus."
"Oh don't let a couple of nice lawns, trees and new democratic government fool you, the spirit of a society never dies."
"Yeah you're right, it's probably still controlled by the Illuminati(!)"
"Pfft, oh please, the Illuminati was destroyed years ago by the headless monks."
"Yeah I'll believe your stories about those when I see them."
"I'll show em to you one day, the Doctor probably knows all about them."
"Yeah. Well, where to now my conspiracy guide?"
"Well a little bird told me that there was going to be a fancy party at the new president's house soon. Maybe you can charm some information out of those old politicians."
"Oh I'm way ahead of ya."
He took my arm, and we strolled down the beautiful ruins of Androzani. Everything looked like a normal society. Cars, streets, some ugly graffiti here and there. As we walked about there, I could only wish for some trouble to show up, because that's where you find the Doctor. And right on cue. We strolled by what looked to be some kind of military airport. A big group of handsome men in uniforms was on their way into a ship. And I thought I could hear faint voices mentioning that lovely place, Androzani Minor.
"Looks like you're gonna have to get into that party by yourself, I've got a ship to catch."
"You've gotta be kidding me. How?"
"I have my methods. You just focus on your little conspiracy talks, okay dear?"
"But how am I supposed to get into that party by myself?"
"Just snog some of their gorillas. Usually works for me."
My past and childhood is all a jumbled mess to me, but the Silence did teach me something. All it took was some hallucinogenic lipstick and stealing some guy's uniform, and the next thing you know, I'm on another planet!
But Androzani Minor was definetly not Androzani Major. This was closer to what Marcus had described. A raw barren desert planet, filled with sand, caves and the occasional Magma beasts. We shot a couple of them on our way here. That's what this unit was for, finding their nest, and just kinda eradicate their species. You know, just typical human stuff. But to be honest, those magma beasts really weren't anything special. Just these weird human dinosaur things with shells, all they did was roar, pretty boring stuff.
"All right guys, the trail seems to be getting warmer, I think we're getting closer" their general said.
I almost didn't get what he said, because I saw someone. Walking across the desert, almost right in front of us. But nobody seemed to notice him. He was wearing a black robe, and walking calmly into a cave.
"I wonder" I thought.
Once I got the chance, I snuck away from the soldiers. They didn't seem to notice, they seemed pretty stupid. I got to the cave. There he sat, calmly on a stone, his hood hiding his face.
"All right what's the deal Obi-Wan? Who are you and what are you doing here?"
He took his hood of, and looked up at me. I hoped it might be, but never dared to think. There he was, the Doctor, and he had just the right face I was looking for. The black hair, the big chin, the child-like face and the bowtie. He looked at me, smiled and said:
"Well, this was unexpected. Hello sweetie."
"Oh don't 'sweetie' me, you owe me a ton of answers old man."
"I owe you answers? Well that's a first. Where are we now?"
"Androzani Minor you idiot."
"No, I mean in your timeline. When did we meet last? Your diary?"
"This one?"
I took out my diary. The one he left me when he went away, it was blue, like his TARDIS. I always carried it with me, didn't know why.
"Well last we met, you left me at Luna University in the year 5123. I've been looking for you for two years!"
"That long back? Wait so you still haven't...? Oh..."
"Oh? What's that supposed to mean? What haven't I done?"
"Never mind that. Spoilers!"
"Spoilers? Look I have a lot of questions for you..."
"I'm used to it. Ask away."
"Well for starters, why are you wearing a robe?"
"Because robes are cool. Also I'm in hiding."
"What are you hiding from?"
"Spoilers."
"Dear lord, why did I even look for you in the first place? The soldiers out there? Why didn't they see you?"
He took out a necklace with a key at the end.
"Perception filter. They still see me, they just don't notice me."
"Then why can I see you?"
"Because you were already looking for me, if I'm right. Next question."
"Where's the TARDIS."
The Doctor put on an annoying smirk, and clicked his fingers. And it almost seemed like two invisible doors opened behind him, revealing the console room of the TARDIS. I stared in awe. How could I not? I walked in there like I was in a trance. It looked the same as last time, but it was still marvelous. The orange lights, the sound of millions of gadgets, and the feeling of life.
"You made the TARDIS invisible? You really went all in to this hiding thing."
"Well, I try."
"So, where are we going next? I always wanted to see Egypt, and Cleopatra, which planets can you recommend?"
"Is that why you're here? To travel?"
"Well yeah, I don't wanna be stuck at a university the rest of my life. Education is so overrated. Also, I'm curious. You seem to already know who I am, you called me River Song before I did. Where did that name come from?"
"It's your own name, written in the language of the gamma forest. They don't have a word for Pond, the only water in the forest is the River."
"Well isn't that interesting? Tell me, do you really love me? Am i your 'sweetie' in the future?"
"You were the one who gave me all your regenerations."
"Oh that was just a 'in the moment' kind of thing. Truth be told, I really don't go in for that sort of thing. I'm more of a free modern woman type of gal. Tell me, why did you go into hiding here? Of all places."
"I've been to many places, I don't stay at one place for long. But why are you here? How did you know where to find me?"
"Well because you're not very discreet. There's been sightings of you here, back when you were a handsome blonde wearing a vegetable."
"Celery. Celeries are cool."
"Also, trouble's always brewing when you're around. Now this planet is infested with Magma beasts."
"Then why do you wanna go? I thought you liked danger."
"Is that a challenge? Well you can consider it accepted."
"Well then, come along Song."
He gave me a perception filter.
I was back in business, going on adventures with my mother's imaginary friend. Back then I wanted to marry him, perhaps I still did. No one can deny that he was interesting. People fear him, they call him a bringer of darkness, an oncoming storm, but all I could see was a bowtied twelve year old tripping over nothing.
"What are you hiding behind that bowtie?" I thought.
It was a weird experience, walking casually through caves filled with monsters who didn't notice a thing. Not being noticed was definetly something I wasn't used to.
Suddenly we heard gunfire and screams.
"Steven! No please! Don't kill me! Mercy!"
Then the screams stopped. My hearts pounded fast, and I was confused. Who could that soldier be talking to? Was there someone behind all this?
We walked in to the room. Seemed like we had found their nest. A huge cave that seemed to go on forever, filled with hundreds of Magma beasts, eggs, dead soldiers and a mysterious man in the middle of it. He looked human, he was old. He had a long white beard, a black cape, and weirdly, how do you explain? Evil eyes.
"Doctor. I thought you'd might show up. Interesting new regeneration, not my style, but whatever suits you. I see that you've brought a friend again. My, she looks fierce."
"Doctor, do you know this man?"
"Well if I'm right, he calls himself the Master."