The Doctor and his companion had landed on a strange planet.
The TARDIS had landed without a hitch. In fact, the landing was so smooth that it was almost as if the TARDIS had been eager to land here, which made the Doctor curious, if not slightly suspicious, of what was waiting for them.
After taking just one step out of the TARDIS, they saw a dark night sky that literally had the whole universe on display.
They could see clusters of galaxies that were all sorts of shapes and sizes. Bright sparkling stars arranged themselves into beautiful patterns across the night sky, the twin moons of this strange planet were different colours, one with a blueish tinge and one that was slightly green.
The Doctor helpfully pointed out that this was probably due to the mineral deposits on the moons that gave them such a unique colour.
The planet itself seemed relatively normal at first glance. It had a rocky terrain, no trees or anything that looked like trees on Earth, could be seen.
The weather was also surprisingly comfortable. The wind that blew towards them was not chilling to the bone, but it was not unpleasantly warm either.
The looked around and noticed that the TARDIS had landed in the centre of what seemed suspiciously alike to the Stonehenge on Earth.
As they away from the TARDIS, they reached a cliffside and saw in the distance what looked like a city, but it was old and abandoned, many buildings had already started falling apart. Some buildings had already been reduced to rubbles.
The Doctor noticed a structure in the heart of the city that looked like the Big Ben. In fact, he felt that if he just looked hard enough, he could see Canary Whalf and even Buckingham Palace. Was thid planet the former whole of a human colony? Possibly and New New London?
"Is it me or does this planet seem rather deserted?"
" Maybe we just aren't looking in the right place," the Doctor said in reply to his companion. "Seems to me that there must've been quite a large population living here. Now I wonder, what could've happened to cause all this people to just disappear?"
The duo began walking towards the ruins. Suddenly, the Doctor yelped, his arms flailing widely as he slipped and fell down a slope and into a dark cavern which a that he had failed to notice. He had been distracted while scanning for alien life forms using his sonic screwdriver.
"Doctor? Doctor, are you alright?" His companion yelled, anxious that the Doctor might have broken his neck and died or something.
"Fine, I'm fine! Just got a nasty bump on my head," the Doctor shouted back.
All of a sudden, the Doctor gave another loud whoop of surprise.
"Doctor? What is it now?" His companion yelled back as she tried to cautiously climb down into the tunnel without tumbling in head and cracking her skull open.
"Quick get down here! There's something interesting that I want to show you!" The Doctor's voice was filled with excitement as if he had just won the grand prize if a scratch -to-win contest.
After cautiously making her way down to the tunnel, she headed towards the Doctor. It was even more dark down in the tunnel then it was above. She relied on the sound of the Doctor muttering to himself about various sciency facts to steer herself in the right direction towards him.
"DOCTOR? WHERE ARE YOU. YOU KNOW I CANT SEE IN THE DARK, DONT YOU?" she shouted loudly after stubbing her foot on a rock wall for what seemed like the hundredth time yet still unable to find the Doctor.
"I'm here. " He said, as he took her hand and guided her towards whatever he wanted her to see.
Then he held out his sonic screwdriver and sai proudly:" Look closely and tell me what you see."
" All I see is darkness. Who turned out the lights?" She deadpanned.
"Wait a moment, sonic screwdriever is acting up." The Doctor said. He fiddled with the screwdriver for a moment before a triumphant "Aha!".
The sonic screwdriver gave whir before it bathed the tunnel with a blue light.
She gasped in surprise as the walls of the cavern began to sparkle and glitter.
"It's.. sparkling. Just like the stars in the night sky.."
"Amazing isn't it? The rarest, hardest, most valuable jewel in the whole wide universe, yet this whole cavern, maybe even this whole planet, is made of it," the Doctor said, voice full of awe and wonder.
" What's it called?"
"It's called..." the Doctor began.
" Mesimerianó Thávma, " Another voice finished the sentence.
" Who's there! Show yourself." The Doctor said, brandishing his sonic screwdriver.
"Masimocano Thav-wha?"
" Mesimerianó Thávma, Greek for Midnight Wonder, AKA the pretty sparkly mineral we were looking at. Now whoever it is out there, let me see you. We mean no harm, just visitors. Here to admire your very pretty albeit slightly deserted planet. " the Doctor continued, swinging his screwdriver around, trying to find the source of the voice they had heard before.
Suddenly, a small, ginger cat came into view.
It carried a lit torchlight in it's mouth, it's electric blue eyes sparkled as much as the the walls of the tunnel had.
"What?" The Doctor said, rather taken aback.
"You mean the voice belongs to the cat?"
"Yes." The voice said once more.
Both the Doctor and his companion knew that it couldn't be the cat talking. After all, it had a flash light in its mouth!
Then it struck the Doctor. The cat was communicating with them telepathically.
" Who are you? Why have you approached us?" the Doctor cautiously asked.
" I am a messenger and guide, here to lead you to your destination." The cat said.
"Follow me."
After that, the cat turned around and began walking in the opposite direction.
The Doctor hesitated for a minute before following it.
"Doctor, is this alright, is this safe? Why is there a cat here?" His companion asked.
" I don't know, maybe the people here keeps cats as guides. Let's go found out."
He flashed her a crazy grin before reaching out to hold her hand and drag her along with him, following the mysterious cat.
They walked along a tunnel that was connected to the cavern they had previously been in. Their only light source was the blue light from the sonic screwdriver and the flash light that the cat was carrying.
Why a cat would need a flash light was anybody's guess. After all, were'nt cats supposed to be able to see in the dark?
"You know, you look incredibly familiar. Perhaps I've met you before? Which planet is it? New Savannah? New Earth? Cattopia or Planet Meoweth? Which one is it?" the Doctor asked, waving his arms around and gesturing at each mention of a different planet.
"Earth." The cat replied.
" New Earth you mean? But I'd have thought I'd remember you.. what with all those zombie like people and crazy cat nuns. Oooooooh whoops did I insult your mother?"
The cat paid no attention to the Doctor. Instead it stopped when they reached a doorway leading into a small room.
The first thing the Doctor noticed was that the arch of the doorway was beautifully decorated with engravings of roses. Reaching and winding their way up to the centre and highest point of the arch, it surrounded a stone which was carved with circles and lines.
To any other person, the stone would've come across as a decoration of some sort, geometrical in nature, maybe for those who were imaginative it might've been a secret code.
But the Doctor knew, he knew what the carving on the stone meant.
It meant the end of a world.