The Box and Serenity
Mal began to pace, as he always did in these stressful situations. In the centre of his cargo bay was a very strange looking blue box with a flashing light on the top. They had first been alerted to its presence by a deafening whirring sound that had erupted in the middle of a game of hoop ball. The box had just appeared out of thin air and the doors were shut firmly. It was certainly an oddity but so far it hadn't proved dangerous.
X
The Doctor began to pace, as he always did in these strange situations. He had accidently landed the Tardis in the middle of a cargo bay surrounded by sweaty space faring pirates who had been tossing a large silver ball through a circular metal hoop. He could see the leader of the strange space pirates pacing in front of his ship on one of the external cameras. He was surrounded by his cronies, probably all murderers and thieves the lot of them, and was wearing an old brown duster that reminded him of some sort of space cowboy. He'd met a space cowboy before, but he'd been a Martian. The strange man even had a small customised six shooter to boot.
He jumped as a shot rang out and a thud came from the Tardis' doors. On the screen the mysterious space pirate had shot at his ship. He'd shot at Sexy! The Doctor brushed a lick of hair back and peered closer at the screen. Though they were all likely to be ruthless space faring marauders some of them looked like they'd listen to reason, except maybe the one in the yellow shirt who looked more like a monkey than a man. Unlike the Tardis, who was refusing to budge.
He straightened his bow tie and tried to pull his most friendly face possible, and then stepped towards the Tardis' double doors.
X
River watched from the catwalk as a man slowly emerged from the blue box with a ridiculous looking grin and his arms raised above his head. "Hello!" he said cheerfully. She shook her head, whoever this man was he was such a boob. Jayne hopped down from his own viewpoint from the top of a crate, cradling Vera, and walked up to the man slowly. "I says we shoot 'im." The man's smile faded a little, but it still relented. Mal shook his head and walked up to the mysterious man in a bow tie.
"What brings you to my ship stranger?" The man seemed to hesitate for a second.
"An accident actually, my own ship doesn't seem to want to move."
"Wash, you register anything up there?" he asked, speaking into a small walkie talkie. A crackled reply came back and Mal pointed his six shooter at the man's head.
"Ain't no ships out there stranger."
"That's because it's not outside."
"I don't got time for no games. You a stowaway?" The Doctor hung his head, maybe it was better to lie than confuse things too much.
"Yes."
"And that, what is it?"
"My...suitcase."
"It's a mighty big suitcase."
"You wouldn't believe." Mal eyed the stranger up curiously. He wanted to throw the stowaway into the brig, unfortunately he didn't have one, so he settled for one of the empty passenger dorms instead. With a stern command he ordered Zoe to take the man away. He protested but eventually gave up and allowed them to drag him off. Mal walked in circle around the large blue box sat in his cargo bay until he was back at the front again. "Let's take a look inside."
X
The Doctor sat on the mattress and looked around the small room. The woman who had dragged him there, who he now knew was named Zoe, was stood outside on guard duty. He tapped the bed a few times and pulled a small device out of his inside pocket. With the flick of a switch it extended and a green light shone from its tip. He pointed at the wall of the room and gleaned as much information from the ship as possible.
It was Firefly class 03-K64 midbulk transport. It was made up of two decks, a higher and lower. The lower deck was home to the cargo bay, infirmary, sitting room and passenger dorms and the upper deck housed the engine, dining area, crew dorms and a bridge. He placed the screwdriver back in his pocket and began to pace around the room. The crew were no doubt inside the TARDIS by now and were undoubtedly perusing his fine assortment of suits and technological gismos. Hopefully they wouldn't end up blowing them all up. An idea struck him and he once again did his best to pull on his best negotiating, or friendly, face.
He called for the woman outside who waited a few moments before stepping through the doorway. She raised a shotgun and pointed in his direction. Specifically at his head. "Want somethin'?"
"I was just wondering. Might I nip to the loo." Her face registered confusion.
"The toilet." Her face now registered understanding. She pointed at a cabinet behind him.
"It pulls outta there."
"Oh. Thank you." She walked slowly out of the room and he returned to his position sitting on the bed. So that hadn't worked entirely well. He racked his brains for other methods of escape he could use. He had no doubt been in worse positions than this. All that was stopping him was the shotgun wielding space pirate outside. He sighed and pulled the toilet out. He waited a moment and flushed it, pretending to actually use it. It would be impolite to ignore her advice. Even if she had been threatening him with a shotgun.
A noise behind him startled him and a grate on the wall slid open. Out of it crawled a young girl, he recalled seeing her on the camera only minutes ago. She must have been sixteen or seventeen, he couldn't decide. She was wearing a red shapeless dress which looked more suited to an elderly woman, and a pair of large knee high combat boots that were too big for her. She shot a smile at him and gestured with her hand for him to follow, before disappearing into the vent again. The Doctor looked cautiously behind him and then back at the vent grate. He smiled and hastened his way towards it. This was going to be fun.
The girl lead him through multiple tight, twisting passageways until they reached a point beneath the floorboards of a hallway. The girl loosened one up and climbed out of it quietly. The Doctor followed. When he was up and in the hallway he dusted off his suit and smiled at the girl. She smiled back. She lead him up to the bridge and he looked out at the stars. He recognised some of the constellations, now he knew where he was. It was the system that humanity had migrated to when Earth could no longer sustain their number. What did they call it now? Earth-That-Was?
He turned to see the little girl waiting politely behind him. "Hello," he said as friendlily as he could, "what's your name."
"River." The girl hardly wavered, she was confident, as if she knew what he was thinking. A thought dawned on him. He pulled a small brown wallet from his pocket and opened it up in front of her.
"Sorry, I'm from the Alliance, I was sent here to check the engine!"
"You're a bad liar." He stared at her, amazed, feeling his jaw dropping. A human psychic! He'd met them before but she was different, more in tune than the others.
"Who are you really?" she asked, circling him and eyeing him up, he noticed a slight emptiness in her gaze, as if she wasn't all there.
"I'm the Doctor!" he said, clapping his hands together, his goofy smile still beaming at her.
"A Doctor of what?"
"Oh." He seemed a little confused and disappointed at this statement.
"What's wrong?"
"They normally ask 'Doctor Who'." River pulled a face at him and stopped circling him. She stood in front of him and tilted her head, her long brown hair dropped to one side.
"Doctor who?"
"Exactly!" His smile had returned. She pulled another face.
"They're in your box. It's..."
"Bigger on the inside?" he interrupted her. She shook her head.
"It's dimensionally transcendental. The entrance is disproportionate to the inside space, which is compacted within a four dimensional reality connected to a three dimensional object outside. That three dimensional object being the blue box, a gateway to what is technically another dimension but still exists within the boundaries of our own." The Doctor stared at her with his smile gone completely and his jaw hanging down more than it should. He furrowed his eyebrows and scrutinised her as a scientist would scrutinise a mathematical equation.
"Wow," he said at last. River smiled at him sweetly. Suddenly his face shone with realisation. "They're in my blue box?" She nodded. "They're in my blue box!" He darted past the girl and vanished into through the ship to make his way to his beloved blue box. River followed him, remaining at his heels as he descended the stairs to the sitting room. Zoe, who had not moved an inch from her position, spotted the two of them and followed curiously. They emerged into the cargo bay with Zoe at their backs, pointing her shotgun at the back of The Doctor's head.
The ape-like man was sat atop a crate outside of the Tardis playing with a Raxicoricofallapatorian toothbrush whirring away in his hand. The Doctor slammed his palm against his head as the man attempted to use it to clean his gun. "Jayne!" a voice rang out. The Doctor spun to see Zoe with her shotgun aimed at him and Jayne hopped down from his crate, pointing his own gun at the Time Lord. He sighed and slowly raised his hands. Again.
X
Mal emerged from the blue box and saw the strangely dressed man playing a game of cards with the rest of his crew on the floor of the cargo bay, minus Kaylee, who was still inside taking notes about the massive ship's engine. "What in gorram hell's goin' on here?" The crew raised their heads to see their captain watching them peevishly. Zoe spoke up first.
"The Doctor here was tellin' us some stories about him gallivanting around the universe in that big blue box."
"And you believed him?"
"No sir, but he's damn good at cards."
"I do!" River shouted. Everyone but the Doctor shot her a strange look, he just smiled thankfully at her.
"If'n he was all time travellin' n' stuff, as he claims, maybe wes could ask him sumthin' only a time traveller would no." Jayne commented. He too received a couple of odd looks.
"Well his suitcase is certainly somethin'." Mal turned around and looked back inside the box. "It's..."
"Big..." The Doctor began to interrupt him hopefully.
"Four dimensional." River had the final say. She smiled at The Doctor. Mal shook his head and looked back at The Doctor.
"You really a time traveller?"
"Want me to prove it?" He sounded excited.
X
The crew had gathered inside the Tardis's main room. Kaylee was still staring at the engine and jotting notes down about its design. The Doctor even offered to show her how it worked later. With a flick of a few switches and dials, and the snatching of a certain toothbrush from Jayne, the Tardis erupted into the sound of whirring and beeping. Within a few seconds the room shook violently and the engine stopped pulsing up and down and making loud noises.
The Doctor excitedly pushed the doors open and revealed an ancient landscape. There were large reptilian beasts stepping over them, threatening to trample them. They had long elongated necks and massive circular feet. The crew looked up in disbelief, all but River, who stared at the dinosaurs as if they weren't even there. "Is this..." Simon began to ask. The Doctor looked at him with a smile.
"Earth-That-Was." He allowed them to bask in the moment a little longer. Eventually he sighed. "Best be getting you back."
"Yes, I'm missin' my ship," Mal said, though he was still transfixed by the creatures lumbering about around them. The crew slowly filed into the Tardis while still staring up at the creatures. Something in the distance let out an almighty roar. The Doctor closed the doors behind them and set about returning them to their ship. The crew stepped out once more to find themselves back on the surface of their old Firefly class ship. Their home. The captain thanked him for the visit to prehistoric Earth-That-Was. He replied with nothing more than a fleeting smile. He showed Kaylee the engine and gave Simon some encouragement with women. He let Jayne keep the toothbrush and set about giving Wash some helpful tips in piloting. He told Book that he had met God and told Zoe how to forget about the memories of the war. He told Inara she would eventually get the man of her dreams and had a brief conversation with Mal, who offered The Doctor a drink sometime, which he accepted. Finally he turned to River. He approached her away from the others. "Do you know what I'm going to ask you?"
"I can't. Simon needs me."
"Are you sure."
"Can you land us exactly after we leave?"
"I can." She seemed to think about the offer for a moment before finally coming to a conclusion.
"I can't replace her," she said quietly and as calmly as she could. The Doctor dwelt on the comment. She could have meant anyone he'd travelled with but the one that always stuck in the back of his mind was Rose. The one he thought he might have even loved, the most remarkable human in the world. He smiled comfortingly at the girl before him, though there was some sadness there as well.
"I know." She grinned at him and he noticed the emptiness in her eyes from before had gone. She skipped past him and kissed her brother on the cheek before dashing inside the Tardis. Simon tried to follow but was stopped by The Doctor with some protest. "This is her choice."
"Will I see her again?"
"Of course you will, it'll pass in a second for you. Maybe longer for her." He nodded.
"Take care of her."
"I will." He vanished inside the Tardis and the light began to flash and the whirring noise returned. Mal jumped to his feet and rushed to Simon's side. The blue box vanished.
"You okay?" Simon turned to look at him with a blank expression.
"She's where she wants to be." Mal patted him on the shoulder and gave him a reassuring look. Suddenly the whirring returned and the blue box materialised before them. The doors swung open and The Doctor and River came flying out in fits of laughter and Hawaiian shirts and sunglasses. "Honey we're home!"