The Doctor was looking for Rose. He seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. First she gets lost—three months for him, five years for her. He hadn't liked her disappearing on him then and he liked it even less now. Alright so she was safe on the TARDIS…he still didn't like not knowing where she was. He was well aware, thank you, that his present annoyance was a side affect of three months of worry and frustration.
Rose was in the library. That in itself was a surprise. The Doctor couldn't recall her ever being in the library. He remembered quite clearly her aversion to books or higher learning of any kind. So, to find her in the TARDIS's vast library ensconced in a large leather chair her feet propped up by a footstool surrounded by piles of books was a pleasant surprise.
She was asleep and curled up in the chair clutching a book to her chest. It was 'A Tale of Two Cities'. She was wearing blue flannel pajamas covered in little moons and stars. It made Rose rather look like a present— all she needed was a bow.
He looked bemusedly over the books on the in table three thirtieth century treatises on molecular biology, 'The Art of War' by Sun Tzu, 'The Dispossessed' by Ursula K. LeGuin, 'The Phantom Tollbooth' by Norton Juster, the autobiography of William Blake, a history of the Flanex Invasion of 2025, and a thick tome of psychology dated from about the mid 6150's.
"Rose," The Doctor spoke loud enough to wake her but not so loud as to startle her.
She fluttered open wide brown eyes and smiled sleepily at the Time Lord. "Hi."
"Hello." He smiled back.
The young women yawned and stretched.
The Doctor made an all encompassing gesture at the pile of books, "What's all this then?"
"Ah," Rose stood plopping down 'A Tale of Two Cities' next to its fellows. "This is me being struck with an overwhelming sense of my own ignorance." Her smile was rueful. "It had to happen sometime yeah?"
"Rose, you were never ignorant. Tremendously uneducated yes…never ignorant," The Doctor admonished her. He wagged a finger for emphasis.
Rose rolled her eyes.
"This is a great room," she said spinning in a slow circle. The library's reading room was about half as large as a stadium and it was crammed full of books, the floors were hardwood when not covered with plush rugs and long horizontal stained glass windows filled the room with sunlight. One could assume that it was artificial sunlight but then again this was the TARDIS so anything was possible.
The Doctor stuck his hands in his pockets, "I've always liked it."
"It reminds me of a library I used to dream about when I was a kid. It was full of all the books that never got written." She smiled, "There was a talking raven."
The Doctor blinked. A dream library? Now why did that sound familiar?
"So where are we? When are we?"
"Scunthorp, England 2006; there's a rumor of a mysterious unidentified craft disappearing from satellite right over Scunny." The Doctor announced cheerily.
Rose looked down at her jimjams, "Can I change into something a little more investigative?"
The Doctor was peering at a view screen. He had hacked into the satellite that had caught the unidentified craft. He didn't recognize it. Even it's energy signature was unknown.
Rose bounced into the control room, "I've missed trainers." She had changed from pajama's to blue jeans, gray trainers, a white tank with silver starbursts covered by a pink hoodie and a jacket made out of bright green and blue lizard skin. "So, what have we got?" She looked over his shoulder.
"Nothing with a side helping of nothing," He tapped off the feed with a disgusted snort.
Outside the TARDIS it was mid afternoon. It was one of those rare sunny autumn days when the sun glared balefully down and the temperature went up to sixty-five degrees. Truly sweltering weather for England.
Rose slid out behind the Doctor and suppressed a shiver despite the heat.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," she murmured.