Aliens in Versailles
Reinette Poisson was the king's daughter. She was a privileged girl living in the palaces of Versailles, who had grown up knowing she could get whatever she wanted whenever she wanted. When she turned 16, she was expected to marry the oldest son of the king of some far off country she'd never even heard of. The man, Jacques, was nearly 40 and definitely not as sophisticated as those in Versailles. However, she agreed to meet him at the annual ball held by her parents in the palace. She was mentally preparing for the moment when she would finally meet him in person as she put on her best dress and jewels in preparation for the ball.
Reinette arrived late, entering through the kitchens, so that she could sneak in unseen and look at her soon-to-be husband before meeting him. The cooks were used to it as she had been sneaking in through the back since she was a child. When she spotted him from across the room, she was less than pleased. He stood, slouching and unshaven. At one point, he even spilled his wine all down his front. Reinette took one look at him and began heading for the door. On her way, she was stopped by many people attempting to dance with her when she spotted someone she'd never seen before from across the hall. He was tall and broad shouldered, with short sandy blonde hair; she couldn't see his face because his head was tilted downwards .She looked away from him for a moment and when she looked back, he was looking at her. She made her way over to him to ask his name, but as he began, a man on a large white horse burst in yelling.
"You will be upgraded. Delete. Delete." 100 large silver robots spouted in unison. A girl with red hair and a very large gun that looked almost futuristic came in after the robots shouting to someone named Rory about something. A young man came in holding a similar gun to the girl's; he suddenly looked up and saw all the people standing around in awe.
"Doctor, Amy!" he screamed "Doctor the people! What are they doing here? You said it would be empty!" said the man known as Rory, scrambling to keep up with the man on the horse, or "Doctor" as he seemed to be called. The red head, Amy looked up and stopped where she was, mouth agape. The Doctor looked at all of the people briefly but continued on his mission.
"Run! Hide! Don't let the Cybermen see you!" screamed the Doctor from on top of his horse. People scrambled for the exits, tripping over dresses and pants. They screamed as loudly as they could and pushed people as they went. The Doctor gulped; he had caused chaos. The Cybermen HATED chaos.
Reinette took a graceful step toward the Cybermen and away from the screaming mess behind her. "I am not afraid of you," she declared loudly turning toward the crowd to tell them something "And you shouldn't be either. This is Versailles. You are in the royal palace and I will not stand for such hideous behavior." A few people turned to look at her but only one stopped moving. It was the man she'd seen earlier. He stepped forward with her. The Doctor rolled his eyes, went over to them, and helped them get on the horse.
"My name is Luc by the way." Shouted Reinette's new admirer. Amy and Rory were able to kill all the Cybermen, but not before they'd killed at least twenty people. Crimson blood crept slowly down the sparkling tiles on the floor to where the horse, Arthur, stood waiting for a command from The Doctor. Bodies lay mangled across chairs and tables; the tops of their heads were cut off and their brains had been removed. Had the Cybermen not been stopped, they would've put the brains into a robot shell just like them. As a result of their being stopped, discarded brain lay squished and motionless across the floor. The Doctor, Amy, Rory, Reinette, and Luc left the palace with the image of the bloodied bodies and squished brains engraved in their minds.
"You two are going to have a price on your heads from the Cybermen thanks to that little Charade." Said the Doctor turning to look at Reinette and Luc "Well your brains really…" the Doctor added, his voice trailing off as he said the last words. The Doctor looked like someone who was normally quite cheerful. A red fez sat atop fluffy, side swept amber hair. He was wearing a brown tweed jacket with dark elbow patches. His pink incorrectly-buttoned dress shirt was topped by a cock-eyed red bowtie. His plain brown slacks were stained all over with what looked like grease stains and his black loafers were worn beyond their years. Amy seemed to wear a permanent scowl. Her soft red her streamed over her shoulders in a neat straight manner. She had on a leather jacket zipped all the way up, a grey skirt with matching tights, and black Converse tennis shoes.
Rory was wearing faded jeans and a plaid shirt. He looked up periodically and smiled at Reinette and Luc. He seemed the opposite of Amy. They walked for about five minutes before coming to a stop in front of a strange blue box. It was about nine feet tall. There was a sign that read "pull to open" just below two windows. According to the sign on top, it was a public call police box.
"Shoot I left the key inside!" exclaimed the Doctor, "Luckily I have a spare!" he reached above the P in "Police Box" and, like magic, pulled out a key. The key was a normal looking key but Reinette had a feeling it was very special. The Doctor inserted the key in the door, glanced back to give the newcomers a mischievous smile, and said, "Welcome to the TARDIS!"
He threw the doors wide open and went inside. Amy and Rory stepped, gesturing for Luc and Reinette to follow. Reinette lifted her long flowing dress up slightly so that she could step up into the TARDIS.
"He gets a bit… excited when describing the TARDIS so if he falls over or something don't worry he's okay he just needs to calm down. It's really funny but try not to laugh, or he'll get a bit up tight and ignore you for an hour or two. Anyway you might want to pay attention, there are a lot of things he'll want to tell you about…" whispered Amy, leaning over to Luc and Reinette so that The Doctor couldn't hear her. Reinette and Luc barely heard a thing she said as they were looking around at the most fascinating thing they'd ever seen. The box had looked large on the outside but only big enough to fit a person or two, however, on the inside, it was big enough to fit one hundred people, with an upstairs and downstairs plus several doors that appeared to lead off into more rooms and corridors. They were in what appeared to be a control room of some sort. In the middle there was a large circular control board with a plastic tub extending to the top. Inside the tube there were smaller tubes that looked like they would move up and down. The control board had thousands of buttons and levers covering it.
"Yeah, she's bigger on the inside." Said The Doctor proudly, his hand moved in a sweeping motion gesturing to the largeness of the room. "There are thousands more rooms in here including a swimming pool AND a library! I mean I don't like to brag but…." His voice trailed off as he continued rambling on and on about his magnificent blue box. Reinette and Luc broke out of their trance at the yells of the Doctor, "Woooah! Woah! I'm okay! I'll be just fine! Give me a second and I'll be right back up there!" He had fallen over the railing and was now on the floor below them. Amy had to walk out of the room as she could no longer contain her laughter. Rory followed her as he too was finding it very difficult not to laugh. Reinette, having been trained not to be rude, was able to contain her laughing to a mere smile, Luc was different, he didn't find the matter funny at all and didn't see why anyone was even considering laughing.
"Doctor, are you alright?" Luc shouted over the edge of the railing "I'm coming down to help you, okay?" The Doctor mumbled something about Luc being the only sensible one in the whole TARDIS other than himself. Luc ran down the steps and helped the Doctor to get back on his feet. Once The Doctor was back up the stairs, he showed them to their bedrooms and told them that the closets were fully stocked with clothes but they were from the 60s so they might seem weird.
"As I said, the TARDIS is a time machine so tomorrow we'll be in 20th century London!" said the Doctor with a wide grin. He did a weird little hops kip and went off to his room.
"Well goodnight." Said Reinette to Luc. Luc nodded and walked off in the direction of his bedroom. "Reinette wait!" shouted Luc. Reinette turned to look at him with a perplexed expression. "I… um… sleep well…." Luc vomited the words as he stared at his scuffed leather shoes. Reinette sighed, nodded, and turned around to leave. She had hoped he would tell her he loved her but alas, that hadn't happened. She walked to her room, and him to his.
"WAKE UP EVERYONE!" The Doctor shouted so loudly that he woke up everyone in the TARDIS. Everyone stumbled out of bed and got dressed. Reinette held up the strange new clothes to get a good look at them. She laid them out on the large plush bed and inspected them closely. There was a white, knee length cotton dress with a top that went nearly to her neck but strangely enough had no sleeves. It had fluorescent pink, orange, and yellow flowers bursting forth all over. There were strange skin colored stockings that covered her feet and went all the way up her legs, and white leather high heels. A soon as she'd finished getting dressed, there was a knock on the door.
"Come in!" Reinette shouted, not knowing doors weren't as thick here and she didn't have to shout. Amy came in holding several strange silver instruments and wearing a light blue dress with white stripes running along the bottom. She also had the flesh colored stockings but instead of white heels she had white flats. She set the instruments on the side table and, seeing Reinette's strange looks, explained what each of them did. Then, she handed Reinette a large green plastic brush and asked her to brush her hair as thoroughly as possible. When Reinette had finished, she picked up one of the silver instruments she'd told Reinette was a "curling iron", and began to curl her hair. Reinette gasped every time Amy curled a new part of her hair. Reinette was fascinated with electricity and objects such as these that used electricity to make life better.
"I love your outfit! Like mine?" said Amy twirling. Reinette smiled and nodded then twirled so Amy could see all of her dress. Once Amy finished curling Reinette's hair, she used a plastic thing in the shape of an arch to make Reinette's hair stick up in a bump. After she had Reinette's hair perfectly bumped in the front and curled everywhere else, Amy put in a thick pink headband just behind the sky-high hair bump and repeated the entire process over on herself.
"You guys took forever! We're going to be late now!" Exclaimed the Doctor as he dashed around the control room like a madman pulling levers and pushing buttons as he went. He nearly tripped at one point but Rory caught him just in time. The Doctor was wearing his usual bow tie and tweed jacket but Rory and Luc were wearing plain brown suits and ties with gelled up Elvis hair and fedoras.
"We are in a time machine and we're going to the 60s. We can't possibly be late!" Amy said, rolling her eyes at his strangeness. She walked over to Rory and linked arms with him, fixing his tie compulsively. The Doctor acted as if he hadn't heard her and continued to run around the controls like a mad man.
"These new clothes are strange, but I like them. They're lovely!" said Reinette walking over to Luc. The TARDIS started up and Reinette and look nearly fell over the railing. The Doctor ran over to them and helped them, apologizing over and over, mumbling strange things about how idiotic he was and how he should have warned them. A few moments later they'd landed in 1963 London.
"Wait we can't leave yet!" Amy grabbed a purple bag and began putting make-up on herself and Reinette. When she was done putting the make up on her face she quickly applied nail polish to her and Reinette's nails. Luc was puzzled as to what was going on, but Reinette was about ten times more confused. Luc leaned over to Rory to ask what was going on but no words came out; he was too confused. The Doctor made whiny impatient noises like a child and shifted from foot to foot. Amy finished up and put away the purple bag.
"For 1200 you sure act like a five year old, silly Time Lord." Muttered Amy with a glare in the Doctor's direction. The Doctor looked quite hurt for a moment but quickly recovered, brushing it off as the ramblings of an unknowing human. He twitched his mouth up into a sly mischievous grin and slowly pushed the heavy ocean blue doors open. Reinette began to fall over in shock but Rory caught her. Her pastel-pink fingernails dug into the flesh on Rory's hand making him cringe.
"Welcome to April 24, 1963! Come on guys! I've got tickets to see the Beatles at half six! That's in an hour! We were supposed to be here a couple of hours ago but old girl here was a bit late." Said the Doctor looking lovingly at his blue box. Rory and Amy led Reinette and Luc out into the London streets of 1963. Amy explained cars to Luc and Reinette. The Doctor began to explain what a telephone was when Luc saw an ad with a women talking into one, but Amy shushed him saying it was too much for them to handle and told Luc it was just a type of jewelry.
"Ok guys here's the plan! We head to a diner and get some food- Amy I've gotten some pounds but I don't know how your currency works so you'll have to deal with them- then we'll go to a place called the 'Majestic Ballroom' fancy sounding right! That's where the Beatles are playing tonight! After that I thought maybe we could go to the library and show you two what you missed." The Doctor smiled so widely one would think his greatest wish had just been granted. He widened his eyes slightly as if remembering something and shoved his hand deep into his jacket pocket. When he pulled it out he had a fist full of strangely colored rumbled papers and handed them to Amy to sort out. She shook her head at him and began counting them out.
"My goodness, Doctor! This is nearly £5,000! Well this will be plenty to get dinner for all of us." Amy said, neatly folding up the notes and sliding them in her pocket. Amy spotted a lovely little diner called "BIGgerson's" They went inside and sat down in a large red booth. The Doctor soaked in his surroundings like a small child going outside for the very first time in his life. He looked even more shocked when the waitress came to take his order. He was so stunned that Amy, on top of having to order for Reinette and Luc since they didn't know modern English food, had to order for him too. She ordered them all a cheeseburger and some chips; Doctor also made Amy buy a bunch of their homemade crisps because they sounded cool. They finished eating and paid the bill then left for the concert.
Young girls screamed as the famed Beatles made their grand entrance up on stage. The Doctor, much to everyone else's amusement, even began to scream and shout and dance about. Rory, a life-long fan of the Beatles, began to freak out a bit as well. Seeing the Beatles live was after all his strange dream he thought would never come true. As the first song began to play, Reinette and Luc looked at each other, a smile on their faces, and realized that in the giant impossible 5000 piece puzzle that is life, they were two puzzle pieces that fit together. They enjoyed the rest of the concert knowing they'd never be alone again.
"Well that was great fun right gang! Ooh I've always wanted to say that. Gang… I've got a gang!" said the Doctor with a wide toothy grin. Everyone laughed at his strange childish nature and continued walking. They headed in the direction of a large library that looked as if it might have all the information they needed. They entered and immediately found the history section. Rory was the first to find a book that started where Luc and Reinette left off. To their surprise, all it said about the Cyberman invasion was that there was a large massacre probably cause by the disappearance of the oldest children of two long feuding cities in France. The Doctor was reading the book aloud to them but when he turned the page he saw something he never hoped to see.
"Oh my." Muttered the Doctor. "This is bad." Each royal family blamed the other for their child's disappearances and presumed deaths, soon their minor feud turned into a civil war. The war lasted 192 years, the anger and grief over the two lost relatives being passed down from generation to generation until they grew tired of war and decided to split France into two nations: North France, and South France. The Doctor sat on the floor, burying his hands in his face.
"This was never supposed to happen! I don't know what to do! I'm a Time Lord I should've… Oh what have I done!" whispered The Doctor to his palms. He stood up and told Reinette and Luc he had a plan and could definitely fix this. Of course, he didn't have any sort of plan at all and wasn't quite so sure he could fix it; he had after all changed the entire course of history. He motioned for them all to follow him back to the TARDIS and tried to use this time of walking as a time of plan making. 'What if I go back and just don't pick them up?' he thought. 'No they would still disappear due to the fact that they'd become Cybermen and there would be the same outcome.' He sighed as he realized the only solution was to make sure Reinette and Luc were never born. When they arrived in the TARDIS everyone stared at him, waiting for his plan.
Doctor sighed and then timidly said "The only way… the only way to stop all this stuff from happening- oh by the way that split caused America to never happen not really sure why- but the only way to stop it is for one of you two," he gestured towards Reinette and Luc "to never be born." He put his head in his hands once again told them about how stupid he was. Reinette let out a small sob before running towards her room. Luc was so shocked he couldn't move so he just stood there, slack-jawed and with a blank look in his eyes. Luc nodded and looked at everyone reassuringly to let them know he wasn't upset and headed off to Reinette's room to comfort her. What will we do? He thought. How can we just disappear? Which one of us will cease to exist? Luc's thoughts were cut short when he arrived at Reinette's door and hears her sobbing.
"I'm coming in now ok?" shouted Luc. There was no answer so he assumed it was ok and walked in. He sat down on the bed next to Reinette laid her head on his shoulder, and wrapped her tiny hand around his large one. What do I say? How am I supposed to comfort her when I'm just as upset? I hate these situations I never know what to do! I wish someone else were here to help me. He thought as he hugged her close to him. At the same time as he wanted someone else to be there to help him say the right thing he also didn't. He liked it being just them; even if she was crying because they'd both just found out one of them has to cease to exist. He sighed and lifted her head up so he could look in her eyes. They were the most beautiful color he had ever seen. He'd heard the color called "glasz"; a mix of blue, green, grey, and the slightest drop of yellow. They appeared to switch from color to color as he watched them but he knew that wasn't possible.
"I'll do it. I don't want to live in a world where there's no you. You won't even remember me." He said with a smile. She looked at him with horrified and disgusted look. She pushed away from him with such force that he nearly fell off the bed. Luc was so confused he didn't even say anything. What's wrong? I thought that's why she was crying? What do I do now? What did I say wrong? Luc asked himself as he stared on at the sobbing girl.
"I don't want to live in a world without you either stupid boy! And how is saying I won't remember you going to help! That's all I want is to remember you! What are we going to do? One of us has to never be born but neither want the other to go." Said Reinette, smoothing out her crumpled white dress. She looked at Luc's deep ocean blue eyes and wondered if this would be one of her last chances to see them. She grabbed his hand and squeezed, letting up her grip only when she saw him cringe and realized he was in pain. Reinette pulled of her pink headband and took out the strange little plastic arch that made her hair look large, and laid on her side with her head resting in Luc's lap.
"I have an idea," said Luc, stroking her hair. "We get married, yes I know a little soon but hey life's short. Then we both make sure we're never born. We'll get to be married and be together forever, we'll save France, and we'll save America-whatever that is."
"That sounds wonderful! Do you think the Doctor is a priest? When he was boasting of all the things he's certified for I was sort of tuning him out…" replied Reinette with a small laugh.
"I bet you're right! I wasn't really listening either. He just talks so much. Shall we go ask then?" Luc asked Reinette. She sat up and nodded. They stood and walked towards the door. Once they got there, the paused just for a second to look at each other then walked out into the hallway that led to the main control room where they assumed everyone would be waiting. As they entered the room everyone stood from their seats; wanting to know what happened.
"We've decided what to do." Said Reinette showing no emotion for fear of crying again. "Luc and I will get married, then we'll stop both of us from being born." Reinette looked at Luc and smiled as if to say 'Everything will be okay.' Amy gave Rory a confused look and Rory shrugged his shoulders in response. No one spoke for several moments, not quite knowing what to say. The Doctor thought about it for a moment and came to the conclusion that the plan was in fact a good one. He nodded to Luc and Reinette; then to Amy and Rory who were still quite confused as to how they came to this strange decision.
The Doctor was the first to speak saying, "Okay! Sounds like a plan! Would you like to get married now in here, somewhere in the TARDIS or go somewhere or sometime else?" Reinette and Luc looked at each other, sharing a private psychic moment where they seemed to know exactly what the other was thinking.
"We'd like to get married, now. Here in the control room too as it is the most beautiful place one could imagine." Stated Reinette with a wide smile. The Doctor smiled for so long he appeared to start glowing. The Doctor started rushing around mumbling about how this would be so cool and how the TARDIS wasn't tidy enough.
"Doctor it's okay it doesn't have to be clean or anything! Just find someone to marry us and that will be that!" Luc said, seeing the Doctor running frantically about.
"Oh I don't need to find someone! I can do it!" boasted the Doctor. "So are you going to stay dressed like that because the TARDIS can literally provide you with whatever clothing you need!"
"No! Just do it now! Goodness Doctor such a fuss!" exclaimed Reinette, getting slightly irritated with the rambunctious man. The Doctor looked sort of hurt but recovered quickly when he remembered he needed a bible. He rushed down the stairs and opened up a large trunk, flinging things out until he found what he needed. He rushed back up in such a hurry that he fell back down and had to restart. Once the Doctor had gotten up the stairs properly, he arranged everyone in the proper fashion so that Rory was on the groom's side and Amy was on the bride's. He began to perform the ceremony. He was so excited that the entire thing was over in about three minutes due to the fact that he was talking as fast as he possibly could.
"Alright gang- ha there it is again- we'll get good sleep tonight then head out tomorrow to um… do what we must." Said the Doctor, his smile fading. Instead of sleeping, Luc and Reinette stayed up the whole night talking. They explained in detail every moment of their lives; this was after all going to be their last night together and why waste it with sleep when they could learn everything about each other. However at some point they became too tired to continue staying up and fell asleep for a couple of hours, still in the control room of the TARDIS. When the Doctor woke up and went into the control room to prepare for the journey ahead, he was shocked to find Reinette and Luc still there lying in a heap on the stairs. He didn't know what to do so he went to ask Amy and Rory.
"Ponds! Wake up Ponds! Rory Pond! Amy Pond! Wake up! I have a question!" The Doctor half whispered half shouted. He tapped on the door and turned in circles until Rory spoke up.
"My gosh, Doctor! Come in! And I AM NOT A POND!" shouted Rory. Amy rolled her eyes at the fact that he had to say that almost every day now that they were married; the Doctor even called Rory's father Mr. Pond. They both sat up in their bed and rubbed the sleep from their eyes as The Doctor came in.
"For some reason they're out there sleeping in the control room and I dunno what to do. Do I wake them? Do I let them sleep? Help me!" The Doctor whined like a child as he said the last word, Amy sighed and got up. Rory looked at doctor and shrugged when he saw the puzzled look that consumed his face. Amy slipped on an oversized grey university T-shirt over her purple tank top and a pair of navy blue sweat pants over her striped pajama shorts. She gathered up all her fiery orange hair and arranged it in a messy bun. She placed her delicate hands on her hips, cocked her head to the side, and sighed again, shifting her gaze from Rory to The Doctor. They got the feeling she was somehow silently insulting them.
"Guys, it's time to wake up. Sorry. I can make you some tea if you like." Amy said in a soothing yet firm voice. Reinette and Luc began to move around until they had fully sat up, yawning. They stood and looked at Amy, her small delicate frame stood firmly to the ground. She seemed like someone you would never want to cross. The Doctor came flouncing in with Rory yawning along behind him. The Doctor ran around the control room frantically pressing buttons and pulling levers and muttering strange words as he ran; just like the time before.
"Okay. We're here. I'm so, so sorry, but we're here." The Doctor had a look in his eyes that only someone who had felt true pain in his life could have. The fun bouncing mad man with a box suddenly became the serious, solemn, lonely child running around in his parent's clothes. "This is when Reinette's parents meet. We'll stop them from meeting and then it will be time for Luc's." The Doctor added, looking down at his feet. That was the last thing the Doctor said to Reinette before they went outside and stalled Reinette's mother from going into the church when she was supposed to so that she wouldn't be able to sit next to Reinette's father. Slowly, Reinette started fading as if she were an old photograph.
"I love you Luc!" she shouted as she faded.
"I love you too my sweet Reinette!" Luc shouted just as she disappeared forever.
Everyone walked slowly back to the TARDIS so that they could repeat the process over with Luc's parents. The Doctor did his usual running around the control except this time, he went slower, he didn't bounce with every step, and he just ran. They walked outside and found Luc's father. He was supposed to be walking into the stables to buy a new horse where he would meet Luc's mother who loved animals. The Doctor started talking to him randomly, rambling on about the many things he'd seen over his many days until Luc saw his mother exit the stables. The Doctor stopped and said goodbye. He rushed over to Luc just as he was fading and they all exchanged goodbyes. The Doctor, Amy and Rory walked back to the TARDIS with solemn looks on their faces. The Doctor forgot there was even anyone with him. He just wanted to wallow in his guilt and self-loathing by himself, not with his latest companions. Eventually they'd leave them too. Or they'd die. Maybe they'd forget him, move on with their busy lives and forget they'd ever met him. He went up to his room and went to sleep; trying to forget his whole long, sad, lonely life.