Disclaimer: Guess what, I still don't own Doctor Who...

Summary: The Doctor takes Amy and Rory for a quiet holiday on the rainforest planet Exelica, only to end up fighting for their lives...again.

Author's Note: Hi all! I've been bitten by a short plot bunny, so I'm just experimenting with a short story, with VERY short chapters (so no complaining please - they are what they are). This is an Eleven, Amy and Rory fic, which has no links to my usual Whoniverse...YET...

NB: For those who are wondering, yes, I am still working on the next chapter of "The Master's Rose", hopefully it will be up soon - this is just a bit of a light diversion for me.

CHAPTER ONE

"The planet Exelica!" the Doctor announced happily, his boyish face alight with delight. "Just the place to rest and recharge our batteries! If we had batteries...which, of course, we don't. Probably just as well, really – very inefficient power source, batteries are. Always running down right when you need them."

Amy Pond gave an exasperated sigh. "Doctor, you're rambling again."

"Am I?" the Doctor replied absently, tweaking a few controls on the console. "I really must stop doing that. Right then. Where was I?"

"The planet Exelica," Rory reminded him.

The Doctor's face lit up all over again. "Ah yes! Wonderful place. Some of the most beautiful rainforest in the entire Universe. Trees that are thousands of years old, reaching for the sun. Everything cool and green, waterfalls sparkling like jewels, shimmering butterflies every colour of the rainbow. Not to mention some of the cheekiest monkeys I've ever met."

"It sounds fabulous!" Amy exclaimed, beginning to be infected by his enthusiasm.

"Yeah, too fabulous," Rory muttered glumly. "Because every time you promise to take us somewhere fabulous, something always goes wrong."

"Wrong?" the Doctor said in surprise. "Don't be so negative, Rory. What could possibly go wrong?"

With that, he pulled down hard on the materialisation lever. The TARDIS seemed to shudder and then there was a short, sharp bump, which almost knocked them off their feet. The steady hum of the engines cut out and the time rotor stopped oscillating, subsiding gracefully into the console.

"Besides," the Doctor grinned, straightening his bow tie. "We're already here."

Almost bouncing with excitement, he led the way down the stairs to the TARDIS entrance. "Come along, Ponds!" he called, turning to face them and jauntily walking backwards through the doors. "Prepare to be amazed." Raising his arms in the air like an orchestra conductor, he gave a dramatic, flourishing gesture. "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...the planet Exelica!"

Following him outside, Amy and Rory simply stared at him.

"What, no applause?" he complained, his face falling in disappointment. "Blimey, tough crowd!"

"Um...Doctor?" Amy said gently. "Turn around."

He frowned and then spun around in an abrupt movement. "Ah," he murmured, taking in the landscape spread out before him. "Right."

There was no rainforest, no spreading green canopy of leaves, no glimmering waterfalls, no chattering monkeys. In fact, there were no trees at all and no immediate signs of life. They appeared to have landed in a desert. Huge dunes of colourless sand loomed around them, constantly sifting and trickling in the hot breeze. Overhead, the sky was blue and cloudless, a malignant sun hurling its rays down to scorch the planet below.

The Doctor blinked in confusion. "This can't be right," he said, reaching into his pocket for his sonic screwdriver.

"Looks like the TARDIS got it wrong again," Rory groaned and then jumped, as the wind tossed his voice back to him in a mournful whisper. "Wherever we are, this place is seriously creepy."

"No," the Doctor returned, his brow creased in concentration as he turned in a slow circle, his screwdriver buzzing loudly. "We're in the right place. This is Exelica...or was, the last time I was here."

"Guess they must have had a pretty hot summer this year then," Rory said wryly, kicking at the piled up sand. "Because it looks a lot more like a desert than a rainforest."

"It isn't a desert."

Rory raised his eyebrows. "It isn't?"

"No," the Doctor answered, a grim look on his face as he crouching down and ran the soft sand between his fingers. "It isn't a desert because this isn't sand."

"OK, it's happened again, you've lost me," Rory grumbled, raising his eyes heavenwards. "If it isn't sand, what is it?"

"Entropy dust," the Time Lord said bleakly. "The rainforests of Exelica, atomised down to their most basic molecular structure. All that's left of one of the wonders of the Universe."

Before Rory could question him further, they were interrupted by Amy's voice calling to them urgently. Glancing up, they saw that she had climbed to the top of the nearest dune and was pointing frantically into the distance.

"Doctor! Rory! You've got to see this...NOW!"