The Girl in the Glass Box
Chapter 1
"Doctor, I'm waiting."
The whisper floated through the Doctor's sleeping ears and his green eyes snapped open in an instant. Every few years he heard this soft voice drifting in those moments before he awoke. It was neither familiar to him nor outwardly desperate, simply a soft statement, almost like a greeting.
The Doctor stretched as he stood up, rubbing sleep from his eyes. The Tardis control room lit up around him, immersing him in a familiar glow. He had been travelling alone for a month or so and had decided he would rather sleep in the heart of the Tardis than have to walk through the empty corridors to his own room.
"I feel like I'm in a funk, sexy. I need to get back to my old self and I have the perfect place to go." Lacking much of his usual enthusiasm, the man began to dash around, pulling, pressing, and twisting random objects until the Tardis was jolted into motion. He hung on to the bars as he and his blue box began to drift through the fathoms of space and time. For a moment he laughed, a genuine smile resting on his face as they touched down on solid ground.
Pulling the doors open, the Doctor marveled at the immense pale pink sky spread out above him. It was almost shocking that the Tardis had taken him to exactly where he wanted to go; usually he would wind up "where he was needed" but it seemed that recently no one needed him.
The Doctor wandered up to a great stone house that was decorated with so many gargoyles it made him wonder what evil spirits the architect had wanted to ward off. When he knocked on the massive front door it floated open without a groan in protest.
"Strange," He thought to himself aloud, "I was sure there was some sort of grand party here today. Something about a new artifact the chancellor bought at auction." He peered down at his watch and groaned dramatically. "Typical. 6043. The Tardis brought me to the right place but about a hundred years too late. It's been abandoned for years now." Though he was disappointed that there was in fact no party that day, the Doctor was never one to pass up an opportunity to explore places he shouldn't.
The mansion itself had been created by humans colonizing moons around Vernious II. It was a splendid example of humans' desire to live bigger and better than their predecessor. The mansion was not only filled with so many rooms and floors one could spend a month searching for the toilet but the grounds themselves also covered nearly a quarter of the moon's surface.
The Doctor stayed around the perimeter of the place until he reached the back. A massive patio welcomed him, miles of statues the only inhabitants left of the place. No actual vegetation- especially from Earth- could grow on the moon so there were no overgrown plants or twisting vines defiling the beauty of the place; every leaf and blade of grass were synthetic. Though it was as stunning as the day it was first built, there was a sense of loneliness which hung in the artificial oxygen that made him feel very much isolated.
For a while the Doctor simply wandered around the back, careful to stay away from any of the statues that looked remotely close to angels. The short hedge maze was an easy distraction and he wandered through it with a smile, laughing each time he came to a wrong end. He was sure there had to be something interesting within the maze; a fountain or secret house hidden within its depth.
Mind running wild with different fantastical ideas ranging from the fountain of youth to a secret alien fight club, the Doctor continued deeper and deeper into the maze. Determined to find the secret without cheating and peeking over the hedges, the Doctor spent most of the day getting more and more lost in it. The sky was becoming a maroon color, this world's version of a night's sky.
"I'm not finished yet. I'm close, I can feel it." The Doctor saw four marble pillars standing in the distance, connected to nothing. He figured they were marking where he was meant to go and started sprinting through the maze with little thought. A couple of times he ran face first into walls of hedges when rounding a corner but he recovered quickly in his excitement.
When he finally reached the end of the maze it opened up to a large courtyard, empty except for the center where the four tall white pillars stood. The Doctor walked closer and found a glass casket in the center, lovingly draped in synthetic flowers.
"You're what the fuss was about? I was really hoping for an alien fight club." The Doctor placed a hand on the glass, staring down at the girl with a slight grin. There was a plaque, like one you would find at a museum, which read:
"The Girl in the Glass Box"
Origins: Early Earth
Age Unknown: Estimated 160 A.D
"You're a mysterious woman aren't you? Don't even have a proper name." His eyes scanned over the girl who lay motionless, though a quick scan with the sonic screwdriver confirmed that she was very much alive. Stasis for thousands of years; he found that fairly impressive.
The Doctor's eyes halted at the girl's right hand which was tightly gripping a swatch of Tardis blue fabric. Kneeling down to get a closer look he noticed on the back of her hand was the word Doctor scribbled in hurried, slanting script. A smile flashed on his face, eyes crinkling as a plan formed in his mind.
"You must be the voice I've been hearing. Sorry it took me so long." Crouching down further, the Doctor ran his sonic screwdriver over the dark metal panels that served as the base of the glass casket. In moments it popped off its hinges and he pulled it all the way off to reveal an array of buttons. The largest button sat in the center, dark blue and glowing slightly. The instant he saw it, the Doctor wanted to push it but was sure to check the writing above it before doing so. The second he was sure it was the one to open the casket though, he pressed it with vigor.
"Are you sure you'd like to proceed? If so, please push the blue button again." The Doctor paused, considering the possibility that the girl may have been put in the glass box for a reason. But he pushed the thought aside, feeling sure that the girl was the one whose voice called to him and needed him to be there. Without further hesitation the Doctor pressed the button again.
A whooshing noise came from the glass casket and the Doctor stood to watch as the glass folded back until it was out of sight. The girl inside started breathing again, her chest rising and falling in a normal rhythm, but her eyes did not blink open. For a while he waited but she did not stir.
"I guess I'll have to carry you." With a sigh of defeat, the Doctor carefully hoisted the girl into his arms but she proved too heavy for him to take more than a few feet. "The Tardis will have to come to us then." He laughed and pressed a button on his screwdriver. As long as the blue box was within range he could call it remotely to him, though it was likely to cause some kind of destruction while landing.
The sound of the Tardis came from behind him followed by the sound of marble hitting stone as it knocked over two of the pillars. He winced slightly at the crash but it wasn't important since no one inhabited the property anymore.
Once more the Doctor took the girl in his arms and carried her through the threshold of the Tardis.