-Doctor?!-
The tone of Courtney's voice was unexpectedly calm; a real daughter of 21st century she was, as she feared more being ridiculed than actual dangers; obviously that was only because there has always been a solid screen between her and danger, and this usually was in some horror movie her friend dared themself to watch in the middle of the night just to see who'd chicken first, like last Friday pajama party.
And of course there was no immediate danger around her at the time being. Well, not apparently. Just plain rows of shelves in which spheres little bigger than her fist lied tidily. Only they were suddenly looking kind of gloomish and morbid… she couldn't even tell exactly how they felt that way, they just did.
Just to prove she was not scared, she moved closer to one of the sides of the long (endless to look at) corridor and took a closer look to one of the balls. It was made of some opaque material, brownish, very regular, striped with parallel patterns that cut the sphere all along its surface. It kind of looked like wood. Other spheres had other colours, grey, dark green, light brown and such, the only ones who had a vivid colour were blood red. And they all had the horizontal stripes.
She watched closely: the patterns were different in how thick every stripe was and how far it was from the next one. It reminded her of the bar codes on the CDs of her favourite shop. She took a deep breath and finally grabbed one of the things: she suddenly started having goosebumps and cold sweating, her hearth beating faster… she was totally scared. Yet she didn't know why she felt that way; she decided it was nothing to worry about and brought the sphere closer to her face.
It weighted normally, just like it was made of solid plastic or some cheap wood, it had the same temperature of the room, not feeling colder like metal would have:
–Right, it's just a ball… there's nothing to be afraid of, The Doctor should be here any moment now…- she was trying to convince herself that everything was alright and she started talking out loud by instinct, like she had to hear somebody's voice, even her own, even distorted by the huge corridor echo she was in; suddenly a creepy sound, like the hiss of a snake filled the air startling her.
She instinctively walked backwards and bumped into someone, who put his hand over her mouth so not to make her scream.
Few hours before it was a warm afternoon in Coal Hill School; Courtney had disrespected PE teacher once too many and she had to stay after class to clean the gym. All by herself. Yet she bought of her favorite rock band new CD and was planning of listening it way home; instead she had to compromise by listening while cleaning the huge room with a broom… or at least pretend to do so for a good hour, but unfortunately the batteries were dead.
Anyway she actually collected a fine pile of dust in the middle of the room, and disappointedly looked it shatter once more as a quite familiar "WHOOSH" noise filled the atmosphere.
A Blue Police Box appeared in the opposite corner of the room, turning from transparent to full visible. A skinny man dressed as a cheap magician rushed out its doors:
-Clara! Clara!- he shouted looking quite excited at first, then doubtful before reentering the booth. Courtney walked closer. The man once more opened the doors and looked around like he was expecting to see someone and really didn't; he finally noticed Courtney and yelled at her:
-Excuse me?, he jogged closer, Is this Coal Hill School by any chance?- Courtney wielded the broom like a weapon and started striking the man's leg with its brushes, raising dust clouds with every slash. The man, taken by surprise jolted backwards, almost losing balance on his feet:
-Whoa! Earthlings were never so aggressive in this era! Calm down… I am… I am a Police man! Don't you see I came out of a Police Box?!- Courtney already lost his temper:
-Doctor! It's me, Courtney?! Why don't you ever recognize me?!- The man had an interrogative mark written all over his face, so she rolled her eyes backward and tried to give more hints:
-The time when you posed as the caretaker!- He still looked clueless:
–The trip on the moon!- Still nothing:
-The freaking huge birdy thing hatched from it!- he suddenly got a realization look on his face:
-Oh, you were the captain o' that expedition, weren't you?- he wrinkled the thick eyebrows:
-but you shouldn't be born yet!- she started slapping his shoulder as she empathized every word of her sentence:
-Not! That! One!- The Doctor tried to parry the best he could the hits, then he realized, for real and he snapped his finger and pointed her out:
-Oh! The thingy girl! Yes, yes, yes, chill down, now I remember you…- She looked a little less upset, at least she stopped beating him. He seems satisfied for a split second and said:
-Well, it's good to see you're fine, take care, bye- And rushed out of the gym still calling Mrs. Oswald's name. Courtney was about to stop him, then just grumbled and started putting the cleaning tools back to their place, as she waited for him to come back, which happened in a minute or so:
-Excuse me! Excuse me!- She looked at him with a skeptical look on her face:
-Thingy girl, have you seen Clara around? Chubby, shorty, bossy, with a perfectly round face, in her fifty or so…- she didn't even mind to fix the description:
-She is my teacher! We traveled together, you know?! She's on a field trip, she's in Wales!- he looked astonished:
-Wales?! What is she doing in there when I need her here?!-
-Dunno, maybe she's got a life on her own or something, don't ya think?!- He looked like he was considering the possibility, then denied it with a smirk on his grey face. He shrugged, then walked back to the TARDIS:
-Too bad, I needed an assistant…- Courtney followed him:
-Well, I'm available, just in case…- He stopped and looked at her puzzled: -You?! Why should you come?!-
-Well, you need an assistant and I have a spare hour or so. PE made me do penalty cleaning- He looked even more puzzled while he opened the TARDIS doors:
-Wasn't he dead?!- Courtney entered as she pointed his face:
-That was math one. And this is rude.- The Doctor looked around once more, then entered his ship and lift off, raising even more powder.
A chubby guy wearing a gym suit, a whistle around his neck walked in:
-Courtney, ye can go now!- He coughed for the dust in the air, then shake his head in disappointment:
-she will hear me out…-
The TARDIS reappeared in a corridor bade by two long walls with shelves on them; the floor was black and lucid, so that it reflected the legs of the two almost to their knees before fading away in an indistinct shape.
The Doctor walked first, looking around with curiosity painted all over his face; Courtney was a bit more cautious, as she watched her step more closely; the trip was almost instantaneous and there was little time to talk, despite she asked for a music player to listen to her beloved CD. The Doctor didn't even bother to answer, so it was actually the first time when she asked, whispering:
-Can you tell me again why are we here for?- he looked back to her his mouth a little open as he was amazed by the view. It was quite shocking in fact: all of the light, a warm orange relaxing light, came from the shelves themselves and it was not enough to light the ceiling, giving the illusion there was no ceiling at all, only endless darkness, like a night without stars; even the light on the top of the TARDIS was not enough, which was quite strange, since it was way above the height of the top shelf; furthermore, it was impossible to tell if the black walls ended in a ceiling at all, there was no reference point to look at to tell; and the most intriguing thing was not even the sight, it was the feel that sight gave.
One should probably feel alienated, distressed or maybe just fascinated over such an alien scenery; instead they felt relaxed, like if they could have taken a nap in the cold looking floor if they wanted to.
–We got a distress call, which is weird- he finally whispered back.
–Why is it weird?-
-Because it was a literal call, very few people got that number in the whole space-time.-
She looked way back to the TARDIS, who was now just few steps back and then back to The Doctor: -what did the call said?- -Nothing. Well, nothing that I could understand, except these coordinates. Second weird thing, aside from few rough language, ancient Gallifreyan and some Venusian dialects, the TARDIS should translate any message.-
She looked puzzled, so she whispered again:
-So how can you tell it was a distress call in the first place?-
-Third weird thing. I don't know, I'm just sure of it. Ask me what the fourth weird thing is.- He moved closer to her face and looked in her eyes:
-what is the fourth weird thing?- she whispered back
–No one is here, no immediate threat, no Dalek, cyberman nor even a grumpy Sontaran. Then why are we whispering?- She shrugged:
-I don't know I just feel like doing so- he nodded:
-yeah, me too. Stay close to me.-
He moved forward and she started thinking about the already mentioned horror-pajama night with her friends. She glanced back at the TARDIS and she jolted as the ship was nowhere in sight.
–Doctor…- she whispered again in fear, but when she looked back his way, The Doctor was nowhere in sight. So she started wandering on her own, until that hand grabbed her.
The Doctor, the owner of the hand, whispered to her hears:
-don't talk out loud. Just whisper- he let her go and she looked back at him almost on the verge of crying:
-Doctor! Where have you been?- he never stopped looking at her:
-well, from my point of view, you disappeared back then. I started looking for you, when I called you out loud I heard this whistling sound in my ears, so I stopped.-
-Yes, I just heard that, too! What is it?!- The Doctor looked up around briefly:
-No clue, but I don't want to find out the hard way.- The little girl seems still scared and The Doctor felt a bit guilty for bringing her around, so he tried to cheer her up a bit with his discovery:
-Look what I found out!- He grabbed one of the sphere from the closest shelf, held it with both hands and twisted it as he was opening a stuck jam jar, except he did it with an extreme care instead. He further the two now splat halves of the sphere vertically, revealing a helix of white fabric of some sort in the middle, mostly white, but with dark stripes in them, reminding the pattern of a piano keyboard. Then he gently blew on the helix, that started spinning, quickly becoming a white silver cylinder for the optical effect of the rotation, with horizontal stripes moving all along its height. She looked at it intrigued as she never saw anything of the sort.
–Are they all like this, Doctor?- The Doctor moved his intense glare from the still spinning helix to the girl:
-No, of course not, but you couldn't tell the difference.- She was a little upset by the sassy tone:
-what do you mean?- The Doctor head followed the movement of a particularly thick stripe up and down along the cylinder, after blowing some more for making it spin again:
-The way this pattern changes, the movements of the stripes, their thickness. It doesn't repeat itself for a while. And it's different from the others I already saw. But a human memory is not good enough to notice.-She rolled her eyes once more:
-Said the one who couldn't tell me from a white auntie in her forty…- He looked almost hypnotized by the object, while he was actually memorizing the movement just in case, then he suddenly closed the sphere and put it back:
-Anyway, we need to find a way out.- Courtney looked around for a moment:
-What about that way?- as she pointed a rectangular light in a space between two shelves, the first interruption in the row they saw since they first got there:
-But it wasn't here a second ago…- The Doctor moved closer to what definitely looked like a door:
-Nor were you…- he pointed out, always whispering. He looked at the shape of a hand on the door and put his own over. Without a sound the Door opened, revealing a white circular room. They stepped outside in the new environment and looked around briefly. This white room was circular, with a large round table in the middle, with a clear crystal reflecting the pale light that came from a skylight on the ceiling, which almost blinded the two for a few second. The table was also white and round, with some comfortable looking couch in white skin, or at least what looked like skin.
Strangely enough, the only thing that broke the "whiteness" of the place was a quiet stream of water flowing in between the table and the couch. Unless until they were fully able to see again and noticed the body lying in the ground.
–Doctor- the thrilled tone of Courtney's voice felt almost like she was shouting in comparison to how they spook back in the black corridors
–Look!- The Doctor moved closer to the body and analyzed it with his screwdriver. Courtney heard her heart beating over the screech of the device. The Doctor looked up at it and finally sentenced:
-Dead- He stood up as Courtney asked:
-Is he human?- The body actually looked human; the solely unfamiliar trait was that white silver hair colour with greenish reflexes, but that could be the result of some bad taste punk bleaching. The Doctor looked back at his screwdriver:
-No. Humans took many appearances during their evolution and interbreeding over their spread through the universe. But not like this. Actually he looks like a Time lord, we were the first to get that appearance, but he wasn't a Time lord either.- Courtney moved a little closer:
-So what was him?- The Doctor seemed bothered:
-I don't know. I'm beginning to hate this place. I hate don't knowing. I need to learn something more about him…- he started to touch his jacket like he was looking for something in them, so Courtney asked:
-What are you, dissecting him?- The Doctor finally pulled out what looked like to be a stethoscope ending with a pocket watch:
-nothing so invasive; it could spread poisonous gas while I ripped it open for what we know- he started using the device to listen to his heart, looking for it in several place all around the torso, then brought the watch closet to his eyes to watch the clock arms and twisted the wheel to adjust the time; he suddenly looked in pain and seemed to hurry to fix the device…
-Ouch, that was bad… I was swirling the wrong way- Courtney looked upset once more:
-Do you care to explain?- The Doctor started to without looking her, as he was all into his little toy:
-It's a new stuff I invented. I called it the "Timey-scope"… it basically rides tiny vortex waves in order to create a time distortion zone, not bigger than a coin, but big enough to listen through it. It only works to the past, though.-
-Why is that?-
-Because you would listen to any possible sound if you set it to the future. Infinite noise would build up in few instants, boiling your brain.-
-So what can you do with it?-
-I can auscultate the heartbeat of a dead man before his demise.- Courtney looked puzzled:
-What good would that do?- The Doctor finally found out his heart and the right time:
–It does that now I know that its heart was in the belly. You know what that means?- Courtney smirked:
-That he's gross?- The Doctor rolled his eye upward:
-No, I know you probably got Jelly Babies into your brain and that doesn't mean any offense since how good they are, but try to use that little, puny, miserable thing for once! His heart is in his belly. So what's no more room for?-
-Snacks?- Courtney answered sarcastically and got puzzled when The Doctor nodded:
-Exactly. Well, not snacks, of course, but humor is probably the best logic process humankind ever came up with, so you did well in using it: no room for stomach. So what did he eat?-
-No clue-
-He didn't. Autotrophic organism. He directly converted light and carbon dioxide into energy and, wait, there's more…- he pulled one of the shoes off the corpse, revealing a dried plum like wrinkled foot
–He drank through his feet!- The Doctor looked delighted, while the girl was just grossed by the scenery, so he added:
-Don't you get it?! It's a tree-man!- She smirked once more and asked:
-So, what did kill Groot over there?- The Doctor darkened his face as his excitement faded away:
-I still don't know that. But ask yourself this instead: why does he have a mouth if he doesn't eat nor drink?!-
-No idea…-
-C'mon! Try harder! What can you use a mouth for?!- she looked around at unease:
-I don't know. Eating. Talking. Kissing… mmm… Oh! I see! To blow air! He could spin the thingy thing!- The Doctor looked happy once more until she called the windmills "thingy thing" which made him snort. He lifted himself up:
-So this is the place where these creatures feed themselves. A Dinner room, water for their feet, the skylight, the white environment to make sure no light is wasted…-
-And the crystal?- The Doctor looked at it one second:
-Seasoning.- He suddenly realized some more and asked her excited:
-Are you good on growing plants?- She shook her head and he added:
-Do you know what's the trick? Talking to them. Which language?- He didn't leave her time to reply:
-Any. Do you know why?- she was starting to feel bored and answered annoyed:
-It's not like they understand anyway…- he nodded:
-Correct! They don't understand, language, just the emotions behind, which it's impossible to translate… the call! That's why the TARDIS didn't translate it, they were not speaking, they were communicating trough empathy! I didn't get the meaning, just the urgency of the distress call!- She looked puzzled:
-Plants can't talk!- he bent his neck a bit, then answered with something he just recently learned:
-they can a bit. What do you think happens in spring? They all blossom and cover in flowers at the same time. There's more, they do communicate back with humans… have you ever been in a forest?- she nodded:
-Well, the whole London became one not long ago!- he looked surprise. She should have forgotten that as the other people do. Maybe she had something special, after all.
-Right. Kites, hawks, raccoons, it's a place filled with predators…- she looked skeptical:
-It's not like they could harm me, they are too small! Except for snakes, maybe…- she feared snakes; he nodded:
-But the forest doesn't know. She just warns you and you feel at unease, scared… what about a garden, which makes you feel relaxed? And the emptiness you feel in a place with just asphalt, like the whole little "feeling noises" in the background were just gone?- she was not fully convinced, but let him go on:
-Imagine to perfect this ability: you could use it to make a sympathetic connection between people. Back in the corridors, what were you thinking about when we just landed?- she focused hard and recall her thoughts:
-my CD?- he nodded once more as he was back scanning the corpse and the environment with the screwdriver:
-Music section. Then what were you thinking about when we were separated?- she had to think even harder and The Doctor gave her the time to:
-A horror movie I saw last weekend…- he was all assorted into his readings, but still replied:
-Thriller section. Then what?- she looked really tired and shrugged as she gave the answer:
-I don't know… I just wanted to find you…- he was kneeled down in front of the body and glanced over her with his blue-grey eyes:
-And so you did. You just appeared in my section, which, I guess, was science, since I was thinking about that. Well, could have been history as well. I don't think just one thing per time, that would be a waste of time.- She nodded then a question came to her mind and she brought to the alien's attention:
-Sections of what?- he smiled:
-A library. The spheres are a way to store data, pretty much like books. These people should be able to read them watching the thickness of the stripes and how they move, a bit like a ba-
-A bar code!- she interrupted him to his surprise. He looked a little impressed:
-Right. You're getting better. Still we're not even close to the solution of the case- she smirked:
-what case?- The Doctor stood up and opened widely his arms, looking like some sort of huge, strange spider:
-This one. This is a crime scene. The body is lying face down in front of that door, the only locked one according to my readings, and he was definitely killed… this is a murder outside a locked room!-
