The TARDIS hummed and sang as she twirled through the time vortex. At the control panel, the Doctor twisted a knob and sighed. He'd just dropped River off at her prison cell, after saying goodbye to Amy and Rory for the final time. In his pocket he still had the last page of the book she had written for him.
Amelia Pond, with her fiery red hair and a temper to match, her gung-ho but caring attitude and her ever-lasting devotion to her husband. The Girl Who Waited.
And Rory; stupid, ridiculous, brilliant Rory. The man who had followed his wife through all of time and space, had died several times and come back for her, and then finally sat outside a box, for two thousand lonely years, just waiting to see her face again. The Last Centurion.
Now trapped together in a time he could never visit, lost to him forever. The grief of losing two such brilliant people was eating at him slowly. The TARDIS hummed in sympathy, picking up on his melancholy thoughts. He sniffed, and then wiped his nose, standing up straight and fixing his bow tie,
"Nothing's wrong, old girl, at least I got to say goodbye,"
but his false cheeriness wasn't fooling her. She could feel his sadness pulsing through him. He sighed again, then a true smile came to his face. They may be gone, but they had each other and they were happy. Just because he couldn't visit didn't mean that they would forget him. Nobody ever truly forgot him. And so he smiled, reached for a dial and said,
"Alright, Sexy. Where are you gonna take me next?" And as he twirled the dial, the TARDIS shot off to the left and he grabbed on to the railing, shouting, "GERONIMO!"
Gears grinding and the brakes sticking, the TARDIS ground to a halt. Making sure her shields were up, you could never be too careful, the Doctor pranced towards the door, smoothing his lapels before opening it. The view outside was…dull. Not exactly inspiring. That was really all that could be said. Slightly grey fields of what looked like wheat swayed in a soft wind, giving way to a dust road that lead, as he followed it around the TARDIS, to a small village.
Hardly a rousing sight there either. Rough stone houses with thatched roofs clustered in a small circle, a well in the centre, and small stalls around that. There appeared to be a market on today; the inhabitants looked mostly humanoid. Looking up, he saw a mountain just behind the village, not the tallest he'd ever seen, but it would definitely make him break a sweat if he decided to climb it.
As he walked into town, the people all stopped, stared at him and then carried on with their business when they saw he was no threat. Nobody came up to speak to him, not even the children. Everyone's faces were grim, as if nothing happy ever happened there. In an attempt to bring some liveliness to the market scene, he approached one of the stalls and picked up the first item that came to hand,
"Ooh, look at this, a Jistom pocket watch, marvellous things, every time the hour strikes they make that little twirly noise, you know, weeble, weeble, weeble,"
he glanced sideways to see if there was any reaction to his words. He supposed there was, if having the small family at the next stall look at him as if he was completely mad was a reaction, but then he wasn't sure, as people often looked at him as if he was mad. He sighed and put the gadget back down. He turned to go, obviously no luck with excitement around here, when a small voice came from behind him,
"You new here, mister?"
Turning back he saw the smallest boy from the family looking up at him with quizzical eyes. The mother's eyes had sharpened to pinpricks, he decided to keep a good distance away from the boy, who couldn't have been older than five.
"Why, yes I am. I'm the Doctor, what's your name?"
trying to sound as friendly as possible to the only person who appeared to want to talk to him. The boy looked back at his mother, and seeing her give a small nod, turned back and said proudly,
"I'm Merrick, welcome to Frecondra, the best village on Gorant."
"Pleased to meet you, Merrick," the Doctor smiled indulgently, thinking that if this was the best the planet had to offer, he wouldn't be staying long, "So where is Gorant then?"
The boy looked puzzled, "But don't you know that, Mr Doctor, since you came here in a spaceship?"
"Just Doctor will do," he said, cursing his forgetfulness, he really should have checked where he had landed before leaving the TARDIS, "Been an awfully long trip, could you just refresh my memory for me?"
"Gorant is the fifth planet from our sun, with three moons and two radio towers. We have one space port and four major villages, of which Frecondra is the third largest, but admittedly the best. We're also the only village to have an outcast."
Merrick said this with all the monotone and pride of someone who has heard the words many times from his mother's lap. The Doctor listened incredulously, wondering how the little boy could be so proud of his very backwater town. They only had one space port! No wonder he stuck out like a sore thumb, travellers must be rare, especially if this was all the planet had to offer. Then something the boy said struck him,
"Outcast? What do you mean…" But before he could finish there was a loud cracking sound from the mountain behind him. He quickly turned and watched with horror as several large stones began falling down the mountain, bouncing off the side and hurtling towards the village. He immediately snapped into hero mode, thinking perhaps he might get some excitement after all,
"Merrick, hurry! Get your family and run. Tell everyone to run. Everyone!" He was shouting now, "Move, those rocks are getting…really…close."
He trailed off as he saw everyone staring at him like he was still the insane one. At least he was trying to get away, not standing in the way of a rock fall. Nor did he expect to hear Merrick say,
"You really are new here, aren't you, Doctor?" and then walk calmly back to his family, as if they weren't about to be crushed.
Then he heard a commotion from behind him; turning, he saw several people come hurrying out of a wood that ran beside the village. A tall man in a sort of fur jacket, who walked with the dignity of someone important, a smaller man , who wore scruffy and dirty clothes, and a young girl, walking tall and upright, but her eyes betrayed her fear. She watched the other people in the square cautiously, almost as if they would hurt her if they had half a chance.
"Come on, girl, do your job," the tall man shouted, over the roar of plummeting rocks, his hands on his hips, looking indignant. The girl shot him a look of utter loathing and then strode across the square. There was finally a reaction from the townspeople, but it was not a particularly nice one. They parted for her, all of them edging out of her way, as if she had some contagious disease. She was walking right towards the rock fall.
"What's happening?" the Doctor wanted to know, "Where is she going?" Nobody spoke, they just all stared at the girl. Afraid that she would get hurt the Doctor started walking forwards,
"Seriously, Miss! Miss, get away from there, the rocks!" The girl stopped and appeared to brace herself, spreading her legs to shoulder width apart, her hands held straight in front of her, ignoring him completely. She took a deep breath.
And as the Doctor looked on in amazement, the rocks began to slow, stopped bouncing, stopped falling, stopped everything, until they were dangling just above the girl's head.
And then she pulled in her arms and appeared to push. The rocks began to fly up, back the way they had come, some of them even forming together and eventually fitting back into the mountainside, looking as if they had never moved. And the Doctor, in disbelief said,
"Well…I've never seen that before,"