The beauty of life on the TARDIS is that every day is different; every day brought a new surprise, a new planet, a new species, a new adventure – nothing is ever the same as the day before. Amy loved it; after living most of her life in dreary old Leadworth, the TARDIS was exactly everything she had ever wanted.
Amy was woken by a gentle tapping at the door. She checked the alarm clock on her bedside table – a clock specifically engineered to correlate itself to its inhabitant's internal body clock, which tended to flick around a lot when Amy time travelled – 6:30. She looked over her shoulder, aware of her husband's presence beside her; his warm arm around her waist and his slight snoring were, as ever, a welcome comfort to her.
She heard the tapping again.
"I hope you're decent!" She heard a familiar voice call as the door to her and Rory's room opened, and the Doctor burst in; looking ridiculous, as ever, with his hair messy and swept back, his bow tie proudly placed beneath his chin, and a new accessory in his hands; a small black box, with a multitude of wires protruding from it, flashing lights blinking intermittently, and buttons.
"What is it?" She asked blearily. "It's early."
"Early, late; it's a time machine, Amy, it doesn't matter." He told her, with an air in his tone that sounded rather like an indignant parent.
"What's going on?" Rory asked, equally sleepily, beside Amy.
"What's that?" She asked, now slightly curious, and sat up in bed as the Doctor looked up in excitement, a wide smile on his face, his air of superiority vanished, so completely entranced was he by the contraption he had in his hands.
"I don't know!" He cried. "But isn't it cool?"
"Very." Amy obliged, not really looking at it as she tried to become more alert. The Doctor didn't notice her disinterest, and looked back down at the box.
"Get yourself to the console room, Ponds!" He told them. "Big day ahead."
Within half an hour Amy and Rory were out in the console room, ready for whatever the day would throw at them. With no idea what awaited them, no clue as to what the Doctor had in mind, and the whole universe at their disposal, they had given up guessing, and simply relied on the Doctor to provide for them.
He was still playing with the box, now scanning it with the sonic screwdriver, giving it an occasional prod with a pair of tweezers.
"As far as I can tell..." He told them, not looking round as he heard them enter the room. "It's a trans-dimensional replicating diurnal cannon."
"What's that?" Amy asked, crouching down next to him, peering at the box as Rory sat down on the sofa.
"No idea." The Doctor admitted, flipping it over for Amy so she could see the writing on the bottom. "I read the label."
"Right." She said, watching as he flipped it back over. It was a mess, really; probably a leftover part from an old space ship. She prodded it with her finger, but retreated it hastily after she received a short, sharp shock. "OW!" She yelled.
"Don't touch it." The Doctor scolded. "You don't know where it's been!"
"You're touching it." She pointed out grumpily, sucking on her finger; it was starting to throb.
"I'm wearing gloves." He told her, swapping the machine to his left hand and waving with his right, and Amy saw that he was, indeed, wearing a pair of skin tone gloves. "See?"
"That really hurt!" She whinged, and Rory walked over, taking her hand and looking it over.
"You're fine." He told her, with attempted confidence' an air that was lost when he looked to the Doctor for reassurance.
"She's fine." The Doctor reiterated, and Rory nodded.
"See, you're fine."
"I know I'm fine." She snapped, taking her hand back. It was too early in the morning to be shocked by an alien box. She grumpily went and sat on the sofa, and the Doctor finally put down the box, placing it under the console, and stood up to begin punching in coordinates. "Where are we going?" Amy asked.
"I was thinking Rajor 9." He told them with a grin. "It's a tiny planet, completely flat. Lovely little convent down the bay; I've heard the Nuns there are very hospitable."
"Like Holland?" Rory asked, remembering being taught at school that the country was entirely flat.
"No," The Doctor scoffed. "I mean, the world is flat; just one piece of land, everything falls off of the edges. I've always wanted to see how they keep the water in."
They landed moments later on Rajor 9. It was beautiful; they had parked with a clear view over a cliff overlooking the ocean, and the Doctor stepped forwards, trying to peer at the not too distant horizon to work out the science of it all. Amy swished her hands through the red grass, which was waist height and velvety, and looked up at the equally red trees beside her. She smiled happily as she felt Rory take her hand; she was happy as long as she was with her two favourite men.
"Isn't it wonderful?" The Doctor asked grandly with a wide sweep of his hands, looking out at the horizon. "Brand new planet! Just look, Ponds; look at it!"
"We're looking." Rory said, humouring the Doctor.
"And by the looks of it..." The Doctor said, peering closer, then taking his binoculars out of his jacket for a closer look. "The water is held in by..." He took out his sonic screwdriver, trying to take a reading. "Not just gravity! There's a strong magnetic field..." He squinted his eyes, then waved his hand in the air before licking a finger. "Very ironised..."
"How's it held in?" Rory asked, the man who researched all of the latest scientific theories of the early 21st century now curious. "Magnets?"
"Maybe, though it's of course ridiculous when you think about how it could have evolved like that..." The Doctor said, confused. "It makes no sense. Wonder what the locals have to say." He concluded, his brow creased in confusion as he thought, though he flattened it out. "Let's go find out!" The Doctor said, turning round to smile at Amy and Rory, but as he saw what stood behind the TARDIS for the first time he froze. "Ah."
"What?" Amy asked, looking round. Behind the TARDIS was what looked like a city made of metal, tall skyscrapers and glistening silver stretching up, an eyesore compared to what had previously looked like a beautiful, natural planet.
"That's not meant to be there..."
"It's not?" Amy asked.
"Why?" Rory finished for her.
"This is way too advanced for this planet!" The Doctor told them. "They haven't hit their industrial revolution yet; they've barely discovered fire!"
"And we were going to ask them how their water stayed in, how?" Rory asked, and Amy slapped his arm, silently telling him off. The Doctor took a few steps forwards, peering down at the grass, and Amy and Rory followed, looking at everything, and eventually noticed the squashed grass that appeared to be capturing the Doctor's attention.
"Those aren't humanoid footprints." The Doctor said, taking out his screwdriver. "Too heavy, far too heavy..." He looked at the readout. "Metal footprints, footprints made by metal feet; big, heavy metal footprints made by metal feet." The sonic beeped at him, and his eyes widened in shock. "Oh."
"What?" Amy asked, and felt a jolt of fear run through as the Doctor looked round in terror.
"We have to get out of here; now!" He said. "Amy, Rory; get in the TARDIS."
"We're leaving?" She asked, but the Doctor interrupted her.
"Get back in, now!" He yelled, looking back at the city as if unable to comprehend it. "But why?"
As Amy and Rory began to walk backwards in the direction of the TARDIS, a flash of white, static light blinded their vision, and they shielded their eyes.
"UNKNOWN TECHNOLOGY!" An electronic voice yelled, and Amy felt a chill run down her spine; she had heard this voice before, the same bland yet terrifying electronic voice. Amy gasped and grabbed Rory's hand tighter, who also recognised their voices. It had been two thousand years, and a bit longer, since they had heard it.
"Cybermen." The Doctor cried, his path back to the TARDIS, and the Ponds, now blocked by the metal man. "Get back in the TARDIS now!"
"ENEMY IDENTIFIED!" The Cyberman said, in a tone that could almost have been considered gleeful if they hadn't known that these aliens were incapable of emotion. "YOU ARE THE DOCTOR!"
"Yes, yes I am." The Doctor said, his voice flustered as he fiddled with the screwdriver in his hands and pushed back his hair. "And you shouldn't be here!" He attempted to say with confidence and authority, while motioning for Amy and Rory to go back into the TARDIS. They stayed rooted to the ground, unwilling to leave the Doctor.
"YOU WILL BE DELETED!" The Cyberman yelled, and took a step towards the Doctor, arm outstretched.
"No, now you see; there is one very good reason why you shouldn't do that!" The Doctor replied, backing away, and to his terror finding himself backed against a tree.
"REASONS ARE IRRELEVANT!" The Cyberman cried, now inches from the Time Lord. "DELETE! DELETE! DELETE!" It cried, clamping its metal hand down on the Doctor's shoulder and sending blue bolts of electricity charging through him, through the Time Lord, stopping his hearts instantly.
"NO!" Amy cried, moving to rush forward, to go to the Doctor. Rory held her back, struggling fiercely against his wife, determined to keep her safe above all. "LET ME GO TO HIM!" She yelled, tears beginning to flow as she feared the worst.
The Cyberman turned to face Amy and Rory now, and Rory gave another tug on his wife, moving her back a step. "Amy, we need to get in the TARDIS, now!"
"We can't just leave him!" She yelled to her husband, tears flowing freely.
"We have to!" Rory tugged her again, and they took another step back as the Cyberman stepped towards them. "Amy, come on!"
She let Rory tug her back into the TARDIS, unable to fight him in her distraught state. Rory slammed the doors shut behind them, sliding the lock closed as Amy crumpled on the floor by the exit, sobbing.
"Why did you make me leave him?" She asked through her tears, each word an effort.
"That thing would have killed us both too, Amy." Rory told her.
"I don't care." She said.
"Well I do." Rory said firmly, kneeling down next to her and taking her hands. She shook him off, staggering to her feet and climbing the steps to the console.
"We have to do something." Amy said fiercely, looking at the machine as if it would tell her what to do. "Go back in time; stop this from happening. Time can be rewritten!"
"How, Amy?" Rory demanded, his frustration venting from him. "We don't know how to use this!"
"It's telepathic! It can do it!" She yelled, referring to the machine and slapping her hand onto it. The TARDIS thrummed unhappily under her force, but Amy persevered, pulling down a lever. A grinding noise erupted from the time machine, and Rory pushed it back up, grabbing Amy's hands and forcing her to look at him.
"Stop it, Amy." He told her.
"We have to do something." She told him meekly, and he shook his head softly.
"I don't think we can."
Amy stayed in the console room for hours, staring at the heart of the machine, willing it to do something, anything, to change what had happened. Nothing happened; nothing at all. The TARDIS was silent, more silent than she had ever known it to be.
Rory came back in the room, looking unsurprised to see her still sitting there. "Maybe you should get some sleep, Amy."
"I can't." She told him stubbornly, not looking round. She was exhausted, yes, but she didn't want to sleep. How could she?
Rory watched her for a few minutes, desperate to say something to make her feel better, to ease her pain, but didn't know how. He was her husband, he knew her better than anyone in the whole universe, but seeing her like this terrified him. He briefly considered going over to her, hugging her, but chickened out, instead leaving the room to wander the TARDIS. He didn't think he could sleep either.
After a few more hours, Amy eventually drifted off, her head resting uncomfortably on the back of the seat.
After what felt like no time at all, Amy woke up. She wasn't where she had fallen asleep, instead she was back in her bed, with Rory beside her, his arm wrapped around her waist. He must have moved her as she slept.
She felt numb as she remembered what had happened before she had gone to sleep. The Doctor was dead; they had left him to die. She felt fresh tears spill out of her eyes.
It took her a few seconds to work out what it was that had woken her up; a tapping. She sat up, strangely curious, as a feeling of déjà vu washed over. The tapping sounded again, followed by a familiar voice at the other side of the door.
"I hope you're decent!"
Oooh! Brand new fic!
Reviews and constructive criticism are, as always, welcome.