Chapter 1: Reach
"Montreal," the Doctor announced.
"That banner says this is the 143rd Annual World Trick-Taking Championships," Rory noticed.
"That means it's the year 2354," the Doctor said. "Avoid historical information."
"Are those card games?" Amy asked.
"It's an individual all-around competition with four different trick-taking card games," the Doctor answered.
"Any betting?" Rory asked.
"No, just straight up points."
"What about the spectators?" Rory added.
"No. Are you interested in placing bets?" the Doctor asked.
"No, just curious."
The Doctor, Rory, and Amy walked around the arena as people cheered for the tournament's winner, Marco Salento. After the medals ceremony, Salento approached a platform for an interview.
"It took four tries, but you've finally won!" a reporter said.
The interview continued and Amy glanced at the Doctor, whose eyes seemed to be glazed over.
"What's wrong?" Amy asked.
"Some sort of telepathic . . . I don't know yet."
"I feel like Irea Chowell at the 2332 Olympics," Marco continued, "And Josh Chen, Dmitri Galinsky, and Stan Conti."
"There it is," the Doctor remarked.
"What?" Rory asked.
"That's what's wrong. Stan Conti swept all six men's gymnastics individual event finals at the Olympics. Six gold medals in addition to the team gold and individual all-around gold."
"What's wrong with that?"
"He did it at the 2408 Olympic Games," the Doctor answered.
"Is Marco a time traveler?" Amy asked.
"Maybe, but that wouldn't explain that feeling I have."
Marco soon concluded the interview and departed the stage.
"Come along," the Doctor said, approaching Marco. He held out his sonic screwdriver.
The Doctor worked through the crowd, not minding that Rory and Amy were getting held back. He weaved through fans requesting autographs and more reporters asking questions.
"Will you court any sponsorship deals, Mr. Salento?" the Doctor asked. He held out the sonic screwdriver like a microphone and took a reading. "How do you feel about Wyatt Paper?"
"Never heard of them," Marco answered.
'What about Belasi Glasses?"
"I don't know that brand, either."
The Doctor retreated to the TARDIS. "Let's go!" he told Amy and Rory when he passed them.
"What did you find out?" Amy asked.
"There was a localized psychic array of temporal flux," the Doctor explained as he stuck the sonic screwdriver into a port on the TARDIS console. "Someone in the future, who knew about Stan Conti and should have known about Wyatt Paper and Belasi Glasses, inhabited Marco Salento's mind."
"How?" Amy asked.
"I don't know yet, but the TARDIS just told me when: 2810."
The TARDIS shook slightly before finally settling down. The Doctor headed towards the door, followed by his companions.
"Will you be able to pinpoint the person responsible?" Rory asked.
"Oh," the Doctor remarked. He surveyed his surroundings, which consisted mostly of rows of buildings in the shape of spires.
"This isn't Earth, is it?" Amy asked.
"We're on the planet Ajeva."
"Does that make it easier or harder to find the person you're looking for?" Rory asked.
"Much easier. Several groups of trans-galactic pioneers set off from Earth a couple centuries ago. One of them must be here. Come on, back to the TARDIS. I know where we can find them."
The TARDIS took the Doctor and his companions to another part of the planet. The three emerged and were immediately greeted by curious Ajevans.
"Hello, we're looking for the other humans. Would you mind pointing me in their direction?"
"You speak our language well, and you look familiar to me," a different Ajevan said while looking towards Amy and Rory, though not specifying whom.
The Doctor, Rory, and Amy noticed a group of three Ajevans dressed differently than the rest.
"I've had some practice," the Doctor said, responding to the Ajevan's first comment.
"I will take you to the others, and you can assist us with communication. We are unsure what they truly want."
"How have you been communicating with them so far?" Amy asked.
"Symbols and pointing."
"So, who are you?" Rory asked as everyone walked towards a building.
"We are the diplomatic administrators. Our scientists have long speculated about the existence of other sentient life in the universe and then we picked up signals and transmissions from a planet with a very long name that I can't pronounce. Then, we had a visitor. When more visitors came, we were quickly assembled from the governments of this planet to oversee interactions."
"You were diplomats before?" the Doctor asked.
"Yes, and a number of us were linguists."
The administrators led the Doctor, Rory, and Amy to a room in which other administrators and four human pioneers were drawing pictures in the sand.
"Hello, there!" the Doctor interrupted, surprising everyone. "I'm the Doctor. This is Amy and Rory."
The pioneers stood up, cautiously. Two looked alarmed and approached the Doctor.
"Who are you? We're supposed to be the only ones here," someone said.
"We're just traveling through. We're not a part of the Earth missions."
"What is your purpose for visiting our planet, then?" an Ajevan asked.
"Oh, we just wanted to see the area," the Doctor responded.
"We understood that," Toli remarked, referring to the Ajevan's question.
"And we now understand you," an Ajevan responded.
"My ship has a translation circuit," the Doctor explained.
Toli looked at the Ajevans and made rapid slash signs with his arms.
"What are you trying to signal to them?" the Doctor asked.
"You can communicate orally now," Rory suggested.
"No," Toli answered. "We must continue with our methods." He continued to make slash marks more aggressively.
"What are you doing?" Amy asked.
"What do they wish to convey?" an Ajevan asked the Doctor.
"We don't know."
"Toli, stop it," a woman in the group demanded. "I'm Leeta."
"How do you do? I'm the Doctor. This is Amy and Rory. So, pioneers; that must be exciting."
"What are you doing here?" Toli asked.
"We're just traveling through. Toli, is it? What do you need?"
"We need some metal called crantelion," Toli answered hesitantly. "A lot of it, actually."
"And what do you have for us?" an Ajevan asked.
"Dried herbs," Toli answered. "These are very aromatic and rare on our planet. This box is full of them."
"That looks like oregano," Amy quietly commented.
"Yeah, but let them have their trade if they want it," the Doctor responded.
An Ajevan sampled a bit of the oregano and conversed with his peers. "We are willing to give you four mallets of crantelion for that box."
"How much is that?" Toli asked.
"Do you know?" Leeta asked the Doctor.
"Three-quarters of a kilogram, approximately," the Doctor answered.
"We need more," Toli stated.
"What else do you have to offer?"
"The herbs are our most valuable commodity," Toli explained. "We will return to our ship and collect some more items."
"Do that, and we will meet again tomorrow. It is now time for our meal."
The human pioneers returned to their ship and asked the TARDIS crew to join them. The two other pioneers, Rova and Solke, introduced themselves.
"What do you want?" Toli asked the Doctor.
"Nothing. We're just traveling."
"You will not interfere with our mission," Toli warned.
"We didn't," Rory answered. "If we wanted to, we would have told the Ajevans that oregano isn't rare. Wait, Doctor, is oregano still common in this era?"
"Yes, Rory, it is."
"Who sent you?" Toli asked.
"No one," Amy answered for the Doctor. "We're just travelers that stop by different places. We don't have an agenda."
The human pioneers reached their ship and began rummaging around.
"What do you want with crantelion, anyway?" the Doctor asked.
The pioneers looked at each other before Toli spoke. "The oregano won't last much longer," he said hesitantly. "We need a commodity that will last indefinitely."
The TARDIS crew eyed each other, but Toli rolled his eyes waiting for them to call him on his suspicious behavior. When none came, he continued rummaging.
"Those are fossilized caras eggs," the Doctor noticed. "Did you visit Gisslig recently? Blue-ish planet with green skies, lots of lakes, a purple rings?"
"No," Rova answered quickly. "We got those eggs from the planet Satmee. We traded some oregano and the rest of our dried fruits for the eggs."
"Well, back to the TARDIS, then," the Doctor announced.
"We haven't seen much of the planet, Doctor," Amy commented. "Could we stay here tonight and see more of the planet tomorrow?"
"Of course," the Doctor answered. "Good luck, pioneers."
The pioneers waved the crew goodbye while keeping their eyes on them.
"Satmee?" Solke asked.
"It was the first thing that came to my mind," Rova said, trying to defend herself.
"Is that even a real planet?" Toli asked.
"I just made it up."
"Do you know anything else about this planet?" Amy asked the Doctor in the TARDIS. "Is there anything we should see?"
"Yes, plenty, but I want to get into the pioneers' ship tomorrow while they are trading. I want to see their navigational history."
"What's wrong?" Rory asked.
"There's no inhabited planet called Satmee. In approximately two thousand years, there will be an inhabited moon called Satmay, but there's no Satmee. They're hiding something. We all saw it. I want to know what it is."
A headache prevented Rory from sleeping well, so he walked around the TARDIS and found himself in the console room. Seeing no one around, he ventured outside to gaze at the Ajevan night. A sharp pain on his back and a kick to the stomach brought Rory down. He looked up and saw a dagger heading towards him. In a split-second, a flash of memory swept through Rory. Two mercenaries attempted to take the Pandorica. Rory's mind returned to the present. He quickly deflected the blade and elbowed the assailant in the face. Rory knocked out his opponent with two more punches before realizing it was Solke. He ran to the TARDIS, realizing that he left the door open.
"Doctor!" Rory shouted as he entered. Rova and Toli were already there and Rory quickly engaged them while continuing to call the Doctor's name. Toli lunged at Rory. The two fought while Rory remained concerned about Rova.
"Go find the others!" Toli commanded Rova, who was approaching Toli for assistance.
Rory reached for Rova and suddenly she flew nearly a meter and landed clumsily on the ground. The action shocked both Rory and Toli, and Rory regained his composure to knock out Toli.
The Doctor ran into the console room. "What's going on?"
"Solke attacked me outside. I came back and Toli and Rova were here. They're trying to kill us."
The Doctor held out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at Rova. "Don't move."
Rory woke up Amy and they tied up the three pioneers.
"Where's Leeta?" Amy asked.
"Back in their ship," the Doctor said. "The TARDIS isn't picking up any other life forms and I'm getting a niggling feeling in my head."
"Doctor, speaking of niggling feelings," Rory said. "Something happened before, when I was fighting."
The Doctor proceeded out of the TARDIS, followed by Amy and Rory.
"What is it?"
"I had a headache first and then later, I reached for Rova and it seemed like I pushed her really hard, but I never made contact."
"What does that mean?" Amy asked.
"I'll take a look at your head later, Rory," the Doctor answered. He approached Leeta in the pioneers' ship and saw that she was sleeping. He put his hands on her head.
"What are you doing?" Amy asked.
"It's her," the Doctor answered. "She's been trying to reach Marco Salento. But why?"
Leeta began to stir and wake up.
"Easy, easy," the Doctor said.
"What are you doing here?" Leeta asked. "Where is everyone?"
"They're on our ship," Rory answered. "They wanted to kill us."
"I'm sorry," Leeta said. "I tried to convince them not to do it."
"You were at Gisslig recently, weren't you?" the Doctor asked.
"Yes," Leeta answered.
"You didn't want to crantelion. The Gissliggians wanted it."
"Why do they want that?" Rory asked.
"We don't know."
"Yes, you do. They don't like the Ajevans, even though they've never met, even though the Ajevans don't even know they exist," the Doctor explained. "Crantelion is what they need to power their missiles to reach Ajeva so they could do what? Expand?"
"I'm sorry," Leeta repeated.
"Can you hear me?" the Doctor thought in his mind.
"Yes," Leeta answered aloud.
The Doctor exhaled. "The Gissliggians are not to be trusted. I'm surprised they didn't . . . arm this ship." The Doctor quickly scanned the ship with his sonic screwdriver. He approached a small box embedded into the ship's walls.
"Don't open that!" Leeta warned as the Doctor continued scanning.
"What is it?" Rory asked.
"It's some sort of bacteria. If we don't deliver enough crantelion by a certain time, a lock releases the bacteria that will infect and kill us."
The Doctor detached the box from the ship.
"Doctor?" Amy asked warily.
"It's fine," the Doctor said. "I'm overriding the timing sequence. The box will never open."
"What do we do now?" Rory asked.
"We send the pioneers as far away from Ajeva and Gisslig as possible."
"Gisslig has nothing on us now," Leeta said. "The others have no problem heading elsewhere."
"I have to ask, Leeta, did you deliberately reach out to an ancestor for advice on how to handle your problems?"
"Marco Salento?" Rory asked.
"How did you know?" Leeta asked.
"I met him," the Doctor answered. "I traced the telepathic signal to here, and you. It affected what he said. You should train yourself better to avoid that happening."
The Doctor and his companions released Rova, Toli, and Solke and sent them on their way to their next destination. "I put a tracker in place of the box of bacteria. I'll know if you return to Gisslig." the Doctor stated, though he had actually placed an innocuous cube.
"We don't want anymore to do with them," Rova told him.
The next day, the Doctor, Amy, and Rory returned to the Ajevans to explain the pioneers' departure and were greeted by a surprise.
"Hello, sweetie. Mom and dad."
"River," the Doctor simply stated.
"What are you doing here?" Amy asked.
"I borrowed this statuette to settle a bet with a Time Agent and now I'm returning it," River explained.
"Yes, statue!" an Ajevan stated. "That's why you look familiar! Yonotovona!"
"And Yonotovona to you, too," the Doctor replied, not understanding the reference. He didn't notice River's face darkening.
"The human pioneers had to leave," Amy explained. "They said you could keep the herbs because they were grateful for your hospitality."
"We didn't give them any crantelion yet."
"They appreciated the hospitality more," Rory explained.
"River," Amy began. "The Doctor is taking us to see other parts of the planet. Will you join us?"
"Of course, mother."
The Doctor and his companions returned to the TARDIS.
"I'd recommend the slopes of Akitwan for the first site," River said. "It'll be breezy. You two should grab jackets, plus another one for me, please."
"We'll be right back," Rory explained, leaving the Doctor alone with River.
"Well, aren't you curious about Yonotovona?" River asked.
"Should I be?"
"Why wouldn't you be? Just look up famous statues in Yonotovona. It's a planet near the Thoaxy Cluster."
The Doctor opened an index and rummaged through images. He suddenly saw a large statue bearing a familiar face. "What is this?"
"What does it look like?" River asked.
Anger flashed through the Doctor's eyes. "It's a memorial. No, River! Why did you let me see this? How could you goad me into looking this up?"
"Because you've always known, sweetie. You're the one who told me about this. You broke our spoiler policy to warn me of this, so I would be prepared. Now, I'm returning the favor."
"River . . ."
"I know. I'm sorry," River said as she pulled the Doctor into a hug.