"All right you, you will work! I…I..order you!" The Doctor said, wagging a finger to something that looked like a vacuum hose. He attached it to another gadget that was similar to a toaster and stood back waiting for something to happen.
"Well, Amy. I don't suppose you have a spare connectivity rod on you, hmmm?" He spoke to the dead silence around him, and he noticed that there was no saucy Scottish girl glaring at from across the TARDIS. "Um…Amy? You're being rather quiet, and you've never been this quiet before." He said looking around in case she was hiding or decided to lie down in the middle of the floor. "The only other time I've ever heard this kind of dead silence is when I made a joke to a group of Lizauron about how scales tend to be rather itchy. I admit it wasn't one of my best but…" The Doctor was talking at break neck speed and finally stopped when he couldn't find any sign of her.
"Well, that's not good." He said rubbing his chin in thought. He ran toward the TARDIS door and poked his head outside into the glowing sun; the sand sending up flecks of glimmer to shine upon the confused face of the Doctor. "Amy, Amy Pond? Why is it that they always walk away by themselves?" He said taking a step outside, and shielding his eyes from the burning, golden rays of sun. "I need to start putting bells around their ankles."
The Doctor took a larger step away from the TARDIS and scratched his temple. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and waved it around, it immediately started to beep erratically. "Ah, all this lovely scenery is just an act, hmmm? The sand must cover something up that someone, or something doesn't want us to find." He picked up a fistful of sand and let it fall through his fingers like a waterfall, his brow burrowed in thought. "All right, Amy." He whispered. "Where are you?" He looked across the vast sea of sand and saw, in the far distance a figure walking toward him.
Dazed, bruised and covered in sand, Amy woke up from her fall down the long, winding pipe. She attempted to get on her feet but apparently the drop affected her more than she thought, as she slid back down onto the hard marble floor. "Alrighty then," she said while brushing sand from her clothes. "I'm lost, on a strange planet who-knows-where, and the Doctor is nowhere to be found, sounds about right." Just then, echoing footsteps could be heard from the darkness ahead. They were coming closer and Amy saw a shiny gleam coming from the shadows where the footsteps were.
"Radius proximity of intruder encounters approaching. Be on alert."
Amy's insides froze as she heard the cold, robotic voice from not too far away. She shuffled towards a wall, to hide in the darker shadows. The footsteps made the ground tremble and they were coming ever closer. "Radius proximity aligns with intruder encounter. Set weapons to maximum force." The robotic voice was now right above Amy; she could see the hard outline of something big and mechanical. Then, what she thought was a head turned and two red gleaming eyes stared directly at her, as if it knew all along where she was hiding. "Intruder encountered. Prepare to be eliminated."
Amy stood up quickly, using the wall to lean her shaken body against.
"NO! No! Bad robot, BAD! I'm..I'm a..a cleaning lady! Yeah, you must have janitors here right? So, just move along, nothing to see here but polishing!" Amy grabbed the hem of her shirt and started wiping the wall in a hopeful attempt. The robot stood there for minute in silence.
"Oh, this place is grimy! Simply disgusting, I'll have to just pop back up to the surface for a bigger scrub brush. So if you could just show the way out big guy…" Amy started to inch away from the figure. "Intruder is attempting to mislead. Higher intelligent level than commonly found. Awaiting command …. Affirmative, will take to leader." the guard grabbed Amy out of the darkness and poked her with a very large gun to move ahead. "Hey!" Amy stumbled forward on her wobbly legs and was led down a large corridor that was getting lighter as they went. For a very long time Amy was led through corridor after corridor, each elaborately decorated with purple and gold tapestries and what looked like very old vases and statues.
"Well, you lot certainly like to make an impression." She said when they entered (or at least what Amy thought was) the hundredth corridor. "You don't talk much do you?" she asked crossly. Her follower didn't respond and they spent another few minutes in silence. "What's this?" Amy was led to a large, golden doorway which was guarded by two more of the robots. "So…this is it then, a doorway?" "Intruder will comply with command. Enter aperture." The robot lowered its weapon. The door creaked open to reveal…
The Doctor squinted into the mirage like plain and waved to the oncoming figure, he smiled widely as he noticed that the stranger had on a fluffy pink bath robe and slippers. To anybody else, this would be strange outfit to be wearing in the middle of a barren dessert, but The Doctor waved giddily as he approached the figure. "Rory! What are you doing here?" The Doctor asked breathless in surprise.
"I was kicked out! Apparently the spa on that planet doesn't take walnuts as currency." Rory stated, staring at the Doctor accusingly.
"Really? Well they did the last time I took someone there…" the Doctor trailed off, looking forlorn.
Rory shuffled his slippers; he felt that there was something deeper to that slight frown on the Timelord's face, but he had the discretion not to press the matter.
"So…" Rory tried to change the subject. "Where's my wife?" He said smiling, turning his head around looking for the spunky redhead, half expecting her to pop up from behind the Doctor. After adjusting his bow-tie and avoiding Rory's eyes, the Doctor turned around and starting walking away, muttering under his breath. Rory's brow furrowed as he tried to piece together why a simple question would elicit such a nervous response. "Um, Doctor?" Rory waddled as fast as he could after him, which was harder than he thought it would be in a spa robe. The Doctor didn't look back and entered into the TARDIS, running his hands along the numerous blinking buttons. Rory was gaping at him curiously; he looked around the TARDIS and noticed that Amy wasn't there either. "AHEM!" Rory cried pointedly. "Where. Is. My. Wife."
The Doctor looked at him over his shoulder. "Rory, I'll get her back. I promise."
All Rory could do at this moment was stare, gaping at the Doctor's back in shock. He leaves for one vacation on a planet in outer space and Amy gets herself lost who-knows-where! The Doctor sighed, running his hands over a screen in the TARDIS. There was a dead silence between them as Rory was trying to gather his thoughts, looking for an adequate response to fling at the man in front of him. The Doctor turned around to face him, twiddling his fingers, hoping that Rory would stop opening and closing his mouth as if saying things that would burn him. "How…I mean…why…where…" Rory couldn't quite put a sentence together; he was still in a muddled place between being scared and being angry at the Doctor.
The Doctor stepped forward and placed one of his hands on Rory's shoulders and the other on the back of his neck, he looked with consoling eyes before slapping him alarmingly across the cheek.
"Hey! What was that for?" Rory sputtered, rubbing the red mark on his face. The Doctor smiled.
"You don't have faith in me Rory! Bad, bad Rory, I'll find her! Don't you worry your pretty little exfoliated head about it." The Doctor scurried back over to the TARDIS dashboard leaving Rory to glare after him.