Thank you so much for all the reviews, alerts, and favorites I've gotten for the first chapter! I'm very glad so many people like this already!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything
"Okay, okay," Amy panted, "where are we?"
"Outside the universe. Where we've never, ever been." A low drone filled the Tardis as the lights dimmed and shut off.
"Is that meant to be happening?" Rory asked warily.
"The power-the power's….draining. Everything's draining but it can't-it can't-that's impossible." He gapped and fiddled with the controls, trying to make something, anything work.
"What is that?" River choked out, a sense of dread creeping over her.
"It's like the matrix-the heart and soul of the Tardis-has just vanished!" He looked around as if the answers lie hidden somewhere in the dark corners of his ship. "Where would it go?"
Somewhere on the asteroid, Idris arched off the floor and golden light spilled from her mouth.
"Right," River started, her voice low and hushed, "if we're going out there, I want to be prepared." She looked to the Doctor for permission and, though he narrowed his eyes in question, he nodded. She lifted her skirts and took the stairs up and out of the console room. She paused at the entrance to the unusually dark and cold hallway before steeling herself and continuing.
"Amy." The Doctor called, his eyes on River, "go with her?"
"Yeah, okay." Amy nodded, running after her friend.
"Doctor, what happened to the Tardis?" Rory demanded.
"I…I really don't know," He admitted softly, staring at the console with a lost look.
"Alright," River and Amy returned looking tense; the former had swapped her elaborate dress for a pair of form-fitting jeans, hiking boots, and a loose white button-down over her Tardis-blue tank top. A gun holster was slung low around her hips. "Doctor, any idea what we can expect out there?" She and Amy both had thick jackets hung over their arms, and Amy passed one to Rory.
"Um, no. No idea. But, isn't that the best? Love surprises!" He clapped his hands in mock-cheerfulness, but River could see the underlying worry in his gaze. "Alright, gang, off we go!" He leapt down the stairs, followed more cautiously by his companions. River stood at his shoulder, Amy and Rory hanging behind her. The Doctor peeked out the door and when the coast seemed clear, stepped outside. Soon they were all looking around.
"So what kind of trouble's your friend in?" Amy asked, picking her way through a pile of old kitchen supplies.
"He was in a bind-sort of a pickle-bit of….distress." He fumbled.
"Ah, you can just say you don't know," Amy teased.
"So what is this place?" Rory asked, "Scrap yard at the end of the universe?"
"Not end of, outside." River corrected.
"How can we be outside the universe? The universe is everything."
"Imagine a great big soap bubble," The Doctor explained, "with a little bubble attached to the outside."
"Okay."
"But it's nothing like that." River rolled her eyes at Amy, making her smile. "Completely drained, look at her!" He walked around the Tardis with a frown.
"Wait, so we're in a tiny bubble universe sticking to the outside of the bigger bubble universe," Amy asked.
"Yes. No! But if it helps, yes." Amy shook her head in exasperation. "This place is full of rift energy-she'll probably refuel just by being here," the Doctor muttered to himself. "Now, this place, what do we think? Gravity's almost earth-normal, air breathable, but it smells like….."
"Armpits," Amy chimed in, wrinkling her nose in disgust.
"Armpits!"
"What about all this stuff, where did this come from?" Rory questioned.
"Oh, there's a rift, now and then stuff gets sucked through it. Not a bubble, a black hole. The universe has a plughole and we've just fallen through it."
"Thief! Thief! You're my thief!" All four of them turned in the direction of the new voice approaching. Amy and Rory inched together, and River placed a hand securely on her gun. Within moments the owner of the voice came into view. She had dark, wild hair and wore a tattered Victorian gown. The Doctor heard River's gun powering up behind him quickly spun around, striding over to her and putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Do not shoot unless I tell you," he murmured in her ear. She looked unhappy but nodded.
"I'll do what I think is necessary," she replied warningly.
"She 's dangerous! Guard yourself!" Two more people, a man and woman dressed in rags, hurried behind.
"Thief!" The dark-haired woman exclaimed, throwing herself at the stunned Doctor. "Goodbye-no, that's not right-what's the other one?" she suddenly pulled him close with surprising strength and kissed him messily. His arms flailed wildly as he tried to push her off.
"Careful! Keep back!" The man warned, the new couple pulling her off the Time Lord and restraining her.
"Welcome, strangers, lovely." The man spoke. "Sorry about the mad lady."
"Why am I a thief? What have I stolen?" The Doctor, curious, questioned the 'mad lady'.
"Me!" She exclaimed, "You will steal me-have stolen me-are stealing me-oh, tenses! They are difficult, aren't they?"
"Oh, we are sorry, my dove. She's quite mad." The yellow-haired woman excused, taking the Doctor's hand. "You call me Auntie."
"I'm Uncle," the man introduced himself next, "I'm everybody's Uncle. Just keep back from this one-she bites!" He joked.
"Do I?" The mad woman blinked, looking delighted with this new information about herself. "Excellent!" She broke free and grabbed onto the Doctor again, teeth sinking into his neck. Amy and Rory and the new people were all shouting at her to stop but the Doctor couldn't shake her until River finally put away her gun and wrestled him free, standing protectively in front of him.
"Biting's excellent, it's like kissing only there's a winner!" Her eyes fixed on River and the Doctor, standing close behind her, "I see why you like it." The Ponds looked at him curiously, eyebrows raised identically at her comment. The Doctor flailed about a bit, looking uncomfortable, and River at least had the good grace to blush, shifting her gaze away from his curious one.
"And you!" The crazy woman continued, suddenly grabbing River's arms and pulling her forward. "My water! Mad, clever, pretty water-just as mad as him. My mad thief and his pretty water-oh," she froze suddenly, her face falling, "you don't want him. You need him. Not yet-no, not now-wrong time. I am trying-do try-but no one listens-I don't like them to hurt. It hurts you-always pain when you go away-always closer to the end but close now, very soon now, will be happy-he will-but you-" Uncle and Auntie pulled her back, leaving a wide-eyed River standing there. She let out a harsh breath and pressed her hands together tightly. The Doctor saw they were shaking. He had watched their interaction closely but found it to make even less sense than anything else she'd said.
"I'm sorry, she's dolally," Uncle apologized, looking far to amused to actually be sorry.
"No, I'm not dolally," the woman argued, "I'mmmm….I'mm….." she hummed as if she couldn't get the words out, "It's on the tip of my tongue. Oh! I've just had a new idea about kissing," she smiled, "come here, you!" She pounced on the Doctor again.
"Idris, no!" Uncle roared at her, he and Auntie tearing her off the strangers once again.
"Oh, but now you're angry." Idris gasped. Amy stepped in front of the Doctor like a shield, while Rory and River moved to opposite points behind them.
"No, you're not." Amy countered.
"No, you will be angry." Idris repeated, something strange in her tone. "The little boxes will make you angry," she said ominously.
"Sorry, the little what? Boxes?" The Doctor snapped, pushing past the Scot and onto Idris, but she just laughed and grabbed his face.
"You're chin is hilarious!" She giggled, then looked at Rory.
"It means the smell of dust after rain."
"What does?" Rory asked.
"Petrichor," she replied like it was obvious.
"But I didn't ask." He pointed out.
"Not yet," she countered, eyes flicking back to the Doctor, "but you will."
"No, now, Idris, I think you need a rest," Auntie suggested.
"Yes, rest, yes, yes, good idea. I'll just see if there's an off switch." Idris agreed, collapsing instantly and setting off a new round of shouting from everyone.
"Is that it? She's dead now?" Uncle groaned. Rory, ever the nurse, immediately bent to check her pulse and breath.
"She's still breathing," he reported.
"Uh, Nephew, take Idris somewhere she cannot bite people, hm?" Uncle motioned forward a fourth, unnoticed newcomer and the Doctor broke out into a grin.
"Oh, hello!" Amy jumped back from the creature, startled by its glowing green eyes and face of tentacles.
"Doctor, what is that?" She demanded.
"Oh, it's alright, it's an Ood!" The Doctor replied excitedly, "Oods are good, love an Ood. Hello, Ood!" He bounced over to the alien and the Ponds inched forward. River flicked curious eyes to the creature but kept watch on the other strange people. "Can you talk?" The Ood held up it's unlit globe. "Oh, I see, it-it's, uh, damaged. May I?" It nodded. "Might just be on the wrong frequency."
"Nephew was broken when he came here," Auntie told him, "he was, uh, half dead. House repaired him-he's repaired all of us." With a click of his sonic, the strange ball lit up, and voices filled the air.
"If you are receiving this message please help me." The man's urgent voice called out, many others overlapping in the background."Send the signal to the High Council of the Time Lords of Gallifrey. Tell them I'm still alive! I don't know where I am-I-I" All the voices grew and blended together, until suddenly Nephew turned it off.
"What was that? Was that him?" Amy questioned, anxious gaze flicking uncertainly between The Doctor and River's stricken expressions. The older woman stepped forward and placed a small hand on The Doctor's shoulder.
"Doctor?" River asked in a shaking voice, "That was-" He snapped out of his daze, eyes still fixed on the Ood sphere.
"No," he answered Amy, "no, it's, uh, picking up something else. But that's-that's not possible. That's-that's-who else is here?" He demanded, turning suddenly on Auntie and Uncle. "Tell me, show me. Show me!"
"It's-it's just what you see." Auntie stuttered. "Just the four of us and the House," she added, "Nephew, will you take Idris somewhere safe where she can't hurt nobody?"
"What's the House?" River asked sharply.
"House is all around you, my sweets! You are standing on him. This is the House! This world! Would you like to meet him?" Auntie smiled like she was sharing a great secret.
"Meet him!" Amy cried. River turned and hushed her.
"I'd love to." The Doctor said.
"This way, come on. Please, hm?" Uncle waved them forward, leading the way.
"What's wrong?" Amy asked River, who was looking at the Doctor with an unreadable face. "What were those voices?"
"Time Lords." The Doctor said hoarsely. "It's not just the Corsair. Someplace nearby there are lots and lots of…..Time Lords."
Remember, reviews are love! I'll try to get at least one more chapter before I leave on vacation Saturday, since I don't think I'll have internet all of next week. But it will give me lots of time to write! 3