Okay, longer chapter here. Enjoy!
Somewhere in Space
2095 AD
The TARDIS engines slowed to a low hum and the lights dimmed. The Doctor looked around to make sure it was all clear. He let go of the control panel. River was crouched beside him, head covered. She looked up when all was silent.
"That was your fault," teased the Doctor, taking his coat from the staircase railing. It had miraculously stayed put during all of the commotion.
River's fiery blue eyes flashed at him. "This isn't what I had in mind when I said honeymoon." she groaned. "Where are we?"
The Doctor gave an exaggerated shrug. "Who knows? That's the fun part."
"Maybe for you."
"Oi - you married me. Remember? You were there. I was there...sort of."
River rolled her eyes. She put a hand on the blaster at her side. "Come on. Let's go see where stupidity has taken us."
"Can't wait." The Doctor pulled on his coat and jumped down the stairs. He came to the TARDIS doors and was about to open them when he turned with mock gravitas to River. "Ready?"
"Oh, stop it, Mr. Dramatic."
The Doctor shrugged again. River was getting annoyed and he was loving it. "Just wondering. I mean, we could've just landed in a nest of Daleks, or a...barbecue in Texas."
"Well, we'll never find out by standing here talking about it." River said impatiently. She took her blaster out of the holster. "Bring on the barbecue."
"Right-oh." The Doctor opened the TARDIS doors. "Come along, Pond."
"You will not call me Pond."
"You're my wife, I'll call you what I want."
River grunted in frustration and pushed past him through the doors. He followed, chuckling to himself.
They stepped into immediate darkness. The Doctor closed the door and locked it. It echoed through a wide, unseen space around them. The Doctor turned on his sonic and scanned the room. The green glow revealed the shadowy control room of a spacecraft. The walls were black and charred where they'd been hit with crossfire. All of the ship's systems were dead. The screwdriver processed its reading.
"My sonic's not finding any other life." said the Doctor as he squinted at the results. River scanned the room, her blaster held at arm's length. "Either there's no one on this ship, or it's a graveyard. So watch your step."
River walked over to one of the blackened walls. "Looks like an ambush. The crew didn't go down without a fight. Judoon?"
"No. Judoon aren't usually this messy. I'm thinking space pirates. A quick ambush followed by a quick retreat. A hit-and-run." The Doctor paced the room. "No bodies. Yet. They might have atken them along. You never know with pirates. They're spontaneous, do things you wouldn't..." His sonic buzzed. "...expect..." He examined the reading again.
"What is it?"
"...life."
River paused. "How come it didn't pick it up right away?"
"It's not perfect. It makes mistakes - "
Suddenly, the sonic went berserk. It squeaked and buzzed. Sparks flew from the keypad. The Doctor panicked, wrapping it against his hand. It went dead. A stream of smoke fizzled from the switch.
"That's odd." he said, recovering his beating hearts from the sudden malfunction. "Power surge. Doesn't happen very often."
"What would cause a power surge? We're in a dead zone. Literally. And you've only used it to scan for life forms." River grimaced.
The Doctor shook his head incredulously. "I don't know." He hit it against his hand again. The light flickered, then went out. He tucked it into his coat pocket. "Oh, well, I guess I'll just have to rely on good old-fashioned intuition."
"Fan-tastic." murmured River. She looked around and kicked a heap of rubble by her feet. "How do you suppose you got a power surge here?"
The Doctor examined his sonic. "Well...perhaps someone doesn't want us here."
"Of course - always on the dark side of things."
"In my line of work, you have to be."
River muttered something. The Doctor wasn't listening.
"But the question is...how can you get a power surge when there's no power?"
River looked around and shrugged. "You can't."
As soon as she had spoken, the ship rocked uneasily. The Doctor stumbled, but regained his footing when the craft settled back into place.
"What was that?" River looked around. The ship was as it had been before it rocked.
"I don't...know..." The Doctor bit his lip in contemplation, trying to quickly analyze the situation. Life where there wasn't life, a power surge when there was no power.
He looked down at his sonic. It hadn't gotten too scathed. The reading still showed life on a fading screen. For once in his life, the Doctor was confused.
"Come on," he said to River. "Let's have a look around."
They walked through a long, narrow corridor, the Doctor leading the way with the faint, dying glow of his screwdriver. River kept her blaster on corridor went on for a long time, always straight ahead.
"It must be a fairly big ship." murmured River. "Any other signs of life?"
"No, still the same." muttered the Doctor. His eyes were fixed on the screwdriver. "No one home." He added absentmindedly. River glanced sideways at him.
"Honestly, you should get that looked at." River said as she pulled out her own sonic and scanned the ship. She looked at the reading and threw her hands up. The Doctor saw this and smirked.
"Having trouble?" he condescended. She didn't answer. "Well, if both sonics are reading the same reading, then that reading is the right reading, and if that reading is the right reading, that means...someone doesn't want us to know he - she - it - someone - is here."
"Do you have to tell me everything you're thinking?" River said as she smacked her seemingly faulty sonic on her hand, wanting to do the same to her husband. "I don't understand why - "
"No talking! Thinking." The Doctor's eyes searched the empty room, mapping out a situation in his head. "If I was a he-she-it hiding on an abandoned ship clinging to life, where would I hide? Think, Doctor, think!" He pounded his head. "And why wouldn't I want to find me?" River rolled her eyes.
"Well, it wouldn't hurt to look around a little - "
"That's it!" The Doctor spun around and kissed River on the lips spontaneously. River backed up, stunned, as the Doctor continued. "He-she-it doesn't want us to find him or her or it because it thinks we're pirates - scavengers, or whatsit. So it's trying to block us, using a shield, hiding somewhere, running out of time - River, where would you go?"
River almost didn't answer. She was still shocked by the Doctor's sudden kiss. "The - I would - the infirmary." The word suddenly came to her.
"The infirmary!" He threw his hands in the air. "Oh, I could kiss you again - stupid, Doctor, stupid! You overthought it."
"As always."
The Doctor became flighty and anxious. He was onto something. He quickly grabbed River's arm, causing her to almost lose her balance - and her sonic - as he pulled her along. "Come on. We have to find the infirmary. You, my love, are brilliant."
"Well," River smiled breathlessly. "I'm glad you finally see it my way."
"Don't worry. Spur of the moment. That touchy feeling won't last long - and we have to find ourselves a he-she-it!"
Before River could say anything else, the Doctor was off once again, faster than before, newly-rekindled sonic whirring, mind racing.
"Why would your sonic say there was life, then there wasn't, then there was?" River asked breathlessly as the Doctor pulled her along.
"I don't know. Might just be a glitch - " he turned around and looked at her strangely. " - might be something more sinister." HIs pliable face suddenly erupted in a smile. "I love a good mystery!"
They walked on, until the sonic began to buzz uncontrollably when they came to the last door at the very end of the corridor.
"Our he-she-it...is in here." concluded the Doctor. "Now let's get to it."
He pointed the sonic to the door panel. River hesitantly looked down the length of endless corridor.
"You do realize that whoever - whatever - is behind that door might be dangerous and could possibly kill you?"
The Doctor looked up at her with a smirk. "Have you forgotten who I am?"
The door slid open. "You first." River whispered.
"Suit yourself." The Doctor pointed his sonic into the darkness and walked in.
