Really sorry for the delay. I'm currently outlining and developing my novel quite a bit more now, as well as dealing with the aforementioned issues life's been throwing at me, so these chapters are regretfully coming a little more slowly. I apologize in advance. I promise I'm not abandoning this story :)
Thanks for reading, please review :)
The first thing the pilot thought before coherency set in was that he was dead. Through his momentarily blurred vision, the wild blond ringlets of the woman sitting beside him resembled a halo, and she was definitely beautiful enough. In fact, at least in his opinion, she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen, even with normal eyesight.
"Hello there." River smiled, relieved to see her patient was finally conscious.
The pilot meant to greet her in return, but as soon as he sat up, the sore muscles, bruises, and cuts all throughout his body made him groan involuntarily instead.
"You probably shouldn't try to move around too much. You've got quite a bit of healing to do yet," River warned him.
The pilot did as she said, leaning back against the overstuffed blue pillows. "What is your name, if I may ask?" He inquired, his accent suggesting an educated background. He had a level gaze, and although River couldn't remember ever blushing in her life, she felt her cheeks grow warm under it.
"River. River Song. And yours?"
"Clarion Grey."
"I like it. Very fitting."
"As is yours."
River cracked a smile once more.
"Tell me, River Song. Where am I?" Clarion asked.
River chuckled. "Believe it or not, that's not the easiest question to answer. It's a sort of inter-dimensional spaceship thing that looks like a police box on the outside."
The man didn't seem too amazed by this. "I've seen stranger things before. Quite frankly I'm glad to be aboard any kind of ship other than my craft, good girl though she was."
"Mr. Grey—"
"Clarion. I insist."
"Alright…Clarion, what exactly happened to you? The Doctor said your ship looked as if it'd been hit by something, perhaps meteors."
"The Doctor?"
"Oh, yes. He's the pilot of this ship, as well as the one who rescued you."
"Ah, the man wearing the bowtie."
"That's the one."
"Well it was definitely hit, but not by meteors. I was gunned down."
River raised an eyebrow. "Who would do that?"
"You've only just recently arrived on this planet, haven't you?"
"As of a few hours ago, yes."
"That explains it, then. Well, you should know Anavrin was seized by pirates a few years ago and has been under their control ever since. Unspeakable things happen every day, and there's no justice for them." Clarion dropped his gaze and sighed, suddenly looking much older than his roughly thirty years. "It was not so in the days of the Kings."
"Sounds like I have a lot to learn. Right now all I know is that gold and silver grows on trees."
"Indeed it does. You should see the orchards in the spring, bursting into glorious bloom and gleaming in the morning sun. Unfortunately, it was our trees that attracted the pirates in the first place." Clarion shook his head. "So, River—if I may call you that—what expanse of the galaxies do you hail from?"
"A little planet in the Milky Way Galaxy called Earth."
"I know it well."
This caught River off guard. "Really? But it's millions of light-years from here. Don't tell me you've been there?"
"Actually, yes. Several times."
It was then that River noticed something glinting from underneath the man's sleeve on his uninjured hand. Before he could stop her she pushed up the material to reveal a vortex manipulator, one much more sophisticated than what she had experience with.
"So you're a time traveler," River surmised.
"Freelance time agent, to be exact."
"Figures. No wonder the pirates were after you."
"You don't sound all that shocked."
A smile crept over River's face. "Time traveling's only been my entire life. I've had my own share of vortex manipulators. But honestly, I prefer time machines."
"Time machines? No more than the stuff of legend now, those."
River chuckled. "Oh, you'd be surprised."
"Look who's up and at 'em! Well, sort of."
At that moment the Doctor interrupted them, pleased to see their guest was awake and well. He all but galloped into the room, rubbing his hands together excitedly.
"Doctor, is that a pea smeared on the front of your shirt?"
"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, River. Now, Mister Whoever-You-Are, tell me about yourself." The Doctor grabbed his chair and swiveled it around so that he was sitting with his arms folded over the back of it.
If Clarion found the Doctor's appearance or behavior odd, he gave no indication of it. Instead he told him his name and related the information he'd given River moments before.
"Pirates, eh? Fantastic! Or maybe not so much, no, considering they took over your home…yes…so, time agent! Can't say I'm a fan of them, but I've never met an Anavrinian one, so I'll give you that." The Doctor regarded the vortex manipulator with disdain. He stared at it for a moment, his frown deepening.
"Is something wrong?" Clarion questioned.
"That vortex manipulator. Where'd you get it?"
"Does it matter?"
"Of course it does. Now tell me, where'd you get it?"
Clarion hesitated. "A…friend...gave it to me as a gift. It had been passed down through his family for centuries."
The Doctor whistled. "You have some friends in pretty high places then, fella. There was a Time Lord inventor once, many, many years ago, who believed the privilege of time travel should be shared. He was a bit of an oddball, you see. Before he was forced to close his workshop he created a small collection of top-of-the-line vortex manipulators, skillfully-made precision devices that put all of the cheap and shoddy ones out there to shame, and bestowed them on a choice number of royal families he was friendly with at the time. One of those families was Anavrinian."
"How do you know that?" Clarion looked utterly floored.
The Doctor smiled wanly. "You're looking at his cousin. Well, second cousin three times removed, but he never did forget to send me a birthday card. Swell chap, that one."
"But that would make you a…"
"Very old Gallifreyan geezer? Why yes it would, but don't go reminding me."
"It's an honor to meet one of you, sir," Clarion said respectfully, holding out his hand for the Doctor to shake.
"Oi, none of that 'sir' malarkey," the Doctor reprimanded, although he took the agent's hand anyway. "And Time Lords were no less honorable than Anavrinians, mind you that."
"I don't know about that, but thank you just the same, Doctor." Clarion glanced at River questioningly. "Hold on a minute. What you said about this being an inter-dimensional ship, and him being the pilot…"
"Ah, yes. Not the spiffiest time machine in existence, but then again she is a classic." The pride in the Doctor's voice was clear as day. "Would you like to see the rest of her?" He asked.
"I'd be delighted," Clarion responded, his violet eyes glimmering with anticipation.
