Disclaimer: I'm proud to say I own Racisinoph Shartonez, Tibet (well, this Tibet), Chite, the beautiful Krille Formations, and tunacicles. Sadly, what I do not own is Theta Sigma (see if any of the classic series fans know who I'm talking about.)
Author's Note: Yay! Another idea of mine that I'm some what fond of… I've been touched by the Weeping Angles and I'm inspired by Steven Moffat! Good old Steve… he writes the best stuff :D my only wish is that this becomes a tiny remnant of what his stories are!
Doctor Who: The Key to Time
Part 1
TIBET, DATE 3/42/12034
Bottles of rosy pink champagne lined a long table; at the foot of it a lanky man clad in a white shirt and black dress pants popped the cap of a bottle, sending cherry-coloured froth across the floor. The man's skin held a blue tint with a slight pearlescent shimmer around his eyes. The most remarkable thing about him was his irises; they had no pupils and looked like liquid gold.
He was the head waiter at Racisinoph Shartonez (Tibetan for Shinning Glass) a restaurant with a 360 view of Tibet's Golden Krille Formations. The restaurant's kitchen was held in a cylindrical pillar that jutted up through the center. At night the restaurant was lit by hundreds of candles that reflected off of the formations, giving the guests a fantastic glowing light show.
The center piece was a large, ornate, golden clock. Ever since its establishment in 1309 the clock had kept ticking, never losing time, always precise to the second… until that night.
The Racisinoph Shartonez was hosting the largest party of the year, Madame Gilda's election ceremony. Madame Gilda was, arguably, the most beautiful being in Tibet. Her skin held the smoothest shade of blue ever seen and her eyes contained rare flecks of silver. She was to be the next leader of Tibet. Born into royalty, her father left long ago and her mother had recently disappeared. There was no time for morning, Tibet needed a new ruler.
The party was a dazzling display of wealth. The ladies wore gowns made of silk spun from gold and the gentlemen classic "earth apparel", brown tuxes and blue suede shoes. (The party was Earth themed)
Desert was to be served at midnight, but no one would ever taste it. The moment the large golden clock struck 14.00, everything stopped.
TIBET, DATE 20/5/12542
The Doctor stood behind Rose as she carefully twisted a little metal ball in its socket.
"No, no go back, you just went to the Tibetan Ice Age, trust me, it was not a pretty sight. Try this one." He tapped a Galifreyian number with a slim finger.
She brought the small sphere around until the pointer that was attached to it snapped into place on the groove. Then in one quick motion she pulled up on a lever and flipped a switch, he called it the shock-resistant vortex vacuum suction seal and atom stabilizing lock. Rose called it the parking brake.
"I did it then? Tibet? Right outside those doors?" She smiled as she looked back behind her.
"Well, why don't you go and see? Oh, and if we happen to be on a dark, cold planet with Vashta Nerada and an army chasing after us… don't leave the police box!" She laughed
"Like I'd make that mistake twice." She jogged off to the door, pausing for a second in front of it.
"I can't go out there like this. Isn't it fancy dress?" The Doctor tried not to roll his eyes, a suit worked for any planet, any time, any universe.
"You look fine, come on." But Rose wouldn't budge "Alright, but be quick about it. It's not like we've got all the time in the world…" Rose jogged happily off to the wardrobe.
She returned almost a half hour later in a chocolate brown ball gown. The Doctor smiled, that must've been the TARDIS's doing, he didn't remember having such a beautiful gown in the wardrobe. All women think alike.
"Lovely, now, allons-y. For all we know we could be balancing on a lightening rod." They hooked arms and exited the TARDIS.
Outside they were almost blinded by the bright gold formations. They were unlike anything Rose had ever seen. She peered out of the surrounding glass to see that they were solid structures, but the gold looked as if it was dancing. The sky was a cream color with a few grey wispy clouds, and nets of green vines wrapped around the gold.
The Doctor took note of where they parked, right in the middle of a restaurant. A posh one from the looks of it, just next to them sat a massive golden clock, just a little larger than the TARDIS. It held 20 hours with 30 minutes in between. Two elegant black spears came out from the middle. It had stopped on 14.00, midnight for this planet. The TARDIS made a protesting noise behind them, Rose jumped and the Doctor looked at it in slight alarm.
"She's not happy about being here…" The two turned their attention back to the restaurant and slowly walked forward, looking around to the other side of the clock.
They both had noticed that there was no sound at all, not a clinking of glasses or background music or conversation. It was completely still.
"Something's wrong." The Doctor said, "It's as if time's stopped, or else refuses to exist." Rose had peered around the clock and took in a shocked breath. The Time Lord hurried to her side to see. A crowd of people sat, exquisitely dressed, around a huge oval table. A waiter was on one side and in his hand a bottle of pink champagne that arced up like it had been frozen in mid-air.
The Doctor sighed, "I was ready for such a nice time, after all that. Sit back, watch the formations, drink some sparkly pink stuff…"
Rose grabbed a near by bottle of champagne, "Then why can't we? No one to disturb us, we can figure out what's going on after dessert."
He quickly took the bottle out of her hand and placed it back on the table, being sure to keep it exactly the way it was.
"We can't because," he dragged out the "because" as he stepped back to stair at the silent clock "everything here has been poisoned by time. It's been sitting here, stagnant, for, oh, roughly 500 years. Give or take."
"How can you tell how long it's been?" She asked, he just shrugged his shoulders and replied,
"Time Lord." He strode over to the waiter, a polite smile frozen on his face. They all looked as if they could move at any moment but just didn't care to. "The question is, why has it been so long since they moved?"
"There's no dust anywhere, why is that? If everything on this planet has been in deep freeze for 500 years there would be dust." The Time Lord was already scanning them with the sonic screwdriver.
"The air's different in Tibet than on Earth. Dust doesn't gather here because the air is always moving, it's electrified, so it never becomes stale." Rose went over to one of the statue-like creatures. As she got closer she began to hear something, a whisper.
"Doctor, can you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"That!"
"What? I don't hear anything just tell m… oh… the Ood. Maybe immortality wasn't the only thing the TARDIS gave you." He said more to himself. The Doctor gently laid his fingers on the temples of one of the female guests.
The key, somebody, where has the key gone!? The lady's mind was shrieking but her lips held a laugh.
The Doctor's brow furrowed.
"Rose, what do you hear?"
"Something about a key… are they still thinking things? Are they still alive?" Rose asked, unconcerned with her new-found telepathy.
"Yes, they are still thinking, and no they're not alive, well, they're still alive but only just. It's almost as if, someone stopped them on purpose, not to kill, but to protect? Preserve? There's still a hint of a person in there but not a living person per-say. How could time be standing still for 500 years here and no one noticed? People travel to Tibet all the time, it's the number one vacation spot in the galaxy. Let's get to the root of it, I'll lock the TARDIS onto the last moving point in Tibet's time and we can watch what happened." He bounded up to the TARDIS and was at the controls before Rose even got in.
"Won't that make us freeze with them?"
The Doctor thought for a moment, "I doubt it. If we put the shields up and don't become a part of events then we should be safe. Just… don't touch anything." The TARDIS jerked violently and the rotor moaned as it slowly made its way up and down.
"Why is she doing that?" Rose asked from a safe position on the ground.
"There's no time in Tibet right now, it's just gone... kaput! There's just this little tiny bit of time for her to latch onto. It's like trying to drive down a road that doesn't exist." Finally the TARDIS stopped. A few sparks and some smoke came from the controls. The Doctor ran to the doors, helping Rose up in the process. He grabbed his coat and shrugged it on as he opened the door. The same restaurant, but it wasn't silent any longer.
Parts of conversations reach them from around the clock, which was now ticking brightly. Rose stepped further out to peer around the clock but the Doctor stopped her.
"Look at the clock," he whispered
"13.24, what's the problem?" She was looking at him now,
"Three hands." Now as Rose looked again she noticed another, shorter spear moving with the seconds.
To Be Continued…
Author's Note: Ok, I had no direction what so ever when I first wrote this… but now I kinda do, ish, I'm getting there. Keep your fingers crossed! Oh, and I hear reviewing is good for inspiration ^.^ Thank you!!!
