Abbey Who Chapter Ten
They stepped out of the TARDIS. The sky was dull and there was a smell of smoke.
"Right place?" Amy asked.
"Just followed the co-ordinates on the cliff-face. Earth. Britain," he checked his watch, "1:02am. No, pm. . . No, AD."
"What is it?" Abigail asked.
"That's a Roman Legion," Amy answered surprisingly.
"Well, yeah. The Romans invaded Britain several times during this period," The Doctor stated.
"Oh, I know. My favourite topic at school. Invasion of the hot Italians."
"Serious?" Abigail laughed, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I did get marked down for the title."
Just then a breathless Roman soldier came running to us.
"Hail, Caesar!" he said, saluting with a hand to the chest before kneeling.
"Hi..." The Doctor replied.
"Welcome to Britain. We are honoured by your presence."
"Well, you're only human. Arise... Roman person."
"Why does he think you're Caesar?" Amy asked quietly enough so the soldier wouldn't here.
The soldier rose and a smudge of lipstick was noticeable on his face.
"Cleopatra will see you now."
The soldier turned on his heel and we followed at a short distance.
"How is Cleopatra here - is she a time traveller? Do you know her?" Abigail asked in awe.
"I don't think she is. No. And yes," he answered.
"Then what? Someone's pretending to be her?"
"Yes."
We entered a tent which appeared to be much greater quality than the others even from the outside.
River.
"Hello, sweetie."
"River. Hi," Amy greeted.
"Hi," Abigail echoed.
"You graffitied the oldest cliff-face in the universe." The Doctor wasn't much for small talk with River.
"You wouldn't answer your phone."
Abigail snorted. The only time she'd seen the phone be answered was when Amy picked it up and it rang much more often.
River clapped her hands and the servants at her side left.
She then held out a scroll.
"What's this?" The Doctor asked.
"It's a painting. Your friend Vincent."
The Doctor snatched it and unfolded.
"You know Vincent too?" Abigail wondered.
She just smiled and Abigail went to look at the painting.
"One of his final works. He had visions, didn't he? I thought you ought to know about this one," River said.
"Doctor? Doctor, what is this?" Amy enquired.
"The TARDIS exploding?" Abigail was comforted seeing Amy looked just as confused as she was.
"Why's it exploding?" she asked.
"I assume it's some kind of warning," River guessed.
The Doctor sat down, thinking hard.
"Something's going to happen to the TARDIS?" Amy thought aloud.
"It might not be that literal. Anyway this is where he wanted you. Date and map reference on the door sign, see?" River pointed out.
"Does it have a title?" The Doctor finally spoke.
"The Pandorica Opens."
"The Pandorica? What is it?" asked Amy.
"A box. A cage. A prison. It was built to contain the most feared thing in all the universe."
"That sounds like a story," Abigail commented.
"It is. It's a fairy tale, a legend. It can't be real," The Doctor said in denial.
"If it is real, it's here and it's opening. And it's got something to do with your TARDIS exploding," River said, getting back on track.
"But it's not real?" His tone suggested he was questioning his belief.
"Better safe than sorry," Abigail told him, "Do you have any idea where it might be?" she asked River.
"Hidden, obviously. Buried for centuries. You won't find it on a map," she answered as The Doctor had just unrolled one.
"No. But if you buried the most dangerous thing in the universe, you'd want to remember where you put it."
After a few minutes of discovery and discussion they hopped onto horses and started riding towards Stonehendge. Abigail was apprehensive to get on but after she'd relaxed she was having fun.
They arrived at Stonehendge in no time at all and The Doctor immediately started sonicing the pillars.
After mere minutes River had opened a secret, dark and damp passage which ultimately lead to the pandorica.
-x-
"There was a goblin, or a trickster, or a warrior. A nameless, terrible thing, soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in all the cosmos. And nothing could stop it, or hold it, or reason with it. One day it would just drop out of the sky and tear down your world."
"But who is it?" Abigail asked. "A Dalek?" she said it quietly so only The Doctor could hear. As soon as she'd said it another theory came to my mind. She quickly shook it off. Not possible. "Tear down your world". That wasn't The Doctor.
He shook his head, "No. I don't think so . . . I don't know."
"How did it end up in there?" Amy strode over.
"You know fairy tales. A good wizard tricked it."
The Doctor walked around to the other side of the Pandorica as River handed Amy her torch as she took out her scanner. The Doctor hadn't let Abigail hold one in case she got hurt. Giving the day to day circumstances his protectiveness was a little pointless.
"I hate good wizards in fairy tales. They always turn out to be him," River shared.
"So what do we do now?" Abigail asked. "Hide it? Destroy it? Because I for one do not want to open it."
The Doctor nodded crookedly in understanding but not promising anything.
"So it's kind of like Pandora's Box, then? Almost the same name," Amy thought.
Abigail loved that book as a kid too. She never knew her mum. She sent her to foster care when she was just a baby with a basket of toys and books, one of which was Pandora's Box. She still had them at Ms Robinson's home. Some of them were too tattered for her to ever read but sentiment kept them hidden under her bed.
"Sorry, what?" The Doctor asked.
"The story. Pandora's Box, with all the worst things in the world in it," Amy answered, "That was my favourite book when I was a kid."
The Doctor strode worriedly over to Amy.
"What's wrong?"
"Your favourite school topic, your favourite story. Never ignore a coincidence, unless you're busy. In which case, always ignore a coincidence," he said, walking back to the Pandorica.
"So can you open it?" River queried. Abigail hoped not.
"Easily. Anyone can break into a prison, but I'd rather know what I'm going to find first."
"Agreed," Abigail said, accepting that it was going to open no matter what.
"It's already opening," River discovered, "There are layers and layers of security protocols in there, and they're being disabled, one by one. Like it's being unlocked from the inside."
Abigail could feel her pulse race.
"How long do we have?" The Doctor asked.
"Hours at the most."
At that she felt her pulse steady again. The Doctor saved the world in 20 minutes and every time they were in danger he'd sort it out in a few hours.
"What kind of security?"
"Everything. Deadlocks, time-stops, matter-lines," River answered him.
"What could need all that?"
"What could get past all that?"
"Think of the fear that went into making this box. What could inspire that level of fear? Hello, you. Have we met?"
"So why would it start to open now?"
"No idea."
"Hmm, and how could Vincent have known about it? He won't even be born for centuries," Amy pointed out. That was a good question. Abigail had given up on trying to think logically a long time ago.
The Doctor took out the sonic and scanned the pillars.
"The stones. These stones are great big transmitters, broadcasting a warning to everyone, everywhere, to every time zone. The Pandorica is opening!"
"Doctor...everyone, everywhere?" River realised the danger instantly. She was amazing,
"Even poor Vincent heard it in his dreams. What's in there, what could justify all this?" The Doctor didn't seem to realise the danger. Or maybe he had expected it already.
"Doctor, everyone?" River persisted.
"Anything that powerful, I'd know about it. Why don't I know?"
"Doctor. You said everyone could hear it. So who else is coming?"
"Oh."
"Oh? Oh, what?" Amy pipped.
Abigail walked to her and said, "The pillars are transmitting everywhere, to everyone. Daleks, silurians - anyone and everyone could know. Some of them are bound to show up..."
Amy's eyes widened in worry.
"Doing it," we heard The Doctor say.
"Doing what?" Amy and Abigail both asked.
"Stonehenge is transmitting, it's been transmitting for a while...so who heard?" River wondered aloud.
"Okay, should be feeding back to you now. River, what's out there? Getting anything?" The Doctor asked her.
"Give me a moment."
"River, quickly, anything?"
River looked shocked at what she was seeing on her scanner, "Around this planet, there are at least ten thousand starships."
"At least?" Amy and Abigail chorused.
"Ten thousand, one hundred thousand, one million, I don't know. There's too many readings."
Abigail started pacing in a circle, not really knowing why.
"What kind of starships?" The Doctor asked, panic clear in his tone.
A transmission came through and out rang familiar voices.
"Maintaining orbit."
"I obey. Shield cover compromised on ion sectors."
"Daleks. Those are Daleks," Amy realised.
"Scan detects no temporal activity."
"Soft grid scan commencing."
"Reverse thrust for compensatory stabilisation."
"Launch preliminary armaments protocol."
"Yes, okay. Okay, okay, okay," The Doctor paced, "Dalek fleet. Minimum, 12,000 battleships, armed to the teeth. But we've got surprise on our side! They'll never expect four people to attack 12,000 Dalek battleships, 'cos we'd be killed instantly... So it would be a fairly short surprise. Forget surprise."
"Doctor, Cyber-ships," River saw.
"No, Dalek ships, listen to them, those are Dalek ships," he corrected her.
"Yes. Dalek ships and Cyber-ships," she corrected back.
"Well, we need to start a fight, turn them on each other. It's the Daleks... they're so cross..."
"Sontaran. Four battle-fleets."
"Sontarans. Talk about cross, who stole all their handbags?"
"Terileptil, Slitheen, Chelonian, Nestene, Drahvin, Sycorax, Haemo-goth, Zygon, Atraxi, Draconian. They're all here. For the Pandorica."
"What are you?" he said to The Pandorica.
The ground began to shake and he pulled Abigail by the wrist and ran to the stairs, Amy and River following close behind.
Outside was blinding. Millions of ships lighting up and ready for battle.
"What happens now?" It came out in barely a whisper.
"What do we do?" Amy asked, emerging from the tomb.
"Doctor, listen to me! Everything that ever hated you is coming here tonight. You can't win this. You can't even fight it. Doctor, this once, just this one time, please, you have to run," River begged.
"Run where?"
"Fight how?"
The Doctor took out binoculars and looked back the way we came, "The greatest military machine in the history of the universe."
"What is? The Daleks?" Amy was as anxious and confused as Abigail was.
"No, no, no. The Romans."
-x-
River had gone to fetch some Romans while The Doctor, Amy and Abigail had gone back to the Pandorica.
"So what's this got to do with the TARDIS?" Amy questioned.
"Nothing, as far as I know," he told her.
"But Vincent's painting... the TARDIS was exploding, is that going to happen?"
"One problem at a time. There's forcefield technology inside this box. If I can enhance the signal, I could extend it all over Stonehenge. Could buy us half an hour."
"What good is half an hour?"
"There are fruit flies live on Hoppledom 6 that live for 20 minutes and they don't even mate for life. There was going to be a point to that. I'll get back to you."
Abigail sighed on the inside and sat down on a rock. It was incredibly uncomfortable but her legs were tired.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Amy take out a small box from her pocket, "So... Are you proposing to someone?" Abigail looked around.
"I'm sorry?" He didn't look at her.
"I found this in your pocket." She was showing him the ring box with her engagement ring. Not that she knew that.
The Doctor looked up, "No. No, no, that's, uh...a memory. A friend of mine, someone I lost."
He reached for it but Amy pulled it away. "Do you mind?" he lulled.
"It's weird, I feel ... I dunno... Something."
It felt like Abigail's heart was sinking and leaping at the same time. She might remember Rory, but he can't
come back. This isn't a Dreamlord hallucination.
Amy snapped the box shut and handed it to him, "So, was she nice, your friend?"
He put the ring in his pocket and went back to working on the Pandorica, then stopped and looked at Amy.
"Remember that night you flew away with me?"
"Of course I do."
"And you asked me why I was taking you and I told you there wasn't a reason. I was lying."
"What, so you did have a reason?"
"Your house."
"My house..."
"It was too big, too many empty rooms. Does it ever bother you, Amy, that your life doesn't make any sense?"
A laser fired, interrupting the conversation Abigail had been eavesdropping on.
Amy screamed, her and The Doctor both hid and Abigail jumped and quickly ducked behind the rock she'd been sitting on.
She kept low, making sure her head wasn't peeking over the top until she heard The Doctor.
"Look at me, I'm a target!"
She bounced up just long enough to see him run behind a pillar and that the source of the laser was a metal arm. She scrambled for a stone and found sharp jagged pieces of rock beside her knee.
She peeked up from behind the rock and threw it at the arm. It turned to her direction, enabling The Doctor to sneak up behind it. He grabbed it and took out the sonic.
She stood up and stretched.
"Doctor?" Amy stepped forward
"Scrambled its circuits, but stay where you are. It could be bluffing."
"Bluffing? It's an arm!"
"I said stay where you are!"
He stood up and Amy sulkily stepped back.
A look of panic grew in her eyes when she looked up, "Doctor-" and she fell to the ground.
"Amy!" The Doctor lurched forward but the arm released something, rendering him unconscious.
"Doctor!" Amy and Abigail both shouted.
Abigail started to run only to feel a sharp tug on her leg and collapse to the ground.
She let out a scream and started kicking at the severed arm with her other foot. She grabbed another stone like the one that she'd thrown at the other arm and forced herself upright (kicking all the way). She heard Amy scream and her heart started to pound faster. Once she was upright it shot a laser, narrowly missing her foot. Abigail grabbed at the arm, holding it to the ground with all her weight. Leaning more with her left arm now, she lifted the right and stabbed the wires with the stone. After the third stab she felt the cyberarm grow weaker and she began cutting through the wires more calmly but keeping her speed. The arm finally stopped struggling. She cut through one more as a precaution and stood up, dizzy with adrenaline.
"Amy?" she called out.
She heard the sound of a tinny electric voice and began to run. She froze when she saw a Roman out of the corner of my eye. "Rory?"
He nodded frantically, "Where's Amy?"
She wanted to ask him how he was here but Amy was more important right now.
"Um I heard her over there." Abigail pointed and he dashed over, putting on his helmet as he went.
"Doctor!" they heard Amy shout from inside the closet.
There was a cyberman pounding on the door and Rory effortlessly killed it with a swipe of his sword. This is not the Rory Williams Abigail remembered.
The doors swung open.
"Who...? Who are you...?" Amy asked, her eyes on him (although it did look as if she was struggling to keep them open)
He took off his helmet and Abigail could sense his joy. God no...
"Hello, Amy."
No longer able to keep her eyes open, she collapsed into Rory's arms. He lifted her and put her down on the stone table, gently stroking her hair.
"Rory-" Abigail began before another soldier entered the room.
"Sir, the man's coming round."
"Amy?! Where's Amy?" The Doctor frolicked into the room.
"She's fine, Doctor, just unconscious," Rory answered.
"OK..." he checked her with the sonic screwdriver,"
"Yes, she's sedated, that's all. Half an hour, she'll be fine. OK, Romans, good, I was just wishing for Romans, good old River. How many?"
"50 men up top, volunteers. What about that thing?" Rory pointed to the Cyberman.
Any minute now, Abigail thought to herself...Any minute and he'll notice that Rory isn't supposed to be there.
"50? Not exactly a legion."
Rory nodded to the other soldier who proceeded out the doorway.
"Your friend was very persuasive, but it's a tough sell," Rory told The Doctor.
"Yes, I know that, Rory, I'm not exactly one to miss the obvious." Wow. "But we need everything we can get," he pulled three large guns out from a chest."Okay, Cyber-weapons. This is basically a sentry box. So, headless wonder here was a sentry. Probably got himself duffed up by the locals. Never underestimate a Celt."
So I'm getting a gun, Abigail smiled inside. Big step up from not being able to hold a torch.
"Doctor..." Rory began.
"Hush, Rory. Why leave a Cyberman on guard? Unless it's a cyberthing in the box. But why would they lock up one of their own? Okay, no, not a cyberthing, but what, what? No, I'm missing something obvious, Rory!," he was now face to face with Rory Something big, something right slap in front of me, I can feel it!"
Five . . .
"Yeah, I think you probably are."
Four . . . three . . .
"I'll get it in a minute."
He strode out of the room. Two . . .
There's a loud clatter as The Doctor re-enters and puts down the guns. Bingo . . .
He walked up to Rory and just stared. He poked Rory in the chest and he gently swayed.
"Hello again..." The Doctor says.
"Hello."
"How've you been?"
"Good. Yeah, good. I mean, Roman."
"Rory, I'm not trying to be rude: but you died."
"Yeah, I know, I was there."
"You died and then you were erased from time. You didn't just die, you were never born at all, you never existed."
"Erased? What does that mean?"
"How can you be here?"
"I don't know. It's kind of fuzzy."
"Fuzzy?"
"Well, I died and turned into a Roman. It's very distracting," he gently ran a hand across Amy's cheek, "Did she miss me?" Abigail's stomach sunk.
There was a loud 'whoosh' and a lot of rumbling. They ran out of the room into the main cavern. The symbols on the Pandorica glowing Doctor examined it with the sonic as the rest of us - including the other Roman soldiers - watched.
"What is it? What's happening?" Rory asked.
"The final phase. It's opening."
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