What a piece of work is man.
Hamlet
11:21 p.m.
The McCrimmon Laboratory
The Doctor tested the door handle to find it unlocked. With a dejected sigh, he slipped his sonic screwdriver back into his pocket.
"Odd," he announced. "Institution-scale laboratory, completely unsecured."
He opened the double doors onto a darkened corridor lit up with blue secondary lighting.
"Maybe he has nothing to hide," River commented.
"Please," he said, stepping into the hallway. "Anyone with a lab this size might as well have Up To Something stitched into his trousers."
River clicked on her scanner as they skimmed along the hallway. "He has security systems. Intricate ones. All powered down."
"So he wants us to see," the Doctor said. He paused at the T-intersection. "Excellent."
"He knows we're out here," River said. She gestured to the left branch; they went on. "Why are we out here, Doctor?"
"I'm not skulking about, if that's what you're thinking."
"That's exactly what I'm thinking," River said.
"No. This is more innocent. I'm lurking, but also snooping. I'm snurking."
"Yes," River said. "Why again?" The corridor broadened and the left wall became a series of dark glass windows, floor to ceiling.
"A decade they've been here," the Doctor said. "In that time, he's managed to save the world twice, develop relations with an alien race, establish space trade and travel, free the world from fossil fuel dependency, revolutionize the transportation system, and all the while maintain a healthy marriage and active social life. Not to mention, really great hair."
River smirked. "You save the universe on a semi-regular basis," she pointed out.
The Doctor pointed to his face. "Time Lord," he said.
"He's half Time Lord," River said.
"He's half human," the Doctor countered.
River scanned the glass as they walked. "Sounds like a dream come true."
"It's not," he said. "It's a fiction. A façade. A fake. Basically something that begins with F, and I'm going get to the bottom of it."
"Sweetie, listen to yourself."
"I have all of time and space at my disposal," the Doctor said. "He's one tiny man on one tiny planet…"
River stopped walking. He turned to her, and she began to slowly applaud.
"Are you slow-clapping me?" The Doctor scowled. "Don't slow-clap me."
"Well done, Doctor," she said. "You're the first man in history to be jealous of yourself."
He scoffed. "Jealous."
"He's got everything you ever wanted — family, home, well-funded research laboratory."
The Doctor balked.
"You know you want it."
He walked over to the glass and lowered his forehead to it. "When I left them there at Dårlig Ulv Stranden, I expected them to live well, to be happy, to be… magnificent."
"And they are," River said. "Alive and splendid..."
"I never expected to have to see them," the Doctor replied. He pressed his palm to the window.
River joined him. The thick glass shone lakewater green in the lab's half-light. Banks of computers gleamed, nestled with display hubs and equipment ranged around a broad central tower.
"If you really want to know what's going on in this lab," River said. "Maybe you could ask him. I'm certain he'd go for a guided tour."
"Oh yes. Bet he'd love that," the Doctor said. They grinned at each other.
"I was thinking this side trip could be nice for us," River said. "It's out of our time-stream. All new. Undiscovered country."
The Doctor slid her a sidelong glance. "It's always all new to me." His fingers flexed. "Do you feel that?"
River shook her head.
"It's a… a resonating… a vibration. Like an engine," the Doctor said.
Then River did feel it — a humming in her fingertips. "A ship?" she guessed.
"A powerful ship. Outside," he said. "Quick."
~~~
11:44 p.m.
Grounds of the McCrimmon Estate
"Hold your ponies!" Prescott shouted as he rounded the corner and banged into them, just as Dr. McCrimmon said he would. "Here now," he said . "What're you two doing?"
"Lovely night," the Doctor said. "Lovely stars, lovely lady." He pulled River into a hasty side-squeeze.
"He said you'd say that," Prescott said.
"Those words exactly?" the Doctor asked.
"Thereabouts."
"We heard a noise," River said. "Was there a ship–?"
"Aye, the hoverlink," Prescott said. "Dr. McCrimmon just left."
"Left?" the Doctor said. "Where'd he go?"
"Classified," Prescott answered.
"You're the pilot," River said.
"I'm Head of Security," Prescott said, irritated.
The Doctor studied him. "You're a bit young for head of security."
"I'm older than I look," Prescott said.
"You look thirteen," River said.
"I'm thirty-one!" Prescott answered.
"Hmm." The Doctor brought his face very close to Prescott's then, and though the young man looked uncomfortable, he didn't back down.
"Are you arresting us?" River asked.
"N-no," Prescott assured them. "I'm sealing the perimeter for the night. Dr. McCrimmon wanted to make certain all guests were accounted for."
"That's it?"
"No," Prescott said. "He also said there's food for you in the kitchens."
"Generous," River said.
"Very," the Doctor agreed.
"Then he said that if you'd like a proper tour of the grounds, he'd be happy to lead one tomorrow after breakfast," Prescott said.
"Told you," River said.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Fine, we'll go in," he said. "Boy says we go in, we'll go in."
"Good," Prescott said. He watched them safely into the house and then keyed the sequence to lock down the shields for the night. When it was done, Prescott toggled the button on his wrist-com. Dr. McCrimmon answered immediately.
"They're in, sir," he said. "Tucked in safe."
"Good, good. Well done, Mr. Lamb," Dr. McCrimmon answered. "I'm just arriving at the coordinates Professor Taylor sent. Blimey, he's right, the energy signature's gone blippy — all over the spectrum. Tell Rose not to wait up and not to worry. We'll be in by morning."
"Aye, sir," Prescott said.
"Oh, and Lamb," McCrimmon said.
"Aye, sir?"
"Keep a weather eye."
~~~
11:54 p.m.
Sixteen miles northwest of the McCrimmon Estate
"Don't touch it!" James shouted just as Professor Malcolm Taylor was reaching toward the St. Bernard-sized hunk of violet-tinged crystal encrusting the grassy hillside.
Malcolm's fingers twitched inches from the surface of the crystal. James put his hands on the man's shoulders and shifted him backward several feet.
"We dunno what it is," James explained, his tone reverent. "Could be anything. Could be deadly. Very likely is."
"It's not from 'round here," Malcolm concluded. "And look…" he swept his torch beam down the slope toward the sea. The light caught on the faces of the crystal so that the entire hillside glistened like something afire. "They're everywhere."
"Yep," James said. "Bled over from the storm."
Malcolm straightened. "Bled over? From where?"
"That's what we're going to find out," James said. "We need a sample. But I don't want you touching it! Don't risk yourself needlessly; you're too important."
"Oh, sir," Malcolm said. "Thank you, sir. I won't, sir."
James was busy pulling on a pair of industrial grade oven mitts when Malcolm knelt next to the nearest outcropping of crystal. He stared at it, his brow wrinkled in consternation, his fingers drumming on his chin.
"Since the anomaly came from a super-stratospheric disturbance, I wonder, might it respond to electricity?" Malcolm asked.
James slipped a small hammer and chisel from his coat pocket and moved in to work on the nearest hunk of crystal. "Dunno," he said. "Let's try it once we're back in the lab. You'll want to mind those goggles–"
"Right." Malcolm adjusted them over his eyes.
James set the tip of the chisel to the crystal and felt the vibration rattle through his skeleton, right up into his teeth.
"Strange sensation," he said through clenched jaws. He knew he should be frightened or at the very least, wary, but a familiar giddiness welled up in him. This was something unique, something undiscovered, maybe even a brand-new consciousness washed up from another universe. He could barely contain his excitement as he raised the hammer to strike.
But when the hammer fell, James felt it like a dagger between his eyes. It flung him backward to the grass, and though he scrambled to remain conscious, he slipped away like a drowning swimmer.