Doctor POV
Three thousand years later, the TARDIS materialises on a spaceship with a long central hub and two rotating sections, one larger than the other.
"It's a spaceship. Brilliant! I got a spaceship on my first official adventure". Mickey says. There are lots of bits and pieces of equipment scattered around.
"It looks kind of abandoned. Anyone on board? ", Rose asks.
"Nah, nothing here. Well, nothing dangerous. Well, not that dangerous. You know what, I'll just have a quick scan, in case there's anything dangerous". I say.
I see Ayla with an uncomfortable look on her face. 'This can't be good'
"So, what's the date? How far we gone? ", Rose asks.
"About three thousand years into your future, give or take", I answer. "Fifty first century. Diagmar Cluster, you're a long way from home, Mickey. Two and a half galaxies".
"Mickey Smith, meet the universe. See anything you like? ", Rose asks.
And Mickey comments, "It's so realistic!"
"Dear me, had some cowboys in here. Got a ton of repair work going on. Now that's odd. Look at that. All the warp engines are going. Full capacity. There's enough power running through this ship to punch a hole in the universe, but we're not moving. So where's all that power going? " I say confused.
"Where'd all the crew go?" Rose asks
"Good question. No life readings on board". I reply.
"Well, we're in deep space. They didn't just nip out for a quick fag."
"No, I've checked all the smoking pods. Can you smell that? ", I say.
"Yeah, someone's cooking"
"Sunday roast, definitely." Mickey comments, and I see Ayla gagging. "Ayla, are you okay?", I ask as I search through the bond for any physical ailments. I don't find anything.
"I'm fine. It's disgusting. The smell is making me sick", she says and I frown.
"Do you want to go back to the TARDIS?" I ask her. She shakes her head, "No, I'll be fine. I want to stay with you". 'What is it about the smell that makes her react like this?'
"Okay, well you just have to tell me if you want to go home". I say.
'I will'.
I use the console to open a door behind us.
What we see is unexpected.
The far wall is panelled, and contains a blazing fire in an ornate fireplace, with an ormolu clock on the mantelpiece. Exactly like a bedroom at Versailles.
"Well, there's something you don't see in your average spaceship. Eighteenth century. French. Nice mantle. Not a hologram. It's not even a reproduction. This actually is an eighteenth century French fireplace. Double sided. There's another room through there", I say.
Rose looks out of a porthole in the same wall.
"There can't be. That's the outer hull of the ship. Look", Rose says
I see a young girl and say to her,
"Hello. " I am speaking to a young girl in a nightgown who is kneeling by the fire on the other side of the fireplace. 'She looks almost the same age as Ayla if she was human'.
"Hello.", she replies. "What's your name? "
"Reinette".
"Reinette, that's a lovely name. Can you tell me where you are at the moment, Reinette? ", I ask.
"In my bedroom". She replies unhelpful.
"And where's your bedroom? Where do you live, Reinette? " I ask "Paris, of course".
"Paris, right!"
"Monsieur, what are you doing in my fireplace? ", she ask, 'that is a good question', I hear Ayla in the background.
"Oh, it's just a routine fire check. Can you tell me what year it is? "
"Of course I can. Seventeen hundred and twenty seven. "
"Right, lovely. One of my favourites. August is rubbish though. Stay indoors. Okay, that's all for now. Thanks for your help. Hope you enjoy the rest of the fire. Night, night".
"Goodnight Monsieur", she replies.
"You said this was the fifty first century", Mickey starts to talk.
"I also said this ship was generating enough power to punch a hole in the universe. I think we just found the hole. Must be a spatio-temporal hyperlink". I reply trying to sound smart.
"What's that? ", Mickey asks.
"No idea. Just made it up. Didn't want to say magic door". Rose speaks up, "And on the other side of the magic door is France in 1727? "
" Well, she was speaking French. Right period French, too. "
"She was speaking English, I heard her". 'Oh no, hopefully he won't react the way Rose did', I think, I accidentally projected my thoughts and I hear Ayla snicker. I give her a mock glare.
"That's the TARDIS. Translates for you". Rose replies like it's the most normal thing in the world. "Even French? "
"Yeah".
While they've been bickering, I found some switch. "Gotcha! ", I say and the fireplace rotates. "Doctor!", I hear Ayla and Rose yell.
Ayla's POV
The doctor just disappeared behind the fireplace. I expected it, but did not realize the effect it will have on me, I feel utterly lost. Like when you are a child, lost in an unknown place, not knowing where your parents are. And don't know if you will see them again. 'This is the kind of lost that I'm feeling'.
The bond is still there but not as strong. I mean he is in another time period. On a different planet.
I know what will happen here. I remember the episode from my universe, the one that Bad wolf created. And know that the doctor will be back in a few minutes. Rose and Mickey are speaking. I'm not really listening to what they are saying.
The fireplace rotates again. 'He's back'. We all hear him say smugly, "Me!"
"Doctor!", Rose yells The Doctor grabs a something from a nearby rack and fires its contents over the android. It seizes up.
"Excellent Ice gun", Mickey says. "Fire extinguisher", the doctor corrects him.
"Where did that thing come from?", Rose asks.
"Here", he replies.
"So why is it dressed like that?", Mickey asks.
"Field trip to France. Some kind of basic camouflage protocol. Nice needlework, shame about the face" The Doctor removes the android's face to reveal clockwork.
"Oh, you are beautiful! No, really, you are. You're gorgeous! Look at that. Space age clockwork, I love it. I've got chills! Listen, seriously, I mean this from the heart, and, by the way, count those, it would be a crime, it would be an act of vandalism to disassemble you. But that won't stop me", he praises and threaten at the same time.
The android beams away.
"Short range teleport. Can't have got far. Could still be on board".
"What is it?"
"Don't go looking for it!", he says, 'I'll be right back, I promise', he says in my mind.
"Where're you going? ", Rose asks.
"Back in a sec", he says. The Doctor uses the fireplace again. Rose hefts the fire extinguisher like a big gun.
"He said not to look for it", Mickey says. "Yeah, he did", Rose says smugly. Mickey gets another fire extinguisher from the rack.
"Now you're getting it", she says again.
"Come on Ayla. I'm not leaving you alone here", I get up to follow, the Doctor might be mad that I left but he has to deal with it cause he left first.
Doctor POV
I just got back from the lovely Madame de Pompadour. 'Where are they?' "Rose! Mickey, Ayla! Every time".
"Every time, it's rule one. Don't wander off. I tell them, I do. Rule one. There could be anything on this ship". I say feeling extremely annoyed 'stupid humans'.
I can sense Ayla close by. 'She must be with Rose and Mickey. She feels miserable though'. I'll find them through the bond'.
Ayla POV
Mickey is trying to be clever whilst we are searching the spaceship, trying to look like some sort of James Bond spy character. We see a camera with an eyeball in the middle that blinks at him.
"Are you looking at me?", he asks. The camera extends from the bulkhead for a closer look. Rose approaches and I stay close behind her.
"Look at this. That's an eye in there. That's a real eye", he says. 'No shit Sherlock'. I think.
The doctor is not back yet. I can't wait to see him again. The camera goes back into the bulkhead. Rose opens a small hatch and we hear thump-thump, thump-thump. We gaze down along the wires and pipes. And I start gagging again.
Rose takes my hand in hers for a moment.
"What is that? What's that in the middle there? Looks like it's wired in". Mickey asks.
"It's a heart, Mickey. It's a human heart." Rose replies.
"I don't want to be here anymore I say to Rose.
"It'll be fine Ayla, you'll see, I won't let anything happen to you" Rose responds.
"Neither do I, but it's all of you I am worried about"
"Like I said, we will all be fine, the Doctor knows what he is doing".
'I can't really change much here. I remember some of this episode. I remember the Doctor being sad at the end because of Madame de Pompadour'.
We continued walking on after this. I can feel the doctor close by, and then he disappeared again (probably met the horse and went to see Madame de Pompadour).
"Maybe it wasn't a real heart". Mickey argues.
"Course it was a real heart". She replies.
"Is this like normal for you? Is this an average day? "
I reply 'no' softly, while Rose replies, "Life with the Doctor, Mickey? No more average days". We stop by a large window.
"It's France again. We can see France". Mickey says.
"I think we're looking through a mirror." Rose says as King Louis enters the room beyond, with two men.
'Doctor, you're back', I state in my mind as I feel him approach. 'You did not stay put', he says annoyed.
With my own annoyance I reply, 'well you weren't there and I was not going to sit there alone waiting for you to return while Rose and Mick explore'.
"Blimey, look at this guy. Who does he think he is? ", Mickey sounds jealous.
The doctor makes himself known standing next to me, putting his hand on my shoulder, "The King of France".
"Oh, here's trouble. What you been up to? " Rose asks.
"Oh, this and that. Became the imaginary friend of a future French aristocrat, picked a fight with a clockwork man".
We hear a horse neighing. ""Oh, and I met a horse". The doctor says. 'Oh , I finally get to meet Arthur' I think.
'What do you mean by that?' The doctor asks.
'Oh great, the mind reading again. Arthur is a good name for a horse' I reply. This whole conversation barely took two seconds, I have found that my thoughts are becoming faster and I can retain more information.
"What's a horse doing on a spaceship?", Mickey asks.
And just to rile him up, the doctor replies, "Mickey, what's pre-Revolutionary France doing on a spaceship? Get a little perspective. See these? They're all over the place. On every deck. Gateways to history. But not just any old history".
Reinette enters the room and curtseys to the King. " Hers. Time windows deliberately arranged along the life of one particular woman. A spaceship from the fifty first century stalking a woman from the eighteenth. Why?"
"Who is she?" Rose asks "Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, known to her friends as Reinette. One of the most accomplished women who ever lived", the doctor says.
'You have a crush on her, don't ya?', I think to him.
He bumps into me slightly, blushing a bit. 'No I don't', he says.
"So has she got plans of being the Queen, then? ", Rose asks.
"No, he's already got a Queen. She's got plans of being his mistress". The doctor replies.
"Oh, I get it. Camilla".
"I think this is the night they met. The night of the Yew Tree ball. In no time at flat, she'll get herself established as his official mistress, with her own rooms at the palace. Even her own title. Madame de Pompadour". He says.
The King and his servants leave. Reinette checks her appearance in the mirror. "The Queen must have loved her", Rose says sarcastically. "Oh, she did. They get on very well", the doctor says, not catching the sarcasm from Rose.
"The King's wife and the King's girlfriend? ", Mickey says questionably.
"France. It's a different planet".
Reinette turns to see someone standing in the room with her. She speaks up, "How long have you been standing there? Show yourself!"
The Doctor grabs a fire extinguisher from Mickey and rotates the mirror. We all go with him.
"Hello, Reinette. Hasn't time flown?"
"Fireplace man! ", she says to the doctor. The Doctor sprays the android and throws the extinguisher back to Mickey. The android creaks.
"What's it doing? ", Mickey asks the doctor.
"Switching back on. Melting the ice", he replies.
"And then what?"
"Then it kills everyone in the room. Focuses the mind, doesn't it? Who are you? Identify yourself. Order it to answer me". He tells Reinette.
"Why should it listen to me? ", Reinette questions.
"I don't know. It did when you were a child. Let's see if you've still got it", he says to her.
"Answer his question. Answer any and all questions put to you". Reinette orders. And the droid responds, "I am repair droid seven".
"What happened to the ship, then? There was a lot of damage", the doctor asks.
"Ion storm. Eighty two percent systems failure", it answers.
"That ship hasn't moved in over a year. What's taken you so long? ", he asks another question.
"We did not have the parts", it replies.
"Always comes down to that, doesn't it? The parts", Mickey says, clearly finding the humour in this.
"What's happened to the crew? Where are they? ", the doctor asks. 'Doctor', I say to him, trying to get his attention.
"We did not have the parts", it repeats.
"There should have been over fifty people on your ship. Where did they go? " he keeps asking the same question.
'Dad!' I practically yell in his head, he looks at me quickly in shock, 'the crew, think, remember the smell', I say to him, feeling quite nauseous. I saw understanding dawning on him.'It was the only way to get his attention'
"We did not have the parts".
" Oh! Fifty people don't just disappear. You didn't have the parts, so you used the crew", he says.
"The crew?" Mickey asks disgusted. And Rose adds in as well, "We found a camera with an eye in it, and there was a heart wired in to machinery".
"It was just doing what it was programmed to. Repairing the ship any way it can, with whatever it could find. No one told it the crew weren't on the menu. What did you say the flight deck smelt of?"
"Someone cooking". Rose replies.
"Flesh plus heat. Barbeque.", 'Doctor, there's no need to make it that graphic. It's bad enough smelling it.' I think to him. He looks sheepish, remembering that I am there.
"But what are you doing here? You've opened up time windows. That takes colossal energy. Why come here? You could have gone to your repair yard. Instead you come to eighteenth century France? Why? ", he continues asking.
"One more part is required". It replies. "Then why haven't you taken it? ", he asks. "She is incomplete"
"What, so, that's the plan, then. Just keep opening up more and more time windows, scanning her brain, checking to see if she's done yet".
Rose asks, "Why her? You've got all of history to choose from. Why specifically her? "
"We are the same", it replies. "We are not the same. We are in no sense the same".
"We are the same".
"Get out of here. Get out of here this instant! ", Reinette orders it. "
"Reinette, no! ", the doctor yells as the droid teleports away.
"It's back on the ship. Rose, take Mickey and Arthur . Get after it. Follow it. Don't approach it, just watch what it does", the doctor commands.
"Arthur?", Rose asks. "Good name for a horse".
"No, you're not keeping the horse", Rose tell the doctor.
"I let you keep Mickey. Now go! Go! Go! " The Doctor closes the mirror door behind Mickey and Rose.
While I stand here awkwardly with the Doctor and Reinette. "Reinette, you're going to have to trust me. I need to find out what they're looking for. There's only one way I can do that. It won't hurt a bit", he tells her.
He goes into her mind. 'It's strange to see him reading someone else's mind. It just feels wrong. This type of thing belongs to family and very close friends' I think, feeling really strange seeing this.
"Fireplace man, you are inside my mind", she says. And it feels stranger now that I can feel him inside her mind. I can't see into it. I can feel the connection. "Oh dear, Reinette. You've had some cowboys in here", he says.
'Now I'm curious, I also want to see'.
'No' is the only reply I get from the Doctor.
"You are in my memories. You walk among them". Reinette comments amazed.
"If there's anything you don't want me to see, just imagine a door and close it. I won't look. Oh, actually there's a door just there. You might want to cl… Oh, actually, several". He says blushing.
"To walk among the memories of another living soul. Do you ever get used to this? "
"I don't make a habit of it", he says and I snort.
"How can you resist?" she asks.
"What age are you?", he asks suddenly.
"So impertinent a question so early in the conversation. How promising" 'bleh'. "No, not my question, theirs. You're twenty three and for some reason, that means you're not old enough. Sorry, you might find old memories reawakening. Side effect".
"Oh, such a lonely childhood", she says. "It'll pass. Stay with me", he says.
"Oh, Doctor. So lonely. So very, very alone". She says with sorrow.
"What do you mean, alone? You've never been alone in your life. When did you start calling me Doctor?" he asks.
"Such a lonely little boy. Lonely then and lonelier now. How can you bear it? " she asks.
'Even with me around he is still lonely?' The Doctor breaks the link.
"How did you do that?" he asks.
"A door, once opened, can be stepped through in either direction. Oh, Doctor. My lonely Doctor. Dance with me".
"I can't", he replies looking over at me. I give him an encouraging nod.
"Dance with me", she commands.
"This is the night you dance with the King. "Then first, I shall make him jealous".
"I can't" he says. 'Just go for it'. I think to him.
"Doctor. Doctor who? It's more than just a secret, isn't it?" "What did you see? "
"That there comes a time, Time Lord, when every lonely little boy must learn how to dance".
She looks at me, "Come child, follow me, let's get you dressed for a dance".
I look at the doctor, 'is she serious? I've never danced a day in my life'. He smirks at me.
She dressed me in a violet ball gown. It's slightly big. And put my hair up in a beautiful braid. I refused to wear one of those wigs.
True to her word, the doctor and she danced. While some old aristocrat tried flirting with me. 'Seriously, pervert. I understand history and all, I understand that human girls younger than me were married off early, it still sucks when an old man flirts with you'.
I was focusing more on the fan Reinette gave me.
"Hello miss...?", another man, in his late teens, spoke to me.
"Smith, I am Ayla Smith", I say to him.
"Nice to meet you Miss Smith. I am Jean-Michel Lautier". He bows slightly. And I curtsy. 'I don't know what I'm doing?'