I apologize for the ridiculous waiting period between chapters. I am currently preparing to head off for college in January, and obviously that comes as a priority over my fanfiction, but I have been writing any chance I get. All the rest of the chapters to come are all planned out, I just need to write them, so I'm sorry if it takes a while to update and I appreciate your patience.

I also am just FLABBERGASTED at all of the reviews, favorites, and alerts I've received! It's such an honor and it makes me so happy! 4 more reviews until I hit 100 REVIEWS! A first for me! The 100th review can expect MY ETERNAL GRATITUDE! XP Also, after I am finished with this story, I will be taking a break from FF to get into the groove of college, but after that, I'd like to write another story or two. So, as a reward to the 100th reviewer, they get to pick what one of those stories will be. :) They can pick any genre, character, etc.

Anyway, long monologue over, please enjoy this next update. :D

When River and James returned to the sitting room, the Doctor was looking at them from where he sat leaned back, leg crossed over the over and fingers laced over his knees. His lips were slightly pursed in silent contemplation.

James knew immediately that he knew what had just happened; he had felt the Doctor's presence subconsciously through-out he and River's argument, just a quiet observer in the background. James looked at him for a second, swallowed, feeling suddenly very guilty.

The Doctor smiled at him, then straightened his bow-tie.

He uncrossed his legs, slapped his thighs and stood up. "Well, Mr. And Mrs. Calla, it has been pleasant and much more informative than I was expecting, but I think it's about time we were on our way. We've got a lot to get done."

"Are you going to find my nephew?" Mrs. Calla asked hopefully.

"Yes." The Doctor stood, rubbing his hands together thoughtfully. "First, I think, I'd like to have a look at the spot Roan's parents disappeared."

Mr. Calla nodded. "It's in the center of town. It's a short walk down the road from here."

The Doctor nodded and headed towards the door. "Oh, good. I could use the chance to stretch my legs a bit. Well, come along, Ponds! And Smith! And Song!" he said, then paused thoughtfully. "That's not nearly as catchy. I'll not say that anymore."

With that, the group left the Calla's house and started their walk down the road towards town, which could be seen fairly well in the distance past the interspersed patches of trees.

The town itself (a quaint place called Driode) was devoid of any and all electronic and mechanical devices. For the most part, the whole of Agora was a Luddite culture and Driode was no different. The highest form of technology that the Doctor could spot upon entering the center of town was the clock tower facing the northern point of town square for all to see. Its tower cast a long, dark shadow over the east of the town as the sun started to set.

Everything looked akin to an Amish Earth settlement, although there were fewer beards and the clothing (including for the women) was more practical than overly-formal.

The Doctor stood in front of a beautifully crafted fountain which stood as the centerpiece of the town and looked around at the various shops and buildings in the surrounding area. Everyone seemed to be eyeing them with a mixture of suspicion and interest.

"What now, Doctor?" Amy asked, glancing around with a faintly disapproving look.

"Don't like the town?" River asked her.

"No. I just don't see why you'd want to push a plow all day if you could get a machine to do it for you," Amy said.

"Well, you can hardly blame them. They had a bad experience with a Cyberman invasion in the past," the Doctor said, then peered around at the shops and buildings, eyes squinted in search. Eventually his gaze fell upon two elderly women sitting on a porch, idly chatting away to each other.

The Doctor walked purposefully over to them, interrupting their conversation. "Hello there, ladies. Nice to meet you. I'm the Doctor," he said, then paused thoughtfully. "Wait... I did that wrong. I haven't met you yet. Let's meet for the first time. What's your name?"

The two women blinked at him, surprised and perplexed at the interruption, but as he offered his hand and a friendly smile, they both seemed to relax and shook his hand in turn, introducing themselves.

"I'm Vara," the first and oldest of the two said.

"I'm Sandra," the second said.

The Doctor beamed at them. "Hello. Good to meet you. I've got a question for the two of you. Are either of you familiar with the Staggems?"

The two women nodded immediately.

"Oh, yes, I remember them. A very private family."

Sandra nodded in agreement. "Strange people."

"Strange how?"

"Went off-world quite often. That's not terribly usual here on Agora," Vara said. "Strangers aren't terribly common here, either. Where are you from exactly?"

The Doctor smiled at her. "Everywhere. Did you ever meet any of these off-worlders?"

"No. No one ever saw them. But we'd see their ship come and go."

"It's really better that way," Sandra said. "Folk here on Agora never liked it when that ship showed up. And by the looks of it, people are a little displeased that you're here, too." She gestured at some glaring passersby.

"Are we that obvious?" River asked, knowing the answer full well. She was likely the one person on Agora with a weapon holstered on her thigh.

"This is a small town," Vara said. "Everyone knows each other here."

"What can you tell me about their disappearance?" the Doctor asked.

"Oh, well, that was a strange day, indeed," Vara said.

Sandra nodded in agreement. "They had just gotten back from... wherever they'd been off to. They were taking their son out- poor boy never got out much- they were standing right over there in front of the clock tower when suddenly... poof! Just gone. Like they'd never been there. The boy- Roan, was his name- was screaming bloody murder about a monster or alien."

"Did you believe him?" River asked.

Vara and Shana looked at each other. "Well... no," Shana was the first to say. "No one saw anything. And Vara was looking right at them."

Vara nodded, confirming her companion's statement. "I was. They just disappeared from the spot. It was the strangest thing..."

While River and the Doctor continued to question the elderly women about things he really already knew the answer to, but was just looking for confirmation, James was doing a bit of his own investigating.

He'd wandered around a bit, feeling like something was not quite right. Amy and Rory followed him, for lack of anything better to do.

"What is it, James?" Amy asked.

James shook his head uncertainly. "There's a... smell..."

Rory sniffed. "I smell bread."

James shook his head in the negative. "No, it's not that," he said, sniffing at the air as he turned down a street, following the unusual scent. It smelled burnt and very much foreign. No sort of smell that a town like Driode should be producing.

He led them down several streets, disregarding everything else but that smelled that was vaguely familiar.

"Smells like... smoke?" Amy said, also joining in on the sniffing fest. "Or something burned?"

"Almost," James said, going down a tight alleyway.

Rory glanced behind them, realizing they had strayed quite a ways from town square. He turned back to alert them of this, only to find that they had both stopped and were looking at him with alarmed expressions.

"...What?"

"You said you saw something," James said.

Rory blinked at him. "No, I- ... oh no."

"We need to tell-" Amy began.

"He knows," James interrupted. "We need to get back to the TARDIS. River and the Doctor will meet us there." He grabbed Amy's hand, who in turn grabbed Rory's, and the 3 of them moved forward -not daring to go back the way they'd come-.

James grimaced when he realized just how far his nose had led him. He glanced back at the Ponds in tow behind him. He needed to get them back to the TARDIS, or at least to town square where they were less likely to run into the Silents now apparently trailing them, but he'd gotten a bit turned around.

He looked at the shadows that were quickly growing as the sun made its decent behind the trees. Alright, he knew where north was and the TARDIS was parked at the Calla's house ten minutes to the west of Driode. Good, he was on the right track. Now he just-

The three of them stopped in their tracks as a tall, thin, Silent stepped in their path, effectively blocking their exit out of the alley they had just entered. The smell of smoke became stronger than before and James realized that the Silence must have just killed someone.

James took a step back, his arm moving in front of Amy and Rory protectively. He looked behind them, only to find that another Silent had blocked their path back. He frowned deeply. He reached for his sonic in his pocket, but remembered his jacket (which had contained his sonic) was missing still. His frowned deepened further.

"Oh, this is bad," Rory said, gulping nervously.

"What do we do?" Amy asked.

James swallowed as the cogs in his brain went into overdrive, eyes darting around for a means of escape. "Just... let me think." There was a window slightly behind them on the building to their left, but that would not be an easy route. The Silence were much too close for them to quickly open and climb through the window before they reached them. In other words, he had no plan and no way to get Amy and Rory out of this safely.

After a few seconds of staring nervously at the two Silents blocking their path, a slowly growing clink clink clink made what had been a bad situation a very bad situation as Mr. Boots stepped into view, smiling pleasantly. His eyes fell immediately on James.

"Well, if it isn't Smith and the Ponds," he said, grinning at them. "Wasn't expecting you two, but I suppose three is better than one, eh?"

James swallowed.

Doctor.

The Doctor had really found out all he needed to know, most everything falling into place in his mind. There was just one thing he didn't understand and that would have to be answered by Mr. Boots himself.

"Well, thank you very much ladies for all of your-"

"Doctor... my parents and James are gone," River said suddenly, looking behind her with alarm.

The Doctor stopped, turned to look. "Why do they always run off? You'd think James at least would know better!" He stalked off to the last place he'd seen them, when a smell caught his attention. He sniffed the air a bit. Something burning? Or burnt.

Doctor, the Silence... they're here. James' voice echoed in his mind.

The Doctor's expression hardened. Get to the TARDIS right now. Are Amy and Rory with you?

Yes.

We'll meet you there. The Doctor looked at River, who was staring at him.

"What is it?"

"Is everything alright?' Vara asked.

The Doctor smiled reassuringly at her. "Quite fine. But I'd go home if I were you. River, we should be going now."

River nodded understandingly, thanking the two women for their help before getting out of ear-shot of them to talk to the Doctor.

"The Silence are here," the Doctor explained. "We need to go find James and the Ponds."

"The Silence? What are they doing here?"

"If I were to guess?" The Doctor asked. "They're most likely here with Mr. Boots."

River's hand went to her gun. "Where are they?"

"This way," the Doctor said, heading off in the direction James, Amy and Rory had gone. He started running, River following close behind him.

"Sweetie, you should really let the one with the gun go first," she said to him, trying to surpass him, but the Doctor was quite the runner, and she just couldn't manage to get a leg up on him.

"Yes, let my trigger-happy wife go first. Brilliant idea," the Doctor said sarcastically. "Why I let you carry that thing around is a mystery to even me."

"Oh, you know you love it," River said seductively. "Besides, how else would I get your attention?"

The Doctor smiled back at her, then grabbed her hand, pulling her up to run beside him.

They were about to turn a corner when suddenly a shot fired out of nowhere, hitting the building beside them just in front of the Doctor's face, making him flinch back in surprise, pulling River with him to duck behind the wall of the building next to them.

River had her gun out faster than the Doctor could blink, and was angling herself at the wall so that she could return fire.

The Doctor grabbed the gun and River's hands so that the gun pointed down to the ground.

"No! Don't. They're not trying to kill us. That was a warning shot," the Doctor said swiftly.

"I don't care. They shot at my Doctor," River said defiantly.

"They're not here for me, River," the Doctor hissed. "We need to get to the TARDIS. There's no way we can get to the others on foot."

"Doctor! Why don't you just give yourself up to the Cowboy, eh?" a voice shouted from behind a building next to theirs. "It'd save your friend a hell of a lot of trouble!"

The Doctor laughed. "You really don't know what's going on, do you?" he shouted back. "Hasn't told you anything, has he? Which one of you am I talking to?"

"This is Nigh, Doctor. Thomas and Freeman are on your other side."

"Good to know," the Doctor said.

"Another warning, I think," River observed.

The Doctor nodded, agreeing with her assessment. Thomas and Freeman were more the quiet, follow-orders of the four, he had noted. Never said much. Nigh and Cambell appeared to be more willing to think on their own, so he decided to address him.

"What happened to Cambell?"

"Still recovering, unfortunately enough for him. Had to leave him at base," Nigh replied. "That was some nasty work you did, Doctor."

"Mostly an accident," the Doctor said. "He was a bit closer than I thought he'd be. So, Nigh, let me ask you a question."

"Shoot. Oooh, bad choice of words," Nigh said maliciously.

The Doctor chuckled mildly. "What exactly did Mr. Boots -or the Cowboy, if that's what you're going to insist on calling him- tell you was going to happen here? He was going to kill me for a hefty price and you'd get a portion of the earnings?"

"Somethin' like that," Nigh replied.

"Well, Nigh, if he's as good as he says, why am I not dead?"

"Were you just too stupid to notice all of the opportunities he had to kill him and missed?" River added.

"And why is he so obsessed with James? Hm? Did he tell you about that part of the plan?" the Doctor asked.

Nigh was quiet, but only for a few seconds. "Nice try, getting us to turn against him, Doc. But that's not going to save you."

"Nigh, I'm not in the least bit worried. You lot are more of a nuisance than an actual threat-"

Another shot fired, chipping the brick of the wall he hid behind, just above his shoulder. The Doctor jumped in surprise, then leaned over to yell at him again. "You missed! You're not going to shoot me, Nigh! I'm not your kill, remember? Not like you could hit me, anyway."

"Alright, that's it," Nigh growled angrily, stepping out from his hiding place.

River was on him in seconds. She leaned out of the protective of the building and aimed. Nigh saw her just in time to duck behind his building again, but it gave them just the opportunity they needed to turn around and start running again.

River started for town square, but the Doctor grabbed her by the arm, weaving through the buildings so as to go around it.

"Doctor, you're taking the long way," River informed him.

"Yes, and avoiding unnecessary civilian casualties. They're still chasing us," the Doctor replied, quickening his pace as a shot zoomed past him. "Missed again!"

He could three people in pursuit. Among them Nigh was growling in apparent frustration.

River glanced back and smiled. "Oh, you are good. I didn't think such an obvious attempt to plant seeds of dissension would work on him..."

"Just because he's smarter than the other two doesn't make him smart," the Doctor said with a smug grin. "He's still just a moronic brute!" He yelled the last sentence so that the three guns in pursuit could hear him.

Doctor... James voice entered his mind and it made his spirits drop instantly. I'm sorry.

James? What's happened? James!

And welcome back Mr. Boots! The present Mr. Boots has been absent for quite a few chapters, so I thought he deserved a hello. ^_^ I apologize if anyone knows more about Agora than I do. Unfortunately, I haven't seen much of the original Doctor Who series, and only learned about this planet via the TARDISwiki ( . com) so I'm sorry if I've misinterpreted what I read there.

Anyhoozle. Hope you enjoyed and I will update as soon as I possibly can. :)