Materializing aboard a space station orbiting Titan, the TARDIS appears in the large circular greeter's centre, balloons barely moving in the generated breeze coming from the vents above, perpetual fresh air, the tagline read on the silver vents.
No one at the counters, there's a desk fan silently moving on one corner, the papers attached to the clipboards left nearby fluttering as the fan passes over them, before turning its head, once again.
Stepping out first, Theodore's icy blue eyes wearily moved as he noticed the silence in the air, a stark contrast to the bustling nature he was told to expect when he arrived with Lila.
Following behind him, pulling on her leather jacket, Lila's chestnut eyes moved around as she took notice of the silence, and the lack of people.
Someone was supposed to greet them when they arrived, an old Silurian scientist whose an acquaintance of the Doctor, at least one of them.
He wasn't anywhere in the circular room, there's enough light for them to see clearly, but there's nobody here.
His large hands in his stitched pockets, Theodore's flummoxed at the lack of people, before he walked up to the counter, his leather loafers audibly clanking against the soft grey floors.
Pulling out one large hand from his pocket, Theodore reached out to check the visitor sign-in sheet.
Icy blue eyes overlooking the lines written by people who came through here, around 12AM's when things abruptly stopped, the last person who signed in, Theodore can't make out their name, it's completely smudged.
Standing beside him, her curious chestnut eyes falling to the check-in list, Lila sees the time stamps up until 12AM, and she sees the smudged name of the person who last signed the check-in.
"Why is it that we always seem to miss something?" Lila sighed as she shook her head, her shiny chestnut hair slightly moving as she kept it in a loose ponytail.
Frowning as he recoiled his hand, Theodore responded with a sigh, "It's our lot in life, my dear Watson."
Going around the counters, the two proceeded to look through the unlocked computers, but again, around 12AM, things abruptly stopped, and it'd appear this didn't go unnoticed, either, other stations and ships have been trying to communicate for hours, now, but there hasn't been a response.
"Are we sure it isn't our usual suspects?" Lila asked Theodore as she walked with him around the counters, returning to the middle of the empty room, as Theodore pondered.
It's expected at this point whenever they come out to places like this, that if Lila had a dollar for every time this's a work of the Daleks or Cybermen, she'd be richer than royalty!
Shaking his head, his wild hair bobbing, Theodore assessed that there aren't signs of Cybermen or Daleks, though after everything they been through, he wasn't taking that chance, so he had Al keep an eye on things while they investigate the Titan Station.
Al gave him the okay, as he went to work trying to find everything he can about the station's movements, seeing if there's any identifiers, having updating his scanners, he's more acutely aware of any interference by either one.
Even if they tried working together, again.
Doubly if they're trying to backstab the other.
Al has everything firing at as hundred percent making sure he doesn't miss anything.
Don't worry, if there's an anomaly, he'll be the first one to scream!
Well, if they don't scream, first.
Arms interlocked, the two walked around the circular station, checking every room, no one there.
"I'm not seeing anyone," Lila frowned as she walked with Theodore, having not seen anyone, and believe her, they checked every conceivable corner, but nobody's popping up any time soon.
What didn't help's the scope of the station, it's large enough to support generations of families that lived aboard it, it's got everything a person needed from bars to movie theaters.
If they tried looking around as is, they're never getting anywhere, but it'd be stupid if they didn't stay together, else they risked something happening.
"It's our lot in life, my dear Watson," Theodore sighed as he went with her, trying to find some way to check for the security cameras, but everything's closed circuit, that even Al couldn't get into it if he tried, every security hut's dealing with one portion of the station.
Al didn't have anything helpful overriding the locks on the security systems embedded in the cameras and he's going through every textbook he invented, trying, but of course, there's snags.
Theodore tried with his Sonic Screwdriver, but it didn't work, it kept throwing error in his face right back at him.
Al didn't think they're in any danger, there's nothing hot on his scanners, nothing suggesting their usual suspects have made a rebound after the last time they had a run-in, but he couldn't tell them if there's anyone on the station.
It shows people signed in through the greeter's, it's part of the regulations that everyone checked in before entering the station from the docks, but Al can't pick out where they went.
It's the security keys giving him problems, he must make a fake one to bypass the software, can't bore a hole for him to worm through, it's a whole different ballpark, he'll let them know what he found, other than that, don't do something stupid.
Which, by now, that's a given.
"Hey, Teddi, come check this out!" Lila called to him as she went up to the large window overlooking the largest satellite of Saturn, Titan.
Hard to see, but behind Titan, Saturn's creamy colors bled through the darkness of space.
Her arms outstretched, Lila playfully sung, "I got… the whole world… in my hands!"
Got a chuckle from the aloof giant, as she insisted that it had to be done, it's the law!
Of course, she wouldn't normally do it around other people except Theodore and maybe Al, but when the opportunity strikes, be sure, Lila's going to keeping singing that.
Patting her shoulder, Theodore snickered, "Of course, my dear Watson!"
They went ahead continuing their search for any signs of life aboard the station, at some clues as to what happened to the nearly 1.2 million people living on the station, but they haven't found anything, not even a broken sign.
Everything's pristine, Theodore checked his Sonic Screwdriver, there's not even a sign of a nerve gas agent.
No traces indicating any type of agent was used, just oxygen, and he made sure it wasn't tampered, either.
When they came to the entrance into another corridor leading into a different part of the station, said on the sign that it's the Presidium, so a good sign, maybe, the sliding door nearly got them, came gnarly close slicing pieces of them, that Lila stumbled backwards to avoid the sliding door while Theodore fumbled forward.
Once Lila recovered, she hobbled towards the closed sliding door, trying to open it, stepping on the pressure plates embedded on the ground, but it won't budge, stuck.
"Hey, Theo!" Lila tried to call out to him, but he didn't respond, so she tried again in her mind, again he didn't respond.
Locating the door panel that had all that fancy stickers warning against tampering, Lila decided to take them to heart, in the way of kicking the door panel hard enough that the reaction resulted in the door opening again.
Theodore wasn't standing where he should've and Lila dove through the opened doorway, hurrying to catch up to him, but by the end of the long hallway filled with eye-blinding advertisements, she didn't find him.
Her chestnut eyes looking around, Lila tried calling out to him, again, but he never answered her, and Theodore knew better not to play pranks like this.
She tried reaching out to Al, since he's connected to her through Theodore, but the AI didn't respond to her pleas, either.
It felt like they were gone from her mind and she was alone.
"Okay, don't panic, this isn't your first rodeo, you can find him, he won't leave you high and dry like Ricky. Ricky was a dumbass who caught his pants on fire, remember?" Lila tried to comfort herself while working to find a solution.
Ah, Ricky, one of Lila's potential love interests of yore, the thought lasted a week, when she came to realize that he wasn't the sharpest tool in the toolbox, and gladly let him think he was too good for her, if it meant he never hung around her, again.
Set his pants on fire by mistake when he accidentally soaked them in gasoline, being the dumbass that he was, that she breathed a sigh of relief when that thought perished as well as a pair of Jincos from the Banana Republic.
What the hell was she thinking?
Oh, right, she was thirteen.
Hormones were a bitch.
Thank god, she saw reason in the madness before her!
…And dad shipped them to Hawaii for the summer just before the pants incident.
From what Lila knew, Ricky wasn't harmed by the accident, though he certainly didn't learn from his mistake, until he lost an eye during a stunt in high school.
Still, dodged a bullet!
Which incidentally's what led to Ricky losing his eye.
In hindsight, Lila wished she never sat next to him at lunch, but she learnt a great deal, and learnt to better curate her potential love interests.
They're in the Presidium, now, which is the political side of the station, maybe Theodore went to try to find the president of the station, that'd be something he would do, and if there's food along the way, he'd get something to eat, as is the tradition of the aloof giant.
Following the helpful lines on the ground, Lila tried to think like Theodore, following them towards shops and whatever else that setup in the area, but the aloof giant wasn't there.
Something's wrong, Lila found food, what's wrong's that the aloof giant didn't take any, and it's the type of food that he normally gravitates towards at any given time.
No chance he slipped one and made it look like he didn't, she checked.
Checking all the food stalls, Lila didn't see the aloof giant or any indication he came through recently, and this worried her.
"Okay, find the president, find the aloof giant," Lila went on a journey trying to locate and berate the aloof giant who left her without telling her where he was going.
Oh, the choice words she'll have when she reaches him!
… If…
If she reaches him…
Deep in thought, Lila didn't see where she was walking, as she ran into the back of someone, stumbling backwards, Lila fell right on her ass.
When she recovered, she sees there's a man standing in front of her, confused, as he reached out to help her out.
Tall, slender, wore a dark suit, black peppery hair carefully combed, complete with a trimmed beard and mustache, flush skin, if Lila had to guess, he'd be in his fifties.
"Christ!" Lila exhaled as she's helped up.
Blinking, she asks if the man's all right and he responded that he is, asking her if she's okay.
"I didn't hurt you, did I?" Lila heard the man ask out of concern, relieved when Lila assured him that she'll live.
Tilting his head, the man asks with a raised black brow, "Are you all right, my dear?"
Patting herself down, Lila admitted, "Honestly, I have no idea, anymore."
Looking at her closely, the man asks, "Have I seen you, before?"
Staring at him, Lila goes, "N-no, you must be mistaken. Hey, since you're the the only person I've seen so far, you wouldn't know where a tall guy went, do you?"
Describing him, Lila watched the cogs turn in the man's head before musing that he wouldn't know where he'd gone, he's not from the station.
Weakly shrugging, Lila admitted, "Yeah, we're not from here, either. So, uh, what's you're name?"
Figured there's no harm striking up a conversation.
"It's… ah… name that doesn't roll off the tongue," the man admits that his name wasn't the easiest to pronounce, that to save them time, Lila opted to call him Roger.
He looked like an old teacher Lila used to have and it wasn't like he objected to it, so there's that.
"Perhaps, my dear, you can help me. I'm looking for someone, myself, but it appears, I'm lost," Roger admits that he was looking for the academics, but of course, he wasn't used to the station, that he gotten lost.
Almost a miracle Lila bumped into him.
Weakly, she shrugged as she says, "We'll kill two birds with one stone."
Find Theodore, help Roger find who he's looking for, all's well, ends well, still no clue what the hell's going on here.
With him beside her, Lila tried finding Theodore with Roger's help, but once more, it was finding a needle in the haystack, if the haystack was bigger than a planet, filled to the brim with more things than ninety malls.
Unfamiliar with the whole station, they're both out of their element, that Lila struck up a conversation with the man, figuring there's nothing else for her to do except searching for Theodore, and Roger tells her as they passed the bright neon signs that illuminated their eyes, enough to cause Lila to cover hers, he's a professor, of sorts.
He came to the station seeking an appointment with some of the finest academics in the whole system, but when he came, he was in her situation, no one around, and no sense of direction.
Would try consulting a map, but as Roger pointed out as he pointed at the bright screen on the wall, it's much too detailed for his taste, gaudy if anything.
"Maps needn't this complex," he found them distasteful, seeing everything from bars, stores, everything, 'cluttering' the map to the point that it'd be a miracle to see anything worthwhile, at all.
Lila agreed with him, to a degree, seeing how cluttered the map was, trying to find anything's impossible, this was meant for those who knew the station, short handed text, no explanations, suppose that when a new arrival comes, they'd get a giant textbook with a helpful glossary for this.
"He has to be somewhere!" Lila found it hopeless consulting with the map, despite her fiddling, she can't figure it out, and believe her, messing with these things became an obsession the moment she saw what neat things were available soon and other timelines.
Sure, she might've broken some of them in her desires of messing with things that wouldn't exist in her world for another forty years, give or take, but she understood them better than a damn map!
Comforting her, hovering his gloved hand over her shoulder, Roger assured her that things will work out for her.
Trust him.
Moving along, they continued searching, without an understanding of the station, it's a labyrinth, but Roger came through for Lila, pointing to the one place they can try and find Theodore.
Find Me.
Scattered around the stations, they're places where people like them can get directions or call someone from the station.
Connected to each other, if they go to the closest one, they'll find Theodore.
Nodding, Lila opted to agree with Roger, and followed his lead, since he has it figured out, compared to her.
While walking, Lila tried reaching out to Theodore, hoping for a miracle, but he never answered back, neither did Al.
There's no weird feelings, nothing suggesting Theodore's hurt in some way, honestly, her mind felt like it used to be before she met Theodore.
It's weird explaining, but ever since she started this telepathic communication with him, it always felt like there's an empty seat in her head, that with her permission, gets occupied by Theodore, and in extension, Al.
Before, her mind felt like she was the only person in her head, maybe the random voices here and there, but she was the only one.
Shouting into a void, only she could hear, Lila struggled, while trying to keep her composure as Roger led her through the station towards this area's Find Me.
She sees the bright neon lights above, FIND ME, and would've sighed in relief, but Lila knew better to wait until she wrapped her arms around that aloof giant, if she hadn't smacked him, first.
Going up to the entrance, Roger opened the doors for her, and like a gentleman, he stepped to the side, allowing her to step through.
As she's passing him towards the threshold, Lila heard Roger say in a low voice, "I must admit. I didn't expect it this difficult finding you, Miss… Watson. I told you. I never forget a face."
Before she could react, Lila's pushed through the doorway, when she turned around, she didn't see the doors, blackness, when she turned back, more blackness, and a heavy presence in the air.
Struggling to get her bearings, Lila couldn't see anything in front of her, and she wandered in the darkness, calling out to Theodore, Al, anyone!
TO BE CONTINUED…
"Lucid"