8. Is It Dream?
The TARDIS has landed in the middle of Amy's flowers on the garden. The door opens and the duo pop their head out to see where they are. Tory steps out with a skipping to avoid damaging the flowers. But unlike her, the Doctor's knocking a stone from the small retaining wall.
"Rory!" The Doctor called as Rory comes out to greet him.
"Doctor. Tory."
"He has crushed your flowers! Not me!" Tory mentioned.
"Oh, Amy will kill you," Rory noted, recalling Amy almost did that to Tory from last meeting.
"Where is she, by the way?"
"She'll need a bit longer."
"Whenever you're ready, Amy," the Doctor said and Amy arrives with her stomach getting bigger, close to be 8-9 month pregnancy. "Oh, wahey! Wahey. You've swallowed a planet."
"I'm pregnant," Amy informed as the Doctor's resting a hand on her stomach.
"You're huge."
"Yeah, I'm pregnant."
"Look at you. When worlds collide."
"Doctor, I'm pregnant."
"Oh, look at you both. 5 years later and you haven't changed a bit," he pondered and hugs Amy before pointing at Rory's hairstyle. "Apart from age and size."
"Good to see you, Doctor."
He pauses. "Are you pregnant?"
Tory facepalmed herself. "Wow. What a suprised," she snarkly said. Amy just shakes her head and goes back inside, nudging Tory to comes inside.
The four of them walk down a village lane.
"Ah, Leadworth. Vibrant as ever," the Doctor mused.
"It's Upper Leadworth, actually. We've gone slightly upmarket," Rory clarified.
"Where is everyone?" Tory frowns. "I mean, I know this town isn't big like London, but usually not this quiet."
"This is busy," Amy interjected, but also realizing something. "Okay, it's quiet, but it's really restful and healthy. Loads of people here live well into their 90s."
"Well, don't let that get you down," the Doctor added.
"It's not getting me down."
"I wanted to see how you were. I don't just abandon people when they leave the TARDIS. This Time Lord's for life. You don't get rid of the Doctor and the Historian so easily."
Amy gazes at Tory. "You two came here by mistake, didn't you?"
"Pretty much," the girl shrugged and found a bench. "Tired?"
Amy nods and the three of them sit there, bored and with nothing to say.
"So," the Doctor started. "What do you do around here to stave off the, you know..."
"Boredom?" Amy cuts in around the same time the Doctor saying, "Self harm."
"We relax," Rory began while the Doctoe mouths 'relax' at his sister. The girl just sighs as Rory continued. "We live, we listen to the birds."
A little bit of snow begins to fall accompany with some bird noises.
"Yeah, see, birds. Those are nice," Amy agreed.
"We didn't get time to listen to birdsong back in the TARDIS days."
Tory huffed as the noises becomes louder. "Ugh, it's getting louder. So annoying."
"Oh, blimey. My head's a bit, ooh," the Doctor blurted, holds his head in his hand then sits back up. "No, you're right, there wasn't a lot of time for birdsong back in the good..."
"Uh. Brother dear?" Tory called as he begins to drift off.
"Old... days," he finished before Tory sees he, Amy, and Rory fall asleep on the bench.
"Welp," the girl mumbled, already feeling tired. "This isn't normal..."
"At all," she finished, slowly waking up and finding herself sleeping on the TARDIS' floor.
"What? No, yes, sorry, what?" The Doctor wondered beside her as Amy and Rory meet him by the console. "Oh, you're okay. Oh, thank God. I had a terrible nightmare about you two," he admitted, standing up alongside Tory. "That was scary. Don't ask, you don't want to know. You're safe now," he added and hugging Amy.
"Oh, okay," Amy replied before he let go and checks on Tory.
"That's what counts. Blimey, never dropped off like that before. Well, never, really. I'm getting on a bit, you see. Don't let the cool gear fool you. Now, what's wrong with the console?"
"No idea," Tory wondered, checking the console. "Red flashing lights... that doesn't indicate something good."
"Doctor, I also had a kind of dream thing," Rory mentioned.
"Yeah, so did I," Amy remarked.
"Not a nightmare, though, just... we were married."
"Yeah, in a little village."
The Time Lords look at them, surprised, before glancing at each other direction.
"A sweet little village," Rory recalled, "and you were pregnant."
"Yeah, I was huge. I was a boat."
The Doctor walks up behind Rory and tugs on his hoodie while Tory holds open Amy's jacket.
"So you had the same dream, then? Exactly the same dream?"
"Are you calling me a boat?" Amy asked, upset.
"Pretty much," Tory admitted, not caring that Amy glares at her. "I mean, you said so yourself. I'm just repeating."
"And Doctor, Tory, you were visiting," Rory added.
"Yeah, yeah, you two came to our cottage," Amy specified.
"How can we have the same dream? It doesn't make sense."
"And you had a nightmare about us. What happened to us in the nightmare?"
"It was similar, in some aspects."
Rory frowns. "Which aspects?"
"Well, all of them."
"You had the same dream," Amy concluded.
"Basically."
"You said it was a nightmare," Rory reminded.
Did I say nightmare? No. More of a really good... mare."
"Just tell them that ordinary life is a nightmare," Tory exposed, finding his excuse so lame.
"Look, it doesn't matter," he claimed. "We all had some kind of psychic episode. We probably jumped a time track. Forget it, we're back to reality now."
"Doctor, if we're back to reality how come I can still hear birds?" Amy remarked.
"Yeah, the same birds. The same ones we heard in the…"
"…dream," Rory commented, realizing that his head and the Doctor's are touching each other. He pulls away from the Doctor in embarrassment. "Oh. Sorry. Nodded off, stupid. God, I must be overdoing it. I was dreaming we were back on the TARDIS," he imparted as the Time Lords stand up. He looks at Amy. "You had the same dream, didn't you?"
Amy nods. "Back in the TARDIS. Weren't we just saying the same thing?"
"But we thought this was the dream."
The Doctor picks up a small stone from the path, examines it, and then throws it back to the ground. Tory tries to uses her power, but nothing comes up, which is concerning. She's not using her power today, yet she can't summon it?
"I think so," Amy admitted and stands up. "Why do dreams fade so quickly?"
Rory walks over to them. "Doctor, Tory, what is going on?"
"Is this because of you?" Amy added. "Is this some Time Lord thing because you've shown up again?"
"Listen to me. Trust nothing. From now on, trust nothing you see, hear or feel," the Doctor warned.
"But we're awake now," Rory noted.
Tory shook her head. "You thought you were awake on the TARDIS too. I think something's strange is going on in here."
"But we're home," Amy argued.
"Is it? Is this real life? Is this just fantasy?" Tory pointed out.
"Did you just seriously quoting Bohemian Rhapsody's first lyric?"
The Doctor shook his head. "Trouble is, Rory, Amy, which is which?" He asked, focusing them back into the issue. "Are we flashing forwards… or backwards? Hold on tight. This is going be a tricky one."
Tory opens her eyes and soon stands up, checking the console as the Doctor does what she did at the same time Amy wakes in one of the chairs with a gasp.
"This is bad. I don't like this," the Doctor admitted. kicks console and hurts foot. "Argh! Never use force. You just embarrass yourself. Unless you're cross, in which case, always use force."
"Shall I run and get the manual?" Amy offered.
The Doctor gives a meaningful gaze at Tory. "Mind to answer that, sister dear?" He alleged and goes down stairs to look under the console.
"I threw it in a supernova," Tory answered without consideration.
Amy stares at her, disbelief. "You threw the manual in a supernova? Why?"
"It's so boring! Not fun at all! And not to mention, it's exhausting!"
Rory facepalmed upon hearing that reasoning. "Okay, but whatever's wrong with the TARDIS, is that what caused us to dream about the future?"
"If we were dreaming of the future," the Doctor started, heads back upstairs.
"Of course we were. We were in Leadworth," Amy recalled.
"Upper Leadworth," Rory corrected.
"Yeah, and we could still be in Upper Leadworth, dreaming of this," the Doctor finished. "Don't you get it?"
"No, okay, no, this is real. I'm definitely awake now," Amy insisted.
"Yeah, you said that when you were pregnant like a giant boat," Tory commented and running away from Amy's wrath of calling her like that.
"And you could be giving birth right now," the Doctor interjected, stopping Tory from running and standing between the two. "This could be the dream. I told you, trust nothing we see or hear or feel. Look around you. Examine everything. Look for all the details that don't ring true."
"Okay we're in a spaceship that's bigger on the inside than the outside," Rory began.
"With a bow tie-wearing alien alongside his Pippy Longstocking's sister," Amy added.
"So maybe 'what rings true' isn't so simple."
"Really?" Tory frowns. "I though it's so simple."
The TARDIS' powers suddenly down, leaving them in virtual darkness. The only light they can find coming from the console. "It's dead. We're in a dead time machine," he announced and the birdsong returns. As the TARDIS becomes darker, Rory goes to Amy and takes her in his arms. Same thing with the Time Lords. "Remember, this is real, but when we wake up in the other place, remember how real this feels."
"It is real. I know it's real," Amy denoted as Tory fell asleep.
Tory wakes up, return back to Upper Leadworth. The girl follows the Doctor, who's standing in the middle of the street as a group of schoolchildren pass by.
"Okay. This is the real one, definitely this one," Amy remarked, rubbing her large stomach. "It's all solid."
"It felt solid in the TARDIS too. You can't spot a dream while you're having it," the Doctor mentioned as he waves fingers in front of his face and Tory suddenly reach out her sword and swing it around.
"What are you doing?" Rory asked them, a bit concern with Tory's swinging her sword, fearing that she might hurt herself.
"Looking for motion blur, pixilation. It could be a computer simulation."
"But that might not be the case here," Tory mumbled as a woman's passing by.
"Hello, Doctor," she greeted.
"Hi," the Doctor said as Rory replying with "Hello."
She pauses, seems confused before walks away.
"You're a doctor," the Doctor realized, looking at Rory.
"Yeah. And unlike you, I've actually passed some exams," Rory noted.
"A doctor, not a nurse. Just like you've always dreamed. How interesting.
"What is?" He wondered as he follows the Doctor and Tory.
"Your dream wife, your dream job, probably your dream baby. Maybe this is your dream."
"It's Amy's dream too. Isn't it, Amy?"
"Yes. Course it is, yeah," Amy responded, but Tory can tell she's not being honest with herself.
Tory frowns and pointing a house. "What's that?"
"Old people's home."
The Doctor looks at the home and sees the residents at the windows looking out. "You said everyone here lives to their 90s. There's something here that doesn't make sense. Let's go and poke it with a stick."
He heads off alongside Tory, not bother with Amy's protest and Rory's groans.
Inside the house, the see the residents are relaxing in the room. A woman is knitting.
"Oh, hello, Dr. Williams," a woman greeted Rory.
"Hello, Rory, love," another lovely older woman called.
"Hello, Mrs Poggit. How's your hip?"
"A bit stiff."
"Oh, easy," the Doctor said. "D-96 compound, plus... No, you don't have that yet, forget that."
"Who's your friends?" Mrs. Poggit asked, looking at the Time Lords. "A junior doctor and his daughter?"
"Yes," Rory replied.
"He's not my father, he's my brother!" Tory huffed.
Mrs. Poggit just ignore her and looking at the Doctor. "Can I borrow you? You're the size of my grandson."
The Doctor kneels as Mrs. Poggit puts a jumper over his head. "Slightly keen to move on," he said. "Freak psychic schism to sort out." He leans forward, making Mrs. Poggit to sit back. "You're incredibly old, aren't you?"
The residents look on as birdsong begins.
"Wonderful," Tory grumbled as she and the rest fall to the floor, asleep.
The four of them wake leaning against the console.
"Okay, I hate this, Doctor. stop it, because this is definitely real, it's definitely this one," Amy insisted. "I keep saying that, don't I?"
"Yeah, so many times," Tory noted as she and her brother go to the upper level.
"It's bloody cold," Rory realized.
"The heating's off," the Doctor remarked.
"The heating's off?"
"Yeah. Put on a jumper. That's what I always do."
"Yes, sorry about Mrs. Poggit. She's so lovely though."
"Oh, I wouldn't believe her nice old lady act if I were you."
Amy frowns. "What do you mean, 'act'?"
"Don't trust her. She's suspicious," Tory replied Amy, checking into the console, confused for a second.
"Everything's off, sensors, core power. We're drifting. The scanner's down so we can't even see out. We could be anywhere," the Doctor blurted, heads back to the console.
"I can't work it out," the Time Lady commented. "Someone or something is controlling the controls."
Then, a man appears at the top of the steps. He's short, has a receding hairline and is a little on the heavy side. Weirdly enough, he's dressed close to the Doctor. From the tweed jacket, striped shirt, until the bow tie. "Well, that took a while," he admitted, walks down steps. "Honestly, I'd heard such good things. Last of the Time Lords, the Oncoming Storm and the Hybrid. Him in the bow tie. Her with the sword."
"How did you get into the TARDIS?" Tory crosses both arms, looking carefully at the hologram, despite find this hologram... familiar. And quite interesting to observe. "What are you?"
"What shall we call me? Well, if your brother's the Time Lord, let's call me the Dream Lord."
"Nice look," the Doctor pointed out.
"This? No, I'm not convinced. Bow ties?"
Tory holds her sword and thrust it at the Dream Lord, only to find the sword through him. "Huh, now that's fasinating," Tory shared, raises her eyebrown, reaching her hand so the sword return to her hand.
"I'd love to be impressed," he admitted with a smile that creeping out Amy and Rory, but seems genuine to Tory. "But Dream Lord, it's in the name, isn't it? Spooky, not quite there." He disappears and reappears behind them. "And yet, very much here."
"I'll do the talking, thank you. Amy, want to take a guess at what that is?" The Doctor asked.
"Um. Dream Lord. He creates dreams," Amy answered.
"Dreams, delusions, cheap tricks."
"And what about the gooseberry and the mad girl here, do they get a guess?" The Dream Lord alluded to Rory and Tory.
"Listen, mate, if anyone's the gooseberry around here, it's the Doctor and his sister," Rory corrected.
"There's a delusion I'm not responsible for."
"No, he is. Isn't he, Amy?"
"Oh, Amy, have to sort your men out. Choose, even."
"I have chosen. Of course I've chosen," Amy said before smacks Rory's chest. "It's you, stupid."
"Oh, good, thanks," Rory admitted.
"You can't fool me. I've seen your dreams. Some of them twice, Amy. Blimey, I'd blush if I had a blood supply or a real face. Quite a naughty girl you are with your soon-to-be-husband."
"Where did you pick up this cheap cabaret act?" The Doctor demanded, stepping in front of Tory, protecting her.
"Me?" The Dream Lord shrugged. "Oh, you're on shaky ground."
"Am I?"
"If you had any more tawdry quirks you could open up a Tawdry Quirk Shop. The madcap vehicle, the cockamamie hair, the clothes designed by a first-year fashion student... I'm surprised you haven't got a little purple space dog just to ram home what an intergalactic wag you are. Where was I?"
"'haven't got a little purple space dog just to ram home what an intergalactic wag you are'," Tory recited as the Dream Lord moves to the upper level.
"Pretty good, Time Lady," he complimented, which makes the Doctor glares at him. "So glad there's someone who can pick things faster than these idiots."
"Nothing else to mock me, Dream Lord?"
"Well, why should I? I'm not really concerning about you. But your brother?" The Time Lord looks disatisfied. "He's the trouble. But let's move on from that. So, here's your challenge. Two worlds. Here in the time machine, and there in the village that time forgot. One is real, the other's fake. And just to make it more interesting you're going to face in both worlds a deadly danger. But only one of the dangers is real. Tweet, tweet. Time to sleep."
The Doctor, Amy, and Rory fall to the floor asleep, leaving Tory still awake, fighting the urge to sleep.
"Oh, or are you waking up?" The Dream Lord added as the noises getting louder, forcing Tory to fall asleep.
They wake up in the empty lounge.
"Oh, this is bad. This is very, very bad," the Dream Lord murmured, wearing a suit while holding an X-ray. "Look at this X-ray. Your brain is completely see-through. But then, I've always been able to see through you, Doctor."
"Care to explain that statement?" Tory inquired, looking around.
"Now then, the prognosis is this," he began. The Doctor sits in Mrs. Poggit's vacated chair. "If you die in the dream you wake up in reality. Healthy recovery in next to no time. Ask me what happens if you die in reality?"
"You died," the Time Lady responded. "Bye-bye life. Hello darkness."
"Have you met the Doctor before?" Amy asked. "Do you know him? Doctor, does he?"
"Now don't get jealous. He's been around, our boy. More or less can be said with his sister. Never mind that. You've got a world to choose. One reality was always too much for you, Doctor. Take two and call me in the morning... if you can keep Historian's safe, that is," he stated and disappears.
"Okay. I don't like him," Rory admitted.
"Who is he?" Amy crosses both arms, upset.
"I don't know. It's a big universe," the Doctor replied, but Tory knows he has a suspicious who Dream Lord might be. And Tory can make a guess for his identity as well.
"Why is he doing this?"
"Annoying us, probably," Tory shrugged, looking around.
"Or maybe because he has no physical form. That gets you down after a while, so he's taking it out on folk like us who can touch and eat and feel," he suggested, stands and removes the jumper.
"What does he mean, deadly danger?" Rory pointed out. "Nothing deadly has happened here. A bit of natural wastage, obviously."
"So then, where're the adults we met before?" Tory asked Rory regarding that, gesturing the entire room that has no resident inside.
Realizing this, the Doctor runs out and the others follow. Tory can sees children are playing outside, some even head into the ruins.
"Why would they leave?" Rory wondered.
"And what did you mean about Mrs Poggit's act?" Amy added.
"She's just acted so... unnatural," Tory admitted, avoiding 2-3 kids who seem eager to see her.
"Let's think," the Doctor suggested. "The mechanics of this split we're stuck in... Time asleep matches time in our dream world, unlike in conventional dreams."
"And we're dreaming the same dream at the same time," Rory mentioned.
"Yes, sort of communal trance, very rare, very complicated. I'm sure there's a dream giveaway. But my mind isn't working because this village is so dull!"
"And sooo boring!" Tory added, huffing and kicking some rocks nearby.
Suddenly, Amy grabs her stomach. "Oh. Ow. Really. Ow! Aaaah! It's coming!"
"Help her, you're a doctor," the Doctor told Rory in panic.
"You're a doctor!" Rory retorted.
"It's okay, we're doctors," he agreed and squats down like intend to catch the baby as it falls out without knowing some procedure. "What do we do?"
"Okay, it's not coming," Amy announced, stop feeling pain.
"What?" The Doctor protested.
"This is my life now and it just turned you white as a sheet. So don't you call it dull again, ever. Okay?"
Tory just snorted, not find it amusing as the Doctor's saying, "Sorry."
"Yeah," Amy denoted, walks off before Rory follows her. The Time Lords spots Mrs. Poggit. heading for the ruins. But both just shrug that off and heads for the swing. As Amy sits on it, Tory takes another swing, looking around.
"Now, we all know there's an elephant in the room," the Doctor started, holding the swing's chain.
"I have to be this size, I'm having a baby," Amy remarked.
"No, no. The hormones seem real, but no. Is nobody going to mention Rory's ponytail?"
"What's wrong witn his haircut?" Tory asked. "I'll admit, I like it." The girl realized. "Oh, I see. Okay, I can help you cut it off."
Amy chuckles while Rory looks annoyed. "This from the man in the bow tie and a girl with a sword," Rory mentioned.
"Bow ties are cool," the Doctor defensed. stands and watches Mrs. Poggit watching the children. Tory follows his gazes at the old woman. "I don't know about you, but I wouldn't hire Mrs. Poggit as a babysitter. Ever."
Mrs. Poggit turns and watches the Time Lords.
"What's she doing?" Tory pondered and grumbles upon hearing the bird noises again.
"Oh, no, here we go," Amy muttered.
The Time Lords are at the console as Amy and Rory join him. "It's really cold," Amy admitted, rubbing her arms. "Have you got any warm clothing?"
"There should be some stuff down there," Tory recalled, "you can have a look."
Amy goes to look before Rory eventually follows. The Doctor goes into the space under the console, setting an enamel mug on a box with a crank. Tory watches beside him as the crank comes off so Tory hits it. The box opens, showing a number of gadgets inside.
As Amy heads back to the console with soms blankets, the Doctor has created something out of kitchen gadgets and hands it to Tory. "Tory, wind," he instructed before handing Amy the attached wire. "Amy, could you attach this to the monitor, please."
"I was promised amazing worlds," Rory grumbled. "Instead I get duff central heating and a weird, kitchen wind-up device."
"It's a generator," Tory corrected before winding it.
"Why is the Dream Lord picking on you two? Why us?"
The monitor screen beeps to life and shows a starscape.
"Where are we?" Amy asked.
"We're in trouble," Tory concluded.
"What is that?" Rory wondered.
"A star. A cold star," the Doctor responded, runs to the doors and opens it, letting in a blinding light. "That's why we're freezing. It's not a malfunction. We're drifting towards a cold sun. That's our danger for this version of reality." He closes door and looks at the larger monitor on the wall.
"This must be the dream," Amy claimed. "There is no such thing as a cold star. Stars burn."
"So's this one. It's just burning cold."
"Is that possible?" Rory frowns.
"I can't know everything. Why does everybody expect me to, always?" The Doctor snapped and heading to console area and sits dejectedly.
"Okay, this is something you haven't seen before. So does that mean this is the dream?"
"I don't know, but there it is, and I'd say we've got about 14 minutes until we crash into it. But that's not a problem."
"Because you know how to get us out of this?"
"Because we'll be dead by that point," Tory replied without hesitation.
"Then what'll we do?" Amy asked, giving Tory some serious glare for saying that statement that's clearly not helping their case.
The Doctor takes the stethoscope to the console. "Stay calm. Don't get sucked in to it, because this just might be the battle we have to lose."
"Oh, this is so you, isn't it?" Rory grumbled.
"What?"
"What a weird new star, 14 minutes left to live and a siblings will save the day. I just wanted a nice village and a family."
Before the Doctor can protest, the Dream Lord appears behind him. "Oh, dear, Doctor. Dissent in the ranks. There was an old doctor from Gallifrey, who ended up throwing his life away. He let down his friends and sister..." he paused at the sound of birdsong. "Oh, no, we've run out of time. Don't spend too long there, or you'll catch your death here."