"Right… girls." The Doctor said typing away at the keyboard on the console. "Where do we fancy heading?" Evie was still feeling a little uneasy, so she just shrugged and shook her head. He gave her an odd look, but didn't comment. "Right…"
Evie turned around as Amy and the Doctor started deciding on their destination. Once again the teenager's emotions had done a U-turn and she no longer felt threatened by the increasing closeness of the other two on board the TARDIS. Instead of joining in their chatter, she headed towards the corridor, planning on getting a drink from the kitchen.
Blocking her way, standing in the corridor in front of her, was a creature. It was taller than her and had a bald, egg-shaped head and tentacles. In its hand was an orb. She gasped, feeling the tiny hairs all over her arms standing on end. Thanks to Donna Noble's memories Evie knew exactly what the creature was. But how had an Ood got into the TARDIS and why?
The orb clutched in the Ood's hand lit up, shining brightly as it spoke. "Evie Jones. It is almost time for you to find out."
"For me to find out what?" She breathed deeply, annoyed that once again the warning – or threat – seemed to be coming as a riddle and taking a shaky step towards the creature. "Tell me, I need to know."
"It is almost time." It repeated, the light clicking on in the orb once more.
"Almost time?" She demanded. "What do you mean?"
"It is almost time, Evie Jones. Keep your eyes on the cracks."
Turning for a split second to glance over her shoulder and see whether either of the people in the console room was watching, Evie stepped towards the Ood. But it had vanished. She let out a stifled scream of confusion. Whirling around, she saw the Doctor and Amy peering round the door at her.
"Evie?" The Doctor called, seeing her panic stricken face. But it was Amy who moved towards Evie, putting her arms around her and holding her tightly. The teenager clung on, as though she was holding on for dear life. She didn't understand what was going on. For all the amazing knowledge that was buzzing around inside her mind, Evie was totally clueless.
x-x
The doors opened and the three of them looked outside. Evie had calmed down and was almost back to her old self. She was the first to leap out of the TARDIS onto the planet's surface below. It was, however, further down than she'd expected and the teenager tumbled to the ground. Although it was only about three feet, it took Evie by surprise and she sat on the floor for a couple of minutes, recovering, as the Doctor threw back his head and laughed. Amy looked concerned until she saw the girl jump to her feet, dust herself off and stand with her hands on her hips glaring at them through narrowed eyes.
"Come on then, spaceman." She snapped, raising an eyebrow. "Come down here and laugh if you dare."
He jumped down, landing much more elegantly than she had and managing to stay on his feet. No sooner had he made contact with the ground than she launched herself at him, chasing him in a loop of the ground around them. Amy grinned, watching the scene in front of her. The girl was sprinting after the man who was ducking and twisting out of her reach, still laughing. Jumping on his back, Evie started giggling as he collapsed to the ground in a heap.
"I'm glad my Evie is back." He whispered, meeting her eyes. She smiled and rolled off him as he climbed back to his feet. "Now, Pond, do me a favour and flick the big yellow switch on the console."
Amy looked confused, but disappeared inside and did as she was told. Gently the TARDIS lowered, landing on the ground and the young woman walked out casually. The Doctor grinned and went to lock the door. Then he turned on his heels, clapping his hands and beaming.
"Let's go exploring!"
The trio headed off across the dusty surface of Philosius VI. Amy Pond was full of questions and Evie smiled at the Doctor's exasperation as he tried to answer some and deflect others. He seemed to know exactly where they were heading; although Evie knew that he hadn't even intended to bring them here. He'd looked at the readings on the scanner with total confusion as they'd landed.
The Doctor walked purposefully. He hardly seemed to notice the patterns on the ground; diamonds in various colours sparkling in the light cast from the sun hovering not too far above them. It didn't seem to be as powerful as the sun that lit the Earth, as the temperature was about average, but the sun was far closer to them.
Buildings had started to appear through the light mist that engulfed them. Strange, tall, metal buildings that looked like lots of houses of different styles piled on top of each other. Amy stared up, open mouthed as they passed, but Evie kept her eyes on the Doctor who was striding along not moving his gaze from straight ahead of him. That meant that he was looking for something specific; something important.
"What is it?" She asked him seriously.
"I don't know… but something brought the TARDIS here."
"What do you mean something brought it here? I knew something was wrong." The Doctor shot her a slightly guilty look. "Brilliant."
"Have you noticed something?" Amy asked, jogging to catch up with them.
"Lots of things." The Doctor confirmed quickly. "But I'm assuming you're referring to something specific."
"There's no one here."
Evie glanced around and saw that she was right. There was a park to their left, remarkably like the ones she'd often visited on Earth. But there were no children in sight. The shops and streets and gardens were also deserted.
"Where is everyone?" She breathed.
"That's what we're going to discover." The Doctor said grinning excitedly. "Come on girlies."
Amy and Evie exchanged a cynical look at his words, but they followed him nevertheless. The Time Lord pulled out his sonic screwdriver and starting scanning. He didn't seem to be scanning anything in particular just waving the device wildly around in the air. He left it pointing towards a building that didn't seem to fit in with those around it; it was too straight, too perfect.
"Ah!" He set off at a run, Evie at his heels. She was used to the way he worked by now. Amy was slightly taken aback and hesitated just long enough for them to be slamming through the glass doors of the building before she started running.
Inside, the Doctor was still scanning with his screwdriver and Evie was tapping quickly at a keyboard attached to a huge, computer system with a large screen that was mounted on the wall opposite. Numbers were flashing and changing on the screen as she typed. Amy's mouth dropped open as she realised that the numbers corresponded to the movements of the teenager's fingers.
"How are you typing that fast?" She asked amazed.
"I knew a super-temp. She was the best temp in Chiswick… she taught me everything I know." Evie told her with a wink.
"Evie… Pond…" The Doctor shouted from near the lift. "We need to go –"
"Up!" Evie finished his sentence for him, hitting the enter button on the keyboard as she spoke.
"You've got it." He agreed with a grin.
