BONG BONG, her fist went.
BONG BONG, something replied.
"OhmyGod," Amy gasped, jumping away from the wall. Rory stood up, his sword materializing, and stood between her and the wall.
"What the hell was that?" Izzy said in a shrieking whisper, on the edge of hysteria.
BONG BONG
"This isn't happening. It can't be happening," Damian whispered, eyes huge.
"Daddy," Ella cried, grabbing her father's knee. "What was that?"
"It's okay, honey. It was… rocks. Rocks falling and hitting the side of the shuttle," Neil said. But he looked nervous anyways.
BONG BONG BONG
The sound came from the other side of the shuttle. Everyone gasped and moved away from the sound.
"Doctor!" Amy shouted. The door to the control room slid open and the Doctor came in.
"What, what? What's all the hoopla?" the Time Lord said, taking in the frightened passengers. An urgent sounding beeping came from the control room, and Raab hustled back in to check.
"Something is… knocking. On the outside," Rory explained, not taking his eyes away from the point where the sound had last come from.
"Nothing can be knocking, that's impossible. We're moving, super fast, on a lifeless diamond planet," he said, but he walked over to check the wall anyways.
BONG BONG BONG BONG
"Doctor?" Raab appeared in the doorway. "Um, can I talk to you for a moment?"
"About what?"
"N-nothing, a, um, small technical difficulty."
"We've stopped, haven't we." His face was grim. He licked his lips, something Amy had come to realize was the only sign he was shocked or nervous. "The shocks absorbed the jolt. We aren't moving. Raab, go back into the cockpit and lock yourself in. Send a signal back to the resort, tell them to come pick us up, pronto." Raab nodded and retreated into the cockpit, and the Doctor waved his sonic at the door when it closed behind him, adding extra fortifications to make sure it stayed shut.
"So what about the thing knocking?" Damian asked.
"It's dead out there, we're safe," Helen said again firmly. "X-tonic radiation, remember?"
"But what about last time? What about Jethro's story?" Neil asked.
"Just a story."
BONG BONG
"Oh, no it's not," the Doctor said.
"Yes, it is!" Neil bellowed, pulling Ella closer to him. "Don't listen to the man, honey. Just a story."
The Doctor's eyes were steely, and he was moving his sonic up and down the wall, ignoring Neil. "Outer and central hull are breached. Electrical shield is down." Everyone started talking at once, voices rising with panic. "No, no, no! We can't panic," he said loudly.
"He's right. Panic is what let it in, when that woman got afraid," Damian said.
"That woman- she had a name. Sky. And you're exactly right."
"You were there, weren't you?" he asked. The Doctor hesitated, but didn't reply. The answer was obvious enough. He walked to the wall and knocked twice.
BONG BONG, it answered. He backpedaled to the center of the room.
"So! Everyone, away from the walls. Actually, why don't you all get on that side of the room. Rory, stand by me. I'm going to open the door," he said, taking off his jacket and straightening his bow tie. Amy grabbed her husband by the collar and kissed him, and he tried to hug her while keeping his sword a safe distance away from her to avoid hurting her.
"No, don't open it!" Izzy barked. "Are you stupid? You'll let it in!"
"Well, either we let it in or it comes in. Either way, it's coming in, and I'd much rather do it this way and be able to know exactly when it enters and where it goes. If it breaks in, then it will kill the lights, just like it did last time."
"Last time! So you really were there!" Damian exclaimed. "But Dad said you were tall, and had a thinner face and a trench coat. And you're… much younger than I'd imagined."
"Not younger, older. I've changed, kind of drastically. Well, regenerated, technically, which is pretty drastic. But it's the same me, essentially," he explained absentmindedly, his mouth going while his mind raced on a different track. He began tracing the door frame with his sonic.
"Then you know! Last time, it was catastrophic, it tried to drain you, and four people died!" Izzy shouted, jumping to her feet. "Don't you open that!"
BONG BONG BONG BONG
"You know, I think she's right… can't you conduct this experiment when it's not putting us at risk?" Neil said pleadingly.
"I'll fight it!" Ella said happily, raising her hands defensively.
"Of course you will, honey," Neil said distractedly. "But please, Doctor, you're putting us in danger."
"Weren't you listening?" The Doctor turned to face Neil, looking him up and down critically. "If I don't let it in, it will force its way in, and then we won't know what's going on." He straightened the man's collar, smoothing his shirt. "We have no choice. It's getting in one way or another."
"He's right," Damian said quietly, but his wife sent him a furious look and turned her head, crossing her arms.
"Good! Now, all in favor of letting it smash and rip its way in here and forcibly enter, and having the advantage of taking the first move?" Nobody raised their hand. "All in favor of opening the door?" Neil, Ella, Amy, Rory, and Damian raised their hands. Izzy curled her lip, and Helen shook her head.
"I'm telling you, there's nothing out there. We're overreacting to a scary ghost story and a few technical difficulties," she argued.
"Helen, I was there," the Doctor said impatiently. "Not a ghost story. This is real, this is happening."
"How could you be there? You're not a day over thirty, if that," she scoffed. "You're just going along with this, playing a game. You think it's all fun, this treachery. Scaring us all. You won't even tell us your name."
"Names are funny things," he said vaguely, waving a hand.
BONG BONG
"Funny, like this great time you're having, messing with us like this."
"Sure, I'm having a great time. I'm locked in a shuttle, hours away from any hospitable living beings, there's creature who tried and almost succeeded in sucking the life and mind out of me, and he's knocking on the door. Oh, and this creature also tried to throw me outside, which would end in a rapid and painful incineration," he said, voice thick with sarcasm. "If there's nothing out there, then why shouldn't I open the door?"
"The X-tonic radiation!"
"Imagine a magic eight ball. All that inky stuff inside, looks dark, like there's no way you'd be able to see the words, but they're visible anyways, and… Actually, never mind. Don't imagine a magic eight ball, it's nothing like that at all. More like a… snow globe. No, no… You're a mechanic. You know that it's safe for exactly six seconds." He rolled his eyes and turned back to the door. "Now then. I'm opening this. Speak now, or forever hold your peace." Nobody stepped forward. He reached for the button, sonic ready in his other hand. Rory raised his sword.
BONG BONG
BONG
The floor pitched suddenly, tilting violently to one side, than the other, throwing the passengers against each other and into the chairs.
"No, no, no!" the Doctor shouted in protest. "I was about to let you in! You don't have to-," here the lights went out, "NO! Wait!"
The shuttle stopped shaking, and the air was silent. Amy moaned and pushed herself off Rory's back, where she'd landed. Damian and Izzy climbed out from between two chairs, while Neil uncurled himself from the protective ball he'd curled in around Ella. Hanna pulled herself out of the chair she'd fallen in.
"Doctor?" Amy called. A hand grabbed the top of a seat, and the Doctor's head followed, hair askew and one suspender hanging loose.
"Yes, I'm fine," he said, snapping his suspender back up and running a hand through his hair. "Everyone okay?"
"We're fine," Neil said, ruffling Ella's hair.
"My bottom is going to be bruised for a week," Helen huffed, "But otherwise, I'm okay."
"Good here," Izzy said, speaking for her and Damian.
"I'm fine," Amy said, reaching a hand down to help Rory up. He stood awkwardly, right arm pressed against his side, and holding his sword in his left hand.
"Rory?" the Doctor asked quietly. He nodded.
"He said he's fine. He's a tough boy," she said, patting his pale cheek lovingly.
"He's also right handed," the Doctor pointed out slowly, walking toward him cautiously.
"What?" she noticed how he was holding his sword.
"Rory… why are you holding your sword in your left hand?" the Doctor asked gently, still speaking very slowly and carefully.
"Um. I'm, um… working on becoming ambidextrous," he said unconvincingly. Amy grabbed his right arm and pulled it away from his side. A red stain was forming across his ribs, about six inches long. Amy gasped.
"Okay. I lied. I might have a minor issue." Then his knees gave out and he fell to the floor.
Action! Toldja so! I was going to save the part where Rory gets hurt for the next chapter, but I couldn't wait. Don't tell me you didn't see this coming- Rory always gets hurt. Just don't make assumptions- nothing is as it seems on Midnight!
When you review, take some guesses on what's going to happen. Just for fun!