LSATB : S1E2: The End of the World
Chapter 1: Hold On, John Smith
"Right then, John Smith, you tell me," the Doctor tossed a golden ball in one hand, staring at him with energy crackling in her blue eyes as her fingers danced out a rapid beat on the desk. "Where do you want to go? Backwards or forwards in time? It's your choice; what's it gonna be?"
"Forwards, onwards and upwards and all," John didn't care, so long as it was somewhere, any where new and different. His heart sped in his throat as the Doctor gave him a wide grin and plugged in the strange little gold ball on the glowing green console, the one she'd been tossing to herself absentmindedly. Her hands moved rapidly from that to a blue toggle, a little yellow switch, and then she stood and looked at him, a smirk on her lips.
"How far?"
"A hundred years," he shrugged, wondering what would happen in a hundred years. Would people be flying to the moon on vacations yet? She spun a thin wheel with the palm of her hand and straightened once more to yank on a pulley, and twist a strange knobby thing before the TARDIS gave off its groaning hum and shook itself, straining almost.
After a short while, she twisted the knob again.
"There ya go," she proclaimed, pointing at the doors proudly. "Step out those doors, yer in the 22nd century."
"You're joshing," John took a quick glance over his shoulder at the doors in amazement.
"That's a bit boring, though," she wrinkled her nose playfully. "D'ya wanna go further?"
"Sounds brilliant," John grinned, watching her spin the wheel once more, faster, until she stopped it suddenly to pump a lever. John turned his eyes momentarily to look at the TARDIS' singing central tube once more, before returning his eyes to the amazing alien (he couldn't believe this, almost, if not for her… well… she was just different) who had invited him along.
"Ten thousand years in the future," she grinned, her voice slick with excited anticipation at his reaction, nodding proudly. "Step outside it's the year 12,005, the new Roman Empire."
"You think you're so impressive," John grinned back at her attitude that only she could do this, only she could travel in time and space, only she could be so clever and brilliant.
"I am so impressive!" she shot back, offended, looking at him with playful-hurt in her eyes.
"I'll bet," John teased, unable to keep from smirking. "Why don't you show something really impressive to me, then?"
"Right then," she dashed her tongue out quick to wet her lips, a manically exhilarated look on her face. "You asked for it, I know exactly where to go." Her eyes burst with a little of insanity before she dashed the wheel nearly to pieces, rolling it under her palm, pumped the black lever, and spun the knobby thing.
"Hold on!" she cried as John spread his hands out over the controls, feeling a surge of warmth flood through him, and a song singing very softly behind all the whining and groaning of the machine.
The shaking of the ship ended with the clang of a tiny bell. All was silent, and it was an almost eerie quiet. John glanced about, an apprehensive curiousity pricking his skin with cold needles, but he was too excited to care.
"Where are we?" John asked, slightly cautiously, mostly interestedly. The Doctor didn't reply, only holding out a hand with a half-smile creeping onto her face. John turned towards the doors, his coat swinging behind him as he looked at the doors, then turned back to her, hardly able to keep his grin out of his voice, "What's out there?"
She didn't seem inclined to say, only giving him a look that clearly said, 'Well you won't find out just standing here'. John moved towards the doors, heart racing loudly on the back of his tongue as he grasped the handle of the door for a moment, than stepped out of the machine into…
The room was pale yellow, with large metal vents in the wall and the paneling of some strange wood-like material. Sconces on the wall held small yellow lights, and the blocks of the steps glowed white. But that was nothing next to the view which John's eyes were transfixed upon.
A paneling in the wall opened to reveal the earth. Stretched blue and white under them, John assumed they were in space, and couldn't help but grin wildly at that. He saw the sun, bursting yellow and orange, with a halo of light shining around it as it pulsed in the black void of space.
"You lot," the Doctor tramped down the steps, hands crossed over her chest as she stood next to John, "Y'spend all your time thinkin' about dyin'. Like yer gonna get killed by eggs or beef or global warmin' or asteroids. But you never take time to imagine the impossible. Maybe you survive." She paused as John stared out into space, watching the strange glow of the earth, the blues and whites, the faint greens and yellows of the planet's land underneath the swirling clouds.
"This is the year 5.5/apple/26, 5 billion years in your future. And this is the day – hold on –" she glanced at her watch, John's eyes following, then both turned their eyes back to the viewing screen, just in time to watch the sun's light explode into a fiery ball, reaching out into the darkness of space, gasping for kindling to fuel it. The sun went hollow and orange, spotty and almost evil looking as it reached out hungry arms towards the earth.
"This is the day the sun expands," the Doctor looked at John seriously, simply. "Welcome to the end of the world." John glanced at her, blinking, than back at the screen, hardly able to take in what had just happened.