Exhausted, the Doctor and Amy finally reached the doors of the soaring structure. The clouds were nothing compared to the shadow of the hotel, which swallowed them like a black hole. Its reach extended beyond their view, creating the illusion that it could topple over onto them at any second.
''Ah yes,'' said the Doctor, his eyes fixated on the huge letters above the doors, '''The Vaconian'; the number one holiday villa in the country.''
''Why is it in the middle of a field?'' enquired Amy, dumbstruck.
''It's England, everything's in the middle of a field,'' chirped the Doctor, ''even the fields.''
Amy giggled. ''Well, then, a hotel in the middle of nowhere; no car park; no roads; in a future England where the sun is out and there's a distinct lack of any queues. Can't see anything going wrong here.''
She spoke without any attempt at hiding her sarcasm. The Doctor didn't seem to pick up on it, however, as he swiftly turned serious.
''Except something's already gone wrong,'' he stated firmly. ''Everything about this is wrong. 'The Vaconian' doesn't exist.''
''Seems pretty existent to me,'' rebutted Amy, rapping her knuckle on the wall.
''I should say it can't exist,'' explained the Doctor, ''It shouldn't. It hasn't. Not for about eleven years.''
''Maybe they rebuilt it,'' Amy suggested.
''In eleven years?'' pondered the Doctor. ''No, no. It took ten years to fill in the crater. The meteor buried itself in the earth and the dint it left was filled with deadly levels of irrodium,'' he said. ''High pressure, sentient microbes, commonly residing in black holes,'' he added to satisfy Amy's confounded expression. When it remained unchanged-
''Alien death germs,'' sighed the Doctor. Amy mouthed an 'oh'. The Doctor's expression turned to excitement as he scurried to the doors. Latching his hands onto the handles, he turned to his companion.
''Shall we take a peek?'' he asked. Amy's face lit up as she joined him. She folded her arms and leant against the wall while the Doctor shook the doors vigorously in an attempt to open them.
''I think it's locked,'' said Amy amusedly. The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver.
''You're forgetting, Miss Pond,'' he began, a little too proudly, ''that I have this. I will not be stopped by something as trivial as a locked door.''
He aimed the sonic at the door and clicked. A rusty whirring noise emitted from it but nothing happened.
''Deadlocked,'' he muttered.
''Door one, Doctor zero,'' said Amy with a satisfied smirk.
...
After an unusually long walk around to the back of the construct, the duo searched for a way in. They quickly spotted a wooden door, set heavily into the wall and painted so it was almost completely hidden amongst it. A shiny silver handle was all that gave it away. Thought it appeared at first to be perfect, upon closer inspection it was clearly old and worn down. The Doctor reached for the handle and pulled, pushed and yanked but it didn't give way.
''Also locked. Any more suggestions?'' he asked Amy, moving up close and lightly tapping her head with his knuckles.
She shrugged. ''Sonic it or whatever.''
''It's wood, it won't work.''
''All of time and space and you can't get through a wooden door?''
''… It makes good tea.''
''Oh, be a man and kick it down,'' Amy exclaimed. The Doctor looked at her with not-quite-serious hostility.
''I'm not a man, I'm a Time Lord. We don't kick things,'' he stated smugly.
''Yeah? Well I'm Scottish…'' said Amy as she faced the door, raised her leg and slammed the latter into the former. With a bang, the door flew off its hinges and crashed into a dusty, rotten hallway.
''…and we do,'' she concluded with a grin. She stepped through the doorway, a piece of wood from the destroyed door frame swinging lightly overhead.
It was dark. Amy suddenly felt bemused and dread overcame her. The room flickered, as if it were computer generated and was running out of power. Amy felt dizzy; her brain was getting used to the new surroundings and struggling to understand why it had to. It was as though Amy had entered a new dimension without realising.
Something wasn't right, she thought; a feeling that was confirmed as she revolved to see the Doctor following her, slowly walking in from the substantial downpour of rain that had appeared just outside the door. The rain stretched over the fields which were now cowering under massive, dark storm clouds fighting for the best spot in the sky.
''When did it start raining?'' she cried.
''It's not raining,'' he said sceptically, reaching the doorway.
''Doctor, you're getting soaked!''
''Amy, I can assure you it's not raining.''
The Doctor entered the hallway as Amy hurried past him. He felt the same rush of unknowing and trepidation the second he stepped over the threshold. Amy felt it lift when she strode back into the perfect weather and stared up at the sun.
''But…'' she murmured, as the Doctor swivelled on the spot and realised what Amy meant.
''Interesting…'' he mumbled to himself. ''Amy, come inside, it's raining!''
''I… no it isn't,'' trailed Amy. She felt disorientated.
''Amy I can assure you, it is raining!'' howled the Doctor, trying to speak over the raging storm. Amelia collected herself and, fire in her eyes at the Doctor's cheek, re-entered the
hallway. The noise of the storm had reached levels that made communication impossible, so the Doctor led Amy down the hallway and through another mysterious door. It seemed everything inside the hotel was trying to hide itself. They walked into a narrow hallway, much better kept than the previous room. There was only one doorway across from them at the other end.
''Relative rain. Very interesting,'' chimed the Doctor, his mind still lazily focussed on the phenomenon.
''So, if it is raining outside, whether we see it or not, how come we're both still completely dry?'' asked Amy.
''Well if we knew that already there would be no fun in finding out,'' replied the Doctor happily.
''Doctor, there's noise coming from through here,'' said Amy, pressing her ear against the second door.
''Stand back,'' said the Doctor, whipping out his sonic in the process, ''Now, what's behind door number two?''