At the top of a particularly lengthy flight of stairs, or so it seemed to her, Amy collapsed onto the landing, panting and frowning at the Doctor who was happily standing in the hallway looking around at the bumbling guests.
Floor seventy-two was, as its name suggested, a long way from the lobby. Nevertheless, the style and sophistication of the hotel entrance had climbed its way up. It was like the foyer had been neatly compacted into a fifth of its size without getting crumpled, and then padded with dark red carpet. Amy felt like she had tripped on her way to a Hollywood film premiere. She stood up and leaned against the wall.
''Ah,'' chirped the Doctor, ''here we go. Room seven-hundred and twenty-four; as empty as this plot of land should be.''
Amy tried to respond but couldn't muster more than a wheeze. The Doctor turned flippantly around to her.
''Told you there'd be one close by,'' he said, and sonicked the door. Amy's scowl could have brought a warrior to his knees, but she didn't have the energy to rebut. Instead, she stumbled into the room after the Doctor.
It may not have been for the Prince of France, but it was fit for a king. Amy headed straight for the large, four-poster bed and let herself fall face first onto the pillows. The Doctor paced around the room, sonicking everything he saw and checking the results.
''It's all fine,'' he whispered, ''everything's fine, normal, but how can it be? What's it all hiding?''
Amy mumbled something indecipherable in response.
''Don't be ridiculous, Pond, my sonic never fails me,'' said the Doctor with pride. Amy rolled over and hoisted herself into a sitting position so she could shoot the Doctor a glare.
''Okay,'' the Doctor started, ''so we've got a storm that doesn't exist that can only be seen from the inside of a hotel that shouldn't exist, which we entered through a door that didn't exist even when the hotel existed,'' he finished without a breath.
''Couldn't have put it better myself,'' said Amy.
''So you know what this means, Amelia Pond?''
''It's time for some snooping?''
''It's time for some-! …Yes.''
''Well,'' said Amy, rolling onto her side and fluffing up her pillow, ''it'll have to wait. I've got some sleeping to do before the snooping begins.''
''We only just got he-'' began the Doctor, but was interrupted by a loud snore.
...
It was night. The storm was still rampant outside but the noise was subdued. Amy had awoken and was standing by the door with the Doctor by her side, pressing their ears against the wall to check that no one was in the hallway. Slowly, the Doctor opened the door with a creak and crossed the threshold.
''Why do we have to be quiet?'' asked Amy. ''Surely there are night time activities or something, for the guests. We can't be the only ones up.''
''That man from the lobby,'' the Doctor replied. ''Cole. I don't think he was hired to carry luggage. If we can, it'll be best to go unnoticed.''
''Ooh, some intrigue. Let the snooping commence,'' Amy said through a wide grin. ''Wait. Why is it quiet? What happened to the storm?''
''Hotels like these put silencers in the walls to make people forget there's an outside world and to make this feel like more of a world in itself. They put fake weather on the windows
too,'' the Doctor murmured, before his light tone grew darker. ''Amy, this could be dangerous. I don't know what we're going to find or who we're going to run into but I won't hold it against you if you want to stay here.''
There was a moment of absolute silence in which the pair scrutinized each other, before bursting into laughter that carried down the hallway. The Doctor suddenly pressed a finger to each of their lips and signalled Amy to close the door behind her. She began to sneak down along the floor.
''And don't use the lifts!'' the Doctor whispered. Amy waved her hand lazily over her shoulder. The Doctor smiled after her, almost nostalgically. After a moment's hesitation, he started to make his way in the opposite direction to his companion.
Amy took on the guise of a sleuth in making her way around the seventy-second floor, but her success was soon diminished as her shadow was hit with a flash of torchlight.
''Evening miss,'' said the unknown figure pointing the light with a boyish, London accent. Amy threw her arm in front of her eyes like a vampire shielding itself from the sun.
''Apologies, miss,'' he said, lowering the torch. ''I was just doing my patrol.''
''That's okay,'' said Amy, blinking to regain her sight. The man had stepped forward enough for Amy to make him out in the thin sheet of moonlight that was seeping in through the window. He was middle aged; weary, but cheerful.
''I was just on my way to the… um… viewing station,'' Amy went on, hoping the location she had picked was actually real.
''Ah, well, sounds better than walking around these boring old floors,'' the man beamed. ''It's a mystery I tell ya. They hire a night-watch patrolman but never turn on the bloody lights.''
''Ha ha,'' laughed Amy uneasily, ''well… I'll let you get back to your… patrolling, mister um…''
''Simon, miss. Simon Stead.''
''Mister Simon Stead.''
''Good night, miss.''
Simon carried on with his patrol. Unbeknownst to Amelia, his ghostly memory sped up like a video in fast forward, just for a few moments, as he went away up the stairs, like his meeting with Amy had interrupted him so greatly that he needed to get back on track in a heartbeat.
Amy scuttled away in the other direction. An ostentatious lightning display shocked the distant sky and caused Amy to jump and squeal loudly at her own shadow. Covering her mouth and widening her eyes with paranoia, she scampered off around the corner.
Meanwhile, the Doctor knew exactly where he was going. He was heading for the elevators. A splash of moonlight lit up the way and soon he was standing, transfixed, in front of the mysterious hotel centrepieces. His sonic screwdriver at the ready, a flash of excitement in his eyes and a flourish of his wrists and the Doctor was set into motion. He tracked each borderline of unfriendly red light, hiding in plain sight all around the elevator doors, and when he clicked it open to look into the diagnosis his eyes widened like a toddler in a toy store.
''Oh, very clever,'' he whispered to himself. A stifled cry penetrated his ears and with the name of his companion instinctively escaping his lips, the Doctor ran back around the corner of the level. Mere seconds passed before a mop of fiery red hair whipped around the corner from the other end of the hallway, resting on top of a determined, but anxious young woman. Amy was heading for the lifts, though unlike the Doctor she wasn't going to just look around.
''If he didn't want me to use them,'' she mumbled to herself, ''then he shouldn't have told me not to.''
She gave her thumb a workout pressing the elevator button over and over, trying to catch up with her heartbeat, until a ding sounded overhead and the metal jaws of the unknown threat opened up to greet her.
Almost uncontrollably, the little girl from Leadworth stepped into a possible death-trap, pushed a button on the controls and waited for her fate to arrive. The elevator rumbled into life, groaning as if it had just woken from a deep, metallic slumber.
''Ohhh, what have I done?'' Amy spoke with the air of a child doing something its mother had said not to do. She had turned the key without any real expectation of what would happen. It seemed like a way to gain control of the situation, but Amy was now realising that the hotel is more than just existent when it shouldn't be; it was alive. Not so much in the same way as a life form, but more animated than a simple holiday destination should be.
Amy's worrisome composure turned to all out frantic panic when the elevator began to charge up with what sounded like the force of a jet gearing up for take-off. Amy desperately clicked the door-open button as many times as it took for her to give up, which is a lot for a Pond, but nothing happened.
''Bad noise,'' said Amy, more stating a fact than anything. "Okay. I've heard worse.''
Her attempt at reassuring herself was brought to a sudden halt as the charging elevator failed to reach its peak and dropped several feet. Amy's scream could be heard over the
steel box grating against its supports. When the lift came to a screeching halt, Amy picked herself up and resumed the conversation with her less-collected self.
''Everything's fine, Amy. The Doctor heard that and he's on his way. Worse things have happen-'' Amy's speech was interposed by another, smaller drop; the consequence of another failed power-up, ''-but aren't happening now so why am I even bothering? DOCTOR!''
Right on cue, the elevator was silenced just as its third attempt at charging began, and its teeth were pulled apart, one floor down from where they opened, by the airwaves of the sonic screwdriver in the hands of an intensely calm Doctor.
''Yes?'' he asked, indifferent to the events that he had rescued his companion from. A reply came in the form of a tackle. Amy lunged at the Doctor and pulled him into a tight embrace.
''I'm sorry,'' she stammered. ''I shouldn't have gone in. I know you-''
''-Told you not to, yes,'' he interjected coolly. ''I counted on you going against an order.''
''Oh, did you now? And since when was I demoted to bait, Sergeant? You could have just as easily gone in yourself.''
''What's an endeavour without a little… intrigue?''
Amy looked more furious than the Doctor looked stiff, but their ruses were broken once again by an absconded smile and a runaway snicker.
''Last one,'' said Amy, slipping her words past a smirk.
''We never can keep it straight all the way, can we?'' the Doctor reacted in a similar manner. They shared a laugh.
''Really though,'' remarked Amy with an abrupt change in tone, ''Do that again and I won't be amused.''
''You played your part, too, don't forget,'' rebutted the Doctor.
''What were you doing, anyway? Wandering about while a damsels life was in distress, were you?'' asked Amy facetiously.
''Says the girl who was chatting up security instead of looking for clues,'' said the Doctor snidely. ''I ran into him on the stairs. Poor Simon seemed to be in a bit of a rush. Anyway, I had everything under control, Amy. You know I wouldn't put you in any real harm.''
''Not on purpose, at least,'' teased Amy. ''Anyway, I think I've had enough mortal peril for one night.''
''Understandable. We can discuss what I've found out in the morning.''
''What we've found.''
Amy beamed cheekily and trotted off towards the stairs. The Doctor followed.
''I'll never get in one of those things again,'' Amy pronounced resolutely. ''It's stairs all the way from now on. Can't fall if there's no giant empty space to fall through.''
''If you look at it that way,'' said the Doctor, ''you can't fly, either.''
Serenity followed this sentiment all the way back to the hotel room.