A/N: Sorry about the whining review that I posted, I just had to make a point to an anonymous reviewer: this story is in the right category and if you think otherwise, learn to read. Just because you list a story under two characters does not mean they have to be a romantic pairing: and who says my story won't end with Ten/Rose? So yeah, go away and do something worth doing.
Anyway, sorry for that! Some people can't gather the facts before throwing accusations. Thank you so much to all of you who read this story and leave so many lovely reviews! I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the last, and I promise Rose will be coming back soon and it's off to New Earth. Please leave a review if you can :)
Disclaimer: Don't own Doctor Who. Only Ava and a bit of the plot.
*CHAPTER REWRITTEN 28/05/12*
I didn't want to ruin the perfect smile that had settled on the Doctor's face, but I had to tell him the truth. "Um, Doctor, that paper is blank… How is that going to help either of us?"
The Doctor's brow furrowed, as he glanced at the wallet in his grip again. "Really? You can't see anything?"
"I'm not stupid, Doctor," I growled, "I can tell when something is blank or not- and that definitley is."
"You're definitley not stupid, Ava," the Doctor observed, lowering his voice as he slipped the wallet back into the pocket of his coat. "You're the exact opposite. You're remarkable."
I sighed, slightly annoyed. "Now that's just patronising. A toddler could say whether a piece of paper was blank or not- that doesn't make me remarkable. That just means I have eyes."
"No, Ava," the Doctor said, getting the wallet back out of his pocket and pressing it onto the table in front of us. "This isn't just any paper."
"And why doesn't that surprise me?" I said in a cynical manner which was beginning to grow on me.
The Doctor ignored her. "This is psychic paper, Ava. It appears blank, but it sort of gives off a low-level telepathic field. It causes the viewer to see whatever they want to see, or see what they expect to see; like an invitation or security pass."
I gasped rather dramatically. "That's like… I don't know, extreme fake ID! Is that even allowed?"
"Yes," the Doctor considered, "Unless you get caught."
"Anyone could say that about anything," I pointed out, "But why can't I see it? Is there something wrong with me?"
The Doctor picked up the wallet and started drumming it between his forefinger and thumb. "Psychic paper has a limited capacity; it doesn't work on certain individuals. Geniuses and people who have appropriate psychic training aren't fooled by its illegitimacy."
I frowned, "But I haven't had psychic training."
The Doctor grinned, "Exactly."
I slapped the Doctor mockingly on the arm. "Oh, shut up."
The Doctor shrugged, "The psychic paper doesn't lie. Well, it does, but not in that sense."
"No way am I a genius, Doctor," I insisted, "Six crap GCSE's to my name, and only one of those came above a D. See? That, in my book, does not mean genius."
"You don't have to have an IQ off the charts to be a genius, Ava," the Doctor said, "There are so many other forms of brilliance. Intelligence is just one."
I laughed coldly and without feeling. I refused to believe that I could be anywhere near a prodigy. "I don't think so. Talk to my mother, and she'll back you up on that."
The Doctor looked at me sympathetically. I instantly dragged my eyes away from his face and my cheeks flushed uncomfortably. I hated putting everything back down to my useless parents; I didn't want an excuse for him to feel sorry for me. All I wanted was to have one amazing adventure, without having to think about them.
I had a sad smile pinned to my face, although it was very weak. I think the Doctor could tell that I hadn't really smiled all that much in my nineteen years on Earth. I'd seriously smiled more in the past six hours or so than I've ever had in the whole of my life.
Woah.
The Doctor pressed a consoling hand on my shoulder. He could tell, somehow, that I wasn't happy. And he didn't like that.
"Come on. Let's go and break another hundred or so rules of the Shadow Proclamation by using this bad boy," the Doctor said, waving his psychic paper in my eye line. Then he saw my disapproving look. "Ok. Bad boy. Not saying that again."
I grinned. And he grinned back.
Maybe now was time to catch up on all those smiles that I'd missed.
-x-
The Doctor and I pushed past the crowds of life-forms (I was still getting used to using that term instead of people) to get to the entrance of 'The Core'. There was at least ten security guards manning the entrance, all ten of them looked similar to the silver woman at the shake shack. If someone without valid ID got anywhere near them, they simply shot a bolt of electricity from a ring round their finger which reduced them to dust.
The Doctor saw my astonished look as we approached the front of the queue. "Wouldn't worry about that, if I were you. I've seen those sort of things before. They just teleport you to a different part of the planet- it's basically a way of scaring people off. They obviously couldn't really kill anyone."
I sighed with relief. "Good. Because what we're going to do is hardly legit, is it? What if they've had psychic training too?"
The Doctor contemplated that for a second. "Nah. Those guys are brawn, not brains. No way would they be able to grab the concept of psychic activity- they can barely read what's in front of them."
"Talk about jumping to conclusions," I muttered. "I thought your horizons were wider than that, Doctor."
"Oh, yeah, my horizons are pretty wide," the Doctor said, getting his paper ready. "It's those guys who are struggling."
I shook her head- the Doctor had completely missed the point. Or had he? Nobody could ever presume what that man was thinking.
Alien man. The Doctor hadn't yet told me that he actually was an alien; but it didn't take a genius to establish that the Doctor wasn't actually from Earth. And, according to the Doctor, I was a genius- so I'd figured that out a while back.
But what kind of alien? And why did he look so much like a human? There were humanoid aliens around me as well as actual humans, but not any human-like aliens like him.
Or maybe the humans weren't really humans at all? What if they were all his species?
So many questions, so little time.
-x-
Despite the Doctor telling me not to worry, I still flinched and prepared to be vaporised as the Doctor flashed one of the guards his fake credentials.
"Emperor and Empress Finchley and Cordell of the Muluminan Peninsula." the guard announced in a grunty tone.
The Doctor elbowed me as he turned to bow to the gathering crowd. I was confused, but I still did a small curtsey. Were we royalty?
The crowd all looked at us for a second, before shouting and cursing abuse at the guards again. They obviously didn't care who the heck was going into 'The Core', they just wanted to get in there themselves. Whatever the Core actually was.
"These guys are being privileged with our royal presence, yet they don't even give us a second glance." the Doctor tutted, as the guards made way and let us through.
"To be fair, they probably don't even recognise us." I narrowed my eyes, "Does the Muluminan Peninsula exist?"
"Oh yes," said the Doctor as he pulled back a scarlet curtain which seemed to just appear in front of us. "A really primitive race that live over thirty billion light years away. No way would they be able to get here. Of course, those guys won't know that. Their horizons are too narrow."
The Doctor grinned at me, I half-smiled back. We were getting closer to 'The Core', to the extent that we could see it pretty clear through the glass.
I coughed. "Um, Doctor?"
"Yeah?" inquired the Doctor.
"Where exactly do you come from?"
The Doctor stopped dead in his tracks.