A/n: Again, erase the 'knock four times' prophecy thing from the timeline and we're fairly on the same page. If you don't know about that prophecy but have watched up to Journey's End then you'll be spot on.
A/n: If you're still reading this but you didn't like the last post then there is a chance you may in fact be an Auton programmed by the Nestene consciousness to keep clicking the Next button. In that case you are still quite welcome.
A/n: Zero passive sentences today! Yay!
MOVING ON
The Martian music was in full blast at the far end of the moderately sized room; a warbling set of arpeggios arranged to the time of a cheery four beats per bar kept an upbeat atmosphere amongst most of the patrons. There were humanoids here, Draconians there, a trio of Alpha Centauri in the corner.
The Doctor had attempted to lose himself in the crowd of a popular cosmic bar. Unfortunately the colourful atmosphere didn't budge his mood very much. It just seemed like the most he was doing was propping up the bar. With a glass of water at his fingertips the Time Lord was feeling too much like an alien in this place.
He shook himself slightly, rubbing the back of his neck. This passive people watching hobby wasn't doing much for him today. Plus the upbeat music didn't inspire him to dance; it just made him feel old. In order for the doctor to feel young again he resolved the best thing for himself was to get in and do something practical. Go somewhere.
The three Alpha Centauri creatures started making their way through the crowd and brought their anxious high pitched chatter with them. They pressed up to the bar not too far from the Doctor and ordered another round of drinks for themselves. From the snippets of their conversation that the Doctor caught amidst the background din he initially thought they were talking about salmon pink curtains and turquoise floor matting. It seemed unlikely that the Alpha Centaurans could be quite as severely vexed about such a relatively minor thing as interior decorating after already having travelled halfway across the galaxy with it. Curious as to what was really the matter the Doctor moved just slightly closer to them, covering his intention to eavesdrop by spinning around and taking a large thirsty swallow of his water at the same time.
As it turned out the hexapods were chiefly fretting because there was an ion storm currently in their proposed flight trajectory. They were supposing that the subsequent delay to their ship's departure from the spaceport might make them miss an extremely important science convention back on Alpha Centauri.
The Alpha Centauri Sci-con of 1912. From history records this was possibly the very same convention that marked the introduction of the first Room Bomb that would later become Hecto Shellac's infamous World Bomb a few hundred years later. The Doctor did wonder over the nuances of such a historic event and decided for curiosity's sake that he'd better make a show of it. With a polite nod to anyone who happened to catch eye with him, which happened to be one of the Alpha Centauri who was facing his way and blinking its giant eye in the middle of its head in his direction, the Doctor casually made his way out of the bustling bar.
After all: no ion storm was going to trouble the TARDIS' departure to anywhere.
The massive parking lot housed a large assortment of parked ships against a star studded backdrop. In the middle of the eternal view the ion storm flared like a colourful splash in the middle of a painting.
The Doctor took a moment to gaze out on the stars beyond the dome force field of the spaceport's customer parking lot. A huge field of colours, the ion storm almost masked the view of Alpha Centauri's binary suns and its close neighbour the Sol.
As the Doctor approached his beloved TARDIS the hulking Draconian battle-cruiser parked in the next bay allotment somewhat dwarfed the neat little blue police box shape. He ruefully recalled something Donna had remarked on once. 'You've got a box. He's got a Ferrari.' She had a tendency to scale trivial facts like visual appeal but the wonderful thing about her was that she always turned back for a deeper look.
He drew the key from his pocket and went to open the trans-dimensional door into the visually deceptive TARDIS.
It was time to move on again. The Doctor set the controls for Alpha Centauri, 1 July 1912 and released the handbrake.
With a sudden lurch the TARDIS was off track. The Doctor spun around the control console, trying to keep his footing. Sparks flew as the TARDIS groaned argumentatively. "No, oh, no! The neutronium regulator oh, no you don't!" He grabbed the mallet and banged on the console to resolve the hiccup. The system stabilized and the Doctor checked the sterometer. Some of the elements had overheated.
'Come on, I only just replaced that thing. There was no reason it should do that.' "What are you up to, old girl?" He queried the TARDIS' sentience around him with a frown. The re-materialization light turned on and he concentrated on landing instead.
The astrosextant rectifier read 'Alpha Centauri, Science Convention Centre, 1 July 2012, 7.01 am'.
"I'm a bit late for the Room Bomb." He patted the console with slight reservation. The TARDIS pulsed back with a worried discordance. "We'll try again once you've calmed down, eh?" The pulses steadied back almost to normal at his words.
"Meanwhile I guess I'll go have a look at where you brought me." A little more cheerful for being in a new place the Doctor grabbed his jacket and stepped out of the TARDIS.