"Okay folks!" The Doctor says while smiling ecstatically. "I know we got a bit sidetracked last time, and the time before that, and before that too…um, but I promise that this time we will stick to the index cards and will absolutely not get sidetracked." Amy rolls her eyes at this.
"Because today we'll be visiting the Indus River Valley, the most peaceful place on earth!" He finishes and turns to the tardis controls. Then he begins to randomly press buttons and pull triggers. Amy casually leans down and then he brushes her off.
"Pond! These controls are very sensitive and precise and if one wrong button was to be press-" He reprimands her.
"Sorry, sorry." She looks at the Doctor who is staring very intently at the controls. Then he lightens up and looks at her. "I can't be mad at you. Just read the index cards." She smiles and pulls them out, while leaning back again on the controls.
"Okay, so as I'm sure some of you have already guessed, the Indus River Valley is in India. It formed along two rivers the Ganges, and the Indus. To the North there are the Hindu Kush, Karakorum, and Himalayan mountains. On its other three sides it is surrounded by water, and this makes it a peninsula. These also provide incredibly good natural barriers. A natural barrier is any geographic feature that protects a civilization from outside attacks. And perhaps this is why their culture has so little evidence of armies and weapons, because they didn't need them. Even their two main cities-"Amy is interrupted by the Doctor who suddenly shoots up from the controls.
"Speaking of which…welcome to Mohenjo-Daro!" He says while raising his hands dramatically. Amy just stands there looking unimpressed.
"I thought you said we were going to Harappa." She says, completely shattering his sense of pride.
"What?"
"I thought you said we were going to Harappa…you know the other major city of the Indus River Valley."
"Okay, well now we're going to Mohenjo-Daro!" He says raises his hands dramatically again. Amy rolls her eyes, but can't help smiling a little.
They exit the tardis and find themselves on an empty street.
"Wow it's so…"
"Empty?"
"I was gonna say clean, but I guess empty works too." Amy says.
"And it's so clean because they have indoor plumbing."
"So why is it so empty?" Amy asks. The Doctor either doesn't hear her or just ignores her.
"Let's head to the Great Bath!" The Doctor begins to lead the way.
"I love Mohenjo-Daro because they know how to make a street system! Every street is made perfectly into a grid system. It's nearly impossible to get lost! Well actually…um, Amy you wouldn't happen to know where the Great Bath is would you?"
"You got us lost, didn't you?"
"What? No…I'm only taking a detour." Amy looks up at a certain building that seems higher than all the others.
"Is that it?" She asks, pointing. The Doctor follows her hand and then smiles.
"Yep. Good job Pond!" They walk up the many steps to the entrance. It's just as deserted as the streets.
The Doctor looks around intently. Amy knits her eyebrows together.
"Something's not right here." She says. The Doctor just stays silent.
"Pond?"
"Yes?"
"See that statue over there?" He says motioning to the large statue of a man with the head of a cow in the center of the room.
"Yes. What about it? It shows the Indus River Valley's polytheistic religion?"
"No, no, no. How many shadows does it have?" Amy raises an eyebrow.
"Um…I don't know, one, two, three, four…Four."
"Four."
"Yep. That's what I said."
"Okay. And how many light sources are there?"
"Okayyy…Uhh. There's a window over there, this open door, and um that window over there."
"So three."
"Yeah."
"So where is the 4th shadow coming from?" He says. Amy doesn't answer just looks in horror at the statue. She has no idea what the Doctor is going on about, but she knows from experience that when the Doctor gets that face it is not good.
"Pond. Listen to me very very carefully. We need to get back to the tardis. Do not touch any shadows. Understand? Stay out of the darkness. And count the shadows." She shakes her head to show she understands. The Doctor grabs her arm.
Suddenly they start running down the stairs. They reach the bottom and before Amy can say anything, the Doctor takes a right and Amy follows. They continue zigzagging in and out of the streets.
"Doctor, do you even know where the tardis is?" Amy asks frantically. She looks back. The street seems darker than it was before.
"Doctor. The street just got darker." The Doctor doesn't even look back, just grabs her arm and they take a turn to the left. Amy stifles a scream. There's a pale skeleton that's been stripped of all flesh leaning against the corner.
"What are we running from Doctor? Doctor?"
"The Vashta Nerada. And we need don't have time to talk about it, we just have to get out of here. Let's go." Then run past the skeleton. But the street is engulfed by darkness.
"Uhh, this way." He says, but it is blocked by darkness.
"Okay…Um, ahha! Inside that building!" Amy starts to protest, but they run inside before she can stop him.
"Up the stairs!" he yells. They reach the top, but the shadows are close behind.
"Out the window!" He yells. They jump out and Amy screams at the top of her lungs. They fall but land on top of a pile of hay.
"We're alive!" She screams with joy.
"Not for long, let's go." They continue running.
"Where is the tardis?" Amy asks.
"I think I parked it by the bread market."
"Which is where?"
"Um…Next to the pottery barn?"
"Not helping!" They turn the corner and the blue box jumps into view.
"AH! We're saved!" Amy screams. "We're not going to die." She runs to the box but the Doctor grabs her arm.
"No. Amy. Count the shadows." She looks at him and then back at the tardis.
"There's an extra shadow." She says. "Wha-what do we do?" The Doctor is silent then he gets a resolved face.
"We have to find some meat." Amy swallows hard. "I'll check in that building." The Doctor takes her hand.
"Count the shadows." She nods her head. She cautiously enters building. She slowly walks to the back. It seems to be a storage room. She counts the shadow and there are no extra shadows, so she continues walking. The pots all contain rice, some bread. Then she spies one pot over in the back. She starts to crawl over to it, but then remembers to count the shadows. The pot has no extra's but then she realizes that the pot next to it has one extra shadow. She decides to try to get to the pot anyway. She just gently raises her foot over the extra shadow, keeping a close eye on it.
Suddenly her back foot slides on a pot cap and her foot slams down inches from the shadow. Her heart is thumping. But she's alive. She reaches for the pot. Inside she finds some strips of what look like some sort of meat. She breathes a sigh of relief and exits the building.
"Doctor?"
"Amelia!" The Doctor pokes his head out from the opposite building.
"Find anything?"
"Yep." She holds up the pot. He takes a strip of meat and throws it near the tardis. The shadows jump out at it and a moment later it disappears. Then the Doctor grabs Amy's hand and they lunge at the tardis. The Doctor dumps the rest of the meat to keep the Vashta Nerado occupied. They jump into the tardis and he slams the door shut.
Amy hasn't even realized that her heart was beating. The Doctor looks incredibly distressed.
"Doctor?"
"Pond…I think we just found out why the Indus River Valley civilization declined." Amy smiles sadly.
"So much for not getting sidetracked."
"I promise that next time there will be no distractions."
"Sure…" Amy says. "We'll see about that."