The Pandorica Opens pt. 2
Rory brushes Amy's hair out of her face as I try to understand how he is standing in front of me.
"Sir, the man's coming round," another soldier informs.
"Amy?! Jaz?! Where are they?" I hear the Doctor question as he comes in to view.
"She's fine, Doctor, just unconscious," Rory informs him.
"Ok…" he takes out his sonic. "Yes, she's sedated, that's all. Half an hour, she'll be fine. Ok, Romans, good, I was just wishing for Romans, good old River. How many?" The Doctor continues on not realizing who is here with us.
"50 men up top, volunteers. What about that thing?"
"50? Not exactly a legion."
"Your friend was very persuasive, but, er…it's a tough sell."
"Yes, I know that, Rory, I'm not exactly one to miss the obvious. But we need everything we can get," the Doctor continues to ramble on. He pulls out a couple guns. "Ok, Cyberweapons. This is basically a sentry box. So headless wonder here was a sentry. Probably got himself duffed up by the locals. Never underestimate a Celt."
"Doctor…" Rory tries to intervene.
"Hush, Rory, thinking. Why leave a Cyberman on guard? Unless it's a Cyberthing in the box. But why would they lock up one of their own? Ok, no, not a Cyberthing, but what, what? No, I'm missing something obvious, Rory!" He stands face to face with Rory. "Something big, something right slap in front of me, I can feel it!"
"Yeah, I think you probably are," Rory mentions like it's obvious.
"I'll get it in a minute." The Doctor leaves us alone.
"He's a little distracted," I say with a shrug. We hear a clanging as, I assume, the Doctor dropped the guns. He slowly walks back in to the room. The Doctor touches Rory with his finger to make sure he's really there.
"Hello again," the Doctor says.
"Hello."
"How've you been?"
"Good. Yeah, good. I mean, Roman."
"Rory, I'm not trying to be rude, but you died," I say coming up to them.
"Yeah, I know, I was there."
"You died and then you were erased from time. You didn't just die, you were never born at all, you never existed," the Doctor informs him.
"Erased? What does…that mean?"
"How can he be here?" I question the Doctor. "How are you here?" I turn to ask Rory.
"I don't know. It's kind of fuzzy."
"Fuzzy?"
"Well, I died and turned into a Roman. It's very distracting!" He walks back over to Amy, "Did she miss me?" There is a rumbling and then a whooshing sound. We run out to the Pandorica.
"What is it? What's happening?" I question as it glows.
"The final phase. It's opening." Rory rushes upstairs as I watch the Doctor.
"You're surrounded. Have you got a plan?" River questions over the computer.
"Yes! Now hurry up and get the TARDIS here. I need equipment!" the Doctor cuts off the conversation as he hops up. "What are you? They're all here, all of them, all for you. What could you possibly be?" The whirring and rumbling gets louder. We rush up the stairs.
"Sorry, sorry, dropped it. Hello, Stonehenge! Who takes the Pandorica, takes the universe. But bad news, everyone…" the Doctor stands up on a stone. "Cos guess who?! Ha! Listen, you lot, you're all whizzing about, it's really very distracting. Could you all just stay still a minute? Because I…am…talking! The question of the hour is, who's got the Pandorica? Answer, I do. Next question, who's coming to take it from me? Come on! Look at me, no plan, no backup, no weapons worth a damn. Oh, and something else, I don't have anything…to…lose! So if you're sitting up there in your silly little spaceship, with all your silly little guns, and you've got any plans on taking the Pandorica tonight, just remember who's standing in your way. Remember every black day I ever stopped you. And then, and then, do the smart thing. Let somebody else try first." All of the ships take off and it becomes silent again.
"That'll keep 'em squabbling for half an hour!" he says jumping down. He looks around, "Romans!"
DWDWDWDWDWDW
"They're still out there. What do we do now?" Rory questions once we are back under ground.
"If I can stop whatever's in this box getting out, then they'll all go home."
"Right." Amy walks out and heads our way.
" Rory, I'm sorry, you're going to have to be very brave now," the Doctor informs him. Rory turns to Amy as she walks right by him.
"Oh, my head," she complains.
"Ah," the Doctor opens his mouth.
"Ah."
"Just your basic knockout drops. Get some fresh air, you'll be fine."
"Is it safe up there?"
"Not remotely, but it's fresh."
"Fine," Amy turns and almost run in to Rory. "Ooh! Oh, you're the guy, yeah, the one who did the…" Amy imitates swinging a sword, "swordy thing."
"Yeah."
"Well, thanks for the…swording. Nice swording." She pats him on the shoulder and heads for the stairs.
"No problem. My men are up there. They'll…they'll look after you."
"Good. Love a Roman!"
"She doesn't remember me." He turns back to us. "How can she not remember me?" he questions desperately.
"Because you never existed."
"How come you can remember me?" he asks turning to look at me.
"I wasn't supposed to exist," I reply honestly.
"What?!" Rory questions trying to understand. The Doctor continues trying to keep the box from opening.
"It's very complicated and we don't have time to explain it all, but I'll give you the cliff notes version. There are cracks. Cracks in time. There's going to be a huge explosion in the future, on one particular day. And every other moment in history is cracking around it."
"So how does that work? What kind of explosion? What exploded?"
"Doesn't matter, the cracks are everywhere now. Get too close and you can fall right out of the universe."
"So I fell through a crack and now I was never born?"
"Basically," the Doctor informs him.
"And I fell through a crack and that's how I'm here," I tell him.
"How did I end up here?" Rory questions.
"I don't know, you shouldn't have. What happened? From your point of view, what physically happened?"
"I was in the cave, with you and Amy and Jaz. I was dying…and then I was just here, a Roman soldier. A proper Roman. A head full of Roman…stuff, a whole other life. Just here, like I'd woken up from a dream. I started to think it was a dream. You and Amy and Jaz and Leadworth. Then today, in the camp, the men were talking about the visitors, the girl with the red hair." He laughs at the absurdity. "I thought you'd come back for me. But she can't even remember me."
"Oh, shut up," I say bored with his melancholy.
"What?" he demands. The Doctor reaches in to his pocket and throws Rory the ring box.
"Go get her," he instructs.
"But I don't understand. Why am I here?"
"Because you are. The universe is big. It's vast and complicated and ridiculous, and sometimes, very rarely, impossible things just happen and we call them miracles, and that's the theory. 900 years, never seen one yet. But this would do me. Now get upstairs, she's Amy and she's surrounded by Romans. I'm not sure history can take it." Rory nods and heads up the stairs.
DWDWDWDWDWDW
"The TARDIS, where is it? Hurry up!" the Doctor demands as he talks to River.
"Don't raise your voice, don't look alarmed, just listen. They're not real, they can't be. They're all right here in the story book, those actual Romans, the ones I sent you, the ones you're with right now. They're all in a book in Amy's house, a children's picture book." I look at the Doctor.
"What are you even doing there?"
"It doesn't matter. The TARDIS went wrong. Doctor, how is this possible?"
"Something's using her memories, Amy's memories."
"But how?"
"You said something has been there."
"Yes, there's burn marks on the grass outside, landing patterns."
"If they've been to her house, they could have used her psychic residue. Structures can hold memories, that's why houses have ghosts. They could've taken a snapshot of Amy's memories. But why?"
"Doctor, who are those Romans?"
"Projections or…duplicates."
"But they were helping us. My lipstick even worked."
"They might think they're real. The perfect disguise. They actually believe their own cover story…right until they're activated."
"Doctor…that centurion…It's a trap, it has to be. They used Amy to construct a scenario you'd believe, to get close to you."
"Why? Who'd do that? What for? It doesn't make sense."
"Aah!" It sounds like there is an explosion and the Doctor starts pacing.
"River? River? River, what's happening?!"
"I don't know, it's the engines. Doctor, there's something wrong with the TARDIS, like something else is controlling it."
"You're flying it wrong."
"I'm flying it perfectly. You taught me."
"Where are you? What's the date reading?"
"It's the 26th of June, 2010."
"That's the day we left," I state in shock.
"You need to get out of there now! Any other time zone, just go."
"I can't break free."
"Well, then, shut down the TARDIS. Shut down everything!"
"I can't! Someone else is flying it. An external force. I've lost control."
"But how? Why?" Suddenly there is a high pitch noise.
"Doctor, what is that?" I question covering my ears.
"I don't know," he says covering his ear. "Listen to me, just land her anywhere. Emergency landing, now! There are cracks in time, I've seen them everywhere, and they're getting wider. The TARDIS exploding is what causes them, but we can stop the cracks ever happening if you just land her!"
"It's not safe." The box begins to open.
"Well, now," he turns to me. "Jaz, go and hide."
"What?!"
"Just do it," he demands. I huff as I find a place. "Ready to come out, are we?" I hear the Doctor question.
"Doctor, I'm down. I've landed."
"Ok, just walk out of the doors. If there's no one inside, the TARDIS engines shut down automatically. Just get out of there."
"I'm going."
"Run!" he shouts at her.
"Doctor! Doctor! I can't open the doors!"
"Amy!" the Doctor calls out as I see the soldiers walking up to him. They grab him by the arms.
"Plastic Romans. Duplicates, driven by the Nestene Consciousness, eh? Deep cover, but what for? What are you doing? What's in there, eh? What's coming out?"
"The Pandorica is ready."
"What, you mean it's open?" the Doctor questions.
"You have been scanned. Assessed. Understood. Doctor." I hear the voice of a Dalek.
"Scanned? Scanned by what, a box?"
"Your limits and capacities have been extrapolated."
"The Pandorica is ready." I hear more voices as other beings start appearing.
"Ready for what?" the Doctor questions.
"Ready for you." They start dragging the Doctor toward the empty Pandorica. I watch helplessly as they put him in the chair and lock him in it.
"You lot, working together, an alliance… How is that possible?"
"The cracks in the skin of the universe."
"All reality is threatened."
"All universes will be deleted."
"What? And you've come to me for help?" the Doctor questions them.
"No. We will save the universe from you!"
"From me?" he asks in shock.
"All projections correlate. All evidence concurs. The Doctor will destroy the universe."
"No, no, no. You've got it wrong," he insists.
"The Pandorica was constructed to ensure the safety of the alliance."
"A scenario was devised from the memories of your companion."
"A trap the Doctor could not resist."
"The cracks in time are the work of the Doctor. It is confirmed."
"No, no, no. Not me, the TARDIS. And I'm not in the TARDIS, am I?" the Doctor states adamantly.
"Only the Doctor can pilot the TARDIS."
"Please, listen to me…" he tries to stop them.
"You will be prevented."
"Total event collapse! Every sun will supernova at every moment in history. The whole universe will never have existed. Please, listen to me!" he demands.
"Seal the Pandorica."
"No! Please, listen to me!" The doors of the box start to close. "The TARDIS is exploding right now and I'm the only one who can stop it! Listen to me…!" The door closes. There is a bright light and then everything goes silent.