Amy Pond is good at waiting, thought the Doctor. Not me.
He'd been standing in the Waiting Room for over an hour now. He understood the mechanics of it all, of course: Doctor Beckett has to accomplish his mission before being pulled like a fish on a line to the next time period he needs to do something in (crude time hop-scotch!), and to make it work, the Doctor needs to be in the Waiting Room.
But he couldn't help thinking about the "unknown force" he'd discussed with Al, and how it seemed to remind him of something. Besides, walking into a nuclear testing site? That settled it. Amy and Rory needed his help.
Feeling his way around the circumference of the room, he only managed to detect a feint seam where the door was. Instinctively, he reached for his sonic screwdriver, only to be rudely reminded that he didn't have it anymore. He took a deep breath. Then he noticed something on the floor. He walked over to it and picked it up. It was a small, blank piece of paper, about the size of his hand. Someone must have dropped it.
But then an idea crept into his mind. He looked backward toward the door and then toward the piece of paper. Folding it carefully in two, he hoped he still remembered what his previous selves had learned.
The four of them hurried through the desert, knowing there was absolutely no time to lose. Sam knew they would be near the place Al had pointed to by now, and that they would have absolutely no margin for error in rescuing the people who were caught in the blast, boarding whatever kind of vehicle was there, and riding safely back to the wooden box.
But even in this situation, he had more pressing questions on his lips. "Gushie, how can you possibly be here? What happened?"
The little scientist shrugged as he tried to keep up. "No idea".
"What you're Swiss cheesing?"
"No. That's the funny thing, I remember everything".
Sam shook his head. "Or you think you do".
Amy still wasn't sure what was going on. "Doctor Beckett, who is this?"
Sam smiled at her. "This is Gushie. He's one of the scientists who worked on my time travel project".
"But how can he be here? Did he use the time machine to come here too?"
Amy's question caused Sam to give Gushie a stern look. "Is that what happened?"
Gushie shook his head frantically. "No! I never go near the quantum leap accelerator. Never! I was just standing outside the Imaging Chamber waiting for Al and the Doctor when, bam! All of a sudden I'm standing in a street in Chicago in 1958!"
"Then why come here?"
"Well you know my memory isn't great at the best of times. Once I realised I really had time travelled, all I knew is that you were here in 1959. I got a job fixing radios and television sets, and then came here to meet you".
"What here in the desert where nuclear weapons are being tested?"
"What choice did I have? I just thought that you or Al may be able to help".
As Sam shook his head in disbelief, Amy cautiously questioned Gushie. "So you were just standing in a corridor and suddenly you got zapped here?"
Gushie nodded. "That's pretty much it".
It was then that Rory noticed his wife's body language change. She turned white and looked as though she was shivering, even here in the desert. Rory put his arm around his wife. "Amy, are you okay?"
Amy reached up to hold her husband's hand, wrapped around her shoulder. "Just worried".
Rory gave his usual reassuring smile. "It'll be okay. I'm sure the Doctor has everything figured out".
She turned to her husband, her bottom lip quivering. "He's the one I'm worried about".
Rory didn't get the opportunity to ask why. Coming over a mesa, they caught sight of the people Al must have sent them to rescue: two young men, presumably in their early twenties, grubbily dressed, and with two dozen empty beer bottles around them. Both were lying under the Arizona sun.
Sam ran over to them and examined them.
"Are they okay?" asked Gushie.
"Yeah, they're alright", replied Sam. "Just totally out of it".
"And I suppose that's the vehicle your friend mentioned", said Rory, pointing to a small dirt bike on the ground.
Four hearts sank. They had so little time left and the bike would only be able to carry two people at the most. Rory gripped Amy a little tighter, and Sam and Gushie exchanged a despairing glance.
It was then that Sam heard the clunking of a metal door. Spinning around, he saw Al entering the Imaging Chamber. The hologram was mumbling, half to Sam, half to himself. "Sorry I've been away so long, was looking for Gushie, no idea where he's got to". He stopped in his tracks as he caught sight of the little scientist. "What? Why, you…! What are you doing in the Imaging Chamber?"
Sam walked over to his friend as the Imaging Chamber door closed behind him. "He can't hear you, Al?"
Al looked confused. "What?"
Sam just smiled. "He's not in the Imaging Chamber. He's here. Now. 1959".
Al's mouth dropped open. He was about to say something, when Amy broke free of her husband's grip. "Al! You're here! Look, I know you can hear me, but I think you and the Doctor, I think you're all in terrible danger. You've got to get back to the Doctor! Please!" Rory tried to hug her again, but she wouldn't let her.
Now Gushie was confused. "They're in danger? Lady, what about us?"
Amy continued, trying to put things as clearly as she could. "Look. Gushie says he never went near the time machine you have. He shouldn't be here. But there's one other thing that could have happened. One terrible danger the Doctor and I have faced together that could kill you both now. Al, you've got to find the Doctor now!"
Somehow Sam sensed truth in her words. "Al, how long before the bomb hits?"
Al punched some keys and Ziggy gave out a beeping sound. "Twenty-eight minutes, forty seconds".
"Then go", said Sam. "Just get to the Doctor, tell him what's happened".
"But what about you?"
"We won't all be able to make it back to the TARDIS. This Doctor sounds a smart guy. Smarter than me. If anyone can help us now, maybe it's him".
Al took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay, five minutes. Then I'll be right back". With that Al pressed another button on the hand module, opening the doorway. He took a step back, leaving the Imaging Chamber, closing the door behind him.
Al hurried along the corridors, trying to get back to the Waiting Room as quickly as he could. He could really do without the Doctor's personality now. But then something caught his eye, totally interrupting his train of thought. As he passed the control room, he saw something out of the corner of his eye hunched over the colourful glowing module that housed Ziggy's mainframe. He stopped running and took a step closer. What he saw he would have never expected in a hundred lifetimes.
There in front of him was a winged statue, like something he'd be more likely to see in an old garden. It had one finger pointed toward part of the panel, its hand on its chin, almost as if it were contemplating how the machine worked. Al took another step closer. Impossible, he thought. He must be dreaming. That's the only explanation for Gushie turning up in 1959 and now this. Well, he thought, there's only one way to be sure that you're dreaming.
Al took a long hard blink. And as he did, he felt a hand grab his shoulder.