"So!" the Doctor said, stating his presence. "You've brought us here, you've caught us here, so why do you want us here? If it's to kill me, I can assure you that it's not going to happen today."
The creature opened its hideous mouth and began to screech out words. "Doctor," it hissed, "we have brought you here, because we needed something. Something that we knew that we could not obtain without your help."
"Doctor, what is it talking about?" I questioned. "The TARDIS?"
"I don't know. I've never pretended to understand the minds of monsters such as the Silence. Although I once beat the great Einstein at a game of chess."
"What does that have to do with any of this, Doctor?"
"None whatsoever, just trying to lighten the mood!" he smiled.
"Doctor..." the creature slurred, effectively freezing the Doctor's smile, "you have been captured with no means of escape. Unless you give us what we seek."
"Yes, yes, you keep telling me that, but I've told people before. I've told them and I keep telling them: there is one thing that you never, ever, under any circumstances put in a trap. Me." With that he opened the TARDIS doors and hopped inside. "Hurry up, Abbie, we haven't got all day!" he shouted through the doors. Careful to keep my eyes on the Silent, I stepped inside.
"You don't think that we'll actually be able to use the TARDIS to escape, do you?" I asked the Doctor, still amazed that I could remember that the Silent was outside.
"Of course not, Abbie! The engines are under full lock down. If we tried to enter the vortex now, we wouldn't make it two meters without blowing to smithereens. No, what I'm looking for is my teleport room. There are so many rooms that I just can't quite ever remember exactly..." he trailed off after pulling a ridiculously large map out of his jacket pocket. I resolved to getting one of those for myself after the whole ordeal was over. "Ah! Here we are! Teleport... If we can hurry to that room I may be able to lock on to the nearest control room and release the TARDIS from the Silence's grasp." With that, he dashed off into the nearest hallway.
I followed as fast as I could. We passed rooms with colored doors, labels in different languages, and bubbles floating out between the door and the floor. We even passed what looked to be an entrance to a zoo, but it was hard to tell with the swift pace we were keeping. When the Doctor finally stopped, it was in front of a curtained off room. Pulling it aside, he shuffled quickly into the room. He exited just as swiftly, but this time bearing two wristbands.
"Vortex manipulators. I can't guarantee a teleport where we're going, along with the fact that we don't want to blow up, so we're going to have to travel the old-fashioned way." If this was the old-fashioned way, I'd love to see how he reacted to bikes. "Now, you'll have to go first. I'll be right behind you. As soon as you appear, find somewhere to hide until I arrive. Do not be seen. This has to be stealthy. Because stealth is cool. Well, that and I'm fairly certain that you don't want to die a painful death at the hands of the Silence." What was he talking about? Before I could ask just how painful this death would be, he pointed his sonic screwdriver at the device around my wrist.
Suddenly, I found myself in completely different surroundings and slightly sick. Wary of what the Doctor had told me about hiding, I quickly ducked behind the nearest door. As I waited for the Doctor, I absorbed the details of the room about me. As dimly lit as the last room I had seen that had belonged to the Silence, this room contained a large pillar that rose from floor to ceiling, and was covered with buttons, levers, wheels, speakers, and screens. I spotted an image of the TARDIS on one of the screens, and I was immediately astonished by what I saw: the Silent was slowly, but surely, cutting a hole in the TARDIS doors.
Without warning, the Doctor appeared beside me. "Before you say anything, yes I know. The Silent is somehow getting through the TARDIS defenses," he whispered. His eyes locked onto the screen, and in a baby voice, he continued: "Oh what have they done to you my poor, little thing?" I would have guffawed with laughter at the ridiculousness of it all if the immediate danger had not been so apparent.
The Doctor surveyed the room, looking for more of the creatures. Seeing none, he waltzed right out into the open and began pushing buttons. "Abbie," he whispered sharply, "come hold this lever down." I scrambled to my feet and grabbed the lever that he was pointing at. "Now, don't move. If you let go of that lever, the TARDIS will begin to disappear and we'll be stuck here forever."
I was left to ponder that dismal fate until the Doctor gasped and hit his forehead. "I forgot my pneumatic wrenchy thing. I'll be right back!" he assured me before disappearing yet again.
I began to watch the Silent on the screen continue to blast a hole through the TARDIS doors. Hadn't the Doctor himself told me that that just wasn't possible? That there was almost nothing in the world that could get through a working TARDIS's defenses? But then, that was it, wasn't it? The TARDIS wasn't working, so of course it was easier for a powerful creature, such as a Silent, to force its way into the control room. Continuing to hold down the lever, I watched as the Silent slowly made its way through the door.
"Abbigail!" I heard the Doctor shout through one of the countless speakers, "I know that you can hear me! I need you to let go of the lever. It's the only way to repair the TARDIS and keep it out of the Silent's control!"
This sudden dilemma seemed to cut me to the core. If the Doctor was to be believed, releasing the lever would immediately send the TARDIS into the vortex, leaving me behind. I had faith that the Doctor would come back to me if he could, but what if he couldn't? What if the Silence shut the TARDIS out and I was trapped with them forever?
"Abbie," I heard the Doctor say through the speakers, "I know that you're scared. I know that you have doubts. But this is where you have to trust me. I promise that I will find a way to get back to you. I fully intend to keep that promise, and I've never broken a promise that I intended to keep."
The double standard wasn't lost on me. "But what about the promises that you never intended to keep? Did you leave people behind then?"
The silence stretched for several seconds. Finally the Doctor whispered: "I need you to trust me. You will see me again. I cross my hearts and hope to die. I triple pinky swear. I. Will. Be. Back. For. You. I promise. But you need to hurry."
It took all my power to let go of the lever and let it flip up. I watched as the TARDIS disappeared, and waited for a long minute to pass by to see if the TARDIS would reappear. It didn't.
I could sense something standing behind me and slowly turned to face my captor.
"Abbigail King, you have been captured by the Silence. You will be our prisoner," the creature hissed.
I was startled that it knew my entire name. "How do you know about me?" I inquired, "Where are you taking me?"
"No questions," the creature snapped, if it could be called that. It led me down a long hallway to a door with no handle. The creature placed its hand on the door, which opened immediately. "In here please," the Silent said not-so-politely before shoving me into the empty room. The door slid shut behind me, and I was alone with my thoughts.
I tried to stay positive, thinking about the wonderful adventures that the Doctor and I would go on after he rescued me, but doubts began to creep into my mind like storm clouds. The Doctor would never be able to find me. I was going to be trapped here for the rest of my life. I was surrounded by creatures whose appearances evaded even my 'special' memory, as the Doctor had put it. Tears began to stream down my face like the first raindrops in a monsoon. I was good and trapped, and it scared me. I heard a loud crackle and was startled. I sat on the floor of my cell and waited to hear the noise again before assuming that it had only been a figment of my imagination. CRACK! I jumped as I heard the sound again. But then the Doctor's voice invaded my consciousness.
"Members of the Silence!" he roared powerfully, "You have taken something very precious to me. You have trapped her, she is scared and alone, but I will free her. And when I do, if I find that a single hair is out of place, I will hunt every last one of you down, and you will die."
His voice faded away and another loud crash resounded in my ears. This was a side of him that I hadn't seen before. I felt safer, but it was a terrifying safety that I wasn't sure that I wanted.
"Please, Doctor," I whispered to thin air, "Hurry." With that, I curled up into a ball and began my long wait.