Molly stepped out of the TARDIS to find a wide, grassy area, and to smell the salty air and hear waves crashing against the shores. "Where are we?" she asked curiously. Something beside them seemed to be casting a very long shadow over the TARDIS.
The Doctor stepped out behind her, taking in the sights with a grin. "Ah, smell that Atlantic breeze. Nice and cold. Lovely." He turned to look behind them, motioning for Molly to do the same. "Molly, have you met my friend?"
The pathologist turned to see that they had parked beside two wide stone walls, which explained the shadow. The walls acted as a pedestal of sorts for a huge, shockingly familiar statue. "Oh, no way," Molly breathed. It wasn't any more shocking than aliens and time travel, but it was still a surprise to see the green lady with her torch pointed skyward. "Is that the Statue of Liberty?"
The Doctor grinned eagerly at her. He always seemed to gain excitement from her own appreciation of their adventures. "Gateway to the New World." The Time Lord turned back to the statue with an air of respect. "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free," he quoted.
Molly shook her head slightly, a grin still on her face. "It's as beautiful as I imagined. I always wanted to go to New York growing up. Well, the first New York anyway, not the new, new, new, new one."
"Well, there's the genuine article," the Doctor said grandly, getting a chuckle from Molly. "So good, they named it twice." He tipped his head thoughtfully. "Mind you, it was New Amsterdam originally. Harder to say twice. Now wonder it didn't catch on." The Time Lord wrinkled his nose as he tested it out. "New Amsterdam, New Amsterdam."
Molly laughed at the Time Lord's antics, then turned to look at the city itself, which was visible past the water. It wasn't as vast as its future counterpart, but it was still a grand sight to see. Though something seemed to be missing. "The Empire State building," she realized aloud. "It's not finished; the top isn't all built."
"Yep," the Doctor agreed, squinting thoughtfully at it, "it's still a work in progress. They've got a couple floors to go, and if I know my history, that makes the date somewhere around..."
The pathologist had spotted a newspaper lying on a nearby bench. She grabbed it, scanned the top for the date, then showed it to the Doctor. "November 1st, 1930."
He grinned appreciatively. "You're getting good at this."
Molly turned to look back at New York. "It's weird, time travel. Like, I always wanted to come to New York, but it turns out this whole time I've already been. Or something." She shot the Doctor a quick look. "How does that work exactly?"
"Is now really the time for a complicated discussion about the mechanics of time travel?" the Doctor asked wryly. "Come on, we're in New York, let's just enjoy it..." He trailed off as he looked more closely at the paper Molly held. "Oh."
Molly knew that tone. That was the trouble's-coming-and-this'll-be-fun tone. Despite the danger, because there would always be danger where the Doctor was involved, she couldn't help but feel excited. She was quite getting used to adventuring. "What is it?"
"I think our detour just got longer." The Doctor took the paper from her, then turned it so she could see the headline. She read it with a puzzled frown. "Hooverville Mystery Deepens." The pathologist looked up at her friend with confusion. "What's Hooverville?"
SCENEBREAK
"Herbert Hoover, thirty first President of the USA, came to power a year ago," the Doctor told her. They were walking together through Central Park, and the Doctor was in full lecturing-professor mode. "Up 'til then New York was a boom town, the Roaring Twenties, and then..."
"The Great Depression," Molly realized. She'd forgotten that had happened in the thirties. "That started in 1929 for the US, right?"
The Doctor nodded. "Stocks at Wall Street crashed. A whole economy wiped out overnight. Thousands of people unemployed. All of a sudden, the huddled masses doubled in number with nowhere to go. So, they ended up here," he said, looking around appraisingly, "in Central Park."
"Wait, the park?" Molly repeated in shock. "They actually lived – sorry, live – here in the park?"
The Time Lord nodded grimly. "Come on, I'll show you."
SCENEBREAK
He led her to a ramshackle little town set up in the middle of the park – though "town" was a generous term at best. It was made up of dozens, maybe hundreds of tents and various encampments, all tightly packed together. Clotheslines held up raged clothes, various fires were lit, tarps were put up over shelters. People shuffled about, dirty and unkempt, with hollow, defeated eyes. There was just a general air of hopelessness about the place; it was almost chilling.
The Doctor led her through, still lecturing. "Ordinary people lost their jobs. Couldn't pay the rent and they lost everything. There are places like this all over America. No one's helping them. You only come to Hooverville when there's nowhere else to go."
Suddenly, shouting broke out from further back. A crowd began to gather as the shouts gained intensity; the Doctor and Molly shared a quick glance before hurrying towards the crowd.
When they got close enough to get a look, they saw two run-down looking men fighting. One had just gotten off the ground and was swinging a wild blow at the other. They started going at it again, but a new voice interrupted them. "Cut that out! Cut that out right now!" An older man with a dark, stern face forced his way between them.
The man who'd started the fight pointed an accusing finger at his opponent, still trying to get past the man who'd broken up the fight. "He stole my bread!"
The man who'd broken up the fight gave him a final shove on the chest to keep him back. "That's enough!" Turning to the man he'd attacked, he asked sternly, "Did you take it?"
He shook his head fervently. "I don't know what happened. He just went crazy."
The other man tried to break free to get to him again, but the older man pushed him back again. "That's enough!" Whipping around to face the other man, he pointed a warning finger at him, voice low as he warned, "Now think real careful before you lie to me."
The man's composure crumpled. With a whimper, he pulled out the loaf of bread in question from within his coat. "I'm starving, Solomon," he whined.
The older man, Solomon, held out a hand, and the other man obediently handed him the loaf. "We all starving," he reminded the man, though his tone had softened some. He split the loaf in half, handing one half to each of the fighters. "We all got families somewhere. No stealing and no fighting. You know the rules." There was a sad gleam in his eyes as he added, "Thirteen years ago I fought in the Great War. A lot of us did. And the only reason we got through was because we stuck together. No matter how bad things get, we still act like human beings. It's all we got."
Still grumbling, but looking properly shamed, the two fighters slunk off with their half loaves. The crowd began to disperse, some stopping to thank Solomon or pay their respects. Molly felt a rush of respect for the man who had tactfully broken up the fight, and looking the Doctor she could tell he felt the same. "Come on," he said as he started off towards Solomon. As they came up to the man, the Doctor said lightly, "I suppose that makes you the boss around here."
Solomon turned to them, eyes narrowing as he took in their clothing. Molly suddenly felt self-conscious; she was wearing a dark blue tank top with a thin, light gray cardigan and jeans. Add that to the Doctor's fancy suit and coat, and it was obvious neither of them belonged there. Still, Solomon was careful to keep his voice neutral as he asked, "And, er, who might you be?"
"I'm the Doctor," the Time Lord explained "and this is Molly." He didn't seem to notice how out-of-place they were here; then again, he didn't really belong anywhere they visited, seeing as he wasn't even human.
"A doctor," Solomon looked at the man in question appraisingly. "Huh. Well, we got stockbrokers, we got a lawyer, but you're the first doctor." He shook his head. "Neighborhood gets classier by the day."
Molly looked around at the camp, still shocked by the sheer scale of it. "How many people live here?" she asked curiously.
Solomon began leading them through Hooverville. "At any one time, hundreds," he said in answer to Molly's question. "No place else to go. But I will say this about Hooverville. We are a truly equal society. Black, white, Doctors, laborers, all the same. All starving. So you're welcome, both of you. But tell me. Doctor, you're a man of learning, right? Explain this to me." He turned to look at the city beyond the town, pointing out the uncompleted Empire State Building. "That there's going to be the tallest building in the world." With disgust he asked, "How come they can do that, when we got people starving in the heart of Manhattan?"
The Doctor could give no answer.
SCENEBREAK
As Solomon continued their little walk through Hooverville, the Doctor finally brought up the point he'd come for. "So, men are going missing. Is this true?"
Solomon sighed. "It's true all right," he confirmed grimly.
"But what does missing mean?" the Time Lord asked. "Men must come and go here all the time. It's not like anyone's keeping a register."
The Hooverville leader led them to a tent, holding open the flap to let them enter. "Come on in." Molly ducked inside, greeted with the sight of a small, dusty cot and a few other possessions scattered around. Solomon followed them in, then turned back to the Doctor and explained, "This is different."
"How so?" Molly asked.
"Someone takes them, at night," Solomon explained darkly. "We hear something, someone calls out for help. By the time we get there, they're gone like they vanished into thin air."
"And you're sure someone's taking them?" the Doctor prompted.
Solomon turned to him with a weary expression. "Doctor, when you got next to nothing, you hold on to the little you got. Your knife, blanket, you take it with you. You don't leave bread uneaten, fire still burning." He seemed very protective of the people of Hooverville, and these disappearances clearly were eating at him.
Molly felt a pang of sympathy for the man. He seemed like a great leader, but he was clearly being forced to work with way more than one man could handle, especially if the disappearances were of an extraterrestrial nature as the Doctor seemed to think. "Have you gone to the police?" she asked.
Solomon snorted. "Yeah, we tried that. Another deadbeat goes missing, big deal."
The Doctor looked thoughtful. "So the question is, who's taking them and what for?"
Suddenly, a voice from outside called out, "Solomon!" A young man, maybe late teens, early twenties, stuck his head inside the tent flap. "Solomon, Mister Diagoras is here," he informed the man in a southern accent.
SCENEBREAK
As they exited the tent, the Doctor could see the people of Hooverville crowding around a well-dressed man, presumably Mister Diagoras. He looked down at them with a sneer as he informed the crowd, "I need men. Volunteers. I've got a little work for you and you sure look like you can use the money."
The boy from before called out, "Yeah? What's the money?"
"A dollar a day," Diagoras offered dismissively.
Angry muttering broke out in the crowd. Solomon stepped forward, eyes narrowed shrewdly as he looked up at Diagoras. "What's the work?"
"A little trip down the sewers. Got a tunnel collapsed needs clearing and fixing." He looked around at the crowd. "Any takers?"
Solomon glared at him, voice sharp as he scoffed, "A dollar a day? That's slave wage. And men don't always come back up, do they?" The Doctor's interest sharpened at this last part. Men being stolen from Hooverville, then disappearing during jobs? This couldn't be a coincidence.
Diagoras gave Solomon a dismissive sneer. "Accidents happen," he told him flippantly.
The Doctor threaded his way through the crowd so he could be seen. "What do you mean?" he asked curiously. "What sort of accidents?"
The man didn't even look at him as he changed the subject. "You don't need the work? That's fine. Anybody else?" The Doctor quickly raised his hand, causing Diagoras to glare at him and snap, "Enough with the questions."
"Oh, no, no, no, I'm volunteering, I'll go," the Doctor assured him quickly. He had a feeling that whatever was going on, Diagoras was behind it somehow, and he needed to find out what. Silently, Molly raised her hand beside him without complaint. The Doctor was surprised she had come to trust him this easily. He'd been afraid she might not take to the danger as well as some of his other companions, but she seemed to be starting to enjoy herself. Although, that could still have something to do with her dangerously low self-esteem and need to sacrifice herself for others. The Doctor would have to work on that somehow.
Diagoras nodded stiffly, then turned back to the crowd. "Anyone else?"
Slowly, both Solomon and the boy from earlier raised their hands.
SCENEBREAK
The small group had been led to a sewer system under the city. Diagoras stayed back, clearly not wanting to get his hands dirty in the sewers. "Turn left. Go about a half a mile. Follow tunnel two seven three. Fall's right ahead of you, you can't miss it."
"And when do we get our dollar?" asked the boy, whom they'd learned was named Frank.
Diagoras answered simply, "When you come back up."
"And if we don't come back up?" the Doctor asked shrewdly. The whole set-up smelled of a trap, but the Time Lord had learned long ago that sometimes the best way to figure out a trap is to walk straight into it.
"Then I got no one to pay."
"Don't worry," Solomon growled, glaring at Diagoras, "we'll be back." With that, the small group started off down the tunnel Diagoras had indicated.
Frank turned to the Doctor and Molly. "We just got to stick together," he told them in a friendly tone. "It's easy to get lost. It's like a huge rabbit warren. You could hide an army down here."
"Have you worked down here before?" Molly asked curiously.
He shrugged. "A few times. A couple of odd jobs here and there, but never for Diagoras before."
"So what brought you to Hooverville?" she asked. "I mean, I'm not trying to pry or anything, it's alright if you don't want to-"
Frank cut her off with a chuckle. "It's fine," he told her. "I'm from Tennessee, case you couldn't tell by the accent. My daddy died 'n Mama couldn't afford to feed us all. So, I'm the oldest, up to me to feed myself. So I put on my coat, hitched up here on the railroads. There's a whole lot of runaways in the camp, younger than me, from all over. Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas. Solomon keeps a lookout for us. So, what about you? You're a long way from home, if you don't mind me sayin'."
Molly shrugged. "The Doctor and I were just visiting, then we heard about people going missing and thought we could help. The Doctor's good about things like that."
The young man sighed. "Well, I sure hope you're right. It's not right when men're bein' stolen from the only safe place they got left."
The Doctor decided to steer the conversation back to the more important topic of the missing people and the man behind it. Turning to Solomon, he asked, "So this Diagoras bloke, who is he then?"
Solomon's eyes hardened at the thought of the man. "A couple of months ago, he was just another foreman. Now, it seems like he's running most of Manhattan."
That too led credence to the idea of him being behind the disappearances. Someone with that much power could easily engineer people to disappear, though why still wasn't clear. The quick rise to power seemed suspicious as well. "How'd he manage that then?" he wondered aloud.
"These are strange times," Solomon said with a shrug. "A man can go from being King of the Hill to the lowest of the low overnight. It's just for some folks it works the other way round."
The Doctor was distracted by any further questioning by a sudden, putrid smell. He took out his sonic screwdriver to shine light ahead of them. Ahead of them lay a green blob, almost like a jellyfish, which seemed to be giving off the rank odor. It was also glowing slightly, which set off a few warning bells in the Doctor's head.
He and Molly crouched down beside it, examining. "It looks like a jellyfish," Molly observed with a wrinkled nose. "Only I don't remember jellyfish glowing in the dark. Or smelling like rotting meat."
The Doctor picked up the blob, shining the light of the screwdriver through it. "Huh. Composite organic matter." He turned to his companion. "Molly? Medical opinion?"
She shrugged. "I'm guessing it's not human, but I couldn't say more than that."
"No, it's not," the Doctor agreed easily. "And I'll tell you something else." He turned back to Solomon and Frank, who were watching the exchange with baffled expressions. "We must be at least half a mile in. I don't see any sign of a collapse, do you? So why did Mister Diagoras send up down here?"
As you can see, this chapter's pretty much copied and pasted from the episode. Things'll start changing when the Daleks show up, I promise.