Centurion: 1981
1981 - Security
With all of his duties, he spent a lot of time wandering around the whole museum. It was sort of annoying at first - he had agreed to let the Pandorica be put on display, yes, and it was normal for exhibits to go on tour sometimes, go to different museums, but he hadn't really meant to end up as regular staff. He was supposed to watch the box, and that was it.
Instead he found himself with a schedule and rounds to make and a lunch break. It was really a far cry from his earlier years of fighting off bandits and threatening kings with godly vengeance.
Even with the little velvet rope around the box that did a remarkably good job stopping anyone touching it, he made sure to check on the Pandorica as often as he could. Given his route for the rounds, he usually managed to get back to it every fifteen to thirty minutes.
Which was why, on this particular day, he noticed that after his fifth pass by the exhibit, that man was still just standing there, staring at the box.
The man had been there since hours ago. It was possible he'd been in other exhibits first, but the man had stopped in the Pandorica's room and gone over every figure, every plaque, every audio tour. The young girl who had been with him had evidently grown bored and wandered off to see the rest of the museum. After that, he'd just placed himself in front of the Pandorica and not moved.
"Excuse me sir," said the security guard, approaching the man. "Is everything all right?"
The man looked up with a slightly distracted jolt. He had a graying beard and mustache and was wearing a knit cap. "Oh," he said. "Oh yes, I'm quite fine."
"You're not lost are you? Didn't you have a young woman with you earlier?"
"Oh, that's just my granddaughter. She'll have gone to see something upstairs. She'll find me, don't worry. Always does. Just doesn't want to put up with her wacky old granddad."
"Well," he said, unsure. "Kids, you know. I guess."
"Oh, well, she has her reasons. It's hard being the granddaughter of the crazy old man staring up at the sky every night." The man turned back to the Pandorica, looking up at the top of the box. "It's quite a thing, isn't it, this box."
He glanced up at it. "Yeah."
"Don't know what it is really. It just looks like something from a completely different world. You know what I mean? I can't help it; I'm drawn to things like this. Out of this world. Mysterious. Something straight out of the stars." He laughed. "Of course you don't really care. Listen to me, a loony old man rambling on. I promise you Mister - " he paused to peer at the name badge hanging off the security guard's vest " - Williams, I'm not hurting anything, you can go about your duties."
"That's all right. I don't mind."
"Hah," said the man. "All right then. I'm probably just going to keep looking at this box, though, Mister Williams. Might keep talking. I do that sometimes. Comes with getting old. You get to feel you're entitled to just keep rambling on."
"...Rory," the security guard corrected. He looked up at the box as well. "And I really don't mind. I spend most of my time in this exhibit too."
"Oh? Well then, it's nice to meet a kindred soul." He offered up a gloved hand from his jacket pocket. "Wilfred Mott."
"Nice to meet you," said Rory.
"You a Stargazer too?" asked Wilfred. "Mind, you don't have to answer. I know it's a sensitive thing. Most folks don't want to admit in public. Can't blame them, I suppose. My daughter doesn't approve. I just figure I'm getting too old to worry about what people think."
Rory didn't think he looked all that old. He seemed rather young to be a grandfather, in fact. Of course, being nearly 2000 years old himself, his ability to tell might have gone a bit off.
"I've seen stars," said Rory. "Planets and galaxies. They'll be back someday."
"You think so?" Wilfred said with a warm laugh. "You've seen them? I have to say, I've never heard anyone make that claim before. Where've they gone then?"
Rory smiled a bit. Wilfred was really quite a character. His tone didn't sound mocking or disbelieving at all, just warm and interested.
"Don't know," said Rory. "Slipped through cracks in the universe. Maybe they'll come back when the box opens."
"Oh I'd like to see that," said Wilfred. "Can you imagine. Life and light just spilling out. Make the world make sense again. What a wonderful thought."
Rory smiled up at the box. Life and light and everything that was right in the world. It'd all come back when the box opened. "Yeah," he said. "It is."
They both stood at the base of the box, gazing up at the top. Long minutes passed, and Rory was distantly aware that he was shirking his rounds, but it wasn't as if anybody would fire him. It was one of those rare occasions he'd come to look forward to, someone who really seemed to know about the world, even if they weren't aware of it.
The silence was broken when a pair of angry feet stomped into the room and up to Wilfred.
"Granddad!" whined the voice of the thirteen-year-old girl attached to them. "I'm bored, let's go get lunch already. You've been in here ages."
"Oh yes, quite right," said Wilfred, absently patting his granddaughter's bright red hair. "Well, sorry to leave you, Mister Williams, but duty calls. You know how it is."
"Right," said Rory. "I should get back to, you know. It was nice meeting you."
"Absolutely," said Wilfred, holding out his hand again. His granddaughter rolled her eyes and tugged on his jacket. "You think of me when that thing opens, all right?"
"Sure," said Rory. He shook the offered hand with a smile. "Watch out for cracks in the universe."
"I'll do my best," Wilfred laughed.
"Granddaaaaaaaad," the girl whined.
"All right all right I'm coming. Let's go, Donna."
He held his granddaughter's hand and led her out of the room. Even with her annoyed tone of voice, she was skipping after him happily. "I don't wanna go home yet. Can we get hot dogs?"
"Hot dogs? And your mother's back at home making a wonderful homemade lunch for us. Of course we can get hot dogs."
Rory smiled after them. "I mean it," he said quietly. "The universe needs more people like you."
He sighed and turned away from the box and headed out to finish his rounds.
Chapters:
Prologue: 102 - An Auton
1941 - The Lone Centurion
1977 - A Security Guard
1981 - Security
2007 - Luke Smith
2008 - Gwen Cooper
2009 - Donna Noble
1996 - Rory Williams
Epilogues