Fic - City of Elusion - 2/? - Ten/Rose - T
Date Published: 3rd October 2007
Title: City of Elusion
Rating: T
Characters: Ten/Rose, OC Hemlock, OC Jezera Mewlan
Genre(s): Horror, mystery, sci-fi, action, adventure, romance, suspense, thriller, supernatural.
Word Count: This part, 1,191
Summary: Ignorance. Fear. Mistrust. Destiny. The tale of what happens when two worlds collide. TenRose.
Disclaimer: The names, images and logos identifying the BBC and their products and services are subject to copyright, design rights and trade marks of the BBC. Used without permission for non-profit, non-commercial personal use.
Fic Type: Multi-Chaptered. WIP.
Archived: fanfiction.net, my Journal and Teaspoon.
Author's Note: Started as a small project, turned into a large one. Go figure.
Excerpt: “Looks complicated.”
“Oh, it is,” the Doctor agreed. “Fortunately I’m a genius. But I still have to make sure I get exact precision in my coordinates, otherwise I could very well end up driving us into a black hole.”
Rose wrinkled her nose. “Don’t like the sound of that.”
Chapter I - Misheard Warnings
Half an hour or so later, the Doctor was concentratedly tinkering with controls and Rose was standing there watching him.
“Tell me the name of this place again?” she requested, leaning against the railing.
“Elusion,” the Doctor replied, looking from the scrambled map in his hands to the dials he had just set. He frowned, then moved the one on the right a few degrees upwards. “It’s where I got the psychic paper in the first place. Nowhere else like it in the universe - nowhere else to replace or mend my very unique bit of... er, well, psychic. I picked it up from there about a century ago, after I accidentally crashed and made a hole in their atmosphere. Well, I call it their atmosphere, it’s more like strange invisible smoggy stuff that interferes with receptors in the brain and - ”
“Doctor?”
“Mm?” He looked up.
Rose smiled tightly. “Rambling again.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Rude again. Anyway. My point is - oh, blast.”
The raised eyebrow turned to a frown as he looked from the controls to the map then back again. He then sighed irritably, turned the map around by one-hundred-and-eighty degrees and started reprogramming the coordinates from the beginning.
Rose chuckled and sidled around the console to him. She looked over his shoulder at the complex lines and drawings, then shook her head and gave up.
“Looks complicated.”
“Oh, it is,” the Doctor agreed. “Fortunately I’m a genius. But I still have to make sure I get exact precision in my coordinates, otherwise I could very well end up driving us into a black hole.”
Rose wrinkled her nose. “Don’t like the sound of that.”
“No. Me, neither. Here, read this out to me.”
He turned the map over and handed it to Rose, where a seemingly endless string of numbers was found. She stared at the digits and blinked, before reeling them off slowly in order. The Doctor punched in the numbers on a keypad, then took the map back once Rose had finished.
“Never seen you use instructions before,” she commented idly as he started to turn dials again.
“Never had to. Most places are easy enough to memorise, and even if I’m a bit out, the TARDIS usually makes up for it. But this place is impossible. It only actually exists in random intervals of the exponential function two to the power of x minus three point one, where x is the increasing time in years since your last visit. A lot of the time, it only exists negatively, and even when it doesn’t, you have to make sure your arrival coincides with an alternate power of two years, otherwise you just end up trying to stabilise nothing. And, as well as being impossible, it results in the acceleration of all the molecules attempting said stabilisation, which causes the hyper inflation on time and space itself.” He made the mistake of looking up and seeing a very confused and very scared Rose. “It makes a very big bang,” he simplified.
She just nodded. He continued with trying to programme in the coordinates.
“So... how long will this take?” Rose asked eventually.
“Depends.” The Doctor shrugged. “If I hadn’t spent the first half an hour putting in the wrong values, we’d have probably been just about done by now. But I have to make sure that everything is as accurate as it can be. I can only get a ninety-nine point nine percent chance of our safety anyway, and that’s if I subtract the two when I multiply by - ”
“You know what?” Rose interrupted, turning away. “Forget I asked.”
It was about ten minutes later when the Doctor straightened up with an enterprising smile on his face.
“Aha!” he exclaimed excitedly.
Rose, who was sat in the driver’s chair a few paces away, bolted up. “You’ve got it?”
“No! But I have just remembered the whereabouts of the sock I thought I’d lost.”
Rose groaned and slumped back into the chair. “Great.”
The Doctor turned around and faced her. “Oh, come on. How annoying is it when just one of your socks goes missing? It begs the question of where the other went, especially if you put them in the wash at the same time but only one comes out.”
Rose gave him a perplexed look, then laughed and shook her head. “You’re mad.”
“As a March hare. Hair. Hare. Odd, that. Two words in the English language that sound the same but are spelled completely differently. All the places I’ve travelled and English, as well as being one of the most complex, is still the most commonly spoken across the galaxy. Incredible.”
“What’s incredible is how fast that mouth of yours runs,” Rose countered, sliding to the floor and stretching.
The Doctor pouted. “And actually, if you must know, I was lying. I’ve got the coordinates just perfect now.”
Rose raised a sceptical eyebrow.
“I have!” he insisted. “And to be perfectly honest, I should be offended you’re even doubting me.”
“And if I’m perfectly honest,” Rose returned, walking up to him with a playful smile, “I should be offended that you didn’t want me to come with you.”
He stared at her, then shook his head. “Humans,” he muttered.
“Heard that.”
“Good - now then, are you ready? All I have to do is pull this lever and we should arrive.”
Rose patted the pockets on her coat theatrically. “Clothes, body, mind. Yup, I’m all here, Doctor.”
He grimaced at her, then became serious. “Right, now listen to me Rose, this is very important.” She met his eye and nodded. He paused, on the edge of words. “...Where we’re going... you’ll remember what I’ve told you. Stay with me at all times. Hear me? All times. I should be able to protect you. But for God’s sake don’t touch me while you’re down there, or I’ll be carrying you back to the TARDIS with your brain as scrambled as an egg. If you ever find yourself in doubt, just remind yourself who I am.
“I’ve had to set up a teleportation device so we can exit the TARDIS safely - her direct presence on the planet interferes with the smoggy harmony of everything, as I said. It’s a nasty planet to go, but we’re there on business. Nothing more. Perception filters will be in place as soon as we land, so everyone will look human to you. In fact they’ll probably all look like people you know, so watch out.” He reached over and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “It’ll be all right,” he promised with a smile. “Just be careful. Any questions?”
Rose swallowed. “Oh... loads. But they can wait ‘til after we get back.”
“Right then. Nothing left to do now except leave.”
He dropped her hand, indicated where she should stand, then placed his hand on the lever. He looked up to the ceiling with an openly worried expression on his face.
“See you in a couple of hours, old girl.”
Then he pulled the lever down and he and Rose faded from sight like the end of a hologram.
End this Part
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