Aperture of Time {1.2.2}
Title: Aperture of Time
Part: 1.2.2
Sandbox: Doctor Who
Setting: November 22, 1963
Pairings: Nine/Amy, Jack/Rose
Summary: Having left her previous position and come aboard the TARDIS, Amy deals with the wonder of her first trip to the wardrobe and back in time, while Rose discovers that The Doctor has had many companions in the past, and even a family, and has to deal with this sudden change in status.
The Doctor was relieved when Rose said she wasn't leaving. He wasn't ready to say goodbye to another companion, he had said goodbye to Grace too recently for that. Still, Amy had a point, and he stepped back. "Come on, girls -- 1963 awaits."
Rose turned right, but Amy turned left, leaving The Doctor in the middle, as both looked at him expectantly. While he might not know how to deal with a lot of human problems, this he had experience with, at least enough to navigate the minefield. "Straight ahead, you two, history in the making!"
He led them to a long street where people were milling excitedly with video cameras, period cameras, and trying to get the best spots in the great mass of human life. It probably wasn't the best event to see, but they were here for a reason. "Right then, something very important." He said, turning to face the both of them. "You can't rewrite history! Not one line! We must never get involved in the affairs of other peoples or planets."
Rose got an odd look on her face. "But, Doctor..." She was already thinking about Dickens, about the Gelth -- about how they had given him a renewed sense of the world. Sure, he had never gotten to finish the story their adventure had inspired, but they had undoubtedly changed him.
"What's that?" The Doctor wondered aloud, moving over to the retaining wall. "That's not right."
Amy was now considering the difficulties of time travel. She followed after the strange alien in the leather jacket, wanting to figure out how he did it. "So we're like a wildlife documentary, yeah? Because if they see a wounded little cub or something, they can't just save it, they've got to keep filming and let it die. It's got to be hard. I don't think I could do that. Don't you find that hard, being all, like, detached and cold?"
The Doctor ignored her, investigating a long crack in the retaining wall. He ran his fingers along it, trying to solve the mystery that was giving a twisted grin at him, taunting him to find the answer. "Rose, block me from view, would you? I need to use the sonic." Okay, so he was interfering a little, but something had already caused a change.
Rose quickly stood in front of the Doctor's arms, blocking the view of anyone who might turn around and look at the man. The familiar excitement of an adventure was starting to build. "What is it, Doctor?"
"It's a crack." The Doctor answered. "A crack that shouldn't be here."
Amy leaned down to inspect it. "There was a crack almost identical to this in my bedroom wall in Leadworth." She admitted. "It used to terrify me but then it became comforting somehow." She reached out to run her fingers along the crack.
The Doctor's free hand reached out and grabbed her wrist mere millimetres from the crack in the stone face of the wall. His manic smile was gone, and as he looked into her hazel eyes. "This is not just a crack in a wall somewhere." He said, quite seriously. "Look at it, Amy. This wall is solid and the crack doesn't go all the way through it. So here's the thing. Where's the draught coming from?"
Amy's eyebrows knitted. "Prisoner Zero has escaped." She whispered, almost to herself.
"What?" Rose repeated, struggling to hear.
Amy shook her head. "Never mind, it's nothing." She was the only one who ever heard it, after all. Aunt Sharon told her she was ridiculous.
Rose rolled her eyes. "So where's the draught coming from?"
The Doctor released Amy's wrist and quickly circled the wall once, before coming to stand in front of the crack again. " If you knocked this wall down, the crack would stay put, because the crack isn't in the wall."
"Of course it's in the wall, it's right there!" Rose said in confusion.
"Where is it then?" Amy said at the same time.
The Doctor looked up at them, face serious. "Everywhere. In everything. It's a split in the skin of the world. Two parts of space and time that should never have touched, pressed together..." He pressed his ear to the wall and frowned.
"So how do we fix it?" Rose asked, slightly more concerned by how serious the Doctor had gone when moments before he had been excited to show them 1963.
The Doctor didn't answer, putting his sonic to the wall and attempting to open the crack. When he did, however, he sprang back, horrified as time energy, blinding white and all consuming began to spill out through the slight opening he made. He pulled his sonic back, watching as it snapped shut.
"Doctor?" Rose said worriedly. "What happened? What was that?"
The Doctor looked at her seriously. "The end of the universe."
"How can a crack in a wall be the end of the universe?" Amy asked, eyes wide as she stared, as if still transfixed by the light she had seen. "All we saw was a light."
"What you saw was pure time energy." The Doctor admitted. "Pure energy gorging itself on important time-space events, and we have to fix this one."
Rose looked around. "So, what is the big event? What do we have to fix?"
The Doctor looked at all the people milling around, and started heading back to the TARDIS, trusting the two companions to follow him. "November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas -- the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, thirty-fifth president of the United States."
Rose considered that. "I saw a picture of this!" She remembered. "When I looked you up online. This bloke, Clive, collected stuff of you in his shed. He had a picture of you in the crows at the assassination!" She smiled slightly, tongue peeking out from between her teeth. "So we have to save him, right?"
As they reached the familiar blue police box, The Doctor turned to look at them, face grim. "No," he said quietly. "We have to make sure he dies."
Part: 1.2.2
Sandbox: Doctor Who
Setting: November 22, 1963
Pairings: Nine/Amy, Jack/Rose
Summary: Having left her previous position and come aboard the TARDIS, Amy deals with the wonder of her first trip to the wardrobe and back in time, while Rose discovers that The Doctor has had many companions in the past, and even a family, and has to deal with this sudden change in status.
The Doctor was relieved when Rose said she wasn't leaving. He wasn't ready to say goodbye to another companion, he had said goodbye to Grace too recently for that. Still, Amy had a point, and he stepped back. "Come on, girls -- 1963 awaits."
Rose turned right, but Amy turned left, leaving The Doctor in the middle, as both looked at him expectantly. While he might not know how to deal with a lot of human problems, this he had experience with, at least enough to navigate the minefield. "Straight ahead, you two, history in the making!"
He led them to a long street where people were milling excitedly with video cameras, period cameras, and trying to get the best spots in the great mass of human life. It probably wasn't the best event to see, but they were here for a reason. "Right then, something very important." He said, turning to face the both of them. "You can't rewrite history! Not one line! We must never get involved in the affairs of other peoples or planets."
Rose got an odd look on her face. "But, Doctor..." She was already thinking about Dickens, about the Gelth -- about how they had given him a renewed sense of the world. Sure, he had never gotten to finish the story their adventure had inspired, but they had undoubtedly changed him.
"What's that?" The Doctor wondered aloud, moving over to the retaining wall. "That's not right."
Amy was now considering the difficulties of time travel. She followed after the strange alien in the leather jacket, wanting to figure out how he did it. "So we're like a wildlife documentary, yeah? Because if they see a wounded little cub or something, they can't just save it, they've got to keep filming and let it die. It's got to be hard. I don't think I could do that. Don't you find that hard, being all, like, detached and cold?"
The Doctor ignored her, investigating a long crack in the retaining wall. He ran his fingers along it, trying to solve the mystery that was giving a twisted grin at him, taunting him to find the answer. "Rose, block me from view, would you? I need to use the sonic." Okay, so he was interfering a little, but something had already caused a change.
Rose quickly stood in front of the Doctor's arms, blocking the view of anyone who might turn around and look at the man. The familiar excitement of an adventure was starting to build. "What is it, Doctor?"
"It's a crack." The Doctor answered. "A crack that shouldn't be here."
Amy leaned down to inspect it. "There was a crack almost identical to this in my bedroom wall in Leadworth." She admitted. "It used to terrify me but then it became comforting somehow." She reached out to run her fingers along the crack.
The Doctor's free hand reached out and grabbed her wrist mere millimetres from the crack in the stone face of the wall. His manic smile was gone, and as he looked into her hazel eyes. "This is not just a crack in a wall somewhere." He said, quite seriously. "Look at it, Amy. This wall is solid and the crack doesn't go all the way through it. So here's the thing. Where's the draught coming from?"
Amy's eyebrows knitted. "Prisoner Zero has escaped." She whispered, almost to herself.
"What?" Rose repeated, struggling to hear.
Amy shook her head. "Never mind, it's nothing." She was the only one who ever heard it, after all. Aunt Sharon told her she was ridiculous.
Rose rolled her eyes. "So where's the draught coming from?"
The Doctor released Amy's wrist and quickly circled the wall once, before coming to stand in front of the crack again. " If you knocked this wall down, the crack would stay put, because the crack isn't in the wall."
"Of course it's in the wall, it's right there!" Rose said in confusion.
"Where is it then?" Amy said at the same time.
The Doctor looked up at them, face serious. "Everywhere. In everything. It's a split in the skin of the world. Two parts of space and time that should never have touched, pressed together..." He pressed his ear to the wall and frowned.
"So how do we fix it?" Rose asked, slightly more concerned by how serious the Doctor had gone when moments before he had been excited to show them 1963.
The Doctor didn't answer, putting his sonic to the wall and attempting to open the crack. When he did, however, he sprang back, horrified as time energy, blinding white and all consuming began to spill out through the slight opening he made. He pulled his sonic back, watching as it snapped shut.
"Doctor?" Rose said worriedly. "What happened? What was that?"
The Doctor looked at her seriously. "The end of the universe."
"How can a crack in a wall be the end of the universe?" Amy asked, eyes wide as she stared, as if still transfixed by the light she had seen. "All we saw was a light."
"What you saw was pure time energy." The Doctor admitted. "Pure energy gorging itself on important time-space events, and we have to fix this one."
Rose looked around. "So, what is the big event? What do we have to fix?"
The Doctor looked at all the people milling around, and started heading back to the TARDIS, trusting the two companions to follow him. "November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas -- the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, thirty-fifth president of the United States."
Rose considered that. "I saw a picture of this!" She remembered. "When I looked you up online. This bloke, Clive, collected stuff of you in his shed. He had a picture of you in the crows at the assassination!" She smiled slightly, tongue peeking out from between her teeth. "So we have to save him, right?"
As they reached the familiar blue police box, The Doctor turned to look at them, face grim. "No," he said quietly. "We have to make sure he dies."