Yet another Doctor Who drabble
Once again, a Season 6B blurb, inspired by a tumblr buddy.
This will definitely be part of a larger, multichapter fic in the future.
The Doctor was silent as he inspected the pages and pages of material in front of him-the most recent school yearbook of the E. K. Polytechnic Academy, along with every issue to the school newspaper within the past year. A frown remained on his face; hours and hours of searching in the school library had yielded this material, but none of it proved to be of any use. Vital, pertinent information was missing.
The Time Lords wouldn’t be pleased about this. The Celestial Intervention Agency had sent him to investigate the mysterious death of the school’s physics teacher-a highly esteemed scientist who, it had been rumored, had been developing theories of space-time as a side project. Not only had this information been missing, but the man’s death had been kept absolutely under wraps. There weren’t even any details in the school’s published material, nor the local papers or news archives.
And that was where the Doctor had entered the scene, having passed as Doctor John Smith, teacher of physics, and had been quickly hired to replace the unfortunate man; he had spent nearly every spare moment trying to find out all he could about his predecessor, but had no luck so far. In fact, a great deal of the school’s history seemed to be difficult to find out-not even what they mysterious “E.K.” initials meant, though it stood to reason that they referred to the founder, whoever he was. And another thing that had been made obvious after some observations was the fact that there was an alarming turn-around rate for the math and science teachers, with no explanations provided. Some had up and quit in the middle of the day, some had disappeared under mysterious circumstances after leaving only a note behind, and a few of them, including the most recent physics teacher, had met an untimely end. And the Doctor did not like this trend one bit.
“Doctor?”
The Gallifreyan looked up at the familiar sound of a young Scot’s voice. Jamie had entered the library, carrying an armful of books. Not about to leave Jamie out of the case, the Doctor had managed to make identification papers for Jamie to allow him to enroll in the academy, as well.
Unfortunately, the amount of help that Jamie ended up being able to give him had been limited; having had no formal education before, the Scot was struggling to keep up with his classes-to say nothing of the added challenge of not letting anyone be aware that he was, in fact, an 18th-century Highlander, as opposed to the modern-day young man he had been trying to pass himself off as.
“Jamie, it’s nearly midnight,” the Doctor said. “What are you doing here at this hour?”
“Working on an essay,” the Scot sighed, placing the books on the table. His face was slightly red with embarrassment. “I need help with spelling some of the words…”
“I gave you a dictionary for that purpose; why aren’t you in your dormitory?”
“The other laddies claim my cursing keeps them awake,” Jamie said, eyeing the vending machine in the corner of the room.
This did not go unnoticed by the Doctor.
“Yes,” the Gallifreyan said. “And the library is able to cater to your newfound weakness.”
Jamie responded with a guilty grin as he crossed to the machine and bought a can of cola.
“Why did ye ne’er tell me about this elixir before?” he inquired. “It bubbles like ale, but keeps ye awake like coffee!”
“Because I knew that this is how you’d react,” the Doctor sighed, going back to work.
Jamie’s smile faded, and he got down to work, as well. Every so often, though, he’d ask the Doctor for help with a spelling or grammar query, who was only too happy to help.
“Sorry I keep distracting you,” the Scot said, as he worked.
“Oh, you’re not really interrupting anything,” the Doctor sighed. “Any pertinent information simply can’t be found. The number of past teachers who have vanished is quite alarming-and always science and math teachers. And this poor fellow who was there before me… There’re absolutely no details!”
“Oh, that reminds me!” Jamie said. “I meant to tell ye, but I forgot-one of the laddies said that the last time he saw this professor was here, in the library. Within an hour, he had died-and the body had been found here.”
The Doctor looked up, sharply.
“Are you entirely sure about this!?”
“Aye! …Unless he was lying-and he had no reason to…”
The Doctor stood up, looking around.
“Here… in this library?” he murmured. “How…? And why?”
Jamie watched him pace between the shelves of books for a moment before focusing his attention back on his essay. Finally, the words were coming together the way he wanted them to; he exhaled, looking over his work, wishing that he could write and read with the same ease as some of his fellow students could. Still, he reminded himself, had it not been for the Doctor, he wouldn’t even have been able to do this much.
He picked up the paper and wandered off in search of the Doctor, hoping to see if he could possibly look over his work. He soon spotted him in front of one of the shelves, reading a rather nondescript-looking book with widening eyes. Jamie had only taken a step towards the shelves when something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention-a flash of silver near the first shelf, closest to the door. But then, the shelf suddenly teetered for a moment, and then tipped over, crashing into the second shelf, which caused it to crash into the third, setting off a chain reaction-with the Doctor standing between the seventh and eighth shelves.
“DOCTOR!”
The crashing shelves had caused the Time Lord to look up, but he hadn’t fully grasped what was happening until Jamie dashed forward, tackling him to the ground as the seventh shelf came bearing down upon them-it propped up against the falling eight shelf, stopping only an inch above them.
“Oh my word…!” the Doctor exclaimed, as books continued to rain down on them. “Jamie!? Jamie, are you alright!?”
“A-Aye,” the Scot stammered, hardly daring to believe their narrow escape. “Doctor… Doctor, I saw something silver just before the shelves started falling over.”
“Yes, I… I’m not surprised,” the Doctor said, as he helped Jamie out from under the fallen shelf. “Look at this book I found.”
“The Perfection of Cybernetics, by… Eric Klieg!?” the Scot exclaimed. “That’s the madman we met on Telos, back when we were traveling with Victoria!”
“Yes,” the Doctor said. “But did you notice something else? His initials-E. K.”
“The Academy is named after him!” Jamie realized aloud. “But, then… the silver thing I saw must’ve been…” He trailed off, his eyes going wide. “That was a Cyberman who tried to bring the shelf down on ye!”
“Yes… Yes, I’m afraid so,” the Doctor said. “We must leave this library at once and form some sort of plan-and find out what they are planning. Oh, and Jamie?”
“Aye?”
“Thank you.”
Jamie managed a smile.
“Anytime, Doctor.”
This will definitely be part of a larger, multichapter fic in the future.
The Doctor was silent as he inspected the pages and pages of material in front of him-the most recent school yearbook of the E. K. Polytechnic Academy, along with every issue to the school newspaper within the past year. A frown remained on his face; hours and hours of searching in the school library had yielded this material, but none of it proved to be of any use. Vital, pertinent information was missing.
The Time Lords wouldn’t be pleased about this. The Celestial Intervention Agency had sent him to investigate the mysterious death of the school’s physics teacher-a highly esteemed scientist who, it had been rumored, had been developing theories of space-time as a side project. Not only had this information been missing, but the man’s death had been kept absolutely under wraps. There weren’t even any details in the school’s published material, nor the local papers or news archives.
And that was where the Doctor had entered the scene, having passed as Doctor John Smith, teacher of physics, and had been quickly hired to replace the unfortunate man; he had spent nearly every spare moment trying to find out all he could about his predecessor, but had no luck so far. In fact, a great deal of the school’s history seemed to be difficult to find out-not even what they mysterious “E.K.” initials meant, though it stood to reason that they referred to the founder, whoever he was. And another thing that had been made obvious after some observations was the fact that there was an alarming turn-around rate for the math and science teachers, with no explanations provided. Some had up and quit in the middle of the day, some had disappeared under mysterious circumstances after leaving only a note behind, and a few of them, including the most recent physics teacher, had met an untimely end. And the Doctor did not like this trend one bit.
“Doctor?”
The Gallifreyan looked up at the familiar sound of a young Scot’s voice. Jamie had entered the library, carrying an armful of books. Not about to leave Jamie out of the case, the Doctor had managed to make identification papers for Jamie to allow him to enroll in the academy, as well.
Unfortunately, the amount of help that Jamie ended up being able to give him had been limited; having had no formal education before, the Scot was struggling to keep up with his classes-to say nothing of the added challenge of not letting anyone be aware that he was, in fact, an 18th-century Highlander, as opposed to the modern-day young man he had been trying to pass himself off as.
“Jamie, it’s nearly midnight,” the Doctor said. “What are you doing here at this hour?”
“Working on an essay,” the Scot sighed, placing the books on the table. His face was slightly red with embarrassment. “I need help with spelling some of the words…”
“I gave you a dictionary for that purpose; why aren’t you in your dormitory?”
“The other laddies claim my cursing keeps them awake,” Jamie said, eyeing the vending machine in the corner of the room.
This did not go unnoticed by the Doctor.
“Yes,” the Gallifreyan said. “And the library is able to cater to your newfound weakness.”
Jamie responded with a guilty grin as he crossed to the machine and bought a can of cola.
“Why did ye ne’er tell me about this elixir before?” he inquired. “It bubbles like ale, but keeps ye awake like coffee!”
“Because I knew that this is how you’d react,” the Doctor sighed, going back to work.
Jamie’s smile faded, and he got down to work, as well. Every so often, though, he’d ask the Doctor for help with a spelling or grammar query, who was only too happy to help.
“Sorry I keep distracting you,” the Scot said, as he worked.
“Oh, you’re not really interrupting anything,” the Doctor sighed. “Any pertinent information simply can’t be found. The number of past teachers who have vanished is quite alarming-and always science and math teachers. And this poor fellow who was there before me… There’re absolutely no details!”
“Oh, that reminds me!” Jamie said. “I meant to tell ye, but I forgot-one of the laddies said that the last time he saw this professor was here, in the library. Within an hour, he had died-and the body had been found here.”
The Doctor looked up, sharply.
“Are you entirely sure about this!?”
“Aye! …Unless he was lying-and he had no reason to…”
The Doctor stood up, looking around.
“Here… in this library?” he murmured. “How…? And why?”
Jamie watched him pace between the shelves of books for a moment before focusing his attention back on his essay. Finally, the words were coming together the way he wanted them to; he exhaled, looking over his work, wishing that he could write and read with the same ease as some of his fellow students could. Still, he reminded himself, had it not been for the Doctor, he wouldn’t even have been able to do this much.
He picked up the paper and wandered off in search of the Doctor, hoping to see if he could possibly look over his work. He soon spotted him in front of one of the shelves, reading a rather nondescript-looking book with widening eyes. Jamie had only taken a step towards the shelves when something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention-a flash of silver near the first shelf, closest to the door. But then, the shelf suddenly teetered for a moment, and then tipped over, crashing into the second shelf, which caused it to crash into the third, setting off a chain reaction-with the Doctor standing between the seventh and eighth shelves.
“DOCTOR!”
The crashing shelves had caused the Time Lord to look up, but he hadn’t fully grasped what was happening until Jamie dashed forward, tackling him to the ground as the seventh shelf came bearing down upon them-it propped up against the falling eight shelf, stopping only an inch above them.
“Oh my word…!” the Doctor exclaimed, as books continued to rain down on them. “Jamie!? Jamie, are you alright!?”
“A-Aye,” the Scot stammered, hardly daring to believe their narrow escape. “Doctor… Doctor, I saw something silver just before the shelves started falling over.”
“Yes, I… I’m not surprised,” the Doctor said, as he helped Jamie out from under the fallen shelf. “Look at this book I found.”
“The Perfection of Cybernetics, by… Eric Klieg!?” the Scot exclaimed. “That’s the madman we met on Telos, back when we were traveling with Victoria!”
“Yes,” the Doctor said. “But did you notice something else? His initials-E. K.”
“The Academy is named after him!” Jamie realized aloud. “But, then… the silver thing I saw must’ve been…” He trailed off, his eyes going wide. “That was a Cyberman who tried to bring the shelf down on ye!”
“Yes… Yes, I’m afraid so,” the Doctor said. “We must leave this library at once and form some sort of plan-and find out what they are planning. Oh, and Jamie?”
“Aye?”
“Thank you.”
Jamie managed a smile.
“Anytime, Doctor.”