Secrets on the Other Side ch. 3
Title: Secrets on the Other Side 3/13
Pairing: 10/Rose
Rating: Adult
Spoilers: all of season 2
Summary: The Doctor realizes he can't go on without Rose, so he decides he's going to find a way to get her back, but what secrets lie in the other dimension?
A/N: This is where the story really starts to take off.
( Chapter one )
( Chapter two )
CHAPTER 3
Rose stared in disbelief at the photograph. It wasn’t one of the artifacts brought back. The divers had taken a picture of it while they were down there. It was some sort of hatch deep in the bottom of the trench. What had Rose so startled, however, was not the hatch itself, but the writing on the hatch. She knew it was writing only because the Doctor had told her so. Anyone else would assume it to be a design. It was the same type of geometric shapes found all over the TARDIS. On the post-it notes on the console, and displayed on the monitor. It was Gallifreyan text.
But how could that be? Was there a Gallifrey in this dimension that hadn’t been destroyed? No. That couldn’t be. The Doctor had said that the Time Lords use to be able to pass though dimensions, and much of their technology, it seems, consisted of interiors and exteriors that existed in separate dimensions. That would make Time Lords pandimensional beings (at least when there were enough of them). Having two versions would be too dangerous. It could create all sorts of paradoxes.
The hatch looked sort of like a large octagonal manhole embedded in the ocean floor. It looked so old. It must have been installed in one of Earth’s earliest eras. Did the Doctor know about this? Were the rest of the artifacts Gallifreyan? She started looking through the other files.
None of the other artifacts appeared to be from Gallifrey. They seemed to be from another ship that had crashed there much more recently. Had they been trying to get inside the hatch? What was in there? Rose suddenly found herself quite glad her lunch break had been cancelled.
*****************************************
Empty. The floor of the conference hall was empty but for a janitor sweeping up. The Doctor looked at his watch. He’d just missed it! The TARDIS had materialized just five minutes after the conference ended. How could she do that to him?! He slumped down against the wall next to the entrance and hung his head between his knees.
He couldn't go back. He was already part of events. The Face of Boe was gone, and that meant his chance at getting Rose back was gone. What if he never caught up with The Face of Boe? What if he never got Rose back? Could he endure? Could he go through life haunted by her memory and not go mad? “Pardon me?” he looked up at the voice to find the janitor standing over him. “Are you the Doctor?”
“...Yes,” he said confused.
“The Face of Boe said to give you this,” and he produced a large-ish purple crystal. It looked much like one of the TARDIS’ power cells, only it was lavender in color and quite larger.
The Doctor stood up and took the object from the man. He turned it over in his hand, examining it. “He knew I was coming”, said the Doctor in slight awe. He gave a small chuckle “The enigmatic bastard knew I was coming!”, he said in a fond admiration. “Thanks, mate!” said the Doctor putting a hand on the man’s shoulder, then deciding to pull him into a hug. “Thank you so much!” He let go of the bewildered janitor and ran to the TARDIS to find out how to use the device. He was going to get Rose back! This would work! There wasn’t a doubt in his mind.
Once inside the TARDIS, the Doctor ran to the console, pulled out his sonic screwdriver and scanned the purple object. It’s make-up was vaguely similar to that of a TARDIS power cell, but much more complex. And there were at least two-thousand substances that even he could not identify. “Where did he get this?” he wondered aloud.
**********************************************
Rose made copies of the all files she’d read and rushed back to the house after work. She wasn’t quite sure yet what she was going to do about this new discovery. She just knew she was supposed to do something. It was 7:30 when she reached the manor. Rose ran inside. “Mum?!” she called out, “Mum?!”
Jackie hurried out of the living room into the hall, cuppa in hand. “What? What is it sweetheart?”
“Mum, look at this!” Rose showed the files to her mother.
“Alright...” She scanned the files somewhat blankly. “What am I looking at?”
“There,” said Rose, pointing at the photograph of the hatch. “Right there.”
“A manhole?”
“Mum, that ‘manhole’ is over three thousand fathoms down, at the bottom of the ocean! Besides, it’s not the ‘manhole’ itself that I’m talking about. Look at the writing on it. It’s Gallifreyan!”
“What?”
“That’s the Doctor’s home planet.”
Realization dawned on Jackie. “Oh...” she looked at the photo thoughtfully. “What does that mean?”
Rose paused. “I...I don’t know.”
“Sweetheart, what exactly were you planning to do about it?” Jackie inquired in a sincere tone. It was clear that she was trying to say many other things with that question.
“I don’t know!” Rose said “But I have to do something, don’t I?!” She was annoyed at her mother’s reaction. Why didn’t she understand? This was a connection to the Doctor! It was Doctor-related and that was all that mattered, wasn’t it?
“Rose, what do you think is inside that thing?”
“I don’t know.”
“Let’s say you actually managed to get down there and open it. What do you think you would find? Instructions on how to get back to the Doctor?”
“No.” she answered begrudgingly. Though, part of her did hope that there might be some clue down there that could help. “It isn’t about that though.”, she said. “Gallifrey was the Doctor’s home. It was destroyed. It caused him so much pain. Mum, the look in his eyes when he thought about it... When I’d just sit with him offering comfort. Gallifrey feels so personal to me now, through him. I need to know more about it. I have to.”
Jackie searched her daughter’s eyes for a long moment and then nodded. “Alright. We’ll talk to your father when he gets home. See if he can’t get you on the project.”
Rose smiled and embraced her mother. “Thanks for understanding, Mum.”
***********************************************************
It turned out the Super Cell (that’s what he’d decided to call it) needed to charge up for a good twenty-four hours before it could be used. It was compatible with the TARDIS. The Doctor had found a spot under the console, at it’s center, hidden beneath wires and circuits, that the Super Cell fit into perfectly. It had begun it’s charging cycle immediately, and after careful analysis he discovered it would be ready in twenty-four hours.
It seemed too good to be true. By this time tomorrow he could be holding her in his arms! The Doctor was absolutely giddy. Like a kid about to go to Disneyland. He tried to stay cautious in his hoping. There were so many variables, so many things that could go wrong. But he couldn’t help being excited. He truly felt like this would work.
He hadn’t slept in so long, even for him, and now that he was no longer consumed by his search he realized how exhausted he was. The last four months had completely drained him mentally, physically, and especially emotionally. He needed to rest, and the Super Cell’s charging cycle gave him ample time to do so.
Opening the door to the bedroom, the Doctor really looked at it for the first time since Rose had gone. A pair of her trainers sat on the floor by the bed and one of her hoodies lay discarded on a chair in the corner. He walked over to the chair and picked it up. He pressed the soft fabric to his face and inhaled her fading scent. He ached for her. He couldn’t wait to be with her.
The Doctor kicked off his shoes, removed his jacket and tie, unbuttoned his top three buttons and cuffs, and lay down on the bed clutching Rose’s hoodie close to him. “I’m coming, Rose,” he whispered, and drifted off to sleep.
***********************************************************
Rose stood atop a small hill of red grass on the edge of an alien forest with silver-leafed trees overlooking a beautiful city encased in a dome. The wind blew on her face bringing with it the scents of the foreign air and plant life. “Do they know?” she said as she sensed the Doctor walking up behind her.
“No, not yet.” he said coming to stand beside Rose. “It’s centuries off.”
“S’beautiful,” she said. “Only...”
“What?” he said curiously.
“They’re so closed off.”
The Doctor smiled, proud of her for finding the same flaw. “Yes, they are. That was pretty much their whole philosophy. ‘Look, but don’t touch’. They lived it literally as well as figuratively.”
“Not you though,” said Rose smiling at him.
“No,” he agreed, smiling back. “Not me.”
Rose’s face suddenly turned serious. Tears began to sting at the back of her eyes as she remembered her reality. “I miss you,” she choked out through the lump in her throat.
The Doctor gazed sadly, longingly at Rose. “I miss you too,” he said, voice full of emotion. “So much.”
They stepped toward each other to touch, but the sky exploded and wind ripped at the landscape as the light of a warm spring day turned blood red, engulfing everything.
“Rose!” screamed the Doctor and the air was ripped from his lungs as soon as his mouth had opened. He fought hard against the wind that pulled upward toward the black hole in the orange sky.
“Doctor!” Rose could feel her lungs collapsing as she screamed. The air was being sucked away as she struggled against the upward moving gale.
And then everything disappeared.
****************************************************
Rose sat bolt upright in her bed. She tried to remember the dream even as the pieces of it fell away. She remembered the Doctor was there. He was always there in her dreams, but this felt different somehow. She couldn’t really remember anything else.
The sun shown gently through the window. It was morning. Rose had twenty minutes before she had to get up, but she didn’t think she could get back to sleep now. She got up and headed down to the kitchen for a cup of tea. Whatever her dream had been, something about it seemed important. She thought so intently about it on her way to the kitchen that it took her a moment to realize that she’d gotten there.
The rest of the house was still asleep, except for the Preachers, who were usually up with the sun. She watched from the window as they did their morning work-out. They were like a small army. Mickey and Jake had recruited many more members than they originally had. It must not have been too hard to convince people after the Cybus scandal was exposed.
Mickey had always been something of a slacker back home, but looking at him now, he was like a whole new person. They’d all changed so much, herself very much included, since that fateful day the Doctor came into their lives. Even with the pain she felt at his loss, she was so grateful for every single moment, good and bad, that she had him in her life. It wasn’t until him that she’d truly begun to live.
“Morning, Rose!” said Mickey coming into the kitchen. He was a bit out of breath from his workout.
“Morning.” she answered as he got himself a bottle of water from the fridge.
He came and stood next to her, watching the rest of them out the window. “You’re mum told me about the file you found. The one with the thing from the Doctor’s planet.”
Rose turned to him, trying to gauge his opinion, but his expression was unreadable as he continued to gaze out the window. “Yeah,” she said looking back out onto the grounds.
“You gonna follow up on it?” he asked, turning to her.
“Of course! You know me! Always the curious one.”
He smiled. He knew this meant more to her than some curiosity, and he knew she knew he knew it. “Got room for one more on that project?”
“You really wanna help?” she asked, a little suprised.
“‘Course! I miss him too, you know.”
“Yeah right!” she laughed.
“I do!” he said incredulously. “I know I wasn’t too keen on him at first, and under the circumstances I think I was justified,” Rose nodded. She had to give him that. “, but you see the guy save the world a couple of times and he starts to grow on you.”
Rose smiled. Mickey really was a good friend. She felt so bad for how she’d treated him after she’d met the Doctor.
“Besides,” added Mickey, “The Doctor changed my life. I’m the man I am now because of him.”
“Aw, Mickey. You got a bit of hero worship?” she teased.
“Mah,” he shrugged, a little embarrassed. “He’s a pretty impressive bloke.”
“Yeah,” she said a bit dreamily. “He is. ...It annoys you doesn’t it?”
“Hell yeah.”
They laughed. It was the first time she’d really smiled since being separated from the Doctor.
***************************************************
The Doctor’s eyes snapped open. What was that? He’d been on Gallifrey with Rose. It was so strange. It felt so real. He sat up. Rose’s hoodie was still clutched in his hand. Had he connected with her, or was it just a dream? He looked at the clock and all thoughts of the dream were driven from his head. The Super Cell was ready!
The Doctor hastily got his jacket, tie, and shoes on and bolted out of the bedroom towards the control room. The sight that greeted him when he arrived left him awestruck. The central column was pulsating with a bright purple light and the walls were swirling with a plethora of color and light. It was beautiful and frightening all at once.
He rushed to the control panel, worried that he had endangered his ship in his selfish haste to get to Rose. He lay his hand on the TARDIS’ panel, trying to sense what she was feeling. She wasn’t in pain or afraid. She felt...powerful. The Doctor smiled proudly. “Alright then!” he said. “You ready to go get our Rose?” The TARDIS whirred and pulsed a bit brighter in answer. His smile grew excitedly and he started flicking switches and pulling levers, tuning the navigator in to Rose’s thought patterns. He prayed this would work.
****************************************************
Rose was driving to work, ready to meet with her father on her options regarding her discovery. She hoped she would be able to go down to the hatch during the study. She needed to get a closer look at it. She wouldn’t be able to read it, but she felt like she needed to see it up close.
She bobbed her head along to the song on the radio until it started to sound weird. She reached down to adjust the frequency, but the sound remained. It was growing louder even. That was when it dawned on her. She knew that sound. She knew it by heart. But that was impossible! She turned the radio off and pulled the car over, turning off the engine. There was no way! She thought she was getting better, but she must’ve finally cracked from the grief. Then, as the whining, grinding noise grew deafening, directly in front of the car, a blue box faded into view about three feet above the ground. It fell the remaining feet with a heavy thud.
The door opened.
Chapter 4
Pairing: 10/Rose
Rating: Adult
Spoilers: all of season 2
Summary: The Doctor realizes he can't go on without Rose, so he decides he's going to find a way to get her back, but what secrets lie in the other dimension?
A/N: This is where the story really starts to take off.
( Chapter one )
( Chapter two )
CHAPTER 3
Rose stared in disbelief at the photograph. It wasn’t one of the artifacts brought back. The divers had taken a picture of it while they were down there. It was some sort of hatch deep in the bottom of the trench. What had Rose so startled, however, was not the hatch itself, but the writing on the hatch. She knew it was writing only because the Doctor had told her so. Anyone else would assume it to be a design. It was the same type of geometric shapes found all over the TARDIS. On the post-it notes on the console, and displayed on the monitor. It was Gallifreyan text.
But how could that be? Was there a Gallifrey in this dimension that hadn’t been destroyed? No. That couldn’t be. The Doctor had said that the Time Lords use to be able to pass though dimensions, and much of their technology, it seems, consisted of interiors and exteriors that existed in separate dimensions. That would make Time Lords pandimensional beings (at least when there were enough of them). Having two versions would be too dangerous. It could create all sorts of paradoxes.
The hatch looked sort of like a large octagonal manhole embedded in the ocean floor. It looked so old. It must have been installed in one of Earth’s earliest eras. Did the Doctor know about this? Were the rest of the artifacts Gallifreyan? She started looking through the other files.
None of the other artifacts appeared to be from Gallifrey. They seemed to be from another ship that had crashed there much more recently. Had they been trying to get inside the hatch? What was in there? Rose suddenly found herself quite glad her lunch break had been cancelled.
*****************************************
Empty. The floor of the conference hall was empty but for a janitor sweeping up. The Doctor looked at his watch. He’d just missed it! The TARDIS had materialized just five minutes after the conference ended. How could she do that to him?! He slumped down against the wall next to the entrance and hung his head between his knees.
He couldn't go back. He was already part of events. The Face of Boe was gone, and that meant his chance at getting Rose back was gone. What if he never caught up with The Face of Boe? What if he never got Rose back? Could he endure? Could he go through life haunted by her memory and not go mad? “Pardon me?” he looked up at the voice to find the janitor standing over him. “Are you the Doctor?”
“...Yes,” he said confused.
“The Face of Boe said to give you this,” and he produced a large-ish purple crystal. It looked much like one of the TARDIS’ power cells, only it was lavender in color and quite larger.
The Doctor stood up and took the object from the man. He turned it over in his hand, examining it. “He knew I was coming”, said the Doctor in slight awe. He gave a small chuckle “The enigmatic bastard knew I was coming!”, he said in a fond admiration. “Thanks, mate!” said the Doctor putting a hand on the man’s shoulder, then deciding to pull him into a hug. “Thank you so much!” He let go of the bewildered janitor and ran to the TARDIS to find out how to use the device. He was going to get Rose back! This would work! There wasn’t a doubt in his mind.
Once inside the TARDIS, the Doctor ran to the console, pulled out his sonic screwdriver and scanned the purple object. It’s make-up was vaguely similar to that of a TARDIS power cell, but much more complex. And there were at least two-thousand substances that even he could not identify. “Where did he get this?” he wondered aloud.
**********************************************
Rose made copies of the all files she’d read and rushed back to the house after work. She wasn’t quite sure yet what she was going to do about this new discovery. She just knew she was supposed to do something. It was 7:30 when she reached the manor. Rose ran inside. “Mum?!” she called out, “Mum?!”
Jackie hurried out of the living room into the hall, cuppa in hand. “What? What is it sweetheart?”
“Mum, look at this!” Rose showed the files to her mother.
“Alright...” She scanned the files somewhat blankly. “What am I looking at?”
“There,” said Rose, pointing at the photograph of the hatch. “Right there.”
“A manhole?”
“Mum, that ‘manhole’ is over three thousand fathoms down, at the bottom of the ocean! Besides, it’s not the ‘manhole’ itself that I’m talking about. Look at the writing on it. It’s Gallifreyan!”
“What?”
“That’s the Doctor’s home planet.”
Realization dawned on Jackie. “Oh...” she looked at the photo thoughtfully. “What does that mean?”
Rose paused. “I...I don’t know.”
“Sweetheart, what exactly were you planning to do about it?” Jackie inquired in a sincere tone. It was clear that she was trying to say many other things with that question.
“I don’t know!” Rose said “But I have to do something, don’t I?!” She was annoyed at her mother’s reaction. Why didn’t she understand? This was a connection to the Doctor! It was Doctor-related and that was all that mattered, wasn’t it?
“Rose, what do you think is inside that thing?”
“I don’t know.”
“Let’s say you actually managed to get down there and open it. What do you think you would find? Instructions on how to get back to the Doctor?”
“No.” she answered begrudgingly. Though, part of her did hope that there might be some clue down there that could help. “It isn’t about that though.”, she said. “Gallifrey was the Doctor’s home. It was destroyed. It caused him so much pain. Mum, the look in his eyes when he thought about it... When I’d just sit with him offering comfort. Gallifrey feels so personal to me now, through him. I need to know more about it. I have to.”
Jackie searched her daughter’s eyes for a long moment and then nodded. “Alright. We’ll talk to your father when he gets home. See if he can’t get you on the project.”
Rose smiled and embraced her mother. “Thanks for understanding, Mum.”
***********************************************************
It turned out the Super Cell (that’s what he’d decided to call it) needed to charge up for a good twenty-four hours before it could be used. It was compatible with the TARDIS. The Doctor had found a spot under the console, at it’s center, hidden beneath wires and circuits, that the Super Cell fit into perfectly. It had begun it’s charging cycle immediately, and after careful analysis he discovered it would be ready in twenty-four hours.
It seemed too good to be true. By this time tomorrow he could be holding her in his arms! The Doctor was absolutely giddy. Like a kid about to go to Disneyland. He tried to stay cautious in his hoping. There were so many variables, so many things that could go wrong. But he couldn’t help being excited. He truly felt like this would work.
He hadn’t slept in so long, even for him, and now that he was no longer consumed by his search he realized how exhausted he was. The last four months had completely drained him mentally, physically, and especially emotionally. He needed to rest, and the Super Cell’s charging cycle gave him ample time to do so.
Opening the door to the bedroom, the Doctor really looked at it for the first time since Rose had gone. A pair of her trainers sat on the floor by the bed and one of her hoodies lay discarded on a chair in the corner. He walked over to the chair and picked it up. He pressed the soft fabric to his face and inhaled her fading scent. He ached for her. He couldn’t wait to be with her.
The Doctor kicked off his shoes, removed his jacket and tie, unbuttoned his top three buttons and cuffs, and lay down on the bed clutching Rose’s hoodie close to him. “I’m coming, Rose,” he whispered, and drifted off to sleep.
***********************************************************
Rose stood atop a small hill of red grass on the edge of an alien forest with silver-leafed trees overlooking a beautiful city encased in a dome. The wind blew on her face bringing with it the scents of the foreign air and plant life. “Do they know?” she said as she sensed the Doctor walking up behind her.
“No, not yet.” he said coming to stand beside Rose. “It’s centuries off.”
“S’beautiful,” she said. “Only...”
“What?” he said curiously.
“They’re so closed off.”
The Doctor smiled, proud of her for finding the same flaw. “Yes, they are. That was pretty much their whole philosophy. ‘Look, but don’t touch’. They lived it literally as well as figuratively.”
“Not you though,” said Rose smiling at him.
“No,” he agreed, smiling back. “Not me.”
Rose’s face suddenly turned serious. Tears began to sting at the back of her eyes as she remembered her reality. “I miss you,” she choked out through the lump in her throat.
The Doctor gazed sadly, longingly at Rose. “I miss you too,” he said, voice full of emotion. “So much.”
They stepped toward each other to touch, but the sky exploded and wind ripped at the landscape as the light of a warm spring day turned blood red, engulfing everything.
“Rose!” screamed the Doctor and the air was ripped from his lungs as soon as his mouth had opened. He fought hard against the wind that pulled upward toward the black hole in the orange sky.
“Doctor!” Rose could feel her lungs collapsing as she screamed. The air was being sucked away as she struggled against the upward moving gale.
And then everything disappeared.
****************************************************
Rose sat bolt upright in her bed. She tried to remember the dream even as the pieces of it fell away. She remembered the Doctor was there. He was always there in her dreams, but this felt different somehow. She couldn’t really remember anything else.
The sun shown gently through the window. It was morning. Rose had twenty minutes before she had to get up, but she didn’t think she could get back to sleep now. She got up and headed down to the kitchen for a cup of tea. Whatever her dream had been, something about it seemed important. She thought so intently about it on her way to the kitchen that it took her a moment to realize that she’d gotten there.
The rest of the house was still asleep, except for the Preachers, who were usually up with the sun. She watched from the window as they did their morning work-out. They were like a small army. Mickey and Jake had recruited many more members than they originally had. It must not have been too hard to convince people after the Cybus scandal was exposed.
Mickey had always been something of a slacker back home, but looking at him now, he was like a whole new person. They’d all changed so much, herself very much included, since that fateful day the Doctor came into their lives. Even with the pain she felt at his loss, she was so grateful for every single moment, good and bad, that she had him in her life. It wasn’t until him that she’d truly begun to live.
“Morning, Rose!” said Mickey coming into the kitchen. He was a bit out of breath from his workout.
“Morning.” she answered as he got himself a bottle of water from the fridge.
He came and stood next to her, watching the rest of them out the window. “You’re mum told me about the file you found. The one with the thing from the Doctor’s planet.”
Rose turned to him, trying to gauge his opinion, but his expression was unreadable as he continued to gaze out the window. “Yeah,” she said looking back out onto the grounds.
“You gonna follow up on it?” he asked, turning to her.
“Of course! You know me! Always the curious one.”
He smiled. He knew this meant more to her than some curiosity, and he knew she knew he knew it. “Got room for one more on that project?”
“You really wanna help?” she asked, a little suprised.
“‘Course! I miss him too, you know.”
“Yeah right!” she laughed.
“I do!” he said incredulously. “I know I wasn’t too keen on him at first, and under the circumstances I think I was justified,” Rose nodded. She had to give him that. “, but you see the guy save the world a couple of times and he starts to grow on you.”
Rose smiled. Mickey really was a good friend. She felt so bad for how she’d treated him after she’d met the Doctor.
“Besides,” added Mickey, “The Doctor changed my life. I’m the man I am now because of him.”
“Aw, Mickey. You got a bit of hero worship?” she teased.
“Mah,” he shrugged, a little embarrassed. “He’s a pretty impressive bloke.”
“Yeah,” she said a bit dreamily. “He is. ...It annoys you doesn’t it?”
“Hell yeah.”
They laughed. It was the first time she’d really smiled since being separated from the Doctor.
***************************************************
The Doctor’s eyes snapped open. What was that? He’d been on Gallifrey with Rose. It was so strange. It felt so real. He sat up. Rose’s hoodie was still clutched in his hand. Had he connected with her, or was it just a dream? He looked at the clock and all thoughts of the dream were driven from his head. The Super Cell was ready!
The Doctor hastily got his jacket, tie, and shoes on and bolted out of the bedroom towards the control room. The sight that greeted him when he arrived left him awestruck. The central column was pulsating with a bright purple light and the walls were swirling with a plethora of color and light. It was beautiful and frightening all at once.
He rushed to the control panel, worried that he had endangered his ship in his selfish haste to get to Rose. He lay his hand on the TARDIS’ panel, trying to sense what she was feeling. She wasn’t in pain or afraid. She felt...powerful. The Doctor smiled proudly. “Alright then!” he said. “You ready to go get our Rose?” The TARDIS whirred and pulsed a bit brighter in answer. His smile grew excitedly and he started flicking switches and pulling levers, tuning the navigator in to Rose’s thought patterns. He prayed this would work.
****************************************************
Rose was driving to work, ready to meet with her father on her options regarding her discovery. She hoped she would be able to go down to the hatch during the study. She needed to get a closer look at it. She wouldn’t be able to read it, but she felt like she needed to see it up close.
She bobbed her head along to the song on the radio until it started to sound weird. She reached down to adjust the frequency, but the sound remained. It was growing louder even. That was when it dawned on her. She knew that sound. She knew it by heart. But that was impossible! She turned the radio off and pulled the car over, turning off the engine. There was no way! She thought she was getting better, but she must’ve finally cracked from the grief. Then, as the whining, grinding noise grew deafening, directly in front of the car, a blue box faded into view about three feet above the ground. It fell the remaining feet with a heavy thud.
The door opened.
Chapter 4