1x09: The Embers of Alexandria (1/7)
Title: The Embers of Alexandria (1/7)
Author: principia_coh
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Rose/Ten II
Summary: Waylaid en route to a holiday, the Doctor and Rose encounter unexpected wonders... and new dangers.
Author’s notes: Thanks to ginamak and leighleighla for their excellent and patient beta work!
Episode 9 of a virtual series at the_altverse, following The Wretched Hive last week.
Virtual Series Masterlist
-------------------------------------------------------------
If any creatures had been present while the TARDIS hurtled pell-mell through the Vortex, they might have heard the energetic strains of late 20th-century Earth pop music issuing forth as she whizzed past them. As it was, inside the TARDIS one Rose Tyler was trying very hard to concentrate on the task of keeping bone-jarring shudders to a minimum, while her husband did his level best to distract her from it. After all, what was a little in-flight shaking and stirring to the two of them?
The Doctor danced in frenetic circles around the console, crooning along loudly with said energetic pop music...
“Hard act to follow, you’re a hard act to follow...”
...and periodically bouncing into his wife, grinning madly as he tried to get her into the proper frame of mind. He could hardly blame Rose for not even recognising the name Split Enz; after all, even here in Pete’s World they’d broken up and moved on to other projects before she was born and Jackie Tyler was, well, a Cliff fan. But one of the many attributes that served to make Rose so brilliant was her eagerness to sop up everything life had to offer, and he was only too happy to offer himself up as the metaphorical piece of bread she could use to... mmm, garlic bread.
Blimey, maybe they should have eaten before they left.
“All I want is you and you and you and you and you, encore, encore, encore, encore...”
He finished a circuit and bumped shoulders with Rose, who despite all pretence of seriousness had been, and in fact still was, bopping in place to the music as she visited each of the stations and struggling to not laugh at his antics.
“Would you stop?” Rose barely managed past a giggle, finally breaking out into a grin.
“Now that’s more like it! That’s the smile I want to see when I’m taking my lovely wife to the absolutely fantastic concert we are about to attend.”
“Who exactly is doing the driving here?” she cracked.
“Supervised, thank you very much, some of us are still on their provisional licence,” the Doctor countered as he deftly reached around Rose to rotate the Hyxmeri deceleration flange so they would materialise in place rather than come skidding in for a landing.
Young as this TARDIS might be, she still didn’t much like having her bottom scraped along pavement. He continued moving around the console as the music switched to one of the band’s instrumental pieces, casually rechecking the various settings in the hopes that Rose wouldn’t feel as though he were marking her work.
He caught sight of Rose’s shoulders slumping ever so slightly, and her smile fading. She’d noticed.
“Tell you what, though,” he chirped, “hell of a lot better than I ever did at the Academy.” The Doctor sidled up to Rose and murmured to her as he brushed a lock of hair away from her face. “I can say without a doubt that I’ve got the fastest-learning co-pilot anywhere.”
Rose blushed and smiled as he watched his fingers trace the shell of her ear. “You’re just saying that,” she demurred.
“I’m quite serious, Ms Tyler. They wouldn’t even give me my own ship when I graduated.”
“Oh, yeah, ‘cos that’s reassuring,” Rose quipped, her grin returning.
“Oi!”
Rose stuck her tongue out at him as the opening guitar licks of I Got You kicked into gear. She was bouncing along to the music again, and the Doctor backed off to give her more room to work in. He draped himself across the captain’s chair, appreciatively watching the swaying of Rose’s hips in time to the beat of the song. Rose was, of course, pretending not to notice exactly what he was watching now. She glanced at him sideways, her tongue between her teeth, and he arched an eyebrow at her in return, a cocky half-smile forming on his face.
“I thought you were meant to be supervising my piloting, not my bum,” she teased.
The Doctor sprang up from his seat and swept Rose away from the console as the song transitioned into the bridge, launching into an impromptu tango around the room. “And your point?”
“My point-”
She whooped as he swept her into a dip, then righted them again.
“-is that this is already taking about five times as long as it would if you were the one doing the driving, and you’re distracting me.”
“It’s a terribly clever technique to ensure that you can pilot the TARDIS successfully even under less than ideal conditions.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Fine,” he sighed in mock martyrdom, “I’ll let you get back to it then.”
Rose bussed him on the cheek and returned to the console, making final preparations, hemming and hawing to herself. He loafed casually against the neighbouring station and ooh that wasn’t quite right. The Doctor slowly moved around behind Rose, placed his hand lightly over the one she was using to guide the temporal yaw, and pulled backwards ever-so-gently to bring them in for a landing.
Rose smiled ruefully. “Thanks,” she murmured.
The TARDIS landed smoothly, her characteristic wheezing and huffing signalling their arrival at their destination. The Doctor cackled and launched himself down the entry ramp and readied himself to pull the doors open. “Ha!”
He turned to see what was taking Rose so long and bit back an inquiry when he saw her fussing with her hair. He’d hardly be the one to complain in that department. Instead he took the moment to properly appreciate the shapely curve of her calves, which those pedal-pushers showed off rather nicely. She sashayed down the ramp and slid her arm into his.
“Well, what are we waiting for?”
The Doctor smiled, spun on his heels, and opened the doors. He gestured to Rose genteelly. “After you, milady.”
Rose grinned cheekily as she swept past him and exited the TARDIS. “This is, like, totally... oh my god.”
The Doctor chuckled as he followed her out and turned to lock up the TARDIS. “Good effort, although it did tend more towards ‘omigawd!’”
Rose didn’t laugh. Why wasn’t Rose laughing? Come to think of it, it was suspiciously quiet altogether. The Doctor frowned, then turned to see what had rendered her speechless.
Rose stood with her hands on her hips, surveying their surroundings. He could see her mouth twist as she finished her initial inspection; she then regarded him over her shoulder with an incredulous expression.
Right, where were they?
They were in a long, sizeable, and moderately dusty room, featuring large columns, with cloth and simple tools and other bits of basic detritus scattered about. There were shafts of light coming in from what must be windows in neighbouring rooms.
“Huh. Don’t reckon we’ll be seeing any concerts here.” He sidled up to Rose, stuffed his hands into his pockets, and chewed his cheek thoughtfully. “Hang on, won’t be a tick.”
The Doctor let himself back into the TARDIS, bounded up to the console and checked the monitors. Rose stuck her head back over the threshold. “What’s wrong? What did I do?”
He shook his head and muttered to himself. “Knew I should’ve programmed her with the Yellow Pages.” He quickly switched off the monitor and strode confidently back to Rose’s side. “You did not do anything.I told her we were going to the 9:30 Cl-ohhhh.”
“Why is that a problem? That’s where we’re going.”
“I think I confused her with my insufficient specificity.” The Doctor looked chagrined. “Y’see, she was trying to take us to the 9:30 Club.”
“Only here that isn’t in the same place as it is... elsewhere?”
The Doctor tapped Rose’s nose affectionately. “Got it in one. Don’t think we should be too far off, though. Let’s go have a proper look!”
The Doctor and Rose stepped back out of the TARDIS, more carefully this time, and took a good solid look at their surroundings.
“Now where could she have put us? Hang on, I think I know where we are!”
Rose smirked and folded her arms. “Care to enlighten me?”
The Doctor skittered ahead and spun around. “Here, you see, the venue in which we are attending a concert is located in Alexandria-which is still in Washington, DC. Arlington and Alexandria never got returned to Virginia, so the capital is still a little diamond.” The Doctor made the shape with his hands, then started to point and, well. “C’mere.”
Rose grinned, and complied. She reached up (most obliging) and formed a diamond with her hands.
“So, right. If we’d been there, this is where we’d be trying to go-”
He pointed almost exactly in the centre of the diamond.
“-but here, this is where we needed to go.”
The Doctor pointed in the lower left quadrant of the diamond-spaced shape bounded by Rose’s hands. “Instead of being named after the other’s location at 930 F Street, Northwest, it’s named after its location here at 930 Mount Vernon Avenue.”
“Ahhh.” Rose nodded sagely.
“And as I can tell how thoroughly fascinated you are in a lecture on this America’s geographical minutiae, I’ll stop there.”
Rose smiled gratefully and dropped her arms.
“Except...” The Doctor quickly gauged Rose’s expression and thought better of repositioning her arms in the desired configuration. He settled for retracing the diamond in the air. “And we are about here. Here.” He pointed to almost exactly the same spot he’d pointed to the first time. Perhaps not the most helpful illustration.
The Doctor ambled forward, and Rose followed behind him, picking her way carefully across the floor.
“And where exactly is ‘here-here’?” she asked sceptically.
“This here, Rose Tyler, must be the former headquarters of the now-defunct Pensions Bureau. Which in a few years’ time, as you might guess from the structure surrounding us, is to be rehabilitated as a museum about buildings and the architecture and construction thereof.”
“Which means?”
“Which means we are but a hop, skip, and a jump-”
Rose arched an eyebrow.
“-or even shorter ride in a lovely climate-controlled taxi from the venue at which we have a marvellous concert to attend.”
“Let’s not mooch around here, then. Where’s the exit?”
The Doctor stuck his finger into his mouth and held it aloft.
Rose snorted. “What are you, twelve?”
The Doctor scoffed. “Sometimes the primitive methods are still the best, ta.”
Or not. He couldn’t get a good bead on the exit point. He sniffed the air. There was something wrong about it. He smacked his lips. Something about the taste of the dust in the air, the level of humidity… there was definitely something off here. And that nearest column-besides being excess to requirements (as far as he remembered), was it...? The Doctor stepped up to the column, felt its cool, sectioned surface up and down. He squatted and gave it a couple of raps at the base for good measure.
These columns... were concrete covered in marble.
Rose had come up behind him and was staring hard at the column. She brushed her fingers against his shoulder.
“Doctor, what’s wrong?”
After a moment, the Doctor stood and faced Rose, who had already stiffened and turned away from him. His tone was apologetic. “Rose, we really shouldn’t be here.”
Rose was peering intently in the direction of a scraping, shuffling sound that was growing progressively louder and was definitely coming their way.
“Oh my goodness,“ they heard a slightly echoing voice exclaim. “We weren’t told to be expecting visitors to the site today. Are you quite sure you’re where you need to be?”
The Doctor blinked. That voice. It couldn’t be.
********************************************************************
Approaching them at a brisk pace through the hall of columns was a middle-aged man who looked like a well-dressed extra from Rome, and who seemed to be in about as much fuss as the White Rabbit at the start of Alice in Wonderland.
It would be nice to think they’d landed in some backstage area at Terra Mítica (which already wouldn’t be anywhere near 1983 or America), but Rose knew better. She looked to the Doctor, who seemed seriously dazed. She smiled broadly and waved as the man continued bustling towards them, then looked back to the Doctor. Still nothing.
“The sound does rather carry in here,” the man called as he neared them, “what with all the marble. I couldn’t help but overhear that you thought you might be in the wrong place. May I be of assistance?”
The man looked expectantly first to the Doctor, then to Rose, then back to the Doctor, who looked as though he’d suddenly and unexpectedly swallowed a large rat.
One light kick to the shin later, he shook himself and offered a frozen smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. The Doctor stiffly whipped out their semi-psychic paper and offered it to the man, whose own smile was every bit as awkward as the Doctor’s.
“An inspection?” the man gasped, “I most sincerely apologize. I wasn’t told to expect any guests this week.”
Inspectors? Rose continued smiling her best Vitex-heiress smile.
Thankfully, the Doctor seemed to get the wind back in his sails, now that he had something to work with. “Well, that’s the nature of a surprise inspection, isn’t it?” he asked warmly.
“Ah, yes, of course,” the be-robed man concurred as he offered the Doctor his hand, “Lobus Caecilius. I’m responsible for the marble work here. Not one to boast, but through all of the Imperial buildings of the city in her totality these days. And you are?”
The Doctor returned Caecilius’ handshake eagerly and was grinning from ear to ear. “Spartacus.”
Rose couldn’t suppress a laugh, but followed it with an impromptu bout of coughing.
“I must apologize, Mrs Spartacus. There is rather a lot of dust in these areas under construction.”
Rose continued coughing delicately into her hand for effect, and let the Doctor answer for her. “Quite alright, only to be expected. You’re welcome to call her Rosa, if that makes it easier on you.”
Their host was clearly puzzled and gave Rose a slightly befuddled smile, but the Doctor looked fit to burst. He was practically beaming at Caecilius now. “Don’t suppose we might have a look around?”
“Ah, yes, quite. I’m afraid that right now there isn’t much current work to observe in this section. As you can see, we’ve already completed the cladding throughout these rooms. Most of my workers are currently assigned to other tasks in the anterior.”
“Oh, that’s no problem, always good to see a site without distractions-tabula rasa, as it were.”
Caecilius looked almost relieved as realisation dawned on his face. “Ah, you’re Celtic!”
What is he on about? The Doctor looked like he couldn’t wait to explain that one to her once they were alone.
“Very well travelled, apparently,” Caecilius remarked, “Britain or Rome, quite a long way to have travelled-and I should know, having made the move from Rome myself.”
Caecilius looked them both up and down. “And it does seem as though you’ve only just arrived. It’s nearing midday, but I’d be glad to give you a tour of the expansion areas before we retire for lunch. Perhaps you and your wife... I’m sorry, Rohsh? Roysh? I haven’t had much exposure to the languages of your peoples,” he offered apologetically.
Rose smiled genuinely now, and reassured him. “Rose is fine.”
Caecilius looked grateful, and redirected his query to the Doctor. “Perhaps you and your wife would care to join my family for the meal?”
“Oh, that’d be splendid!” the Doctor exclaimed.
“Afterwards there should just about be enough time for you to have a stop by the remainder of the construction before it halts for the evening. I can have one of my men speak with the overseers about reviewing another area of the expansion.”
“I’m more of a marble man myself, to be honest-anyone can mix concrete, but it’s the marble details that make our buildings remarkable.”
Oh, well played. She looked under her lashes at the Doctor, who gave her a quick wink.
Caecilius brightened and stood up very straight. “I would be most honoured to take you on a tour of one of our quarries tomorrow. Or perhaps of my men’s workshops later today if you like.”
“That would be just fine, Caecilius. I’ll tell you what, how about we conduct that tour on the way outside? I’m afraid the air in here might be getting a bit much for my wife.”
Rose pursed her lips and coughed gamely. She hoped she wasn’t going to have to keep this up for too much longer or the man was going to think she had TB.
“Yes, of course. Of course. Shall we?” Caecilius offered solicitously. “May I bid you welcome, Mr and Mrs Spartacus, to the Royal Library of Alexandria!”
------------------------------------------------------------------
Part 2
Author: principia_coh
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Rose/Ten II
Summary: Waylaid en route to a holiday, the Doctor and Rose encounter unexpected wonders... and new dangers.
Author’s notes: Thanks to ginamak and leighleighla for their excellent and patient beta work!
Episode 9 of a virtual series at the_altverse, following The Wretched Hive last week.
Virtual Series Masterlist
-------------------------------------------------------------
If any creatures had been present while the TARDIS hurtled pell-mell through the Vortex, they might have heard the energetic strains of late 20th-century Earth pop music issuing forth as she whizzed past them. As it was, inside the TARDIS one Rose Tyler was trying very hard to concentrate on the task of keeping bone-jarring shudders to a minimum, while her husband did his level best to distract her from it. After all, what was a little in-flight shaking and stirring to the two of them?
The Doctor danced in frenetic circles around the console, crooning along loudly with said energetic pop music...
“Hard act to follow, you’re a hard act to follow...”
...and periodically bouncing into his wife, grinning madly as he tried to get her into the proper frame of mind. He could hardly blame Rose for not even recognising the name Split Enz; after all, even here in Pete’s World they’d broken up and moved on to other projects before she was born and Jackie Tyler was, well, a Cliff fan. But one of the many attributes that served to make Rose so brilliant was her eagerness to sop up everything life had to offer, and he was only too happy to offer himself up as the metaphorical piece of bread she could use to... mmm, garlic bread.
Blimey, maybe they should have eaten before they left.
“All I want is you and you and you and you and you, encore, encore, encore, encore...”
He finished a circuit and bumped shoulders with Rose, who despite all pretence of seriousness had been, and in fact still was, bopping in place to the music as she visited each of the stations and struggling to not laugh at his antics.
“Would you stop?” Rose barely managed past a giggle, finally breaking out into a grin.
“Now that’s more like it! That’s the smile I want to see when I’m taking my lovely wife to the absolutely fantastic concert we are about to attend.”
“Who exactly is doing the driving here?” she cracked.
“Supervised, thank you very much, some of us are still on their provisional licence,” the Doctor countered as he deftly reached around Rose to rotate the Hyxmeri deceleration flange so they would materialise in place rather than come skidding in for a landing.
Young as this TARDIS might be, she still didn’t much like having her bottom scraped along pavement. He continued moving around the console as the music switched to one of the band’s instrumental pieces, casually rechecking the various settings in the hopes that Rose wouldn’t feel as though he were marking her work.
He caught sight of Rose’s shoulders slumping ever so slightly, and her smile fading. She’d noticed.
“Tell you what, though,” he chirped, “hell of a lot better than I ever did at the Academy.” The Doctor sidled up to Rose and murmured to her as he brushed a lock of hair away from her face. “I can say without a doubt that I’ve got the fastest-learning co-pilot anywhere.”
Rose blushed and smiled as he watched his fingers trace the shell of her ear. “You’re just saying that,” she demurred.
“I’m quite serious, Ms Tyler. They wouldn’t even give me my own ship when I graduated.”
“Oh, yeah, ‘cos that’s reassuring,” Rose quipped, her grin returning.
“Oi!”
Rose stuck her tongue out at him as the opening guitar licks of I Got You kicked into gear. She was bouncing along to the music again, and the Doctor backed off to give her more room to work in. He draped himself across the captain’s chair, appreciatively watching the swaying of Rose’s hips in time to the beat of the song. Rose was, of course, pretending not to notice exactly what he was watching now. She glanced at him sideways, her tongue between her teeth, and he arched an eyebrow at her in return, a cocky half-smile forming on his face.
“I thought you were meant to be supervising my piloting, not my bum,” she teased.
The Doctor sprang up from his seat and swept Rose away from the console as the song transitioned into the bridge, launching into an impromptu tango around the room. “And your point?”
“My point-”
She whooped as he swept her into a dip, then righted them again.
“-is that this is already taking about five times as long as it would if you were the one doing the driving, and you’re distracting me.”
“It’s a terribly clever technique to ensure that you can pilot the TARDIS successfully even under less than ideal conditions.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Fine,” he sighed in mock martyrdom, “I’ll let you get back to it then.”
Rose bussed him on the cheek and returned to the console, making final preparations, hemming and hawing to herself. He loafed casually against the neighbouring station and ooh that wasn’t quite right. The Doctor slowly moved around behind Rose, placed his hand lightly over the one she was using to guide the temporal yaw, and pulled backwards ever-so-gently to bring them in for a landing.
Rose smiled ruefully. “Thanks,” she murmured.
The TARDIS landed smoothly, her characteristic wheezing and huffing signalling their arrival at their destination. The Doctor cackled and launched himself down the entry ramp and readied himself to pull the doors open. “Ha!”
He turned to see what was taking Rose so long and bit back an inquiry when he saw her fussing with her hair. He’d hardly be the one to complain in that department. Instead he took the moment to properly appreciate the shapely curve of her calves, which those pedal-pushers showed off rather nicely. She sashayed down the ramp and slid her arm into his.
“Well, what are we waiting for?”
The Doctor smiled, spun on his heels, and opened the doors. He gestured to Rose genteelly. “After you, milady.”
Rose grinned cheekily as she swept past him and exited the TARDIS. “This is, like, totally... oh my god.”
The Doctor chuckled as he followed her out and turned to lock up the TARDIS. “Good effort, although it did tend more towards ‘omigawd!’”
Rose didn’t laugh. Why wasn’t Rose laughing? Come to think of it, it was suspiciously quiet altogether. The Doctor frowned, then turned to see what had rendered her speechless.
Rose stood with her hands on her hips, surveying their surroundings. He could see her mouth twist as she finished her initial inspection; she then regarded him over her shoulder with an incredulous expression.
Right, where were they?
They were in a long, sizeable, and moderately dusty room, featuring large columns, with cloth and simple tools and other bits of basic detritus scattered about. There were shafts of light coming in from what must be windows in neighbouring rooms.
“Huh. Don’t reckon we’ll be seeing any concerts here.” He sidled up to Rose, stuffed his hands into his pockets, and chewed his cheek thoughtfully. “Hang on, won’t be a tick.”
The Doctor let himself back into the TARDIS, bounded up to the console and checked the monitors. Rose stuck her head back over the threshold. “What’s wrong? What did I do?”
He shook his head and muttered to himself. “Knew I should’ve programmed her with the Yellow Pages.” He quickly switched off the monitor and strode confidently back to Rose’s side. “You did not do anything.I told her we were going to the 9:30 Cl-ohhhh.”
“Why is that a problem? That’s where we’re going.”
“I think I confused her with my insufficient specificity.” The Doctor looked chagrined. “Y’see, she was trying to take us to the 9:30 Club.”
“Only here that isn’t in the same place as it is... elsewhere?”
The Doctor tapped Rose’s nose affectionately. “Got it in one. Don’t think we should be too far off, though. Let’s go have a proper look!”
The Doctor and Rose stepped back out of the TARDIS, more carefully this time, and took a good solid look at their surroundings.
“Now where could she have put us? Hang on, I think I know where we are!”
Rose smirked and folded her arms. “Care to enlighten me?”
The Doctor skittered ahead and spun around. “Here, you see, the venue in which we are attending a concert is located in Alexandria-which is still in Washington, DC. Arlington and Alexandria never got returned to Virginia, so the capital is still a little diamond.” The Doctor made the shape with his hands, then started to point and, well. “C’mere.”
Rose grinned, and complied. She reached up (most obliging) and formed a diamond with her hands.
“So, right. If we’d been there, this is where we’d be trying to go-”
He pointed almost exactly in the centre of the diamond.
“-but here, this is where we needed to go.”
The Doctor pointed in the lower left quadrant of the diamond-spaced shape bounded by Rose’s hands. “Instead of being named after the other’s location at 930 F Street, Northwest, it’s named after its location here at 930 Mount Vernon Avenue.”
“Ahhh.” Rose nodded sagely.
“And as I can tell how thoroughly fascinated you are in a lecture on this America’s geographical minutiae, I’ll stop there.”
Rose smiled gratefully and dropped her arms.
“Except...” The Doctor quickly gauged Rose’s expression and thought better of repositioning her arms in the desired configuration. He settled for retracing the diamond in the air. “And we are about here. Here.” He pointed to almost exactly the same spot he’d pointed to the first time. Perhaps not the most helpful illustration.
The Doctor ambled forward, and Rose followed behind him, picking her way carefully across the floor.
“And where exactly is ‘here-here’?” she asked sceptically.
“This here, Rose Tyler, must be the former headquarters of the now-defunct Pensions Bureau. Which in a few years’ time, as you might guess from the structure surrounding us, is to be rehabilitated as a museum about buildings and the architecture and construction thereof.”
“Which means?”
“Which means we are but a hop, skip, and a jump-”
Rose arched an eyebrow.
“-or even shorter ride in a lovely climate-controlled taxi from the venue at which we have a marvellous concert to attend.”
“Let’s not mooch around here, then. Where’s the exit?”
The Doctor stuck his finger into his mouth and held it aloft.
Rose snorted. “What are you, twelve?”
The Doctor scoffed. “Sometimes the primitive methods are still the best, ta.”
Or not. He couldn’t get a good bead on the exit point. He sniffed the air. There was something wrong about it. He smacked his lips. Something about the taste of the dust in the air, the level of humidity… there was definitely something off here. And that nearest column-besides being excess to requirements (as far as he remembered), was it...? The Doctor stepped up to the column, felt its cool, sectioned surface up and down. He squatted and gave it a couple of raps at the base for good measure.
These columns... were concrete covered in marble.
Rose had come up behind him and was staring hard at the column. She brushed her fingers against his shoulder.
“Doctor, what’s wrong?”
After a moment, the Doctor stood and faced Rose, who had already stiffened and turned away from him. His tone was apologetic. “Rose, we really shouldn’t be here.”
Rose was peering intently in the direction of a scraping, shuffling sound that was growing progressively louder and was definitely coming their way.
“Oh my goodness,“ they heard a slightly echoing voice exclaim. “We weren’t told to be expecting visitors to the site today. Are you quite sure you’re where you need to be?”
The Doctor blinked. That voice. It couldn’t be.
********************************************************************
Approaching them at a brisk pace through the hall of columns was a middle-aged man who looked like a well-dressed extra from Rome, and who seemed to be in about as much fuss as the White Rabbit at the start of Alice in Wonderland.
It would be nice to think they’d landed in some backstage area at Terra Mítica (which already wouldn’t be anywhere near 1983 or America), but Rose knew better. She looked to the Doctor, who seemed seriously dazed. She smiled broadly and waved as the man continued bustling towards them, then looked back to the Doctor. Still nothing.
“The sound does rather carry in here,” the man called as he neared them, “what with all the marble. I couldn’t help but overhear that you thought you might be in the wrong place. May I be of assistance?”
The man looked expectantly first to the Doctor, then to Rose, then back to the Doctor, who looked as though he’d suddenly and unexpectedly swallowed a large rat.
One light kick to the shin later, he shook himself and offered a frozen smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. The Doctor stiffly whipped out their semi-psychic paper and offered it to the man, whose own smile was every bit as awkward as the Doctor’s.
“An inspection?” the man gasped, “I most sincerely apologize. I wasn’t told to expect any guests this week.”
Inspectors? Rose continued smiling her best Vitex-heiress smile.
Thankfully, the Doctor seemed to get the wind back in his sails, now that he had something to work with. “Well, that’s the nature of a surprise inspection, isn’t it?” he asked warmly.
“Ah, yes, of course,” the be-robed man concurred as he offered the Doctor his hand, “Lobus Caecilius. I’m responsible for the marble work here. Not one to boast, but through all of the Imperial buildings of the city in her totality these days. And you are?”
The Doctor returned Caecilius’ handshake eagerly and was grinning from ear to ear. “Spartacus.”
Rose couldn’t suppress a laugh, but followed it with an impromptu bout of coughing.
“I must apologize, Mrs Spartacus. There is rather a lot of dust in these areas under construction.”
Rose continued coughing delicately into her hand for effect, and let the Doctor answer for her. “Quite alright, only to be expected. You’re welcome to call her Rosa, if that makes it easier on you.”
Their host was clearly puzzled and gave Rose a slightly befuddled smile, but the Doctor looked fit to burst. He was practically beaming at Caecilius now. “Don’t suppose we might have a look around?”
“Ah, yes, quite. I’m afraid that right now there isn’t much current work to observe in this section. As you can see, we’ve already completed the cladding throughout these rooms. Most of my workers are currently assigned to other tasks in the anterior.”
“Oh, that’s no problem, always good to see a site without distractions-tabula rasa, as it were.”
Caecilius looked almost relieved as realisation dawned on his face. “Ah, you’re Celtic!”
What is he on about? The Doctor looked like he couldn’t wait to explain that one to her once they were alone.
“Very well travelled, apparently,” Caecilius remarked, “Britain or Rome, quite a long way to have travelled-and I should know, having made the move from Rome myself.”
Caecilius looked them both up and down. “And it does seem as though you’ve only just arrived. It’s nearing midday, but I’d be glad to give you a tour of the expansion areas before we retire for lunch. Perhaps you and your wife... I’m sorry, Rohsh? Roysh? I haven’t had much exposure to the languages of your peoples,” he offered apologetically.
Rose smiled genuinely now, and reassured him. “Rose is fine.”
Caecilius looked grateful, and redirected his query to the Doctor. “Perhaps you and your wife would care to join my family for the meal?”
“Oh, that’d be splendid!” the Doctor exclaimed.
“Afterwards there should just about be enough time for you to have a stop by the remainder of the construction before it halts for the evening. I can have one of my men speak with the overseers about reviewing another area of the expansion.”
“I’m more of a marble man myself, to be honest-anyone can mix concrete, but it’s the marble details that make our buildings remarkable.”
Oh, well played. She looked under her lashes at the Doctor, who gave her a quick wink.
Caecilius brightened and stood up very straight. “I would be most honoured to take you on a tour of one of our quarries tomorrow. Or perhaps of my men’s workshops later today if you like.”
“That would be just fine, Caecilius. I’ll tell you what, how about we conduct that tour on the way outside? I’m afraid the air in here might be getting a bit much for my wife.”
Rose pursed her lips and coughed gamely. She hoped she wasn’t going to have to keep this up for too much longer or the man was going to think she had TB.
“Yes, of course. Of course. Shall we?” Caecilius offered solicitously. “May I bid you welcome, Mr and Mrs Spartacus, to the Royal Library of Alexandria!”
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Part 2