for galeforcehero and <lj site="livejournal.com" user="willrevile

[rude_not_ginger]

Right, so the Doctor was becoming increasingly aware of how very bad he was at steering. Or, at least, how very bad the TARDIS was at listening to his steering directions. He did say he wanted to go to Corsicroz Minor, but, instead, he found they had landed somewhere else.

"It's Saturday, at least," he said, pulling on his coat. He glanced at the screen on the console, then tossed the coat aside. "Temperature's at a lovely 40 degrees---um, that's around 98 degrees for you two---and the radiation's good, atmosphere's good. Should be quite nice out."

He looked over to his companions, trying for a 'this is an improvement' grin. He was looking forward to Corsicroz, but, really, a new and exciting place? So much better.

Comments

[galeforcehero.livejournal.com]

"I'm not getting anything," she says in response to Jim, although possibly that's not very clear to her companions. Still, it's the truth.

Dorothy takes her time examining the car (especially the empty baby seat). That puddle is basically self-explanatory, and she for one is not about to go poking around it trying to find the source of all that... stuff. Mostly she's afraid she'll find the baby. Or what's left of it.

"Lack of people's bad enough, but... I mean, listen. I don't hear any birds. We're on the water, there oughta be birds everywhere. Nothing. No animals anywhere."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor pulls out his sonic and gives the area a quick scan. "No alien lifeforms, either. Just the three of us, and the TARDIS."

He looks back to the water. Still. Perfectly still. No boats, no swimmers, no marine life.

"Maybe we should go back to the TARDIS," the Doctor says, because this is an important thing to suggest. He then begins walking further into town. The shops look deserted, and the televisions only show a buzz of static. He grabs a paper from a bench.

BRUSHFIRES DESTROY BUILDINGS IN NEW MILITARIZED ZONE. He remembers the creation of the militarized zone from the history books, but he can't remember exactly why.

"January 24th!" he says, showing them. "I said so!"

[willrevile.livejournal.com]

Jim is occasionally known to be this side of reckless (you know, sometimes), so it doesn't strike him as odd that the Doctor suggests they get back to the ship and then does the opposite. It's a good suggestion - not one that Jim is going to take, but he's sure he means well.

"Someday you're going to find a planet that doesn't use newspaper," he says, and looks over his shoulder at it. The events don't ring a bell for him, either, but it's so long ago on his timeline that it could have probably said lollipops had come to life and he wouldn't know any better.

[galeforcehero.livejournal.com]

He says this, and he never does it. Ever. Dorothy gives a tiny sigh to this effect, but gives a wary look to Jim, as if to say, be on your guard. Like he needs reminding, but shush, she's a warrior princess, it's sort of her job to be overly cautious. And in case anyone ever deigns to remember, she is like a hundred years older than Jim, so that's two reasons she feels like she's in charge of his welfare.

Which, given his propensity to have the crap beaten out of him, is a hell of a thing to be responsible for.

"Maybe there was a virus," she speculates. "Maybe the place was evacuated, abandoned. Might explain the 'Militarized Zone', if there was a state of emergency."

Look at her, attempting to use logic. She ought to know better. "But if that's the case, wouldn't there be signs up or something? Directing people to safety, I mean."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"And the TARDIS would've picked up signs of an airborne contagion," the Doctor says. "No, this was something else. Something bigger."

Somewhere down the street, something tinny and hollow hits the ground with a clang. The Doctor looks up to see something run down an alley. He can't really keep the excited look off of his face as he gives chase.

"Wait!" he calls.

[willrevile.livejournal.com]

There are airborne viruses that are short-lived outside a host, Jim knows, but he figures the Doctor knows that, too. "Disease isn't enough to keep people hidden," he remarks, looking skyward. "Precautions can be taken to move around - there'd have to be some kind of legitimate threat to clear people out like--"

And then there's a noise, and the Doctor is off. Jim does not go for his phaser, valiantly, though the look he shoots Dorothy and the space between them in the TARDIS (just to check) is much more calculating than usual. "He's worse than I am," he mutters, and then moves, not wanting to lose sight of anybody.

[galeforcehero.livejournal.com]

Dorothy's equally as wary, equally as quickly, but she's off like a shot after the Doctor. Lord knows the trouble he gets up to when he's left to his own devices, and if he's going to corner somebody who knows what's happened here, she wants to be there when the questions get asked.

She didn't see the thing very clearly. It looked fairly person-sized, but it was some distance away, moving, and only out of the corner of her eye. They could be chasing a dog or something. Although there's always the possibility that even a dog could give them more information about exactly what's going on.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Wait!" the Doctor calls. He nearly stumbles into the alley wall, but catches himself. The person, creature, whatever, has already run almost the whole length of the alley.

"How'd he get so far?" he mutters aloud. Now, the Doctor is a lot of things and not all of them are good, but stupid is not one of them. This looks like it could be a trap. Gated fence on the other side, no escape along the walls. Not even a fire escape. By himself, he'd go ahead without a hesitation. But he's not alone this time, and they could get hurt.

He controls his curiosity for another couple of seconds, then darts down the street, past the alley, cutting along the other side of the building to hopefully cut whoever it was off.

[willrevile.livejournal.com]

Jim's sure he could clear that fence, but who knows about the other two. So, it's not human, and it's either not alive (machine? manifestation? projection?), or it's capable of avoiding detection. "It's leading us somewhere," he muses aloud, mostly to himself.

He still follows, but now he's looking up, at the building windows and the rooftops, for movement or reflections, or-- there. He stops, and whatever shadow he saw in a window high above them darts away.

"Hey!" Jim calls after the Doctor, now. "Heads up, we're being watched!"

[galeforcehero.livejournal.com]

Oh something's happened here, alright. The streets Dorothy's shoes pound against as she runs (as silently as she can) are cracked and uneven, as if an earthquake hit just this one single street somehow, as if something from below somehow pushed up through it. As if this all wasn't unsettling enough.

She very nearly skids to a stop at Jim's warning. Watched? She feels nothing. There isn't a single living person aside from herself, the Doctor and Jim for as far as she can sense, and they're being watched. Robots? Some kind of life form she doesn't recognize? That's a very slim chance. And yet.

Seeing the Doctor cut around the building, Dorothy runs blind down the alley, attempting to box the... creature in. There's a tall fence at the end, shut, but she figures she can climb it in less than five seconds, so it's worth giving it a shot, even if the thing bolts. It speaks a lot to her respect for Jim's job description that she just assumes he'll follow her-- tactically, it's the best choice. Unless he can somehow get a vantage point from above, that's where he'll go, she thinks. All assumptions, naturally, but that's how things usually work in the TARDIS. You just need to have faith.