For professorsong: An adventure in time and space

[rude_not_ginger]

The Doctor stepped from the TARDIS.

This was the best bit. The best part was the not knowing. The best part was when his foot stepped down on the ground and it was a foreign place and his foot touched new ground and it was new. Never touched by him before.

The Doctor's first love was the universe. This was that sort of moment.

The acrid smell of burning filled his nose and his foot landed on cold metal. A spaceship, burning somewhere in space. Wires hung from the ceiling, and panels fell from the walls. A person sat hunched over a panel and the Doctor raced over to her. No, dead.

"What happened here?" he asked aloud.

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[rude_not_ginger]

The Doctor caught the dress with one hand and stared, slack-jawed, at River.

She was teasing him? Was this some sort of flirting?

She grabbed a different shirt and the Doctor turned to leave the room, give her some privacy. Whatever they were in the future, they weren't that yet, and he wasn't about to...well, whatever.

[professorsong]

She let herself laugh finally as she heard him turning to go. Because if she didn't laugh soon she might burst. She moved her stuff to sit comfortably in the new outfit, swapping the shoes for a pair of stiletto heels she always kept there because they looked one kind of lethal and were a whole other kind of lethal. And of course she wouldn't have bought them all if they weren't comfortable for running in. "Looks like a pump, feels like a sneaker," she murmured to herself, amused.

Then she fixed her hair and went to his section, picking him out a rather nice tie. That in hand, she went to find him.

[rude_not_ginger]

The Doctor stood at the console, looking over the controls. Six thousand years in the past.

"The Garner Quadrant," he announced as he heard her enter.

[professorsong]

She leaned over his back to look at the readout and nodded. "Beautiful this time of year. So, she tell you why we're here yet?"

[rude_not_ginger]

She knew the Garner Quadrant? Had the Doctor taken her to the Garner Quadrant? He had so many questions.

"Not yet," he said. He flipped on the screen to the outside, which showed an expanse of black water, glimmering in moonlight. "We're on Alpha Beta 9, one of the moons of Geterzo."

He glanced at her. "Haven't been to Alpha Beta 9, have you?"

[professorsong]

She chuckled. "Now now, you know I can't answer that, sweetie. But I can tell you this..." she held up the tie. "Put this one on, but the other in your inner jacket pocket. Trust me."

When in doubt, sound mysterious. Sound like you know more than you do. Lesson 57.

[rude_not_ginger]

He took the tie, but looked down at it dubiously, as though it might bite him. He defiantly tucked it into his pocket.

"Shall we, then?"

He considered offering her his hand. It felt right to. But he decided against it.

[professorsong]

She frowned when he put it in her pocket and shook her head. As though disappointed with him. "fine but if that is how you are handling the tie, I'll walk behind you till we're fully out."

As though changing the tie might have kept him safer perhaps? So long as he was wondering about the tie he'd be less focused on picking her identity apart, after all.

[rude_not_ginger]

"For someone who can't tell a lot of spoilers, you do play a lot of games," he said.

With that, he stepped over and pulled open the TARDIS door.

The TARDIS was situation slightly crookedly on the edge of a beach. The beach was far from normal, every sand grain was glowing with warm, golden light that glimmered across the black waves. In the distance, a silver forest could be seen, its leaves glimmering.

The sky was possibly the most impressive. A huge, ringed planet sat in the night sky, along with a nebula, glowing brightly for all to see.

"We're six thousand years in the past," he said. "No one has come to colonize this moon yet."

[professorsong]

"I somehow doubt she brought us here for a romantic stroll on the beach," she said, dryly. Yes she did play games. Three guesses where she learned to do that?

[rude_not_ginger]

"No," the Doctor said, stepping out onto the beach. The grains of sand were warm, almost hot through his trainers. "No. And I'm not certain she was just taking us here. She could have been running from something."

The Doctor thought of Jack, of the TARDIS fleeing to the end of the universe to get away from him.

[professorsong]

She considered that. "If you really think she was... there is one way to find out." It would mean admitting that she had the vortex manipulator. But if there was something out there that was a danger to the Tardis she wanted to know about it. And take care of it. Once and for all if need be. "Without forcing her to go back."

[rude_not_ginger]

The Doctor glanced back at River, one eyebrow raised. "How?"

What trick did River have up her sleeve this time?

[professorsong]

Up her sleeve was exactly right, Doctor. She grinned and offered him her arm. "Shall we, Doctor?"

[rude_not_ginger]

"A vortex manipulator?" the Doctor said, taking a step forward. "Where did you get one of these?" A pause. "And...you know, why?"

Was she a time agent, like Jack had been? Did she steal it from Jack? Did all archeologists have them in the 51st century?

[professorsong]

"Of course I know why I have it, Doctor. And by your own rules I can't and won't answer the rest. But hold on tight. It might be a bumpy ride..."

[rude_not_ginger]

"What do you mean my rules----" he starts. There are too many mysteries. Too many things he doesn't know.

All the same, he reaches out to take her wrist.

[professorsong]

She shook her head and looped her arm around his and then hit the recall to last coordinates button, popping them back to the hall where she had appeared.

[rude_not_ginger]

A burst of electricity shoots from one of the open panels. Everything on the ship is, as far as the Doctor can tell, dying or already dead. Why would the TARDIS be afraid of this? He steps over to a panel and gives it a wave with the sonic screwdriver, buzzing it quickly to life.

"The spaceship Teraria, planning to land on Alta Meta 5," the Doctor says.

[professorsong]

She pulled out her own sonic to study another panel. She was looking for crew manifest, cargo, and alert history log.

[rude_not_ginger]

The Doctor glanced at the sonic. Her sonic. This was near the end, then. Some point when he gave her the sonic screwdriver.

"So...when is this for you, then?" he asked, trying to sound casual. "Where...are we this time?"

[professorsong]

She lowered her sonic and turned to face him with a grin. "Want to compare journals, Doctor? Alright you first."

[rude_not_ginger]

What's her game? What was she playing at?

"Early for us," he said. "Very early. What about you?"

[professorsong]

"Oh, a little past early, I'd say. We done Jim the fish yet?" she asked, eyes twinkling with amusement. She knew the answer already, of course. She had chosen her coordinates carefully.

[rude_not_ginger]

"Jim the Fish?" the Doctor asked, incredulously. "What kind of fish?"

It sounded like they had quite the life.

"Picnic at Asguard," he said. "You told me once we did that."