The Hidden Well, Chapter One
Jul. 11th, 2007 09:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kalleahLadies and gentlemen ... I come bearing fic. I do not mean a one-shot or a PWP. I mean a full-fledged, multi-chapter, plotty fic.
This is a sequel to The Calm Before the Storm and Voyages of Discovery, taking place an indeterminate amount of time after the events of Voyages. I've written this story with the intention of having it be readable for someone who hasn't read the earlier stories, but there are references to them here and there.
I won't be posting at the breakneck speed I have previously. This story is much more plot-intensive than the other two, which were more focused on character development, and the chapters are longer. Consequently, it's taking me some time to get everything nicely settled. I'll probably post twice a week.
Thanks so much to my betas,ivydoor (who also made the lovely icon I'm using), np_complete , platypus , and sensiblecat , who've put up with endless tweaking of the first two chapters in particular and my whining about never getting into another multi-part fic. (Incidentally, as I keep saying that, I keep having more ideas.)
Pairing: Ten/Rose.
Rating: PG, and likely to stay that way.
This is a sequel to The Calm Before the Storm and Voyages of Discovery, taking place an indeterminate amount of time after the events of Voyages. I've written this story with the intention of having it be readable for someone who hasn't read the earlier stories, but there are references to them here and there.
I won't be posting at the breakneck speed I have previously. This story is much more plot-intensive than the other two, which were more focused on character development, and the chapters are longer. Consequently, it's taking me some time to get everything nicely settled. I'll probably post twice a week.
Thanks so much to my betas,
ivydoor (who also made the lovely icon I'm using), np_complete , platypus , and sensiblecat , who've put up with endless tweaking of the first two chapters in particular and my whining about never getting into another multi-part fic. (Incidentally, as I keep saying that, I keep having more ideas.)Pairing: Ten/Rose.
Rating: PG, and likely to stay that way.
--
“What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
--
Rose sat on the captain's chair, bundled in the Doctor's long coat, with her knees folded into her chest and her arms wrapped tightly around her legs. She shivered involuntarily and the Doctor gave her an apologetic look as he gestured with the sonic screwdriver in one hand and a bristling, many-pointed metal part in the other.
"Sorry," he said, for perhaps the fortieth time since the climate control had gone wonky a few hours ago. "Do you want me to get you a blanket?"
"No," she said from between chattering teeth. "Just keep working."
With a grin that looked more like a grimace, he knelt to scoot under the console with the screwdriver and the rather threatening looking part that he swore would fix whatever it was that had broken. Rose distracted herself by eyeing his bum, aimed skyward in her direction and shifting slightly from side to side as he worked. It was, she considered, a very nicely shaped bum, framed well by tight trousers, and her hands would fit quite nicely around –
Well, those thoughts might distract her indeed from the cold, but if she kept thinking them, she suspected she might have to do something about them, and then no one would be fixing the climate control, would they?
The Doctor emerged from under the console and rubbed the back of his head with a somewhat pained expression on his face. "What did you say?" he asked. "I'm trying to concentrate on analyzing the climate control to see what fizzled out."
Had she said something out loud? "Fine, concentrate all you want," she told him. "I'll get a blanket."
"Fine," he echoed, sliding back below the console. "And I am not coming with you."
She grinned.
The walk to their room was longer than normal, and she could hear a slightly discordant, disapproving hum from the TARDIS. The ship seemed to enjoy Rose keeping the Doctor on his toes, but she did have a tendency to object when Rose kept him from his usual maintenance or repair work. Well, she considered, I'd object if the TARDIS kept distracting him when he was working on me … She giggled again, and sighed as the corridor seemed to draw out twice as long as it had before. "Sorry, girl," she said repentantly, playing her fingertips along the coral wall as she walked. A faint prickling buzzed up through her hand, almost like a shock from static electricity. The TARDIS is not amused.
Rose finally reached the door and stepped inside. When she had settled back into life in the TARDIS, her old room had simply, astonishingly expanded to suit the needs of two. The room itself was larger, with a comfortable, high-backed armchair in the corner where there had not been one before, and her bed, formerly a twin, was now easily twice that size. The Doctor had raised one elegant eyebrow at the transformation, apparently as surprised as she, and dropped onto her bed with a puff of pastel blankets.
"Trainers," she had squeaked in protest, and he had kicked the offending shoes off and pulled her down into bed with him. She had quite forgotten about the shoes then. Much later, she noticed that he had knocked over her waste paper bin with one and toppled a mess of crumpled paper and other detritus onto the floor. And then, she hadn't truly been bothered at all.
She searched through her clothes to find a long scarf, which she wound around her neck, and a knit cap, finding both items more manageable than a blanket. Rather than returning to the console room, she sat cross-legged on the floor and pulled a box of photographs out from under the bed. She had sorted some of the items the Doctor had retrieved from her mum's flat after Canary Wharf, but she never seemed to manage more than an hour or so at a time.
Rose was quickly lost in her task, adding the photographs to several stacks arranged around her on the floor. She wanted, with her mum so untouchable in the other universe, to frame a few photos for remembrance. Jackie had been great at taking photos, but hadn't really done more than put a few in frames and toss the rest into a great unsorted mess in a few boxes.
She laughed when she found a series of photos of the two of them, from right after she'd first started at the shop, trying on hats. In one, Jackie struck a fashion-model pout under a bright purple pillbox hat that barely fit over her wild hair. It was so precisely the kind of hat that an aging dowager would wear to church, and incongruous on her mother to the point of absurdity.
A noise in the door interrupted her, and she looked up to see the Doctor, with a bemused look on his face, looking down at her. "Purple is a good color for both of you," he said.
"What?"
"Purple." He gestured to the photo in her hands. "You ought to wear it more." He smiled gently and came to sit down beside her.
"Did you fix the climate control?" she asked, leaning against his side.
"Yep," he said cheerfully. "Should be back to normal in a few minutes." He tugged at the end of the scarf. "Pity though. I rather like this."
She removed the hat, felt her hair crackle with static electricity, and ran her hands through the long strands to smooth them down. "Can we go somewhere warm next?"
"Certainly," he said obligingly. "Where do you have in mind?"
She didn't point out to him that her knowledge of the universe was a trifle smaller than his, and she might not be the best person to make recommendations about their next trip. But, she supposed, she could give him some guidelines.
"Warm," she reiterated. The cold was rapidly dissipating, as he had said it would, but she had had enough of it for the time being. "How about … somewhere with a nice sunset? And some good food."
"Sunset, good food, warm," he repeated, letting his eyes drift to the ceiling. "I've got it," he said triumphantly after a moment. He hopped up, pulling her with him. "Lycoras. Brilliant sunsets – they have two small suns – and there's a little restaurant right on the western edge of their largest continent with great views and even better omelets."
"Omelets?" she queried, a little amused.
"Trust me," he said enthusiastically, and towed her back to the console room.
…
Rose's teeth clicked painfully together as the TARDIS landed with a thump, and she unceremoniously landed on her bottom. She glared at the Doctor, who had been holding onto several levers and had avoided a similar fall. He smiled sheepishly at her and extended his hand to help her up.
"Sorry," he said, rubbing the back of his neck and raising his eyebrows, trying to gauge her reaction.
That was apology number forty-one for today, she thought with amusement. "I ought to know better by now. Maybe we can put in some sort of safety harness?"
"Aw, where's the fun in that?" He winked and pivoted around dramatically, snatching his long coat off the captain's chair where she had discarded it earlier. Without giving it any thought, she helped him into the coat. It was part of their routine, so easily re-established after her unexpected return.
The Doctor threw the door open and stepped outside, his walk confident and a little swaggering. Rose followed with slightly more caution and squinted into the bright sunlight. It looked like her own sun, yellow and white and radiating warmth onto the top of her head and her shoulders. There was, notably, only the one sun visible, which meant that the Doctor had once again missed his mark. It was also not sunset. As a matter of fact, it appeared to be almost exactly noon.
There was also something off about the cloudless, pale blue sky; it shimmered and seemed to gently undulate above them, like a transparent sail.
"Not Lycoras, then?" she said, stating the obvious.
He squinted up at the lone sun and then around at their surroundings, looking a little betrayed. "Just a slight miscalculation somewhere along the line," he protested.
"Your miscalculations usually end up with us stumbling upon some dire plot and running for our lives," she said, still smiling.
"I never stumble." He leaned in and kissed her, his lips thoroughly exploring hers. She reached up to tug on his lapels while his hands settled on her hips. "Want to go back inside?" he asked in a soft voice.
"What, and miss out on all the fun here?" she teased. She kissed his cheek with a loud smack and withdrew long enough to take an appraising look around. The landscape was starkly beautiful. The ground beneath her feet was dusty, crumbly pale red soil, which might have had the loamy texture of clay if it had been at all moist. In the valley below them, she could see some buildings arranged in neat, geometric lines, all with large dark tiles on their roofs. She did not see so much as a bit of scrub or a clump of grass anywhere in sight.
She pointed. "What's with the sky?"
The Doctor raised a hand to his forehead to shade his eyes from the glare and followed her gesture. "Atmospheric shell," he answered. "Keeps the nice breathable air in and all the nasty radiation out, like a bubble." He took her hand in his and gave a jerk of his chin toward the cluster of buildings. "Shall we?"
She grinned and they set off down the hill. The soil shifted perilously underfoot in parts, almost like soft sand, and Rose had to concentrate on her footing to avoid a fall. Even the Doctor trod carefully and remained quiet during their trek.
When they arrived at the fringes of the settlement, she sighed in relief as the ground firmed up. There was a noisy crowd in two queues, humans as far as Rose could tell. She poised on tiptoes to see what they were waiting for, but couldn't see around the people in front of her.
A few people were still coming down a long, clear tube that led through the edge of the habitation dome to a large, battered-looking spaceship. She studied the ship intently. Two levels of round portholes dotted the sides and the stubby wings looked rather too short to bear the weight of the whole contraption. It looked rather like an oversized, ancient panel van with wings.
"Arkwhite carrier ship," commented the Doctor. "Looks like a class 3." He sounded a little impressed.
"A little worse for wear," she observed dryly.
"They're the workhorses of deep space travel," he corrected her. "Reliable as an old soldier and virtually indestructible."
A short distance away from the adults impatiently shuffling their feet and waiting their turn, a group of children energetically played tag. In the manner of small, overexcited children, someone stumbled and fell. There was a sudden puff of red dust in the air where the child had fallen.
"So where are we, anyway?" she asked. It looked like their arrival had coincided with the arrival of the carrier ship. He didn't answer, and she found he was no longer paying any attention to her at all.
"Blimey," he muttered, almost to himself. "What was that?" His eyes were round and wide as he scanned the crowd, whites of his eyes showing at the tops and bottoms. If he'd had an antenna, Rose thought, it would have been sticking straight up.
"What?" she asked the Doctor, but his answer was interrupted by a woman's commanding voice.
"Can I have your attention, please?" The voices around her gradually died down and everyone turned in the direction where the voice came from. Behind her, a child laughed and was shushed quickly by an adult. "Welcome to Arisbe."
Rose shifted around until she could see the speaker, only a few paces away from her, a tall, stately woman with her dark hair wound into a bun. She wore a dark green jumper and a dusty pair of khaki pants tucked into sturdy boots.
"I'm Emelia Trabane, the operations manager," she said. "If you have any questions about your living arrangements or any other issues while you're settling in, please come see me or buzz me on the comm. Not in the middle of the night, please, unless it's an emergency."
Her severe face softened appealingly as she smiled. "We're very, very pleased to have you here with us. This project has been badly in need of new workers and I welcome you on behalf of the company and your coworkers. Thank you."
A handful of people clapped, and the attention shifted from Emelia back to the head of each queue. Rose looked back at the Doctor, who now had the sonic screwdriver out and was scanning in a slow line from the back of one queue to the front.
"What is it?" she whispered to him.
"I heard something," he told her. "Telepathic. It was – unfocused. Very primitive." He scowled at the sonic screwdriver. "Very odd, and not a trace of it now."
"Dangerous?" She felt a stirring within her, not quite fear, but definitely excitement.
He followed the line of people with his eyes as well as the sonic screwdriver. "I'm not sure," he said, distracted.
"Excuse me," interrupted a voice. Both of them looked up with a guilty start and discovered that they were no longer alone in the crowd. Emelia Trabane was glaring furiously at the sonic screwdriver. "What the hell is that?"
"Sonic screwdriver," said the Doctor politely. "Hello, I'm the –"
"Give it to me," she interrupted, holding out her hand. She was clearly used to giving orders.
"Absolutely not," he said indignantly. He was clearly not used to taking orders. His spine straightened and his eyebrows shot up toward his hairline. "It's mine."
"I'd like to know who you are and what you're doing here, gesturing around at the crowd with a scanner." Her eyes narrowed.
Alarm bells began clanging loudly in Rose's head, and she decided that the Doctor's somewhat unconventional form of diplomacy might not be the best course of action. She inserted herself just slightly between the two of them, offering a hand to the other woman. "Nice to meet you," she said, smiling in her most convincingly unthreatening way. "I'm Rose Tyler, and this is the Doctor."
Emelia shook her hand, possibly more out of politeness or reflex than anything else. "Emelia Trabane," she said, and folded her arms across her chest.
"We were just sightseeing," offered the Doctor, but he subsided when he saw the look on Rose's face.
"Well, that explains it," Emelia said crisply. "Sightseeing. On Arisbe. Right." She held out her hand, palm extended upward. "I'll need some identification."
The Doctor obligingly handed over the psychic paper, taking the opportunity to tuck his sonic screwdriver into a pocket, and waited. Emelia studied the paper and then gave him a resigned look. "Fine," she said, and handed it back. "Those bastards always second guess us. Come on, I'll get you a habitation assignment."
She spun around with a small puff of red dust and marched off without waiting to see if they would follow. Rose took the Doctor's hand and tugged him along. Emelia led them to the head of the queue, where she spoke a few words that Rose didn't hear to the man who was apparently checking new arrivals in. He entered something on a handheld device, produced two white cards from his pocket, and swiped them through.
"Section 4, Habitation D," he said, handing them each a card. "Welcome to Arisbe."
"Thanks," said the Doctor cheerfully, studying his card with interest.
Emelia's look now seemed more resigned than alarmed or irritated, as she had been earlier. "We're having a welcome gathering for senior-level staff in my flat, Section 1, Habitation A at 19:00," she told them. "I'll see you then."
Not quite an invitation, thought Rose. "Thank you," she said, and smiled. Emelia gave her a ghost of a smile back and then walked away into the crowd.
"Section 4, Habitation D," murmured the Doctor, looking around with interest. "Well, let's find it, shall we?"
Rose gave in and followed him. "Who the hell does she think we are?" she whispered to him. "And where are we?"
He discreetly produced the sonic screwdriver as they walked and gave his card a quick scan. "Ah," he said significantly, nodding in understanding. "Let me see yours." Rose handed it over and his eyebrows lifted in surprise as he scanned it.
She pursed her lip and resisted, with some difficulty, the urge to smack him.
"This is a planetary modification project," he continued. "The planet is HD 121504-C, otherwise known as Arisbe." He put the sonic screwdriver away again. "According to this, I'm an engineer who's rechecking their work on the atmospheric converters." He grinned proudly and tapped his temple with one long finger. "Apparently, I'm brilliant."
"What am I doing?" she asked. The Doctor shifted uncomfortably and she shot him a hard look. "Wait. I'm not a dinner lady again, am I?"
"Oh no, not a dinner lady," he said, visibly relieved. "You're working in the nursery."
All Chapters
“What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
--
Rose sat on the captain's chair, bundled in the Doctor's long coat, with her knees folded into her chest and her arms wrapped tightly around her legs. She shivered involuntarily and the Doctor gave her an apologetic look as he gestured with the sonic screwdriver in one hand and a bristling, many-pointed metal part in the other.
"Sorry," he said, for perhaps the fortieth time since the climate control had gone wonky a few hours ago. "Do you want me to get you a blanket?"
"No," she said from between chattering teeth. "Just keep working."
With a grin that looked more like a grimace, he knelt to scoot under the console with the screwdriver and the rather threatening looking part that he swore would fix whatever it was that had broken. Rose distracted herself by eyeing his bum, aimed skyward in her direction and shifting slightly from side to side as he worked. It was, she considered, a very nicely shaped bum, framed well by tight trousers, and her hands would fit quite nicely around –
Well, those thoughts might distract her indeed from the cold, but if she kept thinking them, she suspected she might have to do something about them, and then no one would be fixing the climate control, would they?
The Doctor emerged from under the console and rubbed the back of his head with a somewhat pained expression on his face. "What did you say?" he asked. "I'm trying to concentrate on analyzing the climate control to see what fizzled out."
Had she said something out loud? "Fine, concentrate all you want," she told him. "I'll get a blanket."
"Fine," he echoed, sliding back below the console. "And I am not coming with you."
She grinned.
The walk to their room was longer than normal, and she could hear a slightly discordant, disapproving hum from the TARDIS. The ship seemed to enjoy Rose keeping the Doctor on his toes, but she did have a tendency to object when Rose kept him from his usual maintenance or repair work. Well, she considered, I'd object if the TARDIS kept distracting him when he was working on me … She giggled again, and sighed as the corridor seemed to draw out twice as long as it had before. "Sorry, girl," she said repentantly, playing her fingertips along the coral wall as she walked. A faint prickling buzzed up through her hand, almost like a shock from static electricity. The TARDIS is not amused.
Rose finally reached the door and stepped inside. When she had settled back into life in the TARDIS, her old room had simply, astonishingly expanded to suit the needs of two. The room itself was larger, with a comfortable, high-backed armchair in the corner where there had not been one before, and her bed, formerly a twin, was now easily twice that size. The Doctor had raised one elegant eyebrow at the transformation, apparently as surprised as she, and dropped onto her bed with a puff of pastel blankets.
"Trainers," she had squeaked in protest, and he had kicked the offending shoes off and pulled her down into bed with him. She had quite forgotten about the shoes then. Much later, she noticed that he had knocked over her waste paper bin with one and toppled a mess of crumpled paper and other detritus onto the floor. And then, she hadn't truly been bothered at all.
She searched through her clothes to find a long scarf, which she wound around her neck, and a knit cap, finding both items more manageable than a blanket. Rather than returning to the console room, she sat cross-legged on the floor and pulled a box of photographs out from under the bed. She had sorted some of the items the Doctor had retrieved from her mum's flat after Canary Wharf, but she never seemed to manage more than an hour or so at a time.
Rose was quickly lost in her task, adding the photographs to several stacks arranged around her on the floor. She wanted, with her mum so untouchable in the other universe, to frame a few photos for remembrance. Jackie had been great at taking photos, but hadn't really done more than put a few in frames and toss the rest into a great unsorted mess in a few boxes.
She laughed when she found a series of photos of the two of them, from right after she'd first started at the shop, trying on hats. In one, Jackie struck a fashion-model pout under a bright purple pillbox hat that barely fit over her wild hair. It was so precisely the kind of hat that an aging dowager would wear to church, and incongruous on her mother to the point of absurdity.
A noise in the door interrupted her, and she looked up to see the Doctor, with a bemused look on his face, looking down at her. "Purple is a good color for both of you," he said.
"What?"
"Purple." He gestured to the photo in her hands. "You ought to wear it more." He smiled gently and came to sit down beside her.
"Did you fix the climate control?" she asked, leaning against his side.
"Yep," he said cheerfully. "Should be back to normal in a few minutes." He tugged at the end of the scarf. "Pity though. I rather like this."
She removed the hat, felt her hair crackle with static electricity, and ran her hands through the long strands to smooth them down. "Can we go somewhere warm next?"
"Certainly," he said obligingly. "Where do you have in mind?"
She didn't point out to him that her knowledge of the universe was a trifle smaller than his, and she might not be the best person to make recommendations about their next trip. But, she supposed, she could give him some guidelines.
"Warm," she reiterated. The cold was rapidly dissipating, as he had said it would, but she had had enough of it for the time being. "How about … somewhere with a nice sunset? And some good food."
"Sunset, good food, warm," he repeated, letting his eyes drift to the ceiling. "I've got it," he said triumphantly after a moment. He hopped up, pulling her with him. "Lycoras. Brilliant sunsets – they have two small suns – and there's a little restaurant right on the western edge of their largest continent with great views and even better omelets."
"Omelets?" she queried, a little amused.
"Trust me," he said enthusiastically, and towed her back to the console room.
…
Rose's teeth clicked painfully together as the TARDIS landed with a thump, and she unceremoniously landed on her bottom. She glared at the Doctor, who had been holding onto several levers and had avoided a similar fall. He smiled sheepishly at her and extended his hand to help her up.
"Sorry," he said, rubbing the back of his neck and raising his eyebrows, trying to gauge her reaction.
That was apology number forty-one for today, she thought with amusement. "I ought to know better by now. Maybe we can put in some sort of safety harness?"
"Aw, where's the fun in that?" He winked and pivoted around dramatically, snatching his long coat off the captain's chair where she had discarded it earlier. Without giving it any thought, she helped him into the coat. It was part of their routine, so easily re-established after her unexpected return.
The Doctor threw the door open and stepped outside, his walk confident and a little swaggering. Rose followed with slightly more caution and squinted into the bright sunlight. It looked like her own sun, yellow and white and radiating warmth onto the top of her head and her shoulders. There was, notably, only the one sun visible, which meant that the Doctor had once again missed his mark. It was also not sunset. As a matter of fact, it appeared to be almost exactly noon.
There was also something off about the cloudless, pale blue sky; it shimmered and seemed to gently undulate above them, like a transparent sail.
"Not Lycoras, then?" she said, stating the obvious.
He squinted up at the lone sun and then around at their surroundings, looking a little betrayed. "Just a slight miscalculation somewhere along the line," he protested.
"Your miscalculations usually end up with us stumbling upon some dire plot and running for our lives," she said, still smiling.
"I never stumble." He leaned in and kissed her, his lips thoroughly exploring hers. She reached up to tug on his lapels while his hands settled on her hips. "Want to go back inside?" he asked in a soft voice.
"What, and miss out on all the fun here?" she teased. She kissed his cheek with a loud smack and withdrew long enough to take an appraising look around. The landscape was starkly beautiful. The ground beneath her feet was dusty, crumbly pale red soil, which might have had the loamy texture of clay if it had been at all moist. In the valley below them, she could see some buildings arranged in neat, geometric lines, all with large dark tiles on their roofs. She did not see so much as a bit of scrub or a clump of grass anywhere in sight.
She pointed. "What's with the sky?"
The Doctor raised a hand to his forehead to shade his eyes from the glare and followed her gesture. "Atmospheric shell," he answered. "Keeps the nice breathable air in and all the nasty radiation out, like a bubble." He took her hand in his and gave a jerk of his chin toward the cluster of buildings. "Shall we?"
She grinned and they set off down the hill. The soil shifted perilously underfoot in parts, almost like soft sand, and Rose had to concentrate on her footing to avoid a fall. Even the Doctor trod carefully and remained quiet during their trek.
When they arrived at the fringes of the settlement, she sighed in relief as the ground firmed up. There was a noisy crowd in two queues, humans as far as Rose could tell. She poised on tiptoes to see what they were waiting for, but couldn't see around the people in front of her.
A few people were still coming down a long, clear tube that led through the edge of the habitation dome to a large, battered-looking spaceship. She studied the ship intently. Two levels of round portholes dotted the sides and the stubby wings looked rather too short to bear the weight of the whole contraption. It looked rather like an oversized, ancient panel van with wings.
"Arkwhite carrier ship," commented the Doctor. "Looks like a class 3." He sounded a little impressed.
"A little worse for wear," she observed dryly.
"They're the workhorses of deep space travel," he corrected her. "Reliable as an old soldier and virtually indestructible."
A short distance away from the adults impatiently shuffling their feet and waiting their turn, a group of children energetically played tag. In the manner of small, overexcited children, someone stumbled and fell. There was a sudden puff of red dust in the air where the child had fallen.
"So where are we, anyway?" she asked. It looked like their arrival had coincided with the arrival of the carrier ship. He didn't answer, and she found he was no longer paying any attention to her at all.
"Blimey," he muttered, almost to himself. "What was that?" His eyes were round and wide as he scanned the crowd, whites of his eyes showing at the tops and bottoms. If he'd had an antenna, Rose thought, it would have been sticking straight up.
"What?" she asked the Doctor, but his answer was interrupted by a woman's commanding voice.
"Can I have your attention, please?" The voices around her gradually died down and everyone turned in the direction where the voice came from. Behind her, a child laughed and was shushed quickly by an adult. "Welcome to Arisbe."
Rose shifted around until she could see the speaker, only a few paces away from her, a tall, stately woman with her dark hair wound into a bun. She wore a dark green jumper and a dusty pair of khaki pants tucked into sturdy boots.
"I'm Emelia Trabane, the operations manager," she said. "If you have any questions about your living arrangements or any other issues while you're settling in, please come see me or buzz me on the comm. Not in the middle of the night, please, unless it's an emergency."
Her severe face softened appealingly as she smiled. "We're very, very pleased to have you here with us. This project has been badly in need of new workers and I welcome you on behalf of the company and your coworkers. Thank you."
A handful of people clapped, and the attention shifted from Emelia back to the head of each queue. Rose looked back at the Doctor, who now had the sonic screwdriver out and was scanning in a slow line from the back of one queue to the front.
"What is it?" she whispered to him.
"I heard something," he told her. "Telepathic. It was – unfocused. Very primitive." He scowled at the sonic screwdriver. "Very odd, and not a trace of it now."
"Dangerous?" She felt a stirring within her, not quite fear, but definitely excitement.
He followed the line of people with his eyes as well as the sonic screwdriver. "I'm not sure," he said, distracted.
"Excuse me," interrupted a voice. Both of them looked up with a guilty start and discovered that they were no longer alone in the crowd. Emelia Trabane was glaring furiously at the sonic screwdriver. "What the hell is that?"
"Sonic screwdriver," said the Doctor politely. "Hello, I'm the –"
"Give it to me," she interrupted, holding out her hand. She was clearly used to giving orders.
"Absolutely not," he said indignantly. He was clearly not used to taking orders. His spine straightened and his eyebrows shot up toward his hairline. "It's mine."
"I'd like to know who you are and what you're doing here, gesturing around at the crowd with a scanner." Her eyes narrowed.
Alarm bells began clanging loudly in Rose's head, and she decided that the Doctor's somewhat unconventional form of diplomacy might not be the best course of action. She inserted herself just slightly between the two of them, offering a hand to the other woman. "Nice to meet you," she said, smiling in her most convincingly unthreatening way. "I'm Rose Tyler, and this is the Doctor."
Emelia shook her hand, possibly more out of politeness or reflex than anything else. "Emelia Trabane," she said, and folded her arms across her chest.
"We were just sightseeing," offered the Doctor, but he subsided when he saw the look on Rose's face.
"Well, that explains it," Emelia said crisply. "Sightseeing. On Arisbe. Right." She held out her hand, palm extended upward. "I'll need some identification."
The Doctor obligingly handed over the psychic paper, taking the opportunity to tuck his sonic screwdriver into a pocket, and waited. Emelia studied the paper and then gave him a resigned look. "Fine," she said, and handed it back. "Those bastards always second guess us. Come on, I'll get you a habitation assignment."
She spun around with a small puff of red dust and marched off without waiting to see if they would follow. Rose took the Doctor's hand and tugged him along. Emelia led them to the head of the queue, where she spoke a few words that Rose didn't hear to the man who was apparently checking new arrivals in. He entered something on a handheld device, produced two white cards from his pocket, and swiped them through.
"Section 4, Habitation D," he said, handing them each a card. "Welcome to Arisbe."
"Thanks," said the Doctor cheerfully, studying his card with interest.
Emelia's look now seemed more resigned than alarmed or irritated, as she had been earlier. "We're having a welcome gathering for senior-level staff in my flat, Section 1, Habitation A at 19:00," she told them. "I'll see you then."
Not quite an invitation, thought Rose. "Thank you," she said, and smiled. Emelia gave her a ghost of a smile back and then walked away into the crowd.
"Section 4, Habitation D," murmured the Doctor, looking around with interest. "Well, let's find it, shall we?"
Rose gave in and followed him. "Who the hell does she think we are?" she whispered to him. "And where are we?"
He discreetly produced the sonic screwdriver as they walked and gave his card a quick scan. "Ah," he said significantly, nodding in understanding. "Let me see yours." Rose handed it over and his eyebrows lifted in surprise as he scanned it.
She pursed her lip and resisted, with some difficulty, the urge to smack him.
"This is a planetary modification project," he continued. "The planet is HD 121504-C, otherwise known as Arisbe." He put the sonic screwdriver away again. "According to this, I'm an engineer who's rechecking their work on the atmospheric converters." He grinned proudly and tapped his temple with one long finger. "Apparently, I'm brilliant."
"What am I doing?" she asked. The Doctor shifted uncomfortably and she shot him a hard look. "Wait. I'm not a dinner lady again, am I?"
"Oh no, not a dinner lady," he said, visibly relieved. "You're working in the nursery."
All Chapters
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 02:01 am (UTC)As usual, another brilliant piece, i will be tracking this story and looking forward to the next bit, I love how you write these two, it's just perfect :)
hugs!
no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 02:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 02:04 am (UTC)That will be all.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 02:06 am (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 02:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 02:12 am (UTC)Gorgeous writing, great characterisation, deft weaving of past and present...all of the usual things that are present in your work, Kalleah. I love your stories, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing how this one unfolds.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 02:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-13 12:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-13 12:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 02:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-13 12:28 am (UTC)Took me long enough! ;)
no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 02:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-13 12:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 03:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-13 12:30 am (UTC)I shouldn't laugh at my own jokes. Glad you did :)
no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 03:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-13 12:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 04:06 am (UTC)I'll definitely be on the look out for the next chapter!
no subject
Date: 2007-07-13 12:42 am (UTC)Thanks. This was a harder setting for me to write about, since it's so sparse and desolate.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 04:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-13 12:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 04:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-13 12:34 am (UTC)Well, I guess we'll have to wait and see ;)
no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 05:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-13 12:34 am (UTC)That is a fantastic compliment; thank you.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 03:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-13 12:36 am (UTC)I'm with you. I spent how long with the first two stories on the intimacy and romance of their relationship, and yes, it's refreshing to concentrate on their reactions to a situation with the relationship already established. Not that I don't adore the romantic aspect ... but it's a nice change.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 05:08 pm (UTC)I have a job in an infant room at a nursery. Ages ranging from 2mo. to 13mo. All eight stair stepping inbetween that. *laughs* This will be brilliant!!
no subject
Date: 2007-07-13 12:41 am (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 06:16 pm (UTC)More immediately please.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-13 12:37 am (UTC)Hee. Not quite yet. I'll likely post chapter two late this weekend. :)
no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 07:45 pm (UTC)Hope you understand what I'm getting at; rest assured i will be reading avidly....
Keep it up. ;-D
no subject
Date: 2007-07-13 12:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 08:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-13 12:39 am (UTC)Hurray :)
Date: 2007-07-12 08:25 pm (UTC)Yippee :D
Re: Hurray :)
Date: 2007-07-13 12:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 11:44 pm (UTC)loved The TARDIS not being too happy with Rose .
"Well, she considered, I'd object if the TARDIS kept distracting him when he was working on me …"
BWHAHAHA! so funny
i can't wait to read more:D
no subject
Date: 2007-07-13 12:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 11:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-13 12:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-13 02:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-13 02:22 am (UTC)You have completed my decadent day
Date: 2007-07-14 01:41 am (UTC)Rae
Re: You have completed my decadent day
Date: 2007-07-14 02:35 am (UTC)Re: You have completed my decadent day
From:no subject
Date: 2007-07-14 08:41 pm (UTC)(Sorry if I am a bit late but I was in Kortrijk to improve my Dutch...)
no subject
Date: 2007-07-14 09:20 pm (UTC)