A Time for Everything and Everything in Time (Closed)

[GreySwan]

“Don’t have to tell me twice...” Noel knew what being a prisoner felt like. Like being watched, like not having choices... And right now that was certainly them. Her eyes followed the Doctor’s, taking in the setting. Everything was so new and strange to her... She never thought the future would hold this much glass and metal, for one... And there were so many more of the metal aliens. They were very clearly outnumbered here if there had been any doubt.



It seemed like perhaps their captors slash friends were also outnumbered... Their fellow aliens were certainly not treating them with much respect at the moment. Though they did let them through. The pair seemed very nervous... That sound that emerged from Red seemed almost like a whimper.



“Alright, Doctor...” the girl responded softly, quickening her pace to close the distance behind them. Resisting the utterly childless instinct to take her hand. Her boots sounded odd on this floor... Both materials she was not at all familiar with. But then... The sights before her certainly were not known to her, either.



It was unimaginable. Indescribable. Noel could only stand and gawk at the lush greenery before her. She had always wanted to see a forest... She’d only ever seen the outskirts, and even then it had been from far away and it didn’t look at all like the woodblock cuttings in books. This was more than a forest. It was a jungle. Dense and green, teaming with life... Everything a cramped, cobblestoned village was not. Even the air was different here, despite the clouds of smog. Or perhaps that was just her imagination. Despite the gravity of the situation they were in, it was hard not to simply stand and gawk, craning her neck so far up it hurt to take it all in.



But on the edges of this wonderful forest was still machinery... People. Well... Aliens. This was really just a small little piece they’d set aside. This wasn’t what the planet was supposed to be... Even as the elevator improved the view, she still bit her lip.



“Why take so much...? It’s so... Much. Did you really need all this...? And where are the pixies?"

 

[myvalentina]

The doors slid open for them, a soft ding announcing their arrival to the soldier on duty. The Doctor noticed he seemed unfazed as they exited into a lobby of sorts, waving them on while he used the wall to doze off.

Red looked to Noel, metal face and the obscured eyes leaving him as inscrutable as ever, but his secondary speech seemed to ease and soften from how agitated he'd been confronting the soldier before. "You see Terran, um... Noel, there was little developed life when we first arrived. We ran prognostics on the development of certain species and predicted most of them were close to extinction from increased geological turmoil. So you see, we were lucky to have found the planet when we did. Any later and there would have been no resources to gather." And even though Red still seemed unsure of himself, the spiel had sounded more confident. Maybe even rehearsed.

The Doctor was not impressed by it.

"In other words, they did it because there was no advanced civilization here to stop them. I wonder, if there had been would you have started a war? Is your race that desperate for resources." The Doctor asked, barely restrained animosity in her tone.

Stretch snapped, "You don't know anything about us, Time-Lord. Your station and status means nothing here, so offer respect to us as you are our guests. Besides a Gallifreyen is not in the position to chastise others about war or conquest."

The Doctor gave the alien a steady smile, eyes hard and focused. "So we now know why you tore the planet up, now like my companion asked where are the pixies?" She leveled politely, with an underlining threat to her tone she hoped came across. There was a long pause as Stretch squared off with her, whining and gruffly expressing noises of dissatisfaction, until Red had had enough.

"The uh... the pixies! You mean the creatures you brought back. Yes! This way. They are fitting in nicely in the habitat and we'll get a better view of them if we go down this hallway and into the gallery. We were unsure if they would be able to integrate into the exhibit given the way they interfere with potential and kinetic energy, but we've run a lot of tests and adjusted the dome so that it absorbs and redistributes their potential energy accordingly. Quite fascinating really and a wonderful addition to the exhibit." He rambled nervously but quickly leading them down the hallway.

 

[GreySwan]

There Red was again, talking about the Time Lords as if he knew all about them... Noel could not say she was on the same footing. Really she knew very little about the Doctor’s race other than that they could shed their old skins like butterflies and that apparently they could cross time like a person crossed a bridge. Yet despite these marvels they did not seem well-regarded by these metal creatures. Surely they were not right... The Doctor was the kindest person she’d ever met, surely her species was the same. ... Right...? Otherwise the only thing protecting her in this big universe now was...



Well. She didn’t wish to think of that, or how quickly she’d fled to that blue box when she knew nothing about it. And was now staring out at an alien forest contained in a bubble... Either a selfless act of preservation or the last tree left standing by invaders.



“You mean how they wreck everything and feed off it,” the girl offered as they made their way down the hallway. She was getting a bit anxious, and zipped up her leather jacket despite not feeling cold. It had felt like a shield when she first discovered it, and right now she felt just a little bit in need of protection. “Don’t get them anywhere near a gallows, we can tell you that much. Knocking things off shelves isn’t the only thing they can snack on.”



It was hard to see anything in the foliage, but her eyes did notice some movement... As well as the dim hum of equipment around the dome apparently keeping the little alien creature contained. Apparently the humans of her time hadn’t been as smart as the metal aliens... But this was so much effort to keep them alive when they hadn’t seemed to have had the same concerns for the rest of the planet... “Why keep them? If no one’s going to come see them like a menagerie, why not just... Get rid of them like the Doctor says you did to the rest of the planet?” She hoped she did not sound too demanding, but something inside her yearned to know. To understand in a place she felt so lost in. “We saw how dangerous these things are... Why keep them around?”

 

[myvalentina]

Red nodded enthusiastically at Noel, his disposition seeming to want to avoid all conflict especially the stand off Stretch and the Doctor had been engaging in. So he focused on the girl, a lot more comfortable that she was speaking his language of inquisitiveness. "Yes. For their tiny size they are quite powerful and literally push and pull on their surroundings. It may be hard to see for your primitive eyes," Red said, touching a hand to the weird, opaque visor or whatever was in place where eyes would be on a human. "But the disturbances they make in the very air is a sight to behold." There was a short yip at Noel's mention of gallows. "Oh, how barbaric. I don't think I want to know the details about what they had gotten up to around executions." Red said, "They're probably happy to be back in their natural environment.

Without the Doctor's outright hostility, the two scientists seemed much less apprehensive about answering questions. Red hummed thoughtfully, still picking his words carefully but much more eager to talk. "You see, the scientific community did fight to preserve as much as we could of the planet's life. No life, even as primitive as this, should be wiped out completely, if it can be helped. But, not everyone felt it was as important as the resources."

"Our government is doing what it thinks is best." Stretch contributed.

"Let me guess, this General you keep mentioning is leading the charge?" The Doctor said, their soft whines confirmed it even if neither seemed to respond to her.

Red continued speaking to Noel, going over to a console and messing with the buttons, so that what they were looking at through the glass moved. Like the ground of the dome was on a conveyor belt or some other form of movable platform. "Ma'am thinks that it's best for our cause, of protecting even a little bit of this planet if we advocate to keep this Exhibit here. And maybe one day more of our people can see it for much more than just a source of resources the way we do."

Watching them interact the Doctor sigh, which seemed to drain a bit of the tension in her limbs and ease her temperament. She was probably wrong to snap so quickly, but in her defense, if they hadn't actively taken away her things she could have easily been in a better mood. Speaking of her things, the TARDIS came into view still standing where she had left it. The fairies covered it, sitting and dozing away on top of it. It was unlikely they could leech through it from the outside, but she still felt the need to check if that was true.he hoped they weren't leeching off of it.

"Can we go down to my TARDIS." The Doctor asked, there was more whining from the scientists. "I promise I won't spirit us away, if that's what you're worried about. Unless you want to leave with us." She teased. While they had all started on the wrong foot, that didn't necessarily mean she wouldn't invite them on board. These scientists seemed low on the totem pole and just doing what they were being told, her animosity had been unwarranted and an invitation was one way to show there shouldn't be hard feelings.

"Well, we should probably wait until Ma'am and the General give the okay to go back down there." Red said, as he pointed to where a couple of vehicles were coming into the clearing to join the TARDIS. The Doctor was back on edge. "Get me down there." And it was an order, because she wouldn't stand by and just watch as they deliberated on her behalf. Scientist Red gave his friend a look and by the sounds they were making they were furiously going back and forth. "Get me down there!" She reiterated and Red jumped pushing a series of buttons so that a door appeared nearby and they now had access to the exhibit. The Doctor was out of the observation room and nearly sprinting for the Tardis so she could meet the soldiers as they fanned out around it.

 

[GreySwan]

Noel could not argue about them being more comfortable in their natural foliage... It was true they were not trying to kill anyone at the moment. But all the same... “Is this really more civilized? You conquered an entire planet... They just had a viscount or something I think...” Though the Doctor had mentioned changing times, more violence. Perhaps that was something she could inquire about when they were not marooned in this menagerie.



Their demeanour was changing the more questions they asked. Their noises of protest, whines and yips, reminded her more of dogs than of some superior being. And something was not sitting particularly well with her about this excuse... Though perhaps that was merely her nature. She could not deny her life had made her distrustful on the whole... Deep down she wondered if she was that different from the pixies. Just a vengeful little thing that would do anything for a meal. And currently they were both trapped in this dome.



But with the sight of that big blue box, Noel exhaled a breath she had not known she’d been holding. There it was... Their escape route. For some reason, even though it was a distance away it felt like they had an escape route again. She was not used to relying on others for safety. Even impossible not-angels who had been nothing but kind and had been the only person in her life to promise to keep her safe. Of course they were not permitted too closely to that... “The point of a menagerie is to keep strange things in, Doctor,” she could not help but say lowly, hoping the beings were too distracted by their high command to hear her. “Not let them out.” From their sounds, she was beginning to wonder if Red and Stretch weren’t just two more creatures caged in here.



All of a sudden they were running again, and Noel was very thankful for the strongly laced boots she’d replaced her worn shoes with in the wardrobe room. Twigs and leaves crunched underfoot as she tried to keep up with the Doctor. How the woman could run in those beautiful tall shoes she had no idea... Perhaps that too was part of being a Time Lady.



The being descending from the black self-propelled vehicle was certainly the same species as their tour guides, though even at first glance she (He? Ma’am? Or maybe the General?) was from a very different rank. IT was taller than Red, though shorter than Stretch, but made anyone else before the creature seem small with her squared off shoulders and harsh eyes looking down on the sight before her. Well... Not eyes. Visor. Or whatever was behind there. Surely there had to be something to produce what was so clearly a glare. The uniform was different as well... Not the frilly, elaborate uniforms Noel had seen on French officers but long and black and trimmed in red, making that odd pale coppery skin all the shinier and foreign.



“And what exactly is the meaning of all this?” The voice coming from the thin opening was no less harsh than the gaze. Striding out, taking in the sight of the blue box, the decidedly not metallic humanoids, the two scientists that certainly did not appear to have any control over their captives. “Scientists. Why are our guests permitted in this area?”