First Entrance!

[and_she_waited]

When I was a little girl, I had an imaginary friend. And when I grew up, he came back. He's called the Doctor, he comes from somewhere else; he's got a box called the TARDIS that's bigger on the inside and can travel anywhere in time and space. I ran away with him, and this is the story of how he changed my life...

You know that lovely sound a TARDIS makes? It's sort of a whoosh, or a hum, or a whoom-WHEEEM, rwhooom-REEEM? Some would say it's the loveliest sound in the universe, because it means something wonderful is coming.

Only this time, there is no sound. Just a step, and a little stumble, and a brand new room.

Amy blinks, freezing in the middle of Ten Forward.

"Doctor?" she calls, glancing about. "Rory? Doctor! Rory!"

Oh, what has he done now? If this is a joke, she's not going to laugh. Frankly, his sense of humour is abysmal. "Where am I?"

Comments

[and_she_waited]

She opens her mouth to protest, but then realizes he has a point. A small one, but nonetheless...

"Fair point," she says. "But I'm not strange. I just happen to have friends who are... strange."

Right, okay. He has her there.

"At any rate, Time Lords are from Gallifrey, and so are TARDISes, but I've got the only ones left. Though I seem to have misplaced them."

[decideformyself]

Now they're getting somewhere. Philip stops walking, briefly closing his eyes. "Gallifrey..." No results.

He's kind of getting tired of no-result keywords.

He resumes following Amy around. "Perhaps they have been brought here as well. What do they look like?"

[and_she_waited]

She doesn't know why she hesitates when he stops moving. It's as good an excuse as any to leave him behind, but she can't help feeling curious.

She stops and faces him, suspicion back in full force.

"What was that?" she asks.

[decideformyself]

He almost bumps into her, but manages to stop in time.

"I asked you what they look like."

[and_she_waited]

"No, not that," she sighs.

He doesn't have the best concept of space, does he? She waves her hand about, in the general vicinity of his face.

"That. You mumbled 'Gallifrey' and got a weird look on your face, like you were tryin' to conjure up something."

He isn't a witch, is he?

[decideformyself]

"Oh, that. I was trying to see if I had any information about Gallifrey. I don't."

[and_she_waited]

"Tryin' to see if you had information where?" she asks, looking around for some kind of device.

If he's communicating with someone or something that could get her off this boat, she wants to know about it.

[decideformyself]

In response, he just taps a finger against his temple.

[and_she_waited]

"What, in your head?" she says.

Well, that's disappointing. She sighs, turning back about.

"Don't tell me you've got one of those fancy eidetic memories."

[decideformyself]

"Nothing so commonplace as that. I have access to the entire collective memory of my Earth." Shotaro had said to be discreet, but really, Philip doesn't care who knows. He figures the worst that could happen would be the occasional request for banal information, and it's not like he has to give anything out if he doesn't want to. "There are no records of a place called 'Gallifrey'."

[and_she_waited]

Amy spins on him.

"All right, you have my attention," she says.

Is he some kind of alien? No, not if he's from Earth. Experiment, then? Genetic testing, or advanced technology? Amy goes over the possibilities in her head; meanwhile, she simply asks:

"What was your name?"

[decideformyself]

"It's Philip." He folds his arms, staring at Amy. "I would prefer not to be interrogated. In fact, I believe I asked you a question."

[and_she_waited]

"You've been asking a lot of questions, bub," she points out.

Really? He's going to lecture her on interrogation?

She folds her arms as well, giving every bit of his attitude right back.

"Long, lanky, sort of goofy," she says. "The Doctor has a bow tie, floppy hair. Rory's ... beautiful. The most beautiful boy in any room."

[decideformyself]

He thinks, tapping a finger against his mouth as he does. "No, I don't believe I've seen anybody wearing a bow tie. You'll have to be far more specific when it comes to this Rory, though."

[and_she_waited]

"Sandy-coloured hair," she ventures. "About five-foot-eleven, twenties, eyes like the sea?"

If he hasn't seen the Doctor, then it's not likely he's seen Rory. But Amy can dare to hope.

"So this thing you've got, where you can access all that information? How does it work?" she asks.

[decideformyself]

That description could fit any number of Starfleet officers Philip has seen up until now, but none of the abductees. Whatever "eyes like the sea" means, anyway. Blue, probably?

He rolls his eyes. He hasn't had to field this many questions about the Gaia Library since... well, since he first met Shotaro, actually. "I don't know how to state it more simply than I already have," he admits.

[and_she_waited]

He's likely going to end up seeing a lot of similarities between his partner and the woman in front of him. Later being 'roomed' with him certainly isn't going to help.

"Well, is it like a chip, or an implant, or some kind of secret ear bud?" she presses.

She isn't stupid, she's just looking for a way home.

[decideformyself]

"No. It's a connection with the planet-- my planet Earth," he clarifies, because out here that's ambiguous. He's frowning, though, because the specificity of her questions is bothering him.

[and_she_waited]

She thinks about that for a tic, then drops her arms to her sides in frustration.

"So your knowledge of things only goes so far as your Earth and your time?" she guesses.

Fab.

"And you really don't know any way off this ship?"

[decideformyself]

He nods in response to both questions. "The problem is not 'How do we get off this ship'. Even if we did so we would still be stranded in a time period not our own, possibly an entirely different universe. So far as I can tell, our situation can only be resolved by the same being who caused it: Q."

[and_she_waited]

"Not a problem," she corrects. "All I need is some way to get a message to the Doctor. If I could find some planet that knows about him, maybe he could work out a way to get everyone home."

It's just a matter of getting his attention somehow. Really, he must have noticed she's missing by this point, right?

"Q? A letter of the alphabet is holdin' us hostage?" she says, arching an eyebrow.

[decideformyself]

Philip shakes his head. "Q is the entity's name, as well as the name of his species as a whole." He turns aside, hand on his mouth in thought. "Ah-- you believe your TARDIS may be of some use?"

[and_she_waited]

She beetles her brow.

"Like a cat named Cat?" she counters. "Not very inventive. And yes, I do. Time and space and unruly cats can't stop the Doctor."

[decideformyself]

"Does that include travel between universes?" he inquires.

[and_she_waited]

"Theoretically," she answers.

She looks and sounds cautious. She just got back from a place outside of the universe, so she knows it can be done, but in her hurry to get home she mustn't forget she doesn't know him. The Doctor is always mum about things, even if she doesn't know why at times.

"I don't know who this 'Q' is, but I know the Doctor, and there's nothing that can stop him," she insists.