'POND?' called
out the Doctor, 'Here,' he said, offering her a note pad he'd pulled
from his bottom-less pockets. Like the TARDIS they appeared to be much
bigger on the inside.
Amy took the note pad examined it briefly and then stuffed it in to a back pocket of her jeans. 'Why?' she thought. The Doctor hadn't explained. She had simply taken what he offered her because… She paused. There wasn't a reason. The Doctor hadn't given her a reasonable explanation for a single gift, a pad in which one took notes with. So…
Earth 1203:
'April, 1203,' said the Doctor, as he stepped out of his blue box and jumped up and down several times.
'Why are you jumping?' asked Amy, standing at his side beside the TARDIS.
'Testing the gravity,' answered the Doctor, surveying his immediate surroundings.
'You look like a lunatic!' Rory added, as he too stepped from within the blue box.
'Thanks for that, Rory,' the Doctor grumbled, now standing very still, on the spot.
'What happens in 1203?'
'What do you think happens, Amy?' the Doctor asked her, staring into her eyes, deep into her thoughts.
'Trouble? Gotta be trouble, and danger with you, always?' she said, excitedly.
'YAY!' the Doctor squealed. 'You've got it!'
He turned back to the view that lay ahead of them. The TARDIS had landed on the roof of the Rouen Castle, situated in France. It would be an important year but the Doctor hadn't, as yet, gone into detail.
'Sorry, WHAT?' Rory cut in.
'We're in 1203 Rory. A very, very odd year, for us time and relative dimension in space junkies. A man goes missing.'
'But not any old man, eh Doctor? Am I right?'
Amy knew it all, or so the Doctor thought. 'You're right Amy, not any old fella at all, but the Duke of Brittany. Why? How? Nobody knows, least of all me, and we're not exactly going to find out the reason for this. Not until a future we've yet to experience!'
Amy leaned against the TARDIS, arms crossed, with an expression like that of a dissatisfied youngster. 'Why not?' she asked.
'Because he is captured!' declared the Doctor. 'The man is captured, and then disappears, and if we knew where to, we'd be able to tell of his disappearance, would we not?'
Rory shrugged his shoulders and turned to Amy, who simply nodded, but not quite sure why she did as she didn't understand either.
'Imagine Amy, the Duke, Arthur the first goes missing, vanishes off the face of the Earth. It is recorded in history that no-one had seen anything of him, otherwise it will have been recorded in the history books, thus explaining his unknown location. So if we go snooping about the castle for him, get caught, then suffer the consequences, we too change history.'
'So what now then?' asked Rory.
'We leave, Rory, but first, we acknowledge the time period. I said it was 1203. Amy, you've got the note pad, scribble the year down please.'
Amy removed the note book from her pocket and promptly made a note of the year as asked. 'Why am I doing this?' she asked, when after the third visit to a new time zone. The unusual nature of the visits themselves were becoming difficult for her to get her head around.
~~~
'Doctor, why do we keep arriving in time zones irrelevant to where you said you'd take us?' asked Rory. He wasn't going to step out of those blue wooden doors again, until he had an answer as to why this time, they had arrived in 1788 on a ship that supposedly vanished at sea with a girl named Aimee du Buc de Rivery on board.
The Doctor did his best to explain.
'Why are there people vanishing off the face of the Earth, Rory? Can you give me a reason, the like of which suggests that purely by chance, these events aren't linked, and that there isn't any unusual occurrence that even implies aliens aren't involved?'
'You know I can't,' Rory replied, unable to give a reason as to why the events shouldn't be down to an alien occurrence.
'You see,' explained the Doctor. 'Something's going on…'
'You've got to admit,' said Amy, looking up from the note pad. 'Something unusual is going on, like when the Pandorica opened, and historic events turned ugly. But for what reason are people vanishing, and why in these time zones?'
'So many questions, and not enough answers, Doctor.' Rory sighed quietly to himself.
'What makes you believe these disappearances don't affect your time zone?' asked the Doctor, turning to both Amy and Rory.
'Well, um…' Rory began, trying to think of something, but failed, miserably.
'You see,' said the Doctor. 'These events do affect your time zone too. They're recorded in history, which means your time acknowledges such events, and treasures them, meaning they're forever there, in time as well as space. Never mind what time period we're in there are disappearances all the time here on Earth, which suggests these aren't perhaps coordinated disappearances…'
'Coordinated disappearances?' Amy pondered.
'More questions.' whispered Rory.
'Yes,' the Doctor hushed her, 'Meaning these people are being taken by something that needs them, and for every event we visit, the humans are real. There's no fault in who they are, just the fact that they are earthlings. And furthermore, what if…?'
'What if?' Rory repeated, he was becoming tired of the constant questions that didn't yield any answers and proved even more unsure of what the Doctor meant.
'Precisely!' said the Doctor. Rory's face looked even more puzzled. 'My note pad, in which I've yet to give you, Amy Pond…' said the Doctor looking up at her.
'But I have it here…' she said holding it out to him.
'But how can Amy have an item of yours that you haven't yet given to her?' now Rory was offering up some more questioning.
'That's the question, Rory. Tell me, Amy, your note pad,' He saw the glint in Amy's eyes, as she saw his eager nature. 'Open it, look inside, tell me, what's written down?'
'Just my notes,' Amy replied, after a moment of skim reading.
'Yes, but notes on what?'
'About Arthur the first, 1788,- the missing ship, and even earlier, 1502, - Miguel Corte-Real,- the Portuguese explorer…'
'All adventures made before the 1800's,' cut in the Doctor.
'Sorry?' queried Rory.
'Never mind,' he said as if dismissing his fly-away comment. 'Amy, how did you come by it?'
'You gave it to me, aboard the TARDIS,'
Amy paused, and saw the muddled expression on the Doctor's face. 'I didn't,' he said. 'At least I haven't yet, which means you've interacted with the future, possibly yours, now… what can you remember?'
'Alright, Doctor,' Rory cut in. 'Can't you see she's struggling to get to grips with all of this time jumping malarkey?'
'I know, Rory. It's just this is so very important. There are people going missing, and only one notepad, but…'
'Now there's two,' said Amy, remembering.
'What do you remember Amy?'
'We'd just returned to the TARDIS having fought the beast of Rainforest Manor in the rainforest gardens. Together, we stood huddled about the console.'
Rory edged closer to his wife, he rested a hand on her shoulder for comfort.
~~~
The Future:
'You said,' Amy continued, 'You'd take us to the Temple of reason, providing me with information. I seem to recall asking - "This information? I can do short hand if you chuck me a pen and paper!'
'What do you want to take notes for?' shouted Rory, fetching her the two items from the Doctor's study.
'I don't really know,' Amy yelled back. 'I've been a little forgetful of late,'
'In what way, Amelia?' The Doctor strode towards her, folded his arms and stood next to her, thoughtfully.
'I've been meaning to tell you I've been feeling a bit under the weather,' she whispered, so Rory could no longer hear her.
'In what way?'
'Sick, emotionally charged, sharp pains kicking me somewhat, forgetting the time and realising I've missed several hours doing nothing much, y'know,' she said, now breathless.
'Rory,' the Doctor shouted.
'What are you doing?' Amy snapped.
'Get over here quickly Rory!'
'Also,' muttered Amy, quickly, before Rory reached her. 'I forget about you, and him, and the TARDIS.'
Rory appeared with the pen and paper requested by Amy, and dropped them when he saw his sweetheart. Then the memory, that of which Amy slowly recounted became an instant blur.
The Present:
Aboard the TARDIS, in the present, the Doctor and his two friends thought about events as they unravelled further. The Doctor didn't care that Amy was bothered about Rory hearing their little discussion.
'What do you mean you forget about us?' he asked her, completely puzzled.
He got out his sonic screwdriver. The flash of green intensified as it shone out across her shape, scanning her body. 'Readings are normal,' said the Doctor, looking Amy up and down.
'So what's going on, why was I called over here?' Rory bothered to ask.
'Not that there was much point,' the Doctor again muttered.
'Doctor, what's your problem?'
The Doctor put a finger to his lips. 'Not my problem, Rory, but the worlds. Or otherwise, the people who go missing, and those we see as friends. Forget the note pad, and the years in which we've visited where men, women, and children have disappeared. It has nothing to dowith the years, but more to do with the people.'
'What about the people?' asked Amy.
'They go missing,' the Doctor ireminded her. 'But then there's you. The sonic screwdriver did in fact pick up a single trace, an alien disturbance inside your very being. You said you've been forgetful of late, well… that must be a side effect. Something must want you too. And you being forgetful can lead to many new and somewhat callous events can't it?'
'Like what?' Rory didn't want anything to happen to his wife, and with him being a protective husband, he was now asking all the necessary questions.
'Well, she could wander off, never return to the TARDIS,' the Doctor explained, 'Disappear.'
'But that's not likely,' Amy told them. 'Can you ever see me leaving here?'
The look on Rory's face said it all. That last line, spoken by Amy, both infuriated him, and made him feel so small compared to the Doctor. 'So, we shouldn't worry about your note pad then Doctor?'
Rory turned back in the direction of the Doctor, who was tapping his chin with the fingers of his right hand, while those on his left were held tightly around that of his sonic screwdriver. He was standing very still, and thinking. Then he said - 'No, but who uses the living, takes them out of time, away from humanity because they neither care nor feel the loss? Never mind the emotion of the families left behind. Emotion is a weakness?' the Doctor asked himself, 'The Cybermen'
'In what way, Amelia?' The Doctor strode towards her, folded his arms and stood next to her, thoughtfully.
'I've been meaning to tell you I've been feeling a bit under the weather,' she whispered, so Rory could no longer hear her.
'In what way?'
'Sick, emotionally charged, sharp pains kicking me somewhat, forgetting the time and realising I've missed several hours doing nothing much, y'know,' she said, now breathless.
'Rory,' the Doctor shouted.
'What are you doing?' Amy snapped.
'Get over here quickly Rory!'
'Also,' muttered Amy, quickly, before Rory reached her. 'I forget about you, and him, and the TARDIS.'
Rory appeared with the pen and paper requested by Amy, and dropped them when he saw his sweetheart. Then the memory, that of which Amy slowly recounted became an instant blur.
~~~
The Present:
Aboard the TARDIS, in the present, the Doctor and his two friends thought about events as they unravelled further. The Doctor didn't care that Amy was bothered about Rory hearing their little discussion.
'What do you mean you forget about us?' he asked her, completely puzzled.
He got out his sonic screwdriver. The flash of green intensified as it shone out across her shape, scanning her body. 'Readings are normal,' said the Doctor, looking Amy up and down.
'So what's going on, why was I called over here?' Rory bothered to ask.
'Not that there was much point,' the Doctor again muttered.
'Doctor, what's your problem?'
The Doctor put a finger to his lips. 'Not my problem, Rory, but the worlds. Or otherwise, the people who go missing, and those we see as friends. Forget the note pad, and the years in which we've visited where men, women, and children have disappeared. It has nothing to dowith the years, but more to do with the people.'
'What about the people?' asked Amy.
'They go missing,' the Doctor ireminded her. 'But then there's you. The sonic screwdriver did in fact pick up a single trace, an alien disturbance inside your very being. You said you've been forgetful of late, well… that must be a side effect. Something must want you too. And you being forgetful can lead to many new and somewhat callous events can't it?'
'Like what?' Rory didn't want anything to happen to his wife, and with him being a protective husband, he was now asking all the necessary questions.
'Well, she could wander off, never return to the TARDIS,' the Doctor explained, 'Disappear.'
'But that's not likely,' Amy told them. 'Can you ever see me leaving here?'
The look on Rory's face said it all. That last line, spoken by Amy, both infuriated him, and made him feel so small compared to the Doctor. 'So, we shouldn't worry about your note pad then Doctor?'
Rory turned back in the direction of the Doctor, who was tapping his chin with the fingers of his right hand, while those on his left were held tightly around that of his sonic screwdriver. He was standing very still, and thinking. Then he said - 'No, but who uses the living, takes them out of time, away from humanity because they neither care nor feel the loss? Never mind the emotion of the families left behind. Emotion is a weakness?' the Doctor asked himself, 'The Cybermen'