Out There ✿ The Doctor [1]

7- Dalek (pt. 1)

"Isn't this exciting?" Rose asks Avery as the Doctor works on getting Tardis to materialize, "Your first trip."

"I've had trips before." Avery deflects despite her body buzzing with excitement.

Rose rolls her eyes, "Your first proper trip, then."

Avery laughs, "Yes, it's exciting."

The Tardis stabilizes and the Doctor grins at them before moving towards the door with the girls right behind him

"So what is it? What's wrong?" Rose asks as they step out of the Tardis.

"Don't know." He admitted, "Some kind of signal drawing the Tardis off course."

"Where are we?" Avery wondered.

"Earth. Utah, North America. About half a mile underground"

"And when are we?" Rose added.

"2012." He answers as he looks at a display case.

"God, that's so close. So I should be twenty six." Rose mentions.

"Me too." Avery tells her.

Rose furrows her brows, "No, you're a year younger than me."

"I was but then you missed a year and now we're the same age." Avery explained, "I'm nineteen, you're nineteen."

As Rose tries to wrap her head around the idea that her little sister is now the same age as her, The Doctor finds the light switch, and their surroundings become more clear. "Blimey." Rose breathes, "It's a great big museum."

"An alien museum." The Doctor clarifies as they begin to walk through the collection, "Someone's got a hobby. They must have spent a fortune on this. Chunks of meteorite, Moon dust. That's the milometer from the Roswell spaceship."

"That's a bit of Slitheen!" Rose exclaims, "That's a Slitheen's arm. It's been stuffed."

"Oh, look at you." The Doctor breathes as he approaches the head of a Cyberman.

"What is it?" Avery asks.

"An old friend of mine. Well, enemy." The Doctor tells them, "The stuff of nightmares reduced to an exhibit. I'm getting old."

Avery looks up at him with an indescribable look that borders on concern but he can't quite tell what it is. Rose, not noticing the moment, asks, "Is that where the signal's coming from?"

"No, it's stone dead." The Doctor replies, "The signal's alive. Something's reaching out, calling for help." The Doctor touches the display case and an alarm goes off. Armed guards rush in from all sides and cut them off from the Tardis.

"If someone's collecting aliens, that makes you Exhibit A." Rose tells him softly as Avery grasps his hands, worried about all of the guns pointed at them. The Doctor merely gives the armed guards a sheepish smile.

***

As the Tardis trio and Goddard enter the room, Adam shows a piece of metal to Van Statten, handing it to him, "And this is the last. Paid eight hundred thousand dollars for it."

"What does it do?" Van Statten questions.

"Well, you see the tubes on the side? It must be to channel something. I think maybe fuel." Adam tries to explain.

"I really wouldn't hold it like that." The Doctor interrupts.

"Shut it." Goddard instructs.

The Doctor spares Goddard a glance before saying, "Really, though, that's wrong."