Doctor Who and The Goddess of Evolution

Chapter 2: Not Dead

The Doctor woke up with a start, gasping for air as his widened eyes scanned his surroundings.  It was still dark but lights were flickering, some of the power was back, but not all of it, so he could see how much the TARDIS was in disarray.  Pieces of the inside were flayed about, singed from heat.  Electrical wiring was hanging everywhere, sparks occasionally flew, and smoke was still in the air.

He was alive, he knew that much.  How did he know?  Because of how much his whole body hurt.

"Ow," he grumbled before trying to adjust us jaw.  He needed to assess the situation, but he felt like he was forgetting something important.  "Hmmm...was I with people?"

Ah.

"Amy!  Rory!"  The Doctor scrambled up as he called for his companions.  "Ponds!"

"Oh man," Rory grumbled and coughed under a pile of rubble, trying to move things.  "Everything hurts."

"Good, means you're alive," The Doctor said with relief.  "Amy!"

"I thought ya said we were dead!" Amy called out from the kitchen area.

"Are you alright?" Rory yelled out as he managed to finally get up.  "Are you hurt?"

"Everything hurts!" she screamed out.  "And I'm stuck!"

The Doctor rushed up the stairs past Rory, who wobbled behind, and he entered the kitchen with a start before laughing excitedly.  "Oh Amy, when I said I wanted to redecorate my kitchen, I didn't mean like this!"

Amy was stuck against the floor, covered in sticky food items that were now plastered everywhere.  Cans and containers had practically melted and formed a goop, a long with the food or beverages inside them.  Even the Jammy Dodgers were melted.

"Just get me out of here, please," Amy whined.

The Doctor chuckled before walking over to Amy, but he slipped in goo and landed on his back, causing Amy  and Rory to both cackle.

"Ow," The Doctor said.

"Gotcha!" Amy snickered before attempting to struggle out of the goop.  "How did the food melt, by the way?"

Rory came and carefully helped the Doctor up before they helped Amy.  She was covered in melted sweets and jams. 

"I'm not entirely sure," The Doctor replied. 

"So we're not dead, then?" Amy asked as she grabbed some towels and tried to wipe the gunk off her clothes.

"We're alive.  We are physically hurting so we're alive, but...that's impossible, considering where we are.  It's not possible," The Doctor said, trying to wrap his brain around the possibilities.

"How so?  Where are we?"

"We're on the astral plane."

Rory blinked, a confused look on his face as The Doctor started using his sonic screwdriver to take readings.  "The astral plane?"

"The astral plane, the spiritual realm...basically the place that people go to when they die," he explained as he caught readings and looked.  "But we are still in our physical bodies, so..."

"So are we in Hell, then?" Rory asked, looking a little frightened.

"If we were in Hell, we would know it.  Funny thing about an Earthling's version of Hell, especially during the era of Christianity.  It's not actually like what the books say."

Amy grumbled as she threw down the towels.  "I need a shower."

"We might not have power in the bathroom," The Doctor said.  "At best, you can change your clothes, Pond."

Amy walked out of the kitchen in search of new clothes but Rory stayed with the Doctor.  "Who was that voice from earlier?"

"Not sure," The Doctor replied as he and Rory exited the kitchen back to the cockpit area.  "Might've been a dead person."

"You've never been here, have you?"

"Not really.  Think of the astral plane as like a collective illusion.  It mirrors the physical plane with mental energy from people who have either passed on or are astral projecting themselves to have a look see."  The Doctor was having a field day with this, now that he thought about it.  It was a brand new place he had never been before.  This was the first firsts in hundreds of years.  And he was going to thoroughly enjoy it.

"And we're not astral projecting ourselves?" Rory asked, looking slightly annoyed as the Time Lord was seemingly checking on how to get the TARDIS fully operational again.

"Not from the feel of things, no," The Doctor smiled like a giddy school boy.  "To physically be here is...impossible.  But brilliant and new!  I love it when I get something new.  It makes my whole life!"

Rory sighed with a shake of his head.  "The cracks of time and the Pandorica were new things.  Time being unwritten was a new thing."

"True, but this is the first time I've been to a place that one can only get to through mind and spirit, not with a physical form."

Amy came storming out of the quarters, her hair still kind of covered in pieces of gunk but her new clothes were spotless.  "Alright, what did I miss?" she asked.  "Should we go investigate now?"

"Yes, but first," The Eleventh Doctor started, seeing that the TARDIS' power was not only being restored, but it was getting slowly repaired.  "We must be careful.  We might meet people who've never seen physical beings here before, or they might not even acknowledge us," he explained as all three of them went back towards the door.  "We'll come back here in an hour or two, check on the TARDIS' progress.  We might get to leave earlier than twenty-four hours."

The mad man opened the door and the three walked out cautiously.  The area they were in was different than before.  It looked more like a mechanical room with giant pistons moving and steam billowing out with hisses.

"What is this place?" Amy asked in awe as The Doctor took readings with the sonic screwdriver.

"The engine room, maybe?  Or a section of the engine room," The Doctor replied nonchalantly, his mouth hanging open as he read the readings.  "Only some of the pistons are active.  That is strange.  Are we on a stalled ship?"

The trio continued looking around the area after The Doctor locked up his TARDIS.  The brown floor was wet, the area itself looking as if it could use a good scrubbing.  As they continued on, giant pistons screeking in the distance, some were stuck and blowing a lot of steam.  Some of them were trying to move but they were jammed.

"Hmm," The Doctor hummed as he continued his readings.  "They're not deadlocked, there's something actually impeding the pistons from moving."  A rush of light hit way behind them in the room, the pistons that were still moving looking like clean and refreshed metal.  As was the floor in that section.  The Doctor furrowed his brow in confusion.  "Using light to keep things clean?  Well, that's interesting."

"It's probably very hot," Amy said.  "All the more reason to get out of this room."

The three hurried faster until they managed to find a slimy, green door.  The Doctor unlocked it with his screwdriver and it clicked open.  What was on the other side was not something he expected to see.

"Oh I say!" he exasperated in shocked delight as he walked through the door.  "That is such a LOVELY AQUARIUM!" he screamed out happily.