My Mad Doctor

Chapter 2

I was still very confused about the whole 'London one second, Rio in another' nonsense, but I managed to keep up with The Doctor's quick walking, and even quicker talking.

"Well, Violet Grace, what do you think? Fresh, Rioan air. Is that a word? No, but you know what I mean. Rio grass, Rio trees, Rio people- Oh-" He cut off from his rant suddenly, examining a man carefully as we passed by.

"That's not right. That's very, very wrong." He said, staring at the ground. I poked my head around his shoulder, eager to see what he was referring to.

There was a circle burned into the grass, as big as a house. The edges were jagged and rough, as if a something had landed there. Likely something from space.

In the centre of the circle was a tunnel. There were no stairs, but the surface was smooth, so it would be safe to slide. Of course, I didn't want to actually go down there. That's something The Doctor would think of, not me.

"Look at that," he said, pointing to the anomaly. I followed his sight, but he wasn't looking at the tunnel.

He was looking at the people.

"What do you see?" He whispered in my ear. I scanned the crowds of people, searching for the answer. More than anything, I wanted to prove myself to him, though I had no idea why. It seemed mad to want to impress some man who I just met, especially one as odd as him, yet the urge to do so was so strong I forced myself to think.

"I see people. But," I said with squinted eyes, "the people aren't gawking and staring at the giant hole in the ground. In fact, they aren't even looking at it. Why?" The Doctor's grin magnified at my comment.

"Great question. Brilliant. So, why aren't they looking at it? The answer? Perception filter. It's a rather large one, too. See, a perception filter makes your eyes avoid the event at hand. Sort of like, you see something out of the corner of your eyes, and you know it's there, but you don't think of it."

"Why can I see it then?" I asked slowly. He stopped looking around and stared at me. His eyes darted quickly around as he thought, going back and forth between me and the tunnel. He suddenly grabbed me by the shoulders and stared deeply into my eyes, searching for something I couldn't name.

"Well, it could be the fact that this isn't your time. If you aren't in your particular time, then it's easy to see past perception filters."

I paled. "This isn't my time?" The whole idea of travelling across the world was daunting, but in time? That still seemed impossible.

"Yeah. Did I mention that? Sorry. We're in 2014. Not really a huge jump, but it could be enough to make a difference. No," he stopped in mid sentence, again. "No, it can't be. Then what is it?" He ran his hands through his already messy hair.

"It must be the intelligence," he mumbled to himself, rubbing his hands together. I stared at him, trying to figure out what he was saying.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked, trying desperately not to raise my voice.

"Well," he started in a scholarly tone. "People of high intelligence are sometimes immune to perception filters. That has to be it."

I smirked at him, trying to hold back my chuckle. "You calling me intelligent? Why thank you." He opened his mouth, as if to speak, then snapped it shut.

"I must say, I do believe I am the first person to render the Doctor speechless." I gloated, raising my eyebrows at him. He grinned, but it was a bit sad.

"Not exactly," he said softly. I expected him to elaborate, but he said nothing, so I didn't push him. He mumbled something under his breath that sounded similar to sauna, but I knew that wasn't what he was talking about. It couldn't be.

I was drawn away from this thought when he snapped out of his sadness and grinned again.

"Okay, so, perception filter. Why? What are they hiding? Who're they? I'm assuming that this is alien, although I can't be sure. My best guess is that some sort of space ship crashed here, recently, and the driver didn't want the rest of the world to know about it." I nodded slowly at his explanation.

"So what are we doing, standing around here like trees? Let's get investigating." I said with a wink. He grinned, all the sadness from before virtually undetected.

"Let's go investigate, then, Violet Grace."

A/N Hey Peoples, here's chapter 2. About the perception filter thing, I actually looked it up and that's true in case you didn't know. It said that people of high intelligence are immune to perception filters, similar to how Shakespeare was immune to the psychic paper in season 3. You may not think it yet, but Violet is actually a genius. It also says that it's easier to see past the filters if you aren't in your time. (http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Perception_filter) So, there you go. I did my research ;) Hope you liked this chapter!