Fight For Freedom |4| The Ascension

Chapter Forty Two: The Girl Who Waited

"Apalapucia!" McKenzie exclaimed, bounding into the console room and startling Amy and Rory.

"What?" he blinked.

"Apalapucia," the Doctor repeated.

Amy frowned. "Say it again?"

"Apalapucia," McKenzie did so.

"Apalapu—"

"Chia," the Doctor ended.

"Apalapucia," Rory tried.

"Apalapucia," McKenzie grinned.

"Apalapucia," Amy smiled. "What a beautiful word."

"Beautiful word, beautiful world," the Doctor summarised. "Apalapucia, voted number two planet in the top ten greatest destinations for the discerning intergalactic traveller."

"Why couldn't we go to number one?" Rory frowned.

"Oh, it's hideous," McKenzie assured him. "Everyone goes to number one, you can't breathe for coffee shops. This, though, this is brilliant. Apalapucia. I give you sunsets, spires, soaring silver colonnades. I give you—" She threw the TARDIS doors open to reveal a blank white wall with a door.

"Doors," Rory deadpanned.

"Doors." She rolled her eyes. "Yes, I give you doors. But on the other side of those doors, I give you sunsets, spires, soaring silver colonnades." She had a hand clapped on his shoulder, gesturing in front of them as if they could really see the attractions.

"Have you seen my phone?" Amy frowned, patting her pockets.

The Doctor blinked. "Your phone?"

"Yeah."

"Your mobile telephone?" He scoffed. "I bring you to a paradise planet, two billion lightyears from Earth, and you want to update Twitter?"

Amy chuckled. "Sunsets, spires, soaring silver colonnades? It's a camera phone."

He sighed, sheepish. "On the counter, by the DVDs."

She grinned. "Thank you."

"So how do we get in?" Rory was asking.

"I don't know," McKenzie admitted. "Push a button, maybe?"

Rory shrugged, pushing the first of the two buttons—a green anchor. The door opened to reveal a white room with a magnifying glass on a table. The trio shared a look, heading inside.

"Okay," McKenzie said, sounding uncertain. "So a rain check on those soaring silver colonnades."

"It's a magnifying glass," Rory frowned. The thing was stood up on its side in the middle of the table, with nothing else of note in the room to explain its presence.

"Hey, maybe they've got a whole bunch of tiny jigsaws," McKenzie suggested. "Or, or maybe the people who live here are really, really, really long-sighted."

They heard a banging on the door, then Amy's voice. "Hey? Hey, it's locked."

"Yeah, push the button," Rory called. There was a silence and no Amy. "Come on, Amy." He opened the door, stepping out into the corridor. "Where is she? Where on wherever we are is my wife?"

"Hang on," the Doctor muttered, pushing the green button on the magnifying glass. Suddenly, an image appeared of Amy looking right at him.

"Well, that's... something," McKenzie frowned. "Rory, I think we've found her."

"What do you mean you've found her?" he asked, coming back inside. His eyes widened, seeing his wife's image in the magnifying glass. "Whoa. No, but she's not, she's not here. I can see her, but she's not here."