Doctor Who: The Grandfather Paradox

Chapter 2: Under Pressure

CHAPTER 2: Under Pressure

Air shifted around a vast, cavernous room as the TARDIS slowly materialised. It completed its transition with a hefty wheeze and a booming thud, and the Doctor wasted no time in opening the doors to step outside.

He surveyed his surroundings. A pristine, polished turquoise floor stretched in all directions, its surface reflected walls lined with massive stone columns that supported an arched ceiling framework of criss-crossed steel beams. Above, several security cameras twitched intermittently, their lenses pointed directly at the Doctor. He gave one a cheerful wave. Its presence, its overtly technological appearance, was at odds with the room's design; in fact, the architecture overall appeared to be a subtle jumble of design. A mix of old and new.

With each step he took, the Doctor's feet clacked in echo on the hard floor. The sound reverberated within the large space and stood out against the sheer lack of noise elsewhere. Behind him, Rory and Amy cautiously emerged from the TARDIS, their worried looks saying it all. "Where's this, then?" Amy asked.

The Doctor kept moving forward. He approached a lone desk set in the middle of the room, comically small against the large interior - and behind that desk sat a solitary humanoid figure. A young woman, whose attention was focused on a transparent computer monitor in front of her.

He stood before the woman, but she didn't register his presence. An awkward moment passed. The Doctor cleared his throat and rapped his knuckles on the desk, the noise positively booming within the empty space. Unfazed, she looked up, bored. She spoke in monotone. "Welcome to the Shadow Proclamation. Please be advised your presence here is monitored at all times. How can I help you?"

"Shadow Proclamation," said the Doctor. "Yes. Good. I like what you've done with the place. Nice columns. Negative space really brings life to a room."

He flashed a smile, but it wasn't returned. The woman simply stared at him with a blank, humourless expression. The Doctor's face gradually fell.

"Strictly business, then. Fine. I've come to see the Shadow Architect. She's expecting me, I believe."

The woman looked down at her monitor. "Name and species."

"The Doctor, one hundred percent Time Lord. And flanking me are the brand new Mister and Missus Williams, Amy and Rory, human and human."

The woman's expression immediately changed. She looked up at the Doctor, eyes wide and alert. Her hand slammed down hard on a red button embedded in the desk, and the room was filled with a piercing high-pitched alarm. Rory and Amy winced as they put their hands to their ears. The Doctor, himself on full alert, spun on his heel.

He spun to see a swarm of Judoon. They approached from all directions, two rows deep. The Judoon surrounded the desk, enclosing the Doctor, Amy, and Rory within their circle and stared at them down the sights of some heavy electronic firearms, all clicking into an armed state with one united motion. And there they stood, ready.

Amy tugged the Doctor's jacket sleeve. She tried to speak over the alarm. "Doctor..."

"Don't worry," he said. "This always happens. Well, I say always, but this is a new one for me, and normally I'm the king of always. No..."

He looked around. Judoon stood shoulder to shoulder. No way out.

"...this is a first."

*          *          *

"How about this? Is this a first, too?"