Beautiful Explosions

Seven

"Surely you know the answer to that question, Doctor?" I said, re-tying my bandanna in the reflection on the time rotor. "What is that thing on your head?" The Doctor asked, looking through the glass at me. “It’s a bandanna Doctor, bandannas are cool. As for that thing in your collar...” I remarked, grinning. The Doctor rolled his eyes and subconsciously fixed his bow tie. "Anyway..." I say, walking up next to him, leaning up against the console, "You didn't answer my question. What did I ask you as I fell asleep under my duvet and watched you leave? What did I want?" I quizzed him, walking around the TARDIS. He just looked at me, baffled. "How about I remind you? Jog your  memory a bit? So I'm going to say this; tommorow."

"Ahhh!" He exclaimed in realisation, grinning widely at me. "Greeks! Ancient Greeks! Plays, gods, that sort of thing? Yeah?" he laughed, and I nodded. He raised his arms as if in triumph. "Okay, Miss Parker, if it's Greeks you want, it's Greeks, you'll get!" He announced, turning a dial, pulling a lever and then yelling, "Grab on to something!"

Before I even had time to laugh, I was thrown to the side of the ship, screaming at the top of my lungs. "I did say hold on!" He sighed, as we came to a stop. I put my hand to my face in dismay. "My glasses Doctor!" I said irritably. I searched around, my eyesight hazy, trying not to bump into anything. "Oh!" we exclaimed together, as I spotted them at the foot of the stairs. As I bent over to grab them, My head came into contact with another. "Once again, owww!" I moaned, my hand reaching for the floor. "Oh," I murmured, looking up at him. He met my gaze, and my hand touched his. "Glasses," He stated simply, putting them in my hand and folding my fingers over them. He stood up quickly, and ran over to the door, throwing it open, before I even had chance to figure out what had just happened. I put my glasses back on, and got up quickly. "Well, that's better," I said walking over to the TARDIS entrance. "Shoelace!" he warned, before I fell out of the door and hit my face on the hard sandy ground. "Your TARDIS is cursed," I complained, standing up and pulling the door shut. "It's nothing to do with my TARDIS, Lillian, just your apparent lack of lace-tying skills." I scowled at him, before bending over to tie my Converses. There were people bustling around in the streets, and it looked like they were all headed in the same direction. "Where are they going?" I asked the Doctor, peering at the crowds. "Lets do what I usually do, follow them," he replied, walking off with the toga-clad masses towards wherever they were going. "Wait up!" I shouted after him, hurrying to catch up. "So, Lily, Ancient Greek expert, what was one of the most popular pastimes, back in 474 BC?" The Doctor quizzed me, as we rushed to keep up with the crowds. "Oh yeah! Theatre!" I instantly answered. "Spot on!" he said, taking a pair of sunglasses from his pocket.  We continued to follow the avalanche of people, all heading towards a giant, magestic ampitheatre. "Woah," I said in awe, "I've never seen one new before. It's...amazing." I looked at the rows of people sat staring expectantly at the stone platform. I searched for a pair of Ray Bans in my bag as we walked into the theatre. I put them on and looked around for a place to sit. "Where should we sit?" I asked the Doctor. "How about the front?" he suggested, grabbing my wrist and rushing down the steps until we were practically eye level with the figures on stage. "How come we can understand what they're saying?" I asked, looking over at him. "TARDIS translating power, it lingers," he replied, and I nodded. 

An hour in, I started to notice a quiet ticking noise coming from the direction of the stage. "Hey Doctor?" I said, tapping him. "Yes Lillian?" he looked round, pushing his sunglasses on to his bouffant of hair. "I swear clocks weren't invented for another 800 years or something?" I asked him curiously, gesturing towards the stage. "No. They weren't. That's why I think there's something not quite right going on," he replied, interest and suspicion clear in his voice. He pulled his screwdriver out of his blazer pocket and scanned whatever was standing on the stage. "As, I thought," he murmured, running a hand through his mass of dark brown hair. "What? What is it?" I asked, concerned. "These...these things. They're like clockwork slaves, sent to particular pockets in time to find parts for things in need of repair. When they run out of normal parts, well...they start taking bits out of people. I’ve seen it before; with Madame De Pompadour…she was quite a lady…” The Doctor says, lost in memory. “Are you okay?” I ask him, looking more carefully at the things on stage. “Err, yeah, fine…we just need to check them out, last time they needed parts for their spaceship” he says, standing up and running out of the amphitheatre. “Where are we going?” I exclaim, struggling to keep up with him and his annoyingly long legs.

We snuck behind the stage, disguised behind Greek masks. “Three, two, one,” he counts, and we jump up behind the clockwork actors and pull off the masks. “Hey there, I’m the oncoming storm, and what I want to know is WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING BACK ON THIS PLANET?” the Doctor demands, staring at one of the objects in anger.  “The oncoming storm huh?” I say, left-hooking a clockwork thing trying to dissect me. “Yeah, fear me!” He replies grandly, sending me into fits of laughter as I kick the thing to the ground. The machine just stands there, unmoving, in front of the Doctor. “You are incompatible for harvesting. You are not of this world,” It says mechanically. “Never would’ve guessed,” The Doctor replies mockingly, hitting it on the shoulder. “These people are ready. We have been using them. You must all come for processing!” It says, marching towards the crowd. They scream in fear, and a dust cloud flies into the air as they run desperately in all directions. "Processing for what?" I ask the other droid, my nose inches from its mechanical face. "We are the slaves of the Cybermen. You will be taken for testing and possible upgrade," It answers me, wrapping a cloth covered arm around my neck. "Oh no you don't!" the Doctor said insistently, taking his sonic screwdriver out of his blazer and pointed it at the arm strangling me. I breathed a sigh of relief as I felt my neck being let go and the droid powering down. "So, why are they here again?" I ask the Doctor, circling the thing that had tried to kidnap me. "The Cybermen. They're basically emotionless robots with human brains that shoot everything non-Cyberman in their path with a deadly electric shock," he explained, scanning the droid with the sonic. "Sound like a lovely bunch," I reply, trying on one of the clay masks. "Is this a good look for me?" I ask the Doctor, who looks up and laughs. "Lovely," he replies, and I giggle, removing the mask. "So, what next?" I say, looking at the concentrated look on his face. "Now, Miss Parker, we find out where they came from."