"The year 2.288," The Doctor took a pause, "And we're in Panem."
Panem? That is definitely not a name that Amy remembered nor knew. It sounded European, specifically Latin. Well, whatever Panem was it made the future sound like an old Roman Empire. Gladiators and the Colosseum. Not the greatest thing to be compared to. All of that coupled with how the Doctor said the name, it was not reassuring. At all.
Amy raised an eyebrow. She crossed her arms and said, "And... where is that?"
The Doctor glanced at River, she returned the glance with a slight shake of the head, then he plainly said, "Earth."
"Yeah, where specifically on Earth?" Rory asked.
"Why don't we take a look?" The Doctor said, clearly knowing what was out there.
The Doctor did not have a clear expression. His face was blank. His eyes unblinking. It's not something that you see every day. Gone are the cheerful cues the Doctor often does in his usual stride. It had been replaced with a rarely seen demeanor. That of caution.
He approached the door and slowly opened it. It was just enough that his head could fit through it. His shoulders shifted just a bit as he moved his head from left to right. Then he turned back to the crew, smiling. Apparently, satisfied with what he had seen outside of the TARDIS doors.
"Amy, Rory welcome," He opened the doors, "To the Capitol!"
As the doors opened the lights of the outside world flooded in. Beyond the doors lay candy-colored buildings in the distance and people with fashion that spans all the colors of the rainbow and more! The buildings and the people (The people!) were heavily decorated. Children ran around happily, some chased one another. The TARDIS crew's fashion would look very out of place, even the Doctor's would look a bit weird. That was saying something.
The Doctor clapped his hands together, "We're only going to be here for a little while, is that understood?"
"What, but why? Is it a fixed point in time or something? We can't interfere and all that timey-wimey stuff." Amy said, her eyebrows furrowed.
"Yes, it's exactly that," The Doctor smiled, but his eyes didn't, until it finally lit up in his next sentence, "But before we go out, how about a little bit of a wardrobe change?"
"Where is that again?" Rory asked. He thought it was a bit weird that the Doctor wanted a change of wardrobe, since he never really asked to do so much at all, but he has just learnt not to question things like that.
"First left, second right, third on your left, under the stairs, past the bins, fifth door on your left." River answered, then she grinned, "Now, father-dear, mother-dear, husband. Let's all go and change, I shall be your stylists."
The Doctor mouthed 'Thank you' to River, his hands fiddling afterwards.
The crew came back all fully dressed in completely different looking clothes, consisting of dresses and suits.
River had a really elegant looking golden-dress going down to her ankles. She chose a dress that would not constrict her from physical activities, so the lower part of her dress was quite loose on her legs. Her whole look really suited her, especially with her wild blonde hair.
Amy came in with a shorter bright red dress with puffy ends, it only reached down to her thighs. Under it she wore black leggings then comfortable boots. To top it all off, she wore a short crimson-leather jacket. It was her usual style elevated into a more extravagant and avant-garde dress.
Rory wore a red shirt with an unbuttoned collar, a black hoodie on top of it and a long waistcoat that was also unbuttoned on top of the hoodie. He wore dark red dress pants and brown dress shoes. His eyes showed what could only be described as being 'dead-inside'.
"River, why do I have to look, so..." Rory asked, his eyebrows furrowed, "So bright red?"
"Because, father-dear, I still want you to be comfortable and active, but still look like you are in fashion," River said, smiling she patted her father's shoulders, then whispered, "I compromised, don't worry, you look amazing."
Amy only laughed at how Rory was reacting to his clothes, "Don't worry, Stupid-face. It doesn't hurt my eyes. At all."
Then the cheerful glee of the Doctor's voice grabbed everyone's attention, "Alright, everyone!"
He had his hands up in the air as he ran around the console, twirling himself like a planet rotating whilst also revolving around a star. He was moving around too much and too fast for anyone to see his wardrobe clearly. But there were definitely blurs of a rainbow.
"How do I look?" He asked, his smile growing so wide his mouth must hurt.
Amy specifically, observed the Doctor the most. He wore a dark purple coat with accents of silver on it and a galaxy patterned lining, the collars were propped up around his neck. His shirt was pinkish with a purple bow tie and black suspenders. On the bottom half of the outfit, his pants were a darker shade of purple than his coat and it had simple lighter purple patterns going along its ends. He wore his normal brown boots. A black fedora comfortably sat on his head, a feather protruding out from its left side. And to top it all off, a rainbow feathered collar behind the collar of his coat going down to the back of its lapels, the color red on its very right-side gradating to purple on its left.
Besides the very eye-catching rainbow feathers, the majority of his choice of attire were purple articles of clothing, huh? Not a choice of color Amy had ever seen the Doctor wear. But the rainbow collar! It was insane, more insane than the normal clothes he wore.
Amy couldn't help but say, in giggles,"You look like you just plucked the feathers out of a peacock and stuck it on your coat collar!"
"Well, don't say it like that!" The Doctor said in annoyance, his smile dropping from his face.
"They're feathers, which when put next to one another make a rainbow! It's a cool concept, and a cool execution, too." The Doctor smiled again, he pulled on his suspenders then let it slap onto himself, then he straightened his bow tie.
The Doctor then rummaged through his inner-coat pockets his eyes squinted as he did. It took some time for him to finally stop as his face lit up. He pulled his hand back out it was carrying coin-like objects that had lights on their centers.
"Here, put these on the back of your necks, they're vocal modulators," The Doctor handed one each to everyone but himself, "They're kind of like mini translation circuits. Though, they're more personal. I figured since the TARDIS is acting up, it'd be better safe than sorry. They'll also replicate the way people speak in a given area. Sadly, it's not as advanced as the TARDIS' translation circuit, I really need to fix that. You'll need to tap it to recalibrate it every time you change areas, for now I've set it to replicate the Capitol accent."
Amy immediately put it on the back of her neck, and started talking. But weirdly she didn't sound any different, "Doctor, why doesn't it sound like I sound any different?"
"What? No, you definitely don't have your Scottish accent anymore." Rory pointed out.
Amy threw a warning glare at Rory.
"Ponds! Calm down, the vocal modulators only work with people who are not currently wearing them." The Doctor turned his eyes to Rory, "Rory, put it on. Then tell me how Amy sounds."
Rory attached the device at the back of his neck, glancing at Amy to start talking. She did,
"Whoa, yeah. She sounds normal now." Rory stated, his eyebrows shot up.
"Alright then, everyone ready? I'll lead the way, and make sure you follow me, because the Capitol is big and you really don't want to get lost. Trust me, it's hell trying to find your way back." River said as she walked to ward the TARDIS doors putting on her vocal modulator.
River walked out first, followed by Amy then Rory. Although, the Doctor was still in the TARDIS at this moment. Suddenly, the TARDIS started to take off once more. Doing exactly what it did just a few moments ago. Randomly taking off and landing. Amy and Rory turned back in shock. The Doctor tried to keep the TARDIS in place his feet jumping around the console, and it was visible as the door was still open.
"No, no, no, no, no! Not again!" The Doctor shouted from the inside, "I can't keep her still,"
"River!" The Doctor looked through the crack of the TARDIS door, "Take care of them!"
River nodded. Then the TARDIS' door shut tight, and she was gone.
Now, Amy, Rory, and River were left alone in Panem. Which to the Ponds, were like the wilderness, they had absolutely no idea what it was like, or what it was going to be like. Amy suspected that River knew at least a thing or two about Panem. And so, at this point all hope on exploring Panem without getting lost was on her.
"The Doctor'll come back I promise you." River stated to both her parents, "But you know that already, so why don't we explore, huh?"
Everywhere they looked, they saw shops for miles on end, all selling different types of luxuries. There were holo-banners, Rory liked to call them, every few feet. And every few blocks, they would hear parties happening inside of the apartments around the city. But most obvious of all, there were restaurants everywhere, selling all kinds of different foods of different cultures. All of this made the Ponds gape and it made them want to buy as many things as possible from this candy shop of a country. Was this really how good the human race's future will be like?
After staring at all kinds of different foods and smelling all of them passing by the restaurants, the three of them eventually got hungry. Amy and Rory especially were hungrier than River, as they had just been running around a spaceship trying to avoid a virus that damaged the spaceship. Amy was the one to decide which restaurant they were going to.
She picked what seemed like a French restaurant. Before they got in though, River stocked some money up from a nearby ATM machine. They still had ATMs this far into the future, huh? But it seemed like the money was already in digital form, as River did not come back with physical cash.
The restaurant was very open-planned. Windows were on every side of the building, there were seats outside with umbrellas on top of the tables, like any normal outdoor seats in any restaurants. Although, they decided to be indoors. Inside it felt very French, the orange-yellow tint present in the room set the ambience. There was a large TV screen at the back corner of the room, it showed the picture of a stylized bird, with arrows in its talons.
They took a seat near the windows of the restaurant, it looked out to the bustling streets of the Capitol and high-speed trains. Amy took the seat facing to the window, Rory took her left, and River took her right. A waiter gave them their menus without saying anything. Neither Amy nor Rory took note of this, but River looked at his direction with pity. River gave the menus out to the Ponds and kept one for herself.
Amy was confused of what to pick, the menu had a large selection of food, it was a wide touchscreen tablet with literal hundreds of pages of food selections and beverages. She wondered if she was reading through the whole entire history of French cuisine. Finally, though, she settled on some beef stew and just ordered water for her drink. Rory picked some classic chicken cordon bleu, and also water for his drink. River ordered some salad and paired it with, like the rest of the team, some water.
"Please, come and take our order!" River gestured to the waiter. She listed off exactly what the trio had picked. The waiter looked surprised, at what however, Amy didn't know.
Then River continued, "Yes, I know it's not much, we are just a bit peckish, now please put our orders through." The waiter finally did what River said, and he wandered off to the entrance of the restaurant.
It's not much? They ordered three meals it might not have been three-course-meals but it was still enough. Do people eat that much in the future? Amy's head was riddled with questions.
Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, wait that waiter just took their orders without saying a single word, not even a 'What would you like to order?'. It could just mean that he was not very sociable, but he would've at least said a few words, right?
"Hey, was it just me or did that waiter not say anything?" Amy asked.
"No, yeah I was about to ask that, too." Rory confirmed Amy's statement.
River opened her mouth to start talking, but then the waiter that had taken their order quickly came back to their table delivering their food and as soon as he has dropped off all the food he came back to where he stood before, the entrance of the restaurant.
Amy's eyes widened in shock, "Ok..., that was way too quick, tight?"
"Yeah, that was really fast." Rory agreed.
"That's the future for, ya." River smiled, not because she was proud of the future, but because she was saved from a conversation she's rather not have, "Though, why they don't have an auto-order system here is beyond me."
Amy and Rory looked at River expectantly.
"Anyways, eat up." River shrugged, "We better get some energy if you want to spend the day exploring until the Doctor finds his way back to us."
Amy grabbed her spoon and started to eat her beef stew. She bit down on a piece of beef and the explosion of flavours that hit her tongue was insane, "Oh my God, this is amazing!"
River smiled again, but same as the Doctor her eyes didn't. It was like she wanted to smile because there were good things, but her heart did not or rather it couldn't. Like deep down River knew that there were underlying problems behind all of these luxuries.
"Is all food in the future like this?" Amy said, still chewing on her food, enough to be audible.
"Oh, trust me, it gets better." River said, the she muttered to herself, "And sadly worse...."
Suddenly, the TV screen in the corner of the room flickered. Music that sounded like an anthem played graciously. Everyone in the restaurant turned their heads to see the TV. Their chatter stopped.
Then the TV showed the face of a very old man, his very white head of hair and beard was hard to forget. His position in front of the camera made it so that his face was super imposed on the screens. Some would say his face was too close on the camera, showing just a little bit too much of his face. That plus the fact that the cameras and screens were higher definition than what Amy had seen in a while, on Earth, his face was way too defined.
"Looks like they haven't gotten that good of cameramen though." Rory pointed out.
"Yeah." Amy responded. Her eyes focused on the screen, she squinted just a bit, not because she needed to, but because of her curiosity.
"People of Panem. This year marks the third quarter quell, and today marks another celebration of Liberty Day. In which years ago, today, a very brave man stood up against the rebels. To protect the celebrated Hunger Games and of course, to protect a very young, very naive boy,"
The man's voice was deep and gravelly. He came off as a very wise man, but underneath it there's a bit of darkness and cunning.
The screen flickered again, revealing the picture of a very familiar face. A very familiar man,
"That's the Doctor!" Amy exclaimed, just a little bit too loud to warrant some weird looks from people around the trio. River put a finger on her mouth gesturing Amy to shush.
"How is he on the screen though?" Rory asked, he lowered his head and leaned on the table eyes darting from Amy to River.
River shook her head and put her palm against her forehead. She drew a long and very audible sigh.
"He went into the past and saved that man didn't he?" Rory asked.
"Of course, he would do that." Amy stated.
"And now, here I am. As the President of Panem. I shall declare once more, happy Liberty Day, and happy good giving."
The screen flickered off and back to the bird symbol it once was on.
"So, the Doctor saved the President," Amy started, "As a child?"
"Of course, he did, he could never stop himself." River replied, she wiped her mouth with a piece of white cloth. She seemed glad about something, but it didn't show what it was that she was glad about.
Amy, Rory, and River finished off their lunch, and they went back out into the streets. Back exploring this new world. Their species' future.
As they walked down the streets, a very familiar sound came into everyone's hearings. It was the very iconic sound of the TARDIS. The trio turned their heads toward the noise. The TARDIS started to materialize near a clothes shop. It fully solidified itself after a few seconds. Amy was the first one to run to it. Before she got close enough to open the doors. The Time Lord himself stepped out, his stetson gone,
"Oh, hello, Amelia," The Doctor started with a light but sad smile on his face,
The Doctor turned his head at one of the nearby holo-banners as it turned into his face, then into a symbol with a familiar box at the centre of it, the Doctor's eyebrows furrowed, "What? How is that?"
Then his eyes widened, "Oh..., Coryo...."
== Author's Note ==
Another week another chapter! I hope you enjoyed that one, I might upload the next chapter today as well, and well if the next chapter is out then I guess I have decided to upload that chapter as well!
Please, if you are willing, leave a review! Feedback is actual gold when writing.
That's all I have to say.
Stay not so tuned peeps--