Post by Oldmankrondas on Mar 15, 2009 19:42:35 GMT
'John?' she whispered, her frail body struggling to sit up in bed.
He turned, trying not to let her see his tears, producing a handkerchief from the top pocket of his purple crushed velvet frock coat. 'I'm here...' He sat down by the bed and took her hand, stroking back her hair.
'I always thought I'd go out with a bang...' she gasped. '...all those things we did. And yet...' she struggled to find the words, tears welling up in her eyes. '...here I am, in bed, with you holding my hand at the age of 90...there were a few times I thought I'd never see 30.' She smiled at him. 'Thank you.'
He shook his head, his silver hair glimmering in the morning sun. 'No Kathryn, thank you...for everything.'
She smiled one last time before her eyes closed. He sat for hours after that, never letting go of her hand.
Twenty years later...
They were standing in a vast field, the Doctor leaning against the TARDIS smiling broadly. 'Oh smell that air, South of England, mid July rare spell of gorgeous sunshine...'
Anna was sitting on the grass leaning back eyes closed with the sun beaming down on her face. 'You know what Doctor, you can take me halfway across the galaxy but summertime in the countryside wins every time!'
The Doctor nodded. 'There is something about this planet...' he mumbled before removing his overcoat and tossing it back inside the TARDIS unceremoniously. He sat down beside Anna, clapping his hands together. 'So then! What to do?'
'Can we not just sit here for a bit? It's rather refreshing not to be shot at on arrival.'
The Doctor caught a glimpse of something at the top of the hill, a jeep making its way towards them at some speed. 'You just had to say it didn't you?' He shot to his feet, raising his hands as the jeep swerved and came to a halt. Two men in camouflage gear hopped out of the jeep, automatic rifles raised. There was a logo on their jackets but the Doctor didn't recognise it. 'Hello! I'm the Doctor and this is Anna and we were just...'
'You were just leaving I hope.' the larger of the two, a broad shouldered, bald headed man with a pugnacious face. 'You mind telling me what you're doing trespassing on the grounds of the Speculum Project? And what the hell is that?' He asked, motioning to the TARDIS.
'That? That's a 1950s police box.' The Doctor replied, incredulous. 'No sense of history.' he muttered to Anna.
'So what's it doing here?' the man asked.
'Good question...brilliant question in fact...but we'll get to that in a minute. What's the Speculum Project?'
'Good morning ladies and gentlemen of the press, I'm Professor Hugh Sterling and head of operations here at Speculum.' He took a sip of water. 'A lot of rumours have been flying around about what it is we're trying to acheive here and our experiments have reached a stage where we're comfortable telling you the truth.' He took another sip of water then pushed a button on his desk, bringing up a projection. 'Parallel universes. Once the thing of science fiction, what if Hitler won the Second World War? What if JFK had never been assassinated? Our plan is to allow the human race to view parallel universes so we can see what may have been, and learn from these mistakes.' He indicated to the projection, displaying a large cylindrical structure with various interlocking circles inside moving around, generating a beam of light. 'This is the Speculum, it allows us to travel between different universes, opening up a crack between universes.'
'That's insane!' the Doctor spluttered. 'You can't just go punching holes in the universe!'
'Calm down sir.' the bald man demanded, raising his gun.
'Calm down? Have you any idea the sorts of things that can go wrong?' He turned to Anna. 'We're stopping this now.'
The bald man cocked his gun and indicated for his companion to handcuff them. 'I'm sorry sir but I can't allow you to do that!' The shorter, quieter man slapped the handcuffs on the Doctor before he realised what was happening. 'We'll take you to see Professor Sterling, maybe he could talk some sense into you.'
'The press conference seemed to go well.' Sterling said to the brunette woman in the purple business suit who was fiddling with a pair of glasses in the doorway. 'Didn't it?'
'There were times when I think you lost a few of our tabloid journos but all in all, pretty succesful.' She put her glasses back on, and produced a notebook from her pocket. 'You drank too much water, it was distracting.'
'Did I? Guess I was nervous...'
'Which isn't much of a confidence boost for sceptics of the project, taking a sip of water whilst assuring people that nothing can go wrong shows you're nervous. Maybe you're hiding something, maybe you're out and out lying, it doesn't look good.' She said, watching as Sterling opened his mini fridge that sat next to his desk and produced a bottle of water. 'Is there something I need to know about?'
Sterling opened the bottle and took a long drink, then shook his head. 'Nothing at all, the experiments have just taken it out of me, not eating right, not topping up my fluid levels. Just a little dehydrated.' He beckoned for her to take a seat. 'Drink?'
'I'll have what you're having.' She smiled, before looking back down at her notebook, refusing the seat. 'I also think we should look into broadcasting the next experiment on TV or the net, garner some interest and support. We're still looking for more funding remember.'
Sterling passed her a bottle of water and shrugged. 'I'm just not entirely comfortable with broadcasting this next one...there's far too many problems that can occur, adding a camera crew well it could be disasterous.' He picked up a folder from his desk and showed her the picture inside, displaying a portal and several metal rods. 'We're trying to see if we can open and close the portals, master some sort of control over them...one wrong move and we could trap a BBC film crew in another universe. There goes our funding.'
She was about to suggest he take a video camera in himself when the phone rang, Sterling answered it, made a few interested noises then replaced the receiver. 'Sorry Claire I have to dash, maybe we can wrap this up later?'
Claire shrugged, putting the cap back on her bottle of water and following him out the office. 'No problem, we can reschedule, just think about the camera. It's nothing serious is it?'
Sterling shook his head. 'Just someone who seems to disagree with what we're trying to acheive here....but what's most interesting is the object they found him with.'
He turned, trying not to let her see his tears, producing a handkerchief from the top pocket of his purple crushed velvet frock coat. 'I'm here...' He sat down by the bed and took her hand, stroking back her hair.
'I always thought I'd go out with a bang...' she gasped. '...all those things we did. And yet...' she struggled to find the words, tears welling up in her eyes. '...here I am, in bed, with you holding my hand at the age of 90...there were a few times I thought I'd never see 30.' She smiled at him. 'Thank you.'
He shook his head, his silver hair glimmering in the morning sun. 'No Kathryn, thank you...for everything.'
She smiled one last time before her eyes closed. He sat for hours after that, never letting go of her hand.
Twenty years later...
They were standing in a vast field, the Doctor leaning against the TARDIS smiling broadly. 'Oh smell that air, South of England, mid July rare spell of gorgeous sunshine...'
Anna was sitting on the grass leaning back eyes closed with the sun beaming down on her face. 'You know what Doctor, you can take me halfway across the galaxy but summertime in the countryside wins every time!'
The Doctor nodded. 'There is something about this planet...' he mumbled before removing his overcoat and tossing it back inside the TARDIS unceremoniously. He sat down beside Anna, clapping his hands together. 'So then! What to do?'
'Can we not just sit here for a bit? It's rather refreshing not to be shot at on arrival.'
The Doctor caught a glimpse of something at the top of the hill, a jeep making its way towards them at some speed. 'You just had to say it didn't you?' He shot to his feet, raising his hands as the jeep swerved and came to a halt. Two men in camouflage gear hopped out of the jeep, automatic rifles raised. There was a logo on their jackets but the Doctor didn't recognise it. 'Hello! I'm the Doctor and this is Anna and we were just...'
'You were just leaving I hope.' the larger of the two, a broad shouldered, bald headed man with a pugnacious face. 'You mind telling me what you're doing trespassing on the grounds of the Speculum Project? And what the hell is that?' He asked, motioning to the TARDIS.
'That? That's a 1950s police box.' The Doctor replied, incredulous. 'No sense of history.' he muttered to Anna.
'So what's it doing here?' the man asked.
'Good question...brilliant question in fact...but we'll get to that in a minute. What's the Speculum Project?'
*
'Good morning ladies and gentlemen of the press, I'm Professor Hugh Sterling and head of operations here at Speculum.' He took a sip of water. 'A lot of rumours have been flying around about what it is we're trying to acheive here and our experiments have reached a stage where we're comfortable telling you the truth.' He took another sip of water then pushed a button on his desk, bringing up a projection. 'Parallel universes. Once the thing of science fiction, what if Hitler won the Second World War? What if JFK had never been assassinated? Our plan is to allow the human race to view parallel universes so we can see what may have been, and learn from these mistakes.' He indicated to the projection, displaying a large cylindrical structure with various interlocking circles inside moving around, generating a beam of light. 'This is the Speculum, it allows us to travel between different universes, opening up a crack between universes.'
*
'That's insane!' the Doctor spluttered. 'You can't just go punching holes in the universe!'
'Calm down sir.' the bald man demanded, raising his gun.
'Calm down? Have you any idea the sorts of things that can go wrong?' He turned to Anna. 'We're stopping this now.'
The bald man cocked his gun and indicated for his companion to handcuff them. 'I'm sorry sir but I can't allow you to do that!' The shorter, quieter man slapped the handcuffs on the Doctor before he realised what was happening. 'We'll take you to see Professor Sterling, maybe he could talk some sense into you.'
*
'The press conference seemed to go well.' Sterling said to the brunette woman in the purple business suit who was fiddling with a pair of glasses in the doorway. 'Didn't it?'
'There were times when I think you lost a few of our tabloid journos but all in all, pretty succesful.' She put her glasses back on, and produced a notebook from her pocket. 'You drank too much water, it was distracting.'
'Did I? Guess I was nervous...'
'Which isn't much of a confidence boost for sceptics of the project, taking a sip of water whilst assuring people that nothing can go wrong shows you're nervous. Maybe you're hiding something, maybe you're out and out lying, it doesn't look good.' She said, watching as Sterling opened his mini fridge that sat next to his desk and produced a bottle of water. 'Is there something I need to know about?'
Sterling opened the bottle and took a long drink, then shook his head. 'Nothing at all, the experiments have just taken it out of me, not eating right, not topping up my fluid levels. Just a little dehydrated.' He beckoned for her to take a seat. 'Drink?'
'I'll have what you're having.' She smiled, before looking back down at her notebook, refusing the seat. 'I also think we should look into broadcasting the next experiment on TV or the net, garner some interest and support. We're still looking for more funding remember.'
Sterling passed her a bottle of water and shrugged. 'I'm just not entirely comfortable with broadcasting this next one...there's far too many problems that can occur, adding a camera crew well it could be disasterous.' He picked up a folder from his desk and showed her the picture inside, displaying a portal and several metal rods. 'We're trying to see if we can open and close the portals, master some sort of control over them...one wrong move and we could trap a BBC film crew in another universe. There goes our funding.'
She was about to suggest he take a video camera in himself when the phone rang, Sterling answered it, made a few interested noises then replaced the receiver. 'Sorry Claire I have to dash, maybe we can wrap this up later?'
Claire shrugged, putting the cap back on her bottle of water and following him out the office. 'No problem, we can reschedule, just think about the camera. It's nothing serious is it?'
Sterling shook his head. 'Just someone who seems to disagree with what we're trying to acheive here....but what's most interesting is the object they found him with.'
