The Doctor Meets the Little People

(Open to Fleshy, and Emma.)

Eric was bored. He sat in math class, the teacher rambling something as she wrote on the board. He had long since tuned her out, and instead chose to play with his pencil as he stared off towards the window.

It wasn't that he wasn't interested in math, or not very good at it. Quite the contrary, Eric was a whiz at math, and most the time, came home with straight As. It was the fact that he was a whiz at math, that made him feel very tired with this whole session. The teacher was on a subject that he had already learned from the older kids, and was now relearning. Usually, this didn't bother him too much. But watching the other kids made him wonder, what was wrong with them? They struggled with the most simplest concepts. Were they really that stupid, or were they just lazy? To make matters worse, most the kids knew he was good, and made fun of him for it. Calling him things like teacher's pet, or being too smart. He was not a teacher's pet for getting As, and it wasn't his fault that that stupid Frank got Ds because he chose to run around the streets instead of doing his homework. He knew Frank was lazy, but what about the girl who sat near him? His brown eyes glanced over at her, and he could tell by the concentrated look on his face that she was having difficulty understanding what the teacher was saying.

Well, it didn't really matter all that much in the end. Once he was done with school, he would be off, and wouldn't have to associate with this group anymore. He had a special friend to play with; Ellie. She was much smarter than these kids, even if she was a few years older. Then his eyes moved back to the window, beginning to daydream and imagine himself elsewhere.

It had been exactly three months since he had escaped from the orphanage and met Captain Jack in that library, and been taken under his wing. Well, Eric liked to think that, for he imagined himself growing up to be just like Captain Jack, and do just what Captain Jack did. Go off on secret missions and fight bad guys. He wasn't quite sure what else was involved, but he knew it was fun, exciting, and cool. Thinking about it brought a tinge of sadness, though, because he hadn't seen Captain Jack in a while. Well, sure, he had seen him, but it hadn't been for long, because he was off to some other place he had never even heard of. Aliens attacking or something. He wasn't quite sure what that meant, but he felt disappointed that Jack hadn't asked him along. How long was it going to be before Jack considered him old enough to go on secret missions, fighting crime and stopping invading aliens?

Perhaps it hadn't been such a good idea to daydream after all, because just then the teacher yelled his name. He practically jumped in his seat, and he heard a few giggles and snickers from around the room. He suppressed a glare, and calmly answered the question the teacher had asked him...once she had repeated it of course. And then he went right back to gazing around, waiting for class to be over.

Soon he heard the bell, and he was up out of his seat the instand it sounded. So was everyone else, and it seemed a mad rush to get from his desk to the door. But soon he was out in the hallways, running by the masses of gathering kids as they planned their little outings, and dashing down the stairs and out the door. Coming outside, he could smell the warm, slightly damp air, and knew it was a day for excitement, for he had something to show Ellie. Something really exciting and outer space looking.

Soon he found Ellie waiting by the side of the school, just where he had asked her to meet him. With a big smile, he yelled, "Hey Ellie!", as he ran over to her. He was practically trembling with excitement, and barely stopped himself from barelling into her. He didn't wait for her to respond either. "I have something to show you! It's past the old Barder's place."

Eric could barely contain his excitement as he gripped Ellie's hand and rushed down the sidewalk, and along the street. Soon they had left the streets and were going over meadows, past scattered houses and old fields. Over and under fences that separated farms from wilderness. By the time he had reached the old Barder place, he was out of breath, his hand letting go of Ellie's and his arms going to his sides as he stooped over slightly. Then just as suddenly he sprinted around the house and towards the back.

The old Barder house was a rather large house, but it looked like no one had lived in it for ages. The front porch had broken down, shingles were falling off, and the inside was all covered in cobwebs and dust. Eric frequently went in there to play and creap over fallen beams, and run up the rickety creaky stares. But that's not what he was after this time. He was after the small shed looking building behind the house. It was slightly run down looking too, but its walls were made out of a sturdy material that would last. Quickly his hands undid the rusty lock and he went inside the dark cramped shed. There was no light, but the sun from outside streamed into the entrance, showing their immediate path and the dark shadows of tools and walls. He crawled about in the dust and dirt on the floor, before he found what he was looking for. Some kind of lever that was hidden underneath a desk, and he pulled on it, which resulted in a kind of rumbling sound as a panel slid away in the floor.

"Look!" He pointed in excitement down at the stairs which the panel had revealed. "It's a secret basement! And it's got cool things in it!" He closed the shed door, in case anyone might find him and his secret place, then grabbed a flashlight out of his backpack and turned it on. Then carefully, down the stairs he went into the secret area below. The stairs seemed to take forever, but he made it to the bottom finally, and there they were met by hallways on either side. So many hallways and doors at the other end of them, it seemed hard to decide which way to go. But Eric went down the nearest hallway, his flashlight guiding the way as its beam flashed off some kind of inactive lighting fixtures.

"I haven't explored all the rooms," Eric admitted. "Most of the doors are locked. But this one isn't! And it's got cool stuff! Look!" He pushed open the door, which made a rather squeaky grating creak as it opened, and he flashed his light around. His beam caught the end of shiny metal stuff, things that he had never seen before he left the orphanage, and things that reminded him of objects he had found in Captain Jack's Torchwood building. That's how he knew it was all outer spacey stuff.

The Flesh Doctor walked slowly through the halls of the National Museum of History randomly looking at things but his thoughts were on Emma, he had only just left her about an hour ago but he felt like he was still with her. He smiled slightly as he stopped in one of the exhibits before he brought up the TVM slightly looking at it and thinking I suppose it is time for me to get back to my time.

The Flesh Doctor typed in a time and place before he pushed the button as he went through the time vortex quickly before he landed on his feet. He looked around at his surroundings and noted that he seemed to be in a run down shed. The Flesh Doctor could see the Sun coming throw the cracks in the wood. As he continued looking he saw that there was a stair case leading down into the ground.

He raised an eyebrow before pulling out his Sonic from out of his suit coat pointing it into the darkness as started walking down the stairs before he called out to see if anyone was there.

"Hello? Is anybody here?" he asked continuing to walk down the stairs before coming to the bottom he saw a few closed doors he kept his sonic out just in case as he started walking down the hallway.

"Um..." Eric shined his light around the jumble of seemingly electronic objects in the room. That's what he thought anyway...why else would there be circuit boards and wires on some of them? He had absolutely no idea what they were, or what they did, but he wanted to impress Ellie somehow. So he picked up the first thing he saw, which reminded him a lot of a gun, only it didn't look realistic at all. It had metal and clear coverings, which allowed him to see the inside. It was quite spectacular, and he let his light pause over the interior as he studied it for a moment.

"I finished exploring the house, and went to explore the shed. And there was that funny lever under the desk, and desks don't have funny levers, so I pulled on it." He twirled the gun around, and decided it reminding him of one of Captain Jack's weapons. Captain Jack never let him anywhere near it, but he snuck a peek, and the design looked quite similar. "I bet this gun shoots laser blasts," he said decidedly, and tried to sound as knowledgable as he could. He pointed it at the wall, and pressed the trigger like device, but he wasn't quite prepared for the result. Out shot a red laser, similar to what was in laser drills, which began searing a black line on the wall. Frightened, he pitched the laser weapon onto the desk, where it promptly shut off. After a moment, he dared to approach it, and he looked up at Ellie once he decided it was safe.

"I was right!" He exclaimed, his courage back along with a new found fascination. "It's a laser gun!" Then he moved to the other objects, shining his light over them. He hadn't actually explored this room much, merely saw all the fascinating objects before running back to tell Captain Jack. And Jack wasn't about, so he told Ellie instead. And now he wasn't so sure about telling Jack. He wanted to keep the place a big secret, that only he and Ellie knew about; their secret place of outer spacey treasure. He re-examined the objects, staring at their panels with wonder, and pressing a few buttons. Sadly, nothing happened, and he was onto the next item. But he missed something in his prior search, and as he stooped down, he kicked what looked to be an arm. He picked it up, finding it to be particularly heavy, and all metal.

"Ellie, look!" He set it on the desk and shone his light on it. "Armor!" He poked at the sleeve, and managed to open a panel. He stared at the inside, and pulled out a wire. "Ellie, does armor have wires?" He tried to stick his hand inside, but there was no room with all that metal circuitry inside. He was frustrated, not quite understanding what the point of having a metal arm was if you couldn't put your arm in it and use it!

Then he froze as he heard a noise, a sound other than Ellie; someone was calling. Every time he came to the Barder place, nobody was around. It was, for all intents and purposes, abandoned. So who was this person coming down the stairs? Was he the owner? He began panicking, searching for a place in the room to hide. If he caught them, what would he do? Would he get mad, and think they were trying to steal his stuff? Would he punish them? Would he kill them? He tried to be brave, for Ellie's sake, but his heart was pounding hard as he grabbed for Ellie's hand.

"Someone's coming! We better hide!" But was that enough? What if he found them? He couldn't let that happen again. He needed something clever to trap him so they could escape. He looked about the room, but he saw no rope to tie the person up with. Quickly he grabbed the arm, and he heaved it over to the door to wait by. At the very least, he could give the man a good whack should he enter.

The Flesh Doctor walked down the seemingly endless hallway there were some rooms open but he chose to not go into those as he was more interested in what was behind one of the closed doors. He stopped in front of one of them and grabbed the door knob to find it locked. He used brought his sonic down and unlocked the door. The Flesh Doctor opened the door and looked in as he stopped dead in tracks. He saw a Dalek sitting in two pieces and was obviously dead but still the site of one made him sick.

He walked over to it and looked it over, it had obviously been worked on by someone or something. He ran his Sonic over it finding nothing useful. He saw a computer nearby and noticed it was powered down so he ran his sonic over it and it booted up. He kept the sonic out and said out loud "Alright, lets see what's going on here.."

The seconds ticked by in an anxious panic as Eric stood plastered by the door, waiting for the unknown assailant. Footsteps resounded in the hall, and a faint light could be seen under the door. For a fearful moment, Eric thought he was about to enter. Then the footsteps moved on, and he slowly breathed a sigh of relief as he lowered his unlit torch and the heavy cybernetic arm. "He didn't see us!" Seconds passed, and now Eric was curious what the man was up to. Setting the cybernetic arm down, he ever so slowly turned the knob, and pulled the door ajar, sticking his nose in the crack. The hallway was black, and encouraged by the lack of persons about, he opened the door wider and ventured into the hall.

Looking back and forth provided more doors, all closed and locked. Except for one. Waving at Ellie, he pointed towards the open door that had been closed before. There was now a bright luminscent light shining from it, which could only be from a screen of some sort. Quietly he slunk to the entrance, his sneakers ensuring his path was quiet. Clutching the still off flashlight in his hand, he peeked in the room. The screen clearly outlined the form of a man. He was taller than Eric, which was to be expected, but he did not have the same imposing and neatly trimmed appearance he expected an owner to have. Still, he could only see his back, and he didn't intend to meet his person if he was dangerous to himself and Ellie.

Watching him for a while though, it became clear to him that he was working on something on the computer. Obviously. New questions arose in his mind. Was he the one who had built all this cool stuff? "Ellie," he whispered. "You think he built that laser gun and the armor?"

The Flesh Doctor stared at the screen of the computer as data and files started to pop up, he read some of the files but they made little sense to him, the sentences didn't even make sense at all. He figured that the files were in code just in case someone did find this place and was able to crack into their computers. The Flesh Doctor sighed slightly, that was still a mystery where had the people or things that had done this to a Dalek and who knows what else gone. Had they found something that they couldn't control and in one of these rooms there were dead bodies just waiting to be found or had they got what they wanted and just left to do some nefarious deed.

The Flesh Doctor tapped on his chin trying to think if he should continue searching through the rest of the rooms in facility to find more pieces to the puzzle or if he should just leave it alone. As he was the curious type he decided that he should try to solve the puzzle since that was in his nature thanks to being a duplicate of the original Doctor. As he started to walk toward the door he heard something from near the door way. He raised up his sonic remembering that there were lights in the hallway, he activated the sonic and after a few seconds the lights flickered to life. Once they were fully on he could now see two shadows on the floor in front of the doorway.

He stopped in his tracks, he wondered if he had been caught by the people who had run this place and if that was the case they would almost certainly love to get their hands on an exact duplicate of the Doctor who had his memories and everything. Though something in his gut told him that wasn't the case he wasn't sure why but he decided to call out to the figures his left hand resting on the TVM just in case.

"Is someone there? I am not going to hurt you," he started out saying of course a person that would want to hurt them would also say that so he now felt like that was a poor choice of words. "Ok..that might have been the wrong thing to say, I am the Doctor, I just kinda appeared here and decided to explore..." he said gulping slightly as he fell silent to let the people digest that.

Ellie was being over cautious, Eric thought, and while she moved back, he remained plastered to the doorframe. The man's head was in the way, so he could see nothing on the screen besides funny letters. So he let his attention wander about the room instead. Metal parts littered the room here too, and there was a funny kind of statue that would have been big enough for him to climb in. Other dark shapes and blobs stuck out, but he could see little more.

Then suddenly the strange man was moving, and Eric quickly pulled his head back lest he get noticed. Footsteps resounded, and carefully he shifted his body to poke the top of his head beyond the doorframe. Moments later, the lights came on, and with a quiet gasp he went back into hiding, turning his head as he looked for the new intruder. There was none, and the strange man was calling to them. He knew he was there! What had alerted his suspicions? Had he seen Eric looking? Or whispering? He gulped slightly, and watched the doorframe as he waited for the man to come closer. He was saying something about not going to hurt them, and while he sounded genuine, he didn't know if he would turn out to be like that red man. Although that man had angry eyes and immediately tried harming them.

"I think we should run," he finally decided, and he poised his little frame to run. "On three," he added in a whisper. "One...two..." As he said three, he bolted to the nearest open door, and hid himself behind the frame. It had been the previous room he had come out of, with the strange armor. He still had a ways to go before he reached the stairs, but he was right near the arm he had abandoned. Exchanging his torch for the arm, he picked it up and held it threateningly.

The Doctor stood breathing silently half expecting the people outside the room to come in and attack him. Though the attack never came instead the exact opposite happened he heard foot falls on the concrete fall of someone running rather quickly from the side of the door. A few seconds later heard another set before hearing what sounded like a young girl cry out before once again the foot falls started. He raised his eyebrow slightly before walking out into the hallways looking around slightly seeing nothing.

"Well then, I guess I will have to explore this large place that likely has some cool things all by myself," he said as if he was talking out loud to himself and looking at the ceiling with mock sadness but looking out of the corner of his eye to see if anyone would come out.

He pulled out his sonic and moved the next door checking the door to see if it was locked. He found it locked he brought his Sonic up and unlocked the door. He opened it finding it empty but he smiled slightly before speaking.

"Oh wow! This room is full of toys and candy, this room rocks!" he said slightly hoping that would bring out the two figures that he now assumed were children.

Eric waited in silence, gripping the cybernetic arm and waiting for the man to follow. Nothing happened. Instead, he mentioned exploring the place by himself. Silence followed, and Eric poked just enough of his head out to see past the doorframe. The man wore a tweed coat with a bowtie, not at all what he expected a mean owner to wear. Maybe he wasn't the owner after all. He did say he was going to explore. Maybe he accidentally found the stairway while crawling around in the dark? For a few moments Eric watched him carefully, waiting to see what he would do. True to his word, he focused on another door, and pointed a strange device at the knob. It glowed green, but it didn't look anything like a flashlight. Maybe he couldn't see the keyhole and needed a glowstick? But that didn't make any sense because the hallway lights were on.

The moment the man exclaimed candy and toys though, he felt he had found a common friend. He had never heard of an adult liking candy and toys before. They were always cold, never having any time for games, or toys, or fun, or good things. He didn't know about Captain Jack though...he hadn't seen him much to decide if he liked those sorts of things. He felt a slight pang of sadness, though a pang that was quickly replaced by eagerness for the items inside the room.

Cautiously he stepped out, for as much as he wanted to see the toys and candy in the room, he didn't want the man to suddenly turn around and grab him and tie him up. Slowly he slid down the hall, his eyes watching the man and the door closely, and the metal arm dragging behind him. So far the man didn't see him, so that was good. He carefully moved to stand behind him, but when he arrived at the door, he saw only an empty room.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, realizing the man had lied. "There's no candy or toys!"

The Doctor smiled happily as the ruse worked as a young boy came walking out of one of the rooms closer to the stairs he was holding a metallic arm in his hand. The Doctor raised an eyebrow slightly as it looked a forearm of a Cyberman. After the young boy came a nervous looking older girl who held onto a laser drill like it was a gun. The little boy was the first one to exclaim that there was no toys and candy in the room, which prompted the girl step in front of the boy and nervously said to not come any closer she would should shoot him with her Laser gun.

"Oi! Watch where you are pointing that thing..you may drill someone's eye out if you're not careful!" The Doctor said taking a step back and raising his hand in the universal sign of surrender. He said not exactly scared that the girl would hurt him unless he did something threatening.

"As for you, where did you get that arm? That is Cyberman arm, which shouldn't surprise me since there was also a Dalek down here," The Doctor said looking at the little boy who was peaking out from behind the girl.

"Also, no need to be scared of me, don't I have a trustworthy face?" he said grinning at them hoping that didn't scare them even more.

Eric instinctively backed up from the man when he saw them, and held up the cybernetic arm threateningly. Ellie had her laser gun, and although Eric was scared, he knew they could handle him if he tried to tie them up. He didn't though, merely backed up with his hands in the air. He'd never gotten that reaction before, only an evil smirk and an order to be tied up. It was a little refreshing and he relaxed, though he was still wary.

"I got it off a table," Eric said in response, pointing to the open doorway behind him. "In there." He wasn't sure what a cyberman was...it sounded like a walking robot to him, but he couldn't remember seeing any other parts. He had no clue what a dalek was though. Another outer space thing?

At the comment of having a trustworthy face, Eric peered at the man. Well he did look young, trustworthy and cheerful, and not at all like that red man. He still wasn't too sure of him though. But he did seem to have alot of knowledge about robots and outer space machines, and Eric was curious to know more.

"Is this your place? And what is a cyberman and dalek...are they robots? Do you build robots down here?"

The Doctor looked at both the children both seemed to be more relaxed as they were now able to ask him questions. The young boy asked him if this was his place and if he built robots and if the Cybermen and Dalek's were robots. He was about to answer when the older looking girl spoke asking if there was a Dalek here her voice had a sense of concern in it, he guessed it was because she had been affected by Daleks at some point or another. Then she said that people don't build Cybermen and that they came from outer space it was obvious that she knew about them somehow.

"Nope, I wandered down here as well just like I assume you did, while I know how to build robots I do not build them," he said grinning slightly his hands moving in the air as he spoke. He was slightly worried that the room that held Cybermen parts were open and that kids were able to get in without a problem. He decided to deal with that later, as he addressed the rest of what the girl had said.

"Yes, there is a Dalek here but don't fear it seems to be long dead and of no harm to anybody," he said smiling hoping that would reassure the kids to not be scared. He neglected to mention that if any parts of the Cybermen were missing it would be far more dangerous.

"And you are correct young lady, people no longer build Cybermen, that's how they got started though before they became sentient and started "upgrading" everyone," he said as he somewhat explained what the Cybermen and skirting what upgrading meant.

"Now then, as I said I am the Doctor, what are your names?" he asked so he could call them by name instead of boy and girl.

Eric looked at the man quizically when he identified himself as the Doctor. He'd seen a few doctors before, but they all had grey hair, and wore white lab coats. If they didn't wear white lab coats, they tended to wear a dark suit and stand very rigid. The man before him didn't seem like any of those types...or even old enough to be like them. He'd never ever seen a doctor wearing a tweed coat and bowtie either. It seemed too...not doctorish. However he claimed to be able to build robots, so he must've been who he said he was, if not very smart.

Upon hearing that he was not the owner of the place, Eric relaxed completely, letting the arm hang at his side. It seemed he really was just looking to explore the place after all. Maybe as a doctor who knew how to build robots, he was interested in finding parts to build them with. Or wait, he said he didn't...maybe he just liked to learn how to put them together. Eric looked down at the cyberarm he held, and tried to imagine what the finished project might look like. He imagined a hulking machine as tall as the Doctor, but he couldn't decide if it used laser weapons or not. Still, he didn't see why Ellie wanted him to put the arm down, as it was just an arm, and no arm could do anything without the head...he thought. However it was getting rather heavy, and he was getting tired of holding it. And as his initial purpose of clobbering the Doctor had been expended, he set it down on the floor with a heavy clunk.

"I'm Eric, and this is my friend." He was quiet for a moment, long enough for Ellie to mention her name, before he jumped into questions. "So you like to go exploring too like us? Could you show us what all this stuff is? It seems all outer spacey. Did the other doctors talk to you about outer space things too before you had to become a doctor?"

The Doctor looked down at the two children who seemed completely at ease now that he had mostly explained things. The boy who said his name was Eric ask if he wanted to explore and explain the things that were in this place. He also asked if other Doctor's had talked to him about space stuff.

The girl spoke next who introduced herself as Ellie. Her first question was a slightly interesting one as she asked if he was really a Doctor. The next few questions were more complicated and would take him awhile to figure out. She asked why all the stuff was here, if they people are going to come back here and lastly if they were mean, would they try to hurt them.

"Well Eric, yes I would love to explore with you and explain things, it is one of my favorite past times," he said smiling at him slightly and he wasn't about to say no because he was very interested in finding out about this place.

"No, the other Doctor's didn't talk to me about spacey stuff, I am THE Doctor not A Doctor...common mistake happens a lot," he said with a small nod as almost everyone he met made the same mistake. The Doctor turned to Ellie to answer her questions.

"I am THE Doctor as I said but there are many different types of Doctor's on Earth other than medical, including those people who study space they can also be Doctor's," he said hoping that explained what she wanted.

"I am not sure why it is hear really, I hope we can find out together, won't that be exciting?" he asked them both slapping his hands together.

"From what I have saw of the place, I don't believe anyone is coming back, and if they are it won't be for sometime, long after we are gone I am sure," he said trying sound very confident in that even though he really wasn't.

"Right then, which door should we look behind next?" The Doctor asked the two Children hoping that the next door would provide more clues to what was going on here.

Eric was in glee as the Doctor fellow said he would explore with them. With him on their side, he would be able to find out what everything was called and what everything did. Maybe he would even show them how to build some of the robots in the room! That was an exciting prospect, and as the Doctor asked which door they'd look behind, Eric looked about. There were lots of closed doors, most of them locked. He now saw them all from new eyes, as each door contained a bit of treasure that was just waiting to be discovered. Rubbing his hands together, he skipped over to the nearest door, and placed his hand on the door knob. "This one!" he exclaimed, and tried turning it to see the inside. Unfortunately, it was locked, but he was sure the Doctor had some sort of outer space lock picking tool. Right?

He waited for the Doctor to come over, before asking, "So, if you're THE Doctor, does that mean you teach all the other doctors? You taught all of them about time, and space, and medicine, and building bridges, and altering genes, and building robots? Are you the head doctor in the entire world that everyone comes to for questions?" His little brown eyes stared up at the Doctor innocently, wondering if the smartest Doctor in the whole wide world stood before him.