(Author's Note: This is an idea I've had stirring in my head since I first started watching Doctor Who, during the 9th's Doctor's era. This fic is set in the 10th Doctor's time, though, since 10's personality has a bit of a stronger pull to it, I guess.
The idea behind this fic is still a work in progress, so this is just the first draft. I might be re-writing it in the (not so) near future.)
(Warnings: Crossover.)
(Disclaimers: Animorphs and its characters belong to K. A. Applegate, and Doctor Who and its characters belong to the BBC. No profit is being made on this story.)The Doctor (part 1)
~Entering the Sharing~
by: AniDragon, aka Riona-chan~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My name is Rose Tyler.
I’m a 19-year-old Londoner, and I travel through time and space with an alien called the Doctor. It sounds crazy, but it’s important that you believe me.
You see, the Doctor isn’t the only alien who’s come to Earth. The others… aren’t as kind as he is.
I’m writing this to tell you about one particular race of aliens called the Yeerks. The Yeerks are parasites that have been on Earth for years, now, silently invading us. You may think that you would know it if aliens were invading Earth, but these are tricky. You see, they’re not trying to take over our land or reduce us to nuclear waste for fuel. They want us. They want our bodies.
In their natural state, the Yeerks are just slugs. They’re blind and deaf, and unable to do much. But the Yeerks have an unusual ability to take over bodies by crawling into your ear and wrapping themselves around your brain. They read your memories and thoughts like a book, and can imitate you so perfectly even your best mates wouldn’t know the difference.
There are some who are fighting the Yeerks, but they’re few.
I’m getting ahead of myself, though. I’ll start at the beginning.
~*~
“So where are we?” I asked the Doctor as we stepped out of the TARDIS.
“United States, late 20th Century,” He answered, closing the doors behind us, “Not sure what state, mind. Could be anywhere, though judging from the temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure, I’d wager a guess that we're on the west coast."
I nodded, not surprised at how broad the location possibilities were. The TARDIS was rarely specific in where it sent us.
“Okay, any reason we’re here? Any distress calls, or cryptic messages?”
“Nope!” He answered, grinning, “Just picked it at random.”
I laughed, taking in our surroundings, which were small, cramped and dark, “Did we appear in a closet again?”
“Looks like.”
“Well, at least it makes sure no one sees us arrive…”
As I contemplated the room, which I could now see was less of a closet and more of a small storage room, I could hear the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver as he unlocked the door. There were boxes piled up, containing things I’d never even heard of.
“Doctor? Any idea what Kandrona rays are?”
Having gotten the door open, he turned around to look at the box I was contemplating.
“This box,” I explained, “Says it contains a miniature Kandrona ray generator.”
He frowned and looked at the box closer, “It’s a type of solar ray, though your sun doesn’t generate any. Actually, not many suns generate Kandrona rays at all. Why would anyone on Earth need a generator for them?”
“Sounds like they might belong to someone who’s not from Earth,” I suggested.
He sighed, “Well, wouldn’t be the first time we encountered aliens who aren’t supposed to be here…” I could tell that this was bothering him, though, since his forehead was wrinkled in thought, “Most races that need Kandrona rays don’t have the resources to lug around big generators for it. Although… There are a lot of parasites that evolve because of them… Be careful.”
“Parasites?” I asked nervously, “You mean, like, tapeworm and stuff?”
“Something like that…”
Deciding that I didn’t really want hear any more about this, I nodded toward the door, “Well, come on, now, no use dwelling on that, let’s see where we are.”
Leaving the storage space, we stepped into the main room of wherever we were. It was a large building, from the looks of it. Some sort of social club, perhaps. There were people of all ages sitting on some couches, playing pool, and other various activities.
“Can I help you?” A man’s voice piped up from behind us.
We turned to find a stern looking man who’d obviously just seen us come out of the storage room.
“Just looking for the bathroom,” the Doctor improvised, “Any idea where that is?”
Without a word, the man who’d caught us pointed to a door right next to the one we’d just come out of, labelled “Men’s”.
“Ah. Yes, thank you. Before that, though, could you tell us where we are? We just sort of stumbled in.”
“And who are you?” The man asked, crossing his arms.
“I’m the Doctor, this is Rose Tyler. And you are?”
“Hedrick Chapman,” He answered, “And sorry, Doctor what?”
“Just the Doctor,” He said, grinning, “So where are we?”
“You’re at The Sharing.” Chapman told us point blank.
“The Sharing…” The Doctor mused… “Sharing… Sharing… Ah! Right. The Sharing, established in the mid 90s, meant to be a type of co-ed boy scouts. Everyone’s invited, no matter your age, race, religion, sexual orientation, or social class.”
“That’s correct,” Chapman said impatiently, “You also seem to be in an area for full members only…”
“Right, sorry then, we’ll be on our way. Come on, Rose.”
“Actually,” Chapman interrupted, “I’m going to have to escort you out. This is a secured area, after all.”
The Doctor frowned, “Secured area? The Sharing is a social club, what in the world would you need a secured area for?”
“That’s something for full members to know. Now, if you’ll follow me, the public area is over this way,” He sneered a bit, then attempted to imitate a British accent, “Perhaps someone could make you a spot of tea.”
The Doctor grinned, recognizing the mockery, but rolling with it, “Oh, I’d love some tea, wouldn’t you Rose?”
I nodded, “Yeah, tea would be great. But Doctor, I think you might have dropped something.”
I nodded to the closet, where the TARDIS rested. It didn’t seem likely that we would be getting back in here easily, and I didn’t feel like being stranded here without it.
Luckily, the Doctor clued in quickly enough, “Ah, right, yes. So I did. We’d better go have a quick peek in that closet to find it, then. Wouldn’t want to lose… erm… that.”
But Chapman blocked us before we could take two steps in that direction, “I think the two of you have had enough of a ‘peek’ already. I’m going to have to insist that you leave.”
The Doctor didn’t let worry show on his face, which I envied him for. I was sure that my own face betrayed my anxiousness.
“Well, Mr. Chapman, I have to say that you’re a really smart man. In fact, I think you’ve passed inspection, wouldn’t you say, Rose?”
“Y-yes, of course,” I improvised, trying to follow his train of thoughts, “He reacted exactly as he should in regards to… intruders.”
Chapman wasn’t fooled so easily, “Inspection? On who’s orders?”
“On mine,” The Doctor lied easily, showing the stubborn man his last trump card, the psychic paper.
This seemed to work, as the color drained from Chapman’s face, “Sub Visser Fourteen. Forgive me, I hadn’t recognized your new host.”
The word host sent shivers down my spine. It brought back to mind the Doctor’s words about parasites.
“Forgiven,” The Doctor improvised easily, though I could see that the words disturbed him as much as they did me, “After all, it wouldn’t have been an inspection had you recognized me. But I really did drop something in there, so if you’ll excuse me…”
He grabbed my hand and quickly pulled me into the closet before Chapman could say anything else, and unlocked the TARDIS door in record time. Only once we were safe inside, and had successfully disappeared, did I let out the breath I was holding.
“He didn’t see the TARDIS leave,” The Doctor said with a glance at the monitor.
“What would it matter if he had?” I asked, confused. After all, the Doctor had let others see the TARDIS appearing and disappearing, before.
“Because I know what that man was, and he would do anything to get his hands on this technology. Not that he has any chance of stealing it, but hiding its existence from him seems like a really good idea.”
I swallowed, noticing that my throat had become quite dry, “Doctor… He said something about a host…”
“Remember what I said about parasites?” He asked, and I nodded mutely, “We’ve just stumbled onto one of the worst kinds; Yeerks.”
~End of Chapter 1~
