Checkmate (Doctor Who fanfiction)

Hole In The Road

Disclaimer: I only own Ruby. Everything else belongs to BBC Doctor Who.

"Oh, while you're at it, ask her about those things. The Smilers in the booths." He motioned to a red booth with a porcelain face of a man in it, dressed in a robe.

"But they're just things," she said. He shook his head.

"They're clean. Everything else here is tattered, but those booths and Smilers are clean. They don't have a scratch on them, no one's stepped within two feet of those booths, ask Mandy, 'why are people afraid of the things in the booths?'."

"Wait, hang on, I don't know what to do, I don't know I'm doing here, I'm not even properly dressed!" Amy argued.

"It's either this or Leadworth. Let's see, what do you say, what will, Amy Pond, choose?"

She glared at him and turned back.

"Ha ha! Gotcha. Now. Have fun, you two."

"What are you gonna do?" She pouted.

"What I always do," he mimicked. "Stay out of trouble. Badly."

He jumped over the back of the bench and Amy stood up to look at him, leaning on the bench. "So is this how it works, Doctor? You never interfere with the affairs of other peoples or planets... unless there's children crying."

He paused for a second. "Yes," he decided. She rolled her eyes and turned back.

"Come on then," she said, motioning to me. "Let's get going."

We ended up in a series of deserted, stuffy hallways that were only occupied with equipment and such.

"You're following me," The little girl said, walking out from behind something. "I saw you watching me at the marketplace."

"You dropped this," Amy said, holding out the wallet. Mandy snatched it from her.

"Yeah! When your friend kept bumping into me!" She walked over to a black and yellow sliding fence thing that was tied with chains and a sign that read "KEEP OUT" in large black letters. Behind it was two long plastic sheets that reminded me of a circus tent tied together by a lock.

"What's this?" Amy asked. Mandy adjusted her school bag.

"There's a hole in the road. We have to go back."

"A what? A hole?"

"Are you stupid, we can't go that way! There's a travel pipe down by the airlocks, if you've got stamps. What are you doing?"

"Oh don't mind me," Amy said as she slid between where the sliding fences met. "Never could resist a keep out sign." I followed her lead through the fence. She sat down in front of the lock, and held out her hand to me. I pulled a hairpin out of my hair bun and set it in her hand. She turned to Mandy. "Watch and learn." She slid the hairpin into the lock, jiggling it carefully. "What's through there, what's so scary about a hole?" She murmerd.

I caught Mandy throwing at a glance at the nearest booth. "We aren't supposed to talk about it," she said.

"About what?" Amy asked mischievously.

"Below."

Amy seemed to deflate a little. "And because you aren't supposed to you don't?"

"You sound Scottish," Mandy said after a moment.

"I am Scottish, what's wrong with that? Scotland's gotta be here somewhere."

"No," replied Mandy. "They all took their own ship."

"Hm. Good for them. Nothing changes."

"How did you get here?"

"I came with a man."

"Your boyfriend?"

"Oh," Amy said in realization.

"What?"

"No, nothing, it's just that... I'm getting married. Funny how things slip your mind."

"Married?" Mandy said in surprise. I was stunned. Even I hadn't forgotten about Amy's wedding.

"Yeah, shut up, married. Actually married. Almost definitely."

Almost definitely? I swear if she went and broke Rory's heart, I might disown her.

"When?" Mandy asked.

"Well, it's kind of weird. A long time ago, tomorrow morning . I wonder what I did." The lock clicked open and Amy's eyes flared. "Heh hey, result!" She pulled it off. "Coming?" She asked Mandy.

"No!"

"Suit yourself," she said, and crawled through. I followed.

"Stop!" Mandy yelled after us. "You mustn't do that!"

Amy picked up a weird looking flashlight, and twisted a lever thing that made it turn on. She slowly moved it along. We saw a snake like thing coming up from the ground. It was purplish and had blue spots on it's sides.

"But that can't be right," I said. I knew the mechanics of a ship, and they did not include this. A living, purple snake like thing with a metal beak thing. It lunged at us and Amy shoved me out of the hole before her. I didn't see if she got out or not. I looked up to see men in black robes surrounding me. One raised his fist. His ring squirted a kind of gas at me and that's the last thing I remembered.

I woke up here. In a room with a red booth, several small tv , a comfy chair, and three buttons. To the upper left, was a circular button labeled "protest". The middle one was a large rectangular button labeled "record". The last one was a small circle like the protest button, except it was to the upper right and labeled "forget".

I stood up, remembering that I hadn't seen Amy get out of the hole in the road.

"Amy? Amy?" I looked around, but it was clear she wasn't here, and I wasn't getting out.

"Hello, and welcome to voting cubicle two one nine. Please leave this room as you would wish to find it," said a robotic voice. I sighed in relief. That meant I'd be leaving. I collapsed in the chair and stared at the screens. "Your identity is being verified on our electrical role." After a moment, the screen showed up with what the voice said. "Name: Ruby Sarah Oakley. Age: thirteen hundred and six."

I laughed out loud. "No way."

"Martial status:" it blinked a couple times. "Single."

I scoffed. No surprises there. After a quick moment of pain, I leaned back and began to pull my hair bun that had become an alarming case of messy. An old man showed up on the screen that reminded me of President Snow from the Hunger Games movies.

(A/N: Dear Hunger Games fans, I know all of the movies and books aren't called the Hunger Games, but I couldn't put it a better way. I felt I needed to put this here after all the Hunger Games fans that have been ticked off by this mistake. Okay, carry on.)

I began putting up my hair and he began to talk. He had a calming tone of voice that almost made me want to fall asleep.

"You are here because you want to know the truth about Starship UK. And I am talking to you, because you have a right to know. You will now be shown a presentation. At the end of the video, you have two options. If you choose to accept the situation, and we hope that you do, press the forget button. The memory of the video will be wiped from your brain, and you may continue to enjoy the safety of Starship UK, unknowing on the sacrifice that's been made for you. If not, press the protest button. But know this. If at least 1% of the population does likewise, the program will be discontinued with consequences for you all. Here then, is the truth about Starship UK, and the price that's been paid for the safety of the British people. May God save our souls."

I slammed my hand down on the forget button. I looked around to see my bobby pins scattered around the floor like I'd dropped them. My hair was a wreck, and my cheeks were wet, my eyes soaked in tears. I wiped my eyes, completely lost. What just happened? On the screens, flashed two words: MESSAGE WAITING.

A/N: Ha ha, cliffy! Please remember to vote and comment! See ya!