Halfway Out Of The Dark || The Doctor

Daleks in Manhattan

Martha eagerly stepped out of the TARDIS. The Doctor followed, today dressed in his blue suit, then the Artist brought up the rear. "Where are we?" the human asked.

"Ah, smell that Atlantic breeze." the Doctor replied, taking a deep lungful of the air, "Nice and cold, lovely! Martha, have ya met our friend?" He gestured upwards and Martha found herself looking at the Statue of Liberty.

"Is it that? Oh my god, that's the Statue of Liberty!" Martha exclaimed in delight.

"We're in New York City, Martha. The land of opportunity." the Artist said, "Thought it would make up for New Earth."

"That's so brilliant." Martha said happily, "I've always wanted to go to New York. I mean, the real New York, not the new new one."

"Well, there's the genuine article." the Doctor said, and they all turned round to look at the Manhattan skyline across the water. "So good they named it twice." the Doctor continued, slipping an arm around the Artist, "Mind you, it was New Amsterdam originally. Harder to say twice. No wonder it didn't catch on. New Amsterdam, New Amsterdam."

"Wonder what year it is." Martha wandered, "Cos' look, the Empire State Building, it's not even finished yet." She pointed and they could see said landmark with scaffolding on the top floors.

"Work in progress." the Doctor remarked, "They've still got a couple of floors to go, and if I know my history, that makes the date somewhere around..."

"November 1st 1930." Martha said, picking up a discarded newspaper off a bench.

"You're getting good at this." the Doctor remarked.

"Sorry, Martha." the Artist said, "I was aiming for the 24th century, New York in it's prime. Guess the TARDIS had other ideas."

"It's alright." Martha reassured her, "Nearly 80 years ago. It's funny cos' ya see those old newsreels, all black & white, like it's so far away. But here we are. It's real, it's now. Ha!"

"So, where to first?" the Artist asked the Doctor, who was looking at the paper.

"I think our detour just got longer." the Doctor frowned, showing them the headline in the paper.

"'Hooverville mystery deepens.'" Martha read, "What's Hooverville?" she asked.

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After a ferry ride to Manhattan followed by a trip on the subway, the trio reached Central Park. "Herbert Hoover, 31st President of the USA, came to power a year ago." the Doctor explained, "Up till then, New York was a boom town, the roaring twenties. And then..."

"The Wall Street crash." Martha nodded, "When was that, 1929?"

"Yes, wiped out the whole economy overnight." the Artist said, "Thousands of people were left unemployed, and the huddled masses doubled, all with nowhere to go."

"So they ended up here in Central Park." the Doctor finished.

"What, they actually live in the park?" Martha questioned, "In the middle of the city?"

Soon, they reached a shanty town in the middle of the park, made up of tents and shacks occupied by ragged people. "Ordinary people, lost their jobs." the Doctor sighed, "Couldn't pay the rent, they lost everything. There're places like this all over America, and no one's helping 'em. You only come to Hooverville when there's nowhere else to go."

Suddenly they heard a voice yell; "Ya thieving low life!" And they turned to see a man knock another to the ground. "All mornin' I wait in the bread line for a single loaf!" he stormed.