Doctor Who | Lost Art
Jan. 31st, 2008 11:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eponymous_roseTitle: Lost Art
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
eponymous_rose
Word Count: 1270
Rating: G
Characters: Sarah Jane Smith, Third Doctor
Spoilers: Set immediately after The Time Warrior.
Summary: This, a new world, full of alien sands and discovery.
"Oh," she said, softly.
Sarah stood in the TARDIS doorway, stared out at the impossible landscape beyond, all blues and reds and spiralling crystalline structures that looked almost natural, but couldn't possibly be-
"Doctor," she said.
"What is it?" She glanced back; he was still bent over the console, fiddling with a couple switches, frowning down at the readouts.
"Doctor," she said again, and this time he looked up. "I don't think this is-" She couldn't bring herself to say it, the whole thing was so patently ridiculous. A time machine, after all, was rather enough to have to accept for one day - and she still hoped she'd be able to come up with a plausible explanation for that one
"Not Earth?" the Doctor finished, fumbling in his pocket for the sonic screwdriver. "Yes, I know. The spatial coordinates are a little off-kilter." Without glancing up, he waved a hand. "Although I can assure you that we are presently sometime in the second half of the twentieth century."
"Oh, that's a relief," Sarah said. A faint breeze blew past the TARDIS door, ruffling her hair, and she had the strangest feeling that maybe she shouldn't be standing in this doorway, that maybe she was being exposed to all sorts of alien viruses, or maybe the life here was so tiny that she could take it away on her skin, under her fingernails-
"Go on, Sarah Jane," the Doctor said airily, but his amused tone of voice gave away his interest. "This could take some time. It should be quite safe."
"Should be," Sarah scoffed, and straightened herself up to her full height. "Really, Doctor."
She turned back to the doorway, stared out again. Right. It was just what she'd been hoping for, after all - a story, a real scoop. Just a quick recce, that was all.
Bending down, she squinted at the ground - she wasn't entirely sure she trusted the Doctor not to land them on some sort of alien quicksand. But while it did seem sandy, it was just a thin layer of bits of weathered stone over what looked like some sort of crystalline bedrock. She thought about the astronauts leaving footprints on the Moon, wondered if anyone would ever see her prints in the sand and think there'd once been life here-
"One small step," she said, and stepped out of the TARDIS onto new ground.
"Well, I should think so," called the Doctor. "I think I've managed to cure the TARDIS of her habit of landing halfway up cliffs."
She ignored him, took another tentative step forward, spun round and looked at her footprints, clean in the sand. "It's amazing," she said, laughing. "Look at that! Sarah Jane Smith, journalist, first human to ever set foot on this planet." She stared up at the sky, at the distant, half-visible stars flickering in the darkness, and waved.
As though in reply, a brilliant light expanded across the horizon, without warning, and she stumbled back a step, one arm flung over her eyes. The Doctor, though he must have seen the light from inside the TARDIS, made no comment, and she bit off her questions, squinting into the brightness.
Superimposed on the dark spots in her vision, the after-effects of the flare, she could see light pouring through the valleys and pinnacles of the crystalline turrets on the horizon. As the incandescence struck them, they reflected in colours, like stained-glass windows writ large across an impossible landscape.
"Sunrise," the Doctor said wryly.
Sarah wanted to scold him for his flippancy in the face of such perfect beauty, wanted to snap at him for teasing her, wanted to accuse him of landing her here on purpose instead of taking her back to UNIT HQ, but she couldn't find the words. Now the sky was reflecting the light, too, and the few puffy clouds were starting to take on hues of green and blue and purple-
She found herself digging through her pockets for her omnipresent notebook and pencil, and then she was scribbling down her nearest approximation to the colours, to the images, to the feel of the wind on her cheeks, rustling her hair, and the sheer alien perfection of it all.
"What's that you've got?" The Doctor came to stand beside her, closing the TARDIS door behind him.
"Well," Sarah said. "When I'm not gallivanting around time and space, I do have something of a job to keep up, you know."
He glanced over her shoulder, and she pulled the notebook out of view. "You want to write an article about this?" he said, and there was a strange sort of disappointment to his voice.
"I wish I'd brought my camera," said Sarah. "Wait. Are alien planets covered by the Official Secrets Act?"
The Doctor smiled. "I don't think you'll find very many people willing to believe you, Sarah Jane."
She grinned ruefully. "I suppose not. Still, it'd make for a great story. Maybe I'll keep the notes for myself."
The Doctor nodded out to the horizon, where the light still glittered in enough colours that Sarah wasn't entirely sure she had names for them all. "Why take notes on it at all? You humans have such a strange fascination with recording things, with setting down on paper or in photographs what you don't want to forget."
Sarah snorted. "We don't all have a perfect memory."
He frowned, and she realised that he was being perfectly earnest. "But surely whatever you write won't come anywhere near describing everything, what you feel, what you see. And while you're busy scribbling away, the world keeps turning around you."
"You think I'm missing everything?" Sarah said with a grin.
The Doctor smiled. "Well, I think you may want to give it a try, going about without that silly notepad. See things with your own two eyes."
Sarah laughed, and the sound seemed crystalline, echoing off innumerable facets. "Let my eyes be my camera, then?"
"If anyone asks you about it, you'll just tell them what they want to hear, anyway," the Doctor pointed out. "As soon as you put it down on paper, you've started lying anyway-"
"Now, hang on-"
He held up a hand to quell her protests. "Not intentionally, of course. But there's no way you can capture everything, Sarah. A sin of omission, if nothing else." He shrugged, shoving his hands into his pockets. "You may as well not lie to yourself as well."
She took a deep breath of alien air, fingering the coils of her notebook. "You really can be very infuriating, Doctor."
"Yes, so I've been told," he said, still smiling, and pushed open the TARDIS doors. "I've managed to realign the spatial configuration. We should be on our way without difficulty, now."
Sarah stuffed the notepad back into her pocket. "Well," she said. "What are we waiting for, then?"
And she hopped back inside the TARDIS, determined not to give the Doctor the satisfaction of a backward glance at the crystalline sunrise.
The roar of dematerialization filled the silent landscape, echoing impossibly from the strange rock formations, becoming louder, softer, gentler, and fading altogether, though the echoes chased each other for some time down the endless valleys. In the sand, two footprints remained well-defined, emerging from nowhere, belonging to a girl out of time and space, pointing towards the horizon and its incandescent beauty. As the rising sun cast narrowing shadows on the indentations, a wind whistled past.
And, erased by the dust and sand of generations of stillness, the footprints disappeared.
Author:
eponymous_roseWord Count: 1270
Rating: G
Characters: Sarah Jane Smith, Third Doctor
Spoilers: Set immediately after The Time Warrior.
Summary: This, a new world, full of alien sands and discovery.
"Oh," she said, softly.
Sarah stood in the TARDIS doorway, stared out at the impossible landscape beyond, all blues and reds and spiralling crystalline structures that looked almost natural, but couldn't possibly be-
"Doctor," she said.
"What is it?" She glanced back; he was still bent over the console, fiddling with a couple switches, frowning down at the readouts.
"Doctor," she said again, and this time he looked up. "I don't think this is-" She couldn't bring herself to say it, the whole thing was so patently ridiculous. A time machine, after all, was rather enough to have to accept for one day - and she still hoped she'd be able to come up with a plausible explanation for that one
"Not Earth?" the Doctor finished, fumbling in his pocket for the sonic screwdriver. "Yes, I know. The spatial coordinates are a little off-kilter." Without glancing up, he waved a hand. "Although I can assure you that we are presently sometime in the second half of the twentieth century."
"Oh, that's a relief," Sarah said. A faint breeze blew past the TARDIS door, ruffling her hair, and she had the strangest feeling that maybe she shouldn't be standing in this doorway, that maybe she was being exposed to all sorts of alien viruses, or maybe the life here was so tiny that she could take it away on her skin, under her fingernails-
"Go on, Sarah Jane," the Doctor said airily, but his amused tone of voice gave away his interest. "This could take some time. It should be quite safe."
"Should be," Sarah scoffed, and straightened herself up to her full height. "Really, Doctor."
She turned back to the doorway, stared out again. Right. It was just what she'd been hoping for, after all - a story, a real scoop. Just a quick recce, that was all.
Bending down, she squinted at the ground - she wasn't entirely sure she trusted the Doctor not to land them on some sort of alien quicksand. But while it did seem sandy, it was just a thin layer of bits of weathered stone over what looked like some sort of crystalline bedrock. She thought about the astronauts leaving footprints on the Moon, wondered if anyone would ever see her prints in the sand and think there'd once been life here-
"One small step," she said, and stepped out of the TARDIS onto new ground.
"Well, I should think so," called the Doctor. "I think I've managed to cure the TARDIS of her habit of landing halfway up cliffs."
She ignored him, took another tentative step forward, spun round and looked at her footprints, clean in the sand. "It's amazing," she said, laughing. "Look at that! Sarah Jane Smith, journalist, first human to ever set foot on this planet." She stared up at the sky, at the distant, half-visible stars flickering in the darkness, and waved.
As though in reply, a brilliant light expanded across the horizon, without warning, and she stumbled back a step, one arm flung over her eyes. The Doctor, though he must have seen the light from inside the TARDIS, made no comment, and she bit off her questions, squinting into the brightness.
Superimposed on the dark spots in her vision, the after-effects of the flare, she could see light pouring through the valleys and pinnacles of the crystalline turrets on the horizon. As the incandescence struck them, they reflected in colours, like stained-glass windows writ large across an impossible landscape.
"Sunrise," the Doctor said wryly.
Sarah wanted to scold him for his flippancy in the face of such perfect beauty, wanted to snap at him for teasing her, wanted to accuse him of landing her here on purpose instead of taking her back to UNIT HQ, but she couldn't find the words. Now the sky was reflecting the light, too, and the few puffy clouds were starting to take on hues of green and blue and purple-
She found herself digging through her pockets for her omnipresent notebook and pencil, and then she was scribbling down her nearest approximation to the colours, to the images, to the feel of the wind on her cheeks, rustling her hair, and the sheer alien perfection of it all.
"What's that you've got?" The Doctor came to stand beside her, closing the TARDIS door behind him.
"Well," Sarah said. "When I'm not gallivanting around time and space, I do have something of a job to keep up, you know."
He glanced over her shoulder, and she pulled the notebook out of view. "You want to write an article about this?" he said, and there was a strange sort of disappointment to his voice.
"I wish I'd brought my camera," said Sarah. "Wait. Are alien planets covered by the Official Secrets Act?"
The Doctor smiled. "I don't think you'll find very many people willing to believe you, Sarah Jane."
She grinned ruefully. "I suppose not. Still, it'd make for a great story. Maybe I'll keep the notes for myself."
The Doctor nodded out to the horizon, where the light still glittered in enough colours that Sarah wasn't entirely sure she had names for them all. "Why take notes on it at all? You humans have such a strange fascination with recording things, with setting down on paper or in photographs what you don't want to forget."
Sarah snorted. "We don't all have a perfect memory."
He frowned, and she realised that he was being perfectly earnest. "But surely whatever you write won't come anywhere near describing everything, what you feel, what you see. And while you're busy scribbling away, the world keeps turning around you."
"You think I'm missing everything?" Sarah said with a grin.
The Doctor smiled. "Well, I think you may want to give it a try, going about without that silly notepad. See things with your own two eyes."
Sarah laughed, and the sound seemed crystalline, echoing off innumerable facets. "Let my eyes be my camera, then?"
"If anyone asks you about it, you'll just tell them what they want to hear, anyway," the Doctor pointed out. "As soon as you put it down on paper, you've started lying anyway-"
"Now, hang on-"
He held up a hand to quell her protests. "Not intentionally, of course. But there's no way you can capture everything, Sarah. A sin of omission, if nothing else." He shrugged, shoving his hands into his pockets. "You may as well not lie to yourself as well."
She took a deep breath of alien air, fingering the coils of her notebook. "You really can be very infuriating, Doctor."
"Yes, so I've been told," he said, still smiling, and pushed open the TARDIS doors. "I've managed to realign the spatial configuration. We should be on our way without difficulty, now."
Sarah stuffed the notepad back into her pocket. "Well," she said. "What are we waiting for, then?"
And she hopped back inside the TARDIS, determined not to give the Doctor the satisfaction of a backward glance at the crystalline sunrise.
The roar of dematerialization filled the silent landscape, echoing impossibly from the strange rock formations, becoming louder, softer, gentler, and fading altogether, though the echoes chased each other for some time down the endless valleys. In the sand, two footprints remained well-defined, emerging from nowhere, belonging to a girl out of time and space, pointing towards the horizon and its incandescent beauty. As the rising sun cast narrowing shadows on the indentations, a wind whistled past.
And, erased by the dust and sand of generations of stillness, the footprints disappeared.
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no subject
Date: 2008-02-01 09:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-03 12:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-01 10:03 am (UTC)While I lurk (alot) I had to come out and comment on this one. Just... yes.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-03 12:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-01 01:46 pm (UTC)I liked the Doctor's point. It's why, for a long time, I never took a camera with me on vacation. Now I do, but I don't make it the whole point. I guess this struck a chord with me. :)
no subject
Date: 2008-02-03 12:05 am (UTC)Hah, exactly - that right there was the inspiration for the fic.
Thanks so much! :D
no subject
Date: 2008-02-01 03:06 pm (UTC)Oh, this was absolutely beautiful.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-03 12:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-02 02:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-03 12:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-02 10:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-03 12:06 am (UTC)Thanks for commenting! :D
no subject
Date: 2008-02-08 06:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-09 05:57 pm (UTC)Thank you! I was really hoping someone would pick up on this.
Glad you enjoyed the fic!
no subject
Date: 2009-07-28 10:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-07 12:11 am (UTC)