SMOKE AND MIRRORS

CHAPTER THREE

In quick succession, the Doctor's facial expressions went from astounded, to concerned, then flipped from puzzled to utterly amazed. Suddenly, River saw a big grin stretching his face from ear to ear. That was more like the Doctor she knew. He straightened up, and started walking around the big red-orange transparent globe, his hands spread wide with delight.

"Look at this! I don't remember ever seeing anything like this. Do you think it's my ship from a future regeneration? Oooh, maybe I got bored and finally got 'round to fixing the chameleon circuit!" An excited Doctor asked River, circling and staring, without bothering to look at her. "No, wait, I know: 'Spoilers.' Perhaps it's another Time Lord's TARDIS, maybe one made it through the war..." he shook his head negatively. "No, that's impossible, I would've known, somehow."

The Doctor stopped. Shoving his hands into the pockets of his parka, He stood and gazed at the artwork. Tilting his head, he looked down again at the brass plaque on the raised square base of the piece.

"Perhaps it's meant to represent a TARDIS, or Galifrey, or the race of Time Lords. Or, could be the artist simply liked the name. Perhaps it merely is what it says it is. A work of modern art by some unknown artist." The Doctor pondered.

"Oh, look. A giant ball." Rory's voice echoed from the archway leading into the exhibit room. "Well...that's...different." He said indifferently. Amy nudged him.

"Hey, don't dis the art, Rory. Art is...amazing." She told him.

"I thought I told you two to stay downstairs?" The Doctor and River asked them, both speaking at once

"We got bored. Life isn't the same without you around, Doctor." Amy said, as she and Rory walked over to stand near the giant globe. "There was nothing to do but look at three statues of nude women. And, you can only do that for so long. Right Rory?"

Rory didn't say anything. He was staring at the broken skylight in the ceiling. An elbow jab in the ribs from Amy reminded him that he was expected to agree with his wife.

"Oh yeah, right Amy. Naked women. Really...dull." Rory agreed, rolling his eyes.

"That's weird!" Amy exclaimed, moving closer to the globe and staring intently at it.

"What is?" Rory asked her, looking over Amy's shoulder but seeing nothing noteworthy to look at.

"There's a crack in the globe, running about halfway up, then....wait a minute," Amy muttered, her head cocked in puzzlement, "is that supposed to be a door?"

"Yeah, I think you're right." Rory whispered. He was about to run his fingers over the crack in the red-orange globe, when River pushed her way between him and Amy.

"Let me see." She insisted."Doctor, come and look at this." River called to him. But it was unnecessary, because the Doctor was already there behind her, leaning in for a look.

The three of them stood back as the Doctor sidled up to the crack Amy had found. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and ran it over the edge of the crack. Pulling it back, he flicked the sonic device open, and checked the readings.

"That's strange, it seems to be giving off some sort of residual energy signature. Almost as if it were alive. But, I'd have sworn it was completely inanimate a few moments before."

"How can that be, Doctor?" River asked. "I didn't notice anything active. It was completely dead."

"You're right. Dead as a doornail. Which is a ridiculous saying, because doornail's were never alive to begin with. Well, except for the one's on Belzarius Three, so I suppose there's some merit to it." The Doctor muttered out loud. His hand reached out and touched the globe.

Amy and Rory leaped back, startled, as with a sudden hiss and a rising of steam, a low ramp suddenly pushed out from the base supporting the globe. The door to the interior of the globe abruptly slid open.

"Be careful!" River warned, as the Doctor cautiously walked up the ramp. He peered through the door. There seemed to be nothing to see.

The interior of the globe appeared to be as empty inside, as it looked from the outside. The Doctor held out the sonic and took some readings. He studied them carefully. Then shook his head.

"This makes no sense at all." He sighed. Then, grinning at his friends, he said, "I love it when that happens. Keeps me on my toes, trying to make sense out of the senseless. Except, you know, with politicians. That can be pretty nigh an impossible task."

"You're not going inside there, are you?" Rory asked. "Could be a trap, Doctor." He cautioned. River gave him an odd look, but no one noticed.

"Let me see!" Amy called, stepping up on the ramp beside the Doctor."

"Better not." he said, barring Amy's way with his hand. "Rory may actually have a point, Amy." The Doctor warned her.

Cautiously, the Doctor peered through the open doorway. Again, he ran his sonic through a series of buzzes as he tried different settings. His curious look soon changed to a deep frown. Shaking his head, the Doctor stared hard at the sonic and pocketed it.

"Can't get any reliable readings from out here." The Doctor told them. "It keeps fluctuating, like the energy source, if there is one, is unstable somehow. Or, perhaps the walls of this object d'art are somehow preventing a proper reading. Right then." The Doctor said positively, rubbing his hands together in eagerness, "Only one way to do this."

Without hesitation, the Doctor walked into the interior of the globe. Amy, Rory and River watched the Doctor's distorted image through the red-orange walls of the object, as he began walking a circle, sonicking the apparently empty interior of the globe. He held up the device.

"Now that's very odd indeed." They heard the Doctor say.

"What is?" Amy asked him, curiously craning her neck to see through the doorway.

"Well, a minute ago, there were traces of some kind of energy emitting from inside here, now, nothing." Without warning, the sonic suddenly gave a high-pitched squawk. "Wait a minute, I'm getting something..."

Just then, a dazzling beam of white light shot out from the top of the globe, encasing the Doctor. His body went rigid. The sonic screwdriver dropped to the floor from his stiffened, immobilized fingers.

"Doctor!" Amy shouted, lunging for the door, but River pulled her back.

The Doctor's face became bathed in sweat. His mouth opened into a long, protracted, agonized scream.

"I've got to get him out of there!" Rory said, dashing up the ramp, but before he could get through the door, he was shot down by a blast from River's gun.

"Oh my God, Rory! River, what have you done?" Amy asked, as she pried her horrified eyes away from Rory, to stare at River Song.

"I have no choice. I'm so very, very sorry." River said, pointing her gun at Amy. "Please don't make me use this. I'm afraid you can't help the Doctor now. There's nothing you can do to save him."

Amy could only look on helplessly, first at Rory's still body, then, at the Doctor, as he shrank, gasping, tears running down his face, into a fetal position on the floor, and his body slowly dissolved into nothingness.

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