TURNED TO STONE

Chapter Four

"Wow," Hannah said when they stepped outside the TARDIS, "Wembley Stadium is very big and sandy."

"No, your father is very clueless and thick," Amy said.

"What is this?" the Doctor said, holding out his hands. "Where's London? Where's Wembley? Why are we in Giza?" he said, pointing to the pyramids about three miles from them. "I didn't say Egypt, not even remotely? I swear to Rassilon, my ship has a mind of her own."

"Mum, are those the Great Pyramids?" Hannah said to her, holding her hand while she pointed with her free hand.

"Yes, they are," Rose said to her.

"Are we in Ancient Egypt now?" Hannah asked her.

Rose listened for a moment and heard the distant sounds of cars and car horns in the city across the Nile.

"No, love, we're in the 1900's at least," she said to her.

"Mum, I'm very hot now," Hannah said before taking off her coat and gloves.

Rose, Amy and Rory did the same and slung the coats over their arms while they stared at the pyramids. Meanwhile, the Doctor went back inside to see if he could start the TARDIS back up.

"Hey, look, people!" Hannah said, pointing to three camels coming out from behind the Great Pyramid.

"I can tell from here that they're wearing twentieth century clothes," Rory said. "We're way off course."

"And that shocks you?" Amy said to him. "I'm even more shocked when we actually reach our intended destination in the first place."

Hannah waved when the people on the camels noticed them and slowed to a stop. She could see a man on the front camel pointing at the TARDIS and turning his head to a woman and man behind him. Then the three of them sat on the camels and stared at them. Hannah waved again and was pleased when the man in front waved back.

"Well, I can't convince the TARDIS to move," the Doctor said, coming outside. "So apparently this is somewhere we need to be."

"Daddy, people, look!" Hannah said, pointing to the people on the camels.

"And they're coming this way now," Rose said while she watched them turn their camels towards them.

"Go inside and change for warmer weather everyone. I'll keep an eye on these people," the Doctor said.

"Are we having an adventure now, Mum?" Hannah said to Rose as they walked back inside.

"Not sure, love, but if the TARDIS won't budge your father needs to be here," she said to her.

The Doctor closed the TARDIS door and leaned against it watching while the people on the camels headed towards him. When they were halfway to him, he could see that they weren't Egyptian and they were dressed in modern clothing. He waved to them and the man in front waved back. He had hair that resembled his own except the fringe on the side of his head was slightly shorter. The Doctor waited until they were almost to the TARDIS before calling out to them.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor," he said to them.

The three strangers stopped their camels about thirty feet from him.

"Rick O'Connell," the man in front said. "This is my wife, Evie, and her brother, Jonathon. What's that behind you?"

"It's a London police box," the Doctor said to them.

"Um…okay, what's it doing in the Sahara Desert?" Rick said.

"It's an observation box. My family, friends and I put it out here so we could view the pyramids without getting overheated or dusty."

"Shouldn't you have put the box a little closer to the pyramids then?" Rick said, pointing back to them.

"I admit it's not the best idea I ever had," the Doctor said sheepishly.

"Yeah, you can say that again," Rick said.

He, Evie and Jonathon watched while the door opened and everyone came outside. Their mouths dropped open when they counted all the people.

"Wait, how'd you fit all those people into that blinkin' box?" Jonathon said, pointing to the TARDIS.

"It's bigger than it looks," the Doctor said before making introductions.

Rick nodded and he and his family approached on their camels. As they approached, Evie got a good look at Rose and Hannah and she did a double take. She slid off her camel and ran over to them while Rick gave her a confused look.

"Darling, you need to tell your camel to stop," Rick said, pointing to the riderless camel that was now turning around and heading back the way it came.

He stopped his camel and slid off to retrieve Evie's camel before it got away from them. Jonathon noticed his sister looked shocked as she walked up to Rose and Hannah. Rose was confused at her look of disbelief but Hannah smiled and waved, happy to be a part of the Doctor's adventures. Evie smiled and waved back and bent down to look at her face. Now Hannah was uneasy at her scrutiny and drew closer to her mother.

"Evie, that's really rude, even I know that," Jonathon, coming up behind her.

"Jonathon, look at their faces…and his…" she said, when she got a good look at the Doctor. "They look like they could double for the people in the statue."

"Statue? What statue?" the Doctor said, coming up beside Rose and Hannah.

"We found a hidden entrance to Khufu's Pyramid," Rick said, pointing to the largest pyramid. "We went inside and down into this empty burial chamber and the only thing inside it was a statue of three people, man, woman and child and my wife is right…you three resemble the statue people."

"Can you show us these statue people?" the Doctor said.

"Well, it's a few miles back. Unless you can move that observation box of yours, I suggest you find some camels," Rick said.

"Do you know where we can find some?" the Doctor said.

"You don't have any? How did you get all the way out here?" Rick said.

"We took a boat across the Nile," the Doctor said.

"And you lugged the box with you?" Rick said.

The Doctor was at a loss for words. Normally, the TARDIS was hidden somewhere or he was away from it when they started meeting people. But this time the box had landed out in the open with no way to camouflage it. It was one of those times that the Doctor cursed the breakdown of the chameleon circuit. He could tell from Rick's face that he wasn't buying his explanation and to be honest, it sounded flimsy to his ears as well. He wanted to go back inside and just leave but the statues that resembled him and his lover and daughter had to be examined, at least for curiosity's sake.

"I'm waiting…" Rick said when he didn't answer him.

The Doctor noticed his daughter wasn't saying anything. He figured either Rose had instructed her not to tell people that her father was an alien and this was a time machine or she sussed that out on her own. He could tell that Rick wasn't going to just let the matter drop so he decided to try another tactic.

"Actually, I'm an inventor and this box is one of my inventions. It can transport people long distances like a teleport device."

He could tell Rick still wasn't buying it. He wanted to go and have a look at the statue but Rick mentioned a secret door in the pyramid and unless he got Rick to tell him how to open it without taking him along, which seemed unlikely, he would have to show them inside.

"I have found a way to make a room fit inside a smaller room using quantum physics," he said to them. "Inside this box is a large room that serves as my control room. We fit comfortably inside and my box and fit into tight spaces. Would you like to see inside it?"

Rick glanced at Evie and Jonathon.

"Sounds like codswallop to me," Jonathon said.

"Yeah, it does but if he's offering to let us see inside it…" Rick said.

The Doctor unlocked the door and opened it. Everyone stepped aside as Rick went inside the box. He came out thirty seconds later, a stunned look on his face.

"Is it true?" Evie said to her husband.

"Um…yeah, just slightly," Rick said. "How the hell did you do that?"

"I'm a genius," the Doctor said smugly. "Einstein is nothing compared to me."

"Uh-huh. So this room moves wherever you want it to go?" Rick said.

"No, it moves where it wants to go," Amy said.

The Doctor gave her a dirty look and Amy shrugged.

"So now that you know our secret, why don't we take you with us and we'll go back to Khufu's Pyramid and you show us this burial chamber," the Doctor said.

"Is it safe?" Jonathon asked.

"Perfectly safe," the Doctor said. "Come inside and bring the camels as well."

"Come on, guys, you have to see this," Rick said to them.

Evie and Rick walked back and grabbed the rope that served as the rein for their camels. Jonathon got down off of his and they led the grunting, groaning camels towards the door. But the camels stopped short of the TARDIS and refused to go inside.

"They're scared, Mum," Hannah said to Rose.

"Maybe we can leave them here for a moment?" Rory said. "Come back for them?"

"I don't think Ardeth would go for that," Rick said. "We better try to force them inside. I hope you have a way to clean up camel poop."

Everyone grabbed the ropes and forced the camels inside while they protested loudly. While they did that, the Doctor thought to his ship as soon as he was inside her, asking his ship to encase the animals inside a transparent force field prison so they wouldn't wander everywhere. They finished getting them inside with Rick when Evie and Jonathon dropped the ropes and gaped at the interior the moment they were in the TARDIS.

"You built this?" Evie said, looking around.

"Yes. I'm very good with my hands," the Doctor said, winking at his daughter when she giggled at that.

When they left the camels alone, the TARDIS put the force field around them. The Doctor led everyone up the steps to the console and Rick, Evie and Jonathon stared at the console in disbelief.

"This is what you use to move this thing?" Rick said to the Doctor while he went around the console powering up the TARDIS.

"Yes," the Doctor said, leaving it at that. "Everyone stand back please. We're gonna make a quick hop over the pyramids."

He finished inputting the coordinates and Rick, Evie and Jonathon gasped and held on to the railing. The TARDIS shuddered and shook while the camels bellowed in fear and tried to leave their force field prison. Then the TARDIS stopped and powered down and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"You need to put shock absorbers on this thing," Rick said.

"Too right," Amy muttered.

The Doctor ignored them and headed for the door. He threw it open and stepped outside. There was a moment of silence while everyone walked to the door and then they heard the Doctor say…

"Oh, bugger!"

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