Chapter Text
"Do you think I should get some money?" said Ashildr, distracted by a nearby empty machine.
"Probably best not to try," said Clara, now acutely aware of small security camera pointed in their direction. "Not sure if that will work again."
"But what if we get separated?"
"Come on, we're not going to get separated unless you deliberately wander off, stop being so paranoid," Clara said dismissively.
They were directed to a grand sparkling red and black marble staircase, over one hundred metres wide, a floor high. The ceiling towered two hundred feet above them, the banner above simply stated 'WELCOME' in fifty feet red translucent lettering. People were flooding up the stairs.
"Where did they get all this marble from?" Clara mused.
They ascended the staircase to enter the main space itself and were floored by the spectacle that met their eyes.
Clara and Ashildr stopped still and looked up, doing the same as everybody else walking in.
"Oh my god," said Clara, almost breaking her neck to see to the top. "Am I dreaming this?"
"No," sighed Ashildr, "you're not."
The ceiling disappeared into oblivion, only showing a twinkling night sky above, as if they were suspended directly under the stars. There were large white structural pillars every hundred metres or so along the concourse that rose like totems out of the red and black marble floor. These pillars then branched out into tree like structures at least one hundred levels above them, canopying across to meet the edges of the next. Where the pillars branched out there was a suspended walkway that intersected, Clara could just about make out figures moving on the top. It was so high above Clara felt almost compelled to lie down and gaze upwards, she saw a few people around her doing just that. The entrance hall they had come in from appeared like a postage stamp compared to this vast amount of space around them. It struck her at this point how empty the space was above, but was teeming with people like insects below.
The space itself was easily a kilometre wide, an entrance hall with a stream of people moving away from the staircase. The outside edge, above where they had just appeared from, and the left and right sides looked out into the stars uninterrupted, the glass barely visible.
Clara put her hands into her jacket pockets and paced the fifty metres to a space on the outer surface, putting her palm up to the glazing, feeling it cool against her touch, practically invisible to the naked eye. When she removed her hand, a faint imprint was left, disappearing after a couple of seconds. She stared out into the space, black punctuated only by the occasional pod that caught her eye, like a shooting star. A small child in blue dungarees next to her accidentally walked head first into the glass with a resounding thump and started crying, breaking her concentration. A parent came over, kissed the child on the forehead and swooped them away.
"Have you ever seen anything like this?" Clara said to Ashildr.
Ashildr shook her head, moving her eyes as close to the glass as she dared, surveying the outside. She could just about see the car park cylinders if she squinted hard enough. A blonde woman to her right knocked her knuckle against the glass, catching Ashildr's eye and smiled.
"Breathtaking isn't it?" she said in an American accent.
"It is," said Ashildr, continuing to survey the stars outside as the woman disappeared into the crowd. "I've waited a very long time to come here."
"It reminds me of a church I visited on holiday in Barcelona once, I forget what it's called," said Clara, walking over, still looking up, "just much, much bigger."
People were streaming out from the staircase still, some pausing to admire the view, others striding off to go inside the centre.
"This place is seriously impressive," said Clara. "Where are all the shops though?" she pondered as she noticed there was a curious lack of anybody selling anything in this area. Groups were congregating. Couples were hugging. Families were gazing and pointing out towards the stars.
"Are we even in the right place?" said Ashildr.
"I say let's follow everyone else. Shall we... Me?" she let out a small laugh. "I'm sorry, your name is never going to stop being funny."
Ashildr sighed as Clara begun strolling off briskly in the direction of the flow of people. There were hundreds of men, women and children around her, and soon it was becoming difficult to see Clara, who had thankfully stopped and was looking around.
"Is this what it's going to be like? Waiting for you to catch up?" Clara said, catching Ashildr's eye, "if you're going to be my companion-"
"Travelling with you," said Ashildr, narrowing her eyes, as she met her.
"-you need to stay with me." Clara continued walking, "if we get split up then there'll be this whole nightmare of me trying to find you, there'll be adventures, monsters, stuff blowing up, a countdown clock, some sort of save the world timer, a moral decision to make..." she paused for breath, smiling.
"Sounds a lot like yesterday," offered Ashildr as they began to be hemmed in by people around them.
"Yeah it does, doesn't it?" Clara laughed. "Rule number three of the TARDIS," Clara said holding up a finger to the air, "no wandering off."
"Ok, got it. Hold on when you move that handle, expect the unexpected and no wandering off. Excellent Doctoring so far," Ashildr said snidely, under her breath.
They were now in a large swell of people moving in the same direction. Ashildr began to feel hemmed in by bodies around her, now slowing down as the crowd became more densely packed.
"Do we even know where we are going?" said Ashildr.
"Not a clue," said Clara, "exciting isn't it?"
They were being filtered into more queues, the bodies were being pressed heavily against barriers as five people tried to fit into a space meant for one. Clara and Ashildr had become separated by a six inch wide large red marble waist high barrier. As the swarm of people continued along the barriers it became easier to walk as everyone inevitably was forced into single file.
Ashildr looked at the partition, unable to see a way to pass underneath, judging whether it would be possible or feasible to jump over it. "Clara, slow down for a few seconds, I'm coming over," said Ashildr, noticing that Clara's queue was moving marginally quicker.
"Quick then," Clara said, distancing herself from a tall blonde woman wearing a dark grey long shirt dress in front, watching as Ashildr deftly jumped over and swung her legs around in one smooth motion. Clara looked at her open mouthed.
"What?" asked Ashildr.
"You didn't list spontaneous gymnastics as one of your special skills," Clara observed.
"Didn't I? Sorry," she smirked, "must have missed that off my application form." Ashildr noticed the queue she had been in disappearing off to the right past a twelve foot high solid red partition. "You almost lost me," said Ashildr grinning, turning around, "but not quite."
"What is this all about?" said Clara. "If they are trying to get people to lose each other they really are going about it the right way, aren't they?"
"Is this a normal level of busy? Because it seems... busy?" Ashildr said, turning around to aim her voice at Clara.
"It's Black Friday," said strong Russian accent coming from a well built bald man behind Clara who had overheard their conversation, "everyone who can be here is here today." He was wearing a padded green and silver vertically striped jacket with a black holdall slung over his right shoulder.
"Black Friday? Do they even still have that?" said Clara, smiling, as they continued. "Looks like we turned up on the right day, Me!"
"What's Black Friday?" she said, turning around to make eye contact.
"It's an American thing, biggest shopping day of the year, lots of discounts. People fight over TVs in their local supermarket, that sort of stuff," Clara said, running her hand along the red wall as she continued walking, it felt highly polished under her fingertips. She couldn't gauge the temperature but imagined it would be cold.
"Maybe... thousand years ago," said the man behind them, laughing. "Where you from? First timers?"
"Blackpool," Clara said, turning around briefly, smiling, "it's a little town, has a tower, a very stiff sea breeze, karaoke and the fish and chips are excellent. And they have always been a thousand years behind everyone else." Clara paused for breath, "and yes, first time here, so what happens on Black Friday now?"
"Why would people fight over a TV?" Ashildr asked, still walking, beginning to feel hemmed in by the red wall on the right and the people in the queue to her right.
"That..." Clara tilted her head to think, "that is a good question... that I have no answer for. Nope. I've got nothing."
"Do you really not know?" said the Russian man in the puffer jacket, laughing loudly.
"We've been busy," said Clara. "Must have missed the email." She put her hands in the pockets of her jacket.
"You can have anything you want," he said, "if you can get it out."
"What? I don't understand?" said Clara, looking sideways.
"Clara?" said Ashildr, pulling on the sleeve her coat. "We are getting close to the front." An identical twelve foot red barrier appeared to the left of them, and the floor began to descend down gradually.
"What's up ahead?" Clara asked the man behind her.
"Transmission," he said, smiling. "How else would you get around?"
"Transmission?" said Clara, screwing up her face. "As in, we will be transmitted?"
Ashildr stopped slowly and Clara walked unwittingly into her back.
"Hey, what are you-" Clara started as Ashildr slipped behind quickly, pushing her in front.
"Transmission," said Ashildr, smirking, "sounds an awful lot like the sort of thing you should be doing first."
"Hang on a minute-" protested Clara, trying to think how she could pull off an identical manoeuvre to get Ashildr back in front of her.
"I'm not sure I'm ready to be transmitted," said Ashildr. "But at least this way you get to do it first."
"Thank you, I'm sure it will be fine," said Clara, trying to calm herself and failing miserably. There was now a ceiling across the two red walls, turning it into a descending corridor. It reminded Clara of a queue for a ride for a theme park. There were small halogen lights punctured into the ceiling every metre that picked out the sparkles in the marble. She reached out her hands to either side and was just able to put a palm flat on each wall. There was a muffled hum of chatter that echoed around the solid surfaces.
"The first time I went through," said the Russian man, "I feel like every part inside... was outside," he laughed loudly.
"Well thank you, that's all very reassuring," said Clara, sarcastically, turning around as she continued forward.
"Can't we just walk?" said Ashildr. "If there's an option to walk or be transmitted I know which I'll choose."
"It's one thousand miles long!" said the man behind. "Not possible!"
"Oh yeah," said Clara, "I hadn't considered. I guess I thought maybe they'd have those, umm, you know, flat escalators like they have at airports? What are they called?"
"I'm sure I can walk that far," said Ashildr. "Maybe not in these shoes, I thought sports shoes and high heels were meant to be mutually exclusive..." she looked down to the red and black chequered marble floor at Clara's shoes.
"Ashil- Me, the last time some men even thought about walking five hundred miles they wrote a song, a... really annoying song about it," Clara said flatly, "and I already told you, no wandering off. Or falling down at doors. Ok?"
"Why would I fall down at a door?" Ashildr asked, creasing her eyebrows, confused.
Clara sighed loudly. "Never mind," she said. "Remind me never to take you to a pub quiz."
"Are we planning to go to any... pub quizzes? Is that your special skill?" Ashildr retorted, sarcastically.
"I'll have you know I was on the team at the Fox and Hounds two weeks ago which won on the last question after I was able to recite the full names of anyone who has ever been in the Sugababes," she paused for effect, "in chronological order. If you knew who they were, you'd know that was," she smiled proudly, "quite the achievement."
"That is not a special skill," Ashildr stated as an absolute fact.
"Special enough to get me those two bottles of wine in my fridge," said Clara.
"You know Sugababes?" said the Russian man, excitedly. "My kids love them!"
"Seriously? One thousand," Clara paused, thinking, "one hundred and twenty... two years in the future and they are still going. Talk about a franchise! And a back catalogue, wow."
"What are you talking about?" said Ashildr, getting annoyed.
Clara slowed down as she noticed the woman in the grey dress holding a small black clutch bag getting closer. She peered around to see what was coming up. The queue came to a standstill.
Ashildr leaned against the right side wall, putting her hands behind her onto the cool smooth marble. She looked through the gap between the bodies and the wall to see only a handful of people in front of them.
"What happens during transmission?" Clara asked the man behind over Ashildr.
"You go in, you say where you go, you go," he said, "simple!" He reminded Clara of a car insurance advert she'd seen once.
"Is it as bad as those things in the car park?" asked Ashildr.
"Worse," he laughed heartily, "Try not to breathe in, my advice," he said.
"Simple," Clara said under her breath, turning to look forward. She folded her arms and tapped her fingers on her arm.
"Are you... nervous?" said Ashildr to Clara, raising an eyebrow. "I thought you were all, 'let's go!', 'exciting isn't it!', 'I'm the Doctor!'?"
"I'm not nervous," said Clara as she walked a couple of paces forward to close the gap, "I saw myself getting faxed or 3D printed or whatever in that tower block. I've been miniaturised... oh yes, and I've been killed. All that stuff. But I wasn't the one in charge then. I've got you to look after now."
"You do not need to look after me, I keep on telling you," Ashildr said, heaving herself off the wall to join Clara.
"I kind of do," said Clara.
"You really don't. Not as if anyone can hurt me is it?"
"No," Clara paused, "but to me you're still that girl in the village who declared war on an alien master race."
"Did I really do that?" said Ashildr. "Impressive. And you're still that person stupid enough to take a Quantum Shade off someone. I forget who."
"His name was Rigsy," she stated flatly, "before yesterday I'd met you twice... no three times" said Clara, "once at the very beginning, once at the end of my life and once at the end of the world. Now that we've had to start saving each other from Zygons and possessed paper and falling off buildings and shopping centres tattooing us, I have a duty of care-" she stopped suddenly.
"No you don't, because I never asked you to do that," Ashildr said, moving a pace forward.
"Woah," said Clara, looking at her. "That... that is scary."
"Why is that scary?" Ashildr said, screwing up her face.
"Because I said exactly the same thing to him when he said that to me," Clara said, tilting her head.
They were approaching the end of the queue. The blonde woman in the grey dress was the next to go through the red door. She looked down at a watch on her right wrist quickly. Her hand had the same tattoo as Clara's on it.
"Come on, come on," the woman in front said under her breath, as the door opened. She walked into a bright red room. It closed before Clara got a decent look as her eyes adjusted to the light. Ashildr had stood closely next to her to do the same.
"Doesn't look that bad," said Ashildr.
"No it doesn't, does it?" said Clara. The door opened and Clara made her move, wrestling with Ashildr until she managed to push her roughly forward. "But I'm much happier with you going first."
"No!" said Ashildr looking out as the door sealed, to see Clara smirking, waving and mouthing the word, 'bye' back at her. She banged on the door with her fist loudly.