Fill: Challenge #295
Dec. 18th, 2023 08:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shivver posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
tenminutesadayI've been actively working on a fic, so rather than a Real Ten Minutes, here's a snippet I wrote today.
“If you don’t change it under my feet. Well, it’s been… strange.” He flicked a salute at them and walked out of the time capsule.
Will stopped cold outside the door, staring at the ravaged world all around him. He stood on parched, burnt soil, charred trees all around him. Beyond the edge of once-green park, only crumbled walls and pulverized concrete remained of the office blocks, stores, and roads that made up the heart of Ealing. A metallic chunk-chunk-chunk cut through the silence as a half-dozen humanoid metal robots marched, patrolling the broken landscape. Spotting the human, one robot turned toward him, its fellows following a second later, and spinning on his heel, Will pushed into the blackened tree behind him, certain that the Time Lords’ craft was his only safe haven.
Sorat looked up from his work on the console. “Changed your mind? You’re lucky. I’d almost closed the doors on you.”
Will dashed to the console and yanked the lever Sorat had pulled a moment earlier, then checked the closed door before rounding on him. “What did you do to my world? Why? Why would you destroy this planet just because I said no?”
“What are you talking about?” asked Ilthas. “We haven’t done anything except talk.”
“Look right out there, mate!” Will jabbed a hand at the door.
“What?” Ilthas strode over and stabbed a button, and the monitor on the wall switched on. Jaws dropping, the Time Lords stared at the devastation, then Sorat bounded around Will to another section of the console. The monitor display switched to a mosaic of interlocking circles and lines that morphed and danced in time with his furious work.
“That… that… that wasn’t us.” Ilthas slapped a hand to her mouth. “Truly, it wasn’t us. We only talked. That’s all we ever intended, just talk. How could we have done something like that? We would never.”
“If you don’t change it under my feet. Well, it’s been… strange.” He flicked a salute at them and walked out of the time capsule.
Will stopped cold outside the door, staring at the ravaged world all around him. He stood on parched, burnt soil, charred trees all around him. Beyond the edge of once-green park, only crumbled walls and pulverized concrete remained of the office blocks, stores, and roads that made up the heart of Ealing. A metallic chunk-chunk-chunk cut through the silence as a half-dozen humanoid metal robots marched, patrolling the broken landscape. Spotting the human, one robot turned toward him, its fellows following a second later, and spinning on his heel, Will pushed into the blackened tree behind him, certain that the Time Lords’ craft was his only safe haven.
Sorat looked up from his work on the console. “Changed your mind? You’re lucky. I’d almost closed the doors on you.”
Will dashed to the console and yanked the lever Sorat had pulled a moment earlier, then checked the closed door before rounding on him. “What did you do to my world? Why? Why would you destroy this planet just because I said no?”
“What are you talking about?” asked Ilthas. “We haven’t done anything except talk.”
“Look right out there, mate!” Will jabbed a hand at the door.
“What?” Ilthas strode over and stabbed a button, and the monitor on the wall switched on. Jaws dropping, the Time Lords stared at the devastation, then Sorat bounded around Will to another section of the console. The monitor display switched to a mosaic of interlocking circles and lines that morphed and danced in time with his furious work.
“That… that… that wasn’t us.” Ilthas slapped a hand to her mouth. “Truly, it wasn’t us. We only talked. That’s all we ever intended, just talk. How could we have done something like that? We would never.”