The tremendous whirring and undulating was approaching from somewhere. Juniper wasn't sure if it was from the East or West, perhaps from above. What she didn't know, though, was that this sound didn't approach from anywhere, but instead, anywhen.
Perhaps she and her people should have expected this arrival. At least, they knew to expect the unexpected-- which certainly included this odd happenstance.
Ever since the first anomaly of cows disappearing and the children growing a foot overnight (all of them), the people as far as the East gate knew that something was amiss. They also knew that they had no idea what or why it was happening. After accepting this truth, and assuming that it was all merely the work of a God who had no care for his creations, they merely grew bitter, and highly adaptable. These are the reasons why, when he arrived, they barely bat an eye.
As the police box arrived, phasing into existence, the doors rattled, creaked, and opened. Your average human walked out, and landed on the not-so-soil-like land, immediately turning his attention to his footing.
"Nice shoes, rubbish ground. Whose ground is this?" His upturned face met only one curious observer. While attempting to not take this lack of an audience personally, he approached her.
"Your ground, then?"
"No, I'm Juniper. We all till this ground." She began to walk away, not in a fleeing manner, but in a way to suggest that she had better to do than talk to this run-of-the-mill fellow.
"Oh, Juniper? Mind if I tag along? I do love to tag along. Ehm... Is anything wrong?" His eyes gazed about, taking in the surroundings, his form turning a full rotation as he walked with Juniper. He partially hoped she would notice this feat of maneuverability. Amidst his free-wielding feet, were tiny dogs and cats trampling similarly tiny blades of grass. Adorable, yes. But still so wrong. Higher up, he heard, and was similarly startled by a roar that deafened him momentarily. A low-dipping decline of a roller coaster road overhead. While he flinched, she walked on toward wherever she was going.
The roller coaster, sticking out like a huge, spirally, bright orange and tender thumb in the grassy farmland of what seemed to imitate some European village at the turn of the last century, this roller coaster disturbed him.
"Anything wrong at all?" He repeated, all such observations pounding his logic at the speed of said coaster.
"Not at all, mind if I smoke?" She pulled out a hefty cigar-- this dainty woman, perhaps only seventeen, lugging out, clipping off, and lighting up this sort of Cubano. His frown was everpresent.
"Not at all... Ehm, where are we exactly?" His eyes took in a few more surroundings. There was one ten-story office building in the middle of a rice paddy, where some raptors squealed from within, trying to escape the Towering Inferno which they resided.
"So what are you following me for? It's quite uncouth." She offered, turning to meet his glance momentarily.
"Oh, well I don't have to-- is it odd for me to follow you? Why is that? I don't understand... My following you is the most odd thing to happen today?"
"All year, at least. We do like to keep to ourselves, us Highlandonians."
He certainly hadn't heard of such a place. "Do you have some kind of... leader? Or city building?"
"We have The Con." She pointed toward the large patch of geraniums, surrounded by wires and static-filled air. Stopping to take a look, he nodded. "Oh, much obliged." But she was already gone-- somewhere.
He arrived at what she called The Con within moments of heading there, his speed remaining a mystery to him. Hidden on the ground, within all of the flowers and weeds, was a very large screen, laying flat and flush with the ground. His features melted into one of more curiosity than worry. The weeds, though, covered the screen almost entirely. With hollow gongs of footsteps on the glass front, he kicked and kicked weeds and wires aside, to reveal the 5x5 foot screen on the floor of the Earth.
His confusion returned, only to be compounded, rewritten, and unraveled within moments. Beneath him, she screen read:
Please choose a character: Male/Female
Please enter a name: __________
Please choose a race: [Click to choose]
When you are complete, click HERE and your game will begin. Thank you for choosing Vireal Gaming, and remember: "Use Your Imagination."
She he was in a video game. Or, was the video game augmenting the reality around him... Was he actually on Earth, or was he within a program?
His questions were answered when he looked up to the sky. "Well I'll be..."
From looking up, the sky revealed a large, ever-changing image of a variety of people sitting in rooms staring down at them. As if he were inside of a television, looking out, he saw that they were looking in-- holding controllers, computer mice, joysticks, keyboards, all rattling and clicking and button-pushing this reality into existence.
And so The Doctor sat. He began to ponder.
"Mystery solved, I suppose... But does that mean that I've trapped myself in this virtual reality? Does it mean that I must save the people in here, or the people out there? Why did the TARDIS bring me to such a place? I'd hate to think it... But Juniper sure seemed real. I'd hate to wonder..."
He returned to the TARDIS, clicking and turning and pulling and twisting her to life. Practically ready, he began to stare up into the shell surrounding the heart of the TARDIS.
"So am I part of their imagination?"
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