Toeing the Line [Evelyn/11th Doctor]

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Evelyn had found herself a secluded part of the planet to set up an impromptu camp to write up her notes and add to her experiments, away from the prying eyes back at base just dying to win the funding for another expedition. She couldn't stand those people, with their eyes on the money and never on the goal. Instead, Evelyn had taken to finding herself a small spot out in the middle of no-where so she could complete her version of research in peace. 

The woman had a serene look about her, dressed in a pair of khaki shorts, hiking boots and a olive green tank top, but her face was a mask of concentration. Her tongue poked out from between her lips as she tapped buttons on the device that can only be described as a piece of glass. At the touch of a button, images and streams of data appeared floating in a semi-circular shape around her. Nothing held them there, they just... were. Some were moved around, some deleted and others added to, but after a while she found her mind wandering.

She sighed, feeling the familiar pounding feeling of a headache coming on and turned to the device for help. A few irate stabs at the screen caused a bright, white light to emit out from the top to form a pill out of what appeared to be thin air. The light faded and the pill dropped into the woman's waiting hand. Evelyn gratefully swallowed it down and tucked the device away, intent on making her way back.

Evelyn was barely through the gates of the temporary research hub when pandemonium promptly erupted. The woman sighed, a smile playing at her lips as she shook her head fondly. Trouble always seemed to wait until she was around before it reared its pretty little head. Evelyn's face cracked into a smile before she set off at a purposeful walk, the gathered team and locals moving out of the way as if they expected her to do something about... it. She heard it before she saw it, a terrible straining noise before a resounding thud. What it was... she didn't know.. A large blue box stood in the centre of the research camp, grooves left in the ground from where it had apparently crash landed. But where had it come from. Anyone she asked had said that it had just appeared out of thin air. Now, that wasn't unusual in their age, the headache tablet was one example. But this thing..? She needed answers and she needed them now.

Her father had appeared beside her, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Adonis Lawrence was a proud man, standing tall with a wisened look about him made more prominent with his silver hair and lightly wrinkled skin. He had begun to pound on the door of the blue box whilst Evelyn ran scans from her device. "It doesn't recognise it, it's like nothing we've ever seen." She breathed, a smile cracking out along her face before she could help it. She quietly scolded herself, since just because they'd never seen it before didn't mean it was automatically friend. Quite the opposite, usually. Her face grew even more amazed and confused at the scanners next revelation. "It says it's alive." She said simply, moving closer to the box and running a hand along the blue wood. As if on cue, her father received a small electric shock from the device that made him stop his incessant pounding. "What?" Her father said, frowning at the box and taking a step back, rubbing his hand. "It's alive." Evelyn stated again, trying to hold back a laugh or a smile at what had transpired.

"Perhaps it's inhabitant can shed some more light on that." Evelyn suggested, her tone rather amused at the incredulous look on her fathers face at this newest revelation. She was already starting to like this box. The woman raised her hand to give a gentle knock on the door, half expecting a shock but certainly not expecting what happened next.

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The Doctor was below the counsel trying to fix a few lose wires from his last trip. Who knew that dog people could be so violent. Because of them he was trying to fix his Tardis, which was smoking in some places, and shocking the Doctor in others. The Doctor got up from his position on the floor and walked up to the counsel. He pulled a few levers and pushed a couple of buttons. He stood back and admired his work. The Tardis seemed to be doing just fine. " I won't let those mean dog people hurt you ever again." Almost as if on cue, the Tardis started spinning out of control plummeting out of the Time Vortex and towards Earth. He ran around the counsel's pushing buttons and pulling levers trying to keep Her from crashing to Earth. He took out his Sonic Screwdriver and soniced the counsel, to create a shower of sparks, followed by a thick cloud of smoke formed afterwords.

" Okay, that didn't work." He frantically rushed towards the counsel pushing random buttons and pulling levers. Sometimes this worked. The Tardis landed with a painful thump the sent the Doctor over the railings. " Well at least she didn't crash." The Doctor pulled himself off of the ground and walked back up to the counsel, which was smoking again. He rolled up his sleeves and attempted to fix his Tardis, again. He turned towards the door when he heard a violent pounding. " Oh please don't be the dog people again." He walked over to the monitor, turning it on. " Of course this works perfectly." He looked at who was pounding against the door. He turned it on just in time to watch the Tardis shock the man pounding on her. He laughed. " Good girl." He then watched as a younger woman walked up to the door and lightly knocked. She defiantly looked friendlier. He straightened his bow Tie, and walked towards the door. He noticed that he had left his jacket below the counsel, but decided to go out without it. He opened the door, stepping out to face the young woman . " Hello i'am the Doctor. Hope I didn't cause any trouble." He looked back at the Tardis, which was now smoking from the inside out. So much for first impressions....

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Evelyn was about to give up and find something to break the door down with when it was opened behind her, shocking the amassed ensemble of indigenous locals and research scientists into a stunned silence. Evelyn turned around slowly, studying the man up and down with a curious frown. "The Doctor? A Doctor of what?" She asked, folding her arms and staring at him with distrust. They had had at least three break-ins in the last month from rival companies, annoying space tourists and the less than friendly locals. This backwater planet harboured life beyond the realms of possibility, and it was only by chance that her father had stumbled upon it.

But what was this strange man with his smoking box? He wasn't a local, and if he was a rival he wasn't making a very good job of being inconspicuous. That left her with only one option - tourist. Evelyn tucked loose hair behind her ears, very much exasperated, and turned to the Doctor, her voice taking on a new air of confident authority. "You're not a tourist, are you? Because this is a highly sensitive research zone that you have probably irreparably damaged with your smoking box and bravado!" Evelyn seethed and sighed, rubbing her face tiredly and scratching at the back of her neck. "I'll deal with it Evelyn, dear. Go back to your research, those specimens won't keep forever." Her father ordered, picking up the glass tablet and handing it back to her. Evelyn nodded, grudgingly agreeing since this seemed much more interesting than analysing plant specimens for the next few hours. "Yes, father." She cast a distrusting glance at the strange man as she passed him. As she walked she was dictating a mess of numbers to the glass slab, already pushing the incident to the back of her mind in order to concentrate. 

But part of her was inquisitive, wanting to know exactly what the box was. She made a mental note to go back to it later and try and scan it again. Perhaps it even liked her? It certainly didn't like Adonis. Evelyn suppressed a giggle at the look on his face and concentrated instead on getting the specimens she had collected back out the freeze-box for analysis. They were investigating the medicinal properties of the plants on this strange planet; the headache pill she had taken earlier was made from one of the plants they had discovered early on in the trip, roughly two years ago now. The specimen was placed on an illuminated glass slab and various readings floated around it, with lines connecting them to various parts of the plant. What was this one? She consulted her glass slab, her frown furrowing deeper with each look. This didn't look... what?

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"The Doctor? A Doctor of what?" The Doctor smirked. That question never got old. " Just the Doctor." He quickly pocked his head into the tardis, and yelled for extractor fans to turn on. He looked back to the woman with a smile on his face. "You're not a tourist, are you? Because this is a highly sensitive research zone that you have probably irreparably damaged with your smoking box and bravado!" The Doctor thought for a moment. In a way he was a tourist, but then again... " You could say I'm a tourist. But really I tend to think of myself more as a scientist." He watched silently as her father, the one who the Tardis seemed to not like, tell her to go back to her research.

The Doctor pushed past the father and ran to catch up with the one called Evelyn. " You know. I used to work for U.N.I.T.. as a scientist. Do you mind if I help you with your research? I could be quite helpful." He smiled his warmest Smile to Evelyn.

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Evelyn tried her best to ignore the rather energetic figure of The Doctor and instead concentrate on the plant specimen, but the distraction was rather welcoming from the tedious work and to be honest she could almost feel the headache coming back. "What's this 'unit' then?" She asked curiously, keeping her eyes fixed on the work and analysing the specimens, tossing the question over her shoulder. Now and again she would lean over to the glass slab and type a few notes into an invisible keyboard on the surface. "Help? I don't understand how you can help... you've only just gotten here." Evelyn suspected that this man knew a lot more than he let on, especially about this place. But the workload was rather overwhelming and she did have a lot of plant specimens to go through...

With a plan forming in her mind, she retina scanned into the freezer and pulled out a slab full of segments of a particular plant they had been studying for a few months. They'd already worked out a few of its properties and uses, and if the man was as good as he said it was, he would know what they were, wouldn't he? Evelyn strode over and placed the slab down gently on the work surface and then turned to The Doctor. "All right, if you're really as good as you say you are then you'll be able to identify this plant and its properties and uses in medicine, yes?" Evelyn smirked lightly and folded her arms, leaning against the bench. "I'll give you ten minutes, starting now." 

Watching him carefully out of the corner of her eye, Evelyn went back attentively to her newest sample that was throwing up the strangest readings on the chart. Her father had retired to his cabin to 'clear his head' and the other junior scientists would be collecting and dissecting samples for analysis. For now, the encampment was quiet and if it weren't for the blue box jutting out the ground at a rather awkward angle all would have seemed normal.

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" United Nations Intelligence Task force. It's a secret Government organization on Earth." The Doctor started researching the plant that Evelyn had put in front of him. Only ten? He could do it in five if he wanted to. " It can be used as a pain reliever, for headaches, that sort of thing." The Doctor was sure that's all the had found so far, but there was something more to it... He just couldn't grasp it yet. He needed to do a little more research before he could tell her anything more. He furrowed his brows in concentration. Something wasn't right here....

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Evelyn just nodded as she worked, supposing that it could substitute in as conversation. The specimen in front of her was certainly like nothing they had ever seen before, that was for sure. The readings were off the chart in certain areas and it was almost as if it was alive... really alive. Frowning, Evelyn turned to the glass slab to enter more readings, checking up on this mysterious doctor now and again out of the corner of her eye. He really was quite... strange. There was no other word for it really.

"Yes, that's correct. Any more?" She said, still making small cuts into her own plant specimen from the newest collection of plants, different to the one the Doctor had. She paused for a second after hearing nothing for a minute, frowning and turning to him. "Any more?" Evelyn intoned, pulling the goggles from her face and folding her arms, dangling the safety glasses from her fingers. "Doctor?" She asked, walking over and tapping him on the shoulder. "What's wrong?"

At that moment, one of the junior scientists ran into the tent that was usually strictly off bounds with a face as white as a sheet, despite the red hue to her cheeks that made it look like she'd been running. Running, for what reason? "Doctor Lawrence?" She asked, breathing deeply and leaning against the pole for support. "It's Adam, he's gone missing." The junior looked like she was about to burst into tears, but something like shock was holding her back and cast a desperate glance over to Evelyn.

Evelyn burst into action, running over to help the junior, Jessica, into a chair and locked the door behind her. She pulled a mug of tea seemingly out of nowhere and handed it to the girl, perching on the bench opposite. "What do you mean, missing? Jessica, what have you seen?" Evelyn asked, forgetting all about the other Doctor in the room and staring intently at the junior in front of her. What on earth was happening on this backwater planet?

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The Doctor lifted his head for a moment as the panicked girl rushed into the office. He then turned back to the plant to find out what he was missing. This plant wasn't normal, it was living. Sure all plants were alive in their own way, but this plant was Alive. Literally alive, with intelligence, emotions, the whole lot. If the plants were alive, then the planet was too. The Doctor jumped up from where he was sitting, and rushed over to the panicked young girl.

" Where was the last place you remember seeing him." The Doctor asked in a gentle, but demanding tone. He might not have jurisdiction here, but he needed to find out for sure if what he was thinking was true. " Uh.." He watched the girl shot Evelyn a questioning look, as to if she should answer the strange man in front of her. The Doctor didn't have any time for this, he took out his sonic screwdriver, and rushed out the door. He scanned the ground and the plants around the little research area, flicking his wrist to check the reading. Just as he suspected, the entire area around them was full with life, just not the lives of the people working, but the planet itself was filled with it. The plants were alive, the ground was alive, even a few of the rocks were a live. Which the Doctor found a little strange.....

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Evelyn turned her head to face the Doctor, glaring at him squarely and her face a mask of anger. "What do you think you are doing? You have no jurisdiction here, Doctor. For all I know you could have caused this!" The scientist sighed, rubbing her hands over her face and turning back to the junior. "What he said." She said with a sigh, nodding over at the retreating figure of the Doctor. "Uhh, well, we were in the tent dissecting today's samples ready for freezing and I was... talking to him one second, and then he went quiet, so I went into his booth to check on him and... he was gone." The girl took in a shuddering breath, drying her eyes with the sleeve of her labcoat. "The place was wrecked, test tubes all over the floor and the sample was, strange... It was alive, pulsing, growing. I sealed off the unit and came to find you immediately, but I heard something - garbled, roaring sound from near the tent. I froze and after a minute it went, and then I came straight here." Jessica revealed in one breath, tripping over words and stuttering on others.

Evelyn stared at her incredulously, leaning over to grab her rucksack from the floor and shouldered it, discarding the labcoat and goggles. "Stay here Jessica, okay. Under no circumstances leave this tent. That's an order." Evelyn nodded fiercely, sealing the door behind her and running out in pursuit of the Doctor. "What the hell do you think you're doing? You can't just walk in here and take over!" She exclaimed, growling at him and folding her arms. "And what is that?" She scoffed sceptically, pointing at the sonic.

A gurgling roar, like the one Jessica described, split the air in the distance and Evelyn's mouth grew into a thin, determined line. "Never mind that, can it help find the missing junior?" She intoned exasperatedly, clicking the flashlight on in the direction of the roar and gesturing in that direction. Just because she didn't trust this man, didn't mean he couldn't be useful.

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The Doctor simple sighed at Eve’s remark that he might of started this. He had heard this so many times, that he didn't even bother getting offended about it. Sure things tended to go wrong the second he stepped out of his TARDIS, but it was never his fault… well not exactly anyway. The Doctor continued walking towards the Sonic’s signal, not paying a glance at Eve. “ I’m not taking over, I’m simply…. Giving assistance.” He gave an indignant look at Eve when she pointed at his Sonic skeptically. “ This is a Sonic Screwdriver.” He scolded.

The Doctor rushed towards the direction the roar was coming from. He was still trying to put together things in his mind, like where exactly he was, what time period, other important information like that. He stopped right in front of the entrance into the so called forest, and turned to Eve. “I can help, but you need to promise that you’ll listen to me, and follow my every instruction.”