Welcome to Gaia! ::

“You know, no matter how many times I come this way, this place still gives me the creeps,” said River. She was sitting next to the Doctor on the Rover as the team traveled to the dig site. “I always feel like I’m being watched.”
The Doctor hit his com button and replied, “Yes, it’s all those empty windows. Like a thousand baleful eyes, all staring at you.”
“I’m actually beginning to look forward to the end of the dig,” River continued. “I want to go home. And not just to the University. I think I may actually go home to my family’s place, the one I was telling you about last night. You’re invited, of course. You could meet my parents . . .”
“Meet your parents?” said the Doctor, with a faint tinge of alarm in his voice.
“Or not, if you’re not ready to. But I think you’d like them. I think they’d like you. They’re archaeologists too. We could tell them you’re a wealthy amateur historian.”
“You wouldn’t want to tell them . . .”
“Not unless you want to . . .”
“Erm, Professor Song?” Juan Gonzales leaned towards them and hit his com button. “I hate to interrupt your private conversation, but I just remembered. Yesterday, I was working with one of our field spectrometers, and what with all the excitement over the Black Box . . .”
“Don’t tell me,” said River. “Let me guess. You left it at the dig site.”
“Uh, yes, ma’am.”
River sighed. “This has got to be the worst dig for losing equipment I’ve ever been on.”
“But I know where I left it,” said Juan.
“It’s doubtful it made it through last night’s storms,” said River. “Even if it’s where you left it, and hasn’t been blown or washed away, the acid rain would fry out the circuitry. How many times do I have to tell you not to leave things at the dig site?”
“But I haven’t left anything at the dig site before, Professor Song,” Juan protested.
“What about that hydrospanner you lost three days ago?” she asked.
“ It went missing in broad daylight. Somebody else picked it up. They didn’t bring it back?”
“It hasn’t turned up.” River sighed in her helmet. “Great. Radiation, poison rain, and now gremlins.”
“Gremlins?” Juan asked.
“Mythical Earth creatures, responsible for malfunctions, breakage, and other technical problems,” said River. “I’m joking. I’ll ask Sally about the hydrospanner. She probably took it and put it somewhere. She’s got an amazing head for historical facts, but is terribly absentminded with the lab equipment.”
The Doctor had remained oddly silent throughout this exchange. “Are things going missing? I mean from the dig site? I hadn’t really noticed.”
“Of course not, you’ve had your mind on other things,” said River. “The translation matrix,” she said th Juan, by way of explanation. “Stuff always goes missing on a dig. Tools, small electronics. This place just seems to swallow it up, though. Must be the sand. Drop stuff in, it’ll take another excavation to find it.”
“When we get back tonight,” said the Doctor, “could you make me a list of exactly what’s been lost? And who was working where last with it?”
“I’ll have to do it anyway,” said River, “just to let the University know. I can start tonight if you like. But why do you ask?”
“Oh, just, um, wondering, that’s all . . .” The Rover trundled into the dig site and the conversation ended.

whee I WANT MORE PLOT FOR MY BIRTHDAY! biggrin

Here you go, Eirwyn:
“Whoa . . .” Juan broadcast to the entire group. The storm of the night before had eroded away much of the loose sand in the crater, especially in the spots exposed by the team’s work. Arched girders, chunks of rondel-studded walls, and tangled masses of wiring jutted out of the crater floor.
“Well, well, looks like this damned planet finally decided to cut us some slack,” said River. “I just hope we haven’t lost too many delicate artifacts. History Bob, I want you to film this in situ. RayQuan, you know the Rover better than I do–how big a piece can we haul back to the Lupine? After I send you back for the grav clamps. And if you approve,” she added, turning to the Doctor.
“Why wouldn’t I?” he said with a shrug. “It’s your dig. I’m just the interpreter,” he added, as the rest of the team gave him an odd look.
RayQuan, Po, and Megan went back to the Lupine for the grav clamps while the rest of the team started in unearthing the closest girder.
“What are we going to do with this, Professor?” asked Sally. “I mean, it’s obviously some kind of structural support, but it’s huge . . .”
“We’ve got enough space in the Lupine’s hold,” said River, “I’d like to bring some of the structure back for the exhibition. Install it in the gallery, give people an idea of the aesthetic sense that went into this craft’s design.”
“But it’s all in pieces,” said Sally. “How would be possibly know how any of this fits together?”
“I am certain Professor Song will be able to make an educated guess,” said Jenkins.
Indeed, thought River. I’ll just ask, “Hey sweetie, is this upside-down or right-side up?”
The day was spent clearing large pieces of the downed craft and ferrying them back to the ship. They found very few small artifacts, probably because, as River had feared, the storm had washed them away. However, after the team had lifted away a piece of instrument panel, something shiny that had lain beneath it caught Summer’s eye.
“Hey, what’s that . . .” She bent to pick up a round, flat object of golden metal.
The Doctor turned to see what the girl had found. “What do you . . . Careful! Don’t drop it! Don’t open it! Give it to me!”
The rest of the team froze. River turned to the Doctor in surprise; she’d never seen him get that excited over anything else they’d found.
“Here,” said Summer, handing the artifact to the Doctor, who immediately held it as close to his ear as his helmet would allow. He listened for a few moments, and then groaned.
“Never mind,” he said. “It’s dead. Broken. Been broken since the crash, most likely.”
“Uh, may we ask what it is, Doctor?” asked Jenkins.
“It’s, um, well, it was, a spring-wound analog chronometer,” said the Doctor. He pressed a knob at the side of the object, and it popped open, sprinkling bits of broken glass and metal into the Doctor’s gloved hands.
“Get a specimen box,” exclaimed River. “We don’t want to lose the pieces.” She looked at the artifact. “So it’s a pocket watch,” she said. “My grandmother used to carry one. Only hers was silver, and just had her initials on it. This one’s got some lovely engraving . . .” Sally handed River a plastic box, which she offered to the Doctor. “May I have it?” she asked softly. She could tell by his face he was fighting back his emotions again.
“Yes,” he said. “Yes, it will look very nice in your exhibit.”
River bit her lip. Did he know the owner? she wondered. Or is this thing more than it appears? Why would he say “It’s dead” about a watch? She knew she would never ask him. “Bob, I want you to get some video of the exposed rubble here, before we start sifting. Bob?” she looked around the group. “RayQuan, where’s History Bob?”
“He’s over . . .” RayQuan turned to one side of the crater. “I don’t know. He was over there, on that piece of rubble, trying to get a long shot of the rest of us prepping to lift that last piece into the Rover . . .”
River sighed in exasperation. “Bob, where are you?” she broadcast. There was no answer. “Brilliant,” she said. “He’s wandered out of range. RayQuan, Jenkins, go over there and give the idiot a yell while we start sifting.”
The two graduate students picked their way over to the chunk of concrete Bob had been standing on. Jenkins turned and waved to River.
“Professss . . .Song . . .not find . . .” His transmission was barely audible. “But . . . tracks . . .” He pointed towards the ruined city.
River snorted in disgust. “That’s it, no more damned tourists on my digs. Ever. Folks, We’ve got . . .” she looked at the chronometer on the wrist of her suit. “Three hours to get back to the ship. Bob can’t have gone far. He’s not built for speed. We’ll go as a group to find him. I don’t want anyone else getting separated.” The team moved to join Jenkins and RayQuan, River in the lead and the Doctor close behind her. “Wasting three hours of my dig,” she muttered to the Doctor. “When I find him, I’m going to kick his backside all the way back to the Lupine, ground him, and give his camera to Megan!”

whee *jumps up & down*

You're still looking a tad random (as all new Gaians do). I was waiting to see you settle into a look. I know you'll find one with all Gaia has to offer--you're too good at costuming not to. smile

I don't want a pic of me, I want a pic of Doc 10! He's much, much cuter! xp

OMG . . . More Story!

After ten minutes of following the historian’s tracks through the ruined city, RayQuan spoke up: “What was that you said about History Bob not being built for speed, Professor?”
“Not the first time I’ve been wrong,” River replied.”What the hell does he think he’s doing?”
The Doctor moved ahead of the group an held up a hand for them to stop. “I’ve noticed something . . . Look, here, around his tracks.” He knelt down to get a closer look.
The rains had turned the coating of dust on the ground into a layer of sludge, in which History Bob’s footprints could be seen between large chunks of rubble. River came closer and looked where the Doctor was pointing.
“What are we looking at?” she asked.
“The mud,” the Doctor said. “Around the footprint. It isn’t smooth. It’s like something’s been moving in it, like, oh, I don’t know, worms or snakes or something.”
River’s eyes narrowed. “You think there’s something alive here.”
“You don’t seem surprised,” said the Doctor.
“First rule of alien dig sites: be prepared for anything, especially the impossible,” she said. “Still, it would be hard to imagine something that could survive here, what with the toxins and radiation . . .”
Suddenly the Doctor leapt to his feet and began scrambling over the rubble, following Bob’s tracks.
“Go back to the Lupine, all of you!” he shouted. “I’ll find Bob myself. . .”
“The hell you will!” answered River. “We are not splitting up!” She moved to follow him, and waved for the rest of the party to come after her. They all followed the Doctor.
“Who died and put him in charge?” asked Kitty as she got close enough to broadcast.
Before River could answer, the Doctor himself called back, “That Rassilon chap you’ve been reading about. Now go back to the Lupine!”
“Absolutely not!” said River. “We aren’t leaving you! Everybody, keep up! And look sharp! We aren’t alone here! RayQuan, the moment you can get a signal back to the ship, tell Sideshow to break out the toys . . .”
The Doctor pulled up at a darkened archway, partially obscured by rubble, leading down a narrow, curved stairway. “Oh, why, why, why are people so stupid? Why am I so stupid?”
“He went down there?” asked River, peering around the Doctor’s shoulder. The rest of the party clustered around them.
“It’s where all the tracks lead. His and whatever he was following,” said the Doctor.
River pushed past him. “We’ll have to go in single file . . .” She reached back and switched off the Doctor’s com before he could protest. “You will not go down there alone,” she insisted, trying not to smile at the sight of his lips moving furiously behind his visor. “And I’m going first. You’re second, Doctor. Kitty, you’re third. RayQuan, you stay on the surface, keep trying to raise Sideshow. The rest of you, follow us. Eye contact with the person ahead of you at all times. And be prepared to run like hell if I give the word.”
The Doctor finally managed to switch his com back on. “River, I . . .”
“You aren’t the only one who knows what may be at stake here,” said River, as she disappeared down the stairway. “Don’t think I haven’t thought of this . . .”
The Doctor moved after her as quickly as the narrow stairs would allow. “River, this is no time to start showing off!”
“I’m not showing off,” said River. “I’m being a competent team leader! And if your male ego can’t handle that, then maybe you should find yourself another lover, some empty-headed teenage girl ready to hang on your every word. Try a shopping mall. They’re full of them.”
The Doctor sputtered, but made no coherent reply. Behind him, Kitty said sensibly, “Can we save the personal issues for after we’ve found Bob?”
“Watch your step,” said River. “The stairs get slippery down here, there’s something slimy all over the ground . . . O.K., I’ve gotten to the bottom, there’s a passage . . . Oh, damn! Kitty, get over here!”
The staircase ended in a long-abandoned transport tube, a double set of tracks running through the middle of a wide tunnel. Lying in a white mound at the side of the tracks was the space-suited form of Bob Reynolds.

WOOOOOO! Story!! xd

Uh-oh--the secondary characters begin to fall.....