Disclaimer: I don't own what you recognise; the drill should be familiar to you by now

Feedback: I'd appreciate it; I'm trying to do something a bit different here

AN: The second story in my 'Age of Paradox' AU, featuring the Eleventh Doctor and Amy travelling together in a world where Faction Paradox survived the Eighth Doctor's destruction of Gallifrey in 'The Ancestor Cell', with the result that the Doctor spent his last few lives mostly alone until he met Amy (For the record, the War Doctor and the Tenth Doctor's half-regeneration in 'Journey' End' didn't happen here, so the Eleventh Doctor is just the Eleventh Doctor; might not be a big detail, but I thought it best to say that now)

The Age of Paradox:

Book Two:

The World of Paradox

As she stared out of the TARDIS doors at the vast spaceship below them, it wasn't hard for Amy to understand why the Doctor had chosen this as their first destination after she'd changed from her uniform into a new red-and-white checked shirt and jeans, preferring something comfortable over stylish for her first trip; the TARDIS was the most incredible vehicle she had ever seen, but the idea that she was currently looking down at something built by the humans of the future felt more… personal to her.

"Incredible…" she said, as she stared out of the TARDIS doors at the vast city-ship below her, buildings covered in the names of various cities she recognised from long experience of studying maps. "And that's really got the whole of England's population on it?"

"The vast majority of them from the twenty-ninth century, yes," the Doctor said, nodding at her. "Solar flares roasted Earth, and the entire human race packed its bags and moved out until the weather improved, after a select group of elite were sent to this old space station for additional security; complicated way of doing things, but they wanted to cover all the bases."

"And we're looking at… Starship England?" Amy asked, looking thoughtfully down at the ship.

"Well, it's officially identified as Starship UK even after Scotland requested its own ship, but that's not the issue right now," the Doctor said, waving a dismissive hand as he grinned while adjusting the console settings with the other. "What's important is that the ship's continuing its migration through the stars, searching for a new home for the human race; is that incredible, or is that incredible?"

"It's incredible," Amy said, nodding in agreement at the Doctor. "So… shall we go down?"

"Already there," the Doctor said, smiling as he stepped away from the console and turned to look at Amy. "Just remember, only observe and enjoy unless you see clear evidence that there's something wrong…"

"Understood," Amy said, nodding at him in agreement.

The Doctor might regard it as his duty to get involved and help out where he could, but with the Faction to consider as an issue, he couldn't afford to just dive in wherever and whenever he felt like it. As he had explained to Amy, these days in particular he had to be selective and confirm that whatever was happening was something that the locals couldn't hope to handle on their own and could be dangerous if left alone for too long; the less clues he gave them as to his presence, the better.

Stepping out of the TARDIS, Amy immediately found herself in the middle of a bustling market, the immediate hall resembling an oversized shopping centre with a large glass window and other small stalls in the middle; an area immediately behind where the TARDIS had materialised actually looked more like the corner of a road rather than something you'd find inside a building. There was even a mailbox a short distance away, lights strung up with a colour that suggested Christmas even if the general atmosphere didn't add to that impression, and a wide collection of people in clothing that looked slightly mis-matched to Amy, as though the owners had just donned whatever they could find.

"Right then," the Doctor said, looking thoughtfully at the vast bustle of people around them. "First question, Pond; what's wrong with this picture?"

"Is it… the bicycles?" Amy asked, her gaze fixing on the riders in question as they went by. "Not exactly normal for a spaceship…"

"Normally, yes, but you have to keep in mind that we're dealing with a society that had to abandon several of its original creature comforts after an environmental upheaval beyond precedent…" the Doctor said, his voice trailing off as he looked around the area for a moment before walking over to a nearby table in what looked for all the world like an outdoor café and picking up a glass of water. Ignoring the drinker's request for an explanation, the Doctor placed the glass on the floor, stared at it for a moment, and then put the glass back on the table.

"Sorry; checking all the water in this area," he said briefly, before he turned back to Amy and led her away from the table. "Where was I?"

"Why did you do that with the water?" Amy asked.

"Don't know; I think a lot; it's hard to keep track, and I'm suddenly reminded of the time Green-8 and I were looking at that palace…" the Doctor said, before he shook his head and turned around. "Now then, look at that."

Following his gaze, Amy soon saw what he was looking at; a little girl, sitting on a bench, dressed in a red cardigan over a red-and-white checked shirt, her brown hair pulled back in a pony-tail.

Following his gaze, Amy soon saw what he was looking at; a little girl, sitting on a bench, dressed in a red cardigan over a red-and-white checked shirt, her brown hair pulled back in a pony-tail. Shooting a brief glance at Amy to stay where she was, the Doctor walked over to sit down beside the girl, looking anxiously at her in an open, prompting manner that was clearly intended to encourage her to talk to him, only to be met with nothing. After tentatively reaching out towards the girl, only for her to pull away, the Doctor gave up and walked back over to sit beside Amy.

"One little girl crying," Amy said, looking thoughtfully at the Doctor as he stared at the girl with an equally contemplative expression. "So?"

"Crying silently," the Doctor pointed out. "I mean, children cry because they want attention, because they're hurt or afraid. But when they cry silently, it's because they just can't stop. Any parent knows that."

Amy decided not to ask how the Doctor came by that knowledge; he'd casually mentioned his granddaughter once, but even if he hadn't discussed his other family members in greater detail, Amy had heard enough in that moment to know that asking for more information about the family he'd lost when Gallifrey was destroyed wouldn't be a good move.

"Hundreds of parents walking past who spot her and not one of them's asking her what's wrong, which means they already know, and it's something they don't talk about," the Doctor continued to explain, as the girl looked anxiously around while bringing herself under control before getting up. "Secrets. They're not helping her, so it's something they're afraid of. Shadows, whatever they're afraid of, it's nowhere to be seen, which means it's everywhere. Police state."

"Where'd she go?" Amy asked, noticing that the girl had vanished while they were talking.

"Deck two oh seven. Apple Sesame block, dwelling 54A; you're looking for Mandy Tanner," the Doctor said, handing Amy a colourful wallet from inside his jacket. "Oh, er, this fell out of her pocket when I was trying to talk to her. Took me four goes. Ask her about those things. The smiling fellows in the booths. They're everywhere."

"But they're just… things?" Amy said, recalling some of the Doctor's first lessons to her; the seemingly innocuous details were the most important. "They're… too clean, aren't they?"

"Nice observation, Pond," the Doctor said, grinning in approval at her before his grim expression replaced the grin. "So, in a place where everything else is battered and filthy, why is nobody going within two feet of those booths?"

"So… while I'm talking with Mandy… what will you be doing?" Amy asked.

"What I always do," the Doctor replied, smiling at her reassuringly. "Back here in half an hour?"

Nodding in agreement, Amy turned around and hurried after the indicated little girl, hurrying along a couple of corners until she found a road name sign on the wall; incongruous, but maybe if she found a map…

"You're following me," the girl who was apparently Mandy Tanner said from behind Amy, a quick turn revealing that Mandy was standing between what looked like an oil drum and some kind of traffic cordoning object on the edge of another stone corridor. "Saw you watching me at the marketplace."

"You dropped this," Amy said, handing her the wallet.

"Yeah, when your friend kept bumping into me," Mandy replied, taking the wallet and walking off, leaving Amy to walk after her until the younger girl came to a halt.

"What's that?" Amy asked, noticing what looked like a striped workman's hut with yellow flashing lights and a keep out sign in front of them, under a sign saying 'Magpie Electricals'.

"There's a hole," Mandy replied. "We have to go back."

"A hole?" Amy repeated, looking at it in surprise.

If there was a hole on a spaceship, she was fairly sure blocking it up should be a priority- she might not be a scientist, but lack of oxygen in space wasn't hard to understand- so the lack of workmen around here suggested that there was something else going on…

"What are you doing?" Mandy asked, the question attracting Amy's attention back to the girl even as she moved forward to sit down and set to work at the lock in front of her with the skills taught to her by the Doctor.

"Oh, don't mind me; never could resist a keep-out sign," Amy said. "What's through there? What's so scary about a hole? Something under the road?"

"Nobody knows," Mandy said. "We're not supposed to talk about it."

"About what?" Amy asked, her attention still fixed on the padlock.

"Below," Mandy clarified.

"And because you're not supposed to, you don't?" Amy said, shaking her head at the thought as she opened the lock and stood up, smiling back at Mandy. "Well, coming?"

"No!" Mandy yelled, moving back.

"Suit yourself," Amy said, taking a moment to collect herself before she crawled into the tent, immediately seeing something in front of her that she couldn't quite make out in the dark. Picking up a nearby wind-up lantern- how far had society fallen after those solar flares?-, Amy gave it a couple of experimental turns, only to find herself facing what looked like some kind of massive scorpion's tail sticking up from the ground.

"OK…" she said after a moment. "Now that's weird…"

As the tail lashed out at her, only just avoiding coming in direct contact, Amy immediately retreated backwards, only to find herself being hit in the face by something once she left the tent…

Following the tracking device given to him by the mysterious Liz Ten, the Doctor wondered why he was doing this; he still knew far too little about this whole situation to feel comfortable even taking action, and here he was, taking advise from someone wearing a mask that could have concealed the face of a Faction agent to try and find his companion…

Then again, if any of his theories about this Starship UK were correct, he didn't have much choice but to follow the tracker; he didn't have any better ideas about how to find Amy right now, particularly when she clearly wasn't going to make it back to their scheduled rendezvous…

"…do whatever you have to do," a familiar voice said over a recording as the Doctor approached a cubicle of some sort, "just please, please get the Doctor off this ship!"

"Amy?" the Doctor said, opening the cubicle to see his companion watching a recording of herself on four strangely primitive-looking television sets, the Amy on the screen looking like she'd been crying while Amy herself just seemed to be confused.

"What…?" Amy said, looking between the screen and the Doctor in confusion as the Doctor pulled out the sonic screwdriver to quickly examine the cubicle.

"Yeah, your basic memory wipe job," he said, after examining the light at the top. "Must have erased about twenty minutes."

"But why would I choose to forget something?" Amy asked.

"Because everybody does," the little girl that he'd noticed earlier said; she must have followed him or Amy here for some reason. "Everybody chooses the Forget button."

"Did you?" the Doctor asked, looking curiously at Mandy.

"I'm not eligible to vote yet; I'm twelve," Mandy explained. "Any time after you're sixteen, you're allowed to the see the film and make your choice. And then once every five years."

"And once every five years, everyone choose to forget what they've learned," the Doctor said

"Democracy in action."

"How do you not know about this?" Mandy asked, looking curiously at him.

"It's the Time Lord thing, isn't it?" Amy said, looking at him with a brief smile. "It doesn't recognise you as human?"

"You'd be surprised how much of a double-edged asset that can be," the Doctor said, smiling briefly at her as he studied the cubicle. "Once managed to get past an android that was meant to be guarding me because it didn't know what I was, but another time I had to trick a gene tester to let me into a prison to question someone about a unique form of radiation that was my only lead in a murder investigation…"

He shook his head and turned his attention back to the matter in front of them. "Anyway, that's not important; what is important is finding out how this ship can do anything without any engines."

"It doesn't have engines?" Amy repeated.

"It's why I put those glasses down like that; something this big should have engines generating some very strong vibrations, but I wasn't getting so much as a twitch," the Doctor explained, turning his attention back to the screen. "As Holmes once noted, it's what isn't there as much as what is there that's important sometimes; when I was with Green-8, it was food bubbling over without producing a smell, and this time it's a lack of engine vibrations…"

"So, we've got a ship that can move when it shouldn't and something that people forget whenever they watch it; what's… what's our next move?" Amy asked, looking uncertainly at him.

"What else?" the Doctor said, grinning as he reached out towards the other button before them, this one saying 'Protest' rather than 'Forget'. "We bring down the government."

With that statement, he hit the 'Protest' button on the other side of the console, and the door slammed shut, trapping him and Amy inside as the floor opened up to reveal a long drop into a glowing red tunnel below them.

"Say wheee!" the Doctor said, grinning as he and Amy were left with nowhere to go but down as the floor retracted away from beneath their feet. He had no time to give Amy anything more comforting to think about before they were sent hurtling downwards along an increasingly-narrowing chute until they reached the bottom, landing in what immediately appeared to be some kind of rubbish dump. After confirming that nothing was injured, the Doctor immediately setting to work scanning his surroundings before Amy crashed to the ground behind him.

"High speed air cannon; lousy way to travel," the Doctor noted, even as he continued to scan their new location.

"Where are we?" Amy asked, picking herself up and staring at her clothes in frustration.

"Six hundred feet down, twenty miles laterally, puts us at the heart of the ship," the Doctor said briefly. "So, if we're inside a ship without engines, what's this then, a cave? Can't be a cave. Looks like a cave."

"It's a stupid rubbish dump, Doctor; what else is there?" Amy asked, looking at him in frustration.

"A rubbish dump that's only for organic food refuse, coming in from feeding tubes all over the ship…" the Doctor muttered, using the screwdriver to confirm his assessment of the cave's other contents before he turned his attention to the floor. "Coming into a room with a squidgy, wet, slimy floor…"

His eyes widened. "Oh."

"Oh?" Amy said, looking sharply at him. "What's 'oh'?"

"The next word is kind of a scary word," the Doctor said, looking anxiously at his companion; it was encouraging to know that he still couldn't prepare people for everything they'd encounter even after all he'd seen in this universe, but that didn't make it more comforting. "You probably want to take a moment, get yourself in a calm place, go omm…"

He waited a moment for Amy to follow his instructions, the Scottish redhead looking anxiously at him as she did so, and then he broke the silence. "It's a tongue."

"A tongue?" Amy repeated.

"A tongue," the Doctor confirmed, grinning encouragingly (When the alternative was to scream in fear, an encouraging grin was better even if it wasn't totally appropriate). "A great big tongue!"

"This is a mouth?" Amy said, looking around herself as she stepped back from him. "This whole place is a mouth? We're in a mouth?"

"Yes, yes, yes," the Doctor confirmed. "But on the plus side, roomy."

"How do we get out?" Amy asked, clearly becoming increasingly panicked as she looked around. Under other circumstances, the Doctor might have speculated more about the size of the creature that owned this mouth, but considering that this was Amy's first official trip he didn't want to freak her out by thinking about that too much.

"OK," he said, turning his attention to the end of the mouth with teeth, "it's being fed through surgically implanted feeder tubes, so the normal entrance is closed for business."

"We could try, though," Amy .

"No, stop, don't move," the Doctor said, reaching out anxiously as the 'floor' suddenly vibrated beneath their feet, accompanied by a grumble of some sort. "Too late; it's started."

As soon as he finished the sentence, the floor shook and both of them fell over, Amy landing on her back as the Doctor rolled over so that he was lying on his front.

"What has?" Amy asked.

"Swallow reflex," the Doctor said, turning the screwdriver towards the tongue as he prayed that this would work; this wasn't exactly something you could plan for, after all…

"What are you doing?" Amy asked.

"I'm vibrating the chemo-receptors!" the Doctor clarified.

"Hold on; doesn't that mean-?" Amy began, her eyes widening in horror as she finally managed to stand back up, only for her eyes to widen in horror at the sight of the wave hurtling towards them from the back of the throat.

"Precisely!" the Doctor said, reaching up to adjust his bow tie after slipping the screwdriver back into his pocket; their natural transcendental nature should allow him to ride through this without losing anything…

"Sorry about this; this isn't going to be big on dignity!" he called over to Amy, who was staring at the wave in horror, leaving him with nothing else to do but try and sound enthusiastic to take her mind off it. "Geronimo!"

Then the wave hit him…