Shadow of a wing (Doctor Who)

Owls and Robots

This time his TARDIS had turned into a piece of ancient, overgrown... thing. It was hard to determine what purpose it might have served at one point, but it was safe to say, it wasn't of natural origin. And now that he looked around, he found himself inside a dense, green forest, that was littered with all sorts of old tech pieces. All of this must be several hundred years old... at least.

Was he too far ahead in time again? The Reaper sighed and picked up a stick to poke around in some of the old machines. They were all corroded, barely discernible and useless.

No trace.

His instincts made him look up. There had been a sound, too quiet to actually hear, but his fine Time Lord senses detected it anyway. The sound of wings.

Carefully he looked around until he suddenly came face to face with an... owl. It was big and its feathers were a mixture of brown and green, which perfectly hid the animal in this environment. It sat only a meter away on a low hanging branch and stared at him.

The Reaper poked out his stick to shoo the thing away, but it grabbed the wood with its beak and tore it out of his hands. Since he hadn't been awaiting any resistance, he hadn't held very tight onto it. Pff... stupid animal. He stuck out his tongue and grimaced at it.

"Hoot!" it made and tilted its head.

With a chuckle the Reaper hooted back and mimicked its movements in a mocking manner.

"Hoot! Your kind is a bit dumb! hoot!" the owl suddenly spoke.

"Huh?" he glared at it dumbfounded, then pointed a finger at it. "Hey! You talk!"

"Hoot! So do you." It flapped its huge wings. "Stranger. Hoot!"

"Well... since you're here. Are there any people around?" He scratched his head and pointedly looked at their surroundings. "Anyone who could know about this place? And whom I could talk to without feeling as if I'm going crazy again?"

"Hoot! Your kind has many words. Hoot! Maybe you are not so dumb. Hoot!" It flapped again and turned and twisted its head in all sorts of directions.

"Call me dumb again and I'll have you for dinner," he grumbled. "So?"

"Hoot! Follow."

They silently wandered through the woods, under large trees, covered in moss and other plants. Scattered around where the same old machinery parts from before. Whatever they used to belong to, it had been everywhere at one point. Some were small and barely noticeable, while others raised high up and were overgrown by moss and draped with vines. A small swarm of grey birds had settled into the corroded holes of one such giant.

"Hoot, be silent." The bird landed on a branch nearby, its head stretching unnaturally long and towards another collection of machinery parts that stood grouped together between some trees.

"What for? There is nothing around but birds."

The Reaper wrinkled his nose, but then he felt a slight vibration running through the ground and pressed himself against a tree. Something was approaching.

Not long and a thing that clearly was no bird entered the scene. It was some kind of robot, almost as large as the trees around, stalking on two thin legs through the undergrowth. Those legs ended in what looked like an oval shaped capsule of some sorts. Cables were loosely hanging from its broken shell and here and there sparks fell down, dying long before they hit the ground.

"You are big. Hoot," the owl said and tried to keep its hooting low. "Can you make it sleep? Hoot."

"Can you stop saying 'hoot' in every sentence!" he hissed. "It's so annoying."

"Hoot!" It came back indignant.

A low, robotic almost-scream came from the robot ahead. It stopped in its path and emitted a series of other, threatening sounding noises.

They both pressed themselves at the tree again, not eager to learn how dangerous this thing actually was. Careful not to make any more noises the Reaper pulled out his laser screwdriver and pointed it at the crack in the capsule.

"What do you do? Hoot," the owl did its equivalent of whispering. Which wasn't that quiet.

"Shhh," he put a finger in front of his lips.

Then he blasted a few rapid shots. All of them hit, making the hull literally explode and emanate an ear-piercing, metallic shrieking sound, before the robot started to tumble around and then fell with loud noises. Only to lay still from then on.

"Pfft, that was too easy." He pocketed the laser again to approach the machine. "Uh, not bad. That must have been a really advanced species... Well... Didn't help them as it seems." With his laser screwdriver he cut out a few parts and let them vanish inside his coat pockets.

"Hoot. My ancestors. Hoot." The owl landed on the ground next to him. "That's what they tell. Hoot."

"Probably not." The Reaper chuckled meanly. "A high civilisation of owls? Don't make me laugh."

"Hoot! Hoot!" the bird protested.

"So... where are the people you wanted to show me? Is it far?"

"Hoot... No people. Hoot! Just Walkers and Flyers. Hoot! But the Walkers are bad. They kill us. You killed a Walker. Hoot!"

His look turned angry and now he pointed his laser screwdriver at the owl. "You tricked me! Damn poultry!"

The bird hooted a few more times, while evading his shots. Eventually one hit its wing though and it crashed to the ground. With a few quick steps the Reaper was at it, grabbed some of the countless vines and wound it around the protesting animal.

"And if you don't stop hooting, I'll put one of those into your sodding beak."

"Hoo..." The owl struggled, but couldn't get free. "Let me go. Hoot!"

With a nasty grin he straightened, hands on his hips, and watched the struggling, and still hooting owl. "You can't say, I haven't given you a chance, you know."

He snickered, then lasered down another, thinner, vine.

"Hoot! Stop it! Don't leave me here! Hoot! Please! Hoot!"

"Okay. You choose. I'll either leave you tied up. Or," he pointed at the owl, "I'll take you along and have you for dinner. So?"

"Hoot!" the owl protested.

"If you say so..." The Reaper shrugged and tied the vine around the bird's head and into its beak, leaving it unable to make proper noises. "Maybe you're lucky and one of the Walkers finds you, before you rot..." Happily smiling he wiggled his fingers at the owl."Bye bye!"

With a last look he kicked against the dead robot, before his gaze fell upon the strangely grouped-together machinery parts. From closer it almost made the impression of a shrine of sorts. There even was a dead trunk sticking out in the middle of it, almost like an altar.

Curiously he trudged closer and found the shrine to be decorated with black feathers and smaller machinery parts. And in its middle sat a small translucent cube, that held... an ordinary notebook. Small, roughly the size of a hand and with a grey cover.

His curiosity now peaked, the Reaper tried to open the cube with his laser and found it to be working easily. The small book fell into his hands and as he opened it, it got clear that the cube had protected it from any decay. Its pages were filled with crude sketches of this place, of various birds and different kinds of those parts. Also with the thin-legged robots. And on the last page... Not that he needed more confirmation, but there it was again. The familiar symbol.

Only now did he realize that he was smiling, even though it was the wrong time again. It was a sad smile and somehow also not.

Carefully he pocketed the small notebook, then made his way back to the TARDIS.