The Bradbury Method (Eleven/Emilie)

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After Poosh, the Doctor had taken her to Earth during the Jurassic period, just as he had promised. Emilie had been rather leery, because while she had no seen much of the Jurassic Park movies, she really did not want to end up eaten.

Fortunately, they had stayed fairly close to the TARDIS. Seeing Earth so far back... it really was amazing. The trees, the way the earth smelled, the giant lizards roaming around with long necks and spikes and tails that were weapons, all of it.

"This is so much better than a museum..."

Those words had sparked a conversation about archaeologists and how pitiful their results were in comparison to what actually happened.

Now they were headed somewhere, sometime, just so the Doctor could prove a point.

Which, admittedly, is more reason than they had for picking other destinations. Emilie was a bit more focused on the mini lesson in flying she was getting to appreciate that at this particular moment, however.

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Arrival was safe enough. No explosions, no flickering lights in the TARDIS. She'd done well, The Doctor decided. He grinned as he looked to Emilie and said, "Not bad, but let's see if you've landed in the right spot." He headed for the door poking his head out.

"Oh," he quietly admitted, "Look at that, you've done quite well." The Doctor moved back into the TARDIS and called back to the young woman.

"Emilie, we've arrived. Good work. The library is right there, just like I told you it would be." They were in Alexandria, looking upon one of the most sought after places in all of time.

Such a library, lost after it's destruction, the amount of knowledge in there could make historians rewrite so many things.

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Emilie followed the Doctor to the door in short order, peering out at the outside world. The Doctor being, well, the Doctor, had made her change into something suiting the period before she was even told the destination.

Now, she was glad of it, because it meant they could go outside that much sooner without a fuss.

"The Library of Alexandria," Emilie breathed. "A collection of the world's knowledge."

And here it was, still standing.

Taking a few steps outside the TARDIS doors, she finally registered the heat bristling across her skin from the sun.

"The Museum of Alexandria, really," she amended, hearing some of the animals kept as part of the zoo. But it was the books that she really wanted to see. Animals kept locked up in cages in any sort of condition could happen at another time. Seeing the great library was a much more rare and unlikely event, to her mind.

"Can we go inside?"

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"Of course we can," The Doctor answered. He'd been here before, didn't spend much time, mostly because his friends with him at the time weren't as interested, "Let's go then!"

They made their way through the hot weather, heading for the Library. The Doctor was actually rather excited to be going inside to really look around. He wanted to see everything they had to offer, it would be so much fun, he couldn't quite describe how much he was looking forward to reading the perspectives in there, names and places, lost to the world.

Walking in was simple enough. They hadn't been stopped, and that was good enough for The Doctor. No need for psychic paper today. That was a pleasant surprise. The previous time The Doctor had been here, he'd been stopped by a guard. Likely because of his pale skin.

"So, what should we look up first Emilie?" He asked, "Or, should we split up. There's so many possibilities. I can't wait."

Once they entered. He marveled at what stood before him.

"Magnificent, don't you think?"

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Privately, Emilie thought seeing this... being here was more impressive than going further back in time and seeing dinosaurs. As incredible as that had been, this was human history. Her history, part of a story she had grown up learning bits and pieces of the mystery.

"I wonder when this is," Emilie murmured as she followed him inside.

It was hard not to look everywhere at once. The shelves were full of rolls of papyrus. And there were thousands of such scrolls, hundreds of thousands even.

Walking up to face one wall, Emilie pressed her fingers lightly against a plaque.

The place of the cure of the soul

"Hang on... I can read this," she muttered incredulously, before realizing the Doctor had asked her a question sometime before.

"Oh, I don't mind splitting up. Libraries make me want to wander and peek around at everything," Emilie admitted with a smile. "And this library is definitely magnificent."

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When she remarked at how she could read everything, The Doctor turned back and grinned, "I should've told you. The TARDIS translates everything wherever we go. You'll be able to read everything, read everything. The language doesn't make a bit of difference."

"Oh, I don't mind splitting up. Libraries make me want to wander and peek around at everything," Emilie admitted with a smile. "And this library is definitely magnificent."

The Doctor grinned and nodded his head, "You take your time, I know I'm going to." He grinned before heading off to pick up a few scrolls and start read. It was the texts that interested him more than anything else here in the Library.

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"The TARDIS translates..."

Emilie didn't complete her sentence. That was a question she was going to have to ask him later. If she remembered, anyway.

Waving him off, Emilie wandered down an aisle. Unlike books whose titles were embossed on the spine, each scroll was a mystery to her. Admittedly, there did appear to be a system, but not one that she understood anyway.

She had just carefully unrolled a scroll and was a quarter in when a man addressed her.

"I was not made aware that we would be expecting guests. What are you doing here?

Startled, Emilie nearly jumped backwards. Fortunately, she held her ground, meeting the man's gaze.

"What am I doing here? I could ask you the same thing," she retorted, adopting a frigid expression in the matter of seconds. Sweeping her gaze over the library, she noticed two things. One, the Doctor was out of sight, and two, there were actual books further in. Codexes, rather, as she would later learn.

"I am an assistant librarian. I work here, and assist in transcription."

"I am assisting with research," she informed the man at length. This did not seem to diminish the man's suspicions overly much. Given the public belief of women's intelligence at the time, Emilie was not entirely surprised.

Slowly, however, the man's posture shifted into one of hesitant understanding.

"You are here to assist in the testing, you mean? Of course, I should have known. Eustarchus likes his games. Come along then."

Well, that... was unexpected. And despite the fact it might have been safer to go find the Doctor or wait outside the TARDIS, she followed the librarian. A mystery in the great library. How could she resist?

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The Doctor had been reading. After about three or four scrolls, he peered up from his readings. Emilie was just gone. There were other rooms to explore, and it had been a good hour since they'd seen each other. The Doctor got up, leaving his unread scrolls behind, in case there was time to go back and read some more.

He began looking through some of the other rooms, only once in awhile daring to call out, "Hello? Emilie? Where've you wandered off to now?"

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Emilie had been led into what was either a study room or an office. There were several others present. Some scribbling furiously, while others appeared dazed like daydreamers.

"I don't suppose you know which stage you are?" the man asked abruptly, as he shut the door. "You don't appear to be finished, but it is harder to tell with women."

"I've only just arrived," Emilie responded, playing along a bit uncertainly. "You called me?"

"Hmph. I'm not the one that chooses the test subjects." He handed her a sheet of paper. "I don't suppose you can read or write, so get one of the scholars to play scribe for you. I have other work to attend to."

Pushing her towards a man who appeared to be drying the papyrus he had written on, the librarian left the room in short order. It was only after he left that the scholar spoke.

"Have they begun stealing women now, then? What next, I wonder. Our children?

The other scholars appeared disgruntled at this, one hissing to shut up, that he was asking for trouble.

"What's going on?" Emilie asked worriedly. She had thought perhaps there was some sort of statistics study taking place. But that would not explain the fear, worry, and anger in the eyes of those who appeared aware.

"You've been selected, miss. Don't expect your family to find you. The Library is known for the accuracy of which it copies originals. There's nothing for it."

Looking down to the sheet of questions, he began to read them out one at a time.

Where are you from? Far away. How did you come here? Companion to the Doctor. Where was this doctor now? How could she know, it had been an hour since she'd seen him.

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It was a surprise to see two unexpected patrons in one day. The librarian chose to approach this one more politely. He might be another scholar, and while Eustarchus might find it amusing to try and trip him up, the foreigner would have a hard enough time adjusting if he really was chosen. No need to get him riled up ahead of time.

You have a hunter's pace, he remarked, coming up behind the pale skinned man. "And yet the library but stores shells of the ephemeral."

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"You have a hunter's pace, he remarked, coming up behind the pale skinned man. "And yet the library but stores shells of the ephemeral."

The Doctor spun on his heels to meet the gaze of the person behind him. He grinned and said, "A hunter? I'm no hunter. Just The Doctor." They had a moment to study each other before The Doctor continued, "I've been searching for my friend, a woman. Dressed a bit more traditionally than I am. You wouldn't have happened to have seen her? It's very important that I find her."

He never trusted local strangers as far as he could throw them, not until they proved that they were trustworthy.

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"The only woman I have seen today was assigned to testing. I'm sorry, sir."

Passing the man, he continued, "You say you are a doctor. Are you passing though or for research? We have some excellent medical codexes this way."

He motioned for the Doctor to follow him, wondering what exactly was going on. Two strangers in one day. One with only a faulty memory of the recognition protocol - then again, it had been a woman, so that might be an honest fault - and the other who appeared to ignore the standard procedure completely.

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"The only woman I have seen today was assigned to testing. I'm sorry, sir."

Passing the man, he continued, "You say you are a doctor. Are you passing though or for research? We have some excellent medical codexes this way."

The Doctor pressed on, not dropping the subject, "Testing? Testing for what?" He wasn't about to let the man change the subject, "You'll find I'm quite knowledgeable of my craft. I don't need much studying, not today at least. Now, back to this testing, explain it to me?"

He needed to find out where Emilie had been taken off too.

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The librarian turned back briefly and gave the doctor a tight, but polite smile.

"This library is charged with collecting the world's knowledge. And our research studies are a part of ensuring that." He responded to the doctor's query in a sideways fashion. "And if there was nothing you wished to learn, why did you come here, Doctor? Except to deliver the newest subject?"

And then there came the screams.

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One of the dazed men in the room had started shrieking as soon as Emilie completed the questionairre. It was either the strangest sort of alarm that Emilie had heard of or a bizarre coincidence.

Given the fact the other scholars seemed unaffected, Emilie was guessing coincidence.

"Can you at least tell me what is going on?" she tried for the fifth time.

While he had ignored her before, the man glanced to the shrieking form and then gave her a pitying look.

"The librarians are searching for the cure for the soul."

"What's wrong with my soul?" Emilie asked bewilderedly, covering her ears.

"That's between you and your gods. They don't mean to cure the soul," he emphasized in a low voice before stopping.

And that was when Emilie finally understood with sickening clarity. Why the others feared testing, why they gave her looks of pity when she misanswered questions, why one man had wept over a misproved formula.

The librarians were curing the body of the soul. And anyone in this room was a potential subject.

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"And if there was nothing you wished to learn, why did you come here, Doctor? Except to deliver the newest subject?"

"I'm here during my travels, I've been going from place to place, teaching my assistant. I'm more of a teacher than a student you see," The Doctor began lying, preparing to retrieve his Psychic Paper to explain himself. However, a scream interrupted.

Briefly, The Doctor's eyes linked with the librarian's then, he took off, running for the source of the scream. He only hoped that it wasn't Emilie who was screaming.

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The librarian just sighed, not following the man. The room with the test subjects was surrounded by a lightning field. What Eustarchus called an electrical circuit, and it was 'wired' into the door. Opening it from the outside caused no problem, but the inside could strike a man down.

It was why he took care to always bring something with him to prop that door open.

Let the man go, Eustarchus might be able to learn something of use from him. Of late, he had reclused himself to his studies, determined to reach his goal. That is, to finally complete the library of Alexandria.

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Emilie was dragged back from the door just a moment before she would have opened it. She didn't understand why. There were no guards in sight, and she hardly wanted to stay and just let herself get wiped.

Then someone was crouching in front of her, and murmuring in a low voice. Words that she knew were important. That she had to listen to.