The sound of the Tardis materialising echo around the half fallen chambers of the Museum, the snow and ice piled up against the dilapidated building, the Doctor's time machine pitches itself not altogether upright.
Although roofless and open to the polar elements, the building generates a sensation of excitement in the Doctor as he, and his companion Ace, stand thickly covered in imitation fur against the harsh weather that the Doctor had rightly expected.
"I could soon warm this up with a can of nitro-9 Professor," Ace offered casually with a smile.
Little remained of the building as it once was, however the museum must have been lost to any public not too long ago, as exhibits could still be found through the surface of the covering of snow and ice.
The Doctor had already been sidetracked by something. 'A private collection' mused the Doctor, the figurines gave some indication of the culture that had raised the original museum building from the wastes, a race with Semitic cast to their features and some depicted the use of incredibly advanced practical tools. The Doctor's excitement increased as he found a well preserved box of parchments next to the figurines, though his excitement dies as he realises he cannot read them.
Ace is looking around trying to find something to peek her curiosity. There are a few broken but semi-armoured statues of a race that she presumed the museum was dedicated to. Ace touches the swords and the spears but the overall feeling of these people is not one of warriors, hunters but not warriors, maybe they had no common foes other than predators and the elements.
"Esquimau!" the Doctor shouts out, "We are on Earth, but the parchments don't appear to be in any Earth language."
"You mean Eskimo's," Ace turns to address the Doctor.
"Well yes, the Esquimau were a race that hunted in the polar wastes, but why build a private museum to them and why do we have alien transcripts on old Earthen parchment?"
Ace was bemused, and a little cold and bored, "Okay, how long do we investigate these remains before your curiosity is satisfied? Professor!" Again as Ace had spoken to the Doctor she had felt his attention trailing off as he wandered further across the museum floor.
The Doctor was scraping away at one of the walls, "Ace!" Ace ran almost in slow motion as she awkwardly avoided exhibits and carried the weight of the fur coat with her. She began to help the Doctor scrape away at what was revealed as a door.
"Doctor, there can't be a room behind here, there isn't enough room, the thickness of the museum wall isn't thick enough."
The Doctor turned to Ace, "Have you got a small enough capsule of nitro-9 for a controlled explosion? Just to get this door open."
"You bet Professor."
Ace fixed a couple of small matchbox size devices to the stone door, partially visible to them both now and, turning away with the Doctor, covered her ears. As the nitro-9 exploded the stone door imploded and a dusty mix of snow, powdered ice and stone was thrown up over them both.
Ace laughed at the Doctor as he pulled himself up, dusting off his fur trimmed attire, "Frosty the Timelord," she chuckled. The Doctor grinned eventually.
Then like an excited schoolboy pushed through the remains of the stone door, holding a small pen size torch, that seemed overly powerful for it's size to Ace, The Doctor explained, "It's powered by inert particles, the Timelord's don't like to waste anything," then with a slight sigh he added, "except Time." The torch revealed a broken stone staircase into a cellar-like area below the museum, dank, dark and foreboding.
"Shall we?" the Doctor quizzed Ace.
Ace looked around and feeling cold and apprehensive she raised an eyebrow at the Doctor, "No!" she stated emphatically as she turned and walked away.
The Doctor was speechless. It took a moment for him to react, and with a pouting lower lip he strode after his companion. " Ace, it's the unknown, it's what we do. It's what we do together. We are a team, you find these little journeys of discovery as interesting as I do."
Ace turned and faced up to the Doctor, "It's a Saturday, at least it would have been if I was still on Earth in my own linear time. I still know what day it is, even though I've been around the Galaxy twice and a bit more. More importantly, it's my birthday and the only team I would be interested in today would be Perivale United."
The Doctor dropped his head, "Oh! Ace, I'm... sorry."
Ace smiled, she had made her point. One-nil to Team Ace. "Of course, the match can wait until after we've done a little investigating." Ace grabbed the Doctor by the arm and propelled him towards the broken staircase. "Come on Professor!"
