Chapter 1

The Doctor and River had just landed on a planet. A planet which, as always, the Doctor knew every detail about and assured River would be absolutely harmless. River opened the TARDIS doors, anxiously awaiting whatever surprises this new planet had in store for them. She was not disappointed. As she stepped out of the TARDIS, she realized why the Doctor had been insistent that the weather was going to be something spectacular. The planet felt warm and comfortable, yet snow fell from the sky. However, the grass remained green.

River smiled as she held a hand out to the snow. It was cold, but as soon as it touched her it melted. The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS and stood next to her. "It's not actually snow, you know?" he chided, a hint of smugness in his voice.

"Of course not, why would anything ever be what it seems?" River laughed.

The Doctor launched into his explanation: "This planet has some of the most severe weather of any planet. Freezing temperatures, completely unable to support life of any kind. Now this planet isn't populated anymore, but when it was the people needed to find some way to support life. What appears to be snow are actually tiny little microbots. They tune themselves to whatever temperature the human body is so that homeostasis is kept. They're the reasons the grass is so alive as well."

"Fascinating…" River murmured. "Doctor, one question. What happened to the life on this planet? Obviously, they kept some pretty advanced technology; it doesn't seem to be the kind of race that would die out."

"Fantastic question, River! And I have absolutely no idea what the answer is, but that's what we are here to find out." The Doctor smiled broadly and reached for River's hand. She shook her head disapprovingly, but a smile was present on her face. She took his hand.

They began to walk across the beautiful yet empty planet. After only a few minutes, they reached what had been a village. The homes were covered in snow, but yet the plants lived on just fine. Some of the roofs of the small houses had collapsed and snow had filled them. Further in the distance a graveyard could be seen. The Doctor and River approached the houses, noting that there was absolutely no chance of life left. However, the sound of ice cracking from the graveyard did somewhat sway their opinion.

"Doctor, did you hear that?" River asked, her eyes glued on the graveyard.

"I did!" the Doctor replied, the excitement evident in his voice. He began a brisk walk up the hill. The graveyard itself resembled the rest of the decrepit village, but it was by far larger than the village itself. It seemed almost all of the decaying population had been buried there at one point. Everything alive was beautiful and green, but the tombstones were covered in snow and ice. The Doctor knelt down in front of one of the tombstones. "What happened to all of you?" he asked quietly, placing a hand on top of the tombstone. He noticed it was blank.

The Doctor moved from one tombstone to the next, noting that it seemed they were all unmarked. "Strange," he murmured, running his sonic along the gravesites.

"What's strange, Doctor?" River asked.

"All of these graves are empty. Every single one of them." Before either of them could try to make sense of the situation, a figure appeared behind them.

The Doctor turned aiming his sonic to, of course, no effect. The figure that stood before him seemed to have been made of snow shaped into a human-esque form.

"River, I think I know what happened to the people," he murmured, once again grasping for her hand. "Ready to run?"

The Doctor turned on his heels, River in tow, but doubled back when he saw what had formed behind him. Thousands more of these ice covered creatures stood behind them. "So as I was saying River, I think I know what happened here. The microbots didn't know quite how to handle death, so they tried to reanimate the people, but there was no life or body temperature to keep, so they became, well, they became whatever these things are."

River did not respond. The Doctor looked down to where their hands had been joined to notice hers had slipped out while he was talking. The ice creature had placed its hands on either side of her face, her eyes were wide and her lips were turning blue. She was shivering under its touch. Panicked, the Doctor grabbed his sonic holding it out towards the strange creature. "Let her go!" he threatened, holding the sonic as if it were a weapon. "You really don't want to see what happens if you don't let her go."

This did not work; these creatures had obviously not heard quite enough about what the Doctor was capable of in all actuality. The creature kept his hands around River's face and began walking. River walked along, as if in a frozen trance. The icemen behind the Doctor followed in pursuit, though they seemed to hold no interest in the Doctor himself. They walked steadily through the graveyard, the Doctor following in their stride, yelling threats to let go of River. They reached the crypt, and one by one the thousand or so icemen began to enter. The Doctor did not waiver from the creature who held onto River.

They climbed down a flight of stairs that was clearly taking them far beneath the ground, into a freezing cold catacomb. Suddenly, the icemen came to a halt. The one holding River removed his hands from her face. The second the connection was lost, River screamed. The Doctor had never heard her make such a shrill, piercing noise. Her body seemed completely still, as if the trance-like state she was in was still affecting her. The scream continued for at least five seconds before River toppled completely over, her body convulsing from the cold.

The Doctor dropped to his knees beside her, placing a hand on her hair. She was clearly alive, but absolutely freezing. The microbots did not seem to inhabit the catacombs yet. The Doctor placed his arms under her neck and knees, lifting her, preparing to run just like that. This was evidently not a fail proof plan. A second iceman reached out, placing his hands on the Doctor's head, forcing him into his own trance.