Paula was an average human girl living on planet Earth in the year 2002. She was an average seventeen year old in an average town near Chicago, Illinois with her average family. She was an average student, had an average life, and was having a nice time during her average summer vacation. That was until she met them.
She was sitting on a swing in a small park down the street from her home, not paying attention to much of anything. It was a nice Saturday afternoon that her work had randomly given her off, for which she was very grateful. She was swinging aimlessly, back and forth, when the sound of someone running up the path caught her attention. She looked up to see two people, a man and a woman, run past. The man was tall and thin, and he ran with one arm out in front of him, holding out a black box that beeped sharply, and the bottom of his long brown coat trailing behind him. The woman was shorter than him, a bit slower, and had long red hair. Paula watched them pass her and then the man stopped suddenly a few feet away. He looked at his black box, looked directly at Paula, and then back at the box again.
"What?" He said, clearly confused. He had an English accent. "What?" His face scrunched, perplexed. The man shook the box, hit it with the base of his palm, and pointed at Paula. The high-pitched beeping was clearly audible, even to Paula despite the distance. "No, how could it?"
"Oi, why must we run everywhere?" The woman asked, a little winded. She also spoke with an English accent, slightly different than his. She noticed his bemused expression. "What is it? What's wrong?"
"Well…" He replied, running his empty hand through his shaggy brown hair. He gestured with his other hand towards Paula. The woman turned and looked at her as if she hadn't noticed anyone was there until just that instant.
"Oh." She said. By now, Paula had stopped swinging, a little scared and quite interested in the two strangers. The man walked quickly towards her, pocketing the instrument as he went. The woman followed behind.
"Hello!" The man said, a large grin covering his face.
"Hi," Paula said meekly.
"I'm the Doctor and this is Donna," The man started.
"Hello." The woman said.
"And you might be…" The man said, giving Paula a questioning look and waiting for her to fill in the blank.
"Paula." Paula replied, seeing no harm in telling them her name.
"Paula, right, nice to meet you Paula." The Doctor said, smiling again.
"A pleasure." Donna added.
"So, tell me, Paula, has anything strange been happening around here lately?" The Doctor asked. "Anything unexplainable or out of place or something like that?" Paula thought for a moment.
"No, nothing that I can think of." She replied. "Why? Should there have been? Did I miss something?"
"No, no, of course not." The Doctor replied, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, ok, maybe. See this?" He pulled the beeping box back out from his pocket. Paula nodded. "It is set to find a creature Donna and I have been chasing through, I'd say, about five centuries?"
"Yeah, I'd say five." Donna agreed.
"Five centuries?" Paula said, astounded. "How could you chase something for five hundred years? That's impossible!"
"Everyone says that about 'im." Donna said.
"Not 'for' five centuries." The Doctor continued. "'Through' five centuries."
"What's the difference?" Paula asked.
"Trust me, there is one, but it's complicated and we don't have time." They Doctor told her. "If this box is going 'bing' when I point it at you, then this creature has somehow gotten into your body. And, if it is in your body, it's only a matter of time before it takes over you and then the rest of the Earth." Paula's eyes got wide at the thought of what he just said. It was too huge for her mind to process, so she just stared off into space.
"Oh, nice one, alien boy." Donna said. "You know, you really need to work on your bedside manner." She walked over and put an arm around Paula, trying to comfort her.
"I've found the straight forward approach to be the most effective." The Doctor said. "Get the shock out early so it doesn't hinder us when bad things really start happening." He knelt down so that he was at Paula's eye level. "Paula? Did you understand what I told you?"
"Yeah, most of it." Paula replied. "Something is inside me that will eventually take me over. Understanding isn't the hard part, the believing is."
"That's ok, I don't need you to believe me, just to trust me. Can you do that?" The Doctor asked.
"Yes, I think so." Paula replied. Something in his voice made her feel safe, so she was sure she could trust him, despite them having just met.
"Ok, good." The Doctor said. "Now, think back for me. Back as far as you can. Has anything weird happened to you in your life? And, I don't mean just strange, I mean really weird. Something that could even be described as alien?"
"Not counting this moment, I'm assuming." Paula said.
"Well, at least she's got a sense of humor, not like the last bloke we tried to help." Donna said.
"Donna..." The Doctor said, giving her a look.
"Sorry," Donna replied, obviously not liking being hushed but knowing better.
"There was this one time, but it was years ago." Paula said with thoughtful tone in her voice.
"Tell me." The Doctor said. Paula nodded.
"I was six years old and I was playing out in my yard where I use to live when something small fell from the sky and hit me in the head. I didn't think much of it, until I found the object on the ground. It was a strange piece of metal. I picked it up and kept it." Paula told him.
"Do you still have it?" Donna asked.
"Of course, that sort of thing doesn't happen every day. As a matter of fact…" She reached into her pocket and pulled something out. She opened her hand in front of the Doctor's nose.
"Oh," The Doctor said, pulling a pair of glasses out of his pocket and setting them on his nose. He took the object and examined it. He stood and Donna went over to him, also trying to see it. The Doctor's eyes were very wide and practically sparkled. "Isn't that just lovely?"
"Yeah, lovely." Donna replied, a bit flatly.
"What is it?" Paula asked.
"A spaceship." The Doctor said. Paula stood up as well, looking anew at the object she had had for years. "A tiny little spaceship that crashed on Earth about ten years ago and happened to fall on young Paula's head."
"And, that's what we've been chasing?" Donna asked. "But, we were right behind it. How could it have landed ten years ago, yet we've only just arrived?"
"Well, we were both jumping time so rapidly; we were bound to be off by a bit." The Doctor replied.
"What was in it?" Paula asked. "What was in this and is now in me?"
"A Saisa" The Doctor replied. "Strange sort of creature, a Saisa. They have a small control over time, are the consistently of gas, and they are completely invisible. The only way to know they are there is by having a detector. We've been chasing this one because it has been wreaking havoc on at least four other planets before it crash landed on Earth."
"What kind of havoc?" Paula asked.
"Oh, he was enjoying himself by taking over the head leader and creating chaos. All just for fun." The Doctor explained. "We've had to rebuild at least two societies at war with each other because we hadn't gotten there in time."
"Interesting societies we left behind, though." Donna added. "He had one of them worshiping bananas by the end…"
"That was not my fault!" The Doctor defended. "How was I supposed to know how they would react to a banana? And, don't knock bananas; bananas are good."
"So, he is planning on doing the same on Earth?" Paula asked, trying to keep things on track. She wasn't so keen on the idea of this being her future. "What's taking him so long, then? He has been here for ten years."
"He was most likely hurt in the crash." The Doctor said. "It's taken him some time to recover. Probably by sucking up bits of your energy through the years. Not enough for you to notice, of course." Suddenly, a loud bing sounded from his pocket. The Doctor's face twisted in surprise and in one swift motion he whipped his glasses off his face and took his box from his pocket. Now, there was a bright, pinkish light blinking on it. "Uh-oh."
"What is it?" Donna asked, concerned.
"Code mauve." The Doctor said. "The Saisa seems to be strong enough to do some damage and he's not inside you anymore, Paula. He's in the air around us now." He looked down briefly at his box. "And, he's not happy." The girls looked around franticly while the Doctor held the blinking, beeping black box up into the air. He was staring it intensely, and then his eyes quickly shifted to the left.
"Sais, show yourself." He said, gritting his teeth. "Show yourself!" He was shouting now, still looking to the left. Paula and Donna attempted to follow his gaze, but they still only saw the park. They were pretty sure that was all the Doctor could see as well, but there was still that sense of doubt that always seemed to follow him. There was a childish giggle and a strong wind whipped up from no where. The three braced themselves as something materialized in front of them. It was bright purple and translucent, Paula couldn't tell if it was a solid or a gas. It didn't even have a proper face. It was just a purple ball of stuff and it was still giggling.
"I thought you said it was invisible!" Paula said loudly, trying to be heard over the wind.
"I was!" The Doctor replied. "It obviously can change that fact on a whim!"
"Thanks for that, smarty-pants!" Donna said. "Figure that one out all on your own, did you?" The Doctor shot her a look.
"Ok, so you guys don't know everything about this thing!" Paula said. "That helps me not feel as stupid, for what it's worth!" The wind suddenly died and the giggling rang through the park.
"Alright, that's enough of that!" The Doctor said, putting his hands back in his pockets and sauntering a few steps forward. "You up there! Mr. Giggles! No, no. I really don't like that." He made a face. The Saisa stopped giggling. "Anyway, now that you're done, can I ask you something? Why?" The creature made a noise that could only be described as an alien version of 'Huh?'. "Why are you destroying all these worlds?"
"Oh, because it is soooo much fun!" It said. Its voice was bubbly and gurgley. "The war, the destruction. Then, you have to show up and ruin all of my fun!" There was a crack of thunder. Storm clouds rolled in from no where and a bolt of lightning flashed. It started to downpour. Donna and Paula looked at the Doctor.
"So, this controlling the weather bit?" Donna said coldly.
"Yeah," The Doctor said, looking up at the sky. "Didn't know about that one either."
"Uh-hu…" Donna said.
"Come on you two, cut it out!" Paula said. "We have to figure this out before he takes over the Earth! We can all discuss the Doctor's intelligence afterwards!"
"Watch it; he'll take you up on that." Donna said.
"So, you're doing this all for fun. I can't say anything against that; I've done many things in the name of fun. Some that I might even care to remember." The Doctor said. "But, you do know that you have been hurting people, right?"
"Yes, that is where I have the most fun!" The Saisa giggled.
"Well, know this." The Doctor said, his voice getting very serious. "I'm the Doctor, and if there is one thing people remember about me it is that I hate to see people get hurt. And, when someone is hurting people, I make it stop. You've hurt an awful lot of people, and that ends now."
"Oh, what are you going to do, Doctor?" The Saisa asked. "How do you catch something you can't even see?" The creature started to fade away. The Doctor quickly pulled a silver instrument from his pocket and pointed it at the nearest street light. It glowed blue and made a whirring noise, and the bulb blew in a small shower of sparks and glass. This spooked the Saisa for a moment, causing him to reappear. The Doctor put the instrument back in his coat and ran directly underneath the purple blob. He pulled the black box out again, as well as some sort of nozzle that fit onto the front of it.
"Donna!" The Doctor called. "Bottle!"
"Wha…Oh, right!" Donna said, fishing out a medium sized bottle from her pocket. She tossed it to the Doctor; he caught it and fit onto the other end of the box. He pointed it up at the Saisa and slammed down on the purple light, keeping it held. With a loud whoosh, the purple cloud was sucked through the nozzle and into the bottle. It was no longer giggling; it screamed all the way. As soon as it was in the bottle, the clouds disappeared and the rain along with them. The sun shone as warm and as bright as it had fifteen minutes before. The Doctor quickly unscrewed the bottle, stuck a black stopper into it, and placed the rest of his machine into his pockets. He was tossing the bottle absently between his hands as he walked back towards us, an extremely satisfied look on his face.
"What was that?" Paula asked.
"A vacuum." The Doctor said, smiling. "A simple vacuum. Well, maybe not a simple vacuum. I did modify it to track a Saisa's biowave and then added the light to alert us of its power, but, other than that, it's a vacuum. And, how do you beat a gaseous creature?" He smiled at the purple gas in his bottle. "Use a vacuum. Heh."
"So, it's safe in there, then?" Donna asked. "It won't get out again?"
"Nope." The Doctor said. "That's a special stopper. It can only be removed by the stoppie and, other than that, nothing can escape it. Figured it would do the trick. I'll keep him in the TARDIS, just in case."
"So, this is all done now?" Paula asked. "No more aliens trying to invade the planet?"
"Well, not right now anyways." He replied. The Doctor and Donna started walking off. Paula followed, not wanting to say good bye to these incredible strangers yet.
"So, anyone care for some food?" Paula said. "I know a few good places around here, since I'm guessing you guys are from out of town."
"Sure. Then we can have that discussion about intelligence. Specifically mine…"
"Oi! See! I told you! You had to say it! As if his ego wasn't big enough…" The three walked off, laughing as if they had known each other for years. And Paula swore to herself to never tell anyone of her new found friends and how she had helped save the world.