"Doctor, next time we go on an adventure, I want to go right back into the Past," declared 11-year-old Kerry-Anne as she watched the Doctor poring over a tiny control panel on the large, six-sided, mushroom-like console in the centre of the TARDIS.
"If you like," replied the Doctor absently, without looking up. This was a good sign in Kerry's opinion, as it meant that she could suggest anything, however outrageous, to him and, because he wasn't listening properly, he'd often agree before he'd registered what she'd actually just said. She decided to see if this trick would work now.
"Back in Time and to another planet," she continued, "a planet that few have ever set foot on before."
The Doctor nodded slightly. "Sounds good to me," he murmured, still absorbed in the tiny display in front of him. Kerry decided to go one step further.
"Hmm. Where? Aha! I know! Gallifrey!" She looked sideways at the Doctor, but, getting no response, she added, in a gentle voice, "Will you take me to Gallifrey? Right back in the Past?"
This time, she gained the Doctor's full attention.
"What? Oh, yeah, I don't see w..." He broke off abruptly and spun round, sending his long brown hair into a frenzy. "Hang on, what did you just say?" Without giving Kerry a chance to reply, he continued, "No, no, don't tell me, you said you wanted to go to Gallifrey, didn't you? I…" He babbled on for a while longer until he saw Kerry giving him an innocent 'What's-wrong-with-that?' face. He stopped and sighed.
"Look, Kerry, I'd like nothing more than to take you to Gallifrey, but I can't, you know I can't. Human's aren't allowed there for a start."
"Well, from what you've told me, Sarah Jane's been there, Tegan's been there, Turlough's been there… I'll give you, Turlough wasn't human – he's an alien (apparently) – but he isn't Gallifreyan either! But Sarah and Tegan were human and they've been there - why not me?"
"I…" began the Doctor, but Kerry cut him off, struggling to control her suddenly rising temper.
"I'm not special enough, is that it?" she demanded.
"No! Of course not!" The Doctor ran his hands through his floppy fringe and looked flustered. "Sarah, Tegan and Turlough got there by accident." He explained. "Sarah had the TARDIS land on her and that somehow transported her there; Tegan and Turlough were travelling with my Fifth incarnation when the TARDIS got diverted there; and Susan was Gallifreyan anyway." Kerry still looked unconvinced, and there was a hint of suspicion in her brown eyes. The Doctor was trying to keep his cool now.
"It wasn't planned!" he added with rather more force than was necessary. He turned away to hide the sadness in his eyes before continuing in a gentler tone. "Besides, as I've told you before, Gallifrey was destroyed in the Time War against the Daleks. Gallifrey no longer exists."
But Kerry had somehow expected this and had planned her argument in advance.
"But if we travel back in Time, it will exist again, won't it?" she pointed out.
"I suppose so, yes, but…"
"I think you're afraid of going back there," Kerry interrupted bluntly, in a quiet voice. She looked deep into his eyes, and he held her gaze for a few seconds, surprised by her bluntness. Then he turned away, considering. Finally he turned back to face her.
"Alright, you win," he said, "but I'm warning you; if anything happens that might endanger our lives, or alter my Timeline, we are leaving. No questions, immediately. Got it?"
"Agreed," Kerry agreed graciously.
"Good."
The Doctor straightened his red bow-tie as Kerry took up her position at the console. (Kerry had almost bullied the Doctor into showing her how to operate at least a small section of the TARDIS controls and, with his usual companions Amy and Rory briefly visiting an idyllic planet called Sun of Tranquility 3 (not actually a sun, though), the Doctor, at a loss as to what to do, had given in to her request.)
"By the way, what are you wearing?" asked Kerry as the Doctor pushed his hair out of his eyes and took up a spot on the opposite side of the console. The Doctor grinned suddenly, clearly pleased that Kerry had noticed, reached up and lifted the garment in question from his head (how he had found the time to put it there in the few seconds since agreeing to this escapade, Kerry never knew!) It was a hat; a tall, floppy, red-and-white affair that reminded Kerry very much of that…
"It's my 'Cat in the Hat' hat!" explained the Doctor proudly, interrupting Kerry's train of thought. "Dr Seuss gave it to me." He then went off at a tangent, describing the exact circumstances in which he had received the hat; dancing around the console like a maniac on fire, pressing buttons, flicking switches and pulling levers at a phenomenal speed as he set their destination for a much earlier Gallifrey and powered up the engines. The console's central column began to rise and fall steadily as the TARDIS prepared to take off and the familiar, scraping 'vworp, vworp' noise drowned out the Doctor's banter as the TARDIS dematerialized, and was gone.
The small, peaceful meadows that surrounded the Gallifreyan Panoptican were rarely disturbed, and the native wildlife lived peaceful, fruitful lives. A small group of oversized rabbits were nibbling on flowers that vaguely resembled cowslips in one of these meadows, and a flock of bright, yellow-and-blue birds sang merrily in the hedgerows.
Suddenly the rabbits bolted for their holes and the movement startled the birds, who took flight as one, shrieking with terror. The wind appeared to be picking up quite dramatically and soon a small area of grass whipped up as if in a miniature whirlwind. A single, curious rabbit now darted for cover as the TARDIS materialized in the field, fading into existence accompanied by the strange, grating noise.
Inside, the Doctor had resumed his crazy dance around the console, making all the necessary adjustments to ensure the TARDIS didn't fly off again without them, and Kerry, having reached for the television-like scanner and pulled it towards her, was fiddling with the two dials in an attempt to get it to the 'scanner' frequency (the Doctor used it for other things too- and invariably left it showing white static). She eventually succeeded and a clear view of the landscape outside appeared on the screen. Kerry could see that they'd landed in a field (a meadow, the Doctor corrected her) of bright red grass and that a few tentative rabbits were re-emerging from their burrows to see what had disturbed them. She could also see that the sky was a vivid orange.
"Orange sky! Not something you see every day!" she said, impressed. The Doctor joined her, peering at the screen.
"Orange, blue…doesn't make a lot of difference really," said the Doctor, straightening his jacket, "I once went to a planet that had a green sky. Arcopolis, it was." He reached behind him and tapped a button with a flourish, and the scanner went dead.
"Come along, young Kerry!"
Kerry hung back. "Um, don't you think you should leave the hat behind?" she suggested.
"Why? What's wrong with it?"
"Nothing, just- oh, never mind. Lead on, Doctor."
"Hmmph! Leave my hat behind, indeed! Why should I?" harrumphed the Doctor to himself, sulkily. "'Cat in the Hat' hats are cool! The Cat had a cool hat. 'Cat in the Hat' hats are cool!" Then he marched purposely out of the TARDIS, Kerry following close behind.
Outside, the landscape looked even more stunning and Kerry could see at least two suns hanging in the sky (the second one rose in the south, the Doctor told her), saturating the large, silver-leafed trees with their rays, and a few of the sparrow-sized yellow-and-blue birds flew, singing, overhead ("They're called Flutterwings." said the Doctor) as she and the Doctor made their way towards the City. When it finally came into view, Kerry couldn't help but gasp. Dominating the landscape was a large, magnificent structure that blazed a beautiful, fiery orange, despite the large, transparent dome that encased it, and even against the golden-red backdrop of the planet, it was enough to take one's breath away.
Wow! thought Kerry, Amy and Rory don't know what they're missing!
"The Citadel." stated the Doctor, with a hint of pride, as they made their way towards it.