With the TARDIS materialized, the Doctor skipped through the doors to find himself in a dense rainforest of waving green ferns and exotically coloured flowers. "Ah, jungle!" he exclaimed pleasurably to himself. "Oh yes, I do love a good jungle. You can never have too many jungles!" An insect the size of a small mouse suddenly flew in close to his face with a loud buzzing. "Oi, go on, shoo!" the Doctor snapped while swatting at the insect, causing it to dart to a safer distance while still buzzing. "Now look, I know you're curious, the grey-haired Time Lord said to it, "but some of us need our personal space, yes?" As though understanding him, the insect whizzed quickly away.

Glancing round, the Doctor stuck the index finger of his right hand in his mouth, sucked it for a few seconds, and then withdrew it. "Let's see...feels like some time in the third milennium AD...a Saturday..."

"Er...excuse me?" The Doctor whirled in the direction of the new voice to see a young woman slowly appearing from behind the TARDIS. Her hair was short, reddish-blonde and spikey, her fair skin tanned by the sun. From where he was standing the Doctor could see that her left eye was blue and her right was green. Her clothes consisted of a brown short-sleeved top, beige pants and mud-stained walking boots. "I'm not being funny or anything, but...who are you?"

The Doctor stood still, analysing the situation, and then responded "I'm the Doctor. That's it, by the way. I know it sounds a bit odd, but it really is just the Doctor. Though I have been called other things: John Smith, the Oncoming Storm, but...let's just stick with Doctor."

The girl was eying him warily. "My name's Ylsal. You don't work for the arenas, do you? The fighters?"

The Doctor blinked in bewilderment. "Arenas? Me work for arenas? I'm a milennia-old wanderer in time and space. Arenas? That'd be a bit below me, wouldn't it?"

Ylsal sighed apologetically and ran a hand through her hair. "I'm sorry," she said. "I just...I just don't like anyone coming here to harm them, you know?"

The Doctor was not comprehending. "Them?" he said. "Who's 'them'?" At that moment a loud, deep call reverberated through the jungle. "I know that sound," the Doctor murmured before dashing off in the direction it originated from, Ylsal close on his heels. Pushing through some fronds, he found himself looking down into a valley through which flowed a wide river, and on its' banks, below the looming bulk of a planet in the sky, he saw them: Magnificent herds of apatosaurus and triceratops drinking the water and devouring the vegetation. A lone stegosaurus strolled casuall by, its' spiked tail lazily swaying. The Doctor grinned. "Well, well. Siluria," he said, recognizing where he was.

OOOO

"So, what's this about arenas and fighting?" the Doctor asked Ylsal as they sat on the ground at Ylsal's camp, not far from the TARDIS, and drank coffee from metal cups.

"I'm from Kovos, the neighboring planet," Ylsal explained. "The first settlers arrived there seven hundred years ago, during the time of the Earth Empire. They'd heard about this world, but the Empire had declared it a national park, so for a while the dinosaurs were pretty much safe."

"But then things changed," the Doctor guessed. "The Empire fell apart, and Earth lost control of this region of the galaxy."

Ylsal nodded sadly. "That was when it started. At some point my people - God, I hate that fact - got the idea it was...fun to take dinosaurs from here back to Kovos and...fight them in arenas. To kill them for sport. It's become a big part of the culture; dinosaur fighters are among Kovos' top celebrities. They've even found their way into government, all because they torture innocent animals!"

"Pudding brains." The Doctor almost sneered the phrase. "I know their kind of old. Attacking and killing animals to show off their prowess, to inflate their infantile egos when their primate brains are too under-developed for them to try anything more meaningful, to the baying of crowds of numbskulls. Most of them end up teaching PE."

Ylsal continued: "Not everyone back home feels the same way though. There are some who see it for what it really is. We stage protests outside the arenas, share our stories on the planetary info-web. The government calls us nuisances and busybodies! We never hurt anyone, but the cops are always trying to stop us protesting." Her eyelids lowered slightly and she hung her head. "It's in my family. My grandfather, dad and uncle were all dinosaur fighters, until they retired. Always going on about it to everyone. Really proud of themselves." She sighed deeply, myriad memories and emotions rising to the surface. "When I told dad how I felt, and refused to go to the arena and join the rest of the crowd, he...he said I didn't appreciate my culture, or what he'd done to provide for me and mum. We both got so angry. I smashed one of his old trophies and he...said he didn't want to see me again. I left home the next day and haven't been back since."

The Doctor said nothing, just listened in remorseful silence to her story. "I've been living on my own for the last few years," Ylsal was saying. "I like coming here, appreciating the dinosaurs while I can. I got a friend who drops me off and picks me up after five days. Been here four so far." She looked directly at him. "And you, Doctor? You have any friends? Family?"

The Doctor was saved from answering by a sudden commotion in the rainforest behind them. Panting and sweating, a disheveled man stumbled into view and froze as he saw them. His clothing was stained and torn in places, and he bled from small cuts on his face and hands. His eyes were wide and feverish with some horrible terror, and in his hands he clutched a small rifle. "Oh, thank God!" he gasped. "You've gotta help me! Do you...do you have a craft? Please, we have to get away, we're not safe!"

Ylsal rose and strode up to the newcomer, a dark and angry look on her face. "Hang on! You're with the fighters, aren't you? I know that symbol you wear!" She stabbed an accusing finger at the symbol on the left breast of his shirt.

"You don't understand," he sobbed desperately.

"Oh, I understand all right!" Ylsal spat, nearly nose to nose with him now. "You came here to bag some dinos for your stupid games, but the dinos have bagged your bunch! Well pardon me if I'm not very sympathetic!"

"Ylsal, wait," the Doctor said then, approaching them. Looking intently at the man, the Doctor asked him "What's your name, and what happened?"

The man swallowed nervously. "My name's Klen. The dinosaurs...something's gone wrong with the dinosaurs. Something not natural..."