FIRST CONTACT
"Can't you see, Dad? Just because they say we shouldn't go travelling doesn't mean I shouldn't try." She applied several metal sheets to the TARDIS' center console.
"But why go through all the trouble of building a TARDIS? Just buy a used one?" He placed the typewriter on the interface.
"Ew. That's like borrowing a used tissue," She pulled a disguested face and slithered down beneathe the TARDIS to connect the typewriter to the TARDIS' system.
"And I rather enjoy making my own. I feel...like... we're connected." She attached two wires together and they sparked right in front of her face.
"I'm practically finished too. It just needs some polishing up." She stood up and dusted her hands on her thighs.
"I'm glad your almost finished, Sweety. You've been at that since you were about 112." He laughed. "I'm glad you got to use some of those human doo-dads too. I surely wouldn't have gotten anything out of them! But honestly, I don't think they'll let you fly out of here without the proper papers and such."
"Let a girl dream! Get out of my TARDIS, you grumpy man!" She smiled at him, then frowned.
"I'm going to leave, Dad."
"I know," he sighed. "I only wish I could see your face when you see it all. I hear it's absolutely amazing. You should particularly visit Earth or Jarlifagorus. I heard they are both quite interesting."
"Come with me," She pleaded."It'll only be for a few days."
"No...I can't do that. Someone has to man the fort. But don't let me stop you, Sweetheart. Go change something. Cause a ruccus. Put the Parliament into a panic. It's rather fun to watch!" He laughed.
"I'll miss you, Dad" She hugged him tightly.
"Before you go, Dear, I want to give you something." He reached into his pocket.
"You didn't have to do that."
"You'll thank me later." He handed her a small pad of paper. "I'ts called Psychic Paper. It can get you into places you need to go."
"I've heard of this before...Where did you get the money for it, Dad?"
"That doesn't matter. Trivial things." She noticed that his favorite watch was missing. He said that he found it in a rubbish bin when he was very young. It told him what time it was and reminded him of his important tasks, special events, and holidays. It was very old and not too technilogical, but he cherished it greatly. She stuck the paper in her coat pocket and gave her dad another hug.
"I'm coming back, Dad. Real soon. I promise."
She lodged the time rotor into position then hopped off the main console. She pressed a rather small green button, and the TARDIS purred to life.
"I've done it!" She proclaimed.
"Where to go? When to go? So many questions...Oh! Earth of course. Yes. Yes. Yes. Set a course for Earth!" She typed in the systems coordinates, activated the vortex loop, and watched the center column oscillate up and down.
"Haha! Goodbye, Gallifrey!"
"Woah! Whoah! AGGGHHH!" The TARDIS shook back and forth in time vortex and flung her to the floor. Something was pulling them back.
"Damn patrollers..." She crawled bck to the controls and activated the TADIS' gravity systems, trying to release it from the Patrol's pull.
"C'mon, honey!" She encouraged. The TARDIS shuttered violently, then lurched foward and shot out of the time vortex and into the Earth's atmosphere. She quickly covered her tracks by turning on the TARDIS' cloaking device. She made it herslef. It's external view became invisible to the eye as well as to any device tracking it.
"Perfect!" She cheered.
The TARDIS plunged through the Stratosphere and targeted a very large island.
"That's a good as place as any. Let's land her right over in that allyway!" She quickly applied the brakes and the TARDIS landed smoothly with a deep thud inbetween a trashcan and a parked car.
"You were fantastic!" She beamed. She swung the scanner into her view.
" That's peculiar. They travel in little vehicles. Hmph. Not even bigger on the inside. How boring..." The camara panned upward.
" Now THAT is beautiful!" The blue sky stretched over the entire city with only a few clouds inturrupting it's infiniteness.
"I'll be back, OK?" She grabbed the key from the console, jogged to the door, and flung it open. She firmly planted her feet on the ground and placed her hands on her hips.
"I could get used to this.." She muttered. She was surprised to see that the TARDIS had morphed into a big blue locker. It seemed a bit out of place, but she thought it was as good as anything else. She walked onto the sidewalk and surveyed the community as if she was looking for someone. There were several streetlamps and several small shops placed all along the street edges. There was a river across the way with a massive bridge a few miles down. She continued walking until she reached a small building with mobs of people huddling over beverages. The sign above said "Starbucks."
"Starbucks? That must be the name of their currency..." She assumed that the woman on the logo must be the leader of their Parliament. She walked inside and approached the teller at the counter. He had short, black hair and wore a dark green shirt that had the currency logo on it. There was a small fridge-like container next to the counter holding several food items, like sandwiches and pastries. They looked quite delicious at the moment.
"May I have some Starbucks, please?" She asked. "I would like to buy one of those sandwiches."
"Um..Sure. Which one do you want?"
"This one here, of course." She grabbed the nearest sandwich and placed it on the counter.
"Alright..." He took her sandwhich and scanned it with some strange device then punched some numbers into his little machine.
"That'll be two pounds."
A feeling of panic swept over her. Starbucks wasn't the currency and this wasn't a bank. She didn't have anything to pay with. She felt her pockets for any loose Gallifreyin change and her hand found the Psychic Paper. She whipped it out and held it in front of her with a hopeful expression on her face.
"I think this'll cover it, yes?"
He grabbed his little device and scanned the paper.
"Yup. That covers it. I didn't even know we sold gift cards for that much..." He muttered. "Enjoy your sandwich."
She sauntered out of the shop with her sandwich and began to survey again. The people here were quite ordinary, bustling about in suits with little suitcases and shopping bags. She looked around attentively for anything interesting while taking a bite of her roasted ham sandwich, but something made her stop right where she was standing. A few people bumped into her, but she stood her ground. She turned her head to the left and saw something hideous standing in the allyway. It had a large, bald, wrinkly pink head and a small mouth. It was wearing a business suit as well. It spotted her and raised its three-fingered hand in her direction...
"What are you...?"
At that moment a man slammed into her and made her drop her sandwich into a puddle.
"Hey! My sandwich!" She picked the soiled thing off the floor and waived it in his stupid face.
"You made me drop my sandwhich, you big oaf!" He was a few inches taller than she. He wore a striped button down shirt and what appeared to be suspenders underneath his tannish jacket. He had a very defined jaw line and really wavy, brown hair. What she thought was particularly amusing, was his maroon bow tie. It seemed to complete the picture.
"Have I met you before?" She asked inquisitively.
"I.. I don't think so." He muttered, but he seemed to be thinking the same thing.
"No matter, then. You owe me a sandwhich, sir."
"I'm sorry about the sandwich, but there are more important things to worry about at the moment!" He spun around and headed in the opposite direction. She ran after him.
"Like what?" She asked curiously. He stopped immediately and turned around to face her with a pained expression on his face.
"I don't remember." He slipped his coat down his arm and checked his wrist. There was a small black mark.
"Oh! That's right!" He spun around and trotted away again.
"You wait a second, mister!" He impatiantly turned around to face her again.
"First of all, you owe me another sandwich, and second of all, you owe me an explanation," She placed her hands on her hips and planted her feet on the ground. She stared at him intently and pursed her lips. The man sighed then whispered to her urgently.
"I'll try to explain this in the vaguest terms as possible so you can understand. There's this alien race called the Silence and they're following me. They've been manipulating your race for a very long time and they don't like that I've been trying to put an end to it. The tricky thing about them, is that once anyone sees them and turns away, they immediately forget whatever they saw and continue on with their lives. That's not the whole story, but it should be enough." He wached her closely for any emotion, but she gave him absolutely nothing.
"Why aren't you concerened? You look completely unaltered aside from your slight annoyance."
"You haven't gotton me another sandwich yet." His eyes grew very large.
" But I just told you that aliens are living, HAVE BEEN living on your planet for centuries! Doesn't that concern you?!" He inquired completely perplexed.
"Not really," she admitted nonchalantly.
"You don't feel anything at all? No surprise? No fear?" He scratched his head.
"No. I don't," she said with an airy tone.
He whipped out a small blinking device and started scanning her from head to toe. He flicked the device int the air and read something from it. She heard him mutter something like "Well, she's not a Garlic." She was quite hungry...
"Actually, I am rather fond of garlic. Keep that in mind when you buy me a sandwich." She continued to walk down the street and the funny man followed suitly.
"Well...you...You can't just walk around willy-nilly!" She quickened her pace, feeling slightly rebellious on this new world. "You saw the Silence! They are probably manipulating your actions at this very moment! You, my dear miss, need protection!"
"And what makes you think you're qualified to proctect me?" She laughed.
"Well, I'm the Doctor." He straightnened his coat and bowtie and flahed her a smile.
" And I'm...leaving." She was not comfortble with revealing her identity, let alone her origins.
"Come on now! What about that sandwich?" He whined.
"Finally! I'm gonna get my sandwich! It's about time, Doctor. Really..."
TRUST EXERCISE
"Hello again, my good sir. This man here is going to buy me another sandwhich...with garlic!" She threw the sandwhich onto the counter and motioned to the Doctor to pay for the meal.
"Oh! And some coffee. I love coffee! Get me some with the creamy stuff on top."
The young man scanned the sandwhich.
"That"ll be 3 pounds, sir. You can get your coffee by the counter when it's finished."
The Doctor fished into his pockets and placed the money on the counter.
"Now give the lady her sandwhich!" He yelled.
The confused (and slightly scared) young man handed her the sandwhich.
"Why don't you go grab that table over there by the window?" He pointed to a small table inbetween a bookshelf and two chatty old women. She mozied over to the table and took her seat. She unwrapped her sandwhich and popped the first bite into her hungry mouth. She closed her eyes and savored the flavors. It was all sorts of wonderful. Roasted ham with garlic! Simply scrumptous! The Doctor was looking at her, his eyebrows high upon his forehead and a funny smile on his face. She gave him a very exaggerated thumbs up. He rolled his eyes, grabbed his finished coffee, and met her at the table.
"I'm glad you're enjoying your sandwhich," the Doctor said slowly.. He eyed his coffee suspiciously. It was a plain white cup and all that could be seen was the whip cream. He held it up to his nose and sniffed.
"I thought you loved coffee," she said while taking another bite of her sandwhich.
"I've never tried it, actually. I heard it's delicious." He did not sound very convinced. He took an extremely cautious sip then spit it back in the cup. He snatched a napkin from one of the old women and wiped his tongue furiously.
"Coffee! coffee! I hate coffee! Coffee is evil! Oi! Stop your laughing!"
She was laughing uncontrollably, a snort escaping every few seconds.
"Your face!"
The Doctor through his hands to his face and found the whip cream sitting on his lip. He licked it off.
"Now that is tasty!" He dipped his finger into the coffee's whip cream and popped it in his mouth. He leaned foward and crossed his arms on the table.
"It just occured to me. I still don't know what your name is."
Her smile disappeared. She thought about this next step. Saying her name could blow her cover. The Patrols might be listening in on their conversation. But then again, the Doctor seemed like an honest man. After all, he did buy her a sandwhich. The least she could do is give him a name.
"Hallifree," she whispered.
"Hallifree...that's a beautiful name. Hallifree." He contorted his face, as if he was staring at some unsolvable puzzle, but the look vanished as soon as it came, a smile taking its place.
"Do you live here, Hallifree?"
"Nope. Just visiting," she avoided his curious gaze and took a massive bite out of her sandwhich.
"Visiting who?" He added brusquely.
"Um. I'm just travelling."
"Why here?"
"Why not? The sandwhiches are great..." She smashed another bite into her mouth. He leaned back and narrowed his eyes.
"You travelled to London amongst the crowds of people, not to see Big Ben, not to visit the Palace, not to ride the ferris wheel... You came here...for a sandwhich."
She had no idea what these things were, but she deciphered the meaning underneathe his hidden connotations. Not knowing what else to do, she took another bite of sandwhich and nodded her head slowly. He sighed heavily. His face looked older somehow, wiser.
"Hallifree, the Silence are after you. You noticed them. If you want any chane of surviving today, you need to start trusting me." His face was incredibly serious. She put her sandwhich down.
"How do you know they're after me?" She asked slowly. The Doctor scanned the room, and took a black marker out of his jacket. He made thirteen slash marks on his left arm.
"Because you just told me."
THE ESCAPE
He grabbed her hand and they bolted out the door.
"Where are we going, Doctor?" She was horribly confused. She didn't know where she was going, she didn't know who was after her and she didn't know why.
"We need to get as far away from here as possible. They're in full pursuit." he answered curtly. His face had hardened.
"Why do they want me?" She asked delicately.
"I wish you would tell me that!" He yelled exasperated. He turned her around to face him. "There is something you are not telling me, and it is going to get you killed! What is it then? Are you some government agent? Are you a spy of some sort? Do you work for Torchwood?!"
"I'm an alien, okay?! You happy now?!" She started to run again, blushing immensly.
"Well, there's a start!" he screamed while catching up, "I wish you had told me earlier!" He slapped his forehead angrily. "Are you a Slitheen then? Or some sick kind of Dalek with a little thingy in your head?"
She stopped immidiately. Her face hardened as she put herself nose to nose with him.
"Now you listen here, Doctor," she spat,"I am not a bloody Dalek. I am a Time Lady. I used to live on the planet Gallifrey, which happens to be a bloody mess at the moment. Fortunately, I was clever enough to wriggle my way out of the jailhouse. I left my father with those Parliament beasts in the hopes of finding a new home, and frankly, I'm not impressed with Earth's current hospitality, thank you very much."
She stunned him into silence, just like she expected.
"You seem to know a lot about alien races. I'm just another alien to you, right? Wrong. I fought the Patrols to get here! I did the impossible! They tried to drag me back in through the time vortex with their trivial gravity beams but I escaped, quite easily mind you. I made my own TARDIS which, you probably don't know, means 'Time and Relative Dimensions In Space'! I even created my own cloaking device. Yes, I may be an alien but I'm a clever one. Don't go comparing me to a bloody Dalek!"
His eyes grew to the size of plates.
"If you're just going to stare at me with your mouth open, then I'm leaving. Goodbye, Doctor." He grabbed her shoulders and stopped her.
"That's impossible..."He whispered. He stared at her as if she was some lost puppy.
"Let me go!" She wiggled a bit but he held her steady.
"Hallifree...I ...I'm..." He looked at her intensly, as if she would disappear if he looked away. He looked like he was about to throw up.
"Well spit it out!" She yelled.
His expression changed. He was thinking about something very important. His face was slightly confused yet calculating at the same time.
"How did you say you got here?" He asked.
"The Patrols, they're kind of like your police, threw us, me and my TARDIS off course with some sort of gravity beam. We used it like a sling shot to escape the time vortex," she explained slowly.
"That wasn't a gravity beam. The Patrols never had gravity beams," he scrathced his head and started to pace back and forth in front of her. "What was it then? Think , think think...Of course!" He thrusted his hands into the air. "A black hole! When you tried to escape Gallifrey, you ripped a hole through time and space with your TARDIS. The black hole was powerful enough to thrust you into a time where you don't exist. The Silence are after you because you are a paradox! Yes, of course! And, to top it all off, you are the epicenter of a black hole right outside of Gallifrey! Man, I am good!"
Now she was stunned into silence.
"How do you know that?..." She asked slowly.
"I'm a Time Lord too! Haha!" He was beaming.
"No wonder you looked familiar! Where have I seen you before?" She laughed.
"I don't know! But that doesn't matter. We need to get you back to Gallifrey before...bad things happen. If we get you back to Gallifrey, the black hole will be reversed and the Silence will stop swarming. Where did you park your TARDIS exactly?"
"It's down the street a few blocks, in an alleyway."
"Alleyway...I don't like alleyways. I'll come with you to your TARDIS. The Silence have probably found it already. They must be waiting. We need to hurry."
The Doctor and Hallifree sprinted down the street. The humans stared at them as if they were insane, but they kept on running. They finally passed the Starbucks and reached the small alleyway where Hallifree's TARDIS was parked.
"How many do you see in there?" She panted heavily. The Doctor peered around the corner.
"There are four. The others must be coming soon. By the way," he turned to face her and whispered, "I love your TARDIS. A blue locker. Very fancy! You should really see my TARDIS. She's a blue telephone box. It's just parked a few miles down the road and..."
"I would love to see it, Doctor," she said sarcastically, "but I am a little preoccupied at the moment with a certain black hole and a trapped TARDIS. Perhaps you can assist me?"
"Yes, I'm sorry," he laughed nervously. He thought for a moment.
"Alright! Here's the plan. I'm going to distract them. Once they are immobilized, you are going to run into your TARDIS and get back home to Gallifrey. Got it?"
"How are you going to distract them, exactly?"
"With my sonic screwdriver!" He whipped the blinking device out of his coat pocket. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Hallifree. I hope I see you on the other side!" He straightened his bowtie and leaped into the alleyway. Hallifree watched from around the corner.
"Hello, Silence! I'm afraid that locker does not belong to you. You can either hand it over now or face dire consequences." He winked at her.
"Oh! You would rather point your pink sausagey fingers at me? I don't think so!" He fixed a setting onto his sonic screwdriver pressed the button. A loud ringing frequency sounded following the Doctor's gesture. Hallifree saw him mouth the word "Go!". She ran into the allyway and saw the Silence clutching their ears( not really ears, little holey things, but you get the point). She opened her TARDIS door with her key.
"Thank you, Doctor!" she yelled. she slammed the door and ran to the main control center.
"TARDIS, sweet TARDIS! We've got to go!" She clicked all sorts of buttons and pulled several levers. The time rotor began to oscillate and the TARDIS began to fade from Earth and into the time vortex.
"The Doctor was right!" She proclaimed. "All I had to do was reverse the polarity of the nuetron flow! The coordinates are in. Haha! Smooth sailing here on out!" The TARDIS flew through the time vortex and plunged into the Gallifreyan atmosphere. The TARDIS landed right outside of her house. She exited TARDIS triumphantly.
"Dad! I'm back! Earth is amazing! I met a Time Lord there and he helped..." Her words seeped into nothing and her smile melted of her face. The patrols surrounded her TARDIS and a member of the Parliament faced her.
"Your father has been taken into custody for your crimes. You are under arrest for interfering in the matters of other planets, specifically Earth, without a proper license. Your TARDIS will remain in our custody. You will be taken in for questioning."
The Patrols grabbed her arms and pried her away from the TARDIS. She protested and screamed profanities as they stuffed her into the Patrol vehicle with other similar prisoners. Her muffled cries continued until they locked her up in the special "Rebel Time Lord" prison cell. She was cut off from all communication with the exception of her frequent interrogations. After a few weeks, they released her and her father. She was sentenced to a life of community service. After two and a half centuries, she still continues to look for her TARDIS.
THE REBEL
It had been 674 years since she had visited Earth. She thought of it frequently. The blue sky, the green grass, the sandwhiches...
She mopped the floor of the TARDIS wing of the museum. A troop of hopeful Time Lord children had just finished their educational field trip. They left about thirteen minutes ago, but one of the children remained. He was staring up at a very old TARDIS model. He seemed trasfixed.
"Oi! what are you still doing here?" She yelled.
"I'm just looking," he said nonchalantly.
"Get out of here. The museum closed twenty minutes ago."
"Ok, miss," he popped his hands in his pockets and walked in the wrong direction looking back twice to see if she was still there. He hid behind a wall.
Hallifree sensed something. She looked out of the corner of her eye and saw her TARDIS. Her mop dropped to the floor.
"I can't believe it. You've been here this whole time. Bloody perception filters..." She laughed. "We had a good go didn't we..."
"Excuse me, miss!" The little boy yelled from behind the wall. "There's a really big puddle over here behind this wall! You should go clean it up!"
Hallifree picked up her mop and bucket and followed the boy. Rest assured, a massive puddle of water was pouring out of the flooded restroom. She sighed heavily and was about to start working when the little boy bolted for her TARDIS. He hopped over the borders and opened the door.
"Wait! What are you..?!"
He straightened his school jacket and flashed her a smile. Hallifree's mouth fell to the floor.
"Sorry about the puddle, miss! But I've got to run!" He slammed the TARDIS door and the TARDIS faded away.
Hallifree stood there like a complete dummy.
"He stole my TARDIS," she muttered.
"The Doctor stole my TARDIS. And he left the brakes on..."
