HOPE REGENERATED – PART ONE by David Hogan

A crack in space itself. The TARDIS was ejected in a ball of flames, spinning until it was just smoking, its blue paint all but turned black. Soon it was pulled into the gravity of a nearby planet and descended into the atmosphere. Inside The Doctor was sitting next to the TARDIS console, his once glorious library now a nothing but a pile of broken wood and charred books. Explosions were happening all around him, but he just sat, staring blankly. A broken man who had just caused the genocide of his greatest enemies, and his own people. His clothes were ripped and torn, his once long curled hair was now short and unkept, and his face was unshaven and full of small cuts and dirt.

The Doctor closed his eyes, slowly, and passed out as the TARDIS thrashed about in the atmosphere of the planet. Suddenly the explosions stopped, the TARDIS crashed into the surface of a planet full of lush green forest. Some time passed, possibly days, before The Doctor woke up and slowly got to his feet, holding his chest. 'Where are we?' he thought to himself, 'Impossible!'.

The Doctor frantically pressed buttons and pulled levers on the console, until the console suddenly shut down. The Doctor once again looked sombre, 'Ah, you did well to last this long old girl.' The Doctor stroked the console as if he was brushing back the hair of a sleeping child. The Doctor looked around and slowly walked towards the door, 'Could it really be possible?' he thought to himself, 'Are we outside the Time Lock?'

The Doctor pushed the door open and outside he saw trees, plants and grass, and heard nothing but birds singing their song. With a great sigh the Doctor sat down on the grass, 'Why just me?' he thought, 'How did I get out?' Just then The Doctor grabbed his chest in pain, 'It seems like it's a moot point… No Gallifrey, no Eye of Harmony, no TARDIS, no Regeneration.'

After lying down briefly The Doctor got up to his feet and once again thought to himself 'I've got a while left yet. Might as well go for a stroll' The Doctor staggered forward until he eventually regained his balance. Walking through the forest, the last Time Lord was simply reliving the war, and thinking about all the people he lost, friends, companions, family. Suddenly the sound of a child screaming snapped him out of his daze, a sound he had heard before, but even given the situation, he could never ignore it. In a clearing The Doctor was relieved to see that it was simply two children playing, one frightening the other with a local bug.

The Doctor, despite everything, can't help but smile. 'Life goes on…' he thought, 'and if the war continued, it wouldn't have. This was a nice image to see in my final hours…'

The Doctor walked slowly toward a small town, a sign with the name of the town is hung above the entrance, but he couldn't read the alien language, a sure sign that his faithful machine had breathed its last. The town was small, but with plenty of wooden buildings littered around. Sounds of people chattering filled the air as the Doctor turned a corner in the town and saw a large open market. He enjoyed his slow walk down the street, looking at all the stalls. He saw someone selling fruit not unlike an apple and picked one up.

'How much for this?' he asked slowly and deliberately, expecting the lady not to understand him.

'Twenty pounds.'

'Oh, you can understand me?'

'What's that's supposed to mean? Do I look deaf?'

'Ah, no, but… look fine, I…'

The Doctor realised he was no longer wearing his jacket, and there was nothing in his trouser pockets either.

'Never mind, sorry to waste your…'

Just then a woman stepped up behind him and gave the lady some money.

'Thank you very much,' the Doctor said, taking a bite into the fruit. The woman and the Doctor turned around and started to walk, 'No need to thank me.' She said, ' You're new here, aren't you?'

'Yes, I… er, I'm afraid my transport crashed in the woods and I don't know where I am, could you tell me?'

'Yes, it's not like you'd come sight-seeing.' She said with a grin, 'This is Tria, now I must insist you come with me to the local Doctor .That must have been one bad crash.'

'Yes… Well, I don't think I need a doctor, in fact I am a doctor.' The Doctor stopped and reached out his hand, 'Actually we haven't introduced ourselves, they call me The Doctor.'

'You don't have to lay it on that thick, if you really don't want to go I won't force you.' She shook his hand, 'I'm Rebecca.'

'Nice to meet you. Now, what planet is this?' The Doctor asked while looking up into the sky, 'I don't recognise anything…' he looked down at a confused Rebecca.

'Ah…' the Doctor quickly said, 'I… have memory problems… Yes, more times than I'd like to mention actually. Don't worry, once you say it'll all come back.' The Doctor laughed nervously.

'Are you sure you don't want to go to the clinic… Doctor?'

'Yes, quite sure.'

'Well, this is Forhasta.'

'Of course! Forhasta, where human colonists settled in 2840. That's why you speak English, though by the sound of it the original colonists were of Swedish decent...'

'We speak English? So what language are you speaking then?'

'Look, sorry, I wasn't entirely honest with you. I had to check what time period this was before I told you the truth. My transport that crashed, it was a spaceship.'

Suddenly all the surrounding chatter stopped and was replaced with gasps and then silence. The Doctor looked around nervously, and then looked at Rebecca, who was now wide-eyed and stepping back from him.

'You're an off-worlder?'

The Doctor looked rightfully confused by her question, "Yes, is that a problem? I mean this has to be quite a while after this place was colonised, surely you get visitors from time to time?'

Suddenly some of the town's citizens started picking up pieces of wood and other objects, then slowly started walking up towards the Doctor. He just sighed to himself, 'Just this one last time, one last adventure on a new world, and it has to be one where I have to run for my life.' The Doctor looked around him, 'Fine.'

The Doctor ran past Rebecca and started to weave between stalls and people, then into an alley way. As he continued to run past similar wooden structures, he grabbed his chest. Barely able to stand he walked into a large stack of wood and collapsed.