The whirring of the TARDIS started to die down as the Public Call Police Box landed back on what used to be known as Earth. One door pulled inwardly opened and the tentative head of the Doctor poked out excitedly. He craned his neck to one side and then the other to try and get the best possible view of the planet before calling to his companion that it was safe. A wide, childish grin spread across his face as he ran out of his ship excitedly. The friction-less ground made his feet slip out from under him and, with a yelp, he slid on his backside about ten yards until he smacked right into a tall, cold metal pole. Grasping at the pole, he tried to pull himself back to his feet.
Rose, the Doctor's companion, stuck her head through the door excitedly, her eyes searching for the Doctor. Attempting to stay as controlled as possible without the friction of the ground, the Time Lord turned himself around using the pole.
"Rose!" he called, his two hearts beating violently from the shock. "Don't you step one foot out of the TARDIS!"
The girl looked confused, moving to step out of the ship anyway.
"Rose, stop!"
The girl didn't move. "What are you doing out there?" she called in response. "And why are you sitting on your bum?"
The Doctor laughed, looking around at the ground. "There's no friction!"
"What are you talking about 'there's no friction'? Of course there is!"
"No there's not! Look!" The man finally pulled himself up the pole with his hands and kicked his foot over the ground. The foot slid effortlessly over the earth, forcing the man to grab onto the pole tighter.
"How'd you get out there then?" Rose asked skeptically, folding her arms over her chest.
"I think…" the Doctor paused a moment then grinned joyously. "Brilliant! The force of me stepping out of the TARDIS must have pushed me out over the friction-less ground! Oh that's very clever…" he continued, murmuring more to him self than to Rose.
"Why's that pole there that you're hanging onto?" she asked, craning her neck out of the Police Box more to get a better look.
The Doctor took his first real look at the pole, almost like one might have in a tether ball court. He looked over the expanse of land around them; besides the few trees and patches of grass, there seemed to be a scattering of metal plates and poles driven into the ground at about hopping distance. Looking up, he discovered what seemed to be a thin, red, translucent screen expanding over what should've been the sky.
"It's for turning your self around and stopping!" he called back to her, looking around again for any signs of life.
"What year is it?" Rose asked, hanging onto the door of the TARDIS. "Where have you sent us now?"
"It was supposed to be Earth!" the Doctor yelled. "In the year four thousand!"
"Well, what's happened then? Where are all the people?"
The Doctor laughed. "I have no idea! Come over here, and let's find out!"
"But what about the TARDIS?" Rose looked back inside the Police Box then at the Doctor.
"Well shut the door!" He beamed, sliding back down on the pole so he sat once again on his rear-end. "Now sit on the ground and push off of the corner hard enough to get you over here!"
Rose did as he said, and in a manner of seconds, grabbed onto the pole; bumping into the Doctor as she did.
"Ready for an adventure, Rosey?" He grinned, nudging her back and pushing off the pole so he slid to the next pole about another ten yards away.
"You better believe it!" Rose laughed, sliding after him.
The two of them slid around, flying into each other like children in a bumper car arena. They continued on their way through the pole forest until they came to the metal platforms welded to the top of much shorter poles that only stuck out of the ground at about six inches. The Doctor hauled himself up onto the first one with only the use of his arms, his legs at the slippery mercy of the frictionless ground. After pulling up his faithful companion with him, the two continued to hop between platforms. The space between the platforms gradually decreased as they seemed to be getting closer to what appeared to be civilization.
"This doesn't look right," the Doctor began skeptically as the city grew nearer. "I've been to Earth in the year four thousand before, and it never looked like this."
"Well, what's wrong with it?" Rose inquired, watching her feet to make sure she did not step between the gaps in the plates.
The Time Lord paused a moment in speech, looking over the tall buildings and the cylindrical things that slowly circled around them; each at about even intervals up and down the outside of the buildings. As they neared the very outskirts of the city, a sudden realization dawned on the Doctor.
"Oh my God…." One hand shot through his hair, both curling into fists; the thought hitting him full force. "No…no. No…NO!" He jerked his fists down suddenly, kicking at the metal plate. "No! Just wake up. Wake UP!" His long pale fingers pinched at the back of his opposite hand fervently, begging him self to wake up.
Rose stared incredulously at her friend, grabbing away the bruising fist. "What! What's wrong, Doctor?" she asked, worry saturating her words.
"This can't be…Rose this can't be! You don't understand! I don't understand! How?!" His angry brown eyes stayed locked on the city, tears threatening to flow over.
"Doctor! Look at me! What's wrong?"
The Doctor slowly turned to his companion, the horrible realization burned into his features. "The Daleks."
"The what?" Rose stared blankly.
"The Daleks!" The Doctor began to pace back and forth along the length of the metal plate, his entire body unable to stay still. "But that's impossible! Really, it is…I have been here before. There's no way that they could have interrupted space and time like this. Not like this."
Rose stared at the Time Lord as his he started mumbling to him self. His lips continued to move, but sound no longer came out. As he stopped pacing, his foot began to tap frantically against the plate in time with his left hand on his thigh.
"Really though! Rose, this is completely impossible! I have been traveling through time and space for nine hundred and seven years and I can tell you that you cannot go into a time period and change something so drastically as that and not rip a hole right through spa- OH!"
The girl looked up at him expectantly. "Yes?"
"We are somewhere we really, really shouldn't be." He clapped a hand over his mouth and dragged it down his chin, as he always did when thinking.
"Oh, quit being so 'Ooh, look at me! I'm a fancy Time Lord and I know exactly what I'm talking about. Let's just wait until Rose gets it even though she probably won't without my brilliance,'" she mimicked, folding her arms over her chest in exasperation.
"Rose," the Doctor murmured, bending at the knee to lower himself to her height, he began to speak in a slow mocking tone, "we're in an alternate dimension."
"And if we can travel through time and space…why is that a bad thing?" Rose asked, raising her eyebrow at him.
"Because," he began, turning her back in the direction they had come, "it means there is a weak spot in time and space, and by being here we are weakening it further."
"Alright…" Rose nodded, seeming to understand.
"We need to leave as quickly as possible." The Time Lord pulled her along the metal plates as safely as he could. "Which means, as soon as we see the poles, we've got to push our selves in the direction of the TARDIS, ok?"
"Yeah, sounds good," the girl agreed.
And as soon as the two saw the poles, they began to push themselves along, back to their ship. They whirled around the rods, pulling and pushing themselves in the correct directions; only stopping when they reached the nearest pole to the Police Box. The companions pushed off, and smacked open the doors.
The Doctor pulled himself inside then turned and towed in his friend. Closing the doors, they sat with their backs against it for a few minutes thinking.
"Doctor?" Rose started, turning her head to face him.
"Yes?" His head flopped his head in her direction, resting on her shoulder.
"If the Daleks can flip off the friction in an alternate dimension, does that mean that they can do it in ours?"
The Doctor was quiet a moment, eyes now facing into the ship. "I don't know, Rose. But I'd really not like to find out."
The two began to laugh. Rose rested her head on top of the Time Lords. "Me either."