The Man from Gallifrey

by Lady of Spain

Prologue: Who Are You?

. . . . .

Disclaimer: S. Meyer owns Twilight/ R. Davies et al, BBC Comm. own rights to Dr. Who

A/N: This story is dedicated to my son, Michael, who is a bona fide Whovian. No kiddin'.

I'd been alone in my travels for nigh on six months now, and missed the association with a human companion. The distractions of intergalactic travel were in no way substitutes for friendly conversation, and the craving to be touched. Human females, I found, fit the bill nicely. And then, right before my eyes was a human-female-someone who possibly could fill that need.

In more than 900 and then some years, I had never encountered such a woman. I had just stepped out of the TARDIS, staring her in the face, and she stood her ground without batting an eye. She didn't seem a bit frightened at all. How could that be? She witnessed my landing here, and once I called to her, she didn't turn away screaming.

Her eyes narrowed, and she nearly growled, "Before I say anything else … Who do you think you are, coming here like this?"

I gave her my stock answer, "I'm the Doctor."

"Dr. Who?"

"Exactly!"

My new friend straightened to her full height, which was nearly as tall as me. "Exactly who or what? I detected two heart beats."

"Brilliant! Aren't you the clever one! And how did you come to that conclusion, although it's certainly correct? By the way, I haven't properly introduced myself." I extended my hand. "Hello, I'm the Doctor."

She brushed my hand aside. "We've already established that. Doctor …"

"Just the Doctor. And you are?"

"I'm one of the protectors of my people on this rez, so you better behave, spaceman. I can get very testy, very fast.

I believe she means it.

Would she accompany me, I wondered? She looked like the adventurous type, if her attitude was any indication. I crossed my fingers that loneliness would be abolished for a while.

Several hours earlier:

Have the bloody axial stabilizers gone wonky? The nav computer developed an annoying glitch, a couple of light years ago, and bish-bosh, now this? The TARDIS was wobbling, willy-nilly, completely out of control. I reached in my pocket, and pulled out my trusty sonic screwdriver. Waving it around at the troublesome spot, it proved useless. What?

She continued to shimmy and shake, and I got tossed about, arse over elbow, landing on my bum on the cold floor. Now … now, I was really getting narked. "Oi! Come on, hen, hold it together for me."

This called for desperate measures. I stood, bracing myself against the wall, dusted off my trousers, and unsteadily slid across the corridor to my tool cabinet. Ah ha, there it was … the if-all-else-fails tool: my sledge hammer. I pulled it down from the shelf and swayed like a bladdered sailor, heading toward the central control console.

Pulling back my arm, I began banging on anything in my path. Blimey, on the fourth pass, the TARDIS plummeted sharply and touched down … somewhere, or more correctly, some-when. I hadn't the foggiest notion where in the universe I had just landed. One hour ago, I had been minding my p's and q's in the Septimus sector of the Quanga Goda binary star system, and then she began acting strangely—juddering and lurching spastically, much as a marionette being manipulated by a puppeteer suddenly struck by a tazor. Ah well, a new day, a new adventure, I always say, and I always say that because … I'm The Doctor.

What in the world was that? I was out stretching my legs along the cliffs when a big blue object literally dropped outta the sky, making a gawd-awful whooshing noise like some rusty organ. Why is it always me? Why couldn't this phenomenon have taken place when Jake or Paul, or even Sam, were out here? But, nooooo! Leah Clearwater had to be the one to experience a close encounter with a big, blue, wooden box—a box that coincidentally just fell kerplunk, onto the rez.

Being a protector of out tribe, it was my duty to make sure there was no danger presented to my people. Walking forward to see what exactly had landed, I read the words printed in English above the door: Police Public Call Box. Damn, had the werewolves of London arrived?

Creeping closer, I sniffed the air. The scent seemed human at least. I jerked, startled, when I heard a creak, and saw the door standing ajar, a red sneaker jutting out. One long leg, in brown and blue pin-striped pants followed the sneaker. A head then appeared, with spiky brown hair, and big eyes … not the kind you see on a grey alien, tho'. I've never seen one of those either, but after today, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if I did. Good thing I was okay with weird.

The atmospheric sensor plate was still functional. Ah, good … oxygen, nitrogen, and sea salt? Wind at twenty miles per hour, temperature at 38 degrees Fahrenheit. The TARDIS information system screen began beeping. In bold, neon-green letters, it read: Don't forget your trench coat, Doctor.

"Wouldn't leave home without it."

Whistling, I headed toward the room where I kept all my clothing. I grabbed my coat, shrugging into it, then, sticking my head out the door, took a deep breath of good ol' fashioned air, without a hint of pollution.

We were on a hill overlooking a sea scape. The waves were crashing against the shore which was littered with what seemed hundreds of denuded pine logs. This definitely wasn't merry old England. What planet had I arrived on, anyway?

I ventured outside the protection of my starship. Turning my head, that was the moment when I saw—her. A beautiful woman with dark hair and skin the color of burnished copper. Her lithe figure had come creeping nearer, until I spotted her. She jerked, and my stars, she shook violently, and erupted like a kernel of popping corn into a giant, grey wolf.

Would you look at that! Top banana, this wolf was the fastest, and biggest I'd ever seen, and that included the wolf packs of Clementus II. What sort of creatures inhabited this place, that they could transform themselves into animals at will?"

As she raced away from me, I yelled, "Hold on ... What planet is this?"

The wolf halted, her paws throwing out clods of dirt and grass behind her. Cautiously, she backtracked, her eyes focused squarely on me.

"You're not going to eat me are you? Oh, that's good to know. Well, I'm not going to eat you either. I'm a vegan for the most part. I do eat eggs though, scrambled, deviled, hard cooked, and omelets. Love omelets."

I took a breath, and brushed my hands together. "Now that it's all settled, where am I?"

You're a space traveler, and you don't know where you are? You're on earth.

"Earth?"

Listen up, spaceman, isn't that what I just told you?

"Ooh, a feisty one you are, eh? It's just that I've never seen such a creature having the capacity for a spontaneous metamorphosis as yourself."

Gawd, just what I needed, an intellectual space hobo, who reads minds. Someone get me a dictionary and a broom. Get outta my head!

The wolf began padding away and slid behind the TARDIS. When she appeared again, she had returned to her human form, muttering all the way in Quileute.

I asked her what her name was in her own language, then said, "I'm the Doctor and you are?"

A gasp escaped her lips. "You speak Quileute?"

"Nah, not actually. She translates everything in my head.'

"She?"

"Oh, I guess, I didn't explain. Blimey, but it's cold out here. Wouldn't you like a nice cup of tea, and a bit of cake inside where it's warmer?"

"Fat chance, Doctor. Just stay where you are, don't make any sudden moves, and we'll get along just fine."

I leaned against the door of my home away from home—my only home in fact, and rapped my knuckles on her wooden sides.

"Well then, this is she, the TARDIS, my space craft if you will, a type 40, Mark I TT Capsule. We're connected telepathically. She's what you might call my soul mate, or brain mate or whatever."

"So, you're from another planet?"

My eyes rose to the sky, while I reminisced. "Ah, yes, in a galaxy far, far, away, in the constellation, Kasterborous. My home planet of Gallifrey was destroyed in the last Time War. I'm the only one of my species left alive. You're looking at the last of the Gallifreyan Time Lords. Ever since its destruction, I've traveled among the stars in time and space."

I sighed, the images of my beautiful planet weaving through my mind. "Ah, yes, far, far away, however, I never met any storm troopers …" I scrunched up my nose. "… unless of course you count the cybermen or the Daleks as such. But, as I was saying, I never met Solo, Vader, or Princess Lea."

"It so happens that my name is Leah."

"Reeeeaaaaally! Leah what?"

"No, not what—Leah Clearwater."

"Hmn … Native American?"

"As opposed to extraterrestrial, yeah."

Nodding, I grinned at her. "Glad to meet you, Leah Clearwater."

Rolling her eyes, she declared, "I'm not sure I'm glad to meet you, ET."

Shaking my head, I continued smiling at her. "Oh, but you will be."

"I'll be the judge of that," she huffed.

% % % % %

Conceited, much … The Doctor, or whoever the hell he, or it was, gestured behind him to his so-called space craft. "I hope I'm not being too forward, but …fancy a trip in the TARDIS?"

"No offense, but if I get upset and phase, your TARDIS will burst apart at the seams."

His eyebrows tipped up, and looking rather smug, he leaned one elbow on the door. "I doubt that, but come see for yourself."

"If you say so, but this box is barely big enough to fit you, let alone, me and my alter ego. It's your funeral tho', so lead on, spaceman."

Reason whispered that I might regret this, but curiosity got the better of me, and so there I was following the arrogant, yet charming traveler.

All at once, he whipped around, facing me. "Before I unlock the door, I don't want you to be nervous, after all, I am an alien."

"Pfht! I'm not nervous. You try to abduct me, and I'll rip that head of yours, clean off your shoulders."

His eyes widened, and his bottom lip pouched outward. "Good plan."

The Doctor rummaged around in the pocket of his trench coat, and retrieved a slender, cylindrical device, which he held up for my viewing pleasure. "Sonic screwdriver," he explained. "The lock's been sticking lately. Watch your eyes now … It may send off a few, nasty, ionic particles."

With a whirring sound, little appendages poked out, the head of the screwdriver began to rotate, and a glow shone from it. I heard the click as the tumblers fell away. He pushed open the door, and put out his palm indicating that I should step inside. "Ah, there we go. Ladies before Time Lords."