Chapter One: Storms and Aliens
Calvin glanced out the window to watch the storm rage outside, the storm that had overtaken Cardiff a few days prior. He had only been visiting his family for his sister Karen's graduation, now he was stuck here. The power had been out for two days he was beginning to go stir crazy. Well, maybe more than just stir crazy. He couldn't help but keep looking out the window, because sometimes he swore he saw something out there besides storm clouds and lightning.
"Cal! Where's the torch?" Karen yelled from downstairs. Calvin jumped slightly as Karen pulled him out of his thoughts. He was in the guest room of the Halloway's house. Well, it had at one time been his room, but when he left they had redone it.
"I dunno! Mum probably has it, she was in the basement was Devin!" he called back, but when he turned to face the door, Karen was standing there, her features distorted to by the light of the candles he had lit so he could study for his exams in a few weeks.
"No, I checked with her, she didn't have it. Where is it?" she snapped, glaring at him. Her hands were on her hips and she looked rather angry about something.
"I told you I dunno. I've been living in the Dark Ages for the past few days if you hadn't noticed. Why don't you use a candle, or is that too simple for you your Majesty?" he asked, jeering at her. They had never gotten on much and since he had left, the rift between them had only grown.
"Oh, why don't you just leave already, if you're so damn unhappy here?!" she yelled, slamming his door shut.
"I would if I could, you little brat!" he yelled back, growling and grumbling to himself as he turned back to his book. He was studying the anatomy of a horse when there was a knock on his door. He called for them to come on and in walked Devin.
Devin was his Mum's boyfriend, a man that Calvin wasn't very fond of. When his father had died, his Mum had had to work extra shifts in her shop. Until Devin showed up out of the blue and swept her off her feet, offering her beautiful gifts and extravagant vacations. He had been the one to give Calvin the nickname "Cal", a name that Calvin's father would have cringed at. He had become the man that Karen had begun calling "dad". In short, Calvin wanted nothing to do with this man. He couldn't help but have an off feeling about him.
"Hey Cal," the older man said, smiling as if they were good friends.
"Calvin. And hi," Calvin answered, correcting him as usual. Devin just smiled more.
"You know, you could be a bit nicer to Kare Bear. She's going to be going through some though stuff now that she is going to Uni. But, you would know, wouldn't ya Cal?" he said. Calvin cringed when he used his nickname for Karen. He couldn't believe that Karen let him call her that.
"Yeah, well she's tougher than she seems," Calvin answered, looking back at his anatomy book.
"Listen son," he started, causing Calvin to grit his teeth, "your mother and I have been together for a few years now and I love her very much. And we aren't gettin' much younger. Do you understand what I'm talking about?" Devin asked.
Calvin refused to look at him. "Do whatever the fuck ya want mate. I can't stop ya," he said, slamming his book closed and getting up, slipping on his boots.
"Now Cal, I won't do anything without-" Devin started.
"Would you stop calling me that!? That not my name, its not who I am! You don't know who I am and you never will!" he yelled, pushing past him and running down the steps to the front door. Shrugging his winter coat on, he stepped out into the storm, the darkness blanketing over him as he went down the street. The rain blasted against him, the wind roaring at him to go back. Calvin didn't care. Then, a strange noise, barely audible over the storm came from a few feet to his left. He looked over, shielding his eyes from the water pelting at him. There was something flashing in and out of visibility, something large, about the size of a telephone box. He neared it, throwing caution to the wind. No one at home would particularly care if he didn't come back, he told himself as he drew closer. He reached it as it materialized into a large, wooden blue box. He saw that there were handles on the door, and sign at the top that read "POLICE BOX". He reached for the door handles, curiosity his only thought. Suddenly, the door swung open, Calvin felt a sharp pain in his head and he fell backward to the ground.
The last thing he saw was the outline of two people looking down at him.
"-told you to look at the surveillance before we landed Doctor," a female voice said, sounding as if she was teasing someone.
"Apprentice, your job is to listen and learn, not tell your teacher what to do," a male voice answered, and though it sounded like a scolding, there was an underlying tone of affection.
"If you had listened, we wouldn't have a human passed out in the TARDIS, would we?" the female said.
Calvin opened his eyes and rubbed them, groaning slightly. He sat up, his head pounding.
"Look Apprentice, you're useless nagging woke him up and it seems like he has a headache!" the man said, tsking.
"You hit him the face with a door!" she snapped, causing Calvin to wince.
"Shh. Please," he whispered. "Where am I and who are you people? I know it was an accident, so I won't press charges or anything," he continued, feeling completely shattered. He then looked around his surroundings for the first time. He was in a large room with a strange centerpiece that looked like it could be a control board, though it had pieces to it that seemed very out of place. There was a huge glowing tube in the middle that Calvin couldn't help but think was very beautiful. There was something special about where he was, he could feel it. He was lying on a grated floor above a lower level, where he could see a hammock hanging from the ceiling of it, and many other things cluttering about, which was where he was lying. He then looked at the people who were there with him. His eyes landed first on a tall, lanky man with longish brown hair, defined jaw and cheekbones and clear green eyes. He was wearing pants that were too short for him and a tweed jacket with a bow tie around his neck. The girl who had spoken had said he was a doctor, but he didn't look like any doctor that Calvin had seen. Speaking of the girl, he glanced around for her, only to see the strangest, most beautiful being he had ever seen. He could just make out a humanoid shape in the beautiful colors what were surrounding it. It was both wonderful and slightly terrifying. He backed up, scooting on the floor. Some part of his mind was telling him he should be scared of whatever it was.
"What the hell is that?" he yelled, eyes wide, headache all but forgotten. The man looked at the mass of light, a confused look on his face.
"Apprentice, I told you to fix your perception filter!" he snapped.
"I did!" the shape said, its voice belonging to the girl Calvin had heard earlier.
"What are you?!" Calvin demanded, though they did not answer. The tall man pulled out a long metal device and waved it at a chunky piece of metal that he hadn't seen earlier that was on the glowing girl's wrist. His metal device made a noise and flashed green; he then examined it, as if getting a reading from it. He squinted at it, a confused look on his face.
"Well then…go to the brig. No need to scare him," the man said, though he still seemed to be puzzling about something.
"Who the hell are you people?" Calvin yelled, feeling like he was losing his mind. The light/ the girl turned her/ its head toward him. He was able to make out eyes in the mass of light. He could actually begin to piece together a face to the creature. She/ it turned from, nodding to the man and walked down the steps to the area below them. Calvin then stared at the man, he had a feeling his eyes were wild.
"What's your name?" the man asked, leaning against the large centerpiece in the room.
"Calvin Halloway. Who are you? What is that thing? Where am I?" Calvin continued, his voice sounding frantic and lost.
"Oh. No nickname? That's wonderful; I don't like it when people have nicknames. The people who have nicknames always ruin the most perfect names. But, never mind that Calvin Halloway. I'm the Doctor, you are in the TARDIS, and that 'thing'", the man, said, looking slightly perturbed as he said this, "is my Apprentice. And you've hurt her feelings, though she'd never admit it. Humanity hasn't been a kind race to her. So when we are done here, you're going to apologize and go on your way home. Now…get up," the man demanded.
Calvin scrambled to his feet. He could see something about this man that was beyond the surface. His green eyes seemed impossibly too old for his lineless face. He looked around the room once more. It was huge and bright and lovely. It was unlike any room the Calvin had ever seen. It was dome shaped and seemed incredibly tall.
"Well come here," the doctor said, sounding impatient, gesturing to him. Calvin took a wary step closer. The man pulled out the metal thing again and waved it at Calvin, who flinched involuntarily.
"What's your name Dr.?" Calvin asked as the he continued to scan him with the device.
"Just the Doctor," the man said, reading the device.
"What do you mean, just the Doctor?" Calvin asked, confused as the green light flashed across his face.
"That's it. The Doctor and his Apprentice in the TARDIS," he said reading the scanner again.
"I thought you said you didn't like nicknames," Calvin commented as the Doctor's brows furrowed at the device.
"I don't. Why?" he asked, sounding distracted.
"Well aren't those nicknames? Doctor, Apprentice, TARDIS. Those aren't names," Calvin pointed out. The Doctor looked up from the device and smiled, a smile that could have passed for carefree, though it didn't meet his eyes.
"No, they're more like…titles. Isn't that right Sexy?" he said, smiling at the large column in the room, the one that glowed. The machine made a humming noise, as if it were a large cat being scratched behind the ears. "Now then Calvin Halloway, you are going down to the brig to apologize to Apprentice while I take at look these readings," the Doctor mumbled the last part, staring intently at the device. Calvin stood very still, someone scared to go down and face the being. The Doctor was typing something into a keyboard attached to the centerpiece, eyebrows furrowing again. When he saw that Calvin had not left yet, he rolled his eyes.
"She won't bite. Just go, I have things to look at," he said, turning back to the keyboard, looking at the screen above it. Calvin nodded, though he wasn't so sure about that. She obviously wasn't human, and if she wasn't human, than this man probably wasn't human. He might be in a spaceship right now. No one would ever believe this, least of all his family.
Calvin made his way down the grated steps to the "brig" as the Doctor had called it. He could see the back of the hammock he had seen from above swaying back and forth. He hadn't noticed there was a lot more down there. There were boxes of all sizes and shapes and materials, with labels that didn't make sense, such as "Scuba" or "In Case of Paradoxes". There was a blue trunk that said "Don't Open Until the End of the World" or a pink jewelry box that read "In Case of Dimensional Jumps: For Rose and Meta-Crisis". Once he made his way through all the boxes, he found himself besides the hammock. There sat the light thing. She/it pretended to not notice him, instead examined the chunky metal bracelet, picking at it with a screwdriver. Now that Calvin was closer to her/it he could make out more humanoid features. Her face was now distinct, he could make out large round eyes that didn't have a true color, they were a base of gold like the rest of her body with other colors swirling in them. She had a small pointed nose, and full lips. She was no curves to her body, which was easy enough to see even though she was curled up in the hammock. Thin and bony, though he wasn't sure if she had bones. She seemed more solid up close, though there was still light and color swirling around her. Even though she was gorgeous and pure, Calvin still couldn't help but horrified and slightly repulsed by her.
"I, uh…I'm sorry, Apprentice. If I offended you earlier," he added lamely. Of course he had. He had called her a "thing". She looked up from the bracelet to meet his eyes. He flinched back instinctively. She smirked, though it wasn't nice or amused. It was bitter.
"You can't call me that," she said in a harsh voice.
"Call you what?" he asked stupidly. At least that's how he felt. Like an idiot.
"Apprentice. Only the Doctor can call me that," she answered, rolling her eyes.
"Well then…what can I call you?"he said, slightly annoyed. She hadn't said if she forgave him.
She seemed to have to think about this for a moment. "If you want to apologize to me the right way, you have to use my Luminous name," she said.
"What's that?" he asked, confused.
"It's my race. The Luminous," she said, looked slightly annoyed to be thinking of it.
"Well then what's your Luminous name?" Calvin asked, exasperated.
"Nameless, Daughter of None," she answered, deadly serious. If he wasn't so scared of her he might have laughed.
"Your name is Nameless? But then you have a name," he said, raising his eyebrows. Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"Well than I won't forgive you, you dumb monkey," she grumbled, going back to her bracelet.
"Alright, alright," he moaned. "I'm very, ever so sorry that I offended you Nameless," he said, letting sarcasm drip into his voice. He saw her lips twitch for a moment, then go back to the grim line.
"I've changed my mind. You can't call me that either. Use my Earth name," she said, not looking at him as she unscrewed something on the bracelet.
"Well what the hell is your Earth name!?" he demanded, very annoyed now. This girl/alien was being absolutely impossible!
"Bernadette Dahl," she answered, tapping the bracelet with the thick end of her screwdriver.
"Bernadette, I'm so, so, so very sorry that called you a thing and-"he tried to start, but she held up her hand with the screwdriver in it.
"Call me Bernie. That's my nickname here," she interrupted, still not looking at him.
"Are you kidding me!?" he yelled, very angry now. "Fine! I'm sorry Bernie! Can I leave this insane place now?" he snapped, glaring at her. She finally looked at him, and for a moment her eyes remained the same. Then, she smiled and began laughing, eyes glowing more than they had a moment ago. Calvin began sputtering in indignation as the alien girl continued to laugh at him, almost falling out of the hammock.
"What's so funny?" he demanded, crossing his arms. Calvin waited for her to stop laughing, glaring at her the whole time. When she finally caught her breath, she smiled at him brightly.
"You, you're funny. Humans are funny when they get mad," she giggled, eyes bright as she began rescrewing the screws in her bracelet.
"So…so you aren't mad at me?" Calvin asked, confused and still a little annoyed.
"Well you apologized, didn't ya? So no, not anymore," she said, hopping out of the hammock and making her way to the steps. "Now come on Halloway. We need to fix the storm or whatever is causing the storm. Then figure out why perception filters don't work on you," she said, taking the steps two at a time. Calvin followed, not quite what to feel anymore.
"What's a perception filter?" he asked as they landed on the floor above.
"Well, I can't exactly go walking around like this on Earth, can I?" she asked, leaning against the centerpiece and glancing at the computer screen the Doctor was staring at intensely. "What does that bit mean there?" she asked him, pointing at the screen.
"There's nothing wrong with your filter. It's him," the Doctor muttered, looking away from the computer to examine Calvin. "There you humans go again, being important," he said, smiling.
Calvin looked back and forth between the two of them, still not sure what he should be feeling. "I don't understand. What's going on?"
"Right!" the Doctor said loudly, smile widening as he pushed Calvin down into a chair around the centerpiece. "Well, Apprentice here is obviously not human. When we go to planets such as this, her perception filter," he explained, pointing at the bracelet on her wrist, "makes her appear human or any other race she needs at the time. And the TARDIS is hard to miss, isn't it? She has one too, people just don't notice her. And neither of their filter isn't broken, but for some reason, you Calvin Halloway don't see her as a human nor did you walk by the TARDIS like you should have," the Doctor said, pacing in front of him as the girl (he still wasn't sure what name to call her) stared at the computer screen, muttering to herself as she typed things in. "And that shouldn't be possible! But I love the impossible. Impossible is cool," the Doctor finished.
"Well are you going to figure out what's wrong with me or not?" Calvin asked, growing impatient. "I do eventually need to go home,"
"You are brilliant Calvin Halloway! I love antsy people! People who want answers!" the Doctor said excitedly."But no, not quite yet. Apprentice and I have business to attend to. People who need to go, places to see! Thoughts to think, Earth to save! So, we'll drop you off at home, then come get you when we're done," the Doctor said, pulling a lever on the centerpiece, smiling as the machine jerked, causing Calvin to fall to the floor.
"Doctor, I don't think we have time to do that," the alien girl said, pointing at the screen. The machine had continued to shake, but she and the Doctor seemed hardly effected by it.
"Nonsense Apprentice! It's a time machine, for goodness sake," the Doctor exclaimed, pushing a button, causing the machine to jerk another way. "Come on, old girl, what's the problem? It's just a little storm," he said, stroking the huge tube in the center. A groaning noise answered the Doctor, Calvin could feel it vibrating through the whole room. "Apprentice, we need to land!" he called to her. She rushed to the opposite side of the centerpiece and began pushing buttons, pulling levers, ringing bells, all the while cursing like a sailor.
"Doctor, the TARDIS isn't responding! We're locked in on something…or something has a lock on us," she said, a strange look crossing her stranger features.
"Right then, Calvin, hold onto something. Apprentice, step back from the console, the TARDIS will be able to take care of herself if we don't fight against whatever's got us," the Doctor commanded. They did as they were told, Calvin clutching the railing surrounding the console. The Doctor took a seat by the console, propping his feet up and smiling.
"What, you're going to let something pull you in a…tractor beam or something?" Calvin demanded, bewildered at how at ease they both were. The alien girl laughed, shaking her head.
"'Course not. Tractor beams don't exist. Gravity beams exist, and this isn't one of them. This…this is something so much better," she said, smiling like the Doctor did. It was a far off smile, like they had both seen things that Calvin could never comprehend. That was probably true since they were two time traveling aliens.
"Well what is it?" he asked, his tone from a whiny child to a slightly nervous one.
The Doctor and Apprentice met eyes, turned to him, and shrugged simultaneously.
"Great," Calvin grumbled, clutching the rail harder than before.