Figlia del Dottore

by Spheres

"Oh, he was a bit older, then. And taller." Introducing Stella, a fledgling timelady, and her soon-to-be companions. Just gotta wait for the little TARDIS to grow...

Figlia del Dottore

My mother was human, born on New Earth about two hundred years after the Age of the Motorway, as people called it. She was a jewelry vendor, daughter of an ore miner and a librarian, and had just gotten her degree in geophysics when she met my father.

When I was young, she would tell me stories about him, the man with no home and no family but love enough for two hearts, like mine. She would say, in a sort of dreamy way, how he took her traveling, first around New Earth and the System, then around the galaxy, then out into far space, among new stars and nebulae. I'll admit, I didn't quite believe her, even at that age, that a person like that could exist. One day, she pulled a manilla folder out from her desk drawer and from it, a picture, old but restored. Mum pointed at a thin man within the crowd of the picture.

"That's him," she told me, and I held the photo with two, tender hands. "He didn't look like that when I first met him, though. Oh, he was a bit older, then. And taller."

I remember asking her what she meant.

"He's a traveler, remember? He's got this ship of his that can whoosh off into space and through time, too. When do you think this picture was taken?"

I looked at the photograph. People were wearing clothes that I'd only seen in history books, and the clothes were black. In the center of the picture was a great, square casket, embroidered with silver.

"That," Mum said, a hand on my shoulder, "is the funeral for the Face of Boe."

"The hero?" I asked.

"The same. He died saving everyone from the Motorway, remember?"

"But that was years ago!"

"Hundreds of years."

"So, how can that be Daddy?"

Mum winked at me.

"Time travel!"

She stood up from our seat on the floor, taking the picture with her, when she teetered a bit, catching herself on the desk.

"Mummy?"

"I'm okay. Just... stood up to quickly."

It wasn't that. Less than a year later, she died of cancer. The nurses, all remnants of the feline sisterhood, said they'd never seen anything like it. Even with the ancient knowledge of their forebearers, nothing could save my mum.

The last night she was alive, she let me onto her bed with her. There were no tubes, no cold metal, no beeping machines. All was quiet in her bedroom.

"Can't sleep?" she asked softly.

"No. I have bad dreams."

She stroked my hair, all gold and chocolate brown, like hers.

"What kind of dreams?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Guns. Fires. Darkness. Monsters.

We were quiet for a bit, and I let my head on her chest, watching the room move up and down with each breath. I could hear the clock ticking downstairs.

"Stella?"

"Yes, Mummy?"

"I have something for you. Something secret. Want to see?"

I nodded, and she pointed over the side of the comforter.

"It's in a little, blue box under the bed. Why don't you open it?"

I got down and half crawled under the bed to reach it, and when I'd grabbed it, I brought it back onto the bed with me. Inside, there were papers. Stacks of them.

"What's this?" I asked, picking some of them up.

"That is the family history. My parents, their parents, your parents, all in that box. You have to keep it secret, though. Okay?"

"Why?"

I flipped through the different tabs, still learning how to read. There were names that I didn't know.

"Is there stuff on Daddy in here?"

"Yes. That's why it has to be a secret."

"But why?"

"Trust me. Not everyone likes him."

"Why?"

She winked at me.

"You'll just have to read, but keep it secret!"

"Okay."

I yawned. The clock downstairs chimed eleven.

"Alright, you, it's late," Mum chuckled. "Get thee back to thy bed."

"Okay, Shakespeare."

"I love you."

"Love you, too."

I stayed up half the night, looking at those papers. I found the tab that had the photo of the funeral in it, the one she'd shown me, and tried to sound out the words. If Daddy had a magical machine that could go through time- not that I actually believed he could, but there was chance- then, if I could find him, he could go somewhere to get Mum some way I figured it was that he didn't know she was sick; that's why he hadn't turned up. I needed to find him.

I fell asleep reading about the man in the picture, the Doctor. I dreamt that I found his address, that I found him, that we saved Mum, that we all traveled together in a little rocket ship.

The clock downstairs chimed nine in the morning, and I woke up, covered in the papers. After straightening them out again and putting them back in the box, I went down to the kitchen. Mum liked oatmeal. Maybe if I made her oatmeal, she would let me go out today to find Daddy. I was convinced about my dream. I could be a big girl and help out.

Carefully, I loaded a tray with oatmeal and orange juice, like I'd seen done in movies, and balanced it back upstairs. Mum's door was closed, so I opened it with my foot.

"G'morning, Mummy!"

I went up to the bed.

"Mummy!"

She didn't move, so I put the tray down on the side table and shook her arm. She was cold.

"Mum?"

Her chest wasn't moving anymore.

"Mummy, wake up!"

I grabbed the phone from the table and called the first number on the list.

Mum's funeral was a very small one. Saba, a bipedal reptile and my mother's old friend, and I were the only ones there for sentimentality's sake. The other two were lawyers. The moment my mother's body was in the ground, they both approached us, saying I was to be taken into official custody until the will could be read.

Saba scoffed at them.

"Vwe've read it already," she snapped, keeping me behind her. "Her mother zaid I vwould take her."

The rain pitted on the dark umbrella. I tuned the lawyers out. Their voices were grating and clung to the edge of my hearing, but I noticed something else. There was a strange sound coming from the trees on the far side of the cemetary. When it died off, I saw a thin man in a billowing, brown overcoat come running, stopping short once he noticed where we were standing.

It was the man from the photo.

He walked quickly to the headstone that read "Lily Leafholt", my mother's grave, and looked down at it with a guilty face. A red-headed woman came from the same direction as he had run and, seeing him there, put a hand on his shoulder, saying something to which he shook his head and looked away. Looked away and at me.

I found myself standing infront of him, staring straight back up at him through the rain.

"You should have heard how she talked about you," I said, fighting back tears. "I always thought they were just stories."

I had been unable to cry up until that point, facing the man I believed could have saved her.

"I'm sorry," he breathed, coming down to my level and taking my hands in his. "I'm so, so sorry."

I found myself shaking. He wiped the hair from my face.

"Your mother was an amazing woman," the Doctor said, holding my arms. "One of the best I've known. And I'm so sorry I couldn't help.

"We came as soon as we got your message," the ginger woman said.

"Message?" I sobbed.

"On my psychic paper."

The Doctor produced a wallet with a white sheet of paper in it. Scrawled in my handwriting:

Mum's sick. Please help.

I wiped my eyes. I didn't understand.

After a silent moment, the woman asked, "What about your daddy? He's still out an' about, right?"

I hesitated before looking back at the Doctor and answering, "Yes."

He frowned, staring at me. He put a hand to my chest and waited. I could feel my hearts pounding; surely, he could, too. After a moment, the Doctor stood up, looking down at me, and held out his hand.

"Come with me."

I took it, looking back to see if Saba was watching. Seeing that she wasn't, I left.

Tucked just behind the line of trees, there was a blue box with a light on top and doors on the side. The Doctor held one door open for me, and I found myself in a gigantic room, all gold and light, with a blue tube in the center.

"This is my TARDIS, my ship."

Remembering what Mum had told me, I asked, "Can it go through time?"

The Doctor looked down at me from the side.

"Y-yes. Why? Where'd you hear that from?"

"Mum."

I swallowed heavily, and he knelt in front of me again, looking me in the eye.

"I can't take you with me."

"Why not? I don't have anything here! I want to go with you! We- we could go back and save Mummy! We can go back and save her!"

"We can't."

"Why?! Why not?!"

"Because we would have to take her from you. Going back and snatching her out of your life to bring her here would take her from you in the past."

I watched him quietly, gritting my teeth. I knew he was right, even at that age. It made sense.

"And..."

"And what?" I asked.

"It... it was the TARDIS that made her sick. The radiation, the biology. It's my fault."

I stared at him in disbelief, but I couldn't bring myself to hate him.

The Doctor sighed and glanced at the wall behind me.

"Come on. Let me show you something."

He led me to the wall, where the golden metal met the floor, and touched the palm of my hand to it. The cold material quickly grew warm and liquid against my skin, glowing.

"Go ahead and grab it."

I wrapped my fingers around what felt like a node pressed into my hand, and it departed from the wall, which immediately grew cold and solid again. I opened my hand to look at what I had.

"This is TARDIS seed," the Doctor said. "The mother ship only reacts to a Time Lord's touch. You've got two hearts."

The little, golden orb in my palm pulsed with gentle heat. I stared at it through haze.

"What do I do with it?"

"Plant it like an ordinary seed. It will take a long time, but that tiny thing can grow into this- "He looked up and around at his TARDIS admiringly "- and when you're ready, it'll take you anywhere. Any place."

"Any place?"

"Any place. Okay?"

I nodded, enclosing the seed in my fingers and pressing it close to my hearts. The Doctor smiled and smoothed my hair back.

"You look just like her."

I stood outside of the police box, holding a flamboyant umbrella with a question mark handle.

I'll see you soon, Daddy said, winking. Oh, and watch this next part.

Right infront of me, the box made the noise again, dampened by the storm, and it disappeared into thin air. I didn't know what to do.

"Ztella?! Ztella!"

Saba was calling me. Turning around to face the cememtary once again, I looked down at the glowing seed in my grasp. I'd met my father.

I didn't know it yet, but my life was changed forever.

The first shoot of my own little TARDIS appeared about six months after I planted it.

During that time, I'd read through all the files in the blue box, hiding out in my new room at Saba's house, and I kept a look out for the Doctor. My new school was just like the last one. I gained the upper hand very quickly in maths and sciences. No one really talked to me, but I was fine with that. I didn't want to talk to them either.

My tenth birthday came, and Saba convinced our neighbors to come over and play games.

Saba really was a good person, a decendant of the Homo Reptilia of Old Earth. Having a hot temperament for a cold- blooded creature, she successfully threatened the custodial system into letting her keep me, as per my mother's will. She was careful and loving, when she needed to be. I couldn't have asked for a better foster- mother.

The neighbors were timid people from Ilk in the Neo-Cygnus constellation. The mother had a beautiful coat of fur, trimmed for the season, and the father's long, rabbit- like ears twitched at every sound. Their daughter and son, two of a litter of five, clutched each other's slim fingers, hiding behind their parents. I hid behind Saba.

The adults went about silently, as was the way of Ilki, and they made a motion for their children to stay with me. Saba took them cheerfully into the kitchen. The younger Ilki and I stared at each other.

Finally, I couldn't take their large, green eyes anymore.

"Can you speak?" I asked quietly, clutching the hem of my summer shorts.

The two looked at each other, then back at me, and nodded. One ear on each of their heads turned in my direction.

"D-do you want to play?" I swallowed hard.

The girl gave something like a smile and moved forward, but her brother stayed still and held her hand. The girl looked back at him, raising her ears questioningly. The boy's ears flattened against his head.

"I don't bite," I offered, and the sister tugged her brother's hand. He carefully crept closer.

The two Ilki followed me to my room, where I showed them my books. They were all in Common Letters, and I got the strange feeling, in my head, that they were very interested in the long chain of brightly- coloured, checker- pocked spines at the end of the shelf. The girl turned and stared at me, for a second, then breathed heavily and pointed.

"Those are my Harry Potter books," I told her. "They're my favorite."

"Why?"

I jumped away from her.

Both ears turned to me, and she cocked her head sideways.

"Why?"

"Is that you?!"

I got the feeling she was confused.

"Why are they your favorite?"

I blinked a few times, then shakily answered, "B-because they're about Old Earth. Old England. There's m-magic and a castle- Was that you in my head?"

The brother turned.

"She's stupid, isn't she."

"Shush. She has probably never had this before. Have you?"

I stood very still, then shook my head.

"It is okay."

The sister turned her body towards me and stuck out one thin hand.

"Humans shake hands to say hello, right?"

"Y-yeah."

I reached out and shook carefully. I seriously thought her fingers would break if I handled them normally.

"I am Tikan. This is my brother, Lio."

"Hello."

The boy, Lio, flattened his ears again.

"I'm Stella," I said, and Tikan dipped her head a bit.

"Hello. Please, forgive Lio. He is not very social."

"I'll be social, when there's a point."

"Be nice."

After that, it was relatively easy to talk to them, and I even tried talking with my mind. I explained about Harry Potter, then about The Giver. Lio was attempting to read the summary of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, then Smith of Wooton Major, when Saba poked her head through the door.

"Vwant to try my attempt at a cake?" she asked lightheartedly, and the four of us crammed into the little kitchen with the elder Ilki. I got a sense of uneasiness from them, so I smiled at them. The feeling eased up.

Saba closed the blinds, and it became dark.

"What's this?!" I felt Lio ask in a panic. Even Tikan became nervous, and the confusion arose like fumes off of their parents.

Saba turned her broad back to us, and I smelled the sulfur of matches. She faced us with a little, round cake with too much frosting and ten candles dripping flavored wax. Her fangs gleamed in the firelight as she tried to sing Happy Birthday.

"Is this a normal custom?" Tikan asked.

"I guess so," Lio answered.

Saba proudly set the cake down in front of me and said, "Make a wish."

I stared at the candles. I thought of Mum. I thought of Dad. I looked around at Saba and Tikan and Lio, then closed my eyes.

I wish I was always this happy.

There wasn't a single candle left lit on that cake.

Years passed, one by one.

The golden coral branches of my TARDIS grew bigger and stronger, until I had to replant it. I asked Saba first, of course, and she watched, interested, as I carefully shook the dirt from the silver roots and placed them in the ground in the backyard. The little TARDIS was about half a metre tall, smooth, golden, and warm.

"Vwhat a strange plant," Saba remarked as I stood back and looked at it.

"Yup."

"Vwhere is it from? Not New Earth?"

"No," I answered. "No, it's not from New Earth."

I hesitated before continuing.

"Dad gave it to me... the day of Mum's funeral."

Saba was quiet. After a moment, she asked, "Vwas he nice?"

I looked at her. I was as tall as her.

"Yeah, he was."

On my fourteenth birthday, Saba made cake. She'd been progressively getting better and was aware of it, grinning wider and wider each birthday. Tikan and Lio came, as usual, the only real friends I'd made in the past four years.

"I brought back Tales of Beadle the Bard for you. Thanks for letting me borrow it."

Did you like it?

By now, I'd learned how to project thoughts back to them, a useful skill when having private conversations.

"Strangely childish. Honestly, I don't see how it managed to survive so long."

Haha. Me either.

Lio handed me the book, along with a rectangular present. His fur was darker now, a deep chocolate brown, like his father's. He was now very familiar with human customs.

"Unwrap it later, won't you?"

Tikan elbowed him, now taller than him.

"Why? Is it a love letter, Lio?"

"Shut up!"

She stepped forward and handed me a store- bought gift bag.

"I read that human females tend to use this more often as they age. I thought maybe you would like it."

Pulling the tissue paper out, I found a packet of make- up. I inwardly flinched. All the mean girls at my school wore make- up.

"Is something wrong with it?"

"No, no. It's great! Thank you!"

I ignored the fact that I'd spoken aloud, a tell- tale sign that I was lying. Tikan wouldn't leave it.

"What is wrong with it?"

Nothing, I thought to her. I was - confused. I don't think I've seen one before.

"Oh?"

Nope.

"Okay. You had me worried."

Sorry.

Later on, I looked at myself in the mirror. My blonde- ish hair had faded to a light brown and now passed my shoulders. Lately, I'd worn it up, tight behind my head. I untied it and was surprised by how much different I looked with it down. My skin was relatively pale, dotted with freckles like stars in the sky, and beneath light eyebrows were these blue- green marbles that I called eyes. I had always liked the way I looked, never questioned it, never cared much about anyone else's opinion.

I turned and looked across the hall, into my room, where Tikan's and Lio's presents sat on my bed. I hadn't opened Lio's yet.

The wrapping was delicately done, as I'd come to expect from Ilki, all red with gold stripes. Inside was a copy of Kiron, a Common Letter translation of an old epic from Ilk. I marveled at the thickly- bound cover, turning it over in my hands. Inside was a summary, written on green- tinted paper in twelve- point, black letters:

"Enjoy the epic tale of Kiron, a story passed down for ages by the native inhabitants of the planet Ilk, the ancient myth of their gods!

"One late night, during the winter rotation, a young male Ilki named Kiron witnesses the crashing of a star. When he approaches it, a strange being steps out of the cooling star and tells Kiron the answers to the mysteries that've been plaguing his tribe for years.

"Discover the basis of Ilki culture in this new translation!"

Tucked like a bookmark between pages was a note.

"You said you were curious. Please, don't tell Tikan I was nice to you. It would ruin my reputation. Happy Birthday. Lio."

I laughed to myself and tucked the note back inside. As I was closing the book, a word caught my attention.

"Doctor."

I blinked and looked at the page, but the word was still there. I turned to the next page.

"The Doctor, as he called himself, stepped out of his blue comet with his counterpart and closed the opening, which glowed as it sat there in the dirt."

You have got to be kidding me.

It suddenly became windy outside my window. The sound, that very same sound as before, squealed from the backyard, and I pulled the curtain back quickly. A blue police box materialised right next to my TARDIS sapling.

I tiptoed fast down the hall, peeking into Saba's room to make sure she was asleep. Quietly, I opened the front door. The Doctor, the very same man as before, stopped in his tracks at the sight of me.

" 'See you soon', right?" I asked sarcastically.

"Well, you know, time... it's wibbly... wobbly..."

He was embarassed. He'd better be. I stared at him, arms crossed, until I felt him becoming uncomfortable.

"I've been busy! C'mon!" the Doctor conceded and led the way to his machine.

Once inside his TARDIS, I looked around the round room, glad that I hadn't imagined it as a kid.

"Still looks the same," I commented, and looking at him, said, "So do you."

He stroked the control panel, dawdling.

"It's only been about a month, for me," he said lowly, not looking at me.

"Been nearly five years for me."

"I know."

It was quiet. I picked up a shiny ball from the console, turning it over in my hands.

"How've you been?" the Doctor asked thoughtfully, watching me with dark eyes.

"Fine."

"You look older."

"I am older. Turned fourteen today."

There was another silence. I teetered the ball between my palms, then put it down decisively.

"What's the visit for?" I asked, not rudely.

The Doctor opened his mouth and closed it quickly, still not looking at me, and began walking around the bridge.

"Nothing really special. Just to say hello, make sure you were okay."

He glanced back at me as if to see if I was accepting that answer. I wasn't.

"Where's that woman? The ginger, the red- head who was with you last time?"

"Gone. She's gone."

It sounded more profound than I'd expected, so I left the subject alone. I pulled my coat closer around me, crossing my arms.

"You're in my book."

"Oh?"

"Ilki cultural story."

"I haven't been there yet."

"Ah."

It got quiet again, and that was annoying.

"Mind if I ask you some questions?" I blurted out.

The Doctor turned to me in surprise and nodded, probably trying to anticipate what I would ask. He leaned against the railings.

At first, I didn't know where to start, but as I glimpsed around the room to find a train of thought, I caught my distorted reflection in the glass of the central tube. Blue eyes; my mother didn't have blue eyes, nor her parents. So, I must have gotten them from...

"How did you meet Mum?" I asked finally, and the Doctor shifted uncomfortably.

He put his hands in his coat pockets.

"Oh, you know, the usual way."

"C'mon," I joked, "there's gotta be more than that."

The Doctor ran a hand through his long hair, rubbing the back of his neck.

"What's your mother told you?" he asked uneasily.

"Not much. Just that you were a magical man a with a magical ship. She said you were taller. Older."

"Oh, back then, I was. I liked it actually."

"Yeah, but what does that mean? How can you be older in the past than you are now?"

"Little tricks up my sleeve. It's a Time Lord thing."

"So, you're an alien?"

"You are, too."

"I was born here."

"Did Lily tell you that?"

I stared at him, somewhat hurt that he expected Mum to lie to me. Then again, what parent doesn't lie at some point?

The Doctor opened his mouth and closed it, like a fish. It felt like he couldn't find the words to start, which I sensed was strange for him. In the end, he took a deep breath, looked up at me, and said:

"I met your mother after I fought in a war. The Time War. I couldn't bear to go back to Earth, so I came here, to New Earth, this century. I figured it couldn't get any worse, given the circumstances, but ... I was wrong. I did things I shouldn't have and ended up in a bad place, and Lily just happened to be there at the same time."

He looked at his feet, guilty.

"She was a lovely woman, your mother. Could lighten up anyone's day, even in a dump like that. I got into trouble with a couple of blokes, and after getting knocked around a bit, Lily passed by and offered to walk me home. We ended up talking; more mumbling, in my case. She wanted to be a scientist, and I told her I knew a lot about it."

Here, the Doctor hesitated, looking at the hallway under the stairs from the corner of his eye.

"I never meant for anything serious," he continued quietly. "Once I noticed, I ran off, hoping she might forget me."

"But not before you took her traveling."

"No. It was one trip. Just one trip. Fact of the matter is it gets lonely traveling alone. Lily had such an open mind, so smart..."

I looked at the grating beneath my feet and nodded. I understood. Mum always was a thinking woman. I could only imagine her reaction to seeing the inside of the TARDIS for the first time. The thought made me smile.

"So, you were different, then."

"Yes. Regeneration, that one trick I have. Whenever this body gets hurt or wears down, I can replace it with a new one, in a sense, become new man."

"What were you like?"

This regeneration certainly wasn't the one I'd sprung from. I was broader and had the blue eyes.

"Would you like to see?"

"You keep photos?"

"Not quite."

The Doctor walked toward me. I stood straighter, not understanding. Carefully, he put his hands on either side of my head, and I felt my stomach turn inside out as flashes of incomprehensible images crossed my vision, blackening everything else out.

The TARDIS' engine room faded away to show a strange, red planet. The sky burned pink. The grass was so scarlet, the colours so sharp, and the fields of sapling TARDISes climbed the nearby mountains. In the valley, there was a huge dome of glass with crystalline spires so perfectly straight that you could stab the atmosphere and send it bleeding its acid rain. The sheer quiet was so calming, nothing but the warm wind over the leaves of silver trees.

Then, I heard it. The buzzing of machinery overhead. I looked 'round as giant saucers swept over the- Gallifreyan- dale, great torpedos of light flying toward the domed city and shattering the peace.

I opened my eyes, gasping, but was compelled to close them again.

Now, I was in someone's house, following some blonde girl inside. I stopped in the hall, spotting a mirror, and looked.

"Look at the ears!"

I was an older gentleman with a leather coat, broad shoulders and blue eyes.

This is the man Mum fell in love with.

The scene changed, became darker. Strange, metallic creatures were all around me, screaming with grating voices. It felt like an end, like this was it, here and now, in this computer room, and despite everything, I was surrendering to it. Then, there was that sound, the TARDIS' noise, and a bright light burst into the room. I could sense the power radiating from the TARDIS. There was a pull in my stomach, something like dread.

"I looked into the TARDIS, and the TARDIS looked into me."

Suddenly, my eyes opened again, against my will. The Doctor pulled away from me.

"What was that supposed to be?!" I yelled, and blinking, I noticed I was crying.

"Mental trans-"

"No! I mean that! The bombs, the apartment, the light! I get what mind- reading and mind- telling are, but what was that light?!"

I was shaking.

The Doctor swallowed.

"One of my companions absorbed the power of the TARDIS," he explained in a low voice, looking at his feet. "Even though I sent her home, she forced the TARDIS back to get me."

"'She'? You had another woman onboard?"

"Lots of people travel with me! Why is it weird that I had another woman?"

"You said you left Mum so she'd forget you. You- you obviously think you're dangerous, yet you bring someone else, a younger someone else, who looked just like Mum to have adventures with you? Please, explain!"

"I didn't just leave to find someone else! C'mon, do you really think I would do that?"

"I don't know!"

We stopped for a moment, and I realised I was speaking out of, I dunno, trauma, or something. The Doctor had backed away and was looking anywhere but at me.

"I'm sorry," I said. "That was mean. No ... I don't think you would."

When he didn't say anything, I folded my arms and walked toward him.

"Was she nice?"

The Doctor glanced at me over his shoulder, then turned.

"Yeah. She was."

"And... what about the rest of it? The dome, the house, the-" I realised I knew the word "- Daleks?"

"Well, you were asking about my regeneration. Might as well show you."

"You died during that war, then, on the red planet?" I shuddered. Time War. It had a different meaning now.

"Yeah."

"Can I ask how?"

For a moment, the Doctor stared into the space behind me, then smirked.

"Maybe another time," he said.

"In the mean time, though," he continued suddenly, more boistrous, "I've got a little present for you."

He, for lack of a better word, bounced off to the lower level of the room, beneath the engine, and I watched him through the grating.

"Well, come on! Not just gonna wait up there, are you?"

Unsure, I followed the way I'd seen him go. It was warmer beneath the glass tube, amongst the machinery. The Doctor was waiting, crouched down over a panel in the floor. I joined him.

"Now, the last time you were here, I gave you something from the TARDIS. The seed. Did you plant it?"

"Yeah."

"And it's about six centimetres tall now, yes?"

"Um, more like a half a metre."

"Really?!"

"Yeah, it's just outside."

"Oh. Well, this'll still come in handy."

He grabbed the handle of the panel and slid it back. Below was dark and humid. There were glints of silver light here and there.

"In you go."

I pulled my hands out of my pockets and carefully lowered myself down into the room. Finding the ground smooth and soft, like dirt, I dropped and moved aside for the Doctor to follow. We stood silently for a minute. All was a dim, blue light and a slight fog. Giant tendrils of silver rested around us, poking into the floor.

"C'mon, it's just over here," the Doctor whispered, taking my hand.

He led me to the far side of the room, over a trunk of silver wood, where the light was dimmest. He held a finger to his lips, looking back at me.

"We don't want to frighten them away."

"Frighten what away?"

"Shh."

In a nest of TARDIS roots, nestled like a bird's eggs, was a spiny plant. The spines themselves looked strange, all different textures from the mother plant, all different colours at the tips, and all not very sharp. It was warm around them, like they were giving off heat.

"What is thi-"

The spines retracted into their greyed nodule, suddenly, as if surprised.

The Doctor put his finger up again, and I bit my lips together. We watched as, slowly, the spines peeked back out.

"Pick one," the Doctor mouthed, and I heard it in his mind.

Confused, I reached for the smallest one on my side, one with a little yellow tip that was dull, like a crayon.

"Gently!"

I halted, then continued, placing my fingers at the base of the spine, and it fissioned off into my hand, just like the TARDIS seed. The opening it had sat in was immediately closed, almost as if it were liquid. I stared at the silver and yellow stick in my hand, glowing with warmth, until the Doctor signalled for us to go back upstairs.

He gave me a boost back up, then climbed up himself.

"I used to be tall enough to jump up and sit on this edge," he explained, closing the panel. "Do you like it?"

"What is it?" I asked, cupping the little thing in my hands. It was about the length of my palm and barely wider than my little finger.

"I call it a 'sonic screwdriver'," he said, taking out his own. It was bigger than mine and had a blue tip atop what looked like a chiseled lattice. "Comes in handy in a tough spot, and I thought you might like it."

"Why? Am I going to be in a tough spot soon?"

"Uh... well, yes, but it might also help in growing your TARDIS. TARDISes take thousands of years to grow naturally. When I gave it to you I started trying to figure out how to make it faster for you, and ... my friend finished the job. Not everyone can shatterfry a TARDIS shell though, much less play a foldback harmonica, so I figured a sonic screwdriver might help. What've you been feeding that thing, though? Really? It's already that tall?"

"I- I just put it in dirt and watered it. What am I supposed to do with a screwdriver?"

"Sonic screwdriver."

"Sonic screwdriver."

"Play with it. Saba tells me you're very good at physics; a bit of quantum tinkering should be no problem."

I was about to ask how I was supposed to tinker with a plant but stopped.

"You've been talking to Saba?"

"Oh, yeah! Me an' her go way back. I was at her batmitzvah. In any case, this sonic is yours to figure out. When the time comes, you'll find it very useful."

"What's that all about, by the way? What trouble will I get into?"

"Just-"

He looked like he was debating whether to tell me or not.

"Just don't go to the library."

"Why?"

"Or the cafeteria at three o'clock."

"I never do, but-"

"And no salons or boutiques or anything like that, okay?"

"Why would I?" I smirked, giving up. He wouldn't tell me; I could feel his thoughts refusing. "I'm gorgeous."

The Doctor smiled.

He walked me out of the TARDIS, into the cool night air.

"I'll see you soon, then?" I asked, holding my sonic screwdriver in one hand.

"Yes. Definitely. I'll come around, sooner or later."

He looked at me for a long time. I smiled.

"Happy birthday," he said, grinning.

"Thanks."

As he began walking back to the TARDIS, he called over his shoulder.

"And none of those places, you hear me?"

"I hear you."

With that, he went back into this TARDIS, right next to my sapling, and took off. The TARDIS' sounds echoed into the night, but I swear, no one heard it.

For days after, I studied my strange little "screwdriver". It really was a little thing. Unlike its brothers and sisters, it had a woody texture, almost like a regular pencil, and where it had fissioned off was a soft, round tip, like an eraser. I found the similarity funny but still had no idea what to do with it.

The season was changing. As it grew warmer, I spent more time tending to my TARDIS sapling, though it never seemed to be thirsty or too hot. I put my sonic screwdriver into my pocket, one particularly hot day, as I checked on the TARDIS, and reminded of what the Doctor had said about making the TARDIS grow, I pulled the sonic out. I was still clueless about it, really, so, seeing as it had been useless so far, I jokingly said, "Hello." Everyone was always saying that's the first thing you do when you meet someone, say hello, and I figured a living, inanimate object could count.

"You're funny."

I turned back to the house, expecting to see Tikan or Lio standing there, but there was no one. Suspicious, I glanced down at my sonic and back at my TARDIS. All was quiet. I went inside.

I walked down the main street of Bradbury, my town, and spotted a group of girls from my school, girls I utterly detested. I rolled my eyes at the sight of them, all in torn leggings and big earrings like it was 23742. They strutted right past me, leaving behind a wind of sweet, sweet perfume, and into a boutique. There was a dance tonight at the school.

I was reminded of what the Doctor had said about trouble, but I dismissed it. What trouble could there possibly be in a place like that? Sure, it was a cool cave of long- taloned monsters, but what harm could they do without messing up their hair?

It was right then that I passed someone else I knew from school, a young man, human, who had taken to cross- dressing. He looked dejected as he walked, and despite my usual don't- make- eye- contact, blend- into- the- wall social skills, he looked so pitiful that I turned and said:

"Hey!"

He stopped and looked at me with his deep- set hazel eyes. He was really a handsome guy.

"Hey, Stella."

I swallowed. How did the conversation thing go again?

"I haven't seen you in a while. How've you been?"

"Well enough."

He fidgeted with his coat, which looked a bit too bulky for him and too thick for the weather.

"You like books, right? I see you reading a lot."

"Yeah."

"I'm headed to the book store. Wanna come? They have a new section on cosmic biology."

He played with one of his jeweled studs, turning it in his ear.

"I ... I'm a bit busy, right now."

"Oh."

We were quiet for a second, and I turned to leave.

"Well, I guess I'll see you around, then?"

"I bet."

Unsure of what else I could do, I turned away and kept walking. As I glanced back, I saw him enter the same boutique as the other girls, the same ones who laughed at him and mocked him everyday. I hoped he would be okay.

The clocktower at the nearby House of Universal Worship clanged.

My atomic wristwatch beeped.

The boutique behind me burst open in hot, yellow flame.

Later, after I had run away and back home, I heard the story on the news.

"Earlier today, there was a state-wide terrorist attack. Hundreds of clothing stores, salons, and beauty parlours were destroyed when a group of young students of every race strapped bombs to their bodies and entered. The group left behind this message:

'It's unfair that even in these great times of change and acceptance, we are pushed to the side like garbage in favor of the rich and popular. We the homosexuals, the mentally challenged, the too smart, the too stupid, the too weak - we'll change that. This will circle the world, and if a few ignorant, over- dressed, petty... people have to die, then so be it.'

The parents of the victims-"

Saba turned off the telly. I sat, curled against one corner of the sofa, clutching my sonic.

" 'Terrorists', pah!" Saba muttered. "Zhey're children."

I hadn't told her that I had been right there, right as ten people were blown sky high. I hadn't told her that I knew them all, or that I talked to the boy who'd killed them, that I could have stopped him.

I could have stopped him.

My sonic pulsated warmly in my palm.

"You were not hurt, were you?"

Tikan and I sat in the yard, eating giant marshmellows. Her tiny mouth struggled to keep even half of one.

"No, and I haven't told Saba yet, either, so don't say anything."

"I will not."

One of the moons was halfway into the sky, full and orange, followed by a smaller, redder one that had just cleared the top of the cinderblock wall that surrounded our yard. Tikan stared at them with her big, green eyes.

"My dad told me not to go near those places."

"You met your dad?"

"Yeah. Twice."

"And?"

"And what?"

"And what was he like? I have never heard about him before."

"Oh. He's, um... eccentric."

"Do you look like him?"

"I did at one point, yeah."

"How did he know about the bombings? Is he part of it?!"

"No! No. Uh... h-he gets a lot of gossip, all the places he goes."

"Ah. Where does he go?"

"Everywhere. Mum used to tell me about his ship and stuff."

"Do... do you think you will ever go with him?"

"Maybe."

Tikan looked at me thoughtfully, and it felt rude not to look at her.

"Stella..."

"Yeah?"

"How... how long do humans live for?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you live a hundred years? Two hundred?"

"Closer to a hundred. Why?"

She played with the grass between her long, naked fingers.

"No reason."

"Liar. C'mon."

Her fur, coffee brown, lightly waved in the breeze.

"We- Ilki, that is- we have short life spans."

She suddenly seemed restless and sat straighter.

"Ah, um, we- you..."

Tikan sighed.

"You are my best friend, Stella. If I am only going to live for thirty years, I want to see you as much as I can. If - I do not know - if you ran off with your dad and could not get back-"

She trailed off, and I suddenly became aware of someone listening in on our conversation. Turning, I saw Lio tentatively peek through the glass door in the back of the house. I ignored him.

"Tikan," I said out loud, putting a hand on soft shoulder, "where would I go that I would have a better time than with you and Lio and Saba?"

Mouth invisible under her fur, Tikan's eyes smiled. She ate another marshmellow.

In my pocket, my sonic pulsed.

"So young."

I sat straighter. It wasn't Tikan's "voice" in my head, or Lio's.

"A seven- year- old Ilki shouldn't be thinking like that yet."

Lio came from behind us and helped himself to the whole bag of sweets.

"Stella?" he asked, looking down at me. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

He and Tikan exchanged glances and left it alone.

That night, after Tikan and Lio had left, I held my sonic in my palm. It still had its pencil- like form but was more elongated, just a bit, like it had grown.

"Hello?" I asked it, speaking as I would to another mind.

"Hi."

It pulsated against my fingers.

"Is it you who's been talking?"

"I guess so. That's how you responded, in any case."

"How are you doing that? You're a stick."

"And you're a piece of meat, but you can think."

Great. A sarcastic twig from a magical machine.

"I heard that."

"Heard what?"

"I'm not a twig! And the mother ship isn't 'magical'; it's clever."

" 'Mother ship'? You mean the TARDIS?"

"TARDIS?"

"Yeah, the place where I got you from. The time- machine."

"So, that's what humans call it? A TARDIS?"

"Well, that's what the Doctor calls it."

"The Doctor?"

"My father. The man who was with me when I picked you."

"Picked me? Ha. I picked you."

"So, the wand chose the wizard, huh?"

"What?"

"Just a line from a book I like."

"Ooh, you'll have to share it with me."

"Maybe some other time."

My sonic gave off the feeling of sighing, and the pulsing of heat ceased a bit.

"Yeah, you're right. It's late anyway."

"Yeah."

"Do humans sleep, too?"

"Yeah, we do."

"I thought so. Your activity decreases about every twelve hours, like mine."

"Oh."

"Good night, then."

"G-good night."

Confused but content, I placed the little sonic screwdriver on my bedside table, like always. It gave a soft glow, then died down, and I smiled slightly, flicking off my light.

I finally found what to do with my sonic.