The alarm came out of nowhere, waking him up from a nap in the library, and causing him to fall off of the couch in his panic. Rubbing his head, he finally got onto his feet, and headed toward the console room. A large red light in one of the corner was flashing, and the console itself was bathed in different colors of light. Checking the monitor, he found that a large rock was heading straight for the TARDIS which was just floating in space for at the moment. It wouldn't do very much damage, but it could certainly throw a few of the systems offline for a while. Pulling the sonic screwdriver from his pocket, he went to the doors, and opened them. He was about to use a low frequency to shake the rock until it collapsed into small pieces, when he noticed the glint of something on the face of the rock. It was small, metallic and imbedded in the surface.
Changing the frequency, he reduced the rock to chunks, and caught the object just as it flew towards him. It was a perfectly round metal ball, with a picture of a rose stamped onto the surface.
YES! He cheered to himself, and closed the doors as he walked back to the controls.
It had been nearly a year since the stone rose on the asteroid.
After the console examined the metal ball, it found that the material wasn't anything from earth. Instead it was Ignitius, which was only found on the planet Galium. He set the coordinates, and a minute later the TARDIS landed smoothly on the surface of the planet. The ball tightly in his hand, he stepped outside, and was surprised when it started to glow red hot. It suddenly jumped out of his hand, and started flying through the air. He followed, keeping track of it with the sonic, and did his best not to fall over anything in the jungle where he had landed. It kept moving erratically for nearly an hour, before suddenly the doctor found himself in a large clear field, with a chest height stone pillar in the center. It was covered in moss at the base, and vines had overtaken the top of it.
A shallow hole in the top of it was filled with rain water, and carvings adorned every surface. Looking closer, he found the metal ball on the ground next to it. Lifting it, he placed the ball in the hollow on top of the pillar, and stepped back as it started to shake. The plants fell away, and one side of the pillar was revealed to him, which had a small set of words written on it. Taking out a paper and pen he wrote down the coordinates that were set into the stone, and finished writing the last piece when he noticed some more writing near the base still covered up by the moss. Pulling it away, he was surprised to read it.
Come Find Me, Doctor.
He sprinted the entire way back to the TARDIS, and bounded through the doors, immediately setting in the coordinates. The console shook, and after a moment, it started to wheeze. The sound seemed strained, as though it was having trouble with this location, and the Doctor was surprised when he found that they had landed in New York, New York on March 10, 1948. Stepping out of the TARDIS he immediately noticed the ancient cathedral in front of him, and the sign out front caught his eye. It was the type with the movable letters that could be changed to say different things, and todays message wouldn't make sense to anyone but him. It said: Sometimes even roses need Doctors.
As he stared, an old man in an oversized blue robe stepped out through the front doors, and approached him. "She said that on this day, I would need to put that message there, and that I should give you this." He offered up a piece of paper that was rolled into a tube, and had an old wax seal on it. Just as he took it the old man turned, and walked away.
Taking the paper inside the TARDIS, he opened it quickly, and sat down to read.
My Doctor, I am so proud of you. I knew that you could do it, but I also know how unexpected things happen sometimes, and you tend to get side tracked. Just to help keep track, this is #4. You're over half way to the end of this journey, and I hope the final reward lives up to your expectations, which are always high.
By now you will realize that I spent more time as the Bad Wolf than anyone thought, but it still wasn't very long, and I have remembered more of it. Also please don't be mad at the TARDIS, because she knows where all of my messages are hidden, and she knows when the right time is to take you different places. I liked her on a more personal level than you knew about, and she knows what is going to happen soon.
It's been a while since the last message, and I promise that you won't have to wait as long for the next one. In fact you should receive it at any moment.
Always With You,
Rose
Just then the TARDIS acted on her own accord, and started to move across the stars.