Chapter 01
The Doctor climbed quickly out of the Tardis. It had crashed, and he didn't know where he was. He was still cooking for the new regeneration, his new muscles aching, his new long hair in his eyes, and for the first time he had a food craving. He finally made it to the Tardis doors and climbed out to sit on the door frame.
"Could I have an apple? All I can think about. Apples. I love- Rose?"
"Hello Doctor."
Standing not far from the crashed Tardis was a small red-headed girl, and none other then Rose Tyler, the Valiant child, The Bad Wolf. She was wearing slim jeans, a blue top, and her Tardis blue bomber jacket.
"What are you doing here, you impossible girl? You should be in the other dimension with-" Handy. "my meta-crisis."
"You just can't get rid of me." She shot him her signature grin with her tongue between her teeth.
"Are you a police man?" The little girl asked.
"Why? Did you call a police man?"
"Are you here about the crack in my wall?"
"What crack? Argh!" The doctor pitched forward, falling off the edge of the Tardis landing roughly on the ground.
"Doctor!" Rose ran forward, grabbing his arm and helping him return to his feet.
"Are you alright, mister?" The small girl asked.
"No, I'm fine." The doctor replied. "It's okay, this is all perfectly norm-" He stopped mid-sentence to exhale heavily, a thick puff of golden energy escaping his mouth.
"I've seen this before." Rose noted. "We won't have to deal the pilot fish again, will we?"
"I sure hope not." The Doctor said. "At least it's not regeneration sickness again."
"Who are you?" The little Scottish girl asked.
"I don't know yet, I'm still cooking."
"Still not ginger." Rose commented.
The Doctor grinned at her before continuing. "Does it scare you?"
"No, it just looks a bit weird."
"No no no, the crack in your wall. Does it scare you?"
"Yes."
"Well then, No time to lose. I'm The Doctor. Do everything I tell you, don't ask stupid questions, and don't wander off."
"Still not ginger, and still rude." Rose muttered to herself. She turned to the small girl. "And I'm Rose."
The Doctor turned and walked face first into a tree, colliding with it before collapsing onto the ground. Rose had to cover her mouth to hold in the snicker, before she grabbed his arm to help him stand again.
"Are you alright?" The little ginger girl asked.
"Early days. Steering's a bit off." The doctor explained.
The three of them headed into the house to the kitchen where the little girl handed The Doctor an apple.
"If you're a doctor, why does your box say police?"
The Doctor bit into the apple, then spat it out. "That's disgusting, what is that?"
The little girl frowned. "An apple."
"Apple's rubbish. I hate apples."
"You said you loved them."
"No no no, I like yoghurt. Yoghurt's my favourite. Give me yoghurt."
Rose couldn't help but role her eyes at The Doctor's antics.
The small girl handed him a pot of yoghurt, which he opened and poured into his mouth before spitting it right back out again. "I hate yoghurt. It's the stuff with bits in it."
"You said it was your favourite."
"New mouth, new rules. It's like eating after cleaning your teeth. Everything tastes wrong. Argh!" The doctor cried out as he twitched violently.
"What's wrong with you?" The little girl asked.
"Wrong with me? It's not my fault. Why can't you give me any decent food? Your Scottish, fry something.
The girl opened a cabinet to get out a frying pan, before being stopped by Rose's hand on her shoulder. "Doctor, you're being really rude. You're not making her cook for you."
The Doctor stared at her for a moment, before capitulating. "You're right. I know what I need. I need, I need-" He opened the freezer and the refrigerator. "I need fish fingers and custard."
Moments later he was sitting at the table with Rose and the small ginger girl, happily dipping his food and eating, making the girl grin.
"Funny."
"Am I? Good. Funny's good. What's your name?"
"Amelia Pond."
"I like that." Rose said.
"Oh, that's a brilliant name, Amelia Pond. Like a name in a fairy tale. Are we in Scotland, Amelia?"
"No, we had to move to England. It's Rubbish."
"So what about your mum and dad, then?" The Doctor asked. "Are they upstairs? Thought we'd have woken them by now."
"I don't have a mum and dad." She replied.
"Neither do I." Rose said. The Doctor's head snapped up, looking at the mystery that was Rose Tyler.
Amelia smiled at her. "I just have an aunt."
The Doctor pushed aside the his concerns about Rose for the moment, and focused on Amelia. "I don't even have an aunt."
"You're lucky." Amelia said.
"I know. So your aunt, where is she?"
"She's out."
"And she left you here all alone?" Rose asked, aghast.
"I'm not scared." Amelia replied, proudly.
"Course you're not. You're not scared of anything. Box falls out of the sky, man falls out of the box, man eats fish custard, and look at you, just sitting there. So you know what I think?"
"What?" Amelia asked.
"Must be a hell of a scary crack in your wall." He stood from the table, and offered his hand to Rose, who grinned and took it with her own. Even in this new regeneration their hands still fit together perfectly.
Amelia led them up the stairs to her bedroom. On the wall was a crack about three feet long, and jagged.
"You've had some cowboys in here." The doctor said. "Not literal cowboys, though that can happen."
"I used to hate apples, so my mum put faces on them." Amelia muttered, holding up an apple with a face cut into it. She held it out to The Doctor.
"She sounds lovely." Rose said.
"I'll keep this for later." He said, as he pocketed the apple. He then moved forward to the wall. "This wall is solid, and the crack doesn't go all the way through it. So here's the thing. Where's the draft coming from?"
"A crack in the universe?" Rose guessed.
The doctor looked at her surprised, before grinning. "Very good. It's a split in the skin of the world. Two parts of space and time that should never have touched." He looked at Amelia. "Sometimes, can you hear?"
"A voice. Yes.
The Doctor grabbed her night time glass of water and dumped it out on the rug, before pressing it to the crack, and listening through it.
"You just love making a mess." Rose muttered.
"Prisoner Zero?"
"Prisoner Zero has escaped. That's what I heard. What does it mean?"
"It means on the the other side of this wall, there's a prison and they've lost a prisoner."
"Lost him through here?" Rose asked.
"Probably." The doctor replied, before looking at Amelia. "You know what that means?"
"What?"
"You need a better wall. The only way to close the breach is to open it all the way. The forces will invert, and it will snap itself shut. Or..."
"What?" Amelia wondered.
"You know when grown-ups tell you everything is going to be fine, and you think they're probably lying to make you feel better?"
"Yes."
"Everything is going to be fine."
"Doctor..." Rose said, sounding worried.
"Don't worry, I just got you back. I'm not abut to loose you again." The Doctor takes Roses hand, and she in turn takes Amelia's small hand in her own. He aims his sonic screwdriver at the crack causing it to widen significantly.
A voice echoed from within the crack "Prisoner Zero has escaped. Prisoner Zero has escaped."
"'Ello?" Rose called.
With a loud woosh sound, a giant blue eyeball descends to the crack, and stares at them.
"What's that?" Amelia asked.
A bright pulse of light fired from the eye to The Doctor's hip, causing him to jerk back. Suddenly, the crack snaped shut, disappearing in a flash of light.
"There, you see? Told you it would close. Good as new."
"What's that thing?" Amelia asked, "Was that prisoner Zero?"
"No." Rose answered. "That was an atraxi."
The Doctor looked at her surprised again, before speaking. "I think that was prisoner Zero's Guard."
"Whatever it was, it sent me a message. Psychic paper. Takes a lovely little message." He pulled the paper from his pocket and looked at it. "Prisoner Zero has escaped. Yes, we already know that. I think you were right, Rose. Prisoner Zero escaped through here. But he couldn't have. We'd know.
Together, the trio moved out of the bed room, into the hall. "It's difficult, brand new me. Nothing works yet."
"What are we looking for?" Rose asked.
"There's something I'm missing," He told her. "Something in the corner of my eye."
He just begins to turn around, when the Tardis's cloister bells could be heard.
"No no no no no no no!" He ran, for the stairs, towing Rose behind him, as he hadn't let go of her hand. Amelia ran behind them. They ran out to the garden to the still smoking Tardis.
"I've got to get back in there. The engine's are phasing. It's going to burn.
"But it's just a box, how can a box have engines?"
"It's not a box, it's a time machine."
"What, a real one? You've got a real time machine?"
"Not for much longer if I can't get her stabilised. Five minute hop to the future should do it." He looked at Rose. "Don't supposed I can convince you to wait here?"
"No chance." She said.
"Can I come?" Amelia asked.
"Not safe in there. Not yet. Five minutes. Give us five minutes, We'll be right back."
"People always say that." Amelia groused.
"Are we people? De we even look like people? Trust us, we're The Doctor and Rose Tyler."
He jumped down into the Tardis, Rose climbing down the rope after him. "Geronimo!"
The Tardis doors closed, and it dematerialised. Inside the Tardis, The doctor clung to the console.
"First, fix the artificial gravity." He flipped a switch, and they were able to stand on the grating, again, without falling deeper into the Tardis. He started running around the console, flipping switches, and pulling levers.
"Um, Doctor, It looks like the Helmic Regulator is mis-dialled. We won't be back in five minutes. This looks more like... Twelve years."
The Doctor froze, and stared at Rose. "How do you know that?"
"The... Other doctor, taught me how to fly the Tardis." With that, she moved quickly, adjusting the regulator that controlled when they arrived, before she began pulling levers and pushing buttons herself, flying the Tardis like an expert. "He build a mock console and taught me how to fly and repair her."
"But... That's not something you can learn in just a few years. How long were you in Pete's world?"
Rose froze for a moment, then looked down at her feet. "Seventy three years."
"But... you don't look older then twenty one."
"Surprise."
"How? What?" He asked, mystified.
"Not now, Doctor, We don't have time. We need to go back for Amelia, and find Prisoner Zero. Then afterwards, I'll answer all your questions."
"He stared at her for a moment longer, then nodded. "Alright."
The Tardis materialised back in Amelia's yard, and the little girl leapt up. She was sitting on a suitcase waiting for their return. The Doctor ran down the ramp, and threw open the doors, then started shouting. "Amelia! I worked out what it was. I know what I was missing."
"What is it?" Rose asked.
"Come on." He grabbed Rose's hand, and she in turn grabbed Amelia's hand. They ran together into the house, and up the stairs.
"It's right here." He explained, running up the stairs to a door on the second level of the house. There's a perception filter around the door."
"How have I never noticed that door before?" Amelia asked.
"That's the perception filter, honey." Rose explained. "It kept you from noticing it."
"Wow."
"Indeed." The Doctor said. "Very wow. Now Rose, stay behind me, and protect Amelia."
With that, The Doctor moved forward and opened the door with the perception filter. He held his sonic screwdriver out like a weapon, aiming it around the room.
"I don't see anything." Amelia said.
"Prisoner Zero stopped you from seeing the whole room. What makes you think you can see it?"
Upon hearing a soft hissing sound, The Doctor spun around, aiming his screwdriver ahead of him. Directly ahead of him was a reptilian snake like creature hanging from the ceiling. It had wide eyes, and sharp razor teeth.
"Oh, you are beautiful... Prisoner Zero, I assume."
The creature snapped forward, cleanly biting the sonic screwdriver in half. "Um, Rose. I think it's time to..."
"Run?" She asked.
"Run." He confirmed. She quickly pulled Amelia out of the room, moving fast with The Doctor on their heels. The lunged down the stairs, then spun around, to see Prisoner Zero watching them from the doorway of the room.
A bright light suddenly flooded in through the windows scanning the interior. A voice echoed in from outside, "Attention Prisoner Zero, the human residence is surronded. Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."
"Oh wonderful," Rose muttered. "The cavalry is here."
"I'll make this simple. Turn yourself over to them, Prisoner Zero."
The creature spoke in a deep hissing tongue. "The atraxi will kill me this time."
"Okay, you came to this world by opening a crack in space and time. Do it again. Just leave."
"I did not open the crack."
"Somebody did."
"The cracks in the skin of the universe, don't you know where they came from. You don't do you?"
The Doctor stared blankly trying to work out the creatures meaning.
"The universe is cracked. The Pandorica will open. Silence will fall."
"What do we do, Doctor?" Rose asked.
"If only I still had a working sonic screwdriver." He muttered.
"Here." Rose reached into her jacket and pulled out a black sonic screwdriver with a green tip. It was a little bit longer and thicker then the one that was currently making it's way through the creatures digestive track.
"Where'd you get that?" The Doctor asked.
"I made it."
"You are brilliant, Rose Tyler." He took the screwdriver from her. "Now, the Atraxi are scanning for non-terrestrial technology, and nothing says non-terrestrial like a sonic screwdriver." He depressed the button and it emitted a loud screeching warble. The lights in the house flickered before the bulbs started exploding. Suddenly a bright light filled the windows of the house, projected in from the Atraxi outside.
"Oh, And I think they just found us."
"Then I shall take a new form." The creature hissed. It began to glow, and suddenly where once was a snake there stood another of The Doctor.
"Doctor!" Cried Rose, as she caught the collapsing Amelia, Who passed out at the same moment.
"Oh. He's a multiform. Disguise itself as anything, but it needs a live feed. A psychic link with a living but dormant mind. She'll be fine, Rose. I promise." He turned to Prisoner Zero. "Well that's rubbish, who's that supposed to be?"
"That's you." Rose answered him.
"Why me, though? You linked with her, Why are you copying me?"
"I'm not." A small red-haired girl stepped out from behind the creatures impersonation of The Doctor, holding his hand. "Poor Amelia Pond, such a child, dreaming of the magic Doctor and Rose who will take her away."
"No, she's dreaming about me because she can hear me." The Doctor dropped to his knees, taking Amelia's face in his hands. "Amelia, don't just hear me, listen. Remember the room, the room in your house you couldn't see. Remember what we saw in there. Dream of what we saw.
"No!" The Amelia duplicate shouted as she began to glow. Suddenly the snake-like creature was back. "No!" it hissed.
"Well done, Prisoner Zero. A perfect impersonation of yourself. The lights shining in the house became brighter, and a voice echoed in from outside.
"Prisoner Zero is located. Prisoner Zero is restrained."
"Silence, Doctor." Prisoner Zero hissed. "Silence will fall." There was a sudden flash of bright light, and the snake creature was gone.
They stood for a moment, before Rose spoke. "Doctor, I think the Tardis is ready." She pulled out her key, still worn on a chain around her neck, which was glowing brightly. He spun, and ran out of the house to the Tardis.
"Okay, what have you got for us this time." He threw open the doors and the two stepped inside. "Look at you. Oh you sexy thing. Look at you."
He moved forward to the console, to begin the dematrialization sequence. "Um. Doctor." Spoke up Rose. "Aren't you forgetting something?"
He looked up to see Amelia standing in the doorway holding her small suitcase, and staring amazed at the console room.
"Oh yes, of course. Sorry, Amelia, I got ahead of myself. It's the excitement of a new console room."
Rose smiled at him lovingly (whether she realised it was that kind of smile or not) and took the suitcase from her. She set the case by the door before speaking. "This is our time machine space ship. T-A-R-D-I-S. That's Time And Relative Dimension In Space."
"Wow. So we can go to space?"
"Do you want to see?" The Doctor asked. Ten minutes later, they were standing in the open doors, looking down on the planet Earth.
"How are we breathing?" Amelia asked.
"I extended the air shell." The Doctor said. "We're fine."
Amelia didn't understand what he said, but nodded anyway, assuming he knew what he was talking about.
"So. All of time and space, everything that ever was or will be. Where do you want to go?"
"Um Doctor." Rose spoke up. "It was late when we crashed, she was in bed, and then we had to deal with Prisoner Zero. I think we should let her get some sleep."
"Right, of course." The Doctor said. "Show her to a room, would you, then meet me in the medical bay."
"Doctor-"
"Humour me."
Rose led Amelia through the hall to a room with a light blue door. She opened it to show Amelia that it was decorated for a child with a wall of stuffed animals, and art supplies. The bed was the perfect size for a child.
"It's perfect." Amelia said, amazed.
"The Tardis made this room just for you." Rose explained.
"How does that work?"
"The Tardis is alive." Rose told her. "It's a living ship."
Amelia was having trouble wrapping her mind around the idea that the ship was alive.
"Would you like me to tuck you in?"
Amelia nodded and jumped on the bed. "You should brush your teeth first. The en suite I through there."
Amelia grumbled and headed for the en suite. Three minutes later, she was back in bed, being tucked in by Rose. Rose kissed her on her forehead and the lights dimmed by themselves, leaving just a soft light remaining in the room. Amelia was soon asleep, and Rose was heading for the medical bay.