Panic gripped her as she saw the group of four people exiting a blue police box. A connection to her ancient people, dormant for so long, was roused at the back of her mind. The box was a TARDIS. So at least one of the occupants must be a Time Lord – there, the blonde woman in the middle who was keeping up a stream of chatter to her companions. Time Lord. Danger. Only one Time Lord she knew of had survived the Time War. The Doctor. Death. Run.
And so the girl took off down a side street. Ironically it was this action that gained the attention of those she had been trying to hide from.
The Doctor stopped suddenly, holding a hand to her head. 'Doctor?' Yaz asked worriedly 'Are you OK?'
'Fear… but not my fear' the Doctor mumbled 'Something got past my mental shields, but only a psychic bond could do that.' The Doctor stood up suddenly, and took off after the fleeing girl, leaving Yaz, Ryan and Graham to keep up as well as they could.
They were chasing her. They must know. How she had survived this long was anybody's guess, but her past had finally caught up with her. So caught up in her panic, the girl took a wrong turn. It was a dead end. No escape. She curled up behind a large bin in a vain hope she wouldn't be spotted. No such luck.
The Doctor skidded to a halt at the entrance to the dead end, her senses reaching out. She could feel someone, hiding behind a bin, but surely that was her mind playing tricks on her. After all, she was the last Time Lord… She rounded the corner to find a girl, who looked to be about 9 or 10, huddled behind a bin. As their eyes met, the Doctor felt a flash of terror across the back of her mind, who knew it was from this strange girl, who promptly threw herself on her knees.
As Yaz, Ryan and Graham rounded the corner, they saw a shell-shocked looking Doctor, standing over a girl speaking a strange language kneeling prostrate in front of her. As the girl stopped talking, the Doctor looked down at her in bewilderment. 'What?!'
The girl flinched back from the simple word, and began to speak in English. 'Oh, great Lady Doctor of the Noble House of Lungbarrow of the Worshipful Prydonian Chapter, I beg for you to show mercy unto me this day!'
The others were standing there as stunned as the Doctor, until she seemed to snap out of it, and recite 'I grant you mercy and protection this day, in which no harm shall come to you by my hand or word.' At this, the girl seemed to visibly relax, while still appearing terrified. The Doctor leaned down to put a hand on her shoulder, but the moment they made contact, there was a large blue flash at the point of contact, and the girl collapsed.
The Doctor swore under her breathe, and pulled out her sonic screwdriver. She scanned the girl, before hitting herself on the forehead. 'Stupid, temporal energy deficit. Not surprising if she's been here a while.' She span around to her companions. 'We need to get her to the TARDIS, but I can't touch her, obviously. Should be safe for humans though. Fortunately I've just finished… this!' She declared, sticking her screwdriver into the air. Immediately the familiar noise of the TARDIS sounded, and she materialised next to them.
The Doctor ran into the TARDIS, vanishing down a corridor. Snapping out of her shock, Yaz knelt by the young girl, letting her police officer training take over. She checked the girl's breathing, which seemed slightly strained, but not worryingly so. What concerned Yaz far more was her incredibly erratic pulse. Worried, Yaz listened to her heart, but to her surprised this sounded fine.
'How is she?' asked Ryan as he and Graham came over.
'Strange' replied Yaz, checking the heart again. 'Her pulse and heartbeat don't match up'. She was about to say something else, but the Doctor reappeared with a stretcher.
'Good work Yaz, checking her over!' the Doctor exclaimed as she appeared 'Can always rely on you lot. How's her other heart?' As one, the three companions turned to the Doctor
'Other…heart? What are you talking about Doc?' Graham looked incredibly confused, almost as confused as Ryan felt.
'She's a Time Lord, like me. Two hearts' the Doctor pointed at her two hearts, she was sure she'd told them this at some point. 'Yaz, Ryan, could you lift her up onto the stretcher please? I want to get her into the medical bay where I can keep an eye on her.'
'Time Lord?' Ryan asked, at the same moment Graham startled 'Here, Doc, you can't just go around kidnapping unconscious kids!'
'She needs help Graham, and no hospital on this planet could even diagnose her. Come on!'
They made short work of getting the girl onto the stretcher, and wheeling her into the med bay. The Doctor directed Yaz and Graham on how to attach various monitoring devices to her, and left to put the TARDIS into the Vortex, where they would be safer.