Destiny. Ouch. My name, that is. Don't look at me like that, I didn't choose it, it was the one that came to me! And if you start with the jokes about the pop group who claims to be my child… Well, go ahead. It's not like I'd hear them anyways!

I made a discovery recently, well, we all have with everything that's been happening all around the world, alien ship over London, fat walking, whatnot, but the thing is, you don't believe it until you actually see it with your own eyes, do you? And I have. I've seen it all. Well, some. 'Cause I've been out there.

I know what you're thinking now, an astronaut with a name like this?! And you're right, I'm not an astronaut. I don't know how to operate a spaceship or move around in vacuum in a space suit. And you pretty much need to nail these if you wanna be an astronaut. So I heard anyway. And these requirements made a lot of sense, even to me – until I sat down by an old police box in the park.

I love parks. I like to think of them as the perfect compromise between nature and civilization: they're built and grown at the same time. Peaceful. Even people are different, happier, calmer in parks.

Anyways, I read a lot and one needs a good spot for that. It needs to be quiet but not deserted, soft on the bum but supportive on the back, warm but not right in the sun 'cause I've a very sensitive white skin. So as luck would have it, I found this big blue police box in the corner of the garden, right by the rosebeds and it was perfect. I was just submerging in the darkness of Poe (literature course, I don't actually read Poe for my own pleasure!0 when the door I was leaning on was suddenly opened from the inside.

THE NINTH

Destiny ran out to the dark alley ignoring that the sirens went off.

"Bloody Nazis" she murmured, more annoyed than scared. She was so close to the truth, she felt it, so very close! And they had had to go and start bombing again. She had followed the stranger who joked about objects falling out of the sky – as he was leaving the club, he'd accidentally touched her hand. And Destiny felt it. She felt the familiarity, the wisdom, the deep emotions, all and each every one of them. She knew he was full of answers so she came out the same way but he was nowhere. Where could he possibly go?!

"Oh hello!" I heard a man welcoming me in a surprised but warm voice. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were out there."

I stood up slowly but needed to lean on his helpful arm heavily. My head hurt like hell – but I still noticed, he was kinda cute. Very cute, actually. He had a thin face, deep, really deep brown eyes and spiky, black hair. He was looking at me rather concerned.

"Are you feeling alright?"

"No worries," I said, "I didn't realize there was somebody in here either!"

I smiled at him but stopped halfway, noticing the room. The police box was just the entrance apparently. It opened up to a hll of some kind, with several levels and staircases and a round console in the middle.

"Wow, look at that!" I said and walked past him to the console. There was a couple standing by it already, apparently just as amazed by the size of it as I was. (I'm not a size-phobic but admit it, we're more impressed by the tallest building in the world than the smallest statue.) It had hundreds of buttons and pulls and leavers and bells, and little screens and everything on it. It looked like some kind of machine so to see what it did, I started pushing, pulling some of the things on it.

"Stop!" the cute stranger said, jumping next to me immediately. "Don't touch those!"

I laughed at him.

"It's not gonna break, look at it! It's for you to try, can't you see? C'mon, push that button!"

As if to support my intention, the middle of the machine lit up and started with some funny breathing sound.

"Aw, see, it's working now!" I said enthusiastically but my cute stranger tried to pull me away. Snap! I held on too tight and one of the yellow leavers stayed in my hand.

"Oops!" I said. "I think it did break after all!"

This didn't stop the man, he started to push more, running around the console like crazy. I joined in and the room shook and shivered and then with a huge bang it became silent again.

"Wow!" I couldn't help saying. "That was awesome! They should advertise this thing better!"

I smiled at the couple but they looked too shaken to return it.

"You're OK?" I asked them.

"Doctor?" the woman said looking at my stranger. He still played with the console, the lines on his forehead appearing deeper in the blue light of the funny machine than before.

"I need some time here" he said. "Never touch the TARDIS again, do you understand?!" he shouted at me.

"Calm down, mate! It's just a stupid exhibition, the police won't take you away! There's no damage made!"

"You think?!"

I didn't like the look on his face, it was like proper mad. Maybe he built it, I thought, but still, it was just one leaver out of the hundreds of different things on the machine, and it was still working.

"I'm sorry" I said in any case, but he paid no attention. I thought I'd better leave. Machines and me, we're always like "a tornado meets a volcano" as our friend Eminem says, better to keep my distance. I opened the door to get some air and stepped out.

I clutched the leaver that was still in my hand.

"What the …"

The park was gone. There was water everywhere I looked. I was standing on some kind of wooden structure that seemed to be haphazardly erected from wreckage. I probably should've worried about its stability but I didn't care much for all that. 'Cause right in front of me was standing a fish.

I know, I know, it's a self-conflicting description but I swear: it was a fish and it was standing on its two feet! It was blue and had a water tube on his face, presumably as a means of breathing or whatever fish do, as it was outside of water. It had hands and a body and two legs as people would but his face was not human.

It looked right at me, not moving an inch and I was quickly running through scenarios in my head that could explain all that was happening. Have I used a different door? Was he wearing a mask? Was it a statue? Was I dreaming? Did I hit my head harder than I thought? Was I on some kind of drugs?

I still felt the hard wood of the door at my back and I tried to open it without taking my eyes off the creature, who seemed to be frozen at the shock of seeing me. But the bubbles moved up and down in his tube, so he wasn't a statue, that was for sure. The door was stuck, I kept pulling and pushing but it didn't move a bit. I felt the panic growing on me and screamed as the fishman took a step towards me.

"Guys, come here!" he shouted out. I shook my head. Surely, that was impossible. How could he speak English through a tube?! No, I decided, it was either part of that reality game I seemed to be stepped in when I fell through the door of the police box or I simply fell asleep. That was the only explanation for not only their existence but for me understanding them as well. I decided to roll along.

"Hello" I said and his eyes widened, tilting his head from one side to the other.

"You speak Hath!" he exclaimed and I laughed.

"What's your name?" I asked him and noticed several of his kind climbing up the poles. They examined me just as curiously as I examined them.

"17" the first one said and I noticed how similar they looked. It was going to be hard to distinguish them.

"Is that your name?" I asked him again and he pointed at the water tube in front of his face.

"That's what it says here" he replied and sure enough, there was the big number 17 in black on it.

"What are you, appearing in our world out of thin air, speaking the ancient language of the Hath?" another one interrupted. He had a deep, angry voice but I figured him straight out: he was harmless, he just wanted to impress the others around him. I gave him my hand and smiled.

"It's Destiny" I said and many of them repeated my name with awe. It had been a long time since I had that kind of effect on men, so even if they were only fishmen, I was kind of pleased.

"We'll take you to the Elders" he said and to his command one fishman grabbed each of my arms. I didn't object. There was no danger in the air.