Author's Notes
This is the second in the series of Twelfth Doctor Adventures, featuring the Doctor and Charlie Drake. It follows Lucid Dreams, in which Charlie met the Doctor.
The story so far...
Despite a warning from Kate Stewart, head of UNIT, the Doctor has decided to take Charlie with him on adventures in the TARDIS, although this is mainly to avoid a time travel paradox.
With a hypnic jerk, Charlie's eyes snapped open.
His heart beat sporadically for a moment, as he fought the sudden anxiety of waking in a strange place.
He was no longer at home, but in the TARDIS, amongst its dancing, pulsing lights.
"Sleep well?" the Doctor asked.
"Um…?" Charlie grunted, massaging his temples.
He couldn't think of the last thing that happened before he fell asleep. Nor could he remember what he was dreaming about. Something to do with being chased by a hideous monster? Or did that actually happen?
He stretched, and looked up at the Doctor. He had his back to him, and he appeared to be carefully adjusting some controls.
No, last night wasn't a dream. The nightmare had been real.
The Doctor whirled around. His ever-present glare examined him, and then re-examined him, just for good measure.
"Are you alright?"
The Doctor was evidently trying to show concern, but his tone sounded more frightening than comforting.
"Yes," Charlie mumbled automatically.
The Doctor narrowed his eyes. If he could tell anything from Charlie's response, he wasn't revealing it.
"You weren't bothered by the dream again?"
"No," Charlie replied, a hint of genuine relief in his voice.
He could only recall snippets of his dream; it was already beginning to recede from his memory.
"You kept mentioning a name."
The Doctor turned back to the console, pretending that a readout on the TARDIS monitor was more interesting than his comment.
"A name? What name?" Charlie returned, a little quickly. Perhaps too quickly.
The Doctor mulled over Charlie's questions, and shrugged.
"Don't know. I didn't think it was important at the time, so I didn't bother to remember it. Not sure why I asked, really."
Charlie studied the Doctor for a moment, trying to work out what he knew.
He quickly masked his concern with an attentive grin, before the Doctor swung back to face him.
"Anyway," he chirped, leaning back on the console, "you're awake now, so I'll land the TARDIS. I didn't think you'd want to miss your first visit to the future."
The Doctor's eyes were glowing with a childlike intensity – a passion, perhaps. It was an expression Charlie had last seen when they were hounded by a demonic creature, and were running for their lives.
"I would have woken you earlier, because I was getting bored, but let's be honest, humans are very funny about their forty winks," the Doctor added with an introspective frown.
Charlie threw the Doctor a bemused look. He'd already forgotten that the Doctor was an alien, and it was strange to hear the word 'humans' mentioned in such a way.
"So where are we? Where are we going?"
The Doctor pushed the TARDIS screen towards him, and Charlie stood up to examine it more closely.
He was looking at a grey world, with huge continents of steel - fractured by streaks of copper.
There were sprawling circular and hexagonal shapes blossoming from the picture, constantly shifting and changing. It was information in an alien language – the Doctor's language. Perhaps it described the planet's history, population, and details of the ecosystem?
Charlie had no idea. But his gaze kept snapping back to the metallic planet, and he felt a sudden surge of excitement, heightened by the sound of the TARDIS' distinctive engines. They had landed.
"Solos Nine," the Doctor announced. "Located in the Solos Nebula, which is sometimes known as the Cyclops Nebula – don't ask me why. It was named by the humans who colonised the planet, as well as several others in this system."
"Another world… in the future?" Charlie muttered.
It seemed so strange that just days ago, he was living his boring life, oblivious to the possibility of alien creatures and planets. Oblivious to life outside his own front door. Oblivious to everything.
"The technology here's really something," the Doctor professed. "It's far more advanced, and way more impressive than yours."
"Is it safe? Outside?" Charlie suddenly thought to ask.
The Doctor tilted his head, deliberating his response.
"Probably." He shrugged. "No extreme temperatures. No dangerous levels of radiation. Although," he tapped a gauge on the console, "that meter's never worked properly."
He looked up, a gleam in his eye. "Shall we take a look?"
Charlie grinned. "Why not?"
The Doctor flicked a switch on the console, and with a hum, the TARDIS doors opened.
He held out his palm, and pointed Charlie towards the doorway.
"After you."