To Travel the Stars
Chapter One: Meeting the Doctor
Evanna was walking through the streets of London, breathing in the air and turning in a circle as she walked to take everything in. It was her first time out of the United States and she couldn't be more excited. She was by herself in the middle of London, but she didn't care.
Evanna's father had left when she was still a baby. She didn't know much about him because her mother never talked about him much. Evanna didn't really mind though. The only annoying part about it was that she hadn't been able to get a passport until she was eighteen. But now here she was, eighteen years old, a passport and enough money for the trip, in the one place in the world she had always wanted to go the most.
As she was walking along the back roads, avoiding the large crowds she hated so much. She came across a blue box that said Police Public Call Box on the top. She had never seen one before, and it was made of wood, unlike the red telephone boxes in town which were made of metal. Must be old, Evanna thought. Somehow the box seemed familiar, like it was drawing her in, but she disregarded it and kept walking.
Evanna had reached the door of her hotel that day to find herself almost run over by a tall man.
"Slow down," Evanna said, trying to regain her balance.
"Sorry 'bout that," the man said, "but I'm kind of in a hurry." He went to run away, but then turned back and said, "Oh, and if I were you, I'd run!"
Evanna was thoroughly confused, but for some odd reason she trusted the man, and as soon as he took off again she broke into a run after him.
"Where are we going?" She yelled after the man, but he didn't answer.
He disappeared down a side street and Evanna followed. She wondered how this guy managed to run so much and not get tired. She followed him down a few more streets until they came to the blue telephone box Evanna had passed before. The man took a key out of his pocked and put it into the door of the blue box, then pushing it open.
"Get in," he said, putting a pair of 3-D glasses on which had the red lens missing and looking around.
"In there?" Evanna asked, "You want me to get inside a tiny blue box. Isn't that considered kidnapping?"
"Well, if you want to get killed, then by all means feel free to stay out here," he said.
"Get killed by what?" Evanna asked.
"I'll explain inside, just get in," he pushed Evanna into the box. She tried to protest but stopped as soon as she saw the inside of the box.
The man closed the door behind him and then went over to a screen on a big metal contraption in the middle of the room, which was bigger than the box on the outside had been.
"Well, this isn't something you see every day," Evanna said, walking towards the middle of the room.
"You're not freaking out," the man said, looking up from a screen, "that's a first."
Evanna just stared at him, letting what had just happened sink in. She had just run off with some British guy that looked like he was thirty that she didn't know and was now hiding from something invisible in a telephone box that was bigger on the inside. Most people would leave, but she was too intrigued.
"So who are you?" Evanna asked.
"The Doctor," he said.
"The Doctor?" Evanna asked, "that's it?"
"Yep," the Doctor said, "What was your name?"
"Evanna Landen."
"Well Evanna Landen, welcome to the TARDIS. Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. Now, whatever's out there have found us, and we need to get going." The Doctor said, flipping a bunch of switches.
"And how are we going to do that?"
"Allonz-y," he said, flipped on last switch, and the TARDIS started to shake. Evanna grabbed onto the railing behind her to keep from falling over.
"So what were those things exactly?" Evanna shouted over the roar of the TARDIS.
"Not sure, some sort of aliens, I would imagine," he said, and the TARDIS stopped shaking.
"Aliens? Like, from outer space?" Evanna asked.
"You ask a lot of questions," the Doctor pointed out.
"You have a problem with questions?" Evanna asked.
"I like you Evanna Landen," the Doctor said, "Now, let's go."
"Go where?" Evanna asked, and a horrified look came over her face when the Doctor went over to open the door, "Out there?"
"Yes, out there," he said.
"You've got to be joking, you said those alien things were out there."
"They aren't there anymore," the Doctor said.
"How can you be so sure?" Evanna asked.
"Just trust me," he said.
"I just met you!"
"And what have I done so far? I saved your life, now come on," the Doctor said, walking out of the TARDIS. Evanna took a deep breath and followed him out. When she got outside, she found herself in the middle of a bunch of modern apartment buildings in the middle of the city part of London.
"We moved," Evanna said, staring in front of her.
"Good observation," the Doctor said, "now let's get moving before they find us again."
"How did we move?"
"The TARDIS," the Doctor said, "it's kind of like a teleport, if that makes sense."
"I thought teleportation was impossible," Evanna said.
"On Earth in the 21st century, yes. But you're not the only ones in the whole of time and space."
"So where are we going?" Evanna asked.
"Not sure," the Doctor said.
"So, what, you just make this up as you go along?"
"Pretty much," the Doctor said, then he looked up at the building in front of him and muttered something.
"Huh?"
"Rose," he said, "she's an old friend I used to travel with. She lived in that building."
"Where is she now?" Evanna asked.
"Long story, but she's happy and alive and that's what matters," the Doctor said.
"Something tells me that this Rose was more than just a friend," Evanna said, nudging the Doctor's side with her elbow.
"It's complicated," he said.
"Alright, well, I guess we've gotta figure out where we're gonna go. We're not gonna accomplish anything by standing here." Evanna said.
"Oh, so you want to help now?" the Doctor asked, smiling.
"I've got nothing better to do. Plus, I've always been a sucker for adventure," Evanna said.
"Right, so we need to get inside somewhere, make plans and such. You know anywhere we can go?"
"Well I don't exactly live here," Evanna rolled her eyes.
"Right, America. Yes, so what to do?"
"We could go back to my hotel. You know, the one where you practically ran me over at."
"I said I was sorry! Now let's go before those things find us again." They headed off towards the hotel, the Doctor leading the way because Evanna had no idea where they even were.
"Don't you want the key?" Evanna asked when they had reached her hotel room.
"Nah," the Doctor said, pulling something out of the inside pocket of his coat. He pointed it at the doorknob, pressed a button on it, and then opened the door with no problems.
"How did – What is that?" Evanna asked.
"A screwdriver," the Doctor said, walking into the room.
"It doesn't look like a screwdriver."
"Alright, it's a sonic screwdriver. Why do you feel the need to ask so many questions?"
"Because I don't like it when I don't know what's going on."
"I know what you mean," the Doctor said, scanning the room with the screwdriver.
"What's with the 3-D glasses, by the way?" Evanna asked.
"Oh, yes, obvious question. I can see the alien things with them on. Well, sort of see them. Well, I can't see their true forms, just sort of a blob and that's only from the particles of the air moving around them as they move," the Doctor explained.
"Makes sense," Evanna said.
"You got all of that?"
"Yeah."
"Good to have someone who's not a total idiot around."
"Than-hey! Whay do you mean total idiot?"
"You're human, all humans at least have some idiocy in them," the Doctor said. He put the 3-D glasses on and looked out the window. Evanna flopped down on the bed.
"You say that as if you're not human," she said.
"I'm not," the Doctor said.
"Wonderful. I'm working with an alien."
"An alien to you. Anyway onto more important things, how do we stop those aliens?"
"How should I know? You're the alien," Evanna said.
"Well from what I've gathered, they're from the planet Yalratra," the Doctor said, ignoring Evanna.
"And how did you come to that conclusion?"
"I asked them," Evanna looked at the Doctor and rolled her eyes, "What? It worked. But they should be relatively easy to kill, if we can get them all together."
"Kill? Who said anything about killing them? Isn't that a little harsh?"
"Well I always give them a choice, they can either leave the planet or I'll kill them. When I ran into you I was running away from them. I had tried to reason with them and they tried to kill me!"
"Alright, alright, calm down," Evanna said.
They sat in silence for a few moments, and then the Doctor shot up out of the chair he was sitting in.
"What is that?" he said.
"What is what?" Evanna asked, sitting up.
"That noise," the Doctor walked over to the sink outside the bathroom, and opened the cabinet underneath, revealing a bomb that had thirty seconds left on the timer.
The Doctor looked back at Evanna, who was now standing up and wide-eyed.
"Don't just stand there!" she said, "Do something before it kills the both of us!"
"Right," the Doctor said. There were now twenty seconds left on the bomb. He whipped out the sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the bomb. As soon as he pressed the bomb, the timer stopped at 16 seconds. Evanna let out a sigh of relief.
"Who put it there?"
"Who d'ya think put it there?" the Doctor said mockingly. "Question is, how did they get it there? I had a clear view of the door to get in and it never opened."
"What if one of them's been here the whole time? Followed us into the room when we got here."
"Yeah, but these creatures aren't the kind to go on suicide missions," the Doctor said. He put on his 3-D glasses and looked around, "Besides, there's none showing up. None that I can see anyway, and these glasses never fail."
"Of course, put all your faith into a flimsy pair of 3-D glasses," Evanna said, rolling her eyes, but then they lit up when she realized something, "These things are intelligent, right?"
"Well, yeah, I suppose so."
"Check the refrigerator!" Evanna said.
"Why?" the Doctor asked.
"I've heard it's the safest place to be during an explosion. Refrigerators don't get blown up, they'll go flying, but you won't get burnt or anything."
"You're brilliant, you are," the Doctor said. He picked up Evanna in a hug, spun her around, and then ran over to the refrigerator after he put her down. He threw the door open and then reached in and grabbed something, but Evanna didn't see anything in his hand.
"Is that one of them?" she asked.
"Yes," the Doctor said, holding it out at arm's length, "Now, what kind of creature are you?"
"I am a Hycora. We dominate the planet of Yalratra." It said.
"Yes, I know that," the Doctor said.
"It speaks English,' Evanna said. She figured it would have spoke some foreign alien language.
"No," the Doctor said, "that'd be the TARDIS."
"What?" Evanna was seriously starting to consider that the Doctor was insane.
"The TARDIS, once you've traveled in it, it gets inside your head and translates everything for you."
"Good to know. Now what are we going to do with that thing?"
"Send it back where it came from, follow it back there. There's a higher power that's controlling it." The Doctor pulled out the sonic screwdriver, scanned the alien with it, and then dropped the alien. A few seconds later Evanna saw the door open and shut on its own.
"C'mon let's follow it," the Doctor said, running out the room. Evanna ran after him, making sure to close the door behind her.
"There's a lot of running with you, isn't there?" Evanna said.
"Yeah," the Doctor said, "but someone's got to stop all the aliens from taking over you little humans."
"Little? You look just like us," Evanna said.
"On the outside," the Doctor said. He took out his screwdriver again and started scanning the area around them. It made a beeping noise and the Doctor headed in that direction.
They followed the signal to the outskirts of London to an old abandoned building.
"What are they doing here?" Evanna asked.
"What d'you mean?" the Doctor asked.
"Why would the aliens be hiding in an old textile factory?" Evanna said, as she recognized it from a lesson in History a few years back.
"Is that what this is?" the Doctor said, looking up at the building. "How'd you know?"
"History class?"
"Well, didn't I pick up a brilliant little companion?" the Doctor said. Evanna didn't look amused so he continued, "I would imagine they figured they'd go unnoticed in a big old abandoned factory. But these things must still be hooked up to electricity. Which means they probably need that for something, but what? It has to be big, by the size of this place. Oh that's it! It must be a spaceship! Crash landed on Earth and now they can't get back to their home planet. Must be something valuable on it if they tried to kill me. Must've thought I was trying to steal it for myself."
"You talk a lot," Evanna said.
"Thanks for pointing out your epiphany, but we've got bigger problems than my excessive talking," the Doctor said, opening the door to the factory, "Ladies first."
Evanna shook her head and walked into the building, the Doctor right behind her. The factory was pitch black and smelt of mold and oil. The air was thick and muggy and Evanna could imagine that she'd die of suffocation if they stayed in there too long.
"Doctor?" Evanna said, "where are you?"
"Over here," she heard a distance in front of her. Then suddenly a blue light was in her eyes, and then it moved, revealing where the Doctor was. She walked toward him as he scanned the room. He frowned after he had gone around the room once, but then he pointed the sonic screwdriver at the ceiling and it started beeping.
"We've got to go upstairs," the Doctor whispered.
"Why are you whispering?" Evanna asked.
"You're doing it too, I guess it just feels right in an abandoned factory. Now follow me, but watch where you're walking."
They walked over to the side of the room where the stairs were and started climbing. As they climbed it got lighter, for the upper floors had windows, so they could see again, but it wasn't until they had gotten to the top floor did they find anything.
The stairs finally ended, and they came out facing a large metal object with bright purple and green lights all over it.
"Is that the spaceship?" Evanna asked.
"Yeah," the Doctor said. He took Evanna's hand and walked closer to the ship. They walked onto the ship, but as soon as they had got on, they were faced with what they assumed was one of the Hycora, not invisible, sitting on a throne-like chair in the room.
"Hello," the Doctor said, "Sorry about intruding onto your ship, but I was just wondering, who are you?"
"I am Repala, leader of the Hycora, who are you?" it said.
"The Doctor."
"The Doctor? The Last of the Time Lords? But what are you doing here on Earth?" the Hycora asked.
"Oh, just visiting. Earth's such a fascinating place, don't you think?" the Doctor said.
"What's a Time Lord?" Evanna whispered.
"I'll explain later," the Doctor whispered back, then in his full voice he said, "So what are you doing here? You don't seem like the type to take over the world or anything. And why Earth of all places?"
"Our ship was failing. We needed a place to land. Earth was near and so full of power. The humans are so ignorant, they haven't even noticed that we're here."
"So your ship is just charging? Then why did you try to kill me?"
"We thought you were trying to get rid of us, following us around all the time. And our ship is charged, but we can't get it started back up."
"Oh, I was just making sure that you weren't causing any danger to the human race is all. But if you bring me to your controls, I could start you ship in no time."
"Topath," the leader said, beckoning to one of the Hycora near him, "bring the Doctor to the controls."
"What about me?" Evanna asked.
"Just wait for me outside the ship." He said, then disappeared through a door.
Evanna went and waited outside. After fifteen minutes, she was contemplating leaving without him when the Doctor came out.
"Well that's all set," the Doctor said, "we can get you home now."
"You mean my hotel?" Evanna asked.
"Right," the Doctor said, looking a little disappointed.
"So what's the whole thing about the Time Lords?" Evanna asked.
"I am one. The last of them. I lost everyone else, and our planet Gallifrey, in the Time War."
"I'm sorry," Evanna said.
"Don't be," the Doctor said, keeping his eyes on the floor.
"I had fun. Wish we could do it again though," Evanna said when they had gotten back to the hotel.
"Well we can, if you want to come with me," the Doctor said.
"Come with you where?"
"Through the whole of time and space. The TARDIS is also a time machine. We can go anywhere you want," the Doctor said.
"Will it always be this dangerous?" Evanna asked.
"Oh, definitely," the Doctor said, "I have a knack for finding dangerous situations.
"And you're sure you don't mind me coming with you?"
"Not at all," the Doctor said, "besides it's about time I got a new companion. It gets lonely in the TARDIS when I'm on my own. "
"One trip, for now," Evanna said, "and then we'll see how long I'll stay after that."
The Doctor smiled, "Well, I'll go get the TARDIS, you get all packed up, and I'll be back here in about, twenty seconds."
Evanna raised her eyebrow, but the Doctor turned and disappeared down the hallway. She closed the door, gathered all of her stuff together, and before she was done she heard the noise of the TARDIS and it appeared right in front of her. The door opened and revealed the Doctor.
"Ready to go?" he asked.
"How did you do that?" Evanna asked.
"Time travel," the Doctor said, "very useful. Now let's get going, shall we?"
Evanna grabbed her suitcase and followed the Doctor into the TARDIS. She closed the door and dropped the suitcase next to it. She walked over to the Doctor, who was flipping switched on the console.
"Allonz-y," he said, flipping the last switch, and they were off.