PROLOGUE
Donna Noble had to admit she enjoyed the hum of the TARDIS
Donna Noble had to admit she enjoyed the hum of the TARDIS. That sound that filled the hull of the huge-but-tiny vessel as itcartwheeled through time and space, bumping from century to century, was always comforting. Helped her get to sleep. Not tonight, however. No, tonight something was keeping her awake.
And she had a feeling that that something was Pompeii.
The city had seemed so alive, so peaceful, when she'd been there. Well, aside from all the blood sports and the bitter in-fighting between so-called 'soothsayers'. And the frequent thefts. But, still, it had seemed a happy place. Twenty thousand people going about their lives. And they would have kept living their lives…
Except for those bloody aliens. Why was it, she mused, that aliens all seemed to have it in for Earth? Those fat-babies and their psycho 'nanny', the volcano-men. And whoever it was that was stealing all the bees.
Finally, she gave up on sleeping, and found herself in the TARDIS' control room, watching the Doctor do his thing.
Which was, of course, slowly circling the console, occasionally adjusting the readouts and those shiny knobs and things.
"Morning, Doctor," Donna said as she walked towards him.
The tall, skinny Time Lord cast a glance over his shoulder. "Hallo," he responded in his broad Estuary brogue. "How'd you sleep?"
"I didn't," Donna answered, joining him at the console. She ran her eyes over the technology, as alien as it had been when she'd first seen it two years ago.
"Pompeii?" The Doctor asked, looking at her over the top of the glasses perched on his nose.
Donna nodded, and glanced down at the console again, glumly. "So," she said, brightly, determined to change the subject. "Where are we headed?"
"No idea," the Doctor responded happily.
"You have no idea?" Donna responded, and her hand instantly went to the console, preparing to brace herself.
"I just randomly programmed the TARDIS to take me wherever it wants. Whenever it wants."
"You can do that?" Donna asked, unable to mask the admiration. She was still rather taken with the whole idea of the TARDIS and its seemingly endless array of abilities and technology.
The Doctor laughed. "Of course I can."
A shudder ran through the ship, and the two stumbled; Donna would have gone flying had it not been for her grip on the console, and the Doctor very nearly did, but he managed to stabilise himself in time.
"What is that?" Donna shrieked.
"I've no idea," the Doctor answered, maddeningly calm.
The TARDIS bucked again, and Donna let loose another cry.
"What is that?" Donna repeated with a wail, leaning forward across the console towards the Doctor.
The Doctor looked up from the console, towards his companion. He had opened his mouth, was about to answer, when he saw just what Donna was leaning on. "Donna, wait, no!"
A sound, louder than any Donna Noble had ever heard, resounded through the hull, followed by a brilliant flash that lasted for several blinding seconds. The shaking of the ship became constant.
And then the sound died away, the light disappeared, and the shaking stopped completely.
Donna blinked, trying to clear her vision.
She realised, a second later, as weird lights danced across her eyeline, that she was flat on her back, on the floor of the control room, and that she couldn't hear a thing; just a low, constant ringing.
"What…" she managed, trying to speak. "What happened?"
It was at that moment that two Doctors appeared above her, both with identical expressions of concern plastered across their faces. She blinked again, and the two Doctors became one. He reached down towards her, but she batted his hand away.
"You're not touching me, sunshine," she said, pushing herself up, just as the ringing died away. "Not until you tell me exactly what just happened."
"I've no idea," the Doctor repeated with a shrug.
Donna managed to get to her feet, but a second later she was back on the deck, and the control room was spinning around her. "What do you mean 'I've no idea'?"
"Well, I wouldn't expect you to have any, either."
Donna shot him a glare. "Very funny, alien stick-man."
The Doctor tried to flash one of those smiles of his, which he no doubt thought was very winsome and charming. Donna felt a violent need to punch him in the face at that moment.
"But, anyway," the Doctor said, helping her back up, "I think we've landed."
Donna managed to stumble to the console, using it to support her as the control room kept spinning. "Can you make it all stop moving?"
"It's not the TARDIS that's moving, it's you." The Doctor answered, giving her another look over his glasses. He turned back to the console, and Donna followed his gaze. It was dark.
"What happened?"
"You hit the…" the Doctor trailed off, and looked away, as though searching for the words. "You know on a computer, like one of the ones back on your Earth, where you still have to use a manual input?"
Donna nodded, slowly, staring at him.
"Well, you turned the TARDIS off at the power point. In an emergency, it picked the nearest place, and-slash-or time, and dumped us there."
"So," Donna pointed towards the door. "There's an alien planet out there?"
The Doctor nodded.
"This is barmy!" she cried, dashing for the door. "Is it safe to go outside?"
"I don't see why not." The Doctor said, following her with a shrug. Donna waited for him at the doors, chest rising and falling as she stood in breathless excitement. "It'll be a little while before the TARDIS will be able to take us on our way."
Donna nodded, and cast a look around the control room. "I've grown rather… fond of this place." She rested a hand against the bulkhead, sighing slightly. "But c'mon, stick, we've got a planet to see!"
"After you," the Doctor said, indicating for Donna to open the Police Box doors.
She put a hand on the door, and pushed it open. "Are you taking the mickey?" she demanded, staring out onto whatever planet they'd landed on.
"No, what do you – Oh!" The Doctor said, stepping past her.
"We're not on a planet at all, are we?" Donna hissed.
"Doesn't look like it."
Stretching away before them was a bare metal deck, and, beyond that, was a curved viewing port, that looked out on what seemed to be bare space.
The Doctor took a step out of the TARDIS, and stared out through the port. There were, wheeling slowly through the field of stars, dozens of wrecks; the skeletal remains of spaceships. He recognised designs from half the galaxy, even a cruise-liner from Sto, much like Titanic, and even an Adipose nursery ship. "Looks like we've got an adventure on our hands…"