Disclaimer: Doctor Who (c) to the BBC.
The Doctor strolled into the TARDIS control room, casually tossing his sonic screwdriver from hand to hand. The central pillar pulsed with a familiar green light; the only indication that they were in flight, apart from the faint whirring, grating noise that sounded like no engine on Earth.
Rose Tyler was settled cross-legged on the floor opposite the Doctor's newest companion, Mickey Smith. Both of them were staring intently at the card game between them, but Rose looked up and grinned as the Doctor approached.
"Come on, where are we going?" she implored for the hundredth time, but her best friend's only reply was a smug smile. Rose rolled her eyes at Mickey and went back to the game, as the Doctor crossed to the other side circular control table around the green pillar. Smiling to himself as he flicked a couple of switches on the control table, the Doctor failed to notice a small, angry red light begin to flash on Rose and Mickey's side.
"Er, Doctor, should it be doing that?" came Mickey's voice, a split second before the TARDIS veered sharply to one side. The Doctor managed to grab the table for support and stay upright, but there was a scream from Rose and a loud curse from Mickey as they both skidded across the floor, cards flying everywhere. They both managed to grab hold of the structures around the edge of the room, the TARDIS giving another sudden lurch before finally coming to a halt. The Doctor shakily straightened up, his companions following suit, Rose swaying and clutching her head.
"Rose?" The Doctor almost dropped his sonic screwdriver as he scrambled towards her. "Are you OK?"
"I'm fine, thanks." Mickey grumbled, as the Doctor helped Rose to her feet.
"What happened?" she asked, shaking her head to clear it.. "Where are we?"
"Dunno. Not where we were meant to be going. I think something pulled us down, like a magnetic field." Shoving the screwdriver into his pocket, he put a hand on the door handle and said with a cheerful grin, "Only one way to find out."
* * *
They stepped out of the TARDIS into another time. Looking around, Rose guessed that they were still on Earth, but where and when wasn't so obvious. The street they were standing on wasn't modern. It was wide, cracked from years of heat, and so dusty that sand was kicked up when the Doctor stood aside to let Rose and Mickey past. They stood in bright, hot sunshine in the middle of the road, but buildings threw shadows on the ground to either side and against their backs, forming an old cul-de-sac. The houses were conventional; soft grey stones, with thatched roofs and shutters shut tight against the heat of midday. This was lucky for the travellers; otherwise they would have been in plain sight of anyone looking out of a window.
"So where are we?" Rose asked, as the Doctor carefully examined each building, and then squatted down to rub some of the dust from the road between his fingers. Finally he straightened up.
"Earth," he confirmed. "As for when…it's hard to say. My guess would be some time in the 17th Century, but –"
He was cut off mid sentence as a scream split the air, and the three of them dived for cover behind a wagon at the side of the road. An instant later a woman came into view from the end of the road. Even at this distance Rose could see she was running as if the devil were chasing her, ragged skirts threatening to trip her up but never quite managing it. As they watched, she skidded to a halt, realising she was trapped in the square.
She was a young woman; Rose guessed she was no older than she was, with dark brown, almost black skin, and dirty black hair hanging down her back and clinging to her forehead. Her face and hands were covered in dust from the road, and something darker than dust that Rose realised with a jolt was blood. As she turned her face into view, they saw that one of her green eyes was puffed up and bruised, the other wide with fear, and there was a long cut down one cheek. The woman saw the wagon; recognised it as a hiding place, and started towards it, just as the people she had been running from came into view.
A crowd of people surged down the street towards them; some waved brooms or pitchforks, but all wore the same expression of anger, mingled with horror and hatred, and they were all yelling. At first they were too far away for it to be anything other than a roar, but as they came nearer down the street, the roar became a shout, which became one word, repeated over and over in time with the drumming of feet on the dirt road.
"Witch! Witch! Witch!"
"Well that sorts out the when and where," the Doctor muttered matter-of-factly to Rose and Mickey. "Massachusetts, 1692; start of the Salem witch trials by the look of it..."
But Rose wasn't listening, her attention grabbed by the scene playing out before her. The crowd was closer now, getting closer every second, and one man was breaking away from the front of it, a heavy-looking stick on his shoulder. His face was even more twisted with fury than the others' were. His loose shirt flapped on his lanky frame as his long legs quickly covered the distance.
"Witch!" he screamed as he reached the woman, raised the stick over his head. "Stay away from my daughter, Witch!"
The dark skinned woman threw up her arms in front of her face as the stick came down, and it connected with a sickening crunch. The woman screamed the same piercing cry for help they had heard before, as her left arm cracked under the blow and she crumpled to her knees. And Rose had never been one to ignore a cry for help. She was on her feet, shaking off the Doctor's restraining hand, running towards the woman as the stick was raised again. The man holding it paused momentarily, surprised by her sudden appearance and strange clothes, and the crowd behind him halted as one, barely ten feet from their leader and his quarry.
"Oi!" Rose yelled, trying desperately to make her legs move faster; even with her there the man had turned his attention back to the black girl, his weapon braced for the attack.
Until Rose's shoulder connected with his stomach, and they both crashed to the ground.
"Rose!" She heard the Doctor's footsteps behind her, but she was already scrambling to her feet, rubbing her shoulder. The girl was trying to get up, and she hurried to help. Finally on her feet, the black woman's eyes widened in alarm and focused on something over Rose's shoulder…
THUMP!
Rose staggered and fell as something slammed into the back of her head, black spots exploding in front of her eyes. Landing face down on the road, she lost contact with the world, with everything except the agonising pain spreading from the back of her skull. She felt something wet on her hand, realized she had a hand to her head, realized it was blood. Then there was nothing.