The Doctor felt that it may have been a compliment when he was dropped off on the destitute planet after the Shadow Proclamation finally caught up with him. He had been on the run from them ever since he refused to take them into war against the Daleks when the Earth had gone missing. It was his own crimes against the universe and time though that landed him in prison. He had become too cocky declaring that he was the Time Lord Victorious. He was above the laws of time that governed the universe and nobody could stop him. During his reign of terror, he had ruined a woman's beautiful legacy, changed history for what he felt was the better and brought down tyrant kings before their times. Now, here he was stranded on a small planet on the outskirts of a large solar system.

The planet had an artificial atmosphere that kept its inhabitants alive but did very little to sustain their lives. The sunlight was not existent as the star was too far away to warm the planet leaving it in complete darkness regardless of the time of day. While the artificial atmosphere kept the people there from suffocating to death, it did little to warm the planet beyond the freezing temperatures that caused many to die within hours from hypothermia. Not that anyone cared as the prison ships would drop there prisoners wearing nothing but a pair of brown slacks and a brown shirt that did little to protect the prisoners from the cold. The Doctor could have easily rambled off the statistics but he was determined not to be one. He would be the first one to get off this planet and back to his TARDIS. He just didn't know how. He had no suit, no sonic and no hope. Yet, that had never stopped him in the past and he wouldn't let it now.

As his eyes tried to adjust to the darkness, he looked out over the barren planet seeing no one. There were no bushes, no trees, not even the cry of an animal to let him know that he wasn't alone. In fact, he could see nothing beyond the bright stars that shown overhead letting him know that he wasn't blind. He stared longingly at the stars a moment, wondering if he would ever travel among them again. All his life he had those stars and even now, they gave him comfort despite the dire situation he was in. Turning his attention once more to the landscape in front of him, he strained his eyes looking for even a glimmer of light that would let him know someone else was nearby. It was times like this that he wished he had his sonic, but that too had been taken from him. As a prisoner, he had no rights to the technology that the rest of the universe took for granted. They expected him to die on the planet after all, so what did they care if he had a light to find his way by. It didn't matter that it could have also told him whether or not there were people in the distance or if he needed to take shelter from a storm before it approached. He felt lost without his sonic to guide him but regardless he had to make a decision quickly as standing here at the drop site was not the best solution. Here he was out in the open and exposed. He couldn't see and therefore couldn't stop someone from attacking him. If he was going to survive long enough to escape the first thing he needed to do was find shelter.

He didn't want to head in just a random direction as he wasn't sure where the other prisoners would have headed. He had to be wary of them as not everyone who was placed on this planet were just killers. Some of them had used their intelligence to build devices that destroyed entire cities or worse. They too would know how to survive the harsh landscape and many were also clever enough to manipulate others into following them. He took a deep breath, regretting it immediately as the cold air filled his lungs. It was low in oxygen and made him feel dizzy for a moment causing his respiratory bypass to try to kick in. He stopped it as he didn't know when or if he would need the precious oxygen it would supply him. He was just going to have to remember to breathe normally if he was going to survive. Adding that to his list, he chose a direction and cautiously began to make his way forward.

Even being a Time Lord, he had trouble judging time as he walked through the barren landscape. The planet didn't seem to move beneath his feet and there was no sun or moon to indicate the time of day. He concentrated on just putting one foot in front of the other, feeling no better than an ape. He wondered briefly if this was why humans always seemed to be complaining about the time. Normally, he would just laugh at them as on any other planet he always knew the time without looking. Now, he finally understood as it seemed that he had walked for hours before he finally saw something in the distance but he had no way of knowing how much time had actually passed. He continued to be cautious as he moved forward listening for the sound of anyone approaching him in the dark landscape. As he drew closer he figured out it was hills that he was seeing. He could see dim lights dotting them that indicated fires were burning. He thought about turning back, but by doing so it would mean certain death unless he quickly found a food or water source. He had no other choice but to continue forward and hope that he was able to take shelter with the others.

He was cautious about approaching and as he drew closer he saw that he was right to be wary. From his current position, he could see that the hills were in fact sparsely populated. The hills were filled with men, moving about their lives in this bleak environment. He got as close as he dared before ducking down to observe them, trying to get a count of just how many men were out there. He counted at least fifty of them moving around but he couldn't be sure if he was right as it was hard to make out any distinguishing features from his viewpoint and he didn't dare get closer yet. He didn't want them to notice him yet as he watched them working and going into caves that dotted the hills. Some of the caves had makeshift doors on them protecting its owner from the environment. What surprised him more, though, was that some of the other caves seemed to have bars on them. The prisoners had to be keeping their own prisoners in those caves and he wondered what kind of crimes they could have committed to be considered dangerous enough to lock up.

As he observed, he heard a noise behind him. He turned to see that men were closing in on him as they headed back to the caves. He looked around quickly seeing that there was nowhere to hide and he couldn't run without being seen. Still crouched down, he tried to move slowly out of the way of the men but it was too late. The men were close enough he could make out their features. They were all humanoid with dark hair wearing the same dark outfits that indicated they were prisoners as well. As he moved slowly watching them, he saw one of the men motion to the other. The man pointed to his eyes and then pointed to the landscape. The Doctor tried to remain calm as he realized that the man was staring right at him. Standing up quickly he raised his hands showing them his empty palms as he moved closer to the men.

"I mean you no harm," He called out as he approached. The men carried makeshift spears and they held them out threateningly as they came towards him. He stopped just out of reach of the spears staring them in the eyes. He had faced Daleks, Cybermen, and things people only saw in their nightmares. One thing he knew for sure was that he wasn't afraid of a few men with spears. Still, he kept his hands raised as they encircled him. They spoke to each other in a language that he didn't understand and he didn't have the TARDIS to translate for him. He frowned at them.

"I'm so." Was all he got out before a man stepped quickly forward and a fist hit him squarely in the jaw.

"Prisoners do not speak," the man stated in English this time. He hit the Doctor again and his world went black.