Chapter One
By now you may be asking yourself how I could do the unthinkable. How could I betray the Doctor when he has done so much for me, been my heart and soul and my guiding light? Protected me and supported me through thick and thin. Saw the courage and strength within me when no one else could? The most wonderful man in the universe and I caused his death. It seems impossible even now as I lay dying that I did it. But I did.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's go back to the beginning when everything started.
It all started on an ordinary run-of-the mill day. (Well, for me. I do admit that my traveling through time and space in a blue box with a 900 year old alien is anything but ordinary but I'm sure you get my meaning.) Anyway, it was a typical day for me. I had just finished lunch and the Doctor was at the console doing his usual tinkering (or jiggery pokery as he calls it) I came into the room and…
"Bollocks!" the Doctor said running his hand through his hair angrily.
Rose paused and stared at him.
"What? What's wrong?" she asked.
"Nothing."
Rose raised her eyebrows.
"And…that's bad?"
"It is in this case." The Doctor replied.
"Why is it bad in this case?"
"Because the TARDIS is fully functional."
Rose frowned.
"Again, that's a bad thing?" she asked in confusion.
The Doctor sighed.
"Yes, because I was in the mood to fix something. There is nothing to fix though. Everything is working for a change."
He let out a sigh and leaned on the console.
"Damn, I was in the mood to tinker." He muttered, staring off into space.
He looked over at her.
"Any suggestions?" he asked.
"Um, you could break something and then fix it?"
Rose knew she had just said the wrong thing when she saw the gleam in the Doctor's eyes. She groaned inwardly.
Nearly three years of traveling with him and I should know by now when to keep my big gob shut. She thought.
"But if you're gonna do it, you should break something nonessential." She added quickly as disturbing visions floated through her mind of the Doctor pulling out a wire and the TARDIS crashing and burning five minutes later.
The Doctor stared at the console while he considered this.
"Nah, too much trouble." He muttered.
Rose breathed a sigh of relief.
"Actually, I have a better idea." He said turning to her.
"Yeah?"
"Pick three numbers." He said grinning.
"Oh, Doctor, not this again." Rose groaned.
"What? I love picking random places to go. It makes it more interesting for me. Now come on, Tyler, let's have three numbers."
He turned to the computer screen and looked over at her expectantly. Rose sighed.
"Okay…55, 9, 27." She said, shrugging.
The Doctor imputed the numbers.
"And the winning destination is…" he said watching the monitor.
He stared at the monitor thoughtfully.
"Hmmm…Would never have thought of going here." He muttered.
"What? What would you never have thought of?" Rose asked.
"Weeeeeeeeeeeeell…" The Doctor said turning to face her.
He rubbed his earlobe.
"What did I pick, Doctor?"
"Zaphradia."
"Uh-huh, and is that a good choice then?"
"Well, it depends."
"Depends on what?"
"On whether you fancy traveling to a planet whose government is known for cruelly repressing its citizens and killing anyone who resists their policies." The Doctor said sniffing.
"That bad?"
"Yup. Course, there are worse planets out there, I suppose but the Zaphradians are legendary. Their rulers make Hitler look like Mahatma Gandhi."
"Ouch."
The Doctor nodded.
"Like I said, not a planet I would have chosen on my own. Went there once…oooooooo, blimey, it's been centuries. I think I went sometime in my fourth life and nearly got decapitated for insulting the vizier. Anyway, it's not a planet one would normally go to on holiday. If we did go, we would have to be mindful of our surroundings every minute. Watch everything we do or say because there are royal spies everywhere keeping watch over everything and everybody, and that goes double for out-of-towners."
He cocked his head.
"So, how 'bout it?" he said to her.
Rose's eyes bulged out of her head.
"Are you serious? After you just told me all that? You still wanna go?" she said in disbelief.
"Sure. Why not."
"Why not? You just said it's dangerous to travel there and…"
She paused a moment.
"Oh wait, that's the kind of thing that turns you on." She muttered.
"Precisely. Besides, we can't pick something else now. What's the point of playing this game if we just pick until we get something safe."
"Yeah, but…"
"Come on, Rose. Nothing's gonna happen to us." The Doctor said. "The Zaphradians really aren't all that bad."
"But you just said they almost chopped your head off once." Rose pointed out.
"Yeah, well, what'd you expect after I told the vizier a Muckluck had more brains than him."
"A what?"
"Muckluck, one-celled organism that resides on the planet Reyloc. Lives off the dung of other animals."
"Oh well, I can understand why the vizier would be insulted then." Rose said dryly.
"Anyway, that was six lives ago. I'm a different man. I know when to keep my mouth shut now."
Rose raised her eyebrow.
"So, how 'bout it? Up for some adventure on the planet Zaphradia?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"Well, yeah, but…"
He walked over to her and took her hands.
"Come on, Rose. I promise I'll look after ya. I've kept ya alive this long, haven't I?"
"Well, yeah…"
"Well, just trust me; I'm a Time Lord that's been traveling time and space for centuries. I know what I'm doing. 'Sides we can handle anything that comes our way. We always do. So are you with me?"
He looked into my eyes at that point. I stared back into those piercing brown eyes that were pleading for me to go along with him and well, I just couldn't say no. Not to him. He was so eager to go. He had a huge smile on his face like a little kid being told he was going to Disneyland. Not wanting to see the smile I loved so much vanish from his face, I rationalized away my misgivings and told myself he was right. If we ran into trouble, we would take care of it and then have a laugh about it later when we were back on the TARDIS. He was so overjoyed when I said yes. Grinning from ear to ear, he punched in the numbers I gave him. Then, I watched as he plopped down in the captain's chair eager for a new adventure with his girl by his side. Looking at him bursting with excitement, I swear to God the man didn't have a fearful bone in his whole entire body. It's one of the reasons why I love him so much. He can step onto the most dangerous planet in the universe and not give one thought to the fact that he's in peril. In the time that I've spent traveling with him, his behavior has managed to rub off on me and I too have faced down countless enemies and done it without any thought to my well-being. But still, I don't deliberately go off and look for trouble like he does. Sometimes, I wonder if losing his people gave the Doctor a death wish and he just continually tempts fate in the hope that one day his luck will run out and he won't be the last of the Time Lords anymore. Whatever his motives might be, he now had something to do for the day and he was more than happy to face any potential threats just so he could relieve his boredom. I, as his friend and lover, was more than willing to stand by his side and face the danger with him. But, as we hurtled through the vortex towards Zaphradia, something kept nagging at the back of my mind telling me this was a very bad idea.
Knowing what I know now, I should have listened to my instincts.