2
He was running. He was so desperate to avoid the inevitable fate that awaited him by Lake Silencio, Utah on April 22, 2011 at 5:02 pm. He didn't want to face it. The only thing he could do was run, and he could run for as long as he liked, for he had all of time. But was that enough for him? The Doctor had been running for so long now, and he had become reckless. Things got more and more out of control each time he went off through the Time Vortex on another wild adventure to distract him from the fixed point in time. The only possibility of finding his way back up was to reach rock bottom, and he was about to do just that.
The TARDIS tossed her little Thief around inside her Console Room as she raced through the Time Vortex. She kept going back, and back, so far back. She went all the way back to the beginnings of man, and the adolescent Earth. She flew through time with reckless abandon, and danced through space. She slowed her pace to enjoy drifting among the stars. She could hear them, and feel their burning inside her. The TARDIS reminisced, and remembered everything that ever was, and will be. Suddenly she dashed off towards the little blue-and-green planet in all Her beauty. She was flying, or falling, down to Earth and the TARDIS burst through Earth's atmosphere. Light engulfed her, and she started to lose control somewhat. She could feel her Thief running around, and trying to smooth out their ride. She finally let go and hurled herself at the Earth.
He felt the impact, and he was going to be feeling it for a while yet. The Doctor groaned in pain as he peeled himself off the glass floor of the Console Room, only to be downed again by overwhelming vertigo. He waited impatiently for it to subside before attempting an exit. He hadn't had a landing quite like that in some time. The Time Lord wondered why the TARDIS was behaving like this. Maybe she was in one of her moods, or something, he thought. He was completely oblivious to the fact that she was only reflecting his own careless attitude.
The Doctor straightened his bow-tie and ran a bony hand through his flippy hair. He bounded out through wooden doors that creaked as they opened inwards. The fresh sunlight tickled his skin as he stepped out onto the windswept grasslands of prehistoric Europe. The vast plains nearly took his breath away, but this was just one of many such sights he'd seen in his various lifetimes. It was a nice view, nonetheless.
Hundreds and thousands of miles of open space carpeted with soft, dun-yellow grass that swayed almost hypnotically in the Ice-Age summer breeze. In the far distance there were almost-brand-new, ice-capped mountains that were only visible as grey silhouettes. Herds of all kinds of grazing animals roamed the fields: Giant Deer, Megaceros, Aurochs, Bison, Steppe horses, onagers, and more. A wide, freshwater river twisted and turned its way along the great expanse of land. It was pure, and undisturbed by man.
The Doctor took pleasure in the landscape before his eyes. "Nice view." he said pointedly.
"But why have you brought me here?" The Time lord continued on his one-sided dialogue with his TARDIS.
"I know you must have a reason, and you always claim to take me where I need to go -instead of where I want to go. How can I be needed here?"
The Doctor took on a lighter tone, "Are there alien forces that have come to take over? Is there a child crying? Is there knowledge to be discovered?"
At that last remark, the TARDIS hummed a response. The Doctor glanced at his faithful and constant companion. He patted the wood that was the same shade as the sky before dusk and dawn. He scanned the valley below and spied a camp. Humans, he thought. Another adventure was waiting for him down in that tent; one that would prove to be worthwhile in the long run.
"Wish me luck." The Time Lord asked his TARDIS, and set out across the plains.