Stone Cold

(1,000 years later)

"This is the life." Terry was a bit wary of the idea of shooting through space in a phone booth at first, but then her brother took her to Planet Miami. Now she was lounging back on the beach, occasionally checking if she was close to burning with her new Sonic Screwdriver. She was really starting to love that thing. It had seemed useless at first, but now she was using it almost all the time!

Planet Miami was great! It was always the perfect temperature, the water was nice and relaxing, and there were tons of super cute alien boys. Sure, she didn't understand anything they said, but Terry still loved them. Alex ran up to her.

"Hey, Terry," Alex panted, "we have to go… Yes, I get that we need to hurry, but come on! We can arrive at any time we want... Look, just shut up, okay!" This would look strange to others, but Terry knew what was going on. Alex had spent almost the entire week they had been staying on Planet Miami talking like this with the new voice in his head: an alien named The Doctor.

"What's going on?" Terry asked as she shut the door to the TARDIS, her and Alex's time traveling phone booth, behind her.

"One of The Doctor's old friends contacted me just now. We need to go to Victorian London." He began flipping switches and turning knobs until they heard the familiar whooshing noise that meant they were leaving Planet Miami.

…

It was around 1:00 AM in Victorian London, and Terry was freezing. It was mid-November right now and she was still dressed for the beach. Alex and the lizard-woman named Vastra were talking about the problem at hand in Vastra's study. A rather stubby man, who looked like a walking potato came in with tea. "Thank you Strax." Said Jenny, the only human there besides Terry.

Strax exited the room to help Vastra and Alex. "So, are you and Strax married?"

Jenny burst into a fit of giggles. "Don't think I can't hear you." A rather insulted Strax called from the study.

Jenny calmed herself down. "Sorry, but no. We aren't a couple. Although, I am married."

Terry thought for a moment about this. "Oh. Oh, so you and… Well, congratulations I suppose."

"It is a bit strange, I know. But Vastra and I are quite happy together, and not many people mind it. Of course, that's mainly because my wife can eat them." They both enjoyed a laugh at that.

Vastra and Alex came out of the study. "So, who's up for a field trip?" Alex asked excitedly.

"Where to?"

"Epping Forest. We're gonna go look at a big rock. Fun, huh?" Oddly, he sounded like he really believed it would be.

…

They arrived in the forest and had to hike for 20 minutes to get to the big rock. And it was big! It sat in a large, smoldering crater with ashes all along the edge of it. The strange part was that the ashes were spread out in certain spots around the rock as well. The rock itself was large, lumpy, and light grey. "Is that a meteor?" Terry asked.

"I certainly hope so." Alex said excitedly. "A meteor would go great in my rock collection."

"Since when do you have a rock collection?"

"I'm thinking of starting one. Think I can cut a piece off?" He asked Vastra.

Vastra ignored him. "This meteor has been here for about three days now. And, since then, the trees around here have been vanishing. And what's stranger is that the trees that vanished now form a shape in the spots they vanished from."

"What do you mean?" Terry asked.

"The spots where the trees once were now form the shape of a spiral in the forest."

Alex bolted upright. "A spiral?.. Yes, I think you may be right… Right. We should probably do some scanning."

Jenny whispered to Terry, "Um, who's he talking to?"

"The Doctor."

"I thought he was The Doctor."

"It's a long story."

Alex took one last look at the meteor then turned to Vastra. "We need to go back to the TARDIS to do some quick scans. The rest of you, stay here. Vastra and I will be back in a jiff." They ran back to where Alex had parked the TARDIS.

Terry pulled out the Sonic and tried scanning the rock. She checked the results and gasped. "Everyone run!"

"What? Why?" Asked Strax.

Terry turned and took off, followed by the others. "Just run. Don't look-" She screamed as an intense pain exploded through her body. She looked down at her hand and saw it starting to wither. She felt her whole body age. The Sonic fell from her hand. "Alex… Help…" She managed to rasp as her body crumbled away into ash.