Callum walked up the stairs that led to the control panel of the Tardis. He absentmindedly tossed his wrench, grinning at the beauty of the Tardis. He wondered why the Doctor had let him run tests on her precious ship, but it made him pretty happy. He tossed the wrench again, looking happily at the inside of the Tardis. The wrench his the ground and he could almost feel the Tardis complaining. Across from him there was an alien girl, leaning on the door, confusion on her blue skinned face. She took a hesitant step forward, gauzy turquoise dress flowing in a nonexistent wind.
"Where the hell am I?"
"Who the hell are you?" they both snapped at the same time.
"Karina Zelekos."
"the Tardis" their responses overlapped again.
"Is that supposed to mean something to me?" they asked at the same moment.
Callum started to laugh at the ridiculousness of it, bending down to pick up the wrench he had dropped. Karina smiled nervously, taking a tentative step forward. "So I guess this isn't a normal police box?" she asked slowly, hoping that she would be the only one talking this time.
"No." Callum answered, delighted that he would finally get to seem like an expert about the Tardis.
"This is the Tardis. Time and relative dimension in space. She's a time lord ship. She bends dimensions and fits them all into this little box. She also can travel anywhere in space and time!" Callum rambled excitedly, waving his wrench with every word.
"So the travel is instantaneous?" Karina asked, climbing the steps to the control panel, a smile growing on her face as she imagined the possibilities of a time machine.
Callum's grin widened. That was a much better question than the usual "Whose is it?" or "Its bigger on the inside?!"
"It doesn't have to be. It could take 5 years to arrive a destination, but the time travel factor makes it feel like anywhere from an instant to a few minutes." he wanted to lecture her on the paradoxes of time travel, but he figured that now wasn't the time.
"So who are you and how did you wind up in the Tardis?" he asked, deciding to revisit his earlier questions.
Just because she let him ramble about time travel didn't mean he wasn't suspicious. The Doctor had trusted him to watch the Tardis, and he was going to do a good blue skinned girl's smile faded and she rubbed the knobs of her spine nervously.
"Karina Zelekos. I'm ex-Celestian military. I was being chased by some idiots working for Lord Sang when I stumbled in here." she explained, but Callum couldn't help but notice she conveniently left out why the 'idiots' were chasing her.
He was sure there was a reason and that being ex-military, this woman could be more dangerous than she seemed. He turned the conversation away from that chase. "Celestian military, huh?" he smiled gently.
"Well, I am one." she gestured at herself and leaned against the panel.
He was glad to see that she avoided pressing any buttons. He also noticed that she loosening up. "So, where are you from? Human I assume?" Karina changed the subject as Callum just remembered what had happened to the Celestians and felt incredibly guilty.
"Yeah, Earth-Orion, about 500 years ago." he answered in a quieter tone.
"Didn't Earth-Orion-"
"No." Callum cut her off.
"I don't need to know. No spoilers." he added with the ghost of a grin.
Karina looked up from distractedly fingering the control panel and shot him a confused look. "Its just something the doctor always says." he answered quickly, feeling a little embarrassed for some reason.
"The Doctor?" Karina asked, looking even more confused.
Callum realized he had never explained who the Doctor was. "The Tardis is her's. I'm just along for the ride." he explained.
Karina's eyes narrowed, like she was trying to remember something. "I think I-" Karina's thought was cut off by stun blast to the back. She toppled to the floor in a heap, and Callum spotted three thugs standing in the doorway to the Tardis, probably the 'idiots' Karina mentioned earlier. Two were examining the inside in confusion, but one had his gun out and had quickly made his way up the steps and to the control panel. Callum took a fighting stance and hefted his wrench. He wasn't a fighter, but he knew from experience that a heavy wrench could do a lot of damage. The thug took aim, but Callum was quicker. He swung the wrench with as much force as he could and hit the thug square in the face. He winced when he heard the crack, but the thug went down, falling almost on top of Karina. Callum jumped over the bodies and dodged around the first thug, only to be shot by the other one. His whole body went numb, and the world slowly faded to black as he fell...