A new chapter! Please let me know what you think about it :D


The Doctor stepped over her for the second time. She ignored him. Green suspected that this room was the only room in the Tardis, even though it was a giant room for such a small box. But nevertheless, Green didn't like about it that there was no opportunity to retreat from him.
After stepping over her the third time the Doctor stopped beside her and lowered his head. "Are you sure you're alright there?" he asked. "I'm fine" she responded numb. "Actually I'm having a bit of a hard time preparing the Tardis to land and not stepping on you at the same time" he sighed and knelt down beside her. "I told you not to worry about the jacket", he confirmed her, "That's no problem at all. Really. I mean it." He looked at her expectantly: "Are you ready to stand up now?" Green shook her head. The Doctor sighed again.

"Why don't you just stamp me down?" Green mumbled peevishly "Why don't you shorten my time of tribulation?" The Doctor took his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket again. "You're still sure you're alright?" he asked worriedly while holding the sonic screwdriver down to her head. It already started making those strange buzzing noise.
Green sat up. "You were planning this, weren't you?" she counter questioned "You wanted to upset me 'til I would get out of your way." "No, I just wanted to assure you that I'm not mad at you for crying on my favorite jacket." "What did you say that for, then?" Green asked aghast, "I didn't know it was your favorite." "Like I told you before: it doesn't matter" the Doctor tried to appease her, "Blimey, you want me to be mad at you, won't you?"

"I guess it's only human" she replied. "Well, I'm not" the Doctor responded and sat down. "Doesn't surprise me at all", Green added.
After she had taken a deep breath and lowered her voice she continued: "But for an alien you look really unspectacular. You know… nearly human. Not your behaviour of course, for God's sake, no!" The Doctor hat to admit he was a bit emotionally affected. And although he had survived many dangerous attacks no weapon had hurt him as bad as a girl's remark about his nature.

"I'm sorry if I offended you", Green added hurriedly, "I didn't mean to." He nodded. It hurt. It really hurt.
"What kind of an alien are you?" she asked curiously. "A civilized one" he explained.
"What makes you think that?"
"Because I haven't tried to bite your head off or something you'd expect from an alien." In a lower voice the Doctor added "I hope I'm not a great disappointment." Green got the hint.
"I wasn't insulting you" she explained and tried to change the subject: "You know, you don't have to be that… orange and slimy and…" "Okay, I get it", the Doctor interrupted "Let's drop the subject." "And what are you, precisely?"
The Doctor sighed. "There's no way of stopping you, is there?"
"I'm sorry", Green mumbled, "I was only curious whether or…"
"I'm a Time Lord" he responded "And before you're starting again: my home planet's name's Gallifrey. But I doubt that you've heard of it before." Green nodded attentively.
"Is this some kind of title?" she asked curiously.
"What?"

"The LORD thing about your "Time Lord". You know, is there some kind of hierarchy and…"
"No, no, no, no" the Doctor interrupted her, "It's a species. I am a Time Lord."
"I thought the planets name was Gallifrey" Green pointed out.
"IS" corrected the Doctor but had to bite his lip and would gladly have chewed up his tongue and teeth ridge as well.
"Why aren't you called…Gallifreyers?"
"It's Gallifreyans" he corrected her again.
"You've got two names for one species?" Green asked irritated.
"Look", the Doctor tried to explain, "The name "Time Lord" is not so much title as characterization, okay? It helps you to understand what we do. And before you ask "What do you do?" I'll tell you right away after I've landed the Tardis, alright? And now please, please, hold on to something!"

Green was quick off the mark here, although she wasn't quick off the mark with being quick off the mark (oh, what hilarious jokes the author has in store for his dear reader) and she had to admit that she was glad she hadn't tried to stand up. Kneeling on the floor didn't seem such a bad idea after the Doctor had flown by her at least twice. There were horrible crashing sounds, concussions, screeching, the Doctor hammering on something metallic, some levers were pushed, buttons pushed and after one big shock, which overthrew the Doctor, the ground seemed steady and there were no more sounds at all, except for a few anguished sighs of the Doctor, who tried to get to his feet again.

"Where are we?" Green wanted to know. "I haven't even answered your first question", the Doctor barked at her, "and there is it already: the next question." "No need for shouting", Green grumbled aggrieved "There are questions without an answer." "I know, but that one wasn't!" he replied. "How should I know?" Green asked uneasy, "According to how you fly this thing you certainly don't know what you do." "It is supposed to make those screeching noises", he disabused her.
"Well, that's not the point" Green replied and got to her feet. She was feeling small now, very small indeed. She had felt bigger when she had been kneeling. It was something about the Doctor that made her feel minor. And short.
"I… I didn't mean to…that wasn't what I meant, you know…I just…" She sucked in the air deeply, like an average student gobbles up every kind of even slightly alcoholic drink he can get.
Green started all over again. "Do you know that kind of feeling, when you say something that sounds good in your head but when you finally say it…" The Doctor sighed and looked her over. "Happens to me all the time", he mumbled.

"I'm sorry for all the trouble I'm causing" Green thought she'd hardly get a word out, but there it was, the whole sentence, standing there and making fun of her for letting it escape. She sighed. Next thing it'd to was probably stealing money from her.

"You don't have to be sorry", the Doctor explained, "not at all. You know…" he stepped up to her and let his eyes scan her light-skinned face, "I'd never say that you'd be any trouble. Well, not right now, and definitely not as long as you're barely able to move your arms due to your injury, but… you get my point, don't you?" Green nodded and sighed. "That's a good gel" he patted her on the shoulder. "But I'm afraid we'll have to do some plain talking" he added in a lower voice "I don't mind your presence and I have to admit that your honest behaviour makes you very likeable, but… I'm afraid I can't help you." Green eyed him up puzzled. "You see, I don't exactly know what to do with you. You can't tell me neither were you want to go nor where you belong. Which is alright for me…"
"I have nowhere to go", Green repeated, a bit more self-conceived. She had closed her eyes and opened them again slowly.

"So…"the Doctor continued, "How would you like to come along with me? You know, staying here for a while, following me, doing the alien stuff or whatever you'd like to call it. I wouldn't mind company or conversation…"
Green nodded then shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I don't quite understand."
"You can stay here", the Doctor tried to explain, "in the Tardis. And outside the Tardis. With me. You know, just do what I do." "And what exactly is it you're doing?" Green finally asked again.
"Do you know where we are?" the Doctor asked her. She shook her head. "Do me a favor and cast a glance at the outside." Green stood there, in equal parts distrustful and unsagacious. After a while the Doctor processed: "Just open the door. And look."
She moved slowly towards the entrance door, she had no doubt that there could be a million doors hidden in this box – nothing seemed impossible anymore, except maybe getting a straight answer she would understand from the Doctor. Green pushed the creaking door open. Her eyes caught a glimpse of enormous grey mountains, of a gleaming sky hidden by wafts of mist, of clouds getting torn apart by the howling wind hundreds of miles above her head. She closed the door.
She had seen it all; the dark complex towering above the strange sandy ground; she had even heard the distant squawking of birds after being stirred out of their sleep.
All in one glance.

"It's beautiful" she mumbled then looked at the Doctor "Where are we?"
"Basically we're on a little planet, infinitely far away from your planet earth" he checked his watch "and presumably in a different millennium. But not quite sure about that."
"But how is this even possible?" Green asked doubtfully.

The Doctor took the time to sit down again, as well as Green, and tried to explain to her the inexplicable laws of time travelling, or in fact time itself, or at least the way he understood them. He talked about million billion universes; time zones, time lines, space-time and time continuum (which was basically the same just without the time), practically everything involving time and somehow all of it seemed to be glued together in one enormous complex, which consisted of everything that in existence as well as nonexistence. And from his point of view the Tardis was some kind of vehicle, able to stick itself to every possible time and location in the universe and leaving nothing but gluey traces now and then.

Green didn't know how serious this was and, in no way, how serious the Doctor took it. She hadn't understood anything so far and cut him off, afraid that sooner or later her head would explode after getting stuffed ruthlessly with innumerous nonsense.

"Wait" she yelled, "just slow down a minute. Hang on there. Just wait… I…I…" Green shook her head, hoping to deter the strange words that infiltrated her brain from filling up the spare room that had come to existence due to the gaps in her memory. "I'm afraid I can't follow you" she explained, "and I'm even more afraid that I might be able to follow you, proving that I've not only forgotten most of my past but had gone completely mad, too. So…" she paused and took a deep breath, which she felt she needed to look someone as insane as the Doctor directly in the eye "Ok. Could you try to explain this whole universe thing in one sentence? Perhaps without the wibbly wobbly and timey wimey things and whatsoever? Just, in a nutshell. Just: How is this all possible?" With an uncertain smile on her lips she looked at him expectantly.

The Doctor patted her on the shoulder. He should have known that for her it wasn't as simple as for him to understand and retrain a whole universe, or maybe two. Humans had a strange way of understanding, in fact: they wanted to understand things. They refused to accept, to approve and simply believe what they see. They want to know, what it is. And until they don't know what it is, it doesn't exist properly. Unless, of course, it's extremely persistent and obviously dangerous. The Doctor sighed. It hadn't taken the people of earth that long to acknowledge the existence of storms and floods. Earthquakes weren't that generally accepted, but they were working on that.

(Please excuse the author's note about natural spectacles. Recently he had read a lot about it and, to the detriment of the reader, had enjoyed it more than he should have.)

"Alright" he started again, "I'll try not to confuse you. Not more than necessary. Err… look, it's like this… What was it exactly you wanted to know?" "What a Time Lord does… and what a Time Lord is," Green responded politely. The Doctor nodded. "Alright. Ok. Let me start with this: The easiest way to explain time and space is by using the example of the trousers of time." Green attempted to open her mouth but the Doctor went on: "And by the way: No questions, no remarks and no doubtful looks while I'm explaining. You can save that for later. Got it, right? Just three rules and we'll be on good terms." Green nodded intimidated.

"There are the trousers of time, but just not one pair. On every spot, in every moment and second in the history of the universe existed a pair of trousers. And exists. And will exist. Look, important is to acknowledge their existence. There are times without trousers and there times when we need them, which doesn't sound as good as I thought it might would, but that's beside the point. Alright, I know, I know, all in a nutshell, just so much: There are points in history that can't be changed. They're predetermined and fixed. They have to happen no matter what." The Doctor looked at Green like a Christian wolf that is anxious for the fluffy little bunny it's going to devour to say its last prayer. Green didn't know what he expected from her and therefore nodded preventatively. The Doctor seemed to be satisfied with her gesture of approval and continued as Green respired quietly.

"It would be best to imagine the trousers of time as real pants. You know, with two legs and such. In one leg there's a time line, coming from what had been and going to what will be. Usually the time line will follow that leg but there's also the possibility for it to divert and take the other leg instead. The other leg represents the things that could be. But it can only be instead of that what actually is. And as a Time Lord I can see through them and that's what I do."
Green nodded again but a bit more uncertain. "You look through pants?" she asked.
The Doctor sighed and added sarcastically: "Yes, of course, I look through pants and that's what live is all about." "That sounds even weirder" Green mentioned in a low voice.

"Okay, listen, I'm afraid I'm unable to explain it to you. And I know it's going to be very hard for you, but if I can't get my ideas across to you, you'll simply have to believe me what I tell you. I'm afraid you can't prove it, or verify it and most of the time you won't even be able to see what I'm talking about. But that's it. If you believe me, it's going to be a lot easier for you, believe me. Or not. Alright, that sounded nearly as bad as the thing I had said before."
"But how can I believe you, if I can't understand anything?" Green counter questioned.
The Doctor paused for a moment and thought. Finally he responded: "You believe in people without understanding. Therefore it shouldn't be so hard to believe things you won't understand."

Green nodded silently. She wondered if he had intended to be offensive.

"So…" the Doctor restarted the conversation that had stopped, dropped and curled up before they had left the Tardis together. Green trotted quietly beside the Doctor who kept making remarks about the planet's surface she didn't quite catch. But it appeared to her, that the Doctor had needed someone who would listen to him. Actually, not really listen, just hearing what he said, comprehension was requested but not required. And it didn't seem so bad at all…

"Blimey, you're hardly saying a word", the Doctor complained, "Back in the Tardis you seemed unstoppable."
"You can't be pleased, can you?" Green snapped and immediately would have hoped for a long string to pull the sentence word by word back into her mouth to lock it up in her brain again.
"Okay...", the Doctor breathed out, a bit confused, "I thought that to be out of the question."
"I'm sorry", Green mumbled while blushing, although it appeared to be illogical to empurple when one's name was "green".
"Naw, don't worry about that" the Doctor tried to appease her, "that's the trouble with the human nature. Unambiguously ambiguous. It's reflecting in the language, can't help that."

Green nodded and watched with fascination what had to be a sunset. A light, grey mist hung over the dark complex that, she imagined, was a giant city. The air was filled with strange sounds, distressful as well as naturally. The orange sky glistened in the dusk, the sun sent its last rays to touch Green's and the Doctor's face, before it became a distant shimmer, chasing away the thin wisps of fog that seemed to approach them.
Before Green had been silent because she had been afraid of the Doctor. Now she was awed.

"I'll tell you what" the Doctor went on, disturbing the moment, "you can ask me everything you want. Anything, anytime. Keep firing those questions on me unless they're too sharp." He winked at her and Green had to smile.
"What planet is this?" she asked.

"Well, it was known to be Annivdet Tand, short TANN. Strange name, I know. Was supposed to be some kind of joke for it was the tenth planet that had been inhabited by humans." He took a careful look at Green and corrected himself, "alright, nearly humans. We're at least two thousand times ahead of your time."

He swallowed, watched Green from the corner of his eyes and added in a lower voice "At least the time I thought you'd belong to." "I'm from the 1990's" she explained, but pressed one hand shortly after answering against her temples. "At least I thought so…"she mumbled. She sighed and gave the Doctor a charming smile.
"I'm really sorry", the Doctor grumbled while he grit his teeth, "I wish I knew how to help you." "Thank you, I'm fine" Green responded hurriedly, "You don't have to try anything on me. It's alright. I'm feeling good." The Doctor nodded but kept an eye on her.

"It's the screwdriver, isn't it?" he asked. Green felt embarrassed.
"There's nothing to be afraid of. It's completely harmless, see?" The Doctor held up the sonic screwdriver and activated it. Green stepped away and pressed her palms against her ears. "What a terrible sound" she moaned after the Doctor had stopped. "And I'm sorry, but I'm not really convinced. You're an alien. No wonder it doesn't harm you." "It has never done any harm to anybody" the Doctor replied and left out that he had been able to paralyze creatures with it before. "You rescued me with it. You made that stone fall to the ground" Green added but had to take a closer look at it. "Is this your weapon?" The Doctor nodded. "And it hasn't harmed anybody so far?" The Doctor shrugged.
"How is this supposed to be a weapon?"
"It's got multiple functions, like… sending noise waves to distract enemies or…"
"No, stop right there", Green interrupted him and faced him stunned; "this is a weapon. And YOU were pointing it at my head?!" "It's not a weapon in the way you're thinking of it", the Doctor replied but Green shook her head. "What were you trying to do?" "Nothing!" "What did you do with a weapon aiming at me?" "I didn't do anything" he defended himself, "Look, it's just a sonic screwdriver, it makes noises and it can be useful at some point. But it has never done any harm."

"And how do you defend yourself with a screwdriver?" Green asked. "I don't have to defend myself…"
"And if you have to?" she repeated empathically.
"Basically, I run."
Green trotted beside him again. "You look like the kind of…thing that attracts danger" Green mumbled worriedly. "I've been in rather precarious situations before" the Doctor answered, half to himself. "And you made it?" Green asked. The Doctor looked down at her, then himself and then her again. "Is this really what you wanted to ask?" he asked the same moment Green answered "Stupid question, I know."
Silence filled the air as they got closer to the dark city. The quietness seemed so thick that you wanted to cut it into pieces with a sharp knife just to force it to make any sounds at all. Green breathed anxiously and became short of breath.
"Are you worried?" the Doctor asked calm but honestly. Green nodded as a knee jerk reaction.
(Although it was more her head that reacted and not her knees. But that's beside the point.)

"Are you?" she asked back. The Doctor thought for a moment, then answered: "No, not really. I don't think so. Haven't seen anything so far that should worry me. But…" He stopped. "But maybe that's what I should be worried about. There's always something to worry about when there's nothing to worry about."
"You're not making any sense" Green replied worriedly. "You see, Green, when you know what's there, what's around you and what you're afraid of, and then you know what you can worry about. The problem is, just because you can't see what you should be afraid of doesn't mean that it isn't there." "So what?" she asked, "I'm gonna waste a good scare, that's all." "No" the Doctor disabused her, "that's not the point. You've got to think the other way round." "Around what?" she asked. "Around the globe. Or just the corner. Or maybe around this." The Doctor had stopped in front of a giant black gate that seemed to lead into the heart of the city. "An entrance of a city?" Green thought out loud "what would you make that for?" "It's not the entrance that matters" the Doctor went on and pulled out his sonic screwdriver "it's the question if, whether or not there's an exit." He turned on the sonic screwdriver and moved it a few inches away from the metal gate.
Green folded her arms.
"So what does it do?"
"It tells me all I need to know about the properties and conditions of the object I'm scanning."
"And what does it say, Doctor?" she went on.
"That there's no lock on the gate."

He kicked it open and continued his journey through a narrow alley. Green waited a moment doubtfully and eventually followed him. "I really don't think we should be going" she pointed out. "Oh, there's nothing to worry about. In fact, that it's getting darker IS something to worry about. And that's great. So you know what it is you're worrying about. No more nameless worries and faceless anxieties. Real well-founded fear. Isn't that great, Green?"
Green had trouble following him. "I still don't think I understand it" she replied. "Oh, don't worry about that. You'll understand in time." "Why?" she asked panic-fuelled, "What's wrong?" "Nothing" the Doctor assured her, "Nothing to worry about."

"Doctor I have a question" Green gasped. The Doctor had stopped in order to give her the chance to give her time for a breather. Green had to admit that he moved too fast for her and she didn't even know why he was in such a hurry.
"I can see that you've been running from a lot of trouble" she breathed deeply, "but what do you do when you actually get caught? How have you managed to escape so far?" The Doctor thought for a moment silently. Then he explained: "I took a deep breath and closed my eyes." "That's it?" she asked, "that's your plan for escaping?" "Mark my words. You close your eyes, take a deep breath and then open them again. And you see clear. Probably it's death staring you in the face, or a dangerous opponent. But, you know, you don't want the last thing you see to be a blurry vision of something that you know is gonna take your life away. It's best to look danger in the eye, so it can't surprise you."

Green stared at him. Wondering. Worried. She found that there wasn't even a word to express what she felt right now, except for something like great horror that she had to be rescued by a mad man-alien-thing-or-something.

"Come on", the Doctor said and started running again, "Allons-y!"
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Green began to move as quickly as she could. It was hard to keep up with the Doctor and she could never tell which way he would turn next. He didn't seem too sure about which the right way was, but she was confident that he thought to know that there WAS a right way. Which obviously wasn't there.
Green stopped. "Doctor?" She coughed. "Where did he go?" she mumbled and gasped. "Doctor, can you hear me?" A distant "I'm over here" reached her ears. "Doctor, where are you?" she asked and turned around. It was dark in the alleys. Too dark. The sunset must have vanished in a minute or two.
"It depends on where you're right now", the Doctor shouted back, "Don't worry, I'll be right back."

She heard footsteps. Distant mumbling and calm breath. Behind her. She turned around.

"Doctor?"

There was no one behind her. In fact, nothing at all. She must have blacked out.
Panic-stricken she tried to look around, to turn her head, her face, to reach and touch something with her eyes…
She blinked as a sudden noise stroke her mind.

Silence.
She was in her room. Her own room. She was home. At home. Finally home...


and she didn't even know how she endet up there!
That's all for now.
By the way: anybody got the "joke" about the name of the planet? I'll give you a hint: it's an anagram.
First one to post it gets a cookie ;)
Thanks for reading