Chapter 3
To the Doctor's surprise that evening, once they'd started conversation, Claire and Danny got on like a house on fire. After the shopping trip in the afternoon, Danny had changed but resumed wearing his battered leather jacket, so much like the Doctor's. But something strange happened. He disappeared.
Rose had gone to the magazine where she now worked as a journalist. She had gone to college and taken her A-Levels. The Doctor called her an hour after his disappearance to tell her Danny had gone. She rushed home and five minutes later Danny came through the door, in his thermal clothes and new scarf under his chin, face pink with the cold. The Doctor asked him where he'd been. "You could've been killed, there's a war on incase you hadn't noticed."
"I know. I'm sorry." Danny said, looking at the floor.
"We were worried sick." Rose told him, sitting him down by the fire. Claire came in and sat down next to her new friend.
"I lost… something." He muttered. "I thought I could find it."
"If you told us what it was, maybe we could help." Rose suggested.
Danny looked from her to the Doctor. He could trust them. "It's called… a TARDIS."
Rose looked at the Doctor, eyes wide. The Doctor smiled.
"I know who you are. A Time Lord." Danny said. "Like me."
Nobody spoke and then Rose laughed. "But you… can't be a Time Lord. I mean, you're a teenager."
"Well done." He smiled. "A teenage Time Lord."
"Your TARDIS," the Doctor began. "I'm guessing it's a police public call box from the nineteen fifties, am I right?"
Danny nodded. "It was given to my brother but he died soon after he got it. It was given to me when I became of age. It was stolen."
The Doctor was alarmed. "Stolen? By who?"
"I don't know. I came to London a few weeks ago and I left it for five minutes, then I came back it was gone. I stayed in a shelter pretending to be human. I searched for it but then the war began and we had to leave."
"That's not right." The Doctor said. "The TARDIS is protected by force-fields and special magics… unless you gave someone a key?"
Danny shook his head. "But I have a theory on who might have taken it. The Radons are coming, right?"
"How do you know about that?" the Doctor asked.
"I read about it in a text book. Anyway, that's not important, I was thinking, maybe the Radons want to use the TARDIS to get inside the atmosphere without being detected by Government technology."
"Good theory. Actually that is a good theory." He paused and then clicked his fingers. An idea. "Alien tech. we'll do a scan for alien tech. it should detect the TARDIS if it's still in this time. Rose, could you fetch the sonic screwdriver?"
"Yeah," she replied, going out the room.
"Ever been to Villengare?" the Doctor asked Danny. He shook his head. "You got a lot of places to go, people to see, old Danny boy." He chuckled at something.
"What?" Danny enquired.
"A teenage Time Lord. I thought I was the last Time Lord once. A few managed to go into hiding at the end of the war and rebuild them."
"You don't say 'us'." Danny pointed out.
"I'm human now." The Doctor reminded him. "Just because I act and wear similar stuff that I had when I was Time Lord… Why do you wear that jacket?"
"It's lame…" Danny stuttered, coming over all shy.
"Come on, Dan, you can tell me." The Doctor coaxed, sitting down on the sofa, crossing his arms.
"I always liked reading about your adventures in books and stuff on our planet. It described you and particularly your leather jacket and how it was like, your trademark and it put across the point 'don't-touch-me', with a tough look. I've always admired how you worked and when I got the TARDIS and learnt who it belonged to…" he trailed off.
"You defeated any evil infiltrating monster type things yet?" the Doctor asked.
Danny grinned. "I came across a Slitheen once, and I did exactly what you did: it looked into the TARDIS, just as it was coming at me and it turned into an egg! It was fantastic!"
"I'm glad you're having a good time. Keep up the good work and all."
"I've studied how to handle different species in detail, their history, and defence methods and how to overcome them…"
The Doctor smiled broadly and looked up as Rose came in, holding the Sonic Screwdriver. "Here you go," she said giving it to him.
"Thanks."
He replied, taking it. "And now…" he activated it, flicking the
switch. He had always loved the blue light and the sound it made when
it worked. "Setting to 1885B… you should get one of these." He
added to Danny. "Got it!" he cried suddenly. "It's traced the
signal! And you'll never guess where it's at! The old Torchwood
HQ!"
"But they closed down a few weeks ago… you don't
think? No not Jack, he wouldn't have." Rose whispered.
"Who's Jack?" Danny asked.
"An old friend." The Doctor answered. He looked angry. "An invasion is coming, he should know that!"
"What are we gonna do?" Rose asked.
"I think it's time we paid him a visit. Tomorrow though. It's late."
