"Zygons?" I repeated, stumbling a bit over the unfamiliar word. "What's a Zygon?"

"Big red rubbery alien," the Doctor answered, as though this were perfectly normal. "Venomous sacks in the tongue. Very nasty. But," he added, holding up a hand, "they have got some pretty impressive biological technology."

He had Annabeth interested now. "Biological technology? How does that work?"

The Doctor grinned at her. "Curious. I like that." Annabeth blushed slightly, and I elbowed her. "They combine their natural biological abilities with advanced technology," he explained. "Specifically, they can perfectly mimic many other creatures, like horses, cows, dogs-"

"And humans," I guessed. He nodded. "Is that what happened to Katie and Clarisse? With the red eyes?"

"Lost some friends, have you? I thought so," he said. "Although the red eyes is a bit odd. Always red?"

"No, just flashes," Annabeth answered. I could see pretty clearly she already admired the Doctor a lot. Takes a genius to know one, I suppose.

"Just flashes…" he muttered. "Never known that to happen before. You two are demigods, yes?"

We nodded. I still didn't know what this Doctor was for sure, but I was pretty convinced he was no monster, and no danger to us.

"Fantastic," he said, beaming. "I haven't run into a demigod for years. And your friends, they're demigods too?"

We nodded again.

"Could explain it," he said to himself. "Zygons aren't meant to interact with ichor. Incompatible genetic mixes. Might be causing problems… Anyway, I started picking up some communication lines and traced them here. Kept going on about 'blood of the gods' and 'the true power.' Good stuff like that," he told us with a grin. "So!"

He stepped over to his box - his TARDIS, I told myself - which was still leaning against our barrier. "You going to let me in?"

I hesitated a moment, but Annabeth recited, "I, Annabeth Chase, give the Doctor and his TARDIS permission to enter Camp Halfblood."

Suddenly, the barrier disappeared and the TARDIS crashed to the ground. Fortunately, the door was facing up.

"Excellent," the Doctor said, rubbing his hands together. He snapped his fingers and the doors swung open. Smiling at us, he jumped up to sit on the edge. "I'll just pop in and set her upright, and then we'll be off!"

"Off?" I asked. "Off where?"

He looked at me like I'd grown a second head. "Off to find the Zygons, of course. Where else?"

I didn't say anything. It seemed to me there was no way it could really be that simple, but then again, this all seemed very impossible. I tried to keep an open mind.

"Well," the Doctor said brightly. "Back in a mo', then." He swung himself into the box and let go. His entire body disappeared, and the doors swung shut.

"Where did he go?" Annabeth asked, staring in fascination. "He shouldn't have fit, not in that tiny thing."

But this was very quickly the least of our marvels. The TARDIS starting making a wheezing, groaning noise, and then, before our very eyes, started to fade out of sight.

"Look away!" I yelled, averting my eyes. I was sure that this Doctor was a god after all and was about to reveal his true form, which would incinerate anyone who looked at it. But Annabeth kept watching, and after a moment, I looked back.

The TARDIS was now completely gone, but as I watched, it started to come back into view, this time right side up. Before long it was solid again. Annabeth stepped forward, running a careful hand along the side.

"It's definitely real," she murmured. "Just wood and paint. But how…"

The door creaked open and the Doctor poked his head out. "Well?" he asked. "You coming?"

I glanced over at Annabeth. I wasn't too keen on going anywhere with this guy, especially in a flying box. I didn't have the greatest history with air travel. But Annabeth's eyes were alive with curiosity, and I knew this would be the chance of a lifetime for her. Plus, this could be the only chance we had to get Katie and Clarisse back, and stop these Zygon things from doing any more damage.

Annabeth was looking at me, waiting for me to say yes. I think she could tell I wasn't too happy about all of this.

"I won't go without you," she whispered. I swallowed hard, then grabbed her hand.

"We're coming," I said. And we stepped forward into the TARDIS.

And stopped. Inside that tiny little box was an enormous room, way larger than should be possible. Huge coral-like structures wound their way up to the ceiling, like supports. There was a raised plinth in the center of the room, with what looked like a control panel in the center, covered in lights and buttons and levers and who knows what else. All I could do was stare.

The Doctor was leaning on this control panel, hands shoved deep in his pockets. "Go on, say it," he called. "Everybody does."

"It's… It's… bigger on the inside!" Annabeth gasped. "How is that possible? You're not a god, not a monster…" The Doctor chuckled.

"I'm a Time Lord," he said. "The last of the Time Lords. From the planet Galifrey, in the constellation Kasterborous. I'm 904 years old, and I'm here to help you save your friends. Got a problem with that?"

"No, no problem," I said. Annabeth was still in shock. Her knuckles were white where they clenched her laptop, and I felt like my hand was being crushed.

"Good," he said, giving me a grin and a sharp nod. "Then we're off. Allons-y!" He pulled a lever and the tube above the console starting moving up and down, making that same wheezing noise we heard before.

"That's French," Annabeth whispered. "For 'Let's go.' What kind of alien speaks French?" But I could tell she was starting to calm down. Her grip on my hand relaxed, and some color was coming back into her face.

"We'll be there soon," the Doctor called. He strolled over to it, hands in his pockets. "Well? What do you think? I know this can be a bit… overwhelming."

"Why is it wet?" I asked. The Doctor plucked ruefully at his sopping sleeve.

"Ah, right. Nasty crash," he explained. "Might have spilled the swimming pool a bit."

"Swimming pool?" This I had to see. Son of Poseidon, remember. I like swimming pools.

"Didn't I mention?" He grinned. "Bigger on the inside. Infinitely bigger, actually. Of course there's a pool. Now if you'll excuse me," he added, cutting off any further questions, "I'm going to go change. We'll have landed soon."

He ducked off through a door off to the side, leaving us alone in the control room. I wandered up to the console, fingering some of the buttons and trying to make sense of some of the screens. Annabeth came up behind me.

"So what do you think?" I asked, not looking at her.

"It's… impossible," she said hesitantly. "And incredible, and amazing. The amount of technology that went into this, the design… this completely revolutionizes dimensional theory. Just think, Percy!" she said, excited now. "If we could do this with all our buildings, humanity could keep growing forever. We'd never need to worry about housing or land preservation ever again! Not to mention the art…"

I have to admit, I sort of tuned her out at that point. Annabeth is a huge architecture nut, and she talks about it any chance she gets. I try to listen, but most of it goes over my head. I could tell how huge this would be for her, though.

"...and temples! Bigger on the inside temples, and-"

"Still here, are we?" the Doctor called, appearing in the doorway and bounding up the ramp to the platform. He was wearing a suit identical to the first, except dry. "Good. All adjusted too, I hope. Now," he said, grabbing a box from underneath the ramp and dragging it up, "those celestial bronze weapons won't do you any good here. These monsters are just as mortal as me, and maybe even more so. So I found you something else."

He pulled out a huge broadsword and tossed it to me. I caught it instinctively and looked it over. It was big, much bigger than Riptide, and heavier too, but it had a longer reach and a good balance. I could work with this.

"Got that off the Sycorax leader, Christmas Day," the Doctor told us. "Challenged him to a duel for the planet. He cut off my hand, but I beat him in the end. Got a new hand, too," he added, waving his hands in the air. I decided not to comment.

"And for you," he said to Annabeth, "the personal dagger of Henry the Eighth. Not Greek, I know, but still good enough. He's a rubbish dice player."

Annabeth took the offered blade and examined it. Then, with a nod, she slid it into her belt.

"Now I don't want you to kill if you don't have to," he warned us. "These aren't monsters like you know them, they don't just come back. They're people, of a sort, with minds and personalities and a right to life, just like you or me. Keep it in mind, eh?"

We nodded. I felt a bit like a kid going into a store and being told not to touch anything, but I figured if he was giving me a sword, I'd probably have something to use it on.

"Right then," he exclaimed, flashing us that grin, "here we are!" He dashed to the doors and threw them open. "Welcome to the Zygon ship."

A.N: Alright, here we go! Another chapter for you all, and I hope you enjoyed it! It's really weird to have to make sure every sentence is in character, and I'm really not used to it, but I hope I've done decently well. I've got a 10k word limit, so hopefully this'll wrap up soonish, although it'll probably be longer on here. I usually end up trimming for that competition. Again, can't promise when the next one will be up, but hopefully in the next few days. Thanks for reading, and please review!

-Forever the Optimist