Adventure

A long time ago...

High in the mountain plains of Asgard several children ran laughing along a mountain path. A golden haired boy led the pack, with the others close at his heels. A smaller raven haired child ran along behind the other children, struggling to keep up. "Wait for me!" he called out, "I want to see the Bilgesnipe stampeding too!"

The golden haired boy at the front of the pack stopped and turned around "go back to the palace Loki. You are too small, you could get hurt".

"I won't get hurt" Loki said sulkily, "I'm just as strong and brave as you Thor".

One of Thor's friends laughed, "You could never be a strong and as brave as Thor. Go home and practice your silly magic tricks".

Thor shot his friend a disapproving look but said nothing. Loki stared at Thor with a hurt expression, his older brother rarely stood up for him in front of the other children.

"Go back to our Mother, Loki" Thor said quietly, "perhaps you can come along next time".

Loki bit his lip as he watched Thor and the others run away. It wasn't fair! He was strong and he was brave, he knew it! But people only ever saw Thor's strengths never Loki's, he was always in Thor's shadow.

In his own private rebellion against his brother, Loki obstinately took off in the opposite direction of the palace and wandered deeper into the mountains. He would find an adventure of his own.

Presently he wandered down into a gorge where a waterfall roared, dumping water into a pristine mountain lake. The lake glistened and sparkled in the bright sun and Loki gave a small awed gasp, right now there was no more beautiful place in the universe.

Loki sat crossed legged by the water's edge and let the mist from the waterfall cool his flushed cheeks. He closed his eyes and listened to the roar of the water. It was an odd sound actually; it almost seemed to be more of a whirring and groaning than a roaring.

Loki opened his eyes, realising that the sound wasn't the waterfall and was in fact, coming from behind him. He turned to see a big blue box with 'Police' written on it fading in and out of view in the clearing. Finally with a large thud, the box became solid. The door opened and a gangly man in a brown pinstripe suit stepped out "ah! Beautiful!" he exclaimed. He disappeared inside the box and reappeared again with a picnic basket, thermos and a folding chair (not that Loki had seen these objects before).

The man had just sat down and opened the thermos when he spotted Loki standing nearby with his mouth hanging open. "Hello! Cup of tea?" the man smiled at Loki, "careful, you'll catch flies with your mouth hanging open like that. Where am I by the way?"

"Uh...Asgard" Loki finally found his tongue.

"Oh I'm on Asgard? Lovely" the man nodded, "although I suppose I shouldn't hang around for too long. That old grump Odin and I don't really get along; we had a bit of a disagreement a few centuries ago and he banished me".

"King Odin is my father" Loki said stiffly, "I am his second born, Loki".

"Hello Loki" the man smiled seemingly unfazed that he had just insulted Odin in front of one of his sons, "I'm the Doctor".

"Are you an Asgardian?" Loki asked.

"No I'm a Time Lord from Gallifrey" the Doctor replied offering the boy a cup of tea, "much more impressive".

"You should not be here if Father has banished you" Loki said reproachfully, but he took the cup nonetheless.

The Doctor shrugged, "I get banished from lots of places. Besides, you shouldn't be out here all by yourself either".

"Are you a criminal?" Loki asked in a slightly awed tone.

"Weeellll" the Doctor stretched out the word and then paused, "that depends on who you ask I suppose. The universe isn't black and white you know. Well, except for the third moon of Anker, everything there is black and white – no colours at all, it gives me a headache really.

"You talk a lot" Loki observed.

"Yeah I'm a real chatterbox in this regeneration" the Doctor said, "but I think its endearing don't you?"

"Are you really a Time Lord?" Loki inquired, "Father said that they're all gone".

The Doctor looked at him sadly, "yes they're all gone. Except for me, I'm the last one".

"Oh" Loki said softly with sympathy "I'm sorry". He thought about how terrible it must be to be on your own like that and resolved to give his Mother a long hug when he returned home.

The Doctor squeezed Loki's shoulder gently and gave him a grateful smile. Then he gestured for Loki to sit down and handed him a sandwich.

As they ate, the Doctor told Loki all kinds of wonderful stories about his travels. Loki was enthralled. His father had told him incredible stories too but they were about wars and victories, the Doctor's stories were all about adventure and mischief and lots of running which seemed brilliant.

"So you just keep on travelling?" Loki asked, "you don't have a home?"

"I have the TARDIS" the Doctor said slapping the side of the blue box, "the old girl is all the home I need".

Loki thought for a moment and then said "you can stay here if you want to. I won't tell Father you're here, I promise".

"No, no" the Doctor responded, packing up his picnic "I really should be going, I'm supposed to be taking Queen Elizabeth I on a date".

Loki hung his head and nodded sullenly, "goodbye then Doctor. It was nice to meet you".

The Doctor paused and looked at the dejected young prince "tell you what? Why don't I come and visit you again? I'll even take you on a quick little trip in my TARDIS".

Loki opened his eyes wide "really? I would like that very much".

The Doctor smiled "OK it's a deal"; he fished about in his pocket and produced a small paper bag and tossed it to Loki, "here's something in case you get hungry on your way back to the palace".

The Doctor waved and closed the TARDIS door, Loki watched as the box whirred and groaned and disappeared in a swirl of wind.

Loki stared that the spot where the TARDIS had been and then opened the paper bag the Doctor had given him. He looked at its contents with interest. They were brightly coloured, gelatinous blobs shaped like people. Tentatively he popped one in his mouth and then shoved paper bag in his pocket. He didn't know what they what called but they tasted pretty good.

"Wow. That was better than Bilgesnipes any day".

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