Rose Tyler walked into the console room of the TARDIS, dressed for summer in a pair of shorts, a vest top and flip-flops, to find Jack and the Doctor leaning over one of the monitors, watching it very closely, both with a very perplexed look on their face.

"It's coming from the whole planet, how is that possible?" Jack asked.

The Doctor shrugged.

"They could be at war." He suggested, "Though I don't remember there being a war here and now."

"Well there's no sign of war – you'd see it on the surface!"

"It's not a planet anyway, it's a moon." The Doctor corrected absentmindedly.

"Care to tell a poor confused Rose what's going on?" Rose asked, wandering over to the screen they were both staring at avidly. In the centre of it was a very green moon, orbiting a much larger orange planet.

They were supposed to be going to Earth, early seventeenth century Mauritius, for a bit of a holiday, and to try and spot a Dodo. It was one of Rose's more pointless requests, but really she just wanted a bit of sea, sun and surf, something she wasn't likely to get unless she included something historical in there somewhere.

"That is the forest moon of Perth, the only place in the Phix system that is inhabited," The Doctor said, "And for some reason it is beaming out a distress signal, though the signal seems to be coming from everywhere, not just a local area. The whole moon is transmitting the signal."

"And what's down there?" Rose asked.

"That's the funny thing," the Doctor said, "Perthians aren't an aggressive race; they are knowledge keepers, recorders."

"Which is a roundabout way of saying they are all a bunch of Librarians!" Jack said.

"Perth doesn't have cities – the entire population lives inside their many libraries," the Doctor explained, "Which is why it's odd that they have such a powerful distress signal."

"Time to investigate?" Rose asked hopefully.

"Definitely!" The Doctor said with a big grin. He reached out to the console, twirled a few dials and the TARDIS began to move.

After a moment he marched purposefully towards the door. Jack and Rose followed him. Politely, he let Rose through first, opening the door of the TARDIS onto a lush green landscape.

"Wow!" Rose said.

"It's like a rainforest," Jack commented as he exited the TARDIS, "They must have trouble keeping their books from going mouldy!"

"In Earth terms it's the year 3047, so I think we can assume they have technology beyond pens and paper…" The Doctor said.

Rose looked around at the beautiful vegetation, touching what didn't look too risky, admiring the beautiful flowers, while Jack scanned around with his watch device, presumably searching for the source of the distress signal.

"I just don't get it," he said after a moment, turning to the Doctor, who was scanning trees with his sonic screwdriver, "The signal is coming from everywhere – it's even coming from us now."

"What? We're a distress signal?" Rose questioned.

"Yes," the Doctor said, scanning up and down first her, and then Jack, "We seem to be transmitting the signal as well. The TARDIS isn't though." He added, scanning his ship.

"This is way beyond this time period," Jack said, shaking his head with what Rose had come to call the 'impressed school boy' expression. He would grin with such honest and innocent (something Rose knew from experience that Jack definitely wasn't) enthusiasm, and it normally meant trouble – he had worn the same expression when playing with Margaret Slitheen's pan-dimensional surfboard.

"Yup, something is definitely up here!" he added, "Let's go investigate!"

"Go idea!" the Doctor said, "Just let me lock the TARDIS…"

He locked the old blue Police Box and held out his arm for Rose. She took it and held out her other arm for Jack. In step they walked off together, looking for some sign of life somewhere.

"They've never had any wars, not that I recall," The Doctor said, "A generally peaceful race, if a bit bookish."

"And snobby!" Jack added.

"And that," The Doctor said, shrugging. Rose laughed.

"So, we have, a bunch of librarians, who don't cause trouble, yet they have a distress signal beaming out of their entire planet?" Rose asked.

"Something like that, yeah!" the Doctor said, stepping over a tree root.

"How are they generating enough power to do that?" Rose asked, picking her feet up over the plants and vines that littered the floor. Shouldn't have worn these shoes… she thought, looking down at her little sandals. Her feet already itched. "Wouldn't they have had to have nuclear power stations or something, to generate that much energy?"

"Yeah," Jack said, "Not to mention technology at lest four centuries ahead of their time!"

"More than that," The Doctor said, "Something isn't right here."

"Time hasn't gone wrong again has it?" Rose asked, turning to him. As she turned her attention away from the ground in front of her, her foot connected with a root and she went tumbling to the floor, rolling down a slight incline in the ground.

"Rose!" The Doctor said, sounding torn between worry and amusement. Jack was just laughing. He jogged down to where she had landed.

"Up you get, Rose!" he said, pulling her up by her arm, "You alright? That was quite a fall."

"I'm… fine," She said after a moment, rubbing her head with the hand Jack wasn't using to pull her up.

"Rose Tyler, jeopardy friendly!" The Doctor said, taking her other arm and setting her on her feet properly.

"That's me," Rose said, trying to get her eyes to focus properly. When they did, she saw something she hadn't been expecting at all.

"Doctor?" She asked, "I thought the people on this planet were peaceful?"

"Apparently not," Jack muttered, looking around at the many sharp spears that were pointed in their direction. He and the Doctor stood defensively in front of Rose and prepared to face their enemy.

"What, may I ask, are you three doing here?" A woman asked, stepping out from behind the trees.


Perthians were a feline-like species. They were shaped like humanoids, but with cat ears, feline faces and a soft covering of fur. The hands holding the spears however, were very human – dexterous and precise. Rose looked warily at the spear jabbing into Jack's leg, and the one pointed at the Doctor's neck. The woman watched them with a scornful gaze, peering over the top of her thick glasses. She definitely looked like a librarian, even if she also looked like a cat, Rose thought.

"Hello," The Doctor said cheerily, nodding his head and waving despite the many spears pointing at him, "We were just passing by really, noticed you were beaming out a distress signal, thought we'd come and investigate."

"Then you know about it?" The Perthain asked, "what it is, where it's coming from?"

"Err, no," The Doctor admitted, "I was hoping you could clarify that one for us."

"You are Time Agents I presume," the woman said.

"Yes, ma'am, Captain Jack Harkness at…"

Rose elbowed Jack. Now was not the time or the place for his, well, attitude. She didn't think the stiff necked Perthian woman would much appreciate it either.

"And where are you from?" she asked, gazing sternly between the three of them.

"Planet Earth," the Doctor said, "All three of us!"

Rose looked up at the Doctor – what he had said wasn't true.

"Planet Earth?" The woman repeated, "Backwards little human colony, barely taking their first steps out into the wider universe? I would have hoped for someone more competent."

Rose opened her mouth to say something probably stupid and very definitely offensive.

"We are competent!" The Doctor said, "Try me, ask me anything!"

The woman looked him up and down scornfully, like she doubted anyone dressed in a scruffy leather jacket accompanied by and outrageous flirt and a peroxide blonde could be anything other than incompetent.

"You are Time Agents, when are you from?"

"Everywhere," The Doctor responded. He checked his watch. "I make it the year 3047, which means Rose here is from the past, Jack is from the future, as am I."

"How far in the past?"

"Early twenty first century, ish."

"Early twenty first century, England gets its first contact with an alien species in the form of the family Slitheen, a criminal sect from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorius. The Slitheen are stopped by person or persons unknown, but not before they murder their way to the top of government, and the country is left in the hands of one Harriet Jones, who will become one of the most popular Prime Ministers in British history, next to the likes of Winston Churchill. Less than a day later and the whole country are dismissing a genuine alien encounter as a hoax. I hardly believe someone from that time period would make a suitable Time Agent, their feeble brains would implode at the prospect of their being a whole universe out there full of life." The woman said scathingly. "Who are you really?"

"My brain hasn't imploded yet!" Rose said angrily, "I'm not that useless."

The woman turned to her and looked her up and down.

"We'll see," she said, then turned back to the Doctor, "A week ago now, a space ship crashed into this moon at very high speed. It has left a scar on the ground where it hit, yet the ship is nowhere in sight. There are no signs of metal or otherwise on the ground, yet something of non-organic origins definitely hit the ground there, for bare minutes after it had struck, the signal began. At first it was local and we tracked it to the crash site, but within four hours it had started transmitting from the other side of the moon. A being large and strong enough to move their own ship away from the crash site would have trouble hiding from the many scouts that have been scouring these lands, yet we have found nothing. We can only assume that the being must be here somewhere, for the signal is still transmitting."

"Let me see the crash site and I'll tell you what I can." The Doctor said.

"Very well, lower your spears," she said to the other cat-like people around her, "Now, we don't have Earth here, Jupiter close enough for you?"

"I'm not particular," The Doctor said.

"Good," The woman said, "Jupiter, escort these people to the crash site, then; once they have finished looking around, find them a room in Library 207. Pardon me for not doing this myself, but I have a Library to open, Library 2000, it's a big event, and requires my time and energy more than distress signals do. Good day."

And with that she left, along with all the other cat-like people, leaving only one behind, a female with soft blue fur and wide purple eyes. Rose thought she looked young, though she knew from experience it was hard to tell for certain how old some species were (just look at the Doctor for example!), but she hazarded a guess she was about seventeen in human terms.

"My name is Jupiter, kind sirs and good lady, please, allow me to escort you to the crash site." She said, and began to lead the way.

"Doctor, you're not from Earth, and we aren't Time Agents, why did you lie?" Rose asked quietly. Jack was up ahead chatting to Jupiter, which meant she was being kept very busy. Rose didn't think the shy library girl knew what to make of Jack.

"Rose, the Perthians are to knowledge what Daleks are to destruction – if I had told them I was a Time Lord we would never have left this planet. Sometimes it's best to let people believe what's easiest to explain."

"Like when everyone said the Slitheen were a hoax?"

"Exactly!" the Doctor said, smiling at her, "Now, lets hope Jack isn't distracting Jupiter too much, I don't want to end up lost in this place."

Rose laughed.

"I don't think they have any books on how to deal with people like Jack." She said, grinning.

"Nope, that's one thing they may have to learn the hard way."

"Why are they named after planets?" Rose asked.

"This moon is the knowledge centre of the universe at the moment," the Doctor explained, "the people here know everything, and it is often visited by others who want to find things out. It is a quaint little tradition to be shown round by someone who bears the same name as your planet, moon or system. People pay well to come here, the Perthians are eager to please high paying customers."

"Imagine being called Raxacoricofallapatorius." Rose said.

"Yes, it would be hard to fit that on a name tag."

Up ahead, Jupiter had come to a stop and Jack was scanning a clearing ahead of them with his watch.

"What have we got then Jack?" the Doctor asked.

"Massive burnout of vegetation, nice rut in the land where something hit it at high speed, and…absolutely nothing else." He snapped his watch shut.

The land was burnt black, and a pile of dirt had built up to abut two feet high, but Jack was right, there was nothing there.

"Well, lets have a closer look, doesn't look too dangerous." The Doctor said.

"No, nothing ever does!" Rose said.

"Rose, you stay here, chat to Jupiter!" the Doctor said, grinning cheerily.

"Leave the life risking to the big boys!" Jack said, and jumped into the crater.

"So, is this what you do? Show people round?" Rose asked Jupiter.

"Yes, mostly, though I do spend forty hours a week on private study. I hope to become a head Librarian one day." Jupiter said.

"Is that, like your job?" Rose asked, "How much do you get paid for showing people round?"

"Paid? No, we don't get paid – we get access to the libraries, and if you are lucky, sometimes better accommodation." Jupiter said.

"That's a bit off, what if you wanted to go shopping? Where do you get the money from?"

"Shopping is a ritual undertaking by many species galaxy wide, but not one we Perthians partake in. Money is the cause of ninety four percent of all conflict, so we do not indulge ourselves in it, when it is not necessary."

"But, you're named after planets to please high paying customers," Rose said.

"Yes, their capital is needed for the upkeep and preservation of the Libraries, we as individuals do not possess any."

"Doesn't sound like much of a life to me. Is that all you do? Read? You sound like you're quoting from text book half the time."

"Yes, I spend a lot of my time reading, but it is a fine life – what better way to spend your years than accumulating knowledge. Knowledge passed on to later generations is how this universe will progress."

"You sound like the Doctor," Rose said, slightly impatiently.

"Excuse me for asking, but what sort of a name is 'The Doctor'. I am well versed in Earth Traditions, History and Culture, being close to my namesake planet. We have to learn thoroughly every planet in our Namesake's system you see, and 'The Doctor' is not the kind of name used by Earth people. They prefer names like John and Amy."

"I dunno," Rose said, "My name's Rose Tyler, and the other guy is Jack Harkness, the Doctor is just the Doctor, I don't know him by any other name."

"Rose, a plant, often associated with beauty and love. Is that correct?"

"Yeah, that's right." Rose said, starting to become a bit disconcerted by Jupiter's unusual attitude. "Hurry up Doctor!" she called out, "It's so hot out here, I'm dying for a drink!"


The woman, whose name was Lalande (all important people were named after stars or systems, Lalande being a star in the Ursa Major constellation) returned home to Library 207 and went to speak immediately to the top man, Proxima Centauri.

"Sir, we have a situation," she said, "Three non-contemporaneous life forms have emerged from the forest, claiming to be Time Agents. They wanted to know about the signal."

"Do they know what it is, where it's coming from?" Proxima asked.

"No sir, they simply wanted to investigate. I sent them with Jupiter to the crash site, with instructions to return to 207 as soon as they are done."

"Very well, thank you Lalande, I will speak to these people when they return. In the mean time, if something is about and causing trouble, we better double security – we can't have the grand opening of 2000 being interrupted. Send for the captain, Sirius A, have him rethink security round the place."

"Yes sir, I will see to it right away."

Lalande stepped out of his office and turned to an amber eyed youngster.

"You shouldn't eavesdrop on important conversations between people above you!" she said angrily, "A Perthian should have more respect, now shoo!"

The youngster scrambled off and Lalande marched quickly over to the security office, looking for Sirius A.


"Well, well, what have we here?" Jack asked, reaching down and picking up what looked like a box on a key-ring.

"Keep that out of sight," the Doctor said, "don't mention it until we are back in our room. Something is going on here, and I don't want the Perthians to try and handle it, that would be like Henry Van Statten all over again."

"Who?" Jack asked.

"Never mind, just do it!" the Doctor said, and walked back over to where Rose was standing, looking thoroughly annoyed with their guide Jupiter.

"Can we go now?" She asked, barely able to keep the impatience from her voice.

"Yes, lead the way Jupiter!"

Obediently the girl led on.

"Doesn't anyone on this planet have a scrap of personality?" Rose asked.

"Perthians are brought up to be like robots," the Doctor said, "completely obedient, completely humble, and never questioning. The only questions they ask are ones to further their own knowledge, which is why many people, Jack included, think they are snobby."

"They're not that bad, but would benefit from consuming a large amount of alcohol I think." Rose said, making the Doctor grin.

"Lets just head back to Library 207, I'll call the TARDIS up to our room, or where ever we get put, and we can try and work out this distress signal, then we can leave."

"Sounds good to me!" Rose said.

"Here is the guest accommodation, would you like one room or two?" Jupiter asked, sounding like a well practised tour guide.

"One will do us thanks," the Doctor said, and Jupiter handed him a key-card.

"Room 27b," she said, "Enjoy your stay."

The Doctor, Jack and Rose headed off to the room, and entered. It was large and spacious – plenty of room for the TARDIS. The Doctor set about summoning it, Rose lay back on one of the large beds, and Jack took something out of his pocket and began inspecting it.

"What is it then?" The Doctor asked Jack.

"Looks like a box on a key-ring to me," Rose said, sitting up and peering at the strange item Jack was examining.

"That's what it looks like, but I think it's a locator." Jack said, "Well beyond this time period – it's like a key to a ship, but you can use them to track your ship, if you get lost."

He held the box out in front of him and began twisting it.

"If I just get the right angle it should…" a faint click sounded and a grid came out of a small projector on the box, showing a birds eye view of Library 207 and the surrounding area. In the top corner of it, a bright mark flashed.

"Bingo!" Jack said, "One map to our space ship, care for a midnight stroll anyone?"


Ok, that was my first attempt at a story! Hope you like it, many more chapters to come!

P.S. I have (tragically) only ever seen the recent series of Doctor Who, so if any of this, and anything yet to come, contradicts with anything said in earlier series, then I apologise!