Adventures of John: The Doctor, the Daleks, and the Dragon

Chapter 3: Jurassic

Opening the door, we looked outside to find ourselves in the middle of sweeping grassland, with a massive rainforest and mountain range visible in the distance. At first it appeared abandoned, but then the earth began to shake. Suddenly an immense shadow passed over the TARDIS, and looking up we saw the underbelly of a massive leathery beast. The shaking came from its massive feet slamming against the earth as it walked. While it passed us it stretched forth its lengthy neck, a deep rumbling coming from its throat.

"A brontosaurus," I muttered. "You brought us back time to the Jurassic Era?" I questioned, turning to the Doctor. "What if that thing had stepped on the TARDIS?"

"An Apatosaurus, actually," the Doctor corrected. "There is no such thing as a brontosaurus. And you just experienced the TARDIS survive multiple blasts from Dalek battle cruisers, and you're worried about it getting stepped on? The shields are more than enough to protect it from damage from passing reptiles. But we'll put it on invisible just to make sure nothing gets too curious and we find ourselves unable to get in." He dashed into the TARDIS for a moment before dashing back out, the box disappearing behind him.

"Speaking of which, are you sure the Daleks won't be able to follow us?" Clara asked. "And aren't they supposed to not know about you? Didn't you erase their memories or something?"

"Or something," he answered, glancing at Clara. "You actually did it, in your Oswin Oswald incarnation. You erased their memorizes. Don't you remember?"

"Sort of," Clara answered. "All the stuff that the other versions of me did is pretty blurry."

The Doctor nodded thoughtfully. "They don't know who I am, but they recognized my TARDIS as Time Lord technology, and they would do anything to get their hands on it, no matter who the pilot is." He rubbed his hands together, stepping out of the box. "But don't worry, we lost them. Just in case we should stay in this time for a bit, so we should go out and appreciate the scenery. It's not every day that you get to go back to the Jurassic Era. Not for you, anyway."

So we walked out into the plain, seeing more Apatosaurus coming from the same direction as the first. They were incredibly majestic creatures, so massive and powerful. And yet, despite their immense strength, they were also incredibly gentle. One of the passing creatures even stopped to examine us and let Clara pet it on the head. There were no such thing as humans yet, so the creatures here weren't afraid of us. To them we were just another animal, one that didn't pose much of a threat at that.

. . . . .

But while we were appreciating the creatures' beauty, another, much more sinister creature, was evaluating us. "These apes are different than the ones we know," the creature hissed. "Not nearly as much hair. And that vessel of theirs is far too advanced for their primitive minds. These ones must be special, the next step on their evolutionary ladder." The creature smiled a cold, reptilian smile to itself. "They will make fine sacrifices."

. . . . .

"What do you think is in there?" Clara asked, pointing to the distant jungle. "Anything exciting?"

"I think it would be best to stay away from there," the Doctor cautioned. "The insects alone would be enough to kill you, much less the various dinosaurs that one might find." He continued speaking, but I quickly stopped listening. There was a faint yet insistent buzzing in my ears, a strange sensation that I couldn't quite place. It felt very familiar, but it seemed to be coming from far away. I focused inward, trying to discover the source of the sensation.

Magic. It was magic, and it was coming from the distant mountain range. This entire universe was devoid of magic, and yet I could sense some great source of magic emanating from the range. It has to do something with the rift, I reasoned.

"Tell him!" Pixie urged. "Let's go see what's going on over there! It'll be fun!"

"Doctor," I said, cutting in to his monologue about prehistoric insects. "There is a strange energy coming from that mountain range. I believe it has something to do with the rift that brought me to your TARDIS."

The Doctor flipped out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the mountain range, "sonicing" it. "There is an energy signature emanating from those mountains," he declared, examining the information displayed on the screwdriver, information that only he ever seemed to see. "It's the same energy signature that we discovered in the Technomancer's universe." He flipped his sonic back into his jacket pocket and checked an imaginary watch. "I think it we should investigate."

"What about the jungle?" Clara asked, pointing at the mass of foliage directly between us and the mountains. "I thought we couldn't go in there."

"We shouldn't," the Doctor agreed. "We'll take the TARDIS to get around the jungle, and we'll go the rest of the way on foot."

. . . . .

It took only a few moments for the TARDIS to take us beyond the jungle. We stepped out just past the outermost tree, the box vanishing behind us as the Doctor turned it invisible again. "Alright!" he declared, flapping his hands in the air before rubbing them together. "Let's go find us some magic!"

Unfortunately, once we stepped on the stone at the base of the mountains things didn't turn out well. The ground beneath our feet suddenly gave way, and we tumbled into darkness.

. . . . .

Back at where the TARDIS first landed, a massive ship suddenly appeared in the sky. "Scanners indicate there is no sign of the Time Lord device," the monotonous voice of a Dalek declared.

"Find it!" ordered another Dalek. "We cannot allow the device to escape! And find the pilot as well. We must discern how a human learned to pilot a TARDIS!" The ship opened then, and hundreds of Daleks flew out, scouring the countryside in search of the TARDIS.

. . . . .

When we regained consciousness we found ourselves in the middle of a massive cavern. Stalactites hung from the ceiling, stalagmites, stretched out of the ground, and everywhere was the glitter of gemstones. Unfortunately, rock formations were not the only thing the cavern was filled with. Everywhere there were scaly green reptile-men, each of which was armed with what looked like very advanced guns.

"Ah," the Doctor said, looking around. "Hello there, Silurians. I'm the Doctor. We um, we come in peace." Unfortunately, they didn't seem to share the sentiment.