Chapter 4

The universe was a huge and fabulous space, and what better playground for a Time Lord that had never really grown up, but the whole of existence. He could choose wherever he wanted to go, with a few exceptions, and could enjoy himself. He could see the whole of history happen, watch as civilisations rose and fell, and he could do it alone or with a friend. He had had many friends over the centuries, but currently he was alone, or rather, he had no other companions with him other than his dear friend the TARDIS. They were travelling alone for a while, what had happened to Donna was still too current, too fresh in his mind for him to take anyone else with him for a bit. After he had taken her home and explained everything to her family he had taken off, just him and the TARDIS, hoping that he would be able to take some time and come to terms with everything that had happened recently. They had travelled to many different places, from suns to moons, to small asteroids still waiting to be named, but now he was in Cardiff, and he had no idea why. He had been on his way to Barcelona in the hopes of remembering happier times and to get himself a pet, he always had wanted a dog with no nose, when he'd stepped outside of the TARDIS however he was in Cardiff.

The Doctor was about to go back into the TARDIS and leave, he didn't want to bump into Jack and explain what had happened with Donna, when his phone rang, or rather Martha's phone rang. He considered not answering, but he knew that Martha wouldn't call him if she didn't need to so he answered the phone, whilst starting to walk towards a small chip shop he remembered from previous visits to the city. He didn't know what it was Martha wanted of him, but he hoped that the end of the world wasn't upon them, he was pretty sure that he didn't have the energy to deal with that today, all he wanted to do today was buy a puppy.

"Hello Martha" he spoke into the phone, hoping that she was just checking up on him, she had done it a few times in the past. "How are you? How's the family?"

He smiled as she talked to him, excusing himself for a couple of minutes so he could place his order for chips, then returning to the conversation. Martha and everyone he had asked about seemed alright, and Martha didn't sound as though she was in any danger. He also hadn't seen any mass panic in the streets as he had walked to the chip shop, so hopefully it really was a social call. Determined to find out though and not waste too much time stringing out his nervousness he just asked.

"So, what can I do for you Miss Martha Jones?" He hoped that he didn't sound fatigued as he spoke, but he was rather tired of the constant chase, the mad dashing around to save the world. In a way he wanted a break, a short holiday in which he could enjoy himself and maybe eat more chips.

"It's Jack." He heard Martha say, "He asked me to call. He says that something came through the rift he needs you to look at. I've to tell you to get there as soon as possible with no side trips, he said it was important. Something to do with the Time War and Arcadia I think."

Instantly alert the Doctor took his chips from the woman at the counter and barked down the phone at Martha, "What date?"

Martha knowing what he meant, they were both experienced with Time Travel and knew that there was no guarantee that Martha had called him in the same century she told him the date, making him pause as he compared it with the date on a nearby newspaper.

"What time are you calling me at?" He asked, confusing the other woman a bit, it was obvious in her tone when she replied telling him that it was about three in the afternoon. He sighed, now he knew why he was in Cardiff rather than Barcelona, that meddling time machine had brought him to Cardiff, she had obviously known that something was going on and decided that he should be there when Martha called. He smiled at the thought, although his TARDIS didn't always take him where he wanted to go, she certainly took him to places he needed to be, even if he himself didn't know that at the time.

"Alright Martha. There's no need to phone Jack back, I'll go there now, it should only be a couple of minutes walk from here."

"You are in Cardiff already." Martha asked, disbelief in her voice. "What were you doing there?"

He smiled at her tone, she really had been one of his few companions that had always been checking up on him, her and Donna both. He wasn't going to tell her the truth though, his companions always thought his timing and driving was bad. He wasn't about to admit that he had been hijacked by his own TARDIS, so he simply settled for, "Chips. The best chips this side of the universe."

He hang up the phone, the sound of Martha's laughter ringing in his ears as he made his way back towards the TARDIS and the entrance to Torchwood. He stood on the correct paving slab, Jack having told him which one it was when warning him not to park on their exit. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and used it to make the lift descend, having worked out how it worked from Jack's description.

The area that appeared in was empty by the looks of it, no human beings around at all. He wondered if maybe they were out, but it hadn't been long since Jack had called Martha, because she would have phoned him straight away, so they were probably there somewhere. Taking a look around he decided that he definitely wanted to explore, especially the room that looked to be full of plants, he wondered what Jack and his team were growing. Taking out his sonic screwdriver he scanned for life signs, getting a reading back of seven; one alien, four human, one prehistoric, and what appeared to be a half-human.

The prehistoric life sign he guessed was the pterodactyl that Jack had bragged about keeping as a pet, and the alien was most likely the weevil he had heard the other man talking to Martha about the last time they were all together. The other life signs must be Jack and his team, so he followed his screwdriver in their direction, his mind wondering about the half-human, about what the other half of their ancestry was, whether they were part of Jack's team, or if they were what had come through the rift. The Doctor really didn't know what would happen if it was someone else who had survived the time war, would they be as mad as Dalek Caan had been, or as scarred as he was. He supposed that really he would need to meet them to find out, having nothing else to do he knocked on the closed door that he came across before pushing it open. His screwdriver had told him that everyone with human DNA was congregated in that one room, so he had to be in there as well to find out what was going on. He didn't expect to be on the receiving end of five glares and to be staring down the barrel of four guns.

"Really Jack?" The Doctor huffed, "Is this how you treat everyone you ask to see you?"