Chapter 2

Luke slept soundly, dreamless as always. He had one hand tucked under his pillow his face resting gently on the other side. His sheets were tucked over half of his face, keeping him warm under the cold conditions outside. The air was thick with an icy feel, sleet falling down to the ground coating the pavement with a thin sheet of ice.

The faint echo of feet on the pavement was heard in the distance mixed with the harsh winds of the winter night. The low pants of a troubled child coming closer and closer until...

Luke shot up as a set of alarms rang in his ears. He began panting in fright, turning his head to the thin sliver of light creeping out from his door. He soon gathered that the alarms were in actual fact the front door ringing which lead him to question who in their right mind would be at their doorstep at two in the morning? Then he considered fact. What if it was Rani or even Clyde with an emergency, like whilst they slept all the adults had disappeared or the earth had fallen out of orbit and they were all doomed?

Luke rolled out of bed to hear Sarah Jane's shrill voice. "I'm coming!" She called, wrapping her pink nightgown around her and rushing down the stairs. She opened the door, half expecting to see one of the children. She was technically correct. In front of her stood Pandora, paler than ever. She was hugging her body looking desperately behind her. "Please, make them go away!" she begged, grabbing Sarah Jane and pulling her close to her own body. Sarah Jane was startled, and patted Pandora comfortingly on the back. "Why don't you come in? I can make you a nice cup of tea!"

Luke approached them with caution in their living room. Pandora had sat cross legged on the sofa holding a mug of tea, the steam lifting from the liquid in thick wispy lines. She sipped it slowly, staring at the floor the entire time. "What's going on?" Luke asked groggily.

Sarah Jane raised her eyebrow, "Pandora showed up on our doorstep claiming she wanted me to 'make them go away.'"

Pandora blew on her mug of tea confirming she wasn't going to answer.

Luke rubbed his eyes and Sarah Jane nodded at him, "Go back to bed you have school."

Luke nodded, unable to answer as a yawn claimed him. He turned around, dragging himself up the stairs and into bed.

Sarah Jane put her own mug on the coffee table and continued to stare at Pandora inquisitively. She was wearing the same clothing as she was when they first encountered her in the factory. She looked more tired than before hand and Sarah Jane noticed looking at her more closely that she was wearing a bizarre little watch on her wrist. It was thin black leather with a plastic lid covering something large and rectangular on the top of it. Pandora put her hand over it protectively and continued to sip her drink. "What was chasing you before?" Sarah Jane asked unable to keep quiet any longer.

Pandora suddenly looked vulnerable and she kept her gaze away from Sarah Jane's, "They aren't bad people." She said defensively, "they just want me home."

"Your parents?" Sarah Jane was intrigued.

Pandora shook her head slowly, "my parents sent them to come and get me, but I don't want to go home, I have so much more to do!" She grinned widely, throwing open the small lid on her watch. "Mistress, alien activity detected." K-9 barked, suddenly appearing in the room his sensors, a large metal rod with what appeared to be a small rubber plunger on the end protruding from his forehead going crazy. He rattled to Sarah Jane's side who immediately took a defensive position towards the thing on Pandora's wrist.

"What are you?" Sarah Jane asked, shocked.

Pandora grinned, "You know I'm not human, you've known for a while. Your own watch has been beeping like crazy but you chose to ignore it."

Sarah Jane gasped, looking at her watching which was whirring around flashing bright red. Sarah Jane raised her eyebrow at the girl, finding her no threat at that moment. "Who are you then?"

Pandora curtsied, "Pandora Naflink, child genius of the Geinfrey galaxy. My home planet is called, Desdreya." She informed, twisting a strand of her hair around her finger.

Sarah Jane was already running past her up the stairs to Mr Smith, she burst through the doors. "Mr Smith I need you!" She said urgently, tapping her foot impatiently as Mr Smith opened his great doors to show his great keyboard, music playing him in. Pandora walked through the door and nodded approvingly, "nice place you have here." She said, her eyes wandering around the room.

"Who said you could come in here?" Sarah Jane hissed angrily.

"Who said I couldn't?" Pandora smirked, flashing her usual cocky grin.

"Ah Sarah Jane, it is always a pleasure. I must warn you that there is alien activity coming from this room." Mr Smith droned in his casual masculine tone.

"I know, I want to know who she is and whether her species is known for anything." Sarah Jane said, grabbing Pandora and forcing her in front of Mr Smith to be scanned.

"Ah a Xylok, very impressive, however the name isn't really that special is it?" She smirked.

"How could you possibly know that?" Sarah Jane hissed.

"Allow me to answer that Sarah Jane. Pandora Naflink comes from the planet Desdreya, they were formally known as the smartest race in the universe. Their intellect was and still is astounding. Pandora's brain capacity is nothing I've seen not even from the statistics of a normal Desdreyian. She is far smarter than any other creature I have ever crossed paths with." Even Mr Smith's tone was thick with jealousy.

Sarah Jane shook her head, "So what exactly can she do?"

"Desdreyians are known for their ability to control all known elements, are telepathic and telekinetic and also have the ability to shape shift when fully energized. They also have a higher strength than humans and can run up to the speed of six hundred and ten earth miles per hour." Mr Smith informed.

Sarah Jane couldn't help but let her mouth drop down at the sound of it all. "Oh my..." she gasped, "and you're the smartest on your planet?"

Pandora nodded agitated, "And I don't want to go back to a life of praise which is why I designed my own escape route!" She said proudly holding up her watch, "this enabled me to not only teleport anywhere I have co-ordinates for but also allows me to travel through time!"

Sarah Jane's heart fluttered at that sentence. She's like the Doctor. She's absolutely amazing. She could take you to the Doctor; you'd only have to ask... Sarah Jane quickly skipped the thought and smiled pleasantly at Pandora. "Time travel, you know I've travelled through time myself, but I didn't think it was possible of someone your age..."

"I'm seventeen." Pandora filled in, "but it doesn't really matter I mean age doesn't matter I won't age anymore."

Sarah Jane froze and looked Pandora up and down. "Everyone grows older." She said, almost laughing at how stupid she sounded after thinking about the Doctor. Pandora shook her head slowly, "I'm not sure how to exactly think of it, none of my people live forever but they say I was gifted, they scanned me and I have no body clock I have nothing to kill me or age me I was even put in the same room as a deadly virus and it dematerialised when it touched my skin."

Sarah Jane snapped her fingers and Mr Smith hurriedly responded by re-scanning her. "I have scanned Pandora and from what I can tell is every cell in her body has stopped, they are like rocks, they protect her but at the same time refuse to age or kill her." Mr Smith's words became static at the end at the height of the energy she gave off, "picking up something else..."

"Oh!" Pandora said, making Sarah Jane jump. She clapped her hands together and laughed uneasily, "I also can heal people, it's hard to explain... but I can manipulate energies in a body to effectively take the disease or virus from the host body and destroy it outside of the body within my hands."

Sarah Jane felt as if she had to sit down, what on earth had she just listened to? Was she dreaming? Had she never woken up to answer the door in the first place?

"You're not dreaming." Pandora said dryly, "I can read your mind before you ask, and that is something normal on my planet anyway." She said rolling her eyes, "I don't like being stared at like some science experiment, I like to make things not be stared at that's why I am running away from my parent's goons set out to get me. They're robots that are programmed to stop at nothing until they get me home safely."

Sarah Jane studied Pandora for a moment, "Can't you simply call your parents?"

Pandora's eyes widened, "Whoa, aren't you a mother? I'd never do that I'd get a mouthful and be taken right away as soon as my parents knew my co-ordinates."

"Okay fine, you can stay the night tonight until we can think through something, perhaps I should speak to your parents I have had my own experience with aliens before."

"Like the Doctor?" Pandora said admiringly.

"How'd you know... oh you read my mind? Please stop that!" Sarah Jane insisted.

"The Doctor seems amazing in your head... a face always changing... a time lord? I've never heard of them myself, but did they invent time travel?"

Sarah Jane shrugged, not wanting to answer anything aimed at the Doctor or his dead race. "It's none of your business who they were." She said irritated.

Pandora looked at the floor and scuffed her shoe slightly on the wood. Sarah Jane smiled and rolled her eyes, "you're free to use the guest room tonight." She said kindly.

Pandora's face lit up, "Really?" she asked excitedly.

Sarah Jane nodded her head and guided Pandora rapidly into her room for the night.

After Pandora created her own suitable night ware within seconds she was asleep tucked up in bed. Sarah Jane too went back to bed and threw on her covers. Luke slept peacefully in the room next door and across the road Rani was asleep too. No one else stirred throughout the course of the night.

[To be continued]