One day I decided that we should visit Earth and see some sights. I especially loved London, though, so I thought that I'd show Tardis the different places we could go. "I've got a surprise, Tardis!" I peeked my head into her room but she wasn't sitting on her bed or at her desk. "Tardis?" I roamed the corridors calling her name and getting silence in return. "Tardis! Where are you?" I found myself at the library and took a step inside. I called her name one more time and heard my voice echo. This one was a bust, so I turned on my heel to go search for her more, until I heard something from behind me, that is. I stepped deeper into the library and followed the source of the random noise. "Come out, Tardis! I've got a trip planned for us!" Something dropped and I ran towards it.
Sitting at the end of the aisle of bookshelves was Tardis with her nose in a book. As I got closer, I noticed stacks of thick books next to her and tilted my head to read the spines. "Atomic Studies, Ages in History, Quantum Physics. Tardis, how long have you been in here?" She turned a page without any response except a finger telling me one minute. Next she placed her fingertip on the page and looked up at me. "Um, 8 hours 15 minutes and 30 seconds." That was pretty impressive. "How many have you read?" She looked at the bookshelves and answered, "All of those." My eyes actually widened and I remembered why I was looking for her. "I've got a surprise for you. Come on." I held out my hand and she placed a bookmark inside her book before accepting it.
"If it's a fez, Dad, you can have it." She sighed and I opened the library doors for her, offended. "I swear it's not a fez this time." I promised and pulled her through the halls of the lower levels of the TARDIS. "Don't lie to me, Dad." She seemed really eager to go back and read her books. "I'm not lying to you!" I ran up the steps and covered her eyes with my hands. "So it really is a surprise? " "Of course! I told you I wasn't lying!" I sighed and guided her towards the front doors. With a pull, the door opens and I almost uncover Tardis' eyes from startlement. "Don't open your eyes yet!" I tried to be as relaxed as possible, but it was difficult since I opened the door to lava instead of real ground. "Dad, why is it so hot?" I shut the door with my foot and shuffled Tardis and I to the console.
I tried to flip switches and push buttons, but it was nearly impossible for me to do so without falling over. "Dad, what was the surprise?" "One moment." I took one hand off and kept her face covered with my left as I finally got my ship to lift off. She landed gently, thank God, and I returned to the front doors. "Okay, take a look," I took my hands off her face and swung the door open. "Is this?" She whipped her head towards me and I nodded. "Are we going to go down there?" I nodded and she hugged me. The view of Earth from up here was beautiful. I flicked a small piece of asteroid that was floating by the doorway and Tardis turned to face outside.
She took in the view and I knew she was trying real hard to contain her excitement. I looked down at her and she returned the gesture. "Wanna go down and explore?" She nodded vigorously and closed the doors with her mind-powers. "I thought you'd never ask." The TARDIS started to vworp and I held on to some railing while we landed. I will admit, not out loud, though, Tardis was a better flyer than I was. "Come on, Dad! We've landed, let's go!" She tried to pull me to the doors, but I resisted. "You don't even know where we've landed." I pulled her with more strength and dragged her with me to the monitor. "Hmm... Tardis, you've landed us on the middle of the Sahara!" "Is that good?" She jumped and I shook my head. "That's a desert. I wanted to show you somewhere special." I materialized the TARDIS within seconds and then offered my hand. She took it and I smiled before I opened the door again.
Instead of outer space, we walked out to the streets of London. People walked by with their eyes glued to the screens of their phones. Tardis was speechless, and didn't say a word until I poked her shoulder. "Where do you want to start?" I asked. "I don't even know!" "Let's go get a cuppa, shall we?" I'm sure she didn't even know what that was, but she nodded. It was quite ironic, this situation; I usually amazed my companions with planets and aliens, but this time I was showing off Earth. A simple, yet beautiful planet that was still young.
"How can all these people not be looking around them? It's so wonderful here!" She stared up at the sky and clouds while we were walking down the sidewalk to a café. It was quite difficult to pull Tardis inside, but I got us a seat outside so she could sightsee from our seats. "Two teas please. And some plain biscuits please." I added and the waitress disappeared back inside. "We haven't even seen the best yet." I tapped my finger on the desk and crossed my leg. "What? What could be better than this?" She gestured to everything in front of her. "There's many more to see, Tardis. Ooh, tea!" I sat up excitedly and couldn't wait for the cups to be placed on the metal table. Cream and sugar were included, and I saw Tardis look at the drink skeptically. "It's tea! Go on, have a sip." I stirred some sugar and cream into mine and smiled after I took a sip of the satisfactory warmth.
Tardis took my advice and took a tiny sip of her drink and scrunched her face up."I don't like it." She pushed the saucer and cup away from her. "You didn't even sweeten it!" She looked over at the sugar and started to stir in some spoonfuls. After another sip, she kept putting more and more in until I'm sure her tea was a sugar with tea. "Let me have a taste." I reached out and she slid the cup to me. I tasted it and almost spit it back out because it was much too sweet. "I like it, it tastes good." She frowned and I shook my head saying, "You drink it how you want to drink it." I finished mine and remembered the biscuits that were brought for us. "Try one of these." I handed her a biscuit and she inspected it. "It's sweet, you'll like it." I assured and she took a nibble. With alarming speed, Tardis started chowing down biscuit after biscuit. "Save some for me! They aren't unlimited, you know!" I claimed some of the biscuits before they were gone. She wanted more, but I shook my head. "You'll get a tummy ache and then we'll have to go back to the TARDIS and wait for it to pass." I scolded.
After our snack, we explored the shops and any other attractions we came across. "Dad, what is that?" She pointed and I followed her eyes. "That, Tardis, is the London Eye. It is a ferris wheel, would you like to-" "Yes!" She interrupted and we ran to the Eye.
After about an hour of waiting, we finally made it to the front of the line. We filed in with a few other tourists and claimed our spot behind the glass facing the river. Most had their cameras out and we reading brochures. A lot looked American, but there was a little girl and her mum that had the native tongue. "Mummy! Look! We're starting to go up!" She pointed and the mother smiled sweetly.
Tardis shared the same enthusiasm as the little girl and had her face pinned to the glass. She looked like it was Christmas morning and she was opening presents. I was glad I could make her happy by showing her just an average city with average people. It made me feel very proud to show the brilliance in something so average. It wasn't the normal showing off to impress somebody, it was the fact that Tardis was so excited about Earth that made me smile like her even though I'd been to Earth many times before.
"Dad!" Tardis exclaimed and I snapped out pf my deep thoughts to look outside. We were at the peak of the Eye and I could see the river and all the buildings from this height. "It's so beautiful!" She kept looking around at the tiny people and cars below her. I'll never forget that look of pure joy on her face.
We descended and I almost lost track of the time because Tardis had to tug on my arm to get my attention. "Dad, come on!" I shook my head to wake myself up and exited the pod. "Did you like it?" I wondered and Tardis hugged ke suddenly. "It was the best day ever!" She held on tighter and I patted her back as I returned the hug. "Oh my God! What is that?" A woman from the line screamed and pointed to the sky.
Tardis and I looked up and saw something breaking through the clouds. It couldn't be, not now, not here. There's only one reason they'd be here and that was because I was here. Up in the clouds was a ship of one of my most horrible and evil enemies. "The Daleks." Tardis beat me to it and I felt her grip my coat tighter. Everyone around us was screaming and scrambling like wild animals. I made sure Tardis didn't get separated from me and we ran. Back towards the TARDIS was the safest place to go to for now.
I wanted to know why the Daleks would bring a giant ship like this to Earth. They didn't need a whole fleet to take over, if that was their intention. They could be trying to have reinforcements in case I outwit them. Their appearance here was unexpected and unwanted, and it scared Tardis. I could just tell. Though she knew about them, Tardis had never come close to a Dalek before, and I didn't want her getting hurt.
On the way back to the TARDIS we almost got separated by the flow of people against us. At this time, we heard the crying of a nearby little girl. Tardis found her sitting on the steps of an empty store. She looked no older than six and had dirty and raggedy clothes on. Her long dark hair was braided back and her attire consisted of a simple, green light jacket with mittens dangling from the sleeves; blue trainers with dirt all over them; and a plain blue dress torn at the bottom. It looked like she'd been through a lot.
"Excuse me," Tardis tapped her shoulder and kneeled down to her level and I mirrored her. "Did you lose your mummy?" The girl sniffed and wiped her cheeks with a nod. Without even asking me, Tardis invited her to come with us. "My dad and I can help you find her, okay?" She nodded and Tardis held out her hand. The girl just sat there and waited for something to happen. After I caught a glimpse of her eyes, I knew what was up with her. "Tardis, she's blind." I whispered in her ear and she reached for the girl's little hand. "What's your name, dear?" She asked sweetly. "Lucille Troy." Tardis helped the girl up. "I'm Tardis, and this is my dad," "The Doctor." I introduced myself and I gestured that we needed to hurry. "Lucille, is it okay if I hold you? We need to run." Lucille nodded and added, "You can call me Lucy." Tardis scooped up Lucy and threw her on her back. "Hold on tight. She warned and we took off again.
The screams of people rang in the air as we ran. The people were panicking and I could understand why; if a giant space ship appeared in the sky you'd want to get away. We were running towards it, however.
We finally reached the TARDIS, and the door swung open. I totally forgot that Tardis could control her. Why didn't we just materialize it here? We wouldn't have found Lucy, which would've been very unfortunate for her. "Where are we? It sounds different in here." Lucy asked as Tardis slid her off her back. "We're in my ship." I pulled the monitor over and tried to get as much information as I could before anything happened. "What's happening? Where's my mummy?" She sounded like she was going to cry again. "She's looking for you. We're going to try and find her." Tardis jumped in and kept a firm grip on Lucy's hand. She started to whimper and I felt really bad. She was lost, with strangers, and on top of that she was blind. "We're going to make sure you get back to your mum, okay?" I turned and she stopped crying. "How about you and Tardis go play something?" I hinted and my daughter nodded.
I was left alone with my thoughts and silence. I hopped up and ran to the monitor. Daleks were flooding out into the skies and I frowned. What did they want? My question was answered almost immediately when a robotic voice boomed from outside. "Attention, humans of Earth, the Daleks have invaded your inferior planet. The rest of our superior army is waiting outside your atmosphere and out of reach." I had heard enough of the Dalek and started the TARDIS up to travel us to the military base. It was technically a "secret" base, but I loved breaking into their bases. "Dad?" Tardis' voice echoed from downstairs and I wondered why she wasn't with Lucy. "Why aren't you with Lucy?" I ran around the console. I heard her footsteps coming from the stairs and catch a glimpse of Tardis. "I'm taking a field trip. Now go back to Lucille, she must be scared right now." I scolded and noticed that I used Lucy's full name.
Once Tardis had left I focused on flying to the underground base. I wondered how they'd react to my sudden appearance in their "high-security" facility. I whistled a tune and landed gently before I ran downstairs to call for Tardis. "Ready to go?" She popped out of her bedroom and I jumped. "Don't do that!" I blinked and she giggled. "I am. How about you two?" She nodded and Lucy hid behind Tardis sheepishly. When she revealed herself, I noticed that she was cleaned up, her skin wasn't ridden with dirt, and she had a fresh new outfit. Instead of a torn blue dress, she had a clean red, long sleeve dress and shiny new black shoes. "Hello! I see you've gotten a bath!" I smiled and Lucy nodded. "Well, we're about to go surprise some people who most likely have guns. Isn't that exciting?"
Tardis guided Lucy upstairs to the console room and I looked back at them before I put my hand on the handle. "Just stay behind me until they put their guns down, okay?" They both nodded and I pulled the handle and strolled out with some confidence. "Who are you? How did you find this place?" I looked around, and sure enough, there were soldiers with guns pointed at me. I put my hands up, but gestured for Tardis to come out with Lucy. "I'm the Doctor, and this is my daughter, Tardis with her friend Lucy." I pointed, still with my hands up, and Lucy greeted naïvely, "How do you do?" The soldiers moved restlessly. "How did you find this place?" I thought I should be witty, but decided to give a plain answer since we were on a time crunch. "This isn't as secure as you think, now who runs this place?" I kept my hands up, but got on my tip toes so I could attempt to look over their helmets.
"Stand down, soldiers!" A man's voice boomed from behind the line and they parted to make an opening to the stranger. "You must be the Doctor?" He shook my hand with admiration. "Farland. Thomas Farland. It's such an honor to finally meet you." He let go but my hand kept shaking and I looked down and stopped it with my left. "Oh, darling, don't scare him." A woman appeared and all the soldiers went to attention. "At ease. Hello, Doctor. Yes, we know who you are, now help us fix this Dalek problem of ours." She turned on her heel and briskly strolled back the way she came with a vibe of superiority. Tardis grabbed my hand and pulled Lucy behind her as we followed her and Thomas.
"You're probably wondering who I am? I'm Genaveve. I am the top dog at this place." She gloated and I finally got to talk. "Yes. Now, what year is this, again?" I asked while staring around at my surroundings, which was a tunnel lit by dim red lights. "The year? 2015." Genaveve looked at a watch on her wrist and hastened her pace. "Hurry, now, I'm sure these Daleks don't want to wait for us." She joked and chuckled quietly. I looked back at Tardis and Lucy, very confused, and kept following the two strangers before we came across a door. It required some certain handprints and such, but they finally opened to a vast room full of people behind computer screens with headsets. All I could hear was tons of voices all talking at once, and I'm sure Lucy wasn't enjoying this either.
"What's with all the people?" I wondered. "Our emergency hotline. We dispatch and deal with any problems in the city." She guided us to a pair of doors on the other side of the room and two guards opened it for us. "This is where we'll be working." There were people on computers and other devices all around us. "What should we do, Doctor?" I glanced back at my daughter and Lucy then to the large screen in the front of the room; which had an image of the Dalek's ship. "We find out what they want."