Chapter Text
He pushed the wooden door of the Tardis wide open and rushed to the outside. His black coat blew as he moved and a small breeze of the new world behind the now closed doors reached my nose. I took a deep breath. Normally, the Doctor prefers action-packed and thrilling adventures but somehow, he decided that now would be the best time to visit this new planet he affectionately called “Green Nothingness” as there are literally no other lifeforms than plants and even those wouldn’t hurt any fly. Therefor he considered this place as the best to calm down and take a deep breath between two adrenalin-packed adventures. Not that I would mind in any way, but this somehow seemed a bit unusual for a man like him. And boy, I´ve never met anyone like him in my entire life.
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One day he just stood right in front of me in this deserted alley when I was heading back home from my job, pointing this strange device in my face while the thing made these unusual whirling noises. After a while, he stopped, looked at it and started shaking his head. I couldn’t get a word out because the whole situation seemed so surreal and as much as I knew, this man could have been some sort of psychopath. Luckily, this wasn’t the case. He started explaining with this thick Scottish accent,
“Nah, you´re just another normal pudding brain. That’s not what I´m looking for. Please, don’t pay attention to me. But in case you see a strange creature the size of a small dog… Well, not exactly that small. Maybe like a racoon? No, not like that…”
He stopped talking and looked deep into my eyes. It felt like he wanted to examine my soul or find my deepest secrets or something like that. I returned the look but more in a very confused way which he realized rather quickly. Then, he raised his two hands directly in front of my face and indicated the size of this animal-thing he was looking for.
“Like this. I am looking for it for quite a while and my sonic screwdriver sent me right into this alley.”
I still had no idea how to handle this whole situation properly and wasn’t able to move nor to reply, when suddenly a hairy creature quietly climbed out of a rubbish bin just a few meters in front of us. It walked on two legs like some kind of monkey but in the size of a cat. It was thick and reminded me of a mixture of bear and boar. Two small horns came out of his forehead between its ears. With garbage scraps all over its dark brown fur, it staggered across the street and scratched its back. Then it yawned revealing four sharp fangs. All of a sudden, I somehow regained my voice.
“Ehm, is it possible, that that’s the thing you are searching?”
At this moment, the creature stopped and looked at us with sparkling eyes. The man in front of me quickly turned around to face it. He answered while still staring at it,
“Yes, that’s it and now move back very slowly. Careful. Don’t stop looking at it. This thing may not look like a dangerous being, but let me tell you, that’s just its cover. Once it unfolds its true nature, nothing near it is safe because it eats everything crossing its path.”
A lump developed in my throat when he said these phrases. However, I did what he said until we both reached the corner. Abruptly, he grabbed my arm and quickly pulled me around the corner.
“You. Stay here. I have to do something slightly stupid and I don’t need any innocents involved in this. By the way, I am the Doctor.”
He gave me a quick smile and with those words he turned his back to me and ran back into the alley. I heard some terrifying noises like a vast growing tree whose bark cracks heavily. A deafening roar came from where he had run to, making me tremble. The man who introduced himself as the Doctor let out an angry groan. I couldn’t help but also run back into the alley. When I got there, the once small thing had turned itself into an over two-meter tall creature, standing over the man and bending down to his face. Its mouth was widely open and the sharp teeth approached the Doctors face. I didn’t know what suddenly got into me but I picked up a rock lying at the house wall and threw it at the creature, loudly shouting “Oi!”. The stone landed at its forehead and narrowly missed the man under it. The bear-thing lifted its terrifying head and at the very same moment, the Doctor reached into the right pocket of his coat, pulled out a small box, opened it and hold it directly into the creature´s face. A kind of bright glowing pull dragged the thing into the box. When it was completely gone, the Doctor closed it quickly.
“Well that was that.” he said with a hint of relief in his voice. He stood up from the ground, removed the dust from his clothes, ran his fingers through his tangled grey hair and came up to me. With big eyes I followed all of his movements until he stood right in front of me.
He cleared his throat, “Ehm, hello again. You might wonder, what just happened and who I am and all of those things. Let me explain …”
“How can this enormous creature fit in such a small box? Is this some sort of street art trick or is here anywhere a hidden camera? Not that I would mind or anything, but this thing looked very realistic. How did you do that? Was it an alien?”, I couldn’t stop asking all these questions. Looking back, I could have handled this whole situation in a much cooler way. However, back than I decided to hole him with all my questions.
“Oh, no no. This was pretty much real. And I am very thankful for your help, ehm…”
“(Y/N).” I replied. He put his hands together, rubbing them still holding the box in his right hand. Then he clarified,
“Well (Y/N), yes, this was indeed an extraterrestrial life form. But as you could see, I captured it in this box. And later, I will bring it back to its home planet just across the galaxy.”
He started examining the box and began pushing something on it that resembled a display with a keyboard. I was looking for the right words and the only thing I was able to bring out was:
“Are you from outer space too?”
He gave me a tense look, “No, of course not. I am from a planet like everybody else. I don’t know many lifeforms who can survive in the vacuum of space. But in case, you meant whether I am from earth or not, my answer is no, I am not human. Do you have a problem with that?”
When I shook my head, he returned his attention to the box and answered, “Good, because I would like to show you something if you don’t mind.”
I had just met two aliens and one of them acted slightly like a grumpy Scot who chases fearlessly creatures from another planet. But somehow, I did not feel uncomfortable or in danger. There was more like this urgent feeling for more information, more stuff like the one that had just happened.
So, I replied, “No, not really. What is it? Another thing that’s going to blow my mind? I don’t think that there could possibly be anything more surprising than that big bear-thing today.”
Oh well, how wrong I was. He raised his two eyebrows which looked like they had a life of their own and stared at me again with his blue eyes, giving me a small smirk. At that moment I didn’t know why he did so. This changed when we arrived at that blue police box which was supposed to be some kind of vehicle, as I understood from his brief description. I was not quite sure whether he wanted to fool me or if it was the truth. He pulled out a shining silver key of the inside of his coat and put it in the lock. After a soft click sound, he pushed the door open and entered the blue box. The door closed. I was still outside of it, trying to figure out what to do next, when I suddenly moved towards the door without greater thinking. My hand reached the blue wooden door and I carefully pushed it open. My eyes widened and by breath stopped. I went further and let the door shut behind me. Goose bumps covered my whole body. This must have been the most beautiful thing I have seen so far in my entire life. This magnificent machinery in combination with all these structures and colours. My eyes wandered around and found hold on the Doctor who was standing proudly at the top of the machine straightening the ends of his shirt sleeves. He witnessed my amazement and rubbed his hands.
“So, nothing else can blow your mind today, eh?”, he said with sparkling eyes.
I swallowed down the lump in my throat, “Okay, you got me. This is just so beautiful and unbelievable.”
“Well, better believe it, ´cause it´s real. Nothing else to say? Something about the size maybe?”
“Well, must have been hard work to compress all of this into a small police box. Obviously, it is some kind of alien technology which is centuries ahead of those from humanity. It´s breathtaking.”
“Okay, that’s new.” he mumbled. “Next time say something like ¢I can´t believe it. It´s bigger from the inside!¢ - I am really not into changes.” the Doctor continued.
I went closer to the man who just showed me the most unique thing in the whole world and stopped just when I reached the upper platform.
“Why would you show me this? Do you always do this? Showing people from the streets your space ship?”
“Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. This doesn’t happen very often considering my age and all the years I already travelled with my Tardis.”
“Your Tardis?”
“Yeah, Tardis. Time And Relative Dimensions In Space – Tardis for short. It is my space ship and with it, I am able to travel through time and space. Sometimes it can be dangerous and very risky, but it´s never boring. Everyday I discover something entirely new. This is how things are when one travels with me.”, proudly he moved his hand around, pointing out the surroundings.
“Well, that sounds very exciting. The complete opposite of my life. Must be awesome.”
“It truly is. However, sometimes it´s more a two-person job.”
“Like today?” I asked shyly with a small smile on my lips, not knowing what the Doctor was trying to say.
“Yes exactly. Thank you again.”
For a moment, we just stood there, looking at each other. Then, the Doctor broke the silence,
“Ok enough with the talking. What I am trying to say here is: Would you like to travel with me? I could use a companion like you. It takes a lot of courage to face a being like the one from the alley. Not everybody would have done what you did. So, what do you say?”
That question surprised me and a million thoughts crossed my mind. I, however, didn’t want to appear impolite, so I asked carefully, unsure what my next sentence would be, “Well, the Tardis is also a time machine which means you can bring me back to this exact moment any time I want? Nobody would actually realize that I was gone, right?”
Considering, that nothing would really hold me back made me feel a bit more confident. I always wanted to travel around but never had enough money or time to do so. This could be a one-time opportunity and I really enjoyed the action a few minutes ago. All the adrenaline made me feel more alive than ever before.
“Right.” the short response of the Doctor interrupted my thoughts and dragged me back to reality. I looked into his eyes and could see the excitement in them. I couldn’t help it but say,
“In that case, yes, I would like to travel with you.”