"You want me to leave?" I ask in a shaky voice, feeling panicked. With all those green bobbly aliens and the daleks wandering around it sounds like a death mission.

"I know. I'm sorry. I wouldn't ask this normally. I know what you must be feeling, but we don't have time, I'm sorry. You need to get to the Tardis. If you pull up the levers and push the red button, then adjust the..." I stare as he rattles off a list of instructions, lasting for about 30 seconds, completely missing it all. "Got it?" he asks brightly.

"Yeah, completely." I say sarcastically. "You lost me at TARDIS." I drop my head and sigh. "I'm sorry. I can't think at the moment. Not with everything that's just gone on. So um... the red levers. Do I push it or pull it?"

He sighs softly, gets up from where he's working and takes off his glasses. "Do you trust me, Darcy?"

What a stupid question. I've only just met him. And then again... there is something about him that tells me I have nothing to fear.

"Yes." I murmer equally as softly.

"Because just like I can get inside your mind... I can put knowledge in there that will make sure you know what to do. Are you ready?"

"Not really." I say lamely.

Once again his hands rest on my face. He grins slightly. "Don't worry if none of this makes sense, it will when you get to the TARDIS, OK?"

I don't say a word, then it starts. It's sort of like cramming for a test, only 1000 times cooler. This rush of... stuff comes into my brain suddenly, filling the empty gaps. Knowledge is certainly a powerful thing.

He steps back and nods at me. "Off you go, then. And take this." He throws me his laser thing.

"Forgot to ask - what is this?" I hold up his secret weapon that he seems to love.

"It's a sonic screwdriver. Does just about anything. It will help you if you get caught by anything. Just remember it doesn't work on wood. Don't laser the people, and don't lose it whatever you do. And you'll need it to open the TARDIS."

"Right, gotcha." I laser the side door. It crashes down with a crack. I take one last look behind me, seeing the alien beings wandering aimlessly around before I take off. I run faster than I've ever run before, stopping to look at nothing, pelting back the way we've come.

Already the sky's darkened. It's threatening to rain. I reach the TARDIS a little out of breath, but adrenaline is pumping through my exhausted body. I pick up the sonic screwdriver and point it at the lock. In a few seconds it clicks open. I swing open the door and walk inside.

I still have no idea what I'm doing. I step up to the control pannel, and all of a sudden it seems to come to me. I know exactly what to do.

I switch the computer on, waiting as the TARDIS roars to life, squeaking and wheezing slightly. It seems to shudder, as if it knows I'm not the Doctor. But it complies as I flip the switches on. The dashboard computer suddenly blinks on. A friendly voice fills the room.

"Darcy! How goes it?"

"Great." I say a little flatly. "I'm almost done. You?"

"Almost. With the two combined we can create a small tear - enough for the Daleks to be sucked up."

"How are you going to stop everything else from being sucked up?"

"Well that's the thing, isn't it? I might need a hand. Come back here, just leave the TARDIS going. She'll be fine."

"Alright." I say tiredly. "I'm coming."

The dashboard computer flicks off. I sigh, picking up the sonic screwdriver and running out of the door again. In no time at all I'm back at my house, crawling through the grate I crawled out of. The room's practically unchanged, apart from the green aliens that loiter around.

"You're back." The Doctor grins at me. "Good work. The TARDIS is ready - but I need one final component for this to work. I'm going to need a favour."

"B..." I start.

"No questions. I'm sorry. I'll explain everything once we get back to the TARDIS, but there's no time. I need you to hang onto this." He pulls out what looks like a metal ball. I catch it and turn it over.

"Looks like a tennis ball except... silver."

"Hold onto it. Whatever you do, don't let it go. Have you got that? This isn't going to hurt, but it may feel a little strange." He flips a few switches and levers, using his sonic screwdriver to set off the reaction. Little leads race everywhere, and the ball starts to heat up, ever so slightly. This time I grip it with both hands as it seems to double in weight, and then my hand starts glowing a weird colour, and the ball suddenly glows with the blue flame.

I have no time for questioning it, I simply stare at it, transfixed. In a second it resumes its normal colour, and a powerful whooshing sound fills the air. We both look out of the only window in the place as a seam seems to open up in the clouds. The wind starts to pick up. I can only imagine that the TARDIS is now working to make the vortex powerful. Instead of cars and trees being sucked up, I distinctly see a Daleks start flying up the vortex.

The wall crashes down between us as the other Daleks finally manage to get through. They start shooting lasers at everyone and everything while they're being pulled away.

The Doctor pulls me down behind a desk. "Stay here." He whispers and jumps up, leaping from desk to table and trying to save the Dalex, who stand still like they've been shocked. One crashes down just in front of me. I muffle a scream and back up, jumping up and pushing one behind me down as a laser whizzes past it, missing it by mere milimetres.

I dodge a few lasers, glad for the gymnastics training when I was little, ducking.

"You. Will. Not. Win. Doctor. We. Will. Always. Be. Superior! And. We. Will. Meet. Again. This. Time. We. Will. Conquor." The voice rings out. I turn to watch as the last Daleks gets sucked up the vortex, disappearing. The only thing left is the mute leader before us.

"I have a feeling we'll be needing him." He says with a shrug. "Right, the Dalex. Can you give us a hand?"

He motions towards the heavy metal Dalek standing in front of us. The green aliens move towards it and pick it up. "What are we going to do with that?" I ask.

"The TARDIS will hold it. We'll keep it nice and safe." He says, bitter sarcasm lacing the word safe.

It doesn't take long before the welcoming blue box comes into site. The green aliens dump the Dalek at the door.

"Thank you." The Doctor looks them over. "Now. Unfortunately I can't reverse the affects of what the Daleks did to you. But I can do this." He waves the sonic over them. The TARDIS responds, hissing frightfully loud. The 50 or so green aliens around us start to disappear, waving.

"Isn't it brilliant?!" The Doctor says with a delighted smile.

"What are you doing?" i ask curiously as the last of them disappear.

"Beaming them to another planet - an empty one. They can exist peacefully, and they'll no doubt be our allies in case we need them."

"But what about the Daleks? Won't they still have control over them?"

"Nah, no more. You saw how defenceless they were when there were no Daleks in the room. They just stood there. They need their own planet. Somewhere to rule themselves. The Human race would never accept them again."

He jams his hands into the pocket of his trench coat, leaning against his TARDIS as the rift in the sky closes over. "Another job well done. I think I'll give myself a medal." He looks up at his TARDIS and smiles as if he's found a long lost friend. "I guess... it's time to be leaving, though..."

I block the doorway and bite my lip. "No. You promised to explain everything. Now, what the hell just happened? How come I woke up this morning completely normal and my day turns out like this? And what was that silver thing you made me hold?"

"OK." He sighs. "You deserve an explanation. The Daleks had obviously been hiding down in the very depths of your house for quite a while. I don't know how they got here, and something tells me it'll be a trip into the past to repair the damage so they don't come through again. They mutated several of your human kind, creating the green aliens known as the Dalex, who obviously named themselves after them, because they were just genetic mutations - carbon copies almost of the Daleks, except the only thing they had was their mind - bent on 1 thing only, and that was whatever their masters said."

"But one of them helped me." I say defensively. "One of them showed compassion. If the Daleks don't feel anything how come that happened?"

"Because." He smiles widely. "Humans. Humans are the most wonderful thing in the world. Apart from me and the Tardis of course. They are an amazing race, who can definitely not be counted out in a hurry. You see feelings, emotions, they are the strongest powers in the world. And they're more than strong enough to defeat an alien gene trying to break through. Which brings us to another subject. That void wasn't opened by me." He stares down at me with sadness in his eyes.

"I opened it." Realization dawns on me. "Was that because... because I touched that Dalek thing?"

"A long time ago, one of my companions - Rose - touched a Dalek, and awoke it. Normally you'd need h..."  He pauses. "in speech you can understand - stuff you get while traveling in the Tardis, through space, time and paralell words. In this case though, it needed a human code to unlock it. When you touched that Dalek, it infused with your blood, which is why it was probably so painful."

My mouth falls open. "I... I'm a Daleks?!"

"No, no of course not. You just have a very tiny, teeny bit of Daleks in you. Enough that I could open up the void and send all things Dalek inside, without sending everything else flying in."

"Oohh." I start to grin madly, despite the fact that I've just learned I'm part alien. "I actually understood something scientificy! But if I'm part Daleks, how come I wasn't sucked up?"

"Not enough Daleks." He says, looking at the sky which still hasn't cleared. "Maybe  you missed the tiny, teeny, eeny bit. But that's how it happened. Nothing to worry about now. Your hand will heal - and you'll never even know it was there."

My throat closes over as I think of Mother and Father - our household. "Thank you." I smile at him. "For everything. Our world - our world owes you a lot. All that time you've been saving our lives. I gather this isn't the first time?"

"Nah." He says with a shrug. "There was a spaceship in the sky over Big Ben... there was that web everyone called a Christmas star. Oh, that tiem the whole Earth moved - going to set off a chain reaction to a reality bomb. But humans! They always have explanations for everything. The human race are surprisingly resourceful and independent. There's no reason why the other races have to come and interfere with them."

"So there really are other worlds up there?" I look up at the darkening sky in wonder. I've only ever known the planets to exist.

"Oh yeah. There are hundreds. Hundreds of planets and galaxies - all of space and time. There's the past, the future and the present, all waiting up there."

"But time travel - like that's not even possible, right? That stuff has already happened. We can't relive it."

"I explained it to a friend like this once." The Doctor smiles at the memory. "You see... people assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect. When actually, from a non-linear, non subjective point of view - are you with me?" He glances down at me as I gaze up at the starry sky.

"Not really. Carry on."

"It's... a big ball of wibbly wobbly.. timey wimey... stuff."

"Oh THAT makes sense." I smirk. "I don't care if it's possible - I don't even care why, or how. But if it IS then that's... amazing!"

"Yes it is." He follows my gaze to the sky. There's nothing but silence as I stare at the blue box. "And..." He hesitates.

It's the hesitation I pick up on but I don't say anything, just stare at the sky, which starts to spit with rain.

"It's going to rain." he says softly.

"Thanks Captain Obvious." I blink as water hits my eyelashes. "Oh, look at that, he's a weather predictor as well. What else? A psycologist? A vet? Or did you fail that class too?"

He smiles and looks down. "Look. I... I just want to say that I'm really, really sorry about what happened in there. First your father... now your mother..."

"They were never good to me." I say bitterly. "Never kind. Never caring. But yes, they were my family." I look up and he turns away, obviously hiding his emotions. "But Doctor..." I wait for him to look  back down at me again. "I want you to know that it was in no way your fault. If anything I brought this on myself."

"Don't say that." He says, enveloping us in a hug while the rain pours down around us, drenching me in seconds. "None of this was your fault. It's the planets and their bloodthirsty desire to rule everything."

I can't help myself, I start to sob. Paired with the pouring rain and my shivering I start to sob hysterically. My whole life lies before me in shatters - ruins. Everything is... gone. The basement - level negativve 25 anyway, of my home is destroyed. My parents are dead. And Alex is no where to be seen - disappeared without a trace. And now I have nothing. 

The only sound between us is my gasps of breath between the water falling from the sky and my eyes until at last I stop, and then start shivering again. "W...w..we're going to g...g..get pnemonia." I stutter. 

He seems to have gone into some sort of trance so I pull him towards the door of the TARDIS and pluck his sonic screwdriver from his pocket, zapping the lock and opening the door. 

Inside it's like the central heating has been turned on. I run my fingers through my shoulder length drenched hair, spraying water everywhere. "I think you have more need of this than I do." He hands me his massive trench coat jacket and continues to stare at me.

"Take a picture, mate. It lasts longer." I struggle to wrap his coat around me, folding it over twice, feeling suddenly warm. "What is it?"

"I was thinking." He says softly. "I felt so bad after my previous companions left - especially Rose - that I... never thought I could feel complete again. I never thought I'd save the universe again - or travel. I just sort of... sat in space wandering what to do next."

"Rose?" I ask, sauntering unhurriedly to the central control pannel, remembering when I had to flip switches and save planet earth.  "That's a pretty name. I always wanted to be called Rose."

"Rose Tyler. She was with me for ages - even after I regenerated."

"Regenerated?" I gulp. This is new. What else do Timelords do?

"It's where a person changes f..."

"I know what regenerate means. Gosh, I'm not that stupid." I say with a small smirk. "What happened?"

"Well... it was... she...I.. I lost her."

"Locked her in the dungeon and threw away the key." I say with a small smile.

"What? Well. I guess you could say that. Only I couldn't do anything. I couldn't help her. I had to leave her... standing on that beach all alone." He rubs his hands through his hair with a heavy sigh. Then, as if he'd flicked the sentimental switch up to happy he smiles and jumps up beside me. "I know I said I'd take you home, and, frankly, I don't blame you if you want to go back. But..." Here he hesitates again.

I sigh and flip the switch that serves as the TARDIS' engine. It rattles and squeaks to life. He stares at me, wide-eyed.

"The information you gave me hasn't worn off yet." I wink.  "And I'd love to travel with you." I say wryly.

"I... hang on... I never even said you could... or invited you." He raises his eyebrows.

"Come off it, you've been trying to summon up the guts to ask me at least 3 times. And you're thinking it. And you're saying it... not verbally but..." I look at him. "Are you serious? You tell me you have a freaking time machine... and a... key to unlimitless adventure. My family are... dead. I have no idea where my brother is, I don't even have a life to go back to. And I don't think you'd throw me out on the streets, but... maybe you would. I really don't know you that well at all..." I sneek a look at him. He looks amused. But even though he tries to keep his expression unreadable, I can detect a hint of what he's thinking.

Confusion, mainly. Probably because I said it all in one breath. But I know he understands. His eyes seem to light up. Something flashes across them. Even this strange alien being seems to need people - companions - friends.

"So... you'll come, then?" He asks softly, almost childlike.

"Maybe." I grin mischeviously. "But you haven't asked me properly yet. And I still might change my mind. You've got 10 seconds." 

His smile is wider than I've ever seen. He stands in front of me, then looks into my eyes. "Darcy Lester. Will you do me the honour of exploring the universe with me?"

"NO!" I turn around, flopping onto the seat and crossing my arms. "It took you that long! You're really weird. You're an alien. I don't even know your name. And... before I agree to be your companion you have to show me that you're not just going to dump me anywhere - show me that you're going to be commited." 

"Okay..." He says slowly. "I already told you my name. it's the Doctor. Nothing more, nothing less. So rule 1 of TARDIS... don't wander off. 2... don't eat anything unless you're sure it's safe. 3. Time is not the boss of you. And lastly - very much importantly.... trust me." He gives me one of his develish grins I'm getting fond of. "So, miss Darcy Lester. For the last part of your contract, I do have something of value to give you - something to show you that you're definitely apart of my adventures..." He runs to the TARDIS and turns a few switches. There's a few clicks and groans from the TARDIS and in a few seconds he runs back to me, grinning like he's won a prize. 

"Hold out your hand." He instructs. 

I do, feeling slightly nervous as to what he's about to do. After all he is an alien. 

Into my hand he drops a shiny silver key, slightly notched on the ends, with a loop for a keyring, or a chain. 

"A TARDIS key?!" I bounce off the seat. "Well... OK, you've set down your rules. Now it's my turn... 1." I circle the TARDIS. "You have to teach me how to fly this thing properly. 1 day - some day in the future. 2. If you talk sciency to me, you have to stop and explain yourself when it's safe. 3.... Where are we going?!" I run over to the control panel in excitement, expecting a big flashing neon sign to proclaim loudly our destination. "I need to get out of here - get out of this place and forget about everything that just happened."

"Well then." He grins, jumping around the centre console. "Where shall we go, eh? What shall we see?"

I grin. "We could go anywhere - anything... this thing goes in time!"

"TIME and relative dimension in space." He reminds me.

"Well... then set the coordinates to random... if you can do that."

"You read my mind!" He grins, flipping a switch. "Hold on. AND HOLD ON TIGHT ALLONS-Y!!"