2

Ali wondered what had happened to the strange man, whether he had survived the fight, whether she would ever see him again, but it was only a few days later and the great wandering planet of LM-RVN had barely danced halfway across the sky when he came back into her life.

She was on her way home from college at the end of a long and boring day and had stopped off at the lake to stare into its murky depths. It was starting to grow dark and the moons were casting silver splashes over the water. It looked insanely beautiful. She threw in a stone and wished it was the holidays and the water was warmer and it was safe to go for a swim – properly go for a swim. She only really felt alive when she was in the water.

And then she saw his reflection, distorted by the ripples from the stone, but still unmistakably him. The Doctor. She felt a little stab of happiness. He was all right.

‘I want it back,’ he said.

‘What?’ she said without even turning round.

‘You know what.’

‘How can you be so sure I’ve got it?’ she said, feeling the sphere hanging heavy in her carrying pouch.

‘You know,’ said the Doctor, ‘when I first saw you I said to myself, here’s someone special.’

Now Ali did turn. She’d thought the exact same thing about him. It was then that she noticed a large box of some sort standing in the tall weeds, half hidden under the trees. It was blue, looked like it was made of wood and had foreign writing on it. Her mind started to turn.

‘This thing you’re looking for,’ she said. ‘What is it? Why should I give it back to you?’

‘I can’t tell you that. Let’s just say that the fate of a planet, an insignificant little planet, but a planet I’m rather fond of, is in your power. Besides, it’s not yours. I lost it in a fight.’

‘I saw that,’ said Ali. ‘It didn’t look like much of a fight to me, more a massacre, really. You weren’t exactly winning.’

‘I had a plan … It sort of worked.’

‘And the plan involved the thing you’re looking for? Which I’m not going to give to you until you tell me exactly what it is.’

‘Then I’ll have to make you, won’t I?’ The Doctor glared at Ali.

Ali laughed. ‘Who are you fooling?’

The Doctor shrugged and gave Ali one of his mad grins that was almost a snarl.

‘I may not know that much about men,’ said Ali. ‘But I can tell that you’re not, like, one of the violent ones.’

The grin became a gurn. ‘You’re right. I’m not. I’m the Doctor, by the way.’

‘I’m Ali.’

‘Pleased to meet you, Ali.’

‘You’re a trickster, Doctor, not a warrior.’

‘Right again. And something tells me I can’t trick you.’

‘No. You can’t.’

‘So it’s stalemate.’

‘Let’s trade,’ said Ali, and the Doctor sat down on a rock, started taking off his shoes and socks.

‘OK,’ he said.

‘I’ve got the – what do you call it? Our little silver ball that weighs nearly as much as that boulder you’re sitting on.’

‘Let’s call it an orb.’

‘OK. I’ve got the orb,’ said Ali. ‘What can you offer me?’

‘What do you want?’

‘Information.’

‘Go on. I’ll answer any question you like.’ The Doctor was rolling up his trousers now. He obviously meant to go in the lake, but if it was only up to his knees it would be safe.

‘What was that thing?’ she asked. ‘That giant thing? Those two giant things?’

The Doctor thought for a while. ‘He … It … is a Starman,’ he said at last. ‘A star-eater. He can travel through space and time, fuelled by the energy he drains from stars. He’s pretty much a star himself – in every sense of the word.’

The Doctor got up and dipped his feet in the lake. He gave a little theatrical gasp at how cold it was.

‘And the orb is some kind of weapon,’ said Ali.

‘Well …’ The Doctor was intrigued. ‘What makes you say that?’

‘You were holding it. I saw a flash in the sky. Why else would you want it back so badly? And why couldn’t you tell me what it was? I’m thinking it’s because you’re not supposed to have it. It’s not yours … I think you stole it.’

The Doctor had gone in up to his knees and the bottoms of his trousers were under water. He didn’t seem to notice. He was staring at Ali, his head tilted to one side. ‘You’re very clever, aren’t you, Ali?’ he said.

‘So I’m told.’

‘Where’s the orb?’ There was a harder edge to the Doctor’s voice. Playtime was over.

Ali glanced up at the darkening sky, saw the moons receding, each one smaller and dimmer, thinking of all that was out there, in the infinite reaches of space. Then she looked at the blue wooden box under the trees and something clicked.

‘That’s a spaceship, isn’t it?’ she said.

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘Well, you’re a traveller, aren’t you?’

‘You could say that.’

‘I’d kill to travel,’ said Ali. ‘This planet, we get travellers from everywhere.’

‘It’s in a terminus galaxy,’ said the Doctor, coming out of the lake. ‘It’s a jumping-off point for a lot of places.’

‘Exactly. That’s why the Starman came here, isn’t it?’ said Ali. ‘He was on his way somewhere else, and you followed him here. You said so – halfway across the universe. So you must have got here somehow. And I don’t think you came on a Virgo craft, a slow, unreliable space bus, not if you were chasing something. So you must have your own ship.’

‘You’re a regular Sherlock Holmes, aren’t you?’

‘A Sherlock what?’

‘Never mind,’ said the Doctor, and he moved closer to Ali. ‘Just someone from that other planet I was telling you about. Now if you’re done showing off, can you give me the orb and I’ll be out of your life.’

‘You’re always in such a hurry, aren’t you?’ said Ali, backing away. ‘And you’re in a real big hurry to get away now, so you wouldn’t want to be far from your ship. And this wasn’t here before, and it’s very much not from round here, like you. So it stands to reason that this must be your ship. It doesn’t look nearly big enough to travel through space, though, so it must be some kind of an illusion, bigger than it looks. Or maybe it exists partly outside of space and time. That makes it bigger on the inside …’ Ali stopped, awestruck.

‘Oh my days,’ she said. ‘It’s a TARDIS. You’ve got a TARDIS.’

‘I really, really don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘Yes you do.’ Ali walked over towards the box. ‘We learned about them in school, in science, you know – theoretically – that they could exist. I never believed they were real, though. I wanted to. I so wanted to. But I never did … until now. That is so cool.’

‘On the other hand,’ said the Doctor, and he folded his arms and leaned against the TARDIS, ‘it could just be a big blue box.’

‘And you must be a Time Lord,’ said Ali. ‘I mean, you fit the part perfectly. You look like a human but you’re not human, you’re pretty smug and you think you’re the carp’s whiskers –’

‘Is there anything you don’t know, Ali?’

‘Not really. We also learned about Time Lords at school. In history. Ancient history. We were told the Time Lords had all died out a long time ago. But here you are.’

‘Ali. Please.’ The Doctor had dropped on to his knees with his hands clasped together. ‘Time is running out.’

‘Take me with you,’ said Ali.

‘I can’t do that.’ The Doctor shook his head.

‘I’ll give you the orb if you take me with you.’

‘No, no, no. It’s way too dangerous where I’m going.’

‘Come on, Doctor, you’re going to save your favourite planet. You’re going to rescue a whole race. What does my one life matter compared to all theirs …?’

‘Ali, you can’t ask this of me.’

‘Besides – you might need some help.’

The Doctor stared at Ali for a very long time and then his wonky Time Lord face split into the maddest, wildest, strangest grin she’d seen yet.

‘I can’t get rid of you, can I?’ he said.