Time and Space - Part 1

It was a rainy, miserable afternoon in November, and Zanna Sterling was walking home from work. She dragged her feet through puddles of mud and slush as she adjusted her shabby old jacket and tightened the long, black scarf that wrapped twice around her neck and cascaded down to her knees. She could have gotten a new jacket if it wasn't for the pitiful paycheck she got every week. Things were never that bad at the comic book store when she first began working there. After continuing on for another few blocks, she looked up and turning sharply towards the apartment building where she lived. It was an old, grey apartment building with seven floors and a few broken windows, but it was comfortable and affordable. Despite its mediocrity, she had no problems living there with her two roommates. She trudged into the apartment building and took the stairs up to the seventh floor, before wandering down the hall and approaching a door with the number 706 on the front, precisely level with her eyes. She quickly rapped on the door, directly beneath the number.

"Echo," she called; "You have to let me in. I forgot the keys to the apartment again."

"Every freaking time!" came an irritated voice from the other side of the door. The door opened to reveal a tall and thin girl with long, dark hair and brown eyes. She looked like she had to be at least nineteen years of age. "You really need to remember your keys from now on," she said; "What if I wasn't home?"

"Well, you were home," Zanna retorted.

"What if I wasn't," Echo nagged.

"But you were," Zanna insisted.

Echo sighed and let Zanna into the apartment. "How was work at the used book store," she asked in an attempt to change the subject.

"They're thinking of going out of business," Zanna grumbled as she removed her soaking wet shoes and kicked them to the side. She then took off her jacket and scarf and hung them on a hook by the door. After that, she slumped into a nearby recliner. "Looks like I need to find a new place to work.

"Seriously?" Echo exclaimed. Suddenly, her expression lightened.

"What," Zanna ventured, staring up at her.

"You got a letter from the University," Echo announced; "Maybe it's good news."

"Oh, good," Zanna exclaimed; "I could use some good news right now."

She tore open the letter and began reading it out loud: "Dear Ms. Sterling; we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into the engineering program at …." She paused with a look of surprise. "HOLY CRAP," she shouted, jumping out of her seat and beginning to pace the floor. Echo laughed.

"I've been accepted," Zanna exclaimed, showing Echo the letter.

"That's awesome," Echo said, hugging Zanna. "I think this calls for a celebration. How about pizza and a scary movie?"

"Sounds great," Zanna replied, nodding her head; "Thanks."

They waited for Echo's boyfriend, Luke, to come home, and then they ordered their pizza and watched a few scary movies. Luke was a handsome young man with shoulder-length black hair, grey eyes, and fair skin. Zanna always thought they looked good together.

After they finished their pizza and movies, Zanna decided to go out for a walk. She put on her coat and boots and took the stairs to the front doors of the building. It was cold that evening, and the sidewalks were soaking wet, so Zanna had to be careful that she didn't slip. Zanna couldn't help but imagine what it would be like to be somewhere else other than Toronto in late Autumn. She rarely left Toronto, and was yearning for the day she could travel to other countries and experience things she only dreamt of experiencing. Then her mind wandered a bit and she thought about her mother. Ever since her father was killed in Afghanistan, her mother was suffering from a serious case of depression and was drinking a lot. It was at that point that Zanna made the decision to call her. She took her phone out of her pocket and dialed the number. The phone rang three times before her mother picked up.

`"Hello," her mother finally answered.

"Hi, Mom," Zanna greeted, trying to sound as cheerful as possible; "How are you?"

"I'm doing alright," her mother said. "How about you?"

"I got accepted into University," Zanna said, doing her best to contain her excitement.

"Good, good," her mother replied, trying not to sound depressed; "At least one of my babies is on the right track."

"This is about Garrett, isn't it," Zanna sighed, assuming that her younger brother was still a juvenile delinquent; "What did he do now?"

"He got suspended for fighting in school," her mother grumbled.

"Again," Zanna exclaimed in exasperation; "He needs help."

"I know," her mother sighed; "But he just won't listen to anyone."

"Keep trying to get through to him," Zanna suggested; "I'm sure he'll come to his senses eventually."

"I hope so," her mother replied.

"I have to go," Zanna said; "It's pretty late. I'll talk to you later."

"Okay," her mother agreed; "I love you."

"I love you too. Bye," Zanna said before hanging up.

She trudged down the sidewalk and turned a corner, dragging her feet through the puddles that had formed on the pavement. Suddenly, a car sped through a nearby puddle, showering slush and muddy water onto her. "Jerk," she shouted after the driver. As she dusted herself off, a strange flying object caught her eye. She looked up and saw a large, blue box flying at least twenty-five feet above her head.

"Oh my God," she exclaimed as it careened out of control and disappeared around a corner. A loud crashing noise followed, as if it had landed in a pile of debris. Zanna froze for a few seconds, trying to process what had just happened. Alright, she thought; A strange, blue box just flew over my head and landed in an alleyway. What am I supposed to do when that happens? Call the police? After thinking about possible courses of action for a few seconds, Zanna decided to go and investigate. She hurried around the corner and into an alleyway just in time to see a strange man scramble out of the box, which was lying on its side and had smoke rising up out of its doors. He was long and lanky, with dark hair, green eyes, thin eyebrows, a wide nose, and a large, pointy chin. He dressed like a geeky college professor, right down to the bowtie and tweed jacket. He looked like he had to be in his late twenties, but gave off an air of ancientness. He looked shaken, but uninjured, and just to be sure, Zanna decided to go over and ask him if he was alright.

"Excuse me," she ventured, slowly approaching the man.

"Oh," he exclaimed, quickly turning around to face her; "Hello."

"That sounded like quite a collision, man," Zanna said, raising her eyebrows; "You okay?"

"Oh, I'm quite alright," the man exclaimed adjusting his bowtie; "Hell of a landing."

Zanna looked at the box. "What is that," she wondered aloud.

"It's a nineteen-sixties telephone box," the man said.

"Last time I checked, phone boxes couldn't fly," Zanna said skeptically, narrowing her eyes. She looked back at the box. Just as the smoke was clearing, she was able to make out what looked like a control room. It was obviously much too big to be the inside of a phone box. "Last time I checked, phone boxes weren't bigger on the inside," she said, crossing her arms; "What's going on? It must be some kind of vehicle? Kind of an odd shape for one, though. Is it difficult at all to fly in regular situations?"

"It's complicated," the man said.

Zanna decided to take his word for it. The situation was strange, and bizarre, and nothing seemed to add up. "Yeah, it sure is complicated," she retorted. "But can you at least tell me who you are?"

"I'm the Doctor," the man said, smiling at Zanna.

"Doctor who?"

"Just the Doctor."

"Okay, then," Zanna said; "So you're a doctor, eh? And you also fly around in a box? Interesting."

"What's your name," the Doctor asked.

"I'm Zanna. Zanna Sterling," Zanna said, holding out her hand.

The Doctor shook it and turned towards the box; "It was nice meeting you, Zanna, but I need to get to work. My TARDIS really took a beating."

The what, Zanna wondered. There was an awkward silence. "This doesn't make any sense," she thought. Some guy just falls from the sky in a blue phone box from the nineteen-sixties, and calls it the…TARDIS? Then he goes on to say that it took…..a beating?

"From who?" she finally decided to ask asked, raising her eyebrows.

"It's not important," the Doctor said to her; "I think you'd best be going home, before something happens."

"Like what?" Zanna pressed, narrowing her eyes again.

"It's complicated," the Doctor told her. Zanna sighed. It was obvious that this man was not going to tell her about what really happened, so she decided not to press him for any more information. "Alright," she said; "I'll be on my way now."

"Okay. Goodbye, Zanna. Nice meeting you," the Doctor said, smiling at Zanna before jumping through the doors of the box. "Geronimo!" he shouted as he slid out of sight.

Zanna turned away and started walking home, but then stopped abruptly when she heard a strange whooshing sound coming from behind her. "Vworrrp Vworrrrp," the noise went. She turned sharply, just in time to see the mysterious blue box, along with the man inside, vanish without a trace.

This is weird, she thought; A blue box just so happens to fall from the sky… there's a guy inside who calls himself "the Doctor"…and the box just vanishes right before my eyes…what's next? Aliens? Flying saucers? Meteors falling from outer space? This is crazy!

Zanna shook her head and continued home. How am I going to tell this to Echo and Luke, she wondered. No, she decided, I can't tell them this; they'll think I'm crazy. She entered the apartment building and trudged up the stairs to her apartment. Thankfully, she remembered her key that time. She unlocked the door and went inside, only to find out that Echo and Luke had already gone to bed. Good, she thought, relieved that she would not have to explain that she was late because she found a strange man with a chin like Brian Mulroney and a flying police box. She looked at the clock and realized that she had been gone for two hours, which was much longer than usual, so she quickly and quietly got dressed, climbed into bed, and fell asleep.

Nov. 14th, 2012, 7:45 AM

"So, who was that guy again?" a gravedigger asked his colleague, standing up and resting his arms on his shovel.

"What guy?" The other gravedigger asked.

"The guy that died," the first gravedigger replied, looking around at the vast, gloomy, scenery that surrounded him.

"Look at the headstone, Brainiac," his colleague retorted, forcing his shovel into the soggy ground.

The gravedigger looked at the headstone, but then another one nearby caught his eye. It read: Robert Christiansen; beloved husband and father; August 5th, 1932 – November 8th, 2012. "Oh, my God," the gravedigger muttered.

"What?" his colleague asked, standing up and looking at the headstone.

"Jack, that's my name," the gravedigger said.

Jack frowned at the headstone. "It's probably just a coincidence, Rob," he said, putting his hand on Rob's shoulder. "Nothing to flip out over." And with that, he went back to work, trying to penetrate the earth with his shovel.

"Hey, Rob, can you gimme a hand?" he called, looking over at where Rob was standing. But, Rob was not there. Instead, he saw a statue of an angel holding out its index finger at the exact spot where Rob used to be. Jack rubbed his eyes and looked again. This time, the angel was looking directly at him, with its hands out. Terrified, Jack turned around and began running through the graveyard, trying to get away from the angel. He stopped and looked around. No angel. But then he turned back, only to see it standing exactly one foot away from him, its teeth bared menacingly. Jack cried out in terror and began to run the other way. "Help!" he shouted; "Somebody help me!" Suddenly, he felt a cold hand grasping his wrist. He squeezed his eyes shut and prepared himself for his impending doom.

Nov. 15th, 2012, 10:30 AM

"Hey, Echo," Zanna called, holding out the newspaper. "Did you hear about this?"

"Hear about what?" Echo asked, looking up from her breakfast.

"A couple of gravediggers went missing from that old cemetery downtown," Zanna explained, holding out the newspaper.

"Cool," Echo said, pretending to pay attention as she picked up her plate and scraped it into a nearby trashcan. "I have to go, so I'll see you tonight, ok?"

"Sure," Zanna said, rolling her eyes.

Echo smiled as she put her boots and jacket on, grabbed her purse and headed out into the hall, slamming the door behind her.

Zanna sighed as she stood up, put the newspaper on the kitchen counter, and turned on the TV. Just a day or two before, there was a news story in the paper on how several people reported seeing something fall from the sky. Everyone was trying to figure out what it could have been, but Zanna knew what it was. It was the mysterious Doctor and his "TARDIS". She never did tell anyone, because she did not think that anyone would believe her. I'm cool with that, she thought, my own little secret. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the phone ringing and she went over to answer it. "Hello?" she called, unenthusiastically.

"Hey, this is Kier," the voice on the other end said.

Zanna was surprised to be hearing from her younger sister. Kier never really called her very often.

"This is about Garrett, isn't it?" Zanna dared to ask.

"Well, I woke up this morning, and Garrett -" Kier began.

"Lemme guess," Zanna interrupted, "Garrett heard about the guys going missing from the cemetery and he wants to investigate."

"Either that or commit vandalism...again," Kier said. "I called Caleb and Matt too, and they said that they'll be right over."

"Oh, this'll be good," Zanna thought to herself as she heard the mention of their older brothers. Her parents were the type of people who wanted a lot of children. She had two older brothers named Caleb and Matt, a younger sister named Kier, and a younger brother named Garrett. They were all born a year apart, with Matt being the oldest at twenty, and Garrett being the youngest at sixteen.

"I'll meet you there," Zanna said automatically.

"Typical Garrett," she thought, hanging up and going to get her jacket. She quickly got ready and headed over to the cemetery as quick as she could. When she got there, she saw that Matt, Caleb, and Kier were already waiting for her.

"Where is he?" Zanna asked.

"Down that way," Kier replied, pointing at the area where Garrett was standing.
It's like the Wal-mart incident all over again, Zanna thought, as they began to walk towards him. When he saw them, he did a face-palm and mouthed something that looked like "oh, no."

"What are you doing here?" Garrett shouted at them.

"Garrett, you need to stop getting yourself into trouble," Zanna exclaimed. "Two guys went missing from this place a couple days ago. There could be muggers here for all we know!" Zanna stopped for a second, thinking about what she just said. It couldn't have been a mugger, she thought. If it was a mugger, then surely the gravediggers' bodies would have been found by now. Her thoughts were interrupted when she noticed a statue out of the corner of her eye. Just then, it changed its position from crying, to standing upright and facing her and the others.

"Wasn't that statue crying a few seconds ago?" Caleb asked.

They all looked at each other and looked back. The angel was now standing six inches away from them, baring its claws and teeth.

"Oh my God!" Caleb shouted.

The next thing Zanna knew, they were all running towards a fence on the edge of the property. Once they reached the fence, Caleb, Matt, and Kier clambered over to the other side, but before Zanna started climbing, she looked around and noticed that Garrett was not with them.

"Oh, for God's sake," Zanna thought. "I'll go and get him," she told her siblings; "You guys wait here."

She turned and ran back to find Garret approaching the statue with an aluminum baseball bat.

"Not so tough now, are ya," he jeered, preparing to swing. "So you only move when we're not looking at you, right? Are you afraid of us?"

"Garret," Zanna hissed; "Get over here!"

Garret turned and glared defiantly at his sister, then turned back to see that the angel was standing even closer to him than before. Garrett screamed and fell backwards in surprise.

Suddenly, Zanna realized how it was not able to attack them yet. It stayed perfectly still when at least one of them was looking at it, and it only moved when a distraction made them look away. Of course, she thought. Why didn't I notice that before.

"Garrett," she called to her brother. "I get it now. They only move when we're not looking at them."

"I know that! I'm not stupid!" Garrett exclaimed, distracting Zanna once again. They looked back and saw that the angel was now standing over Garrett, causing them both to cry out.

"Stop distracting me, you idiot!" Zanna shouted, trying not to take her eyes off the angel.

"Keep looking at it," a familiar sounding voice said. "Don't blink."

Zanna nodded, fighting to keep her eyes open. She knew exactly who that voice belonged to. The voice belonged to the same man she had spoken to three days earlier. That voice belonged to the Doctor.

"Don't look at its eyes. Look at the angel, but not at its eyes, understand?"

Zanna nodded again, avoiding eye contact with the statue. "What is that thing?" she asked.

"It's a Weeping Angel," the Doctor told her. "Now what I need you to do; what I need you and your brother to do is run. I need you both to run as fast as you can, and don't stop until you are as far away from here as possible. Is that clear?"

Zanna nodded again.

"Good, now run," the Doctor said.

Zanna hesitated. "But what about you?" she wondered.

"I'll be okay," the Doctor said. "Now go on."

Immediately, Zanna and Garrett began running as fast as they could. Once they got to the fence, they climbed over to the other side where the others were waiting for them.

"Who was that?" Garrett gasped.

"Some guy I met a few days ago. Kinda weird. He calls himself the Doctor," Zanna explained.

"Really," Garrett exclaimed with mock fascination. "Is he your boyfriend?"

"Oh, shut up!" Zanna exclaimed. "And now that we're talking, why in the freaking Hell would you decide that your own damn sense of honour was more important than your own safety? I heard you scolding the thing for attacking when we weren't looking. Would it kill you to use your common sense? Dammit, Garrett, I was worried sick!"

"I'm sorry, Zanna, I didn't think…" Garrett began.

"No you didn't," Zanna interrupted. "What you did was let your own stupidity cloud your judgment!"

"Don't call me stupid!" Garrett shouted turning and storming away. Zanna and the others watched him go.

"I'll catch up to him," Kier said, turning to leave with Caleb and Matt. "See you later." They headed down the sidewalk until they got to the car they had driven to the cemetery in. Then they started the motor and drove off.

Zanna turned and started back to the apartment. As she walked, she thought of the Doctor. This is the second time I saw him and I'm still at a loss as to what this is all about. Maybe if I look for him again, I'll be able to figure this out, she thought to herself. She trudged through the puddles on the sidewalk, crossed the street and kept walking until she got to the alleyway where she first saw the box land a few days before. She turned the corner and saw the box again, only this time it was no longer on its side, but standing upright. "Here we go," she thought, approaching the box and preparing to knock on the door.

"Zanna!" a voice called, startling her. She turned around to see Garrett frantically running towards her. "They're coming to get me!"

"Oh, for God's sake!" Zanna muttered, rolling her eyes. "What now, Garrett?"

"I ticked off some really bad kids," Garrett said urgently, stopping next to Zanna. "You gotta hide me!" He looked around frantically before finally trying the doors on the blue box. The doors opened and he ran in, dragging Zanna by the arm. "Shut the door!" Garrett shouted. "Shutthedoor, shutthedoor, shutthedoor!" Zanna did what he said.

"Didn't see that coming," Garrett remarked, noticing how much bigger the box was on the inside. Suddenly, there was a loud thump against the doors.

"More trouble already, eh? That was fast," Zanna teased. "Record timing."

"Shut up!" Garrett hissed. They pressed their ears against the door. Another loud thump made them jump back in surprise.

"Get out here you little punk!" an angry voice shouted. It was Amber.

"Oh, God!" Zanna exclaimed. Amber was the same age as she was and succeeded in making high school a living hell for her. Amber and her posse were always picking on the other students. She had three friends, Trinity, Lauren, and Jaycee, and together, they terrorized almost every other girl at the school. There were always rumors going around about Amber keeping a gun in her locker. Zanna never thought that to be true, though. If Amber really had a gun in her locker, she would have been expelled, and most likely arrested.

Zanna heard another thump, as if the box was being struck with a baseball bat.

"I may have screwed up a little," Garrett said.

"Yeah, you screwed up a lot," Zanna retorted.

"Zanna, we don't want you. Just give us the twerp." This time it was Trinity.

Trinity was the one who never really took an interest in Zanna, most likely because she never saw her as much of a threat, or even much fun to bully. Most of the time, Trinity just left her alone.

"One would think that a guy would be more like this," Garrett exclaimed.

"Okay, that's just sexist," Zanna retorted. "What did you do to make them mad, anyway?"

"I shot at them with a paintball gun, threw eggs at them, and called them ugly," Garrett admitted, lowering his gaze.

"Paintball gun. Give it," Zanna demanded, holding out her hand. Garrett grumbled and handed her the paintball gun.

"Ammo?" Zanna demanded, holding her hand out again. Garrett handed her his backpack.

"Anything else in here?" Zanna wondered, opening the backpack. "Let's see now. Switchblade, spray paint, firecrackers, lighter, throwing knives, aluminum baseball bat, and what's in this flask?" Zanna wondered, unscrewing the top. She sniffed it and took a sip. "Cider," she said, licking her lips. "I think I'll just keep this backpack with me." Thank God he didn't bring that homemade flamethrower of his, she thought.

"Aw, come on!" Garrett whined.

Amber swung at the box a few more times before stopping all of the sudden. Zanna put her ear back against the door to see if she could hear what was going on.

"Oi! What the hell are you doing?" a voice demanded. It was the Doctor, and Zanna could tell that judging by the tone of his voice, he was not amused. "Go home, all of you. Go on," he commanded.

Garrett jumped back. "C'mon, Zanna, we gotta hide!" he exclaimed, grabbing her by the sleeve and heading towards a railing. He quickly clambered over the railing and tried to drag Zanna with him, but she batted his hands away.

"Stop it!" she hissed. "Quit being immature!"

"I knew there was something in here that those girls were after." Zanna spun around and saw that the Doctor was standing six inches away from her. He had his arms folded across his chest, and he was eying her suspiciously. After taking a good look at him, Zanna realized that he was wearing different clothing. He no longer wore a brown tweed jacket and red bowtie, but a purple jacket and waistcoat and a patterned bowtie. "How did you two get in here?" he asked.

"I really just wanted to talk to you about what happened in the cemetery, so I decided to look for you, but then Garrett came running over saying that some kids were after him, so we hid in here." Zanna explained. "Do you usually leave the door unlocked?" she asked, arching an eyebrow.

"No, I don't," the Doctor told her. "I suppose she just let you in."

"So you're saying that the box is alive?" Zanna asked.

"Yes," the Doctor replied, raising his eyebrows.

Zanna smiled. "Well, in that case, I guess she just didn't have the heart to watch us get clubbed to death," she joked, laughing nervously.

"It's not funny!" Garrett shouted from beneath their feet. "They wanted to beat the crap out of me!"

"Yeah, and it's your own damn fault," Zanna retorted.

"Isn't that the same kid who was trying to take on that Weeping Angel?" the Doctor asked her.

"Yep," Zanna muttered, covering her eyes with her left hand.

"Always looking for trouble, aren't we," the Doctor teased, smiling mischievously at Garrett. From below, Zanna could hear Garrett start to grumble.

"Well, they're gone now, so I think it'd be best if you'd run along now," the Doctor told them, opening the front door on the left. Garrett clambered up over the railing and darted through the door.

"I'm keeping the backpack!" Zanna shouted after him and he ignored her.

Zanna watched as her brother raced around a corner and out of sight. After watching him leave, Zanna turned back toward the Doctor. "Can we talk for a minute?" she asked him.

The Doctor nodded and closed the door.

"Was that your brother?" he asked her. Zanna nodded.

"And I'm assuming that those are his things?" he said, pointing at the name written on the backpack's left strap.

"Yeah," Zanna replied. "I confiscated it off of him. It makes me nervous when he carries that kind of stuff around. He keeps getting into trouble. It's really worrying the hell out of me." Not really the subject I had in mind, but ok, she thought to herself.

"Of course," the Doctor agreed. "I can understand that. He might start going around attacking quantum-locked monsters every time you have your back turned. That's how it usually is when you have younger siblings."

"Is that why it wasn't moving when we were looking at it?" Zanna asked.

"What? The Angel? Yes," the Doctor confirmed. "It's kind of like that video on the internet of a cat that moves when the camera isn't pointed at it and it's closer every time, except it's nothing like that, because cats aren't quantum-locked."

"Okay," Zanna said, nodding. "That explains it."

"Right," the Doctor responded. "Well, I hope things work out. Nice talking to you, Zanna." Zanna recognized this as her cue to leave.

"Sorry about the trouble we caused. It won't happen again," Zanna said, about to walk out the door.

The Doctor opened his mouth as if he was going to stay something, but then stopped suddenly as if something was wrong. He frantically yanked the door shut and rushed Zanna farther into the console room. Then he rushed back and opened the door just enough to peer through.

"No, no, NO!" he shouted. He scrambled over to the controls in the middle of the room and turned on the monitor.

"What's going on?" Zanna demanded.

"Oh, nothing," The Doctor exclaimed. "It's not like we've been teleported or anything."

"What?" Zanna screeched. She dashed over to the monitor and looked at the screen. The sight that greeted her was no longer an alleyway in Toronto; it was what looked like a control room of some sorts.

The Doctor turned and headed towards the door. "Now, Zanna," he said, turning around and pointing at her. "I'm going out to take a look. You need to stay put and not follow me. Understand? Even if you become incredibly curious and want to figure out this new thing that's happened which you've never experienced before in your life. You stay put, alright?"

Zanna nodded. She reached into her brother's backpack, removed the baseball bat, and offered it to him, but he shook his head. "There won't be any need for that," he said.

"How do you know?" Zanna pressed. "There could be hostile monsters, or aliens, or...or...mafia guys out there."

"Violence doesn't always have to be the answer," he said. "Now come on. Don't look so nervous."

The Doctor was right. Zanna was nervous. There was most definitely a possibility of impending danger, and the Doctor was just going to mosey on out there like he was going to his day job?

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" she asked.

"Absolutely," the Doctor said, cheerfully, reaching into his jacket and taking out an object that looked like a small, oddly-shaped flashlight. Great! So he's just going to waltz on out there armed with a flashlight, Zanna thought, staring at the object in his hand.

"Now…" he began enthusiastically, patting her on the shoulder; "I'll be right back."

Zanna smiled nervously.

The Doctor stepped closer to the door and opened it while giving Zanna a reassuring smile before stepping into the control room. "Hello?" he called, shutting the door behind him.

Zanna darted over to the monitor to see what was going on. For a few minutes, the Doctor just stood there, calling out to whoever could be around to listen. Soon, he was joined by a woman. She was tall and slender with long, black hair and pale skin. She was very pretty, but also very mean-looking. She stood imperiously with her hands resting on her hips, eyeing him like a spider contemplating a doomed fly caught in her web.

"Hello, Doctor," she sneered indignantly.

"The Rani," the Doctor said, coldly acknowledging the woman. "It's been a long time since I've seen you last."

"You look young. Which incarnation is this?"

"Eleventh," said the Doctor. "You're looking youthful as well. How many times have you regenerated?"

The Rani ignored his question and instead changed the subject. "The last few times I saw you, you had companions," she said. "Do you have one now?"

"I'm here alone," the Doctor told her. "My companions aren't here."

"It's not like you, not dragging along one of those stupid apes from that miserable planet," the Rani sneered.

"Get on with it, Rani," the Doctor grumbled. "What do you want from me this time?"

"Can't it wait, Doctor?" the Rani questioned mockingly. "We have only just begun catching up."

The Doctor remained silent.

"Very well," the Rani said with a shrug. She raised her right hand and waved it forward. Almost immediately, two men shambled forward in an animalistic manner and grabbed the Doctor by his arms. Then, they guided him down a hallway and out of sight with the Rani following them.

Zanna stood in front of the monitor, finding it difficult to understand what had just happened. Incarnations? Regenerations? When the Rani spoke about a miserable planet, was that Earth? Zanna shook her head. That's not important right now, she thought. What's important right now is that the Doctor is in trouble. Let's see…what should I do? The Doctor told me to stay put, but…..you know what? Screw it! I'm gonna go and help him!

She removed her jacket and scarf, so she would move more freely and pulled her hood up over her head. She decided to bring her brother's backpack with her, since it had just been made very clear that the people who captured herself and the Doctor were indeed hostile. When she was ready, she walked over to the door and slowly opened it enough to look around. All clear. She took a deep breath and walked through the doorway.