Chapter 4

"Where are we going?"

As he spoke, Tommy looked around him again, marvelling at the sheer size of the inside of the ship. By now the Doctor had taken off and the Tardis was travelling through space and time - and Tommy's gaze shifted from the view of colourful space where stars seemed to shine in every colour as they twinkled, to look about him again as he marvelled at the large ship, all contained inside a tiny box.

His hands were on the edge of the console and he looked at the jam jar and the container beside it as he watched the shrunken creatures swimming about like grey blurs as they darted about the water in confusion.

"We are going to a planet called Zaotania in the galaxy of Daglora. It's a lovely place with plenty of deep lakes, perfect for these creatures to settle down."

"But you said they don't know how to feed."

Tommy sounded worried, and it warmed his hearts to see that the boy whose idea of catching one had once consisted of bashing its brains in with a hammer, was now worried that the poor things might starve.

"They will know what to do by instinct once in a suitable environment," he promised him, "as soon as they reach the deep water and bury themselves in the fine sediment, they will filter feed on microorganisms – they will be happy again."

"And when will they go back to their normal size?"

"As soon as I release them they will be carried out to the deepest point in the lake, the power stream will drop and they will be back to their proper size and in their new home."

Tommy looked to the little creature who had been left behind.

"What about him? He's not in the container with the others."

"He must have caught the charge and slipped out of its range. He was unlucky."

"Unlucky? Why?" Tommy asked.

"It means he's not part of the power containment that holds the others. He's small forever."

"So the others go back to normal and he stays tiny? Will he live?"

The Doctor looked at him and swiftly recalled that Tommy was no idiot and easily spotted his lies, so he gave him the truth.

"He will probably be eaten very quickly by a passing fish."

The boy's eyes filled with sorrow as he watched the eel fish twist and turn and dart about in the jam jar.

"No, that's not fair."

"Of course it is!" the Doctor exclaimed, "It's the way of life everywhere - a food chain, survival of the fittest, call it what you will – it all comes down to nature."

"But you shrunk him and got it wrong. That wasn't part of nature."

The Doctor gave a sigh.

"Point taken. Leave him here, when we land we'll set the rest of them free."

"And what about him?"

"I don't know," the Doctor admitted, "Stop talking about JamJar– he's just one eel. I've got a whole colony to release."

Tommy smiled.

"JamJar? You just gave him a name?"

The Doctor threw a lever and the Tardis landed.

"So what? It doesn't mean I care about one little eel fish when I have many others to save. Let's get the colony set free," he replied, avoiding his gaze as he picked up the container and headed for the door.

As Tommy stood at the edge of a lake where the water sparkled blue and all around green fields rolled off into the distance, he watched as the Doctor released the colony, witnessing the unbelievable as the column of light shot out and with it the colony of creatures that had been within. They were set free in a blaze of light and as they grew in that light, they twisted, turned and as the light faded out, they slipped into the water, where they dipped and rose gracefully before diving deep.

Then the Doctor and Tommy walked back to the Tardis, went inside, and the Tardis departed from the unsoiled planet, on course to return the boy to earth and his proper time and place.

On the way back, Tommy was quiet as he fixed his gaze on the creature in the jar.

"What are you going to do with it?"

"I might find a little river somewhere, let it go free where there are no big fish."

He smiled.

Tommy did not.

"Stop lying, Doctor! I know what you want to do with it."

"I wasn't aware you were telepathic," he replied as annoyance crept into his voice, "But please enlighten me – what am I going to do with it?"

"Dump it in a river, any river- it's so small it's going to get eaten anyway! Why can't you save it? You saved the others!"

The Doctor looked at him sadly.

"Because sometimes even clever technology like mine can't save everything and everyone. Nothing is perfect, Tommy. What would you do with the creature?"

"Keep it."

"No!"

"Why not?" the boy demanded.

"Because it's a prehistoric breed that your people believe died out a long time ago! Because it was partly exposed to the power field and can never be with its own kind again because it can't revert to normal size. Because one day it might even start to grow and then what? I'll tell you what, Tommy – if that thing suddenly started getting bigger, I don't think your mum would understand. And the last time I let someone keep a Syrret Corrinth it got so big they had to put it in a very deep place – and it soon drew attention to itself, it still does to this day. Have you heard of the Loch Ness Monster?"

Tommy looked at him in surprise.

"It's real?"

"Of course it's real, it's one of those," the Doctor exclaimed, pointing to the creature in the jam jar.

"But you don't know if it will ever get bigger, it might not," Tommy pointed out.

The Tardis was landing.

"Please," Tommy said as he looked up at the Doctor, "I'll look after him."

As the Tardis engines fell silent the Doctor looked kindly at Tommy.

"I think it's wonderful that you've come to see that not everything that looks like a monster is bad, I'm glad you've taken that message on board but you can't have this creature, I'm sorry. It needs to be returned to the wild."

Sadness reflected in the boy's eyes.

"Okay," Tommy said sadly, "But please promise me you'll find him a safe home. I know you'll try because you care about all life. I'm glad to know you're out there, keeping us safe from real monsters."

His words had warmed his hearts.

"I will always look out for your world," he promised, "Now you'd better go home. It's almost sunrise. And please get cleaned up before your mum wakes up, and don't go blaming the mud on your clothes on monsters, either! I think she's heard enough about those!"

He smiled.

"I won't ever talk about monsters to her again," he promised, "And thanks Doctor, it's been so much fun."

"Maybe I'll see you again one day," the Doctor replied, and then he watched as Tommy walked to the Tardis door.

As he reached up to open it, the Doctor called his name and Tommy glanced back.

"You're right," the Doctor told him kindly, "He does need a good home."

And he picked up the jar and as Tommy ran back to the console, he handed it to him.

"I can't find a safe place for JamJar. But I know you'll take great care of him. He will live for a very long time. He needs river water and mud and a small tank. Change it once a week and please, never put him in a pond or any kind of large tank just in case it encourages him to grow."

"If he does, I know what to do with him,"Tommy replied, "Loch Ness."

And he smiled and so did the Doctor.

"You'd better go before your mum wakes up," the Doctor reminded him.

"And more no talk of monsters," Tommy replied, "I know. I'm going back to the house, changing my clothes, all my muddy stuff is going in the washing machine and I won't even complain about being grounded for the rest of the week. There's an old fish tank in the cupboard under the stairs, I'm going to use it for JamJar."

"Where will you say he came from?" the Doctor wondered.

"I'll say I found him in the pond," he said, indicating to a small pond across the other side of the garden, "I'll tell mum a cat was trying to catch him. She won't mind me having a pet, he's so ugly she will feel sorry for him!"

And he laughed and the Doctor smiled again.

"I'm glad I met you, Tommy," he told him, "When children understand that not all monsters are bad, it gives me hope for the future."

And then he watched as Tommy left the Tardis carrying his new pet in the jar, and then he quickly departed, taking off into space as he carried with him new hope for future of humanity:

As long as humans thought as Tommy did, the Earth wouldn't be a bad place at all, it needed more kids like Tommy Taylor.

A few hours later, after the tank had been set up and JamJar was happily burrowing into the mud at the bottom of it, after his mum had stopped saying how sorry she felt for that poor ugly fish, he sat alone in his room watching the creature as it settled into its new home.

Then he looked through the open window, turning his eyes skyward as he thought about that beautiful place called space that was far beyond the skies of Earth, and as he thought of space and all that might be out there, he realised he had come around to a new way of thinking, and it was something he was sure he would carry with him all of his life:

Yes, there were monsters, and some of them were bad and some of them were not – but it was okay to be afraid of the unknown, it was okay to fear what else might live in this universe, because good and bad was everywhere, but as long as he believed in the Doctor, he knew it would be okay, because the Doctor would always be out there, and the Doctor was a good man.

The End.

And now a word of thanks:

I would like to thank my friend Rich for the idea for this story - it was so much fun to write and a whole new direction for my writing to go to, and I absolutely love your great ideas. Thank you so much for the spark that set my imagination alight to make this story :-)