James Tiberius Kirk looked over the edge of the bridge into the river below, the waterfall thundering into it, and as he watched, a tiny drop of blood fell from the cut on his lip and vanished into the running water. Hands grasped his arms tightly, pinning them to his sides, and a voice spat into his left ear from behind "This is your lesson, Jimmy. This is what assholes like you get when you piss us off!" The speaker, a boy a year or two older than Jim, shouted the last three words as his two friends snickered.

"Really?" Jim said. "And I was thinking it was because you liked me so much." That earned him a large, meaty fist grabbing him by the back of the head, and a sharp kick in the back of the leg, causing him to grunt slightly in pain.

"You think you're funny, huh, Kirk?" his main tormentor said. "You think this is funny? Let's see you laugh when you hit that river!"

Jim braced himself for the impact, when a new voice suddenly called out "Good morning, gentlemen." Twisting his head around, Jim blinked as he saw a man and a woman approaching them. Neither was familiar to him. The man was tall, his hair dark brown and curly; his blue eyes seemed very large as he looked at them, and he wore a long, burgundy coat over a white shirt, unbuttoned at the collar, and tucked into grey pants, with a multi-hued scarf of immense length dangling from his shoulders nearly to his shoes. It was he who had just spoken. But Jim currently found most of his attention drawn to the woman: Slender, with well developed muscles, her red-brown hair fell loosely over her shoulders, framing an attractive, lightly tanned face. Her clothing consisted of what appeared to be a top and short skirt of animal hide, and brown leather boots with flat soles to just below her knees, leaving a lot of skin uncovered. Jim also noticed what looked like a sheathed knife tucked into her belt. "I'm the Doctor," the man was saying, "and this young lady with me is Leela. Now, begging your pardon, but your current activity seems highly questionable. Myself, I always enjoy a game of conkers if I want something to do. Or hopscotch. Or hide and seek. Or even a pleasant cup of tea and a beautiful view." He turned to address the woman. "Don't you think they're better things to do, Leela?"

Pete, the leader of the gang, responded in typical fashion. "Hey, mind your own goddamn business, yeah, before you find yourself spitting your teeth out onto the sidewalk, weirdo."

At this, the woman called Leela took a step forward. "Do not threaten us," she said dangerously, "or you will regret it! Now release the boy you are holding, or suffer!"

"The babe's got an attitude," one of Pete's friends chuckled, both of them ogling Leela.

The man who called himself the Doctor commented "Yes, you could say that. And I'd do as she says if I were you."

With an arrogant smirk, Pete raised his fist to strike and rushed forward. He never got the chance though, as Leela's hand shot out to grab his wrist and violently twisted his arm back, before raising her knee to deliver a powerful kick to his side and slamming him onto his back on the ground. "You will die if you try to attack again!" she yelled, her eyes dark with fury as she stood over Pete and drew her knife. For good measure, she administered another sharp kick to Pete's ribs.

"Leela!" the Doctor suddenly said, his tone stern. Leela did not kick Pete again, but nor did she did her eyes off of him. With a broad grin on his face, the Doctor stepped around where Pete lay and said to the two youths who held Jim "Now then, why don't you two chaps take the sensible route, and scadaddle, eh?"

As he spoke, Pete, keeping his eyes fixed on Leela and the knife she held the whole time, winced as he slowly and warily got to his feet and backed away. Grasping his ribs, he muttered "Okay, it's cool. C'mon, let's get out of here." His friends released Jim's arms, and as he walked past Jim, he sneered "See ya soon, Jimmy boy. We ain't done yet."

"Don't leave it too long," Jim replied with a smile. With a final glare, Pete and his gang stalked away.

"Cheerio!" the Doctor called out, waving his hand and still grinning to them. He and Leela then approached Jim. "Are you alright? Who were those ruffians? Would you care for a jelly baby?" He fired off the questions rapidly, not giving Jim a chance to respond and holding up a crumpled paper bag he removed from his coat pocket to Jim at the last one.

"Uh, thanks," Jim said uncertainly, carefully reaching into the offered bag and withdrawing one of the offered sweets. "Oh, I'm Jim. Jim Kirk. Thanks for the help back there. That's just Pete and his gang of asshats." He looked Leela over appreciatively and smiled. "Leela, is it? That was pretty impressive what you did there. Pleased to meet you." He held out his hand, and after a few seconds, Leela shook it, and Jim gave her a wink. "So, where are you guys from?" he asked.

"I was born into the tribe of the Sevateem," Leela responded.

"I don't suppose you can tell us where and when we are?" the Doctor suddenly enquired of Jim. "You see, my friend and I aren't from around these parts. In fact - " He leaned in close and whispered conspiratorially - "you might say we're from other worlds and times." He held his fingertohis lips then and hissed "But shh! Don't tell a soul!"

Listening to them, Jim decided these two were the strangest characters he had ever met. He could understand them maybe being offworlders, but why ask when they were? Still, at least the woman was gorgeous. "Well," he said, deciding to humour them, "this is Riverside, Iowa...that's, uh, on Earth, in case you wondered...and today is July 16, 2249. But, tell me, how come you didn't know where you are? Have you, like, not been to Earth before?"

It was Leela who answered. "Oh, yes. But it's just that we rarely have much control over where the TARDIS drops us."

Before Jim could ask just what a TARDIS was, the Doctor said "Well, it's been a pleasure meeting you, Jim, but Leela and I must be getting on our way. You take care now. I have a distinct feeling you've got an interesting future to look forward to."

"Thanks," was all Jim could say. Flashing one last grin, the Doctor walked briskly away. Leela lingered a brief moment, gave Jim a softer smile.

"Goodbye, Jim," were her last words to him. And then she was hurrying after the Doctor, the two figures soon fading from Jim's sight into the distance. It was the following day that he heard of something that had happened: A large, blue, four-sided object had been spotted near a country lane. On it were written the words POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX. No sooner had it been found than two individuals, a curly-haired man and a young woman, both dressed unusually, were seen to enter it, at which point the object and its occupants insantly vanished into nothingness, as though dematerialized by a transporter beam. Neither the box nor the two people that went inside were seen again.