The holiday on Ieh-mo kei was over. The TARDIS was in need of a serious refuel, and te Doctor knew just the place.

"Cardiff!" he said.

"Cardiff?" Martha repeated, slightly put out.

"Ah but, the thing about Cardiff - it's built on a rift in time and space - just like," the Doctor rattled his brains for something that would fit, then it clicked, "...California on the San Andreas Fault. But the rift bleeds energy, and the TARDIS can use it as fuel."

"So it's a pit stop," Martha commented.

"Exactly. Should only take twenty seconds" he looked at the scanner results, and was quite surprised, but he hid it as well as he could. "The rift's been active..."

Martha's eyes widened, and she suddenly spokje up again.

"Wait a minute..." she said, "they had an earthquake in Cardiff a couple of years ago, was that you?

The Doctor smiled, as the memory surfaced. Him, in that odd Ninth Incarnation of his, Rose... Jack...

"Bit of trouble with the Slitheen," he said out loud. "Long time ago. Lifetimes -- I was a different man back then "

He looked at the readout, and grinned.

"There we go, all powered up!" he said. He lloked at the scanner and saw - him. Jack. On impulse, he pulled the lever, hoping that his old friend wouldn't get to them in time.

Then, the TARDIS juddered. The Doctor looked at the readouts in shock - that was impossible...

The Doctor flicked a switch, pressed a button, and spun a wheel, and grinned at Sophie raffishly.

"Where are we going?" asked Sophie, somewhat excited by his manner.

"I don't know", said the Doctor. "I've fitted a randomiser to the console. For one trip only, I will have NO control over the TARDIS' destination."

"One trip only?" said Sophie smugly. "Sounds more like every trip."

The Doctor glared at her, then straightened up proudly.

"As it happens," he said, somewhat sniffily, "I usually have perfect control over the TARDIS' destinations, but I thought that was getting a little boring, so I've fitted the randomiser."

He flicked a switch, and the scanner came to life.

"Ah, hello..." he said . "We appear to be heading for..."

"Where?" asked Sophie.

"A little planet I'm sure I've seen before. Probably another holiday resort come to think of it. Ah well", he said. "One can never have too many holidays."

The TARDIS materialised.

"New worlds, new horizons, new stars", said the Doctor.

"Is that your motto?" smirked Sophie.

The Doctor stood up.

"No, my motto is 'today is the tomorrow I worried about yesterday'", said the Doctor. "Good, innit?"

He had changed into a silver pinstripe suit, a shirt and a tie, rounded off with some converse all stars.

"What does that mean?" asked Sophie, confused.

"I have no idea", said the Doctor. "It just sounds good."

Laughing, the two of them exited the TARDIS.

And found ten armed men aiming their weapons at them.

The leader of this band addressed them. He was tall, thin, and glared at them suspisciously.

"You two are in a hell of a lot of trouble." he said.

Major General Jack Harkness woke up on the floor of the TARDIS.

"What happened?" he asked, not talking to anyone in paticular.

"Oh, a bit of loose circuitry sparked and hit you", came a voice from across the room. "You were knocked out by the charge."

Jack stood up.

"Doctor?" he asked.

"Yep", came the reply. The Doctor was controlling his TARDIS. All seemed well with the world.

"What happened?" Jack asked. "Did we win?"

"Oh yes," the Doctor smiled. "The omniverse is safe."

"Good", said Jack. "Where are we going?"

"I'm taking you back to the Eye of Orion", said the Doctor. "Your men are probably wondering where their commander is."

"Oh", said Jack. Truth was, he was rather dissappointed...

Stop it Jack, he thought sharply.. You have responsibilities. Though this Doctor guy is quite cute.

"I thought we could take the scenic route", continued the Doctor. "You know, stop off at Barcelona to have a holiday, pop by Mahstotto Major to visit the Great High Ones."

The Doctor looked up at Jack.

"Interested?" he asked.

"Are you serious?" asked Jack.

"Oh yes", said the Doctor. "Deadly serious."

Jack didn't even need to think about it. He jumped for joy.

"Yeah, I'm interested!" he cried. "Where are we going first?"

"Well, I don't know", said the Doctor. "I think I'll leave that up to you, Jack."

Jack walked up to the console. He punched in some co-ordinates, and off they went.

Jack put his very best Humphrey Bogart voice on.

"Doc", he said. "This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

The Doctor looked at him.

"I'm sure it could", he said. "Just don't call me 'Doc'".

Jack smiled as the two set off into another big adventure. Who knew where they'd end up...?

In the early years of existence, the first universe died.

This is fact.

The death of this universe caused the Hyper big bang, causing the creation of thousands of universes.

This is fact.

These universes owe their timelines to the echoes of the first universe, spreading across all history's, the echo changing as it travels, across the great void.

This is fact.

But there is a rumour, a rumour that spread out across the omniverse, that this universe was almost saved.

One man stood against the darkness, trying to save his universe before being consumed by the Null Time Rifts.

That man was called the Doctor.

And tales of the Doctor spread across the omniverse, so that in the end, every universe had one.

In some, he is a near - immortal Time Lord.

In some he is a magician, a sorcerer, and a noble adviser to the greatest kings.

And in some he is just a frail old man, a human, who wanted to see the cosmos and built a machine capable of doing so, and became the champion of the universe.

But one thing remains the same. Whoever he is, whatever his name or his aspect, the omniverse owes it's very existence to the Doctor.

We owe him everything, and we can be sure of one thing.

He will always be here to protect us.

THE DOCTOR NEVER LOSES.