I slept better that night than I had in a very long time - which is odd, considering the stressful couple of days I'd had. There was just something so calming about the low hum that resonated throughout the TARDIS.

For the first few hours I lay awake, trying to come to terms with the fact I might never see my family again. I'm still not too sure why either. All I know is that this creature is chasing me of all people, and if I go back home it will kill my family to get to me.

You know, come to think of it, I have no idea why I trusted the Doctor. A man I barely knew, a stranger, tells me I can never see my family again and I just run off with him? What on Earth (or if what the Doctor says is true, on Gallifrey) was I thinking?! I must be mentally deficient!
I kept thinking the same things - what was I thinking? I don't know this man! He could be a murderer!
But some part of my subconscious wouldn't let me go home. Maybe it was that not many murderers have a time machine (of which I still had no proof was real), but I really didn't know.

Apart from the fact that I was in a bigger-on-the-inside blue box in the woods, the next couple of days were just like my normal ones; I spent all day reading in the massive library (which had a bubbling pink swimming pool in the centre) and spent the evenings sitting in my room. Thinking.

I had been doing this for 3 days when suddenly the whole room started shaking, books falling to the floor and water spilling over the edge of the pool. I got out of my armchair (which, I am sad to say had my backside imprinted in it. ) and walked out of the library, winding through the rumbling corridors until I reached the central room, where the Doctor was lounging on a sofa, reading an upside down knitting guide, seemingly oblivious to the shaking room.
He looked up at me and grinned broadly.
"Ahh! Aislinn! You have decided to join me? I have missed your conversational input. How's the library been?"

I steadied myself on the green and gold control panel that had various lights and buttons flashing.

"Fine - Why is the world collapsing around us?"
His eyes sparkled as he said,

"I thought you might need a little adventure! I'm taking you to one of my favourite places."

And suddenly, the room stopped shaking. I rebalanced myself.

"What - Earthquake land?"

"No! That was just the TARDIS taking us to our destination. It doesn't have stabilizers you see."

I frowned and pointed to a small blue button.

"What about that one?"

He got up and peered at me, examining my eyes.

"What would make you think that?"
I shrugged.

"I don't know - you just said stabilizers and I thought 'that one'. Something wrong?"
He stepped back and the joyful look was on his face again.

"Nope! Nothing! Now would you like to take a look outside?"

"What? At the woods?"

He walked over to the doors and opened one of them.

"Nope! At a new world."
I stepped out and took in my surroudings. I gasped and jumped back into the Doctor, almost knocking him over.

"We've moved! And we're not on Earth!"

"I told you I have a time machine."

"Please accept my apology when I say I didn't believe you; you are quite...eccentric..."

He grinned at me.

"It has been said... And we are on Earth. 51st century - one of my favourites."

I slowly walked a few feet in front of the TARDIS and looked around at the vast city in front of me. Once you looked past the flying objects and luminous lights, it did just look like a normal city.
In the middle of the ocean, mind.

I turned back to the Doctor.

"What are we doing here?"

He came to join me and linked his arm with mine.

"We're going to a book reading."

"A book reading?! We come all the way to 3000 years in the future and you're taking me to a book reading? We could have done that in the 21st century you know."

We started to walk towards the bridge that connected the small island we were on with the giant cityscape one across from our parking spot.

We wound through the brightly lit streets, and I stopped every 5 seconds to gape and every alien, every building, every car that flew over my head. I was looking at a big blue creature when the Doctor yanked my arm.

"It's not rude to stare! Come on, we'll be late."

"I wasn't staring!"

"You look like a fish with your mouth open like that."

I quickly closed it, harrumphed and then carried on walking.

"And so what if I do look like a fish? I'm sure that man over there wouldn't be too happy to hear you insulting his looks."

The Doctor turned to face where I was pointing, at an alien across the street with a rather fish-shaped head. He turned back to me with a smug look.

"That's a girl. Now stop nattering or we will actually be late. We can do the great tour of the future lately."

He picked up the pace and I had to jog to keep up with him.

"Fine! How long till we get there though? My legs are getting tired."

"Not too long now. Five minutes?"

He kept looking at his wristwatch as if he was late for something extremely important, other than this book reading we were heading to. Which I really doubted was a life or death attendance thing...

"Got to rush somewhere?"

He looked over at me, and pulled on his collar, in discomfort.

"Oh! No! Course not! Why would I?" He looked at his watch again. "Ahh here we are! The Library!"

I glanced up at a tall building that was signposted 'Public Library'. We walked in, and the Doctor dragged me down a corridor into a big conference hall where about 200 people (well, creatures) were seated, listening to a man reading. The Doctor got us two seats near the back.

I whispered jokily in his ear.

"I'm surprised they still have libraries in the 51st century - I'd have thought everyone would have virtual brain chips that play the books like films inside your own mind."

The Doctor replied, completely seriously, and only half paying attention to me.

"No. They didn't invent those till the 54th." He faced me. "You'd be surprised. People never really stop loving books. 51st century. By now you've got holovids, direct to brain audio downloads, fiction mist, but you need the smell. The smell of books, Ash. Deep breath."

I shot him a quizzical look.

"Those don't sound like your own words. You sound like you're quoting someone."

He got that glassy, not really here look again.

"A good man said them. A different man. Different face."

I decided to drop the topic and focus on the so-called Professor Lawrence who we had come to hear speak. He was an archaeologist Professor at the Luna University, and hearing him tell the story of the Earth's past (and my Earth's future) was fascinating. So fascinating that I didn't notice the Doctor had disappeared until almost an hour later. I ducked out of the lecture, not without earning a few looks of disapproval, and went looking for him.

He was sneaky, I'll give him that. I hadn't even heard him budge.
At first I was angry - the Doctor had abandoned me in the middle of a strange city, 3000 years into my future, without even a map! But then in my anger I decided I didn't care what the Doctor did. I was going to have some fun, and if he didn't agree with it then he shouldn't have wandered off.
I decided to look myself up in the Library database. 3000 years in my future - surely I'd find something interesting? See what I accomplished in life, whether I was famous, or even if I was still alive by some miracle! I could meet up with myself! Realistically I was expecting to find just a birth date and death date; I mean, why would I, boring, ordinary, silent Aislinn have accomplished anything in my life? The best thing I'd ever done was save a cat from a tree, which then proceeded to bite me.
I would saw I was shocked by what I discovered, but I would be lying. I was more confused than anything.