CHAPTER TWO: THE HORSEHEAD NEBULA I

"Karen!" She swung around, her hair flicking her in the face and she silently cursed. After clearing her face she saw the person who had called out her name.

"Doctor!" She exclaimed, shocked at seeing him again. He waved at her and walked over.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor," He smiled, shaking Ade's hand causing her to laugh

"You're the mad bloke from the bus then? Blimey, She was right about the chin," Ade smiled, raising an eyebrow. The Doctor looked offended and then turned back to Karen

"Oi, what is with everyone and my chin? First Oswin, then you. Just be thankful I'm not wearing celery!" he said, folding his arms.

"You're right, I am. Weren't you going to see your friend Clara?" Karen asked

"I did," he stated, matter of factly.

"It's only been about an hour," Karen said, tilting her head

"Really? I'm getting better at piloting then, it's been about a week for me," The Doctor grinned, almost looking like he was about to start jumping around to bask in his success.

"OK. Can I just say it? I think you're crazy. Kaz, see you later," Ade said, hugged her friend and then walked away

"Well she's a bit rude," The Doctor said, furrowing his eyebrows

"Oi. She's rude because she doesn't believe you," Karen stated

"Do you believe me?" he asked his face serious. She wondered where his eyebrows were…

"What? Oh…I'm not sure. I think I do, but reason is telling me not to believe you," she replied

"Never listen to reason. Reason's boring. It's all serious and frankly, not fun," he jabbered and she laughed at him again

"Do you know how totally weird you are?" she asked

"I may have heard it a couple of times," he said, a twinkle in his eye

"I'm not surprised,"

"Do you want to see it then?" He asked, starting to look a bit impatient

"See what?" she asked, flicking her fringe again. One of these days she was going to buy a hair clip.

"My super cool space and time travelling manual-less house?" he explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the universe.

"What the hell, you only live once," she smiled and then re adjusted her bag as if to say 'let's go'. They began to walk in the direction of a side street, Karen wondering why she ever agreed to this man. Surely, this was one of those 'stranger danger' moments? Don't go with a man who says that his home can time travel?

"Who was your friend?" he asked, trying to make light conversation

"Oh, Ade. I've known her all my life. I lost my dad and she lost her parents at the same time so we grew closer because of it. Why?" Karen explained

"Nothing, she just looked familiar," he explained

"Oh. Well she's got one of those faces," Karen shrugged

"Yeah, I guess. I've got a face that no one listens to," The Doctor complained

"I don't think it's the face, mate," Karen laughed

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked with mock offence

"Nothing," she smirked

"No seriously, what did you mean?" He asked, honestly getting confused and frustrated

"Bless," Karen laughed, pinched his chin and then pointed to the blue police box behind him, "Is that it?"

"Yes, it is! Karen, welcome to my home," he bounced and open the door. Karen saw the huge interior as her eyes widened.

"That's…It's…I'm…It's…" Karen stuttered, running inside and looking around

"Go on, say it. It's bigger on the inside,"

Silence

"Smaller on the outside?"

Silence

"Does it have a kitchen? Karen, say something!" The Doctor moaned

"It's…I…don't have any coffee!" She said. After a minute she burst out into hysterics at the extremely strange response.

"That's…that's also a first!" He laughed, watching Karen jump around the room with curiosity

"So it can just…time travel?" she asked, turning to the Doctor

"Yeah, it can," he grinned, proud of his ship

"How's that possible? I know we've been researching black holes and things but that's a one way go. And even if we are going faster than the speed of light it would still take billions of years to reach other stars and-"Karen rambled

"It's…don't worry. So if there's the whole of time and space, mostly within the reach of billions of years, where do you want to go?" He asked the trademark question

"I would like to see…The horsehead nebula. The one in Orion, next to the star Alnitak. But…on the side the earth would see it from because it only looks like a horse from that side," Karen grinned, watching the Doctor trying to hide his impressed look.

"Fine, that's also a new one. I'll take you to the year 2016 where there was a whole explosion inside from new stars that made the Hydrogen go different colours," The Doctor explained, pressing buttons

"I remember that! But there was some kind of box shadow in the way…Oh my god!" Karen laughed as the realisation dawned on her, "That was us!"

"It must've been, yeah," The Doctor laughed. Karen grabbed on to the side of the ship and laughed as she was flung. The ship finally steadied, and the Doctor gestured towards the door. Karen grinned at him and ran to the door, opening it. She gasped as the pink light hit her face, and in front was the nebula itself.

"It's…its real!" Karen exclaimed, watching the lights inside shine bright and then flicker out.

"Those lights inside-"The Doctor started

"Are lights of new stars being formed inside the Nebula, I know," she whispered, watching the beauty

"Well, you're no fun," The Doctor mumbled and she hit him on the arm, smirking slightly. They watched for another couple of minutes until they heard a slow rumble

"That's weird…shouldn't space be silent?" Karen asked, looking to the Doctor, who was obviously thinking the same thing

"Yeah it should," he muttered

"But it isn't"

"Nope,"

"Is that dangerous?"

"Possibly,"

"Are we going to stop it?"

"Of course!" The Doctor grinned, grabbing her hand and jumping out of the TARDIS into the Nebula as Karen screamed.