The moon reflected eerily on the surface of the lake. There was very little wind, creating the least bit of ripple along the black water. The frogs sang their songs, and all was peaceful. That was until a new sound intruded on the tranquility of the area. It started in a higher pitch, then quickly lowered till it cut off suddenly, then repeated itself. Again and again. If the sound wasn't enough to confuse any beings that were close enough to hear it, then the appearance of a blue box was. It was a strange blue box, standing nearly eight feet tall or so, three feet wide on any side. There was an inactive light on the top, and above the door, and at the top on all four sides, were the words "PUBLIC" sitting over the word "CALL," both of which were smaller and sat between "POLICE BOX"

There was a sign on the door as well that read
POLICE TELEPHONE
FREE
FOR USE OF
PUBLIC
ADVICE AND ASSISTANCE
OBTAINABLE IMMEDIATELY

OFFICER AND CARS
RESPOND TO ALL CALLS
PULL TO OPEN


The box just sat there on the black sand, a few feet from where the water lapped at the shore

A strange sound echoed in the sudden, uncharacteristic silence of early twilight at the Dark Lake. It was a tortured metal-on-metal scraping sort of sound, accompanied by a humming screech that carried eerily across the waters of the lake. Chirruping frogs and humming insects fell quiet at the interruption; the summer evensong melodies of the nightingale were still.

It was that bizarre sound which drew Alysia away from her the silent, shadowy confines of her tower. She set aside quill and papers, carefully sanded a reluctant accord only half-written, then glanced east toward the lake. Through the fire-tinted glass and the violet mist-veil drape, she vaguely saw a dark, boxy shape upon the shore.

?What the Hell,? she mouthed, frowning. From the shape, she thought at first that it might be a delivery left by RPS, recalling an enormous shipment some months ago of monstrous, bloodsucking earthworms. I don?t remember ordering anything that big, she thought, but either way RPS would definitely have made me sign for it. She twitched the drapes aside and peered out and saw that there was, indeed, a box on her beach. A great cobalt blue box, taller than it was wide, seemingly built of painted wood, with a light on top and writing printed on a panel on the side. It seemed entirely innocuous. Huh. It could be flotsam from a shadowstorm -- only there hasn?t been a shadowstorm in months, mused Alysia.

Vexed by curiosity, she headed down the winding stairs of her tower and padded barefoot across the summer-dry grass toward the lake. The frogs began their songs again, croaking out a counterpoint to the waves against the shore. Nearing the sand, she stopped, seeing a man step out of the box and examine his surroundings before strolling along the perimeter of the lake.

She stared.

The man lowered his gaze, finally deciding that he could spend quite some time wandering till he found a safe way to move away from the lake. So, he would go see who or what the motion was. If they were sentient, they obviously knew a quicker way to get around this lake, and if not. Well.

So he walked back toward the TARDIS, and as he grew closer, he saw the being standing just beyond. At the sight of the silvery blonde hair he almost grinned but then he realized that it couldn't be, so he continued, hands still in his pocket.

The being was beautiful, perhaps of a height with him, though he would have to be a little closer to know for sure. He took in her ears, eyes, and general appearance as he neared. He stopped a few feet away, hands still in his pockets. He had only been to a very few places where the TARDIS would not translate for him, and he hoped this was not one of those places, but the only way to find out would be to speak. So he did.

"Hello," it was a start, but there was quite a bit on his mind, and sometimes it was hard to stop. "The sand, beautiful. and the lake, magnificent. Do people swim there? Wonderful place you have here. Do you look after it all?" He leaned slightly closer, lowering his voice, "you might want to keep an eye on the frogs. The way three act in unison, wouldn't surprise me if they were borderline telepathic, and probably much more cunning that anyone gives them credit for, best be safe about them. An-" He was about to continue, but paused, them smiled. "Oh, I'm sorry. What was I thinking? I'm The Doctor," and with that he offered his hand for a handshake and waited.

He felt something when she took his hand, though he couldn't quite place it. "Alysia," he nodded as she explained the place. "Dark Lake. Oh, that is so appropriate." He followed her gaze to the TARDIS and wondered at her "blue" comment.

"Well, I originally thought I was coming to Myrfax four, you see their sun was about to go supernova, which was going to affect a nearby star system, and eventually cause a cascade effect that would wipe out the entire galaxy in which it resides. I have never seen that, and I hear it is quite a spectacular show."

Once again he glanced up at the stars, then back to her, "would you care for a jelly ba-" He paused with the strangest expressions of bewilderment. "Now what made me think of those?" He turned and ran to the TARDIS, opened the door, and was about to step inside when he stopped and turned to her. "Sorry, be back in a moment."

He dashed inside, leaving the door open enough that there was obviously some sort of discrepancy between the amount of space inside and what it takes up on the outside, but he was back a moment later, moving more slowly this time as he was reading something from a paper bag he had.

"Hmmm, best by August eighty two." He looked at her, "they may not be good anymore, but we could always go back to august eighty two and see if they get any better?" He pulled a small red gummy baby from the bag and sniffed it experimentally before eating it. After a moment, he held the bag out for her. "Well, they are a little stiff, but not really too bad."

The moment of bewilderment did not get by unnoticed, but with the mention of food allergies, he rolled up the bag and stuffed in one of the pockets of his coat. It certainly wouldn't be polite to keep eating them, and they really weren't all that great anymore. Just how long had they been in that cabinet after all? He was still listening to her as he was trying to construct an actual chronology of time spent since the last time he had eaten one of these jelly babies. Years, had to be.

He couldn't help but notice that she was obviously trying to see past him. He smiled to himself, about to show her inside. he did so enjoy watching the reaction and the disbelief when they discovered it's spatial properties inside and out, but she seemed to know. Or perhaps she had seen enough inside the doors to guess at it.

"Well, it is probably what you might call a starship. I can fly through space in it and it only really gets crowded when there are more than five or six people inside. Have you seen one before?" He looked rather curious to her expression, but then caught on about the rift comment. "Oh no. Well, in a way, but it is entirely self contained. Would you like to see it?"

He walked over to the doors with what might almost be a smug look on his face and opened them both fully before stepping aside. Even if she had some inclination of it's spatial properties, she probably didn't understand just how contradictory those properties were.

"After you," he said with a slight flourish, gesturing to the open doors. He was hoping to tell by her reaction once inside whether she had seen one before. If she had, that could only mean trouble, as he believed his was the only functioning TARDIS left in existence.

"This," he said as he stepped in behind her, "is my..." He hesitates as he looks around, arms sweeping as if to present it. He circles completely once, then stops. "My ship." He smiled, "And I wouldn't say I am overly trusting, but you've given me no reason not to trust you, so why shouldn't I?"

"And as for what this is. This is the control room of my TARDIS. And it is dimensionally transcendental, well, bigger on the inside than on the outside. The external appearance is just that, an appearance. If my chameleon circuit were functional, I could make it look like anything that pretty much belonged in any particular area, but I've grown rather fond of this police box."

He watched her, tilting his head slightly, and figured he might elaborate on his point of trust. "I am not here to cause anyone any harm. As I said, I really thought I was landing. . . " his face screwed up slightly as he fought for the term, "elsewhere. Though, now that I am here, I think I would like to have a look around. Forgive me if I sound rude, but the ears mark you as something other than human. if I had to guess I'd say. . . Well, no, I think I need a little more information for that."

He smiled, walked to a cabinet along the far wall and opened it up, pulling out a long brown coat. "So, might you have offer any suggestions on where or what I should see while I am here?"

He put the coat on and stopped to listen. He took in the ears without pause, nodding to himself as he added a few more pieces to that puzzle, but the fact obviously did not bother him. How could it, since he was not human either? He put the brown trench coat on, adjusting it as she gave her suggestions, nodding thoughtfully as each one was mentioned.

When she was finished, he remained still and silent for a moment longer, then started speaking again at his previous pace, "being mistrustful of strangers is a good survival instinct. But I have been around far too many people over the years, and even the ones I cannot trust are usually better off in the end if I offer my trust till they lose it." He leaned a little closer, dropping his voice so that one couldn't hear him futher than twenty feet away or so, "Some of them begin to think about why they lost your trust. Some of them are capable of being saved and redeemed. Others, well. . ." It seemed as if he were going to continue, but he took a deep breath as he lost himself momentarily in thought. He had indeed come across many people throughout his life, and many of them he tried to save, but in the end they just refused to take that last step. Or they took the step in the wrong direction for whatever reason.

He smiled as he realized he had stopped. "I think I shall start with this. . . Red Dragon Inn you said? Are there really red dragons? if so, wow. I would like to see what passes for one here, I have seen a lot of different creatures that various people call dragons. I even once came across this creature that was the embodiment of pencil scribbles. A doodlemonster, it was incredible, quite deadly rather, but still incredible."

He almost seemed giddy as he thought about it, moving along the control panel, locking down controls, pocketing various objects including, but not limited to, a wooden yo-yo, a banana, and a leather wallet that he flips open momentarily to reveal a blank piece of white paper inside. As he steps closer to her, he picks up a black recorder and a striped woolen scarf and contemplates them both for a moment before tossing them aside, "nah, I don't think I'll be needing those."

Settled, having things he thinks might come in handy, he steps to Alysia, offers his arm, "shall we? Oh wait. I just realized, it might have been late when I arrived, though lack of daylight does not necessarily predicate lateness of the hour, but still. What is the local time? Did I disturb you? Perhaps simple directions might be in order instead? Oh, and will my TARDIS be safe here? I can keep people from entering it, but it has been carried off from time to time.."

"What?" He watched, stunned, as she simply disappeared. He pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket, aimed it at the portal, and studied the readings for a moment. "Well, seems safe enough, if not knowing where you will emerge is safe." he thought about it for a moment, and then shrugged, replaced his screwdriver, and stepped through.

He stumbled as he reached the other end, for the ground was slightly lower here than on the starting side. His grin widened as he looked around, for indeed he found himself on a rather crowded street, and no one seemed to be looking at him askance for appearing out of nowhere. "Hello," he said with a smile and a wave, receiving a rather dirty look in return. "Well then, where might we be?"

He turned a circle, but couldn't see Alysia anywhere, but he did find a few things that caught his eye. First, he approached a vendor at some sort of food cart.

"What'll you have stranger?" The vendor looked at him sideways, apparently taking in his odd manner of dress, but as The Doctor looked around, no one seemed to be dressed in any similar fashion with anyone else.

"One of those," he started, pointing to a grill where something on a stick was grilling. "What is that? Ra-" The Doctor was cut off as the vendor hushed him, saying something about only the finest quality meats for sale at his cart. "Well, I'm afraid you'll have to hand one over for testing."

"Testing? Sure, as soon as you pay for it," stated the vendor, getting a little irate.

"Pay? Oh yeah." The Doctor pulled out a small folded wallet, as he took a moment to recall the name of the city, and opened it up to display the contents. "Rhydin Public Health Inspector," he stated as he flashed the wallet. The psychic paper took his own thoughts about what to display, and took the thoughts of the man viewing it to make it appear as official as what the vendor expected it to look like. "Now, if you don't mind," he said as he held out his hand. The vendor grumbled a moment, and picked up one of the kabobs, carefully handing it over.

"I get my meat from a butcher right here in town, I'll give you his name if you want."

"That probably won't be necessary, as I am sure that this will check out just fine," The Doctor said as he turned and started walking away, carefully taking a bite of the kabob as he turned a corner.

The Doctor wove through the streets, visiting various shops and storefronts. Once, he even came across a Sonic Matter Destabilizer, quite illegal in most galaxies. The shop owner genuinely thought he had nothing more than an old family heirloom, so with a flash of his "Antique Quality and Authenticity Inspector" credentials, he took a moment with his sonic screwdriver to "examine" the antique, making quite sure that his examination left the weapon completely inert.

At some point in time, he pulled his yo-yo out of his pocket, figuring that maybe Alysia had somewhere else to go, as he hadn't found her yet. This city was quite fascinating, and some few people seemed curious of the man walking through the streets playing with a child's toy. Others weren't sure just what the yo-yo was. But, eventually he saw the sign proclaiming that he was nearing the Red Dragon Inn. He smiled, and made his way inside.

He Found Alysia there, waving to her, and also noted someone else taking note of him as he looked around the room. He hadn't been there for very long before the topic of food came up. he carried bananas, as they were rather portable, but not meat because it wasn't portable, but he was informed that food was served in the Inn at times. But then someone, off to the side, said something about not eating the stew. Darkmere was his name, and Alysia thought it was important enough to confirm the statement, while he was on the topic of the many benefits of bananas; portable, good for you, distractions among some.

But the stew. He wondered if it were poisoned, for why else would they warn someone not to eat stew served in a place of business?

"How," Alysia started, obvious intrigued about the bananas, but his poison comment drew her out of that. "Oh, the stew, it's. . . Unique. Semi-sentient. Aggressive."

"Really? A new life form? I must see this stew!" He had grown a little excited, perhaps this was why he was drawn to this place instead of Myrfax Four as he was intending. Darkmere warned him away from the stew, but he just had to see. So, Alysia bravely went to retrieve some. He smiled as a bowl was placed in front of him, and he immediately took out his screwdriver and began scanning the substance.

"What," asked Alysia, "are you doing?"

"Simple. Matter. Analysis."

"Whats so simple about it?"

"Hmmm. Simple? Oh, the analysis is simple. The stew seems to be," and he paused again, quite interested. "Amorphous"

"Amorphous. You needed to wave a metal stick at it to figure that out?" She grined at the Doctor enough to show the points of her fangs. "You could have poked it with a knife and determined the same thing."

"This is not just a metal stick!" He said rather defensively to Alysia. "I'll have you know that is an advanced piece of... It's a highly turned. . ." He stopped, sighed, and put his sonic screwdriver back into his pocket. "It's a very fancy metal stick."

Of course, he needed some of the equipment back in the Tardis for further analysis, so he went into the kitchen and found himself a thick pair of oven mitts, and then came back out. Carefully lifting the bowl he look from it, to the door, and at all the people in between.

"Move aside!.. STEW COMING THROUGH!" The shout had the desired effect as some moved aside, others watched him warily, and still someone else said "Gods above and below, who was fool enough to let the Stew out?" He didn't catch who asked, but he took slight at their doubting him, "I have tamed the mighty Aggedor, I'll have you know," he said as he carefully nodded. "Good evening all!. If someone would be kind enough to check in on me, at the lake. Perhaps, just in case," and with that, he smiled, and then stepped out.

It was going to be a long, slow journey back to the Tardis, especially since he wasn't sure how to get there without going through another portal. Perhaps he would find some and check them randomly and hope that he ended up near the lake. In any case, the reputation of the stew would serve to keep him from being Jostled, all he'd have to do is announce loudly enough what he was carrying, and people should stay well enough back.