1. Chapter 1 (1/2)

jamie mccrimmon and victoria waterfield watched the doctor as he examined the control panels of the hexagonal console within the tardis, which looked like an ordinary blue police box from the outside but was much bigger on the inside. the doctor looked like a man in his late-forties with a mop top, black shoes, checkered pants, a black coat, a white dress shirt, and a black bow tie. he had a bewildered expression on his face as strange noises were emitted. the tardis was rematerializing.

"i think that we may be landing, but i am not certain that we are in the same universe."

"you mean to say that there are other universes?" victoria asked.

"precisely," the doctor responded.

"i don't suppose i'll meet another scotsman in this universe anytime soon," jamie said.

"i would not get my hopes up about that if i were you," the doctor said. "let us see what is on the screen."

the screen on the wall was turned on, revealing what appeared to be a desolate planetoid.

"there does not appear to be much out there," jamie said.

"i do wish to go elsewhere," victoria said.

"now, now, it may look like nothing now, but we will never know unless we look," the doctor said. "the atmosphere appears to be safe. come along."

"well, i suppose it is better to be nowhere than to run into another yeti so soon," victoria said.

the doctor and his two companions exited the tardis and stepped on the stony surface of the planetoid. they walked around for a while until something was spotted above.

"look, doctor!" jamie said. "up there! it looks like some sort of ship!"

the doctor looked up and saw what jamie was pointing at. it was a ship, and it was falling in their direction.

"scramble!" the doctor ordered.

the three of them ran in different directions, avoiding the crashing ship. it was damaged by the crash, but the pilot inside was still alive. as they got nearer to the ship, they realized that the pilot within looked human. he was unconscious.

"let's get him out!" the doctor said.

through their efforts, they managed to pull the pilot out of the wreckage. the old man wore an orange jumpsuit.

"another crashed pilot," the doctor said. "and i had thought that after steven taylor i would never encounter many more of them. oh, how naive i was as an old-looking man."

"old-looking man?" victoria said.

"what do you think he was doing out here, doctor?" jamie asked.

"for all we know, he could be an explorer just like us," the doctor said. "i wonder how far away he is from civilization."

they heard a noise coming from the inside of the tardis.

"what's that all about?" jamie asked.

"there may be a few bugs i need to fix with the tardis," the doctor said. "i will go check. you two stay here with the pilot."

as the doctor ran back to the tardis, jamie and victoria watched the unconscious pilot.

"you think he will be all right?" victoria asked.

"of course he will be," jamie said. "the doctor will take good care of him."

victoria looked up and saw a yellow, gaseous glow in the distance. after a few seconds, it disappeared.

"did you see that?"

"see what?"

"there was a sort of yellow glow over there. i am sure of it."

victoria walked in the direction in which she had seen the glow.

"victoria, where are you going?"

jamie looked at the pilot and then at victoria. he reasoned that nothing was on this planetoid that could harm the pilot. he ran after victoria. they searched around for a few minutes.

"it was around here."

"are you sure you saw something?"

"jamie, i am not mad."

"i did not say you were. i just do not think you ought to be chasing after something that may be harmful."

"i suppose you are right. we better get back."

when they returned, they found that the pilot's body was missing.

"jamie! he's gone."

"i should never have left him. he probably woke up and walked about. but where would he go?"

"if he were to have woken up right here, then the tardis would have been the first thing he saw. i would gamble that he went that way. maybe he is with the doctor."

"let's find out."

they ran inside of the tardis.

"doctor?" victoria called.

"doctor?" jamie called.

"i believe i have fixed the problem," the doctor said. "when we travel again, i do believe we will be back in our own reality. wait a minute! did you leave the pilot."

"i am sorry, doctor," victoria said. "it was my fault. i saw something and went after it. then jamie came after me, and when we got back, the man was gone!"

"he didn't come in here, did he?" jamie asked.

"i was busy fixing the tardis," the doctor replied. "i suppose it could be possible that he wondered in here and i was too busy to notice. start searching everywhere in here!"

a good distance away from the tardis, the old man's body was lying on the rocky surface of the planetoid. he awoke and examined his surroundings. his ship was nowhere in sight. a large, yellow glow appeared in front of him. it made water appear out of thin air to fly into zefram's mouth. he swallowed.

"what is your name?" it asked with a female voice.

"my name is zefram cochrane," the old man answered. "who are you?"

"i have no name."

"is this gamma canaris? how did i get here?"

"your ship was damaged and it crashed here. on my behalf, would you be willing to speak to the doctor?"

"what doctor?"

"the doctor who took you out of your ship. i am not sure how he and the others would react if i appeared to them out of thin air."

"there are others here?"

"there are, and they look like your kind. i will take you to them if you agree to communicate with them for me."

"yes, i agree. whatever you say."

"good. i have inhabited this place for a while without anyone to accompany me. i have been very lonely and would like to have someone here."

"for how long?"

"forever."

"now, that could cause a misunderstanding, so it's good that you're talking to me first. so, forever? until death?"

"i have the power to rejuvenate and keep others alive for as long as possible."

"i see."

zefram was not sure how the others would react if he told them all of this, but he was desperate to meet other beings that were similar to himself.

"okay. i will let them know and see what they say."

the doctor and his companions searched frantically throughout the interior of the tardis. they found no sign that anyone other than themselves had entered.

"any luck?" the doctor asked.

"not at all," jamie said. "otherwise, you'd be mistaking me for an irishman."

"he could still be outside somewhere," victoria suggested.

"i will lock the tardis so that he cannot get in before we get to him."

as they exited the tardis once more, the doctor took out his key and locked the door. before they could get far, they watched the pilot rematerialize like the tardis had done on a plethora of occasions.

"how did you do that?" the doctor asked.

"there is something else around here. it has powers but it does not look like us."

"it must be the glow that i saw!" victoria said.