Doctor Who and The Ghost of Time.

The Package.

The humming of the TARDIS gave The Doctor a sense of peace as he looked upon the console. After taking down The One Who Waits, he felt free once again. No Master, no Trenzalore, no Gallifrey, and no Flux. He walked towards his jukebox and put on some Robert Johnson. As he listened to "Love in Vain Blues Takes," he started to think about where he could go next. Maybe he could visit Portmeirion during the 1960s, perhaps travel to the golden ring of the red planet Hologrim, or maybe the actual planet of Dårlig Ulv Stranden. But then he heard the ringing of the telephone on his console. He ran around the console towards his phone and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Doctor, it's Kate. We need you here; we've received something addressed to you."

"I'll be on my way," The Doctor replied before hanging up. He looked at the console and smiled. He finally had something new to occupy his mind. He ran around the console, hitting every button he needed. The TARDIS made its usual sound, but then suddenly there was an alteration of the sound. The Doctor looked up, puzzled. He tried to adjust one of the parameters of the TARDIS, but it refused to comply. Within moments, the TARDIS sorted itself out. The Doctor wondered what went wrong but thought nothing of it. Soon, the TARDIS exited the time vortex and appeared above the UNIT tower.

Kate looked up to see the TARDIS appear in front of her. She called over one of her staff members to retrieve the package. The sound of the TARDIS made a loud thud, and suddenly one of the doors swung open. The Doctor peeked around the corner with a massive grin on his face.

"So what's this package you've got for me?" he said with anticipation. Kate looked at him with her usual stern look. He closed the door behind him and walked towards her. One of the troops ran over, holding a brown envelope. Kate took the envelope off the soldier and opened it. Inside was a blue wooden box and a piece of old paper. She looked at the paper, puzzled.

"We couldn't make sense of this. We've used every resource at our disposal to decipher it, but it seems to be a code we have no knowledge of. The language appears to be some form of Gallifreyan, but it's something we can't work out," Kate replied. She handed the paper to The Doctor. He looked down at it and recognised it straight away.

"Ah, it's old Gallifreyan. Think Latin in your case. This should be easy to work out..." The look of fear filled his face.

"This can't be. It's a code I used to use with the Master," The Doctor said. When it was translated, it read.

 You have something I want back.

"What was in the box?!" The Doctor shouted. Kate gave him the box, and when he opened it, the shock hit hard. Inside was a silver-rimmed dish with a big mustard-yellow centre and a ball chain connected to it. He looked up at Kate.

"What is it, Doctor?" she asked.

"Who sent this?"

"We don't know. I found it in my father's safe deposit box, but it had 'The Ghost of Time' painted on it." Without hesitation, he ran back to the TARDIS and set course to get away from the current timeline and planet.

He looked at the TARDIS, feeling as he had during his Tenth incarnation. The thought ran through his mind: if they are here, then nothing matters. For what he has done, everything he has done will be undone. 

All he can do now is run.