A Police Box on Baker Street

The Greatest Ship in the Universe

Chapter 2: Sherlock's POV

The Doctor spun around. He turned to look at me for the first time. "Right, sorry, hello. Who are you?" 

"Sherlock Holmes," I replied. "What you did back there... you saved my life." 

The Doctor grinned. "Wait, you're the Sherlock Holmes? I've heard quite a bit about you. You're kind of famous." The Doctor's grin quickly faded, replaced by a look of confusion. "Wait, where's your hat?" 

I rolled my eyes. "I don't wear that hat unless I absolutely have to. I hate it. Speaking of having things, I have questions that you have to answer." 

"Oh, I have to, do I?" The Doctor asked, mimicking my tone, the smile plastered across his face once more. 

Annoyance flared up inside of me. This "Doctor" was toying with my patience, and that was something I definitely didn't like. "Yes," I said. "You have to." 

 The Doctor chuckled. He was obviously amused by my annoyance. Then, his face lit up like he had just had a great idea. "Why don't I show you?" 

"Show me? What do you mean show me?" I asked, but the Doctor was already walking away. I was half-tempted to turn around and walk in the opposite direction, away from this man that thought he was all high and mighty, but I still needed answers. Exhaling loudly to show my reluctance, I followed. 

I only had to jog a few steps to catch up with the Doctor, but I wasn't able to slow down much once I caught up. This man walked quickly, like he was always in a rush and always had somewhere to be. "You had better start explaining," I demanded. "I want to know what that thing was any why it was terrified of your name." 

The Doctor shook his head, still grinning. However, now that I looked closer, I could see that the Doctor's grin appeared to be masking some extreme sadness. The kind of sadness that only came after you lost someone you cared about. I had seen that same sadness in John when he had come to visit me after my infamous fall. John...

I had only just begin to sink into the state of regret and guilt that came with thinking about that fall, that awful, awful fall, when the Doctor pulled me out of it, now having saved me both emotionally and physically in the same night. "As you've probably... deduced, (the Doctor seemed to really enjoy saying that word) that thing you saw back there wasn't human. It was an alien. Not unlike me, actually." 

I stopped dead in my tracks. "Wait, you're an alien?" 

The Doctor stopped too to turn around and look at me. "Of course. Problem?" 

I shook my head once as if to clear it, then a second time to deny there being any problem with the Doctor being an alien. "No, not as long as you answer my questions," I said. 

"Oh, I quite like you, Sherlock Holmes," the Doctor said with a small chuckle. I gave him an expectant look, urging him to keep explaining. The Doctor read the expression on my face and seemed to realize that he actually had to elaborate on his previous declaration his being an alien as well as the green-skinned fellow I had met earlier. "Right," he said. "Answers. Well, you already know that that thing, a male, to be exact, was an alien, and so am I. My guess is that he came to Earth in hopes of escaping." 

"Escaping? Escaping what?" I asked. 

"There's war on his home planet. A civil war, and I'm afraid that I may have helped start it." 

"Wait, you helped start a war?" I was surprised. The Doctor had immediately struck me as the nonviolent type. I hadn't seen him carrying any weapons in his coat pockets, and he hadn't even disciplined the alien that had nearly ripped my throat out.