"DOCTOR!"
I'm running towards the T.A.R.D.I.S. The key is in my hand. I turn the key in the hole and open the door. The Doctor isn't inside. Where is he?
"Rose!" I hear from behind me. "Get in the TARDIS, quick." He pushes me inside and he follows.
"Doctor, where were you?" I scream as I stumble inside.
The Doctor hesitates. "I was, uh," he sniffs. "I was doing something I'll tell you later. Now, where do you want to go?" he asks. "We could go to this beautiful planet called Lumbertown Island -- don't ask why a planet is called Lumbertown island, it's all very complicated stuff that you won't be able to understand -- or we could go to the Platinum Palace in New New New New New New New New--"
"Doctor," I say. His blue suit is covered in dirt. How the hell does he get his clothes washed? I imagine him going to the dry cleaners. I giggle. His once-beautiful hair is now completely messed up. Also, how does he style his hair? That makes me giggle louder.
"What's so funny?" He looks at me suspiciously.
"It's something I'll tell you later," I say as I scowl at him for hiding things from me. "Anyway, Doctor, I just want to know . . . is there any place where you haven't been to?"
He thinks, and replies, "Rose, I was quite sure you'd know that I'm not that old. I'm only nine hundred and one, so I can't travel through all the space and time, you see--"
"Doctor. It's alright, I get it," I laugh. "Er, how about we just go . . . anywhere. Somewhere random."
"Random?"
"Yes."
"You want us to go somewhere random."
"Yes."
"You realize how dangerous that is, don't you?"
"Yes!"
"We could end up on an uninhabited planet, with no atmosphere to let us breathe. Timelords have to breathe too, you know! Or we could land on a star and burn ourselves to death, or--"
"Doctor!" I yell.
"Yes?"
"Random."
He hesitates, then nods quickly and starts firing up the engines. "Okay," he says. He looks up at me. "Where are you lost?" he asks. "Let's go someplace . . . random!"
The T.A.R.D.I.S. lands. The door opens and the Doctor starts to step out. When I try to follow, he holds up a hand and says, "Not now, Rose, I have to see if we're safe out here. We could be anywhere, and I promised your mother I'd keep you safe."
I am about to go after him, but something tells me to stay put and so I do, putting my legs together and standing up straight. I remind myself of an army officer when they're in front of their commanders. I smile.
The Doctor steps outside. From what I can see, the surface is definitely rocky.
"Do you see anything to tell us where we are?"
He doesn't speak. We stay quiet for what seems like days.
"Orange," the Doctor finally whispers. He turns around several times, taking in what is around him. "Rose, do you know what this means?"
"Where are we? And why did you just say 'orange'?" I ask. I step outside, exposed to a . . . wait for it . . . orange sky! There is a huge palace a few hundred metres behind us. It is so beautiful I have to shield my eyes; the shine coming from it is blinding me. "Doctor?"
"Rose," the Doctor speaks. A frown is planted on his face, but a trace of happiness twinkles in his eyes. "Rose. We're in, in Gallifrey!"
Gallifrey. A shudders runs through my body. Gallifrey. Gallifrey. The place where the Doctor came from. Where he was raised, the planet that was destroyed in the great Time War between the Timelords and the Daleks. We're in his home planet.
I smile broadly and am about to tell him we should go and check out the palace, when the Doctor suddenly says, "We shouldn't be here. Rose, let's go. Now."
Wait . . . what? Isn't Gallifrey supposed to be home? The place where all of the Doctor's fellow Timelords lived and thrived? Aren't the Doctor's friends and family here?
The place is so beautiful, too. I don't see why he would decide against staying here for a while.
"Why do we need to go?" I ask as we walk back into the T.A.R.D.I.S.
"We just do, Rose. It's not something I can explain at the moment."
"I have time, I mean, we are in a time machine."
The Doctor sighs. "We're in the middle of what is called a time loop," he starts as he works the T.A.R.D.I.S. "It's where a moment in history repeats itself over and over and over again. When the time loop stops, it feels to everyone as if it only happened once. It's like stopping time: everyone is frozen, and when time starts again they don't remember it. Us being here is dangerous. We could be stuck in the time loop and never get out."
I widen my eyes in fear. "Oh," I squeak out.
"Yes, oh," he says.
The T.A.R.D.I.S. engine starts with the familiar noise I love. It stops, and the Doctor walks to the door and opens it enough so that he can poke his head out.
"My God," He says, shocked. He brings his head back in and looks at me. "Rose, we're back to where we started. We can't get away."
"You can think of something, right? You have a plan? Right?"
The Doctor hesitates. "Yes."
"Are you lying?"
"Yes."
"Alright, then," I say as I walk towards the door of the the T.A.R.D.I.S. "Let's get a move on! Places to be, people to see!"
The Doctor uses his arms to block me as I try to get out. "And what do you mean by that?" he asks.
"Well, we're in the time loop, right? So we can just go anywhere around here and come up with a plan later!"
"Uh, yeah, I don't think so," he says with a hint of anger in his voice. "We need to get out of here, now."
"Why can't we just travel around here?" I ask.
"Rose, don't you think it's obvious?"
"What's obvious?"
"That . . . " he starts to say. "That . . . I don't know!" he yells. He thinks for a few seconds, and slowly widens his eyes. "Yes, yes, we could go and take a look around, I don't see why not."
"Yes! Thank you so much, Doctor!" I say as I embrace him tight. I run out of the T.A.R.D.I.S., my feet hitting Gallifrey ground, not turning back.
