Doctor Who - 01 - Past Future Continuous

03. Safe Distance

The Doctor slowly opened the door. Long, wispy fingers of the morning mist immediately reached inside the TARDIS. It was dark and cold outside; just a few minutes before sunrise. Several sheep wandered around, chewing on the grass. A stone ruin loomed on the left; a swift little river could be seen through the openings in its walls. A roof of a lonely household was just visible beyond the arching hill and a stone wall. The house's inhabitants were surely asleep at such an early hour, but even if they peeped out the windows and saw a lonely police box perched in the field, they would probably turn away without any interest. The TARDIS had a way of convincing human (and not only human) minds of her right to be exactly where she had just landed.

The Doctor buttoned his long, beige coat, with romantically wind-blown tails; and stepped out onto dewy grass. He marched towards a small plaque with the ruin's plan and name – Ogmore Castle. So he landed nearby Ogmore-by-the-Sea; well, that was a bit of a jump, as he had planned to land in Cardiff.

Well, at least he was in Wales.

Safely far from Donna.

He smiled sadly. "Safely far"? If he really wanted to put a secure distance between them, he could, for instance, fly to the year 5067. To ancient Babylonia. To New-New-New-New-New-New-New-New-New-New-New-New-New-New-New York. To Talos. Or to Utopia.

(Well, no... Not there, thank you).

But he came to Earth again. In the year 2009. Seven months since he parted with his friends. Or, from his point of view, just two months since they parted.

In a way Cardiff was as good an excuse as any. At least it was believable. TARDIS had strained herself pretty badly when she was towing the Earth from the Medusa Cascade back to the Solar System. Planet towing was never the strongest point in TARDIS' menu. To be honest, the Doctor had not been even sure if it was doable. Anyway, charging a battery was always a good idea. And the closest temporal rift, emanating required energy, ran through Cardiff. But Jack Harkness was based in Cardiff.

Showing away the coat's tails and as usual putting hands in the trousers' pockets, the Doctor stared at the water running below. He didn't want to meet with Jack. Not yet.

Two months of silence broken only by a constant singing of the TARDIS. Two months of monologues, cut short, in the middle of the sentence, every time he realised that silence was the only answer. Or every time he thought he actually heard an answer. Somebody's voice in the void of loneliness. Just a voice. More and more often.

He shook his head slightly.

Sometimes he thought he could recognise those voices. Friends. Enemies. Entities met only in passing, both human and alien. One day it was Astrid Peth. On that occasion the Doctor spent several hours standing in the shade of the pylon, facing the wall, waiting. Astrid had never spoken again. Never. Astrid was dead, she was scattered across the universe, just stardust.

The Doctor inhaled deeply, held the cold air in his lungs for a while, and then exhaled, looking at a white wisp of breath escaping his mouth.

"I'm alive," he whispered. "Who would have guessed?"

An elderly man, leading three horses, emerged from the forest on the other side of the little river. The Doctor watched as the man approached the ford made of several flat stones thrown into the river. Horses walked slowly, with bowed heads, swinging long tails. The man noticed the Doctor standing on the grassy slope nearby the ruins and nodded a greeting. His eyes slid across the TARDIS, as dull as it was in the power of the Chameleon Circuit.

The Doctor turned away. He didn't want to talk to the man leading three horses across the grey, Welsh river. He didn't even know why he came there in the first place. With the flutter of coat's tails he walked towards the ship. He outstretched his hand.

"Oi, watch out!"

The Ogmore Castle tumbled down and crashed onto his head and before the elderly man stopped shouting, the Doctor fell into complete darkness.