Fixed in Time (Doctor Who Fanfiction)

An Oddity Among Her Own People

Chapter 1

A long time ago, in a galaxy light years away from Earth, I was born. The name of my home planet was Gallifrey but I wasn't exactly what you'd call a normal Gallifreyan. You see, I was half human, something that disgusted most of my planet's people.

My mother was part of the Celesitial Intervention Agency (or CIA) on Gallifrey. She was sent on a mission to Earth once, to stop some experiments in time, and while she was there she fell in love with a human. She had to leave him behind in the end, but by the time she was back on Gallifrey she was carrying a child, me.

I lived in a small town quite near to the Citadel of the time lord's on Gallifrey, in a tiny house with just my mum. I was rejected by other Gallifreyans for most of the years of my life, because of my human father. My mother wasn't much comfort as she was always busy with work, often leaving me at home for days while she traversed to other planets. My grandmother was supposed to look after me then but she was just as disgusted with me as everyone else. Probably even more so, as she was ashamed that her daughter had fallen in love with a human, who were considered completely inferior to those on Gallifrey.

The first couple of years of my life were alright, as I didn't notice the distaste others held towards me. But once my education started, it became blindingly obvious just how different I was to my peers.

One day, in school, we were being taught about the basis of Gallifreyan society, time travel. Years and years ago, two of our planet's historical figures named Rassilon and Omega had harnessed the power of a black hole and used it to travel through time, and gave all the other Gallifreyans the same control over time. Ever since, our ancestors became known as time lords, one of the most powerful races in the universe. Pledged to oversee, but not interfere in, events of the universe out of their own time, they grew 'Time And Relative Dimensions In Space' machines so that they could visit anywhere in this universe, and others as well. Our teacher told us that not all Gallifreyans were time lords, only those exposed to the Time Vortex gained the secret of time travel. This was a process that begun at the age of eight, which involved looking into the Untempered Schism, an artefact that looked straight into the Time Vortex.

This excited everyone in my class, and they all started chatting about time travel and the prospect of becoming time lords when they were older. I sat there on my own, listening in to their conversations, until one boy turned and noticed me.

"What about her?" he asked loudly, pointing at me.

"What do you mean?" our teacher replied, looking between the two of us.

"You said that we can all be time lords when we're older, but Susan is half human so she can't, can she?" the boy continued.

I remember holding my breath as I waited for the teacher's answer.

"Well, seeing as Susan does not possess some of the important physiological traits of time lords, no she won't be allowed the secrets of time travel."

The world seemed to be falling down around me. That couldn't be right. I wasn't allowed to time travel.... Ever? I stopped caring about the class going on around me as I came to realise that I wasn't, and never would be, a time lord.

Our break that day was a lonely affair. The other kids ran around and played with ribbons or pretended to be weeping angels while I sat by myself on a tree stump and looked sadly up at the sky. Normally I would join in the games of my peers, but not that day, I was too upset. I didn't want to stay on Gallifrey all my life. I wanted to see the stars, or at the very least, the planet Earth. My mother had told me brief details about the planet and it had made me long to visit it, as well as wanting to meet my father. Now I probably never would.

I was still sitting there, just staring at the sky when I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned my head to see a boy a year above me with floppy brown hair and a kind look in his eyes.

"Do you want to play with us?" he asked me, gesturing behind him to where a group of other kids were throwing a ball around.

"No thank you." I replied sadly, definitely not in the mood for games.

"Hey, what's wrong?" the boy suddenly noticed how sad I was.

"Nothing." I stared sullenly in the opposite direction.

The boy sat down on the stump beside me, which was a surprise. "But you look sad, so something is wrong. Can't you tell me? I might be able to help."

"No you won't."

"Please can you tell me?" he urged. "I really don't like seeing you sad."

I glanced sideways at him, weirded out by his amount of concern over me. "Why not?"

"Because sad is bad?" he offered.

I laughed at that, and so did he.

"What's your name?" he eventually asked me.

"Susan." I replied. "What's yours?"

"Um, it's hard to pronounce," he bit his lip worriedly. "Call me the Doctor."

"It can't be that hard." I turned to face him, pouting like the child I was. "Come on, tell me! What's your real name?"

He stared at me in a huff for a while before giving in. "Fine, I'll tell you." Then he leaned in and whispered his name in my ear.

I stared at him as he drew back. "Wow."

"I know." He nodded. "It's embarassing."

"Well, it's a nice name." I assured him gently. "But it's just a bit... not normal."

"Yeah."

"I think I'll just call you the Doctor." I decided.

"Okay, cool." He replied with a silly grin on his face. "So do you want to come play with us?"

I nodded, and the Doctor took my hand and led me over to play games with his friends, all my sadness forgotten.

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Ah, yes. Here we are. The 'kidtroduction' to the book, you might call it. Sadly, the thrilling prologue scene which is meant to grip you and make you want to read more won't be actually becoming relevant to the story anytime soon. So, if you're still interested, sit tight, cos there's a lot of setting up to do.

Anyway, so in reference to the actual story: Susan and the Doctor became friends and we've discovered who Susan is. What did you guys think, yay or nay? What about the characterization? I'm not forcing you guys to comment or anything I just want feedback you know.

Sorry that you had to read so much text.

Thanks for reading though! :)