The sun was sinking, and Donna eyed it with concern. It was starting to look like she’d not make it back before dark. Though she was prepared to set up camp if necessary, she really didn’t like the idea too much. It would mean getting out of her armour all alone, which was a chore, and then carrying it back on her saddle in the morning, which was simply embarrassing. She considered urging her horse to go faster, but that wasn’t really advisable. He wasn’t her usual mount, and she wasn’t too sure how much endurance he had. And, she didn’t feel right pushing him simply because she’d taken the time out to rescue a young girl and then call on her family. It looked as though she’d have to grit her teeth and make a camp in a couple of miles.

The horse’s ears suddenly pricked, and he whinnied softly. Donna was snapped from her thoughts, and she peered around the apparently still woods. Her steed had detected something, and she knew his hearing was far more acute than her own. She patted the side of his neck comfortingly, straining her own ears.

It started softly, building up to a loud crescendo, and then cut off abruptly. It almost sounded like an angry animal, howling and screaming. Donna was puzzled and worried, though, for she’d never heard anything quite like it before. Was this some beast that the Daleks had left behind that she’d never encountered before? But there had been something… vaguely mechanical about it.

Her horse was nervous, but he accepted the prod she gave with her knees and started towards the source of the sound. Donna decided that the possibility of facing an unknown foe was worth the trouble of using precious bullets. Sticking her lance through the rest in her saddle, she drew the rifle instead. Warily, she edged into the small clearing where the odd sound had originated.

There was no sign of life, but there was something very much out of the ordinary there. It was a tall blue box, with small windows. Above them was the sign: police public call box. Donna scowled. The box certainly hadn’t been here on her last trip through the area. And what on Earth was a ‘police public call box’ anyway? There hadn’t been any police as such since before the Dalek invasion. This didn’t make any sense. Added to that, there was no obvious way that the box could have been brought into the clearing. It would have required some kind of truck, or, more likely, a horse and cart, either of which would have left tracks. And there were none.

Was this strange box somehow the source of that terrible noise? Donna didn’t see how it could be, but there was no sign of anything else.

Then a door opened, and a man stepped out. He seemed almost as surprised to see Donna as she was to see him. She held the rifle at the ready, but without making any gesture towards using it, and studied the man.

He was tall, slender, and handsome, in a dark, poetical sort of way. His hair was down to his shoulders, waved and slightly curling. His eyes, as they studied her, were piercing, giving an indication of strong intelligence. His clothing was a little antiquated, but not too strange. A frock coat in dark green, trousers that were slightly over‐sized. He wore a dark‐blue cravat, and a blazing‐white shirt.

‘Interesting mixture of periods,’ he murmured finally. ‘Or have I arrived in time for Hallowe’en?’

Donna ignored the question and gestured at the box. ‘Are you a policeman?’ she asked.

The man glanced up at the sign as if he’d never seen it before. ‘Not in any sense of the word that you’d mean,’ he confessed cheerfully. ‘I’m the Doctor.’

‘Don’t you mean a doctor?’ she asked.

‘No.’ He gestured at the rifle. ‘Are you going to use that, or ask me to stick up my hands, or something?’

‘I heard a strange noise,’ Donna explained, feeling inexplicably embarrassed suddenly. She replaced the rifle. ‘I thought it was some animal.’

‘I’m afraid it was probably just me,’ the Doctor answered. He patted the box, and then swung the door closed. She heard it latch shut. ‘The old girl is a bit wheezy.’

‘What girl?’ Donna asked. This was a very confusing person.

‘My transport.’ He gestured at the box. ‘The TARDIS.’

Donna decided that this was too much to accept. ‘You travel in that thing?’

‘Ssh!’ he replied, putting a finger to his lips. ‘She’s very sensitive. If we’re going to talk about her, let’s move away from her first.’

He was deranged, Donna decided. Probably lived alone in the woods, and used the police box for shelter at nights. ‘What’s your name?’ she demanded.

‘I told you: the Doctor.’ He grinned up at her, a very engaging smile, and offered his hand. ‘And you are…?’

Well, if he was a lunatic, he seemed to be harmless enough. Still, she’d do better keeping alert. Reaching up, she removed her helmet, shaking her hair free. ‘Donna, a knight of Domain London,’ she replied. She accepted his hand and shook it.

He raised an eyebrow. ‘Refreshing to know your order accept women members.’

‘They don’t,’ Donna admitted. ‘Usually.’

‘But you’re not usual, eh?’ The Doctor seemed amused. ‘Splendid. We should get along just fine. You wouldn’t happen to be heading back to London, would you?’

‘I would,’ she said. She glanced at the sinking sun. ‘But I don’t think I’ll make it tonight. I’ll have to camp out, and continue in the morning.’

‘Very reasonable,’ the Doctor agreed. ‘Would you have any objections to my accompanying you? There’s a man and a woman or two in London that I have to see.’

Donna shook her head. ‘I don’t see why not – provided you don’t slow me down.’

‘I’ll try to keep up,’ the Doctor promised. He considered for a moment. ‘You wouldn’t happen to know a David Campbell, would you? Former Dalek fighter.’

‘Campbell?’ Donna peered at the man more intently. ‘He’s a Peace Officer. I know him by name. He’s a liaison for Lord London.’

‘Splendid!’ the Doctor said, rubbing his hands together briskly. ‘I rather thought the boy would do well for himself.’

‘Boy?’ Donna laughed. ‘He’s over fifty, Doctor.’

‘That young?’ The Doctor shook his head. ‘It’s all relative. Which is what he is to me, in fact. He married my granddaughter.’

‘Granddaughter?’ Donna stared at the man in confusion. ‘I met Susan Campbell at a party once. She’s in her fifties, Doctor. She can’t be…’ Her voice trailed off, as she finally made some sense of what he was saying. ‘You’re from offworld, aren’t you?’

‘Very,’ he agreed.

‘So that’s it,’ Donna breathed, finally starting to understand. ‘One of the colony worlds, and you’ve come home again. You’ve been in cryo‐suspension, haven’t you? That’s why you’re younger than they are? You haven’t seen them since you left.’

The Doctor looked amazed. ‘That’s marvellous deductive reasoning,’ he complimented her.

Donna smiled smugly. ‘Thank you. You know, Doctor, I was starting to think you were a little touched in the head, but now it’s starting to make some sort of sense.’ She looked around for a fallen tree or a rock she could use to dismount.

‘I said it was marvellous,’ the Doctor answered. ‘I didn’t say it was correct.’ He smiled. ‘If you’ll wait here, I’ll fetch you a stepladder to help you down.’ He turned and used a key to open the box behind him.

Confused again, Donna waited for him to come out. Had he been claiming she was wrong? But how could that be? It was the only logical way to explain his statements, and logic always worked.

The Doctor emerged from the box again, carrying an eight‐foot stepladder. Donna simply stared at it, completely at a loss. It was at least a foot taller than the box itself. Seemingly unbothered by her look of shock, the Doctor set the ladder up beside her horse.

‘There you go,’ he said cheerfully.

‘How did you do that?’ Donna asked in a weak voice.

‘Do what?’ He seemed genuinely puzzled by the question.