The Artist and the Doctor

Chapter 6

"Who are you?" I asked curiously. This man was definitely not normal...

He leaned casually against the telephone box and crossed his arms against his chest, the smile on his face growing wider by the second.

"I'm the Doctor." He stated in a matter of fact tone of voice.

Like I didn't already know that? This man was impossible.

I eyed him carefully, the look on his face was beginning to prove that he probably already knew what I was going to ask, which was a bit unnerving, but then again this man was definitely beyond ordinary.

"Ok then, what are you?"

He clapped his hands together in delight and did a mini jump so that he was standing only a few inches away from me. I craned my head up to look him in the eye since he was so tall compared to my tiny 5'1" frame.

"Now this may come as a bit of a shock so brace yourself, ok. Ready?"

I looked up at him uncertainly. Anxiety was starting to creep up at me begging me to run and get the hell out of there before I got kidnapped or something. What have I gotten myself into? Hesitantly, I nodded my head causing a huge grin to grace his lips. He took my hand in his and rested it on the left side of his chest. I eyed him curiously not knowing what was so special about his heart; that is until he moved my hand. A gasp escaped my lips as the gentle beating of a second heart thumped against my hand.

"There's two-" I stuttered.

"I'm a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey." He whispered never breaking eye contact. He pulled away and looked at me expectantly as he rocked back and forth on his feet slightly in anticipation.

I stood there in silence for a moment pondering carefully over the title of 'Time Lord' in my head. Time Lord... a Lord of Time? What did that even mean? Gallifrey? Where was that? He has two hearts! And what was with the telephone box? So many questions were reeling through my head I was finding it hard to focus.

"So is a Time Lord... are you an alien of some sort then?"

"Well, I guess you can say that." He said as he started walking around me and talking with his hands as he rambled. "In your eyes I'm an alien, but then again in my eyes you're an alien as well as a lot of other people. Oh Claire, so many species, planets, and civilizations to see!" He exclaimed spinning around to face me as he once again leaned up against the side of the telephone box. "What do you say Claire, want to have a look?" He asked with a smirk and a strange twinkle in his eye as he gestured to the door of the telephone box.

I crossed my arms against my chest eying him carefully.

"So let me get this straight. You're a Time Lord, an alien from the planet Gallifrey and you want to take me with you and basically show me the rest of the universe in a British telephone box?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

"Basically, yeah." He said with a shrug. "So what do you say?"

I scratched my head in thought. "I think you're nuts."

With that he started laughing whole-heartedly. "Most people do."

I giggled slightly at that. This man... or alien... was so strange... but dare I say it, I think I was beginning to warm up to him a bit more... a lot more faster than I usually would... there was just something about this 'Doctor' that made him so comfortable to be around. But then again there was always that little bit of doubt that always sat in the back of my head nagging at me and bringing all of my fears back to the surface. What if...

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" I asked suddenly.

"You don't... but then again things haven't exactly been what you would call normal for you today now have they?"

Of course today hasn't been normal, it's been way past normal and I had a feeling it would get even weirder if I accepted this man's offer, but then again curiosity was beginning to get the best of me...

I chewed on my bottom lip before finally making up my mind. "Fine, but how are you going to show me the universe in a telephone box?"

"Don't judge a book by its cover, Claire." He grinned like a madman and threw me a wink. With the snap of his fingers the door opened. I looked up at him hesitantly only to receive an encouraging smile and a nod towards the now opened door. Tentatively I made my way into the box and a small gasp escaped my lips. It was enormous. There was a small staircase leading up to a glass platform with a console of some sort in the middle of the room. Multiple staircases lead off of the glass platform and into other unknown passageways. Blue and orange lights lit up the room and strange circular windows decorated the walls. A soft humming sound filled my ears as I gazed around the room in wonderment.

"Welcome to the TARDIS!" The Doctor exclaimed happily throwing his arms in the air for emphasis. "It can travel anywhere in time and space."

I stood there in shock with my mouth hanging slightly open; I probably looked like I was catching flies.

The Doctor spun around and looked me in the eye. "So any remarks? Memorable catch phrases? I've heard them all."

I did another quick scan around the room before running outside. I heard the Doctor chuckling softly as I ran around the outside of the box knocking around it and examining its size outside before running back in.

"It's... the outside... the inside... what? How? Oh my God." I rambled putting a hand up to my mouth as I tried wrapping my head around the impossible.

The Doctor watched me in amusement before striding over to the console fiddling with a bunch of different buttons and levers. "What's the matter Claire, cat got your tongue?" He joked.

I took a seat on the captain's chair and ran my fingers through my hair. "What did you say this was again?"

"It's called the TARDIS. Short for 'Time and Relative Dimensions in Space'. It can go anywhere in time and space and it's mine!" He exclaimed happily plugging away rapidly on an old typewriter.

"If it's a time machine slash space ship... then how come it looks like a phone box on the outside?" I asked curiously.

"It's kind of like camouflage, it's disguised itself as a police telephone box from 1963. Every time the TARDIS dematerializes in a new location, within the first nanosecond of landing it analyzes its surroundings, calculates a twelve dimensional data map of everything within a thousand mile radius and determines which outer shell would blend in best with the environment. And then it disguises itself as a police telephone box from 1963... it's a bit of a fault, been meaning to fix it." He rambled at such a rapid pace I was almost positive that I missed most of what he had said.

"So where do you want to go first?" He asked jumping in front of me nearly scaring the crap out of me.

I clutched my racing heart. "Excuse me?" I asked breathlessly.

"I said where do you want to go first? All of time and space here at your fingertips surely there must be somewhere you want to go? Something you want to see; experience something you've never thought possible." He asked bending down to my level.

A chance to see the universe... anything I wanted to see, this man believed he could show it to me with this amazing machine that was capable of traveling anywhere in both time and space. It was definitely unbelievable, but then again I have witnessed many unbelievable things today...

"Surprise me." I challenged.

The Doctor grinned like crazy and ran over to the console. He started running around the console flipping different switches, pressing buttons and who knows what else. Finally he rested his hand on a lever and turned his head to me.

"Hold on tight!" He said pulling the lever. A loud humming noise slowly began to pick up as I desperately held on to the railing as we were suddenly flung about. "Hello everything!" He laughed as we took off into time and space.