𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧
𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚
𝐟𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝟐𝟗, 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟔

from the eyes of
— 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐎𝐋𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐒 𝐉𝐀𝐃𝐄 —

We were in Australia, but America was singing about a horse with no name from the speakers above.

The small beachside cafe was not busy by any means. We sat near the side, a large window panning next to us giving a beautiful view of the beach. My eyes scoured the menu hungrily, everything on it looked good.

However, considering this was a beachside cafe, the seafood truly caught my attention.

"Yep, I don't care that I just ate, this is too good to pass up. I'm eating again." Amy announced after minutes of reading through the menu. "What're you guys going to get?"

She sat next to the Doctor across from me. The booth was big enough to fit maybe five comfortably.

"I'm leaning toward the coconut shrimp and fries," I said honestly, putting the menu down and looking at Amy.

She waggled her brows. "It's funny to hear you call them fries and not chips. I'm eyeing the burger myself. How about you, Doctor?"

We both turned to him; however, to my confusion, he was staring at me seemingly not paying attention. His mind was far away, his lips tilted into an almost dopey smile.

The fuck? My eyebrows furrowed.

Amy proceeded to wave a hand in his face to catch his attention, something that worked as he jumped and looked at her.

"Sorry, what was that? Wait, don't answer that! First, PJ, what's your name?" He questioned.

I blinked staring at him as if he was stupid. "What? You know my name! You quite literally just said it!"

"PJ has to stand for something, and you never told me before. Spoilers, is the word I recall you throwing at me every time I asked!" He clapped, staring at me expectantly.

I cackled. "Well, then I'm glad to know that I will be messing with you in my future because my name is PJ. Not short for anything, it doesn't stand for nothing—it's just PJ."

"What? Come on!" The Doctor threw his arms in the air and sat back in his seat like a pouting toddler. "Are you serious?"

"What do you expect me to say? My name is Potty Jane? Or Peanut Butter and Jelly?" I sarcastically quipped. Amy snickered and even the Doctor cracked a small grin. "The Ravagers weren't the most creative in what they called me—it's just PJ, Doctor!" I sighed, but the Doctor quickly leaned forward again snapping his fingers.

"There it is—PJ is what the Ravagers called you. But what's your actual name, the name you were born to on Earth? In that big ole state of Kentucky..."

My lips pursed, but my expression gave nothing away. There is no way I am telling him what PJ stands for. Practically nobody called me Polaris Jade in this universe.

I much preferred PJ, there were fewer expectations with that name. Not so much blood or fire or power associated with it.

And well—my birth name—my actual name that my mother named me before the scientists stole me... even fewer called me by that name.

"What's your name?" I turned the question around on him.

He was fast to try and answer. "The Doctor—"

"No," I cut him off. "Your birth name, the name you were given on Gallifrey."

Amy looked incredibly interested, staring at him curiously.

The Doctor's expression shifted more serious, his eyes sharp. He opened his mouth but no words came out.

"No answer? Why? Because you don't go by it anymore, right? It's the same for me—my name is just PJ, and I would like for it to stay that way. PJ is a fine name." I explained, the last part coming out softly.

The Doctor sighed, but he knew he could not argue with me on that point. "Very well, you're right. PJ is a lovely name—PJ, PJ, PJ... what am I going to do with you...?" He was lost in thought before he looked at Amy again. "Pond, what was your question from before?"

It seemed he was off my back about it. Hopefully it stayed that way.

"I asked what you're getting?" She said simply.

He waved her off. "Oh—I'm not really hungry..."

She scoffed. "Oh, come on! You have to get something—we're on the beach in Australia!"

He smiled. "And we'll be on the beach in Australia many more times, one of which I'm sure I'll be hungry enough to eat. But as of now..." The Doctor groaned slightly, patting his stomach dramatically. "I'm still stuffed from that pizza."

Amy snorted. "Yeah, you did eat an entire everything deep dish pizza on your own. And American portions are anything but small."

"Oi! I was just enjoying Chicago pizza, Pond!" He defended himself hotly. "How was I supposed to know we'd be coming here afterward?"

I snipped a sarcastic. "Because you're the pilot?"

He glared at me in response as Amy held her hands up and cut back in.

"I wasn't judging, and I don't blame you! It was good!" She said right back with a smile. "It's just a shame that now you're too full to eat delicious Australian seafood."

He rolled his eyes but did appear disappointed. However, he waved it off and pointed to me.

"I'll steal some of PJ's chips!" He piped.

Considering I am coming straight from the year 2025, the most instinctual saying left my lips at his comment. With all the deadpan in the world, the word came out against my will.

"Bruh."

The Doctor blinked in surprise while Amy tilted her head in confusion.

"Well, haven't heard that one in a while," He finally snickered before abruptly changing the subject. "Are we going to do the thing once the server gets back?"

"What thing?" I frowned.

"You know the thing." He stressed, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table.

He proceeded to use his right hand to motion between the two of us. I arched an unimpressed brow.

A salty breeze drifted in from outside.

"No, I really don't know what you're talking about..." I was more than confused. "What thing?"

He sighed as though explaining what he meant took all the energy in the world.

"I guess it is future you and past me that do it—but the accents! You're great at accents, and so am I... we sometimes do the accent of the place we're at on Earth. You know, when we're not running for our lives..." He explained happily, staring at me positively thrilled.

Oh shit. Future me showed him different accents? Talk about annoying.

Of course, I can do accents—I am 393 years old and a multiverse traveler. However, popping out with different accents did not seem smart considering I wanted to stay on the down low with the Doctor. Seeing as he already knows it was not something I can change.

Might as well roll with it.

"In that case," I said before drastically changing my entire dialect of speech. "So I think I'm gonna order some shrimp with chips, mate. What'dya think about that?"

The English and Australian accent is very similar in many ways. However, the Australian accent was much more nasally. Australians tend to pronounce vowels differently than the English, and often drop the "r" sound when it comes after a vowel. For example, Australians pronounce "car" as "Caah" and "better" as "Beddah". They also speak about 10 words faster per minute than Americans, but slower still than the British.

The Doctor leaned so far forward that he was practically in my face, his eyes sparkling with happiness. "Alright then, mate," he said in an over-the-top Australian accent that was, annoyingly, spot on. "Let's give this a whirl, shall we?"

Amy choked on the air. "That's ridiculous. You sound like a knockoff Steve Irwin. Both of you do!"

"Oi, rude!" I shot back, keeping up my own exaggerated Aussie twang, eyes still locked with the Doctor's. That chin is really something, damn. "That's just how it sounds, innit? We're fit to blend right in, ain't we, mate?"

The Doctor nodded earnestly, his faux accent now cranked up to eleven. "Too right, PJ. We'll be locals before you can say 'shrimp on the barbie.'"

Amy was shaking her head with a grin. "No! You both sound like characters in a bad tourist ad! Nobody talks like that."

"Jealousy, Pond," The Doctor said smugly. "You wish you could join this elite club of accent connoisseurs."

It was a fake club.

Before Amy could retort, the waitress arrived at our table, balancing a small notepad in one hand and a pen in the other. She smiled warmly. "G'day! You ready to order?"

The radio was still playing in the background.

"I've been through the desert
On a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert, you can remember your name
'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain,"

I liked the song a lot. The Doctor seemed to as well based on the way he was subtly bopping his head.

The waitress was somewhere in her thirties—her face was extremely pretty. Her blonde hair was knotted up in a bun.

Without skipping a beat, the Doctor turned to her, his Australian accent suddenly toned down to something far more believable. "G'day! I'll just have a tea, black, thanks!" He smiled.

The waitress jotted down his order and turned to me. Time to commit. "I'll get the coconut shrimp and chips, please. And maybe a lemonade to go with it?"

"Righto," She said with a nod, then turned to Amy.

Amy cleared her throat, still grinning. "I'll take the burger, medium, and some chips. Oh, and a cola."

"Scottish, eh?" The waitress said, raising an eyebrow. "You just visiting then?"

Amy's grin widened. "Yeah, visiting my friends." She motioned to me and the Doctor. "They live in Sydney, but we decided to visit the beach..." She trailed off thoughtfully. "What was the name of the town again?"

The blonde-haired waitress froze suddenly, her eyes giving a glassy look. She seemed to snap out of in the next second, humming a small chuckle.

"Oh, I don't know..." She said in a wispy manner while scribbling down the order. "It'll be right out!" With that, she left us to ourselves.

I watched her leave with my mouth slightly open and a look of bewilderment on my face. "What the fuck was that? Who forgets the name of the town they work in?" I questioned out loud, slipping right back into the American accent I had been speaking in for too many years to count.

The Doctor was standing in the next second causing me and Amy to look at him in surprise.

"A town without a name?"

"No, nobody forgets the name of the town they live in," He licked his lips, pulling out his sonic. He was curious, like an ecstatic puppy. "You two finish eating up then meet me back on the beach when you're done. I'm going to investigate." He said, preparing to run off.

I stopped him. "And what are we supposed to pay with? You said you'd take care of everything..."

Amy nodded her head in agreeance.

The Doctor suddenly reached into the front pockets of the trousers and pulled out a blank black card. It was thrown at my face.

A yelp escaped as it hit me in the eye and bounced onto the table. The Doctor paid no mind as he proceeded to run out of the restaurant.

Me and Amy were suddenly staring at the simple black card in front of us with wide eyes.

"It's an infinite space card!" I said excitedly, picking it up and examining it closely.

It was smooth—very smooth. Upon touching it, joy shot straight to my heart and tingles raced down my spine. It literally smelled of infinity.

"What's an infinite space card?" Amy asked, staring at the card. "Can I touch it?"

I nodded, handing it over to her to examine. She ran her fingers over the card and shivered.

"An infinite space card is a limitless card that can be used anywhere in the cosmos! It basically means the Doctor is loaded!" I laughed. "No wonder he said he'd paid for anything we want!"

"Wow..." She sighed while dreamily holding the card.

"Wow, indeed..." I nodded.

At that moment, we were joined by the waitress who held both our plates in her grasp.

"Thank you!" I piped after she set my plate down in front of me.

It looked mouth-watering.

The waitress gave me a confused look. "I thought you were Australian?"

Welp. This is awkward.

"Uhm...? Nah, I think you're just remembering things wrong."

At that moment, the song on the radio ended.

"You see I've been through the desert
On a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert, you can remember your name
'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain,"

▂ ✶ ▂ ✶ ▂ ✶ ▂ ✶ ▂

▂ ✶ ▂ ✶ ▂ ✶ ▂ ✶ ▂

Amy and I stumbled to the beach arm-in-arm where we found the Doctor. He was standing on the shoreline with his sonic screwdriver pointed toward the water. His shoes were becoming soaked as he was standing with the ocean water up to his ankles.

He did not seem to care, his eyes focused on the sonic and tongue poking out from between his lips. The Doctor's hair fluttered lightly in the breeze, its floppiness apparent as he kept needing to blow it out of his eyes.

I could not stop myself from smiling at the funny sight of him. Just barely scratching three hours of meeting him and he already caused a feeling of giddiness and wonder to erupt from inside me. It seemed the stories of him were true.

Amy grinned at me, no doubt feeling the same thing as we ran over to greet him. His infinite black card sat snugly in my pocket.

The various items inside my backpack clattered as we ran. The snow boots were beginning to become uncomfortable in both the sun and sand, but I soldiered on.

The TARDIS was once again in sight, but we passed her by in our pursuit of the Doctor.

"Doctor!" Amy called out causing him to look up with wide eyes. "Have you found anything?" She panted lightly as we finally stopped just beyond the shore.

He turned to us happily, leaping out of the water. The bottoms of his pants were soaked but he did not seem to mind.

I wordlessly handed him his card back, he happily took it.

"Yeah—this town doesn't have a name! Every time I ask someone, they go all wanky and forget what we're talking about! Strange speech patterns. They repeat themselves and seem unable to recall recent events... ugh think, think, think!" He hit himself on the head with his sonic screwdriver repeatedly, pacing in a circle. "The water is giving me an odd signal—the sonic isn't picking up on what's wrong with it though, it's too much...!"

Amy furrowed her brows. "The water? Too much as in...?"

"As in whatever is going on with the water must go on for miles if the sonic can't identify exactly what's wrong with it." He said in a frustrated manner.

"Shouldn't it be the opposite?" I questioned curiously.

The Doctor pointed his sonic at me dramatically. "As one might naturally think, but in large bodies of water especially, when a compound becomes too stretched that it is nearly everywhere in said area, it blends in so well that it becomes practically invisible!"

"Ah," I clicked my tongue while nodding my head.

The Doctor turned back toward the shoreline, pacing with his sonic screwdriver held high like a baton, muttering to himself. The cuffed bottoms of his trousers dripped water with each step. Amy stepped closer, her head tilting as she tried to follow his rambling train of thought.

"It's a chemical, I'm sure of it. Something leeching into the water," The Doctor began, spinning on his heel and nearly toppling into Amy. "But not just any chemical! No, no, no—something that interacts with neural pathways. Think about it! Strange speech patterns, memory lapses... what if it's suppressing—oh, I don't know—everything!"

"Suppressing everything?" Amy echoed, her brows furrowing. "In everyone...?"

"Yes! Thoughts, memories, the ability to even name this place!" He gestured wildly toward the town. "The locals could be drowning in a sea of biochemical shush! It's brilliant—horrifying—but brilliant! Still, the question is—" He paused, staring at the sonic with frustration. "—what exactly is it? Obviously, it only affects humans as I am fine after standing in it!"

I tuned out their chatter, more focused on the heat radiating off the sun and the distinct squelch of my snow boots in the sand.

Time to investigate and be a helpful intern.

I dropped my backpack to the ground with a soft thud, kicking off the boots and tugging at the folds of my jeans.

The Doctor's back was turned when Amy's question broke through their theorizing.

"Oi, PJ, what are you doing?" She asked, her tone amused.

The Doctor whipped around just in time to see me pulling off my jeans, standing in just my tank top and panties. They were the cute half-lacey ones too. His jaw dropped, his expression bouncing somewhere between flustered and scandalized.

"Wha—what're you doing?!" He stammered, his hands flailing as if trying to shield his face but unable to stop staring.

I shrugged, unbothered. "I'm going to figure out what's wrong with the water. You're welcome."

Before either of them could respond, I jogged toward the ocean and dove cleanly into the surf.

"PJ!" The Doctor yelled after me, his voice tinged with panic.

The water was cool, and it was refreshing as it protected me from the sun. Although the ocean tasted... off. Still salty. Still plenty of sealife piss and shit in it. But there was something extra... it tasted almost of gasoline.

I popped my head back up from the water a moment later, grinning as I brushed wet hair out of my eyes. "The water's nice! Could've told you that from shore, though."

The Doctor stared at me incredulously, his sonic dangling in his grip. "Are you completely mad?!" He sounded upset.

"Oh, relax," I said with a wave, then inhaled deeply, letting my other senses take over as I focused on the composition of the water. A faint, metallic tang clung to the back of my throat, a sensation I finally recognized. "It's an alien chemical! Telythium."

The Doctor's expression shifted immediately, intrigue replacing his flustered worry. "Telythium?" He repeated, striding closer to the shoreline. "Of course! Telythium... harmless to humans in small doses, but in high concentrations—"

"—It scrambles your memory like an overheated circuit board," I finished, paddling lazily in the water.

Amy glanced between us. "Wait, so it's not deadly?"

The Doctor shook his head. "No, not deadly—well, not directly. But prolonged exposure could lead to complete cognitive collapse. Forgetfulness, loss of identity—like wiping a hard drive clean!" He spun to face me, his expression morphing back to concern. "Which begs the question—what are you doing still swimming in it?"

"Relax, Doc," I said smoothly, keeping my tone light. "Radiation exposure's part of life when you're raised on spaceships. Got enough residual immunity to deal with chemicals like this."

Liar, liar. But a probable one.

The Doctor didn't look convinced, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. "Still, I'm not taking any chances!"

At first, I thought he meant he did not believe me.

Before I could argue, he took off his tweed jacket, pulled off his suspenders, stepped out of his boots, and handed them all to Amy. "Be a dear and hold these, will you?"

She wordlessly took them from him.

He then marched straight into the water, his trousers soaking up to his knees. "Right, out you come! Let's go!"

And then I realized that he believed my excuse but was worried and still not willing to take any chances. What a sweetheart.

Instead of complying, I grinned mischievously and flicked a handful of water at him.

"Oi!" He yelped, flailing as the splash hit his face.

He isn't at risk from telythium.

Amy cackled from the shore. "Oh, this is funny! Get her, Doctor!"

"Oh, I will!" He lunged toward me, but I ducked under the water, resurfacing a few feet away with a triumphant laugh.

He huffed angrily, tossing his screwdriver back on the shore before diving completely in and chasing after me.

What began as a lecture quickly dissolved into a childish splash fight, water flying everywhere as Amy watched silently from the sand. The Doctor, despite his earlier demeanor, was trying to hide his grin.

"Oh—gosh, this tastes horrible! Yes, you're definitely right, someone dumped a bunch of telythium in here!" The Doctor gagged, choosing to swim in one place momentarily as he stuck his tongue and used his hands to try and wipe it off.

He had passed his pursuit of me.

"You're so weird..." I commented while swimming over to him.

His hair was soaked, basically sticking all over his face. His bowtie was downturned from how much water was in it.

"And you're even weirder," He sniffed, but it sounded strange as he was still holding his tongue while speaking. "Also, gotcha!"

I yelped as he suddenly jerked toward me, grabbing me around the waist tightly. He then started swimming toward the shore while clicking his tongue.

"Naughty, naughty, naughty..." He was mumbling, his grip not loosening as he pulled me from the water.

"Hey—I figured out what the chemical is though!" I defended myself.

"Rather recklessly, but then again, that is practically your middle name..." He groaned, managing to pull the both of us up on the beach.

As we walked through the waves—he situated himself behind me, moving his hands to my shoulders as he lightly pushed me forward. Amy was standing, whistling as we walked up.

"Looks like you two had fun," She grinned, handing the Doctor his things back.

My head longingly tilted back toward the ocean. It had been rather fun—too bad I didn't have a surfboard.

"Don't even think about it..." The Doctor eyed me suspiciously. "I'll take you surfing another day. We'll go to Hasolon instead..."

"How do you know what I was thinking? Better yet, how do you know my favorite place to surf?" I crossed my arms.

The Doctor stood upright, fixing his bowtie with a happy grin.

"Spoilers, dear!"

Now, I was beginning to hate that word.

"Yeah, so, anyway... who the fuck poisoned the water? You think it was the government?" I asked while pulling my jeans back on which proved a lot harder with the water sticking to my skin. "What if we're in a government-testing town? You know maybe these people are being used as guinea pigs or something!" I whirled around to look at the Doctor and Amy who were already staring at me.

He cleared his throat—face changing from whatever previous emotion he'd been wearing to bemusement.

"While I appreciate the enthusiasm... no..." He snapped his fingers. "The townspeople are in too good of condition, they are no doubt mostly living normally. There is just something that doesn't want this town spotted... but what?" He was pacing again, sand flying as he went.

The evening was falling quickly, and right away, I noticed the unnatural glow that seemed to shake throughout the sky. Very pretty‚ but not of natural Earth.

Amy noticed it too, pointing to the sky. "What is that?!"

The Doctor looked up, pointing his sonic screwdriver at it. It made familiar odd beeping noises as the Doctor looked at it.

"Hmph," Is all he said.

"Hmph? What does hmph mean?" Amy scoffed while I looked at the Doctor curiously.

My backpack was now back on my shoulders.

"It means..." The Doctor practically sang, grabbing both mine and Amy's hands. "We are going in this direction!" He said, beginning to lead us along the shoreline.

The Doctor's grip on both mine and Amy's hands was firm as he practically dragged us along the sandy shore. His long legs made quick work of the distance, forcing me to jog to keep up with him and Amy.

"Care to explain where we're going, Doctor?" I asked, my backpack bouncing with every hurried step.

"Oh, you'll see! I love a good lighthouse!" He grinned, glancing back at me with the kind of manic glee that was both contagious and mildly concerning. "They're sorta wonderful, aren't they? Towering over the sea, lighting up the night, guiding lost ships—"

"Okay, but why are we going there, exactly?" Amy interjected, stumbling slightly as we reached the edge of the beach where rocky cliffs jutted out sharply.

"To find the truth!" The Doctor declared.

"I hate the truth." I muttered.

The Doctor proceeded to poke my head in response to the unneeded snark.

The lighthouse loomed ahead, its paint peeling and windows darkened. It looked like it hadn't been used in years, maybe decades. Wooden boards crisscrossed the doorway, a faded "KEEP OUT" sign hanging crookedly.

"Oh yeah, this doesn't look ominous at all," Amy said dryly, crossing her arms at the same time I let loose and drawn out, "Dudeeee."

The Doctor snorted from where he stood in the middle of us.

I craned my neck to take in the height of the structure. "Definitely has 'shenanigans' written all over it."

"Exactly!" The Doctor agreed cheerfully, "And I love that word! Shenanigans!" He spoke, mostly to himself while whipping out his sonic screwdriver and aiming it at the boarded-up door. The device whirred and buzzed, the boards creaking before popping off one by one.

"I thought those things don't work on wood?" I questioned.

"Well, yeah, but it's not wood!" He said as the wooden planks suddenly transformed into metal planks. "See, c'mon, dearest—keep up!"

What the fuck.

Now it was seriously starting to feel like I was back in the Time Agency. Just less terminating people and explore-y adventures.

The Doctor winked at me and I responded with a deadpan he purposefully ignored while pushing the door open with a flourish.

Inside, the air was damp and stale, the faint smell of saltwater mingling with something metallic and burnt. Dust motes floated in the fading light from the cracked windows. The sun was officially setting over the horizon.

"Looks cozy," Amy sarcastically muttered, her voice echoing in the empty space.

"Cozy is overrated," The Doctor said, already bounding toward a rusted spiral staircase that led downward.

"Down?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Aren't lighthouses supposed to like go up?"

"Not when they're hiding things," He replied, his voice carrying as he disappeared below.

Amy and I exchanged a look before following him down the narrow staircase.

The air grew cooler the deeper we descended, and the faint hum of machinery began to vibrate through the walls. At the bottom, we stepped into a cavernous room lit by the eerie glow of alien technology. Panels of blinking lights and swirling symbols lined the walls, with thick cables snaking across the floor and disappearing into a large, cylindrical device in the center of the room.

The Doctor whistled, spinning in place as he took it all in. "Oh-ho, now this is interesting. Neural dampening tech—advanced, but also a bit... scrappy. No, alright. Very scrappy—this work sucks! Someone's been improvising."

"Neural dampening?" Amy repeated, stepping closer to the central device. "Does that mean this is what's making everyone forget stuff?"

"Precisely, Pond! Well, sorta, it's the water that's doing it but this little beauty is emitting the telythium into the ocean! And that's scrambling the townsfolk's memories, suppressing their ability to think too hard about the past—or even their own town's name. Clever, isn't it?"

"Clever and creepy," I muttered, eyeing the glowing panels.

"Hang on." Amy pointed to the glowing sky visible through a crack in the wall. "What about that weird light outside? Is it connected to this?"

The Doctor nodded, crouching to examine a leak in one of the cables. A faint, glowing liquid trickled out, pooling on the floor. "There's our culprit!" He said, dipping a finger into the liquid and sniffing it.

"Telythium?" I guessed.

"Correct! Someone's been using this tech to stay hidden, but the leak is causing the chemical to seep into the water supply—and it's reacting with the tech to create that glow in the sky. A beacon, of sorts, making this place reflective to... oh, anyone out there who might be looking."

"Okay, so..." Amy said slowly, crossing her arms. "Who's behind all this? And why go through so much trouble to hide a tiny, random beach town?"

"Great questions, Pond!" The Doctor said, leaping to his feet. "And ones I fully intend to answer!"

He spun to face me, his expression alight with excitement. "PJ, how good are you with mystery tech?"

I smirked. "Better than you'd think."

"Brilliant! I already knew the answer, I just wanted to hear you say it. Now, let's stop this spillage of telythium, shall we?"

As he spoke, the hum of the machinery seemed to grow louder, as if the lighthouse itself was waking up. Amy glanced nervously at the glowing panels.

"Uh, is it supposed to do that?"

"Probably not," I said, already stepping toward the central device with the Doctor close behind.

The air was thick with tension—I couldn't help but feel a thrill of excitement. This guy was a whole ton of fun to be around, and I'd only been with him for a few hours!

"Let's see—Vahegar, Muslito, Darwin's Erring? Nope, not any of those... there it is, 27 Rawring XXR-2Spain-0L-D otherwise known as Spaniold paneling, meaning I am working with..." My thoughts that were being spoken out loud were interrupted by the Doctor himself.

"Malongo Technology!" He piped with a radiant smile from over my right shoulder.

Amy was standing peeking over my left.

"Exactly!" I proceeded to knock on the paneling three times causing a series of keyboards to erupt from within and screens to appear before me.

With that, I was off—fingers moving as fast as possible as I decoded whatever the hell this was. Apparently, it was a Malongo that was behind this if the technology was anything to go by.

The Doctor chittered behind me excitedly, clapping his hands. "Oh—oh, I have missed you, PJ! Look at you go, need to admit, almost as good as me!"

I snickered under my breath. "Whatever, it's only because I have the skill to do it by hand. You cheat using the sonic screwdriver..."

The Doctor gasped. "I do not cheat! It's a scientific instrument, it's not cheating!"

"Cheating...!" I sang. "You probably don't even remember how to hack or decode by hand anymore!"

Amy looked to Doctor. "Is that true? Cause if that's the case then that would actually mean that she's better than you."

The Doctor grumbled, stepping to my side. He placed his sonic screwdriver back in his pocket.

"Forgot how to do it by hand? Better than me? No one is better than me! I'll show you two..." He was saying before his hands were on the paneling moving just as fast, maybe even faster than mine. "The sonic is just faster than manually doing it..." He was muttering, his eyes moving and following the coding running down the screens.

My competitive nature kicked in, and I forced myself to move faster. Which caused him to move faster and so forth. In seconds, we were both growling and attempting to bump the other out of the way with our hips.

Amy was watching us with an unimpressed look.

"Almost... got it..." I huffed.

"No—I have it!" The Doctor cried, both our hands moving and pressing the button at the same time which effectively stopped the machine from spilling any more telythium in the ocean.

The thing about telythium is that when it is placed in an unnatural environment, it'll typically fizzle away on its own. By stopping the machine from continuously dumping it in the ocean, the ocean will eventually eat away at the telythium. It'll probably be gone within the week.

The people affected by it, so long as they are no longer exposed, should go back to normal as well.

"I did that...!" The Doctor smiled. "Saved the day once again!"

"No, bitch, I did that!" I argued, hands on my hips while turning to the Doctor.

"Oi, you may have started it but you never would have finished without my help. And stop swearing!"

"That is not true and you know it!" I paused for dramatic effect. "Bitch."

The Doctor and I were now bickering, our faces flushing as we pointed to one another almost accusingly.

This fucking guy!

"Uhm, guys..." Amy interrupted our bickering. "We have company... who're you?" She demanded.

Me and the Doctor quickly stopped, turning to look at the newcomer. A bright orange dude who looked like a cross between a human and a reptile stepped out of the shadows.

And he seemed pissed.

The reptilian figure stepped further into the dim alien light, his scaled skin glinting faintly in the glow of the tech. His bright orange hue reminded me of a sunset, but the stern look on his face was anything but serene. His eyes—yellow and slit-pupiled—narrowed as he took us in.

"You've made a mess of things," He said, his voice low and guttural. "Do you have any idea what you've just done?"

Amy instinctively took a step back, while the Doctor moved in front of us, a blend of curiosity and charm at the ready.

"Hello! I'm the Doctor, and you are...?" He gestured broadly, his tone disarmingly cheerful.

"I am Epeazer," The alien replied, his gaze flicking between us warily. "And you've just interfered in something far bigger than you realize."

The fuck? I don't have time or the want for this.

"Lovely to meet you, Epeazer," The Doctor said, stepping closer with that bright, goofy grin of his. "Care to explain why you've got a neural dampening field hiding an entire town and poisoning its water supply? Not very neighborly, is it?"

Epeazer hissed, his lipless mouth curling into something like a sneer. "The dampening field is necessary. It keeps me hidden. Without it, I'd be found, captured, or worse."

Okay, let's cut to the chase.

"Found by who?" I asked, stepping around the Doctor. My tone was more skeptical than welcoming. "You running from something?"

I know a runner when I saw one.

"Someone," Epeazer corrected, turning his attention to me. "The Galactic Confederation. They branded me a criminal for daring to oppose them."

The Doctor tilted his head, his grin fading. "Oppose them how exactly?"

Epeazer's yellow eyes narrowed. "By exposing their corruption. Their so-called justice system is a farce. They silence dissent, and I refuse to be silenced. So they hunted me down and drove me to the edges of the galaxy. This town—this nameless little nowhere on the dirtball planet—is the only place I've been able to hide."

Amy crossed her arms, frowning. "And the people here? You're fine with messing with their memories and lives just to save your skin?"

Epeazer's scaly brow furrowed. "They're unharmed! The dampening field doesn't hurt them—it just keeps them from asking too many questions, from noticing me. I've lived among them. I'm not a monster."

"But you are in trouble," The Doctor said, his voice softening. "Your equipment's failing. That chemical in the water—telythium, yes? It's leaking elsewhere and creating a beacon. Do you know what that means?"

Epeazer stiffened but said nothing.

This part I had not realized, I looked up at the Doctor curiously.

"It means," The Doctor continued, stepping closer, "you're not as hidden as you think. That glow in the sky? It's practically screaming 'Come and find me!' to anyone nearby. And trust me, the Confederation will notice. And they won't come for you peacefully—this entire town, the planet, will be at risk..."

Epeazer's tail flicked anxiously behind him. "I... I didn't realize it had gotten that bad."

"Yeah, it's bad," I said, crossing my arms. "You've got to shut it down. Like, yesterday. Thankfully we did it for you."

Epeazer growled low in his throat. "Turn it back on... I'll fix the leakage and the glow will stop emitting in the sky..."

"What? No!" I stepped forward. "Go hide somewhere else, bitch! Leave Australia and it's delicious shrimp alone!"

"Alright," The Doctor placed himself between us nervously. "This is getting much more temperamental than it needs to... let's discuss this peacefully... please..."

Epeazer's growl deepened as he stepped closer, his tail lashing against the floor. Every instinct I had screamed at me to get ready to move—or shoot.

Shooting seemed like the better option.

"I'm not going anywhere," He hissed, his voice low and threatening. "This is my refuge, and I'll do what I must to protect it."

The Doctor raised his hands. "No one's saying you don't deserve safety, Epeazer. We're just saying this method isn't working anymore. The field is broken, faulty, kaput—continuing to rely on it will only make things worse."

I snorted under my breath. The Doctor wasn't wrong, but I didn't feel like having a therapy session.

Epeazer sneered, his clawed fingers flying over the control panel behind him. "You don't understand. If I turn it off, they'll find me. If they find me, I'm dead. And if you get in my way—"

The hum started before I could react, a low, ominous vibration that grew with every second. The panels around us lit up like Christmas, and I didn't need a manual to know that wasn't good.

The Doctor's eyes widened in alarm. "Oh no. Oh, no-no-no, don't touch that! You're reactivating the dampening field!"

"Exactly," Epeazer said, his claws moving faster. "I won't let you ruin my only chance at survival."

"You fool! Reactivating it so fast could vaporize us!" I shouted angrily, noticing the way he was doing it was much too fast, he might overloaded the entire this way.

And Epeazer had the audacity to shrug.

The Doctor was still playing Mr. Nice-Guy and attempting to talk the dude out of this. Whether it was actually working or not was beyond me, although the Doctor did seem to cause a flicker of hesitance in Epeazer's movements.

However, the unfamiliar alien's eyes quickly hardened again and he shook away his hesitation.

Yeah, that was enough for me. I reached into my backpack, pulled out my laser pistol, and leveled it at Epeazer.

"Step away from the panel, bitch, or I'll shoot."

"What?! PJ!" The Doctor's voice cracked like a whip, and I barely glanced his way. He was already spinning toward me, eyes burning angrily. "Put that down!"

"Not a chance!" I shot back, keeping my aim steady. "We don't have time for your moral lectures! He's about to vaporize us!"

"And if you shoot him," The Doctor said, exasperated, "we'll definitely be vaporized! Do you know how many systems in this room could go critical with a single blast? Now is not the time for guns—there rarely ever is, so I will tell you again. Put. It. Down."

I hesitated, my grip tightening on the weapon. "You're kidding me, right? Look at him—he's not going to stop!"

Before the Doctor could answer, Epeazer snarled, his claws hovering over what looked suspiciously like a big red button. "Enough of this!"

"Stop!" The Doctor shouted, lunging toward the panel. "Epeazer, don't do this! We can find another way—"

"No time for that," I growled, my patience officially at zero.

In the name of Australia!

I bolted forward, ignoring the Doctor's protests, and smashed the butt of my pistol into the biggest, most important-looking glowing cylinder on the side of the panel. Sparks flew everywhere, and the hum cut off with a sputter.

Epeazer roared like I'd just stepped on his tail. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"

"Saving Australia, that's what!" I shot back, dodging his swing and rolling to my feet in one smooth move. I was practically glowing with self-satisfaction.

Behind me, the Doctor groaned, the sound carrying a mix of irritation and resignation. "Oh, for crying out loud—couldn't you have smashed anything else?! That was the power regulator!"

"Yeah, well, it worked, didn't it?" I replied, brushing dust and bits of glowing debris off my pants. "The field's down again, no chance of being brought back up. You're welcome."

The equipment sparked and groaned in protest, the lights flickering wildly as if the entire room was on the verge of exploding. Epeazer collapsed to his knees, his face buried in his hands. "You've doomed me," He muttered, his voice shaking.

I opened my mouth to snap back, but the Doctor crouched beside him first, his tone suddenly soft and patient. "No, Epeazer. We've given you a chance—a real chance. You can't hide forever, not like this. But I promise, I'll help you. We'll find somewhere safe for you, somewhere better than this."

The alien looked up, his glare uncertain now, like he wasn't sure if he wanted to fight or cry. I sighed and crossed my arms, glancing at the Doctor. "You always have to fix everything the hard way, don't you?"

"Always," He said with finality, throwing me a glare before gesturing at the sparking console. "Now, unless we want this whole place to go up in flames, let's focus on shutting the rest of this down properly. Shall we?"

A large part of me admired his kindness.

▂ ✶ ▂ ✶ ▂ ✶ ▂ ✶ ▂

▂ ✶ ▂ ✶ ▂ ✶ ▂ ✶ ▂

By the time we fixed everything and made it back to the TARDIS with Epeazer, it was well past midnight. The waves crashed against the sand calmly as we entered the ship.

Unsurprisingly, the Doctor had been rather cold toward me for the rest of the night. We disassembled everything in near silence.

He still spoke to Amy though.

Guns really aren't his thing—I'm getting that now, okay!

He liked doing things the long way, the proper way, and the kind way. Admirable.

Thankfully, Amy was not upset with me, more just confused about how I managed to pull the pistol out of my backpack so fast.

Me and Epeazer did not so much as glance at one another the whole time.

The short trip to somewhere in the Andromeda galaxy, an area protected by the Shadow Proclamation was not nearly as interesting as the trip to Australia had been.

The Doctor escorted Epeazer out of the TARDIS, asking Amy to head to her room for the night and telling me to wait in the console room for his return. Amy gave me a pitiful look and a silent wave as she left through the corridors.

Even she knew the words the Doctor would have for me would be anything but friendly.

While we had been working at disassembling the lighthouse paneling, she was quietly murmuring to me the story of the Star Whale.

It was the first trip the Doctor took her on, and it was literally yesterday for them. The moral of the story was that the Doctor was disgusted by what humanity had done to this innocent space creature, and it had left him with a choice to either kill everyone on the ship, leave the Star Whale flying in essential torture for another few hundred years, or basically make it brain dead so it could keep flying without pain and the starship wouldn't disintegrate.

Amy had kinda messed up somehow and in the Doctor's anger he basically told her that he would be taking her home. Amy; however, proved herself and ended up saving the day by releasing the Star Whale from its captivity and showing everyone the Whale was flying them by choice.

That no one needed to harm it or anything.

Honestly—I really don't know. To be frank, it was an extremely long and confusing story, and I'm pretty sure I'm missing like 75% of the details.

Whatever the case, all I really learned is the Doctor gets scary when he's upset and he doesn't fuck around with unnecessary violence.

So basically—I'm screwed. Especially considering that 'no violence' isn't typically the way I roll.

I groaned while waiting for his return on one of the springy console seats.

I wondered if he would kick me out. Fire me as his intern/companion/sugar baby.

However, I doubted it. It didn't seem possible considering my future is his past. Couldn't that cause like a paradox?

The Doctor had been waiting for me for almost three years, there's no way he would kick me out hours later.

But who knows?

Fuck—I really was not in the mood to be lectured. Perhaps that's why I straight up chose to ignore his words and invited myself to explore the corridors again.