The Legend of Gallifrey ~ [Doctor Who]

Part 1 | The Minds of Ghosts

"...and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine."

The Doctor switched off the intercom, then pressed the dematerialization button, leaving the scanner on as long as possible. This form of his was getting old. He knew very well that next time he would get to see his granddaughter, she wouldn't know him. Indeed, he may not even know himself. That thought brought a tear to his eye. It was okay now to show weakness; he was alone, and he didn't know for how long that would be.

As it turned out, not very long.

Four knocks sounded from the door to the rest of the TARDIS. The Doctor's hearts skipped a beat. Had Susan somehow gotten back on board? It was in her best interests to remain on future Earth with David.

The Doctor wiped the tear from his eye, then made his way slowly towards the door. As he reached out for the handle, another four knocks sounded and his hand stopped. What was the significance of four? The heartbeat of a Time Lord, his people, but the Doctor was the only Time Lord here. He would be able to sense the regeneration energy. It could be Susan, as she was only 34, still too young to be able to regenerate.

His hand grasped the handle and turned it counterclockwise. The click sounded, meaning that the door could now be opened without any more effort. The Doctor took a second to consider the possibilities, then yanked on the door.

It swung open. The bright hallway stretched away from him with doors leading to various rooms, some of which he still had yet to explore. However, it was utterly empty, with no sign of anything that could have knocked four times on the door.

The Doctor stood there, puzzled. Was it some sort of dimensional glitch? Had a wall maybe appeared for a fraction of a second and rubbed against the door? It certainly wasn't impossible, but the Doctor had taken a look at the TARDIS's circuits as soon as he and Susan had left Gallifrey. The dimensional stabilizers were as good as they were ever going to be.

He walked back to the console, doing a scan for life signs. Other than the occasional lower form of life, like a bird or a spider, the Doctor was completely alone. So what had knocked on the door?

The Doctor jumped as another four knocks sounded from further down the hallway. He turned to look, making his way towards the hallway, then he stood in the middle for a second, waiting for it to tell him where it came from again. When he once again heard four knocks coming from a door on his right, he turned towards it, then stopped.

The Doctor and Susan had never gone down this hallway. He had no idea as to whether or not it went to a dining room or a death pit. Time Lords also had a habit of leaving traps throughout TARDISes in need of repair. He and Susan had disabled most of the ones in the parts they'd been down, but there were so many that the Doctor could very well still be disabling them well into his final incarnation. Was he willing to risk his life to find out what was knocking on his door?

Hell, yes.

The Doctor swung the door open, and a waft of flowers and fresh air filled his lungs. In front of him stretched an unusually green field of Earth grass, dotted with flowers and trees. Hills rolled everywhere. The sky was bright blue and very clear, but faint hexagons were visible in the blueness. This place was a bio-dome, an outside inside an inside, obviously tailored to Earth standards. This Earth seemed to be everywhere.

The Doctor could just make out a spot on the other side of a hill where the hexagons met the grass, and a square of white stood there like a fence post. Clearly a door out.

He began walking towards the door, occasionally stopping for a rest. His bones were old and tired, and he began to long for the day when he would be able to acquire a new body. Hopefully, he could avoid being old for a very long time. It was tiresome.