The Legend of Gallifrey ~ [Doctor Who]

Part 11 | Power of the Paradox

Everything was normal, until the TARDIS exploded, and unfortunately, the Doctor was inside it when it did.

It was as if the TARDIS was having an allergic reaction. One moment, it was fine, travelling through the Vortex just like normal, but then the console exploded in the Doctor's face, and the TARDIS began to spiral out of the Vortex. A moment later, it exploded.

The Doctor woke up in a field of green grass with a black sky above him. He sat up, taking a look around, noticing a city in the distance, and a parked spaceship just outside the city. He stood up and began the long walk towards the city.

A minute later, a huge puff of smoke erupted from the city, accompanied by a burst of flames, and a moment after that the explosion reached the Doctor's ears, as well as a large amount of screaming. The Doctor began to run towards the city, with his coat trailing behind him. He sprinted for five straight minutes, until he arrived at the scene.

It was a tall silver building with curvy edges, and the explosion had taken a huge chunk out of the top of it. People were running around everywhere, screaming and waving their arms wildly. Chunks of rubble fell all across the road, narrowly missing many people and causing others to be buried and to disappear under and behind pieces.

The Doctor ran around the rubble, searching for what had caused the explosion. He couldn't see anything, but the sonic detected trace amounts of chronon energy, the type that usually stemmed from temporal knots or loops. It was also the type that attracted TARDISes. So that was what had drawn the TARDIS in to wherever he was, but what had destroyed it?

A ship flew in from above and began to spray the fire with a green substance, and the fire began to go out. A whole bunch of large black creatures ran out and began herding the citizens away from the wreckage and towards their houses. The Doctor knew what the creatures were instantly.

Nimons.

They were minotaur-like creatures that fed on energy. With the chronon particles all around this area, it was no wonder they were here. Their technology obviously wasn't sufficient to contain whatever energy they were trying to harness, probably for food. If they weren't careful, this entire place was likely to blow.

The Doctor took another look at the black sky. There weren't even any stars to show where they were, just faint grey clouds, but now that the Doctor was paying attention he knew exactly what that meant. He was in a pocket dimension. Combine that with the chronon energy, he had an explanation for why the TARDIS had exploded. The chronon energy being compressed into a pocket dimension had not only caused the TARDIS to be drawn in, but it had also overloaded the Eye of Harmony. If the Doctor could find a way out of this dimension, the TARDIS should re-form around his temporal signature.

'Should' wasn't perfect, but it was better than nothing. Right now, the Doctor had to get the Nimons to stop harvesting chronon energy from wherever it was they were getting it. If something went wrong, which it definitely was, then this dimension would be filled to the brim with dangerous levels of chronon energy, and when it burst the rest of the universe would be sucked in too.

The Doctor spotted one group of Nimons escorting some civilians away from the wreckage. He ran to catch up with them.

"Hey!" he yelled. "Wait up!"

The Nimon looked back at him, and spoke in a deep, echoing voice. "All civilians and workers are to be evacuated from this area. Come with me."

"Oh, no, I'm not a civilian," the Doctor said. "I need to see what you are harvesting, the chronon energy."

"All civilians are to evacuate the area," the Nimon said.

"I'm not a civilian!" the Doctor said. "I'm the Doctor! I believe you've met me before?"