Worth A Thousand Words

Chapter Four

'What am I doing here?' the stranger repeated, confused. Then he seemed to do a double take, like he was really looking at the Doctor for the first time. Confusion turned to irritation. 'Never mind that! What are you doing here?'

'Doctor – you know him?' Rose asked. When it came to the alien, there were other things less plausible than running into someone he knew on a deserted, exploding island.

'We've met,' he grunted, at the same time the funny little man insisted, 'Intimately.'

They glowered at each other again. The volcano continued its ominous rumble..

'Um...'kay. Introductions?' she prompted.

'Rose, this is Doctor Galloway,' the Doctor grumbled, putting strange emphasis on the name. 'He's a... volcanologist that I became acquainted with in my travels.'

Guess he must visit the nineteenth century a lot, she decided as she offered the older man her hand. 'S'nice to meet you. I never meet friends of the Doctor.'

'Good to know he hasn't changed, then,' Dr Galloway harrumphed, even as he gave her fingers a brief shake. 'Still needlessly throwing yourself into dangerous situations, it seems.'

'Still stopping to inspect every fool thing that catches your fancy, I see,' the Doctor shot back.

The little man reddened, and started to retort, but Rose quickly stepped in lest whatever this was came to blows.

Superior Time Lord anything my arse. Still a bloke.

'Listen, I dunno what you two are in the middle of, but we don't have a lot of time. See, it's um... really important we get a drawing of the Doctor here, yeah? And then we'll be off and leave you to your observations – or, well, maybe not, cos this place is gonna blow up at some point.'

'You came here for a photo opportunity?' Galloway snorted, shooting the Doctor a disapproving look. 'Couldn't have chosen somewhere more scenic? The Yellow River floods, perhaps?'

'Be a bit rude, I figured, considering Rose doesn't have respiratory bypass.'

Something clicked, and Rose momentarily forgot all about the volcano.

'Hold on! He knows?'

'Knows what?'

'That you're a time travelling alien.'

'Of course I know that,' Galloway answered. 'I'm h –'

'Like I said, he's a passable scientist. Probably seen loads stranger than me,' the Doctor interrupted.

Something else occurred to her. 'Hey, how comes he's not wearing a mask like me?'

'Dunno. Might be he's got a death wish,' the Doctor answered distractedly.

'Doctor –'

They were interrupted by a particularly violent tremor and a thundering crack in the distance. About a kilometre away, they watched a split appear in the rock face of the volcano, and a wave of heat whooshed past them. Seconds later, steam and molten orange light spewed violently out of the various cracks in the mountain face.

Dr Galloway swallowed uneasily, and slowly said, 'When I say run–'

'Run!' the Doctor interrupted, seizing Rose's hand and hauling her back toward the TARDIS. Galloway scrambled to catch up behind them.

'Looks like my timing was a bit off again,' the Doctor remarked conversationally.

'You think?' Rose puffed.