She's Doctor Brilliant!

Ep. 1 Pt. 3: Spacewoman

"Is that it? Is it gone?"

The Stenza had disappeared in a flash of white light which Ryan thought he should probably be concerned about but he really didn't care at the moment. The woman spun around, and she looked concerned.

Watching her upright for the first time, Ryan had to admit she was beautiful, but in an odd way. The suit she wore was tattered and slightly too big for her, and the hair was blowing all over the place. His mind was telling him she was young, but her eyes looked old.

"I doubt it," she replied, and pulled out a small blue weapon of some sort. It looked high tech, probably a lazer of some sort, he decided. She went on, "If he's really looking for escape and he knows I'm from outer space, I doubt he'd actually let me out of his sight." There was a bleeping as she made her blue weapon light up.

"And you think you're from outer space?"

"'Course I am," she replied, barely even looking up as she scanned the ropes, then made a few adjustments in the settings.

Ryan didn't believe that, but went on to the next question. Just testing out a theory. "What are you called?"

"The Doctor," she replied, looking up at last.

Ryan was surprised. He had expected a funnier, more alien sounding name, like Azmuth or Raxidor or something. At least that would've supported her claim of being an alien. However, she had an almost superior expression when she said it. "I'm the Doctor," she repeated with relish.

"Doctor who?"

"Yes."

He laughed. That was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever - !

"Ouch!"

The ropes were cutting into him now, and the Doctor immediately pointed her blue light at it. It suddenly became clear to him that the ropes were metallic and very much alive - when the Doctor bleeped her wand at them they seemed to flinch away from him. He stood up, free at last, and watched the metal rope things writhe on the ground like snakes.

Another higher frequency blast from her, and they lay still. Dormant.

Ryan looked at the device in awe.

"What kind of weapon is that, then?"

She looked affronted. "It's not a weapon! Only idiots carry weapons. This is a Sonic Screwdriver."

"A Sonic what now?"

"Screwdriver. Well, I say screwdriver but it's also a scanner, diagnostics, hacker... I hacked into the code of these biologically engineered coils and returned minus one on every command structure."

"So, you put them to sleep?"

"I put them to sleep!" She couldn't stop the dangerous, bold grin, which made her look somehow more unreal than before, with those popping eyes. She probably is an alien, Ryan realised. Suddenly he felt really uncomfortable.

Humans don't normally glow... Like stars...

The Doctor was now examining the coils and probably stowing them in her coat pockets. If Ryan were paying attention, it would've surprised him, for the coat pockets were much bigger on the inside...

"Are you really an alien?" he asked.

Standing up, she put her Screwdriver away and assessed him critically, wondering if he could handle it. She decided he was coping pretty well, all things considered.

"Yes. Yes, I am." She scrunched her face apologetically, "It's that all right?"

He realised that it was. "Yes. I mean, yeah, sure, if you say so. And... That other guy was an alien, too?"

"Well, he must be. But if he's looking out for a spaceship to hitch a hike on, he picked the wrong man, I'm afraid." She looked up to the sky wistfully. "Oh, TARDIS, where are you now?" she whispered, almost to herself. "Where have you gone?"

Ryan hated to interrupt her little trance but something was confusing him. "Sorry. Wrong man? You don't mean yourself do you?"

"'Course I mean me, do you see any other spaceman around here?"

He didn't know whether to smile or frown. "I see a spacewoman."

Her face went blank for a split second - then it dawned on her.

"Oh... Oh! You're right, I forgot. I'm a woman, aren't I? Is it obvious?"

"Slightly obvious, yeah."

"Oh. Not in a bad way?"

He stared at her, struck. She's an alien who doesn't understand the basic concept of gender. Could she be from a race with different gender roles altogether? Was the bodyprint even real?

To clarify the point, he asked, "It is your real face, right? Not a mask or a hologram - ?"

"No!" She said the word so defiantly and took such offense at the idea, that he laughed.

"Great!" he said in relief. "In that case, you look great. I mean, you can never be bad at being yourself."

It was as though he was looking at a sunrise. Something had clicked in her soul and she was looking at him in a new light. All at once, she stopped walking.

"What's your name?" she asked at last.

"Ryan, Ryan Sinclair."

She smiled wide. "Pleased to meet you, Ryan. Come along."

"Come along where?" He ran to keep up, for she was off again.

"I'm assuming you live somewhere about?"

"Um, sure, but -"

"Oh, don't worry, I won't tarry too long. Always on the move, that's me. I just need some spare parts to analyse this Stenza technology..."

"Oh, I work in a warehouse. If you like, I could bust you in my shed, you can get what you need."

"Perfect! My instincts are never wrong."

"Instincts for what?"

She gave him a smug look as she led the way out of the forest. The words she said seemed to echo in the darkening forest:

"My companions."