January 27th, 2017

Dear Doctor,

I wonder what happened last night. Did reality become fiction or did fiction become reality? I can’t say that something very strange happened as you might be upset by this statement, but my brain needs to adjust to the events, we human always need rationalising things, so it might take me some time to simply accept that last night’s dream might be a little more than a dream…

And to make sure that I never forget that night, I’ve decided to be the Watson to your Holmes and to record the events…

***

The Night I became his Companion

When I went to bed last evening, I had no idea that my night wouldn’t turn quite the way I had anticipated it to be: a good night’s sleep. I felt asleep alright, but woke up with a start to discover that I wasn’t home anymore. I was laying on the floor in a huge room that reminded me of ancient Rome. The floor was made of marble and there were huge vases full of plants and flowers everywhere. The walls and the ceiling were whitish. There were no windows. I registered that I was dressed in a strange way, not like a Roman woman, but close enough, with a long and yet practical beige dress (I hate beige, it really doesn’t suit me. It makes me look sick.)

Before I could even consider wandering off and try to find out where I was (and why I was there), a door slid open. I instantly felt an uneasiness creep inside me. Three women, dressed the same way I did, rushed in towards me. The eldest woman urged me to follow them.

“Your friend is in grave danger and I’m not even sure that he realises it.”

My friend? Which friend?

I was already confused but then the second woman started complaining about my so called friend:

“I told you that he was insane. Just look at the way he is dressed!”

The feeling of uneasiness grew stronger, but I followed the three women (I didn’t think of anything else to do anyway…).

As soon as I left the room, I understood that I was not in ancient Rome. I wasn’t even sure that I was on Earth anymore. The place looked like a village full of technological stuff, as if it had been built in the middle of a giant spacecraft to remind the passengers where they came from. The thought being a bit disturbing, I decided to dismiss it to concentrate on what was happening in what was obviously the village’s central area.

Around ten people were gathered there. Five looked like authority figures (they were all wearing black uniforms and a helmet that was hiding their features. Three were dressed in a manner similar to the women who were with me. The last two persons were very different. On the soldiers’ side was a tall and beautiful woman richly dressed. I instantly disliked the air of power and self confidence that exuded from her being. The other person was a little man wearing a suit that looked too big for him and a hat. My heart sank as I recognised the Doctor.

He was laughing as one of the soldiers was tying his hands up.

“See what I meant before?” Whispered one of the women. “He doesn’t realise how deep in trouble he is.”

I remained silent as I watched the soldiers take the Doctor and the three other prisoners away. My mind was filled with questions but I didn’t dare asking them. I felt like I was suffering from amnesia which was a rather disturbing feeling.

I followed the women back to the room where I had woken up and witnessed as they discussed how to rescue the prisoners. Listening to them, I managed to get more information about this place and what was happening. It was indeed a giant spacecraft carrying its passengers to their new settlement. They had been boarded by the beautiful woman and her crew in a rather violent way. Many people had died during the attack and the passengers were now living in fear, trying to avoid the soldiers as much as they could. The Doctor had appeared from nowhere and had decided to take upon himself to free the passengers by sending the woman away.

“Typical,” I sighed, still wondering (again) how I had ended up there.

The Doctor had managed to tell one of the girls from the settlement about a way to separate the two spacecrafts (as the pirates’ craft had merged with their victims’ ship) but nobody had seen the girl since then and the Doctor had been captured.

I heard myself offering to create a diversion that would allow the women to walk more freely around the ship to find the missing girl. I was confident that all attention would be directed to me.

That’s basically how I ended up in the beautiful woman’s quarters filled with people attending a party. Everyone there was as vain as they looked like, prompt to mock and criticise anyone who didn’t look like them. They started making jokes about me, even tried to put one of their fancy capes around my shoulders before laughing at me because it was far too big for me.

I eventually reached the beautiful woman who apparently knew already that I was acquainted with the Doctor. He was already there and greeted me with a broad smile.

“What a shame, I can’t greet you properly,” he said, showing me his hands that were still bound together.

He then turned to the woman and introduced me to her, only he called me a very different name than my own. I can’t remember it sadly, but it felt right, as if it was indeed my real name.

It turned out that the beautiful woman was the queen of the space pirates from this area and that she had harvested the giant space craft to start building her own empire. The Doctor tried to talk her out of her plan, claiming that the passengers didn’t deserve such a fate.

“Oh, little man,” she laughed. “You’re so funny! I think that I will keep you alive to entertain me.”

The Doctor, turning suddenly very serious, advised her to change her mind.

“You don’t have much time.”

Something in his voice worried me and I probably looked alarmed because the queen starred at me and her mood darkened.

“What have you done, Doctor?” She asked menacingly.

A heavy silence fell on the room as the Time Lord told the story of one of the passengers, a girl suffering from a fatal disease, who had agreed to operate the device designed by the Doctor to separate the ships, therefore sacrificing her life as the process would kill whoever was in the close vicinity upon activation.

It didn’t take long for the pirates to realise that the Doctor wasn’t joking. A commotion pulled us apart as the pirates fled to reach their ship.

I found myself with the three women in the room where I had woken up. They were holding a wake for a girl in her early twenties who was resting on a bed made of layers of fabric. Long dark hair framed her face that was so peaceful that I found it hard to believe that she had died of a rather violent death. I was still contemplating her, admiring her bravery when the Doctor walked in the room and stood next to me.

I turned to face him and I met his gaze.

“It’s time for you to wake up,” he said gently as I felt slowly hypnotised by his eyes.

He started singing ever so softly: “Klokleda partha menin klatch, haroon haroon haroon.”

Suddenly it was no longer my Doctor but his third incarnation who was singing.

“Klokleda sheenah tierra natch, haroon haroon haroon, Haroon haroon haroon.”

I woke up with a start. The song was my alarm-clock. I was in bed, it was morning and I was feeling exhausted as if I didn’t get any sleep at all that night…