The dust blew in swirls around massive jumbles of concrete, on a desert-like planet circling a red sun. Amid the moaning of the formless wind, a wheezing and groaning sound was added.

In the shadow of a mostly demolished building, the incongrous form of an old-time British police box appeared out of nowhere. The doors opened inward and a thin youngish looking man, clad in a brown suit, long camelhair coat and beat up trainers appeared. He was followed by a young blond haired woman in a tee shirt, denim jacket and jeans.

“So, Doctor,” the girl said, “this certainly looks like London!” She laughed, looking around, “Oh, yeah, and I’ll bet there’s a really great chippy here!” The Doctor looked around a tiny bit disconcertingly.

“Wellll–” he said, scrunching up his face, “It could be London–I mean, if we were in some sort of construction zone…and if we were wearing rose-coloured glasses–the sun…might look…red.” He finished lamely.

The girl laughed teasingly, “And if the Tardis was actually working properly, we’d be eating dinner right now, and not standing about on some dead planet—where are we?”

The Doctor just stared at the sun and derelict buildings for a few seconds, then ran back in to the Tardis, yelling behind him, “Beats me! Be right back!” He leaned out of the doorway, saying seriously, “Do not go anywhere, Rose Tyler. We don’t know what’s out there, yet. Promise?”

Rose smiled, “Yeah, yeah. I promise.” The Doctor eyed her suspiciously. “I promise.” She yelled to him, “My feet are glued to this spot.” “Alright then, be back in a jiff,” and so saying, slammed the door behind him.

Rose brushed a strand of windblown hair from her face and sighed heavily. “I’m starvin’ and ‘e takes me to a dead planet. And I had my heart all set on a nice plate of fish and chips—I’d even settle for a Wimpy burger, right now!’ Just then, she heard a noise behind her.

Thinking it was the Doctor she turned, saying, “That was fast—.” It wasn’t the Doctor. It was a rather good looking young bloke in some kind of space helmet–Its shape seemed familar–then she realized, it reminded her of the headcoverings one of those old Egyptian pharoahs used to wear. But was really worrysome, was that he was pointing a blaster at her chest.

“Alright, who are you?” He demanded, “How did you get here? And who or what is a Wimpy burger?” Rose just stared back at him. “While we’re askin’ the questions, who are you then?”

The young man replied stiffly. “I’m Captain Apollo.” She looked him up and down appraisingly. “You certainly are.” She had to admit, gun or no gun, he was gorgeous…”Bet he’d give Captain Jack a run for his money,” She thought. “If I knew all captains looked like this, I would’a joined the air force, ’stead of workin’ in a shop.”

Captain Apollo frowned. This person certainly looked human–but that was impossible. He wondered if she was some kind of plant, to trap him here. “I believe you still haven’t answered my questions. I’m afraid you’re going to have to come with me.” Before Rose could utter much of a protest, he grabbed her by the arm and forcefully dragged her behind the rubble.

The Doctor emerged from the Tardis triumphantly. “Rose—!” He noticed right off that she was gone. He looked up at the sky, yelling, “Arrrgh! Humans! Why do I put up with them? Never stay put. They can just never keep still,” he muttered with disgust, “maybe I should keep a supply of traquilizers on board….nah, that wouldn’t work–they’d probably end up drinking potfuls of tea to keep awake and keep me up all night, with their running to the…look! Hello, what’s this?”

He’d been searching for Rose’s footprints on the thick carpet of red dust that covered the ground. He found them–and realized she wasn’t alone. He cast a frenzied glance about him, realized where’d they’d gone and set out determindly after the pair.

The man marched Rose through the rubble, until she decided she’d had enough–and, she hoped, she could delay things enough so that the Doctor’d catch up with them. She stopped abruptly and faced her captor. “Now look, Captain Apollo! I dont’ know where you were brought up, but where I come from, it ain’t polite to point a gun at a lady! Especially an unarmed one!”

Much to her surprise, he actually looked a bit embarrased. “S-sorry.” He stammered. He lowered his gun. She smiled at him. “That’s more like it.” She held out her hand. “I’m Rose Tyler. Now, what’s with the guns and the threats, eh? I’ve done nothing to you. What do you want with me, anyway?”

“That’s a good question!” A voice boomed out. Rose sighed with relief. It was the Doctor. Raising his gun, Apollo eyed the newcomer suspiciously. “That’s far enough. Who are you?”

Rose rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t hoping you were’nt going to ask him that–but g’wan, you asked for it.” Apollo looked at her strangely and shrugged. He turned back to the Doctor. “Well?” He demanded.

The Doctor scracthed his head? “Hmm–now that’s a good question. Who am I…who am I…? A lot of shrinks get paid a whole lot of pounds for the answer to that little query…” His eyes narrowed, “…But, you’re not a shrink are you, though? He added soberly. “And I think she asked you a question. I’m called the Doctor, if you must know.” He leaned in, his face very serious. “Now, what do you want my friend for, eh? What’s she done to you?”

The young captain looked flustered. “N–nothing. It’s just…” “Just what? The Doctor demanded, “Who are you? What are you doing here?” Apollo responded, “I–that is, I mean we, my people and I, came here to get some mironite to supply our fleet. Our scanners indicated no life signs. I flew down to make a preliminary survey, then I find your friend here, wandering around these mysterious ruins…it didn’t make sense….I didn’t mean to upset her.”

The Doctor sat on the remains of a wall. “What do mean, your fleet? Are you at war, then?” The Captain nodded, and removing his helmet, sat on a big grey block of stone.

“In a way, yes. I homeworlds were destroyed by the Cylons. Some of us escaped and we’re trying to outdistance them. To find a lost colony of our people, somewhere out there.” The Doctor raised an eyebrow. The young captain just happened to point in the exact direction of planet Earth.

Like Rose, the Doctor noticed that shape of the captain’s helmet, and put two and two together–and, as usual, made eight. “I see.” He slapped his knees and jumped up. “Well! As you can see, it’s just Rose and myself here–we’d only just landed, so your scanners might not have picked us up–and there’s the residual radiation to consider. That might be interfering with your scanners.”

Apolo frowned. “What radiation? I didn’t pick up anything on my sensors.” The Doctor shrugged. “Oh, I dunno’, you know these battle-torn planets…always a bit of leftover something, lying about.” Rose decided it was her turn to imput something into the conversation.

“Yeah, what about that? What happened here, Doctor?” Apollo added, “Yeah. This looks like it was quite a civilzation, at one time. That’s why we came here–we found traces of an extensive mining operation. Was it the Cylons, Doctor?”

The Doctor frowned at an old, sad memory. “No, it wasn’t the Cylons…or the Daleks. It was mankind.” Walked around in a circle. “Believe it or not, this used to be like paradise–all green and blue–very much like your world, Rose, back, oh, 10,000 years before your time. Lovely lakes and streams, massive forests, clean, peaceful cities with absolutely beautiful architecture, one of the most civilized cultures in this part of the galaxy.”

Rose was concerned at the Doctor’s expression. She walked over to him, touching him on the sleeve. “But what happened, Doctor? What did this?” Apollo seemed quite interested. “Yes. I’d like to hear that, as well. It reminds me of what happened to us.”

The Doctor nodded gravely. “Yes. It was rather similar.” He sighed. “The usual story. A man became king who had no right to be…he was insane, you know. Mad as a March hare–very much like your King George–and a few others, I might add.”

“But–if he was mad, why did they let him rule?” Rose asked. “Believe it or not, Rose, nobody noticed. I mean, not really. It was the height of the age, for most of the population..everyone was busy doing their own thing, gettin on with their lives–nobody listened to what he was saying. No one. And if anyone did notice–he or she never bothered to act upon what was heard.” He threw up his hands.

“It’s an old, old story. The king gradually became more and more mad–his advisors, who were very powerful, gradually took control of the government, started making changes that would make them richer and more powerful–and that wasn’t enough for them, so—they started a war.”

He looked around bleakly. “And here you see the end result.” He sighed. “An old, old story, in the universe…one, I’m afraid, that’s destined to keep repeating itself, as long as people refuse to listen between the lines–and act accordingly.” Without warning, he broke into a big grin.

“And as for you, Captain Apollo, I think you owe my friend, Rose here, an apology.” The Captain nodded. “Yes, I am sorry.” He sheathed his blaster and stood up. “Well, it’s been nice chatting with you both, but I’ve a survey to finish. Would you care to be my guests afterward, on board my ship? The Galactica isn’t fancy, but the food isn’t half bad.”

Rose smiled and took the Doctor’s arm. “Actually, the Doctor’s taking me out for dinner at a nice cafe–in Paris. Aren’t you Doctor?” He frowned, puzzled. “What? What happened to the chippy?” She smiled smugly. “After this little mess up of yours, I think we should go a little more…upscale.” She looked at him sternly. “You owe me.”

So saying she pulled the Doctor back towards the Tardis, Apollo following behind them. As the pair reached the Tardis door, the Doctor stepped begrudgingly inside. Rose turned to wish the Captain good luck. As she went to close the door, he said, “You never told me where you were from, Rose Tyler.” She smiled, “Earth, 21st century, London.” And closed the door. The Tardis slowly de-materialized.

Apollo stood there with his jaw hanging open. Then he pounded his fist against his helmet. “Frack! I could have asked for directions! Adama is going to kill me when he finds out!”