Ice Planet

Day 47: "I don't care where we go, just as long as it's warm." Crow took one last look at the frozen Earth as the TARDIS spun into the time stream, ready for any adventure as long as it didn't involve thermal underwear. The Doctor had promised her abundant lichens to study, but something had gone terribly wrong. Instead of landing in an interglacial period, they had come down in a mini-Ice Age. "I suppose I should be grateful for the lack of mosquitoes," she continued. "I didn't really think that through very well. Can we turn up the heat? My toes are still numb."

The only specimen she had been able to retrieve for her collection proved to be identical in all respects to the Cladina mitis of her own time. While it was interesting to note that lichen evolution had apparently reached its acme in this era, and the Cladina was proving to be superbly adapted by surviving without change for thousands of years, the knowledge warmed nothing but the proverbial cockles of her heart. Her hands were blue. Her nose was red. Her hair, already silver, carried a fine sheen of frost. "How about orchids?" she asked. "Mycoheterotrophs? And what are YOU worried about, anyway? The bugs don't like you. It must be that sonic screwdriver, the noise it makes. Gawd, give me Daleks any day over mosquitoes and ticks!"

It could be that the Doctor didn't know what he was letting himself in for when he picked up his latest companion. He'd found her flat-out on the forest floor, magnifying glass in hand and a camera around her neck. He'd asked what she was looking for and she'd replied, "Alien life-forms. They're everywhere." A widely travelled man, he'd taken her figure of speech literally and offered his assistance, something he could hardly withdraw over a minor misunderstanding. When at last she exulted, "Pilophorus! I knew you were around here someplace!" he realized his mistake. Only then did she face him, introducing herself with a grubby handshake. "I'm Crow," she said. "I'm studying lichens."

"I noticed," he replied as casually as he could manage. "And I'm the Doctor. I know a place..."