CHRYSALIS

THE EMPTY CHILD

"What's the emergency?" I ask.

"It's mauve." The Doctor answers as we all rush around the console, the tardis shaking and shuddering as it flies through space.

"Mauve?" Rose questions.

"The universally recognized color for danger." He explains.

"What happened to red?" I hold onto the railing.

"That's just humans. By everyone else's standards, red's camp. Oh, the misunderstandings. All those red alerts, all that dancing." He gestures to the monitor, where the object we are following through the time vortex, "It's got a very basic flight computer - I've hacked in, slaved the tardis. Where it goes, we go."

I look at him in alarm, "That's not safe!"

Part of the console explodes, and the object hurtles through the vortex.

"It's jumping time tracks, getting away from us." He says.

"What exactly is this thing?" Rose asks.

The Doctor answers in the negative.

"Then why are we chasing it?" I shout.

"It's mauve and dangerous. And about 30 seconds from the center of London."

Once the tardis lands we exit.

"Do you know how long we can knock around space without having to bump into Earth?" He asks.

"Five days?" I guess, "Or is that just when we're out of milk?"

He sighs, "Of all the species in all the universe, it has to come out of a cow."

We walk away from the tardis and he continues, "Must have come down somewhere quite close. Within a mile, anyway. And it can't have been more than a few weeks ago. Maybe a month."

"A month?!" Rose looks surprised, "We were right behind it!"

"It was jumping time tracks all over the place, we're bound to be a little bit out. Do you wanna drive?"

I look at him, "Yeah... how much is 'a little'?"

"A bit." He crosses his arms.

I smile at him teasingly, "Is that EXACTLY a bit?"

Rose looks around, "What's the plan, then? Are you gonna do a scan for alien tech or something?"

"Rose, it hit the middle of London with a very loud bang. I'm gonna ask." He shows us the psychic paper.

"Doctor John Smith, Ministry of Asteroids." I read out loud.

"Not very Spock, is it? Just asking?" Rose asks.

We watch him try to get through a door.

"Door, music, people. What d'you think?" He asks.

Rose looks unamused, "I think you should do a scan for alien tech."

The Doctor holds his sonic screwdriver to the door.

"Gimme some Spock! For once, would it kill ya?" She asks.

"Are you sure about that t-shirt?"

For once I agree with the Doctor's taste in fashion, that union jack shirt is garish.

"Too early to say. I'm taking it out for a spin."

The Doctor continues trying to open the lock with his sonic.

I turn around as I hear an eerie voice,

"Mummy?"

I look around until I spot a child on the roof, "Doctor? Doctor? There's a kid up there!"