Halfway Out Of The Dark || The Doctor

The Empty Child

There was silence for a moment, then all the patrons burst out laughing. Both Time Lords frowned, wandering what was so funny about the Doctor's question.

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Rose reached the rooftop to find that the boy was standing on top of a water tank, with no steps leading up to him. "Mummy?" he called again.

"Okay, hold on. Don't move!" Rose called back to him. She noticed a rope hanging down the side of the tank, so she began to climb it.

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The patrons continued to howl with laughter. "Sorry, have I said something funny?" a confused Doctor asked, causing them to laugh even more. "It's just, there's this thing I need to find." he pressed on, "Would've fallen from the sky a couple of days ago." Suddenly, a loud siren sounded in the distance, and the patrons began to evacuate the room. "Would've landed quite near here." the Doctor tried to continue, "With a very loud..."

"Doctor." the Artist called. He looked over to see her pointing at a poster on the wall bearing the legend 'Hitler will send no warning.'

"Bang." the Doctor finished sheepishly, realising that they'd landed in the middle of the Second World War, where things fell from the sky day in and day out.

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Rose continued to climb the rope up the tank. "Mummy." the boy called again, "Balloon."

Rose looked up to see that the rope she was climbing up was attached to a barrage balloon. And before she could realise her mistake and jump clear, a gust of wind caught the balloon and began to blow it away from the rooftop, taking Rose with it. "Doctor! Artist!" she cried out in terror, but the Time Lords were still inside the building and couldn't hear her.

The balloon began to drift across the city. Rose looked round to see the view over her shoulder: blacked-out London, with a few fires burning and barrage balloons spread out in the air. Worse still, Rose could see a swarm of German planes coming straight for her.

"Okay... maybe not this t-shirt." was all she could say as the planes zoomed around her.

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The Doctor and the Artist left the drinking den and made their way back down the alley, looking for their companion. "Rose?" they called out, but there was no sign of her.

They stopped round the corner where the TARDIS was parked. "Yer know... one day. Just one day, maybe, we're gonna meet someone who gets the whole 'don't wander off' thing." the Doctor muttered irritably.

"I wouldn't bank on it." the Artist sighed.

"900 years of phone box travel and it's the only thing left to surprise me." the Doctor grumbled.

Suddenly, they heard a phone ringing nearby. They followed the sound to find that it was coming from the TARDIS. Brow furrowed in confusion, the Doctor opened the panel on the door where an old fashioned phone was hidden. "How can you be ringing?" the Doctor wandered, "What's that about? Ringing? What am I supposed to do with a ringing phone?"

"Well, I'm not a genius like you, but I'd guess that we're supposed to answer it." the Artist replied flatly.

"Don't answer it. It's not for you." a voice called out behind them, and they turned round to see a young woman standing there.

"And how do you know that?" the Doctor questioned.

"Cos' I do." the woman replied, "And I'm telling ya, don't answer it."