The Fall of Arcadia (Book ONE)

Chapter 6

"Did you say daughter?" Donna gasped.

"Mmm, techincally" I murmured.

"Technically how?"

"Progenation. Reproduction from two single organisms. Means one of us is mum, the other dad. That's all I can make sense of" Alice whispered, looking in disgust at how easily our daughter handled a gun.

"Somethings coming!" she shouted, looking at the shadows on the wall. As soon as they came into view, they open fired.

"It's the Hath!" The Hath returned fire, narrowly missing Alice's head.

"Get down!" the girl yelled at us. We hid by the TARDIS and waited for the shooting to stop.

"We have to blow the tunnel. Get the detonator!" the lead soldier shouted to us.

"We aren't detonating anything!" Alice screamed back, working her way over to an injured soldier. Donna and I followed, not seeing Martha get dragged off by a Hath soldier. Our daughter then grabbed the detonator.

"Blow it up! Blow it up!" Then we saw Martha.

"Martha! No, don't!" I shouted at her, but she hit the button anyway. A klaxon sounded and we all took cover before the explosion.

"You sealed off the tunnel, why did you do that?" Alice demanded once it was stable.

"They were trying to kill us!" she replied indignantly. Definitely our daughter.

"But they've got our friend!"

"Collateral damage. At least you've still got those 2, he lost both his men. I'd say you came out ahead."

"Her names Martha. And she's not collateral damage, not for anyone, got that G I Jane?" Donna snapped.

"I'm going to find her" I said, heading for the TARDIS.

"You're going no where. You don't make sense you three. No guns, no marks, no fight in you. I'm taking you to General Cobb. Now move" the lead soldier demanded, pointing the gun again.

So, one of these days then.

Alice:

I was a mum. I'd always wanted to be one, but not like this. Not with my daughter willing to kill people.

"I'm Donna, what's your name?" Donna asked our daughter as we walked to the camp.

"Don't know, it's not been assigned." she replied.

"Well, if you don't know that, what do you know?"

"How to fight."

"Nothing else?"

"The machine must embed military history and tactics but no name" the Doc explained, as far away from our daughter and I.

"She's a generated anomaly" I added.

"Generated anomaly" Donna repeated. "Generated. Well, what about that? Jenny?"

"Jenny. Yeah, I like that, Jenny" she grinned.

"What do you think, mum and dad?" Donna nudged my side playfully.

I sighed. "Good as anything I suppose."

"Not what you'd call natural parents, are you?"

The Doctor retorted "They stole a tissue sample at gunpoint and processed it. It's not what I'd call natural parenting" he didn't look at me as he said this.

"Rubbish. My friend Nerys fathered twins with a turkey baster. Don't bother her"

I pointed out, "You can't extrapolate a maternal relationship from a biological mistake"