Dusk ⋆ Doctor Who¹

2. The Space Worm

"KISS-O-GRAM?" the Doctor asks as they run out of the house, closing the door with his screwdriver.

"Yes, a kiss-o-gram. Work through it," the redhead answers.

"Why'd you pretend to be a policewoman?"

"Well," Aurora interjects. "You did break into her house."

"You did too!" she retorts. "And it was this or a French Maid."

They begin to hurry to the blue box in the garden. Aurora's mind is whispering urgently to her that it is a TARDIS? But she tries to push the thoughts away. Firstly, she'll worry about her sudden knowledge when the lives of innocent people won't be in danger. Secondly, she's way too scared right now to even think about it.

"What's going on?" the redhead asks. "Tell me."

The Doctor doesn't respond until she yells it at him. "An alien convict is hiding in your spare room disguised as a man and a dog, and some other aliens are about to incinerate your house. Any questions ?"

The girls look at each other. "Yes!"

"Me too," he says with his awkward smile.

He tries to open the TARDIS and grunts when he realizes he can't. "No, no, no, no! Don't do that, not now! It's still rebuilding. Not letting us in."

Aurora raises her eyebrows. "Are we talking in key words now?"

The Doctor shoots her a look, getting close to her and agitating his screwdriver around her.

"Did you just sonic me?"

"Sorry," he says without sounding sorry at all. "Still trying to figure out who you are and why do you know things."

"Yeah, you and me both."

He turns on himself before going to a shed, and the redhead seems to tense up.

"Come on."

"No, wait, hang on," he answers as he goes around it. "Wait, wait, wait, wait. The shed. I destroyed that shed last time I was here. Smashed it to pieces."

Aurora walks up to him and snaps her fingers in front of his face. He jumps a little. "Doctor, there's an alien who's going to blow up her house, and another one who's chasing us. We need to go."

"And so there's a new shed. Let's go," the girl says, urging him.

"Yeah, but the new one's got old." He doesn't pay attention to her, making them both groan. Their eyes go wide as he licks the wood. "It's ten years old at least. Twelve years. I'm not six months late, I'm twelve years late."

He walks up to the redhead, questioning her with his eyes.

"He's coming," she simply says.

"You said six months. Why did you say six months?"

"We've got to go," Aurora says, eyeing the man with the dog at the window above them.

"This matters", he answers. "This is important. Why did you say six months?"

"Why did you say five minutes!"