The TARDIS hurtled through the Time Vortex in pursuit of a cylindrical object. Rose hurried into the console room to find the Doctor and the Artist rushing about the console, operating the controls. "What's the emergency?" Rose asked them.
"It's mauve." the Doctor replied.
"Mauve?"
"The universally recognised colour for danger." the Artist answered, hitting a blue switch and the TARDIS stopped shaking.
"What happened to red?" Rose asked, moving to stand by the Doctor.
"That's just humans." the Doctor replied, "By everyone else's standards, red's camp. Oh, the misunderstandings. All those red alerts, all that dancing." He gestured to the object they were chasing on the monitor. "It's got a very basic flight computer. I've hacked in and we've slaved the TARDIS. Where it goes, we go."
"And how safe is that?" Rose asked.
"Totally." the Doctor replied casually and pressed a button. Part of the console promptly sparked, causing him to jump back. "Okay, reasonably. Should've said reasonably there." he corrected sheepishly.
The Artist just rolled her eyes and swing the monitor round to her side of the console to check it. She could see the Time Vortex turning blue, meaning that the object was going backwards in time. "Doctor, it's jumping time tracks, getting away from us." she warned.
"What exactly is that thing?" Rose asked.
"Haven't a clue." the Artist replied, swinging the monitor back to the Doctor as they worked to keep up with the object.
"And why are we chasing it?" Rose quizzed.
"It's mauve and dangerous." the Doctor told her, "And about 30 seconds from the centre of London."
——————————————————————————
When the TARDIS stopped, the trio stepped out to find themselves in an alleyway behind some bleak-looking terraced houses. "D'yer know how long we can knock around space without bumping into Earth?" the Doctor asked sarcastically.
"Five days." Rose retorted, "Or is that just when we're outta milk?"
"All the species in the universe, and it has to come out of a cow." the Doctor muttered.
"Could be worse." the Artist quipped, "At least it doesn't come out of Rats... or Drashigs."
"Fair point." the Doctor conceded, and they made their way further along the alley. "Must've come down somewhere quite close." the Doctor observed, "Within a mile, anyway. And it can't have been more than a few weeks ago. Maybe a month."
"A month?!" Rose questioned, "We were right behind it."
"Rose, it was jumping time tracks and hopping about all over the place." the Artist told her, "I'm not surprised we're a little bit out."
"Do you wanna drive?" the Doctor asked Rose indignantly.
"Yeah." she answered.
"We can teach ya sometime." the Artist said, "But I warn ya, the TARDIS is a complicated machine and the Doctor and I aren't exactly pros."
"How much is a little?" Rose asked, getting back on topic.
"A bit." the Doctor waved her off, heading for a padlocked set of doors at the end of the alley.
"Is that exactly a bit?" Rose persisted.
"Ish."
"What's the plan, then? Ya gonna scan for alien tech or something?"
"Rose, it hit the middle of London with a very loud bang." the Doctor answered flatly, "We're gonna ask." He showed Rose his psychic paper.
"Doctor John Smith, Ministry of Asteroids, and his assistant, Nancy Jones." Rose read.
"Psychic paper, tells yer..."
"Whatever ya want it to tell me, I remember." Rose cut in, remembering the Doctor's explanation on Platform One.
"Sorry." the Doctor mumbled as they reached the doors.
"Not very Spock, is it?" Rose went on, "Just asking."
The Doctor pressed his ear to the door. "Door, music, people. What d'yer think?"
"I think you should scan for alien tech." Rose said flatly as she watched the Doctor flash his sonic screwdriver on the padlock, "Gimme some Spock for once. Would it kill either of ya?"
"Rose, just cos' we have fancy gadgets, doesn't mean we have to whip them out for everything." the Artist told her, "Sometimes, the old fashioned ways are best."
"You sure about that t-shirt?" the Doctor asked, looking at the rather garish Union Flag t-shirt Rose was wearing.
"Too early to say." Rose shrugged, "I'm taking it out for a spin."
"I like the shirt." the Artist reassured her.
"Thanks." Rose replied, "You should try it sometime. Bet it'd look great on ya."
Just then, her attention was caught by a child's voice in the distance calling out; "Muuuu-mmy?"
While Rose looked around for the source of the voice, the Doctor finished with the lock and opened the door. "Come on, if yer coming." he said to Rose, "Won't take a minute." He stepped through the door.
"Rose?" the Artist frowned, noticing that Rose wasn't paying attention.
"Yeah, yeah, with ya in a minute." Rose waved her off, still looking around.
The Artist considered asking her what was wrong, but then decided that someone needed to keep an eye on the Doctor, so she went through the door after him.
"Muuuu-mmy?" the child's voice called out again.
Rose continued looking around and noticed a little blonde boy in a gas mask standing on a nearby rooftop. "Doctor? Artist? There's a kid up there!" Rose called urgently, but the Time Lords were already inside the building and out of earshot, so Rose ran off to try and find a way to rescue the boy herself.
——————————————————————————
Meanwhile, the Doctor and the Artist made their way through a darkened corridor, following the sound of voices and music. They pushed through some curtains to find themselves in a crowded drinking den, where people in mid-20th century clothing were smoking, drinking and chatting, while a female singer stood on stage performing a romantic song.
——————————————————————————
Rose reached the building the boy was on top of. "You alright up there?" she called up to him.
"Muuuuu-my?" the boy called.
Rose began to climb the fire escape.
——————————————————————————
In the nightclub, the singer finished her song and the patrons applauded. The singer vacated the stage and the Doctor stepped up to the mike. "Excuse me, s'cuse me. Could I have everybody's attention just for a mo? Be very quick, eh... hello!" He waved cheerfully. "Eh... might seem like a stupid question, but has anything fallen from the sky recently?"
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.
——————————————————————————
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.
——————————————————————————
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.
——————————————————————————
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.
——————————————————————————
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."
"Well, if you know so much, tell me this, how can it be ringing?" the Doctor asked, turning back to the phone, "It's not even a real phone. It's not connected, it's not..." He turned back to see that the woman had disappeared.
"Someone's quick on their feet." the Artist commented, then they both turned back to the phone.
The Doctor hesitantly picked up the receiver and held up so that they both could hear. "Hello?" he called, "This is the Doctor speaking. How may I help you?"
"Mummy?" a child's voice came over the other end. "Mummy?"
"Who is this?" the Artist frowned, "Who's speaking?"
"Are you my mummy?"
"Are you alright?" the Artist tried.
"Mummy?"
"How did you ring here?" the Doctor questioned, "This isn't a real phone, it's not wired up to anything, it's..."
"Mummy?" the child's voice interrupted, then the line went dead.
The Doctor slowly put the receiver back in it's cradle while the Artist poked her head inside the TARDIS. "Rose, are you there?" she called out.
Suddenly, they heard a crashing sound from somewhere behind them, so they went off to investigate, hurrying out of the alleyway and into a street.
Soon, their attention was caught by a woman's voice; "The planes are coming. Can't you hear 'em? Into the shelter. None of ya nonsense, now MOVE IT!" Following the sound, the Time Lords climbed up on top of some bins and looked over a garden wall to see a plump woman ushering a small boy into an air raid shelter. "Come on, come on, get in there." the woman fussed and turned back to the house, "Arthur! Arthur, will you hurry up?! Didn't ya hear the sirens?"
A plump man, evidently Arthur, came storming out of the house. "Middle of dinner every night." he grumbled, "Blooming Germans, don't they eat?"
"I can hear the planes!" his wife fussed.
"Don't you eat?!" Arthur shouted skywards, then stumped over to the shelter.
"Keep ya voice down, will ya? There's an air raid!" his wife ordered, then pushed him into the shelter and followed him inside, both of them arguing all the while.
"I feel sorry for their son." the Artist remarked to the Doctor, "Having to life with them two all the time."
Just then, the Time Lords saw the woman from before come out of hiding by the shelter and creep into the house by the back door.
The woman, Nancy, entered the kitchen and began taking tins of food out of the cupboards and putting them into her knapsack. She then made for the front door, but stopped when something in the dining room caught her attention. She saw an unfinished meal on the table and smiled. She went out to the end of the front path and whistled, then went back inside. She slipped her coat off and began carving up the plump joint of meat on the table. Two boys ran in. "Many kids out there?" Nancy asked.
"Eh... yes, miss." the younger boy, Jim, answered, then they both ran to the table and made for the food.
"Ah, still carving." Nancy told them, "Sit and wait. We've the whole air raid."
"Look at that." the older boy, Ernie, commented, looking at the joint. "Bet it's off the black market."
"That's enough." Nancy chided lightly.
——————————————————————————
Rose meanwhile was still clinging for dear life to the rope. The balloon continued to drift over London, nearing Westminster. Planes continued to whizz past Rose, their machine guns letting rip, while anti-aircraft guns on the ground fired into the air in an attempt to nail the air-borne invaders. Then, a bomb landed somewhere beneath Rose, the blast causing her to lose her grip on the rope and fall towards the flames, screaming.
Suddenly, a blue beam of light shot out of somewhere near the Westminster clock tower and caught Rose mid-fall. "Okay, okay, I've got you." an American-accented voice called out.
"Who's got me?" a scared and surprised Rose shouted, "Who's got me, and ya know, how?"
"I'm just programming your descent pattern." the voice replied, "Keep as still as you can and keep ya hands and feet inside the light field."
"Descent pattern?"
"Oh, and could you switch off ya cell phone? No, seriously, it interferes with my instruments."
"Ya know, no one ever believes that." Rose muttered, pulling out her phone and switching it off.
"Thank you." the voice said, "That's much better."
"Oh, yeah, that's a real load off, that is." a hysterical Rose said sarcastically, "I'm hanging in the sky in the middle of a German air raid with the Union Jack across my chest, but hey! My mobile phones off!"
The voice just laughed. "Be with you in a moment. Ready for you. Hold tight."
"To what?!"
"Fair point."
Rose suddenly found herself zooming feet first down the tunnel of light, screaming all the way. There was a flash and the next moment, Rose found herself in the arms of a dashing dark-haired man in an RAF uniform. "I've got you." he said, "You're fine, you're just fine. The tractor beam, it can scramble ya head just a little."
Rose suddenly seemed to notice him. "Hello." she said breathlessly.
"Hello." the man grinned, raising his eyebrows and looking her up and down.
"Hello." Rose repeated, still gazing at him. "Sorry, that was hello twice there. Dull, but ya know, thorough."
"Are you alright?" the man asked.
"Fine." Rose said, and the man put her down on her feet. "Why, are you expecting me to faint or something?"
"Well, you do look a little dizzy." the man said.
"What about you? You're not even in focus..." Rose managed to get out, before her eyes rolled back into her head and she fainted in the man's arms.
——————————————————————————
At the house, several children were now sitting at the table as Nancy continued to cut up the joint. "It's got to be black market." Ernie said for the umpteenth time, "He couldn't get all this on coupons."
"Ernie, how many times? We are guests in this house." Nancy scolded, "We will not make comments of that kind. Washing up."
The other children all laughed at Ernie. "Oh, Nancy." he sulked.
Nancy looked to one of the other boys at the table. "Haven't seen you at one of these before." she said.
"He told me about it." the boy, Alf, replied, pointing to his mate.
"Sleeping rough."
"Yes, miss."
"Alright then." Nancy said, passing the plate around. "One slice each, and I wanna see everyone chewing properly."
"Thank ya, miss!" Jim said as he took his slice and passed the plate.
"Thanks, miss!" Ernie said as he took a slice for himself and passed the plate along.
"Thank you, miss." a boy said, taking their slice and passing the plate to the person next to them.
"Thanks, miss." an older, Lancashire-accented voice said as a pair of adult hands took the plate. The children all gasped and jumped back in surprise to see the Doctor sitting at the table with the Artist standing behind him, leaning on his chair.
"It's alright." Nancy assured the kids, "Everybody stay where they are."
"Good here, innit?" the Doctor said casually, "Who's got the salt?"
"Back in ya seats." Nancy told the kids, "They shouldn't be here either."
The children all sat down again as the Doctor helped himself to some sauce. "So, you lot..." he said, "What's the story?"
"What d'ya mean?" Ernie questioned.
"Yer homeless, right? Living rough?"
"Why d'you wanna know that?" Jim probed, "Are you a copper?"
"Of course I'm not a copper." the Doctor snorted, "What's a copper gonna do with you lot anyway? Arrest yer for starving?" The children all laughed at that, breaking the ice.
"We make it 1941." the Artist spoke up, checking her watch, "You kids shouldn't even be in London. You should've all been evacuated to the country by now."
"I was evacuated." Alf replied, "Sent me to a farm."
"So why d'yer come back?" the Doctor questioned
"There was a man there..." Alf shivered.
"Yeah, same with Ernie." Jim remarked, "Two homes ago."
"Shut up." Ernie grumbled, "It's better on the streets anyway. Better food."
"Yeah. Nancy always gets the best food for us." another boy agreed.
"So that's what yer do is it, Nancy?" the Doctor asked her.
"What is?" she looked over.
"As soon as the sirens go, yer find a big fat family meal, still warm on the table with everyone down in the air raid shelter and, bingo! Feeding frenzy for the homeless kids of London Town. Puddings for all! As long as the bombs don't get yer."
"Something wrong with that?" Nancy asked defensively.
"Wrong? It's brilliant." the Doctor replied, "Not sure if it's Marxism in action or a West End musical." The children looked confused at this.
"Why'd ya both follow me?" Nancy asked the Time Lords, "What d'ya want?"
"We want to know how a phone that isn't a phone gets a phone call." the Doctor replied, "You seem to be the one to ask."
"I did you a favour. I told ya not to answer it, that's all I'm telling ya."
"Great, thanks." the Doctor huffed, "And we wanna find a blonde in a Union Jack. I mean, a specific one, I didn't just wake up with a craving." The children all laughed at that, but Nancy wasn't impressed. The Artist suddenly leaned over and swiped a slice of meat off the Doctor's plate. "Oi!" he huffed.
"Nancy said one slice each. You took two, greedy." the Artist retorted cheekily and began eating the slice.
Nancy came over and snatched the Doctor's plate away. "No blonde, no flags." she told him bluntly, "Anything else before you two leave?"
"Yeah, there is actually, thanks for asking." the Doctor said, reaching into his pocket. "Something we've been looking for, would've fallen from the sky about a month ago, but not a bomb." He pulled out a note book. "Not the usual kind anyway. Wouldn't have exploded. Would've just buried itself in the ground somewhere, and it would've looked something like..." He did a quick sketch. "This." He showed them a scribbled drawing of the cylindrical object.
Nancy looked at it intently, but said nothing. The Artist picked up on her body language, but before she could ask the human about it, there was a knock on the window and the children all gasped.
"Mummy?" a child's voice sounded from outside, "Are you in there, mummy?"
The Artist pulled the curtain aside to see the blonde gas mask-wearing boy that Rose had seen earlier standing by the window.
"Who was the last one in?" Nancy asked urgently.
"Them." Ernie answered, gesturing to the Time Lords.
"Nah, they came round the back. Who came in the front?"
"Me." Alf whispered.
"Did ya close the door?" Nancy asked him.
"I..." Alf began hesitantly.
"Did you close the door?" Nancy repeated, sounding more urgent this time.
"Mummy?" the child's voice called again, "Mummy?"
Nancy rushed down the hallway, slammed the front door shut and bolted it before the child could get in. She then backed away, looking at the shadow of the child outside the door, terrified. The Doctor had seen all of this. "What's this, then?" he asked concernedly, "It's never easy being the only child left out in the cold yer know."
"I suppose you'd know." Nancy shot back.
"I do actually, yes." he retorted.
"It's not exactly a child." Nancy told him and went back into the living room, "Right, everybody out, across the garden and under the fence." she ordered the children, who all just looked at her. "Now! Go! Move!" The children all jumped out of their seats and hurried out of the room, while Nancy put her coat on. The Artist stood by the wall, watching all of this in concern. One little girl hadn't moved out of her seat. "Come on, baby." Nancy said to her, "You've gotta go, ok? It's just like a game. Just like chasing." The girl got to her feet. "Take ya coat, go on." Nancy ushered her out of the room.
The Doctor stood in the hallway watching the kids rush out of the backdoor, slightly confused. "Mummy?" the child's voice caught his attention, "Please let me in, mummy." The child stuck his hand through the letterbox, revealing an X-shaped scar on the back of it. "Please let me in, mummy."
"You alright?" the Doctor asked.
"Please let me in." the child pleaded.
Suddenly, a vase came flying past the Doctor and smashed against the door, causing the child to withdraw his hand. The Doctor looked round to see Nancy standing behind him, while the Artist stood in the doorway to the dining room. "You mustn't let him touch ya!" Nancy warned.
"What happens if he touches me?" the Doctor asked.
"He'll make ya like him." Nancy answered grimly.
"And what's he like?" the Artist asked, concerned that everyone seemed to be frightened of this particular boy.
"I've gotta go." Nancy said evasively and turned to leave.
"Nancy, what is he like?." the Time Lady persisted.
"He's empty." Nancy shivered. Then, the phone rang and the Time Lords looked at it. "It's him." Nancy told them, "He can make phones ring, he can. Just like with that phone box you saw."
The Doctor looked at the shadow of the child outside the door then picked up the phone. "Are you my mummy?" the child's voice came over the other end. Nancy snatched the receiver off the Doctor and slammed it back down. Then, the radio in the dining line sprang to life. Above the lively music came the same child's voice; "Mummy? Please let me in, mummy."
The Artist, who was nearest, went over to the radio and fiddled with the tuner, to no avail. Then, a toy monkey came to life. "Mummy? Muuumy, muu-my..." the child's voice filtered through the monkey.
"You two can stay here if ya want." Nancy shivered and left through the back door.
The child stuck his hand through the letterbox again. "Mummy? Let me in please, mummy. Let me in."
"Your mummy isn't here I'm afraid, sweetheart." the Artist said gently, while the Doctor knelt down to look at the scar closely.
There was a pause, then the child spoke again; "Are you my mummy?"
"No mummies here." the Doctor replied, "Nobody here but us chickens." He looked behind him at the deserted house. "Well, these two chickens."
"I'm scared." the child whimpered.
"Why are the other children frightened of you?" the Artist asked.
"Please let me in, mummy. I'm scared of the bombs."
The Time Lords thought for a moment. Their parental instincts took over. "Okay, I'm opening the door now." the Doctor said. The child withdrew his hand. The Doctor drew the bolt back and opened the door, but the child had disappeared. The Time Lords walked down the path and looked down both ends of the road, but there was no sign of the child. "Blimey, he's quick on his feet." the Doctor muttered.
"I think we need to find Nancy." the Artist told him, "She clearly knows something about that thing we're looking for."
——————————————————————————
Rose awoke to find herself lying on a bunk bed. She got up and looked around at her surroundings. She appeared to be inside a spaceship. "Better now?" the American man's voice called.
"You got lights in here?" Rose asked.
The man flipped a switch and the lights came on to reveal him sitting in the pilot's chair. "Hello." he grinned.
"Hello." Rose said back.
"Hello." he repeated.
"Let's not start that again." Rose laughed.
"Okay." he laughed back.
Rose took a few steps closer to him. "So, um... who're you s'posed to be, then?"
"Captain Jack Harkness, 133 Squadron, Royal Air Force, American volunteer." the man replied, handing Rose what appeared to be an ID card.
Rose looked at it. "Liar." she snorted, "This is psychic paper. It tells me whatever you want it to tell me."
"How do you know?" Jack asked, caught out.
"Two thing." Rose answered back, "One, I have two friends who use this all the time. And two, you just handed me a piece of paper telling me you're single and you work out."
"Tricky thing, psychic paper." Jack remarked, taking the paper back off her.
"Yeah. Can't let ya mind wander when ya handing it over."
Jack read the paper. "Oh, you 'sort of' have a boyfriend called Mickey Smith but you consider yourself to be footloose and fancy free."
"What..." an embarrassed Rose laughed.
"Actually, the word you use is 'available'."
"No way..."
"And another one, 'very.'"
"Shall we, uh... try to get along without the psychic paper?" Rose asked, standing up.
"That would be better, wouldn't it?" Jack said, also standing.
"Nice spaceship." Rose commented, giving the ship the once over.
"Gets me around." Jack replied nonchalantly.
"Very... Spock."
"Who?"
"Guessing ya not a local boy, then." Rose shrugged.
Jack looked at a device on his wrist, having scanned Rose while beaming her onboard. "A cell phone, a liquid crystal watch and fabrics that won't be around for another two decades." he fired off, "Guessing you're not a local girl."
Rose sat down in the pilot's seat, examining the ship. "Guessing right." she said and leaned forward to look out of the viewport. She placed her hands down on the ledge, only to wince in pain and pull them away. She looked at her hands to see that they were badly blistered.
"Burn ya hands on the rope?" Jack asked.
"Yeah." Rose replied and had another look out the viewport. "We're parked in mid-air! Can't anyone down there see us?"
"No." Jack replied calmly, "Can I have a look at your hands for a moment?"
"Why?" Rose asked suspiciously.
"Please?" Jack repeated, and Rose held her hands out in front of him. He then ran a scanner over them. "You can stop acting now. I know exactly who you are. I can smell a Time Agent a mile away."
"Time Agent?" Rose frowned.
"I've been expecting one of you guys to show up." Jack continued, "Though not, I must say, by barrage balloon. Do you often travel that way?"
"Sometimes I get swept off my feet." Rose retorted, "By balloons...What're ya doing?" she asked as Jack took off his scarf and tied it around Rose's wrists.
"Try to keep still." Jack instructed as he finished binding her hands. He pressed a button on the control panel and what appeared to be golden fireflies appeared above the wounds on Rose's hands. "Nanogenes." Jack explained, "Sub-atomic robots. The air in here's full of 'em." He pressed the button and the nanogenes disappeared, leaving Rose's hands good as new. "They just repaired three layers of your skin." Jack finished as he retrieved his scarf.
"Well, tell 'em thanks!" Rose laughed.
"Shall we get down to business?" Jack said, walking down the ship.
"Business?"
Jack picked up a bottle of champagne. "Shall we have a drink on the balcony?" He pressed a button and a set of steps lowered from the ceiling. "Bring up the glasses." Jack said as he went up the steps.
Rose found a pair of drinking glasses and cautiously followed him upstairs to find that they were standing atop an invisible ship beside the Westminster clock tower. "I'm standing on something." Rose laughed nervously. Jack chuckled and took out what appeared to be a key fob from his pocket. He pressed a button and a sleek-looking ship appeared beneath their feet. "Okay, you have an invisible spaceship." Rose breathed.
"Yeah."
"Tethered up to Big Ben for some reason."
"First rule of active camouflage. Park somewhere you'll remember." Jack said and popped the cork on the bottle, then poured them both drinks.
——————————————————————————
Meanwhile, Nancy had gone to some railway sidings. She snuck into the cab of a tank engine that had been disabled by enemy action and began stashing the food she'd acquired from the house into the firebox. She suddenly became aware of the presence of other people and spud round to see the Doctor and the Artist standing by the cab's entrance. "How'd you two follow me here?" Nancy questioned.
"We're good at following, us." the Doctor replied casually, "I've got the nose for it, and she's got the eyes." He gestured to the Artist.
"People can't usually follow me if I don't want 'em to." Nancy said suspiciously.
"His nose has special powers." the Artist replied.
"Yeah?" Nancy snorted, "Is that why it's so..."
"What?" the Doctor asked, while the Artist sniggered.
"Nothing! Do ya ears have special powers too?" Nancy asked teasingly.
"What're yer trying to say?" the Doctor huffed, knowing full what she was trying to say.
"Goodnight, mister." Nancy said and turned to leave.
The Artist stopped sniggering. "Nancy." she called, "There's something chasing you and the other kids, something that looks like a boy, but isn't a boy. And would I be right in guessing that it started about a month ago, right?"
Nancy stopped and turned around.
"The thing we're looking for." the Doctor added, "The thing that fell from the sky, that's when it landed. And you know what we're talking about, don't you."
"There was a bomb." Nancy said slowly, "A bomb that wasn't a bomb. Fell the other end of Limehouse Green station."
"Take us there." the Doctor said.
Nancy shook her head. "There's soldiers guarding it, barbed wire... you'll never get through."
"Try me." the Doctor said simply.
"You sure ya really wanna know what's going on in there?"
"We really wanna know."
"Then there's someone ya need to talk to first."
"And who's that?" the Artist asked.
"The Doctor." Nancy replied, and turned away.
——————————————————————————
Meanwhile, Rose was finishing her champagne. "Ya know, it's getting a bit late." she said as she got to her feet, "I should really be getting back."
"We're discussing business." Jack replied casually, lounging on the hull of his ship.
"This isn't business." Rose smiled, "This is champagne."
"I try never to discuss business with a clear head." Jack retorted, standing up, "Are you travelling alone? Are you authorised to negotiate with me?"
"What would we be negotiating?" Rose asked, going along with it.
"I have something for the Time Agency. Something they'd like to buy. Are you empowered to make payment?"
"Well, I, I should to talk to my... companions."
"Companions?" Jack raised a brow.
"Yeah, I should really be getting back to 'em." Rose said, realising that the Time Lords were probably going out of their minds with worry.
"Them?"
Rose checked her watch, only to remember that it was set to TARDIS time. "D'ya have the time?" she asked Jack, who pressed his key fob and the clock tower chimed next to time. "Okay, that was flash." Rose laughed, "Th... that was on the flash side."
Jack moved closer and placed his hands on Rose's waist. "So... when you say 'companions', just how disappointed should I be?"
"Okay, we're standing in mid-air, on a spaceship during a German air raid." Rose stated flatly, "D'ya really think now's a good time to be coming onto me?"
"Perhaps not." Jack said and walked away from her.
"Well, it was just a suggestion." Rose said hastily.
Jack turned back to her. "D'you like Glen Miller?" he asked and pressed his key fob again, causing Moonlight Serenade to play. He walked back to Rose and they began to slow dance. "It's 1941. The height of the London Blitz." Jack said, "The height of the German bombing campaign. And something else has fallen on London, a fully-equipped Chula warship. The last one in existence, armed to the teeth." He drew back to look at Rose properly. "And I know where it is. Because I parked it." Rose laughed at that. "If the Agency can name the right price, I can get it for ya." Jack continued, "But in two hours, a German bomb is gonna fall on it and destroy it forever." He looked at her and his tone became more serious. "That's the deadline. That's the deal. And now, shall we discuss payment?"
"D'ya know what I think?" Rose mumbled.
"What?"
"I think you were talking just there..." Rose said dreamily.
"Two hours, the bomb falls." Jack told her seriously, "There'll be nothing left but dust and a crater."
"Promises, promises..." Rose mumbled.
"Are you listening to any of this?" Jack asked, shaking her slightly.
Rose sobered up. "You used to be a Time Agent, now ya some kinda free lancer."
"Ooh, that's a little harsh." Jack remarked, "I like to think of myself as a criminal."
"I bet ya do!" Rose laughed.
"So, these companions of yours, do they handle the business?"
"Well, I delegate a lot of that, yeah."
"Well, maybe we should go find them."
"And how're you gonna do that?" Rose asked.
"Easy. I'll do a scan for alien tech." Jack replied, pulling away from Rose and starting fiddling with the device on his wrist.
"Finally a professional." Rose smirked to herself. She wasn't demeaning the Time Lords, but she found it odd that despite having a TARDIS full of advanced technology at their disposal, they both preferred to use old fashioned methods. At least the Artist had given Rose lessons on how to use the sonic screwdrivers, but the Doctor seemed rather stingy on letting Rose play around with their tech.
——————————————————————————
Meanwhile, the two Time Lords in question were standing on a footbridge a short distance from the bomb site, using their binoculars to survey the site, while Nancy stood behind them. "The bomb's under that tarpaulin." she explained, "They put that fence up overnight. See that building? The hospital."
The Time Lords shifted their attention to a nearby building. "What about it?" the Doctor asked.
"That's where the doctor is." Nancy replied.
The Artist zoomed her binoculars in on the hospital gates. It was Albion Hospital, the same hospital where the pig had been taken to during the Slitheen incident. "Small world." she muttered.
"You should talk to him." Nancy continued.
"For now, we're more interested in getting in there." the Doctor replied, moving his binoculars back to the bomb site.
"Talk to the doctor first." Nancy insisted.
"Why?"
"Cos' then maybe ya won't wanna get inside." Nancy retorted, and began to walk back up the steps.
The Artist lowered her binoculars and turned her. "Where're you going?" she asked the human.
"There was a lot of food in that house. I've got a lot of mouths to feed." Nancy replied, "Should be safe enough now."
"Who did ya loose, Nancy?" the Artist asked.
"What?"
"The way you look after all those other kids, it's because you've lost someone close to ya, isn't it? You're doing this to make up for it."
"My little brother, Jamie." Nancy sighed, "One night I went out looking for food. Same night that thing fell. I told him not to follow me, told him it was dangerous, but he just..."
"He didn't listen and followed ya anyway." the Artist finished.
"He just didn't like being on 'is own." Nancy confirmed.
The Doctor lowered his binoculars and turned to them. "What happened?" he asked.
"In the middle of an air raid? What d'ya think happened?" Nancy retorted.
"I'm sorry, Nancy." the Artist said sympathetically, "I had a brother who died in a war too."
They were all silent for a moment, then the Doctor looked to the sky and smiled. "Amazing." he remarked.
"What is?" Nancy frowned.
"1941." the Doctor replied, "Right now, not very far from here, the German war machine is rolling up the map of Europe. Country after country, falling like dominoes. Nothing can stop it. Nothing. Until one tiny, damp little island says 'No. No, not here.'"
"A mouse in front of a lion. Drawing a line in the sand." the Artist added.
"Yer amazing, the lot of you." the Doctor said to Nancy, "Dunno what yer do to Hitler, but you frighten the hell outta me. Off yer go then... do what you've gotta do. Save the world."
The Time Lords went down the footsteps and made their way to Albion Hospital, while Nancy went off back towards the house she was at earlier.
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When the Time Lords reached the hospital, they found the gates padlocked and a notice warning people to keep out. The Doctor made short work of the padlock with his sonic and they entered the building.
They found the hospital deserted. After wandering through a few corridors, they entered a darkened ward, where they saw rows upon rows of patients lying on the beds, all wearing gas masks for some reason and completely lifeless.
The Time Lords went back into the corridor and headed into another ward, which had some lights on, and was also full of lifeless, gas mask-wearing patients. They heard a noise from behind them and turned to see an elderly man in a doctor's coat enter the ward. "You'll find them everywhere." he told them, "Every bed in every ward. Hundreds of them."
"Yes, we saw." the Doctor replied, "Why are they still wearing gas masks?"
"They're not." the man answered, "Who are you?"
"I'm, uh... are you the doctor?"
"Doctor Constantine. And you are"
"Nancy sent us." the Artist answered this time.
"Nancy? That means you must've been asking about the bomb."
"Yes." the Doctor confirmed.
"What do you know about it?" Dr Constantine asked.
"Nothing. Why we were asking. What do you know about it?"
"Only what it's done." Dr Constantine sighed.
"These people, they were all caught up in the blast?" the Doctor asked.
"None of them were." Dr Constantine replied, then suddenly went into a coughing fit and sat down in a chair behind him.
"You're very sick." the Artist observed, noticing just how nasty the coughs sounded.
"Dying, I should think, my dear. I just haven't been able to find the time." Dr Constantine replied, then turned to the Doctor. "Are you a doctor?"
"I have my moments." he replied.
"Have you examined any of them yet?" Dr Constantine asked.
"No."
"Don't touch the flesh." Dr Constantine warned ominously.
"Which one?"
"Any one."
The Doctor went over to the nearest bed and scanned it's occupant with his sonic.
"Conclusions?" Dr Constantine asked.
"Massive head trauma, mostly to the left side." the Doctor replied, and ran the sonic over the patient's chest. "Partial collapse of the chest cavity, mostly to the right. There's some scarring on the back of the hand and the gas mask seems to be fused to the flesh but I can't see any burns."
"Examine another one." Dr Constantine said.
The Doctor nodded to the Artist, who went over to a patient on the other side of the ward and scanned them with her sonic. "Same here." she frowned, "Now that can't be right." The injuries were exactly the same as the patient the Doctor had examined.
"Examine another." Dr Constantine said, and the Doctor hurried to another bed to do so, while the Artist did the same on her side of the ward.
"This isn't possible!" the Doctor frowned.
"No." Dr Constantine nodded.
"They've all got the same injuries." the Artist said.
"Yes." Dr Constantine agreed.
"Exactly the same." the Doctor remarked.
"Yes."
"Identical, all of them. Right down to the scar on the back of the hand." the Doctor rambled, neither he or the Artist noticing that Dr Constantine had that very scar on the back of his hand.
"How the hell did all this happen?" the Artist asked, "How did it start?"
"When that bomb dropped, there was just one victim." Dr Constantine explained.
"Dead?" the Doctor asked.
"At first. His injuries were truly dreadful. By the following morning, every doctor and nurse who had treated him, who had touched him, had those exact same injuries. By the morning after that, every patient in the same ward had the exact same injuries. Within a week, the entire hospital. Physical injuries, as plague. Can either of you explain that? What would you say was the cause of death?"
"The head trauma?" the Doctor asked.
"No."
"Asphyxiation?"
"No."
"The collapse of the chest cavity?" the Artist offered.
"No." Dr Constantine repeated.
The Doctor gave up. "All right, what was the cause of death?"
"There wasn't one." Dr Constantine replied grimly, "They're not dead." He whacked his walking stick against the bin next to him and the patients all sprang upright in bed. The Time Lords recoiled in alarm. "It's alright." Dr Constantine reassured them, "They're harmless. They just... sort of, sit there. No heartbeat, no life signs of any kind. They just... don't die."
"And they've just been left here?" the Doctor stared in disgust, "Nobody's doing anything?"
"I try and make them comfortable, what else is there?" Dr Constantine replied as the patients lay down again.
"It's just you?" the Artist asked, noticing that some of the patients were in hospital uniforms, "You're the only person left?"
"Before this war began, I was a father and a grandfather." Dr Constantine told her, "Now I am neither. But I am still a doctor."
"Yeah. I know the feeling." the Doctor sighed and the Artist rubbed his shoulder soothingly.
"I suspect the plan is to blow up the hospital and blame it on a German bomb." Dr Constantine said.
"Probably too late." the Doctor said grimly, looking around.
"No. There are isolated cases..." Dr Constantine began, sounding like it was getting harder to speak. "But... isolated cases breaking out all over London..." He erupted into another hacking coughing fit. The Time Lords started towards him but he waved them back. "Stay back." he warned, and they noticed the scar on his hand. "Listen to me... top floor. Room 802, that's where they took the first victim, the one from the crash site. And you must find Nancy again."
"Nancy?" the Doctor frowned.
"It was her brother." Dr Constantine gasped out, "She knows more than she's saying. She won't tell me, but she mi... mi.." He gagged and clutched his neck. "M... mu... mee... Are... you... my... Mum-my?"
The Doctor and the Artist could both only watch in horror as a gas mask emerged from Dr Constantine's mouth and spread across his face like a rash, his eyes bulging into goggles and he slumped in his chair, his face fully transformed into a gas mask.
There was a stunned silence from the Time Lords, with the Artist feeling rather sick at what she had just seen. Suddenly, they heard an American-accented voice calling out in the distance; "Hello?"
Then they heard a familiar London-accented voice; "Hello?"
The Time Lords stepped out into the corridor to see Rose and Jack coming the other way. "Good evening." Jack greeted, "Hope I'm not interrupting, Jack Harkness." He shook the Doctor's hand. "I've been hearing all about you both on the way over."
"He knows." Rose told the Time Lords, "I had to tell him about us being Time Agents."
The Doctor nodded, deciding to go along with that for now.
"And it's a real pleasure to meet you, Mr Spock." Jack said, patting the Doctor on the shoulder. The Doctor stared bemused, while the Artist couldn't help but smirk at that. Her smirk dropped when Jack turned to her. "And this gorgeous young lady must be Miss Artist. Very pleased to meet you." He kissed her hand. "Rose told me all about you, but she never said you were such a royal beauty!" He flashed her a smile and walked on.
"And I thought that Aplan architect was a flirt." the Artist muttered, then turned to see the Doctor glaring after Jack with a look on his face that was practically murderous. "What's the matter with you?" she asked him.
"Nothing." he grunted, then turned to Rose; "Mr Spock?"
"What was I s'posed to say?" Rose defended, "Ya don't have a name. Don't ya ever get tired of 'Doctor?' Doctor who?"
"Nine centuries in, I'm coping." the Doctor retorted, "Where've yer been? We're in the middle of the London Blitz, it's not a good time for a stroll."
"Who's strolling?" Rose remarked, going after Jack. "I went by barrage balloon. Only way to see an air raid."
"What?!" the Time Lords said in unison as they began to follow her.
"Listen, what's a Chula warship?" Rose asked.
The Doctor stopped. "Chula?" he muttered.
"On to something?" the Artist asked.
"Maybe." he replied, "But I'll have to check with Casanova in there to be sure."
"Well, after you, Mr Spock." the Artist teased.
"Of all the names she could've chosen, it would have to be Spock!" the Doctor grumbled.
"Well, you told me you gave them the idea for the Vulcan mind meld, so I suppose it's appropriate." the Artist shrugged.
The Doctor just grunted and they headed off after the humans.
——————————————————————————
Jack was soon busy scanning one of the patients in the ward with the device on his wrist, which the Time Lords recognised as a Time Agent's Vortex Manipulator. "This just isn't possible." he frowned, "How could this happen?"
"What kind of Chula ship landed here?" the Doctor interrogated.
"What?"
"He said it was a warship." Rose explained, "He stole it, parked it somewhere out there, somewhere a bomb's gonna fall on it unless we make him an offer."
"What kind of warship?" the Doctor questioned Jack.
"Does it matter?" Jack shot back agitated, "It's got nothing to do with this!"
"This started at the bomb site. It's got everything to do with it." the Doctor retorted angrily, "What kind of warship?"
"An ambulance!" Jack huffed, "Look." He brought up a hologram of the cylindrical object on his Vortex Manipulator. "That's what you chased through the Time Vortex. It's space junk. I wanted to kid you it was valuable. It's empty, I made sure of it. Nothing but a shell. I threw it at you. Saw your time travel vehicle, love the retro look by the way, nice panels, threw you the bait..."
"Bait?" Rose questioned.
"I wanted to sell it to you and destroy it before ya found out it was junk." Jack huffed and turned the hologram off.
"You said it was a warship." Rose accused.
"They have ambulances in wars." Jack retorted and walked away from them in a huff. "It was a con. I was conning you, that's what I am, I'm a con man. I thought you were Time Agents, you're not, are you?"
"Just three more freelancers." Rose muttered.
"Oh, should've know. The way you guys are blending into the local colour." Jack scoffed, "I mean, Flag Girl was bad enough, but Biker Chick and U-boat captain?" The trio all looked uncomfortably at their clothes. "Anyway, whatever's happening here has got nothing to do with that ship."
"What is happening here?" Rose asked the Time Lords, looking around the ward.
"Human DNA's being rewritten..." the Doctor replied, "By an idiot."
"What d'ya mean?"
"There's some kinda virus that's turning people into these things." the Artist told her, "But why? What's the point?"
Rose went over to one of the patients to examine it, when it suddenly sat bolt upright, as did all the others, all saying "Mummy?" repeatedly.
"What's happening?" Rose gasped, backing up to join the others.
"I don't know." the Doctor replied. The patients all got up out of bed and began to advance on the quartet. "Don't let them touch you." the Doctor warned the two humans.
"What happens if they touch us?" Rose asked.
"Ya looking at it." the Artist replied grimly.
The patients continued to advance, still chanting "Mummy" as they backed the quartet against the wall, enclosing them ready to make them the next victims of their plague.
To be continued...