The patients continued to advance on the quartet, completely surrounding them. The Doctor stared sternly around at them. "Go to your room." he ordered as though he were addressing a disobedient child. The patients hesitated. "Go to your room!" the Doctor repeated. The patients all cocked their heads to one side. "I mean it!" the Doctor continued sternly, "I am very, very angry with you. I am very, very cross! Go... to... your... ROOM!" he thundered, pointing violently in no particular direction.
The patients all turned meekly away, their heads down as if they were sulking, and climbed back into their beds.
"I'm really glad that worked." the Doctor grinned in relief, "Those would've been terrible last words."
"At least they'd be better than 'Are you my Mummy?'" the Artist said dryly.
With the danger over for now, Rose went over to one of the beds to examine one of the patients, while Jack settled down in a chair. "Why're they all wearing gas masks?" Rose wandered.
"They're not. The masks are flesh and bone." Jack replied.
"How was yer con supposed to work?" the Doctor interrogated.
"Simple enough, really." Jack replied, "Find some harmless piece of space junk, let the nearest Time Agent track it back to Earth. Convince him it's valuable, name a price. When he's put 50% upfront, oops! A German bomb falls on it, destroys it forever. He never gets to see what he's paid for. Never knows he's been had. I buy him a drink with his own money and we discuss dumb luck. The perfect self-cleaning con."
"Yeah, perfect." the Doctor muttered darkly.
"The London Blitz is great for self-cleaners." Jack continued flippantly, "Pompeii's nice if ya wanna make a vacation of it, though. But you've gotta set ya alarm for volcano day." He laughed at his own joke, but stopped when he saw both Time Lords glaring daggers at him. "Getting a hint of disapproval."
"Why don't ya take a look around this room?" the Artist told him icily, "This is what your 'harmless'..." She used air quotes. "'Space junk did'."
"It was a burnt-out medical transporter, it was empty." Jack insisted.
The Time Lords just gave him dark looks and turned to leave. "Rose." the Artist called.
"We getting out of here?" Rose asked.
"We're going upstairs." the Doctor replied, he and the Artist heading for the door. Rose got up to follow them.
"I even programmed the flight computer so it wouldn't land on anything living, I harmed no-one!" Jack insisted, getting up too, "I don't know what's happening here, but believe me, I had nothing to do with it."
"I'll tell you what's happening." the Doctor retorted sharply, "You forgot to set yer alarm clock. It's volcano day."
A siren wailed in the distance. "What's that?" Rose asked.
"The all-clear." Jack replied.
"I wish." the Doctor scoffed and strode grimly out of the ward, the Artist hot on his heels.
——————————————————————————
The Time Lords were quick on their feet and Rose and Jack had soon lost them. "Mr Spock? Miss Artist?" Jack called.
"Doctor? Artist?" Rose called as they wandered the halls.
"Up here." the Artist's voice called and the humans doubled back to a flight of stairs to see the Time Lady leaning over the bannister.
The Doctor popped his head over as well. "Have you got a blaster?" he called.
"Sure!" Jack answered, and he and Rose hurried up the stairs to join the Time Lords outside the door to room 802.
"The night your space junk landed, someone was hurt." the Doctor explained, "This is where they were taken."
"What happened?" Rose asked.
"Let's find out." the Artist replied, and turned to Jack. "Can you get this door open, Flirt Boy?"
"Are you gorgeous as heck?" Jack grinned, and stepped forwards towards the door.
"What's wrong with your sonic screwdrivers?" Rose asked the Time Lords.
"Nothing." the Doctor grunted, glaring at Jack again, not at all happy with his flirting with the Artist.
Jack pulled out a futuristic-looking gun and fired a square-shaped beam of blue energy at the door, cutting a perfectly square-shaped hole in the lock.
"Sonic blaster, 51st century." the Doctor noted as Jack pulled the door open, "Weapon factories of Villengard."
"You've been to the factories?" Jack asked.
"Once." the Doctor replied, taking the blaster and examining it.
"Well, they're gone now. Destroyed. The main reactor went critical, vaporised the lot."
"Like I said, once." the Doctor said casually, handing Jack the blaster back, "There's a banana grove there now. I like bananas. Bananas are good." He smiled pleasantly at Jack and entered the room, the Artist following him.
"Nice blast pattern." Rose commented, looking at the perfectly square-shaped hole.
"Digital." Jack shrugged.
"Squareness gun?"
"Yeah."
"I like it." Rose remarked, and went into the room. Jack laughed then followed her inside.
The Doctor switched the light on to reveal that room 802 appeared to have been vandalised. The window was broken and furniture was overturned. "What d'yer think?" the Doctor asked no one in particular.
"Something got outta here." Jack observed.
"Yeah. And?"
"Something powerful. Angry."
"Powerful and angry." the Doctor murmured in agreement.
The Artist, Jack and Rose entered a room off to the side. The floor and walls were covered with child's drawings. There were a few toys on the floor and a little bed in the corner. "A child?" Jack stared, "I suppose this explains 'Mummy'."
"How could a child do this?" Rose asked the Artist.
The Time Lady didn't answer, she just looked around the room with a sad expression.
The Doctor found a tape recorder and switched it on. "Do you know where you are?" Dr Constantine's voice asked.
"Are you my mummy?" the child's voice asked.
"Are you aware of what's around you? Can you... see?"
"Are you my mummy?"
"What do you want? Do you know..."
"I want my mummy! Are you my mummy? I want my mummy! Are you my mummy?"
The Artist looked around the room. All of the drawings depicted the child's mother. Her hearts went out for the poor boy.
"I've heard this voice before." Rose frowned.
"Us too." the Doctor replied softly.
"Mummy?"
"Always 'are you my mummy?' Like he doesn't know." the Artist sighed.
"Mummy?"
"Why doesn't he know?" Rose asked.
"Are you there, mummy? mummy?"
The Artist continued to look around at the drawings while the Doctor stared blankly at the tape. Rose could see in both Time Lords' eyes that they were empathising with the child.
After Van Statten's museum, the Artist had told Rose a bit about the Time War and how families were torn apart, with children left scared and alone after their parents and siblings were butchered by the Daleks. This child's pleas were clearly reminding them both of all those horrors they'd witnessed.
Presently, the Doctor joined them in the other room and began pacing. "Mummy?" the child's voice said on the tape, "Please, mummy? Mummy?"
"Doctor?" Rose asked.
"Can you sense it?" the Doctor asked in response.
"Sense what?" Jack asked.
"Coming out of the walls, can you feel it?"
"Mummy?"
"He's so scared and lonely." the Artist sighed, understanding what the Doctor was talking about.
The Doctor stopped pacing and turned to look at the two humans, who were both just looking at them blankly. "Funny little human brains, how d'yer get around in those things?" he remarked.
"Oi, didn't we talk about this?" the Artist scolded.
"When he's stressed he likes to insult species." Rose said to Jack..
"Rose, I'm thinking." the Doctor retorted, resuming his pacing.
"Cuts himself shaving, does half-an-hour on life forms he's clever than." Rose continued.
The Doctor stopped pacing and turned to face the others, his back to the window. "There are these children, living rough round the bomb sites. They come out during air raids looking for food." he mused.
"Mummy, please?"
"Suppose they were there when this thing, whatever it was, landed?" the Doctor continued.
"It was a med-ship. It was harmless." Jack insisted again.
"Yes, you keep saying 'harmless'." the Doctor waved him off, "Suppose one of them was affected, altered?"
"Altered, how?" Rose asked.
"I'm here!"
"He's afraid." the Artist said, having followed the Doctor's train of thought, "He's terribly afraid, but also very powerful."
"He doesn't know it yet, but he soon will." the Doctor agreed, then gave a small laugh. "He's got the power of a god and I just sent him to his room."
Then, they all noticed a loud crackling sound filling the room. "Doctor..." Rose breathed nervously.
"I'm here." the child's voice called, "Can't you see me?"
"What's that noise?" Rose asked.
The Doctor's smile faded. "The end of the tape." he breathed, "It ran out about 30 seconds ago."
"I'm here now. Can't you see me?" the child's voice called.
"I sent him to his room." the Doctor said quietly, "This is his room." He spun round to see the child standing by the tape machine in the other room.
"Are you my mummy?" the child asked, cocking his head to the side, considering the two women in the room.
"Doctor? Artist?" Rose breathed, hoping one or both of them had an idea of how to get out of this.
Jack stepped forward. "Okay... on my signal... make for the door. Now!" He violently produced a banana and pointed it threateningly at the child.
The Doctor grinned and nodded to the Artist, who pulled Jack's blaster out of her jacket pocket and fired at the wall, blasting a large square hole in the wall. "Go! Now!" the Doctor urged, "Don't drop the banana!"
"Why not?!" Jack asked, hopping through the hole in the wall with Rose.
"Good source of potassium!" the Doctor shot back as he and the Artist scrambled through after them.
The quartet found themselves back in a corridor. The child approached them from inside the room. "Gimme that!" Jack said, snatching his blaster back off the Artist.
"Are you my mummy?" the child asked as it advanced towards the hole.
Jack fired at the wall and it rebuilt itself, blocking the child out. "Digital rewind." Jack explained to Rose, and tossed the banana to the Time Lady. "Nice switch." he remarked.
"It's from Villengard. We thought it was appropriate." the Artist replied, handing the banana to the Doctor.
"There's really a banana grove in the heart of Villengard and you two did that?"
"He did." the Artist said, jerking a thumb at the Doctor, "That was before I met him."
"Bananas are good." the Doctor said simply.
Suddenly, there was an almighty thump from the other side of the wall, which began to crack. "Doctor!" Rose hollered.
"Come on!" the Doctor urged, and led the quartet down the hall.
They rushed down a short flight of steps and down another corridor, only to see a group of infected patients burst out of the ward ahead, all calling for their mummy. The quartet hastily backtracked, but they found more patients coming from the other direction too. They found themselves back at the point they'd started, where the child was breaking through the wall.
"He's keeping us here till he can get at us." the Doctor realised.
"He's controlling them?" Jack asked, waving his blaster around.
"He is them." the Doctor told him, "He's every living thing in this hospital."
"Okay. This can function as a sonic blaster, a sonic cannon and a triple-enfolded sonic disrupter." Jack said as he continued to wave his blaster around, "Doc, Arty, what you two got?"
The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver. "We've got sonic, er... oh, never mind." he tailed off, realising that a screwdriver wouldn't do much damage.
"What?"
"We've both got sonic devices, okay." the Artist told him, "Let's just leave it at that."
"Disrupters? Cannons? What?" Jack persisted.
"They're sonic!" the Doctor waved him off, "Totally sonic. We are sonic-ed up!"
"With sonic whats?!"
"SCREWDRIVERS!" the Doctor yelled, holding his sonic up.
Jack spun round and stared at him.
"We don't have time for this!" the Artist reminded, and at that moment, reinforcing her point, the child managed to punch through the wall and began to climb through.
Rose grabbed Jack's wrist and forced him to aim the sonic blaster at the floor. "Going down!" she called and blasted a hole in the floor, causing them all to fall in a messy heap on the floor of the darkened room below. Jack hurriedly activated the digital rewind, sealing the hole so that they couldn't be followed. "Is everyone okay?" Rose asked.
"Yeah, good thinking, Rose." the Artist replied.
"Could've used a warning, though." the Doctor grumbled, nursing his sore backside.
"Ugh, the gratitude." Rose muttered as they all stood up and brushed themselves off.
"Who has a sonic screwdriver?" Jack asked.
"We do!" the Doctor retorted.
"Lights!" Rose called.
"On it." the Artist replied, taking out her sonic and using it's penlight function to illuminate the part of the room they were standing in with it's blue light. "That better?" she asked.
"Yeah." Rose answered, "At least until I can find the light switch." She began to look around for one, while the Artist used her sonic to check the room.
"Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks; 'Ooh, this could be a little more sonic'?" Jack scoffed.
"What yer've never been bored?" the Doctor replied indignantly.
"There's gotta be a light switch." Rose muttered as she looked around the room.
"Never had a long night? Never had a lot of cabinets to put up?" the Doctor continued to defend his sonic.
Rose finally found a light switch and moved to turn it on. The Artist, who was using her sonic as a torch, suddenly noticed something. "Rose, no!" she hollered, but it was too late.
Rose turned the lights on to reveal that they were in a ward full of infected patients, who all promptly sat upright in bed and called out for their Mummy. "Door." Jack urged, and the quartet rushed to the door at the end of the ward as the patients started getting out of bed. Finding the door locked, Jack aimed his blaster at the lock and pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. "Damn it!" he groaned and stepped back to allow the Artist to unlock the door with her screwdriver, "It's the special features, they really drain the battery." Jack explained to Rose.
"The battery?!" Rose questioned as the door was opened and the Artist ushered her through it, "That's so lame!" 51st century, and they still relied on batteries!
They found themselves in a store room. The Doctor slammed the door shut behind them and locked it with his screwdriver, while Jack ran to the window and checked it. "I was gonna send for another one." he said to Rose, "But someone's gotta blow up the factory!" He levelled a glare at the Doctor.
"Oh, I know." Rose replied, "First day I met 'em, they blew my job up. That's practically how they communicate."
The Doctor finished with the lock. "Okay, that door should hold them for a bit." he announced, going to check the room.
"The door?! The wall didn't stop him!" Jack scoffed.
"Well, he's gotta find us first!" the Doctor retorted, "C'mon, we're not done yet. Assets, assets."
"Well, I've got a banana and in a pinch, you two could put up some shelves." Jack said flatly.
"What about the window?" the Artist asked, climbing up on the counter to check it.
"Barred, sheer drop outside. Seven storeys." Jack told her.
"And no other exits." Rose added, looking around the room.
"Well, the assets conversation went in a flash, didn't it?" Jack huffed, sitting down in a wheelchair.
The Time Lords turned and eyed him for a moment. "You're an optimistic one, aren't ya?" the Artist commented dryly.
The Doctor turned to Rose. "So, where'd yer pick this one up, then?" he grunted.
"Doctor..." Rose warned.
"She was hanging from a barrage balloon, I had an invisible spaceship. I never stood a chance." Jack grinned, causing Rose to look embarrassed.
"Okay, one; we've gotta get out of here." the Doctor thought aloud, "Two; we can't get out of 'ere. Have I missed anything?"
"Yeah, Flirt Boy's gone." the Artist said.
The Doctor and Rose spun round to see Jack's empty wheelchair. "How'd he do that?" Rose stared.
"He teleported." the Artist replied, then she and the Doctor sat down to think, while Rose paced around the room.
"Okay, so he's vanished into thin air." Rose remarked, "Why's it always the great looking ones who do that?"
The Doctor peered up at her, giving her a look. "I'm making an effort not to be insulted." he grumbled.
"You're better-looking than Flirt Boy." the Artist assured him.
"Thanks, royal beauty." the Doctor teased.
"Not gonna hear the end of that anytime soon, am I?" the Artist groaned, then turned to Rose. "And may I remind you, Rose, you have a boyfriend back home."
"Yeah..." Rose said slowly, but was saved from being questioned further when a discarded radio crackled to life.
"Rose? Doctor? Artist?" Jack's voice came through the radio, "Can you hear me?" The trio hurried over to the radio and the Doctor picked it up. "I'm back on my ship." Jack said, "Used the emergency teleport. Sorry I couldn't take you three. It's security-keyed to my molecular structure. I'm working on it, hang in there."
The Doctor noticed that the radio wasn't even wired up to a plug. "How're you speaking to us?" he asked.
"Om-com." Jack replied, "I can call anything with a speaker grille."
"Now there's a coincidence." the Doctor remarked.
"What is?"
"The child can om-com too."
"He can?" Rose questioned.
"Anything with a speaker grille." the Artist replied, "Radios, phones, toy monkeys... even the TARDIS' phone."
"What, d'ya mean the child can phone us?"
"And I can hear you." the child's voice came over the radio, "Coming to find you. Coming to fiiiind you!"
"Doctor, can ya hear that?" Jack asked.
"Loud and clear." the Doctor replied.
"I'll try and block out the signal. Least I can do." Jack said.
"Coming to find you, Mummy." the child said.
"Remember this one, Rose?" Jack said and Moonlight Serenade began to play.
The Time Lords looked at Rose questioningly. "Our song." she replied, a little embarrassed.
——————————————————————————
Presently, a bored Rose was shuffling around in the wheelchair. The Doctor was standing by the window, running his sonic over the bars, while the Artist leaned against the wall, watching him. "What you doing?" Rose asked the Doctor.
"Trying to set up a resonance pattern in the concrete." he replied, "Loosen the bars."
"You do realise that even if ya do get those bars off, there's a seven-storey drop outside?" the Artist remarked.
"I'll cross that bridge when we come to it." the Doctor replied.
"You don't think he's coming back, do ya?" Rose said to the Doctor.
"Wouldn't bet my life." he retorted.
"Why don't ya trust him?"
"Why do you?"
"Saved my life. Bloke-wise, that's up there with flossing."
"You shouldn't get too attached to him, Rose." the Artist said, "He's from the 51st century, they flirt with anything that moves."
"Jealous?" Rose teased.
"He's not my type." the Artist replied dryly. "'Royal beauty' indeed." she scoffed and turned back to watch the Doctor work.
Rose turned back to the Doctor; "I trust him cos' he's like you. Except with dating and dancing." The Doctor shot her a look. "What?" Rose questioned.
"Yer just assume I'm..." the Doctor began.
"What?"
"You just assume that I don't... dance."
"What, are ya telling me you do... dance?" Rose smirked.
"900 years old, me. I've been around a bit. I think you can assume that at some point I've danced."
Rose grinned even more; "You?!"
"Problem?"
"Doesn't the universe implode or something if you... dance?" Rose sniggered.
"Well, I've got the moves but I wouldn't wanna boast." the Doctor said off-handily.
"You've seen him dance, Rose." the Artist said, "Remember the juke box on Platform One?"
"She doesn't mean that kind of dancing." the Doctor told her quietly, then whispered in her ear, causing her eyes to widen slightly at the true meaning.
"Oh." she said flatly, "Humans and their slang terms. 50 years of travelling, and I still don't understand half of them." she muttered.
Rose smirked at the little misunderstanding and went over to the radio. She turned the radio up and walked back to the Doctor. "You''ve got the moves?" she said, holding her hand out to him, "Show me ya moves."
"Rose, I'm trying to resonate concrete." the Doctor replied flatly.
"Jack'll be back, he'll get us out." Rose said, keeping her hand out. "So c'mon, the world doesn't end cos' the Doctor dances."
The Doctor looked to the Artist. "Go on." she told him, "I'll take over the resonating." The Doctor shut off his sonic, put it away and climbed down to join Rose, while the Artist climbed up to the window and took over sonicing the bars.
The Doctor took Rose's hands. "Barrage balloon?" he questioned.
"What?" Rose questioned, completely lost.
"You were hanging from a barrage balloon." the Doctor said, turning Rose's hands over.
"Oh... yeah. About two minutes after you two left me. Thousands of feet above London, middle of a German air raid, Union Jack across my chest." Rose said flippantly.
The Doctor raised his brows. "I've travelled with a lot of people, but you're setting new records for jeopardy-friendly." he said dryly
"Yeah, looks like we need to have a little chat about this constant wandering off of yours." the Artist added sternly.
"Is this you dancing?" Rose huffed, not liking their parent-like tones. "Cos' I've got notes."
The Doctor looked at Rose's hands again. "Hanging from a rope a thousand feet above London. Not a cut, not a bruise."
"Yeah, I know." Rose replied, "Captain Jack fixed me up..."
"Oh, we're calling him Captain Jack now, are we?"
"Well, his name's Jack and he's a captain.."
"He's not really a captain, Rose." the Doctor said in a self-satisfied way.
"D'ya know what I think? I think you're experiencing captain envy." Rose teased, "You'll find ya feet at end of your legs. You may care to move them."
The Artist meanwhile was working on the window, tuning out the other's conversation. Suddenly, the wall and window in front of her were replaced by the interior of a spaceship. She looked round to see Jack sitting in his chair at the other end while the Doctor and Rose stood in the middle, completely oblivious to the change to their surroundings. Jack motioned for the Time Lady to keep quiet, enjoying the others' ignorance.
"If ever he was a captain, he's been defrocked." the Doctor said to Rose.
"Yeah? Shame I missed that." Rose retorted.
"Actually, I quit. Nobody takes my frock." Jack spoke up, attracting their attention, "Most people notice when they've been teleported. Ya friend over there did." He gestured to the Artist, who came forward to stand by her friends. "You guys are so sweet. Sorry about the delay. I had to take the nav-com offline to override the teleport security."
"If it takes ya ten minutes to override ya own protocols, maybe you should remember who's ship this is." the Artist remarked.
"Oh, I do. She was gorgeous." Jack smirked, "Though, not as much as you." he winked, causing the Artist to roll her eyes and the Doctor to give Jack another death glare. "Like I told her, be back in five minutes." He ducked into a compartment underneath the console.
The Doctor stopped glaring and looked around at the ship. "This is a Chula ship." he recognised.
"Yeah, just like that medical transporter." Jack called up, "Only, this one is dangerous."
The Doctor snapped his fingers and his hand was instantly surrounded by nanogenes. "They're what fixed my hands up." Rose remembered, "Jack called 'em, um..."
"Nanobots? Nanogenes?" the Doctor offered.
"Nanogenes, yeah."
"Sub-atomic robots. There's millions of 'em in here, see?" the Doctor explained, "Burned my hand on the console when we landed. All better now. They activate when the bulkhead's sealed. Check you out for damage, fix any physical flaws."
"Like our regeneration energy." the Artist nodded.
"Yeah." the Doctor replied and waved the nanogenes away, then turned to Jack. "Take us to the crash site. I need to see yer space junk."
"As soon as I get the nav-com back online" Jack replied, "Make yourselves comfortable. Carry on with whatever it was you were..." He gestured between the Doctor and Rose. "Doing."
"We were talking about dancing." the Doctor said innocently.
"It didn't look like talking." Jack said suggestively.
"Didn't feel like dancing." Rose commented.
"Can we stop with all the slang?" the Artist grumbled as she flopped down on the bunk, "It's getting annoying."
The Doctor sat down next to her and they began to converse telepathically, with the Doctor informing the Artist of his suspicions of what was causing the pandemic.
Rose decided to leave the Time Lords to it and went to talk to Jack; "So, you used to be a Time Agent, now ya trying to con them?"
"If it makes me sound any better, it's not for the money." Jack replied, fiddling with the controls of his ship.
"For what?"
"Woke up one morning when I was working for them, found out they'd stolen two years of my memories. I'd like 'em back."
"They stole your memories?" Rose stared.
"Two years of my life. No idea what I did. Your friends over there don't trust me. And for all I know... they're right not to." The computer bleeped. "Okay, we're good to go." Jack informed the Time Lords, "Crash site?" He spun round in his chair and piloted the ship to a spot near Limehouse Green station.
———————————————————————————
After landing, the quartet walked alongside the railway line to the crash site. "There is is." Jack said, pointing to the barbed wire, "They've got Algy on duty. Must be important." He gestured to a British Army Captain, who was pacing up and down on guard.
"We've gotta get past." the Doctor said.
"Are the words 'distract the guard' heading in my general direction?" Rose said.
"I don't think that'd be such a good idea." Jack told her.
"Don't worry, I can handle it."
"I've got to know Algy quite well since I've been been in town." Jack said, "Trust me, you're not his type. I'll distract him." He began to walk away. "Don't wait up." He took a short cut through a stabled locomotive's cab and headed off towards Algy.
Rose turned to the Time Lords, looking confused and a bit alarmed. "Relax, he's a 51st century guy." the Doctor smirked, "He's just a bit more flexible when it comes to dancing."
"How flexible?" Rose frowned.
"Well, by his time, you lot have spread out across the galaxy."
"Meaning?"
"So many species, so little time." the Doctor grinned.
"What, that's what we do when we get out there?" Rose remarked, "That's our mission? We seek out new life, and... and..."
"Dance." the Doctor finished smugly.
"And Flirt Boy over there would 'dance' with the kitchen sink if it moved." the Artist sniggered.
Jack approached Algy. "Hey, tiger!" he called, "How's it hanging?"
Algy turned to him with an inquisitive look. "Mummy?"
"Algy, old sport, it's me."
"Mummy?"
Jack's smile faded. "It's me, Jack."
"Jack?" Algy asked and cocked his head, observing Jack with a child-like curiosity. "Are you my Mummy?" Then he coughed and fell to his knees.
Then, right before Jack's eyes, Algy's face transformed into a gas mask. The Doctor, the Artist and Rose had seen everything, as had Algy's men, who hurried over.
"Stay back!" the Doctor warned as he and the women rushed over.
"You men, stay away!" Jack warned Algy's men, who wisely complied.
The time travellers reached them and looked down at the transformed Algy, who was now lying on the floor. "The effect's becoming air-borne." the Doctor realised, "Accelerating."
"What's keeping us safe?" Rose asked.
"The Doctor and me, the fact that we're not human." the Artist answered, "As for you two... nothing, unless we can stop this fast."
An air raid siren sounded in the distance. "Ah, here they come again." Jack groaned, looking up at the sky.
"All we need." Rose muttered, then suddenly remembered something. "Didn't you say a bomb was gonna land here?" she asked Jack, who nodded.
"Never mind about that." the Doctor said grimly, "If the contaminant's air borne now, there's hours left."
"For what?" Jack asked.
"Till nothing." the Doctor replied ominously, "Forever. For the entire human race. And can anyone else hear singing?"
They all listened and sure enough, they could hear a woman's voice singing Rock-a-by-baby. The Doctor pinpointed the source to a nearby shed. He looked inside to find Nancy handcuffed to a table, singing to a transformed soldier. The Doctor motioned for Nancy to keep singing, so she did so while he crept up and used his sonic to unlock her handcuffs. The handcuffs snapped open and Nancy was able to sidle away, leaving the soldier fast asleep.
The group went back to the bomb site and Jack and the Time Lords removed the tarpaulin to reveal the Chula med-ship. "You see? Just an ambulance." Jack said.
"That's an ambulance?" Nancy asked incredulously.
"It's hard to explain." Rose replied, putting a comforting arm around her, "It's... it's from another world."
Jack looked at the med-ship's controls. "They've been trying to get in." he noted.
"Of course they have." the Doctor replied, "They think they've got their hands on Hitler's latest secret weapon. What you doing?" he asked as Jack began typing in a code on a key pad on the ship.
"Well, the sooner you see this thing's empty, the sooner you'll see I had nothing to do with it." Jack retorted. The key pad suddenly sparked, causing them all to jump back and an alarm sounded. "Didn't happen last time." Jack said sheepishly.
"It hadn't crashed last time." the Doctor retorted, "They're the emergency protocols."
"Doctor, what is that?" Rose asked, seeing a flashing red light on the console, then she saw the doors to the shed that Nancy had been imprisoned in were now ratting. "Doctor!" she warned.
"Captain, secure those gates!" the Doctor ordered.
"Why?" Jack questioned.
"Just do it!" the Doctor snapped, and Jack obeyed.
"Nancy, how did you get in here?" the Artist asked.
"I cut the wire." Nancy replied.
"Right, show me." the Artist ordered, and Nancy led her off to the spot she'd cut through while Jack slammed the site's gates shut and secured them with chains.
Nancy held the two ends of the barbed wire together while the Artist used her sonic to fuse them together again. "Who are ya?" Nancy asked, "Who're any of you?"
"You'd never believe me in a million years." the Time Lady replied.
"Ya friend just told me that was an ambulance from another world." Nancy retorted, "There are people running around with gas mask heads calling for their Mummies, and the sky's full of Germans dropping bombs on me. Tell me. D'ya think there's anything left I couldn't believe?"
The Artist looked at her, getting the point. "The Doctor and I are aliens with two hearts and Rose is a time traveller from the future." she told Nancy.
"Mad, you are."
"I'm being serious. That blue police box ya saw us with? That's our time machine"
"It's not that." Nancy said, "Alright, you and him are aliens and you've got a time machine. I believe ya. Believe anything, me. But what future?" She looked up at the sky, which was full of German bombers.
"Nancy, I know things seem bleak right now, but this isn't the end." the Artist told her.
"How can you say that?!" Nancy burst out, "Look at it!"
"Nancy, look at Rose." the Artist encouraged, "She's from London. She'll be born here in 45 years time."
"From here?"
"Yep, she's a Londoner, from your future."
"But...she's not...German."
"Exactly." the Artist smiled, "Germany will never invade Britain. And, don't tell anyone else, keep this just between you and me, but Germany will lose the war. And d'ya know who will win?"
"Who?"
"You do."
"Us?"
"Yep." the Artist nodded, "Later this year, the Soviet Union will declare war on Germany and join Britain. Then, next year, the United States will follow suit. Together, the allied forces will turn the tide on Hitler, and in 1945, he will commit suicide and Germany will surrender, thus ending the war." Nancy felt better at this news and they soon finished repairing the wire, then they headed back to join the Doctor, Jack and Rose.
Jack finished typing in the code and opened the med-ship's hatch. "It's empty. Look at it." he said.
"What d'yer expect in a Chula medical transporter? the Doctor asked sarcastically, "Bandages? Cough drops?" He turned to his companion. "Rose?"
"I dunno." the blonde shrugged.
"Yes, you do." the Doctor encouraged, miming the nanogenes with his hands.
"Nanogenes!" Rose realised.
"It wasn't empty, Captain." the Doctor told Jack, "There was enough nanogenes in there to rebuild a species."
Jack went white as a sheet as realisation dawned on him. "Oh, god." he breathed in horror.
"Getting it now, are we? When the ship crashes, the nanogenes. Billons upon billions of them, ready to fix all the cuts and bruises in the whole world. But what they find first is a dead child, probably killed earlier that night and wearing a gas mask."
"And they brought him back to life?" Rose questioned, "They can do that?"
"What's life? Life's easy. A quirk of matter." the Doctor answered, "Nature's way of keeping meat fresh. Nothing to a nanogene. One problem, though. These nanogenes, they're not like the ones on your ship. This lot have never a human being before. Don't know what a human being's supposed to look like."
"All they had to go on was one little boy." the Artist chimed in, "And there wasn't much left of him to go on, but they tried. They did what they were programmed to do and restored him. They couldn't tell the difference between what was the gas mask and what was his skull, but they did their best."
"Then off they fly, off they go, work to be done." the Doctor took over, "Cos' yer see, now, they think they know what people should look like and it's time to fix the rest. And they won't ever stop. They won't ever, ever stop. The entire human race is gonna be torn down and rebuilt in the form of one terrified child looking for it's mother, and nothing in the world can stop it!"
Jack was shaking with horror at his mistake. "I didn't know." he breathed. The Doctor fixed him with a cold stare then turned to examine the med-ship in an attempt to see if there was anything that could be done to stop the nanogenes.
Suddenly, Nancy noticed something. "Miss Artist?" she called.
The Time Lady turned to see what Nancy had seen. "We've got company!" she warned, and the others turned to see the patients from the hospital walking along the lines towards them. They were still quite a distance away, but still too close for comfort.
Rose looked at the flashing red light on the med-ship. "It's bringing the gas mask people here, isn't it?" she asked the Doctor.
"The ship thinks it's under attack. It's calling up the troops. Standard protocol." the Doctor told her.
"But... the gas mask people aren't troops." Rose frowned.
"They are now." the Doctor replied, "This is a battlefield ambulance. The nanogenes don't just fix yer up, they get you ready for the front line. Equip you, programme you."
"That's why the child's so strong." the Artist added, "Why he can om-com."
"He's a fully equipped Chula warrior, yes." the Doctor finished, "All that weapons tech in the hands of an hysterical 4-year old looking for his Mummy. And now there's an army of them."
The patients and transformed soldiers all halted their advance when they reached the fence. "Why don't they attack?" Jack wandered.
"Good little soldiers, waiting for their commander." the Doctor replied.
"The child?" Jack questioned.
"Jaime." Nancy told him.
"What?"
"Not 'the child', Jamie." Nancy said, causing the Time Lords to look at her, remembering what Dr Constantine had told them.
"So, how long till the bomb falls?" Rose asked.
"Any second." Jack answered her.
"What's the matter, Captain?" the Doctor snarled at him, "Bit too close to the volcano for you?"
"He's just a little boy." Nancy said sadly.
"We know." the Artist said, putting an arm on the human's shoulder.
"He's just a little boy who wants 'is Mummy."
"Yes, we know." the Time Lady soothed, "There isn't a child born who wouldn't tear the world apart to save his Mummy."
"And this little boy can." the Doctor finished.
"So what're we gonna do?" Rose asked.
"I don't know." the Doctor replied gravely.
Nancy welled up in tears. "It's my fault." she sobbed.
"No, it isn't." the Artist comforted her.
"It is." Nancy wailed, "It's all my fault."
"How can it be..." the Artist began, but tailed off and looked around at the patients, all calling out for their Mummy, then turned back to Nancy as a sudden thought struck her. "Nancy, how old are you? 20? 21? You're older than ya look, right?"
A bomb landed nearby, causing Jack and Rose to flinch. "Doctor, that bomb. We've got seconds." Jack urged, as another bomb landed nearby.
"You can teleport us out." Rose suggested.
"Not you guys. The nav-com's back online." Jack told her, "Gonna take too long to override the protocols."
"So it's volcano day. Do what yer've gotta do." the Doctor told him, focussing on the Artist and Nancy.
"Jack?" Rose glared at the American.
Jack looked at her apologetically. He made his decision and teleported himself out.
"How old were you five years ago?" the Artist asked Nancy gently, "15? 16? Old enough to give birth at least." Nancy, still sobbing, glanced up at her and then down at the ground again, shame faced. "He's not your brother is he?" the Artist pressed, "He's your son."
"A teenage single mother in 1941." the Doctor agreed, "So yer hid. You lied. You even lied to him."
The gates burst open to reveal the patients, with Jamie standing at the forefront, ready to charge. "Are you my Mummy?"
"He's always gonna be asking that, Nancy." the Artist said, "He's never gonna stop. You need to tell him the truth."
Jaime and the patients began to walk forward.
"Nancy, the future of the human race is in your hands." the Doctor said, "Trust us and tell him."
Nancy swallowed hard as Jaime approached. "Are you my Mummy?"
The Artist gave Nancy a gentle push in the direction of Jamie.
"Are you my Mummy?" Jaime repeated.
Nancy plucked up courage. "Yes. I am your Mummy." she said
Jaime slowly walked forward. "Mummy?"
"I'm here."
"Are you my Mummy?"
Nancy kneeled down in front of him. "I'm here."
"Are you my Mummy?"
"Yes." Nancy whispered.
"He doesn't understand." the Doctor said sadly, "There's not enough of him left."
But Nancy wasn't about to give up. "I am your Mummy." she said sincerely, "I will always be your Mummy. I'm so sorry." She took him into her arms, no longer caring about what could happen. Nanogenes surrounded them, bathing them in a golden glow. "I am so, so sorry." Nancy whispered to Jaime.
"What's happening?" Rose asked the Time Lords, "It's changing her, we should..."
"Shh!" the Doctor shushed her, and griped the Artist's hand tightly as they watched the nanogenes enveloping Nancy and Jaime. "Come on, please!" the Doctor breathed, "Come on, you clever little nanogenes, figure it out!"
"She's the mother." the Artist muttered under her breath, "Come on, there's gotta be enough information. You can figure it out."
"What's happening?" Rose asked.
"See?" the Doctor pointed, "Recognising the same DNA."
Nancy fell back as the nanogenes disappeared, while Jaime stayed standing. Rose and the Time Lords hurried over to them. Rose helped Nancy up while the Time Lords stared down at Jaime, hardly daring to hope. "Oh, come on. Give us a day like this. Give us this one." the Doctor pleaded to the heavens, then reached out to Jaime's gasmask... And removed it, revealing a perfectly normal 4-year old boy underneath it.
"YES!" the Artist cheered, while the Doctor laughed ecstatically and pulled Jaime into his arms.
"A-ha-ha! Welcome back!" he grinned, "20 years to pop music. Yer gonna love it!"
"What happened?" Nancy asked in wonder.
"The nanogenes recognised the superior information, the parent DNA." the Doctor beamed, putting Jaime down. "They didn't change you because you changed them. Haha!"
"Mother always knows best!" the Artist grinned, ruffling Jaime's hair.
"Jaime!" Nancy wept with happiness and embraced her son.
Another bomb landed nearby. "Doctor, that bomb..." Rose reminded.
"Taken care of it." the Doctor replied nonchalantly.
"How?"
"Psychology."
Then, they heard the whistling of a falling bomb, coming straight for them. Just as it was about to hit the med-ship, it was snatched in mid-air by a tractor beam from Jack's ship. A moment later, Jack appeared, sitting legs astride the bomb. "Doctor!" he called.
"Good lad!" the Doctor called back.
"The bomb's already commenced detonation. I've put it in stasis but it won't last long."
"Change of plan, don't need the bomb." the Doctor replied, "Can yer get rid of it? Safely as you can?"
"Rose?" Jack called.
"Yeah?" the blonde answered.
"Goodbye." Jack said and disappeared, only to reappear a second later. "By the way, love the t-shirt." he grinned.
Rose returned the grin, pulling down on her t-shirt embarrassedly. Jack and the bomb teleported away and the ship flew off into the night.
The Doctor and the Artist walked a few paced away, both looking down intently at their hands. Four swarms of nanogenes fluttered down around their hands. "What're you two doing?" Rose asked them.
"Software patch." the Doctor replied, "We're gonna email the upgrade."
"You want moves, Rose? We'll give ya moves!" the Artist added.
The Time Lords flicked their hands, sending the nanogenes towards the patients, who were all still milling about on the railway lines. The nanogenes surrounded them and they all fell to the ground.
"Everybody lives, Rose." the Doctor beamed ecstatically, "Just this once, EVERYBODY LIVES!"
The patients all got to their feet, their faces all restored to normal Human faces. The Time Lords bounded over to them. "Dr Constantine." the Artist said, "Who never left his patients. Fit as ever now, eh, doctor? The world doesn't wanna get by without ya just yet, and I can't blame it."
"These are yer patients." the Doctor said, gesturing to the people milling about in confusion, "All better now."
"Yes, yes.. so it seems." a completely confused Dr Constantine replied, "They also seem to be standing around in a disused railway station. Is there any particular reason for that?"
"Yeah, well, yer know, cutbacks." the Doctor laughed, "Listen, whatever was wrong with 'em in the past, yer probably gonna find that they're cured. Just tell 'em what a great doctor you are. Don't make a big thing of it, okay?" He and the Artist cheerfully went back over to Rose.
An elderly woman approached Dr Constantine. "Dr Constantine?" she called.
"Ah, Mrs Harcourt, how much better you're looking." Dr Constantine said.
"My leg's grown back!" a bewildered Mrs Harcourt said, "When I come to the hospital, I had one leg!"
"Well, there is a war on. Is it possible you miscounted?" Dr Constantine shrugged.
The Doctor climbed on top of the med-ship. "Right, you lot." he called, "Lots to do! Beat the Germans, save the world, don't forget the welfare state!"
The hospital staff regained their bearings and began to usher the patients away from the bomb site.
The Doctor pressed some buttons on the key pad and spoke to the Artist and Rose; "Setting this to self-destruct as soon as everybody's clear. History says there's an explosion here. Who am I to argue with history?"
"Usually the first in line." Rose smirked, and the trio all laughed.
———————————————————————————
The Time Lords were still in good spirits when they got back to the TARDIS. "The nanogenes will clean up the mess and switch themselves of, cos' I told 'em to." the Doctor chattered happily, walking up to the console. "Nancy and Jaime will go to Dr Constantine for help, ditto. All in all, all things considered, fantastic!"
Rose smiled at his enthusiasm. "Look at you, beaming away like you're Father Christmas!"
"Who says I'm not?" the Doctor retorted, "Red bicycle when you were 12."
"What?!" Rose stared.
"He's pulling ya leg, Rose." the Artist snorted, and joined the Doctor at the console. "And everybody lives. Just for once, everybody lives! Oh, I wish we could have more days like this." she beamed happily, then she and the Doctor began to set the controls ready to get underway.
"Doctor..." Rose began cautiously.
"Go on, ask us anything." the Doctor replied cheerfully, "We're on fire!"
"What about Jack?" Rose asked seriously.
Both Time Lords' smiles faded, and they carried on working, neither of them wanting to answer that question.
"Why'd he say goodbye?" Rose pressed.
———————————————————————————
Jack's ship soared through space. "Okay, computer, how long can we keep the bomb in stasis?" Jack asked.
"Stasis decaying at 90% cycle." the computer replied, "Detonation in three minutes."
"Can we jettison it?"
"Any attempt to jettison will precipitate detonation. 100% probability."
"We could stick it in an escape pod." Jack tried.
"There is no escape pod on board."
"Okay, see the flaw in that. I'll get in the escape pod!"
"There is no escape pod on board."
"Did ya check everywhere?" Jack asked, his voice rising.
"Affirmative."
"Under the sink?!" Jack yelled.
"Affirmative."
"Okay." Jack nodded, beginning to acknowledge the situation. "Out of one hundred, exactly how dead am I?"
"Termination of Captain Jack Harkness in under two minutes. 100% probability."
"Lovely. Thanks." Jack sighed in defeat, "Good to know the numbers."
"You're welcome."
"Okay then. Think we'd better initiate emergency protocol 4-1-7."
"Affirmative."
A martini glass appeared on the dashboard. Jack took it and had a sip. "Ooh, a little too much vermouth. See if I come here again!" he joked, "Funny thing... last time I was sentenced to death, I ordered four hyper-vodkas for my breakfast. All a bit of a blur after that. Woke up in bed with both my executioners. Hmm, lovely couple. They stayed in touch." He pondered this. "Can't say that about most executioners." He laughed again. "Anyway, thanks for everything, computer. It's been great."
Suddenly, Moonlight Serenade began to play. "Oi, Flirt Boy, hurry up if you wanna live!" the Artist's voice called, and Jack spun round to see that the TARDIS had appeared inside the ship. Jack leapt to his feet and scrambled inside.
The Doctor and Rose were dancing a rather awkward attempt at a waltz. "Right, and turn..." Rose instructed. The Doctor complied, getting Rose's arm twisted. "Okay, okay, try and spin me again, but this time, don't get my arm up my back! No extra points for a half-nelson."
"I'm sure I used to know this stuff." the Doctor muttered, moving back to the console. "Close the door, will yer?" he ordered Jack, who was looking around the room in awe. "Your ships' about to blow up, there's gonna be a draft."
"Well, give him a chance to get in first." the Artist remarked, shutting the doors herself, then the Doctor got the TARDIS into motion. "Welcome to the TARDIS." the Artist said to Jack.
"Much bigger on the inside." Jack commented.
"You'd better be." the Doctor retorted.
"I think what the Doctor's trying to say is... you may cut in." Rose said to Jack, holding out her hand to him, ready for the next dance.
"I've just remembered!" the Doctor said suddenly.
"What?" Rose asked.
In the Mood began to blare out of the speakers and the Doctor moved in time to the music, snapping his fingers. "I can dance!" he grinned.
"Actually, Doctor... I thought Jack might like this dance." Rose said.
"I'm sure he would, Rose, I'm absolutely sure." the Doctor replied, "Which is why..." He held a hand to the Artist. "I'm asking this 'royal beauty'."
Jack and Rose both sniggered, while the Artist blushed and took the Doctor's hand. He pulled her closer to him and he spun her perfectly. Jack and Rose watched the Time Lords danced around the console room, perfect partners.
"So, what's the story with those two?" Jack asked Rose quietly, "They together?"
"They say they're just friends." Rose told him, "But I know better. There's something more than that between 'em, but neither of 'em will admit it."
"Well, we'll have to fix that, won't we?" Jack winked, then they turned to watch the dancing Time Lords.
The Doctor suddenly threw the Artist backwards over his arm, earning a whoop of delight from the brunette. She pulled herself up and sagged onto the Doctor's shoulder, giggling happily.