Jack lays down on the top of the ship with a glass in his hand. Rose gets up from her laying position "It's getting late. I should be getting back."
"We're discussing business."
"This isn't business, this is champagne." Rose tells him.
"I try never to discuss business with a clear head." he says taking another sip from his glass. Bombs in the background explode. Jack stands up "Are you travelling alone? Are you authorised to negotiate with me?"
"What would we be negotiating?"
"I have something for the Time Agency. Something they'd like to buy. Are you empowered to make payment?" he asks Rose.
"Well, I-I should talk to my... companion."
"'Companion'?"
"I should really be getting back to him."
"'him'?"
"Do you have the time?" she asks him. Jack uses his remote and the clock face lights up and Big Ben strikes nine thirty. "Okay, that was flash. That was on the flash side"
"So, when you say your 'companion'..." he closes the space between them two and places his hands on her waist. "just how disappointed should I be?"
"Okay. We're standing in mid-air, on a spaceship, during a German air raid..." Rose says as Jack takes his hands off of her waist and grabs one of her hands in his. "D'you really think now's a good time to be coming on to me?"
Jack leans forward as if to kiss her hand when he stops "Perhaps not."
"Well, it was just a suggestion." she says as Jack lets go of her hand and walks over to the other side of the ship.
He turns around "Do you like Glenn Miller?" he presses a button on his controller and 'Moonlight Serenade' by Glenn Miller starts playing. He walks over to her he takes her hand and they start dancing. "It's 1941, height of the London Blitz, 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. And I know where it is, because I parked it. If the agency can name the right price, I can get it for you. But in two hours, a German bomb is going to fall on it and destroy it forever. That's your deadline. That's the deal. Now, shall we discuss payment?"
"You know what I think?" Rose says looking Jack in his eyes.
"What?"
"I think you were talking just there."
"Two hours, the bomb falls. There'll be nothing left but dust and a crater."
"Promises, promises."
"Are you listening to any of this?"
"You used to be a Time Agent, now you're some kind of freelancer."
"Well, that's a little harsh! I like to think of myself as a criminal." he says pulling Rose's body closer into his.
"I'll bet you do." she laughs.
"So this companion of yours, does he handle the business?"
"Well, I delegate a lot of that, yeah."
"Well, maybe we should go find him."
"And how you gonna do that?"
"Easy - I'll do a scan for alien tech." he says rolling his sleeve up to look at his watch.
"Finally - a professional!" Rose whispers to herself smiling.
___________
The Doctor pulls out a pair of binoculars and looks around the site. Nancy and the Captain wait for him to survey the area.
"The bomb's under that tarpaulin. They put the fence up overnight. See that building? The hospital?" Nancy says.
"What about it?" the Captain asks.
"That's where the doctor is." she says. The Doctor zooms in to get a better look at the building. "You should talk to him."
"For now, we're more interested in getting in THERE." the Doctor says while looking at the crash site.
"Talk to the doctor first."
"Why?" he asks.
"Because then maybe you won't wanna get inside." she says before walking up the steps leaving the two men.
"Where you going?" the Captain asks her.
"There was a lot of food in that house. I've got mouths to feed. Should be safe enough now.
"Can I ask you a question?.." She looks at the Captain "Who did you lose?" he asks her.
"What?" she asks, looking at him, even the Doctor puts the binoculars down and turns to look at Nancy.
"The way you look after all those kids. It's cos you lost somebody, isn't it?" the Captain says.
"You're doing all this to make up for it." the Doctor adds.
"My little brother. Jamie. One night, I went out looking for food. Same night that thing fell. Told him not to follow me. I told him it was dangerous. But he just..." she shakes her head. "he just didn't like being on his own." she tells them with a few tears forming in her eyes.
"What happened?" the Captain asks her softly.
"In the middle of an air raid? What d'you think happened?" she says. The man just nods his head.
"Amazing!" the Doctor says looking up to the sky.
"What is?" she asks.
"1941. 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." he chuckles a little. "A mouse in front of a lion. You're amazing, the lot of you. Dunno what you do to Hitler, but you frighten the hell out of me." the Doctor tells her. Giving her a little bit of hope.
"Off you go, then. Do what you've got to do. Save the world." the Captain tells her. Afterwards the two men walk down the steps leaving Nancy watching them briefly before also leaving. Something watches Nancy leave, it follows her up the stairs.
___________
The two men walk up to the gate of Albion Hospital, the Captain pulls out his sonic screwdriver and uses it to unlock the padlock, he opens the gates and they walk to the entrance of the building.
Inside the two men walk down a long, dark ward, every bed has a very still patient in it, and they are all wearing gas masks. The two men leave the ward and walk down an empty corridor, they walk into another ward they are shortly accompanied by an elderly, grumpy doctor appears, leaning on a walking stick.
"You'll find them everywhere. In every bed, in every ward. Hundreds of them." the man says.
"Yes, we saw." the Doctor says.
"Why are they still wearing gas masks?" the Captain asks him.
"They're not. Who are you?" he asks the two me.
"I'm... Are you the doctor?" the Doctor asks.
"Dr. Constantine. And you are?"
"Nancy sent us." the Captain tells him.
"Nancy? That means you must have been asking the bomb."
"Yes."
"What do you know about it?"
"Nothing. Why I was asking. What do you know?" the Captain asks him as he walks further into the room following the old man.
"Only what it's done."
"These people, they were all caught in the blast?" the Doctor asks.
"None of them were." Constantine coughs, the two men take a step towards him concerned put he holds a hand up to stop them. He takes a seat still coughing.
"You're very sick." the Doctor says.
"Dying, I should think. I just haven't been able to find the time! Are you a doctor?"
"Not me usually, but he has his moments." the Captain says motioning to the man stood next to him.
"Have you examined any of them yet?"
"No." the Doctor says.
"Don't touch the flesh."
"Which one?"
"ANY one."The Doctor walks over to one of the patients and points his sonic screwdriver at them. The Captain walks over to a different patient and takes a look at them. "Conclusions?"
"Massive head trauma, mostly to the left side. Partial collapse of the chest cavity to the right. Scarring on the back of the hand. The gas mask seems to be fused to the flesh but I can't see any burns."
"Examine another one."
"Just looked over one Doctor, they seem to have the same injuries." the Captain says.
The Doctor walks over to another patient and examines them "This isn't possible."
"And examine another."
The Captain walks over to another person and examines them "This isn't possible." the Captain mutters.
"No."
"So, they've all got the same injuries." the man walks towards the Doctor.
"Yes."
"Exactly the same." the Doctor says.
"Yes." Dr. Constantine says.
"Identical all of them. Right down to the scar on the back of the hand." the Doctor says looking at one of the patients. Dr. Constantine looks at the back of his own hand that is clutching the walking stick. "How did this happen? How did it start?"
"When that bomb dropped, there was just ONE victim."
"Dead?" the Captain asks.
"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 on the same ward, the exact same injuries. Within a week, the entire hospital. Physical injuries... as plague. Can you explain that? What would you say was the cause of death?"
"The head trauma." the Doctor answers.
"No."
"Asphyxiation?" the Captain asks unsure.
"No."
"The collapse of the chest cavity." the Doctor says.
"No."
"All right... what was the cause of death?" the Captain asks slightly frustrated.
"There wasn't one. They're not dead." he tells them before hitting his walking stick on a metal bin. At the sound of the crash the patients sit up in their beds, the two men take a step back away from them in shock. "It's all right, they're harmless. They just sort of sit there. There's no heartbeat, no life signs of any kind. They just... don't die."
"And they're just left here? Nobody's DOING anything?" the Doctor asks.
"I try and make them comfortable. What else is there?" Dr. Constantine says. The Captain notices a scar on the back of the old mans hand and takes a step towards him not taking his eyes off of the scar.
"Just you? You're the only one here?" the Doctor asks him.
"Before this war began I was a father and a grandfather. Now I'm neither. But I'm still a doctor."
"Yeah. I know the feeling." the Doctor responds. This catches the attention of the Captain who looks away from the scar and to the Doctor.
"I suspect the plan is to blow up the hospital and blame it on a German bomb."
"Probably too late." the Captain says turning back to the old mans scar.
"I know." Dr. Constantine agrees. "There are isolated cases..." he coughs again.
"Oh, God." the Captain mutters to himself when he realises the man has the same scar in his hand as the patients. The Doctor hears this and walks over to the two men.
"..isolated cases breaking out... all over... London. Stay back, stay back... 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 asks.
"Her brother." the Captain says.
"Yes, it was her brother. She knows more than she's saying. She won't tell me, but she m..." he can't finish the sentence as he places a hand on his neck "Mum-my... are...you...my....mummy?" he struggles to get the words out. The two men watch on in horror when his face starts morphing into a gas mask and his body falls limp.
"Hello?" a man's voice behind them calls out. The two men turn around alert.
"Hello?" Rose calls out. The two men walk towards the wards doors.
"Hello?" Jack says again.
The two walk down a corridor where they are met with Rose and Jack walking towards them.
"Good evening. Hope we're not interrupting. Jack Harkness. I've been hearing all about you. On the way over." he says reaching a hand out for the Doctor to shake, he then offers his hand to the Captain.
"He knows. I had to tell him. ..About us being Time Agents." Rose says. The two men nod, going along with Rose.
"And it's a real pleasure to meet you, Mr. Spock, and Mr. Pike." Jack winks at the Captain before walking past the two men.
"Mr. Spock?" the Doctor asks.
"What was I supposed to say? You don't have a name. Don't you ever get tired of 'Doctor' or Dr WHO?!"
"Nine centuries in, I'm coping. You know he has a name too, right?" the Doctor says.
"Oh, there's no time for that now." the Captain tells them before walking in the same direction Jack went.
"Where've you been? We're in the middle of the London Blitz it's not a good time for a stroll." the Doctor says.
"Who's strollin'? I went by barrage balloon. Only way to see an air raid." Rose says as they start walking after the Captain and Jack.
"What?"
"Listen, what's a Chula warship?" Rose asks the Doctor.
"Chula?" he asks stopping in the corridor.
___________
Nancy runs into the Lloyd's house and makes her way to the dining room to finish grabbing all the food she couldn't grab before.
When the radio turns on "Please, Mummy. Please let me in. I'm scared of the bombs, Mummy. Please Mummy." the child's voice says just before a door slams shut, Nancy looks back at where the noise had come from when she sees a child's shadow entering the house. "Mummy?.." the child's voice is now coming from inside the house, Nancy backs away. "Mummy!"
Nancy opens a cupboard door looking for a place to hide she decides to crawl under the dining table. From under the table she watches the child's feet walk past the dining room door, relief washes over her face.
___________
Jack scans the patients with his wrist tricorder watch to examine them "This just isn't possible. How did this happen?" he asks.
"What kind of Chula ship landed here?" the Doctor asks.
"Chula ship?" the Captain asks raising an eyebrow.
"What?" Jack says.
"He said it was a warship. He stole it, parked it somewhere, somewhere a bomb's going to fall on it. Unless we make him an offer." Rose tells them.
The Doctor unfolds his arms "What kind of warship?"
"Does it matter? It's got nothing to do with this." Jack turns to the Doctor.
"This started at the bomb site. It's got everything to do with it. What kind of warship?" the Captain takes a couple of steps towards Jack.
"An ambulance!" he tells them. He too takes a step towards the Captain showing him his wrist device "Look, that's what you chased through the time vortex" he turns a hologram on showing the Doctor and Rose walk over to the two men "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 - and love the retro look, by the way, nice panels - threw you the bait..."
"Bait?" Rose asks.
"I wanted to sell it to you, then destroy it before you found out it was junk." Jack continues and turns off the hologram.
"You said it was a warship." Rose says.
"They have ambulances in wars." Jack says to Rose like she's stupid, he shakes his head and walks away from the three. "It's a con. I was conning you. That's what I am, I'm a con man! Thought you were Time Agents. You're not, are you?"
"Oh, he finally realises." the Captain mutters.
"Just a few more freelancers." Rose tells him.
"Oh! I should've known, the way you guys are blending with the local colour! I mean, Flag Girl was bad enough, but U-Boat Captain?!" he motions to both Rose and the Doctor not having anything bad to say about the Captain. "Anyway, whatever's happening here has nothing to do with that ship."
"Oh, what and we're supposed to take the word of a con man?" the Captain asks staring at Jack.
"What IS happening here, Doctor?" Rose asks looking around at the patients.
"Human DNA is being rewritten. By an idiot." he answers.
"What do you mean?" Rose asks.
"I don't know, some kind of virus converting human beings into these things. But why? What's the point?"
___________
Nancy still hiding under the table watches as the child makes his way into the dining room "Mummy?" The child looks around "Where's my mummy? Mum-my!"
An apple falls out of Nancy's bag and the child makes their way over to it and picks it up. Nancy looks over at the doorway and back to the child, planning on making a run for it. She exits her hiding place and the child turns around and points at the door and it slams shut, Nancy tries the handle but the door won't open. She looks from the door to the child.
"Are you my mummy?"
___________
Rose looks over one of the laying patients bending down to get a closer look just as the person sits up straight, scaring Rose she jumps back. The three men also take a step back when they see all of the patients sit up in bed.
"Mummy! Mum-my! Mummy?" all of the patients say as they get out of their beds.
"What's happening?" Rose asks.
"I don't know." the Doctor answers.
"Me neither." the Captain says.
___________
"Mummy?" the boy says walking closer to Nancy who grabs a chair and moves it in the way of the child's path. The kid pushes the chair out of the way.
"It's me - Nancy!" she says backing away from him.
___________
"Mummy! Mummy!" the patients say walking over towards the four people.
"Don't let 'em touch you!" the Captain says.
"What happens if they touch us?" Rose asks. The three back up into a corner with the Captain and Doctor stood in front of Rose and Jack.
"You're looking at it." the Doctor says.
___________
"Are you my mummy?"
"It's Nancy, your sister." she says still backing away from him scared for her life. "You're dead, Jamie. You're dead."
"Mum-my! Mum-my!"
___________
"Mum-my! Mummy! Mum-my!" they all call out still walking over to the four slowly like zombies. The group look around stuck with nowhere to go...