Brian rang the doorbell eagerly, clutching a small black cube in his hand. On the first floor, Rory and Amy poked their heads out of their bedroom window, having just woken up.
"Dad, it's half past six in the morning," Rory complained.
"What are you doing lying around?" Brian asked, bewildered. "Haven't you seen them?" Amy and Rory looked around to see the street peppered with cubes.
Minutes later, they were down at street level, still in their pyjamas, examining one of the cubes. "What are they?" Rory asked.
Brian shrugged. "Nobody knows. They're everywhere."
"Well, where have they come from?" Amy asked, before frowning as she glanced towards the children's play area on the corner. "Wait... Doctor! Angel!"
The two looked round from the top of a climbing frame, both looking puzzled. "Well, invasion of the very small cubes," McKenzie said. "That's new."
***
"All absolutely identical," the Doctor was saying later, once everyone had got dressed and gathered in the TARDIS. "Not a single molecule's difference between them. No blemishes, imperfections, individualities."
"What if they're bombs?" Brian suggested. "Billions of tiny bombs? Or transport capsules maybe, with a mini robot inside. Or deadly hard drives. Or alien eggs? Or messages needing decoding. Or they're all parts of a bigger whole, like jigsaw pieces that need fitting together."
McKenzie, whose eyes had widened with every suggestion, clapped him on the shoulder. "Very thorough, Brian. Very, very thorough. Well done." She turned on her heel. "Stay here. Watch the cubes, yell if anything happens."
Amy and Rory ran after them as they left the TARDIS. "Hey, is this an alien invasion? Because that's what it feels like." Amy caught at the Doctor's arm.
"There couldn't be life-forms in every cube, could there?" Rory asked.
The Time Lord's brow furrowed. "I don't know. And I really don't like not knowing." He shook himself. "Right, we need to use your kitchen as a lab. Cook up some cubes. See what happens."
"Right," Rory nodded, checking his watch. "I'm due at work."
McKenzie blinked. "What? You've got a job? Wicked!"
"Of course I've got a job." He paused. "What do you think we do when we're not with you?"
She shrugged. "I thought probably the same kind of thing we do when you're not with us." Rory tilted his head in concession as she nudged the Doctor with her hip.
"Oi, behave!" He smirked across at her. "I'm busy!"
She snorted. "Never stopped you before."
Amy rolled her eyes fondly. "I write travel articles for magazines and Rory heals the sick."
"My shift starts in an hour." Rory frowned, looking to his wife. "You don't know where my scrubs are?"
"In the lounge, where you left them," she replied. He nodded, leaving to get dressed.
"Oh, the Ponds," the Doctor sighed. "With their house and their jobs and their everyday lives. The journalist and the nurse. Long way from Leadworth."
"We think it's been ten years," Amy told them. "Not for you, or Earth, but for us. Ten years older. Ten years of you, on and off."
McKenzie smiled. "Three hundred years for us. Look at you now, eh? All grown up."
Amy opened her mouth as if to say something, but was interrupted by soldiers smashing her front door in.
"Clear! Trap one, kitchen secured."
"Trap three, back garden secured."
The three in the kitchen turned to see the patio doors guarded. Rory was marched in at gunpoint, looking exasperated. "There are soldiers all over my house, and I'm in my pants."
Amy smirked. "My whole life I've dreamed of saying that, and I miss it by being someone else."
A blonde woman walked through all the soldiers, looking apologetic. "All these muscles and they still don't know how to knock. Sorry about the raucous entrance. Spike in Artron energy reading at this address. In the light of the last twenty-four hours, we had to check it out, and the dogs do love a run-out." She smiled. "Hello. Kate Stewart, head of scientific research at UNIT." She eyed the Doctor and McKenzie. "Hmm. With that circlet and that dress sense..." She raised a scanner, which revealed two hearts in each of their chests. "You must be the Doctor and the Angel. I hoped it would be you."
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Tell me, since when did science run the military, Kate?"
"Since me. UNIT's been adapting." She shrugged. "Well, I dragged them along, kicking and screaming, which makes it sound like more fun than it actually was."
McKenzie nodded to her. "Okay then. What do we know about these cubes?"
"Far less than we need to," Kate admitted. "We've been freighting them in from around the world for testing. So far, we've subjected them to temperatures of plus and minus two hundred Celsius, simulated a water depth of five miles, dropped one out of a helicopter at ten thousand feet and rolled our best tank over it. Always intact."
"Hmm." McKenzie grabbed a cube from the side. "One sec." She disappeared outside, then returned with an unscorched cube and the glow of her eyes still fading. "Nothing."
"Okay, that's impressive," the Doctor allowed, then frowned. "I don't want them to be impressive. I want them vulnerable with a nice Achilles heel."
"We don't know how they got here, what they're made of, or why they're here," Kate continued.
"And all around the world, people are picking them up and taking them home," McKenzie said.
Kate nodded. "Like iPads have dropped out of the sky. Taking them to work, taking pictures, making films, posting them on Flickr and YouTube. Within three hours, the cubes had a thousand separate Twitter accounts."
The Doctor rolled his eyes grumpily. "Twitter."
"I've recommended we treat this as a hostile incursion," Kate added. "Gather them all up and lock them in a secure facility. But that would take massive international agreement and cooperation."
"We need evidence," McKenzie mused. "Okay, so, the cubes arrived in plain sight, in vast quantities, as the sun rose. So, what does that tell us?"
"Maybe they want to be seen," Amy suggested. "Noticed."
"Or more than that, they want to be observed," the Doctor realised.
"So we observe them," McKenzie decided. "Stay with them round the clock, watch the cubes day and night. Record absolutely everything about them. Kate, get your people working on it." She put her arms around Amy and Rory, grinning. "Team cube, in it together."
***
"Four days," the Doctor groaned, sitting on the sofa upside down. "Nothing. Nothing! Not a single change in any cube anywhere in the world. Four days, and we are still in your lounge!"
Amy rolled her eyes. "It was you two who wanted to observe them."
"Yeah, well, we thought they'd do something, didn't we?" McKenzie shot back, pacing behind the sofa. She held a Rubik's cube in hands that were moving so fast they almost couldn't be seen, her entire form blurring as her agitation got to her. "Not just sit there while everyone eats endless cereal!"
"You said we had to be patient," Rory reminded them, making an effort to remain calm.
"Yes, you!" the Doctor retorted, scrambling to his feet. "You, not us! We hate being patient. Patience is for wimps!" Rory rolled his eyes.
"I can't live like this," McKenzie decided. "Don't make me. I need to be busy!"
"Fine!" Amy shouted, frustrated. "Be busy! We'll watch the cubes." She looked around, but the pair had already disappeared.
By the time they returned, they'd managed to creosote the garden fence, play three games of football, mow the lawn, improve the wiring in eighteen cars, keep a football in the air for five million touches, vacuum the entire house and those of the neighbours either side, paint the exterior, compose a concerto and build a clock.
"That's better," the Doctor sighed as they returned to the sofa. "Nothing like a bit of activity to pass the time."
"How long were we gone?" McKenzie asked.
Rory checked his watch. "Er, about an hour."
Her face filled with dread. "I can't do it. I can't." She disappeared over the back of the sofa, going into the TARDIS, the others following.
"Where are you going?" Amy spluttered, then blinked when she saw Brian at the console.
McKenzie frowned. "Brian, you're still here."
He looked up. "You told me to watch the cubes."
She raised an eyebrow. "Four days ago."
"Ah!" He smiled, pleasantly surprised. "Doesn't time fly when you're alone with your thoughts?"
Rory decided to ignore that. "Look, you can't just leave."
"Yeah, course we can," the Doctor told him. "Quick jaunt, restore sanity. Ooh, hey, come if you like."
Brian blinked. "They can't just go off like that."
McKenzie frowned. "Can't they?" In a second, she was standing behind them both, making them jump. "Can't you? Isn't that sort of how it goes?"
"I've got my job," Rory said.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Yes, but Rory, it's your little job vs the universe!"
"Hey, it's not little," Rory reminded him. "It's important to me."
"I know," he sighed. "But, but, but time machine!"
McKenzie put a hand over his on the console. "It's fine. We'll be back soon. You lot, monitor the cubes. Call me if something fun happens, alright? I'll have the TARDIS set to every Earth news feed, promise."
***
Amy grinned as she hugged her friend Laura at her engagement party. "I'm so pleased for you two! It's about time you made an honest woman of her."
"Amy, about bridesmaids," Laura said, biting her lip. "You've missed quite a few things the last year or two."
"I'm so totally there," Amy promised. "Whatever you need."
***
"Everyone here loves you," Ranjit said as he and Rory wheeled a patient along a corridor. "The nurses, the doctors. You're a lifesaver, mate, literally."
Rory laughed. "Well, thanks."
"But there are months when we don't see you. And we can't do without you. I want you to go full time."
"Full time?" Rory raised his eyebrows. "Blimey. Er..."
***
"I said yes," he said later, sitting in bed with Amy. "I committed."
"And I committed to being a bridesmaid," Amy said, equally amazed. "Months in advance. Like I know I'm going to be here."
"So the Doctor and the Angel are God knows where, the cubes aren't doing anything at all..." Rory frowned. "Did real life just get started?"
"I like it," Amy admitted.
"So do I." They both started to smile.
***
Brian turned his video camera to record. "Brian's log, day sixty-seven."
"You, er, you can't call it that," Rory told him as he put a cuppa on the table for him. "Brian's log?"
Brian was unperturbed. "Brian's log, day sixty-seven. Cube was quiet all night, once again. Cube was quiet all day, as per previously. No movement. No change in measurements. End of entry." He turned the camera off.
"You stay up and watch it all the time?"
"I film it while I'm asleep," Brian corrected. "When I wake up, I watch the footage on fast-forward and I email the result to UNIT. My middle name is diligence."
Rory raised an eyebrow, sipping his coffee. "Wow. I can't wait to see day sixty-eight."
Brian frowned. "Don't mock my log. I'm doing what the Angel asked."
***
In December, Rory was busy with work, helping out in accident and emergency while Noddy Holder sang on the hospital radio. "Er, Mr Ryan, please?" He looked up, only to roll his eyes when he saw a familiar man with his foot stuck in a toilet. "Again?" He grabbed the handles of the wheelchair and wheeled him off to be assisted, not noticing the blue flare of a young girl's eyes as well as the cube she held.
***
"Hey!" Amy called into her phone, stepping aside as her husband manned the barbecue, being a good host with Brian at her side. "Doctor, Angel, it's me. Hello! So, the UN classified the cubes as provisionally safe, whatever that means, and Banksy and Damien Hirst put out statements saying the cubes are nothing to do with them. And the cubes... well, they're just here. Still. What's it been, nine months? People are just taking them for granted. Maybe we'll never know why they came." She shook herself. "But anyway. I got to Laura's wedding. It was great. You probably haven't met Laura, she's one of our newer friends. But I think you'd both like her. She's here tonight, being as it's our wedding anniversary. We thought you might have dropped by. I left you messages."
McKenzie grinned, surprising her with a huge bouquet of flowers. "I know! Happy anniversary, Pond! Come with us, and bring your husband!"
***
"26th of June, 1890," the Doctor announced, ushering them out of the TARDIS and into the foyer of an ornate establishment. "The recently opened Savoy Hotel. Dinner, bed and breakfast for two. Bonjour, bonjour. Merci, Auguste."
McKenzie smiled. "You'll be back before the party's over," she promised. "They won't even notice you went. No complications, I swear."
"Was this you?" Amy asked, looking delighted.
"Weirdly, no. This one's his idea," she answered, nudging her husband. "He can be very romantic when he stops to think about it."
The Doctor grinned as Rory kissed him on the cheek. "Ooh!"
***
McKenzie made a face as they sat in the snow. "Okay, bit of a shock. Zygon ship under the Savoy, half the staff imposters. Still, all fixed now, eh?"
***
"Gentlemen, open the doors!" a voice boomed.
"I thought we were going home!" Amy protested as they ran into a pretty bedroom.
"You can't miss a good wedding," the Doctor exclaimed, before jumping as the footsteps got closer. "Under the bed! Under the bed!" The four of them slid underneath. "Shh!"
"It wasn't my fault," Amy excused, seeing Rory's expression.
"It was totally your fault!" He shot back.
She made a face. "Somebody was talking, and I just said yes!"
"To wedding vows!" Rory stressed. "You just married Henry VIII on our anniversary."
"They didn't mention that in the song," McKenzie commented, before stilling as the King entered. He looked around slowly, and was about to leave again when the Doctor sneezed, attracting three Looks.
He winced. "Sorry."
***
"How long were they away?" Brian asked when they finally returned to their anniversary party.
The Doctor watched Rory entertaining his friends instead of looking at the man. "I don't know what you're talking about, Brian."
Brian raised his eyebrows. "Because they're wearing totally different clothes from earlier."
"Seven weeks," the Time Lord admitted, grinning. "We got side-tracked. A lot."
"What happened to the other people who travel with you?"
The Doctor finally looked at him, his eyes heavy with the memories. "Some left me." He recalled Martha and Donna, and all the amazing adventures they'd had. "Some got left behind." That was Jack and Rose and Mickey. "And some, not many, but some... died." And there was his wife and all of her deaths. "Not them," he promised. "Not them, Brian. Never them."
***
Meanwhile, McKenzie was sat on the wall in the garden with Amy, sharing a bottle of wine.
"Can we stay here, with you and Rory, for a bit?" the blonde asked, watching the party going on inside. "You know, keep an eye on the cubes. However long that takes."
Amy raised an eyebrow. "I thought it would drive you mad."
McKenzie shook her head. "No, no, no. Well, I mean, we'll be better at it this time. We really will. We've got a compelling reason to stick around." She hid a sad smile with her wine glass. "We miss you."
Amy looked away to hide her smile, then gave up, tackling her friend in a hug.
***
Much later, the four of them were sat on the sofa, sharing a large bowl of fish custard and watching late-night reruns of the Apprentice.
"Mmm," the Doctor smiled, licking his lips. "If I had a restaurant, this'd be all I'd serve."
Amy snorted. "Yeah, right. You running a restaurant."
"Well, I could run it," McKenzie suggested. She caught Amy's raised eyebrows and narrowed her eyes playfully. "Hey, I've run restaurants! Who do you think invented the Yorkshire pudding?"
Rory laughed, then saw her expression. "You didn't..."
The Doctor laughed. "Pudding, yet savoury. Sound familiar?"
***
A few days later, Amy smiled as she walked into the kitchen to see Rory wiping down the counter. "Good job, mister. Civilisations saved, surfaces wiped. What more could any woman ask for?" She put her arms around his neck.
"Ha ha." He rolled his eyes.
"I mean it," she assured him.
"Where's the Doctor and the Angel?"
"On the Wii again."
Rory sighed. "Oh, God."
She grinned, tapping him on his shoulders. "Good luck. I'm going for a bath." She headed off upstairs.
Rory rolled his eyes, hearing the Doctor's excited cries from the living room. "Oh yes! Second set to me! Beat that, Di Angelo! Oh, if Fred Perry could see us now, eh? He'd probably ask for his shorts back."
"Er, what's this?" Rory called, looking at a small glass bottle on the kitchen counter. It had some kind of liquid inside.
McKenzie poked her head out of the living room, then joined him in the kitchen. "Oh, that. Yeah, found that in your attic, when I reorganised it according to the Dewey Decimal System." She saw his raised eyebrows. "What? I was bored. Anyway, I just assumed it was something Pondy."
He shrugged. "Never seen it before. Wonder what it is." He peered at the liquid inside.
"Well, there's only one way to find out." She grabbed the bottle.
"Oh, I don't think—" Rory cut himself off, sighing as she took a big gulp of the stuff anyway. He raised his eyebrows as she made a strange face. "Well?"
She coughed, fanning herself. "Whew! Actually, that's pretty good." She took another swig.
Rory blinked. "Really?" He took the bottle from her, eyeing the liquid. "What is it, then?"
"Hmm?" She made as if to answer the question, then held up a finger and burped. "Sorry. Oh, I'm awful."
He rolled his eyes. "Angel, what is it?"
"What?" She giggled. "Oh, floor polish." And with that, she turned and walked into the wall, collapsing. "I'm fine!"
Rory sighed. "Not again." He helped her to her feet, where she swayed. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Come on, Kez! Third set decider!"
"Of course," she assured him, waving a hand dismissively as she headed back into the lounge, leaning heavily on the wall. "Why wouldn't I be?"
Rory raised his eyebrows as she fell through the doorway. "No reason." He turned back to the kitchen.
***
Inside the lounge, the Doctor raised an eyebrow at his unconscious wife. "Okay, that's not great." A cube hovered in front of him, and he waved it away distractedly. "Out of the way, dear, I'm trying to..." He trailed off as he realised what was happening. "Whatever you are, this planet, these people, are precious to me and I will defend them to my last breath." He frowned. "Is that all you can do? Hover? I had a metal dog who could do that." One side of the cube opened, revealing the barrel of a gun. "What's that?" The cube fired, and he ducked, the shot shattering a vase. As two more shots came in quick succession, the Doctor grabbed his wife, carrying her out into the hallway to safety, then watched as the cube used the TV to access the internet. "Ooh, you really have woken up."
Rory came in from the kitchen. "Doctor? Hi. Er, the cube in there, it just opened."
Amy came running down the stairs. "The cube upstairs just spiked me and took my pulse!"
The Doctor grinned. "Ha! Really? Mine fired laser bolts and now it's surfing the net."
Amy's eyes widened when she saw McKenzie slumped on the floor. "Did the cube do that too?"
"Oh, no, that was the floor polish," Rory corrected.
The Doctor rolled his eyes, cupping her face in his hands. "Not again."
Brian ran in through the back door. "You're not going to believe this. My cube just moved. It rattled."
Rory's phone rang, and he turned away to answer it. "Hello?"
"Is she going to be okay?" Amy asked worriedly, watching as McKenzie stirred.
"Yeah," the Doctor said, smiling fondly. "She's had worse." He raised his eyebrows as the blonde opened her eyes blearily. "Hi. Still with us?" She nodded slowly, and he chuckled. "Mmm."
"Okay, I'm on my way," Rory said, then hung up, turning back to them. "I have to get to work. They need all the help they can get."
"Let me come, help out," Brian suggested.
"Take your dad to work night, brilliant," Rory shrugged. "Okay, are you going to be all right here?"
Amy nodded. "Keep away from the cubes."
"Right." He gave her a kiss, then left with his father in tow.
Amy looked down to see the Doctor smiling, reading something on his psychic paper. "What are you grinning about?"
"We're wanted at the Tower of London," he told her, putting it away and picking up his wife.
***
Kate greeted them at the end of their car journey, by which point McKenzie was almost sober. "Every cube across the whole world activated at the same moment."
"Now we're in business," the Doctor smiled, rubbing his hands together.
"You sent a message to the psychic paper," McKenzie said, nudging Kate. "Got to admit, that's hot. I'm nearly impressed."
"Secret base beneath the Tower," Amy said, raising her eyebrows. "I hope we're not here because we know too much."
Kate smiled. "Yes, I've got officers trained in beheading. Also, ravens of death."
Amy watched as she walked ahead. "I like her." The Doctor grinned.
They entered a surveillance room where many of the cubes were being watched. "There are fifty being monitored, and more coming in all the time. I don't know how useful it is," Kate admitted. "Each cube is behaving individually. There's no meaningful pattern. Some respond to proximity. Some create mood swings."
"What's this one?" Amy asked, indicating a cubicle with no one inside.
"Try the door." The ginger did so, and the Birdie Song started playing. Everyone in the room simultaneously cringed. Kate made a face. "On a loop!" Amy slammed the door, looking annoyed.
Kate directed them to a set of screens in the middle of the room. "This is the latest."
McKenzie frowned. "Oh dear. Systems breach at the Pentagon, China, every African nation, the Middle East."
"I've got governments screaming for explanations and no idea what to tell them," Kate confessed. "I'm lost. We all are."
The Doctor clapped her on the shoulder. "Don't despair, Kate. Your dad never did." She looked up in surprise, and he smiled. "Kate Stewart, heading up UNIT, changing the way they work. How could you not be? Why did you drop Lethbridge?"
She shrugged. "I didn't want any favours. Though he guided me, even to the end. Science leads, he always told me. Said he'd learned that from an old friend."
"We don't let him down," he promised her. "We don't let this planet down."
The screens changed, and the man in glasses operating the computer blinked. "They've stopped. The cubes, across the world, they just shut down."
Kate frowned. "Active for forty-seven minutes, and then they just die?"
"Not dead," McKenzie mused. "Dormant, maybe?"
"Then why shut down?" Amy asked.
"I don't know," the Doctor grumbled. "I don't know. I need to think. I need some air. Who has an underground base? Terrible ventilation." He headed for the exit, Amy following, but McKenzie stopped Kate when she tried to go too.
"He wants to have a chat with her. He'll have an idea in a bit." She smiled up at the Brigadier's daughter. "In the meantime, have you guys got any snacks down here?"
***
The Doctor sighed as Amy joined him outside, looking out across the Thames. "The moment they arrived, I should have made sure they were collected and burned. That is what I should have done."
"How?" Amy reasoned. "Nobody would have listened."
He bit his lip, watching her. "You're thinking of stopping, aren't you? You and Rory."
"No," she lied immediately, then sighed. "I mean, we haven't made a decision."
"But you're considering it."
"Maybe. I don't know, we don't know." She shrugged. "Well, our lives have changed so much. There was a time, there were years, when I couldn't live without you two. When just the whole everyday thing would drive me crazy. But since you dropped us back here, since you gave us this house, you know... we've built a life. I don't know if I can have both."
He frowned. "Why?"
"Because they pull at each other," she admitted. "Because they pull at me, and because the travelling is starting to feel like running away."
"That's not what it is." He shook his head.
She snorted. "Oh, come on. Look at you both. Four days in my lounge and you go crazy."
"We're not running away," he assured her. "But this is one corner of one country in one continent on one planet that's a corner of a galaxy that's a corner of a universe that is forever growing and shrinking and creating and destroying and never remaining the same for a single millisecond. And there is so much, so much to see, Amy. Because it goes so fast. We're not running away from things, we're running to them before they flare and fade forever." He put his arm around her shoulders. "And it's all right. Our lives won't run the same. They can't. One day, soon maybe, you'll stop. I've known for a while."
Amy's brow furrowed. "Then why do you keep coming back for us?"
"Because you were the first," he told her. "The first face this face saw, 'sides from Kez. And you're seared onto my hearts, Amelia Pond. You always will be. We're running to you, and to Rory, and to the kids, before you fade from us."
She rested her head against his shoulder. "Don't be nice to me. I don't want you to be nice to me."
He smiled. "Yeah, you do, Pond, and you always get what you want." After a moment, he stiffened, making her look up. "They got what they wanted."
Amy blinked. "What? Who did?"
"The cubes. That's why they stopped." He grabbed her hand, setting off back into HQ. "Come on!"
***
McKenzie looked round as he ran back in, looking excited. "See? Told you so."
"Kate!" he exclaimed. "Before they shut down, they scanned everything, from your medical limits to your military response patterns. They made a complete assessment of planet Earth and its inhabitants. That's what the surge of activity was." He looked up as the lights went out. "Problem with the power?"
Kate shook her head. "Not possible. We've got back-ups."
Amy's eyes widened as she looked at the cubes. "Guys, look."
McKenzie was by her side in a heartbeat. "What?"
Kate frowned. "Why do they all say seven?"
The Doctor made a face. "Seven. Seven, what's important about seven? Seven wonders of the world, seven streams of the River Ota, seven sides of a cube."
"A cube has six sides," Amy corrected.
"Not if you count the inside," McKenzie told her absently, watching the nearest cube with a look of consternation. The digit changed to six. "It has to be a countdown."
"Not in minutes," Kate replied.
"No reason why it should be," McKenzie pointed out. "Kate, we have to get humanity away from those cubes. God knows what they'll do if they hit zero. Get the information out any way you can. News channels, websites, radio, text messages. People have to know that the cubes are dangerous."
"Okay, but why is this starting now?" Amy asked. "I mean, the cubes arrived months ago. Why wait this long?"
"Because they're clever," the Doctor answered. "Allow people enough time to collect them, take them into their homes, their lives." He groaned in frustration. "Humans, the great early adopters! And then, wham! Profile every inch of Earth's existence."
Kate's eyes widened. "Discover how best to attack us."
McKenzie bit her lip. "Get the information out any way you can. Go!"
"Right." She hurried to the computer.
"Every cube was activated," the Doctor reasoned. "There must be signals, energy fluctuations on a colossal scale, there must be some trace. There can't not be. We need to think of all the variables, all the possibilities, okay? Go, go, go!"
***
At the hospital, Rory was talking to some colleagues. "We've got to get them out of the building. Away from here, as far as you can, and get back here before it hits zero." He sent them off, then turned to Brian. "Dad, could you go and get me a box of tape for dressings? It's just the cupboard around the corner."
Brian nodded. "Yes, boss."
After he'd sorted his next patient, Rory realised his father hadn't returned yet. He turned to a nurse. "Have you seen my dad?"
She shook her head. "No, sorry."
He frowned, heading off to investigate.
***
"Angel, please," Amy tried. "You don't have to do this."
"She's right," Kate agreed. "You don't have to be in there. We can do this remotely."
McKenzie snorted. "I once plugged my brain into a planet. Remotely is so not my style." She kissed the Doctor, who made a face.
"Oh, lemony fresh," he complained.
She laughed, then entered the cubicle, sitting down to watch the cube as it switched to one. When it hit zero, the number disappeared, and the lid opened. "Well, geronimo," she said sarcastically, looking in.
"What's happening?" Kate asked.
"Well?" Amy bit her lip when McKenzie didn't say anything. "What's in there?"
The blonde frowned. "There's nothing in there."
Amy blinked. "Er, well, that's good. It's not, it's not bombs, it's not aliens."
"Why?" the Doctor asked. "Why is there nothing inside? Why? It doesn't make any sense."
McKenzie left the cubicle, snapping her fingers at the computer guy as she took the seat next to him. "Oi, glasses, is it the same everywhere? Is it the same all around the world?" He brought up worldwide analysis.
"They're empty. We're safe, right?" Kate checked.
"No, no, no, we are very far from safe," the Doctor told her. "All along, every action has been deliberate. Why draw attention to the cubes if they don't contain anything?"
Amy's eyes widened as CCTV popped up onscreen. "Look." The images showed people clutching at their chests and collapsing.
"They're CCTV feeds from across the world," the computer guy explained. "They're showing the same."
"People are dying," Kate realised.
"What?" the Doctor frowned. "They can't be dying. How? How are they dying?"
"I want information on how people are being affected," Kate ordered.
"The cubes brought people close together," McKenzie theorised. "They opened and then—argh!" She clutched at her own chest, face twisting in pain.
"Kez?!" the Doctor's eyes had widened. "Kez, talk to me, what's wrong?"
"Ow, ow, ow!" she complained, panting. "I don't know!"
"Hospitals are logging a global surge in heart failures," the researcher stated. "Cardiac arrests."
"Oh, that's the bitch!" McKenzie groaned. "OW! Only one heart... other one's not working!"
"Okay, hospital, now," Amy decided.
"No, no, no, no, I'm fine," McKenzie lied. "Just a short circuit." She massaged the left side of her chest, making an effort to sit up, gritting her teeth against the pain. "Show me. Ten seconds after the cubes opened. Argh! Show me the patterns in their electrical currents." The researcher brought the data up, revealing a heartbeat pulse.
"Oh, I see," the Doctor breathed.
"No," Kate's eyes were wide.
"Yes, the power cut," he nodded. "They zapped the power and then—" He was cut off by his wife's pained groan as she fumbled for his hand. "They're signal boxes. People lean in and then wham! Pure electrical surge out of the cube targeted at the nearest human heart."
"But she's not human," Amy pointed out.
"Close enough," McKenzie managed, gripping onto the desk so hard she made a dent. "Be fair, they've probably never met a me before and—ow!—and if they have, it makes even more sense they'd shut me up."
"Oi!" the Doctor chastised.
"Oh, shut it, my heart just short-circuited," she retorted. "Ow, bloody hell!"
Kate looked up as the screen changed again. "Doctor, the scan you set running. The transmitter locations. It's found them."
"And look at them all, pulsing bold as brass," McKenzie growled. "Seven of them, all across the world." She cringed in pain, catching her breath. "Seven stations, seven minutes. Why is that important? Argh! Ow, ow, ow! Oh, this is terrible! How did I ever cope?! One heart, it is pitiful."
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "These are wormholes, bridging two dimensions. Seven of them, hitched onto this planet, but where's the closest one? Glasses, zoom in."
Amy's eyes widened as she recognised the location. "That's the hospital where Rory works."
***
"How many deaths have been recorded?" the Doctor asked as they walked into the chaos of the hospital, his wife leaning heavily on him.
"We don't know," Kate replied. "We think it could be a third of the population."
McKenzie clenched a fist, bracing herself. "Kate, we've got to find the wormhole, but the..." She groaned. "The attacks could still happen. You've got to tell the world... tell them how to deal with this. The world needs your leadership right now."
Kate nodded. "I'll do my best."
McKenzie smiled. "'Course you will. Good luck." Kate walked away with her soldiers, and McKenzie cried out, clutching onto her husband.
"Okay, how long are you going to last with only one heart?" Amy asked, concern all over her face.
"Not much longer," she guessed. "I'm okay, I think. We need to locate the wormhole portal."
The Doctor's eyes widened as the sonic buzzed. "Hello!" He followed the signal to a young girl who was stood still and calm amidst the chaos. "Hello. You are giving off some very strange signals." He soniced her, and her face turned blue.
"Oh my God," Amy breathed.
"Outlier droid," he recognised. "Monitoring everything." He leaned his wife against the wall so he could work with both hands. "If I can shut her down, I can—"
McKenzie cried out, sliding down the wall. "Oh, ow! Ow! Ow! OW! I can't—! I can't do it!" Her breath was coming in short, sharp gasps now, her eyes widening in fear. "I need both!"
Amy grabbed a portable defibrillator from a crash trolley. "All right. Desperate measures." She ripped open the front of the blonde's shirt, revealing her sports bra over a frantically heaving chest.
The Doctor stared. "No, no, no! That won't work! She's not human!"
"Okay, clear!" Amy shocked her and her eyes slid closed. For a moment, both Time Lord and human stared, fearing the worst. Then her eyes opened again, and the blonde leapt to her feet excitably.
"Whooo!" she cheered. "Welcome back, lefty! Two hearts! Back in the game!" She looked down at herself, pouting as she realised her shirt was ruined. "Oh." She hugged Amy, then looked at her sternly. "Never do that to me again."
***
Minutes later, they'd found the wormhole.
Amy raised her eyebrows, unimpressed. "Portal to another dimension in a goods lift?"
The Doctor shrugged. "The energy signals converge here. Does seem a bit cramped, though." They headed inside, finding it empty. The back wall wobbled when they touched it.
"Ah," McKenzie realised. "Through the looking glass?" They joined hands and stepped through onto a spaceship.
"Where are we?" Amy wondered.
"We're in orbit," McKenzie replied, looking out a window to see the Earth below. "One dimension to the left."
Amy was distracted when she saw her husband laid out on a slab, her father-in-law next to him. "Rory!"
"Ah." The Doctor patted down his pockets, pulling out a small vial. "Soborian smelling salts. Outlawed in seven galaxies."
Amy waved the vial under Rory's nose and he sat bolt upright, eyes wide. Someone shot at them, making him duck.
"Oi!" McKenzie complained, drawing attention away from them. "What kind of a welcome do you call that?" She glanced at Amy. "Get them out of here. You too. Now."
"What are you going to do?"
She shrugged. "Not a clue. Get them through the portal." The creature shot again, and she ducked. "Whoa!" She and the Doctor stood up to face the creature, Amy and Rory wheeling Brian away behind them.
"So many of them crawling the planet, seeping into every corner," the alien stated, before disappearing and reappearing in front of a bank of monitors.
The Doctor's eyes widened. "It's not possible. I thought the Shakri were a myth. A myth to keep the young of Gallifrey in their place."
"The Shakri exist in all of time, and none," the hologram stated. "We travel alone and together. The Seven."
McKenzie's eyes widened in realisation. "The Shakri craft, connected to Earth through seven portals and seven minutes. Okay, but why?"
"Serving the word of the Tally," the Shakri replied.
"Why the cubes?" the Doctor wondered. "Why Earth?"
"Not Earth, humanity," the Shakri corrected. "The Shakri will halt the human plague before the spread."
"Erase humanity before it colonises space," McKenzie translated. "So the cubes were an invasion. The start of war."
"The human contagion only must be eliminated."
Amy and Rory ran to their pilots' sides. "Oi!" Amy exclaimed. "Who are you calling a contagion?"
McKenzie's eyes widened. "Oh, you two are doing wonders for my blood pressure! Didn't we tell you to go?!"
Rory scoffed. "You should have learned by now. We're not leaving either of you."
"Yeah, and what is this Tally anyway?" Amy asked.
"Some people call it Judgement Day, or the Reckoning," the Doctor told them grimly.
Rory stared at him, frowning. "You don't know."
"I've never wanted to find out," the Doctor admitted.
"Before the Closure, there is the Tally," the Shakri said. "The Shakri serves the Tally."
"The pest controllers of the universe, that's how the tales went, isn't it?" the Doctor remembered.
Amy made a face. "Wow. That's a seriously weird bedtime story."
"No worse than the Grimm Brothers," McKenzie pointed out, before turning her attention back to the Shakri. "So here you are, depositing slug pellets all over the Earth, made attractive so humans will collect them, hoping to find something beautiful inside." She walked closer to the creature, glaring defiantly. "Because that's what they are. Not pests, or plague, but creatures of hope, forever building and reaching. Making mistakes, like every life form does, but learning. And they strive for greater, and they achieve it." She set her jaw. "You want a Tally? Put their achievements against their failings throughout time and space. These are my people, you intergalactic moron, and I will back humanity against the Shakri every single time."
"The Tally must be met," the Shakri insisted. "The second wave will be released."
Amy raised an eyebrow. "What does that mean?"
"Er, it's going to release more cubes to kill more people," the Doctor replied, making a face.
"The human plague, breeding and fighting, and when cornered, their rage to destroy," the Shakri laughed. "You're too late, Doctor. The Tally shall be met." The hologram vanished.
"He's gone?" Rory blinked.
"He was never really here," McKenzie corrected. "Just the ship's automated interface."
The Doctor ran to the screens, sonicing them. "Okay, I can stop the second wave. I can disconnect all the Shakri craft from their portals, leave them drifting in the darkspace."
"But all the people who were near the cubes, they'll have died," McKenzie pointed out.
"I restarted one of your hearts," Amy remembered, nudging her.
Rory nodded in agreement. "You'd need mass defibrillation."
"Of course!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Ah, beautiful. Oh, but assembled Ponds, we are going to go one better than that. The Shakri used the cubes to turn people's hearts off. Bingo! We're going to use them to turn them back on again."
"Will that work?" Amy asked.
"Creatures of hope," McKenzie reminded her. "Has to."
The Doctor soniced the screens again. "Okay, thirty seconds. Don't let me down, cubes, you're working for me now!" He grinned, pocketing his sonic. "Ha ha!"
"Oh dear," McKenzie said, eyes still on the screen. "Now you've done it. All those cubes, there's going to be a terrible wave of energy ricocheting around here any second. Run!"
Rory grinned. "I'm going to miss this!"
The spaceship exploded and the quartet collapsed into the lift just in time before starting to laugh.
***
Back at the Tower of London, Kate smiled. "You, er, you really are as remarkable as Dad said." She kissed the Doctor's cheek, making him blush. "Thank you."
"My, my!" he exclaimed, grinning. "A kiss from a Lethbridge Stewart. That is new."
"And you, Angel," Kate said, turning to the woman. "He would have been proud to know you."
McKenzie's gaze softened. "Oh, come here, you." She hugged her tight. "You ever need anything, just give us a call, alright?"
"I look forward to it," Kate nodded.
"Good girl," the Doctor smiled. "Anyway, we'd better be off. We're late for dinner." He waved and McKenzie saluted before getting into the back of a UNIT Range Rover.
***
"Dear me, is that the time?" the Doctor said later, checking his watch as he finished his takeaway. "We'd better be going, love. Things to do, worlds to save, swings to, er, swing on." He patted her shoulder, then kissed Amy and Rory on the tops of their heads and waved to Brian. "I'll get the motor running, shall I?" He disappeared out the back door.
Amy raised an eyebrow. "Is he alright?"
"Yeah, fine," McKenzie said, watching him go. She bit her lip, turning to the couple. "Listen, I know. It's okay. You both have lives here. Beautiful, messy lives. That is what makes you so fabulously... you. You don't want to give them up, and really, that's fine. I understand. Me and him, we'll be okay. Don't worry about us."
"Actually, it's you they can't give up, Angel," Brian corrected. "And I don't think they should." He looked at them both with a smile. "Go with them. Go save every world you can find. Who else has that chance? Life will still be here."
McKenzie smiled. "You could come, Brian."
He shook his head. "Someone's got to water the plants. Just bring them back safe."
She nodded. "I promise."