A/N - We're moving swiftly along into "Day of the Moon" and it looks like this one will be a two chapter episode. Kinda like the first one.
River, in an evening gown, and Elise, in a matching child sized one, ran through a skyscraper under construction. River's first instinct had been to hide in New York City. She also wanted to introduce more of earth culture to Elise.
They both had tally marks running up and down their arms. Two Silence appeared in front of them.
"I see you. I see you," River said, making two more tally marks on her arm.
Elise did the same.
"Doctor Song? Doctor Song?" Canton's voice sang.
Elise and River started running again.
"Go! Go! Go!" Canton yelled.
They soon came to an open wall.
"Don't move! It's over," Canton told them.
"They're here, Canton. They're everywhere," River said.
"I know. America's being invaded."
"You were invaded a long time ago. America is occupied."
"You're coming with us, Doctor Song. There's no way out this time."
"There's always a way out." She took Elise's hand in her own and fell back out of the skyscraper, taking Elise with her.
Elise's whole body flooded with relief as she heard the sound of the TARDIS engines. She and River fell into the TARDIS, through the corridors, and into the swimming pool. Not again... Elise climbed out of the pool and looked around.
At least this time it wasn't in the library.
Elise walked back to her room and changed before following River to the control room.
River had already dried Elise's hair and was now drying her own with a towel.
The Doctor danced around the console. "So, we know they're everywhere. Not just a landing party, an occupying force, and they 'have been here a very, very long time. But nobody knows that, because no one can remember them." He spotted Elise and scooped her up in his arms. "Oh, I've missed you! Have you grown?"
Elise playfully rolled her eyes, but giggled as the Doctor peppered kisses all over her face. She pushed him away. The beard he'd grown was scratchy.
"Don't like the beard, huh?" he asked.
Elise shook her head.
The Doctor set her down and she ran over to Amy and Rory to hug them.
"So what are they up to?" Canton asked.
"No idea. But the good news is, we've got a secret weapon," the Doctor told him.
The TARDIS landed and they ran outside to see a big rocket.
"Apollo 11's your secret weapon?" River asked the Doctor.
"No, no. It's not Apollo 11. That would be silly. It's Neil Armstrong's foot."
They went back inside the TARDIS and waited while the Doctor cleaned himself up. When he came back into the control room, he was holding a small gun. He first walked over to Canton and injected something into the palm of his hand.
"Ow!" Canton said.
"So, three months. What have we found out?" the Doctor asked walking over to Rory. While Rory was talking, the Doctor injected him.
"Well, they are everywhere. Every state in America. Ow!"
"Not just America, the entire world," River said.
The Doctor injected Amy.
"So you've seen them, but you don't remember them," Canton said.
"You've seen them, too. That night at the warehouse, remember? While you were pretending to hunt us down, we saw hundreds of those things. We still don't know what they look like," River told him.
"It's like they edit themselves out of your memory as soon as you look away. The exact second you're not looking at them, you can't remember anything," Rory said.
"Sometimes you feel a bit sick, though, but not always," Amy added.
"So that's why you marked your skin," Canton said.
"Only way we'd know if we'd had an encounter."
"How long have they been here?"
"That's what we've spent the last three months trying to find out."
"Not easy, if you can't remember anything you discover," Rory said.
"How long do you think?" Canton asked.
"As long as there's been something in the corner of your eye, or creaking in your house, or breathing under your bed, or voices through a wall. They've been running your lives for a very long time now, so keep this straight in your head. We are not fighting an alien invasion, we're leading a revolution. And today, the battle begins," the Doctor said.
"How?" Canton asked.
"Like this." He reached down and injected River.
"Ow!"
The Doctor laughed. "Nanorecorder. Fuses with the cartilage in your hand." He injected himself. "Ow. And it tunes itself directly to the speech centers in your brain. It'll pick up your voice, no matter what. Telepathic connection. So, the moment you see one of the creatures, you activate it..." He pressed down on the center of his palm with his ring finger. "...and describe aloud exactly what you're seeing."
A recording of the Doctor's voice played. "And describe aloud exactly what you're seeing." "Because the moment you break contact, you're going to forget it happened. The light will flash if you've left yourself a message. You keep checking your hand if you've had an encounter. That's the first you'll know about it," the Doctor finished.
"Why didn't you tell me this before we started?" Canton asked.
"I did, but even information about these creatures erases itself over time. I couldn't refresh it because I couldn't talk to you."
Canton looked away for a second and then looked back at the Doctor, adjusting his bow tie. He noticed everyone staring at him. "What? What are you staring at?" he asked.
"Look at your hand," River told him.
His nanorecorder was flashing. "Why is it doing that?"
"What does it mean if the light's flashing? What did I just tell you?" the Doctor asked.
"I haven't..."
"Play it."
"My God, how did it get in here?" Canton's voice on the recorder asked.
"Keep eye contact with the creature and, when I say, turn back, and when you do, straighten my bow tie," the Doctor told him.
"What? What are you staring at?"
"Look at your hand," River said.
They all turned and saw one of the Silence standing there.
"It's a hologram, extrapolated from the photo on Amy's phone. Take a good, long look," the Doctor told them. He turned off the hologram. "You just saw an image of one of the creatures we're fighting. Describe it to me."
"I can't," Canton said.
"No. Neither can I. You straightened my bow tie because I planted the idea in your head while you were looking at the creature."
"So they could do that to people. You could be doing stuff and not really knowing why you're doing it," Amy said as the Doctor pulled the monitor around.
"Like posthypnotic suggestion," Rory added.
"Ruling the world with posthypnotic suggestion?"
"Now then, a little girl in a spacesuit. They got the suit from NASA, but where did they get the girl?" the Doctor asked.
"It could be anywhere," Canton said.
"Except they'd probably stay close to that warehouse, because why bother doing anything else? And they'd take her from somewhere that would cause the least amount of attention. But you'll have to find her. Elise and I are off to NASA."
"Find her? Where do we look?"
The Doctor looked at the monitor. "Children's homes. But before we do anything else, Ellie..." He picked up the gun again.
River pulled Elise behind her. "Oh no. You are not injecting her," River argued.
"And why not?" the Doctor asked.
"Because she's a child."
"That doesn't matter River, she needs one."
"Says who? She'll be with one of us at all times."
"River..."
"Doctor, you come one step closer to her with that..."
The Doctor finally sighed and put down the gun. "Fine!"
Elise stood outside the Apollo 11 rocket as the Doctor messed around the inside of it. As she was standing there, two scientists came in. Elise tugged on the Doctor's pant leg.
Amy called and he answered. "Amy. How do you know? Repeated memory wipes fry your head eventually. Find out what you can, but don't hang around. Got to go. Got company." He closed the panel he had been working on and sat up. "Don't worry, I've put everything back the way I found it." He held up a spare part. "Except this. There's always a bit left over, isn't there?" The Doctor climbed out and he and Elise were escorted into a lecture hall and handcuffed.
Elise's wrists were too small for handcuffs, so they had settled for zip-ties, which the Doctor didn't appreciate.
"Now, one more time, sir. How the hell did you get into the command module?" a man interrogated them.
"I told you. I'm on a top secret mission for the President and Elise is my assistant. She's a child prodigy," the Doctor said.
"Well, maybe if you just get President Nixon to assure us of that, sir, that would be swell."
"I sent him a message."
President Nixon walked in with Rory and River. "Hello. I believe its Mr. Gardner. Is that correct? Head of Security?" Nixon asked.
"Er, yes sir. Yes, Mr. President."
Nixon turned to the other man and shook his hand. "Mr. Grant, is it?"
"Yes, Mr. President."
"The hopes and dreams of millions of Americans stand here today at Cape Kennedy, and you're the men who guard those dreams. On behalf of the American people, I thank you."
"You're welcome, Mr. President," Gardner said.
"I understand you have a baby on the way, Mr. Grant."
"Yes, Mr. President."
"What are you hoping for, a boy or a girl?"
"Just a healthy American, sir."
Nixon laughed. "A healthy American will do just nicely. Now, fellows, listen. This man, here, code name the Doctor and his protégé, are doing some work for me personally. Could you cut them a little slack?"
"Er, Mr. President, they did break into Apollo 11," Gardner said.
Nixon looked at the Doctor who mouthed, "Sorry."
Elise rolled her eyes, causing River to smile.
Nixon laughed awkwardly. "Well, I'm sure they had a very good reason for that. But I need you to release them now so they can get on with some very important work for the American people. Could you do that for me?"
"Well..." Grant said.
"Son, I am your Commander in Chief."
"Then I guess that would be fine, Mr. President."
"Glad to hear it."
The Doctor had his handcuffs removed and jumped up from his chair.
Elise followed him, her wrists still bound. She walked over to River, who placed a hand on her upper back to lead her to the TARDIS to cut the zip-tie off.
They entered the TARDIS and River walked over to her jacket and pulled out a pocket knife. She knelt in front of Elise and cut the zip-tie. "Arresting a child..." she muttered.
The TARDIS landed and the Doctor followed Nixon out.
River's device started ringing and she answered it. "Canton? Whoa. Slow down. What's happened?"