As she wiped the Doctor's face with a damp cloth, Mei sang Hush-A-Bye Mountain under her breath, trying to focus on something other than the weak pulse under his skin. The pounding in her head had settled somewhat, now only a mild burning behind her eyes but Mei knew it would probably be there for a while. As long as she didn't try to remember what happened on the Game Station, it was bearable.
"One heart," Rose interrupted her sister's thoughts, placing the stethoscope down, "I'm sorry, Mei."
"Not your fault," the brunette smiled sadly, "I was the one that woke him up."
The sound of the front door opening had the two girls look up, but their interest faded when they realised it was just Mickey with his laptop.
"Jackie, I'm using the phone line. Is that all right?" he called as he made his way to the living room.
Rose gave her sister a smile and squeezed her shoulder lightly before going to join him and her mother. Mei just sighed and went back to singing under her breath. She brushed sweat from his forehead, then lightly dabbed at his cheeks, her free hand pushing his hair out of the way. It was stubborn, she decided, almost smiling as it forced its way back into place across his face. Just like him.
"Mei, come look!" Rose called from the living room.
"I'll be right back, love," she said, pressing a kiss to the Doctor's forehead.
The telly was on in the background, Jackie the only one paying attention as the guy on screen spoke about Guinevere One, the Mars Space Probe. Rose and Mickey were hovering over the laptop on the table, and Mei peered over her sister's shoulder to get a look.
"Here we go, pilot fish," Mickey said as an animation of a little fish popped up. "Scavengers, like the Doctor said. Harmless. They're tiny. But the point is, the little fish swim alongside the big fish. "
"Do you mean like sharks?" Rose asked, just as a shark appeared in the animation, the little fish barely the size of its eye. "Great big sharks," she huffed, "Of course, why not?"
"So, what the Doctor means is, we had them, now we get that," Mickey nodded.
"He said something was coming," Rose remembered, glancing at her sister, "Any chance you can get back into that Army site you were on before and find out what it might be?"
"Won't be long," Mei grimaced, and Mickey went to work, "If they could beam away like that, it must be pretty close. And pilot fish don't seem to stray too far from the daddy."
"Funny sort of rocks," Jackie commented behind them, causing the girls and Mickey to turn and look at the telly.
Mei frowned as a red-orange image appeared, blurry so she could not quite make it out.
"That's not rocks," Rose breathed, reaching for her sister's hand.
"This image is being transmitted via mission control, coming live from the depths of space on Christmas morning," the News Reader announced.
The image cleared suddenly, showing a reddish alien with a head like a goat's skull and bright red eyes. The four of them jumped back as it let out a guttural growl before disappearing, the Newsreader taking its place, though she too seemed taken aback.
"God dammit," Rose muttered, raking a hand through her hair.
"Well they won't be sweeping this one under the rug," Mei sat on the arm of the couch, "That's worldwide by now. And I can only guess that what happens when they get here is gonna be pretty bad."
"Hey, I got into the military," Mickey piped up, causing all three Tyler women to appear at his back, looking over his shoulder at the radar image he had pulled up. He pointed out the dot approaching the centre, "They're tracking a spaceship. It's big, it's fast, and it's coming this way."
"Coming for what, though? The Doctor?" Rose wondered, then shook her head, "He said they could smell the energy, but why bother with all this? They could attack and cart him off in numbers with the teleports, so . . . they're coming for all of us? Not just him, they want the Earth."
"Seems like it," Mei agreed, resting her head on her sister's shoulder. "Maybe they just wanted him out of the way first. He said they could use him as a battery. Maybe the pilot fish were acting on their own as they waited."
Mickey let out a small yelp as an image of four of the aliens appeared on screen, then stated, "They must be broadcasting to the military or something. Some sort of communication link? Have either of you seen them before?"
"No," the sisters chimed, frowning.
One of the aliens began speaking, and for a moment, Mei thought she would hear some random language. So, when their words came to her as English, she frowned.
"I don't understand what they're saying," Rose murmured, confusing the brunette. "The Tardis translates alien languages inside my head, all the time, wherever I am. Even over the last couple of weeks, when I've passed anyone speaking in other languages, I knew what they were saying."
"So, why isn't it doing it now?" Mickey asked.
"Because the Doctor isn't well," Mei straightened up, still thinking as she spoke, "He's Rose's link to the Tardis so without him, no link."
"But not yours," Rose realised, eyes widening, "You had the Tardis in you, you can still understand, can't you?!"
Mei nodded, "For some reason, yeah. I've managed to piece some of it together." She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth as the pain in her head became worse. Her hand went straight to her temples, putting some pressure there to try and ease it. "Oh my god!"
"Stop!" Rose exclaimed, "Stop thinking, stop translating! If it's hurting you then stop. You said the Doctor told you not to force it."
"No, I can – I can do it, it's not so bad," Mei grimaced, looking back at the screen, why was a simple translation causing the pain to get worse? "Right, okay so they started with cattle, but I think that refers to us? Cattle, you belong to us, to the Sycorax – I think that is their race? – We own you, we now possess your land, your minerals, your precious stones. Er . . . didn't catch that bit. Oh!" she cringed as the pain felt like needles stabbing her brain all over, "You - You will surrender, or they will die. Sycorax strong, Sycorax mighty, Sycorax rock. And I seriously hope they mean that in the modern sense. There were bits and pieces in there I might have missed but that's basically it."
Closing her eyes, Mei went back to massaging her temples, eyes watering slightly at the pain.
"That's weird," Rose murmured, rubbing circles on her sister's back, "Are you sure it was THEY will die, not YOU will die?"
"I could be wrong," Mei consented, "But I'm feeling pretty confident in it. If it didn't hurt so much, I'd think it over again. This makes no sense, why does just translating hurt? It's never hurt before."
"Well, you did have a second soul inside you," the blonde thought out loud, "And the Doctor was concerned the last time in Cardiff when you looked into it for too long. He told us no one is supposed to absorb it – her. Even Time Lords. I mean if he died from it, then it's not so surprising there's lingering pain for you after using it. And if we're right, and you're now connected to the Tardis through her soul, then anything like translating languages that she does for us, might hurt you because of the connection."
"Great," Mei sighed, "Let's just hope it passes."
Rose hummed in agreement, "So other than that, the big question is, who is THEY? And how have the Sycorax chosen them."
"So, what do we do now?" Jackie asked, perching on the arm of the couch by her youngest, watching her oldest with worry.
"Keep an eye on that, I guess," Mei gestured to the military scanner still open on Mickey's laptop, "I guess, maybe get some rest? Eat something? If anything changes, it'll pop up."
Nothing changed until the sun started coming up, by which time Rose and Mickey had both dozed off on the couch. Jackie had slept for a couple of hours but was up again and keeping herself busy by tidying the flat, and Mei hadn't moved from in front of the laptop other than to check up on the Doctor every half hour.
"New transmission!" she exclaimed, loud enough to wake the snoozing pair, and bring her mother through.
On screen, the image of the four aliens popped up again, but this time instead of words, it was simply actions. The leader of the group moved closer, reaching out with a clawed hand that became covered in a blue sort of energy, and then the image was gone.
"What was that?" Rose asked, "Did they say anything?"
"No," Mei frowned, "It was some sort of energy. But why? If they can manipulate some kind of magic or power, why show their hand?"
Noise from outside caught her attention and she hurried to the front door, Rose right behind her. Their neighbour Jason was walking along the hallway, a blank look on his face and the same blue light from the alien's hand circling around his head.
His wife Sandra was chasing after him, "What is wrong with you? Jason? Jason?"
"Sandra?" Rose called out. "Is Jason alright?"
"He won't listen," Sandra cried, still following her husband, "He's just walking. He won't stop walking! There's this sort of light thing. Jason? Stop it right now! Please, Jason, just stop."
Mei peered over the railing, her stomach twisting into knots as she realised Jason wasn't the only one. There were men and women and children all wandering around, towards buildings from what she could tell.
"The roof," she mumbled, casting her eyes up to the top of a neighbouring building, where the people affected by the light were starting to gather. "They're all going to the roof."
"THEY will die," Rose whispered, griping Mei's arm tightly, "Are they – Are the Sycorax gonna make them jump? Is that what they meant?"
"I don't know," Mei shook her head, placing her hand over Rose's, "I really don't know."