It was supposed to be one of those fairytale-ish Christmases, one with snow falling over the city as if the flakes were dancing their way down on the jolly rhythm of carols and other Christmas songs heard around stores and whatnot. It was also supposed to be the time of vacation, when students would do nothing but drink tea or hot chocolate with their friends or loved ones in a warm place. What wasn't supposed to happen was asking all the history graduates to come and have extra lessons in order to present their dissertations correctly.

Among the unfortunate seniors of London Academy was a green eyed girl who was late. It wasn't that her dissertation wasn't complete –it was finished already and had the rest of the months free- but the idea that she had to compare data and have someone else judge her paper.

"Dad was an archaeologist, I grew up with artifacts left and right and they want to take a look if the data is correct? Huh!" She mumbled, pulling the muffler closer around her nose. It was incredibly cold and the atmospheric pressure was adding to her school pressure.

Besides the usual annoyance, which really was winter itself, the young adult was pissed at everyone around: they pushing around for more space like they were the only ones walking on the street, hands full with shopping bags. Kids were playing in the snow, not really caring if the next morning they would wake up with a fever. Everyone was excited except her and the others living under the gray sky...or seniors. The girl sighed from coldness and brought her bag closer to her body for more warmth.

One step two steps and a few more others until she could enter the doors of the History Department. Unluckily, a car cut her path and she had to back off when the light turned red. Growing colder with every standing moment, the young adult shifted her weight from one leg to the other, making her look like she was either dancing or had to go to the bathroom.

None seemed to matter when the girl felt her right ring finger vibrate. She checked it out only to find out it wasn't from the cold but from the ring she was wearing, which was also vibrating.

"Well, this is new." She whispered to herself. It seemed that whenever she was moving her hand, the vibrations would either increase or decrease. She swayed her hand to the side and it seemed to increase. Since it was already strange enough, she decided to go with the weirdness and follow the pattern.

It wasn't far, approximately a block down from the intersection, and the vibrations were still increasing. They stopped when she entered down an alley between a bakery and an exchange and that's when the stone on her ring turned pink. It was usually yellow and now it became pink, by itself.

Taking a closer look at what was surrounding her, nothing really caught her eye except maybe something relatively old and rusty that she hasn't seen since she was a child.

"An old police box. That's something you don't see down every alley…" She reasoned with herself, finding it important to speak out loud. It was better when she could affirm something and hear it rather than just think it.

Seeing how it was there and no one else was around, the girl walked closer to it and inspected it closely. Raising her hand in order to touch it, she noticed the stone was now red. Even weirder was the moment the door to the police box opened and a man walked out. A man.

"Hello there!" He was being extremely nice to a stranger, "It's rather cold, isn't it? Excuse me for a moment," He said before he walked back in, closing the door behind.

The girl waited there, staring with maybe a bit of anticipation, for the man inside the police box. He came out a few minutes later with a coat that was the same color as the suit underneath. He looked very classy, maybe even a bit old school except the shoes; he wore sneakers, red sneakers.

"You must have a lot of stuff cramped in there…" She only guessed since she saw him grab a coat from inside such a small place.

"Yeah, no, I wouldn't say cramped. IT's enough space for everything." He actually answered her guess.

"So then, you live inside it? Do you, you know, do your stuff in there? It would seem a bit unhygienic…" She added, taking a step back even if he looked cleaned up and everything.

"You're not asking the usual questions, are you?"

The same thing could be said about him, the man living in an antiquity.

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing! Nothing. Then, we shall go our separate ways then. Nice to have met you-"

"Jane. Jane Doe." She introduced herself with a serious face, amusing the man.

"Jane Doe. I'm the Doctor." He also introduced himself seeing how ironic their presentations were.

"Of course you are. Well, I shouldn't judge people and their lifestyles but- you should go to a social place to clean up and go to the bathroom and other necessities."

"Oh, I don't that. I have everything I need inside the TARDIS." He said with a smile, making it hard to believe.

Jane's eyes widened slightly but not enough to make her look rude. In the end, the girl took a deep breath and spun around, going back to the intersection. It seemed the vibrations didn't lead her well.

Strangely enough, the Doctor followed her closely with a very nonchalant behavior. He seemed, dare to say, preppy about the upcoming holiday.

"You know, I really love Christmas. Don't you? It makes you all tingly inside, reviving the inner child that believes in miracles." He started randomly, "It's surprising how there's not many around, though."

"People are busy, acting like ants searching for provisions. Busy, busy, busy," she replied sarcastically, but the Doctor seemed to question that.

"It's very silent for this time of the year," The Doctor said, glancing left and right when they stopped at the intersection.

Indeed, compared to what one would expect, the crowd decreased by a lot yet not alarmingly so. Cars were honking and polluting the world just enough and students were walking towards the academy with sour faces.

"I really expected more humans…" The Doctor repeated, looking left and right, back and forth with a frown.

Jane ignored him completely and crossed the street, facing the gates of the History Department. She pushed one open and hurried towards the stairs. Surprisingly, no one was in the halls, not even around the coffee machine under the marble stairs. The paintings on the walls seemed to watch her as she made her way upstairs, to her classroom.

No one was inside either, which almost never happened. Her professor, Mrs. Hacker, was always ten minutes early for absolutely everything. Taking a peek out the window, she noticed that cars were not passing by anymore; as in none.

"I've been inside for less than five minutes so how could that happen?" She asked herself.

"I know, right?"

The girl jumped, turning immediately to the door only to meet the same frown she left in the intersection.

"Are you following me?" She asked, her face expressing exactly what she was thinking.

"No! Of course not! Why would I follow you, I have nothing to gain from it."

That answer was extremely sincere compared to what she expected.

"Right, well it seems you were right and suddenly people just vanish or maybe they stop passing by this block."

"Do you think so?" He didn't even wait for her to answer before he did it himself, "I don't think so. Something smells different in here."

"Yeah. It comes from next door where we looked at Egyptians' embalming methods. We might have not cleaned up properly." She said, looking down since she just judged him for his own unhygienic police box.

The Doctor felt like laughing until he stirred, leaning back so he could look into the corridor. Something was definitely inside, besides them of course.

"I'll go look around. It's better if you stay here until I get back." He advised before he sprinted out the door.

Jane waited a few minutes before she walked into the corridor, looking for what she believed was strange.


Wandering around the department with no soul inside was both scary and nice. For the first time in three years, Jane could do literally anything she wanted, from dancing around to drawing mustaches on pharaohs and letting every door open. Very rebellious.

She was having a lot of fun until she got in front of the stairs, towards the third floor. There was something that was quite hard to process.

"Today's full of new sights…" She started as she walked towards the thing.

Getting closer, the thing was genuinely a thing. It was a robot, for real. Getting right in front of it, Jane couldn't help but poke it curiously.

"You have not been upgraded."

It talked. Jane froze with wide eyes in front of the robot. The only thing she could think of was Star Wars' C3PO and it was thrilling to have an actual robot in front of her.

"Do I have to be upgraded?" She asked having no idea what that meant.

"Every human must be upgraded. Do not resist or you will be deleted." He spoke in that robotic voice that wasn't making Jane take him seriously.

"Maybe not. I'm fine the way I am. Human and all that…"

The robot did not take her refusal lightly and raised his hand at her. Jane slid around him with a nervous smile and hurried down the stairs. Only then did the danger sink in, when the robot started to repeat the word Delete.


The Doctor was searching for anything strange around the theater, pointing his screwdriver around. It was funny how the History Department had such a large theater but at the same time, it was rather nice.

Since there was nothing suspicious downstairs, the Doctor was ready to go upstairs when Jane ran into him.

"There is a robot upstairs. Real robot…" She said quickly before she saw what the Doctor had in hand, "What's that?"

"A thingy…" He said watching her warily when the 'thingy' started to beep. "A thingy that goes ding when it finds stuff," he explained further. Unfortunately, at the same time, her ring started to vibrate but only she could feel it.

"Anyway, it threatened me that if I refuse upgrading than I'll get deleted. It might have actually upgraded the school already for all we know!" She realized, feeling extremely nauseous.

"No, no. They'd be here, roaming with the cyberman you met." He mumbled, pointing the screwdriver up the stairs. Something seemed to be getting down, a bit stiff and slow, but still…

"So it's called a cyberman…We should get out of here before he suceeds in coming down the stairs." She mumbled, making sure she has everything before running out the door.

"Or we could hide and follow him in order to see where everyone else is." It sounded like he already decided and briefed her in.


"So, you seem extremely calm for your kind." The Doctor started while sneaking behind the cyberman. It suceeded in walking outside the Department to Jane's surprise.

"You mean my kind, the humans?" She asked back boldly, "What is your kind?"

"What makes you believe I'm not human?" He asked, turning to her with bemuement playing in his eyes.

Jane raised her right hand, really close for him to see it, "This is my thingy and it's been red ever since I found your police box."

The Doctor's eyes narrowed at the ring, grabbing her hand harshly, bringing it super close to his eyes.

"Incredible…I have never seen something so plain before." It started well and ended offending, "It doesn't seem to have any value."

"Its usual color is yellow yet as you can clearly see, it's red now."

"Maybe it changes colors with your mood swings." He explained, pulling her after him when the cyberman got too far.

"Right…"


The two lost the cyberman in Trafalgar Square, where the huge Christmas tree was supposed to enlighten for the holiday. A lot of people were there, waiting patiently, geared up for the cold. Everyone seemed to have fun and the crowd was only growing bigger as night was drawing closer.

"How interesting…" The Doctor mumbled to himself before he turned to his companion. However, she wasn't there. With how the square was filling, the Doctor was curious if he should be happy that everyone was there to protect or he should be worried that it was making the job easier for the cyberman.