"How do you know they don't like the light?" Martha asked as she sat on one of the chairs in the living room, her lit candle in hand.
"Because it always happens at night when the lights are on. That's when they mess with them, turn them off." She answered as she sat across from Martha with her own burning candle.
"Cut the power you mean?" The Doctor asked from where he stood near the fireplace.
"Yes, but just the lights. I can still use all my appliances, and the phones usually still work. This is the first time they don't." she looked up to him with somewhat apologetic eyes before continuing on.
"This is also the first time anything like this has happened outside of here." She remembered.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"They cut out the street lights on my way home tonight. That's never happened before; they've never done anything out in the public, or in the presence of other people in my home."
"Tonight seems to be the night for a lot of firsts then huh?" Martha looked down in thought.
"You keep saying 'They', what makes you think it's a 'they' and not an 'it'?" he asked suddenly.
"It's… just something I can feel…" she said slowly. When they both looked at her expectantly she tried explaining better.
"When I was a little girl, back in America, I felt like something was looking at me sometimes. I felt like that a lot of the times actually, but one time it was different. It felt like it was looking at me from all over. And then I didn't feel it anymore. Years later I felt like that again, but I was older and the feeling was stronger. It felt more like a bunch of things were watching me all at once. And then again, it was gone. But I was older then, so I figured it had never really been gone. It was always there. It just covered up its leak." She was quiet for a bit, her mind lost to memories.
"Then I came here." She smiled, snapping back to the present.
"Yeah, how far could you go? Surely it wouldn't follow you all the way across the pond."
"No, that's not why I left." she frowned. "I actually came here for more practical and personal reasons." She said, clearly unhappy about his accusation.
"Practical?" he laughed.
"Better job."
"Personal?" he sneered.
"I like England. Always wanted to see it. Ended up staying!" she shrugged but smiled all the same.
"What else do you know?" Martha asked, bringing back the focus.
"It stops in the morning, as soon as it's day, all bright and sunny. Afraid of the sunlight, like I said. That's where I got the idea for the candles, and it worked. Whatever they are they don't touch the fire." She nodded to the fireplace.
"Have you got a telly?" he asked.
"Yeah, it's on the wall in the kitchen."
"In the kitchen? That's a strange place to watch television." He called as he strode over to the kitchen.
"Well I think this is a strange time to watch cartoons." She huffed. "I like to watch the shows while I cook. Besides, this is my reading room." She called.
"So, we've got that they don't like light, they cut off power, and there's a lot of them." Martha listed off the information they'd gained.
"And they like you. Where's the remote?" The Doctor added his observation from the kitchen.
"In the drawer under the T.V." she yelled back, "but what do you mean they like me?" she got up from her seat and headed for the kitchen, Martha following.
"You said yourself they don't act up around company, only when you're by yourself." He said as he dug around in the drawer before turning to face them.
"So why do they only mess with you? Are they more comfortable around you? Are they shy? Or are you just more fun to terrorize than others?" he grinned, cheekily, before turning back to the T.V. and aiming the remote at it.
Her lips set in a tight frown while Martha pondered over this puzzle more.
"Maybe there's something different about you that you don't even know about." She said.
"That's the right kind of thinking Martha! So what is it?" he praised.
"Let's see, Umm, how old are you?" she asked.
"I'm twenty-eight."
"Are you sick or anything? Any kind of disease in your family history?"
"No, not so much more than the common cold."
"You're sure?" Martha asked again, hoping there would be something she could go off from.
"Positive. All my ancestors have been said to grow well into old age."
"All right, so maybe it's got to do with what you eat or touch?" Martha continued her quizzing while The Doctor tried again with the remote.
"This isn't working." He mumbled.
"The power's out, remember?"
"Yeah but even the remote isn't working. The remote's not plugged in to anything."
"Maybe the batteries are dead."
"Got any new ones?"
"That drawer over there." She pointed to another drawer below the cabinet she kept her matches.
"What's your diet like, and your daily routine?" Martha continued on.
"Not much really. I have cereal in the mornings, salads at lunch usually. Sometimes I don't even eat dinner. I get up, go to work, come home, take a shower, go to bed. I wake up the next morning and do it all over again."
"Well I can't say it's unusual, but it's definitely not too healthy." Martha scolded, her profession shining through.
"I get swept up sometimes in my research, for my work." She replied.
"What do you do?" Martha asked.
"Nothing I would consider dangerous. I hardly come across radiation around pencils and paper and coffee." She laughed.
"These don't work either." The Doctor said as he slid the opened packs of batteries across the table top.
"That can't be possible, I just bought those, absolutely brand new." She said, furiously picking up a pack and trying to find the expiration date.
"You said you do research. Research for what?" he asked.
"For my job."
"That's not what I meant, what do you research?"
"Anything and everything." She shrugged, "I'm a columnist. I work for a magazine and for the London Times newspaper. I read and find things that I think people will find interesting, write a bit of a witty innuendo that I come to after learning of the something 'interesting' I find, and then it gets edited and published."
"That's why you said 'Information is power'." Martha said, proud of her realization.
The Doctor grinned and nodded in agreement of the connection before he stopped suddenly, his mind whizzing about, coming to his own realization.
"That's it!" He yelled throwing his arms out. "Martha, you're absolutely brilliant!"
He dug around in his coat's inner chest pocket before he pulled out some strange looking pen sort of a thing.
"What's it?" Martha asked.
"What's that?" the brunette asked, pointing to the weird instrument he whirled about.
"It's a screw driver." He said before turning his head to Martha, "What you said, 'Information is power'."
"I don't get it."
"That's a screw driver?"
"Sonic, screw driver." He scowled before again turning to Martha, " 'Information is power', it's the power! Not the lights, the power!" he turned about and started pointing his gadget at everything in the room.
"They manipulate the power. Everything with an electrical power source is turned off, but not the gas," he flicked the wand over to the stove and the burners turned on, "or the plumbing," he turned it to the sink and the water flowed, "just the power. We kept staying locked on to the lights because that's what we can see, but when you take into account the phones, the T.V., the fridge, even the batteries, you can see that all the power has been sucked out; devoured."
"It whirs?" she asked, staring at the wand.
"Yeah, it's sonic. But by what Doctor? What's 'eating' the power?" Martha asked, ignoring the woman's shock.
"Vigorvorous! A tiny little organism that lives off energy. Billions of them! Floating in the air right now."
"You mean like, little nano-aliens?" Martha asked, looking at the air.
"Even smaller! The size of cells, molecules, atoms! Maybe even smaller than that. They're from a planet in the sub division of Lunaria, a lunar system with fifty moons. There they surf about and ingest excess energy that gets bottled up in the atmosphere, with no sun to burn it all up. They're greedy little things though, so they usually stay there where energy is abundant. If they come into contact with other solar systems they usually devour the planets whole."
"Aliens? You're saying that we're surrounded by aliens, right now?" She asked.
"That's right."
"But, 'Vigorvorous', that's Latin?"
"Yes it is. The Latins are the ones who discovered and named the species."
"Latins discovered an alien species? How is that even possible?"
"The Universe gots lots of Latins." He argued. She only shook her head, leaving that for an explanation at another time.
"So aliens, are real? And you've met one?"
"Yes they are, yes I have, and now you've met one too."
"Well, I can hardly say I've met these invisible aliens." she laughed.
"Hello, I'm The Doctor. Pleasure to meet you."
Her eyes widened, and she raised a brow at his stupidly grinning face.
"But Doctor, if that's true, why haven't they devoured this planet?" Martha broke in with the serious question at hand.
"That's what I'm trying to figure out. But we've got bigger problems to solve right now! We've got a house packed with energy eaters and I just landed the most potent energy source ever created in the kitchen." He leaned against the tall blue box in the room.
"When the hell did that get in here!"
"I landed it here while you were out at work, try to keep up, the question is how do we get it out?"
"Can't we just warp it out of here?" Martha asked.
"No, no, as soon as we open the doors they'll rush in and eat it all up. All that energy is never meant to be absorbed. They'll overflow and burn alive before expanding across the galaxy blowing it all up into smoke and smithereens. As long as the doors stay closed we should be fine, but we can't move the TARDIS until we first move the clan."
"Move the what?"
"The TARDIS, really try to keep up. Now if I wanted to lure away unwanted hungry visitors, how would I do that?" he asked.
"I would take them to eat out?" Martha suggested.
"Good! Now, where is a place that could supply a tempting enough dinner?"
"London's energy plant?" That was the first thing to come to Martha's mind.
"No, too far and too much energy. They'd suck it dry in seconds, leaving London without power for months. We need some where close, and with energy we can control."
An idea struck and she slowly spoke her mind.
"What about my work?" They looked at her. "It's not far, three, maybe four streets away. My short cut makes even faster travel. It's one of the tallest buildings in London. If we turn everything on won't it look like a giant 'free meal' sign?"
"That might work, let's give it a try!"
It was smiles all around as the three of them headed for the door. She led The Doctor and Martha through the pitch black alley way and around the corners all the way back to the building she returned to every morning. And there stood the detail she'd forgotten.
"Shoot, I forgot about Lawrence." She whispered from behind the corner they hid from.
"No worries! I've got this!" he smugly flapped around the wallet from before.
"What are you gonna do with that? Flash him a blank piece of paper and then smack him with it?" she couldn't help but giggle at the idea. "He'd definitely be more than happy to taze you right then and there." He seemed deflated by her and Martha's snickering.
"It's not usually blank." He defended with a frown.
"Just let me handle it." She ordered as she stepped away from the corner and beckoned them to follow.
"Lawrence!" she called as she stepped up to him.
"Hello, love!" he answered back with a goofy grin on his face when he saw it was her.
His grin soon changed to confusion, "What are you doing here? I didn't expect to see you again so soon, is it Seven O'clock already?" he joked checking his wrist watch.
"No, it isn't morning quite yet, thank God!" she placed a dramatic hand over her heart, as if to calm it's beating.
"See, I was out with my mates," she gave a general wave over to Martha and The Doctor who stood behind her, "having a drink, when I remembered the file! I left the bloody file in my office! The one I need to have edited and emailed to Margie by morning. Ran over here as fast as I could, the lot followed me to make sure I was safe, hoping that you would let me in real quick to grab it?" she clasped her hands together in prayer that he would help her.
"I don't know… It's well after hours—"
"Oh please Lawrence? I could lose my job if I don't turn in that paper. Then I'd never see you in the mornings again." She pouted and batted her eyes a bit.
His knees weakened, "Oh all right."
"Yes! Thank you, so much!" she giggled, and he laughed shyly as well.
He led them to the top of the steps and pulled out his master key. He twisted it and pulled forth the door, holding it open for her as she passed through. The two began to follow when he stopped them.
"But, they'll have to wait outside."
"Oh please let them come with me? It's a bit freaky being in this empty building all alone."
He shifted uncomfortably.
"It's not a bank, Lawrence. What are we gonna steal, pens?" she guffed.
"Fine, but be quick about it." He gave in.
"Thank you Lawrence!" she sung as she hugged him gratefully.
They swiftly and silently passed him as they entered the dark building.
"I do like a good pen." The Doctor remarked once they were out of ear shot.
Smiles curled on all their lips as they tried to hold back laughter.
"So where to?" Martha asked.
"The roof. That's where power boxes usually are." He replied as he headed for the elevators.
"So, you're an alien?" she asked as they waited for the elevator.
"Yup."
"And you?"
"Not me. Human, like you." Martha shrugged.
"Okay. And the Vigorvorous are aliens?"
"Yup." He answered again as he stepped into the now open elevator.
"Aliens that eat energy and live in a lunar system?" she said as she stepped in as well alongside Martha.
"Yup."
"Why don't they eat the fire? Fire's a form of energy. Everything's really a form of energy. There's energy in all cells."
"Too primitive, the more modern the better. It's a stronger source of energy, of power; a tastier snack."
"Well how much power can there be in a lunar system?"
"You'd be surprised how far artificial heating and lighting has come. But it takes a lot of energy to keep that all going. You can just imagine the spill overs."
"Radiation?"
"Pah! Radiation? Please, radiation's only a toy out there." He shook his head as he exited the lift, leaving her blinking helplessly in a mind-lost manner, following slowly behind.
He burst from the door to the roof and gave a glimpse around.
"Now what?" Martha asked from beside him.
"We light 'em up like it's Christmas!" he exclaimed, grinning away.
He moved over to the circuits and pointed his screw driver at the lock. It zapped and then unlocked, a bit of smoke flowing from it. The Doctor removed it and opened the doors. Wires and switches upon wires and switches covered the wall. He flicked them all on and pushed the breakers all the way to their limits. One by one the floors of the building lit up, from top to bottom.
"It's working!" Martha called from the edge where she looked over.
"Yeah, but it's not enough." He said more to himself than anyone there.
"So what do we do?" Martha asked as she came to stand beside him.
"I'll just give it a tweak!" he stood back and raised his screw driver to the circuit box once more. Its frequency sounded again and rose to higher and higher pitches before a large flash of electricity popped and fizzled.
The building below them glowed impossibly bright and they all smiled like lunatics at the success.
"Right then, keep pointing this at it and the lights should keep burning bright." He said handing the screw driver over to Martha.
"I'll go and move the TARDIS, then come back up here to help you turn it all off." He ran towards the stairs door.
"Wait, how will you know they've all gone? You can't see 'em and you won't even have your screw driver." Martha brought up a very good question and he stood there, unhappily baffled.
"I can tell you. I feel it when they're around me." She spoke up.
"Alright, good enough for me." Martha dug in her jacket pocket and tossed her phone to The Doctor.
"I'll call you from her phone and give you the all clear." Martha nodded.
He smiled and ran off with the cell phone in hand. She pulled out her phone and handed it to Martha. Then she stood by and waited to feel some change in the air.
"Fancy." Martha sung as she held the phone.
"It's the company's phone."
"Lucky."
"Well I won't be for much longer. I'm sure they'll probably want it back after this." She grimaced at the thought of her criminal face in all of the security camera footage.
Down below she spotted a person running with a long coat flowing out behind them.
"Well isn't he a fast runner. He must run every day?"
"Yeah, we do an awful lot of running." Martha laughed nervously.
She shook her head not understanding the humor before turning back to the streets below. Then she saw something, something down on the ground. The street lights, they were flickering ever so lightly. It was only a few, so she kept her eyes focused on them and waited. Soon a few more were dancing to an unsteady tune, and quickly the beat grew stronger, wilder. She watched as the lights turned off and on and grew like a wave ready to crash on top of them. They swished left and right like a snake as it slithered towards them.
"They're coming."