The Empty Child
"Why? Why do I listen to that man? I know that whatever he wants to do will more than likely get me into trouble and yet here I am in this god forsaken city in the middle of a bomb raid." Stella snarled to herself as she walked down the street her hands jammed into the pockets of her long black jacket that she wore over a maroon sweater dress, black tights, ankle high black boots, and her ever present jaw length wavy hair of varying shades of brown bouncing as she walked as her light blue eyes scanned the surrounding area. "This time I'm going to kill him."
"Rose?" Stella heard the familiar voice of the Doctor called out, but there no answer. She went in search of the voice following it to the source and found the Doctor standing in an alley way holding a cat. "You know, one day, just one day, maybe, I'm going to meet someone who gets the whole don't wander off thing." The Doctor said scratching the cat behind its ear.
"No you won't." Stella said shaking her head as she walked up to him. "Humans are to easily distracted."
"Nine hundred years of phone box travel, it's the only thing left to surprise me." The Doctor said with a smiled as he looked up at her. "Hello Stella, what brings you here?"
"A wayward time agent friend that I can't seem to find: he said he was cooking up something big and wanted me in on it, that usually means he's about to get himself into a heap load of trouble and I have to be there to bail him out, sometimes literally." Stella replied with an annoyed sigh. "From the way you were calling out, I'm guessing Rose slipped off as well."
"More or less." The Doctor replied before taking her right hand. "Neat trick."
"Yeah, well not everyone is ready for the whole cyborg thing, tends to freak them out. This keeps my lines hidden so I look normal." Stella said taking her hand back which hand on her index finger a plain thin gold band ring. "Last time I forgot it, I almost ended up BBQ. Last time I ever went to Salem I can tell you that."
Suddenly the Tardis police telephone rang much to the Doctor's surprise. The Doctor opens the small door on the side of the box.
"How can you be ringing? What's that about, ringing?" The Doctor questioned looking at the phone in confusion.
"Is it not supposed to?" Stella shot him a confused look.
"No, what am I supposed to do with a ringing phone?" The Doctor replied.
"A normal person would answer it." Stella smarted off.
"Well I'm not normal." The Doctor replied taking out his sonic screwdriver as a young woman walked up the alley behind them.
"Don't answer it. It's not for you." Nancy said.
"And how do you know that?" Stella asked looking the little girl over with a raised eyebrow.
"'Cos I do. And I'm telling you, don't answer it." Nancy replied.
"Well, if you know so much, tell me this. How can it be ringing?" The Doctor said as he and Stella looked back to the Tardis. "It's not even a real phone. It's not connected, it's not…" Nancy has gone, so he starts to answer the phone, but Stella stops him pulling on his sleeve. "What?"
"In every horror flick I've ever watched from any time on any planet it's usually good to listen to the ominous warnings of strangers that disappear so suddenly." Stella said looking up at him.
"Oh, come on Stella, no harm came from answering a phone." The Doctor said and picked the phone up.
"I remember a similar question being asked in a movie called Jimanji about a game and look how that turned out." Stella pointed out with a raised eyebrow, the Doctor scoffed and answered the phone.
"Hello? Hello? This is the Doctor speaking. How may I help you?" The Doctor asked.
Mummy? Mummy?
"Who is this? Who's speaking?" The Doctor asked as Stella pulled the phone down so they could both listen.
Are you my mummy?
"Who is this?" Stella asked.
Mummy?
"How did you ring here? This isn't a real phone. It's not wired up to anything." The Doctor said.
Mummy?
Then the line went dead and the dialing tone sounded. The Doctor hung up the phone.
"See creepy." Stella said eyeing the phone as the Doctor knocked on the Tardis door then opened it up.
"Rose? Rose, are you in there?" He called in, but there's no answer.
"Ten will get you five that she's in trouble somewhere." Stella said as she leaned against the Tardis shaking her head. "More than likely with my friend to boot, pretty blonde like Rose."
Suddenly something crashed behind them and Stella instantly took off in search of the source.
"And what did those horror movies say about going toward a mysterious sound?" The Doctor called after her sarcastically.
"Don't know, I usually hide under the covers during those parts." Stella called back over her shoulder.
"Wait for me at least." The Doctor quickly closed the phone compartment ran after her, following the sound down the alley and to the street. He took a few more steps in, looking around as Stella stopped and turned to look at a part of the fence along the way.
"Hey Doctor, over here." Stella whispered quietly motioning him over.
"The planes are coming!" A woman called as the Doctor joined Stella by the fence. "Can't you hear them? Into the shelter. None of your nonsense, now move it!" They both headed to the trash cans before the fence, looking over it to see a plump woman pushing a small boy into a shelter. "Come on, come on, get in there," she looked back at the house, "Arthur! Arthur! Will you hurry up? Didn't you hear the sirens?"
A plump man stepped out of the house with a rather perturbed look on his face.
"Middle of dinner, every night. Bloomin' Germans," He made a fist and shook it up at the planes. "Don't you eat?"
The Doctor and Stella chuckled in quiet amusement.
"I can hear the planes!" The woman yelled.
"Don't you eat?!" The man continued to bellow.
"Oh, keep your voice down, will ya?" The woman said. "There's an air raid! Get in...there's a war on."
"I know there is…" the man said as he closed the door.
As soon as it was shut, the pigtailed girl crept out from behind the shelter and snuck into the house through the back door, not even noticing the Doctor and Stella watching her head to the kitchen to scavenge for food. She starts taking tinned goods from a cupboard.
-0-
Nancy finishes filling her little sack with provisions and heads for the front door. In the hallway she stops and looks into another room and smiles, then goes outside into the street, where she whistles twice then goes back inside. A pair of urchins run in to see the feast she's discovered.
"Many kids out there?" Nancy asked them.
"Yes, miss." Jim and his friend dive for the food.
"Ah! Still carving. Sit and wait. We've got the whole air raid." Nancy admonished them
"Look at that. Bet it's off the black market." Jim said looking over the big meal.
"That's enough." Nancy said as she continued to carve.
"It's got to be black market." One of the boys whispered. "He couldn't get all this on coupons."
"Ernie, how many times?" Nancy turned to him sharply. "We are guests in this house. We will not make comments of that kind. Washing up."
The other children laughed at his expense.
"Oh, Nancy!" Ernie complained.
"Haven't seen you at one of these before." Nancy looked at one of the boys sitting nearest her.
"He told me about it." The boy nodded at the boy next to him.
"Sleeping rough?" Nancy asked kindly.
"Yes, miss." He answered.
"Alright then." Nancy nodded, handing the plate around. "One slice each, and I want to see everyone chewing properly."
"Thank ya, miss!" one of the boys shouted.
"Thanks miss!" Ernie added.
"Thank you miss." another boy took a slice.
"Thanks miss!" the Doctor said, taking a slice as well before passing it to Stella.
"Thank you miss." Stella said as the children started to panic.
"It's all right. Everybody stay where you are!" Nancy ordered.
"Good here, innit? Who's got the salt?" The Doctor asked.
"Here it is." Stella said handing him the salt.
"Back in your seats, they shouldn't be here either." Nancy said as everyone started to calm down and sit back in their seats.
"So, you lot, what's the story?" The Doctor asked as they ate.
"What do you mean?" Ernie asked.
"You're homeless, right? Living rough?" Stella said as she took the glass of wine a boy near her was about to drink and tossed it over her shoulder before sitting the empty glass back on the table. "Stick with water kid."
"Why do you want to know that? Are you a copper?" Jim asked.
"Of course I'm not a copper. What's a copper going to do with you lot anyway? Arrest you for starving? I make it 1941." The Doctor said looking around at them. "You lot shouldn't even be in London. You should've been evacuated to the country by now."
"I was evacuated, sent me to a farm." Alf said.
"So why'd you come back?" Stella asked.
"There was a man there…" Alf trailed off.
"Yeah, same with Ernie, two homes ago." Jim said only for Ernie to elbow him.
"Shut up." Ernie snapped. "It's better on the streets anyway. It's better food."
"Yeah. Nancy always gets the best food for us." Jim said.
"So, that's what you do, is it, Nancy?" Stella asked looking over to Nancy.
"What is?" Nancy asked.
"As soon as the sirens go, you find a big fat family meal still warm on the table with everyone down in the air raid shelter and bingo, feeding frenzy for the homeless kids of London Town, puddings for all, as long as the bombs don't get you." The Doctor said with a smile.
"Something wrong with that?" Nancy asked.
"Wrong with it? It's brilliant. I'm not sure if it's Marxism in action or a West End musical." Stella said with a laugh as she clapped her hands together.
"Why'd you follow me? What do you want?" Nancy asked.
"I want to know how a phone that isn't a phone gets a phone call. You seem to be the one to ask." The Doctor said.
"I did you a favor. I told you not to answer it, that's all I'm telling you." Nancy replied.
"Great, thanks. And I want to find a blonde in a Union Jack. I mean a specific one. I didn't just wake up this morning with a craving." The Doctor said causing Stella to nearly choke on her water as she laughed. "Anybody seen a girl like that?"
Nancy doesn't answer, but takes the Doctor and Stella's plates away.
"What have we done wrong?" Stella asked.
"Your friend there took two slices and you threw wine on the floor." Nancy answered. "No blondes, no flags. Anything else before you leave?"
"Yeah, there is actually. Thanks for asking. Something we've been looking for. Would've fallen from the sky about a month ago, but not a bomb, not the usual kind, anyway, wouldn't have exploded." The Doctor explained making Stella's eyes shoot up. "Probably would have just buried itself in the ground somewhere, and it would have looked something like this."
The Doctor held up a piece of paper with a rough sketch of the craft the Tardis was following, basically, a tube. Before anyone can answer there's a knock at the door.
Mummy? Are you in there, mummy?
The Doctor and Stella look out of the window to see a small blonde boy with a gas mask covering his face.
Mummy?
"Who was the last one in?" Nancy asked.
"Him." Jim said pointing to Ernie.
"No, he came round the back. Who came in the front?" Nancy asked desperately.
"Me." Alf said looking a little sick.
"Did you close the door?" Nancy asked, but Alf looks uncertain. "Did you close the door?"
Mummy? Mummy? Mummy?
Nancy runs into the hallway and bolts the front door.
"What's this, then? It's never easy being the only child left out in the cold, you know." The Doctor said.
"I suppose you two know." Nancy bit out.
"I do actually, yes." The Doctor answered.
"It's not exactly a child." Nancy said.
Mummy?
"Right, everybody out. Across the back garden and under the fence. Now! Go! Move!" The children grab their coats and flee. Nancy speaks to the sole remaining little girl, who can't be more than four. "Come on, baby, we've got to go, all right? It's just like a game. Just like chasing. Take your coat, go on. Go!"
Mummy? Mummy? Please let me in, mummy. Please let me in, mummy.
A little hand comes through the letter box.
"Are you all right?" The Doctor asked as he got closer to the door.
Please let me in.
Stella grabbed the Doctor and pulled him back just as Nancy throws something that breaks at the door making the hand withdraw.
"You mustn't let him touch you!" Nancy snapped.
"What happens if he touches me?" The Doctor asked.
"He'll make you like him." Nancy answered.
"And what's he like?" Stella asked.
"I've got to go." Nancy said walking away, but Stella grabbed her.
"Nancy, what's he like?" Stella demanded.
"He's empty." Nancy answered pulling herself from Stella's grasp just as the telephone rang. "It's him. He can make phones ring. He can. Just like with that police box you saw."
The Doctor picks up the phone.
Are you my mummy?
Nancy puts the phone back on the hook. The radio starts up in the dining room.
Mummy? Please let me in, mummy.
Then a clockwork monkey starts up.
Mummy, mummy, mummy.
"You stay if you want to." Nancy leaves by the back door. The boy puts his hand through the letterbox again. There is a scar on the back of it.
Mummy? Let me in please, mummy. Please let me in.
"I'm sorry sweetie, but your mummy isn't here." Stella said gently.
Are you my mummy?
"No mummies here, nobody here but us chickens." The Doctor replied.
I'm scared.
"Why are those other children frightened of you?" The Doctor asked.
Please let me in, mummy. I'm scared of the bombs.
"Okay. I'm opening the door now." The Doctor said. The boy pulls back his hand and the Doctor unbolts the front door. When he opens it, the boy has gone and the street is deserted.
"Because that's not creepy at all." Stella muttered as they looked up and down the street.
-0-
Nancy goes to her hide out a shack in some railway sidings and hides the food she took from the Lloyd's kitchen. She stands up to see the Doctor and Stella, smiling.
"How'd you follow me here?" Nancy demanded.
"I'm good at following, me, got the nose for it." The Doctor said.
"And the ears." Stella added getting a look from the Doctor.
"People can't usually follow me if I don't want them to." Nancy said.
"My nose has special powers." The Doctor said.
"Yeah? That's why it's…" Nancy trailed off.
"What?" The Doctor asked.
"Nothing." Nancy said shaking her head.
"What?" The Doctor pressed.
"Nothing. Do your ears have special powers too?" Nancy asked.
"What're you trying to say?" He asked her calmly, already realizing what she was implying.
"That your nose and ears are big, very very VERY big." Stella said with a playful smirk.
"Yeah, I got that." The Doctor said before tugging on a strand of her hair. "Better than frizzy hair."
"Oi, it is not frizzy, it's just full bodied." Stella snapped as slapped his hand away.
"Goodnight." Nancy said as she started to leave.
"Nancy, there's something chasing you and the other kids. Looks like a boy and it isn't a boy, and it started about a month ago, right?" The Doctor asked. "The thing we're looking for, the thing that fell from the sky, that's when it landed. And you know what I'm talking about, don't you?"
"There was a bomb, a bomb that wasn't a bomb. Fell the other end of Limehouse Green Station." Nancy answered.
"Take us there." Stella said.
"There are soldiers guarding it, barbed wire. You'll never get through." Nancy said.
"Try us." Stella said looking Nancy in the eye.
"You sure you want to know what's going on in there?" Nancy asked.
"We really want to know." The Doctor said.
"Then there's someone you need to talk to first." Nancy said.
"And who might that be?" Stella asked with a raised eyebrow.
"The Doctor." Nancy replied and started to walk away.
"Did not see that coming." Stella muttered sharing a surprised look with the Doctor as they followed.
-0-
The Doctor uses super-binoculars to scan the area. Soldiers are guarding what seems to be a large bomb sight doused in flood lights and protected by barbed wire and wood fences.
"The bomb's under that tarpaulin. They put the fence up overnight. See that building?" Nancy said pointing to a large dark building on a hill. "The hospital."
"What about it?" Stella asked taking the binoculars from the Doctor.
"That's where the doctor is. You should talk to him." Nancy said.
"For now, I'm more interested in getting in there." The Doctor said gesturing to the guarded area.
"Talk to the doctor first." Nancy insisted.
"Why?" Stella asked.
"Because then maybe you won't want to get inside." Nancy said as she started to walk away.
"Where're you going?" The Doctor asked.
"There was a lot of food in that house. I've got mouths to feed, should be safe enough now." Nancy replied.
"Can I ask you a question? Who did you lose?" Stella asked looking intently at Nancy.
"What?" Nancy breathed out.
"The way you look after all those kids. It's because you lost somebody, isn't it? You're doing all this to make up for it." Stella said cocking her head to the side.
"My little brother. Jamie. One night I went out looking for food. Same night that thing fell. I told him not to follow me, I told him it was dangerous, but he just…he just didn't like being on his own." Nancy answered.
"What happened?" The Doctor asked.
"In the middle of an air raid? What do you think happened?" Nancy bit out.
"Amazing." The Doctor breathed out.
"What is?" Nancy asked.
"1941. Right now, not very far from here, the German war machine is rolling up the map of Europe, country after country, falling like dominoes. Nothing can stop it, nothing. Until one, tiny, damp little island says no. No. Not here, a mouse in front of a lion. You're amazing, the lot of you. Don't know what you do to Hitler, but you frighten the hell out of me." The Doctor said then waved Nancy off. "Off you go then do what you've got to do. Save the world."
-0-
The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to open the padlock on the ornate metal gates to the hospital grounds. They entered the darkened building, walking around till they reached a large room where rows of people were laying down on the beds, all with gasmasks on, looking for the entire world as though they were dead. The long, dark wards, every bed has a very still patient in it.
"This is so messed up." Stella said as they wandered till they reached a larger room, lighter than the other but still there were more gas masked people on the rows of beds. They turned quickly at a noise to see and old man in a white doctor's coat step into the room leaning on a walking stick.
"You'll find them everywhere, in every bed, in every ward, hundreds of them." He said as he sat down next to a desk.
"Yes, I saw. Why are they still wearing gas masks?" The Doctor asked.
"They're not. Who are you?" The old man asked.
"I'm, er..." The Doctor trailed off.
"Are you the doctor?" Stella asked suddenly.
"Doctor Constantine. And you are?" He asked again.
"Nancy sent us." The Doctor said still avoiding his question.
"Nancy? That means you must've been asking about the bomb." Constantine said.
"Yes." Rhea said nodding her head.
"What do you know about it?" Constantine asked.
"Nothing. Why we were asking. What do you know?" The Doctor asked.
"Only what it's done." Constantine said as he gestured to all the patients.
"These people, they were all caught up in the blast?" Stella asked.
"None of them were." Constantine said then started to cough harshly.
"You're very sick." The Doctor said.
"Dying, I should think. I just haven't been able to find the time." Constantine amended. "Are you a doctor?"
"I have my moments." The Doctor replied.
"Have you examined any of them yet?" Constantine asked.
"No." The Doctor answered.
"Don't touch the flesh." Constantine said.
"Which one?" The Doctor asked.
"Any one." The Doctor points his sonic screwdriver at the nearest patient.
"Conclusions?" Constantine asked.
"Massive head trauma, mostly to the left side. Partial collapse of the chest cavity, mostly to the right. There's some scarring on the back of the hand and the gas mask seems to be fused to the flesh, but I can't see any burns." The Doctor said as he looked the patient over.
"Examine another one." Constantine said.
"This isn't possible." The Doctor breathed.
"Examine another." Constantine said.
"This isn't possible." The doctor said as they went from patient to patient.
"No." Constantine said.
"What is it? What's wrong with them?" Stella asked looking between the Doctor and Constantine.
"They've all got the same injuries." The Doctor said.
"Yes." Constantine said.
"Exactly the same?" Stella asked in shock.
"Yes." Constantine said.
"Identical, all of them, right down to the scar on the back of the hand." The Doctor said.
"How did this happen? How did it start?" Stella asked.
"When that bomb dropped, there was just one victim." Constantine said.
"Dead?" The Doctor asked.
"At first. His injuries were truly dreadful." Constantine said. "By the following morning, every doctor and nurse who had treated him, who had touched him, had those exact same injuries. By the morning after that, every patient in the same ward, the exact same injuries. Within a week, the entire hospital. Physical injuries as plague. Can you explain that? What would you say was the cause of death?"
"The head trauma." The Doctor said.
"No." Constantine said.
"Asphyxiation." Stella said.
"No." Constantine.
"The collapse of the chest cavity." The Doctor said.
"No." Constantine said.
"All right, I give up." Stella said.
"What was the cause of death?" the Doctor asked.
"There wasn't one. They're not dead." He hits a waste basket with his stick and the noise makes the patients sit up in their beds. Stella jumped back her whole frame going tense, the Doctor just as on alert as she was. "It's all right. They're harmless. They just sort of sit there. No heartbeat, no life signs of any kind. They just don't die."
"And they've just been left here? Nobody's doing anything?" The Doctor asked as the patients lie down again.
"I try and make them comfortable. What else is there?" Constantine said.
"Just you? You're the only one here?" Stella asked.
"Before this war began, I was a father and a grandfather. Now I am neither. But I'm still a doctor." Constantine said.
"Yeah. I know the feeling." The Doctor said.
"I suspect the plan is to blow up the hospital and blame it on a German bomb." Constantine said.
"Probably too late." The Doctor said.
"No. There are isolated cases. Isolated cases breaking out all over London. Stay back, stay back. Listen to me. Top floor. Room eight oh two. That's where they took the first victim, the one from the crash site. And you must find Nancy again." Constantine said.
"Nancy?" Stella asked.
"It was her brother. She knows more than she's saying." Constantine said. "She won't tell me, but she might…Mummy. Are you my mummy?" Starting with the mouth, Doctor Contantine's face turns into a gasmask. "Mummy?"
"Oh that is not right." Stella grumbled.
"Hello?" A male voice called down the hall.
"I know that voice." Stella perked up.
"Hello?" Rose yelled.
"And I know that one." The Doctor said as they quickly turned and left the ward, emerging into the corridor just as Rose and Jack came out the other way.
-0-
"Good evening. Hope we're not interrupting. Jack Harkness. I've been hearing all about you on the way over." Jack said upon spotting the Doctor, giving him a roughish smile that dropped upon an explosion of pain in the vicinity of his upper arm. "Ow!"
"What the heck Jack?! You bring me to the god forsaken city and where were you when I arrived? Wait don't answer that, you were probably off flirting am I right?!" Stella snapped angrily, her hand still clenched into a fist as she debated hitting him again.
"Ok, Stella I know you're mad, but look on the bright side, everything is going great." Jack smiled, then whispered to her. "My plan is already working great."
"What plan?" Stella hissed with narrowed eyes.
"He knows." Rose said to the Doctor. "I had to tell him about us being Time Agents, sorry we didn't tell you before Stella."
"And it's a real pleasure to meet you, Mister Spock." Jack said shaking the Doctor's hand.
"Mister Spock?" The Doctor asked Rose as they walked down the hall.
"You know these two?" Jack asked her.
"Yeah, met them a while back in the future." Stella shrugged going along with Rose's story. "Good to see you again Rose."
"You as well Stella." Rose smiled then she looked confused. "But where are those lines you had before?"
"Well cyborg's weren't exactly common around this time so I wear this to hide them." Stella said holding up her right hand that sported a silver braided ring on her index finger with a small iridescent jewel on it. "Keeps the natives from freaking out."
"A perception filter combined with a chameleon circuit, nice." The Doctor commented having already spotted it.
"Thanks, something I whipped up in my down time." Stella said then turned to Jack with a stern look. "Come on, I want to show you something."
Stella took hold of Jack's hand and pulled him down the hall to the patients room, the Doctor and Rose following behind them.
"What was I supposed to say? You don't have a name. Don't you ever get tired of Doctor? Doctor who?" Rose said as she and the Doctor watched Stella and Jack argue in hushed tones, Stella punching him in the arm again at one point.
"Nine centuries in, I'm coping. Where've you been? We're in the middle of a London Blitz. It's not a good time for a stroll." The Doctor said changing the subject.
"Who's strolling? I went by barrage balloon. Only way to see an air raid." Rose said.
"What?!" The Doctor asked sharply.
"Listen, what's a Chula warship?" Rose asked ignoring his question.
"Chula?" The Doctor repeated as they walked into the ward. Stella dragged Jack over to one of the beds pointing to it angrily. Jack used a wrist tricorder thing to examine the patients.
"This just isn't possible. How did this happen?" Jack asked.
"What kind of Chula ship landed here?" The Doctor asked.
"What?" Jack said trying to avoid answering.
"He said it was a warship. He stole it, parked it somewhere out there, somewhere a bomb's going to fall on it unless we make him an offer." Rose answered for him.
"What kind of warship did you steal Jack?" Stella asked through gritted teeth.
"Does it matter? It's got nothing to do with this." Jack said in an agitated voice as he backed away from Stella.
"This started at the bomb site. It's got everything to do with it. What kind of warship?" The Doctor demanded, but Jack still looked reluctant to share the information.
"Jack I swear if you don't spill…" Stella let her threat hang in the air, but it seemed to be enough as Jack quickly broke under her glare.
"An ambulance! Look." Jack produced a hologram of it from his wrist device. "That's what you chased through the Time Vortex. It's space junk. I wanted to kid you it was valuable. It's empty. I made sure of it. Nothing but a shell. I threw it at you. Saw your time travel vehicle, love the retro look, by the way, nice panels. Threw you the bait."
"Bait?" Rose questioned.
"He wanted to sell it to you and then destroy it before you found out it was junk." Stella said crossing her arms and shaking her head. "And for some strange reason he thought I'd help."
"It was a good idea." Jack defended himself.
"No, it was a stupid idea. You can't keep doing this Jack." Stella ran a hand through her hair. "You're going to get yourself into real trouble one day, then what? I won't always be around to help you."
"Yes mom." Jack said sarcastically, but his face softened when he saw the concerned look in Stella's eyes. "I promise, I'll be more careful."
"Good." Stella nodded knowing that was as good as she was going to get from him.
"You said it was a war ship." Rose said to Jack gaining his attention.
"They have ambulances in wars. It was a con." He defended himself. "I was conning you. That's what I am, I'm a con man." Jack explained. "I thought you were Time Agents. You're not, are you?"
"Just a few more freelancers." Rose answered.
"Oh. Should have known. The way you guys are blending in with the local color. I mean, Flag Girl was bad enough, but U-Boat Captain?" Jack said motioning to them. "Anyway, whatever's happening here has got nothing to do with that ship."
"What is happening here, Doctor?" Rose asked.
"Human DNA is being rewritten by an idiot." The Doctor answered.
"And I can only guess who that idiot is." Stella said as she rubbed her temples.
"What do you mean?" Rose asked.
"I don't know. Some kind of virus converting human beings into these things. But why? What's the point?" The Doctor asked himself.
"I had a scary thought." Stella said suddenly.
"What?" The Doctor asked.
"What if there isn't one?" Stella replied. "What if there is no point at all?"
The patients suddenly sit up startling them all.
Mummy. Mummy. Mummy? Mummy?
"What's happening?" Rose asked.
"I don't know." The Doctor said as the patients and Doctor Constantine all stand up.
Mummy.
"Don't let them touch you." Stella warned.
"What happens if they touch us?" Rose asked.
"You're looking at it." Stella answered. The patients close in on the Doctor, Rose, Stella, and Jack.
Help me, mummy.
Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy.