A/N: Next chapter, woo! And this one is only like, half as long as the first one. I hope you enjoy it, and please review. They'll help a lot, and they'll just make me feel better. :)

Dedication: To the person with the TARDIS2 license plate that I drove behind all along the highway.

Emma climbed onto the bus, using her pass to pay. Her eyes searched for a seat as the last few people who were getting off filed past her. Fortunately, there were several open right near the front. She grabbed one, sweeping her hair over one shoulder. It was light brown and just long enough to be forever getting caught in rivets and screws on chairs. She settled in and watched the line of people who entered. There was always an interesting crowd on the bus, and she was not disappointed today. People of all shapes and sizes got on, some dressed like they didn't know if they were getting ready for a business meeting or a rainy day.

Soon, though, the bus took off with that jolty way that buses do. Emma pulled out her essay for World Literature, going over it again to make sure there weren't any mistakes. Suddenly she frowned. Something wasn't right. She looked up, and though it took her a moment, she figured out what it was. She'd ridden this route a hundred times, and they were supposed to be on St. Crispin street, but instead they were on Malupe road. They must have taken a wrong turn. She glanced over at the driver, who was looking confused and trying to radio someone. Emma looked around at the other passengers, but hardly anyone seemed to notice. In fact, only two people seemed to be reacting at all. One was a huge man in a tight-fitting trench coat, who looked like he belonged in a comic book. The other man, although ironically also in a trench coat, was very thin with wild hair. They locked eyes and she could tell that he could sense something was wrong as well.

Pretty soon, the other passengers were mumbling. The bus driver stood up and addressed them.

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience, we appear to be having some technical difficulties. If you'll all please be patient, we'll get back on route as soon as possible." Despite her calm words, Emma could see a very worried look in her eye and a little bit of nervous sweat on her forehead. By now, they were nearly out of the city, and Emma was getting very worried. Not only that she'd be late for class, but because she couldn't figure out what kind of difficulties could be taking place that would take them this far off route. The bus driver fiddled with a few more things, then pulled out her cell phone. Apparently the radio wasn't working.

That was when everything took a turn for the worse. As the driver began dialing, the huge man in the trench coat stood up. He lumbered up to the front of the bus and the driver looked at him in surprise.

"Sir, if you would kindly return to your seat-" She never got any further. The man reached out an enormous hand – really too enormous, inhumanly enormous, Emma noted – and there was a horrifically loud snapping noise and the driver slumped to the floor. Before she really registered what had happened, Emma heard herself scream, loud and high-pitched. She was not the only one. The thin man jumped up and faced the thing, but it pushed him back so hard that he fell over. Emma instinctively reached down and grabbed his arm, helping him up. Now that it was standing up, Emma could see all that was wrong with… whatever it was. It was far bigger than a human could ever be. The proportions were wrong, and the skin was a sickly grey color. The thing began to speak.

"Attention all human passengers: you are now being transported to the Nesting Ship. Do not struggle; all rebellious individuals will be dealt with." Emma saw the bus driver lying limp behind the thing and swallowed hard. The thing continued, its words sounding thick and difficult, as if its throat was closing in on itself. "Cooperate and the process will be as painless as possible." The thing then spread its legs and crossed its arms, for all the world a high-profile bodyguard. Several people began crying, and she heard more than one prayer being chanted.

"This can't be good." She looked at the man she'd helped and became aware that she was still gripping his arm. She let go and remarked,

"You think?" Her voice came out as a squeak. He looked at her and his eyes changed from worry to sympathy.

"Don't worry. Everything will be alright." He then proceeded to march right up to the thing at the front.

"What are you doing!" she demanded, but he ignored her. The thing looked down at him.

"Return to your seat, passenger. If you do not comply, you will be dealt with. All humans are being transported to the Nesting Ship."

"Ah, yes. Now you see, that's your problem." He raised his arm, pointing it at the thing. He seemed to be holding a very small device. A small blue light glowed on the end and it emitted a high-pitched sound. The creature stood there, completely still, as if it were unsure how to handle this new development. The man didn't seem happy that nothing was happening, however. Eventually the creature tried to deal with it as it had before. It swung at the man's chest. Fortunately, he dodged out of the way, but it simply kept advancing. There weren't a lot of places he could run. He headed for the stairway to the second deck. The creature went after him and Emma felt like she needed to do something.

That's when she saw the laptop. A pimply boy who looked about her age was clutching it like a safety blanket. It was the only hard thing in her field of vision, so she yanked it out of his hands. Before he had so much as shouted, "Hey!" she brought it smashing down on the thing's back. To her horror, it didn't knock it down, or even smash the computer. Instead, it sank into the creature's back, as though it were made of something soft. As though it were made of clay, she thought as it turned to face her. She darted past before it had time to react and sprinted up the stairs after the thin man.

The second deck was crowded. Apparently, several people felt that the farther away they were from that thing, the safer they were. Emma found the man and approached him.

"What is going on?" she said, slightly breathless.

"I'm not sure," he answered, "Something's taken over this bus, that's for certain. But what? And how?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure it's that thing!" she said, gesturing at the stairs.

"No, no," he said. He plopped into one of the only empty chairs and grabbed a railing with one hand, staring into space as he rambled. "That thing's a puppet, I'm sure of it. Some sort of underling, or maybe mercenary. I don't recognize the race, so I'm betting mercenary. Because if it's not, ooh, that's a bit scary."

"What's a bit scary?" she asked, interested in the man. He looked at her with those intense blue eyes.

"Something I don't know about," he answered simply.

"Who are you?" she asked. Before he could answer, they heard heavy footsteps on the stairs. Everyone turned to look. There was the thing, mounting the last step. Many people screamed and stumbled backwards. The man stood, staring at the creature. He glanced at her briefly before stepping forward.

"I'm the Doctor, who're you?" he said quickly.

"I'm Emma."

"Nice to meet you," he said, then faced the thing again. He raised the small device from before, and it made the same sound.

"What is that thing?" she asked, pointing at his device.

"It's a sonic screwdriver," he said, examining it.

"What's it do?"

"A lot of things. Right now I'm trying to figure out what that thing is." The thing was advancing on them, and she grabbed the Doctor's arm to drag him to the back before it could grab him. It was very strong, but appeared to be extremely slow. "It doesn't make sense," he mumbled, still staring at his device. He pointed it again, then examined it again. "Its life readings – they're minimal. In fact, no more than what I'd get from anything I pointed this thing at – just microscopic readings, bacteria and such. That thing's not alive."

"Well I'd say it's pretty lively for something that's not alive!" she exclaimed. The Doctor looked up and saw it getting closer.

"Ah! Yes. We should run."

"No, really?" she quipped, growing sarcastic as she got more frightened. "Listen, I'm pretty sure the only things we have on it are speed and agility – not that that'll last us long on a bus. But the point is, I'll distract it, then you run, ok?" The Doctor looked like he was going to argue, so she said, "Don't worry, I'll be getting out too. Or… at least trying. Now get ready!" At that, she dashed towards the thing, which was very close to them now. It was positioned like a football player ready to tackle. At the last second, she dropped to her knees and rolled right between its legs. It stopped and looked down, then behind it, very confused as to where she had gone. The Doctor took his chance, pushing people out of the way as he leapt over a couple seats to get past it, then followed her down the stairs.

Looking out the window, she saw that they were now well out of the city, country fields speeding past them. The bus had definitely picked up the pace, and it was the first time she really realized something.

"No one's driving," she said in a horrified voice.

"Someone is," said the Doctor, "just not anyone on the bus." He was looking closely at the doors. He raised his screwdriver and pointed it at them. It whirred and they cracked open a little, then shut again. He frowned, seeming very confused. "They're not deadlocked, so what's going on?" He did it again, and this time he caught it before it closed. He tried to push it open, but it was as though an unseen force was trying to keep it closed. He struggled with it for a moment before Emma came to help. Together they forced it open, then looked at the ground speeding by beneath them. "Too fast," he murmured. "No one would survive." They let the doors shut and he turned to the dashboard and began sonicking it.

"So it opens doors?" Emma watched him in growing amazement.

"Among other things, yeah."

"How?" He paused for a moment and held it out to her, pressing some buttons as he did.

"You set it like this, then press this button. Now, I'm trying to figure out what's got -" before he could finish, they heard the footsteps again. The thing had made it down the stairs and was already heading towards them. The Doctor stood and stepped protectively in front of Emma. The thing was taking up as much space as possible, clearly trying to keep them from escaping the same way again.

"All rebellious passengers will be dealt with," it said in its thick voice. It kept advancing. The Doctor pointed to a seat against the wall and spoke to Emma.

"Go… go over there. Ok? Just go." She was too frightened to argue. As she plastered herself against the wall, the thing finally reached the Doctor. All the other passengers had long since run to the other side. The Doctor started to raise his arm, but it hit him with a heavy fist. He flew back against the dashboard and his sonic screwdriver fell from his hand, rolling across the floor. He looked at it, eyes wide, and Emma got the feeling that he had been counting on it. The thing grabbed him by the collar and smashed him against the doors. He let out a grunt and grabbed the thing's thumb, which was as wide as his fist. He pulled and at first Emma didn't believe it, but slowly the thumb began to come off. Eventually the whole thing ripped off, and the Doctor and the thing both stared at it for a moment in a sort of shock. She heard the Doctor murmur, "Of course…" Then the thing roared in anger and possibly pain and dropped the Doctor. He ducked under its legs much as Emma had just as it punched the door where he'd been a second before. As she watched the doors shake, she got an idea.

She scrambled on the floor, quickly spotting the screwdriver. She picked it up and aimed it, finding the button the Doctor had showed her. She only prayed that he hadn't changed the settings.

"Doctor!" she yelled. He looked back at her with surprise in his eyes. "Push!" The thing hadn't turned all the way around yet, and the Doctor gave a great shove right above its center of balance. She pressed the button for all she was worth. The screwdriver whirred and the doors creaked open. She felt a shift and looked outside. They were going over a bridge. "Now!" she screamed, still holding the button down desperately. The Doctor gave one final push and the creature toppled through the doors that couldn't withstand its weight. It fell out of the bus, hit the railing and went over the edge, down into the ravine below. Emma watched outside the window for a moment in shock before turning back to the Doctor.

He looked at the thumb he was holding for a moment, then tossed it out the quickly closing doors. He looked at her for a moment, then walked over.

"That," he said, "was brilliant. Can I have that back now?" She looked down at the small device in her hand.

"Yeah," she said, handing it over. "Sure." He turned to the dashboard again, waving the screwdriver around it. "What was that thing?"

"Golem," he answered, not looking away from what he was doing. "A lump of clay, in this instance, shaped like… well, like some sort of creature, and brought to life by some means. Nowadays usually electronic, but that's the strange thing… there weren't any in it. No false life, either, it was walking and smashing when it had no right to be." The bus hit a bump and Emma grabbed a rail, barely keeping balance.

"Can't you turn this bus off? Or at least put it in park!" The Doctor turned to her, and she felt her stomach clench in fear at his words.

"This bus already is turned off." He stopped scanning and sat for a moment, face screwed up in confusion. Without warning he jumped up and began scanning what appeared to be the whole bus. "That's odd," he stated. He turned to Emma. "Hold still." He waved the screwdriver at her, then examined it. "Really odd."

"What's odd?" she asked, watching him scan the hand bars.

"There is an incredible amount of microscopic activity on this bus," he answered, still scanning, "but only on the bus itself. You… the people… don't seem to have anything out of the ordinary going on. It's like the bus caught a virus." At those words he stopped and looked around, eyes wide with realization. "No… no… can't be. Surely not." He ran back up to the front again and scanned the dashboard again. "No, no, no. Oh, it is!"

"What is?" Emma demanded, frustrated at his infuriatingly vague ramblings. He looked at her.

"There is a species," he began, "that is almost completely unique in the universe. This species, despite being single-celled, is completely intelligent and sentient. It cannot speak or communicate easily with the rest of the world, but it most definitely interacts. They tend to inhabit inanimate materials. However, they are, as you can imagine, very weak. Very vulnerable. So they tend to inhabit strong things, in fact, their favorite housing is… metal." He looked around at the bus, and Emma suddenly became aware of how much metal there was in it.

"You mean… they're here? But… how are they controlling…?"

"Well, that's all part of their abilities, isn't it? They can't make the metal do something crazy, like bend or melt or anything, but they can move it. I bet they're in the hubcaps and axels, forcing the wheels to spin. Ah, clever things. But why? Why, why, why are they taking a busload of humans? What could they want with you?" He was gripping his hair while he talked and she could guess how it got so wild. He spun around on the spot before speaking again. "Unless… ahh, of course! It said it was taking you to the Nesting Ship, right?" He ran up to Emma and gripped her shoulders, apparently pleased with himself for figuring it out. "That's it! Like I said, they're a very vulnerable species! And they don't breed like a normal single-cell species; they breed like us more complex ones, with two adults making an infant. They're infants can't live and grow in metal, they need a more gentle, nurturing environment. They need living flesh! Or at least organic flesh…"

"So… what does that mean?" asked Emma hesitantly. She didn't like where this was going.

"It means you're all headed off to be hosts!" he cried. "Of course, that means you'll be devoured by the fever the young create as they grow."

"Devoured?" she squeaked. He looked at her, pulled back into the seriousness of the situation.

"Yeah. That's why we've got to stop them, isn't it?" He bounded back to the dashboard and pulled out his screwdriver. "Now that I know what you are, let's see how long you last, eh?" He pointed it and it gave a quick burst of extremely loud, annoying noise. "There, that ought to have cleared them from the immediate area." He then changed the setting and all the screws, rivets, and nails popped out of the dashboard.

"Wait," Emma said as she walked over, "Did you just use the sonic screwdriver… as a screwdriver?" He looked back at her.

"Well, what do you think its original purpose was?" He lifted off the cover, revealing the electrical wiring beneath.

"Won't they be in there?" she asked, curious.

"Nah, they can't take over electrical equipment." He began looking over it, seeing if there was some way to overpower the virus's grip on the wheels.

"What are their weaknesses?" she asked, hoping to come up with a plan.

"Well," said the Doctor as he reached into the wires, "fire, acid, water, electricity, cold… really anything that could kill you, except at much lower levels. Barely a drop of acid could instantly kill, oh, a few hundred of them? The problem is, that's why they hide in the metal. You have to get at them. Breaking the metal doesn't even work, because A, they can usually move in time and B, at most you'll only kill a few of them. Heat works better, but still not well enough. It just takes far too much heat to get all the way to the core of wherever they're staying. We need something that can go into the metal and get to them…" he paused, then a grin split over his face. "That's it! It's right here! We'll electrocute the bus!"

"What, with everyone inside it?"

"Hmm, that does present a problem, doesn't it?" he looked around for a moment, then snapped his fingers. "The chairs!" he exclaimed. "The chairs are made of plastic. And the floor appears to have some sort of rubbery carpeting. If we could get everyone to touch nothing but plastic and the rubber, we should be able to do this…"

"You focus on getting the bus ready," said Emma, wanting to be useful. "I'll get everyone organized." The Doctor nodded and she headed up to the second deck to explain everything. This proved to be a harder task than she originally thought. Everyone was so scared that hardly anyone would listen to her. "Please…" she said, trying to coax them. The noise of all the people crammed into a small space was oppressive. "You've got to listen. There's going to be massive amounts of electricity going through all the metal on this bus at any moment! You just have to stand on a chair… come on…" She tried to push a teenage girl onto one of the chairs, but was met with fearful eyes and inaction. Eventually she got fed up and went to the front, then stood on two chairs so she straddled the aisle.

"LISTEN TO ME!" she screamed. All the soft crying and whispers died away. "If you don't do as I say, you will either become hosts to a deadly virus or crispy little barbecue chunks! Everyone get on a chair! Once they run out, everyone else head down to the lower deck and take chairs there! If there's anyone left after that, we'll deal with you then! Whatever you do, don't touch any metal! Now MOVE!" She hopped down. There was a moment of stunned silence, then people began climbing up onto the chairs. She made sure that no one was touching metal, then herded the rest down the stairs. Fortunately there were plenty of seats. Soon everyone was standing on a seat. Emma walked back over to the Doctor. Several of the wires were strung out, wrapped around rails and other large metal objects in the bus.

"Everyone's ready," she said. He nodded.

"So am I. Get in position." She went to the nearest chair and stood up on it. The Doctor took a few steps back, positioning himself firmly in the middle of the no-slip rubber coating on the floor. Then he pointed his screwdriver. Immediately sparks shot from the wires, and Emma could feel the intense amount of electricity racing through everything. Most of the metal began sparking and her hair started to rise on end. She began to get uncomfortable and itchy and wondered how good of a protector the plastic really was.

Suddenly the bus began swerving all over the road. The Doctor pointed his screwdriver again and the sparks stopped, then he dove to the wheel to try and get control. She could tell as soon as he touched skin and metal that he was being electrocuted. He jerked and his face contorted, but he hung on to the steering wheel and made sure they didn't crash. Eventually their momentum petered out and they came to a stop. Everyone climbed down, getting nasty little shocks, but nothing really damaging. Emma ran over to the Doctor. He was still gripping the wheel and breathing hard.

"Are you alright?" she asked. He nodded, although it was a moment before he could get any words out.

"Don't worry. I'm very hardy. Besides, rubber-soled shoes."

"So… are they gone?" She was hesitant to be relieved after what had happened. He scanned the bus.

"Yeah. Not even a residue."

She suddenly found herself overcome with emotion. The next thing she knew she was hugging the Doctor and crying.

"We're going to live!"

He smiled and patted her on the back.

"Yes you are."

Everybody crowded off the bus once they were sure everything was safe. The Doctor surveyed the smoking vehicle.

"That's not going to be going anywhere anytime soon. But you lot all have cell phones in this time period, right?" He turned and sure enough, more than half the people had phones out, calling emergency services or relatives. It took awhile for rescue vehicles to come; they were several miles out of the town. There were some injuries, but no deaths other than the driver.

After making it back to town and assuring the ambulances that she was fine, Emma searched the Doctor out. She saw him at the edge of the crowd, trying to make a subtle exit.

"Hey!" she called, jogging over. He saw her coming and smiled.

"I was hoping you'd find me," he said.

"We did pretty good, didn't we?" she asked.

"Yeah, we did," he answered.

"But… but there was one thing I wanted to ask you."

"Alright," he said, looking curiously at her.

"You… you're not… from around here, are you?"

A smile tugged at his mouth.

"Not exactly."

"What I mean is… you talked about those things… the virus… like it was alien. Like they were aliens." He nodded, and she continued. "And… well, your screwdriver, it's not like technology we have. What I'm saying is… you're an alien, aren't you?"

"Good job," he said, grinning. She took a step back anyways, reeling from the realization.

"But… but you look… normal! You look like a human!"

"That's not fair, my species came first!" he said. "I'm a Time Lord."

"How… how did you get here?" she asked, still a little stunned.

"In a ship… would you like to see it?" She nodded. He led her back to the bus station, then a couple streets away. At first she didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Then he walked right up to a big blue police box and stopped, turning to look at her. "Well, what do you think?"

"It… it's a phone box…"

He laughed a little and said, "Wait till you see the inside." He opened the door and went inside. She hesitated for a moment, not sure what going in there might mean. Then she ran through the door after him before she could change her mind. She stopped just inside, gaping in awe. She turned slowly in a circle, taking it all in.

"This…. This is amazing!" she breathed. She ran back outside for a moment, checking that it really was a small police phone box, then ran back inside. "This is a spaceship?" she asked.

"Yeah… well… not really. It does travel through space, but it also goes through time, so…" He couldn't help but smile on the look on her face.

"Wait, it goes through time? It's a time machine?"

He nodded, "A TARDIS, actually." She walked around, lightly touching things.

"So… so… wait. Wait, it can… go into the future?"

"And the past." He said, leaning backwards against the console. He figured that if her eyes got any bigger they would pop out of her head. She stumbled over to one of the railing bars and gripped it, apparently trying to keep herself up. He walked over to one of the dials. "Want to see?" She stood for a moment as the invitation sunk in. She eventually managed to get out,

"Yeah, sure." Her voice was a little squeaky. The Doctor smiled and began flipping switches. She heard a metal grinding and felt a small lurch and knew that something was about to change.

A/N: Well, I hoped you enjoyed it! Again, please review. And now for a totally random section I will be adding to the end of each chapter, just for the fun of it:

That Awkward Moment When:

That awkward moment when the words "Bad Wolf" start following you through time and space.

See you next chapter! :D