Chapter 3

"…a visit from psychiatric."

Rose smiled and shook her head as she sipped what felt like her hundredth cup of awful hospital coffee.

"What'd you say this time to make the staff think you're a nutter?" she asked as she sat beside the Doctor.

He shrugged. "I was just telling them about when I helped Franklin 'discover' electricity with that bleeding kite and got myself electrocuted."

She nodded knowingly. "Yup, that'd do it."

He looked passed her in the direction the students had gone. "One of them said something odd."

"You think one of them said something odd?" She leaned forward, tongue caught between her teeth. "Do tell."

The Doctor's eyes narrowed at her slightly before continuing. "Said I ran up to her on the street this morning and took my tie off. I wasn't out running about without my knowledge was I?"

Rose laughed and shook her head, sitting back. "Not that I'm aware of."

"See. Odd."

Opening her mouth to respond, she closed it in favor of turning to see what the commotion was behind her. Someone was going on about the rain. Glancing at the window, she noticed it didn't seem right. Frowning, she set her coffee down and went to look.

"It's raining up," she whispered to herself.

Suddenly, the building started to shake and move, almost like it was being moved. With the skill of a well-seasoned TARDIS traveler, Rose clutched onto the window sill and braced herself, barely keeping herself upright. She watched in awe as the building was surrounded by blue coils before being knocked violently to the floor.

Moaning in pain, she rubbed the back of her head as she sat up, taking the Doctor's proffered hand and allowing him to pull her to her feet. Hands clasped, they walked to the window together and stared out.

"We're on the moon."

He nodded. "We're on the moon." He looked down at himself, clicking his tongue. "I'm going to change. No way I'm going to battle aliens in my jimjams again."

Nodding absently, Rose continued staring out the window, breathless from the beauty of the Earth from this vantage point.

She was snapped out of her reverie by the panic all around her. Instincts kicking in, she began trying to calm patients and staff.

"It's okay; we're safe."

A woman – one of the students – grabbed her by the front of her shirt, eyes wide with fear.

"How do you know we're safe? We're on the bloody moon!"

Rose smiled and carefully extracted herself from the frantic woman.

"I know we're on the moon. Panicking isn't going to change that. We need to keep calm."

Much to Rose's annoyance, the student crumpled at her feet, hugging her legs and sobbing. Shaking her head, Rose absently stroked the woman's hair as she surveyed the room. Most everyone was a sobbing mess. Everyone but the Doctor, one of the other students, and herself. Well, Rose thought, at least not everyone's gone off their rocker.

The Doctor walked up to her, shoving his hands in his pockets as he frowned down at the sobbing woman still clinging to her. He nodded toward her.

"Who's your friend?"

Rose sighed. "No idea." She looked in the direction of the other student standing slightly behind him. "And yours?"

He looked over his shoulder. "Oh, I have no idea." He turned and smiled, extending his hand to the other woman. "How do you do? I'm the Doctor and this is Rose Tyler. And you are?"

The woman frowned slightly as she shook their hands. "Martha Jones. Nice to meet you, Doctor Tyler."

He put his hand back in his pocket and shook his head. "Just the Doctor."

Martha raised an eyebrow. "Just the Doctor?"

"Yep. That's me!"

She exchanged a look with Rose, who just shrugged. Martha looked him up and down.

"Right, well, excuse me of I don't call you that right off the bat. That's a title that's earned."

Rose sucked her lips in, barely able to keep herself from laughing as the Doctor frowned in confusion. He wasn't used to people not simply calling him Doctor. It always amused her when they fought him on it.

Taking a deep breath, the Doctor puffed out his cheeks before blowing it out and turning back to Rose.

"We're heading to the balcony to see what we're actually dealing with. Care to join us?"

She glanced down at the woman at her feet. She'd thankfully let go of Rose's legs, but she was still a sobbing ball of uselessness. She sighed and looked back up at the him.

"No, I think I'll be of more use out here."

Smiling, he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, startling her. "Suit yourself, wifey, just be careful."

She gave a snort of laughter. "You too, husband." She watched them walk out, shouting after them. "And don't ever call me 'wifey' again!"

Jaxon sneered as guards pushed Kari to her knees in front of him. He hated humans; they were primitive and barbaric. This one seemed to be dressed in nothing but her underwear and covered in filth. He shuddered. Mongrels.

Standing from his chair, he slowly made his way toward her, circling her, amused and pleased by her bowed head. At least she knew her place; few prisoners did. After making two full circuits around her, he nudged her shoulder with his boot.

"Look at me, girl. We have much to discuss and I refuse to talk to the top of your head."

Kari looked up at him, meeting his eyes, a look of hatred and defiance behind them. That would be dealt with soon enough.

"I understand you know the Doctor. Where is he?"

She sighed, annoyance dripping from every syllable as she spoke.

"I don't know. I didn't know when I got here. I didn't know when Kalan interrogated me. And I sure as hell don't know now."

Jaxon's eyes narrowed at her blatant insolence. He'd assumed by her apparent supplication that she knew her place, but he was finding out quite quickly how wrong he was. Not taking his eyes off of her, he reached a hand out to one of the guards.

"Give me your gun."

Kari's eyes widened with the appropriate amount of fear and horror has he pressed the barrel to her head. He smiled wide, letting her see all of his teeth, taking great pleasure in seeing the shimmer of sweat forming on her brow.

"Now, I'm going to ask you again." He pressed the barrel further into her forehead, a snarl forming on his lips. "Where is the Doctor?"

Trembling, she shook her head as tears started to streak down her mud-caked face. "I don't know! I swear I don't know!"

With a growl, Jaxon pulled the gun back and brought the handle down hard against her temple, knocking her to the floor, unconscious. He thrust the weapon back at the guard.

"Take her to the chamber and strap her in." He gagged as the horrifying scent of human blood hit his nose. "Ugh. And get someone in here to clean up this mess immediately. Her filth was bad enough, but I will not have her blood staining my immaculate floor."

Waiting only long enough for the guards to acknowledge his order, he spun on his heel, in search of something to wash the stink of human out of his nose.

Rose stood and stretched as she looked up and down the hallway. It was lined with patients and staff passing oxygen masks between them. She was thankful – and not for the first time – for her respiratory bypass. That and adrenaline should keep her going for a while.

She was jostled out of her thoughts as the odd men in all leather and motorcycle helmets pushed passed her, followed closely by Mrs. Finnegan.

"Oi! Watch it!"

Mrs. Finnegan turned and smiled. "Sorry, dear, but my boys are ever so thirsty. I'm sure you understand."

Rose frowned as the trio disappeared into the administrator's office. Curious, she followed to see what they were up to. Hiding behind the door, she heard Mrs. Finnegan say something about assimilating and being thirsty. Chancing a peak, she watched in horror as the woman produced a straw from her purse, jamming it into Mister Stoker's neck as the two men held him down.

Ducking back, her mind raced as she tried to figure out what to do. Should she find the Doctor? She had no idea where he was and what if those weird rhino things found her first?

Slipping back out into the hall, she saw a patient wandering dazedly. Her eyes flicked to the 'X' on the back of his hand. Smiling, she approached him.

"Excuse me, but what's the 'X' on your hand for?"

He looked down at it for a moment, almost like he wasn't sure how his hand got there, let alone the 'X.' He frowned.

"It's how the space rhinos are cataloguing us, I think. Shows we're human."

"Ta."

Casting about, Rose ducked into another office and rifled through drawers.

"Come on, come on. Where is it?" Throwing papers all over, she smiled triumphantly as she pulled out a black marker. "Ha! Knew there had to be one in here somewhere."

Yanking the cap off with her teeth, she placed a large 'X' on her hand. Holding it out in front of her, she tilted her head and smiled.

"There, I'm human again, albeit temporarily."

Heading back into the hallway, she had to take a step back before being bowled over by Martha as she ran by, one of the leather-clad men hot on her heels. She was considering following her when she saw Mrs. Finnegan sneak off in another direction with the other leather man. Mind made up, she turned in the direction of the blood-sucker.

Turning a corner, Rose ran smack into one of the rhinos, causing her to stumble back slightly.

"Oh, sorry about that. Just trying to find my husband."

Her eyes went wide as it took out what looked like a scanner-slash-marker.

"Prepare to be catalogued."

Rose held up her hand. "You already got me, mate. See?"

It looked at her hand before looking back to her.

"You are correct. You may proceed."

She grinned. "Cheers!"

Squeezing past, she barely caught sight of Mrs. Finnegan before she slipped into the MRI room. Casting about for any sign of the Doctor, she made to follow the woman.

Rose stood outside the door, trying to figure out what she was going to do. Squaring her shoulders, she took a deep breath as she pushed through the doors, opting for the 'wing it' option. It usually worked out for her. Occasionally. Okay, rarely, but those rare times were really good ones! God, even her thoughts sounded like the Doctor now.

She stumbled into the room, eyes wide, breathless.

"Giant rhinos! In the hospital! Have you ever seen such a thing?"

The woman behind the glass barely chanced a glance at Rose as she continued making adjustments.

"And we're on the moon! Of all things. We only came in here because my husband was having pains in his side. Thought it might be appendicitis. Ended up just being a bit of gas. Always said he was full of hot air."

Rose cast a nervous glance at the MRI as it crackled and sparked with electricity, jumping slightly as a bit of blue lightening lashed toward her.

"Say, uh, I don't think it's supposed to do that."

Mrs. Finnegan smiled pleasantly as she looked up at Rose. "Not normally, dear, but I require it for my needs."

Rose's eyebrows shot up. "Your needs? Blimey! What needs are those?"

The older woman waved a dismissive hand. "That's no concern of yours."

"Maybe not, but I'm sure those rhinos would be pretty concerned. Might interfere with their search. They've upped their scans as it is."

A brief look of concern flashed across Mrs. Finnegan's face. She nodded to someone behind Rose.

"Hold her."

Rose struggled as one of the leather men restrained her arms. How'd she forgotten he was in here, too? Her eyes widened in horror at the bloody straw in Mrs. Finnegan's hand.

"What're you doing?"

An evil smile spread across the woman's face.

"Well, dear, if they're upping their scans, I need to assimilate again. Can't have them finding me, now can I?"

Rose flinched as the straw was jammed into her neck. Her last thought as she lost consciousness was that Mrs. Finnegan was going to be very sorry when she got scanned again.