Aliens of London
Chapter 4
Mickey and Rose stood in the courtyard outside Rose's flat, in the place where the TARDIS had previously been.
"He wouldn't just go." Rose ran her fingers through her hair nervously. "He promised me."
Mickey was feeling incredibly smug. "He's dumped you, Rose, sailed off into space. How does it feel, huh? You're left behind with the rest of us earthlings."
"He would have said. He wouldn't have just left without me."
Jackie walked up slowly behind them. Mickey had almost told Jackie where Rose had been, so she was now curious."What are you two on about? What's this Doctor done now?"
Mickey laughed. "He's vamoosed."
"He's not! Cos he gave me this." Rose opened her hand to reveal the TARDIS key. "He's not my boyfriend, Mickey. He's better then that, he's much more… important and he-" She cut off as the key started flashing and pulsing a golden colour. They all looked up as the whirring sound of the TARDIS started. The air whipped around them as the TARDIS gradually reappeared.
Rose suddenly realised that her mother was still there, so she tried to push her back towards the flat but it was too late.
"How'd he do that then?" Jackie asked.
Rose stepped inside the TARDIS, bracing herself for the Doctor's reaction.
He started speaking before she could. "Alright, so I lied. I went and had a look. The whole crash landings a fake. It was just too perfect. I mean, hitting Big Ben? Come on. So I went and had a look-"
Rose interrupted. "My mum's here."
The TARDIS door creaked open behind them as Jackie and Mickey walked on board.
The Doctor frowned. "Oh, that's just what I need. Don't you dare make this place domestic!"
"You ruined my life, Doctor," Mickey complained, stepping towards him.
The Doctor turned around, annoyed, as Mickey continued. "They thought she was dead. They made me a murder suspect because of you."
"See what I mean," The Doctor said to Rose. "Domestic."
"I bet you don't even remember my name."
"Ricky."
"It's Mickey."
"No, it's Ricky."
"I think I know my own name."
"You think you know your own name?" He scoffed at him. "How stupid are you?"
Before Mickey could reply, Jackie suddenly panicked and ran out.
"Mum!" Rose called after her. "Don't, don't!"
"Don't go anywhere and don't start a fight," she warned the Doctor and Mickey as she ran after her mother.
A minute later she came running back in and joined the Doctor at the TARDIS console.
"Hang on. That was a real spaceship."
"Yep."
"So it's all a pack of lies? What is it then? Are they invading?"
Mickey spoke up from behind them. "Funny way to invade, putting the world on red alert."
"Good point. So, what are they up too?"
"What are you doing down there?" Mickey asked, as the Doctor worked underneath the TARDIS floor.
"Ricky-"
"It's Mickey."
"Ricky, if I were to tell you what I was doing to the controls of my frankly magnificent time machine, would you even begin to understand?"
"I suppose not."
"Well shut it then " he replied with a sarcastic smile.
Whilst the Doctor continued working over by the console, Mickey and Rose were talking.
"Did you miss me when you were gone?" Mickey asked nervously.
"Of course I did." She punched him gently in the arm.
"Now that you're back… do you reckon you'll be staying around for a bit."
Rose moved her hair away from her face as Mickey moved closer to her. Just as he was about to kiss her the Doctor interrupted.
"Got it!" he shouted.
Rose walked over to the Doctor, purposely ignoring Mickey's forlorn look. "I've patched in the radar and looped it back twelve hours to follow the flight of that spaceship. Here we go. Hold on." He hit the console a couple of times. "Come on!" An image of the spaceships flight path came onto the screen. "That's the spaceship, on its way to earth." He pointed to a small circle on the screen." Except, hold on…see, the spaceship did a sling slot around the earth before it landed."
"What does that mean?"
"It means it came from Earth in the first place, flew up and then came back down. Whoever those aliens are they haven't just arrived. They've been here for a while. Question is, what have they been doing?"
Sherlock and John were currently sat in a police car on the way to 10 Downing Street. Sherlock had phoned Lestrade and had managed to get a police to take them to their destination due to some carefully thought out lies about Mycroft wanting him to investigate.
"Isn't this a bit dangerous?" John questioned as they neared there destination. "I mean, what if someone recognises us?"
"Nobody will recognise us, John. And even if they do, it will be a while before anyone in Downing Street finds out."
The car stopped outside their destination and Sherlock pulled his collar up. "Come on, smile for the cameras."
He stepped out, with John following. They were both assaulted with the flash of several cameras for the few seconds that it took them to reach the front door.
Once inside Sherlock took off his scarf whilst John tried his hardest to act natural.
A young man walked over to them, shaking both their hands. "Indra Ganesh, sir, Junior Secretary of the MOD. Detective Lestrade phoned ahead to say you were coming."
"Yes, good. I'd like to speak to whoever's in charge here."
"That would be General Asquith, sir."
"Well, off you go then. Go get him."
"Yes, sir."
As he walked off John resisted the urge to laugh. This was a rather bizarre situation. "Why are we here again?"
"This is where it's all happening. If we're going to find out anything, then it's going to be here. If we're lucky we might even find the Doctor again."
"I was going to ask about that. Who do you think he is? He's worse then you for appearing when things are going wrong."
"I'm not sure yet. I have some ideas, however."
John expected him to expand but he didn't, so they lapsed into silence.
Whilst they waited Sherlock observed those around him. He knew that the Prime Minister was missing. It was written in everybody's body language. That and the fact that the woman opposite him was currently trying to track him down.
Indra returned. "I'm sorry, sir, but General Asquith is currently busy. If you wanted I'm sure I could find someone else for you to talk to."
"It's fine. We'll just wait here until General Asquith is free."
"We're not waiting here are we?" John asked once Indra had left.
"Of course not," he replied. "Now, let's go. I have a feeling we might find something interesting here."
A/N: Coming up in the next chapter : The Doctor and Rose join John and Sherlock at 10 Downing Street and Mycroft makes an appearance.
Do review and let me know what you think so far.