Immediately, the Doctor dashed about. He bent to the first fallen figure nearest him and shined the sonic screwdriver on his face. Lucy looked down. Oh dear lord. This was Jean Marsh. This was the woman who had got Lucy her job, had pulled so many strings for her. This was the woman whom the Doctor had incapacitated in a similar manner on the first day they met. It seemed ages ago, and yet, it had only been days. Lucy concentrated on Jean's face. She looked for all the world like she was sleeping, and yes, there. There was her chest rising and falling; breathing. Lucy breathed her own sigh of relief. But she looked around at the other unconscious forms. All looked the same as Jean. Her friends, strewn unconscious on the floor, like they were catching up on a good nap. It seemed wherever the Doctor went, trouble soon followed. Lucy looked at the Doctor.

"Why us, Doctor? Why are you and me and Jack okay? Everyone else is knocked out, what could it be?" Jack came over, glancing anxiously at Juliet's slumped form.

"Are they alright, Doctor? They're not dead, I know, but are they gonna be okay? I mean, you, you can fix them, right?" Jack sounded so worried. He was nothing like the cocky,

showy Jack Lucy had met. She would call it an improvement if she weren't so worried.

"I don't know what's wrong with them. I really don't. They've all just…dropped. They're all breathing. And the only similarities I can think of between us is that we have all been traveling in time and space, but why would that spare us? I don't understand! God, that's an uncomfortable feeling, how do you people stand it?"

Lucy was too scared to be insulted. She wanted Juliet back.

"Doctor, please. Let's just think. You can solve anything if you think long enough. We know they didn't just drop pf their own accord. We know it happened shortly after midnight on a new year. Is there anything particularly special about the year 2010? Or about the year 2009 ending?"

The Doctor looked at Lucy, appraising her.

"Several things happen. Toward the end of this year, the American's war on Iraq ends, well, depending on other circumstances. Right now, nothing is set in stone. And I can't think of anything about the year 2009."

Lucy frowned, there had to be something. People didn't just do this. And why were the three of them okay? Suddenly, Lucy had a thought. She dashed out the door, grateful that the Doctor's coat was still snuggly wrapped around her. She had left the door open and was trailed by the Doctor and Jack. Lucy was already pressing her face up to the window of the building next door. Her eyes widened in horror at what she saw.

"Doctor, it's not just my flat! Everyone is this room is on the floor too! I'll bet the whole city's like this, maybe with people like us, one or two people who didn't fall. Doctor! What if the whole world is like this?"

The Doctor had his eyebrows raised, and he was looking down a bit, his mouth hanging slightly open. His eyes now moved from side to side, like he was working things out in his head. Lucy fought the urge to shake him. Jack had seemed to give up and walked back inside. Lucy followed him. When he turned around he put his hands on either of her shoulders. "I'm sorry, Lucy." He said. "But we're going to fix this, we'll find a way, I promise."

"Don't. Don't promise. There are some things that can't be fixed."

"Well this isn't one of them." He looked straight into her eyes and they were so sure, that Lucy couldn't help but feel a little more hopeful. Just a little. The Doctor had finally wandered back inside. He was pacing about, scanning people with the sonic screwdriver, trying alternate methods to wake them up.

"They won't wake." said a disembodied voice, coming from the front door. The voice was female sounding, calm and very cold. She sounded like the machine at the market that informed people how to pay for their packages. The Doctor, Lucy and Captain Jack all stood up, awaiting the surely horrifying presence.

Into the hallway came what looked like a woman. She was tiny; probably no taller than five feet. She wore a long black robe with an even longer red cape. Her skin was an eerie greenish-blue colour and she was completely bald. Her large black eyes probed before settling on the three standing figures in turn. She was flanked by two incredibly tall cronies; each about nine feet in height; their heads almost grazing the ceiling. They had the same greenish-blue skin, bald heads and large black eyes. But where the tiny woman's were deep and thinking, theirs were blank and lifeless.

"They won't wake." She said again. "It is their time. But do not fret; they will feel no pain. It will be like they fell asleep and never woke up. Surely you could not think of a better death." Her attempt at a soothing voice only made her words more chilling. She sounded so cavalier, so, so cold.

"These lives aren't your to take! And by order of the Shadow Proclamation, I command you to tell me who you are and what right you have to interfere with the life on this planet.!" The Doctor sounded furious. Lucy didn't know what the Shadow Proclamation was, but it sounded important, and it sounded universal, so these…things must know what he was talking about.

"We are Lunabelsey. We are an ancient race that has lived for millennia on this planet's moon. Our ancestors created the tides to sway the moods and actions of humans. And now, we come to claim the human lives of this planet, to cleanse it. A new wave is ready to brake."

"Ah….Lunabelsey. You are old, aren't you? And so you're the queen now? Well, I'm sorry, but I rank a bit higher than Queen of the Lunabelsey. I'm the Doctor, and I telling you now, that I will not let you harm a single person on this Earth."

"Doctor? I'm afraid you won't be needed anymore. Well, perhaps for the scattered handful of people like you who will survive the cleansing."

"Hang on then." said Lucy. "Why are we still…conscious? Why aren't we on the ground like the rest of them?" She was making a very concentrated effort to not leap at the tiny Lunabelsey. She was sure she could take the Queen, but then, that would be exactly what her body guards were for.

"You, Doctor, are still standing because of your species. Timelord. Your regeneration gives you the ability to survive; I believe you are nearly one thousand years old now. And Captain Jack, we know your future. We know that you will live for millions of years. And Lucy Blake. You are quite an interesting creature. As a human, you possess a latent ability to survive. As an immortal being, we would assume that you too, would last thousands of years. Alas that you were not born into such a life. We are sure the Doctor would like to keep longer than he will. But it is this latent ability that allows you to go unscathed, and will keep you alive."

"And what about my sister? What about Juliet? Why can't she survive?" Lucy had many questions, but this one pushed itself to the forefront.

"Ah, Juliet lives in the here and now. She exists only from moment to moment, as fleeting as a firefly. She is resilient. But very unlike you, Lucy Blake."

"Well, I hate to spoil your cleansing, your majesty, but as I said, it doesn't matter what latent abilities people do and do not have, you're going to leave here in peace. This is your warning. Go back to your colonies on the moon and be content with mankind as they are now. You do not control them and you have no say over who lives and who dies! So. The decision is yours." The Doctor's gaze was firm, his eyes blazing.

The queen of the Lunabelsey turned her gaze to the Doctor. She had been staring at Lucy all the time. She reached out a hand to the woman at her feet, the one the Doctor understood to be Jean Marsh. Her claw-like hand was gripping thin air, not hurting Jean Marsh, but ready to take the life from her. In a move like lightning, the Doctor had shined the sonic screwdriver on her two cronies, one after the other. And just as he had thought, they dropped to the ground, their cloaks closing on nothing. Their bodies were gone and the queen was exposed. He trained the sonic screwdriver on her. She didn't have to know it wouldn't hurt her at all.

"See, your majesty? Your smoke and mirrors are gone. We know you're alone. It's going to be hard to oversee of cleansing of billions of people all on your own. Now think. I hold the key to your existence right here in my hands. It's your move, your majesty."

The tiny queen looked at the Doctor, eyes hard, mouth grim. And then, her cool slipped. She blinked and gazed just a little too long at the sonic screwdriver. And the Doctor knew he had won. She sneered at him, and without a word, turned and walked out the front door. All was silent for a moment and then-

"Doctor! How did you do that? You weren't really going to kill her were you? And how did you kill those, those cronies of hers? Doctor, what did she mean about my, my latent abilities? Why isn't anyone waking up? Doctor, they're all still on the floor!" The Doctor just turned round sharply and hugged Lucy so fiercely. His eyes closed and he could feel her relaxing against him. She sighed as her arms wrapped around his back and her head fell into the hollow of his neck.

"Are you alright?" he asked before going on. When she nodded, he said, "No, I wasn't going to kill her. The sonic screwdriver can't actually hurt living things. Her body guards were just illusions; that's part of how the Lunabelsey work. They aren't seers, they don't see the future, they just manipulate people into thinking what they want them to. So when the light of the screwdriver fell on them they ceased to be visible. The illusion couldn't stand up to contest. As for your latent abilities, she has to be right; you wouldn't have remained standing without them. As for everyone else, she had to have given them some sort of sedative to put them to sleep it should wear off any second now."

Lucy had more questions, or different aspects of the same ones, but people were starting to wake up. Lucy trampled over some people in her haste to get to Juliet. Her poor twin had fallen on the hard linoleum kitchen floor and was rubbing her head as Lucy helped her to stand.

"L-Lucy, what happened? How long have I been out? Hang on, did everyone fall?"

"Yes, dear, I'm sorry. Are you alright?" Everyone had woken up by now and many were asking questions about how they had come to be in their present situation. The Doctor held up his hands and everyone looked at him, falling silent.

"Sorry, everyone. Looks like a bit of an earthquake, hell of a way to bring in the New Year, eh?" And with that, he made his way over to Juliet and Lucy.

"Lucy, I think we should be on our way." Lucy looked up at the Doctor and nodded but gave no other answer.

"Jules, are you going back to Mumbai?" when her sister nodded, Lucy jerked her head toward the door and led her by the elbow to it. The Doctor followed them with his eyes and then Lucy looked back at him, imploring, telling him to follow.

Outside, the snow had stopped falling. A thin blanket now covered their whole street. Lucy looked up, breathing in deeply. The Doctor did the same. The air so fresh, so crisp and clean. Then, Lucy turned to her twin and said, "I've been traveling with him, with the Doctor. And, I'm going to keep traveling. And we're going to go places that are really far away. Farther than Mumbai. And we're not always going to be safe. Some of the places we go, the people there are in trouble and we help them. The Doctor helps them."

"Lucy, what are you saying? You're not makin' any sense."

Lucy sighed and shook her head, and suddenly the Doctor sensed how old she felt.

"The Doctor and I, and Jack as well, travel in space. And in time. I know it sounds ludicrous, but it's true."

Juliet looked from Lucy to the Doctor for a long time. Just then, Jack came out the door, looking ready to go. Juliet stared at him, eyes wide.

"You could come with us, Jules. Well, couldn't she, Doctor?" she asked, turning to him. He nodded, once again rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. But Juliet was shaking her head.

"No, Lucy. This, this is yours. You've always been too big for this world, I always told you that. Now I just have proof. Just, do me a favor and call me. A lot. I need to know you're alright, okay? Keep in touch, you know?" Juliet gave Lucy a quick fierce hug and then they were smiling.

"You're my favourite twin, Jules." Juliet just laughed as she headed inside the house to clean up and celebrate what was left of the first day of the new year.

"That was easy. Usually I get a fuss about bills and whatnot, she just wants you to call her."

"Me and Juliet understand each other. It's peaceful you know, it's easy." The Doctor nodded and the three of them headed back to the T.A.R.D.I.S. Lucy looked around it and thought it the greatest sight in the world.

"What did the queen of the Lunabelsey mean about you keeping me? And about-"

"Lucy, do not think for one second that it is as trivial as that." And the Doctor walked over to her, placing his hands again on her shoulders. "I like traveling with you, okay? Love it. You're brilliant, you are!" he sounded so cheerful now, and Lucy decided her questions could wait as Jack emerged from his room with a bottle of champagne and three glasses. She grinned and accepted hers, leaning against a bit of railing as they toasted the New Year, the past, the present and the future.