A/N: I hate my life.

Not only am I uploading this late, but FF wouldn't let me upload this document to the site for the past hour! And I even tried my sister's computer, but whenever I tried to login, it threw me out again and I've been trying not to disassemble both computers in the house and get murdered by my sister...

Since I remembered (quite late) reading in a Time Lord wiki page that it should be harder for Time Lords to communicate telepathically without touching (as they are touch telepaths), I went ahead and edited out the telepathic communications between Alexandra and the Doctor in previous chapters to remain closer to canon. I explain the consequences of such distant telepathic communications in this chapter.

Now I'm gonna go shuffle in a corner and cry about how I'm not at SDCC (that DW panel killed me, all my babies together, and flawless Michelle Gomez is flawless *dies* and also Sardonyx is now my dream cosplay). Anyone who wants to join me can reach out to me in the reviews for a group hug.


A little while later, Martha found herself in a tent at the central pavilion, tying a bandage around the arm of a man, having already checked over a couple dozen people who had come looking for medical assistance. Tallulah had been a great help, ready to fetch anything Martha asked for, and she was grateful to at least have her around, seeing that Alexandra was busy going around Hooverville, helping put out fires and pick up tents throughout the settlement. Right now, she could see her across from where she was working, helping a couple of people gather various items in a tray that had been sent flying during the explosions.

All the while, Martha had been thinking about the psychic paper the Doctor had slipped her before he left. What did he want her to do? Could Alexandra know? The fact that he left her the wallet was a sign on its own that he wanted her to do something, but it would have been more helpful if either Time Lord had told her what the hell she was to do with it!

''Here you go,'' her thoughts were interrupted by Tallulah appearing in the tent, holding a pot of water. ''I got some more on the boil.''

''Thanks,'' she told her, finishing up the knot she had been tying. ''You'll be all right,'' she said to the man, ''it's just a cut. Try and keep it clean.''

As the man thanked her and left the tent, Tallulah leaned against the wooden back wall. ''So what about us? What do we do now?''

''The Doctor gave me this,'' she said, pulling the psychic paper out of her back pocket. ''He must have had a reason.''

The woman frowned at the white paper inside. ''What's that for?''

''Gets you into places, buildings and things,'' Martha explained. ''But where? He must want me to go somewhere but what am I supposed to do?''

''Doesn't she know?'' Tallulah asked, motioning with her head towards the direction of Alexandra.

She looked at the woman herself. ''If she does, she hasn't said anything about it.''

The blonde sighed, and Martha slumped heavily against the wall, if not a bit in despair.

~\8/~

The two Daleks didn't say anything while the Doctor walked between them as they led him back to the lab, only the whirring of their machinery filling the silence that had settled. He wasn't complaining, really. If it hadn't been for the still lingering shock at the fact that they had been commanded not to kill him, he might have made any number of snide remarks that were running through his head the moment they addressed him. It was better that they were leaving him alone, at least allowing him to feel the slightest bit of relief that both Alexandra and Martha hadn't joined him as he headed straight for the lion's den.

But he should have known that he wouldn't be able to stay calm. The moment he turned the corner and stepped into the transgenic lab his eyes fell on the suited hybrid, his back turned to him, and he could only see Solomon falling to his knees in his mind's eye.

''Those people were defenceless!'' he shouted for all it was worth as he advanced towards him, Sec turning around at the sound of his voice. ''You only wanted me, but no, that wasn't enough for you! You had to start killing 'cause that's the only thing a Dalek's good for!''

''The deaths… were wrong.''

He physically paused at the statement, eyebrows raised. ''I'm sorry?''

The hybrid took a few steps closer. ''That man, their leader, Solomon, he showed courage.''

''And that's good?'' he asked in disbelief.

''That's… excellent.''

The Time Lord measured him with his gaze. ''Is it me or are you just becoming a little bit more human?''

''You are the last of your kind… and now I am the first of mine.''

''What do you want me for?'' he asked, crossing his arms.

Sec walked past him to a table set up with equipment, the Doctor watching him closely. ''We tried everything to survive when we found ourselves stranded in this ignorant age. First we tried growing new Dalek embryos, but their flesh was too weak.''

''Yeah, I found one of your experiments,'' he said with a condescending tone. ''Just left to die out there in the dark!''

''It forced us to conclude,'' the hybrid continued, ignoring his jab at them, ''what is the greatest resource of this planet- its people. And then we remembered… what the biggest achievement of the Dalek creator was… what we had created during the Time War. The Dalek Regnant.''

The Doctor stiffened visibly at the mention of the title. Of course, how could he not? The biggest slap in the face of the Time Lords, their most shaming moment in the history of the Last Great Time War, pure evil wearing the face of the most intellectual being in the cosmos. That was what the Dalek Regnant was. He hadn't been there at the first year of the war, when Davros had revealed his masterpiece to the High Council nor had he ever seen the killing machine up close, but he had heard of its more than efficient work across the galaxies and had almost been cornered by it on the Last Day, during the battle of Arcadia. It had been a close call back then, and he would always be content that it had been destroyed that day, but what the Daleks had done to create it in the first place would always add more fuel to his burning hatred for their race. Because nothing could turn his stomach quite like the thought of what had to be done to create the Dalek Regnant in the first place.

''You would never make another Dalek Regnant in 1930,'' he said as calmly as he could manage, reigning his anger as best as he could, though his tone was fairly darker. ''You don't have the resources to even build a single processing unit, let alone make it work.''

Sec walked to a nearby wall where a set of levers was built in. ''And that was when the idea of hybridization was born.'' And with that, he threw one switch up.

The cavernous ceiling was illuminated with light, revealing tens upon tens of lineal gurneys suspended in the air, connected by tubes running the length and height of the room. The sheer amount of them made the Doctor's head spin as the pit in his stomach grew. Upon Sec throwing another switch up, one gurney was lowered to the middle of the room right in front of him, so that he could see what was unmistakably a human body, motionless, shrouded by a white sheet.

He took a few steps closer to come and stand on one side of it, studying the shrouded body. ''We stole them,'' Sec explained, standing opposite from him. ''We stole human beings for our purpose. Look… inside.''

At his beckoning, the Time Lord uncovered the head of the body to reveal a man, pale as a corpse with his eyes closed, lying inside. There was nothing - no rising and falling of his chest nor body temperature - to indicate that he was alive. ''This… is the extent of the Final Experiment.''

''Is he dead?'' the Doctor asked.

''Near death,'' Sec replied, one of his withered hands reaching to touch the top of the shrouded man's head, as if to caress it, ''with his mind wiped, ready to be filled with new ideas.''

''Dalek ideas.''

''The Human-Dalek race.''

''All of these people,'' he mused, looking up. ''How many?''

''We have caverns beyond this storing more than a thousand.''

His eyes returned on Sec in alarm at the sound of the number. ''Is there any way to restore them? Make them human again?''

''Everything they were has been lost.''

''So they're like shells,'' the Doctor concluded, and he couldn't help but pour the accusation in his voice. ''You've got empty human beings ready to be converted. That's going to take a hell of a lot of power. This planet hasn't even split the atom yet! How're you gonna do it?''

''Open the conductor plan,'' Sec ordered and his fellow Daleks focused behind them.

~\8/~

Alexandra was returning to Solomon's tent to join Martha and Tallulah when she spotted him.

He was sitting on a crate just in the mouth of his tent, his head slumped forward, his shoulders looking heavier than they should. Every once in a while they would give a little heave and one hand would wipe at his nose and on he would go again, as still as a statue, not paying attention to any of the men and women moving about around him.

She took a deep breath. Solomon had been like a father to him after he came here, and the young man saw him as such, having just lost his own. There was no way she would leave him like this.

Frank didn't immediately move when he felt her hovering above him by his side, but his whole body stilled. ''Mind if I join you?'' she asked.

Without uttering a word or raising his head, he shifted on the crate, offering as much space as he could, and she sat down next to him, one arm going around his shoulders. ''How have you been holding up?''

He scoffed. ''How'd you think?'' he asked bitterly, wiping at his nose again.

She gave his shoulder a small squeeze. ''He was a brave man, Frank.'' For some reason, it felt wrong to utter Solomon's name. Maybe it was because she let him die without having resolved their disagreements. To him, it might have very well seemed like she was abandoning her people to the world's mercy without even a goodbye, and that felt like a stab in her hearts. ''You saw for yourself. He went down fighting for a better tomorrow for his people, he tried to save all of us.''

''But he didn't make it,'' the boy shook his head. ''They killed him anyway.''

Her jaw clenched. ''The Daleks are merciless. There was a great possibility that this would happen.''

Frank turned his head away from her, having trouble choking down a sob, before burying his face in his hands.

She mentally kicked herself for her own stupidity. Great job, Alexandra. ''We tried to warn him, Frank, you saw! But he did it anyway!''

''And now he's dead,'' he mumbled, prompting her to put her other arm around him, as well.

''He did it for you! Everything he did was for the town, so that you and I and everyone else would survive! He sacrificed himself so that we could get a chance to see a better tomorrow, you must realise that.''

Frank lowered his hands so that he could look at her, his eyes slightly red. ''Then why isn't he still here?''

That was a question that would always eat at her insides. It wasn't just Solomon's death: the Sisterhood, the civilians on her planet, all those aliens she didn't get to save as a simple human, people she had met in impossible situations during the centuries away from the TARDIS; they all died regardless of their various ''good'' deeds. And as her life went on, even though it had barely been a year since she broke her second hundred, she couldn't help but ask herself what she had done to deserve staying behind and living with all those deaths. What was she going to be like at 1,000 if she already thought like this?

''Life isn't always fair,'' she settled with to reply as she rubbed at his arms to get some warmth in him, even reassure him if she could. ''I don't know how the universe decides who stays and who goes, but I do know that we get to decide how we will act. And he would always act for his fellow people, for those in need.'' Her hands dropped to clasp his own tightly, making him look up at her. ''He died so that you could continue to act for the better. That's all he wanted. I'm sure he didn't want to die, Frank, no one does. But I'm sure he wouldn't want you to sit and mourn him because he's… gone,'' she almost choked at the last word, ''and not try and help those who need your help.''

Frank stared at her for a long while before taking a deep breath and nodding. ''Like he would have done.''

''Like he would have done,'' she smiled. Her hands went around his frame again and he returned the embrace at once, burying his face in her neck. ''Don't waste the chance he gave you, Frank,'' she mumbled in his ear, closing her eyes and letting herself relax in his familiar hold.

''I won't,'' he mumbled back a moment before he released her. His hands went to wipe at his eyes. ''I guess someone will have to get those idiots around here to stop fighting at some point.''

At his comment, she couldn't help but chuckle.

''Frank?''

The call came from ahead of them, and both of them turned around to see Martha and Tallulah approaching. Alexandra winced internally: she had completely forgotten about the human and the Doctor's plan for a moment there.

Frank hummed questioningly once they reached him.

''That Mr. Diagoras, he was like some sort of fixer, yeah?'' Martha asked. ''Get you jobs all over town?''

''Yeah. He could find a profit anywhere.''

''But where, though? What sort of things?'' There was a certain urgency in her tone, and she kept fiddling with the leather wallet the Doctor had left her.

''You name it. We're all so desperate for work, you just hoped Diagoras would pick you for something good. Building work, that pays the best.''

''But what sort of building work?''

''Mainly building that,'' he said, pointing over his shoulder.

Everyone's eyes turned on the imposing Empire State Building towering over Manhattan.

Alexandra patted Frank's knee twice before springing to her feet. ''So,'' she started, pulling her hood over her head and looking between the three, ''shall we?''

~\8/~

''Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Empire State Building,'' the Doctor said, hands almost casually in his pockets as he observed the pop-up projection of the building in front of the control hub of the lab, as if Sec wasn't standing right next to him and three other Daleks weren't surrounding him. ''We're right underneath that. I worked that out already, thanks. But what, you hijacked the whole building?''

''We needed an energy conductor,'' Sec explained.

''What for?''

''I… am the genetic template. My altered DNA was to be administered to each human body.'' The projection changed to show a normal strand of human DNA, and on its right the DNA of a Dalek, looking like a human's, albeit spiked. As he watched, a wave of energy went through both, breaking them apart and getting rid of certain parts, only for the two distinct types of DNA to snap together into one. The notion alone would give Alexandra a field day. ''A strong enough blast of gamma radiation can splice the Dalek and human genetic codes and wake each body from its sleep.''

The Doctor frowned. ''Gamma radiation? What are-?'' But then the projection changed yet again, now showing the Empire State Building on Earth and then expanding to include the sun, and that's when he realised. ''Oh, the sun, you're using the sun!''

''Soon… the greatest solar flare for a thousand years will hit the Earth,'' the hybrid said as the pop-up showed just that. ''Gamma radiation will be drawn to the energy conductor and when it strikes-''

''The army wakes,'' the Doctor concluded. But even after the full on PowerPoint presentation, he wasn't clear on one thing. ''I still don't know what you need me for.''

''Your genius,'' Sec said, and he couldn't help but feel a bit flattered, considering who the comment was coming from. ''Consider a pure Dalek: intelligent but emotionless.''

He regarded the Dalek before him. ''Removing the emotions makes you stronger. That's what your creator thought, all those years ago.''

''He was wrong.''

The Doctor's eyebrows shot to his hairline. ''He was what?''

''It makes us lesser than our enemies. When he was making the Dalek Regnant, he took away its emotions, but… in doing so, he deemed its greatest asset useless.''

''It didn't seem to stop it from decimating entire populations,'' he grumbled under his breath, making sure it very well reached Sec's ears.

To his satisfaction, the hybrid looked at least a bit uncomfortable. ''His methods were incorrect. We must return to the flesh, and also… the heart.''

The conflicting views this Dalek was presenting him with were very surprising. ''You wouldn't be the supreme beings anymore.''

''And that is good.''

''That is incorrect,'' Caan stepped in and they both turned to the Daleks behind them.

''Daleks are supreme,'' Thay agreed.

''No, not anymore!'' Sec argued.

''But that is our purpose,'' Thay insisted.

''Then our purpose is wrong!'' the hybrid said with more vehemence than the Doctor would have ever expected a Dalek to make in a statement about its own species. ''Where has our quest for supremacy led us? To this. Hiding in the sewers on a primitive world. Just four of us left. If we do not change now, then we deserve extinction.''

''So you want to change everything that makes a Dalek a Dalek,'' the Doctor realised, barely believing the insinuation.

''If… you can help me,'' Sec agreed.

He remained staring at him, dumbfounded.

~\8/~

''I always wanted to go to the Empire State,'' Martha confessed as all four of them were riding a service elevator up the near-finished structure. ''Never imagined it quite like this, though.''

''Where are we headed, anyway?'' Frank asked.

''The top's our best bet,'' the Time Lady said stiffly from his side, her nails digging slightly into her arms as she had them crossed over her chest. ''Construction's still underway up there.''

''How come those guys just let us through?'' Tallulah wondered. ''How's that thing work?''

''Psychic paper,'' Martha laughed, taking it out of her pocket to show them. ''Shows them whatever I want them to think! According to this, we're two engineers and two architects.''

Frank took the wallet in his hands and flipped it over a couple of times, allowing Alexandra to catch a glimpse of the information among the fractals. She raised an eyebrow. ''Harkness?''

''That's what you used, yeah?'' Martha asked.

She shrugged. ''Don't like it anymore. Reminds me of a friend that went missing.''

''Then what do you use?''

Her hands dropped to beat rhythmically against the wall, just to have something to do to keep them from drawing blood. ''Dunno yet. Nothing sounds right.''

~\8/~

''Your knowledge of genetic engineering is even greater than ours,'' Sec was explaining as they walked back to the shrouded man. ''The new race must be ready by the time the solar flare erupts.''

''But you're the template. I thought they were getting a dose of you,'' the Doctor said with a frown.

''I want to change the gene sequence.''

''To make them even more human?''

The hybrid stared down at the near-dead man. ''Humans are the great survivors. We need that ability.''

''Hold on a minute! There's no way this lot are gonna let you do it!'' the Doctor observed, pointing back at the still pure Daleks.

''I am their leader!'' Sec declared, louder than necessary, as if accused by the Time Lord's words.

''Oh, and that's enough for you, is it?'' he addressed the three Daleks, turning to them.

''Daleks must follow orders,'' Thay chanted, a phrase that, if he was being honest with himself, he had grown tired of hearing.

''Dalek Sec commands, we obey,'' Caan agreed.

''If you don't help me…'' Sec told him, ''nothing will change.''

''There's no room on Earth for another race of people,'' the Doctor tried to get through to him.

''You have your TARDIS.'' Sec joined his fellow Daleks, going to stand right in the middle of the eclipse they had created around the Doctor. ''Take us across the stars. Find us a new home and allow the new Daleks to start again.''

He couldn't help it: the idea of creating a race of Daleks that wouldn't be driven by the need to destroy everything that wasn't them sounded so appealing the Doctor could hardly believe it had been a Dalek who had suggested it. Could he really just ''fix'' his greatest enemies and be done with them? Could he really just get rid of the beings that caused so much despair in the universe? Did he really have that power? ''When's that solar flare?''

''Eleven minutes.''

The Time Lord gulped. ''You should have let my friend join me. She's a geneticist, this would go much faster with her here.'' Despite the fact that he didn't want her anywhere near a Dalek blaster, he had to admit it would move on quicker with her expertise, not to mention he would get an earful after playing in a transgenic lab without her.

''The Time Lady is too erratic,'' Sec explained. ''We have never met her before and... we didn't know if she could be trusted.''

''She is in the human settlement,'' Jast said in his high pitched voice. ''You will cooperate or she will die!''

The Doctor stiffened. Good thing she's no longer in Hooverville, then, he thought, though said none of how he had felt the hum at the back of his mind grow stronger when she arrived at the building a few minutes prior. ''Right then,'' he breathed, pushing past the Daleks to a work bench, ''better get to work!''

~\8/~

The quartet exited the elevator and stepped into a spacious room littered with benches and construction equipment. Judging by all the papers and chairs occupying the space, Alexandra surmised that someone had been using the room as an office. The regular lift with the double golden doors was to their right and an open area off to the side filled with scaffolding and metal rods overlooked the Manhattan skyline below.

''Look at this pace!'' Tallulah mused, twirling on the spot. ''Top of the world!''

''Okay, now this looks good,'' Martha said, walking to some architectural plans that had been propped at the side, and Frank and Alexandra joined her.

''Hey, look at the date,'' the man pointed at an inscription at the bottom that read ''Nov 1st''. ''These designs were issued today. They must've changed something last minute.''

''You mean the Daleks changed something?''

''Not unlikely,'' Alexandra said as she ruffled through the other sheets. ''If they controlled Diagoras, then they had control over everything: the design, the materials, you name it.'' The footnotes on the sheet right underneath caught her eye. ''The ones underneath are the old ones, right before the new issues. Ever played 'spot the difference' on magazines, Martha Jones?''

''We need to check one against the other,'' the girl concluded and the three of them got to work taking the huge sheets off the lectern.

''The height of this place!'' Tallulah was saying in the background. ''This is amazing!''

''Careful, we're a hundred floors up!'' Martha called to her. ''Don't go wandering off!''

''I just wanna see,'' the blonde assured her before stepping out on the deck.

Alexandra clapped her hands together. ''Okay, you two get started, I'll check on the Doctor real quick to make sure he's not being held captive or something.''

''How are you gonna do that?'' Martha asked in confusion.

''With a little difficulty, so please, don't even consider interrupting me,'' she replied. She sat down on the ground next to the gold lift and pulled her knees up to her chest.

''Why, what happens if we interrupt you?''

''Oh, it'll be too much of a bother to drag my dead body back to the lift,'' she deadpanned. Martha's eyes widened and she turned to help Frank, avoiding even looking at the girl on the floor.

She wasn't going to die over such a small distance, but if she tried to contact him, say, from New York while he was on a different planet or a different time zone, it was a great possibility that she would. Telling the human that would only assure they wouldn't try and distract her for any reason. Pushing her way through their shared Time Lord conscience was a cheap way to contact him, not to mention dangerous in an unsafe environment, one of the reasons Alexandra hadn't called for him this whole time to come and pick her up. Right now though her worry was prevailing over all emotions, and she was sure she would do something she would regret unless she made sure the Doctor was alright.

She pressed her forehead to her knees and exhaled slowly, willing every thought to cease in her mind with the motion, letting it clear enough for her to tap into the Time Lord conscience and multiply its intensity tenfold. Her mind was a well-flexed muscle, trained up and constantly fuelled by all the processes it runs on a daily basis to allow for her to control and navigate it with relative ease, and now she let the hum prevail, the indicator that there was another Time Lord out there, letting it dominate until it was a clear network of thoughts, and from there it was just a matter of stretching far enough to reach the only mind this connection now led to: the Doctor.

A short while later, she could see what he was seeing almost as clear as day: the transgenic lab, the Daleks moving about, and the Doctor with a yellow solution in his hands, squatting before a large vat of a green liquid to study his results. His thoughts raced around genetic splicing and the number 11. ''There's no point in chromosomal grafting, it's too erratic! You need to split the genome and force the Dalek-human sequence right into the cortex,'' he was saying, not staying still for a minute as he jumped to his feet and dived for another table to add a darker yellow solution to the one in his hand, causing white vapour to bellow out of it.

''We need more chromatin solution!'' Sec's voice sounded behind him.

''The pig slaves have it!'' the deep voice of Dalek Caan replied.

'You're playing with the fancy toys, you lucky bastard,' Alexandra mused.

All of a sudden his thought process stilled. 'Alexandra?' he asked incredulously.

'Missed me?'

'How are you doing that?!'

'We have a shared link with the species, remember? I needed to see what you were up to. We're in the Empire State.'

The Doctor leaned slightly over the table and closed his eyes. Some of the strain of reaching over was relieved as he focused on the connection himself. 'I noticed.'

'What do they want with you?'

Quickly, he brought up the whole conversation he had had with Sec, about the energy conductor and wanting to make his new hybrids more human. She shifted through the information with no small amount of confusion. 'He actually wants to make them more human?'

'It looks like it.'

I would have grafted a kill switch in the Dalek DNA if I had a chance, she thought to herself with an odd satisfaction, only to realise her mind wasn't that private anymore when his thoughts turned defensive.

'Alexandra, he wants to give them emotions,' he said. 'There is actually a Dalek who believes their purpose isn't right. What you're talking about is genocide.'

It was her turn to turn defensive. 'Well, I'm sorry if I don't have the fondest of memories with them.'

'Cursing innocent beings who couldn't help being turned into Daleks to death is not an option, though.'

He was right. Suddenly she felt very uncomfortable. 'Sorry, it's just... It doesn't feel right,' she confessed. 'You working with the Daleks. They are made to hate, that won't change.'

'But one has,' he countered.

Alexandra sighed internally. 'Fine, but be careful of the other three. There is no way they will let this drop without a fuss.'

'I will,' he promised and she felt him push her away. She slowly retracted her mind and stayed still for a few moments, letting the bond slowly recede until it returned to the comfortable hum at the back of her mind and allowing her repressed thoughts to return to their usual abundance.

''I wish the Doctor was here,'' she heard Martha say as she opened her eyes. ''He'd know what we're looking for.''

Alexandra raised her head. Frank was nowhere to be found and Martha was kneeling on the floor in front of some scattered blueprints, Tallulah standing above her. ''I take offence at that statement,'' she said and her voice came out just a tad hoarse.

Martha's eyes flew to the Time Lady. ''Sorry,'' she told her sheepishly.

The Time Lady cleared her throat before almost jumping up with a nonchalant shrug. ''I suppose I haven't proven my worth to you since you did for me.''

Martha couldn't help but smile a bit at the almost compliment as Alexandra joined her on the floor. ''That's not true! All the things you did in Hooverville, hacking the hospital computer… Those were impressive.''

''Not as impressive as the Doctor, though, were they?'' she countered, setting down the sheet she had picked to look at Martha. ''I get it, Martha. You've spent more time with him than you have with me. Women are always more impressed by men who can sweep them off their feet... or people in general, shouldn't judge.''

She raised an eyebrow. ''And that excludes you?''

Alexandra chose not to reply right away, taking her time raising the blueprint up to examine it. ''I've been around the block a few times and I haven't found one that can have that effect on me.''

''No one as impressive as the Doctor though, were they?'' Martha asked with a knowing look, her heart actually aching at the small sad smile the Time Lady gave.

''He might have had that effect once,'' she agreed, ''but I was too young, and since then information has arisen that I cannot possibly ignore. His usual razzle dazzle isn't as effective as it was.''

The human looked at her questioningly. ''What do you mean, what happened?''

Alexandra took a deep breath and dived back into her research. ''Oh, that's a conversation for a time when the Daleks aren't breathing down our necks.''

The human could sense that was the end of the conversation, so she followed the girl's example and took another blueprint to examine, curiosity burning her insides.

''So tell me,'' Tallulah started, and Martha could have sworn she had almost forgotten she had been standing there, listening in on their exchange, ''where did you and him first hook up?''

''It was in a hospital,'' she replied, ''...sort of.''

Tallulah nodded in realisation and went to kneel next to her. '''Course, him bein' a doctor.''

''Actually, I'm a doctor,'' she told her. ''Well, kind of.''

''You're a physician?'' the blonde asked incredulously and she nodded with a smile. ''Really?''

''I was training. Still am, if I ever get back home.'' At the end, her smile slightly dropped.

Tallulah's eyes widened in excitement. ''You could be doctors together!'' She gasped at the notion. ''What a partnership!'' When Martha turned back on her blueprints, the blonde shook her head. ''Oh, it's such a shame. If only he wasn't so… different. You know what I mean?''

''Oh, you have no idea how different he really is,'' Martha mused without looking at her.

''Yeah, he's a man, sweetheart. That's different enough.''

''Wait,'' Alexandra frowned, looking at Tallulah, ''what do you mean different?''

The show girl stared at her like it was obvious. ''Him being into musical theatre and all.''

As Martha studied her, the Time Lady's frown deepened until her eyes widened to the size of saucers and she coughed, the sound sounding like a badly disguised snicker to her ears.

At Tallulah's previous comment though, she couldn't help but sit back. ''He had this… companion a while back,'' she started. ''This friend. And ever since then he's been on his own. But you know, sometimes I say something or do something and he looks at me, and I just sort of think… that he's not seeing me. He's just remembering.''

Alexandra stared at the woman out of the corner of her eye, an uncomfortable feeling settling over her chest. Had she turned down a place in the TARDIS to escape her mother and Rose's shadow only to condemn Martha to the fate she had been trying to avoid? Was this the price she had to pay to feel safe by the Doctor's side? Make another person suffer through feeling invisible so that she could go on a path of self discovery? Had she seriously thrown this young woman under the bus so that she wouldn't have to face her guilt should the Doctor get hurt while she was away?

Suddenly she felt she had more in common with this human than she ever realised.

''Aw, listen sweetheart,'' Tallulah said, laying a hand on Martha's shoulder. ''You wanna get all sad? You wanna have a contest with me and Lazlo?''

''No,'' Martha shook her head. ''But listen, if the Doctor's with Lazlo now, there's every chance that he could get him out.''

''And then what?'' she demanded. ''Don't talk crazy. There's no future for me and him. Those Dalek things took that away. The one good thing I had in my life and they destroyed it.'' And with that she stood up, wrapping her coat closer to herself and heading back towards the open deck.

The time traveller looked on sadly as she walked away before turning back to the blueprint, catching Alexandra staring at an undefined point in the distance almost guiltily. ''What is it?''

The Time Lady jumped slightly and turned her icy blue eyes on the girl as if seeing her for the first time. Quickly, she shook her head. ''Sorry, were you saying something?''

Martha studied her face. ''Nothing,'' she mumbled before diving back into her search. Alexandra spared the human one last sympathetic look that she couldn't see before following her example.

It was only moments later when the silence broke again.

''Gotcha!'' Martha said in glee. ''Look!''

Both Alexandra and Tallulah rushed to her side to look at the blueprints before her. ''There, on the mast. Those little lines?'' she pointed to a set of bold lines running parallel to the mast on the revised blueprint that weren't present on the old one. ''They're new. They've added something, see?''

''Added what?'' Tallulah wondered.

All three turned to look at each other with huge grins on their faces a beat later. ''Dalekanium!'' they all shouted in realisation, Martha laughing at the end.

Alexandra wanted to slap herself. ''Of course! The gamma strike will be drawn to the energy conductor through the Dalekanium up top and down to the Daleks!''

''What are you on about?'' Tallulah asked in confusion.

''There's no time to waste!'' Alexandra ignored her and shot to her feet quicker than the two women could blink and ran in the direction of the deck.

''Wait!'' Martha shouted, making her stop. ''Shouldn't we wait for the Doctor to come?''

''He's taking his sweet time coming up; he's rather preoccupied at the moment, I'm afraid. Besides…'' she threw her cloak behind her shoulders and spread her hands invitingly, ''I need to prove my worth to you.''

''You don't need to do anything!'' the human insisted, but Alexandra just picked up a spanner that had been discarded on the floor. It could not work, but she wasn't gonna pull out the big guns if she didn't absolutely have to.

''Still, that Dalekanium won't remove itself. See you later!'' And with that, the Time Lady turned on her heel and walked on the deck, thanking her heavens that her footwear was stable enough not to let her slip and that her mind hadn't been too overworked in the past couple of hours.