"Ah!" The Doctor winced as the connection to the probe cut off. "We've lost the probe. I think it got eaten. Everything on this planet gets eaten."
"How far away is that swarm?" Christina asked.
"Hundred miles." I said. "But at that speed, it'll be here in twenty minutes."
The Tritovore chirruped at us.
"No, they're not just coming for us." The Doctor responded. "They want the wormhole.
"They're heading for Earth!" Christina gasped.
"Show the analysis."
One of the Tritovores quickly pulled up a 3D image of the creatures on a screen.
"Incredible!" I gasped. "They swarm out of a wormhole, strip the planet bare, then move on to the next world, start the life cycle all over again."
"So, they make the wormholes?" Christina asked.
"They must do." The Doctor shrugged.
"But how? They don't exactly look like technicians. And if the wormhole belongs to them, why are they 100 miles away?"
"Because they need to be? No. That's bonkers. Hang on! Yes! Oh! Do you see? Billions of them, flying in formation, all around the planet, round and round and round, faster and faster and faster, till they generate a rupture in space! The speed of them, and the numbers, and the size, all of that rips the wormhole into existence! "
"And the wormhole's getting bigger?"
"Because they're getting closer!" I exclaimed.
"But how do they get through? Cos that wormhole's a killer, we've seen it!"
"No, no, see the exo-skeleton?" I said, pointing on the screen to the creature's metal bones.
"Metal."
"They've got bones of metal! They eat metal, and extrude it into the exo-skeleton! So their velocity makes the wormhole, then their body makes it safe! Perfect design!" I said, sharing a grin with The Doctor
"Those things are going to turn the entire Earth into a desert. So why exactly are you two smiling?"
"Worse it gets, the more we love it!" The Doctor laughed.
"Me too. The thing is, Flo, Doctor, you're missing the obvious. We came here through the wormhole, yes? But our Tritovore friends didn't. They came here to trade with San Helios. Therefore, the question is, why did they crash?"
"Ah, good question! What a team!" He turned back to the Tritovores. "Like she said, why did you crash?"
...
One of the Tritovores led us into another room where there is a large open hole in the floor, a gravity well!
"Oh, yes." I laughed, jogging up to the gravity well and peering in. "Gravity Well, look. Goes all the way down to the engine. So what happened?" The Tritovore chirruped at us. "He says the drive system stalled. Ten miles up, they fell out of the sky. But what caused that?" It shrugged.
"Which means, 'no idea'." Christina said.
"Yeah." The Doctor nodded. "But wait a minute, that's a crystal nucleus down there, yes?" It chirruped at us. "And it looks like it survived the crash. If the crystal's intact... Oh, yes, that's better than diesel!"
"What, you can use the crystal to move the bus?
"I think so. The spaceship's a write-off, but the 200's small enough."
"How does a Crystal drive a bus?"
"In a super-clever outer-spacey way, just trust me!" He turned and pulled up a feed on a monitor, showing us where the crystal was. "There's the crystal! It's fallen to the bottom of the well."
I turned to the Tritovore. "Have you got access shafts?" It chirruped back at me. "All frozen?"
"Maybe we can open them!" The Doctor suggested, pulling two comms out of his pocket, throwing one to Christina and putting the other in his ear. "Internal comms, put that on. You stay here, keep an eye on the shaft. Tell me if anything happens." He grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the room.
...
The Doctor and I bolted back into the control room, running up to seperate banks of machinery.
"If I can use that sunlight to start the automatic maintenance." The Doctor muttered, fiddling with the machinery as he turned the comm onto loudspeaker. "Christina?"
I yanked out some wiring from the bank I was working on, "If you see a panel opening in that shaft, let us know." I called over.
"Nothing yet." Christina through the comm.
The Doctor connected two cables, "Anything now?"
"'Fraid not."
I pressed a few more buttons, "Any sign of movement?" I asked.
"Nope."
The Doctor ripped a few more wires out, "How's that?" He asked.
"Nothing."
I muttered to myself, connecting some wires, "Any result?" I asked.
"Not a dickie bird." She sighed. "So let me get this right. You need that crystal? Then consider it done."
"Why, what d'you mean?" The Doctor asked as we shared a look. "Christina? Christina!" The both of us jumped up, running back into the well room as Christina dove into the wall, connected to a harness.
"Where the bloody hell did you get a harness from?" I gasped as The Doctor ran over, sonicing the pulley attached to the harness, making it stop abruptly.
"That's better." The Doctor sighed, sitting down on the edge of the well. I rolled my eyes, walking over and sitting down on the edge next to him.
"I decide when I stop, thank you." Christina said.
I glanced back at the feed on the screen, "You're about to hit the security grid. Look!"
"Excellent. So what do I do?"
"Try the big red button." The Doctor suggested.
There was a quick moment of silence, "Well done!" She said cheerfully.
"Now come back up! I can do that."
"Oh, don't you wish?"
"Slowly!"
The pulley began to move again slowly, "Yes, sir."
"Quite the mystery, aren't you? Lady Christina de Souza. Carrying a winch in her bag."
"No stranger than you, spaceman."
"We had this friend, once." I said sadly, staring into space as The Doctor took my hand. "She called The Doctor spaceman."
"And was she right? Do you zoom about the place in a rocket?"
"Well, a little blue box." The Doctor shrugged. "Travels in more than space. It can journey through time, Christina. Oh, the places Flo and I have been. World War One. Creation of the universe, end of the universe, the war between China and Japan." He frowned, peering into Christina's bag and pulling out a gold chalice. "And the Court of King Athelstan, in 924 AD. "But we don't remember you being there. So what are you doing with this?"
"Excuse me. A gentleman never goes through a lady's possessions."
The Tritovore chirrupped at us, looking at the chalice.
"It's the Cup of Athelstan." I explained to the alien. "Given to the first King of Britain, as a coronation gift from Hywel, King of the Welsh. But it's been held in the International Gallery for 200 years, which makes you, Lady Christina, a thief."
"I like to think I liberated it." Christina said.
"Don't tell me you need the money." The Doctor said.
"Daddy lost everything. Invested his fortune in the Icelandic banks."
"No, no, no, if you're short of cash, you rob a bank. Stealing this, that's a lifestyle."
"I take it you disapprove?"
"Absolutely."
"Meh." I shrugged. "I stole a grande from right out of a man's hand once." And I did, of course. I stole that 1,000 pound right out of Jack's hand in the middle of 1969.
"And were you sleeping with the man?" Christina asked.
"No, she was sleeping with this man." The Doctor said. The three of us stayed silent for a while before The Doctor continued, "Except, that little blue box. I stole it. From my own people."
"Good boy. You were right. We're quite a team." Suddenly, a loud screeching sound emitted from the lower levels of the ship. "What the blazes was that?" Christina gasped.
"We never did find out why the ship crashed. Christina, I think you should come back up."
"Too late. I can see it."
"Careful. Slowly." He turned to the Tritovore. "Have you got an open-vent system?" It chirrupped back at us. "I thought so."
"What does that mean?"
"It's like when birds fly into the engines of an aircraft." I explained.
"One of the creatures." Christina whispered.
The Doctor and I shared a nervous look, there was one of those bloody creatures in the bottom of the ship! "Got trapped in the vents." The Doctor explained. "Caused the crash. Christina, get out." He grabbed my hand and pulled the both of us up.
"It's not moving, I think it's injured."
"No, it's dormant, because it's so cold down there. But your body heat is raising the temperature."
"I tend to have that effect. Almost there." She muttered.
"Not just the crystal. I need the whole bed, the plate thing."
"I've got it!" She gasped.
The Doctor quickly pulled out the sonic again, sonicing the winch, making it pull back up very quickly. "Come on, come on!" He muttered. "Come on, come on, come on, come on! It's gonna eat its way up!" I glanced over the edge as Christina came flying further towards us, the creature following. She quickly hit the security button, turning on the field as she went past. The creature flew into the field, shrieking. "Oh, she's good!" Christina came flying to the top of the well and The Doctor swung her over to the side, taking the crystal and the couplings from her hands. "That's it, that's it. I've got you, I've got you!" The Trivitore walked forward, taking the crystal from The Doctor, chirruping at him. "Isn't she just?"
...
The Doctor, Christina and I, followed by the Tritovore ran into the control room up to the other Tritovore , standing by the controls.
"Commander!" The Doctor cheered, holding out the crystal. "Mission complete! Now we've got to get back to the 200, all of us." The Commander chittered at us. "Oh, don't be so daft! A captain can leave his ship if there's a bus standing by."
A rumbling echoed through the ship.
"What the hell was that?" Christina gasped. "Is this place safe? It's the creature. It's not dead."
"Maybe you didn't hit just one of them." I breathed. "If you hit a swarm..."
"Do you mean if there's more on board?"
"This ship's built inside a metal sleeve. They can move through the infrastructure, all around us."
Suddenly, one of the creatures thudded against the inside of the wall.
"And they wake up hungry." The Doctor said in agreement, turning to me. "Get out!" He pushed me out nervously. I ran through the ship and out into the desert, looking back with a gulp, looking for The Doctor. Eventually he and Christina ran out. The Doctor grabbed my hand, pulling me as he ran past. "What part of go don't you understand?!"
I laughed nervously, "You moan when you never have a companion that never wanders off, now you're complaining that I haven't?!"
"Oh shutup!" He muttered as we ran from the swarm, not far behind us, noticing the bus in sight when the mobile rang. With his spare hand, The Doctor fished out the phone and answered it.
"Doctor, Flo…" Malcom began.
"Not now Malcom!" The Doctor and I shouted in unison.
The Doctor hung up, pocketing the phone as we reached the bus, Nathan and Barclay standing in the doorway.
"At last!" Nathan gasped. "Where've you been?!"
"Get inside, get them sitting down." I told him.
"Now then, let's have a look." The Doctor said, taking the crystal out of the clamps.
"So what does that crystal do?" Christina asked.
"Oh, nothing, don't need the crystal." I laughed as The Doctor threw it over his shoulder.
She gasped, "I risked my life for that!"
"No no, you risked your life for these." The Doctor muttered, unhooking 4 clamps from the main piece of metal. He handed me two and ran round the other side as I attached the two clamps to the two tires nearest me. The Doctor ran back round from doing his side and we got onto the bus.
"But what are the clamps for? Do they turn the wheels?"
The Doctor jumped into the driver's seat as Christina stood next to him, watching, "Something like that. I just need to fix this. Have you got a hammer in that bag?"
"Funnily enough." She reached into her bag and pulled out a hammer.
"Phone, phone..." He quickly handed me the phone and I pressed redial, putting it to loudspeaker as he hooked the plate up to the steering wheel.
The dialing tone cut off and someone answered, "Malcolm, it's us!" I said quickly.
"I'm ready!" Malcom cried.
"Ready for what?"
"I don't know! You tell me!"
"We'll try to get back." I began. "There might be something following us. You need to find a way to close the wormhole."
"Would that be a compressed burst of feedback on a counter-oscillation, perchance?"
"Oh, Malcolm! You're brilliant!" The Doctor and I cheered in unison.
"Coming from you, sir, ma'am that means the world."
"Flo, what sort of something?" Erisa asked in the background. "That wormhole is now measuring ten miles and growing, I need to know the exact nature of the threat."
The Doctor and I shared a look. "Sorry, gotta go." I said, hanging up.
The plate sparked suddenly, making The Doctor groan, "Ah, it's not compatible!" He said. "Bus, spaceship, spaceship, bus. I need to weld the two systems together."
"And how do you do that?" Christina asked.
"I need something non-corrosive, something malleable, something ductile, something..." He slowly looked at Christina. "Gold."
"Oh, no you don't."
"Christina, what is it worth now?"
Barclay rushed to the front of the bus, holding out his watch.
"Hey, hey, use this!" He offered.
"I said gold." The Doctor said.
"It is gold."
"Oh, they saw you coming. Christina!"
I offered Barclay a small smile as he made his way back to his seat. Christina looked at her bag, then back at the passenger before taking out the cup, holding it.
"It's over 1,000 years old." She said nervously. "Worth £18 million. Promise me you'll be careful."
The Doctor took it from her gently. "I promise." I smirked, knowing him all too well. He turned the cup upside turn and began to bang it with the hammer.
"I hate you."
He managed to stick it into the plate, grinning.
"This is your driver speaking! Hold on tight!" He called back.
"What for?" Barclay asked. "What's he doing?"
"Do as he says!" Christina called back before turning back to The Doctor. "What are you doing?"
The Doctor began to turn on the engine. "Come on, that's it... You can do it, you beauty! One last trip!" The bus powered up and rattled. It then began to rise from the sand and the passengers in the back gasped.
Barclay moved over, looking out the window. "Ah, you are so kidding me!"
"We're flying! It's flying!" Nathan gasped.
"He's flying the bus!" Lou exclaimed.
"It's a miracle!" Angela grinned.
"Anti-gravity clamps." I said to Christina. "Didn't I say? Round we go."
The Doctor span the wheel, turning the bus round so we were facing away from the swarm and aimed at the wormhole.
"Doctor! They're coming!" Carmen shouted.
"Do you think this thing will survive the journey back?" Christina asked.
"Only one way to find out!" The Doctor began. "Next stop..."
"Planet Earth!" I cheered as The Doctor pressed down on the pedal, driving straight towards the wormhole.
…
After making it through and flying across London, Malcom and UNIT taking out the creatures, nothing could shock me today.
"Did I say I hated you?" Christina asked as we still flew, midflight. "I was lying." She suddenly grabbed The Doctor by the jacket, laying a long kiss on him. I gulped, turning away and looking across the city as Christina pulled back.
The Doctor stared, stunned, before calling back. "Do not stand forward of this point. Ladies and gentlemen, you have reached your final destination. Welcome home, the mighty 200."
The bus landed down softly on the ground and everyone began to cheer.
With a sigh, everyone grabbed their things and began to get off the bus, each of them being greeted by soldiers and moved away to be checked over.
The Doctor flashed the psychic paper at the soldier, "I don't count."
The soldier nodded before turning to me, "Colonel Smith, ma'am."
I nodded, smiling as The Doctor linked my arm and spotted Erisa. We made our way over to her as a short man with glasses came rushing towards us.
"Doctor! Flo!" He cried.
"You must be Malcolm!" The Doctor grinned.
Malcom grabbed the both of us, hugging us tightly. "Oh! Oh, I love you." He pulled back, starstruck. "I love you, I love you."
"To your station, Doctor Taylor." Erisa told him.
"Yes, ma'am." Malcom nodded hurrying back. "I love you!" He called over his shoulder.
"Colonel Smith, Doctor," Erisa said, saluting the both of us. "I salute you, whether you like it or not. Now, I take it we're safe from those things?"
"They'll start again. Generate a new doorway." The Doctor shrugged. "It's not their fault, it's their natural life cycle. But I'll see if I can nudge the wormholes on to uninhabited planets."
"Closer to home, Captain, those two lads," I said, looking back at Barclay and Nathan. "Very good in a crisis. Nathan needs a job, Barclay's good with engines. You could do a lot worse. Privates Nathan and Barclay, UNIT's finest."
"Of course Ma'am." She smiled. "And I've got something for you."
A few metres away, a soldier dropped a tarp, revealing The TARDIS. The Doctor and I laughed, walking up to the old girl.
"Better than a bus, any day!" I cheered. "Hello!"
"Found in the gardens of Buckingham Palace."
"Oh, she doesn't mind." I giggled.
"Now, I've got three dead alien stingrays to clear up. I don't suppose you fancy helping with the paperwork?"
"Not a chance!"
"Till we meet again, Doctor, Flo."
"I hope so."
The Doctor shook her hand and the woman turned, walking off. We smiled, watching everyone when Christina ran up to us.
"Little blue box!" She grinned. "Just like you said! Right then, off we go! Come on, Doctor, Flo show me the stars!"
"No." The Doctor said, stunning me a little.
"What?"
"I said no."
"But I saved your life. And you saved mine."
"So?"
"We're surrounded by police. I'll go to prison."
"Yeah."
"But you were right, it's not about the money. I only steal things for the adventure, and today, with you... I want more days like this. I want every day to be like this. We're made for each other, you said so yourself. The perfect team. Why not?"
"People have travelled with me and I've lost them." The pain flashed across my eyes. All the people we lost. Rose, Jack, Donna, Martha, Mickey. Everyone. "Lost them all. Never again."
A policeman appeared behind Christina, "Lady Christina de Souza!" He laughed. Oh, I have waited a long time to say this. I am arresting you on suspicion of theft." A bunched of other policemen handcuffed her. "You do not have to say anything, etcetera, etcetera. Dennison, take her away." We watched, not really bothered, as she was lead away when Carmen and Lou made their way up to us.
"Doctor, Flo?" Carmen asked softly. "You take care, now."
The Doctor smiled at her, "You too! Chops and gravy, lovely!"
"No, but you be careful." She said sadly. "Because your song is ending, sir."
The Doctor's face dropped, "What do you mean?"
"It is returning. It is returning through the dark. And then, Doctor, Flo... Oh, but then... He will knock four times."
The two of us shared a look as they walked away.
"I'll be in in a minute." The Doctor mumbled. I nodded, a little disturbed at what Carmen said, stepping into The TARDIS.
…
I stepped out with a sigh into the darkness of Bannerman Road, the street and house lights illuminating the road. I turned back to the doorway of The TARDIS.
"You could come in for a cup of tea if you wanted?" I asked The Doctor as he leaned against the doorframe.
"You know I don't do families." The Doctor smirked.
"Yes, but they're my family. Ok, just see it as coming to see your best friend, Sarah Jane Smith!" The Doctor groaned, rolling his eyes. "It's not like a big family interrogation, it's a cup of tea!"
"I can't." He sighed.
"Ok." I said sadly, placing a kiss to his forehead. "Until we meet again, Time Lord." I turned, making my way towards the drive.
"Were you annoyed?" He called after me. I turned and looked back. "That she was flirting with me?"
I sighed, shaking my head. "Feelings like that just don't go away like that, Doctor."
"I know." The Doctor said in agreement. "I love you."
I smiled tearily, "I love you too." I whispered, turning back round and walking up to the drive.