Twelve years later — Oxford, 2011

Alison hung up, after failing to get through to Giles for a third time.

"Right, then," Alison schooled herself. "All up to you, Alison. So… first, get through to Seo. Next, find Seo's mum and father. Third, work out what these lizards are and what they have to do with the zombification. And fourth..."

Alison trailed off, staring out of the windows of the cafe. True, Oxford was huge, and she didn't expect to know everyone here. But… she was right by her college, so she'd expect that she'd know at least someone zombying about on the pavement nearby…

Maybe one of her tutors, or one of her friends, or one of the shopkeeps she kept running into, whenever she went in to buy books or groceries or all the rest of it.

But she knew no one.

"Seo," Alison said, a little more urgently. She had to snap Seo out of this, somehow! "Seo, please, listen to me. It's me, Alison. You're all right, now. You're on Earth. Can you hear me?"

Seo didn't seem to. She was shaking even more than before.

Finally, Alison just broke down in utter frustration. "Oi!" she shouted, getting right in Seo's face. "Earth to Evil Hell Goddess! Come in, Key Girl! Rise and shine!" She snapped her fingers in front of Seo's face. "Wake up! Wake up! Free humans, all about you, ready and waiting for cyber-upgrade! No struggle, no fight! Five-minute-cybermen!"

"Ooh!" Seo cried, a light coming into her eyes and a bounce back into her step. She clapped. "Cyberconversion! Brilliant!"

Alison sighed. Yep. 'Brilliant'. Sure.

It was only then that Seo seemed to notice Alison. She swooped her into a great big hug. "It's been forever! How are you? How's Oxford? Do you know what Gwen's up to, now that Torchwood's gone?"

Yes, it looked like Seo was back to normal.

That had done the trick.

"Is it just me," Alison asked, warily, "or is it a bit disturbing that it was the cyberplanner that finally snapped you out of it?"

Seo spun back around. "Snapped me out of…?" She suddenly seemed to notice her surroundings. Raced out the front door of the cafe and started running about, from person to person, grabbing them up and analyzing them, before letting them go. "Comatose. Unaware. Trance, maybe? Not exactly the best upgrade candidates, at any rate. Awful for cybermen. We must survive, and all."

Alison ran after her. Odd thing was, the silver lizards were all leaving them alone, now. In fact, if anything, they were scuttling away from them.

"Seo, if you could stop cyberplannering for two seconds," Alison gritted through her teeth, "I need to know what's really going on here! You were on the verge of a nervous breakdown, a minute ago — and now, you're fine!"

Seo shot her a puzzled look. "Was I? Really? Interesting." She tapped her chin, thinking it through. "The cyberplanner in me must have instinctively squashed whichever emotions were behind the breakdown — and probably most of the memories that went along with it. Which is why I'm now sane and rational, but don't really remember much of anything." Her eyes lit up, and she raced after one of the zombies. "Ooh! Look! That kid's wearing mom-jeans!"

Brilliant. From cyberplanner to fashion critic. Alison ran after her, irritated. "Seo, you told me the Doctor was gone — just… gone. Then your mum seemed to know exactly what was going on, and she freaked out and ran off. And now, you're…"

Seo spun back around — her eyes sparkling. "Wait!" she cried, running forwards. "I do remember. I was on the TARDIS, reading some rubbish book about this bloke who lives on one of the moons of Jupiter and who gets into all sorts of love triangles, squares, hexagons…"

Alison coughed, pointedly.

"...and then the TARDIS went all funny," Seo continued. "Father started shouting! He was very cross with Jenny, for some reason. Absolutely livid! And the next thing I knew, I was…"

Seo stopped.

Something suddenly occurred to her. She looked at Alison, strangely.

"Hang about," said Seo. "Did you say Mom was here?"

Alison shrugged. "Showed up on my doorstep. Asked me to grab some weapons and help her track down a silver alien lizard. Normal enough."

"And this is… what? 2008?" Seo guessed.

"2011," Alison corrected.

Seo's eyes went wide. She spun on her heels and began sprinting, again.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Seo muttered, her eyes scanning the street. "This isn't right. Not at all! None of this makes sense!"

Yeah. That much, Alison already got.

"I figure your mum encountered these silver lizard things back when she was living on the mouth of Hell," Alison proposed, as she ran after Seo. "One of the adventures she and the Doctor had together. She remembered what happened to her, all those years ago, and is acting on that information, now, to…"

Seo grabbed Alison by the hand, practically dragging her down the pavement, behind, as she sped up. "Alison, listen to me," Seo said, very seriously, "because what I'm about to tell you isn't going to make much sense — but I swear to you, it's true. Mom isn't in the UK, right now. She's in San Francisco."

Alison felt her head spin. "What?" She shook it. "No. No, I remember! Your mum said she'd taken the bus here, and then she..."

"After Torchwood blew up, Mom was in Hell for at least a year," Seo cut in. "When she got back, she rented a flat in LA for a bit — you know, near Angel. Then she decided she hated LA, and got an offer to do some work for the San Francisco branch of UNIT. That's where she's living, now." Seo's eyes looked even more worried. "And I know she's not in the UK, because they've still got her on a terrorist watch list. Giles has been working on it."

Oh.

"You're really blowing the super-intelligent-alien thing, Seo," Alison commented. "You're supposed to be explaining to me how this all makes sense — not telling me more ways in which it doesn't!"

Seo gestured at the people around them. "And these people!" she said, her eyes darting between them. "Why do they all look so familiar? Like I've seen them in some… movie, or… something!"

Alison sighed. Yep. Way to make this all make sense, Seo!

Seo yanked Alison after her, as she zipped round a corner. Then, abruptly, she slowed. Then stopped.

Alison almost ran right into her back.

"Oh," said Seo, staring. She snuck forwards, analyzing the zombified figure ahead of her, with curious eyes. "That's why they're so familiar. No wonder Mom knew what was going on."

Alison didn't recognize the figure, at all. A young man, with extremely gelled hair and an eyebrow piercing. "Sorry, who's…?"

"Willow's ex-boyfriend — and one of Mom's Scoobies, way back when," said Seo, looking back at Alison. "He calls himself Oz."