Rose and John finally released each other after several minutes of River standing awkwardly off to the side. Rose blinked, her hand still resting on John's chest, the other hand entangled with his. "Oh, um… River, this is John."

"I got that," River said, reaching out and shaking John's free hand, "Pleasure."

"You're River Song, right? The Doctor met you once, I remember. At the libra…" he was cut off by River's hand slamming over his mouth.

"Spoilers! Chances are, that hasn't happened for me yet, so I can't know about it." She released John's face, "You have the Doctor's memories, you ought to know."

"Of course, I apologize. You had that diary, and…" The memories of the Doctor's life, like an internet search engine programmed for certain words, were always just within reach but John had learned to tuck them away. it was easier that way, easier to live his own life. But as the memories of River Song came flooding into clarity, John realized the extent of damage he could have reaped if he hadn't been silenced. "That hasn't happened for you yet, of course. How could it?" He ran his hand through his hair. "Is that a vortex manipulator?" he asked gesturing to the clunky device on her wrist.

River glanced down at it scornfully, "Yes, but it isn't working. Won't lock onto the TARDIS."

John held out a hand and River raised an eloquent eyebrow. "Let me see it," John said, gesturing more insistently for River to hand him the device.

River sighed, unclipping the manipulator and sliding it over her hand. "I've already tried."

John turned the manipulator over in his hands. "What I wouldn't do for a sonic." He glanced up at River, "You wouldn't happen to…"

"A sonic screwdriver? No. If you wanted to hypnotize someone, I have some rather lovely lipstick that might do the trick."

"Hallucinogenic lipstick, really?" John laughed. "That's a parlor trick, right up there with blood control." Rose giggled at this.

"Physic paper," River said simply. "You're not one to talk."

John flashed her a boyish grin, "I've never used psychic paper in my life. The Doctor has, but not me! By the way, I fixed your manipulator. And updated it. And the reason it wasn't locking onto the TARDIS was you had it set for the matrix. For some reason the TARDIS is off, like her soul is asleep."

"Why would that 'appen?" Rose asked, her face lined with worry for the ancient ship. It seemed silly, but ever since she had merged with the soul of the TARDIS she had felt close to it, as if it was part of her still. The idea of it in danger was like having a dear member of her family in mortal danger.

"Let's go find out," John said, slipping the manipulator onto his wrist.

"We should go out there," Amy said, pacing.

Rory shook his head, "The Doctor told us to stay in here, that's what we're going to do."

Amy rolled her eyes, "Like that's ever stopped us." She made a go for the door, but Rory grabbed her hand at the last moment.

"We're staying in here. For one thing, the Daleks might not know we're in here so we'll be more help to the Doctor is we stay where we are. Am I right?"

"Yes," Amy gave in, "but I don't like it."

There was a flash behind them and Amy and Rory spun around. "River!" Amy ran over to her daughter, pulling her into a hug. "I may have to ground you," she joked. She released her and turned to John, "You must be the… um… meta-thingy."

John reached out and shook her hand, "Meta-crisis Doctor, but I go by John now, easier to put on forms. I have absolutely no idea who you are…"

"Oh! I'm Amy and," she pulled her husband closer, "this is Rory. We travel with the Doctor."

"Got that bit, thanks. So what's out there then?" John bounded over to the door.

"No!" Amy and Rory shouted as one.

John stopped, his hand hovering over the handle. "What?" He peeked out the window. "Oh, yeah. That makes sense. They're what destroyed the planet. I was hoping they'd gone by now. Is that the Doctor?" he asked, catching sight of the back of a rather shaggy head. "He's regenerated."

River moved to the door next to him, unsheathing her gun. "I could take out at least four Daleks. Enough to give the Doctor a chance to get back to the…"

John glared at her, "No guns." He took a deep breath, then glanced over at Rose, holding out a hand for her to take.

She came over to him, "What are you planning?"

"Do you trust me?"

"Of course."

John gave her a slightly sad smile, and kissed her forehead, moving his lips down to touch gently against hers. "Good. Stay here." With that he slipped out and closed the door behind him.

The Doctor turned around in surprise as the TARDIS door opened. "Amy I told you to… oh, how'd you get in there?"

John shrugged, "Vortex manipulator."

The Doctor nodded, "Ah! Good, River's alright. Good." He felt a flood of relief, the image of her broken body awaiting him on the planet below erasing itself from his mind.

"You will be silent!" One of the Daleks exclaimed. "Conversation will cease."

"Nah," John said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "I really don't like not talking, it's boring. Besides I want to know why you guys had me abducted. I assume you were the ones who hired the Judoon, blackmailed them, whatever. What really matters is why?"

"The Judoon were just tools to acquire you." The lights on top of the head of the talking Dalek flashed with each word, "They were sleeper agents."

John frowned, "What?"

"Living beings half-converted into Daleks," the Doctor whispered to him.

"That's new," John said.

"Yeah," said the Doctor. "It's their newest thing."

"Silence," the Dalek demanded. "The Judoon mean nothing. You are what is required."

"Me?" John and the Doctor asked as one.

River gritted her teeth as she watched John and the Doctor led away by the Daleks. "I could have saved him," she turned to Rose, "what was your stupid husband thinking? Going out there!" She slammed her fist on the TARDIS door in frustration, then turned and stormed over to the controls. Methodically she moved through the actions of having the TARDIS take off, to no avail. It stayed steadfastly planted on the ground. "Temporal prison," she muttered. "Shouldn't be hard to counteract, give me a while?" A fixed expression of annoyance and frustration on her face, she went down the steps and the others could see her busying herself with the wires and cables under the glass floor.

Amy was back at the TARDIS door, looking out as the Doctor and his duplicate were led away. "You know," she said, "There aren't that many Daleks left out there. I could probably sneak out."

This got River's attention and her head popped out from under the controls.

"The Doctor told us to stay here," Rory said.

Rose rolled her eyes, "You always do what the Doctor says then? Wonder you're still alive!" She swung open the doors and strolled outside.