After a quick pit stop to collect the President from the White House, the Doctor piloted the TARDIS into the box that had been created around him in Area 51. They dropped Nixon and Canton there and headed to the warehouse that they were using as a base so that River could properly analyse the spacesuit.

From somewhere within the TARDIS, the Doctor found an old black and white television which they used to keep track on how the preparations for the launch of Apollo 11 were going. This, apparently, was vital to the Doctor's plan, although he hadn't told anyone else what that plan might be.

"It's an exoskeleton." River informed the Doctor, as she, he and Evie stood over the spacesuit examining it closely. "Basically life support. There's about twenty different kinds of alien tech in here."

"Who was she? Why put her in here?" The Doctor questioned, more rhetorically than anything else. If he didn't know the answer then he definitely didn't expect the others to know. Evie shrugged anyway.

"Pretty important kid by the looks of it." She muttered, lifting one of the arms and testing the weight. It was incredibly heavy, much more so than she'd been expecting. She let go and the arm crashed back down onto the table, earning her a sharp look from River. Pulling a face, the girl patted the arm carefully, as though that would repair any damage she may have just caused it. River rolled her eyes. The girl thought for a moment before speaking again. "Maybe she was doing something so important that she didn't even have time for the more mundane, everyday things in life."

"If you put this on you don't even need to eat." River agreed. "The suit processes sunlight directly, it's got built in weaponry and a communications system that can hack into anything."

"Including the telephone network?"

"Easily."

"I need to get me one of these…" Evie muttered, lifting a panel on the front of the suit and examining the wiring there closely. She ran her hand along the blue wire slowly, following it through its twists and turns. Then she flicked it upwards quickly. Her mother shot her a disapproving look as it came loose. Evie wiggled it back into place and glanced up at her mother defensively. "What?"

"When did you get so… careless?" River demanded, running a quick eye over the circuit that her daughter had just damaged and looking surprised that she also seemed to have fixed it.

Annoyed that River still doubted her after everything, Evie scowled. "Must have picked up some tips from Uncle Jack. You know, the person who was always there for me?" She snapped, emphasising the word 'uncle'. River narrowed her eyes slowly, fixing her with a horrified gaze.

"But why phone the President?" The Doctor asked, not noticing the look passing between the women.

"It defaults to the highest authority it can find. The little girl gets frightened, the most powerful man on Earth gets a phone call; the night terrors with a hotline to the White House."

Evie laid a hand gently on the visor, stroking it absentmindedly. "Poor kid. Imagine that being your only option if you got scared…"

"Go and see if Rory's alright." River said, almost sharply. Evie looked a little surprised but did as she was told, perching beside the man on a table a little way off from the others. Unsurprisingly her grandfather didn't seem in a very talkative mood, so Evie just slipped her arm through his and rested her head on his shoulder, hoping that he would understand the sentiment. After a couple of moments Rory leant his head against hers. Evie watched for a while as River and the Doctor spoke in soft voices, until she couldn't keep quiet anymore.

"Have we got any closer to being able to save Amy?" She asked in frustration, moving her head upright so she was looking straight at them.

"The only way to save Amy is to find out what the Silence are doing." The Doctor said, pacing again.

"I know." Rory snapped, gently removing Evie's arm from his and standing up. He began to pace as well, still clutching the nano-recorder.

Evie rolled her eyes at the Doctor. "So you've told us."

"And every single thing we learnt about them brings us a step closer."

"Yeah, Doctor… I get it… I know!"

"Of course it's possible she's not just any little girl." The Time Lord mused. Evie's head snapped round and she stared at him though narrowed eyes. For some reason this little girl was playing heavily on her mind. There was just something about her… Evie couldn't put her finger on what it was, but the little girl intrigued her.

"What d'you mean?" She demanded.

"Well… I'd say she's human, judging by the life support software." River clarified, still taking readings from the suit.

"But?"

"She climbed out of this suit. Like… she forced her way out." The woman said, looking slightly concerned and showing them the ripped wires in the body of it. "She must be incredibly strong."

"Incredibly strong and running away… I like her." The Doctor said, almost cheerfully, as he and Evie leant over to look at the damage as well. The brunette couldn't help agreeing with his sentiments. This little girl, whoever she was, was definitely a fighter.

River was still looking concerned. "We should be trying to find her."

"Yes… I know, but how." The Doctor agreed. "Anyway, I have the strangest feeling she's going to find us." He turned and glanced at the television screen, something occurring to him.

"Why does it look like a NASA space suit?" Rory asked.

"Because that's what the Silence do… think about it? They don't make anything themselves; they don't have to. They get other life forms to do it for them."

"So they're parasites then?" River offered, not looking up from the suit.

"Super parasites… standing in the shadows of human history since the very beginning. We know they can influence human behaviour any way they want. If they've been doing that on a global scale for thousands of years…"

"Then what?" Rory interrupted, shaking his head.

"Then why did the human race suddenly decide to go to the moon?" The Doctor challenged him in a low voice. Evie spun around and stared at the television. They were counting down to the launch of Apollo 11 and she watched it with something almost like morbid fascination. "Because the Silence needed a spacesuit."

x-x

A couple more days passed while they prepared themselves and ran tests on the astronaut suit. The four of them grew increasingly impatient with each other and everything else as none of the tests provided them with any conclusive information and they were still struggling to understand what they were dealing with. Their moods got steadily worse and their usual tones were quickly replaced with snapping and arguing.

Every now and then Amy's voice would come through the nano-recorder which was constantly clutched in Rory's hand. Every time it did, the four of them stopped to listen, each feeling a settling sense of helplessness. But, afterwards, each attacked whatever they were doing with an increased determination.

"This suit… it seems to be repairing itself. How's it doing that?" River muttered in awe as the spacesuit's hand clenched and unclenched several times. "Doctor… a unit like this… would it ever be able to move without an occupant?"

"Why?"

"Well… the little girl said the spaceman was coming to eat her." She reminded the Time Lord. "Maybe that's exactly what happened?"

He was prevented from answering by the sound of Amy's voice through the nano-recorder. The three of them crowded round the suit looked over to where Rory was sitting with his back against a crate on the other side of the room.

"I love you. I know you think it's him; I know you think it ought to be him. But it's not, it's you. And when I see you again, I'm going to tell you properly. Just to see your stupid face. My life was so boring before you just… dropped out of the sky. So just… get your stupid face where I can see it, OK? OK."

As Amy had been speaking, the Doctor had moved away from the women and the spacesuit and moved closer to Rory. Evie glanced at her mother, who was watching the two men with a strange look on her face. As though she realised that her daughter was staring at her, River jumped slightly and fixed a smile on her face.

"What I said the other day… about Jack…" Evie said quietly, not meeting her mother's gaze. "I didn't mean it. Not at all. I won't even mention him again if you don't want me to?" River didn't answer, she just nodded. Sighing, the girl changed tack. "Gran'll be alright." She promised, although she had no way of being certain. "It'll all be fine."

"Are you sure?" River asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Do you trust the Doctor?" The brunette asked, smiling slightly as she remembered when they'd had this conversation before.

The answer was immediate. "Always."

"And do you trust me?"

Now it was River's turn to smile as she remembered the conversation as well. She looked deep into the young woman's eyes and used the words Evie had spoken several days before. "Forever."

Evie beamed. "Well then… it's all going to be fine."