a/n: Wow, thank you to all who favorited this story and left comments. I was very unsure about adding a bit more suspense and Doctor whumpage to the story so am very glad it worked out. Warning: This chapter contains mild swearing in it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the songs quoted in this fic

The Trash People

Rose shivered not only from the frigid temperature of the ship but from the abrupt cessation of emotions that the Doctor had unknowingly conveyed to her. She took a couple of deep breaths and snapped herself out of the fear that was threatening to overwhelm her. Slowly, she rose and walked over to one of the monitors to check the readings to see if she could determine what had happened. The Doctor had, unfortunately, only given her a brief lesson. She could definitely tell there was a spike in energy readings about the time she was overcome with the painful feelings, but that was all she could tell.

She grasped her bracelet and tried to establish a psychic connection to the Doctor like he had taught her. There was nothing. He was either unconscious or… she couldn't think about any other alternative.

"Right, I'm just gonna have to follow him and find out what trouble he found or maybe what found him," she muttered to herself. She picked up her backpack and strapped it on and walked out of the bridge into the trash clogged corridor. She hesitated a few feet into the narrow path winding amongst the refuse. She heard the hum of the ship change and there was a scratching noise.

"Hello? Is there someone there?" she called out.

The scratching noise stopped. She knew it. There's something alive out there. "I'm so gonna smack him. Does he listen to me? No, he has to be the big brilliant Time Lord. Don't worry Rose. It's all your imagination," Rose mimicked, shaking her head. The question now is whether or not it's sentient and if it is, will it listen to reason?

"I don't know if you can understand me, but my name's Rose. If you're there, I just want to talk. I don't mean any harm. I know when we came through earlier we were makin' lots of noise and disturbin' your home. I'm sorry," she shouted down the hall of rubbish.

She heard a scuffling noise in the ceiling and a metallic clanking noise. She saw a few items tumble down a pile of trash at the end of the passageway and then silence. She made it further down the corridor to the doorway to the next corridor climbing up and over refuse where necessary until she came to a spot where there was a hole torn in the ceiling. She climbed up to look at it and noticed spatters of blood all around. Her eyes darted around in fear and paranoia. Something horrible had happened to him. She pulled out her torch and shined it up into the gaping hole but didn't see anything other than smears of blood leading away.

"Right, he's in trouble and here's me with no weapons other than a torch. Fat lot a good that'll do," she mused staring at her metal torch.

Rose heard another clanking noise and looked down the passageway. She made up her mind. She was going after him and whatever took him. She jumped up into the hole and pulled herself in as she shimmied down the shaft following the blood trail. After a while, she realized the Doctor's drying blood was smeared down her front as she followed it through the ventilation system. She was horrified and tears were sliding down her face as she began to panic at the amount of blood and it all sank in that something had wounded him and dragged him off. She stopped and pulled herself together and continued on. Eventually, the shaft ended and angled down. She looked down and saw more blood stains and realized she was going to have to climb or fall down the dark shaft. She shined the torch down but couldn't see much. She unbuckled her backpack and dropped it down first. It didn't seem to fall far. She reached across the opening and twisted around to drop down feet first. She landed with a thunk.

She once again began crawling. After she had been crawling for what seemed like an eternity, she came to a hole ripped into the bottom of the shaft similar to the hole she entered. She shined the torch down and found a drying blood stain smeared on the grating of the floor. She felt fear crawling up her spine like a malevolent force intent on conquering her like a Dalek fleet hovering over Earth. "No" she thought. "I believe in him as he's always believed in me. I didn't give up before when hell itself separated us. So, I'll be damned if I'm gonna give up now on some garbage scow!" She dropped down landing on the slightly sticky blood stain. Tearfully, she wiped the back of her hand across her face and mumbled, "I'm comin' to get you, Doctor."

As she started walking forward once again forced to make her way through garbage strewn corridors, she heard something scrambling over her head and something moving through the trash heaps. She began to quickly make her way through the garbage packed corridor not caring what she stepped on or rubbed against and shoving things our of her way haphazardly. She continued to hear strange noises above and all around her. On and on she went through the unending mounds of trash trying to keep an eye on the drops of blood which were becoming less and less frequent until finally, she reached a dead end. She could no longer see any blood and she stood before a mountain of refuse completely blocking the exit to the next passageway. Breathing heavily and perspiring from exertion and fear, she realized her options were limited with only a torch to defend herself.

Whatever was making the noises that she kept hearing was still nearby. It became evident that she was running out of choices. Her best option to find the Doctor, would be to try and communicate with whatever was living amongst the refuse. She rubbed her face in frustration leaving behind a smear of the Doctor's drying blood on her cheek. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in resignation.

"Hello out there! I don't mean to frighten you by runnin' through your home. I really just want to talk a bit. I'm lookin' for my friend. He might have annoyed you a bit. He does that to lots of people. If he's done something to irritate you, maybe I can help?" A round silver and gold metal ball about the size of a basketball fell from the top of the mountain of refuse and bounced down the piles of trash and rolled toward Rose. She took a step back and looked down at the round object which had pieces of scrap metal, bolts and wires stuck to its outside.

"Um, Hello?" She told it, trying to not be threatening but feeling a little silly talking to a piece of junk. Nothing happened. Rose closed her eyes and shook her head and giggled nervously from the stress of losing the Doctor and the onset of exhaustion. "That's it. I've completely lost it and gone round the bend. This is how it ends, stuck on a garbage scow talkin' to trash." She rubbed her hands on her jeans and played with her backpack straps waiting for something to happen. Then she heard a noise and noticed something moving. The metal ball rolled slightly back and settled into one spot and a little metal flap opened up. A metal telescope shot up until it was eye level with her. She stared into it and it stared back at her.

"Where I come from starin's considered rude. Can you understand me?" she asked it, tensing, ready to run.

It abruptly lowered it's telescope and she flinched as it snapped back into the ball. As she was about to take a step back, several wires shot out and snaked around her like a fast growing metal vine immobilizing her legs and quickly slithered up her body until her legs and arms were bound. She struggled to free herself and tottered about but kept her balance. She swore loudly. "Doesn't it just figure. He had to go and piss off the rude trash people. Right, now see here you lot. This goes beyond rude! Here I am trying to be friendly and you lot get all aggressive. I've had a bit of a bad day muckin' about in the rubbish and am not about to put up with some junk creature bindin' me up!" she told it angrily. The humming in the ship changed again and a scraping, squeaky rolling noise ending in a thump sounded in front of her. Rose swore softly again as something tossed trash up in the air while making its way toward her. Her eyes grew wide and she tried to hop and wobble backwards falling against a pile of trash. Slowly making it's way toward her, was a canister like apparatus with wheels and a mechanical arm. It flashed a strobe light at her blinding her temporarily and eventually halted before her. She squinted at it as she hopped bouncing off a trash pile trying to keep her balance.

"Right. Enough of this. Now see here R2D2, just take me to your leader," she demanded. Nothing happened. She sighed. "Please" she finally said. The corridor reverberated with what sounded like a radio with human voices singing, giving news reports and commercials. She looked down at the canister creature. "You're trying to communicate with me, yeah?"

Something landed on her head and hopped down onto her shoulder and she turned to it. It looked like several metal tubes bound together with a camera lens and a microphone on top. It gripped her shoulder with little metal suction cup type apparatus. Flying around her were yet more mechanical objects. These were black, blue and green plastic roundish wads of wires almost like flying colorful tumble weeds.

She stared at them in amazement. "Where did you all come from?" she asked, forgetting that she was essentially a prisoner of theses creatures. She felt the wires unwrapping around her arms and legs and rubbed her hand on her arms to restore the circulation and shuffled her feet a bit, all the while being careful not to dislodge the little creature from her shoulder and risk being labeled a threat. She felt the mechanical arm on the canister creature reach up and tug at her jacket pulling her forward. The creatures escorted her through the trash back the way she came to an opening in the floor with a ladder descending down to another level on the ship.

She turned to the canister and crossed her arms. "I'm not takin' another step until one of you tells me who you are and what you've done to my friend."

The flying tumble weeds started thumping into her back trying to force her to move but she stood her ground. "Not goin' in the hole until ya tell me who you are and where the Doctor is. I told you my name. Fairs fair."

She heard excerpts of songs being played, "You got to have faith," "Safe to dance… Everything's under control," "Could it be a whole lot opening wide, a sacred why, a mystery gaping inside," "Life is a mystery everyone must stand alone. I hear you call my name and it feels like home. When you call my name it's like a little prayer." "And then the witch doctor, he gave me this advice," "Doctor, doctor, gimme the news I got a bad case of lovin' you."

"Okaaay. So, either you're tryin' to ask me to trust you and tell me that you're not gonna hurt me or you really like Men Without Hats, George Michael, Madonna, the Chipmunks and Robert Palmer which would be a little weird.

Rose decided if she was going to find the Doctor quickly, she needed trust them and proceeded to climb down the ladder through three pitch black levels before she reached the end and lights flickered on. She looked around and found herself in trash filled cargo bay except there was flickers of mechanical movement all around, on top and intermixed in the heaps of garbage. Off to one side, was a giant, murky pool with little mechanical creatures rolling around it.

"Whoah," she whispered as she slowly turned around the massive room taking it all in.

The Doctor lost consciousness while being dragged through the air shafts. When he woke up, he found himself lying against a wall surrounded by a structure constructed of metal bits and bobs of trash in a semi dark room filled with piles of refuse that seemed to be organized by type. His legs were still wrapped tightly with wire and he was throbbing from the wounds on his shoulder and hip which were still oozing blood. He knew he had to stop the blood loss or he would be in trouble. He could barely move his right arm so he had to use his left hand to reach the sonic. He grasped it in his hand and promptly passed out. When he came to, he again tried to remove the sonic. The pain was almost unbearable but he was able to set his sonic to cauterize and was able to staunch the bleeding to his hip. It took several failed attempts before he was able to reach and cauterize the wound on his shoulder. Once he as done he collapsed back against the wall breathing heavily. He heard a noise and looked up only to see the Eternal Havoc smirking at him still dressed in his formal navy blue suit.

He walked over to the Doctor's confinement, thrust his hands in his pockets and leaned in close. "Well, that does look uncomfortable. Having a bad day are we?"

"What are you doing here!" the Doctor demanded.

"Me, well I just popped in to see how you and the wolf are doing at our galactic housecleaning project," he said with a cold smile. "Cleaning doesn't appear to be your forté does it?" he said with disdain.

The Doctor glared at him. "A bit cranky are we? Well, perhaps you need a hand," he mentioned, walking around the trash filled room poking a piece of trash that rolled down the trash mound to the floor. Havoc grimaced and shook his head making his way back to the Doctor's prison. "You know, we never said you couldn't ask for a favor. My previous offer still stands. Regain what you lost in the metacrisis. Become full Time Lord with all the perks. Rose's lifespan to match yours and because I'm feeling generous, let's reset your regenerations back to factory original shall we? All I ask in return is a small favor and your assistance with a little project. This universe could be yours for the taking you know. You and the wolf could be so powerful together. I think you dream about it sometimes. Pretend all you want, I know the desire lying deep within you. Your wolf held the power of the vortex within her. The power of creation and time right there in front of you. The temptation to right the wrongs and make the universe better was almost overwhelming wasn't it? You could still have that power you know."

"No. Rose and I don't need your kind of assistance. We're doing fine on our own. Why don't you bugger off and go lose yourself in some deep pit of perdition," the Doctor coldly told him.

The Doctor's prison made a clanking noise as Havoc tapped on it. "Yes, I can see that you are indeed doing splendidly without any assistance. Do you even know where your precious Rose is or what's happening to her? I do. I see her now. Blood marring her lovely blue jacket, tears running down those porcelain cheeks. Such a pity."

"You stay away from her! I won't allow you to taint her life with your lust for power and destruction," the Doctor shouted, struggling against his binding and wincing in pain.

Havoc laughed. "Oh, you are in a sorry state aren't you. So inept, not only can you not complete the simple task we bestowed upon you, you can't even keep your little flower safe from harm. You are pathetic like this. I've offered you the chance to regain the power to protect her and regain your status in the universe and all you do is pathetically try to insult and moralize to me."

"Are you quite done? Take your dirty little offer and piss off," the Doctor said, dismissing him.

"Well, if that's how you feel about it. Perhaps I should leave you to your fate at the hands of the primitive creatures inhabiting this place who you threatened to annihilate. I wonder what they'll do to the person who stated he was going to incinerate their species in the closest star? I wonder what they'll do to the wolf? Maybe they'll just imprison her. I wonder how receptive she'll be after a year of imprisonment on this ship, especially after you meet whatever gruesome fate they have planned for you," Havoc stated with relish.

"Are you still here. Don't you have a war to incite or a dictator to annoy?" the Doctor asked him with little emotion, leaning against the wall.

"That's it? That's the best you've got? Ah Doctor, you poor, stubborn, sanctimonious sod," Havoc said to him, shaking his head. "Enjoy your fate and don't worry, when your wolf falls, I'll be there to catch her," Havoc taunted him, and faded into the shadows of the room.

The Doctor sat against the wall banging his head against it trying to come up with a plan. Eventually, he drifted off to sleep. When he awakened, he found his prison gone and that he was surrounded by all manner of creatures of various sizes and shapes which appeared to be made up of bits of trash, in particular bits of plastic, metal, wiring and tubing. A large metal box sitting on a levitating cargo cart with a viewing screen approached him. It flashed images of burning buildings, soldiers killing people and a burning sun. One of the other creatures that looked like a tangle of wires on top of a microwave oven on top of a two oxygen tanks on a wheeled cart stood over him and a long silver tube with a light at the end protruded from it and nudged him. He winced and groaned. It continued to nudge him.

"Stop it all ready. I get it! You live on this ship and I talked about dumping the contents of this vessel in a star," he shouted at them, grimacing, groaning and gripping his hurt arm with his uninjured hand. The creature stopped poking him but didn't back down. He focused on his breathing and overcoming the pain and calmed his mind. He looked up at the creature that poked him and then over to the creature with the vid screen.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know you were here. You must believe me. I would never have emptied the ship into the star if I even suspected there was a living creature on board."

The screen showed a picture of human children in a playground and homes being built. Pictures of cities flashed before his eyes along with planets and ships colonizing planets and then it went black.

"I understand. This is your home and you're protecting it. I would do the same." The Creature with the video screen showed him pictures of rockets being launched into space and space ships flying through space. Then he heard a song being played.

"5 4 3 2 1 ... Blast Off

Flying high in the sky

We look back and wave goodbye

As our spaceship is flying away"

"Barney, the purple dinosaur? Blimey, I hope you're not judging us based on a rubbish children's show."

The creature that had probed him earlier thunked him on the head. "Ow! No need for violence, I think I get it. You want this ship to take you somewhere." The video screen showed him scenes of people building homes and moving in.

"Oh, I see, you want to build a new home for your children," he said softly. "Of course you do. But, how did you get here?" he asked, looking intently at them.

The creature that had poked and thunked him earlier and who he was now calling, Thumper, pointed to the trash heap and then pointed up.

"Sorry, I don't understand. I mean, I understand that you're components from pieces of human refuse but I don't understand how you got here? Did someone put your people on this ship?"

Thumper thudded him on the head again. "Hey, easy now. I said I was sorry!"

The vid screen creature showed him pictures from Earth television depicting the evolution of life on Earth. "Ohhh. You're saying you evolved here. But, that's impossible. This ship has only been here for what maybe two centuries. Life doesn't evolve that quickly." They then showed him pictures of sunrises and sunsets.

He thudded his head back against the wall. "Of course! Oh, I am so thick. This is where Rose would be pointing out how thick I am. The quark star, strange matter and radiation. Somehow, it's effected the decaying material on this ship forming some primordial glop which developed and rapidly evolved into sentient life and here you are. Brilliant! Oh, speaking of Rose, I don't suppose you've seen a blonde human female mucking about the ship have you? Knowing her, I'm sure she's wandered off the bridge by now."

Thumper used it's probe to hook around the wires binding the Doctor and began dragging him off. The Doctor groaned and winced as he was dragged through another trash strewn corridor to a larger area. As he was dragged into the room, he heard Rose's voice.

"Now see here, I'm tryin' to help you. Call off the bouncin' tumble weeds, yeah." Rose shook her head as picked up the little metal creatures out of the pool of water and put them on dry land. She pulled herself out of the water wringing water from her hair. "Now see here, I'm not goin' in there again no matter how many times you sick your flyin' tumble weed people on me. You lot can't swim so enough with playin' by the water. Can I please see the Doctor now?" she demanded. She could not believe they dragged her down to this cargo bay to fish their little friends out from the bottom of some dingy pool. For creatures that could communicate with Earth music videos, you'd think they would know not to play around near the edge of a pool.

She turned around and saw a procession of the strange mechanical creatures and the very last one dragging a bound, groaning Doctor. "Doctor!" she shouted, and ran over to him only to be blocked by several of the Trash People, as Rose liked to call them.

"Please, you have to let me go to him! He's hurt and needs help," Rose pleaded. The creatures stood firm and the creature with the vid screen approached Rose and began playing a music video of the Beatles.

"Help, I need somebody,

Help, not just anybody,

Help, you know I need someone, help.

When I was younger, so much younger than today,

I never needed anybody's help in any way.

But now these days are gone,

I'm not so self assured,

Now I find I've changed my mind and opened up the doors."

"Oh you have got to be kidding me," Rose said, staring with disbelief at the Trash People who if they had faces would be looking at her pleadingly. "Fine, I'll help you but you have to let me tend to the Doctor first," she demanded. They parted in front of her and she ran to him, kneeling by his side only to find him unconscious.