The Beast Below

Annabelle and I looked up at Amy as she was floating outside the TARDIS, still in her nightgown and robe, while The Doctor held onto her ankle. She wanted proof that the TARDIS was a spaceship and the three of us were more than willing to give her proof.

"Come on, Pond," said The Doctor as he pulled her back inside.

"NOW do you believe me?" I asked once she was back inside.

"OK, your box is a spaceship. It's really, really a spaceship. We are in space! Whoo! What are we breathing?

"I extended the air shell ," said Annabelle.

Just then we saw something float below us, The Doctor squat below us, "Now, that's interesting." he said. It was a very large spaceship with skyscrapers and other building encased in glass drifting by below us, "29th Century. Solar flares roast the earth," said The Doctor as we walked back to the console. "and the entire human race packs its bags." we went to work setting the controls while The Doctor continued to talk, "and moves out till the weather improves. Whole nations…"

"Doctor?" called Amy.

"..migrating to the stars."

"Teddy?"

"Isn't that amazing?"

"Annabelle!"

I looked up and noticed that Amy wasn't with us at the console. I walked over to the doors and opened them and saw Amy clinging to the outside of the TARDIS. "Well, come on. We've found us a spaceship."

Annabelle pulled up the spaceship on the TARDIS monitor. "This is the United Kingdom of Britain and Northern Ireland - all of it, bolted together and floating in the sky." she said.

"Starship UK. It's Britain, but metal. That's not just a ship - that's an idea. That's a whole country, living and laughing and...shopping." I said, as Amy chuckled, "Searching the stars for a new home."

"Can we go out and see?" asked Amy.

"'Course we can but first, there's a thing," said The Doctor"

"A thing?"

"An important thing. In fact, thing one," The Doctor took out a magnifying glass, and looked at Amy, "we are observers only. That's the one rule I've always stuck to in our travels."

I rolled my eyes, "That's right, we never get involved in the affairs of other peoples or planets." I said sarcastically.

"Ooh! That's interesting." said The Doctor as he looked at the screen. There was a little girl standing next to a pole, all alone, and crying.

"So we're like a wildlife documentary, yeah?" asked Amy, "Cos if they see a wounded little cub or something, they can't just save it - they've got to keep filming and let it die. That's got to be hard. I don't think I could do that. Don't you find that hard - being all, like, detached and cold?" Then all of a sudden The Doctor appeared on the screen. He walked up to the girl and she ran away "Doctor?" The Doctor looked at the camera and waved for us to join him

We walked out of the TARDIS and found ourselves in marketplace with all sorts of stalls and booths with vendors selling their wares. We looked up and could see the stars through the arched glass ceiling overhead.

"Welcome to London Market. You are being monitored." we heard over a loudspeaker.

Amy looked around in wonder, "I'm in the future. Like hundreds...of years in the future. I've been dead for centuries."

"Oh, lovely. You're a cheery one," said The Doctor as he walked up and took her by the arm, "Never mind dead, look at this place. Isn't it wrong?"

"What's wrong?"

"Use your eyes, notice everything," I said, "What's wrong with this picture?"

"Is it...the bicycles?" asked Amy, as she pointed to a rickshaw, "Bit unusual on a spaceship, bicycles."

"Says the girl in the nightie." said Annabelle.

"Oh, my God! I'm in my nightie."

"Now, come on, look around you," said The Doctor, "Actually look."

"London Market is a crime-free zone," said the loudspeaker.

"Life on a giant starship, back to basics," I said, "Bicycles, washing lines, wind-up street lamps. But look closer…."

"Secrets and shadows, lives led in fear," said The Doctor, "Society bent out of shape, on the brink of collapse. A police state. Excuse me." The Doctor ran over to a table and took a glass of water from one of the people sitting there. He sat it gently on the floor and looked at it intently. Then he set it back on the table. "Sorry. Checking all the water in this area. There's an escaped fish." he tapped the side of his nose and walked back over to us, "Where was I?"

"Why did you just do that with the water?" asked Amy.

"Don't know. I think a lot. It's hard to keep track. Now, police state - do you see it yet?"

"Where?"

The Doctor snapped and pointed, "There."

The little girl we saw earlier was sitting alone on a bench crying. Everyone walked past, ignoring her. We walked toward her but sat down on another bench near here but far enough away she couldn't hear us, "One little girl crying. So?" asked Amy.

"Crying silently," I said, "Children cry because they want attention, because they're hurt or afraid. When they cry silently, it's because they just can't stop. Any parent knows that…" I took Annabelle's hand, I looked at her, she looked at me and we shared a smile.

"Hundreds of parents walking past this spot and not one of them's asking her what's wrong," said The Doctor, "Which means...they already know, and it's something they don't talk about. Secrets. They're not helping her, so it's something they're afraid of. Shadows - whatever they're afraid of - it's nowhere to be seen, which means it's everywhere. Police state."

The girl got up when an elevator bell rang, "Where'd she go?" asked Amy.

"Deck 207, Apple Sesame block, Dwelling 54A. You're looking for Mandy Tanner, Oh," said the Doctor as he reached into his pocket and took a wallet, "this fell out of her pocket when I accidentally bumped into her. " He handed it to Amy.

"And, how many tries did it take you to get that?" I asked.

"It only took me four goes," said The Doctor, the he looked back at Amy, "Ask her about those things - the smiling fellows in the booths. They're everywhere."

"But they're just things," said Amy

"Yes, but look at how clean they are," said Annabelle, "Everything else here is battered and filthy."

"But no one has laid a finger on those booths," said The Doctor, "There isn't a footprint within two feet of them. Ask Mandy, 'Why are people scared of the things in the booths?'"

"No. Hang on - what do I do?" said Amy, then she whispered, "I don't know what I'm doing here and I'm not even dressed!"

"Don't worry, Amy," said Annabelle, "I'll go with you."

"It's this or Leadworth," said The Doctor, "What do you think? Let's see. What will Amy Pond choose? Ha-ha, gotcha!"

"We'll meet back here in half an hour," I said as I looked at my watch.

"What are you two going to do?" asked Amy.

"What I always do," said The Doctor, "Stay out of trouble," he stood and continued, "Badly." He leapt over the over bench and started to walk away.

Then I stood and said, "And, I'm going to try to keep him out of trouble… Badly…" I walked to catch up my uncle.

Amy got up and said, "So is this how it works, Doctor? You never interfere in the affairs of other peoples or planets, unless there's children crying?"

"Yes," said my uncle then we walked away.

A short time later we were climbing down a ladder into a maintenance hallway, near what should be the engine room. Once we got to the bottom I touched the wall and then leaned in to listen.

"Still no vibrations," I said.

"Can't be," he said.

We both took out our sonics to get a reading. Then I looked at the floor and saw a glass of water, "Doctor…"

He turned and saw what I was looking at. He moved over to it and laid down on the floor and stared at it.

"The impossible truth in a glass of water," a woman whispered. We looked in the direction of the voice, and saw a woman in a red cloak wearing a white mask, "Not many people see it." The Doctor stood, "But you do, don't you, Doctor? Teddy?

I was a bit surprised, "You know us?" I asked.

"Keep your voice down. They're everywhere. Tell me what you see in the glass."

"Who says we see anything?" said The Doctor.

"Don't waste time," the woman whispered, "At the marketplace, you placed a glass of water on the floor, looked at it, then came straight here to the engine room. Why?"

"No engine vibration on deck. Ship this size, engine this big, you'd feel it. The water would move. So...I thought I'd take a look."

I walked over to a power box on the wall and opened it, "It doesn't make sense. These power couplings, they're not connected. Look. Look - they're dummies, see?"

The Doctor crossed the hall and tapped the wall, "And behind this wall, nothing. It's hollow. If I didn't know better, I'd say there was…"

"No engine at all," whispered the woman.

"But it's working. This ship is traveling though space. We saw it," I said.

"The impossible truth, Teddy. We're traveling among the stars in a spaceship that could never fly."

"How?" asked The Doctor.

"I don't know," whispered the woman, "There's a darkness at the heart of this nation. It threatens every one of us. Help us. You're our only hope. Your friends are safe." she handed The Doctor a device, "This will take you to them. Now go, quickly!" Then the woman began to walk away.

"Who are you? How do we find you again?" I asked.

"I am Liz 10. And I will find you."

There was a crash and we looked around. When we turned back to where Liz 10 was and she was gone. We used the device that she gave us and saw Annabelle and Mandy sitting on a bench, I was about to ask my daugter where our companion was when a door opened. The Doctor and I looked in the door way and saw Amy wiping a tear away. There was a message from Amy to herself playing on a set of televisions but she turned it off before we could hear exactly what she was saying. The Doctor and I walked into the doorway. "Amy? What have you done?"

A moment later, The Doctor was standing on a chair using his sonic on the lamp above it, "Yeah, your basic memory wipe job," he said, "Must have erased about 20 minutes." Then he jumped to the floor.

"But why would I choose to forget?" asked Amy.

"Cos everyone does," said Mandy, "Everyone chooses the 'forget' button."

"Did you?" asked The Doctor.

"I'm not eligible to vote yet," said Mandy, "I'm 12. Any time after you're 16, you're allowed to the see the film and make your choice. And then, once every five years..".

"And once every five years, everyone chooses to forget what they've learned," I said, "Democracy in action." The Doctor and I turned to look.

"How do you not know about this? Are you Scottish too?"

"Oh, we're way worse than Scottish," said The Doctor, "We can't even see the movie. Won't play for us."

"It played for me," said Amy.

"The difference being the computer doesn't accept us as human," said Annabelle as she walked over to the monitors with the Doctor and I.

"Why not?" asked Amy, "You look human," she joined the rest of us by the monitors.

"No, you look Time Lord," I said, "We came first."

"So there are other Time Lords, yeah?"

"No," said The Doctor, "There were, but there aren't... Just us now. Long story. There was a bad day. Bad stuff happened, and you know what? Teddy and I'd love to forget it all, every last bit of it, but we don't. Not ever. Cos this is what we do - every time, every day, every second. This. Hold tight. We're bringing down the government."

The Doctor hit the "Protest" button on the console under the moniters. The door to the booth slammed shut, leaving Mandy outside. The thing in the booth turn its head to show a very angry face. The Doctor and I pulled Amy and Annabelle into the corner of the room as the floor slid open

"Say, 'Wheee!'" said The Doctor as we fell into the chute.

We fell out of the chute and landed in a pile of chunks and liquid, us three Time Lords scrambled to our feet, trying not to slip as we took out our sonics and scanned the surrounding area trying to find out where we were.

"High-speed air cannon. Lousy way to travel." said The Doctor.

"Where are we?" asked Amy.

"600 feet down, 20 miles laterally" said Annabelle, "puts us at the heart of the ship."

"I'd say... Lancashire," said The Doctor, "What's this, then - a cave?"

"Can't be a cave," I said.

"Looks like a cave."

Amy stood up, "It's a rubbish dump, and it's minging!" she threw a piece of something.

"Yes, but only food refuse," said The Doctor, as crouched down and sniffed some of it, "Organic, coming through feeder tubes from all over the ship."

Amy got down on her hands and knees, "The floor's all squidgy, like a water-bed."

"But feeding what, though?" I asked.

"It's sort of rubbery, feel it. Wet and slimy."

Just then, we heard a moan in the distance. Us three Time Lords looked at each other and we realized where we were, "It's not a floor, Amy," I said, as we put our screwdrivers away, "it's a…"

" So…" cut in The Doctor.

"It's a what?" asked Amy as she stood.

"The next word is kind of the scary word. Take a moment. Get yourself in a calm place," he took her hands, "Go 'omm'."

"Omm…"

"It's a tongue," said Annabelle.

"A tongue?"

"A tongue," said The Doctor as he started to get excited, "A great big tongue!"

"This is a mouth?" asked Amy as she looked around, "This whole place is a mouth? We're in a mouth?!"

"Yes, yes, yes, but on the plus side, roomy."

"How do we get out?"

The Doctor took out his screwdriver, "How big is this beastie? It's gorgeous! Blimey! if this is just the mouth, I'd love to see the stomach." just then we heard grunting, "Though not right now."

"How do we get out?" asked Amy.

"It's being fed through surgically implanted feeder tubes," I started thnking out loud, "so the normal entrance is…" We turned and saw a set of huge sharp teeth, "closed for business."

"We can try, though," said Amy as she stepped forward.

"No! Stop, don't move!" said The Doctor. Then, the mouth started to move in agitation, "Too late. It's started."

"What has?"

"Swallow reflex," said Annabelle.

All the movement caused us to slip and fall back into the refuse. Then us three Time Lords took out our sonics and started to scan the walls of the mouth. "What are you doing?" asked Amy.

"We're vibrating the chemo-receptors," said Annabelle.

"Chemo-what?"

"The eject button," said The Doctor.

"How does a mouth have an eject button?" asked Amy.

"Think about it!" I shouted.

Just then we heard the creature growl, we struggled to get to our knees as we saw a wave of bile started to come towards us. "Right, then." said The Doctor as straightened tie. This isn't going to be big on dignity. Geronimo!"

Amy yelled as the bile over took us. A short time later we found ourselves in an overspill pipe. Us three Time Lords were on our feet examining a door that led back into the ship while Amy laid on the floor, "There's nothing broken, there's no sign of concussion and yes, you are covered in sick," said The Doctor.

"Where are we?" asked Amy.

"Overspill pipe, at a guess," I said.

Amy got to he feet, "Oh, God, it stinks."

"That's not the pipe," said Annabelle.

"Oh," said Amy, then she took a whiff of herself, "Whoo! Can we get out?"

"One door, one door switch, one condition," said The Doctor as he stepped aside so Amy could see the Forget button as it lit up.

"We forget everything we saw," I said, "Look familiar? That's the carrot." Some lights came on at the other end of the pipe and there were two booths with two Smilers inside, "And, here's the stick." us three Time Lords stepped forward and I asked, "There's a creature living in the heart of this ship. What's it doing there?"

Their faces turned to show their mad faces, "No, that's not going to work on us," said The Doctor, "So come on. Big old beast below decks, and everyone who protests gets shoved down its throat. That how it works?"

Their faces turned again to show their angry faces, "Oh, stop it," said Annabelle, "We're not leaving and we're not forgetting. So, what are you two going to do about it? Stick out your tongues?" The booths opened, the two Smilers stood and started to walk toward us

and we started to back way, "Me and my big mouth…" said Annabelle.

Just then the woman in the red cloak, without her mask, appeared behind us and shot the Smilers. She twirled her pistol before putting it back in its holster.

"Look who it is," said The Doctor, "You look a lot better without your mask."

"You must be Amy and Annabelle," said the woman, "Liz. Liz 10."

"Hi," said Amy, as Liz 10 shook her hand.

"Eurgh!" said Liz 10, as she wiped her hand on her cloak, "Lovely hair, Amy. Shame about the sick." She looked at Annabelle, "I hope you don't mind if we don't shake hands…"

Annabelle smiled, "Not at all."

Liz 10 smiled and walked toward the doors, "You know Mandy, yeah?" She put her arm around the girl's shoulders, "She's very brave."

"How did you find us?" I asked.

"Stuck my gizmo on you," she threw him the device she used to track the device she gave us, "Been listening in. Nice moves on the hurl escape. So, what's the big fella doing here?"

"You're over 16, you've voted," said The Doctor, "Whatever this is, you've chosen to forget about it."

"No. Never forgot, never voted. Not technically a British subject."

"Then who and what are you, and how do you know us?"

"You're a bit hard to miss, love. Mysterious strangers, MO consistent with higher alien intelligence, hair of an idiot…" The Doctor looked like he was going to argue but then he ran his hand through his hair. Liz 10 continued, "I've been brought up on the stories. My

whole family was."

"Your family?" asked Annabelle.

One of the Smilers started to move, "They're repairing. Doesn't take them long. Let's move," said Liz 10 as she led us out of the overspill pipe and into the lower corridors of the ship, "The Doctor. Old drinking buddy of Henry XII. His nieces, Teddy and Annabelle. Tea and scones with Liz II. Vicky was a bit on the fence about you, weren't she, Doctor? Knighted and exiled you on the same day. And so much for the Virgin Queen, you bad, bad boy!"

As she spoke us three Time Lords figured out who she was, "What happened with Queen Elizabeth I?"

"It's a long sorry…" I said, The Doctor and I visited Queen Elizabeth I just before we met Donna again. I started thinking about it and it was a bit fuzzy, I remembered my uncle married her but not much else. At that moment, I thought it was because of my regeneration, I didn't remember much about that day. But, it was a couple of hundred years later that I found out why… but that's another story for another day…

"Liz 10?" asked The Doctor as we continued to walk through the corridors.

"Liz 10, yeah. Elizabeth X. And down!" shouted Liz 10. We all ducked as she turned and fired both of her pistols at the Smilers, that had apparently been following us. Both of them fell to the floor, "I'm the bloody Queen, mate. Basically, I rule." Liz 10 then took us down another corridor, "There's a high-speed Vator through there." As we walked The Doctor and I stopped and looked into a caged area and saw two tentacle-like things slamming against the bars that kept it inside. "Oh, yeah. There's these things. Any ideas?" asked Liz 10

"Annabelle and I saw one of these up top," said Amy.

"There was a hole in the road, like it had burst through, like a root," said Annabelle.

"Exactly like a root," I said, "It's all one creature, the same one we were inside, reaching out. It must be growing through the mechanisms of the entire ship."

"What? Like an infestation?" asked Liz 10

"Someone's helping it," said The Doctor, "Feeding it."

"Feeding my subjects to it. Come on. We've got to keep moving." Liz 10 stormed off in anger and Mandy followed her.

"Doctor? Teddy?" asked Amy, as us three Time Lords just stood there looking at the tentacles, as they banged against the bars.

"Oh, Amy," said The Doctor, "We should never have come here."

I stood by the Liz 10's bed as I watched The Doctor walk carefully through a maze of glasses on the floor of her room.

"Why all the glasses?" asked The Doctor.

"To remind me every single day that my government is up to something," said Liz 10, "and it's my duty to find out what."

I picked up the mask she wore earlier, "A queen going undercover to investigate her own kingdom?"

"Secrets are being kept from me. I don't have a choice. Ten years I've been at this - my entire reign - and you and family have achieved more in one afternoon."

"How old were you when you came to the throne?" asked Annabelle.

"40. Why?" asked Liz 10

Amy and Mandy were sitting on the chaise at the foot of the bed. "What, you're 50 now?" asked Amy, as she put her hair up, "No way!"

"Yeah, they slowed my body clock. Keeps me looking like the stamps."

"And you always wear this in public?" I asked as The Doctor and I sat on the bed.

"Undercover's not easy when you're me. The autographs, the bunting," said Liz 10

"Air-balanced porcelain. Stays on by itself, because it's perfectly sculpted to your face."

"Yeah. So what?"

"Oh, Liz. So everything," said The Doctor.

The door opened and four hooded men entered. "What are you doing?" asked Liz 10 as she got off the bed, "How dare you come in here?

"Ma'am, you have expressed interest in the interior workings of Starship UK," said one of the hooded men, "You will come with us now."

"Why would I do that?" The hooded man's head turned to show the face of an angry Smiler. "How can they be Smilers?"

"Half Smiler, half human," said The Doctor.

"Whatever you creatures are, I am still your queen. On whose authority is this done?"

"The highest authority, Ma'am," said the Smiler.

"I AM the highest authority," said Liz 10

"Yes, ma'am. You must go now, Ma'am."

"Where?"

"The Tower, Ma'am."

We were taken from Liz 10's room to a large stone room that looked like something out of the Middle Ages containing kinds of high-tech machines. There was a grating on the floor and we could see more tentacles. There was also a well-like opening with a pink lump that looked like a section of a large brain. Above the well was a large needle looking object that sent electrical pulses at the lump every so often.

"Doctor, where are we?" asked Amy.

"The lowest point of Starship UK," said The Doctor as he spun around with his arms out, "The dungeon."

"Ma'am," said a gray-haired man who stepped up to us.

"Hawthorne!" said Liz 10. "So this is where you hid yourself away. I think you've got some explaining to do."

"There's children down here," I said, as I saw a few children walking around, "Why?"

"Protesters and citizens of limited value are fed to the beast," explaned Hawthorne, "For some reason, it won't eat the children. You're the first adults it's spared. You're very lucky."

"Yeah, look at us," said Annabelle, "The Torture chamber of the Tower of London. Lucky us."

"Except it's not a torture chamber, is it?" asked The Doctor, as he examined some equipment, "Well, except it is. Except it isn't. Depends on your angle."

The Doctor walked over to Liz 10 who was standing by the well, "What's that?" she asked.

Annabelle and I walked up to them, "Well, like The Doctor said, it depends on the angle," said Annabelle, "It's either the exposed pain center of the creature's brain, being tortured relentlessly…"

"Or?"

"Or it's the gas pedal, the accelerator - Starship UK's go-faster button."

"I don't understand."

"Don't you?" I said, "The spaceship that could never fly… no vibration on deck. This creature - this poor, trapped, terrified creature. It's not infesting you, it's not invading - it's what you have instead of an engine. And this place down here is where you hurt it, where you torture it, day after day, just to keep it moving."

An electrical beam then shot down into the creature's brain, "Tell you what," said The Doctor as he moved to another well and lifted the grate, "Normally, it's above the range of human hearing." Then one of the tentacles popped out of the well, "This is the sound none of you wanted to hear, " He turned his sonic on and the room was filled with deep, pained cries, like a whale song that was suffering and dying,

"Stop it," said Liz 10. The Doctor turned off his sonic and then she looked at Hawthorne, "Who did this?"

"We act on instructions from the highest authority," replied Hawthorne.

"I am the highest authority. The creature will be released, now. I said now!" No one moved, "Is anyone listening to me?"

I was still holding her mask and I walked up to her, "Liz. Your mask."

"What about my mask?" she asked.

I handed it to her, "Look at it. It's old. At least 200 years old, I'd say."

"Yeah, it's an antique, so?"

"Yeah, an antique made by craftsmen over 200 years ago and perfectly sculpted to your face. They slowed your body clock, all right, but you're not 50. Nearer 300. And it's been a long old reign."

"Nah, it's ten years. I've been on this throne ten years."

"Ten years," said The Doctor, "And the same ten years over and over again," he took her by the hand, "always leading you here…" he took her to a voting area the same as the one Amy was in. The buttons read "forget" and "abdicate"

Liz 10 turned to Hawthorne, "What have you done?"

"Only what you have ordered. We work for you, Ma'am. The Winders, the Smilers, all of us."

He turned on the screen and a recording of Liz 10 started to play, "If you are watching this...If I am watching this, then I have found my way to the Tower Of London." Liz 10 in the tower with us sat down, "The creature you are looking at is called a Star Whale. Once, there were millions of them. They lived in the depths of space and, according to legend, guided the early space travelers through the asteroid belts. This one, as far as we are aware, is the last of its kind. And what we have done to it breaks my heart. The Earth was burning. Our sun had turned on us, and every other nation had fled to the skies. Our children screamed as the skies grew hotter. And then it came, like a miracle. The last of the star whales. We trapped it, we built our ship around it, and we rode on its back to safety. If you wish our voyage to continue, then you must press the "forget" button. Be again the heart of this nation, untainted. If not, press the other button. Your reign will end, the Star Whale will be released, and our ship will disintegrate. I hope I keep the strength to make the right decision."

"I voted for this?" asked Amy, "Why would I do that?"

"Because you knew if we stayed here, Teddy, Annabelle and I'd be faced with an impossible choice," said The Doctor.

"Humanity or the alien," said Annabelle, "You took it upon yourself to save us from that."

"And that was wrong," I said, "You don't ever decide what we need to know."

"I don't even remember doing it," said Amy

"You did it. That's what counts.

"I'm... I'm sorry."

"Oh, I don't care," said The Doctor, "When I'm done here, you're going home" Us three Time Lords walked away from her and over to some control panels. The three of us talked telepathically as we walked and we knew what we had to do.

"Why?" asked Amy, "Because I made a mistake? One mistake? I don't even remember doing it. Doctor!"

"Yeah. I know. You're only human." said The Doctor.

"What are you doing?" asked Liz 10

"The worst thing we'll ever do," said Annabelle, "We're going to pass a massive electrical charge through the Star Whale's brain. Should knock out all its higher functions, leave it a vegetable. The ship will still fly, but the whale won't feel it."

"That'll be like killing it," said Amy

"Look, we have three options," I said, "One: we let the Star Whale continue in unendurable agony for hundreds more years."

"Two: We kill everyone on this ship," said Annabelle.

"Three: We murder a beautiful, innocent creature as painlessly as we can," said The Doctor, "And then we find new names, cos I won't be The Doctor any more." he pointed at me, "She won't be Teddy…" he pointed at my daughter, "And she won't be Annabelle."

"There must be something we can do, some other way," said Liz 10.

"Nobody talk to me," yelled The Doctor, "Nobody human has anything to say to me today!"

The three of us then ignored everyone else in the room and settled in on our work. Then all of the sudden, Amy called out, "Doctor, Teddy, Annabelle, stop." She ran over to us, "Whatever you're doing, stop it now!" She went up to Liz 10, "Sorry, Your Majesty, going to need a hand." He took her to the voting area.

"Amy, no! No!" shouted us three Time Lords as we rushed over to try to stop Amy.

But Amy slammed Liz 10's hand down on the 'abdicate' button. The whole ship started to shake and sparks started flying from the controls for several moments then it stopped.

"Amy, what have you done?" I asked.

"Nothing at all. Am I right?" asked Amy.

"We've INCREASED speed." said Hawthorne

"Yeah, well, you've stopped torturing the pilot. Gotta help." said Amy with a smile.

"It's still here? I don't understand," said Liz 10

"The Star Whale didn't come like a miracle all those years ago. It volunteered. You didn't have to trap it or torture it - that was all just you. It came because it couldn't stand to watch your children cry. What if you were really old, and really kind and alone? Your whole race dead, no future. What couldn't you do then? If you were that old, and that kind, and the very last of your kind…" She turned and looked at The Doctor, "you couldn't just stand there and watch children cry."

Us three Time Lords were standing on an observation deck looking out onto Starship UK and the stars above the buildings. Just then Amy walked up to us, "From Her Majesty." She handed The Doctor Liz 10's mask, "She says there will be no more secrets on Starship UK."

"Amy, you could have killed everyone on this ship," said Annabelle

"You lot could have killed a Star Whale."

"And you saved it," said The Doctor, "I know, I know."

"Amazing, though, don't you think? The Star Whale. All that pain and misery... and loneliness. And it just made it kind."

"But you couldn't have known how it would react," I said.

"YOU couldn't," said Amy, "But I've seen it before." she looked at The Doctor, "Very old and very kind, and the very, very last. Sound a bit familiar?" Then we shared a group hug, "Hey." she said as she looked at The Doctor.

"What?" he asked.

"Gotcha."

The Doctor laughed and said, "Gotcha."

We headed back to the market and once we got there Amy asked, "Shouldn't we say goodbye? Won't they wonder where we went?"

"For the rest of their lives," said The Doctor, "Oh, the songs they'll write! Never mind them. Big day tomorrow."

"Sorry, what?"

"It's always a big day tomorrow," I said, "We've got a time machine. We skip the little ones."

The Doctor unlocked the TARDIS and Amy said, "You know what I said about getting back for tomorrow morning…" We all turned and looked at her, "Have you ever run away from something because you were scared, or not ready, or just... Just because you could?"

I nodded, and The Doctor said, "Once...a long time ago."

"What happened?"

"Hello…"

Just then we could heard the sound of the phone ringing on the console of the TARDIS, "Right. Doctor, there's something I haven't told you. No. Hang on, is that a phone ringing?"

We walked inside and headed toward the console, "People phone you?" asked Amy.

"Well, it's a phone box," said Annabelle, as us Time Lords started to prepare the TARDIS for dematerialization.

"Would you mind answering it?" I asked.

Amy picked up the phone, "Hello? Sorry, who? No, seriously. Who?" She put the phone against her shoulder, "Says he's Prime Minister. First the Queen, now the Prime Minister. Get about, don't you?"

"Which Prime Minister?" asked The Doctor as he motioned for Amy to pull a lever on the TARDIS.

Amy pulled the lever and asked into the phone, "Er, which Prime Minister?" she looked at us, "The British one."

I rolled my eyes and asked "Which British one?"

"Which British one?" she asked into the phone, then her eyes widen, and she handed the phone to The Doctor, "Winston Churchill for you."

Us Time Lords smiled and The Doctor took the phone, "Oh! Hello, dear. What's up?"

I took out my cell phone and pressed a button to patch me into the conversation, "Tricky situation, Doctor. Potentially very dangerous I think I'm going to need you and your niece."

"It's nieces, now, " I said, "and don't worry about a thing, Prime Minister, We're on our way…"

TO BE CONTINUED…

A/N: A Happy Easter to all my readers… I'm still surprised that people are reading this story and liking it. If you like it please send me a review. Even if it's just a short thing, just send it… I love to hear your thoughts about what you like about it and maybe what you don't like.