The Companion Connection
By Lumendea
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Rose of Earth: Hello Again
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the spinoff material and I gain no income off of this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.
….
Rose hung up her mobile and shoved back into the pocket of her hoodie. Around her, the area was clearing and she could distantly hear emergency vehicle sirens. She checked the street quickly before she ran across to the TARDIS. Placing her hand on the blue door, Rose paused as she pulled out her key. She reminded herself that it might not be the correct Doctor, it could be one of his earlier lives. Rose remembered the Doctor telling her about the changing interior of the TARDIS and decided just to take a quick look, if she didn't recognise the interior then she'd leave.
The key fit into the lock perfectly and Rose turned it slowly. This felt like a huge moment for her, the first time she unlocked the TARDIS with her key. This was the Doctor's home and he had given her a key to it. Rose smiled at the quiet click and looked back over her shoulder quickly. People had moved away from the blaze, but many were staring up at it from a safe distance. The sirens were coming closer, but no one was looking her way. Rose looked at the sign and gently pulled the door open. Soft orange light met her eyes and she took in the familiar metal walkway and coral supports of the Doctor's TARDIS. Grinning, Rose removed her key and stepped inside the TARDIS, closing the door behind her gently.
She stood at the doorway for a long moment and drank in the TARDIS again. The brown-eyed Doctor had told her that this version of the console room was new when he had regenerated into his blue-eyed form so she didn't have to worry about meeting the wrong version of him. Due to the long tour he had given her, Rose already knew where things were and was able to suppress the desire to go explore on her own. Instead, she walked up to the console and examined the odd bits that made up the controls. A soft humming sound echoed through the room, it was a comforting sound to Rose's ears, calm and at peace.
"Hello beautiful," Rose greeted. Smiling, she lightly brushed her fingers over the console. "What trouble did he find today?"
Careful not to touch any of the controls, Rose leaned forward and placed her hand against the pulsing column of light on a whim. It was warm to her touch and Rose thought it seemed to become a little bit brighter when she touched it. For a brief moment, Rose heard a strangely familiar haunting tune in her mind, but she couldn't place it.
In surprise, Rose pulled her hand away and looked around the control room, but there was no one around. She took a step back and shook her head to clear it. Rose wasn't silly enough to believe she had just imagined it, but she knew the TARDIS was telepathic so it was probably just a form of communication. Reminded of the Doctor's warning, Rose reached up and carefully removed her translator from behind her ear. Rose slipped it into her pocket, grateful that it wasn't horribly fragile.
"Will you translate for me while you're here?" Rose asked the TARDIS with an amused little smile. "The Doctor says you're alive. I just wonder how much you understand." Rose patted the console again and then walked over to the jump seat. She sat down with a satisfied smile and leaned back so she could see the doorway.
Only a few minutes later the door of the TARDIS swung inwards as the Doctor pushed the doors open and stepped in. It was the blue-eyed Doctor wearing the very familiar leather coat over a dark green jumper. He had a far-off look of concentration on his face and was carrying a plastic head in his hands.
"So what did that poor building ever do to you, Doctor?" She couldn't help the teasing smile that took over her face.
The Doctor froze in his tracks and his eyes flashed to her in an instant. Rose's smile grew even wider as she slipped off the chair. "Rose?"
"I have a key." Rose held up the chain with her TARDIS key for inspection. "I figured I'd attract less attention waiting for you in here than outside."
Walking over to him, Rose dropped her eyes to the head for a moment before meeting the Doctor's eyes once more. He gave her that familiar manic grin and stepped forward as if to hug her before remembering the head he was carrying.
"Give me a minute," the Doctor said. He stepped over the console and pulled out his sonic screwdriver. "This was just what I was looking for."
Rose hung back and watched silently as the Doctor placed the plastic mannequin head onto the console and connected a series of wires and cords to it. Tilting her head, Rose examined the odd lump of plastic. It was a plain pale mannequin store head with no interesting features, but the Doctor was working on it intently. Rose paused as she remembered one of Sarah Jane's stories about a species that used Earth plastic in their plans. She recalled their name: Autons. Malcolm had mentioned them before too; apparently, they were one of those alien species that really had their eye on Earth.
"I'm lucky I managed to snatch this up," the Doctor said in a cheerful voice. "They had taken over the whole building and already killed one of the workers so grabbing a bit of one wasn't my priority. I can use this to trace the signal back to the source." The Doctor finished his task a moment later and turned back to Rose with a wide grin. "Right then! Hello, Rose."
"Hello Doctor," Rose said with a wide smile of her own.
The Doctor swept her up in a warm hug that Rose happily returned with a laugh. The hug lasted far longer than a normal greeting hug would have with both of them just grinning and holding tight. It was a few beats later that the Doctor released Rose and took a little step back.
"What are you doing here?"
"This is planet Earth." Rose leaned against the console, giving the Doctor a tongue touched smile.
"I sort of live here."
"I meant the shop," the Doctor replied. He looked amused. "You must have been close to find the TARDIS so quickly."
"Jeopardy friendly remember?" Rose replied with a slight smirk. It had been pure luck that she was in the area at all, even if she suspected the Guardians had a little influence on it.
"Oh I remember," the Doctor said seriously. "But it's March 2005, you're still in school in Cambridge."
"It hasn't been that long since I saw you last," Rose agreed. "I just came to London to visit my friends here and check up on Luke."
"Who is Luke?" the Doctor asked in what was probably supposed to pass as just mild interest, but Rose thought that she might have detected a hint of jealousy. The idea made her happier than it should have.
"Sarah Jane's son," Rose clarified. Her smile widened as he looked at her sharply. "Yes Doctor, I've now met Sarah Jane Smith as well as Ian and Barbara," she said before he could ask the question. Relishing the look of shock with a touch of horror on his face, Rose held back a triumphant laugh. "Sarah Jane just adopted Luke last month after the Bane tried to invade Earth."
"The Bane tried to invade?" the Doctor asked with a hard look, focusing on news of the threat rather than Rose's social circle. "Which one of their methods did they use this time? The enzyme?"
"Yeah," Rose said. She wrinkled her nose. "They put it into a pop drink."
The Doctor made a face of disgust and Rose nodded. "Yeah, I hated the stuff too." She gave a pointed look to the head behind the Doctor. "But we can catch up on all the alien invasions you've missed later. I'm guessing that there is something new in town since you saw fit to blow up a building," Rose said.
"I made sure it was empty first," the Doctor defended. "No one alive was in there when the explosion went off."
"Good to hear." Rose gestured at the plastic head. "Autons?"
The Doctor gave her a smile that was amused, irritated and proud all that same time. "Know about them, do you? Yes, it is the Autons."
"What do they want this time?" Crossing her arms across her chest, Rose slipped into serious mode.
"Overthrow the human race and destroy you," the Doctor replied seriously.
"My knowledge of them is limited," Rose admitted. "Sarah Jane said that they animate plastic, often using things that look human."
"The Nestene Consciousness animates the plastic," the Doctor said. "And right now it is on Earth making the Autons stronger than they have been before on Earth."
"How did you kill the ones in the shop then?"
"There was a transmitter on the roof of the shop," the Doctor explained. "I destroyed that transmitter which cut off the signal animating the plastic."
"So what do we do next?" Rose asked. "You said the Nestene Consciousness was on Earth, but if there was a transmitter on the roof of that shop then it wasn't there."
The Doctor gave her a pleased smile. "Right you are, hence tracking the signal back to the source so I can find the Nestene Consciousness." The Doctor paused and tilted his head slightly as he leaned over the console. "We? You wanted to finish school."
"I do have school, but when it's on Earth you can count me in," Rose said with an honest smile. "This is my home planet after all."
"Rose Tyler, Defender of the Earth," the Doctor said, echoing the words he'd said several years before. He stared at her with an odd expression for a long moment as if trying to find some piece to a puzzle that he couldn't quite solve.
"Doctor!" Rose heard a strange sound from behind them and turned to look at it. "The head is melting."
"Melting?" The Doctor spun back to the console and started hitting buttons. "No! No! No!"
The familiar wheezing noise echoed in the console room and Rose recognised the TARDIS shifting position. She assumed in the current situation they were just moving through space, at least she hoped just moving through space. The Doctor was shouting at the TARDIS and dashing around the controls. Rose just gripped the railing behind her and made a point of staying back from the controls. A moment later the wheezing noise stopped and the column stopped moving. The Doctor rushed past Rose for the door and she darted after him a split second later.
Rose paused to get her bearings as she stepped outside and closed the door behind her. They were on the edge of the Thames on an empty walkway which was probably a good thing given the sudden appearance of the TARDIS and the Doctor's clear tension.
"I lost the signal," the Doctor huffed. "I was so close!"
"Alright," Rose said softly as she looked around. "You said we got close so maybe we can still find it. What are the Autons attacking Earth for exactly?"
"Earth is perfect for them due to the state of things. Lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air... perfect. Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs. Its food stock was destroyed in the war, all its protein plants rotted, so Earth will be used for food," the Doctor said with a slight huff as he leaned against the TARDIS.
"And how can we stop them?" Rose joined him leaning against the TARDIS, one hand patting the blue box fondly. "What's your plan?"
Grinning, the Doctor pulled a large phial of blue liquid and held it up for her to see. "Anti-plastic!"
Rose smiled slightly and nodded. "Okay, so we have a way to stop them." Rose straightened back up and looked around. "So any ideas of what kind of equipment or environment the Nestene Consciousness needs to take over?"
"It needs a transmitter," the Doctor answered. "But a massive one! The Consciousness is controlling every single piece of plastic so it needs a transmitter to boost the signal."
"Are we taking an Earth transmitter?" Rose asked.
"Similar," the Doctor said. "Round and massive and in the middle of London!" The Doctor started pacing in front of Rose, glancing around earnestly. Rose frowned at him until he came to stop in front of her, looking over her shoulder. "A huge circular metal structure... like a dish... ...like a wheel. Close to where we're standing. Must be completely invisible."
"Uh, Doctor…" Rose tried to keep from giggling like a lunatic as her eyes settled on the large London Eye right across the river from them. "I found it."
"What?" The Doctor spun around and looked behind him. "Where?" He looked back at Rose who gave him a shocked look and nodded behind him. "What?"
"Doctor, the London Eye," Rose said with a slight huff and a shake of her head. "Massive round dish, in the middle of London and hidden in plain sight as a landmark."
"Oh… that's…" the Doctor turned back to Rose and grinned, "Fantastic."
The Doctor held out his hand and Rose grabbed it without hesitation. She grinned as they rushed towards the bridge, ignoring the few people out walking and weaving around them quickly. They reached the other side in short order and rushed down the stairs to the base of the closed London Eye. The South Bank was nearly empty, something that made Rose very grateful.
"Think of it. Plastic, all over the world. Every artificial thing waiting to come alive. The shop window dummies, the phones, the wires, the cables..."
"The breast implants," Rose couldn't help, but add. She could think of one too many people she knew that would be a problem for.
"Still, we've found the transmitter. The Consciousness must be somewhere underneath!" The Doctor released her hand and started looking around for a clue.
Rose left the Doctor for a moment and went to the side wall, figuring an entrance off of the main path made the most sense. She followed the wall for a few feet before she eyes landed on a manhole cover. "Doctor! Found something!"
The Doctor joined Rose a moment later and nodded. "Look's good to me."
They located the stairs and climbed down to the manhole cover. Rose was surprised that it was deadlocked sealed or anything like that as the Doctor crouched down and pulled the cover to the side. Red smoke poured out from the entrance and the Doctor looked up at her. "Last chance to head for home."
"I'm not even to dignify that with a response," Rose said as she moved around the Doctor and started down the ladder. "Come on then."
"You're a crazy girl Rose," the Doctor said as he shook his head. "But I think I like it."
"You know you do," Rose teased. "Just be ready."
"I've been doing this for a while now," the Doctor replied. "As you know."
"Yes, I know," Rose agreed. "But I also know how much trouble you can get yourself into."
"You're the jeopardy friendly one," the Doctor said.
"And you're the trouble magnet," Rose said in reply before she turned her attention back to climbing down the rungs. She took a breath and kept her eyes open, hopefully, ready for whatever was down here and possibly ready for them.