Historian's Note:
For those who wish to keep up with the timeline of events, for August Keyes Series Ten has just started. For the Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble, between "The Unicorn and the Wasp" and "Silence in the Library". For the Eleventh Doctor and the Ponds, it is soon after "A Christmas Carol", but before "The Impossible Astronaut".
"The New Empire will rise."
"What did you do?!"
"Angered a giant frog who wants to dominate the planet, not a smart thing to do when surrounded by its zombie minions." The Doctor ducked around the corner, closing one of several metal doors that had been left open along the hall and sealed it with his screwdriver.
"What happened to that girl," asked Donna, "is she alright?"
"She will be, once we find a way to disrupt the network for good. Something to give the brain a big, big, shock! Anyone got a massive alarm clock on hand?"
"Alarm clock?" Questioned Donna.
"So, I was right about the frog?" Asked August.
"Qual," explained the Doctor, "not exactly a frog, actually not a frog at all, amphibian, but with a more humanoid shape, more of a frog that walks on two legs. Not really, but if it helps." The Doctor slammed another metal door shut behind Donna and August, "the Qual used to be a mighty war race, destroying everything in their path. Usually they'd steal the best technology from the planets they conquered."
"Hence the hodgepodge tech." Said August.
The Doctor nodded, "if it was useful to their cause, they'd take it, if not they would destroy or kill it—if it was alive. I thought they'd all been wiped out after the Time War destroyed their planet, but it seems like someone made it out."
"So, now there's a Qual on Earth trying to conquer us?" Asked Donna.
"Using Yanano technology?" Asked August.
"Yes, and more like the Yanano itself. The mental stasis probe is of the Qual's own technology, that's probably how they got out of the Time War in the first place." The Doctor slammed the last door shut.
"Took you long enough," said Amy as the three returned to the Yanano chamber. She noticed Donna, "and you must be Donna, yeah?
"Ponds," said the Doctor, "Donna Noble, Donna Noble, Ponds. No more time for domestics, there's a hoard of zombie people after us all being controlled by an overweight amphibian." He flicked out his screwdriver, moving over to the Yanano's casing. "I've locked onto the trace signal of the device, now if I can just isolate the proper frequency the Yanano's transmitting from I should be able to send out a controlled burst onto the network, that is, if we can find the control matrix the Qual is using to send out directives…"
"What is that?" Asked Donna, her voice soft as she came round to look at the Yanano.
"It's a Yanano," said August. "Their what's sending out the signal that allows that creature—the Qual—to control all the humans," he explained, "sort of like a Wi-fi signal allowing you to connect to the internet." He realised.
"It looks like it's in pain." She muttered as the Yanano contorted in its dome.
"Yeah…" murmured August, and he had to look away, "we're trying to help them, right Doctor?"
"Yanano are incredibly peaceful creatures, I'm sure this one would happy to get back home." The screwdriver began blinking on and off, "oh, not now!" He slapped it against his palm, "Urgh, the radiation is messing with the sonic, I can't get a lock! And if I can't get a lock then I can't reverse the polarity using the control matrix." The Doctor sighed, running his hands through that mop of hair of his.
There was a loud banging against the metal door separating the army of mind-controlled humans from the time travellers. Everyone jumped and August was beginning to feel more on edge than he had in a long time.
"Are you sure it has to be a precise signal?" He asked, "couldn't you just let out a large electromagnetic blast, something to disrupt the signal like an iPhone to Wi-fi? A computer to a router?"
"Humans are the computers, the Yanano is the router, the Qual is in control of the server," murmured the Doctor, scratching his head with his screwdriver, "possibly, it'd have to be a large one though, something big… something really big… something that could cover the whole of London." He then thumped himself on the head. He turned to Rory, then, "Rory, you're a nurse. Ever operated an MRI?"
Rory started, being addressed directly for once. "Uh, once, yes, in school."
"Good. You're going to do it again," he tossed the sonic screwdriver over to August who fumbled with it.
"Hold on, but I have no idea how to—"
"There's a hospital a block down from the store we entered from. I've been there before; it has an MRI on the twentieth floor. Find the main control circuit. Should be just under the control panel. August, apply setting 12-B for five seconds, then activate the machine. Oh, then 42-A for another five seconds. That'll put it back to normal.
"I have no idea what that means!" Said August, looking over the screwdriver. He hated how foreign it felt in his hands.
"You can figure it out, your smart," his eyes flicked to Donna, "Donna, help him, he needs it."
"Don't I know it."
"Hey! I'm standing right here!"
"But what'll that do?" Asked Rory.
"EMP pulse big enough to fry the telepathic 'Wi-fi' network for a good thirty minutes. Should give the humans enough time to come to their senses, stop being vegetables. Knock out the electronics in London, too, but that can't be helped. Oh, and August, try not to faint, as you may have the urge to. Amy, come with me. I'll need you to send a text to Rory as soon as were ready." Spinning on his heel, he headed back towards the door that the humans were slowly knocking over.
"But wait, Doctor, what're we going to do?" Asked Amy.
"We'll still need to stop the Qual from reinitiating the control matrix once they've shut the network down it will only be a matter of time before the Qual attempts to reinitialise it."
"If you destroy the server, the router will have nothing to connect the computers too," said August happily, "that's brilliant!" He really did say that last part with a bit of an accent and cleared his throat when the Doctor grinned at him.
"Exactly!" The Doctor held him by the shoulder's smiling wide, "now, Amy, when this door opens, because it will open, you and I are going to get kidnapped and hopefully be taken directly to the Qual. Before that happens you three are going to run out that door," he pointed towards the door they had entered the underground through, "got it."
"Got it," said Amy without even blinking. Rory took her hand into his, squeezing it.
"Be safe," he said. They shared a soft moment.
"Geronimo?" Asked August.
"Hah!" The Doctor pointed happily at him, "Geronimo."