"Go to your room," the Doctor sternly ordered. All at once the gas mask people around them stopped. "Go to your room," he repeated. "I mean it! I am very, very angry with you. I am very, very cross! Go—to—your—room!" He pointed in a random direction and, surprisingly, all the gas mask people turned away. The climbed back into their beds and lay down again.
Rey breathed a sigh of relief. "Those would have been terrible last words if that didn't work," she weakly joked. He grinned at her. Only when he reached out for her hand did she realize she was shaking.
"Why are they all wearing gas masks," Rose asked.
"They're not," Jack told her. "Those masks are flesh and bone."
"How was your con supposed to work," the Doctor asked him, changing the subject.
"Simple enough, really. Find some harmless piece of space-junk… let the nearest Time Agent track it back to Earth. Convince him it's valuable, name a price. When he's put 50% up front—oops! A German bomb falls on it, destroys it forever. He never gets to see what he's paid for. Never knows he's been had. I buy him a drink with his own money, and we discuss dumb luck. The perfect self-cleaning con."
"Yeah," he agreed sarcastically. "Perfect."
Jack didn't seem to notice. "The London Blitz is great for self-cleaners—Pompeii's nice if you want to make a vacation of it though, but you've got to set your alarm for volcano day." He chuckled at his own joke. The laughter quickly died down at the Doctor's critical look. "Getting a hint of disapproval."
"Take a look around the room. This is what your 'harmless piece of space-junk' did." The Doctor walked off, not wanting to deal with Jack anymore.
"We getting out of here," Rose asked hopefully, trailing after him.
"We're going upstairs," he corrected.
Jack followed them. "I even programmed the flight computer so it wouldn't land on anything living—I harmed no one! I don't know what's happening here, but believe me—I had nothing to do with it."
"No one is saying you did this on purpose," Rey told him plainly. "But accidents can happen even from the noblest of intentions. Just because you don't mean for anyone to get hurt, doesn't mean no one will."
The all-clear siren echoed in the distance. Without another word, the Doctor pulled Rey along with him as he left the ward. Climbing up eight flights of stairs was far from fun, but after all the adventuring she'd done with him, it took a lot less out of her than it would have in the beginning.
A heavy door stood in the way of the room Jamie had been brought to. Rather than use the sonic or let Rey pick the lock, the Doctor doubled back and called down the stairs to Jack and Rose on the lower level. "Have you got a blaster?"
"Sure!"
"The night your space-junk landed, someone was hurt. This was where they were taken."
"What happened," Rose asked.
"Let's find out. Get it open," he commanded.
Jack grinned and pulled out his gun. Behind his back, the other three watched. "What's wrong with your sonic screwdriver," Rose whispered.
"Nothing."
The gun created a perfect square-shaped hole around the lock and knob of the door, allowing it so swing open. "Squarness gun," Rey noted. That was familiar.
"Sonic blaster," the Doctor observed. "51st century. Weapon Factories of Villengard?"
"You've been to the factors?"
The Doctor took the blaster into his own hands to get a closer look before handing it back. "Once."
"Well, they're gone now. Destroyed. The main reactor went critical. Vaporized the lot."
"Now there's a banana grove there," Rey told him. "Destroying the reactor caused a chemical reaction in the atmosphere so they get a lot of rain."
"You like bananas," Jack asked flirtatiously.
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. It was only because she knew that was his default setting and that he didn't mean much by it that stopped her from getting annoyed. But really, there was a time and place. "He does. I prefer apples, with faces on them."
The Doctor flipped the switch and the lights came flickering on. The room was a mess, not just because it hadn't been cleaned, but because it was been effectively destroyed. The window separating the patient room from the observation side was shattered, and there were papers all over the floor. "What d'you think?"
"Something got out of here," Jack observed.
"Yeah. And?"
"Something powerful. Angry."
"Powerful and angry," he repeated.
Rey wandered into the other side of the room. Childish scribbles covered the floor and walls. A few toys were scattered about, as if their owner had thrown them in a tantrum. She didn't like being in there. It brought back memories she'd rather not have.
"A child," Jack asked. "I suppose this explains 'mummy.'"
"How could a child do this," Rose asked.
The Doctor tapped a button on the control panel, playing a recording of Dr. Constantine. "Do you know where you are?"
"Are you my mummy," the boy asked back.
"Are you aware of what's around you? Can you… see?"
"Are you my mummy?"
"What do you want? Do you know—"
"I want my mummy. Are you my mummy? I want my mummy! Are you my mummy?" He chanted the word over and over, calling for his mother.
"Doctor, I've heard this voice before," Rose said fearfully.
"Us too."
"Mummy?"
"Always, 'are you my mummy?' Like he doesn't know."
"Mummy?"
"Why doesn't he know?"
"Because he's scared… Or he was." Rey thought back to the child. There had been no fear in his voice. No fright in his body language. He didn't run or scream like scared people did. But it was the only explanation that made sense. "Isn't that what scared children do? Call for their mother?"
"Are you there, mummy? Mummy? Please, mummy? Mummy?"
The Doctor started pacing. "Can you sense it?"
"Sense what," Jack asked.
"Coming out of the walls, can you feel it?"
"Mummy?"
He stopped pacing abruptly, turning to face Rose and Jack. "Funny little human brains, how do you get around in those things? I mean, as always, Rey is the exception to the rule."
"When he's stressed, he likes to insult species," Rose told Jack.
"Rose, I'm thinking," the Doctor scolded, starting to pace again.
"Cuts himself shaving, does half an hour in lifeforms he's cleverer than…"
"There are children living rough around the bomb site," he told the others. "They come out during air-raids looking for food." In the background, the child was still calling for its mother. "Suppose they were there when this thing—whatever it was—landed?"
"It was a med-ship," Jack stressed. "It was harmless."
"Yes, you keep saying. 'Harmless.' Suppose one of them was affected—altered?"
"Altered how," Rose asked.
"He was scared, just like Rey said. Terribly afraid, and powerful. It doesn't know it yet, but it will do." He chuckled lightly. "It's got the power of a god, and I just sent it to its room."
Dread, cold and sharp, flooded her system, turning her blood into ice. "Doctor," Rey said slowly. She should have realized earlier, but she was so distracted by her own fear.
"I'm here," the child said. "Can't you see me?"
"What's that noise," Rose asked, referring to the crackling that filled the silent spaces of the room.
"It's the end of the tape," Rey told her. "It ran out about 30 seconds ago."
"I'm here, now. Can't you see me?"
"The Doctor sent it to its room, remember?"
"This is its room," he realized.
Spinning around, he saw that the boy had, indeed, come. He stood by the tape machine, head cocked as he observed them. "Are you my mummy? Mummy?"
"Doctor," Rose asked, not liking the way it was looking at her.
"Okay… on my signal," Jack said. "Make for the door. Now!" He pulled out a banana from where he kept his gun, and held it out threateningly, having expected the weapon instead.
Without missing a beat, the Doctor grinned and revealed that he'd taken Jack's sonic blaster. He fired a huge hole in the wall. "Go! Now! Don't drop the banana!"
"Why not," Jack asked as he hopped through the hole after Rey.
"Good source of potassium!"
They stumbled back into the corridor. Behind them, the child slowly followed. "Give me that!" Ripping his blaster out of the Doctor's hands, Jack aimed it back at the wall they'd just come through. Instead of creating another square hole, the wall rebuilt itself as if it had never been damaged in the first place. "Digital rewind. Nice switch." He tossed the banana back to the Doctor.
"It's from the Groves of Villengard. I thought it was appropriate."
"There's really a banana grove in the heart of Villengard and you two did that?"
"Bananas are good," he said plainly.
A loud thump came from the other side of the wall, cracking it with the force behind the knock. "Doctor," Rose urged.
"Come on!" He led the way down a flight of stairs, then down the corridor of the level below. All around them patients were coming out of their wards, calling out for "Mummy." They backtracked, Rey pulled on the back of Jack's coat to stop him from running right into the crowd. They ended up back where they started with the child having nearly broken through the wall already. "It's keeping us here so it can get to us."
Jack aimed the blaster in either direction around them. "It's controlling them?"
"It is them," he corrected. "It's every living thing in this hospital."
"Okay. This can function as a sonic blaster, a sonic cannon, and a triple-enfolded sonic disruptor. Doc, what you got?"
The Doctor pulled out the sonic screwdriver, holding it up as if it were a weapon. "A sonic, er… oh, never mind."
"What?"
Uselessly, he switched it on. "It's sonic, okay? Let's leave it at that."
"Disruptor," Jack asked. "Canon? What?"
"It's sonic! Totally sonic! I am sonic-ed up!"
"A sonic what?!"
"It's a screwdriver," Rey told him, exasperated by their antics.
Abruptly, Jack lowered his weapon and spun around to look at the Doctor. At the same time, Jaime had managed to break through the wall. Rose grabbed Jack's wrist, pointing the blaster at the floor beneath them. "Going down," she shouted before firing.
They hit the ground hard, landing in the ward below. Jack scrambled to use the rewind, sealing them in.
"Doctor, are you okay," Rose asked.
"Could've used a warning…"
"Ugh, the gratitude."
"My head," Rey complained as she rubbed the rapidly forming bump. Quickly, they all found their balance again and got up off the ground.
"Who has a sonic screwdriver," Jack asked, sounding offended by the idea of it.
"I do!"
"Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks 'oohoo, this could be a little more sonic?'"
"What, you've never been bored? Never had a long night? Never had a lot of cabinets to put up?"
Rose finally found the light switch and flicked it on. They were surrounded by gas mask people in their beds, who all sat up and began chanting "Mummy."
"Door," Jack said. They rushed at it as the patients got out of their cots, slowly moving towards them. Of course it was locked. And when he tried to blast it open, Jack's weapon let out a whine. "Damn it! It's the special features, they really drain the battery."
"The battery," Rose exclaimed incredulously. The Doctor opened the door with the sonic, allowing them to run out. "That's so lame." He slammed the door shut behind them and locked it again.
"I was gonna send for another one," Jack said as he ran to look out the window, "but somebody's gonna blow up the factory."
"Oh, I know—first day I met him, they blew up—"
"Spoilers," Rey said. "It hasn't happened for me yet."
Jack looked at her curiously. "Okay, that door should hold it for a bit," the Doctor said.
"The door?! The wall didn't stop it," Jack pointed out.
"Well, it's gotta find us first! Come on, we're not done yet! Assets, assets!"
"Well, I've got a banana, and at a pinch you could put up some shelves," he said dryly.
"Window," the Doctor said, going over to it.
"Barred, sheer drop outside," Jack recited. "Seven stories."
"And no other visible exits," Rey noted.
Jack settled into a chair. The room was small, barely bigger than a closet. It was probably used for storage of old and broken miscellaneous things, judging by its contents. "Well, the assets conversation went in a flash, didn't it?"
The Doctor eyed him, then turned to ask Rose, "So, where'd you pick this one up, then?"
"Doctor," she warned.
"She was hanging from a barrage balloon, I had an invisible spaceship. I never stood a chance." The suggestive tone of his voice clearly made Rose uncomfortable.
"Okay, one, we want to get out of here. Two, we can't get out of here. Have I missed anything," the Doctor asked.
"Jack's teleported out," Rey told him.
The Doctor spun around, and sure enough, they were down their American conman. He let out a sound of frustration before sinking into Jack's abandoned seat. Rose put her hand casually on the chair's back, leaning in. "Okay, so he's vanished into thin air. Why is it always the great looking ones who do that?"
The Doctor eyed Rey. Thinking he wanted an answer, she shrugged. She was hardly an expert when it came to relationships. Rose eyed their interaction with a slight frown. "I mean… men," she added.
"Rose? Rey? Doctor? Can you hear me?" Jack's voice came from the old radio on the shelf next to Rey. "I'm back on my ship. Used the emergency teleport. Sorry I couldn't take you. It's security-keyed to my molecular structure. I'm working on it—hang in there."
Rey examined the radio curiously. It wasn't plugged into anything. In fact, the wires had been ripped out. She thought back on what the child had done back at the house. "How are you speaking to us," she asked him.
"Om-Com. I can call anything with a speaker grille."
"So can the child."
"It can," Rose asked.
The Doctor nodded. "Anything with a speaker grille. Even the TARDIS phone."
"What, you mean the child can phone us," she asked doubtfully.
"And I can hear you," Jaime said through the radio, like he was singing. "Coming to find you. Coming to fiiiiiind you."
"Can you hear that," Jack asked them.
"Loud and clear," the Doctor replied.
"I'll try to block out the signal. Least I can do."
"Coming to find you, mummy!"
"Remember this one, Rose?" A contemporary song started to play. Well, contemporary for this time. It was slow and romantic, the kind that Rey imagined couples swayed to for an excuse to stay close.
Rose looked embarrassed when the Doctor looked at her questioningly. "Our song," she said dismissively, leaving her spot behind the Doctor and sitting in a wheelchair. After a few seconds, the Doctor got up and walked over to the window. He started sonicing the wall next to it. "What you doing?"
"He's trying to set up a resonation pattern in the concrete to loosen the bars," Rey explained.
"You don't think he's coming back, do you," she asked him, referring to Jack.
"Wouldn't bet my life," the Doctor said dryly.
"Why don't you trust him?"
"Why do you?"
"Saved my life," she told him. "Bloke-wise, that's up there with flossing."
"Jack isn't bad," Rey said lightly. She didn't want to give anything away. "He's the type you usually like."
The Doctor regarded her carefully, as if trying to discern some hidden meaning in her words. She shrugged—she didn't mean anything else by it. The Doctor liked people with the spirit of adventurers, who might not conform to societal expectations of right and wrong, should and should not, but were still morally upright and caring. Maybe it was because she knew how Jack would grow as a person after spending some time with him, but she wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt in this case.
Rose broke the silence. "I trust him 'cos he's like you," she said to the Doctor. "Except with dating and dancing."
He shot her a look.
"What?"
"You just assume I'm…"
"What?"
"You just assume that I don't… dance."
Rose grinned. "What, are you telling me you do… dance?"
"Nine hundred years old, me. I've been around a bit. I think you can assume that at some point I've danced."
Her grin widened. "You?!"
"Problem?" He looked to Rey, who shrugged again. She had no idea what was going on. Listening in on this conversation was like being in her room by herself and listening to the nurses all laugh at their station down the hall. She just wasn't included.
"Doesn't the universe implode or something if you… dance," Rose teased.
"Well, I've got the moves but I wouldn't want to boast.
She got up out of the chair. "Show me your moves."
"Rose, I'm trying to resonate concrete."
"Jack'll be back, he'll get us out. So come on—the world doesn't end 'cos the Doctor dances." In order to cross the room to get to him, Rose had to walk past Rey. There was little space there, boxes and other things spilling out on the floor. It put the two girls very close together for a brief moment.
Long enough to notice something odd with Rose's hand. "You said you were hanging from a barrage balloon," she said abruptly.
"What?"
She glanced at the Doctor, pointing to her hand, and gestured for him to ask. Rose would probably brush her off if she tried. "What happened?"
"Oh… About two minutes after you left me. Thousands of feet above London—middle of a German air-raid—Union Jack all over my chest."
"I've travelled with a lot of people," the Doctor told her, "But you're setting new records for jeopardy-friendly." Rey moved over so they could examine Rose's hands together. They were smooth. Healed.
"Is this you dancing," Rose asked, shooting a glance at Rey. "'Cos I've got notes."
"Hanging from a rope a thousand feet above London. Not a cut, not a bruise."
"Yeah, I know. Captain Jack fixed me up…"
"Oh, we're calling him 'Captain Jack' now, are we," the Doctor complained, going off-track.
"Well, his name's Jack and he's a captain," Rose said consideringly.
"He's not really a captain."
Rey moved away, that same feeling of exclusion creeping up on her again. Rose and the Doctor were flirting, and she didn't know why, but watching it made her feel sick. Maybe she'd hit her head harder than she thought?
This wasn't jealousy, was it? She didn't feel any surge of heat or irritation like the books described. She wasn't angry and the Doctor or Rose, she just… didn't want to be present if this was what they were going to be like.
It was nearly a relief when Jack teleported them onto his ship. Not that the couple noticed. He grinned at her as she walked over to his captain's chair. "So what was that 'spoiler' thing in the hall?"
"I jump around the Doctor's timeline at random so I don't always do things in the right order," she explained. Then she blinked. She'd never explained it herself to someone before, it was always the Doctor who'd done it. It sounded weird coming out of her mouth.
She sounded delusional. She sounded like everything Dr. Usher had diagnosed her with. Suddenly, she felt sick in an entirely different way.
"Are you okay," Jack asked, genuinely concerned.
"I'm fine," she said quickly. Then, to excuse any sign that she might be showing that contradicted this statement, she added again "I don't like hospitals."
"Good thing we're not in one anymore," he mused. Speaking up to interrupt Rose and the Doctor, he called out. "Most people notice when they've been teleported. Sorry about the delay. I had to take the nav-com offline to override the teleport security."
The Doctor quickly let go of Rose's hands and walked over to the front of the cockpit. "You can spend ten minutes overriding your own protocols? Maybe you should remember whose ship it is."
"Oh, I do. She was gorgeous. Like I told her—be back in five minutes." He ducked down into a compartment beneath the console.
"This is a Chula ship, isn't it," Rey asked.
"Yeah, just like that medical transporter," Jack called from below. "Only, this one is dangerous."
The Doctor clicked his fingers. Small glowing lights like fireflies instantly surrounded his hand. "They're that fixed my hands up," Rose exclaimed. "Jack called 'em, em…"
"Nanobots? Nanogenes?"
"Nanogenes, yeah."
"Sub-atomic robots," the Doctor explained. He held his hand out to Rey's head. A few of them settled on her bump. There was a warm sensation, and when they flew off her head no longer hurt. "There's millions of them in here, see? Burned my hand on the console when we landed—all better now. And Rey's head. They activate when the bulkhead's sealed. Check you for damage, fix any physical flaws."
"Thanks," she said softly. He smiled and dismissed the nanogenes with a wave of his hand.
"Take us to the crash site," he told Jack. "I need to see your space junk."
"As soon as I get the nav-com back online," Jack replied as a reluctant child might to their nagging parent. "Make yourself comfortable. Carry on with whatever it was you were… doing."
Rey looked between the Doctor and Rose. "We were talking about dancing," he told her.
"It didn't look like talking," Jack noted.
"Didn't feel like dancing," Rose added.
"Is dancing supposed to be a metaphor," she asked. That happened a lot in books.
"No," he insisted. Then he went to pout by himself towards the back of the room
"So, you used to be a Time Agent—now you're trying to con them," Rose asked Jack. He was back up top with them but still working on getting them ready for flight.
"If it makes me sound any better, it's not for the money."
"Was your trust betrayed," Rey asked. She had never heard the story before, it never came up, but she could read something in the lines of Jack's body language.
He considered her carefully, obviously curious about how she'd come to that conclusion. "I woke up one day when I was working for them—found they'd stolen two years of my memories. I'd like them back."
"They stole your memories," Rose asked incredulously. At the back, the Doctor watched him carefully.
"Two years of my life. No idea what I did. Your friend over there doesn't trust me. And for all I know… he's right not to." The computer suddenly beeped, breaking the tense mood. "Okay, we're good to go. Crash site?"
In no time at all they descended from Jack's ship to the rail station nearest the bombsite. So far, it wasn't difficult to stay out of sight—no one was around. By this time of night, nearly everyone was asleep, and those that weren't knew better than to wander outside. A guard stood just outside the barbed wire. "There it is. Ay, they've got Algy on duty. Must be important."
"We've gotta get past," the Doctor said.
"The words 'distract the guard' head in my general direction." Rose moved to stand up.
"I don't think that'd be such a good idea," Jack said.
"Don't worry… I can handle it."
"I've got to know Algy quite well since I've been in town. Trust me. You're not his type. I'll distract him. Don't wait up." And Jack was gone, strolling up to the guard like it was a Sunday afternoon and they weren't in the middle of a war.
"Relax," the Doctor assured Rose. "He's a 51st century guy. He's just a bit more flexible when it comes to dancing."
"How flexible?"
"The human race has spread out across half the galaxy by Jack's time," Rey helpfully added.
"Meaning?"
The Doctor grinned. "So many species, so little time…"
Rose actually looked a bit scandalized. "What, that's what we do when we get out there? That's our mission? We seek new life, and… and…"
"If the Doctor is Mr. Spock then Jack is more like Captain Kirk, I'd imagine," Rey said. "And it's good to be flexible."
Algy fell to his knees in front of Jack, hands on his neck like he was choking. Just like with Dr. Constantine, his face transformed into a gas mask. Noticing the commotion, the other soldiers began to rush over. "Stay back," the Doctor yelled, running over himself with Rey and Rose on his heels.
"You men! Stay away," Jack ordered as they others joined him. Algy lay motionless on the ground.
"The effect's become air-borne," the Doctor noted. "Accelerating."
"What's keeping us safe," Rose asked.
"Luck," Rey told her. And then, as if to mock her, the air-raid siren blared to life.
"Ah, here they come again," Jack said.
"All we need," Rose complained. "Didn't you say a bomb was gonna land here?"
"Nevermind about that. If the contaminants air-borne now, there's hours left," the Doctor told them.
"For what?"
"'Til nothing. 'Til forever. For the entire human race. And can anyone else hear singing?"
Rey listened. "It's Nancy."
It was coming from a nearby shed. They rushed over to see her handcuffed to a chair inside, singing to a soldier who had also been changed. He was fast asleep at the table.
Rey crept inside. She motioned for Nancy to keep singing, then quickly picked the lock on the cuffs. The pair scurried out, joining the others inside the enclosure. Jack and the Doctor were working together to uncover the ship from the tarpaulin.
"You see? Just an ambulance."
"That's an ambulance," Nancy asked.
Rose slipped a reassuring arm around her. "It's hard to explain, it's… it's from another world."
"It's alien," Rey said plainly.
Jack examined the exterior controls. "They've been trying to get in."
"Of course they have," the Doctor said. "They think they've got their hands on Hitler's latest secret weapon. What're you doing?"
Jack was inputting a code. "Well, the sooner you see this thing is empty, the sooner you'll see I had nothing to do with it." The electronics sparked violently and exploded, setting off an alarm. A red light flashed. "Didn't happen last time."
"It hadn't crashed last time. They're the emergency protocols."
"Doctor, what is that," Rose asked. "Doctor!" She had her answer soon enough. The gates of the bomb site were shaking.
"Jack, it might be a good idea to secure the gates," Rey suggested.
"Why?"
"Just do it," the Doctor snapped. He obeyed, running off to gather some of the soldiers to help. "Nancy, how'd you get in here?"
"I cut the wire," she said.
"Show Rey and Rose." He tossed her the sonic. "Know what setting?
"2428D," she listed off dutifully. "Reattaches barbed wire." He shot her a grin before turning back to the ship.
Nancy brought them over to where she'd snuck in. Over the wind, Rey could hear a steady call for "mummy," over and over as the gas mask people got closer. The work was slow—Rose had to hold the broken ends of the wire together for Rey to reattach them, and each took about half a minute or so to connect.
"Who are you," Nancy asked, staring at them. "Who are any of you?"
"You'd never believe me if I told ya," Rose said.
"You just told me that was an alien ambulance from another world. There are people running around with gas mask heads calling for their mummies, and the sky's full of Germans dropping bombs on me. Tell me. Do you think there's anything left I couldn't believe?"
"We're time travelers from the future," Rey said.
She took a second to process. "Mad, you are."
"We have a time travel machine," Rose protested. "Seriously!"
"It's not that. Alright—you've got a time travel machine. I believe ya. Believe anything, me." Nancy looked up at the sky. The planes were already there, and explosions ate up the sky. Anything that wasn't dark was red and orange and on fire. "But what future?"
"Nancy, this isn't the end," Rose gently told her. "I know how it looks. But it's not the end of the world or anything…"
"How can you say that? Look at it."
"Listen to me. I was born in this city. I'm from here, like, 50 years time."
"From here?" Nancy studied her carefully.
Rose smiled. "I'm a Londoner. From your future."
"But… but you're not…"
"What?"
"German," she said shyly.
"The Germans never do make it here," Rey said, attaching the last of the wires. Nancy's brow furrowed, not quite understanding.
"They don't win," Rose told her. "Don't tell anyone I told you so, but do you know what? You win."
Nancy let out a breathy laugh, like she couldn't quite believe it. "We win?"
Rose smiled conspiratorially and nodded. She jumped to her feet. "Come on!"
Jack was opening the hatch of the ambulance when they got back. "It's empty," he said pointedly. "Look at it."
"What do you expect in a Chula medical transporter? Bandages? Cough drops? Rose?"
The blonde tensed at getting put on the spot. "I dunno."
Rey gave her a hint. "Your hands."
"Nanogenes!"
"It wasn't empty, Captain. There was enough nanogenes in there to rebuild a species."
Jack paled. "Oh, God."
"Getting it now, are we? When the ship crashes, the nanogenes escape. Billions upon billions of them, ready to fix all the cuts and bruises in the whole world. But what they find first is a dead child, probably killed earlier that night and wearing a gas mask."
"And they brought him back to life," Rose asked. "They can do that?"
He shrugged. "What's life? Life's easy. A quirk of matter. Nature's way of keeping meat fresh. Nothing to a nanogene. One problem, though—these nanogenes—they're not like the ones on your ship. This lot have never seen a human being before. Don't know what a human being's supposed to look like. All they've got to go on is one little body, and there's not a lot left. But they carry right on. They do what they're programmed to do, they patch it up. Can't tell what's gas mask and what's skull, but they do their best. Then off they fly—off they go, work to be done. 'Cos you see now they think they know what people should look like and it's time to fix all the rest. And they won't ever stop. They won't ever, ever stop. The entire human race is gonna be torn down and rebuilt in the form of one terrified child looking for its mother and nothing in the world can stop it!"
The Doctor's voice had risen to a shout by now. He was red in the face, flush from anger, and so tense he was shaking with it.
"I didn't know," Jack said meekly but defiantly. He held the Doctor's cold stare for a few seconds.
"Like Rey said: just 'cos you don't mean for people to get hurt, doesn't me that's actually what happened." Having said his piece, he turned away to examine the ambulance again.
Nancy looked back at the shaking fence where the people had gathered, still calling out. "Rose? Rey?" There was already a fairly large sized crowd lined up, and more were coming from over the tracks.
"It's bringing the gas mask people here, isn't it," Rose asked.
"The ship thinks it's under attack. It's calling up the troops. Standard protocol."
"But… the gas mask people aren't troops…"
"Yes they are," Rey corrected. "It's a battle-field ambulance—the nanogenes don't just heal, they get you ready to go out on the front lines again. That's why the child is so strong, and why it could use the om-com."
"It's a fully equipped Chula warrior, yes," the Doctor confirmed. "All that weapons tech in the hands of a hysterical four year old—looking for his mummy. And now there's an army of them."
"Why don't they attack," Jack asked.
"Good little soldiers. Waiting for their commander."
"The child?"
"Jamie," Nancy said. "Not 'the child.' Jamie."
Rose looked up. "So, how long until the bomb falls?"
"Any second," Jack told her.
"What's the matter, Captain? Bit close to the volcano for you?"
"He's just a little boy," Nancy continued sadly. "He's just a little boy who wants his mummy."
"I know," the Doctor said. "There isn't a little boy or girl born who wouldn't tear the world apart to save their mummy. And this little boy can."
"So what're we gonna do," Rose asked
"I don't know."
"It's my fault," Nancy insisted. There were tears in her eyes, and suddenly it all made sense to Rey. The way the little boy always chased after her, how he changed his question after hearing her voice, the fear and sorrow that Nancy felt every time he was brought up. "It is. It's all my fault."
"How can it be—"
"How old are you, Nancy," she asked gently. "You're like me, right? Older than you look."
A bomb landed nearby, causing Rose and Jack to flinch. "Doctor—that bomb," she urged. We've got seconds." Another landed even closer from the opposite direction. "You can teleport us out," she told Jack.
He shook his head. "Not you guys. The nav-com's back online. Gonna take too long to override the protocols."
The Doctor glanced between Rey and Nancy carefully. She could see the exact moment he figured out what to do. Without looking away, he said to Jack, "So it's volcano day. Do what you've got to do."
Nancy was openly crying now, tears running down her face accompanied by little hitches and sobs. "How old were you five years ago," he asked her "Fifteen? Sixteen? Old enough to give birth, anyway. He's not your brother, is he?"
She looked away, too ashamed to face him, and shook her head.
"A teenage single mother in 1941. So you hid. You lied." A nod this time. "You even lied to him."
The gates swung open with a crash. Jamie had arrived, standing at the forefront of the crowd like the leader of an army. "Are you my mummy?"
"He's gonna keep asking, Nancy. He's never gonna stop. Tell him." The Doctor had an idea. Not a plan, but a bet. And he was betting an entire species' survival on it. Rey hoped it worked. "Nancy… the future of the human race is in your hands. Trust me… and tell him."
"Are you my mummy?"
The Doctor gave her a gentle push towards Jamie.
"Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy?"
"Yes," she whispered. Then, in a stronger voice, stated, "Yes. I am your mummy."
Jamie walked towards her slowly. "Mummy?"
"I'm here."
"Are you my mummy?"
"I'm here."
"Are you my mummy?"
"Yes."
"He doesn't understand," the Doctor said quietly. "There's not enough of him left."
Nancy kneeled down so she was at eye level with Jamie. "I am your mummy. I will always be your mummy. I'm so sorry." She pulled him into her arms, not caring if he would change her. They glowed as the nonogenes reacted, surrounding them. Once again, the golden light reminded Rey of fireflies. "I am so, so sorry."
"What's happening," Rose asked. "Doctor, it's changing her, we should—"
He shushed her, not looking away from the scene in front of them. Blindly, he reached for Rey. She took his warm hand, shaking with the hope he almost didn't dare to feel. "Come on, please. Come on, you clever little nanogenes—figure it out! The mother. She's the mother! There's gotta be enough information, figure it out!"
"What's happening?"
"See? Recognizing the same DNA."
Nancy fell back to the ground, away from Jamie. The light vanished and they rushed over to check on her. The Doctor stared down at Jamie, expression a mess of hope and tempered expectations. "Oh, come on," he said softly to no one. "Give me a day like this. Give me this one."
Slowly, he reached out for the gas mask… and pulled it off. Jamie's face, a perfectly normal human face, looked back at him. The Doctor laughed, loud and deep, lifting Jamie in the air and practically swinging him around. "Welcome back! Twenty years 'til pop music—you're gonna love it."
Nancy was nearly crying again, though this time in joy. "What happened?"
"The nanogenes recognized the superior information—the parent DNA. They didn't change you because you changed them! Haha!" He set Jamie down in front of her. "Mother knows best!"
"Jamie!" Nancy pulled him into another hug.
Another bomb landed nearby, reminded them where they were. "Doctor, that bomb," Rose warned.
"Taken care of it," he said dismissively.
"How?"
"Psychology!"
"Did you notice that Jack's gone," Rey asked her. "He didn't leave us."
Right on cue the bomb that was supposed to destroy the Chula ambulance plummeted towards them. With about twenty feet left to go, it was suddenly engulfed by a blue forcefield. A second later, Jack appeared, hovering out of what looked like a tunnel of light. "Doctor! Rey!"
"Good lad," the Doctor shouted back.
"The bomb's already commenced detonation. I've put it in stasis but it won't last long."
"Change of plan—don't need the bomb. Can you get rid of it? Safely as you can?"
"Rose," he asked softly.
"Yeah?"
"Goodbye." And then he disappeared, taking the bomb with him. "By the way," he added, reappearing. "Love the T-shirt." He grinned at her and left again, ship shooting off into the sky.
The Doctor took a few steps away from them and held up his hands. The nanogenes surrounded the appendages, glowing gold. "Software patch," he explained. "Gonna email the upgrade. You want moves, Rose? I'll give you moves." He flung the nanogenes away towards the crowd. They fell over like a wave had it them. "Everybody lives, Rey," he told her happily, nearly manic in his joy. "Just this once. Everybody lives!"
She was happy for him. She truly was. The Doctor needed a day like today, especially this Doctor, coming off the horrors of the Time War. Sometimes it was like he was teetering on the edge of nihilism, one bad day away from giving up.
But now he had a day like this. A day with no death and everyone ending up alright.
Slowly, the crowd got to its feet. Human faces greeted them, confused, yes, but alive. "Dr. Constantine, who never left his patients. Back on your feet, constant doctor! World doesn't wanna get by without you just yet, and I don't blame it one bit." He gestured to the others. "These are your patients. All better now!"
"Yes, yes… so it seems," Dr. Constantine agreed despite being utterly confused. "They also seem to be standing around in a disused railway station. Is there any particular reason for that?"
"Yeah, well, you know—cutbacks. Listen, whatever was wrong with them in the past, you're probably gonna find that they're cured. Just tell them what a great doctor you are. Don't make a big thing of it. Okay?" Leaving him with a clasp on the back, he rushed back to the Chula ship, setting it to self-destruct, and then they were off to the TARDIS.
It was hard to keep up with how fast he was running. It was like this trip had liberated some part of him, driving him forward. "The nanogenes will clean up the mess and switch themselves off," he explained rapidly as he worked at the controls. "Because I just told them to. Nancy and Jamie will go to Dr. Constantine for help—ditto—all in all, all things considered—fantastic!"
Rose smiled at him. "Look at you, beaming away like you're Father Christmas!"
"Who says I'm not, red-bicycle-when-you-were-twelve?"
"What?!"
"And everybody lives, Rey!" He held his arms wide as if showing off. Or as if he wanted to physically embrace this moment. "Everybody lives! I need more days like this."
"So we're going to help Jack then," she asked leadingly. The Doctor's enthusiasm dropped a tick. "You said everybody. And he did help us."
"Do you know him from the future," he asked. "Is that why you've been so…"
"'So?'" She had no idea what he was talking about or why he was suddenly feeling insecure. Sometimes, even though she could read everything leading up to the moment, she still couldn't understand why people reacted the way they did. "He's a good man, he just needs a chance."
The Doctor held out for a second. "One chance," he agreed, and set them in flight.
Rose decided that she wanted to give dancing with the Doctor a second try right then. They waltzed clumsily to the same music Jack had played for them while they waited for the captain to notice. "Right, and turn…" He spun her, getting their arms tangled. "Okay, okay, try and spin me again, but this time—don't get my arm up my back! No extra points for a half-nelson."
"I'm sure I used to know this stuff," the Doctor insisted, letting Rose go. "Close the door, will you," he said to Jack. "Your ship's about to blow up—there's gonna be a draft."
Rey flipped a switch to start the engines up again. "Welcome to the TARDIS."
"Much bigger on the inside…"
"You'd better be," the Doctor said. "It's on Rey's word that you're here so, don't disappoint."
"I think what the Doctor's trying to say is… you may cut in," Rose said with a grin, taking his hand.
The music suddenly changed to something faster. Lights flashed in time with the beat. "I've just remember!" The Doctor clicked his fingers and swayed. "I can dance."
"Actually, Doctor… I thought Jack might like this dance," Rose said a little awkwardly.
Undeterred, the Doctor readily agreed. "I'm sure he would, Rose. I'm absolutely certain. But who with?"
Jack eyed the three of them and grinned.
As mornings get darker, my cat is the only thing making sure I get out of bed at a reasonable time. I'm such a simp for him. He moves to sleep closer to me on the couch and my heart melts.
Also, super excited for the next chapter since we'll finally be getting some groundwork for Future Plot (yes, that's supposed to be in capital letters). Someone asked what Rey's initials stand for. Technically, you've already gotten a hint for what the "M" is. It'll be explicitly revealed much later. You'll find out about the "L" in 5 more chapters.