Ten
'Unidentified Aliens'
aka - World War Three (part one)
The big green alien thing that had wiggled itself out of a human skin suit just moments before had dropped its deathly hold on the assistant strung up against the wall of the meeting room and rocked back with a screech. Blue light tinged from under the surface of its slippery skin and it danced around the room, knocking into the velvet lined chairs tucked under the desk as though trying to shake some invisible force from its body.
Ella hadn't expected that her night would turn out that way at all as she slipped past the screaming alien, keeping her grasp on Rose's hand tight even when the incapacitated thing tried to lunge at them. When they had been led into this meeting room a few minutes ago by the shaken up lady who claimed to be 'Harriet Jones representing Flydale North', she was thinking that they would be interrogated for alien information or something, not shown a strangely procured suit of human skin and a dead body belonging to the Prime Minister shoved in a cupboard. And then the alien they were running away from had entered the room, dressed in a human skin and donning a creepy smile as she revealed herself to them, a towering ugly alien.
The thing had surely killed that poor assistant but they had no time to be properly sure as they rushed out of the room to find the Doctor. Harriet let out a whimper when they'd closed the door on the creature, her nerves about the situation seemingly getting the better of her. If she hadn't travelled with the Doctor then Ella supposed she would be the same way. But she was strangely calm in this moment and had her sights set on finding the Doctor and figuring out just what the hell the aliens were and what they wanted with Earth.
"But wait," Harriet called out as they rounded a random corner, putting more distance between them and the alien. She came to a stop and Rose and Ella reluctantly let up also. "They're still in there! The emergency protocols, we need them."
She didn't even bother to wait for them to say anything, and darted back in the direction they came from. Ella rolled her eyes but followed Rose as she moved after the woman. The last thing they needed was to split up when there was danger on the loose. And the danger was rearing its ugly head again when they got to the room, whatever influence it was under had worn off and it had no problem chasing after them.
MP for Flydale North, Harriet Jones, couldn't even get the documents she went back for and they had to spring into a side room quickly to avoid getting swiped at by the things long gangly arms. The room they ducked into was purely mahogany, the floors were the same colour as the walls and the walls were the same colour as the doors - not that the observation seemed to matter much as they had to keep moving when the alien smashed through the closed door as though it was the easiest feat to accomplish.
It was hard to lose the alien. Wherever they went it followed and now it was starting to gain ground against them. Ella wasn't necessarily a short person, and she stood a few inches above Rose and the MP but that thing towered over her. And its legs, while shaped at oddly unnatural angles when it ran, could easily overtake her. To make matters worse, fear was starting to seep into their bones, and whether they liked it or not, the feeling of the alien creeping up on them was slowing them down too. They were running out of options and soon it would reach them, probably suffocate them like it did the man in the other room. Not the nicest way to go if you ask Ella.
The three were cornered then as the door they'd run to was locked, and they didn't necessarily have the monster strength that the alien possessed to break it open. Rose tried to budge the door open to no avail and the thing drew closer and closer. And then the elevator directly across from where the thing stood dinged, the doors rolling open.
Ella didn't get time to see who it was as she used the welcome distraction to usher Rose and Harriet through the door that it was close to just as the alien lunged towards the closing elevator doors. They ran through a couple more rooms, not stopping until they reached seemingly yet another dead end. Doors were locked on either side of the room and with the alien no doubt approaching they had no choice but to hide.
She skidded behind the chest of drawers sitting flush against one of the sofas, Rose sitting beside her, and they waited with bated breath for the alien to find them. She hadn't seen where Harriet had rushed off to, and wasn't about to go making any noise to draw attention to them to find out.
There were a few tense seconds where silence filled the room and then finally, the green alien pushed the door they entered through ajar and moved inside, giggling unnervingly.
Next to her, Rose grabbed at Ella's hand, and the girl shared a look with her, a silent plea of what to do. They were utterly defenseless. They had no weapons, no strength against its power. Hopefully they had enough intelligence to get away from it once again, but it seemed as though their luck was dwindling.
"Oohhh, such fun!" The thing exclaimed metallically. Its footsteps could be heard across the room as it kept moving, trying to find them.
Eventually the thing would see Ella and Rose in their rather weak hiding spot. All it had to do was take a couple more steps and they'd be toast. The thing was taunting them though, distracted by trying to intimidate them. The curtains directly across from them would be a better fit and they may be able to smash the glass to escape.
"Little human children," It cooed, pretending that it was playing a game of hide and seek with some kids instead of trying to kill them. "Sweet little humi-kins. Come to me...let me kiss you better -"
Ella took the opportunity to tear herself from her position. Relief flowed through her veins when she saw that the alien had their back to them and she wasted no time in hauling Rose to her feet and leading her over to the curtains. They shuffled in close behind the thick cloth, stuck tight to one another. There was a tense second where Ella thought their movement caught the ugly aliens attention but then she carried on speaking like nothing happened.
"Kiss you with my big, green lips."
The alien breathed in loudly, testing the air for something. Ella wished that she would just leave the room already but of course that was never going to happen. Because as soon as she thought that, the door creaked and more footsteps could be heard. Her heart was doing that thing where it pounded dangerously loudly in her ears, if the aliens concentrated hard enough she would bet they could hear it trying to escape from her chest.
"My brothers," The alien that had been chasing them called out in greeting.
"Happy hunting?" One asked, voice low and oddly masculine compared to the feminine timbre of the alien that was chasing them.
"It's wonderful," It said almost cheerfully. "The more you prolong it...the more they stink."
"Sweat and fear."
"I can smell an old girl," One added insultingly. "Stale perfume...and brittle bones."
"And a couple of ripe youngsters," The female one continued. "All hormones and adrenaline. Fresh enough to bend before they break."
The curtain they were hiding behind was pulled back suddenly and Rose let out a blood curdling scream, one that seriously hurt Ella's ears. But at least she was having some kind of reaction to the whole 'alien-who's-trying-to-kill-them-finding-them' fiasco, because Ella had turned into a statue. The only thing she could concentrate on was the way her ears rang and her heart pounding its way out of her chest. This was it, she was actually going to die right here, right now.
But then the MP Harriet Jones was springing out from behind her hiding spot, yelling and screaming and flailing her arms about to get their attention. "No! Take me first. Take me!"
After she was finished with her heroism, the Doctor moved out from behind the door with a fire extinguisher. For someone who at this point is basically notorious for having no plans, he was managing to distract the aliens pretty well. He pumped at the extinguisher and it released a couple of big spurts of the foam all over the three aliens making them gurgle in surprise.
"Out with me," He instructed.
Rose took the opportunity to literally rip the curtains they had hid behind from off its rods and chuck it over the alien in front of them while pulling Ella to move over to the Doctor. She was taught once again that the blonde had some strength to her when she wanted to. Harriet also moved to stand behind the Doctor and he took the time to question who she was before he fired off another round at the aliens.
"Who the hell are you?" He asked, looking over at the newest addition to their little team.
"Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North."
"Nice to meet you," He told her, pumping the lever on the extinguisher once again. He sprayed them good and they ducked out of the door.
Hopefully they would have a little bit of time for them to get out of the never ending maze that was 10 Downing Street. The Doctor, however, seemed to have some form of a plan in his head as he told them they had to get to the cabinet rooms as they ran down the corridor away from the stunned aliens.
"The emergency protocols are in there," Harriet informed. "They give instructions on the aliens."
"Harriet Jones, I like you," The Doctor decided with a smile.
"I think I like you too."
The squeaks and groans of the aliens grew louder as they continued to run, indicating that they were getting closer to them, gaining ground. They stopped at the door to the cabinet room where the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver to unlock the door. The aliens slowed down in their chase once they realised the group had backed themselves into a corner once again. But they stopped just short of entering the room when the Doctor held up a bottle of alcohol in one hand and his sonic screwdriver in the other. It hummed as he pressed at one of the buttons and he shoved it towards the aliens so they could see.
"One more move and my sonic device will triplicate the flammability of this alcohol. Whoof, we all go up. So back off!" He ordered.
They backed up a few steps and the Doctor lowered his weapons with a grin, clearly pleased that it had gone his way. "Right," He said. "Question time. Who exactly are the Slitheen?"
"They're aliens," Harriet supplied, clutching the precious government files close to her chest and peeking around the side of the Doctor to examine them.
"Yes. I got that thanks," He said. Ella could see that he was trying to hold back an eye roll by the way his forehead pinched together.
"Who are you if not alien?" One of the aliens - the Slitheen - asked.
"Who's not human?" Harriet asked.
Rose tried to fill her in as quickly as possible given the circumstances. "He's not human."
"He's not human?" Harriet asked incredulously.
The Doctor turned back then and looked at them with a roll of his eyes. "Can I have a bit of hush," He requested impatiently.
"Sorry."
"So, what's the plan?"
Harriet glanced at Ella and carried on her questioning. "But he's got a Northern accent."
"Lots of planets have a North," She supplied, trying to concentrate on the conversation that the Doctor was having with the aliens.
"I said hush," The Doctor repeated. "Come on. You've got a spaceship hidden in the North Sea. It's transmitting a signal. You've murdered your way to the top of the government - what for? Invasion?"
"Why would we invade this godforsaken rock?" One of them asked as though insulted that it was even a suggestion made.
"Then something's brought the Slitheen race here. What is it?"
"The Slitheen is not our species. Slitheen is our surname. Jocrassa Fel Fotch Pasameer Day Slitheen at your service," One introduced impatiently.
"Oh so you're family?"
"A family business," It cooed.
"Then you're out to make a profit. How can you do that on a godforsaken rock?"
"Ahhh," The thing paused as though contemplating. "Excuse me. Your device will do what?" It questioned. "Triplicate the flammability?"
"Is that what I said?" The Doctor asked uncertainly.
Great, Ella thought, so much for that plan.
"You're making it up," One of them accused.
"Oh well. Nice try. Ella, have a drink, think you're gonna need it," He told her, thrusting the glass bottle back in her direction. She grabbed at it, fingers splaying over his for a split-second before he pulled away. That tiny bit of contact reassured her somewhat though as she brought the bottle up to her chest.
Then the words that the aliens spoke fizzled away at any semblance of confidence she'd managed to scrape back. "Now we can end this hunt with a slaughter."
The Doctor rocked back on his heels at their display of intimidation and crossed his arms over each other as he regarded them. They'd started to shuffle forward towards them again, talons raised and ready to strike. It was unnerving to say the least, standing perfectly still while danger crept closer.
"Fascinating history, Downing Street," The Doctor began. He didn't seem at all intimidated by their situation as he launched into a long winded explanation. Either that or he was doing a good job at hiding it. "Two thousand years ago, this was marsh land. 1730, it was occupied by a Mr. Chicken. He was a nice man. 1796, this was the cabinet room - if the cabinet's in session and in danger, these are about the four most safest walls in the whole of Great Britain," He reached over to a hidden control switch on the wall on their right and pressed a button that Ella hadn't noticed before.
"End of lesson," He proclaimed when every door and window was quickly covered in a strong metal wall.
While she did feel slightly better at the fact that the aliens trying to kill them were behind the other side of the wall, Ella knew that they were only prolonging the problem by hiding. Eventually they would have to face them again. It seemed that the Doctor hadn't thought of that part when he pressed the button, because he turned to the three of them with a grin.
"Built in 1991. Three inches of steel lining every single wall. They'll never get in."
"And how do we get out?" Rose asked, stating the question that Ella was sure everyone but the Doctor was thinking.
The smug grin dropped from his face and he sighed just realising the position he put them in. "Ah."
They'd tried looking for any type of wires or connection, any loose ends that could help them figure out a better plan than just being stuck in a room, but to no avail. Rose and Ella were tasked with the job of searching under desks and random pieces of furniture for anything that could be of use to them while Harriet Jones had sat herself down at the desk to read over the documents of the emergency protocol. It was the Doctor that was handed the hard task of moving the bodies of the dead into the closest cupboard.
Whatever feelings he had about the job he'd brushed off by the time he was done, instead focused on running his sonic screwdriver across the walls as he walked. "Right, what've we got? Any terminals? Anything?"
"No," Rose huffed. "This place is antique. What I don't get is, when they killed the Prime Minister, why didn't they use him as a disguise."
"Would've saved them a lot of trouble," Ella mused, moving to lean against the table.
"He's too slim. They're big ol' beasts they need to fit inside big humans," He sounded distracted when he said it, running his screwdriver along the length of the barred windows as though that would do something to help their predicament.
"The Slitheen are about...eight feet. How do they squeeze inside?"
"That's the device around their necks. Compression field literally shrinks them down a bit. That's why there's all that gas. It's a big exchange."
"Wish I had a compression field, I could fit a size smaller," Rose muttered almost a little bitterly as she made her way over to the table to join Ella.
Harriet's head shot up from her work at that comment, and it wasn't hard to see the unhappy scowl that she sent in their direction. "Excuse me people are dead this is not the time to be making jokes."
Ella harrumphed at the tone as Rose mumbled out a weak excuse about travelling with the Doctor but it wasn't the time nor place for judgement. They had to be figuring out a plan instead of standing around bickering.
The Doctor seemed to think otherwise as he backed away from the windows and paced around behind the MP.
"Harriet Jones. I've heard that name before. Harriet Jones," He repeated. Ella imagined that if he had a moustache or a goatee he would be stroking it at that very moment to help him think. "You're not famous or anything are you?"
That drew an incredulous laugh from Harriet. "Hardly," She said soberly.
"Rings a bell...Harriet Jones."
"Lifelong backbencher I'm afraid. And a fat lot of use I'm being now. The protocols are redundant," She informed them with agitation. "They list the people who could help and they're all dead downstairs."
Rose made her way over to Harriet. "Hasn't it got defence codes or things? Can't we just launch a nuclear bomb at them?"
"You're a very violent young woman," Said Harriet, though judging by the look in her eyes Rose wasn't the only one who had thought of that as a solution.
"I'm serious," Rose continued on. "We could."
"Well there's nothing like that in here. Nuclear strikes do need a release code, yes, but it's kept secret by the United Nations."
The Doctor stopped his scanning of the walls and rushed over to Harriet as she finished speaking. He looked intrigued by what she had just said. "Say that again."
"What, about the codes?"
He shrugged. "Anything. All of it."
"Um, well," Harriet paused as though trying to recall the right information. "The British Isles can't gain atomic weapons without special resolution from the UN -"
"- Like that's ever stopped them," Rose muttered under her breath.
"Exactly. Given our past record - and I voted against that - thank you very much, the codes have been taken out of the government's hands and given to the UN. Is that important?"
"Everything's important," He shot back seriously.
"If we only knew what the Slitheen wanted," She let out a tiny laugh of disbelief, "Listen to me, I'm saying 'Slitheen' as if it's normal."
"They want something on the planet," Ella cut in, looking at the Doctor for confirmation. "Don't they?"
"Seems like it. There's just one family so it's not an invasion. They don't want 'Slitheen world', they're out to make money which means they want to use something, something here on Earth...some kind of asset," The Doctor said, thinking out loud.
"Like what?" Ella asked. "Gold? Water? Oil?"
The Doctor shot her a grin. "You're very good at this," He told her, the compliment drawing a smile from her previously tensed lips.
The Doctor paused again as he looked over at the MP for Flydale North and then the grin was gone. His face scrunched up in frustration as though there was something that he just couldn't place. Either that or he really needed to go to the toilet. Ella couldn't tell. He leaned over the table to look closer at Harriet, examining her face while she looked away awkwardly, flustered by his gaze.
"Harriet Jones why do I know that name?"
She shrugged, mouth opening to answer him when the electronic beeping of Rose's mobile rung through the air. The blonde didn't recognise the sound at first until it repeated itself, and then she began patting down the pockets of her denim jeans to find her phone.
"That's me," She said.
Harriet turned in her seat to look at the girl with surprise. "But we're sealed in. How did you get a signal?"
"He zapped it," Rose shrugged, not bothering to look up from her screen, acting like that was not even a big deal compared to all of the other crazy things they'd experienced over the last few days. "Super phone."
Harriet perked up at the revelation, and she pointed at the Doctor, "Then we can phone for help. You must have contacts."
"Dead downstairs, yeah," The Doctor said with a shrug.
So they have no way to stop the Slitheen and no way to get out of this room. They were stuck. That was just fantastic. Silence fell over the four then. Harriet was busying herself away combing through the files as though she had missed something the first hundred times she'd looked over them, Ella occupied the stretching time by looking at her fingernails while the Doctor flicked at different settings on his screwdriver and Rose continued to look down at her phone.
"It's Mickey," Rose said, looking up from her phone.
The Doctor looked less than impressed by that revelation and rolled his eyes. "Oh tell your stupid boyfriend we're busy."
"It's not like we exactly have a deadline," Ella mumbled, her hands moving to comb through her chestnut brown hair as a distraction. She didn't like the feeling of being trapped in this room, and her saying that aloud made it all the more worse for her.
Rose ignored both of them, save for the glare she sent the Doctor's way at his insult and held up her phone, the small screen was lit up with a slightly pixelated photo of one of the Slitheen. She smirked at the annoyed face that the Doctor sent in the direction of her phone. "Yeah. He's not so stupid after all," She said smugly.
The Doctor moved his hands around as if swatting a fly. "Well, go on then. Give Ricky the Idiot a call."
The call connected within seconds of Rose ringing, and even Ella could hear the deep timbre of his voice and a high pitched wailing in the background that she could only think would be Rose's mother, and Ella was basically half the room away from her. Rose held the phone away from her ear for a second, a wince marring her features.
"Wait hold on, so you saw it? The alien?" She'd asked, her soft voice taking on some authority like the only way to get any information was to cut through whatever was being said.
"Is she alright though?" Rose asked next. "Don't put her on just tell me -"
The Doctor seemed to have no time for the domestics as he'd called it earlier, and shot passed Rose, grabbing the phone from her grasp in the process. "Is that Ricky? Don't talk just shut up and go to your computer," He paused, waiting for the petulant response Ella was betting that Mickey would be saying back to him. "Mickey the Idiot," The Doctor repeated. "I might just choke before I finish this sentence, but...I need you."
He tried to school a blank expression onto his face but the very thought of asking someone he clearly disliked for help soured his face like he had just taken a massive sip of spoiled milk. Behind him, Rose spared Ella a quick smile, as though that whole interaction was a big positive step in the right direction.
The Doctor spoke again, something about getting into the government database to help them out. She didn't hear the reply, but the crackling of Mickey's voice told her that he was listening. She gestured at the Doctor until it caught her attention and then mouthed the words 'speaker phone'. It took him a second to understand what he was saying, which seemed quite rude after he boasted about being able to understand every and any language that Ella and Rose could think of, and with an almost sheepish look, connected it to the phone set up on the table.
The speaker crackled as it sparked to life and Mickeys' words were muffled by the sound, the Doctor leant closer to the phone and asked him to repeat it.
"It's asking for a password."
"Buffalo," The Doctor instructed. "Two F's one L."
Mickey's voice rang out over the speaker again and he was explaining what he was doing to Jackie as though they had time for that. "All the secret information known to mankind. See they've known about aliens for years, they just kept us in the dark."
"Mickey you were born in the dark," The Doctor shot back, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.
Rose sighed from her position in between the Doctor and Ella. "Oh leave him alone."
Ella was glad that someone had finally tried to put a stop to the constant bickering between the Doctor and Mickey, they didn't need the distraction right now. Not with the threat of the Slitheen mounting by the second.
"Thank you," Mickey said snidely and then seemed to refocus on his work. "It needs the password again."
"Just repeat it every time."
Ella cracked a smile at the revelation that a top secret government website was only protected by a one worded password…that was the same for every access locked area of the page. "Seems secure," She quipped.
The Doctor seemed too lost in his own thoughts to reply, or even roll her eyes at her sarcasm but that was nothing new. He always seemed to be in a world of his own. He'd rounded the table as he paced by the time he started talking.
"Big Ben. Why did the Slitheen go and hit Big Ben?"
Harriet rushed after him, carrying a brandy glass over in his direction, having taken the liberty of pouring some for everyone in the room. "You said to gather the experts, to kill them."
He shook his head. "That lot would've gathered for a weather balloon. You don't need to crash land into the middle of London."
"Maybe they wanted to be seen," Ella offered from her position leaning against the long table, a glass balanced in her hands. She'd taken a couple of sips beforehand to quell the anxiety that was building in her chest the longer they stayed there. She seemed to be doing that a lot, using alcohol to try and calm herself down. That probably wasn't the best thing. She looked down at the liquor and then sat it down out of her grasp so that she wouldn't be compelled to have more. They had to be concentrating on whatever plan the Doctor seemed to cook up at the very last minute to save the day. Though she was beginning to doubt that he had one at that moment.
"The Slitheen are hiding," Rose said, thinking. "But then they put the entire planet on red alert, what'd they do that for?"
The derisive voice belonging to Jackie Tyler could be heard through the speaker as she mocked her daughter with a scoff. "Oh listen to her."
That seemed to annoy Rose, who began walking further away from the phone as though trying to avoid her berating mother. "At least I'm trying," She called out defensively.
"Well I've got a question if you don't mind," Jackie shot back with that same snarky tone. "'Cause since that man walked into our lives I have been attacked in the streets, I have had creatures from the pits of hell in my own living room and my daughter disappeared from the face of the Earth -"
"- I told you what happened," Rose said. Her shoulders were arched over the table as she leant on one of the chairs, her guilt for putting her mother through that entire ordeal seemed to weigh heavy on them, but her mother didn't seem like she was going to let it go anytime soon.
"I'm talking to him," Her mother cried impatiently. "'Cause I've seen this life of yours Doctor. And maybe you get off on it and maybe you think it's all clever and smart. But you tell me. Just answer me this: Is my daughter safe?"
That seemed to rock the Doctor who was staring off into space with this measured look spread over his features. While Ella didn't necessarily think it was fair that Jackie was forcing her dramatics on him during this time she didn't want to mess with it. She had no clue what it was like to be a mother, let alone being one that thought her daughter was dead, and one that cared enough to interrogate anything and anyone who she thought could be a danger to her kid.
It was Rose that cut her mother off on her rampage with an uncomfortable snicker. "I'm fine," She said, turning away from the Doctor as Ella as though trying to shield herself from her mother's embarrassment.
"Is she safe?" Jackie asked again seriously. "Will she always be safe? Can you promise me that?" She waited for a reply, anything, but the Doctor was too busy staring between Ella and Rose to talk back to her. That serious, brooding look was still perched on his face. "Well what's the answer?"
The awkward silence that stretched over them was thankfully cut when Mickey reappeared over the speaker to announce that he'd gotten into the system. The break in tension was enough to snap the Doctor out of whatever serious thoughts he'd been locked in. He rushed around the table to get close to the speaker once again while Ella just swivelled on the edge of the table so she could see what was going on better.
"Now then on the left at the top there's uh a tap, an icon, little concentric circles. Click on that."
Dull sound waves could be heard through the speaker then, but they were quiet enough that Ella could still hear Mickey when he asked what it was he was looking at.
"The Slitheen have got a spaceship in the North Sea and it's transmitting that signal. Now hush. Let me work out what it's saying." They were quiet for a second as the Doctor listened. "It's some kind of message," He muttered, concentrating.
"What's it say?" Rose asked.
"Don't know. It's on a loop. Keeps repeating."
An annoying beeping moved through the speaker and cutting off the soundwave that the Doctor was trying to interpret. It almost sounded like a doorbell. Either way it didn't impress the Doctor who ordered Mickey to shut up.
"That's not me," Mickey denied. "Go and see who it is," He told Jackie, who grumbled something about it being three in the morning. Ella could practically see a vein popping out of the Doctor's head like he was trying his absolute hardest not to snap at Jackie and Mickey to shut the hell up.
"It's beaming out into space. Who's it for?" The Doctor asked in confusion as he continued to listen to the recording.
Mickey's voice then became panicked as he relayed that the aliens had found them. "They found us."
It didn't impress the Doctor, who bent over the table to get closer to the phone as though that would show Mickey that he was serious about what he was going to say. "Mickey I need that signal -"
"Nevermind the signal," Rose rushed out, fear written across her features. "Get out. Mum just get out! Get out!"
"We can't. It's by the front door," Said Mickey.
The same screeching noise that Ella had heard earlier when one of the Slitheen had ripped itself out of their skin suit played through the phone then. And it didn't sound happy.
"Oh my god," Mickey then breathed down the phone. "It's unmasking. It's gonna kill us."
"Can't there be some way of stopping them," Harriet exclaimed, gesturing over at the Doctor. "You're supposed to be the expert, think of something."
"I'm trying," The Doctor defended.
The creaking and bending of the front door could be heard then. The thing was getting closer to breaking through that door and going for them. Mickey told Jackie to stay back, that he was going to try and take it on. Though judging by the fact that the Slitheen were feet taller than them and had razor sharp claws, Mickey's feeble attempts to kill it would barely leave a scratch on the thing. The thought made Ella's stomach churn. And judging by the unsettled look on Rose's face, she was feeling the same way.
Ella stepped closer to Rose, sliding from her seat on the table so that she could place a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to offer comfort. Rose sunk into the touch and shared an anxious look with Ella. "That's my mother," She said weakly.
That seemed to spur the Doctor into motion and he clapped his hands together as he rounded the table. "Right. If we're going to find out their weakness, we need to find out where they're from - which planet. So judging by their face and shape, that narrows it down to five thousand planets within travelling distance. What else do we know about them? Information!" He said, gesturing at them to take over.
"They're green," Rose said.
The Doctor nodded. "Yep, narrows it down."
"Uh, good sense of smell."
"Narrows it down."
"They could smell adrenaline," Ella supplied.
"Narrows it down."
"The pig technology," Harried chimed in, albeit a little uncertainly.
"Narrows it down."
Ella scrunched her face up as she tried to remember the word the Doctor had supplied earlier about how they managed to fit into their human suits so easily. "Uh...the, the compression technology."
The Doctor nodded. "Narrows it down."
"The spaceship in the Thames you said slipstream engine," Rose said next.
"Narrows it down."
Mickey's voice crackled over the speaker, sounding even more worried than previously. "It's getting in!"
"Oh!" Rose said, clicking her fingers. "They hunt like it's a ritual."
Ella nodded at that. "Yeah with their massive claws."
"Narrows it down."
Harriet stepped forward once again. "What a minute. Did you notice, when they fart - if you'll pardon the word - it doesn't smell like a fart - if you'll pardon the word - it's something else. What is it? It's more like ummm…" She paused, trying to grapple with the right words.
"Bad breath!" Rose supplied.
"That's it," Harried agreed enthusiastically.
The Doctor grinned. "Calcium decay!" He said. "Now that narrows it down," He began pacing the room once more, that look of utter concentration burnt onto his face.
"We're getting there mum," Rose tried with a hopeful smile, only to be shot down when Mickey said that they were too late, the sound of splintering wood echoed in the distance, and that smile slid from her face completely. Ella tightened her grip on her shoulder in support.
"Calcium phosphate, organic calcium, living calcium," The Doctor listed, continuing his pacing around the table. "Creatures made out of living calcium. What else, what else. Hyphenated sodium, yes! That narrows it down to one planet," He turned to face the three women. "Raxacoricofallapatorious!"
That reveal didn't seem to excite Mickey. "Oh yeah, great. We could write them a letter," He said sarcastically, the fear lingering in his voice trampled any type of bitterness he wanted to convey.
The sound of splintering wood made way for the growl that emanated from the Slitheen as it got closer and closer to Jackie and Mickey. But it was Jackie's terrified gasp that was the loudest sound through the speaker. Rose turned ashen at the noise and before Ella even knew what was happening, the girl had reached down and grabbed her hand. Her grip was strong and needy, and despite the fact that it was practically cutting off her circulation, Ella still managed to squeeze the blonde's hand.
"Get into the kitchen," Ordered the Doctor, there was silence on the other end until the slam of a closing door echoed through the receiver, indicating that they had managed to make it to another room without getting torn apart.
That didn't seem to phase Jackie who let out a scream as the Slitheen tried to break through the door. "Oh my god it's going to rip us apart."
The Doctor hunched over the table then and began spurting out a whole bunch of facts. "Calcium, recombined with a compression field - acetic acid. Vinegar!"
"Just like Hannibal," Harriet said almost excitedly. Ella wasn't entirely sure who he was but was determined not to let it show by nodding her head in agreement.
"Just like Hannibal," He agreed. "Mickey, have you got any vinegar?"
"How should I know," Mickey replied tightly.
"It's your kitchen."
"Cupboard by the sink," Rose called out. "Middle shelf."
"What'd you need?" Jackie snapped, her voice clear through the receiver after obviously getting hold of the phone.
"Anything with vinegar."
"Gherkins," Called Jackie as she worked. "Yeah, pickled onions! Pickled eggs."
Ella screwed her nose up at the description of Mickey's cupboards. She could just imagine the bad breath on him. "And you kiss him?" She asked as she turned to Rose though the girl didn't look too insulted by the comment.
It was the Doctor that looked over at them at the comment, and he was trying his hardest to frown even though there was an amused smile pinching at the corner of his lips. "Oi," He said, fixing Ella with a half serious look. "A little concentration please."
Neither Jackie or Mickey said anything as a bloated squelching noise rang out suddenly. Ella thought that it was the Slitheen reacting to the vinegar, and it seemed her assumption was correct by the way the Doctor slumped forward in relief. Harriet followed his lead and let out a sigh and a muttered thank god, while Rose hunched her shoulders in practically shaking at the adrenaline that would have coursed through her veins.
"Hannibal?" Was all that Ella said, craning her head to look over at Harriet for an explanation. The more she had tried to keep quiet about her lack of knowledge the more she needed to know about it.
Ella didn't miss the smug 'told you so' look that Rose shot in her direction as Harriet breathlessly began her explanation. "Hannibal crossed the Alps by dissolving boulders with vinegar."
"Right."
"Well," Rose said as she reached over and grabbed her glass, raising it up. "That's that then."
Harriet held her glass up as the Doctor handed Ellas' to her with a grin. They all took a celebratory sip, and Ella watched as the Doctor tried his hardest not to spit the drink out, his face morphing into one of disgust at the taste. He set the glass down on the table and backed away from it like it was dangerous, wiping a hand over his lips in an attempt to get rid of the taste.
"900 years and I still can't stand it," He complained then, drawing a tiny laugh out of Ella.
Harriet just pinned him with a blank stare. "You are a strange man."