The Doctor took a step onto the road, placing a pair of sunglasses on his face, despite it being pitch black outside. Of course, these were no ordinary sunglasses.

Sonic specs, the latest in wearable buzzing technology. Capable of performing all the functions of the sonic screwdriver, and then some. The Doctor still preferred the screwdriver, of course, it just felt better to hold something in the hands and use, but he needed the specs at the moment.

The Doctor looked down at his hand, viewing it in an orange glow, before giving a satisfied nod. That was the heat-vision working then. The Time Lord began nonchalantly walking, shoving his hands into his pockets.

He followed the sound of rustling leaves, out in front of a house, looking on. A figure retreated into the plants, unglowing.

"Cold blood…" The Doctor remarked to himself. "I know who you are…"


The Doctor whistled loudly, trying to draw as much attention to himself as possible, patting the outer paneling of the meals on wheels truck.

He reached into the driver's seat, grabbing a fire extinguisher. Cold blood meant it was going to be easier to take it down with heat-based traps.

Something snarled from behind, and the Doctor stiffened.

The Doctor peered into the window, seeing a humanoid figure with green scales in what looked like ancient armor running up to the Doctor. At the last possible second, the Time Lord stepped out of the way, the lizard person slamming into the vehicle.

The Doctor began spraying the lizard person down with the fire extinguisher, corralling it to the back of the transport van. The two doors on the back suddenly opened, and Sarah Jane jumped out, grabbing onto one side of the humanoid, while the Doctor grabbed the other, and both shoved the alien into the back.

The Doctor tapped the side of the sonic specs, and they buzzed, the van locking.

"We got it…" Sarah Jane breathed.

"Defending the planet with meals on wheels." The Doctor remarked with a smile.

The two suddenly jumped as rumbling, rather like thunder, echoed throughout the valley, shaking the ground.

"What was that?" Sarah Jane looked up.

"The others are leaving…" The Doctor bit his lower lip, as the dome began to fade, natural daylight returning.

"Did we scare them away?" Sarah Jane considered, turning to the Doctor.

"No…" The Doctor replied, staring into the distance. "Now both sides have hostages."


El's eyes shot open, and she glanced around. The last thing she remembered was being… sucked into the ground. Odd thing was, despite being pulled through the dirt, she looked to be completely clean.

Her vision returned fully, and she took a breath, as a half-transparent barrier kept her cut off from the outside.

Her breathing began to speed up. What did the Doctor call it? Claustrophobia? Okay, it was okay… she just had to relax. She could get out of this.

El took a deep breath, and closed her eyes, sending a mental fist pounding against the glass.

It gave way, a little spiderweb of cracks appearing.

El took another breath, and was prepared to lash out at it again, when something stood over the outside of the little box she was being kept in.

The figure, with the green, scaly face covered by a mask, made a shushing motion.

"Did you just-!?" El cut herself off, as a thick mist filled the air. "Oh no."

El raised a fist again, but given that she was still only a child, and she was panicking quite severely, the gas took hold of her quickly, and she fell unconscious.


"So, Sarah Jane," The Doctor walked down the pathway on the side of the church to the bottom, where the woman was standing guard. "You've been kept up with UNIT files since the old days, whaddya know about the Silurians?"

Sarah Jane blinked in surprise, straightening out. "The ones who tried releasing a plague to destroy humanity?"

"Yepo." The Doctor replied, pushing the basement door open. "Let's go see if this one's thawed out."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Sarah Jane questioned, as they stood at the entrance. "By yourself?"

The Silurian woman, now that they had gotten a good look at her, sat on the floor at the other end, handcuffed. She took deep, rattling breaths, glaring at the Doctor.

"Very sure." The Doctor replied.

"Doctor, Tony got stinged." Sarah Jane reminded him.

"Venom gland takes 24 hours to refill." The Doctor explained. "Isn't that right?" He directed to their involuntary guest.

The Silurian hissed in response.

The Doctor turned to Sarah Jane. "You know me, I know what I'm doing."

"Debatable." Sarah Jane replied. "Most days, you just bumble in, hope things work out, and pretend that was the plan all along."

"It's worked for the past nine-hundred years, no reason it should stop now." The Doctor shot back. "Get upstairs, try to keep that lot focused off the fact that there's a lizard woman from the dawn of time underneath them."

Sarah Jane nodded, and went to do so.

The Doctor turned to the Silurian, dusting his hands.

The Silurian leaned forward, grey mask locked in a permanent frown and glare.

"I'm the Doctor." The Time Lord introduced himself, slowly approaching while keeping his hands displayed. "I've come to talk. I'm going to remove your mask." He informed the Silurian woman long before he took the action.

The Doctor gently felt for the edge of the mask, and gingerly pulled it off.

"Oh…" The Doctor looked at the Silurian woman's face, even if she was glowering at him, with a look of awe. "You are beautiful." Tactic number one, calm them down by saying something so unexpected, they could only be confused. In the Doctor's defense, the Silurian really was a very… attractive woman, even for a non-Gallifreyan. Then again, his second wife was a bit green and scaly as well, so maybe it was just nostalgia.

"The remnant of a bygone age on planet Earth." The Doctor smiled. "And by the way, lovely mode of travel." He complimented, another tactic to try and make her cooperative. "Geothermal currents projecting you up through a network of tunnels." He did a little chef's kiss. "Gorgeous! May I sit?" He didn't really wait for a reply, before pulling up a chair to lounge in.

"Now," The Doctor threw one leg over the other. "Your people have taken my daughter. I want her back. Now."

The Silurian said nothing, choosing to continue to glare instead.

"Why did you come to the surface?" The Doctor questioned instead. "What do you want?"

She just kept sitting there, staring.

"Oh, I do hate a monologue." The Doctor said. "Come on, give us an answer. How many are you?"

"…I am the last of my species." She replied.

The Doctor scoffed. "The Klempari Defense, oldest trick in the book. No, I'm the last of my species, and I know how that sits in a heart." The Time Lord glared at her. "So don't insult me… Let's start again. Tell me your name." The Doctor requested.

"Alaya." She finally answered.

"Oh, I like that, lovely name, Alaya." The Doctor remarked. "How long has your tribe been sleeping under the earth?"

Alaya tilted her head.

"It's not that difficult to work out." The Time Lord told her. "You're 300 million years out of your comfort zone. Question is; what woke you now?"

"We were attacked." Alaya hissed.

"Attacked?" The Doctor repeated, eyebrows going into his hair. "No, no, that wasn't an attack. It was a drill."

"Our sensors detected a threat to our life support systems." Alaya replied. "The warrior class was activated to prevent the assault. We will wipe the vermin from the surface and reclaim our planet."

"Do we have to say 'vermin?'" The Doctor asked. "They're really, very nice."

"They're primitive apes." Alaya shot back.

"Extraordinary species." The Doctor retorted, ignoring that, just earlier in the day, he'd called a few of them stupid apes. "You attack them, and they will fight back. But," He hit his hand on his leg, "There's a peace to be brokered here. I can help you with that."

"This land is ours." Alaya snarled. "We were living here long before the apes!"

"Doesn't give you automatic rights to it now, I'm afraid." The Doctor retorted. "Actually, going by that logic, I'm the only one who has any right to this planet. It formed around Racnoss starship. I'm rambling. Point is, they're not going to just give it up."

"Then we will destroy them." Alaya resolved.

"You underestimate them." The Doctor clasped his hands.

"You underestimate us!" Alaya retorted.

"One tribe of homo reptilia against six billion humans?" The Doctor questioned back. "You've got your work cut out for you then."

"We did not initiate combat." Alaya stood tall. "But we will still win! Earth is weak. The apes are destroying themselves for us as we speak!"

The Doctor blinked. "Oh, right, 2020. Last thing this year needs, attack of the Silurians. But never mind that…" The Doctor leaned forward, glaring. "Give me back my daughter. Give us back everyone you've taken."

Alaya responded with a taunting smile. "No."

A few tense moments of silence passed. The Doctor drew a breath, standing up. "I'm not going to let you provoke a war, Alaya." He put the chair away. "There will be no battle here today."

"The fire of war is already lit." The Silurian retorted. "A massacre is due."

The Doctor turned to her. "Not while I'm here." Not a threat, not a promise…

An objective fact.

"I will die for my cause." Alaya stated. "What will you do for yours?"

The Doctor had just a short smile in response. She had no idea.


"Sorry," Sarah Jane held up a finger, "What?"

"I'm going to go down, below the surface," The Doctor outlined, "To find the rest of the tribe, and talk to them."

"You're going to negotiate with these aliens?" Ambrose demanded.

"They're not aliens." The Doctor retorted. "They're Terrans."

Sarah Jane frowned. "I thought Terran meant human."

"Not strictly." The Doctor replied. "'Terran' is just a fancy way of saying 'any sort of sapient life that hails from Earth.' They're people, just like you lot." He looked around at the humans surrounding them. "Some good, some bad, some in-between."

"But what are they doing so far down in the Earth's crust?" Nasreen inquired.

"Ah, interesting story." The Doctor clapped his hands. "See, a long, long, long time ago, the Silurians lived up here, like you lot. Building cities, making history, domesticating dinosaurs… Until," The Time Lord held up a finger. "The Silurian scientists detected an unknown object entering the solar system, on a direct collision course for Earth."

"The asteroid." Nasreen breathed. "The one that killed the dinosaurs."

"No, actually." The Doctor replied. "This object was much, much, much bigger. Big enough that when it hit Earth, there would be absolutely zero chance anything on the surface could survive. So, when the first little wave of debris from the big object started landing, they went underground to wait out the catastrophe, setting things up so that when things returned to some semblance of stability, they'd be woken up."

"So," Tony rubbed his face, "Why'd it take until we drilled into them?"

"Ah, well, the Silurians were clever planners, rubbish designers." The Doctor replied. "They keyed the systems to record the sudden spike of geological activity, wait for the spike to go down, and then wake them up. But, the thing is, after the wave of little meteors, the big one never hit."

"Never hit?" Sarah Jane repeated.

"No." The Doctor confirmed. "Because their scientists had gotten their calculations just a little bit off. Instead of the object smashing into Earth, it was captured… and became the moon."

"…the moon?" Ambrose repeated.

"Yep!" The Doctor pointed up. "The great big silvery thing in the sky! And the Silurians slept, never to be awoken… Until you lot started doing things like tapping oil wells, deep-sea excavation, and digging subway tunnels. Your drill was one of those. Threatening their settlement. Now, the creature in the crypt," He pointed down. "Her name's Alaya. She's one of their warriors, and she's my bargaining chip. I need her alive. If she lives, so does Elliot, and Mo, and El. My El. Because I will find them." The Time Lord turned to each one of them gravely. "While I'm gone, you four people, in this church, in this corner of planet Earth, you have to be the best of humanity."

"And what if they come back?" Tony questioned. "Shouldn't we be examining this creature, dissecting it, finding its weak points?"

"No dissection! No examining!" The Doctor pointed. "We return their hostage, they return our family members. But harm a scale on that woman's body, and any hope we have on getting ours back evaporates. We can land this, together… if you are the best you can be." The Doctor looked between them. "You are decent, brilliant people. Nobody dies today. Understand?"

Nasreen suddenly began clapping, like she expected the room to burst into applause, before she abruptly stopped, with a sheepish smile.


The Doctor was striding up to the TARDIS, key at the ready, before he heard more footsteps trying to catch up to him. The Time Lord looked behind him and rushed over to the door.

"No, sorry, no!" The Doctor blocked the door before Nasreen could enter. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Coming with you, of course!" Nasreen replied. "What is it? Some kind of transport pod?"

"Sort of, but you're not," The Doctor turned to look as Tony began approaching as well, "Coming with me."

"He's right," Tony huffed. "You're not."

"I have spent my entire life excavating the layers of this planet." Nasreen refuted. "And now you want me to stand back while you head down into it? I don't think so!"

"We don't have time to argue!" The Doctor stated.

"I thought we were in a rush." Nasreen replied.

"It'll be dangerous." The Time Lord informed.

The woman shrugged. "So's crossing the road."

"Oh, for goodness sake…" The Doctor kicked the door open. "Come on!" He ordered, stepping inside to allow Nasreen in. "Welcome aboard the TARDIS. Now, don't touch anything." The Doctor pulled down the wibbly lever, the time machine letting out a mechanical warble in response. "Very precious."

"No way!" Nasreen breathed, walking up onto the platform. "But that's… this is… Fantastic!"

The Doctor chuckled as he began setting the controls.

"What does it do?" Nasreen asked.

"Everything." The Doctor replied. "I'm hoping, that since we're going down and not out, that the electrical membrane of that barrier won't interfere."

The entire TARDIS suddenly shook, being rocked from side to side.

"Did you touch anything!?" The Doctor demanded in a panic, holding onto the console.

"No!" Nasreen replied. "Isn't this just what it does!?"

"I'm not doing anything!" The Doctor outlined as he ran around the console. "We've been hijacked! They must've detected the electromagnetic field caused by the pre-flight checks!" He looked to the viewport near the doors. "We're being pulled through the earth! Whoa!" The Doctor and Nasreen fell to the floor as the TARDIS unexpectedly settled and stilled.

"Ow…" The Doctor groaned, getting to his feet before helping Nasreen up.

"Where are we?" Nasreen asked.

"Oh…" The Doctor suddenly smiled. "You are going to like this."

The Time Lord ran over to the doors first, flinging them open, before stepping out. The TARDIS had been deposited into a cave, residual dirt still falling in bits from the ceiling. Nasreen let out a little surprised huff, but looked around, intrigued.

The Doctor looked up and whistled at the hole in the ceiling. "Looks like we broke through the bottom of their tunnel network. Don't suppose it was designed to handle the TARDIS."

"How far down are we?" Nasreen inquired.

"A lot farther down than twenty-one kilometers." The Doctor answered.

"Then why aren't we burning alive?" Nasreen posed.

"Climate control." The Doctor simply replied. "The Silurians are cold blooded, but even they can't handle the temperatures common this far down." He waved her along, taking the lead. "We're looking for a small tribe of homo reptilia. Maybe a settlement of a dozen or so."

"One small tribe?" Nasreen asked, suddenly hanging back.

"Yep." The Doctor turned around to go where she had stopped.

"Maybe a dozen?" The woman repeated, looking out over from an observation platform.

"Ah." The Doctor gulped, looking at the cityscape carved out of the subterranean rock. "I said a dozen… that might be low-balling it."


El inhaled, forcing her eyes open. Trying to move one of her arms, the girl was stopped when it hit a cuff.

"No…" El struggled against the bindings. "No!"

"Hey," A man next to her, in a similar examination rig with a long scar running down his chest, looked over to her, whispering. "Don't worry, kid, we'll be fine. Just keep silent and close your eyes."

"What?" El asked.

The man looked over into the distance, paling. "Here he comes."

El followed the man's eyes and paled herself, at the green, scaled person, wearing scrubs and a facemask. The being leaned in to begin its examination, and El began struggling again.

Just like the lab, all over again.