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The ride down in the lift was utterly silent except for the impatient tapping of Alice's foot. Once the lift finally arrived the doors opened with a ping, they all exit the lift into a long, dark and dank looking corridor, dimly lit with eerie green lights. Shivering Alice gives her arms a rub, before folding her arms across her chest, her eyes glancing around her as Donna began to speak
"Where are we?" the older Noble asked, but not getting an answer decided to continue, "Well, what goes on down here?"
"Let's find out..."
"Do you think Mr Clements knows about this place?"
"The mysterious H C Clements?"
"Well, who else would it be," the young redhead offered sarcastically.
But the Doctor just decides to ignore her, "I think he's part of it," glancing away from her just as something catches his eye, "Oh, look - transport."
A few moments later, all of them trundled down the corridor on electric scooters. The problem was there had only been three scooters, with Alice ending up hitching a ride with the Doctor. She had insisted on wanting to go with her sister, only for Donna to insist she go with the Doctor but Alice could never understand the reason behind it.
The whole thing was comical really, and both sisters shared a look probably thinking it was as well and started laughing loudly together. Not long after the Doctor had joined in with them, just finding it equally as funny. It was only Lance that didn't seem to get it at all.
They come to a stop at a door which reads: 'Torchwood – authorised personnel only.'
So all nature of things they abandoned the scooters as Alice brushed off a little dirt from her blue dress whilst the Doctor turned a wheel to open a door revealing a ladder, and he peers up it.
"Wait here," he told them, "Just need to get my bearings. Don't..." he points sternly at them "...do anything," the Doctor disappeared up the ladder.
"You'd better come back," Donna hollered after him.
Stopping, Alice sees him offer Donna a teasing grin, "I couldn't get rid of you if I tried."
With that, Donna returned a smile, and all three watched him continue to climb up the ladder.
"Donna..." Lance began, "Have you thought about this? Properly? I mean, this is serious! What the hell are we going to do?"
"Oh, I thought July," Donna replied, not having heard him, beaming away at Lance before returning her attention on the Doctor.
The young Noble willed herself not to laugh, after seeing the look on Lance's face. But it wasn't a long before the Doctor returned as he hopped off the ladders last rung.
"Thames flood barrier! Right on top of us,"
he informed them, "Torchwood snuck in and built this place underneath."
"So exactly like in the movies," Alice offered with some enthusiasm.
"What, there's like a secret base hidden underneath a major London landmark?"
"I know! Unheard of," he returned sarcastically to Donna, making Alice laugh a little.
They now entered into a laboratory of sorts, from what Alice could see as her eyes widen in surprise, it was full of many test tubes with strange liquid boiling away inside them and some chemistry equipment as well. Because not only did this place have a hidden floor, but also had a secret laboratory to boot! She was honestly in her element right now! Alice's looking around with pure utter joy, eyes wandering about the things in the room around her.
"Oh, look at this!" the Time Lord, tells them, as his eyes too glanced around the room with wonder, "Stunning! Particle extrusion!"
"What does it do?" Donna questioned him.
"Particle extrusion. Hold on..." he goes darting over to one of the many bubbling tubes and gives it a tap, "Brilliant. They've been manufacturing Huon particles. In case my people got rid of Huons, they unravelled the atomic structure."
"Your people?" Lance asked him with a frown, "Who are they? What company do you represent?"
"Oh, I'm a freelancer," the Doctor responded offhandedly with a shrug, still looking at the tubes, "But this lot are rebuilding them. They've been using the river! Extruding them through a flat hydrogen base, so they've got the result - Huon particles in liquid form," he grabbed a small test tube that Alice could only guess had 'Huon particles,' lifting it to show them.
"And that's what's inside me?" Donna asks, nodding at the tube in his hand.
Ever so gently, he turns the knob at the top the test tube, making the contents within being to glow gold. Alice noticing that it was the same thing that had happened to her sister, as she now glowed with it also.
"Oh, my God!" Donna exclaims, taking a look at what is happening to her.
Once he had finished turning the knob and Donna returned to normal. When all Alice couldn't help but tightly hold her sister's hand, suddenly fearing that her life was in grave danger. Because it had dawned on Alice that if this stuff was inside of Donna, what harm will it cause her? She recalls what the Doctor had said about his people being able to get rid of the Huon particles, but it only leaves her questioning...how or why? That was just left hovering over her. Suddenly she clicked back into reality and out of her thoughts back to hearing the Doctor speaking once again.
"Because the particles are inert - they need something living to catalyse inside, and that's you. Saturate the body and then... HA!" both of the sisters jump from his sudden burst of mad enthusiasm. Alice could only but glare daggers at him. He needed to stop doing that as she would give him another smack because what's happening to her sister right now isn't something to be excited over. Because it wasn't exciting but bloody terrifying and here was the Doctor ranting on about it joyously, "The wedding! Yes, you're getting married, that's it! Best day of your life, walking down the aisle - oh, your body's a battleground!" he now gestured to Donna, "There's a chemical war inside! Adrenaline, acetylcholine, WHAM go the endorphins, oh you're cooking! Yeah, you're like a walking oven! A pressure cooker, a microwave, all churning away, the particles reach boiling point, SHAZAM!"
At that moment Alice had considered wanting to slap him herself, she had been too busy gazing back at him with a look of utter disbelief and with her mouth hanging open having gotten lost in him rambling on at a hundred miles an hour. That Donna had gone ahead and slapped him somewhat hard.
"What did I do this time?" he questioned her indignantly.
Donna responded moodily with a glare, "Are you enjoying this?!"
In that very moment, the Doctor relaxes, Alice seeing him now looking somewhat ashamed instead of him being excited. The young Noble couldn't help but wince as Donna approached him, her sister's breathing was heavy and distressed, that it also could be seen as clearly on her features.
"Right, just tell me - these particles, are they dangerous? Am I safe?"
"Yes!" the Time Lord burst out in response rather unconvincingly.
But Alice could tell he was lying. In doing so, she stepped forwards so that she now stood beside her big sister and tightly grasped her hand before looking the Doctor directly in the eye, as she now spoke to him.
"Please, Doctor?" She insisted calmly, "If your lot got rid of those particles...how?" she sees hesitation in his eyes, "How did they do it?"
"Because they were deadly," he finally offered in a gentle manner which only made Alice's hand tighten on her sister's.
"Oh, my God..." Donna let out with a breath.
"I'll sort it out, Donna," the Doctor assured, his tone now more severe, "Whatever's been done to you, I'll reverse it."
"Then promise me?" Alice asked, feeling tears brimming her eyes. Just the very thought of losing her sister was something that she always dreaded the most, "Promise me she'll be okay?"
His brown eyes now met Alice's misty green holding her gaze, "Alice, I promise you she'll be okay. Because I'm not about to lose someone else."
But before Alice had the chance to ask who this other person had been that he had lost, a loud series of bangs and crashes started echoing from all around them. Suddenly a voice filled the air as the noises continued
"Oh, she is long since lost."
A wall now comes sliding upwards to reveal a secret chamber inside with an enormous circular hole in the floor. Alice's eyes widen at what's before her, leaving her lost for words.
"I have waited so long, hibernating at the edge of the universe..."
Seeing as the Doctor, Alice and Donna were somewhat too distracted by the voice, none of them had noticed Lance escaping through the door.
"...until the secret heart was uncovered and called out to waken!"
All around the chamber walls are lined with robots wearing black hoods.
The Doctor wondered over towards the hole, only for Alice to grasp him by the arm and pull him away, "Where are you going?" she asked him with wide eyes.
"What, I'm just having a nose at it that's all," he yanked his arm out of the young woman's hold and went over to the, peering down into its never-ending darkness, "Someone's been digging... oh, very Torchwood. Drilled by laser. How far down does it go?"
"Down and down, all the way to the centre of the Earth!"
"Really? Seriously?" he asked with disbelief, "What for?"
Donna goes shuffling forwards slightly whilst Alice continued to watch on, "Dinosaurs," she offered in suggestion.
The Doctor turned to her, furrowing his eyebrows, "What?"
"Dinosaurs?"
He furrowed his eyebrows a little deeper, "What are you on about, dinosaurs?"
"That film, Under the Earth, with dinosaurs. Trying to help!"
"That's not helping."
"Such a sweet couple."
"Them two?! A couple?!" Alice exclaimed with a scoff. Her sister and the Time Lord went to turn in her direction, "I'm sorry, but my sister wouldn't be interested in a twig in a suit. He's not exactly her type," she went on, glancing in the Doctor's noting the expression on his face, "Not that I mean it like that. But it's the truth."
But he didn't even bother even to respond and started to use that voice which drove her up the wall, "Only a madman talks to thin air and trust me, and you don't want to make me mad. Where are you?"
"High in the sky, floating so high on Christmas Night."
Alice could tell how annoyed he started moving about, "I didn't come all this way to talk on the intercom! Come on, let's have a look at you!"
"Who are you with such command?" the voice boomed in demand.
"I'm the Doctor!"
"Prepare your best medicines, doctor-man," Alice rolled her eyes with disbelief, thinking she could probably have come up with something a little more threatening than that, "For you will be sick at heart," in the blink of an eye, a massive red spider appears within the room snarling and growling.
Alice cowers slightly letting out small cry distress, her grasp like a vice on her sister's hand. Spiders, they just her the absolute creeps!
"The Racnoss..." the Time Lord voiced in pure amazement, "But that's impossible, you're one of the Racnoss!"
"Empress of the Racnoss."
"If you're the Empress, where's the rest of the Racnoss? Or... are you the only one?"
"Such a sharp mind," the Empress hissed displeasingly.
The young redhead breathed out with a sigh of relief. Of course, she felt terrible that the Empress was the last of her kind, which was a good thing. Because who would want any more of those spiders scurrying around. At that very thought, Alice felt a cold tingling journey up her spine and shivered a little.
"That's it, the last of your kind," the Doctor glanced at the Racnoss for a moment, before looking to the sisters to tell them, "The Racnoss come from the Dark Times, billions of years ago, billions. They were carnivores, omnivores, they devoured whole planets."
Alice voiced her disgust, "Erugh!"
"Racnoss are born starving, is that our fault?" the Empress asked with a growl.
"They eat people?" Donna inquired, looking over to the Doctor.
"H C Clements, did he wear those- those erm, black and white shoes?"
"Yeah, Donna told me about him once," Alice responded, her sister having told her about the ever famous HC Clements, she looked to her sister, "What did you and the others call him?"
Donna now let a small laugh and smiled, "We used to call him the fat cat in spats."
"Oh, now I remember," Alice recalled also laughing, remembering how she'd doubled over in hysterics on the phone and fell off the sofa's arm. It almost had her roommate Martha worried. But another thought came to her, as she turned to ask the Doctor, "But how has that got to do with anything?"
He pointed and nodded his head towards the ceiling, in the corner was a web and attached to that web, Alice noticed a pair of black and white shoes still attached to who must be the recently deceased HC Clements only just poking out.
"Oh, my God!" the sisters exclaimed with shock.
"Mm, my Christmas dinner," the Empress cackled.
"You shouldn't even exist!" the Time Lord exclaimed, as Alice bit her tongue holding back a witty retort, "Way back in history, the Fledgling Empires went to war against the Racnoss...they were wiped out."
Alice now catches Lance stood upon the balcony above the Racnoss unbeknown to her. Wondering when on Earth he had gotten up there. It seemed Donna had caught on as well and Lance motioned for them to stay quiet
"Except for me."
So in a bid to distract the Empress for Lance, Donna began to speak up, "But that's what I've got inside me, that Huon energy thing," yet the alien wasn't paying no attention to her, "Oi! Look at me, lady, I'm talking. Where do I fit in? How comes I get all stacked up with these Huon particles?"
Lance descended the stairs, axe in hand and at the ready as Donna continued trying to gain the Empresses attention, "Look at me, you! Look me in the eye and tell me."
"The bride is so feisty!" the Empress implied glancing at Donna.
"Yes, I am! And I don't know what you are, you big... thing," Alice frowned at her sister, "But a spider's just a spider, and an axe is an axe! Now, do it!"
Lance takes a swing with the axe, for only the Empress to hiss at the final moment. Alice didn't expect what would happen next. That Lance had bow stopped, glancing towards Donna before suddenly bursting out laughing along with the Empress.
Alice's mouth was now hanging open with utter disbelief and glared at Lance. Because what she was feeling towards him right now, was nothing but pure anger and betrayal.
"That was a good one," Lance looked to the Empress still laughing, "Your face!"
"Lance is funny!" she agreed, cackling along.
"What?" Donna narrowed her eyes at her fiancé in confusion.
"Can somebody please explain what the hell is going on?" Alice demanded, hands coming up in frustration.
"I'm sorry," the Doctor offered quietly to Donna who
turned to him.
"Sorry for what?" Donna whirled back around as if trying to tell herself it wasn't true and demanded, "Lance, don't be so stupid! Get her!"
Alice could see pity in Lance's eyes as her sister exchanged glances with him, but it wasn't that of concern only carelessness. She clenched her hands into tight fists, knuckles beginning to turn white, "God, she's thick," Lance sneered at Donna.
But Donna was still completely and utterly lost about what was happening. Yet it only angered the young redhead more, because nobody has the right to speak like her big sister like filth. Did he have a death wish or something? But the very thought just confused her even more. Alice knew there was nothing extraordinary about being irritated and confused, especially with being a redhead.
"Months I had to put up with her," Lance began complaining, "Months. A woman who can't even point to Germany on a map."
"I don't understand," Donna slowly began uncomprehendingly.
"How did you meet him?" the Time Lord asked silently with interest.
"In the office."
"He made you coffee."
"What?"
"Oh, will you just spit it out, Doctor!" Alice seethed, "What does this all mean?"
He stared back at the young redhead woman who only but returned it. Before he began to explain, "That...your sister was dosed with the particles over six months for it to take effect."
"So essentially he's been poisoning my sister," the Doctor's silence was his answer, and Alice growls, eyes aglow with nothing but murderous intent as she went charging towards Lance, "You asshole! You complete, utter fucking moron! I'll bloody kill you!"
She was about to pounce on the very place he stood and beat him senseless but what didn't help her was the evil smirk painted across Lance's face. Suddenly arms wrapped Alice's waist only to realise it was the Doctor who had yanked her away. She forced his hands off her and glared daggers into him, only for the Time Lord not paying the slightest attention to her, but now on Lance instead. Alice now sees darkness come across his features.
"It was all there in the job title - the Head of Human Resources."
"This time, it's personnel," Lance joked, he and the Empress laughed together.
"But... we were getting married," Donna uttered quietly, wholly heartbroken and Alice couldn't help but feel sorry for her.
"Well, I couldn't risk you running off. I had to say yes. And then I was stuck with a woman who thinks the height of excitement is a new flavour Pringle," Lance rolled his eyes in annoyance, "Oh, I had to sit there and listen to all that yap yap yap... 'oh, Brad and Angelina, is Posh pregnant?' X-Factor, Atkins Diet, Feng Shui, split ends, text me, text me, text me, dear God, the never-ending fountain of fat, stupid trivia."
Alice's heart clenches again off from the heartbroken look on Donna's face.
Donna listens to this torrent of abuse with an expression of increasing hurt and confusion. She was right about the feelings she had about Lance all along. Nothing but a slimy snake that she wanted to strangle the life out of.
"I deserve a medal."
"Oh, is that what she's offered you? The Empress of the Racnoss? What are you? Her consort?"
Alice wrinkled her nose up in disgust at the Doctors comment.
Just as Lance now gave a shrug and points to Donna, "It's better than a night with her."
"But I love you," Donna voiced with sorrow, the younger Noble seeing tears now forming in her sister's eyes. But this was her big sister, who always kept her tears at bay, but Alice could tell she was going to crack at any given moment.
"That's what made it easy," Lance went on scathingly. His attention now on the Doctor, who just glared back, his expression unreadable to Alice, "It's like you said, Doctor...the big picture...what's the point of it all if the Human Race is nothing? That's what the Empress can give me. The chance to... go out there. To see it. The size of it all," Lance stares the Time Lord right in eyes, "I think you understand that, don't you, Doctor?"
Alice could see it plainly across the Doctor's face, that he understood. Recalling something she had seen in those eyes, they were the eyes of a man who's witnessed too much pain and anguish in his life. She could now see it clearly on his face as a confirmation.
"Who is this little physician?" the Empress asked of Lance.
"What she said - Martian."
"Oh, I'm sort of... homeless," the Time Lord quickly alters the subject, moving a step closer, "But the point is, what's down here?" he peered down at the hole in the floor, "The Racnoss are extinct. What's gonna help you four thousand miles down? That's just the molten core of the Earth, isn't it?"
"I think he wants us to talk," Lance informed the Empress.
"I think so too."
"You don't say?" the young redhead offered with sarcastic awe, hand on her cheek, "What made you think of that?"
Lance darts an aggravated look Alice's way only for her to plaster on the biggest put on a smile in return.
"Well, tough!" Lance shouted, "All we need is Donna!"
The young woman pulled Donna behind her, sending nothing but deathly glares at Lance, "Go to hell, you bastard! Because you're not laying another finger on my sister!"
Only this gets ignored over the Empress's yelling, "Kill this chattering little doctor-man!"
Donna went to stand in front of the Doctor, even though she was feeling terrified, "Don't you hurt him!"
"No, no, it's all right," the Time Lord insisted.
But Donna denied him this still feeling nothing but frightened, shaking her head, "No, I won't let them!"
"Then neither will I," Alice consented, coming to also stand in front of the Doctor and squeezed Donna's hand who returned it in response.
"At arms!" the Empress commanded.
The robots aimed their guns at the Doctor.
"Ah, now," the Time Lord began to say, "Except."
"Take aim!"
"Well, I just want to point out the obvious-"
"They won't hit the bride," the Empress glanced in Alice's direction, "Or the mouthy one. They're such very good shots."
"Mouthy?!" the young Noble voiced with aggravation, as this only gets ignored by the Time Lord as he tried his best in continuing to distract the Empress.
"Just-just-just-hold on, just a tick, just a tiny-just a little-tick," the Doctor held up his finger, "If you think about it, the particles activated in Donna and drew her inside my spaceship. So, reverse it... the spaceship comes to her," taking out a tube of Huon particles from his trouser pocket gave the top a slight twist causing the particles inside began glowing and Donna as well.
Suddenly Alice's now wide eyes darted with uncertainty as something began materialising around them, "What the..." the young woman uttered when the Empress orders the robots.
"Fire!"
They began shooting laser blasts at them, and Alice scrunched her eyes firmly shut bracing herself for impact...only that nothing happened at all. Her eyes snapped back open as she found herself in a relatively spacious room of sorts. The place was massive! But at the same time, she found it truly incredible. But she didn't have enough time to absorb it all when the Time Lord exclaimed.
"Off we go!"
Alice watched him darting off towards something that stood within the centre of the room, just as she asked, still trying to take everything in, "Where are we?" seeing the Doctor running about wildly, touched buttons and gizmos and the thing in the centre only for it to hit that it was a console of sorts.
"Welcome to the TARDIS. Time And Relative Dimensions In Space," he gives the young woman a quick introduction to ship because he knew it was a lot for someone to take in all at once and noticed that Alice was taking it much better than he expected her to.
As he now quickly turned his attention back towards Donna, "Right, Donna...remember what I had said before about time machines? Well, I lied. And now we're going to use it."
The young Noble's eyes widened at hearing the word 'time machine,' in which this was! Honestly, after the day she's been having this wasn't as shocking like it should've been because how was anything else going to top it after this.
That's when she had noticed that her sister hadn't uttered much of word. To see that Donna was almost shivering like a leaf. Suddenly, dashing over towards her to see her sister crying, pulling Donna into a hug. She returned the hug and began sobbing into Alice's shoulder, but the Doctor was utterly oblivious from rambling to take note of the woman's torment.
"We need to find out what the Empress of the Racnoss is digging up. If something's buried at the planet core, it must've been there since the beginning. That's just brilliant. Molto bene! I've always wanted to see this. Alice, Donna-we're going further back than I've ever been before."
In that very moment, he stopped talking to take in the scene of Alice gently rubbing her old sister's back as she cried into her shoulder, the young woman's hazel-brown eyes glanced up at him.
"She'll be alright," she uttered silently to him before returning her attention to her sister.
It took a couple of moments longer, but Donna had since regrouped herself, and the ship had since stopped moving and had arrived at its destination.
"You know...all that stuff Lance said wasn't true," Alice offered calmly, wrapping a reassuring arm around Donna's shoulders. The older woman only but took a sniff but didn't utter a word.
"We've arrived..." the Time Lord implied, poking his head around the console watching the sisters as they now both to peer back at him before continuing to ask, "Want to see?" Alice could see a glint of excitement in his eyes, and she couldn't help but feel overjoyed for what he was about to show her and Donna.
"Yeah," the young woman agreed with happiness.
"I s'pose," Donna offered unenthusiastically.
The Doctor swings the monitor around for them to see. Alice wandered over to have a look at the screen. But it was way too small that hardly anything could be seen, leaving the young woman feeling somewhat deflated.
"Oh, that scanner's a bit small. Maybe your Donna's best."
"And what would that be?" Alice asked with raised eyebrows.
He grinned back at her, "This," he goes to approach the doors waiting on the sister as he gazed back at them, "Come on."
Alice is being the eager one was first to head over, followed by Donna, who took her time coming to join them. Once all three of them are together, the Time Lord began to speak, "No human's ever seen this. You'll be the first."
"All I want to see is my bed," Donna responded with a depressing sigh.
"Come on!" Alice gestured towards the doors with excitement.
Not wasting another moment longer he took hold of the handles, "Donna and Alice Noble -welcome to the creation of the Earth," he swung open the doors and the young Noble couldn't help but gasp at the most spectacular sight that greeted her very eyes, Donna, on the other hand, was left completely gobsmacked. The sun was shining brightly through clouds of stunningly beautiful coloured dust and rocking of various sizes floated around them.
"Oh, wow!" Alice offered mesmerised, "This is just...it's beautiful. Don't you think sis?"
Donna only but responded with a nod, clearly just as flabbergasted as her little sister.
"We've gone back 4.6 billion years," the Doctor tells them softly, glancing briefly at Alice for a moment as she smiled in awe and her eyes sparkling with delight, knowing he's ignited something within her that can never be put out. That sense of adventure and wonder she'd probably want to discover more of, but he knew it'd be too soon to even ask the sisters to join him because his hearts weren't ready for that when he's only just lost, Rose.
With a shake of his head, the Doctor continued to speak gazing out amongst the sight with the Noble sisters, "There's no solar system, not yet. Only dust and rocks and gas," he points out to them, not seeing Alice's eyes watching his finger as it moves.
"That's the sun isn't it?" the young woman asked, glancing in his direction.
"Yes, that's the Sun over there, brand new. Just beginning to burn."
"This is just incredible," Alice muttered, "That we've travelled this far back in time."
"It's brilliant don't you think?" the Doctor grinned at the young woman.
She now laughed, smiling back at him, "It's beyond brilliant," they just stood there, grinning at one another.
That's until Donna cleared her throat from behind them she didn't want to interrupt this happy moment between her sister and the Doctor, that's if was one but it seemed to her they were finally starting to get along with each other.
"Where's the Earth though?" Donna now asked with a frown
"All around us... in the dust."
"Puts the wedding in perspective," she offered with a defeated sigh, "Lance was right. We're just... tiny."
"No, but that's what you do," the Time Lord reassured her, with a tiny grin, "The human race. Making sense out of chaos. Marking it out with weddings and Christmas and calendars. This whole process is beautiful, but only if it's being observed."
Alice couldn't help but nod in agreement, as she went to gaze back outside Donna went onto ask, "So, we came out of all this?"
"Yeah we did, because we're incredible," Alice gives her sister a slight nudge and a wink, who let out a small laugh. It had been the first time since they laughed about finding out about Lance's betrayal.
The Doctor watched the sisters fondly with a gentle smile. Just when a massive chunk of rock listlessly floated by the TARDIS.
"I think that's the Isle of Wight," Donna offered with a joke making them all laugh together.
"Eventually, gravity takes hold. Say, one big rock, heavier than the others, starts to pull other rocks towards it. All the dust and gas and elements get pulled in, everything, piling in until you get the..."
"Earth," the sisters completed in unison, they all began laughing again.
"But the question is... what was that first rock?"
Yet but they didn't wait that long to find out the answer. When suddenly a rock shaped like a star emerges through the clouds and dust.
"Look," Donna pointed to it.
"The Racnoss..." the Time Lord whispers. Suddenly, he hurried back towards the console and Alice noticed him spinning a wheel frantically.
"What are you doing?" the young Noble asked with a frown.
Only that he didn't respond to her question as he spoke rather loudly, "Hold on - the Racnoss are hiding from the war! What's it doing?"
Donna was still standing beside the doors looking outside answered for her instead, "Exactly what you said."
The Doctor comes running back towards the doors to take a peek at it for himself, "Oh, they didn't just bury something at the centre of the Earth... they became the centre of the Earth. The first rock."
That's when suddenly the TARDIS violently shuddered and everyone almost gets knocked off their feet with Donna immediately pulling her sister protectively into her arms.
"What was that?" the eldest Noble demanded.
"Trouble," the Doctor offered bluntly quickly slamming the doors shut.
"You don't say thanks for pointing that out gen... Ahh!" Alice let's out a fearful scream before she could finish speaking as the TARDIS shuddered and tilted violently once again when the Doctor's catches her in his arms. She lets him keep a tight grasp on her as they struggle to keep balance with the ship still throwing them about.
"What the hell's it doing?!" Donna yelled over all the loud noises.
"Remember that little trick I pulled - particles pulling particles. It works in reverse - they're pulling us back!"
"You've got to be joking me," the young redhead uttered to herself just as the Doctor released her from his grasp and ran over towards the console in a desperate attempt to steer the TARDIS, but it was beyond his control.
"Well, can't you stop it? Hasn't it got a handbrake? Can't you reverse or warp or beam or something?" Donna asked him.
"Backseat driver," Alice heard the Doctor mutter, which made her slap him on the arm.
"Seriously, are you always this rude?" she questioned glaring daggers, arms folded across her chest.
"Yeah I am!" he replied, Alice was about to comment on his answer when he suddenly cried out making her jump again, "Oh! Wait a minute!" the Time Lord pulled something out from underneath the console, the object in question looked rather strange and weird-looking to Alice, "The extrapolator!"
"What?" she oddly frowned at him.
"The extrapolator!" he repeated, wiggling before Alice's eyes, "Can't stop us, but it should give us a good bump!"
Something that the young has learned from knowing this man just for a couple of hours is to just nod along and make a few interesting noises with the complete utter nonsense that she just doesn't get.
"Now!" the Time Lord gives the extrapolator a whack making the TARDIS jerk slightly and the sisters tightly grip the console to stop themselves from falling over. Awhile later it completely stops, all three now stepping out from the TARDIS where they had started.
That's when Alice takes a proper look at the time machine that's a blue 1930's police box and can't help but admire it, "Wow."
"We're about 200 yards to the right," the Doctor tells them, "Come on!" just him and Donna take off running and Alice is suddenly broken from her trance.
"Hey! Wait for me! I'm in bloody heels!" the young woman goes chasing after them her heels clicking rapidly on the ground. She finally caught up with them and arrived at the door leading up to the Thames Flood Barrier.
"But what do we do?" Donna asked, slightly out of breath.
"I don't know!" he responded with uncertainty, making Alice take a double-take to see him with a stethoscope holding against the door to listen whatever's behind it, "I make it up as I go along! But trust me, I've got a history."
"Oh, I bet you have," the young woman comments with a scoff.
"But I still don't understand," Donna talked to him, "I'm full of particles - but what for?"
"There's a Racnoss web at the centre of the Earth, but my people unravelled their power source. The Huon particles ceased to exist but the Racnoss are stuck."
Alice was currently too absorbed in what the Doctor was saying that she hadn't noticed her sister being kidnapped by a robot. But that's when she instantly realised something was wrong, but only she was too late as her eyes widen in fear.
"Doctor," she tries getting his attention but it seems he hasn't noticed.
"They've just been in hibernation for billions of years. Frozen. Dead. Kaput! So you're the new key."
"Doctor..."
"Brand new particles, living particles! They need you to open it...
"Doctor!" Alice screamed at the Doctor making him jump and glance in her direction, "Donna! She's been taken!"
"What?!" the Time Lord whizzed around now having finally noticed. He groaned in frustration running a hand through his hair making it messier than before, "Did you see what took her?" he asked, grabbing Alice tightly by the shoulders.
"Yes, I saw something take her..." Alice began to offer sarcastically before huffing angrily, "I don't bloody know!"
He lets out another groan, letting go of Alice and turned back towards the door. With his sonic he gets the door open, only to be confronted by an armed robot. Both of them immediately take a step back, only for the Time Lord to bump into Alice.
"Ally...please...do as...I tell...you?" he explained to the young redhead as they ever so carefully backed away from the armed robot, which hadn't even attempted to attack them, but in time was eventually going to.
"What?" she gaped at him.
"Get out of here... and get back home..." he insisted.
"But my sister-"
"Alice, I'll save Donna. I promised to you that I'm not going to lose somebody else...so you're going to have to trust me on this."
But for some unknown reason, Alice had her complete trust in him even though she's had known him for only a couple of hours so she did what he asked and started running back home not looking back once.
❈•≫────≪•◦ ❈ ◦•≫────≪•❈
Alice didn't know how long she stood outside her house for, not caring if it was cold outside or that she'd get ill, only using the warmth her arms wound around her, waiting for her sister. It'd been hours but Donna still hadn't returned and frankly, it was beginning to worry her. What if the Doctor has broken his promise and her sister is lying dead somewhere. The very thought made her shiver and she shook her head knowing that deep in her heart Donna was still alive.
She could tell her parents were extremely worried about her as well. But the young Noble couldn't bring herself to explain everything that happened. Because she knew it'd only worry them more and probably think she was off her rocker. Only there was probably one person who'd believe her and that was her dear old Gramps.
But despite all her worries, Alice's thoughts couldn't help but wonder to the Doctor as a smile appeared on her face. Suddenly, as if by magic a whirring yet grinding sound filled the air breaking the young woman's thoughts. Ahead of her, she witnessed the blue police box materialise in the middle of the road. The doors opened and out came Donna.
"Donna!" Alice went running towards her, grinning like an idiot pulling her into a bone-crushing hug. Donna returned the hug and laughed at her little sister. The young woman pulling back still grinning from ear to ear.
"They're much better," Alice turned to see the Doctor step outside as well. But it was then without even stopping herself, that she hugged the man. At first, he went stiff as a board, finding it rather awkward because he wasn't expecting it, but he finally managed to relax and returned it.
"Thanks for saving my sister," she tells him breaking their hug.
"No problem," he smiled in at her in return, "But I just need to make sure that the particles are completely gone," not giving her a chance to respond, he grabbed his sonic screwdriver and presses the button, it's tip glowing blue as he scanned it over Donna and once done he smiled at her, "Nope! All the Huon particles have gone. No damage, you're fine."
"Yeah, but apart from that...I missed my wedding, lost my job and became a widow on the same day. Sort of."
"Hang on, how did you become a widow? Also what happened to Lance?" The young Noble asked, not that she cared what happened to that slime ball.
"A spider ate him," Donna bluntly replied.
Alice winced, knowing she'd been talking about the Racnoss, "Ergh."
"I couldn't save him," the Doctor offered simply.
"He deserved it," Donna said with a bitter uncaring tone. Only for the Doctor raise his eyebrows at her and instantly her face softened, "No, he didn't," she turned to look at the house, "I'd better get inside. They'll be worried."
"Best Christmas present they could have," the Time Lord mentions as Alice and Donna watched their parents embrace each other, "Oh, no, I forgot - you hate Christmas."
"Yes, I do," the older Noble agreed with a nod, which Alice couldn't blame her sister for.
"Even if it snows?" he goes to tweak a switch on the TARDIS and a ball of light shoots out from the top and explodes like a firework in the midnight sky as snow began sprinkling down all around them. Alice gasped with utter amazement as her sis laughed with pure delight.
"I can't believe you did that!"
The Doctor nonchalantly shrugged as he leant against the TARDIS, "Oh, basic atmospheric excitation," he tells them casually with a grin, them smiling back in return.
"Merry Christmas," both the sisters tell him.
"And you. So... what will you do with yourself now?" he asked looking to Donna.
"Not getting married for starters."
"Oh, God don't tell mum that, she'll have kittens," the younger Noble joked.
"And I'm not gonna temp anymore. I dunno... travel... see a bit more of planet Earth... walk in the dust. Just... go out there and do something."
"Well, you could always..." Alice noticed the hesitation in his voice like he was uncertain whether or not that he was about to do the right thing.
"What?"
"...come with me..." he finally said tentatively, Alice sees a glimmer of hope in his eyes which soon quickly faded once at her sister's response.
"No."
"Okay," he responded rather quickly.
"I can't..."
"No, that's fine," Alice could tell through the bravado of him not caring when in a matter of fact that he probably did.
"No, but really... everything we did today... do you live your life like that?"
"...Not all the time," he said unconvinced.
"I think you do. And I couldn't."
Maybe I could one day... Alice thought to herself but didn't voice it. Because she knew it would be rude to just invite herself along. Besides she had other things to be getting on with, like getting back to her studies into becoming a Doctor one for humans.
"But you've seen it out there. It's beautiful."
What she and Donna had seen today, had been pretty incredible. But why on Earth would her sister turn down the adventure of a lifetime when she knew it had been a dream Donna's to travel off to far places.
"And it's terrible. That place was flooding and burning and they were dying and you were stood there like... I don't know... a stranger. And then you made it snow - I mean, you scare me to death!"
Alice winced at that finding the words pretty harsh and uncalled for. There's a drawn-out silence between them until the Doctor was the one to finally break it.
"Well then."
"Tell you what I will do though - Christmas dinner," off from the look on his face Donna went on, "Oh, come on."
"I don't do that sort of thing."
"You did it last year, you said so. And you might as well because Mum always cooks enough for twenty."
"Come on Doc, live a little and have dinner with us," the younger Noble added, "I mean what harm can it do."
He began oo-ing and ahh-ing reluctantly, before sighing in defeat, "Oh, all right then," he agrees and Alice's beamed with joy at thought of him having dinner with her family, "But you go first, better warn them. And... don't say I'm a Martian," he gestured towards the TARDIS, "I just have to park her properly, she might drift off to the Middle Ages. I'll see you both in a minute."
"You know that it's just a police box right?" Alice pointed out just as he's about to step inside, trying to keep him here a moment longer. Something tells her that he wouldn't be coming back.
"It's the TARDIS I can't help how she looks."
"Uh, okay," Alice returned a little taken aback, because shrugging, "I just think it's...a lot smaller on the outside that's all."
The Time Lord paused for a moment considering Alice's comment before muttering to himself as he entered the TARDIS, "Now that's something I haven't heard before," he closed the doors shut behind him and the box began fading out of existence. In that very moment, Donna realised he wasn't ever coming back.
"Doctor! Doctor!" she yelled for him.
Suddenly the engines had stopped and the Doctor poked him out the doors, "Blimey, you can shout."
"Am I ever gonna see you again?" Alice watched her sister staring back at him.
He returned to the sisters with a smile, "If I'm lucky."
"Just... promise me one thing; find someone."
"I don't need anyone."
"Yes, you do. Because sometimes, I think you need someone to stop you."
"Yeah," he voiced quietly briefly glancing at Alice. It was as if he wanted to ask her about coming with him but doesn't say a word. But his senses get the better of him knowing that she's probably got more important things to do and get on with her life. Only what he didn't know, was the disappointment washing over her, as he now looked at Donna, "Thanks then, Donna - good luck - and just...be magnificent."
She smiled fondly and laughed, "I think I will, yeah," the Doctor returned her smile and retreats into the TARDIS only to call for him once again, "Doctor?"
"Oh, what is it now?" he asked with mock exasperation after opening the door as Alice held back a giggle.
"That friend of yours... what was her name?"
Alice sees a sudden sadness filling his eyes. Because whoever this friend of his was that the Doctor lost must of meant a great deal to him.
He swallowed the lump that was inside his throat before finally answering, "Her name was Rose," with that he turned back and closed the TARDIS door behind him knowing it would be the last they saw him.
Soon as the time machine disappeared, Donna began to walk back home only leaving Alice who staying in place where she stood, questioning why he didn't ask her to come. Maybe it was because he still wasn't ready for the fear of rejection or that he just wasn't ready take on anybody else he cared about only to lose them again, with a sigh Alice began walking back home and back to her life in training to become a Doctor. Because that's where sometime soon their paths would cross again without them even knowing it.