'He is a smart boy. He could really do well if he just applied himself.'
That was how all of Kyle's teachers would describe him at school. It was the politest way of saying that he didn't pay attention in class but wasn't a particular nuisance that a teacher could get away with. His parents would sometimes tell him off for it but as he never did bad at school, for the most part, they left him alone.
It wasn't that Kyle didn't like school. He just found it all so dull. When he hit secondary school and it all became teachers reading from books, sat in rows amongst his friends but not allowed to interact with them, he found himself tuning out. He just preferred people to books, having a laugh to sitting in silence. It wasn't a crime, was it, to just want to have a good time whilst being at school? Why did everything have to be all grey and monotonous? His favourite times of the day were break and lunch, and he would go out of his way to walk home with different people, even if it meant he was going to wrong way from his actual house.
It wasn't until he reached year 10, the start of his GCSE years, that he finally had a teacher that could motivate him. Miss Yards, his physics teacher, managed to get him to actually enjoy the subject for the first time in his entire life. He took that enjoyment to college and, then, onto university. That's how he found himself in the Doctor's classes. Another teacher that motivated him to learn, but this time by being absolutely baffling. He never seemed to stay on topic but he always had work for them to do and Kyle never felt like he wasn't learning anything. In fact, his grades had been pretty amazing. He had no idea how the Doctor did it but it was what made him so popular. People just loved to listen to him talk.
It was also a very crowded class, and unlike some of his others it just wasn't possible to have your own seat. It was first come, first serve and that was how he'd managed to sit next to Danni. He'd seen her a couple of times before because he was always people watching, but he'd never actually interacted with her. Immediately he sensed something with her that was different to everyone else he knew. She felt so much bigger, and it wasn't to do with the fact she was slightly older than the average student. He disregarded all that, though, and introduced himself. After all he really did just like people, and she seemed rather lonely.
He did not, for one moment, think that anything more than a new friend would come out of it. His over friends thought he fancied her but he really didn't. Well, not more than he tended to fancy everyone. And she was married, so that very much stopped it going any further. The more they got to know her the more intreging she became, and soon she slotted right into their friends group like she had always been a part of it.
He never thought she would be an alien.
Kyle wasn't sure how his life went from being a university student to currently being in NASA, watching a probe landing on Mars, but that apparently was his life now. He had travelled in a tiny-but-not police box with two aliens, and the woman he'd always seen in the cafeteria, across the planet and to NASA. And they acted like it was normal. Even Bill didn't seem at all fased by it.
It was absolutely incredible. He was so glad he hadn't paid much attention in school. Imagine if he'd enjoyed history instead?
"You alright?" Danni whispered to him as they opened the doors on the TARDIS. He nodded, looking up and down the hallway they had landed in. There didn't seem to be anyone walking around, but the lights were on and the walls were very plain.
"We've moved," he replied as Danni stepped out. Bill patted him on the shoulder on the way past.
"You get used to it," she told him, like she was a seasoned pro at the whole 'travelling with aliens' thing.
"Really?" he asked her.
"Nah," she replied with a grin. "But why would you want to?"
He wholeheartedly agreed as the Doctor stepped out just before him, standing next to his wife to look up and down at all the doors.
"Which way do you think?" he asked her.
"Not sure, these halls are always so horrid and samey," she replied, her nose wrinkling up in disgust yet again. "They really need to get their act together."
The Doctor couldn't argue with that, so he turned on his heel and headed left. "This way," he declared.
"What's wrong with the halls?" Kyle asked.
"Danielle doesn't like governmental buildings," Nardole explained. "She'll complain about it quite a lot, I wouldn't worry about it."
Kyle had a lot better things to pull his attention than Danni's dislike of white walls, so he did as Nardole said and put it out his mind. The Doctor held a finger to his lips as he chose a door, seemingly at random, to lead them in. Inside was a lot of people looking and sounding very busy. The technology was amazing, and Kyle's eyes widened in awe as he was lead down the wall silently. He was really in NASA, about to see Valkyrie broadcast from the surface of Mars! He couldn't believe it.
"How do you think he's doing?" the Doctor asked his wife lowly. She glanced at her friend over her shoulder, who was only hanging at the back because he couldn't stop staring at everything around him.
"Good, I think," she whispered. "Although that might be because I'm easing him into it. Not running across the universe from a puddle, or disappearing for 12 years probably really helps."
Her happy grin softened the blow at the slight tease and he took her hand as the staff began to prepare for the transmission. He turned to the other trio. "Stay there," he instructed before leading Danni through the desks to the middle of the room.
"Transmission arriving in ten, nine, eight, seven, six," one of the people counted down as the big screen that towered over the room began to count with them.
"What are they doing?" Kyle asked, suddenly concerned they were going to get caught and be arrested for infiltrating NASA.
"Being incredibly childish," Nardole replied. Kyle turned to him, because he sounded more exasperated than concerned, and saw that he was now holding a mug and swirling a teabag around in it.
"Where did you get that?" he asked, brows furrowed. Nardole nodded towards a stand that sat in the corner with a coffee machine, along with other drinks, waiting for the poor overworked worker to help themselves to some refreshments.
Kyle could only turn back to the screen, absolutely baffled. What the hell was going on?
"Five, four, three, two, one!" Danni and the Doctor counted down, causing everyone around them to trail off and turn to look at them. "Sorry, could never resist a countdown," the Doctor apologised for the pair of them.
"Who the hell are you?" one of the staff members exclaimed.
"Is this Neil Armstrong?" Bill asked instead. No one had noticed her walk over to a large picture of astronauts that sat on the wall. She was pointing at one of them, looking expectantly at the Doctor. Everyone around her seemed baffled. "Neil Armstrong. First man on the Moon," she clarified, just in case no one knew what she was talking about.
"Not quite the first," the Doctor replied.
"What, you mean he wasn't the first man on the Moon?" she asked, walking over to them on the platform below them.
"That is such a human-centric question," the Doctor pointed out.
"I'm the human in this set-up," she reminded.
"But no, that was me," Danni replied, looking up at her husband. "That was so long ago."
"We were so young," he said with his own grin.
"Who are you people?" the man doing to countdown asked.
"Friendly aliens," the Doctor replied, taking out his psychic paper and handing it to Danni behind his back. She held it out to them. "Don't mind us. Just a day out for the kids."
The woman next to them took the paper and flipped it open. "It's from the Chief," she said, amazed, before looking at Danni. "It says you're the President…"
Danni took it back. "Of the World, yes, that's me," she finished for her. She handed it back to her husband before they could take a closer look. "Only when we're under invasion," she continued dismissively. "Which we're not right now, luckily."
"But it means that we have authorisationt o go anywhere we- she pleases," the Doctor finished. "So, Valkyrie?"
As the staff member explained the workings of their new probe, Bill turned to Kyle. "She always pulls that card when it's useful," she explained. "You'll hear a lot more about it."
"How is she the President of the World?" he asked.
Bill shrugged. "Apparently the Doctor likes poncing about in a big plane," she explained. "That's all I know."
"What the hell?" the NASA scientist breathed.
They all watched the image on the screen form from the beam Valkyrie was sending back. Slowly the surface of Mars appeared, revealing along with it a message that made absolutely no sense.
God Save the Queen.
The Doctor grinned, now very excited for what was supposed to be a small day trip out. Danni, on the other hand, sighed in defeat. "So much for a calm first trip," she declared before she grinned as well. She grabbed the Doctor's hand. "Let's go. See ya later, NASA. Nice to be back," she called as she dragged the Doctor out of the room and back to the TARDIS.
~0~0~0~
"Are we really going to Mars?" Kyle asked excitedly. He was sure it was quite the surreal experience for the NASA people to see them come and go almost like magic, but then again it had to be more surreal for him as they flew away. The first thing that the two Time Lords had done was instruct everyone to get into space suits. He had been expecting them to have to walk around in the same ones they had seen on the picture on the wall at NASA, but these were much cooler! They were black, and so much less bulky. He carried his helmet underneath his arm like he wore one every day, but he couldn't hide his excitement.
Danni shot him a look as the Doctor piloted the TARDIS away. "We have just travelled from Bristol to Florida, and you're only just realising we're in a spaceship?"
"No, it's not… But Mars, though!" he exclaimed. "What are you going to do? Where are we going to land? Are we even going to survive?"
"Yes, we're going to survive," she told him. "Do you really think I'd take you somewhere where you'd immediately die?" She turned to her husband. "Did you find out when it appeared?"
"1881, or thereabouts," he replied. "According to the TARDIS, that's when the message was made. Though we may be a bit early."
"Better than being late," she pointed out.
"1881?" Kyle repeated. "Are you- Is this a time machine?!"
"I'm sure I already told you that," Danni commented.
He shook his head. "You really didn't," he retorted. "Wait, does that mean when you said you went on that weekend trip to Victorian London…"
"We have friends there. Jenny, Madame Vastra and Strax," she explained. "Strax makes the bestChristmas pudding, and because he had no concept of what Christmas is he makes it all year round."
Kyle walked over to her side. "And-And you said that you visited your dad in the 826th century."
"Aw, the Face of Boe," she said fondly. "We really should visit him again soon."
"And you said your grandparents lived in the 1950s…"
"I thought we were supposed to be keeping a low profile," the Doctor cut in before Kyle could list off any of the other times Danni had alluded to time travel.
She shrugged. "What, it wasn't like they were going to believe me. You didn't, did you?" she asked Kyle.
"No, we all thought…"
"It was hilarious," she finished over the top of him. "You know I love a good laugh."
"Maybe we should get back onto the Victorian Mars message," Bill stated loudly. "How did humans even get to Mars in Victorian times?"
"They didn't," the Doctor commented. He pointed at Danni. "You are too damn cheeky," he scolded.
"You love it," she retorted. "How did the message get on the surface, then?"
"That," he started as the TARDIS landed on the other side, "is what we're here to find out."
The Doctor waved his hand at the door, indicating that she headed out first. Danni still loved to be the first out on any trip and he wasn't about to deny her that just because she'd brought a new friend along.
Kyle didn't really know what to expect as the rest of the group headed out the wooden doors, and very quickly he was left stood with Nardole. "Is it really Mars out there?" he asked.
"Depends," Nardole replied. "They don't always land where they mean to, and sometimes the TARDIS likes to take them on trips of her own. But they've not shouted out in surprise so I assume it should be alright." He walked up to the console, typing in a few things. "Let's check, though."
As Kyle joined him by his side, he nodded to himself. "We have indeed landed on Mars," he confirmed. "There appears to be multiple lift forms below the surface."
The door opened and Danni stuck her head back in. "Are you two coming?" she asked. "We're going to leave you behind."
Kyle was quick to rush over to her, putting his helmet on as well. "No, no, don't leave me," he said. "I want to see Mars!"
She smiled and stepped out of the way. "Come on then."
He didn't even pause as he stepped out onto the red planet, looking at the dark sky and the red, dusty stone around them. He had expected it to look like it always did in movies or on the television, but actually looking across the landscape he realised just how awful they had looked. This looked real, and it was too stunning for words. "Woah."
She clapped a hand on his arm. "Welcome to the universe, Kyle," she declared. "It's a hell of place, you're gonna love it."
~0~0~0~
"Maybe someone's been messing around with time," Bill suggested as they headed through the tunnels under the surface. "Like in The Terminator."
"The Terminator?" the Doctor asked, scanning the area for anything untoward. He hoped that it would be an easy misunderstanding and they could go back to the nice trip Danni had planned for her newest companion. He was very aware that, whilst she was coming out of her shell, any bump might send her spiralling back into it.
"It's a movie. You haven't seen it?"
"I'm a very busy man," he replied.
"We've seen the Terminator," Danni spoke up. "Remember? Arnold Schwarzenegger? It's where 'I'll be back' came from?"
"Oh, yes, I'll be back," he recalled. "Killer robots. I liked that movie."
"Why would the British be on Mars in the 1800s?" Kyle asked.
"There's nothing to say they are British," the Doctor pointed out.
"I mean, they are though, aren't they?" he replied. "I mean, come on. God Save the Queen? No one would say that, it's very… well, 1800s Britain, ain't it? Victoria and all that."
"A lot of countries and planets have queens. Don't be so human-centric."
"Well, I am human, and that's all I know," Kyle offered, not at all bothered by the Doctor's retorted. It was a good skill to have, proving yet again that he'd been a good choice to bring aboard. He instead turned to Danni. "You know what I mean, right?"
She nodded. "Yeah, it's probably the British. You're always in places you shouldn't be," she reasoned.
"Doctor," Bill called. She'd walked off whilst they all had a little argument and spotted something rather interesting down the end of the tunnel. There was a small campsite, with a bed, and some tools, but most importantly a campfire blazing away. "If there's fire, there's got to be oxygen."
She started to take her helmet off, and Kyle quickly did the same, glad to be out of the confinement and able to see the surroundings fully for the first time.
"Wait, wait, wait," the Doctor quickly cried and Kyle removed his hands from his helmet like it had burnt him. "Let's not be rash. I'll go first."
"I think we've proven that taking your helmet off in space is your signature rash move," Danni retorted. He turned to her, ready to counter how he'd had a very good reason to do so, when he stopped and saw her stood there, with no helmet on.
"What are you doing?" he exclaimed.
She shot him a look. "You should listen to your companion," she told him. "Especially when they're right."
Nardole appeared next to her, also without a helmet. "Fire. Oxygen. Basic physics, isn't he?" he replied, backing her up. She shot the Doctor the sweetest of smiles, as if daring him to try and argue with them.
He pointed at her. "I will take us all back to the TARDIS and back home," he warned.
"No, you won't," she replied. He wouldn't, he knew he wouldn't, so instead he took his helmet off. He took her hand in his.
"I thought we were over being reckless?"
"Nah," she dismissed. "Where's the fun in that?"
He leant down to kiss her and Bill rolled her eyes. She nudged Kyle. "They're gonna be a while," she told him, exasperated. "Come on, let's go have a look." They headed down a tunnel together.
"Oh, it's like the underground tunnels in The Thing," she commented happily.
"Or-Or have you seen the Descent?" he asked her. "This totally could have some weird-arse creatures down the end of it. Do Martians exist?"
"A lot of aliens exist, from what I've seen," she explained. "Maybe they…"
She screamed as she fell down a hole and Kyle jumped back in surprise. "Danni!"
"Doctor!"
"Bill!"
The two Time Lords, plus Nardole, appeared at Kyle's side. He pointed down the hole she'd fallen down, hand shaking slightly. "She-She was just talking, then she fell," he explained. "I didn't do it!"
"It's alright, it's fine," Danni quickly soothed him, lowering his arm for him. "We didn't think you did, sweetie."
"Hang on! We'll find a way down!" the Doctor called down to her before turning to Nardole. "Go back to the Tardis. Get ropes, lifting gear, anything you can find."
With a distressed squeak Nardole rushed off to do what he was told as the Doctor continued to examine the hole for a while to get down to his fallen friend.
"Is she okay?" Kyle asked, also peeking over the edge of the hole. "She didn't reply."
"She might not have been able to hear us," Danni reassured him as the sound of the TARDIS dematerialising filled the air. She shared an alarmed look with the Doctor and rushed to the edge of the tunnel, where they could see where the TARDIS was parked.
"Nardole!" she shouted down at him, as if he could hear her. "You can't fly the TARDIS down there! We don't know…" The TARDIS disappeared completely and she growled, heading back to the Doctor. "I don't know what has got into that big, bald head of his, but he's gone and stolen the TARDIS."
"That's what you get for bringing him on trips," the Doctor retorted and she glared at him.
"He's never stolen the TARDIS before," she admonished. "If you weren't so mean to him then he might not run away."
"You can't blame that on me," he told her. "We discussed this last time he ran off; I didn't do anything wrong."
"You called him…"
"Uh, guys," Kyle spoke up, raising his hand like he was still in class. "Can you hear that?"
They both paused their argument to listen, hoping that Kyle could hear the TARDIS reappearing. Instead heavy, metallic footsteps rang out through the tunnels. "That doesn't sound good," Danni said softly, keeping her voice low.
"Is that a Martian?" Kyle asked excitedly. "Am I about to meet an alien?"
"I'm an alien," Danni reminded him.
"Yeah, but you look human," he dismissed. "Like a proper alien. With tentacles and strange skin and… and I don't know, just an alien."
"If you don't be quiet it's going to be a very short encounter," the Doctor snapped before motioning them to follow him. As they stepped into the next tunnel a shadow came from around the corner. With one arm out, Danni kept Kyle behind the pair of them.
Around the corner came a large, much too large, figure sporting heavy metal armour. It hissed threateningly as it looked around and spotted them. It started storming towards them and Kyle was suddenly very less inclined to meet the alien and instead clung to Danni's arm. She stepped a little closer to the Doctor, once again absentmindedly wishing she still carried her gun. Was this how the Doctor felt when all his companions were in danger? Why did it feel like such a familiar feeling? Did she feel like this for Clara?
The Doctor raised his hand in front of him. "Halt!" he cried, and surprisingly the monster did just that. "By the moons, I honour thee. I'm the Doctor. What is your name?" The monster didn't reply, just continued to growl. His helmet was damaged, and he was missing an eye. He obviously felt they were a threat, and the Doctor's first move was to try and calm him down. "I know your people of old. I was once an Honorary Guardian of the Tythonian Hive."
"Don't move!" someone shouted from behind them and they all turned to see a man in very Victorian military gear pointing a gun directly at the monster. Even the gun was old, again confirming that they were all Victorian humans. "I'll sort this beggar out."
"No, no, no, no! You don't understand," the Doctor quickly replied, holding his hands out in front of him to try and placate the new man. "This creature is no threat. He may look like a monster to you…"
The man shot at the Doctor's feet, causing him to jump back. Danni's eyes quickly narrowed. "You shot at my husband," she raged. "How fucking dare you…"
She stepped forward but the Doctor grabbed her arm to stop her moving any closer. "Danielle, he had a gun."
"He's going to wish he didn't by the time I'm done with him," she replied. She turned back to the man, who had lowered his gun just slightly. "Who exactly do you think you are?" she snapped. "You can't just go shooting at my husband! I'll going to fucking kill you myself!"
"Danielle, that's enough," the Doctor said firmly. "You've got company, remember?"
He nodded at Kyle, who had momentarily slipped her mind. He had never seen her so angry before, but to be honest he felt like it was rather justified so he shrugged. "I dunno, Doc," he started.
"Don't call me Doc."
"He did shoot at you. It's not like we were doing anything." He turned to the man. "Who are you, anyway?"
"Who am I?" the man said. "Who are you and what the devil are you doing here?"
"We asked you first," the Doctor quickly interjected. He pulled out his psychic paper and flashed it at the man. The man paused for a moment before snatching it out of his hands, holding it a little far away from him as he read it.
"Well," he drawled. "You'd better come with me." He looked at the monster. "Friday, if you could lead the way."
"Sir," the monster hissed with a bow of its head, before it stomped in front of them, heading the way the man had come from.
"Do-Do we follow them?" Kyle whispered.
"Do you have another plan?" Danni asked in reply. "This is why we're here." Instead of following, though, she looked up at the soldier. "Don't you think we should know who you are, first?" she asked him. "After all, you know who we are now."
The man looked at the leather wallet in his hand, with the piece of paper inside designed to show him exactly the right thing to get them past the front door. It was obvious that he didn't trust it, but he also wasn't sure why it would be a lie. "Catchlove," he offered. "This way, the colonel will want to see this."
~0~0~0~
It turned out that Friday was an Ice Warrior, which wasn't a race that Danni had met before, but was one that she had heard about. Even though he seemed to be resigned to his fate as a mere butler for the humans that had brought him back home from Earth, she knew that appearances could be very much deceiving. However, with Nardole and the TARDIS nowhere in sight there was nothing they could do but play along and pretend that they agreed with the change of heart the warrior seemed to have had.
She knew that the Doctor felt the same way she did and also believed there was something else happening other than the humans wanting to colonise Mars in the name of Queen and Country. She felt rather sorry for Kyle. She really had intended for a quick trip out to introduce him to the part of her life that she'd kept hidden from everyone, and now he was stuck with a bunch of rather stuck-up Victorian soldiers with no way of getting him.
To be fair on the young lad, though, he really was taking it all in his stride. He didn't seem particularly frightened of anything, and he was regarding Friday with interest rather than distrust. She was glad, although when what was actually going on came to light he was going to be disappointed.
"You must come at once, sir. The Gargantua, she's, she's uncovered something," one of the soldiers told his colonel, and they were all quick to follow him through another group of tunnels to the large opening they had made in the wall. Inside was a dusty, but beautiful room with crystals hanging from the ceiling above a tomb. Around the edge were glowing gems and on top was a solid gold stature of an Ice Warrior, laid out to rest.
"Oh, it's beautiful. What is it, a tomb?" Bill asked.
"Not just any tomb. This is the tomb of an Ice Queen," the Doctor replied as he walked over to it. He circled it, taking in every detail. It was beautifully preserved, which made him even more suspicious. "I have a bad feeling about this," he said lowly. "These sarcophagi were sometimes part of a complex hibernation system."
Danni stepped forward. "So whatever is in there might still be alive?" she asked him. "Friday might not be the last of his kind?"
"Sergeant Major," Catchlove started. "Get these civilians out of here."
"We're not just civilians," Danni retorted. "We're the best bet you have for getting out of here in one piece. Or is lining your pockets worth your life?"
"You mean they're going to raid this?" Kyle asked her. "But it's a grave!"
"They're British, remember?"
"You can't take this stuff," Kyle protested. "That's their Queen, that's Friday's Queen! How would you like it if that was old Victoria's grave?"
Catchlove didn't look best pleased at the young man's words, and Danni stepped forward to move Kyle back if she needed to.
"You have to let me examine this, Colonel," the Doctor pleaded with the man actually in charge. "This may not just be a grave you've uncovered. This could be the entrance to an Ice Warrior Hive."
"A what?" Catchlove replied for him with a laugh of derision before turning to the other man. "Sergeant Major Peach, I gave you an order."
The colonel finally stepped forward, an angry look on his face. "I'm in charge here, Catchlove," he said as a warning and the man looked rather amused, with a smirk on his face as he stepped back to let him address Peach instead. "Post a guard. No one's to come near this thing until the morning, is that clear?"
Peach shot him a salute. "Yes, sir!"
The colonel, now obviously feeling in control again, motioned them in front him. "Everybody out," he commanded firmly. "That means you as well, Doctor."