"A baby?" Liv stared at the pink, squirming bundle in the Doctor's arms.
"It looks human," Helen murmured.
"And you look Timelord," the Doctor pointed out. "It's appearance doesn't exactly narrow things down."
"It, is a bit rude," Helen huffed. SHe didn't have to fight to get the Doctor to hand the baby over. She carefully pulled the blanket back and nodded to herself. "She still has her umbilical cord attached. She can't be more than a few hours old.
The Doctor looked uncomfortable and Liv looked irritated. "Who would just drop their baby in the middle of an asteroid field? That's barbaric. It's cruel."
"It may have been out of necessity," the Doctor tried. "They did knock."
"Who knocked?"
"I don't know. There was a knock and I looked and," he made a few general hand motions towards the door then the baby. "There was a baby."
"You didn't see anyone else?"
"No. Nothing," he sighed and slinked closer to the console. "I… may be at a loss here."
"You have a magic box, just do a scan or something. Or video surveillance? Do you have that?"
The Doctor typed something into the console. All three of them looked at the monitor as an image flicked onto the screen. A figure in red stained white robes could be seen placing the baby gently at the TARDIS door, knocking, then disappearing in a flash of light.
"That wasn't very helpful," Liv huffed. "We can even see the face… Doctor?" Liv and Helen turned to the man who looked shocked.
"That's," he coughed, "that as Gallifreyan midwife. One of the Night Song sect."
"A cult?" Helen frowned.
"No. Well, yes. In a way yes, but more of a movement than anything—"
"Wait hang on, a Gallifreyan midwife?" Liv interrupted. "So finding you was intentional?"
"Possibly… Probably. It also means," he pulled a stethoscope from his pocket and listened to the baby's chest, "she's Timelord."
"Okay, but just because you're the same species doesn't mean, I mean, what does it have to do with you?" Helen asked. She was still holding the baby, instinctively rocking the infant. "What's the Night Song?"
The Doctor sighed and gestured for them to sit. He sat as well. "The Night Song is a belief, a legend, and a movement."
"That narrows things down," Liv muttered.
"Let him explain," Helen hummed.
The Doctor nodded and continued. "The legend has changed a lot. There's many versions so it's hard to understand which is true if any of it. The one I know is about a person. A woman, I think. They say she is as fickle as a song in the night. You may be blessed to hear her, but only when the night is fair. Only when you need it the most."
"Right, so she is the Night Song? What does she do? What's she for?"
"Tricky," he fidgeted with his lapes for a moment and glanced worriedly at the baby. "But the people who follow the Night Song see her as an inspiration of resistance. My people aren't exactly allowed to have children. We were ordered to use Looms, devices that build Timelords exactly how the user intends. Anyone found to have been born not from a Loom had severe punishment, sometimes regeneration."
"That's awful," Helen breathed.
"That's war," The Doctor shrugged. "The Night Song, the movement at least, is an underground railroad of midwives who deliver children and hide them from the law. That's who put the baby here."
"Wait but the woman in the legend, what was so special about her?"
"They say she was everything forbidden. A Hybrid Gallifreyan, a deviant, an individual. She should have been killed. She was killed, many times, but in the story she's always lives… she is always full of hope. In the story, she smiles when the Night Song plays."
"Wait, I thought you said she was the Night Song. Or is that an actual song?"
"Both, perhaps. That's the trouble with legends for you, especially Gallifreyan ones."
"So an underground railroad of midwives delivered a baby and decided they should bring her to you?"
"Yes, in short."
Helen looked at the baby, "What's so special about this baby, then? This is the first one they gave you, right?"
"This is a first for me, yes."
"We should name her."
The Doctor and Helen looked at Liv.
"What," Liv defended. "You can't just keep calling her 'the baby'. You clearly can't put her back on Gallifrey, you said yourself that she'd be in danger. That means you're keeping her for a while, so give her a name. Just a temporary one."
"Melody?" Helen suggested. "I know it's a bit on the nose but you've been going on about songs. I think it's fitting."
"Melody," the Doctor echoed. "Yes, I think that will do nicely."