Chapter LVIII

Mira's POV

They hurried to the reception where the Judoon were about to enter the hospital. The Doctor was at her side, Martha was following them. She had no idea where he had met Martha, but she seemed reasonable enough, which was a pleasant change to all the hysteric people in the hospital. Maybe it was because of her being a medical student; she simply couldn't afford to freak out at every opportunity. But, on the other hand, being transported to the moon with an ongoing alien invasion would be enough of an excuse for Martha to freak out at least a little bit.

As they arrived at the mezzanine level just above the reception area they hid behind some potted plants and watched the Judoon marching into the hospital. Obviously the force field could be penetrated, but maybe only in one direction – for now – or the Judoon possessed some devices allowing them to generate gaps in the field.

"Oh, look down there, you've got a little shop. I like a little shop," the Doctor said, somehow lacking sense for the seriousness of the situation.

"Never mind that," Martha said, seemingly of one opinion with her. "What are Judoon?"

"Galactic police. Well, police for hire. More like interplanetary thugs," the Doctor replied.

"And what do they want with a hospital on the moon?" she asked as Martha remained silent, but then their attention got caught by what happened next.

One of the Judoon, probably their leader, had removed his helmet.

Rhinos. Seriously?

Their enormous heads were somehow mismatched in comparison to their small bodies. Now he was shouting something, but she couldn't understand it.

"Bo sco fo do no kro blo co sho ro!"

"Why can't we-" she said, but then she realised it. "Shit. The TARDIS is still on Earth."

"Yupp," the Doctor simply said.

One of the hospital staff, maybe a doctor or another student, walked forward, ready to face the Judoon, just crossing the fine line between braveness and stupidity.

"Idiot!" she whispered, and was about to get up herself. He had no experience in first contact with alien species – of course, how could he. The Judoon didn't really seem hostile – she could clearly sense their emotions – but rather determined. Determined in a dangerous, ruthless way. But before she could get up, she felt the Doctor's hand on her wrist.

"He'll get himself killed!" she said, turning her head to him. He just shook his head and didn't let go of her.

"We are citizens of planet earth. We welcome you in peace," the guy said, his voice trembling, but apart from that he hold himself together quite well. At least until the commanding Judoon approached him, pushed him against a wall and held some sort of device in his face.

"Please don't hurt me," he stammered now, fear and beginning panic in his voice. "I was just trying to help, I'm sorry, don't hurt me, please don't hurt me."

But at least for now he seemed to be safe as the Judoon simply played his words back on the little device he was holding. Seemed to be some sort of translator. Finally, he stuck it in a slot on his space suit

"Language assimilated. Designation Earth English. You will be catalogued," the Judoon announced, then shone a blue light in his face. After that, he marked him with a black cross on the back of his hand. She could swear she did hear the squeaking from the pen he was using.

"Category: human. Catalogue all suspects," the Judoon continued, and his men (Or women? Both?) swarmed out, doing exactly that.

"So, why did they bring us to the moon?" Martha asked, repeating Mira's earlier question.

"Neutral territory," the Doctor replied. "According to galactic law, they've got no jurisdiction over the Earth, and they isolated us. That rain? Lightning? That was them, using an H2O scoop."

"So, they have no jurisdiction over Earth, but bringing us to the moon is okay?" Mira said. "What sort of shitty law is that? They don't have any jurisdiction over humanity, I might say. Someone really should tell them that."

"Like you did in your universe?" the Doctor asked and looked at her.

"Actually, it wasn't me but my father. But yes, we did tell that some organisations and species over time. Of course, we also have – had - some sort of galactic police, but they wouldn't have acted like that. Well, most of the time at least. Not without a very good reason," she replied without taking her eyes from the Judoon.

"'Galactic law'? Where'd you get that from anyway?" Martha fell in. "If they're police, are we under arrest? Are we trespassing on the moon or something?"

"No. But I like that," the Doctor replied, not going further into the political conditions in her universe. "Good thinking. No, it's more simple. They're making a catalogue, it means they're after something non-human, which is very bad news for me,"

"Indeed," she said, and really hoped they weren't looking for him. Maybe he hadn't done anything yet, even though there was a good change he had violated some laws in his lifetime, as far as she knew him. But he could do something at some point, in his future and Earth's past.

"Why?" Martha asked, and as Mira turned her head she could see the Doctor looking at Martha, instead of answering."Oh, you're kidding me," Martha said after a few seconds, the Doctor still only looked at her. "Don't be ridiculous. Stop looking at me like that," Martha finally said, completely irritated.

"Did I miss something?" She asked. Had the Doctor already told Martha who he was?

"Uhm, no. Not really," he said and got up. "Come on, then."


Doctor's POV

He had found a computer in an office, hoping it would provide him with some answers. Martha was standing behind him as he examined the computer with his sonic, and just now Mira came back.

"They've reached the third floor," she said.

He just nodded and continued with his task.

"What's that thing?" Martha asked behind his back.

"Sonic screwdriver," he said without turning around.

"Well, if you're not going to answer me properly!"

"No, really, it is," he repeated, now turning around to face her. Why were humans always assuming he was mocking them? Well, sometimes he did, but not that often. "It's a screwdriver, and it's sonic. Look." He held it up and showed it to her.

"What else have you got? A laser spanner?" Martha wanted to know.

"I did," he replied, no focused at his work again. "But it was stolen by Emily Pankhurst, cheeky woman. Oh, this computer!" he suddenly yelled and hit the screen. He hardly realised that he had made both Martha and Mira jump. Stupid, faulty, slow piece of technology. Thick. It was so incredibly thick. How could they work with these incredibly annoying things? And they were so easy to manipulate. "The Judoon must have locked it down. Judoon platoon upon the moon." He ruffled his hair. "Cause we were just travelling past, I swear, we were just wandering, we weren't looking for trouble, honestly, we weren't. It should've been some distraction, nothing more, nice and easy, and I noticed these plasma coils around the hospital, and that lightning, that's plasma coils, been building up for two days now, so I checked in, Mira went as an official, she's really good at that, I thought something was going on inside, it turns out the plasma coils were the Judoon up above," he said, mostly because mumbling things like that helped him to think. Sometimes at least.

"But what were they looking for?" Martha asked.

"Something that looks human, but isn't."

"Like you. Apparently."

"Like me. But not me."

"Sure?" Mira asked.

"Yeah, sure!" he said. "Well, almost. Nah, no way they're looking for me. Not here. Maybe I've done a few things- well, or am about to do, but- no." What would the Judoon want with him? He had made himself some enemies, but non of them would send the Judoon after him. That would be beneath their dignity.

"And-" Martha started to speak but then paused for a moment, as if bracing herself. "You are an alien as well?" she finally asked, looking at Mira.

"Nah. Human. Earth-born human," she replied. "And, as they're scanning everyone in here, they have no idea for whom they're looking for?"

"Basically, yes. Might be a shape-changer," he replied.

"Whatever it is, can't you just leave the Judoon to find it?" Martha asked.

"If they declare the hospital guilty of harbouring a fugitive, they'll sentence it to execution," he said.

"Great. Their logic isn't the most complex one ever, is it? And there you'd think that there would fit a lot of brain in their big heads, helping them to realise we might not harbour anyone, and instead, whoever they seek, is just hiding here," Mira said so sarcastically that he had to smile.

"They'd execute all of us?" Martha asked in disbelieve.

"Oh yes," he said. "If I can find this thing first... Oh!" he yelled, as finally the computer screen was showing something. Files. Empty files. "Just that they're thick! Judoon are thick! They are completely thick! They wiped the records. Oh, that's clever," he murmured, ruffling his hair again.

"What are we looking for?" Martha asked.

"I don't know. Any patient admitted in the past week with unusual symptoms. Maybe there's a back-up."

"Just keep working. I'll go ask Mr Stoker, he might know," she said and left the room again.

He looked after her for a second, then met Mira's eyes. For a moment he tried to read the expression he saw in them, but he couldn't make anything out of it, so he turned back to the computer screen. What was going on with her now? Did she not like Martha? She was nice, clever - and so completely different than Rose. And they could use someone who was familiar with the hospital.


Martha's POV

She ran down the hall and knocked on the door to Mr Stoker's office. She didn't wait for an answer but just entered – he would certainly forgive her for that.

"Mr Stoker!" she said just as she saw the two guys dressed in helmets and black leather she had seen in the hospital earlier. And there was something else – Mr Stoker's feet sticking out around the desk. An old woman got up from crouching over him, a straw in her hand.

It took her hardly a second to comprehend and realise how wrong this whole picture was. Without hesitating she turned around and ran out of the office.

She was about to run back to the office where she had left the Doctor and Mira – she still wasn't convinced that the other woman was human, neither that he was an alien – but they caught up with her halfway.

"I've restored the back-up," the Doctor said.

"I found her," she said, knowing they wouldn't need that backup now.

"You what?" he asked, but then saw something over her shoulder. She turned around and saw the guy in black as well.

"Run!" she heard him saying.

He didn't need to tell her twice, but he took her hand as if to make sure she was really following. And she couldn't help herself, even though it was quite inappropriate at this moment, to feel a shiver down her spine. Alien or not, he was quite handsome with his ruffled hair and that incredibly intense, dark eyes.

They ran down a staircase and by know he had let go of her hand. The weird guy was still following them and if that wouldn't have been enough, they now heard the Judoon coming up the stairs. The Doctor emerged through a door at the fourth floor, followed by Mira who turned around and waved at her, obviously to make sure she was following.

She followed them along the corridor, the guy still on their heels, around corners and finally into the radiology room. The Doctor locked the door behind her, but she had her doubts that a locked door would stop them.

"When I say 'now', press the button," the Doctor said, and she wasn't quite sure if he meant her or Mira.

"I don't know which one," she said and watched as he used his weird screwdriver-thingy on the x-ray-machinery.

"Find out!" he said without looking. "Or ask Mira, she'll know."

She looked over to Mira who was already standing behind the glass wall, studying the controls. In lack of any better ideas she went for the Operator's Manual, but before she even reached the right pages, she heard the Doctor say, "Now!"

Now she actually was on the edge of panicking, frantically looking over the controls until she saw the big, red button. There was no time left, as the helmet-guy had already entered the room, so she reached for it; only to hit not the button but Mira's hand. She had also gone for it, what was somehow reassuring. She met her eyes for a second, then both of them looked through the glass that was separating the room at the Doctor. For a moment she was blinded by a flash of light, then the helmet-guy fell to the floor, face first.

"What did you do?" she asked.

"Increased the radiation by five thousand per cent. Killed him dead," the Doctor replied.

"Isn't that likely to kill you?" she replied. It obviously killed him on the spot, but she didn't doubt he would die over the next hours.

"Nah, it's only radiation. We used to play with roentgen bricks in the nursery," he replied casually. "It's safe for you to come out, I've absorbed it all. All I need to do is expel it," he continued and started to bounce and hop around the room. "If I concentrate I can shake the radiation out of my body and into one spot. It's in my left shoe. Here we go, here we go, easy does it..." Now he was shaking his foot.

She looked over to Mira, who was standing next to the door, watching him with crossed arms. Her confusion must have shown right on her face.

"Don't wonder. Just don't," Mira said, as casually as he had sounded. "First, you'll never know when he means something and when not. Although, this time I think he really means it. Second: Never ever think there's nothing left he can surprise you with. Oh, and third: Aliens actually are somehow unpredictable for us humans. No matter how human they appear on the outside."

What?!

Okay, there had been the Daleks and the space ship hitting Big Ben, but she was talking as if she was dealing with aliens on a day-to-day basis.

"Out, out, out, out, out. Out, out, ah, ah, ah, ah. It is, it is, it is, it is, it is hot. Ah - hold on," she heard him, still jumping and shaking his food. He put of his shoe and threw it in the dustbin, as if it was something alive and about to bite him. "Done," he said and smiled at her.

"You're completely mad," was all she could say. He, and probably Mira as well.

"Right. I look daft with one shoe," he replied, put off the other one and discarded it as well. "Barefoot on the moon!" he said and clapped his teeth together.

She looked down at his feet. Somehow she had almost expected them to be green, or with webbing between the toes, a sixth toe or something like that, but it were normal, human looking feet.

"So what is that thing?" she finally said and went over to the helmet-guy, merely to draw her mind away from the man calling himself the Doctor. "And where's it from? The planet Zovirax?"

"It's just a Slab. They're called 'Slabs'. Basic slave drones, see?" he replied as he knelt opposite of her. She shortly turned her head only to see Mira still standing next to the door as if guarding it. "Solid leather, all the way through. Someone has got one hell of a fetish."

"It came with that woman, Mrs. Finnegan. It was working for her. Just like a servant," she said and looked after the Doctor, who had gotten up and took the remains of his screwdriver out of the x-ray machine.

"My sonic screwdriver," he said and looked at it sadly.

"She was one of the patients, but-"

"My sonic screwdriver!" he repeated.

"She had a straw like some kind of vampire," she continued, hoping that he would listen.

"I loved my sonic screwdriver!"

"Doctor!" she yelled, losing her patience.

"Sorry," he said, spun around to her, tossed the screwdriver away and finally smiled at her. "You called me 'Doctor'."

"Anyway! Miss Finnegan is the alien. She was drinking Mr. Stoker's blood."

"Funny time to take a snack. You'd think she'd be hiding. Unless - no. Yes, that's it, wait a minute," he said, and then continued, making her jump, "Yes! Shape-changer. Internal shape-changer. She wasn't drinking blood, she was assimilating it." He started to dart through the room. "If she can assimilate Mr Stoker's blood, mimic the morphology, she can register as human. We've got to find her and show the Judoon. Come on!"


Mira's POV

They were hiding behind a water cooler, watching the second Slab walking past them.

"That's the thing about Slabs. They always travel in pairs," the Doctor said.

"Not only they," Martha said.

"Who else?" the Doctor asked.

She only shook her head. Wasn't it obvious what Martha was meaning? She had very well noticed Martha's feelings and emotions towards the Doctor. Well, at least she assumed Martha had a crush on the the Doctor, not on her.

"The two of you? You said you're companions. Or are there more of you? Some sort of back-up?" She watched how the Doctor slowly turned his head to Martha. "Uh. Humans. We're stuck on the moon running out of air with Judoon and a bloodsucking criminal, you're asking personal questions. Come on."

"I like that. "Humans." I'm still not convinced you're an alien," Martha murmured as they all got up, just as a Judoon walked up on them, about to scan the Doctor.

It only took her a second to realise what was about to happen before she shoved the Doctor aside, placing herself in front of the Judoon with his scanner. But something went wrong. This time, the scanner produced a different, nasty tone, making her teeth ache.

The expression on the Judoon's face changed into something not so nice and his ears twisted as he announced, "Non-human."

"What!?" That was all she could say as she stared at the Judoon in shock. That bloody scanner must be broken.

"You're the alien?" she heard Martha say.

She was still staring at the Judoon, frozen to the spot, as the Doctor pulled her away with him.

"And again!" he said.

"He was wrong! His bloody scanner is broken. Non-human? What a crap!" she said as she was running up some stairs behind the Doctor. She actually had no explanation for that. Maybe there was a difference between the humans here and her? Maybe it was her cell-activator, maybe it was something else. She had no idea.

They reached another floor, locking the door to the staircase behind them.

"They've done this floor," the Doctor said. "Come on. The Judoon are logical and just a little bit thick. They won't go back to check a floor they've checked already. If we're lucky."

"Only a little bit thick?" she murmured as they were walking through the corridor. People were sitting around, and now she noticed how used up the air had gotten.

"How much oxygen is there?" Martha asked some woman who was sitting next to a patient on the floor.

"Not enough for all these people. We're going to run out."

"How are you feeling? Are you all right?" the Doctor asked, and even though he had probably meant them both, she didn't reply.

"I'm running on adrenaline," Martha said and smiled at him.

"Welcome to my world," he replied.

"What about the Judoon?"

"Ah, great big lung reserves, it won't slow them down. Where's Mr Stoker's office?"

"It's this way."

After a short walk they reached the office. Mr Stoker was lying on the floor, all colour gone from his face.

"She's gone! She was here," Martha said, and then fell silent as she spotted Mr Stoker as well.

"Drained him dry," the Doctor said, crouching next to the corpse. "Every last drop. I was right. She's a plasmavore."

"What was she doing on Earth?" Martha asked.

"Hiding. On the run. Like Ronald Biggs in Rio de Janeiro. What's she doing now? She's still not safe. The Judoon could execute us all. Come on."

"Execute us all? You're serious about that? That's no galactic police, they're mad. Someone should stop them. They're even worse than Torchwood," she said.

"Stop them? How?" the Doctor asked.

"Don't know. I'll think about something."

The Doctor didn't reply, just went for the door.

"Wait a minute," Martha said. She went over to Mr Stoker and closed his eyes.

...

Not much later they were walking down another hospital corridor.

"Think, think, think. If I was a plasmavore surrounded by police, what would I do?" the Doctor murmured, then his eyes locked on something.

She followed his glance to the MRI sign.

"Aah. She's as clever as me. Almost," he said.

"Find the non-human. Execute," she heard the voice of a Judoon, realising they were still meaning her. Great. She had only wanted to hide the Doctor's non-human identity.

"Stay here," the Doctor said to Martha, "We need time. You're going to have to hold them up."

"How do I do that?" she heard Martha asked. She had turned her back to them, watching out for the Judoon.

"Martha, forgive me for this. It's to save a thousand lives, it means nothing. Honestly, nothing," he said.

What was he up to now? Not a second later, as it was suspiciously quiet behind her back, her head flung around and she could hardly believe her eyes. He was kissing her. Not just lips on lips as they had kissed, but a real, proper kiss.

What the hell?What was he doing that for?

Before she could say something, he stepped away from Martha and ran off, pulling her with him.


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