The Tardis hurtled through space as they followed an unknown object. Rose and Piper held onto the console as the Doctor hurried around the room trying to follow it. "What's the emergency?" Rose asked.
"And what is up with all the bumpiness?" Piper grumbled.
"It's mauve," he replied, as if it should have been obvious. Piper glared at his lack of an exclamation.
"Mauve?"
"The universally recognised colour for danger."
"What happened to red?"
"That's just humans. By everyone else's standards, red's camp. Oh, the misunderstandings. All those red alerts, all that dancing. It's got a very basic flight computer. I've hacked in, slaved the Tardis. Where it goes, we go."
"And that's safe, is it?"
"Totally."
Piper raised her eyebrows and stared at him, clearly not believing him for a second. "Really? Really, Doctor?" She jumped as the console exploded in a shower of sparks.
The Doctor looked at her sheepishly. "Okay, reasonably. Should have said reasonably there-"
"I don't know what makes you so stupid, but it really works." Piper said sarcastically.
The Doctor opened his mouth to retort but his attention was pulled back to the screen. "No, no, no, no! It's jumping time tracks, getting away from us."
"What exactly is this thing?"
"No idea."
"Then why are we chasing it?"
"It's mauve and dangerous, and about thirty seconds from the centre of London," he answered grimly.
They landed in a dark alley. Rose was the first to step out followed by the Doctor and lastly Piper. Piper pulled her coat closer to her feeling uneasy. She hated alleys. You never know what could happen. Alleys were dangerous. "Do you know how long you can knock around space without happening to bump into Earth?"
"Five days? Or is that just when we're out of milk?"
"Of all the species in all the Universe and it has to come out of a cow," he moaned. "Must have come down somewhere quite close. Within a mile, anyway. And it can't have been more than a few weeks ago. Maybe a month."
"A month?!" Rose and Piper said at the same time. "We were right behind it."
"You know it's kinda creepy when you do that," he murmured.
"It was jumping time tracks all over the place. We're bound to be a little bit out. Do you want to drive?"
"Yeah!" Piper gasped eagerly.
"Yeah. How much is a little?" Rose interrupted.
"A bit."
Piper rolled her eyes. "How much is a bit?"
"Ish."
"What's the plan, then? Are you going to do a scan for alien tech or something?" Rose asked, eagerly.
"Rose, it hit the middle of London with a very loud bang. I'm going to ask." He palled out his psychic paper and showed them.
"Doctor John Smith, Ministry of Asteroids," Rose read.
"It's psychic paper. It tells you-"
"Whatever you want it to tell me, I remember." Rose dismissed a little rudely with a wave of her hand.
Piper and the Doctor frowned. "Sorry," he murmured.
She patted his arm sympathetically. "I think it's cool."
He smiled softly at her. They stopped by a door. "Not very Spock, is it, just asking."
He pointed to the door. "Door, music, people. What do you think?"
"I think you should do a scan for alien tech. Give me some Spock, for once. Would it kill you?"
"Are you sure about that t-shirt?"
Rose looked down and pulled her t=shirt down by the bottom. "Too early to say. I'm taking it out for a spin."
"Mummy? Mummy?"
Rose looked up at the sound of the voice.
"Come on if you're coming. It won't take a minute."
But Rose wasn't listening. She was looking up trying to locate the source of the voice. Her eyes fell on a child wearing a gas mask standing on the top of a building. "Doctor? Doctor? There's a kid up there!" She yelled but the Doctor had already gone inside and couldn't hear her anymore.
Piper and the Doctor stopped in the doorway. People were laughing and chatting and there was a woman singing on stage. They waited until she had finished her song before stepping onto the stage. "Excuse me. Excuse me. Could I have everybody's attention just for a mo? Be very quick. Hello! Might seem like a stupid question, but has anything fallen from the sky recently?" They frowned uncomfortably as everyone went silent before laughter erupted loudly in the room. "Sorry, have I said something funny? It's just, there's this thing that I need to find. Would've fallen from the sky a couple of days ago."
Piper looked around the room, trying to see if she could find something that could tell her why they were laughing. Her eyes fell on a poster that said in capital letters 'HITLER WILL SEND NO WARNING!" Her heart sank in despair. Why couldn't this just be an easy trip for once? She tried to get his attention but he ignored her. "Doctor?"
"Would've landed quite near here. With a very loud..."
"Doctor!"
"Bang." He sighed. He turned to Piper and crossed his arms. "Why didn't you say anything?"
Her jaw dropped and raised a finger to him. "Walk away, Doctor. Just walk away." She warned, trying to resist strangling him.
Rose was trying to climb up the side of the building by using the rope so she could get to the child. Unfortunately for her, the rope moved away from the building and she found herself hanging on for dear life and she rose up into the air. "Doctor! Doctor! Doctor!" She screamed. "Okay, maybe not this t-shirt," she gasped as bombs dropped onto the city below her.
Piper and the Doctor headed back to the Tardis. They stopped when they heard a meow and turned to see a cat sitting on a bin. "You know, one day, just one day, maybe, I'm going to meet someone who gets the whole don't wander off thing. Nine hundred years of phone box travel, it's the only thing left to surprise me."
"Hey!" Piper cried.
They froze when they heard ringing. It was coming from the Tardis. "How can you be ringing? What's that about, ringing? What am I supposed to do with a ringing phone?"
"How about you answer it?" Piper said sassily.
"You're being very sarcastic today," he commented.
"Don't answer it. It's not for you."
They turned to see a young girl.
"And how do you know that?" The Doctor questioned.
"Cos I do. And I'm telling you, don't answer it."
"Well, if you know so much, tell me this. How can it be ringing? It's not even a real phone. It's not connected, it's not-" He cut himself off when he saw the girl had disappeared as quickly as she had appeared. He picked up the phone hesitantly and answered it. "Hello? Hello?" The only sound that could be heard was the crackling of static. "This is the Doctor speaking. How may I help you?" He asked, grinning.
"Mummy? Mummy?"
The Doctor's grin faded and was replaced with a dark look. "Who is this? Who's speaking?"
"Are you my mummy?"
"Who is this?" The Doctor snapped darkly.
"Mummy?"
"How did you ring here? This isn't a real phone. It's not wired up to anything-"
"Mummy?"
The phone went dead. Piper looked around, uneasily. She could feel goose-bumps on her arms. He replaced the phone back and knocked on the Tardis door. He peered through the window. "Rose? Rose, are you in there?"
There was no answer.
Rose's grip on the rope was slipping fast. She tried to hang on but she couldn't and screamed when she fell plummeting to the ground. She was caught mid-air by a beam of light. "Okay, okay, I've got you."
"Who's got me? Who's got me, and you know, how?"
"I'm just programming your descent pattern. Keep as still as you can and keep your hands and feet inside the light field."
"Descent pattern?"
"Oh, and could you switch off your cell phone? No, seriously, it interferes with my instrument."
Rose pulled out her phone and switched it off. "You know, no one ever believes that."
"Thank you. That's much better."
"Oh, yeah, that's a real load off, that is. I'm hanging in the sky in the middle of a German air raid with the Union Jack across my chest, but hey, my mobile phone's off."
"Be with you in a moment." She waited for a few moments. "Hold tight!"
"To what?"
"Fair point." Rose screamed as she was hurtled through the light. She landed in a mans arms feeling disoriented. "I've got you. You're fine, you're just fine. The tractor beam, it can scramble your head just a little."
"Hello."
"Hello."
"Hello. Sorry, that was hello twice there. Dull, but you know, thorough."
"Are you all right?"
"Fine." He helped her back onto her feet. "Why, are you expecting me to faint or something?"
"You look a little dizzy," he pointed out.
"What about you? You're not even in focus," she slurred before fainting. He picked her up and laid her down onto a bed and waited for her to wake up.
"Better now?"
Rose sat up. "You got lights in here?"
"Hello," he said, turning on the lights.
"Hello."
"Hello." He grinned.
"Let's not start that again," she laughed.
"Okay."
"So, who're you supposed to be, then?"
"Captain Jack Harkness, One Three Three Squadron, Royal Air Force. American volunteer"
"Liar. This is psychic paper. It tells me whatever you want it to tell me."
Jack was stunned. How did she know that? "How do you know?"
"Two things. One, I have a friend who uses this all the time."
"Ah."
"And two, you just handed me a piece of paper telling me you're single and you work out."
"Tricky thing, psychic paper."
"Yeah. Can't let your mind wander when you're handing it over."
He took the paper back and smirked. "Oh, you sort of have a boyfriend called Mickey Smith but you consider yourself to be footloose and fancy free. "
"What?"
"Actually, the word you use is available."
"No way."
"And another one, very."
"Shall we try and get along without the psychic paper?"
"That would be better, wouldn't it?" He teased.
"Nice spaceship," Rose commented.
"Gets me around."
"Very Spock."
"Who?"
"Guessing you're not a local boy, then."
"A cell phone, a liquid crystal watch, and fabrics that won't be around for at least another two decades. Guessing you're not a local girl."
"Guessing right."
"Burn your hands on the rope?"
"Yeah. We're parked in mid-air! Can't anyone down there see us?"
"No. Can I have a look at your hands for a moment?"
"Why?"
"Please? You can stop acting now. I know exactly who you are. I can spot a Time Agent a mile away."
"Time Agent?"
"I've been expecting one of you guys to show up. Though not, I must say, by barrage balloon. Do you often travel that way?"
"Sometimes I get swept off my feet. By balloons. What are you doing?"
"Try to keep still," he said, gently binding her wrists. He pressed a button and a glowing bundle of light zoomed towards her hands. She watched in awe as her hands slowly healed. "Nanogenes. Sub-atomic robots. The air in here is full of them. They just repaired three layers of your skin," he explained. The glow disappeared and he unbound her wrists.
"Well, tell them thanks."
"Shall we get down to business?"
"Business?"
"Shall we have a drink on the balcony? Bring up the glasses."
Piper and the Doctor followed Nancy to some railway tracks. She looked up to see them watching her. "How'd you follow me here?"
"I'm good at following, me. Got the nose for it."
"People can't usually follow me if I don't want them to."
"My nose has special powers."
"Yeah? That's why it's..."
"What?"
"Nothing," Nancy said as innocently as she could.
"What?"
"Nothing. Do your ears have special powers too?"
Piper burst out laughing and slapped a hand over her mouth and tried to change her laugher into coughs when she saw the expression on his face. Nancy giggled at her failed attempt. "What are you trying to say?"
Piper's face turned red as she tried and failed to control her laughter.
"Goodnight, Mister."
"Nancy, there's something chasing you and the other kids. Looks like a boy and it isn't a boy, and it started about a month ago, right? The thing I'm looking for, the thing that fell from the sky, that's when it landed. And you know what I'm talking about, don't you?" His voice turned serious.
"There was a bomb. A bomb that wasn't a bomb. Fell the other end of Limehouse Green Station."
"Take me there."
"There's soldiers guarding it. Barbed wire. You'll never get through."
"Try me."
"You sure you want to know what's going on in there?"
"I really want to know."
"Then there's someone you need to talk to first."
"And who might that be?"
"The Doctor."
The Doctor pulled a face and moved to follow her.
"The bomb's under that tarpaulin. They put the fence up over night. See that building? The hospital?"
The Doctor used his binoculars to zoom onto the hospital. "What about it?"
"That's where the doctor is. You should talk to him."
"For now, I'm more interested in getting in there."
"Talk to the doctor first," Nancy insisted.
"Why?"
"Because then maybe you won't want to get inside." She turned to walk away.
"Where're you going?"
"There was a lot of food in that house. I've got mouths to feed. Should be safe enough now," she said as if it was obvious.
"Can I ask you a question? Who did you lose?"
Nancy's face went blank. "What?"
"The way you look after all those kids. It's because you lost somebody, isn't it? You're doing all this to make up for it."
Piper watched Nancy closely. "My little brother. Jamie. One night I went out looking for food. Same night that thing fell. I told him not to follow me, I told him it was dangerous, but he just. He just didn't like being on his own."
"What happened?"
Piper wanted to slap him around the head. What did he think happened?
"In the middle of an air raid? What do you think happened?"
"Amazing."
"What is?"
"1941. Right now, not very far from here, the German war machine is rolling up the map of Europe. Country after country, falling like dominoes. Nothing can stop it. Nothing. Until one, tiny, damp little island says no. No. Not here. A mouse in front of a lion. You're amazing, the lot of you. Don't know what you do to Hitler, but you frighten the hell out of me. Off you go then do what you've got to do. Save the world."
The Doctor turned back to the hospital but Piper's eyes never left Nancy's leaving form. "She's lying," she stated.
The Doctor stared at her. "What do you mean?"
Piper's face was blank as she shifted through her thoughts and theories. "She's lying about her brother. Losing someone in the family is different every time, depending on who they are. Her eyes held pain and sorrow but she was lying. I had a sister, remember? Her pain was different, almost like a..." She trailed off, her eyes wide as realization dawned on her. Of course! Why hadn't she worked it out before? Nancy held the same pain she had seen in her parents eyes when Lilith died. She slapped her hand over her face feeling stupid that she hadn't worked out the truth before. Her heart went out to Nancy. "Oh." She breathed.
The Doctor stared at her in concern and curiosity. "What?
"Nothing."
"No, that's you're 'I just worked something out' face. What is it?"
She just turned her head to look at him, sorrow in her gaze that made him look away.
After successfully getting inside, they walked down the empty corridor. They stopped then walked into a room. There were people lying motionlessly on the beds. "You'll find them everywhere. In every bed, in every ward. Hundreds of them."
"Yes, I saw. Why are they still wearing gas masks?"
"They're not. Who are you?"
"I'm, err...are you the doctor?"
"Doctor Constantine. And you are?"
"Nancy sent me."
"Nancy? That means you must've been asking about the bomb."
"Yes."
"What do you know about it?"
"Nothing. Why I was asking. What do you know?"
"Only what it's done."
"These people, they were all caught up in the blast?"
"None of them were." He chuckled then coughed. He moved to sit on a chair.
"You're very sick."
"Dying, I should think. I just haven't been able to find the time. Are you a doctor?"
"I have my moments."
"Have you examined any of them yet?"
"No."
"Don't touch the flesh." He warned.
"Which one?"
"Any one."
The Doctor moved to the nearest patient and pointed his sonic screwdriver at it.
"Conclusions?"
"Massive head trauma, mostly to the left side. Partial collapse of the chest cavity, mostly to the right. There's some scarring on the back of the hand and the gas mask seems to be fused to the flesh, but I can't see any burns." The Doctor listed.
"Examine another one."
The Doctor did as he was told. "This isn't possible."
"Examine another."
"This isn't possible!"
"No."
"They've all got the same injuries."
"Yes."
"Exactly the same."
"Yes."
"Identical, all of them, right down to the scar on the back of the hand." Doctor Constantine glanced down at his hand. There was a scar there. "How did this happen? How did it start?"
"When that bomb dropped, there was just one victim."
"Dead?"
"At first. His injuries were truly dreadful. By the following morning, every doctor and nurse who had treated him, who had touched him, had those exact same injuries. By the morning after that, every patient in the same ward, the exact same injuries. Within a week, the entire hospital. Physical injuries as plague. Can you explain that? What would you say was the cause of death?"
"The head trauma."
"No."
"Asphyxiation?"
"No."
"The collapse of the chest cavity-"
"No."
"All right. What was the cause of death?"
"There wasn't one."
Piper frowned. "What?"
"They're not dead." He hit a bin nearby with his stick and almost immediately, the patients rose and sat up on the beds. Piper and the Doctor jumped and looked around. "It's all right. They're harmless. They just sort of sit there. No heartbeat, no life signs of any kind. They just...don't die."
"And they've just been left here? Nobody's doing anything?" He asked angrily. The patients laid down again.
"I try and make them comfortable. What else is there?"
"Just you? You're the only one here?"
"Before this war began, I was a father and a grandfather. Now I am neither. But I'm still a doctor."
"Yeah. I know the feeling." The Doctor said softly. Piper grabbed his hand and squeezed it reassuringly. He gave her a small thankful smile.
"I suspect the plan is to blow up the hospital and blame it on a German bomb."
"Probably too late."
"No. There are isolated cases...isolated cases breaking out all over London-" The Doctor rushed forward but doctor Constantine held his hand to stop him. "Stay back, stay back. Listen to me. Top floor. Room eight oh two. That's where they took the first victim, the one from the crash site. And you must find Nancy again."
"Nancy?"
"It was her brother. She knows more than she's saying. She won't tell me, but she might...mu-mmy. Are. You. My. Mummy?"
They watched in horror as his face turned into a gas mask. Their expressions turned to sadness. They looked up when they heard the door and a male voice call out. "Hello?"
"Hello?" Rose.
"Hello?"
They ran out of the room. "Good evening. Hope we're not interrupting. Jack Harkness. I've been hearing all about you on the way over."
"He knows. I had to tell him about us being Time Agents."
"And it's a real pleasure to meet you, Mister Spock."
Piper sniggered.
"Mister Spock?"
"What was I supposed to say? You don't have a name. Don't you ever get tired of Doctor? Doctor who?"
"Nine centuries in, I'm coping. Where've you been? We're in the middle of a London Blitz. It's not a good time for a stroll."
"Who's strolling? I went by barrage balloon. Only way to see an air raid." Rose said casually.
"What?!"
"Listen, what's a Chula warship?"
"Chula?"
The Doctor leant against a wall and watched as Jack examined the patients. "This just isn't possible. How did this happen?"
"What kind of Chula ship landed here?"
"What?"
"He said it was a warship. He stole it, parked it somewhere out there, somewhere a bomb's going to fall on it unless we make him an offer."
"What kind of warship?"
"Does it matter? It's got nothing to do with this."
"This started at the bomb site. It's got everything to do with it. What kind of warship?"
"An ambulance! Look." A hologram appeared from his wrist. "That's what you chased through the Time Vortex. It's space junk. I wanted to kid you it was valuable. It's empty. I made sure of it. Nothing but a shell. I threw it at you. Saw your time travel vehicle, love the retro look, by the way, nice panels. Threw you the bait-"
"Bait?" Rose asked.
"I wanted to sell it to you and then destroy it before you found out it was junk," he admitted.
"You said it was a war ship."
"They have ambulances in wars," he mocked as if she were stupid. "It was a con. I was conning you! That's what I am, I'm a con man! I thought you were Time Agents. You're not, are you?"
"Just a couple more freelancers."
"Oh. Should have known. The way you guys are blending in with the local color. I mean, Flag Girl was bad enough, but U-Boat Captain? Anyway, whatever's happening here has got nothing to do with that ship."
"What is happening here, Doctor?" Rose asked quietly.
The Doctor's expression was dark. "Human DNA is being rewritten by an idiot."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know. Some kind of virus converting human beings into these things. But why? What's the point?"
They gasped and jumped when the patients suddenly sat up. "Mummy. Mummy. Mummy? Mummy?"
"What's happening?!"
"I don't know."
They watched helpless as the patients all stood up and began advancing on them. "Mummy."
"Don't let them touch you."
"What happens if they touch us?"
"You're looking at it."
"Help me, mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy."