AN: Hello, sweet friends! It's been a while, hasn't it? Sorry about that - being a medical student involves doing some actual work, funnily enough. But, I have news - and I think you're going to like it!
I am writing a brand new fic - and as a treat, I'll post the first two chapters together! Aren't I nice to you all? It's another Doctor Who fic, and the title is...
Vaster Than Empires ! That's the overall series title, with the first book being Crossfade.
I won't tell you too much for now (spoilers, sweetie), but it'll involve an old friend returning...
My current plan is to alternate posting chapters of these stories and the new series, but we'll see how that pans out as things go. I'm not promising regular updates (sorry) because I'm a busy human, but at least you'll have two stories to keep you entertained for a while, right?
I'm also looking at posting some one shots on my ao3 (the format is a little better for them there) so keep your eyes peeled for those as well!
And without further ado...
Chapter 5: The Sontaran Stratagem
"Come on. Stop struggling."
Jo found herself seriously regretting not going to those self-defense classes she'd seen advertised a few months back. Too many hands to count gripped her arms and the back of her jacket as she was shoved down the gravel pathway at the front of the building.
"You're going to regret this. Completely ridiculous. Get your hands off me!"
Reaching the pavement, they threw her to the ground, tossing the research papers she'd brought with her on top of her. A short, weedy-looking young man moved to stand in front of his tracksuit wearing minions.
"I think that makes my answer clear, don't you? Oh. And, er, if you're going to go to print, spell my name right. Rattigan, with two Ts."
Staggering to her feet, she brushed herself off. "Oh, this goes way beyond the newspapers. This thing's worldwide. I'm telling you, ATMOS is dangerous."
"But if you had proof, then you wouldn't be here."
"Fine. If you won't listen, I'll find someone else who will."
And she stormed towards her car, sneering at the ATMOS sticker on the windscreen as she slid into the driver's seat and switched the engine on.
The LCD screen in the centre panel lit up.
"Welcome. What is your destination?"
"Shut up, you're the last thing I need."
She punched at the settings functions a few times, to no avail.
"ATMOS cannot be disabled."
"Right then. Take me to UNIT Headquarters. Tower Bridge, London."
"UNIT Headquarters. Destination set."
Having returned to his private rooms after sending the students to bed, Luke Rattigan opened up the communications link between him and his new acquaintances.
"Her name's Jo Nakashima. A freelance journalist. Clever by the sound of it, but not as clever as me. But that goes without saying." He flipped a squash racket over in his hands, finding the repetitive movement therapeutic. "I'd recommend termination."
The voice hissed back warningly.
"Remember your status, boy. We do not take orders from humans."
"I said, recommend."
The tone shifted to one that was tinted with pride.
"Then your advice shows military wisdom. She will be terminated."
Luke smirked. "Cool."
Jo found that her night was only getting worse as none of her phone calls reached their intended target.
"This is UNIT extension two two one. Please leave a message after the tone."
"Come on, don't go through to answerphone." She waited for the beep, and continued. "Yes, this is a message to Colonel Mace from Jo. Jo Nakashima. Look, you should have got my email. I've been investigating a number of deaths related to ATMOS systems."
Her car's ATMOS device continued to announce her route.
"Go straight on."
"Now, I can't prove anything, but there's got to be a link. I need you to check out all the people who died in ATMOS cars yesterday, and then check out the time."
"Turn right."
Making the turning, she found herself on a piece of uneven tarmac beside the river.
"I don't believe this."
"This is your final destination."
"I said, take me to UNIT."
"Go straight on."
She scoffed. "I don't think so. I'll find my own way, thanks."
But the car had other ideas, putting itself into gear and revving the engine.
"This is your final destination."
She tried to open her door, but the locking system activated. Scrabbling at the locking pin, it refused to budge, and still the ATMOS device spoke.
"This is your final destination. This is your final destination."
"No. No. Help! No!"
"This is your final destination."
"No! Someone help me!"
And the car sped off the concrete shoulder, hitting the darkly glimmering water of the river with a crack before sinking below the surface.
Hands still shaking a little, Donna continued moving the piston at the rhythm she'd been instructed.
"I can't believe I'm doing this!"
The Doctor, eyebrows raised, agreed. "No, neither can I. Oh, careful."
Leaning forward, he smacked part of the console with his trusty mallet and pulled a lever, before letting her take control again. It didn't last long.
"Left hand down. Left hand down! Getting a bit too close to the 1980s."
She snorted. "What am I going to do, put a dent in them?"
"Well, someone did."
Boots echoing on the floor, Eris joined them, patting Donna on the back. "Ah don't worry, I'm sure he's done far worse. This is, after all, the man who failed his flying exams three times."
Before he could say anything to defend himself, a phone started to ring.
Donna patted at her pockets.
"Hold on. That's a phone, but-" She watched as the Doctor pulled the mobile from a socket in the console. "You've got a mobile? Since when?"
He shook his head. "It's not mine."
There was a pause as he answered, and Eris felt the corners of her mouth twitch. Logically, there was only one person who would be calling that number.
"Hello?"
On the other end of the line, Martha Jones let out a quiet sigh - she hadn't been entirely convinced that he would pick up.
"Doctor? It's Martha. And I'm bringing you back to Earth."
Eris and the Doctor took over the controls, landing them safely at the coordinates Martha had given them. He stepped out first, into the narrow alleyway they had materialised in. There was some kind of distant cacophony, but he tuned it out for now.
There she was.
"Martha Jones."
"Doctor."
She held back a laugh as he stumbled forwards - Eris had shoved him out of the way and come pelting towards her for a hug.
"Fancy seeing you here!"
"Oh, I forgot just how strong your grip is!"
She let go, beaming, and the Doctor joined them so he could do the same.
"You haven't changed a bit."
"Neither have you."
"How's the family?"
She shrugged. "You know. Not so bad. Recovering."
Donna peered around the door frame, watching the interaction. She'd heard them mention Martha before, of course, but she hadn't really expected to meet her - certainly not this soon anyway. Brushing off the feelings of being the third wheel that she'd been all too familiar with in school, she stepped out properly.
Looking past her friends, Martha smiled softly.
"Right. Should have known. Didn't take you long to replace me, then."
The Doctor pointed a warning finger at them both. "Now, don't start fighting. Martha, Donna. Donna, Martha. Please don't fight. Can't bear fighting."
They shook hands, and Donna relaxed a little.
"I've heard all about you. He talks about you a lot, and she-" She jabbed a thumb at Eris, who grinned innocently, "doesn't ever stop telling stories."
Martha felt her face heat up. "I dread to think."
"No, no, no. No, he says nice things. Good things. Nice things. Really good things."
"Oh my God. He's told you everything."
"Didn't take long to get over it though. Who's the lucky man?"
Looking between them, the Doctor had a sudden feeling that he was the only one in the conversation who had no idea what was going on.
"What man? Lucky what?"
Donna rolled her eyes. "She's engaged, you prawn."
At the same time, Eris sighed. "Oh come on, I told you about this ages ago! It's hardly my fault everything goes in one ear and out the other with you."
He ignored her. "Really? Who to?"
Martha smiled, holding her hand up so her ring caught the light. "Tom. That Tom Milligan. He's in pediatrics. Working out in Africa right now. And yes, I know, I've got a doctor who disappears off to distant places. Tell me about it."
Donna raised an eyebrow. "Is he skinny?"
"No, he's sort of… strong."
"He is too skinny for words. You give him a hug, you get a paper cut."
The three women fell about laughing, and he groaned. "Oh, I'd rather you were fighting."
A voice crackled between them, and they stopped to listen.
"Doctor Jones, report to base, please. Over."
Grabbing her walkie-talkie, she answered, slipping back into her professional persona.
"This is Doctor Jones. Operation Blue Sky is go, go, go. I repeat, this is a go."
The three of them followed her out of the alleyway to the front car park of a large factory, the company name 'ATMOS' plastered on the side of the buildings. A convoy of vehicles went past, and a multitude of voices clashed over the sounds of the engines and unified footsteps.
"Unified Intelligence Taskforce. Raise that barrier, now!"
"Leave those safeties on, lads. They're non-hostiles."
"All workers, lay down your tools and surrender."
Martha radioed through again. "Greyhound Six to Trap One. B Section, go, go, go. Search the ground floor. Grid pattern delta."
Watching the scene with a little hesitance, Eris asked, "What are you searching for?"
"Illegal aliens."
As she and the Doctor made eye contact, there was more noise.
"This is a UNIT operation. All workers lay down your tools and surrender immediately."
"B section mobilised. E section, F section, on my command."
And Martha jogged away, joining one of the troops that had been sent into action.
Donna turned to the others, seeing the bemused looks crossing their faces.
"Is that what you did to her? Turned her into a soldier?"
They didn't have an answer for her.
Ten minutes later they were reunited, and she led them towards the largest of the trucks that had been set up in the car park. This was clearly the space they were using as their headquarters. Still a little disturbed by the military presence, the Doctor tried to make conversation.
"And you're qualified now. You're a proper doctor."
She nodded, tapping her badge. "UNIT rushed it through, given my experience in the field. Here we go. We're establishing a field base on site. They're dying to meet you."
As she opened the door, he grumbled under his breath.
"Wish I could say the same."
The inside of the sleek black truck was taken up almost completely by the banks of computers that faced a colossal screen on one of the walls. A small space at the end was sectioned off by glass, and looked like it was currently being used as an office. Martha approached the man who was overseeing the numerous people operating the computers - clearly, he was in charge.
"Operation Blue Sky complete, sir. Thanks for letting me take the lead. And," She gestured towards her friends. "this is the Doctor and Eris. This is Colonel Mace."
Colonel Mace snapped to salute. "Sir, ma'am."
The Doctor groaned. "Oh, don't salute."
"But it's an honour, sir. I've read all the files on you both. Technically speaking, you're still on staff. You never resigned."
Eris raised an eyebrow. "Technically speaking, that means you owe us a good thirty or so years of wages then."
As the man tried to pick his jaw up from the floor, Donna turned to them.
"What, you used to work for this lot?"
He shrugged. "Yeah, long time ago. Back in the 70's. Or was it the 80's? But it was all a bit more homespun back then."
"It was mostly the 70's." Eris nodded, looking around the room, curious. "And it was definitely nowhere near as high tech as this back then."
Mace recovered himself. "Times have changed, ma'am."
She wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, none of that ma'am crap, thanks."
The Doctor agreed. "Yeah, and that's enough of the sir while we're at it."
Martha gestured to the work that was going on around them. "Come on, though, Doctor. You've seen it. You've been on board the Valiant. We've got massive funding from the United Nations, all in the name of Home World Security."
Mace nodded. "A modern UNIT for the modern world."
Not liking what she had seen so far, Donna crossed her arms across her chest.
"What, and that means arresting ordinary factory workers, in the streets, in broad daylight? It's more like Guantanamo Bay out there." Once again he looked slightly shell-shocked, and she took advantage of the quiet moment. "Donna, by the way. Donna Noble, since you didn't ask. I'll have a salute."
He looked across at the Doctor and Eris, who were standing just behind her with wide grins. They nodded, and he jumped to attention.
"Ma'am."
"Thank you."
Getting back to the topic at hand, the Doctor shoved his hands in his pockets.
"Tell me, what's going on in that factory?"
"Yesterday, fifty two people died in identical circumstances, right across the world, in eleven different time zones. Five a.m. in the UK, six a.m. in France, eight a.m. in Moscow, one p.m. in China-"
Eris could see where this was going. "You mean they died simultaneously."
"Exactly. Fifty-two deaths at the exact same moment, worldwide."
"So how did they die? Why do you need our help?"
"They were all inside their cars."
Martha handed over a file, summarising the findings as the Doctor read through them at light speed. "They were poisoned. I checked the biopsies. No toxins. Whatever it is, left the system immediately."
He looked up. "What have the cars got in common?"
"Completely different makes. They're all fitted with ATMOS, and that is the ATMOS factory."
"What's ATMOS?"
Next to him, Donna scoffed. "Oh, come on. Even I know that. Everyone's got ATMOS."
Once they received confirmation from the troops on the ground that the factory levels had been mostly cleared, Colonel Mace led them through the building to one of the rooms they had repurposed for investigations while Martha talked them through the basics.
"Stands for Atmospheric Omission System. Fit ATMOS in your car, it reduces CO2 emissions to zero."
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Zero? No carbon, none at all?"
Donna shrugged. "And you get sat-nav and twenty quid in shopping vouchers if you introduce a friend. Bargain."
Mace nodded, leading them across a walkway over one of the factory spaces.
"And this is where they make it, Doctor. Shipping worldwide. Seventeen factories across the globe, but this is the central depot, sending ATMOS to every country on Earth."
Hands shoved deep in the pockets of her leather jacket, Eris frowned.
"So by the sounds of it, you think ATMOS is alien."
"It's our job to investigate that possibility. Through here."
He led them through a plastic strip curtain into a room where one of the ATMOS devices had been laid out on a table.
"And here it is, laid bare. ATMOS can be threaded through any and every make of car."
The Doctor patted at his pockets for the sonic, frowning. "I could've sworn- Eris!"
She was already stood over the slender box, scratching behind her ear with the tip of the sonic as she examined the thing from every angle.
"What? You lot must have run checks on it before it was approved for sale."
Martha hid a smile at the look on the Doctor's face - her friends really hadn't changed since she'd seen them last.
"We did. We found nothing. That's why I thought we needed an expert."
He pulled a face. "Really. who'd you get?" There was a moment of almost stunned silence, and he realised that everyone else in the room was staring at him, slightly bemused. "Oh, right. Me, yes. Good."
Rolling her eyes, Martha led Colonel Mace through to the next set of rooms, leaving the three others behind. Donne looked at the slim silver device warily.
"Okay. So why would aliens be so keen on cleaning up our atmosphere?"
"A very good question."
"Maybe they want to help. Get rid of pollution and stuff."
"Do you know how many cars there are on planet Earth? Eight hundred million. Imagine that. If you could control them, you'd have eight hundred million weapons."
On the lowest underground level, a pair of paratroopers were completing their sweep of the building. One held a floor plan while the other held a torch, and they were doing their best to navigate the warren of corridors.
Grey shook his head. "We should head back. There's not much down here. Should be just boiler rooms, generators. That kind of thing."
His companion, Harris, took a few steps forward, and the overhead lights activated themselves. Turning on the spot, he spotted something that made his eyebrows shoot up.
"Aye, aye. What's this, then?"
At the end of the newly lit corridor, two guards in boiler suits were standing either side of a metal door.
"You two. All personnel have been ordered to evacuate. The building's under UNIT control."
The worker on the left spoke with a slight accent. "This area is out of bounds."
"Excuse me, sunshine? I think you'll find we're in charge. We can do this the easy way," and for emphasis, he raised his gun "or the hard way."
The two soldiers approached as the workers turned to look at each other. There was a moment of dead quiet, then one turned to open the door.
"It's open."
Sneering at the two oddly quiet figures, Harris shoved his way through the space, leaving Grey to follow.
Neither man noticed the door swing shut behind them.
The lights flickered on overhead, and both men felt their jaws drop.
"What the hell?"
"Greyhound Sixteen to Trap One. We've found something. Basement corridor, north side, grid thirty six. Request backup, over."
The room in front of them was filled with sleek, unrecognisable technology, framed by tangles of silver pipes and bundles of wiring. The centrepiece of the whole bizarre tableau was a lidded rectangular tub. From within came a soft bubbling sound. To the right of it was a metal trolley, shaped to hold a person.
Harris felt a shiver run through him. "It's like something boiling inside."
"Don't touch it."
"Come on, Steve. We get first rights on this. That means promotion."
"Just leave it alone. Wait for backup."
As both hovered there for a moment, tense, unsure which was the right choice to make, a loud thud came from inside the bath.
"What was that?"
Harris eyed the structure. "It came from inside."
"Could just be the machinery."
A further two knocks proved him wrong.
"Is there someone in there? Hello?" Moving closer, he tried to slip his fingers into the seam between the lid and the body. "We've got to get this open."
"We should wait for the others."
"You could suffocate in there!"
Pausing, Grey clicked onto the radio again. "Greyhound Sixteen to Trap One, request immediate assistance. Repeat, immediate assistance, over."
Talking to himself, Harris continued to press at random buttons on the nearest control panel.
"How do you work this thing? Come on."
The sound of an alarm filled the small space as the lid started to rise, revealing a thick, pale green liquid bubbling within.
Grey covered his mouth. "Oh God, it stinks."
"What the hell is that stuff?"
As they stood there, baffled, a figure rose out of the fluid. It had translucent skin, no eyes, and several small openings where the mouth should have been. It sat for a moment, entirely still, before stretching forwards, trying to touch the nearest man. Both jerked back, and it stilled again.
"Identify yourself! Identify! Greyhound Sixteen declaring Absolute emergency, sir. Repeat, Absolute emergency. Over."
Watching the thing, Harris took a slightly different angle.
"Can you hear me? Can you understand me?" Spotting the twisted white structure curling down it's back, a thought struck him. "Look at its neck. Looks like an umbilical cord."
"Well, don't get too close."
"I think it's harmless. I don't even think it's properly alive."
They watched as it slipped silently back beneath the liquid, leaving nothing but surface ripples in it's wake.
"It's going to drown."
"No. I think it breathes this stuff, like some kind of embryo."
"What do you mean, an embryo?"
"Someone's growing a body. A human body."
A new voice - low, gravelly, and a little smug - interrupted them.
"Excellent skills of deduction."
The duo trained their weapons on the source; a squat armoured figure who held a weapon of it's own.
"I would rate you above average, soldier. Well done. Whereas you…" he gestured disdainfully towards Grey. "you smell of sweat and fear."
Harris raised an eyebrow. "Yeah? Well, we're not the ones who got out of school early, sonny. Now stop playing Humpty Dumpty and tell us who you are."
"Is that a reference to my height?"
He snorted. "Short answer, yes."
"A pity. Words are the weapons of womenfolk. I must judge you unfit."
"Oh, what you going to do, bite our ankles?"
It fired the weapon at his ankles, flooring him. Grey cocked his weapon as his colleague cried out.
"I'm warning you!"
"A proper soldier gives no warning. Fire. I order you. Fire!"
And he tried to - but there was nothing.
The sneer was obvious in the little being's voice as he continued. "The room is contained within a cordolaine signal, exciting the copper surface of the bullet and causing expansion within the barrel, rendering your guns useless. And your radio signals have been blocked."
He lunged, aiming to use the gun as a club if it was no longer suitable for it's original purpose, but he was struck down too, hitting the floor with a hard thump.
"My legs. I can't feel my legs."
"I apologise for disabling you. Death has more honour, but you are needed for the stratagem. Prepare them for processing." He addressed this to the two boiler suit wearing guards, who had entered the room too quietly for the soldiers to have noticed them before. "You spoke of promotion. Now you will serve a greater cause."
"Who are you?"
"Indeed, know your enemy. I am General Staal of the Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet. Known as Staal the Undefeated."
And as he removed his helmet, revealing the leathery brown skin and crumpled features beneath, the screams of the men echoed around the lower levels.
"Ionising nano-membrane carbon dioxide converter. Which means that ATMOS works. Filters the CO2 at a molecular level." The Doctor leant against the table, turning the ATMOS device over in his hands.
Colonel Mace looked less than impressed with his deductions.
"We know all that, but what's its origin? Is it alien?"
"No. Decades ahead of its time. Look, do you mind? Could you stand back a bit?"
"Sorry, have I done something wrong?"
"You're carrying a gun. I don't like people with guns hanging around me, all right?"
"If you insist."
He left, making sure to brush through the plastic curtain with a flourish.
On the other side of the room, Martha scoffed. "Tetchy."
"Well, it's true."
"He's a good man."
"People with guns are usually the enemy in my books. You seem quite at home."
She raised an eyebrow. "If anyone got me used to fighting, it's you."
"Oh right, so it's my fault."
"Well, you got me the job. Besides, look at me. Am I carrying a gun?"
He turned, looking her up and down. "Suppose not."
She rolled her eyes. "It's all right for you. You can just come and go, but some of us have got to stay behind. So I've got to work from the inside, and by staying inside, maybe I stand a chance of making them better."
"Yeah? That's more like Martha Jones."
"I learned from the best."
"Well…"
"Eris really is a fantastic role model."
As he groaned and she giggled, Eris and Donna returned to the room, looking rather proud of themselves.
"Oi, you lot. All your storm troopers and your sonics. You're rubbish. Should've come with us."
The Doctor blinked. "Why, where have you been?"
Eris grinned. "Off doing something far more interesting than you've been up to! Turns out Donna's got a good nose for discrepancies."
Looking a little bashful under the praise, Donna held out a blue folder.
"Personnel. That's where the weird stuff's happening, in the paperwork. Because I spent years working as a temp, I can find my way round an office blindfold, and the first thing I noticed is an empty file."
Interested piqued, he put the device down. "Why, what's inside it? Or what's not inside it?"
"Sick days. There aren't any. Hundreds of people working here and no one's sick. Not one hangover, man flu, sneaky little shopping trip, nothing. Not ever. They don't get ill."
Having heard the end of the conversation, the Colonel poked his head through the curtains.
"That can't be right."
"You've been checking out the building. Should've been checking out the workforce."
Martha grinned. "I can see why they like you. You are good!"
Eris threw an arm around the taller woman. "She's our Super Temp. We'd be lost without her."
Making use of the new piece of intel, the Colonel adjusted his plans.
"Doctor Jones, set up a medical post. Start examining the workers. I'll get them sent through."
She nodded. "Come on, Donna. Give me a hand."
"Doctor, Eris - come with me. We've got some more information about the devices that might be useful."
They followed him through to a commandeered office space.
"So this, this ATMOS thing. Where'd it come from?"
"Luke Rattigan himself."
Sensing that he was expecting some big reaction to the name, Eris looked at him blankly.
"And himself would be?"
He turned and pulled up the file; the others read the information as it filtered onto the screen while he summarised it.
"Child genius. Invented the Fountain Six search engine when he was twelve years old. Millionaire overnight. Now runs the Rattigan Academy. A private school, educating students handpicked from all over the world."
The Doctor looked impressed. "A hothouse for geniuses. Wouldn't mind going there." At the look on the Colonel's face, he shrugged. "I get lonely. Ow!"
Eris had punched him in the shoulder. "I dare you to ask the Tardis which one of us is cleverer - I know who she'd say!"
"Yeah, because she's biased."
"Only because you're a terrible pilot."
"Oi!"
Listening to them bicker, Colonel Mace managed not to roll his eyes. Clearly, everything he'd read in their files was entirely accurate.
As the two women set up another of the personnel offices so that Martha could use it as a medical assessment bay, Donna asked something that had been bugging her since they'd arrived.
"Do you think I should warn my mum about the ATMOS in her car?"
Thinking for a moment, Martha nodded. "Better safe than sorry."
"I'll give her a call."
"Donna. Do they know where you are? Your family. I mean, that you're travelling with the Doctor and Eris?"
"Not really. Although my granddad sort of waved us off. I didn't have time to explain."
"You just left him behind?"
"Yeah." She felt herself go quiet - she hadn't really thought of it like that before.
"I didn't tell my family. I kept it all so secret, and it almost destroyed them."
"In what way?"
Martha ran a hand over her face. "They ended up imprisoned. They were tortured. My Mum, my Dad, my sister. It wasn't their fault, not at all, but you need to be careful. Because you know the Doctor. He's wonderful, he's brilliant, but he's like fire. Eris may well be the only person in the universe who can dampen the heat, but he's still like any other flame - stand too close and people get burnt."
As the three of them crossed the factory's dispatch car park - which was now being used by UNIT vehicles - the Doctor drilled his point into the Colonel.
"You are not coming with us. We want to talk to this Luke Rattigan, not point a gun at him."
"It's ten miles outside London. How are you going to get there?"
Spreading her arms wide, Eris gestured at all the cars surrounding them.
"You could just let us borrow a Jeep - it's not like you haven't got any going spare."
"According to the records you travel by Tardis."
"Oh yeah, because a big blue police box is a really subtle way to approach people we want to investigate."
He nodded. "Yeah, and if there is a danger of hostile aliens, I think it's best to keep a super-duper time machine away from the front lines."
The Colonel folded his arms.
"I see. Then you do have weapons, but you choose to keep them hidden. Jenkins?"
The soldier he had addressed snapped out a smart salute. "Sir."
"You will accompany the Doctor and Eris and take orders from them both. Do you understand?"
"Yeah, I don't do orders."
The Colonel ignored him. "Any sign of trouble, get Jenkins to declare a Code Red. And good luck, sir." And he saluted.
"I said no salutes."
"Now you're giving orders." And with a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, he turned and walked away.
Watching him leave, the Doctor grumbled. "Oh, he's getting a bit cheeky, isn't he?"
Spotting Donna enter, Eris called over to her.
"There you are! Come on, we're off on a day trip."
"Oh, just in time. Come on, come on, we're going to the country. Fresh air and geniuses, what more could you ask?"
She stood before them both, an unreadable look on her face.
"I'm not coming with you. I've been thinking. I'm sorry. I'm going home."
The Doctor's face dropped. "Really?"
"I've got to."
"Oh, if that's what you want. I mean, it's a bit soon. I had so many places I had wanted to take you."
Seeing a hint of confusion creep into Donna's expression, Eris realised that he'd got his wires crossed. Shooting the tiniest of smirks at her, she let him continue with his monologue.
"The Fifteenth Broken Moon of the Medusa Cascade, the Lightning Skies of Cotter Palluni's World, Diamond Coral Reefs of Kataa Flo Ko. Thank you. Thank you, Donna Noble, it's been brilliant. You've, you've saved my life in so many ways. You're…" By now, he had registered his daughter's badly hidden giggles, and Donna's raised eyebrows. The penny dropped. "You're just popping home for a visit, that's what you mean."
"You dumbo."
"And then you're coming back."
She grinned. "Know what you are? A great big outer space dunce."
Flushed with embarrassment, he rubbed at the back of his head and tried to ignore the Cheshire Cat grin on Eris' face. "Yeah."
Jenkins came to his rescue, gesturing towards the open door of the Jeep.
"Ready when you are, sir."
The ginger smacked him on the shoulder.
"What's more, you can give me a lift. Come on. Broken moon of what?"
"I know, I know."
The three of them clambered into the back seat, both women very much enjoying the Doctor's moment of idiocy as they drove away.
None of them had noticed the soldiers that watched them leave, staring blankly at the car until it reached the nearest bend and vanished from view.
Having donned her white coat and stethoscope, Martha called in the next of the workers.
"And your name's Treppa, yeah? Is that Polish? Listen, we're not checking passports. It's not about that. But did you come across from Poland just to work?"
The man sat there, staring blankly. When he did speak, it was in a solid monotone.
"I came to do my job."
"Okay. I need to listen to your heartbeat. This might be a bit cold. Lift."
His movement was almost mechanical as he raised his shirt, and she laid her stethoscope over the first auscultation point. His heartbeat was incredibly fast - she couldn't hear any arrhythmia, but she'd certainly never heard a heart beat consistently at that rate in a healthy person before.
Removing the stethoscope, she asked, "Are you on any medication?"
"I'm here to work."
"How many hours a day do you work?"
"Twenty four."
She raised an eyebrow. "You work twenty four hours a day?"
He didn't respond, still staring blankly at a point just past her shoulder.
"Mr Treppa, have you ever had any form of hypnosis?"
"I'm here to work."
"Okay. Er, if you could just wait here."
As she crossed the factory floor, concern rising by the second, she was stopped by a pair of soldiers. She just about managed to see their name tags - Harris and Grey.
"Doctor Jones."
"Not now, I'm busy."
"Just one question. Do you have security clearance level one?"
She felt herself frown a little. "Yes, I do. Why?"
"Colonel Mace wants to see you."
"Oh good, because I want to see him. Where is he?"
Grey gestured towards one of the stairwells.
"Come with us."
As the Jeep pulled to a stop at a junction, Donna recognised where they were.
"I can walk the rest of the way, it's only a couple of streets. I'll see you two back at the factory, yeah?"
Eris nodded. "See you soon!"
The Doctor waved as he pulled the door closed again. "Bye!"
Setting off, Donna turned and wagged a finger at the duo.
"And you be careful!"
They drove off, and she took a deep breath before setting off in the direction of home. One of her neighbours was just locking her door as she passed by, and she turned and waved.
"Haven't seen you for days."
"Yeah. Been away."
Winding her way through the familiar cars parked up against the pavements, memories flashed through her mind of their own accord. The thickness of the air on the last day of Pompeii. The way the cages smelled in the complex where the unprocessed Ood had been held. A tiny baby Adipose, waving down at her as it ascended to the mothership. She blinked the images away, focusing on her surroundings once again - just in time to see her Grandad staring back at her, frozen in the act of putting the rubbish out. He managed a wave, teary eyed, and she ran to him, hugging him as closely as she possibly could.
She hadn't realised just how much she had missed him.
The soldiers led Martha down to the lowest levels of the factory, walking entirely in silence. Early on, that little voice in the back of her mind had started murmuring, suspecting that something wasn't as it should be. But she did her best to brush it off - this had been a complicated operation to organise, and now that the majority of her part was over it was only natural that she was overthinking a few things. So she looked to the soldier on her left and asked,
"What's he doing down here?"
Grey replied. "He asked to see you."
"Why? Has he found something?"
Wordlessly, Harris opened the door at the end of the corridor, directing her through it.
She got less than a metre in before realising that the little voice in her mind had been entirely right.
Sat at the dining table, Donna couldn't keep the smile off her face at the look of wonder on her Grandad's face.
"I said so, didn't I? Aliens. I said they was real. I just didn't expect them in a little blue box."
"It's bigger on the inside."
"Yeah, but is it safe? This Doctor, and Eris, are you safe with them?"
She nodded. "Yeah, I really am. They're amazing, Gramps, just dazzling. And never tell him I said that. Eris says his ego is big enough already and I think she's right."
"You have my word."
"But I'd trust either of them with my life."
He pulled a face. "Hold up, I thought that was my job."
"You still come first."
"Well, for God's sake, don't tell your mother."
"I don't know. I mean, this is massive. Sort of not fair if she doesn't know."
Almost as though she had been summoned by the idea of secrets in her own home, her mum appeared, hoisting the laundry basket with her.
"Doesn't know what? And who's she, the cat's mother? And where've you been these past few days, lady, after that silly little trick with the car keys? I phoned Veena and she said she hadn't seen hide nor hair."
Donna hid a smile as she and her Grandad exchanged glances.
"I've just been travelling."
"Oh, hark at her, Michael Palin. Are you staying for tea? Because I haven't got anything in. I've been trying to keep your granddad on that macrobiotic diet, but he sneaks off and gets pork pies at the petrol station." He gasped in mock offence and she wagged a finger. "Don't deny it, I've seen the wrappers in the car. Oh, I don't miss a trick. Now then, what were you going to tell me? What don't I know?"
"Nothing. Just nothing."
"Good. Right, then you can sit there and cut out those coupons. Every penny helps. This new mortgage doesn't pay for itself. Dad, kettle on."
He winked at his granddaughter as he got to his feet.
"Yeah, kettle on."
They weren't far from the main building of the Rattigan Academy, although they'd been driving through the grounds of the estate for a little while now. Jenkins was filling them in on more details of the young genius' set up.
"UNIT's been watching Rattigan Academy for ages. It's all a bit Hitler Youth. Exercise at dawn and classes and special diets."
"Turn left."
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Ross, one question. If UNIT think that ATMOS is dodgy-"
"Go straight on."
The soldier rolled his eyes. "How come we've got it in the jeeps? Yeah, tell me about it. They're fitted as standard on all government vehicles. We can't get rid of them till we can prove there's something wrong."
"Turn right."
"Drives me around the bend."
Eris grinned as he steered them, perfectly on cue, around the bend in the road.
"Very nicely done, soldier."
He flushed slightly. "Timed that perfectly, I reckon."
"Yeah, I'm very impressed. You should be proud of that one."
As the Doctor shot her a warning look - poor Ross was now rather red in the face - the car's ATMOS chirped up once more.
"This is you final destination."
Crunching to a halt in the gravel, the three of them got out of the Jeep and walked up the pathway.
Rattigan was standing at the top of the steps, arms folded, watching as his students jogged in laps around the building.
The Doctor grinned up at him. "Is it PE? I wouldn't mind a kick around, I've got me daps on."
Sniffing, the young boy skipped the pleasantries. "I suppose you're the Doctor?"
"Hello."
"Your commanding officer phoned ahead."
"Ah, but I haven't got a commanding officer."
Eyeing the boy carefully, Eris grinned woflishly. "Why, have you? I'm Eris. No commanding officer either. Oh, this is Ross. Say hello, Ross."
He was a little less cheeky than the others - after all, he was still in uniform.
"Good afternoon, sir."
Shoving his hands in his pockets, the Doctor strolled towards the front doors.
"Let's have a look, then. I can smell genius! In a good way."
The others followed, watching with varying degrees of amusement and concern as he fiddled with various bits of technology that had been left out on the work benches.
"Oh, now, that's clever. Look. Single molecule fabric, how thin is that?! You could pack a tent in a thimble. Ooo! Gravity simulators. Terraforming, biospheres, nano-tech steel construction. This is brilliant. Do you know, with equipment like this you could… I don't know, move to another planet or something?"
Luke tensed, before trying to brush him off. "If only that was possible."
"If only that were possible. Conditional clause."
His face twisted, like he'd been stung by a wasp and bitten into a lemon at the same instant.
"I think you'd better come with me."
They moved through into a large space that was clearly meant for recreation; sliding doors opened out to a large swimming pool, a variety of sports equipment lay stacked along the sides of the room, and a large black cube with a hollowed centre was tucked into a corner, looking just about as anachronistic as you might expect.
"You're smarter than the usual UNIT grunts, I'll give you that."
The Doctor looked affronted. "He called you a grunt. Don't call Ross a grunt."
Putting an arm around the soldier, Eris pulled a face at the younger man. "You shouldn't be mean to Ross, I like Ross."
Luke looked between the two of them for a moment, slightly unsure of himself before slipping back into the cool, calm persona he had cultivated for the last few years.
"What exactly do you want?"
The Doctor shrugged. "I was just thinking. What a responsible eighteen year old. Inventing zero carbon cars? Saving the world."
"Takes a man with vision."
"Mmm, blinkered vision. Because ATMOS means more people driving. More cars, more petrol. End result, the oil's going to run out faster than ever. The ATMOS system could make things worse."
A muscle twitched in the boy's temple. "Yeah. Well, you see, that's a tautology. You can't say ATMOS system because it stands for Atmospheric Emissions System. So you're just saying Atmospheric Emissions System system. Do you see, Mr Conditional Clause?"
Eyebrows raised, Eris moved to stand opposite the boy. They were almost the same height, and he stared back at her defiantly.
"Sounds like it's been a long time since anyone said no to you."
"I'm still right, though."
The Doctor sighed, drawing the boy's attention back to him as he sidled towards the corner of the room. "Not easy, is it, being clever. You look at the world and you connect things, random things, and think, why can't anyone else see it? The rest of the world is so slow."
"Yeah."
"And you're all on your own."
"I know."
"But not with this." He nodded towards one of the sample ATMOS devices on display. "Because there's no way you invented this thing single handed. I mean, it might be Earth technology, but that's like finding a mobile phone in the Middle Ages. No, no, I'll tell you what it's like. It's like finding this-" he jabbed a thumb over his shoulder at the pod "-in the middle of someone's front room. Albeit it's a very big front room."
Ross frowned. "Why, what is it?"
"Yeah, just looks like a thing, doesn't it? People don't question things. They just say, oh, it's a thing."
Now looking rather alarmed, Luke raised his voice. "Leave it alone."
Stepping into the space within (and shooting Eris a look that very clearly said 'look after Ross') the Doctor continued. "Me, I make these connections. And this, to me, looks like a teleport pod."
He pushed a button, and vanished.
"Orbit now holding at five five six point three, sector two seven zero."
The computer continued to talk, but he didn't register what it said as he looked around the space. It was lit with a heavy purple lighting that gleamed on the familiarly round heads of the species manning the craft.
"Oh."
At the sound of his voice, they turned to look at him, and somebody - he couldn't tell which, as they all had helmets on - spoke.
"We have an intruder."
"How did he get in, in-tru-da window? Bye bye!"
Smacking the button again, he was gone in a flash.
Breaking into the recreation room at a run, he grabbed Eris' hand.
"Ross, get out! Luke, you've got to come with us."
But before he could aim the sonic screwdriver at the teleport and deactivate it, Staal appeared, stepping out into the room with his helmet in place and a weapon raised.
"Sontaran! That's your name, isn't it? You're a Sontaran. How did I know that, hey? Fascinating isn't it? Isn't that worth keeping us alive?"
Following his instincts, Ross raised his own gun. "I order you to surrender in the name of the Unified Intelligence Taskforce."
Eris shook her head, resting a hand against his wrist.
"It's not going to work. They'll have stopped the bullets."
The Doctor nodded. "Cordolaine signal, am I right? Copper excitation stopping the bullets."
Staal eyed them curiously. "How do you know so much?"
"Well."
"Who is he?" He aimed this at Luke, and the others exchanged a look - these two knew each other.
The boy stammered a little. "He didn't give his name."
Tutting, the Doctor rocked back on his heels. "But this isn't typical Sontaran behaviour, is it? Hiding? Using teenagers, stopping bullets? A Sontaran should face bullets with dignity. Shame on you."
"You dishonour me, sir."
"Yeah? Then show yourself."
"I will look into my enemy's eyes!"
And Staal removed his helmet, revealing the leathered and greasy looking skin beneath.
Ross gagged a little. "Oh, my God."
Eris, on the other hand, seemed totally unfazed. "And your name?"
"General Staal, of the Tenth Sontaran Fleet. Staal the Undefeated."
"Bit of a rubbish nickname if you ask me."
Her dad agreed. "Yeah, what if you do get defeated? Staal the Not Quite So Undefeated Anymore But Never Mind?"
Ross had recovered enough to comment. "He's like a potato. A baked potato. A talking baked potato."
"Now, Ross, don't be rude. You look like a pink weasel to him." Picking up a racket and ball to fiddle with, hoping the movement looked relatively nonchalant, he continued. "The Sontarans are the finest soldiers in the galaxy, dedicated to a life of warfare. A clone race, grown in batches of millions with only one weakness."
"Sontarans have no weakness."
"No, it's a good weakness."
Luke hissed at him. "Aren't you meant to be clever? Only an idiot would provoke him."
"No, but the Sontarans are fed by a probic vent in the back of their neck. That's their weak spot. Which means, they always have to face their enemies in battle. Isn't that brilliant? They can never turn their backs."
Staal sneered. "We stare into the face of death."
"Yeah? Well, stare at this."
And he smacked the ball hard into the side of the teleport pod - it bounced off, hitting Staal square over the probic vent and sending him to the floor.
"Run!"
As the others legged it, Luke crouched by the Sontaran.
"What has he done? What has he done?"
"Don't touch me. A Sontaran would rather be court martialled than show pain. I must return."
"But he broke the teleport."
"Ha. Primitive sonic trickery." And he zapped the controls with his staff, getting to his feet with some difficulty.
"The device is now repaired."
Indicating that Luke should step in first, the two of them returned to the ship where it lay in orbit.
"Our presence is known. Soldiers, we move to a war footing."
One of the nearest soldiers turned to him. "I see you face battle open skinned, sir. Might I share that honour?"
"You may."
"Thank you."
Looking between them, Luke found himself struggling. "How do you tell each other apart?"
Staal sneered. "We say the same of humans."
"Tell me, boy. How many ATMOS devices have been installed?"
"Er, they've gone worldwide, but only about half."
Indicating the screen, Staal pulled up a pinpoint display. "Which means four hundred million cars converted. A fine arsenal."
The other one - Skorr - looked a little wary. "Is it sufficient to trigger the conversion?"
Luke grinned. "More than enough, yeah. And the test signal proved that it works! Fifty two deaths in the same second. Man, that is just so cool."
"Is the temperature significant?"
"No. That… that's just a phrase. But I'll get my people ready, General. Just tell me where and when."
"Have we infiltrated UNIT?"
Skorr nodded. "The process is about to begin."
"Then you'll see it completed, Commander Skorr. Get to it."
"Yes, sir."
And he teleported away.
Strapped to the uncomfortable metal trolley by the side of the tub, her clothes replaced with a white hospital gown, Martha struggled against her restraints, acutely aware of the metal device fitted around her head.
"Is someone going to tell me what the hell is going on?"
Footsteps signalled the approach of an alien, and she balked a little at it's appearance - smooth, oily brown skin and a small piggish face. She recovered herself - this wasn't her first rodeo.
"Okay. So, listen. You're not the first aliens I've met. Just tell me who you are."
"Commander Skorr of the Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet. Known as Skorr the Bloodbringer."
"What have you done to those two?" She nodded towards the two soldiers who had led her down there and secured her; they had been stood staring blankly at the opposite wall for the last five minutes.
"Simple hypnotic control, as with the factory drones. But with you, we need something more complex."
He indicated the tub, and Martha turned to look as a tanned hand and forearm appeared from the depths of the green murk.
She could feel the shake in her voice. "What is that?"
"Soon, that will be you."
As the soldiers surrounding him prepared themselves for the war to come, Luke found himself staring out of the large viewing window at the Earth below. It looked so beautiful in the ink-black of the nothingness around it.
"ATMOS devices operating at one hundred percent efficiency. Orbit now holding at five five six point three, sector two seven zero."
Staal joined him there.
"War can never come too soon. Take your last look, boy."
He shrugged. "It was never big enough for me."
"I like your ambition."
"That doctor, he was in a UNIT jeep. It should have ATMOS installed."
Staal's face stiffened. "You said you didn't know his name."
"I don't. He just said doctor. Does that mean something?"
"There is an enemy of the Sontarans known as the Doctor. A face-changer."
Luke's eyes widened. "Do you mean he's an alien too?"
"Legend says that he led the battle in the last great Time War. The finest war in history and we weren't allowed to be a part of it. Oh, but this is excellent. The last of the Time Lords will die at the hands of the Sontaran empire, in the ruins of his precious Earth."
Skorr made some adjustments to the cool band around Martha's skull.
"It is inadvisable to struggle. The female has a weak thorax."
"But what are you doing?"
"Completing mental transfer. The clone needs full memory access."
"Clone?"
This time, when the creature rose from the liquid, it was fully formed. A slick, unblemished version of herself that stared blankly back at her.
"You can't."
It detached the umbilical cord from the back of it's neck.
"That's not…."
But she could feel her eyelids getting heavier, and within seconds had slumped back against the head plate of the trolley.
Skorr directed the soldiers to help the clone dress while he spoke to the original.
"You will sleep, girl. Sleep, and keep the memories alive. Memories we can use in battle."
Still too close to the Rattigan Academy house for comfort, the Doctor tried to contact UNIT as Ross put his foot down.
"Greyhound Forty to Trap One. Repeat, can you hear me? Over."
"Why's it not working?"
"It must be the Sontarans. If they can trace that, they can isolate the ATMOS."
On cue, "Turn left."
Leaning through the gap between the front seats, Eris frowned. "Try going right."
"It said left."
"I know. So go right."
He tried, but the wheel seized briefly before turning the other way. Ross let go.
"I've got no control. It's driving itself. It won't stop."
There was a clunking sound as the internal mechanisms fell into place.
"The doors are locked."
A quick flash of the sonic proved fruitless. "Ah, it's deadlocked. I can't stop it."
"Turn left."
"The sat-nav's just a box, wired through the whole car."
Spotting the low glimmer of water approaching, Ross started to panic.
"We're headed for the river."
Leaning through so much that she was practically hanging over the gearstick, Eris tested a theory. "ATMOS, are you programmed to contradict my orders?"
"Confirmed."
"Anything I say, you'll ignore it?"
"Confirmed."
Catching on, the Doctor continued. "Then drive into the river. I order you to drive into the river. Do it. Drive into the river."
They stopped a couple of metres from the edge. As the system started to confuse itself, the doors unlocked, and the trio clambered out.
"Turn right. Left."
"Get down!" At a safe distance, he pulled the others to the ground, motioning for them to cover their heads.
"Left, right, left, right, left, left, right, left, right-"
Bang. Except it wasn't really a bang. More of a 'sput' with a few sparks and a little trail of smoke.
Looking up, the Doctor sighed.
"Oh, was that it?"
Eris punched him in the shoulder, and dragged the two of them off the floor.
"Come on. We've got things to do. No use lying about all day, is it?"
The sound of knocking drew Donna to the door, and she was rather glad to see the Doctor and Eris standing there. As much as she adored her family, her mum didn't half know how to get under her skin. Both her friends looked exhausted.
"You would not believe the day I'm having."
After a quick catch up, she took them over to the family car. Seeing all the ATMOS stickers in the cars in the street, Ross headed off.
"I'll requisition us a vehicle."
Eris grinned, already with her hands on the bonnet. "Anything without ATMOS, there's a good boy."
Seeing the blush rise on the young man's cheeks once again, the Doctor finished the message.
"And don't point your gun at people!"
They exposed the engine and started fiddling with what they could see, hoping to detach the ATMOS device. Neither of them noticed that they had extra company until Donna's grandad spoke.
"Is it them? Is it him? Is it the Doctor? Ah, it's you!"
"Who?" The pair looked up, jaws dropping. "Oh, it's you."
Donna stared between the three of them, gobsmacked. "What, have you met before?"
Her grandad nodded. "Yeah, Christmas Eve. They disappeared right in front of me."
"And you never said?"
"Well, you never said. Wilf, sir, and miss. Wilfred Mott. You must be some of them aliens."
He grinned. "Yeah, but don't shout it out."
Eris accepted the offered handshake. "Not an alien, strictly. Nice to meet you properly, Wilf."
"Oh, an alien hand."
Glancing over at where she was tapping at her phone, the Doctor asked,
"Donna, anything?"
"She's not answering. What is it, Sonterruns?"
"Sontarans. But there's got to be more to it. They can't be just remote controlling cars. That's not enough. Is anyone answering?"
"Hold on." There was a pause, and then - "Martha. Hold on, they're here."
He took the phone while Eris broke out her lock picking kit and tried to pry off the device.
"Martha, tell Colonel Mace it's the Sontarans. They're in the file. Code Red, Sontarans. But if they're inside the factory tell them not to start shooting. UNIT will get massacred. I'll get back as soon as I can. You got that?"
"Code Red Sontaran. Gotcha."
The call ended just as Colonel Mace walked past the little trio, and he stopped.
"Doctor Jones. Found anything yet?"
The clone schooled her face into a neutral expression, adding a slight shrug for authenticity.
"No, sir. Nothing to report."
"But you tried sonicing it before. You didn't find anything."
"Yeah, but now I know it's Sontaran, I know what I'm looking for."
Wilf had other things on his mind. "The thing is, Doctor, that Donna is my only grandchild. You got to promise me you're going to take care of her."
Eris, having had no luck with the picking tools, had stepped back to watch.
"Oh, don't you worry. She takes care of us."
"Oh yeah, that's my Donna. Yeah, she was always bossing us round when she was tiny. The Little General we used to call her."
Donna's face was slowly shifting to match her hair. "Yeah, don't start."
"And some of the boys she used to turn up with. Different one every week. Here, who was that one with the nail varnish?"
"Matthew Richards. He lives in Kilburn now. With a man."
Spikes shot up from the top of the device, and the Doctor leant back - narrowly avoiding a stab wound to the hands.
"Whoa. It's a temporal pocket. I knew there was something else in there. It's hidden just a second out of sync with real time."
Frowning, Eris leant in for a closer look. "But what's it hiding?"
Huffing, Donna's mum joined them. "I don't know, men and their cars. Sometimes I think if I was a car…" Her tone shifted as she saw exactly who had joined them. "Oh, it's you. Doctor what was it?"
"Yeah, that's me."
Wilf stared between the two. "What, have you met him as well?"
"Dad, it's the man from the wedding. When you were laid up with Spanish flu. I'm warning you, last time that man turned up it was a disaster. That girl's trouble and all, I-"
She was (thankfully) cut off by a cloud of gas streaming from the spikes, clinging to their throats and making them cough.
"Get back!"
In the control room, a light flared on one of the displays, catching Skorr's attention.
"A converter has been activated."
Staal snarled. "Show me where."
The map zoomed in, narrowing the location down to an area that Luke knew very well.
"London. That's Chiswick."
Skree examined the display again. "Who could have such knowledge?"
Staal's non-existent upper lip curled. "Only the Doctor. He survived. Excellent! Then battle will be joined. Glorious warfare. Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet, we move to the final phase. Prepare the subjugation of Earth for the glory of Sontar."
"Announcing Battle Status One. All soldiers to positions. Repeat, we are now at Battle Status One. Rejoice!"
Aggressively sonicking the ATMOS device where it sat on the engine, the Doctor seemed fairly confident. "That'll stop it."
A loud bang proved him wrong, and the fumes continued to stream out.
Tutting, Sylvia glared at him. "I told you. He's blown up the car! Who is he, anyway? What sort of doctor blows up cars?"
Donna groaned. "Oh, not now, Mum."
"Oh, should I make an appointment?"
As she stormed away, Eris pulled a face.
"That wasn't just exhaust fumes. It was some kind of gas. And it tasted artificial - gross, but artificial. Whatever it is, it was made like that deliberately."
Wilf looked rather excited by the idea. "And it's aliens, is it? Aliens?"
Donna, however, had a more sinister thought creeping into her mind.
"But if it's poisonous, then they've got poisonous gas in every car on Earth."
"Well, if it's not safe, I'm going to get it off the street."
He climbed into the front seat and closed the door, not registering that it had locked itself until even thicker plumes of the gas started to flow from the exhaust pipe.
"Hold on! Turn it off. Granddad, get out of there!"
"I can't! I didn't lock it! It's them aliens again!"
Checking every door handle, Eris confirmed the theory - the doors had been locked externally.
Hearing the commotion, Sylvia came back out of the house. "What's he doing? What's he done?"
"They've activated it!"
The inside of the vehicle grew hazy, and Donna's heart stopped as she realised exactly what that meant.
"There's gas inside the car! He's going to choke! Doctor!"
Her grandad was visibly struggling to breathe now as the Time Lord stood in the middle of the road, turning on the spot to see every single car spewing thick clouds of the gas.
"It's the whole world."
Throwing the bonnet of the car up once again, Eris' hands flew across the engine, ignoring the way the metal burnt her skin, disconnecting everything she possibly could. But it made no difference. The gas continued to flow.
Wilf's banging against the window started to falter as the concentration of poison in the air made his body ache.
"Get me out of here!"
He felt his head spinning as a grey haze began to descend over his vision, and he let his eyes slide closed, just for a second.
Donna slammed at the window again, tugging at the handle with all her strength, it wouldn't budge. Noticing that the gas inside was so dense that she could no longer clearly see her grandad's face, she cried out.
"Doctor!"
Much love, and happy reading!
Azzie xx