The Doctor and Rose had been chatting to Lyselle for several minutes when the head guard came running up.

"Mistress Lyselle," he panted. "The scanners have picked up a distress call."

Lyselle was all business. "Where?"

"Alpha quadrant. It's a crashed spaceship."

"Collect a small team; we'll go immediately." She looked at the Doctor, her eyes bright. "Wanna come?"

"Who me? Into an unknown and potentially dangerous situation?" He asked her. "Don't be daft – of course I want to come."

"Rose?"

There was a pause. "Sure why not? Let's invent a new way to die…"

The argument over which TARDIS to take lasted a whole ten minutes. Rose gave up after about three and sat on the floor while the Doctor and Lyselle yelled at each other. They flung stupid insults at each other and eventually Rose realised that there was little in the way of an actual argument and they were having a whale of a time.

At which point she got up, dusted off her backside and walked into Lyselle's with the comment that at least hers was likely to land where and when they wanted.

"There was no need to quite so personal," the Doctor griped at Rose as Lyselle activated her TARDIS.

Rose just looked at him as the machine shifted. It made considerably less noise and there was barely a shiver as it flew through time and space. It also settled without the customary throw to the floor. She lifted her eyebrows and the Doctor stalked to the door, muttering about the duplicity of females and the fussiness of certain companions. Lyselle and Rose followed him out.

The surface was rocky, all craggy with towering structures. Above them, the sky seemed to boil and great flashes of blood-red lightning ran through the dark clouds. Not far where they had stopped was the wreckage of a grey spaceship. It smoked ominously and there was no sign of life.

"Slaver," Lyselle said in a dangerous voice.

"Slaver?" Rose echoed, not liking the sound of that.

"Yeah, it's a slave ship. We're not the only ones looking for refugees."

"I'm not sure anyone survived that," the Doctor said, eyeing the level of damage. "The distress call could be automatic."

"Well, we're not going to find out by standing here talking about it," pointed out Lyselle and started for the ship.

The inside of the slaver was the most depressing and upsetting thing Rose had ever witnessed. The bowls of the vessel were filled with cages into which the slave traders had cramped as many lost beings as they could. All were dead.

Lyselle found the crew. They were dead as well, though neither she, the Doctor or Rose could find sympathy for them.

Rose walked away as the Doctor and Lyselle tried to get the computer to work and tell them where the ship had been heading. She understood their desire to right a wrong, but she wasn't sure there was a point this time. The aliens… the people were dead. They had all had lives, families, then were stolen from their homes to end up dead on a nameless rock floating in space.

A small wail echoed through the ship. Rose stopped. What was that? She listened, but silence reigned. She shrugged; she must be imagining things. However as she started walking, the cry came again, stronger this time.

Following the noise, Rose navigated the corridors of the ship. She found herself in what appeared to be a medical room. In the middle was a metal stand with clear-sided cot at the top. Inside the cot was a baby.

Rose stared at the nude humanoid child in shock. A girl. "Hello," she said softly to the baby. Not being the expert, Rose wasn't sure but the child was about six months or so. She had stopped crying and was staring at Rose with the biggest, most beautiful eyes she'd ever seen. "Aww aren't you cute?"

Not trusting the baby, Rose wrapped her backside in one of the sheets and then lifted her out. She cooed into Rose's ear. Rose sat down and cuddled the baby. "Poor little thing," she said. "Here all alone. Bet you're starving aren't you?"

The baby gurgled. Rose held her close, patting her back. The pats grew slower as something slowly began to dawn on Rose. Against her shoulder was a very familiar beat. The baby had two hearts. She held the child back and stared at her sweet face. "Doctor!" She yelled.