Author's Note: Sorry about the lateness. Reviews still welcome as always.

Disclaimer: I still do not own Doctor Who, it all belongs to the BBC.

MISSING PERSONS

Chapter II

Rose, the Doctor and Anderson stood in the Sheriff's small office. The Doctor hastily looked over Anderson's scribbled notes and files on each disappearance while Rose made small talk.

"Don't you have any deputies or anything?" she asked Anderson.

Anderson was visibly uncomfortable with the Doctor upsetting his system. "Uh, no. We've got volunteers if anything big happens, but it's a quiet town. Mostly."

"Anything like this ever happen before?"

The Doctor casually tossed a file onto the floor. Anderson bent down to pick it up, grumbling. "What, sorry?"

"Has anything like this happened before?" Rose asked.

"Nothing odd has ever happened here during my days," replied Anderson. Then he thought. "No, actually, that's not true. About a year ago, there was this strange light across the sky."

"Go on," said Rose, alerted by the mention of lights in the sky. The Doctor appeared uninterested.

"It was like streak, like a shooting star or something, but it went into the woods just past Henley's farm. A few of us went up to check it out, in case it was a crashed plane or something…"

"Did you find anything?" asked Rose.

Anderson shook his head heavily. "But the trees up there were scorched pretty bad. Still are today. And the weirdest thing was…" he paused and Rose leaned in, "not one of us can remember walking up there or walking back. I can vividly remember gathering up a few volunteers and preparing to set out. Then, clear as day, I've got memories of the woods and the burnt trees. Then I just remember being back here at the station, talking about it.

"We eventually realised that we couldn't remember anything else. We never really talk about it, even today."

There was a heavy silence.

"Shambles!" interjected the Doctor.

"What?" said Rose.

"Shambles. Can't make head nor tail of it. Your filing system's all upside down, Sheriff."

"Well, look here, Doctor-" started Anderson.

"Nevertheless, I have managed to digest what little information there is."

"And?" said Rose.

"Like I said, there's little of it."

"That's not my fault," said Anderson.

"I know, I know," said the Doctor holding up his hand. "You don't mind if I do my own sniffing around, do you?"

Anderson stared at him a while, contemplating. He clearly didn't like the Doctor muscling in on his turf. He sighed."As long as you do not upset anyone or go where you're not supposed to."

The Doctor grinned. "You can trust me, Sheriff."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Pretty soon, the Doctor and Rose were walking back across the field where the TARDIS had landed.

"So," said Rose, "did you actually find anything useful?"

"Nope," said the Doctor. "It was nothing more that what he told us."

"And what about those lights up in the wood? D'you think that was a spaceship or something?"

"Could be," he replied. "His story wasn't particularly descriptive."

"Well, shouldn't we be checking it out?"

"Don't worry, Nancy Drew, that's the first place I intend to look. I checked some of Anderson's maps of the town."

"So where are these woods?" asked Rose.

"That way," the Doctor pointed his thumb over his shoulder. "Other side of town."

"Then why are we going this way?" she asked confused and agitated.

They had reached the TARDIS and the Doctor put his key in the lock. "I can't very well leave this thing standing in the middle of a field. It's bound to get noticed what with all the suspicion around 'ere. We're travelling by TARDIS."

He unlocked the door and they both entered.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

For the second time in its short life, the calf heard the grinding sound of the blue box as it faded out of sight.

But it was not the only one watching…

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The TARDIS materialised on the edge of the very woods Sheriff Anderson had mentioned.

The Doctor exited and looked around. "I'm glad that worked. Never can be too sure with that old thing. Mind have wound up in the middle of the ocean or something."

Rose came out behind him. "Welcome to TARDIS Airlines," she said, mimicking an air hostess's voice. "We hope you have a pleasant flight through time and space, though you may not arrive where you intended to go. You may also arrive before you even departed."

The Doctor shook his head at the joke and proceeded to explore.

Even for late morning, it was pretty dark in these woods. As they got deeper and deeper into them, the trees became blackened as though severely burnt.

"We must be in the right place," said Rose.

The Doctor nodded as he examined the burn marks. "I'd say something crashed here alright…"

"A spaceship?" asked Rose.

The Doctor was staring at something up ahead. "Oh yes, I'd definitely say so…"

They both walked out into a clearing. In it was the remains of a crashed alien spacecraft.

It was relatively small - about the size of a bus - black in colour and blocky. Even someone not familiar with alien technology could see that it was badly damaged. Pieces of the hull had been torn off, and much of it was buried in the dirt.

"Do you recognise it?" asked Rose.

"Vaguely," said the Doctor. "But I can't remember where from. That's gonna bug me now." He walked towards the craft.

"Are you sure we should be touching it? Won't it be hot, or something?"

"Rose, it crashed a year ago. It's surely not still warm."

Despite his assurance, the Doctor tentatively put his hand to the hull. It was cool. Rose gave him a smirk.

"Just playing it safe," he said.

He opened an outer hatch using his sonic screwdriver and popped his head in. "Hello! Anyone in?" he called. There was no response. He entered the craft and Rose cautiously followed him.

"This is definitely familiar," said the Doctor as he looked over the non-functional control panels. "But where from?" he asked himself, annoyed at his poormemory.

There was silence as the Doctor tried to remember. Rose looked over the craft's interior. All these alien spaceships looked the same to her: Bland, metallic, sterile.

"Aha!" shouted the Doctor as he crouched by a small box in the corner. It was the only thing that appeared to be working as its lights were blinking. "This explains it," said the Doctor, running the sonic screwdriver over the device.

"Explains what?" asked Rose.

"This," said the Doctor, "is a engrammatic generator." He tapped the side of his head. "Messes with your memories."

"Is that why Anderson and the others don't remember nothing?"

"Precisely. They probably did see this ship, but by the time they got back to the town, they couldn't remember it. Haven't seen one of these in ages. They're illegal now." He focused the screwdriver on a specific portion. "It seems to be set to human brainwaves only. No wonder; they're really hard to program."

"Does that mean I'll forget all this?" Rose asked.

"Not if I can… Ah! There we go." The box had stopped blinking. The Doctor stood up and pocketed the sonic screwdriver. "I've turned it off, so you're at no risk now." Suddenly, an alarm sounded and the hatch slammed back into place. The Doctor's grin faded. "Or so I thought…" He walked over to a control panel which had just lighted up. "Oh dear," he said in a far too calm voice.

"What? What is it?" shouted Rose over the alarm.

The Doctor turned to look her in the eye. "The self-destruct's been activated."

To be continued...