The school bell rang and I looked at the Doctor and smiled.
"Are you ready?" I asked him as children hurryed to get to their next lessons.
"Always." he said and kissed me before we went the thr room. I watched a boy head into a classroom, closing the door behind him. We opened the door and walked inside. The Doctor plonked his bag down on the teacher's desk as I sat behind it and faced the class.
"Good morning, class. Are we sitting comfortably?" he asked grinning at them. He walked behind me and scrawled the word 'physics' in capital letters on the whiteboard and underlined it. "So. Physics." he said replacing the cap of the board pen and chucking it back down in front of me. I gave him a look and he grinned at me. "Physics. Eh? Physics. Phyyyyyyyysics. Physics! Physics. Physics, physics, physics, physics, physics, physics, physics." I glanced at the kids and they all watched him bemused. He took in a deep breath and I held back my laughter at their faces. "I hope one of you is getting all this down. Um, okay - let's see what you know. Two identical strips of nylon are charged with static electricity and hung from a string so they can swing freely. What would happen if they were brought near each other?" he asked and a boy's hand shot into the air. "Yes - uh, what's your name?"
"Milo." he told him.
"Milo! Off you go." the Doctor told him.
"They'd repel each other because they have the same charge." Milo said.
"Correctamundo!" the Doctor said and I gave him a look. "A word I have never used before and hopefully never will again. Question two - I coil up a thin piece of micro wire and place it in a glass of water. Then I turn on the electricity and measure to see if the water's temperature is affected. My question is this; how do I measure the electrical power going into the coil?" Milo's hand shot up again. "Someone else." he said looking at them and they all just looked at him. "Nope... ? Okay, Milo - go for it."
"Measure the current and PDs in an ampmeter and a voltmeter." Milo told us and the Doctor looked at me and I nodded my head to him. We deffinatly had the right place.
"Two to Milo! Right then, Milo, tell me this; true or false - the greater the dampening of the system, the quicker it loses energy to its surroundings."
"False."
"What is a non-coding DNA?"
"DNA that doesn't code for a protein."
"Sixty-five-thousand-nine-hundred-and-eighty-three times five?"
"Three-hundred-and-twenty-nine-thousand-nine-hundred-and-fifteen."
"How do you travel faster than light?"
"By opening a quantum tunnel with an FTL factor of 36.7 recurring." The Doctor's mouth dropped open slightly and my eyes widended.
During the day nothing else remarkable happened like it had this morning and soon it was lunchtime. The Doctor and I waited in line as dinner ladies spooned food onto people's plates. Rose, who was undercover as a dinner lady, spooned mashed potatos onto our plates and gave us a filthy look simultaneously. I smiled at her and headed towards the tables behind the Doctor. I took a bite of a chip and put it back down instantly, it was disgusting. I looked up as Rose came to us with a dishcloth to wipe the table down.
"Two days." she told us.
"Sorry, could you just- there's a bit of gravy." The Doctor told her, pointng to it with his fork, and I tried to hold back my laughter. She wiped the spot he pointed to and he shook his head at her. "No, no - just there." she finally got the spot he wanted her to get and he went back to studying the food.
"Two days, we've been here." she reminded us.
"Blame your boyfriend, he's the one who put us onto this." The Doctor told her.
"And he was right. Boy in class this morning - got a knowledge way beyond planet Earth." I explained to her.
"You eating those chips?" she asked us.
"Yeah, they're a bit... different." he told her and she took one of mine for herself.
"I think they're gorgeous. Wish we had school dinners like this." Rose told me sitting down next to me.
"I think something's wrong with them." I told her. "It's very well behaved, this place." I said looking around.
"Mm." Rose said with her mouth full of chips.
"I thought there'd be happy-slapping hoodies. Happy-slapping hoodies with ASBOs. Happy-slapping hoodies with ASBOs and ringtones." The Doctor told us staring at us impressively and I laughed a little. "Yeah? Yeah? Oh, yeah! Don't tell me I don't fit in." I looked up and saw a dinner lady walk up to us. I nudged Rose's arm and she looked behind her to see the woman come to us.
"You are not permitted to leave your station during a sitting." The dinner lady told her and she quickly stood up.
"I was just talking to this teacher and his aide." she told her.
"Hello!" The Doctor and I greeted her.
"They doesn't like the chips." Rose told her.
"The menu has been specifically designed by the headmaster to improve concentration and performance. Now, get back to work." The dinner lady told us affronted by us not liking the food she'd prepared. She then left and Rose followed her slowly.
"See? This is me. The dinner lady." Rose told us gesturing to her uniform.
"I'll have the crumble." The Doctor called out to her.
"Don't forget my pizza." I told her grinning.
"I'm so gonna kill you." she said returning to her station. Another teacher, Mr. Wagner I think was his name, approached a girl sitting a few tables away from us.
"Melissa. You'll be joining my class for the next period. Milo's failed me... so it's time we moved you up to the top class." Mr. Wagner told Melissa, who'd been in on of our classes. "Kenny? Not eating the chips?"
"I'm not allowed." Kenny told him.
"Luke - extra class. Now." MR. Wagner told them before leaving and several of the children followed him. I looked at the Doctor and saw him looking up. I followed his gaze and saw Mr. finch, the headmaster, looking at us.
The Doctor and I were sitting at a desk with him nibbling a biscuit since we hadn't eaten anything during lunch, and another teacher pacing up and down in front of us.
"But yesterday, I had a twelve-year-old girl give me the exact height of the Walls of Troy... in cubits." Mr. Parsons told us as he finally sat down.
"And, it's ever since the new headmaster arrived?" The Doctor asked him.
"Finch arrived three months ago. Next day, half the staff got flu. Finch replaced them with that lot." Mr. Parsons told us nodding to where a group of teachers were standing, including Mr. Wagner. "Except for the teacher you replaced, and that was just plain weird, her winning the lottery like that."
"How's that weird?" I asked him.
"She never played! Said the ticket was posted through her door at midnight." Mr. Parsons told us and I looked up at the Doctor with a look.
"Hmm! The world is very strange." The Doctor said popping another bicuit into his mouth.
"A little too weird, perhaps." I told him and he just looked down at me smiling.
"Excuse me, colleagues - a moment of your time." Mr. Finch said behind us. I turned and jumped when I felt the Doctor stand suddenly. I looked at him confused but he just kept staring at the woman who'd come in with Mr. Finch. "May I introduce Miss Sarah Jane Smith. Miss Smith is a journalist, who's writing a profile about me for the Sunday Times." The woman, Sarah Jane, smiled around at us and the Doctor's face was a picture with the corners of his mouth turning upwards in a smile. "I thought it might be useful for her to get 'a view from the trenches', so to speak. Don't spare my blushes." Mr. Finch said before leaving the room. Sarah Jane caught our eyes and approached us.
"Hello!" Sarah Jane said to us.
"Oh, I should think so!" The Doctor said grinning like an idiot and I elbowed him a bit while standing.
"Hello." I greeted her kindly.
"And, you are... ?" She asked looking between the two of us.
"Hm? Uh, Smith. John Smith. And this is my wife, Ashlee." The Doctor introduced us by our alias.
"John Smith? I used to have a friend who sometimes went by your name." Sarah told him and it was like a light bulb went off in my head about her.
"Well, it's a very common name!" The Doctor told her.
"He was a very uncommon man." She said reminessing times long since past before holding out her hand for us to take. "Nice to meet you!"
"Nice to meet you! Yes! Very nice! More than nice - brilliant!" The Doctor rambeled.
"Please forgive my husband's rambling. Sometimes he can be quite an idiot." I told her and we both laughed.
"Um... so, um, have you two worked here long?" she asked us.
"No! " The Doctor told her still grinning away, I'm surprised she hadn't said anything.
"It's only our second day." I told her.
"Oh, you're new, then? So, what do you think of the school? I mean, this new curriculum?" she asked us sitting down at a desk across from us and we joined her. "So many children getting ill - doesn't that strike you as odd?"
"You don't sound like someone just doing a profile." I said smiling at her.
"Well, no harm in a little investigation while I'm here." she said smiling back lightly.
"No. Good for you." The Doctor said to her. She then got up and walked away to meet some of the other teachers. "Good for you. Oh, good for you, Sarah Jane Smith." he said before the bell rang.
"Come on, dear. We have class to attend." I said pulling him away from staring at her. We walked down the corridor slowly as he remembered his time with Sarah. I'd stayed home when he'd been traveling with her but we'd always kept in contact with each other so he could be updated about the family and I could stay updated with him and his travels. We had our classes during the day and left with all the other staff. We had to wait until nightfall for our chance to come in with everyone gone home for the day.
That night the Doctor opened a fire door and he, Rose, Mickey and I went through it into a dark corridor.
"Oh, it's weird seeing school at night. It just feels wrong." Rose said as we made our way cautiously down the corridor. "When I was a kid, I used to think all the teachers slept in school." she said and I laughed with her a little.
"I remember that. At the school the Doctor and I went to. Everyone slept at the academy. The teachers, students, staff, etc." I told her and she just kind of had this look on her face. "You alright?" I asked her and she just nodded before looking away from me.
"All right, team. Oh, I hate people who say 'team'. Um... 'gang'. Um... 'comrades'. Uh... anyway, Rose, go to the kitchen and get a sample of that oil. Mickey, the new staff are all Maths teachers, go and check out the Maths department. The Hunter and I are gonna look in Finch's office. Be back here in ten minutes." he said and we took off up the stairs. As we walked down the dark corridor we looked at each other confused as we heard screeching and flapping in the distance. We stopped walking for a moment and looked at each other, debating what to do, before looking for the source of the noise. We heard a door close and quickly ran towards it and saw it was where we had hidden the TARDIS. We opened it quietly and walked inside to see Sarah Jane Smith staring at it backing away. She then turned slowly around and looked at the two of us.
"Hello, Sarah Jane." The Doctor said quietly.
"It's you. Oh... Doctor..." She said with a large smile on her face as she edged toward us. "Oh, my God, it's you, it's... it's... you've regenerated."
"Half a dozen times since we last met." He told her.
"You look... incredible." Sarah said smiling wider at him.
"So do you." he told her honestly.
"I got old." she said and he shrugged at the difference. "Earlier today you said this was your wife, Ashlee. You maried a human?" she asked him and her eyes showed all her emotions at once, but the one I could see clearly was pain.
"We had married when we were young, long before he started traveling." I told her and she edged around us, staring.
"What're you doing here?" she asked us.
"Well... UFO sightings, school gets record results - we couldn't resist. What about you?" The Doctor asked her.
"Same." she said smiling and we all laughed quietly before I saw her smile falter. "I thought you'd died. I waited for you and you didn't come back, and I thought you must've died." she told him and she sounded very close to tears as she spoke.
"We lived. Everyone else died." he told her grabbing my hand and squeezing it tightly.
"What do you mean?" she asked him glancing at our hands.
"Everyone died, Sarah." he explained to her again and she shook her head at him not wanting to believe him.
"I can't believe it's you." she told him. The moment between the three of us was broken by the sound of someone wailing. "Okay! Now I can!" she said grinning at us. I smiled at the Doctor and we all ran from the gym to find the source of the screem. We almost skid into Rose, who ran from a converging corridor.
"Did you hear that?" Rose asked us before looking to Sarah Jane. "Who's she?"
"Rose, Sarah Jane! Sarah Jane, Rose." The Doctor introduced them. Rose looked her up and down before glancing at me and shaking her hand.
"Hi. Nice to meet you." Sarah said with a fake smile. "You can tell you're getting older - your assistants are getting younger." Sarah told the Doctor.
"I'm not his assistant." Rose told her, angry. "Ashlee's my sister." I glanced at the Doctor to see him scratching his ear uncomfortably.
"Shouldn't I be doing that?" I asked him motioning to Rose while being ignored by the human women.
Oh? I get you, tiger." Sarah said before the Doctor and I sped off with them following us. We found Mickey in one of the class room, surrounded by a load of vaum-packed rats.
"Sorry! Sorry, it was only me. You told me to investigate, so I - I started looking through some of these cupboards and all of these fell out of them." Mickey told us and I just stared at him while the Doctr bent down and picked up a few to examine.
"Oh, my God, they're rats. Dozens of rats. Vacuum packed rats." Rose said staring at her feet.
"Thank you, Rose." I said before turning to Mickey. "And you decided to scream."
"It took me by surprise!" he told me.
"Like a little girl?" The Doctor asked him, moking him.
"It was dark! I was covered in rats!" Micky defended himself.
"Nine, maybe ten years old. I'm seeing pigtails, frilly skirt." The Doctor told him.
"Really I was getting somewhere between three and five in a cute pink dress." I told them picking on my old friend.
"Hello, can we focus? Does anyone notice anything strange about this? Rats in school?" Rose asked.
"Well, obviously they use them in Biology lessons. They dissect them. Or maybe you haven't reached that bit yet. How old are you?" Sarah asked her and I saw the two boys look shiftily between them then to me.
"Don't look this way boys, I'm not getting in the middle of that." I told them.
"Excuse me, no one dissects rats in school anymore. They haven't done that for years. Where are you from, the dark ages?" Rose asked her.
"Anyway, moving on." The Doctor said. I looked from Sarah Jane to Rose and saw them both give each other the dirtiest of looks. "Everything started when Mr Finch arrived. We should go and check his office." He chucked the rat he was holding to Mickey, who jumped and dropped it, before leaving with us behind him.
"I don't mean to be rude or anything, but who exactly are you?" Rose asked Sarah Jane as they moved in front of me and the Doctor.
"Sarah Jane Smith. I used to travel with the Doctor." Sarah told her proudly.
"Oh! Well, he's never mentioned you when the family got together." Rose told her and I could hear the smirk on her face.
"Oh, I must've done! Sarah Jane! Mention her all the time." The Doctor said looking to me for help.
"I told you I'm not getting between them." I reminded him and he glared lightly at me as we walked.
"Hold on... sorry... never." Rose told him.
"What, not even once? He didn't mention me once?" Sarah asked following Rose quickly. I sighed and followed the two angry, bickering humans to stop any physical violence if necessary. When we finally got to Mr. Finch's office the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to unlock the door and peeked him.
"Maybe those rats were food." I suggested to them.
"Food for what?" Rose asked me and I shrugged at her before looking inside the room. I didn't see anything until I looked up and saw what had been flapping around earlier.
"Rose... you know you used to think all the teachers slept in the school... ?" I asked her.
"Yeah" she answered nervously.
"Well... they do." the Doctor told her. On the ceiling were bat-like creatures, hanging upside down.
"No way!" Mickey said before the three of them ran off. The Doctor quietly shut the door and he and I quickly ran away from the office. We all ran as fast as we could outside of the school before stopping to catch our breath.
"I am not going back in there. No way." Mickey said shaking his head.
"Here here." I aggreed with him.
"Those were teachers!" Rose said looking up to us.
"When Finch arrived, he brought with him seven new teachers, four dinner ladies and a nurse. Thirteen. Thirteen big bat people. Come on." The Doctor started walking back to the building and I stopped him.
"What do you think you're doing?" I asked him.
"I need the TARDIS. I've got to analyze that oil from the kitchen." he reminded me and I groaned.
"I might be able to help you, there. I've got something to show you!" Sarah said grabbing the Doctor's arm and pulling him excitedly in the direction of the car park. Sarah Jane opened the boot of her car and inside was something covered with a freen blanket. The Doctor pulled the blanket off to reveal a metal dog.
"K9! Hunter, Rose Tyler, Mickey Smith - allow me to introduce K9- well, K9 Mark III to be precise." The Doctor introduced to us.
"Why does he look so... disco?" Rose asked him.
"Oi! Listen, in the year five thousand, this was cutting edge! What's happened to him?" The Doctor asked Sarah Jane.
"Oh, one day, he just... nothing!" she told him.
"Well, didn't you try and get him repaired?" The Doctor asked her.
"Well, it's not like getting parts for a mini-metro! Beside, the technology inside him could rewrite human science. I couldn't show him to anyone!" Sarah Jane reminded him.
"Ooh, what's the nasty lady done to you? Eh?" The Doctor asked K9 then continued to make coo-ing noises at him. Sarah Jane looked up and threw us a triumphant glance and I sighed before shaking my head again. This was going to be a very long night.
"Look, no offense but could you two just stop petting for a minute? Never mind the tin dog, we're busy!" Rose called to the Doctor. He closed the boot, grinning like a mad man before joining us in the car.
A short time later we were all in a chip shop doing different things. The Doctor and Sarah Jane were working on K9 while I was sitting close enough to hear them talking and keep an eye outside the large bay window just encase anything decided to surprise us. Jealous, who me?
"I thought of you on Christmas Day. This Christmas just gone? Great big spaceship overhead - I thought, 'Oh, yeah. Bet he's up there'." I heard Sarah Jane tell him.
"Right on top of it, yeah." the Doctor told her.
"And the Hunter?" She asked him
"She was there too." he told her and there was a pause between them.
"Did I do something wrong? Because you never came back for me. You just... dumped me." Sarah Jane told him.
"I told you. I was called back home and in those days humans weren't allowed." The Doctor told her and I looked at them for a moment before going back to my post.
"I waited for you. I missed you." she told him and I glanced at them to see her staring at him lovingly.
"Oh, you didn't need me! You were getting on with your life." The Doctor told her brushing her off.
"You were my life." she told him and he looked at her. "You know what the most difficult thing was? Coping with what happens next, and with what doesn't happen next. You took me to the furthest reaches of the galaxy, you showed me supernovas, intergalactic battles and then you just dropped me back on Earth. How could anything compare to that?"
"All those things you saw - do you want me to apologize for that?" The Doctor asked her.
"No, but we get a taste of that splendor... and then we have to go back." she told him.
"But look at you, you're investigating. You found that school - you're doing what we always did." the Doctor said smiling at her. I went to the counter and ordered two drinks for us and continued to listen to them.
"You could've come back." Sarah Jane insisted.
"I couldn't." he told her quietly.
"Why not?" she whispered to him. I got our drinks and payed the woman before going to the Doctor and giving him his. he was still haunted by what he had done during the war after he'd sent me off. He pulled me close to him and kissed me gently before putting his forehead to mine. I smiled sadly at him before sitting next to him. He switched his sonic screwdriver back on and returned to repairing K9. "It wasn't Croydon - where you dropped me off, it wasn't Croydon!" she told him angrily.
"Where was it?" he asked her.
"Aberdeen." She told him irritably.
"Right." he said realizing his mistake. "That's next to Croydon, isn't it?" he asked looking from her to me then back. Sarah Jane smiled and shook her head. At that moment, K9 sprung to life. "Oh, hey! Now we're in business!" he said leaping to his feet and stood in front of the tin dog.
"Master!" K9 said mechanically.
"He recognizes me!" The Doctor said ecstatically.
"Affirmative." Rose and Mickey both walked to us.
"Rose, give us the oil." I told her. She handed the Doctor the oil and he took off the lid of the jar and was just about to dip his finger in it when Rose stopped him.
"I wouldn't touch it, though, that dinner lady got all scalged." she told him quickly.
"I'm no dinner lady. And I don't often say that." he told her, dipping his finger into the oil.
"If you did we'd have a whole different relationship." I told him and he smiled at me. K9 put out a sensor for the Doctor to smear the oil onto it, which he did. "Here we go. Come on, boy. Here we go." the Doctor said screwing the lid onto the jar.
"Oil. Ex- ex- ex- extract ana- an- analysing..." K9 said.
"Listen to it, man! That's a voice!" Mickey said delighted.
"Careful! That's my dog!" Sarah Jane said and Mickey looked down sheepishly.
"Confirmation of analysis - substance is Krillitane Oil." K9 said and I looked to the Doctor shocked.
"They're Krillitanes." I said.
"Is that bad?" Rose asked us.
"Very. Think of how bad things could possibly be, and add another full load of bad." I told her.
"And what are... Krillitanes?" Sarah Jane asked.
"They're a composite race. Just like your culture is a mixture of traditions from all sorts of countries - people you've invaded or have been invaded by, you've got bits- bits of Viking, bits of France, bits of whatever - the Krillitanes are the same. An amalgam of the races they've conquered." The Doctor explained to them.
"But they take physical aspects as well. They cherry-pick the best bits from the people they destroy. That's why we didn't recognize them. The last time we saw Krillitanes, they looked just like us except they had really long necks." I told them.
"What're they doing here?" Rose asked.
"It's the children. They're doing something to the children." I said picturing all the children I saw in the school. The Doctor wrapped his arms around me as tears filled my eyes.
The Doctor and I left the chip shop with Rose walking close behind us.
"How many of us have there been, travelling with you two?" Rose asked us.
"Does it matter?" I asked her.
"Yeah, it does, if I'm just the latest in a long line." Rose told me giving me a hurt expression.
"As opposed to what?" I asked her looking angry and hurt, turning to her, while the Doctor walked on.
"I thought you were... but I obviously got it wrong. You've told me about the year five billion, right, but this... now this is really seeing the future. You just leave us behind. Is that what you're going to do to me?" she asked me.
"No. Not to you." I told her quietly.
"But Sarah Jane... the Doctor was this close to her once, and now... he never even mentions her. Why not?" she asked me close to tears.
"We don't age. We regenerate. But humans, you decay. You wither and you die. Imagine watching that happen to someone who you love. To your family." I told her. "You can spend the rest of your life with me. But I can't spend the rest of mine with you. I have to live on after watching you die. Watching you, mum, and Mickey die I regenerate and remember every minute of it. That's the curse of the Time Lords."
"Time Lady." Rose and I quickly turned to see Mr. Finch and another Krillitane on the roof opposite us. the Krillitane screeched and swooped down towards us. We ducked, but then it just flew away.
"Was that a Krillitane?" Sarah Jane asked after they joined us. The Doctor wrapped his arms around me and I leaned into him.
"Are you alright?" he asked me and I nodded.
"But it didn't even touch her, it just flew off! What did it do that for?" Rose asked as the Krillitane flew off into the night, screeching.
The next morning, the school bell rang and the children flocked towards the building and the Doctor, Mickey, Rose, Sarah Jane and I got out of Sarah Jane's car and strode towards the school. The Doctor paused for a moment and we gathered around him.
"Rose and Sarah, you go to the Maths room. Crack open those computers, I need to see the hardware inside. Here, you might need this." the Doctor said handing Sarah Jane his sonic screwdriver. "Mickey - surveillance. I want you outside."
"Just stand outside?" Mickey asked him.
"Here, take these -" Sarah Jane said tossing him her keys. "you can keep K9 company."
"Don't forget to leave the windows open." I called to him.
"But he's metal!" Mickey yelled at me.
"I didn't mean for him." I said.
"What're you twp gonna do?" Rose asked us.
"It's time we had a word with Mr Finch." The Doctor said holding my hand. We walked inside and went to Mr. Finch's office only to look over the rail and see him on the level below us. After a hard stare we continued walking upstairs. We continued looking for where he had gone until we came to the swimming pool room, and saw Mr. Finch waiting for us on the opposite side of the water.
"Who are you?" The Doctor asked him.
"My name is Brother Lassa. And the two of you?" Brother Lassa asked.
"The Doctor and the Hunter. Since when did Krillitanes have wings?" I asked him.
"It's been our form for nearly ten generations, now. Our ancestors invaded Bessan. The people there had some rather lovely wings. They made a million widows in one day, just imagine." Brother Lassa asked us with a smile.
"And now you're shaped human." The Doctor said taking in his appearance.
"A personal favorite, that's all." he told us.
"And the others?" The Doctor asked him.
"My brothers remain bat form. What you see is a simple morphic illusion. Scratch the surface and the true Krillitane lies beneath." Brother Lassa said and we began to walk slowly towards the same side of the pool. "And what of the Time Lords? I always thought of you as such a pompous race. Ancient, dusty senators, so frightened of change and... chaos. And of course - they're all but extinct. Only you two. The last pair." he said looking at the two of us.
"This plan of yours - what is it?" I asked him.
"You don't know." Brother Lassa said.
"That's why I'm asking." The Doctor told him. They were facing each other now and the tension was rising.
"Well, show me how clever you are. Work it out." Brother Lassa told him.
"If we don't like it... then it will stop." I told him.
"Fascinating. Your people were peaceful to the point of indolence. You seem to be something new. Would you declare war on us, Doctor? Hunter?" he asked looking at us.
"My name is The Hunter. I kill you all faster than my hearts could beat." I told him and the Doctor looked from him to me then back.
"I'm so old, now. I used to have so much mercy." The Doctor told him. "You get one warning. That was it." The Doctor said and we turned our backs on Brother Lassa and began to walk away.
"But we're not even enemies. Soon... you will embrace us." We stopped the the Doctor turned back to him. "The next time we meet, you will join with me. I promise you." Brother Lassa walked past us with a knowing smile on his face and left. I looked to the Doctor and saw him watching Brother Lassa go suspiciously, brow furrowed. We then walked to the computer lab in silence and when we got there Sarah Jane and Rose were laughing.
"How's it going?" The Doctor asked them and they turned to us and burst into laughter. Harder them before. "What? Listen, I need to find out what's programmed inside these." They took no notice of him and fall about laughing hysterically, Rose pointing the sonic screwdriver at him. "What? Stop it!" the Doctor immediately got to work trying to figure out what was on the computers. He ripped a handful of wires out of a computer and hung them around his neck as he run the sonic screwdriver along the back of the computer.
"I can't shift it." He told us after a while.
"I thought the sonic screwdriver could open anything!" Sarah Jane told him.
"Anything except a deadlock seal." I told her.
"There's gotta be something inside here. What're they teaching those kids?" The Doctor asked.
"You wanted the program - there it is." Sarah Jane said and we all looked at the large screen to see a green cube with writing written on the side of it.
"Some sort of code..." The Doctor said, staring at it, as if he could will it to reveal its secrets.
"Doctor... Is that the..." I asked him while I stared at the code.
"No... no, they can't be..." He told me, his mouth gaping open at the image in front of us. "The Skasis Paradigm. They're trying to crack the Skasis Paradigm."
"The Skasis what?" Sarah Jane asked him.
"The... God-maker. The universal theory. Crack that equation and you've got control of the building blocks of the universe. Time and space and matter, yours to control." The Doctor told them.
"What, and the kids are like a giant computer?" Rose asked.
"Yes." I said, tears forming in my eyes as the Doctor paced around, working it out.
"And their learning power is being accelerated by the oil! That oil from the kitchens, it works as a- as a... conducting agent. Makes the kids cleverer." The Doctor told them as Rose wrapped her arms around my shoulders.
"But that oil's on the chips. I've been eating them." I turned to Rose alarmed.
"What's fifty-nine times thirty-five?" I asked her.
"Two thousand and sixty five." Rose told me and I turned to the Doctor who was giving me a look. "Oh my God..."
"But why use children? Can't they use adults?" Sarah Jane asked.
"No, it's gotta be children. The God-maker needs imagination to crack it. They're not just using the children's brains to break the code... they're using their souls." I told her.
"Let the lesson begin." We turned to see Brother Lassa in the doorway behind us. "Think of it, Doctor - with the Paradigm solved, reality becomes clay in our hands. We can shape the universe and improve it."
"Oh yeah? The whole of creation with the face of Mr Finch. Call me old fashioned, but I like things as they are." The Doctor told him.
"You act like such a radical, and yet all you want to do is preserve the old order. Think of the changes that could be made if this power was used for good." Brother Lassa told us.
"What, by someone like you?" I asked him.
"No... someone like you two." he told us and we fell silent. "The Paradigm gives us power, but you could give us wisdom. Become Gods. At my side. Imagine what you could do - think of the civilizations you could save. Perganon, Assinta... your own people. Standing tall. The Time Lords... reborn."
"Doctor, Hunter, don't listen to him." Sarah Jane told us and he turned to them.
"And you could be with them throughout eternity. Young... fresh... never wither, never age... never die. Their lives are so fleeting. So many goodbyes. How lonely you two must be. Join us." Brother Lassa told us. I looked to the Doctor and saw a faraway look in his eyes. We were tempted to take his offer. I wouldn't have to watch my family die again. We wouldn't be alone.
"We could save everyone..." The Doctor told me and I held his hand tightly in mine.
"Yes." Brother Lassa said.
"We could stop the war..." I said smiling slightly thinking of our children and grandchildren. Of Mum and Rose and Mickey.
"No. The universe has to move forward. Pain and loss - they define us as much as happiness or love." Sarah Jane told us. "Whether it's a world, or a relationship... everything has its time. And everything ends." We stared at her for a few more seconds and I closed my eyes. She was right. The Doctor let go of my hand and picked up a chair before hurling it through the screen displaying the code, which smashes.
"Out!" The Doctor said and we ran from the room quickly. In a starewell we ran into Mickey and Kenny, a student from the school.
"What is going on?" Mickey asked us. I looked behind us to see three Krillitanes half fly, half grope their way along the corridor to us.
"Run now questions later." I told them and we ran in the opposite direction. We ran into the canteen/hall and tried the doors on the other side, but they were locked. The Doctor reached inside his coat for the sonic screwdriver, just as Brother Lassa burst through the doors followed by several of the Krillitanes.
"Are they my teachers?" Kenny asked us.
"Yeah. Sorry." I told him.
"Leave the Doctor and the Hunter alive. As for the others... you can feast." Brother Lassa told them. The Krillitanes swooped down on us and the Doctor tried to beat them off with a chair while I shot at them. The others screamed and tried to duck out of the way. finally two Krillitanes fell to the floor, dead. K9 and I had shot two of them down. Brother Lassa roared at us with rage.
"K9!" Sarah Jane called out.
"Suggest you engage running mode, mistress." K9 told her as he continued shooting them.
"Come on!" the Doctor called out and we ran while K9 stayed and shot at them. "K9, hold them back!"
"Affirmative, master. Maximum defense mode!" K9 said sending speratic shots every where.
"Come on!" The Doctor called to us and everyone ran out.
"Go! I'll stay here and hold them off with K9." I told him and he grabbed my free hand.
"I'm not leaving without you." He told me and I looked into his eyes. His very old eyes. I saw love, worry, pain, anger and fear. I nodded my head and followed him out of the room. He slammed the door shut behind us and locked it with his sonic screwdriver. We all ran to the physics lab and thought about how to stop them. "It's the oil. Krillitane life forms can't handle the oil! That's it! They've changed the physiology so often, even their own oil is toxic to them. How much was there in the kitchens?" The Doctor asked Rose.
"Barrels of it." Rose told him and we all jumped as the Krillitanes started to pound on the locked door, their claws ripping holes in it.
"Okay, we need to get to the kitchens. Mickey-" the Doctor said but Mickey cut him off.
"What now, hold the coats?" Mickey asked him and I gave him a look.
"Get all the children unplugged and out of the school. Now then, bats, bats, bats, how do we fight bats?" The Doctor asked. Kenny strode over to a fire alarm, broke the glass with his elbow and set it off. the Doctor beamed at him and flung open the door. We saw the Krillitanes wincing in pain and we ran past them as quickly as we could. As we ran through a corridor K9 emerged from a doorway.
"Master!" K9 said.
"Come on, boy! Good boy." the Doctor said and K9 trundled along with us to the kitchens. The Doctor ran immediately to one of the oil barrels and tried to open them. "They've been deadlock sealed!" he said before trying another. "Finch must've done that - I can't open them."
"The vats would not withstand a direct hit from my laser. But my batteries are failing." K9 told us.
"Right. Everyone out the back door. K9, Hunter, stay with me." The Doctor told us and as everyone ran the Doctor and I stayed with K9. We moved the vats of oil with easy shot of K9 one at a time. It took longer than we thought it would have.
"Capacity for only one shot, Master. For maximum impact, I must be placed directly beside the vat." K9 told us and I gave him a worried look.
"But you'll be trapped inside." the Doctor said rushing to him.
"That is correct." K9 said.
"We can't let you do that." I told them.
"No alternative possible, Mistress." K9 told me.
"Doctor, what about Sarah Jane?" I asked him. We looked over our shoulders as we heard the screeching of the Krillitanes in the background. I looked at the Doctor and K9 and realized there was no other choice.
"Goodbye, old friend." The Doctor said petting his head.
"Goodbye Master. Goodbye Mistress." K9 said.
"You good dog." The Doctor said.
"Affirmative." K9 said wagging his mechanical ears and tail. The Doctor placed his hand briefly on K9's head, then we dashed off hand in hand. The Doctor and I emerged outside and slammed the door behind us, locking it with the sonic screwdriver.
"Where's K9?" Sarah Jane asked us.
"We need to run." I told her and the Doctor and I ran off.
"Where is he?! What've you done?" Sarah Jane asked not moving from her spot. We ran back to her and puled her with us. As we ran the school exploded behind us. we ran until we met up with the children, Rose and Mickey.
"I'm sorry." The Doctor said to her.
"It's all right. He was just a... daft metal dog. Fine, really." Sarah Jane said before bursting into tears. The Doctor wrapped an arm around her comfortingly as he held my hand.
The next day we were all in the park in the TARDIS, waiting for Sarah Jane. The Doctor wanted to show her the different console. When she walked in the TARDIS she took in the interior, wide-eyed. The Doctor followed her through and shut the door behind her.
"You've redecorated!" she said turning to him.
"Do you like it?" he asked her.
"Oh, I, I do. Yeah. I preferred it as it was, but uh... yeah. It'll do!" she told him walking closer to the console.
"I love it." Rose told her smiling.
"Hey, you - what's forty seven times three hundred and sixty nine?" Sarah Jane asked her.
"No idea. It's gone now - the oil's faded." Rose told her,
"But you're still clever. More than a match for them" Sarah Jane told her smiling. I smiled at my little sister. I think she needed to hear that from another human who didn't love her in some way.
"You and me both." Rose told her and Sarah Jane nodded. Rose looked to us and I looked at the Doctor to see him fiddling with the computer. I rolled my eyes and looked back to Sarah Jane.
"We're about to head off, but... you could come with us." I told her. Sarah Jane looked from me to Rose and shook her head.
"No... I can't do this anymore." she told me. My smile faded and I looked at the Doctor to see him looking at her sadly. "Besides, I've got a much bigger adventure ahead! Time I stopped waiting for you and found a life of my own." she told us and he smiled at her.
"Can I come?" Mickey asked and I raised my eyebrow at him. "No, not with you, I mean... with you." Mickey said gesturing to the Doctor. "'Cause I'm not the tin dog. And I wanna see what's out there."
"Oh, go on, Doctor. Sarah Jane Smith - a Mickey Smith. You need a Smith on board!" Sarah Jane told him.
"Okay then, I could do with a laugh." The Doctor said and I hit him lightly.
"Be nice." I told him. "Are you going to be coming Rose?" I asked her.
"Why wouldn't I?" she asked me smiling. I smiled at her and decided to help the Doctor with his fiddling. He always managed to break something having failed the driving test.
"Well, I'd better go." Sarah Jane said. I looked up to see her take Rose aside for a moment before turning back to my work. The Doctor moved and held open the door for Sarah Jane, who stepped out of the TARDIS for the last time. The Doctor followed her for their final goodbyes. I prepared us for dematerialization as they talked and when he walked back in I threw the lever and we all held on.
"On to our next adventure then." I told them smiling.