Here you are, chapter 1.
Zuri followed behind the Doctor, fighting to hide her growing excitement. She was with the Doctor! They were about to save Rose!
Stopping before the corner, the Doctor held up his hand, signaling to stop. He peeked around the doorway, before reaching an arm around. He pulled on the arm he'd grabbed before saying, "RUN." And tore back down the hall. Zuri and the woman he'd saved right behind, as all the spare shop window dummies pursued.
They dodged through a fire exit and into the lift, the doors closing on one of the shop dummy's arms. The Doctor yanked it off and the doors close.
The woman, Rose, turned to him then. "You pulled his arm off!"
The Doctor grinned. "Yep!" Tossing the arm at her. "Plastic."
"Very clever, nice trick! Who were they then, students? Is this a student thing or what?"
Zuri snorted. "N-ope."
The Doctor turned to her. "Why would they be students?"
Rose frowned. "I don't know..."
"Well, you said it. Why students?" The Doctor probed.
"'Cause... to get that many people dressed up and being silly... they gotta be students." She reasoned.
Zuri smiled. "Sound logic, but not quite right." She turned then to the Doctor.
He nodded. "She's right. That makes sense! Well done."
"Thanks."
"They're not students."
"Whoever they are, when Wilson finds them, he's gonna call the police," Rose said, exasperated.
"Who's Wilson?" The Doctor asked.
"Chief electrician." Rose and Zuri both spoke at the same time.
"Wilson's dead." Zuri continued.
The Doctor and Zuri stepped out of the lift. Rose followed saying, "That's just not funny, that's sick!"
"Hold on." The Doctor pushed Rose to the side. "Mind your eyes." He then pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver, and disable the lift.
"I've had enough of this now." Rose ground out.
The Doctor walked off, pulling Zuri with him.
Rose grew frustrated then, shouting, "Who are you, then? Who's that lot down there? I said, who are they?"
The Doctor turned. "They're made of plastic. Living plastic creatures. They're being controlled by a relay device on the roof. Which would be a great big problem if I didn't have this." He waved an electronic device in her face.
Zuri smacked him then. "Oi! Rude, Spaceman."
"So!" He continued as if Zuri hadn't spoken, opening the door for Rose. "I'm going to go up there and blow them up, and I might well die in the process. But don't worry about me, no. Go home, go on! Go and have your lovely beans on toast. Don't tell anyone about this, because if you do, you'll get them killed." He then slammed the door.
Rose turned away looking bemused, before the door opened again. The Doctor smiled brightly. "I'm the Doctor, by the way, and that's Zuri, what's your name?"
" Rose." She stuttered out as Zuri wiggled her fingers, giggling.
"Nice to meet you, Rose. Run for your life!" And Zuri burst out laughing as he shut the door again.
The Doctor turned to her with an eyebrow raised. "Was it something I said?" But she continued to giggle, with the occasional snort.
Shrugging, he grabbed her hand and dragged her to the roof. "Wait in the TARDIS."
Zuri watched from the door as he set the bomb in place, knowing Rose would get out. And be watching as the Doctor joined her in the TARDIS before triggering the bomb.
The Doctor seemed genuinely shocked the next morning when his blowing up a shop hadn't taken care of the Nestene. But there on the TARDIS screen was the signal, still transmitting. "How?"
"Maybe there's a Secondary Location?" Zuri commented, making air quotes. "Wait does this universe have John Mulaney?!"
"Yes, it does." The Doctor gave her a strange look. "I'll take you to see him sometime. But where is the signal transmitting from? I can't get a lock on it?"
Zuri sighed, leaning against the console. "I'll give you a hint, Doctor. It's big and round. But we've got to go to the Powell Estate first."
He glanced at her. "How do you know that? and Why there?"
She shrugged. "I crossed the TARDIS time stream, I picked up some future knowledge. I may even be able to help in some of your future adventures too. And as for the Powell Estate, well, you want a piece of an Auton to trace back the signal? Miss Rose Tyler has the arm from last night."
So there they were, the Doctor's face right outside a cat flap, Rose on the other side.
She gasped and opened the door roughly. The Doctor stood. "What're you doing here?" He asked confused.
"I live here."
"Well, what do you do that for?"
"Because I do! And I'm only at home because someone blew up my job."
Zuri rolled her eyes. "You two are ridiculous."
The Doctor got out his sonic screwdriver, buzzing it. "Must've got the wrong signal. You're not plastic, are you?" He knocked on Rose's forehead. "No, bonehead. Bye, then!"
He made to go, but Rose pulled him back inside as Zuri smacked the back of his head. "Rude again, Rude Boy."
"You, inside. Right now. You too." She grabbed Zuri by the braid, tugging lightly. She then shut the door.
"Who is it?" Jackie Tyler, Rose's mum, called out from her room.
Rose poked her head into the room. "It's about last night, they're part of the inquiry. Give us 10 minutes." Before she disappeared around the corner.
The Doctor stepped to the doorway as Jackie stated, "She deserves compensation."
The Doctor smirked. "Huh, we're talking millions." He leaned against the door frame, waiting for Rose to come back.
Jackie looked at him for a moment and stands up, flirtatious.
Zuri, who was standing right behind him, began giggling softly into her hand. Trying to smother the noise so as not to interrupt the scene happening in front of her.
"I'm in my dressing gown," Jackie stated.
"Yes, you are." The Doctor nodded.
"There's a strange man in my bedroom."
Zuri snorted. Giving her a mild look of reproval, the Doctor answered, "Yes, there is."
"Well, anything could happen." Jackie pointed out.
Zuri snorted again, before she couldn't contain herself anymore and laughed out loud. Jackie glared at her as the Doctor simply said, "No." Then he turned and walked off, dragging Zuri by the elbow.
Jackie pulled a face at his back.
"Don't mind the mess. Do you want a coffee?" Rose asked as they entered the living room.
"Might as well, thanks! Just milk." The Doctor replied as Zuri shook her head no.
"I don't much like coffee, though I love the smell"
Rose disappeared again into the kitchen and started making coffee. "We should go to the police. Seriously. All three of us." She called back to them.
The Doctor picked up a gossip magazine, glancing at the cover. "That won't last, he's gay and she's an alien." He muttered.
"I'm not blaming you," Rose continued, "even if it was just some sort of joke that went wrong."
The Doctor picked up a book then and flicked through it. "Sad ending." He commented as Zuri watched him from the sofa, curious how long he had been in this body.
"They said on the news they'd found a body." Rose sounded a bit dazed, thinking how that could have been her.
The Doctor picked up an envelope and read it as Zuri replied, "Yeah that's probably Mr. Wilson, sorry."
The Doctor discarded the mail and turned to the mirror on the wall, frowning. "Rose Tyler. Ahh, could've been worse!" He poked at his large ears. "Look at me' ears."
Rose rambled on. "All the same, he was nice. Nice bloke."
The Doctor shuffled a pack of cards. "Luck be a lady!"
"Well anyway if we are going to go to the police," she continued, "I want to know what I'm saying."
The Doctor shuffled the cards again as Zuri shook her head, and he managed to make them all go flying. She sighed, chuckling. "Silly Time Lord. Now pick those up before Jackie sees."
"I want you to explain everything," Rose stated, still making coffee.
There was a scuffling from behind the sofa. "What's that then?" The Doctor asked. "You got a cat?" He leaned behind the sofa and the dummy's arm from the shop leaped out and grabbed him by the neck.
Rose wandered in with the coffee saying, "No, we did have, but there's these strays, they come in off the estate..."
Behind her, the Doctor was being strangled viciously by the hand while he and Zuri tried in vain to fight it off.
Zuri had her hands caught trying to pry its fingers back.
Rose didn't quite seem to register that the Doctor was being harassed by a rubber hand. "I told Mickey to chuck that out..." She commented, putting the coffee down on the table. "Honestly, give a man a plastic hand... anyway, I don't even know your name, Doctor... what was it?"
The Doctor threw the hand off and it flew across the room, attaching itself to Rose's face. She screamed and the Doctor leaped up and tried to pull it off. Zuri was still scrambling to get up off the floor where she landed.
The Doctor and Rose crashed onto the coffee table, breaking it, and rolled onto the floor. Zuri finally got up and rushed to pull on the arm as the Doctor pushed Rose back onto the sofa. Quick, he pulled out his sonic screwdriver, disabling the hand.
Smug, he commented, "It's alright, I've stopped it. There you go, you see?" He tossed the arm at her. "'Armless."
"Do you think?" Rose shouted, using it to whack him on the shoulder.
"Ow!" The Doctor moped, before grabbing Zuri and heading out the door. He took off down the stairs, Rose hot on his tail. "Hold on a minute, you can't just go swanning off." She complained.
"Yes, I can. Here we are, this is us, swanning off. See ya!"
"That arm was moving, it tried to kill me!"
"Ten out of ten for observation."
"You can't just walk away, that's not fair! You've got to tell me what's going on."
Zuri smiled as they reached the bottom of the stairwell. "Rose Tyler you are a star. But not everything can be explained. Not yet anyway. Soon you will understand, but time must happen in its order, or the galaxies could fall." She reached out and hugged the shorter woman, as the Doctor looked on, confused.
"Alright then. I'll go to the police. I'll tell everyone. You said, if I did that, I'd get people killed. So, your choice. Tell me, or I'll start talking." Rose blustered.
"Is that supposed to sound tough?" The Doctor smirked. Humans are so cute.
"Sort of?"
"Doesn't work." Zuri chuckled. "But good try."
"Who are you?" Rose finally asked.
"I told you! I'm The Doctor, she's Zuri."
"Yeah. But Doctor what?"
"Just the Doctor." "The Doctor." She stated flatly.
"Hello!" He waved.
Zuri slapped his hand, before muttering about cheeky Time Lords and frightening the natives.
"Is that supposed to sound impressive?" Rose asked, incredulous.
"Sort of."
"Come on. You can tell me. I've seen enough. Are you the police?"
"No. I was just passing through. I'm a long way from home. Zuri was a surprise passenger."
"But what have I done wrong? How comes those plastic things keep coming after me?"
"Oh! Suddenly the entire world revolves around you! You were just an accident, you got in the way, that's all." The Doctor flinched as Zuri reached to smack the back of his head again.
"It tried to kill me!" Rose pointed out.
"It was after me, not you! Last night, in the shop, I was there, you blundered in. Almost ruined it. The whole reason it fixed on you is that you met me."
Rose scoffed. "So, what you're saying is, the entire world revolves around you."
"That's what he'd like to think, but it's not true." Zuri cut in. "Just because your tech's more advanced doesn't make you more important than the rest of us. You've just got an educational edge." She shook her finger in the Doctors face. "Don't think I'm going to tolerate rudeness to any of our companions. Just 'cause I might jump off to a different part of the time stream won't make them any less important."
The Doctor nodded, although Zuri couldn't tell if it was just to get her to shut up. But she knew what he was like when he got clever. She wouldn't let any of their future companions feel less than amazing because he felt smart.
Rose stared. "You're full of it!"
"Sort of, yeah." The Doctor shrugged.
"But, all this plastic stuff, who else knows about it?" She asked.
"No one."
"What, you guys are on your own?"
The Doctor shrugged again. "Well, who else is there? I mean, you lot, all you do is eat chips, go to bed, and watch telly! When all the time, underneath you, there's a war going on!"
Rose reached over and took the arm off him. "Okay, start from the beginning. If you're gonna go with this living plastic, and I don't even believe that, but if we do... how did you kill it?"
"The thing controlling it projects life into the arm. I cut off the signal, dead."
"So that's radio control?"
"Thought control."
Zuri rested her hand on Rose's arm. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah. So, who's controlling it, then?"
"Long story." The Doctor quipped.
"But what's it all for?" Rose asked. "I mean, shop window dummies... what's that about? Is someone trying to take over Britain's shops?"
The three of them laughed. "No." The Doctor stated.
"I know." Rose chuckled.
"It's not a price war." The Doctor laughed again, before going very serious. "They want to overthrow the human race and destroy you. Do you believe me?"
"No." Rose looked uncertain.
Zuri smiled at her. Such a clever, strong-willed, human being, makes one proud of their species.
The Doctor smirked. "But you're still listening."
Rose stopped, but Zuri and the Doctor walked on.
"Really though, Doctor. Tell me. Who are you?"
The Doctor stopped. "Do you know like we were saying? About the Earth revolving?"
He walked back in Rose's direction as Zuri muttered that no, they weren't saying that at any previous point in the conversation.
"It's like when you were a kid. The first time they tell you the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it because everything looks like it's standing still. I can feel it."
He took both their hands. "The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at sixty-seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me. Clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go..."
He dropped their hands. "That's who I am girls. Now, forget me, Rose Tyler." He took the arm, waving it in her face. "Go home." He then walked away, Zuri following slowly.
Rose watched his retreating back as Zuri mouthed, "We'll see each other again." And then started to walk herself.
The Doctor stepped into his police box, Zuri close behind. "Doctor? You're not alone you know. You've got me now. The TARDIS showed me things, things you did before, and I know about the Time War, and the Moment. But you're not alone anymore. I'm sticking with you like glue. Because no one deserves to be alone. No one."
All he could do was stare. She knew? She knew about the other him, the one from the Time War, and she didn't hate him? She wanted to stay? But how could she? She couldn't know. Not everything.
"You couldn't possibly know. Not all of it. The things I've done, people I've hurt, lives destroyed. I'm not a good man Zuri, and I'm sorry you're stuck here."
She shook her head. "No. I may be forced to bounce around your time stream, but I want to be here. I know you. I know more about you than you would probably like me to know. I'm sorry in advance for if... when that knowledge hurts you. But never doubt I want to be here." She smiled at him. "Now, can I get a tour of this sexy ship?"
The TARDIS hummed her acceptance and joy at her two people getting along.
The Doctor glanced at the humming time rotor and agreed. "If you're gonna be here a while we'd best get you a room, and I'll show you the library and the kitchen. Everything else I'll let you find on your own, more fun that way." He winked and the pair set off into the TARDIS.
After a brief time exploring the TARDIS, the Doctor reminded Zuri that they had work to do. They traced the signal again, to a restaurant, and disguised themselves as waiters. And who should they find sitting at the table but Rose Tyler and an auton. Disguised as Rose's boyfriend Mickey Smith. They caught the tail end of its sentence as they approached.
"...sugar, sweetheart."
"What're you doing that for?" Rose asked it, completely oblivious to the fact that her boyfriend was a plastic Ken doll.
The Doctor stepped up saying, "Your champagne." And offering the bottle he found in the kitchen.
"We didn't order any champagne." The auton replied, before taking Rose's hand. "Where's the Doctor?"
The Doctor had simply moved to the other side of the table and held the bottle out to Rose. "Ma'am. Your champagne."
"It's not ours... Mickey, what is it? What's wrong?"
"I need to find out how much you know, so where is he?" The auton insisted.
"Doesn't anybody want this champagne?" The Doctor pressed.
Plastic Mickey, exasperated, raised his eyes for the first time. "Look, we didn't order i..." Then it realized who was standing there. "Ah. Gotcha."
The Doctor shook the bottle as Zuri prepared to run. "Don't mind me. I'm just toasting the happy couple. On the house!" The cork popped out and hit plastic Mickey squarely on the forehead.
Freakishly, his forehead absorbed the cork and he spit it out of his mouth. Rose finally realized she's been on a date with an auton as his hands turned into clubs.
He smashed the table in, too impatient to go around the table.
Rose screamed as Zuri pulled her out of the way.
The Doctor grabbed the Auton's head and pulled it off.
"Don't think that's gonna stop me." The head spoke.
A couple at a nearby table screamed, but the Doctor just grinned. Rose slammed the fire bell and Zuri began directing people. "Everyone out! Out now!"
Frantic people scrambled for the exit.
The Auton body stayed inside, blindly smashing tables with his club-hands.
"Get out! Get out! Get out!" Rose shouted as she, Zuri, and the Doctor ran through the kitchen and out of a back exit.
The Doctor locked the metal door with his sonic while Rose looked around. Desperate to find an escape out of the yard they found themselves in.
She banged at some locked gates, while Zuri sighed. "Rosie, follow us."
Rose ignored her, shouting, "Open the gate! Use that tube thing, come on!"
"What, this? This is a sonic screwdriver." The Doctor pulled out his sonic, sounding offended.
"Use it!"
"Nah. Tell ya what, let's go in here." He approached the police box in the middle of the yard and unlocked it, Zuri right behind him.
The Auton was beginning to make dents in the door from the other side. Rose ran to look at it.
"We can't hide inside a wooden box!" She shouted, running to the gate and rattling the chains. "It's gonna get us! Zuri! Doctor!" She finally ran into the TARDIS.
Rose slammed the door behind her, took a few steps in, looked around, then ran straight back out again. She walked once around the box and arrived back at the front again. The Auton finally made a hole in the door, so she ran back into the TARDIS. "It's gonna follow us!"
"The assembled hoards of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door, and believe me, they've tried. Now, shut up a minute."
Rose stood trembling near the door of the TARDIS, looking around at how huge it is compared with the outside, while Zuri grinned.
The Doctor was wiring up the head of the Auton. "You see, the arm is too simple, but the head's perfect."
Rose still looked overwhelmed, and Zuri made her way over to comfort the girl.
"I can use it to trace the signal back to the original source. Right." The Doctor turned to Rose, giving her his full attention. "Where do you want to start?"
"Um... the inside's bigger than the outside?"
"Yes."
"It's alien."
"Yup."
"Are you alien?"
"Yes. Well, I am, Zuri's undetermined. Is that alright?"
"Yeah."
"It's called the TARDIS, this thing. T-A-R-D-I-S, that's Time And Relative Dimension In Space."
Rose let out a small sob.
"That's okay. Culture shock. Happens to the best of us."
Zuri smacked him then. "She's worried about Mickey you idiot. You know, the base model for the head you've got melting on your console?"
"Did they kill him? Mickey? Did they kill Mickey? Is he dead?"
"Oh... didn't think of that."
"He's my boyfriend. You pulled off his head. They copied him and you didn't even think? And now you're just going to let him melt?!"
"Melt?" He turned around in time to see 'Mickey's head melting with a bubbling noise. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no, NO!" He ran frantically around the console, pressing buttons and pulling levers.
"What're you doing?" Rose demanded.
"Reviving the signal, it's fading! Wait I've got it... No, No, No, No, No, No, NO!" The TARDIS shook as the engines moved, and Zuri clung to the jump seat. "Almost there! Almost there! Here we go!" The Doctor chanted.
The engines stopped and the Doctor ran out the TARDIS doors without another word.
"You can't go out there, it's not safe!" Rose called before she and Zuri followed him outside.
"I lost the signal, I got so close." The Doctor moaned, Zuri patting his arm reassuringly.
"Don't worry Doc, you've almost got it."
Rose hopped in and out of the TARDIS, looking confused again. "We've moved! Does it fly?"
"Disappears there, reappears here, you wouldn't understand."
Zuri scoffed. "Again, just cause we didn't go to space school doesn't make us stupid."
"But if we're somewhere else, what about that headless thing? It's still on the loose." Rose pointed out.
"It melted with the head, are you going to witter on all night?"
"I'll have to tell his mother..." Rose continued.
The Doctor looked at her questioningly.
"Mickey! I'll have to tell his mother he's dead, and you just went and forgot him, again!"
The Doctor rolls his eyes, unconcerned, but Zuri reached over and smacked him. "You're gonna get smacked a lot if you keep that up."
"You were right, you are alien." Rose mused before she turned to walk away.
"Look, if I did forget some kid called Mickey..." The Doctor began.
"Yeah, he's not a kid," Rose argued.
Zuri snickered. "Debatable."
"It's because I'm trying to save the life of every stupid ape blundering on top of this planet, alright?" The Doctor finished.
"Alright?" Rose shouted.
"Yes! It is!"
Rose shook her head disbelieving. "If you are an alien, then how comes you sound like you're from the North?"
"Lots of planets have a North." He folded his arms indignantly and looked away.
Zuri again patted his arm, earning her a slight smile. She grinned back in response.
"What's a police public call box?" Rose abruptly asked.
"It's a telephone box from the 1950s." The Doctor pat the TARDIS fondly, grinning. "It's a disguise."
Rose smiled and shook her head. "Okay. And this living plastic, what's it got against us?"
Zuri butted into the conversation. "Nothing, it loves us. We've got such a good planet. Lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air... perfect. Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs. Its food stock was destroyed in the war, all its protein plants rotted, so Earth... dinner!"
Rose grinned. "Any way of stopping it?"
Grinning, the Doctor produced a tube of blue liquid from his jacket. "Anti-plastic!" He announced.
"Anti-plastic..."
"Anti-plastic! But first I've got to find it. How can you hide something that big in a city this small?"
"Hold on... hide what?" Rose asked.
"The transmitter," Zuri answered. "The Consciousness is controlling every single piece of plastic so it needs a transmitter to boost the signal. That's what he's looking for."
"What's it look like?"
"Like a transmitter. Round and massive, slap bang in the middle of London." He paced around, agitated, looking around for a clue. "A huge circular metal structure... like a dish..." He stood facing Rose, his back to a grinning Zuri, and the railings of the bridge.
Behind him, the London Eye loomed 450 feet above them, but he didn't seem to register.
Rose glanced at Zuri as she began snickering.
"...like a wheel. Close to where we're standing. Must be completely invisible." He continued.
Rose considered the Eye behind him. Then she understood why Zuri was snickering. "Um, Doctor?"
"What?"
Rose nodded towards the Eye.
The Doctor turned around, then back to her, completely nonplussed. "What?"
Rose shook her head, looking at the Eye still. He turned around but still failed to make the connection.
"What is it? What?" He asked as Zuri began full-on cackling, Rose simply carried on staring at the Eye.
The Doctor turned around again and finally, it clicked. "Oh... fantastic! Oh, and you told me before, Zuri. Big and round. I should have been listening." He grinned and ran off.
Hand in hand, the Doctor, Zuri, and Rose ran across London Bridge towards the Eye. They came to a halt at the foot of the Eye. "Think of it. Plastic, all over the world. Every artificial thing waiting to come alive. The shop window dummies, the phones, the wires, the cables..." The Doctor ranted.
"The breast implants..." Rose snickered.
"Still, we've found the transmitter. The Consciousness must be somewhere underneath."
Zuri wandered for a moment before she found the entrance to a manhole at the foot of the wall. "Doctor?"
"Looks good to me."
They ran down the stairs to the manhole. The Doctor took the lid off it, and red light and smoke poured out. They all climbed down the ladder underground.
The Doctor opened the door to another chamber and they went down some steps. The Doctor then pointed to a huge, orange, wobbling mass in the middle of the chamber. "The Nestene Consciousness, that's it, inside the vat. A living, plastic creature."
"Well, then. Tip in your anti-plastic and let's go." Rose stated, confused.
"We're not here to kill it. I've got to give it a chance."
They went down some more steps, then the Doctor leaned over the railings and addressed the Consciousness. "I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract. According to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation."
The Consciousness flobbled around a bit, while Zuri kept an eye on the duplicates edging closer.
"Thank you." The Doctor continued. "That I might have permission to approach."
Meanwhile, as Rose paced around in the background, she spotted Mickey and ran to him. The Doctor rolled his eyes. Zuri edged further into the corner unnoticed.
"Oh, my God! Mickey! It's okay! It's alright!" She squatted down next to him.
"That thing down there, the liquid, Rose, it can talk!" Mickey squeaked.
"You're stinking! Doctor, they kept him alive!"
"Yeah, that was always a possibility. Keep him alive to maintain the copy."
"You knew that and you never said?" She raged.
"Can we keep the domestics outside, thank you?"
Rose helped Mickey to his feet, him clinging to her like a child, while the Doctor approached the Consciousness.
"Am I addressing the Consciousness? Thank you. If I might observe, you infiltrated this civilization by means of warped, shunt technology. So, may I suggest, with the greatest respect, that you shunt off?"
The plastic wobbled and gurgled in what appeared to be a negative manner.
"Oh don't give me that, it's an invasion! Plain and simple! Don't talk about constitutional rights!" The Doctor pointed out.
The plastic reared what would appear to be its head, angry.
"I... am... talking! This planet is just starting. These stupid little people have only just learnt how to walk, but they're capable of so much more. I'm asking you on their behalf - please, just go."
Two Autons approached the Doctor from behind as Rose called out. "Doctor!"
The Autons grabbed him. One of them taking the anti-plastic out of his jacket pocket.
"That was just insurance! I wasn't going to use it." The Doctor argued.
The plastic globbered angrily.
"I was not attacking you. I'm here to help. I'm not your enemy. I swear, I'm not... what do you mean?" The Doctor turned as doors above him opened to reveal the TARDIS.
Zuri snuck quietly along the wall, singing the Mission Impossible theme in her head.
"Oh, oh no, honestly, no! Yes, that's my ship." The Doctor explained as the plastic roars. "That's not true. I should know, I was there. I fought in the war. It wasn't my fault! I couldn't save your world! I couldn't save any of them!"
"What's it doing?" Rose cried.
"It's the TARDIS! The Nestene has identified its superior technology. It's terrified! It's going to the final base. It's starting the invasion! Get out, Rose! Just leg it! Now!"
Rose dialed a number on her phone, ignoring him. "Mum?!"
"Oh, there you are, I was just gonna phone. You can get compensation. I said so. I've got this document thing off the police - don't thank me!" Jackie rambled.
"Where are you, mum?"
"I'm in town!"
"Go home! Just go home, right now!"
"Darling, you're breaking up, look, I'm just going to do a bit of late-night shopping. I'll see you later. Tara!" Jackie hung up.
"Mum? Mum!"
The Consciousness sent out a signal.
"It's the activation signal! It's transmitting!" The Doctor screamed.
The electric blue signal shoots around the Eye. "Get out, Rose! Zuri! Just get out! Run!"
Part of the ceiling collapsed, blocking the stairs.
"The stairs have gone!" Rose called as she and Mickey try desperately to get into the TARDIS. "I haven't got the key!"
"We're gonna die!" Mickey sobbed.
"Oh honestly." Zuri sighed as she watched the Doctor struggle to get to the anti-plastic, then reached a decision.
"Just leave him!" Mickey called as Zuri found an ax and began hacking a chain.
"No job..." Rose muttered as she came to help. "No A levels, no future." Rose yanked at the chain on the wall, trying to release it. "But I tell you what I have got. Jericho Street Junior School under 7s gymnastics team." As the chain came loose Rose grabbed onto it. "I got the bronze!"
Rose swung across the gap over the Consciousness. She kicked the Autons holding the Doctor hostage into the Nestene, anti-plastic and all. Then Zuri caught her as she swung back around.
The Consciousness starts to writhe and scream.
"Now we're in trouble." The Doctor muttered.
The Consciousness started to explode as the four of them rushed to the TARDIS.
The signal from the Eye cut off. The Autons in the high street that were attacking people, stopped, and started to twitch as if they are doing some kind of dance.
Rose, the Doctor, Zuri, and Mickey all managed to reach the TARDIS. Rose grinned at the Consciousness before she went in and closed the door, as it started to die.
Just before the whole chamber went up in flames, the TARDIS disappeared, reappearing in an alley.
Mickey ran backward out of the TARDIS and fell over, looking terrified. He backed up against a wall.
Rose, however, stepped out and immediately rung her mother on her phone.
"Rose! Rose! Don't go out of the house, it's not safe!" Jackie called into the phone.
Rose laughed in relief to hear Jackie's voice.
"There were all of these things! And they were shooting! And they..."
Satisfied that Jackie was alive, Rose hung up on her, smiling to herself, then ran over to Mickey. "A fat lot of good you were!" She teased. But Mickey whimpered.
The Doctor stood in the doorway of the TARDIS, smirking. "Nestene Consciousness? Easy."
"You were useless in there. You'd be dead if it wasn't for me." She turned to face the TARDIS. "Well me and Zuri."
"Yes, I would. Thank you. Right then! I'll be off! Unless, uh... I don't know... you could come with us."
Zuri smiled from over the Doctor's shoulder. "Yeah, Rosie! It'll be fun. We could go anywhere, any when."
Rose looked at him and puts her hands in her pockets.
"This box isn't just a London hopper, you know, it goes anywhere in the universe free of charge." The Doctor continued.
"Don't! He's an alien! He's a thing!" Mickey cried.
"He's not invited. What do you think? You could stay here and fill your life with work and food and sleep, or you could go, uh... anywhere."
"Is it always this dangerous?" Rose wondered.
"Yeah. That's the fun part." Zuri replied.
Mickey put his arms around Rose's legs like a little child.
"Yeah, I can't... I've um... gotta go and find my mum and um... someone's gotta look after this stupid lump..." She let out a small laugh, patting Mickey on the back. "So..."
"Okay. See you around." The Doctor smiled. Rose looked at him intensely, as if she still hadn't really made up her mind.
The Doctor didn't take his eyes off her but closed the door.
Rose looked at the closed door and watched as the engines of the TARDIS revved up, and it disappeared.
"Uh, Doctor? You forgot to tell her it's a time machine." Zuri prompted.
The TARDIS reappeared just as noisily.
The Doctor popped his head out. "By the way... Did I mention, it also travels in time?" He grinned and went back in as Zuri grinned at him from the jump seat, leaving the door ajar.
Rose turned to Mickey. "Thanks."
"Thanks for what?"
"Exactly." She kissed his cheek and ran into the TARDIS with a broad smile on her face as Zuri cheered.
Up next... The Unicorn and the Wasp