Smith, Oswald and Jones
Martha's Flat
27th April 2008
Never knew getting ready could take so…well, never mind. Martha mentally quipped dryly as she threw on her black jeans, a short teal top and a very dark blue jacket before equipping her dark brown bag. Phone? Check. Keys? Check. Wallet? Check. Others? Check. After she finished getting ready, she checked the time. 9:00am. Plenty of time. Martha gave a quick sigh of relief, for the only way she would be late to work now was if her entire family came to her doorstep and started hounding her about the party again. At that thought, she paused, took out her phone and placed the notification sound on. She wasn't going to ignore them; Besides, their arguments can get rather funny. Other times, of course, they could get exhausting. She placed her phone back into her bag, then stretched her arms and clicked her back with a small groan. The woman was 29 years old, 5 foot 2, with black eyes and hair, and dark skinned. At that, she made sure that her hair was tied behind her head, checked that the lights in her flat were off, and then closed and locked the front door before moving off on a new yet regular day. Martha was currently working at the Royal Hope Hospital. Well, she was somewhat working but was more or less studying to become a doctor. At least if I can pass my exams. She quipped mentally to herself as she waited for a pedestrian traffic light to turn green before moving across the road and straight into the regular amount of buzzing people that were always found within the London city. Besides, if it all goes wrong, I'll probably just blame it on the exams anyway. If they weren't hard enough as it wa- Her mental thought was cut off mid walk as her phone suddenly started to screech and ring in her pocket, and she knew only one thing. I am going to get call after call because of the party later on tonight, right? It can't be anything else. She took out her phone, flicked it back and checked the number, smiling as she did. Tish, who was only a few years younger than her, always made her smile. She didn't believe in favourites, but Tish…was close. But not close enough. Martha just beamed and answered the call. "You're up early. What's happening?"
"It's a nightmare." Tish answered. "Because Dad won't listen and I'm telling you, Mum is going mental. Swear to god, Martha, this is epic. You've got to get in there and stop him."
Martha laughed. "How do I do that?"
"Just tell Dad he can't bring her." Tish said simply.
And who just said that he won't listen? Before she could reply, her phone rang again, so she checked the number. "Hold on, that's Leo. I'll call you back." She flicked over the call to Leo. "Hi."
"Martha, look, if Mum and Dad start to kick off, tell her I don't even want a party. Didn't even ask for one. Hell, they could always give me the money instead." Leo remarked.
Like that one will go over well. "Yeah, well, why do I have to tell them? Why can't you-" And again, yet another family member interrupted the call. "Hold on, that's Mum. I'll call you back." She flicked over the call to the next number. "Hi Mum." She greeted warmly.
"Martha, I don't mind your father making a fool of himself in private, but this is Leo's 21st. Everyone is going to be there, and the entire family is going to look ridiculous." Her mother, Francine, rambled.
"Mum, it's a party." Martha responded. "I can't stop Dad from bringing his girlfriend."
"Not that you like her either way." Francine argued. A small moment of silence followed before Martha and Francine shared a hearty laugh. "Sorry about all this, darling." She said warmly. "No one meant for the party to happen while you're busy studying."
"You're family, Mum." Martha retorted. "I can make room for you guys." Right then and there, another phone call interrupted, and Martha groaned.
"That your Dad?" Francine guessed.
"Yep."
"Did you just get two calls from-"
"Tish and Leo, yeah." Martha quickly answered, and Francine chuckled.
"Have a good day, dear."
"You two, Mum." She hung up the call, switching the line over to her Dad, Clive. "Hi, Dad." She said cheerily.
"Hi, darling." Clive responded warmly as she heard a car door close. "Okay, tell your mother that Leo is my son as well, and I'm paying for half that party. I'm entitled to bring who I like."
"I know, Dad, but think what it's going to look for Mum, because you'll be standing there with Annalise."
"What's wrong with Annalise?" Clive responded.
"Is that Martha?" Martha heard a slightly high-pitched voice in the background as another car door closed shut.
"Yeah. Say hi." Clive said.
"Hi Martha." Annalise greeted, her pitch going just a tad too high.
"Hi Annalise." Martha greeted.
"Big kiss, lots of love. See you at the party, babes. Now," Annalise started, her attention back on Clive, "take me shopping, big boy."
Martha quickly hung up at that. Okay, ew. I don't say that often, and I don't like saying it but…ew!
"Like so!" Two random people shouted at her in unison as they appeared from out of nowhere, standing in front of her. Their appearance and their loud words caused Martha to shudder up in shock as she stared at them in utter bewilderment. One was really tall and skinny, wearing a brown pinstripe suit with spikey hair, the other was a woman about her height with a Northern accent, wearing a blue sweater and black jeans, looking rather like a schoolteacher. Then, the man took off his tie and wrapped it around the woman's eyes, completely blinding her. "See?" They said again before they started to walk off. Well, at first, the woman started to walk in the wrong direction, almost stumbling into Martha before the man caught her with his arms around her waist.
"Wrong way, missy." He said, turning her around till she faced Martha's left before they walked off, the tie still around the woman's eyes, but she didn't seem frightened at all. In fact, she was giggling, a lot.
Martha quickly moved to the building beside her and leaned against it. Then, she just blinked, looked around, and she could find no sign of the pair. They were completely gone, vanished from sight. Well, first things first, they weren't a pair. Obviously, they were a couple. She didn't object once to his arms around her waist, otherwise that would be a REALLY weird friendship. Second of all, what the hell was that?! Martha checked her phone to find her calls placed on hold with Tish and Leo had hung up, obviously having figured out she was being called by everyone in the family. Either way, Martha just took a deep breath, and started back off on her path again. Riiiight. Either that's a bad omen for the day getting even weirder, or those two were a literal couple of jesters. For my sanity, please let it be the latter. Martha turned another corner to see the Royal Hope Hospital enter view, just as the cloudy sky began to rumble with the oncoming thunde- Wait a minute. Martha turned around to look at the sky behind it. It was clear, blue and bright with warm sunlight. Yet the sky around the hospital was dark grey, blocking any light or blue sky from view. Heh. "Goodbye, Blue Sky-" Martha was drawn out of her mental solitude as a large man clad head to toe in black leather, wearing a matching pitch-black motorcycle helmet, bump into her shoulder as he stormed past and towards the doors of the hospital. "Oi! Watch it mate!" Martha growled. The man stopped, then he turned to stare at her for a few moments before he turned back around and walked away. Martha had to admit that whoever that man was had, in one simple, silent stare, sent more nerve-wracking chills down her spine than any doctor's operation could ever do. Which is saying something considering…you know…they're operations. Either way, Martha decided to calm herself with a sigh before moving through the doors into the hospital, down its hallways towards the lockers, where she opened her personal locker. There, she replaced her jacket with a white doctor's coat, and took out her I.D card, hooking it onto her coat pocket. As she went to close the locker door, she felt a rather painful shock of electricity, making her mutter a low "Ow" as she shook her hand. After a small moment, she tapped the locker door, and after gaining no electric shock, she closed the door and locked it. Now, she had to go to work, and they were going to be looking at a few patients today. This is going to be a long day.
"I was all right till this morning." Martha heard one of their patients say earnestly. The patient's name was Florence Finnegan, a 73-year-old woman with greying blonde hair, blue eyes, and was wearing flower inspired pyjamas, ones obviously supplied by the hospital. Martha's supervisor, Mr. B. Stoker, a 67-year-old balding man, who wore a dark blue suit and was also the head of the Hospital, had taken Florence's hand in reassurance.
"Then?" Mr. Stoker asked.
"Then…I don't know." Florence said with a shrug. "I woke up and I felt all dizzy again. It was worse than when I came in."
Mr. Stoker gave her a smile before he gently inspected her pulse on her hand. "Pulse is slightly thready." He deducted, letting go of her hand before turning to Martha and the five other students who stood with her. "Let's see what Britain's finest might suggest." He quipped lightly before turning to the first, a man with brown hair and had his doctor coat buttoned up professionally. "Any ideas, Morgenstern?"
The man blinked nervously for a moment. "Uhh…d-dizziness could be a sign of early onset diabetes." He suggested.
Mr. Stoker chuckled. "Hardly early onset." He quickly caught himself with his words. "Forgive me, Miss Finnegan."
"Not a problem." Florence said with a humorous smile.
"Any more ideas?" Mr. Stoker asked the students. "Swales?" He nodded to a black-haired female student who stood beside Martha.
"Ummm…could recommend a C.T scan." She suggested.
Mr. Stoker raised his eyebrows at her in slight shock. "And spend all our money?" He muttered, breathing out as he did. Then, he looked straight at Martha. "Miss Jones?"
Martha thought for a small moment. "We could take bloods and check for Meniere's disease?" She offered, already getting a feeling that it was the wrong answer, but she honestly couldn't think of anything better. Blame it on being put on the spot, eh?
"Or, we could simply ask the patient." Mr. Stoker said simply. "What did you have for dinner last night?" He asked.
Florence blinked. "I had salad."
"And the night before?"
"Salad again."
"And salad every night for the last week, contrary to my instructions." Mr. Stoker said before shrugging. "Salt deficiency. That's all. Simple, honest salt." He looked at Florence with a farewell nod before he led Martha and the students from the room. "Hippocrates himself expounded on the virtues of salt. He recommended the inhalation of steam from seawater. Though no doubt if he'd been afflicted with my students, results might have been more colourful." They entered into another hospital ward, where Mr. Stoker drew back a blue curtain, and Martha's heart jumped up into her throat in shock. There, sitting on the bed, was the same weird man from this morning, and sitting in a chair beside him, holding his right hand, was the same woman. Only difference now was that the man was dressed in hospital garments, but they were indeed exactly the same people. "Now then, Mr. Smith, Miss Oswald, a very good morning to you."
"Good morning." They greeted in unison, making Mr. Stoker chuckle.
"They do that naturally." He explained to his perplexed students as he saw some of their puzzled expressions, and they just nodded. "How are you today, Mr. Smith?"
"Oh, not so bad." Mr. Smith said with a shrug. "Still a bit…you know…blah."
"John Smith admitted yesterday with severe abdominal pains. Lucky man has a good lady watching over him." Mr. Stoker said with a nod to Miss Oswald.
"Of course I'm watching over him." She said obviously. "That's my job, isn't it?" She remarked, earning a chuckle from everyone in the room.
Mr. Stoker looked at Martha. "Jones, why don't you see what you can find? Amaze me."
Martha nodded, taking a stethoscope and walking around the left side of the bed to stand before him. "That wasn't very clever running around outside, wasn't it?"
He blinked, exchanging a small glance to his girlfriend. "Sorry?"
"Chancellor Street, this morning. You came up to me, took your tie off, wrapped it around her eyes and walked away giggling like children."
The couple, to Martha's surprise, looked genuinely and utterly bewildered. "Really?" They asked in unison. "Why would we do that?"
Martha shrugged as she plugged the stethoscope buds into her ears. "I don't know. You just did."
"Not us." Miss Oswald said with a shake of her head. "I was sitting here, looking after matchstick man here. You can ask the nurses."
"Clara." The man whined. "Stop calling me-"
"No." She interrupted simply, and he just pouted in return.
"As time passes, and I grow ever more infirm and wearier, Miss Jones." Mr. Stoker remarked lightly to his age.
"Oh. Sorry." Martha quickly said. She placed the stethoscope pad down, but it was on the right side of his chest. There, to her ever more increasing bewilderment, she heard the "Thump-thump" of a heart. She quickly took the pad off and placed it on the left side of his chest. Once again, she heard the rhythmic beating of a heart, and she frowned, before glancing up at the couple. John just looked at her without expression, but Clara had the ghost of a smile on her face for just the briefest second, before it vanished. Martha blinked. Did I just miss hear it, or does he have two-?
"I weep for future generations." Mr. Stoker interrupted her mental thought. "Are you having trouble locating the heart, Miss Jones?"
Martha blinked; a tiny bit flustered by his blunt quip. "Um…I don't know. Stomach cramps?"
Mr. Stoker sighed. "That is a symptom, not a diagnosis. And you rather failed basic techniques, by not consulting first with the patient's chart." Mr. Stoker walked to the foot of the bed and grasped the clipboard, but as he did, he got a very painful electric shock from the clipboard, causing him to drop it onto the floor.
"That happened to me this morning." Martha quickly said as Mr. Stoker shook his hand to relieve away the pain.
"Yeah. I had the same thing on the door handle." Morgenstern said.
"And me. In the lift." Swales inputted.
Mr. Stoker smiled, but only a bit faintly as he rubbed his hand. "Well, that's only to be expected." He said as he got down on one knee to pick up the clipboard carefully, getting up with a sigh of relief as he didn't get another shock. "There's a thunderstorm moving in, and lightning is a form of static electricity as was first proven by…" He trailed off, but no one answered, so he frowned. "Anyone?"
"Benjamin Franklin." Clara and John inputted in unison.
Mr. Stoker gave them a rather impressed smile. "Correct."
"Oh." Clara got a distant smile as the Doctor sat up beaming. "Our mate Ben. That was a day and a half."
"You got rope burns from that kite." Clara said with a giggle. "Took me ages to patch you up."
"That was after I got soaked and electrocuted." The Doctor agreed. They, in unison, turned to look at the people surrounding them with beaming smiles, who just stared at them in amazed bewilderment.
"Quite." Mr. Stoker muttered with a blink. "Moving on." He quickly said, leading the students away before leaning over into Swales. "I think perhaps a visit from psychiatric as well." He quickly said to her, and she nodded vehemently. "And next…"
For Martha, the rest of the hour until midday went on like a blur, going around from patient to patient, given almost quiz like questions to which she answered when she could, either correctly or incorrectly. But her mind kept going back to that strange, oddball couple. No one can have two heartbeats, that's impossible. And what do they mean, Benjamin Franklin was their mate? They're delusional, they must be. Then again, they must be just having fun. Every time Martha walked past John's bed, she would see them either holding hands and giggling to each other at an in joke, or Clara would have his head on her shoulder as he napped away while she just stroked, he hair with obvious loving care. Either way, once break time had come, Martha stood in the kitchen as she moved about to grab a quick lunch, before her phone rang. It was Tish. She pulled out her phone and answered the call. "Hiya." She greeted cheerily.
"Good day over there?" Tish asked.
"So far, it's all right. You?"
"Oh, not too bad, thanks." Tish replied warmly. "By the way, did you-"
"No, Dad won't listen." Martha interrupted, and she heard a sigh from Tish.
"Well, if she does come, things are going to-"
"No, listen, I've worked out a plan." Martha interrupted again. "We tell Annalise that the buffet tonight is 100% carbohydrate, and she won't turn up."
"I wish you'd take this seriously." Tish remarked. "That's our inheritance she's spending on a fake tan."
Martha laughed, earning a giggle from Tish in return. Not in context to the conversation, Swales, who was also in the kitchen, gave her a puzzled look and Martha shrugged, whispering, "In joke." Swales nodded and went back on her way as Martha returned her attention back to her sister.
"Tell you what, I'm not that far away. I can drop by for a bite and a coffee, and we can draw up a battle plan." Tish offered.
"What? In this weather?" Martha remarked to the pouring rain outside the hospital window. "I'm not going out, it's pouring down."
"It's not raining here." Tish said. Martha blinked, but before she could ask about it, Tish spoke again. "God, that's weird. It's raining right on top of you. I can see it, but it's dry where I am."
Martha frowned, as realization crept slowly into her mind. It was looking rather bad over the hospital earlier, but not anywhere else. I thought it was just… "Tish, is it just over the hospital or is it anywhere behind it?" She asked.
"No, it's on the hospital. It's like in cartoons when a man has got a cloud over his head."
Martha sighed, giving a low growl in her throat. I thought I wanted this day to NOT get any weirder. The weather, the motorbike guy, then the couple talking about Ben Franklin, now this. Come on, Martha, peaceful thoughts. "Okay, listen. We tell Dad and Annalise to get there early, about 7:30, and we tell Leo to get there at about the same time so we can talk about that birthday stuff."
"Okay." Tish responded timidly, since her mind might still be on the weather.
"We tell Mum to get there about 8:30 or 9:00, and that gives me time to have a word with Annalise and-"
"Martha." Swales interrupted, pointing to the window while not at all looking at her.
"What?" Martha asked, placing her hand over the speaker part of her phone.
"The rain."
Martha blinked. "It's just rain."
"Martha, have you seen the rain?" She heard Tish say from her phone.
Martha frowned. "Why is everyone fussing about rain?"
"Martha, the rain is going up." Tish said at once, causing Martha to turn her head to look out of the window. Her words were indeed true. The rain was flying up from the ground and back into the sky. Then, Martha heard her line to Tish go dead and she quickly checked with a frown to see that her phone had no signal anymore. But before she could question it, upon a sudden, there was a bright flash of lightning that blinded Martha and Swales, the sound rumbling throughout the room as the hospital gave a violent shake and a shudder, sending the pair stumbling to the floor with shrieks of surprise. Every form of material decoration that had been placed around the room, be it a flower vase on a table, or kitchen supplies placed on the counters, were sent crashing and smashing to the floor as loud screaming could be heard throughout the hospital as it shook and rattled about. Then, just as it started, upon a sudden, it came to a stop. Everything stopped moving, the thunder stopped clapping and rumbling in their ears ceased entirely. After Martha and Swales calmed themselves, cleared their ears of the low ringing sound, and got slowly up on their sluggish legs, they looked around the room and back out into the hallway, seeing the chaotic mess that the shaking had caused to the hospital. Thankfully, at least in their line of view, nobody was injured.
"What the hell was that?" Martha muttered in gasping shock.
Swales didn't have an answer for that. Instead, she asked, "Are you all right?"
"I think so, yeah." Martha said, leaning against a wall as she let her legs calm down from their shivering. "It felt like a…an earthquake or…" Martha trailed off as she looked out of the window. It was night, except the ground proved otherwise.
"Martha, it's night." Swales said, since she couldn't see the ground outside, only the pitch black mixed with stars from her window view. "But…but it was lunchtime." She protested in a small whimper.
"It's not night." Martha said, inching towards the window so she could properly see the ground outside. There was only one possible answer for it, and it had been possible since 1969. "We're on the moon." Martha said, both in delighted excitement that she had never felt before, but also in a quaking fear that she had never felt either.
"We can't be." Swales denied as she stepped towards the window, but the sight quickly proved her wrong. Even the sight of the Earth itself, distant though it was, all proved Swales wrong.
"We're on the bloody moon." Martha muttered, as the shock of it really got to her and she gave out a sigh of excitement and disbelief. Then, all at once, everyone began screaming in fear and terror throughout the hospital, causing Martha and Swales to rush out of the kitchen and into a now crowded hallway. Martha, quickly and as politely as she could in the current circumstance, moved her way through the people as she tried to get to the nearest ward, where she got a small tap on the shoulder by someone. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Florence standing there with a very worried expression on her face.
"Have you seen-"
"I'm sorry, I can't right now." Martha quickly apologized before moving on her way again and into the nearest ward. "All right now, everyone, back to bed." She said, quickly taking command. "We've got an emergency, but we'll sort it out. Don't worry, back to bed." The people in the ward, after a moment of gathering themselves but still quite obviously feeling shock and fear, went back to their beds, but in a timid and terrified manner. Then, she walked past a bed area that had its blue curtain drawn and towards the large window, where she got a proper look outside. "It's real." She marvelled. "It's actually real. Hold on." She went to grasp the window handles, but Swales, who she just realized had been trailing along from the kitchen and into the ward, quickly reached her hands out to stop her.
"Don't!" She cried. "We'll lose all the air!"
Martha frowned. "But they're not exactly airtight. If the air was going to get sucked out, it would have happened straight away, but it didn't. So, how come?"
"Very good point!" Two voices suddenly exclaimed in unison as the blue curtain drew back, for standing behind it was John and Clara. John, to Martha's surprise, was dressed up in a similar suit to the one he, apparently, had on this morning, except it was blue and without the overcoat.
"Brilliant, in fact." John said solo. "What was your name?"
"Martha." She said, with a small flustered blink at their appraisal.
"And it was…Jones, was it?" Clara asked, to which she nodded. "Well then, Martha Jones, the question is: How are we still breathing?" She asked, her and John moving swiftly over to the windows.
"We can't be." Swales denied with a whimper.
"But, obviously, we are, so don't waste our time." John retorted.
"Oi!"
"What?"
"Rude." Clara said simply, and John gave a defeated sigh.
"Sorry." He muttered to Clara.
"Martha, what have we got? Is there a balcony on this floor or a veranda or-"?
"In the patient's lounge, yeah." Martha quickly said.
Clara nodded to that before John took her hand with a smile. "Fancy going out?" He asked.
She returned his smile warmly. "Why would I not?" They giggled, quickly moving to the door. "Come on, Martha." Clara said, before she shot a small glare at Swales. "Not her. She'd hold us up."
"Oi! Who's being rude now?" John retorted.
"You are." Clara retorted with a grin, as they moved down the hallway, past the door to the patient's lounge, and to the glass double doors of the balcony. There, they opened the doors and stepped out, before taking a deep breath and leaning with their hands pressed against the balcony handrail. Martha stepped out beside them, still looking at the scenery before her in amazement.
"We've got air." She muttered. "How does that work?"
"Just be glad it does." John remarked lightly.
Martha took it all in, and she gave a light chuckle, but it was more in nervous realization than in amusement. "I've got a party tonight." She said as if she had just realized it properly in her mind. "It's my brother's 21st. My mother's going to be really…" Martha trailed off, also realizing that she hadn't spoken with her mother since this morning.
"You okay?" Clara quickly asked in concern.
Martha nodded with a small gulp. "Yeah."
"You sure?"
Martha shook her head before she could stop herself. "Not really, no."
"Do you want to go back in?"
Martha shook her head again. "No way. I mean, we could die any minute, but all the same…it's beautiful."
From the corner of her eye, she could see them staring at her with a light smile. "Do you think?" They asked.
"How many people want to go to the moon?" Martha asked rhetorically. "And here we are."
Their smiles grew at her words. "And here we are, standing in the light of the Earth." Clara agreed, leaning her head on John's shoulder, which Martha had to admit, was a bit adorable, then she remembered how they could speak in unison so effortlessly, so she just shook her head with a smile.
"What do you think happened?" Martha asked them.
They shrugged. "There's a few ideas." John said. "What do you think?"
"Extra-terrestrial." Martha answered without missing a beat. "It's got to be." They cocked their eyebrows at her, and she shrugged. "I don't know. A few years ago that would've sounded mad, but these days. That spaceship flying into Big Ben, Christmas, those Cybermen…things." That last thought made her sad, for she remembered how she and her family wept but only a year ago. "I had a cousin, Adeola. She worked at Canary Wharf. She never came home." She said sadly.
"I'm sorry." Clara said grimly.
Martha gave a sad smile. "Don't be-"
"No, I am." Clara interrupted, making Martha blink. "Because I was there. We both were, in the battle. It was…" Clara trailed off on that sentence, but she shook her head. "We lost a friend that day."
Martha's sad gaze turned to them. "Who was she?"
"Rose. She was a great friend, but now she's…long gone." John just stroked her hair gently at her last two words, and she gave him a sad smile, to which he returned.
Martha sighed. "I promise you, Clara and John, we will find a way out. If we can travel to the moon, then we can travel back. There's got to be a way." She said sternly, but it was more in reassurance to herself than to them, since they seemed more collected than she did. Then again, John has apparently got two hearts, so what's up with Clara?
"It's not "Smith"." John interrupted, making Martha blink.
"Sorry?"
""John Smith" is not my real name."
"Who are you, then?"
"I'm the Doctor."
Martha nodded with a nervous smile. "Me too, if I ever pass my exams. What is it, then, Dr. Smith?"
"Just "The Doctor"."
Martha frowned. Okay…I guess. "How do you mean, "Just "The Doctor""?"
He frowned back at her, but his was in puzzlement. "Just…"The Doctor"."
Martha blinked. "What, people call you, "The Doctor"?"
"Yeah."
"Martha," Clara interrupted before Martha could speak again, "his name IS "The Doctor". That's it. No other name, no nothing, just "The Doctor"."
Martha stuttered at that for a few moments before she relented with a sigh. "Okay. I would've said, "You've got to earn that title" but apparently he already has." She said.
"No, he's more than earned it." Clara said, clearly in adoration, and she gave him a smile. "Prove it."
John, or really, the Doctor, just shrugged. "All right. Let's have a look." He moved away from the balcony to the nearest potted plant, where he took a handful of dirt, and walked back out. Then, he tossed the dirt in front of them and off the balcony, but the dirt suddenly melted and shattered as it hit a hidden field, which crackled and pulsed with a blue light before it shimmered back into nothingness. "Force field." He deducted. "It's keeping the air in."
Clara's eyes widened, and she spoke as Martha just received the information. "But that would mean that this air we have is the only air we've got." She deducted.
"Martha, how many people are in this hospital?" The Doctor asked.
Martha shrugged. "A thousand, perhaps?"
His teeth gritted together. "One thousand people, suffocating."
Martha's eyes widened in horror. "Why would anyone do that?"
"You could ask them yourself." Clara answered for Martha, her gaze looking straight up above them. The Doctor and Martha looked up as well. Soaring past their heads and over the hospital were three large, cylinder shaped ships, all a blend of grey and charcoal black, and the undersides bore four engine vents, firing out light blue fuel as they soared away from the hospital, before landing slowly but swiftly onto the moon's surface. Then, with a distant creak and a groan, landing ramps lowered and extended before three large groups of black clad figures emerged from the ships, marching towards the hospital in lines of two.
"Aliens." Martha muttered in newfound disbelief. "That's aliens. Real, proper aliens."
"Judoon." The Doctor said simply.
Clara took his hand and tapped Martha's shoulder. "Come on. We need to get to the ground Floor."
The trio raced down the stairs to the ground Floor and into the Reception room, which was already being filled with screams and shrieks of terror as they heard a large mass of thunderous marching, right as they took cover on the raised floor of the room, just a little while away from a now deactivated escalator. The newcomer aliens, which the Doctor had called "Judoon", were all clad in black spacesuit armour, bearing dark red equipment and weapons upon their holster belts, and also had a small red plug hole in their chests. Their belts also bore out swaying bits of what could be black leather, or some other kind of material their raced used, and it reminded the three a tiny bit of Scottish kilts, but only a tiny bit. Then, to their puzzlement, the helmets of the Judoon looked a bit like rhino heads. But before they could question that thought, one of the Judoon stepped into the middle of the now fearful yet silent room and grasped its helmet with its hands. Then, it took off its helmet, and lo and behold, it was remarkably similar to a rhino, complete with horns, the ears and eyes, the lot. The people in the room, upon seeing the face of the alien, started to screech in terror once again, but the Judoon just stood there, silent, staring at everyone. After a few more moments, once confusion started to blend in with the fear, everyone went silent again, and the helmetless Judoon spoke. "Bo sco fo do no cro blo co sho ro!" The rest of the Judoon, still wearing their helmets, drew out their weapons and aimed them at everyone around the room. The only answer to the Judoon's affront, aside from the gasping and sobbing from the people on their knees, clinging to each other, was Morgenstern, who stepped timidly up to the Judoon without his helmet, who was by now obviously the Captain. He went to speak, but it came out as a croaked whimper, but it still got the Captain's attention.
"Um…we are citizens of planet Earth. W-we welcome you in peace." The Captain just tilted his head at Morgenstern and blinked, as if he understood what he was saying but not WHAT he was saying, odd as it was to Martha. Then, the Captain grasped Morgenstern by his coat lapel and pushed him against the wall, before shoving a device right in front of his face, only a mere two inches from his mouth, and he pressed a small black button. "Please don't hurt me." He pleaded. "I'm sorry. Don't hurt me. P-please don't-"
Before Morgenstern could finish, the Captain loosened his grip on his lapel, and placed the device into the slot within his chest, before pressing the button again. It played back Morgenstern's exact words he had spoken to the device, but in a fast and rapid succession that it quickly became incoherent. Then, the Captain grumbled. "Bo. Blonglish. E...Eng…English. English dialect." He finally spoke, his words after those short moments of stammering becoming clear and pronounced, almost as if he already knew the language by heart. "Language assimilated. Designation: Earth English. You will be catalogued." Then, he used the device like a pointer, holding it even more inches away from Morgenstern's forehead, and he pressed the button. The device, Martha suddenly realized, had been turned from a language assimilator to a DNA scanner, as the Captain declared, "Human." Then, he flipped the device in his hand, took Morgenstern's own hand, and with surprisingly gentle care, drew an "X" with a black felt pen into the back of his hand. Then he let go, and the Judoon all went at ease with their weapons, replacing them with their own scanners. "Catalogue all suspects." On his order, the Judoon went around the confused but still frightened and whimpering people, scanning and cataloguing them about as quickly as someone could shuffle a deck of cards.
"Oh, look down there, you've got a little shop." The Doctor suddenly remarked to Clara and Martha. Martha blinked at his comment, which quickly turned into a frown of puzzlement when Clara giggled. "I like a little shop." Martha just looked at them, so it was Clara that explained.
"In joke."
Martha blinked again, but she nodded, somewhat. "Okay, but what are the Judoon?"
"They're like police. Well, police for hire. They're more like interplanetary thugs."
"And they brought us to the moon?" Martha deducted.
"Yep. It's neutral territory. According to intergalactic law, they've got no jurisdiction over the Earth, so they isolated it. That rain and the lightning, that was them, using an H20 Scoop."
"There really is an intergalactic law?" Martha asked.
"Yeah. Just like Earth's got its laws, every other planet has their laws as well."
Martha thought for a moment, before her mind went to work on the puzzles. Intergalactic police, cataloguing anyone they find in the hospital, specifically their species. So…
"Martha?" Clara asked, already seeing the distant look in her eyes. "What is it?"
"Is someone on the run? Is that who they're looking for?" She asked.
The Doctor and Clara gave her impressed looks at her questions. "Yes. Well, something Non-Human, that's who they're looking for, and that is very bad news for me." The Doctor said.
Martha's eyes widened. "Oh my god, you were never joking about it, were you?"
"Nope." He said simply.
Martha nodded, then she looked at Clara. "What about you?"
Clara actually got a confused look on her face. "I have no clue what I am. Which means if the Judoon find me, they will be standing there all day trying to figure me out. Which is why I've got to stay out of the way. I may hold them up."
"Troop 5, Floor 1." The Captain suddenly ordered, cutting off the trio's conversation. "Troop 6, Floor 2. Identify Humans and find the transgressor. Find her!"
"We need to get a shift on." Clara said, the Doctor and Martha silently agreeing as they got up and fled from the room. "We need to look at the logs."
"Admin office, seventh Floor." Martha said, rushing in front of them to lead the way. Once they had reached the office, the Doctor and Clara went straight to the main computers, taking out small silver devices from their pockets. "Cameras." Martha said to herself, moving to another computer and flicking it on to security footage. The first Floor, as she discovered, was already filled with Judoon cataloguing visitors, patients and staff, which was the same for the second Floor. She flicked over to the third Floor, where the Captain, his own squad of Judoon, along with Morgenstern in tow, walked down a corridor filled with cowering people. "They've reached the third Floor." Martha reported.
"Good to know." They replied in unison.
"Prepare to be catalogued!" The Captain proclaimed through the camera audio.
"Do what they say!" Morgenstern said, trying in some way to keep everybody calm. "All they want to do is a quick scan. It's all right. They're not going to hurt us."
"What's wrong with these computers?!" The Doctor exclaimed suddenly, smacking a screen with the palm of his hand.
"Oi!" Clara snapped at him, which made him stop before he closed his eyes and gave a sigh.
"Sorry, Clara." He said honestly, returning to work silently before Clara came over and wrapped one of his arms around her as she proceeded to help him, to which he gave her a thankful smile. "I'm going to run out of ways on how to say, "I'm sorry"." He quipped lightly, but it made Clara giggle, to which he was obviously proud.
"The Judoon must have locked it down." Clara said, as she realized that they truly couldn't get into the computers, so she unconsciously wringed her hand through the Doctor's.
"Judoon platoon upon the moon." The Doctor remarked lightly, then, to Martha's surprise, who still kept herself silent as she watched the couple with amusement, he spoke in a perfect Scottish accent. "Judoun platoun upon the moun." Clara just slowly turned her head at him, and he coughed to clear his throat. "Sorry, darling." He continued in Scottish. "Judoun platoun-no, I can't say it." He said in defeat, earning a giggle of bewilderment from Clara. After a small moment, the Doctor and Clara glanced behind them towards Martha as if they remembered she was there, an act that added to her amusement. "We were just traveling past." He quickly said, reverting back to English. "I swear it, just wandering. But we noticed these plasma coils around the hospital. Been building up for two days now, so we, but more so me, checked in. We thought something was going on inside. It turns out the plasma coils were the Judoon up above."
"If the Judoon are looking for a Human looking alien that isn't you, don't they have a photo or something?"
"Nah." Clara denied for him. "Might be a shape changer. Would explain why they're looking based on DNA, or biology, or whatever."
"Whatever it is, can't you just leave the Judoon to find it?" Martha asked, but they fervently shook their heads.
"If they declare the hospital guilty of harbouring a fugitive, they'll sentence it to execution."
Martha, for yet another moment today, had her eyes widened in horror. "All of us?"
They nodded. "Oh yes."
"But if we can find this thing first-oh!" He suddenly exclaimed, making Clara and Martha jump as he bore a crazed expression on his face. "Do you see?! They're thick! Judoon are thick! They are so completely thick! They wiped the records!" He used the sonic on the computer, and all the records came up blank, before a barrier message in the Judoon's own language, which Martha still didn't understand, appeared on the monitor in place of the records. "Oh, that's clever."
"What are we looking for?" Martha asked.
"Any patient admitted in the past week with unusual symptoms." Clara answered.
"Maybe there's a backup." The Doctor said, he and Clara went back to work on the computers with their strange devices.
Martha had to think. There are quite a few people that always get admitted with unusual symptoms, Florence is one that comes to mind, but is it HER or is she innocent? "Just keep working, I'll go ask Mr. Stoker, he might know." Martha said, and she bolted from the room, racing down the hallway towards Mr. Stoker's office. Walking up to the door, she knocked twice before entering. "Mr. Stoker-" She cut herself off as she saw a body on the ground. Then, her mind went into overdrive. Body. Stoker's suit. Stoker's body. Motorbike guy. Same as one this morning. No, two of them. And-
Florence came up from behind Mr. Stoker's desk with a straw in her mouth, and there were faint traces of blood in the straw, to which she was slurping and sucking delightfully. Then, one of the men tapped her on the shoulder, and she looked up, seeing Martha standing there in the room. Martha turn and ran just as Florence cried, "Kill her!"
Martha ran back into the hallway, being caught right by the Doctor and Clara, who held her with excited smiles on their faces. "We restored the back up." They said in unison.
"Yeah, and I found her." Martha said hurriedly.
"You did what?" They asked. The answer to that came by the crashing of a door, where one of the leather clad men came out of Mr. Stoker's office, and the couple immediately understood. "Run!" They ordered, Martha taking off into a sprint after them down the hallway as the leather man raced to catch up. Bounding through the stairwell door, they leapt all the way down to the fourth Floor, and were about to go down to the third, but they stopped upon seeing a group of Judoon just beneath them. "Yeah, no!" They said, turning to race into the fourth Floor, where they raced down empty hallway after empty hallway, until they reached a door to the "Radiology" room. The Doctor slammed the door shut before he used his device on it, before he raced through the glass doors into the X-Ray room.
"Clara, when I say now, press the button!" He said, inserting his device into the X-Ray machine, which was linked to the console with Clara and Martha.
"Which one?!" Clara yelled.
"The big yellow one!" Clara placed her hand ready on the button as the door was quickly smashed down. The leather man's sight fell on the Doctor, and he advanced forward. "Now!" Clara pressed the button, causing a bright light to fill the X-Ray room, and both Clara and Martha had to shield their eyes from the light as a loud whirring noise filled their ears until it quickly stopped, and they heard a body slam onto the ground. They opened their eyes to see the leather man slumped face first on the floor, unmoving and not making a sound, while the Doctor stood calm and completely fine.
"Doctor?" Clara asked worriedly, to which he gave her a comforting smile. "What happened?"
"Increased the radiation by 5000%. Killed him/it dead."
"Won't that kill you?" Clara retorted, to which he shook his head.
"Nah. It's only Roentgen radiation. We used to play with Roentgen bricks in the nursery." Clara's face turned to relief, but the Doctor carried on. "It's safe for you to come out, I've absorbed it all. All I need to do is expel it." With that, he began snorting and twitching his head like someone with a cold. "If I concentrate, I can shift the radiation out into one spot." He began hopping up and down on his feet, still snorting and twitching before he beamed and raised his left leg up. "It's in my left foot now. Here we go, easy does it." He twirled his foot round and round before he winced. "Out! Out!" He said, kicking his foot in the air. "Ow, ow, ow! Ow, ow, ow! Ah, ah, ah, ah! Itches! Itches! Itches!" He then took hold of his shoe with both hands and tore it off before tossing it into a nearby yellow trash bin. Then, he looked at Clara with a beaming grin. "All done!" Then he frowned. "No, wait. I look daft with one shoe." He tore off the other shoe and tossed it into the bin. Then, he grinned again as he twitched his toes. "Bare foot on the moon."
"You sure you're okay?" Clara asked.
The Doctor just stepped forward, grasped her head and placed a kiss upon her lips before pulling away with a slightly smug smile. "That answer it?" He whispered, to which she nodded.
"Yeah." She said, and he pressed one more kiss on her before she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a hug. They remained in a silent hug for a few moments before pulling away and turning to look at a frowning Martha.
She just looked at the two of them and shook her head. "I'm just not going to say anything." She stepped forward two paces to the leather body before she stopped and looked at them again. "You two are completely mad." She said bluntly and they smiled.
"We know."
Martha let out a snort as she rolled her eyes before they turned their attention properly to the leather man. "So, what is that thing?"
"It's just a "Slab"." Clara answered for the Doctor as the three of them either squatted or knelt around the body. "Basic slave drones. Made of solid leather, all the way through."
The Doctor nodded. "Someone has got one hell of a fetish."
"It was that woman, Miss Finnegan." Martha said as the Doctor stepped back up to inspect the now deactivated X-Ray machine. "It was working for her, just like a servant."
"Who?" Clara asked, standing up with Martha.
"She was one of the patients, but she was admitted in because of-"
"No!" The Doctor whined, cutting off their conversation. "My sonic screwdriver!" Martha and Clara turned to see him holding up his device, but it was completely scorched and torn to pieces.
"You're what?" Martha asked.
"It burnt out my sonic screwdriver."
Martha blinked. "That's not really a proper answer."
Clara shook her head. "No, really, it's a screwdriver and it's sonic. Look." She took out her own device, and it looked the same to the Doctor's before it was trashed, except the light on the end wasn't blue but orange. "See?" She pressed the button up at the ceiling, and it switched off the light before she flicked it again, and it switched back on. "Sonic." She said.
Martha nodded. Okay. Sonic screwdriver, not "Device(s)".
Then, the Doctor tossed the sonic over his head as if it didn't interest him anymore. "No need to worry." He said with a smile. "I can build another one after this is over."
Martha and Clara nodded. "Anyway, Florence had this-"
"Clara has one of her own, so she can do all the-"
"Doctor!" Clara interrupted, making him blink. "Martha is trying to tell us something."
He got a small childish look on his face before it melted away and he looked at Martha. "Sorry. You were saying?"
"Anyway, Miss Finnegan, or Florence, is the alien. She was drinking Mr. Stoker's blood out of a straw."
The Doctor and Clara frowned. "Funny time to take a snack." Clara muttered. "You'd think she'd be hiding." The Doctor's eyes suddenly squinted, making Clara frown. "Doctor?"
"Hold on." He said, running his hands through his hair. "Hold on, hold on-yes!" He exclaimed suddenly, making Martha jump, but Clara kept still with an inquisitive face. "Shape changer! An internal shape changer! She wasn't drinking blood; she was assimilating it!"
"What for?" Martha asked. "To…" She trailed off and she nodded. "To hide her DNA from the Judoon's scanners."
"Only problem is with the whole Slab ordeal, she would've gone straight to the Judoon to be catalogued." Clara deducted.
"We've got to find her." The Doctor agreed, the three of them racing from the room. They stopped upon hearing a single pair of boots like footsteps down the hallway, so they took cover, waiting and waiting until another Slab passed right on by and down the hallway again. "That's the thing about Slabs. They always travel in pairs."
"Does that mean you both are Slabs?" Martha asked. The couple looked at her in confusion, and she just shrugged, making their jaws drop incredulously.
"Martha, no." They just said.
"Well, have you got back up?" Martha asked, and surprisingly enough, their jaws dropped yet again.
"Humans." The Doctor remarked. "We're stuck on the moon, running out of air, with Judoon and a bloodsucking criminal, and you're asking personal questions."
Martha blinked as they went to stand up. ""Humans"." She muttered. "So, what would we say to your people in a remark?"
The answer came from them turning a corner straight into a group of Judoon, where the first held up its scanner to the Doctor's forehead. It then declared in a deep and modulated voice, "Non-Human."
"Well, that's my answer." Martha muttered as the Doctor took Clara's hand.
"And again!" The Doctor exclaimed as they took off, quickly doving around a corner as the Judoon drew out their weapons and fired, but the shots missed. The trio went straight back into the stairwell as the Judoon raced after them, where they went back up to Floor seven. Locking the doors as they went, they entered into an empty hallway, where they paused for a moment to catch their breaths.
"Can the Judoon outrun us?" Martha asked, and they shook their heads.
"Great big lung reserves. They won't slow down. Where's Mr. Stoker's office?" The Doctor asked.
"It's this way." She led them through a few turns, until they reached the required destination, yet it was empty, except for the body of the unfortunate Mr. Stoker, lying on the floor.
The Doctor knelt down beside the pale and unmoving body, where he placed his fingers on Mr. Stoker's cheek, and it was dreadfully cold to the touch. "Drained him dry. Every last drop." He looked over to Clara. "I was right. She's a "Plasmavore"."
"What's she doing on Earth?" Clara asked, kneeling down beside him.
He shrugged. "Hiding. On the run. Like Ronald Biggs in Rio de Janeiro." The Doctor put his hand forward, closing the lids on Mr. Stoker's face, before he and Clara got up and moved from the room. "Okay, think, think, think, think. If I was a wanted Plasmavore surrounded by police, what would I do?" He looked up at the directional signs on the wall, and the one that jumped out to him said "MRI". "Oh. She's as clever as me. Almost as clever as Clara." He said with a wink.
"Thank you." Clara smiled in return. They heard people in the nearby hallways screaming suddenly, and the distant gruff voice of the Captain, while indescribable, was still noticeable. The Doctor turned to look at Clara, but she spoke first. "Go on. I'll buy you some time." She said, as people started running around a corner, and the thundering stomps of the Judoon came closer and closer.
"You sure about this?" He asked, placing his hands on her shoulders.
She smiled. You will live. You must. "Trust me, Doctor." She said softly, and he smiled.
"I already do." He leant forward to press one good and passionate kiss on her lips before he parted, then with one last stroke of the finger on her cheek, he took off down the corridor and out of sight, just as the Judoon came around the corner, the Captain at the head.
"Martha, stay with me." Clara said, and Martha stood with her. "Don't say a word."
Martha frowned. "Why not?"
Clara smiled mischievously. "We won't need to."
"Find the Non-Human! Execute!" The Captain ordered, as they got closer to the duo, moving through the terrified people that lay huddled against the walls and each other. The Captain marched up to the pair, first using his device on Martha. "Human." He declared before taking her hand and marking an "X". Then, he turned to Clara, and used the device on her. "Human." Then, he eyes blinked. "Wait. Non-Human traces suspected. No, Human DNA confirmed. Wait, Non-Human DNA configuration detect-." Suddenly, his device sparked and convulsed, half of it turning suddenly into metal splinters and he recoiled, dropping the trashed scanner to the floor. "What are you?" He demanded, grasping Clara's shoulder and pushing her into the wall.
Clara, on her part, remained far too eerily calm for Martha's taste, and she just smirked. "I have got no fucking clue."
The Captain blinked, but it wasn't at her words. He pressed two fingers against her throat, and he squinted his eyes. "Why do you have no pulse?" He asked, his question surprising Martha even more than she had already been today.
"My heart is dead. Literally." Clara answered.
"Authorize full scan." The Captain ordered, taking another Judoon's scanner and using it on Clara. "Condense the scan." He said, and the device whirred and pulsed for a few seconds before he grumbled. Then, he put the device away. "Conclusion: Human DNA has been modified to contradictory levels, and the presence of foreign DNA intervention has equalized it. You should not be alive." The Captain stated.
"Ah well." Clara shrugged bluntly.
The Captain glanced at his subordinates. "Continue the search." He then reached into his holster and pulled out a small piece of paper in a laminated bag. "You will need this." He said, putting the paper into Clara's hands.
Clara frowned. "What's this for?"
"Compensation."
The Captain then started to walk away from a puzzled Clara, who had shot the look to Martha and received a shrug in return. "Wait!" Clara called, making the Captain stop and turn to look at her. "We know where the Non-Human is."
The Captain straightened himself up. "Where?" Clara tapped the directions on the wall, specifically "MRI" and the Captain started off immediately, Clara, Martha and the Judoon in tow. They entered into the room as they heard a body collapse onto the floor, mixed in with rather loud electrical static. They saw that the body was a semi-pale Doctor, and the two that stood over him was Florence with a straw in her hand and the other Slab beside her.
"Oh, look what you've done." Florence said innocently yet accusingly. "This poor man just died of fright."
"Scan him!" The Captain ordered, and a Judoon took out his device and scanned the Doctor. "Confirmation: Non-Human deceased."
"No, he isn't!" Clara growled.
"Stop." The Captain ordered. "Case closed."
"Let me through right now." Clara snarled, and the Captain relented after a moment of grumbling, allowing Clara to kneel beside him and check his pulse. She found that it was faint, but still there. "You're looking at the wrong one." Clara said with gritted teeth to the Captain.
"Judoon have no authority-"
"She's not Human!" Clara retorted.
"Oh, but I am." Florence interjected, holding up her marked hand. "I've been catalogued."
Clara smiled, a very cold and dangerous smile that made Florence falter. "Too bad." Clara said, snatching one of the Judoon's devices and used it on Florence.
"Oh, I don't mind." Florence said, just able to keep in her nervousness. "Scan all you like-"
"Non-Human." The Captain proclaimed.
Florence blinked. "Uh, what?"
"Confirm analysis." The Captain ordered, and the rest of the Judoon in the room all took out their devices and started to scan.
"Oh, but there's been a mistake, surely." Florence protested. "I'm Human. I'm as Human as they come."
"Confirm: Plasmavore." Upon the declaration, Florence's expression set into a clenched jaw of restrained anger. "Charged with the crime of murdering the child princess of Patrivole Regency Nine."
"Well, she deserved it." Florence snarled. "Those pink cheeks and those blond curls and that simpering voice. She was begging for the bite of a Plasmavore." She declared proudly.
"Then you confess?"
"Confess?! I'm proud of it!" Florence walked pass the Slab into a glass room, and she ordered, "Slab! Stop them!" The Slab turned to the Judoon, took one step forward, and it was quickly disintegrated into ash and flames per the firepower of one of the Judoon.
"Verdict: Guilty." The Captain declared. "Sentence: Execution."
Florence stood up from behind the glass, just as the machine started to screech a warning alarm, but she just smiled. "Enjoy your victory, Judoon. Cause you're going to burn with me. Burn in he-" Her exclaim turned into a scream of anguish as the Judoon all took out their weapons and fired upon her, melting the glass and disintegrating the woman into ashes.
"Case closed." The Captain declared.
"Not yet." Martha interjected as Clara knelt beside the Doctor. "The scanner should not be doing that. She's done something to it."
The Captain listened to her, before he turned to the machine and used his device on it. "Scans detect lethal acceleration of monomagnetic pulse."
"Well, do something!" Clara snarled. "Don't just stand there!"
The Captain turned to her and shook his massive head. "Our jurisdiction has ended. Judoon will evacuate." He then took out a different device from his holster and spoke into it. "All units withdraw." They then went to leave the room, leaving Clara to snarl as she began to perform CPR on the Doctor, while Martha went to the door with a scowl on her face.
"You can't go!" Martha yelled, but the Judoon ignored her.
"Martha!" Clara yelled, making her rush back into the room as she took out her sonic and tossed it to Martha. "You need to disable the scanner! Quickly!"
"How-"
"I don't know!" Clara snarled. "Just figure something out!" Martha, with a fearful look on her face, went to work on the console linked to the scanner, while Clara kept forcing air down his throat before bracing her hands on both sides of his chest, one at a time. "One, two, three, four, five." She said, pressing her hands in rhythm with her counting. "One, two, three, four, five." She kept on pressing away, every instance breathing in deeply before forcing the air down his throat, each attempt making her wearier and wearier, but she kept on going. Come on, Doctor. Please. With one last deep breath, she forced the air down his throat as her eyes got blurry and her head started to throb, but she heard and felt the Doctor give a violet shudder as he gasped for breath, before it slowly calmed into a raspy panting, right as Clara collapsed onto the floor beside him.
"Clara?" She heard him ask as he slowly, with a few ragged pants, wrapped his arms around her and drew her in close. "Clara?" Clara didn't answer in words, but in slowly placing her hand through his and gave a small squeeze, to which he smiled weakly in relief. "You'll be okay." He whispered, kissing her forehead. "You'll be okay, my Clara." He looked up to see Martha wrenching wires out of the console before she took hold of a big blue wire and used the sonic to split it apart, which drained the power out of the scanner, and the sparking electricity stopped in an instant. At that, the Doctor took Clara up into his arms and carried her out of the room, Martha following quickly behind as they walked into a nearby ward and looked out of the window at the Judoon ships that were lifting off from the surface of the moon. "Come on." He pleaded as Martha got an oxygen mask, and she placed it over Clara's mouth which the woman to breathe deeply, yet her eyes remained half closed lazily. "Come on, Judoon, reverse it." Then, as the Judoon ships left, the rain returned outside, pouring onto the windows, and it made the Doctor smile. "It's raining, Clara. It's raining on the moon."
Then, there was a massive clap of lightning, bright light filling up the room from the outside, and they returned back to the Earth, the warm and bright sun quickly pouring into the room again. Martha grinned. "Thank god for that. Doctor-" She turned around, but the Doctor had vanished, and Clara with him. Martha ran back out into the hallway, but there was no sign of him. The strange couple had vanished, the only trace of them being the missing oxygen mask that Martha had placed upon the weakened Clara. They were gone.
When the hospital came back to Earth, police and ambulances stormed in, bringing out everyone to make sure they were okay, the only signs of alien intervention being just a chaotic mess throughout the hospital. Martha sat silently at the back of an ambulance, for she was fine, albeit still processing the events of the day, and why would the strange, quirky couple leave so swiftly. Maybe the Doctor just wanted to take care of Clara, no questions asked. It must be that. Then, Martha looked up and gained a smile upon seeing her sister Tish, who was walking through cops, doctors and the hospital staff to get to her. She was wearing black knee-high boots, a dark blue plaid skirt that came down to just above her knees, and she had her dark brown curly hair tied up behind her head. She was also Martha's own height, having got their height genes from their mother.
"Martha!" She exclaimed in joyful relief, immediately bringing her into a hug, which she reciprocated. "I thought you were dead. What happened?" Tish asked.
Martha just gave her a blank look and shrugged. "Honestly, I still don't know. I just…I looked out of the window, and we were on the moon."
Tish's eyes widened. "You literally went to the moon?" Martha nodded. "Didn't you…suffocate or something?" She asked, and Martha gave a snort.
"You just love to suck the joy out of everything." Tish gave a snort, before Martha shrugged again. "Something about an airfield." Martha was trying to avoid talking about specifically the Doctor and Clara, since despite the fact that she quite enjoyed being around them, she still didn't get them. One's an alien, and the other is…something. Even she doesn't know.
"Well, it had to be aliens." Tish said. "And it would prove Mr. Saxon right. Both last Christmas and the one before that, then Canary Wharf, then Downing Street, now this." Tish then frowned. "But why? Why all of that show? Half of the city is now closed down because of it. Mum and Dad are trying to get through but traffics a nightmare. Why would the hospital just…"?
Martha answered her silent question as best she could. "The intergalactic police came looking for a blood sucking alien."
Tish blinked. "Eh?"
"I know." Martha nodded. "It was weird when they turned out to be rhinos."
Tish blinked again, and her eyes widened in disbelief. "Rhinos?"
Martha smiled, but inside, she couldn't tell if it was a nervous smile or an amused smile. Either way, when Mum and Dad get here, this will be very fun.
The rest of the day passed rather well for Martha, which did include finally seeing her mother in person, who for some time fretted and worried about her safety before she calmed down enough, and Martha just warmly embraced her. Then later came Leo's party. Martha found it to be rather fun. By no means the greatest party in the world, but it was fine enough. Then, of course, Dad arrived, but the elephant in the room quickly became Annalise, his blonde girlfriend who chose to wore a golden dress over her, as Martha admitted to herself bluntly, really awful tan. I mean, I wouldn't admit it to her face, that's way too rude, but…ugh. But what started to kill the night for her was one question that Annalise asked.
"Are you sure you actually went to the moon?" Annalise asked, who then continued before Martha could answer. "Because I don't believe it for a second."
Martha, however, wasn't the one that retorted. It was her mother that came to her defence. "Well, I do." She snapped, laying a hand on Martha's. "It's all well and fine when you go ahead and make yourself an orange bimbo but won't actually believe when my daughter could have died and had no way back home."
"Don't bring my tan into this!" Annalise snapped as Clive tried to interject, but Francine wouldn't allow it.
"I already did. And that's not a tan, whatever THAT is." Francine said with a scowl, motioning up and down Annalise's poorly tanned body.
Annalise snarled, grabbed her jacket and turned to leave, and Clive moved to follow. "Babe, where are you going?"
"I am not staying in there to be insulted." Annalise said, turning around with a scowl that couldn't match with Francine's in the least, as the rest of the Jones family followed them out the door of the pub.
"She didn't mean it, sweetheart." Clive said gently. "She just said that you look healthy."
"No, I did not." Francine retorted. "I said "Orange"."
"Clive, that woman is disrespecting me." Annalise whined, and Martha rolled her eyes. "She's never liked me."
"Oh." Francine scoffed. "I can't think why, after you stole my husband."
"I was seduced." Annalise retorted. "I was entirely innocent. Tell her, babes."
"What, after that attitude you tried to take with my daughter?!" Francine snarled.
"Mum, I don't mind." Martha interjected calmly. "Just leave it, please."
"Oh. "I've been to the moon."" Annalise retorted mockingly. "As if. They were drugged. It said so on the news."
"Since when did you watch the news?!" Francine retorted. "You can't handle "Quizmania"!"
Tish snorted. "Annalise started it. She did. I heard her."
"Tish." Leo warned in a small whimper. "Don't make it worse."
"Come off it, Leo." Tish rejected. "What did she buy you? Soap! A 75-pence soap."
"Oh, I am never talking to your family again!" Annalise growled to Clive before storming off.
"Oh, stay!" Francine called sarcastically.
"Annalise, don't you dare." Clive called. "I'm putting my foot down!"
"Oh, make a fool of yourself, Clive." Francine said with a scowl to her ex.
"This is me putting my foot down!" Clive called as he walked after Annalise, the Jones family quickly in tow, except for Martha, who stayed put.
"God knows you've been doing it for the past 25 years! Why stop now?!"
"Mum, wait!" Leo called as him and Tish followed.
"We asked the DJ to play that song!" Tish continued, but to Martha, their voices began to grow faint as they walked off down the street, at points stopping for another shouting argument of incoherent voices. Then, Martha's gaze fell to a street corner behind her as she gazed around, and standing there, was the Doctor and Clara, the latter now perfectly fine and the pair of them bore warm smiles on their faces. Then, they turned and disappeared around the corner, just as Martha started to follow them, finding the pair leaning up against a blue phone box in an empty alleyway.
Martha sighed with a smile. "I went to the moon today." She said obviously.
They raised their eyebrows up for a split second. "Bit more peaceful than down here." Clara remarked.
"You two never even told me who you are." Martha pointed out as she stepped forward.
"The Doctor."
"Clara Oswald."
"Okay." Martha said, still puzzled. "I mean, you are…something." She said to Clara, who laughed.
"I know."
"I tried to figure out what she became, but I still don't know." The Doctor said, scratching the back of his ear with his finger. "I just call her the "Hobbit Elf"." That made Clara swat his arm, making him mutter an "Ow".
Martha just shook her head with a small chuckle. "Okay, what species are you?" She asked the Doctor after a moment. "It's not every day I get to ask that."
"I'm a Time Lord."
"Right." Martha nodded. "Not that I have a clue what that is." Then, Martha quickly widened her eyes. "Oh, by the way, Clara, I've got your…" She trailed off as she reached into her pocket and frowned as she found it empty. She looked up to see Clara holding her sonic with a mischievous smirk on her face. "How did-"
"I did." The Doctor said smugly. "We're too good at it." Then, he gave a small sniff, as Clara leaned her head on his shoulder. "We just thought, after I helped Clara back into shape of course, that since you saved our lives, and I've got a brand-new sonic screwdriver," He said, pulling a brand new sonic out of his pocket and twirling it up in the air before catching it, "which it needs road testing, you might fancy a trip."
"What, into Space?" Martha asked. They nodded and Martha quickly shook her head. "I can't. I've got exams. I've got things to do. I have to go into town first thing and pay the rent, I've got my family going mad over what happened." Martha rambled, but Clara held up her hand for her to stop.
"You didn't let us finish." She said, and Martha held herself silent. "We also travel in Time."
"Get out of here." Martha retorted.
"We can."
"No, no, no, no, that's just going way to far." Martha rambled, making them chuckle.
"Then just wait here and we'll prove it." Clara said, and her and the Doctor went inside the blue box and closed the door behind them. There was a small moment of silence before a loud groaning wheezing came from the box as the light on the top flashed blue over and over again, and a sudden rushing of wind came into the alleyway as the box, to Martha's widening eyes, began to shimmer and fade from existence until it was completely gone. Martha stepped forward and reached her hand out, but she couldn't feel anything, for it was actually gone. Then, the wheezing came right back, this time behind her, and she turned around to see the box fading back into view, until it landed with a thud. The door then opened, and Clara, with a brown tie around her eyes, came stumbling out with the Doctor following her, who had changed from a blue pinstripe suit into a brown one, and even threw on a brown over coat.
"Told you." The Doctor said smugly to her, as he caught Clara's shoulders and held her still. "Easy now." He quipped to his giggling girlfriend, before he took the tie away from her eyes.
"Told you." Clara said, before the Doctor turned her around to face Martha, and she laughed. "Told you." She repeated, as Martha stared at them in amazement.
"No, but that was this morning." Martha tried to excuse, but they nodded.
"Yeah, it was."
Martha's jaw dropped at their simple but unified words. "Oh my god. You can travel in time." Then, just as the Doctor was tying the tie around his neck again, she frowned for a quick moment. "But hold on, if you two could see me this morning, why didn't you tell me not to go into work?"
"Crossing into established timelines is strictly forbidden." The Doctor explained. Then, he added with a twinkle in his eye, "Except for cheap tricks."
Martha nodded with a beaming grin that she could barely restrain. "And that's your spaceship?" She asked.
"She's called the TARDIS. "Time and Relative Dimension in Space."" Clara said as Martha stepped forward alongside them and placed her hand on the box doors.
"Your spaceship's made of wood."
*Beeps* (Well, I can't change that)
Martha withdrew her hand, as she once again had her jaw drop, for the ship had actually talked to her, yet it was in mechanical beeping. "It just-"
"She." They interrupted. "Not "It". "She"."
"And yes, she did talk to you." Clara continued solo.
"Okay." Martha said as she took a deep breath. She quickly took a look around and gave them a smirk. "There's not much room. I'd get why you two would like to be intimate, but I don't see how I would-"
"Not that kind of intimidate." Clara retorted slyly. Then, she took hold of the door handle and opened it a fraction. "Go on."
Martha squinted her eyes at them as she entered the box, and she quickly discovered to her ever-growing bewilderment that it was not a box. It was a full-on spaceship, with metal grating floors, coral themed archways, and a golden light hue to the entire room, with a large console in the centre and a glass pillar that extended right up to the ceiling from the centre. "No, no, no, no, no." Martha muttered to herself as the couple laughed, and she stepped outside and started to fully inspect the exterior, which was still made of blue phone box wood. "It's just a box. But it's huge!" She stepped back into the doorway, seeing the couple leaning against the handrail with grins on their faces. "How does it do that?" She asked as she knocked on the outside walls. "It's wood. It's like a box with that room just rammed in." Martha then walked back inside, gazed around the room filled with the humming sound of the ship, and she grinned. "It's bigger on the inside."
What Martha did not know was that the Doctor and Clara had mouthed "Bigger on the inside" alongside her, before they spoke up. "Is it? We hadn't noticed."
Then, the Doctor closed the door as Clara raced up to the console before he followed her, tossing off his overcoat onto one of the coral archways. "All right, then, let's get going." He said as he and Clara began to prep the ship for flight.
"But, is there a crew, like a navigator and stuff? Where is everyone?" Martha asked.
"Just us."
"Well, to be technical," the Doctor started, "the TARDIS does need six pilots to fly it, but it's just us." Then, he blinked. "Or was it seven?" He asked, giving a wink to Clara.
Martha frowned. "Just you two? Doing the work of six or seven people?"
"Well," the Doctor started, "the TARDIS makes things easier, the great girl," he patted the console as he said that, "but sometimes we have friends and guests."
Then Clara stepped forward to stand before Martha. "Besides, you didn't answer us." Martha blinked. "Do you want to come on a trip with us?"
At her question, the Doctor stopped his work and came alongside Clara, but Martha immediately grinned. "Ship this cool, aliens being real, you two being far too much fun to let go. Oh, yes please."
Clara shook Martha's hand, echoing her grin. "Welcome aboard, Miss Jones."
"It's my pleasure, Miss Oswald." Martha returned as the Doctor raced back around the console.
"Now then, close down the gravitic anomalizer."
"Eh?" Martha asked and Clara just shrugged.
"Just go along with it." She said simply.
"Fire up the helmic regulator. And finally, the hand brake, or dematerialization lever, if you would do the honours, my dear Clara." He said and Clara placed her hand on the lever just as the Doctor gave a gasp. "Oh, forgot to say, welcome aboard Miss Jones." He said as he reached over and shook Martha's hand.
"Pleasure is all mine, Mr. Smith." Martha returned with a quip.
Then, the Doctor braced his hands on the console, motioning for Martha to copy him as Clara looked at her with a barely restrained grin. "Ready, Martha?" She asked.
"Nope."
Clara giggled. "Off we go." She pulled the lever down, sending the TARDIS straight into lift off, and Martha gave a small gasp as she felt herself flung down against the console, but it didn't hurt at all.
"Blimey, it's a bit bumpy!" Martha called over the wheezing of the TARDIS engines, to which they just gave her a thumbs up. "So, where to?!" She asked, receiving a unified answer once again.
"The past!" And with that, Martha kept herself braced against the console as she went along for the ride, with no true idea of where they were going. But she couldn't wait, not even for a second.
AN: Yeah, welcome aboard Miss Jones. Season 3 is definitely going to be fun. Anyway, hope you guys/gals enjoyed reading and please leave a review if you wish. :)