Chapter 7: Tyler, Tyler, and Jones
It was months before the Doctor and Rose came back to Earth, figuratively speaking at least. The Doctor hadn't intended to visit Earth in the literal sense either, but the TARDIS seemed to have taken it into her head that Rose should meet more people from his past.
A visit with Sarah Jane was first, and Rose was glad to see the other woman was genuinely happy about the changes in their relationship. After skipping around the galaxy a bit more, the TARDIS landed them at the Chestertons' home, and later, Rose met the Brigadier and his wife, Doris. The Doctor grumbled about each of these deviations from his plans, but Rose could tell that deep down, he enjoyed seeing his old friends again.
In between these little digressions, they honeymooned across the stars, checking off over a hundred places in the intergalactic edition of 1000 Places to See Before You Die. They didn't stay completely out of trouble, but the adventures were generally fun and easily wrapped up. Whether that was the TARDIS obliging by not taking them to dangerous points in time, or the Doctor arranging it himself, Rose wasn't completely sure, but either way, she enjoyed it.
When she pushed open the TARDIS doors one morning just over six months after they were married and saw London, 2008 instead of the alien planet she'd been promised, Rose assumed they were meeting someone else.
But the Doctor was examining their surroundings curiously, instead of frowning the way he did when he pretended to be annoyed that the TARDIS had taken them off course. "I wonder why she brought us here."
"So, I'm guessing there's no one here for us to meet."
He shook his head. "I don't think so, no. You notice we landed on a street corner, rather than in someone's back garden."
"Well, you know what that means. There's a reason she brought us here." Rose held her hand out. "Care to see if we can find trouble, Doctor?"
He took her hand with a grin. "With you, Rose Tyler? Always."
It didn't take long to find; trouble was as clear as the lightning flashing around the Royal Hope Hospital. "Hold on," the Doctor muttered, pulling Rose around to the back of the building. "That static electricity, that's plasma coils."
"And what are those?" she asked.
The Doctor pointed to large metal casings placed around the hospital. "They look like compressor units for air conditioning, but those are plasma coils. Usually part of an H2O scoop. Now, judging by the amount of electricity humming around here, whoever is behind this isn't quite ready to collect the hospital yet."
Rose smiled up at him, that hint of tongue sticking out. "Suddenly, my stomach hurts. Shall we get me checked in so you can check it out?"
The Doctor pressed a quick kiss to her lips. I love you.
I know.
oOoOoOoOo
The nurse at the reception desk handed them a stack of paperwork. Rose filled it out quickly, and when she wrote down her NHS number, the Doctor realised that this was a different kind of infiltration than he was used to. Rose actually had credentials to get into a British hospital.
Rose smirked up at him when she handed him the finished paperwork, having caught that thought.
A nurse came by shortly to do an intake exam, and the Doctor marvelled at how Rose answered all the nurse's questions just vaguely enough to sound like she might be sick, without raising suspicion when it turned out later that nothing was actually wrong with her.
Rose caught that thought and told him, Lots of experience, skiving off from school, and he had to cough to hide his laughter.
It took far longer for her to actually be admitted to the hospital than the Doctor had anticipated. He was unpleasantly reminded of the inefficiency of twenty-first century Earth medicine when a nurse insisted on drawing blood for a pregnancy test—which came back negative, as both Rose and the Doctor had assured her it would.
By the time she was seen by a doctor and actually admitted to the ward, it was nearly supper time. "I'll go home and get an overnight bag, love," he told her when a member of the kitchen staff brought her dinner tray in.
Don't suppose you could bring real food? she asked as she poked at the vaguely chicken-like main dish with her fork. He winked in reply, drawing a smile from Rose.
The TARDIS felt empty without his bond mate, and the Doctor was surprised by how much one person could fill such a vast space, especially considering they didn't spend every waking moment together. But, he supposed, this is different from a normal day when she might be painting or reading while I tinker in my work room.
He packed her bag and then, as requested, he stopped in the galley to make a turkey sandwich. Actually, he was fairly certain she was hoping for chips, but he couldn't imagine he could sneak that into the room without the nurses smelling it.
On the way back to the hospital, he checked on the plasma coils again. The charge had built up significantly in the eight hours since they'd first noticed them; if his calculations were correct, whoever was behind this would be ready to take the hospital around breakfast time.
oOoOoOoOo
The dull turkey sandwich was nearly the highlight of one of the most boring nights of Rose's life. After finishing her meal, she spent a few hours with the Doctor watching an EastEnders marathon. But when visiting hours were over, he pecked her on the cheek and disappeared—not to go home, she knew, but to investigate. Meanwhile, she had to stay in bed, feigning sleep, whilst he poked around the hospital.
When the Doctor slipped back through the curtain shortly after midnight, she nearly pounced on him in her eagerness to have something new to keep herself occupied. He laughed silently and settled onto the bed beside her.
So, what did you find? she asked, thankful the bond gave them a way to talk without raising any suspicions.
Nothing. The only thing I saw was an older woman wandering by herself in her dressing gown, but that's not exactly suspicious.
So now what?
Now, we wait. Those plasma coils were almost ready—whoever is behind this will be making a move soon.
Rose yawned, finally feeling tired. Think I'm gonna get some sleep. It sounds like tomorrow will be a busy day.
The Doctor hummed his agreement and slid off the bed. Rose rolled over onto her side and frowned when he pulled his coat on.
He turned around when he had the collar straightened out. What?
Nothing, just… I'm not used to sleeping alone anymore.
He leaned down and brushed her hair back over her ear. I've managed to avoid detection so far, but I think the nurses would notice if they found me in bed with you tomorrow morning.
Hmmm… you're probably right. She yawned again, her jaw cracking this time.
The Doctor's lips quirked up in a smile, and she could feel the laughter he was holding back. Get some sleep, love. I'll bring you breakfast in the morning.
Best bond mate ever, she told him sleepily as he slipped back through the curtain.
oOoOoOoOo
Rose was awake the next morning well before most of the patients. Pale morning sun streamed in through the window, and she blinked against the light as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.
As if by magic, the Doctor peeked around the edge of the curtain. Good, you're up. He held up a drink carrier and a bag. Breakfast as promised, my lady.
Rose sat up straight in bed and snatched the bag out of his hands. You are amazing and wonderful, she told him as she took a bite of the bacon butty.
His eyes twinkled as he handed her her tea. Rose sighed after the first sip. After twenty-four hours without, even the paper takeaway cup couldn't spoil her enjoyment of her tea.
When they finished their breakfast, he snuck away to toss the evidence in the bin. The nurse came around while he was gone, checking on Rose's vitals and letting her know a group of medical students would be coming by later on a rotation.
oOoOoOoOo
A professor pushed the blue curtain aside, revealing the promised group of medical students, looking eager in their fresh, white lab coats. "Now then, Mrs. Tyler, a very good morning to you. How are you today?"
Rose shrugged. "Eh, still not feeling too great," she said, wrinkling her nose.
"Rose Tyler, admitted yesterday with severe abdominal pains," he told the students. Turning to the beautiful woman standing next to him, he said, "Jones, why don't you see what you can find? Amaze me."
The student looked at the Doctor as she walked around to the opposite side of the bed. "What were you doing earlier, running around outside?" she asked as she pulled her stethoscope out.
Rose and the Doctor both blinked. "Sorry?" he asked.
"On Chancellor Street this morning?" she said as she put the bell over Rose's chest. "You came up to me and took your tie off."
"Really? What did I do that for?"
"I don't know… You just did."
He shook his head. "Not me. I was here, with Rose. Ask the nurses."
She straightened up, forgetting all about Rose. "Well, that's weird, 'cause it looked like you," she told the Doctor. "Have you got a brother?"
"No, not any more. Just me. John Tyler, by the way."
Non-linear meeting? Rose asked, and the Doctor agreed.
Meanwhile, the professor sighed impatiently. "As time passes and I grow ever more infirm and weary, Miss Jones."
The young woman flushed. "Sorry. Right." She held the bell to Rose's chest again and listened. "Fifty-five beats per minute. You're in excellent shape, Mrs. Tyler."
Rose looked at the Doctor. "We do a lot of running," she said with a straight face.
"If you're done getting a life history of the patient, perhaps you have an idea, Miss Jones?"
The student's eyes flicked around, then settled on Rose's ring, obviously still new. "Ah, I don't know. Could you be pregnant?"
Both Rose and the Doctor shook their heads. "We can't have children," the Doctor explained, "not without a lot of jiggery-pokery."
"And that's not a euphemism," Rose interjected, earning laughs from the students and an eye roll from their teacher.
The professor shook his head at the students and walked to the foot of the bed. "And Miss Jones, you rather failed basic techniques by not consulting first with the patient's chart." The metal clipboard shocked him when he picked up Rose's chart.
"That happened to me this morning," Miss Jones said.
Another of the students agreed. "I had the same thing on the door handle."
"And me, in the lift," added a young Indian woman.
"That's only to be expected," the professor said dismissively. "There's a thunderstorm moving in and lightning is a form of static electricity, as was first proven by… Anyone?"
"Benjamin Franklin," the Doctor said, and Rose groaned silently.
The man looked at him, surprised. "Correct."
Rose knew what was coming next. "My mate, Ben," the Doctor said. "That was a day and a half. I got rope burns off that kite, and then I got soaked."
The professor's face froze in an impassive expression. "Quite."
"And then I got electrocuted," the Doctor added indignantly.
"Moving on," the professor told his students, and Rose heard him add, "I think perhaps a visit from psychiatric," as they walked away.
Rose poked her bond mate telepathically, and he looked over at her. What?
Your mate Ben? she asked. You do realise that sounds mental to anyone who doesn't own a time machine, right?
He ran a hand through his hair. Yes, well…
Rose grabbed his hand. Never mind, she told him. You might be a crazy alien, but you're my crazy alien.
The Doctor rocked back on his heels and gave her the silly, happy grin she loved so much.
What's with you taking my name? she asked a moment later. I thought you normally went by John Smith.
I wanted us to have the same last name, and you will always be Rose Tyler.
There was only one possible reply to that. Rose reached for the Doctor's tie and tugged him down to press her lips against his. The quick kiss she'd intended progressed into a thorough snog when the Doctor put one hand down on the mattress to support his weight and used the other to tilt her head slightly so he could deepen the kiss.
Rose sighed into the kiss, grateful for the curtain that gave them the smallest amount of privacy. But when the Doctor moaned softly in response to her sucking his lower lip into her mouth, she reluctantly eased back, letting his lip go with a soft pop.
He blinked down at her, and Rose smiled and brushed her thumb over his lips. I love you.
I love you too, he said as he sat down in the chair by her bed.
She looked at him, a touch more seriously. Now what do you think is going on with that medical student?
Not a clue, the Doctor said cheerfully. At a guess, for some reason in the future, I need to convince her that time travel is possible, but I have no idea why.
She was pretty clever, seeing my ring and asking if I could be pregnant. Young couple, clearly fresh from their honeymoon, it was a logical question.
If we gloss over the fact that she didn't consider they already tested you.
Her advisor was pressuring her to provide an answer without enough information, Rose countered. At least she came up with something that might actually cause stomach pain in a woman, instead of just restating the symptoms.
The Doctor leaned back in his chair. You're thinking she should travel with us?
I'm thinking we should keep an eye on her. And then, depending on what we see…
The racket of heavy rainfall hitting the windows interrupted their conversation, and Rose slipped out of bed to walk to the window with the Doctor. She could hardly make out the next building through the rain streaked windows, and lightning crashed continually all around them.
That's not regular lightning, is it? Rose asked.
No. Well, yes and no. The storm itself isn't an atmospheric event, so the lightning isn't regular in that sense. However, the plasma coils have built up enough static electricity around the hospital for the excess electricity to be discharging, and since as we discussed earlier, lightning is really just static electricity, then yes, it is regular lightning. Only different.
They stood hand in hand watching the storm for a moment, then Rose blinked.
"The rain's going up," she said.
The Doctor nodded. "That's the H2O scoop. Whoever wanted the hospital is ready to take it." Bright white light flooded the room. "Head's up, here we go."
The building started to shake, stronger than the TARDIS on her worst days. Rose lost her balance and grabbed onto the Doctor's arm to stay upright, then had to plant her feet when he started to tip backward himself.
The shaking lasted for a full thirty seconds. Anything not secured rolled onto the floor or fell over, creating a cacophony of shattering glass and metal clattering against tile.
With a final thud, the building stopped moving. The Doctor and Rose looked through the window into outer space, with the Earth in the distance.
"Doctor, are we…"
The grey, rocky landscape was unmistakeable. "We're on the moon."
"Never been here before," Rose quipped. "Someplace new to add to the list."
Screams of panic echoed through the hallways, and the Doctor glanced out at the patients and doctors stumbling around outside the room.
"When we're done here, I'll take you to the moon landing," he promised. "But I think it's time for us to do a little exploring, which would probably be easier if you got dressed."
Rose ducked behind the curtain, and the clever medical student from earlierstrode into the room, talking to the panicking patients lingering in the doorway. "All right now, everyone back to bed. We've got an emergency but we'll sort it out. Don't worry."
The Doctor stood aside and watched her and her friend as they walked to the window. Rose had suggested they keep an eye on her, and when it came to people, she was usually right.
One of her fellow students, the young Indian woman, was trembling and whimpering in fear, but Miss Jones looked around with wide-eyed amazement. "It's real. It's really real. Hold on."
She reached for the latch on the window, but her friend dashed forward and grabbed her arm. "Don't! We'll lose all the air."
Soon-to-be Dr. Jones examined the window and shook her head. "But they're not exactly air tight. If the air was going to get sucked out it would have happened straight away, but it didn't. So how come?"
Rose stepped out from behind the curtain, fully dressed, and gave the Doctor a significant look, but he didn't need any encouragement.
"Very good point," he said, putting his hands in his pockets and rocking back on his heels. She turned around and stared at him. "Brilliant, in fact. What was your name?"
"Martha."
"And it was Jones, wasn't it?" Rose asked.
Martha nodded, and the Doctor strode across the room."Well then, Martha Jones, the question is, how are we still breathing?"
"We can't be," the other medical student moaned.
Rose patted her on the shoulder, but the Doctor rolled his eyes at her whimpering. "Obviously we are, so don't waste my time."
Rude, Rose chided, then took over the conversation.
"We need a way to see outside," she said. "Is there like, a balcony or something nearby, Martha?"
"By the patients' lounge, yeah."
The Doctor took Rose's hand. "Fancy going out?" he asked Martha.
"Okay."
He raised an eyebrow at her. "We might die," he said, the words somewhere between a taunt and a dare.
"We might not," she retorted in the same tone of voice.
Oh, I like her, Rose told the Doctor, and he agreed.
"Good," he said to Martha. "Come on. Not her," he added, pointing at her friend. "She'd hold us up."
Except for a few patients still whimpering on the floor and the nurses trying to calm them, the hall was almost empty. The patients' lounge was on the opposite side of the building from the room Rose had been in, furnished with typical hospital waiting room furniture. One side of the room had a bank of windows that usually would look out over the river, and now had a beautiful view of the Earth.
At the balcony doors, Martha hesitated for a moment. "Go on," Rose encouraged. "When will you have an opportunity like this again?"
Martha smiled, and she and the Doctor opened the doors together. The Doctor engaged his respiratory bypass and braced himself to pull both women back into the hospital if he needed to, but the artificial atmosphere in the hospital extended at least as far as the balcony.
"We've got air," Martha breathed. "How does that work?"
"Just be glad it does," the Doctor told her as they walked to the edge of the balcony.
The Earth hung against the starry backdrop, and Rose squeezed his hand. Looking at the Earth like this will always remind me of when you gave me my ring. The Doctor let go of her hand and wrapped his arm around her waist instead.
"I've got a party tonight," Martha said. "It's my brother's twenty-first." She shook her head quickly and looked like she was choking back tears. "My mother's going to be really, really…"
The Doctor recognised the shock setting in. "You okay?"
She nodded quickly. "Yeah."
"Sure?"
"Yeah."
"Want to go back in?"
She looked at him in defiance. "No way. I mean, we could die any minute, but all the same, it's beautiful."
"It is, isn't it?" Rose agreed.
"How many people want to go to the moon?" Martha held her hands out, palms up, and looked into space. "And here we are."
The Doctor let go of Rose and leaned against the balustrade. "Standing in the Earthlight."
"What do you think happened?" Martha asked.
"What do you think?" the Doctor asked, turning the question back to her.
Martha glanced down, then back up at him and Rose, and the Doctor was surprised by the determined look in her eyes. "Extraterrestrial. It's got to be," she said firmly, as if she expected him to argue. When he didn't, she continued. "I don't know, a few years ago that would have sounded mad, but these days? That spaceship flying into Big Ben, Christmas, those Cybermen things."
The Doctor and Rose both flinched at the reminder, but they remained silent.
Martha sighed. "I had a cousin. Adeola. She worked at Canary Wharf. She never came home."
The Doctor remembered her. She'd been one of the three Torchwood employees who'd been partially cyberised before the invasion began. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.
Martha nodded, clearly trying to get her emotions under control. "Yeah."
Rose patted Martha's arm. "We were there, in the battle," she said, bracing herself for the memories. To her surprise, the sharpness of the pain had faded.
Martha's spine straightened. "Mr. Tyler, Mrs. Tyler, I promise you, 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."
Rose watched the Doctor push off from the balustrade and explore the rest of the balcony. "It's not Tyler," he told Martha as he looked down at the ground. "That's not my real name."
She looked at him over her shoulder. "Who are you, then?"
"I'm the Doctor."
Martha let out a half-laugh. "Me too, if I can pass my exams. What is it then, Doctor Tyler?"
"Just the Doctor."
Confusion furrowed Martha's brow. "How do you mean, just the Doctor?"
"That's his name, Martha," Rose interjected. "The Doctor."
Martha looked at her sceptically. "And I suppose you're not actually Rose Tyler."
Rose smiled at her. "No, that's me—NHS number and all."
Martha tossed her hair back over her shoulder. "But people call him the Doctor?" she asked, nodding toward the Doctor.
Rose and the Doctor answered together. "Yes."
"Well, I'm not." Martha stepped away from them. "As far as I'm concerned, you've got to earn that title."
The Doctor raised his eyebrows. Blimey, she's a tough crowd.
Rose giggled, and the Doctor grinned at her.
"Well, I'd better make a start, then," he said to Martha. He bent over and grabbed a pebble off the ground. "Let's have a look. There must be some sort of—" He tossed the pebble out, and it hit something and bounced right back. "—forcefield keeping the air in."
Martha looked around, apprehension on her face. "But if that's like a bubble sealing us in, that means this is the only air we've got. What happens when it runs out?"
"Oh, you're quick!" Rose said.
"How many people in this hospital?" the Doctor asked.
Martha shrugged. "I don't know. A thousand?"
Suddenly, the view wasn't quite as beautiful. "One thousand people. Suffocating," the Doctor said.
"Why would anyone do that?" Martha asked in disbelief.
From above, the Doctor heard the sound of thrusters firing as a spaceship landed—three spaceships, in fact, he realised when they came into view.
"Head's up! Ask them yourself."
Rose watched as three cylindrical spaceships slowly landed on the surface of the moon. The hatches opened, and tiny figures marched out onto the surface of the moon.
"Aliens," Martha exclaimed. "That's aliens. Real, proper aliens."
"Judoon."
The tone of his voice and the set of his jaw told Rose that the Doctor had figured out a large part of why the TARDIS had brought them here. When he nodded slightly instead of saying anything more, she knew he wasn't ready to explain it yet.
"Let's go back inside," he said instead. "I need a place where I can watch them come in, but not be noticed."
Martha nodded. "There's a mezzanine level. I'll take you there."
They jogged through the hallways and down the stairs with Martha leading the way. When they reached the mezzanine, Rose and the Doctor scanned it for cover, choosing the potted plants at the same time. Martha crouched down with them, though Rose doubted she understood why they were hiding like this.
Below, a large crowd of patients were staring out the door as the aliens marched toward the hospital. Rose had seen this scenario play out often enough to guess at what would happen next. When she spotted one of the medical students who'd been with Martha earlier, she turned to the other woman. "Martha, who's that? In the front—he was on the rotation with you this morning."
Martha craned her neck around the broad leaves concealing them. "That's Morgenstern," she said.
"And is he clever?" Rose asked, listing off the qualities that might keep the people in the lobby safe. "Quick on his feet? He knows when to obey an order?"
Martha nodded.
"Good. That's good."
The patients ran around the room flailing as the Judoon marched through the hospital's reception area and into the main waiting room. Some of them didn't even bother trying to leave, but cowered behind chairs instead, staring up in fright.
The Judoon spread out through the room, clearly trying to cover everyone should anyone think of trying to escape. Finally, one took his helmet off, and that only sparked more screaming. Rose didn't blame them; the bipedal rhinoceros startled her as well, and she was used to aliens of all shapes and sizes.
"Blos so folt do no cro blo cos so ro," he said, and the Doctor stiffened. When the other Judoon drew their weapons, Rose understood why.
Doctor, why isn't the TARDIS translating? The ship was back on Earth, but with their bond, she should have been able to translate despite the distance.
Rose got the distinct feeling the TARDIS was huffing indignantly, and she knew the Doctor was stifling a laugh. The TARDIS thinks the Judoon's language is beneath her, he explained. I've tried to upload it to the translation circuit, and she refuses it every time.
Morgenstern stepped forward, and Rose had to admire his courage. "Er, we are citizens of planet Earth. We welcome you in peace."
The Judoon spun around and pushed him against the wall, but when Rose expected him to use that weapon on him, he shone a blue light into his mouth instead.
"Please don't hurt me," Morgenstern pleaded. "I was just trying to help. I'm sorry, don't hurt me. Please don't hurt me."
To Rose's surprise, the Judoon's device played a recording of Morgenstern's voice. The alien took the device and plugged it into his armour.
And it doesn't really matter, the Doctor continued, because…
"Language assimilated," the Judoon said, in a gravelly voice. "Designation Earth English. You will be catalogued."
He pulled out another device with a blue light and pointed it at Morgenstern's forehead. "Category: human," he said a moment later.
The Doctor had relaxed when he was explaining the TARDIS' snobbishness to her, but he stiffened again as the Judoon took Morgenstern's hand and drew an X on it with a black marker.
"Catalogue all suspects," the Judoon commander ordered, and the rest of the Judoon started cataloguing the doctors and patients in the lobby.
"Oh, look down there," the Doctor said, "you've got a little shop. I like a little shop."
"Never mind that," Martha said, dismissing his attempt at deflection. "What are Judoon?"
"They're like police," the Doctor explained, then made a face. "Well, police for hire. They're more like interplanetary thugs."
"And they brought us to the moon?"
The Doctor nodded. "Neutral territory. According to galactic law, they've got no jurisdiction over the Earth, so they isolated it. That rain, lightning? That was them, using an H2O scoop."
"What are you on about, galactic law?" Martha laughed nervously. "Where'd you get that from?"
They moved around the corner for a better view, and Martha continued questioning the Doctor. "If they're police, are we under arrest? Are we trespassing on the moon or something?"
"No, but I like that. Good thinking."
Rose smiled at the similarities between this and her first conversation with the Doctor. Even though she'd been totally wrong in her conclusion about the dummies, he'd been impressed by the logic she'd used.
"No, I wish it were that simple," he continued. "They're making a catalogue. That means they're after something nonhuman, which is very bad news for me."
"Why?" Martha whispered, watching the Judoon continue to catalogue the patients and hospital staff in the main waiting room.
The Doctor and Rose both looked at her with raised eyebrows. It took Martha a moment to realise they weren't answering, and she glanced back at them.
"Oh, you're kidding me," she said when she got the implication. "Don't be ridiculous." Her gaze flitted from the Doctor to Rose and back again. "Stop looking at me like that."
"Come on then," the Doctor whispered, leading them away from the mezzanine. They were too exposed here, now that the Judoon had finished the lobby.
What about me, Doctor? Rose asked as they jogged through the hallways toward the admin office. Would they be able to tell I'm not technically human?
He squeezed her hand. No, their scanners aren't temporally aligned. Frankly, the TARDIS is one of the only places you'd find a temporal scanner, so unless we tell people, they should almost always think you're human.
Rose slotted that piece of information away. It could be useful to appear to be human. It could be useful today, in fact.
The Doctor gave her a sidelong glance, and Rose met his gaze. If I can help, I'm gonna do it.
He sighed and pushed open the office door. "Martha, can you go check on the Judoons' progress? That'll give me some idea as to how much time I've got." She nodded, and the Doctor and Rose entered the office alone.
Rose watched the Doctor sit down in front of the computer and use the sonic on it to scan the database. "What do you think of Martha so far?" she asked.
"Nice. Clever. A bit slow to believe in things she hasn't already seen proof of."
"Which would explain what she said about seeing you in the street this morning."
"Exactly."
Rose toyed with her TARDIS key. It had been over a year since anyone had travelled with them, and she'd gotten used to having the Doctor to herself. Still, she felt the tug of the timelines, telling her they needed Martha.
"Let's get through this first," the Doctor said absently. "When we're all back on Earth, we can talk about it."
Martha came back then, ending the conversation. "They've reached the third floor." She eyed the Doctor curiously. "What's that thing?"
"Sonic screwdriver."
She huffed out a short laugh and rolled her eyes. "Well, if you're not going to answer me properly."
The Doctor stopped what he was doing and looked at her over his shoulder. "No, really, it is. It's a screwdriver, and it's sonic. Look," he said, holding it up.
"You know, Doctor, I've never seen you actually use it as a screwdriver," Rose remarked.
Martha looked at her. "What else has he got, a laser spanner?"
"I did," the Doctor answered, "but it was stolen by Emily Pankhurst, cheeky woman. Oh, this computer!" He smacked the top of the monitor. "The Judoon must have locked it down. Judoon platoon upon the moon."
He rubbed at his mouth and jaw. "And we didn't even mean to go to London," he said, and Rose leaned back to watch Martha try to keep up with his babbling. "We've been travelling, taking an extended honeymoon, and when we ended up in London, we decided to poke around a bit, and then I noticed these plasma coils around the hospital, and that lightning, that's a plasma coil. Been building up for two days now, so we checked in. We thought something was going on inside. It turns out the plasma coils were the Judoon up above."
Throughout that explanation, he'd run his hands through his hair over and over, leaving him looking like a hedgehog. A sexy hedgehog, Rose told him cheekily when he looked up at her in amusement.
"Any idea what they're looking for?" Rose asked.
"Something that looks human, but isn't," he answered, going back to work on the computer.
Martha raised an eyebrow. "Like you, apparently."
"But not him," Rose said, feeling a little protective.
Martha looked back and forth at the two of them. "Haven't they got a photo?"
The Doctor shrugged, and his eyes moved rapidly from left to right as he read the information flashing across the screen. "Well, it might be a shape-changer."
"Whatever it is, can't you just leave the Judoon to find it?" Martha suggested.
The Doctor shook his head. "If they declare the hospital guilty of harbouring a fugitive, they'll sentence it to execution."
"All of us?" Martha asked.
"Oh yes. If I can find this thing first—" He pushed back from the desk and smacked the screen. "Oh! You see, they're thick! Judoon are thick! They are completely thick!"
"Yeah, they're thick," Rose said soothingly. "What exactly did they do?"
"They wiped the records. Oh, that's clever," he added sarcastically.
"We'll have to do this the old-fashioned way then," Rose said. "Any clue as to what we're looking for?
"I don't know," he moaned, ruffling his hair even further. "Say, any patient admitted in the past week with unusual symptoms. Maybe there's a back-up," he muttered, picking the computer up and looking at the bottom.
"Just keep working," Martha said. "I'll go ask Mr. Stoker. He might know."
The Doctor kept working without acknowledging Martha's departure.
As soon as she left the room, Rose walked around the desk and put her hand on his shoulder. "Tell me what's really got you so worked up," she said quietly.
The Doctor took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. It really shouldn't surprise him that she knew him so well; she'd always been able to read him, and with their bond, it was almost automatic. Still, not being able to hide his unease would take some getting used to.
She ran a hand through his hair and he sighed, relaxing for just a moment before he started working on the computer again.
This is the first time we've been in serious danger since we've been bonded, he explained, choosing the intimacy of telepathy over verbal communication. He found the back-up and hit restore. That has me a little… on edge.
The system restore started, and he pushed back from the desk. "Let's go tell Martha we don't need Mr. Stoker's opinion after all," he said, running out into the corridor with Rose on his heels.
They found Martha in the hallway when she ran straight into them. "I've restored the back-up," the Doctor told her as he steadied her on her feet.
"I found her," Martha interrupted, glancing behind her again.
"You did what?"
Two identical figures in motorcycle leathers broke down the office door Martha had just ran through. The Doctor took one look at them and realised they were Slabs.
"Run!" he ordered, grabbing one of Rose's hands and one of Martha's, pulling them along with him.
The Doctor made for the stairwell door at the end of the hallway, letting go of their hands as they raced down one flight of stairs. When they would have turned to continue going down, they saw Judoon coming up.
"This way," he told them, going back out into the hospital. His keen hearing picked up the sound of one of the Slabs running behind them, and he looked for a way to get rid of him.
His eyes lit on the sign for the radiology department, and a manic grin spread across his face. He pulled Rose through the doors, trusting that Martha would follow.
The x-ray machine was in a room at the end of the department, and they barely made it there before the slab caught up to them. The Doctor slammed the door shut and sonicked the lock just in time, but he knew it would only take the drone slave a moment to get it broken down.
"Rose, Martha, get behind the radiation screen," he directed. "When I say now, push the button," he told Martha.
"But I don't know which one," she protested.
"Then find out!"
He didn't stand around waiting to see if Martha would figure it out; between her and Rose, he had complete confidence they'd get it.
The x-ray machine was suspended from the ceiling, and the Doctor reached up and pulled it down to eye level. Just what I was hoping for, he thought with a grin when he saw the power supply was easily accessible. He sonicked the casing open, then changed the setting on the screwdriver and pressed it into the machine, increasing the voltage of electricity flowing into the vacuum tube by five thousand percent.
Just in time, too. The slab broke the door down and the Doctor pointed the x-ray machine at it. "Now!" he shouted, and a bright white light flashed through the room. The Doctor felt a tingling sensation as the radiation passed through his body, but the slab got it worse. It only took a moment for him to go down completely.
"What did you do?" Martha asked from the other side of the radiation barrier.
The Doctor stared down at it. "Increased the radiation by five thousand percent. Killed him dead."
"And let me guess," Rose drawled, "you can handle it because of your superior biology."
"Yep!" he said, looking over at the women—one concerned, one amused. "We used to play with Röntgen bricks in the nursery. It's safe for you to come out. I've absorbed it all," he added, realising he hadn't given them the all-clear.
The gentle buzz of the radiation in his system started to tingle uncomfortably, and he worked on pushing it down into his left foot. "All I need to do is expel it. If I concentrate, I can shake the radiation out of my body and into one spot." The radiation reached his foot and he bounced up and down, shaking it into his shoe, snorting as the sensation intensified. "It's in my left shoe. Here we go, here we go. Easy does it." The more concentrated the radiation became, the stronger the burning feeling was, and he started hopping toward the bin on one foot, shaking the left foot as he went so it would be expelled faster. "Out, out, out, out, out. Out, out. Ah, ah, ah, ah! Itches, itches, itches, itches! Hold on."
Finally, it was out of his body. He reached down, yanked off his left shoe, and chucked it in the bin. "Done."
Rose laughed merrily. "You are an absolute nutter."
He grinned at her. "You're right. I look daft with one shoe." He pulled the other one off and threw it away as well, waggling his eyebrows at her ridiculously. "Barefoot on the moon," he said and clicked his teeth together.
Martha shook her head and walked over to the slab. "So what is that thing?" she asked, crouching down next to it. "And where's it from, the planet Zovirax?"
Rose and the Doctor joined her on the other side of the slab. "It's just a slab," the Doctor said. "They're called Slabs. Basic slave drones. See?" He touched the arm and squeezed slightly, and Martha copied him. "Solid leather, all the way through. Someone has got one hell of a fetish."
Martha started talking, but the Doctor realised then that he hadn't retrieved his screwdriver from the x-ray machine, and he stood up. To his dismay, amplifying the effects of the machine had completely fried it.
"My sonic screwdriver," he moaned.
"You can use mine until you make a new one, Doctor," Rose said, pressing it into his hand. "But right now, Martha was trying to tell us who the slab was working for."
"Right," the Doctor said, tossing his screwdriver away and looking back at Martha. "Miss Finnegan, you say?"
"Yes! She was one of the patients, but she had a straw, and she was drinking Mr. Stoker's blood—like some kind of vampire. Are there alien vampires, Doctor?"
"You called me Doctor," he said happily. Then he caught up with what she was saying, and his smile disappeared. "Funny time to take a snack. You'd think she'd be hiding." He paused and stared at the ceiling, trying to work it out. "Unless. No. Yes, that's it. Wait a minute. Yes!" he shouted. "Shape-changer. Internal shape-changer. She wasn't drinking blood, she was assimilating it."
"Assimilating?" Rose asked.
The Doctor nodded. "If she can assimilate Mr. Stoker's blood, mimic the biology, she'll register as human. We've got to find her and show the Judoon. Come on!"