Chapter 7

The Eleventh Hour

The TARDIS Cloister Bell was tolling as the Doctor took them into the Vortex to try and stop the engines from phasing and destroying everything inside. Rose was using a cannon like fire extinguisher to put out the small fires that had erupted around the console room.

'Doctor, have we lost her? She's a complete wreck,' Rose said, as she put out another fire. 'Surely she can't recover from all this damage?'

'Shame on you,' he told her. 'The Old Girl good for another few thousand years yet. She's just going through a regeneration like me.'

'So she'll be all right then?' Rose said with a smile. 'That's a relief! I thought that was the end of our travellin'. An' talkin' of regenerations . . . how's it goin', 'cos back there with that young girl, you were kinda whacky.'

'Yeah, sorry about that. The software's still loading.' He started gesticulating wildly. 'It's like when you buy a new computer. I'm the shiny new computer tower, and I've got a new operating system running in here,' he said, pointing to his temple. 'And at the moment, I'm restoring all my backed up data.'

'And does that take fifteen hours?'

He smiled warmly. 'There you go. Asking the right question again. Yeah, my memories are coming back. I remember the smell of apple from the apple grass in New New York. We lay on my coat and watched the cars fly over the New Hudson river.'

'Yeah, that's right. It was our first outing in your new body.'

'I like bananas, and chips. I haven't got to the "P's" yet. Do I like pears? I can't remember.'

Rose laughed. 'I'll let you find that one out for yourself.'

'And there we are . . . The engines have stabilised. We can go back and see what that crack in the wall was all about, and who Prisoner Zero was.' He set the controls and pulled up a lever.

'Oh yeah, about that. You can't just take a young girl and run off with her. There are laws against it.'

'It worked with you,' he said, and Rose was momentarily stunned when he waggled his eyebrows. She had a brief flashback to him doing it with his previous face.

'Shut up!' she said playfully. 'I was not a young girl.'

'You were a young girl at heart, in the body of a young woman. That's how I saw you. It's all about how you perceive yourself . . .' He suddenly stopped, a serious look on his face. 'Perceptions . . . Of course! We have to get back to Amelia's house. Right now!'

'Why? What's wrong?' Rose asked, as the Time Rotor wheezed to a stop. She put Andrea into her buggy, ready to go back to Amelia's house.

'It's Prisoner Zero. He may have escaped through the crack in the wall, but he didn't escape from the house. He's hiding inside!'

They hurried outside, and the first thing Rose noticed was that it was daytime. 'Amelia! Amelia, I worked out what it was. I know what I was missing! You've got to get out of there!' the Doctor called to the house.

They ran up the path, through the overgrown grass and plants of the front garden, to the front door. The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and held it to the lock. 'You wait here with Andrea. I'll just go and get her and bring her out.'

'Okay. Promise me you'll be careful and come straight out yeah?'

He waggled his eyebrows. 'Of course. Nip in, grab Amelia, nip out. What could possibly go wrong?'

Rose inwardly groaned. When ever he said that, she usually found out.

The Doctor sonicked the lock and stepped inside the dark house. 'Amelia? Amelia, are you all right? Are you there?'

'It's daytime now,' Rose called to him. 'She may be at school, and her aunt may be at work.'

'Good point,' he called back.

He ran up the stairs and to her bedroom door. 'Prisoner Zero's here,' he said, scanning the door handle to her bedroom and checking the readings. 'Prisoner Zero is here! Prisoner Zero is here! Do you understand me? Prisoner Zero is . . .' He heard a floorboard creak behind him. "Ah", he thought to himself, it seemed that not only was Prisoner Zero there, he was right behind him.

Rose felt her husband suddenly fade out of consciousness. ['Doctor!'] she called out to him with her thoughts, but got no reply. What was she going to do now? She was caught in a dilemma. She desperately wanted to run into the house and help her husband, but she was reluctant to take her daughter into what could be a potentially dangerous situation.

She weighed up her options. She could stand vigil outside the door, hoping that he would regain consciousness. She could call the police, and tell them . . . Tell them what? That her husband broke into a house to rescue a young girl from an alien convict. She could run back to the TARDIS where Andrea would be safe. But she couldn't leave her there on her own.

Of all the options, going back to the TARDIS seemed to be the best one. It was only at the bottom of the garden, and once inside, she could scan the house and check on the Doctor and Prisoner Zero. She hurried down the path towards the steaming police box, put the key in the lock and turned it. Nothing happened.

'What? Oh come on, not now!' She complained to the ancient time machine. She turned the key again and again, but still the lock would not open. She banged on the door in frustration. 'Arrghh!'

She thought she heard something inside and put her ear to the door, where she heard bumps, bangs, humming and scraping noises. Whatever the TARDIS was doing, it sounded like a major building project. 'Damn!' She looked around the garden, and without registering the fact, saw a garden shed that wasn't flattened.

Now what did she do? She was stuck in the middle of . . . where? She didn't even know where or when she was stuck. She was locked out of her home, wearing a short pink dress with a white jacket that she'd worn at Donna's wedding. She had no money, and a six month old baby in a push chair. Not the most prepared for adventure that she'd ever been.

She could phone Mickey, or Martha, or Jack. She had a sudden realisation that Mickey was her first thought of someone to call for help. After all these years, and everything she'd put him through, he was still her best friend. But if she called them, it would take them a while to find her, and then she might be at the other end of the country.

She decided to defer back to her first option, and wait for the Doctor to hopefully regain consciousness. She went back to the the old house, and sat on the wide step in front of the ivy framed, blue front door. She took Andrea out of her push chair and cuddled her, giving them both some comfort.

The act of comforting her daughter caused her to relax, and endorphins to be released in her brain. In this relaxed state, she started to reach out and call out for her lost and confused husband.

On the landing, sitting on the floor, and leaning against a radiator, the Doctor could hear the tweeting of birds in the trees outside, coming through the window above his head. He risked opening his eyes, and saw a young Woman Police Constable using her radio.

'White male, mid twenties, breaking and entering. Send me some back-up. I've got him restrained.' The Doctor made a move to get up. 'Oi! You, sit still.'

['Doctor! You're awake! Are you okay?'] he heard Rose say in his head.

'Cricket bat. I'm getting cricket bat,' he said out loud as well as in his head.

'You were breaking and entering,' the WPC told him.

The Doctor tried once more to get up and realised he was handcuffed to the radiator. 'Well, that's much better. Brand new me. Whack on the head, just what I needed.'

['Pears! I hate pears! I can't believe you were going to let me try one,'] he said in his wife's head.

'Do you want to shut up now?' the WPC said, bringing him back to his task. 'I've got back up on the way.'

'Hang on, no, wait. You're a policewoman.'

['A policewoman? Who called the police?']

'And you're breaking and entering. You see how this works?'

The Doctor followed through with Rose's question. 'But what are you doing here? Where's Amelia?'

'Amelia Pond?'

'Yeah, Amelia. Little Scottish girl. Where is she? I promised her five minutes but the engines were phasing. I suppose I must have gone a bit far. Has something happened to her?'

'Amelia Pond hasn't lived here in a long time.'

'How long?'

'Six months.'

'No. No. No. No, I can't be six months late. I said five minutes. I promised.'

['Well, it could have been worse. It could have been twelve. You're gettin' better at bein' late,'] Rose thought sarcastically.

The Doctor tried to ignore her distracting comments. 'What happened to her? What happened to Amelia Pond?'

The WPC spoke into her into radio again. 'Sarge, it's me again. Hurry it up. This guy knows something about Amelia Pond.'

'I need to speak to whoever lives in this house right now,' the Doctor told her.

'I live here.'

'But you're the police.'

'Yes, and this is where I live. Have you got a problem with that?'

['That explains why she's there then,'] Rose realised.

['Yeah. Now let's see if she can see past the perception filter,'] he thought back before speaking. 'How many rooms?'

'I'm sorry, what?' the WPC said, confused by the sudden change of subject.

'On this floor. How many rooms on this floor? Count them for me now.'

'Why?'

The Doctor gave her an intense look. 'Because it will change your life.'

There was something in that steely look that made her comply. 'Five. One, two, three, four, five.'

'Six,' the Doctor added.

'Six?'

'Look.'

'Look where?'

'Exactly where you don't want to look.' Suddenly, the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. 'Where you never want to look.' A shiver went down her spine. He was right, there had always been that spot at the top of the stairs that made her uneasy. 'The corner of your eye . . . Look behind you.'

The WPC turned around and saw another door that had mysteriously appeared. 'That's, that is not possible. How's that possible?'

'There's a perception filter all round the door. Sensed it the last time I was here. Should've seen it.'

'But that's a whole room. That's a whole room I've never even noticed.'

'The filter stops you noticing. Something came a while ago to hide. It's still hiding, and you need to uncuff me now,' he told her.

['She's handcuffed you?'] Rose asked.

['Yeah. To the radiator.']

'I don't have the key . . . I lost it' she said sheepishly.

'How can you have lost it?' he asked in disbelief as she moved down the hallway to investigate the new room. 'Stay away from that door! Do not touch that door! Listen to me, do not open that . . . Why does no-one ever listen to me? Do I just have a face that nobody listens to?'

['Yeah, sort of,'] Rose said. ['I think it's the chin. I'm comin' in to help ya.']

['NO! If Prisoner Zero is in that room, things could get nasty. She's called for back up, and I'll be okay once I've got my sonic back.']

He watched the young WPC go inside the mystery room. 'Again. My screwdriver, where is it? Silver thing, blue at the end. Where did it go?'

'There's nothing here,' she called out.

'Whatever's there stopped you seeing the room. What makes you think you could see it? Now please, just get out.'

'Silver, blue at the end?' she asked from inside the room.

'My screwdriver, yeah.'

'It's here.'

'Must have rolled under the door.'

'Yeah. Must have . . . And then it must have jumped up on the table.'

'Get out of there!' he called to her.

['Doctor, what's happening?']

['She's gone into the shielded room. She doesn't realise this is one prisoner she can't arrest, and he isn't going to come quietly.'] 'Get out of there! Get out!' There was no response. 'Get out of there!'

He then heard a noise from the room. 'What is it? What are you doing?'

'There's nothing here, but . . .'

'Corner of your eye,' he told her.

'What is it?'

"You really don't want to know", he thought to himself. 'Don't try to see it. If it knows you've seen it, it will kill you. Don't look at it. Do not look!'

He heard her scream. She'd looked. 'Get out!'

She ran out of the room, and joined him by the radiator. He saw the sonic screwdriver in her hand. 'Give me that.'

He grabbed it, pointed it at the door and locked it. He then tried to free himself.

'Come on,' he complained to his sonic. 'What's the bad alien done to you?'

'Will that door hold it?' the WPC asked him.

'Oh, yeah, yeah, of course. It's an interdimensional multiform from outer space. They're all terrified of wood,' he said sarcastically.

Around the edges of the wooden door, which interdimensional multiforms from outer space apparently were terrified of, they could see a bright light.

'What's that? What's it doing?' she asked.

The Doctor looked towards the door. 'I don't know. Getting dressed? Run. Just go. Your back up's coming. I'll be fine.'

'There is no back up,' she told him.

'I heard you on the radio. You called for back up.'

'I was pretending,' the WPC confessed. 'It's a pretend radio.'

'You're a policewoman.'

'I'm a kissogram!' She took off her cap and a shock of long red hair fell down around her shoulders.

The door fell down to reveal a workman in overalls and toolbelt. He had a large black dog at his side. ['Doctor! What's happenin'? Can you see it yet?'] Rose thought to him.

['Oh yes. I can see it all right. It's taken human and canine form.']

The WPC, who wasn't a WPC, recognised the man. 'But it's just . . .'

'No, it isn't!' he told her. 'Look at the faces.'

When the man barked, that was the final straw for the non-WPC. 'What? I'm sorry, but what?'

'It's all one creature. One creature disguised as two,' he explained.

'['Blimey!']

'Clever old multi-form. A bit of a rush job, though. Got the voice a bit muddled, did you? Mind you, where did you get the pattern from? You'd need a psychic link, a live feed. How did you fix that?'

The man in the hallway opened his mouth to reveal long needle-like teeth. 'Stay, boy! Her and me, we're safe. Want to know why? She sent for back up.'

'I didn't send for back-up!' she reminded him.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. 'I know. That was a clever lie to save our lives.' He quickly rethought his strategy. 'Okay, yeah, no back up. And that's why we're safe . . . Alone, we're not a threat to you. If we had back up, you'd have to kill us.'

'Attention, Prisoner Zero. The human residence is surrounded. Attention Prisoner Zero. The human residence is surrounded.'

'What's that?'

['It's lying. There's nobody else out here except me and Andrea!'] Rose told him.

['Hmm. That's odd. Why would it lie? Oh well, might as well use it to our advantage.'] The Doctor re-rethought his strategy. 'Well, that would be back up. Okay, one more time. We do have back up and that's definitely why we're safe.'

['You wouldn't be backtrackin' a moment would ya? Y'know, just to lend context to your earlier remarks.']

['Oh yeah. Very funny.']

'Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated.'

[What!?']

'Well, safe apart from, you know, incineration,' he told the non-WPC.

'Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated.' The alien went into an adjacent room to look through the window.

The Doctor intensified his efforts with the sonic screwdriver. 'Come on, work, work, work, come on.'

'Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated.'

He finally got his sonic screwdriver to work, and freed himself from the handcuffs. 'Run! Run!' he said as they ran along the hallway and down the stairs.

'Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated.'

They ran out of the front door, and saw Rose, who had already put Andrea back in her buggy, ready for action.

'Oh, hello,' the non-WPC said.

'Kissogram?' the Doctor asked her, now he had the time to think about it.

'Who's she?' Rose asked.

'She's a kissogram,' he told her.

'A kissogram?' Rose asked.

'Yes, a kissogram,' the non-WPC said sharply. 'Work through it.'

Rose looked her up and down, and saw the far-too-short skirt to be regulation issue. 'Oh yeah. Nice costume.'

'Thanks,' she said, tugging the skirt down a little.

'Why'd you pretend to be a policewoman?' he asked her.

'You broke into my house. It was this or a French maid. What's going on? Tell me. Tell me!' the non-WPC demanded.

He led them back through the overgrown garden to the TARDIS. 'An alien convict is hiding in your spare room disguised as a man and a dog, and some other aliens are about to incinerate your house. Any questions?' he summarised.

'Yes,' the non-WPC said.

'Plenty,' Rose said.

'Me too,' he said, turning back to the door and putting his key in the lock.

'That won't work,' Rose told him.

'No, no, no, no! Don't do that, not now! It's still rebuilding. Not letting us in.'

'I know. It sounds like she's got the builders in,' said Rose.

'Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated,' the announcement repeated as the non-WPC looked back to the house and saw the workman and his dog barking in the window.

'Come on,' she said, pulling at the Doctor's arm.

'No, wait, hang on. Wait, wait, wait, wait.' He made his way to the end of the garden. 'The shed. I destroyed that shed last time I was here. Smashed it to pieces.'

'Oh yeah,' Rose said. 'I knew there was somethin' I was missin'.'

'So there's a new one,' the non-WPC said quickly. 'Let's go.'

'Yeah, but the new one's got old. It's ten years old at least,' he noticed. He wiped his finger down the wood and tasted it. 'Twelve years. I'm not six months late, I'm twelve years late.'

'He's coming,' the non-WPC said as he looked intensely into her eyes.

'You said six months. Why did you say six months?'

'We've got to go,' the non-WPC told him, but he ignored her.

'Doctor?' Rose called to him. Prisoner Zero had left the window.

He put his hand up in a shushing motion. 'This matters. This is important. Why did you say six months?'

'WHY DID YOU SAY FIVE MINUTES!' the non-WPC shouted angrily.

'What?'

'Come on,' she said urgently.

'What?' he repeated.

'COME ON!' She grabbed his arm and pulled him back towards the house.

'I'm with her,' Rose said, catching up with her with the buggy.

'What?'

The non-WPC gave a little squeal as Prisoner Zero appeared at the front door. 'Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated.'

They ran quickly along the path and through the gate into Lawn Terrace, a quiet square with a triangular grassy area in the middle, where they walked quickly up the lane.

'So, hang on,' Rose started. 'Does that mean that . . ?'

The Doctor completed the thought. 'You're Amelia.'

'And you're late,' she accused him.

'Amelia Pond. You're the little girl,' he realised.

'I'm Amelia and you're late.'

'What happened?' Rose asked the Doctor.

'Twelve years,' Amy said.

'You hit me with a cricket bat,' the Doctor told her.

'Twelve years,' Amy repeated.

'A cricket bat,' the Doctor said again.

'Yer got off lightly if you ask me,' Rose told him.

Amy continued her rant. 'Twelve years and four psychiatrists.'

'Four?' Rose asked as they reached the end of the lane.

'I kept biting them,' Amy told her.

The Doctor frowned. 'Why?'

'They said you weren't real.'

'Doctor?' Rose said as she looked around the village.

'Hmm?'

'This is where we got married . . . We're in Leadworth.'

'Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated. Repeat . . .'

'So that thing, that hid in my house for twelve years?' Amy asked the Doctor as they stood on Leadworth village green.

'Multiforms can live for millennia. Twelve years is a pit-stop,' he told her.

'So how come you show up again on the same day that lot do? The same minute!'

'Ooh, that's a good question,' Rose agreed.

'They're looking for him, but they followed me. They saw me through the crack, got a fix, they're only late because I am.'

'What's he on about?' Amy's boyfriend, Rory asked her.

The Doctor looked at him and held out his hand. 'Nurse boy, give me your phone.' He'd seen Rory taking pictures of Prisoner Zero when everyone else had been taking pictures of the sun which had been filtered by the Atraxi force field.

Rory was having trouble accepting what was happening. 'How can he be real? He was never real.'

'Phone. Now. Give me,' the Doctor ordered.

'Doctor, that's rude,' Rose reminded him.

Rory handed over his phone. 'He was just a game. We were kids. You made me dress up as him.'

The Doctor flicked through the images on the iPhone. 'These photos, they're all coma patients?'

'Yeah,' Rory agreed.

'No,' the Doctor corrected. 'They're all the multiform. Eight comas, eight disguises for Prisoner Zero.'

'He had a dog, though,' Amy remembered. 'There's a dog in a coma?'

'Well, the coma patient dreams he's walking a dog, Prisoner Zero gets a dog.' The Doctor had a sudden thought. 'Laptop! Your friend, what was his name?' he asked Amy. He nodded at Rory. 'Not him, the good-looking one.'

'Thanks,' said Rory.

'Jeff,' Amy replied.

Rory pulled a face. 'Oh, thanks.'

Rose snorted a laugh as the Doctor explained. 'He had a laptop in his bag. A laptop. Big bag, big laptop. I need Jeff's laptop. You two, get to the hospital. Get everyone out of that ward. Clear the whole floor. Phone me when you're done.'

Amy slapped Rory's arm. 'Your car. Come on.'

Rory followed Amy across the green to his red Mini Cooper 'But how can he be here? How can the Doctor be here?'

The Doctor, Rose and Andrea went in the opposite direction towards Jeff's grandmother's house, where they had first met him. Rose smiled warmly at her husband. He may have a new body, but he still had his old charm, and he'd used it to invite them into the house as though he were a long lost relative.

They found Jeff in his bedroom, lounging on his bed, using his laptop. 'Hello. Laptop. Give me.'

Rose rolled her eyes. 'I wish you'd hurry up and get your manners back!'

'No, no, no, no, wait,' Jeff said as the Doctor reached for his laptop.

'It's fine. Give it here.'

'Hang on!'

The Doctor took the laptop and saw what Jeff was browsing. 'Blimey. Get a girlfriend, Jeff.'

After the Doctor had written a computer virus on Rory's mobile phone, and got all the experts on Jeff's laptop to distribute it around the world, he ran back to the village green with Rose to look for some wheels to get him to the Royal Leadworth Memorial Hospital.

Rose saw his eyes light up and a big smile spread across his face when he saw his transport parked across the green. 'Oh no, no, no. You've got to be kiddin' me.'

'What? It's perfect it's got sirens and everything. I've always wanted to drive a fire engine?' He ran across the green.

'I'm not exactly dressed for climbin' into a fire engine, in case ya hadn't noticed,' Rose said as she caught up with him.

He looked her up and down with an appreciative smile. 'No, you're not. Tell you what, the TARDIS should be about done by now. Take Andrea back and I'll meet you there when I've sorted the Atraxi.'

'Oh, what? Be a stay at home housewife y'mean?' Rose was wondering if her husband had changed into a chauvinist when he changed his body.

He held her face gently and gazed into her hazel eyes. 'No, no, no. We're a team you and me, but do you remember when the Slitheen crashed that ship in the Thames? You stayed with your mum in the flat while I went and did a little recky, didn't you?'

'Yeah, I suppose,' she said reluctantly. It was weird hearing this stranger talk about things that they had done in the past.

'Well, this is just like that. I'll just go and show the Atraxi where Prisoner Zero is hiding, and then I'll be back.'

'Okay . . . But just this once,' she said, pointing her finger at him.

He smiled at her and went to kiss her on the lips, but saw the slightest hesitation from her. Maybe it was a bit too soon to take that for granted, so he hugged her and kissed her cheek instead. He crouched down and kissed his daughter, before climbing into the cab.

The engine started with a roar of power and off he went down Gloucester Road towards the hospital which was outside of the town. As he drove along, Rory's mobile phone rang, so he answered it.

It was Amy. ['Doctor? We're at the hospital, but we can't get through.']

'Look in the mirror,' he told her.

['Ha ha! Uniform. Are you on your way? You're going to need a car.']

'Don't worry, I've commandeered a vehicle.' He reached up and flicked a switch which set the sirens wailing.

A few minutes later, Rory's phone rang again. 'Are you in?'

['Yep. But so's Prisoner Zero.']

'You need to get out of there,' he told her, and then she went quiet. 'Amy? Amy, what's happening? Amy, talk to me!'

['We're in the coma ward, but its here. It's getting in.']

'Which window are you?' he asked as he pulled off the main road into the hospital grounds.

['What, sorry?']

'Which window?'

['First floor, on the left, fourth from the end.']

He texted "duck" to Amy's phone and put it back in his pocket, before driving towards the Victorian, red brick building. He didn't stop until the roof ladder had crashed through a first floor window. The fourth from the end on the left hand side.

He climbed out of the window onto the roof of the cab, and clambered along the ladder to climb through the window.

'Right! Hello. Am I late?' he said as he dropped onto the floor between Amy and Rory. 'No, three minutes to go. So still time.'

'Time for what, Time Lord?' Prisoner Zero asked; who was now appearing as a woman with her two daughters.

'Take the disguise off. They'll find you in a heartbeat. Nobody dies.'

'The Atraxi will kill me this time. If I am to die, let there be fire.'

'Ho-kay. You came to this world by opening a crack in space and time. Do it again. Just leave.'

'I did not open the crack.'

The Doctor frowned. 'Somebody did.'

'The cracks in the skin of the universe, don't you know where they came from . . ? You don't, do you?' She changed to a little girl's sing-song voice. 'The Doctor in the TARDIS doesn't know. Doesn't know. Doesn't know!'

She changed back to the adult voice. 'The universe is cracked. The Pandorica will open. Silence will fall.'

'And we're off!' the Doctor said, pointing at a clock above the door. 'Look at that. Look at that!'

The clock displayed 0:00.

'Yeah, I know, just a clock. Whatever. But do you know what's happening right now? In one little bedroom, my team are working. Jeff and the world. And do you know what they're doing? They're spreading the word all over the world, quantum fast. The word is out. And do you know what the word is . . ? The word is Zero. Now, me, if I was up in the sky in a battleship, monitoring all Earth communications, I'd probably take that as a hint. And if I had a whole battle fleet surrounding the planet, I'd be able track a simple old computer virus to its source in, what, under a minute? The source, by the way, is right here.' He took Rory's phone out of his pocket.

A bright light shone through the window. 'Oh! And I think they just found us!'

'The Atraxi are limited. While I'm in this form, they'll still be unable to detect me. They've tracked a phone, not me.'

'Yeah, but this is the good bit. I mean, this is my favourite bit. Do you know what this phone is full of? Pictures of you. Every form you've learned to take, right here. Ooh, and being uploaded about now. And the final score is, no TARDIS, no screwdriver, two minutes to spare. Who da man? Oh, I'm never saying that again . . . Fine.'

'Then I shall take a new form.'

'Oh, stop it. You know you can't. It takes months to form that kind of psychic link.'

'And I've had years.'

Amy collapsed to the floor, and the Doctor rushed to her side. 'No! Amy? You've got to hold on. Amy? Don't sleep! You've got to stay awake, please.'

Rory tapped him on the shoulder. 'Doctor.'

He looked up to see a gangly man wearing ripped shirt and trousers, with floppy hair.

'Well, that's rubbish. Who's that supposed to be?'

'It's you,' Rory said.

'Me? Is that what I look like?'

'You don't know?'

'Busy day. Why me, though? You're linked with her. Why are you copying me?'

A little girl in a nightdress and red cardigan, came from behind the raggedy man and held his hand. 'I'm not . . . Poor Amy Pond. Still such a child inside. Dreaming of the magic Doctor she knows will return to save her. What a disappointment you've been.'

'No, she's dreaming about me because she can hear me.' He ran back to Amy, and knelt down to hold her head. 'Amy, don't just hear me, listen . . . Remember the room, the room in your house you couldn't see . . . Remember you went inside. I tried to stop you, but you did . . . You went in the room . . . You went inside . . . Amy, dream about what you saw.' He nudged her memories with his mind.

Prisoner Zero as the Doctor and Amelia, started to call out as they were surrounded by a yellow glow. 'No. No. No!'

They transformed into a serpent like alien with needle like teeth.

'Well done, Prisoner Zero . . . A perfect impersonation of yourself,' the Doctor said.

'Prisoner Zero is located. Prisoner Zero is restrained.'

'Silence, Doctor. Silence will fall,' the serpent said as it faded away.

'The sun. It's back to normal, right? That's, that's good, yeah? That means it's over,' Rory asked the Doctor, but he was up on his feet and walking down the ward.

['Ah, the sun's back to normal. You did it then,'] Rose thought to him.

['Ah. Well, about that. I've not quite finished with them yet.']

'Amy. Are you okay? Are you with us?' Rory asked her.

'What happened?'

'He did it. The Doctor did it.'

'No, I didn't,' the Doctor corrected him as he worked on Rory's phone.

'What are you doing?' Rory asked.

'Tracking the signal back,' he told them. 'Sorry in advance.'

'About what?'

'The bill.'

'Oi, I didn't say you could go! Article fifty seven of the Shadow Proclamation. This is a fully established level five planet, and you were going to burn it? What? Did you think no-one was watching? You lot, back here, now,' he demanded. 'Okay, now I've done it,' he told them sheepishly.

Rory was aghast. 'Did he just bring them back? Did he just save the world from aliens and then bring all the aliens back again?'

'Where are you going?' Amy asked him, as they followed him down a corridor.

'The roof,' he replied, and then spotted a changing room. 'No, hang on.'

'What's in here?' She asked as they went inside.

'I'm saving the world - I need a decent shirt,' he said as he started to rifle through the clothes that were hung on pegs. 'To hell with the raggedy. Time to put on a show.'

'You just summoned aliens back to Earth. Actual aliens, deadly aliens, aliens of death, and now you're taking your clothes off. Amy, he's taking his clothes off,' Rory said.

'Turn your back if it embarrasses you.'

'Are you stealing clothes now? Those clothes belong to people, you know,' Rory informed him. He looked at Amy, who was watching the Doctor with interest. 'Are you not going to turn your back?'

'No,' she said with a lopsided smile.

The Doctor walked out onto the roof in a new shirt with several ties draped around his neck. The Atraxi eye was hovering overhead.

Amy looked up. 'So this was a good idea, was it? They were leaving.'

'Leaving is good. Never coming back is better . . . Come on, then! The Doctor will see you now.'

The eyeball dropped onto the roof and scanned the Doctor. 'You are not of this world.'

'No, but I've put a lot of work into it.' He looked at his selection of ties. 'Oh, hmm, I don't know. What do you think?' As Rose wasn't there, he asked for Amy's opinion instead.

'Is this world important?'

'Important?! What's that mean, important? Six billion people live here. Is that important? Here's a better question. Is this world a threat to the Atraxi? Well, come on. You're monitoring the whole planet. Is this world a threat?'

There was a projection of the world between them.

'No.'

'Are the peoples of this world guilty of any crime by the laws of the Atraxi?'

'No.'

'Okay. One more. Just one. Is this world protected? Because you're not the first lot to come here. Oh, there have been so many.'

The projection showed the Daleks and all the protagonists that had tried to harm mankind. 'And what you've got to ask is, what happened to them?'

The projection ran through of all the previous Doctors incarnations, and then the present Doctor stepped through the projection wearing a tweed jacket and red bow tie.

'Hello. I'm the Doctor. Basically . . . run!'

The eyeball zoomed back to its ship and left, very quickly. There was a brief materialisation sound, and the Doctor took a glowing TARDIS key out of his new jacket pocket.

['Oh you have got to see this!'] Rose thought in his head, and he could feel her delight.

['I'm on my way.']

'Is that it? Is that them gone for good? Who were they?' Amy asked, but the Doctor was already down the stairs and running out of the hospital, back towards the village.

'Okay, what have you got for me this time?' he asked as he put the key in the lock and opened the door. 'Look at you. Oh, you sexy thing! Look at you.'

'I hope you're talking to me,' Rose said with a cheeky smile as he closed the door.