Author's Note
The Doctor and his companions meet a source concerning the explosion and the Doctor does some investigating.
The Disclaimer: I own nothing. All rights belong to Russell T. Davies and BBC. I make no money and intend no harm.
Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy it, any reviews or comments would be great.
They arrived at the pub a little before eight. It was a small dingy room and the floor was sticky from the many spilled drinks. The occupants were a rough sort, sailors mostly. They drew unfriendly looks as they edged into the pub, looking for a Sam. Finally, they spotted him in a secluded corner of the pub. They quickly made their way over to him, trying not to attract any more unwanted attention. The six of them squeezed into the booth with Sam.
"Alright, Sam." said the Doctor quietly. "What have you called us here for? What's going on with the water?"
"It started about a month ago." Sam almost whispered. They all drew closer, eagerly, not wanting to miss anything. "At first it was just the smell, god awful, it was, like something died."
"But I didn't smell anything." said Rose.
"It was the explosion. " said the Doctor. "All we could smell was fire and gas; it would've masked anything coming off the water."
Sam nodded quickly and continued nervously. "Anyway, a couple weeks ago I noticed something funny about the ships."
"What was it?" asked Paul, clearly enthralled by the story.
"All the hulls were rusted."
"That's not that unusual." said the Doctor. "Ships rust all the time."
"Yeah, but not these ones." said Sam. "O'Neil replaced every ship less than a year ago. They were brand new when they came to port, now they're rusted to hell. But, that aint it, cuz this aint normal rust."
"What d'you mean, not normal?" asked the Doctor, is interest piqued.
"Well, it aint the right color for starters. It's black and it's sort of eating away at the ships. Huge chunks of metal just dissolving in the water. It's like nothing I've ever seen." said Sam looking worried.
The Doctor sighed, "It sounds to me like you've got chemicals in your water."
"Chemicals!" John interjected loudly.
"Yeah, but not ordinary chemicals. There's no chemical on earth that could dissolve solid metal under water. Not in this time anyway."
"What, so you think it's aliens?" asked Rose.
"Aliens!" cried Ringo. "You must be mad."
"Course I am." said the Doctor winking. "But, it wouldn't be half as fun if I wasn't."
"He's got a point." said Rose.
"Now what we need is a sample of that water. If I can get it back to the T.A.R.D.I.S, I can scan it; find out what's in it."
"T.A.R.D.I.S? What's a T.A.R.D.I.S?" asked George.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Rose told him smiling.
"Well, this is where I leave you." said Sam. "I've told you all I know. I hope you can stop this, Doctor. Good luck to you." Sam rose nervously, took one last look at the Doctor and left the pub in a hurry.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" asked John excitedly. "Let's go get that water."
"Yeah," said Paul, just as excited. "It's late, no one will be there." They leapt from their seats, rushed out of the pub, ignoring the Doctor's pleas for them to stay behind.
Minutes later they were sneaking quietly over the wooden docks, trying to avoid the creaking of the aged wood. The Doctor stopped abruptly and turned to the others, putting a finger to his lips he motioned for them to wait behind.
He approached the edge of the dock and knelt beside it. Taking his sonic screwdriver from his inside pocket, he leaned over the edge of the dock. Hr held it a few inches from the water's calm surface. The sonic screwdriver glowed blue and emitted a high pitched buzzing as the Doctor scanned the water.
He sighed heavily as there was something very wrong with readings he had gotten. Wasting no more time, he pulled a small plastic bag from his pocket and leaning down once more, filled it with water. The Doctor stood and quickly rejoined his companions who were huddled together, eagerly awaiting his return.
"Alright then." he said grinning. "Back to the T.A.R.D.I.S."
The whole way back to the T.A.R.D.I.S the Doctor was bombarded with questions from the four young men. Ignoring them the Doctor stopped in front of the T.A.R.D.I.S and turned to the newcomers, trying to think of something to say to prepare them. Instead he just shrugged his shoulders, unlocked the T.A.R.D.I.S and stepped inside.
"Police Box?" asked Paul. "What's that then?"
"Eh, Doctor?" asked Ringo.
The Doctor poked his head out of the T.A.R.D.I.S. "Yeah." he said.
"I don't mean to make a fuss, but I don't think we'll all fit in there." said Ringo looking apprehensively at the small blue box.
"Sure you will, come on in." said the Doctor unable to keep the smile from his face at one of his favorite things.
The Beatles followed the doctor into the T.A.R.D.I.S and stopped abruptly once inside. They looked around as if they couldn't believe what they were seeing.
"It's bigger on the inside." said John, still looking around open-mouthed..
"He loves this bit, don't you Doctor?" asked Rose playfully.
"Oh yes!" replied the Doctor happily.
"How is this possible?" asked Ringo.
"Anything's possible." said the Doctor, grinning at them.
"But what is it?" asked Paul, baffled.
"T.A.R.D.I.S, stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space." said the Doctor.
"You mean it's a space ship?" asked John excitedly.
"Well, sort of." the Doctor said. "Not just space though, time as well."
"Are you saying this is a time machine?" George asked him wide eyed.
"Course it is. How do you think we got here?"
"I don't know." said George bemused.
The four of them continued looking around with looks of confusion on their faces. The Doctor spoke, cutting off any more questions they may have had. "Anyway, to the point. What's going on with this water?"
The Doctor pulled a strange looking device from the console of the T.A.R.D.I.S. It looked like a cross between a radar gun and a hairdryer.
"What's that then?" asked Rose.
"This? Just a scanner. Should pick up on anything unusual though, something that's not supposed to be there." said the doctor quietly.
He pulled the plastic bag from his pocket and set it down on the console.
"Hold on a minute." said Rose. "If these chemicals, or whatever they are, are strong enough to eat through a great big ship, then how come that aren't eating through that bag. I mean it's only plastic."
"Good question, Rose." said the Doctor smiling at her. "But this is no ordinary plastic. This is the strongest plastic on the universe. We could hide under this stuff during a volcanic eruption and we would be safe as can be. I've done that before actually, it was very warm."
"Wow." said Rose sounding impressed.
"Oh yes." said the Doctor, now holding the scanner an inch or two away from the bag. The scanner emitted a slight buzzing sound, not unlike the sonic screwdriver. A minute later it beeped and the Doctor held it up reading from the little screen on it.
"Oh no." he said appalled.
"What?" asked Rose quickly.
"This is not good." said the Doctor seriously, looking around at them all. "This is extremely, very not good."