There was silence in the factory. It was a very loud silence, which signified that something vastly important was about to happen. The door of the blue police telephone box swung open and a man stepped out. A human man, wearing a brown tweed jacket, braces, rolled up trousers, black boots, and a red bow tie. If the sudden appearance of the telephone box hadn't completely stunned the stitchpunks then this certainly did. The man looked around the factory with a wild grin on his face.
"See? Nothing to worry about, the TARDIS always finds a place to land," he said, clapping his hands together enthusiastically. A woman with long red hair came out of the telephone box, followed by another man who looked considerably more apprehensive than the other two as he shut the door of the blue box behind him. It was then that the man in the bow tie noticed 9, 5, 2, and 7. They were just standing there, temporarily shocked into silence by the sudden appearance of three living human beings who were, for some strange reason, the same size as them. The man took a step towards them and extended a hand.
"Hello there! I'm the Doctor," he said by means of introduction, and then almost as an afterthought he added, "Which planet is this?" At this point 2 appeared to have recovered somewhat, although he was quite obviously still confused.
"Earth," 2 replied in answer to the Doctor's question, before letting out a single word of amazement, "How?"
"How what?" asked the Doctor as he bent to examine the ground, "How are we here?" he stood and looked up at the ceiling as though it were fascinating, "Well that's very simple really, we traveled here in my…" the Doctor's voice trailed off as though he had suddenly realized something important, he turned to look at 2, "Did you say Earth?" Before 2 could reply, the woman with the red hair spoke.
"Doctor, this isn't Earth," she said in a Scottish accent, and then she turned to look at him, an uncertain and worried look on her face, "Is it?"
"No, of course it's not," the Doctor replied, "Well it IS, it's just not our Earth – or your Earth, to be more precise. Parallel dimensions and all that. Very confusing at times."
7 had also recovered slightly by this point. She lifted her spear and pointed it at the blue telephone box.
"What is that?" 7 asked. She had meant for it to come out as a demand for answers, but instead it sounded more like a stunned whisper. The Doctor still heard her, however, and he gestured towards the blue box with a dramatic sweep of his hands.
"That is my TARDIS – Time And Relative Dimensions In Space," he explained proudly, "It travels through all of space and time in the entire universe." The Doctor walked over to stand next to the TARDIS and went to place a hand on the closed door, but he was suddenly thrown backwards as the TARDIS began to glow the same green colour that the round object had been before.
"Amy, Rory, get away from the TARDIS!" the Doctor shouted as he stood back up. Without hesitation the man and the woman (Amy and Rory) ran to stand behind the Doctor, who took out a thin silver-coloured object and pointed it at the TARDIS. The Doctor then pressed a button on the object and the tip of it instantly started glowing as a high pitched noise sounded throughout the factory. Several bright blue sparks shot off from the TARDIS, but it didn't stop glowing.
"Doctor, what's happening?" asked Amy in a worried voice.
"I don't know! Something is absorbing the main power of the TARDIS!" the Doctor shouted in reply. He turned off the silver device and placed it back in his jacket pocket. Just as the Doctor was about to say something else, the TARDIS suddenly stopped glowing and everything was silent.
"What was that?" asked 5, speaking for the first time since the appearance of the TARDIS.
"It stopped," said the Doctor, moving forwards slightly, towards the TARDIS, "Why did it stop?" As if in answer to that question, a low creaking noise began to sound throughout the factory.
"What is that?" asked Rory, "That noise?" The Doctor took a few steps back and looked around the factory as though there was something hiding there.
"Something big."
There was movement behind the TARDIS as something began to rise up from the ground.
"There's something there," said 9, as he took a step forward in order to get a better look. But the Doctor put out an arm to stop 9 from going any closer.
"No, don't get too close," he warned, "There is something there, but not necessarily something that you want to get too close to." As if to prove the Doctor's point the thing that had risen up off the ground tore off the large red sheet that was covering it, revealing what was underneath.
"A machine!" 5 gasped in horror, taking a few steps backs as though he were on the verge of running as far away from it as he could.
"It's huge," breathed 7, in a voice mixed with horror and shock, also taking a few steps back. The machine was huge, consisting of many long "arms" with different tools for cutting, welding, and many other purposes attached to the end of them. There was a large round central "body" which all the "arms" were connected to. The body was covered in some sort of metal plating and had a single, large, glowing red eye. 9 gasped when he realized that the piece of metal which he had put the round-shaped object into was actually a part of the main body of this machine. The Doctor, however, took a step towards the machine instead of away from it.
"Well aren't you just magnificent!" the Doctor exclaimed, laughing, "I have never seen anything quite like you before, and that really is saying something." He took his silver object back out of his jacket pocket and pointed it at the machine as he pressed the button.
"Hmm, not alien?" said the Doctor, "That's very interesting. Who made you then? And why do you need the power from my TARDIS?"
7 stared at the Doctor, optics wide in shock as he attempted to converse with the machine – an abomination far beyond description in her opinion. 7 stepped directly in front of the Doctor, blocking his view of the machine.
"What are you doing?!" she hissed, "We should be running away from this monstrosity, not talking to it!" The Doctor held up his hands – not in submission, simply to stop 7 from distracting him.
"Now hang on a moment, I'm just trying to talk to him – see what…"
There was a sudden, high-pitched mechanical equivalent to a roar as the huge machine suddenly rushed at them, mechanical arms reaching towards them menacingly.
"Run!" 7 and the Doctor shouted simultaneously.
"What about the TARDIS?" Amy asked, her voice full of uncertainty.
"Leave it!" the Doctor shouted in reply.
"Leave the TARDIS?" Rory asked incredulously.
"Just leave it!"
At this point Amy and Rory stopped arguing with the Doctor and just ran, as the machine was nearly upon them. 7 took up the lead, while the Doctor ran close behind her with Amy and Rory right behind him. 5 and 9 ran at the back of the group, making sure that 2 was okay. They ran up a nearby pipe which led straight out of the factory, but just as they were nearing the exit the back end of the pipe was cut off by the machine, causing 9 to lose his footing and nearly fall back out of the pipe. Fortunately, 5 helped 9 back up just as the machine was reaching out to grab him. The group ran out of the pipe and a reasonable distance away from the factory before they felt safe enough to stop running and turn around to look back. As they stood and watched, a huge billow of smoke and flame burst from one of the main pipes, and the mechanisms on the front of the factory began to pump up and down. The factory was alive once more.