The Doctor

"Howdy there, pardners." I smiled, walking into the American Diner with Callie, who was sporting shorts and a vest today. Having gone on this date with Luke, she was a lot more confident, which was nice, I just didn't want to lose my daughter this soon.

But she was shaking her head at me as I did the accent. "No, no, dad, no, just, no, don't do that."

"Howdy." The other guy in there waved though.

The girl waved too. "How you doing?"

Oh, it smelt amazing in here. "Ah, the smell of fast food on the desert air. The perfume of America."

"Hey, are you two British or something?"

Callie smiled brightly, her fireworks print vest suiting her colourful demeanor. "Something, that's us, definitely. Dad and were passing and he got the fancies. A bowl of chili. The sort you only ever got in an American diner before 1962. I'm Calliope, Callie, and this is my dad, the Doctor, by the way."

"I'm Cassie." Now, that was fun. Callie and Cassie. It was Jace and Jackie all over again. "This is Jimmy Stalkingwolf."

My eyes fixed on the counter, where there was a case with a short green coil with metal ends, and I knew that was really not supposed to be here. "Whoa, where did you get that?"

Cassie shrugged. "It's supposed to be from the saucer that crashed five years back. You know, like that Roswell thing over in New Mexico. My mom, she used to run this place, thought it would bring in the tourists." My daughter beat me to taking it out of it's box, and pressed a small amount of a soft yellow light into it. Walking sonic screwdriver with every colour in the spectrum, that's her. "Like they don't know a piece of junk when they see it."

And then it lit up, the bulbs blowing in the ceiling. "Callie!"

"Sorry." She smiled sheepishly, handing it to me.

"What did you just do, girl?" Jimmy asked her as I messed with it, trying to prevent that happening again. Light bulbs were expensive in this time.

Cal shrugged. "I'm afraid this isn't quite a piece of junk."

"Are you saying this really did come from a flying saucer?"

Hmmm, well, that was a possibility, and it sounded about right, but I couldn't be sure without testing it in the TARDIS. "Well, a flying saucer, maybe. They were quite fashionable in the fifties. Bit like bobbie sox and haircream."

"I told you." Jimmy told Cassie. "I told you there was something going on round here."

"What do you mean?" Callie asked with a frown, playing with her hair.

The blonde girl shrugged now, and I put a hand on my little, well, not really little, girl. "Jimmy works out at the Broken K ranch. Says there's this space monster eating the cattle. I told him it's a cougar."

"No cougar did what I saw, or left those tracks."

A man in black entered then, and Callie's eyes darkened, seeing something in her colours that we couldn't, and I tightened my grip, going for the charm offensive. "Oh, hello."

He got right down to business. "I'll take the ionic fusion bar."

Cassie blinked, not knowing what he meant. "Come again?"

"He means your piece of junk, dear." Callie told her softly.

"No way! It doesn't belong to you." It didn't belong to you either, actually, Cassie.

"Not such a good idea to argue." I smiled, walking a little closer, offering the man my hand. "Hello, I'm the Doctor, this is my daughter, Calliope."

Not that he cared, he just wanted to fusion bar. "Give it to me."

Jimmy put his hand on his shoulder, trying to be intimidating. "Didn't you hear what the lady said?"

"That's definitely not a good idea." Callie told him, ducking as one gentle shove threw the man backwards the length of the diner. "Okay, time to go."

We started running, and she paused in the doorway, and let out a banshee wail of sonic pitch, making the men cower before jumping into the back of Jimmy's pickup, speaking to us through the back window. "Now, what was that about a monster?" I asked, high fiving my daughter. "Nice work, your aim is getting better."

"Yeah, well, I wish that I could control it better before I accidentally blew up the kitchen."

I nodded a little, "Yeah, that probably-" And then I realised what she said. "Calliope! What have I told you about using that in the TARDIS?!"

She nodded back, taking all the things she was going to have to do to make it up to the TARDIS, before we made it to the Broken K Ranch. Strange name, but I couldn't really say much. Oh, and there were very large alien footprints in the sand. "What kind of cougar makes a print like that?"

"No cougar." Callie and I agreed, looking at it. "No animal. This was something big. Very big. Something powerful. Something that isn't from around here."

And then there was a roar, and my little girl laughed, turning to look at it with me. "Ah! Viperox battle drone. Hello!" And then Cassie screamed, causing both her and the drone to flinch. "Try not to do that. Apart from being one of the most vicious killers in the cosmos, Viperox have very sensitive ears, and so do I!" Jimmy put his hand over her mouth, and she sighed.

"Thank you." I said, putting my arm around her. "Not a good idea to aggravate him, or Calliope."

"It doesn't look aggravated to me, Doc." Jim muttered softly, backing away slowly. "He looks hungry."

Oh, why did people do that... Why? It was just annoying. "Doctor, not Doc, and if he was hungry he'd be picking bits of cowboy boots and bobbie sox off his mandibles by now."

"So if he ain't going to eat us," Cassie asked softly. "What is he going to do?"

"It's a Viperox battle drone." My daughter replied, holding her hands out, ready to try and stop it. "What it doesn't use for food it uses for target practice." The Viperox raised its very long 'arms' and opened its claws. There were harpoons inside them. Perfect. "Look out!"

One flew right over our heads, and Cal deflected it with sound waves, before it exploded. "Run! Back to the pickup!" I shouted, before a whirly bird, also known as a helicopter arrived overhead. "Get down!"

As we hit the ground, a missile from the helicopter hit the Viperox, causing it to explode, a claw landing in the ground close to us. The helicopter landed just after, as we got to our feet toy dust ourselves off. "Howdy! Perfect timing."

"Our orders are to take you with us."

"Whose orders are those, then?" Callie asked, clicking her fingers. Oh, I hated that sound, why did she have to keep doing that...

"Colonel Stark, ma'am."

"Colonel Stark!" I cried, acting like I knew who that was, when I didn't have the foggiest. "Who's that, then."

They answered in military terms, making Cal blink like she didn't know. Well, she did, but she liked to pretend she didn't command UNIT in the parallel universes. "Commanding Officer, Operation Fallen Angel, Groom Lake Army Airbase."

Oh, no way! That was so cool! "What? You mean Area 51. Dreamland? Oh, I've always wanted to go there."

Cassie shook her head. "Doctor, Callie, no. People that go there, civilians, they never come back." Good thing we weren't technically weren't Earth citizens then.

"I've heard all kinds of things about that place, and none of it's good." Jimmy backed her up. "It's said they've got aliens there from the Roswell crash." Probably did.

"I know." I grinned, taking my daughter's hand as she looked unamused, texting one handed. "I've always wanted to take a peek. Take me to your leader. Allons-y. Callie, stop texting your boyfriend, he can wait 5 minutes." Or, well, 50 odd years. "Dreamland. The United State's most secret base. It doesn't appear on any map, and the government won't admit it exists till 1994."

Jimmy blinked at me as we were lead into the base. "What did you say?"

Callie rolled her eyes, putting the phone in her shorts. "Never mind. Dad, you tell me I'm careless."

"Where are they taking us?" Cassie asked as we were lead into a lift.

"I don't know," I admitted. "But I don't think Colonel Stark has a penthouse apartment."

We started to go down, and we were placed into a secure room with a submarine style door, 2 filing cabinets, two chairs and a table. Callie wanted to buckle the door in, hating being trapped in here, but I wouldn't let her. We were guests, and we didn't damage property unless we didn't like what we saw. "So what happens now?" Jimmy asked.

"Nothing good." Cassie replied.

Callie made a face, looking through the files in the cabinet. She got bored and wanted something to read. "Oh, come on. I thought the fifties were supposed to be a time for optimism. I mean, you think you're going to have flying cars in another ten years." We were from 2009 and we knew better.

The diner girl shrugged. "Yeah, sure, if the Reds don't nuke us first."

Wait, what? "The Reds? Manchester United?" Callie shook her head, and I realised. "Oh, the Russians. Soviet Union. I wouldn't worry about them. They're as scared of a nuclear war as you are."

And then the door opened. "I hear you people had some trouble."

"Ah, Colonel Stark, I presume." Callie smiled, moving towards him. "Hello, I'm Callie, and this is my father, the Doctor," She leaned forward to say something softly. "And I think you may have a serious infestation problem."

"We have the situation in hand."

Cassie raised an eyebrow. "So what are you going to do about it?"

"You don't have to worry, ma'am."

That really didn't sound good. "Oh? Why's that?"

"Because you're going to forget everything you've seen. You're going to forget everything."

Oh no, no, no, no. "No, Colonel. Colonel, you're making a mistake."

Not that they'd listen, they never did. "Soldiers! Take them to the lab. Prepare them for the mind wipe."

We were dragged there, and attached to tables, tilted slightly backwards, and Callie kept still, luckily. I think she was tired, her banshee wail took a lot out of her, and she'd lit up half of London just a night ago. The cover up from Mr Smith had been phenomenal though, the Northern Lights unexpectedly coming to London. "What are they going to do to us?"

"From the look of this chamber, use some sort of amnesia gas."

"So we forget everything about that Viperox bug thing?" Jimmy asked. "Maybe that isn't so bad."

Yeah... Maybe not. "Hmm. Trouble is, no one really perfects a targeted amnesia drug for another fifty years. The sort of thing Colonel Stark has in his medicine cabinet won't just wipe out the last few hours. You'll forget everything."

"They can't do this. We're US citizens."

Her friend rolled his eyes. "Yeah, Cassie, and they're the Army. They can do whatever they want. They've been doing it ever since the Bear River massacre." A very good point.

Then Stark came back in, and I had a longing to be in the Marvel universe, where Stark would make this Tony Starks father, and therefore a lot more lenient. "Colonel. Sorry I can't salute, but I seem to be strapped to a table, as well as my 17 year old daughter." Let's not say that she was 55 and older than him.

"The gas can have side-effects." He replied cooly. "The straps are for your own safety."

"Very thoughtful, but have you considered that you've got dangerous ten foot tall aliens out in the desert?" Callie asked softly, looking very calm. "And believe me, Colonel, where there's one Viperox there's at least a thousand more. I know how to stop them, you don't."

He watched her carefully, walking a little closer. Get the hell away from my daughter. "You know a great deal, Missy. More than is good for you. But I'm going to fix that."

The Colonel turned a red wheel and green gas started to enter the room. "You can't do this. So help me, I'm going to tell the President." Cassie shouted, fighting her restraints.

"Little lady, in ten minutes you won't know who the President is. You won't know who you are." Yeah, that had happened to me before, didn't fancy having it happen again. Then he left, closing the door behind him.

"Try to hold your breath." I told everyone. "I just need a few more seconds." A big screen came in front of us as I kept struggling, trying to remember what Houdini taught me. Let's just say that I wasn't very good at remembering things right now. "Callie-"

Then I looked to see my daughter already out, turning off the gas. "Yeah, I know. Sonic yourself out and turn off the gas. I thought I'd skip you failing and do it anyway, dad."

"How did you do that?" Jimmy asked as she set a sonic pulse to let us out too.

MY daughter shrugged. "Gift of the Time Vortex, me being the only of my kind, the fact that I'm just awesome, take your pick."

Smiling, I gave her a quick hug. "All of the above, Love."

"We're still trapped." Cassie pointed out, but we just pointed to a grille in the ceiling.

We all climbed up, Callie leading the way to be able to give us some light. "There's always a ventilation shaft."

"Dad, are you sure there's a way out of here?" Cal asked me, after we crawled for a while. The other reason for her going first, I didn't want her to have her behind in Jimmy's face. 50's, womens rights weren't really happening yet.

"Of course there's a way out, Calliope." I told her firmly, offended that she thought otherwise. "There always is. Apart from in Star Wars, of course."

Then Jimmy spoke up from the back. "Hey, Doc, are you two ever going to start making sense?"

Please, please... I wouldn't hesitate to leave you behind. "Are you going to stop calling me Doc? I'm the Doctor, all right? And you're not Bugs Bunny."

"Hey."

And then Callie punched out a grill from the shaft, and dropped down as light and lithe as a cat, then I did, helping Cassie down after. "Where are we?"

Yeah, like we knew. "Who are we, the Dreamland tour guides?" I asked incredulously. "Come on."

"Why are we going that way?" Jimmy demanded. "I mean, who gave you the stripes? You're not even American."

Callie grinned, turning around to face him while texting again. "Well, come to that, we're not even human. Well, I'm part human, but mostly alien. For you anyway, I'm normal for myself." And then an alarm sounded that she on impulse turned back off. Smooth. "Someone's just noticed we've escaped, so whichever way you're running, I'd start now."

They followed us to a junction, and armed soldiers were approaching. "What now?"

Hmm, Lab 51, looks as good a way as any. "That way."

"There's no way through here." Jimmy cried as Callie sonicked the lock on the door, and the soldiers ran past.

We looked back into the room, one wall taken up with a big metal door, labelled Warning Biohazard. A movie camera was pointing at it. "Did you mean what you said back there, you're not human? Either of you?"

Did we really have time for this now? "Well, human, Time Lord, it's all just an accident of dimensional geography when you get down to it." Well, sort of, but Callie was both. "I wonder what's behind there?" I pushed a button that raised the door, where a small grey alien was sitting on the bed in an otherwise empty cell. She raised her head, and blinked her large, opaque black eyes, like the heart of night. "Ah."

"Uh, now that is an alien."

"The question is, why are they keeping her a prisoner?" Callie asked softly, moving closer before the soldiers burst in, and she quickly let out another banshee wail, nearly crippling our friends too before she focused her aim.

"Quickly, this way." I shouted at them, dragging them into the lift, before Callie came too, the guards on the floor, holding their ears. "Hold on."

I used the sonic now, making us hurtle up a lot faster. "What if there are more soldiers waiting for us up top?"

Now, there was a plan. "Charm offensive."

"What's that mean?"

We reached the hanger, surrounded by rifles and more soldiers, but Callie was too tired to be able to do any more. I needed to get her home, and soon. "It means you put your hands up and smile."

So that meant we were taken prisoner once more, being lead towards an alien spaceship, and our friends who weren't used to any of this stared in awe. "I cannot be seeing that."

"A real live flying saucer."

"Yeah." I agreed, slipping the sonic out of my pocket. "Fancy taking her for a spin?" Then the entry ramp dropped down, and we ran for it. "Okay, come on!"

"Stop, or we fire!" Yeah, you were American's, of course you would, but we managed to get onto the ship without anyone being shot, Callie still having some scabs from the bus accident across her abdomen.

The ship got started,me at the helm, and Callie was holding on for dear life. The flight wasn't exactly smooth, I had to say. "Can you really fly this? Dad, you fly the TARDIS with her brakes on!" Oh, shut up, I knew what I was doing.

"Well, sort of. Ooff. Stark's scientists have retro-engineered it, probably based on their prisoner's ship." I told her, working hard to get us in a straight line. "They've got a couple of systems the wrong way round, but we're getting there. Ha, ha, ha! Left is right and up is down. No problem, no problem."

Sparks then flew, the console fizzing a little. "What did you do that time?"

Callie shook her head, looking behind us. "Wasn't him. We've got company. Hang on!"

She pushed me out of the way, going into evasive maneuvers, but it was too late. "Those red lights don't look good." Cassie pointed out.

"Red lights never are." She agreed. "I wonder if parachutes came as standard or an added option."

The ship crash landed into the desert, and our small group headed into a ghost town, the sun slowly starting to set in the distance. "Solitude." I read the town sign. "Well, it's certainly quiet and lonely."

"It was a mining town a century back." Jimmy explained. "No one here now but the ghosts."

We headed into a building, and Callie reached up to take down an oil lamp. "Have you got a match?

"Sure. Here."

She lit the lamp and held it around, her skin paler than usual. No more sonic manipulation for a while. "Look, what's going on, Doctor, Callie? If the military know about these alien things, how come we're the enemy?"

Wish that I knew, Cassie. "I don't know, but I intend to find out. Tomorrow I'm going back to Dreamland, while Callie stays with you."

But then there was a cry from Jimmy in the backroom, and we all ran to find what was happening. He'd been dragged into a hole underground, and we followed, dropping down into the hole. "Don't make too much noise, Cal, Cassie. Remember, the Viperox have a heightened sense of hearing."

"Is Jimmy going to be all right?"

"If the Viperox had wanted to kill him, it would have done it back in Solitude." Callie told her, holding the lantern up higher to light our way.

There was a large cavern not to far away, and I took my daughters hand, leading her closer as we listened to what was going on with Jimmy and one of the Viperox. "Be careful, human. I am Azlok, Lord Might of the Imperial Viperox Warhorde. Consider who seems in more danger of being crushed underfoot."

"You're never going to take over Earth." He shouted back. "The military will blast you into bug bits."

"What do you think the Empire of the Viperox would possibly want with this termite ball?" Heh, you were like giant bugs yourself, mate. "Who is this man called Doctor? And his offspring, the one with a voice to shatter the heavens themselves."

I nodded to Cal and we both headed out as Cassie sneaked up to start helping Jimmy get free. "Oh, now, that would be us. And this is Calliope, she's The Girl Of Colours, Defender of the Light, Bad Wolf, or the Seer, whatever you want to call her." They stared at us in a way they must have thought was intimidating, but not really. "We've got a few things we'd like to ask you, as it happens. The most obvious being, if you're not here to invade it, what on Earth are you doing here?"

He moved closer to us. "You are not of this world, either of you. I hear two hearts beating in both yours chests."

"Then note their rhythm." Callie told him darkly. "We're not scared of you. And whatever you're doing on Earth, we won't let you hurt its people."

"We seek only an enemy of our kind."

Right, really? "Oh? And who's that, then?"

"Doctor, Callie, look out!" We all turned, and Cassie threw the oil lamp, the flames encircling the Viperox before they pulled us to run.

I was not best pleased to say the least. "What did you do that for?"

The woman gave me a sarcastic look. Was sarcasm even around in the 50's? "It's called escaping, Doctor."

"We were that close to discovering what's going on here." Callie cried as we stopped in a tunnels, before Jimmy fell back into a small depression in the ground. "Jimmy?" Her hand lit up with sonic energy as I got out the sonic screwdriver, revealing a collection of pyramidical pods. "Oh, this isn't good."

"Doc, Cal, tell me this isn't an egg."

My daughter stared at it. "The Viperox never bring an army with them. They land, go underground, and hatch one."

"Hatch an army?" Cassie asked. "Then who's laying-"

"The Viperox Queen." I interrupted, indicating the massive creature stood above us. "I don't think she's amused. I have this effect on royalty. Run!"

We got a wriggle on, and made it into a large area with rails and a wagon, part of the old mine system. "Must have found our way into an old mine."

"They're coming."

"Get in the truck." Callie shouted, grabbing my screwdriver to get rid of the nails from the beams, before kicking down the support beams, jumping in after everything started to fall, right on top of the Viperox. "That should hold them for a while. Now all we have to do is get off."

Which we did a little later by crashing right through a boarded up adit, stopping dead as we hit a boulder, my arms tightly around my daughter to stop her from going flying. And we were met my 4 men in black. "Good morning, Doctor, Calliope."

Great. "Hello again. I don't think we got properly introduced back at the diner. You are?"

"Mister Dread. These are my associates."

"No, no, let me guess. Mister Fear, Mister Terror and Mister Apprehension." Callie laughed, sleepily getting up to look at them. "The Alliance of Shades' mop up teams never were all that good at mingling."

Cassie frowned a little, getting out with us. "You know these guys?"

"Sort of." I replied. "The US government aren't the only people that want to keep a lid on aliens. A lot of planets think you're too primitive."

"Primitive?" Jimmy asked with complete apprehension in his voice. "We have nuclear missiles."

Of course, the weapons that did damage to both you and your enemy, while killing many innocent people in process, that was really a sign of how advanced you were. "Yes, primitive and aggressive. No offence."

"None taken."

But, we did need to get back on track. "Anyway, if the Alliance get reports of a spaceship crashing or some showoff sort of pilot doing loop the loops over the White House, they send in these guys to dispose of the evidence." I looked back at them. "And sometimes the eye witnesses. Only they're not very good."

"Where is the ionic fusion bar?"

Hang on, what? Ohhh. "Huh? Oh, the gizmo from the crashed spacecraft? Sorry, lost that while we were being attacked by a Viperox battle drone."

"Where is it?"

Cassie shook her head. "We haven't got it."

Dread then replaced his hand with a weapon. "Whoa, am I seeing this?"

"Didn't we mention?" Callie asked softly. "They're robots."

And now all of them were aiming their weapons. Great. "Give it to me."

There was so much more going on right now, people. "Don't you think the Alliance of Shades would be more interested in a thousand Viperox battle drones ready to hatch under our feet than in a piece of space flight hardware?"

"Tell me where the ionic fusion bar is, and we will deal with the Viperox."

Yeah, yeah, like that was really going to happen. "What! You couldn't even keep a lid on flying saucers. You know, in 1972, the Alliance pulls the plug on the lot of you. How are you four going to hold back Lord Azlok and his Viperox hordes? Unless-"

And the they all tumbled forward with an arrow in its back, before his associates followed suit. "Grandpa!"

"Oh, we could have found out everything then." Callie pouted, looking at the robots sparking in the desert. "Why does that keep happening today?"

"Doctor, Callie, Cassie, this is my grandpa, Night Eagle."

Cassie gave him a warm smile. "Hey, that was kind of handy with those bows and arrows."

I frowned for a moment, noting the exact places that they were hit. "Yes, straight through the central processing unit. One lucky shot I could believe, but four? You've met men like this before, haven't you, Night Eagle."

"We saw the disc fall from the skies, and thought more had come."

Now we were getting somewhere. "More of who?" Night Eagle lead them to a cave high in the cliff face, and on a wooden chair sat another of the aliens. "Oh my."

"Five years ago we saw his ship crash."

"So the ionic fusion thing came from his ship?" Cassie asked thoughtfully.

Jimmy stared at his grandfather as I held my daughter close. She needed to sleep. "How could you keep this secret?"

The man put a hand on his grandsons shoulder. "Others searched for him. Men in black suits. Those who knew swore to tell no one, not even our blood kin, to keep him safe."

"It's all right, I'm the Doctor, this is my daughter, Callie. We can help you." I told the man, kneeling down next to him.

"I want to go home."

"We can take you home." Callie told him. "Easy as pie."

"Not without Seruba Velak."

Oh, yes. The other one of your kind, trapped at Dreamland. "But she wasn't on your ship, was she. Night Eagle and his men would have saved her, too.

"No. My name is Rivesh Mantilax. Seruba Velak is my wife. Her ship was attacked by pirates. She was an ambassador of my people. The pirates were paid to ensure she never reached her destination." Yes, I knew of when things like that happened. "She transmitted a distress signal, but by then we were at war."

That made sense. "With the Viperox."

Rivesh nodded, looking so lost without his wife. They found their soul mates similarly to Time Lords, and never fell out of love. "Yes. They had sabotaged the alliance my wife had tried to negotiate against them. The war was long and savage, and I had a duty to my people. But the torture of watching my species slaughtered was nothing to the loss of my wife. When I could, I came for her."

Callie let out a long sigh, her eyes bright under heavy lidded eyes. "And let me guess. The military had Seruba Velak. The Roswell crash. So they were already looking for more spaceships, and they shot you down."

"Without provocation." He agreed.

"Forgive them." We told him softly. "They're primitive people, and scare easily."

"We've seen your wife. She's alive." Cassie spoke up from the wall of the cave.

Rivesh's eyes filled with a little bit of hope. "Tell me they have not harmed her."

"I think she's all right, and we're going to get you both home." My daughter smiled. "Or at least to whatever might be left after a war with the Viperox."

"No, I don't think you will, Callie."

We all turned with a start, to see the man who tried to wipe all of our memories. "Colonel Stark."

"On behalf of the United States government, thank you for leading us to this alien. You just helped me save the world." No, I rather think we just signed the death warrant instead, Colonel, because these aliens were the peaceful ones.

Callie gave an even bigger sigh. "For the first time in nearly 60 years, why does that feel like bad news?"

Our gang, now including Night Eagle and Rivesh, were loaded into an army truck, my daughter having to curl up on my lap because of the lack of space, which didn't matter because she fell asleep on the journey. I loved how easily she slept now, such a difference to her last form. All those nightmares... "I guess they'll try and wipe our memories again."

"You'd think Stark could be more forgiving," I wondered aloud as I stroked Callie's long dark hair absently. "As accidentally leading him to Rivesh Mantilax has somehow saved the world, apparently."

"Men like Stark don't save worlds." Night Eagle told me. "All they know is destruction."

Yes, that was the biggest problem. "That's what worries me."

We reached Dreamland again, and I had to carry my daughter as we were lead into an operations room, a map of the world on one wall, and a diorama of the local area on a table in the middle. Oh, and a giant insect stood beside it. "Lord Azlok."

"Ah, Doctor, and your young." You were lucky she was asleep, she'd hate you calling her young now.

"What an unexpected displeasure."

Cassie stared at the creature. "What in heck are you doing here?"

And then Stark came in behind us as I placed Cal on a chair, making sure she would be fine. "Ah, I see you've met my ally, Lord Azlok."

"Colonel, the Viperox savage and decimate every world they encounter." I told him firmly. "They don't have allies, they kill everything."

"But we have a common interest."

The monitor was switched on, and we saw the video feed from Lab 51. "Rivesh Mantilax."

Azlok moved towards Cassie, but Jimmy stood in between. !Did he tell you who he was, Doctor? Tell your young?"

Stark answered when I was silent for a moment. "He's a scientist. A specialist in genetic warfare. You know what that is?"

My people experimented on our own in an attempt to win the war against the Dalek's, I knew. Created monsters. "Yes. Not pleasant."

"Rivesh Mantilax had developed a weapon genetically targeted at the Viperox, to wipe us from the universe."

"Doesn't sound like such a bad thing."

So you'd commit genocide? Even for the young who don't know any better? "No, Jimmy, it is. A very bad thing. Who's to say one day even the Viperox won't discover a better way to exist."

"But I don't get it, Colonel" Cassie told him. "Why are you in cahoots with the Viperox?" I loved that word, cahoots.

The man lit up part of the world map - USSR. "The weapon can be modified to wipe out our enemies instead."

Why did I ever bother saving these people, they just tried to kill each other instead! "You mean Russia?"

"The Reds are sitting on a thousand nukes, and everyone of them has Uncle Sam's name on it."

Night Eagle shook his head. "The Russians will never fire them. They know as well as you that would be the end of the world."

This was not good, really not good. "Does President Eisenhower know about this plan?"

"Heck, the President doesn't even know aliens exist." Sounded about right.

"Well, anyway, it's irrelevant, as you don't have the weapon, do you, Colonel."

Enter Dread, sparking occasionally. Of course. "Hey, I thought he blew a gasket."

"Oh, that's the trouble with robots." I replied tightly. "You can never be sure you've shut them down. Twist a few wires together and they're anybody's, isn't that right, Lord Azlok?"

"I retrieved the ionic fusion bar."

Yeah, like that was really what it was for, yeah. "Except it's not an ionic fusion bar, is it. I've worked that much out. Why would the Alliance of Shades have been more interested in ignition systems than a Viperox horde?"

Cassie raised an eyebrow. "Because it's really a weapon?"

"Cleverly disguise to fool even me, even Callie who can see electrical cables inside a wall." At the mention of her name she started to stir. She'd been asleep a good 3 hours to be fair. Hell of a nap. "And a weapon that could kill billions throughout the universe. And now you expect Rivesh Mantilax to reprogram it to wipe out the whole of Russia?"

"It is the only way to make my kind safe, and he will do it."

My daughter's eyes flew open. "Only if you still have the weapon." And then she let out another banshee wail as we'd affectionately been calling it, as she loved X-Men, grabbed the bar and legged it, closely followed by me. "Good thing I can still hear while I'm asleep, dad!"

We made it up to a roof of a flat building, two helicopters rising up before we faced Stark. "There's nowhere to go."

"I'm not going to let you do this, Stark." I told him, defending Callie. "If you trigger this weapon you will kill millions of innocent people."

"You're talking like a Red." Why was an entire country nicknamed a colour? Was England Blue and America grey?

I shook my head. "Listen to me, Colonel. You cannot trust Lord Azlok. There's a Viperox Queen giving birth to an army out there. Once this weapon is reprogrammed, there is nothing to stop them attacking Earth."

He looked skeptical. "A bunch of supersized cockroaches against tanks and bombers?" Yeah, they were really scared of things they were immune to. "I'd like to see them try it."

"Ask Rivesh Mantilax and Seruba Velak." Callie shouted, her eyes flickering through different colours. "Their technology is a thousand years of Earth. They couldn't stop the Viperox. How will you? Who are you going to be, Colonel? The man who saves the world, or the one who destroys it."

And now Colonel Stark hesitated for a moment, before lowering the gun to speak into the walkie talkie. "This is Colonel Stark. Pull back. Soldiers, put Lord Azlok under arrest."

"He's gone, sir."

Ah, just what we needed. "Ah. Two problems with the Viperox, Colonel. You can't trust them, and they have very good hearing."

Azlok burst through the door onto the roof less than a moment later, and the gun was trained on him. "Consider yourself a prisoner of the United States Army."

"We have laid waste to entire galaxies. The United States and Earth itself will be as dust beneath our feet."

Yeah, we'd already told you that wasn't going to happen. "Not if we can help it. Take our advice and go home, while you still can."

"Because you have the genetic weapon? Without Rivesh Mantilax it is useless." Four wings popped out from under Azlok's carapace and he flew up into the air. "Now we shall tear your world to shreds!"

We ran back down to the lab, to find Cassie cradling Rivesh. "Azlok took out the guards when you escaped. He attacked him before we could do anything."

One look told me what I didn't want to hear. "And there's nothing we can do."

Seruba was hammering on the glass, and Callie walked closer, placing two green glowing hands to the surface. "Stand back."

Then the glass was in pieces, and the woman ran out. "My husband."

"Can we activate the weapon without him?" Stark asked, walking into the room a moment later.

I sent the man a dark look. "Oh, you're all heart, aren't you, Colonel. No, it's attuned to his DNA. That's why Lord Azlok needed him to reprogram it. Or, better still, needed him dead."

His wife looked at me and Callie. "He's not yet passed. I can save him! I need to get to the remains of my ship."

"The wreckage is stored in the vault." Stark replied. "It's impossible."

My daughter green him, lighting her hands up with a low red colour. She'd done that before, you could tell. "You'd better have a good reason why."

He hesitated for a moment, stepping away from her. "Operation Fallen Angel is set up to examine classify and detain all alien life that crashes on Earth. Something got loose in there."

Well, it was never going to be easy, was it? So Seruba, Callie and I headed to the vault, and walked in, the thick door rolling shut behind us. The entire place was stacked high with large crates. "This is going to take a while." Callie muttered, looking up from her phone. What was so important with Luke that you couldn't leave it for 5 minutes?! "I hope we find whatever it is we're looking for in time, Seruba Velak.

"She gave us a smile. "And then you will use the genetic weapon to destroy the Viperox, to scour them from the cosmos."

We both made a face, and she looked back at her phone, typing quickly. OK, that wasn't texting, what was she doing on that thing? "Well, it's not that simple." She stopped quickly. "Shush. Did you hear that?" You were the one with the ability to see sound, love.

But I gave Serurba my torch. "Here, keep looking. We have to save your husband. I'm going to see what's out there. Callie, be careful."

I lit up my sonic screwdriver and started to walk through, knowing that my daughter was able to protect herself and Seruba. I just didn't like it. Something swooped down on me at speed, before I ducked, and looked to see what the hell it was. And my hearts stopped. "Oh dear."

"Dad, we've found it." Callie called, running up to me with our new friend.

"Unfortunately, so have I."

They both stopped, staring at it floating off in the distance. "What is that?"

"They are Skorpius flies." Callie replied to Seruba, her voice lowering. "A billion of them. A giant swarming brain."

She looked hopeful for a moment. "If it's a brain, we can communicate."

Maybe not... "Yeah, but the Skorpius swarm brain only has one thing on its mind."

"Which is?"

"Well, at this time of day, supper. Run!" I shouted, grabbing my daughters hand and started to drag her along, before getting us into an open crate.

They both stared at me now. "This is your plan?"

Yeah... Probably not my best one, I had to say. "It's in development."

"In your plan to escape like a snail," My daughter told me softly, how do we see where we're going?"

I just grinned now. "Who needs to see? Didn't you count your steps on the way in? Eighty four steps ahead, turn left a hundred and two steps, turn right sixty two steps and we're out the door." We worked together to sonic out the bolts in the bottom of the crate. "Alwayss count your steps, Seruba Velak Calliope Jaclyn. You never know when you might need to escape in a box."

We reached the end of the vault, and I grinned at both of them once the crate was off. "Remember, girls, some men are born great, others have crates thrust upon them. Come on, we've got a planet to save."

So then Callie beat me to the driver's seat in the Jeep, and she sped us off down the path, her skills as a delinquent driver coming out in full before she skidded to a halt at the sight of the Army base exploding. "That doesn't look good. That doesn't look good at all."

"The base, we'll never get in there."

"We have to," I told her firmly. "Or Earth is finished."

"The soldiers cannot stop the Viperox. Nothing can."

Yeah. I was kinda hoping I'd get a plan on the way back, but nothing had happened. Callie, however. "Oh, no? Just watch me." And then the TARDIS was pulled up outside us in Jimmy's pickup. What was she up to?

"So what's the big deal with the blue box?" Cassie asked as we unloaded her, and Callie took her key from around her neck.

"Take a look."

They both looked inside the doors, and stared. "Holy smokes."

We materialised into the lab, startling the soldiers guarding Rivesh. "At ease." I told them softly. "Seruba Velak, do your stuff."

"O my husband." She placed a glowing ball on his head, the room filling with light, before it vanished and he awoke. . The room fills with light then it vanishes. Rivesh wakes.)

"Sorry, but we don't have much time." Callie told him softly, her eyes flashing different colours as she held the genetic device. What was she doing, really? "The Viperox will be coming through that door any minute. I need you to activate the genetic device."

He nodded, taking it from her hands to activate it quickly. "Happily. They destroyed our world. Now to wipe them from the face of creation."

My daughter shook her head. "No, we can't do that. I won't allow it, it's not what my dad taught me." Good girl.

"We've got to blow these monsters to hell."

She held up the now green glowing machine, and her eyes matched. She knew the frequency of the Viperox. "This weapon will destroy the Viperox not just on Earth but across the universe. No one has the right to destroy an entire species."

"Callie, Doctor, they destroyed my town."

She sent me a pleading look, getting me to help. "Please, trust me."

"You brought my wife and me back together. I trust you."

Jimmy looked anxiously back at the door. "They're almost here."

Callie smiled brightly, pressing what looked like regeneration energy, only this wasn't that, it was humming with songs, before she ran into the TARDIS, Azlok dropping down through the ceiling. And grabbed me by the neck. Well, I was dying soon anyway, the Ood told me so, the Ood calling out through the snow. "Trigger the device, and your father dies."

"I'm not going to destroy the Viperox horde." She told him, hesitating as she saw me in his grip. "Believe me, I can't."

"Because you are weak."

My daughter shook her head, long dark curls swishing. "Because you're an evolving species. One day, something incredible is going to happen. You will change, become peace-loving."

"This is madness."

"And this, Lord Azlok, is my ship. She might have a few trillion light years on the clock, the chameleon circuit doesn't work and the temporal sat-nav is always on the blink, but, do you know what?" Her face lit up. "My dad told me that she didn't need the meanest sound system sound system in the universe. Turns out, she really does." She plugged her phone into the weapon and then they both went into the console, and her voice came back through, the banshee wail already changed to the right frequency.

I was dropped, the ear splitting sound sending them all into a frenzy, my daughter pulling me away as they retreated. "Go back to Viperon, and don't even think about coming back."

"Your day will come, Doctor." He growled at me. "Even your daughters."

"Yeah, so they say." I agreed. "But there's no way my daughters ever getting to that point."

And then they were all gone, my daughter handing the weapon to Stark once it was unplugged. "There you go, Colonel. Put that somewhere safe. You won't have any more infestation problems."

He paused, looking at it. "Are you sure?"

Callie grinned, her eyes changing to the colour of the machine again. "I tweaked the weapon to attack the Viperox' nervous system on an ultrasonic level. Nothing deadly, just really annoying, like my banshee wail. The TARDIS was just a big amplifier. But this'll do the trick for you now. Keep the bugs out of the house by a light year, or your money back."

"On behalf of the United States government, Doctor, Callie, thank you."

Please, come on... "No, no, don't." He saluted before we could stop him. "Yeah, well, like I said, the Viperox are going to change their ways. I hope you do, too, Colonel Stark. The Russians are nice people, and so are some aliens." We waved to Rivesh and his wife as they headed home. "It doesn't look too bad with the dints knocked out, does it?"

The man turned to look at Cassie and Jimmy, stood close together. "I guess I'm going to have to trust you people to keep quiet."

"Oh, what's up, the Viperox smash up your mind-wipe chamber?" Oh, I liked her, I really liked her.

Stark walked away as they looked at us. "What about you, Doc, Cal? What now?"

"Well, we never did get anything to eat." I realised, playing with Callie's hair. "I think we'll grab a takeaway. Chinese, Ming Dynasty. Best dim sum this side of infinity."

"If you ever get the taste for chili again"

Oh, now that I would have to come back for. "It's a date. Meanwhile, Jimmy, Cassie might need some help cleaning up after the Viperox hit town. Why don't you give her a hand?"

"She's got it." He nodded, before we went back into the TARDIS, going off into time and space. I guess... It was time for my song to end.