Angie wrinkled her nose in disgust as Artie and the Doctor continued their discussion of bugs at the dinner table. "This is really gross stuff to talk about while we're eating," she complained. "Is that an alien thing, or just a guy thing?"
"Angie!" Clara admonished.
"Science is not a 'guy thing,' Angie," the Doctor informed her. "Just think of Marie Curie, and Sally Ride, and Hila Tacorien -"
"Who?" Angie demanded.
"Oops. Sorry. Hila Tacorien won't actually be born for a couple of centuries. One of the very first human time travelers. Clara and I met her."
"But, how can someone not even born yet be one of the very first human time travelers? Clara's a human time traveler, and she's here right now," Artie asked innocently.
"Clever lad," the Doctor replied affectionately. "All right, then. Hila is one of the first humans to actively develop her own form of time travel."
Artie smiled at the Doctor's vindication of his logic, and Angie rolled her eyes.
As for the Doctor, he suddenly found himself suddenly and inexplicably happy. The domesticity of eating dinner in a kitchen on Earth with two kids should have been making his eyeballs itch, but he was surprisingly content. He had a mystery to solve, a wonderful companion to share it with, and a young mind eager to absorb all the information he cared to share. Oh, and one sulky teenager, but still…
"I still think bugs are gross," said sulky teenager interjected. "Those big black and yellow things with the antennae look like little tiny outer space aliens."
"Those big black and yellow things with the antennae are perfectly normal specimens of Megarhyssa. It's the ones that look like plain old regular grasshoppers that might be little tiny outer space aliens," the Doctor informed her.
"Bugs from outer space?" Angie scoffed.
Artie frowned in concentration. "But, if they're from outer space, how do you know they're just bugs? Couldn't they be tiny little people from outer space?"
"Yes, Artie, they could, in fact, be tiny little people from outer space," the Doctor replied.
"You're mental!"
"Angie! Apologize, right now," Clara scolded.
"Sorry," she muttered.
"So, how do we find out what kind of aliens they are?" Artie asked curiously.
"Well, you could start by showing me where you found them."