The TARDIS was alive once more, roaring and shaking us around in flight.
I would never get tired of that adventurous feeling that was always present when we took off like that; hurtling toward some unknown place to get into trouble just to somehow dig our way back out again.
I held on to a metal bar to keep my balance, and Warren did the same.
This trip felt like it was taking a lot longer than the others had. I began to have a suspicion that something was wrong.
But I kept my faith in the Doctor and ignored the feeling. I looked over to Warren and smiled. He grinned back at me and began to speak, but he was cut short by the horribly loud wail of a siren. It was coming from somewhere near the center of the TARDIS.
I let go of the metal and ran to the Doctor's side.
"What's going on?" I said, having to almost yell over the alarm.
He looked at me with something like worry in his eyes and held my gaze for awhile. Finally he broke it and shrugged.
"Oh no you don't," I said, holding onto his shoulder to prevent him from avoiding answering me. "Tell me."
He sighed. "We're out of energy," he mumbled, almost so quietly that I couldn't hear the words.
I hadn't thought about the TARDIS needing energy before. Now that I was aware, I was afraid she would never be able to fly again. That we would be stuck out in space forever.
I glanced at Warren, who must have overheard the whole thing because he was looking sullenly at the floor.
Finally the Doctor managed to stop the siren. Everything seemed unnaturally calm and eerily quiet.
"Well then," he said, walking over to us. "I sent out a distress signal, but I think we'll be here awhile. Make yourselves comfortable."
We stayed where we were.
"Doctor," I said, "Where are we?"
He looked back at a screen that was projecting some numbers and odd alien-looking symbols.
"In orbit around a planet called Pollisenthyciscelluloidium."
"That's quite a mouthful, isn't it?" said Warren.
"Most people just call it Polly," the Doctor replied.
"How could we have run out of energy? Don't you check some meter or other to know when you need to get more?" I asked incredulously.
The Doctor looked at me wearily. "It's not like a car," he said. "There is no gauge to tell you when its empty- or at least there was nothing on it in the handbook. And besides there are very few TARDIS fill-up facilities around."
"There's a handbook?" asked Warren.
"Of course!"
"And you read it? The whole thing?" I asked.
"Well," mumbled the Doctor, "I-sort of- skimmed it. Read the important bits."
I rolled my eyes.
We stood in silence for a little while, gazing around the TARDIS as if imagining what to do for as long as we would be stuck.
"Doctor," I finally spoke up. "Explain some things to me?"
He raised an eyebrow.
"Why was I in that hospital with the loony nurse? What happened to me?"
He pondered over his answer for a while, but eventually spoke up.
"When the Nera Morte bit you, it did something to your DNA. Made you extremely susceptible to diseases and any little thing could set it off. I thought maybe the worst that would happen to you was you'd catch a cold or something. But you weren't so lucky.
"The Bugs that bit you were tracking you because of the scent of the candy you'd had in your pocket. I made you run so Warren and I could cut off the swarm from their main hive so that they would die out; I didn't think about how you'd be affected if they got you. They injected a sort of venom into you, an alien disease that your body couldn't have handled well even without the Nera bite. Add those things together and it's one extremely deadly combination."
He looked at me meaningfully and said, "But you're alright now."
I nodded slowly, realizing once again how dangerous travelling with this man was. I could've died and left no trace of myself at home. My throat tightened.
Warren must have sensed my unease, and he walked over and put his arm around my shoulders.
"I have a question, too," he said. "How come I can talk to Lily in my head?"
The Doctor shifted his weight and sighed. "You've asked me that before," he said.
"I know," answered Warren, "But this time I expect an answer."
Again the Doctor thought for awhile.
"I'll tell you if you tell me something first," he said. "How many people were living with you and your dad?"
Warren turned white at the mention of his father. "None," he said quietly. "It was just us still living."
The Doctor nodded. "One more thing- did you ever send any people away? Ship them off somewhere to avoid the Walking Dead?"
Warren looked confused. "Well," he said slowly. "I think so. When I was little, we sent a few people away to find another planet and get help. But they never came back."
The Doctor nodded again. "Do you remember when there were other survivors?" he asked.
"A little," he replied.
"Do you remember whenever one of them was in trouble, and you could hear their voice like it was your own inside your head?"
Warren's mind seemed to be reeling now. "Yes," he said.
The Doctor grinned.
Warren's eyes grew large and his jaw dropped. "You mean-?" he started, glancing from me to the Doctor and back.
I still had no idea what was going on. "What?" I asked, frustrated that I wasn't catching on.
Warren turned back to face me, eyes wide and glowing with glee. "You're-" he began, but he didn't go on. Instead he drew me into a bear hug so that I couldn't breathe.
"What? What's going on?" I gasped.
The Doctor beamed at me and said, "Congratulations. Lily Carson, one of the last survivors of Warren's planet. A mission that was successful."
Something happened in my head and everything connected.
"You mean I'm not- I mean I'm- I've been…" I stammered.
I was an alien. I was from a different planet. I probably would've been one of the Walking Dead right now if I hadn't been sent off in some ship.
My whole world felt wrong and upside down.
It couldn't be true. It was impossible. I'd been born on Earth. There were pictures of me as a toddler.
But were there any of me as a baby?
I couldn't think of ever seeing one. My mind was racing now, and so was my pulse. the edges of my vision began to fade, and I fainted.
My eyes snapped open. I remembered the Doctor telling me about who I was. I remembered Warren being so happy.
I wished I could've been happy too.
But how could I be? I had lived on Earth for all of my life. Or so I'd thought.
I was so busy thinking about things that I didn't even notice Warren helping me up from the floor of the TARDIS where I'd fallen.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
I didn't reply.
I didn't know how to reply.
Instead of answering him, I whirled around to face the Doctor.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked angrily. "You knew. I know you did. So why didn't you tell me?"
The Doctor shrugged. "You did fine without knowing," he said.
If Warren hadn't been keeping a hold of me I would've punched the Doctor right then and there.
We stood for a bit, each of us in our own thoughts.
Mine weren't good ones.
I realized that my family- my real family- was either dead or a part of the mass of the Walking Dead. I quickly brushed away the tear that came to my eye.
There was no use crying over people I'd never known.
"Are we still out of energy?" I finally mumbled. I would do anything to avoid thinking about my real identity.
The Doctor nodded. "But, if you're interested, I've found out something else."
He smiled at us. "We're not really in orbit around Polly," he said. "We're circling around the planet both of you were born on. We can go check in on our old friend Sam!"
Warren turned white again and began to say something when there was a thunderous noise like a gunshot outside.
We began hurtling toward Warren's- and my- planet.
After a long fall with gravity working against us, the TARDIS crashed into the ground.
The Doctor scrambled out immediately.
"Who shot my TARDIS?" he yelled, sounding like a little boy would if his favorite toy had been broken.
Warren and I ran outside and caught up with him.
The sight awaiting us was exactly what we all feared we wouldn't see.
"Welcome back," said Sam, pulling each of us into a hug in turn.
Warren looked the happiest I had ever seen him; obviously relieved that his dad was alive.
"You SHOT my TARDIS?" said the Doctor, still caught up on that.
"You can't just SHOOT down a TARDIS! And we were in the middle of SPACE! Tell me, please, how you managed to do that?"
Sam only shrugged and smiled. "Come inside," he said, leading us toward his house. "I think we've all got a lot to discuss."