Chapter 3

Help

Jack and Amy stood in a doorway about two blocks away, clutching each other.

"You know what daleks are, right?" he asked softly.

Amy nodded. "They kill you with their death rays and suck your face with their plungers," she said. "But I don't get it. What are they doing in London?"

"That's what I thought," said Jack. "I don't know. I guess we thought wrong." He peeked around the doorway at the deserted street. "We'd better go home. There's nothing we can do here. It isn't safe. Maybe the Doctor is in a different London."

"No," said Amy. "We have to stay and help. We can escape in the TARDIS anytime we want."

"But what can we do?" said Jack. "We can't create any paradoxes. We can't take the whole of London with us in the TARDIS. The last time I met a dalek, Rose was locked in her parallel universe. The time before that, I was killed. We can't fight the daleks alone."

"Yeah, but there must be some way we can help," said Amy.

"How?" said Jack.

"I don't know," said Amy. "Let's look around." She squirmed out of Jack's arms and started down the empty street. Jack followed her to the corner. A car drove by, but Jack didn't see any pedestrians.

"Where is everyone?" asked Amy.

"I don't know," said Jack. "It's nighttime. Maybe they're all asleep."

"The paperboy was awake."

"He probably has a 24-hour service. Or he has the nighttime shift."

"Let's go to the clock tower."

Jack and Amy started off in the general direction of the clock tower. They passed the windows of shops that had closed for the night. Jack looked through them as he went by. He saw cookies and cupcakes, shoes and boots, and shivered at the sight of a collection of mannequins in the window of a clothing shop. Soon, they reached the Thames. A group of workers were setting up cones, traffic barriers, and yellow tape across the streets on either side of the block Jack and Amy stood on.

"What's he doing?" asked Amy.

"I don't know," said Jack with a shrug.

"Any bets on the number of complaints we get tomorrow?" one of the workers was saying.

" 'Bout a hundred. More, maybe."

"Tourists, or locals?"

"Locals. The tourists get all excited and respeckful when they hear about on-site filmin', and leave well enough alone."

"I reckon you're right, Phil. Doctor Who ain't any special occasion when you need to reach the Underground."

Jack and Amy shared a glance of astonishment.

"They're filming Doctor Who here tomorrow!" whispered Amy. "That's the telly programme the Doctor's name was mentioned in in that paper!"

Jack shook his head. "I don't think it's really the Doctor," he reminded her. "It's only an actor. Remember that photo? That's not our Doctor." He took a flashlight out of his pocket and shined it on the newspaper. He read quietly to Amy.

"Tom Baker will begin playing his role as the Doctor this

Christmas. In the meantime, so-called "Whovians", or fans

of Doctor Who can expect to see Jon Pertwee on the telly

until then, when the Doctor "regenerates."

The article went on to explain what exactly "regenerating" was.

"I don't get it," said Amy. "No one on Earth knows who the Doctor is, at least not in our time. But here he is, making the front page as a fictional character!"

"Maybe we aren't on Earth at all," Jack suggested. "Maybe we're in a parallel universe!" He practically shouted the last sentence.

"Shhhh," said Amy. The workmen were giving them funny looks. Ignoring them, Amy whispered, "We don't want the daleks to hear us."

"There aren't any right on this block, that we know of," Jack protested. But he said it in a whisper and rolled his eyes, accepting defeat. "I wonder what time it is now."

"I don't know," said Amy. "We're kind of in the middle of the street. Let's move into the shadows." Jack and Amy moved into the shadows near a printing shop on the near side of the street. There was an awkward silence.

"Hey!" Amy whisper-exclaimed. "I know how we can help!"

"What?" asked Jack.

"We can lead the daleks away from people. Sink them in the Thames, I don't know."

"You can't sink a dalek. Besides, it's too dangerous. And there are people everywhere, including the river."

"You're immortal and I'm brave," Amy pointed out. "Daleks will follow the TARDIS to another planet- if we let them."

"And then what? We'll be stuck on a distant planet, and we still won't have found the Doctor." Jack's logic surprised him; his immortality sometimes led him to be reckless, and he wasn't exactly the most selfless person in the galaxy.

"Then we'll let the daleks lead us to him. They always find him. We can save him, and some other people in the process."

"Good plan," said Jack. "Where do we start?"

"Well, we should wait until morning, when they start filming. Let's lie low and try to stay away from the daleks."

Jack took a deep breath.

"Ok," he said. "In the words of the Doctor, Allons-y!".