End
The Doctor grasped the console, waiting for the TARDIS to stop moving before rushing out the doors once more.
"Wait-!"Cameron tried to stop him,
"You can't go out there! It's not safe!" Rose called after him. They both followed after him after a second thought.
Only to notice they moved.
They were now located on the north bank of the Thames. The girls hesitantly stepped out of the doors, looking around. It was still nighttime.
"I lost the signal. I got so close!" The Doctor paced off to the side, clearly frustrated.
"We've moved," Rose commented. "Does it fly?" She took a glance back at the TARDIS, bewildered.
"Disappears there and reappears here. You wouldn't understand." the Doctor mumbled.
Cameron pursed her lips, And I thought I had a temper. This guy is all over the place. Happy one moment, angry the next.
"What about that headless thing?" she asked. "We've gone somewhere else, meaning it'd still be back in town, right?" Rose nodded at the other girl's question, thinking the same thing. "It melted with the head. Are you going to witter on all night?" Cameron's brows rose at the Doctor's snide comment and opened her mouth to fire one back when Rose cut her off.
"I'll have to tell his mother…" Cameron and the Doctor looked back at Rose, neither knowing what she was on about.
"Mickey. I'll have to tell his mum he's dead, and you just went and forgot about him, again!" She scoffed, "You were right, you are alien."
"Look, if I did just forget some kid called Mickey-"
"Yeah, he's not a kid!"
"It's because I'm trying to save the life of every stupid ape blundering on top of this planet, alright?"
"All right!?"
"Yes. It is." The Doctor crossed his arms, looking to the side.
"If you are alien, how come you sound like you're from the north?" "Lots of planets have a north!" the Doctor fired back defensively. Cameron sighed and ran a hand down her face, exhausted already by the two's bickering. This wasn't solving anything.
The two of them settled down finally. Rose glanced back at the TARDIS, reading the words printed on the wood. "What's a police public call box?"
The Doctor smiled again eagerly, walking back over to the machine to pat it. "It's a telephone box. From the 1950's. It's a disguise."
"Disguise?" Cameron crossed her arms, curious. "So you can change it's appearance?"
The Doctor grinned, happy she caught on. "Spot on."
Rose shook her head with a smile. "Okay. And this, this living plastic. What's it got against us?"
"Nothing. It loves you," he spoke. "You've got such a good planet. Lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air, perfect. Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs. It's food stock was destroyed in the war, all its protein plants rotted, so Earth, dinner!"
"Anyway of stopping it?"
The Doctor pulled something from his jacket pocket, a thin tube filled with blue liquid. "Anti-plastic. "But first I got to find it. How can you hide something that big in a city so small?"
"Hold on," Rose tried to catch up. "Hide what?" asked Cameron, just as confused.
"The transmitter." answered the Doctor. "The Consciousness is controlling every single piece of plastic, so it needs a transmitter to boost the signal."
"What does it look like?"
"Like a transmitter. Large and round, smack bang in the middle of London. A huge circular metal structure like a dish, like a wheel. Radial. Close to where we're standing. Must be completely invisible."The Doctor had wandered over the other side of the TARDIS, by the monument and guardrail. He looked at the girls who looked behind him at something. "What?" Rose nodded towards the giant Ferris wheel, the London Eye, that sat directly behind the Doctor across the Thames. The man looked behind him, clueless. "What?"
"Oh, for God's sake." Cameron pointed directly at the Ferris wheel, but the Doctor still didn't get it. He took one last glance before catching their drift. "Oh." He smiled.
"Fantastic!"
The trio ran across Westminster bridge and came to a stop behind the London Eye, looking around.
"Think of it, plastic all over the world, every artificial thing waiting to come alive. The shop window dummies, the phones, the wires, the cables-"
"The breast implants," Rose added cheekily.
"Still, we've found the transmitter. The Consciousness must be somewhere underneath." They scoped the area. A thought occurred to Cameron, recognizing this area of town. She ran over to a parapet, spotting a manhole just below by the stairs. Rose followed her, catching her drift
"What about down here?"
The Doctor came over to look. "Looks good to me."
The journey down the manhole was quick. The red light that spilled from inside gave them an eery feeling while they lowered themselves inside. They traveled down the steps of the multi-level chamber, looking around.
"The Nestene Consciousness. That's it, inside the vat. A living plastic creature." They looked down at the center of the chamber at the glowing orange blob that sat inside the vat. It moved around, and it sounded like it was...growling?
"Well then, tip in your anti-plastic and let's go." Rose sighed.
"I'm not here to kill it," the Doctor said. "I've got to give it a chance." They followed the Doctor, stopping a flight of stairs above him as he spoke to the living plastic creature.
"I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract according to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation." The plastic flexed inside the vat, making noises in response. "Thank you. If I might have permission to approach?" while he spoke to the Consciousness, Rose inched further down the stairs. She stopped, catching something from the corner of her eye.
Another man sat further down inside the chamber, sitting on the grated floor. He spots her, too, before Rose rushes to greet him. "Oh, god. Mickey!" She goes to comfort him while he clings to her, scared out of his wits.
Cameron watches, confused for a second before she remembers that this man is Rose's boyfriend. Well, good thing they didn't actually kill him.
"That thing down there, the liquid. Rose, it can talk!"
"Doctor, they kept him alive!"
The Doctor followed after Rose, Cameron right behind him. "Yeah. That was always a possibility. Keep him alive to maintain the copy."
"You knew that and you never said?!" Cameron rolled her eyes.
"Can we keep the domestics outside, thank you?"
The Doctor continued downwards until he stopped directly in front of the living plastic. Cameron stopped stand next to the others, not brave enough to be anywhere near that creature.
"Am I addressing the Consciousness?" the creature groaned in response. "Thank you. If I might observe, you infiltrated this civilization by means of warp shunt technology. So, may I suggest, with the greatest respect, that you shunt off?"
It growled back in what Cameron, Rose, and Mickey could only guess was anger, not amused by the Doctor's humor. What looked like a face seemed to form in the plastic, too.
"Oh, don't give me that." the Doctor moaned. "It's an invasion, plain and simple. Don't talk about constitutional rights." The Consciousness cut him off, thrashing out in protest. " I am talking! This planet is just starting. These stupid little people have only justlearnedt how to walk, but they're capable of so much more. I'm asking you on their behalf. Please, just go."
"Doctor!" Rose shouted out in warning when a couple of living plastic shop dummies came up behind him. They grabbed each of his arms, one fishing through the man's jacket pocket until it pulled out the anti-plastic.
"That was just for insurance. I wasn't going to use it." the Doctor reasoned, struggling against the other shop dummy's grip. The Consciousness screeched out in protest, becoming extremely agitated by the threat. "I am not attacking you. I'm here to help. I'm not your enemy, I swear, I'm not!" The Consciousness made more noise and the Doctor's face dropped. "What do you mean?"
A door behind them slid open to reveal the TARDIS. "No. Oh, no. Honestly, no. Yes, that's my ship. " His voice became desperate during the conversation. The Consciousness brought up something, something from the past it seemed. The trio above watched helplessly as the creature grew chaotic, thrashing around in the vat. "That's not true. I should know, I was there. I fought in the war. It wasn't my fault. I couldn't save your world! I couldn't save any of them!"
"What's it doing?!"
"It's the Tardis! The Nestene's identified its superior technology. It's terrified. It's going to the final phase. It's starting the invasion! Get out, you guys! Just leg it now!" Rose pulled out her phone, shouting for her mom in the device to check on her. Mickey and Cameron watched helpless as the Consciousness completely lost it and the place around them shook. Energy bolts shot out of the living plastic and into the ceiling, lighting up the London Eye outside.
"It's the activation signal!" the Doctor told them. He tried to escape the shop dummy's grip but it was no use. "It's transmitting!"
"It's the end of the world." Rose quivered.
In the city, the shop dummies all around came to life. People screamed and ran for their lives, trying to escape.
"Get out!" the Doctor shouted. "Just get out, run!" The upper levels collapsed,
"The stairs have gone!" They all ran over to the TARDIS while the Autons tried to push the Doctor into the vat.
"We don't have a key!" Cameron cried as Rose tried opening the door. Mickey cried, crumbling at Rose's feet. "We're going to die!"
"No!" the Doctor kept struggling. Rose slowly stood up as Mikey held onto her, shaking. Cameron stood behind her, trying to look for a way to bust into the TARDIS.
Timelord, the Nestene Consciousness whispered out.
Was this really it? Were they all going to die and let the world end?
"Just leave him!" Mickey cried to Rose but the girl ran off somewhere. They watched, confused, as the blonde took an axe and chopped away at a chain dangling above her. She took firm grip of it, looking down at the Doctor uncertain for a moment, before she took a running head start and leaped off the edge.
She swings off the catwalk and at the two Autons, hitting both of them into the living plastic. The second one drops the anti-plastic into it as well, effectively working on the creature and turning it blue. It screamed out in agony.
"Rose!" The Doctor reached out and caught the swinging girl before they took off for the TARDIS. "Now we're in trouble." The place started to explode here and there. The signal to the Eye stops and the shop dummies outside fall, now dead. The four inside the chamber rush into the TARDIS before it materializes.
oOo
Mickey runs out of the TARDIS the minute it lands. He trips on his own feet and falls to the ground while he tries to distance himself from the alien tech as much as possible.
Rose followed suit and stopped to pull out her phone, "Mum?"
Cameron breathes in the night air as she steps out, stuffing her hands in her pockets. The city now safe again, her nerves died down.
It was all just...crazy. They literally stopped the world from being invaded and possibly ending. A small smile crawled onto her face as she thought about it.
"Nestene Consciousness, easy." The Doctor stepped out after them and leaned against the door.
Rose smirked, "You were useless in there. You'd be dead if it wasn't for me."
The Doctor grinned. "Yes, I would. Thank you. Right then, I'll be off...Unless, I don't know, er, you could come with me." Rose and Cameron looked at him, thinking it over.
"Really?" Cameron whispered, getting his attention. He nodded, smiling.
"This box isn't just a London hopper, you know. It goes anywhere in the universe free of charge."
"Dont." Mickey stuttered, still scared crazy. "He's an alien. He's a thing!"
"He's not invited. What do you think? You could stay here, fill your life with work and food and sleep, or you could go anywhere."
Cameron smirked, "Anywhere?" The Doctor nodded and she looked down, mulling it over. Her life could change...she could see what was really out there and travel instead of living her boring old life.
She met the Doctor's eyes. "Count me in." The man smiled and let her in.
"Is it always this dangerous?" asked Rose.
"Yeah."
Rose smiled, too thinking it over before she looked back down at Mickey who clung to her leg. Her smile dropped for a second, reluctant to refuse. "Yeah, I can't. I've er, I've got to go and find my mum and someone's got to look after this stupid lump, so…"
The Doctor's smile faltered but he understood. "Okay. See you around." They stared at eachother for another second, the Doctor's face blank yet heavy with disappointment. Cameron bit her nail behind him, saddened by Rose's choice.
The Doctor closed the doors and headed for the console, silent as he worked the controls. Cameron was silent for a moment, watching the Doctor defeatedly walk around.
She tried to lighten the mood. "Hey, er," He looked up, but she could tell he was still a little upset. Cameron sighed, shrugging. "Is there anything else you can think of that would get her to come? Is there anything else this...TARDIS could do?" The Doctor's face broke out in a huge grin.
"Oh, right!" He ran back around the console, flipping switches and so on before running out the doors when the machine stopped moving.
"By the way, did I mention-" Cameron peeked over the man's shoulder, surprised to see Rose and Mickey only a few paces away from their original spot. How…?
"-that it also traveled in time."
Oh.
Rose's face broke out into a smile. She turned back to Mickey while the Doctor and Cameron headed back for the console, leaving the door open.
"Thanks."
"Thanks for what?"Mickey asked, confused.
"Exactly." She kissed him on the cheek before running for the TARDIS. She jumped in, the door closing behind her.
Now was where the fun began.
First episode done! I'm happy to actually work on this finally. Sorry for the wait, if you did.
There seems to be something mysterious about Cameron's past...already so early in the story too! (Sorry, couldn't help myself.) Let's see how it pans out~