The Doctor had Shaun drop her off some distance away from the crash site, which appeared to be at a steel works. Once again, something about the crash just didn't feel right somehow. It hadn't consumed itself in an orange and white fireball, for one thing. Pretty sure that would have been obvious. No tremors from the impact felt at all. There had been a great big column of smoke, though. She'd seen, as had a great many people for miles around, but not as spectacularly as one would expect. Right, okay okay okay. What was she missing. Because there was something she was missing, something important, she could feel it. Oh, she so hated missing things. Especially the important ones. Talk about embarrassing.
Well, look at that. The Doctor took in the scene before her. Land Rovers. Some rather large trucks. A couple of ambulances, to boot. Soldier boys and girls running about, being all shouty in their classy uniforms. Seems like she wasn't the only one interested in a crashing spaceship in the heart of London.. Though, mind you, there was something about the military men and women: they weren't just typical military people, there was something familiar about them. As a soldier walked by, The Doctor caught a glimpse of an insignia emblazoned on their chest plates: UNIT. United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, well that was what she known it as back in the day. These days they called themselves Unified Intelligence Taskforce. New fancy name, bit of a polish, but still the same old UNIT. Of course, they would be here. Why wouldn't they? This was so their jam. Hers too.
The Doctor knelt in the grass, as she studied the fencing surrounding the steelworks complex. Ah ha! Brackets secured panels in place, instead of just being large panels. Quickly scouting round, making sure she wasn't noticed, the Doctor took out her sonic screwdriver and used it to loosen the brackets on a lower panel of the fence. Lefty Loosey Righty Tighty.. Gently putting it aside, she deftly slipped through the opening she made. While all the soldier girls and boys dashed around, looking important, and being all shouty, the Doctor casually strolled around toward the back of the steelworks to find a side entrance labeled "Employees Only". It was locked, of course, but she didn't let that stop her. 'Have sonic, will travel," the Doctor thought to herself as she took out her sonic, aimed it at the lock, and, easy peazy, just like that, it wasn't. She had a quick look around to make sure if she still hadn't been noticed, then The Doctor tugged open the rusty door and slipped inside the building.
Once inside, The Doctor was greeted by a large furnace area. Molten steel from some of the huge vats above was spilling down to the ground, sending splatters of white-hot liquid everywhere. Well, it was a steelworks, after all. Now, what shouldn't be here was the tall, metal structure that stood in the center of all this all the chaos. It stood by the furnaces, surrounded by hunks of twisted metal and concrete. This was definitely the ship she had witnessed before. Yup, there was that big nasty hole she'd spotted in the side, still spluttering lots of steam and smoke. Judging by the big hole in the roof, it definitely looked like it had crashed, yet it was standing straight up. Neat trick, that. The ship rested there, looking as if it was ready to launch, as if it had simply flipped itself 180 degrees and plopped itself down here. Could it have landed itself, instead of crashing? Curiouser and curiouser, said Alice. My, thought the Doctor, What a day, wait, hang on. Make that night, what a night she was having. Much better. Now, three curiously impossible things, and it wasn't even breakfast yet. Someone's been peeping at her Christmas list again…
As the Doctor glanced more keenly at the ship, from where she stood, she realized something was off. Well, there was alot of things that were off, really, but this was even curiouser. There's that word again: curiouser. Strange. Oh, come on! She'd just had it, then it had slipped away again. Wait, there it was! Nope. Gone. Ugh. Sometimes, it was like wrestling with smoke when dealing with her own rambling thoughts.
Abruptly, The Doctor found those very errant thoughts interrupted by the sound of marching feet and shouting voices. Blimey, thought the Doctor, they were quick. The Doctor slipped up a nearby metal staircase, dashing up them before she was seen. UNIT and her maybe old friends but now was not the time for reintroductions. Happens with every regeneration, and would be especially difficult this time round. Probably mistake her for a companion, like her War self initially had. Rude! Too many questions, assumptions, and whatnot, so frustrating. I mean, hello, just because she was a woman now, didn't mean she wasn't still the Doctor. There would also be the same old silly questions as well. Been there, done that, besides they were never ever the right ones anyway. Then, there would be the saluting, maybe even people wanting her autograph, once they realized who she was. The Doctor shuddered at the thought of it. A big ole whopping nope on that, thanks. Just a big heaping of nonsense she really didn't want to get caught up in at the mo, not while there was a juice mystery or three, ripe for the solving. So, best to stay out of sight. For now.
Stepping off the stairs onto a walkway, the Doctor scampered up a further one. Up uppity up up. She made her way up til she was found herself at just the right vantage point. Oh lovely, she could see the whole blast furnace area from here. Molten metal was still dripping from a damaged vat, a few of them actually. Blimey! There'd really been some cowboys up in here. Maid's day off. The Doctor could see UNIT forces working to contain and seal them. But, what drew the Doctor's eye was what was in the heart of it all: the spaceship.
"Oh, Lovely," said the Doctor admiringly. "Aren't we a beauty? Shame about all the dings, smoke, and such. Hope they were insured."
The ship was all sleek and cobalt-blue. What looked like a folded over metal apron was riveted toward the centre of the craft's body. The Doctor could see another one, just above three massive legs at the base. Just below the ship's perfectly pointed nozzle were three red discs. Huh, must be some sort of sensors.
Down below, The Doctor could see more of the hazmat team spraying at the legs, probably with some kind of coolant. Not that it was really necessary, reckoned the Doctor. Any spaceship capable of shooting out of intergalactic gateways and then 'crashing' while still able to right itself before doing so was probably pretty good at handling that sort of thing. Presumably.
The Doctor could see the gash in the side of the craft better now. Her earlier assumptions had been correct: something had certainly gone out instead of in to the ship. Probably an escape pod. Remembering the trajectory of the ship after it had burst forth from the gateway, and then its angle of descent before it had 'crashed', the Doctor estimated the pod would have left the ship at more of an acute angle than it had possibly been designed for. 'Bet that had been quite a bumpy ride." thought the Doctor to herself. 'Wonder where it ended up?'
Voices drifting up from below caught her attention.
"Make way for Trap Two," said a make voice which rung with natural authority.
"Trap Two?", murmured The Doctor, "What sort of call sign was that? Bit rubbish, really."
Glancing down, she saw a UNIT colonel and a young woman in a wheel chair making their way around the rumble. The young woman navigated it all confidently as if she did this everyday. Good on her. Then again, she probably did do this everyday if she works for UNIT.
"Now, I think we're making a fundamental mistake, Colonel."
"How so," asked the colonel.
The young woman pointed at the spaceship. "Cos maybe that thing had been on a collision course to start with, but look at it." She held up a tablet; The Doctor couldn't see it from where she was, but presumably it was showing footage of the craft's descent. 'The spaceship was flying down, like this, but then, look, it swings around at about forty-five degrees and then further and further until, at last, it pulls one hundred and eighty degrees upright and settles in here, just as we see it now?"
"So?"
The woman sighed and tapped again at the tablet. "What I am saying, is the ship didn't crash, It parked,"
'Oh, she was a clever clock,' thought the Doctor to herself, listening in on the conversation.
The colonel, meanwhile, seemed to be registering this new fact. 'I see." He reached over and tapped the tablet himself. "Any signs of life?"
"Not yet," the woman agreed, giving the spaceship a onceover. "But then, we don't know what kind of life we're looking for."
With a nod, the colonel wandered off to talk to more UNIT personnel.
Keeping an eye on the woman, who was apparently engrossed with her tablet, the Doctor silently made her way down to ground level, then snuck round the base of the rocket, weaving between the legs as she gave it her own onceover. The Doctor touched one of the legs tentatively, and just as she had suspected it wasn't hot. Definite curious vibes here. The metal wasn't something she recognized. A metal that wasn't hot but should have been, presumably, and that she didn't recognize. Something new. "Oh, I do love new things," The Doctor murmured to herself. The ship may had a simple design, but she suspected there was more to it than met the eye. Simplicity masking something far more advanced and sophisticated.
Speaking of that, The Doctor slipped on her 'sci-fi' specs once again, and, almost immediately, different parts of the ship began to pop up into view as she slowly scanned the craft above her. She was able to view not only an external view, but a cutaway as well, displaying specs, technical breakdown, drive systems…
"Too good for us now?" said a female voice from behind her.
"Ah. Yes. Blimey." The Doctor said, spinning around to face the woman behind her. "Sorry! Hope you don't mind me just poppin' in. Saw this ship crashing, couldn't resist. Just scoping out the general crashiness of the situation." Whipping back around to glance at the ship again, before spinning round again manically. "Yes! Right! Nice ship. Bit dinged up, though. Not very crashy, either." Pointing up at the ship's propulsion, she said breathlessly, "Oh, I don't suppose you know what that is?"
"No, Doctor," she said, "Tell me."
Oh, she was brill! The Doctor rather liked her. Wasn't fazed by anything. Good. Wait, hang on.
"How did you know who I was?" asked the Doctor. "Wouldn't have been sneaking about, if I'd known that you'd known who I was!"
The young woman in the wheelchair, the same one she'd seen before, smiled indulgently. "Kate Stewart updated your files after the incident at the Black Archive."
"Oh yeah? Almost forgot about that. Been a hectic few days. New face. New me. Then meeting other me's. Quite upsettling." Taking a calm breath, The Doctor clapped her hands together. "Oo! Now, where were we? Oh, right. Big shiny not crashy thing." Glancing again at the underside of the ship, the Doctor continued. "Ooooo! Look at that! A Double Bladed Dagger Drive." The Doctor's eyebrows lowered, as she scrunched up her face. "Bit knackered up, isn't it?" The Doctor took another critical glance at the damage. "Ah, laser fire. That'll knacker things up good." As a realization occurred to her, The Doctor uttered "Oh."
Spinning around toward the nice, clever lady in the wheelchair, the Doctor asked, "That's not good, is it? Cos that would mean.."
"We've got two sets of visitors." The woman said, unfazed by the Doctor's rapid-fire responses and manic behaviour.
The Doctor agreed, taking off her glasses, and tucking them away again. "Yup, and I don't think they get along very well, now do they?" She held out a ringed hand and the young woman shook it. The woman, the Doctor observed, was a dark blonde, wearing a pale grey suit over an orange blouse. Very posh for an advisor. And her smile was wide and bright, which the Doctor returned with one of her own. "Hey, hiiii. Nice to meet you," she continued, "I don't suppose you happen to have gotten heat readings on deceleration."
The young woman in the wheelchair nodded. "I got everything." She passed the Doctor her tablet and she scanned everything rapidly, humming to herself. "I'm Shirley Anne Bingham, by the way." said the woman. "Mrs. Not a doctor, or a professor. But I am UNIT Scientific Advisor fifty-six.
"Still pretty clever, though, aren't we?" The Doctor grinned at her. "I was the first, you know."
"Oh, I know," said Shirley. "I've read the files, remember. I'm going to get a bonus just for meeting you." She looked around, checking that colonel and his troops weren't in earshot. "So, why are you hiding away. We are on the same side."
The Doctor let out a weary sigh. "Right, well, things have been rather mad, lately. New face, new me," The Doctor gestured at herself, as she continued. "With a twist, of course. Was easier before convincing people who I was. Not quite the same these days. Preconceptions held, assumptions made." The Doctor shrugged. "Then there's other matters, such as this friend of mine. A dear friend. Donna Noble. Bit of a feisty ging. I absolutely love her."
Shirley raised her eyebrows in surprise.
"Blimey,' she said, face scrunched up as she noticed Shirley's reaction. "It's not like that. Not lovey dovey, more like she's my best mate. Well, she was..Still is? It's all very confusing." The Doctor explained.
Shirley smiled. "Well, sounds like a very nice thing to say."
The Doctor wanted to agree, but felt she needed to understand the complexity of it all. "She was so brill! Me and her against the universe. Then, Donna took in the mind of a Timelord. Well, sort of. Mine, to be honest, but not really mine, more like a cheap copy. Still, even that, would be to much for a human mind to take. Burn it out like a bad toaster. So, I had to take her memories. Not all of them, not like that. Just of her time with me. Took em to save her life. She can remember me, not even for a second, or else she dies. So, she's off living her life, with a husband, and a daughter. Day to day, all in the right order. With Googly Eyes as well, it seems. Have you seen Googly Eyes, love Googly Eyes.."
"Doctor," Shirley said gently, "You're rambling."
"Am I? Happens, a lot. Anyway, she's got her life. Here. Safe. Then, the Tardis plops me down here, right in her path. Then we get a big shiny rocket that crashes without really crashing. All of it, swirling around. The Tardis, me, that ship. All of us drawn here, to her."
Shirley frowned. "You think she made all of this happen?" She indicated the steelworks and the spaceship.
The Doctor shook her head. "Oh no, no. She's got no idea. Totally oblivious." The Doctor chuckled, "Nothing new there. She's so ordinarily brill, and happy, with her family. It's the way it should be. But, now the universe has begun spinning round her again." The Doctor ran her hands down her face, as she sighed heavily. "By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes. Things left unfinished, unresolved. History Mystery Tours rolling on.."
Shirley thought on all of this for a moment. "But why, Doctor?"
"That's the frustrating bit, isn't it?", said the Doctor, starting to pace in a circle. "It's all wibbly-wobbly, like being punched in the face by the invisible man. We have the result without knowing the cause. Hate that. Either way, Donna can never remember me. She mustn't, or else.." Doctor raised her hands and gestured as if her temples were exploding, while softly making explosion noises. "Bad, bad, very bad." She let out a long sigh, and stopped her pacing. "That's why I've got to solve this, without her noticing, then pop off again.' Snatching up Shirley's tablet, The Doctor carried on. "So, best get our skates on!" The Doctor flashed Shirley an enigmatic smile. "Right, that.." The Doctor pointed at the ship above them, "is not an automatic drive, so if there's no auto-pilot, there must have been a pilot. Judging by the nasty hole in the side, someone or something flew the coop, didn't they? So we're going to need to search for…"
A crisp female voice rang out, interrupting the Doctor. " Ma'am, We've located the escape pod!"
The Doctor casually stepped back, slipping into the shadows, as a UNIT sergeant marched round from behind a wall. "No sign of life," she reported, "but we're moving to secure the site."
"Good work, Sergeant Vaughn."
As Sergeant Vaughn left, Shirley swiveled her chair round to follow, pausing beside the Doctor. "And we don't need you, so off you pop. I've got this. Bye-bye."
The Doctor smirked, playfully saluted Shirley, and winked before turning to head off, Stopping, she spun on her heels to face Shirley again. "You waited your whole life to meet me, yeah?"
Shirley blew air out of her cheeks,. "You wish," but she winked at the Doctor.
The Doctor stepped away as she headed off, confidently navigating her away round the smashed debris on the ground.
"Cheeky," murmured The Doctor fondly. Right, so much time, and little to do. Wait, flip it. Better. Moving on. She really must be off. The escape pod would do, for starters. Of course much like good ole Frankie crooned, she'd get there her way. The Doctor stealthily weaved in and out of shattered landscape of the wrecked steelworks, until she found herself by a group of parked trucks and Land Rovers. One of the trucks was full of munitions. Ah, no one was going to hopping in the back of that. Perfecto.
Out the corner of her eye, The Doctor spied Sergeant Vaughn walking towards the vehicles so she hopped into the back of the truck, and reached up to pull down the canvas, to hide her from the sergeant's view. Before she did, The Doctor saw that one Shirley Anne Bingham had joined the sergeant. Shirley saw her. Made contact. Winked again. The Doctor raised her hand near her shoulder and wiggled her fingers randomly.
And then the colonel with whom she'd entered the steelworks with turned up, ruining the mood. Party crasher! The Doctor flashed Shirley a playful wink of her own before tugging the canvas down to conceal herself.
Shirley shook her head at the Doctor's antics smiling to herself briefly before composing herself again as the colonel joined her.
"Colonel Chan." The sergeant saluted and snapped to attention.
The colonel nodded to Shirley and she relaxed. Chan showed her a small handheld device and she read something on it. "We think we've got something," he was explaining. "A signal. From inside the ship."
'Back we go," said Shirley, as the truck the Doctor was in the back of started up its engine.
As the truck pulled out on its way to the site of the escape pod, The Doctor couldn't help wondering about the signal Colonel Chan had mentioned. Oh, so many mysteries, never enough time. Story of her life.
—
Hidden in the back of the military truck, as she was, The Doctor appreciated the fact that boxes of munitions, with their hard lines and pointy edges, weren't best things to be lying on. It didn't help that the driver seemed to gave forgotten about the concept of speed bumps and the appropriate speeds for going over them. Still, sometimes even wrong choices can get you to the right places.
Speaking of places, the transport finally came to a stop. 'Thank flipping goodness!', thought the Doctor, standing and stretching to get out all the kinks. She then rummaged through her pockets for her psychic paper, pondering what explanation to give if she someone came round, and lifted the flap to find her there. She stopped though once she realized no one seemed to be doing so.
Climbing over the boxes, The Doctor lifted the flap herself, realized no one was watching, and slipped out.
Glancing round, she noticed about six military vehicles were parked there, blocking the street they were on, ensuring no one got in or out. The street they were on was called Hale Avenue, judging by a nearby street sign. Well, that was good to know. Spinning on her heels, the Doctor noticed it was just off of another street called Bachelor Road - wonder if that was were all parties were? - oh, lookie! An alleyway, a nice little alleyway. Oh, she loved nice little alleyways, just waiting for her to slip into..whoops, but not quite yet, it seemed. Because whatever the UNIT troops were after seemed to up that same alleyway, as they were marching determinedly down it now.
"All troops to the flatwood area," one of them barked into a radio. ""Surround the pod, surround and secure!"
'Well, that settles it," thought the Doctor, hopping up to sit on the tailgate of the truck, 'Best let them do their whole soldiery thing.' So, The Doctor sat there and waited to see what happened next, hoping it was exciting.