Auction Fic: Bad Moon Rising 1/4
Story: Bad Moon Rising
Authors: wmr (wendymr) and Gillian Taylor (
dark_aegis)
Characters: Ninth Doctor, Rose Tyler, Jackie Tyler
Rated: PG
Disclaimer: Not ours by any stretch of the imagination. We're just having fun with them
Summary: The Doctor and Rose return home to find some very paranoid humans. Can't be the full moon causing it, can it?
Written for amberfocus and wiggiemomsi , who won Gillian and me in the April (yes, April!) Support Stacie Auction. We are so, so sorry that this story has taken so long to materialise, and we hope you enjoy it despite its extreme lateness.
Bad Moon Rising
Chapter 1: The Fine Art of Running
“Run!”
“Why did I think you were gonna say that?”
“Cause what else d’you think I’d say when we’re bein’ chased by a horde of monkeys with flamin’ torches? Now shut up an’ run!”
She runs.
***
It started out as such a good day, too. She asked to go to an alien planet, because they seemed to be spending so much time on Earth lately. What’s the point of having a machine that can travel all over the universe if all she sees is her own planet?
So they ended up on Sanofil, a lush, green planet with lots of plant life and the perfect temperature for wandering around: not too hot, not too cool, and not a drop of rain in sight. For a change, they were just tourists, seeing the sights and eating the local food, though she refused to kiss any strangers, regardless of what the Doctor said.
The adventure’s fun, of course it is, and running for their lives is a good laugh a lot of the time, but every now and then it’s good to have a day when they’re not having to save a planet or escape from an evil megalomaniac, or wonder if they’ll ever see each other again.
And it was that kind of day... until they chose the wrong tree to sit under.
There they were, minding their own business, taking the weight off their feet for a while and munching on some nuts picked from the lowest-hanging branches, when suddenly a gang of anthropomorphic monkeys - yeah, that’s a word she’s picked up from the Doctor; who says she doesn’t have a good vocabulary? - appeared from nowhere, waving flaming torches at them and accusing them of violating the sacred arboretum. Whatever that is when it’s at home.
They make it back to the TARDIS just in time, hot from both the running and the torches, though she’s sure she can smell singeing as they finally slam the door in the face of the lead monkeys. “Is my hair burning?” she demands.
“Never mind your hair!” the Doctor retorts. “They almost set my jacket on fire. I love this jacket!”
She grabs him by the shoulders and turns him around. His jacket’s untouched. Not even a single scorch-mark. Huh. Shaking her head, she reaches for the back of her head. Damn. There’s some frizzy bits.
“Gonna have to get my hair cut now,” she says mournfully. “You’re gonna have to take me home for a bit.”
“What?” By the look on his face, anyone would imagine she’d demanded he step into a pit of poisonous snakes.
“Well, it’s either that or you take me to a decent shopping-centre where I can get it done.” Hands on hips, she tries to glare at him, but it’s not easy when his expression makes her want to burst out laughing. “Mum or shopping. Your choice.”
He mutters something she can’t hear, then stalks over to the console. In seconds, the central column is moving and they’re dematerialising.
***
The things he does for companions. And they never appreciate it. Always fussing and moaning, they are.
He takes her on a perfectly good trip to an alien planet, one she can actually walk around on without having to worry about breathable atmospheres and food that suits human digestive systems. He educates her as well as seeing that she has a good time, and even provides a bit of excitement towards the end - well, all right, he didn’t intend them to get chased by angry monkeys intent on incinerating them - and what thanks does he get? None. Instead, he has to take her back to Jackie Tyler, one of the most unreasonable aliens in the galaxy, just so she can get a tiny bit of burnt hair cut off.
If she’d give him a scissors, he’d do the job himself. But, oh, no. Has to be Jackie Tyler, or some posh stylist that’ll take two hours to get the job done while he cools his heels and waits for her.
Rose, leaning forward over the edge of the console next to him, tilts her head and grins up at him. His lips twitch, and after a moment he gives in and grins back.
“Monkeys! We were chased by a pack of monkeys!” She explodes with laughter.
“Been chased by apes before,” he tells her, “Plenty of times on your planet. But monkeys are a new one on me.”
She pretends to swipe at his arm, but she’s still grinning.
They’re arriving now, so he turns his attention to controlling their materialisation. It’s a bit rougher than he expects, and that’s weird, but it’s hardly the first time they’ve ended up on their arses on the floor. Or with bruises to show for it.
He jumps to his feet and extends his hand down to Rose, who rubs her backside as she gets up. “Need seatbelts in here, don’t you?”
“Take all the fun out of it, that would,” he retorts. “Anyway, your destination.” He gestures with an elaborate wave towards the door. “Bucknell House, the Powell Estate. Well, off you go, then!”
She grabs his hand. “You’re comin’ too! Don’t think you’re getting away without comin’ to say hello to Mum.”
That’s just what he hoped he was getting away with. Oh, he could refuse, of course. She’s got no way of forcing him. But if he’s stubborn and stays in the TARDIS he knows what’s going to happen. It’s not just that Rose will remind him about it every time he wants her to do something she’s not too keen on, but Jackie’ll take advantage of his absence to moan and bad-mouth him.
He sighs. “Best get it over with, then. I’m not stayin’ for tea, mind. Get that idea out of your head.”
Rose shrugs. “Who says you’d be invited?”
Outside, it’s a warm, sunny day. Rose immediately turns her face up to the cloudless sky, smiling widely as she basks in the warmth. Automatically, he follows her lead and glances upwards briefly. A shiver runs through him.
“Doctor? You okay?”
He dismisses the shiver. It was nothing. Just a premonition or something. Not important. “Fine, me. Come on, let’s get upstairs.”
Ahead, the door to the stairwell flies open abruptly, and a middle-aged woman rushes out. “Oi! You there! You can’t leave that thing there!”
He stares. The woman’s waving her arms in agitation, showing all the signs of someone demented. It’s broad daylight on a warm summer’s day, yet she’s wearing an old dressing-gown and a headscarf - and what’s that glint of silver he can see under the scarf? Alzheimer’s, clearly. It attacks at a younger age far more than humans like to think about.
“All right, love,” he says gently, walking quickly over to her. “Where d’you live? Let’s get you back up there.”
He tries to take her arm, but she pulls herself roughly away. “Keep your hands off me! An’ who are you callin’ love?” She points furiously at the TARDIS. “Told you, you can’t leave that there.”
He frowns, looking more closely at her. He was wrong. She’s not insane or befuddled. Her eyes are clear. “What d’you mean? Left it there lots of times.”
“Don’t care how many times you’ve done it before. You can’t leave it here now an’ that’s that. Don’t you read the papers? Watch the news?”
“No,” he says slowly. Something’s happened since they’ve been here. But what?
“Irresponsible, blokes like you.” The woman tuts angrily. “Just get it moved. I’m warning you, if it’s not gone in five minutes I’m callin’ the police. The Bomb Squad’ll be here lickety-split to blow it up.”
The bomb squad? He looks at Rose, and sees the same disbelief in her eyes. “Must be a new terrorism alert,” she murmurs.
Right, yeah. Humans always do tend to overreact to that sort of thing. Put all sorts of precautions in place, but only after the horse has bolted. He sighs audibly. “All right, all right. But I’m not movin’ it now. C’mon, Rose.”
He turns back towards the stairs, without waiting to see if the nosy neighbour is still watching. Humans. Right idiots, they are, getting worried over the most trivial of things and turning a blind eye to the real dangers. It’s all Millennium Bug and mad cow and sunspots, and when there’s aliens around trying to destroy their planet they’re sticking their fingers in their ears and pretending it’s not happening.
Sometimes, he really doesn’t know why he bothers.
***
She opens the door, ready to shout out. Then she spots her mum, standing in the hallway, hands just falling from her face, her eyes wide in terror. “God, you scared the life out of me!”
“Sorry.” She hurries over. “Would’ve called on the way up to say we were coming, but some busybody made a huge fuss about us parking the TARDIS outside.” She shakes her head in disbelief. “Real weirdo she was, too. She was wearing a dressing-gown, an’ would you believe it? She had tinfoil on her head!”
“Lots of people are wearin’ that now.” Her mum’s looking fine now. She’s over her shock. “And course you can’t leave that thing down there! Get towed away, it will.”
“You can’t tow the TARDIS away,” the Doctor says, his voice laced with scorn. “That woman said the Bomb Squad’d come and blow it up. What’s that all about? What’s got you lot all worked up now?”
“Oh, hark at Mister Know-it-all!” her mum crows, glaring at the Doctor. “Not so clever now, are you? You want to mind your manners if you want me to tell you stuff, you do.”
“Mum!” Exasperated, she grabs her mum by the shoulders and shakes her. “If there’s something going on, you need to tell us. Whatever you think of the Doctor, remember he saved your life last time we were here. He saved the entire planet. An’ if there’s something going on now you need his help.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she sees the Doctor grin smugly. “An’ you!” she exclaims, turning to him. “Enough smart-alec stuff, all right? This is my mother. Try bein’ nice to her, even if it is just for me.”
The Doctor gives her a long-suffering sigh. “If you insist.” He turns to her mum. “All right, Jackie. What’s going on? What happened to cause all this paranoia?”
Her mum collapses into the nearest armchair, as if her legs can’t hold her any more. When she looks up, her face is pale, her eyes are wide and it looks like she’s aged ten years.
“It all started a couple of months back. Everyone’s been terrified ever since, an’ the government keeps putting out new rules and warnings: do this, don’t do that, stay indoors at night, don’t talk to strangers. It’s like they think the end of the world’s coming!”
What? “You’re joking!” She drops down on the arm of the chair next to her mum and wraps her arm around her mother’s shoulders. “Why didn’t you call us? We’d’ve come back.”
Her mum shakes her head. “They told us not to use phones. Never know who’s listening to stuff like that, do you?”
“A couple of months ago, you said?” the Doctor cuts in before she can ask anything else. “What started it? What changed?”
“The moon, that’s what.” Her mum looks up again, and she’s scared and confused. “The night the jungle moon appeared.”
***
The jungle what? He blinks. "What jungle moon?"
Jackie looks at him like he's grown a second head. Mind, it is possible, but since he isn't regenerating that's not likely. "Didn't think to look up?" she asks, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
He bristles. "Thanks for that. That helps."
He can practically see Jackie using the anger like a cloak. Protective, that's it. "Go on, then! Look!"
There's something particularly wrong with him that he does as she says. Has to be. But he's curious. A jungle moon? Here? That's not right. What happened to the original moon?
Frowning, he moves to the windows and opens the curtains. Looking up, his frown only deepens.
That's not possible.
All right, it's possible, obviously, but this shouldn't be happening. Having another celestial body that close, it's bound to start impacting the weather and the tides, not to mention the question of what it all means. Planets - that's not a moon; it's approximately the same size as the Earth - don't spontaneously appear in the sky.
He needs the TARDIS. The sonic screwdriver won't do, at least not for this. "C'mon, Rose. TARDIS."
He's about to start walking when he finds his sleeve is being held. While he could break the hold easily enough, he's too surprised to find that Jackie has him in her grip. And not for a slap. "You're going to sort this?" she asks.
"Yes," he replies.
"Good. An' when you've done it, bring her back to me," she says. There are no requests to keep Rose safe. That’s a given. There are no requests to come back himself. But he didn't expect any.
He nods and she lets him go. Without bothering to look at Rose, he strides out of the flat to find himself looking at one of his worst nightmares. Police. Everywhere. Accompanied by the bomb squad. Surrounding his TARDIS.
Looks like that neighbour came through with her threat.
He hurries down the stairs, taking two at a time, with Rose close behind him. When he exits the building, he moves straight to the closest police officer, standing just behind crime scene tape. "Oi! What d'you think you're doin' with my TARDIS?" he asks, growling.
"Yours, you say?" the officer asks, eyes wide. "Wait there." The officer turns and walks towards an older man with greying hair stationed off to the side of the 'crime scene'. Crime scene. Ha! Idiots, this lot, all of them. "Inspector! This bloke says that box is his!"
He doesn't wait for the officer to get back with the inspector. Instead, he slips under the crime scene tape and holds it up for Rose. Once they're through, he walks towards the TARDIS.
He's somewhat stunned when someone blocks his path. It's the inspector that officer was after. "Where do you think you're going, mate?"
"To my TARDIS," he replies. "And you're going to let me."
"I am, am I? And why would I want to do that?"
He sighs and points upwards. "See that second planet of yours up there? That jungle moon you lot are so worried about that you've declared martial law? I'm going to do something about it. Best if you move out of the way and let me get on with it."
The inspector's eyes narrow. "And what makes you think you can do something about it?"
He grins. "I'm the Doctor."
"And how's that supposed to help?" the inspector asks.
"You'll see," he answers cryptically.
"What's in the box?"
"This and that. Mostly that," he retorts.
Rose nudges him with her elbow, a stern reminder to behave.
He sighs. "Fine. It's my ship. Now can I take my TARDIS and leave?" Not that he needs permission, of course, but he'd have to be blind to miss the various police officers that have surrounded them. He doesn't miss that each officer - or detective as the case might be - have their hands not-so-subtly resting on their weapons.
"Who-" the inspector begins, but he's stopped by another officer coming to join them.
"He's got permission, Inspector," the officer says, handing over a folder emblazoned with the words 'Top Secret'. "When I did a search on the word TARDIS, that's what came up. We've been ordered to let him go."
"By who?" the inspector asks.
"UNIT," the officer replies.
Ha! He knew that associating with that lot would be beneficial sometime in the future. Mind, he didn't care for it at the time, but he'd been carrying a lot of baggage then. Not that he isn't carrying more now. "Right, then. Thanks, Inspector. We'll be off. C'mon, Rose."
He brushes none-too-gently past the inspector and leads Rose back to the TARDIS. He slips a key into the lock, turns it, and lets them both back into the TARDIS.
Dismissing thoughts of the police and UNIT and other such considerations, he moves straight to the console and begins turning knobs and flipping switches. Grabbing the monitor, he rolls it around the centre console and stares at the readings.
"What is it?" Rose asks.
"Looks like remnants of an energy field. Looks familiar, though." He directs the sensors towards the jungle moon. Why is it familiar? He's got to think.
Wait. No, no, no. It can't be. He changes the setting on the sensors and there's the confirmation he didn't want to see.
"Doctor?" Rose prompts.
"It's Mondas," he replies.
"What?"
"Earth's sister planet. But that's not the problem. It's who that planet belongs to."
Rose doesn't ask him any more questions. Instead, she waits.
When she doesn't say anything, he explains. "Cybermen. Mondas is the home planet of the Cybermen."
***
tbc - Chapter 2: Mr Roboto
Authors: wmr (wendymr) and Gillian Taylor (
dark_aegis)
Characters: Ninth Doctor, Rose Tyler, Jackie Tyler
Rated: PG
Disclaimer: Not ours by any stretch of the imagination. We're just having fun with them
Summary: The Doctor and Rose return home to find some very paranoid humans. Can't be the full moon causing it, can it?
Written for amberfocus and wiggiemomsi , who won Gillian and me in the April (yes, April!) Support Stacie Auction. We are so, so sorry that this story has taken so long to materialise, and we hope you enjoy it despite its extreme lateness.
Bad Moon Rising
Chapter 1: The Fine Art of Running
“Run!”
“Why did I think you were gonna say that?”
“Cause what else d’you think I’d say when we’re bein’ chased by a horde of monkeys with flamin’ torches? Now shut up an’ run!”
She runs.
***
It started out as such a good day, too. She asked to go to an alien planet, because they seemed to be spending so much time on Earth lately. What’s the point of having a machine that can travel all over the universe if all she sees is her own planet?
So they ended up on Sanofil, a lush, green planet with lots of plant life and the perfect temperature for wandering around: not too hot, not too cool, and not a drop of rain in sight. For a change, they were just tourists, seeing the sights and eating the local food, though she refused to kiss any strangers, regardless of what the Doctor said.
The adventure’s fun, of course it is, and running for their lives is a good laugh a lot of the time, but every now and then it’s good to have a day when they’re not having to save a planet or escape from an evil megalomaniac, or wonder if they’ll ever see each other again.
And it was that kind of day... until they chose the wrong tree to sit under.
There they were, minding their own business, taking the weight off their feet for a while and munching on some nuts picked from the lowest-hanging branches, when suddenly a gang of anthropomorphic monkeys - yeah, that’s a word she’s picked up from the Doctor; who says she doesn’t have a good vocabulary? - appeared from nowhere, waving flaming torches at them and accusing them of violating the sacred arboretum. Whatever that is when it’s at home.
They make it back to the TARDIS just in time, hot from both the running and the torches, though she’s sure she can smell singeing as they finally slam the door in the face of the lead monkeys. “Is my hair burning?” she demands.
“Never mind your hair!” the Doctor retorts. “They almost set my jacket on fire. I love this jacket!”
She grabs him by the shoulders and turns him around. His jacket’s untouched. Not even a single scorch-mark. Huh. Shaking her head, she reaches for the back of her head. Damn. There’s some frizzy bits.
“Gonna have to get my hair cut now,” she says mournfully. “You’re gonna have to take me home for a bit.”
“What?” By the look on his face, anyone would imagine she’d demanded he step into a pit of poisonous snakes.
“Well, it’s either that or you take me to a decent shopping-centre where I can get it done.” Hands on hips, she tries to glare at him, but it’s not easy when his expression makes her want to burst out laughing. “Mum or shopping. Your choice.”
He mutters something she can’t hear, then stalks over to the console. In seconds, the central column is moving and they’re dematerialising.
***
The things he does for companions. And they never appreciate it. Always fussing and moaning, they are.
He takes her on a perfectly good trip to an alien planet, one she can actually walk around on without having to worry about breathable atmospheres and food that suits human digestive systems. He educates her as well as seeing that she has a good time, and even provides a bit of excitement towards the end - well, all right, he didn’t intend them to get chased by angry monkeys intent on incinerating them - and what thanks does he get? None. Instead, he has to take her back to Jackie Tyler, one of the most unreasonable aliens in the galaxy, just so she can get a tiny bit of burnt hair cut off.
If she’d give him a scissors, he’d do the job himself. But, oh, no. Has to be Jackie Tyler, or some posh stylist that’ll take two hours to get the job done while he cools his heels and waits for her.
Rose, leaning forward over the edge of the console next to him, tilts her head and grins up at him. His lips twitch, and after a moment he gives in and grins back.
“Monkeys! We were chased by a pack of monkeys!” She explodes with laughter.
“Been chased by apes before,” he tells her, “Plenty of times on your planet. But monkeys are a new one on me.”
She pretends to swipe at his arm, but she’s still grinning.
They’re arriving now, so he turns his attention to controlling their materialisation. It’s a bit rougher than he expects, and that’s weird, but it’s hardly the first time they’ve ended up on their arses on the floor. Or with bruises to show for it.
He jumps to his feet and extends his hand down to Rose, who rubs her backside as she gets up. “Need seatbelts in here, don’t you?”
“Take all the fun out of it, that would,” he retorts. “Anyway, your destination.” He gestures with an elaborate wave towards the door. “Bucknell House, the Powell Estate. Well, off you go, then!”
She grabs his hand. “You’re comin’ too! Don’t think you’re getting away without comin’ to say hello to Mum.”
That’s just what he hoped he was getting away with. Oh, he could refuse, of course. She’s got no way of forcing him. But if he’s stubborn and stays in the TARDIS he knows what’s going to happen. It’s not just that Rose will remind him about it every time he wants her to do something she’s not too keen on, but Jackie’ll take advantage of his absence to moan and bad-mouth him.
He sighs. “Best get it over with, then. I’m not stayin’ for tea, mind. Get that idea out of your head.”
Rose shrugs. “Who says you’d be invited?”
Outside, it’s a warm, sunny day. Rose immediately turns her face up to the cloudless sky, smiling widely as she basks in the warmth. Automatically, he follows her lead and glances upwards briefly. A shiver runs through him.
“Doctor? You okay?”
He dismisses the shiver. It was nothing. Just a premonition or something. Not important. “Fine, me. Come on, let’s get upstairs.”
Ahead, the door to the stairwell flies open abruptly, and a middle-aged woman rushes out. “Oi! You there! You can’t leave that thing there!”
He stares. The woman’s waving her arms in agitation, showing all the signs of someone demented. It’s broad daylight on a warm summer’s day, yet she’s wearing an old dressing-gown and a headscarf - and what’s that glint of silver he can see under the scarf? Alzheimer’s, clearly. It attacks at a younger age far more than humans like to think about.
“All right, love,” he says gently, walking quickly over to her. “Where d’you live? Let’s get you back up there.”
He tries to take her arm, but she pulls herself roughly away. “Keep your hands off me! An’ who are you callin’ love?” She points furiously at the TARDIS. “Told you, you can’t leave that there.”
He frowns, looking more closely at her. He was wrong. She’s not insane or befuddled. Her eyes are clear. “What d’you mean? Left it there lots of times.”
“Don’t care how many times you’ve done it before. You can’t leave it here now an’ that’s that. Don’t you read the papers? Watch the news?”
“No,” he says slowly. Something’s happened since they’ve been here. But what?
“Irresponsible, blokes like you.” The woman tuts angrily. “Just get it moved. I’m warning you, if it’s not gone in five minutes I’m callin’ the police. The Bomb Squad’ll be here lickety-split to blow it up.”
The bomb squad? He looks at Rose, and sees the same disbelief in her eyes. “Must be a new terrorism alert,” she murmurs.
Right, yeah. Humans always do tend to overreact to that sort of thing. Put all sorts of precautions in place, but only after the horse has bolted. He sighs audibly. “All right, all right. But I’m not movin’ it now. C’mon, Rose.”
He turns back towards the stairs, without waiting to see if the nosy neighbour is still watching. Humans. Right idiots, they are, getting worried over the most trivial of things and turning a blind eye to the real dangers. It’s all Millennium Bug and mad cow and sunspots, and when there’s aliens around trying to destroy their planet they’re sticking their fingers in their ears and pretending it’s not happening.
Sometimes, he really doesn’t know why he bothers.
***
She opens the door, ready to shout out. Then she spots her mum, standing in the hallway, hands just falling from her face, her eyes wide in terror. “God, you scared the life out of me!”
“Sorry.” She hurries over. “Would’ve called on the way up to say we were coming, but some busybody made a huge fuss about us parking the TARDIS outside.” She shakes her head in disbelief. “Real weirdo she was, too. She was wearing a dressing-gown, an’ would you believe it? She had tinfoil on her head!”
“Lots of people are wearin’ that now.” Her mum’s looking fine now. She’s over her shock. “And course you can’t leave that thing down there! Get towed away, it will.”
“You can’t tow the TARDIS away,” the Doctor says, his voice laced with scorn. “That woman said the Bomb Squad’d come and blow it up. What’s that all about? What’s got you lot all worked up now?”
“Oh, hark at Mister Know-it-all!” her mum crows, glaring at the Doctor. “Not so clever now, are you? You want to mind your manners if you want me to tell you stuff, you do.”
“Mum!” Exasperated, she grabs her mum by the shoulders and shakes her. “If there’s something going on, you need to tell us. Whatever you think of the Doctor, remember he saved your life last time we were here. He saved the entire planet. An’ if there’s something going on now you need his help.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she sees the Doctor grin smugly. “An’ you!” she exclaims, turning to him. “Enough smart-alec stuff, all right? This is my mother. Try bein’ nice to her, even if it is just for me.”
The Doctor gives her a long-suffering sigh. “If you insist.” He turns to her mum. “All right, Jackie. What’s going on? What happened to cause all this paranoia?”
Her mum collapses into the nearest armchair, as if her legs can’t hold her any more. When she looks up, her face is pale, her eyes are wide and it looks like she’s aged ten years.
“It all started a couple of months back. Everyone’s been terrified ever since, an’ the government keeps putting out new rules and warnings: do this, don’t do that, stay indoors at night, don’t talk to strangers. It’s like they think the end of the world’s coming!”
What? “You’re joking!” She drops down on the arm of the chair next to her mum and wraps her arm around her mother’s shoulders. “Why didn’t you call us? We’d’ve come back.”
Her mum shakes her head. “They told us not to use phones. Never know who’s listening to stuff like that, do you?”
“A couple of months ago, you said?” the Doctor cuts in before she can ask anything else. “What started it? What changed?”
“The moon, that’s what.” Her mum looks up again, and she’s scared and confused. “The night the jungle moon appeared.”
***
The jungle what? He blinks. "What jungle moon?"
Jackie looks at him like he's grown a second head. Mind, it is possible, but since he isn't regenerating that's not likely. "Didn't think to look up?" she asks, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
He bristles. "Thanks for that. That helps."
He can practically see Jackie using the anger like a cloak. Protective, that's it. "Go on, then! Look!"
There's something particularly wrong with him that he does as she says. Has to be. But he's curious. A jungle moon? Here? That's not right. What happened to the original moon?
Frowning, he moves to the windows and opens the curtains. Looking up, his frown only deepens.
That's not possible.
All right, it's possible, obviously, but this shouldn't be happening. Having another celestial body that close, it's bound to start impacting the weather and the tides, not to mention the question of what it all means. Planets - that's not a moon; it's approximately the same size as the Earth - don't spontaneously appear in the sky.
He needs the TARDIS. The sonic screwdriver won't do, at least not for this. "C'mon, Rose. TARDIS."
He's about to start walking when he finds his sleeve is being held. While he could break the hold easily enough, he's too surprised to find that Jackie has him in her grip. And not for a slap. "You're going to sort this?" she asks.
"Yes," he replies.
"Good. An' when you've done it, bring her back to me," she says. There are no requests to keep Rose safe. That’s a given. There are no requests to come back himself. But he didn't expect any.
He nods and she lets him go. Without bothering to look at Rose, he strides out of the flat to find himself looking at one of his worst nightmares. Police. Everywhere. Accompanied by the bomb squad. Surrounding his TARDIS.
Looks like that neighbour came through with her threat.
He hurries down the stairs, taking two at a time, with Rose close behind him. When he exits the building, he moves straight to the closest police officer, standing just behind crime scene tape. "Oi! What d'you think you're doin' with my TARDIS?" he asks, growling.
"Yours, you say?" the officer asks, eyes wide. "Wait there." The officer turns and walks towards an older man with greying hair stationed off to the side of the 'crime scene'. Crime scene. Ha! Idiots, this lot, all of them. "Inspector! This bloke says that box is his!"
He doesn't wait for the officer to get back with the inspector. Instead, he slips under the crime scene tape and holds it up for Rose. Once they're through, he walks towards the TARDIS.
He's somewhat stunned when someone blocks his path. It's the inspector that officer was after. "Where do you think you're going, mate?"
"To my TARDIS," he replies. "And you're going to let me."
"I am, am I? And why would I want to do that?"
He sighs and points upwards. "See that second planet of yours up there? That jungle moon you lot are so worried about that you've declared martial law? I'm going to do something about it. Best if you move out of the way and let me get on with it."
The inspector's eyes narrow. "And what makes you think you can do something about it?"
He grins. "I'm the Doctor."
"And how's that supposed to help?" the inspector asks.
"You'll see," he answers cryptically.
"What's in the box?"
"This and that. Mostly that," he retorts.
Rose nudges him with her elbow, a stern reminder to behave.
He sighs. "Fine. It's my ship. Now can I take my TARDIS and leave?" Not that he needs permission, of course, but he'd have to be blind to miss the various police officers that have surrounded them. He doesn't miss that each officer - or detective as the case might be - have their hands not-so-subtly resting on their weapons.
"Who-" the inspector begins, but he's stopped by another officer coming to join them.
"He's got permission, Inspector," the officer says, handing over a folder emblazoned with the words 'Top Secret'. "When I did a search on the word TARDIS, that's what came up. We've been ordered to let him go."
"By who?" the inspector asks.
"UNIT," the officer replies.
Ha! He knew that associating with that lot would be beneficial sometime in the future. Mind, he didn't care for it at the time, but he'd been carrying a lot of baggage then. Not that he isn't carrying more now. "Right, then. Thanks, Inspector. We'll be off. C'mon, Rose."
He brushes none-too-gently past the inspector and leads Rose back to the TARDIS. He slips a key into the lock, turns it, and lets them both back into the TARDIS.
Dismissing thoughts of the police and UNIT and other such considerations, he moves straight to the console and begins turning knobs and flipping switches. Grabbing the monitor, he rolls it around the centre console and stares at the readings.
"What is it?" Rose asks.
"Looks like remnants of an energy field. Looks familiar, though." He directs the sensors towards the jungle moon. Why is it familiar? He's got to think.
Wait. No, no, no. It can't be. He changes the setting on the sensors and there's the confirmation he didn't want to see.
"Doctor?" Rose prompts.
"It's Mondas," he replies.
"What?"
"Earth's sister planet. But that's not the problem. It's who that planet belongs to."
Rose doesn't ask him any more questions. Instead, she waits.
When she doesn't say anything, he explains. "Cybermen. Mondas is the home planet of the Cybermen."
***
tbc - Chapter 2: Mr Roboto