Meeting (1/14)
Title: Meeting
Author: Persiflage_1
Characters/Pairings: Eight/Martha
Rating: U
Spoilers: None
Summary: Martha Jones meets a man with two hearts.
Word Count: approx. 10,000 words
Disclaimer: The BBC owns "Doctor Who" and the Doctor owns me…
Author Notes: This is the first in my AU Season 3 series of stories featuring Martha Jones and the Eighth Doctor. It's a re-working of Russell T Davies' Smith and Jones because I think that episode is a good introduction to both Martha Jones and the Doctor.
Beta-d by padawanpooh.
This story is for bana05 to say thank you for being a fab friend!
~~~~~~
Prologue
The Doctor lay on the floor, the top half of his body under the TARDIS console. Scattered on the floor around him were a handful of tools and nearby was his case, full of yet more equipment. The TARDIS was in flight, having left behind Earth at the start of the 20th century. On the console above him a cup of tea was waiting and in the background a jazz recording was playing.
He shuffled out from under the console, blue eyes bright with satisfaction at the healthier sound of the TARDIS' engines: it had pained him to think of the Master interfering with his ship. He closed up his Sonic Screwdriver and tucked it into the pocket of his green velvet jacket.
"Now then, where shall we go?" he asked softly, listening to his ship's hum. He set the controls, then picked up his cup and saucer, carrying them over to the small table beside his favourite armchair. He put down his tea, then settled into his chair, putting his feet up on the footstool.
"Where was I? Ah yes." Ignoring the three books on the table by his right elbow, he picked up a book from the larger table on his left and looked for his place in Mr Wells' The Time Machine; smiling happily, he lost himself in his book.
* * * * * *
On Earth, in a busy London street, the morning commute was in full swing and amongst the people heading to work was one Martha Jones, a 23 year old medical student. Her mind was mostly focused on work: she would be doing rounds with Mr Stoker today, one of her least favourite consultants.
Her mobile rang and she pulled it out, smiling when she saw the caller ID. "You're up early! What's happening?" she asked her sister.
"It's a nightmare!" Tish answered. " 'cos Dad won't listen, and I'm telling you, Mum is going mental. Swear to God, Martha, this is epic. You've got to get in there and stop him!"
"Well how do I do that?" asked Martha, wondering how it was she always managed to get stuck as the family mediator.
"Just tell Dad he can't bring her," Tish answered.
Before Martha could respond, her phone beeped to tell her she had a call waiting. "Hold on, that's Leo, I'll call you back." She clicked a button to accept her brother's call, but before she could even speak he was in full flow.
"Martha, if Mum and Dad start kicking off, tell 'em I don't even want a party. I didn't even ask for one. They can give me the money instead."
Martha suppressed a sigh. "Yeah, but why do I have to tell them, why can't you?" Her phone beeped again. "Hold on, that's Mum. I'll call you back."
Like her son before her, Francine Jones didn't waste time in greeting her daughter. "I don't mind your father making a fool of himself in private," Much! thought Martha. "but this is Leo's twenty-first, everyone's going to be there, and the entire family is going to look ridiculous."
"Mum, it's a party, I can't stop Dad bringing his girlfriend," she protested as her phone beeped yet again. "Hold on, that's Dad. I'll call you back."
"Martha, now tell your mother, Leo is my son, and I'm paying for half that party, so I'm entitled to bring who I like." Clive Jones shared the family habit of not bothering with a proper greeting.
Martha sighed. "I know, but think what it's going to look like for Mum, if you're there with Annalise."
"What's wrong with Annalise?" asked Clive.
Before she could answer, Martha heard the young blonde speaking in the background. "Is that Martha? Say hi! Hi Martha! Hiiiii!"
"Hiiiii Annalise!" Unseen Martha rolled her eyes.
"Big kisses! Lots of love! See you at the party, babes!" Before she could answer, she heard Annalise speaking to her father. "Now take me shopping, big boy."
She heard them kissing and ended the call, feeling revolted. The next moment a man stepped in front of her, holding out a single dark pink rose.
"A pretty flower for a pretty lady," he told her, smiling. She found herself smiling back as she took in his brown curly hair and bright blue eyes, a dark green velvet jacket, pale brown trousers, a waistcoat, shirt and cravat. He looked, she thought, like he'd just stepped off the set of a period drama. He was still holding out the rose and she accepted it.
"Thank you," she said wonderingly. He smiled again, then gave her a little wave, before melting away into the crowd. She shook her head, smiling again: at least he seemed harmless for a nutter. She set off again, switching her phone off defiantly when it began to ring again.
She reached the hospital, passing the big sign that proclaimed it as the Royal Hope Hospital, and headed for the main entrance. A tall figure dressed all in black, like a motorcycle courier, barged past her, almost knocking her over as he passed, but he kept walking, as if oblivious to her.
"Oi! Watch it, mate!" Martha felt annoyed by his rudeness, but when he turned back and stared at her, his face hidden by the black visored helmet he wore, she couldn't help a little shiver of apprehension. He turned away again and continued inside and, after a moment, she followed, heading upstairs to her locker.
She opened her locker door, then carefully set the rose down on a shelf, slightly unsure about why she'd kept it, except that the man who'd given it to her had seemed so nice. She put her shoulder bag on the shelf behind it, then slipped off her jacket and pulled on a white coat instead. As she touched the locker door, a small spark of static electricity leapt at her fingers and she jerked her hand back, surprised. Cautiously she touched the door again, but it was clearly earthed now. Sighing, she closed and locked the door, then headed up to the female ward to meet the rest of her study group and the consultant, Mr Stoker.
The last patient on the female ward was Miss Florence Finnegan. She looked about 70, slightly frail and a bit genteel, like someone's gran, Martha thought as she watched Stoker taking Miss Finnegan's pulse.
"I was alright till this morning," she told Mr Stoker, "then - Oh, I don't know. I woke up and I was all dizzy again, it was worse than when I came in."
"Pulse is slightly thready," observed Stoker, sounding slightly pompous as usual. "Let's see what Britain's finest might suggest. Any ideas Morgenstern?"
"Uh, dizziness could be a sign of early onset diabetes?" Martha rolled her eyes unseen.
"Hardly early onset, if you'll forgive me, Miss Finnegan." He turned to Martha's friend Julia. "Any more ideas Swales?"
Julia hesitated, just as Morgenstern had: Stoker tended to have that effect on people. "Um, could recommend a CT scan?" she suggested.
"And spend all our money? Jones?"
Martha tried to think. "Um. We could take bloods and check for Meniere's disease?"
"Or we could simply ask the patient," Stoker retorted, clearly exasperated. "What did you have for dinner last night?"
"I had the salad," answered Miss Finnegan promptly.
"And the night before?" asked Stoker.
"Salad again."
"And salad every night for the past week, contrary to my instructions." He turned to the students. "Salt deficiency, that's all. Simple, honest salt."
Martha found herself tuning out Stoker's lecture as she thought of Leo's party tonight: secretly she was dreading it, foreseeing a huge row between her parents. She followed Stoker and the others as they headed out of the female ward towards the male one, and tried to focus again on Stoker's words.
"Hippocrates himself expounded on the virtues of salt. Recommended the inhalation of steam from seawater. Though no doubt, if he'd been afflicted with my students, his oaths might have been rather more colourful."
Martha rolled her eyes, then caught sight of the motorcycle courier she'd seen earlier, the one who'd nearly knocked her over: he was standing near the lifts. Strange he's still here she thought as they entered the male ward. She didn't see a second courier step from the lift and join the first; the pair marched off together.
As they approached the first bed, a male nurse joined their group; Stoker pulled back a curtain around the bed and Martha found herself looking at the man she'd seen earlier, the man who had given her the rose. She blinked in surprise.
"Now then, Mr Smith, a very good morning, and how are you today?"
She took in the paisley pyjamas he was wearing and the bright blue eyes beneath his curly brown hair.
"Oh, not so bad," answered Mr Smith. "Still a twinge here and there - " He gestured vaguely.
"John Smith, admitted yesterday with severe abdominal pains - Jones, why don't you see what you can find? Amaze me."
Patronising git, she thought as she moved around the bed, pulling her stethoscope from her pocket. "That wasn't very clever, running around outside, was it?" she admonished him.
Mr Smith gave her a genuinely puzzled look. "Sorry?"
"On Chancellor Street, this morning," Martha reminded him. "You came up to me and gave me a flower."
"Really? What did I do that for?"
Martha shrugged. "I don't know, you just did."
"Not me," he assured her. "I was here, in bed. You can ask the nurses."
She felt puzzled. "That's weird, 'cos it looked like you. Have you got a twin brother?"
"Not me."
Stoker cut in impatiently, "As time passes and I grow ever more infirm and weary. Miss Jones?"
"Sorry. Um, right." She tried to shake off the mystery, then put her stethoscope to the left side of his chest. She could hear his heart beating strongly, but it was almost as if there was an echo. She glanced up at the man's face and he gave her a smile, eyes twinkling with mischief. Without thinking she moved the stethoscope over to the right side of his chest, and there it was, a second heartbeat. Her eyes widened with surprise and she looked up into his face: he gave her a tiny wink.
"I weep for future generations," Stoker said, "but are you having trouble locating the heart, Miss Jones?"
Martha looked up at Stoker's disdainful face and sought to cover her mistake. "Um, I don't know. Stomach cramps?" she suggested, feeling flustered.
"That's a symptom, not a diagnosis," sighed the consultant. "And you rather failed basic techniques by not consulting first with the patient's chart." She cursed inwardly, knowing she'd been thrown by her conversation with Mr Smith. She watched as Stoker picked up the chart from the end of the bed, only to drop it again when a spark of static electricity zapped him.
"That happened to me this morning," she said, empathising with him in spite of herself.
"I had the same off the door handle," Morgenstern said.
"And me, in the lift," added Julia.
"Only to be expected," Stoker told them. "There's a thunderstorm moving in, lightning being a form of static electricity, as first proven by - anyone?"
"Benjamin Franklin," piped up Mr Smith.
"Correct."
"My old friend Ben," said Mr Smith with a dreamy smile. "That was quite a day. I got rope burns off his kite, and then I got soaked to the skin!"
"Quite." Stoker rolled his eyes, unseen by the patient.
"And then I got electrocuted!" added Mr Smith.
"Moving on." He turned to the nurse. "I think a visit from Psychiatric," he suggested. The nurse nodded and as they moved away, Martha looked back at the mysterious Mr Smith, intrigued, and found him grinning at her, his eyes full of merriment. She found herself smiling back automatically.
Mr Smith watched Miss Jones all the way out of the door, and Martha thought he looked pleased that she hadn't given him away.
At lunchtime Martha rang Tish, looking out at the rain as Julia made them both some coffee.
"Tish, listen, I've worked out a plan. We tell Annalise that the buffet tonight is 100% carbohydrate, and she won't turn up! "
Down in the street, a short distance from the hospital, Tish rolled her eyes. "I wish you'd take this seriously," she told her sister. "That's our inheritance she's spending, on fake tan! Tell you what, I'm not that far away, I'll meet you for a sandwich and we can draw up a battle plan."
"What, in this weather?" asked Martha incredulously. "I'm not going out, it's pouring down."
"Come on, it's not that bad," Tish said as she turned a corner, only to see heavy black clouds above the hospital. "Oh, take it back. God, that's weird, the storm's right on top of you. I can see it from here. It's right on top of the hospital."
"Well I'm definitely not going out then."
"No, I'd stay inside if I were you," Tish agreed. "It just looks - weird."
"Yeah, but anyway, I've got a plan, this is what we do." She turned away from the window as she spoke and saw Mr Smith, in pyjamas and a blue velvet dressing gown hurry past. He glanced in at her with a worried expression, but then he was gone. She gave herself a mental shake, then resumed her conversation with her sister. "We tell Dad and Annalise to get there early, about seven thirty, and we get Leo there at the same time so we can do all that birthday stuff. But we tell Mum to get there for about eight thirty, nine, and that gives me time to have a word with Annalise, and maybe I could tell her that - "
She broke off as she noticed Julia staring past her at the window, and put her hand over her phone. "What?"
"The rain," Julia answered.
"It's only rain," Martha said, slightly exasperated.
Then Tish spoke in her ear. "Martha, have you seen the rain?"
"Why's everyone fussing about rain?" She turned towards the window and realised with astonishment that the rain was running up the window.
"It's going up," Julia said.
She was echoed by Tish. "The rain is going up."
Martha closed her phone unthinkingly as she and Julia moved towards the window, staring in disbelief at the rain now pouring up into the sky.
Down in the street, Tish was also staring, her phone still at her ear, as the black clouds circled the hospital then lightning began flashing around the building, the bolts flying up from the ground to the clouds.
As Martha and Julia stood at the window there was a sudden brilliant flash of white light, and they both threw up their hands in an attempt to shield their eyes. The next moment the staff kitchen began to shake violently, as if they were caught in an earthquake. They were both thrown off their feet and tossed about, cupboards flying open and things falling out around them. Then, just as suddenly as it had started, the shaking stopped again, and silence fell.
"What the hell was that?" Martha demanded as she struggled to her feet.
"You all right?" asked Julia.
"Think so, yeah." They both got to their feet cautiously, shaking off shards of crockery. "That felt like an earthquake, or - " She broke off as she saw what Julia had just noticed.
"Martha, it's night." Outside the window everything was black. "But - it was lunchtime - "
They looked out of the window and Martha took in the sight of the Earth hanging in the night sky. "It's not night."
"But it's got to be," argued Julia stubbornly. "It's dark." She joined Martha at the window, staring in disbelief.
"We're on the Moon."
"We can't be!" Julia protested.
"We're on the Moon," Martha insisted. "We're on the bloody Moon!"
Back on Earth, Tish was racing towards the spot where the Royal Hope had been just a few moments before. As she reached the spot, she took in the sight of an enormous crater. "Oh my God!" She tried to get closer but a policeman stopped her. She pulled away from him, then moved sideways as she spoke frantically into her phone. "Martha, can you hear me? Are you there? Martha? Martha!" She didn't notice a big blue box just behind her.
Back in the hospital Martha ran down a corridor, Julia behind her, crying. She ignored the staff, patients and visitors around her who were crying, hugging and shouting for help. She reached another window and looked out, then ran on again, passing Miss Finnegan who was clutching a black handbag and still looking quite genteel in spite of the chaos around her.
"Have you seen Mr Stoker?" she asked.
"I'm sorry, I can't - " Martha left the sentence unfinished as she hurried on, turning through into the male ward, barely noticing the old man cowering in his bed, two more men crying on the floor, and Mr Smith standing by his bed. She headed for the window; behind her he drew the privacy curtains.
"Alright now, everyone back to bed. We've got an emergency, but we'll sort it out, don't worry." She reached the window, Julia close behind. "It's real. It's really real," she said wonderingly, then stretched up to open the window. "Hold on."
"Don't!" cried Julia, alarmed. "We'll lose all the air!"
Martha gave her a look, the one she always gave Julia when her friend was being slightly silly. "They're not exactly airtight. If the air was gonna get sucked out, it would've happened straight away, but it didn't, so how come?"
Behind her Mr Smith opened the curtains around his bed again. "Very good point!" he said cheerfully. "One might say brilliant, in fact. What was your name?"
Martha looked at him in surprise, noting he was fully dressed, wearing the same clothes she'd seen him wearing out in Chancellor Street. "Martha."
"And it was Jones, wasn't it?" She nodded. "Well Martha Jones, question is, how are we still breathing?"
He looked excited, Martha noticed, until Julia answered him. "We can't be." She was crying now.
But obviously we are," he pointed out. "Martha, what have we got, is there a balcony on this floor, or a verandah, or - ?"
He was looking at her expectantly. "By the patients' lounge, yeah."
"Fancy going out?" he asked, as if he already knew she'd agree.
"OK."
"We might die," he warned.
"We might not," she retorted.
He grinned widely, eyes sparkling with delight. "Good. Come on. Just you," he said, looking at Julia with disbelief before he rushed out.
Martha looked at her friend for a moment, before following him. She caught up with him, then took the lead, heading towards the patients' lounge, ignoring the people around her. She was too intent now on the mystery of how and why the hospital had been transported to the Moon.
They approached the French windows together, seeing the low-walled concrete verandah just beyond looking normal and ordinary. Mr Smith tried the handle, then looked at Martha. She gave him a little nod and they both took a deep breath before he opened the door. There was no outrush of air, so they both exhaled, then stepped out onto the verandah side by side.
"We've got air, then. How does that work?" she asked.
"Just be glad it does," he answered as they moved towards the wall and looked out at the surface of the Moon, and the Earth hanging in the sky.
"I've got a party tonight, my brother's twenty first." She looked over at the Earth. "Oh, my mother's gonna be - " She broke off as she realised there was nothing she could do for now.
"Are you all right?"
"Yeah."
"Sure?" Mr Smith looked at her and saw her mentally pulling herself together.
"Yeah." She sounded more confident the second time she said it.
"Do you want to go back in?" he asked, but Martha could tell he was hoping she would refuse.
"No way. 'Cos, I mean, we could die any minute, but all the same - " She smiled. "It's beautiful."
Mr Smith looked at her, saw the way her face had lit up as she smiled, and agreed with her. "Do you think?"
"How many people want to go to the Moon? And here we are."
"Standing in the Earthlight," he said softly.
"What d'you think happened?" Martha asked.
"What do you think?" he countered.
She looked out at the moonscape thoughtfully. "Extraterrestrial," she answered. "Got to be. I dunno, a few years ago, that would've sounded mad, but these days - That spaceship flying into Big Ben. Christmas. And those Cybermen things - "
She shrugged helplessly, wondering if he would think she was mad. "But I promise you, Mr Smith, we'll find a way out." Her manner was suddenly brisk, confident, composed. "If we can travel to the Moon, then we can travel back. There's got to be a way."
"It's not Smith, that's not my real name."
She looked surprised. "Who are you then?"
"I'm the Doctor."
"Me too, if I ever pass my exams," she said. "What is it then, Dr Smith?"
"Just the Doctor."
She frowned, puzzled. "How d'you mean, 'just the Doctor'?"
"Just, the Doctor."
"What, people call you 'the Doctor'?" she asked disbelievingly.
"Yes."
"Well I'm not," she said. "As far as I'm concerned, you've got to earn that title."
The Doctor smiled as he bent to pick up a stone from the ground. "I'd better make a start then," he said. "Let's have a look, there must be some sort of - " He threw the stone which hit something invisible and made an odd noise as it rippled with the stone's passage, "forcefield, keeping the air in."
"But if that's - " Martha paused, thinking. "Say it's like a bubble, sealing us in - that means this is all the air we've got. What happens when it runs out?"
He saw her point immediately. "How many people are in this hospital?"
She shrugged. "Dunno, a thousand?"
"One thousand people suffocating," he said softly, a harder look in his eyes.
"Why would anyone do that?" asked Martha worriedly.
Before the Doctor could answer they both heard a deep thrumming sound above them. Looking up they saw three spaceships come into view. "Ask them yourself," he said with a gesture.
The two of them watched as the spaceships, which looked like massive tubes, moved beyond the hospital. Legs appeared at the edges and held the ships steady as they landed.
Martha instinctively grabbed the Doctor's arm, vaguely aware of people screaming and crying out elsewhere in the hospital. As they continued to watch, they saw a hatch move upwards at the base of the cylinders, and ramps come down. A double line of figures marched out of the tubes and towards the hospital.
"Aliens! That's aliens, real proper aliens!"
"Judoon," the Doctor said quietly, his eyes never leaving the figures who were stomping towards them.
Elsewhere in the hospital, Florence Finnegan had tracked down the man she wanted. She found Mr Stoker in his office, staring out at the spaceships in disbelief, small binoculars in his hand. She stood in the doorway, clutching her handbag and looking frail.
"Mr Stoker? I'm sorry, I didn't know who else to ask, but can you help me?"
Stoker turned to her with a bitter laugh. "Oh I think we've gone beyond aspirin, Miss what-was-it?"
"Finnegan." She hid her contempt from him.
"Names! What does it matter?" he asked rhetorically. "What are names now, when something unnameable is marching towards us? Across the Moon! Two more years, I thought, just two more years, then I can retire to Florida. But there's Florida, in the sky - I can see it!" He spoke more quietly. "My daughter, she's still at university. I'm never going to see her again."
Miss Finnegan ignored this. "But I need help, Mr Stoker."
"I can't do anything!" he answered, wondering why she persisted in bothering him.
"Oh I think you can," she said quietly as two motorcycle couriers came to stand beside her. She spoke more coldly, yet still politely. "You see, there are great tests to come. And terrible deeds, some of them my own. But if I'm to survive this, then I need you."
Stoker looked at her bewildered. "I'm sorry, but what do you two want? It's a bit late to sign for something."
"These are my lovely boys," she told him. "I prefer not to get my hands dirty."
"What are you talking about?" he wondered.
"Blood. Specifically, yours." She snapped her fingers and the two couriers moved forward to grab Stoker.
"What are you doing?" he demanded, trying to struggle. "What the hell - ? Get off me, let go of me!" But the two figures held him firmly by the arms as Miss Finnegan moved towards him.
"You see, I was only salt deficient because I'm so very good at absorbing it. And now I need some fire in my veins. Who better than a consultant, with his blood full of salty fat and vintage wine and all those Michelin-starred sauces?" She smacked her lips in anticipation.
"Who are you?"
"Oh, I'm a survivor, Mr Stoker. At any cost. And look - " She opened her handbag and pulled out a bendy straw. "I even brought a straw!" She smiled terribly at him, then moved in. His screams went unheard amidst the cries and screams from the reception area as the Judoon began marching through the forcefield and into reception.
The staff, patients and visitors all turned and ran; they huddled in small, terrified groups amongst the seats and cowered in fear of the menacing black uniformed figures. Only Morgenstern seemed fascinated rather than terrified as he took in the big, brutish figures dressed in black, studded leather uniforms. Each figure wore hefty boots and an oddly-shaped shiny black helmet.
One of the figures reached up and twisted a clasp at his neck, there was a hiss of depressurisation and then he lifted off his helmet to reveal the head of a rhino with grey leathery skin and a fierce-looking horn.
"Bo! Sco! Fo! Do! No! Kro! Blo! Co! Sho! Ro!" shouted the Captain, and all the Judoon stomped into position, raising their weapons simultaneously.
Morgenstern stepped towards the figure. "Um. We are citizens of Planet Earth. We welcome you in peace."
The Captain grabbed his arm and backed him up against the wall, then held him there whilst he shone a short, red, cylindrical device against Morgenstern's throat.
"No, don't hurt me! I was trying to help. I'm sorry. Don't hurt me, please don't hurt me," he begged.
The Captain held up the device, then pressed a button and Morgenstern's voice played back, fast and high-pitched, the Captain jammed the device into a nozzle on his own chest. It whirred, he shuddered, then spoke in a deep guttural voice. "Language assimilated. Designation: Earth English. You will be catalogued."
He held up a second, smaller tube-like device and shone a blue light on Morgenstern's forehead. The device made an odd wip-wip noise.
"Category: Human," announced the Captain before flipping the device around and drawing a large X on the back of Morgenstern's hand. Then he spoke to his troops, "Catalogue all suspects!"
As the Judoon troops moved forward, scanning and marking each person, Martha and the Doctor arrived on the mezzanine level above the reception area.
"What are Judoon?" asked Martha quietly.
"They're like police," the Doctor answered just as quietly, although the Judoon and the scanners were making enough noise to cover their conversation. "Well, police-for-hire, more like interplanetary thugs."
"And they brought us to the Moon?"
"Neutral territory," explained the Doctor. "According to Galactic Law, they've got no jurisdiction over the Earth. So they isolated us. The rain and the lightning, that was them, using an H2O Scoop."
Martha gave him a look compounded of puzzlement and disbelief. "What are you on about, Galactic Law? Where d'you get that from?"
The Doctor didn't answer as he was too busy moving around for a better view whilst still staying out of sight. She followed as another question occurred to her.
"If they're police, are we under arrest? Are we trespassing on the Moon or something?"
He gave her a warm smile. "No, but I like that, it's good thinking. I wish it was that simple. If they're making a catalogue, that means they're after something non-Human. Which is very bad news for me."
"Why?"
He looked at her, one eyebrow raised and that mischievous smile back on his face as he saw doubt and disbelief warring in her face.
"No, you're kidding me." She paused, remembering that second heartbeat she'd seemed to hear. "Don't be ridiculous," she said, more to herself than to him. "Stop looking at me like that!" She felt flustered by his obvious amusement.
He gave her a wink, then headed towards the stairs. "Come on then." She followed, intrigued.
As they moved they heard the Judoon Captain telling Troop Five to search Floor One and Troop Six to search Floor Two. "Identify Humans and find the transgressor! Find it!" he ordered.
Martha ran along a corridor with the Doctor. They were somewhere on Floor Six, but she had no idea where they were going as they hurried around groups of people who were huddled miserably here and there.
Down on the first floor Morgenstern accompanied the Judoon as they prepared to catalogue people, many of whom were panicking at the sight of the Captain.
"Just do what they say," Morgenstern called out. "All they want to do is shine this light thing. It's all right, they're not gonna hurt us. Just listen to them."
He watched helplessly as one man picked up a vase and cracked it over the nearest Judoon, smashing the vase to pieces.
"Charge: physical assault. Plea: guilty. Sentence: execution," intoned the Judoon Captain.
Morgenstern watched in horror as the Captain lifted up his gun and fired a red beam of energy that wrapped around the man and disintegrated him. He winced even as he protested. "You didn't have to do that."
"Justice is swift," answered the Captain tonelessly.
Upstairs, unaware of all this, the Doctor was sitting at a computer at the nurses' station, using a strange-looking tool on it as he tried to access the patient records. Martha hurried up.
"They've reached the third floor," she told him. "What's that thing?"
"Sonic Screwdriver," answered the Doctor absently, still trying to get some information from the computer.
"Well if you're not gonna answer me properly - "
"No, it really is," he said, as he turned around to show her the long, slender, silver device in his hand. "It's a screwdriver and it's sonic."
"What else have you got? Laser spanner?" Martha was only half serious.
"I had one, but it was stolen by Emily Pankhurst." He shook his head. "Cheeky woman." He looked back at the computer screen. "What's wrong with this thing? Oh! The Judoon must have locked it down." He rubbed a finger across his top lip. "I was just passing you see. Thought I'd stop off and see London again before I left Earth. But then I noticed the plasma coils around the hospital and I got worried, so I checked in." He glanced across at Martha, who was staring at him in rapt fascination. "I thought something was going on inside. Turned out the plasma coils were the Judoon up above."
Martha only half understood what he was saying, but she asked the obvious question. "What are they looking for?"
"Something that looks Human, but isn't," answered the Doctor.
"Like you, apparently." She still only half-believed he wasn't Human, even if he did dress like an eighteenth century gentleman.
"Like me," he agreed. "But not me."
"Well haven't they got a picture?"
His mouth turned down. "It might be a shape-changer."
"Well whatever it is, can't you just leave the Judoon to find it?" she asked.
"If they declare the Hospital guilty of harbouring a fugitive, they'll sentence it to execution."
"What all of us?" asked Martha, horrified.
"I'm afraid so. But if I can find this thing first - " He broke off and looked at the screen. "Oh! Do you see? The Judoon, they've wiped the records! That's a bit stupid."
"What are we looking for?"
"I don't know, say any patient admitted in the past week with unusual symptoms." He turned his attention back to the computer. "Maybe there's a back up?"
"You keep working, I'll go and ask Mr Stoker, he might know." She hurried out and down the corridor to Mr Stoker's office. She gave a quick knock. "Mr Stoker?" She went in without waiting for permission to enter, knowing this was urgent.
She stopped dead when she saw the motorcycle courier she'd seen earlier, this time accompanied by his twin, standing stock still behind Stoker's desk. She looked down and saw Stoker's legs sticking out from behind the desk, as if he was lying down. As she stared, trying to figure out what was happening, Miss Finnegan straightened up from behind the desk, a glint in her eye and a chilling smile on her lips. Her lips were very red and Martha's mind jumped to vampire movies even as her eyes noted the straw she held, from which a drop of blood now fell.
"Kill her," ordered Miss Finnegan.
As one of the couriers started forward Martha bolted from the room, slamming the door shut behind her. She ran straight into the Doctor, who was wandering down the corridor, with a pleased smile on his face.
"Martha, I restored the back up."
She spoke over him. "I found her!"
"You did what?" he asked, not quite believing her.
Before she could explain the door to Stoker's office crashed off its hinges and a courier strode out. The Doctor took one look, then grabbed Martha's hand. "Run!"
She didn't need to be told twice and they shot off down the corridor, leaping over people. She dropped his hand, knowing it was easier to run fast if they weren't holding hands, even if it was a comfort. They ran into the stairwell, down a flight of stairs, but a troop of Judoon were heading up towards them, even as the courier came down the stairs above them. The Doctor charged through the door onto Floor Five, Martha close behind. They were on the floor where clinics were held, and the corridors had never seemed so long and endless to Martha as they charged along. They swung around a corner, down another long corridor, then the Doctor grabbed her and swung her into a shorter side corridor. They charged into a room and the Doctor aimed his Sonic at the lock, then pushed Martha towards an area screened off by glass and wooden panels.
"When I say now, press the button," he told her hurriedly.
"But I don't know which one," she objected. She hadn't been trained to use X-Ray machines.
"Find out!" he exclaimed before grabbing the X-Ray camera even as the courier slammed into the door. Martha grabbed the Operator's Manual as the Doctor used his Sonic on the camera and made it more mobile. The courier slammed into the door a second time as the Doctor jammed the Sonic into the camera's works; the third time the courier hit the door, it crashed off its hinges and into the room. The Doctor aimed the camera like a gun as the courier was framed in the doorway.
"Now!"
Martha hit the button and there was a blinding flash of intense white light, then the Courier toppled to the ground.
"What did you do?" she asked nervously.
"Increased the radiation by 5000%," he said calmly. "Killed him."
She tried not to gape. "But - isn't that gonna kill you?"
"No, it's only Roentgen radiation," he assured her. "We used to play with Roentgen bricks in the nursery. It's safe for you to come out now, I've absorbed it all."
She stepped into the main room, staring, as he began to shake and shudder.
"I just need to expel it. If I concentrate, I can shift the radiation out of my body and into one spot." His hand dived into a pocket of his coat and he pulled out a yellow sou'wester hat, which he clapped onto his head and held there as he screwed up his face in concentration.
"Ooh, ah! Here we go, easy does it."
As Martha watched the hat seemed to rise up against his attempts to hold it on his head. "Got it!" he said, snatching the hat from his head and binning it in the yellow plastic-lined sharps/waste bin.
She stared at him, his hair sticking up as if he'd shoved his finger into an electrical socket. "You're completely mad," she told him.
He gave her that mischievous smile again. "You're right, I do look a bit silly." He rubbed his hands over his hair, which settled back down.
She shook her head, then approached the Courier. "So what's that thing and where's he from?"
The Doctor knelt down opposite her. "It's a Slab, a basic slave drone." He squeezed the arm nearest to him. "Solid leather, all the way through, you see." He gave her that mad smile again. "Someone's got a fetish."
Martha tried not to blush as he got up and pulled his Sonic from the X-Ray machine. Then she remembered something. "But it was that woman, Miss Finnegan," she told him. "It was working for her."
"My Sonic Screwdriver!" he exclaimed, distracted by its burnt out state.
"She was one of the patients, but - Mr Stoker, she killed him."
"It burnt out my Sonic Screwdriver."
"She had this straw, like some sort of vampire."
"I loved my Sonic Screwdriver," lamented the Doctor.
"Doctor!" Martha winced inwardly as she realised how like her mother she sounded.
"Sorry." He threw the burnt out Sonic over his shoulder, then smiled at her in pleased realisation. "You called me Doctor."
"Anyway. Miss Finnegan is the alien. She was drinking Stoker's blood."
"Funny time to take a snack," he mused. "You'd think she'd be hiding. Unless - No! Yes!! That's it! Yes! Shape-changer, an internal shape-changer! She wasn't drinking the blood, she was assimilating it."
Downstairs, Miss Finnegan stepped out into a corridor, calmly dabbing at her lips as a Judoon troop burst through the door.
"Prepare to be catalogued!" shouted the Captain as people attempted to flee. But Miss Finnegan just stood waiting confidently.
Back upstairs the Doctor was explaining things to Martha. "If she can assimilate Mr Stoker's blood, she can mimic the biology and she'll register as Human."
The Judoon Captain scanned Miss Finnegan. "Human." He marked an X on the back of her hand, then continued down the corridor, whilst she held up her hand, admiring the X and smiling.
"We've got to find her and show the Judoon," the Doctor told Martha. "Come on."
They ran out, but they didn't get far before they spotted the second Slab. The Doctor pushed Martha down beside a water cooler and they waited tensely whilst it scanned up and down the corridor before it strode off.
"That's the thing about Slabs," he told her quietly. "They always travel in pairs."
"And what about you?" she asked curiously.
"What about me what?" he countered.
"Haven't you got back-up? You must have a partner or something."
He smiled indulgently. "That's what I like about Humans. We're stuck on the Moon, running out of air, with Judoon and a bloodsucking criminal on the loose, and you're asking personal questions." He straightened up cautiously. "Come on." He stepped away and Martha followed.
"Oh I like that, 'Humans'! I'm still not convinced you're an alien."
As they went around the corner they found themselves facing three Judoon, one of whom immediately scanned the Doctor.
"Non Human," it intoned as the device made a shrieking noise.
"Oh my God, you really are!" exclaimed Martha in shock.
The Doctor grabbed her hand. "And again," he said, as they ran away. Behind them the Judoon raised their weapons and fired, just as the Doctor pulled Martha around a corner. Glancing back, Martha saw that the weapons had left three burnt patches on the wall. They hurtled up a flight of stairs, the Judoon lumbering in pursuit.
The Doctor hurried Martha through a door, which he locked behind them, and they raced along another corridor where people were sitting in ones and twos, all of them marked with the Judoons' X. Many of them were using oxygen masks.
"They've done this floor," the Doctor told Martha. "Come on." They turned into another corridor, but Martha stopped near her friend Julia, who was helping a woman with oxygen.
Martha knelt down beside them. "How much oxygen is there?"
"Not enough for all these people," Julia answered.
"How d'you feel," the Doctor asked Martha. "Are you all right?"
She smiled up at him. "Running on adrenalin."
He gave a wry smile. "Welcome to my world."
"What about the Judoon?" asked Martha.
"They've got great big lung reserves, it's not going to slow them down." He scanned the corridor. "Where's Mr Stoker's office?"
"This way," she answered, moving in front of him.
A short distance down the corridor they reached the side corridor that led to Stoker's office. The Doctor moved in front of Martha, putting out a warning hand. They stepped forward quietly, ignoring the damaged door on the floor. Stepping inside they found the office was empty.
"She's gone, but she was here - "
The Doctor moved to examine Mr Stoker's body which lay wide-eyed on the carpet, a strange grey tone to his skin.
"She's drained him dry," he said quietly, sounding sorrowful. "Every last drop. I was right, she's a Plasmavore."
"What's she doing on Earth?"
"Hiding, on the run, like Ronald Biggs in Rio de Janeiro." He stood up. "But what's she doing now? She's still not safe, the Judoon could execute us all." He moved towards the door. "Come on."
"Wait a minute." Martha knelt beside Stoker's body, closing his eyes with a gentle touch, then stood up, looking down at him. She hadn't liked him much - he was condescending and didn't take enough of an interest in the patients, but he hadn't deserved to die like that, either. The Doctor watched her silently, respect and admiration for her in his eyes, then he moved towards the door and Martha followed him.
Out in the corridor the Doctor was thinking aloud. "If I was a wanted Plasmavore, surrounded by police, what would I do?" He looked around and spotted the MRI sign. "Uh oh."
There was a crash at the other end of the corridor as the Judoon burst through the door.
"Find the Non Human!" ordered the Captain. "Execute!"
The Doctor turned to Martha, putting his hands on her shoulders and looking at her. "Martha, I need time. I need you to stay here and hold them up."
She looked puzzled. "How do I do that?"
"I'm going to give you a temporary DNA transfer - it'll slow them down for a little while. Forgive me, this is taking a great liberty, for which I apologise." He leant forward and kissed her thoroughly, his hands gently cupping her face.
A moment later he rushed away and Martha, feeling dazed, murmured. "Don't apologise."
The Doctor ran down another corridor, then spotted the door to the MRI room, around the edges of which blue light was flickering. He hurried over to the door, then eased it open slowly and stepped inside, taking in the light flickering around the MRI scanner against one wall. In the observation area an old lady was fiddling with a handful of wires whilst various machines whirred and hummed with energy. As she turned and stepped in the room, the Doctor spoke, sounding breathless, disbelieving and, above all, Human.
"Have you seen?! There are these things, these great big Space Rhino things. I mean, Rhinos from space! And we're on the Moon! Big space Rhinos with guns, on the Moon! I only came in for my bunions! Perfectly good treatment, too, and the nurses were lovely. But now we're on the Moon! And did I mention the Rhinos?!
The Plasmavore gave him a contemptuous look before speaking to someone behind him. "Hold him." The Doctor found his arms pinned to his side and looked up to see the second Slab gripping him.
Out in the middle of the corridor Martha stood alone, facing down the Judoon who were rushing towards her. "Now listen, I know who you're looking for. She's this woman who calls herself Florence - "
Before she could finish, the Judoon Captain scanned her. "Human." Then his scanner made an odd noise. "Wait! Partial Non Human!" Behind him the Judoon raised their guns and Martha subdued a flare of panic as the Captain shone his scanner over her mouth. "Non Human element confirmed! Authorise full scan!" He pushed her roughly against the wall and the other Judoon closed in and shone their scanners on her. Martha swallowed down her fear.
"What are you? What are you?" asked the Captain, clearly perplexed.
She hoped they'd take a little while to decide, thereby giving the Doctor more time for whatever he was doing.
Meanwhile the Doctor watched the Plasmavore as she calmly adjusted the equipment. "That big metal thing - is it supposed to be making that noise?" he asked.
"You wouldn't understand," she told him.
"But isn't that a Magnetic Resonance Imaging thing? Like, a huge magnet?"
"A magnet with its settings now increased to 50,000 tesla," she answered.
"That's a bit strong, isn't it?"
"It'll send out a magnetic pulse that should fry the brainstem of any living thing within two hundred and fifty thousand miles. Except for me, safe here."
"But - hold on -doesn't that distance include the Earth?"
"Only the side facing the Moon," she answered. "The other half will survive. Call it my little gift."
"But - you'll have to excuse me, I'm a bit out of my depth - I've spent the past fifteen years working as a postman, hence the bunions - but why would you do that?"
"With everyone dead, the Judoon ships are mine, to make my escape," she told him.
"But that's weird. You're talking like some sort of alien."
"Quite so," she agreed.
"No!"
"Oh yes."
"You're joking?"
"I am not."
"I'm talking to an alien? In hospital?" he asked incredulously. "What, has this place got an ET department?"
"It's the perfect hiding place," the Plasmavore told him. "Blood banks downstairs for a midnight feast. And all this equipment, ready to arm myself, if the police should come looking."
"So - those rhinos, are looking for you?" asked the Doctor.
She held up her hand, showing him the X. "Except I'm hidden."
"Oh right. Could that be why they're increasing their scans?"
"They're doing what?" she asked in alarm.
He nodded. "The Chief rhino, he said, no sign of Non Human, increase our scans up to setting two."
"Then I must assimilate again," she said thoughtfully.
"What does that mean?"
"I must appear to be Human."
"Well you're very welcome to come home with me, we can have tea and cake."
"Why would I have cake?" she asked, digging in her handbag. "I've got my little straw."
He looked at her, the picture of wide-eyed bafflement. Then he smiled. "That's nice. Milkshake? I like banana."
The Plasmavore stepped closer, studying him. "You're quite the funny man," she observed. "And yet, I think, laughing on purpose at the darkness. I think it's time you found some peace." She spoke to the Slab. "Steady him!"
The Doctor found his head tilted to one side, his neck exposed. "What are you doing?"
"I'm afraid this is going to hurt," she told him. "But if it's any consolation, the dead don't tend to remember." She stepped up to him, smiling her chilling smile, then pushed the straw into his neck.
Out in the corridor the Judoon Captain drew an X on the back of Martha's hand. "Confirm: Human. Traces of facial contact with Non Human." He turned to the other Judoon. "Continue the search!" Then he handed a slip of plastic paper. "You will need this."
"What's that for?" she asked puzzled.
"Compensation," he informed her before stomping away. Martha stared at the slip a moment longer, then hurried after the Judoon.
The Doctor was dying as the Plasmavore drained his blood. Around the scanner the crackles of electricity had intensified, the machine humming furiously.
Moments later the Judoon charged into the room with Martha close behind. The Slab dropped the Doctor immediately and the Plasmavore hastily tucked away her straw.
"Now see what you've done? Poor man just died of fright," she informed them.
"Scan him!" ordered the Judoon Captain. The Judoon obeyed as Martha hurried in, only to be held back by a Judoon. She could see the Doctor lying on the floor, his eyes closed. "Confirmation: deceased."
"No, he can't be!" Let me through, let me see him," begged Martha struggling.
"Case closed," announced the Captain.
"But it was her!" protested Martha in anguish. "She killed him, she did it, she murdered him."
"Judoon have no authority over Human crime," answered the Captain impassively.
"But she's not Human!"
"Oh, but I am," the Plasmavore assured them. "I've been catalogued." She showed them the X on her hand.
"But she's not," argued Martha. "She assimilated - " She stopped as she realised just what the Doctor had done. "Wait a minute, you drank his blood? The Doctor's blood?" She grabbed a scanner from the nearest Judoon and pointed it at the Plasmavore.
"I don't mind, scan all you like," she said calmly.
The scanner shrieked just as it had when a Judoon had scanned the Doctor. "Non Human!" exclaimed the Captain.
"What?" asked the Plasmavore incredulously.
"Confirm analysis!" The Captain waited as the other Judoon pulled out their scanners.
"But that's a mistake," the Plasmavore insisted, panicking. "It's got to be. I'm Human, I'm as Human as they come!"
"He gave his life so they'd find you," Martha said quietly.
"Confirm: Plasmavore! Charged with the crime of murdering the Child Princess of Padrivole Regency Nine - " recited the Captain, only to be interrupted by the Plasmavore.
"And she deserved it! Those pink cheeks and blonde curls, and that simpering voice! Oh, she was begging for the bite of a Plasmavore!"
"Then you confess?" asked the Captain.
"Confess? I'm proud of it! Slab, stop them!" The courier stepped forward as the Plasmavore hurried behind the separating wall, but a Judoon fired and the Slab disintegrated in a burst of red energy.
"Verdict: guilty. Sentence: execution!" commanded the Captain. All the Judoon raised their weapons, looking like a firing squad as they faced the Plasmavore who was viciously jamming two circuits together.
"Enjoy your victory, Judoon," she cried. " 'Cos you're going to burn with me! Burn in Hell!"
Martha ducked down, her hands over her ears as the Judoon fired simultaneously, the energy of their weapons melting a hole in the glass before it disintegrated the screaming Plasmavore. As the Judoon lowered their weapons, Martha pushed through them to the Doctor's side.
"Case closed," announced the Captain.
The scanner was now surging with power, small bursts of lightning crackling across it.
"But what did she mean, burn with me?" asked Martha. "The scanner shouldn't be doing that, she's done something to it."
The Captain stepped forward and used his scanner. "Scans detect lethal acceleration of mono-magnetic pulse," he stated calmly.
"Well do something, stop it!" cried Martha desperately.
"Our jurisdiction has ended. Judoon will evacuate."
"What?! But you can't just leave it! What's it gonna do?"
The Captain ignored her and spoke into a communications device. "All units! Withdraw!"
They stomped out, ignoring Martha as she yelled after them from the doorway. "You can't just go! That thing's gonna explode, and it's your fault!" Dizzily she hurried back into the room, ignoring the computer screen that now read 'magnetic overload'. She knelt down beside the Doctor, muttering frantically. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon."
She began to give him CPR, breathing into his mouth, then compressing his chest. As she gave him mouth-to-mouth the second time, she suddenly remembered that he had two hearts. Immediately she pumped the left side of his chest, then the right side, then gave him mouth-to-mouth again. She put all her energy and strength into her hands and arms, as she ignored her own dizziness until she took one final deep breath of air and passed it on to the Doctor.
Unbelievably his breath sucked in, then his eyes flickered open.
"The scanner - " Martha gasped. "She did something - " She sagged to the floor as he pushed himself up, coughing weakly. "The air - I gave you the last," she told him, then passed out.
The Doctor blinked, then shook his head as he tried to process what was happening. He struggled to his feet, then staggered across to the observation area, looking at the circuitry that the Plasmavore had cannibalised. Automatically he reached into his pocket for his Sonic before he remembered that it was gone. He looked down at the wires, his vision still swimming, and saw a thick red one and a thick blue one.
"Red or blue? Red or blue?" he muttered to himself. "Blue. No!" He yanked out the red wire and the scanner fell still and silent. Breathing heavily, he moved to Martha's side and with more strength that it seemed possible he possessed, he lifted her from the floor, carried her out into the corridor, then into a ward and over to the window, ignoring the unconscious people huddled around. He looked out of the window and saw the Judoon ships taking off.
"Come on, come on" he muttered. "Please, please." The next moment there was a flash of lightning, then it began to rain.
The Doctor smiled in delight. "It's raining, Martha. It's raining on the Moon!"
There was a brilliant flash of intense white light, then the Hospital was transported back to London. Tish stared in astonishment, then rushed forward, searching desperately for her little sister amongst the chaos of police and paramedics administering oxygen, or talking to those capable of making statements.
Martha sat on the back step of an ambulance, waiting to be given the all-clear. Then she set off across the Hospital forecourt, passing Morgenstern who was talking to a policeman.
"I was like an ambassador," he was saying self-importantly. "I represented the Human race. I told them, you can't do this, I said - "
Martha passed out of earshot, then looked up as she heard her name being called, and saw Tish pushing through the crowd. Martha smiled, then looked past her sister to see a distant figure in a velvet green coat waving to her as he approached a big blue box.
Tish grabbed her in a hug. "Oh my God! I thought you were dead. What happened? It was so weird! The police wouldn't say what was going on, they didn't have a clue, and I tried phoning you. Mum's on her way, but she can't get through, they've closed off the roads. There's thousands of people trying to get in, the whole city's come to a halt. And Dad phoned, 'cos it's on the news and everything, he was crying! Oh my God, I've been a mess, but what happened, I mean what really happened, where were you?"
Martha tried to focus on her sister's questions as she also tried to see where the Doctor was heading, but then a bus passed and he was gone from sight. Suddenly, ridiculously, she felt quite alone.
* * * * * *
A few hours later her family were engaged in yet another blazing row as Annalise stormed out of the pub where they'd all met for Leo's 21st birthday party.
"I am not staying in there to be insulted!" shouted Annalise as Clive and Francine followed her out.
"She didn't mean it sweetheart," wheedled Clive. "She was just saying you look healthy."
"No I did not," corrected Francine angrily. "I said orange!"
"Clive, that woman is disrespecting me! She's never liked me!"
"Oh, can't think why," Francine exclaimed sarcastically, "after you stole my husband!"
"I was seduced!" protested Annalise. "I'm entirely innocent, tell her, babes!" she appealed to Clive.
"And then, she has a go at Martha," Francine said hotly. "Practically accused her of making the whole thing up."
Tish, Leo and Martha had followed their parents outside and Martha spoke up. "Mum, I don't mind, just leave it."
"Oh, 'I've been to the Moon!'" sneered Annalise. "As if! They were drugged, it said so on the News!"
"Since when did you watch the News?" asked Francine. "You can't even handle Quizmania!"
"Make her apologise!" Annalise demanded, glaring at Clive.
"Annalise started it," interjected Tish. "I heard her."
"I can't make her do anything!" Clive told Annalise.
Leo chipped in. "Tish, don't make it worse."
"Come off it, Leo!" exclaimed Tish. "What did she buy you? Soap!! A 75 pence soap!"
Annalise stormed off, followed by Clive and Leo. "I'm never talking to your family again!" she shouted.
"Annalise, don't you dare! I'm putting my foot down! This is me, putting my foot down!" shouted Clive.
"Let her go, Dad," Leo advised. "We don't need her, come back inside, come on - "
Francine shouted angrily after Clive. "Have a nice party, Clive! Go on, cavort with your little piece! Make a fool of yourself! God knows you've been doing it for twenty five years, why stop now?" She stormed away and Tish ran after her.
"Oh Mum, don't! I asked the DJ and he's playing that song later, he's playing Popcorn, like we did when we were little, don't go - "
Martha watched silently, forgotten and exhausted, as her family scattered into the night. Then she glanced up and saw a familiar figure smiling at her across the street. He beckoned and she hurried towards him, following as he stepped back around the corner of the building he'd been leaning against.
He smiled again, eyes bright with mischief and amusement as she hurried up the alley to find him leaning on the tall blue box she'd seen earlier.
"I went to the Moon today," she said.
He nodded. "Bit more peaceful than down here."
"You never even told me who you are."
He raised an eyebrow. "The Doctor."
"But what sort of species? It's not every day I get to ask that," she observed, smiling wryly.
"I'm a Time Lord," he told her.
She raised an eyebrow in turn. "Sounds a bit pompous," she teased.
He laughed, then pulled a Sonic Screwdriver from his right hand pocket. "I just thought, since you saved my life, and I've got a brand new Sonic Screwdriver in need of a road-test, that you might fancy a trip."
He waited eagerly, hoping she'd say yes.
"What, into space?" she asked disbelievingly. "I can't, I've got exams, things to do. I've got to go into town first thing and pay the rent, and I've got my family going mad - " She broke off, feeling slightly disappointed at herself for turning him down.
"If it helps, I can travel in time, as well," he said.
"Get out of here!"
"I can," he told her.
"Oh come on, that's going too far," she protested.
He pulled a dark pink rose from his other pocket, identical to the one she had pinned in her hair before leaving for Leo's party, and slipped it into his buttonhole. Then he winked. "I'll prove it." He disappeared into the box, which itself disappeared with a grinding noise.
Martha stared in wonder, then stepped forward, reaching out the hand that wasn't clutching her favourite red leather jacket, half convinced it was an illusion. Then she heard the engines again and darted back out of the way.
The box reappeared and the Doctor stepped out, the buttonhole in his jacket empty and he pointed to the rose in her hair. "Told you," he said quietly.
"No, but - that was this morning. But - Did you just - ? Oh my God, you can travel in time! But hold on, if you could see me this morning, why didn't you tell me not to go to work?"
"Interfering with established events is strictly forbidden," he told her gently.
"And that's your spaceship?" Martha asked, stepping closer again.
He nodded. "She's called the TARDIS. Time And Relative Dimensions In Space."
She ran a hand down the edge of the box. "Your spaceship is made of wood," she observed. "Doesn't look like there's much room - won't it be a bit of a squeeze?"
He opened the door. "Take a look," he invited.
She stepped inside, then stopped in awe. It was huge, half Gothic cathedral, half cosy library, mostly lit by dozens of branches of candles. The Doctor stepped in beside her.
"No, no, no!" She ran back out and peered around both sides of the box, running a hand down the edges before stepping back inside.
"But it's just a box!" she protested. "But it's huge! How does it do that? It's wood! It's like a box but with all that - " she gestured, "crammed in!" Then she realised. "It's bigger on the inside!"
He grinned at her. "Yes it is," he agreed, stepping past her and going to the console.
Martha followed cautiously, still awed and a little unsure. "Isn't there a crew?" she asked. "Like, a navigator and stuff." She was remembering Star Trek on television. "Where's everyone else?"
"It's just me," he told her quietly.
"All on your own?" she asked compassionately.
"Oh not often," he assured her. "I quite often have travelling companions, but at the moment, it's just me - and you, if you'd like to come?" He waited, willing her to accept.
She grinned at him. "OK, why not?" she said. She'd been wanting a holiday and if this was a time machine, well then he could get her back just a few hours after they'd left, and no one would be any the wiser.
He grinned back, delighted. "Excellent." He began setting the controls and the ship lurched into motion. He held out a hand. "Welcome aboard Miss Jones," he said formally.
Her grin widened as she shook his hand. "My pleasure Mr Smith."
Author: Persiflage_1
Characters/Pairings: Eight/Martha
Rating: U
Spoilers: None
Summary: Martha Jones meets a man with two hearts.
Word Count: approx. 10,000 words
Disclaimer: The BBC owns "Doctor Who" and the Doctor owns me…
Author Notes: This is the first in my AU Season 3 series of stories featuring Martha Jones and the Eighth Doctor. It's a re-working of Russell T Davies' Smith and Jones because I think that episode is a good introduction to both Martha Jones and the Doctor.
Beta-d by padawanpooh.
This story is for bana05 to say thank you for being a fab friend!
~~~~~~
Prologue
The Doctor lay on the floor, the top half of his body under the TARDIS console. Scattered on the floor around him were a handful of tools and nearby was his case, full of yet more equipment. The TARDIS was in flight, having left behind Earth at the start of the 20th century. On the console above him a cup of tea was waiting and in the background a jazz recording was playing.
He shuffled out from under the console, blue eyes bright with satisfaction at the healthier sound of the TARDIS' engines: it had pained him to think of the Master interfering with his ship. He closed up his Sonic Screwdriver and tucked it into the pocket of his green velvet jacket.
"Now then, where shall we go?" he asked softly, listening to his ship's hum. He set the controls, then picked up his cup and saucer, carrying them over to the small table beside his favourite armchair. He put down his tea, then settled into his chair, putting his feet up on the footstool.
"Where was I? Ah yes." Ignoring the three books on the table by his right elbow, he picked up a book from the larger table on his left and looked for his place in Mr Wells' The Time Machine; smiling happily, he lost himself in his book.
* * * * * *
On Earth, in a busy London street, the morning commute was in full swing and amongst the people heading to work was one Martha Jones, a 23 year old medical student. Her mind was mostly focused on work: she would be doing rounds with Mr Stoker today, one of her least favourite consultants.
Her mobile rang and she pulled it out, smiling when she saw the caller ID. "You're up early! What's happening?" she asked her sister.
"It's a nightmare!" Tish answered. " 'cos Dad won't listen, and I'm telling you, Mum is going mental. Swear to God, Martha, this is epic. You've got to get in there and stop him!"
"Well how do I do that?" asked Martha, wondering how it was she always managed to get stuck as the family mediator.
"Just tell Dad he can't bring her," Tish answered.
Before Martha could respond, her phone beeped to tell her she had a call waiting. "Hold on, that's Leo, I'll call you back." She clicked a button to accept her brother's call, but before she could even speak he was in full flow.
"Martha, if Mum and Dad start kicking off, tell 'em I don't even want a party. I didn't even ask for one. They can give me the money instead."
Martha suppressed a sigh. "Yeah, but why do I have to tell them, why can't you?" Her phone beeped again. "Hold on, that's Mum. I'll call you back."
Like her son before her, Francine Jones didn't waste time in greeting her daughter. "I don't mind your father making a fool of himself in private," Much! thought Martha. "but this is Leo's twenty-first, everyone's going to be there, and the entire family is going to look ridiculous."
"Mum, it's a party, I can't stop Dad bringing his girlfriend," she protested as her phone beeped yet again. "Hold on, that's Dad. I'll call you back."
"Martha, now tell your mother, Leo is my son, and I'm paying for half that party, so I'm entitled to bring who I like." Clive Jones shared the family habit of not bothering with a proper greeting.
Martha sighed. "I know, but think what it's going to look like for Mum, if you're there with Annalise."
"What's wrong with Annalise?" asked Clive.
Before she could answer, Martha heard the young blonde speaking in the background. "Is that Martha? Say hi! Hi Martha! Hiiiii!"
"Hiiiii Annalise!" Unseen Martha rolled her eyes.
"Big kisses! Lots of love! See you at the party, babes!" Before she could answer, she heard Annalise speaking to her father. "Now take me shopping, big boy."
She heard them kissing and ended the call, feeling revolted. The next moment a man stepped in front of her, holding out a single dark pink rose.
"A pretty flower for a pretty lady," he told her, smiling. She found herself smiling back as she took in his brown curly hair and bright blue eyes, a dark green velvet jacket, pale brown trousers, a waistcoat, shirt and cravat. He looked, she thought, like he'd just stepped off the set of a period drama. He was still holding out the rose and she accepted it.
"Thank you," she said wonderingly. He smiled again, then gave her a little wave, before melting away into the crowd. She shook her head, smiling again: at least he seemed harmless for a nutter. She set off again, switching her phone off defiantly when it began to ring again.
She reached the hospital, passing the big sign that proclaimed it as the Royal Hope Hospital, and headed for the main entrance. A tall figure dressed all in black, like a motorcycle courier, barged past her, almost knocking her over as he passed, but he kept walking, as if oblivious to her.
"Oi! Watch it, mate!" Martha felt annoyed by his rudeness, but when he turned back and stared at her, his face hidden by the black visored helmet he wore, she couldn't help a little shiver of apprehension. He turned away again and continued inside and, after a moment, she followed, heading upstairs to her locker.
She opened her locker door, then carefully set the rose down on a shelf, slightly unsure about why she'd kept it, except that the man who'd given it to her had seemed so nice. She put her shoulder bag on the shelf behind it, then slipped off her jacket and pulled on a white coat instead. As she touched the locker door, a small spark of static electricity leapt at her fingers and she jerked her hand back, surprised. Cautiously she touched the door again, but it was clearly earthed now. Sighing, she closed and locked the door, then headed up to the female ward to meet the rest of her study group and the consultant, Mr Stoker.
The last patient on the female ward was Miss Florence Finnegan. She looked about 70, slightly frail and a bit genteel, like someone's gran, Martha thought as she watched Stoker taking Miss Finnegan's pulse.
"I was alright till this morning," she told Mr Stoker, "then - Oh, I don't know. I woke up and I was all dizzy again, it was worse than when I came in."
"Pulse is slightly thready," observed Stoker, sounding slightly pompous as usual. "Let's see what Britain's finest might suggest. Any ideas Morgenstern?"
"Uh, dizziness could be a sign of early onset diabetes?" Martha rolled her eyes unseen.
"Hardly early onset, if you'll forgive me, Miss Finnegan." He turned to Martha's friend Julia. "Any more ideas Swales?"
Julia hesitated, just as Morgenstern had: Stoker tended to have that effect on people. "Um, could recommend a CT scan?" she suggested.
"And spend all our money? Jones?"
Martha tried to think. "Um. We could take bloods and check for Meniere's disease?"
"Or we could simply ask the patient," Stoker retorted, clearly exasperated. "What did you have for dinner last night?"
"I had the salad," answered Miss Finnegan promptly.
"And the night before?" asked Stoker.
"Salad again."
"And salad every night for the past week, contrary to my instructions." He turned to the students. "Salt deficiency, that's all. Simple, honest salt."
Martha found herself tuning out Stoker's lecture as she thought of Leo's party tonight: secretly she was dreading it, foreseeing a huge row between her parents. She followed Stoker and the others as they headed out of the female ward towards the male one, and tried to focus again on Stoker's words.
"Hippocrates himself expounded on the virtues of salt. Recommended the inhalation of steam from seawater. Though no doubt, if he'd been afflicted with my students, his oaths might have been rather more colourful."
Martha rolled her eyes, then caught sight of the motorcycle courier she'd seen earlier, the one who'd nearly knocked her over: he was standing near the lifts. Strange he's still here she thought as they entered the male ward. She didn't see a second courier step from the lift and join the first; the pair marched off together.
As they approached the first bed, a male nurse joined their group; Stoker pulled back a curtain around the bed and Martha found herself looking at the man she'd seen earlier, the man who had given her the rose. She blinked in surprise.
"Now then, Mr Smith, a very good morning, and how are you today?"
She took in the paisley pyjamas he was wearing and the bright blue eyes beneath his curly brown hair.
"Oh, not so bad," answered Mr Smith. "Still a twinge here and there - " He gestured vaguely.
"John Smith, admitted yesterday with severe abdominal pains - Jones, why don't you see what you can find? Amaze me."
Patronising git, she thought as she moved around the bed, pulling her stethoscope from her pocket. "That wasn't very clever, running around outside, was it?" she admonished him.
Mr Smith gave her a genuinely puzzled look. "Sorry?"
"On Chancellor Street, this morning," Martha reminded him. "You came up to me and gave me a flower."
"Really? What did I do that for?"
Martha shrugged. "I don't know, you just did."
"Not me," he assured her. "I was here, in bed. You can ask the nurses."
She felt puzzled. "That's weird, 'cos it looked like you. Have you got a twin brother?"
"Not me."
Stoker cut in impatiently, "As time passes and I grow ever more infirm and weary. Miss Jones?"
"Sorry. Um, right." She tried to shake off the mystery, then put her stethoscope to the left side of his chest. She could hear his heart beating strongly, but it was almost as if there was an echo. She glanced up at the man's face and he gave her a smile, eyes twinkling with mischief. Without thinking she moved the stethoscope over to the right side of his chest, and there it was, a second heartbeat. Her eyes widened with surprise and she looked up into his face: he gave her a tiny wink.
"I weep for future generations," Stoker said, "but are you having trouble locating the heart, Miss Jones?"
Martha looked up at Stoker's disdainful face and sought to cover her mistake. "Um, I don't know. Stomach cramps?" she suggested, feeling flustered.
"That's a symptom, not a diagnosis," sighed the consultant. "And you rather failed basic techniques by not consulting first with the patient's chart." She cursed inwardly, knowing she'd been thrown by her conversation with Mr Smith. She watched as Stoker picked up the chart from the end of the bed, only to drop it again when a spark of static electricity zapped him.
"That happened to me this morning," she said, empathising with him in spite of herself.
"I had the same off the door handle," Morgenstern said.
"And me, in the lift," added Julia.
"Only to be expected," Stoker told them. "There's a thunderstorm moving in, lightning being a form of static electricity, as first proven by - anyone?"
"Benjamin Franklin," piped up Mr Smith.
"Correct."
"My old friend Ben," said Mr Smith with a dreamy smile. "That was quite a day. I got rope burns off his kite, and then I got soaked to the skin!"
"Quite." Stoker rolled his eyes, unseen by the patient.
"And then I got electrocuted!" added Mr Smith.
"Moving on." He turned to the nurse. "I think a visit from Psychiatric," he suggested. The nurse nodded and as they moved away, Martha looked back at the mysterious Mr Smith, intrigued, and found him grinning at her, his eyes full of merriment. She found herself smiling back automatically.
Mr Smith watched Miss Jones all the way out of the door, and Martha thought he looked pleased that she hadn't given him away.
At lunchtime Martha rang Tish, looking out at the rain as Julia made them both some coffee.
"Tish, listen, I've worked out a plan. We tell Annalise that the buffet tonight is 100% carbohydrate, and she won't turn up! "
Down in the street, a short distance from the hospital, Tish rolled her eyes. "I wish you'd take this seriously," she told her sister. "That's our inheritance she's spending, on fake tan! Tell you what, I'm not that far away, I'll meet you for a sandwich and we can draw up a battle plan."
"What, in this weather?" asked Martha incredulously. "I'm not going out, it's pouring down."
"Come on, it's not that bad," Tish said as she turned a corner, only to see heavy black clouds above the hospital. "Oh, take it back. God, that's weird, the storm's right on top of you. I can see it from here. It's right on top of the hospital."
"Well I'm definitely not going out then."
"No, I'd stay inside if I were you," Tish agreed. "It just looks - weird."
"Yeah, but anyway, I've got a plan, this is what we do." She turned away from the window as she spoke and saw Mr Smith, in pyjamas and a blue velvet dressing gown hurry past. He glanced in at her with a worried expression, but then he was gone. She gave herself a mental shake, then resumed her conversation with her sister. "We tell Dad and Annalise to get there early, about seven thirty, and we get Leo there at the same time so we can do all that birthday stuff. But we tell Mum to get there for about eight thirty, nine, and that gives me time to have a word with Annalise, and maybe I could tell her that - "
She broke off as she noticed Julia staring past her at the window, and put her hand over her phone. "What?"
"The rain," Julia answered.
"It's only rain," Martha said, slightly exasperated.
Then Tish spoke in her ear. "Martha, have you seen the rain?"
"Why's everyone fussing about rain?" She turned towards the window and realised with astonishment that the rain was running up the window.
"It's going up," Julia said.
She was echoed by Tish. "The rain is going up."
Martha closed her phone unthinkingly as she and Julia moved towards the window, staring in disbelief at the rain now pouring up into the sky.
Down in the street, Tish was also staring, her phone still at her ear, as the black clouds circled the hospital then lightning began flashing around the building, the bolts flying up from the ground to the clouds.
As Martha and Julia stood at the window there was a sudden brilliant flash of white light, and they both threw up their hands in an attempt to shield their eyes. The next moment the staff kitchen began to shake violently, as if they were caught in an earthquake. They were both thrown off their feet and tossed about, cupboards flying open and things falling out around them. Then, just as suddenly as it had started, the shaking stopped again, and silence fell.
"What the hell was that?" Martha demanded as she struggled to her feet.
"You all right?" asked Julia.
"Think so, yeah." They both got to their feet cautiously, shaking off shards of crockery. "That felt like an earthquake, or - " She broke off as she saw what Julia had just noticed.
"Martha, it's night." Outside the window everything was black. "But - it was lunchtime - "
They looked out of the window and Martha took in the sight of the Earth hanging in the night sky. "It's not night."
"But it's got to be," argued Julia stubbornly. "It's dark." She joined Martha at the window, staring in disbelief.
"We're on the Moon."
"We can't be!" Julia protested.
"We're on the Moon," Martha insisted. "We're on the bloody Moon!"
Back on Earth, Tish was racing towards the spot where the Royal Hope had been just a few moments before. As she reached the spot, she took in the sight of an enormous crater. "Oh my God!" She tried to get closer but a policeman stopped her. She pulled away from him, then moved sideways as she spoke frantically into her phone. "Martha, can you hear me? Are you there? Martha? Martha!" She didn't notice a big blue box just behind her.
Back in the hospital Martha ran down a corridor, Julia behind her, crying. She ignored the staff, patients and visitors around her who were crying, hugging and shouting for help. She reached another window and looked out, then ran on again, passing Miss Finnegan who was clutching a black handbag and still looking quite genteel in spite of the chaos around her.
"Have you seen Mr Stoker?" she asked.
"I'm sorry, I can't - " Martha left the sentence unfinished as she hurried on, turning through into the male ward, barely noticing the old man cowering in his bed, two more men crying on the floor, and Mr Smith standing by his bed. She headed for the window; behind her he drew the privacy curtains.
"Alright now, everyone back to bed. We've got an emergency, but we'll sort it out, don't worry." She reached the window, Julia close behind. "It's real. It's really real," she said wonderingly, then stretched up to open the window. "Hold on."
"Don't!" cried Julia, alarmed. "We'll lose all the air!"
Martha gave her a look, the one she always gave Julia when her friend was being slightly silly. "They're not exactly airtight. If the air was gonna get sucked out, it would've happened straight away, but it didn't, so how come?"
Behind her Mr Smith opened the curtains around his bed again. "Very good point!" he said cheerfully. "One might say brilliant, in fact. What was your name?"
Martha looked at him in surprise, noting he was fully dressed, wearing the same clothes she'd seen him wearing out in Chancellor Street. "Martha."
"And it was Jones, wasn't it?" She nodded. "Well Martha Jones, question is, how are we still breathing?"
He looked excited, Martha noticed, until Julia answered him. "We can't be." She was crying now.
But obviously we are," he pointed out. "Martha, what have we got, is there a balcony on this floor, or a verandah, or - ?"
He was looking at her expectantly. "By the patients' lounge, yeah."
"Fancy going out?" he asked, as if he already knew she'd agree.
"OK."
"We might die," he warned.
"We might not," she retorted.
He grinned widely, eyes sparkling with delight. "Good. Come on. Just you," he said, looking at Julia with disbelief before he rushed out.
Martha looked at her friend for a moment, before following him. She caught up with him, then took the lead, heading towards the patients' lounge, ignoring the people around her. She was too intent now on the mystery of how and why the hospital had been transported to the Moon.
They approached the French windows together, seeing the low-walled concrete verandah just beyond looking normal and ordinary. Mr Smith tried the handle, then looked at Martha. She gave him a little nod and they both took a deep breath before he opened the door. There was no outrush of air, so they both exhaled, then stepped out onto the verandah side by side.
"We've got air, then. How does that work?" she asked.
"Just be glad it does," he answered as they moved towards the wall and looked out at the surface of the Moon, and the Earth hanging in the sky.
"I've got a party tonight, my brother's twenty first." She looked over at the Earth. "Oh, my mother's gonna be - " She broke off as she realised there was nothing she could do for now.
"Are you all right?"
"Yeah."
"Sure?" Mr Smith looked at her and saw her mentally pulling herself together.
"Yeah." She sounded more confident the second time she said it.
"Do you want to go back in?" he asked, but Martha could tell he was hoping she would refuse.
"No way. 'Cos, I mean, we could die any minute, but all the same - " She smiled. "It's beautiful."
Mr Smith looked at her, saw the way her face had lit up as she smiled, and agreed with her. "Do you think?"
"How many people want to go to the Moon? And here we are."
"Standing in the Earthlight," he said softly.
"What d'you think happened?" Martha asked.
"What do you think?" he countered.
She looked out at the moonscape thoughtfully. "Extraterrestrial," she answered. "Got to be. I dunno, a few years ago, that would've sounded mad, but these days - That spaceship flying into Big Ben. Christmas. And those Cybermen things - "
She shrugged helplessly, wondering if he would think she was mad. "But I promise you, Mr Smith, we'll find a way out." Her manner was suddenly brisk, confident, composed. "If we can travel to the Moon, then we can travel back. There's got to be a way."
"It's not Smith, that's not my real name."
She looked surprised. "Who are you then?"
"I'm the Doctor."
"Me too, if I ever pass my exams," she said. "What is it then, Dr Smith?"
"Just the Doctor."
She frowned, puzzled. "How d'you mean, 'just the Doctor'?"
"Just, the Doctor."
"What, people call you 'the Doctor'?" she asked disbelievingly.
"Yes."
"Well I'm not," she said. "As far as I'm concerned, you've got to earn that title."
The Doctor smiled as he bent to pick up a stone from the ground. "I'd better make a start then," he said. "Let's have a look, there must be some sort of - " He threw the stone which hit something invisible and made an odd noise as it rippled with the stone's passage, "forcefield, keeping the air in."
"But if that's - " Martha paused, thinking. "Say it's like a bubble, sealing us in - that means this is all the air we've got. What happens when it runs out?"
He saw her point immediately. "How many people are in this hospital?"
She shrugged. "Dunno, a thousand?"
"One thousand people suffocating," he said softly, a harder look in his eyes.
"Why would anyone do that?" asked Martha worriedly.
Before the Doctor could answer they both heard a deep thrumming sound above them. Looking up they saw three spaceships come into view. "Ask them yourself," he said with a gesture.
The two of them watched as the spaceships, which looked like massive tubes, moved beyond the hospital. Legs appeared at the edges and held the ships steady as they landed.
Martha instinctively grabbed the Doctor's arm, vaguely aware of people screaming and crying out elsewhere in the hospital. As they continued to watch, they saw a hatch move upwards at the base of the cylinders, and ramps come down. A double line of figures marched out of the tubes and towards the hospital.
"Aliens! That's aliens, real proper aliens!"
"Judoon," the Doctor said quietly, his eyes never leaving the figures who were stomping towards them.
Elsewhere in the hospital, Florence Finnegan had tracked down the man she wanted. She found Mr Stoker in his office, staring out at the spaceships in disbelief, small binoculars in his hand. She stood in the doorway, clutching her handbag and looking frail.
"Mr Stoker? I'm sorry, I didn't know who else to ask, but can you help me?"
Stoker turned to her with a bitter laugh. "Oh I think we've gone beyond aspirin, Miss what-was-it?"
"Finnegan." She hid her contempt from him.
"Names! What does it matter?" he asked rhetorically. "What are names now, when something unnameable is marching towards us? Across the Moon! Two more years, I thought, just two more years, then I can retire to Florida. But there's Florida, in the sky - I can see it!" He spoke more quietly. "My daughter, she's still at university. I'm never going to see her again."
Miss Finnegan ignored this. "But I need help, Mr Stoker."
"I can't do anything!" he answered, wondering why she persisted in bothering him.
"Oh I think you can," she said quietly as two motorcycle couriers came to stand beside her. She spoke more coldly, yet still politely. "You see, there are great tests to come. And terrible deeds, some of them my own. But if I'm to survive this, then I need you."
Stoker looked at her bewildered. "I'm sorry, but what do you two want? It's a bit late to sign for something."
"These are my lovely boys," she told him. "I prefer not to get my hands dirty."
"What are you talking about?" he wondered.
"Blood. Specifically, yours." She snapped her fingers and the two couriers moved forward to grab Stoker.
"What are you doing?" he demanded, trying to struggle. "What the hell - ? Get off me, let go of me!" But the two figures held him firmly by the arms as Miss Finnegan moved towards him.
"You see, I was only salt deficient because I'm so very good at absorbing it. And now I need some fire in my veins. Who better than a consultant, with his blood full of salty fat and vintage wine and all those Michelin-starred sauces?" She smacked her lips in anticipation.
"Who are you?"
"Oh, I'm a survivor, Mr Stoker. At any cost. And look - " She opened her handbag and pulled out a bendy straw. "I even brought a straw!" She smiled terribly at him, then moved in. His screams went unheard amidst the cries and screams from the reception area as the Judoon began marching through the forcefield and into reception.
The staff, patients and visitors all turned and ran; they huddled in small, terrified groups amongst the seats and cowered in fear of the menacing black uniformed figures. Only Morgenstern seemed fascinated rather than terrified as he took in the big, brutish figures dressed in black, studded leather uniforms. Each figure wore hefty boots and an oddly-shaped shiny black helmet.
One of the figures reached up and twisted a clasp at his neck, there was a hiss of depressurisation and then he lifted off his helmet to reveal the head of a rhino with grey leathery skin and a fierce-looking horn.
"Bo! Sco! Fo! Do! No! Kro! Blo! Co! Sho! Ro!" shouted the Captain, and all the Judoon stomped into position, raising their weapons simultaneously.
Morgenstern stepped towards the figure. "Um. We are citizens of Planet Earth. We welcome you in peace."
The Captain grabbed his arm and backed him up against the wall, then held him there whilst he shone a short, red, cylindrical device against Morgenstern's throat.
"No, don't hurt me! I was trying to help. I'm sorry. Don't hurt me, please don't hurt me," he begged.
The Captain held up the device, then pressed a button and Morgenstern's voice played back, fast and high-pitched, the Captain jammed the device into a nozzle on his own chest. It whirred, he shuddered, then spoke in a deep guttural voice. "Language assimilated. Designation: Earth English. You will be catalogued."
He held up a second, smaller tube-like device and shone a blue light on Morgenstern's forehead. The device made an odd wip-wip noise.
"Category: Human," announced the Captain before flipping the device around and drawing a large X on the back of Morgenstern's hand. Then he spoke to his troops, "Catalogue all suspects!"
As the Judoon troops moved forward, scanning and marking each person, Martha and the Doctor arrived on the mezzanine level above the reception area.
"What are Judoon?" asked Martha quietly.
"They're like police," the Doctor answered just as quietly, although the Judoon and the scanners were making enough noise to cover their conversation. "Well, police-for-hire, more like interplanetary thugs."
"And they brought us to the Moon?"
"Neutral territory," explained the Doctor. "According to Galactic Law, they've got no jurisdiction over the Earth. So they isolated us. The rain and the lightning, that was them, using an H2O Scoop."
Martha gave him a look compounded of puzzlement and disbelief. "What are you on about, Galactic Law? Where d'you get that from?"
The Doctor didn't answer as he was too busy moving around for a better view whilst still staying out of sight. She followed as another question occurred to her.
"If they're police, are we under arrest? Are we trespassing on the Moon or something?"
He gave her a warm smile. "No, but I like that, it's good thinking. I wish it was that simple. If they're making a catalogue, that means they're after something non-Human. Which is very bad news for me."
"Why?"
He looked at her, one eyebrow raised and that mischievous smile back on his face as he saw doubt and disbelief warring in her face.
"No, you're kidding me." She paused, remembering that second heartbeat she'd seemed to hear. "Don't be ridiculous," she said, more to herself than to him. "Stop looking at me like that!" She felt flustered by his obvious amusement.
He gave her a wink, then headed towards the stairs. "Come on then." She followed, intrigued.
As they moved they heard the Judoon Captain telling Troop Five to search Floor One and Troop Six to search Floor Two. "Identify Humans and find the transgressor! Find it!" he ordered.
Martha ran along a corridor with the Doctor. They were somewhere on Floor Six, but she had no idea where they were going as they hurried around groups of people who were huddled miserably here and there.
Down on the first floor Morgenstern accompanied the Judoon as they prepared to catalogue people, many of whom were panicking at the sight of the Captain.
"Just do what they say," Morgenstern called out. "All they want to do is shine this light thing. It's all right, they're not gonna hurt us. Just listen to them."
He watched helplessly as one man picked up a vase and cracked it over the nearest Judoon, smashing the vase to pieces.
"Charge: physical assault. Plea: guilty. Sentence: execution," intoned the Judoon Captain.
Morgenstern watched in horror as the Captain lifted up his gun and fired a red beam of energy that wrapped around the man and disintegrated him. He winced even as he protested. "You didn't have to do that."
"Justice is swift," answered the Captain tonelessly.
Upstairs, unaware of all this, the Doctor was sitting at a computer at the nurses' station, using a strange-looking tool on it as he tried to access the patient records. Martha hurried up.
"They've reached the third floor," she told him. "What's that thing?"
"Sonic Screwdriver," answered the Doctor absently, still trying to get some information from the computer.
"Well if you're not gonna answer me properly - "
"No, it really is," he said, as he turned around to show her the long, slender, silver device in his hand. "It's a screwdriver and it's sonic."
"What else have you got? Laser spanner?" Martha was only half serious.
"I had one, but it was stolen by Emily Pankhurst." He shook his head. "Cheeky woman." He looked back at the computer screen. "What's wrong with this thing? Oh! The Judoon must have locked it down." He rubbed a finger across his top lip. "I was just passing you see. Thought I'd stop off and see London again before I left Earth. But then I noticed the plasma coils around the hospital and I got worried, so I checked in." He glanced across at Martha, who was staring at him in rapt fascination. "I thought something was going on inside. Turned out the plasma coils were the Judoon up above."
Martha only half understood what he was saying, but she asked the obvious question. "What are they looking for?"
"Something that looks Human, but isn't," answered the Doctor.
"Like you, apparently." She still only half-believed he wasn't Human, even if he did dress like an eighteenth century gentleman.
"Like me," he agreed. "But not me."
"Well haven't they got a picture?"
His mouth turned down. "It might be a shape-changer."
"Well whatever it is, can't you just leave the Judoon to find it?" she asked.
"If they declare the Hospital guilty of harbouring a fugitive, they'll sentence it to execution."
"What all of us?" asked Martha, horrified.
"I'm afraid so. But if I can find this thing first - " He broke off and looked at the screen. "Oh! Do you see? The Judoon, they've wiped the records! That's a bit stupid."
"What are we looking for?"
"I don't know, say any patient admitted in the past week with unusual symptoms." He turned his attention back to the computer. "Maybe there's a back up?"
"You keep working, I'll go and ask Mr Stoker, he might know." She hurried out and down the corridor to Mr Stoker's office. She gave a quick knock. "Mr Stoker?" She went in without waiting for permission to enter, knowing this was urgent.
She stopped dead when she saw the motorcycle courier she'd seen earlier, this time accompanied by his twin, standing stock still behind Stoker's desk. She looked down and saw Stoker's legs sticking out from behind the desk, as if he was lying down. As she stared, trying to figure out what was happening, Miss Finnegan straightened up from behind the desk, a glint in her eye and a chilling smile on her lips. Her lips were very red and Martha's mind jumped to vampire movies even as her eyes noted the straw she held, from which a drop of blood now fell.
"Kill her," ordered Miss Finnegan.
As one of the couriers started forward Martha bolted from the room, slamming the door shut behind her. She ran straight into the Doctor, who was wandering down the corridor, with a pleased smile on his face.
"Martha, I restored the back up."
She spoke over him. "I found her!"
"You did what?" he asked, not quite believing her.
Before she could explain the door to Stoker's office crashed off its hinges and a courier strode out. The Doctor took one look, then grabbed Martha's hand. "Run!"
She didn't need to be told twice and they shot off down the corridor, leaping over people. She dropped his hand, knowing it was easier to run fast if they weren't holding hands, even if it was a comfort. They ran into the stairwell, down a flight of stairs, but a troop of Judoon were heading up towards them, even as the courier came down the stairs above them. The Doctor charged through the door onto Floor Five, Martha close behind. They were on the floor where clinics were held, and the corridors had never seemed so long and endless to Martha as they charged along. They swung around a corner, down another long corridor, then the Doctor grabbed her and swung her into a shorter side corridor. They charged into a room and the Doctor aimed his Sonic at the lock, then pushed Martha towards an area screened off by glass and wooden panels.
"When I say now, press the button," he told her hurriedly.
"But I don't know which one," she objected. She hadn't been trained to use X-Ray machines.
"Find out!" he exclaimed before grabbing the X-Ray camera even as the courier slammed into the door. Martha grabbed the Operator's Manual as the Doctor used his Sonic on the camera and made it more mobile. The courier slammed into the door a second time as the Doctor jammed the Sonic into the camera's works; the third time the courier hit the door, it crashed off its hinges and into the room. The Doctor aimed the camera like a gun as the courier was framed in the doorway.
"Now!"
Martha hit the button and there was a blinding flash of intense white light, then the Courier toppled to the ground.
"What did you do?" she asked nervously.
"Increased the radiation by 5000%," he said calmly. "Killed him."
She tried not to gape. "But - isn't that gonna kill you?"
"No, it's only Roentgen radiation," he assured her. "We used to play with Roentgen bricks in the nursery. It's safe for you to come out now, I've absorbed it all."
She stepped into the main room, staring, as he began to shake and shudder.
"I just need to expel it. If I concentrate, I can shift the radiation out of my body and into one spot." His hand dived into a pocket of his coat and he pulled out a yellow sou'wester hat, which he clapped onto his head and held there as he screwed up his face in concentration.
"Ooh, ah! Here we go, easy does it."
As Martha watched the hat seemed to rise up against his attempts to hold it on his head. "Got it!" he said, snatching the hat from his head and binning it in the yellow plastic-lined sharps/waste bin.
She stared at him, his hair sticking up as if he'd shoved his finger into an electrical socket. "You're completely mad," she told him.
He gave her that mischievous smile again. "You're right, I do look a bit silly." He rubbed his hands over his hair, which settled back down.
She shook her head, then approached the Courier. "So what's that thing and where's he from?"
The Doctor knelt down opposite her. "It's a Slab, a basic slave drone." He squeezed the arm nearest to him. "Solid leather, all the way through, you see." He gave her that mad smile again. "Someone's got a fetish."
Martha tried not to blush as he got up and pulled his Sonic from the X-Ray machine. Then she remembered something. "But it was that woman, Miss Finnegan," she told him. "It was working for her."
"My Sonic Screwdriver!" he exclaimed, distracted by its burnt out state.
"She was one of the patients, but - Mr Stoker, she killed him."
"It burnt out my Sonic Screwdriver."
"She had this straw, like some sort of vampire."
"I loved my Sonic Screwdriver," lamented the Doctor.
"Doctor!" Martha winced inwardly as she realised how like her mother she sounded.
"Sorry." He threw the burnt out Sonic over his shoulder, then smiled at her in pleased realisation. "You called me Doctor."
"Anyway. Miss Finnegan is the alien. She was drinking Stoker's blood."
"Funny time to take a snack," he mused. "You'd think she'd be hiding. Unless - No! Yes!! That's it! Yes! Shape-changer, an internal shape-changer! She wasn't drinking the blood, she was assimilating it."
Downstairs, Miss Finnegan stepped out into a corridor, calmly dabbing at her lips as a Judoon troop burst through the door.
"Prepare to be catalogued!" shouted the Captain as people attempted to flee. But Miss Finnegan just stood waiting confidently.
Back upstairs the Doctor was explaining things to Martha. "If she can assimilate Mr Stoker's blood, she can mimic the biology and she'll register as Human."
The Judoon Captain scanned Miss Finnegan. "Human." He marked an X on the back of her hand, then continued down the corridor, whilst she held up her hand, admiring the X and smiling.
"We've got to find her and show the Judoon," the Doctor told Martha. "Come on."
They ran out, but they didn't get far before they spotted the second Slab. The Doctor pushed Martha down beside a water cooler and they waited tensely whilst it scanned up and down the corridor before it strode off.
"That's the thing about Slabs," he told her quietly. "They always travel in pairs."
"And what about you?" she asked curiously.
"What about me what?" he countered.
"Haven't you got back-up? You must have a partner or something."
He smiled indulgently. "That's what I like about Humans. We're stuck on the Moon, running out of air, with Judoon and a bloodsucking criminal on the loose, and you're asking personal questions." He straightened up cautiously. "Come on." He stepped away and Martha followed.
"Oh I like that, 'Humans'! I'm still not convinced you're an alien."
As they went around the corner they found themselves facing three Judoon, one of whom immediately scanned the Doctor.
"Non Human," it intoned as the device made a shrieking noise.
"Oh my God, you really are!" exclaimed Martha in shock.
The Doctor grabbed her hand. "And again," he said, as they ran away. Behind them the Judoon raised their weapons and fired, just as the Doctor pulled Martha around a corner. Glancing back, Martha saw that the weapons had left three burnt patches on the wall. They hurtled up a flight of stairs, the Judoon lumbering in pursuit.
The Doctor hurried Martha through a door, which he locked behind them, and they raced along another corridor where people were sitting in ones and twos, all of them marked with the Judoons' X. Many of them were using oxygen masks.
"They've done this floor," the Doctor told Martha. "Come on." They turned into another corridor, but Martha stopped near her friend Julia, who was helping a woman with oxygen.
Martha knelt down beside them. "How much oxygen is there?"
"Not enough for all these people," Julia answered.
"How d'you feel," the Doctor asked Martha. "Are you all right?"
She smiled up at him. "Running on adrenalin."
He gave a wry smile. "Welcome to my world."
"What about the Judoon?" asked Martha.
"They've got great big lung reserves, it's not going to slow them down." He scanned the corridor. "Where's Mr Stoker's office?"
"This way," she answered, moving in front of him.
A short distance down the corridor they reached the side corridor that led to Stoker's office. The Doctor moved in front of Martha, putting out a warning hand. They stepped forward quietly, ignoring the damaged door on the floor. Stepping inside they found the office was empty.
"She's gone, but she was here - "
The Doctor moved to examine Mr Stoker's body which lay wide-eyed on the carpet, a strange grey tone to his skin.
"She's drained him dry," he said quietly, sounding sorrowful. "Every last drop. I was right, she's a Plasmavore."
"What's she doing on Earth?"
"Hiding, on the run, like Ronald Biggs in Rio de Janeiro." He stood up. "But what's she doing now? She's still not safe, the Judoon could execute us all." He moved towards the door. "Come on."
"Wait a minute." Martha knelt beside Stoker's body, closing his eyes with a gentle touch, then stood up, looking down at him. She hadn't liked him much - he was condescending and didn't take enough of an interest in the patients, but he hadn't deserved to die like that, either. The Doctor watched her silently, respect and admiration for her in his eyes, then he moved towards the door and Martha followed him.
Out in the corridor the Doctor was thinking aloud. "If I was a wanted Plasmavore, surrounded by police, what would I do?" He looked around and spotted the MRI sign. "Uh oh."
There was a crash at the other end of the corridor as the Judoon burst through the door.
"Find the Non Human!" ordered the Captain. "Execute!"
The Doctor turned to Martha, putting his hands on her shoulders and looking at her. "Martha, I need time. I need you to stay here and hold them up."
She looked puzzled. "How do I do that?"
"I'm going to give you a temporary DNA transfer - it'll slow them down for a little while. Forgive me, this is taking a great liberty, for which I apologise." He leant forward and kissed her thoroughly, his hands gently cupping her face.
A moment later he rushed away and Martha, feeling dazed, murmured. "Don't apologise."
The Doctor ran down another corridor, then spotted the door to the MRI room, around the edges of which blue light was flickering. He hurried over to the door, then eased it open slowly and stepped inside, taking in the light flickering around the MRI scanner against one wall. In the observation area an old lady was fiddling with a handful of wires whilst various machines whirred and hummed with energy. As she turned and stepped in the room, the Doctor spoke, sounding breathless, disbelieving and, above all, Human.
"Have you seen?! There are these things, these great big Space Rhino things. I mean, Rhinos from space! And we're on the Moon! Big space Rhinos with guns, on the Moon! I only came in for my bunions! Perfectly good treatment, too, and the nurses were lovely. But now we're on the Moon! And did I mention the Rhinos?!
The Plasmavore gave him a contemptuous look before speaking to someone behind him. "Hold him." The Doctor found his arms pinned to his side and looked up to see the second Slab gripping him.
Out in the middle of the corridor Martha stood alone, facing down the Judoon who were rushing towards her. "Now listen, I know who you're looking for. She's this woman who calls herself Florence - "
Before she could finish, the Judoon Captain scanned her. "Human." Then his scanner made an odd noise. "Wait! Partial Non Human!" Behind him the Judoon raised their guns and Martha subdued a flare of panic as the Captain shone his scanner over her mouth. "Non Human element confirmed! Authorise full scan!" He pushed her roughly against the wall and the other Judoon closed in and shone their scanners on her. Martha swallowed down her fear.
"What are you? What are you?" asked the Captain, clearly perplexed.
She hoped they'd take a little while to decide, thereby giving the Doctor more time for whatever he was doing.
Meanwhile the Doctor watched the Plasmavore as she calmly adjusted the equipment. "That big metal thing - is it supposed to be making that noise?" he asked.
"You wouldn't understand," she told him.
"But isn't that a Magnetic Resonance Imaging thing? Like, a huge magnet?"
"A magnet with its settings now increased to 50,000 tesla," she answered.
"That's a bit strong, isn't it?"
"It'll send out a magnetic pulse that should fry the brainstem of any living thing within two hundred and fifty thousand miles. Except for me, safe here."
"But - hold on -doesn't that distance include the Earth?"
"Only the side facing the Moon," she answered. "The other half will survive. Call it my little gift."
"But - you'll have to excuse me, I'm a bit out of my depth - I've spent the past fifteen years working as a postman, hence the bunions - but why would you do that?"
"With everyone dead, the Judoon ships are mine, to make my escape," she told him.
"But that's weird. You're talking like some sort of alien."
"Quite so," she agreed.
"No!"
"Oh yes."
"You're joking?"
"I am not."
"I'm talking to an alien? In hospital?" he asked incredulously. "What, has this place got an ET department?"
"It's the perfect hiding place," the Plasmavore told him. "Blood banks downstairs for a midnight feast. And all this equipment, ready to arm myself, if the police should come looking."
"So - those rhinos, are looking for you?" asked the Doctor.
She held up her hand, showing him the X. "Except I'm hidden."
"Oh right. Could that be why they're increasing their scans?"
"They're doing what?" she asked in alarm.
He nodded. "The Chief rhino, he said, no sign of Non Human, increase our scans up to setting two."
"Then I must assimilate again," she said thoughtfully.
"What does that mean?"
"I must appear to be Human."
"Well you're very welcome to come home with me, we can have tea and cake."
"Why would I have cake?" she asked, digging in her handbag. "I've got my little straw."
He looked at her, the picture of wide-eyed bafflement. Then he smiled. "That's nice. Milkshake? I like banana."
The Plasmavore stepped closer, studying him. "You're quite the funny man," she observed. "And yet, I think, laughing on purpose at the darkness. I think it's time you found some peace." She spoke to the Slab. "Steady him!"
The Doctor found his head tilted to one side, his neck exposed. "What are you doing?"
"I'm afraid this is going to hurt," she told him. "But if it's any consolation, the dead don't tend to remember." She stepped up to him, smiling her chilling smile, then pushed the straw into his neck.
Out in the corridor the Judoon Captain drew an X on the back of Martha's hand. "Confirm: Human. Traces of facial contact with Non Human." He turned to the other Judoon. "Continue the search!" Then he handed a slip of plastic paper. "You will need this."
"What's that for?" she asked puzzled.
"Compensation," he informed her before stomping away. Martha stared at the slip a moment longer, then hurried after the Judoon.
The Doctor was dying as the Plasmavore drained his blood. Around the scanner the crackles of electricity had intensified, the machine humming furiously.
Moments later the Judoon charged into the room with Martha close behind. The Slab dropped the Doctor immediately and the Plasmavore hastily tucked away her straw.
"Now see what you've done? Poor man just died of fright," she informed them.
"Scan him!" ordered the Judoon Captain. The Judoon obeyed as Martha hurried in, only to be held back by a Judoon. She could see the Doctor lying on the floor, his eyes closed. "Confirmation: deceased."
"No, he can't be!" Let me through, let me see him," begged Martha struggling.
"Case closed," announced the Captain.
"But it was her!" protested Martha in anguish. "She killed him, she did it, she murdered him."
"Judoon have no authority over Human crime," answered the Captain impassively.
"But she's not Human!"
"Oh, but I am," the Plasmavore assured them. "I've been catalogued." She showed them the X on her hand.
"But she's not," argued Martha. "She assimilated - " She stopped as she realised just what the Doctor had done. "Wait a minute, you drank his blood? The Doctor's blood?" She grabbed a scanner from the nearest Judoon and pointed it at the Plasmavore.
"I don't mind, scan all you like," she said calmly.
The scanner shrieked just as it had when a Judoon had scanned the Doctor. "Non Human!" exclaimed the Captain.
"What?" asked the Plasmavore incredulously.
"Confirm analysis!" The Captain waited as the other Judoon pulled out their scanners.
"But that's a mistake," the Plasmavore insisted, panicking. "It's got to be. I'm Human, I'm as Human as they come!"
"He gave his life so they'd find you," Martha said quietly.
"Confirm: Plasmavore! Charged with the crime of murdering the Child Princess of Padrivole Regency Nine - " recited the Captain, only to be interrupted by the Plasmavore.
"And she deserved it! Those pink cheeks and blonde curls, and that simpering voice! Oh, she was begging for the bite of a Plasmavore!"
"Then you confess?" asked the Captain.
"Confess? I'm proud of it! Slab, stop them!" The courier stepped forward as the Plasmavore hurried behind the separating wall, but a Judoon fired and the Slab disintegrated in a burst of red energy.
"Verdict: guilty. Sentence: execution!" commanded the Captain. All the Judoon raised their weapons, looking like a firing squad as they faced the Plasmavore who was viciously jamming two circuits together.
"Enjoy your victory, Judoon," she cried. " 'Cos you're going to burn with me! Burn in Hell!"
Martha ducked down, her hands over her ears as the Judoon fired simultaneously, the energy of their weapons melting a hole in the glass before it disintegrated the screaming Plasmavore. As the Judoon lowered their weapons, Martha pushed through them to the Doctor's side.
"Case closed," announced the Captain.
The scanner was now surging with power, small bursts of lightning crackling across it.
"But what did she mean, burn with me?" asked Martha. "The scanner shouldn't be doing that, she's done something to it."
The Captain stepped forward and used his scanner. "Scans detect lethal acceleration of mono-magnetic pulse," he stated calmly.
"Well do something, stop it!" cried Martha desperately.
"Our jurisdiction has ended. Judoon will evacuate."
"What?! But you can't just leave it! What's it gonna do?"
The Captain ignored her and spoke into a communications device. "All units! Withdraw!"
They stomped out, ignoring Martha as she yelled after them from the doorway. "You can't just go! That thing's gonna explode, and it's your fault!" Dizzily she hurried back into the room, ignoring the computer screen that now read 'magnetic overload'. She knelt down beside the Doctor, muttering frantically. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon."
She began to give him CPR, breathing into his mouth, then compressing his chest. As she gave him mouth-to-mouth the second time, she suddenly remembered that he had two hearts. Immediately she pumped the left side of his chest, then the right side, then gave him mouth-to-mouth again. She put all her energy and strength into her hands and arms, as she ignored her own dizziness until she took one final deep breath of air and passed it on to the Doctor.
Unbelievably his breath sucked in, then his eyes flickered open.
"The scanner - " Martha gasped. "She did something - " She sagged to the floor as he pushed himself up, coughing weakly. "The air - I gave you the last," she told him, then passed out.
The Doctor blinked, then shook his head as he tried to process what was happening. He struggled to his feet, then staggered across to the observation area, looking at the circuitry that the Plasmavore had cannibalised. Automatically he reached into his pocket for his Sonic before he remembered that it was gone. He looked down at the wires, his vision still swimming, and saw a thick red one and a thick blue one.
"Red or blue? Red or blue?" he muttered to himself. "Blue. No!" He yanked out the red wire and the scanner fell still and silent. Breathing heavily, he moved to Martha's side and with more strength that it seemed possible he possessed, he lifted her from the floor, carried her out into the corridor, then into a ward and over to the window, ignoring the unconscious people huddled around. He looked out of the window and saw the Judoon ships taking off.
"Come on, come on" he muttered. "Please, please." The next moment there was a flash of lightning, then it began to rain.
The Doctor smiled in delight. "It's raining, Martha. It's raining on the Moon!"
There was a brilliant flash of intense white light, then the Hospital was transported back to London. Tish stared in astonishment, then rushed forward, searching desperately for her little sister amongst the chaos of police and paramedics administering oxygen, or talking to those capable of making statements.
Martha sat on the back step of an ambulance, waiting to be given the all-clear. Then she set off across the Hospital forecourt, passing Morgenstern who was talking to a policeman.
"I was like an ambassador," he was saying self-importantly. "I represented the Human race. I told them, you can't do this, I said - "
Martha passed out of earshot, then looked up as she heard her name being called, and saw Tish pushing through the crowd. Martha smiled, then looked past her sister to see a distant figure in a velvet green coat waving to her as he approached a big blue box.
Tish grabbed her in a hug. "Oh my God! I thought you were dead. What happened? It was so weird! The police wouldn't say what was going on, they didn't have a clue, and I tried phoning you. Mum's on her way, but she can't get through, they've closed off the roads. There's thousands of people trying to get in, the whole city's come to a halt. And Dad phoned, 'cos it's on the news and everything, he was crying! Oh my God, I've been a mess, but what happened, I mean what really happened, where were you?"
Martha tried to focus on her sister's questions as she also tried to see where the Doctor was heading, but then a bus passed and he was gone from sight. Suddenly, ridiculously, she felt quite alone.
* * * * * *
A few hours later her family were engaged in yet another blazing row as Annalise stormed out of the pub where they'd all met for Leo's 21st birthday party.
"I am not staying in there to be insulted!" shouted Annalise as Clive and Francine followed her out.
"She didn't mean it sweetheart," wheedled Clive. "She was just saying you look healthy."
"No I did not," corrected Francine angrily. "I said orange!"
"Clive, that woman is disrespecting me! She's never liked me!"
"Oh, can't think why," Francine exclaimed sarcastically, "after you stole my husband!"
"I was seduced!" protested Annalise. "I'm entirely innocent, tell her, babes!" she appealed to Clive.
"And then, she has a go at Martha," Francine said hotly. "Practically accused her of making the whole thing up."
Tish, Leo and Martha had followed their parents outside and Martha spoke up. "Mum, I don't mind, just leave it."
"Oh, 'I've been to the Moon!'" sneered Annalise. "As if! They were drugged, it said so on the News!"
"Since when did you watch the News?" asked Francine. "You can't even handle Quizmania!"
"Make her apologise!" Annalise demanded, glaring at Clive.
"Annalise started it," interjected Tish. "I heard her."
"I can't make her do anything!" Clive told Annalise.
Leo chipped in. "Tish, don't make it worse."
"Come off it, Leo!" exclaimed Tish. "What did she buy you? Soap!! A 75 pence soap!"
Annalise stormed off, followed by Clive and Leo. "I'm never talking to your family again!" she shouted.
"Annalise, don't you dare! I'm putting my foot down! This is me, putting my foot down!" shouted Clive.
"Let her go, Dad," Leo advised. "We don't need her, come back inside, come on - "
Francine shouted angrily after Clive. "Have a nice party, Clive! Go on, cavort with your little piece! Make a fool of yourself! God knows you've been doing it for twenty five years, why stop now?" She stormed away and Tish ran after her.
"Oh Mum, don't! I asked the DJ and he's playing that song later, he's playing Popcorn, like we did when we were little, don't go - "
Martha watched silently, forgotten and exhausted, as her family scattered into the night. Then she glanced up and saw a familiar figure smiling at her across the street. He beckoned and she hurried towards him, following as he stepped back around the corner of the building he'd been leaning against.
He smiled again, eyes bright with mischief and amusement as she hurried up the alley to find him leaning on the tall blue box she'd seen earlier.
"I went to the Moon today," she said.
He nodded. "Bit more peaceful than down here."
"You never even told me who you are."
He raised an eyebrow. "The Doctor."
"But what sort of species? It's not every day I get to ask that," she observed, smiling wryly.
"I'm a Time Lord," he told her.
She raised an eyebrow in turn. "Sounds a bit pompous," she teased.
He laughed, then pulled a Sonic Screwdriver from his right hand pocket. "I just thought, since you saved my life, and I've got a brand new Sonic Screwdriver in need of a road-test, that you might fancy a trip."
He waited eagerly, hoping she'd say yes.
"What, into space?" she asked disbelievingly. "I can't, I've got exams, things to do. I've got to go into town first thing and pay the rent, and I've got my family going mad - " She broke off, feeling slightly disappointed at herself for turning him down.
"If it helps, I can travel in time, as well," he said.
"Get out of here!"
"I can," he told her.
"Oh come on, that's going too far," she protested.
He pulled a dark pink rose from his other pocket, identical to the one she had pinned in her hair before leaving for Leo's party, and slipped it into his buttonhole. Then he winked. "I'll prove it." He disappeared into the box, which itself disappeared with a grinding noise.
Martha stared in wonder, then stepped forward, reaching out the hand that wasn't clutching her favourite red leather jacket, half convinced it was an illusion. Then she heard the engines again and darted back out of the way.
The box reappeared and the Doctor stepped out, the buttonhole in his jacket empty and he pointed to the rose in her hair. "Told you," he said quietly.
"No, but - that was this morning. But - Did you just - ? Oh my God, you can travel in time! But hold on, if you could see me this morning, why didn't you tell me not to go to work?"
"Interfering with established events is strictly forbidden," he told her gently.
"And that's your spaceship?" Martha asked, stepping closer again.
He nodded. "She's called the TARDIS. Time And Relative Dimensions In Space."
She ran a hand down the edge of the box. "Your spaceship is made of wood," she observed. "Doesn't look like there's much room - won't it be a bit of a squeeze?"
He opened the door. "Take a look," he invited.
She stepped inside, then stopped in awe. It was huge, half Gothic cathedral, half cosy library, mostly lit by dozens of branches of candles. The Doctor stepped in beside her.
"No, no, no!" She ran back out and peered around both sides of the box, running a hand down the edges before stepping back inside.
"But it's just a box!" she protested. "But it's huge! How does it do that? It's wood! It's like a box but with all that - " she gestured, "crammed in!" Then she realised. "It's bigger on the inside!"
He grinned at her. "Yes it is," he agreed, stepping past her and going to the console.
Martha followed cautiously, still awed and a little unsure. "Isn't there a crew?" she asked. "Like, a navigator and stuff." She was remembering Star Trek on television. "Where's everyone else?"
"It's just me," he told her quietly.
"All on your own?" she asked compassionately.
"Oh not often," he assured her. "I quite often have travelling companions, but at the moment, it's just me - and you, if you'd like to come?" He waited, willing her to accept.
She grinned at him. "OK, why not?" she said. She'd been wanting a holiday and if this was a time machine, well then he could get her back just a few hours after they'd left, and no one would be any the wiser.
He grinned back, delighted. "Excellent." He began setting the controls and the ship lurched into motion. He held out a hand. "Welcome aboard Miss Jones," he said formally.
Her grin widened as she shook his hand. "My pleasure Mr Smith."