Fic: Dr Who and the Phrat-A-Mouses 1/2

[captain91]

Old piece cleaned up with the help of a friend (thanks drakky).

Title: Dr Who and the Phrat-A-Mouses
Author: captain91
Characters: Tenth Doctor, Rose
Rating: general
Spoilers: none
Length: 1741. Total Length: 4370
Disclaimer: Not mine, or I’d actually be able to afford the box sets. No copyright infringement intended... yada yada.
Summary: Rose goes to visit her mum, but the TARDIS has landed in the future and something is very wrong...

The Doctor stepped from the TARDIS onto near future earth. He was right in front of Big Ben, but something was wrong.

The people were all missing! There was more too, on top of Big Ben was an open eggshell. A big one, covering the entire top, and all down the sides ran the innards. What was going on? Was it a practical joke? A protest? Or something not of this planet? The Doctor knew he had to find out—the human race may be in terrible danger.

The Doctor looked around, for once he was entirely bewildered. He didn’t have a clue what the creature was that would have laid that egg, if it was even real. Slowly he turned a full circle on the spot scanning the area. He could pick up no life signs anywhere. No noise. No lights. Not even the fluttering of a pigeon.

Rose stepped from the TARDIS, rucksack full of washing on her back, ready to take it home to her mother.  She stopped dead at the sight of the eggshell.  Quickly she glanced towards The Doctor, and he answered her unasked question.

“I don’t know what’s going on.  I can’t define the species without analysing a piece of that egg—and I don’t fancy the climb!  I can see no signs of life, I don’t know where to go,” said The Doctor dejectedly. His shoulders were slumped, hands in his pockets.

Rose saw his soul breaking with the knowledge that he knew not how to help and realised she had to do something herself. Briskly she walked over to the base of Big Ben and looked around the cobble stones. She was petrified that something might rocket out of the tower at her, but she kept her fear well hidden. Her Doctor was breaking and she had to fix him, whatever the personal price.

She swooped low and grabbed something that had been wedged between two stones. Walking by The Doctor, she grabbed his arm, dragging him along, like you would with a misbehaving child. He hardly resisted.  She strode him directly into the TARDIS positioned him in front of the analysis panel and handed him the contents of her hand.

“A piece of the shell!” he exclaimed his face beaming into life. “Of course, why didn’t I think to look around the base?” immediately he was busy attaching it to wires, programming codes and pacing the floor impatiently. He was back to his old self.

While they were waiting he ascertained that once more the TARDIS’s central control had moved them a couple of centuries forward. Rose wasn’t at home as she had expected. That also explained the thick taste of fumes in the air and the heat too intense for the time of year.

Before she could remove her rucksack though they were interrupted…

A sudden loud bang—as loud as a cannon—shattered the still air. The pair bolted to the TARDIS door, as the visual screen was busy in analysis, and looked for the cause.

Straight ahead of them was a thin wisp of smoke rising and a lot of noise.  Gunfire, loud bangs and ear-splitting cries undoubtedly from alien sources. There was life after all, but by the sound of it, there may not be for much longer.

A harsh beep rang out, signifying the species was deciphered to just a few possibilities. But The Doctor didn’t have time to look; he could barely spare enough time to lock the TARDIS.

They were both racing across the uneven ground towards the battle. Not once did it occur to either of them that they would be in grave danger if they ran directly into the battlefield.

It was happening in a courtyard between two towers of flats. From both of the towers there were bullets, grenades and miniature cannon balls firing out of the windows. You could see no sign of faces though through the broken windows. But what were they firing at? Neither The Doctor nor Rose could tell, as there was still a long distance between them and the battlefield, with a triple storey building in between. 

They carried on forward, more cautious now.  They kept to the shadows and thick, now overgrown foliage, to reduce the risk of detection. For all they knew the people could have turned against the country, become allies with the aliens—if they had, The Doctor and Rose would be under fire from the windows too.

“What do you think is going on doctor?” asked Rose, a small trace of fear evident in her voice. “We really should have stopped to see what the eggshell analysis was,” she continued, her voice juddering as a loud explosion ricochet through the air.

The Doctor just nodded in agreement and mumbled something about needing to find out what was going on, and on what the ammunition was raining down on. “Rose, this is likely to be very dangerous, you should go back to the TARDIS,” he said producing a silver key from his pocket. But, before she had even answered he’d returned the key to its place, knowing she would never go.

He was right. She coolly said, “No,” then walked briskly and confidently forward, causing him to jog a few paces just to keep up.  Unfortunately, by her striding ahead she had moved out into the open, The Doctor close behind. They were fully visible. And that meant danger.

A young soldier charged at them from out of the bushes, a large gun hanging from his shoulder. Rose stopped, The Doctor moved in front of her, and then he too stopped, hands raised. Both of his hearts were beating out a samba as he stood there physically shaking in terror. Nevertheless he stood his ground, determined to protect Rose as he had promised all that time ago.

The soldier though took no notice of their attempt of at surrender. As he ran close to them, he appeared to increase speed rather than slow down. He grabbed The Doctor by the arm and Rose by the sturdy frame of her rucksack that was still on her back. She was having to run almost backwards with the angle he had her on.

Violently he threw them both deep into the thick foliage (The Doctor landing on a thorny rose bush) before diving in behind them. He spun around, scanning the sky with his gun.  It was suddenly very clear to both of them that he was trying to help them, not hurt them. After a few seconds he relaxed slightly, seemingly satisfied that whatever he was looking for was not around at the present. Nevertheless he continued to watch the sky, almost feverishly as he mumbled an unbroken monologue to himself.

“What is out there?” asked The Doctor after a few seconds. "What are you so afraid of?”

The soldier jumped as The Doctor spoke; he seemed to have forgotten he was there. Still he did not look round. “You should be in hiding sir, madam. Everyone is being held in the underground bases, how did you get out? You shouldn’t be on the surface, it’s too dangerous.”

"I’m The Doctor,” replied the only man in the area that could truthfully say that. I can help if you’ll let me.”

The man, or more accurately boy as he looked only fourteen or fifteen, glanced round at him and shook his head solemnly. “We have the best men from the military here, but they can do nothing for it. We even have ufologists here from area fifty-two, but even they know not what to suggest.” He winced as a blood-curdling scream wailed out through the air. A human scream. “You need to get undercover or you’ll be going the same way,” he said emotionlessly with his eyes dropped.

“There were hundreds of you fighting at the start,” continued The Doctor almost as if the soldier had never spoken. He continued with a grave, but confident voice. “Most of your men have been killed by whatever you are shooting at over there. Soon there will be none of you left—unless you let me help.”

Still though the soldier shook his head, saying there was nothing they could do to help.

“Fine, we’ll leave you all here to be killed,” said Rose with a flicker of spite artificially inserted. Then, quite suddenly, before he’d had a chance to take in what she’d just said Rose and The Doctor stood up and squeezed out of the bush. They kept fairly close to the hedge, watching the sky carefully.

Before they had gone twelve steps the soldier was alongside them trying in vain to drag them back into cover. He kept saying it was far too dangerous to be out in the open. He said it so many times in fact that The Doctor got really fed up with him. He wrenched the gun from the boy’s neck and looped it over his own neck.

“There I’m defended as well as you were now. If you want to be safe I suggest you stick with me. I need you to take me to the most senior officer on this operation. Is that OK?” said The Doctor with an air of authority about him. He continued before the boy had had half a chance to conjure up an answer, let alone say it. “Good boy, now which is the safest way in? I also need to see this creature ASAP.” He patted him on the back and told him he was a good boy once more.

The boy had to give in to The Doctor—no-one could resist him for long. “Let me have the gun back Doctor,” he said slightly more confident now around this intimidating man. As he received the gun he smiled and said, "I’m Jedi, lets get going, it’s not wise to be outside—even our own people may shoot if they see a movement down here. It’s not just the aliens we have to worry about.”

He moved forward slowly, watching the sky, gun held fast in his hands, ready to fire at the first sign of trouble. He had explained to the Doctor and Rose that he would take them to the commanding officer, if he was still alive, in one of the tower blocks. From there he said they would be able to see the creature and possibly a specimen they had found dead.

Part 2