1So I had meant to post this on Sunday but things are kind of rough for me and I wound up staying in bed all day instead. I hope you guys are enjoying it so far... Don't forget to R&R for me! Reviews are always appreciated. I hope you guys have a fantastic day!
Disclaimer: DW is not mine.. Only Panorakai (Puh-nora-kai), or Penny as she goes by now. If you guys can think of any fun names to come from Panorakai then let me know! She likes to change her name every now and again so who knows how long she will remain as Penny.
Chapter Three
March 2, 2005
"Save me!"
Penny laughed as Rose held onto her shoulders, "What's wrong? Mickey finally tell you those three scary words again?"
"Oh, shut it, you!" Rose gave Penny a hard shove and then sat down next to her on the park bench, "No, he has not said those words yet. We've been dating for a bit now but he knows it's hard sometimes for me."
"Screw you, Jimmy Stone!" Penny yelled to the stars.
"Screw you, Jimmy Stone!" Rose joined her.
"So what's wrong?" Penny asked as they settled down.
Rose groaned and slouched on the bench, "He's just, I don't know? Mickey? I love him, but I don't know if I'm in love with him. It's confusing at times."
"Have you talked to your mother about it?"
"The mother you refuse to meet? No, I have not. I love her to death but she goes through men like a starving man goes through chips"
"Chips?"
Rose shrugged, "Chips sound good right now."
"I had someone once tell me that every living being in this world has one person they're supposed to be with. They would fit perfectly together. Maybe your dad was the one for your mom and now that he's gone, no one can really fit perfectly in that hole."
Rose sighed and leaned back, "Well that would be awful, to have the one person she was meant to love be taken away so soon."
"Well there's a reason for everything."
"Okay, wise one. Now what will I be eating for dinner tomorrow?"
"Chips, of course."
Both girls laughed as they leaned back and watched the night sky together.
"You have a habit of looking up at the stars." Rose chimed after a few minutes of silence.
"It's something I always do, they calm me down."
"Is something wrong?"
"I just have a bad feeling. Something is coming and I'm not sure what it is." She wasn't as sharp as she used to be. Rose was the last Tyler so the Link she had accidentally formed with the Tyler family was very weak. She wasn't sure how much longer she would be able to Last with such a weak Link to sustain her. Her gifts had all but disappeared over the years. She was sure she would get them back, if she created a stronger Link, but there was no one she could do that with. But she also knew that Rose was the pink and yellow being she had dreamed about all those years ago. She just had no idea who the man was.
"Well, I've learned to trust your gut. It's weird how accurate it is sometimes. If you're every strapped for cash then you should go read some fortunes." Rose winked at her which made both girls laugh.
Rose didn't know but Penny was living in Helen and Robert's home. It was given to her when Robert had passed five years after his wife. Rose didn't know there was ever a 'Dora' in the picture. She had almost been given a little bit of money from them which she used to pay the bills. But from her travels and the jobs she had done in the past eighty nine years, she was set on cash.
"I'll keep that in mind." Penny glanced down at the watch on her wrist, "it's getting late. You should get back home before your mom calls you and asks who you're with."
"One day you seriously need to tell me the thing you have with moms. Or maybe just my mom."
Penny laughed as she stood, "One day I will, I promise."
0o0o0
March 30, 2005
Penny screamed and cried as she collapsed onto the floor of her home. Rose was missing and Mickey wasn't talking. He was shaken up by something but he just wouldn't talk to her. She could feel Rose out there somewhere but it was like their connection was at it's limits. Like she was somewhere that Penny couldn't quite reach.
She had gone to the Tyler home, hoping there was something she could do to help. But the moment Jackie saw her began the screaming and yelling that she had hoped to avoid. Jackie was not happy to see her, even go so far as to blame her for Rose's disappearance. So Penny had stumbled home before she had let loose her emotions into the air.
"Please come home, Rose..."
0o0o0
April 20, 2006
Penny stared at her TV in shock, she had been on Earth for ninety years and had never come across another being from another planet, an 'alien'. She could pinch herself as she watch the events unfold.
"Big Ben destroyed as a UFO crash lands in Central London. Police reinforcements are drafted in from across the country to control widespread panic, looting and civil disturbance. A state of national emergency has been declared. Tom Hitchinson is at the scene."
The scene changes to the man named Tom Hitchinson standing at the edge of the Thames.
"The police are urging the public not to panic. There's a help line number on screen right now if you're worried about friends or family. The army are sending divers into the wreck of the spaceship. No one knows what they're going to find. But so far, there have been no reported casualties."
The scene goes back to the news room as the reported begins to let the public know that the Prime Minister was missing before switching back to the Thames.
"They've found a body. It's unconfirmed, but I'm being told a body has been found in the wreckage. A body of non-terrestrial origins. It's being brought ashore. A body of some sort has been found inside the wreckage of the spacecraft. It is now being brought to the nearest shore. Unconfirmed reports say that the body is of extra-terrestrial origin. An extraordinary event unfolding here live here in Central London. The body is being transferred to a secure unit mortuary, the whereabouts is yet unknown. The roads in Central London are being-"
Penny muted the TV as she sat back and watched the body bag be put inside a black van. There was a body. Of an alien. She had to see it. She glanced up and turned the volume back up since Hitchinson was now in different location.
"-Albion Hospital. We still don't know whether it's alive or dead. Whitehall is denying everything. But the body has been brought here, Albion Hospital. The road's closed off. It's the closest to the river."
Penny turned off her TV and ran to her bedroom, she was going to sneak into Albion Hospital and see the body for herself. But as she changed, she missed her phone buzzing on the couch, Mickey's name flashing on her screen.
Penny changed into a pair of black pants, a black shirt and threw on her black jacket and chucks. She grabbed her keys and phone and then ran out of the house, barely remembering to lock the door.
She ran all the way to Albion Hospital, barely breaking a sweat as she did. The hospital was surrounded by people and reporters so she quietly snuck towards the back, keeping low to the ground as she went. If her time on Earth has taught her anything, it was how to move unseen.
She found an opening in the gate and waited until the guards passed to slip right through. She ran across the courtyard and into the building just as a flashlight went past where she just door closed behind her with a soft click and she smiled and she faced the inside of the hospital.
She wandered down the halls until the found the sign that said morgue and then followed them until she reached the cold double doors she was looking for. She pushed them open and quietly stepped in, only to see a human staring wide eyed at her.
"You're not supposed to be here."
"I know, I'm sorry! I just-I wanted to see!"
"It's not just a thing that you can take a picture of and then go on your merry way!"
"I would never!" Penny protested.
"Look-" But the doctor was cut off by the sounds of banging.
"Where is that coming from?" Penny asked as she stepped forward.
"It's coming from chamber five." The woman said shakily.
"And what is in chamber five?" Penny moved to where she was standing just in front of the human woman as the banging continued.
"The alien is in chamber five."
The banging seemed to change to curious knocking as Penny cocked her head and began to walk over to the chamber.
"What are you doing?!" The woman asked with a hiss.
"It's knocking, it wants out. It could be scared in there." Penny whispered as she walked closer to the chamber.
But before Penny can let it out, the chamber bursts open with a bang, eliciting a scream from both woman and the being escapes with a squeal. The doctor falls and hits her head on her chair as she tried to get away but Penny began looking around, trying to find the being.
A dozen men with guns run into the room lead by a man in a leather jacket who made Penny's breath catch. It was him! HIM! The man she had dreamed about back home so many years ago, but she could remember everything about him.
"It's alive!" The female yells as she sees the men run in.
"Spread out. Tell the perimeter it's a lockdown." He barked out orders so naturally that it took her off guard.
"Don't hurt him!" Penny yelled as the men began to walk away, "He's just scared!"
"My god. It's still alive." The female whispered.
"You heard the lady, don't hurt him!"
Penny could heard the men yelling to one another as they checked the rooms outside of the morgue.
"I swear it was dead." The woman said as she stood up.
The man in the leather jacket began looking around, "Coma, shock, hibernation, anything. What does it look like?"
He looked from the mortician to Penny as she just shrugged. "I didn't get a good look at him before he ran. He's short though."
"Short?" The man shot her a look before there was a clattering noise not too far away from them, "It's still here"
The only soldier that was left in the room walked forward with his gun raised as the man in the leather jacket walked towards the noise.
Penny followed him and the both froze as they came across a pig, standing upright, and wearing a spacesuit.
"This isn't right," Penny whispered as she looked at the pig with sad eyes. She may not know a lot of things about the universe but she does know that there isn't a species of pig out there.
The man with the leather jacket shot her another look before it approached the pig with his hands held up, "Hello."
But the noise spooked the pig and it squealed and ran out into the hall with Penny on it's heels.
"Don't shoot!" The man yelled as he saw the men with the guns raise their weapons, but Penny was slightly faster.
She caught the pig as the gun went off and she yelled as she she pain explode in her left arm.
"What did you do that for? It was scared! It was scared!" The man yelled as he ran to Penny and the pig.
Blue blood slid down her arm and onto the pig as it collapsed against her, but he was still breathing. She stook up and picked up the pig as she did. She shook off the soldier who tried to help her up and then walked back into the morgue. The soldiers seemed to think that the the blue blood belonged to the pig, which was okay with her.
Penny laid the pig down on the examining table and flexed her arm which just made red hot pain burn through it. But she gritted her teeth and looked to the man.
"What did this?"
"Excuse me?" The mortician said.
But Penny was looking at the man in the leather jacket, who was looking at the pig with a quizzical eye. He reach over and began to examine the pig before looking over at her with a look in his eyes that made her think that he was shocked to see no wound on the pig. He looked at her arm before nodding.
"It's not an alien," He said as he backed away. "Just a pig."
"It's not? I just assumed that's what aliens look like, but you're saying it's an ordinary pig from Earth."
"It's more like a mermaid. Victorian showmen used to draw the crowds by taking the skull of a cat, gluing it to a fish and calling it a mermaid. Now someone's taken a pig, opened up it's brain, stuck bits on, then they've strapped it in that ship and made it dive bomb. It must've been terrified. They've taken this animal and turned it into a joke."
The man in leather once again looked over at Penny, but she couldn't hold his stare for long. She grabbed her wounded arm and flinched. She had really hoped to never be shot again.
She glanced over to see him starring at her still before he turned and walked away. She looked at the female mortician and saw that she was looking at the wall so she picked the pig up before turning around and following the man out of the doors.
She followed him all the way to a closet where a large blue box rested.
"You coming inside?"
His voice came from inside the box. It only took her a moment before she nodded and walked inside, the door closing behind her. It gave a rough shake and a noise that seemed like music to her ears filled the space.
"Now, let's take a look at that arm, shall we? It took him a split second before he registered the pig in her arms. You brought the pig?"
"I couldn't leave him behind. They'd do horrible things to him. He might not survive that long anyways. There have been some cruel things done to him to make him the way he is now. I won't leave him to more torture at the hands of curious humans And it's fine, I'll be fine. I just need to get the bullet out."
"You do this often then?"
"Saving disguised pigs or getting shot?"
"How about both?" He asked with a smile on his face.
"Well, I have to say that this is my first time saving a pig, made to look like an alien or not. And I've been shot twice now."
He raised an eyebrow at the second part before waving her over, "Follow me, I'll show you to the med bay."
He seemed to look at her expectedly though, like he was waiting for her to say something else.
"Was there something you wanted to ask me?"
"This is my ship, the TARDIS."
"Well, she's beautiful." A large grin broke out across his face and she decided she rather liked his smile.
"That she is! Now follow me!"
0o0o0
It didn't take him too long to get the bullet out and bandage her arm. He also took a look at the pig but the results didn't look good.
"He's dying." Penny said as she stroked the pigs head.
The man nodded, "He is. I don't know how long it will take but he is dying."
"Well then, let's figure out what did this to this poor innocent pig so he can go knowing that his pain and suffering wasn't for nothing."
"Let's! But first, we have to pick up my companion. The person who is traveling with me right now. You look like you'd be the same age as her."
"Well, looks can be deceiving Mr.?"
"I'm the Doctor."
"Well, Doctor, I'm a lot older than I look and I'm Penny."
He gave her another large grin, "So am I! It's nice to meet you Penny."
The Tardis gave a shake and the music sounded again and then it stooped and the doors opened. Penny couldn't breath as the pink and yellow human ran past her with an annoyed and worried look on her face. But the Doctor didn't seem to truly see it.
"All right, so I lied. I went and had a look. But the whole crash landing's a fake. I thought so. Just too perfect. I mean, hitting Big Ben. Come on, so I thought let's go and have a look-"
But Rose interrupted him, "My mum's here."
Penny's head snapped to the door to see Jackie just staring at her in shock.
"Oh, that's just what I need. Don't you dare make this place domestic."
Mickey ran in after Rose and locked onto the Doctor, "You ruined my life, Doctor. They thought she was dead. I was a murder suspect because of you."
"You see what I mean? Domestic."
"I bet you don't even remember my name."
"Ricky."
"It's Mickey."
"No, it's Ricky."
"I think I know my own name."
"You think you know your own name? How stupid are you?"
Jackie shook her head and ran out of the Tardis, Rose not even noticing Penny's tucking herself away.
"Mum, don't! Don't go anywhere. Don't start a fight!"
Rose was gone only a couple of seconds before she sullenly walked back into the Tardis. She looked up and finally noticed the other blonde. "Penny?"
"Rose!" Penny ran out of her corner and slammed into Rose while giving her the biggest hug. "Oh, I've missed you so much!"
"What are you doing here?" Rose asked as she pulled away, but not before she noticed the bandage on Penny's forearm, "And what happened to your arm?"
"I met the Doctor at Albion Hospital and then got shot saving a pig disguised as an alien."
"You got shot?!" Rose asked as she grabbed Penny's arm and began inspecting it.
"I'm fine! The Doctor fixed me right up! I'll be healed in no time!"
"And you know that the Doctor is, you know?"
"An alien? Yes, kind of hard to miss that."
Rose turned around to look at the Doctor and Mickey who were still bickering at the console.
"That was a real spaceship then?"
The Doctor opened his mouth to reply but Penny beat him to it, "The spaceship seemed real enough but the body they pulled from it was not. Someone went through a lot of trouble to a pig appear to be alien.
The Doctor gave Penny a calculating look before nodding, "Your friend is right."
"So it's all a pack of lies? What is it, then? Are they invading?" Rose asked as she walked closer to the Doctor.
Mickey shook his head, "Funny way to invade, putting the world on red alert."
The Doctor nodded, "Good point! So, what're they up to?"
"Did I just hear a pigs squeal?" Rose asked as a squeal did echo through the Tardis. The Doctor looked over at Penny with an eyebrow raised and she could only shrug and smile as she pulled Rose aside to tell her about the mermaid pig.
0o0o0
Mickey glanced down to see the Doctor below the console, "So, what're you doing down there?
"Ricky."
"Mickey."
"Ricky. If I was to tell you what I was doing to the controls of my frankly magnificent time ship, would you even begin to understand?"
"I suppose not."
"Well, shut it, then."
Mickey and Rose walked off and were talking to one another as Penny walked over to the console and looked down at the Doctor fiddling away. He glanced at her and then went back to whatever he was doing.
"Does she know?" He asked.
Penny glanced at Rose before she shook her head, "There is a very long and complicated history there. So, no, she does not know."
"It's not easy to hide parts of yourself."
Penny glanced down at the bracelet she was wearing, that she had been wearing since 1916. "No, it's not. But most people don't like the truth."
The was a zap and then the Doctor called out, "Got it! Ha, ha!" He jumped out from underneath the console and ran to a monitor attached to it. "Patched in the radar, looped it back twelve hours so we can follow the flight of that spaceship. Here we go. Hold on. Come on." The Doctor tapped the monitor which showed the trajectory of the ship. "That's the spaceship on its way to Earth, see? Except. Hold on. See? The spaceship did a sling shot round the Earth before it landed."
"What does that mean?" Rose asked as she studied the monitor.
"It means it came from Earth in the first place. It went up and came back down. Whoever those aliens are, they haven't just arrived, they've been here for a while. The question is, what have they been doing?"
"Can you tell exactly where the ship started its slingshot? I mean, it obviously came from somewhere in London, but if we could narrow it down a bit more then that might help."
"Smart, but I don't think that will help much. Whoever did this is planning something so I don't think they'd be by their ship right now.
"How many channels do you get?" Mickey asked, interrupting them.
They both looked over to see Rose and Mickey flipping through channels on the monitor.
"All the basic packages." The Doctor said as he walked over and began to flip through the channels himself, stopping on a news channel that was showing 10 Downing Street, packed with reporters and lots of people were walking into the building but no one was saying a word
"You get sports channels?" Mickey asked as he looked around the console.
The Doctor rolled his eyes, "Yes, I get the football. Hold on, I know that lot." The doctor reached over and turned up the volume.
"It is looking likely that the Government's bringing in alien specialists - those people who have devoted their lives to studying outer space."
The Doctor nodded, "UNIT. United Nations Intelligence Taskforce. Good people."
"How do you know them?" Rose asked as she looked between the monitor and the doctor.
"'Cos he's worked for them. Oh yeah, don't think I sat on my backside for twelve months, Doctor. I read up on you. You look deep enough on the Internet or in the history books, and there's his name, followed by a list of the dead."
Penny winced and just barely missed the less than noticeable wince on the Doctor's face.
"That's nice. Good boy, Ricky."
Rose was looking at the monitor with a quizzical look on her face, "If you know them, why don't you go and help?
The Doctor shook his head, "They wouldn't recognize me. I've changed a lot since the old days. Besides, the world's on a knife-edge. There's aliens out there and fake aliens. We want to keep this alien out of the mix. I'm going undercover. And I'd better keep the Tardis out of sight. Ricky, you've got a car. You can do some driving."
Mickey didn't even give it a second thought as he nodded, "Where to?"
"The roads are clearing. Let's go and have a look at that spaceship."
Penny grinned and she and Rose linked arms and the four of them walked out of the Tardis and into the spotlight coming from a helicopter above them.
"Do not move! Step away from the box and raise your hands above your heads." Someone yelled through the haze of police lights.
"Rose!"
Penny looked up to see Jackie being restrained by police officers and when she looked around, she couldn't see Mickey anywhere.
"Rose!" Jackie struggled but couldn't get passed the men who held her back.
"Raise your hands above your head. You are under arrest." Someone yelled to them.
Penny and Rose hesitantly lifted their hands before the Doctor grinned and held his up high.
"Take me to your leader."
Penny could only groan and they were grabbed and stuffed in the back of a very nice car and they all three looked at one another as the driver got him and began driving.
"This is a bit posh. If I knew it was going to be like this, being arrested, I would have done it years ago." Rose whispered which made Penny laugh.
"Me too!"
The Doctor just smiled as he stared out the window, "We're not being arrested, we're being escorted."
"Escorted?"
"Where to?"
"Where'd you think? Downing Street."
Penny gulped as her hand grew sweaty as she watched the familiar buildings pass by. She just realized that she was going to be in a building with the top alien specialists in the world. She tuned the Doctor and Rose out for a moment as she sat back and took a deep breathe. There have only ever been a handful of people at at time that have known about her and she wasn't ready for it to be out in the world.
"-I've visited this planet a lot of times, and I've been, er, noticed."
Penny blinked as she caught the end of the Doctors statement.
"Now they need you?" Rose asked with a smile.
"Like it said on the news. They're gathering experts in alien knowledge. And who's the biggest expert of the lot?"
"Patrick Moore?" Rose and Penny said together which made them both laugh and the Doctor crack a smile.
"Apart from him."
"Oh, don't you just love it."
"I'm telling you. Lloyd George, he used to drink me under the table. Who's the Prime Minister now?"
"How should I know? I missed a year."
"It's Tony Blair, he's alright but he's been missing since the spaceship crashed down.
Rose and the Doctor exchanged glances and they pulled up to 10 Downing Street.
When they stopped, they all three climbed out of the car to be attacked by reporters questions that Penny couldn't really pick up. It all blurred together as cameras were shoved into their faces and they were escorted inside.
They were brought into a large room filled with dozens of other people, though Penny stuck close by the Doctor and Rose. As excited as she was to have met someone else who wasn't from Earth, she wasn't ready for the adventure that had come with it. Though she was definitely having fun, her blood was pumping in a way that it hadn't since the 1970s.
"Ladies and gentlemen, can we convene? Quick as we can, please. It's this way on the right, and can I remind you ID cards are to be worn at all times." A man in a suit said as he ushered the men and women into a separate room. He walked over to the Doctor and handed him his own ID card. "Here's your ID card. I'm sorry, your companions don't have clearance."
"I don't go anywhere without them." The Doctor said as he took the ID badge.
The man shook his head, You're the code nine, not them. I'm sorry, Doctor. It is the Doctor, isn't it? They'll have to stay outside."
"They're staying with me."
The man sighed, "Look, even I don't have clearance to go in there. I can't let them in and that's a fact."
"It's all right. You go." Rose spoke up with a little nudge to the Doctors shoulder.
"Yeah, we'll be fine out here."
"Excuse me. Are you the Doctor?" And older woman asked as she quickly walked over.
The Doctor nodded, "Sure."
The man almost groaned, "Not now. We're busy. Can't you go home?"
The woman shook her head, "I just need a word in private"
"I suppose so. Don't get in any trouble." The Doctor looked at Rose and Penny and then walked into the meeting room with the rest of the experts.
The man looked at the woman who had just walked over, "You haven't got clearance. Now leave it." He turned to look at Rose and Penny, "I'm going to have to leave you both with security."
The older woman shook her head, "It's all right. I'll look after them. Let me be of some use." She turned to the girls and nodded her head. "Walk with me. Just keep walking." She lead them through a few rooms before stopping. "That's right. Don't look round. Harriet Jones, MP Flydale North. This friend of yours, he's an expert, is that right? He knows about aliens?"
Rose and Penny shared a glance before they both asked, "Why do you want to know?"
Neither was expecting the woman to break into tears and lead them into the Cabinet Room. She led them to the closet where a skin suit was laying on the floor.
"They turned the body into a suit. A disguise for the thing inside!" Harriet almost yelled.
Rose wrapped her arm around the woman, "It's all right. We believe you. It's, it's alien. They must have some serious technology behind this. If we could find it, we could use it."
The three women split up and begin searching the room before Rose opens a cupboard and a body falls out.
Rose screams as she backs away, "Oh, my God! Is that the-"
"Harriet, for God's sake." The man in the suit from before walks into the room, and he looks pissed. "This has gone beyond a joke. You cannot just wander-" He looked down and saw the body on the floor and he had to close his mouth for a moment to stop the vomit that wanted to come out. "Oh, my God. That's the Prime Minister!"
"Oh! Someone has been naught!" A high pitched female voice came from the doorway.
The man walked closer and shook his head, "That's impossible. He left this afternoon. The Prime Minister left Downing Street. He was driven away!"
The woman walked into the room and smiled, but her smile looked wrong. "And who told you that, hmm? Me."
She reached up to her hairline and started to pull what looked like a zipper across her head that wasn't there before. Light filled the room as the four other occupants shielded their eyes.