Storm: Angel and Demon

Smith and Jones 3

If there was one thing the Doctor was good at, it was irritating people. It didn't take much from him before Miss Florence, irritated by his chatter, had her Slabs come over to grasp the Doctor and Terry and hold them back while she continued to work.

The Time Lords feigned alarm at being manhandled but both kept their eyes carefully on the plasmavore's progress.

"Er, that, that big er machine thing. Is it supposed to be making that noise?" The Doctor queried as he carefully analyzed Florence's work. The scanner was now buzzing from the energy overload and he already had an idea of what she was doing. But he needed confirmation... and a distraction.

"You wouldn't understand."

Miss Florence waved her hand dismissively, but she paused when the Doctor blurted out, "But isn't that a magnetic resonance imaging thing? Like a ginormous sort of a magnet? I did magnetics GCSE. Well, I failed, but all the same."

The plasmavore gave him a curious glance and she was interested enough that she deigned to give him a response.

"The magnetic setting now increased to fifty thousand Tesla."

"Ooo, that's a bit strong, isn't it?" The Doctor asked dramatically.

He was laying it on a bit thick in Terry's opinion but Miss Florence didn't seem to notice as she said with a smirk, "It'll send out a magnetic pulse that'll fry the brain stems of every living thing within two hundred and fifty thousand miles. Except for me, safe in this room."

She headed behind the protective glass once more while the Doctor frowned.

"But er, hold on, hold on," the Doctor protested. "I did geography GCSE. I passed that one. Doesn't that distance include the Earth?"

Terry heard the faint note of anger in his tone but it was masked enough that Miss Florence didn't detect it in the slightest. The old woman chuckled as she continued to work.

"Only the side facing the moon. The other half will survive. Call it my little gift." She smiled as though at an internal joke.

"I'm sorry," the Doctor blurted out again. "You'll have to excuse me, I'm a little out of my depth. I've spent the past fifteen years working as a postman. Hence the bunions."

"Bunions?" Terry asked incredulously.

"Hush, angel, I'm working."

"Why would you do that?" The Doctor asked aloud.

"With everyone dead, the Judoon ships will be mine, to make my escape." Miss Florence answered as though it were obvious. Which, it was. Just like it was obvious they would stop her.

"No, that's weird." The Doctor began, really starting to pick up his game now. "You're talking like you're some sort of an alien."

The Doctor smiled like he was expecting her to say it was a joke. Florence just turned to smile back at him like a parent indulging a child.

"Quite so." She revealed. The Doctor pulled a look of complete disbelief.

"No!"

Again, Terry felt he was overdoing it a bit but since Florence was looking their way, she feigned shock from beside the Doctor while Florence cooed, "Oh, yes."

"You're joshing me." The Doctor protested and the old woman shook her head.

"I am not."

"I'm talking to an alien? In hospital?" The Doctor turned to Terry excitedly. "Wife, didn't I tell you this place deserved top marks? I wonder, has the place got an ET department?"