Bad Wolf (Book One of the Doctor's Daughter)

The Empty Child

I rush into the console room and over to my dad, gripping onto the console.

"What's the emergency? Rose shouts, running over to us.

"It's mauve." Dad replies, rushing around the console and showing me what buttons to press near me.

"Mauve?" Rose asks.

"The universally recognised colour for danger." I answer.

"What happened to red?"

"That's just humans. By everyone else's standards, red's camp. Oh, the misunderstandings. All those red alerts, all that dancing. It's got a very basic flight computer." Dad gestures to the large cylinder on the console monitor. "I've hacked in, slaved my sister to it. Where it goes, we go."

"And that's safe, is it?" Rose asks.

"Totally." He says, only for the console to explode near him.

"I think what my dad meant to say is that it's reasonably." I remark to Rose, helping him to try and keep track of the cylinder.

"No, no, no, no!" He shouts, his eyes widening. "It's jumping time tracks, getting away from us."

"What exactly is this thing?" Rose looks at the monitor.

"No idea." He shrugs.

"Then why are we chasing it?"

"It's mauve and dangerous." Dad explains like it makes sense. "And about thirty seconds from the centre of London."

*****

The Tardis materialises in London, in a back alley between two terraces. I step out to see it is night time, followed by Rose and my dad.

"Do you know how long you can knock around space without happening to bump into Earth?" He asks almost sarcastically.

"Five days?" I smirk, glancing around. "Or is that just when we're out of milk?"

"Of all the species in all the Universe and it has to come out of a cow." He remarks, rolling his eyes and steps away from Auntie. "Must have come down somewhere quite close." Dad comments. "Within a mile, anyway. And it can't have been more than a few weeks ago. Maybe a month."

"A month? We were right behind it!" Rose exclaims.

"It was jumping time tracks all over the place." I explain carefully.

"We're bound to be a little bit out." Dad continues. "Do you want to drive?"

"Yeah." Rose says, not getting dad just said that rhetorical. "How much is a little?"

"A bit."

"Is that exactly a bit?" Rose looks at him.

"Ish." Dad shrugs.

"What's the plan, then?" She asks, rolling her eyes. "Are you going to do a scan for alien tech or something?"

"Rose, it hit the middle of London with a very loud bang." I remark, pulling out Jack's psychic paper that I may have taken without him knowing. "We're going to ask."

Dad passes his psychic paper to Rose.

"Doctor John Smith" She reads out loud. "Ministry of Asteroids."

"It's psychic paper. It tells you..."

"Whatever you want it to tell me, I remember."

"Sorry." Dad mutters, standing outside a door that is just for deliveries.

"Not very Spock, is it?" Rose and I share a smirk. "Just asking?"

"Door, music, people." He remarks, walking over to the door and starts trying to open it. "What do you think?"