Child of the Sky

Aliens of London

Alcyone never liked hospitals. In fact, she hadn't been in one in her life, or at least for another reason other than using their research labs occasionally. Oddly enough, she never needed to go to one; she remembered, in the corners of her childhood, a kind but wicked face and a big colorful scarf. "It's not a snake, Aly, it's a fluffy snake." He had said once while checking on her. Later, he'd said she was perfectly healthy and didn't need a revision unless she felt really ill, and that's how she never saw that man anymore.

It's not that she hated them, she was just not used to them with those endless halls and identical white rooms, she felt uneasy. However, this was not the case, as she was hurrying through the corridors of the Albion Hospital; she was heading to get a coffee outside when the next thing she knew she was rushing through the streets after receiving a call from UNIT: an alien spaceship had crashed into London and they had found a body, an extraterrestrial body.

When she arrived, the street was full of both pedestrians and journalists, each asking questions or trying to peek at the hospital's entrance and get a glance at the alien visitant. It looked impossible to enter, but luckily two UNIT agents were waiting for her while four others cleared the way. They hadn't told her any information, only that a spaceship crashed into the Big Ben and landed on the River Thames; she knew she wasn't the biggest expert on alien invasions, but UNIT knew she was one of the most capable researchers who could help them in these situations, as far as her knowledge allowed.

Running up the stairs, the two soldiers led her to a smaller room, what seemed a simple mortuary, where General R. Asquith and another woman were waiting for her at the feet of a large lump under a white sheet.

"Ah, Dr. Alcyone Hart. I'm General R. Asquith, Chief of the Defence Staff." He introduced himself while shaking her hand. "You're the astronomer and physicist sent by UNIT, I presume?" The girl nodded. "Toshiko Sato, from Torchwood." Sato sent her a small smile, although it was obvious she was nervous about the whole situation.

"Let's have a look, then." Asquith said as Sato pulled back the sheet.

Alcyone took a breath as she stared at the creature before her eyes: a literal pig was lying on the stretcher, only it was wearing some kind of spacesuit, and by the complexion of it, it seemed like it walked on two legs rather than four. It seemed oddly human and yet so far away. And even so, she had never seen something like this, or at least, any alien-kind of thing; she was used to the usual rather funny depictions of Martians but never would have she imagined to look like a pig.

"Good God." The General spoke again. "And that's real? It's not a hoax or a dummy, or a-"

"I've x-rayed the skull." Said Sato with a slight trembling voice. She didn't seem to like what she was seeing. "It's wired up inside like nothing I've ever seen before. No one could make this up."

Alcyone raised an eyebrow at the information. It's legit then?, she thought to herself. From what she knew, the ship seemed to have purposely crashed into the Big Ben in plain daylight, but it didn't match up with the alien's conditions.

"What do you think?" Asquith asked her.

"Dunno what to tell you, honestly." She replied, doubtfully. "As far as I can see, it's a very weirdly looking extraterrestrial form. Although..."

"Although?"

She picked some rubber gloves, always carrying them in situations of spontaneous research, and put them on while slowly approaching the stretcher.

"It's a pig." Alcyone said with a tone matter-of-factly. The General blinked at her in confusion.

"Yeah, we know. It's an alien pig."