Bad Wolf (Entry One of The Diaries of a Teenage Time Lady)

Dalek

I bet a load of people have been waiting to see what would happen in this episode.

Well . . . Rose doesn't hesitate, and it's not just the Doctor this Dalek recognizes.

***

Rose frowned as she stepped out of the TARDIS after the Doctor, Anna's hand in hers. "So what is it?" she looked around the dark room. They'd been on their way to . . . well, she hadn't known, but something had started beeping, and the Doctor had said they'd gone somewhere else. "What's wrong?"

"Don't know," the Doctor answered, looking around. "Some kind of signal drawing the TARDIS off course."

"Where are we?" Anna looked around.

"Earth," the Doctor tilted his head. "Utah, North America, about half a mile underground."

"And when are we?"

"Two thousand and twelve."

Rose considered as the Doctor considered a glass case nearby. "God, that's so close. So I should be . . . twenty six." The Doctor looked to the side, then flipped a switch. Lights suddenly flipped on, and Rose looked down the length of the room, seeing more display cases. "Blimey, it's a great big museum!"

"An alien museum," the Doctor corrected. "Someone's got a hobby. They must have spent a fortune on this. Chunks of meteorite, moon dust . . . " He gestured at the case he'd been looking at. "That's the milometer from the Roswell spaceship."

There was a gasp from nearby, and they turned to see Anna looking at a familiar object. "Slitheen!" she said, eyes wide. "A stuffed Slitheen arm?"

"Oh, look at you," the Doctor scowled at a metal head.

Rose frowned. "What is it?"

Anna squeaked and backed away, Rose quickly taking her hand again. "An old friend of mine," the Doctor answered. "Well, enemy. The stuff of nightmares reduced to an exhibit." He sighed. "I'm getting old."

"Is that where the signal's coming from?"

"No, it's stone dead," the Doctor shook his head. "The signal's alive. Something's reaching out, calling for help."

He touched the display case, and an alarm suddenly wailed. Anna flinched and pressed against Rose's legs, and Rose wrapped her arms around the girl as armed guards ran in from all directions, aiming guns at them. "Well," Rose said slowly, "if someone's collecting aliens . . . that makes you Exhibit A."

***

"What does it do?" a man in a suit was asking as the trio was led in.

"Well, you see the tubes on the side?" an English young man gestured to a device he was holding. "It must be to channel something. I think it might be fuel."

The Doctor took one look and grimaced. "I really wouldn't hold it like that."

"Shut it," the ginger woman who led them in glared at him.

"Really, though, that's wrong."

"Is it dangerous?" the English boy asked nervously.

"No," the Doctor shrugged. "It just looks silly." He reached out to take it, but froze when guns clicked all around him. Anna whimpered, and Rose squeezed her closer. The American man took a look at the young girl and gestured. The guns lowered slightly, and he handed the device to the Doctor. "You just need to be . . . " The Doctor stroked the object softly, and Anna perked up when a soft, lingering note rang from it. "Delicate."

"It's a musical instrument," the man realized as the Doctor made different notes.

"And it's a long way from home," the Doctor nodded.