Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Roswell or anybody to do with Doctor Who. This story is a not for profit fandom venture.
Pairings/Couples/Category: Roswell/Doctor who crossover, time travel stuff. CC classic Roswell pairings, at least some hints of D10/Rose, but not sure how far I'm going to push that.
Summary: Rose wanted to see aliens in Roswell, so the Doctor remembers a little tip a good friend once gave him and aims the TARDIS for 2001. But once he exchanges secrets with the alien kids of Roswell, they realize that a new quest, or more than one, is waiting for them.
Author's Note: You'll have to wait a little to see how this fits into the established continuity of the show and where it doesn't. Trust me.
Part One
Whoosh, Swoosh, wheeze, groan, vworp vworp.
In an empty alley of a nondescript American town, a small box appeared up against a wall. A british police-call box, actually, very old-fashioned as well as out of place in its new home. But then, this particular box was out of place just about anywhere it went, so much that nobody ever really thought about it much or paid any attention to it. The reason that it looked like a police-call box was because its chameleon disguise circuit had broken a long time ago.
Just how long a time ago would be a difficult question to answer.
The door of the 'box' opened and a blonde girl poked her head out. "Roswell, New Mexico, yah?" She spoke with a London accent, not quite the traditional Cockney but with hints of it. Though she was looking out at the alley, she had spoken to someone who was still 'inside the box' with her.
"Absolutely," her unseen compatriot answered her, also in a British accent, a bit closer to Received Pronunciation than the girl, maybe East-southeast if you thought about it, maybe a hint of a Scottish burr, but you couldn't be sure. "I've never been here before, but the readouts are clear. Intersection of the seventy/route three eighty five east-west, and the two sixty five north-south. Thirty-three point three degrees north of the equator, one hundred and four point five west of your Greenwish observatory. Roswell in the state of New Mexico. Pretty close to the center of town."
"Showoff, doctor," the girl muttered half under her breath, and stepped out into the alley, looking around more. She was wearing an elegant day dress with a long hem, tight about the waist, high heels, and her hair intricately curled. "It looks almost like some parts of town around home."
"It's not a particularly unique town, aside from the little claim to fame regarding the crash," the still-unseen man assured her. "Never has been. It was your idea to come here."
"Okay, okay, I didn't mean to complain," she said. "And you're sure that we can actually find some... some aliens here?"
"I told you I could, didn't I?" He made an appearance in the doorway then, a cheerful man, perhaps in his early thirties, wearing a brown suit that harmonized nicely with his ragged mop of hair, including the lock that fell down in the middle of his forehead. "Surely by now you've learned not to doubt me when I'm feeling confident!"
"Of course not, Doctor." She cocked her head slightly. "That's what you're wearing?"
"Well, yes. What, do you think I need something different?" He looked down at the suit.
"No, I suppose not - I'm so used to seeing you like that, but I suppose it does fit. I got all dressed up for the occasion and all, but... well, never mind. Where from here?"
"We should only be a few blocks from our first Roswell destination, Rose," the Doctor said, offering her his arm. "And I do think that you look fantastic like that, though I was a bit surprised that you went to so much trouble."
"Well, I did want to fit in, didn't I? Not like the time that I ended up in wartime London, with that horrible Union Jack t-shirt..."
He cocked his head. "I liked that T-shirt, and I thought you did too."
"Only before I ended up hanging from a barrage balloon with a big flag on my chest for the German pilots to spot - a BRITISH flag." She sighed. "You cocked your head and smiled a bit, like there's something that you know and you hadn't realized I didn't know. What is it?"
"Umm... well..." Rather than answer Rose in words, the Doctor stepped out of the alley onto the sidewalk of a busy main street, and allowed the scene to speak for itself, taking a slightly tighter hold of Rose's arm.
She looked around at the selection of cars on the road - mostly aerodynamic sleek things. Modern japanese compacts mixed in with minivans and SUVs. A bus happened to stream by, with the billboard on its side advertising a website address. The building across the street had an electronic sign listing upcoming UFO convention events. Several of their fellow pedestrians were speaking on reasonably small cell phones.
"This... this isn't the late forties, or the early fifties," Rose accused the Doctor.
"I didn't say that it was! What gave you the impression that I'd be taking you to that timeframe?"
"Because... because I've done my research," she hissed at him, struggling vainly to free her arm, but feeling constrained not to make a scene in public. "The crash was in 1947. When you told me that you could take me to aliens in Roswell... what decade IS it? Eighties, no, the phones don't fit. Is this the twenty-first bloody century?"
"Yes, actually, but only just," he told her. "November of 2001, assuming that I didn't manage to muff the landing again, but everything seems to fit. My source of information was very clear - if I wanted to meet aliens in Roswell, this was the time to aim for. Actually, I don't have all the details, but I trust my old friend."
"Who was this old friend?" Rose asked, wrinkling her nose a bit.
"Never mind. Let's go on. It's down there." He pointed down the street.
"NO! Come on - I've got to go, change. I can use my clothes from home, better than this..."
"Please don't," he said, softly, and both of them were so surprised that he let go of her arm, and the two of them looked at each other, staying still. "I mean, you can go back, if you really feel you must, but... you look wonderful like this, and nobody seems to really mind. Yes, you're dressed a bit old-fashioned, but so what? Do you really care so much what other people think, Rose?"
"Well, no, I suppose not," Rose muttered. She stepped down the sidewalk, away from the alley, and then hesitated, irresolute. "Not after the Victorian people, well... never mind. It's a bit different to be less modern than people in a modern time, anyway." She took one more step, and the Doctor hurried to catch up with her, offering his arm again, which she took with a smile. "So, it's what, three and a half years now, before we met among those mannequins?"
"I suppose."
"Oh, lord." Rose rolled her eyes. "Right now, I'm probably out late with Mickey, dressed up in some ridiculous punk getup. Me mum threatened to... well, never mind that. We - we've never gone anywhere this close to when we met, before, have we?"
"No, I suppose not. Just as long as you don't try to contact yourself or cross the Atlantic, we should be fine, though."
"Alright." Rose looked around. "So, I guess the reason I didn't expect Roswell in the twenty-first century, was - well, I didn't figure that there would really be aliens hanging around so long after the crash, without anybody noticing. Or getting found by the boys in black and carted away to Area 51 or wherever. Is Area 51 here in New Mexico? I always think of van Statten's bunker, though I know it isn't the same thing."
"No, it's in Nevada, and I don't think that they ever had any real aliens there, though they did take apart a few pieces of non-human tech," the Doctor said offhandedly.
"I hope we're not going there," Rose said, pointing at another building across the street, proclaiming itself 'The Official Roswell UFO Museum.'
"No, not yet at least. In here." The Doctor pointed at a storefront not far ahead of them, with a giant off-balance flying saucer hanging from its wall above the sidewalk. "The Crashdown Cafe. Perfect place to meet Roswell aliens, and apparently their Eclipse burger is something tasty too."
"Wha?" Rose stared, shook her head, and then looked over at her friend. "You're serious?"
"I never kid about burgers," he quipped, and hurried ahead to the doors underneath the flying saucer.
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"Welcome to the Crashdown Cafe," a dark-haired waitress said, handing the two of them menus. The Doctor had chosen a table in the middle of the small dining room, even though Rose would have picked the only available booth if she'd been asked. He'd complimented her on how she looked in the outfit, so it'd be nice to have a slightly more intimate setting for their lunch - and plus, that way they could talk about certain things more privately. "Are you in town for the convention? Is that a theme outfit?"
"Hmm?" Rose blinked in surprise, not having expected that reaction. "Is it a what? What kind of theme?"
"Yes, in for the convention," the Doctor said calmly, smiling.
"Great," the waitress said. "Well, your clothes, Miss - they look a bit like late forties fashion, or something like that. The time period when the Crash happened - whatever it was that really came down. I didn't know if that was on purpose, or for some special event in particular. Didn't think that anybody was doing a costume ball this year..."
"Um, no, nothing in particular," she muttered. "Just - well, thought it'd be a lark."
"You're from England, right?" the waitress continued. Surprised, Rose nodded, and realized that the Doctor had signalled agreement as well. "Have you been living in the States a while, or flown directly over from there?"
"Err... not either, quite," the Doctor said, as Rose silently floundered. "We - we travel a lot. We only just got to America, this particular trip, but haven't been to the Isles in... um, what, two weeks or so? Please, no questions about just where we've been, though, it'd take a lot of explaining..."
"Oh, no, sorry sir, I didn't mean to bother you. Just - well, I'm interested about where our visitors come from, especially for events like the Convention. It's been a little slow this year, actually, in comparison with - you know."
"I'm sorry to hear that," the Doctor said. "And, I hope you don't mind - might I ask your name?"
"Oh, sure, sir. Liz Parker. My parents own and manage the Cafe, actually." She paused to give either of them a chance to ask something else. "Well, I'll be back in a few minutes for your orders - unless you're ready now?"
"Just a coffee for me, thanks," Rose said.
"You're not ready to take my word on the Eclipse burgers?" the Doctor pressed. Rose shrugged awkwardly. "Alright. Let's see... I will try the lemon herbal tea."
"That's a good one - my friend's mother supplies them," Liz volunteered. "Have you been here before, sir?"
"No, can't say that I have."
"How do you know about our Eclipse burgers, then?"
"A good friend," he said, with a smile and a nod. Liz took the hint and hurried off. Rose rolled her eyes and flicked her eyes over the whimsically named main dishes on he menu. The Doctor didn't look at the menu at all, just set it closed in front of him and looked past her into the middle distance.
"Okay, what's the plan now?" she whispered. "An orbit burger might be tasty, but this isn't why we came here, right?"
"The plan," he told her even more quietly, almost silently, "is that you let me listen, and look around as unobtrusively as I can while we sit here. We've already made one contact, though the situation is a bit awkward."
"Who, the waitress girl?" Rose breathed back.
He nodded. "Liz. One of the ones that I was told about."
"She's an..."
"No, not quite, but she's close to them. Don't tip our hand, unless I'm giving you a completely clear signal."
Rose sighed and returned to the menu, wondering just what a completely clear signal would be in this situation. Perhaps it would be easier just to let the Doctor make his move whenever he was convinced that the time was right. Maybe the Venus Meatloaf platter was more what she felt like than a burger of any description.
After their drinks had been delivered, and their food orders, (the Doctor absolutely would not be deflected from his Eclipse burger, and Rose finally settled on a 'Galaxy melt,') he finally passed a familiar slip over to her - psychic paper, usually used to fool 'the natives' into thinking that they had some kind of appropriate identification or authorization. Who did he want her to use this on? But the writing that appeared on the paper was a note with her name at the top, and she realized with a smile that he was using it to communicate to her without the risk of being overheard or it being noticed that they were constantly hissing at each other.
'Rose. I've been trying hard to match what I remember hearing about Roswell with what I hear and see around us. If I'm right, there are three teenage aliens here. Michael, the cook in the kitchen, Max and Isabel, a brother and sister...' And that was as much as the paper had room to show at once. She looked up, nodded at him to indicate that she'd read to the end, and after a few more seconds the paper wiped out and started again. 'They're sitting together at the booth second from the front door, along with Alex, Isabel's gentleman friend. And Liz and Maria, the waitress with the wavy dark blond hair, are dating Max and Michael respectively.'
Rose nodded, then passed the paper back to him, concentrating at it furiously. He shrugged and turned the paper to it - there was a jumble of words and sketch pictures of the people involved. Bloody hell! Rose had actually managed to get the psychic paper to work on other people once or twice, but maybe she wasn't concentrating clearly enough - or maybe getting somebody to see something they were half expecting was easier than conveying a concept of her own. Finally she dug a pencil stub out of the front pocket of her purse, and scribbled on the napkin. 'How do we tell them that we know their secret?'
The doctor just nodded somberly, and continued munching away on his burgers and the skinny chips that had come with it. (French fries, as the Americans called them.) Frustrated, Rose picked at her own food a little bit more, and started looking around. It was easy to spot Maria as the girl went around her business of delivering food, taking orders, and bussing her own tables herself - like Liz, Maria was pretty, but not quite as skinny and a bit more exotic looking. In fact, Rose fancied that there was a slight affinity that she herself shared with Maria, but probably that was just a co-incidence.
It was harder to get a good look at the other people who the Doctor's note had mentioned - there was undoubtedly someone in the kitchen who was responsible for cooking the food, but as long as Rose managed to force herself to stare at the little window arrangement, she never really caught a face from in there - just a brief glimpse of hair as someone came up to talk to Maria, the two of them positioned just so that the back of Maria's head was blocking her view. The booth near the front door was even harder to watch, because it was mostly behind Rose, and she couldn't keep shooting meaningful glances over her shoulder without having other people there wondering if she was worried about something following her.
She could listen, though, in fact, it was hard not to as her sense of concentration grew, and she grew convinced that she had picked out two young men's voices and one young woman's that had to be Max, Alex, and Isabel. It was a bit hard to tell what they were talking about - American accents and cultural details at a breakneck speed, but they certainly didn't seem to be mentioning anything unearthly. Then again, they'd have to be stupid teenage aliens to speak so carelessly in a public venue, Rose suspected. One of them - the girl, Isabel, did refer to something being 'Czechoslovakian', and both of the boys started laughing heartily. What did that mean? It was certainly unusual. Czechoslovakia had broken up in the mid-nineties, hadn't it?
Rose hadn't paid particular attention to someone new coming into the dining room, but she did hear Max and Alex greet the newcomer and invite him to their table - 'Kyle.' Rose itched even more to turn around and get a good look, but managed to fight down the urge, and looked around at the tables near the big front window. And that was when she spotted it.
It was a small creature, about as big as a flattened-out cat or racoon, but shaped more like a cross between an arachnid and a reptile, and faster than all of them put together. It half jumped and half crawled up a table leg and out onto the table-top, waving its slithery mandibles enthusiastically. "Look out," Rose cried. "There's a..."
She was drowned out by the screaming when that started.
The Doctor spun immediately into action, not challenging or attempting to capture the unearthly beastie, but keeping it busy by tossing the end of a small ball of string onto the table and moving it around like it was a living thing, while encouraging any of the diners who wished to exit the premises to do so in an orderly fashion. Nearly everybody took him up on his silent offer.
None of the kids that they had been paying attention to seemed to be interested in leaving either, though. Maria helped to keep the diners moving out quickly, while Liz just watched the thing carefully, trying to figure out what it might do next - and shooting an odd look at the Doctor for his choice of diversionary tactics. The foursome from the table also emerged, and Rose was able to get a slightly better look at them now that she was not expected to be paying full attention to her food and her dining companion - a very tall and striking blonde girl who looked as if she could easily be at home on a catwalk - that would be Isabel. The boys were harder to get a grasp on at once - she noticed the lighter hair and well-built arms of one who might be the new arrival, Kyle, and ears that reminded her of Prince Charles.
Nearly everybody else had left the dining room when Michael, the cook, charged through the door from the back, got a good look at the alien beast for the first time, and reacted with instant hostility. Raising his arm, he shot a small pulse of yellow light to the table, where it scorched one of the creature's legs. Suddenly furious in its turn, the thing took a running leap off the table and shot across the floor towards the back door when it landed on the floor. Apparently the damage had not decreased its agility by one jot. Michael tried to shoot it with a light pulse one more time, but missed, and was starting to look worried.
Just as Beastie had launched itself into the air towards Michael's shin, Rose's view of the teenage cook was suddely much greener and full of wavy ripples. It was - what, it sort of looked like she was looking at him through green jello, but that didn't make sense. Where would that much green jell-o have come from? Whatever it was, Beastie bounced off of it, looking rather put out. Rose looked around again, trying to make sense of this, and noticed that one of the other teenagers from the booth - a dark-haired boy without the big ears, and a face full of quiet power, had pointed out towards his friend. Was this some other sort of alien power? A defense, instead of the built-in laser pulse gun?
Liz yelped softly, and Rose looked around to see that Beastie was now making a bee-line back for the booth and its recently departed occupants. Had the alien creature been intelligent enough to recognize what had blocked it from its attack? The girl, Isabel, also made a hand gesture, and Beastie was flipped over onto its back by an invisible force, its legs waving furiously, but it could not appear to right itself immediately, like a turtle.
"Well, that was very informative," The Doctor said, grabbing several of his chips and heading over to the upended Beastie. "No more alien power antics, I think, there really isn't a need for them. Happy to meet you and all that."
The dark-haired teen who had thrown the defensive wall turned to face the Doctor, and the green-ness instantly vanished - like a light once the switch had been turned out. Had it been a force field of some kind? "We don't have long to talk like this before some people come back in to see what happened - and somebody's probably already called the Sherrif. That - that thing needs to be out of sight, and probably we shouldn't all be here, especially not talking about..."
"It's harmless," The Doctor said, feeding a chip into Beastie's maw and flipping it back upright on the back of his left hand. Liz and Maria both exclaimed, and Michael and Isabel both went into pointing postures, but the thing was contented and didn't make any sudden moves. "I mean, no, if you got it upset enough, it might have bitten, and the venom isn't fun for anybody, really. But if we can keep it fed and contented until it's out of town, it'll do alright in the desert. Wander around hunting small prey until it dies at a lonely old age, never finding a mate of its kind." He cocked his head. "Or it just might be unlikely enough to get killed by an armadillo. Circle of life, either way."
The shielding boy looked up to the ceiling for guidance, and then tried to assess the situation. "Okay. Those of us working here can't leave, and I should get back to the museum before anybody notices that I stayed in here. That leaves... Isabel, Alex, you okay with giving this guy a ride out past the city limits?"
"Yeah, sure, Max," Isabel said, her brown eyes flashing with a certain muted fire. "I think that a trip like that might give him a chance to answer some questions."
"I'm going too," Rose insisted, not wanting to get seperated from The Doctor in a situation like this.
"Well enough," Max said, already picking up his jacket. "Um, Kyle - you can go with them, though it might be a tight squeeze in the car, or head off, but you probably shouldn't..."
"Yeah, I got it." Kyle was the one with the lighter brown hair and the athlete's build, as Rose had already guessed from the voices. "Think that my dad might want to know about what happened here."
Rose shot a slightly alarmed look at The Doctor, but he didn't even seem to react to this news. So she thought about what they would need to take the now passive creature out of town - and picked up the Doctor's plate, moving the tiny scrap of burger over to her own plate of uneaten Galaxy melt. There was a lot of unfinished meals around the room, so hers shouldn't attract any attention.
"Umm, let me get you a takeout container quickly for those," Liz volunteered.
"Well - thanks I guess."
"Better than letting you take the plate," Maria put in, with a slight roll of her own eyes.
-----------
They'd only driven a few blocks in a four-door American sedan before Isabel turned to stare back at The Doctor and Rose. Alex was doing the driving, and he was the one with the big ears, but also a friendly face and manner that helped Rose feel at ease. "Okay, so - so are you guys aliens too?" She asked. "I mean, you realized what was going on with us quick - not that it was hard to tell that something strange was going on. Sheesh, how stupid of Max and Michael to use their powers in front of - and just what is that thing, anyway?"
"I believe it's a Gemalian Waytre," The Doctor said calmly, waiting for the creature to look like it had finished some stage of primary digestion before holding his hand out for another chip. "We just went by the Festival of Sweet Sounds on Gemalia, and it probably snuck into the TARDIS when neither of us were looking. It's actually more used to catching live prey, but these processed vegeform carbohydrates appear to be filling a craving and also tranquilizing it, which is all to the good."
There was a short pause. "Okay, so that's one question answered," Alex said, while Isabel just kept at it with the glare. "And about yourselves?"
The Doctor just shrugged. "He's an alien," Rose explained, feeling sympathetic to their curiosity. "Gallifreyan, I suppose you could say." She was used to The Doctor introducing himself as a Time Lord to people on other planets - sometimes, but she didn't want to necessarily introduce that concept here on Earth. The word derived from his home planet would work better for now - and she thought she'd actually pronounced it correctly. "As for myself, no, I'm definitely the Earthling. Ran into him in London, and - well, I hitched a lift." And there was no need to go into exactly WHEN that had happened.
"Cool," Alex decided. "I don't suppose you use an Electronic Thumb and a sub-etha-sensomatic?"
Rose just stared at him slightly, but The Doctor laughed heartily. "Another Douglas Adams fan - good. No, I actually know of similar gear that's used by hard-core hitchhikers, but they aren't called the same things, more's the pity. Rose just travels with me, so she doesn't need them."
"Alright." Alex sighed slightly as they passed a long industrial building. "Any other questions, dear?"
"Why did you come to Roswell?" Isabel asked. "Were you looking for - for people like us?"
"Yes, but I'd rather not get into all of the details - not until we can meet up with some of your friends again. Assuming that would be possible. And I do have one question of my own."
"Let me guess," Isabel suggested. "You want to know what alien planet we come from?"
"Actually, yes, that's pretty much it."
"Big surprise." Isabel took a deep breath. "We've had a lot of people asking us that question, I suppose, and for a long time we didn't really know anything much about it. Max, Michael, and I - we're all orphans, raised by humans after the Roswell crash, more or less. Now we do have a few more answers - but what if our people are at war with Gallifreyans? Is it safe to tell you anything like that?"
"As far as I know," Rose put in, hoping that this would be helpful, "the Gallifreyans have only been in one great war, and you don't look at all like the Daleks - those are ugly, hateful little creatures who ride around in tin metal cans. Aside from Daleks - The Doctor respects all life. He's done what he can to expose wrongdoers and stop dirty schemes, but he doesn't have it in for anybody just because of who they're born as."
"Why, careful dear, you make me out as some superman or something," The Doctor stage-whispered, holding his hand out for another chip.
"Okay, then - our home planet is Antar," Isabel said after a moment. "Something like two-hundred-fifty parsecs away from here, near a Red Supergiant."
"Antar, Antar, Antar," The Doctor muttered, cocking his head slightly. "I know I've heard of that, but can't quite place it."
"Is this a good enough place to let out the Waytre?" Alex asked, distracting The Doctor. He looked out the window at the terrain, a mix of sandy ground, low grasses and shrubs, a few stands of short trees, and rocky little peaks.
"Yes, that should do well enough, as long as he doesn't find his way back into the town." Alex pulled off onto the shoulder and stopped the car. The Doctor got out of the car and sniffed the air. "Ooh, no, not likely to go back there. Lovely aroma of toluene from that last factory. Our friend will make tracks in exactly the opposite way, and I don't blame him."
Rose circled around the car, and by the time she got there the Doctor had put the waytre onto the sandy slope near the shoulder of the road, but it wasn't moving yet. "Did you give him too many chips?"
"Seems so," The Doctor admitted ruefully. "Rather thoroughly tranquilized. I'm not sure if we should just leave it here and hope that it'll recover before something else comes along to take a bite out of it, or - or find a stick and start gently poking."
"Allow me to try," Isabel decided, stepping around the car. After considering for just a second, she circled around so that she was standing behind the waytre, from the way that they had come, and once again extended her finger. Rose nearly exclaimed an objection, but she wasn't really quick enough, and what emerged from the tip of that manicured digit was only a medium-sized spark, hard to even see in the daylight. When it struck the waytre, the creature appeared to be jolted back into awareness, and after turning around to glare reproachfully at Isabel once, it scuttered off, away from town and bearing left away from the road.
"Not badly done," The Doctor admitted to Isabel. "Antarians! Children of the molecule. Now I remember!"
"Remember what?" Isabel said, wrinkling her nose. "Our parents were molecules??"
"No, no." The Doctor stepped back to the car, where he'd left his door open. "It - it was a reference made in poetry by one of the Antarians' neighbor species, the Klenthorr, in reference to the versatility of your powers, especially the ability to selectively reshape the molecular structure of matter."
"Oh, yeah, they can do that all right," Alex agreed. "Even if technically they're only half Antarian - genetically engineered hybrids sent to Earth."
"Alex!" Isabel exclaimed unhappily.
"Really, how fascinating," The Doctor said, as the last of them took their seats in the car. He looked out into the desert for any trace of waytre before they left, but the little creature was long gone.
"Okay," Isabel said as Alex carefully made a wide U-turn. "If you know so much about our people, then it's my turn again I think. What about Gallifreyans? I don't care so much about enemies - what can you do? Do you have powers, like us, or special technology? How do your people, generally, spend their time?"
Rose gasped, realizing the impact of all of these questions, a second before The Doctor sighed. "My people, generally, do not do much, because there isn't much of a generality," he said, a trace of bitterness coming into his voice. "The great Time War, which Rose referred to - nearly wiped us out. I am the only surviving Gallifreyan that I know of, though I do keep looking for any other refugees from the fighting. The Daleks were also nearly eliminated, but because of their nature they have rebuilt their numbers and been beaten back down at least once since." He shot a look over at Rose. "I do not have any truly inherent powers such as yours, though I am in possession of - let us see, a rather prodigious intellect, I suppose, and a very useful little sonic screwdriver." He held up the little shiny tool and made it hum at a satisfying pitch. "And - my ship, the TARDIS, which can travel from world to world without having to pass through outer space, though it is also capable of operating in a vacuum."
There was a long, silent moment as Alex and Isabel absorbed this much, and Rose wondered if he would say anything more. Surely he would keep the last bit secret, wouldn't he? But no... "And also, the TARDIS will travel through time. I am indeed, a Gallifreyan, but my people, in their ascendance, were more commonly known as the Time Lords."
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"Hello?" The front door of the Crashdown opened once again, and a tall, dark-haired man in a uniform looked in.
"Hello, Mister Hanson - your usual coffee?" Liz asked, a little too brightly. Darnit.
"Maybe in a minute," he said, "but first, I've got some business. There were a few witnesses who told me that they were attacked by a six-legged, two foot long lizard in here - and were so scared for their lives that they all left in mid-meal." He stepped further into the dining room and looked around. "And it certainly seems like you might have had a number of dine-and-dashers, from the looks of things here."
"Don't worry about the money," Liz said. "We know most of them, and..."
"What about the lizard, Miss Parker?"
"There was no lizard," Liz told him, feeling reasonably safe in her honesty thus far. "More like a spider - admittedly a rather large and creepy looking spider, but still, I admit I was a little surprised at the mob panic reaction to it."
"A spider? Is it still around?"
"Are you volunteering to swat it for us?" Maria asked from behind the counter. "I kid, I kid. It - um, Michael got it to walk on a paper towel and took it out the back way."
Hanson looked around. "I didn't figure Michael for a lover of all of earth's creatures."
Maria tried to stifle a series of laughs. "Um, uhh - no, I was a bit surprised by it too," Liz admitted, and turned around. Yes, Michael had just come into the room. "Michael - what happened to - to the spider once you took it out back?"
"I tripped, and it fell - into the Dumpster," he blurted out. There was a moment's long silence.
"Okay, umm - I'll call this into animal control, they might want to know about this," Hanson said after a long moment. "Once I've finished my coffee."
"They're not going to shut down the cafe, will they?" Liz asked.
"I don't think so - not if the, the spider doesn't seem to still be in here," Hanson told her.
About fifteen minutes later, animal control had been and gone, shooting the kids dirty looks like they had made the thing up, but since they couldn't explain why all the customers had flet the Cafe there was apparently going to be some attempt to warn people in other buildings downtown about the giant spider that had been spotted.
"I wonder when they're going to get back," Maria muttered to Michael as Liz took the orders of the first few new people to come in after the incident. "Isabel, Alex, and the British people."
"Back here, or back to town?" Michael asked her.
"Oh - I didn't think that there would be a difference - but they might not come back here right away, huh? Even if they knew that it had mostly blown over, it might not be that smart."
"Yeah," Michael agreed. "Oh, come on, I think that Missus Purple sweater might be expecting that we replace the chicken burger that she let get cold."
"Oh, great." Maria headed off, taking a deep breath to prepare herself for another confrontation with this particular Convention attendee, who had pretty much made her regret her job choice at least once on each of the past few days.
-------------
"Okay, now that's our errand done," Rose said brightly as Alex drove back into the town of Roswell. "Umm, this might sound [pushy?] or something, but now that the Waytre's been dealt with, can we - can we still hang out with you, and your friends? I mean, you don't have to obviously, but - I've met a lot of aliens, but none quite like you - who grew up on Earth, and among humans. Makes me feel like you'd sort of understand what it's been like for me, tagging along with the Doctor on his travels through space and time - and occasionally other dimensions, but only by accident because that's VERY dangerous."
Alex and Isabel exchanged glances. It was easy to see that they were both a little nervous and suspicious, but didn't really want to turn down Rose's appeal. "Okay, but - well, we shouldn't go back to the Crashdown," Isabel pointed out. "And anybody's house where parents might show up would also be 'not a good idea' - they'd ask why we were being so friendly to a pair of Convention attendees we just met, or something like that."
"Okay, so where's left?" Rose asked.
"Michael's?" Alex asked, and Isabel nodded.
"Michael's parents won't be home?" Rose asked.
"Michael doesn't really have parents," Isabel pointed out. "Max and I got adopted when we were little, but Michael - well, he grew up in the foster care system, and didn't do so well with it. Nearly two years ago my father helped him get legally emancipated, so he's got his own place, and he's used to having the whole gang over for discussions that need privacy. I've got a spare key, and probably he'll be around soon, when his shift at the Crash is over."
"Sorry to upset the plans," the Doctor suddenly said, breaking a reasonably long silence, "but I'd really like to check out the UFO museum - by my lonesome, if you don't want to accompany me for this particular outing. There's probably going to be lots there that will be terribly interesting to a fellow like me."
Isabel and Alex remained silence, while Rose oriented on her companion. "You must remember that Max works at the museum," she pointed out. "NO pestering him while he's at his work."
"Of course, I wouldn't dream of pestering. In fact, I'll hardly say a word to him. Maybe a casual hello, if the circumstances seem auspicious for such a greeting. Aside from that, my attention will be focused on the exhibits - and perhaps making small talk with other 'convention attendees.' Nothing that'll cause trouble, I inisist."
Rose hesitated, still uncertain. "Okay, go on and have your fun. I'll stick with Isabel and Alex."
The Doctor nodded, and actually Isabel and Alex seemed fairly well satisfied with that arrangement as well. The Doctor was left out downtown, about two blocks away from the museum, and told the directions from there to Michael's apartment, in case he couldn't get a lift with anybody else who knew the way.
The flat, when they finally got to it, didn't too different from a few that Rose had been in near the estate housing back home. There was some inevitable quality about flats where young men lived on their own or in small groups - a slightly carefree spirit, a casual attitude towards elements of higeiyne and good housekeeping, and an undeniable sense of mixed fun and angst. When she realized that this place was so familiar, Rose rather thought that she'd like Michael when they spent more time together. Even the fact that he was half alien didn't affect these lifestyle details, she realized with a little start. Some things never change.
"So, time travelling, huh?" Alex asked as Isabel settled herself on one side of the loveseat. Rose considered the sofa, and then chose to sit on a pretty wooden stool, hoping that she wasn't seeming too picky.
"Yes, and we're not looking for more long-term travellers," Rose said quickly. Alex and Isabel raised opposite eyebrows in so much unison that she had to wonder if that was a practiced gesture. "Sorry - I agreed to go with the Doctor at first when I heard about that, and - and my reasons weren't the best, although I'm glad in retrospect that I made that choice."
"That's alright," Isabel said. "I'm just casually curious. What sort of times have you been to see?"
"Well - wow." Rose struggled with trying to express the breadth of what she'd seen with the Doctor in terms that these kids, (not that she was much older than they,) could understand. "I've been - ohh, millions and millions of years in the future, at least - seen the planet Earth die in the fires of the swelling red Sun..." Isabel squeaked and pulled Alex next to her - he was sitting down next to her in the loveseat by this point. "AND also been to visit the New Earth that humans found for themselves shortly after." No need to go into the details of them not being 'pure' human by that point. "I've met Queen Victoria in the Scottish highlands and Charles Dickens in Wales. I went to watch the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Olympics."
There was a moment of silence, and then Alex got it. "It's a bit early, I don't think that they've even got a short list yet, but - London?" Rose nodded. "Okay. Out of all that - what was the most incredible memory? The moment that'll stay with you until the day you die?"
It took Rose a moment, and she actually ruled one thing out as being way too much information to share - the moment she thought that she WOULD die, when she assumed the powers of the Time Vortex and eradicated the Dalek army. But the second place finisher surprised her a little. She couldn't deny the truth of it though. "Hanging from a balloon while the Germans were blitzing London. Wearing, I might add, a Union Jack target on my t-shirt." She looked down at the old-fashioned blue dress. "That was one of the experiences that made me decide to go a bit more cautious with my dress other times."
"Wait, why couldn't you wear a fun t-shirt..." Isabel started, then trailed off, another realization hitting her. "You thought your Doctor would be taking you to the late forties, or early fifties, soon after the Crash, right?"
Rose just nodded slowly, knowing what was next.
"Which means that you were coming to find aliens - and that he knew to find them in the year 2001," Alex said, putting it together quickly.
"To find US," Isabel agreed. "About that alien creature, the Waytre--"
"He might have let it sneak into the TARDIS on purpose," Rose admitted. "I didn't even know it was there, but - it wouldn't be the first time I had no clue of what he was planning. And - and I'm sorry for all of this, if it's a bother to you. Travelling with the Doctor has made me a bit too used to seeing miracles, perhaps. I wanted to see Roswell aliens, but it's not like you're an exhibit in a zoo. You're real people with your own private lives that we barged into, and..."
"No, it's..." Alex started, and then hesitated, shooting Isabel a meaningful look.
"It's okay," she insisted after just a moment's pause. "You're friendly and fun yourselves, and as much as I hate to admit it, things were getting a bit boring on the Czechoslovakian front."
"What does that word mean for you?" Rose asked suddenly. "I heard you use it, back at the Crashdown, but there aren't..."
"It's an old code word," Alex put in. "I don't think that Maria picked it because there aren't any Czechoslovakians anymore, but it sort of fits."
"Hey, what are you guys doing here?" Michael called from the door. "Do you really think you own the place?"
"No, but you don't either," Isabel shot back. "Now come on in and sit down quietly. Rose is telling us about the Battle of Britain."
Rose lifted an eyebrow, but when Michael and Maria made their way into the living room, they waved hi without words and took their places on the couch, Maria playfully slipping off her shoes and resting her legs in Michaels lap. So Rose started to tell them about the medical ship and the nanogenes, and the little boy in the gas mask who just wanted his Mummy.
TO BE CONTINUED...
