#10-2

Rose placed a hand on his arm.  “We'll just have to be careful, Doctor.”

He glanced at her.  “No, that's not what I mean.  Well, I mean obviously I'm worried about the telepathic influence, yeah.  But... limited range?  How limited?  Because people have been having fear attacks all over this boat, according to what Mallory said.  And I haven't exactly seen Captain Levy wandering around the ship.”

Rose sat up straighter.  “Oh god, you're right.  A ship this size...”

“Rose, how do they reproduce?”

“I don't know.  They're a synthetic species.  I don't suppose the sontarans created them with reproduction in mind.  I mean, do they reproduce at all?”

“They might have evolved a way.”

“Still though, there was only one of them.”

“Self propogation.  Like earthworms.”

Rose swallowed and swiped a stray lock of hair out of her face.  “Okay, Doctor, let's not get ahead of ourselves.  Maybe their telepathic range is larger than we think.  There haven't exactly been thorough studies on them.”

“Yes, but think about it.  Why wouldn't it have known where Helen was?  Why did it insist on having us followed around?”

Rose chewed her lip.  “Okay.  Let's work on that theory then.  Multiple volchaski, infecting enough people to exert influence over the entire ship?”

The Doctor and Rose both glanced at Helen.  She stared back at them.

“Oh, you can't possibly think...” she said as the Doctor jumped up, pulling out his sonic screwdriver and scanning her up and down.  “I think I'd know if a worm had crawled into my ear!”

“No secondary life forms detected,” the Doctor said, flipping his sonic and tucking it away again.  “At least we know Helen's in the clear.”

Helen sighed and glanced at the ceiling.  “Right, so what are we going to do about all this nonsense then?”

“If Captain Levy is still in control of the ship's crew, that implies there's a heirarchy of sorts,” Rose said.  “So he's still our primary concern.”

The Doctor frowned.  “Wouldn't it be nice if there was a Fright Night effect with all of them?  Destroy the leader, the rest of them fall like dominoes...”

Helen furrowed her brow.  “Fright Night?”

“There's no Fright Night in this universe, Doctor,” she muttered.

The Doctor looked aghast, then put his face in his hands, shaking his head.  “Blimey, 'course there isn't.  All my pop culture references are useless here!”

“Wait, you're from another universe?” Helen asked, then shrugged and rolled her eyes.  “Why am I surprised?”

“There's still Underworld,” Rose encouraged.  “And the Beatles... Oh!  And Led Zeppelin—on an actual Zeppelin!  Remind me to show you that later.”

The Doctor brightened.  “Ohoho, brilliant!”

Rose grinned.  “Tell you what.  When this mess is over, you and I are gonna lock ourselves away for a week and binge watch all the most important cultural events of this universe's last century.  You'll be back to your old self in no time.”

Helen leaned forward aggitatedly.  “Hello, excuse me?  Alien invasion happening!”

“I beg your pardon!” the Doctor said indignantly.

“She's talking about the worms, Doctor,” Rose said, play-slapping his arm. “Besides, you're human now, remember?”

“Well, half human.”

Helen stared at the Doctor, palming the top of her head.  “You're half alien.”

“You say that like it's a bad thing,” the Doctor said defensively.

“Look,” Rose said.  “Why don't we just finish breakfast so we can move on. We're getting distracted.”

They ate mechanically in heavy silence for a few minutes, avoiding the now cold eggs in favor of scones and fruit.

“You know,” the Doctor said through a bite, swallowing as he poured a warmup on his coffee, “I think we should revisit this idea of security cameras.”

“To find Scott?” Rose wiped buttery fingers on her napkin.

“Yes. And although it didn't pan out at the restaurant, I suspect the ship's security system is a digital one, and it's bound to save backup files to a hard drive.  Liability purposes.”  He poured more coffee for the two women.

“True,” Rose conceded.

“How are you going to manage that though?” Helen asked.  “They aren't just gonna let you waltz in and access their systems.”  She chased her words with a large gulp of coffee.

“Oh, I have my ways,” the Doctor said, bouncing his eyebrows.

“But Doctor, they've seen you,” Rose said.  “I don't think psychic paper will be enough.”

“Psychic paper?” Helen asked.

“Hmm... right...”  He rubbed the back of his neck.  “I'll need a disguise then.”

Rose arched an eyebrow.  “Don't tell me you're gonna wear a fake mustache...”

The Doctor wrinkled his nose.  “I don't think we need to take measures as extreme as that.”

“Excuse me—psychic paper?” Helen asked again.

“It's...” the Doctor began, “...well, sort of like a fake ID for all occasions.  It tricks the person's brain into seeing what you want them to see.”

Helen slowly shook her head in wonder.  “God... this is... just, is this really happening right now?  Or am I having a mental breakdown?”

“Oh don't worry, you're perfectly sane,” Rose said with a smile.

Helen blinked, nodding.  “All right then, excellent...”

“Perfectly,” Rose replied.  She turned to the Doctor.  “Well, what should me and Helen do while you play secret agent?”

The Doctor sighed.  “Never thought I'd hear myself say this, but... I think you'd better call Torchwood.”

Rose dropped her napkin.  “You... want me to call Torchwood.”

“I know,” he replied with a sigh.  “I won't pretend to be happy about it, but I think this might be more than we can handle on our own.  We'll need their help with containment.  Just... make sure they know what they're up against.  The sooner they can get here the better.  For now, we're in the happy position of the volchaski being stuck on this boat, but once we hit land in... what, 20 hours? There's a huge risk some of them could escape.”

Rose nodded.  “The closer we get to land, the greater the risk.  Even if we managed to keep them from dropping the gangplank, they could steal lifeboats—some of them might even try to swim for it.”

“Exactly. And there's no knowing how many are on board.”

Rose sighed.  “Well, I can't call them from our suite, they might be listening in.  We'd be asking for trouble.”

“My room's out too, obviously,” Helen said.

“What about Mallory?” the Doctor suggested.

Rose glanced between Helen and the Doctor.  “Yes, good idea.  Have you still got his card?”

“On the nightstand,” the Doctor said, tossing his head towards their room.

“Okay, I'm gonna get dressed then,” Rose said, pushing her chair back.

“Me too,” said Helen, following Rose's example.

“Me too, too,” said the Doctor, popping his eyebrows with a manic grin and a little shake of the head as he stood.

Rose shimmied into a thick sweater as the Doctor stripped off his jimjams and pulled on some jeans.  He pulled more clothes out of the closet. “Whatcha think?” he said, turning to Rose.  “This?” he held up a blue t-shirt that read, Actual Genius.  “Or this?”  A red t-shirt: Because Science.

Rose laughed.  “Does it matter?”

“Think computer expert.”

“Then Actual Genius, definitely.  Besides, in your case it's true.”

“Why thank you, Rose Tyler,” he chuffed, tossing away the rejected red shirt and shoving his arms into the sleeves of the preferred blue one, plowing his head through the neck hole.

“How are you going to keep them from recognizing you.  I mean even if you wear a disguise, won't they be able to tell it's your mind?”

“Only if they're infected.  Besides, I think I've enough mental control to tweak my psychic frequency a bit—enough to throw them off the scent.”

“Your face though.”  She pulled on some jeans and buttoned them, slipping on some boots and grabbing her coat.

“Well,” the Doctor said, putting on his glasses.  “There's this.  And... well, I think I'll trim the ol' sideburns.”  He ran his hands across them.

Rose's face fell.  “Not permanently, I hope.”

He grinned.  “I've always wondered if you liked them.”

She grinned against her tongue.  “And how,” she swayed flirtatiously.

He laughed.  “No worries, then.  They'll just temporarily take one for the team.”

“Just don't do anything to that hair of yours.”

“Nope!” he said, popping the P.  “I've got this.”  He whipped out a rust colored beanie with an atom embroidered on the front, pulling it over his head.  “Whatcha think?  Will it work?”  His fringe poked out from the top of the hat, covering his eyes slightly.  He hadn't cut it since he'd come to this universe, and it was getting rather long in the front.

“Hmm... actually, I think that might work.”

“Plus, I've got these!”  He bounded to the closet and pulled out a red and yellow plaid wool shirt and a gray hoodie.

Rose laughed.  “When did you start wearing hoodies and plaid?”

“Well, technically I haven't...  I borrowed them from your mum last minute. Started packing and realized I didn't have any winter clothes.”

Rose laughed again.  “She loaned you Pete's clothes for warmth?  God, she's practically your mother in law already!”  Her voice caught on the words.  There was an awkward silence, the Doctor's eyes shining as the corners of his mouth turned up in a wry smile.  “Er, I'm surprised she didn't give you mittens,” Rose added in a rush, cheeks flushing hot.

“S-she did,” he stuttered.  “Well, gloves.  Nice ones.  And a really warm scarf.”

“Did she give you the hat too?”

“Nope, that's mine.”

“Where'd you get it?”

“Same place I got the Star Wars shirts.  I quite like it.”  He grinned, running his fingers along the edge of the hat.

Rose bit her lip.  “You're not... I mean... you know... not all the time?  It's just you have, you know, really great hair... be a shame to cover it up...”

“Nah, I'll just keep it for special occasions.  You know, birthdays... and, er... weddings...”  He waggled his eyebrows.

“Oh god,” Rose squeaked, turning a deeper crimson.

The Doctor grinned, pulling off the hat and tossing it on the bed, wrapping his arms around her and propping his chin on top of her head as she buried her face in his chest.  “I would, you know.”

“Me too.”

“Let's get off this boat in one piece then, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

He pulled back, lifting her chin and brushing hair out of her face, his expression now quite serious.  “Rose, please... be careful.”

“You too.”

He helped her into her coat, then spun her around one more time and pulled her tightly into his arms, kissing her fervently.  She kissed him back desperately, pressing her forehead to his when their lips parted.

“I'll meet you back here as soon as I can,” he said breathlessly.

“You'd better.”

“I love you, Rose Tyler.”

“Love you back, you crazy half-alien man.”