The TARDIS hurtled through the Time Vortex in pursuit of a cylindrical object. Rose hurried into the console room to find the Doctor and the Artist rushing about the console, operating the controls. "What's the emergency?" Rose asked them.

"It's mauve." the Doctor replied.

"Mauve?"

"The universally recognised colour for danger." the Artist answered, hitting a blue switch and the TARDIS stopped shaking.

"What happened to red?" Rose asked, moving to stand by the Doctor.

"That's just humans." the Doctor replied, "By everyone else's standards, red's camp. Oh, the misunderstandings. All those red alerts, all that dancing." He gestured to the object they were chasing on the monitor. "It's got a very basic flight computer. I've hacked in and we've slaved the TARDIS. Where it goes, we go."

"And how safe is that?" Rose asked.

"Totally." the Doctor replied casually and pressed a button. Part of the console promptly sparked, causing him to jump back. "Okay, reasonably. Should've said reasonably there." he corrected sheepishly.

The Artist just rolled her eyes and swing the monitor round to her side of the console to check it. She could see the Time Vortex turning blue, meaning that the object was going backwards in time. "Doctor, it's jumping time tracks, getting away from us." she warned.

"What exactly is that thing?" Rose asked.

"Haven't a clue." the Artist replied, swinging the monitor back to the Doctor as they worked to keep up with the object.

"And why are we chasing it?" Rose quizzed.

"It's mauve and dangerous." the Doctor told her, "And about 30 seconds from the centre of London."

——————————————————————————

When the TARDIS stopped, the trio stepped out to find themselves in an alleyway behind some bleak-looking terraced houses. "D'yer know how long we can knock around space without bumping into Earth?" the Doctor asked sarcastically.

"Five days." Rose retorted, "Or is that just when we're outta milk?"

"All the species in the universe, and it has to come out of a cow." the Doctor muttered.

"Could be worse." the Artist quipped, "At least it doesn't come out of Rats... or Drashigs."

"Fair point." the Doctor conceded, and they made their way further along the alley. "Must've come down somewhere quite close." the Doctor observed, "Within a mile, anyway. And it can't have been more than a few weeks ago. Maybe a month."

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

"Rose, it was jumping time tracks and hopping about all over the place." the Artist told her, "I'm not surprised we're a little bit out."

"Do you wanna drive?" the Doctor asked Rose indignantly.

"Yeah." she answered.

"We can teach ya sometime." the Artist said, "But I warn ya, the TARDIS is a complicated machine and the Doctor and I aren't exactly pros."

"How much is a little?" Rose asked, getting back on topic.

"A bit." the Doctor waved her off, heading for a padlocked set of doors at the end of the alley.

"Is that exactly a bit?" Rose persisted.

"Ish."

"What's the plan, then? Ya gonna scan for alien tech or something?"

"Rose, it hit the middle of London with a very loud bang." the Doctor answered flatly, "We're gonna ask." He showed Rose his psychic paper.

"Doctor John Smith, Ministry of Asteroids, and his assistant, Nancy Jones." Rose read.

"Psychic paper, tells yer..."

"Whatever ya want it to tell me, I remember." Rose cut in, remembering the Doctor's explanation on Platform One.

"Sorry." the Doctor mumbled as they reached the doors.

"Not very Spock, is it?" Rose went on, "Just asking."

The Doctor pressed his ear to the door. "Door, music, people. What d'yer think?"

"I think you should scan for alien tech." Rose said flatly as she watched the Doctor flash his sonic screwdriver on the padlock, "Gimme some Spock for once. Would it kill either of ya?"

"Rose, just cos' we have fancy gadgets, doesn't mean we have to whip them out for everything." the Artist told her, "Sometimes, the old fashioned ways are best."

"You sure about that t-shirt?" the Doctor asked, looking at the rather garish Union Flag t-shirt Rose was wearing.

"Too early to say." Rose shrugged, "I'm taking it out for a spin."

"I like the shirt." the Artist reassured her.

"Thanks." Rose replied, "You should try it sometime. Bet it'd look great on ya."

Just then, her attention was caught by a child's voice in the distance calling out; "Muuuu-mmy?"

While Rose looked around for the source of the voice, the Doctor finished with the lock and opened the door. "Come on, if yer coming." he said to Rose, "Won't take a minute." He stepped through the door.

"Rose?" the Artist frowned, noticing that Rose wasn't paying attention.

"Yeah, yeah, with ya in a minute." Rose waved her off, still looking around.

The Artist considered asking her what was wrong, but then decided that someone needed to keep an eye on the Doctor, so she went through the door after him.

"Muuuu-mmy?" the child's voice called out again.

Rose continued looking around and noticed a little blonde boy in a gas mask standing on a nearby rooftop. "Doctor? Artist? There's a kid up there!" Rose called urgently, but the Time Lords were already inside the building and out of earshot, so Rose ran off to try and find a way to rescue the boy herself.

——————————————————————————

Meanwhile, the Doctor and the Artist made their way through a darkened corridor, following the sound of voices and music. They pushed through some curtains to find themselves in a crowded drinking den, where people in mid-20th century clothing were smoking, drinking and chatting, while a female singer stood on stage performing a romantic song.

——————————————————————————

Rose reached the building the boy was on top of. "You alright up there?" she called up to him.

"Muuuuu-my?" the boy called.

Rose began to climb the fire escape.

——————————————————————————

In the nightclub, the singer finished her song and the patrons applauded. The singer vacated the stage and the Doctor stepped up to the mike. "Excuse me, s'cuse me. Could I have everybody's attention just for a mo? Be very quick, eh... hello!" He waved cheerfully. "Eh... might seem like a stupid question, but has anything fallen from the sky recently?"

There was silence for a moment, then all the patrons burst out laughing. Both Time Lords frowned, wandering what was so funny about the Doctor's question.

——————————————————————————

Rose reached the rooftop to find that the boy was standing on top of a water tank, with no steps leading up to him. "Mummy?" he called again.

"Okay, hold on. Don't move!" Rose called back to him. She noticed a rope hanging down the side of the tank, so she began to climb it.

——————————————————————————

The patrons continued to howl with laughter. "Sorry, have I said something funny?" a confused Doctor asked, causing them to laugh even more. "It's just, there's this thing I need to find." he pressed on, "Would've fallen from the sky a couple of days ago." Suddenly, a loud siren sounded in the distance, and the patrons began to evacuate the room. "Would've landed quite near here." the Doctor tried to continue, "With a very loud..."

"Doctor." the Artist called. He looked over to see her pointing at a poster on the wall bearing the legend 'Hitler will send no warning.'

"Bang." the Doctor finished sheepishly, realising that they'd landed in the middle of the Second World War, where things fell from the sky day in and day out.

——————————————————————————

Rose continued to climb the rope up the tank. "Mummy." the boy called again, "Balloon."

Rose looked up to see that the rope she was climbing up was attached to a barrage balloon. And before she could realise her mistake and jump clear, a gust of wind caught the balloon and began to blow it away from the rooftop, taking Rose with it. "Doctor! Artist!" she cried out in terror, but the Time Lords were still inside the building and couldn't hear her.

The balloon began to drift across the city. Rose looked round to see the view over her shoulder: blacked-out London, with a few fires burning and barrage balloons spread out in the air. Worse still, Rose could see a swarm of German planes coming straight for her.

"Okay... maybe not this t-shirt." was all she could say as the planes zoomed around her.

——————————————————————————

The Doctor and the Artist left the drinking den and made their way back down the alley, looking for their companion. "Rose?" they called out, but there was no sign of her.

They stopped round the corner where the TARDIS was parked. "Yer know... one day. Just one day, maybe, we're gonna meet someone who gets the whole 'don't wander off' thing." the Doctor muttered irritably.

"I wouldn't bank on it." the Artist sighed.

"900 years of phone box travel and it's the only thing left to surprise me." the Doctor grumbled.

Suddenly, they heard a phone ringing nearby. They followed the sound to find that it was coming from the TARDIS. Brow furrowed in confusion, the Doctor opened the panel on the door where an old fashioned phone was hidden. "How can you be ringing?" the Doctor wandered, "What's that about? Ringing? What am I supposed to do with a ringing phone?"

"Well, I'm not a genius like you, but I'd guess that we're supposed to answer it." the Artist replied flatly.

"Don't answer it. It's not for you." a voice called out behind them, and they turned round to see a young woman standing there.

"And how do you know that?" the Doctor questioned.

"Cos' I do." the woman replied, "And I'm telling ya, don't answer it."

"Well, if you know so much, tell me this, how can it be ringing?" the Doctor asked, turning back to the phone, "It's not even a real phone. It's not connected, it's not..." He turned back to see that the woman had disappeared.

"Someone's quick on their feet." the Artist commented, then they both turned back to the phone.

The Doctor hesitantly picked up the receiver and held up so that they both could hear. "Hello?" he called, "This is the Doctor speaking. How may I help you?"

"Mummy?" a child's voice came over the other end. "Mummy?"

"Who is this?" the Artist frowned, "Who's speaking?"

"Are you my mummy?"

"Are you alright?" the Artist tried.

"Mummy?"

"How did you ring here?" the Doctor questioned, "This isn't a real phone, it's not wired up to anything, it's..."

"Mummy?" the child's voice interrupted, then the line went dead.

The Doctor slowly put the receiver back in it's cradle while the Artist poked her head inside the TARDIS. "Rose, are you there?" she called out.

Suddenly, they heard a crashing sound from somewhere behind them, so they went off to investigate, hurrying out of the alleyway and into a street.

Soon, their attention was caught by a woman's voice; "The planes are coming. Can't you hear 'em? Into the shelter. None of ya nonsense, now MOVE IT!" Following the sound, the Time Lords climbed up on top of some bins and looked over a garden wall to see a plump woman ushering a small boy into an air raid shelter. "Come on, come on, get in there." the woman fussed and turned back to the house, "Arthur! Arthur, will you hurry up?! Didn't ya hear the sirens?"

A plump man, evidently Arthur, came storming out of the house. "Middle of dinner every night." he grumbled, "Blooming Germans, don't they eat?"

"I can hear the planes!" his wife fussed.

"Don't you eat?!" Arthur shouted skywards, then stumped over to the shelter.

"Keep ya voice down, will ya? There's an air raid!" his wife ordered, then pushed him into the shelter and followed him inside, both of them arguing all the while.

"I feel sorry for their son." the Artist remarked to the Doctor, "Having to life with them two all the time."

Just then, the Time Lords saw the woman from before come out of hiding by the shelter and creep into the house by the back door.

The woman, Nancy, entered the kitchen and began taking tins of food out of the cupboards and putting them into her knapsack. She then made for the front door, but stopped when something in the dining room caught her attention. She saw an unfinished meal on the table and smiled. She went out to the end of the front path and whistled, then went back inside. She slipped her coat off and began carving up the plump joint of meat on the table. Two boys ran in. "Many kids out there?" Nancy asked.

"Eh... yes, miss." the younger boy, Jim, answered, then they both ran to the table and made for the food.

"Ah, still carving." Nancy told them, "Sit and wait. We've the whole air raid."

"Look at that." the older boy, Ernie, commented, looking at the joint. "Bet it's off the black market."

"That's enough." Nancy chided lightly.

——————————————————————————

Rose meanwhile was still clinging for dear life to the rope. The balloon continued to drift over London, nearing Westminster. Planes continued to whizz past Rose, their machine guns letting rip, while anti-aircraft guns on the ground fired into the air in an attempt to nail the air-borne invaders. Then, a bomb landed somewhere beneath Rose, the blast causing her to lose her grip on the rope and fall towards the flames, screaming.

Suddenly, a blue beam of light shot out of somewhere near the Westminster clock tower and caught Rose mid-fall. "Okay, okay, I've got you." an American-accented voice called out.

"Who's got me?" a scared and surprised Rose shouted, "Who's got me, and ya know, how?"

"I'm just programming your descent pattern." the voice replied, "Keep as still as you can and keep ya hands and feet inside the light field."

"Descent pattern?"

"Oh, and could you switch off ya cell phone? No, seriously, it interferes with my instruments."

"Ya know, no one ever believes that." Rose muttered, pulling out her phone and switching it off.

"Thank you." the voice said, "That's much better."

"Oh, yeah, that's a real load off, that is." a hysterical Rose said sarcastically, "I'm hanging in the sky in the middle of a German air raid with the Union Jack across my chest, but hey! My mobile phones off!"

The voice just laughed. "Be with you in a moment. Ready for you. Hold tight."

"To what?!"

"Fair point."

Rose suddenly found herself zooming feet first down the tunnel of light, screaming all the way. There was a flash and the next moment, Rose found herself in the arms of a dashing dark-haired man in an RAF uniform. "I've got you." he said, "You're fine, you're just fine. The tractor beam, it can scramble ya head just a little."

Rose suddenly seemed to notice him. "Hello." she said breathlessly.

"Hello." the man grinned, raising his eyebrows and looking her up and down.

"Hello." Rose repeated, still gazing at him. "Sorry, that was hello twice there. Dull, but ya know, thorough."

"Are you alright?" the man asked.

"Fine." Rose said, and the man put her down on her feet. "Why, are you expecting me to faint or something?"

"Well, you do look a little dizzy." the man said.

"What about you? You're not even in focus..." Rose managed to get out, before her eyes rolled back into her head and she fainted in the man's arms.

——————————————————————————

At the house, several children were now sitting at the table as Nancy continued to cut up the joint. "It's got to be black market." Ernie said for the umpteenth time, "He couldn't get all this on coupons."

"Ernie, how many times? We are guests in this house." Nancy scolded, "We will not make comments of that kind. Washing up."

The other children all laughed at Ernie. "Oh, Nancy." he sulked.

Nancy looked to one of the other boys at the table. "Haven't seen you at one of these before." she said.

"He told me about it." the boy, Alf, replied, pointing to his mate.

"Sleeping rough."

"Yes, miss."

"Alright then." Nancy said, passing the plate around. "One slice each, and I wanna see everyone chewing properly."

"Thank ya, miss!" Jim said as he took his slice and passed the plate.

"Thanks, miss!" Ernie said as he took a slice for himself and passed the plate along.

"Thank you, miss." a boy said, taking their slice and passing the plate to the person next to them.

"Thanks, miss." an older, Lancashire-accented voice said as a pair of adult hands took the plate. The children all gasped and jumped back in surprise to see the Doctor sitting at the table with the Artist standing behind him, leaning on his chair.

"It's alright." Nancy assured the kids, "Everybody stay where they are."

"Good here, innit?" the Doctor said casually, "Who's got the salt?"

"Back in ya seats." Nancy told the kids, "They shouldn't be here either."

The children all sat down again as the Doctor helped himself to some sauce. "So, you lot..." he said, "What's the story?"

"What d'ya mean?" Ernie questioned.

"Yer homeless, right? Living rough?"

"Why d'you wanna know that?" Jim probed, "Are you a copper?"

"Of course I'm not a copper." the Doctor snorted, "What's a copper gonna do with you lot anyway? Arrest yer for starving?" The children all laughed at that, breaking the ice.

"We make it 1941." the Artist spoke up, checking her watch, "You kids shouldn't even be in London. You should've all been evacuated to the country by now."

"I was evacuated." Alf replied, "Sent me to a farm."

"So why d'yer come back?" the Doctor questioned

"There was a man there..." Alf shivered.

"Yeah, same with Ernie." Jim remarked, "Two homes ago."

"Shut up." Ernie grumbled, "It's better on the streets anyway. Better food."

"Yeah. Nancy always gets the best food for us." another boy agreed.

"So that's what yer do is it, Nancy?" the Doctor asked her.

"What is?" she looked over.

"As soon as the sirens go, yer find a big fat family meal, still warm on the table with everyone down in the air raid shelter and, bingo! Feeding frenzy for the homeless kids of London Town. Puddings for all! As long as the bombs don't get yer."

"Something wrong with that?" Nancy asked defensively.

"Wrong? It's brilliant." the Doctor replied, "Not sure if it's Marxism in action or a West End musical." The children looked confused at this.

"Why'd ya both follow me?" Nancy asked the Time Lords, "What d'ya want?"

"We want to know how a phone that isn't a phone gets a phone call." the Doctor replied, "You seem to be the one to ask."

"I did you a favour. I told ya not to answer it, that's all I'm telling ya."

"Great, thanks." the Doctor huffed, "And we wanna find a blonde in a Union Jack. I mean, a specific one, I didn't just wake up with a craving." The children all laughed at that, but Nancy wasn't impressed. The Artist suddenly leaned over and swiped a slice of meat off the Doctor's plate. "Oi!" he huffed.

"Nancy said one slice each. You took two, greedy." the Artist retorted cheekily and began eating the slice.

Nancy came over and snatched the Doctor's plate away. "No blonde, no flags." she told him bluntly, "Anything else before you two leave?"

"Yeah, there is actually, thanks for asking." the Doctor said, reaching into his pocket. "Something we've been looking for, would've fallen from the sky about a month ago, but not a bomb." He pulled out a note book. "Not the usual kind anyway. Wouldn't have exploded. Would've just buried itself in the ground somewhere,