The Secret Invasion of Earth

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She wanted to stay as far away from UNIT as she could on this one. She wasn't using their library, asking the statitions, or even petitioning the Doctor for an opinion.  Just in case.  The government seemed to be involved.  She feared there was some new secret program to deport the poor and the disenfranchised. Immigrants, legal and illegal, missing teens. The list went on, and no one seemed to care. Or have tied it all together.  She'd spent two weeks on the paperwork.  She'd just been in checking police reports, begging them to let her stay late.  They had allowed, and now it was dark as she came home with her armload of copy.  She had cross referenced the missing with sightings of a strange bright light.

That very instant, there was something just like that, and Sarah Jane was gone in what seemed like lighting.  It left a strange patch of soot on the sidewalk.

She did not show for her scheduled tea with the Doctor as they'd planned early the next day. 

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Although he for once hadn't planned on it, the Doctor had retreated into his laboratory at UNIT HQ after much persuasion from Lethbridge-Stewart. The Brigadier had been pestering the Time Lord with reports of some sort of light that had been appearing, the most recent occurence taking place the night before. It didn't seem like much, certainly not something that UNIT would normally be worried about without any more evidence relating to it. But deciding it was better to be safe than sorry, the Doctor had started running a scan in the TARDIS to find if there was anything strange. Alien technology, teleports, anything of the sort. While his ship worked on that, he sat down at a bench with his cup of tea. At least Sarah would be along soon. She'd no doubt be able to help somehow.

So whenever it was quite a bit later than the time they were scheduled to meet, he started to worry. If his companion hadn't been able to find him, she would've known that the Doctor's lab was the first place to check. Of course he would be there. So why hadn't she shown up by now? Perhaps she was running late, although that didn't seem likely. The Doctor was about to leave the room and ask the Brigadier if she'd been seen, when there was a bleeping noise from the TARDIS. He ran in to check the scan, and his eyes widened as he looked at the monitor. "Oh no," he whispered, hurrying out.

Not long after he'd parked Bessie at the side of a road and had gotten out on to the pavement. This was where the energy readings were coming from, according to the TARDIS. But nothing looked out of the ordinary. Just a normal street. As he looked around, the Doctor finally noticed the powdery soot on the path. He bent down, face creased in worry. That could very well have been where Sarah Jane had last been standing. The chances of it being her didn't seem all that great, but he had to be sure. So the Doctor jumped back into Bessie and raced back to UNIT, not wanting to waste any time at finding his friend.

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She'd been walking along one moment, and in some sort of tube the next.  Dusty and a bit translucent, it was big enough to hold perhaps three of her, and seemed as flimsy as plastic on first inspection.  On second examination, it seemed made of steel.  This of course, omitted the part where she had screamed and pounded to no avail, but the end result was, she wasn't getting out that way.

She had discovered that it was filthy on the inside. Some sort of gritty orange dust.  The more she wiped at it, the more she could see through it.  She could see upright beings in the gloom, but their silhouettes did not seem human.  Close, but not quite.  Nor were the smells and sounds here. She dare say she was on some sort of ship, she could feel it's hum in her feet.

"Hey! You there! Let me out of here!" She yelled and pounded some more until one of the beings, and on closer inspection there was an odd bonelessness to the way it moved.  It pushed a button and she was assaulted by sounds and lights until she was on her haunches in the corner with her hands over her ears.  She didn't know how long it lasted, but she was glad when it stopped.

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Once Bessie had pulled up outside HQ the Doctor threw the door open and raced inside. A few soldiers in the corridors through him odd looks, but that didn't deter him. Nor did the beginning of a question from the Brigadier, who only got two words about before the Time Lord had turned the corner. Throwing the doors to his lab open, and subsequently those of the TARDIS, he worked at the console and got a trace on the energy. Getting the co-ordinates of its source, he sent his ship flying off through the vortex towards it.

A minute later the blue box landed. The Doctor pressed the button to open the doors, and pulled his cape over his red jacket before stepping outside. The room he'd landed in was dark, the only light coming from control panels on one of the walls. He could feel a vibration going through the floor. Definitely an engine's. So it seemed very likely that he'd landed on a spaceship. Closing the police box doors, he turned the corner and headed down the metal corridor. If Sarah Jane was here, then she would have to be close.

Two turns later, he thought he heard voices. Backing up against the wall at another corner, he poked his head round. There were three beings, gathered round a tube that ran from the floor up to the ceiling. And he could've sworn he saw something moving in it. Peering, he saw Sarah. So she had ended up here. The question was, why? The first step to answering that would be getting her out of there. Slowly, he crept up behind one of the aliens, then delivered a chop to the back of it with a shout. Another one came charging towards him. Gracefully, the Doctor sidestepped out of the way, grabbing it as he ducked in order to throw it back over his shoulder. As he stood up, the third one managed to deliver a blow to his arm, which pushed him back a little. But he returned in kind with a kick to its stomach, and a final chop to its neck. Straightening up and dusting down his cape, the Doctor made sure they were all unconscious before going over to the tube. "Sarah?" he asked. "Sarah, can you hear me?"

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She was determined not to cry.  She set her jaw hard as she uncoiled, standing once the terrible sound was over.  She was going to keep a stiff upper lip, but she wasn't going to start banging on the walls again yet.

Why was she in there? Did this have something to do with the Doctor, her investigation? Or just chance that she'd wound up on this space ship.  And where the hell was the Doctor?  She wanted out.  Now.  Only the threat of the sound, the echos of which still rang in her ears, kept her from shouting at the creatures to free her.  As if they would.  A tear escaped from the corner of her eye, but she caught it impatiently with the back of her hand before it could fall through her lashes.

It was then she saw the commotion without.  A form of black and white, flowing and spinning, blew through the creatures like a whirlwind through dry leafs.  Open mouthed she watched, wondering if it was her salvation or her doom coming for her now.

It was the Doctor!  She shouted, pleased to see him, her own words half muffled in her ears.  His voice was even more distant, but she'd never mistake her name in his voice.

"Let me out!" She pounded on semi-translucent barrier with all the verve she'd been wanting to use for the last few minutes.

"Oh! Doctor! Let me out!"  Her heart was leaping in her chest with her sudden salvation.

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She was alive. Her voice, shouting for him to let her out, was all he needed to hear. He hadn't arrived too late. That was a relief. Letting out a sigh, the Doctor leaned closer to the strange tube. "Hold on Sarah," he said, hoping she could see his smile through the strange dust that seemed to cling to the inside of her prison. "You'll be out in no time."

Rather than immediately trying to use the sonic screwdriver, he went over to the control panel near the tube. He'd seen one of the aliens pressing a button on it, so he assumed it was the right one. "Now let's see here..." Rubbing his chin, the Doctor did a quick scan of the various switches, eyes flitting about. "I'd say it would be...this one!" He reached out and yanked down a lever. As a result, the hollow tube twisted a little, then moved upwards.

In the space that it had encapsulated, he saw his companion and gave her a gleaming smile. "Sarah Jane Smith, what on Earth do you think you're doing in this place?" Despite the accusing nature of the question, he went over to give her a hug and calm her down.

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She sagged with relief as the tube came apart, sliding into ceiling and floor.  She could suddenly see where she was, but spent no time looking around.  So grateful was she to see him, she had eyes for nothing but the Doctor.   Her legs felt rubbery until his arms went around her, and she found herself against his chest and lost in his cape.

He smelled civilized.  His scent was safety itself.  It only took a couple of breaths before she was pulling out of his arms.  Her face is earnest, her words eager as she griped him by the elbows.

"Oh, Doctor! Thank goodness you found me.  I think I've been kidnapped! And I'm not the first! Nearly a thousand people have disappeared! And I think someone at UNIT has something to do with it, oh Doctor, it's a perfect mess! I didn't want to tell you . . .I thought UNIT might find out . . ." She trailed off, embarrassed now, for clearly her friend would not have betrayed her, not even by accident.

There was something about having him near that just made her certain of that.