CHRYSALIS

DALEK

We step out of the Tardis.

"So, what is it?" I ask, "What's wrong?"

"Don't know, some kind of signal drawing the Tardis off course..." He says.

We look around.

"Where are we?" Rose asks.

"Earth, Utah, North America. About half a mile underground." He says.

"And... when are we?" She asks.

"2012." He answers.

"God, that's so close. We should be about... 26." I say.

The Doctor flicks a switch and light floods the room.

"We're in a museum!" I exclaim.

"An alien museum. Someone's got a hobby. They must've spent a fortune on this. Chunks of meteorite, moondust... that's the milometer from the Roswell Spaceship." He passes the exhibits as he names them.

Rose notices something, "That's a bit of Slitheen! That's a Slitheen's arm, it's been stuffed."

The Doctor notices something else, "Ah! Look at you!" Inside the case he's approaching is the head of some sort of robot. He stares at it. Rose and I stand behind him.

"What is it?" I ask.

"An old friend of mine... well, enemy. The stuff of nightmares reduced to an exhibit. I'm getting old." He tells us.

"Is that where the signal is coming from?" I ask.

"Nah, It's stone dead. The signal's alive. Something's reaching out." He stares intently at the head, "Calling for help." He places the tip of his finger on the glass. Immediately, an alarm goes off and we are promptly surrounded by soldiers all pointing their guns at us.

"If someone is collecting aliens, that makes you Exhibit A." I joke. The Doctor grins at the soldiers.

We end up in a room with a balding man and a younger guy, both of them looking at an alien device.

"I really wouldn't hold it like that." The Doctor tells them.

The woman who brought us in tells him to shut up.

"Really, though, that's wrong." He says.

"Is it dangerous?" The younger one asks.

"No, it just looks silly." The Doctor holds his hand out for the device. Security aims their guns. The older man holds up his hand to stop them and hands the device to the Doctor.

"You just need to be..." He runs his finger over the device and it plays a note, like a harmonica, "delicate."
Everyone looks at him impressed. The Doctor smiles at everyone while he plays it.

"It's a musical instrument." The older man says.

The Doctor nods, "And it's a long way from home."

The man stands, "Here, let me." He grabs it off the Doctor, who raises his eyebrows, "I did say 'delicate'. Reacts to the smallest fingerprint."

The man cannot make it play at first and it makes a series of beeping noises.

"It needs precision." The Doctor reminds him.

The man touches it more gently and it plays a few notes. The Doctor smiles, "Very good. Quite the expert."
"As are you." The man tosses the instrument aside, where it lands somewhere on the floor.

"Who exactly are you?" The man asks.

The Doctor looks at the man with disdain, "I'm the Doctor. And who are you?"
"Like you don't know. We're hidden away with the most valuable collection of extraterrestrial artifacts in the world and you just stumbled in by mistake." The man says.