The blackall bursts out laughing, the sound of its laughter reverberating off the blank walls. "You think we would fall for that?" It laughs, growling almost. "We will be forever trapped here. There is no way we could get off this wretched planet. We can't travel in time, we exist outside of it. Shall I show you my true form?"

He sort of slithers over to me. I back into the hard walll, feeling it behind me. "Keep your distance." I try to sound slightly intimidating.

"Your perception filter visualization is good. Very good. Unfortunately you still have a human brain - it pieces together what it sees in the thing you're most comfortable with - another life form. And because you've seen other aliens, well, naturally you see a body, arms, legs..." He points to different parts of his black clad body. "But I am not human. I am not even a being. Look. Look and see."

I turn my head. "I don't want to."

"Ignorance is ignorance." It repeats softly.

"Fine." I turn around to look at it. "What do I do?"

"Concentrate." It places its slimy hand on my head. I have to resist the urge to flinch backwards as it comes in contact with my skin. I close my eyes, concentrating hard, then open my eyes. In front of me it seems like the whole world has been tinted in blackness - like looking through really dark sunglasses. I frown when I see nothing in front of me.

"W...what?" I reach forward my hand and pass it in front of my face, opening my palm. Dancing on my hand are hundreds of tiny little specks.

"Molecules. Little tiny atoms." An eery voice appears out of nowhere. "We have basic telepathic powers. With the exception being that anyone near enough can still hear what we're saying." The black dots seem to fuse back together as the blackness fades, and i'm back in the room staring at the black clad figure.

"So you're telling me my brain automatically pieces together you - the atoms floating around in t he air - because it's not accustomed to seeing something so odd?"

"Yes." The blackall steps backwards again.

"But what are you doing here? Why are you guarding the market place and killing people?" I ask dryly. "The French Revolution was a revolting time in history - they don't need you to make it worse." 

"It's part of who we are." The blackall looks away. "We are what's known as the Blackalls of the Honesty stream."

"No idea what that means." I mutter.

"Our planet - we were living quite peacefully with each other."

"And you have morals? That's kind of cool." I grin. "You have a sense of justice - honesty. You know what - you're not all that bad. But you have to stop killing people. If you want to get out of here, you have to let my friend help you. He will know what to do."

"You understand us." The blackall grins. "We will trust you, Darcy Lester. But we cannot go outside unprotected." It grabs a mean looking gun and hands one to the other blackall. The greasy man leaves the room, grunting as his little cart squeaks. 

"Why are you so afraid of the humans?" I ask with a frown.

"Because they can destroy us. There are a few clever ones that see through our perception filter - those that can't deal with the sights of what they see - those that don't believe in what they see destroy us."

"Like Peter Pan and... every time someone says they don't believe in fairies one dies?" I chuckle. "Everything has an explanation.

"Words - belief - are more powerful than you could imagine. Blackall, bring the prisoner." The leader blackall barks at his companion, who goes to the side room, sliding back the throne to reveal a secret trap door, and pulling someone out.

"I must detest this treatment, sir!" A strong French accented voice accompanies a head of blond hair, piled high on top of a human head. My mouth falls open.

"Marie Antoinette?!"

********************************************************************

"Whose the Doctor with then?!" I explode. "You're in here - he's still out there! WHY have you got Marie Antoinette as a prisoner here?!"

"The Bracken." Leader blackall breathes. "They hunted us from the very beginning - our deadly enemies. They must have followed us here. They are incredibly good at shape shifting. We have had our prisoner for long past 2 months... when the Bracken came they immediately took the form of the two leaders of the country. So we took them prisoner, but the Brackens must have duplicated themselves."

"Oh my gosh." I start running. "We have to help the Doctor! COME ON!" I stop at the door. "Oh that's right. I was kidnapped I have no idea where I am." I say bitterly. The leader blackall grimaces slightly, and leads the way.

I run down the cobbled streets, pushing peasants out of the way, regardless of their reckless shouting. A few more blackalls join us, as words hang in the air - communication obviously between all the blackalls. It's like huge web of words hanging around the whole place. 

Without a thought I plunge through the door of the manor, running breathlessly up the stairs. "Doctor?!" I pound on the door and fling it open to find him still beside Marie - the other Marie, who looks up - startled.

"Doctor get away from her!" I pant breathlessly.

"What?!" He explodes. "Wh..."

"You would be wise to listen." The blackalls fill the room, and the real Marie Antoinette sizes up her double with horror.

"We are the same!" She announces in horror. "How can this be?"

"Darcy?!" The Doctor breathes out heavily. "Where the hell were you? I thought you were..."

"I took a stroll." I say bitterly, walking around the two Marie's gathered there. "One of them is a Bracken."

"Urgh, I've been hugging a Bracken?" The Doctor grimaces. "Well you can't hold your disguise for too long - under a sonic screwdriver's hum." He whips out his sonic screwdriver and buzzes both Marie's. They both shriek, but only one begins to sort of melt. And when I say melt I mean literally melt into the floor. When she's nothing more than a blob of jelly it rises up again, and morphs into what looks like a World War I soldier, with a kahki like uniform, army boots and a hard hat.

"Oh, been time traveling have we?" The Doctor grins. "I love reversing polarities, don't you? Tends to do cool things - like revert a Blackall back to the last thing it copied."

"Doctor?!" The real Marie Antoinette sobs, hands over her eyes, sobbing her heart out. Being the closest to her, I sigh and wrap an arm around her shoulders. "I can't.. what do we do? I don't know what to do! Why is all this happening? Where's Louis? My dear Louis." She sobs helplessly, turning around and resting her head on my shoulder, her enormous hair bobbing slightly as her tears soak my shirt.

I detested the royals. I don't know why, but ever since I read about the French Revolution, there always seemed to be something about the aristocrats that was off - like they were living in luxury while the peasants of France starved. But now I see Marie truly for what she is - a young girl - no older than me - trying her best to run a country she doesn't know much about.

"Come on, Marie." I soothe, pulling her over and sidestepping to the Doctor. With a little effort I detangle myself from her embrace and she hugs the startled Doctor, sobbing on him.

"Right then." I look around to the world war I soldier that hasn't moved - and the other blackalls. "What do we do now? Have a stand off? Why doesn't everyone just leave my planet alone?"

"Good point." The Doctor says with a small laugh. "You can't fight your battles here - Blackalls and Bracken - you need to go back to your own planets."

"But we're trapped here." Leader blackall argues. "Both us and the Bracken cannot get back to our planets, not without risking everything. We need something to travel in."

"What about the TARDIS?" I offer. "It's huge - it could transport them."

The Doctor frowns. "Ugh imagine all those atoms jammed in there." He makes a face. "No. You can travel back the way you've come - if I landed here it means there's a rift somewhere. I'll help you find it but you're traveling back through on your own."

"But that's risky!" The Bracken pipes up. "We could all die. My people have also been hiding. Unlike your less intelligent race," it huffs at the blackall. "We kept out of sight."

"Who are you to call us less inteligent? Just because you have a bigger planet..."

"OH SHUT IT!" I yell. Marie stops her crying. I smirk suddenly. "Just... shut up! Please!"

"We have to go find Louis." Marie turns to the Doctor, her eyes pleading. "Please, we can't leave him out there. He took the children to try and smuggle them into an orphanage - and he hasn't returned. Please we have to find him. I'm so scared." She whimpers, a fresh cascade of tears falling from her eyes. 

"It's alright." He smoothes down her hair. "We'll find Louis. I promise. Now - you - stay here you got that? Marie?" He intones gently. "Where's the biggest place around here? Somewhere where a lot of people gather."

Marie sniffles, thinking hard. "I know a place." I say softly. "The Place de la Revolution... did I say that right?" I look at Marie who simply straightens her graying hair with a blank look. "It's uh..."

"I know." The Doctor nods. "That's good. Nice and big."

"But I don't want to see the guillotine." Marie says soberly. 

"I'm sorry - it's the only place that's big enough. Bracken - gather your kind and meet us in the square - you too blackall. Once we're all there we'll find the rift and get you both home to your own planets so you can continue your fighting." He rolls his eyes slightly in disgust and turns to Marie. "Let's go find your husband. We meet there in half an hour." He hushes her and leads her out of the room. I turn to the blackall and sigh, sitting on the plush couch waiting for their return.

 The Bracken immediately depart with a last scorching look at their bitter enemies. I lounge around on the couch, counting the grating ticking of the clock until the leader blackall comes up to me.

"Help us." Its' thoughts once again direct straight into my head. It's so creepy hearing a conversation in my head. Like talking to myself but I'm not.

"I am." I promise. "We'll do everything we can."

"But you can do more." It argues pleadingly. "Going through the rift is extremely dangerous. Even the Doctor knows that we may not all survive. There is very little chances of us making it back to our home planet. But you could take us now, in your space machine."

"If there's a reason the Doctor didn't agree to take you in the TARDIS then what makes you think I'm going to?" I ask with a smirk.

"Because you have a trait that all humans posess - one that makes you the magnificent race that you are - you have compassion." Before I know what it's doing it's sending images through my mind - images of its life.

I see a tiny blackall - which obviously looks just like a baby to me. Its home is being slowly burnt down while it tries to crawl to safety. The whole planet is being consumed. The blackall people - atoms - run everywhere while bombs drop on their houses. One blackall blows up with a hiss of smoke and disintegrates into the air with a bang. The small blackalls struggle to keep up - the air is full of smoke and wailing.

The images fade and I hurriedly wipe a tear from my eyes that's threatening to fall. "Your planet?" I guess gently. It hangs its head, the leader of the blackall race, and slowly bends its knees so it's level with me.

"Please, please help us. The Doctor will not but you can. Please, we beg you - help us get back home. I have a child on my planet. I don't know if my dear little blackall baby made it. But I have to find out."

I straighten up with a sigh. "Well i guess it wouldn't take longer than a few seconds to fly to your planet and transport back here in half an hour..."

"We owe you our lives." The blackall bows.

**************************************8

"I'm still not sure I'm doing the right thing." The door of the TARDIS tries to fight against me as I push it open. The leader blackall helps me and there's a whoosh of air as millions of atoms float past us. "Let me see them. Please?" I beg..

The blackall once again puts a slimy hand to my head and the world tints black, showing me all the tiny atoms. They're all dancing, bobbing up and down. Instead of the black tint that surrounds them, a golden hue fills up the room, sort of like shining a sun on them. Even though they have no faces, I can genuinly feel the vibe of the dancing blackalls. A strange humming sound fills my ears and the scene fades back again. Crammed in around me are hundreds of blackalls, stretching back into the many rooms of the TARDIS. "What was that noise? The humming?" I ask with a smile.

"They were singing." The blackall says softly. "You have saved us."