The Doctor is dancing around the console, smiling as she tries to sail around a teleport pulse. 'If it's a teleport pulse, shouldn't we let it in?' I ask. 'It could be something important.'
'Emma could be right,' Yaz agrees. 'It could be a message for help. As I'm part of the police, I will have an obligation to help.'
'Emma and Yaz have spoken.' The Doctor stops the TARDIS and allows the teleport pulse in, revealing a robot.
'Delivery for the Doctor.' Another robot appears by its side.
'Delivery for Emma Smith-White.'
'Ah! It's the Kerblam man!' The Doctor grins, running over to the robots. She collects her package, I get mine.
'It's what?' Graham asks.
'It's the Kerblam man!'
'You're just making sounds now.'
'Delivery fulfilled,' the robots chorus. 'And remember, if you want it, Kerblam it!' The Kerblam logo appears before the robot disappears.

'Space postmen, I've seen it all now,' I grin.
'Not quite, Emma.' We begin opening our parcels, but the Doctor doesn't remember ordering anything. 'I ordered a couple of bits for you, Emma, I hope you don't mind.'
'Not at all.' I open my box. Inside is a sparkly light blue dress with silver flats. Beneath them is a silver tiara with sapphires set in it.
'You'll look beautiful, Em,' I can hear Kitty say. 'You should try it on.' It sounds like she is whispering in my ear, but when I turn, she isn't there.
'They're beautiful, thank you, Doctor,' I say. 'I'll go and try them on.' The Doctor looks up.
'I didn't order them. I ordered a new jumpsuit for you as your old one was getting worn.'
'Then who sent this?'
'I don't know.' I pack it back into the box and take it with me to my room.

I go inside, looking around before I place my box on the floor. 'Your ring would look beautiful with this outfit, Kitty.' I want to have her ring with me, but I gave it back to her. Why can't my life be simple? Why can I not choose who I want to be with?

I said I'd try the clothes on, and so I will. The dress and shoes fit me perfectly. I don't know whether to try the tiara on or not. I think I will. Slowly, I take it out of the box and place it on my head. When I stare in the mirror, I can see a princess staring back. 'Thank you,' I say into the reflection.

But where will I wear an outfit like this? I take it all off and get back into my comfortable clothes as the Doctor lands at Kerblam. She received a message in a parcel asking for help, and we will respond. 'There's the planet Kandoka, and we're on its moon,' the Doctor explains. 'Kerblam turned it into a massive warehouse.'
'Look at the size of it,' Graham says. 'There must be thousands of people there.'
'How are we going to find out who sent that message?' Yaz asks. We have to get jobs here, infiltrate Kerblam.
'Halfway across the universe, and I feel like I'm back at work,' Ryan says. The Doctor says that Ryan is brilliant, and we go to find whoever is in charge to pretend we are new workers.

'We had another shuttle come in,' the woman behind the desk says. 'Did Kandokah forget you lot in the last one?'
'Something like that,' the Doctor agrees. She uses the sonic on the electronic list to get our names on the list. She finds that we are on the list, and we begin with the tour. We find that her name is Judy Maddox.

Judy takes us to a machine where Kerblam assesses fitness, stamina, dexterity, and mental assessment. 'Emma, the machine picked up someone here who was upset. It's something to do with you.'
'Me?' I ask. 'How is that possible? I don't know anyone here!'
'This person knows you.' The power goes out but comes back on quickly. That's strange, why is that happening?

We are each given group loops to make sure we are doing the jobs we are meant to. I have a pink group loop. 'What will I be doing?' I ask.
'Pink group loops are for those that do the most important work.' Judy doesn't explain any more. 'You will be working with these people, they also arrived today.' Judy presents me with a list of five other women. 'Right, time for the tour.' I look down at the list.

Katherine of Aragon (1485-1536, Queen of England)
Anne Boleyn (1501-1536, Queen of England)
Jane Seymour (1508-1537, Queen of England)
Anna of Cleves (1515-1557, Queen of England)
Katheryn Howard (1524-1542, Queen of England)

'Brilliant,' I smile. Today is going to be great. I run to catch up with the others.
'Six million products, 10,000 employees, the biggest humanoid workforce in this galaxy. Welcome to Kerblam.'
'10,000 employees and one little note,' I say. 'How are we going to find out who sent it?'
'This might take a while,' the Doctor replies. We follow Judy to the central part of the warehouse.
'The system instantly relays customer orders to workers in Fulfilment. They scan the product and send it down to the packing station.' We now follow Judy to the packing station. 'Once it's packed, the customer's order goes onto the conveyor. Rule number one, keep all loose clothing, hair, and body parts away from the conveyor and never, ever climb onto them. Any person found on the conveyor faces immediate termination.' I realise that the Doctor looks disappointed, and I chuckle to myself. 'This is Final Checks, where parcels are inspected, sealed, and go down the hatch to Dispatch. Through this hatch beats the heart of the Kerblam operation. Hundreds of conveyors, pumping parcels down to our fully-automated lower level. From Dispatch, our postmen retrieve the parcels and teleport directly to the customers. Any questions?'
'Can I do the packing slips?' The Doctor asks.
'Sorry, only purple group-loops work at the packing stations.'
'What do people with pink group-loops do?' I ask.
'I'm glad you asked.' Judy leads us through to a stage, where five women are performing. I can hear Kitty singing 'Baby One More Time,' and she is putting so much emotion into it. In her hands is a photograph. 'These are our performers. They keep the morale of the workers up and perform during their breaks. As such, they use this time to rest unless one of the workers need help.' Then, the performers notice us. Kitty waves over at us then see me. She jumps off the stage and runs over to me, pulling me into a hug.
'It's good to see you again, Em.'
'Em?' The Doctor asks, confused.
'Don't call me that, Doctor. Only Kitty and the other queens can call me Em.' The Doctor looks disappointed. I stay with the queens as my friends follow the teammates to where they are meant to go.
'Leisure breaks in the home zone,' Judy tells me.

'Emma,' Anna smiles. 'What are you doing here?'
'The Doctor wanted to check this place out as someone sent a message in her box asking for help. What are you doing here?'
'Same reason. Someone must want our help.' I nod and go through to find the other queens.
'So, we have to entertain other people to keep their spirits up. But people are missing, how are we meant to help others if there's a chance we could go missing?'
'Hey, don't think like that,' Anna says. 'We have to keep a level head if we want to get through this.' Kitty is clinging to me like she never wants to let go.

We walk through into a dressing room. Part of it is a comfortable area, while the other part is where we have to get ready. 'This place is alright,' I smile. 'But you don't get a sense of night or day here. How bad is that? Build a warehouse on a moon, but confine all of the workers underground. I'll have serious issues if I stay here too long.'
'Hey, at least the home zone feels like it's outside,' Kitty says. 'It's too bad we'll have to perform there.'
'Do we only perform in the home zone, or do we perform in other areas?'
'We perform wherever we're needed.' A light flashes as Judy comes in.

'Hello, queens. You are needed at the packing stations.'
'Right,' Kitty says. 'What do they want us to perform?'
'They want you to perform 'I Kissed A Girl' by Katy Perry. I don't know if I pronounced it right, I never heard of her.'
'I know that song,' I say. We quickly change into some clothes we can perform in before walking towards the packing stations.

When we get there, our boss, Mr Slade, is already telling someone off. 'You need to stop calling the performers, Kira. It wastes the time they are meant to rest before performing.'
'I didn't call them,' Kira says. 'I haven't called them so far today.'
'I did,' the Doctor says. 'I needed to talk to Emma.'
'Temporary functionality issues,' the robots say as they power down. 'Team nine, please take an emergency rest break in the Home Zone now.' We all head to the Home Zone, and I realise how beautiful it is. Kitty was right about it feeling like it is outside.

'As this is an emergency rest break, you don't have to perform,' Judy tells us. 'You can relax.'
'Thank you, Judy,' Anna smiles. 'Come on, let's go.' I see the Doctor, but I don't want to talk to her. But she spots me and hurries over.

'Hey, mind if I borrow Emma? Thanks.' The Doctor pulls me away from the group before anyone can say anything.
'What the hell are you doing?' I growl. 'They are my friends.'
'We are here for the person who sent that note, nothing more. Ryan, Yaz, and I are going to confront the people who run Kerblam. Are you in?'
'No. I want to spend time with-'
'Do you seriously think now is the time to chat? Another person has gone missing on top of the person who sent the message.'
'We don't know that the person who sent that message disappeared. You're assuming like you always do. I want to spend time with my queens. I also have to search for the Timeless Child, and there is a library in our section. I can do research there.'

When the Doctor leaves, I go to our section and find the library. 'What are we looking for?' Katherine asks.
'Anything with any mention of the Timeless Child,' I say. 'As I have to marry them, I have to know who they are.'
'Are you sure these books will have anything on them?' Anna asks.
'It's worth a try, come on.' We begin reading through the books.

'I think I found something,' Katheryn says. She shows me a book.
'Wait a minute…' I go back to the front of the book. The word choice seems like something I will choose. 'OH MY GOD! THIS IS MY DIARY FROM THE FUTURE!'
'So, it could tell us who the Timeless Child is?' Jane asks. We all gather around the book.
'But it's my future. If I read it, there could be all sorts of things going on that we don't know about. If I look in there, I will know my own future. Someone else should read it.'
'There are no rules against reading your diary,' Anna says.
'If I do, everything can go wrong. Some adventures may never happen, all sorts of things can happen, and the future may change beyond recognition. Someone else can read it.'
'Can I read it?' Kitty asks. I nod, sitting down. The other queens surround me, either sitting down or standing up. Kitty is standing opposite us with the book in her hands. She opens it to the right page.

'The Timeless Child is-' Before Kitty can say anything, Agnes arrives.
'Let me guess, it's against the rules for someone to read that part of my diary to me?' I ask.
'No, Emma, quite the opposite. I came to warn you about O. He is evil, and what your diary says about him later is true. He tried to-' Before Agnes can say any more, something or someone teleports her out.

The break ends soon after, and we head back to work. 'Why is it we have to keep working when we're so close to finding out who the Timeless Child is?' Anne asks.
'Are you complaining?' I ask. 'You shouldn't, Anne. People may not like it.' Anne grumbles a little, but at least she doesn't continue complaining. We are about to practice when Kitty remembers something.
'We use this time to rest unless we have to perform. If I can find that passage about the Timeless Child, we will know who it is.' I nod, and Kitty locates my diary. Why I published it, I don't know. There is some sensitive information in there, things I don't want to be publicised.

Kitty is about to open her mouth when the Doctor storms in. 'Why are you reading Emma's diary?'
'Em let me.'
'I did, Doctor. We have to find out who the Timeless Child is.'
'No, we don't. If we pretend to look for the Timeless Child, we won't get into any trouble.'
'My life, and as such, the universe, is at stake. Do you want to walk away realising you could have condemned the universe to death?'
'You are an idiot. I leave you alone for a couple of hours, and you are already acting chummy with your ex.'
'Kitty is my friend.'
'So the two of you have nicknames for each other. I never had that with Emma, but maybe if we didn't go all the way when we met the second time, we might of.'
'I would never have loved you. Maybe I shouldn't of, people talked, mainly when you were my teacher!'
'That sounds like my time with Mannox,' Kitty says.
'Keep your nose out of this,' the Doctor snaps. 'This is between Emma and me.' The Doctor turns back to me.
'Leave me alone,' I growl before crouching, one of my hands on the floor. The Doctor steps back.
'Emma, no, I will not let you throw your life away.'
'It's not your choice to make, Doctor. Now get out and leave me alone.'
'No. Emma, you need to-'
'Come on,' the Doctor says, cutting Kitty off. The Doctor grabs me.

'Get your hands off!' I yell.
'People are going missing; it is our job as protectors of the universe to protect them. You don't need a genius to understand that.'
'I'll join you later.'
'Later might be too late, now come on.' The Doctor starts pulling me away.

'What the hell is the matter with you?' She demands as we walk away.
'You should be happy that I'm making friends, but instead, you swan in there like you're my mother, well, newsflash, Doctor, you have no control over me.'
'If you are like this with me, I dread to think how the Timeless Child will cope.'
'You're starting to act in a way you promised you never would. You promised that you will trust me, and now you're not. Agnes told me to find the Timeless Child, so that is what I will do. We were so close, and now because of you, we delayed it.'
'You should not read a future version of your diary.'
'Agnes said it's fine.'
'She could be lying. Agnes tried to kill you, remember?'
'When she was here, she was trying to warn me about O, whoever or whatever he is. Doctor, I think she's afraid of him.'
'Agnes isn't afraid of anything.'
'That's where you're wrong, Doctor. Everyone has fear.' I knee her in the stomach, so she has to let go of me. 'For many people who wish to destroy or take over Earth, I'm a walking apocalypse.'
'And for me?'
''I don't know, but if you don't let me find out who the Timeless Child is, you will be my worst enemy.'
'Worse than Agnes?'
'Worse than Agnes.' The Doctor stands up.
'Fine. If this is what you want, I won't stop you.' I smile before going back to my friends.

'Everything sorted?' Katherine asks.
'I hope so,' I reply. 'Did you find out who the Timeless Child is?'
'Not yet,' Kitty says. 'I was about to when Judy Maddox wanted to talk to us.'
'What was it about?'
'She knows that no shuttles arrived today and wanted to know what we were doing at Kerblam,' Kitty shrugs. 'We explained why we were here, she listened for a while, and she said she'll look into the problem.'
'She'll look into the missing people?' Jane nods. 'That's great.'

Mr Slade walks in. 'Hello, ladies, Kerblam needs your help.'
'What do you need help with, Mr Slade?' Katherine asks.
'People are missing. If you have a message asking for help, then we need it.'
'Do you know what sort of help you need?'
'No, not yet.' We go with Slade to the reception, which is currently in night mode.
'If I can hijack their circuit for one moment-'
'Move away from the Delivery Bot,' Mr Slade says, pulling a gun out on the Doctor.
'Slade, don't-' Anne begins when we teleport somewhere else.

The Doctor uses the same trick on Mr Slade that she used on that person on Desolation. I grab the gun from him when I notice something behind us. It is a large container below a tunnel in the ceiling. There is a vile stench coming from it. I don't recognise it, so I have to investigate. I look in to see a lot of black goo and… group loops? What are they-

No. Oh my God, no. Is this what happened to the workers? 'Doctor, have you seen this?' I ask. They run over, and the Doctor scans the goo.
'I think this is the remnants of the missing workers. We're under a large liquidisation tank.'
'It smells horrid,' I say. 'If it smells as bad as that, someone is doing it deliberately.'
'Someone?'
'The system won't do something like this. If it did, I would sense it.' The Doctor looks behind me.
'Whoa!'

Behind me is a vast army of delivery bots. 'Complaints have been coming in about late deliveries,' Slade says.
'Stop!' I yell at the others before they get too close. 'It's something that the robots are carrying, something protecting the products.'
'You mean the bubble wrap?' Slade asks.
'It must be,' I shrug. 'Doctor, our parcels had bubble wrap, which means all parcels must have it.' The Doctor nods. 'Kerblam isn't trying to kill the workforce but the customers. We need to stop these deliveries from getting out.'

'Doctor, we found you,' Yaz says.
'Keira is dead, and Charlie had something to do with it,' Ryan says.
'Not Keira,' Charlie interrupts. 'It wasn't meant for her! The system took her, it's been fighting back against me.' He is holding something in his hand, and I assume that it would send all of the deliveries out. We can't let him press that and hundreds, no thousands of people meet their deaths through bubble wrap.
'Because it knew what you were planning,' I tune the Doctor out. I have to concentrate. How can I get the device away from Charlie without doing something that I may regret later? If I move and show him what I am doing, he will start the teleportation. I will not risk the lives of others.

'Use it, Charlie,' the Doctor says. 'Learn from it, please.'
'No! No. The delivery goes ahead.'

'Mass delivery procedures initiated,' the robots say.
'Someone stop them!' Anna yells. Charlie destroys the disc he was holding.
'NO!' I roar, jumping on top of him.
'Destination coordinates locked. Preparing teleport.'
'Stop him from getting away!' Kitty yells. I sink my teeth into Charlie's leg as he screams. He kicks me with his free leg, but I cling on.
'EMMA NO!' The Doctor yells when she realises what I am doing. Charlie kicks me while I am distracted and limps down the stairs.
'How may we help?' The robots ask.
'Change of delivery address,' the Doctor says. 'I want the postmen to deliver to themselves.'
'Delivery orders accepted.'
'I want every Kerblam man to open the order they just delivered to themselves, making sure they do what every human does with bubble wrap.'
'Orders confirmed.'
'Charlie,' Graham says. We see him with the Delivery bots. 'Get back up here, please.'
'Delivery in process,' the robots are opening the boxes.
'We don't have much time!' Kitty yells.
'Delivery received. Opening delivery. Activating bubble wrap.' The Doctor uses the postman's head to get us all out of there just as the bubble wrap bombs explode. We are safe.

'Why did you do that to Charlie?' The Doctor demands.
'We didn't want him getting away,' I say. 'That was the only thing I could think of at the time.'
'You could have killed Charlie!'
'Your actions killed him! I don't know whether you are worse than me or not. You always run away, never mind the consequences. I had to stay on Earth and clean up my messes. Maybe I should break away and live on my own for as long as possible until Agnes finds out. At that point, I'll stop running.'
'I won't let you leave. I'm stopping you from hunting anywhere.' She places a silver bracelet with emeralds on my wrist and activates it with her sonic. The jewel in the middle lights up. 'It will stay green until I, the Timeless Child or someone you care about says otherwise.'
'You can't do that, not unless you stop my hunger.'
'This will allow you to think about what you did. When you're ready to apologise, I'll let you hunt. Actually, no, I won't. Hunting is despicable.'
'Even if I have to do it to survive?'
'Even then,' the Doctor confirms.

'We're suspending all Kerblam operations for a month, pending review,' Mr Slade says. 'While the TeamMates are rebuilding Dispatch all our workers have been given two weeks paid leave.'
'They also have free return shuttle transport,' Judy adds. 'And I'm going to propose that Kerblam becomes a people-led company in future. We're always looking for good workers to join our management team.'
'This is a great chance for you to start cleaning up your messes,' I say to the Doctor.
'Shut up, Emma. Thanks, but we're all strictly freelance.' We all walk back to our TARDISes.
'You idiot!' I snarl. 'You had a chance to make things right, but you ruined it.'
'I thought I told you to shut up.'
'Well, I'm not going to as talking's brilliant.' I want to go into my TARDIS, but the Doctor pulls me into hers.
'You have to travel with me, and it will stay that way until you find out who the Timeless Child is.'
'For all our sakes, you better start praying its sooner rather than later.'