A/N: okay, took me a bit longer than I'd hoped, but I got sick, like an idiot, and then I had a birthday, and THEN I wanted to make sure I had like, a semi rough sketch of this chapters bones so I don't meander so much as the last time. So. Yeah! Let's do this!

-1937-

-The Pacific Ocean-

Calypso's return to consciousness was a frantic panic as she sat up, clutching at her stomach. Pain still rippled through her as bright sunshine blinded her. But the pain was just an echo, a phantom of the long since healed wound. A warm breeze buffeted her hair from her face and her eyes adjusted to see that the horizon seemed to stretch on forever beyond the sandy dunes before her. Water lapped at the shoreline and she could hear the sounds of birds chirping nearby.

"Well, there's a mountain of coconuts, if that's to your taste."

Calypso nearly leapt out of her skin as she spun to find the source of the voice. "Balzar?"

He stepped forward and sat down on a toppled tree stump near her. He'd managed to crack one of the coconuts in half and was chewing with a sour look on his face.

"Were you expecting someone else?" He asked with a frown, his voice somewhat muffled by the mouthful of food.

"No, I wasn't expecting anyone." Her hope flared anew, he hadn't been able to stop her from traveling this time, but perhaps the Doctor knew how to find her. That would at least be a start, but a quick survey revealed no sign of the Tardis.

"Ah," he finally swallowed and held out the other half-shell for her. "I seem to have hitched a bit of a ride, as it were."

She wondered how something like that were even possible, but his outreached hand distracted her before she could ask. His skin, because he definitely had skin, was a sickly pale color. She could see the threads of the shirt fabric on his sleeve that was a bit too short for his arms.

"Hungry?"

She ignored the offered shell and grabbed his arm instead. It was solid, his skin was warm and she could feel the bones beneath the flesh. It didn't give way beneath her grip like he had when he'd been little more than a shadow.

"I was rather hoping you would eat the coconut instead of my arm."

Calypso blinked, she'd been staring at his arm much longer than polite. "I'm sorry, I just- you… you're a bit more solid than I remember."

"Right, well," he shrugged. "I was a bit struck by that as well. But that was three hours ago when I woke up being smothered by a pile of sand, so I've sort of come to terms with it." She finally accepted the offered coconut, feeling it might be rude to refuse. "As best I can guess, I seem to have been reassembled in an alignment that more closely matches your Doctor rather than myself. I assume that had something to do with that Chameleon arch doing a rather sloppy job of extracting me. Honestly, I don't know why he keeps it, it's never functioned properly. Suppose it goes with his 'I'm an intergalactic space junk collector' mystique."

"Reassembled?"

He looked at her curiously. "I was under the impression you've traveled that way before."

"I have, but I haven't been- awake. Were you really conscious?"

"Well," he scraped more of the coconuts flesh out with a rock and popped it into his mouth. He still wasn't particularly enjoying it. "I suppose that must have been a side benefit of my continuing existence as a parasite." He smiled, but there was a twinge of bitterness in his voice.

"That's not what you are," she said firmly, surprising him. "That was the first time I've jumped and haven't felt utterly terrified. Instead of plummeting into an endless void on my own, this time I wasn't alone."

"Oh," he said softly. "I didn't know that's what it was like. I don't suspect he does either." She knew which him he was referring to.

"Well, it's not an especially common way to travel." She found her own rock nearby, and after dusting the worst of the sand from it on her trousers, set about carving out some of the meat for herself.

"I suppose that makes you special," he said wryly. "You're not missing much." He brushed hair back from his forehead in a familiar gesture. She wondered how much of the Doctor had been rewoven into his identity. "Lots of floating as an incorporeal being. You can sort of feel yourself being stripped down to the atomic level-" Calypso's face twisted in horror. "Not… in a bad way." He hesitated. "It's more like, well, you'd have no idea what it's like to phase through a wall I suppose." He frowned.

"Not really," the coconut was sweet in her mouth and the lingering moisture helped to alleviate some of her thirst.

"Well," he stared at the ocean, as if he were about to launch into a needlessly complicated explanation. "You're never conscious for it, so I suppose it doesn't really matter what it's like."

She snorted, grateful to find not all of the Doctor's traits had transferred over.

"Did I say something funny?" He frowned at her, but then his eyes looked past her somewhere over the horizon. "Well, that's likely not good."

There was a low droning that she'd mistaken for the sound of waves, but now it grew louder, turning to a roar above the ocean. She spun to look. There was an enormous silver plane cruising low above the ocean. Heading straight toward them.

She'd seen a few planes in her life, but never one so large, and certainly never one quite so close. She shrank down as it nearly trimmed the tops of the trees, blowing sand around them violently. In the distance she could hear the sound of snapping wood above the engine and then finally silence.

"Shall we go investigate?" Balzar was already on his feet, evidently bored with the ocean view. "You can toss that," he nodded toward the coconut that she still held in her hand. "Coconuts are rubbish anyway." He chucked his own out into the water where it gave a satisfying splash before vanishing beneath the waves.

"Let's see if it's landed somewhere." She nodded. He held out his hand to help her to her feet.

"Well, I'd say it's certainly landed somewhere," Balzar said with a scoff. "As to whether it is still in one piece remains to be seen."

She narrowly resisted rolling her eyes at him and led them both into the foliage that grew beyond the shore. The trees were sparse at first, and a gentle breeze kept the worst of the sun's heat off their shoulders.

As they moved deeper into the growth, the shade grew darker even as the air grew thick and humid. She fanned herself with a fallen leaf as her shirt began to cling to her back.

After a few minutes of grueling marching, they were rewarded with the trees thinning out again, bringing a refreshing breeze. Beyond the line of vegetation she could see a clearing. Once they stepped out onto it she realized it was mostly a large smooth face of granite with weeds and grasses attempting to colonize the spaced in the cracks and crevasses.

At the far end of the field, the giant plane glittered in the sun. It had survived the landing, and so did the two occupants. One of them was in the process of scrabbling up one of the wings.

"Look, I heard something rattling," a woman's voice carried to them as they drew closer. "If we don't find out what the problem is now, we might find out a few thousand feet in the air when we'll really be in trouble."

"That's all well and good," a man stood at the base of the plane wing, blocking the sun with his hand as he looked up at the woman. "Except if you'd crashed us, no one would have ever found us out here."

"Don't be so dramatic, Fred." She snorted, sounding brash for a young woman. "Hah!" She grabbed at a metal rod that was dangling from the top of the plane. "Would have had a rough go of it trying to make a phone call without a receiver." She adjusted it until it finally stood straight, making the wires that linked it to the rest of the plane taught.

"Harder to make a phone call when you're dead." The man muttered, shaking his head.

"Why if I didn't know better, I'd think you were saying I was a bad pilot." The woman dusted her hands on her trousers and caught sight of Calypso as she approached. "Looks like we found the locals, hello there!" She waved as she slid down the wing and landed on her feet.

"Locals?" The man turned to stare at them, pulling a folded up chart out so he could inspect it. "This island is uninhabited…"

"Well, we are out in the middle of nowhere," she patted his shoulder reassuringly as she strode toward them. "Maybe you just got the island wrong."

"For your sake, you better hope I didn't."

"Well what is it then, locals or folks who just dropped out of the sky?" The woman's red hair was cropped short around her ears and she had the ragged look of someone who'd been awake for more than a few days.

"How did you come by that assessment?" Balzar glared at the woman suspiciously.

"Not local," Calypso put a hand on his shoulder to suggest he stop speaking. "We were out sailing, on vacation. I'm afraid our boat capsized and we were lucky to wash up here. If you could direct us to the nearest town we'd be truly grateful."

The man, or Fred as the tall redhead had called him, lowered his glasses are looked at her carefully. "Yeah, it'll be a little more than two-thousand miles that way." He gestured behind her, the direction the plane had been coming from.

"What Fred is so ineloquently trying to say," the woman shot him a look. "Is you've fallen a bit off the beaten track."

"Well, only by two-thousand miles," Balzar muttered, rolling his eyes.

"I'm sure it's a harrowing tale," she held her hand out. "Amelia, and this optimistic ray of sunshine here is Fred. I'd be lost without him." She winked.

Fred gave a polite nod and Calypso shook Amelia's hand. "I'm Calypso, this is Balzar."

"Foreigner huh? You certainly had that… look about you." Amelia gave a tight smile, clearly noting Balzar's unnaturally gray skin. "I suppose we've just taken in some strays." She clapped her hands together.

"A.E., come on, the fuel is already tight as it is-"

"Fred, I'm gonna save you the trouble. We're not just going to leave them here. It's not an argument you're going to win. Unless you plan on flying yourself off this little rock?"

He opened his mouth briefly and then shut it again.

"That's what I like to hear." She turned her attention back to Calypso, who was a bit baffled by the whole exchange. "So, what do you say? You tell us the story of your sailing adventure on a ride over the Pacific. I'm afraid you're not likely to get any better offers anytime soon."

"What's the E stand for?" Balzar had a look of intense focus on his face, as though he were desperately trying to remember something just at the edge of his thoughts.

"Earhart of course. Though the general public has pegged me as 'Lady Lindy'. I don't suppose Mrs. Lindbergh appreciates that all too much."

"Right," Balzar nodded quickly. "You know, I've just realized, we've forgotten your- hairpin." He frowned as though unsure if that were a proper thing."

"My what?"

"Hairpin," he rushed the word, no longer certain if that was what he meant. "On the beach, I think we should retrieve it. Before we go." He gave a not so subtle nod back the way they had come.

"Oh," Calypso tried to play along, but she wasn't particularly convincing as she was at a loss as to what he was trying to accomplish.

"We've got to clear the runway here of rocks and such that we were lucky enough to miss the first time through," Amelia smiled. "You've got some time before we take off. But I am trying to beat a bit of a record here, so don't take all day." She winked at Calypso again and turned back toward the plane with Fred following.

"What on earth-" she started, but Balzar had already bolted for the trees. She hurried after him, wondering what exactly could have alarmed him so much. He didn't continue to the beach, as he'd said they should, but stopped when they were far enough from the clearing that they could no longer see the plane.

"I don't think we should go." He said seriously when she caught up to where he had stopped.

"What? Why not? They seem like perfectly nice people." Fred hadn't been especially keen on the idea, but she didn't think she'd be overly eager to pick up complete strangers she'd found on an island either. She'd also gotten a knack for knowing the types of people who were safe, and the type to avoid. These two had seemed like the former.

"I-" he paused and then gave a frustrated growl. "I don't know." He ran both his fingers through his hair and he paced back and forth. "I can almost remember something. Amelia Earhart, I know there's something there, I think it was something bad."

"I didn't realize you were acquainted with so many humans."

He stopped and gave her a look, "I don't remember her, your Doctor does."

"Ah, well that does make more sense. You just remember her name though?" She wondered if her voice rose ever so slightly because of a sudden unexpected twinge of jealousy.

"Yes. Either she wasn't particularly memorable, or I can only recall part of it."

Calypso sighed and put her hands on her hips, "Well, what do you propose we do instead?"

"We could take up fishing," Balzar offered. "Just bide our time until you jump again."

"That could be years, and what would happen to you?" She hated the idea of him standing there on the beach, wondering if she'd gotten swallowed by the ocean or just vanished as she was likely to do.

"Well, if I had years I suspect I'd become a very accomplished fisherman."

"I'm serious."

Balzar's shoulders sank. "I don't know. I don't really even know if it's something bad. Maybe she isn't the bad person, maybe she gets murdered in some extravagant way that takes the world by storm." He threw up his arms in disgust. "These are extraordinarily bothersome." He scowled at his hands.

She was thrown by the change in subject. "Your arms?"

"Look at them, they're absurd. They're just solid."

"Yes, I suppose that can be disheartening… didn't you get used to it when you were part of the Doctor?"

"That was different," he shook his head. "That felt more like riding a horse. This is more like riding a horse while actually being the horse." He flexed his hands a few times. "I don't like it."

"I'm sorry," she felt guilt tug at her chest. It was her fault he'd turned out this way.

He looked up from his hands and seemed to register her thoughts. "Don't be ridiculous. You're the only reason I'm alive at all." He stuffed his hands in his pockets and shrugged. "I'm bound to get used to it eventually. What do you think we should do?"

"With the plane?" he nodded. "Well, I believe you, but I'm not sure we have any other choice. I'm sorry to say I don't suspect I'd make for a very good fisherman."

"Maybe a fisherman's wife-" he grinned and then his face abruptly changed. "Not my- I don't mean- we should get back to the plane." He said, suddenly darting past her for the clearing.

Calypso woke slowly, the clock that sat on Fred's chart-covered desk told her she had slept through much of the eight hour trip. It came as a relief that it had been far too loud within the cabin to hold casual conversation. It wasn't that she couldn't have made a compelling story about their adventure sailing, it had become second nature to her to create a backstory out of thin air, but the bouncing and sudden drops in altitude had made her far too sick for conversation.

Fred had seen her misery and offered her some medicine. It had stopped her desperate need to throw up, and it had also knocked her unconscious for the better part of their journey. Balzar was still at the small window near the front of the plane. As they'd been taking off, he'd been curious about everything. Amelia had finally had to enact a ruling that he must remain behind her seat. Though that didn't seem to stop his barrage of questions.

Fred was at the desk near the foot of the shelving where she'd found herself sleeping. He was drawing a careful line across one of the charts and his glasses were held together with electrical tape. His face also seemed puffier than before with a blooming bruise just beneath his left eye. He finally noticed that she had woken up and was staring at him.

"You can thank your boyfriend for this," he pointed to his face with an irritated scowl. He had to yell to be heard over the roaring engine. "When you fell asleep he was under the impression that I'd poisoned you. I let him know if I'd wanted you dead, there were easier ways to do it, and that's when he got real belligerent."

Faint memories of Balzar trying to wake her danced at the edge of her mind. Him shouting and the sound of bodies being slammed against metal too. Apparently that had not been a drug induced dream, but reality. Her face flooded with embarrassment.

"I'm so sorry," she shook her head, ready to clock Balzar herself. "I forgot he's-" she stammered, unsure how to explain that there were certain gaps in his memory where he retained his original alien qualities and lacked the common social graces of a human being.

Fred shrugged it off, "He calmed down. Told him he owes me a beer when we land though. I plan to collect on that."

"Fred!" Amelia shouted from the front. "I'm going to need some guidance, visibility is next to nothing." Fred gathered up his charts and a pen and headed toward the front of the plane.

Balzar saw that she was upright and headed her way.

"You're awake," he said, flopping down next to her on the makeshift bench. "You've missed a most exhilarating dive toward the ocean."

Suddenly she wasn't sure all the queasiness had passed. "If you say so."

"We're nearly to-" Balzar stopped, a frown replacing his excitement. He sat very still, as though he were listening for something. He sniffed the air cautiously and stood up. "We need to leave."

"Leave?" Calypso asked, bewildered by the thought.

"You need to lower your altitude immediately," He shouted, barging forward and interrupting Fred as he pointed to another map.

"I beg your pardon?" Amelia gave him a skeptical look. Calypso stood and made her way forward on shaky legs so she could hear better. "I'm all for a little dare deviling now and again, but we're having trouble locating our destination. Now's not really the time."

"We're not going to make it to our destination if we stay on this plane."

"I don't know how familiar you are with air travel, but staying on the plane is generally an important component to staying alive."

Calypso felt the hairs on her body begin to stick out, but it wasn't because she was frightened by Balzar's sudden erratic behavior. There was a charge to the air around them and she could feel static crackling across her skin and clothes.

"If you want to stay alive we need to get off-" whatever thought Balzar was trying to communicate, he didn't get to finish it. The plane pitched sideways, but it wasn't like the turbulence she had experience before, this was more violent. She didn't feel as though they were falling either, the queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach didn't return. This felt more like they were being spun about in blender.

The light from outside the windows vanished and they were pitched into darkness a moment before the shaking finally ceased and she crashed onto the floor.

For a moment she was too dazed to react, slowly regaining her senses as she tried to roll onto her back. It wasn't just dark, but silent as well. The tremendous noise of the plane in flight was suddenly snuffed out.

Amelia, or possibly Fred, groaned miserably from the cockpit. "That was unpleasant."

"Calypso?" Balzar's voice was urgent and somewhere nearby.

"Yes," she sighed, feeling a little bruised, but not much worse for wear. "I'm here."

He reached out and touched her hand, giving a reassuring squeeze. "It's all right." He said, but his voice held little confidence.

"Did we crash?" She suspected if they had hit the water, it would be pouring in around them, or at the very least the plane would be swaying gently in the waves.

"Not precisely." Balzar managed.

"We didn't even descend," Amelia said wonderingly, her voice more soft-spoken than before. "The last thing I saw was us being pulled up- I don't understand how that's possible…"

There was a low grinding mechanical noise, but it was coming from somewhere outside the plane. Gradually, light began to filter in through the windows in the front. Amelia held out her hand to block the bright blue light that flooded the cabin.

"What in the blazes-" Fred was finally pushing himself up from the floor, equally blinded by the light.

"TARGET ACQUIRED." A high pitched mechanical voice boomed from the direction of the light. Calypso felt a shiver run through her. "ADDITIONAL OCCUPANTS WITHIN. PLEASE ADVISE."

Calypso started to push herself up from the floor but Balzar shook his head sharply.

A deeper, more gravelly voice responded.

"EXTERMINATE."

Calypso eyes went wide, suspecting that was not a good sign and she looked to Balzar who let out a defeated sigh.

"Now that, I remember."