If one were to judge the craft referred to as "the aero-ship" one would believe it to be completely incapable of flight. Its massive size looked better suited for floating along the ocean than in the sky. When unveiled from beneath a gray cloth in the open yard of the steel mill, the aero-ship glimmered in the sun like a deadly diamond. A series of stairs led to the passenger compartment of the ship, while a steel cylinder the length of the whole craft was attached below the compartment by a pair of clamps that could release it at will.

Within the craft, a series of pipes and gears weaved in and out of one another, creating a fabric of solid brass. We were marched down the halls to the front of the ship with sporadic blasts of steam reminding us of our urgent need for an escape. Chains were wrapped around our bodies to secure us to one of the pipes forming the maze of the ship. Our capture was made clear by the snap of a padlock around the chains.

Gregory Summerdale kept his attention on the windows of the aero-ship, through which he could see the steel mill and the beginnings of the streets of London. He held Vastra's and my own sword in his clockwork hands. He slid the swords from their sheaths and gazed at them with admiration.

"Steel," he said with a sinister tone in his voice, now removed of its polite affectations which he had expertly employed to continue his charade of being a meek business man, "what a fascinating substance. Strong, sturdy, deadly, but weakens so easily with the passage of time. We'll have to create something sturdier for ourselves if we're to rule this planet."

One of the gorillas forced air through his massive nostrils and right into my face.

"Foul!" I shouted.

"Hiding in plain sight all this time," Vastra said, "I'd be impressed if I was not busy thinking of how best to stop you."

"Your inability to simply admit defeat is quite admirable, if not foolish."

"Bah! A Sontaran never admits defeat! Especially not to intangible invalids like the Nestene."

"Ah, how I have missed the moronic boasting of Sontarans," Summerdale took a sick glee in torturing poor Strax, "whenever I hear of yet another of your people's devastating defeats at the hands of our allies the Rootans, I can't help but feel a sense of…elation."

Strax tried to lunge at Summerdale, tightening the chains and cutting off my air. Summerdale laughed at his impotence and let our weapons fall to the ground with a clang.

"Prepare the ship for liftoff; I need to join the others."

The gorillas moved to the controls on different parts of the ship. With military precision, they began to turn the cranks and pull the levers to activate the flames that inflated the balloon attached above our heads to an immeasurable size. We began moving at a shocking speed. In what felt like only a few seconds we were floating over the Thames towards Big Ben.

"One metal man and a trio of apes hardly seems like an invasion," Vastra said, I could tell she was trying to stall for time.

"Madame Vastra, I thought you were supposed to be a detective."

Summerdale's false eyes rolled into the back of his head. A glowing red energy slowly dripped out of his body and through the floor of the aero-ship. His body fell to the ground with a hollow thud, revealing its true nature as nothing more than an empty shell."

"Madame Vastra, Jenny, I want to say…it has been an honor to fight beside you."

"Strax, are you alright?" I asked, "I haven't heard you talk like this since…well…I've never heard you talk like this."

"It is my way of apologizing for what I am about to do," Strax said with his voice catching in his throat. Before I could ask what he meant, Strax sucked in air and slipped through the chains like water through a crack in a roof. The chains began to fall slack, but one of the apes quickly snatched them up and tightened its grip around Vastra and me.

Strax dove at the gorilla manning the helm of the aero-ship. Their collision sent them both flying into the controls, causing the ship to make a sharp turn, nearly tipping it completely onto its side in mid-air. As the two battled, our ape captor wrapped one arm around the pipes while the other kept his unbreakable grip on the chains. The third ape swung across the pipes to make up for his unsure footing and made his way towards the controls.

"Strax, look out!" I shouted.

The ape straightened out the ship and Strax turned to face his new adversary. He never stood a chance against two of these Herculean automatons. They dragged Strax towards the door as our captor tightened and secured our chains.

"Make them pay, comrades! Make them regret the day they set their sights on this foul world! Make them remember the name-"

Strax's voice was drowned out over the sound of the rushing wind that filled the cabin as he was pushed through the open door.

"I swear, when I am free of these chains, I shall carve out your entrails and make you watch as I DEVOUR THEM SLOWLY, YOU DISGUSTING, FLEA RIDDEN, APE!"

This is right about the point where you lot came in. We were trapped with no way out, and it seemed as though all of London was about to be destroyed.

Action. We need action, Vastra said. The word ran through my brain as I looked around, desperate for anything that could help us in this hopeless moment. That's when I noticed the padlock strapped to the chains along Vastra's stomach.

"Mum, that's a padlock wrapped around the chains, right?"

"Yes, why?"

"I need you to pick it for me."

"How exactly do I do that?"

"You're going to find this a bit disgusting-"

"Oh dear."

"Your…tongue."

Vastra was silent for a moment.

"Don't speak of this to anyone."

Vastra's tounge slid into the lock.

"Now," I said, "you have to be very gentle. The pins are all very sensitive, you need to lift them one by one until they're stuck into place."

"Ah te wa oo ah oo?" Vastra muttered with her tongue sticking out.

"Then you're going to turn it gently once you feel all of the pins are stuck into place, can you manage it?"

"Ahmos gah ee"

The padlock clicked and the chains slipped off.

"Jenny, be a dear and fetch me my sword."

"Right away, mum."

One of the apes sprinted towards Vastra with its arms outstretched, but she dodged his massive arms and caught them in her own to hurl the facsimile over her shoulder. With a gorilla blocking my path to my precious katana, I dropped to the smooth floor and slid between its bowlegged stance. Before the creature knew what had happened, its head had been sliced off by twin swords. I threw Vastra's sword to her waiting hand, and she brought it down into the chest of her assailant. One gorilla remained standing. The beast was backed into a corner, but before we could turn him into a pile of broken bits, its eyes rolled back and the same red energy that left Mr. Summerdale left this automaton as well.

"Whatever they were planning, it must have something to do with that cylinder attached to the ship," I said.

"My deduction exactly, dear, the trouble is," Vastra gazed at the hodgepodge of levers and switches along the front of the ship, "I haven't a clue which one releases those clamps. One of these could do it, or it could send us crashing into the Thames."

"Either way, the city would be safe."

"I had made that tragic conclusion as well."

We both stared at the controls for what felt like hours.

"We'll pick one together," I said.

Vastra smiled and we both placed our hand on the lever closest to us. Vastra pulled me close to her and pressed her lips against mine. The scales on her lips made my cheeks tickle, and the kiss sent an electric strength through my whole body. If this was to be the moment of my death, I could face it knowing it happened in my love's arms. We pulled the lever together.

The hard shift of the lever was followed by the sound of an object whistling through the sky and then a loud splash.

We were still in the air.

Vastra and I looked out the window to see the splash as it slowly fell back into the river. We hugged and laughed with relief. It was finally over.

"We need to see if Strax is alright! There's got to be some way to land this thing."

Vastra began to run her hands along the controls.

"I will have this all figured out in a few moments, my dear, have patience."

Before Vastra could begin to land the aero-ship, we heard another splash, this one far more violent than the first. We looked out the windows to see a purple tentacle, nearly 30 kilometers long, reach out from the Thames and wrap itself around Big Ben. Slowly, it pulled out the rest of its body; a creature like a squid with a mouth filled with gnarled fangs that dripped saliva dropped itself beside parliament, and began to smash all things surrounding it.

"What is that?!" I asked in horror.

"That is the true form of the Nestene," Vastra said mournfully.

She quickly returned to the controls.

"We need to find a way down there, now."

I snatched up a small telescope that sat along the control panel. I watched as the people of London ran away in terror of the demonic beast that was slowly laying waste to everything in its path without prejudice. Vastra ran to one of the cranks and turned it as quickly as she could muster. The aero-ship began its slow descent, but it was not moving fast enough. Suddenly, I noticed through the thin circle of the telescope a small cluster of flames that struck the Nestene creature in the head near its eyes. The Nestene let out a cry of pain that could shatter glass.

"Jenny," Vastra said, "what is happening down there?!"

Before I could answer, two more bursts of flame caused the Nestene to emit even more cries of anguish. I could just make out a round man accompanied by smaller, what looked like, children hurling objects at the creature that would ignite on impact.

"I don't believe it," I said, "it's Strax! And he's with those children! They're hurling explosives at the creature!"

Vastra shook her head.

"And to think, that man wants to destroy this planet someday."

We had descended low enough that we were now hovering a few meters above the Nestene's head, narrowly avoiding the grasp of its tentacles. I could clearly see Strax and the children, their cries of "SONTAR-HA!" as they bombarded the beast hung in the air. Vastra grabbed one of the parachutes that hung next to the door.

"What're you doing?" I asked.

"I plan to leap from this craft and drive my sword into the heart of this monstrosity. Care to join me?"

"Mum, you'll get yourself killed! We can land this thing and get closer, just wait a moment."

Vastra took my hands and held them against her lips. She then looked up at me with those impossible eyes that had seen centuries of time on this world.

"They were willing to risk their lives. A samurai can do no less. And I am a samurai, my dear. But that is not why I chose to fight and die this day. I fight for you, Jenny. My love for you would give me the might to face all the armies of this world and die a million terrible deaths."

"And as the woman you love," I said grabbing one of the bags for myself, "I'm gonna fight by your side until the bloody end."

"And that is why I love you" she said.

Once I had my parachute secured to my back, Vastrapulled open the door. With the wind roaring and our swords drawn, we leapt into the sky and let gravity drop us down towards our enemy. After a few moments of diving like a bird of prey, we released the fabrics that sent us slowly down towards the skull of the monster. I slashed at tentacles that tried to stop me from reaching my landing point. Finally, we arrived on the top of the Nestene's head and stood our ground like soldiers on a violet hill.

"Together!" Vastra shouted.

With our swords turned down, we plunged them with surgical precision into the Nestene's flesh. A gargling whine and violent tremors of its tentacles were the creature's final movements towards death.

Once the creature was dead, we returned to the streets below. Our comrade Strax looked no worse for wear, though he was soaking wet and draped with seaweed. He stood before his troop of obedient children.

"You fought bravely today, Strax Squad," he said, "and you have all earned your place at my side as future rulers of this appalling world. As long as you follow my strict commands, of course. DISMISSED!"

"SONTAR-HA!" the children shouted as they broke from military attention and scurried home.

"Well," Strax said to us, "I am quite pleased you're not dead!"

I couldn't help but hug that oaf.

"Ah, is this one of those…displays of affection that you two are always exchanging?" he asked "I'm not quite sure if I like it."

"No, not at all, Strax," I said, "it's how warriors measure one another's strengths on this planet, by gently squeezing one another. We call it a 'hugging.'"

"How interesting," he said, completely oblivious, "we must practice this 'hugging' more often."

"Yes, well, we can continue to do that at home," Vastra said, "I'd like to avoid the crowd that is gathering, and I am absolutely famished."

"I hear that the tentacles of a Nestene body is one of the most delectable dishes in the cosmos!" Strax said while he hungrily stared at the purple corpse sitting nearby.

"You don't say," Vastra said, suddenly intrigued.

"I am absolutely not going to cook alien tentacles for you both," I said.

"My dear, where's your sense of adventure?" Vastra said as she put her arm around my waist.

"Oh no, don't even try to butter me up. I put my foot down at eating alien tentacles, especially ones that have been soaking in the Thames for nearly an hour."

"Very well, Strax and I will have to simply eat it all by ourselves. By the way, I thought it would be nice to pay a visit to Mrs. Vanderbilt to let her know that her husband's murderer has been brought to justice."

"That'd be very nice, mum. And maybe we can see Mr. Carthwright about adopting that alligator we saw at the zoo?"

"Yes," Vastra said with a smile, "that would be very nice as well."

We went home and slept until the morning came.

Life went on peacefully after that, until the day of the blue moon, the were-spiders, and the monks of Venus.

But I'll tell you that story another day…