The Universe's Mixer

Oswin was excited for Christmas morning -- the presents, the food, the company and cheesy Christmas specials on the telly. She woke in her mind's eye and started to go through her daily routine -- patching up an imagined exit to her small craft, cleaning up from the attempted intrusion that came every night.

Being so close to Christmas, Oswin didn't let the strange message from the PathWeb bother her. Oswin had hacked the PathWeb before, a sort of locked down intraweb version of dalek telepathy. It disturbed her that a message should come in and use the same channel. Stranger was the message itself -- instructions on how to open a dalek shell from the inside. It happened at the City's tree and she tried to burry the meaning behind it.

All Oswin wanted was to have a lovely Christmas.

The time readout inside the craft said 5:52 AM. Leto would likely be asleep. Oswin sat in her imagined overstuffed captain's chair and turned on the view screen. The blue lens of the dalek's eyestalk flickered to life and focused on the tree.

And then Oswin saw her own lifeless body folded up underneath it.

The apartment was filled with a terrible, electronic noise. But it wasn't an alarm. The dalek was screaming.

Backdated to December 25 at 5:30 pm

They'd spent all day preparing for Christmas dinner. The cottage itself was decorated inside and out. A fire crackled and roared merrily in the hearth. A lovely silver and blue tree quietly twinkled in the corner closest to the door. A larger-than-usual table took up most of the great room, and it was set to perfection with bright and creamy china, sparkling goblets, silverware that gleamed, poinsettias and pinecones and ham and mashed potatoes, tarts of every kind, salad, green bean casserole -- and oh, every holiday food imaginable! The wine selection was top-notch (after all, Beauty was French!), and the hostesses themselves were grinning ear to ear with excitement.


Under the tree, tiny presents waited - hostess gifts designed to surprise and delight!

At 5:30, Beauty went to the door and stood, bouncing on her toes, and waiting for the very first knock.