The Doctor and the Trash Compactor.
The grinding noise of a TARDIS materializing wafted through the warm empty air. She fully materialized with a wheezing thump.
A tall man wearing a leather duster and a young blonde girl stepped out.
"Look Rose, I told you that humanity has abandoned the earth and reclaimed her many, many times." The Doctor said to the young woman at his side. "See? Here we are in the mid-22nd century. You lot didn't listen to the environmentalists first time round and left your home planet when she got all used up. But see? They all came back and everything is back to normal."
"But Doctor, there's no one here." Rose said as she indicated the empty crumbling cityscape before them.
The doctor looked up quickly and looked around. He consulted his wristwatch, tapping it and holding it up to his ear. "Well we're not early." He stepped forward taking in the scenery in every detail.
"I don't understand, This place should be bustling with people. Where are they?" Turning to Rose, The Doctor said ominously. "Rose, somethings wrong here. Come on, we have to get back to the TARDIS"
The Doctor and Rose turned and quickly re-entered the TARDIS. The ship faded away amidst the noise of fading grinding.
But there was no one around to watch it go.
The TARDIS rematerialized again. This time several light years away aboard a derelict vessel.
Stepping out again, The Doctor and Rose looked around the pitch black cavernous deck. The TARDIS providing the only illumination. The deck was strewn with trash, and gigantic machinery sat dead amidst the detritus.
"Doctor, Where are we?" Rose asked as she stepped carefully around the junk laying about the deck.
"And why is it so hard to breathe?" She asked as she started to gasp.
"Hold on a sec." The Doctor said as he walked carefully over to a control console in a wall. Pulling out his sonic screwdriver, he scanned the dead console. Somewhere deep, a large thunk reverberated throughout the disabled vessel. A low red light flickered to life and dimly lit the cavernous hold.
"There. I managed to get the emergency sub systems back online. But they won't hold for long." Turning to Rose the Doctor held out his hand. She quickly walked over and put her hand in his.
"Come on. We have to get to the bridge before the power runs out." They both quickly ran over to a door. They stuttered open to reveal a lift inside.
"Come on Rose. We haven't much time." They both got into the lift. The Doctor Sonic'd the control panel. It fluttered in and out of life. But read "Bridge" The doors slowly ground closed.
They were on their way.
The doors ground open. Rose and the Doctor stepped out.
"Blimey!" Rose said as she quickly stepped out. "I am not going back in that thing! I didn't think we were going to make there for a second."
"We almost didn't." the Doctor replied. "The last of the lift power went to open the doors. We're going to have to walk back down."
"Well good thing I'm wearing my trainers then." Rose said as she moved around the bridge.
All of a sudden, what looked like a ships wheel suddenly spun around.
"Alert! Intruders Detected!" One of the handles popped open revealing a deadly looking electric tazer.
"Rose! Get behind me!" The Doctor shouted as he put himself between Rose and the homicidal wheel.
The Doctor raised his sonic screwdriver, but before he could do anything, the light inside the wheel died and it stopped moving. It sat there dead.
"I guess this place almost being out of power could be considered a good thing then." Rose said as she swallowed the lump in her throat.
"I guess you could say that." The Doctor said as he waved his sonic around the deserted bridge.
"So why did we come up here anyways Doctor?" Rose asked ash she followed him around the bridge.
"I have to see why this ship didn't return to earth. It should have returned over 200 years ago. Why didn't it?"
The Doctor and Rose came across a figure slumped over, sitting in a chair. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be a desiccated skeleton, covered in a now oversized jumper.
"Just as I thought. The captain himself." The Doctor scanned the console the skeleton lay on.
"Aha!" The Doctor said. "The ships logs. They're badly corrupted, but I hope I can recover some of them."
A bridge display came up. A badly scrambled image of what appeared to be a large rotund man flicked on the screen.
"Nope. That ones too badly damaged. Let me try another." The Doctor pulled open a console cover and inserted his sonic screwdriver. The panel sparked but the screen came back to life once again.
Once again the large rotund man appeared. This time he spoke.
"Captains log: August 19, 2951. Captain Randall Ambrose reporting. I've had to start rationing as the Regenerative Food Buffets have started to break down. I've also had to start cannibalizing ships parts as we ran out of replacements last week. Engine core temperature is starting to fluctuate. I've sent out a request for assistance from any nearby sister passenger ships. Nothing else to report." The screen went black.
"Okay then, lets see, the next 30 days of logs are corrupted. But, ah, here we go." The Doctor said as he continued to fiddle with the sonic screwdriver.
The screen came to life again. This time Captain Randall seemed a bit more disheveled.
"Captains log: September 21, 2951. Captain Randall Ambrose reporting. I've had to order the ships automated stewards to start locking the passengers in their cabins, as there have been isolated incidents of food rioting. I've also had to increase food and water rationing as we are now down to one single Regenerative Food Buffet machine working. And it is doing so intermittently. Human remains are starting to pile up faster than the server droids can reconstitute them. So I've ordered them to start dumping the bodies down the trash chutes. I have now sent out an urgent request for assistance from any sister ships in the area. I am confident we will be hearing from them soon. Nothing else to report."
"Doctor," Rose quietly asked. "Do you mean to tell me that the passengers and crew were..."
"eating people? Yes Rose. How else did you think the buffet 'regenerated' itself?" The Doctor said as he fiddled with his screwdriver.
"My god. That's sick." Rose said as she covered her mouth in horror
"No. I told you. That's recycling. Now be quiet, here's the next playable log."
Captain Ambrose appeared again. This time looking much thinner and gaunter. He wasn't even looking at the screen. Long moments dragged on before he said anything. Then he quietly spoke up.
"We... we had an airlock on the primary medical deck blow today." his face suddenly scrunched up into a ball of emotional agony.
"We lost the nursery. All the children are dead."
"WHERE ARE THEY? WHY DON'T THEY ANSWER US? WE NEED HELP!" The captain suddenly screamed into the camera.
The screen went black yet again.
"Doctor. Where are the other ships? Why didn't they come to this ships aid?" Rose quietly asked as she tried to keep the horror and sadness out of her voice.
"Because Rose, except for a few ships that managed to make planetfall on habitable worlds. This was the only ship left in existence. This is the BnL AXIOM. She was the crown jewel of the Starliner series, executive class. This was the ship that all the 'important' people boarded when they finally left earth for the final time. This ship had the best of everything. Nothing was spared when she was built. That's the only reason she lasted this long."
"So you mean that..."
"There are eleven other ships just like this one. Floating in the void. Silent empty tombs carrying the remnants of humanity."
"That's awful." Rose said quietly. Unable to keep the horror out of her voice.
"That's humanity. You stupid apes. You skimp on even the important things. Even the possible salvation of your race was left to the lowest bidder." The Doctor said coldly. "Anyways, here's the last log."
This time the ships wheel came up on screen. It's cold mechanical voice filling the bridge.
"CAPTAIN RANDALL AMBROSE HAS DIED AT 2230 HOURS. DECEMBER 24TH 2951. PASSENGER LEVELS ARE AT 5% CAPACITY. ALL FOOD AND WATER RECLAMATION SYSTEMS ARE DOWN. MAIN ENGINE IS DOWN. ATMOSPHERIC SYSTEMS ARE DOWN. NON BREATHABLE ATMOSPHERIC LEVELS WILL REACH TOXIC LEVELS WITHIN THE HOUR.
TO PREVENT FURTHER SUFFERING OF PASSENGERS AND CREW I WILL ACTIVATE PLAN ZERO ZERO ZERO DESTRUCT ZERO.
AUTOPILOT. AXIOM. OUT.
"What was plan 0-0-0-destruct-0?" Rose asked the Doctor.
"I assume it was the self destruct for the ship. It was probably to overload the ships engines and blow the axiom to stardust. But with the main engine down, the order wasn't able to be carried out. So everyone left alive just asphyxiated to death." The Doctor replied as he scanned through the rest of the bridge logs.
"Dammit. There's nothing here about why this ship didn't return home when she was supposed too. What happened? Why didn't she go back home like she was supposed to?
"Doctor..."
"Not now Rose, I'm busy."
"But Doctor,"
"what is it Rose?"
"Whats that flashing light on the console?" She asked as she pointed to a red light blinking on the control panel
"It's probably just the ships automated distress beacon. Now be quiet. I'm thinking!" The Doctor answered crossly.
"But Doctor." Rose pressed firmly.
"WHAT!"
"Since when does an automated distress beacon have a countdown!" She said as she pointed out to a small display counting down next to the flashing light.
"What!" The Doctor said as he spun around and looked at the countdown.
The Doctor and Rose both looked at each other.
"RUN!"