Prologue
The tavern was the sort of place that had existed almost since the dawn of the first civilization - dark, smoky, and filled with muttered conversation and raucous laughter. The fact that this particular tavern was located in a hollowed-out asteroid in the 52nd century made little difference - alcohol was alcohol, and wherever it was served there were inevitably life-forms partaking of it.
Gathered around one of the tavern's back tables were four of these life-forms - two humans, a golden-skinned Gynoid and a hulking Malafac with thick, scaly hide and hands the size of small boulders. None of them knew the others except by reputation and, depending upon the circles one travelled in, those reputations were either very good... or very bad. Every single person at the table was an expert in their chosen field.
That is to say, all were thieves.
A stocky, dark-haired human emerged from the tavern and took a seat at the head of the table. "Who the hell are you?" asked Thiel, a dozen bits of metal that were embedded in flesh of his arm and face glinting in the dim glow.
"I'm the one who brought you here," the stocky man rumbled in a gravelly voice. "Call me Kayn."
"Big job?" Agrax the Malafac asked in a voice so deep the table trembled. That was about as verbose as his species ever got.
"Big enough for us all to retire - a 'Queen's ransom', so to speak," Kayn replied, and everyone leaned forward just a little.
"A big crew, too. A five-way split hardly seems worth it," Thiel said, playing it cool.
"Even split five ways, your share of the take will be more than you could spend in ten lifetimes," grinned Kayn. He knew Thiel's reputation too well to be fooled by his show of calm. The cyborg was already in, no doubt about it.
The Gynoid, Tassia, spoke in a perfect mimicry of a woman's voice, ignoring Thiel's look of distrust. "How big is the take?"
"Half a billion Universal Credits - unbonded," replied Kayn, and suddenly everyone's attention was fixed on him. Just as he had intended, every one of them was hooked. "No security to bypass, no gene-locks to break before we can spend it, no fences, no middlemen. Half a billion, split between just us. A 'once-in-a-lifetime' opportunity that I don't intend to waste."
The final member of his chosen crew, a black-haired woman called Maya, spoke at last. "So where's the job, exactly?"
Kayn smiled. "The Solar Queen."
1.
"I still can't believe it's bigger on the inside," said Amy Price as she gazed up at the console room of the TARDIS. She was lying on the wide seat a few feet from the console, trying to wrap her head around the impossible nature of this fantastic vehicle.
The Doctor was working his way around the console, adjusting a dozen controls. "Really?" he said innocently. "I hadn't noticed." He walked over to her and was rewarded with a playful punch to his arm. "Oy, what was that for?"
"Look, this may all be normal for you," said Amy, "but I'm still getting used to the idea of gallivanting about the universe in a Police Box!"
"Fair enough," smiled the Doctor. "Speaking of travelling, any thoughts on what you'd like to see next? The Shimmering Springs of Celastrus, perhaps? Or how about the Pinnacle of Ice?" He snapped his fingers and grinned. "Ooh, that's it! The - "
"I thought you said we were going someplace fun," Amy said. "As in 'designed to be fun'. Come on, there's got to be pleasure planets or something in the future..."
"Well, I do know of a few..." the Doctor said, adjusting the controls, "and I think I've just the place -suns, sand, and shows. Everything and anything you could want - all under one roof."
"Sounds perfect!" grinned Amy.
"Then hold on!" he replied, and threw the lever that sent the TARDIS spiralling down a new path through the Time Vortex.
* * * * *
After a few minutes the centre column came to a halt and the engines went quiet. "So - ready to see the future?" the Doctor grinned.
But Amy had already rushed past him and was opening the doors. "Are you?" she called back over her shoulder as she strode outside.
The Doctor sighed. "I wish they all wouldn't go rushing off like that..." Then he grabbed his coat and followed her.
The TARDIS had landed on a pristine stretch of beach, its white sand untouched except for the regularly-spaced lounge chairs and wide umbrellas that gently curved away to the right and vanished in the distance. The bright blue ocean gently lapped at the shore while the occasional seagull flew overhead.
"It's beautiful!" gasped Amy.
"Of course," the Doctor replied. "Best beach money can buy. But no amount of money could pay for that."
He pointed up at the sky. Amy looked up and took a breath. What she had assumed to be a blue, cloudless sky was actually filled with strands of roiling blue plasma and a dozen stars, all brilliant against the backdrop of deep space and separated from the beach by a titanic dome. "What... what is it?" she breathed.
"The Talmaron Cluster - a dozen proto-stars floating in the plasma field that birthed them millions of years ago," the Doctor said. "One of the seven hundred 'Wonders of the Universe' - well, six hundred and ninety-nine, anyway." He grinned at his companion. "Amy, welcome to the 'Solar Queen!' "
2.
"Welcome to the 'Solar Queen'!" Kayn said as the sleek starship dropped out of hyperspace. They approached the massive pleasure station that hung in space before them, glittering like a jewel even against the spectacular backdrop of the Talmaron Cluster. "Maya, what's our status?"
At the ship's controls, Maya checked a readout. "No sign of detection. We might as well be a shadow."
"Good, very good," Kayn nodded as he turned to the cramped rear cabin where the rest of his crew were ensuring their gear was in order. Tassia sat serenely in one corner, her face an expressionless mask of faux humanity. All she required for the job was housed beneath her fibrecoil body plates.
In stark contrast, Agrax had his feet propped up on the two massive crates needed for his part of the heist. Their contents were relatively simple devices, but extremely powerful.
Thiel was checking his gear - a battle harness with grenades, scanners, jammers, and a squat, wide-bore energy weapon. He looked up at Kayn. "Okay, boss, tell us somethin' - how'd you find out about this 'opportunity'?"
"Trade secret," Kayn replied, allowing himself a small smile. "Okay, people, gather round. Here's the plan-"
"Again?" grumbled Thiel. "We've been over the plan a dozen times already."
"Then shut up for once and just listen as we go over it again," Kayn snapped. "You're all going to know the plan backwards, forwards and sideways. No mistakes."
Maya had by now locked the ship on a course to dock with the station and came to stand at Kayn's side.
Kayn pulled out a datasheet from his pocket and pulled up a schematic of the 'Solar Queen' before pointing to part of it. "We dock here - a service airlock on the maintenance levels. Minimal security - should be no problem for you, Tassia." He dragged a thick finger across the display, tracing their path. "Thiel will take the lead through the maintenance levels, just in case any androids get wise to our presence."
The cyborg smirked. "No worries - I can handle any trouble that comes our way."
"Once we reach the recreation hub," Kayn continued, "the quickest path is straight through the casino dome and right into the core. That's where we need Agrax and his equipment - the core might be heavily shielded, but I don't think that will make any difference with what he's brought along."
Agrax tried to smile, revealing crooked fangs the size of thumbs.
"Once we reach the Vault... well, Maya, that's where you come in," Kayn said.
"I'll be ready," she replied. "What about witnesses?"
"Tassia will wipe the system of our presence. And thanks to the timing, there won't be any organics aboard to witness anything. We'll have the run of the place."
A heavy thump reverberated through the ship as it made contact with the hull of the 'Solar Queen'. "Grab your gear, people," Kayn smiled. "We've got a robbery to do!"
3.
"So it's a space station?" Amy said, still looking at the dome which arced over the beach.
"Well, more of a city, actually," the Doctor replied. "It's a lot like Las Vegas - full of glitz and glamour and determined to take your money. Still, there are ways around that." He looked up and down the beach. "Just need to find a terminal..."
Amy finally brought her gaze back down to the beach. Each of the lounge chairs and its umbrella was the same distance apart, hundreds of them stretching into the distance. And every single one within sight was empty. "Doctor, doesn't this seem a bit... odd?"
"Odd? How so?" he replied, spying a gleaming golden pedestal that glinted in the light of the dozen small suns above.
"That there's nobody here, not a single person," she said. "You'd think there'd be somebody around…"
"Could be in the casino, or the restaurants, or the shops - I'll just bet they've got the best shops in a place like this," grinned the Doctor. "The brochures say there's 'a million and one things to do.' "
"Haven't you ever been here before?"
"Thought about it once, long time ago," the Doctor said as they started walking toward the golden pedestal, leaving two sets of footprints behind them in the sand. "But it's a big universe. I haven't even seen most of the six hundred and ninety-eight other wonders yet..."
After they trudged through the soft sand for a few minutes, they finally reached the golden pedestal. Amy saw there was a keypad set into the polished top surface, along with a small glowing dome which emitted faint clicking sounds as it pulsed. "Now let's see what's happening today," said the Doctor and touched the keypad. The dome flashed and a flickering hologram appeared in the air above, but instead of the long list of diversions the Doctor was expecting, there was only a flashing red warning.
"The 'Solar Queen' is currently closed for repair and decontamination," read Amy. "'We apologize for any inconvenience. We will reopen for your pleasure in two days." She looked at the Doctor and folded her arms. "Closed? You've got great timing, Doctor!"
"Nonsense! Does this beach look closed? Just think of it as the off season." The Doctor tapped a few buttons, but the warning stubbornly refused to fade. Finally the Doctor gave the pedestal a good thump with his fist and a list of the station's facilities appeared - some in green, a few flashing red, but most a steady yellow. "Just avoid the red ones and enjoy the green."
"And the yellow ones?"
The Doctor grinned. "Enter at your own risk, looks like."
"Aren't we going to get in trouble if we stick around?" Amy hissed. "What kind of security have they got in the future?"
"Don't worry," the Doctor grinned. "I know exactly what to expect. We'll be fine."
4.
Amy looked over the list of available entertainments. "Casino... clubs... 3D interactive adventures..." She paused. "If the place is closed, why are they still up and running? Who's in charge of this place?"
"Nobody - well, nobody alive, technically speaking," the Doctor said, fishing his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket. "It's all automated. Must be the reason for the shutdown - the automatic systems aren't functioning properly, not even simple things like this terminal."
"Is that dangerous?" asked Amy. "You know, rampaging robot hordes or something?"
"You've seen too many movies," the Doctor scoffed. He aimed his sonic screwdriver at the small dome and thumbed the switch. "Well, since nobody's watching, there's something we could use..." The device emitted a high-pitched warble, and a second later the pedestal happily chattered a series of beeps and disgorged a pair of finger-sized translucent plastic chips.
The Doctor took one and gestured for Amy to take the other. "Thanks... what is it?" she asked, examining it.
"Universal Credit chip; bonded to your DNA. Only you can spend it," the Doctor replied, rubbing his hands together and pressing buttons. "Now let's find something to spend it on, shall we?"
Amy pocketed the chip and turned back to the rolling waves. "You said there were shops? I could really use a bikini..." Then she tugged on the Doctor's arm. "You said we were alone?"
"That's what the sign says," the Doctor replied, still scanning through the menu.
"Then who's that?"
The Doctor turned and saw what Amy was pointing at - a figure far out in the water, flailing wildly as the waves threatened to pull him down. Both the Doctor and Amy ran toward the water, but while Amy shed her denim jacket and dove into the crystal-clear surf, the Doctor turned around and hurried back to the pedestal.
Amy cut through the water with easy strokes and quickly covered the distance to the drowning man. The distance was greater than she thought - this place was indeed massive - but she still had plenty of strength left by the time she got close to him. "Don't panic! I'm here!" she called out.
It was only now that Amy was next to the man that she realized it wasn't a man at all, but some kind of robot. With a mental shrug, Amy got her arm around the flailing robot and tried to drag it back toward the shore, but its housing had filled with water and it was far heavier than it looked. "Doctor!" she cried as the robot threatened to break her grip. "Help me with this thing!"
"Got it!" the Doctor called back, and a moment later the ocean around them vanished in a square trough. Amy and the robot fell to the bottom, supported by an invisible barrier which held the water back. She coughed and spluttered as the Doctor ran up to them. "Are you okay?" he said, kneeling down.
"Yeah, fine." Amy looked at the robot more closely. Of all the things she had expected to see, this was the last - the thing was dressed like a croupier, in white shirt and black tie and dark vest. Instead of a gleaming metal face, the robot had only a clear plastic skull that housed what looked like an intricate brass machine of cogs and wheels.
"It's a clockwork robot!"
5.
As soon as the starship docked, Kayn and his crew of thieves were ready.
Tassia slid open the ship's wide hatch to reveal one of the hundreds of service airlocks that dotted exterior of the 'Solar Queen'. She prised off a panel next to the airlock and then removed the outer casing of one of her fingers, exposing the omnijack beneath. She reached into the now-exposed workings of the airlock, found a dataport, and then slid the jack into place. "I'm in," she said as she accessed the airlock's tiny computer brain, concentrating as she ran through thousands of possible override codes in less than a second.
After a moment the hatch retracted, exposing the seldom-used airlock interior. Immediately Thiel stepped through, brandishing a wide-bore energy weapon. Kayn and Maya followed, while Agrax lugged his crates along. Coming last was Tassia, who closed the outer hatch behind them.
Thiel covered the corridor as the thieves exited the airlock. The only light was the occasional safety lamp set into the ceiling for the service crews.
Thiel was from a region of the galaxy that was at war with a robotic army bent on driving humanity from their colonies, so he had learned many ways to combat robots of every type. That was the reason he wielded a heavy ion blaster - it was capable of frying the control circuits of even the most heavily shielded combat robots. Kayn had chosen him because of his aptitude in destroying robots - and the sheer pleasure he took in it. And he knew that Thiel's greed would keep him from confronting Tassia.
But as they proceeded deeper into the bowels of the 'Solar Queen', it became clear the clockwork robots wouldn't pose a threat. After only a few hundred meters the thieves had already passed dozens of them – all immobile and still dressed in garish uniforms. The smaller service bots, not even remotely humanoid-looking, had fared no better. Occasionally they came across one that had not shut down completely, and Thiel laughed as he blasted each one to bits.
After several hundred more metres, they reached a large cargo lift and stepped onto the platform. Agrax set down his crates, cracked his knuckles and groaned - even his strength had limits, especially lugging around over a ton of gear. Tassia jacked in and the lift unhappily obeyed her command, its motors groaning as it took them up toward the recreation hub.
Maya and Kayn stood at the rear of the group. "Been a long time, Torin," she said quietly.
Kayn nodded, noting her use of his first name – the name she had used so long before. "Too long."
"No... not long enough - you should have stayed away."
Kayn reached out to touch her shoulder but she pulled aside. She had every reason to mistrust him, especially now. But he had no choice - he needed her for the job. They were so close he could taste it...
6.
Amy brushed the wet strands of hair from her face. "What happened to the water?"
"Safety system," the Doctor explained. "Force fields to keep people from drowning. It should have activated automatically, even for our friend here." He looked at the twitching robot as the water seeped from its body. "Help me get it back to shore." He hooked one arm under the robot and pulled it into a sitting position.
"It's a clockwork robot," Amy said as they carried the robot back to the beach. With each step it became easier - the water drained from it quickly. Soon they were safely on the sand, and a moment later the trough vanished and water crashed back into the empty space. "How the hell do you make a clockwork robot?"
"Technically it's an android - made to appear humanoid," the Doctor explained. They stood the robot up and the Doctor examined it closely, pulling off the casing that served as its face. "And it's not your typical clockwork - these are nanogears. Think of them like fractals - each gear has tiny little replicas of itself covering its surface, again and again, all the way down to the molecular scale. Each time one moves it opens or closes a circuit. Put billions of circuits together - "
" - and you've got a clockwork robot - er, android. Bizarre," Amy said. "But how'd it wind up all the way out there? It certainly can't swim."
"It's malfunctioning," the Doctor said, running his sonic screwdriver over the workings. "Isotopic degradation of the cognizance gear train."
"And for those of us who don't speak techno-geek?" Amy sighed.
"The android's brain is breaking down from some kind of radiation exposure. Probably from that," the Doctor replied, pointing up at the Talmaron Cluster. "Nanogears are notoriously sensitive to radiation."
"Can you fix it?"
"Not permanently - it needs replacement parts. But I can get it moving for a bit..." The Doctor's eyes widened in realisation. "Of course! That's the reason for the shutdown - the androids are all being fitted with new gears. Can't have them breaking down in front of the paying customers, can you?" He switched on the sonic screwdriver for a moment, and the android began walking forward. "Let's get you to a repair bay."
They led the android back toward the golden pedestal, where the Doctor pressed a few buttons and smacked it with his fist again. Suddenly a large hatch swung open from beneath the sand, revealing a set of stairs leading down. They descended into a wide corridor fitted with heavy wood mouldings and gold filigree. Not something, Amy thought ruefully, one would expect to find beneath a tropical beach.
The Doctor found a display and brought up a map of the 'Solar Queen'. "We're here on the edge of the recreation hub... the service decks are below... so the nearest lift is - "
"Right over there," Amy said, pointing toward a nearby set of wide doors.
The Doctor looked up and did his best to ignore Amy's stifled giggling. "Right," he said as he walked up and pressed the call switch. "Let's just send this fellow back to his peers, shall we?"
Then the doors slid open to reveal a group of rough looking humans and aliens.