Chapter 2:

As the TARDIS winds down and The Doctor shuts down the systems, Amy opens the door to see where they ended up and is hit with a blast of warm, humid air. "The tropics! I love it! Where are we?"

"Macapa, Brazil. Right on the equator."

"Brazil! Beaches! Palm trees! Colorful drinks with little umbrellas! This is perfect!"

"Oh, we're not going to the beach."

"What? Why not?" asks Amy with great disappointment.

"Too many people. Have you see a Brazilian beach lately? Millions of people. Billions."

"I think you're exaggerating, Doctor."

"Well, there are an awful lot of people in Brazil in 2180."

"2180?" asks Amy warily. "The year 2180? Does it have to be 2180?"

"It does if you want to catch the next space elevator to a moon shuttle."

Amy's slouches toward The Doctor, visibly upset. "The Moon. We're in tropical, beautiful Brazil, and you want to go to the Moon."

"Yes."

"Why, in God's name?"

"Peace and quiet. That's what we agreed on. There are only a few hundred people at the Vacation Station as it's called… catchy name, what?"

Amy glares at The Doctor, not amused.

"Anyway, more than anything, we need to go someplace boring. Dull. Dreary. Tedious. So dull we'll start to pine for some Daleks or Cybermen."

"I can get plenty bored on a sunny, quiet beach."

"Well, there really aren't any beaches in Macapa. Just mud flats. We're on the Amazon River. For real beaches we'd have to go to Rio."

"Then let's go to Rio."

"Oh, come on. I've got a library full of books. Some that haven't even been written yet. Didn't you ever wish you could just spend a week or two with nothing to do but read?"

"Yes."

"There you are, then!"

"At the beach!"

"Oh don't be a stick in the sand. It'll be fun."

"I just got back from another galaxy. How fun can the moon be after that?"

"Okay, then, it'll be relaxing. Go ahead, start packing."

"What does one bring to the moon?"

"Ah. It's all right in here." The Doctor pulls out a brochure titled, All about the Vacation Station. "So, let's get cracking."

The TARDIS rests on a lawn set back a few feet from a concrete path that meanders through a palm forest. People walk by without giving it a glance. The door opens and The Doctor emerges in his usual attire, carrying a light hand bag, cheerful as ever. Amy follows behind, lugging a large suitcase and wearing shorts, a flowery button-down shirt, and an annoyed frown. She falls behind The Doctor right away.

"Come along, Pond. Hurry up!"

"I'm going as fast as I can."

"You don't have to bring all that stuff. It's the moon."

"I was hoping the space elevator would break down and we could check into the Ritz, or whatever, in Rio."

"Not a chance."

"Just wishful thinking. So why don't we take the TARDIS to the moon?"

"The whole point here is to get away. That's what you humans do, isn't it? Get away from work? That's what we're doing. We're travelling like regular humans. No TARDIS, no sonic screwdriver, no nothing. Just what you humans usually bring. A toothbrush and a towel." The Doctor considers Amy's sizeable suitcase. "Well, most humans, anyway."

"You should probably stop referring to me as a human. People will wonder."

"Right. That would be weird. I suppose I could call you an Earthling once we're on the moon."

"Sure. Fine."

"Ah, here we are."

The Doctor and Amy queue up at the boarding gate for the space elevator. Before too long, they are greeted by the ticket agent. The Doctor shows her his psychic paper.

The ticket agent takes a quick at the "ticket". "Everything seems to be in order. Please proceed down the corridor and turn left for first class."

"Thank you." The Doctor turns and winks at Amy as he waves the psychic paper in her face.

"I thought you weren't going to bring anything work-related," says Amy.

"A real ticket costs 150,000 pounds. Each."

"Then we're committing grand theft."

"Well…"

"Whatever, let's go."

They enter a sort of large pod called a climber and turn left to find their plush seats. The Doctor happily settles in. Amy struggles alone to jam her suitcase into a storage bin. The Doctor, oblivious, reaches into the small bag on his lap and pulls out a thick book and an apple. He bites into the apple and opens his book. "What did you bring to read?" he asks.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing."

"What are you going to read, then?"

"Nothing."

"Hmm. Okay. I'm reading the complete collection of Sherlock Holmes."

"Hmmm."

"You know, Art stole The Hound of the Baskervilles from one of the stories I told him. Except, instead of wolves, I was being harassed by Slitheen."

"Art?"

"Yes, Art. Arthur... Arthur Conan Doyle?"

"Yeah, I know." Amy looks around. People are staring at them. Amy whispers to The Doctor, "I don't think you should talk about your old pal, Art. People will wonder – and quit making me say that."

"Ah, of course." The Doctor takes another bite of his apple and reads a few lines before he turns to Amy. "What, exactly are you going to do? I only brought the one book."

"I don't know."

"Well, I'm sure something will come up."

Just then a nerdy teenage boy approaches Amy. "Looks like we're seat neighbors." He reaches out his hand. "Simon. Simon Woolrich." Amy shakes his hand.

"Amy. Pleased to meet you."

"Very nice to meet you." Simon looks over to The Doctor. "Is this your father?"

"Hah! No, just a… He's my Uncle."

Simon reaches over Amy to shake hands with The Doctor. "Simon."

"Pleased to meet you, Simon. I'm John Smith. But people call me Mr. Smith."

"Hello. What do you do?"

"Excuse me?"

"For a job. What do you do?"

"Oh. I'm a… a professor."

"Of what?"

"I don't mean to be rude, but I'm enjoying this book."

"Oh. Sorry. Nice to meet you." They shake hands and The Doctor promptly returns to his book.

Simon turns to Amy. "So, Amy, where are you from? I'm from Swindon. In case you're wondering how I could afford a trip to the moon, I can't. I won it in an international science fair. I invented a device that can detect and decode brain waves and determine what people are thinking. I tried it on my dog at first, but got nothing. At first I thought the device – I call it the A-Sig for Alpha Wave Signal Enhancer – it sounds better that AWSE - didn't work, but it turns out dogs don't really think about much except food. So anyway, I tried it on my little sister and still didn't get much of a signal. Just kidding. The screen went off the chart and the headphones almost blew my ears out. Who knew there was so much going on in Kate's brain? Just kidding again. But it was all gibberish. Anyway, I tried it on my classmates and teachers and everything. After a few months of calibrating I could start to actually hear what people were thinking. At first I was kind of upset, but then I figured they were just jealous of me because of my superior intelligence. My IQ is too high to measure. I'm only 16 and already have two PhD's from Imperial College in London. But you probably know all this. I'm kind of famous."

"Leadworth."

"What?"

"You asked me where I was from about an hour ago. I'm from Leadworth."

"Oh. Did I talk too much again? I do that a lot."

"No, not at all." Amy turns to The Doctor and asks, "How long did you say the trip is to the moon?"

"I don't know. Simon?"

"Oh, well, the trip takes place in two stages. Stage one is the one we're on right now. The space elevator. It was first conceived in 1895 by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, a Russian pioneer in rocket science. His idea was a tower that was supported under compression. That can't work, of course. Instead, the elevator consists of a graphene ribbon in tension, with one end attached here on Earth, right below us, and the other end attached to a counterweight 35,786 kilometers above earth, in geosynchronous orbit. The counterweight is also the launch point for the moon shuttle. This system enables people and cargo to travel from Earth to a space station very safely and without the inefficiencies of large rocket engines. The major breakthrough was achieved by…"

"Stop!" says Amy, trying unsuccessfully to be polite. "How long? I just want to know how long."

"Oh. Okay. Stage one takes 17 hours. Stage two, a rocket to the moon, takes 3 days. That's actually remarkably fast, considering the distance."

"Not fast enough," Amy mutters to herself.

The Doctor whispers to Amy, "Should have brought a book, Pond."

The passengers are requested to buckle up and stow loose items under the seat. Soon after, the climber shoots upward, accelerating rapidly.