For a few moments, the Doctor, Sherlock, and Molly stared at the life preserver in silent shock. The front of the ship was still stuck through the walls of the TARDIS, and the foghorn was still blaring.
In the calmest voice she could manage, Molly said, "Er, Doctor? Please, please tell me we did not just sink the Titanic."
The Doctor gaped silently at the ship, opening and closing his mouth a few times before he remembered how to move. He scrambled to his feet, hurrying to the console and adjusting a few controls. The TARDIS walls began to repair themselves, pushing the ship out as the wall knit itself back together. When it was done repairing, the Doctor sent the TARDIS into flight, landing a few moments later.
Molly blinked. "Where'd we land?"
He turned to her with a grin. "On the ship, of course." Then he frowned again. "Thing is, though, I was on the Titanic years and years back, and I think I would've noticed if we crashed into the TARDIS."
"Time can be rewritten though, right?" Molly reminded him.
He shrugged. "Yeah, but if it had I'd be remembering it now."
She looked at the door with interest. "So, there's another version of you out there?" When he nodded, she asked, "Is it you you, or another one?"
"My seventh regeneration," he told her.
Molly chuckled. "I guess today's a day for meeting Doctors then." She stood, ignoring her still-throbbing temple, and headed for the door. "Let's go, then."
"Molly, you really should be resting," the Doctor reminded her.
She glared back at him impatiently. "Doctor, I'll be fine," she said a little testily. She didn't know why his efforts to help were rubbing her the wrong way, but she just didn't feel like being fussed over. After a year of toughing it out on a desolated Earth, it just felt weird.
The Doctor hesitated, then conceded, "Alright fine, but just for a quick look, then back to the TARDIS." He and Sherlock followed Molly out of the TARDIS, stepping out into a narrow hallway. They walked down it, heading out the door out the end into a grand ballroom. People were milling around everywhere in elegant Edwardian garb, with tables set out and waiters and waitresses rushing here and there. It all seemed pretty normal, but then she noticed what looked like a red-skinned midget with red spikes hurry past. She raised an eyebrow. "I don't know about you," she said slowly, "but I'm pretty sure there weren't any aliens on the Titanic."
The Doctor stared after him with bemusement. "Pretty sure you're right." He headed over to a nearby window, eyebrows shooting up at what he saw. "Right," was all he said.
Curious, Sherlock and Molly craned to get a look out the window. Molly felt a rush of surprise when, instead of the sea, she saw the darkness of space outside, with stars gleaming all around. She let out a low whistle. "Well, that explains a bit."
Sherlock turned to the Doctor. "So, we're on a spaceship named after the Titanic" he queried.
The Doctor nodded. "Some sort of space cruiser modeled after the original, I think."
"So we're in the future?" Molly asked.
The Doctor looked back at the party with interest. "Not sure," he admitted.
Suddenly, a voice sounded from a PA announcer overhead, echoing through the ballroom. "Attention all passengers. The Titanic is now in orbit above Sol Three, also known as Earth. Population, Human. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Christmas."
The Doctor grinned. "Ah, so it's Christmas then. Brilliant, always love a good Christmas."
Molly was quiet. Last Christmas, she, Sherlock, and Greg had been holed up in a slave headquarters out in New York, where the slaves had held a small, subdued celebration, sitting around and telling stories of Christmases past, giving thanks for the friends and family still alive. It had been a solemn affair, but one of the more hopeful days of that year.
The Doctor gave the window a final glance, then turned to his companions with a grin. "So, Molly, Sherlock, fancy sneaking into a party?"
Sherlock looked less than thrilled at the prospect, but Molly shook off her solemn thoughts and grinned. "Sure!" It'd been too long since she'd had fun; a party with the Doctor on a futuristic spaceship, one that would most likely lead to danger and adventure, would definitely be fun.
SCENEBREAK
They headed back to the TARDIS, determined to be dressed for the occasion. Sherlock grumbled a bit about attending something as mundane as a party, but when Molly reminded him that there'd almost certainly be interesting alien food to sample and machinary to investigate, he conceded.
Molly dressed in a pale gold gown almost reminiscent of Belle from "Beauty and the Beast," with paler gold opera gloves with dark floral markings, which was echoed more palely in the skirts and what little there was of the sleeves. The bodice split apart, making it look like a gold jacket covering a pale gold under-blouse, the color of her gloves. She did her hair up in a bun, clipping on an elegant gold clasp she found on the dresser. She looked in the mirror uncertainly, still a little weak and hazy from her knock to the head. It had been over a year since she'd been in a dress, and after a year of always being armed in some capacity, she felt exposed. She let out a huff, berating herself internally. Stop it. You're not on the Master's Earth anymore, stop thinking like it. She just wanted to enjoy the evening.
She waited a few extra minutes in the wardrobe, waiting for the headache to subside a bit, before coming out. The Doctor was in a full tux and black tie, and even Sherlock had suited up, though he still looked less than thrilled with the whole prospect. "Everyone there is bound to be exceedingly dull," he complained. "Rich, privileged, probably not an original idea in their heads."
Molly rolled her eyes, fighting back a wave of pain. "Sherlock, everyone out there's probably an alien. That should be at least a little bit interesting."
The Doctor was checking something on the monitor, brow crinkled slightly. "Looks like it's 2012, so it's probably around the time we left," he informed them.
"So I was right," Molly affirmed, "Everyone out there's gotta be alien, humans don't have space travel like this yet."
The Time Lord nodded, then grinned with excitement. "Right. To the party then!" He bounded to the door, followed by Molly and a still-reluctant Sherlock. They headed back out into the ballroom, wandering a bit. Molly stared around at the guests uneasily, a little wary. Old suspicions crept up, but she fought to keep them down. She was at a party, she planned to enjoy herself.
Eventually, the Doctor found a monitor on the wall, pulling out his sonic and giving it a quick zap. It came to life, showing a ratty-looking man sitting behind a desk, giving the camera an oily grin. "Max Capricorn Cruiseliners," he announced. "The fastest, the farthest, the best. And I should know because my name is Max." As he finished, his gold tooth glinted in the light like a cheesy movie effect, then the screen shorted out.
Sherlock raised an eyebrow. "Fascinating," he said drily. "Sleazy salesman whose wife has obviously made him sleep on the couch for the last week, and technology any Earth TV could surpass."
Molly glared wearily at him. "Don't be an ass, Sherlock," she said testily. "Just enjoy the novelty of being in space for a bit, yeah?"
The detective glared slightly at Molly, gaze flickering quickly over the companion. "And how's your head then?" he asked pointedly.
Molly glared, trying to hide her feeling of haziness. "Fine," she growled.
The Doctor hadn't been paying attention. He'd headed over to one of the gold angel statues that were scattered around the room. Molly and Sherlock exchanged a final glare, then followed him. On closer inspection, they weren't statues at all, but some sort of metal robot, which lifted its head as the Doctor and his companions approached. When they got closer, the Doctor introduced them. "Evening. Passengers fifty seven, fifty eight, and fifty nine. Terrible memory. Remind me. You would be?"
There was a ding like from a cash register, then the robot's jaw moved, and it spoke in a pre-recorded male voice. "Information. Heavenly Host supplying tourist information." Sherlock finally looked interested, his gaze scanning it up and down.
"Good, so, tell me, because I'm an idiot," the Doctor rambled on, "where are we from?"
The angel dinged again and replied, "Information. The Titanic is en route from the planet Sto in the Cassavalian Belt. The purpose of the cruise is to experience primitive cultures." Molly raised an eyebrow at the "primitive cultures" bit – humans weren't all that far behind this kind of technology.
"So why name the ship after the Titanic?" Molly asked the angel host. "Who thought of that?"
"Information. It was chosen as the most famous vessel of the planet Earth."
Molly raised an eyebrow. "And did anyone bother to check why it was famous?" she asked pointedly.
"Information. All designations are chosen by Mister Max Capricorn, president of Max – Max – Max –" The host began to short out, twitching and rising in voice pitch.
The Doctor frowned, starting to pull out his screwdriver. "Ooo, bit of a glitch," he noted. Before he could do anything, however, a steward hurried over, shooing the travelers away from the host. "It's all right, sir, we can handle this," he assured the Doctor. Two more officers came over to help him, switching the host off before working to drag it away. "Software problem, that's all. Leave it with us, sir. Merry Christmas." He gave a hurried bow, then scurried away, looking nervous.
Sherlock watched him go with interest. "He's lying," he said bluntly. "They have no idea what's causing this, his bosses are ordering to cover it up, and since he's nearly been fired once already today, he's got little choice but to do as he's told. More importantly, this has happened before, several times today in fact."
Molly didn't even bother to ask how he'd figured this all out – a year had given her complete confidence in the detective's deductions. "Right, so looks like Max Capricorn's Cruiseliners has got something to hide." She could feel excitement beginning to build. This would probably end up being dangerous, but a different kind of dangerous than the Year, the wild, fun, running-for-your-life-while-breathless-laughing kind of dangerous. She'd missed that.
The Doctor stared after the officers with interest, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Right." Then he turned back to his companions. "Well, let's do a bit more mingling, see what we can find out, eh?"
SCENEBREAK
They wandered through the party, mingling here and there, until they noticed a rich-looking man crash into a waitresses, sending the dishes she was carrying crashing to the ground. Rather than apologize, he sneered at her, snapping, "For Tov's sake, look where you're going. This jacket's a genuine Earth antique."
The woman dipped her head hurriedly. "I'm sorry, sir," she said quietly.
The man growled, "You'll be sorry when it comes off your wages, sweetheart." He shook his head with disgust. "Staffed by idiots. No wonder Max Capricorn's going down the drain." The man turned and stormed off, leaving the woman alone to clean up the mess.
The Doctor and Molly went to help her, while Sherlock watched after the man with interest. After a few moments, he went off, presumably to get more information. "Here, let us help," Molly said with a smile. They helped gather up the clutter.
"Thank you, ma'am," the woman said, smiling nervously. "I can manage."
"Never said you couldn't," the Doctor said easily. "I'm the Doctor, by the way, and this is Molly Hooper."
"Astrid, sir," the waitress said quietly. "Astrid Peth."
The Doctor grinned brightly at her, straightening after they finished cleaning up the dishes. "Nice to meet you, Astrid Peth. Merry Christmas."
She finally gave him a real smile. "Merry Christmas, sir," she said warmly.
"Just Doctor, not sir," the Time Lord insisted.
Astrid chuckled, then asked, "You enjoying the cruise?" she asked curiously.
"Well enough, yeah," Molly said, though she still had that feeling of wariness. "The ship is gorgeous."
Astrid nodding, looking at the two warily. "Yes, the Titanic's maiden voyage, a great place for a young couple to travel."
Molly looked at her with confusion, her eyes widening as she realized what Astrid meant. "Oh no, no no no, not like that," she said quickly.
"No, we're not together, no," the Doctor said almost at the same time. "No, Molly, Sherlock and I have been traveling together a bit now, decided to see the universe. What about you, though? Long way from home, the Planet Sto."
Astrid let out a huff, glaring ruefully at the tables behind her. "Doesn't feel that different. I spent three years working at the spaceport diner, traveled all the way here and I'm still waiting on tables."
"What, can't you pop out when the ship, er, makes port or whatever?" Molly asked. She wasn't sure what the term was for a spaceship verses a sea ship, but the analogy worked.
The waitress shook her head. "We're not allowed. They can't afford the insurance." She sighed, looking longingly at the window. "I just wanted to try it, just once. I used to watch the ships heading out to the stars and I always dreamt of." Then she looked down, adding hastily, "It sounds daft." Molly felt a pang of sympathy for the girl. She thought about all the wonderful adventures she'd had on the TARDIS, and she couldn't blame Astrid for wanting more than her mundane life. There was way too much to see to just sit around on one planet.
The Doctor seemed to agree. "You dreamt of another sky," he said sympathetically. "New sun, new air, new life. A whole universe teeming with life. Why stand still when there's all that life out there?"
Astrid looked a bit embarrassed at being read that easily. "So, you travel a lot?" she asked hastily.
Molly grinned. "Oh yeah, all the time. We go everywhere and anywhere, and more often than not we end up in the worst trouble possible. It's great."
"Just for fun," the Doctor added. "Well, that's the plan. Never quite works, like Molly said."
Astrid smiled wistfully. "Must be rich, though."
The Doctor shook his head. "Haven't got a penny." Astrid looked at him curiously, so he explained, "Stowaways, all of us."
Astrid's eyes widened. "Kidding?"
"Nope," Molly said with a grin. "Like we said, we get in trouble a lot."
The waitress looked like she didn't know whether to believe them or not. "I should report you," she said warily.
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Go on then," he dared her.
She hesitated a moment, then grinned conspiratorially. "I'll get you lot drinks on the house," she told them. Astrid turned and hurried off, presumably towards the kitchens.
Molly smiled, watching her go. "Glad to know there's one decent, non-stuffy person on board," she joked to the Doctor.
The Doctor grinned. "Yeah, there's always a person like that around, you just gotta dig a bit, that's all."
She shook her head. "Always the optimist, Doctor."
The Doctor frowned slightly at her word choice, concern flashing in his eyes. Before Molly could ask him what was wrong, however, they were distracted by the sound of cruel laughter. They turned to see some elegantly-dressed people laughing at a new couple who had entered. They were dark-skinned, rather large, and dressed in gaudy purple, ruffled outfits. They glared resentfully at the people laughing at them, then turned and headed off to sit at their own table. Molly felt a pang of sympathy. She and the Doctor got up and headed off to join them.
As they got nearer, they could hear the man tell the woman, "Just ignore them."
The Doctor looked over at the laughers. "Something's tickled them," he said lightly.
The woman glared back at them. "They told us it was fancy dress," she explained ruefully. "Very funny, I'm sure."
"They're just picking on us because we haven't paid," the man assured the woman. He turned back to the Doctor and Molly. "We won our tickets in a competition."
"I had to name the five husbands of Joofie Crystalle in By the Light of the Asteroid," the woman said proudly. "Did you ever watch By the Light of the Asteroid?"
The Doctor looked thoughtful. "Is that the one with the twins?" he asked.
"That's it," the woman confirmed. "Oh, it's marvelous."
"But we're not good enough for that lot," the man said resentfully. "They think we should be in steerage."
The Doctor looked thoughtfully at the laughing snobs, a mischievous light glinting in his eyes. "Well, can't have that, can we?" he said meaningfully. Molly grinned, knowing he was up to something. The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver discreetly, shielding it from the toffs' view as he turned it on. A few moments' later, the cork on the champagne bottle on the toffs' table popped out, spraying them all with alcohol. Molly grinned triumphantly as they shrieked.
The couple looked at him with wide eyes. "Did you do that?" the woman asked with wonder.
The Doctor shrugged, putting his sonic screwdriver back in his jacket. "Maybe."
The woman grinned. "We like you," she said warmly.
"We do," the man agreed. He stuck out a hand to shake, first to the Doctor, then to his companion. "I'm Morvin Van Hoff," he introduced himself. "This is my good woman, Foon."
"Hello," the Doctor said with a grin, "I'm the Doctor, and this is Molly Hooper."
"Oh, I'm going to need a Doctor, time I've finished with that buffet," Foon joked. She offered him something off her plate. "Have a buffalo wing. They must be enormous, these buffalo. So many wings."
Before the Doctor could correct her, the voice sounded over the intercom again. "Attention please. Shore leave tickets Red Six Seven now activated. Red Six Seven."
"Red Six Seven. That's us." Foon turned to the Doctor. "Are you Red Six Seven?"
The Doctor shrugged. "Might as well be," he said.
Morvin and Foon stood, the Doctor and Molly following suit. "Come on, then, " Morvin said with a grin. "We're going to Earth."
Yay, another chapter. I would've posted it last night (more like this morning actually) when I finished it, but I was at an overnight lock-in at my skating rink, and for some reason for that one whole night the internet decided to stop working. -_- But it was fun, it is every year, I got to hang out with all of my skating friends, organizing scavenger hunts for the little kids, playing hide and seek (where our team found an epic hiding place, thank you very much), and I got to hang out with my Whovian skaters friends, one of which is still on the Martha era, so we showed her and a non-Whovian "Blink" and freaked ourselves out. Then we showed the non-Whovian an episode with Jack Harkness, which I think was a big selling point for her. XD Sorry, rambling, but it was fun.
Anyway, sorry for going on about the dress so long, I don't even like clothes, but I am a very visual writer, and I like knowing what my characters are wearing so I can imagine them going through a scene. I made up most of the dress, but here's a picture of what I meant about the bodice splitting, if it didn't make sense (remove the spaces) : www. coolspotters dotcom /clothing/penny-rose-elizabeth-swanns-marriage-dre ss