The whole vehicle began to shake as the engines fired up, but soon settled when the engines reached the desired capacity. It was at that moment that the stewardess spoke again. "For your entertainment, we have the music channel playing retrovids of earth classics." She clicked a button and small TV screens unfolded from the ceiling over each pair of seats. On the TV was a woman who looked to be wearing clothes from the 1970's or 80's and she was singing, 'Do it, do it again. Do it, do it again with love.' over and over again.
"Also." continued the stewardess. "The latest artistic installation from Ludovic Klein." She pressed another button and the whole compartment was filled with lights and shapes. "Plus, for the youngsters, a rare treat… the animation archives." With that she clicked one last button and a screen slid down in front of the cockpit door. On this screen, a number of old cartoons played. "Four hours of fun time. Enjoy." finished the stewardess as she walked to the back of the compartment. Jenny had no idea what she was watching, in fact there parts of the cartoons that were down right disturbing. "What… the heck… are we watching?" she asked her father.
"They're old episodes from a show called Betty Boop made in the 1930's." explained The Doctor.
"Really? Geez, 1930's Earth sure had a creepy sense of humor." she said as some of the furniture in the cartoon began to laugh along with the characters. It took all of 45 seconds before the noise of the lady constantly singing 'Do it, do it again with love', the noise and lights from the artistic installment, and the sounds and disturbing images from the cartoons to become too much. Jenny clutched The Doctor's arm and said through gritted teeth, "Make, it, stop." He happily complied with her request. Out came the sonic screwdriver and while in 5 seconds of the sonic being on all the singing, lights, sounds, and cartoons shut off; much to the relief of every passenger in the shuttle. "Well, that's a mercy." commented Professor Hobbes.
"Thank you." muttered Jenny.
"It was my absolute pleasure." said The Doctor slipping the device back in his jacket. He looked over the single lady sitting on the other side and saw her watching him. She gave him a grateful smile as she had seen him use his screwdriver to turn off the electrics. The Doctor gave a smile and a nod of his head in return as the stewardess bustled up to the front of the vehicle again.
"Uh, I do apologize, ladies and gentlemen and variations thereupon, we seem to have had a failure of the entertainment system." se said, trying to turn things back on but having no luck.
"Oh." said The Doctor feigning surprise and disappointment.
"But what do we do?" asked the woman from the back.
"We've got four hours of this; four hours of just sitting here?" asked the man sitting next to her.
"Tell you what," said The Doctor turning around in his seat so he could see everyone. "We'll have to talk to each other instead." Everyone looked around, unsure of the suggestion. "Well, don't everyone start talking at once." he said when no one spoke.
"Oh come on." said Jenny turning in her seat like her dad. "It's not that hard; I'll start. Hi, my name is Jenny. My dad, The Doctor, and I are traveling looking for adventure but we decided to take a break and relax. See, that wasn't hard at all. Next…" she finished with a big smile, looking around to see who'd talk next. It took a few minutes but soon everyone was exchanging stories and laughing. The couple and the boy in the back of the vehicle were a family. The man's name was Biff, the woman's was Val, and their son was Jethro. Then there was Professor Hobbes and Dee Dee and lastly there was the ever-silent woman, Sky Silvestry, who didn't really engage in any conversation. It only took another few minutes before everyone was telling funny stories about their lives. "So Biff said, 'I'm going swimming.'" laughed Val.
"Oh, I was all ready, trunk and everything, nose plug." said Biff.
"He had this little nose plug. You should have seen him." said Val still laughing.
"And I went marching up to the lifeguard, and he was a Shamboni, you know, those big foreheads." said Biff looking up at The Doctor, who was kneeling backwards on the seat in front of him.
"Great big forehead." said Val turning to look at Hobbes and Dee Dee, who were sitting across the aisle.
"And I said, 'Where's the pool?' and he said, 'The pool is abstract.'" said Biff and everyone burst out laughing.
"It wasn't a real pool." said Val.
"It was a concept." finished Biff.
"And you were wearing a nose plug." asked The Doctor between laughter.
"Oh I was like this." here Biff grabbed his nose before continuing. "Ooh, where's the pool?" Everyone laughed even harder at that illustration. Jenny, who was sitting next to Jethro across from his parent, turned to look at him. "Oh my god, you're dad's hilarious." she said.
"They tell that story to anyone who will listen." he replied with a roll of his eyes.
"But it's still funny." said Jenny trying to get her laughter under control.
"Whatever." huffed Jethro.
"Do you not like your parents?" asked Jenny.
"They're not horrible, but they're parents aren't they." said Jethro. "They are so embarrassing and dorky. Aren't your parents like that?"
"I don't really have a mom. Just a dad." said Jenny pointing to The Doctor who was still laughing with Biff and Val.
"Did she die?" asked Jethro.
"No, I never had a mom. A progenation machine took a sample of my dad's diploid cell and from that DNA I was created. It spit me out fully grown, clothes and everything."
"Oookkk." said Jethro, a little bit unsure of what Jenny had just said. "So, it's just you and your dad, because a machine created you from his cells alone."
Right." said Jenny with a smile.
"That's kind of cool. Like those old horror movies of Frankenstein."
"I guess." said Jenny, herself now a little unsure; she had never seen any of the Frankenstein movies. From then on Jenny and Jethro found it easier to talk. They talked about this and that for an hour until Jenny stated she was thirsty. She went to the back of the vehicle where the drinks were and found her dad and Dee Dee talking. "I'm just a second-year student," said Dee Dee. "But I wrote a paper on the lost moon of Poosh."
"Wait, how can a moon be lost?" asked Jenny.
"That's the interesting bit, no one knows. It just vanished years and years ago." said Dee Dee. "Anyway, Professor Hobbes read my paper, liked it, took me on as a researcher, just for the holidays. Well, I say 'researcher', most of the time he's got me fetching and carrying. But it's all good experience."
"And did they ever find it?" asked The Doctor.
"Find what?" said Dee Dee.
"The lost moon of Poosh." he replied.
"Oh, no, not yet." laughed Dee Dee.
"Well, maybe that will be your great discovery one day." said The Doctor.
"Here's to Poosh." said Jenny raising her glass as the other two followed her example.
"Poosh." they said and after they all took a sip of their drinks Dee Dee said, "So, you and Jethro were talking for a long time. Anything special?"
"No, mostly it's about horror stuff, Frankenstein and what not." said Jenny.
"Ohh, Frankenstein. I love that book. You know, I once met the author in Geneva, Switzerland. Wonderful woman; loved dark things, but wonderful woman." said The Doctor.
"But, how could you have met the author? The book was first published centuries ago in 1818." said Dee Dee in astonishment.
"Ah yes, well, you know how it is. You're reading a good book, then travel to a place the author once visited and it's like you're meeting the author themselves." quickly said The Doctor, trying to cover his time slip.
"Oh yes, I understand that completely. It has happened to me on more than one occasion." said Dee Dee with a big smile. They continued to talk for another 30 minutes before the stewardess announced that lunch was ready to be served. Everyone took a seat and it was at this time, The Doctor decided to learn a thing or two about their silent traveling company, Sky Silvestry. "So, is it just you and your daughter traveling?" asked Sky.
"No, no, we have this friend, Donna, but she stayed behind in the leisure palace. You?" said The Doctor.
"No, it's just me." said Sky.
"Oh, I've done plenty of that; traveling on my own." he said in understanding. "I love it. Do what you want, go anywhere."
"Well, I'm still getting used to it." she replied as the two of them began to eat their lunches. "I've found myself single rather recently, not by choice." she said.
What happened?" asked The Doctor.
"Oh, the usual. She needed her own space, as they say, a different galaxy in fact. I reckon that's enough space, don't you?" replied Sky.
"Yeah." he said. "I had a friend who went to a different universe."
"There's something interesting about this meat." said Jenny as she suddenly popped her head between her dad and Sky. All of them looked at the meat in question. "It could be chicken or beef." said Sky.
"I think it's both." said The Doctor causing all of them to share a laugh. After lunch had been eaten someone asked Hobbes what his area of expertise was as a professor. Before long he was giving a lecture on his favorite subject, which just happened to be the very planet they were on, Midnight. "So, this is Midnight, do you see?" said Hobbes pointing to a screen behind him that had charts and graphs on it. "Bombarded by the sun; X-tonic rays, raw galvanic radiation. Dee Dee, next slide." he called back to Dee Dee who quickly changed the picture on the projector. "It's my pet project." Hobbes continued. "Actually. I'm the first person to research this because, you see… the history is fascinating because there is no history. There's no life in this entire system, there couldn't be. Beofre the leisure palace company moved in, no one had come here in all eternity, no living thing."
"But how do you know, I mean, if no one can go outside?" asked Jethro.
"Oh his imagination. Here we go." said Val.
"But he's got a point, though." said Jenny.
"He's got a very good point." agreed The Doctor.
"Exactly, we look upon this world through glass, safe inside out metal box. Even the leisure palace was lowered down from orbit. And here we are now, crossing Midnight but never touching it." said Hobbes. At that exact moment the vehicle came to a stop with a groan and shudder. "We've stopped. Have we stopped?" said Val
"Are we there?" asked Biff.
"We can't be. It's too soon." said Dee Dee.
"No, they don't stop. Crusader vehicles never stop." said Hobbes.
"If you could all just return to your seats, it's just a small delay." said the stewardess as she went to the phone in the back and called the pilot. "Maybe just a pit stop." said Biff.
"There's no pit to stop in. I've been on this expedition 14 times, they never stop." said Hobbes.
"Well, evidently, we have stopped so there's no point in denying it."
"We've broken down." laughed Jethro.
"Thanks Jethro." said Val.
"In the middle of nowhere." he continued.
"That's enough. Now, stop it." scolded Biff.
"Ladies and gentlemen and variation thereupon, we're just experiencing a short delay. The driver needs to stabilize the engine feeds. It's perfectly routine, so if you could just stay in your seats…" Jenny looked over at her dad and could tell by the intense look on his face that there was something else going on. She watched as The Doctor started to move toward the cockpit door, but was stopped by the stewardess. "No, I'm sorry, sir, I… could you please…"
"There you go." said The Doctor calmly, showing her his psychic paper. "Engine expert. Two ticks." With that he opened the door to the cockpit and stepped inside ignoring the stewardess who was still trying to get him back in his seat. The door slid shut behind him as he leaned up against the back of the pilot's seat. "Sorry," said the pilot turning to face The Doctor. "If you could return to your seat, sir…"
"Company insurance." said The Doctor once again flashing the psychic paper. "Let's see if we can get an early assessment. So what's the problem, Driver Joe?"
"We're stabilizing the engine feed, won't take long." said Joe.
"Um, no, 'cause that's the engine feed," said The Doctor, pointing to equipment. "That line there, and it's fine. And it's a micropetrol engine, so stabilizing doesn't really make sense, does it? Sorry, I'm The Doctor. I'm very clever. So, what's wrong?"
""We've just stopped." said the man sitting in the chair next to the pilot. "Look, all systems fine, everything's working, but we're not moving." The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and did a scan of the main console. "Oh, you're right; no faults. And who are you?" he asked.
"Claude, I'm the mechanic… trainee." said the man.
"Nice to meet you." said The Doctor.
"I've sent a distress signal." said Joe. "They should dispatch a rescue truck, top speed."
"How long till they get here?" asked The Doctor.
"About an hour." Joe replied.
"Well, since we're waiting, shall we take a look outside?" said The Doctor. This comment caught Joe and Claude off guard and neither knew how to respond. "Just lift the screens a bit?" continued The Doctor.
"It's 100% x-tonic out there. We'd be vaporized." said Joe.
"Nah, those window are finitoglass. They'd give you a couple of minutes. Go on, live a little." coaxed The Doctor. Joe and Claude gave a nervous but excited chuckle as Joe hit the button to lift the screens. When the screens lifted, they were greeted by the most beautiful sight… a city made entirely out of crystals and diamonds glistening in the sunlight.
Please leave me a review and let me know what you though of this chapter. :)