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Holiday: Part two
As the trio made their way across the Mars promenade, Rebecca couldn't help but notice how clean everything was. Nowhere on Earth had she ever seen a city that had achieved this level of perfection. The ground was not merely clear of rubbish, but they almost seemed to sparkle with cleanliness. And the Doctor was right; chips on Mars were absolutely fantastic. They sat in what he called a Fistoon, which he told them was the Mars equivalent of a small cafe, eating the blue crispy chips and drinking iced spice tea.
Rebecca couldn't ever remember a time where she had been happier. She could feel the key that the Doctor had given her warm against her chest. She resisted the urge to touch it. Not only was it a key, but to her it felt also like a beacon of hope. Hope that she had the potential to be happy. Happy with Rose and with the Doctor.
"What are those things?" Rose asked, pointing to two humanoids wearing matching green uniforms, sweeping the road.
"Ah!" the Doctor said as he looked out the window to the street, "Those are the Langa, a sort of aide that the Mars government designed to help with various activities, cleaning the streets, emptying the bins, et cetera."
"So they're robots?" Rebecca leaned over her seat to get a better view.
"Weeell, they're technically not made out metal, they're more of a proto-plastic type of material; better for the environment. I'd say they're more like plastic automatons."
Rebecca laughed, "You know pretty much everything, don't you?"
The Doctor leaned back in his chair, his arms folded languidly behind his head. "I wouldn't say everything, but certainly most things."
"Sometimes you sound like such an overblown prat, you know that right?" Rose asked as she flicked a blue chip at his head.
It bounced off the side of his head and fell to the floor, as he stared intently out the window at the sweepers.
"What is it?" Rebecca asked.
"Something...not quite right...about that," he murmured as he continued to stare out the window. Without warning, he burst out of his seat and ran for the door. Rebecca stared after him in disbelief and Rose stood up and gathered their things.
"Lot of running involved when you travel with the Doctor," she said winking at the dark haired girl as ran out the door, following after the Time Lord.
Rebecca sat there, her mouth gaped open in disbelief, until a rush of excitement filled her veins and with a grin she dashed after them both.
When she got outside she saw the Doctor and Rose standing in front of a motionless Langa. She walked up and stood on the other side of him. Out of the corner of her eye she could see him starting intently at the plastic figure in front of him. He pulled his glasses out of the inner pocket of his shirt and after putting them on, leaned even closer to it.
She had never seen him with his glasses on before, and for some reason it sent a warm tingle down her spine. Like a drop of liquid gold falling slowly through her heart.
"This one's stopped moving." The Doctor remarked.
"I wonder why?" Rose remarked as she looked around the street. "The other ones seem to be still working fine."
Now that she was this close to it Rebecca could see that the inert Langa was even creepier than she originally thought. Unlike what she would expect a robot to look like, all metal and gizmos and clicking noises, this looked like a store mannequin. Or even a wax dummy. It seemed almost as if it could be...alive.
"It's creepy," Rose said, echoing her thoughts. "It looks as if it might spring to life any moment."
"That's not the half of it," the Doctor murmured more to himself than to them as he pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his jacket pocket and, with a flourish, began to shine the blue light from the instrument into the Langa's eyes.
Without warning, the Langa sprang into motion. In one swift movement it swung an arm up and captured the Doctor by the throat. He let out a choking gasp as the creature lifted him up off the ground.
With a startled cry, Rose grabbed a hold of the plastic arm and tried to free the Doctor.
"I can't budge it," she yelled. "It's too strong!"
There was a crowd starting to form around the the three of them. "We need help over here!" Rose yelled at the bystanders. Nobody moved, except to gawk at the spectacle they were making.
Meanwhile the Doctor's face was beginning to change to an alarming shade of blue.
Rebecca looked around wildly. Not even thinking, just acting on pure instinct, she pushed her way through the crowd and ran back to the place where they had been eating only minutes before. She grabbed one of the unoccupied chairs from a table out front and ran back, pushing her way back through the crowd.
The Doctor was still struggling feebly, and Rose had grabbed the sonic screwdriver and was pointing it at the Langa but to no avail.
"It's not working!" she called out frantically as Rebecca approached them.
"Rose, get out of there!" Rebecca yelled. And as Rose jumped backwards out of the way she brought the chair crashing down on top of the Langa's head. The wooden chair splintered to pieces upon contact, and while not causing any damage to the plastic automaton, it did make it pause long enough to release the Doctor and turn towards her.
Maybe that wasn't the best idea? she thought uneasily as the creature started towards her. The Doctor had fallen like a sack of bricks, but was quickly recovering. He leaned on Rose as he started to get up. But even if he got up quickly, there was no way he would make it to her in time. The Langa was moving towards her slowly, but with deadly precision. Out of options, Rebecca decided if she was going down, she was going to go down fighting. Maybe if she kept hitting it she would find a weak spot?
Suddenly with a jolt the Langa shuddered and halted where it stood, its head drooping to its chest. Rebecca looked around surprised.
"Sorry! So sorry!" A large purple humanoid alien with multiple chins came running up to the scene with a large remote control. By the time he had waddled up to Rebecca he was panting and nearly out of breath. "Are you all right? It didn't hurt you, did it?"
"Ah," she stammered, "I'm fine, but you should really be asking that to my friend, who was nearly strangled."
The alien's eyes looked as if they might bulge out of his head. He started stammering apologies so hurried and so profusely that he couldn't even form a coherent statement.
By this time the Doctor had walked over and was in the process of straightening his tie. "I'm alright," he said, smiling benevolently at the apologizing purple creature. "No harm, no foul. And you are...?"
Seeing that he wasn't about to be sued or at the very least yelled at, he relaxed somewhat. "I'm Mr. Stoops, head designer for Mars Metropolitan Business Associates."
"Ah!" The Doctor pointed at him knowingly. So you're the one who designed the Langa, am I right? Brilliant mind, you have. Just brilliant!"
Mr. Stoops beamed. "Well, wouldn't want to inflate my own ego," he said.
Rose and Rebecca looked at each other and stifled giggles. As if he needed inflating of any kind.
"But yes, they are my personal pet project! Cleanest planet in the solar system, that's what we're aiming for! With the Langa cleaning up after everyone and doing all sorts of other menial tasks, our planet rankings are just rising exponentially!"
"Still," The Doctor said as he rubbed the back of his head. "Seems sort of odd for one of these to just go bonkers like that though, doesn't it?'
Mr. Stoops flushed a dark purple. "Just a control glitch. Something wrong with the system, third one today to act wonky." He smacked the remote control against his hand. "But! Nothing to worry about! Once we get the bugs all worked out, everything should be fine. Now, if you will excuse me, many things to attend to, you know." He bowed slightly to the three of them and then waddled away.
The Doctor watched him leave, an unusually somber expression on his face.
"What is it?" Rose asked. "You think something might be up?"
He shrugged. "Normally no, I would say it was just our luck to wander into a situation that got a bit hairy...but in this case..."
"You thought there was something wrong from the moment the Langa went still, when we were still in the restaurant. What do you think is going on?"
He looked at them both. "When it froze like that it reminded me of something...and then when my sonic screwdriver didn't work on it it seemed to confirm it."
Rebecca asked, "Confirmed what, exactly?"
He folded his arms across his chest. "Confirmed that there is something else animating those machines that hasn't anything to do with a remote control." He raised an eyebrow. "Something that can control plastic?"
Rose groaned and covered her face with her hands. "Oh god, you mean that Nestene thingy again, don't you?"
"The Nestene...what?" Rebecca asked bewilderedly.
The Doctor gazed at her. "The Nestene consciousness. It's a sentient life form that takes control and feeds off of things made of plastic. Rose has seen it before...and so have I."
"Doctor," Rose asked, "Do you have any more of that anti-plastic stuff from last time?"
He grinned. "Nope!"
She rolled her eyes.
"So what are we going to do?" Rebecca asked.
The Doctor threw an arm around each girls shoulder. "Now we are going to take a peek at Mars Metropolitan Business Associates headquarters and see if we can find anything strange." He shrugged. "It's a place to start!"
~To be continued