Gawk
The Doctor walked on beside Donna through the ship's tan coloured corridors. A whole range of possibilities of who the Illinate people could be was running through his head but nothing was connecting yet.
As for Matthew as an individual the Doctor could tell he was clever. At the speed that he'd picked up the pieces about the Tardis, Matthew quite possibly had above human intelligence. Matthew had already guessed just from looking that the Tardis could warp time as well as space and he'd guessed it was bigger on the inside. Meanwhile the mystery seemed to revolve around that word 'Illinate' that Matthew had used. The Tardis' telepathic translation circuit had not changed the word to 'humanoid'. Apparently, the Tardis knew what Illinates were, the Doctor mused, and whatever they were, they weren't humanoid.
The Doctor glanced at Donna's face framed by her rich red hair as she walked quietly beside him. The humanoid-because-of-the-size-of-the-corridors guess couldn't be too far off, could it? Matthew did look human enough. Then again, their captain had scanned the Doctor and Donna. The Illinates could possess some sort of morph generating unit to make them appear like their visitors, but then why should anyone cater that much for unexpected guests? In addition, that didn't explain how the ship catered for humanoids.
The one conclusive thought the Doctor had was that as far as the history of the universe was concerned the Illinate didn't figure too greatly or they would've jumped out at him rather than niggling away at the back of his head.
"You noticed the odd minty green stripe, Donna?" The Doctor said quietly, eyeing it as it continued to run along the wall at about waist height. It was now a hand span wide.
"Yeah, it keeps changing width." Donna stated.
Matthew up ahead paused, "if you ever get turned about." He gestured calmly, "The ribbon widens to the end. How do your people usually know how long a corridor is, or in which way they're headed?"
"The odd sign." Donna answered. "Written words, descriptive pictures and arrows."
"Gotta love arrows." The Doctor smirked, "and that big friendly glow-in-the-dark sign ... you know that one, Donna?"
"Phew, tough call, Doctor. Y'mean the green one that says 'EXIT'?" Donna's eyes sparkled in good humour, "or the one that says 'Police Box - Public Use'?"
"Waell, y'got a point there." The Doctor larked fondly back at her and grabbed her hand.
They stepped through the final bi-sliding door of the deck and into the lift. When the lift started, Donna clutched the Doctor's arm for support.
"Whoa, you alright?" He steadied her.
Donna made an unintelligible sound but eased up her hold. "Didn't expect that." She muttered tensely. "Can't tell. All the doors look like lift doors and we already been through half a dozen."
"Emergency bulkheads." The Doctor answered. "They're designed to hold the air in if they have to."
"Nice to know they won't open out onto open space on us." Donna breathed.
"Do they do that for the air ducts in the roof as well?" She asked Matthew.
"The life support systems have local sensors that override the remote control," Matthew answered. He pointed to the round sensor above the door. They shut down the local operating system if they detect that the environment is turning toxic like a radiation leak or inhospitable temperature."
"How fast does that kick in?" The Doctor asked in concern.
"Not quite as fast as panic." Matthew assured him. "At any rate now the ship is in open space and up to maximum velocity so the biggest entertainment for most of the crew is the maintenance checks. Actually, Tonia has a puzzle she can tell you about if you ask. She's been hunting down the cause of a slight drop in the power grid."
"Thanks, I think I'll do that."
"Aren't we gonna see the captain or something?" Donna asked quietly as they continued along the new deck, "I mean isn't that normal procedure?"
"Well, I don't know who invented that procedure but it's not terribly necessary ..." Matthew shrugged, "I don't know, the captain just told me to greet you ..." Matthew was confused. "And left me to invent the rest. I'm sure the moment she wants to meet with you she'll say something about it. Meanwhile here is the mess hall." Matthew bowed slightly to them and the doors slid open to the detection of their motion.
The sight of the room beyond made the Doctor smile. The vaulted ceiling took up the extra space normally afforded to the air ducting conduits. The room was hexagonal and featured very human styled cafeteria tables and chairs in the centre and a self-service bay Marie at one side just as if it'd stepped out of a human cafeteria. The very human-looking people in the centre were busy eating and there was the distinct aroma of a mix-n-match of Italian and Hungarian in the air. "That's lovely." He smiled and turned to Donna. "What'd'ya reckon, eh?"
Donna shrugged with a content smile. "Feels a bit like home." She answered. "Minus the shops."
Matthew cleared his throat. "Everyone, I'd just like to introduce you to our visitors. This is the Donna and the Doctor. They're 'aliens'." He added in a delighted tone as though the idea of not being alone in the universe was the most exciting thing in the universe. "They use different technology and they've visited different places to us. They're explorers and they're curious about our way of life so please feel free to talk to them."
The Doctor turned his stunned gaze onto Matthew. "Now that's very clever."
"Is that not true, Doctor?"
"Yes, it is." He smiled broadly at the Illinate first officer. "Every bit."
Matthew nodded his head in polite deference and walked off, leaving a small group of Illinates standing in front gaping at the Doctor with eyes glittering with excitement.
"The Doctor."
"Come, sit down with us."
"You must be hungry."
"I'll get it."
A moment later the bewildered Doctor found himself sitting in a chair with a plate of food whisked down in front of him. "Um, thank-."
"Alien, can you believe it?"
"If Bro Mat says so it must be."
"Well, that's not the point I mean ..."
The Doctor really wasn't comfortable being gawked at especially this level of extreme. He looked over at Donna. Her mouth seemed to be working. She was smiling and also still standing up which the Doctor decided was a pretty impressive feat. 'Clever Donna.' He thought fondly and turned back to the crowd of faces around him. This was a bit useless, uncomfortable and cor blimey but they were all women to boot. He needed an idea to get him out of this. Pity he didn't have a bit of rope and a grappling iron. He did have a can of WD-40 in one of his pockets but he hoped to get by without stooping to that level of extreme until it was an actual emergency.
"Does anyone know where Tonia is? I'd like to meet her."
It worked like a treat. The Illinates stopped looking at him and started looking around for their crewmate. In addition, she wasn't in this lot, which was a relief to him.
"Tonia!" One of them waved offside and the Doctor hoped life was going to improve so long as he could continue to draw the focus away from himself.
A bit less crowded in and the Doctor felt a bit calmer. He was able to think about the aromatic smell of the food at his fingers. Picking up a shallow fork, he took a small bite. There was definitely meat in it, his taste buds told him. He swallowed. No wonder it had so much spices in it, he realised, because there was the distinct after-taste of deep freeze. Yep, space food. He was really not that hungry.
"Hello, you must be Tonia I take it." He smiled at who had to be the youngest Illinate he'd seen so far. The Doctor put down his fork and pushed the food a bit to the side. He leaned forward on his elbows on the table to take a bit more of her in. Tonia's hair was gold like some of the others, but unlike the other women, she was wearing it down. Her vest was red and overall she was the only one in the room that dressed as if she didn't mind people noticing her.
"How do you know my name?" Tonia looked at him with a bewildered look on her face.
"Matthew mentioned you were trying to unravel a puzzle."
"Oh!" Tonia's fretful look cleared up instantly and a bright smile replaced it. The Doctor wondered how a young girl could end up on a long haul freight trip like this. "Yes, there's a power leak. I think I've tracked it finally down, though." She nodded. "I was just going to have a look after lunch. I think the source of the power drain is in one of the conduits outside cargo bay two."
"Well, it seems like you know what you're doing." The Doctor shrugged. "Still, I'd love to take a look with you. I mean, what's causing it, eh? A ship this tidy and something not quite right? How unlikely is that?"
Tonia blinked rapidly for a moment. "Wow, you really are curious."
The Doctor gazed at her. "Absolutely." He smiled, glancing around at the people and finally caught sight of an exit, "Wanna go have a look now?"
Tonia raised her eyebrows. "Sure."
"Do you mind if I ask my friend if she'd like to come along?"
Tonia smiled, "of course not."
The Doctor stood up and headed towards Donna. At this moment, she was standing against the wall talking with Matthew.
"... I could certainly show you." Matthew finished.
"Hi, sorry." The Doctor smiled at them. "Donna, apparently there's a power leak in one of the conduits near one of the cargo bays. You wanna come with Tonia and me and check it out?"
Donna glanced at Tonia and then back to Matthew. The Doctor could see the lengthy debate going on in her head mostly given away from the extra pause and the way she caught her bottom lip between her teeth. "I think I'll pass this time, thanks." She gave him a smile, taking a second glance at Tonia.
The Doctor took a second glance at Tonia too. 'What's the matter with Tonia?' He asked Donna silently.
Apparently she didn't hear his telepathic question. "Go on, have fun." She told him in her generous tone of voice. The Doctor decided whatever it was Donna was thinking about it wasn't serious enough for her to put a spanner in it. He smiled at her.
He trusted her to put a spanner in it if she thought it was serious. "See you later then." He told her cheerily and headed off with Tonia taking the lead.