Information
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The Doctor kicked in the debris blocking their way as they made it into another set of maintenance halls. Rose could feel the rage and sorrow that was brining in him. His determination to stop all this.
"Right," he said in his business tone. "Get up to Reception One. Once you're there, Mr Copper, you've got staff access to the computer. Try and find a way of transmitting and SOS. Astrid, you're in charge of this." He handed her the EMP. "Once it's powered up, it'll take out Hosts within fifty yards, but then it needs sixty seconds to recharge. Got it? Rose, you take this-" He put the sonic-screwdriver in her hands.
"I'm coming with you," she told him, her voice as strong as she could muster - which, given her current state, wasn't much. The Doctor turned to her and placed his hands gently on her shoulders, imploring her to understand.
"Rose, I need you here. They need you. I'll be back as soon as I can. Promise… Besides, you really think I'd trust Rickston with my sonic-screwdriver?" This managed to get a small smile out of her and an indignant cry for the man in question. "Please?"
"Okay," she whispered, nodding just in case he didn't hear.
"That's my girl. Now, go and open the next door, quickly." Rose gave another nod and hurried to the door as the Doctor grabbed a first aid kit and handed it to Mr Copper. "Mr Copper, I need you fighting fit. Astrid, where's that power point?"
"Under the comms." Together they ran to the power point and the Doctor showed her how to recharge it.
"It'll beep when it's ready, and that blue light comes on there," he told her.
"You're not coming with us?" she said, slightly confused after listening to his had Rose's conversation.
There's something down on Deck 31. I'm gonna find out what it is."
"And you won't let Rose go with you? Here I was thinking you and her were joined at the hip."
"It's too dangerous. It's a bad enough journey for one person, and she's dead tired. I just got her back, I won't lose her again."
Astrid nodded in understanding, before a shadow fell over her face again. "What if you meet a Host?" she asked.
"Well, then I'll just… have some fun," he shrugged.
"Sounds like you two do this kind of thing all the time."
"Not by choice!" he said indignantly.
"He's a danger magnet," Rose's voice called out to them. "And I'd be having a go about you leaving me behind again if that weren't a little bit sweet."
"And a little bit true," the Doctor replied. "You're tired. You'll do more good here. Don't want a repeat of what happened with the weeping angels."
"I know," she said, a little dejected. "It's okay, I get it. I can see inside your head, remember."
"How could I forget," he chuckled. "But… I can't see yours… Rose, why are you blocking me off?"
"I'm tired," she said quickly. "Thoughts are leaking through. Don't want to distract you."
"Rose, what are you doing?" he asked in concern, walking over to her and holding her by the shoulders.
"Nothing," she lied. "Look, you do what you can. And I'll do what I can, okay? I'll be fine. Trust me."
Suddenly they were thrown off their feet as the ship lurched violently. The Doctor stood and quickly and ran back to the comms. "Mr Frame, you still with us?" he asked urgently.
"It's the engines, Sir!" he shouted back. "Final phase. There's nothing more I can do. We've got only eight minutes left!"
"Don't worry, I'll get there."
"But the bridge is sealed off!" he cried, his voice squeaking and cracking at the end.
"Yeah, yeah, working on it," the Doctor replied. "I'll get there, Mr Frame, somehow." He disconnected and there was a beep below him. "You're charged up," he told Astrid. They all grouped together. "Mr Copper, look after her and her. Astrid, look after him and her. Rickston, um… look after yourself."
"And who am I looking after?" Rose asked.
"No one. You've already got enough to worry about." She frowned at him, but he ignored it. "I'll see you all again, promise."
He started to run off, but Rose called him back. "Doctor!"
"Mmm?" he said, stopping for a second. It was long enough for Rose to reach over to him and drag him down for another searing kiss. It really was something she could get used to, and it was actually starting to get uncomfortable not touching him. "Right… Thanks," he said a little flustered. "I'll be back."
"You better be," she told him.
"Oh, I will," he said like a promise. He gave her one last grin before he ran off.
?...DW…?
The Doctor ran across the makeshift bridge and down as mean levels as he could make. Eventually he found himself in one of the kitchens. He went to turn when he ran right into a few of the Host, only to see more behind him. He was trapped.
He reached over and grabbed up a frying pan, ready to use it as a weapon. He almost smiled thinking that Rapunzel from Disney's 'Tangled' had the right idea, but he was too busy looking at the death machines in front of him. They reached for their halos.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait!" he called. "Security protocol one! Do you hear me? One! One!" The Host stopped advancing. "Okay, that gives me three questions. Three questions to save my life, am I right?" he said aloud.
"Information: Correct," a Host answered.
"No! That wasn't one of them. I didn't mean it. That's not fair. Can I start again?" the question slipped form his mouth before he could stop it.
"Information: No."
"No, no! No, no, no. That wasn't one either. Blimey," he sighed and scrubbed at his face with his hand. "One question left. One question. So, you've been given orders to kill the survivors, but survivors must therefore be passengers or staff. But not me, I'm not a passenger, I'm not staff. Go on, scan me." They did so as he continued to talk. "You must have bio records. No such person on board. I don't exist, therefore… you can't kill me. Therefore, I'm a stowaway, and stowaways should be arrested and taken to the nearest figure of authority. And I reckon the nearest figure of authority is on Deck 31. Final question: Am I right?"
"Information: Correct."
"Brilliant. Take me to your leader." He grinned cheekily. "I've always wanted to say that."
?...DW…?
The second that Rose opened the door, she came face to face with a host. Rickston was right behind her and he ducked down, dragging her with him.
"Do it!" he shouted at Astrid. Rose was still too shocked about the fact he had pulled her down. Although, it was more likely she was just in his way of getting out of the way. Astrid took a step forward, held the EMP out in front of her and set it off. After just a moment, the Hosts collapsed. They stood a moment in shock before they all began cheering and laughing in relief.
They carried on much in this way as they got to their destination. They only ran into one other Host before they made it to the Reception room to find another four or so. But they were out with just a zap of the EMP.
Rose set to work around the room, making sure it was secure. But it was slow moving. But now her energy was so low that moving was becoming an issue. "Rickston, Mr Copper, keep an eye on the Host," she ordered and Astrid handed the EMP over to Mr Copper. "Astrid, check the computer. We need to try that SOS."
Astrid did as she was told, and looked over at Rose. The Doctor had been right, the woman was bone tired. But there was something different about her now that she had not seen in her so far. She was frantic. She could tell that Rose was very skilled at hiding her worry form others, but she couldn't hide the worry over her husband… mate… whatever he was (they had never really said).
She banged the computer, trying to get it to work. But it did nothing. Looking around she saw the teleport bracelets and an idea came to her.
"Bridge, this is Reception One," she said into the comm.
"Who's that?" a man asked.
"Astrid Peth," she replied. "I was with the Doctor. Tell me, can you divert power to the teleport system?"
"No way. I'm using everything I've got to keep the engines going," he said in a worrying tone.
"It's just one trip. I need to get to Deck 31."
"And I'm telling you 'no'," he said firmly.
"Mr Frame… this is for the Doctor. He's gone down there on his own. And we… we can't just leave him. Rose is going frantic. And they've done everything they can to save us. It's time we did something to help them."
Frame sighed heavily, and she could just about see him shaking his head. "Giving you power," he told her in a tone that suggested he thought he were mad for doing so.
Turning to the teleport bracelets, she grabbed two and ran over to Rose. She clicked one shut around the slightly startled woman's skinny wrist before doing her own. "Come on," she said, taking Rose's hand. "We're going to find him."
Rose gave her a weak smile, but it showed her gratitude more than anything. "Thank you," she whispered.
Mr Copper noticed the exchange between Astrid and Mr Frame, then Rose. He turned to them and gave them a tight smile. "Good luck," he told them. And then they disappeared.
?...DW…?
The Doctor was escorted to Deck 31. Looking around, he saw that it was in just as much disarray as the rest of the ship.
"Wow… That is what you call a fixer-upper," he laughed to himself. "Come on, then. Host with the most, this ultimately authority of yours, who is it?" he spun around as he heard doors opening and saw something he recognised right away. "Oh, that's clever. That's an Omnistate impact chamber. Indestructible. You can survive anything in that, eh?" A vehicle of some kind began rolling through the steam and smoke. "Sit through a supernova or a shipwreck. Only one person can have the power and the money to hide themselves onboard like this. And I should know, 'cause…" he said teasingly, waiting for the man… thing to finish it.
"My name is Max," the creepy head in a box grinned. The gold tooth flashed and for a moment the Doctor was taken aback.
"It really does that?" he said, a little bewildered. It was bad enough on an ad… but in real life?
He looked at Max Capricorn and rose and eyebrow. He was no longer the man he had been in the ad. He was now mostly a head on wheels. Instead of a body, he had a big hulking chunk of machinery and one of his eyes was obviously blind.
"Who the hell is this?" Max snapped.
"I'm the Doctor. Hello," he said enthusiastically.
"Information: Stowaway."
"Well…"
"Kill him!" Max shouted.
"No, no, no! Wait, but you can't. Not now. Come on, Max. You've given me so much good material like… How to get 'ahead' in business," he said comically. "See, Head. Head. Head in the… No?"
"Oh, ho, ho, the office joker," Max said preciously. "I like a funny man. No one's been funny with me for years."
"I can't think why," the Doctor eyed the machine.
"176 years of running the company have taken their toll."
"Yeah, but… nice wheels." He scratched the back of his neck.
"No! A life -support system," Max told him "In a society that despises cyborgs, I've had to hide away for years. Running the company by hologram. Host, situation report."
"Information: Titanic is still in orbit," one of them said.
"Let me see," he said suspiciously. The Doctor moved out of his way as he moved forward towards a banister that dropped down to the engines. The Doctor walked forward with him. "We should have crashed by now. What's gone wrong?" He peered over the edge. "The engines are still running! They should have stopped!"
"When they do, the Earth gets roasted. I don't understand. What's the Earth got to do with it?" he asked.
"This interview is terminated," Max snapped.
Unseen by everyone, Astrid, who was supporting Rose, appeared behind them and quickly hid the two of them behind a wall. Together they listened in concern.
"No, no, no, no, no, no! Hold on, hold on, hold on! Wait, wait, wait! Wait! Wait!" the Doctor cried, running around in front of Max's retreating vehicle to stop him. "I can work it out. It's like a task. I'm your apprentice. Just watch me. So… Business is failing and you wreck the ship, so that makes things even worse. Oh yes! No… Yes! The business isn't failing, it's failed. Past tense."
"My own Board voted me out. Stabbed me in the back," Max said bitterly.
"If you had a back," the Doctor couldn't help himself. Only Astrid heard Rose's exasperated groan. Carefully she helped Rose up again and they snuck closer, so they could see better. "So, you scupper the ship, wipe out any survivors, just in case anyone's rumbled you, and the Board find their shares halved in value. Oh, but that's not enough. No. Because if a Max Capricorn ship hits the Earth, it destroys an entire planet. Outrage back home. Scandal! The business is wiped out."
"And… the whole Board thrown in jail for mass murder," Max said hysterically.
"While you sit there, safe inside the impact chamber," he said in disgust as he pointed back over at the chamber.
"I have men waiting to retrieve me from the ruins and enough off-world accounts to retire me to the beaches of Penhaxico II. Where the ladies, so I'm told, are very fond of… metal." The tone he used nearly made Rose vomit in her mouth… actually, she felt like doing that anyway. Oh, this was not good.
"So, that's the plan?" the Doctor growled. "A retirement plan. 2000 on this ship, six billion underneath us, all of them slaughtered! And why? Because max Capricorn is a loser!"
"I never lose," Max hissed, rolling closer.
"You can't even sink the Titanic!" the Doctor scoffed.
"Oh, but I can, Doctor! I can cancel the engines from here!" Around them, alarms began to go off.
"You can't do this!" the Doctor shouted.
"Host, hold him," Max ordered. Two of the Host came up behind him, grabbed him by the arms and hauled him back.
"Not so clever now, Doctor," Max sneered.
"Oh, do you think? Like I said, 'watch me'." Then he turned to the Host across the room. "You there, Host. Security Protocol One. Three questions. You work for Max Capricorn, yes?"
"Information: Correct."
"And Max Capricorn is a cyborg, yes?"
"Information: Correct."
"But according to your society, cyborgs are inferior. So you should accept my commands instead of his, yes? Yes?" It took a while to reply. "What do you say? Yes?"
"Information: No."
"What? Why's that then?" he said in confusion.
"Information: Your three questions have been used."
"But I can supply the answer," Max said. "They're robots, Doctor. To them, cyborgs are practically family."
"Information: Damn," the Doctor sighed. They didn't notice Rose struggling and miserably failing to keep Astrid from moving away from her to a forklift.
"Nice try though. It's a shame we couldn't work together. You're rather good. All that banter, yet not a word wasted. Time for me to retire. The Titanic is falling, the sky will burn! Let the Christmas inferno commence. Oh! Oh, Host! Kill him."
The Host across the other side of the room lifted off its halo as the Doctor struggled to escape.
"Mr Capricorn!" Astrid's cry distracted them all. They all turned to see her sitting up in the forklift, raring to go. "I resign!" And then she charged forward towards Max.
"No!" Rose cried running after her on foot. It took a lot of effort, but she was desperate.
"Astrid, don't!" the Doctor shouted to her.
But Astrid crashed into the front of Max's life-support system just hard enough that as he tried to go back, he found his tires had no purchase. At that moment, the Host who had been trying to kill the Doctor threw its halo at Astrid. She cried out in alarm as it hit the side of the forklift, narrowly missing her.
"He's cut the break line!" the Doctor shouted in panic. Astrid looked at the Doctor who was shaking his head frantically. Then she looked behind at Rose who was digging around in her pocket. Seeing the flash of blue, she set the forklift to lift Max Capricorn entirely off the ground. And she drove forward towards the edge. Towards the engines.
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Ooh, I AM evil! This has got to be the worst cliff-hanger I've ever done! Will Astrid live, will Astrid die? And what's happening to Rose.
Well, I guess you'll just have to read the next chapter to find out.
I wrote most of this chapter with a really EVIL migraine. But I think it turned out alright. Anyhoo, one chapter left for 'Voyage of the Damned'.
I hope you enjoyed this. Please review!