"I know a lovely little airless planet in the system of star Xion," the Doctor says, turning knobs on the controls.
"Airless?" I ask, taken aback. "How can we visit an airless planet? Won't we suffocate?"
"No, don't be silly. Humans have been colonized there for centuries! Well, depending on when you want to be there, anyway."
"And what would we do on an airless planet? How would we even-?"
"Oh, you just leave that to me, Jess," he grins, pulling the final lever. I grab onto the rail and we lurch through the vortex. We land with a small jerk and the Doctor goes running to the door. I follow a little less enthusiastically and am surprised when I step out into a grand lobby. "Welcome to Leisure Palace Company's Midnight Resort!" the Doctor opened his arms wide with a grin equally as wide.
"This is amazing!" I laugh at the excessive luxury of the place. It looked like the posh hotels mum and I would sometimes stay at, only much more... muchier.
"Well... yeah, yeah it is," the Doctor gives me a lopsided grin.
"We're really going to stay here?" I question, knowing he isn't one to pay.
"Well, in the TARDIS..."
"Cheapskate," I mumble.
"Oi! I resent that," he points accusingly at me.
"Right, well, what first? Pool? Spa? Restaurant? Shop?"
"Oh come on, you can do better than that," he says, grabbing a random brochure from the stand. "Maybe dinner at an anti-gravity restaurant followed by a mountain made of sapphires?"
"A mountain made of sapphire?!" I run forward and look over his shoulder at the brochure.
"No, a mountain of sapphires. Millions of tiny crystals," he reads. "Only a four hour trip, too."
"Only?" I scoff. "Maybe for a Time Lord that's nothing, but for a human that's torture!"
"Oh, come on, Jess. We can keep each other company!"
"Alright," I give in, "I could use a bite to eat." He practically leaps for joy, as if he were a dog and I had just brought home a chew toy. We approach two sealed doors guarded by a young man. A waiter, by the looks of it.
"Table for two, please," the Doctor tells the waiter. He turns and places his hand on the doors, which open automatically at his touch. I am surprised to see them open from the bottom, sliding upwards. He leans into it and moves under the doors. We slowly rise into the air and I instinctively wave my arms around like an idiot before realizing that we were supposed to float in the air. It isn't like falling, it's like floating in a pool. Only, you move on multiple axes instead of one.
The Doctor and I sit at a table set for two, although I have no clue how the blue wine glasses and silverware stay at the table. "Anything to drink, sir?" the waiter asked.
"Two glasses of your finest wine," the Doctor says, turning to me as he leaves. "What do you think?"
"It's spectacular!" I exclaim, my body weightless.
"A bit of a contrast from Sontar, eh?" he asks with a cheeky expression.
"You could say that," We had been on the planet Sontar not too long ago, its gravity 6x the amount on earth. To put that into perspective, I weighed 850 pounds on Sontar and exactly zero in this restaurant.
The waiter returned with a bottle of wine as red as blood, filling our glasses with the bubbling liquid. I took a sip and found it smooth, in spite of its bubbling exterior.
"A bit flat for my taste," the Doctor says, fastening his bib.
"Are you kidding?" I say, taking another sip, longer this time, before putting on my bib. Our food comes and I see that it is two plates of a rich purple pasta, topped with the strangest of vegetables. It's similar to an eggplant, but less squid-like and crunchy instead of slimy. It was actually much more appealing than the food I've eaten in my own time on my own planet. "Can I take some to go?"
Afterward, we head for the shuttle busses. I practically rolled there, I was so full. The Doctor flashed his psychic paper and we entered without a hitch, taking seats at the front of the bus.
"Complimentary headphones, slippers, earplugs, juice, and peanuts," the hostess hands the Doctor doubles of everything. He, in turn, passes them to me. "I must warn you, some products may contain nuts."
"That'll be the peanuts," the Doctor says.
"Enjoy your trip," she smiles, ignoring his cheek. I smirk, dividing our rations, although I doubted i'd use half of them.
"Can't wait! Allonsy!" the Doctor exclaims.
"Sorry?" she asks, cocking her head to the side.
"It's French, for let's go!"
"Fascinating," she says, moving on to the next passenger, repeating the same speech as she handed out the complimentary items.
"Sorry about that. Last time I was here, the service was much better," the Doctor whispers.
"What do you mean?" I ask, "You've been here before?"
"Once," he said distantly, "with Donna."
He'd never spoken of anyone else he'd travelled with. This was the first. "Donna... she was...?"
"My companion, before you," he didn't look at me. Not at all.
"What happened to her?" I asked, although I was scared to hear the answer.
"Oh, she's fine! Living off in 21st century London as we speak," he says, taking on his usual enthusiastic tone as he turned to me.
"How many have you had?" I asked, "Companions, I mean."
"Well... depends on how you define companion..." I was stupid to think I was the only one- that I was special. Of course he's had other companions, he's over 900 years old. Worse, he'd taken Donna here, where he'd taken me. "I didn't take her here, if that's what you're getting at."
"Bit of a lovers' quarrel?" the man behind us says. "Sorry, didn't mean to intrude- i'm Hobbes. Professor Winfold Hobbes."
"Professor?" the Doctor hops onto his knees, facing him.
"Doctor!" he exclaims, "Never thought i'd see you again!"
"Great to see you again, Professor! This is my companion, Jess. Jess, this is Professor Hobbes!"
"Pleasure," I say with pursed lips.
"Where's Dee Dee?" he asks him.
"Oh, she's against all this- populating Midnight. Ever since that time, she's been advocating for this place being shut down, but I couldn't stay away. You couldn't keep away, either, could you, Doctor?"
"What's he talking about, Doctor?" I ask, looking at him only to find the most terrifying expression.
"Fasten your seat belts, we're about to take off."
The Doctor sat back down and we fastened our seat belts in silence.
"He will knock four times," the Doctor said.
"Sorry?" it was such a random thing to say.
"There is a prophecy. He will knock four times. Then..."
"Then?" I cock my head to the side, "You mean you'll die?"
"Part of me wishes it would happen sooner," he closes his eyes.
"You can regenerate, though," I said, "you told me once, that when you die you come back."
"Every time I regenerate I die, Jess. I die and it hurts. Then some other man goes sauntering away and I'm just a memory."
"But you can't die, Doctor! Think of all those mysteries out there, adventures, people who need you!"
"I'm old. I'm tired."
"Oh, you're not that old," I roll my eyes.
"I'm over 900 years old, Jess. I've suffered things you can't imagine, sorrows beyond belief."
"But think of all the good things, Doctor. All the people you've helped. Aren't they worth it?" He seems to be pondering this. "Besides, if you died then you'd be leaving me to have all those adventures by myself, wouldn't you, old man?" I nudge him, and he smiles at this.
"Oi, I resent that," he looks at me and I know everything is alright. "The Professor was right, Jess. There's a mystery on this planet and I can't stand not solving it before..."
"Oi," I mimic him, "shut it, old man. You're not dying on my watch." He really wasn't that old physically, but I still liked teasing him about it, knowing his real age.
"Shut that racket off before I shut it myself?" a woman in the back barks. I turn to see that she isn't nearly as old as she sounded. She was older than I, in her mid 20's, and had long dark brown hair and white bangs that almost hid her eyes, which were two different colors.
"Sorry," another girl said in an American accent, she seemed much more approachable. She looked about my age, if not younger. She had long dirty blonde hair and blue eyes hidden behind glasses.
I looked from the second girl, to the first, wondering if they were acquainted. The woman with the eyes spotted me staring and pulled her sunglasses down, which were atop her head, over her eyes.
"So," I turn to the Professor, "your research. How is it coming?"
"Last I saw the Doctor, I was searching for the Lost Moon of Poosh, but I find Midnight much more fascinating-"
"If you were smart, you'd stay away," the Doctor says.
"Could say the same to you, Doctor," he retorts. "We're not so different, you and I."
"Someone needs to tell me exactly what happened the last time you two were on Midnight. Tell me right now," I demanded firmly.
"Last time we were on Midnight, something attacked our shuttle," the Doctor said in a low voice. "It possessed one of the passengers, Sky, and she began copying our words, then she grew more powerful. She was able to paralyze me and stole my voice. Almost got me thrown out of the bus, but before that could happen, the hostess launched Sky and herself out into the atmosphere."
"She sacrificed herself," I say sadly. "And you never found out what it was?"
"No," the Doctor is staring out again.
The shuttle stops moving.