Chapter 13 pt.2- Voyages End
The Host's lead us into a large open room right next to the engines. "Wow, well, that is what you'd call a fixer upper," he said looking around the falling apart ship. "Well then host with the most, this ultimate authority of yours, who is it?" he asked the host that lead us here as he paced in circles. Once of the Host's pushes a large button and a door on a metal box slides open. "Oh, that's clever, an Omnistate Impact Chamber. Indestructible! You could survive anything in there," he said turning to me, "you could sit through a supernova, or a shipwreck." He continued then looked back at the box as the sound of machinery filled the air. "Only one person could have the power and the money to hide them on board like this," he said then began to imitate the advert we had seen all over the ship that evening, "and I should know, 'cause…."
"My name is Max," said a voice as a large box emerged from the chamber, I looked at it to see only the face of Max Capricorn as he smiled and his gold tooth twinkled.
"What the hell, it really does that?!" I shouted.
"Who are these people?" Max demanded of the hosts.
"I'm the Doctor, hello and this is my wife Rose," my husband said to the head in the life support machine.
"Hello," I said flatly with a small wave of my fingers and a tight smile.
"Information, stowaways," the Host supplied to Max who still looked confused.
"Wellll," the Doctor drawled.
"Kill them," Max stated and started rolling back toward his chamber.
"Oh, no no no," the Doctor said frantically as the Host's started closing in on us, "but you can't, not now. Come on Max, you're giving me so much good material!" He shouted all I could think was not again. "Like… how to get ahead in business. Do you see?" He said and I just pinched the bridge of my nose and shook my head. "Head? Head?" he said looking between Max and I.
"Seriously Doctor, don't make fun of someone threatening to kill us. Especially not when we're their captives." I said still shaking my head.
"The office joker," Max started wheeling toward the Doctor, "I like a funny man, no one's been funny with me in years."
"I can't think why." The Doctor told him.
"I can," I mumbled hopefully low enough he couldn't hear.
"176 years of running the company have taken their toll," Max said turning his head toward me.
"Yeah, but nice wheels." The Doctor told him shrugging.
"No, a life support system, in a society that despises cyborgs. I've had to hide away for years, running the company by hologram." He said sadly before turning to the Host. "Host situation report," he demanded.
"Information, Titanic still in orbit," the Host supplied.
"Let me see," Max said wheeling forward practically running the Doctor over before he jumped out of the way. "We should have crashed by now, whats gone wrong? The engines are still running! They should have stopped!" He shouted from the edge looking down at the engine.
"But when they do the Earth gets roasted!" I shouted at the man beginning to feel more and more frustrated.
"Yeah, I don't understand, what's Earth got to do with it?" The Doctor asked.
"This interview is terminated," Max said as he started to roll back towards his chamber.
"No but hold on, wait!" He shouted stepping in front of the life support machine, "I can work it out, it's like a task. I'm your apprentice, just watch me." Max wheeled back interested and I just raised my eyebrows to see what my husband would come up with. "Bussiness is failing, then you wreck the ship, so that makes things even worse…" he began then paused, "Oh! Yes! No. Yes! The business isn't failing it's failed past tense!" He shouted ruffling his hair and making it wild.
"My own board voted me out." Max said and I spotted Astrid moving through the shadows. I moved over to stand next to the Doctor and tried to look like I was completely interested in what Max was saying. "They stabbed me in the back." He continued unnoticing of my distraction.
"Well, if you had a back," my husband said.
"Rude," I shot at him elbowing him in the ribs. Out of the corner of my eye I watched as Astrid snuck through the room.
"So!" the Doctor said continuing his analysis, "you scupper the ship- wipe out any survivors, just in case anyone's rumbled you- and the board find their shares halved in value. Ohh, but that's not enough, no!" He continued manically as he began pacing. "'Cause if a Max Capricorn ship hits the Earth, it destroys an entire planet- outrage back home, scandal! The business is wiped out!" He shouted as he stopped pacing.
"And the whole board thrown in jail for mass murder." Max taunted rolling forward.
"While you stay there safe inside the impact chamber," the Doctor finished.
"I have men waiting to retrieve me from the ruins, and enough off world accounts to retire to the beaches of Penhaxico 2. Where the ladies are very fond of metal, so they say," he finished with a wink at me and I had to suppress the urge to gag.
"So that's the plan," the Doctor seethed every bit the Oncoming Storm. "A business plan. A retirement plan! Two thousand people on this ship, six billion people underneath us, all of them slaughtered, and why? Because Max Capricorn's a looser!" he shouted taunting him at the end.
"I never loose!" Max shouted back at him.
"You can't even sink the Titanic!" I taunted him.
"Oh but I can little Rose, I can cancel the engines from here!" He said and alarms started to go off.
"You can't do this!" he shouted walking toward Max.
"Oh but I can Doctor," he taunted, "Host, hold them!" He ordered and a Host grabbed each of us by the arms. "Not so clever now Doctor. A shame we couldn't work together, you're rather good. All that banter, yet not a single word wasted. Such a pretty wife too. Time for me to retire. The Titanic is falling, the sky will burn, let the Christmas inferno commence. Oh and Host!" he said looking at the Host standing across from us, "Kill them!"
"Mr. Capricorn!" Astrid called out from where she was sitting in a forklift, "I resign," she said then put the forklift in gear and floored it, running into Mr. Capricorns life support machine. They clanged together, neither one able to get the upper hand. I saw the Host across from us remove its halo and suddenly my vision turned golden.
"Enough!" I shouted raising my hand, the last thing I saw was the Host dissolving in a cloud of golden light.
I woke up in an unfamiliar room to the sound of a panicked voice.
"There's nothing we can do, there's no power, the ship's going to fall," said the familiar sounding voice that I couldn't pinpoint.
"What's your first name?" I heard my husband's voice say then, oh, it was Midshipman Frame. We must have made it to the bridge somehow. I got up from my spot leaned up against a wall and stretched. I felt a sharp pain in my hip and remembered the large cut there. I walked toward the Doctor who was running around the controls.
"A-Alonso," the young man stuttered. I just smacked my forehead and shook my head.
"You're kidding me!" the Doctor shouted to him with a manic grin.
"Why?" Alonso asked sounding confused now.
"Oh no, here it comes," I said and both men jumped just now noticing I was no longer unconscious propped up against the wall.
"What?" the young man asked hesitantly.
"Something he's wanted to say for years," I told the midshipman flatly.
"Allons-y Alonso!" He shouted and began to turn the wheel. The ship lurches and alarms start going off, red lights flashing around the room and Alonso screaming. Something starts beeping on the control board and I rush over and hit a flashing button, one of the screens changes and it shows impact zone and coordinates. The Doctor leans over from his space steering the ship and grimaces at the screen. He reaches over and picks up a nearby phone punching in a number, "hello, yes, could you get me Buckingham palace." My eyes bug out of my head when I hear those words but I can't help but thinking of course while he waits to be connected. "Listen to me, Security Code 771. Now get out of there!" He shouts as the Earth bellow comes into view, London and Buckingham palace getting closer and closer. Finally the ship starts to level out as the engines somehow turn back on and we begin to float away from Earth.
"Yes! Woo!" I shouted jumping up onto my husbands back then immediately letting go and letting myself fall to the floor when I feel another sharp pain in my hip. "How in the hell did you do that?" I asked him. He just walked over to where Alonso was sitting on the floor and slid down the wall to sit beside him.
"Used the heat of re-entry to fire up the secondary storm drive. Unsinkable, that's me." He said with a small smile.
"What happened after I passed out?" I asked him.
"Well, Astrid took care of Max, she pushed him over the edge, into the engine, but she fell too," he said sadly I let out a gasp and covered my mouth. We sat in sad silence for a few moments before the Doctor shouted, "teleport!" He jumped up and grabbed my hand then ran to the door, "She was wearing a teleport bracelet." He said running down the hallway.
"What?" I asked, but he didn't bother to answer, just kept running.
We entered reception one to find Rickston and Mr. Copper sitting on the floor.
"Rickston, sonic," he ordered and the man handed it over. "Mr. Copper, the teleports have they got an emergency setting?" he asked on his way to the teleport controls.
"I don't know, they should have," Mr. Copper answered.
"She fell Mr. Copper, she fell. What's the Emergency code?" he asked.
"Let me see," he said and started messing with the controls, while the Doctor sonicked open a panel on the bottom.
"What the hell are you doing?" Alonso asked coming into the room.
"Yeah, what the hell are you doing?" I echoed.
"We can bring her back," he supplied as if that was supposed to make perfect sense.
"If a passenger has an accident on shore leave, and their still wearing their teleport bracelet, their molecules are automatically suspended and held in stasis… if we can just trigger the shift…" Mr. Copper explained.
"There," the Doctor said standing and flipping a switch on the podium. Astrid appeared in the middle of the room transparent and ghost like.
"I'm falling," the woman said to no one in particular.
"Only halfway there," the Doctor said pulling out a ball of wires and frantically sonicking them.
"I keep falling," Astrid said.
"Oh my god," I uttered close to tears for the poor woman.
"Feedback the molecule grid… Boost it with the restoration matrix," the Doctor mumbled frantically and the wires began sparking, "no, no, no. Need more phase containment," he continued beginning to get manic and frustrated.
"Doctor," Mr. Copper said trying to gain his attention.
"No, if I can just link up the surface suspension…" he continued.
"Doctor!" I shouted getting his attention. "She's gone! You need to stop," I said as tears began to come out of my eyes and rested my hand on his arm.
"No, Rose I just need to override the safety, I can do this. I can do it." He said manically.
"Doctor, Stop!" I shouted, the tears coming faster now, "just let her go!"
"I can do anything!" He shouted angrily kicking the podium.
"You need to calm down Doctor. This isn't your fault," I told him trying to stop my tears so I didn't make him feel worse.
"There's not enough left," Mr. Copper told him. "The system was too damaged. She's just atoms Doctor, an echo with a ghost of consciousness; she's stardust."
"Stop me falling," Astrid begged.
"Astrid Peth, citizen of Sto. The woman who looked up at the stars and dreamt of travelling. Now you can fly forever," he told her, then pointed his sonic at a porthole and opened it. "You're not falling Astrid, you're flying," he said as she turned to atoms and flew out the window into space.
About twenty minutes later
"The engines are stablilized," Alonso said coming back into reception one. "I've sent the S.O.S. the rescue ships should be here within twenty minutes. They're digging out the records on Max Capricorn as well, should be quite the story."
"They'll want to talk to all of us I suppose?" Mr. Copper asked him.
"I should think so, yeah," he agreed with a nod of his head. Mr. Copper made his way to where we were standing by the teleport hand in hand, giving the engines a bit of time to charge up before we teleported back down to Earth.
"I think one or two inconvenient truths might come to light. Still it's my own fault, and ten years in jail is better than dying," Mr. Copper said leaning against a table next to us. Rickston approached then teary eyed.
"Doctor I never said thank you," he began wrapping the Doctor in a hug, "the funny thing is, I said Max Capricorn was falling apart. Just before the crash I sold all my shares. Transferred them to his rivals." He continued then smiled, "it's made me rich, what do you think of that," his vone rang before I could tell him what I thought of that and he answered it and walked away. I simply rolled my eyes.
"Of all the people to survive, He's not the one you would have chosen, is he?" Mr. Copper asked looking at us, I simply snorted. "But if you could choose. If you could decide who lives and who dies," he continued as I reached behind me and grabbed some teleport bracelets. I snapped one on my wrist then the Doctors who looked down at it and smiled then looked back to Mr. Copper, "that would make you a monster." He finished and we both looked at him and smiled.
"Mr. Copper," I started then paused, "I think you deserve," I continued reaching behind me, "one of these," I finished and held out one of the teleport bracelets. He smiled and grabbed the bracelet snapping it on his wrist quickly. Alonso stands as the Doctor moves to activate it, he flips the switch and turns back around in time to see Alonso salute him. The Doctor gives him a small salute as the three of us disappear in blue light.
When we land its late morning and we begin to walk through a field where we see the TARDIS on the other end.
"So Great Britain is part of Yooropee, and just across the British Channel, you've got Great France and Great Germany," Mr. Copper said as he followed us through the ash covered field, the Doctor and I hand in hand.
"No just France and Germany." I told him, "only Britain is great."
"And they're all at war with the continent of Hamerica?" he asked then.
"No, well not yet, you could argue that one," the Doctor said. "There she is," he said patting the TARDIS affectionately, "survive anything."
"So, I take it you'll be going?" Mr. Copper asked after a moment.
"Yeah, we've got to get to Oliver, we weren't planning on leaving him that long. I'm sure he's out of bottles," I said as I thought about it. I had packed extra just in case but not that much.
"And what about me? What am I supposed to do?" he asked.
"Give me that credit card," the Doctor said holding out his hand.
"It's only petty cash," Mr. Copper told him handing the piece of plastic over. "Spending money, all done by computer. I didn't really know the currency, I thought a million might cover it." He said nervously.
"A million pounds?" I choked out my eyebrows reaching my hairline.
"Enough for trinkets," Mr. Copper said uncertainly.
"Mr. Copper, a million pounds is worth fifty million credits," the Doctor told him.
"How much?!" Mr. Copper asked as if to make sure he heard correctly.
"Fifty million and fiftysix," the Doctor said nodding.
"I have money," Mr. Copper said shocked.
"Yes you have," I told him as the Doctor handed back the card.
"Oh my word. Oh my goodness me." Mr. Copper exclaimed as I turned to unlock the door. I went inside leaving the door open. I walked up the ramp to the console.
"Oh am I glad to see you," I told the TARDIS stroking the edge of the console before walking over and plopping down in the jump seat. I heard an overjoyed hum in the back of my mind.
A few moments later the Doctor entered the TARDIS with a small smile on his face. "Well you've made him happy," I said.
"Yes we have," he said as he walked up the ramp. He walked over to me and grabbed my hand pulling me to my feet. He turned us around and pressed me against the console before kissing me passionately. After a minute or so he pulled away and rested his forehead against mine. "I am so sorry about tonight, it wasn't what I had planned at all Rose. Oh I was scared especially when you incinerated that Host and then went unconscious on me Rose. What happened?" he said.
"I honestly am not sure. I felt that building up for a while, then when that Host looked like it was going to hurt one of us, I just snapped. I don't remember anything after that." I told him.
"I know you were scared tonight Rose and I am so so sorry that I ruined our plans. I don't know how the shields got down, but at the same time, if we hadn't been there the whole planet would have been destroyed." He said.
"It's okay Doctor, I know, I love the adventure too. Let's just go get our son, okay?" I said rubbing my hand up and down his chest.
"We almost died tonight, if we had and left him alone, oh god Rose," he said and took in a shakey breath sounding on the verge of tears. He pulled me closer and hugged me for a few moments.
"I know Doctor, I thought about that a few times too. Let's just go get him okay? Spend some family time together in the vortex. I'm sure Jack and Ianto are exhausted by now, and I'm sure Oliver misses us." I told him he leaned back and smiled then released me and began piloting to Cardiff. When we landed I ran out into the hub, not caring about the pain in my side as I moved. I see Jack holding a crying Oliver looking extremely confused and a little irritated. I run up and take Oliver out of his arms and begin to rock and bounce him, trying to console him.
"Oh, my baby boy. I'm so sorry. What's the matter love. Are you hungry? Mommy will feed you once we're back in the TARDIS," I said quickly bouncing him gently and trying to calm him.
"What the hell happened to you guys. I tried calling you so many times Rose. What the hell?" Jack asked scowling at us.
"It's a long story Jack," my husband told him draping an arm around my soulders. "I'm assuming you saw the Titanic that almost crashed into Buckingham palace, I'm sure it was all over the news." He said.
"Yeah I figured it had something to do with that," Jack said rolling his eyes, "but why wouldn't your super phone work Rosie?" Jack asked me.
"They had up some communication blocker thing," I said distractedly still trying to calm Oliver down. "The TARDIS got separated from us when asteroids hit the ship and she fell down to Earth so we couldn't just hop in there and fly away."
"Rose, why don't you go get changed and feed him, I'll gather up his things and put them back on the TARDIS," the Doctor suggested.
"Okay, but don't forget his plushie or his rattle," I said then walked back onto the TARDIS. I made my way down the corridor to our room. I put a still crying Oliver down in a little cot in our room before going to get undressed. I reached behind myself to unzip my ruined evening dress, then pulled off my also ruined blood soaked knickers. Then peeled off the strapless bra I'd been wearing. I put on a nursing bra, a tank top, and carefully put a pair of shorts over my still bleeding hip. I picked up Oliver and sat down in an armchair and proceeded to nurse him. I hear footsteps coming into the room a few minutes later and look over to see the Doctor staring at my blood soaked knickers.
"I should probably stitch that up," he said without looking at me.
"Okay," I agreed quietly, "just as soon as I finish feeding him, then we'll go watch a movie or something," I told him as he moved closer and just watched me.
"You know, you feeding our son may just be the second most beautiful thing in the universe," he told me with one of his lopsided grins.
"Yeah? What's the first?" I asked raising a curious eyebrow. There are suddenly images of me very nude stretched out beneath the Doctor in my mind and I can feel my face heating up but I smile.
"That is the most beautiful thing in the universe," he said, "but only when it's with me." He added.
"Only you," I agreed smiling at him. Oliver turned away from me then and I reached up and refastened my nursing bra. The Doctor came over and took him from me carrying him toward the door. I got up carefully and followed him to the med bay.
About twenty minutes later I was all stitched up and the three of us were laying reclined on the couch. We had turned on a movie but I wasn't paying attention to it. I had Oliver laying across my stomach and the Doctor had his nose burrowed in the top of my head and his hand playing with my hair. His other hand was resting on Oliver's back. I just sighed knowing I was content on staying there with my family for hours.