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Chapter 55 – Island Cloning

The Doctor walked out of his suite's door. He was humming a tune and singing under his breath. He met Jack as he walked down the hallway.

Jack laughed at him. "What the hell are you so damn happy about?"

The Doctor bit his lip and shook his head. "Can't tell you."

Jack rolled his eyes as they walked down the hallway together. "Oh, you can. Copying a house excite you this much?"

The Doctor pointed at Jack. "Being around Rose excites me this much."

Jack covered his ears. "Ugh. Gross, I really don't want to hear about this. $100 says you just got laid. That's why you are singing Sinatra songs again."

The Doctor laughed under his breath. "Get it right, man. Dean Martin."

Jack waved his hand, "What the hell ever. I'm happy you are happy. Happier though that Rose is happy."

"This day has sucked. I won't lie. But, the last 17 minutes. Brilliant! Best in all of my lives. True story."

Jack smiled. "Trying to be happy for you without gagging, man. Can we talk shop?"

He nodded, "Yes. Go."

"Found out who cooked up the Bee Sting venom. He is also one of the Agents who are missing a tooth, so my guess is that he's part of the crater." Jack told him.

"Ugh. Damn it. Someone is still there that was in on this. Has to be." The Doctor groaned.

They continued to walk down the hallway. Jack nodded his head. "See, and now is the news I'm going to give you and you are going to be a happy man and start singing Sinatra again."

The Doctor stopped and put his hands on his hips. "I'm ready."

"Remember the tool that they needed to pull out the tooth? The Dentist that installed the GPS's was in the building last night. Jake has him now with that Rixalarian Doctor you have to go see."

He smiled, "That is good news! Are they questioning him now?"

Jack smiled, "Indeed. Jake wanted me to come inform you."

The Doctor pointed at Jack. "Take Lewis down with you to listen to the questioning. He might be able to help."

Jack nodded his head. "Sure. I'm headed back down in just a few minutes. I'll go get him."

The Doctor shook his head. "No need. I just told him. He's on his way to meet you in the transporter room now."

Jack sighed, "Yeah, that's not strange at all."

"I never said I was normal. In fact, I take great pride in the fact that I'm not. Humans are strange."

Jack laughed, "Yes, we are. Anyway. So, tell me. What has you so damn happy?"

They had reached the hanger. The Doctor stopped and looked back at Jack for a moment. Jack held out his hands, "Well. Tell me!"

The Doctor shook his head and chuckled, "I shouldn't."

Jack pointed at himself. "Come on, man. It's me. How long have we known one another?"

The Doctor rubbed his beard and smiled. "Alright. Two words. Joined Climax." The Doctor walked into the hanger as Jack stood in shock over what he had just said.

"Oh, bullshit. I don't believe that." He demanded.

The Doctor heard Genie, Tony and Jacob's voices shout his name as soon as he walked into the hanger. Zeus barked and ran to him with the children. He knelt down and picked up all three of the children at once as he walked across the hanger.

Genie was beaming. "Grandfather says that you are taking us all for a space ship ride!"

He smiled, "Yep! We're going to do something, really neat!"

Tony smiled, "Does it involve football?"

Jacob rolled his eyes. "Does everything have to involve football with you?"

Tony nodded his head. "Yeah!"

Jack walked behind him a few steps. "Doc'. I'm going back with Lewis. Inform Director Tyler. And about that other? I call B.S. on that. No way."

The Doctor laughed as Jack turned around and left the hanger. The Doctor sat the children down and they ran to the ship. Poltoius shepherded them all inside through the large door in the back. Pete walked over to the Doctor. "Hey. We made it back just in time. Jacks says Rose is asleep."

The Doctor rubbed his beard. "Yeah. This house being in the same time zone is really going to help her a lot. She says she feels like she sleeps all of the time."

Pete nodded his head. "Did you talk to her?"

The Doctor shook his head. "I'm not going to talk to her about this. She can talk to me about it if she wants. I'm not going to bring it up."

Pete nodded his head. "How many did you get through?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Enough to form a plan. Pete, I'm going to fix this. This. It's all my fault. There are things I can go back and change, and things I can't. I've decided that's what I'm going to do. Anything I can go back and fix, I'm going to do it. I'll be able to start doing that in a few years."

Pete put both of his hands on his face and sighed, "Son. No. That's not what needs to happen. Just leave it alone. If you go out and start messing about with this, then we could lose you. Where the hell would she be then? Huh?"

The Doctor pointed to himself. "Pete. I did this for centuries. I know what I'm doing. I know what I can change, and what I can't. There are parts of this, big parts I can go back and prevent it from happening to her."

Pete was already shaking his head. "No. Then they will happen to you. Just leave it. Let it just be in the past."

"The past? Pete. I'm a Time Lord. The past, present, future. It's all the same to me. This happened four years ago, well. In ten years, I'm going back there to prevent it from happening. Then, I'll come back. Simple as that."

Pete covered his face and shook his head. "I'm not going to fight with you now about something that will happen in ten years. I just hope you will have came to your damn senses by then!" Pete walked away.

The Doctor sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "One day, these people will realize I know what I'm talking about!"

Poltious whistled to the Doctor. "Hey! Let's do this."

The Doctor jogged over to the door and walked into Legate's ship with Poltious. "You're coming with us?"

Poltious pressed the button to close the door. "If you don't mind. Tony was so excited about it that he wanted me to join him."

The Doctor smiled as they walked up to the cockpit. Genie, Tony and Jacob were already in their seats and Poltious had helped them on with their seatbelts. Pete sat on the second row with the children and was putting his seatbelt on. "How wild of a ride will this be? I've rode with Gobbo before."

The Doctor looked at Poltious and smiled. "Not bad, Pete. Anyway. I meant to tell you. Jack just came to see me. They have a tooth extractor they are questioning right now."

Pete looked surprised, "Well, it's about damn time. That is good news."

The Doctor sat down in the front seat next to Poltious. The Doctor looked back. "Are we ready?"

Genie clapped her hands together. "Yes, Daddy! Can you really fly a space ship?"

He smiled as he pressed a series of buttons all around the console. Poltious pressed a few on his side and mumbled something. "Yes, sweetheart. Daddy has flown a lot of space ships."

Tony was interested. "How many, brother!?"

The Doctor chuckled, "I really don't know."

"Give us a number!" Tony insisted.

"It's always a number for a Tyler." The Doctor smiled as he held down a button. "Timon. We're ready here."

Timon's voice came over the speaker. "Got it. We're opening the doors. Lance should pick you up in about three minutes."

"Right." The Doctor said as they watched the huge dock doors open on the side of the hanger. The blackness of space shown outside of the ship. Pete watched as the children's faces all lit up.

Jacob smiled, "This is awesome, Doctor John!"

The Doctor smiled, "We've not even got out of the ship, yet."

Jacob laughed.

The Doctor pressed some buttons and they felt the unmistakable sensation of them rising up and moving forward. Genie screamed under her breath, but the Doctor heard it clearly in his head. They flew out of the ship. The Doctor pointed at the window. "Alright. We're going to play a game while we are on our journey. I'm going to ask questions. You get ten points if you get the correct answer. The winner gets a special surprise once we get back to the ship."

Jacob rubbed his hands together excitedly. "I'm game!"

Tony smiled, "Let's do it!"

Genie smiled, "Alright, Daddy!"

He heard Rose in his head, 'Is that Genie screaming?'

He bit his lip. 'She's fine. She was excited. I'm sorry we woke you up. Go back to sleep.'

'What are you doing?'

'Flying around in a space ship.'

'Ugh. I'm going back to sleep.' Rose said.

He chuckled at her. "Genie. You woke your mum up with your squeaky shouting. Try to stay calm."

Genie covered her mouth and smiled, "Sorry, Mummy."

Pete smiled at her.

"Okay, first question. What is that called?" The Doctor asked as he pointed at the Earth.

"The Earth." Jacob said.

"Antarctica." Tony said.

"The South Pole!" Genie smiled.

Poltious smiled, "And the judge says?"

The Doctor rubbed his beard as he pressed some buttons. "Everyone has 10 points."

The children all celebrated. "Yes!"

"We are going to the middle of the Earth, so what is that called?"

"The equator!" Jacob exclaimed.

"Zero latitude!" Tony said.

"Up! North, from where we are now." Genie said.

Pete was laughing at their enthusiasm. "And the judge says?"

The Doctor smiled, "Everyone has 20 points now. Dang. Tough room. I need to ask harder questions."

Poltious laughed. "Let me ask some questions."

The Doctor nodded his head. "Alright. Think of something good."

Lance's voice came over the speakers. "We see you there Doc'. Who do you have with you?"

The Doctor pressed a button. "I have Director Tyler, Tony Tyler, Genie, Jacob and Poltious."

Lance laughed, "Oh hell yeah! Poltious! There is a Caksy Cruiser in the lane. He's trying to find someone to test his engines with. Interested? I mean, after you are finished here I'm sure."

Poltious looked back at the Doctor. "Nah. I'm in my son's ship. He wouldn't like me taking her out like that."

Legate's voice came over the speaker. "Father. I'm good with it. Go ahead."

Poltious grit his teeth. "I don't know. I've not done that in a long time."

Lance laughed, "Well, have a think about it. I see you approaching the Pacific home. We are blocking local radars."

Poltious snapped his fingers. "I have a question. At what angle does a human ship have to navigate through the atmosphere of the Earth?"

Tony waved his hand. "I have no idea."

Jacob smiled. "Oh! I know that one! It's not a simple number. The corridor is like a hallway. You have to go in like you are walking through a hallway. It's a formula astronauts use."

The Doctor looked impressed. "Very good! Wow!"

"What angle do you have to keep this ship at?" Jacob asked.

The Doctor smiled. "Same thing. Although, we can bounce a bit if we want. Our shields are a lot better than they have here now. And what happens if you don't mind the corridor?"

Jacob shrugged his shoulders, "You burn up. It's how the meteoroids keep from hitting the surface of the planet. Earth is actually hit by several thousand every day."

Tony shook his head. "Dang it. They had to ask space questions. Jacob knows everything about space. That's all he reads about."

The Doctor was impressed. "Good! Jacob has 50 points, Genie and Tony are at 20 points."

Jacob crossed his arms and smiled proudly.

Tony shook his head. "John! Ask some football questions. I know all of those."

Pete laughed at his son. "That's not how it works, son."

They continued to fly until they noticed the screen showed the blue sky and the ocean under them. Poltious smiled. "I've got another question for the children. How fast are we going?"

Jacob rubbed his chin. "Well. That's tricky. The space shuttle after orbiting the Earth, re-enters the atmosphere at 17,300 mph. But, then it starts to slow down after reentry to about 75 miles when it is above the Earth. The landing speed varies somewhat, depending on weather and other factors, but the speed at touchdown is usually at about 220 mph."

The Doctor looked at Poltious in surprise. "Did you tell him that?"

Poltious laughed, "No. I honestly didn't know that. Did you?"

Tony shook his head. "I'm telling you, John. He only reads books about space. It's a sickness."

The Doctor laughed, "Once, the shuttle had to land going over 300 mph. Do you know about that, Jacob?"

Jacob nodded his head. "Sure! That was when they had to land at White Sands, New Mexico in March of 1982. Because the shuttle had only 17 degrees to bleed off its speed as it was coming in for a landing, as opposed to the 270 degrees it usually travels, it touched down at the whopping speed of 310 mph! Not to mention nearly lifting off of the ground again as it landed."

The Doctor smiled, clearly impressed with Jacob. "Why?"

Jacob shrugged his shoulders. "It was really windy there and they were going too fast. But, everything ended up alright."

Pete rubbed his face impressed with Jacob. "Jacob Shepherd. I had no idea you knew all about this."

Jacob smiled proudly, "I'm going to be an astronaut. Well, I guess I'm already one, right John? I mean, I've been in space, walked in space and all of that."

The Doctor chuckled as he nodded his head. "Yes. I suppose you are."

They continued to fly. Within a few moments, they had arrived at the island home and hovered in front of it. The Doctor pointed at the window. "Alright. Easy one. Where are we?"

The children looked. Genie smiled, "Easy! That's home!"

The Doctor smiled, "Right. Genie has 30, Tony 20 and Jacob has….ummm… 80."

Tony held up his hands. "Still haven't heard a football question, brother. Bollocks."

Pete thumped Tony on the side of the head. "Ah! Language, son."

Tony sighed.

Poltious pressed some buttons. "I've got the directional canon in place. Do you want it right beside of the other ones?"

The Doctor rubbed his chin. "I think that's best. Just right up next to it. Parallel."

Poltious nodded his head as he looked at a screen and typed a few things in. "Alright. We're ready."

The Doctor pressed a button and spoke to Timon. "We're in place."

Timon's voice came across the speaker. "Right. Standby. Cloning stage one is a go."

The Doctor pointed at the screen. "Children, can you see this?"

The children couldn't really see what was happening, so their excitement was minimal. Poltious assured them that their trip would get more interesting as they went back out into orbit, flew around the Earth once and then re-entered the atmosphere again.

The Doctor thought of another question. "Got it! How many different parts are there in the atmosphere for Earth, and name them."

Genie and Tony smiled and said together. "Exosphere, Thermosphere, Mesosphere, Stratosphere and Troposphere."

Pete smiled, "How did you know that?"

Tony pointed at the Doctor. "It's part of school that he made us memorize."

Poltious smiled as the sky turned blue again, "On the count of three, which one are we currently in? One….two…. three."

All three of the children shouted, "Thermosphere."

Poltious looked at the Doctor. "And the judge says?"

The Doctor looked back at Poltious. "That's right. We're not down far enough to be in the Mesosphere, yet."

Pete laughed, "Okay, so the score is Tony and Genie are at 50, while Jacob is at 90. Right?"

The Doctor rubbed his chin. "I think so. I've lost count. Let's go with those numbers."

Tony lifted his hands, "Dude! Really?"

Genie giggled, "We might catch up to Jacob."

Pete pointed at Tony. "Points can be deducted for language."

Tony rolled his eyes.

The ship stopped and they looked out over an island. The Doctor sighed, "Alright. Everyone pay attention. This is going to be brilliant. Poltious, have you got the screen up?"

Poltious looked at the screen and moved some images around on a grid. He pointed at it. "That's where you had put everything. Have another look and make sure you are satisfied with your placement."

The Doctor looked at the grid. "I'm good with that. What do you think?"

Poltious nodded his head. "Looks good to me." He pressed the button, "Timon. We're in place here. The canon is ready."

Timon's voice came over the speaker, "Got it. Standby. House and workshop first. If this reactor decides to blow, you will need to have your shields up."

The Doctor and Poltious looked at one another. Poltious didn't look away and clicked a button. "We're at maximum."

Pete asked, "Is that a possibility?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Nah. Well, yeah. But, nah."

Pete crossed his arms, "I'm not comforted."

Genie started to speak. The Doctor held up his finger. "Ah! Time and place, Genie. No."

Genie folded her arms and looked cross at her Daddy.

Poltious looked out at the window. "Alright. Forming in 3…..2…1….."

Just as if someone had transported it down to the island, the island home appeared in front of them. All of the children saw it as it appeared out of nowhere and gasped.

"Okay, that was cool!" Jacob exclaimed.

"How did you do that?" Tony asked.

"And we didn't blow up!" Genie exclaimed.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "We're not going to blow up. Daddy wouldn't put you in a place if he thought you would blow up."

Genie started to argue with him. He quickly pointed at her. "Genie. Not the time, nor the place. No."

Genie crossed her arms and returned to pouting. Pete laughed under his breath at her.

They all watched as the other buildings formed. The boathouse and the dock, then the ship formed on the edge of the water. Then Poltious smiled, "Alright. Question for the children. What else does this island need?"

Timon's voice came over the speaker, "Give us just a minute. We have to re-aim the directional beam."

"Right." The Doctor said.

Pete shook his head. "What are they doing? They cloned everything."

Genie was finished pouting and asked, "Daddy. Does this mean we have two islands now?"

The Doctor rubbed his beard as he looked out at the island. "Yes, Genie. We have two islands."

Tony asked, "You bought another island? When did you do that?"

The Doctor chuckled, "As it turned out, no one knew about this one. No one has ever seen it. It's in an odd place. I've hidden things there before, well…. Not this island….but, the one like where I came from."

Pete seemed surprised, "Huh. I didn't know that. I thought you had gone through the real estate thing again."

"Nah. No one knows it's here, and with the perception filters, no one will ever find it that I don't want to see it." the Doctor explained.

Pete looked impressed. "Good deal."

Timon came over the speaker, "Alright. Are you in position? We've got it."

Poltious pressed the button, "We are. Go ahead."

The Doctor smiled back at Tony's face as he watched the football pitch form on the edge of the island. "Really?! REALLY?!"

The Doctor laughed, "Legate thought about it. What do you think?"

Tony was excited. "You still have the one in the house, right?"

"The house is exactly the same." The Doctor told him.

Poltious teased, "Your cheesy socks are still under your bed, Tony."

Tony punched the air. "Alright! Brilliant! Can we go down and see it?"

The Doctor looked at Poltious. Want to land her on the pitch?"

Poltious smiled. "I suppose we should check everything to make sure it's right before we bring everyone down."

The Doctor pressed some buttons and nodded his head. Poltious pressed the communications button, "Timon. We're going to set her down and check everything over."

Timon's voice came back on, "Good idea. You're clear."

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