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Chapter 56 -

They sat the ship down and the children were out of their seat belts in record time to rush out of the door. Jacob knew which button to hit to open the door, and he managed without problem. They ran out on the pitch as The Doctor stood up and flipped some more buttons to turn off the ship. Poltious smiled, "I'll go have a look at the flats. You check on the house and workshop."

The Doctor smiled, "Sounds good."

Poltious exited the ship, "Hey! Children. Stay together."

He was met with a chorus of, "Alright."

Pete walked out of the back of the ship and looked around the pitch. He squinted his eyes at the bright, evening light. He turned to look at the Doctor as he walked out of the back of the ship. "This is really something. Which pitch is this? It looks familiar."

Tony ran up. "I know that one. It's the one from the Royal Gardens. Now I'm at 60 points!"

Pete laughed at his son as he watched him run back across the pitch with Jacob and Genie. Pete crossed his arms, "I love seeing them like this. Just running. Being children. Not worried about anything. That's how it should be."

The Doctor watched the children run around and play. "It is. They are quite safe here. Let's go look over the house."

Pete yelled at the children, "We're going in the house. You lot be careful out here."

Genie was turning cartwheels in the grass and laughing. "Daddy! I love this pitch! The grass is nice!"

Pete walked with the Doctor into the house and looked around. "Everything looks good. What do we really need to check?"

The Doctor rubbed his chin. "I probably need to check the arc reactor. Make sure it's alright. Then the power and water. Go ahead and get it circulating. The heat needs to be turned on, if it's off. Wait, no. It's summer here in the southern hemisphere. Keep the air conditioning on. Those sorts of things."

Pete nodded his head. "Alright. I'll walk through the house and you go check everything else."

After a quick walk through, the Doctor, Pete and Poltious declared it was a perfect clone of the other island home. Complete with every item that the other home had, including a football that the Doctor brought out to the children who still played on the pitch. When Pete joined them, the Doctor was already out there with them, kicking a ball and playing with the children.

Poltious walked up next to Pete. "House good?"

Pete crossed his arms, "Looks fine. Flats?"

Poltious smiled. "Perfect. It's nice to have more room."

The men played football for a while with the children. It became dark and the Doctor insisted they all return with Legate's ship. The children were anxious for another ride in the space ship. They quickly got in and fastened their seatbelts. The Doctor was the last one in the ship and he closed the large back door. Poltious was already busy pressing buttons and the engine could be heard powering up.

The Doctor stood behind the children's seats. "Okay. So what's the score?"

Tony pointed at himself. "I have 60, Genie is 50, and Jacob is 90."

The Doctor pointed at Jacob. "Alright. Jacob wins. We are all agreed?"

The children nodded, "Agreed."

The Poltious nodded, "Good. Jacob. Take my seat, John is going to let you fly us back up."

Jacob couldn't move. He was in shock over the statement. Pete laughed at his reaction. "Oh, I wish Howie could see this. Jacob. Doc'. You're going to have to smack him back to reality."

The Doctor sat down in his seat and turned around to Jacob. "Jacob. Come up there and let show you how to do this. Nutter. "

Poltious chuckled at Jacob's reaction. He turned to the Doctor. "Legate had the same face for his first flying lesson."

The Doctor smiled proudly, "I knew he would have his reaction."

Jacob took off his seatbelt and traded seats with Poltious. Poltious sat down between Genie and Tony and relaxed. "Ah… give us a smooth ride, boys. It's been a long day."

The Doctor smiled at Jacob. "Alright. Don't worry about this. Poltious taught Legate to fly when he was even younger than you are. You'll be fine. The computer does mostly everything. You take the throttle there and gently lift up. You have control. And I'm right here if you need me."

Jacob couldn't believe his luck. He followed every instruction given to him by the Doctor. Pete took a small video and sent it to Howie and Caroline. Poltious declared that he would make a hell of a pilot one day. Tony and Genie cheered for him. The Doctor couldn't remember ever seeing Jacob smile so much all of the time he had known him.

Once they got out in space, Legate contacted them. "Hey, we see you. Everything all finished?"

The Doctor held the button down and replied, "It looks great. I can't wait for you lot to see it!"

Legate chuckled, "Alright! Who's flying?"

The Doctor pointed at the button he had held and told Jacob. "Hold it down while you are speaking. Sortof like a radio."

Jacob pressed down the button and said, "I'm flying. This is Jacob."

Legate's voice came on, "Well, alright! I was about your age the first time I flew. I fell in love with it. What do you think, Jacob?"

Jacob smiled, "So far it's awesome! I'm worried about the landing."

The Doctor smiled, "Ahh. That's the worst part. I'll do that today. Don't worry about it."

Lance teased, "So, Poltious. Are you headed out to the lane?"

Poltious bit his lip. "Oh, I shouldn't do that."

Pete asked the Doctor. "What are they on about?"

The Doctor chuckled, "They want to know if he wants to go race this Caksy Cruiser. Oh…. they are fast."

Poltious shook his head. "Hell, this ship is way faster. I'd run circles around that guy in this."

Pete laughed, "Why not, Poltious?"

"Why not? Because I'm in the ship with four, no five of the family I'm supposed to be protecting. No. Lewis would kill me." He quickly turned to the Doctor and pointed forcefully at him. "And you know it. Don't tempt me by saying you would approve of it."

The Doctor chuckled and held up his hands. "Hey. I agree with you. We should be adults here."

Poltious nodded. "Yes. Adults."

"No racing." The Doctor agreed.

"No racing." Poltious repeated as he bit his lip.

The Doctor nodded his head. "Yep."

Poltious looked at Pete, who was smiling at him.

Poltious rose up and pressed the button, "Legate. Tell them to give me fifteen minutes. I'll give him a run. Let me drop of this lot, first."

Tony protested immediately. "Poltious! What?! I want to go."

Poltious shook his head. "Racing is dangerous, no Tony."

Tony looked betrayed. "I bet you'll let John go!"

Poltious looked back at the Doctor. "Well, if he wants to. But, he's an adult-"

"Man, that's so unfair!" Tony exclaimed.

Pete patted his son's knee. "One day you'll understand why."

Tony sighed, "That's what John says. But it's usually about kissing."

Pete looked surprised back at the Doctor. "Kissing?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Yeah. Don't worry about it. Tony, I'll go back to the ship with you. Rose would kill me if she knew I was out here racing with Poltious."

Tony shook his head. "Nah. You should go if you want. Rose would think that would be fun. Man. I wish I could go."

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The Doctor and Poltious dropped Pete and the children back off at the Doctor's ship. Then they departed immediately again. Poltious flew out to the major lane and over to Mars. Sitting behind it was the Caksy Cruiser. They came up beside of it.

Poltious rubbed his hands together. "I've not done this in a long time. You?"

The Doctor pressed a few buttons. "Oh, it's been a very long time. I was just a kid."

Legate came on the speaker. "Alright. The race is a loop around Saturn, then back to the Mars. We're watching you here at Space Traffic Control, and the Cruiser has someone over behind Titan."

The Doctor smiled, "How's the odds?"

Legate laughed, "Oh, you can probably imagine. This is just what everyone here at Torchwood needs after last night. You have a roomful of people in here cheering you on. Give them hell."

Poltious nodded his head. "Alright."

The Doctor smiled, "You got this?"

Poltious nodded and smiled, "Yeah. This is a walk in the park. You are my commanding officer in this situation. Just tell me to win."

The Doctor smiled, "That's all you need, man?"

Poltious looked back at him. "In the words of General Patton of Earth. 'I'm a soldier. I fight where I'm told, and I win where I fight'."

Lance came over the speaker, "Alright. Lewis is in the dark. Do you both have your transport emergency-"

"Yeah. Fuck that. Let's go already." The Doctor complained.

He could hear Jack laughing at him. "He's not wearing that shit. Do you know who you are talking to?"

Then came a series of beeps over the speakers in the ship. The Doctor looked at Poltious. "Hey, Poltious."

He smiled as he pressed a button. "Yeah?"

"Win."

Poltious smiled, "With pleasure."

The last beep sounded and Poltious and the cruiser speed out into the lane. They were flying directly next to one another at the same rate of speed.

Poltious looked over at his opponent. "They have made some modifications."

The Doctor asked, "Problem?"

Poltious shook his head and smiled, "Nah. We've only gotten started."

The two ships flew around the traffic that was currently in the lane. More than once, Poltious had to slip the ship underneath the bigger cruiser he was racing to keep them from bumping into one another.

The Doctor rubbed his beard. "Is he trying to hit us? Is that the deal here?"

Poltious chuckled, "Oh, once we loop around Saturn, he won't get a chance to catch up."

The Doctor looked surprised, "What do you mean?"

Poltious smiled, "This is my son's ship. I taught him everything he knows. I know what he has in here."

Legate's voice came over the speaker. "Father. You're coming up on your loop."

Poltious leaned back in the seat, and pulled out a panel from the wall. Hidden inside were a series of buttons. Poltious pressed three of the buttons and held them down.

The Doctor smiled, "Ummm… that is illegal to have on ships this size."

Poltious shook his head. "Ah. Only in certain galaxies. This one hasn't made any rules on it yet. Doc'. How are you at free-return trajectories?"

The Doctor already had his hands on the controls. "Oh, this will be brilliant. Go ahead."

Poltious killed the engine and the Cruiser flew out in front of them several meters as they continued to fly, caught in the gravity of Saturn. The Doctor handled the loop as Poltious kept his fingers on the three buttons. Under them, three gauges of light began to blink, first slowly, then very fast. Poltious smiled, "Got it. Ready?"

The Doctor nodded. "Yep!"

Poltious released the buttons and the engine fired back into life. The thrust of the ship pressed the Doctor and Poltious back in their seats as the ship speed up and left the cruiser far behind. By the time the men at Torchwood stopped cheering, they were already back to Mars and claiming their victory with a loop around the red planet.

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