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Chapter 62 – Tony Sees the Ship

Tony was sitting at the bar downstairs in the island home drinking a cup of coffee. Arla was cooking something that smelled delicious. Jack was leaning against the cabinet, also drinking a cup of coffee.

Jack pointed at Tony. "You might like it. It's rough. Like rugby and soccer, all mixed into one."

Tony crossed his arms and shook his head. "Nah. I like boxing, though. You guys ever do that? I'm not bad at it. Either that, or my bodyguard is just that bad."

The Doctor walked into the room and patted Tony on the back. "Sorry to keep you waiting. I had to help Rose with something."

Jack laughed quietly. "Or maybe she was helping you with something."

"Either way, we don't need to know." Tony waved his hand as he smiled at him. "You look good for a man who was shot in the head last night. Where did it hit you?"

The Doctor walked behind the bar and pointed to the side of his head. "Right here. The force field seemed to compress there and knocked me out."

Jack looked back at Tony. "Mild concussion. He'll live."

Arla laughed at them. "Lewis says you were very lucky, Doctor Smith."

The Doctor looked surprised at her. "Is the Universal Translator in here, Arla?"

She turned back to him and smiled. "Yes. Just over there."

He smiled at her. "Good. Is there any hot water? I really need a cup of tea."

Arla smiled at him. "There's coffee already, but I'll heat you some water-"

He walked over to the pot and shook his head. "Nah. This will be fine. I don't want to be a bother. You are busy." He made himself a cup of coffee as he asked Arla, "Did you talk to Lewis?"

Arla nodded her head as she continued cooking. "Yes, he just came in here. Do you want to leave this afternoon? Is that right?"

He sipped his coffee. "Yes. Will you come with us? You don't have to leave the ship if you aren't comfortable with that. Lewis will be with you the entire time. I won't take him away from you."

Arla smiled at him. "It sounds like an adventure. I'd love to come! Maybe we can watch the children for you, so Mrs. Rose can have a date."

He kissed her cheek. "Arla! You are brilliant. Thank you!"

Arla smiled at him and blushed.

Tony looked at him. "Where are you going?"

"Plentitude. A planet over in the….ummm…." He couldn't think of the name of the system. He rubbed his head.

Jack laughed at him, "Gacrux system! About 120 light years from here. Are you alright?"

He shook his head and sipped his coffee. "Just light headed still from that blow to the head. It seems to be getting better."

Tony looked concerned at him. "Any memory loss?"

He looked at Tony, "Why?"

"That means yes. Are you sure it was a mild concussion? Did you crack your skull, maybe? That force field could have fractured something up there."

The Doctor shook his head. "Nah. I'd know. I'm fine. It's not as bad as it was when I first woke up this morning."

Tony looked concerned. "Don't play with that man. I mean, you're a Doctor and I feel like I'm preaching to the choir here. But, maybe you need to have a look at it."

"If it doesn't clear up, I'll scan myself. Don't worry about me. I'm fine." He told him as he drank his coffee.

"Well, alright then. Can't force a man to do something." Tony said.

Jack pointed at the Doctor. "And he's the worst about that. Geez."

Tony nodded, "That's what I'm finding out."

The Doctor rolled his eyes at the men. "Tony. Where did you park your motor?"

Tony laughed. He attempted a British accent. "Why governor. I parked the motor over in the garage where it was last time."

Jack laughed at him. "That's not bad."

Tony looked at him and smiled. "Been practicing."

The Doctor smiled and shook his head. "Shit. Let's go up to the ship. I think I have just the thing you need."

Jack nearly bounced off of his chair. "You're going up to the ship? I'd like to see it!"

Tony pointed at himself. "Whoa. Cold cheese. You're taking me up to the ship?"

He looked confused back at them. "Yeah." He looked at Jack. "Ummm… alright. But, I need you back down here later today. Just transport back down. Alright?"

Jack rubbed his hands together in excitement. "What is it again?"

The Doctor had pulled the transporter remote out of his pocket. He motioned for them to join him. "She's a Bloedhoneo Strijur from Veaglurst." He looked back at Arla. "Excuse us, Arla. Rose will be right down for breakfast. That smells wonderful."

Arla smiled at him as the three men disappeared.

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They reappeared in the transporter room. The Doctor walked over to the panel quickly and typed in something. Tony was looking around at everything. He was clearly impressed. He bit his bottom lip and nodded his head. "Damn. Very nice."

Jack looked around. "Way cleaner than the TARDIS."

The Doctor laughed, "Yeah, that's the first thing Rose said, too."

Tony looked back at Jack. "TARDIS?"

"That's what he called his other ship. It was way different than this. What is this one's name, Doc'?" Jack asked.

"Asclepius." The Doctor told him.

Jack laughed. "Where the hell did you get that name?"

Tony looked at Jack. "Really? God of Medicine. You don't know about Greek mythology?"

Jack smiled back at Tony. "Clearly not. Anyway. I'll have a wander. Anything you need me to stay out of?"

"Trouble. See if you can do that for me, Jack." The Doctor asked him.

Jack walked out of the room. "Oh, there's no fun in that."

Tony laughed. "I like him. He's as big of a pain in the ass as you are."

The Doctor shook his head as he walked into the hallway with Tony. "Oh, that's right. You don't really know Jack. Nor Jake. They've been gone for the past five months. Time travel accident."

"Time travel, huh? Are you two from the same place?"

"No, not really. We're from the same dimension, but Jack is from the future. That's the reason he is familiar with ships and such."

"So, not from the same planet?" Tony tried to understand.

"No. No one exists from the same planet I'm from. I'm the last from there. And that planet isn't even here in this dimension."

"Endangered species, huh?" Tony teased.

The Doctor smiled as he nodded his head. "That is a first."

They continued to walk down the hallway as the Doctor told Tony. "This is extremely classified so, you'll need to keep it to yourself you even know this is here."

"Understood. Where are we?"

"Inside the dark side of the moon in the newly completed space dock. Shakes' ship, The Hamlet, is docked right next to this one. You might see it when we get into the hanger. Legate is moving his ship over. He's joining us this afternoon."

"How long will you be gone?" Tony asked.

"I'm not sure. Maybe a week. Why? Want to come?" he asked him.

"Oh, shit. Really? Are you serious?" Tony covered his mouth in surprise.

The Doctor looked at him and shrugged his shoulders. "Sure. We have plenty of room. Bring your girlfriend if you want. I don't mind."

Tony shook his head. "Nah. She's pissed at me. She's sick and staying in New York. She told me to just stay my ass in Malibu."

"Damn. I'm sorry. I didn't know you two were having trouble."

"Ah. She puts up with a lot from me. She wants us to take a break. I don't know. That's what she said this morning."

The Doctor stopped walking. "Damn. That sucks. I'm sorry to hear that, man. Can you take a week away with the Expo and everything?"

Tony nodded his head. "Can I still get phone calls and such?"

The Doctor smiled. "Of course. I route them through the ship. You can disappear and no one will know where you went."

Tony rubbed his hands together in excitement. "Count me in then!"

They walked into the hanger. Tony stopped in surprise as he looked around. "Damn. How big is this ship? This room is huge! How many ships do you have in here? Are they all yours?"

The Doctor laughed at his excitement. "Yeah, I have three small ones. I've not named them yet. I figured I'd let the children do that. You need smaller ships when the main one is this big. Some planets don't allow you to transport down, or you need to go do something that requires a smaller craft."

They continued to walk down the hanger. Legate stood in front of a smaller ship that looked different from the others. One of the panels was opened and he was working on something. The Doctor and Tony walked up to him.

"Hey, Legate. You remember my friend, Tony." The Doctor said.

Legate smiled. "Of course. I'd shake your hand, but I'm rather dirty. My apologies."

Tony shook his head, "No problem. Now, I thought you said you only had three ships, Doc'. This is the fourth one I've counted."

The Doctor pointed at Legate. "This one is his. She could fly circles around anything I have in here."

Legate laughed, "Well, except for the big ship. But, yes."

"Everything alright with her?" The Doctor asked.

"Yeah, just a compression problem. I'll give it a closer look over later. It will give me something to do while we are gone."

Tony crossed his arms. "Is it similar to a hot rod? I'm familiar with that. Maybe I can help."

Legate nodded his head. "I'm not sure. I'm not familiar with a hot rod. But, you are welcome to help. Certainly!"

The Doctor smiled. "Legate. I need two small generators. I'm making a perception filter for something about two meters high."

"Instead of a perception filter, why not just put a cloak on it?" Legate asked.

The Doctor rubbed his head. "I'm not thinking clearly. That would work better. He has plenty of power for that." He turned to Tony, "Which would you rather have?"

Tony held his hands out and chuckled. "I have no idea what you are talking about, man. Should we just bring up the suit and work on it while we're gone, too?"

The Doctor looked surprised, "Okay, I'm really not thinking clearly. Why didn't I think of that? Legate? Want to work on a really neat project with Tony?"

Legate smiled and nodded. "Oh, it would be my pleasure! Timon is the best at stuff like that, though. We'll clear out Bay Five just for you Mr. Stark. That will leave Bay Six through Twelve for training."

"Training?" Tony asked.

The Doctor looked at him. "Yeah. I'm bringing a recruit with us who is in Basic. I'm taking over his training."

Legate smiled. "Doc' is tossing him into the deep end of the pool and forcing him to swim. Logan will rise to it. I'm sure of it."

The Doctor laughed. "Tony, let's go ahead and bring up your suit. Bay Five, Legate?"

Legate nodded, "Yeah. I think that's best."

The Doctor walked back down the hanger. Tony walked with him looking around. "This is amazing. Wow. I could live in here. All of this tech? Wow! This is like Candyland to me."

The Doctor smiled, "Genie's favorite game at the moment. She kicks my ass at it."

Tony laughed, "I don't think I would admit that to anyone else. Sad, man."

The Doctor stopped at a panel and started pressing buttons. "There's a shop on Plentitude I'll have to take you to. You'll really love it. I need to get some parts from there myself."

Tony nodded his head. "Oh, I'm looking forward to this, man. Thank you. What are you doing, now?"

The Doctor continued to press buttons on the wall's panel. He told Tony, "Little known fact about me, I helped program the first transporter systems many years ago. Or to come. Time travel makes it difficult to tell stories."

He smiled as he looked back at Tony. Tony looked surprised as his suit appeared in the hanger behind them. Tony pointed at it. "Good trick, Doc'."

The Doctor patted him on the shoulder and laughed. "Come on. There will be plenty of time to mess with all of this later. We need to get back." He started to walk back down the hall again.

Tony caught up with him. "You're bringing your children? Did I hear that right?"

"Yeah, and Pete's son, Tony. Ugh. I've got to talk to him first though. He doesn't know about me."

"Your daughter does? You told her?" The Doctor felt Tony's surprise.

"Yeah. That was easy. I'm not sure how Tony will take it."

Tony shook his head. "I don't envy you. That's not a conversation I would ever want to have."

"Yeah. I have no idea how I'm going to tell him. I can't think clearly today either, so that's not helping."

Tony tried to reassure him. "Don't worry about it. I seem to think better on my feet. I think you are the same way. It will just…work."

"I hope you are right. I don't want to scare him." The Doctor sighed.

They walked in bit further. "Oh, while we are here, remind me to scan you. We'll be able to see quickly about your genes you were curious about."

Tony groaned. "Ugh. Doctors."

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