Chapter 8: Titanic
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, it belongs to BBC
Take Yours, I'll Take Mine- Matthew Mole
Brothers and sisters
Fill these cups with life
Please forgive them
'cos they know not their lies
After hearing the steward say that the shaking was gravity pockets, she decided to find the Doctor and see what he had to say about it. She said her goodbyes to the Face of Boe who gave her a good luck. She ran to the door that the Doctor and Rose went through.
Once the door opened she ran right into the Doctor. "I was just going to find you guys. Did you feel the shaking?" She asked them.
"How could you not!" Rose replied. "But the steward said it was only a gravity pocket."
"That wasn't a gravity pocket," he told them going to a panel by the door. "I know gravity pockets and they don't feel like that."
"Then if it wasn't gravity pockets, what was it?" Kit asked him.
"I'm not sure. What do you think, Jade?" He asked and Kit turned to see Jade standing right behind them. "Listened to the engines. They've pitched up about thirty Hertz. That dodgy or what?"
Jade just shrugged. "It's the sound of metal. It doesn't make any sense to me."
"Where's the engine room?" He asked her.
"I don't know, but the maintenance duct is just behind our guest suite, I could show you, your wife and your daughter," she suggested nodding to Rose and Kit which made Kits eyebrows shoot up in disbelief.
"She's not my wife and the other one isn't my daughter," the Doctor tried to explain.
"Partners?"
"No."
"Concubines?"
"Nope."
"Prostitutes?"
Kit had finally hear enough. She felt like she was basically being called a slut. "Alright! I think that's enough playing guess who. How about you actually ask us instead of acting like we're invisible because I don't think I really appreciate what you're implying!" Kit snapped.
"I'm actually going to agree with Kittredge on this one, do you mind?" Rose demanded. "Tell you what, you two go and pollinate. I'm going to catch up with family. Quick word with Michael Jackson," she said pointing to Cassandra.
Rose started walking towards the Last Human. "Don't start a fight," the Doctor joked. "You coming?" He asked Kit. "Or do you want to also talk to the Last Human?
"Nah, I'll come with you. If I do go and talk to the plastic trampoline I might actually get into a fight. She seems like an annoying woman," she replied.
"Fair enough," he remarked. "Alright you two, let see what's wrong with this ship."
The Doctor, Jade and Kit walked to Jades guest room and found the maintenance duct. When they opened the door, Kit was hit with a gust of cold air and shivered. But it wasn't just because of the cold air that made her shivered, she shivered knowing something was off. They moved into the small space and started traveling through the ducts.
"Who's in charge of Platform One?" The Doctor finally asked. "Is there a Captain or what?"
"There's just the Steward and the staff. All the rest is controlled by the metal mind," Jade replied like this was the type of information that everyone should know.
The Doctor frowned. "You mean the computer? But who controls that?"
"The Corporation. They move Platform One from one artistic event to another."
"But there's no one from the Corporation on board," he said, sounding a bit confused.
"They're not needed. This facility is purely automatic. It's the height of the Alpha class. Nothing can go wrong," Jade remarked proudly.
Kit snorted. "Yeah, I'm sure that's what the people on the Titanic said right before they hit the iceberg," she commented which caused Jade to give her a confused and questioning look.
"You're telling me. I was on board that ship once," he added. "I ended up clinging to the iceberg. It wasn't half cold." He then stopped abruptly causing Kit to run into Jade. "So, what you're saying is, if we get in trouble there's no one to help us out?"
Kits stomach dropped when he said that. This is so like the Titanic I'd be laughing if it wasn't so terrifying, she thought,
"I'm afraid not," Jade answered, not seeing the danger they faced.
"Fantastic," the Doctor exclaimed dryly.
"I don't understand. In what way is that fantastic?" Jade questioned.
Kit sighed. "He doesn't actually mean it, Jade. He's just being sarcastic."
Jade shook her head. "I still don't understand."
"Just—never mind," Kit groaned and decided to switch the topic. "So what're doing here anyways, Jade? I mean you are a tree. This doesn't really see like your kinda thing," she asked.
"Respect for the Earth," she responded.
Kit raised an eyebrow. "Really? Because I'm pretty sure everyone here, including you, are billionaires!"
"Well, perhaps it's a case of having to be seen at the right occasions," Jade finally replied truthfully.
"In case your share prices drop?" The Doctor jumped in. "I know you lot. You've got massive forests everywhere, roots everywhere, and there's always money in land."
"All the same, we respect the Earth as family," Jade countered. "So many species evolved from that planet. Mankind is only one. I'm another. My ancestors were transplanted from the planet down below, and I'm a direct descendant of the tropical rainforest."
The Doctor finally stopped and turned. "Excuse me," he said scanning a panel on the wall.
"And what about your ancestry, Doctor?" Jade piped in making Kit freeze and beg that she wasn't going where Kit thought she was going. "Perhaps you could tell a story or two. Perhaps a man only enjoys trouble when there's nothing else left," she continued but the Doctor seemed to just ignore her. "I scanned you earlier. The metal machine had trouble identifying your species. It refused to admit your existence. And even when it named you, I wouldn't believe it. But it was right. I know where you're from. Forgive me for intruding, but it's remarkable that you even exist. I just wanted to say how sorry I am," she whispered and put her hand on his arm.
Kit watched the Doctor waiting for him to yell or shout at her but Kit was surprised when she saw him put his hand over Jades and a tear dropped from his eye. He quickly glanced at Kit. She saw the worry and sadness in his eyes like he was almost scared that Kit heard all that. For Kit, she knew all about his past and all about what happened in Gallifray. For this Doctor, though, he assumed this was the first time Kit had ever heard this. She gave him a sad smile and the Doctor looked away quickly and opened the door beside the panel.
They walked through and ended up in a giant chamber that ran through the whole depth of the Platform. Kit looked straight ahead to see a long catwalk that ran through a series of large fans.
"Is it me, or is it a bit nippy?" The Doctor asked them. "Fair do's, though, that's a great bit of air conditioning," he commented moving to a panel on the side of the room. "Sort of nice and old fashioned."
"Yeah, I'm betting they're calling this retro now," Kit joked causing the Doctor to grin.
The Doctor scanned the panel. "Gotcha!" He exclaimed, opening up the panel.
Suddenly, a spider like creature made of metal scuttled out of the panel and up the wall.
"What the hell is that thing?" Kit questioned.
"Is it part of the retro?" Jade asked her.
"No, not this time it isn't," Kit replied, staring up at the weird creature trying to get away.
The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver. "Hold one," he told them and aimed in at the metal spider.
The Doctor tried to get it down with his sonic but it didn't look like it was working too well. All of a sudden Jade lassoed it with her branch arm that extended out. It fell into the Doctors hands.
"Hey, nice liana," the Doctor complemented.
Jade smiled shyly. "Thank you. We're not supposed to show them in public."
"Hey, don't worry. We won't tell a soul, promise," Kit smiled and Jade smiled kindly back.
"Now then, who's been bringing their pets on board?" The Doctor asked, probably mostly to himself.
"What does it do?" Jade questioned with wide eyes.
Kit shrugged. "Sabotage?"
The Doctor nodded. "Sabotage."
Suddenly the computerized voice spoke, "Earth Death in ten minutes."
The Doctor frowned. "And the temperature's about to rocket. Come on," he told them in a panic and they all took of running back into the ducts.
The ran through the ducts and out the door they came in. The Doctor stopped once they were out.
"We should probably find the steward first, let him know that someone's sabotaging the station. Maybe he can contact someone so we can evacuate everyone here," he rushed out.
"In the next ten minutes? I doubt anyone would reach us in time." Kit ran her hand through her hair. "Man, this really is turning into the Titanic," she muttered.
The Doctor sighed. "We have to at least let him know what's happening."
"Yeah, alright, lead the way," she told him.
The ran down the long corridors to the steward's office. The turned a corner and noticed smoke coming out of one of the rooms. The little blue aliens were all gathered around the room and suddenly Kit realized that they smoke was from the steward's office.
The Doctor pushed past the assistants and to a panel on the wall. "Hold on. Get back," he ordered using his sonic on the panel and the sun filter started to rise.
Kit sniffed the air then gagged. "What smells like burnt chicken?" Kit asked, covering her mouth with her jacket.
"That would be the steward," the Doctor replied, still focusing on the panel.
Kit grimaced. "Oh, right, that's not good," she muttered. She felt bad. The steward was not a bad guy just someone doing his job.
"Hold on," the Doctor exclaimed suddenly. "There's another sun filter programmed to descend."
He took off running and Kit followed close behind praying that they could reach the other room in time. They ran until they found a room that was stating to smoke much like the steward's office did. She could hear pounding from the other side of the door. Someone was in there.
The Doctor started to fettle with the panel using his sonic. "Anyone in there?" He asked.
"Let me out!" The voice shouted and Kit suddenly realized it was Rose's voice.
"Hey, look at that, we found Rose!" Kit exclaimed jokingly.
The Doctor turned to her. "Oh, well, it would be her, wouldn't it?"
"Will you two stop joking around and get me out of here!" Rose screamed at them.
The Doctor went back to fiddling with the panel. "Hold on. Give us two ticks!"
Finally, the computer said, "Sun filter rising. Sun filter rising." Kit let out a sigh of relief. Her relief was short lived though as the computer stated to say, "Sun filter descending. Sun filter descending."
"Just what we need," the Doctor muttered as he frantically tried to fix the problem.
"What happened?!" Kit asked.
"The computer's getting clever," the Doctor replied.
Kit wanted to help. She wanted to grab her sonic screwdriver and figure out what was wrong with the computer but she knew that would be a bad idea. Instead, she stood behind the Doctor hoping he could get Rose out of this mess. If he couldn't then Kit would get her answer on what happened to Rose in the future, although, she rather it not happened this way.
"Would you two stop mucking about!" Rose yelled at them.
Kit ran her hands through her hair. "We're not! The computer is being difficult. It's somehow fighting back."
"I don't care just open this door!" Rose shouted.
"We're trying!" Kit shouted back.
"The lock's melted," Kit could hear Rose say.
The Doctor took the panel out of the wall to reveal a bunch of different wires.
Kit turned to the Doctor. "Come one! Hurry!"
"Patience is a virtue," the Doctor muttered.
"Not when someone's about to die, it isn't!" She argued, panic seizing her heart.
The Doctor put his sonic into the hole full on wire and then the computer spoke, "Sun filter rising. Sun filter rising."
Kit went to open to door but it wouldn't budge. She turned to the Doctor. "The door won't open. It's jammed."
The Doctor frowned and tried the door as well but nothing happened. "You're right. I can't open the door," he shouted to Rose. "Stay there! Don't move!"
"Where are am I going to go, Ipswich?" Kit heard Rose shout back in a mix of innocence and fear.
"Earth Death in five minutes," the computer informed them.
Kit groaned. "Man, I really wish it would stop saying that," she muttered as they both took off running towards the observation gallery.
They walked through the door just in time to see everyone beginning to panic. The Doctor walked over to Jade and grabbed the spider creature from her hands.
"Summon the steward," Moxx commanded.
"I'm afraid the Steward is dead," Jade announced which caused a number of grasps to irrupt in the crowd.
"Who killed him?" Moxx finally asked.
Kit was about to tell everyone that they were still trying to figure that out when Cassandra piped in. "This whole event was sponsored by the Face of Boe. He invited us," she accused. "Talk to the Face. Talk to the Face!"
Kit clenched her fists into a tight ball. "Hey, back off him, less attractive Barbie!"
"What did you just call me?!" Cassandra shirked. "Maybe you're the one who killed the Steward. Someone with that little fashion sense has to be up to not good," she insulted.
"I'll show you no good," Kit said through her teeth.
She stated moving towards Cassandra when she felt the Doctor's hand on her arm stopping her. "Maybe we try for a less violent approach," he suggested.
Kit took a deep breath in trying to calm herself down. Her Doctor always told her that one day her anger was going to get the best of her. He was probably right but that women frustrated her more then anything and Kit couldn't help but hope Cassandra was the guilty one in all this.
"Fine," Kit grumbled in defeat knowing he was right.
The Doctor held up the metal spider. "Anyways, we have an easy way of finding out who did it. Someone bought their little pet on board. Let's send him back to master."
He placed the spider on the ground. It crawled over to Cassandra and Kit felt a glimmer of hope. Cassandra looked around everywhere but the metal spider and Kit just knew they got her but then the spider turned. Everyone watched as it moved over to the Reaped Memes. Kit was slightly disappointed but she knew that she should have seen that one coming. She did have a bad feeling about them in the first place.
"The Adherents of the Repeated Meme. J'accuse!" Cassandra shouted which made Kit glare at her.
"That's all very well, and really kind of obvious," the Doctor remarked walking over to the Repeated Meme. "But if you stop and think about it," one of the blacked robed figures to hit him but the Doctor grabbed its arm and pulled it off. "A Repeated Meme is just an idea. And that's all they are, an idea," he explained to them and then pulled on a wire dangling from the arm. The Repeated Memes collapsed to the ground.
"Remote controlled droids," Kit observed coming up behind the Doctor. "Nice cover but if they aren't responsible for all of this, then who is?"
"Well, let's find out," he told her then moved to the metal spider. "Go on, Jimbo. Go home," he cooed, pushing it forward with his foot.
The metal creature moved forwards and straight to Cassandra. This time to didn't move anywhere else and stayed in front of her. Kit grinned when she saw this, happy it really was The Last Human who did it.
"I bet you were the school swot and never got kissed," she insulted the Doctor which made Kit roll her eyes in annoyance. "At aims," She yelled at her assistance who raised their spray guns.
"What're going to do, moisturize us with those things?" Kit asked sarcastically.
"With acid," Cassandra responded dryly causing Kit's smile to drop. "Oh, you're too late, anyway. My spiders have control of the mainframe. Oh, you all carried them as gifts, tax free, past every code wall. I'm not just as pretty face."
"You're right, you aren't a pretty face," Kit snapped which made Cassandra glare at her. "And anyways, sabotaging this ship while you're still in it? Kinda stupid if you asked me."
Cassandra rolled her eyes. "I'd hoped to manufacture a hostage situation with myself as one of the victims. The compensation would have been enormous."
The Doctor shook his head. "Five billion years and it still comes down to money."
Cassandra glared at him. "Do you think it's cheap, looking like this?" She asked. "Flatness costs a fortune. I am the last human, Doctor. Me. Not that freaky little kid of yours and your annoying little daughter," she bit out.
Kit clenched her jaw. She didn't know why everyone kept on assuming she was the Doctors daughter. If someone said that when she was with her Doctor, then she would get it but being with this Doctor didn't make sense to her. She wondered what the Doctor thought about it.
"Arrest her, the infidel," Moxx shouted at her.
"Oh, shut it, pixie," she yelled. She looked back up at the Doctor and Kit. "I've still got my final option."
"Earth death in three minutes," the computer announced.
"And here it comes. You're just as useful dead, all of you. I have shares in your rival companies and they'll triple in price as soon as you're dead," she explained making Kit want to punch a hole into her piece of skin. "My spiders are primed and ready to destroy the safety systems. How did that old Earth song go? Burn, baby, burn."
"Then you'll burn with us," Jade jumped in.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," she said, her voice thick with sarcasm. "I know the use of teleportation is strictly forbidden, but I'm such a naughty thing," she smiled sweetly. "Spiders, activate." Suddenly, a series of explosions exploded around the platform. Everyone flinched and some ducked for cover. "Force fields gone with the planet about to explode. At least it'll be quick. Just like my fifth husband. Oh, shame on me," she laughed.
"Safety systems failing," the computer said and Kit felt panic rise in her.
"Bye, bye, darlings. Bye, bye, my darlings," Cassandra told them as she beamed out leaving a mess in her wake.
"Heat levels rising," The computer spoke again.
"Shit!" Kit exclaimed looking around her. She really hated that women.
"Reset the computer," Moxx ordered franticly.
"Only the Steward would know how," Jade explained to him.
The Doctor suddenly shook his head. "No. We can do it by hand. There must be a system restore switch. Kit, come on," he said pointing to the door they came in.
"Wait," they heard Jade say. "Let me help."
Kit shook her head. "No, we need someone to stay with the other and try to keep them calm."
"Plus, it's going to get hot in there. You'll burn up," the Doctor added. Jade looked at him sadly. The Doctor put his hand on her shoulder. "You're doing us a great help by staying here and doing what Kit said," he reassured her.
"Okay, just be careful," she paused for a second and then smiled, "Time Lord."
The Doctor smiled at her and then nodded. "Thank you. Now let's go, Kit!"
The both ran to the door but the Doctor turned and face the crowd for a second. "You lot, just chill!"
A/N- Another chapter up! Next chapter will wrap up The End of the World. I hope you liked it and don't forget to review!