When the shuttle comes to a stop, so does my heart. I've seen enough movies in both of my lifetimes to know that something is about to happen. I don't know what, but I'd bet my life it's not good.
Wait, no, I shouldn't bet my life, I don't want to jinx anything. I'd really rather come out of this alive, thank you very much.
"We've stopped," states one of the other passengers, I think her name is Val. "Have we stopped?"
"Are we there?" Biff, her husband, asks.
"Can't be, its too soon," Dee Dee, the young student who came in with Professor Hobbes, interjects.
"Yeah, it's only been," I speak up, doing the math in my head, "a little over two hours, I think."
Professor Hobbes adds, "Crusader vehicles never stop like this."
"Evidently it has," I hear someone say as I get up to speak with Ayo.
"If you could just return to your seats, it's only a small delay," Ayo tells the passengers, going to the intercom phone.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but there's nothing between the Leisure Palace and the Waterfall Palace, so I can assume this isn't just a pit stop," I whisper to her once I get close enough.
"No, probably not," she whispers hurriedly back, before turning her attention back to the phone when, I guess, the driver begins speaking. My guess is proven correct when she asks whoever's on the other side of the phone, "what's going on?"
I cast my eyes over the other passengers, seeing them speak amongst themselves. The Doctor, though, is walking up to where Ayo and I stand, digging into his pocket.
For a moment I have the irrational fear that he's going to pull out a gun or something, before a vague memory stirs, informing me that he "doesn't like guns."
Reassuring, I suppose.
"Ladies and gentlemen and variations thereupon, we're just experiencing a short delay. The driver just needs to stabilize the engine feeds. It's perfectly normal routine, so if you could just stay in your seats," Ayo says, not sounding quite as calm as she probably thinks she does.
By this time, the Doctor has reached us, or rather, the door to the cockpit. When Ayo goes to stop him, he flashes whatever he took out of his pocket at her and, consequently, me. I see words, but I don't get to read what it says before he's through the door. I do notice the Leisure Palace logo on the bottom, though, so I assume he's posing as an employee here or something.
"—you're not supposed..." Ayo calls out after him, trailing off, inhaling deeply as if to calm herself.
Well, that was both rude and entitled.
"Men," I scoff, Ayo snorting in amusement.
"Agreed." Ayo looks over the panicking group of passengers and it's only as a friend (and fellow person who works with stupid people on a daily basis, what with being a waitress) that I feel the exhaustion rolling off her in waves.
"I'll take the family, you take the rest?" I offer, nodding my head in the direction of Biff and Val arguing with their son. Ayo looks like she wants to protest for a moment, before she spots the blonde woman I hadn't caught the name of pacing nervously.
Ayo straightens up, moving to calm the woman without another word, which I assume to mean she's taken my offer. With a shrug, I approach the small family of three.
"—enough, Jethro, not everything is a joke," Val is saying as I near them.
"Is everything okay here?" I ask when they notice me, defaulting into customer service mode.
"No, obviously, everything is not okay," Val snaps immediately, but my friendly smile doesn't falter.
"Unless you have news on why we've stopped in the middle of nowhere, I suggest you leave us alone," Biff adds, seemingly trying to intimidate me for whatever reason. Again, I remain outwardly unfazed, though I am a bit confused at the hostility. Well, I guess people do respond to stress differently, but it's still kind of rude.
"Another employee is checking in with the driver as we speak," I tell them, trying to exude an air of professionalism. "If you could just move back to your seats, I'm sure he will be back with more information soon. In the meantime, I can get you drinks and snacks as we wait if you want them."
"Excuse me, but do you even work here?" Val asks, accusing me of, well, something with her eyes.
"I work with the company, yes," I answer confidently, avoiding the real question. Somehow I doubt they'd respond well to learning I was a waitress and not technically qualified to be telling them what to do. Luckily, Val and Biff relax a bit at this, though their son, Jethro raises an eyebrow at me, a teasing glint in his eyes. I coolly ignore the look, finally convincing them to move from where they'd sequestered themselves in the back of the shuttle and over to their original seats.
Before I know it, most of the other passengers have sat down, waiting impatiently but quietly, at least. Well, until the Doctor returns only moments later, and then the chaos returns.
And then the knocking starts.
AN: Happy Holidays! This is late because I'll be moving soon so I haven't had a lot of free time. I'll probably only be posting once a week for now, so either Monday or Thursday, but probably not both. I'll try to inform you beforehand if I need to miss a week, though.
Btw, I haven't seen this episode in forever so I'm basically going by memory. I did look up a transcript of the episode and added what I missed and edited anything that didn't match the actual episode—for example, I had some characters call Mrs. Silvestry by her name, but they don't actually find out her name until after she's already been possessed or whatever (except for the Doctor, who was the only one to speak to her). I mean, some things could still be wrong, because the script I'm using is basically just the spoken words of the episode and not a lot of the other details—like facial expressions, tone of voice, where they're standing—so I just guessed. We'll call it artistic license.
