Chapter CXVIII
Doctor
They had dropped off Harold in London, together with some of the stones of Mira's necklace. That should give him a good starting point.
"Where to next?" he asked as Mira came back into the console room after changing clothes.
"I don't know," she replied. "Dinosaurs? Finally? But be careful. You know the big meteor that wiped them all out? Bit before that if possible. Like years before?"
"Okay," he said. He wasn't too keen on seeing dinosaurs, but they could stop there for an hour or so. "Actually, that wasn't a meteor, that was-"
Something collided with the TARDIS, stopping him mid-sentence. Debris and dust were flying around and before he could grab onto something, Mira fell against him and they both went down to the floor. And that sound – was that a horn? It would fit to the ship's bow that was now sticking into the console room. A ship? Something had landed next to him. A life belt? "Titanic," he murmured as he picked it up. "What!?" Then he threw it away again and got up, pulling Mira with him.
"You're alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, staring at the the bow.
He reversed the TARDIS and she instantly repaired the hole.
"What just happened?" she asked. "I mean, apart from the obvious. And that she is self-healing."
"Forgot to put the shields back up," he said, stunned about his own negligence.
"What?" She asked, but obviously didn't really want an answer, as she continued, "That's what happens when you skip the pre-flight checks!"
"Pre-flight checks?" He looked at her, his eyes narrowed.
"Yeah, you heard me. You forgetting the shields tells me there should be one."
"Probably. Threw out the manual ages ago. Don't tell me you do a pre-flight check every single time?"
"I actually do!" she said and picked up the life belt. "Titanic?" She looked back and forth between him and where the hole in the hull had just been moments ago. "What the hell? We're in space, aren't we? There's no way we've just collided with the actual Titanic?"
"Nah," he said, rushing around the console. "Let's go and find out, shall we?"
...
The TARDIS had materialised. But where? He went to the door and carefully peered out. They were alone in a small room, next to a board with shipping companies listed on it, and some other stuff. Probably a storage room.
"Come," he said.
He went through another door, Mira on his heels, and found himself amidst a reception. A rather formal one for that matter, people were dressed in Edwardian looking outfits with formally dressed waiters and crewmembers. And – angels.
"Oh god, it's that time of the year – again?" Mira commented on the Christmas music being played by a band. "God, those are ugly." She pointed at one of the angels.
"Indeed," he said stopped in front of one of the angels which, in his opinion, wasn't designed by someone with at least a hint of taste. Suddenly it moved, making Mira jump.
"Robots!" she said. "Almost gave me a heart attack."
"Yeah, I don't like angels too much either," he replied and then he spotted what he had been looking for. A window.
"So we are in space," Mira said as they stood side by side, looking at Earth from orbit. "That sight never gets old."
Now that they had seen for themselves where they were it was also announced over the speakers: "Attention all passengers. The Titanic is now in orbit above Sol Three, also known as Earth. Population, Human. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Christmas."
"Well then," he turned to Mira, "We're sticking out." She was wearing her usual black together with the green uniform jacket. As he looked her up and down he realised he probably had never seen someone wearing a uniform as casually as she, and yet she did look quite formal in it, despite the jacket being open. "Let's get changed."
...
Shortly after they were back at the reception, him wearing a dinner jacket and Mira a dark green Edwardian evening gown.
"A cruise. To Earth. On Christmas." Mira was shaking her head as they looked around the room.
"Oh come on, it's fun, isn't it? Look at this ship! They really made an effort."
"Yes, it's not bad," she said with a smile. "Apart from the name. Why would you do that? That's bad luck."
"Have you never reused names for your ships after the original one got destroyed?"
"Well. No. Yes. But- They never collided with an iceberg. Fine. There was the original CREST for example, which got shot down and crashed on a planet. But it went down with a fight and didn't just fly into that planet by accident."
They mingled with the other guests for a while, passing a man yelling into something looking like a fancy mobile phone about some trades he wanted to have done, obviously feeling very important.
"Some things never change, no matter the place or century," Mira shook her head again.
"Now that you say it, I think it's time to get some information," he said and went up to one of the angels.
"Evening," he said. "Passenger fifty seven. Terrible memory. Remind me. You would be?"
"Information," the robot replied. "Heavenly Host supplying tourist information."
"Good," he replied, "So, tell me, because I'm an idiot, where are we from?"
"Information. The Titanic is en route from the planet Sto in the Cassavalian Belt. The purpose of the cruise is to experience primitive cultures."
"Primitive?" Mira said indignantly. "Why is this ship then called Titanic?"
"Information. It was chosen as the most famous vessel of the planet Earth."
"Did they tell you why it was famous?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at the robot.
"Information. All designations are chosen by Mister Max Capricorn, president of Max, Max, Max..."
"Oops, looks like we broke it," Mira whispered with a grin on her face as the robot kept repeating his last word in a more and more distorted voice, seemingly being stuck.
"Just a bit of a glitch," he said and reached for his screwdriver, but some Stewards had already arrived.
"It's all right, sir, we can handle this," one of them said whilst two others switched it off and carried it away.
"Software problem, that's all," the remaining steward said. "Leave it with us, sir. Merry Christmas."
And then he followed the other two, saying, "That's another one down. What's going on with these things?"
He and Mira looked at each other.
"If that's not a bad omen, then-" Mira said, but just then the important guy from earlier bumped into a waitress next to them.
"For Tov's sake, look where you're going," the man said. "This jacket's a genuine Earth antique."
The waitress hurried to apologise, but the man just continued. "You'll be sorry when it comes off your wages, sweetheart. Staffed by idiots. No wonder Max Capricorn's going down the drain."
He watched him stomp away, then he went down to the floor to help picking up the pieces.
"What a moron," Mira said, looking after the man then she crouched next to him and the waitress, helping as well.
"Thank you, sir, madame," the waitress, a small, blonde woman, said. "I can manage."
"I never said you couldn't." He smiled at her. "I'm the Doctor, by the way. And this is Mira."
"Astrid. Astrid Peth."
"Nice to meet you, Astrid Peth. Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas, sir. Madame."
"Just Doctor, not sir."
"And you can call me Mira," Mira added.
"You two are enjoying the cruise?"
"Well, it's Christmas," Mira replied before he could, "And the ship's name's a bit concerning, but apart from that..."
"What's wrong with the name?" Astrid asked.
"Nothing, really," he hurried to reply. "She just doesn't like the sound of it. But what about you? Long way from home, Planet Sto."
"Doesn't feel that different," Astrid replied as they walked back to the window, looking at the view of Earth again. "I spent three years working at the spaceport diner, travelled all the way here and I'm still waiting on tables."
"No shore leave?" he asked.
"We're not allowed. They can't afford the insurance. I just wanted to try it, just once. I used to watch the ships heading out to the stars and I always dreamt of-" She broke off. "It sounds daft."
"It's not daft," Mira said quietly.
"You dreamt of another sky," he said as Mira remained silent, looking down at Earth. "New sun, new air, new life. A whole universe teeming with life. Why stand still when there're all that life out there?"
"So, you travel a lot? You and your... wife, I mean." Astrid asked.
"What?" he asked and looked over to Mira.
"Oh, we're not married," she said.
"Oh," Astrid said. "I just thought... You'd be such a nice couple."
"Yeah," he said slowly, still looking at Mira. "I guess we would?" Mira just grinned. He was glad she didn't make a fuss about it, as some others would have. Not that he didn't want to admit they were actually – well... He just didn't want to discuss it with everyone. It was between him and her, and he was actually a bit afraid that talking about it too much with others would... trivialise it, weird as it sounded. "Anyway, we love to travel, all the time. Just for fun. Well, that's the plan. Never quite works."
"Must be rich, though," Astrid said, thankfully dropping the married couple topic.
"Haven't got a penny. Stowaway," he said quietly, ignoring Mira's warning stare.
"Kidding."
"Seriously."
"How did you get on board?" Astrid asked.
"Accident," he replied, hands in his pockets. "I've got this, sort of, ship thing. I was just rebuilding her. Left the defences down. Bumped into the Titanic. Here I am. Bit of a party. I thought, why not?"
"I should report you," Astrid said with a lopsided smile.
"Go on then."
"I'll get you a drink on the house," Astrid replied and left.
Something else caught his attention. People were laughing at a large woman and her companion – well, they were sticking out he had to admit, dressed in matching cowboy outfits.
"Something's tickled them," he said and joined them.
"They told us it was fancy dress," the woman said. "Very funny, I'm sure."
"They're just picking on us because we haven't paid," the man said. "We won our tickets in a competition."
He sat down after pulling back a chair for Mira.
"I had to name the five husbands of Joofie Crystalle in By the Light of the Asteroid," the woman said. "Did you ever watch By the Light of the Asteroid?"
"Is that the one with the twins?" he remembered.
"What's that?" Mira said with a blank look on her face.
"Oh, it's marvellous!" the woman replied, leaving Mira none the wiser.
"But we're not good enough for that lot. They think we should be in steerage," the man said.
"Well, can't have that, can we?" he said and secretly aiming his sonic at the champaign bottle on the table behind him. The cork popped out, showering them all in champaign.
"Did you do that?" the man whispered even though they wouldn't have heard him over their indignant screams.
"Maybe," he said.
"We like you," the woman said.
"We do," the man confirmed. "Both of you. I'm Morvin Van Hoff. This is my good woman, Foon."
"I'm Mira."
"And I'm the Doctor."
"Oh, I'm going to need a Doctor, time I've finished with that buffet. Have a buffalo wing. They must be enormous, these buffalo. So many wings."
They started eating just as another speaker announcement interrupted them, calling a group of passengers for shore leave.
"Red Six Seven. That's us. Are you Red Six Seven?" Foon asked.
"Might as well be," he replied.
Mira
Down to Earth? Why not. At Christmas though? She had seen how that tended to work out in this universe. She followed the Doctor, past a man in a suit herding them onwards, just as Astrid reappeared with their drinks. She liked her, but then again, she hold a general fondness for everyone who wanted to see the stars as much as she did.
"I got you're drinks," Astrid said.
Shame she couldn't get down to Earth – maybe she could swap her place with her? But the Doctor seemed to have a plan of his own already.
"And I got you a treat. Come on," he nodded to her.
"Red Six Seven departing shortly," he man in the suite hurried them.
"Red Six Seven plus two," the Doctor said, flashing his psychic paper to him.
Plus two? That won't work, she thought, but he let them pass.
"Quickly, sir, please, and take each a teleport bracelet if you would."
Teleport bracelet? If that didn't sound like high-tech. Finally their little group had all gathered up, and the man introduced himself.
"To repeat, I am Mister Copper, the ship's historian, and I shall be taking you to old London town in the country of UK, ruled over by good King Wenceslas. Now, human beings worship the great god Santa, a creature with fearsome claws, and his wife Mary. And every Christmas Eve, the people of UK go to war with the country of Turkey. They then eat the Turkey people for Christmas dinner like savages."
She was lost for words. There was a planet with a live population, broadcasting into space (if only by accident for most of it) like crazy, and he still managed to get all of it wrong?
"Excuse me," the Doctor said, taken aback as well. "Sorry, sorry, but, er, where did you get all this from?"
"Well, I have a first class degree in Earthonomics," Mister Copper replied, feeling not quite as convinced as he tried to appear, she noticed. "Now, stand by."
Just then a little, red, spiked, alien ran up to their group.
"And me! And me! Red Six Seven," he yelled.
"Well, take a bracelet, please, sir."
That wouldn't end well. He couldn't even pass as a child in fancy dress.
"But, er, hold on, hold on. What was your name?" the Doctor asked him.
"Bannakaffalatta."
"Okay, Bannakaffalatta. But it's Christmas Eve down there. Late night shopping, tons of people. He's like a talking conker. No offence, but you'll cause a riot because the streets are going to be packed with shoppers and parties and-"
He was stopped mid-sentence and she found herself suddenly in the middle of a street. An empty street. "Impressive," she mumbled, looking at the teleport bracelet. Not quite as impressive as Jack's teleport bracelet, but fancy nevertheless.
"Now, spending money," Mister Copper said, all tour guide now, holding up a little plastic card, "I have a credit card in Earth currency if you want to buy trinkets, or stockings, or the local delicacy, which is known as beef. But don't stray too far, it could be dangerous. Any day now they start boxing."
"Boxing?" she repeated and suddenly she lost it. She turned around and walked two steps, giggling, trying not to burst into laughter as she knew she wouldn't be able to stop any time soon.
"What is it?" the Doctor walked around her.
She just shook her head and tried to take some deep breaths to regain at least some self control.
"Nothing, nothing really." And, after more giggling and another deep breath, she continued quietly, "I just realised how grotesque the whole thing is. Here I am, on Earth, on Christmas eve, with a group of aliens on a sightseeing tour – mind you, I'm the only actual human here, and I'm not even from here - and our tour guide is telling all that crap about Earth! Sorry." She looked at the Doctor who was now grinning as well. "Okay," she said and after another deep breath and wiping tears of laughter from her eyes, "I've just not been a tourist for a very long time. But why is it so empty here?"
"Yes, it should be full. It should be busy. Something's wrong," he said.
"But it's beautiful," Astrid said, who had stepped over to them now as well.
"Really?" the Doctor said. Do you think so? It's just a street. The pyramids are beautiful, and New Zealand."
"But it's a different planet," Astrid replied, "I'm standing on a different planet. There's concrete and shops. Alien shops. Real alien shops! Look, no stars in the sky. And it smells. It stinks! Oh, this is amazing. Thank you!" Then she hugged the Doctor, rather enthusiastically.
Okay, she thought. At least she had tried to work out if they were a couple. Not her fault that they hadn't told her.
"Yeah? Come on then, let's have a look."
They went over to a news stand.
"Hello, there," the Doctor said, "Sorry, obvious question, but where's everybody gone?"
"Oh ho, scared!" the man behind the counter replied. It was a small shop, in the background she could hear a TV hidden somewhere.
"Right. Yes," the Doctor replied. "Scared of what?"
"Where've you been living? London at Christmas? Not safe, is it."
"Why?"
"Well, it's them, up above. Look, Christmas before last we had that big bloody spaceship, everyone standing on a roof. And then last year, that Christmas Star electrocuting all over the place, draining the Thames. And this year, Lord knows what," he continued. "So, everybody's scarpered. Gone to the country. All except me and Her Majesty."
"Seems like they're being surprisingly sensible for once," she said, earning a suspicious glance from the man.
He pulled some of his stuff aside which had half covered the TV, and turned towards it. It was playing news.
"Her Majesty the Queen has confirmed that she'll be staying in Buckingham Palace throughout the festive season to show the people of London, and the world, that there's nothing to fear."
"God bless her. We stand vigil," the man proudly said and saluted his queen.
"Well, between you and me," the Doctor said, "I think her Majesty's got it right. Far as I know, this year, nothing to worry about."
And then, all of a sudden, the scene changed again and they were back on the spaceship.
"I was in mid-sentence," the Doctor complained.
"Yes, I'm sorry about that. A bit of a problem. If I could have your bracelets," Mister Copper said and they handed the bracelets over. All but Astrid who was hiding behind the Doctor so the stewards collecting them wouldn't see her. Shame we can't keep them, she thought, but most likely there was a huge power station within the ship, and the bracelets alone were useless and no-one would be able to work out how the functioned without the central unit.
"Apologies, ladies and gentlemen, and Bannakaffalatta," One of the stewards said. "We seem to have suffered a slight power fluctuation. If you'd like to return to the festivities. And on behalf of Max Capricorn Cruiseliners, free drinks will be provided."
She looked over to Astrid who still smiled like a child on Christmas, and then to the Doctor.
"What sort of power fluctuation?" he spoke out what she had been thinking, but the stewards only shrugged and told them not to worry, so they finally followed the others back to the reception.
"She has a crush on you," she quietly said as they were walking through the empty corridors.
"What!?" He looked at her out of huge eyes.
"Astrid," she sighed. "She's into you."
"So?" he said carefully.
"Just saying," she shrugged. "So you're not all surprised again later on."
"But- you-" he stuttered. "You're not... angry or something?"
"Why?" she stopped and turned to him. "It's not your fault that she's into you." She grabbed his hands.
I know your feelings for me. She searched his face for a sign that he got her thoughts. And if they ever change there's nothing I can do about it. No anger in the universe will change it. And I trust you.
"Come," she finally said after he was just staring at her with his rare look of utter surprise. "Let's enjoy ourselves and see if we can find out what's it with the power fluctuations."
At the reception everyone was dancing and having a good time – but by now they both had agreed that something was seriously wrong. The Doctor went over to screen framed like a picture, showing a speech of that Max guy. He put on his specs and unfastened the frame with his sonic screwdriver to get to the electronics. Soon after, an image of the ship appeared. It actually looked like an ocean liner. On the bottom of the screen was flashing in read: "Shields off-line"
"What the hell is it with shields being down in this universe?" she asked. The Doctor, instead of answering, pulled her to a nearby porthole. "What?" But then she saw it. Three meteors where heading their way.
He was back at the terminal and yelled, "Is that the bridge? I need to talk to the Captain. You've got a meteoroid storm coming in, West zero by north two."
"Who is this?" a male voice wanted to know.
"Never mind that, your shields are down. Check your scanners, Captain. You've got meteoroids coming in and no shielding."
"You have no authorisation. You will clear the comms at once."
"Yeah? Just look starboard!" the Doctor yelled.
Then stewards appeared and dragged them away.
"You've got a rock storm heading for this ship and the shields are down," the Doctor yelled at them, but they ignored them.
She struggled in their grip – two of them were holding each her and the Doctor on either side. They weren't holding her too hard so she was certain she could free herself. But then what? The Doctor answered her question by freeing himself as they were almost out of the reception room and ran back to the stage with the band and grabbed the microphone, "Everyone, listen to me! This is an emergency! Get to the lifeb-" Then one of those angel-robots silenced him by putting his hand over his mouth. Soon after he was escorted back to her, still yelling for the people to look out of the window. She fell in, telling them to look and that they were all going to die (as that normally got people's attention) and a commotion started, but most of them didn't quite get the severity of the situation yet. Then, suddenly, a small piece of rock came flying through one of the windows. Hardly anyone seemed to notice as the one thing she was afraid of didn't happen – sudden decompression of the atmosphere. Instead an automated voice said, "Oxygen membrane holding. Oxygen membrane holding." They were dragged into the corridor with the Doctor still trying to tell them that the shields were down.
"Oi! Steward! I'm telling you, the shields are down!" someone else was yelling behind them. She turned her head and saw Mister Moron from earlier. The rock had landed close to his feet.
"Listen to him. Listen to him!" the Doctor yelled.
Now she had enough. It was only the four stewards holding the Doctor and her and none of those robots around. Well, and Mister Moron. She kicked her heel into the knee of the steward on her right. He loosened his grip enough so that she could free her arm. She rammed her elbow into his stomach. As he crouched over, gasping for air, she swung around and punched the one on her other side in the face. He had anticipated her blow, turning his face half away, so she only hit his cheek, not his nose. He let go of her nevertheless. But before she could take care of the other two holding the Doctor, all hell broke loose.
The ship got hit by the meteoroids. Everything, people, chairs, dinnerware, was thrown around as the ship bolted. It almost seemed as if it would turn over, but that could well be due to a malfunction in the artificial gravitation or the inertia dampeners. There were explosions and then fires started, filling the air with the pungent smell of toxic fumes. People screamed in panic. She tried to hold on to something after she had slid against one of the walls at the initial impact. It seemed to go on forever and she could count at least two distinct impacts, most likely three, the last two close together. The first of them close to the reception room. Then one last explosion and, after what seemed like an eternity – silence.
"Doctor?" she yelled and brushed hair out of her face, looking around for him. There he was. He was holding Astrid and both of them appeared to be fine. She could also see Foon, Morvin, Bannaka-wathever and Mr Copper. Mister Moron was also still on his feet.
"Shush," he said and listened. "It's stopping."
"It better should, I think that were all three of them," she said, still breathless. "Yes, I do count impacts," she explained as he looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "You should too."
"Bad name for a ship," he said after letting go of Astrid. "Either that or this suit is really unlucky."
"Told you," she whispered and then looked around. No-one close to her seemed to be seriously injured.
"Er, everyone. Ladies and gentlemen, Bannakaffalatta," one of the stewards said. "I must apologise on behalf of Max Capricorn Cruiseliners. We seem to have had a small collision." He was probably in shock.
"Small?" Morvin asked.
"Do you know how much I paid for my ticket?" Mister Moron complained, and the others fell in, drowning the steward's voice.
"If I could have silence, ladies, gentlemen. Please," the steward said, but to no avail. She wanted to shout at them, but then the steward realised as well that his measures weren't quite appropriate. "Quiet!" he yelled. And then, as he had everyone's attention, he continued. "Thank you. I'm sure Max Capricorn Cruiseliners will be able to reimburse you for any inconvenience, but first I would point out that we're very much alive."
Not everyone though, she thought, following the Doctor with her eyes. One of the other stewards hadn't survived, and she had no idea where the other two were. Maybe they had made it out of the corridor. Mr Copper was injured, if not seriously, she noticed after kneeling next to him, examining the cut on his head.
"She is, after all, a fine, sturdy ship," the steward continued. "If you could all stay here while I ascertain the exact nature of the situation."
"No!" she heard the Doctor yell.
She turned her head and just saw the steward opening the hatch. As soon as he had unlocked it it was sucked into space, the steward still holding on to it. She grabbed some nearby piping and hold on to it, as did the others. They were lost if there wouldn't be some sort of miracle. But then, over the noise of the atmosphere being sucked into space she heard the shrill sound of the sonic screwdriver, and then suddenly it all
"Oxygen shield stabilised," the computer announced.
"Everyone all right? Astrid? Mira?" the Doctor yelled.
Astrid nodded, and then he looked at her, his eyes growing wide. What was it now? She looked at the hand she had used to wipe her hair out of her face and could see a faint line of blood. She touched that side of her face again and indeed, there were a scratch or two, the blood already dry. Nothing serious.
"I'm fine," she replied.
He looked at her for a moment longer and then continued. "Foon? Morvin? Mister Copper? Bannakaffalatta?" They all confirmed and he turned to Mister Moron. "You, what was your name?"
"Rickston Slade."
"You all right?"
"No thanks to that idiot."
She had to keep an eye on him, she realised. He would most certainly cause major trouble at some point.
"The steward just died!" Astrid said.
"Then he's a dead idiot."
The yelling started again.
"All right, calm down. Just stay still, all of you. Hold on!" the Doctor said.
Now it fully sunk in that they were dealing with civilians and not with an experienced crew who either belonged to the fleet or had spent significant time of their life on board of ships that weren't cruise ships.
"What happened? How come the shields were down?" Astrid asked.
"Someone switched them off," she said grimly, joining Astrid and the Doctor at the open hatch, looking out into space. Debris was floating past, accompanied by a dead body.
"How many dead?" Astrid asked flatly.
A lot probably, she thought, just shaking her head.
"We're alive," the Doctor tried to calm Astrid. "Just focus on that. I will get you out of here, Astrid, I promise. Look at me. I promise. Good." He looked around. "Now, if we can get to Reception, I've got a spaceship tucked away. We can all get on board and-" He had turned his head to the hatch again. "Oh."
That sound alarmed her almost as much as the impacts had. She looked out again as well.
"Oh fuck," she whispered.
"What is it? What's wrong?" Astrid wanted to know.
Of course. Astrid had no idea that that little, blue box floating peacefully through space was his ship. And it was heading for Earth, way too close and way too slow to escape Earth's gravity. The TARDIS would enter the atmosphere, and even if she survived that, she would crash down full speed.
Doctor
For once he ignored her swearing.
"And now? She's going to enter the atmosphere and-" Mira said, ignoring Astrid. There was a hint of well concealed panic in her voice - though not well enough concealed for him.
"Don't panic Mira!" He grabbed her hand. "That's my ship over there," he said to Astrid. "That box. That little blue box."
"That's a spaceship?"
"Oi, don't knock it," he replied.
"It's a bit small."
"A bit distant," he sighed. "Trouble is, once it's set adrift, it's programmed to lock onto the nearest centre of gravity, and that would be the Earth. See Mira, no problem. She's programmed to land. All's fine." But they had to get down to Earth to get her back. He looked around and then went over to a comm.
"Deck twenty two to the bridge. Deck twenty two to the Bridge. Is there anyone there?"
He almost hadn't expected it, but someone replied.
"This is the bridge," a shaky voice said.
"Oh hello, sailor. Good to hear you. What's the situation up there?"
"We've got air. The oxygen field is holding, but the Captain, he's dead. He did it. I watched while he took down the shields. There was nothing I could do. I tried. I did try."
"All right. Just stay calm. Tell me your name. What's your name?"
"Midshipman Frame."
"Nice to meet you, sir. What's the state of the engines?"
"They're... er. Hold on," Frame replied, and he heard him moaning in pain.
"Have you been injured?"
"I'm all right," he replied, which was clearly a lie. "Oh, my Vot. They're cycling down."
"That's a nuclear storm drive, yes?"
"Yeah."
He looked at Mira. She looked back at him, an unspoken question on her face.
"The moment they're gone, we lose orbit," he said, half to her, half to Frame on the bridge.
"The planet!" Frame replied.
"Oh, yes. If we hit the planet, the nuclear storm explodes and wipes out life on Earth." That couldn't happen. "Midshipman, I need you to fire up the engine containment field and feed it back into the core."
"This is never going to work!"
"Trust me, it'll keep the engines going until I can get to the bridge."
He could hear the commotion start again behind his back. Of course they had overheard the conversation.
"Okay, okay," he turned around. "Shush, shush, shush, shush, shush. First things first. One. We are going to climb through this ship. B. No. Two. We're going to reach the bridge. Three. Or C. We're going to save the Titanic. And, coming in a very low four, or D, or that little iv in brackets they use in footnotes, why. Right then, follow me!"
"Hang on a minute. Who put you in charge and who the hell are you anyway?" Slate asked.
Something told him that Mira was about to explode, so he hurried and took a step forward. He was just as annoyed with Slate as Mira was. "I'm the Doctor," he said gravely. "I'm a Time Lord. I'm from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. I'm nine hundred and three years old and I'm the man who's going to save your lives and all six billion people on the planet below. You got a problem with that?"
"No," Slate replied to his surprise.
"In that case, allons-y!"
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