Here's part 2! In case anyone was interested, my face claim for Zuri is Tessa Thompson. Please leave a review! Enjoy
Previously...
Zuri was chatting some more with Boe when the platform shuddered. The Moxx of Balhoon turned to them commenting, "This is the Bad Wolf scenario." Zuri stiffened but kept her part of the conversation up until the Doctor and Rose appeared. "That wasn't a gravity pocket. I know gravity pockets and they don't feel like that." And as there was another small shudder, Zuri contemplated what to do about Jabe. The tree woman was destined to die, but could Zuri change it without changing the timeline?
The Doctor found a panel and began using the sonic to search the computer. "What do you think Jabe, listen to the engines, they pitched up about thirty hertz, is that dodgy or what?"
Zuri made her decision then. Surely it wouldn't change too much. "Doctor, we need to get to the maintenance duct. Jabe do you know where that is?"
The tree woman turned to her. "It's just behind our guest suite. I could show you, your husband, and your... Concubine?"
"No, Rose is just our friend, and the Doctor is not my husband. We just travel together as friends." Zuri rolled her eyes at the woman's fishing. "Rose, why don't you catch up with the family? The Doctor and I will check the engines."
Rose nodded. "I was wanting a word with Michael Jackson anyways. I'll catch up with ya later, and I want you both home by midnight, ya hear?"
The Doctor smirked and they turned to follow Jabe. "She's figuring it out." He commented to Zuri, who only nodded, brain running at top speed trying to figure out how to save Jabe.
The Doctor frowned, there was someone telepathic on board. Their thoughts were buzzing, it was distracting. He paused in his steps to focus, try to identify them but realized he was being left behind by the two women.
"So who's in charge of Platform One?" He asked instead, trying to ignore the hum of thoughts pressing on his mind. "Is there a captain, or what?"
"There's just the Steward and the staff. All the rest is controlled by the metal man." Jabe answered.
"You mean the computer? But who controls that?"
"The Corporation. They move Platform One from one artistic event to the next."
"But there's no one from the Corporation on board?" He clarified.
Zuri piped up then. "They were deemed unneeded, Doctor. They believe this ship to be unsinkable. The facility is completely automatic."
He gave her an incredulous look. "Unsinkable?"
Jabe nodded. "If you like, the nautical metaphor is appropriate."
Jabe and the Doctor continued conversing, but Zuri was dealing with another problem. She could feel Boe's mind. He wasn't trying to communicate, she wasn't even sure he was aware of the connection. And there was something else, pressing on the back of her head. She closed her eyes, pausing briefly in her steps, and reached out. As best she could anyway, towards the other presence. She could hear Jabe and the Doctor around the corner, the Tree asking about the results her scan brought up. That he was a Time Lord.
And suddenly the presence she was reaching for became clear, such sorrow coursing through the connection. It was the Doctors mind she felt. And then he recognized her.
Zuri? How is this possible, humans can't...
I don't know Doctor, but we can look into it later when we aren't about to be roasted or blasted from the sky or, whatever is going on. She hinted, hoping he would ignore it until they could properly test the ability.
She scurried to catch up with him, Jabe turning to her as she appeared around the corner. "And you, the metal machine has no idea what you are. The results flipped between human, Time Lord, and something unknown." The woman looked as if she wanted to ask more questions, but the Doctor beat her to it.
"So tell me Jabe, what's a tree like you doing in a place like this?"
"Respect for the Earth." She hummed, a subtle smirk on her face.
"Oh come on, everyone on this Platform is worth zillions." The Doctor rolled his eyes.
"Well, perhaps it is a case of having to be seen at the right occasions."
"In case you share prices drop?" Zuri asked, her head beginning to ache.
"All the same," The tree nodded. "You respect the Earth as family. So many species evolved from the planet. Mankind is only one, I am another. My ancestors were transplanted from the planet below, I am a direct descendant of the tropical rainforest."
Zuri wondered briefly at that, the pain in her head growing to be quite distracting as the Doctor got the door open. She shivered at the blast of air that flew down the hall. "Gosh, that's nippy. They must have great AC down here. Although I guess AC in this age would be retro."
The Doctor scanned another panel with his sonic before the panel fell off and a metal spider scuttled out. "What the hell's that?"
"Is it part of the 'retro'?" Jabe asked.
"I don't think so, hold on." He tried to find the right frequency to shut down the spider, but it was escaping.
Jabe fired a long whip of a vine-like appendage at it, dragging it back within reach.
"Hey, nice liana!" The Doctor complimented.
"Thank you, we're not supposed to show them in public." Jabe blushed.
"We won't tell," Zuri assured while the Doctor fiddled with the spider.
"Who's been bringing pets onboard?"
Zuri sighed. "Sabotage. You'd think this far in the future the greed and stupidity would end. Someone wants us either dead or held hostage on a sinking ship."
"The temperature's about to rocket, come on." The Doctor stated, agreeing with her.
They hurried out of the chamber as Britney Spears 'Toxic' began to echo through the Platform.
As the three of them rushed down the corridor, Zuri had a terrible thought. The Steward! He was trapped in a room with the sun filter descending. She stepped up her pace, shouting for the Doctor to hurry. But as she ran around the corner into a wall of smoke, she knew it was too late.
She stood still in the hall as the Doctor fought with the computer, emotions numb. She'd let someone die. Again. the Doctor's voice filtered through her daze. "There's another sun filter program to descend."
"Rose!" Zuri took off again, and the Doctor kept up, having heard her terror.
They reached the door, and the Doctor called, "Anybody in there?"
"Let me out!" Rose called back frantically.
"Oh, well it would be you." He joked, trying to calm Zuri's mind as it projected her fear. He was going to have to teach her how to control that or she'd end up projecting onto the wrong person. As it was her mental panic was very distracting. "Zuri, think about something else. You seem to have developed mental capabilities, and you're projecting. You have to calm down so I can think!"
Zuri's eyes widened. She began immediately trying to distract herself, and ended up listing in her mind what she needed to do to make pancakes. The ingredients, the steps. Her mind calmed as the Doctor finally got the sun filter stabilized.
"Sorry Doctor." She mumbled. She nearly got Rose killed.
He sighed, grabbed her hand, and ran back to the main gallery, hollering at Rose to sit tight.
"Where am I gonna go? Ipswich?"
Jabe was looking at her computer again. "The metal machine confirms, the spider devices have infiltrated the whole of Platform One."
Everyone began asking questions at once as the Moxx of Balhoon demanded the Steward be summoned.
"I'm afraid the Steward is dead," Jabe told them solemnly.
"Who killed him?"
"This whole event was sponsored by the Face of Boe!" Cassandra yelled frantically. "He invited us, talk to the face! Talk to the face!"
"Easy way of finding out." The Doctor interrupted. "Someone brought a little pet on board." He took the deactivated spider and zapped it with the sonic. "Let's send them back to master." He placed it down on the floor.
It scuttled in front of Cassandra, before moving on to the Adherents of the Repeated Meme.
"The Adherents of the Repeated Meme. J'accuse!" Cassandra muttered, looking far too pleased.
"That's all very well, and really kind of obvious, but if you stop and think about it..."
One of the black-cloaked figure went to strike the Doctor, but he caught it by the arm and pulled. The arm ripped clean off.
Zuri smiled at him as she stepped up. "A repeated meme is just an idea. That's all they are, an idea."
The Doctor tugged on a wire in the arm and the Adherents crumpled into a pile of black cloaks and metal. Everyone gasped as Cassandra rolled her eyes.
"Remote control droids. Nice little cover for the Real troublemaker. Go on, Jimbo, go home." The Doctor nudged the spider again with his foot. It scuttled right back over to Cassandra. She merely ridiculed, "I bet you were the school swot and never got kissed."
The Doctor merely raised his eyebrows as she continued.
"At arms!" Her two surgeons raised their canisters threateningly.
"What are you gonna do, moisturize me?" The Doctor mocked.
"With acid." Cassandra deadpanned. "Oh 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 a pretty face."
Zuri piped up. "Sabotaging the ship while you're still on it, really Cassandra?"
Hoping to speed up the conversation, they really didn't have time before the sun expanded.
"I'd hope to manufacture a hostage situation with myself as one of the victims. The compensation would have been enormous."
Zuri sneered then. "It's all money then. For your surgeries? Bet you've got shares in rival companies then, just in case you had to kill us all."
She merely smirked again. "How did that old Earth song go? Burn baby burn."
"Then you'll burn with us." Jabe pointed out.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I know the use of teleportation is strictly forbidden, but I'm such a naughty thing. Spiders activate."
The platform rocked as a series of explosions shook them. "Force fields gone with the planet about to explode. At least it'll be quick, just like my fifth husband. Oh, shame on me. Buh-bye darlings." Cassandra and her bodyguards faded as they teleported out.
Zuri wasted no more time. "Doctor, with me, Jabe, keep these people calm." She took the Doctor by the hand and they ran for the computer control room again.
Earth death in four minutes. Earth death in four minutes. The computer helpfully repeated. Zuri smiled, at least she had bought them two extra minutes by hurrying things along.
"Oh and guess where the switch is." The Doctor groaned as they reached the ventilation chamber from before.
"Right, Doctor you get to play chicken with the fans, I'll hold the lever for the speed down. The heat's gonna vent through here, so be quick?"
He grinned at her before she pulled the lever. He focused on timing his steps through the slower, but still moving fans. Zuri held on tightly to the lever as she watched him stepping through the first two fans, the temperature rising swiftly. Hurry Doctor. She begged as the lever grew hot in her hands. She could feel her palms blistering.
He glanced back in concern but focused on saving them. He closed his eyes briefly before stepping through the last fan and yanking down the lever. The shields reset at the very last moment, the Earth exploding into thousands of meteors, rock, and dust, blasted out into space.
Zuri continued to hold the lever just long enough for the Doctor to return, before letting go with a cry. Her palms were covered in dozens of small blisters, and several large ones.
He rushed over, gently grabbing her wrists to get a look. "Oh, Zuri I'm so sorry."
"It's alright, Doctor, if I hadn't it would have been Jabe, and she would have roasted alive. I'm happy I could save her."
"That's fantastic! Right then, can I take care of this lot and then we'll get your hands fixed?" Zuri nodded and the two of them headed for the observation gallery.
They walked briskly through the doors, Rose running up to them. "You two alright?"
The Doctor nodded. "Yeah I'm fine, Zuri burned her hands. I'm full of ideas, I'm bristling with them. Idea number one, teleportation through five thousand degrees needs some kind of feed. Idea number two, this feed must be hidden nearby." He walked over to the supposed ostrich egg that Casandra had presented as a gift and smashed it, revealing a small device.
"Idea number three, if you're as clever as me, then a teleportation feed can be reversed." He twisted a dial on the feed, and Cassandra appeared again.
"Ah, you should have seen their little alien faces. Oh." Realizing she was back, she became flustered.
"The Last Human." The Doctor stated.
"So, you passed my little test, bravo. This makes you eligible to join the erm... Human Club."
Zuri glared. "People have died, Cassandra. You murdered them." "That depends on your definition of 'people', and that's enough of a technicality to keep your lawyers dizzy for centuries. Take me to court then, Doctor. And watch me smile, and cry, and flutter..."
"And creak?" The Doctor asked.
"And what?"
"Creak. You're creaking." Zuri watched in horror as Cassandra dried out, her skin growing tight and her eyes bloodshot.
"What? Ah, ah! I'm drying out. Oh, sweet heavens! Mousturize me, moisturize me! My lovely boys, it's too hot!"
"You raised the temperature." The Doctor pointed out.
"Have pity! moisturize me, oh Doctor." Cassandra sounded pathetic and terrified.
Rose was quite shaken by the scene. "Help her!"
But the Doctor stood firm. "Everything has it's time, and everything dies."
"I'm too young!" Cassandra shrieked before she exploded into tiny chunks of skin.
Zuri turned to the Doctor, but his face was stone cold. She knew he was fresh from the Time War, and he had to detach himself lest the guilt eat him alive. Testing her new mental reach, she tried to send a wave of comfort his way, and by the smiles on people's faces, she knew it had touched them all.
He gave her the ghost of a smile, and the three of them headed for the TARDIS.
Rose stopped in a gallery off the main room, staring down at the remains of the planet. "The end of the Earth. And we were too busy saving ourselves, no one saw it go. All those years, all that history and no one was even looking. It's just..."
The Doctor took her hand and reached for Zuri's. "Come with me." They piled into the TARDIS and the Doctor sent them off. They arrived back in two thousand and five, and stepped out into the center of Piccadilly Circus.
Crowds of people swarmed around them as they stood, motionless in the middle. All that life. "You think it'll last forever." The Doctor said. "People, and cars and concrete. But it won't. One day, it's all gone, even the sky. My planet's gone."
Rose turned to look at him, realizing he was answering her earlier questions about who he was.
"It's dead, it burned like the Earth. It's just rocks and dust, before its time."
"What happened?" Rose asked, Zuri keeping quiet.
"There was a war. And we lost."
"A war with who?"
He didn't answer, lost in thought.
"What about your people?" Rose prompted.
"I'm a Time Lord. I'm the last of the Time Lords. They're all gone, I'm the only survivor. I'm left traveling on my own because there's no one else."
"There's me." Rose pointed out, smiling softly, and completely forgetting about Zuri in the moment.
"You've seen how dangerous it is. Do you want to go home?"
"I don't know, I want... Oh, can you smell chips?"
The Doctor and Zuri laughed.
"Yup, but oh dear, I seem to be popping off." Zuri sighed. No chips for her, and she was hungry. The warm glow brightened and she was gone.
Next up...An Original Adventure