5… 4… 3… 2… 1… HAPPY NEW YEAR! Several hours after the arrival of 2016 is the arrival of the next chapter of Two Idiots and a Diner!
This one is finally the conclusion of the little saga we had going there, and there won't be massive story arcs like this every time…
It's 2016, and I've offered 2,016 pounds of jelly babies, but the BBC still won't give me the rights to Doctor Who.
"Clara, why are you sleeping on the floor?" Ashildr asked, carefully watching over her friend.
Clara sat up, looking at her surroundings, then up at Ashildr. "I couldn't sleep last night, so I just sat by the fire."
"Are you sure, absolutely sure, that you're okay?" Ashildr asked as she helped Clara stand up.
"I'm fine." Clara lied, remembering how she'd cried herself to sleep the night before. "Now you stop worrying about me, okay? Everything will be a lot easier if you quit worrying about me and focus on what needs to be done." She let go of Ashildr's hand.
There was a hurried knock at the door. "Have you heard the news?" It was Annabeth.
"No, what news?"
"The first space flight test, they launched it last night…It flew off course, straight into the sun." The girl was sobbing. "My parents were on that ship. Their names are on the list of casualties…"
Clara opened the door and immediately hugged Annabeth, hoping the girl would find comfort in a hug.
She did.
The next day…
"Annabeth, I think it's working!" Ashildr said. "The telepathic internet is working!"
"Alright, see if you can access the database."
A blue holographic screen flashed to life, displaying line after line of code. Ashildr focused on the screen, telepathically hacking the system. In a matter of minutes, she had broken through the firewall. "Done. We're in."
Annabeth looked on in shock. "How did you do it that fast? Even the most skilled hacker wouldn't be able to hack the strongest computer ever built that fast."
Ashildr shrugged. "I am the most skilled hacker."
"What makes you so sure of that?"
"It only takes ten thousand hours to master any skill. A hundred thousand and you're the best there ever was."
"A hundred thousand hours? Non-stop, that's eleven years! How-"
"Let's just say I've got a bit of an extended life span."
"What do you mean, extended?"
"That's not important right now, look!" She gestured to the screen. "I've found records on every staff member of the palace. They're Anthro-Mechs. All of them. You'd think we'd have noticed cyborgs in the palace, unless they've disguised themselves. Probably means the Queen is one of them as well. Only makes sense to have a bunch of cyborgs serving their leader."
Clara put two and two together. "That's it! That's why Queen Victoria was sending people through a metal detector! She needed to make sure she wasn't sending any of her own Anthro-Mechs into space!"
"Which means…" Ashildr said grimly, turning off the computer screen. "The spaceship into the sun was no accident, it was murder. Your Queen was rounding up the strongest, bravest humans and launching them into the sun, leaving the youngest and oldest here, probably to be rounded up as well."
"How are we going to stop them?" Annabeth asked, now furious with the machines that killed her parents.
"We need something with an electromagnet." Clara said, pulling out her sonic sunglasses. "If I can get my hands on an electromagnet, I can sonic it so it'll be 5,000 times stronger."
"Oh, I've got something that'll work perfectly!" Annabeth exclaimed. "I'll be right back."
"An Electromagnetic Pulse? That's how we're saving the human race?" Ashildr asked.
"If you've got a better idea, I'd love to hear it!"
"Wow, you've got quite the personality."
"Yeah, I've got a hell of a lot of personality for a dead girl walking."
"Stop saying that. You're not dead."
"In a sense, I am."
"But that doesn't change who you are. You're not just a dead girl walking. You're so much more than that. You're Clara Oswald."
Their conversation was cut short when Annabeth returned with a hoverboard under her arm. She placed it on the table. "Hoverboards nowadays are powered by electromagnets. All the cobblestone streets are made from magnets and moon rocks, and that's how the hoverboards work."
Clara looked over the sleek metal design of the hoverboard. "Are you sure I can use your hoverboard? I'm going to have to disassemble it to get to the magnet, and once I amplify the magnet's strength, I doubt it could be reversed."
"It's alright, I need a new one anyway."
"Okay… How does this work, is there like, a battery compartment or something? Or…" She flipped it over. The bottom panel read in bold lettering: ELECTROMAGNET COMPARTMENT: DANGEROUS, DO NOT OPEN.
"Well, that was easy. And it even says 'dangerous'. I happen to specialize in danger." Clara laughed as she opened the compartment. After sonic-ing the two electromagnets inside, she smiled. "There we go. This'll disable all Anthro-Mechs in a 100 foot radius. Probably."
"Clara, your plan is brilliant, but there's just one flaw…"
"And that would be?"
"How are we going to get the Queen and all her guards within a 100 foot radius? We can't break into the palace again, they'd recognize us."
"Funny you should mention that." Annabeth said, smiling at the two girls. "There's going to be a meeting in the city center today at noon. Queen Victoria will discuss the recent events involving space travel, and that's our time to strike."
"This is perfect!" Clara laughed. "We're going to save the human race, isn't this amazing!" She turned to Annabeth. "You. Annabeth, it's because of you that we're going to win. I know that in light of recent events you're probably angry and sad and so, so scared. But I want you to know that you're brilliant. You may not even fully realize it, but you're the girl who saves the universe. And if it's okay with my friend, I'd like you to join us after we save London."
"What do you mean, join you?"
"We're immortal time travelers. You could join us, in the time traveling sense, not the immortality. You could go see another planet and be back in time for tea."
"I'd love to!" The three took notice of the bells in the city center ringing, signaling a meeting was about to begin. "Just as soon as we save the world."
"Here's how we'll do this…" Clara began, instructing her team on just exactly how they were going to take down the Anthro-Mechs.
There streets of New London were abuzz with nervous chatter as the citizens waited for an explanation of the spaceship disaster. They applauded lightly as the Queen stepped onto the stage, guards surrounding her. "Presenting Her Majesty, Queen Victoria IV!"
"Greetings citizens." The Queen began. "I'm sure you all have been made aware of the incident involving our spacecraft. I would like to extend my apologies to the friends and family of those involved in this tragedy. Today, I'm willing to answer any of your questions about the space program."
Annabeth raised her hand. Pushing through the guards, she leapt onto the stage. "Your Majesty, this question isn't for you, but for the good people of this city." She turned to face the audience. "People of New London. Surely you all remember the war between human and Anthro-Mech. And the kind ruler of our kingdom has worked so hard to remind us that they're gone, that we're safe. But are they telling the truth, or are there still cyborgs among us?" She made eye contact with Clara, who activated her Sonic Sunglasses, causing the image of the Queen and her guards to flicker, before parts of their "skin" began to melt away, revealing cold metal. The audience gasped. "That's right. Your lovely Queen, an Anthro-Mech. Now think about it… that spaceship, full of humans, was 'accidentally' sent into the sun. A group of humans, killed by Anthro-Mechs. I wouldn't say it's an accident, I'd say it's murder. It was even more than that, it was an act of war. A war I'm going to end once and for all." The girl pulled out her hoverboard. "Any last words, your majesty?"
The leader of the Anthro-Mech army hissed. "We will rule all! We will destroy all you pathetic humans, you will all burn, YOU WILL ALL BURN!"
"Not today." She pressed a button on the hoverboard, sending out a wave of energy. All the cyborgs collapsed to the floor. It was over.
"She killed them." Someone whispered in the otherwise silent audience. "She saved us!"
The audience slowly came to life with cheers. "That girl saved us all!"
"Wait!" Someone shouted above the noise. "Who will lead us now?"
"How about her?" Another person pointed at Annabeth. "She did save us, after all. She could be our new Queen!"
"Me?" Annabeth gasped. "No, I- I couldn't. I'm not even old enough, I'm only 16, I-"
"Long live the Queen!" The crowd started chanting. "Long live the Queen! Long live the Queen!"
Annabeth cried. "Citizens of New London! While I am honored that you would think of me as such, I am not fit to be your Queen!" She jumped off the stage, meeting Clara and Ashildr, who hugged her immediately.
"You were amazing!" Clara smiled. "No, you were brilliant. And this is just my opinion, but I think you'd make an excellent Queen."
"Anna! Anna! Anna!" Felicia giggled, running up to her sister. "If you're the queen now then does that make me a princess?"
"Yeah, I suppose it does. I'm the Queen now." She laughed to herself. "Thank you so much, Clara, Lenora. I suppose the fact that I'm ruling the whole moon means I can't join you in your time traveling. Do stop back sometime."
"We will." Clara smiled. "Goodbye, Annabeth- er, Your Majesty." She bowed, and Ashildr did the same.
The girl laughed. "Stop that! To you two, I'm just Annabeth!"
When the pair returned to their TARDIS, Ashildr couldn't help but burst into laughter. "That was more fun than I've had in millennia! I could get used to this!"
"Traveling all of time and space, and we've got forever to do it." Reality sunk in. "We've got forever. We almost invited Annabeth on our TARDIS… We shouldn't do things like that. You're immortal, technically, I am too. We shouldn't bring any mortals with us. We'll only end up losing them."
"You're starting to understand." Ashildr commented. "That's how it is, being immortal. Another thing, you might want to write down everything you can remember about your life. Depending on how long we travel, you might start to forget."
"I… I don't want to forget. I can't forget anyone I've met, they're all so important! You're saying that it's possible for me to forget my parents, my students, Jane Austen, Danny… You're saying I'll forget the Doctor? I don't believe I could ever forget anyone who's had that much of an impact on me."
"It might seem impossible. I thought the same for a while until one day, I tried to remember where I'd started. I tried to remember the village I used to call home. There was nothing. Just a blur of buildings and faces. Write down everything now. I don't want you to forget. It's not fun."
"I suppose since I don't need sleep, I could just start my journals tonight."
"I… I lost my journals long ago. They burned up with the last stars."
"That's awful! We could go back and save them, you know."
"We don't have to. Not right now."
"One of these days, we'll go pick them up. You need your memories." She pulled a lever on the TARDIS console. "For now, we'll just stay in the time vortex. Is there anywhere you want to go after you've rested?"
"Not particularly. You?"
Clara sighed. "There's a date I've been avoiding for so long now, the funeral of a good friend of mine. Someday I'll have to go there, but we don't have to hurry. For now, it'd be good for both of us to just rest."
"We haven't done much exploring of our TARDIS, yet… Do we even know where our rooms are?"
"Just keep walking, something'll pop up eventually." Clara yawned.
"You may not need sleep, but you look exhausted. You should get some rest, at least."
"I will, just as soon as I find the library. I'm going to get a start on my journals. Goodnight."
"We're in the time vortex, there is no night. But yes, goodnight."
Happy new year friends! Let's hope 2016 is a good one!
I've got something to ask you… Is anyone actually reading this? I feel like no one's really reading it… Maybe my standards are unrealistically high, but if you read this and if you liked it, could you leave a review?
