After a while of getting to meet the other passengers, everyone knew each other pretty well. There were:

Neil, a middle-aged man, had a head of thick, light brown hair, and had an open, boyish face. He was there for his photography business (for the second time), as well as showing his eight-year-old daughter the galaxy. His wife had been a nurse, and died caring for those with deadly, infectious diseases. His daughter, Ella, had only been two when it happened, but he loved her twice as much to make up for it anyways. He had come to Midnight to photograph the famous crystal sights, and had gone to canyon the day before. Ella let Izzy braid her strawberry-blonde curls and talked about her martial arts classes, as well as her latest paintings that she'd done based on her father's photos. She had already been offered scholarships to three different artist academies, she explained with wide brown eyes like her father's.

Helen, a stout elderly woman whose doctor had told her that she had two months left to live, was seeing the few places she'd never been before her time ran out. She wore a rosary around her withered neck, and talked of her death fearlessly. Ella, in the innocent way that young children had, asked her if she was going to heaven. Helen laughed and ruffled her hair, saying that only the Lord could decide that, though she said, "You've got a good soul, love, and you just keep your head straight and your heart pure. I'm sure that someday, a very long time from now, I'll greet you at those pearly gates." She had never been married, and had no grandchildren but plenty of nieces and nephews, enough that twelve children called her Great-Auntie Helen. In her "glory days", she had been a mechanic, a teacher, and a florist.

Damian was a musician, and at 26 years old, he had already released one album with his band, Perspectives. Not only was his body and face thin and tall, but his fingers were long and skinny as well, perfect for playing keyboard, he said. After much begging and pleading (and a big-eyed stare from his wife) he opened a digital-hologram keyboard program. He played and sang a few songs for everyone, blushing every time he was applauded and brushing off compliments modestly. He was smart enough to know music could only take him so far, so he was also taking college classes to double major in nutrition and physical therapy.

Izzy was 24, and was quiet. She had long, blue-black straight hair, a round, pale face, and pale blue eyes. She didn't say much, but when she did speak, she had a charisma about her that made everyone listen. She had silver wing earrings and a black outline tattoo of a falling star on her wrist. Damian looked at her with total devotion, talking about how she was so fun all the time, whether it was a relaxing resort, or a huge party concert. When she did speak up, she spoke as if issuing a challenge, or made references to parties or places she had been. She wasn't vain, or self-centered, just bold and thoughtful. It was her third trip to Midnight.

Amy became good friends with Izzy and Damian quickly, while Rory gravitated more toward Neil, Ella, and Helen. The Doctor moved from group to group, avoiding Damian. When he had introduced himself as merely "the Doctor," Damian's brow furrowed with half-remembered thoughts. Eventually, he went to the cockpit, using his specially stamped ticket to open the door. The second pilot whirled around, and the second pilot stood up.

"I'm… sorry, sir, but, um, you aren't permitted to b-be up here," he said, saying it as if it was a question. The Doctor laughed.

"No, no, you misunderstand. I'm the inspector," he said, flashing his psychic paper.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't… I mean, I thought all inspectors were Spyders," the second pilot muttered apologetically, ducking his head. The Doctor patted him on the shoulder in a forgiving way, but didn't meet his eyes. He was too busy looking around the room, probing every shadow and smudge in every corner, as if an enemy was concealed within.

"Not a worry, not a worry. I'm the Doctor."

"Raab, sir. Copilot Raab."

"And your friend, there, the talkative one?" he gestured to the other pilot who hadn't moved or spoke.

"Oh, no, sir. He's not really here. He called in sick today, so they're using a hologram of one of his previous flights," Raab explained.

"Why don't they use holograms all the time, then? If they have a pilot that does a perfect flight every time, wouldn't that be ideal?" the Doctor asked.

"Well… a program that does it perfect every time is wonderful, but it can't deal with anything unexpected. If anything was to be different from the day that flight was done, then the results would be terrible," Raab explained. The Doctor smiled, and the copilot hesitated. "But… you already knew that, didn't you? You don't want holograms flying the shuttles all the time, right?"

"Right! Good read, man, good read. I was just making sure that you have a good head on your shoulders and don't put too much faith in lifeless light-shows," he said confidently, patting him once more on the back before beginning to inspect the monitors and readouts.

"A good head on my shoulders? You're the first to ever tell me that. I'm… shy. So people assume I'm not smart," Raab said doubtfully.

"Just you wait. So when did all these extra precautions start? Triple-force fields, outer hull, 3,000 volt-," he stopped and pressed his ear to the wall, then sniffed it as Raab looked on, baffled at his behavior. "No, 4,500 volt layer, central hull, shock absorbers, inner hull… this is for more that bumping into a crystal spire, or protecting from X-tonic radiation," the Doctor mulled.

"A while ago, sir. There was an accident, thirty or forty years ago. Some kind of hull breach. I don't know much more than that, except that two women and both pilots died and the rest of the passengers had to have treatment." Raab looked more nervous than ever, shifting his weight and staring at the floor. The Doctor stood up and faced him, looking him up and down.

"You know something else, don't you, Raab," he said quietly. Raab nodded, looking ill. "It's okay. Sit down, and you can tell me about it." Raab sat while the Doctor leaned against the console.

"Well… it's complicated. There are only rumors, and bits of facts. One of my friends in flight school, she wanted to know why they wouldn't tell us anything about that day, except that there was a breach and everything would be fine. She knew they were keeping something from us. Hell," he laughed nervously, "we all knew. She tried to get the tapes- the tapes of every flight are recorded, every success, every failure. There's never been a missing tape. But the system couldn't find it. She searched, and had a hacker friend who searched, but they've been removed from the system. So she looked for the shuttle bay tapes for that day. Those hadn't been removed. She… she told me what she saw, just before. I actually think that was the last time I talked to her. She disappeared. We were told she handed in her resignation, but I think she didn't go willingly. I don't think they killed her," he added quickly, with certainty. "If anything, she was shipped back to her home planet, three galaxies over, where she can't talk. Midnight isn't that cruel. She's reasonable, and logical, and cold sometimes, but she isn't cruel."

"What did she say about the tapes? Your pilot friend, who disappeared. What. Did. She. See?" the Doctor whispered.

"She said… there wasn't much damage. Hardly any at all, actually. Not to the deck where the passengers were, at least. She said… the cockpit was gone. Entirely gone. Like it had been torn away. That's what happened to the pilots. But the passengers should've been safe. There weren't any holes. So there wasn't actually a breach. Nothing could've gotten in of the hull. Nowhere for X-tonic radiation to seep in, except the doors, but those close automatically before exposure becomes dangerous. There shouldn't have even been enough to do any damage, let alone kill two and put the rest in treatment. So if nothing got in, then the only way anyone got hurt is if they went out. The two who died… they left the shuttle. And I don't have any idea what the others were treated for," he said in a rush. The Doctor pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut.

"Probably debriefed."

"Debriefed? What do you mean?"

"They were returned in the same condition they left in. Meaning a mind-wipe, or psychiatric treatment. That's the treatment."

"How do you know this?"

"I was there." He let out a long, loud breath. "You might as well know- shy one like you, won't go running around telling everyone. And I need at least one inside man. Thing is, I'm not a Spyder. I've been trying to pretend this never happened for too long. I have to figure this out, because there are seven people in that other room that have lives that matter, and two of them I love more than anything. I swore to take care of them." His voice got louder and louder as he spoke, until he was shouting the last sentence. He smacked his palm against the wall, the other hand on his hip, and turned so Raab was looking at his back, tense with controlled energy. "Do you want to know what really happened that day, years ago?"

MEANWHILE

"And then, he shows up in a fez and holding a mop, telling us he's the coolest thing around, being all 'Fez's are cool, bowties are cool,'" Amy said in a rough pantomime of the Doctor's voice. Helen, Damian, and Izzy laughed.

"What a peculiar friend," Damian said, shaking his head. "Are you sure he was never here?"

"Well… no. He might've been. Who knows? That man, he's been everywhere, everywhen. I wouldn't doubt it. What were you saying to him earlier, that thing about a ghost story?"

"Oh, that," Damian replied, rolling his eyes. "It's nothing."

"No, sweetie, go ahead and tell them. It's a good story," Izzy put in, running a hand through his hair affectionately.

"Okay, fine," he surrendered. Amy pulled Rory over, and he tapped Neil on the shoulder and shushed Ella so everyone could give Damian their full attention. Damian looked around self-consciously, clearly uncomfortable with everyone's attention on him, but started his story regardless.

"My father was pretty young at the time. Younger than me- he was travelling with his parents, my grandparents. They came to Midnight for a vacation, and went on a shuttle to go see the Sapphire Waterfall. Exactly like we are right now. Something was going on with the route, some kind of problem on the normal trail they took, so they went a different way that nobody had travelled before. Everything was fine and great, until the shuttle suddenly stopped. Dad said they had been talking about how eerie it was that Midnight had never had living things touch it, and how it had no history or anything, and then suddenly the shuttle stopped. He would ramble about that, so much, as if it was very significant.

"He said there was knocking on the walls. Like something sentient was trying to get in. It, whatever it was, rattled the doors, and they could hear it moving around. One of the men on the flight, a clever, quirky man," here his eyes flicked to the control room where the Doctor had disappeared to, and the others followed his gaze with confusion, "he knocked on the wall. The thing knocked back, repeating the patterns. And this woman, she got terrified, and the power went out and a wall got a dent in it, and when they got lights back… she was hunched over, and couldn't move. She was possessed by something, it got inside and went in her, and she repeated everything everyone said. The clever man- he talked to it a lot. And it started saying things when people said it, like at the exact same time, like it knew what they were going to say. They all wanted to throw it out- even my father.

"The clever man, though, said no, and they turned on him, the passengers did. They threatened to throw him out, and he calmed them down a little, and then talked to the thing. It had started saying what he said, at the exact same time he said it, but only what he said. It wasn't doing it to the others. And then it went inside the man, too, and it was draining him, but the woman it was inside, she said it had left her and convinced them to throw him out instead. They were going to throw him out… they all, even Dad, helped drag him to the door, but then the hostess realized it wasn't in the Doctor, it was in the woman, and she grabbed her and pulled her out. They both died, the hostess and the woman." Damian bowed his head sadly. It was quiet for a moment.

"But… why isn't anyone talking about this? Why didn't they shut the shuttles down?" Amy asked.

"Mind-wipes. The passengers, they had their memories erased. But it takes a few tries- the tech isn't perfect yet, and after every try, they checked with the person to see if it worked. My dad didn't want to forget, so he lied, claimed he didn't remember anything. The other passengers, they wanted to forget. They were horrified at what they'd done. So was Dad, but he didn't want to forget the courage the hostess had, or lose anything he'd gained from the experience," Damian explained.

"Jethro was a brave, thoughtful man," Izzy put in.

"Did the thing inside the woman, the possessing thing, did it die too?" Neil asked, putting his hand on his daughter's shoulder.

"They don't know. Probably. They killed the body it was in, anyways," Damian said, shrugging.

"But it survived before without a body. What if it's still out there?" he wrapped his arms around Ella protectively, eyes full of fear.

"Well, this was a rare thing. And it's only a story, anyways."

"This shuttle- it's super reinforced steel," Helen said confidently. "Even before the improvements, the shuttles were impossible to damage. And I've spent some time with the Spyders. I trust this shuttle." She knocked a fist against the wall twice, proving her lack of worry.

BONG BONG, her fist went.

BONG BONG, something replied.

HA HA cliff-hanger! :D It's fanfiction. We live, breathe, and poop cliffhangers. Get used to it.

Also- I just realized, in the other chapters, I had used three dashes instead of saying MEANWHILE. And they didn't show up. Oops. I'll see what I can do to remedy, but chances are slim. All the future chapters should be fixed, though. Sorry… Anyways, reviews are welcome! I'm not sure how many chapters there will be- I've been dividing it as I go, but there'll definitely be at least four more. AT LEAST. And the action starts next chapter! So if you review, I can post, you can get the action-y parts started, and review more. See how the cycle goes? DON'T BREAK THE CYCLE. Review.