Chapter 1: World Turtle
Chris Dawkins felt the chill that rolled into the TARDIS through the open door. The TARDIS interior was perpetually warm, but Chris thought that he would rapidly regret wearing only checkered shorts and a T-shirt. He didn't much care, though, as he had other, far more important things on his mind. Getting off the TARDIS and distracting himself would do some good. Maybe then he wouldn't have to think about who and what he was; about how his childhood best friend had become a monster; how Liz, a girl he barely knew but felt so close to, was nothing more than some type of organic robot sent to spy on him. Or, most importantly, how he had been thrown into a game of life-and-death manipulated by a mad man. The Cloister Bell Games.
What he saw when he stepped off the TARDIS on Amy and Rory's heels was exactly what he had been expecting. A huge room, easily two storeys tall and as large as a proper football pitch, made of gleaming white metal, and speckled with flashing lights, gold trim and glowing red panels. The room was empty of any vehicles besides the TARDIS, which confused Chris, as the Doctor had suggested a hangar bay.
Aside from the Doctor, Amy and Rory, there were eleven other people in the room. They wore uniform jumpsuits of gold-and-white, and each had a thin silver collar around their necks. The one in the front had a symbol on either shoulder, some sort of insignia of rank. None appeared to have weapons, which was peculiar considering the method of this meeting. Chris cleared his throat.
"It's smaller on the inside," he said.
"Ponds, Chris," the Doctor smiled. "This man right here has introduced himself as Captain O'Hart of the Sun Servant. I assume that this ship is the Sun Servant, yeah?"
"You'd be correct," answered O'Hart. "The greatest ship ever built. A world ship, the size of a small planet, with more than a million passengers and enough facilities to maintain itself indefinitely."
"Brilliant," the Doctor smiled. "Brilliant. Never heard of it, but still brilliant. If you don't mind me asking, though, what are you doing in this area of space? No one's supposed to be here for, oh a few hundred years."
"We could very well ask you the same thing," said the Captain. "Your vessel hardly seems…space-worthy, let alone large enough for four people to travel in."
"It's surprisingly roomy," the Doctor said. "Captain, I'd like to introduce Amy and Rory Pond and Chris Dawkins. We're sort of…tourists, I guess you could say. Interesting neckwear. Very…shiny."
"Nano-collars," the Captain said. "They allow us to control the functions of the ship without need of control panels."
"Each nano-collar is specifically tuned to it's wearer, offering specific permissions based on a person's rank," said one of the other people, a young woman with ashy-blonde hair and a spattering of freckles across her nose. "They also administer automatic doses of specific nanobots, tuned to each person's natural psychic field, enabling non-vocal control for basic functions, like opening doors."
"Amazing what humans will do for the sake of a little convenience," the Doctor grinned. Chris frowned. The Doctor seemed to non-chalant for his liking, considering less than an hour earlier, a madman had hijacked the TARDIS' controls and admitted his plans to murder them both in a series of challenges.
"The ship defends itself," the Captain spoke. "Now, might I ask what that box is?"
"It's a box," said the Doctor. "More specifically, a blue box. Even more specifically, a blue police box. Technically speaking."
"But what is it," asked the blonde woman. "It blew up a laser cutter…but it's just wood."
"Well you shouldn't have taken a laser cutter to it," the Doctor said. "So…big ship."
"The biggest," said the Captain. "Let it never be said that Captain Tak O'Hart wasn't hospitable. We'll take you on the tour, then send you on your way. Tomorrow, if you like. But we have a very specific way of doing things. An exact number of people at all times. We weren't expecting visitors."
"Why is that," asked Amy.
"Because we don't want any," the Captain answered. "We separated from the great human empires long ago. We'd like to just be left alone."
"Oh, wars being fought across the galaxy, humans killing humans," said the Doctor, "rising above it all is admirable."
"We've been above it all for almost two thousand years," said the Captain. "Follow me. Team, report to your designated monitoring stations."
The team snapped to attention, saluted, then ran off to various tubes in the walls. Each spoke a destination…and then vanished.
"Teleportation panels," the Doctor said. The Captain shook his head.
"No," he said, "they're more matter-disassociation devices. They break down a person's atoms and move them at light speed across the ship."
"Sounds dangerous," said Rory.
"Really quite safe," said the Captain, "might make you a tad dizzy the first time, but after that it feels good. Ship, grant temporary clearance, level 4, to these three."
The Captain's collar glowed.
"Pretty," said the Doctor. "You said you haven't been associated with human empires for 2000 years. This ship is not nearly that old…"
"No," said the Captain, "this ship is six months old. Before that, we were on our homeworld. The Lady of Fire, she was called. Sunpoint. But…there was an emergency. We had to leave."
"Tell us all about it while you show us around," said the Doctor. "A ship this size, moving slower than light…must be amazing. Odd that I've never heard of it…" At that, he wrinkled his brow. "Quite odd, in fact. Anyways, off we go, yeah?"
The Captain nodded. "Alright, yes. Get in a tube and say Observation Deck. The computer has given you temporary control permissions without the need of a nano-collar. We'll meet you there. If you try to go anywhere else without my permission, you'll be sent straight to the Detention Level."
"Understood," Chris gave a lazy salute and wandered ahead to one of the tubes. "Allons-y. Observation Deck."
At first, there was an inrush of air near his feet. Then there was a warmth. He shut his eyes and heard a buzz. When he opened them, he was in a new room. Slightly dizzy, he took a moment to get his bearings. The room was a semi-circle, with rounded walls giving it the appearance of a quarter-dome. There was a long row of seats that sprouted in a crescent from the ground like they were grown. The walls, floor and chairs were all a black metal, save for the wall behind him, which was entirely covered in Quick Transfer Tubes. All in all, the room was plain, albeit quite comfortable. The air was warm and smelt slightly of old wood.
As he gauged the room, the others suddenly sprang from other tubes along the wall. Rory and Amy seemed to be in a similar state as himself, catching their breath and getting their heads straight. The Doctor, however, walked around the room non-chalantly.
"Not much of an observation deck," he said. "No windows."
The Captain grinned. "Who needs windows when you have this. Observation deck, clear."
The Captain's nano-collar glowed, and the entire room seemed to fade away so that they appeared to be standing in midair. Or rather, mid-space. The area all around them was stars for as far as they could turn. Even the QT Tubes seemed to be gone. Beneath them and behind them, however, the ship itself stretched away, all black-and-silver metal, curving to a horizon. It truly was as big as a planet.
"Wow," Rory said.
"Yeah," Chris agreed, "yeah, that."
The Doctor was grinning like a fool. "Oh, clearsteel. Brilliant, you know that?"
"I do," said the Captain. "Took our scientists years to get this much, but they got it."
"Clearsteel?" Amy raised an eyebrow.
"Simple alloy," the Doctor said. "Disappears when an electrical charge is run through it. Fun at parties. Very rare, though." The Doctor spun. "Your ship. What's it's design."
"It's a Class 1 World Ship," the Captain said. "Rather, THE Class 1 World Ship. Only one. Some of the crew nicknamed it the Turtle Class."
"Why is that," asked the Doctor.
"I'll show you," the Captain said. "Hologram: Basic ship exterior schematics."
Suddenly, an image appeared in the middle of the room. It was the ship: huge, rounded and distinctly turtle-like. A front portion jutted out like a head, and four legs grew from points around the main shell.
"The stabilizers are each a separate engine control," the Captain explained. "Each capable of being shifted along the radiation streams that we use to generate power. It looks like swimming. The bridge and most of the crew quarters are up in the head. Everything else, agriculture, entertainment, cryogenics, that's all in the shell."
"Cryogenics," the Doctor asked.
"What, you don't think we're everyone, do you," the Captain asked. "There are a total of three million people aboard this ship. At any one time, one million are awake. The other two million are cryogenically frozen. We take two year shifts, or will. At the end of our two years, second shift will wake up and we'll go to sleep. By the end of the third shift, we expect to have reached Haven."
"Haven," the Doctor asked. "What is Haven?"
"It'll be our new home," the Captain explained. "One day. The land of solace and solitude."
A chill ran up Chris' spine. He shared a glance with the Doctor. "Why don't you show us the rest of the ship?" Chris needed the distraction.
"The grand tour," the Captain agreed. "Computer, observation deck to agricultural level."
And the pod dropped.