Chapter 2: Grand Tour

They fell through blackness for only a second, but it was long enough for Chris to grab one of the chairs and seat himself. When the observation deck stopped, they were overlooking what appeared to be a vast outdoor area of rolling hills, covered in fields, gardens and orchards. There was even a sky, and Chris could see machines rolling through the fields.

"This is the Agricultural portion of the ship," the Captain explained. "Most of our diet is grown right here. We imitate seasons through self-stabilized weather mapping. Right now it's late summer. We'll be harvesting soon."

"And who works the fields," asked the Doctor.

"Robot drones do most of the actual labor," answered the Captain. "Actual humans are in charge of driving vehicles, as well as the upkeep of drones and planning. In theory, the whole thing could be fully automated, but our people are descended from scientists. Many of the people who have volunteered for the Agricultural duties are actually experimenting with the food or with the drones. A week ago, one of them genetically modified an apple to produce enough protein to cover a person's daily value. Our vegetarians were thankful."

"You're descended from scientists," Chris asked.

The Captain nodded. "And most of us still are, in one way or another. Back at the start of the vast human expansion, Earth scientists detected a planet on the edge of the galaxy. It had a unique orbit: its year lasted 1000 Earth years. During nine hundred of those years, it was a tropical paradise of unique life, ripe for study. For the other hundred years, or summertime, as we call it, the planet came too close to the sun and all life was burned off the surface. When summer was over, life would reestablish itself and regrow. Our ancestors were sent to study the process. Two thousand years later, here we are."

The Doctor grinned. "Surviving, as ever. Tell me, why are you here?"

The Captain frowned. "Next part of the tour. Observation deck to Cityscape."

Rather than falling, the observation deck went sideways for quite a distance, before backing into a wall and once again descending. When it came to rest, they had passed through the ground of the Agricultural level into what appeared to be a vast megacity of huge buildings. All of the skyscrapers (or ceilingscrapers, Chris supposed) were flowing, rounded constructs of gold, silver and red. Chris could see people moving about far below, floating vehicles progressing through the streets.

"The Cityscape," said the Captain. "All civilian passengers live here. About 900,000 at any one time, give or take. That's discounting births and deaths, of course."

"A lot of people to have on a ship," dug the Doctor.

"We're looking for Haven," said the Captain. "The ship can't sustain us forever."

"No, I don't suppose it could," said the Doctor. "Are there little shops and things down there?"

"Of a sort," said the Captain. "We don't use currency. You take what you need. The nano-collars track it all, so that we know what people have taken, just in case, but it means that crimes of all sorts are pretty much unheard of. Our security don't even carry weapons. The ship defends itself."

"So you've said," said the Doctor. "It's brilliant, though. Very, very human. I love it. Your world's dying, so you build a big old ship and gather everyone onboard, and build cities and farms and factories and all sorts of things, all for the promise of a world far away. All for some small hope. Oh, very good. Very, very good."

The Captain frowned. "Whoever said our world is dying?"

"Dead or dying," the Doctor said. "No one said anything, but isn't it obvious?"

"He's right," said Chris. "It is. There's really no other reason for all of this. Even human curiosity doesn't lead to world turtles."

The Captain sighed. "No, I suppose not."

"What happened," asked Amy.

"The scientists were wrong," said the Captain. "The original ones. They thought our world's orbit was a strange ellipsis with one side very close to the sun. It wasn't. It was a spiral, getting ever closer. Closer and closer until…"

"It couldn't hold out against the sun's gravity and fell right in," the Doctor said.

The Captain nodded. "We figured it out at the end of the last summer. We had 900 years to prepare. The original plan was to build 6 worldships. Enough for the entire population of Sunpoint. But the scientists hadn't taken into account a bit of math…we had less than 900 years. We had only 800. That last 100 years was all the difference. This ship was a test…a prototype. They were going to build the other 5 over the last one hundred years. But then Sunpoint started falling…"

"So you bustled as many people as you could onto the Sun Servant," the Doctor said. "You saved them."

"I saved them," said the Captain. "Me and the other captains. The government was willing to test fate, to press it to the last second. We weren't. We watched as Sunpoint burned as it had never burned before…and we flew away.

"You did what you had to," the Doctor said.

"That's exactly the point," smiled the Captain. "While some might sleep at night and have nightmares of the death of Sunpoint, I go to sleep knowing that I helped saved millions of people from death. It helps me every second of every day, knowing that. And six months later, everything is going fantastic. No major emergencies. Just boredom. Even the hospital level is practically empty."

The Doctor grinned. "You have no idea how much I'd like to see that," he said, turning to the others. "Do you understand the significance. These people grew completely divergent from the rest of mankind. Their technology is entirely unique. And the best way to gauge an areas technology is by looking at their medicine."

"You are such a nerd," said Amy.

"Oh, you have no idea," the Doctor grinned. "Take us to the hospital level!"

"You'll have to use the QT Tubes for that," said the Captain. Suddenly, his collar glowed and spoke.

"Captain, can you come to the bridge please," a voice said. "We need command prompts for stream release on left leg alpha."

The Captain touched the collar. "Be right there," he walked over to the QT Tube and stepped in. He looked at the group. "Feel free to head down to the Hospital level. I'm sure Doctor Morbus will be glad for the company. He's gone through more puzzles than we have. Command bridge."

The Captain faded away and they all blinked. "Well then," said the Doctor. "Down to the hospital level to meet this Morbus. Anyone?"

"I, for one, am not going to wander around this ship alone," said Rory. "I'm with you."

"I am too," said Amy, "as always."

"Geronimo," Chris said simply. The Doctor chuckled.

They each stepped into a tube and spoke.

"Hospital level."