Chapter Twenty-Five: Hello, Planet Earth

Cassie stepped out of the TARDIS and faced the gang of people. "Right then! Let's start working on getting the Earth home. First… we need to go down to Cardiff and have Gwen undo the time lock. We're going to need Torchwood and the Rift to take Earth home. Come on! Everyone in! Mum, Dad, Martha, Jack, Mickey, Donna, Sarah Jane, everyone, come on!"

They all filed into the TARDIS, and Cassie took out her little gizmo. "This thing has the coordinates for us to materialize right around Gwen," she explained, and she plugged it into a little slot on the TARDIS.

"But what about the Dalek in the Hub?" Jack asked. "When we undo the time lock, it'll kill the others."

"That Dalek was killed with the rest of them," Cassie replied. "Alright, coordinates set. Gwen Cooper, here we come! Allons-y!" She pulled a few levers, and in seconds, Gwen was materializing inside the TARDIS.

"What the hell?" Gwen turned in circles. "How did I get in here? And what is it?"

Cassie was about to say "Welcome to the TARDIS," but Jack shoved her aside and ran for Gwen.

"Jack-what?" Gwen was clearly confused. "Jack, what's all the fuss about? I just saw you, thirty seconds ago."

"Right," Jack laughed. "Time lock. Right. Still. Glad to see you."

"You, too," Gwen grinned, and they hugged. "I love you," she whispered, and Jack was just about to pull her in for a kiss when-

"Oi! We can all snog each other senseless later!" Cassie's voice broke them apart. "We have business to attend to."

Jack turned and gave her a coy look. "Is that a promise, Cassie?"

"Oh, dear God," Cassie muttered. "Okay, how to put this… I know! Jack. It is one thing to flirt with every single living being in the room. However… it is quite another to do it while Gwen is in the room with you. I'd shut up… like, now." Jack opened his mouth and then closed it. "Oooh, and lo, he is speechless. Gwen, I'd call the papers - wait, no, don't call the papers! We have stuff to do! Gwen, do me a favor and press that button for me."

"You got it," Gwen laughed, very amused by Cassie's ability to do the impossible and stop Jack from flirting. There was a flash of light as Gwen pressed the button.

Cassie swung open the door of the TARDIS and stepped out to see Owen, Tosh, and Ianto looking very confused.

Cassie waved at the team. "Right, you lot all have questions, but I can't answer them right now. We have to get the Earth back to the solar system. Owen, Tosh, Ianto, I need you guys to open up that Rift manipulator and send the power to me. Got that?" The three of them, thank God, snapped right into action. "Excellent. Gwen, Jack, back in the TARDIS. Sarah Jane! What's your son's name?"

"Luke. He's called Luke. And the computer's called Mister Smith." Sarah Jane grinned at Cassie, loving the spirit of this other kid.

"Calling Luke and Mister Smith," said Cassie. "Luke, it's Cassie. Come on! Let's go."

"Is Mum there?" Luke asked.

"Oh, she's fine and dandy," Cassie grinned, while Sarah Jane called out to her son. "Now, Mister Smith, I want you to harness the Rift power and loop it around the TARDIS. You got that?"

"I regret I will need remote access to TARDIS base code numerals," said Mister Smith.

"Oh, blimey, that's going to take a while," Cassie sighed. "Wait a minute! K-9! K-9, out you come!"

K-9 came out beside Luke. "Affirmative, young Mistress."

"Oh, Cassie, you're brilliant!" The Doctor laughed. "Oh, good dog! K9, give Mister Smith the base code."

"Master. TARDIS base code now being transferred. The process is simple."

"Excellent! Right then. Dad, you've got Mum, Martha, Mickey, Jack, and Sarah Jane. You guys fly the TARDIS, but wait for my go signal, alright? Gwen, Donna, with me. TARDIS, we're doing Panplanet." The TARDIS zapped a microphone and a button into Cassie's hand. "Perfect. Come on! Donna, take this." She handed Donna the button. "Come on, ladies, with me."

"What're we doing?" Gwen asked.

"The lights, the sound, the life," Cassie said softly.

"What?"

"That's why you like that rooftop, right?" Cassie grinned.

Gwen was shocked. "How can you possibly-"

"Come on!" She grabbed Gwen's hand and pulled her down the hallway and up a flight of stairs, to a little metal square. "Come on, everyone on the square. Deja vu, Gwen?" Cassie grinned cheekily.

"Yeah, definitely deja vu," Gwen replied, still a bit confused as to how Cassie knew… basically everything. "Where does this thing go?"

"You'll see," Cassie grinned. The square rose up to a platform extending off of the roof of the TARDIS. "Gwen Cooper, Donna Noble, welcome to the top of the world."

"This is incredible," Gwen whispered.

"A bit more impressive than Cardiff, no? Company set aside." Cassie once again grinned very cheekily.

"Cassie… you're impossible."

"I'm aware." Cassie stepped forward with the microphone. "Do you guys know what this is?"

"No, what is it?" Donna asked.

"This… is a microphone. Obviously. But it broadcasts all over the Earth and is tied to the TARDIS translation circuits. I'm going to talk to the human race!"

"Brilliant!" Donna exclaimed. "Well, go on, do it!"

"I'm going to!" Cassie flicked the switch on the microphone. "Is this thing working?" She tapped the head of the microphone a few times. "Hello, Planet Earth!"

Down on Earth, every single person fell silent. "Oh, right, you're probably wondering what's up with the voice in the sky. Don't worry, I don't bite. Now. Let's try this again. Hello, Planet Earth!"

Every single person on the planet screamed hello back, loud enough so the girls on the spaceship could hear. "Whoaaa," Gwen and Donna said simultaneously.

"Right, that's much better. My name's Cassie, and I have a few things to say to you, but first: Who wants to go back to the solar system where we belong?" There was a chorus of cheers. "Oh, I couldn't hear you. Who wants to go back to the solar system where we belong?!" The crowd on Earth screamed even louder. "Right then! I happen to be standing on top of a spaceship that's going to take us home. But the crew needs the go signal to start flying, and I want you, the people of Earth, to give them that signal. How does that sound?" Once again, a loud chorus of cheers. "Excellent. So. The go signal is Allons-y. Let's all try saying that. Allons-y. Go on. Everyone say that. Allons-y." There was a bit of jumbled noise as the people tried to say Allons-y. "Okay. Now let's try saying it on cue. I'm going to say 1, 2, 3, and then we're going to say Allons-y. Okay? Let's practice. Ready? One, two, three, allons-y!" They listened as the people of Earth all shouted the Doctor's favorite word. "Oh, that was brilliant," Cassie said into the microphone. "Very well done, everybody. Time to do it for real. And to count us in, I'm going to invite my friend to the proverbial stage: Planet Earth, I give you the one, the only, Gwen Cooper!" She held out the microphone to Gwen. "Donna, button."

Gwen held her hands up."No way. I'm not-"

"Come on!" Cassie said. "You just saved the world!" She leaned in to whisper in Gwen's ear. "Do it for Jack."

Gwen sighed. "That's not always going to work, you know. But… I suppose I can count this lot in for you."


"Alright! People of the earth, who wants to go back to the solar system?"

"That's Gwen!" Jack laughed.

"Shhh!" Rose shushed him.

"Okay, just like Cassie said," Gwen called out. "On three. One! Two! Three!"

"ALLONS-Y!"

Everyone on the TARDIS burst out laughing. "That must've been Cassie's idea," the Doctor chuckled. "Now then, you lot. Sarah Jane, hold that down. Mickey, you hold that. Because you know why this TARDIS always is always rattling about the place? Rose? That, there. It's designed to have six pilots, and I have to do it single handed. Martha, keep that level. But not any more. Jack, there you go. Steady that. Now we can fly this thing. Like it's meant to be flown. We've got the Rift looped around the TARDIS by Mister Smith, and we're going to fly Planet Earth back home. Right then. Off we go!"

Meanwhile, Cassie had taken back the microphone. "Hold on, you lot, before you start celebrating. I have a few things to say." She paused for a moment, and began her little message for the human race. "Today was a turning point in the history of the universe. Let's think about the universe for a moment. The universe… it doesn't exist in any way we can conceive it. No center, no edge, no none of that… whether or not you can believe it. And there's a lot of stuff all around you right now.. your chair, your friend, your planet… I dunno, your sister's… neighbor's… cow… And all that mundane mass and energy is all we know and understand, but it's only four percent of what the universe has at hand. Long story short, the universe is weird, and it's massive, and it's teeming with life. The amount of life in this universe is beyond infinite. If some infinities were larger than others, the infinite life in the universe would be the biggest infinity of all. And today, all of that infinite life in this wonderful universe was on the brink of perishing. Every atom of this universe was in danger of vanishing, gone forever and never to return, vanquished at the hands… well, plungers and egg beaters… of an enemy older than the Earth itself by a hundred thousand years, the Dalek race. But here we are. We're standing here, alive, and the universe is safe from harm. Why is that? you may wonder. How is it that we survived this near apocalypse? The answer is one human being. That's all. One human being, who stared at the face of death and said, "No. No. Everyone knows that everyone dies, but not me. Not us. Not now. Not today." And she took a great big leap of faith, knowing that she very well could die, and she pressed a button that foiled the Daleks' plot. That's all it took. One human being, out of the seven billion on this planet, out of the great big infinity that's the life in this universe, one human being saved all of existence." She paused for a minute to decide how to phrase the next bit. "So what does that say, people of the Earth? Well, it says a lot. It says that the universe is capable of surviving the biggest threat in its history. It says that the Daleks are ridiculously thick for missing the details that led to their demise - long story there. But most importantly, my friends, it says that it only takes one person to make a change, to do something great. There is no such thing as an ordinary human being. Every single one of you is capable of doing something brilliant, something life-changing, something that makes the world a better place. So if there's a day where you feel hopeless, useless, that the world doesn't need you to move on, that you can't do much, remember today. Remember the story of the one person, just like all of you, who saved the universe. And try! Get out there and do something clever with your life. Do something funny. Do something kind. Do good in the world and relish in the fact that you contributed to this life, that you just like everyone else are important to the future of this planet and the future of the universe. Because, as a matter of fact, you are. We learned today that the twenty-first century is when everything changes, and you've gotta be ready. So be ready! The future is yours to take, so take it. Thank you, Planet Earth, thank you for everything." And as Cassie finished, a burst of cheers rang out across the Earth.


Hey everyone! Here's chapter 25, the penultimate chapter of Cassie. Chapter 26 will come soon, I promise.

A shoutout to Ghargr18, who got the musical reference. The answer was "It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" by R.E.M. Well done Ghargr18!

This chapter contains another, more obscure, musical reference, as well as a literary one. If anyone can pick it up, they will receive a shoutout in the last chapter of Cassie!

As always, love and ducks to Rachel and Jubilee, hugs to reviewers, thanks to Eleonora, Noe, Hanul, and Kizzie, and ICE CREAM FOR ALL!

Love,

Ofelia xxx