AN: DON'T HATE ME! :( I'm so sorry I've taken so long! It has been crazy. Got to see the 50th in 3D and I was blown away! Hopefully get to do something fun with that eventually. Anywho, on with the story!
Chapter 17
I knew who the next death was.
I ran out of the room, the Doctor and Rose calling after me. I ignored them, sprinting down the passageway. The one thing I forgot about TV shows is that they can show two different events happening at the same time, namely my phone call and the Steward's death. I ran to the metal office door and banged my fists upon it, but I was too late.
I heard the Steward's screams and only stopped fighting when the noise stopped. I sank to the ground, small tears leaking out of the corners of my eyes. I quickly sniffed and wiped all remnants of the tears away. If I was going to save people, I had no time to cry over spilled blood.
I composed myself and quickly ran out of the room. Let's see… where were they heading next? I searched my memory. Observation deck! I quickly dashed that way, resolving to stop any other casualties.
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(Rose P.O.V)
The Doctor was reluctant, but they eventually left the room and traveled to the observation deck. They were met with the sight of a room full of panicking aliens. Rose laughed, that was probably the weirdest sentence to ever cross her mind. The Doctor commented absently, "That wasn't a gravity pocket. I know gravity pockets, and they don't feel like that."
Jabe approached them, adding, "It's the sound of metal, it doesn't make any sense to me." Rose took a moment to really appreciate the alien's beauty. She was rather pretty, for a tree person. Her bark was a deep, chocolatey brown, mixed and twisted with dark green vines and leaves, forming a sort of hairdo. She was wearing an exquisite red and gold dress with a stiff collar and a straight, silky skirt.
The Doctor's voice brought her examinations to a halt. "Where's the engine room?" Jabe shrugged. "I don't know, but the maintenance duct is just behind our guest suite, I could show you and your wife."
Rose inhaled sharply. The Doctor quickly corrected, "She's not my wife." He swallowed the lump in his throat nervously.
Jabe looked thoughtful. "Partner?" Alice chose that moment to run into the room. Rose noticed a slight red tinge around her eyes, but decided to ask her about it later.
She looked shaken and out of breath. "No, not partner, not concubine, not prostitute, just friend." Both Jabe and the Doctor looked shocked, however, the latter recovered much quicker, as if he had an explanation. Rose coughed awkwardly and said, "I'm just gonna,... go socialize. She turned and left the trio to study this Lady Cassandra closer.
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The Doctor snapped out of his reverie and offered an arm to Jabe and to me. When I looped my arm through his he pulled me close and whispered, "You need to be more careful, she's suspicious." I shivered at his breath on my ear. He backed away, a smile on his face as he addressed Jabe, "I'm all yours!"
I chuckled as Rose called out, "I want you both home by midnight!"
I yelled back, my hands cupping my mouth, "Yes, mother!" She waved her hand sassily at me, stalking towards Cassandra. The Doctor pulled both me and Jabe into a maintenance corridor complete with flashing lights and wayward wires everywhere.
I could tell Jabe was very wary of not only the Doctor, but me also. She had a reason to be so nervous, after all, I knew everything. The Doctor's right, I should be more careful. I unwrapped my arm from the Doctor's so I could remove my trench coat. I blew my bangs from my eyes and tried to focus on the conversation.
"Is there a captain, or what?" the Doctor was saying.
"There's just the steward and staff." Reduced significantly, I thought bitterly. "All the rest is controlled by the metal man."
"You mean the computer?" the Doctor inferred. "Yes, but who controls the computer?" I finished for him. The Doctor looked like he was so annoyed at my constant knowledge of his words. Jabe did not notice, answering, "The Corporation. They move Platform One from one artistic event to another."
The Doctor ponders this for a moment, and I let him follow his nonexistent script, opting to sit out on the following conversation.
"But there's no one from the Corporation on board."
"They're not needed. This facility is purely automatic. It's the height of the alpha class. Nothing can go wrong."
"Unsinkable," the Doctor and I whispered at the same time. He didn't send me any exasperated looks, so I figured he was distracted. His thinking face acted like a mask, revealing no other emotions that might be lurking under the surface.
"If you like," Jabe concluded. "The nautical metaphor is appropriate." Even though the gravity of the situation was resting on the Doctor's shoulders, Jabe was oblivious, gazing at him with such intensity, I expected him to shatter under her gaze. What was that in her eyes? Anger, confusion, realization… desire? I realized that my thoughts made me miss some of the conversation.
The Doctor had removed the mask, if only for a moment, to grin at Jabe and breathe, "Fantastic!" Jabe, with mock curiosity and maybe some genuine confusion, replied, "I don't understand. In what way is this fantastic?" He simply chuckled as we continued down the hallway.
Jabe still gazed at the Doctor, oblivious that she might be walking to her death. Not if I could do anything. I pledged, perhaps long before I even realized it, to save the people the Doctor couldn't.
Or fall with them.