AN: Chapter 20! I'm sorry the last chapter was so small, so I'll try to make this one extra long. Enjoy!
Chapter 20
"Don't move!" the Doctor cries as he puts his sonic screwdriver in his coat pocket. "Where am I gonna go? Ipswich?" comes the sarcastic reply. The Doctor turns to me. "Stay here and make sure Rose doesn't do anything stupid." I was about to agree when I realized the events that followed. "I can't!" I said, trying to reason with him. I guess he could sense the urgency in my voice, and simply sighed, jogging back down the hallway.
We meet Jabe in the Observation Deck where she is announcing the Steward's death. Gasps come from all of the occupants of the room. "Who killed him?" calls the Moxx of Balhoon. "This whole event was sponsored by the Face of Boe!" Cassandra cries out. "He invited us. Talk to the Face."
Well, that's not very nice, Jack whispers in my head. Hush you! I'm trying to listen. I nagged. And don't worry, no one blames you.
Psshh, He scoffs. Who could ever blame this face?
You're not exactly 23 anymore….
It felt like he mentally pouted in my head, but I just ignored him and listened back in on the conversation. "There's an easy way of finding out who killed him," the Doctor says with a slight air of authority. "Someone brought their little pet on board." He extracts the metal spider from his dimensionally-transcendental pockets (try saying that five times fast). "Let's send him back to his master. He reactivates the little arachnid and places it gently on the ground. It seems to scan the room with it's little red eye before scuttling in the direction of Cassandra, only to continue moving in front of the Adherents.
"The Adherents of the Repeated Meme!" Cassandra dramatically states. It's surprising that no one but myself knows who the real villain is here.
"Right, sure. That makes sense," I start, slowly sauntering towards Cassandra. "But, if you think about it, a Repeated Meme is just an idea. So that's all they are, ideas." The main Adherent attempts to hit me, but I duck and yank his arm out, handing it to the Doctor who was close behind me. He pulls the correct wire, and all of the robed figures collapse to the ground. "They were simply droids. The perfect cover for someone trying to stay out of trouble." My eyes flit to Cassandra as I bend down towards the spider and give it a soft shove. "Go home, little buddy. Who's your creator?"
It immediately scuttles over to Cassandra. "I bet you were the school swot that never got kissed!" Cassandra hisses towards me. "Four times actually," I retort, winking at her. She ignores my comment, instead instructing her attendants. "At arms!" They raise their spray guns, to point at me and the Doctor. I slowly back away. The Doctor steps forward, unaware of the actual substance in those canisters. "What are you going to do, moisturize me?" he scoffs. Cassandra smirks and replies, "With acid." The Doctor's expression quickly sobers.
"Oh, you're too late anyway," she continues. "My spiders have control of the mainframe. Oh, you carried them as gifts, tax free, past every code wall. I'm not just a pretty face." She giggles a bit, which makes me want to barf. The hazmat-suit guys still had their sprayers pointed at us menacingly. The Doctor pointed out the obvious, stating, "Sabotaging a ship while you're still inside it? How stupid's that?"
Cassandra looked immensely pleased that he asked that question. "I'd hoped to manufacture a hostage situation with myself as one of the victims. The compensation would would have been enormous." She sounded disappointed. I shook my head. "Five billion years, and it's still all about who's the richest."
She glared at me. "Do you think it's cheap, looking like this? Flatness costs a fortune." Before she continued on, I had to get my opinion in. "If you just let yourself go like normal humans, you wouldn't be paying so much."
She ignored my comment. "I am the last human. Me. Not you," she directed towards me. "Not that other child you brought with you." The Doctor was furious and I could tell. The Moxx decided to step in at that moment, proclaiming, "Arrest her!"
"Shut it pixie," she snapped, eyes darting over to the ostrich egg. "I've still got my final option." I sucked in a shaky breath. What would happen if I stopped it all, right here, right now. I could grab the egg, and would that save people? I didn't want to stray too far from the storyline, but I also didn't want people to perish. I can't change the future too much, so I decided to let Cassandra take her leave, knowing that there will be payback later. "Burn, baby, burn," she finishes explaining her plan.
Jabe stared at her defiantly. "Then you'll burn with us." Cassandra chortles,and looks guilty. "I know teleportation is strictly forbidden, but I'm such a naughty thing. Spiders, activate." The ship rumbles with explosions. Everyone ducks, expecting debris to rain down. Cassandra sighs. "Forcefields gone with the planet about to explode. At least it'll be quick."
"What, like your fifth husband?" I spit at her. She practically growled at me. "Oh, shame on me. Doesn't matter now, you're all going to die. Buh-bye my darlings, buh-bye!" She and her two companions disappeared in a shimmer of blue-silver light.
The computer reported, Heat levels rising. The guests all looked around, panicked. "Reset the computer!" cried the Moxx. Jabe shook her head sadly, "Only the Steward would know how."
"But there is a way. We can do it by hand. There must be a system restore switch. Jabe, Alice, with me. The rest of you…" he searched for the proper term to use. "Just chill." And with a grin, he fled the room, Jabe and I on his heels.
The computer continued to inform us of our imminent demise. We reached the maintenance duct where we had found the spider earlier. The razor sharp fans turned faster to try and cool down the rapidly heating ship. The Doctor groans. "And guess where the switch is." Jabe squints her eyes to gaze at the small lever on the other side of the deadly fans. I spy the breaker lever on this side and pull it cautiously, demonstrating the way it slows down, only to speed up again when I release it. External temperature: five thousand degrees, The computer announces. Jabe reaches for the lever, but I swat her hand away. "You are made of wood, you will catch on fire," I inform her seriously. She glances uneasily at me and the Doctor before replying, "I will go gather the guests to a safer area." I smile reassuringly at her as she dashes out of the room. I sigh audibly, glancing at the Doctor who looks surprised at the conversation that just occurred. "Does she-?" he starts. "Yes," I whisper, turning around and grasping the slowly warming lever. "Now stop wasting time, Time Lord."
He grins madly before turning to the task before him with a determined expression.
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(Jabe P.O.V)
Jabe gently nudges all of the aliens into the hallway as the glass in the Observation Deck starts to crack into intricate patterns, leaking the lethal sunlight in. Shields malfunction. Shields malfunction. The computer repeats. Jabe raises her hand to ask for silence. "I know you are all frightened, but we must remain calm. We will survive this, trust me," she reassures. She faces the wall before whispering to herself, "I trust those two impossible people."
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(Rose P.O.V)
Rose screams as the glass begins to crack. The glare starts to pierce random parts of the room, scorching it immediately. Rose curls into a ball, wanting this to be over. "Where are you Doctor and Alice?" she whispers through her shaking hands.
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The Doctor makes it past the first fan with little complications and gazes back at me with a thumbs up. I smile reassuringly at him, but wince as the metal beneath my palm starts to get increasingly hotter. "Hurry!" I call. He makes it quickly past the next fan. I can feel the flesh of my hand start to blister painfully. Tears prick my eyes against my will. The Doctor makes it past the third fan, just as the skin starts to peel off my hands in blackened clumps. I let go, crying out. He turns back to me with a worried look on his face. I clutch my hand, and yell at him, "The switch!" He understands my urgency, and stares at the quickening fan. I almost black out from the agony, but I watch as he takes a deep breath and passes through the danger unharmed. I sigh happily, and allow the darkness to drag me under.