"Okay," The Doctor began, clapping his hands together as he looked over us all. As soon as we had landed in Space Florida- actually, it was called Blellela, but the Rose and I had refused to call it that, instead opting for Space Florida- we had all gotten out of the formal wear that we had worn to my sister-in-law's inauguration and changed into something more appropriate for the beach- well, most of us did. The doctor refused to get out of his black leather. "We are on the island known as Blellela. Normally I'd let you all go on your merry ways, but a little background first."
Rose groaned and crossed her arms. "Are we going to stay in the TARDIS the whole time we're here, or...?"
"Just let me finish." The Doctor ordered and Rose just rolled her eyes before motioning for him to continue. "Thank you," He said mockingly. "Now, Blellela-"
"Space Florida." I slipped in, but quickly closed my mouth when the Doctor glared at me. He crossed his arms, waiting for me to say something else, but I zipped my lips shut. Staying quiet was a small price to pay for a vacation to an alien planet.
"As I was saying," The Doctor restarted. "Blellela is mostly a tourist planet and they get aliens from as close as Noveormore and from as far as Cachitilly, so try not to offend anyone- Rose, I'm talking to you. Blellela has two suns, so it's only dark for about three hours every day. Also, they've got these annoying little creatures here called Garbs. They're about the size of an eyeball, but it only takes six hours for their poison to kill you so if you get bit-"
"Go to a real doctor?" I suggested and the Doctor gave me a look.
"Yes, go to a doctor." He repeated. "Now, I've already given you all money so the only other thing I ask of you before I send you on your way is-" And the Doctor looked directly at Rose and I. "Do not get arrested. The penalty for almost every crime is death."
I couldn't help it when my eyes popped open. Was he serious? Or was this one of his little mind game Rose had warned her about to force them to keep themselves out of trouble. "Death?"I asked and the Doctor nodded.
"Yup."
"Like, death death?" Rose asked and the Doctor nodded again.
"Death." He confirmed. "Now have fun." He said before turning and leaving out of the front doors of the TARDIS. Jack left not a second later, leaving me and Rose standing in front of the open doors of the TARDIS.
"Death penalty." I nodded, trying not to let on how much that had rattled me. "Well, I can't die, so I'm good." Rose gaped at me as I walked to the doors of the TARDIS.
"Well some of us aren't immortal for the next hundred years!" She yelled.
THE GLASS
After a horrible time in 1947, the Doctor decides it's time for a bit of relaxation for all of them, but of course he can't go anywhere without causing trouble, but how was he supposed to know that Linnie and Rose wound unknowingly start a war between an underwater city and the planet above?
"Aren't these just lovely?" Rose asked as she admired a pair of small earrings. They were a light pink and in a weird shape, but- if I had to guess- I'd say they were made out of some sort of shells.
"How much for these?" I asked pointing the the earrings at the merchant turned to face us. He looked down at what I was pointing to before a friendly smile went over his face.
"The Beshire shells?" I nodded, but I had no idea if that's what they actually were. "Two copper." Thankfully, their currency system wasn't that hard to learn. It was actually pretty simply; there were twenty-two copper pieces in a silver shilling, thirty-five silver shillings in a gold coin and fifty gold coins in a platinum chip. The only thing that usually went wrong was either Rose or me confusing a shilling for a chip considering they looked just about the same. We had concerned a lot of friendly merchants when we overpaid severely for a few things and managed to piss off a few who thought we were trying to rip them off.
Taking the right amount of money and handing it to the merchant, I picked up the box the shell earrings sat in and gave it to Rose. We had been in the markets, shopping since we left the TARDIS, but I wasn't complaining. I had loved shopping back when I was with my family, but I was never able to buy the clothes I wanted since most of my money went towards bills. All of my clothes usually came from thrift stores, but I tried not to complain, especially now that I could wear whatever I wanted; between the clothes Rose offered to share with me and the giant room of clothes the Doctor had in the TARDIS, my options weren't exactly limited.
Today I had decided to try something different and put on a blue and gold tribal print bikini and a pair of cutoff shorts I had made from a pair of Rose's jeans. She hadn't exactly been happy, but- to be fair- I hadn't known they were hers; she had left them lying on the floor of the minimall the Doctor called his closet.
"They'll make a great gift for my mum." Rose commented as she closed the small box and slipped it into her bag. We started off through the strip of vendors and merchants once again.
"When was the last time you saw her?" I asked. "Your mom?"
"It's been a few weeks." She admitted. "But I call her all the time. She's got a new boyfriend or whatever, so I don't feel so bad about leaving her alone." Suddenly, I wondered how long it had been since my stepmother had seen me last; I knew it had only been a few weeks since I saw her last, but time was hard to keep up with while I was travelling with Rose and the Doctor. It could have been months- years, even, since Samantha found out that I 'died'.
Rose looked at me and she seemed to suddenly remember that I wouldn't be able to see my family again. "I'm sorry." She apologized immediately. "You can't even see your mum again and here I am acting like I haven't seen mine in ages." I shook my head.
"It's okay." I assured her. "Just because my life has turned into a massive puddle of crap and aliens doesn't mean that everyone else has to stop living theirs. I just..."
"Just what?"
I sighed. "I just wonder about her and Leo." I admitted. "Whether or not I did the right thing by making them believe I was dead. I mean, when I was in college I was going to major in psychology, so I've read tons of articles on how traumatizing it could be for kid to lose someone at such a young age; Leo already lost my dad and then he lost me too."
"Don't go blamin' yourself for that." Rose instructed. "You did what you thought was right. Plus, it's not as if you can't pop in on them now and then. We do have a time machine." I completely forgot about that.
"You're right." I nodded.
"Plus, you've already seen Leo." She reminded. "He's doing great; he married the president of America and he's got two little girls."
"You're right." I admitted once again. "Everything I did, I did for Leo and he turned out just fine. Now it's time to focus on me; I mean, look at me!" I scoffed. "I'm in the future, on another planet, and all I can do is worry about someone who's fine."
"You just need to loosen up." Rose nodded. "Now c'mon; we've got a vacation to make the best of."
/
Rose and I went down to the beach where most of the tourist seemed to be; I knew they were tourist because everyone I had met so far who lived on the planet looked like humans- other than their pointed ears and ridiculously large eyes. I saw people with blue skin, tails, horns- just about anything you could think of. It was probably just the artist in me, but I found them all beautiful in their own ways.
Anyway, Rose and I settled down on a set of beach chairs while we people watched- well, Rose people watched. I spent ten minutes putting on sunblock so I wouldn't burn; I had needed to apply it multiple times during my shifts at the Shack and that was for a world with just one sun. This one had two and the last thing I needed was getting cancer from some alien sun.
"So," Rose began, looking to me as I lathered my leg with lotion. "Tell me about 2018." she requested. "What's it like?"
"Well..." I didn't know exactly what to tell her. "William and Kate are pregnant again; Kylie Jenner gave birth after hiding her pregnancy for nine months. Disney channel sucks now, Mariah Carey is trying to be a reality star and she's failing hard; the president used to be a black guy that just about everyone loved, but he got replaced by Donald Trump, so everyone's moving to Canada. No one can get over Black Panther, Supernatural has taken over Tumblr and no one respects anyone else's culture anymore. Eating Tide Pods is a thing, Gilmore Girls got a Netflix reboot, they killed off Wolverine and Deadpool got another movie after the first one dominated at the box office."
Rose stared at me for a few moments without saying a thing and I was actually worried that I broke her brain. "Yeah, I didn't get anything after Disney Channel." I snorted and shook my head.
"Well, in simplest terms; America is such a wreck that even the starving children in Africa feel bad for us."
"It sounds mad." I nodded as I laid back in my chair.
"And it's also your future." I pointed out. "No to mention, my present, but seeing as we've gone to the future and the world didn't end, I have to believe that everything got better."
"It always gets better," Rose assured me before she suddenly shot up from her chair. "Let's go swimming!" She requested as she tried to pull me towards the water. She had shed her oversized tee and shorts, leaving her in her two piece bathing suit. Luckily, she was also smaller than me, so I managed to dig my heels into the sand to stop her from pulling.
"I don't want to get wet," I complained and she gave me a look.
"Once way or another, you're getting wet." I tried to hold back my snort of laughter, but I couldn't. Rose looked at me like I was inside.
"It's nothing," I laughed. "You'll understand in ten years." She huffed before taking off towards the water with me in tow and, this time, I didn't stop her.
The ocean water was incredibly blue and you could see almost everything underwater. Despite the fact that I didn't want to stray too far away from the shoreline, I ended up following Rose bout forty feet out. The water was about twenty or so feet deep at that point so Rose and I dived down a couple of times. She, however, couldn't make it the entire way, but I had been on the swimming team in middle school. I could hold my breath for three minutes and seventeen seconds, so Rose insisted that I dived down to collect whatever shining, glittering or misshapen seashells caught her eyes. I only got small ones since the only place Rose had to store them was her bikini.
Huh? You want to know if I put any in mine? The answer is yes, because Rose was very persuasive and I had a soft spot for her ever since she tried to die for me by letting go of that barrage balloon.
"My mum is going to love these." Rose said, stuffing another seashell in her bikini bottom. She had about seven all together, but I only had three or four. The last thing I wanted was for a seashell to slip into a place where no seashell should ever go. "Maybe we can ask the doctor if we can go back to 2030. You could leave them as a gift for your brother- he won't even have to know it was you."
"I have a feeling that he'll know it was." I admitted as I pushed wet hair out of my face. "I mean, imagine seeing your nineteen year old sister, thirteen years after she's died. Then you get a box full of weird seashells. Who would you think it was?"
Rose nodded. "You have a-" But she didn't get to finish her sentence.
With a gasp, Rose was pulled under the water and, before I was even able to start freaking out, I was too.
A slender, scaly hand wrapped around the ankle of my right foot and I was pulled under the water, but I was able to take a deep breath before I was submerged. I immediately began trying to swim back up to the surface, but the grip on my leg was too tight. When I realized this, I looked down to see that it was a woman who had grabbed hold of me; I didn't focus on her though, instead I kicked at her with my free leg as she continued to to pull me down. it didn't help much.
I had already been down for a minute and a half when the scaly woman began pulling me sideways away from shore at an alarming speed and ahead of us was Rose being pulled by a similar looking creature/person, but I could see that she was already unconscious. She would be dead soon enough if I didn't so something.
Folding my right leg, I brought myself closer to the scaly woman and I kicked at her again, this time nailing her right in the back of the head, but it was like she didn't even feel it.
I did, however, know that she noticed it. How? Because she took me further down and swung my body so my head made impact on a large rock. Pain erupted in my head, but I was out a second later.
/
When I woke up, I immediately began coughing up the water and was pushed on my side so the rest could come out. My brain was pounding against my skull and my throat felt like sandpaper. Drowning sucked.
"Are you alright?" A melodic voice asked and I I tilted my head to the side to see a woman knelt down next to me- a scaly woman.
I scrambled away from her as fast as possible as my heart began to speed up and she held her hands up as if I was a rabid animal ready to attack.
"Calm down." She said gently. "I'm not gonna hurt you."
"Well, excuse me if I don't believe you." I replied with a cough. "I just got drowned."
"I'm sorry for that." She apologized. "Sallah got carried away." Sallah? That's when I noticed that this woman was not the only scaly person around.
I was in a large, castle-like room and there were about six other scaly people/creatures standing around; two stood guarding a set of large, wooden double doors and held long spears, there was the one talking to me, one not far away from us glaring at me with her unnaturally blue eyes and two more that stood at another set of double doors with spears the same as the others. Where the hell was I? Where the hell was Rose?
"Where am I?" I demanded. "Who are you? Where's my friend?"
The woman was more than happy to answer my questions. Despite the fact that they were all covered in scales and skin, they all looked differently; the woman in front of me only had scales covering her shoulders, her neck and legs, and it varied how covered she was. The scales on her neck were scattered around lightly while the ones on her legs fully covered her and the colors reminded me of a rainbow fish. She had unnaturally long light brown hair and pale green eyes. The woman behind her was fully covered in multicolored scales from head to toe and only half of her head produced the black hair that feel down to her shoulders. She had been the one who drowned me and the fact that the one talking to me hadn't been the the one to do so, was the only reason I hadn't attacked her- well, that and I had no idea how strong she was. Last thing I needed was a broken neck.
"You're in Chalaan." She told me. "My name is Srie Sonnse; my father rules this country and this is Sallah." She looked back to the one who drowned me. "Your friends name is the Rose flower?" I didn't know what that meant, but I nodded. "She awoke moments before you. She is with my father and mother. I can take you to her."
I tried to stand up on my own, but I almost collapsed onto the floor, my legs were so wobbly. I had no choice but to let Srie help me.
I was right; were were in a castle and a very big castle at that. There were painting of all different sizes and styles, sculptures, cases- anything you could dream off. The ceilings held large, beautiful and intricate chandeliers and lighting fixtures and the walls were made out of dark brown wood and gold, but the main attraction had to be the window.
Srie had led me into a long hallway with Sallah following closely, but I had been too busy to notice the window because I was too busy noticing everything else. It wasn't until we got to the end of the hall that I saw the window.
It was huge and wide with nothing to obstruct the view of outside. There was nothing special about the window itself, but what it looked out too.
"We're underwater." I breathed as I watched the numerous fish and sea creatures that swam past the window, near and far. In the distance, I was even sure that I saw some sort of prehistoric whale. "We're underwater."
I felt a presence approach behind me. "Welcome to the underwater city of Chalaan."
/
"Thank god, you're okay." I sighed as Rose pulled me into a hug. "We have been in way too many life or death situations together."
Srie took me straight to Rose after I was done gawking at the ocean.
Rose was in a large throne room with dozens of scaly people, but a few of them were guards. I suddenly wondered what they were supposed to be. With the scales and the being able to breath underwater thing, my mind was screaming mermaids, but I wasn't going to assume...yet. Plus, they all had legs and wore clothes- or, what passed as clothes, I guessed. It was mostly netting and shells.
"It was all a misunderstanding." Rose told me. I was honestly feeling just a bit exposed, standing around in my bathing suit, but Rose's was smaller than mine. "Saith and Naal were explaining everything to me 'fore you came in."
"Explaining what?" I asked. "And who are Saith and Naal?"
"We are." Turning my head, I saw two of the scaly people standing a couple of meters away from us in front of two, matching golden thrones. Much like everyone else, they differed in appearance.
The first was taller than most of the other scaly people-I should really ask what their species is called- and I could tell that he was a man; his dark gray scales covered his entire body up to the top of his neck and scales were lightly scattered on the right side of his face. His eyes were a light brown, his hair was black and ridiculously curly while the only portion of his face that wasn't covered in scales was close to a light mocha color.
The person standing next to him was a woman and she was about half a foot shorter than him. Her scales were metallic gold in color and covered her legs- stopping a bit past her waistline . Her entire stomach was shown before the scales started again an inch or two under her bust and continuing up to her neck. Her lightly tanned face was on full display and she had the same eyes and thick hair as Srie.
"These are my parents." Srie announced, walking to stand beside them. "They requested your presence here."
I raised an eyebrow. "Requested?" I demanded. "Requested? There was no request! We were kidnapped! That one-" I jabbed a finger at Sallah who stood a couple of feet away from me. "Nearly bashed my skull in!"
"Lin-" Rose started.
"No, Rose!" I snapped. "We both could have died."
"We apologize for that." Srie's mother, Saith, apologized as Sallah began ushering people out of the room. "We didn't mean to hurt you. We needed- need your help." That caught me off guard. Why would underwater mermaid people possibly need Rose and my's help?
Realizing that I wouldn't stay quiet for long, Rose began explaining. "Saith and Naal are the king and queen down here." She told me. "They've been in charge for over thirty years."
"And now it's time for us to hand the Crown of Sasaka and responsibility of Chalaan down to our children, so that they can take over." Saith continued. "But, in order to do that, we need your help."
Rose gave me a pleading look, but I was reluctant to hear them out; part of me wanted to simply leave and go back to my bedroom on the TARDIS, but another, larger, part of me wanted to help. That part eventually won.
"Alright," I sighed. "What do need help with?"
Wanting a bit more privacy, Rose and I were shown to a smaller room in the castle; it was as richly decorated as the throne room and the halls and also had a window looking out to the ocean. The only difference was the size of the room and the table that sat in the middle of it. Rose and I sat on one side while Srie sat on the other between her parents. Sallah stood next to the king.
"Something you must first understand before we continue," Naal began. His voice was raspy but deep. "Ever since people from other worlds began inhabiting this one, we- the Challans- have been targeted."
"What'dyou mean by targeted?" I asked.
"You were up on the earth," Sallah reminded. "When you looked to their money, their statues, their art, what did you see?"
I had to think for a few moments. She had been correct in assuming that most of Space Florida had a common theme; it was on their clothing, their shop signs- hell, it was even crafted into their food. "Mermaids." I realized.
"They see us as Gods." Saith continued. "And, for generations, we have been hunted down. Luckily, we have found ways of hiding ourselves from them and they've never been able to capture us, but many had been wounded in their attempts in getting away. Some have even died from their injuries, including my youngest child." Srie took her mothers hand and I couldn't help but feel bad for them. I knew that even on Earth mermaids were being hunted. I had never believed in them, but I was rethinking a lot of my beliefs since I met the Doctor. "He was only ten."
"I'm sorry." Rose apologized.
Saith nodded. "Thank you, but it is not him we worry about now."
"My brother, Zsoric is set to take the crown and become king when the next full moon rises." Srie took over. "It is only five days away, but we cannot find him."
"He was last seen near the shores of Blellela two weeks ago." Saith said. "No one has seen him since."
"How could we help?" I asked. "We're not even from this planet."
Naal nodded. "We know, that's why we brought you here."
/
"This is insane," I said to Rose as we made our way down the pier.
Naal and Saith had been very clear about what they wanted us to do; We were supposed to sneak into a secret lab- which they had no clue of its location- break out Zsoric - who we weren't even sure if they were alive or if he was even there- and get him back to the sea- which was all dependent on us not getting caught which I was sure we would.
"Are you gonna be the one to go back and tell them that we're not gonna do it?" Rose asked.
"Not unless I want Sallah to cut off my head for treason," That chick did not like me. I had felt her death glare throughout the entire meeting with the king and queen.
"Then that settles it." Rose sighed. "We have to do it, we just have o figure out how,"
"Oh, I've already made up a little plan." I told her. She just stared at me while we walked and it creeped me out. "What?"
"Are you gonna tell me?" I rolled my eyes.
"Do you know how many people get caught doing whatever it is they're doing?" I asked, but didn't give her a chance to answer. "By explaining their entire plan in front of hundreds of people who can hear them. If you've forgotten, the penalty for crime here is death and I don't know about you, but I don't want to die. Let's get to the TARDIS and I'll tell you there."
The plan was simple enough; Rose would get the sonic screwdriver and the psychic paper from the Doctor while we'd pose as scientists at the only labs in Space Florida. We were sure that Zsoric was in the secret basement lab that was a hundred feet underground. How did we know about the secret lab, you ask? Well, I just explained what was going on; The TARDIS wasn't exactly my best friend at the moment, but it didn't want me to die for treason. I didn't exactly know what it was doing, but- after a few moments- the console made a beeping sound and a photo of a building popped up on the screen along with an underground scan that showed the secret lab. The TARDIS showed me how to get there.
"Thank you," I said with a smile before I headed towards the hall in order to get to the closet room. I heard a beep and turned around.
YOU'RE WELCOME.
"Does this mean you like me now?" I got another beep.
ASK AGAIN LATER.
"Okay, Magic 8 Ball." Wondering if there were cameras in the TARDIS, I continued out of the console room.
After getting dressed in a pair of black suit pants and a white button up and packing a bag, I put on a wig; it was a lighter shade of brown that I hoped would help me look older and a it was long and curly, which I hoped would help hide my face. I had no idea what these people did- scenes from movies and TV shows began to play in my head; they could be like those people on Orphan Black who kept track of the clones and hired people in their lives to keep track of them; this could be an entire planet of robots like in Westworld...I hoped not, I wasn't into that show and had no idea what they actually did. For some reason, I thought of Inception and realized I could be in a dream right now.
Shaking those unnerving thoughts from my head, I found a pair of black flats and pulled them on. Once I was okay with how I looked, I left the closet and entered the main room just as Rose came through the door. She held up the psychic paper and sonic screwdriver in her hands.
"Awesome," She handed them to me and I slipped the psychic paper into my back pocket and the screwdriver into my bra knowing that it'd brother me all day if I put it in my pocket. "What'd you tell him?"
"That we spent all the money he gave us on presents for my mum and we needed more so we could get some for your brother," I nodded. The Doctor seemed like the kind of person who'd believe that. Rose's eyebrows furrowed. "Did you do something to your hair?"
"It's a wig," I told her. "You have to go get dressed now; they're not gonna believe a little British girl in a shirt that says 'Surf's Up Brah' is a scientist."
"Yeah, about that," Rose shifted. "What happens if this doesn't work?"
"We die," I was way too nonchalant about that. I could tell from the look on Rose's face. "I mean, somehow the Doctor figures out what we're up to and saves us?" Rose still looked unsure. "How about I just go in?" I suggested. "The TARDIS is a smart machine. It can found me a way into the secret lab where they're probably holding Zsoric, I'm sure it can easily follow me on the cameras." I heard a beep and looked to the screen.
SHE.
"Oh, sorry," I apologized before looking at Rose. "She can follow me on the cameras." But Rose was focused on the screen.
"What is that?" She asked and I shook my head.
"Nothing," I assured her. "Just how we communicate. Eight ball here isn't really digging me, so I've got to prove myself in order to keep it- her from making me go insane from lack of sleep." Rose looked confused. "Don't worry about it. Anyway, you stay here and follow me on the cameras. If anything goes wrong- like you see me get caught and dragged to my imminent death- get the Doctor and save me because I'm not entirely sure about this whole immortal thing I've got going on."
"Be careful," Rose ordered as I picked up my black purse and headed towards the door.
"Everything is gonna be fine," I told her. "I'm gonna get Zsoric out of the lab and then we're gonna take him home to his parents and sister...I promise." I added right before I left.
Next Chapter
The Willow Rose
With the king and queen of an underwater kingdom counting on her, Linnie sets out to do to the impossible and save Zsoric from Space Florida's secret lab, but will she be able to continue her mission when she spots a familiar face from Earth?