A voice intertwined with my two separate identities whispered in my mind and I answered the Doctor, "Backwards."
The Doctor caught my eye as he put down several levers, a sparkle in his eyes.
"Backwards it is, my Rose."
The TARDIS shook as it spun through the time vortex before settling.
The Doctor glanced at me from the corner of his eye.
"What will be out there you suppose?"
"Won't find out by all the tongue wagging, let's go."
"Tongue wagging?" The Doctor whispered.
Astrid was the first to stride to the doors, "Let's see, shall we?"
"You might want to change." I glanced at her maid costume.
Astrid looked down and blushed.
I pointed to the corridor off the main control room, "Down there, take first left, 2nd right, 3rd on the left go straight past and then under stairs. Past the bins, fifth door on your left. Just ask Sexy for what you need."
"What do I need?"
The Doctor opened the door and stuck his tongue out, "Late 17th century...hmm...salty." He ducked back in, "Dress for life on the sea, comfortable but no jeans. Slacks and blouse if you don't want to wear traditional garb."
"Alright. Off I go."
The Doctor looked at my outfit. A trench coat that mimicked his but in burgundy velvet, high trousers and striped tee.
"A tricorn and you could be a captain."
I looked at the outfit and smirked, "Sexy picked it out for me, so who knows."
It wasn't long before Astrid joined in a loose white blouse and high-waisted pants and boots.
She grinned, "We look like buccaneers from the stories of planet Earth."
She strode forward with confidence and opened the TARDIS doors.
A darkened wood hall with a lower ceiling of wood. A slight rock told us where we landed.
"We are on a ship. A bona fide ship."
I let out a laugh and pointed to where some eerie moonlight was coming through a hatch.
"Should we knock?"
The Doctor and Astrid looked at each other before both shrugging with wide grins.
"Why not?"
We banged on the hatch. It didn't take long for it to swing open.
"Hello there." The Doctor peeked at the staring faces that greeted us.
"Yo ho ho," I chimed from behind.
Astrid giggled at the gobsmacked reactions of the pistol wielding sailors in tricorn hats.
"Did no one send a distress signal?"
The pirates looked at each other before shaking their heads.
"Looks like we've done it again, arrived uninvited somewhere." The Doctor said with a too wide grin.
Astrid spoke up. "Are you in need of any help?"
The one with the biggest hat gestured at us with his loaded pistol, "Get out...carefully."
We clambered out from below, hands raised above our heads.
The Doctor and I glanced at each other when we saw the nervous looks.
The captain turned toward us as we came into his suite.
"We have given no distress signals."
"Are you sure?" The Doctor looked at the men, a couple trembling others with shifty eyes.
"You all look too jittery not to be in danger of something." Astrid spoke our thoughts.
The captain dismissed our comments and asked his own question, "What was that blue box?"
"I wager they are sprites, captain. How else would they have gotten down below without us noticing?" One of the sailors spoke through rotted teeth as he looked at us in suspicion and fear.
"Our ship...the blue box...travels differently than yours." I was not sure how to explain to a 17th century crew in a way that would make sense.
I glanced at the Doctor, raising an eyebrow at him, and he stepped forward.
"I'm the Doctor. This is Rose and Astrid. You could say we are sailors of sorts."
The click of a gun being cocked was the only warning before the captain aimed at the Doctor's head.
"Why must there always be guns?" The Doctor muttered.
"You are no sailors. You are stowaways. Eight days we've been stranded here, becalmed. You must have stowed away before we sailed."
One of the bearded 'sailors' grumbled behind us, "What did we do with them, captain?"
The bearded captain's lips parted, showcasing yellowed teeth while he smiled sardonically.
"Oh, I think they deserve our hospitality."
The sailors chuckled alongside their captain before grabbing onto the Doctor's arms and taking him above decks.
They shoved him onto the gangplank.
Astrid stepped forward.
"Astrid, Rose, stay back."
"Stocks are low. Only one barrel of water remains." The captain gave the two of us a glance and a sigh in his voice. "Take the two doxies below to the galley. Set them to work. They shouldn't need much feeding."
"Hey..."
I tugged on Astrid's sleeve and gestured with my head mouthing 'follow along'.
I waited until the sailor had thrown us down the steps before immediately going to look for a sword. I would forgo the hat and coat Amy from other timelines would have picked up.
"Stay here, I have some experience with swords..." I hummed, "Well generally."
I snuck back out and waited till they turned all their backs before speaking up.
"Oy!"
The men turned.
"Throw your guns down. No one needs to get hurt."
The men looked skittishly at the blade aimed at them and the captain was the first to throw down his gun.
One braver one gave a trembling laugh. "What's a doxy going to do to us?"
"I'm no doxy."
I smiled, letting a tad bit of sparkle come to my eyes.
A few gasps rang through the small group of sailors.
"Who are you, girl?"
'At last' I had been hoping for a grand introduction moment like the Doctor's last adventure.
"I am Rose Tyler, a Starling. I'm known by many names. This isn't the first life I've lived. I've had all Time in my mind and survived. And I'm the only one that knows exactly what's going on."
I gestured toward the Doctor who still stood balancing on the gangplank.
"Kindly get him to safety. He's mine."
"Put down the sword. A sword could kill us all."
"A siren's call isn't always what it seems, captain."
The one who thought we were sprites spoke up, "I knew it. She's one of them."
The captain raised his hand to silence his man.
"What do you know?"
"I know the men here are all that's left. I know the siren doesn't come from water, but from reflection. I know how you'll be able to get all your men back."
"Impossible."
"Nothing is impossible with a bit of effort."
One of the pirates, tired of our tongue wagging, attacked with a sword. I was careful as I fought back, wary not to even scratch him or I.
But when another swung from the side of the ship, the distraction was enough to get me off my game.
I heard a yell as the pirate attacked first, dropped his sword and stared at his hand in horror.
"You've killed me."
"Strange. It's barely as bad as a paper cut. It's just a scratch." The Doctor glanced at the pirate from where he stood.
Astrid came out and let out a yell as she tripped on some rope. Her hands skinned from the fall.
"What's happening? Doctor? Rose?"
She showed the black spot that appeared on her dominant hand's palm.
I sighed as the captain began to expound on the siren that would rise from the deep.
"A mark on her hand from an injury. It's efficient whatever it is marking its victims."
"Not helping, Doctor!" Astrid looked from the pirate opposing her, who also had a black spot, then back at her own.
A siren-like call filled the air and Astrid got an awestruck loopy expression, her head tilted to hear the sound.
"Rose, what's this one?"
I looked to the Doctor who had edged his way back onto the ship.
"Everyone lives, Doctor, as long as no one drowns. Well, even then they might survive if she..."
"Isn't it beautiful? I'm on a spaceship and then I'm on a ship with actual pirates. Isn't this terrific?"
"Yes Astrid, don't be afraid of the siren."
A glowing lady rose from the sea and floated above the ship, nearing an injured shipmate. His mates tried to hold him back, but he pushed them away. As he reached for the glowing lady, their fingertips touched, he vanished with a yell as if he were disintegrated.
The Doctor's brows furrowed, and I reminded him, "Remember the transmat, different smell to..."
"Teleportation! Of course, but where?"
"Everyone one to the hold!" The captain shouted and the Doctor and I followed the group. I grabbed onto Astrid's hand as we passed her, while she smiled at everyone.
"So lovely..."
The Doctor turned to me. "We could leave."
"Where's the fun in that?" I grinned back at him.
"We should have left the cursed one behind!"
I looked at the paranoid pirate and the still water at their feet.
"And you should get out of the water..."
Another let out a yell, a whimper coming from him as he looked at his feet. "Leeches."
"We need to get somewhere dry." I looked at the captain.
The siren's song followed us, and I tugged Astrid after me.
"Rose! We are on a pirate ship, right?"
I nodded as we followed the others to the magazine.
When we reached it, we found the key gone from the pirate's loop of keys and the door open.
Astrid whispered conspiratorially in my ear, "Do you think they'll teach me some of their ballads? I used to dream of running away on a space buccaneer ship, like the novels when I was little."
"You never know that dream might come true."
"Really?" A happy giggle followed.
Ahead of us the Doctor pushed open the magazine door, "Someone else seemed to have the same idea."
The Captain spoke as we joined them in the small room.
"Barricade the door. Careful of that lantern. Every barrel is full of powder."
Muffled coughing drew the Doctor and the captain's attention to a corner where a boy was hiding in a barrel.
He couldn't be more than thirteen. So young to be already dying. I was thankful that there was a solution. Few got such a chance.
Now if only they'd listen to me.
"He's my son."
Soon it was revealed that the boy had a black spot.
"So will you all listen now?"
The Captain glanced at me.
"You say it won't harm us. That my men are alive."
"Yes, and yes."
"I have a ship that could get us out of here."
"There's a fissure..." a voice whispered in my mind behind my Black Swan door, "no...not a fissure, an overlap in the dimension. Two ships in the same location."
"So how do we get to this ship?" the Captain spoke up.
"The only way we can, we let the siren take us."
"You are mad if you think I'll risk the rest of my crew for some..." he grumbled a curse.
"Then go to Sexy, our ship, with the Doctor and you'll see that we are stuck here until we arrive at the other ship."
