A/N I don't own BBC or DW
Book of the Update: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Chapter 7

"Death. Death is coming," Carmen said slowly, starting everyone on the bus into a panic, yelling and screaming at her. She looked as if she were about to cry.

"Alright, stop it! Everyone, STOP IT!" The Doctor yelled and the bus went silent except for Angela, who was weeping and hyperventilating. The Doctor stood up and grabbed her shoulders. "Angela. Angela, look at me. Just answer me one question," he said soothingly and she quieted. "There we go. Now, just answer me this. When you got on this bus, where were you going?"

"Doesn't matter now, does it?"

"Just answer the question," he repeated, not unkindly.

"Nowhere. Nowhere, just home."

"And what's home, Angela?"

"Me," she began to cry again. "And Mike and Suzanne, 's my daughter; she's eighteen," she finished quietly and the Doctor released her, smiling.

"Good. An what about you?" He asked Barclay, who looked up and answere meekly:

"Dunno," he said, shrugging. "To hang out at Tina's."

"Is Tina your girlfriend?" Rose asked and he smiled, nodding his head.

"Good boy," The Doctor said with a grin that faded when Rose elbowed him. He cleared his throat. "Right then. What about you, Natahn?"

"Back ta' the house. Lost my job last week," he admitted a bit sheepishly, "was gonna stay in and watch TV."

"Brilliant. And you?" He asked Lou and Carmen.

"I was going home to cook," Lou said and Carmed backed him up, saying,

"It's his turn tonight. I clear up."

"What's for tea?" The Doctor asked her and Lou answered him.

"Chops. Nice couple a' chops and gravy. Nothing special."

"Oh, that's special," the Doctor told them with a wave of his hand, "That is so special. Chops and gravy. Mmm. What about you, then?"

"I-" Christina stopped and brushed her hair back. "I was going…so far away."

"Far away, chops and gravy, Mike and Suzanne, poor old Tina," the Doctor said (Barclay gave an indignant oi at the subtle insult, but the Doctor ignored him.) "Just think a' them. Cause that planet out there; with three suns and wormholes and alien sands, that planet is nothing. D'ya hear me? Nothing…compared to all those thing waiting for you. Food and home and people," he laced his fingers with Rose's and gave her hand a squeeze at this, "Just hold onto that. Cause we're gonna get there. I promise. I'm gonna get you home."

This seemed to cheer everyone up and after a moment or two, the Doctor released Rose's hand and stood up, clapping his hands once and rubbing them together. "Right! Then let's get to work. First, you two," he said, pointing at Nathan and Barclay, "pull up all the wood paneling on the seats, anything flat you can find and bring them outside to me. You," he pointed at Rose and Christina, "Come with me."

They walked outside to examine the outside of the bus again and looked around at it.

"Let the air out of the tires. Just a little bit. Spreads the weight of the bus. Gives you more grip against the sand," Christina suggested and the Doctor made a noise.

"Ohh that's good," he said appreciatively and Barclay gave them a look.

"Yeah but those wheels go deep," he said, showing an estimate with his hands.

"Well then you better start digging," Christina said with a smile, pulling up a foldable shovel out of her backpack. Barclay raised his eyebrows but took the shovel and began to dig. "Oh, and here," she said, handing an axe to Nathan. "Might help with the seats."

"What else have you got in there? The kitchen sink?" Rose asked incredulously and Christina smirked.

"Prepared for every emergency."

The Doctor ran off to tell Angela that buses didn't have keys because apparently she'd been looking for them for quite some time. She must've figured it out, though, because the engine made a noise like it was about to start, but only some smoke and a groaning noise came out of the poor bus.

"Ooh. That didn't sound good." The Doctor walked around and pulled up the hood of the bus to look at the engine. "Ugh. Never mind losing half the top deck, you know what's worse? Sand," he said, answering his own question.

"Anyone know mechanics?" Rose asked hopefully, and Barclay stood up.

"Me. I did a two-week MBQ at the garage. Never finished it though."

"Off you go then," the Doctor told him, "Try stripping the air filter. Back in a few ticks," he told Christina, "Come on, Rose."

"Wait a minute!" Christina said, stepping after them, "You're the one with all the answers; I'm not letting you out of my sight."

Rose rolled her eyes and tightened her grip on the Doctor's hand. Oblivious man. He didn't even notice that Christina was blatantly flirting with him – and with Rose right there as well; it was quite obvious her and the Doctor were together and she was sure she would like Christina if the girl would just back off.

"It'd be a bit easier if you left that backpack behind,"Rose said, noting the way she was shifting its weight as though it was uncomfortable.

"No thank you," Christina replied sharply, "Where I go, it goes."

"Backpack," the Doctor began, "With a spade and an axe. Christina, who's going so far away and yet scared at the sound of a siren. Who are you?"

"You can talk. Let's just say we're two equal mysteries."

Rose wondered idly if Christina could feel her eyes staring daggers at the girl's back.

"Doctor, Carmen said the wormhole wasn't an accident; someone did it on purpose, yeah? So who did it?"

"I don't know…but every instinct I've got is telling me to get off this planet right now," he said and Rose shuddered. If the Doctor was admitting that they were in trouble, it meant that they were in trouble.

"D'ya think we can?" Christina asked.

"I'm sure we can find a way off," Rose said, "Right?"

The Doctor thought for a moment. "I try to live in hope."

"Must be nice," Christina said, and Rose felt bad for thinking all those rude things about her. She knew nothing about this girl; she didn't know her story or what she had been going through. She shouldn't be so quick to jump to conclusions.

Christina seemed to notice her staring, because she sighed and held out her hand. "It's Christina DeSuza," she told her, shaking Rose's hand. "Lady Christina DeSuza, to be precise."

"Oh really?" The Doctor asked. "Funny coincidence, that. I'm a lord." Rose giggled.

"Really? A lord of where?"

"Oh, it's a….big estate," he said eventually, not wanting to say Time itself. A bit presumptuous, that title was. Time Lord. Huh.

"No, but there's something more about you," Christina muttered, "About the both of you. That little device, and the wormhole, like you knew. And the way you two stride around this place like…"

"Like?"

"Like you're not quite…"

Human? Rose asked mentally. You'd be right on that score, Lady Christina De Suza.

The Doctor brushed it off. "Anyway. Best be off. Allons-y!"

"Ah," he said once they had gone a while. "Don't like the look of that."

"Storm clouds," Rose noted. "But…they must be hundreds of miles away."

"But they're…getting closer."

"If that's a sandstorm," Christina breathed,

"We'll get ripped to shreds," Rose finished for her.

"It's a storm," agreed the Doctor, "Who said it's sand?" they turned and began to walk back to the bus. "Rose, have you got your mobile?" she nodded and held it out to him. "Still got the upgrades?" she nodded again and he grinned. "Fantastic."

"You're hardly going to get a signal out here," Christina objected, "We're on another planet!"

He ignored her. "Got to remember the number," he said as he was punching it in. "Very important number."

It began to ring.

"Pizza Journey Delivery Service may I take your order?"

"Auhh, seven six one, not seven two one. Got it."

They were back at the bus by now and as it was ringing they walked inside.

"This is the Unified Intelligence Task Force. Please select one of the following four options," said a pre-recorded voice on the other line. The Doctor growled.

"Oh I hate these things."

"If you hold down zero, it'll send you to a real person," Angela called out and he mumbled a thankyou and held down the zero button.

"UNIT help line. Which department would you like?" came a cheery, not prerecorded voice from the other side.

"Listen, this is the Doctor. It's me."

"Doctor? This is Captain Arisa Montgombo. Might I say sir, it is an honor."

"Did you just salute?" The Doctor asked suspiciously and the Captain responded with an uncertain no. "Listen, Arisa, you're outside the tunnel, yeah?"

"And where are you?"

"I'm on the bus, but apart from that," he leaned over to look out the window, "Not a clue. Except it's very pretty. And pretty dangerous."

"A body came through here," said Captain Montgombo, "Have you sustained any more fatalities?"

"No, and we're not going to," the Doctor told her, "But I'm stuck. We haven't got the TARDIS and I need to analyze that wormhole."

"We have a scientific advisor on sight," she said through the phone, "Doctor Malcom Taylor. Just the man you need – he's a genius."

"Oh well, we'll see about that," the Doctor grumbled and Rose elbowed him. "Being rude again?"

"Rude and decidedly not ginger," she confirmed and he grinned.

"I'm glad you're back."

"Me too."

After a bit of mumbling between Captain Montgombo and presumably Doctor Taylor about sore throats and doctors, and then a while of listening to Malcom freak out about speaking to the Doctor, they finally got down to business.

"Now, run a capacity scanner and get back to me when youre finished. I'll need a full report. And Malcom, you're my new best friend."

He snapped the phone shut and put it in his pocket ("don't worry, Rose, I won't break it like last time, I swear!") and ran out of the bus, followed closely by Rose and Christina.

"I'll send this back to earth; see if Malcom can analyze the storm," he explained, taking a picture of the storm.

"Doctor, what's that bit of sparkle in the clouds?" Rose asked. "It's just there, look."

"'S like metal," he said with a frown.

"Why would there be metal in a storm?" Christina asked, completely bewildered. "Do you hear that?"

"Hold on," the Doctor said, "Busy."

"I heard it. That sort of clicking noise?" Rose asked and Christina nodded.

They turned to where the noise had come from, only to be faced with…something.

"Doctor," Christina said, and he turned.

"Oh."

After a conversation between the Doctor and the alien in a strange clicking language (which Rose understood; god had she missed the TARDIS translator while in the parallel world), they were lead back to the destroyed ship.

"Ugh! But this place is freezing!" Christina whined once they got inside.

"Better than burning up outside," Rose countered and the Doctor grinned.

"That's my girl; anything can be good if you allow it to be. And besides, this is beautiful! Intact it must've been a magnificent spacer."

"Well I'll remember that as I'm bleeding to death on the floor of a really well-designed spaceship.