Amy was currently floating outside the TARDIS, still in her nightie, the Doctor holding her by the ankle so she didn't float away. A way to prove to Amy they were in space and it wasn't just a trick.
"Come on, Pond." The Doctor laughed, pulling her back inside and looked over to where Thea was sat on the jumpseat, well, she wasn't really sat on it, not properly at least, her head was hanging down to the floor and her feet were in the air, hanging over the back of the chair, and she was attached to her phone. "What about you, kiddo, want a go?" The Doctor was starting to think he may have to give her a curfew when to be on the phone, and maybe not let it out the TARDIS. "You're going to get a headache sat like that."
"Nah, its fine, I do it all the time." she waved him off, kicking her feet over her head, rolling back and standing up. "my parents also made me take dance lessons in the Citadel."
"Oh, bet that was brutal." He grimaced.
He could only imagine how strict her teacher would have been. The Council tended to expect perfection straight away. He always avoided any parties on the Council for that reason, he wasn't a dancer and those parties were so stuffy and boring he never went to them. He was thankful he never had to attend when he was her age, he could only imagine how bored she would have been.
"I'm a very good dancer. The Dancer herself told me I was her best student."
"Leave the phone." he ordered as Thea rolled her eyes and slipped it down her arm warmer joining them at the doors. Honestly despite the fact the Doctor had just pushed Amy out the doors, floating out there did look like fun, and she was jealous the woman got to do that first. "Out you go."
He didn't know if he should be concerned at how easily she just happily stepped out into the middle of space or to love that fact that she did trust him enough that he would grab her hand, allowing her to float just out the doors, giggling in delight. He supposed she could trust this little bit of fun seeing as how Amy had already been out, maybe she would have been more cautious if she had gone first.
"Okay," Amy breathed deeply, finally able to find her voice after suddenly being frown out into space, "your box is a spaceship. It's really, really a spaceship. We are in space! What are we breathing?"
"Extended air shell," Thea guessed as the Doctor tugged her back inside, "that was so much fun! Can I go again?"
"Maybe later, eh?" the Doctor suggested before crouching down seeing something beneath them, "Now that's interesting. What do you make of that, kiddo?"
Thea rolled her eyes at the nickname, crouching besides him see a spaceship with large skyscrapers encased in glass, "29th century?" she guessed, before shuffling so Amy could take a peek. She was the new companion after all, this was her day.
The Doctor nodded, "Solar flares roast the earth, and the entire human race packs its bags and moves out till the weather improves. Whole nations." he ran to the console as Thea ran after him, piloting them to the ship below.
"Doctor?"
"...Migrating to the stars."
"Doctor?"
"Isn't that amazing?" the Doctor grinned.
"It is beautiful." She smiled.
"Thea Smith!" Amy huffed, recalling the girl mentioning her full name 2 years ago.
"Yes?" she turned, seeing Amy holding on to the top of the doors having being pulled out again.
The Doctor chuckled moving back to the doors to help Amy back inside, shutting them this time, "Well, come on. I've found us a spaceship." he headed back to the console, showing the ship on the scanner, "This is the United Kingdom of Britain and Northern Ireland. All of it, bolted together and floating in the sky."
"Shortened to Starship UK because it's a mouthful otherwise." Thea added, seeing that information on the screen.
"It's Britain, but metal. That's not just a ship, that's an idea. That's a whole country, living and laughing and shopping."
"Searching the stars for a new home." Thea murmured, "humans, you're everywhere."
The Doctors smile turned sad at her words. They had lost their home, he called the TARDIS his home, had called the TARDIS a home even before they lost Gallifrey, but Thea didn't, she just saw the TARDIS as his ship, just the last TARDIS. To her, Bannerman Road was more of a home than the TARDIS. At least the gang had always been there for her.
"Can we go out and see?" Amy asked, pulling his attention back.
"Course we can." he nodded, "But first, there's a thing."
"A thing?" She frowned.
"An important thing." he nodded firmly, "In fact, Thing One. We are observers only. That's the one rule I've always stuck to in all my travels. I never get involved in the affairs of other peoples or planets."
Thea snorted.
He turned to her, "what?"
"You never getting involved?" she scoffed as she looked through the different parts of the ship on the scanner, "I heard the stories about you Doctor, all you do is get involved."
"Oi!" he pouted, only to catch sight of a little girl in a red coat, crying, alone, "Ooh, that's interesting."
"So we're like a wildlife documentary, yeah?" Amy began, oblivious to the Doctor sneaking out, "Because if they see a wounded little cub or something, they can't just save it, they've got to keep filming and let it die. It's got to be hard. I don't think I could do that. Don't you find that hard, being all, like, detached and cold?" Amy blinked, seeing the Doctor suddenly on screen. She turned to Thea standing by the doors.
"Come on!" Thea ushered her out the TARDIS, stepping out into the Market Square.
"Welcome to London Market." a voice called on the speakers, "You are being monitored."
"I'm in the future." Amy breathed, staring around in awe, "Like hundreds of years in the future...I've been dead for centuries."
"Oh, lovely." the Doctor rolled his eyes as he walked over to them, "You're a cheery one. Never mind dead, look at this place. Isn't it wrong?"
"What's wrong?" Amy frowned.
"Come on, use your eyes." the Doctor urged, "Notice everything. What's wrong with this picture?"
"Is it the bicycles?" Amy guessed, "Bit unusual on a spaceship, bicycles."
"Says the girl in the nightie." the Doctor joked.
"Oh my God!" Amy gasped, "I'm in my nightie!"
"Now, come on, look around you. Actually look."
"I don't know, Doctor." she sighed.
"Thea?" he looked at her.
"It's too...strict." she frowned, looking around, "every move is being monitored," she gestured to the many, many cameras watching them, "and all those announcements aren't necessary. They're are secrets lurking in the dark that no one dares speak off."
Her frown deepened, rubbing her arms, there was something else, she was sure of it. She looked around, seeing a camera and shook her head, it was probably just nerves, first time off Earth in a while, she had just ran off with a stranger to see the universe, having the cameras watching their every move made her a teensy bit uncomfortable.
"A police state." the Doctor agreed, "Excuse me." he moved to a table, picking up a glass of water, looking at it before setting it on the ground. He watched the still water before setting it back on the table, "Sorry. Checking all the water in this area. There's an escaped fish." he tapped his nose, "Where was I?"
"Why did you just do that with the water?" Amy frowned.
"Don't know." the Doctor waved her off, "I think a lot. It's hard to keep track. Now, police state. Do you see it yet?"
"Where?"
"There." He pointed to the little girl silently crying near a lift. Everyone walking past, ignoring her.
"One little girl crying. So?" Amy shook her head.
"She's crying silently," Thea clarified, moving to sit on a bench, facing the girl but a few rows away so she didn't notice them looking at her, "when people cry its because they want attention, they want comfort from being hurt or scared."
"But when they cry silently, it's because they just can't stop." the Doctor added, "Any parent knows that."
"Are you a parent?" Amy looked at him, "I mean..." she eyed the pair, how they acted and talked to each other they didn't seem like family, "you're not his, are you?"
"No!" Thea quickly shook her head at where Amy had gone, "I barely know him and he barely knows me."
Though giving the fact she had pretty much moved in with him, she supposed they should get to know each other.
The Doctor avoided answering Amy's question, "Hundreds of parents walking past who spot her and not one of them is asking her what's wrong, which means they already know, and it's something they don't talk about. Secrets. They're not helping her, so it's something they're afraid of. Shadows, whatever they're afraid of, it's nowhere to be seen, which means it's everywhere. Police state."
Amy watched as the girl walked into a lift, "Where'd she go?"
"Deck 207. Apple Sesame block, dwelling 54A." the Doctor replied, "You're looking for Mandy Tanner. Oh, er, this fell out of her pocket when I accidentally bumped into her." he handed her the girls ID wallet, "Took me four goes. Ask her about those things. The smiling fellows in the booths. They're everywhere."
"But they're just things." Amy frowned, glancing around at the booths.
"Ah, humans, you never question things," Thea smiled lightly, "you ignore them like they're not there."
"They're clean." the Doctor told Amy, "Everything else here is all battered and filthy. Look at this place. But no one's laid a finger on those booths. Not a footprint within two feet of them. Look. Ask Mandy, why are people scared of the things in the booths?"
"No, hang on. What do I do?" she hissed, "I don't know what I'm doing here and I'm not even dressed."
"It's this or Leadworth. What do you think? Let's see. What will Amy Pond choose? Ha ha, gotcha." he checked his watch, "Meet us back here in half an hour."
"What are you going to do?"
"What I always do." he stood, "Stay out of trouble."
"And how well does that normally go?" Thea asked.
"Badly." he admitted.
"So is this how it works, Doctor?" Amy called seeing them turn to leave, "You never interfere in the affairs of other peoples or planets, unless there's children crying?"
"Yes." the Door answered, tugging Thea off in the opposite direction to the lifts.
~.~
Thea followed the Doctor down the ladder in a maintenance corridor, jumping the last couple of steps, noticing the Doctor being rather quiet since separating from Amy.
"Doctor," she began hesitantly. "if its not too personal, can I ask you something?"
"Yeah?" He looked at her.
"Did you have children?"
The Doctor swallowed, seeming to pretend he was focusing on the scan from his sonic before he sighed and answered, "I did."
"Do you miss them?"
"Terribly."
"I'm sorry," she shook her head, "It's impolite to ask such personal questions."
"No, no, it's fine," he quickly assured her, "I just...I don't talk about them much."
"You don't talk about yourself much in general."
"No, I guess I don't." He muttered, "what about you?" he looked her, "you're an only child but did you have any kids of your own?"
She let out a laugh at that, "no children of my own. I was always told it was better to settle down in a job first and then have children further down the line."
It was typical for a Time Lord once they graduated to get married whether to someone they choose or someone their parents had set out for them and start a family almost directly after along with their elected job. Her family had always gone against that rule and didn't tend to have any children until a few years down the line, once they had gotten settled in their job.
"I'm sorry you're parents never paid much attention to you."
Thea shrugged, "I was only at the house three times a year on Academy visiting days. Besides who needs them when I have Sarah Jane. As far as I'm concerned she's my mother."
The Doctor looked at her for that. He hadn't had the best relationship with his parents, he had always stressed them out and caused so much trouble. And he knew he had disappointed them when he left Gallifrey and abandoned his own family, but he had hated it there. It was so boring and so he had gotten out. But seeing his mother again at the Naismith Mansion he saw in her eyes how proud she was off him even now.
As far as he could tell with Thea, the girl seemed glad her parents were trapped in the Time Lock.
Thea inhaled, "so what have you got?
The Doctor moved to the wall, pressing his ear against it, "can't be."
Thea looked back down the corridor, for a moment she swore she heard a noise, but there was just silence. She looked back to see the Doctor checking the walls readings on his sonic, "can't be what?"
"Come on," he gestured her to the wall, resting her palm against it, "feel that?"
"No," she shook her head, only to blink, "oh."
"Exactly!" he nodded, nothing a glass of water on the floor. He moved down to lay before it.
"The impossible truth in a glass of water." a voice hissed and they looked over to see a woman in a red cloak and mask step out from the shadows, "Not many people see it. But you do, don't you, Doctor?"
"You know me?" the Doctor eyed her.
"Keep your voice down. They're everywhere. Tell me what you see in the glass."
"Who says we see anything?"
"Don't waste time. At the marketplace, you placed a glass of water on the floor, looked at it, and then came straight here to the engine room. Why?"
"No engine vibration on deck. Ship this size, engine this big, you'd feel it. The water would move. So, I thought we'd take a look. It doesn't make sense." he opened a power box on the wall, showing the wires not connected, "These power couplings, they're not connected. Look. Look, they're dummies, see? And behind this wall, nothing." he tapped on the wall, "It's hollow. If I didn't know better, I'd say there was..."
"No engine at all." they said together.
"But it's working." Thea argued, "This ship is travelling though space. We've seen it!"
The woman nodded, "the impossible truth. We're travelling among the stars in a spaceship that could never fly."
"How?" the Doctor shook his head.
"I don't know. There's a darkness at the heart of this nation. It threatens every one of us. Help us, Doctor. You're our only hope. Your friend is safe. This will take you to her." she handed the Doctor a small device, "Now go, quickly!"
"Who are you?" the Doctor called as the woman turned to leave, "How do we find you again?"
She turned back to them, "I am Liz 10, and I will find you."
"Liz 10." Thea blinked, tilting her head in thought.
There was a crashing sound and the lights flickered making them look up. When they looked back, the woman was gone.
"I don't know whether to be impressed or spooked." Thea remarked.
The Doctor sighed, turning to follow the device, "come along, kiddo, let's go find Pond."
~.~
They followed the device through the ship until they came to a waiting area to find the young girl, Mandy pacing outside a door that said 'occupied.'
The Doctor quickly flashed his sonic on the door as it slid open to see Amy sat in a chair before a recording of herself.
"Amy?" Thea peeked round the Doctor, seeing the woman's face stained with tears.
She quickly switched off the screens, wiping her eyes.
"What have you done?" the Doctor asked her.
Amy could only shake her head as Thea moved over to hug her, offering some sort of comfort. Hugs usually helped and the woman seemed upset about something she had seen on the screens.
"Hold on," the Doctor frowned, quickly scanning the screens, seeing the 'forget' button had been pressed, before moving onto the lamp above Amys head, "Yeah, your basic memory wipe job. Must have erased about 20 minutes."
"But why would I choose to forget?" Amy shook her head.
"Because everyone does." Mandy called, "Everyone chooses the 'forget' button."
"Did you?" the Doctor asked her.
"British Citizens aren't eligible to vote until they are 16 years of age." Thea stated.
"I'm only 12." Mandy added, "Any time after you're 16, you're allowed to the see the film and make your choice. And then once every 5 years."
"And once every five years, everyone chooses to forget what they've learned." the Doctor sighed, "Democracy in action."
"How do you not know about this? Are you Scottish too?"
"Oh, way worse than Scottish. I can't even see the movie. Won't play for me."
"It played for me." Amy frowned.
"The difference being the computer doesn't accept me as human."
"Why not? You look human."
"You look Time Lord," Thea countered, "we came first."
"So there are other Time Lords, yeah?" Amy asked, suddenly very eager at the idea of others like them.
The Doctor sighed, he really hated talking about it, always tried to avoid telling his companions but eventually he always had too. It was even worse with Thea around, she never said anything but he knew it really hurt her to know that their planet was gone because of him. She said she didn't blame him but he could tell she did even if it was deep down, he still felt the guilt of it everyday, "No." he admitted, "There were, but there aren't. Just me and Thea now. Long story. There was a bad day. Bad stuff happened. And you know what? I'd love to forget it all, every last bit of it, but I don't. Not ever." he looked over as Thea slipped her hand in his and gave it a squeeze, "Because this is what I do, every time, every day, every second. This. Hold tight. We're bringing down the government." the Doctor started to smile as he slammed his hand of the 'protest' button.
The door slammed shut, trapping them in the room and leaving Mandy outside. The Smiling figure in the booths at the back of the room, slowly turned to show an angry one. The Doctor pushed both girls back behind him to the corner of the room as the floor began to open up.
"Say wheee!" the Doctor cheered.
Amy screamed as they fell down a chute and landed in a large pile of chunks and foul smelling liquid.
The Doctor jumped up and instantly started to scan around to see where they had ended up. "High speed air cannon. Lousy way to travel."
"Even lousier exit." Thea gagged, struggling to get up until the Doctor held out a hand to help her. The floor was squishy and unstable, made getting up for difficult and the smell was really starting to make her head hurt.
"Where are we?" Amy asked.
"600 feet down, 20 miles laterally, puts us at the heart of the ship. I'd say Lancashire. What's this then, a cave?"
"Can't be a cave." Thea argued lightly, glancing around, the walls didn't look like rock.
"Looks like a cave."
"And the TARDIS looks like a phone box from 1960s."
He had to nod at that, "point taken."
"It's a rubbish dump," Amy pushed herself up, "and it's minging!" she tossed aside a piece of floating rubbish.
"Yes, but only food refuse." the Doctor muttered, "Organic, coming through feeder tubes from all over the ship."
Amy fell back to her knees, "The floor's all squidgy, like a water bed."
"But feeding what, though?"
"It's sort of rubbery, feel it. Wet and slimy."
They fell silent hearing a low moaning somewhere in the darkness around them.
"What was that?" Thea breathed.
The Doctors eyes widened as he realised where they were, "Er, it's not a floor, it's a..." he put his sonic away, "so..."
Amy pushed herself back up, "It's a what?"
"The next word is kind of a scary word. You probably want to take a moment, get yourself in a calm place. Go omm."
"Omm." Amy repeated.
"Thea you too."
She glanced back into the darkness, "why?"
"It's a tongue."
She snapped her gaze to him, "wait, what?"
"A tongue?" Amy blinked.
"A tongue!" the Doctor grinned, "A great big tongue."
"This is a mouth!" Amy gasped, "This whole place is a mouth? We're in a mouth?
"Yes, yes, yes. But on the plus side, roomy."
"How do we get out?"
The Doctor pulled out his sonic, "How big is this beastie? It's gorgeous. Blimey, if this is just the mouth, I'd love to see the stomach." there was a grunting noise, "Though not right now."
"How are we getting out?" Thea asked, repeating Amys question, "without being swallowed and..." she stopped talking, grimacing at the thought of getting out through the other end.
"Okay, it's being fed through surgically implanted feeder tubes, so," the Doctor turned to see a row of sharp teeth, closed, "the normal entrance is closed for business."
"We could try, though." Amy stepped forwards.
"No, stop, don't move!" the Doctor shouted as the mouth began to shake, seemingly heaving, "Too late. It's started."
"What has?"
"Oh, by the stars..." Thea breathed, "Swallow reflex."
Thea grabbed the Doctors arm to try and keep her footing as he pointed his sonic around the walls of the mouth.
"What are you doing?" Amy asked him.
"I'm vibrating the chemo-receptors." he said.
"Chemo-what?"
"The eject button."
"How does a mouth have an eject button?" Amy nearly scoffed.
"Think about it!" he shouted.
They looked back to see a large wave of bile heading towards them.
The Doctor slipped his sonic away, "Right, then. This isn't going to be big on dignity." he tugged on his bowtie, "Geronimo!"
Thea ducked behind the Doctor, closing her eyes and tightly keeping her mouth shut while Amy screamed as the bile hit them.
~.~
Amy slowly awoken to see Thea sat besides her, her head in her hands.
"Are you alright?" she asked the girl quietly.
"Fine." she whispered, lifting her head up to look at her, "small headache."
"Sorry, if I screamed at bit loud."
"There's nothing broken," the Doctor called hearing Amy was now awake as he stood at the end of the corridor, scanning the only door, "there's no sign of concussion and yes, you are covered in sick."
"I'd rather be covered in Slitheen." Thea mumbled.
"Does that happened often?" he looked back at her.
"Often enough that I carry a bottle of vinegar in my bag."
The Doctor frowned at that, not sure if that was her being paranoid, cautious or because the Slitheen had been to Earth so often it just felt like the normal thing to do. Funny thing was, he hadn't even noticed the Slitheen had been on Earth since he dealt with them in Downing Street. That was odd. The TARDIS should have alerted him off that.
Amy slowly stood, "what are slikeen?"
"Doesn't matter." Thea shook her head, scrambling to her feet, closing her eyes a moment from the screaming in her head. Oh, please, go away. She'd rather the silence than the screams like this.
"Where are we?"
"Overspill pipe, at a guess." the Doctor replied.
"Oh, God, it stinks." Amy gagged.
"That's not the pipe." Thea muttered.
Amy sniffed herself, grimacing, "Oh. Phew. Can we get out?"
"One door, one door switch, one condition. We forget everything we saw. Look familiar?" he stepped back showing the 'forget' button like before, "That's the carrot." the lights came on showing two Smiler booths at the other end, "Ooh, here's the stick. There's a creature living in the heart of this ship." he strode over to them, "What's it doing there?"
The faces spun to a mad sort of look.
"That won't work on us." Thea crossed her arms.
"So, come on. Big old beast below decks, and everyone who protests gets shoved down its throat. That how it works?"
The mad faces turned to a very angry look.
"Oh, stop it." the Doctor rolled his eyes, "we're not leaving and we're not forgetting, and what are you fellows going to do about it? Stick out your tongues, huh?"
The booths opened and the two figures stepped out to begin walking towards them.
"Didn't see that coming." Thea muttered, "That's rather creepy."
"Doctor?" Amy looked at him as they slowly back away. The man pulling Thea behind him, further away from the creepy beings.
The door suddenly flew opened and the woman in the red cloak stepped in, this time without her mask, shooting the robots. She twirled her pistols before putting them back in her holster.
Thea whistled, impressed, "thanks for that."
"Look who it is." the Doctor grinned, "you look a lot better without your mask."
"You must be Amy." Liz turned to her, "Liz. Liz 10."
"Hi." Amy waved.
"Yuck," Liz shook Amy's hand and wiped the sick on her cloak, "Lovely hair, Amy. Shame about the sick."
"Oh, sure you know Amy's name but not mine." Thea huffed, crossing her arms. It would be nice to have a member of the royal family know her name.
Liz 10 stared at her, "you're Thea?"
"So you do know me?"
"Sorry," she shook her head, "you're not want I was expecting."
"What were you expecting?"
"Someone taller." Liz 10 shrugged as Thea made a noise of insult, "I hear you had better style than your old man."
"Hey!" she pointed warningly at her, "my best friend brought me these. I'm not changing, this is cute and comfortable."
"You know Mandy, yeah?" Liz headed back to the door where the girl was standing, putting her arm around her, "She's very brave."
"How did you find us?" Thea asked.
"Stuck my gizmo on you. Been listening in. Nice moves on the hurl escape. So, what's the big fella doing here?"
"You're over 16, you've voted." the Doctor remarked, "Whatever this is, you've chosen to forget about it."
"No. Never forgot, never voted, not technically a British subject."
"Then who and what are you, and how do you know me?"
"You're a bit hard to miss, love." Liz smirked, "Mysterious strangers, MO consistent with higher alien intelligence, hair of an idiot..." the Doctor opened his mouth to argue but ran a hand through his wet hair and closed his mouth, "I've been brought up on the stories. My whole family was."
"Your family?" the Doctor frowned.
"Liz 10," Thea nearly rolled her eyes at his obliviousness.
Honestly, for a man known to be quite the genius he really was an idiot. She at least knew when she was standing before a future queen. Maybe she should curtsy or bow or something to the future queen of the place she called home. But then again, the woman didn't seem to mind, probably knew not to expect it from the Doctor.
She decided to curtsy, if only to help the Doctor realise who she was, "thank for your help, your majesty."
"What are you doing that for?" the Doctor frowned at her.
Liz gave a short nod to her only to see the beings from the booths jerkily moving again, "They're repairing. Doesn't take them long. Let's move." she turned and they them out of the room and down the corridors, "The Doctor. Old drinking buddy of Henry 12. Tea and scones with Liz 2. Vicky was a bit on the fence about you, weren't she? Knighted and exiled you on the same day. And so much for the Virgin Queen, you bad, bad boy."
"Liz 10?" the Doctor blinked.
"Liz 10, yeah. Elizabeth X. And down!" she turned, pulling out her pistols as they quickly ducked as the fired at the two beings following them, "I'm the bloody Queen, mate. Basically, I rule." she put the pistols away again, leading them down another corridor, "There's a high-speed Vator through there..."
Thea stopped seeing a caged off area where two tentacles were sticking up the shift.
Oh, so that explained the headache.
"Oh, yeah." Liz turned, seeing both Thea and the Doctor had stopped to stare at the tentacles, "there's these things. Any ideas?"
"Doctor, I saw one of these up top." Amy told him, "There was a hole in the road, like it had burst through like a root."
"Exactly like a root." the Doctor muttered, "it's all one creature, the same one we were inside, reaching out. It must be growing through the mechanisms of the entire ship."
"What, like an infestation?" Liz frowned.
"Someone's helping it." he muttered, "Feeding it."
"Feeding my subjects to it," Liz spat, "Come on. Got to keep moving." she stormed off, Mandy rushing after her.
Thea slowly reached her hand up to the tentacles as it thrashed about, "I'm sorry," she murmured, stroking a tentacle as it slowly calmed down at the contact, "I'm here, it'll be alright."
"Thea?" Amy eyed her, seeing the tears in her eyes and she turned to follow Liz 10. "Is she alright?" she asked the Doctor.
He sighed, rubbing the side of his face, "We never should have come here."
~.~
The Doctor carefully stepped over the glasses of water on the floor in Liz 10s suite, eying them as Thea sat on the foot of the woman's bed, thankfully now clean and dry, holding the mask she wore when out and about to hide from the citizens. It was old, really quite old, an antique she would have said, but yet it seemed to fit Liz 10 perfectly, like it was moulded to her face, but that didn't make much sense, Liz wasn't that old. She didn't really understand human ages, had both insulted and complimented Ranis mother by being unable to guess her age.
"Why all the glasses?" the Doctor wondered.
"To remind me every single day that my government is up to something, and it's my duty to find out what." Liz replied, laying on her bed.
"A queen going undercover to investigate her own kingdom?"
"Secrets are being kept from me. I don't have a choice. 10 years I've been at this. My entire reign. And you've achieved more in one afternoon."
"How old were you when you came to the throne?"
"40. Why?"
"What, you're 50 now?" Amy gaped as she put her hair up, "No way!"
"Yeah, they slowed my body clock. Keeps me looking like the stamps."
"And you always wear this in public?" Thea held up the mask to the Doctor as he gave it a closer examine.
"Undercover's not easy when you're me." Liz sighed, "the autographs, the bunting."
"Air-balanced porcelain." the Doctor mused, "Stays on by itself, because it's perfectly sculpted to your face."
"Yeah? So what?"
"Oh, Liz. So everything."
The door opened and several men in black hooded cloaked stepped in.
"What are you doing?" Liz demanded, getting to her feet, outraged at the interruption, "How dare you come in here?"
"Ma'am," one of them bowed his hood to her, "you have expressed interest in the interior workings of Starship UK. You will come with us now."
"Why would I do that?" she scoffed...only for the mans face to turn to reveal an angry face, "How can they be Smilers?"
"Half Smiler, half human." the Doctor muttered as the mans face spun back.
"Whatever you creatures are, I am still your queen." Liz stated firmly, "on whose authority is this done?"
"The highest authority, Ma'am."
"I am the highest authority."
"Yes, ma'am. You must go now, Ma'am."
"Where?"
"The Tower, Ma'am."
~.~
The Tower was not at all like the rest of the ship, rather very much like the original Tower of London with the stone walls and medieval look about it, besides the modern technology around the place. In the middle of the room was a round fenced off area with machinery above it, sending a blue pulse down the hole to a pink lump.
"Doctor, where are we?" Amy asked, looking around, seeing more tentacles flailing about in another hole.
"The lowest point of Starship UK." the Doctor replied, "The dungeon."
"Love a good dungeon." Thea murmured, "depending on the circumstances."
"Ma'am." a grey haired man stepped up to the Queen.
"Hawthorne." Liz gasped, "So this is where you hid yourself away. I think you've got some explaining to do."
"There's children down here." the Doctor said, noticing the few children wandering about, all silent and scared, "What's all that about?"
"Protesters and citizens of limited value are fed to the beast." Hawthorne stated, "For some reason, it won't eat the children. You're the first adults it's spared." he glanced at Thea, at her youthful appearance, for whatever reason it didn't eat the children, it likely spared them because of her. "You're very lucky."
The Doctor scoffed at that, "Yeah, look at us. Torture chamber of the Tower of London. Lucky, lucky, lucky. Except it's not a torture chamber, is it? Well, except it is. Except it isn't. Depends on your angle."
Thea glanced down at the pink lump as the energy pulsed onto it. She closed her eyes. These humans couldn't hear it screaming, if they could she hoped this would have never of happened.
Liz glanced down, "What's that?"
"Well, like I say, it depends on the angle. It's either the exposed pain centre of big fella's brain, being tortured relentlessly."
"Or?"
"Or it's the gas pedal, the accelerator. Starship UK's go faster button."
"I don't understand."
"Don't you? Try to. Go on. The spaceship that could never fly. No vibration on deck. This creature, this poor, trapped, terrified creature. It's not infesting you, it's not invading, it's what you have instead of an engine. And this place down here is where you hurt it, where you torture it, day after day, just to keep it moving. Tell you what. Normally, it's above the range of human hearing. This is the sound none of you wanted to hear." he moved to a thrashing tentacle, holding the sonic up, allowing the humans to hear its screams.
Thea winced as the screaming only got louder in her head, "I'm sorry." she murmured, gently stroking a tentacle.
"Stop it." Liz whispered as the Doctor turned the sonic off so the humans could no longer hear the screams, "Who did this?"
"We act on instructions from the highest authority." Hawthorne replied.
"I am the highest authority." she snapped, "The creature will be released, now. I said now!" nobody moved, "Is anyone listening to me?"
"Liz..." Thea called softly, "your mask..."
"What about my mask?"
The Doctor handed it back to her, "Look at it. It's old. At least 200 years old, I'd say."
"Yeah? It's an antique." she frowned, "So?"
"Yeah, an antique made by craftsmen over 200 years ago and perfectly sculpted to your face. They slowed your body clock, all right, but you're not 50. Nearer 300. And it's been a long old reign."
"Nah, it's 10 years. I've been on this throne 10 years."
"10 years. And the same 10 years, over and over again, always leading you here..." he led her to the voting table, to the 'forget' and 'abdicate' buttons.
Liz slowly turned to Hawthorne, "What have you done?" she breathed.
"Only what you have ordered." he replied calmly, "We work for you, Ma'am. The Winders, the Smilers, all of us." he reached across the screen, and a recording of Liz began to play.
"If you are watching this. If I am watching this, then I have found my way to the Tower Of London. The creature you are looking at is called a Star Whale." the clip showed an image of a large almost squid like alien, "Once, there were millions of them. They lived in the depths of space and, according to legend, guided the early space travellers through the asteroid belts." the diagram disappeared showing Lizs face again, "This one, as far as we are aware, is the last of its kind. And what we have done to it breaks my heart. The Earth was burning. Our sun had turned on us and every other nation had fled to the skies. Our children screamed as the skies grew hotter. And then it came, like a miracle. The last of the Star Whales. We trapped it, we built our ship around it, and we rode on its back to safety. If you wish our voyage to continue, then you must press the Forget button. Be again the heart of this nation, untainted. If not, press the other button. Your reign will end, the Star Whale will be released, and our ship will disintegrate. I hope I keep the strength to make the right decision."
"I voted for this." Amy breathed, horrified as the recording ended, the screen turning to static, "Why would I do that?"
"It's a human superpower." Thea sighed, not moving from kneeling besides the tentacles, just wanting to let the creature know that at least one person on this ship was on its side, "forgetting. You can't deal with the guilt of your actions, so you choose to forget."
"Because you knew if we stayed here," the Doctor added heavily, "I'd be faced with an impossible choice. Humanity or the alien. You took it upon yourself to save me from that. And that was wrong. You don't ever decide what I need to know."
"I don't even remember doing it." Amy argued.
"You did it," the Doctor bit out, "That's what counts."
"I'm...I'm sorry." Amy whispered.
"Oh, I don't care." he sneered, storming over to another control panel, "When I'm done here, you're going home."
"Why?" Amy demanded, following him, "Because I made a mistake? One mistake? I don't even remember doing it. Doctor!"
"Yeah, I know. You're only human."
Thea remained silent at that. She wanted to defend Amy she really did, but her mistake had likely cost the Star Whale its life, its freedom. That wasn't fair to it, the Star Whale had come to Earth to help and now they were torturing it to use as an engine. If they didn't, the Star Whale might even still stay.
She slowly stood and moved to the Doctor side, "What are you doing?"
"The worst thing I'll ever do." he answered, fiddling with the controls, "I'm going to pass a massive electrical charge through the Star Whale's brain. Should knock out all its higher functions, leave it a vegetable. The ship will still fly, but the whale won't feel it."
"No..."
"That'll be like killing it!" Amy gasped.
"Look, three options." he sighed, "One, I let the Star Whale continue in unendurable agony for hundreds more years. Two, I kill everyone on this ship. Three, I murder a beautiful, innocent creature as painlessly as I can. And then I find a new name, because I won't be the Doctor any more." he glanced at Thea as she stared at him with tears in her eyes, "i'll drop you back of at Sarah Jane, I completely understand if you never want to hear from me again."
"No," she shook her head, "but you can't do that."
"I have too."
"There must be something we can do, some other way." Liz said quietly.
"Nobody talk to me." the Doctor shouted, "Nobody human has anything to say to me today!"
Thea watched as Amy and Liz walked away from him, Amy moving to sit against a wall near Mandy, tears in her ears.
"I want to go home." she whispered.
He hated that he knew she didn't mean the TARDIS or Gallifrey, "That's fine." he nodded, solemn, "I understand."
She turned as Mandy noticed her missing friend and jumped up to see him, a tentacle trying to seemingly play with the children. It came because they were crying.
The last of its kind. It couldn't stand to see children cry so it came to help.
Amy's eyes widened as she saw how gently the Star Whale was with the children, jumping up, she shouted, "Doctor, stop. Whatever you're doing, stop it now! Sorry, your Majesty. Going to need a hand." she pulled Liz over to the voting table.
"Amy, no!" the Doctor rushed over, "No!"
Amy forced Liz to push down the 'abdicate button.' the Star Whale bellowed as the ship shook.
"Amy, what have you done?" the Doctor demanded.
And then it calmed.
"Nothing at all," Amy smiled, "Am I right?"
"We've increased speed!" Hawthorne gaped in shock.
Thea gave a small laugh, "you've stopped torturing the pilot."
"That's got to help." Amy added.
"It's still here." Lizs eyes widened, "I don't understand."
"I do," Thea smiled, giving Amy an encouraging look to explain as the Doctor just looked confused.
"The Star Whale didn't come like a miracle all those years ago." she explained, "It volunteered. You didn't have to trap it or torture it. That was all just you. It came because it couldn't stand to watch your children cry." her gaze drifted to the Doctor, "What if you were really old, and really kind and alone? Your whole race dead. No future. What couldn't you do then? If you were that old, and that kind, and the very last of your kind, you couldn't just stand there and watch children cry."
~.~
Thea stood besides the Doctor stood on the observation deck, looking out the large window at the stars.
"Still want to go...back to Sarah Jane's?" the Doctor asked her quietly, unable to bring himself to call the woman's house her home. Her home should be the TARDIS as much as he knew how much she loved Sarah Jane and felt safe with the woman. He wanted her to feel like that with him, in the TARDIS. He couldn't help but feel a little jealous of the closeness Sarah Jane had with her.
She frowned at him, "do you...do you want me to go back to hers?"
He shrugged, "I understand if you do."
"I do," she said and the Doctor turned away, making it look like he was just looking around for Amy, "for a visit." she added, moving to his other side to see his face again, "they deserve that after I pretty much just took off with you, on Christmas, of all days."
"And you don't run out on the people you care about." the Doctor murmured, "I wish I was more like that."
"From Her Majesty." Amy called, jogging over and handing the Doctors Lizs mask, "She says there will be no more secrets on Starship UK."
"Amy, you could have killed everyone on this ship." the Doctor began.
"You could have killed a Star Whale." she countered.
"And you saved it. I know, I know."
"Amazing though, don't you think? The Star Whale. All that pain and misery and loneliness, and it just made it kind."
"But you couldn't have known how it would react."
"You couldn't. But I've seen it before. Very old and very kind, and the very, very last. Sound a bit familiar?" she hugged him, "Hey."
"What?"
"Gotcha."
"Ha." he smiled, "Gotcha."
~.~
The trio wandered through the market back to the TARDIS.
"Shouldn't we say goodbye?" Amy wondered, "Won't they wonder where we went?"
"For the rest of their lives." the Doctor grinned, "Oh, the songs they'll write. Never mind them. Big day tomorrow."
"Sorry, what?" Amy froze.
"Well, it's always a big day tomorrow." he shrugged, unlocking the TARDIS doors, "We've got a time machine. I skip the little ones."
"Everyday is an adventure waiting to happen." Thea added.
"You know what I said about getting back for tomorrow morning?" Amy began, as she followed them up to the console, "Have you ever run away from something because you were scared, or not ready, or just...just because you could?"
"Once...a long time ago."
"What happened?"
"Hello." he laughed, holding his arms out as he moved to send them off, smiling as he noticed Thea eying his moves, no doubt trying to learn how to fly. He would definitely start giving her flying lessons very soon.
"Right." Amy nodded slowly as the phone began to ring, "Doctor, there's something I haven't told you. No, hang on. Is that a phone ringing?"
Thea pulled out her phone, "not me."
"People phone you?"
"Well, it's a phone box." the Doctor defended.
"He just never picks up." Thea laughed.
He stuck his tongue out at her which she mimicked, "Would you mind?" he asked Amy, gesturing to the phone.
Slowly she moved to answer it, "Hello? Sorry, who? No, seriously, who?" she rested the phone against her shoulder, "Says he's the Prime Minister. First the Queen, now the Prime Minister. Get about, don't you?"
"Which Prime Minister?"
Amy moved the phone back to her ear, "Er, which Prime Minister?" she put it against her shoulder again, "The British one."
"You need to be more specific." Thea looked over at her.
"Which British one?" she asked down the phone again, her eyes widened, "Winston Churchill for you."
"Winston Churchill!" Thea gasped, nearly squealing in delight as she bounced over to the Doctor, "please can we go see him." She calmed down, "if it's not too much trouble, that is."
He ushered her aside as he made his way to the phone, taking it from Amy, "Oh! Hello, dear. What's up?"
"You just said what's up to Winston Churchill." Thea gushed.
"Tricky situation, Doctor." Churchill spoke over the line, "Potentially very dangerous. I think I'm going to need you."
The Doctor glanced over to see Thea biting her lip. He recalled someone mentioning she was interested in Earth history and honestly if he said no then she would only put on a pouty face. "Don't worry about a thing, Prime Minister."
He smiled, "We're on our way."
"I'm going to meet Winston Churchill!" Thea cheered in excitement, "I'm going to see history in the making!" she gasped, "I'm officially a law breaker!" and pulled down a lever to send them off.
AurhorisedHats:- Thank you :) im glad your enjoying the story so far.
Dikratsblim:- IM glad you love Thea as much as I do. I too would die for this girl.