A/N thanks to Maren the fangirl for following!
chapter 3
I lazily take a sip of champagne, forgetting that most alcohol tastes rubbish if you're a Time Lord. Well I was sober anyway. I try to spit it back into the glass without losing my ladylike poise, looking around the room to check if anyone's noticed. I quite like this place. I'm a sucker for good costume stuff. I used to be a props maker, mostly, but I remember my days as costume designer as fun. I lay my eyes on the laces and headpieces, then check my own outfit. I blend in just fine, so I join a rolling dice game, ending up close to the man who scolded Astrid before. I hope I can win all his money, when the stewards appear hastily.
The lights flicker in the room, and I look up to get a grasp on what's going on. I swear I am prepared for a nice quiet dinner, but the host glitching, the stewards running around, it just takes that to give me the feeling something's wrong.
"I was in mid-sentence!", the Doctor protests with his hands in the air, suddenly reappearing on deck with the whole group, that includes the Van Hoffs and the small red-skinned alien.
"Yes, I'm sorry about that. A bit of a problem. If I could have your bracelets", Mr. Copper asks, just before the steward joins them. I see Astrid hiding behind the Doctor as the stewards approach the group.
"Apologies, ladies and gentlemen, and Bannakaffalatta. We seem to have suffered a slight power fluctuation. If you'd like to return to the festivities. And on behalf of Max Capricorn Cruiseliners, free drinks will be provided".
"Thank you", Foon approves.
Astrid spins in front of the Doctor, smiling broadly. "That was the best. The best!", she says before returning to work.
"What sort of power fluctuation?", the Doctor asks to the stewards, handing his teleport bracelet, but they ignore him.
I leave the gambling table and turn to the nearest of the many animated picture frames that display messages from the man himself, Mr. Capricorn, waving at the Doctor who's searching the room.
I don't miss that he and Astrid are exchanging glances as he walks towards me.
"Sooo... that was the best", I singsong as I sonic the hinges to unfasten the frame and get to the electronics.
"Stop i-i-i-it", he says, as he put on his glasses. He doesn't realize he has the same voice as when he tries to stop Jack Harkness to introduce himself to anything that moves. Oh, Jack would have loved this, the Doctor flirting. Me and him, we would have driven the Doctor mad with jokes.
"So how was it? How's old London?".
"Deserted. Just an old newsagent and Queen Elizabeth".
"Well London isn't exactly the safest place at Christmas", I nod, switching channels until I have the image of the ship's status. "Suppose I should thank you about that?", I joke.
"You're a very ungrateful lady, Zoe- hang on, the shields are off line", he cuts, peering out the nearby porthole until his face turns worried. I follow his gaze until I can see some fireballs in the distance.
I whirr the sonic screwdriver at the circuits again until we have communication with the bridge. "Is that the bridge? I need to talk to the Captain. You've got a meteoroid storm coming in west zero by north two", the Doctor says, hastily.
"Who is this?", comes an electrified reply.
"Never mind that, your shields are down. Check your scanners, Captain. You've got meteoroids coming in and no shielding". He's raising his voice, so I take a look around, alarmed.
"You have no authorisation. You will clear the comms at once".
"Yeah? Just look starboard!". I see stewards coming our way. I furtively drop the sonic screwdriver in the Doctor's hand and nudge him, clearly too late.
"Come with me, Sir", a steward says, grabbing his shoulders and taking him away.
"You've got a rock storm heading for this ship and the shields are down", I hear him insist as the stewards take him away.
I look at the screen again, but there's no way I can fix the shielding from here, and the Captain didn't seem eager to do it himself.
The Doctor makes a run for the bandstand and tries to warn the passengers.
"Everyone, listen to me! This is an emergency! Get to the lifeb-" but he's caught up by the stewards again. "Look out the windows!". The tiny one, Bannakaffalatta, and the businessman seem to be the only one who listened.
I watch outside as the meteoroids get closer. A tiny rock breaks a windowglass, landing between the businessman's feet.
"You there", I hear him ask to a host. "Has anyone checked the external shielding?".
"Information. You are all going to die", the creepy angel replies.
I scramble down the corridor, following the Doctor's voice as he complains with support from Astrid, Red-skinned Tuxedo alien (oh, my, am I racist?) and the Van Hoffs.
The businessman joins us just before the spacerocks hit the ship, and everything goes ablaze.
I feel my weight suddenly lifted from the floor and I land ungracefully just inches away from a huge hole in the wall.
I click my neck. Wow, this superior Time Lord biology really works after all. In no time I'm up on my feet, backing away from the wall. I give an ok sign to the Doctor, who nods at me while he's checking on Astrid.
"Bad name for a ship", he's muttering. "Either that or this suit is really unlucky". I really have no idea of what he's going on about.
Looks like everyone is pretty much fine, the Van Hoffs, Astrid, the red skinned alien, (whose name, I learn, is Bannakaffalatta, which makes me think of a Starbucks drink), the very rude Rickston Slade who's still screaming at the steward. Only Mr. Copper has a bad cut on his head.
Everybody starts complaining at the poor steward, who tries to keep everyone calm.
"She is, after all, a fine, sturdy ship. If you could all stay here while I ascertain the exact nature of the situation...", he says, going to a nerby hatch.
Before the Doctor can stop him, he's sucked into space. We all cling to, uhm, well, whatever holds as he sonics the control panel until the oxygen shield is restored.
"Doctor", I say, as I try to strain what remains of the once gorgeous silk embroidered cardigan, which is now basically just strips of fabric from my shoulders down. "I don't think it was an accident".
He walks by my side, with Astrid. "How many dead?", she asks, looking outside.
"We're alive. Just focus on that. I will get you out of here, Astrid, I promise. Look at me. I promise. Good", he says, "Now, if we can get to Reception…". I watch the floating mess of bodies and debris outside, when a tingle of fear hits me. And just as the Doctor says "I've got a spaceship tucked away. We can all get on board and-"… yep. I wasn't the only one to notice the Tardis slowly going adrift. "Oh".
"What is it? What's wrong?". Astrid asks.
"That's my ship over there". The Doctor notices my distress and strokes my shoulder. Now, I'm pretty aware of what happened the last time the Doctor lost sight of the Tardis. I know, I know, it wasn't his fault, actually it was the Master who stole it. Actually, with my help. "We'll get it back, don't worry", he adds, looking at me as I shiver.
I'm not worried, Doctor, I just feel guilty. And I'm having a headache. A guilt-induced headache.
"Where?", Astrid asks, snapping us back to the present. Not really a good time to brood in guilty feelings. Let's focus on going back to Reception. And, as messy as the deck looks now, it's not going to easy.
"There... That box. That little blue box". I point.
Astrid raises a brow. "That's a spaceship?".
"Oi, don't knock it", the Doctor remarks, offended.
"It's a bit small".
"A bit distant. Trouble is, once it's set adrift, it's programmed to lock onto the nearest centre of gravity, and that would be the Earth".
Now, I'm going to throw away the Doctor's tuxedo right into space as soon as we're back to the Tardis. Because, as it turns out from a quick conversation with the panicked boy who's apparently now the one in charge of the ship, Midshipman Frame, not only we're running on unsteady nuclear storm power engines, but also, if the Titanic loses orbit, the nuclear storm will explode and wipe out all life on planet Earth.
Ok, so maybe it's not the suit, but it doesn't sound very lucky, does it?
I mean, the ship is falling apart, there's fire everywhere. Everybody is now on edge, Foon and Mr. Copper are panicking, and Rickston is again complaining. Loudly. So-fucking-annoying. The Doctor loses his patience too.
"Shush, shush, shush, shush, shush. First things first. One. We are going to climb through this ship. B. No. Two. We're going to reach the bridge. Three. Or C. We're going to save the Titanic. And, coming in a very low four, or D, or that little iv in brackets they use in footnotes, why". Wow, that was so messy it didn't really sound very authoritative. "Right then, follow me", he finishes, and starts walking.
"Hang on a minute. Who put you in charge and who the hell are you anyway?".
Uh-oh. Wrong question, Rickston. I see the Doctor freeze in step ahead of me, then suddenly he turns menacingly.
"I'm the Doctor. We're Time Lords. We're from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. I'm nine hundred and three years old and I'm the man who's going to save your lives and all six billion people on the planet below". I'm quite surprised he counted me in his don't-mess-with-Time-Lords speech. "You got a problem with that?".
And, I'm even more surprised that he finally managed to shut Rickston up. "No", he admits.
"In that case, allons-y!", he spins around through the fire, holding my hand.
Thanks to HauntedLeg who wrote the first review on this story! as a thank you gift, a note for you:
-I originally intended Zoe to be the Master's daughter but then I saw Life on Mars, fell in love with John Simm and thought, now, let's have a very twisted angsty relationship there instead.
Write reviews (please!) and I'll give you a small fact-note-trivia (yeah I don't really know how to call those) for each one.
Here's another in advance for the next one:
-Zoe has two piercings on her nose (left and septum), one on her lower lip (right) and one on her right eyebrow. Yes just like Rooney Mara's Lisbeth Salander.
Next chapter is already written, update will come tomorrow I think!