Receiving Another Chance (Book Ten of The Bad Wolf Chronicles)

Mummy on the Orient Express

I am so happy today actually went to plan! No missed times, no urgent need to rush, and a funny evening tour of Rothenburg. And an update for you all! Also, I need all you fans looking forward to "Civil War" to answer a question at the end of the chapter for me.

That's it! Enjoy "Mummy on the Orient Express!"

***

The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS, looking around at the suitcase racks around him, then held out his hand. "Your train awaits, my lady."

"Wonderful," Jessie smirked as she took his hand, stepping out of the TARDIS, wearing a shimmering silver dress that hugged her figure, a black shawl around her shoulders, her hair tied in a braided knot.

"The baggage car," he gestured around as Pietro, Clara, and Wanda stepped out next. "But thanks for lying. The real wonderful is through here. There were many trains to take the name Orient Express, but only one in space."

"Of course it is," Clara giggled.

"Completely faithful recreation of the original Orient Express," the Doctor explained, Jessie's arm in his, Pietro with both Wanda and Clara as they walked through the lounge area, one woman singing. "Except slightly bigger, and in space. Oh, and the rails are actually hyperspace ribbons. But, in every other respect, identical. Painstaking attention to detail."

"Oi!" Jessie protested when a bald man pushed through them.

"Most of the time," the Doctor grumbled, brushing his arm off.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the male computer voice said. "If you would be good enough to look from the windows on the right of the train, you'll be able to see the soaring majesty of the Magellan black hole."

"Oh, I remember when this was all planets as far as the eye could see," the Doctor grinned as the five of them gathered around a table to see. "All gone now, gobbled up by that beast. There was this planet, Obsidian. The planet of perpetual darkness."

"That sounds horrible," Clara wrinkled her nose.

"There was also a planet that was made completely of shrubs – "

"Really?" Wanda blinked.

"Thedion Four," the Doctor continued. "Constant acid rain. Had a lovely picnic there once, wearing a gas mask."

"Are you my mummy?" Jessie blinked up at him.

"Oh, no, not that," he groaned, even as Jessie laughed. "Please, no, not that."

"That's a lie."

The five turned to see a blonde woman looking at them. "I'm sorry?" Pietro frowned.

"That's a lie, what you said," she nodded to the Doctor. "Thedion Four was destroyed thousands of years ago, so you couldn't have been there."

"Miss Pitt," one of the guards, in a uniform with two medals and lots of gold decoration, walked over. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather rest in your room?"

"That man's a liar!" she pointed at him.

"Perhaps you'd allow Mr. Carlyle here to escort you back," the guard called another over.

"It'll be all right, miss," he said. "Just come with me."

"Sorry about that," the guard apologized to the five as Carlyle led the woman off. "I suppose it's understandable in the circumstances. I don't believe we've been introduced. Captain Quell."

"I'm Clara," Clara introduced herself. "This is Pietro and Wanda, and this is the Doctor and the Bad Wolf."

"Ah," Quell nodded. "Another one."