Immediately after Rose and I let go of each other the Doctor starts talking, "Right then you two, you tell me, where do you want to go. Backwards or forwards in time, it's your choice. What's it gonna be?"
Rose and I have a silent telepathic conversation, the kind the only sisters can have, and I answer, "Forwards."
He flips a few switches before asking how far we want to go, and this time I let Rose answer, "One hundred years?"
He flips more switches, and moves more things around, before grabbing hold of the console. Rose and I take the hint and step forward to get a good grip.
I hear the wheezing start up again and I can't help but smile, excited for whatever's going to come our way.
When the wheezing stops the Doctor faces us and says, "There you go, step outside those doors it's the 22nd century."
"You're kidding." Rose questions him and I roll my eyes at her, after everything we've been through today, and this is what she questions.
"That's a bit boring though. Do you want to go further?" He asks.
"Fine by me!" I smirk back at him in a 'bring it on' sort of way. And he takes my challenge. After fiddling with the console some more, the wheezing stops and he smirks back at me.
Challenge accepted.
"Ten thousand years into the future. Outside, that'll be the year 12005. The New Roman Empire." He smirks at himself, proud with his work.
"You think you're so impressive." I tease.
"I am so impressive!" He insists, offended.
"You wish." I counter, and Rose just looks at me with that know-it-all look on her face, making me roll my eyes at her.
"Right then, you asked for it." He points at me as he smirks, like he's got a trick up his sleeve. "I know exactly where to go." He turns back to the console and starts fiddling with things again, the TARDIS shakes aggressively, making Rose and I share worried glances.
When everything stops, he simply stands there, beaming away, proud with himself.
"Where are we?" I ask, seeing as though he isn't going to explain on his own. But he just points to the door.
"What's out there?" You can hear the excitement in my voice, all he does is point to the door again, with a smile on his face. Rose and I take each other's hands at the same time, and run towards the door, and fling it open.
Stepping out of the TARDIS, we're in what looks like a regular room, causing me to pause. The Doctor finally steps out and takes a look around. He walks over to a small control panel by the door, and uses the sonic screwdriver on it. I walk down the stairs slowly, and a part of the wall in front of us, starts to slide down, revealing a huge window. Outside the window, is a picturesque view of space, and the Earth is the main focal point.
"You lot, you spend all your time thinking about dying." The Doctor says as he walks up between Rose and I, "Like you're going to killed by eggs, or beef, or global warming or asteroids. But you never take time to imagine the impossible, that maybe you survive." I pause in my examination of my planet, to look up at the Doctor. He has a sad, nostalgic look on his face. But when he notices me looking at him, he smiles immediately, "This is the year five point five slash apple twenty six, five billion years in your future. And this is the day," he looks down at his watch, than continues, "hold on," Then looks up at me and pointedly looks at the window, a bright light shines over the Earth as he finishes explaining, "this is the day the sun expands. Welcome to the end of the world." He smiles down at the both of us.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Shuttles five and six now docking. Guests are reminded that Platform One forbids the use of weapons, teleportation, and religion. Earth death scheduled for 15:39 followed by drinks in the Manchester Suit."
We're walking down a hallway when we hear the announcement.
"So when it says guests," Rose questions, "does that mean people?"
"Depends what you mean by 'people'." The Doctor answers her, honestly I'm not even sure why Rose is asking, we're out in space, in a space ship, in the future. I doubt there would only be human beings on board.
"I mean, people, what do you mean?" She tries to clarify, and a snort slips threw my lips, causing her to glare at me, "Oh come on Rosie, expand your mind a little." I say, earning a smack from her. I try to jump out of the way, but only end up running into Doctor. Thankfully he grabs me by the sides, not letting me fall over. I smile up at him in thanks, and he smiles and nods back before letting me go. Then turns to Rose to answer her question, "Aliens." Is the simple reply she gets.
"What are they doing here? What's it all for?" I ask him as we stop suddenly. He pulls out the sonic screwdriver and starts looking for something in a control panel on the wall.
"It's not really a spaceship, more like an observation deck. The great and the good are gathering to watch the planet burn."
"What for?" Rose questions
"Fun." Rose and I shoot each other a look as he walks off, it's fun watching a planet burn?
We follow after him, and we end up in a large room, the ceiling is made completely of windows, and if the Doctor wasn't still walking away, I'd love to take a second to look at the stars. But up a head of us, the windows of the ceiling come down one wall, to make it a large window all the way from floor to ceiling.
I run in front of both of them up to the window, and take in a view of the Earth I never thought I'd get to see in person.
"Mind you, when I say 'the great and the good' I mean the rich." The Doctor explains.
"But hold on, they did this once on Newsround Extra. The sun expanding, it takes hundreds of years." Rose says, always questioning.
They finally catch up to me at the window, and I'm only kind of paying attention to what they're saying, more interested in what's going on outside.
"Millions." He clarifies, "But the planets' now property of the National Trust. They've kept it preserved. See down there?" He points out the window at what looks like satellites, gaining more of my attention, "Gravity satellites, holding back the sun."
"The planet looks the same as ever," I state after my silent period of observation, "I thought the continents shifted."
The Doctor looks down at me, taking in my awe with view, before he answers me, "They did, and the trust shifted them back. That's a classic Earth, but now the money's run out, and nature takes over."
"How long's it got?" I wonder, and the Doctor looks at his watch, "About half an hour, then the planet gets roasted." I don't understand why he sounds so excited about it, in fact, I'm a little put out by it, and you can tell when I ask, "Is that what we're here for?"
Rose asks immediately after me, not giving the Doctor a chance to respond to me, "Is that what you do- jump in at the last minute and save the Earth?"
"Somehow, I'm feeling a 'no' is the correct answer here Rosie." I mutter to her, but the Doctor sends me quick glance, letting me know he managed to hear what I said also.
"I'm not saving it. Time's up." He says a bit harshly, and I'm not totally surprised by it, though I am surprised that I feel that way.
"But what about the people!" Rose demands.
He simply shrugs, "It's empty, they've all gone. No one left." The way he says it, makes me look up at him. He's hiding something, and he's very good at it. But his eyes are sad. I reach out and take his hand, squeezing it. He looks down at me confused, but I think he can tell that I know something's up, because he shuts down even more, and barely has a grip on my hand. But I don't let go, I want him to know that I'm here for him.
Rose seems to have missed our silent conversation, "Just us then Lily." This causes the Doctor to squeeze my hand back, and I'm not totally sure I know why.
"Who the hell are you?" A voice from behind us says, making us all turn around. And a blue man, with black markings on his face and a jewel on his forehead, is storming in our direction.
"Oh, that's nice thanks." The Doctor sass at him, and I have to hold back a laugh, because I was thinking something along the same lines.
"But how did you get in?" The man demands, "This is a maximum hospitality zone. The guests have disembarked, they're on they're on their way, any second now."
I scoff, "Did it honestly not occur to you that we might be guests that arrived a little early?" The Doctor beams down at me as he pulls something out of his pocket and shows it to the man as he says, "Yes that's us, we're guests, look we've got an invitation." I mentally thank him for being able to back up my big talk, even if I'm not sure how.
"Look there, you see?" He point at the thing in his hand. "It's fine see, the Doctor plus two. I'm the Doctor, and these here are Rose and Lily Tyler. They're my plus two, alright? And uh, forgive Lily here, she doesn't know when to shut up." He jabs me in the ribs with his elbow, and as I go to yell at him, I notice he's smirking, ass, so I keep my mouth shut. Which only makes him smile bigger.
Earning him a stomp on his toes. He doesn't say anything, but because his arm is still against my side, I feel him flinch some. Proud with myself, I stand a little taller. Rose's hushed giggles are heard by both me and the Doctor, and we simultaneously glare at her. Making her put her hand over her mouth to keep a louder laugh from getting out.
All of this happens fairly quickly and the blue man notices nothing, as he's still inspecting our 'invitation' and when he does look up, we've got ourselves under control again.
"Apologies, et cetera. If you're on board, we'd better start. Enjoy." He forgoes a parting smile as he walks away, but the Doctors smile more than makes up for it.
He turns to us, holding out what he'd shown the steward as he explains what it is, "The paper's slightly psychic, shows them whatever I want them to see, saves a lot of time."
"I'll bet." I say, smiling as he puts it back in his wallet.
"He's blue." Rose questions.
"Yeah." The Doctor confirms the obvious with a smile still on his face.
"Okay." Rose just seems to accept it, and I mentally chuckle at her as I take her hand in mine.
The steward, whose up on a podium now, announces us, 'We have in attendance, the Doctor, with Lily and Rose Tyler. Thank you, all staff to their positions." He claps his hands twice and multiple short blue men appear, rushing about. "Hurry now, thank you. Quick as you can, come along, come along." The steward coaxes them about.
"And now might I introduce the next honored guest, representing the Forest of Cheem, we have trees. Namely Jabe, Lute and Coffa." The doors slide open and in walk three, tree people.
"There will be an exchanging of gifts, representing peace." The steward keeps talking but, I'm a little distracted by the tree people headed our way.
"Do we have gifts to exchange in the name of peace, Doctor?" I whisper in a hiss towards him. He only chuckles at my worry, and I take that to mean that he has, at least some idea of what he's doing.
"Next from the solicitors Jolco and Jolco, we have the Moxx of Balhoon." The stewards' words catch my attention, as a very short and naked chubby man, with an elongated head, rolls in on a seat.
Rose looks perplexed and the Doctor is beaming away.
"And next from financial family seven, we have the Adherents of the Repeated meme." The steward announces the tall figures completely covered in black robes that hide, even their faces, enter the room next. Rose and I look at each other thinking the same thing, meme? The Doctor looks down at us and chuckles at our confused faces.
"The inventors of hyposlip travel systems, the brothers Hop Pyleen. Thank you." And the steward continue to introduce many different aliens, all so incredible, that I have to try my hardest not stare.
The trees walk up to us, Jabe, the woman-like figure leading the two males behind her, as she presents their gifts, "The gift of peace, I bring you a cutting of my grandfather." And she hands the Doctor a potted plant with a small sprout. He takes it with great reverence as he thanks her, and hands the pot to me, before he pats his jacket down, looking for something to give her back.
"Yes gifts, uhm," He pauses as he tries to quickly on his feet. Rose nudges him, making him lean to the right, and steps on my toes. I let out a huff of breath to try and keep from screeching. He looks down at me like I've done something brilliant, before turning back to Jabe. "I give you in return, air from my lungs." He leans forwards some and breaths in her face.
Jabe looks taken aback, and for a minute I think he might have pissed her off, but instead she seems to blush as she says, "How intimate."
"There's more where that came from." I glare up at him, but when he looks back at me, he looks totally innocent. I don't know if he realizes how flirty that sounds, but Jabe definitely does, and she saucily says, "I bet there is." Catching the Doctor of guard but he smiles back at her all the same, as Rose and I roll out eyes in tandem.
"And the sponsor of the main event, please welcome, The Face of Boe." A large tank is wheeled in, and what appears to be a huge face is inside the tank. But the small blue naked man, rolls up to us, and the Doctor starts talking, before I can question the tanked head.
"The Moxx of Balhoon." He greets him with a smile, and a squeaky voice I had not anticipated, replies, "My felicitations upon this historical happenstance."
"What?" Rose whispers, I lean behind the Doctor to taunt her as I whisper back, "I understood that."
"I bring you the gift of bodily saliva." And he spits, right in Roses face. I laugh, and I can hear a laugh in the Doctors voice as he thanks him.
"Ah the appearance of the repeated meme, I bring you air from my lungs." The Doctor opens his mouth wide, and breathes heavily, trying to reach all five of them. One of the figures closest to us lifts its arm, holding out a metal looking ball in a three fingered robotic hand. "A gift of peace in all good faith." An automated voice says from behind the covered face.
The Doctor takes it and hands it over to Rose, who turns it around in her hands.
"And last but not least, our very special guest," The stewards announces what sounds like the last person to arrive, "ladies and gentleman and trees and multiforms, consider the Earth below. In memory of this dying world, we call forth the last human; the Lady Cassandra O'Brien.Delta17."
Rose and I blanch as what's considered the last human being is rolled out in a frame, looking like a vertical trampoline with a face. And under the flap of skin, is a small tank, containing a brain.
"Oh now, don't stare. I know, I know its shocking isn't it? I've had my chin completely taken away, and look at the difference. Look how thin I am. Thin and dainty, I don't look a day over two thousand. Moisturize me, moisturize me." While Rose and I watch on appalled, the two men that rolled her in, spray her with something. The Doctor looks amused as she continues talking, "Truly I am the last human," At that Rose and I start walking towards her, "my father was a Texan, and my mother was from the Arctic Desert." We walk up to her, and walk around to the back, where we can see the flip side of her. She's totally flat, and where her mouth is on one side, on the back of her, looks like a hole, I can see through to the other side of the room when she opens her mouth. I bend over a little, and as she talks, I can see the Doctor, trying not to laugh, through her mouth. "They were born on Earth, and were the last to be buried in its soil. I have come to honor them and say goodbye. Oh no tears, no tears. I'm sorry." The man standing to her left, pulls out a tissue and wipes her eyes.
I don't know how she's even alive, I don't understand how she survives like that. I take Roses' hand in mine, seeking some comfort.
"But behold, I bring gifts. From Earth its self, the last remaining ostrich egg." The doors open behind her and one of the small blue workers, comes out, carrying the egg.
"Legend says it had a wingspan of over fifty feet, and blew fire from its nostrils." I scoff before she continues, "Or was that my third husband?" She chuckles at her own joke, and some of the other laugh with her. "Oh no, oh don't laugh, I'll get laughter lines."
The doors open again and two more workers roll out a jukebox, as Cassandra keeps talking, "And here, another rarity. According to the archives, this is what's called an I-Pod." I roll my eyes and open my mouth to correct her, but I catch the Doctors eye before I can, he shakes his head no, telling me to let it go. I sigh, but don't say anything.
'Tainted Love' comes through the jukebox speakers, as the steward announces that refreshments are available, and Earth death is in thirty minutes.
Rose looks around and starts to breath heavily, before she lets go of my hand and runs out of the room. I look over at the Doctor and he runs over to me, he doesn't stop, but takes my hand as we go after her.
But Jabe calls his name and we come up short, she holds up a metal device, and what looks like a flash goes off. She thanks him and then walks off as well, and we continue to go after Rose.
As we're trying to find her, a voice announces, "Would the owner of the blur box in private gallery fifteen please report to the stewards office immediately. Guests are reminded that the use of teleportation devices is strictly forbidden under peace treaty 5.4/cup/16. Thank you."
And the Doctor pulls me off in the opposite direction Rose went, to go take care of the TARDIS. As a different automated voice announces Earth death in twenty five minutes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
When we get back to where the TARDIS is, we see a bunch of the little blue worker men pushing and pulling the TARDIS, moving it out of the private gallery.
"Oi, careful with that, park it properly." The Doctor tells them, "No scratches."
One the workers walks up to us and the Doctor lets go of my hand to take the small ticket being handed to him. He looks it before handing it me with a smile.
'Have a nice day' is written in a fancy font. I chuckle, and put it in my pocket as a keepsake.
He takes my hand again as we set off to find Rose. The Doctor picks a door, seemingly at random, and sonics' it open as I ask if she in there. I don't get a reply, but when he opens the door I can see her sitting on the steps inside the room.
I let go of the Doctors hand and when I sit down next to her I put my arm around her shoulder and she leans her head against mine. I look over and see the Doctor sitting on the steps on the other side of the isle way.
"What do you think then?" he asks us excitedly, and my reply is immediate, "It's great. Though I think miss trampoline out there is inhaling too much of her 'moisturizer'." The last human, as if, I roll my eyes just thinking about her.
Rose doesn't even smile, and her response sounds forced, "Yeah, fine. Once you get past the slightly psychic paper." The Doctor chuckles, but I look at her worriedly.
"They're just so... alien." She blurts out. "The aliens are so, alien. I mean you look at them, and they're alien." She tries to explain.
"Well, you know Rosie, they are aliens." I joke lamely, and she sits up out of my hold to smack my arm.
"Guess it's a good thing I didn't take you to the deep south." The Doctor says, and it seems like me might be joking, but his eyes are sad.
Rose sits forward to see around me as she asks, "Where are you from?"
The Doctor looks down at the floor, "All over the place." And I can tell that it seems like a sensitive topic, Rose seems to notice too, and while she changes the subject, I can tell she's not done talking about it.
"They all speak English." She states, this is something I have wondering about too.
"No, you just hear English." He leans back on one elbow resting the other on his side as he props up a knee, and explains, "It's a gift from the TARDIS, her telepathic field gets inside your brain and translates."
"That ship of yours is amazing." The Doctor beams at my compliment. I find it awesome that it's able to do that, and that I don't have to worry about not understanding what's going on. But Rose seems to think differently.
"It's inside my brain?" She questions him, not sounding too happy, and the Doctor takes notice and tries to smooth things out a bit, "Well, in a good way." I roll my eyes at his lame attempt.
"Your machine gets inside my head, it gets inside and it changes my mind and you didn't even ask."
"Come on Rose, it's a blessing, I mean, could you imagine all the different translator books we'd have to go through if it didn't?" I tease her, trying to ease the tension, but she's not having it.
"Now's not the time Lily." I wince and scoot away from her some.
"I didn't think about it like that." The Doctor explains as if I hadn't even spoken.
"No you were too busy think up cheap shots about the deep south!" she yells at him, fed up. "Who are you, then, Doctor?" She brings it up again, and the Doctor sits up from his relaxed position. "What are you called? What sort of alien are you?" She ask, and I put a hand on her arm to calm her down, "Rose, take it easy."
"No Lily, we deserve to know. What planet are you from?"
He gets defensive as he says, "Well it's not as if you'll know where it is."
"Where are you from?" She demands of him.
"What does it matter!"
"Tell me who you are!" She's yelling at him now, and I try to step in again, "Rose, just stop, alright."
But he answers her, as if I hadn't spoken up, "This is who I am, right here, right now, alright?" He yells back, getting upset at her nagging. "All that counts is here and now, this is me!"
"Yeah, and we're here too because you brought us here. And Lily maybe okay with not knowing, but I'm not, so just tell me!"
He jumps up and walks down the stairs to the window displaying the last couple minute of Earth's existence.
"Rose, what the hell was that?" I ask her, and she has the grace to look offended. I squeeze her hand, to let her know I'm not upset, before I stand up and walk over to the Doctor. He looks down at me but doesn't say anything, and I don't get the feeling he wouldn't like me to touch him, so I just stand there, let him know I'm there.
Earth death in twenty minutes, Earth death in twenty minutes, the computer announces.
I hear Rose make her way down the steps and she walks up next to me as she says, "Alright, as my mate Shareen says, don't argue with the designated driver."
He smiles a bit, but shakes his head.
"Can't exactly call for a taxi." She jokes as she pulls her phone out of her pocket, earning a real smile from him. "There's no signal, we're out of range." I pull out my phone as well, "Just a bit." I say agreeing with her.
The Doctor reaches over and plucks the phone out my hands, "Tell you what," he says, I smile, knowing that he's at least semi forgiven her, and he pulls the back off my phone, "with a little bit of jiggery-pokery,"
"Is that a technical term, jiggery-pokery?" I tease him, glad he's okay enough to play along as he answers, "Yeah I came first in jiggery-pokery, what about you?" He pulls something out of his pocket and clips it into my phone as I answer, "Nah, I failed hullabaloo."
"Aw." He sighs and all's forgiven, for now at least. He hands me back my phone, before taking Roses' and quickly fixing hers up as well.
He hands it back to her and when she looks up questioningly, he smiles and nods, forgiving, and confirming that her phone'll work.
Rose immediately takes her phone, and dials mums' number. I can hear the phone ringing, and smile when I hear Jackie answer the phone, "Hello?"
"Mum?"
"Oh what is it, what's wrong, what have I done now?" She questions and I laugh at her. "Is that Lily? Oh this red tops' falling to bits, you should get your money back."
Rose looks like she might cry, and I hear mum say, "Go on, there must be something, you two never call in the middle of the day."
Rose and I chuckle, "What's so funny?" Jackie questions.
"Nothing, you alright though?" Rose asks her.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"
"What day is it?"
"It's Wednesday, all day. Did you and Lily have too much fun last night, have you got a hangover?" Mum asks her and I laugh at her. "Oh, I'll tell you what, put a quid in that lottery syndicate, I'll pay you back later."
"Yeah, um, I was just calling cuz, Lily and I might be late home."
"Is there something wrong?" She asks, I take Roses hand and squeeze, letting her know I'm there, "No, I'm fine- I'm, on top of the world actually." She says with a smile as she squeezes my hand back, and we both chuckle as she hangs up the phone.
"Think that's amazing, wait till you see the bill." The Doctor jokes, but I stop laughing. I hadn't thought of that.
"That was five billion years ago, she's dead now." Rose ruminates over that as the Doctor sighs, "Five billion years later and our mum's dead."
"Bundle of laughs you are."
The whole station shakes, The Doctor smirks as he says, "That's not supposed to happen." Before he grabs our hands and pulls us back into the observation room with everyone else still there.
Honored guests may be reassured that gravity pockets may cause slight turbulence, thank you.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
As we get back to the room, we pass the Moxx of Balhoon saying to the Face of Boe, "Indubitably, this is the Bad Wolf scenario." As we pass, I don't hear the rest of what he's saying while I'm trying to pay attention to the Doctor.
"That wasn't a gravity pocket, I know gravity pockets and they don't feel like that." The Doctor says as he looks through a control panel on the wall. Jabe walks up to us and the Doctor questions her, "What do you think Jabe, listen to the engines, they've pitched up about thirty hertz. Is that dodgy or what?"
Jabe pauses for a second before saying, "It's the sound of metal, it doesn't make any sense to me."
"Where's the engine room?" he asks, but I don't know why he thinks she'd know.
"I don't know. But the maintenance duct is right behind our guest's suit. I could show you, and your wife." She offers, looking over at me, seeing as how Rose seems to have wandered off.
"Oh she's not my wife." He corrects her.
"Partner?"
"No"
"Concubine?"
"Nope." He says, smirking at me.
"Prostitute?"
"Excuse you! Whatever I am, I must also be invisible! Besides, is it even really any of your business?" I say, louder than I intended, but come on, a prostitute! I'm still wearing my blue flowy, flowery tank top and jeans, how does that seem like prostitute clothes?
She looks startled, while the Doctor just seems, proud.
"My apologies." She offers my way. But looks back at the Doctor expectantly, he offers his arm and tells me that he'll be back after he checks out the ducts.
"Don't start a fight!" He tells me, I nod but don't promise anything, and watch them leave before yelling after them, "I want you home by midnight!" I can hear the Doctor laugh loudly as they walk out the sliding door.
Earth death in fifteen minutes. I glare at the ceiling for the stupid announcements.
I take a quick look around and notice Rose standing by Cassandra by the window, and head over there.
I walk up in the middle of the conversation and hear Rose ask how many operations she's had.
"Seven hundred and eight, next week it'll be seven hundred and nine. I'm having my blood bleached." She says proudly. "Is that why you wanted a word? You've got a little bit of a chin poking out Rose, and Lily," She says noticing me at the same time Rose does, "you could be a bit flatter." I flinch back, I may not be skinny, but I'm healthy. I have curves in all the right places, my boobs aren't annoyingly large, but they look good, and I have a butt that I'm proud of. It's more the fact that this flap of skin actually wants to be that way, is what shocks me.
"I'd rather die." I spit out before walking away, ignoring the rest of the conversation. The Doctor said not to cause a fight, beside, and if I punched her, I bet my hand would just bounce right off anyway.
As I pass the Face of Boe I hear my name being called, but from inside my head.
Lily
I turn round to face the Face, and ask, "Was that you?"
Yes, you are an amazing person Lily.
I shake my head as I squat down so I'm closer to eye level before I say, "I'm no one special really."
You are very special, and you will do amazing things.
I don't say anything, but I highly doubt what he says, and he must be able to tell, because he says,
You are important Lily, you help him.
"Who?"
You don't understand it yet, but you help him, and you will help him even more in the times to come. The Doctor needs you.
Stand up straight, shocked and in disbelief. Cassandra speaks up and when I look around for Rose I can't find her, probably wandered off again, "The planets end," She announces, "Come gather, bid farewell to the cradle civilization! Let us mourn her with a traditional ballad." And Lily rolls her eyes as Toxic by Britney Spears is played.
Trust me Lily Tyler, The Face of Boe says, gaining her attention again, The time will come when you will have to choose, he is worth it. Your life with him, is worth it.
"Worth what? What will I have to choose between?" I ask panicky.
Goodbye for now, little flower, we will dance together soon.
And he's rolled away.
He called me 'little flower', that's new. His warnings about having to choose, about how the Doctor is worth it, makes me nervous.
Jabe walks into the room and stands by me but she's without the Doctor, making my already nervous state even worse.
"The metal machine confirms," Jabe holds a spider like thing in one hand, and a hand held device in the other, "the spider devices have infiltrated all of Platform One."
The Doctor walks in, looking pissed off as he makes his way over to where Jabe and I are standing.
"How's that possible," Cassandra demands, "our private rooms are protected by a code wall! Moisturize me, moisturize me!"
The Doctor takes the spider out of Jabes' hand, and walks to my other side.
"Summon the steward." The Moxx Balhoon suggests, but Jabe shuts him down, "I'm afraid he steward is dead."
I gasp, and the rest of the room makes noises, that sound along the same lines.
"Well, who killed him?" The Moxx asks.
"This event was sponsored by the Face of Boe, he invited us, talk to the Face!" Cassandra yells out.
"Not bloody likely!" I shout before I can even think, "He would never do something like that, and besides, I've been talking to him the whole time, he couldn't have done anything." Boe looks at me with thanks, and the Doctor looks proud.
"Easy way of finding out," The Doctor says, turning serious again, "someone brought a little pet on board. Let's send him back to master." The Doctor put the spider on the ground and we all watch as it pauses by Cassandra, before coming to a full stop in front of the Adherence.
Cassandra is the first one to speak out, "The Adherence of the Repeated Meme. J'accuse!"
"That's all very well, and kind of obvious, but if you stop and think about it," The Doctor walks over to Adherence, "a repeated meme is just an idea." He says causally as he pulls of one of their arms. "And that's all they are, an idea." He pulls one of the cords hanging from the arm he just pulled off, and all the Adherence collapse in a pile. "Remote control droids, nice cover for the real troublemaker. Go on jimbo, go home." He nudges he spider with his foot.
And when it stops in front of Cassandra, neither the Doctor nor myself, even attempt at containing our grins.
"I bet you were the school swot who never got kissed." Cassandra sneers. "At arms!" Both her attendants lift up their spray guns and the Doctor puts his hands on his chest, feigning fear, "What are you going to do, moisturize me?" He taunts in a girly voice, and despite the situation, I chuckle.
"With acid." Cassandra counters, and the Doctor pulls me behind him, attempting to shield me. "Oh you're too late anyway, my spiders have control of the mainframe. Oh, you all carried them as gifts, tax free, past every code wall. I'm not just a pretty face." She boasts, and I pop my head out from behind the Doctor to say, "You're not even that." Just because she's pissed me off so bad.
"Sabotaging the ship while you're still inside it- how stupid's that." He taunts her decisions, while she calmly replies, "I'd hoped to manufacture a hostage situation with myself as one of the victims. The compensation would have been enormous."
"This whole thing is about money?" I shout indignantly.
"Five billion years, and it still comes down to money." The Doctor says in reply to both of us.
"Do you think it's cheap looking like this? Flatness costs a fortune! I am the last human, Doctor, not those freaky little kids of yours!" She scowled at me.
"You're calling me freaky? Have you looked in the mirror lately, Cassandra? You pride yourself on being a human, but you look nothing like it!" I shout back her, unable to control my anger and try to step around the Doctor to get to her. He puts him hand on my arm, but he looks like he wishes he didn't have to.
The Moxx of Balhoon shouts out, "Arrest her, the infidel!"
"Oh shut it pixie! I've still got my final option."
Earth death in three minutes.
Cassandra smiles at the announcement, "And here it comes, you're just as useful to me dead. I have shares in all your rival companies and they'll triple in price once you're dead. My spiders are primed and ready to destroy the safety systems. How did that old Earth song go, burn baby burn."
"Then you'll burn with us." Jabe informs her.
Cassandra rolls her eyes, which is very unsettling to watch, "Oh, I'm sorry, I know the use of teleportation is strictly forbidden, but I'm such a naughty thing. Spiders, activate!" The whole station rumbles and shifts as small explosions go off everywhere. "Force fields gone with the planet about to explode," she says smugly, "At least it'll be quick, just like my fifth husband. Oh, shame on me."
Safety systems failing, safety systems failing.
"Bye-bye my darling! Bye-bye my darlings." I get the feeling that if she could, she'd be bowing.
Heat levels rising, heat levels rising.
"Reset the computer!" The Moxx cries.
Jabe shakes her head, "Only the steward would know how."
"No, we can do it by hand, there must be a restore switch." He turns to Jabe and I, "Lily, Jabe you come with me, the rest of you, just chill." The Doctor takes my hand and leads us out of the room, off to find the switch.
"Really? 'Just chill'? You just had to, didn't you." I tease him, and he chuckles, "Too good to pass up."
"Doctor, where's Rose?" I ask, realizing how long she's been gone. He doesn't say anything, just squeezes my hand and keeps walking, which scares me. "But she's okay, isn't she? I mean, at the very least, when we get this sorted, she'll be okay?" He simply nods and says that she'll be okay.
And maybe I shouldn't be comforted by his unenthusiastic reply, but I am. I believe him. If he says she's okay, that she's going to be okay, than I believe him.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
With the Doctor in the lead, we pile into a room with three huge fans circulating the air. He looks around before sighing, "Oh, and guess where the switch is." I squint and see a switch on the wall, opposite of the three fans, that suddenly seemed to move a lot faster, and get even bigger.
Heat levels rising, heat levels rising
"Oh yeah, that helps!" I shout my frustrations at the ceiling.
The Doctor walks over to a lever next to us, he flips it down and the fans slow down. But when he lets go of the lever, the fans speed back up.
External temperature 5,000 degrees
Jabe walks over the lever and holds it down, "You can't." The Doctor tells her, "The heats going to vent through this place."
"I know." She calmly tells him, but I step forward and put my hand on her arm, I can't let her do that.
"Jabe, you're made of wood. Go back to where it's safer, I'll do this." I gently remove her hands from the lever, and put my one in their place.
"Lily"- The Doctor tries to object, but I don't let him.
"You need help Doctor, and I'm going to help you." I smile at him, letting him know there is no way he can change my mind, "Rose needs our help too. Hurry up, we don't have much time left."
"Stop wasting time, time lord." Jabe says before she exits. I look at the Doctor and try to understand what she meant, but realize that now isn't the time.
Heat level rising, heat levels rising
"Do you think we can't feel that!" I yell at the computer, knowing I look crazy, but I'm scared. The Doctor looks at me before turning around to face the first fan.
He quickly ducks past it before running up to the next fan.
Heat levels critical, het levesl critical
He looks back at me, I know I'm sweating pretty bad, and the bar is getting warmer by the second, but I smile, boosting him onwards. Taking my smile, he quickly gets past the next fan as well.
Heat level rising, heat level rising
"I really hate the fucking computer." I am totally surprised when I can hear the Doctor's laughter, not knowing how he could have possibly heard me.
Suddenly the heat of the lever becomes almost unbearable. I grit my teeth to try and keep myself from screaming.
Planet explodes in ten, nine, eight, seven, six..
I watch gratefully as the Doctor passes the last fan, and I immediately drop the lever, a small scream slips threw my lips as I feel some of my skin sticking to the lever. I hear the Doctor shout, "Raise shields!" as I drop to the floor in pain, unable to keep my knees from wobbling.
Exoglass repair, exoglass repair
As the fans slow, I watch as a blurry Doctor makes his way towards me. "Did you do it? Did you save everyone?" I ask him as the blackness in my vision become total. I can feel him pick me up and he whispers, "We did it Lily."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I come to, back in the observation room. My head is in Roses lap as she leans against a wall. When she sees me open my eyes, she brushes some of my hair off my face. Then I hear one of the voices I hate most in the world right now, "That depends on your definition of people, and that's enough of a technicality to keep your lawyers dizzy for centuries."
"Oh, great, the bitchy trampoline is back, just who I wanted to see." I mutter as I sit up, cradling my hands to my chest, the Doctor looks over his shoulder at me, he seems happy at first, but then his eyes drop to my hands, and anger replaces it as he turn back around to face Cassandra.
I hate that he feels bad because of me, but when I look across the room and see Jabe, I know I did the right thing. The burning of my hands hurts a lot less than the burning of my heart would be if Jabe died and I knew I could have prevented it.
Cassandra ignores me as she says, "Take me to court then Doctor, and watch me smile, and cry, and flutter, and-"
"Creak?" the Doctor asks.
"And, what?" She questions, not feeling it yet.
"Creak. You're creaking." He says, Cassandra starts to dry out, and she does she's creaking.
"What?! Ah I-I'm drying out! Oh, sweet heavens, moisturize me! Where are my surgeons, my lovely boys! It's too hot!" As she dries out she loses her pinkish coloring, turning more grey and brittle looking.
"You raised the temperature." Is all he has to say to her.
"Have pity! Moisturize me! Oh, oh Doctor! I'm sorry, I'll do anything!" She pleads with the Doctor.
"Help her." I whisper from the floor. He doesn't look back at me when he replies, "Everything has it's time, and everything dies."
"I'm.. too.. young." Cassandra squeaks out before explodes. Rose and I flinch, trying to avoid the flying parts of skin.
The Doctor barely blinks.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Rose and I stand in front of the window, watching the last few pieces of Earth float around in space. The Doctor walks up towards us as Rose speaks up, with tears evident in her voice, "The end of the Earth, it's all gone, we were too busy saving ourselves, no one saw it go. All those years, all that history, and no one was even looking. It's just..."
The Doctor smiles softly, "Come with me." He holds his hands out towards us, Rose takes one, and I just hold out my hands, showing him my messed up hands. He lets go of Roses hand and takes both of mine, palms up. He puts both of my hands in one of his as he pulls out his sonic screwdriver.
"Why didn't you say anything sooner, these burns are bad." He asks, his voice still soft. I look up at him as he fixes me up, "I was a bit busy saving peoples' lives." I smirk up at him. He looks in my eyes before looking at my hands again. "There you go, all the layers of your skin, back in place." He puts his sonic back in his pocket, and I flex my hands, finally able to move them without extreme pain.
"Thanks." I say, smirking back up at him, he smiles and offers his hands again. Rose and I take his hands and he leads us to the TARDIS.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
When we step out of the TARDIS again, Rose and I find ourselves back on a present day London street.
The Doctor stands between us as we take everything in, "You think it'll last forever, people and cars and concrete. But it won't, one day it's all gone, even the sky." Without looking at either of us, he keeps speaking, his voice is somber, "My planets gone, it's dead." I look up at him as I take his hand in mine and put my other on his bicep, hugging his arm. He looks down at me as he keeps talking, "It burned like the Earth. It's just rocks and dust. Before it's time."
"What happened?" I ask softly, trying to let him know that he doesn't have to answer if he doesn't want to, but he answers anyway.
"There was a war, and we lost." He looks away from me, out at something I can't see.
"A war with who?" Rose asks him, this time he doesn't answer. She clears her throat before trying again, "What about your people?"
"I'm a Time Lord," I tilt my head, Jabes' comment finally making sense. "I'm the last of the Time Lords, they're all gone. I'm the only survivor, I'm left traveling on my own 'coz there's no one else now."
I squeeze his hand, "There's me."
"There's us." Rose corrects me, we smile at each other before looking up at the Doctor.
"You've seen how dangerous it is, do you want to go home?" He asks us, my answer comes automatically, "I'm staying with you."
"I don't know, I want-" she pauses as she gets a whiff of the air, "Oh, can you smell chips?" The Doctor and I laugh, him in amusement, me at her short attention span. "Yeah, I can." The Doctor says.
"I want chips." Rose requests, I laugh as I agree with her, "Me too!"
"Right then, before you get us back in that box, chips it is, and you can pay." Rose jokes as she looks around for the nearest chips shop.
"No money." He shrugs, and I gasp dramatically, "See if I ask you out again." I giggle at the offended look on his face. "Come on then tightwad, chips are on me." I take one of his hands, and one of Roses', and lead them over to the nearest shop. "After all, we've only got five billion years to the shops close."
I lean my head on his shoulder and laugh as we continue on our journey.