Because of him not knowing just how Annabelle would react to being grabbed at by him after seeing how she would flinch just from seeing the Master's hands move anywhere near her face, the Doctor had only looked over at her and said to her, "Annabelle." When Annabelle had only raised her head and looked up at him, he said to her, "Time to get out of the TARDIS."
After only blinking at him, Annabelle silently stood up from where she was practically sitting on the floor and went to take her mobile fridge with her, only to stop when the Doctor said to her, "I'm sorry, Annabelle, but you can't bring that with you– not until I know just what's going on here and why that ship had coming crashing into the TARDIS, okay?"
Instead of responding, she only stared at him for a single moment before she eventually started to slowly walk after him with that very same blank look on her face.
And in response to seeing her start to walk towards him, the Doctor turned his back on her and whispered to himself, "Alright, I can do this. I can figure out why that ship had come crashing into us, while also keeping Annabelle from– quite possibly– snapping and killing everyone that we might see."
Then– after letting out a sigh– he opened the door to the TARDIS and took a step out of it and let Annabelle also take a step out of it before he closed the TARDIS door behind her.
And then– after wiping away the dust that was on his coat– he opened a nearby door and could see something similar to a ballroom sitting on the other side of the door with many people both sitting and standing inside of the room.
And while he walked around the room, he made sure to occasionally glance over at Annabelle and make sure that she wasn't sneaking off from him in some attempt to kill an unsuspecting person before he stopped in front of a mechanical and golden figure with– what looked like– a halo on the top of its head.
When the mechanical figure had only turned to him with its hands still pressed together, the Doctor only eyed it before he started to walk once more with an all too silent Annabelle Mikaelson close behind him, which allowed him to see a short and red creature with spikes on its head as it said, "Christmas is funny..."
After turning to look out of a nearby window and then proceeding to stare at the outside of the ship, the Doctor said, "Right."
It wasn't long afterwards that a voice was heard saying, "Attention all passengers. The Titanic is now in orbit above Sol 3, also known as Earth. Population, human. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Christmas."
* * *
While Annabelle had only blankly stared ahead of herself and at an unfortunate passenger that was unnerved by just how long Annabelle had been apparently staring at him, the Doctor stared down at a screen in the room as a video started to play on it and a bald-headed man in the video said, "Max Capricorn Cruise liners. The fastest, the furthest, the best. And I should know because my name is Max."
As soon as the Doctor had turned his back on the screen and started to walk away from it, Annabelle silently walked after him, while a woman could be heard singing Winter Wonderland.
Only moments after the Doctor had walked away from the screen, he came to a halt and looked around himself with his hands in his pockets and his eyebrows raised– along with a bit of a smirk on his face– shortly before Annabelle heard a voice say, "It's not a holiday for me, not while I've still got my vone. Now, do as I say and sell."
While the man had started to walk away with the phone still pressed up against his ear, the Doctor turned to one of the mechanics and said to it, "Evening, passenger fifty-seven and passenger fifty-eight here, terrible memory. Remind me, uh, you would be?"
In turn, the mechanic said, "Information. Heavenly Host supplying tourist information."
With a mere raise of his head, the Doctor replied, "Good. So, um, tell me, 'cause I'm an idiot. Where are we from?"
The Heavenly Host said, "Information. The Titanic is en route from the planet Sto in the Casivanian Belt. The purpose of the cruise is to experience primitive cultures."
In turn, the Doctor said, "Titanic. Um, who thought of the name?"
The Heavenly Host said, "Information. It was chosen as the most famous vessel of the planet Earth."
With a shake of his head, the Doctor asked, "Did they tell you why it was famous?"
Once again, the Heavenly Host said, "Information. All designations are chosen by Mr. Max Capricorn. President of Max... Max... Max... Max... Max... Max... Max."
And while the Heavenly Host kept repeatedly tilting its head, the Doctor said, "Ooh. A bit of a glitch."
It was then that one of the stewards quickly made his way over towards them and said, "Sorry, chaps, we can handle this." After another steward had made his way over and the Heavenly Host had immediately stopped saying 'Max' repeatedly, the steward told them, "Software problem, that's all. Leave it with us, sir and ma'am. Merry Christmas to you both."
While the two stewards had started to carry away the Heavenly Host, Annabelle heard one of the men say, "That's another one down. What's going on with these things?"
* * *
After the sound of glass breaking was heard, the Doctor turned his head to see the same man from before that was talking on his phone yell at a woman, "For toff's sake! Look where you're going. This jacket's a genuine Earth antique."
In turn, the woman said to him, "I'm sorry, sir."
While the woman went to crouch down and pick up the pieces of glass, the man told her, "You'll be sorry when it comes off your wages, sweetheart." While the Doctor had glanced over at Annabelle and saw the way that she stared at the side of the man's neck and how her veins had almost immediately come onto display, the man said, "Staffed by idiots. No wonder Max Capricorn is going down the drain."
And while the man had walked away from the woman and Annabelle only continued to stare after him with her veins on display, the Doctor had made his way over towards the woman and started to help her with picking up the pieces of glass as he said to her, "Careful, there we go."
In turn, the woman said to him, "Thank you, sir, I can manage."
The Doctor replied, "I never said you couldn't. I'm the Doctor, by the way."
The woman said to him, "Astrid, sir. Astrid Peth."
The Doctor said to her, "Nice to meet you, Astrid, Merry Christmas."
In turn, Astrid said to him, "Merry Christmas, sir."
The Doctor replied, "Just Doctor, not 'sir'."
Astrid asked him, "You enjoying the cruise?"
With a nod of his head, the Doctor said to her, "Um, yeah. I suppose. I don't know. It doesn't quite work, being on a cruise and helping a friend through a rough patch."
While both Astrid and the Doctor had started to stand back up, Astrid asked him, "A friend?" When he only nodded his head, she asked him, "Where's your friend?"
With a mere nod of his head over towards Annabelle, the Doctor told her, "Oh, she's just over there." After seeing Astrid only furrow her eyebrows when she saw Annabelle's veins that were still visible just underneath her eyes, he said to her, "Don't mind the lines on her face. It, uh, just comes with the rough patch that I'm trying to help her get through. That's all. Anyway, what about you? Long way from home, planet Sto."
Astrid replied, "Doesn't feel that different. Spent three years working at the Spaceport Diner. Traveled all the way here and I'm still waiting on tables."
After taking a quick glance over at Annabelle and making sure that she was still standing right where he left her, the Doctor had walked over towards the window that Astrid was standing in front of and asked her, "No shore leave?"
Astrid told him, "We're not allowed. They can't afford the insurance. I just wanted to try it, just once. I used to watch the ships heading out to the stars. I always dreamt of..." With a shake of her head, she said, "Sounds daft."
In turn, the Doctor said to her, "You dreamt of another sky. New sun, new air, new life. A whole universe teeming with life. Why stand still when there's all that life out there?"
It was then that Astrid asked him, "S-So you travel a lot? You and your friend?"
The Doctor replied, "All the time. For me, really. My friend's still fairly new to the whole traveling around bit. But it's just for fun, really. Well, that's the plan. Never quite works."
In turn, Astrid said to him, "Must be rich, though."
The Doctor told her, "Haven't got a penny." Then he said in a whisper, "Stowaway."
With a mere tilt of her head, Astrid asked him, "Kidding?"
The Doctor said to her, "Seriously."
In turn, Astrid said to him, "No!"
With a nod of his head, the Doctor said to her, "Oh, yeah."
Astrid asked him, "How'd you get on board?"
The Doctor said to her, "Accident. I've got this, sort of, ship thing. I was just rebuilding, uh, left the defenses down. Bumped into the Titanic, and here we are. A bit of a party. I thought, why not? Might help my friend get back to her usual self." With a point of his finger, he said, "And speaking of my friend, she's the one that actually has a lot of money that she and that family of hers had managed to get for themselves over the years, but– just like me– she's also a stowaway, so..."
Astrid told him, "I should report you and your friend."
In turn, the Doctor said to her, "Go on, then."
After only turning her head, Astrid said to him, "I'll get you and your friend a pair of drinks." Then– in a whisper– she said to him, "On the house."
* * *
While the Doctor had sent off Annabelle to have as many drinks as she wanted that didn't involve her spilling the blood of the actual passengers on the Titanic, the Doctor made his way over towards a table that a man and a woman– dressed in purple outfits– were sitting at, just when the man said to the woman, "Just ignore them."
After sitting down at the same table as them, the Doctor said to them, "Something's tickled them."
With a snap of her fingers, the woman said, "They told us it was fancy dress. Very funny, I'm sure."
The man told her, "They're just picking on us because we haven't paid." Then he turned to the Doctor and said, "We won our tickets in a competition."
Then the woman said, "I had to name the five husbands of Juthy Crystal in By the Light of the Asteroid. Do you ever watch By the Light of the Asteroid?"
In turn, the Doctor asked her, "Is that the one with the twins?"
With a nod of her head, the woman said, "That's it. Oh, it's marvelous."
Then the man said, "But we're not good enough for that lot. They think we should be in steerage."
As he took out his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor replied, "Can't have that, can we?"
It wasn't long afterwards that a cork had popped up off of the bottle that they were standing in front of and then proceeded to spray in the faces of those that were just laughing, which got the woman to ask the Doctor, "D-Did you do that?"
In turn, the Doctor said to her, "Maybe."
After they had both chuckled to themselves, the woman said to him, "We like you."
Then the man said, "We do." As he held out a hand towards the Doctor, he said, "I'm Morvin Van Hoff. This is my good woman, Foon."
As he shook Foon's hand, the Doctor said, "Foon. Hello, I'm the Doctor."
Foon replied, "Oh, well, I'll need a doctor by the time I finish with that buffet." With a wave of her hand, she said to him, "Have a buffalo wing. They must be enormous, these buffalo. So many wings."
It was then that a voice on the PA was heard saying, "Attention, please. Shore leave tickets Red 6-7 now activated. Red 6-7."
Then Foon said, "Red 6-7? That's us." While Foon and Morvin got up from their chairs, Foon asked the Doctor, "Are you Red 6-7?"
The Doctor replied, "Might as well be."
In turn, Morvin said to him, "Come on, then. We're going to Earth."
* * *
With a mere raise of a red card, the man said, "Red 6-7. Red 6-7, this way. Fast as you can."
It wasn't long after both Foon and Morvin had walked past her that Astrid told the Doctor, "I got you and your friend your drinks."
In turn, the Doctor said to her, "And I got you a treat, come on."
Once more, the man said, "Red 6-7, departing shortly."
It was then that the Doctor pulled out an object– something that looked more like a wallet than anything– and said, "Red 6-7, two plus ones."
In turn, the man said to him, "Uh... Quickly, sir, please, and take three teleport bracelets if you would."
After the Doctor had already handed Annabelle a teleport bracelet, the Doctor turned to Astrid, who told him, "I'll get the sack."
The Doctor said to her, "Brand new sky."
Then the man with the red card said, "Uh, to repeat, I am Mr. Copper, the ship's historian, and I shall be taking you to old London Town in the country of UK, ruled over by Good King Wenceslas." While the Doctor had only raised an eyebrow at Mr. Copper, Mr. Copper told them, "Now, human beings worship the great god Santa, a creature with fearsome claws, and his wife Mary. And every Christmas Eve, the people of UK go to war with the country of Turkey. They then eat the Turkey people for Christmas dinner, like savages."
It was then that the Doctor said to him, "Excuse me, sorry, sorry. But, um, where did you get all this from?"
With a shake of his head, Mr. Copper replied, "Well, I have a first-class degree in Earthonomics." While the Doctor's eyes had simply widened in response to Mr. Copper's words and Annabelle only blinked to herself as she continued to blankly stare at Mr. Copper, Mr. Copper said, "Now, standby..."
All of those going down to Earth– excluding Annabelle– turned their heads when they heard a voice yell, "And me! And me! Red 6-7."
While the rather short and red creature with spikes on its head quickly made its way over towards Mr. Copper, Mr. Copper said to him, "Well, take a bracelet, please, sir."
It was then that the Doctor took a step forward and said, "But, um, hold on, hold on. What was your name?"
As he turned to face the Doctor, he said, "Bannakaffalatta."
In turn, the Doctor said, "Okay, Bannakaffalatta. But it's Christmas Eve down there. Late-night shopping, tons of people. He's like a talking conker." After Bannakaffalatta had turned to face the Doctor, the Doctor said to him, "No offense, but you'll cause a riot, 'cause the streets are gonna be packed with shoppers and parties and..."
Then– after turning around and seeing that the streets were empty– he said, "Oh."
And while Annabelle had only blankly stared at a nearby sign, Mr. Copper told them, "Now as spending money, I have a credit card in Earth currency. If you want to buy trinkets or, uh, stockings or the local delicacy, which is known as beef. But don't stray too far, it could be dangerous. Any day now, they start boxing."
While the others went to walk around the street, the Doctor said, "It should be full. It should be busy. Something's wrong."
In turn, Astrid said, "But it's beautiful."
The Doctor replied, "Really? Do you think so? It's just a street. The pyramids are beautiful, and New Zealand."
As she took a couple of steps away from the Doctor, Astrid said, "But it's a different planet. I-I'm standing on a different planet! T-T-There's concrete and-and shops, alien shops, real alien shops!" Then she pointed up at the sky and said, "Look, no stars in the sky. And it smells. It stinks! Oh, this is amazing!"
As she went to wrap her arms around the Doctor, she yelled, "Thank you!"
In turn, the Doctor said to her, "Yeah? Come on, then. Let's have a look."
When the Doctor and Astrid went to walk over towards a nearby stand, Annabelle had simply let out a sigh and started to slowly walk after them, shortly before she overheard the Doctor say to someone, "Hello, there. Sorry, obvious question. But where's everybody gone?"
Then she heard the voice of a man say, "Whoa. Scared."
With a nod of his head, the Doctor said, "Right, yes. Scared of what?"
In turn, the man asked him, "Where have you been living? London, at Christmas. Not safe, is it?"
While Annabelle had come to a halt just beside the Doctor and stared at the man that had white hairs on his face and was wearing a red beanie on his head, the Doctor asked him, "Why?"
The man told him, "Well, it's them, up above. Look, Christmas before last, we had that big bloody spaceship, everyone standing on the roof, and then last year, that Christmas star electrocuting all over the place. Draining the Thames."
With a mere turn of her head, Astrid said, "This place is amazing."
Then the man said, "And this year, God knows what. So, everybody's scarpered. Gone to the country. All except me, and Her Majesty."
It was then that the newscaster on the television said, "Her Majesty the Queen has confirmed that she'll be staying in Buckingham Palace throughout the festive season to show the people of London and the world that there's nothing to fear."
As the man raised his hand and made a salute, he said, "Oh, God bless her. We stand vigil."
With a nod of his head, the Doctor told him, "Well, between you and me, I think Her Majesty's got it right. As far as I know, this year, nothing to worry about."
It was then that the three of them had suddenly disappeared in front of the man, leaving him to only stand in place with his eyes wide as ever and a completely bewildered look on his face as he stared at the spots that Annabelle, Astrid and the Doctor had once stood in before completely disappearing in front of him.
And before sitting back down into his chair, he proceeded to look around the stand that he was in for any sign of the three people that had just disappeared right in front of him and then– with a wave of his hand– said, "Then again."
It wasn't long after the three of them had disappeared in front of the man that the Doctor had said to Mr. Copper, "I was in mid-sentence."
Mr. Copper replied, "Yes, I'm sorry about that. Uh, bit of a problem. If I can have your brace..."
It was then that one of the stewards walked up to them and said, "Apologies, uh, ladies and gentlemen, uh, Bannakaffalatta." While Astrid quickly hid herself behind the Doctor, the steward said, "We seem to have suffered a power fluctuation. If you'd like to return to the festivities, and on behalf of Max Capricorn Cruise liners, free drinks will be provided."
In turn, Foon said to the steward, "Thank you."
It wasn't until the steward had walked away that Astrid stepped out from where she was hiding behind the Doctor and told him, "That was the best. The best."
Only seconds after Astrid had walked away from him, the Doctor took a couple of steps forward and asked another steward, "What sort of power fluctuation?"
* * *
While Annabelle only tilted her head as she watched two stewards start to walk the Doctor out of the room, the Doctor told them, "You've got a rock storm heading for the ship and the shields are down!"
It wasn't long after he'd said those words that the Doctor broke himself free of them and started to run away from them and back into the room, which got Annabelle to tilt her head just a bit more to the side.
Then she watched the Doctor run up onto the stage that a woman was singing on before he grabbed onto the microphone and said into it, "Listen to me. This is an emergency. Get to the life..." After one of the Heavenly Hosts covered the Doctor's mouth and then– not long afterwards– the Doctor started to be dragged out of the room once more as he yelled, "Look out the windows!"
In response to his words, those that had joined the Doctor on their trip down to Earth went to run after the Doctor and the two stewards that were escorting him away from the main part of the ship.
Annabelle, on the other hand, slowly walked after the Doctor, while the Doctor said, "If you don't believe me, then check the shields yourself."
As she walked after the Doctor, Astrid said, "Sir, I can vouch for him."
Then Morvin said, "Steward, he's just had a bit too much to drink."
With a turn of his head, Mr. Copper said, "Sir, something seems to have gone wrong. All the teleports have gone down."
In turn, the Steward said, "Not now."
* * *
As he continued to be dragged throughout the ship, the Doctor yelled, "The shields are down! We are going to get hit!"
It wasn't long after he said those words that those that had joined the Doctor in going down to Earth with their Red 6-7– including Astrid– started to talk all at once, while Annabelle simply remained silent as she blankly stared at the two stewards that were still escorting the Doctor through the ship.
Then Annabelle heard a voice yell, "Oi, Steward! I'm telling you, the shields are down."
Then the Doctor said, "Listen to him. Listen to him!"
It was only mere moments after the Doctor had said those words that each of them– excluding Annabelle, who had grabbed onto a nearby pipe and simply kept herself standing up with that very same blank look on her face– started to fall onto the floor as a result of something crashing into the ship.
And while the married couple grabbed onto each other and the Doctor did what he could to keep Astrid from getting seriously injured as a result of the crash, Annabelle only closed her eyes as she listened to the sound of the screaming passengers that were in the ballroom of the ship.
In any other circumstance, she would've been annoyed and felt the urge to tear into each of their necks.
But– as someone that was still recovering from the torture that she had received from the Master– Annabelle could do nothing but blink to herself, while she listened to their screams.
It was as if she wasn't the least bit fazed by their screaming.
If it wasn't for the fact that those in the same hallway as her were screaming and trying to hold onto something, she was sure that someone would have questioned her about how she could be so calm at that exact moment, while everyone else was screaming because of the sudden impact.
But then that screaming had only worsened when the ship had received two more impacts, which got Annabelle to blink to herself once more, shortly before she saw both the Doctor and Astrid be sent flying onto the floor.
It was only seconds after he'd fallen onto the floor that the Doctor had stood back up and said, "Shh!" After those that were talking had immediately become silent, the Doctor said, "It's stopping."
Then he turned to Astrid and pulled her back up onto her feet as he asked her, "You alright?"
In turn, Astrid said to him, "I think so."
Then the Doctor said, "Bad name for a ship." Then– with a turn of his head– he said, "Either that, or this suit is really unlucky."
Then he crouched down in front of the Steward and pressed two fingers on the side of his neck before he turned to another Steward and shook his head, which got the other Steward to say, "Uh, e-everyone, ladies and gentlemen, Bannakaffalatta. I must apologize on behalf of Max Capricorn Cruise liners. We seem to have had a small collision."
In turn, Morvin said, "Small?"
Then the man that had yelled at the Steward earlier asked, "Do you know how much I paid for my ticket?"
With a mere tilt of his head, the man said, "If I could have silence, ladies." When not one of them had stopped talking, he yelled, "Quiet!"
When they had each stopped talking, he said, "Thank you. I-I-I'm sure Max Capricorn Cruise liners will be able to reimburse you for any inconvenience. B-B-But first, I would like to point out that we're very much alive. It is, after all, a fine and sturdy ship." Then– with a wave of his hands– he said, "Uh, if you could all stay here while I ascertain the exact nature of the situation."
After the Steward had turned a handle to a door, the Doctor yelled, "Don't open it!"
Then– just like that– the door had gone off of its hinges and the man was sent flying into space with a scream, which got Annabelle to blink to herself once more when those that were with her and the Doctor had started to scream once more.
It wasn't long after the screaming had started that it had suddenly stopped when a voice was heard saying, "Oxygen shield stabilized."
Then– with a turn of his head– the Doctor asked them, "Everyone alright? Astrid?"
With a nod of her head, Astrid said, "Yeah."
Then the Doctor asked, "Foon? Morvin? Mr. Copper? Bannakaffalatta?"
With a nod of his head, Bannakaffalatta said, "Yes."
Then the Doctor looked over towards the unknown man and asked him, "You, what was your name?"
The man told him, "Uh, Rickston Slade."
The Doctor asked him, "You alright?"
Rickston replied, "Yeah. No thanks to that idiot."
With a turn of her head, Astrid said, "The steward just died."
In turn, Rickston said to her, "Then he's a dead idiot."
When Astrid went to take a step towards him, the Doctor said, "Alright, calm down. Just stay still, all of you, hold on." Then he pointed a finger at Annabelle and said to her, "That means you too, Annabelle."
When Annabelle had only blinked at him, he said, "Right."
Then he quickly walked over towards the doorway that the steward had just been sucked out into space through– leaving those that continued to remain around Annabelle to silently eye her and the surprisingly calm manner that she had about the collision.
It wasn't long after the Doctor had started to stare out and into the open doorway that the steward had just been sucked into that Astrid came to a halt beside him and asked him, "What happened? How come the shields were down?"
The Doctor told her, "I don't think it was an accident."
After turning her head and seeing just how much damage came from the impacts that the ship had received, Astrid asked him, "How many dead?"
In turn, the Doctor said to her, "We're alive, just focus on that." As he grabbed onto her shoulders, he told her, "I will get you out of here, Astrid. I promise. Look at me."
After Astrid had turned to face him once more, the Doctor said to her, "I promise." When she only nodded her head in response to his words, he said, "Good."
Then he straightened his back and looked over at the others as he said, "Now, if we can get to reception, I've got a spaceship tucked away. We can all get on board..." Then– after looking out into space once more– he said, "Oh."
Astrid asked him, "What is it? What's wrong?"
The Doctor told her, "That's my ship over there."
In turn, Astrid asked him, "Where?"
With a nod of his head, the Doctor said, "There, that box. That little blue box."
Astrid asked him, "That's a spaceship?"
With a mere turn of his head, the Doctor said to her, "Oi, don't knock it."
Astrid told him, "It's a bit small."
The Doctor replied, "A bit distant. Trouble is, once it's set adrift, it's programmed to lock onto the nearest center of gravity and that would be the Earth."
* * *
While Annabelle had only blinked to herself with a mere tilt of her head and simply ignored the others that stood near her and were trying to help bring Mr. Copper up and onto his feet, the Doctor said into a microphone, "Deck 22 to the bridge. Deck 22 to the bridge. Is there anyone there?"
It wasn't long afterwards that a voice was heard saying, "This is the bridge."
In turn, the Doctor said, "Oh! Hello, sailor, good to hear you. What's the situation up there?"
The man told him, "We've got air, the oxygen field is holding. But the Captain, he's dead. He did it! Wasn't my fault he took down the shields. There was nothing I could do. I tried. I did try."
With a mere raise of his head, the Doctor said to him, "Alright, just stay calm. Tell me your name. What's your name?"
The man said to him, "Midshipman Frame."
In turn, the Doctor said to him, "Nice to meet you, sir. What's the state of the engines?"
Midshipman Frame said to him, "They're, uh... Hold on."
Then the sound of screaming could be heard coming from Midshipman Frame, which got the Doctor to ask him, "Have you been injured?"
Midshipman Frame replied, "I'm alright." Then– after a mere second of silence– he said, "Oh, my God. They're-They're cycling down."
The Doctor asked him, "That's a nuclear storm drive, yes?"
Midshipman Frame said to him, "Yes."
Then the Doctor said, "The moment they're gone, we lose orbit."
In turn, Midshipman Frame said, "The planet."
With a raise of his head, the Doctor said to him, "Oh, yes. If we hit the planet, the nuclear storm will explode and wipe out life on Earth. Midshipman, I need you to fire up the engine containment field and feed it back into the core."
Midshipman Frame told him, "This is never going to work."
The Doctor replied, "Trust me. It'll keep the engines going till I can get to the bridge."
It was then that Foon said, "We're going to die."
Then Mr. Copper asked the Doctor, "Are you saying..."
Once more, Foon said, "We are. We're going to die!"
As he quickly turned to face them, the Doctor yelled, "Okay! First things first. One, we're 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? Right then, follow me."
It was then that Rickston said to him, "Hang on a minute. Who put you in charge? And who the hell are you anyway?"
After taking a couple of steps back over towards the group, the Doctor said, "I'm the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord. I'm 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. You have a problem with that?"
With a mere shake of his head, Rickston said, "No."
With a mere nod of his head, the Doctor yelled, "In that case, allons-y!"
* * *
After pushing open a door, the Doctor turned to the others and said to them, "Careful. Follow me."
While– one by one– each of them walked through the door, Mr. Copper said, "Rather ironic, but this is very much in the spirit of Christmas. It's a festival of violence. They say that human beings only survive depending on whether they've been good or bad. I-It's barbaric."
With a mere turn of his head, the Doctor told him, "Actually, that's not true. Christmas is a time of-of peace and thanksgiving and..." Then he turned to look away from Mr. Copper as he asked himself, "What am I on about? My Christmases are always like this."
Then– after pulling a couple of scrap pieces away– the Doctor said, "We've got a Host. Strength of ten. If we can mend it, we can use it to fix the rubble."
It was then that Morvin told him, "We can do robotics, both of us."
Then Foon said, "We work on the milk market back on Sto. It's all robot staff."
In turn, the Doctor said to them, "See if you can get it working." Then he looked over at the others and said, "Let's have a look."
After eventually coming to a halt beside the Doctor, Astrid said, "It's blocked."
The Doctor asked her, "So what do we do?"
With a nod of her head, Astrid said, "We shift it."
The Doctor replied, "That's the attitude." Then– with a turn of his head– he said, "Rickston, Mr. Copper and Bannakaffalatta... Look, can I just call you Banna? It's going to save a lot of time."
With a shake of his head, Bannakaffalatta said, "No! Bannakaffalatta."
In turn, the Doctor said to him, "Alright then, Bannakaffalatta, there's a gap in the middle, see if you can get through."
As he went to do just that, Bannakaffalatta said, "Easy, good."
After the ship had started to shake once more, Rickston said, "This whole thing could come crashing down any minute."
With a turn of his head, the Doctor asked him, "Oh, Rickston, I forgot, did you get that message?"
Rickston replied, "No. What message?"
With yet another turn of his head, the Doctor yelled, "Shut up!"
It wasn't long afterwards that they could hear Bannakaffalatta say, "Bannakaffalatta made it."
It was then that Astrid said, "I'm small enough. I can get through."
In turn, the Doctor said to her, "Careful."
As she went to crawl her way through it, Astrid said, "I'm fine."
It wasn't long afterwards that Rickston asked, "The thing is, how are Mr. and Mrs. Fatso going to get through that gap?"
The Doctor told him, "We make the gap bigger." As he glanced over at Annabelle, he said, "And if that doesn't work, then I have another idea in mind."
When Rickston only stared at him, the Doctor said to him, "So, start." Then he glanced over at Annabelle and saw that her veins were on display, which got him to say to her, "Annabelle, don't even think about it."
In turn, Rickston asked him, "Don't even think about what?"
When the Doctor didn't answer his question and only shook his head to himself, Rickston slowly turned around to face Annabelle and saw that she was staring up at him with her head tilted to the side and her veins on display.
After slowly turning away from Annabelle and taking a mere couple of steps away from her, the sound of the Van Hoffs laughing could be heard, which got Rickston to ask, "What happened? Did they find a doughnut?"
It was then that Astrid told them, "I can clear it from this side. Just tell me if it starts moving."
* * *
With a mere raise of his head, Morvin said, "Good."
In turn, the Doctor said, "Good, good, good." Then– after turning his head to look away from the Van Hoffs– he asked, "Mr. Frame, how's things?"
Midshipman Frame told him, "Doctor, I've got life signs all over the ship, but they're going out one by one."
The Doctor asked him, "What is it? Are they losing air?"
Midshipman Frame replied, "No. Well, I'm not sure, but it's the Host. It's something to do with the Host."
As soon as the Heavenly Host that the married couple were walking on had raised its head, Morvin yelled, "It's working!"
It was then that the Heavenly Host had reached out a hand to Morvin and grabbed him by the front of his neck as it said, "Kill."
As he quickly ran over towards the Van Hoffs, the Doctor yelled, "Turn it off!"
Then Foon yelled, "Doctor!"
As soon as he'd reached the married couple, the Doctor pointed his sonic screwdriver at the Heavenly Host before he told them, "Hands frozen. Can't stop it. Come on! Double deadlock." After managing to pull the hand off of the front of Morvin's neck, he yelled, "Go upstairs!"
Then Foon yelled, "Run, darling, run!"
It was then that the Heavenly Host stood up and started to walk after them as it said, "Information. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill."
It wasn't long afterwards that the Doctor said, "Rickston, get them through."
In turn, Rickston said to him, "No chance."
And while Rickston started to push himself through the hole that Astrid was making, Mr. Copper said, "Rickston!"
After reaching the top of the stairs, Foon said, "I'll never fit through there."
Mr. Copper replied, "Yes, you can. Let me clear..."
As it swung one of its hands at the Doctor, the Heavenly Host said, "Kill. Kill. Kill."
As he quickly ran up the stairs and away from the Heavenly Host, the Doctor yelled, "Annabelle!" While Annabelle simply turned her head and then proceeded to tilt it as she listened to the sound of the Heavenly Host repeatedly saying 'kill', the Doctor told her, "Get through the hole that Astrid made and help in any way that you can! Alright?!"
In response to his words, Annabelle had simply blinked to herself before she sped over towards the entrance of the hole that he'd just mentioned and then crawled her way through it.
And while she did just that, the Doctor said, "It's the Host. They've gone berserk. Can you cope up there?"
* * *
As she tried to make her way through the hole, Foon yelled, "No, I'm stuck!"
In turn, Astrid said to her, "Come on, you can do it."
Foon replied, "I can't!"
After one of the pieces of the ship had fallen down onto a metal pipe, Mr. Copper said, "It's going to collapse."
It wasn't long after he'd said those words that Foon had finally made her way out of the hole.
And while Annabelle only watched Foon move away from the others after getting out of the hole, Mr. Copper turned to Rickston and said to him, "Rickston, damn it, help me!"
In turn, Rickston said to him, "No way."
It was only after Rickston had said those words that Annabelle went to take a step forward to do as the Doctor had told her and help them until he got through the hole that she suddenly stopped and quickly turned her head and grabbed onto the wrist of Rickston, who asked her, "What are you doing?"
Instead of verbally responding to his words, Annabelle tightened the grip that she had on his wrist for a split second before she threw it back at him and then went over to Mr. Copper and helped him with pushing the pieces of the ship further up.
It wasn't long afterwards that she heard the Doctor yell, "Morvin, get through!"
In turn, Morvin yelled, "Ow!"
Then Astrid said, "Doctor, he's stuck."
Then the Doctor said, "Mr. Van Hoff, I know we've only just met, but you'll have to excuse me."
After simply blinking to herself in response to the Doctor's words, Annabelle pushed the parts of the ship that had fallen even higher– which allowed Morvin to make his way out of the hole.
And once Morvin was on the other side of the hole, Astrid said, "Doctor, come on, get through."
Instead of doing as she said, the Doctor thrust out one of his arms and said to the Heavenly Host, "Information override. You will tell me the point of origin of your command structure."
The Heavenly Host said to him, "Information. Deck 31."
In turn, the Doctor said to him, "Thank you."
Then– after the Doctor had made his way through the hole– Annabelle simply let go of the parts of the ship that she was holding up, which resulted in Mr. Copper suddenly releasing the pipe that he was holding from the sudden weight that was added onto it.
* * *
After they had each entered another part of the ship, Foon said, "Morvin, look, food."
In turn, Rickston said, "Oh, great! Someone's happy."
With a nod of his head, Morvin said to Rickston, "Don't have any, then."
And while Annabelle simply blinked to herself with a mere tilt of her head, the Doctor asked, "Mr. Frame, you still there?"
Midshipman Frame said to him, "Yes, sir. But I've got Host outside. I've sealed the door."
The Doctor told him, "They've been programmed to kill. Why would anyone do that?"
Midshipman Frame replied, "That's not the only problem, Doctor. I had to use the maximum deadlock on the door, which means no one can get in. I'm sealed off. Even if you can fix the Titanic, you can't get to the bridge."
In turn, the Doctor said to him, "Yeah, right, fine. One problem at a time. What is on Deck 31?"
Midshipman Frame said to him, "Er, that's down below. There's nothing. It's just the Host storage deck. That's where we keep the robots."
Then the Doctor asked him, "Well, what's that? You see that panel? Black. It's registering nothing, no power, no heat, no light."
In turn, Midshipman Frame said to him, "Never seen it before."
Then the Doctor said, "One hundred percent shielded. What's down there?"
Midshipman Frame told him, "I'll try intensifying the scanner."
The Doctor said to him, "Let me know if you find anything, and keep those engines going."
It was then that Astrid made her way over towards the Doctor with a plate of food and said to him, "Saved you some. You might be a Time King from Gannaby, but you still need to eat."
In turn, the Doctor said to her, "Yeah, thanks."
After watching the Doctor sit down on the floor, Astrid sat down beside him and said to him, "But you look good for nine-hundred and three."
With a mere raise of his eyebrows, the Doctor said to her, "You should see me in the mornings."
In turn, Astrid said to him, "Okay."
Only moments after the Doctor had simply raised his head to look at her with wide eyes, Mr. Copper made his way over to them and said, "Doctor, it must be well past midnight, Earth time. Christmas Day."
The Doctor replied, "So it is. Merry Christmas."
It was then that Astrid asked the Doctor, "This Christmas thing, what's it all about?"
The Doctor said to her, "Long story. I should know, I was there. I got the last room."
Mr. Copper asked him, "But if the planet's waking up, can't we signal them? They could send up a rocket or something."
With a shake of his head, the Doctor told him, "They don't have spaceships."
With a nod of his head, Mr. Copper said, "No, I've read about it. They have shuffles. Space shuffles."
With his eyebrows furrowed, the Doctor asked him, "Mr. Copper, this degree in Earthonomics, where is it from?"
With a mere shake of his head, Mr. Copper replied, "Honestly?"
With a mere raise of his eyebrows, the Doctor said, "Just between us."
With a nod of his head, Mr. Copper said, "Mrs. Golightly's Happy Traveling University and Dry Cleaners."
Astrid asked him, "You lied to the company? To get the job?"
Mr. Copper told them, "I-I wasted my life on Sto. I was a traveling salesman, always on the road. And I reached retirement with nothing to show for it. Not even a home. And Earth sounded so exotic."
With a mere nod of his head, the Doctor said, "Mm. I suppose it is, yeah."
Then Astrid asked him, "How come you know it so well?"
With a mere tilt of his head, the Doctor said, "I was sort of, uh... A few years ago, I was sort of made... Well, sort of homeless and, um... There was the Earth."
Then Astrid asked him, "And your friend? Is she from Gannaby, too?"
With a shake of his head, the Doctor replied, "No, she's from Earth. But like me, she's a lot older than she appears, so..."
While Astrid only turned her head to look over at Annabelle and saw Annabelle simply staring at the side of Rickston's neck with her veins on display, Mr. Copper told them, "The thing is, if we survive this, there'll be police and all sorts of investigations. Now, the minimum penalty for space-lane fraud is ten years in jail. Well, I-I'm an old man. Well, I won't survive ten years."
It was then that a loud thud was heard, which got the Doctor to quickly stand up and yell, "The Host! Move, come on."
It was only moments after they'd left that room that the Doctor pointed his sonic screwdriver at the door that they were standing in front of, which got the door to open before coming to an abrupt halt when he saw just how high up they were in the ship and the long drop one of them would fall– should any of them not make it across the narrow platform.
With his eyebrows furrowed, Rickston asked, "Is that the only way across?"
In turn, the Doctor said, "On the other hand, it is a way across."
Then Astrid said, "The engines are open."
Then the Doctor said, "Nuclear storm drive. As soon as it stops, the Titanic falls."
Morvin told him, "But that thing, it'll never take our weight."
With a mere turn of his head, Rickston said, "You're going last, mate."
Then the Doctor said, "It's nitrophine metal, it's stronger than it looks."
With a mere shake of his head, Morvin replied, "All the same, Rickston is right. Me and Foon should..."
It was then that he let out a scream, which resulted in Annabelle simply tilting her head as she watched Morvin fall off of the platform and down towards the engine.
It was only seconds after Morvin had fallen to his death that Rickston said, "I told you. I told you!"
With a quick turn of his head, Mr. Copper yelled, "Just shut up! Shut up!"
With a shake of her head, Foon said to the Doctor, "Bring him back. Can't you bring him back? Bring him back, Doctor."
The Doctor told her, "I can't, I'm sorry. I can't."
In turn, Foon said to him, "You promised me."
The Doctor replied, "I know. I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
It wasn't long afterwards that Mr. Copper said, "Look, I rather think that those things have got our scent."
Then Rickston said, "I'm not waiting."
While Rickston started to make his way across the platform, the Doctor yelled, "Careful! Take it slowly!"
It wasn't long after the Doctor had said those words that Rickston had fallen forward and landed face-first onto the pavement, which got Rickston to yell, "Help me!"
In turn, the Doctor said to him, "You're okay. A step at a time. Come on, you can do it."
When Rickston still didn't get up to finish making his way across the platform, Annabelle only blinked to herself with a mere tilt of her head before she stepped onto the platform herself and then proceeded to walk across it.
Even the mere sight of Rickston just lying down onto the platform wasn't enough to keep her from going to the other side of it.
Instead, she simply stepped onto his back and walked across him before she eventually made it to the other side of the platform, which got Rickston to yell after her, "Was stepping on me really that necessary?!"
While Annabelle only blinked at him with a mere tilt of her head, Mr. Copper turned to the Doctor and told him, "They're getting nearer."
As he went back over to the door, the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and said, "I'll seal us in."
In turn, Mr. Copper asked him, "Leaving us trapped, wouldn't you say?"
The Doctor replied, "Never say 'trapped', just inconveniently circumstanced."
With a mere tilt of his head, Mr. Copper said, "Oh!"
It was then that Rickston told them, "I'm okay."
With a shake of her head, Foon said, "Maybe he's alright. Maybe-Maybe there's a gravity curve down there or something, I don't know. But maybe he's just unconscious."
With a shake of her own head, Astrid said, "I'm sorry, Foon, he's gone."
While Astrid and Foon had simply wrapped their arms around one another, Foon let out a sob as she said, "I can't live without him..."
While Annabelle narrowed her eyes and kept her focus entirely on a sobbing Foon as Foon's mumblings about how she couldn't live without Morvin, Rickston came to a halt beside Annabelle and yelled, "Yes! Oh, yes! Who's good?"
It was then that the Doctor said, "Bannakaffalatta, you go next."
In turn, Bannakaffalatta said to him, "Bannakaffalatta is small."
With a point of his finger, the Doctor yelled, "Slowly!"
After another thud was heard, Mr. Copper said, "They've found us."
As he held out a hand towards Astrid, the Doctor said, "Astrid, get across right now."
Astrid asked him, "What about you?"
The Doctor said to her, "Just do it, go on." Then the Doctor turned to Mr. Copper and said to him, "Mr. Copper, we can't wait. Don't argue."
Then the Doctor walked over to Foon and told her, "Foon, you've got to get across right now."
With a shake of her head, Foon asked him, "What for? What am I going to do without him?"
It was then that Rickston yelled, "Doctor! The door is locked."
Then the Doctor asked Foon in a whisper, "Just think, what would he want, eh?"
With a shake of her head, Foon told him, "He don't want nothing. He's dead."
While Foon started to sob once more, Rickston yelled, "Doctor, I can't open the door! We need the whirring key thing of yours."
In turn, the Doctor said to him, "I can't leave her!"
Rickston replied, "She'll get us all killed if we can't get out."
Then the Doctor looked back at Foon and told her, "Mrs. Van Hoff, I'm coming back for you. Alright?"
After Foon had only nodded her head, the Doctor had stepped onto the platform as well, shortly before it started to creak, which got Bannakaffalatta to say, "Too many people."
The Doctor replied, "Oi, don't get spiky with me, keep going."
Then– just like what had happened with Rickston– each of those on the platform had fallen forward onto it, which got Astrid to yell, "Careful!"
The Doctor told them, "It's just settling, keep going."
After the thudding had ceased, Astrid started to turn her head as she said, "They've stopped."
Bannakaffalatta asked them, "Gone away?"
In turn, the Doctor asked them, "But why would they give up?"
Rickston replied, "Never mind that, keep coming."
Then the Doctor asked, "Where have they gone? Where are the Host?"
It was only seconds after he'd asked that question that Mr. Copper said, "Well, I'm afraid, we forgot the traditions of Christmas. That angels have wings."
After slowly floating their way down towards those that stood on the platform, one of the Heavenly Hosts said, "Information. Kill."
While the Heavenly Hosts started to grab onto their halos, the Doctor yelled, "Arm yourself, all of you!"
Then– one by one– each of those that were standing on the platform started to swing their own makeshift weapons at the incoming halos.
The only ones that didn't were Foon, Annabelle and Rickston.
While Annabelle simply blinked to herself as she stared at the flying halos and Foon only stared up at the Heavenly Hosts with wide eyes, Rickston let out a gasp as he slid his back down against the locked door.
It wasn't long afterwards that both the Doctor and Mr. Copper were cut by the incoming halos, shortly before Astrid said, "I can't."
In turn, Bannakaffalatta said to her, "Bannakaffalatta stop. Bannakaffalatta proud. Bannakaffalatta cyborg!"
Then Bannakaffalatta quickly raised his shirt, and a bright blue light came flying out of him and out towards each of the Heavenly Hosts– resulting in the Heavenly Hosts to simply bow their heads before each of them had suddenly fallen out of the sky and to their own destruction.
It wasn't until one of the Heavenly Hosts had landed on the platform that the Doctor said, "Electromagnetic pulse took out the robotics." With a quick turn of his head, he said, "Oh, Bannakaffalatta, that was brilliant."
It was then that Bannakaffalatta had fallen onto his back, which got Astrid to tell them, "He's used all his power."
While Annabelle only tilted her head as she eyed Astrid and the apparent sadness that she felt for Bannakaffalatta, Bannakaffalatta looked up at Astrid and asked her, "Did good?"
Astrid told him, "You saved our lives."
With a nod of his head, Bannakaffalatta said, "Bannakaffalatta happy."
In turn, Astrid said to him, "We can recharge you, get you to a power point, just plug you in."
With a shake of his head, Bannakaffalatta said, "Too late."
Astrid replied, "No, but... You've got to get me that drink, remember?"
Bannakaffalatta said to her, "Pretty girl."
It was only when Bannakaffalatta had closed his eyes that Mr. Copper said to her, "I'm sorry, forgive me."
In turn, Astrid said to him, "Leave him alone."
While Annabelle tilted her head just a bit more to the side and eyed an apparently grief-stricken Astrid Peth, Mr. Copper told Astrid, "It's the EMP transmitter. He'd want us to use it. I used to sell these things. They'd always give me a bed for the night in the cyborg caravans. They're good people. But if we can recharge it, we can use it as a weapon against the rest of the Host. Bannakaffalatta might have saved us all."
In turn, Rickston asked him, "Do you think? Try telling him that."
After the Doctor had turned around to see that the Heavenly Host that was lying on the platform was reaching out for its halo, the Heavenly Host said, "Information. Reboot."
It wasn't until the Heavenly Host had stood back up that the Doctor quickly thrust forward his two arms and said to it, "No, no. Hold on. Hold the line. Loophole. Security protocol 10...666.21. Four, five, six, seven, eight... Um, I don't know, forty-two? Uh, one!"
It wasn't until it had lowered the halo once more that the Heavenly Host said, "Information. State request."
In turn, the Doctor said to it, "Good. Right. You've been ordered to kill the survivors, but why?"
The Heavenly Host said, "Information. No witnesses."
The Doctor replied, "But this ship's going to fall on the Earth and kill everyone. The human race has got nothing to do with the Titanic so that contravenes your orders, yes?"
The Heavenly Host said to him, "Information. Incorrect."
With his eyebrows furrowed, the Doctor asked, "But why do you want to destroy the Earth?"
The Heavenly Host said, "Information. It is the plan."
The Doctor asked, "What plan?"
Then the Heavenly Host said, "Information. The protocol grants you only three questions. These three questions have been used."
In turn, the Doctor said to the Heavenly Host, "Well, you could have warned me."
Then the Heavenly Host said, "Information. Now you will die."
It was only when the Heavenly Host had started to raise the halo once more that it suddenly stopped when a thing of rope was suddenly wrapped around it, shortly before Foon said to it, "You're coming with me."
Then– with her hands holding onto the other parts of the rope– Foon closed her eyes and jumped off of the platform, which got the Heavenly Host to fall down with her and the Doctor to yell, "No!" After several seconds of just staring down at Foon as she continued to fall to her death, the Doctor stood back up and said, "No more."
* * *
After coming to an abrupt halt into another part of the ship, the Doctor said, "Right, get yourself over to Reception One. Once you're there, Mr. Copper, you've got staff access to the computer. Try to find a way transmitting an SOS." Then– with a turn of his head– he held the EMP transmitter out towards her as he said, "Astrid, you're in charge of this. Once it's powered up, it'll take out Host within fifty yards, but then it needs sixty seconds to recharge. Got it?"
Then he turned to Rickston and handed Rickston his sonic screwdriver as he said, "Rickston, take this. I've preset it, just hold down that button, it'll open the doors. Do not lose it! You got that? Now, go open the next door." When Rickston only stared down at the screwdriver, the Doctor yelled, "Go on! Go!"
In turn, Rickston said to him, "Alright."
While Rickston went to do just that, the Doctor turned to Mr. Copper and told him, "Mr. Copper, I need you fighting fit." Then he turned to Astrid and asked her, "Astrid, where's the power points?"
Astrid replied, "Under the comms."
After heading over to the comms with Astrid, the Doctor told her, "It'll beep when it's ready. That blue light comes on there."
In turn, Astrid said to him, "You're talking as if you're not coming with us."
The Doctor replied, "There's something down on Deck 31. I'm going to find out what it is."
With a mere tilt of her head, Astrid asked him, "What if you meet a Host?"
The Doctor said to her, "Well, then I'll just have some fun." After glancing over at her, he said, "And if it's your safety that you're worried about, Annabelle will be with you and the others the entire time."
When Astrid's eyebrows had only furrowed in response to his words, he told her, "She's a lot tougher than she looks."
With a sigh, Astrid said to him, "Sounds like you do this kind of thing all the time."
In turn, the Doctor said to her, "Not by choice. All I do is travel. That's what I am, just a traveler. Imagine it. No tax, no bills, no boss. Just the open sky."
It was then that Astrid said to him, "I'm sort of, uh, unemployed now. Uh, I was thinking that blue box is kind of small, but I could squeeze in like a stowaway."
The Doctor told her, "It's not always safe."
With a nod of her head, Astrid said to him, "So you need someone to take care of you just like you're taking care of your friend. I've got no one back on Sto, no family. Just me." When the Doctor only stared at her, she asked him, "So what do you think? Can I come with you and your friend?"
With a nod of his own head, he told her, "Yeah, I'd like that. Yeah." It was then that a thudding had occurred, which got the Doctor to quickly stand up and ask in a microphone, "Mr. Frame, you still with us?"
In turn, Midshipman Frame said to him, "It's the engines, sir. Final phase. There's nothing more I can do. We've only got eight minutes left."
The Doctor replied, "Don't worry, I'll get there."
Midshipman Frame told him, "But the bridge is sealed off."
The Doctor said to him, "Yeah, yeah, working on it. I'll get there, Mr. Frame, somehow." Then he turned to Astrid and asked her, "You charged up?"
Then he quickly made his way over towards the rest of the group and said, "Mr. Copper, look after him. Astrid, look after him. Rickston, um, look after yourself." Then he turned to Annabelle and told her, "And you look after each of them."
When Annabelle only tilted her head at him, the Doctor said to her, "Annabelle, please, it's important, alright? Because once we all survive this, I am going to get you as much blood as you want. I promise." When Annabelle only raised her head at him, he said, "Okay."
Then he turned to Astrid and said to her, "And I'll see you again. I promise."
In turn, Astrid said to him, "Hold on. There's an old tradition on planet Sto."
The Doctor replied, "Yeah, I have really got to go."
As she took a couple of steps towards the Doctor, Astrid said to him, "Just wait a minute."
Then she took the medical box out of Mr. Copper's hands and put it on the floor before she stepped onto it and then proceeded to press her lips onto the Doctor's.
As soon as Astrid had pulled away from him, the Doctor said to her, "Yeah, that's a... Very old tradition, yeah."
* * *
After each of the Heavenly Hosts had fallen down in the room, Astrid said with a turn of her head, "Rickston, seal the doors, make the room secure." Then she handed the EMP transmitter over to Mr. Copper as she said, "Mr. Copper, keep an eye on the Host. I need to check the computer. We need that SOS."
While Astrid quickly ran over to the computer in the room, Mr. Copper asked her, "And what about Annabelle? What will she be doing?"
Astrid told him, "If the transmitter fails us, then it will be up to her to fight the Host. And according to the Doctor, she's a lot tougher than she appears. So, that means that if she was able to help us when we all needed to get through that hole in the stairwell before we lost Mr. and Mrs. Van Hoff, then she's capable of doing a lot more than that."
In response to her words, Mr. Copper only nodded to himself, shortly before Astrid hit her hand against the podium that the computer was on and then proceeded to turn her attention over to the transport bracelets.
It wasn't long after she looked over at the transport bracelets that Astrid grabbed onto the microphone and said into it, "Bridge, this is Reception One."
It was then that Annabelle heard the voice of Midshipman Fame ask, "Who's that?"
In turn, Astrid said to him, "Astrid Peth, I-I was with the Doctor. Tell me, can you divert power to the teleport system?"
Midshipman Fame replied, "No way, I'm using everything I've got to keep the engines going."
Astrid told him, "It's just one trip. I need to get to Deck 31."
Midshipman Frame said to her, "And I'm telling you, no!"
After a couple seconds of silence, Astrid said to him, "Mr. Frame, this is for the Doctor. He's gone down there on his own and I... I can't just leave him. He's done everything he can to save us. And it's time we did something to help him."
In turn, Midshipman Frame said to her, "Giving you power."
It wasn't long after he said those words that Astrid put one of the transport bracelets onto herself before she said, "Mr. Copper, I'm going to find him."
Mr. Copper said to her, "Good luck."
Then she disappeared from the room not long afterwards– leaving only Annabelle, Rickston and Mr. Copper to be in the same room as the Heavenly Hosts.
* * *
As he quickly ran back into the room and past Annabelle, who was simply eyeing him with her head tilted to the side, the Doctor yelled, "Rickston! Sonic!" After the sonic screwdriver was tossed back over to him, the Doctor asked, "Mr. Copper, the teleports, have they got emergency settings?"
Mr. Copper replied, "I don't know, they should have."
The Doctor told him, "She fell. Mr. Copper, she fell. What's the emergency code?"
In turn, Mr. Copper said to him, "Uh, let me see."
It was then that Midshipman Frame entered the room and asked the Doctor, "What the hell are you doing?"
The Doctor told him, "We can bring her back."
With a turn of his head, Mr. Copper said, "If a passenger has an accident on shore leave and they're still wearing their teleport, the molecules are automatically suspended and held in stasis. So, if we can just trigger the ship's..."
It was then that the Doctor yelled, "There!"
Then the sound of Astrid's voice could be heard saying, "I'm falling."
With a quick turn of his head, the Doctor said, "Only halfway there. Come on!"
While Annabelle only eyed the figure of Astrid Peth with her head tilted to the side, Astrid said, "Keep falling."
Then the Doctor said, "Feedback the molecule grid. Boost it with the restoration matrix..." When smoke started to come out of the machine, he frantically waved his hand through the smoke as he yelled, "No, no, no, no, no! Need more phase containment."
In turn, Mr. Copper said to him, "Doctor..."
The Doctor replied, "No! If I can just link up the surface suspension."
Mr. Copper told him, "Doctor, she's gone."
The Doctor said, "I just need to override the safety... I can do this! I can do it!"
After grabbing onto the Doctor's shoulder, Mr. Copper said to him, "Doctor, let her go."
After turning his head to look over at the figure of Astrid, the Doctor quickly stood back up and yelled, "I can do anything!"
Then Astrid said, "Stop me falling."
While the Doctor slowly walked over towards the projection of Astrid, Mr. Copper told him, "There's not enough left. The system is too badly damaged. She's just atoms, Doctor. An echo with the ghost of consciousness. She's stardust."
As he started to walk towards the projection once more, the Doctor said, "Astrid Peth, citizen of Sto, the woman who looked at the stars and dreamt of traveling. There's an old tradition." After moving closer to her and kissing the projection, the Doctor said, "Now you can travel forever."
Then he raised his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at one of the windows, which resulted in Astrid to disappear into nothing but small blue balls of light that simply started to head towards the window, while the Doctor said, "You're not falling, Astrid, you're flying."
* * *
As he made his way back over to them, Midshipman Frame said, "The engines have stabilized. We're holding steady till we get help, and I've sent the SOS. The rescue ship should be here in twenty minutes. And they're digging out the records on Max Capricorn. It should be quite a story."
With a mere shake of his head, Mr. Copper said, "They'll want to talk to all of us, I suppose."
With a nod of his head, Midshipman Frame replied, "I'd have thought so, yeah."
It was then that Mr. Copper walked over to the Doctor and said to him, "I think, uh, one or two inconvenient truths might come to light. It's my own fault. And ten years in jail is better than dying."
It wasn't long afterwards that Rickston let out a sob as he came to a halt in front of the Doctor and said to him, "Doctor, I never said... Thank you." After quickly wrapping his arms around the Doctor, Rickston took a step back from him and said, "The funny thing is, I said Max Capricorn was falling apart. Just before the crash, I sold all my shares. Transferred them to his rivals. It's made me rich. What do you think of that?"
After a couple seconds of just staring at the Doctor, his phone started to ring, which got Rickston to turn his back on the Doctor and put the phone up to his ear as he said into it, "Those shares, I want them triple bonded and locked."
With a sigh, Mr. Copper asked the Doctor, "Of all the people to survive, he's not the one you would have chosen, is he? But if you could choose, Doctor, if you could decide who lives and who dies, that would make you a monster."
After a couple seconds of silence, the Doctor said to him, "Mr. Copper, I think you deserve one of these."
After Annabelle, Mr. Copper and the Doctor had put the transport bracelets back onto themselves, Midshipman Frame only stood up and saluted at the Doctor, to which the Doctor had responded with a mere salute of his own.
Then the three of them simply disappeared from the Titanic– leaving only Midshipman Frame and Rickston to remain the only survivors on the ship.
* * *
While the three of them walked over towards the Doctor's TARDIS, Mr. Copper said to the Doctor, "So, Great Britain is part of Europy, and just across the British Channel you've got Great France and Great Germany."
In turn, the Doctor said to him, "No, no, it's just France and Germany. Only Britain's 'Great'."
Then Mr. Copper said, "And they're all at war with the continent of Hamerica."
The Doctor replied, "No. Well, not yet. Uh, we can argue that one." Then– after they had each come to a halt in front of the TARDIS– the Doctor said, "There she is. Survive anything."
With a mere raise of his head, Mr. Copper said, "You know, between the three of us, I don't even think this snow is real. I think it's the ballast from the Titanic salvage entering the atmosphere."
In turn, the Doctor said to him, "Yeah. One of these days it might snow for real."
With a mere turn of his head, Mr. Copper said, "So, I suppose you and Annabelle will be off."
The Doctor replied, "The open sky."
With a shake of his head, Mr. Copper asked him, "And, uh, what about me?"
The Doctor told him, "For the time being, I'm traveling with Annabelle, that's it. But once that time is over and she's back to being herself, I'll get back to traveling alone. It's best that way."
Mr. Copper asked him, "What am I supposed to do?"
With a mere raise of his hand, the Doctor said to him, "Give me that credit card."
As he handed the credit card over towards the Doctor, Mr. Copper said to him, "Well, it's just, uh, petty cash, spending money. Uh, it's all done by computer. I didn't really know the currency, so I thought a million might cover it."
With a mere raise of his eyebrows, the Doctor asked him, "A million? Pounds?"
With a nod of his head, Mr. Copper asked him, "Is that enough for trinkets?"
The Doctor told him, "Mr. Copper, a million pounds is worth fifty million credits."
With a shake of his head, Mr. Copper asked him, "How much?"
The Doctor said to him, "Fifty million and fifty-six."
After a couple times of only opening and closing his mouth, Mr. Copper said, "I-I-I've got money."
As he handed the credit card back over to Mr. Copper, the Doctor replied, "Yes, you have."
In turn, Mr. Copper said, "Oh, my word. Oh, my word! Oh, my goodness me! I– Yes!"
With a wave of his hand, the Doctor told him, "It's all yours, planet Earth. Now that's a retirement plan. But just you be careful, though."
With a shake of his head, Mr. Copper replied, "I will. I will, oh, I will!"
With a point of his finger, the Doctor said to him, "No interfering. I don't want any trouble, just... Just have a nice life."
With yet another shake of his head, Mr. Copper said, "But I can have a house, a proper house with a garden and a door! Oh, Doctor, I will make you proud." After wrapping his arms around the Doctor, he said, "And I can have a kitchen with chairs and windows and plates!"
While Annabelle only tilted her head as she watched Mr. Copper walk away from them with a pep in his step, the Doctor asked him, "Uh, where are you going?"
With a laugh, Mr. Copper replied, "I've no idea!"
In turn, the Doctor said, "No. Me neither."
Then Mr. Copper yelled, "But, Doctor!" After the Doctor had turned around to face him once more, Mr. Copper told him, "I won't forget her."
After only nodding his head and smiling to himself, the Doctor said, "Merry Christmas, Mr. Copper."
It wasn't until he'd taken a step into the TARDIS and closed the door behind himself that he remembered that Annabelle wasn't inside of the TARDIS.
And it was because of his realization on the matter that he quickly opened the door and poked his head out of the TARDIS before he asked her, "Are you coming inside?" When she'd only nodded her head, he remained silent for a couple of seconds before he asked her, "Do you need a few minutes to yourself?"
When she'd nodded her head once more, he said, "Okay. Take all the time you need. I'll be in the TARDIS when you're ready to leave."
For a third time, she simply nodded her head, which got the Doctor to simply eye her with furrowed eyebrows before he closed the door once more and then made his way over towards the controls.
And while he went and sat down on a chair in front of the controls, Annabelle did nothing but remain standing outside of the TARDIS for a few moments and only stared ahead of herself with a blank look on her face.
Then– after those moments had passed– she sat down outside of the TARDIS and pulled a small notebook out of her coat, along with a pencil and then proceeded to write something down onto it.
It wouldn't be until after she'd finished writing what she wanted to write that she took a lighter out of her coat and set the corner of the paper on fire with it before watching the paper start to burn away– the more the fire had spread across it.
And she didn't let go of it one bit– not even when the fire had started to burn her fingers once the flames had reached the corner of the paper that she was holding.
Instead, she just held her hand out in front of herself and watched as the burns on her fingers from the fire had started to heal before she shoved the pen and lighter back into her coat and then stood up from where she sat on the ground just outside of the TARDIS.
Then– without even bothering to look in the direction of where Mr. Copper had gone off in– she walked into the TARDIS, which got the Doctor to poke his head around the controls and see a blank-faced Annabelle staring right back at him.
But instead of going back to her mobile fridge, Annabelle only stood in place and stared right at him before she simply closed her eyes and folded her hands in front of herself.
After silently eyeing her for a single moment with his eyebrows furrowed, the Doctor simply frowned to himself when he saw her start to mutter incoherent words under her breath before he pushed up the lever and then– just like that– the TARDIS had started to disappear from the planet Earth with no set intention on just where he and Annabelle would be going next.