"Off we go."
-
The engines started up, and the Doctor beamed at the sisters, "Right then Mei and Rose Tyler, you tell me, where do you wanna go? Backwards or forwards in time? It's your choice, what's it gonna be?"
The girls looked at each other, speaking with their eyes before answering in sync, "Forwards."
Pressing a couple of buttons the Doctor asked, "How far?"
"One hundred years?" Rose asked.
"No, more, like, a thousand years," Mei piped up, bouncing on her toes.
"One hundred years is a bit boring," the Doctor agreed, "How about-" he messed around on the console, "Ten thousand years in the future. Step out there it's the year 12005. The new Roman Empire."
"You think you're so impressive," Mei smirked, "How about the year . . . two billion or something? Now THAT would be impressive."
"Right then, you asked for it," he pointed at her with a cheeky grin and got to work. The sisters squealed as the TARDIS shook and rocked, clinging to the console and the Doctor even went as far as to ding a little bell when they stopped.
"Where are we?" Rose asked.
The Doctor gestured for them to go outside but Mei cleared her throat, "Before we go adventuring, can I change? I mean YOU might like the smell of burnt plastic but its making me sort of sick."
"She's got a point," Rose said after sniffing her jumper.
"Oh alright, you humans," the Doctor complained, and closed his eyes. There was a hum in the back of his mind and a second later two trails of lights lit up on the floor, leading different ways. "Rose you follow this path," he put her on one set of lights, "The TARDIS will take you to your new room, and Mei," he put her by the other path, "Yours is that way."
"We get rooms?" Mei asked, then grinned and ran off, yelling over her shoulder, "This is awesome!"
Rose gave a laugh of her own and wandered off, leaving the Doctor alone in the console. He shook his head, smiling at the two of them, then glanced along the trail Mei had taken. The TARDIS hummed in the back of his mind, turning the tips of his ears read and he quickly went to the screen, checking he had got the right date.
"This is absolutely amazing," Mei said as she returned ten minutes later, "I got a shower and the TARDIS picked out my clothes and everything."
The Doctor turned, surprised that the Tardis had done so, and gave her a once over. Shorts and combat boots, it was different, he'd give her that.
"She does that sometimes," he lied, turning back to the console as she wandered over to stand beside him.
"Hey um, Doctor?" he looked down at her, "You know how you said you have two hearts?"
"Yes?"
She peered up at him with wide innocent eyes, "Can I listen to them?"
He raised an eyebrow but turned to face her and Mei grinned, before pressing her ear against his chest. A four beat pattern like drums sounded in her head, a familiar sound that she couldn't place even though it gave her a tingling feeling in her gut. She positioned her hands either side of her head and continued to listen.
"This – You – It's incredible," she told him in a whisper, "I mean I always knew the species on our planet couldn't be the only living things in existence but having you right in front of me? It's wonderful."
"Just wait till you get out those doors."
"Alright then," Rose exclaimed loudly a she came back to the console room, wearing some jeans and a t-shirt with a hoodie over the top. "Let's have a look."
The Doctor grinned and looked between the two girls, one with her arms crossed, the other bouncing on her toes with sparkling eyes. "After you."
Rose stepped out first, looking around in awe at the room, Mei followed eyeing the wooden looking walls and the shutters down at the bottom of the steps. Behind the Tardis was an oval-shaped cream door, and a computerised control panel. The Doctor moved over to it, fiddling with his Sonic screwdriver while the girls climbed down the steps.
"So is this a window or something? A viewing room?" Mei asked. The Doctor grinned at her, using the controls to lift the shutters and she gasped when she saw what was on the other side, "Oh my god."
Rose was speechless as they stared down at the planet Earth with the sun behind it and stars littering the blanket of darkness round about. The Doctor almost laughed as he moved to stand between them, admiring their speechless expressions.
"You lot. You spend all your time thinking about dying. Like you're going to get killed by eggs or beef or global warming or asteroids. But you never take time to imagine the impossible." Mei gave him a curious look and he smiled slightly, "Maybe you survive. This is the year 5.5/apple/26."
"Seriously, dates start having fruit in them?" Mei asked, "God it's like celebrity baby names all over again." Rose gave a small laugh as the Doctor continued.
"Five billion years in your future. This is the day . . . hold on . . ." he glanced down at his watch, and an explosion of light came from the sun. Mei gasped, pressing her hands against the viewing window to get a closer look, "This is the day the sun expands. Welcome to the end of the world."
"So we're here to watch our planet burn?" Mei asked, then laughed, "How cool is that?!" she bounced back to the Doctor who grinned at her excitement, Rose still seemed to be taking it in, "Come on, let's have a look around!"
"This way then," The Doctor gestured to the door and the two girls followed him out into the corridors.
Overhead a computerised voice rang out through speakers, "Shuttles 5 and 6 now docking. Guests are reminded that platform 1 forbids the use of weapons, teleportation and religion. Earth Death is scheduled for 15:39, followed by drinks in the Manchester Suite."
"Earth Death, charming, slightly respectful," Mei commented.
"So, when it says 'guests' does that mean people?" Rose asked, making a face.
"Depends what you mean by people," came the Doctor's cheeky reply.
"She means actual people, human people," Mei supplied, clasping one of the Doctor's hands and one of Rose's as she stood between them, swinging her arms back and forth, "But I'm guessing you mean aliens."
"Yup," the Doctor agreed.
Frowning, Rose asked, "What are they doing on board this spaceship? What's it all for?"
Opening a door with his Sonic Screwdriver, the Doctor explained, "It's not really a spaceship. More like an observation deck. The great and the good are gathering to watch the planet burn."
"When you say Great and Good, do you mean rich and powerful?" Mei asked, "Because that's what it sounds like you're suggesting."
"Yeah that's what I mean," he nodded.
"What for?" came Rose's question.
"Fun."
Mei frowned at the answer but perked up when the door slid open to reveal a beautiful and big observation gallery. She grinned and skipped in, spinning around to get a proper look.
"But, hold on," Rose spoke up again, "They did this once on "Newsround Extra", the sun expanding, that takes hundreds of years."
"Millions obviously," Mei commented, "We're in the year five billion apple whatever. Hey wait a second!" she pointed at the planet, "Those continents haven't shifted at all, I thought they were meant to go back to Pangaea, you know one massive super continent."
"Oh look at you, stealing my job," The Doctor gave her a playful glare, then told them, "You're right though. The planet's now property of the National Trust. They've been keeping it preserved. See down there?" Mei and Rose followed his finger to tiny glints of light orbiting the planet. "Gravity satellite. That's holding back the sun. The continents did shift but the trust shifted them back. That's a classic Earth. But now the money's run out, nature takes over!"
"Huh, interesting, I would have thought Pangaea would be Classic Earth," Mei murmured.
"How long has it got?" Rose asked.
The Doctor looked down at his watch again, "About half an hour. And the planet gets roasted."
"Marshmallows anyone?" Mei grinned, "We could make smores!"
"Mei shut up," Rose sighed, then asked with some excitement, "Is that why we're here? I mean, is that what you do? Jump in at the last minute and save the Earth?"
Mei turned to hear the answer as well, though she seriously doubted even the Doctor could stop the sun from expanding. It was nature, was he allowed to change things like that?
"I'm not saving it. Time's up."
Looking shocked, Rose asked, "But what about the people?"
"It's empty! They're all gone. All left," The Doctor told them, and Mei made an 'o' shape with her mouth. Rose looked out the window in realisation.
"Just us then," she commented sadly.
"Oh aren't you cheerful," Mei complained, "Rose we're in the year five billion apples-" she whipped a finger up to point at the Doctor when he opened his mouth, "-Don't correct me. Year five billion apples in space, about to watch a beautiful act of nature and you're being all doom and gloom?"
"Who the hell are you?!" a voice exclaimed from behind them.
Mei turned and nearly choked on a laugh when she saw a blue man with a sort of leopard print on his neck rushing toward them. He had what looked like a gem stuck to the middle of his forehead, and wore a gold and black robe and a funny looking hat. Rose was surprised at the sight of him, and the Doctor gave a small scoff at the man's attitude.
"Oh! That's nice, thanks."
"But how did you get in? This is a maximum hospitality zone!" the man insisted, sounding panicked, "The guests have disembarked! They're on their way any second now!"
"That's me, I'm a guest, look! I've got an invitation!" The Doctor explained, flashing a small leather wallet at the blue man. Mei raised an eyebrow at the blank paper, what was it supposed to do? "Look, there you see? It's fine, see? The Doctor plus two. I'm the Doctor, this is Mei and Rose Tyler. They're my plus two. That all right?"
Looking incredibly flustered, the man said, "Well, obviously," then straightened up when the Doctor grinned at him, "Apologies, et cetera. If you're on board, we'd better start. Enjoy."
The man stalked off, and the Doctor turned to the girls showing him the wallet of blank paper, "The paper's slightly psychic. Shows them whatever I want them to see. Saves a lot of time."
"It's blank," Mei commented with a furrowed brow.
At the same time Rose had said, "He's Blue."
"Yeah, he's blue," the Doctor nodded, then frowned at Mei, "What do you mean it's blank?"
"When you showed him it, it was blank, is that because it was only for him to see?"
The Doctor didn't reply, just stared at her like she was the weird one in the room with a blue man. Said blue man stepped up to a podium at the other end of the room and tapped lightly on the microphone.
"We have in attendance, the Doctor, Mei Tyler and Rose Tyler. Thank you! All staff to their positions."
He clapped and a lot of mini blue people in black suits began scurrying around. Mei watched in fascination, wondering if they were only children or if that was their full size.
"Hurry now! Thank you, as quick as we can! Come along, come along!"
-