For clarification, if anyone's forgotten, if whole quotes are in italics, that's the Doctor and/or Jessie speaking telepathically.
***
"I said no."
Jessie snickered as she held her phone between the Doctor and herself, seeing the Doctor make a face at Donna's response. "Sapphire waterfall," he tried to convinced her. "It's a waterfall made of sapphires! This enormous jewel, the size of a glacier reaches the Cliffs of Oblivion, and then shatters into sapphires at the edge. They fall a hundred thousand feet into a crystal ravine."
"I bet you say that to all the girls," Donna huffed.
"Oh, there's one girl I could only be more descriptive to," the Doctor smirked, seeing Jessie blush beside him. "And she's the one that's glittering more than that waterfall." It was true. After coaxing from Donna, Jessie was stepping outside her comfort zone, wearing a short sparkling silver dress with sparkling sequins, a layered diamond choker necklace, but she had not replaced her bangles or earrings. But she was not happy with the fact that she was wearing high heeled silver sandals, but she was rather pleased that she was wearing the same silver colored leggings. "Really, she's a walking diamond. The only money I'd be willing to give for."
"Stop it," Jessie muttered. "I look terrible."
"You look gorgeous," the Doctor corrected, putting an arm around her. "But really, Donna, they're boarding now. It's no fun if we see it on our own! Four hours. That's all it takes."
"No, that's four hours there, and four hours back," Donna told him. "That's like a school trip. I'd rather go sunbathing."
"You be careful," the Doctor warned. "That's Xtonic sunlight."
"Oh, I'm safe," Donna promised. "It says in the brochure this glass is fifteen feet thick."
"Give it up," Jessie advised. "She's not budging."
The Doctor sighed. "All right. I give up. We'll be back for dinner. We'll try that anti-gravity restaurant. With bibs."
"That's a date." Donna paused. "Well, not a date." She groaned. "Oh, you know what I mean. Oh, get off!"
"See you later, Donna," Jessie laughed.
"Oi!" she barked at them. "And you be careful, all right?"
"Nah," the Doctor laughed. "Taking a big space truck with a bunch of strangers across a diamond planet called Midnight? What could possibly go wrong?"
Jessie looked pointedly at him. "Jinx," she grumbled as she hung up.
***
The two of them sat down in one of the front few rows, Jessie by the window. "Seriously, I look like horrible," Jessie was saying.
"You look gorgeous," the Doctor told her honestly. "Would you have rather Donna convinced you to get into something worse?"
That shut her up. The Doctor chuckled, patting her on the shoulder as a dark-skinned hostess walked through the compartment. "Complimentary juice pack and complimentary peanuts," she told an older woman in front.
"Just the headphones, please," she replied.
"There you go," the hostess replied, handing them over before coming up to the Time Lords. "That's the headphones for channels one to thirty six," she told them, handing them over as Jessie examined them in interest. "Modem link for 3D video games. Complimentary earplugs. Complimentary slippers. Complimentary juice pack, and complimentary peanuts. I must warn you some products may contain nuts."
"Wonder which one that is," Jessie muttered under her breath, making the Doctor turn his laugh into a cough.
"Enjoy your trip," the hostess told them.
"Oh, I can't wait," the Doctor said with a grin. "Allons-y!"
She frowned. "'I'm sorry?"
"It's French," Jessie explained. "Let's go."
"Fascinating."
The two of them looked at each other before snickering more as the hostess moved to the others. "Isn't she a bundle of energy?" she asked.
"Look on the bright side, it's probably good we didn't bring Donna along," the Doctor offered.
Jessie nearly choked on her laughter, and he laughed, patting her on the back as the older man behind them leaned over. "Hobbes," he introduced himself, holding out a hand. "Professor Winfold Hobbes."
"I'm the Doctor," the Doctor replied, shaking his hand as Jessie turned around as well. "And this is my wife, the Bad Wolf. Hello."
"Nice to meet you," Jessie smiled, shaking his hand as well.
"It's my fourteenth time," Hobbes told them.
"Oh," the Doctor nodded. "Our first."
"And I'm Dee Dee," Hobbes's assistant spoke up. "Dee Dee Blasco."
"Don't bother the man," Hobbes chastised. "Where's my water bottle?"
"Oi!" Jessie pouted as Dee Dee moved to get it. "I like knowing who I'm traveling with. Nice to meet you, Dee Dee!"
"Nice to meet you as well," Dee Dee smiled.
The hostess returned to the front of the shuttle. "Ladies and gentlemen, and variations thereupon, welcome onboard the Crusader Fifty," she told them. "If you would fasten your seat belts, we'll be leaving any moment. Doors!" They slid closed. "Shields down." Jessie leaned away from the windows as they slid closed. "I'm afraid the view is shielded until we reach the Waterfall Palace," the hostess apologized. "Also, a reminder: Midnight has no air, so please don't touch the exterior door seals. Fire exit at the rear, and should we need to use it, you first."
Jessie furrowed her eyebrows. "Definitely wouldn't get along with Donna."
"Now, I will hand you over to Driver Joe."
"Driver Joe at the wheel," a man announced over the intercom. "There's been a diamondfall at the Winter Witch Canyon, so we'll be taking a slight detour, as you'll see on the map. The journey covers five hundred kliks to the Multifaceted Coast. Duration is estimated at four hours. Thank you for traveling with us, and as they used to say in the olden days, wagons roll."
The shuttle rattled as it took off. "For your entertainment, we have the Music Channel playing retrovids of Earth classics," the hostess said, turning the screens on. Jessie's eyebrows shot up at the video playing. "Also, the latest artistic installation from Ludovico Klein." Jessie ignored the holographic image that appeared. "Plus, for the youngsters, a rare treat. The Animation Archives."
"You're bloody kidding me," Jessie sighed as a cartoon popped up.
"Four hours of fun time," the hostess told them with a smile. "Enjoy."
"No way am I going through four hours of this," Jessie decided, taking her sonic screwdriver from one of the folds in her dress and holding it under her arm. She powered it up, and everything electronic shut off.
"Well, that's a mercy," Hobbes muttered.
"I do apologize, ladies and gentlemen, and variations thereupon," the hostess told them. "We seem to had a failure of the Entertainment System."
"Oh, no," the Doctor sighed in mock disappointment.
"But what do we do?" the woman in back asked.
"We've got four hours of this?" her husband asked. "Four hours of just sitting here?"
"Tell you what," the Doctor said with a grin. "We'll have to talk to each other instead!"
***
"So, Biff said, I'm going swimming," the woman, Val, started off on a story.
"Oh, I was all ready," her husband, Biff, agreed. "Trunks and everything. Nose plug."
"He had this little nose plug. You should have seen him!"
"And I went marching up to the lifeguard. And he was a Shamboni. You know, those big foreheads?"
"Great big forehead?" Jessie asked curiously.
"Great big forehead," Val agreed with a laugh.
"And I said, where's the pool?" Biff added. "And he said - "
"The pool is abstract," they said at once, bursting out laughing.
"It wasn't a real pool!"
"It was a concept."
The Doctor was smirking. "And you were wearing a nose plug," he added.
"I was like this." Biff plugged his nose. "Ooo, where's the pool?"
Jessie had to turn into her husband's shoulder to stop laughing so hard.
***
"I'm just a second year student, but I wrote a paper on the Lost Moon of Poosh, Professor Hobbes read it, liked it, took me on as a researcher, just for the holidays," Dee Dee told Jessie as they got drinks from the galley. "Well, I say researcher. Most of the time, he's got me fetching and carrying. But it's all good experience."
"Experience matters," Jessie agreed. "But did they ever find it?"
"Find what?"
"The Lost Moon of Poosh?"
"Oh, no." Dee Dee shook her head. "Not yet."
"Well, maybe that'll be your great discovery, one day." She raised her glass. "Here's to Poosh."
"Poosh," Dee Dee agreed, and they tapped their glasses.
***
"No, no, I'm with my wife and this friend of ours, Donna," the Doctor said to the woman in front, Sky. "She stayed behind in the Leisure Palace. You?"
"No, it's just me," Sky answered.
"Oh, I've done plenty of that. Traveling on my own. It's definitely fun. Do what you want, go anywhere."
"No, I'm still getting used to it," Sky sighed. "I've found myself single rather recently, not by choice."
"What happened?"
"Oh, the usual. She needed her own space, as they say. A different galaxy, in fact. I reckon that's enough space, don't you?"
"Yeah," the Doctor agreed. "My wife's best friends, they went to a different universe."
Sky unwrapped her meal, looking at it oddly. "Oh. What's this? Chicken or beef?"
The Doctor looked it over just as oddly. "I think it's both," he answered.
"There goes my appetite," Jessie grumbled.
***
Jessie leaned against the Doctor as Hobbes started giving a lecture to help pass the time. "So, this is Midnight, do you see? Bombarded by the sun. Xtonic rays, raw galvanic radiation. Dee Dee, next slide." She slipped the next one in obediently. "It's my pet project. Actually, I'm the first person to research this. Because, you see, the history is fascinating! Because there is no history! There's no life in this entire system. There couldn't be. Before the Leisure Palace Company moved in, no one had come here in all eternity. No living thing."
"But how do you know?" Jethro, Val and Biff's son, asked from where he sat near the back. "I mean, if no one can go outside."
"Oh, his imagination," Val sighed. "Here we go."
"He's got a point, though," Jessie told her.
"Exactly," Hobbes nodded to both of them. "We look upon this world through glass, safe inside our metal box. Even the Leisure Palace was lowered down from orbit. And here we are now, crossing Midnight, but never touching it."
The shuttle suddenly made a crunching noise, then skidded to a stop. "We've stopped," Val whispered. "Have we stopped?"
"Are we there?" Biff asked.
"We can't be," Dee Dee answered, checking her watch. "It's too soon."
"They don't stop," Hobbes agreed. "Crusader vehicles never stop."
"If you could just return to your seats," the hostess told them, going to a phone. "It's just a small delay."
"Maybe just a pit stop?" Biff suggested.
"There's no pit to stop in," Hobbes denied, shaking his head. "I've been on this expedition fourteen times. They never stop."
"Well, evidently we have stopped, so there's no point in denying it," Sky shook her head.
"We've broken down," Jethro decided.
"Thanks, Jethro," Val sighed.
"In the middle of nowhere."
"That's enough," Biff snapped. "Now stop it."
"Ladies and gentlemen, and variations thereupon, we're just experiencing a short delay," the hostess told them. "The driver needs to stabilize the engine feeds. It's perfectly routine, so if you could just stay in your seats." The Doctor and Jessie looked at each other before standing and heading for the driver's compartment. "No, I'm sorry, sir, ma'am, I - " The hostess tried to stop them. "Could you please?"
They both flashed their psychic paper. "There you go," the Doctor told her. "Engine expert. Two ticks."
They entered inside. "Sorry, if you could return to your seat, sir," the man with the voice of Joe told them.
"Company insurance," the Doctor told them, showing the two men his psychic paper. "Let's see if we can get an early assessment. So, what's the problem, Driver Joe?"
"We're stabilizing the engine feeds," Joe replied. "Won't take long."
"Then how come that's the engine feed, looking just fine?" Jessie asked, pointing at one display. "And this is a micropetrol engine, so stabilizing shouldn't make sense."
"My wife, the Bad Wolf," the Doctor introduced them. "She's very clever. Me, too. I'm the Doctor. We're very clever. So, what's wrong?"
"We just stopped," the man other man replied. "Look. All systems fine, everything's working, but we're not moving."
"No faults at all," Jessie agreed, scanning the tech. "Nothing at all. What's your name?"
"Claude," he answered. "I'm the mechanic. Trainee."
"Nice to meet you, Claude."
"I've sent a distress signal," Joe added. "They should dispatch a rescue truck, top speed."
"How long till they get here?" the Doctor asked.
"About an hour."
"Well, since we're waiting, shall we take a look outside?" the Doctor asked. "Just lift the screens a bit?"
"It's a hundred percent Xtonic out there," Joe denied. "We'd be vaporized."
"The windows are Finitoglass," Jessie reminded him. "They'll give us a couple of minutes. Go on. Just live a little."
"Well," Joe hesitated, then opened the screens.
Jessie inhaled sharply. "I really am a walking diamond," she realized, looking herself over quickly.
"Oh, that is beautiful," the Doctor agreed, looking back and forth between her and the landscape.
"Look at all those diamonds!" Claude breathed. "Poisoned by the sun. No one can ever touch them."
"Joe, you said we took a detour?" the Doctor asked.
"Just about forty kliks to the west," Joe nodded.
"Is that a recognized path?" he asked.
"No, it's a new one. The computer worked it out on automatic."
"We're the first ones here," Jessie said with a laugh. "We're the first ones to be here. No one's ever been here in any recorded history!"
"Did you just - ?" Claude asked suddenly before he blinked. "No, sorry. It's nothing."
"What did you see?" the Doctor asked.
"Just there," Claude replied, pointing. "That ridge. Like . . . like a shadow. Just . . . just for a second."
"What sort of shadow?"
Joe looked down when something began beeping rapidly. "Xtonic rising," he said. "Shields down."
"Look, look!" Claude exclaimed, pointing as the shields began to lower. "There it is! There it is! Look, there! Like something shifting. Something sort of dark, like it was running!"
"Running which way?" Jessie asked.
Claude swallowed. "Towards us."
Jessie tensed instantly, and Joe shook his head. "Right, Doctor, Bad Wolf, back to your seats," he ordered. "And, er . . . not a word. Rescue's on its way. If you could close the door. Thank you."
They headed back out, and Sky stood waiting for them. "What did they say?" she asked. "Did they tell you? What is it? What's wrong?"
"Oh, just stabilizing," the Doctor lied. "Happens all the time."
"I don't need this," Sky complained, sitting down. "I'm on a schedule! This is completely unnecessary!"
"Back to your seats, thank you," the hostess told them, going into the cockpit.
"Excuse me, Doctor," Dee Dee said as they sat down. "But they're micropetrl engines, aren't they?"
"Now, don't bother the man," Hobbes said.
"Let her talk," Jessie told him.
Dee Dee smiled at her. "Thank you," she told her before going back to the Doctor. "My father was a mechanic. Micropetrol doesn't stabilize. What does stabilize mean?"
"Well, bit of a flim-flam," the Doctor replied.
"Flim-flam?" Jessie repeated incredulously.
"They're sorting it out, don't worry."
"So it's not the engines?" Hobbes asked.
"It's just a little pause, that's all," the Doctor promised.
"How much air have we got?"
"Professor, it's fine."
But Val had heard. "What did he say?" she squeaked.
"Nothing," the Doctor replied quickly.
"Are we running out of air?"
"I was just speculating - !" Hobbes protested.
"Is that right, miss?" Biff asked the hostess as she reentered. "Are we running out of air?"
"Is that what the Captain said?" Val added.
"If you could all just remain calm," the hostess tried to say.
"How much air have we got?" Val demanded.
"Mum, just stop it!" Jethro told her.
"I assure you, everything is under control," the hostess tried to tell them.
"Well, it doesn't look like it to me!" Biff retorted.
"Well, he said it!" Val added.
Jessie saw Dee Dee try to say, something, so she put two fingers in her mouth and let out a piercing sharp whistle. Everyone cringed and turned to her. "I'd advise everyone to shut up," she told them calmly, "before I go and lose my temper, yeah? So why doesn't everyone listen to Dee Dee?"
"Oh," Dee Dee said, blushing. "Er, it's just that . . . well, the air's on a circular filter, so we could stay breathing for ten years."
"Thank you, Dee Dee," Jessie told her. "And we've spoken to the Captain. We can guarantee everything is fine."
There was a double thump from the top of the shuttle. "What was that?" Val asked.
"It must be the metal," Hobbes suggested. "We're cooling down. It's just settling."
"Rocks," Dee Dee suggested. "It could be rocks falling."
"What I want to know is how long do we have to sit here?" Biff asked.
There was more thumps, closer to where Sky was. "What is that?" she asked.
"There's someone out there," Val guessed nervously.
"Now, don't be ridiculous," Hobbes scoffed.
"Like I said, it could be rocks," Dee Dee suggested.
"We're out in the open," the hostess denied, shaking her head. "Nothing could fall against the sides."
"Knock knock," Jessie sighed as the sounds came again.
"Who's there?" Jethro joked lightly, and Jessie gave him a wink, ignoring the Doctor's warning glare at the boy. Honestly, like she was going to go for Jethro when she had him.
"Is something out there?" Sky called out nervously. "Well? Anyone?" There were two more thumps. "What the hell is making that noise?"
"I'm sorry, but the light out there is Xtonic," Hobbes told her. "That means it would destroy any living thing in a split second. It is impossible for someone to be outside."
"Well, nobody told this thing that," Jessie remarked as there were two more thumps.
"Sir, you should really get back to your seat," the hostess began as the Doctor went to the hull.
He simply used his stethoscope to listen outside. "Hello?" he asked.
Two thumps sounded, even quicker. "It's moving," Jethro remarked.
Jessie jumped when the emergency exit rattled. "It's trying the door!" Val gasped nervously.
"There is no 'it,'" Hobbes insisted. "There's nothing out there! Can't be!"
The emergency exit rattled more, before the thumps began on the roof, then the entrance door. "That's the entrance," Val said shakily. "Can it get in?"
"No," Dee Dee shook her head. "That door's on two hundred weight hydraulics."
"Stop it," Hobbes snapped. "Don't encourage them!"
"What do you think it is?" Dee Dee countered.
"Biff, don't!" Val gasped as Biff headed for the hull.
"Mr. Cane, better not," the Doctor warned.
"Nah, it's cast iron, that door," Biff said, knocking thrice on the door.
Three knocks replied, making everyone look at it. "Three times," Val said. "Did you hear that? It did it three times!"
"It answered," Jethro agreed.
"It did it three times!"
"All right, all right, all right," the Doctor soothed. "Everyone calm down."
"No, but it answered," Sky insisted. "It answered! Don't tell me that thing's not alive! It answered him!"
Three more thumps, and Jessie shook her head. "We can never get a nice break, can we?" she asked.
The Doctor cringed. "I really must insist you get back to your seats," the hostess began.
"No," Sky snapped at her. "Don't just stand there telling us the rules! You're the hostess! You're supposed to do something!"
"Try another pattern," Jessie suggested.
The Doctor nodded, then knocked four times. There was a pause, and then there were four more thumps. "What is it?" Sky asked nervously. "What the hell's making that noise? She said she'd get me! Stop it! Make it stop! Somebody make it stop! Don't just stand there looking at me! It's not my fault! He started it with his stories!"
"Calm down!" Dee Dee tried to sooth her as the hostess went to the intercom.
"And he made it worse!"
"You're not helping!" Val told her.
"Why didn't you leave it alone?" Sky asked hysterically. "Stop staring at me! Just tell me what the hell it is!"
"Calm down!"
The thumps rang out again, and Sky quivered as she backed up. "It's coming for me," she whispered. "Oh, it's coming for me. It's coming for me! It's coming for me! It's coming for me!" She hit the driver's door and screamed.
"Get out of there!" the Doctor shouted.
There was a sharp explosion, and the shuttle rocked from side to side. Jessie grabbed the Doctor and pulled him down as the shuttle began to settle. The lights went out, and the entertainment systems came back on. "All right?" she asked.
"Fine," he nodded.
"You all right?" Biff asked. "OK?"
"Arms, legs, neck, head, nose," the Doctor confirmed. "I'm fine. Everyone else? Are we?"
Jessie saw Jethro's eyes flicker to the screen above her head, and she took a quick look, swearing she saw a redheaded girl vanish from the screen. "How are we? Everyone all right?"
"Earthquake," Hobbes muttered. "Must be."
"But that's impossible," Dee Dee denied. "The ground is fixed. It's solid."
"We've got torches," the hostess told them. "Everyone take a torch. They're in the back of the seats."
Jessie flipped one out as Val approached Jethro. "Oh, Jethro. Sweetheart, come here."
Jethro shook his head. "Never mind me. What about her?"
Jessie turned to see Sky sitting in the front row, which was totally ruined. "What happened there?" she asked.
"Who did that?" Biff wondered.
"They've been ripped up," Val observed.
"It's all right, it's all right, it's all right," the Doctor tried to calm them down. "It's over. We're still alive. Look. The wall's still intact. Do you see?"
Jessie examined the dent inwards as the hostess tried the intercom. "Joe? Claude?"
"We're safe," the Doctor told them all.
"Driver Joe, can you hear me?" There was no answer. "I' not getting any response. The intercom must be down."
She opened the door, and bright light flooded inwards. Jessie swung her head away, squeezing her eyes shut, not opening them until the light was gone. "What happened?" Val asked. "What was that?"
"Is it the driver?" Biff asked. "Have we lost the driver?"
"The cabin's gone," the hostess answered.
"Don't be ridiculous," Hobbes scoffed nervously. "It can't be gone. How can it be gone?"
"Well, well, you saw it!" Dee Dee told him.
"There was nothing there, like it was ripped away!"
Jessie stood on top of one of the seats and started working at one of the panels up there on the lights. "What are you doing?" Biff asked her.
"Working on the lights," she answered. "Mind giving me a bit of some?" Jethro, then Biff aimed their flashlights up, and Jessie finished what she was doing. "There we go!"
"Little bit of light," the Doctor agreed with a smile. "Molto bene!"
"Do you know what you're doing?" Val asked as the Doctor moved to another panel.
"The cabin's gone," Biff reminded him. "You'd better leave that wall alone."
"The cabin can't be gone," Hobbes insisted.
"No, it's safe," the Doctor told them. "Any rupture would automatically seal itself."
Jessie looked at the wiring as he pulled the panel open. "Something was sliced off," she noted.
The Doctor nodded. "The cabin's gone."
"But if it gets separated?" the hostess asked.
"It loses integrity," the Doctor sighed. "I'm sorry, they've been reduced to dust. The driver and the mechanic. But they sent a distress signal. Help is on its way. They saved our lives. We are going to get out of here. I promise. We're still alive, and they are going to find us."
"She hasn't moved," Jessie whispered.
The Doctor turned to see Sky not even moving a single inch. "Right. Yes. Sorry." He looked around. "Have we got a medical kit?"
"Why won't she turn around?" Jethro asked.
"What's her name?" the Doctor asked the hostess.
"Silvestry," she answered. "Mrs. Sky Silvestry."
"Sky?" the Doctor asked, moving forward. "Can you hear me? Are you all right? Can you move, Sky? Just look at me."
"That noise from outside, it's stopped," Jethro reported.
"Well, thank God for that," Val huffed.
"But what if it's not outside anymore?" Jethro wondered. "What if it's inside?"
"Inside?" Val squeaked. "Where?"
"I like you," Jessie complimented, smiling at him. "Always thinking, that's the way."
Jethro nodded. "It was headed for her."
"Sky?" the Doctor asked, aiming his flashlight at Sky. "It's all right, Sky. I just want you to turn around, face me." Sky slowly did. "Sky?" the Doctor asked.
"Sky?" she repeated.
"Are you all right?"
"Are you all right?" she repeated.
The Doctor blinked. "Are you hurt?" She repeated again. "You don't have to talk." Again. "I'm trying to help." And again. "My name's the Doctor. OK, can you stop? I'd like you to stop."
"Why's she doing that?" Hobbes asked, and Sky repeated him.
"She's gone mad," Biff breathed, and Sky repeated him as well.
"Stop it," Val ordered, only for her to repeat. "I said stop it!"
"I don't think she can," Dee Dee spoke up, Skye repeating her.
"All right now, stop it," Hobbes told her. "This isn't funny." And Sky still repeated.
"Shush up, all of you," Jessie ordered, Sky repeating her as well.
"My name's Jethro," Jethro tried.
"Jethro leave it," the Doctor ordered. "Just shut up!" He turned to Sky. "Why are you repeating?" She repeated still. "What is that, learning? Copying? Absorbing?"
"Try something harder," Jessie suggested.
He nodded. "The square root of pi is 1.772453850905516027298167483341." And Sky repeated him all the way through. "Wow."
"Well, that's something new I learned today," Jessie quipped. "My husband is a pi genius."
He beamed. "Thank you, sweetheart."
"But that's impossible!" Hobbes gasped.
"She couldn't repeat all that!" Dee Dee agreed.
"Tell her to stop," Val demanded, even as Sky still repeated. "She's driving me mad! Just make her stop! Stop her staring at me! Shut her up!"
"It's got to be a trick," the hostess agreed.
"That's impossible," Dee Dee shook her head.
"I'm telling you, whatever your name is," Biff warned.
"Now, just stop it, all of you," the Doctor began.
"Her eyes," Jessie spoke up. "Something's up with her eyes."
"She can copy anything," Jethro realized.
"Biff, don't just stand there! Do something!" Val shrieked. "Make her stop!"
"You're scaring my wife!" Biff shouted at her.
"Mrs. Silvestry," the hostess tried.
"Six six six," Jethro tried out.
"She's different," Val sobbed. "She's something else. Do something! Make her stop!"
The lights flickered all the way on. "That's the back up system," the hostess announced.
"Well, that's a bit better," Biff sighed.
"What about the rescue? How long's it going to take?" Val asked.
The hostess checked her watch. "About sixty minutes. That's all."
"Then I suggest we all calm down," Hobbes brought up. "This panic isn't helping. That poor woman is evidently in a state of self-induced hysteria. We should leave her alone."
Jessie's eyes widened when instead of repeating, Sky began to speak with Hobbes. "By Thor's hammer," she breathed.
"Doctor," Jethro said warningly.
"I know," he answered, stepping closer to Sky.
"Doctor, now step back," Hobbes advised. "I think you should leave her - " He cut off as Sky spoke with him. "Alone. What's she doing?"
"How can she do that?" Val asked, Sky speaking with her as well. "She's talking with you." She faltered. "And with me. Oh, my God! Biff, what's she doing?"
"She's repeating, at exactly the same time," Jethro answered.
"That's impossible!" Dee Dee and Sky gasped.
"There's not even a delay!" Hobbes put in.
"Oh, man, that is weird," Jethro commented.
"Definitely one of the weirdest I've seen," Jessie agreed.
"I think you should all be very, very quiet," the Doctor advised. "Have you got that?"
"How's she doing it?" Val asked.
"Mrs. Cane, please be quiet."
"How can she do that?" Val squeaked. "She's got my voice! She's got my words!"
"Come on, be quiet," Biff told her. "Hush, now. Hush." He blinked. "She's doing it to me!"
"She's doing it to all of us," Jessie corrected.
"Just stop it, all of you!" the Doctor snapped, Sky following his every word. "Stop it, please." He turned back to Sky. "Now, then Sky. Are you Sky? Is Sky still in there?" She just kept repeating. "Mrs. Silvestry? You know exactly what I'm going to say. How are you doing that?" He blinked, then started rattling random things off as quickly as he could. "Roast beef! Bananas. The Medusa Cascade. BANG!" Jessie jumped at that. "Jessie Nightshade, Martha Jones, Donna Noble, TARDIS. Shamble bobble dibble dooble. Oh, Doctor, you're so handsome."
"Yes, you are," Jessie agreed.
"Yes, I am, thank you," he told her with a smile. "A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O." He shook his head as she went right with him. "First she repeats, then she catches up. What's the next stage?"
"Next stage of what?" Dee Dee asked.
"That's not her, is it?" Jethro asked. "That's not Mrs. Silvestry anymore."
"No, I don't think so," Jessie shook her head.
"I think the more we talk, the more she learns," the Doctor agreed. "Now, I'm all for education, but in this case, maybe not. Let's just move back. Come on. Come with me. Everyone, get back. All of you, as far as you can."
"Doctor, make her stop," Val whimpered.
"Val, come on," Jessie pleaded, leading her back. "Come to the back. Stop looking at her. Jethro, you too." He followed her as well.
"Everyone, come on," the Doctor agreed. "Fifty minutes. That's all we need. Fifty minutes till the rescue arrives. And she's not exactly strong. Look at her. All she's got is our voices."
"I can't," Val stuttered, still looking at Sky. "I can't look at her! It's those eyes!"
"We must not look at goblin men," Dee Dee murmured.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Biff asked.
"It's a poem by Christina Rossetti, I'm pretty sure," Jessie answered.
"We must not look at goblin men. We must not buy their fruits," Dee Dee recited. "Who knows upon what soil they fed their hungry, thirsty roots?"
"Yeah, I don't think that's helping," Jessie sighed.
"She's not a goblin, or a monster," Hobbes told her. "She's just a very sick woman!"
"Maybe that's why it went for her," Jethro suggested.
"There is no it!"
"Think about it, though! That knocking went all the way round the bus until it found her, and she was the most scared out of all of us. Maybe that's what it needed. That's how it got in."
"I like him," Jessie decided, clapping Jethro on the shoulder. She rolled her eyes when the Doctor pouted. "I still like you better, though," she assured him, kissing his cheek.
"For the last time, nothing can live on the surface of Midnight!" Hobbes growled.
"Professor, I'm glad you've got an absolute definition of life in the universe, but perhaps the universe has got ideas of its own, hmm?" the Doctor asked, narrowing his eyes at the man. "Now trust me, we've got previous. I think there might well be some consciousness inside Mrs. Silvestry, but maybe she's still in there, and it's our job to help her."
Biff huffed. "Well, you can help her. I'm not going near her."
"No, we've got to stay back," Jessie denied, shaking her head. "If she's copying us, she might become us. That might be the next stage. Trust me, if she becomes either of us, the universe is probably screwed."
"In a nutshell, yeah," the Doctor agreed, wincing.
"Oh, like you two are so special," Val huffed.
"As it happens, yes, we are," the Doctor nodded. "Well, in my book, she's more special than me, but that's the blood bond talking." Jessie smiled, squeezing his hand. "So that's decided. We stay back, and we wait. When the rescue ship comes, we can get her to the hospital."
"We could throw her out," the hostess suggested.
Hobbes blinked. "I beg your pardon?!"
"Can we do that?" Val asked.
"Don't be ridiculous!" the Doctor told them.
"That thing, whatever it is, killed the driver, and the mechanic, and I don't think she's finished yet," the hostess said.
"She can't even move!" Jessie protested.
"Look at her!" the hostess spat. "Look at her eyes! She killed Joe, and she killed Claude, and we're next!"
"She's still doing it," Biff said, Sky's words overlapping theirs. "Just stop it. Stop talking. Stop it!"
"Biff, don't, sweetheart," Val begged.
"But she won't stop! We can't throw her out, though. We can't even open the doors!"
"No one is being thrown out," Jessie growled angrily.
"Ys, we can," Dee Dee said suddenly. "Because there's an air pressure seal. Like when you opened the cabin door, you weren't pulled out. You had a couple of seconds, because it takes the pressure wall about six seconds to collapse. Well, six seconds exactly. That's enough time to throw someone out."
Jessie cringed. "And there went that."
"Thanks, Dee Dee," the Doctor sighed. "Just what we needed."
"Would it kill her outside?" Val asked.
"I don't know," Dee Dee answered. "But she's got a body now. It would certainly kill the physical form."
"No one is killing anyone!" the Doctor shouted.
"I wouldn't risk the cabin door twice, but we've got that one," the hostess said, nodding at the emergency exit. "All we need to do is grab hold of her and throw her out."
"Now, listen, all of you!" the Doctor barked. "For all we know, that's a brand new life form over there. And if it's come inside to discover us, then what's it found? This little bunch of humans. What do you amount to? Murder? Because this is where you decide. You decide who you are. Could you actually murder her? Any of you? Really? Or are you better than that?"
The hostess lifted her chin. "I'd do it."
"So would I," Biff agreed.
"And me." That was Val.
"I think we should," Dee Dee spoke up.
"What?" the Doctor asked.
"I want her out."
"You can't say that!"
"I'm sorry, but you said it yourself, Doctor. She's growing in strength."
"That's not what I said!"
"I want to go home! I'm sorry, I want to be safe!"
"You'll be safe any minute now," Jessie sighed, rubbing her forehead. Was this really a glimpse of how idiotic she'd been back when she'd been a human? "The rescue truck is on its way!"
"But what happens then, Doctor, Bad Wolf?" the hostess asked. "If it takes that thing back to the Leisure Palace, if that thing reaches civilization, what if it spreads?"
"We'll be there to contain it," Jessie answered for him.
"You haven't done much so far," Val retorted.
"You're just standing in the back with the rest of us," Biff agreed.
"She's dangerous," the hostess agreed. "It's my job to see that this vessel is safe, and we should get rid of her!"
"Now, hang on," Hobbes finally spoke after a while. "I think perhaps we're all going a little bit too far."
"At last," the Doctor sighed. "Thank you."
"Two people are dead," the hostess warned.
"Someone's going to be three if we don't settle this," Jessie warned right back, hands on her hips as her eyes narrowed, knowing her blaster was in the Doctor's coat. All she had to do was put one hand in his pocket, and she had what she needed to defend them both. "Jethro? What do you say?"
"I'm not killing anyone," Jethro said firmly.
Jessie sighed in relief. "Thank you!"
"He's just a boy!" Val snapped.
"What, so I don't get a vote?" Jethro demanded.
"There isn't a vote!" the Doctor shouted angrily. This was getting way out of hand! "It's not happening, ever! If you try to throw her out that door, you'll have to get past me first."
"And me," Jessie added, stepping to his side, placing her hand on his arm.
"OK," the hostess said simply.
"Fine by me," Biff agreed.
"Oh, now you're being stupid," the Doctor sighed. "Just think about it! Could you actually take hold of someone and throw them out of that door?"
"Calling me a coward?" Biff asked.
"Who put you in charge, anyway?" Val agreed.
"I'm sorry, but you're a Doctor of what, exactly?" Hobbes added.
"They weren't even booked in," the hostess spoke up. "The rest of you, tickets in advance. They just turned up out of the blue."
"Where from?" Val asked.
"Travelers," Jessie answered shortly.
"Like an immigrant?"
"Who were you talking to?" the hostess asked suspiciously. "Before you got onboard, you were talking to someone. Who was that?"
"Donna Noble," Jessie answered. "My best friend since my others were trapped somewhere I couldn't get to them."
"And what were you saying to her?" Biff asked.
"They haven't even told us their names," Val added.
"The thing is, though, Doctor, Bad Wolf," Jethro said slowly. "You've been loving this."
Jessie facepalmed as the Doctor sighed. "Oh, Jethro, not you!"
"No, but ever since all the trouble started, you've been loving it!"
"Who said we were loving it?" Jessie asked, feeling a migraine coming on.
"It has to be said, you do seem to have a certain glee," Hobbes agreed.
"All right, I'm interested," the Doctor sighed. "Yes, I can't help it. Because whatever's inside her, it's brand new, and that's fascinating."
"What, you wanted this to happen?" Val asked.
"No," Jessie answered easily.
"And he was talking to her, all on his own, before all the trouble," Biff added. "Right at the front, you were talking to that Sky woman, the two of you together. I saw you."
"We all did," Val agreed.
"And made me lose my appetite because all they were talking about was their meals!" Jessie groaned. "Honestly, people - "
"And you went into the cabin," the hostess interrupted.
"What were you saying to her?" Biff asked.
"I was just talking," the Doctor protested.
"Saying what?"
"You called us humans like you're not one of us," Jethro put in.
"He did," Val nodded furiously. "That's what he said!"
"And the wiring," Dee Dee added. "They both went into panels and opened up the wiring!"
"That was after," the Doctor told them.
"But how did you know what to do?" Biff asked.
"Because we're clever!" the Doctor answered.
Jessie sighed. "Now you've done it!" she told him, punching him in the arm.
They all looked suspicious now. Hobbes huffed. "I see. Well, that makes things clear."
"And what are we, then? Idiots?" Biff asked.
"I'm beginning to wonder," Jessie muttered under her breath as she leaned against a chair and rubbed her temples. She was really beginning to get a headache, now. All that shouting wasn't good for her. She frowned suddenly. No, it wasn't her getting the migraine . . .
"If you're clever, then what are we?" Dee Dee challenged.
"You've been looking down on us from the moment we walked in," Val added.
"Even if they go, they've practically volunteered," the hostess added.
"Oh, come on," the Doctor sighed. "Just listen to yourselves, please!"
"Do you mean we throw them out as well?" Biff asked.
"If we have to," the hostess answered bluntly.
"There is no way anyone is getting thrown out of here!" Jessie shouted.
"I know you're scared, and so am I," the Doctor told them. "Look at me, I am. But we have all got to calm down and cool off and think!"
"Perhaps you could tell us your names," Hobbes suggested.
"What does it matter?" the Doctor asked.
"Then tell us," the hostess told him.
"John and Johanna Smith," he answered.
"Your real names!" Hobbes ordered.
"He's lying," Biff said. "Look at his face."
"His eyes are the same as hers," Val agreed.
Jessie straightened at that and turned his face to hers, comparing, worried. Because if she wasn't getting the migraine . . . "Your head?" she asked.
"Fine," he answered, but it sounded strained.
"No, you're not."
"Why won't you tell us?" Jethro asked.
They both looked at him. "It's a simple enough question," Dee Dee added.
"They've been lying to us right from the start," Val added.
"What're your names?" the hostess asked.
"No one's called John or Johanna Smith," Biff agreed. "Come off it."
"Now listen to me," the Doctor ordered. "Listen to me right now, because you need us, all of you! If we are going to get out of this, then you need us!"
"So you keep saying," Hobbes said, and Jessie's eyes widened when she realized something was missing. "You've been repeating yourself more than her!"
"If anyone's in charge, it should be the Professor," Val added as Jessie slowly turned to where Sky was . . . not saying anything. "He's the expert."
"Val," Jessie began.
"Mum, stop," Jethro agreed. "Just look."
"You keep out of this, Jethro!" Biff ordered.
"Look at her!"
They all did. "She's stopped," Dee Dee realized.
"When did she?" the Doctor asked, but Jessie's eyes widened when Sky spoke with him again. "No, she hasn't. She's still doing it."
"She looks the same to me," Val shrugged before her eyes widened as well. "No, she's stopped. Look, I'm talking, and she's not."
"What about me, is she?" Biff wondered. "Look. Look at that! She's not doing me! She's let me go!"
"Mrs. Silvestry?" the hostess asked. "Nor me. Nothing."
"Sky?" Jessie asked, but Sky didn't repeat her either. "I'm good."
"Sky, what are you doing?" the Doctor asked . . . and Sky went with him.
"Oh, my God," Jessie breathed, her eyes widening as she realized exactly what was about to happen. "No, please, no!"
"She's still doing him," Dee Dee accused.
"Doctor, it's you," Hobbes told him. "She's only copying you."
"Why him?" Jessie asked, beginning to panic. "Why can't you do me?"
"Why are you doing this?" the Doctor added, Sky still speaking with him.
"She won't leave him alone," Dee Dee accused.
"Do you see?" Val shrieked. "I said so! She's with him!"
"Shut up!" Jessie snapped at them.
"They're together!" Biff accused.
"I said shut up!"
"How do you explain it, Doctor, if you're so clever?" Hobbes taunted.
"One more word," Jessie growled, stepping forward threateningly.
"I don't know," the Doctor said, slowly approaching. "Sky? Stop it. I said stop it. Just stop it!"
"Look at the two of them," Val told Jessie as she nodded at them.
Jessie slowly approached behind them. "Mrs. Silvestry, I'm trying to understand," the Doctor told her, Sky still overlapping him. "You've captured my speech. What for? What do you need?" Jessie rubbed her temples as the headache pounded even more. "You need my voice in particular. The cleverest voice in the room save my wife. Why? Because I'm the only one who can help? Oh, I'd love that to be true, but your eyes, they're saying something else. Listen to me. Whatever you want, it's life, or form, or consciousness, or voice, you don't have to steal it. You can find it without hurting anyone. And I'll help you. That's a promise. So what do you think?"
"Do we have a deal?" Skye spoke.
And the Doctor copied.
"No!" Jessie gasped, hands flying to clap over her mouth.
"Hold on, did she?" Dee Dee sputtered.
"She spoke first!" Jethro realized.
"She can't have!" Val protested.
"She did," Hobbes seconded.
"She spoke first," Jethro confirmed.
"Oh, look at that," Sky said with a smirk, tilting her head. "I'm ahead of you."
"Oh, look at that," the Doctor replied, eyes wide, body entirely tense. "I'm ahead of you."
"Did you see?" Hobbes asked. "She spoke before he did. Definitely."
The headache turning to a migraine, sank to her knees, clutching her head in agony. "He's copying her," Jethro added.
"Doctor, what's happening?" Hobbes asked.
"I think it's moved," Sky replied, the Doctor copying her only. "I think it's letting me go."
"What do you mean?" Dee Dee asked. "Letting you go from what?"
"But he's repeating now," Biff spoke. "He's the one doing it. It's him."
"They're separating," Jethro guessed.
"Mrs. Silvestry, is that you?" Hobbes asked.
"Yes, it's me," Sky agreed, the Doctor repeating her. "I'm coming back. Listen."
"I'm coming back," the Doctor repeated, struggling.
"It's me."
" - listen. It's me."
"Like it's passed into the Doctor," Jethro decided. "It's transferred. Whatever it is, it's gone inside him."
"No, that's not what happened," Dee Dee shook her head.
"But look at her," Val said, nodding at Sky.
"Look at me, I can move!" Sky cheered.
"Look at me," the Doctor repeated, still struggling to be free.
"I can feel again!"
"I can move. I can feel again!"
And then he kept repeating Sky exactly in the same order as she said something. "And look at him. He can't move. Help me. Professor? Get me away from him. Please." Hobbes took her hands and helped her away. "Oh, thank you," she said with a smirk.
"They've completely separated," Jethro said.
"It's in him," Biff nodded at the Doctor. "Do you see? I said it was him all the time!"
"She's free," Val cheered, hugging Sky as Jessie struggled to the Doctor's side, looking into his eyes before closing her eyes, trying to get into his head to see what was going on. "She's been saved!"
"Oh, it was so cold," Sky sighed, the Doctor going after her. "I couldn't breathe. I'm sorry. I must have scared you so much."
"No, no, it's all right, I've got you," Val said, holding Sky close. "Ooo, there you are, my love. It's gone. Everything's all right now."
"I wouldn't touch her," Dee Dee spoke up.
"But it's gone," Biff denied. "She's clean. It passed into him!"
Jessie tuned them out for the next few minutes, trying desperately to find any way of getting the creature out of the Doctor's head without harming him or her. But she was instantly back in when Biff decided, "Throw him out."
"What?" she gasped, turning back.
"Get him out of my head," Val whimpered.
"Yeah, we should throw him out," Biff confirmed.
"Don't just talk about it! Just - you're useless! Do something!"
"I will," Biff said, walking forward. "You watch me. I'm going to throw him out." He walked forward, but Jessie stood up, hands clenching. No way in hell was anyone killing her husband. "Out of the way, lady," Biff warned, reaching out to grab her.
Instead, she grabbed his wrist, twisted, and judo flipped him over her shoulder. She slammed him into the ground, twisting his arm yet again, and with a snap, she broke his arm. Biff screamed in pain, and Jessie looked over her shoulder angrily. "No one is throwing my husband, the man I love, out of this shuttle," she snarled angrily, getting to her feet. "Because what would any of you do to save the person you love the most?"
Sky actually looked startled. "Throw him out!" she tried to say.
"Throw him out!" the Doctor repeated.
Jessie narrowed her eyes. "Not gonna happen," she said, reaching down into the Doctor's coat and pulling out her blaster. Val gasped at the weapon, she and the other women stepping back. Hobbes tried to step forward, but Jessie aimed at him, and he froze where he stood. "Back up," she ordered. "Every single one of you. Now!"
They scrambled out of the way, and Jessie stormed towards Sky. "No one takes my husband away from me," she declared. "Because Jethro was right. We are not human. Does the name Gallifrey sound familiar?"
Sky's eyes widened. "Time Lords!"
"Time Lords!"
"And you've taken my blood bonded!" Jessie accused, aiming at her and shooting.
And it was not her ICER gun.
Val screamed. "You killed her!"
"Yes, I did," Jessie confirmed, glaring at her. "And it could've been you!" Val's eyes widened at that. What had happened to that young woman who had been nicer? Jessie shoved her blaster into the waistband of her dress, grabbed Sky, and using her phasing, tossed her through the walls of the hull.
The instant Sky was out, the Doctor collapsed on the ground. "It's gone," he began repeating over and over, sounding like he was about to break down as Jessie ran to him. "It's gone, it's gone . . . "
Val swallowed as Jessie began checking him over. "I said it was her," she began to say.
In a flash, Jessie's blaster was out and she fired one warning shot over Val's shoulder, the woman going deathly pale as she pulled Jethro back. "If I hear one more word out of any, and I mean any, of you," she threatened, looking at Jethro, a feral glint in her eyes, "I'll shoot every single one of you here for each and every lie you believed today. I can't believe I even used to be one of you." She stormed away, and spun a chair to face them. "Long wait ahead of us. Who's going to be able to look me in the eye?" she taunted, sitting down, blaster in one hand as she looked over all of them like a hawk.
None of them did.
***
The Doctor sat next to Jessie, one hand on her arm, stroking the skin of her wrist softly as her gaze never faltered from the terrified humans sitting in the back of the shuttle. "Repeat, Crusader Fifty rescue vehicle coming alongside int three minutes. Door seals set to automatic. Prepare for boarding. Repeat. Prepare for boarding."
"Three minutes," the Doctor told Jessie softly, lips next to her her ear. "Then we don't have to see them again."
Her grip on her blaster tightened. "Good," she ground out angrily.
Val swallowed very visibly.
***
Donna pushed through the crowd by the Leisure Palace, trying to see around. Shen noticed a family of three, the hostess she'd seen, and a professor and his student leaving, shell shocked and terrified.
She later saw why as the Bad Wolf stepped out of the shuttle next, expressionless - no, murderous as she glared after the six humans. The Doctor was right behind her, hand grasping her wrist tightly, as if to stop her from going after them.
Donna came forward slowly. "Bad Wolf?" she asked in a small voice.
"Donna," the Bad Wolf replied shortly, waiting until the six were out of her sight before turning to her and visibly relaxing.
Donna sighed and hugged them both.
***
"What do you think it was?" Donna asked later in the spa, Jessie out of t hose silver clothes.
"No idea," the Doctor admitted.
"Do you think it's still out there?"
"I bloody hope not," Jessie said shortly, staring at a blank spot between them.
"Well, you'd better tell them," Donna said awkwardly. "This lot."
"Yeah," the Doctor nodded. "They can build a Leisure Palace somewhere else. Let this planet keep on turning round an Xtonic star, in silence."
Donna cracked a smile. "Can't imagine you without a voice."
"Molto bene," the Doctor said.
Donna nodded, opening her mouth to repeat when Jessie finally spoke. "Don't you dare," she warned Donna, her voice cracking. "Don't you even dare."
Startled, the Doctor turned to her. "Jess?" he asked.
But Jessie was trembling now, not from anger, but from absolute terror. She stood and stormed from the spa, boots clicking on the spotless floor.
The Doctor stood quickly, and Donna grabbed his hand. "Be careful," she advised.
The Doctor nodded, then took off after her.
Somehow, he had a feeling this was not going to be the best conversation the two of them had shared.
***
*nods head slowly* Yeah . . . who else agrees that Jessie's pissed off right now? She really looks like she does have a migraine on the side. :)
I can say this, this is the angriest I've ever written her, and believe it or not . . . it's fun to write. :) I had so much fun with that chapter back in "Struggling To Adjust" when the Doctor and Jessie were going at it, and Martha was there sort of clueless. Sometimes, she just needs to be this badass.
I'll get this interlude posted soon, yeah? Tune in for "Apocalypse Rising!"