Pleasure Cruise (3/5)
Title - Pleasure Cruise (3/5)
Author - earlgreytea68
Rating - Teen
Characters - Ten, Rose, Jackie, Jack, OCs
Spoilers - None
Disclaimer - I don't own them and I don't make money off of them, but I don't like to dwell on that, so let's move on. (Except for the kids. They're all mine.)
Summary - The Doctor goes on a cruise. Hijinks ensue. (Did you expect anything less?)
Author's Notes - ramblinsuze's winning Support Stacie fic, which she has graciously agreed to share with all of you. Her prompt requested an encounter between the family and the Zygons.
Thank you to jlrpuck, who beta'd while ill; Kristin, who gave me much enthusiastic support as I was brainstorming this fic; and rosa_acicularis, for invaluable help with Classic Who and this mysterious thing called "plot."
The gorgeous icon was created by swankkat for me, commissioned by
jlrpuckfor my birthday.
Part One - Part Two
There was no one really about. It was almost too easy to wave his sonic screwdriver to gain access to parts of the ship that should have been off-limits. He moved easily through them, growing progressively more concerned about the utter lack of crew, until he entered the bridge. There was a single man on the bridge, dressed as a captain, standing looking out over the expanse of unbroken ocean, hands clasped behind his back.
The Doctor paused for a second, then said, jovially, “Hello there.”
He turned, obviously startled. “Who are you? How did you get in here?”
The Doctor, putting on his specs, wandered over to the equipment, frowning at it. “Oh,” he said, waving his hand about, “doors open to me…easily. More important question.” He straightened, removing his glasses and looking at the captain. “Why are we so far off-course?”
“What makes you think we’re off-course?”
“Every piece of equipment in here. And where are your crew? Bit lonely up here, isn’t it?”
The captain smiled a smile that never came close to reaching his eyes. “No need for a crew. Everything runs by computer. And I can assure you, we are perfectly on-course.”
“Ah,” said the Doctor, matching the smile. “But perfectly on-course for what?”
“You seem to be causing a lot of trouble.”
“I have a reputation for that. I will try to rein it in.” He flashed a grin, and threw him a small salute. “Captain.” He left without running, trying to look slow and unconcerned, nothing to be worried about, despite the fact that he half-expected the captain to come after him with something. Then again, they were so far off-course by now, the captain probably expected that there was little that could be done to throw his plan off.
As the Doctor gained distance from the bridge, he also gained speed, until he was practically jogging down the corridor to the cabins. People were beginning to stir now, a murmur of wonder that they weren’t docked rising slowly. The Doctor knocked on Jackie’s door, and she opened it and then stepped out into the corridor, closing the door over behind her.
“What happened?” she asked. “What did you find out?”
“Not much,” he answered. “Except we’re way off-course. And the captain appears to be complicit.”
“We told Rodney that there’s a rabid fox.”
“You told him what?”
“A rabid fox. So we have to stay in our cabins.”
“A rabid fox? On a ship?”
“It’s the best we could come up with, okay?” said Jackie, defensively.
“You humans, you’d rather believe there’s a rabid fox on a ship than a huge squid coming to squeeze you all to bits.”
“Yes,” retorted Jackie. “Yes, we’d rather believe that. Barking mad, we are.”
The Doctor ignored that. “Where’s Rose?”
On cue, Rose opened the door, holding her mobile out to him. “For you,” she said.
“Ah.” He accepted the phone. “I’ll take it in our cabin. Come with me?” He looked at Rose.
She nodded, and followed him down the corridor to their cabin.
“Hello?” he said into the mobile, opening their cabin door with his sonic screwdriver absently. Why bother with things like keys? He often forgot, outside of the TARDIS.
“Doctor,” said Jack’s voice. “We’ve managed to retrieve a recording, from one of the ships.”
“And what’s on it?” the Doctor asked, moving into the room.
“Listen.”
It was mostly white noise, humans screaming and crying and shouting, but, in the background, the Doctor could hear it. A strange, high-pitched beeping. That seemed so familiar to him.
“Can you make any sense of it?” asked Jack’s voice.
“Play it for me again,” said the Doctor, thinking hard, searching his memory. That beeping…He knew that beeping…Beeping, and shipwrecks, and a mythical sea creature, and… The Doctor’s eyes widened. He looked over at Rose, who was still standing by the door, watching him. “Rose,” he murmured.
“What is it?” said Jack. “You’re onto something.”
“Jack, I’ve got to call you back,” he said, eyes on Rose, closing the phone.
Rose flickered a smile at him. “What did Jack say?”
“Oh, you know Jack,” he said, slowly. “Babbled about some nuclear physics.”
Rose laughed fondly. “Oh, Jack,” she said.
The Doctor forced himself to walk toward Rose, one foot in front of the other. He didn’t have far to go, in the close confines of the cabin. He leaned his head toward Rose. She smelled like her, that particular brand of human scent that was Rose’s. He closed his eyes and said, into her ear, “Tell me again how shower sex is your favorite kind of sex.”
“Oh,” purred Rose, hands playing with his tie. “Yes. Absolutely love it. All that…steam and hot water.”
The Doctor pulled back and smiled humorlessly. “We have a problem.”
Rose, oblivious, kept smiling at him, kept playing with his tie. “I know. But I’m sure it’ll be okay.”
The Doctor extracted his tie from her hands, took another step back. “My wife hates shower sex,” he said, evenly. “She says it’s cold and uncomfortable. Which begs the question: Who are you?”
For a moment, Rose looked at him, eyes wide and beseeching. And then she frowned. And then she moved so quickly that he almost didn’t duck in time, and then, equally suddenly, the door to the cabin swung open and there was a noise almost like a silenced bullet and Rose, who had been lunging at him, dropped like a load of bricks, and he reached out his arms to catch her automatically, blinking over her body at the person who walked through the door.
“Jack!” he exclaimed, shocked, and looked toward the mobile he’d left on the bed. “But I was just…”
“Yeah, teleport. You seemed like you might need some help.”
“Teleport?” the Doctor screeched.
“We thought you might have this reaction, so we kept it a secret.”
Rose was getting heavy in his arms. “We’ll talk about this later,” the Doctor decided, and laid Rose on the bed and felt for her pulse. “What did you do to her?”
“Tranquilizer. What’s come over her? Is she possessed? Drugged?”
“No.” The Doctor straightened and stuck his hands in his pockets and looked down at her. “She’s not Rose.”
“What do you mean, she’s not Rose?”
“I’ve seen this before, the beeping and the shipwrecks and the sea creatures, only last time it was the Loch Ness monster. They’re Zygons, and they’re shape shifters.”
“So it’s an alien who’s made himself look like Rose?”
“Yes.”
“And where’s Rose?”
“Safe, somewhere, because they can only hold the shape while the human imprint is alive. We’ve just got to find her.” He turned away from the body on the bed. “How big is the team you brought with you?”
“Just me. The teleport’s a bit…untested.”
The Doctor sighed heavily. “I’ll deadlock seal the door to the cabin, then.”
They walked out of the cabin together, and he waved the sonic screwdriver over the door.
“The captain’s in on it,” he told Jack, as he worked. “We’re way off-course, and the captain’s completely unconcerned. Probably a Zygon as well.” He tore his hands through his hair, thinking. “Oh, I should have seen this so much earlier. Brem was getting all sorts of readings, and Athena said the elevator tasted weird…”
“How do we defeat these Zygons?”
“There’s a signal device, calling the kraken. We need to find it, and we need to destroy it. The Zygons need the kraken, if they’re unable to call them, they’re in trouble. Even better if we can find the Zygon ship and destroy it.”
“Okay,” said Jack. “Piece of cake. Should we start with questioning the captain?”
“Yes,” agreed the Doctor. “Good idea.” He rapped on Jackie’s door. “Jack and I are going to go and question the captain.”
Jackie stared at Jack. “Where did you come from?”
“Cardiff,” he answered.
“Stay here, with the kids, and don’t open the door to anyone but me. Not even Rose.”
Jackie blinked at him. “Not Rose?”
“No. No one but me. This is important. And only open the door to me if I say ‘banana.’”
“What?” said Jackie.
The Doctor paused. “The thing is, though,” he said, thoughtfully. “How do I know you’re you?”
“What?” said Jackie again, looking even more confused.
“Quick,” said the Doctor. “Prove you’re you.”
Jackie stared at him, then looked at Jack. “Well,” she said to him, “there was that night you and I-“
“Okay,” the Doctor cut in, loudly. “That’s quite enough, thank you.”
“Well, this is bloody ridiculous.” Jackie folded her arms. “’Prove you’re you.’”
“Sorry. Just can’t be too careful. If Rodney starts acting weird, call me. I’ve got Rose’s mobile.”
“And where’s Rose?”
“She’s safe,” he answered, shortly. “Just…don’t let her in if she knocks. And remember, I have to say ‘banana.’”
“You’re completely mad,” said Jackie, and slammed the door on him.
The Doctor shrugged and turned to Jack. “She’ll listen. Let’s go.”
“What about the kids?”
“They’re fine. They’re with Jackie. And they’re themselves. I can feel them in my head, it’d be obvious to me if there was something off with any of them.”
“And how do you know I’m me?”
“Where did we meet?”
“In the middle of the London Blitz.”
“Specifically.”
“A hospital.”
“I’m satisfied.”
“And how do I know you’re you?”
“Come now, Jack. Who could replicate this reckless charm?”
“But…”
The Doctor looked at him. “What?”
“It’s nothing, it’s just…What are you wearing?”
His gaze was clearly on the Hawaiian shirt. The Doctor shifted uncomfortably. “Let’s not discuss it.”
Jack looked suspiciously amused but he dropped the subject. “So,” said Jack, as they walked. “Rose doesn’t like shower sex, huh?”
The Doctor winced. “Did you hear that?”
“I think you must not be doing it right. I can give you pointers,” he suggested.
“Stop it. I’ve already learned more about you today than I wanted to know.”
“Like what?”
“Like you and Jackie?”
“Hey.” Jack put his hands out in an expansive gesture. “Two consenting adults and all that-“
“I don’t want to hear any more about it.”
“Let’s just say Jackie has a different opinion of shower sex than-“
“Why can’t a Zygon take you over?” muttered the Doctor, and opened the door to a completely deserted bridge.
********
Rose Tyler came to in a small, claustrophobic room, with a raging headache and a tube attached to her arm. Or growing out of her arm. Rose, head pounding, stared down at the tube in horror, and then didn’t give herself time to think. She didn’t know what the tube was but it couldn’t possibly be good. She gripped the tube tightly, swallowed, and pulled hard.
It ripped out of her flesh, and Rose bit her lip to keep from screaming with the pain, but she needn’t have bothered trying to keep silent. As soon as the tube was ripped free, an alarm blared.
“Oops,” she said, out loud. Probably should have stopped to think. And that alarm was really incredibly unpleasant when you had a terrible headache to begin with.
She moved pressing herself up against the wall next to the door, and when the door opened, and the orange creature walked in and past her, she slipped out. She had time to think that they weren’t terribly clever before running into a whole group of them, clearly on their way to her cell.
“Hey!” one of them shouted, pointing at her, and then they broke into a run.
Rose, still acting mostly on instinct, turned and dashed down the hallway, moving with a wild blindness, unsure where she was going, just that she had to keep ahead of these creatures that could knock her out with a simple touch. She realized that she was in a docking area at about the same time that the creatures in the docking area caught sight of her, beginning to raise an alarm. Again without thinking, Rose dove into the nearest vessel and pulled the door to it shut, turning the lock on it.
She turned toward the controls, staring at them. The ship began shaking a bit, and she realized they were shooting at it, the sound of whatever they were shooting pinging against the outside. Rose began hitting buttons and levers and dials. “How hard can this be?” she muttered. “This is exactly what he does with the TARDIS. Hits random buttons. Come on, little ship, start.”
As if obeying her, the ship suddenly vibrated on and began moving, so quickly Rose was thrown backward into the chair. There was no window to see out of, and Rose didn’t like the feeling of having no clue where she was going, but as long as it was away from the orange creatures, she figured she’d roll with it.
She didn’t want to press any more buttons, afraid she’d get the ship to stop as haphazardly as she’d gotten it to start, so she sat in the captain’s chair and tried to think what her next step ought to be, and how long she should let the ship move before she stopped it, and then, abruptly, the ship crashed into something, throwing Rose forward. The hatch opened automatically, and Rose wished she had something she could use as a weapon.
But no orange creature appeared, and she ventured outside of the ship carefully, realizing she was in another docking area. She looked back at the ship she’d been in. Round, no windows. Bobbing in water. A submarine? Of some sort? She turned back, venturing carefully through the docking area, opening the first door she came to.
“Oh,” she said, in surprise. Because she was back on the cruise ship.
********
“So where are they?” the Doctor asked, leaving behind the empty bridge. “They’ve stopped the ship, got us right where they want us, so where are they?”
“I can’t answer that,” said Jack.
“We need the signal device.” He took out the sonic screwdriver, studying it closely. “I should be able to pick it up, if I sweep carefully enough. What’s your plan to evacuate the ship?”
“We’re trying to bring helicopters in, but it’s hard, Doctor. There’s no base for us to use, close to here-”
“We need to get everybody off this ship,” said the Doctor, firmly, watching the screwdriver as they walked back toward the cabins. “If I can’t find the signal device, there’s nothing I can do to stop this.”
“Doctor,” ventured Jack. “If we need to, we can use the teleport to get the kids safe. And Rose and Jackie. If we need to.”
“A kraken or a Torchwood-created teleport,” grumbled the Doctor. “It’s a veritable Scylla and Charybdis.” He drew to a sudden halt as he entered the corridor, because Rose-or something that looked like Rose-was sitting against the door to Jackie’s cabin, and stood up upon catching sight of him.
“Did you tell Mum not to let me into the cabin?” she demanded, stalking toward them.
Jack stepped between them, gun raised. “Stop right there,” he said. “Don’t come any closer.”
Rose looked at him quizzically. “Jack, what--?”
The Doctor stepped around him. “How do we know it’s really you?” he asked, calmly.
Rose paused, then walked carefully toward him.
“Stop,” said Jack.
“It’s okay,” the Doctor told him, keeping his eyes on Rose. “Just, you know, keep alert.”
Rose rolled her eyes a little, and Jack kept his gun firmly trained on her, until she got to the Doctor and leaned up and whispered something in his ear. The Doctor blushed, then buried her in a hug.
“Oh, you terrified me,” he accused, and then pushed her away a bit, eyes sweeping up and down her critically. “How are you? Are you alright?”
“Other than a wicked headache, I’m fine. What’s going on?”
“It’s a long story. Jack, you can put the gun down now, it’s her.”
“Doctor,” said Rose, “the aliens are-“
“Big and orange and domed heads?”
“Yes,” she affirmed, surprised.
“Yeah. Zygons. They’re shape-shifters. We had a bit of an issue with one of them looking like you.”
Rose looked horrified. “Oh, no. Is everyone-”
“Everyone’s fine,” he assured her. “I figured it out.”
“Your Zygon replacement doesn’t mind shower sex,” commented Jack. “Dead giveaway.”
Rose turned to him, but seemed to ignore his remark. “And how did you get here?”
“Teleport,” said the Doctor. “Which is how you and Jackie and the kids are getting away from here.”
“To leave you behind here? For what reason? What can you accomplish on this ship?”
The Doctor startled her by kissing her much harder than she would have expected in front of Jack.
“What was that for?” she gasped, when he was done.
“I missed you so much,” he said. “I’ve got to try and get the signal device off the ship.”
“The signal device for what?”
“The kraken. These people are all sitting ducks unless I get rid of it. And you know I can’t leave them all here to die. So you’re going to go, with the kids, and your mum, and Rodney, and be safe for me, and Jack and I will handle this.”
“How are we going to explain a teleport to Rodney?”
“I don’t know, he seems pretty thick. Your mother told him they can’t leave the cabin because there’s a rabid fox on the ship.” The Doctor leaned over and knocked on the cabin door and said, loudly, “Banana.”
Jackie opened the door on him, looking unamused.
“Look who I have,” he announced, cheerfully. “Rose.”
“I know. I had to leave her locked outside, with the rabid fox,” said Jackie, between her teeth. “Try explaining that one.”
The Doctor walked past her and looked at Rodney. “There are shape-shifting aliens about,” he said, without preamble. “Can’t trust anyone.”
“What…?” said Rodney, looking flabbergasted.
“Jack!” exclaimed the kids, running over to greet him.
“Hello there,” he said, accepting the hugs the little girls bestowed upon him.
“How’d you get here?” asked Athena.
“Teleport,” he answered.
“Which is how you’re going home,” continued the Doctor.
The kids looked at him. “Home?” said Athena.
“Yes. No more pirate’s life for us. Dry land, that’s the way to go. And Jack has a teleport. That works, theoretically. The worst that can happen is you get stuck in the second dimension.” He looked at Rodney. “The second dimension is flat, you know.”
“What…?” said Rodney again.
“I’ll explain it all later,” Jackie promised him, taking his hand.
“Where’s your teleport?” the Doctor asked.
“The casino,” answered Jack.
“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me,” remarked the Doctor. “Come on, everyone, to the casino.”
He was the last one out of the cabin, closing the door behind him, just as the sonic screwdriver in his pocket vibrated. “Hold on,” he said to himself, reaching into his pocket and pulling it out. It was flashing madly, which meant the signal device had to be nearby…
Jackie never knew afterward exactly why she turned around, just that she saw the Doctor lean down and aim his sonic screwdriver along the edge of the carpet in the corridor, peeling it back. He picked something up, straightening, and Jackie paused, waiting for him to catch up with them, just as two large orange creatures turned the corner and spotted him. Jackie was too far away to hear what he said, just saw him plummet quickly to the ground in an inelegant heap, whatever he had grabbed falling out of his hand and rolling away.
Instinct had Jackie scurrying over and grabbing the object, a small round disc that she clutched tightly. The two orange creatures picked the Doctor up, carrying him none too gently, and Jackie hesitated, wishing Rose had her mobile instead of the Doctor, or that Rodney had his instead of leaving it behind because they were on holiday, or that she had Jack’s number. Any of these things would have saved her from having to follow behind the creatures as they carried the unconscious Doctor. They all would have saved her from making the spontaneous decision to leap onto the tiny submarine with all of them.
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