Suddenly, the screen flicks over to something else, a woman. "You are here because you want to know the truth about this starship, and I am talking to you because you're entitled to know," the woman says. "When this presentation has finished, you will have a choice. You may either protest or forget. If you choose to protest, understand this. If just one percent of the population of this ship do likewise, the programme will be discontinued with consequences for you all.
"If you choose to accept the situation, and we hope that you will, then press the Forget button. All the information I'm about to give you will be erased from your memory. You will continue to enjoy the safety and amenities of Starship UK, unburdened by the knowledge of what has been done to save you. Here then, is the truth about Starship UK, and the price that has been paid for the safety of the British people." She paused, "May God have mercy on our souls."
Then the video plays, and my eyes widen. My breathing escalates with every second. Once it is over, my eyes are as wide as saucers, and I stumbled back, out of my chair. Then, there is a red light, recording.
"This is sick! This is sick!! You people are insane! What the hell is wrong with you people?!" I take deep calming breaths, and look at the screen, my eyes filled with hatred. "After thirty centuries, you'd think that the humanity would gain more sense!" I laugh humorlessly. "You see something pretty and you cage it up?! That's what you people do? Huh?! I'm not going to forget about this, hell no!"
My hand slams down on the 'Protest' button, and the puppet on the wall turns to its demonic face. The floor began to open, revealing a large dark pit. I quickly take off the Doctor's jacket and toss it on the chair, just as my feet slipped into the dark, dark pit.
••-•/---/•-•/--•/•/-
Doctor's POV
He sonicked the door to where Hazel should be. He entered with Mandy and Amy to find a the scowling face of a puppet and a empty room. He looked down, his tweed jacket was on the chair, and the video recording was rolling.
"This is sick! This is sick!!" The recorded messaging of Hazel screamed. "You people are insane! What the hell is wrong with you people?!" He watched the recording, as she paced the room, breathing heavily. "After thirty centuries, you'd think that the humanity would gain more sense! You see something pretty and you cage it up?! That's what you people do? Huh?! I'm not going to forget about this, hell no!" Her hand slams down on the 'Protest' button, and the video ends.
"She protested? Why did she protest?" Mandy questioned with a frown.
"Real question is, what happens if we do," he replies. Before anyone could question, he slams his hand on the Protest button, and he door shuts, keeping Mandy out. The flooring opens up, revealing a seemingly endless chute. He puts his jacket on and grins, "Say whee!!"
"AAUGH!!"
•--•/•-•/---/-/•/•••/-
Hazel's POV
I landed roughly on some kind of moist flooring, in smelly room. My eyes widen, and I scrambled up, taking the bandage off my wings that strapped them down. I looked around, remembering the video. If there was a 'Star Whale' strapped to the bottom of this ship then...
There is a distant animal noise, and I jump. It's the mouth! It's the mouth!!
I shot out my wings, its just barely enough to keep it from touching the sides, and hover away from the ground. Pain shoots through my right wing, but I ignore it. A swallow reflex is the last thing I wa--
My thoughts were cut off by a loud yelling and then something falling on top of me. I hissed in pain, since it landed on my injured wing, and moved. There's a ear-shattering scream, and another thud. I cover my ears, painfully. "Stop screaming!" I yelled, rubbing my wing. It was covering in saliva, but I smelt a bit of blood also, it was bleeding again...
"Hazel! You're okay!" The Doctor said, wrapping his arms around me. He noticed that my wings were out, and frowned, "Your wing! Oh my, did I land on it!?"
"I'm fine," I replied, not needing him to worry about me. The bandage was no use now, it was covered in saliva and would infect my wings.
"Where are we?" Amy asked.
"Six hundred feet down, twenty miles laterally, puts us at the heart of the ship," he answered her. "I'd say Lancashire. What's this then, a cave? Can't be a cave. Looks like a cave."
"It's a rubbish dump, and it's minging!" She frowned, wiping the saliva off her body uselessly.
"Yes, but only food refuse," he said. "Organic, coming through feeder tubes from all over the ship."
"Doctor, we need to get out of here," I tell him, but doesn't seem to notice.
"The floor's all squidgy, like a water bed," Amy jumps a little, and I grab her hand, making her stop.
"Stop it! You'll get us all killed!" I hissed at her.
"Wha-- killed?" Amy frowns. Then, the animalistic growl from earlier repeats and my eyes widen.
The Doctor seemed to notice this too, because he turned to me, his eyes widened, "Er, it's not a floor, it's a... So."
"It's a what?"
"The next word is kind of a scary word," he admitted. "You probably want to take a moment, get yourself in a calm place. Go omm."
"Omm...?"
"It's a tongue," the Doctor and I say at the same time.
Amy stops 'omm-ing' and frowned, "A tongue?"
"A tongue. A great bit tongue."
"This is a mouth," Amy said slowly, trying to make sense of the situation. "This whole place is a mouth? We're in a mouth?"
"Yes we are, and if we don't get out, then we get eaten!" I yelled, holding my wing close to my body.
"On the plus side, roomy!" The Doctor grins. I resisted the urge to hit him for the comment.
"How do we get out?" Amy asked.
"How big is this beastie?" The Doctor awed, "It's gorgeous. Blimey, if this is just the mouth, I'd love to see the stomach." He paused when another deep growl ran through the air. "Though not right now."
"Doctor!" I shouted, and he turned to me. "How do we get out?!"
"Okay," he stops playing around, and takes out his flashlight, again. "It's being fed through surgically implanted feeder tubes, so the normal entrance is closed for business." I look forward to see a large row of gigantic teeth.
"We could try, though," Amy walks over to the teeth, but I move to grab her, only to slip on something and fall to the ground.
"Amy, no! Stop! Don't move!" The Doctor says, but it's too late. The floor rumbles, and vibrates violently, "Too late! Its already started!"
"What has!?" Amy asked, trying to hold onto something, but finding nothing of the sort. I tried to stand back up, but with all the vibrating and slippery ground, I couldn't stand properly.
"Swallow reflex!" The Doctor answered, gulping himself. He took out his flashlight, and pointed it at the over-sized tongue.
"What are you doing?!" Amy yelled.
"I'm vibrating the chemo-receptors!"
"Chemo-what?!"
"The eject button!" He shouted.
"How does a mouth have a eject button!?"
"Think about it," I said, just as a sickly wave of yellow vomit approaches us.
"Right, then," he fixes his bow-tie and helps me up. "This isn't going to be big on dignity. Geronimo!"
The vomit collides with us, and my senses go haywire. The smell alone could knock you out! I cover my wing as much as I could. We are released from the mouth, and poured down some kind of disgusting, yellow pipe, that filters into a pool.
I sat down, watching the Doctor check his body, breathing heavily. I look at my wing, it's dripping with vomit, and I hadn't managed to cover it completely. The vomit mixes with the blood, turning it a weird yellowish-red. I sighed, and lean back, I notice that the Doctor looks at me. "I did land on your wing," he frowned.
"It doesn't matter, I'm fine," I said, getting up. My wing drags on the ground slightly, and I hissed in pain. It's in worse shape than I thought. I wouldn't be able to fly for at least a day, maybe two.
"Oh. Phew. Can we get out," she asked a bit suggestively.
"Just a moment," he said, and points his flashlight at my wing. "Oh my. You must be in a lot of pain right now," he looked at me worryingly. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine I--" suddenly, a large spike of pain goes through my body. I hissed, and gritted my teeth. "Let's get out of here."
The Doctor stared at me for a few seconds, "Fine. Yes. Alright," he nodded. "One door, one door switch, one condition. We forget everything we saw. Look familiar?" He pointed to the booth, this time it only had the 'forget' button. There were two creepy puppets beside it.
"That's the carrot. Ooo, here's the stick," the two puppet booths light up, and turn to us. "There's a creature living in the heart of this ship. What's it doing there?" They slowly turn from a smiling puppet, to a frowning one, and the Doctor continues. "No, that's not going to work on me, so come on. Big old beast below decks, and everyone who protests gets shoved down its throat. That how it works?"
Then they turn from frowning to the demonic scowling face. "Oh, stop it," he rolled his eyes. "I'm not leaving and I'm not forgetting, and what are you fellows going to do about it? Stick out your tongues, huh?"
The booths open and they step out. They're about 6'2" and staring at us. "Doctor..." Amy whispered to the man.
Then, a woman steps between us, takes two guns out, and shoots the mechanical puppets dead. "Look who it is," the Doctor grinned. "You look a lot better without your mask."
She turns around, and I see a beautiful dark-skinned woman. She has large curly dark brown hair, similar to mines, and wore a bright red dress, the same shade as Mandy's.
"You must be Amy and Hazel," the woman says, paying no mind to my over-sized wings dragging on the floor. Either she didn't see them, or simply didn't care. "Liz. Liz Ten"
"Hi," Amy said, and I waved a little.
"Yuck. Lovely hair, Amy. Shame about the sick. You know Mandy, yeah? She's very brave." She looked at me, "When I heard that you were a special girl, I didn't know he meant you had wings."
I frowned, and tried to wipe the vomit off my wing, "Yep that's me, special..." I muttered, gagging at the sickly scent on my person.
"How did you find us?" The Doctor asked.
"Stuck my gizmo on you," She answered. "Been listening in. Nice moves on the hurl escape. So, what's the big fella doing here?"
"You're over sixteen, you've voted. Whatever this is, you've chosen to forget about it," he accused.
"No. Never forgot, never voted, not technically a British subject," she shrugged, and began walking, with us following closely behind.
"Then who and what are you, and how do you know me?" The Doctor questioned.
"You're a bit hard to miss, love," She smiled. "Mysterious stranger, M O consistent with higher alien intelligence, hair of an idiot. I've been brought up on the stories. My whole family was."
"You're family?"
"They're repairing," She says, referring to the dead drones. "Doesn't take them long. Let's move."
--•-/••-/•/•/-•
"The Doctor. Old drinking buddy of Henry Twelve. Tea and scones with Liz Two," She says. "Vicky was a bit on the fence about you, weren't she? Knighted and exiled you on the same day. And so much for the Virgin Queen, you bad, bad boy."
I snickered, "You mean he fuc--"
"Hey! No bad language!" The Doctor says, interrupting me, and blushing lightly.
Liz ten smirked, "Something like that. Liz Ten, yeah. Elizabeth the Tenth. And down!" We duck down as she turned around, shooting at the puppets that were trailing us.
She looked at the Doctor, who had shock written all over his face. "I'm the bloody Queen, mate. Basically, I rule."
I look at her, "Okay! 'Meet a super-awesome-badass queen before I die' can be checked off my bucket list!" I grinned and she laughed heartily.
•••/--/••/•-••/•/•-•
We are in front of a large grate that contains, some kind of tentacles, flailing about. The Star whale...
"There's a high-speed Vator through there," Liz Ten says over the loud noise. "Oh, yeah. There's these things. Any ideas?"
"Doctor, I saw one of these up top," Amy says. "There was a hole in the road, like it had burst through like a root."
"Exactly like a root," he said. "It's all one creature, the same one we were inside, reaching out. It must be growing through the mechanisms of the entire ship."
"What, like an infestation? Someone's helping it," Liz Ten says. "Feeding it. Feeding my subjects to it. Come on. Got to keep moving." Her and Mandy leave the room, leaving the two of us. I look at the claw, a grim expression on my face.
"Hazel," the Doctor says behind me, "We're going."
I nodded and stared at the flailing tentacles for a few seconds more, and then leave.
Humans... Are the worst monsters.
--•/•-••/•-/•••/•••/•/•••
"Why all the glasses?" The Doctor asked, as we entered the room. There were about thirty glasses on the ground, all filled with water.
"To remind me every single day that my government is up to something," she says. "And it's my duty to find out what."
"A queen going undercover to investigate her own kingdom?" The Doctor raised an eyebrow, looking at the glass.
"Secrets are being kept from me. I don't have a choice," she sighed, "Ten years I've been at this. My entire reign. And you've achieved more in one afternoon."
"How old were you when you came to the throne?"
"Forty. Why?"
"What, you're fifty now?" Amy gasped, "No way."
"Yeah, they slowed my body clock," She explained. "Keeps me looking like the stamps."
"And you always wear this in public?" The Doctor continued.
"Undercover is not easy when you're me," she shrugged. "The autographs, the bunting."
He points his flashlight at it, "Air-balanced porcelain. Stays on by itself, because it's perfectly sculpted to your face."
"Yeah? So what?" She frowned, taking it back.
"Oh, Liz. So everything." A group of people dressed in black enters the room.
"What are you doing?" She glared at them as one of them step forward. He is also wearing a long black coat and a hood. "How dare you come in here?"
"Ma'am, you have expressed interest in the interior workings of Starship UK," the man says. I notice that they're is something off about him. "You will come with us now."
I frown and strain my ears, "Why would I do that?" She continues.
Then, his face turns from a human's to a puppet's. "Just as I thought," I frowned.
"What?" Amy asked, looking at me.
"They're not right. I can hear a human heart, and machines turning. They're--"
"Half Human, half smiler," the Doctor finished.
"Whatever you creatures are, I am still your queen," She says, boldness shining in her voice. "On whose authority is this done?"
"The highest authority, ma'am," the puppet-human answered.
"I am the highest authority!"
"Yes, ma'am. You must go now, Ma'am," he says.
"Where?"
"The Tower, ma'am."
•-••/•-/•••/-
We walk down a long flight of steps, my glare at the ground intensifies with every step. "What'd the ground do to you?" The Doctor asked, teasingly.
"I hate humans," I muttered, and the Doctor's smile melts. "Too evil. Too curious. They see something pretty and they destroy it. They're always looking for ways to benefit themselves and never stop to think."
"You chose to Protest," the Doctor says. "Why?"
"It's not right. This is evil," I muttered, rubbing my wing to calm myself down.
"What are they doing?" He asked, just as we approached a large door.
"See for yourself," I replied, going through the large door.
The room is very hot, and had a bunch if little kids running around. There are also a few adults, and puppets, or Smilers, as the Doctor called it.
"Doctor, where are we?" Amy aske
d, looking around.
"The lowest point of Starship UK," the Doctor answered. "The dungeon."
I snorted, "Ironic really. Naming the lowest part of the city, the Tower."
"Ma'am," someone says. I turn to look at a man wearing a long white lab coat, and a frown on his face. I glare at the Whitecoat.
"Hawthorne. So this is where you hid yourself away," Liz Ten growled, anything but pleased. "I think you've got some explaining to do."
"There's children down here," the Doctor said. "What's all that about?"
"Protesters and citizens of limited value are fed to the beast," I clenched my fists at his words, my glare not dropping. "For some reason, it won't eat the children. You're the first adults it's spared. You're very lucky."
"Yeah, look at us. Torture chamber of the Tower of London. Lucky, lucky, lucky " the Doctor said. "Except it's not a torture chamber, is it? Well, except it is. Except it isn't. Depends on your angle."
He walked over to the railing and I trailed behind him. I gasped when I saw a large opening to the Star Whale's brain. There was a long pointy metal pole hanging from the ceiling. Electricity circulated around it, sending the Star Whale what seem like a thousand volts of electricity. Everything the Whale was shocked, I jumped, and clenched my fists tighter. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on ends and I glared daggers at the Whitecoat.
"What's that?" Liz Ten asked, peering into the pit.
"It's the brain," I growled. "And they are torturing it!" The Doctor gave me a look, and I continued. "You wanna know how this ship moves without an engine? Because you have a Star Whale strapped to the bottom being relentlessly tortured! And this," I motioned to the large-pointy-electricity-thing, "Is its gas pedal. This makes sure that you and your subjects petty little lives are able to keep moving and go faster!"
I turned to the Whitecoat, "Ever wondered what the whale has to say about this?! Huh?!" The man didn't answer. "It's SCREAMING! I can hear it! It's screaming, pleading for you to stop! And you just keep going, you keep pushing the gas pedal! And not having a single care in the world because you're trying to help the people! Help all the lives above! Have you even thought that it was in pain!? Have you!?"
Misfortune: A Time Travel Romance (Ball and Chain Book 1) Page 3