The Heart Within

Waiting For Love

"For every tyrant, a tear for the vulnerable. In every lost soul, the bones of a miracle. For every dreamer, a dream, we're unstoppable. With something to believe in."
- Avicii: 'Waiting for Love' (Stories [2015]).

~**~

Maintenance duct

The Doctor, Jabe and Katy made their way down the corridor, on the way to the maintenance duct Jabe had mentioned earlier. They were unaware of some more of the metal spiders scuttling out of sight behind the swags of wiring and piping.

"Who's in charge of Platform One?" the Doctor questioned Jabe. "Is there a Captain or what?"

"There's just the Steward and the staff. All the rest is controlled by the metal mind." Jabe explained, and the Doctor and Katy reacted curiously to her answer.

"You mean the computer? But who controls what?" Katy asks, observant as ever. If Jabe thought her question was strange, she didn't mention it.

"The Corporation. They move Platform One from one artistic event to another."

"But there's no one from the Corporation on board." The Doctor pointed out.

"They're not needed," Jabe answered. "This facility is purely automatic. It's the height of the Alpha class. Nothing can go wrong."

Katy winced.

'Famous last words.' She thought ominously. Jabe really shouldn't have said those words out loud. It was possible she could've very well jinxed them all.

"Unsinkable?" The Doctor suggested. Jabe nodded, agreeing with it.

"If you like. The nautical metaphor is appropriate."

"You're telling me. I was on board another ship once. They said that was unsinkable." Katy's head snapped towards the Doctor, curiously. He was obviously talking about the Titanic. Question was, was it after he had warned the Daniels family about getting on board, or did he go back in time to warn them after being on board the first time? "I ended up clinging to an iceberg. It wasn't half cold." The Doctor complained.

"You were on the Titanic?" Katy stated, already knowing the answer, but wanting to see his reaction anyway. The Doctor just gave her a hard look, which made her dissolve into giggles, and he promptly ignored her and continued talking.

"So, what you're saying is, if we get in trouble there's no one to help us out?"

"I'm afraid not." Jabe confirmed.

"Fantastic." The Doctor grinned, earning confused looks from both Jabe and Katy as a result. Jabe looked at Katy, as though asking if he was for real. The brunette's only response was to shrug.

"I don't understand. In what way is that fantastic?" Jabe decided to broach the question both she and Katy wanted to ask him. Predictably, the Doctor ignored the question.

"So, tell me, Jabe, what's a tree like you doing in a place like this?" The Doctor asked, and Katy cringed at the cliched chat-up line.

"I can't believe you just said that..." Katy muttered, slightly disgusted.

"Respect for the Earth." Jabe replied, truthfully.

"Oh, come on. Everyone of this platform's worth zillions." The Doctor protested, not believing for one second, that that was the only reason why she and her escorts were on board this space station.