Once Upon a Midnight

Departure

Slightly annoying elevator music played in the background as the Doctor and Rose walked through the leisure palace. The palace was huge, encasing many leisurely activities. None of them were on their agenda, however. No, they were going on a tour to see the Sapphire waterfall.

"The Sapphire waterfall," the Doctor was saying. "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."

"Sounds gorgeous." Rose commented, looking in awe at the swimming pool as they passed it. It appeared everywhere around here was gorgeous.

"It is." The Doctor grinned. "Or so they say. You and I, Rose Tyler, will be the judge of that."

"So how long's the trip there?" She asked. They'd reached their destination and the Doctor bought two tickets for their trip.

"About four hours."

"Four hours?" Rose asked incredulously.

"Yes, four hours. It's not that bad, honest."

"I guess not, especially if you're there to entertain me." She said sarcastically. "And when are we leaving? And why didn't we just take the TARDIS? I want to call my mum before we leave." Rose bombarded the Doctor.

"Should be boarding soon. It's all about the experience, Rose." The Doctor kept up.

"Oh no." Rose said after checking her pockets. "I left my mobile next to my bed in the TARDIS. Think I have enough time to run back and get it?"

"Probably not. Here, just use that." The Doctor gestured to the phone on the wall, then followed her over. He gave it a quick buzz with the sonic. "All good to go. Now you can call your mum."

She smiled at him in gratitude, then typed her mum's number in. The Doctor stepped away to give her a little privacy and watched as people milled around. When Rose finished and approached him, he began to tell her about the planet.

"It's called Midnight, this planet. It's made completely of diamonds. The reason there aren't that many windows, and when there are they're too thick to see through, is because the sun gives off X-tonic rays. It disintegrates any living thing it touches. Wouldn't want that, would we?"

"All passengers for the next trip to the Sapphire Glaciers, please board your shuttle. Repeat, please board your shuttle."

"That's us." The Doctor grinned, standing straight rather than leaning against the wall as he had been.

"But, Doctor, if it's as you say it is, are we safe?"

"Nah, taking a big space truck with a bunch of strangers across a diamond planet called Midnight? What could possibly go wrong?" The Doctor grinned, then headed for the shuttle.

-

The Doctor and Rose sat in a capsule that looked similar to that of an airplane. The seats were in groups of two, in rows along an aisle. The capsule wasn't very large, holding a little over twenty people, maximum. Each seat was made of a cheap grey leather and had a cloth over the back with the logo on it. The logo was a tall, thin diamond with the word "Crusader" at the bottom. An area at the back held the area for the hostess to work and  a door in the front led to the cabin. A woman already sat in one of the front seats, her dirty blonde hair in a tight bun. She wore a black jacket and had the sparkled collar up. She'd already pulled a book out. It looked old, the paper a darker yellow.

The hostess came up the aisle with her cart and began to hand out the complementary headphones for Channels 1 to 36, modem link for 3-D vid-games, earplugs, slippers, juice pack, and peanuts.