Touch The Sky: Doctor Who/Studio C [Book 3]

Midnight (Part 3)

The ship finally stilled, the dark air filled with groans and quiet murmurs of assurance.

"Arms, legs, neck, head, nose," the Doctor said quickly as he clambered back to his feet. "I'm fine. Everyone else?"

He glanced up at one of the ceiling screens, seeing a glimpse of the music video before it simply turned to static. He turned his attention to the other passengers.

Had he looked for a moment more, he would have noticed the blonde woman in a blue bomber jacket mouth his name twice before she faded back into static without a trace.

"How are we?" the Time Lord continued. "Everyone all right?"

"Earthquake," Hobbes insisted. "Must be."

"That's impossible," Dee Dee said. "The ground is fixed. It's solid."

"We've got torches," the hostess called. "Everyone take a torch. They're in the back of the seats." The Doctor winced as hers shined directly in his face, then glanced down at Matt as his vision cleared.

"You okay?"

"Been better," he replied, getting to his feet with a groan and grimacing. "Ah, lovely, think I twisted my ankle."

"Sit down and hold tight for a moment," the Doctor told him. Jethro crept toward the front of the cabin, flashlight in hand.

"Oh, Jethro, sweetheart, come here," his mother told him.

"Never mind me, what about her?" Jethro replied, pointing forward.

Sky was huddled at the front, head in her hands and as still as a statue, her back to the rest of the group. The row of seats behind her were completely torn off their bases.

"What happened to the seats?" Val asked breathlessly.

Biff followed her gaze. "Who did that?"

"They've been ripped up!" she continued.

The Doctor, meanwhile, stepped toward Sky and crouched next to her, resting his hand on her shoulders. "It's all right. It's all right. It's over. We're still alive. The wall's still intact. D'you see?" He aimed his flashlight toward a terrifying dent in the wall, but the hull was still unbroken. The hostess called for the two pilots through the intercom. "We're safe," the Doctor continued. Despite his words, Sky didn't even twitch.

"Driver Joe, can you hear me?" the hostess called again. She flung the radio down. "I'm not getting any response, the intercom must be down," she said, scurrying up the aisle toward the cockpit. She slammed the touchpad and was met with only a wall of blinding white light.

A few screams sounded as everyone shielded their eyes, terrible seconds passing before the hostess managed to get the door closed again.

"What happened?" Val demanded. "What was that?"

"Is it the driver, have we lost the driver?" Biff asked.

"The cabin's gone," the hostess answered breathlessly.

"Don't be ridiculous, it can't be gone," Hobbes insisted. "How can it be gone?"

"Well, you saw it!" Dee Dee told him.

"There's nothing there..." the hostess said. "Like it was ripped away."

"What are you doing?" Biff asked, shining his flashlight toward where the Doctor was working a panel low in the wall with his sonic.

"Ah, that's better, little bit of light," the Doctor said, opening up the panel. "Thank you, molto bene."

"Do you know what you're doing?"