Among The Stars

Voyage of the Damned (Part 2)

The Doctor pushed opened a heavy bulkhead door to reveal a staircase riddled with debris and sparking cables. "Careful." He said to the group. "Follow me."

"Rather ironic, but this is very much in the spirit of Christmas." Said Copper as the Doctor moved some debris to clear a way up the stairs. "It's a festival of violence. They say that human beings only survive depending on whether they've been good or bad. It's barbaric."

"Actually, that's not true." Lorelai told him.

The Doctor picked her up to lift her over some debris and put her down next to him. He looked at Copper, "Christmas is a time of... of peace and thanksgiving and... what am I on about? My Christmases are always like this."

Lorelai looked down and saw one of those information robots stuck under some metal plates. "We've got a Host!" She exclaimed, getting their attention. "If we can mend it, we can use it to clear the rubble!"

The Doctor patted her head. "Good thinking!"

"We can do robotics. Both of us." Morvin told them, nodding to his wife.

"We work on the milk market back on Sto. It's all robot staff." Foon explained.

Lorelai smiled at them. "Can you see if you can get it working?" The couple nodded.

The Doctor looked at the rest of the group. "Let's have a look." Everyone but the couple continued up the stairs but the very top blocked by more wreckage.

Astrid frowned. "It's blocked."

"So what do we do?"

"We shift it!" Lorelai cheered.

"That's my girl!" The Doctor grinned and looked at the others. "Rickston, Mister Copper, and you, Bannakaffalatta.... look, can I just call you Banna? It's going to save a lot of time."

"No!" The red alien immediately denied. "Bannakaffalatta!"

"All right then, Bannakaffalatta. There's a gap in the middle. See if you can get through."

"Easy." He nodded. "Good."

They watched as the little red alien squeezed his way through the debris. The ship shook again and more rubble fell around them.

"This whole thing could come crashing down any minute." Slade yelled.

"Oh, Rickston, I forgot. Did you get that message?" The Doctor asked him.

"No. What message?"

"Shut up!"

"Bannakaffalatta, made it." The red alien said from the other side.

Astrid got down and started to crawl through. "I'm small enough."

"Careful." Doctor warned her.

"Thing is, how are Mister and Mrs Fatso going to get through that gap?" Slade asked with a smirk.

Lorelai huffed and, without really thinking, pulled her foot back and kicked him in the face. Slade stumbled, nearly falling down the stairs, while his hand flew up to cover his now bleeding nose.

"Okay." The Doctor said, quickly grabbing her hips and guiding her towards the opening in the wreckage. "You go through next, Love. Try not to kill the people we're trying to save."

Lorelai easily crawled through and stood up on the other side, noticing Astrid kneeling next to Bannakaffalatta who was lying on the floor. "What's wrong?" She asked as she hurried over.

"Ashamed." He told them.

"Of what?" Astrid asked.

"Poor Bannakaffalatta." He lifted his shirt to reveal his cybernetic unit.