Cosmo || Doctor Who

45 : Awake

𝔖𝔞𝔫𝔠𝔱𝔲𝔞𝔯𝔶 𝔅𝔞𝔰𝔢 𝔖𝔦𝔵, 𝔎𝔯𝔬𝔭 𝔗𝔬𝔯
𝔜𝔢𝔞𝔯 4221

When the crew entered night shift, they all gathered in that room with the lettering on the walls as it acted as a canteen. The Doctor leant against it, glasses on, clearly frustrated. There wasn't much he couldn't do, and this just made everything more difficult than it needed to be.

Zack hadn't joined them, like all of the others, because he was confined to the control room for the majority of his time. However, he still had access to talk to them, and sort of see what they were doing from there.

"Danny, check the temperature in Ood Habitation. It seems to be rising."

     Rose was hungry, so she momentarily left them to find something edible in the canteen. EJ couldn't bring himself to eat yet. His stomach was still all over the place. However, the Doctor wasn't paying him any attention. He was far too focused on the lettering, which EJ was pretending to care about.

"Like the hair, by the way." He said, tilting his attention somewhere else, just in case the Doctor looked his way. "Suits you."

  "Oh, yeah?" The spaceman sounded surprised, and he smiled, softly. "I was trying out something new."

  "Stop flirting, you too." Rose slammed her tray down on the table. It cut their conversation a lot shorter than EJ was expecting. "That Ood just said something weird."

  "What sort of weird?" The Doctor asked.

  "Just... weird."

  The Thompson boy shook his head. "Great, cos that's useful, isn't it?"

  She snapped back. "I was just saying."

"Alright, alright..." The Doctor hushed, calming the both of them down. "No need for that, is there?"

The lights began to fizz and cut out, only momentarily, before turning back on again, almost like a pattern. At first, EJ wondered if it was normal, because of the amount of pressure the space base was under. However, as soon as they all paused, he knew that wasn't true.

Ida spoke into her watch. "Zack, we got a problem?"

"No more than usual." He sighed. "We've just got the Scarlet System burning up. Might be worth a look."

She turned to them. "You might want to see this. Moment in history."

The ceiling opened in again, only this time, it looked different. What was all blackness with dots of starlight in the far distance was red. It was this spiral, partially consumed, disappearing as time passed. This was far more ethereal.

"There." Ida pointed to it, just in case they'd missed it. "On the edge. That red cloud. That used to be the Scarlet System, home to the Pallushi, a mighty civilisation spanning a billion years, disappearing... forever. Their planets and suns, consumed. Ladies and gentlemen, we have just witnessed it's passing."

She went to close it again, and the Doctor stopped her. "No, could you leave it open? Just for a bit? I won't go mad, I promise."

"How would you know?"

"We would." EJ his his smile. "Cos you've already gone cuckoo bananas."

It made the Doctor smile, and in a situation like this one, it could be no bad thing. Ida handed out a few jobs, "Scooti, check the airlock. Jefferson, sign of the airlock seals for me." And then everything returned back to the way it was.

It left only EJ, Rose and the Doctor together in the room, looking up at the space above them. There was a moment where EJ didn't want it to end, because it just looked so brilliant. And then, he remembered that he couldn't return home, which sealed the deal. As lovely as it was, it didn't compare to his family.