The Fall of Arcadia (Book ONE)

Chapter 12

Doctor:

"Baby, we said no" Alice said again, laughing at my desperate attempt to get them to come on the waterfall trip.

"Sapphire waterfall. 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" I begged, wanting to spend time with my best friend and girl friend.

"I bet you say that to all the girls" they laughed.

"Oh, come on. They're boarding now. It's no fun if I see it on me own. Four hours, that's all it takes"

"No, that's four hours there and four hours back. That's like a school trip. I'd rather go sunbathing" Donna sighed.

"And yes, Doctor, we'll be careful in the Xtonic sunlight, even though the brochure says the glass is 15 feet thick" Alice added, still laughing at me.

"All right, I give up. I'll be back for dinner, we'll try that anti gravity restaurant." I paused. "With bibs"

"That's a date. With a third wheel, you don't mind, right Donna?"

"As long as you don't start arguing over something stupid, I'll be fine."

"See you later, love you Alice"

"Love you too, Doc. And you be careful, all right?"

"Nah. Taking a big space truck with a bunch of strangers across a diamond planet called Midnight? What could possibly go wrong?" I grinned, knowing that she'd think I'd jinxed myself and come running.

Sure enough, 5 minutes later I was still sitting outside the bus and Alice ran up, her hair flying. "You dick, you knew that you'd jinxed yourself and that's why you said it!" she complained, hitting my shoulder.

"And? Come on Princess, I wanted to spend time with you and Donna. But just you is good too" I grinned, wrapping my arm around her waist and pulling her through the doors. "Not many people is it?"

"It's a regular thing, there's more than one bus at a time, Sweetheart." She lead me over to some spare seats and the hostess came straight over to give us our freebies.

"That's the headphones for channels one to thirty six. Modem link for 3D vidgames. Complimentary earplugs. Complimentary slippers. Complimentary juice pack and complimentary peanuts. I must warn you some products may contain nuts." she smiled and the lines around her eyes proved she did this often.

"That'll be the peanuts" we said together, making the woman wince.

"Enjoy your trip" and she moved on, giving stuff to the people behind us.

"Now she, could use a holiday" Alice muttered, looking out of the window.

"And so could we, you've save at least 6 planets in the last 4 days. Not to mention those children last night."

"My main problem was you complaining about the heat! Didn't mind getting to see you're stomach though." Alice grinned, patting it through my suit.

"Haha. Haven't we gone yet? Allons-y already!" I muttered. The people from behind us lent over and introduced themselves.

"Hobbes. Professor Winfold Hobbes" the older man said, holding out his hand. Alice shook it first then I did.

"I'm the Doctor and this is Alice. Hello"

"It's my 14th time" he said, sounding like he was going to gloat about something.

"Oh. Our first" Alice smiled politely, but i could see her attention was on the older woman sitting across the aisle from us.