After the Dancing is Done (Part 12)

[amythest_n_ice]

This poor plot bunny was a little cracked out after being forced to wait for so long, lol. 

http://amythest-n-ice.livejournal.com/40471.html
Link to Part 11
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Rose looked around as they stepped out of the TARDIS in a plain white room, the TARDIS tucked in between two banks of lockers.

 

“Um, where are we?” Rose asked.

 

“Luggage storage, for people who don’t have the patience to check into their hotels before heading out to have fun,” Jack grinned.

 

“And where are we in a larger sense, and what kind of fun will we be having?” she asked.

 

“Wait and see, it’s a surprise,” the Doctor chided, taking her hand. Jack closed in and took her hand on the other side, so that she was tucked between them as they headed for the door.

 

The door slid open at their approach, to reveal another white room, the one considerably larger, and bustling with people, more aliens than she had ever seen in one place. Two blue skinned females walked past arm in arm, giggling as they looked at a data pad they held between them. Jack ignored the bustle, guiding them around the drifting groups of people to a large map on the wall. It looked like one of those flattened globe maps that you got in geography at school, this one showing five color coded continents, separated by unbroken stretches of ocean.

 

“Rose, welcome to Planet Disney. There are five continents, each with its own use. Here, we have the amusement zone, one huge amusement park spanning the entire continent. This one is Aquatic, this one Space and Science, this one a huge nature reserve slash safari park, and this one is the hotel zone,” he said, pointing out each colored continent as he spoke.

 

“So, where are we right now?” she asked curiously, stepping closer to the map so she could follow what he was saying properly.

 

“This is central receiving, at the southern tip of the hotel zone; there is an island that isn’t on the map, the only island on the planet. Central receiving is where everyone arrives from the satellite that is in orbit over the planet. From here, you transmat to local receiving in whichever zone you’re heading for,” he gestured to banks of color coded transmat platforms as he said that.

 

“Once you are at local receiving, you tell the transmat operator your final destination within the zone, and they send you on to the last station. So, if we wanted to go to the Earth Zone, on the Nature Reserve continent, we would use that bank of transmats there, and at the local receiving station, we would tell the operator, Earth Zone. Simple.”

 

“Simple,” she said, looking slightly dazed.

 

“Well, I think for now, we should go and check into our rooms, get something to eat, and let Rose look through the booklet with the zone breakdowns in it,” the Doctor said, starting to lead them toward the right bank of transmats.

 

Half an hour later, they were in the restaurant of a really nice hotel in the Coastal Zone, which gave them a gorgeous view over the calm, clear ocean.

 

“So, how much time and effort would have gone into finding such a perfect planet for an amusement park?” she asked curiously as she looked at the map again. Everything seemed to be perfectly sized and perfectly spaced.

 

“None, all of the Disney planets were manufactured by the best planet builders in the universe, aside from mother nature herself of course, but Magrathean planets come with a warranty, while natural ones don’t,” Jack said, looking over the menu.

 

“Magrathea? Now I know you’re taking the piss. That was from that book, what do you call it, guide to the galaxy?”

 

“The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Um, most of that would be my fault, I never realized that the guy called Douglas that Fitz spent an entire night talking to once was a writer,” the Doctor mumbled.

 

“You gave him the idea for the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy?” Rose snickered.

 

“Well, Fitz did. He showed him the official guide, which was a data pad, which never once had the words ‘don’t panic’ on it; it just gave the best destinations and seasonal guides. He also told him about Magrathea. Douglas Addams simply created the rest of it himself,”

 

“Not all of it,” Jack said, blushing scarlet.

 

“What did you give him?” the Doctor asked, curious.

 

“I got talking to him at a party when I was in my first year at the agency, I was tracking an anachronous tech signal, and doesn’t that just explain it, why I never managed to find it, I was tracking the data pad that Fitz had, we were at the same damn party. He was telling me about the idea that was starting to build in his head, but he wasn’t sure what to do about main characters, so I told him about a couple of friends of mine,”

 

“So, you gave him Ford and Zaphod?” the Doctor asked.

 

“Yep. By the time I was done telling him about them, the signal I had been tracking was gone, you and Fitz must have left. I went out the back and transmatted away,” Jack finished.

 

“The thumb, you gave him the thumb as well, he must have followed you and seen you go,” the Doctor laughed.

 

“Poor guy, good job he wrote it off as fiction, or he would never have been published, he would have been in a nut house,” Rose laughed. It startled her a little that the two of them could have been so close to meeting once before, but she dismissed it, that kind of thing must happen all the time to time travelers.

 

The waitress came over, and the three of them placed their orders, then Rose turned her attention to the booklet Jack had handed her, studying the zones to see what she most wanted to try first. She kept being drawn to the Aquatic zone, she had always liked that kind of thing, and one of the zones listed was a boat safari, but it looked like you would need the whole day for that one.

 

“Can we try this one tomorrow?” She asked, flattening the book onto the table.

 

“Of course we can, this is for you Rose. What do you want to do the rest of today though?” the Doctor asked.

 

“The Amusement Zone and a little souvenir hunting, I think,” she grinned over at them as their meals were delivered.

 

“Ok, but if we’re eating first, I’m telling you now, I am not going on anything that will hang me upside down,” Jack laughed.

 

“Oh, I was going to pick the Rollercoaster Zone,” she teased, laughing as both he and the Doctor paled.

 

“Ah, there are my adventurous friends,” she hooted, opening the book to a page that seemed to be a pretty standard mix and match affair, a bit of everything.

 

tbc