#astra laughlin

Her guards were looking quite bored. Yaz shrugged. "Mabli called, there were a few alarms goin' off in the Hospice pods."

The Doctor frowned dramatically and tilted her head. Next came the confused nose scrunch. "That's at the base of the ship. There's no power down-" She stopped and quickly turned, racing down the hall, clutching her stomach still in pain. Yaz was hot on her heels and Ronan behind. They all entered the corridor leading to the assessment area when they saw flashing lights. But the power had been cut for that room. They ran into the room and found everything not a wall in the air, except Astra and her seat. The wind from nowhere whipped harshly and the Pting was trying to crawl along the wall to get closer to her. The wind couldn't be holding him off, but something was making his approach very lethargic. Upon closer inspection, the Time Lord eyes picked up on air distortions around the Pting. Every once in a while the creature would pause in and open its mouth. 

It all halted in a moment when Astra slowly blinked awake. She seemed to have no understanding of the chaos descending around her. She sat up herself and saw the mess with groggy eyes. The Pting lunged with a scream and the brunette turned around with Supernatural speed, catching it around the neck, its legs wrapping her forearm and mouth biting at her fingers. Astra threw him up the hole he must've come through and stepped back. The Doctor masterfully conducted herself through the debris, limping some, and hugged Astra - or tried to - from behind. Astra noticed of course and turned to her, hugging back in relief. She left one hand off the alien's back and looked at the healing corroded burns. Astra kissed the other woman's cheek and whispering in Latin with her hand down the injured stomach. The Doctor gasped and pulled back, glaring and understanding something she hadn't before. The two of them walked back to the doorway, away from the tiny being. 

Yaz immediately hugged Astra once they were close enough. "Thank you for saving our lives," she said with immense weight. 

"What is the situation elsewhere?" the man beside Yaz asked, standing very stiff. 

The Doctor looked at him, the both of them, and made her way between, the brunette tucked under her arm again. "Eve's piloting the ship, Durkas is maintaining controls and signals, you were supposed to be guarding the particle accelerator...." The ship shifted midspeech and the group of five staggered some but regained equilibrium easily. "Mabli, Graham and Ryan are presumably delivering Yoss's baby, and the bomb's going to detonate, so I'm just going to move it away from the anti-matter generator room." Of course, they came to what looked like a regular wall until it opened on its own. The room hosted a massive that kind of looked like a coin case. It made donating more child-friendly in America. "Mind helping?" she mumbled in your ear. 

"Mm, just moving a bomb, huh?" she clarified, trying to catch up with the drama that was the Doctor's life. 

The Doctor smirked down at her, grabbing her sonic on instinct. It lit easily and she seemed surprised, gasping and smiling like a dope. "Clever sonic. Self-rebooting." She pointed it at the bottom of the machine. 

"There's a bomb in this room?" the strange male asked in a strangely calm tone, as if he didn't truly care. 

"Right in here," the Doctor answered honestly. Of course. In a life or death moment, that's when she was unafraid to give all the details. She started circling the machine, scanning the base of it the entire time. "Mabli said that Resus One would terminate the ship if they found a Pting on board. How would they do that? It's too far for missiles. It has to be the same for every Tsurangan Rescue Craft." 

Yaz circled the device in the opposite direction of the Doctor. "It's built in. Self-detonation." 

"Bingo." The Doctor bounced her pointer finger at the woman. "Ten points for Yasmin Khan. And yes, I am keeping score, for all of you." She turned to the man. "Ronan, up your game. Jokes!" she tried to quip at the man. 

"So, we're on a spaceship," Astra seemed to just be figuring out. 

"Yea," the Doctor whispered.

"With a creature that eats-"

"Already been through this, Astra," the Doctor cut her off. "With Graham."

"Yeah, not me, and I have questions!" the brunette snipped with a childish stomp. 

The blonde smirked over at her, thinking her tantrum was cute. She held out her hands and leaned down. "So..." Pressing her fingers to the base, a hidden compartment came out and there was a blinking ascendant inside. 

"You're interfering with a bomb?" Ronan asked. 

"Yes," the Doctor admitted with some weight. 

"Is it going to detonate?"

"Yes."

They were both like robots, answering each other's questions in the same tone. "What will you do?"

"Speed it up. To save our lives."

The man looked behind the Doctor and asked Yaz, "Are you also experiencing comprehension deficiency?"

The Doctor bent down and Astra knelt, watching her. 

"Oh, every day right now, mate," Yaz responded, maybe a little dramatically. 

Astra could suppose she was also 'experiencing comprehension deficiency' but she'd slept half the episode away!

The blonde delicately lifted the bomb from its compartment. "Need to be so careful. Tiny little device. Could blow us all to pieces." Astra stood in unison to the Doctor and the blonde sort of appreciated it. She knew she wasn't alone and Astra likely had the perfect spell on the tip of her tongue. She didn't. Astra couldn't speak a spell faster than a bomb could detonate, but she could wield the energy and now she was picking up on the Doctor's plan. "And I'm going to set it off," the ancient alien added a little too casually. "Ronan, keep guard. Astra, come on." She walked out the door, eyes never leaving the device in her hand. 

"What do I do?" Yaz asked after the two of you. 

"We'll leave that to your discretion," Astra commented back, just loud enough for her to hear. The Doctor didn't need loud noises in her already super ears lest she jolt. She turned back to her girlfriend and rested her hands on her shoulders. "I'm sorry you've been dealing with this with me unconscious." 

"Couldn't be helped," the Doctor responded off-handedly. 

"Okay..."

The witch was cut off by quick footsteps joining them. "I decided if we were about to die, not that I think we are," she added to the Doctor so she didn't get offended and start arguing. "I'd rather be around someone from my home, you know." 

"That's funny because we're all completely different by Earth's standards," Astra quipped. "But yeah, friends rock, kinda thing." 

"You know what's funny: I'm normally the one defusing the bomb," the Doctor added as they turned a curve. She held out her sonic, holding the bomb with one hand. She used her magic wand to open the door to a little room. She set it on the floor and turned to the brunette. "Pick a number between 1 and 100." 

Perks of trusting someone, you could say the first thing that came to mind. "37."

A smile perked up her face before she turned to the bomb and sonicked it." A prime. Interesting." It started beeping and the Doctor left the room. She pointed to an alcove. "Get in that corner," she ordered. The younger females obliged and they all sort of huddled together. 

"What was the number for?" Yaz asked, confused. And honestly Astra was confused too. And hungry. 

"Number of seconds before the bomb goes off. I moved it forward a bit." 

Astra hated when the Doctor explained late. "What?!" she yelped, surely attracting the Pting more. "Why didn't you say that? I would've picked a bigger number!"

The Doctor looked at her girlfriend with slight concern. "No, it's a good number, 37. Atomic number of rubidium, human body temperature in Celsius, ooh and Kepler-37b is one of the smallest planets I've ever been on. Had to have the TARDIS expand her shields so I could breathe and not float away." Was her defense mechanism story time?

"That's how you flirt? You compliment by number, my very small number. It's gotta be already halfway gone!" She pushed the other two girls behind her and held up her hands. She wanted to create a shield, but the Doctor put a hand on her shoulder. Of course, the thing had already gone after her once. With a groan, she kept her magic dormant, trying to make herself as small as she could with her energy. She would just have to catch a bomb explosion and try to make a magic wall really quick. 

Yaz turned to the blonde she was squished in a corner with. "I'm really trusting you on this bomb, but I don't know what you're doing."

"Think of the Pting as a mouse, and the bomb as a piece of cheese." Yup, analogy time. 

"A very large piece of cheese about to explode and take us all with it," Yaz quipped back. 

"It's not a perfect analogy, I'll admit. Astra could've picked a bigger number!" she yelled defensively. She walked out into the hall, looking up the other way because they were in a dead end. "Where is it? Come on." As the beeping sped up, she returned to the pod and looked down at the bomb. "As the bomb gets closer, the energy's building, getting ready to blow. The Pting must be attracted to that, surely." She turned back to the two of you and the three of them huddled back in the corner at Astra's gesturing. She also put herself back at the front. She must really believe she could protect them from the vacuum of space. "That's what I've been working on this whole time. Oh, please don't be wrong. I'd be so embarrassed."

"And dead," Yaz added. 

The little thing came walking up the hall, chewing on a power coil. 

The Doctor gloated from the corner she was stuffed in, "I'm not bad. Admit it. I'm not bad. It's all in the timing." The Pting turned to look at the girls, hissing at them. His already big eyes dilated when fixed on Astra. "Not her, mate," the Doctor scolded firmly, arm peaking around the witch's side to hold her midsection. Then she softened her voice so he'd listen. "Get some'n you can actually eat." She nodded to the bomb, pointing a little. The little monster tilted its head at the energy that couldn't defend itself. The ship was trembling more now. Whatever was controlling it was failing. "Really, get a shift on."

Stumbling in, the Pting hopped over the door sill, picked up the bomb and finally swallowed it whole.

"Whoa," Astra toned. 

"Wait for it," the Doctor added and ran forward, sonicking the door shut. The inside of the Pting blew and it relaxed, floating around the room with a calmness. "Absorbed every bit of energy. One massive, massive hit. Bye-bye, Pting. Intruder ejected." She pressed the button with a two-fingered salute and the outer airlock hatch opened. The Pting was sucked out. "First problem, gone. That should keep it fed for a very long time. Still not home and dry, though." The ship jerked again and the Doctor fell against the door, Astra and Yaz grabbing a wall. The blonde led them through the halls again and they entered another room where a lady dressed in white was laying on the ground, not moving. "Eve!" the Doctor called and the women fell around the woman. 

Yaz set a massive machine in her hands that Astra just noticed down on the ground. "What happened?" she asked the man hooked up to the base at his feet. 

"Her heart couldn't take it. She gave me control," he croaked out. 

The Doctor gave Eve a once-over. "Do you know how to do this?" she asked the man. 

"I'm a Cicero. I studied for this." The Doctor stood and walked over to stand with the pilot. "We're coming into Resus One. Resus One, request emergency assistance landing. Bringing her in safe," he called out, likely over his headset, though Astra couldn't see how he keyed up. 

"Thank you. Both," the Doctor bade to the man then to the body. 

Later, they were all standing in a room with Eve Cicero written in an alien tongue on the outside of the room. Astra stood beside the Doctor while a lady she hadn't seen yet seemed to be the authority onboard explained to the Doctor what was going on. They must've talked. Well, enough for the Doctor to leave the kind of mark she did just by talking to someone. "They, er... they say quarantine scanning and craft detox should take no more than three hours, then they'll admit us to the facility. They're booking your teleport to Seffilun, as soon as you've spoken to the investigators." 

The blonde had one of the brunette's hand in her own, the other behind her back. "Thank you, Mabli. I'll be sure to tell them how brilliant you were." She used her free hand to hold Mabli's arm. 

"You all were. Light in dark times," she commented gratefully. 

Astra was so confused, but got the gist. She knew the woman wasn't talking about her and she couldn't help but marvel at what the time traveler did wherever she went. Mostly, because she found trouble wherever she went. "People prevail. Hope prevails," the Doctor commented. She was such a sap. Astra couldn't help but smile at her. 

The male pilot who was apparently related to the now-dead impromtu... pilot spoke to the stiff man who also seemed to have been close to the dead woman. "What happens to you now, without her?" the pilot asked. 

He of course did not react, despite the information he was about to admit. "I've come to the end of my service. There is only shutdown." Oh, Astra's God. He was really a robot?!

"I'm sorry, Ronan. I wasn't always kind to you," the man confessed. 

"No."

"You gave her great service."

Ok, Astra was bored again. But, then, she knew nothing of the backstories here. 

"As did you," said the robot. 

"Will you incant for her?"

"It would be my honour."

The Doctor brought Astra forward with a joined hand. "Could we join you?" she asked. It seemed it would be her honour as well. 

"Please," the family member obliged. 

The robot began what the Doctor and all the rest who knew the words joined into: "May the saints of all the stars and constellations bring you hope as they guide you out of the dark and into the light on this voyage and the next, and all the journeys still to come. For now and evermore." 

A star's pinprick of light seemed to go through the walls, manifesting a human's height from the ground. It was a robot, obviously, but dressed in a uniform and it had a hat. Between its hands rested a red lined box. He had his own intro song. "Delivery for the Doctor."

The Doctor jumped into the air, a wide grin splitting her face as she circled the console, leaving them where they were. "It's the Kerblam man!" she shouted excitedly. She stood directly in front of the robot. 

Astra slowly stepped down the octagonal steps, meeting her at the robot. 

"The what?" Yaz demanded, conveniently still against the boy she'd gone to school with. 

The Doctor glanced backwards at them. "The Kerblam man," she repeated, still excited. 

"You're just making sounds now," Graham complained, as he was wont to do. 

The Doctor very carefully took the box from the robot. "Delivery fulfilled," it retreated. "And remember if you want it," both the robot and the alien leaned sideways, "Kerblam it!" Then it disappeared with another 3 musical notes. 

The Doctor turned around, looking down at the box. 

"Space postman. I've seen it all now," Graham gaped. 

The blonde knelt and Astra did not notice her calf poking from behind the box. But she did divert her eyes. "Delivery bots. Kerblam's the biggest retailer in this galaxy," she explained, opening the package. "I don't remember ordering anything. Must've been a while back." She pulled a red fez from the box, bubble wrap on the inside. She let out a  low gasp and smiled. "What do you think?" She flipped it upside down, the tassel hanging widely. She looked at them all. "Still me?" 

A pale hand reached across the space and tucked some blonde hair, smushed beneath the rim of the hat, out from her nose. "'d have to be here for last time, love," she whispered. 

The trio watched the interaction with a bittersweet feeling. She still wouldn't come within arm's reach of them most of the time. "Nice," Graham commented all the same, leaning back on the console now that the turbulence had ceased. Yaz picked up a piece of paper from the box.

The women looked over at him, slight abashed to be so public with Astra's touch, which she retracted. 

Ryan picked up the innards of the hat, laughing. "Check it out, they even use bubble wrap." He squeezed a few between his fingers. 

"I love bubble wrap," Astra commented. The boy handed the slip out between them. She seized one and they both popped one together. Astra smiled. Ryan felt accomplished and walked toward Graham laughing. 

"Doctor, look at this," Yaz ordered. She looked very concerned and Astra looked too. "On the back of the packing slip."

The blonde read it out loud once standing: "Help me." Astra frowned. 

Ryan grinned from his corner popping the rest of the wrap. "Probably someone just bored out their mind, mucking about. Trust me, I've been there. You should have seen what we used to hide inside the trainers." He had a very odd employment history. 

"What if it's not?" Yaz demanded urgently. "What if someone really is in trouble?" 

The Doctor looked about her democracy. 

Astra didn't wait for her opinion to be asked, taking her fez and placing it on her own head. She held her hands on her hips and smiled weakly at the gang. "Well, nothing like this was getting past the Doctor anyway."

The Doctor smiled toothily at the brunette, her eyes practically alight as her Fam appealed to her better tendancies. She walked to the console again. "Right. Kerblam, here we come." She released the brake and off they went. They soon landed, oddly in the right place, they just hoped in the right time. The Doctor stepped out first and introduced them to their new habitat."There's the planet Kandoka, and we're on its moon. Kerblam turned it into one massive warehouse." 

"Look at the size of it," Graham gaped. 

"There must be thousands of people in there." The woman was starting to doubt her plan. "How are we going to find out who sent that message?"

Ryan winced in the face of capitalism. "Halfway across the universe, and I feel like I'm back at work."

Astra rubbed the back of her neck. "Does Kerblam! have HR?" she asked. 

Their leader paused, despite already not moving. She turned to the group. "Brilliant. Come on."

Astra and Ryan shared a confused look but followed the intentioned blonde. 

"We're going under cover. Chop chop."

Red seemed to be the mascot colors of Kerblam! and it popped everywhere they went. The group walked the red carpet to a desk which was labeled 'reception'. The Doctor of course led off the lies. She said they were in for their first day of training. Unluckily, their story was a pile of dung and the blonde lied their way in. 

"Sorry, who are you?" Astra asked, weirded out by the auto-matrons and bipedals, some both, walking around. 

The woman was a bit quirky or perhaps just unused to social interactions. She turned back to them, finally introducing herself, "Judy Maddox. Head of People." 

The brunette couldn't help but wonder if there was an 'of people' job available. One worker treated a robot as if he was a human co-worker, quite amusedly. "Morning, Les. How are the family?"

The robot speaking to him lit up around the mouth. "Good morning, Daniel. My name is not Les, but I acknowledge your amusing co-worker banter."

Daniel rolled his eyes, looking over at them. "Every morning. So much for machine learning." 

"Have a great day, Dan." The machine turned sideways with a wave. Almost like they were truly faking being human. 

As they passed the robots, the Doctor easily greeted the machine which responded enthusiastically. 

"Is it me, or are they pretty creepy?" Ryan mumbled to his Earthling friends. 

"It ain't you," Graham answered. 

The Doctor turned around to scold the pair. "Oi, you two, that's robophobic."

"We still have to deal with that bull-"

A sharp glare and insistent talking over Astra cut her off: "Some of my best friends are robots."

"You'll be right at home here, then," Yaz added in her own two cents. 

It was something of a walk, but the elevator ride was the longest, like they were in the moon. 

All six of them crammed into the mostly teleport automated company elevator meant that Astra and the Doctor were pressed very close to one another. Ironically, so was Ryan and Yaz, but they seemed to have a bit of space in front of them. 

"How are you doing?" the alien whispered to her fellow alien at the moment. 

Brown eyes raised to meet the Doctor's. "I'm ok," she whispered back, hot breath gusting over the Doctor's collarbones. 

They were all brought to a machine very much like an MRI. Meanwhile, Judy explained,"The System allocates work details based on fitness, stamina, dexterity and mental assessments."

The Doctor jumped when one of the HR bots walked past. "Same model as the Kerblam Man. I love the Kerblam Man," she admitted like a guilty pleasure. Astra smirked beside her, covering her mouth. 

The bot held out its hand and waved it forward to move him along. "The TeamMates are the friendly face of the System." The Doctor got in, next in line. "They're here to assist and to supervise the organic workers."

"Organic?" Graham repeated, horrified. 

Judy laughed. "Oh, sorry. Listen to me. You get so used to the jargon. Gone native." An oddity was brought to her attention from the system. "Two hearts?" she questioned the Doctor. The hybrid wondered to herself if there was anything... odd on her that the machine could detect. 

"Courtesy of the First Lady," the Doctor spat out as a lie, immediately turning to leave the machine. "Very good healthcare policy, I don't like to talk about it. So, Kerblam is completely automated?" she asked from beside Graham. 

Astra stepped in the scanner, but Judy was so busy talking she didn't start the scan until she was done. "No. Ninety percent, as per Kandokan guidelines. Proud to be a certified Ten Percent People-Powered Company. I know some people are against quotas, but I am all for that one. Mind you, I would say that, Head of People. Self-interest. It's funny, I don't normally talk this much." She pushed up her glasses and went to press the button, but the lighting all went down. Astra used that moment to step out and next to the Doctor. 

"Oh. Don't worry. It'll come back online in a moment." And after she said that, the lights on hte console flickered on and the rest came back slowly. 

"Not paid your bills?" the Doctor asked. 

Graham smiled as if it were a joke, but that was and oddity. 

"Build a warehouse on a moon, it's never going to be perfect. We get the occasional power drain, it's down to the self-optimisation systems."

Yaz had a question from inside the scanner, being the one who encouraged them to be there. "How's the morale among the workers?" 

Judy paused to think. "I like to think very good." She stepped closer to them. "It's my job to make sure that everyone's happy. Not that it's difficult. I mean, we're all so grateful to have a job, right? We all know how hard they are to come by. No, I hope that people feel it's a privilege to work at Kerblam."

As she was speaking, the robots that looked like delivery bots but apparently weren't had approached them from behind. They weren't stealthy or sneaky, didn't care to try to be and oerhaps that made it more creepy. "Relax as I fix your GroupLoop," one ordered as they all attached anckle monitors with different colored lights. 

"Are we under house arrest?" Graham asked, ever observant.

"Oh, no. The GroupLoops monitor productivity and report back to the System," Judy assured, but that felt like a threat. To have someone know and care and be a stickler about how long and when you go to the bathroom or take a mental health break to just talk to someone. Sounded toxic. 

"I wore one of these at me last job," Ryan commented, obviously feeling as Astra was thinking. 

Judy looked up at him in surprise. "Oh, really? Where was that?"

"SportStack. People's Republic of South Yorkshire."

"Hmm. I don't know it. But it's nice to meet someone with experience. You'll feel right at home."

"Yeah."

"Right, time for the tour." Judy held her hand out, guiding them out along the massive warehouse. Nobody better really be scared of heights. "600 million products, 10,000 employees. The biggest human workforce in this galaxy. Welcome to Kerblam."

"Welcome to another rewarding shift at Kerblam, fulfilling orders from the human colony of Kandoka," the intercom announced. 

They all looked over the railing. "10,000 workers, one little message." He laughed and went to follow Judy. 

The Doctor nodded at the vastness. "Might take a while, this." 

It seemed like a regular amazon-like warehouse. Fully functional, it seemed, but, during the tour, they ran into the same man who joked with the robot that morning. 10000 workers and they found the same person twice? Might not take that long. As they traveled, watching the people scan items with more machines and push carts, wrap gifts, close boxes, it seemed something the robots could do. But if someone had to work at Kerblam!, perhaps humans would go best in manufacturing. But the robots could do repeated tasks on a conveyor belt like the humans were on now. Not that they were around to ride them. Well, someone had to manage the robots, fix them when broken, keep track of them all, something . But Astra feared that was humanities future. Judy said they were grateful to have jobs. What a nightmare. 

Once at the end of their little tour, they were asked if they had questions. The Doctor jumped with her hand up. "Can I do the packing slips?"

Judy ducked her head, though still with authority. "Sorry, only purple GroupLoops work the packing stations."

The Doctor looked down at her... GroupLoop which was white. Graham and Ryan had the desired purple, while Yasmin had red and Astra's was green.

"Leisure breaks in the HomeZone." Judy held out her hands. "Right, I'll leave you in the capable hands of the TeamMates. I'll be checking in on you, make sure you're okay. Got to keep an eye on the ten percent. As my dad used to say, go, Organics!" she shouted like an audience member of a baseball game. "He was a bit odd, my dad," she gave them one last odd comment before leaving. 

"Apple doesn't fall far from the tree," Astra mumbled. 

Graham stepped forward and patted her arm. "I was thinkin' just the same."

The Doctor gave a quick look around then ducked to scan his GroupLoop. "Stand still, Graham."

Though confused, the man obeyed, looking down. "What are you doing?"

"Switching jobs with you. I need purple," she explained, switching their colors by sonicking each. She stood up to explain to his face. "Whoever sent that message had access to the packing stations. That's where I need to be."

"And where does that leave me?" Graham asked. 

A robot faced the group of five and cut into the dialogue with its projecting voices. 

"Hello, co-workers. We're so thrilled to have you with us. Yasmin Khan, please come with me. Ryan Sinclair and the Doctor - great name - with my colleague to the left." The not-man held its arm out to another robot who waved. "Hello, team."

Yaz faced Ryan. "Meet at break time in the Home Zone?" she offered a plan.

"Yes, ma'am," the boy obeyed. 

The Doctor nodded too. "Roger Wilco. Oh, did I ever tell you about a bloke I met called Roger Wilco?" she started babbling to Ryan who let his head fall back at his indefinite sentence. 

Graham stammered out to the two leaving. "What about me? Where am I going?" he asked, just as another robot approached. 

The lack of a heartbeat or breath or bloodflow was unsettling to Astra, but it was nice not having many temptations around. But the robot held a mop and a bucket, greeting the human, "Graham O'Brien. A very warm welcome to Premium Maintenance." It held out the utensils.

Graham took the mop, pointing it threateningly at their friends. "Not a word."

A person stood behind the robot, a flesh and bloody one that Astra looked around the robot to see. She jumped out dramatically, also a bit weird and with jazz hands. "Astra Laughlin! So nice to meet you! I'm Corey; I'll be your trainer. Welcome to Personnel!"  She was too enthusiastic.

Astra stood there, staring at her, feeling like Wednesday Addams at summer camp.

The Doctor took a step back towards her. "You gonna be alright?" she asked worriedly. The young immortal was still new to her... consequences. 

It was the reminder she needed that she used to be human - at least mostly - and this should be a breeze. The brunette smiled and took her blonde's hand. "10% may be 10,000, but it's better than 100 so yeah, I'll be alright." She winked at the woman, stepping away so only distance could separate their hands. 

Next Chapter

The blonde smiled sympathetically from her taller pile of junk. "It couldn't have been more than a month. Unless that was Seffilun 59," she realized, slowing and standing up. 

"Which one's this?" Yaz called calmly. 

"Seffilun 27. Maybe 59's the one with a big pile of these." She picked up their model machine. "That's the problem with junk galaxies, all the planets look the same. It's hard to keep track." That was a shite excuse. 

"If we've wasted the last four hours on the wrong planet..." Graham immediately began complaining. 

"Oi! Who took you rainbathing in the upward tropics of Kinstarno?" the Doctor snapped back. 

Graham held up a hand, accepting that. "Oh, no, no. Listen, that's amazing. I was just saying, like, needle..." He pointed to the machine, then gestured to the junk. "...haystack."

"Yeah, you might be right," the blonde conceded. 

Right on time, Graham's detector started squeaking. "No, hold on. I've found something!" 

They all fell in together around his find and the Doctor moved the useless top pieces. Something underneath all the rubble was blinking with a red light. It was a circular device and it looked a bit like a landmine. "I'm sorry," was all she said. 

"What's he found?" Yaz asked. 

"Nobody move," the Doctor commanded. She knelt and scanned the devcie with her sonic, but the blinking and beeping sped up. "If I can keep it in temporal lock..." She tried to scan it to apply the application. "No, it's got too many sensors, it won't work. It was camouflaged! This is someone's idea of a nasty joke." She stood back up, feet planted. 

Astra grabbed the Doctor's arm. "What is it?" she asked, enunciating. 

"Sonic mine. It's counting down."

"How long we got?" Graham asked. 

The Doctor was reading her sonic. "Three, t-"

Astra jumped into action, speed-running to grab Graham and Ryan, racing them a few meters back. She raced back for Yaz and get her with the other two humans, hearing the blonde finish the second number. The sonic had started letting off an energy the brunette could see slowly rippling the small air around it. She ran in front of the Doctor, shoving her back with one hand and forcing the other out. She super-speed spat out, "Ohun pada!" Your own energy rippled back at the explosion, making a super collapse of their surroundings and sucking the two non-humans toward the mine as it was returned to ineffectiveness. 

Everything went black for the couple. 

*

While the Doctor and Astra were out, a spaceship had picked the group up. The humans were oddly unaffected while the two superior-built seemed to have taken the brunt of it. They stood in a large white room, hovering around the couple. The blonde slowly came around, very slowly. It was something of an alarm for the trio as she never slowed down. Proving it, the Doctor sat up abruptly, though she didn't stand. 

A man hovered in front of the Doctor, at her height. "It's all right, you're safe. Just don't make any sudden moves. Your body'll take a moment to catch up," he advised. 

A woman was standing beside the man, bent to have her head at the Doctor's height. "Can you point out your medtag for me? I can't find it anywhere."

"We've told you. They haven't got any medtags," Yaz snapped from behind the alien pair. 

"Where are we?" the Doctor pitched out, very out of it. 

"We're in hospital," Graham explained, also standing behind the medical professional. "They've just brought you round."

The Doctor stared at them, confused as to why they were watching and not getting treated.

Ryan waved his hand over at the other chair. "Astra's still out." 

The Doctor turned her head quickly, watching the world spin on the outer skirts of her vision. She laid re-adjusted eyes on the weak and unconscious brunette, limp against the chair she was on, identical to her own. The air around Astra seemed to vibrate much like the sonic mine's execution, but it didn't hover over an inch over her skin. She was as beautiful as ever, but she looked paler under the bright lights of a space ship. Her skin was a little sunken by her cheeks and her hand was lax and conforming to the armrest it was on. Her long hair was trailing the fabric of the chair and hanging over the sides. She didn't move besides breathing and vibrating herself. She took turns with the air. 

The female walked over to the shaking girl, scanning her with a device, again looking for something she didn't have. The Doctor wanted to speak up in her defense, but she was still not feeling right. The woman looked over at them all as she explained. "Except you must have. We need your full bio-history, allergies, fluid levels, lifespan data."

The man scanning the Doctor was looking at her vital signs on his on device, rather than seeking her information. "It's basically to help us avoid killing you. Take it slow," he advised. 

"There was... a sonic mine..." the Doctor concluded haltingly. 

The man stood and worked on a wall computer. "Yeah, the robo-dredgers notified us as they detected the explosion. Only there wasn't one." He turned and looked at the healthy humans. "Care to explain why four out of the five of you are majorly unaffected?" 

Graham pointed at Astra. "That girl over there's a genius and she saved us. How 'affected' is she?" he asked in concern. 

The man looked over at their younger victim. "She's lucky. I've seen quite a few sonic mine injuries here. They disrupt your internal organic stability, whilst churning up the exterior environment. Tsuranga's actually agitating for the territories to be swept more fully, but..." Soemthing on the wall computer beeped and he went back over to it. "That doesn't make sense."

"Tsuranga?" the Doctor echoed. 

The man continued to babble at his screen, and the Doctor continued to babble to herself. "I know that name." She went to her feet but never made it and her knees hit the ground. She felt a wobbly feeling let out quite a bit of pain on her side and laid an arm across her middle. She was slightly stunned the mine hadn't triggered a regeneration. It should've melted both her hearts, she was standing so close to it. "Where have I heard the name Tsuranga?" she mumbled to herself. With a groaned "whatever", she shook off the hands of the two medics trying to help her up and back to her seat. "Very grateful. Need to get back to our ship." She forced herself to her feet, stiffening her legs forcefully. Very powerful, the Doctor's mind was. "Oh!" she groaned again, still holding her side. "Come on, you lot." She slumped sideways and used it to head toward the sleeping brunette. She tapped her face gently, hating to wake her, but needing her up. "Astra," she sang a bit. "Back to my ship," she explained a bit, rubbing her cheek. "C'mon, darlin'. Don't make me carry you." 

Her fam surrounded her without her knowing, revealing her slow brain still trying to catch up. "Nah, I will," Ryan insisted. The blonde was obviously in pain and he wasn't even sure she could carry Astra now. 

The man stepped partway in front of the group, hand out across Astra's middle. "You can't move her. We don't know how she's still alive, but she is stable, for now."

The Doctor frowned up at the man. It made some sense. Sonic mines weren't to be trifled with. She was pushing it trying to leave now. She pointed at him, almost threateningly. "We'll be back. My med room on my ship is more advanced." She turned and walked away. 

The man tried to grab at her, but Graham stepped in between. He soon got the picture and shouted only to try to convince them to come back, as he followed them through the halls. 

The woman stood over Astra, scanning her vital signs again. She didn't know if 129 was a normal heart rate because the other had an average 178 beats per minute. The brunette only had one heart, though, and the blonde, two. She really wasn't feeling confident. 

"Which way is out?" the Doctor demanded shrilly, out in a hallway that went in different directions with walls alight. 

"Can you return to the assessment zone, please? We're not discharging you. You need to rest." The man cut through the group to face the obvious leader and most injured passenger that was trying to move. 

The Doctor insisted on continuing to walk, and tried her best to use her manners, but she was impatient and hurting and worried for her girlfriend. She groaned again with the side pain. "I appreciate how much you've looked after us, but my ship is very valuable. It's also my home, our home. And I'm worried about leaving it here on a junk planet where people come and scavenge. I might never see it again, and I need it to get these three home home."

While walking, the man was getting updates on his wrist and he came to the simultaneous conclusion that the blonde needed to be back asleep to let herself heal. "Wait here," he ordered, foolishly believing they would obey. 

But the Doctor continued to guide the humans through Tsuranga, trying to find the exit. She wandered into two separate rooms for patients, but found no answers. She was still in pain but determined to get to her own med room. They found a celebrity and a pregnant man before the medical personnel caught up with them. 

It was the woman and she was oddly defensive. "Look, you can't keep disturbing all the other patients." Stepping out of the room, she shouted down the hall, "Astos, found them. They're here in Pod Two."

The Doctor bid the man goodbye with good wishes but someone finally questioned the plan. 

"What do you mean, go? How are you going to do that?" he asked curiously. 

With a confused smile, the Doctor reflected, "What do you mean?"

The man, Astos, entered the room with them. "We have been trying to tell you."

The blonde froze and everything came together again. "Yes, you have." She walked around the room before dropping to her knees, hands on the floor. "Vibrations. Too wrapped up in myself. Missed the vibrations." She was almost distraught at what it meant. 

The man knelt beside her. "I was trying to break it to you gently."

The word finally came to the Doctor, everything clicking at once. "Tsuranga. This isn't a hospital. It's a ship. And we're already in flight."

"What?!" Yaz demanded, high pitched. How did they not notice?

Astos told the group all at once. "Tsuranga operates emergency medical transport. This is a QuadZone Rescue Craft."

"We didn't know it was a space ship!" Graham yelped defensively. 

The woman knelt on the other side of the Doctor. "You'll be fine. We'll be at Resus One soon enough."

Her brains were making connections, but she still didn't have all of the answers. "Uh... how long were we out for?" she asked, despite one of her companions still being out. 

"Four days," Ryan answered, also coming to terms with their distance from the TARDIS. 

The Doctor leaned forward dramatically, placing her forehead on the floor. "Four days' flight from the Tardis! Argh!" she mused and screamed and stood. She turned back to the exit of the room. "I'm walking. Argh. No need to walk with me. I need to walk on my own. Four days. Walking. Come on, limbs," she commanded herself, grumbling. 

*~*

Of course the Doctor knew where to get weed. In her TARDIS. She must've gotten it and stashed it here then forgotten, only the TARDIS' reminder preventing them from returning to Earth. So the couple sat in an odd storage room of the ship, sitting on piled boxes because that was what it was all stored in. The Doctor used her sonic to light the tip and Astra giggled. The Doctor walked her through, step by step. 

The younger immortal still coughed every hit, leaning heavily into the blonde who took her chance in that moment. It took until you hit it good and hard for a fuzzy haze to settle in your eyes and brain. "Is that how you can tell it's working?" she asked her tour guide. 

The Doctor was never not staring at the bizarre brunette. She was aware that Astra hadn't said anything after hitting it so she allowed her own mind's limits to stretch. She felt her telepathy reach for an equally telepathic individual. She would have to ask how psychic normal witches were then do some of her own math to see how much stronger Astra was. But for now she focused on how the Earthling felt, and yes she was lightly buzzed. It was adorable to see how the brunette cataloged everything with herself while trying new things. It reminded the Time Lord of herself, honestly. She rubbed her shoulders. "Yup!" she chirped cheerily, taking a few breaths and holding it with her respiratory bypass. Of course she knew how to help this affect her more as it was harmless to her lungs. It was still Earth-grown, though, and meant for human standards. She needed something from New New x57 York to actually inebriate a Time Lord. But they could work their way up to that. The Doctor was sure her young companion would built immunity to many things in this universe and the Doctor would of course help with that (not necessarily by exposing her to a lot) including eventually purchasing such high level stuff. She handed over the roll. 

Astra leaned all the way into the Doctor's side, careful not to get the coat singed. Half an hour later, they were looting the kitchen. Her little witch couldn't stop laughing. Everything the Doctor did, she found either adorable and snogged the breath from her or cracked her up so she couldn't breathe. She'd had to super speed to the bathroom a few times. 

"How can your hunger be settled without blood?" the Doctor asked once they were seated on her couch in a room she was certain she'd never been in before. 

That stirred the brunette and she was a bit more serious. "I'm still half human, and vampires themselves are part human so really I'm three fifths human. If I ever activate my last part, I'll only be a little vampire." 

She explained that as well as the Doctor would. "I love you," the blonde blurted. Four heartbeats sounded very loudly. 

Perhaps her mind affected her vampirism more than she thought. Astra seemed completely sober in a few heartbeats. "And I love you. Have... for a while now." 

The Doctor's hearts hadn't slowed since before the confessions, but she took several breaths. It didn't help them, but it loosened the fear in her chest. Hazel eyes, their golden flecks, they were enchanting but haunted. She showed it so rarely, but she was an old man with a lifetime of regrets. She didn't want you to become one as well. So she kissed you. She could be brave, for you. 

The blonde moved to stand directly in front of him in case the device was a weapon. "Because it knew what you were planning." She understood all at once with a wince. "The maintenance man. Access to everywhere, noticed by hardly anyone."

"You've been killing other workers?" Judy tried to understand, thinking about stepping forward but considering it a poor idea. 

"I needed test subjects to be sure the detonation force would work in such a small concentration," the boy said very quickly. 

"What? Charlie, how do you know all this stuff?"

The curly haired boy looked at her like she was an idiot. "I lied on my application. Gave you a sob story, so you'd let me in, and you bought it. I've studied cybernetics, explosives, teleportation. I have worked for this."

Judy shook her head. "I don't understand."

"Ten percent? They want us to be grateful that ten percent of people get to work? What about the other ninety percent? What about our futures? Because without action, next time it will be seven percent, then five, then one."

Astra tilted her head, moving to stand by the Doctor. "I can understand that, but it's not 10% of human population. It's 10% of Kerblam's workforce. You want more jobs? Make them. Kerblam's already working under that capacity, so yeah, maybe they will drop it again, but this won't fix anything."

The boy pointed at himself. "I am stronger than you." 

"That's a no," Astra argued. 

"I am not going to stand by and accept it. People like me, my generation, we change things. We make things happen."

"Even if it costs people's lives. You kill a load of customers at Kerblam, let the systems take the fall for it, erode people's trust in automation, make people angry," the Doctor explained, accused. 

"Imperfect technology, without a conscience. Machines malfunction, that's what they do," Charlie taunted like he'd outsmarted them all. 

Graham shook his head from where he still stood. "No, mate, that's what you're doing. Seriously malfunctioning."

"I'm not your mate!" Charlie shouted. 

"Except Kerblam's System does have a conscience. It's been fighting you, Charlie," the Doctor got everyone back on topic. "It knew it. It sent a message across the galaxy, begging for help. That TeamMate in Slade's office, it was coming for you. And then Kira. It took her, knowing how you felt about her, to show you how it would feel. Because how you feel right now about Kira is how all those families and friends will feel if your plan goes off."

"I don't care," Charlie claimed with a head shake, but based on the expression from while the Doctor was making her point, he did. 

"I think you do. I think you came here with a plan, but you didn't expect to fall in love. But that's what happens. Use it, Charlie, learn from it, please," the Time Lady tried, as ever. 

Her words seemed to be working on the brunette boy, but he just whimpered out his protests before faking his confidence. "No! No. If that's the price to change how everyone on Kandoka sees technology, then it is worth it, for the cause."

And out the window went the Doctor's compassionate words, trying to gently sway the boy to the right decision. Now, she smacked him with reality. "This isn't a cause. You're not an activist. This is cold-blooded murder."

"We can't let the systems take control!"

"'Let' is a perfect word!" Astra helped the tapped blonde. "It's already happened and you let it, but like the Doctor said, Kerblam! has a conscious. It will understand you need jobs."

The boy looked around at the group, all positioned against him. He didn't recruit a single zealout, but he just pressed the button. "I don't care what you think, any of you. The delivery goes ahead."

"What would Kira think?" the Doctor tried one last time. "She said she used to imagine the customer's happy faces when they opened the package. Now, you'll blow up her daydream."

Charlie looked at them with tearful eyes. "She's dead so it doesn't matter."

"Mass delivery procedures initiating," the robots reported in massive unison.

"Someone grab that controller!" the Doctor shouted right as the boy threw his remote onto the ground and stomping it. The Doctor knelt by the pieces. 

Ryan held his hands to his forehead then out to the broken machine. "What have you done?" he demanded. 

"You can't stop it now," Charlie gloated a moment before Yaz went all cop on him. 

"Make it stop! We are not going to let you kill all those innocent people."

"Destination coordinates locked. Preparing teleport."

Graham held his arm out to the army. "Uh, Astra- that thing before?" 

The brunette looked out at the masses of robots with a massive grimace. "That's a lot." But she rolled up her sleeves, holding out her arms. "Vidau!" she shouted with a strength, shoving her arms forward. The first, like, four rows of robots blinked off, but the rest would deliver their bombs. 

"Doc, I hope you've got an idea of how to fix that," Graham just had expectation after expectation in regards to them. 

With the weight of everyone's eyes on her, the Doctor babbled to herself: "Not enough time to fix it. Wait. New idea. Oh, not enough time for that either. Maybe worth a go."

"Maybe?" the cockney demanded nervously. 

"I mean definitely," she decided, running with it. "Grab the postman's head!" she demanded, pointing. 

"What?" Ryan questioned. 

Hardly the time. Astra held out her hand and the head flew off, shooting over to her right as Judy finally hopped into action. She held out the machine head to the woman while the others convened to observe and their little terrorist ran amongst the robots. 

"She can't stop it now. Those deliveries are going to be teleported out. I'm sorry," he shouted though he clearly wasn't. 

The Doctor turned on Twirly with her sonic. "Twirly, I need your help."

"Safe mode off. Hello again. Customers with your current medical symptoms browsed blood pressure medication," the retro robot reported. 

The Doctor picked him up, taking him over to the edge of their little balcony. "This is important. I've linked you into the new System, to all the delivery bots, and I have a request."

The thousands of bots on the ground floor answered in unison, "How may we help?"

"Change of delivery address for every order about to teleport. New address, right here, this hangar, right where we're standing. I want every Kerblam man to deliver to themselves."

"Delivery orders accepted."

"I want every Kerblam man to open the order they've just delivered to themselves, making sure they do what everybody does with bubble wrap," she ordered quite specifically. That seemed quite unnecessary to Astra, but she supposed it was the best and fastest way to get rid of the bubble wrap bombs. 

"Orders confirmed."

Graham leaned over the railing. "Charlie! Get back up here, please." 

But his maintenance mentor didn't listen. He stayed among the robots who didn't go anywhere. "Delivery in process," they still reported. They opened their packages. 

"What's going on?" Charlie asked, having not heard the whole order or how the Doctor did it. 

"Delivery received."

The Doctor handed Twirly over to Graham and took the severed head from Astra. 

"They're about to detonate!" Yaz warned. 

"Charlie, last chance. Get out of there now!" The Doctor next warned. 

The robots dropped their boxes, only holding the wrapped merchandise. "Opening delivery. Activating bubble wrap."

Astra was suddenly gone, and the Doctor gaped, pointing with her screwdriver to the Bot's head with a shaking fist, her wide eyes examining the floor, looking for her. The brunette was back within a moment, Charlie in her arms. They all teleported away just as the explosion rose in the air, a low whirring their savior. 

Back where they found Twirly, they all reappeared and the Doctor stood with her heaving chest. She turned around very suddenly and wrapped her arms around Astra. Charlie would have gotten away if Slade hadn't finally started doing something. 

The intercom told them what they all already knew, but to everyone: "Kerblam is experiencing a momentary technical difficulty. Our expert engineers are already working to get the systems up and running again as quickly and safely as possible. In the meantime, why not consider a personal mindful moment?"

Astra raised her arms and hugged the blonde back, squeezing about as tight as she was receiving. 

*~*

The Home Zone looked to be the safest as that was where the gang the two Heads of HR had their final secret meeting. "We're suspending all operations for a month, pending review and while the TeamMates are rebuilding Dispatch," Slade explained. 

Astra nodded. "Maybe get some human construction workers?" she recommended gently, not wanting to risk another incident. 

Both humans in their time offered her a weak smile, potentially sarcastic for the comment about to be forgotten. Judy continued to explain the perks their workers would already get. "All our workers have been given two weeks' paid leave, free return shuttle transport. And I'm going to propose that Kerblam becomes a People-Led Company in future. Majority organics." She face-palmed, always getting hung up with the jargon. "People, I mean." She looked over the trust-worthy group. "We're always looking for good workers to join our management team," she attempted to tempt. 

The blonde immortal looked over her shoulder at her Fam then back at Judy. "Er, thanks. We're strictly freelance." Astra wondered if the Doctor had gotten many such propositions over the years. Ryan had been offered the position of King James' guard. They didn't have to catch a shuttle, thank goodness. Their ride was still just outside the Kerblam! factory doors. The group walked to it together, Ryan and Yaz glued together and Graham questioning the Doctor, or mocking her because she should have gotten maintenance and found out the bad guy way sooner if she'd trusted the System, but no. It took longer. 

Once inside the infinite ship, though, the group as ever calmed down. The energy came back to where it ought to be as the group too in their latest experience. It was difficult not ot fear that would be their own future. 

"Doctor, can I make a request?" Yaz called over from where she was speaking closely, intimately with her potential boyfriend. 

The blonde looked up from her console, eyes immediately seeking the immortal witch, but she hadn't made the statement. Hazel eyes found the older woman. "Always."

"If Dan hadn't have switched scanners, it would have been me in that test room. He saved my life." The Doctor very plaininly didn't know what to do or say about that and simply let Yaz get it out. And she did. The policewoman held up a heart-shaped necklace with 'Dad' carved into it. "I want to take this to his daughter. Tell her how much he loved it. How much he loved her."

It was a sweet thought. The Doctor even stood straighter to take the necklace. "It's the least we can do," she agreed. 

Very, very bored, the brunette with picked at the box the Doctor had just left lying about. She picked it up and pulled the bubble wrap from the inside. It was interesting-

"Put it down. It's Kerblam bubble wrap," Ryan ordered. 

Even their blonde tour-guide  leaned around eyes to eye-ball the ballsy young woman. "You sure you want to pop that?" she casted doubt at her little witch. 

Astra very sarcastically popped what she'd already started. "So... quick trip to Kandoka then another?" she offered, secretly hoping the group would rather decide they needed sleep after literally getting jobs.