Chapter 10

Calvin and Hobbes trailed closely behind the Doctor as they wandered through the intricate ice sculptures, Calvin looking somewhat impressed at the buildings that they passed by that were composed entirely of snow, ice, and aluminum alloys, including all of the vendors and stands that were built into them, just for the sole purpose of the festival. Brightly colored banners waved from the front of each stand, standing out in their bold colors against the blue-white ice.

The ice that the stores were carved out of towered above them, higher than anything that Calvin had ever seen on Earth. It was easily over five hundred feet above their heads. And above them, Calvin and Hobbes could hear winds whipping by at incredibly unstable speeds.

There were shimmers of blue and green light in the distance, showing that there was a force field of some kind, keeping the wild winds from sweeping down into the ice canyon where they stood, and it made Calvin wonder just how fast those winds were going…but he put the thought to the side and simply watched.

They gaped up for a few moments, and then looked back at the Doctor when he started to talk.

"So, the Ice Festival of Irasmus happens once every full rotation around the sun, a solar cycle if you will, which is approximately a hundred and sixty-four years to one year Earth-time. If you notice," the Doctor said, gesturing to the sculptures around them, "The number one hundred and sixty-four shows up quite a bit around here…"

Calvin nodded, noticing the numbers repeated not only in the carvings, but in the wares that were being sold, and shrugged himself deeper into the coat that had been provided by the TARDIS, pulling the fur lined hood from his head so he could see out.

Hobbes had one too. He kept on looking at the gold and black striped fur questioningly.

The Doctor noticed the sideways glances and said, "It's not tiger; it's tegrian, a cross species between tigers from Earth and caryans from Vega. Cannibalistic. Very nasty tempers, they've got. Trust me, it's better that they're put to good use as coat collars than left to kill themselves off."

Hobbes just nodded.

After a moment or two more of staring, they stopped at a stand and, to the Doctor's disgust, Calvin asked for the strangest thing on their menu: Neptunian tuna-cicles. He moved to turn his head away, but then relaxed when he saw Calvin hand the tuna-cicle to Hobbes and order a whipped ice-blueberry-grape-pomegran-berry cone. But when Calvin handed the vendor Neptunian coins, the Doctor once again tensed up. There was no possible or logical way that he could have that kind of money…unless, he silently mused to himself, the boy wonder had been messing with the TARDIS controls, again.

As they continued to walk through the street, the Doctor sidled up next to the two of them.

"And just where did you get the money?" he asked from the corner of his mouth, ready to jump down the boy's throat.

Calvin smirked.

"I had it exchanged from the money in the pockets of this coat when we first got here."

He pointed back to the front of the ice-carved structures and the Doctor grimaced at the sign he saw, feeling once more like an idiot in front of the boy.

EXCHANGE CURRENCY HERE

With his hands in his pockets, he pulled his shoulders back and said, "We-ell, of course you did. Because that's what people do," and strode in front of them, not seeing the smile that Hobbes and Calvin shared behind his back.

They walked a bit further and then turned a corner.

And Calvin and Hobbes stopped in their tracks.

The Doctor grinned.

It was quite a sight when you first saw it. The view had been blocked on the street that they'd been on because of the massive height of the carved out walls, but here is where it abruptly stopped. Now longer in an ice canyon, the three of them stared out onto a vast sheet of pure white ice. Flawless.

Calvin stared.

And then he said, "Isn't Neptune supposed to be a gas planet?"

The Doctor grinned manically and turned towards the breathtaking view, hands still shoved into the pockets of his coat, and said, "Ye-p," popping the p sound, "It was a gas planet…until you humans terraformed it and froze all of the methane to create a stable surface for living on!" He then pointed at the ice plain in front of them. "This is the Imbrium Plateau. It freezes solid like this for only one year out of every one hundred and sixty-four years…and then slowly melts away over the next eighty-two years, where it then starts to freeze again. You can't go out on it, though. There's a force field here that's keeping us safe from the, well, the wind."

He pointed at the green numbers that were on the force field, giving the wind speed, already up at four digits. One thousand and twenty-one miles per hour. That was about right.

He turned back towards them, grin still plastered on his face.

"So? What do you think?"

Calvin stared.

Hobbes stared. His Neptunian tuna-cicle fell off the stick.

The Doctor then looked back at the plateau, still grinning, glad that he wasn't being upstaged by the human teenager anymore…and then smiled when he saw what else they were staring at. The infamous black storm of Neptune. The gaping black storm clouds crackled with strange static lightning were just beyond the horizon, moving at an incredible speed, only just missing it because of the precautionary force fields that kept the weather from entering the Imbrium Plateau. And, also, the moons. Three of them were visible just beyond the edge of the storm system, bright white against the gaping blackness of the sky.

It was a stunning sight to see.

Especially since one of the moons that was visible was Triton, which had plumes of liquid nitrogen, methane and ammonia erupting from volcanoes on its' surface, and even at this distance, one could see the trails. But only barely…because, living up to its' magnificent name, it was a shining mirror in the sky, reflecting any and all light that hit it, including that from the cities on its metal-like surface.

It was an amazing sight to be sure, even to the people who had lived there for their entire life.

The other two moons were significantly smaller, Proteus and Larissa, with no cities to speak of, but no less stunning. Because of the perpetual night that seemed to shadow the entire planet, Neptune's moons always glowed with an eerie, almost haunting light, leaving a distinct impression on everyone who saw them.

The three of them stared for a few moments longer…and then Calvin said, "This is…cool."

The Doctor looked at him and Hobbes. Hobbes had a smile on his face just as broad as Calvin's.

"Yeah, it is," said the Doctor, and then motioned for the two of them to follow him. "Come on, I can show you where you lot made your first settlement on this planet. Rather crude, but simply amazing! You humans and your indomitable spirit of exploration…it's quite amazing, really. Taking a planet that didn't even have a surface to speak of and made it into another place for you to live and thrive. You humans just don't know when to quit, do you?"

Calvin grinned.

"Yeah, well, can you blame us?"

The Doctor was just about to respond, but then someone brushed by him, nearly knocking him off of his feet, and he quickly recovered himself enough to glare at the person going by, and was about to fling out a scathing retort about watching where they were going, but then he saw what they were wearing and what they were carrying and his visage darkened.

He got closer to his two companions and muttered from the corner of his mouth, "Uh, we, uh…might have a problem."

Hobbes looked up at him.

"What do you mean?"

The Doctor nodded his head in the direction that the man had scurried off.

"The man that just nearly knocked me over? He's one of the members of the Parliamentary Council that runs this planet. Not only did he looked panicked, but that package in his hands had the Council's emergency seal on it."

Calvin gave him a look.

"And you know this how?"

The Doctor arched an eyebrow and looked out at the group of people who were still enjoying the Ice Festival, all of them blissfully unaware of the impending danger that he could see coming.

"I helped to found the Council's emergency procedures. Mind you, it was a looong time ago, when the ice warriors from Mars were trying to invade, but we put a stop to that. Now, Neptune's the most peaceful planet in the solar system, especially Oracle City. No crime rate to speak of. If they're using the emergency procedures again, here and now, then that means that something's gone wrong. Horribly…horribly…wrong."

And then the Doctor whirled around, a manic grin on his face.

"Want to save a planet?"

Calvin looked at Hobbes.

…and smiled.

Part 10/?

A.N. - This story is taking off in a direction that I wasn't expecting, so I'm gonna ask you for some suggestions about where else Calvin, Hobbes, and the Doctor should go! I pretty much know what I'm doing for the Neptune mission, but I'm open to suggestions for other ones! Hope that you enjoy it! :)