THE DOCTOR MONKEES AROUND

Chapter Six

"Come on, guys," Peter said to the other Monkees who were beginning to relax and unwind. "Trip into the country on Atlantis. It'll be fun."

"Actually, the tub with the relaxing foam sounds more fun to me," Micky said. "You go ahead, Pete."

"Yeah, I'm a bit tired and I wanna have a kip before the concert," Davy said.

"We'll go with you tonight and do something," Mike said. "We just wanna relax. I don't know about ya'll but I still need time to process everything that's happened so far."

"I hear that," Micky said. "Just go ahead and go with the Doctor and Rose and Lalura and we'll meet you back here."

Peter was disappointed but he knew arguing with them was pointless so he nodded and said goodbye to his band mates. The other three waved at him and he shut the door and walked over to the Doctor and Rose's room.

"They're not coming?" the Doctor said, surprised, when Peter finished explaining the situation to him.

"You gotta know something about my friends. We don't come across luxury very often so when they do, they take full advantage of it."

"And you?" the Doctor asked with a smile.

"I enjoy luxury but I can rest later. I want to see Atlantis," Peter replied.

The Doctor nodded and Peter sensed approval from his new friend which made him feel good. Most of the time he was viewed as the dummy of the group, the idiot who constantly got himself and his friends into trouble. There were times when he sensed that he was irritating the others and he often felt isolated and alone, even though he was sure the guys meant well and did care about him. For someone like the Doctor to offer the hand of friendship and bring him along on an adventure thrilled him and he hoped he wouldn't let him down.

The Doctor looked past him and Peter turned to see Lalura standing in the doorway. Their eyes met and her face lit up when she saw Peter. Then she looked around the room.

"The others are not coming?" she asked.

"No, they have decided to rest while we go explore."

Once again, Peter heard a note of irritation in the Doctor's voice and he couldn't blame him since he felt the same way.

"They gave us a complimentary snack box," the Doctor said to Peter as he pointed to a medium sized cardboard box with handles. "I figure we'll bring this along just in case the train doesn't have a dining car."

"I'll get it," Peter said, walking to it and picking it up.

The box was lighter than he though so he tucked it under one arm while Rose grabbed a small bag filled with other necessities they might need. The Doctor checked his watch.

"There's a shuttle that leaves here and goes to the train station," he said to everyone. "Another one leaves in fifteen minutes so let's head downstairs."

Everyone went outside and the Doctor waited until they were gone before he locked the door behind them. As they passed by The Monkees room on the way to the lift, Peter saw another disdainful look cross his friend's face when he glanced at the closed door and he sped up until he was beside the Doctor.

"They mean well, Doctor," Peter said to him as they walked.

"I realize that but there's plenty of time to rest. This is the equivalent of going to a foreign country and staying in your hotel room for most of the holiday while you do safe activities and eat food from home. I'm not trying to force them to do things they don't wanna do, they have the option to stay here, I just find it a bit odd that they're on the continent of Atlantis and they'd forgo the chance to explore for a posh room and a comfy bed. I'm very selective when it comes to choosing companions and I usually don't choose the ones who'd rather stay sheltered in a room instead of getting out and experiencing a planet and its culture. The universe is too big and too exciting to sit in your room, sleep and watch the telly."

"I agree," Peter said. "Unfortunately, like I said, my buddies like the creature comforts."

"Well, thank you for denying yourself the creature comforts for awhile so you can come and join us," the Doctor said.

Peter smiled and nodded, feeling like a million bucks when he saw the warm smile on the Doctor's face. With each passing moment, he liked the man more and more.

They reached the lift and Rose pressed the button. They were shocked when it opened and they saw a creature inside it. The man was large, onion shaped with pale white skin. He had black beady eyes, a thin mouth, tiny nose and brown hair that shot up from his head as if he'd been scared by something. The only thing he was wearing was a tiny loincloth that barely covered his private parts. He gave an annoyed look to the Doctor and the others when they just stood there.

"Well?" he said in a froggy voice, "are you going to get on the lift?"

The Doctor ushered everyone into the lift. The onion alien eyed them all disdainfully while they tried to stand on the other side of the lift from him.

"Humans," he muttered to himself.

"Better a human than an onion," Rose muttered to Peter.

Peter bit his lip trying to stifle his laughter. Then suddenly they smelled something foul, similar to a rotting piece of roadkill. Everyone immediately looked at Onion Man who suddenly appeared to be interested in his fingernails. Everyone was glad when the lift doors open and Onion Man got out on the second floor.

"God, is there a way we can fumigate in here?" Rose said when the lift doors closed and then headed down.

"Smells like Micky after several slices of garlic pizza," Peter said, holding his nose.

"I have respiratory bypass system, I can survive without breathing," the Doctor said smugly.

"Wanna let us in on the secret then?" Rose asked them.

When the lift doors opened on the ground floor, they couldn't get out of it fast enough.

"Oh thank God, fresh air!" Rose said as they headed across the lobby. "I never thought I'd love the scent of fart free air so much!"

The walked up to the front counter and the Doctor made inquiries about the shuttle bus. They were told to wait outside the entrance and the bus would come by in five minutes. All of the stepped outside and breathed in the warm fresh air. They kept out of the way while other humans and aliens walked past them into the building. It was exactly five minutes when the large white shuttle bus pulled up to the curb. They walked to it, opened the side doors and got inside. They noticed the driver looked like a humanoid goat with long horns that curved back away from his head. He turned his head and looked at them.

"Name's Jardon. I'm your driver for today. Where do you need to go?" he asked them.

"Train station," the Doctor said.

"You got it," he said, giving him a salute.

Peter noticed that instead of hooves, he had human like fingers that were covered with white fur like the rest of his body. He figured that was a good thing since driving with hooves would be tricky. A few more people climbed in after them and after the doors were shut, Jardon checked for oncoming traffic and pulled away from the curb.

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