Hilarity Ensues Episode 2, part 4.

Ruth had turned back to the window. With tears streaming down her face she watched as her planet receded into the distance. Patrick came over and looked out of the window next to her.
"We're in space," she said. It sounded stupid, obvious but somehow there didn't seem anything else to say. It had started out as just a normal last day of show week, looking forward to the final performance and the crash, and now...everything had changed. Her voice was full of amazement and awe as well as fear. "In space. In Central Hall."

"I always said Central Hall looked like a spaceship," Patrick said, with a smile. Ruth smiled back. "And all we have with us is our costumes and props. Do you think Will's people will want us to perform The Mikado for them?" They laughed, a slightly unnatural, forced laugh, but still a laugh.

"We've got the food and drink for the crash," Patrick said. "At least that's a bonus."

"You would say that," Ruth replied.

"So long as we don't drink and fly- then we really could Crash," Patrick said.

"Don't you ever take things seriously?" Ruth said, pretending to be more exasperated than she really was.

"No," Patrick replied. "Not unless I really have to."
"And this doesn't count as having to?"
"Well...it's not going to help, is it? So there's no point, really."

Will and Zoe had gone to check on the ship's progress. "We've done our best to keep her in working order," Zoe had said, "But sitting around for so long without moving's not good for the poor thing."

"So this thing might not even be safe," Ruth had heard Ernest mumbling. "Great. Wonderful."

The others had drawn together at the far side of the foyer and were talking together, while keeping an eye on Will and Zoe.
"What are we going to do?" asked Tom.
"I don't think there's anything we can do," Nick replied. "We can't get off this ship, we don't know how to fly it back and even if we did I don't think I'd dare, if it's in as bad a state as they seem to think. We've just got to go along with them."
"But what about our families- what are people going to think?" Charlotte said.
"Goodness knows," David replied. "But we've just got to hope that they decide to let us go, and that it's sooner rather than later."

"But- I mean how long is this going to take? It could take years just to get there!" Tom said.

"If those two only came for a year, I don't think it can take all that long," Nick said.

"You could just ask," Zoe said behind them. "It should take us about a fortnight to get home to Bognor. We may have to stop to refuel- I'm not convinced the stuff we synthesised on your planet is of a high enough quality to get us all the way home."

"You made your own fuel?" Tom asked.

"From the lake water," Will said. "I was pretending to be a chemistry student, remember? It was an ideal disguise for what I had to do. The right chemicals 'accidentally' got leaked into the lake and transformed it into fuel. The scientists down there didn't know what to make of it- they thought it was just pollution! I have to say, though, I didn't expect quite so many geese," he said. "And as for the black swans..."

"But you don't need to worry," he said, leaving the bar- or bridge, or whatever it was. "At first, yes I have to admit I just thought of you as potential specimens. But then...I got to know you, to see you as people. Zoe thinks I'm a bit crazy," he admitted, "but sometimes I wish I was one of you. I really liked being part of your community, joining in the shows and socials and everything. I didn't want to leave. I didn't want to hurt you, honestly. I wanted to take something of what you were, what you had, with me when we left."

"I'll make sure you're not mistreated, that nothing happens to you. You'll be treated like royalty in Bognor Regis- like celebrities. And when you've helped us improve our culture, become more Earth-like, you'll be provided with transport home. I promise you that."

They had no choice but to hope he was telling the truth. A compromise was reached: they would not try to attack Will and Zoe, or hinder what they were doing, and in return they would be allowed their freedom. "But if you do anything that would cause us danger," warned Zoe, "We'll have to lock you up, for the good of the ship. The conditioning won't work now you know how to break it."

"I'm still impressed you worked that out, that you were able to fight it off," Will said. "It'll be an interesting study for my research."

"Is that all that's important to you?" asked Sarah. "Your research? I thought you loved me, but really it was just research?" She was sobbing, upset, over at the side of the room, with Emma and Natalie trying to comfort her.

"No, that's not...I do..." Will said, going over to her. She turned away from him. Annoyed, he turned back to the control terminal on the bar. There was an awkward silence among the others.

"One thing I don't understand," said Ernest, "is why boredom?"
"It is the state of openness of mind," Zoe replied, "Of contemplation of spiritual matters- that is what you mean by boredom, isn't it?" The others looked at each other.

"Well...not quite," said Ruth.

"Close," said Ernest.

Will was faffing with the controls on the bar. "We should switch off the artificial gravity to conserve power," he said. Ruth realised that she hadn't even considered that they should have become weightless once they had moved away from the Earth.

Will flicked a switch. For a few moments the change was hardly noticeable, then Ruth began to feel herself drifting gently upwards. The ceiling of the foyer was not high and she was worried that she would crash into it, but she was able to reach out and push herself away as it came close. She looked around and saw everyone else floating as she was- apart from Will, who had pulled out a kind of harness and strapped himself to the bar.

"What's that?" Adam asked suddenly. From the auditorium they could hear the sound of shouting. Everyone fell silent. "Is anyone up there?" Tom asked. Looking round, everyone seemed to still be in the foyer, clustering together to try and draw comfort from one another in the terrible situation they were in.

"Someone must be," said Ruth. She tried to make her way towards the stairs up into the auditorium. It was tricky, she hadn't quite worked out how to propel herself in the weightless situation.

"Shall I switch the gravity on again?" Will said.

"No!" Tom replied. "If there's someone up there and they don't know- they could get hurt!"

Ruth managed to reach the steps and almost swam up into the auditorium. The shouting came from above her. She looked up.

"Oh," she said. Patrick and some of the others had followed her, and looked up too. "It's ok," she shouted back down. "I think we've got a couple of stowaways."

The story continues...