Doctor Who fic: Time Bound, Part 1: Fracturing (6/7)
Banner made by 'D', my amazingly talented RL artist friend.
Characters: 10.5 ("Ten")/Rose, Eleven/River
Genre: Drama, action and romance
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Up to Wedding of River Song
Warnings: None
Length: 25,000 words (Part 1: Fracturing). Both parts total = 43,000 words
Summary: A planet's distress call prompts Eleven to invite Ten and Rose to adventure with him and River. But as fractures appear on the planet, so do they in Ten and Rose's relationship.
Chapter 6 Summary: Rose's Torchwood training is needed when she and River are threatened and events begin to come together.
Disclaimer: This story takes place within the Doctor Who universe. This story is a way of re-interpreting concepts and ideas already present in Doctor Who. All Doctor Who characters within belong to the BBC. All other characters are fictitious. This story is for fun and for sharing, but not for profit.
Time Bound, Part I: Fracturing
Chapter 6: Conspiracy and Revenge
The heavy footfalls came closer. Rose knew that if she didn't move now, she too would be captured, like River, Vorran and Velki.
She dove under the curtain and rolled. She fetched up against the half wall of the bar, under the counter. Just as she was turning to peer back to make sure she hadn't disturbed the curtain and betrayed her movements, the sound of tramping passed the end of the bar into the passage where she had just stood. All she saw was the flaps of the curtain closing again behind a broad, leather-clad back. She shrank back under the bar.
'Where is the other female?' The demand was curt.
River spoke next. 'What makes you think there was anyone else?' Her voice sounded relaxed.
'Reports said there were two alien females. You match the description of one of them.'
Rose frowned. There was something familiar in the timbre of the voice, and in the style of speaking. She leaned her head back softly against the under-wall of the bar to think. However, her head went back further than she expected. Startled, she turned her head to look and found that she had been crouching in front of one of the children's foot holes that she herself had been using earlier. Moving her feet carefully without a scrape or a shuffle, she turned partly around and peered through the hole.
Past the stools on the other side, all she could see were legs and lower torsos. To the right of her vision, and closer to the front and back doors, River, Velki and Vorran were sitting on chairs in the middle of the room. The chairs had been pulled away from other furniture, no doubt by the aliens to ensure that their prisoners couldn't hide any movements under the cover of a table. They were not bound to the chair. River's hands were resting lightly on her lap--one hand on each leg. To the left stood one of the aliens, clad in leather and boots. He faced them. He carried a gun which he held down at his side. A bulky body lay face down on the floor partially obscured by the end of the bar to the right.
River spoke again. 'While I rather like big, handsome fellas, I don't think I really like the guy behind me training his gun on me. We are all aliens on this planet. I'm trying to help the inhabitants. What are you three doing here? Well, four if you count that fellow down on the floor.'
Rose nodded slowly. Two conscious aliens in the bar, she thought, and one still at the back.
'You are not welcome here,' said Vorran. 'This woman has come in peace. You have not. Leave immediately.'
The aliens laughed, a raucous, baying sound, and Rose froze. That laugh. Once again it felt familiar. These aliens certainly were not the soft-voiced Allack. The Allack that had come first...
Rose's breath caught and then she let it out slowly. Pilot fish... The Allack were pilot fish.
She eased her laser gun out of its holster inch by inch, the smooth metal not making a sound against the supple leather. She gripped the holster firmly.
'He has a point,' River said. 'You haven't come in peace, even though the inhabitants aren't in any position to fight you. So why are you here? And why are you so interested in reports of two alien women?'
Rose could see the alien's hand draw an electronic tablet from some hidden pouch, press some control and then turn it to show River. In the second it took to turn the tablet, Rose could clearly see a picture of Ten. She sucked in a breath. Not of Ten precisely, but rather Ten and Eleven as they once were--the Tenth Doctor, clad in pyjamas and holding a sword.
'Very handsome,' drawled River. 'What of him?'
'He is the Doctor,' barked the alien. 'He killed our leader and destroyed our flagship. The other woman travels with him. We will have revenge!'
From behind her, Rose could hear the heavy footfalls of the alien returning from the back.
'Yeah, revenge,' said River. 'Four heavily armed soldiers taking a barkeep and a woman hostage without a fair fight. Terribly impressive. I think I'd pin my chances on the fellow in the pyjamas. He beat you once. Again should be easy enough.'
The alien holding the tablet roared in anger and he lunged at River. Rose swiftly poked her gun through the hole and shot him in the hip. He went down like a felled ox, crashing at River's feet.
Behind her, the returning alien burst through the curtains. Rose whipped around and shot him in the chest just as his gaze fell upon her. He went down with a look of surprise on his face behind his elaborate, jagged bone mask. Rose's suspicions were confirmed. They were the Sycorax.
'Stop!' roared the last remaining Sycorax and, leaning over the bar, he levelled his weapon at her. She rose slowly, tossing aside her weapon and put her hands in the air. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see River edging her way over to the table where her weapon lay.
'You are the female we are looking for,' snarled the Sycorax. He glared at Rose. 'Only that saves you from dying on the spot!'
Rose nodded, her arms still in the air. 'You want the Doctor? You did hear that he is dead, yeah?'
The Sycorax snorted. 'We saw the trial. Two Doctors. We're not interested in the one with a different face. We know he's dead. But this one lives! And he will pay for what he's done!'
River stepped out from behind him, smiled and, as he started, shot him squarely in the chest. He toppled over and she stepped back to give him room to hit the floor.
'If you say so.' She shrugged, flipped her gun elegantly around one finger and smoothly slid it into its holster.
~ o ~ O ~ o ~
'Nice work,' said River and nodded, staring at Rose with a tilt to her head.
'Not so bad yourself,' Rose answered, grinning. She picked up her gun and holstered it. 'Get that computer thing. See if there's any information we can use.'
'I'm on it,' responded River as she scooped the tablet up from the floor. She began to tap on the screen.
Vorran slowly stood, his eyes wide. 'Do you do this kind of thing often?' He backed away from the nearest fallen alien, watching it closely.
'When we have to,' said Rose. 'Which is more times than I'd like.'
'Who are you?' breathed Velki. 'You are so casual about this!'
'We are helpers.' Rose straightened her spine. 'When people are in trouble, we help. We don't stand by.'
River spoke in a low voice. 'Look at this.' She thrust the tablet into Rose's hands.
Rose peered at the tablet which displayed a map clearly of the Virrukoi planet. One particular symbol with one word placed underneath was repeated and scattered over the continents. 'Boolium,' she breathed. She looked up and scowled. 'Profiteering.'
River snorted. 'They must have been watching the planet for a long time, hoping for something like this to happen.'
'Sending in the pilot fish as soon as they could.' Rose thrust the tablet back into River's hands.
'Pilot fish?'
'Allack,' Rose muttered. 'Just a term.' She kicked the leg of one of the fallen Sycorax. 'How long 'till they wake up?'
'Half an hour... give or take.' River pocketed the tablet.
'Those aliens want to mine our planet?' asked Vorran. He looked rapidly between the Sycorax and River and Rose.
Rose started. 'Oh! Sorry. Yeah. That's what they do. Pick on younger planets. Take anything important.'
'We have to stop them!' Velki cried. She rapidly stooped beside each Sycorax, collecting their weapons.
'That's what we plan to do,' said River drily.
'We have to warn Ten and Eleven,' Rose hissed.
'Right,' responded River. 'But we also have to warn the inhabitants about the Allack.'
'We'll do that,' said Vorran. He stood straight. 'I know how to spread information, who to go to. There's no government and little in the way of communications, but I know what to do.'
River regarded him, nodding slowly. 'You're a bar keeper. I bet you do. Right!'
'Let's tie this lot up first,' said Rose sharply.
River nodded again and the three of them searched each Sycorax for further weapons and tech, dragged them into a back room, tied them up thoroughly, exited and locked the door. River disabled any devices they found.
'There,' she said. 'There shouldn't be any signals from these things now. Unless they have subdermal transponders, no-one else should be able to locate them.'
'Still,' said Rose and she looked at Vorran and Velki, 'be careful if you come back. Don't be captured again. They won't be happy.'
'We know,' he answered. He stuffed one of the weapons in his pocket and the rest into a carry-bag he slung over one shoulder. He added several bags of snack food from behind the counter, plus a bottle of water. 'Good luck.'
'Please save our planet,' Velki implored.
'We'll try,' promised Rose. 'Ready?' She looked at River.
'Always.'
~ o ~ O ~ o ~
Rose checked the murals of each building as they got closer to where they had hidden the jeep. When they reached the building with swirls of green, orange and red, Rose turned to the left. River nodded and followed her. They retrieved the jeep. Nothing had been disturbed. River slid behind the wheel and, as Rose climbed up into her side and closed the door, River backed the jeep, flicked it around with a twist of the wheel and a jerk on the hand brake. They speeded out of the alley, taking the corner almost on two wheels and headed back out to the highway.
The roads were still deserted this close to the red time-shifted line. However, when they emerged from the city core into the short suburban area amongst the sparser, low dwellings, Rose looked up and gasped.
'Stop,' she shouted.
River screeched the jeep to a halt. She stared up through the windscreen. 'That's new. Sycorax?'
Rose nodded, breathing hard. A massive, rocky spaceship hovered over the north side of the city. 'Turn off any alien tech,' she demanded.
'Damn,' muttered River and she fumbled at the vortex manipulator on her wrist while Rose snatched the tablet from River's jacket pocket.
'Thanks.' River took it from her and made a few swift movements. 'The guns won't register. They're inert unless you're using them.' She returned the tablet to her pocket and started the jeep again. 'Maybe this is how the Sycorax found us.'
'Yeah,' said Rose. 'But how did they know about me and the Doctor?'
River scowled. 'Don't know, but I'm sure we'll find out.'
Rose froze. 'Vant. Vant knew. She also saw the Tardis. Must have. D'you think they caught her? She was upset and might've told them everything, yeah?'
River pondered this. 'Possibly.'
'D'you think they'd have hurt her?'
River shook her head. 'No. It would have been the Allack, and they would have wanted to keep the inhabitants trusting them. They would have just repeated the message that other aliens are dangerous, and then quietly passed along the information to the Sycorax.'
'I hope you're right,' said Rose. River increased speed and Rose hung on grimly. Memories of cavernous interiors, a cruel whip snapping with lethal energy, and mocking laughter came to her. 'At least the tremors have stopped,' she added to distract herself.
River nodded slowly. 'You're right,' she said. 'Interesting. They should have continued. The Tardis wouldn't have been able to stop them completely. I wonder...' Her voice trailed off.
'Ten'll come back out at the same spot, yeah?' Rose asked after a few moments.
'If he can,' responded River. She dodged a crashed vehicle in the road, and the jeep swayed.
'Can we get closer to the line?' Rose peered out to the left of the road. The dwellings had almost disappeared and countryside lay ahead of them. 'Maybe we can see if he comes out in a different spot.'
River shook her head. 'I don't recommend it. It'll slow us to a crawl in those fields, and Eleven needs to know the Sycorax are here. The Tardis's systems will be so overstressed by maintaining the planet's core that she might not notice, and Eleven the same even if the scanners do pick up something.'
Rose's eyes widened. 'But they'll know he's there! They know the Tardis.'
'Exactly. Besides, the line isn't that far away. Look--there!--you can see it.'
River was right. As the swell of the fields and ground vegetation briefly cleared, Rose could see the line on the ground. It disappeared and reappeared each time the terrain allowed a clear sight. She also could see that it would be obvious if Ten were running towards it from the fields beyond. In the far distance beyond the red line lay the next time fracture, the murky red wall standing dark and seeming impenetrable.
'Right,' she agreed. She peered up at Sycorax spaceship. 'Why haven't they already transported us up?' You had your vortex manipulator on all the time.'
'Dunno.' River shrugged elegantly even as she dodged another abandoned vehicle. 'All the crazy time fields? Screws up their scanning systems?'
'I hope so.' Rose straightened then. 'Could that block them from picking up the Tardis?'
'Dunno.' River grimaced. 'The way she's working to hold the planet together? She must be lit up like a beacon to any scanner. We'd be very lucky if the Sycorax didn't detect her.'
~ o ~ O ~ o ~
They drove without talking, but Rose rapidly shifted her head, keeping watch on the time shift, the Sycorax ship and for any sign of Ten. Soon her eyes felt dry and she blinked quickly to relieve them. She returned to her scanning.
River's words proved to be prophetic. The next time Rose twisted around in her seat to get a better view of the ship over the city, she gasped.
'What is it?' snapped River.
'Little dots leaving the ship,' answered Rose.
'Little dots? As in fighters or in torpedoes?'
Rose squinted. 'Can't tell.'
'Do they usually use smaller ships?' asked River.
Rose scowled. 'No. They had a teleport thing. Just... just beamed us up. I didn't--'
River interrupted. 'There's the Tardis.'
'Good!' Rose glanced forward. The blue box had suddenly appeared on the horizon as the jeep crested a low hill. She sighed, her body relaxing just a bit.
'How many dots?'
Rose looked back up at the sky. She opened the sunroof. The wind whipped at her hair as she undid her seatbelt and pulled herself up, hands gripping the edge of the window frame. 'Six. Wait... three are going down to the city, and three towards us. Or the Tardis.' She craned her neck for a closer view. 'They're getting bigger. I don't think they're torpedoes. They're too...' She cast about for a word. 'Clunky?'
'Shuttles,' muttered River. 'The invasion is starting. Maybe the teleport is useless, if their scanners are...'
The jeep jolted and Rose fell back into her seat. 'What--?'
'Look past the red line.' River jabbed a finger towards Rose's window. 'I saw a flash of something.'
Rose pressed her nose against her window. River was right. Something was happening. The murky dark red wall of the second time fracture far, far in the distance was fluctuating. And then she saw it--a flash of light that seemed to slow into a shining line before it dissipated.
'Ten?' asked River, her eyes on the road. She swerved around a damaged section of the road. The wheels on the right touched soil and the jeep juddered until they were back on smooth tarmac.
'Probably.' Rose squinted her eyes. 'Can't see him, but who else would it be? Can you go any faster?'
River grunted. 'Not if you want me to have any reaction time at all.'
Nevertheless, Rose did feel the jeep speed up a little. The Tardis was closer now and she could see the panelling on the blue door. She returned her gaze to the red shifted fields and then shouted.
'It's him. It's him!'
To be continued...
On to Chapter 7: Back in his Element
Chapter 5, Chapter 4, Chapter 3, Chapter 2, Chapter 1