Chapter Two - The Thals of Skaro
Chapter Two - The Thals of Skaro
Louise Ruth felt stupid, but not for the first time in her life. She had felt stupid many times but never while standing on the cliff top overlooking Chemical Beach just off the coast of Seaham Harbour. Malcolm’s silver colander hat lay squarely on her head and the binoculars rested painfully on her nose and cheeks. All she could see was black as she swept her gaze round in a three hundred and sixty degree circle.
‘What can you see?’ Agent Johnston asked as she scanned the area.
‘My reputation going down the pan fast,’ Louise Ruth replied as she removed the goggles from her face. ‘It’s useless… these either don’t work or…’ she paused, ‘or the Rani’s TARDIS isn’t there.’ Looking round without the hindrance of the goggles she noticed Ianto, Evans, Barrett and two other UNIT soldiers, one of whom she recognised from the Angel, heading towards them. ‘That’s all I need. Stupidity must be a spectator sport.’
Ianto pointed at the helmet and smiled. ‘Don’t tell me… trying to blot out radio waves from Alfa Centauri. Stop them stealing your thoughts.’
‘Piss off Welshman or I’ll make you eat it.’
Barrett smiled and nodded at the contraption in her hand and the look of disappointment in her eyes. ‘What’s the matter… forget to turn it on?’
Louise Ruth was about to reply with mock humour when she realised with a start that she hadn’t even looked for an on off switch. Looking down at the belt it was attached to, she noticed a small black switch attached to one of the pouches. With a grin that showed everyone how stupid she actually did feel she flicked the switch then replaced the goggles. Light glowed in from every direction and the binoculars showed everything around her in bright exaggerated yellows, blues and reds. After a few seconds the image stabilised and she could see quite clearly.
‘What do you see?’ Agent Johnston asked, noticing the grin on Louise Ruth’s face. Turning back towards Ianto and the UNIT soldiers she took a step backward.
‘I don’t know about the TARDIS but this thing makes an x-ray machine look timid. I can see right through your clothes.’ Looking at the naked men that stood round her she noticed that their hands were moving towards their groin areas protecting them from her newly found vision. Turning back towards Johnson she felt a hand on her shoulder.
‘Eyes front Louise Ruth… we have a job to do.’
She paused as she looked out over chemical beach and down towards Liddell Stack; only Liddell Stack was no longer there. Instead a large dome shaped structure stood, its roof pulsating slightly in the breeze.
‘It’s Liddell Stack… Liddell Stack… it’s the Rani’s TARDIS… we’ve found it.’ Turning back towards the UNIT soldiers she couldn’t help smiling and titling her head slightly to the left in appreciation of the view, as she watched them walk away, heading down towards the beach. With a start and a feeling of disappointment, she felt the helmet removed from her head as Agent Johnson looked at her sternly.
‘That’s enough of that young lady… you’ll go blind.’ Placing Malcolm’s gadget into its protective box Johnson passed it to a UNIT soldier who had been assigned to protect it. Removing the smaller box, agent Johnson passed it to Louise Ruth as they headed off after the UNIT soldiers with a look of anticipation showing clearly on their faces. It was Malcolm’s field disrupter and it was needed to open the doors. If this didn’t work then finding the TARDIS would have been a waist of time.
***
With an audible sigh of relief Louise Ruth managed to open the door to the Rani’s TARDIS, using the disrupter. As the team virtually ran in Louise Ruth was the last to enter. Her spine felt cold and fear gripped her as she tried to walk through the granite-like doors. Slowly she walked forward, every nerve in her body was telling her to turn and run for her life. Shaking, she forced herself to step across the threshold and in through the doorway when Evans jumped out in front of her and growled in a mock imitation of a wolf.
To his surprise his jaw ached as his vision began to clear. Focusing he realised with incomprehension and shock that he was looking at the ceiling of the Rani’s TARDIS. A medic was applying a cold compress to the side of his face as Brigadier Bambera looked down at him and shook her head.
‘Evans… you might be the best shot we’ve got but you’ve got arsehole written through you like a stick of rock. Try that again and I’ll knock you so unconscious you’ll never wake up.’
Evans looked at the medic, ‘what… who hit me? Where am I and… who’s Evans?’
Louise Ruth sat in one corner of the TARDIS cradling a bruised hand, her knees tucked up to her chest. Her eyes followed two UNIT technicians around as they gazed at the control panel and made notes. It was strange, Louise Ruth thought, no one had mentioned that the TARDIS looked bigger on the inside than the outside. Perhaps, she surmised, working for UNIT meant that nothing would or could surprise you.
Reaching into her shoulder bag she found Jo Grant’s recording and, placing the ear piece into one ear, she pressed play. Jo’s almost child-like voice filled Louise Ruth’s head as her words brought images into her mind across time and space, causing her more than a little apprehension. The quality was bad but the meaning was clear.
‘Things growing in this jungle seem like animal and plant life. The light is changing. It seems like daybreak. There's a sudden rise in temperature. I haven't seen any form of intelligent life except, except there are, bits of, bits of statue by the TARDIS.’ She clicked the recorders off button as she gazed up at agent Johnston who was approaching her.
‘Two more Thals have been picked up… that’s four in all.’ Taking Johnson’s hand she pulled herself up into a standing position.
‘Have they said anything?’ Louise Ruth asked hopefully. Agent Johnston nodded.
‘The first two are as quiet as they were when we first picked them up but the second two are talking freely. Apparently they were hunting the first two to try and stop them.’ Glad to be heading out of the TARDIS, Louise Ruth walked as quickly as she could, following Johnson and deliberately not looking in Evan’s direction.
‘The first two seem to know the Doctor and want him dead… I can understand that… but what’s the second two’s story?’
‘It’s a husband and wife I think… the language isn’t that clear. We’ve ordered a universal translator from Malcolm but he told us that you would be able to understand them as you’ve entered and travelled in the TARDIS.’
Louise Ruth nodded. ‘When I travelled with the Doctor I could understand every language I came across whatever the planet. The link must still be there I just needed a TARDIS to belong to I suppose.’
Heading towards a black BMW, agent Johnson continued to brief her. ‘The Thal man and woman just walked into the police station in Sunderland and gave themselves up. Luckily the desk sergeant knew what he was doing and sent them down to us.’
***
Sitting across from the two newly arrived Thals Louise Ruth listened with interest as Taron and Rebec talked candidly amongst themselves unaware that she could understand every word they said. After an hour’s patient listening she stood and motioned for her relief to take over.
Over a much needed cup of coffee Louise Ruth relayed the conversation back to Johnston and Brigadier Bambera as she watched the couple in the next room through the one way glass. Taron had a protective arm around Rebec’s shoulder and she could tell that he was reassuring her that everything would turn out all right, or as all right as it could be in the circumstances.
‘The girl’s name is Rebec and she calls her husband Taron. He’s a Doctor of medicine would you believe. The one that was going to shoot me is known as Latep. Apparently he’s a bit screwed up because he had a thing for Jo Grant… one of the Doctor’s previous assistants.’ She paused her narrative taking a mouthful of coffee as she collected her thoughts, then nodding continued.
‘Taron wished that Latep had gone off with her when he had the chance. It might have calmed him down and given him focus.’ She paused again as she recalled what the Thals had said. ‘Codal… the fourth man and the one that shot me with the energy weapon is a scientist. From what I’ve heard he wasn’t trying to kill me just knock me unconscious so that Latep wouldn’t kill me. Apparently Latep is the only one that blames the Doctor for the predicament they find themselves in. The plan to kill me came about from a need for revenge.’
Bambera nodded letting the tape recorder capture every word. ‘Talk about a dish served cold. This revenge was been hundreds of years in the brewing,’ Bambera said, then let Louise Ruth continue.
‘Apparently they left the Doctor on the planet Spiridon with Jo Grant and set off in a stolen ship heading back to another planet called…’ she paused trying to recall exactly what Taron had said. ‘Skaro… Skaro that’s it.’ At this Bambera hit pause on the tape recorder and standing headed out of the room.
‘It’s what we feared…’ Johnson added gazing down at her coffee cup. According to reports we have from Jo Grant, a UNIT operative that worked closely with the Doctor, Spiridon is still out there somewhere housing a great evil.’ Louise Ruth nodded and smiled. She knew Jo’s voice better than any of them thanks to Malcolm. ‘The Brigadier thinks that the Thals deliberately manipulated the rift to send them back to this place after they discovered what the Doctor had done.’
Louise Ruth nodded again, not able to grasp the magnitude of what the Thals must be going through. To have a friend or relative die by someone else’s hand would be bad enough but to have your entire race extinct was something else again. She was trying to get her head around that when Brigadier Bambera walked in.
‘I’ve had a word with Jack… he’s using his wrist manipulator to translate their language. He’s trying to explain what actually happened to their planet and the Time War. What I got from them before I left was from the one called Taron. Apparently they manipulated the rift so they could travel back in time and stop their planet from being destroyed.’ She paused as if in thought then continued. ‘He’s trying to tell them that it’s impossible and to ascertain the magnitude of the threat Spiridon still holds.’
‘This doesn’t make any sense unless you believe in blind luck. I mean… of all the times and places how did they arrive here and where is their time ship?’ Louise Ruth asked the obvious question.
Standing up Bambera shook her head in dismay. Heading back into the interrogation room she let the door slam behind her as she muttered incoherently to herself. Louise Ruth looked at Johnson as Johnson looked at her, raising one elegantly plucked eyebrow and gesturing her head towards the door. Louise Ruth smiled at their use of nonverbal communication and was pleased when Johnson also sported a small smile.
Ten minutes later Bambera returned and joined them next to the vending machine as she fed money into the slot. Louise Ruth was about to tell her not to bother then gave up as Bambera selected a drink.
‘They used a stolen space ship from Spiridon to manipulate the rift and lock onto a steel structure they knew of which was twenty meters high. Apparently Jo Grant had told them that there was one in her time… their ship apparently has an invisibility cloak and is tethered to the top.’
‘Steel structure… twenty metres high…’ Louise Ruth suppressed a grin. ‘Not the Angel… they locked onto this time period through the Angel of the North and have an alien space ship parked next to the top?’ The Brigadier nodded as if she didn’t believe it herself.
***
It had been over two months since the Rani’s TARDIS had been found and over two hundred UNIT scientists had moved from floor to floor mapping the construction while a second group had tried to discover how to travel in it, but to no avail. It had only taken Louise Ruth a momentary glance at the control panel and she knew she could program it. It worked on the same principle as the Doctor’s but seemed to be much more advanced. The problem was would it let her. A TARDIS, as the Doctor had told her, was a living thing. If it thought of the Rani as a friend or master would it let anyone else manipulate the controls? The other and more worrying problem was that if the TARDIS would only travel for her then she would have to accompany them to Spiridon, which was their ultimate destination, she was sure.
Although not happy about the situation, the Thals had come to accept the destruction of their home world Skaro and had spent many weeks describing the events that had brought them to Earth. Jack had explained exhaustively that the destruction of Skaro had been the best of two evils. Both their world and the world of the Time Lords, as well as many other worlds, had to be destroyed or an evil would escape that would threaten every living thing.
Apparently the evil that no one wanted to talk about was still housed on Spiridon, kept apparently in suspended animation frozen in ice and could be revived. The Brigadier wanted to send a team, using the Rani’s TARDIS across the expanse of space, to Spiridon to destroy this evil once and for all in case something happened and it was revived. Louise Ruth could see the logic in this but desperately didn’t want to be a part of it, but like Jonah and the whale knew in the back of her mind she would end up going to Nineveh.
With Ianto Jones on her left and Alonso Frame on her right Louise Ruth followed Agent Johnson into the Rani’s TARDIS, apprehension showing clearly on her face. Before she walked through the double doors she placed a hand each on Ianto and Alonso.
‘Now we’re going to play nicely aren’t we children?’
Ianto looked incensed. ‘He started it… he put cling film on the toilet seat.’
She turned to look at Alonso who tried to hide his eyes like a guilty child. ‘He ruined my boots first.’
She turned to look accusingly at Ianto, who shook his head vigorously. ‘That wasn’t me that was… err… the dog.’
‘What dog?’ Louise Ruth asked not believing a word he said.
‘Err… a random dog that just happened to be passing and took a fancy to his err… boots.’
‘Hands out,’ she said with all the authority of a school teacher. Both Ianto and Alonso extended their hands and received a slap for their troubles. ‘If you can’t play nicely I’ll make sure Jack doesn’t talk to either of you.’
The interior was as far from resembling the Doctor’s TARDIS as the Doctor himself resembled the Rani. Everything had a new, clean feeling about it, concentrated and scientific. White coated scientists potted about the control panel, a previously constructed diagram grasped in nervous fingers.
A brief look showed her that they had grasped the concept of time travel but not the process. The time and space coordinates were easy to set but the concept of a time corridor hadn’t been broached. They seemed to assume that the TARDIS would disappear at their end and reappear instantaneously at the destination end without any travelling in between. Jack, who had a better working knowledge of time travel than any of the othersm and had taken part in travelling with the Doctor hadn’t, it seemed, given them the heads up.
‘You’ve selected a time and date… that’s right but you have to tell her how to get there… which time corridor you want and how you want to travel.’ The scientists looked baffled as Louise Ruth pointed out a series of physical manoeuvres that had to be undertaken before the TARDIS would take a single step.
Their conversation was cut abruptly short when Sergeant Barrett and Sergeant Evans, accompanied by two other UNIT soldiers entered the TARDIS with the four Thals in tow. They had left their orange space suits behind and now wore modern clothing selected from a local Primark store.
Louise Ruth looked at Latep, the Thal that had wanted to kill her but he couldn’t hold her gaze. Either Bambera or Jack had convinced them that the course of action they had set out on was irrelevant or he was an extremely good actor when showing remorse and apology.
‘I’ve brought the Thals to see if they’ll give us the exact time and coordinates to land on Spiridon.’ Jack said as he made his way through the small group at the doorway.
Most of the UNIT technicians and scientist had left for the day and a nod from Johnson sent the rest scuttling for the door, accompanied by a number of UNIT soldiers. If the Thals were going to try and move the TARDIS then they didn’t want to be anywhere near it when it did. Evans, with a huge bruise creeping across one side of his face, held out both hands in apology towards Louise Ruth who nodded casually in acceptance.
The Thal known as Codal, who Jack knew as the scientist, approached the centre consol and looked down at the control panel. Without saying a word tapped in a number of coordinates then lunged at a bank of switches and hit them all at once.
‘No… Codal,’ Taron shouted as the TARDIS began to vibrate and the centre time rotor began moving up and down. Without thinking Louise Ruth grabbed for the door leaver and threw it forward locking them safely inside. Evans and Barrett grabbed Codal and dropping him to the floor fastened plastic cuffs to his wrists holding him securely.
‘You killed them… you killed them all. They were a race of peaceful farmers not warriors. They didn’t deserve to die… not like that… not totally… as… as if they had never existed.’ Codal’s long blonde hair flew about wildly as he struggled to fight against the bonds that held him. Tears of pain ran freely down his face as the tension that had been building up in him since the destruction of his home planet burst forth from him. Jack ran to the centre consol and read off directions as Johnson approached Taron, the Thal that had shouted ‘No,’ to Codal.
‘I thought you were with us Taron. You assured me that we both and similar goals in the destruction of an evil that threatens the very existence of life itself.’ Taron looked shamefaced at his friend, but didn’t apologise for him. Instead he returned his gaze to Agent Johnson.
‘I have to say that my friend Codal was always headstrong. He like so many of us lost everything, generations of friends and family alike. Whatever he did I’m sure he had our best intentions at heart. You see Rebec is going to have my child and we don’t want it to be on a strange planet.’ If agent Johnson was surprised that she could now understand Taron through the TARDIS’s universal translator she didn’t show it.
Jack turned to Louise Ruth and nodded back at Rebec, ‘She’s pregnant… can pregnant woman travel on a TARDIS?’
Louise Ruth shrugged as she gazed across at Rebec who was hiding behind her husband. ‘I can’t see why not… ask her if she’s wearing those socks you can buy at airports. Don’t want our Thal getting deep vain thrombosis do we.’
‘Jack… tell me… what he’s done,’ Johnson asked as she headed towards the control panel. Louise Ruth looked down at the consol and shook her head. She knew exactly what Codal had done. Sliding down the wall she had been resting on she closed her eyes and lowered her face into her hands and prepared herself for a long ride.
‘He must have done this on purpose. The coordinates are pre-set to Spiridon. He’s sent us travelling through space and time and locked out the controls. We can’t do a thing until we get there.’
‘We can’t go to Spiridon… we needed troops… weapons… explosives.’ Barrett said then thinking added. ‘Can we take off again as soon as we land and return to UNIT headquarters this time for supplies.’
Louise Ruth shook her head and speaking without raising it said, ‘This is a one trip deal. The TARDIS won’t go back… in time or space… I can feel it… her… I can feel her inside my head. She’s telling me how to travel with her… like a Time Lord.’ Placing her hands on her face she wiped the tears away then looking at her friend added, ‘We’ve got one shot at destroying this evil and if we fail… that’s it for us… and it seems the galaxy.’
Johnson looked on concerned. ‘What do you mean you can feel her inside your head?’
Louise Ruth looked up, her eyes red and filled with tears. ‘She knows me from old. She had my DNA mapped long ago. She can read me, talk to me… she’s chosen me.’
Johnson walked towards her and crouched next to her. ‘How did she… the TARDIS get your DNA?’
Louise Ruth smiled. ‘I spilt enough of it on the floor for her to get a match as I entered. She knows me, she wants me… she needs a new master or she can no longer exist… and… I… it seems… have to accept this or she will destroy herself… and us along with it.’ With that Louise Ruth stood up and taking a quick look at the control panel turned to stare down at the Thal known as Codal. ‘Now tell me what this evil is on Spiridon before I rip your fucking head off.’
Chapter Three - Spiridon Revisited
Louise Ruth felt stupid, but not for the first time in her life. She had felt stupid many times but never while standing on the cliff top overlooking Chemical Beach just off the coast of Seaham Harbour. Malcolm’s silver colander hat lay squarely on her head and the binoculars rested painfully on her nose and cheeks. All she could see was black as she swept her gaze round in a three hundred and sixty degree circle.
‘What can you see?’ Agent Johnston asked as she scanned the area.
‘My reputation going down the pan fast,’ Louise Ruth replied as she removed the goggles from her face. ‘It’s useless… these either don’t work or…’ she paused, ‘or the Rani’s TARDIS isn’t there.’ Looking round without the hindrance of the goggles she noticed Ianto, Evans, Barrett and two other UNIT soldiers, one of whom she recognised from the Angel, heading towards them. ‘That’s all I need. Stupidity must be a spectator sport.’
Ianto pointed at the helmet and smiled. ‘Don’t tell me… trying to blot out radio waves from Alfa Centauri. Stop them stealing your thoughts.’
‘Piss off Welshman or I’ll make you eat it.’
Barrett smiled and nodded at the contraption in her hand and the look of disappointment in her eyes. ‘What’s the matter… forget to turn it on?’
Louise Ruth was about to reply with mock humour when she realised with a start that she hadn’t even looked for an on off switch. Looking down at the belt it was attached to, she noticed a small black switch attached to one of the pouches. With a grin that showed everyone how stupid she actually did feel she flicked the switch then replaced the goggles. Light glowed in from every direction and the binoculars showed everything around her in bright exaggerated yellows, blues and reds. After a few seconds the image stabilised and she could see quite clearly.
‘What do you see?’ Agent Johnston asked, noticing the grin on Louise Ruth’s face. Turning back towards Ianto and the UNIT soldiers she took a step backward.
‘I don’t know about the TARDIS but this thing makes an x-ray machine look timid. I can see right through your clothes.’ Looking at the naked men that stood round her she noticed that their hands were moving towards their groin areas protecting them from her newly found vision. Turning back towards Johnson she felt a hand on her shoulder.
‘Eyes front Louise Ruth… we have a job to do.’
She paused as she looked out over chemical beach and down towards Liddell Stack; only Liddell Stack was no longer there. Instead a large dome shaped structure stood, its roof pulsating slightly in the breeze.
‘It’s Liddell Stack… Liddell Stack… it’s the Rani’s TARDIS… we’ve found it.’ Turning back towards the UNIT soldiers she couldn’t help smiling and titling her head slightly to the left in appreciation of the view, as she watched them walk away, heading down towards the beach. With a start and a feeling of disappointment, she felt the helmet removed from her head as Agent Johnson looked at her sternly.
‘That’s enough of that young lady… you’ll go blind.’ Placing Malcolm’s gadget into its protective box Johnson passed it to a UNIT soldier who had been assigned to protect it. Removing the smaller box, agent Johnson passed it to Louise Ruth as they headed off after the UNIT soldiers with a look of anticipation showing clearly on their faces. It was Malcolm’s field disrupter and it was needed to open the doors. If this didn’t work then finding the TARDIS would have been a waist of time.
***
With an audible sigh of relief Louise Ruth managed to open the door to the Rani’s TARDIS, using the disrupter. As the team virtually ran in Louise Ruth was the last to enter. Her spine felt cold and fear gripped her as she tried to walk through the granite-like doors. Slowly she walked forward, every nerve in her body was telling her to turn and run for her life. Shaking, she forced herself to step across the threshold and in through the doorway when Evans jumped out in front of her and growled in a mock imitation of a wolf.
To his surprise his jaw ached as his vision began to clear. Focusing he realised with incomprehension and shock that he was looking at the ceiling of the Rani’s TARDIS. A medic was applying a cold compress to the side of his face as Brigadier Bambera looked down at him and shook her head.
‘Evans… you might be the best shot we’ve got but you’ve got arsehole written through you like a stick of rock. Try that again and I’ll knock you so unconscious you’ll never wake up.’
Evans looked at the medic, ‘what… who hit me? Where am I and… who’s Evans?’
Louise Ruth sat in one corner of the TARDIS cradling a bruised hand, her knees tucked up to her chest. Her eyes followed two UNIT technicians around as they gazed at the control panel and made notes. It was strange, Louise Ruth thought, no one had mentioned that the TARDIS looked bigger on the inside than the outside. Perhaps, she surmised, working for UNIT meant that nothing would or could surprise you.
Reaching into her shoulder bag she found Jo Grant’s recording and, placing the ear piece into one ear, she pressed play. Jo’s almost child-like voice filled Louise Ruth’s head as her words brought images into her mind across time and space, causing her more than a little apprehension. The quality was bad but the meaning was clear.
‘Things growing in this jungle seem like animal and plant life. The light is changing. It seems like daybreak. There's a sudden rise in temperature. I haven't seen any form of intelligent life except, except there are, bits of, bits of statue by the TARDIS.’ She clicked the recorders off button as she gazed up at agent Johnston who was approaching her.
‘Two more Thals have been picked up… that’s four in all.’ Taking Johnson’s hand she pulled herself up into a standing position.
‘Have they said anything?’ Louise Ruth asked hopefully. Agent Johnston nodded.
‘The first two are as quiet as they were when we first picked them up but the second two are talking freely. Apparently they were hunting the first two to try and stop them.’ Glad to be heading out of the TARDIS, Louise Ruth walked as quickly as she could, following Johnson and deliberately not looking in Evan’s direction.
‘The first two seem to know the Doctor and want him dead… I can understand that… but what’s the second two’s story?’
‘It’s a husband and wife I think… the language isn’t that clear. We’ve ordered a universal translator from Malcolm but he told us that you would be able to understand them as you’ve entered and travelled in the TARDIS.’
Louise Ruth nodded. ‘When I travelled with the Doctor I could understand every language I came across whatever the planet. The link must still be there I just needed a TARDIS to belong to I suppose.’
Heading towards a black BMW, agent Johnson continued to brief her. ‘The Thal man and woman just walked into the police station in Sunderland and gave themselves up. Luckily the desk sergeant knew what he was doing and sent them down to us.’
***
Sitting across from the two newly arrived Thals Louise Ruth listened with interest as Taron and Rebec talked candidly amongst themselves unaware that she could understand every word they said. After an hour’s patient listening she stood and motioned for her relief to take over.
Over a much needed cup of coffee Louise Ruth relayed the conversation back to Johnston and Brigadier Bambera as she watched the couple in the next room through the one way glass. Taron had a protective arm around Rebec’s shoulder and she could tell that he was reassuring her that everything would turn out all right, or as all right as it could be in the circumstances.
‘The girl’s name is Rebec and she calls her husband Taron. He’s a Doctor of medicine would you believe. The one that was going to shoot me is known as Latep. Apparently he’s a bit screwed up because he had a thing for Jo Grant… one of the Doctor’s previous assistants.’ She paused her narrative taking a mouthful of coffee as she collected her thoughts, then nodding continued.
‘Taron wished that Latep had gone off with her when he had the chance. It might have calmed him down and given him focus.’ She paused again as she recalled what the Thals had said. ‘Codal… the fourth man and the one that shot me with the energy weapon is a scientist. From what I’ve heard he wasn’t trying to kill me just knock me unconscious so that Latep wouldn’t kill me. Apparently Latep is the only one that blames the Doctor for the predicament they find themselves in. The plan to kill me came about from a need for revenge.’
Bambera nodded letting the tape recorder capture every word. ‘Talk about a dish served cold. This revenge was been hundreds of years in the brewing,’ Bambera said, then let Louise Ruth continue.
‘Apparently they left the Doctor on the planet Spiridon with Jo Grant and set off in a stolen ship heading back to another planet called…’ she paused trying to recall exactly what Taron had said. ‘Skaro… Skaro that’s it.’ At this Bambera hit pause on the tape recorder and standing headed out of the room.
‘It’s what we feared…’ Johnson added gazing down at her coffee cup. According to reports we have from Jo Grant, a UNIT operative that worked closely with the Doctor, Spiridon is still out there somewhere housing a great evil.’ Louise Ruth nodded and smiled. She knew Jo’s voice better than any of them thanks to Malcolm. ‘The Brigadier thinks that the Thals deliberately manipulated the rift to send them back to this place after they discovered what the Doctor had done.’
Louise Ruth nodded again, not able to grasp the magnitude of what the Thals must be going through. To have a friend or relative die by someone else’s hand would be bad enough but to have your entire race extinct was something else again. She was trying to get her head around that when Brigadier Bambera walked in.
‘I’ve had a word with Jack… he’s using his wrist manipulator to translate their language. He’s trying to explain what actually happened to their planet and the Time War. What I got from them before I left was from the one called Taron. Apparently they manipulated the rift so they could travel back in time and stop their planet from being destroyed.’ She paused as if in thought then continued. ‘He’s trying to tell them that it’s impossible and to ascertain the magnitude of the threat Spiridon still holds.’
‘This doesn’t make any sense unless you believe in blind luck. I mean… of all the times and places how did they arrive here and where is their time ship?’ Louise Ruth asked the obvious question.
Standing up Bambera shook her head in dismay. Heading back into the interrogation room she let the door slam behind her as she muttered incoherently to herself. Louise Ruth looked at Johnson as Johnson looked at her, raising one elegantly plucked eyebrow and gesturing her head towards the door. Louise Ruth smiled at their use of nonverbal communication and was pleased when Johnson also sported a small smile.
Ten minutes later Bambera returned and joined them next to the vending machine as she fed money into the slot. Louise Ruth was about to tell her not to bother then gave up as Bambera selected a drink.
‘They used a stolen space ship from Spiridon to manipulate the rift and lock onto a steel structure they knew of which was twenty meters high. Apparently Jo Grant had told them that there was one in her time… their ship apparently has an invisibility cloak and is tethered to the top.’
‘Steel structure… twenty metres high…’ Louise Ruth suppressed a grin. ‘Not the Angel… they locked onto this time period through the Angel of the North and have an alien space ship parked next to the top?’ The Brigadier nodded as if she didn’t believe it herself.
***
It had been over two months since the Rani’s TARDIS had been found and over two hundred UNIT scientists had moved from floor to floor mapping the construction while a second group had tried to discover how to travel in it, but to no avail. It had only taken Louise Ruth a momentary glance at the control panel and she knew she could program it. It worked on the same principle as the Doctor’s but seemed to be much more advanced. The problem was would it let her. A TARDIS, as the Doctor had told her, was a living thing. If it thought of the Rani as a friend or master would it let anyone else manipulate the controls? The other and more worrying problem was that if the TARDIS would only travel for her then she would have to accompany them to Spiridon, which was their ultimate destination, she was sure.
Although not happy about the situation, the Thals had come to accept the destruction of their home world Skaro and had spent many weeks describing the events that had brought them to Earth. Jack had explained exhaustively that the destruction of Skaro had been the best of two evils. Both their world and the world of the Time Lords, as well as many other worlds, had to be destroyed or an evil would escape that would threaten every living thing.
Apparently the evil that no one wanted to talk about was still housed on Spiridon, kept apparently in suspended animation frozen in ice and could be revived. The Brigadier wanted to send a team, using the Rani’s TARDIS across the expanse of space, to Spiridon to destroy this evil once and for all in case something happened and it was revived. Louise Ruth could see the logic in this but desperately didn’t want to be a part of it, but like Jonah and the whale knew in the back of her mind she would end up going to Nineveh.
With Ianto Jones on her left and Alonso Frame on her right Louise Ruth followed Agent Johnson into the Rani’s TARDIS, apprehension showing clearly on her face. Before she walked through the double doors she placed a hand each on Ianto and Alonso.
‘Now we’re going to play nicely aren’t we children?’
Ianto looked incensed. ‘He started it… he put cling film on the toilet seat.’
She turned to look at Alonso who tried to hide his eyes like a guilty child. ‘He ruined my boots first.’
She turned to look accusingly at Ianto, who shook his head vigorously. ‘That wasn’t me that was… err… the dog.’
‘What dog?’ Louise Ruth asked not believing a word he said.
‘Err… a random dog that just happened to be passing and took a fancy to his err… boots.’
‘Hands out,’ she said with all the authority of a school teacher. Both Ianto and Alonso extended their hands and received a slap for their troubles. ‘If you can’t play nicely I’ll make sure Jack doesn’t talk to either of you.’
The interior was as far from resembling the Doctor’s TARDIS as the Doctor himself resembled the Rani. Everything had a new, clean feeling about it, concentrated and scientific. White coated scientists potted about the control panel, a previously constructed diagram grasped in nervous fingers.
A brief look showed her that they had grasped the concept of time travel but not the process. The time and space coordinates were easy to set but the concept of a time corridor hadn’t been broached. They seemed to assume that the TARDIS would disappear at their end and reappear instantaneously at the destination end without any travelling in between. Jack, who had a better working knowledge of time travel than any of the othersm and had taken part in travelling with the Doctor hadn’t, it seemed, given them the heads up.
‘You’ve selected a time and date… that’s right but you have to tell her how to get there… which time corridor you want and how you want to travel.’ The scientists looked baffled as Louise Ruth pointed out a series of physical manoeuvres that had to be undertaken before the TARDIS would take a single step.
Their conversation was cut abruptly short when Sergeant Barrett and Sergeant Evans, accompanied by two other UNIT soldiers entered the TARDIS with the four Thals in tow. They had left their orange space suits behind and now wore modern clothing selected from a local Primark store.
Louise Ruth looked at Latep, the Thal that had wanted to kill her but he couldn’t hold her gaze. Either Bambera or Jack had convinced them that the course of action they had set out on was irrelevant or he was an extremely good actor when showing remorse and apology.
‘I’ve brought the Thals to see if they’ll give us the exact time and coordinates to land on Spiridon.’ Jack said as he made his way through the small group at the doorway.
Most of the UNIT technicians and scientist had left for the day and a nod from Johnson sent the rest scuttling for the door, accompanied by a number of UNIT soldiers. If the Thals were going to try and move the TARDIS then they didn’t want to be anywhere near it when it did. Evans, with a huge bruise creeping across one side of his face, held out both hands in apology towards Louise Ruth who nodded casually in acceptance.
The Thal known as Codal, who Jack knew as the scientist, approached the centre consol and looked down at the control panel. Without saying a word tapped in a number of coordinates then lunged at a bank of switches and hit them all at once.
‘No… Codal,’ Taron shouted as the TARDIS began to vibrate and the centre time rotor began moving up and down. Without thinking Louise Ruth grabbed for the door leaver and threw it forward locking them safely inside. Evans and Barrett grabbed Codal and dropping him to the floor fastened plastic cuffs to his wrists holding him securely.
‘You killed them… you killed them all. They were a race of peaceful farmers not warriors. They didn’t deserve to die… not like that… not totally… as… as if they had never existed.’ Codal’s long blonde hair flew about wildly as he struggled to fight against the bonds that held him. Tears of pain ran freely down his face as the tension that had been building up in him since the destruction of his home planet burst forth from him. Jack ran to the centre consol and read off directions as Johnson approached Taron, the Thal that had shouted ‘No,’ to Codal.
‘I thought you were with us Taron. You assured me that we both and similar goals in the destruction of an evil that threatens the very existence of life itself.’ Taron looked shamefaced at his friend, but didn’t apologise for him. Instead he returned his gaze to Agent Johnson.
‘I have to say that my friend Codal was always headstrong. He like so many of us lost everything, generations of friends and family alike. Whatever he did I’m sure he had our best intentions at heart. You see Rebec is going to have my child and we don’t want it to be on a strange planet.’ If agent Johnson was surprised that she could now understand Taron through the TARDIS’s universal translator she didn’t show it.
Jack turned to Louise Ruth and nodded back at Rebec, ‘She’s pregnant… can pregnant woman travel on a TARDIS?’
Louise Ruth shrugged as she gazed across at Rebec who was hiding behind her husband. ‘I can’t see why not… ask her if she’s wearing those socks you can buy at airports. Don’t want our Thal getting deep vain thrombosis do we.’
‘Jack… tell me… what he’s done,’ Johnson asked as she headed towards the control panel. Louise Ruth looked down at the consol and shook her head. She knew exactly what Codal had done. Sliding down the wall she had been resting on she closed her eyes and lowered her face into her hands and prepared herself for a long ride.
‘He must have done this on purpose. The coordinates are pre-set to Spiridon. He’s sent us travelling through space and time and locked out the controls. We can’t do a thing until we get there.’
‘We can’t go to Spiridon… we needed troops… weapons… explosives.’ Barrett said then thinking added. ‘Can we take off again as soon as we land and return to UNIT headquarters this time for supplies.’
Louise Ruth shook her head and speaking without raising it said, ‘This is a one trip deal. The TARDIS won’t go back… in time or space… I can feel it… her… I can feel her inside my head. She’s telling me how to travel with her… like a Time Lord.’ Placing her hands on her face she wiped the tears away then looking at her friend added, ‘We’ve got one shot at destroying this evil and if we fail… that’s it for us… and it seems the galaxy.’
Johnson looked on concerned. ‘What do you mean you can feel her inside your head?’
Louise Ruth looked up, her eyes red and filled with tears. ‘She knows me from old. She had my DNA mapped long ago. She can read me, talk to me… she’s chosen me.’
Johnson walked towards her and crouched next to her. ‘How did she… the TARDIS get your DNA?’
Louise Ruth smiled. ‘I spilt enough of it on the floor for her to get a match as I entered. She knows me, she wants me… she needs a new master or she can no longer exist… and… I… it seems… have to accept this or she will destroy herself… and us along with it.’ With that Louise Ruth stood up and taking a quick look at the control panel turned to stare down at the Thal known as Codal. ‘Now tell me what this evil is on Spiridon before I rip your fucking head off.’
Chapter Three - Spiridon Revisited