1x01: Death at the Museum (3/3)
Title: Death at the Museum (3/3)
Author: shinyopals
Rating: PG
Pairing: Rose/Ten II
Summary: After nearly two years of living a (relatively) normal life, the TARDIS is ready to go. The Doctor and Rose quickly find out that no matter what universe they're travelling in, there's always danger to be found!
Author's notes: Thanks for the five zillion people who gave me help and advice but in particular to mrv3000 and ginamak for going through line by line and telling me off for repeated lemurs.
Episode 1 of a virtual series at the_altverse.
Virtual Series Masterlist
Part 1 || Part 2
Escaping the little staff break room was a relief for Rose. It had begun to feel a bit claustrophobic and she was dearly looking forward to some natural light and hopefully some fresh air. She wouldn't have minded a shower, either. She briefly considered the thought of going back to the TARDIS but soon decided that no matter what she smelled like, it'd be far better to get some proper alien food as opposed to making herself toast. She'd had plenty of time for that, after all. A vending machine in the hall gave her something that looked a bit like a chocolate and nut bar, but tasted more of coffee. Whatever it was, though, it was nice enough and it'd keep her going for a bit until she found somewhere that might give her something like a proper meal.
Before she got as far as that, though, she passed a door with a window. It was a medium sized office with seven work spaces in it, all with varying degrees of tidiness. It was empty, though, aside from one person sitting at the corner desk, who she recognised from her clothes if not her species.
She pushed open the door.
"Hi. Jetra, isn't it?"
Jetra nodded. "And you're Agent Tyler."
"Just Rose," said Rose. "I'm not here to do any questioning. I just wanted to see how you were."
The girl shrugged. "I'm OK," she said.
"I'm sorry about Elizabeth," said Rose quietly. "She seemed nice."
"Yeah, she was," replied Jetra with a trace of a smile. "She never went easy on me, but that's what you want, isn't it?"
Rose, who had spent most of her school life wishing every teacher went easy on her (even if she'd realised the value of it once she'd joined Torchwood), smiled sympathetically and murmured in agreement.
"What happens to you now?" she asked.
Jetra shrugged again. "I don't know," she said. "I s'pose I'll have to see if I can get someone else to supervise me." She paused and absently rearranged the plastic screens on her desk. "I don't really want to, though. I liked Elizabeth."
Rose slipped an arm around Jetra's shoulders, feeling the hardness of her skin beneath her clothes but being careful not to react. For a second she thought Jetra might cry (or some alien equivalent) but the girl suddenly jumped to her feet and away from Rose.
"I have to go and-" she said, breaking off, before adding: "Work to do."
Rose watched her go sadly. It seemed like they must have been close. Losing anyone so suddenly had to hurt, that she knew all too well.
Getting to her feet, she left the office and started down the corridor again. Shortly after, she happened upon the security office. There was no guard there, only a young policewoman who looked human. She was going over the security tapes with a slightly resigned look on her face. Rose entered and sat down next to her.
"Ma'am?" asked the woman.
Rose wrinkled her nose. "Agent Tyler," she said, deciding that since she was supposed to be police, she might as well try and act a bit like it. "I don't like 'ma'am' much. And you are?"
"PC Slarrin, ma'am," she replied. "I mean, Agent."
"Seen anything, yet?"
"Nothing so far," replied PC Slarrin. "There are only a few cameras, but it's a lot of footage for one person." Rose recalled endless days spent poring over CCTV footage for Torchwood, trying to find even the smallest clue in the grainy, indistinct images. It was impossible not to feel sympathy for the poor PC.
"I'll give you a hand," she offered.
"Oh! Erm... thanks, m- I mean, Agent," said PC Slarrin, sounding surprised. "There's a spare set of headphones here."
Rose took the headphones and eventually worked out where to plug them in and how to start up the screen she'd chosen to sit in front of. The technology was advanced, but not completely counter-intuitive.
"I've done camera one," said Slarrin. "And I'm on two."
"I'll start with three, then," said Rose, settling back for what would undoubtedly be a very boring show. It was neither dinner or a shower, but she didn't feel it was fair to leave PC Slarrin in there on her own.
The camera she'd ended up with covered a large room with what appeared to be a rocket in the centre, as well as various other bits of space travel stuff. It looked a bit beyond her time, The Doctor had made no secret about the fact that the twenty-first century was the time when this sort of thing really got going. In fact, the very thought seemed to give him even itchier feet than doing things like food shopping. He'd worried about becoming too entrenched in the local timeline, he'd said, although he hadn't been able to explain it in a way that made sense to her. Apparently showing up and rescuing the Earth whenever it needed it was not 'too involved', whereas living there was. She'd half thought he was just twitchy about the lack of TARDIS, but it did seem to be something deeper than that, even if he couldn't explain it.
This ship, whenever it was from and whatever mission it had been used for, didn't seem to be going anywhere. It was a popular exhibit, though, and Rose scanned the crowd with practised eyes looking for familiar faces. Aside from tour guides and a couple of security guards, there didn't seem to be any museum staff in there. Rose carefully scrutinised the raalin that passed through in case any were Kaleen. At first glance they all looked remarkably similar - far more so than the fredori or the aereds. Even their clothes seemed to be all cut in the same design. There were subtle differences though, particularly with their hairstyles, and Rose was able to discount them as she saw them. The camera had sound too, but isolating individual conversations wasn't something she could do through the headphones.
A tap on her shoulder made her jump; she paused the tape and pulled the headphones off.
"I'm just going out to get a drink, Agent Tyler," said PC Slarrin. "Would you like something?"
"Oh, yeah, thanks," said Rose. "Anything that'll keep me awake!"
Slarrin smiled and pulled a device out of her pocket and put it on the desk. "Spare comms," she said. "I notice your team don't have them."
"Um, yeah, we're undercover," said Rose. "We use other ways."
Slarrin took this at face value and simply nodded. "Well if you do see something in the next ten minutes, this'll get you straight through to any of us."
"Thanks," said Rose, with half a smile. "Would be nice to find something, wouldn't it?"
"Don't count on it," replied Slarrin, then left.
Rose got back to her camera.
A couple of minutes later, Elizabeth Schwartz walked across the room carrying some boxes. Rose made a note of the timestamp and camera number and settled back down. This was not important enough to tell the world about. Presumably Elizabeth would come back in the opposite direction in a bit, since she was walking away from the staff corridors by Rose's estimation, probably to replace some objects she'd been studying.
To Rose's surprise, it was barely three minutes later before Elizabeth returned, still carrying her boxes and hurrying across the room, glancing over her shoulder as she did. Rose slowed the tape and zoomed in: the look of fear in Elizabeth's eyes was clear. What had she seen?
Rose panned back out again, slowing the tape down even more and looking at every face in the crowd. Just visitors at the moment. No one she recognised.
Except... there! Hurriedly following in Elizabeth's footsteps was a worried looking young man she didn't recognise and... Jetra.
Jetra looked furious and yet, half way across the room, altered course, dragging her friend closer to the camera until she must have been directly underneath it in a blind spot. Rose strained her eyes trying to see what the camera hadn't even picked up, but it was useless. But where they were standing now she could just make out a few words.
"... plan 45..."
"... Schwartz..."
"... worry, I'll..."
The picture faltered; the background noises were drowned out.
Rose jumped and stared at the screen for another few seconds, but there was no sign of Jetra or her friend. She pulled off her earphones and grabbed the comms device Slarrin had left behind.
"Get the Doctor!" she snapped into the device, pressing the obvious-looking button on the side and hoping she'd got it right. "I've found some security footage. Check out camera three, time stamp 348692. It might be nothing, but I think it's-"
She felt a sudden sharp pain in the back of her head and suddenly everything went black.
~*~
When Rose came to, she was in a small, cramped, dark space. Her arms were tied down. The back of her head was throbbing and when she shifted a little a wave of dizziness came over her. Despite this, she slowly wriggled around a little, trying to feel how she was restrained.
A sudden burst of torchlight caught her off guard and she winced in pain at the brightness.
"Ah, you're awake," said Jetra. "Keep quiet or I'll kill you."
Rose decided that - for now at least - she would do as ordered, and instead concentrated on pulling herself up so she was sitting. Whatever she was tied with, it seemed to be just her arms and hands, but it didn't feel like rope or metal and she couldn't feel any knots or linkages. Maybe she should have borrowed the sonic screwdriver. Maybe she should demand one of her own. But none of that left her better off here and now.
In the flashes of light from Jetra's torch she could see that wherever they were, her kidnapper was hard at work with some computers and circuit boards. One of the controls sparked and Jetra swore at it.
"Too much power," she muttered to herself.
"Maybe the museum have found you and they've turned the power up," said Rose. She doubted that would do anything, but it was worth a try.
"No, they-" Jetra broke off and turned to Rose. "You speak Aerarchic."
"So I do," said Rose.
"But you can't- where did you learn it?" she demanded, pushing herself right up into Rose's face, the torch blinding.
"Bloke in a bar," said Rose. "So I'm good with languages, sue me."
"Who are you?"
"EEBI," she said. "We told you. Who are you?"
"Aerarchic is our language," snapped Jetra. "We don't teach it to humans."
Rose snorted. "You make humans sound like a disease," she said.
"With your empire? It is."
"It's not like this planet is even part of the empire."
"Maybe not, but you want it to be," Jetra hissed in response. "My people have lived here for hundreds of years and then humans swan along, decide it's theirs, and we're supposed to just accept that."
Rose blinked slowly. The bash to her head left her feeling stupid and slow and she didn't really understand the political situation anyway.
"Well, sorry, I guess," she said. "I don't know what it's like. " Jetra looked slightly taken aback, but it wasn't as though Rose had any emotional connection to the empire beyond a faint sense of pride that her species had done so much, mixed with annoyance that they'd probably started a bunch of wars to do it. "Where'd you get the durrigium, anyway?"
That got her a smirk. "This isn't some after school hobby, you know. There are a lot of us back on the planet and we're organised."
"Right," said Rose. "So you're like a spy?" No response. "And spies don't let people know who they are if they're gonna let them live, so I'm a hostage, right? They've had guards on all the exits, so you've just been hanging around and hoping someone else gets blamed. But I found that video, so it's only a matter of time."
A further silence followed.
"What'd Elizabeth do?" Rose asked eventually.
Jetra almost seemed to soften a little. "One of my contacts came to see me here, the stupid man. Elizabeth heard something she shouldn't. It was just supposed to be an accident."
Rose winced. So Elizabeth had run back to notify the police of what she'd heard, and Jetra had used Kaleen as a distraction to get in the office.
And now... now she was a hostage to be killed the second Jetra got out. Except there was no way Jetra was going to risk the others in the museum figuring it out, not if she was really serious about this aered conspiracy thing. That meant she had to be doing something now, or they'd already be leaving. This fiddling with computers had to be a way to clean up.
"What are you-?"
"Shut up," said Jetra, aiming an unpleasant-looking gun at Rose. "Get to your feet. We're off."
Rose did as she was told, turning in the direction Jetra gestured and noticing a door panel which slid open when Jetra pushed a button. As she walked out and down the small flight of stairs she realised: they were in the spaceship she'd watched on camera.
She groaned. "Oh, please tell me they didn't leave armed weapons inside this thing." Jetra started, seeming to be surprised at the conclusions Rose had drawn. "I do this a lot," added Rose.
"Not weapons," said Jetra. "The engine itself. It's an old design, very... dirty. Get going."
"Right..." said Rose, setting off through the doorway indicated, vaguely remembering that this would take them to the stairs and the lifts. "You're gonna nuke the city, then?"
"It'll be a terrible accident," replied Jetra smoothly.
They didn't run into anyone as they walked through the halls and exhibits, and for the first time, Rose felt a thrill of fear. The Doctor would come, of course. She just wished he'd hurry up.
"You know I'm not actually EEBI," she said conversationally. No matter how used to being held at gunpoint she got, it was so much easier if she talked through it. She thought she might have picked that one up from the Doctor.
"Really." Jetra did not sound interested.
"I'm actually a time traveller," said Rose. "Well, and a space traveller, I s'pose, since I was born on Earth and Aletheia's quite a way away. S'funny, really: me and the Doctor came all this way and we ended up in a museum dedicated to the time I grew up."
"Ah," said Jetra, her tone mocking. "So you're not wearing those things because you like playing dress up, then?"
"You lot have weird problems with jeans," said Rose. "Maybe not the height of fashion, but they are comfy."
"Ah, but they're rubbish if they get wet," came the Doctor's voice. He appeared around a door frame, hands in pockets. Rose grinned at him and he waved at her. "Hello, Jetra. This place is surrounded, you know."
"Good effort," replied Jetra. "Even if I don't get a shot in, I've got pockets of durrigium hidden in my clothes. If I get shot, your friend here's dying one way or the other."
A frown briefly flickered across the Doctor's face before his mild smile returned. "Oh, I wouldn't say that," he said. "People who make that sort of threat tend to regret it."
"Usually 'cos I kick 'em," said Rose, earning herself a grin from the Doctor.
"Talk is easy," said Jetra, holding up a small black device with a few buttons on it in her free hand. "I've been here long enough to do some interesting reworking on one of the exhibits, if my one hostage isn't enough."
"The spaceship!" said Rose, nodding her head. "Back on the video, she's-"
Jetra drew back the gun and smacked her in the head with it. Rose cried out and staggered back a little, head swimming. Too much in her head and too much out and when was the ceiling on the floor? She thought she heard a little phut as she tripped over her own feet and started to fall, and then a hand was over her mouth and nose and she couldn't breathe.
She tried to dig her heels in as she felt herself being dragged away and she didn't have enough air and her head was going to explode and oh...
The hands vanished and she fell onto something soft and warm and familiar. Someone was saying something by her ear. Was she lying down or sitting? She strained to listen to the noise.
"... so sorry, Rose, I should have seen this- if only I'd..."
"Mmph," she replied, something that she was sure would make sense to him, and then she stopped listening.
~*~
The Doctor was left alone, clutching a semi-unconscious Rose at the side of the room while the police cleaned up. She was breathing evenly and while her head was bruised, a few minutes in the TARDIS would see to that. No permanent damage, he told himself shakily, as he used the screwdriver to release her from her restraints.
Jetra was dead, lying where she'd fallen.
If he'd had it in him he'd have run up and shaken the DI. She'd warned about the gas and with Rose so injured she'd have taken a breath without even thinking. He'd had to pull her across the room without letting her breathe, which had quite clearly not helped.
That TARDIS would sort it all out properly, he told himself. To his relief her eyes fluttered open then and she seemed to actually be seeing him, not just staring.
"'Lo," she muttered, trying to push herself upright and groaning as she did. "Oh god. I think I need to sleep."
"Go slowly," he insisted.
"What happened? Jetra?" Rose flinched, clearly recalling the events immediately preceding Jetra's death. She looked with distaste at the scene - and at the body of the young aered. "How many years in the future until they stop using bullets?" she asked.
"Too long," the Doctor agreed, helping her to her feet. She seemed to feel better about standing, even if she was obviously dizzy and leaning heavily on him. No surprises there, of course, and yet it was a relief. The day he'd have to carry her would be the day something was really wrong. As terrified as he'd been, Rose had a marvellous ability to bounce back, especially from this sort of thing. Just having her awake and talking - if a little woozily - was all he needed to calm down.
"What happened to the remote and the ship?" she asked next.
"Not a problem," he assured her. "The DI sent some of his blokes running as soon as you said to check on it. They're waiting for some expert techs to come in and while I'm sure I could do the job, I've got other priorities.
"She had friends," insisted Rose, looking around. "This bloke-"
"On the tape," finished the Doctor. "They've got his picture."
"And she said it was a big thing on the planet."
"I think we can leave it to our friend DI Ramasgildon," replied the Doctor. "Aered he might be, but he didn't seem too happy about the thought of any violent uprising. We've got to let history happen, haven't we?"
Rose leaned into him even more, nuzzling against his neck and pressing a kiss there; he gently squeezed her.
"Back to the TARDIS?" she said at last. "As much as I know you love cleaning up and doing paperwork, I could use a long sleep."
"And a quick trip to the med bay," he said firmly. "I think you've got a bit of a concussion, and hopefully that's it."
"Mmm," she agreed sleepily. "I'll be all right: I've got a good Doctor."
"Flatterer," he said, with a grin.
"You love it."
"Oh yes!"
Before they reached the edge of the room, the DI called after them. "Where are you going?" he demanded. "I could use a hand with this."
"We'll be back in a second!" replied the Doctor. "Just gotta call the boss, you know how it is!"
They were out of the room and into the lift before the DI could reply and fairly soon they were right outside the TARDIS.
Someone, the Doctor noticed, had apparently mistaken the TARDIS for part of the museum and had helpfully left a little information card.
Police Public Call Box
These boxes were widely available across the world in from 1963 until the popularity of the 'mobile cellphone made' them obsolete. A police constable sat inside and when a concerned citizen found themselves in need of assistance they could speak to them using the telephone. The constable would then leave the box and come to their immediate aid.
The popular fictional character 'Superman' was famed for owning one and using it to change into his 'superhero' costume.
"See that, Rose?" he said. "I'm like Superman."
"Mmm, 'course you are," she yawned, but despite her fatigue she was looking better every second. "C'mon, I've got a headache from hell and you're going to make me dinner. Or breakfast, since I'm sleeping first." He laughed and unlocked the TARDIS. They'd be all right in the end. They always would. No bump on the head was going to stop either Rose or him.
"On we go, Rose Tyler," he murmured. "On we go."
Next week: Disappearance in Deadwood by malana
Author: shinyopals
Rating: PG
Pairing: Rose/Ten II
Summary: After nearly two years of living a (relatively) normal life, the TARDIS is ready to go. The Doctor and Rose quickly find out that no matter what universe they're travelling in, there's always danger to be found!
Author's notes: Thanks for the five zillion people who gave me help and advice but in particular to mrv3000 and ginamak for going through line by line and telling me off for repeated lemurs.
Episode 1 of a virtual series at the_altverse.
Virtual Series Masterlist
Part 1 || Part 2
Escaping the little staff break room was a relief for Rose. It had begun to feel a bit claustrophobic and she was dearly looking forward to some natural light and hopefully some fresh air. She wouldn't have minded a shower, either. She briefly considered the thought of going back to the TARDIS but soon decided that no matter what she smelled like, it'd be far better to get some proper alien food as opposed to making herself toast. She'd had plenty of time for that, after all. A vending machine in the hall gave her something that looked a bit like a chocolate and nut bar, but tasted more of coffee. Whatever it was, though, it was nice enough and it'd keep her going for a bit until she found somewhere that might give her something like a proper meal.
Before she got as far as that, though, she passed a door with a window. It was a medium sized office with seven work spaces in it, all with varying degrees of tidiness. It was empty, though, aside from one person sitting at the corner desk, who she recognised from her clothes if not her species.
She pushed open the door.
"Hi. Jetra, isn't it?"
Jetra nodded. "And you're Agent Tyler."
"Just Rose," said Rose. "I'm not here to do any questioning. I just wanted to see how you were."
The girl shrugged. "I'm OK," she said.
"I'm sorry about Elizabeth," said Rose quietly. "She seemed nice."
"Yeah, she was," replied Jetra with a trace of a smile. "She never went easy on me, but that's what you want, isn't it?"
Rose, who had spent most of her school life wishing every teacher went easy on her (even if she'd realised the value of it once she'd joined Torchwood), smiled sympathetically and murmured in agreement.
"What happens to you now?" she asked.
Jetra shrugged again. "I don't know," she said. "I s'pose I'll have to see if I can get someone else to supervise me." She paused and absently rearranged the plastic screens on her desk. "I don't really want to, though. I liked Elizabeth."
Rose slipped an arm around Jetra's shoulders, feeling the hardness of her skin beneath her clothes but being careful not to react. For a second she thought Jetra might cry (or some alien equivalent) but the girl suddenly jumped to her feet and away from Rose.
"I have to go and-" she said, breaking off, before adding: "Work to do."
Rose watched her go sadly. It seemed like they must have been close. Losing anyone so suddenly had to hurt, that she knew all too well.
Getting to her feet, she left the office and started down the corridor again. Shortly after, she happened upon the security office. There was no guard there, only a young policewoman who looked human. She was going over the security tapes with a slightly resigned look on her face. Rose entered and sat down next to her.
"Ma'am?" asked the woman.
Rose wrinkled her nose. "Agent Tyler," she said, deciding that since she was supposed to be police, she might as well try and act a bit like it. "I don't like 'ma'am' much. And you are?"
"PC Slarrin, ma'am," she replied. "I mean, Agent."
"Seen anything, yet?"
"Nothing so far," replied PC Slarrin. "There are only a few cameras, but it's a lot of footage for one person." Rose recalled endless days spent poring over CCTV footage for Torchwood, trying to find even the smallest clue in the grainy, indistinct images. It was impossible not to feel sympathy for the poor PC.
"I'll give you a hand," she offered.
"Oh! Erm... thanks, m- I mean, Agent," said PC Slarrin, sounding surprised. "There's a spare set of headphones here."
Rose took the headphones and eventually worked out where to plug them in and how to start up the screen she'd chosen to sit in front of. The technology was advanced, but not completely counter-intuitive.
"I've done camera one," said Slarrin. "And I'm on two."
"I'll start with three, then," said Rose, settling back for what would undoubtedly be a very boring show. It was neither dinner or a shower, but she didn't feel it was fair to leave PC Slarrin in there on her own.
The camera she'd ended up with covered a large room with what appeared to be a rocket in the centre, as well as various other bits of space travel stuff. It looked a bit beyond her time, The Doctor had made no secret about the fact that the twenty-first century was the time when this sort of thing really got going. In fact, the very thought seemed to give him even itchier feet than doing things like food shopping. He'd worried about becoming too entrenched in the local timeline, he'd said, although he hadn't been able to explain it in a way that made sense to her. Apparently showing up and rescuing the Earth whenever it needed it was not 'too involved', whereas living there was. She'd half thought he was just twitchy about the lack of TARDIS, but it did seem to be something deeper than that, even if he couldn't explain it.
This ship, whenever it was from and whatever mission it had been used for, didn't seem to be going anywhere. It was a popular exhibit, though, and Rose scanned the crowd with practised eyes looking for familiar faces. Aside from tour guides and a couple of security guards, there didn't seem to be any museum staff in there. Rose carefully scrutinised the raalin that passed through in case any were Kaleen. At first glance they all looked remarkably similar - far more so than the fredori or the aereds. Even their clothes seemed to be all cut in the same design. There were subtle differences though, particularly with their hairstyles, and Rose was able to discount them as she saw them. The camera had sound too, but isolating individual conversations wasn't something she could do through the headphones.
A tap on her shoulder made her jump; she paused the tape and pulled the headphones off.
"I'm just going out to get a drink, Agent Tyler," said PC Slarrin. "Would you like something?"
"Oh, yeah, thanks," said Rose. "Anything that'll keep me awake!"
Slarrin smiled and pulled a device out of her pocket and put it on the desk. "Spare comms," she said. "I notice your team don't have them."
"Um, yeah, we're undercover," said Rose. "We use other ways."
Slarrin took this at face value and simply nodded. "Well if you do see something in the next ten minutes, this'll get you straight through to any of us."
"Thanks," said Rose, with half a smile. "Would be nice to find something, wouldn't it?"
"Don't count on it," replied Slarrin, then left.
Rose got back to her camera.
A couple of minutes later, Elizabeth Schwartz walked across the room carrying some boxes. Rose made a note of the timestamp and camera number and settled back down. This was not important enough to tell the world about. Presumably Elizabeth would come back in the opposite direction in a bit, since she was walking away from the staff corridors by Rose's estimation, probably to replace some objects she'd been studying.
To Rose's surprise, it was barely three minutes later before Elizabeth returned, still carrying her boxes and hurrying across the room, glancing over her shoulder as she did. Rose slowed the tape and zoomed in: the look of fear in Elizabeth's eyes was clear. What had she seen?
Rose panned back out again, slowing the tape down even more and looking at every face in the crowd. Just visitors at the moment. No one she recognised.
Except... there! Hurriedly following in Elizabeth's footsteps was a worried looking young man she didn't recognise and... Jetra.
Jetra looked furious and yet, half way across the room, altered course, dragging her friend closer to the camera until she must have been directly underneath it in a blind spot. Rose strained her eyes trying to see what the camera hadn't even picked up, but it was useless. But where they were standing now she could just make out a few words.
"... plan 45..."
"... Schwartz..."
"... worry, I'll..."
The picture faltered; the background noises were drowned out.
Rose jumped and stared at the screen for another few seconds, but there was no sign of Jetra or her friend. She pulled off her earphones and grabbed the comms device Slarrin had left behind.
"Get the Doctor!" she snapped into the device, pressing the obvious-looking button on the side and hoping she'd got it right. "I've found some security footage. Check out camera three, time stamp 348692. It might be nothing, but I think it's-"
She felt a sudden sharp pain in the back of her head and suddenly everything went black.
~*~
When Rose came to, she was in a small, cramped, dark space. Her arms were tied down. The back of her head was throbbing and when she shifted a little a wave of dizziness came over her. Despite this, she slowly wriggled around a little, trying to feel how she was restrained.
A sudden burst of torchlight caught her off guard and she winced in pain at the brightness.
"Ah, you're awake," said Jetra. "Keep quiet or I'll kill you."
Rose decided that - for now at least - she would do as ordered, and instead concentrated on pulling herself up so she was sitting. Whatever she was tied with, it seemed to be just her arms and hands, but it didn't feel like rope or metal and she couldn't feel any knots or linkages. Maybe she should have borrowed the sonic screwdriver. Maybe she should demand one of her own. But none of that left her better off here and now.
In the flashes of light from Jetra's torch she could see that wherever they were, her kidnapper was hard at work with some computers and circuit boards. One of the controls sparked and Jetra swore at it.
"Too much power," she muttered to herself.
"Maybe the museum have found you and they've turned the power up," said Rose. She doubted that would do anything, but it was worth a try.
"No, they-" Jetra broke off and turned to Rose. "You speak Aerarchic."
"So I do," said Rose.
"But you can't- where did you learn it?" she demanded, pushing herself right up into Rose's face, the torch blinding.
"Bloke in a bar," said Rose. "So I'm good with languages, sue me."
"Who are you?"
"EEBI," she said. "We told you. Who are you?"
"Aerarchic is our language," snapped Jetra. "We don't teach it to humans."
Rose snorted. "You make humans sound like a disease," she said.
"With your empire? It is."
"It's not like this planet is even part of the empire."
"Maybe not, but you want it to be," Jetra hissed in response. "My people have lived here for hundreds of years and then humans swan along, decide it's theirs, and we're supposed to just accept that."
Rose blinked slowly. The bash to her head left her feeling stupid and slow and she didn't really understand the political situation anyway.
"Well, sorry, I guess," she said. "I don't know what it's like. " Jetra looked slightly taken aback, but it wasn't as though Rose had any emotional connection to the empire beyond a faint sense of pride that her species had done so much, mixed with annoyance that they'd probably started a bunch of wars to do it. "Where'd you get the durrigium, anyway?"
That got her a smirk. "This isn't some after school hobby, you know. There are a lot of us back on the planet and we're organised."
"Right," said Rose. "So you're like a spy?" No response. "And spies don't let people know who they are if they're gonna let them live, so I'm a hostage, right? They've had guards on all the exits, so you've just been hanging around and hoping someone else gets blamed. But I found that video, so it's only a matter of time."
A further silence followed.
"What'd Elizabeth do?" Rose asked eventually.
Jetra almost seemed to soften a little. "One of my contacts came to see me here, the stupid man. Elizabeth heard something she shouldn't. It was just supposed to be an accident."
Rose winced. So Elizabeth had run back to notify the police of what she'd heard, and Jetra had used Kaleen as a distraction to get in the office.
And now... now she was a hostage to be killed the second Jetra got out. Except there was no way Jetra was going to risk the others in the museum figuring it out, not if she was really serious about this aered conspiracy thing. That meant she had to be doing something now, or they'd already be leaving. This fiddling with computers had to be a way to clean up.
"What are you-?"
"Shut up," said Jetra, aiming an unpleasant-looking gun at Rose. "Get to your feet. We're off."
Rose did as she was told, turning in the direction Jetra gestured and noticing a door panel which slid open when Jetra pushed a button. As she walked out and down the small flight of stairs she realised: they were in the spaceship she'd watched on camera.
She groaned. "Oh, please tell me they didn't leave armed weapons inside this thing." Jetra started, seeming to be surprised at the conclusions Rose had drawn. "I do this a lot," added Rose.
"Not weapons," said Jetra. "The engine itself. It's an old design, very... dirty. Get going."
"Right..." said Rose, setting off through the doorway indicated, vaguely remembering that this would take them to the stairs and the lifts. "You're gonna nuke the city, then?"
"It'll be a terrible accident," replied Jetra smoothly.
They didn't run into anyone as they walked through the halls and exhibits, and for the first time, Rose felt a thrill of fear. The Doctor would come, of course. She just wished he'd hurry up.
"You know I'm not actually EEBI," she said conversationally. No matter how used to being held at gunpoint she got, it was so much easier if she talked through it. She thought she might have picked that one up from the Doctor.
"Really." Jetra did not sound interested.
"I'm actually a time traveller," said Rose. "Well, and a space traveller, I s'pose, since I was born on Earth and Aletheia's quite a way away. S'funny, really: me and the Doctor came all this way and we ended up in a museum dedicated to the time I grew up."
"Ah," said Jetra, her tone mocking. "So you're not wearing those things because you like playing dress up, then?"
"You lot have weird problems with jeans," said Rose. "Maybe not the height of fashion, but they are comfy."
"Ah, but they're rubbish if they get wet," came the Doctor's voice. He appeared around a door frame, hands in pockets. Rose grinned at him and he waved at her. "Hello, Jetra. This place is surrounded, you know."
"Good effort," replied Jetra. "Even if I don't get a shot in, I've got pockets of durrigium hidden in my clothes. If I get shot, your friend here's dying one way or the other."
A frown briefly flickered across the Doctor's face before his mild smile returned. "Oh, I wouldn't say that," he said. "People who make that sort of threat tend to regret it."
"Usually 'cos I kick 'em," said Rose, earning herself a grin from the Doctor.
"Talk is easy," said Jetra, holding up a small black device with a few buttons on it in her free hand. "I've been here long enough to do some interesting reworking on one of the exhibits, if my one hostage isn't enough."
"The spaceship!" said Rose, nodding her head. "Back on the video, she's-"
Jetra drew back the gun and smacked her in the head with it. Rose cried out and staggered back a little, head swimming. Too much in her head and too much out and when was the ceiling on the floor? She thought she heard a little phut as she tripped over her own feet and started to fall, and then a hand was over her mouth and nose and she couldn't breathe.
She tried to dig her heels in as she felt herself being dragged away and she didn't have enough air and her head was going to explode and oh...
The hands vanished and she fell onto something soft and warm and familiar. Someone was saying something by her ear. Was she lying down or sitting? She strained to listen to the noise.
"... so sorry, Rose, I should have seen this- if only I'd..."
"Mmph," she replied, something that she was sure would make sense to him, and then she stopped listening.
~*~
The Doctor was left alone, clutching a semi-unconscious Rose at the side of the room while the police cleaned up. She was breathing evenly and while her head was bruised, a few minutes in the TARDIS would see to that. No permanent damage, he told himself shakily, as he used the screwdriver to release her from her restraints.
Jetra was dead, lying where she'd fallen.
If he'd had it in him he'd have run up and shaken the DI. She'd warned about the gas and with Rose so injured she'd have taken a breath without even thinking. He'd had to pull her across the room without letting her breathe, which had quite clearly not helped.
That TARDIS would sort it all out properly, he told himself. To his relief her eyes fluttered open then and she seemed to actually be seeing him, not just staring.
"'Lo," she muttered, trying to push herself upright and groaning as she did. "Oh god. I think I need to sleep."
"Go slowly," he insisted.
"What happened? Jetra?" Rose flinched, clearly recalling the events immediately preceding Jetra's death. She looked with distaste at the scene - and at the body of the young aered. "How many years in the future until they stop using bullets?" she asked.
"Too long," the Doctor agreed, helping her to her feet. She seemed to feel better about standing, even if she was obviously dizzy and leaning heavily on him. No surprises there, of course, and yet it was a relief. The day he'd have to carry her would be the day something was really wrong. As terrified as he'd been, Rose had a marvellous ability to bounce back, especially from this sort of thing. Just having her awake and talking - if a little woozily - was all he needed to calm down.
"What happened to the remote and the ship?" she asked next.
"Not a problem," he assured her. "The DI sent some of his blokes running as soon as you said to check on it. They're waiting for some expert techs to come in and while I'm sure I could do the job, I've got other priorities.
"She had friends," insisted Rose, looking around. "This bloke-"
"On the tape," finished the Doctor. "They've got his picture."
"And she said it was a big thing on the planet."
"I think we can leave it to our friend DI Ramasgildon," replied the Doctor. "Aered he might be, but he didn't seem too happy about the thought of any violent uprising. We've got to let history happen, haven't we?"
Rose leaned into him even more, nuzzling against his neck and pressing a kiss there; he gently squeezed her.
"Back to the TARDIS?" she said at last. "As much as I know you love cleaning up and doing paperwork, I could use a long sleep."
"And a quick trip to the med bay," he said firmly. "I think you've got a bit of a concussion, and hopefully that's it."
"Mmm," she agreed sleepily. "I'll be all right: I've got a good Doctor."
"Flatterer," he said, with a grin.
"You love it."
"Oh yes!"
Before they reached the edge of the room, the DI called after them. "Where are you going?" he demanded. "I could use a hand with this."
"We'll be back in a second!" replied the Doctor. "Just gotta call the boss, you know how it is!"
They were out of the room and into the lift before the DI could reply and fairly soon they were right outside the TARDIS.
Someone, the Doctor noticed, had apparently mistaken the TARDIS for part of the museum and had helpfully left a little information card.
Police Public Call Box
These boxes were widely available across the world in from 1963 until the popularity of the 'mobile cellphone made' them obsolete. A police constable sat inside and when a concerned citizen found themselves in need of assistance they could speak to them using the telephone. The constable would then leave the box and come to their immediate aid.
The popular fictional character 'Superman' was famed for owning one and using it to change into his 'superhero' costume.
"See that, Rose?" he said. "I'm like Superman."
"Mmm, 'course you are," she yawned, but despite her fatigue she was looking better every second. "C'mon, I've got a headache from hell and you're going to make me dinner. Or breakfast, since I'm sleeping first." He laughed and unlocked the TARDIS. They'd be all right in the end. They always would. No bump on the head was going to stop either Rose or him.
"On we go, Rose Tyler," he murmured. "On we go."
Next week: Disappearance in Deadwood by malana