Medusa
Chapter 1
Friday Night.
It was a scene like the end of the world, to Owen it seemed like the end of the world as how he imagined it as a child, as the crest of a wave advanced towards him. Caught in it's trough, like a rabbit caught in a headlights, he waited. Struggling to keep his head above water, he waited. Spitting out a mouthful of salt-water, he waited. Owen Harper was always calm, rational, when analysing some inhuman corpse on the hub's autopsy table, dissecting some weird alien invertebrate, or figuring out Gwen . Tonight, he was irrational, confronted by an primeval fear, that had haunted him since a child. Stay alive, his mind told him. His body and will told him otherwise.
A fear of drowning.
A fear of dying.
Thunder cracked from above, the boom echoed across the Bristol Channel's ravaged waters, which storm force winds whipped into an angry frenzy. Around them was the slowly sinking burning wreckage of the Navy Helicopter.
Stay alive Jamie! A voice screamed inside his head. Lt Commander Jamie MacKenzie gasped deep breaths, the salt water stinging in his eyes. His mind was trying to comprehend what had just happened just minutes before. He stopped, his legs kicking frantically to give himself a few vital moments. He ripped at his combat uniform's shoulder pocket; UNIT had equipped him with everything, well nearly. Almost instantly, a bright white light pulsed every two seconds, at the same time a small but very powerful radio beacon started sending an immediate distress signal with a GPS coordinates. He rested momentarily to take his bearings in this cold and grey watery hell. He quickly scanned round the ever moving sea-scape. There. His hopes momentarily raised. He caught sight of a figure struggling in the water. A long deep deliberate breath, and he propelled himself forward in the water
Shit! The figure was struggling to keep their head above water, in the storm. For a few moments they were winning. Then they went under. Fuck! Jamie dived underneath the sea's dark surface into the even darker sub-surface. Where are they? He kept swimming in their general direction. Ten seconds, twenty seconds, he counted, his lungs bursting with a screaming fire. A lightning flash from above, illuminated the sea. There!
Twenty feet in front, and ten feet below, a figure lay silently floating, suspended almost serenely, long hair trailing above. Jamie's legs kicked more powerful strokes, as he found the extra energy to carry on.
Owen coughed out more sea-water. He looked up at the sky, nothing but rolling low storm clouds. The next wave would finish him of that he was certain. Then an muscular arm wrapped itself under his right arm, and supported his neck. "You pick a fine time to go for a swim lad!" A rough Northern Irish accent shouted, manhandling him backwards through the water.
The fear of dying became a distant memory.
Long dark flowing hair, she was struggling, her overcoat was dragging her down. It was Toshiko, the petite Japanese science geek, not Sam, and definitely not Gwen. She was still clutching that scanner thing that seemed to be an extension of her right hand. A momentarily flash of anger burst through his mind, as Jamie removed her coat, his lungs screaming for air. If it wasn't for her, we'd be what…
Dead?
Vaporized?
Jamie pointed upwards, Toshiko nodded, and swift kicks propelled her upwards.
Moments later, an explosion of water announced their presence. Jamie took deep breath's, whilst Toshiko's was more short, and panicky. She was still holding that scanner. "You're ok Tosh, just concentrate on breathing, I'll keep you afloat!" The bright flashing light of the beacon, shone into her eyes, there was real fear in them. She nodded. "Where are they?" She asked shivering.
Jamie looked around. Desperately looking for answers. I don't know, a small voice from inside his mind answered.
Owen saw the pulsing light, coming towards then. The human mountain, as Tosh nicknamed him, or Warrant Officer Travers seemed focused, fixed on swimming towards it. The only sound his breathing. "You seen any of the others?"
No reply, only deeper fixed breath. Becoming increasingly irritated, Owen shouted. "Look action man, my team was back there!"
Travers briefly turned his head around. "So was mine!" He shouted.
Annoyingly there was no wreckage now, no flotsam, no life-jackets. Jamie looked around, the sea was still rolling, not as bad minutes earlier. He felt his strength weakening, the cold sapping his own lifeforce. Rationally he weighed up his and Toshiko's chances, time of year, the coldness of water, the wind chill factor, and the shock. The same as me having a hot date with Evangeline Lilly – little or none. He briefly smiled to reassure a staring Toshiko, they floated together.
The momentarily piece of silence was broken, by two voices having a who can shout louder contest, an South London accent, and an Northern Irish one. That annoying tit Owen, and the ever reliable Travers, that left.
Lt Colonel Josh Armitage, the team-leader. Flight Lieutenant Sam Makler, the recent addition to the team, and two others. Captain Jack Harkness, the DI-75 file on him and torchwood was larger than Bin Laden, and Gwen Cooper. The feeling of warmth within Jamie was brief, a coldness shot up his spine. They where…
Gone – vanished without a trace.
He looked around the survivors. In the corner of his eye, just above the horizon, there was a pin-prick of light growing larger. Rescue, they'd made it.
"Tell me something Captain!" Owen spat, his tone venomous.
"Lt Commander" Travers corrected him, Jamie knew Travers well, he'd snap Owen's spine in a heartbeat.
"How the fuck!" Owen continued unabashed.
"Does a twelve thousand tonne world war two aircraft carrier missing for seventy years, reappear and disappear?"
Three pairs of eyes stared at him, as the sound of the rescue helicopter's rotor blades drew themselves closer. Travers' concerned look, Toshiko's scared look, and the anger of Owen all bored in on him.
"God I wish I knew!"
The mother of all head-aches hit him, as the momentary bright light pulsed impossibility white faded. He had had some mother's of head-aches in his life-time, this was unreal. He blinked his eyes rapidly, as his focus came back. Captain Jack Harkness slowly raised his head from the steel of the hanger-deck. That was unusually warm to the touch. There was an odour, not unlike ozone after a lightning storm.
Except that it felt like this time he had been hit by lightning.
He breathed deeply, then slowly inch by inch, he got up. The head-ache and dizziness did not subside. All around him, human shaped figures started to move about, writhe and groan.
If you can feel the pain, then you know you are alive, somebody told me that once, in another time, in another place. Jack put a hand on the wall. He jolted back with a sharp pain. The structure was painfully hot. The glowing at the end of the hanger deck from the strange device in the chamber started to fade, and in the dark, the nightmarish shadows of some of HMS Medusa's crew blended into the ship's structure, in charred blackened horrible twisted shapes, their faces etched clearly in pain, and terror. He, Gwen, Armitage, and Sam had uncovered the horror. Ordinary GI's, ordinary sailors, and some civilians, from an era long past, Jack recognised them from the uniforms. Young men, doing grim jobs, it was war you expected to die, just not to have yourself fused into a warship's super-structure. Gwen wrenched herself away from the horror, moments later there was the sound of liquid hitting the surface, as she was vomited. Sam on the other hand, examined them with a grim fascination.
Then things started to get exciting, which usually happened in Torchwood, very quickly. The machine in the chamber switched itself on, and time started to slow down. He, Gwen, and Armitage drew their weapons. Panic ensured, and time stopped. Which reminded him, where was his Webley pistol?
He heard a familiar groan, and walked over in the direction of a pale white Gwen. Holding her stomach, and eyes fixed on Jack, with a familiar expression on her face. Help me out here. Jack, ever the gentlemen, even in these circumstance,s smiled. "Hey – you ok?"
"Just give me a moment!" Gwen replied. Jack turned round. A second later, the sound of somebody's dinner splashed onto the deck.
"Aw those Friday nights in your teenage years Gwen, you remember them?" Jack chided. "That cheap bottle of cider or what-ever you drink, then if you are really lucky, a drunken kiss, and a grope behind the bus shelter…"
"Piss off!" An angry voice retorted.
"That's the spirit. This is one hell of a Friday night!" He patted Gwen on her back.
There was coughing, a rough rasping noise, that sounded like throat cancer was making an early visit. Armitage looked up at Jack. The bold as brass UNIT recovery team leader had a "tell me what just happened " look. Jack avoided eye contact, as he turned and helped Gwen up. Watching carefully where he stood, as there were chunks of regurgitated Hawaiian pizza over the deck. Armitage got up.
"What just happened?" Shouted an frightened Armitage. "You're the fucking experts in these things. Tell me what just happened!" He shouted. Jack sighed, and then grinned. "Well Colonel, it's not just your standard UNIT recovery operation!"
He turned, and faced Gwen. "It's way beyond that now!" Her concerned look matched his.
He started down the hanger deck, to check if Flight Lieutenant Makler was ok.
Judging from the way she was standing, and was looking around awestruck, Makler was none the worst for wear. "She was the only one that didn't have dinner!" Jack detected a slight hint of sarcasm in Gwen's voice. "Cow!" She whispered. He smiled as he watched Makler carefully, something was just not right about that girl. His gut told him that, and his gut instinct was always just about one hundred percent.
"Sam!" Gwen called out. "Is everything ok?" Makler turned round slowly, and smiled. "I'm fine. Do you know what has just happened?"
"Some sort of temporal displacement I believe!" Jack replied. Gwen and Armitage looked at him. Jack grinned.
Makler smiled.
Gwen noticed it first, like drops of hailstones falling in the distance, getting louder as the storm approached. "What's that?"
"What is what?" Armitage replied annoyed.
Jack was about to say something. Then Armitage, and Jack heard it as well. They were getting louder. Jack turned. They were coming from all around, the access stairs and ladders. Not mechanical.
Footsteps, hundreds of them. Running, rattling the decks as they ran.
From the corridors within the ship. Figures swarmed out, human in movement, wearing dark grey and black uniforms, helmets, and gas-masks. They were armed with a lot of guns. Jack looked round for his revolver. Where the hell was it?
The rest of the team looked round, fixed to it in fear and confusion. Jack moved back to beside Gwen. As dozens of powerful torches blinded them. Then there was a metal grating sound, that the soldier within him recognised, safety's being clicked off. Jack put his hand to eyes to reduce the glare. "Whatever happens Gwen. Stick with me!" A startled Gwen looked at him. "Things are bad, and are about to get worse."
A voice echoed from a megaphone, in accented English. "You will put down your weapons, and raise your arms. You are now prisoners!"
"That's original." Whispered Jack, as he slowly raised his arms, Gwen copied him. "Who are they?"
"Of the third reich!"
"This just gets better and better."
To be continued.