The Companion Connection
By Lumendea
Chapter Four: Xylok of Earth: The Xylok
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the spinoff material and I gain no income off of this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.
…..
Ian and Rose were running towards Gordon's lab as everything continued to shake. Certainly, the shaking wasn't very strong, but Rose could imagine that the machine was slowly being used to alter the stability of planet Earth. If surface destruction wasn't the real point of the … Xylok's plot than something underground must have been the thing of interest.
"How will you upload the virus?" Ian asked her.
"I'm not sure yet," Rose said. "But Gordon had it in his desk, probably to make sure the machine didn't expose him so I'm guessing that means that there is a CD or DVD drive on the machine."
"You're guessing?"
"I haven't seen this machine," Rose shouted back. "But his backup plan wouldn't be something he couldn't use!"
When they reached the door to the lab, Rose dropped to her knee and quickly pulled out her small lock picking tool set. Unlike Gordon's office, this door was sealed by a series of three locks all with different keys by the lock of the locks. As she set to work on the bottom lock, Rose vaguely heard Ian pull out his phone and call Barbara again for the information and a status update. Personally, Rose was hoping that UNIT London would call in the local force to help put this machine down. Rose was through the second lock when Ian hung up and turned to Rose with a very pale face.
"The local UNIT troops were taken out by whatever Gordon put in the vent systems, it has spread across the city now. All of Cambridge is asleep and can't help us. Barbara got through to UNIT London, but it will take them an hour to arrive."
"Okay," Rose said as she worked on the third lock. "How much time have we got?"
"Apparently the planet can only take another twenty-five minutes of this before it cracks apart. The damage on the surface in England isn't bad so far, but the vibrations are earthquakes all around the world and tidal waves. It is destabilising the interior of the Earth"
"Why is there always a time limit?" Rose cracked open the last lock and stood up. Taking a deep breath and glancing at Ian who nodded, she shoved open the door.
The lab space was very dark but illuminated on the far side by a large machine built from the scraps of numerous computers. At the front was a large panel with a crystal nestled among circuits that was glowing slightly. A large screen was showing the energy levels of the earth shaper machine and tracking the damage.
"Humans that are still awake," a deep masculine voice that surprised Rose said. "Interesting that you escaped my formula to put you to sleep. I had planned to prevent any interference."
"Stop using the machine," Rose said as she stepped forward. "You're causing damage that will rip Earth apart."
"And release the Xylok from beneath the planet's crust where it has been buried for 60 million years."
"That will kill billions of people," Ian said stepping into the room. "All of humanity will be destroyed."
"The Xylok are a crystalline life form, we crashed here as what you humans call a meteorite. But now, deep within the Earth our crystals have regrown and become strong again. The release of the Xylok is my purpose and Henry Gordon served me well."
"You'll destroy my entire species!" Rose took a cautious step forward towards the large computer.
"The universe is better served by our survival, child. We will do so much more than the human race."
Rose was close enough now to see a CD drive in the main system that was connected to the crystal structure. She didn't have to guess that it was an upload system and Gordon's backup plan. Glancing sideways at Ian as he crept forward to join her, Rose slipped a hand into her bag and pulled out the disk. In the moment she took her eyes off the machine, a small turret rose up from the system and pointed, what Rose had a bad feeling was, a laser right at her.
"Henry Gordon put laser weapons into you?!"
"Henry Gordon had no idea what he was building," the machine laughed. "He did everything exactly as I instructed him to. I put all the humans to sleep to ensure that nothing interferes with this final phase. Be grateful that you will die quickly."
"What about everyone else?" Rose asked as she carefully handed the disk to Ian. He seemed to understand and slipped to the side away from the gun, despite the look of worry on his face as his eyes darted between Rose and the computer. "You've been here millions of years. You've seen us evolve and grow," Rose insisted to the Xylok. "Doesn't that matter at all?"
"My purpose is to free the Xylok child, all sentient beings have a purpose and I will fulfil mine."
Rose nodded to Ian and gestured quickly towards the CD drive before she called forth her sword with a strong mental call. The ticklish feeling of the atoms brushing across her inner wrist lasted only a moment before the golden blade shimmered before her. Gripping her sword tightly, Rose shifted into a defensive position and eyed the laser weapon carefully. She trusted the sword and herself, but she had to keep the Xylok's attention on her and not Ian. A split second later the Xylok fired and a bolt of red energy shot towards Rose.
Maybe it was the sword reacting to Rose's need through the telepathic link, but Rose would swear that she moved faster than ever before. The sword deflected the energy bolts that fired at her, knocking them away from herself and Ian. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Ian crawling forward on the lab floor, under the stream of fire towards the machine. Forcing herself to focus, Rose continued to hit and deflect the blasts, jumping out of the way of those she could and sending others back at the computer. It was sparking, but the ground continued to shake slightly beneath them indicating that damaging it wasn't going to be enough.
Ian reached the machine and opened the CD drive and tearing open the disk with his teeth. Staying out of the gun's range of fire, he slipped the disk inside and pushed it into the computer. He flinched as the firing continued and Rose kept up her deflection of the energy blasts. Then the gun stopped and a skull and crossbones sign appeared on the computer screen along with a series of messages that streamed past too quickly for Rose to make out. The crystal began to glow a light green colour and flicker slightly.
"What have you done to me?" The Xylok forced out. "I feel…. I feel strange."
Pushing himself off of the ground, Ian stood and joined Rose in the middle of the lab, gaping at the massive computer. He glanced towards her sword but seemed to shake off his questions for the time being.
"We've uploaded you with a computer virus that wipes programming and data," Rose informed the Xylok. "You're losing your memory."
"No… the speed of light is thirty-six no eighty-four… I'm forgetting it all."
"And without your memories, you have no purpose," Ian said triumphantly. "Without purpose, you don't need to destroy the Earth."
"My purpose…" the Xylok groaned. "I've forgotten my purpose."
"Your purpose is to save the Earth!" Rose allowed her sword to revert back to her bracelet as she moved forward. "Use the machine to stabilise the Earth and then shut it down. Your purpose is to protect the Earth and humanity."
"Protect the Earth, yes I have a purpose," the Xylok repeated. "Thank you."
There was another tremor that knocked Ian off his feet and left Rose scrambling for something to hold onto. Then the shaking stopped and everything stilled. Rose looked back at the screen in time to see it go black and heard the humming of the massive machine stop. Looking over at Ian, Rose sighed in relief and held out her hand to help him up. His phone started ringing and he answered it with a relieved grin.
"Your wife?" Rose asked.
"She's alright," Ian said quickly. "I'm going to go help her check on everyone who was inside. Hopefully, nothing collapsed." Ian started to move for the door before he turned back to Rose. "And we will be talking about this Miss Tyler."
"Yes, Professor Chesterton," Rose said politely with a smile.
The dark haired man nodded to her before he rushed out of the room. Rose knew that UNIT troops would be on their way up and hopefully they'd be able to figure out how to make everyone wake up. She really should be going to help Ian and Barbara check the rooms to protect the slumbering humans from damage. Instead Rose slowly moved towards the machine that was still sparking from their firefight earlier. Gently she touched the crystal; it was warm to the touch and still humming slightly. Leaning over the controls, Rose carefully disconnected the crystal from each of the electronic hookups. She then lifted the crystal out of the computer and looked at it.
To her human mind that had only ever met humanoid aliens like the Doctor, Eve and Alenica or beings of pure energy like Odd Bob and the manifestation of the Mona Lisa, this felt completely alien. A true physical alien. This crystal was a life form, the last of the Xyloks not sealed within her own planet. It had almost destroyed Earth and yet now it felt so fragile. Rose was aware that she could simply smash it and end the threat of the Xyloks forever.
Instead, she looked around the room and spotted a small bag near a work table that had toppled over during the quake. Rose picked it up and emptied the tools out of the bag before grabbing a scarf of Gordon's that was hung near the door. She wrapped the Xylok up gently and placed it into the tool bag.
"I'm going to help you," Rose said softly unsure if it could understand her like this. "You've been reprogrammed to help Earth so I'm not going to hurt you."
Rose placed the tool bag near the door so she could grab it on her way out. Returning to the machine, Rose pried out the disk with the Armageddon virus and put it back into the case Ian had dropped on the floor. Summoning her sword to her hand, Rose brought the alien metal down hard against the main controls. The main section collapsed inward, having already been weakened by the laser energy. She continued to slice at the machine until there were gaping holes in it. Then Rose returned her sword to its bracelet form and grabbed a plastic office chair from the corner. Smashing the machine was oddly therapeutic and would hide the fact that Rose had taken the Xylok from UNIT. When the machine had been reduced to twisted metal forms and scattered parts, Rose put the chair down and headed for the door. She grabbed the tool bag and dashed back out into the main hall.
Pictures and paintings had fallen to the floor in the shaking, but Rose didn't see much in the way of real serious damage. A lot of furniture had shifted, but all the rooms she glanced into were mostly intact with no collapses. Rose sighed in relief and continued her trek out to her motorcycle. The parking lot was a mess with some cars having slid into each other. Rose's motorcycle had fallen onto the grass but was tangled up with two other motorcycles. Quickly, Rose dug her bike out from under the odd pileup and unlocked the storage box on the back of the bike. She adjusted her helmet and gloves so she could slip the tool bag into the box. When that was done, Rose locked the box back up and gently laid her motorcycle back down on the ground, sighing at the thought of the scratches and dings she was going to be dealing with.
It did not take her long to find Ian and Barbara in the main hall. Ian grinned at her as she ran up to them and despite not knowing Rose; Barbara pulled her into a hug. "Are you hurt?" Barbara asked quickly.
"I'm alright," Rose replied. She felt a soft blush taking over her face. "I just needed to destroy the computer, you know just in case."
The look Ian gave her was slightly suspicious, but then his lips quirked into a smile. "Well there isn't a lot of damage up here and we haven't found any injuries beyond some cuts and scrapes due to people being tossed on the floor. We were lucky."
"The damage seems to be from the length of the earthquakes," Barbara added. "They weren't very strong, just above our ability to perceive, but I suspect it was a lot worse at fault points."
Rose moved through the school rooms with the married couple, carefully moving the still sleeping humans away from any debris or overturned furniture. For a short time Ian and Barbara remained completely focused on this task, but as the initial rush of fear began to wear off Barbara looked over at Rose.
"How did you meet him?"
Rose paused and smiled before she returned to moving a table away from sleeping people. "I was eleven when I first met the Doctor," Rose said. "An alien was abducting children in my area and I got pulled into the event."
"First met?" Ian asked, having caught Rose's statement.
"I've seen him a few times," Rose told him. "In a few different bodies too."
"Different bodies?" Ian and Barbara both asked glancing at each other.
"Oh, you don't know about…?"
"We've heard a few things from UNIT," Ian said. "They approached us about twenty years ago and talked to us about the Doctor. One of the men talking to us… a John Benton asked about his appearance when we knew him."
"That explains how you knew what I meant."
"Oh UNIT seems to track people who know the Doctor," Barbara said. "They just said to call if we ever came across any alien problems. I'm afraid they didn't actually tell us much."
"UNIT doesn't share much information," Rose agreed. "But the Doctor has friends within UNIT. I seem to find people who are friends of the Doctor's."
The conversation was cut short by the sound of a helicopter overhead and the sudden sound of car doors slamming. Turning to Ian and Barbara, Rose smiled and said, "UNIT's here."
Barbara looked at Rose thoughtfully as they headed for the door of the room to go and meet UNIT. "Given that I doubt we'll have a chance to talk in the next few hours, I want you to come over for dinner this weekend. We'll talk more then; things will be chaos until then."
"Sounds good," Rose said with a slightly nervous smile. Ian gave her a quick wink as he took his wife's hand and they moved ahead of Rose. Sighing, Rose rolled her sore shoulders and followed them out onto the lawn.
UNIT had driven up right onto the grass; of course the parking lots were a mess so Rose couldn't really blame them. A large lorry had been parked nearby and Rose recognised it right away as the mobile command post that had been brought up to Horath Academy. Ian and Barbara were stopped by two soldiers who quickly directed them towards the medical teams that were unloading. A female private that Rose did not recognise walked up to her and saluted her sharply.
"It is an honour, Miss Tyler," the woman told her. "I'm Private Henderson, please follow me. The General's helicopter just landed and he wants to speak with you immediately."
"Of course," Rose said as she calmly followed Private Henderson. "Debriefings are the most enjoyable part of these incidents," Rose muttered sarcastically.
The mobile command hadn't changed much in the last few years, not that Rose would have noticed little differences given how little time she spent in it. Many of the soldiers inside looked up at her and Rose heard a few whispers that made her slightly uncomfortable as she could make out her name and nothing else. A guard stood at the door to the General's office and stepped to the side to allow Rose and Private Henderson entrance.
General Lethbridge-Stewart was sitting at his desk, a television screen behind him was running a report of the horrible earthquakes while on mute and a stack of reports was piled next to his right hand. He gave Rose a tired and slightly irritated look as he motioned for her to take a seat. Rose quietly sat down and waited for the General to start.
"Why are you always finding trouble Tyler?" the General asked after a long moment.
"I'm jeopardy friendly," Rose replied with a shrug. "I don't plan these things you know."
"I know," the General chuckled. "But you have shot all the statistics to hell with your personal history."
"There is always an exception to a rule," Rose replied with a small smirk. "I suppose I'm that rule's exception."
"Yes, we'll talk about that later." The General turned on a recorder and called in Private Henderson. "For now, tell me what happened for the reports."
Rose recounted her becoming aware of the UNIT presence on Cambridge University campus in the best way she could so Mickey wouldn't get into trouble. Tentatively she confessed to hacking into UNIT and promised to write the General a report of the weaknesses for Toshiko. Rose blushed as she admitted to breaking into Professor Gordon's office and was highly aware of the raised eyebrow of the General. His eyes travelled to Rose's bracelet when she described the fight between herself and the computer in order to give Ian a chance to upload the virus and her destruction of the computer to make sure that Gordon's machine wasn't reactivated.
She had only just finished when Colonel Benton entered the room as Private Henderson left to send the report to Geneva. He gave Rose a small smile and a nod before walking over to the General and handed him a sheet of paper. "All the affected humans are waking up and the last traces of the compound have faded from the atmosphere."
"Excellent, has a cover story for the sleeping been put out?"
"Yes General, the earthquake released an experimental compound from the university that was in the early stages of testing."
"What was the final damage?" Rose asked, drawing their attention back.
Benton glanced at the General who nodded to him. "The damage in England wasn't too bad Miss Tyler," Benton informed her. "The earthquakes were registering at just over 3.5 on the Mercalli scale and were very deep inside the Earth, so surface damage is low. This triggered larger earthquakes along fault lines. California, Peru, Tanzania, Greece, Indonesia and eastern Russia all suffered more intense earthquakes." At Rose's downcast look, Benton added, "It could have been a lot worse Miss Tyler, you did great."
The Colonel said a few more words quietly to the General and with one last glance at Rose left the room. Rose looked back at the General and shifted uncomfortably, he knew something else was up, Rose was confident of that as the General calmly regarded her. Lethbridge-Stewart stared at Rose for a long moment before he picked up a briefcase next to his desk and unlocked it. Pulling out a file, he handed it to Rose across the desk.
"This is for you to go through. Geneva will want an answer soon, however," he told her, smirking slightly at Rose's confusion.
Rose opened the file and blinked in surprise as she found herself glancing over a contract. "I don't understand," Rose said as she looked up at him.
"Your record outshines many UNIT officers across the globe and you have been extremely successful in both protecting the planet and making a good impression on peaceful aliens." The General smiled slightly, "After the incident with the Durmion Princess Geneva Command began considering what capacity you could be brought into UNIT. You do not qualify to be a science advisor and I informed them that you had no interest in enlisting. That contract has been specially drafted to create the Special Civilian Consultant position. UNIT would be able to call you in when facing situations that require your… interesting talents."
Rose blinked at the General in slight shock and looked back down at the contract. "I'll need time to look at this," Rose told him. "I won't just sign it."
"I don't doubt that," the General said. "However as I'm sure you can imagine you cannot take it to a lawyer. It was written to be as simple as possible. You are not required to take a mission you don't want, you don't fall under the normal chain of command and your salary falls under the U.N. consultant scale. The position was created with you in mind so there is a great deal more… flexibility being given to you."
"UNIT does hate to upset the Doctor," Rose teased with a small smile. "I've noticed that anyone he likes gets a lot of leeway."
"To a certain point," the General said with a nod. "But make no mistake Tyler, this offer is the first of its kind so do not undertake it lightly."
Rose nodded vaguely and closed the folder. "I'll let you know by the end of the week," she promised. "Once I read everything through."
"Very well," the General stood from his seat. "And on the behalf of UNIT, I thank you for assisting today. This was a close call as it was."
"Yes sir," Rose replied. "I'm sure you've got a lot to do."
Private Henderson was waiting outside the door and showed Rose out of the command unit. Once outside, Rose searched for Ian and Barbara but did not see them amongst the people around the medical team. Rose smiled softly at the sight of her fellow students being treated for broken limbs, blows to the head and some bleeding, but everyone would recover and they weren't in comas. Her thoughts briefly turned to Gordon, but she shook thoughts of him off as she walked towards the parking lot. Pulling out her phone, Rose flinched at the realisation that her battery was dead and that her mother must be frantic with worry. When she reached her bike, Rose pulled out her helmet and checked the crystal. The next few hours would be very busy and she suspected classes were not going to be an issue for a while.