Chapter Nine: Asteroid
It had taken some doing, but Honey Lemon had made a breakthrough. She hoped, at least. And it had happened completely by accident.
Once the others had left, she'd headed back to her lab space. Then Fred had come along to ask something, or simply to just get in the way. She wasn't sure which. Instead of doing anything productive, however, he'd managed to accidentally knock her table, making chemicals spill all over her sample of space rock. The metal had almost immediately reverted to liquid form, without so much as an ounce of heat to help it.
Fred, of course, was so surprised that Honey wasn't mad that he'd almost collapsed on the cot. Instead, he'd tripped over the chair next to it, and landed on his face. "Ow."
Wasabi had come in at that exact moment, pausing at the unexpected scene of Honey bending over Fred while liquid metal ran down the worktable's surface. "What in the world?" His OCD kicked in big time and he almost pulled out his hair, but managed to calm himself before that happened. "What happened?"
With Honey's help, Fred got to his feet, rubbing at his nose. Thankfully, it wasn't bleeding, but it was definitely sore. "Thanks," he said, then looked at the mess he'd caused. "Oops."
Honey moved back to her workstation. Picking up a pipette, she tried to retrieve the metal from the tabletop, but couldn't. More than a little confused, she ran a gloved finger over the surface. Nothing happened. The metal stayed on the table, as solid as before the accident, only now it held more luster.
Still confused, but determined, the chemist spent the next couple of hours trying to replicate the exact chemical mix that had spilled on the rock. After cleaning up the rest of the mess, Fred and Wasabi sat down to relax, both dozing off as she worked.
"I've done it!" Honey Lemon cried out, causing both men to start from their stupor. She held up a sealed glass container with the liquid metal inside, grinning from ear to ear. That's when all hell broke loose.
A sonic boom filled the air, causing beakers and glass tubes to break. All three friends dived for cover behind the cot as chemicals splashed from broken containers. Steam hissed from melting plastic.
Honey dived for her gear, rapidly typing in a formula on her specialized bag's panel. She threw the orb it spat out at the mess and foam coated the work area, neutralizing the chemicals.
"Master Frederick," Heathcliff called as he opened the door. "There is something you should see."
Ignoring the resulting mess, the trio followed the butler to the backyard. Looking up, the remains of a massive explosion filtered down from the atmosphere.
"That doesn't look good," Fred commented as several chunks of whatever streamed through the sky. "Looks like an asteroid collided with something up there."
Wasabi stared, wide-eyed. "Someone should contact the others." Thoughts of horrific nature ran through his head, playing out the worst-case scenario.
Honey pulled out her phone and speed-dialed GoGo but got no answer. She bit her lip as it continued to ring. "GoGo's not picking up," she fidgeted.
"Try Hiro," Wasabi requested.
Honey dialed but shook her head. "No one's picking up." She got the same result trying the café's line.
Heathcliff cleared his throat. "Sir, your other guests are also missing," he informed Fred.
"Oh no," Honey whispered, slipping her phone back into her pocket.
Abigail had just settled at her desk when an overwhelming sense of panic filled her. She grasped the desk with white-knuckled fingers as the room spun. "No. No!" she whispered. "Not now. Not now."
She slid from her chair, jarring a bit as she hit the floor. From there, she curled up into a little ball under the desk.
"Direct hit!"
Alexander Thomas allowed a rare smile to cross his lips. It was gone almost as quickly. "Track the fragments. We need every one of them," he ordered the tech.
Back at command, Mr. Thomas stared at the monitors as each crater was marked. The slight snafu from earlier had rankled his spirits, but their most recent achievement more than made up for it.
With first light, he'd sent out teams to retrieve the remaining slag from the craters, only to discover some had already been completely razed. He didn't know who had done it. The prints left in the now hardened mud left an interesting tale they were still trying to cipher. A robot of some sort had been involved, he was sure.
Then, when one of his recon teams had come across a bunch of kids, and a man they'd previously seen near one of the craters… well, two and two made four. It only confirmed matters when they ran like bats out of a dark cave. But then they'd gone and disappeared.
A few more operatives had ended up in the infirmary after that as Mr. Thomas took out his frustration on them. He didn't know who that man was, or who the kids with him were, but he was going to find out.
"Tracking meteors," one tech reported. "Spread is outside the city limits of San Fransokyo, mostly in the mountains."
Thomas nodded. That had been the plan. He couldn't risk having more civil servants poking around his activities. He turned to another tech. "What about the R&D department? Any progress?"
The tech shook his head. "Not yet, sir."
"Tell them to keep working on it," Thomas ordered. "I want those ready for testing tomorrow."
Emergency lights flickered inside the TARDIS, giving everything a red tint. GoGo had landed on her backside. Rose and the Doctor had managed to hold onto the console. Hiro and Baymax had slid towards the railing, the robot having turned to keep the boy from further harm.
The robot looked down at the boy, now asleep in his arms. Either the pain had been too much, or it had finally stopped. He wasn't sure which was the case, but felt relieved, either way. Initial scans told him that Hiro's vitals were at least more stable this time around, though his neurotransmitter levels were decidedly off. And thanks to his now optimized sensors, he could detect a buzzing of energy around him that he hadn't before.
"Doctor," Baymax inquired, looking up at the Time Lord. "Please assess the patient."
A bit shakily, the Doctor let go of the control panel and walked over, pulling out his screwdriver. While the TARDIS was important, Baymax was right in his thinking. They weren't in any immediate danger, as far as he could tell, so his priorities changed.
Flipping to the appropriate setting, the Time Lord ran the screwdriver above Hiro, then looked to see what readings he could get. When the device seemed to fritz out on him, he smacked it against his thigh and tried again. "Stupid thing," he muttered under his breath. "Hang on."
The Doctor strode back over to the control panel and jammed the sonic into a port on the side, near the monitor. The screen lit up with a string of strange symbols that not even Baymax could cipher. Typing commands into the keyboard, the symbols changed. "Now that is interesting," he said, brow furrowing.
Meanwhile, Rose moved to help GoGo to her feet. The engineer was only a little stunned, though her fingers showed strain from holding the lever back. She opened and closed her hands to try and relax the muscles. "What's interesting?"
The Doctor glanced back at Hiro, then at the display. "I don't think we're quite alone now," he stated. "At least not figuratively speaking."
"I do not detect any other life forms," Baymax said. He watched the Doctor, noting the man's pulse quickening. The grin on the man's face only confirmed what the robot though. For some reason, the Doctor was getting excited.
"This is marvelous!" the Doctor cried out, almost spinning as he moved to another, still functioning, panel. "It explains so much!"
GoGo watched his antics with alarm. "Explains what?" she asked. "What are you talking about? And what about Hiro? Did something break the connection again?"
Looking up, the Time Lord seemed almost distracted. "Hm? No. No, no. It's still there, strong as ever."
"Then do whatever it is you did last time and break it," GoGo demanded.
The Doctor shook his head. "I don't think I can this time," he confessed. "Connection's too strong now. And more defined."
Rose exchanged confused looks with GoGo. "You're not making sense," she admonished. "Why can't you just, I don't know, up the power level or something?"
"Won't work," came the reply as the Doctor continued to tinker with buttons and dials. "Previous connections with the lad were haphazard at best, like a baby taking its first few steps. Now, whatever it is has a better grasp of what it's doing. Might even be listening to what we're saying now, through Hiro."
Baymax seemed to contemplate this new information. "Would this account for the increase in energy around Hiro?"
"Exactly so," the Time Lord confirmed, an almost mad look in his eye. "Not sure what they're trying to do just yet, but I'll find out. I always do."
"What about the explosion?" GoGo pressed.
The Doctor looked over, taking in the whole room. "Don't you see? It's all connected, the whole kit n' caboodle. That sonic boom was caused by an explosion close to the atmosphere. An asteroid to be precise."
"Would it be possible to relate to a similar explosion?" Baymax asked as his chest lit up to show the data Hiro had found earlier. "Hiro discovered the source of the meteors that crashed into the San Fransokyo area."
Pulling out his glasses, the Doctor went over to stare at the data scrolling down Baymax's screen. "Now that is something." He pressed a finger against the vinyl as he traced the missile trajectory on the last image. "Someone's trying to shoot down some space rock. I wonder what for."
GoGo moved closer. "What do you mean trying?"
The Doctor removed his glasses and put them back in his pocket. "Well, more like succeeding," he amended. "If I'm not mistaken, that explosion we just had came from the same asteroid."
He went back to the monitor, typing in a few more commands, then pointed as a rough image of the satellite feed from Baymax's memory showed on screen. It overlapped with a more current one that simply outlined the space junk's continued orbit around the planet. "One and the same," he emphasized. "It was just over a different continent the first time, too far away to do much here."
Hiro still in his arms, Baymax waddled over to contemplate the screen. "I still do not understand," he admitted. "How does this affect Hiro?"
The Doctor grinned. "Let's find out." He dashed to the doors and, unbolting the lock, threw them open.
Instead of the warehouse, or even the streets of the city, the expanse of space greeted them. Small chunks of rock flew past, red with heat as they blazed by.
For once, GoGo couldn't find words as she stared through the open doors.
"A little help?" The Doctor asked Rose as he grabbed a long rope and tied it around his waist. "Don't let me float too far," he requested.
Baymax set Hiro down on the bench seat, coming to join them. "I do not feel this course of action is wise," he objected. "If we are indeed in space, as my sensors indicate, you will be unable to breathe. Death will be imminent."
Tightening the rope on one of the arching ribs of the control room, the Time Lord waved an errant hand. "Nah. As long as I'm not out there too long, it should be fine. There's a force field to help with that. And Rose won't let me drift too far, right, Rose?"
Rose shook her head as she rolled her eyes. "You know I'd never let that happen." Taking a hold of the rope, she nodded at the door. "Get on with it then. Off you go."
"Allonsy!" The Doctor called out as he made a running leap towards the door, seeming to dive as he left the interior of the TARDIS.
GoGo gasped as she ran to the door, stopping just before stepping out as the vista opened up before her. She saw the odd man floating outside as though just an average astronaut, albeit without a space suit.
The Doctor reached for a spinning fragment of rock, grabbing it with one hand. The momentum carried him further away, however, and the rope pulled.
Rose almost let go, as the rope seemed to take on a life of its own. "Pull!" she called out as she used her weight to try and reel the Doctor back in.
GoGo grabbed the section closest to her and pulled, bracing herself against the frame. But it wasn't until Baymax joined in the effort that they were able to bring the Doctor back inside.
Rose ran to close the doors as the Doctor shook himself. Goosebumps ran up and down his arms and he dropped the meteor on the metal floor, blowing on the reddened flesh of his palm. "Hot," he commented as the stone clattered to a stop, still glowing faintly red.
"Allow me to apply a cooling spray," Baymax offered, holding one finger ready to administer the medication.
Rose grabbed the Doctor's hand and held it steady so the robot could apply the medicine. "That was a little reckless," she admonished. "Look at you, all covered in gooseflesh."
Not to be put down, the Doctor shook like a dog wet from the bath as he flung his arms around. "Just need to get the blood pumping again," he said, looking like a kid at Christmas.
Baymax attempted to follow him around as he flailed his arms, hardly heeding the burn on his hand. After a few seconds of this, however, the robot gave up. Apparently the Time Lord did not either require or want further assistance.
The Doctor ran back to the console. He plucked up his sonic screwdriver from its slot and spun it in his hand like a baton. "Now to see what's what."
A little more carefully, he retrieved the rock and scanned it, looking to the monitor for more details. "Yes! Yes! Yes!" He practically danced as he ran back to Hiro and rescanned him. "The same! They're exactly the same!"
GoGo exchanged glances with Baymax, wondering just what the Doctor was talking about.
