Nine
Ianto stood transfixed as the bush quivered and shook, not sure what he should do. He was too weak to run away and Jack was never going to hear any shouts for help. All he could do was prepare for whatever was coming alive and hope it was not some vengeful spirit seeking revenge because he had disturbed holy ground.
As his heart raced he realised it was not the bush coming alive but whatever the creeper had shrouded by seasons upon seasons of growth.
Seconds turned to minutes and Ianto realised he was no immediate danger because whatever was trying to free itself was struggling with the entangled vines entombing it.
It seemed frantic in its efforts but Ianto felt himself paralysed with indecision. He could help but on the other hand…the part that looked like the head turned towards him and made another high pitched shrieking noise and the entire vine shook with something akin to desperation.
His stomach churning, Ianto's better nature kicked in and he began to help. Kneeling he began to pull off the newest layer of growth. Soon he was surrounded by a thick carpet of leaves and green stems. Tackling the second layer he could see the problem. The creeper had wound itself around what was trying to free itself, encasing it in what looked like decades possibly…he refused to consider the implications and focused on freeing whatever was trapped.
The top layer of growth gone, Ianto reached the first of several layers of thick woody stems so entwined tightly no matter how much he or the hand tore at the growth it was proving impossible to move.
Without any kind of knife all either of them could do was wrench at the vines. The hand shot out and Ianto scrambled back in terror. To his surprise the hand pointed away from him towards where he had found the bones.
A horrible gobbling noise followed and the hand moved back, grasped the vines and shook them. Ianto agreed the entangled creeper was acting better than any prison he could envisage. The hand drew back a fraction then pointed again followed by the same sound.
Instead of drawing back the hand stayed, a single finger outstretched. Ianto was startled; the hand looked like something out of a zombie movie with dry flesh dripping off in strips exposing the structure underneath.
The being moved its hand back and shook the thickest vine then went back to pointing. Crouching lower Ianto followed in the direction the hand was pointing. Crawling he threw a glance back and saw the finger was now pointing down.
Scraping away the layer of dead leaves and soil he exposed more bones…and something else. Using his fingernails Ianto scraped away the dirt around the long object.
He pulled the knife from its resting place; wiping the blade it came up clean. It had a black handle, with finger grips, a curved blade leading to a point and a serrated edge along the top.
He wrapped his fingers around the grip and viewed the blade appreciably. He daren't run his fingers along the blade because even now it looked razor sharp. It looked perfect for cutting the vines but in truth there was only one way to find out.
Scrambling back Ianto used the knife to attack the least woody vines to test the knife. Slicing through the smallest with ease Ianto now began to attack some of the thicker more woody stems. And they were tough. Ianto gritted his teeth as he sawed his way through.
Freeing the neck, chest, and hip, his entire focus now turned to the leg. Tearing, pulling, slicing, severing and chopping a knee became visible, and then Ianto was faced with an open hand. Ianto admitted the being was working as hard as he was. Ianto was surrounded by lengths of cut vine, some as thick as his thumb now in pieces up to his waist in evidence of the progress they had made.
He cut a particularly thick vine and the hand held itself open, palm up again then a finger flexed and pointed at the knife.
Ianto moved back to think when the being turned its head a fraction and Ianto looked directly into the being's eyes and for a second was caught in its gaze. Without a second thought he handed over the knife.
Immediately the being began to saw at the vines knotted around the hidden leg. While the being toiled Ianto pulled away and removed those vines the being cut.
Something in the bush shifted and Ianto crawled out the way and pulled himself to standing. Its body creaking and grinding with effort it pulled itself free from its tomb. Ianto saw the being appeared to be falling apart, but then again it could just be years of accumulated moss, dirt, and leaves falling off in bits. No, Ianto decided, it was the being. Some of its inner workings were clearly exposed mostly its feet and hands and the cheekbones on its face.
Ianto felt an incredible excitement. He had seen many of these beings; only the ones he had seen were all dead. Or inanimate might be a better word as he understood the example in front of him.
If the dead body was any indication and the way it was pointing to the remains it may well have been here ever since the demise of whomever it was with.
It now turned its face towards Ianto and shakily bowed, holding the knife forth in both its hands like an offering.
Ianto was unsure what he was expecting but the being bowing towards him was not it. Reaching forward he took back possession of the knife with some relief.
The being began to speak again and this time the voice of the creature was sounding less rusty.
'Sorry I don't understand,' Ianto said shaking his head.
The creature kept talking then and carefully moved forward and with extreme hesitation touched him.
The creature bowed again and then straightened up, unmoving.
'Ianto.' Ianto pointed to himself.
The creature nodded then pointed to itself and made another incomprehensible series of noises.
It pointed to its throat and shook its head.
Ianto thought he understood. 'I think you're trying to tell me your voice is not working.'
The being then indicated to the ground and began what appeared to be another speech. Several gobbling sounds later and Ianto heard movement. Jack appeared at his side, bristling at the threat the creature clearly represented.
'What is going on?' Jack moved to check Ianto was okay, keeping his eyes firmly on the creature.
'I found the remains of a body and as I examined the bones this came alive.'
'Came alive?' Jack repeated not sure he had heard correctly.
'I helped free it with this.' Ianto handed Jack the wicked blade. 'Alfred pointed it out.' Ianto moved across and showed Jack where he had dug it out.
'Alfred?' Jack took his eye off the being and stared at Ianto.
'Well, he looks like an Alfred to me,' Ianto said in explanation.
'Seriously?'
Ianto nodded.
'What is it with you and naming things and how do you know it's male?'
Ianto shrugged. 'Instinct.'
Companion unit ZQA 4589 watched the master speak. At first he had been unsure this was a master. But touching the master had confirmed the being who had rescued him was not a mechanical but was organic. It had to be a master it reasoned because only an organic could be a master.
Being rescued had created a quandary in its circuits. First the organic did not understand the language of the masters and there were physical differences. After a few million calculations it worked through the possibilities.
It reached the conclusion that time had passed, a great deal of time. Companion unit ZQA 4589 was not sure how much because it had closed itself down to conserve power. It had done so to work through what its next actions should be when master friend has stopped functioning.
Without direct orders Companion unit ZQA 4589 had found major conflicts in its programming. Master friend had prepared him for the moment she had warned him she would stop functioning. At the time her instructions had made sense and it could find no conflict but then she stopped. What should Companion unit ZQA 4589 do now, there was no master to function for? Such was the overriding core command it could not act without an order even at the cost of its existence. Only in the great thinking were thoughts and dreams unrestrained.
Companion unit ZQA 4589 brought itself back to the matter in hand and looked toward the master. There had been a great deal of time passed since master friend had stopped it concluded. The master was an organic, and time had made changes. The passing of time explained why he could not understand the language. Time changed everything.
'An android?' Jack repeated eyeing the being with renewed suspicion.
'Think about it. All those bodies we found, not one with any functioning organs, and they were made from the same basic material as all the organic technology we've found. It's the only explanation to why this thing is still functioning.'
'What if this is a homicidal killing machine, and the body found was its last victim?' Jack said pointing towards the remains Ianto had uncovered.
'The bones are the first remains of the true race we've found. All the others are android or robot bodies. If the robots had caused the deaths of everyone wouldn't it be the other way round?'
'Even if I accept that argument what do we do now?'
'It's been here for centuries, Jack, we can't leave it. It could help us out if we can find a way to communicate with it. And it gave me back the knife.'
'Explain,' Jack demanded.
'It showed where the knife was to free itself…' Ianto went on to explain the nature of the vine and how difficult had been remove… 'When it was done it handed me the knife back.'
Jack looked unsure.
'Look at it, the thing is falling apart.'
'You are far too trusting for your own good,' Jack said
'This is like finding a living Rosetta stone. We will never be forgiven if we leave this android here and it stops functioning.' Ianto pointed in the direction of the mechanical. 'It could be the key to our survival and the greatest archaeological find since opening the tomb on Seta Beta Three that helped unlock the entire Vondrapix civilisation.'
Jack viewed the being through narrowed eyes. 'It's falling apart. What if moving it damages it even more?'
'So you agree in theory we take it with us?' Ianto checked.
'I agree. We take it as far dome beach.' Jack continued to view the creature with suspicion.
'That's a point,' Ianto thought out loud. 'How do we get it to the dome through the lagoon? That's if the dome is working. It is working right?' Ianto looked at Jack who still had his eyes fixed firmly on the creature.
'Yes, all up and running powering up as we speak.'
Ianto felt weak with relief and felt his knees go for a second.
'Hey.' Jack caught him.
'Still weak from last night.'
'And instead of you resting you've been busy,' Jack said.
'Well you know me.' Ianto stopped himself as he recalled the conversation from the day before.
'Let's get a last drink and head out, I can't wait to see the back of this place,' Jack said with a soft smile.
'Okay Alfred, come with us.' Ianto gestured with his hand for the android to follow them.
Companion unit ZQA 4589 felt a surge of energy and made a step forward. As he put one foot in front of the other a warm glow began to spread through its entire being. Why? It had been so long since it had had to fathom such a conundrum it took several seconds to realise the being had given him an order and used a word in a context it was familiar with. Another puzzle after so long locked in thinking loop was refreshing. It was not much the word as the tone it was used. Several steps later the android made a connection, he had a name, had been named and his name was Alfred. No matter the name was not one in his memory cortex, he had been claimed and named. As it made the realisation a warm glow grew making all his circuits hum. Only a master could name him and it felt all its doubt fall away replaced with the desire to serve.
Ianto sank into the sand for what seemed the nth time and cursed.
'It's okay we've plenty of time. The tide was only on its way out as I left,' Jack reassured him.
'So frustrating.' Ianto caught his breath.
'Paradise this may be but filled with nasty toxic berry snacks. Hopefully the next place will have something we can eat,' Jack said as his stomach audibly turned over.
'If the dome works,' Ianto said now struggling to stand.
'Oh ye of little faith. I cleared all the growth from the panels using some of the shells I found. The place came alive after the first four.'
'I do have faith. I knew you would get it working,' Ianto said looking at Jack seriously.
'I, er… thank you… I think,' Jack said at Ianto declaration.
'Only think?' Ianto retorted.
'What is it with you one second a complement and the next…'
Companion unit ZQA 4589, now called Alfred, reached the headland. He was badly in need of repair. Parts of him kept falling off and he had to keep gathering bits of himself up.
New master had stopped to take another rest one of many, Alfred noted. The other being was helping him walk by allowing the master to lean on him.
He was weak. Alfred hoped he was not going to cease as friend master had. Slowly over time she had gotten weaker and weaker until she could hardly move then she just fell down on her daily walk. At first Alfred thought she had gotten tired as she did and had fallen asleep walking. But when she did not stir he knew the time had come she had warned him about.
Now new master looked frail. If only he could understand what they were saying. He moved closer to listen as another thought caught up with him: was the other being an organic or a mechanical? Did his new master already have a companion? If that was the case why had been told to follow? Alfred admitted so much time had passed he was not at his most operational, what he needed was to head to the portal.
Not the portal Alfred reminded himself, as badly as he was in need of invigoration it might be master was going to portal them to another location. Had the danger master friend had brought him here to avoid now passed? She had been so adamant he was safe here and only here. Companion unit ZQA 4589 would cease to exist if he used the portal to leave and she said she could not bear it if he ceased.
Another puzzle to contemplate…and Companion unit ZQA 4589 felt a tremor of conflict rise in his being.
'Not much further,' Jack helped Ianto sit for another rest.
'We've timed this right; it's low tide. Must have been hell trying to clear those panels in the surf,' Ianto told him.
'The pond scum kept me going,' Jack assured him.
'I can't thank you enough for getting us out of here,' Ianto said quietly.
'Don't thank me yet,' Jack said helping Ianto back on to his feet.
'Why can't I thank you?' Ianto asked.
'Listen, can we hold off the arguing to later?'
'This is not an argument. This is a discussion.'
'Sounds like the discussion is just another word for argument with you,' Jack said.
'Do you have to twist everything I say?' Ianto said.
'Home run to dome beach then the lagoon,' Jack said as much to himself. He turned to check the android to see he was waking about five steps behind them.
'Not shell beach…' Jack rolled his eyes.
Companion unit ZQA 4589 listened and stood as new master examined him if he had been damaged by the journey to the beach opposite the portal. He noted it was in a state of poor repair and the walkway was now gone; in fact the entire structure had sunk at least half a meter.
'The thing…' Jack said
'Alfred,' Ianto corrected him.
'It looks heavy, and you and I are in no condition to carry it through the lagoon.' Jack demonstrated by holding his hands over his head.
'We can't leave him here,' Ianto argued stubbornly.
'What if it gets wet and it stops working anyway?' Jack pointed out.
'But it's been in the open for centuries, rain wind, and shine,' Ianto said.
'This is immersion in salt water up to its chest in places.'
Companion unit ZQA 4589 looked towards the dome and tried to make sense of the conversation. The way they kept pointing at the dome, him and the water it would appear they were talking about moving him to that location. The dilemma still raged. Master friend's orders surged into his thinking, you must not ever use the dome to portal to another location. No matter how much time passes…but time had passed. What if the danger was gone now? What ifs were problematic. Companion unit ZQA 4589 dealt with absolutes, not what ifs. Life should be simple: follow orders, what was it to do remain or go remain or go remain or go….it felt its dilemma return and for a second it shut down.
Ianto looked at the being and saw the slight glow in its eyes had died.
'Problem solved,' Jack said feeling relief for the first time he had found Ianto with the creature.
'No, not problem solved,' Ianto said as he felt a sense of panic as it stood there frozen.
'It is as far as I'm concerned,' Jack said.
'Typical.' Ianto rounded on Jack.
'It's my one dimensional thinking,' Jack said a warning tone in his voice.
Ianto pointed a finger at Jack. 'I'm feeling too sick for this shit Jack.'
…or…ders…..orders. Companion unit ZQA 4589 came back to function and felt it the conflict clear, orders were orders. Time had passed, orders were orders, that was its function, to do as it was told. Stay or go he looked towards new master.
'Damn,' Jack said as he saw the being twitch.
Ianto let out a sigh of relief as the small amber glow came back into its eyes.
'Still doesn't solve the problem of getting to the dome,' Jack said pointing towards the structure. 'And to be honest taking it with us is a really bad idea.'
'So we should leave what could be the key to this civilisation just sitting on a beach?'
'It's falling to pieces.'
'But it's functional.'
'Functional as in dangerous.'
'Do you see everything as a threat?' Ianto asked.
'We're in the middle of who knows where and you now have found a new pet.' Jack put all the emphasis on the word pet.
'This is not a pet.'
'You even named it Ianto. Called it Alfred'
'Still not a pet Jack'
Jack looked the android up and down. 'Still could be dangerous.'
The standoff continued as Ianto and Jack glared at each other.
'Look, the tide is out. If we are going we need to go now,' Jack said after a period of silence.
Alfred came back to himself, looking between the pair as they argued. The words were incomprehensive except his name, 'Alfred'. New master seemed to be gesturing towards the portal then the water then at him.
Alfred had to admit he was a sight to behold. He could not move towards the portal without an order and the tide was at the prefect position. Many times friend master had brought him here cleared the power grid to invigorate him. Then it came to him they did not realise he would not be harmed. But could he move without an order, and immediately put several portions of his cortex to thinking. After a few milliseconds he realised a demonstration was in order.
'Listen to me you stubborn excuse for a human being. Leave it here,' Jack said hands on his hips.
'Me! You are the one being stubborn…' Ianto turned to the sound of splashing and saw Alfred had waded out till the water was mid-thigh deep.
'See, Alfred has come to no harm,' Ianto said, triumphant. 'And you did say it could come if I got it to the dome.'
Groaning, Jack looked none too pleased. 'I'm telling you now this is a bad idea.'
'Well that's me…the king of bad ideas.'
'You just don't know when to quit, do you?' Jack said as he moved towards the dome.
'This is the real me Jack; bloody minded.'
'Ianto, you won just enjoy the victory,' Jack said as Ianto indicated to Alfred to follow.
'You just have to have the last word,' Ianto said as he splashed his way into the lagoon.
'Always,' Jack shouted back, the water now chest deep.
'I'll let you have that one for free because I'm tired and thirsty.'
Jack smiled as he climbed into the dome. 'Sounds like I'm not the only person who likes to have the last word.'
Turning he helped Ianto over the edge of the wall then together they pulled Alfred into the dome.
Water poured out of him. Leaving Ianto to check the thing over Jack busied himself with the controls. The blue energy seemed to be pulsing around the image of the water fall.
'Do we just stand here and wait for the power to build?' Ianto looked around.
'No, I found something. It's a lever. I recalled something as I was checking the power build up. When we had our fight I think it got knocked as I kicked out and that triggered the sequence.'
'That explains the lump of wood then.' Ianto pointed to the branch Jack was now holding.
Ianto went and stood in the centre of the arms and indicated Alfred join them. As they watched it appeared as if the mechanical seemed to hesitate as if it was in conflict with itself.
Perhaps the water was affecting it somehow Ianto thought as it jerkily joined them.
Jack took a final look outside. The sun was getting lower in the sky and the cleared panels were glowing a deep blue. Time to go and he joined Ianto and Alfred in the middle.
'Ready?' Jack said as he lifted the wood.
'Ready,' Ianto replied and Jack wacked the switch with the wood.
The arms around them again sizzled with energy and with a flash they disappeared.
