10

Important Orders

The car didn't stop.

Oh God the car isn't stopping.

Mummy please! Mummy I-

'Mummy!'

Veronica screamed out, her eyes snapping open wide. Immediately, the pale skinned, bright-eyed woman was in her face, gripping her hand tightly. 'It's okay,' she was saying soothingly. 'It's okay. You're back. You're back with us.'

Veronica looked around frantically at the solemn faces that surrounded her. For a few seconds she was still six years old, terrified and wanting her mother. But then it passed and she remembered where she was. With a gasp, she relaxed on the trolley and stared up at the ceiling.

'Are you okay, Veronica?' Jack asked, stepping beside her.

She couldn't speak. She could only nod, still breathing heavily. She could feel the sweat on her brow. Her body was pulsating with adrenaline.

'Do you remember now?' Gwen asked gently.

Veronica looked at her. Yes she remembered. She remembered the blue box. She remembered the tall man and the woman who had caught her in a place she hadn't belonged. She remembered running into the road and being hit by a small red car. She remembered being in hospital for two months with various broken bones. She remembered everything. So she nodded.

'Okay then.' Jack sighed. 'Let's get you off that trolley. We've got some things to go through.'

'She's still really shaken up.' Martha said in a low voice. 'I don't think we should push her into anything straight away.'

Jack stood tall and stubborn with his hands in his pockets. He peered through the window and into the room where Veronica sat. She had her hands wrapped around a cup of tea and was staring into it. Gwen sat beside her, talking gently. Mickey and Ianto were clearing up the medical area.

'Martha, you know there's something big happening here. We need the Doctor. And at the minute the only person who can get in touch with him is her. We need her to get the details so we can help him.'

Martha frowned slightly. 'But what if she can't? What if something goes wrong, Jack? We can't risk it. We need to know more about how it works. I'm assuming that when she cut her hand she somehow absorbed a part of the Tardis resulting in their apparent connection, but that's just a theory! She obviously has no control over it. And she said herself the Doctor didn't even know how she did it, and he knows everything!'

Jack moved towards her. 'Have you seen the readouts recently?' he asked quietly but sternly. 'The electromagnetic readings are getting higher and higher every hour. There have been reports of some metallic objects in southern Japan actually electrocuting people. The Doctor said something about electric pulses. Do you think that's a coincidence?'

Martha shook her head. 'No, but what I'm saying is-'

'We don't have time to be worrying about the risks. Whatever is happening, it's happening fast. We need her to get the Doctor here before all holy hell breaks loose.' He turned on his heels and headed for the door.

'What makes you think it's so bad?' Martha asked, starting after him.

He turned. His expression was dark. 'Because it's always bad.' He replied, and headed into the room.

Veronica looked up from her tea for the first time as Jack entered. She watched him cross the room and sit at the opposite end of the table. They looked at each other, neither of them speaking.

'Do you understand what's going on here?' Jack asked her directly.

She hesitated. 'I um… I think so.'

'And you understand what I would like you to do.'

Veronica cleared her throat. 'You want me to um… You want me to go back to the uh, the Tardis. Right?'

Jack nodded. Gwen took her hand again and smiled. 'But you don't have to do anything you don't want to, okay? We're not forcing you into doing anything.'

Veronica offered her a weak smile, but before she had a chance to respond, Jack spoke again.

'Well that's right,' he said, leaning back in his chair and putting his feet up on the table. 'You don't have to do anything of course. But I'll warn you now that if you do decide to leave now without helping us then there's a good chance the end of the world will come about in a few days. Few weeks if we're lucky.'

Veronica looked at him, stricken. 'What? How'd you get to that conclusion?'

'We've been monitoring heightened levels of electricity in the atmosphere for a few days now,' Gwen explained softly. 'A few metallic objects are becoming, well, conductive even though the don't have a source. It ties in with what the Doctor said about electronic pulses. If he is trapped in some sort of electric… pen if you will, then it could quite possibly be because someone doesn't want him to get to Earth and stop whatever is happening.'

Veronica blinked. 'But that's… that's ridiculous. Where could the electricity be coming from?'

Jack shrugged. 'We have no idea. We've scanned the surrounding atmosphere but apart from the unusual electromagnetic readings, there's nothing. We never expect to see the Tardis. It never shows. But if everything carries on at the rate it has been, then even your earrings could be capable of pumping over five hundred volts of electricity through you by New Years Eve.' He half grinned and winked. 'Would be one hell of a light show, let me tell you.'

Veronica looked confused and disgusted. 'And you have no idea what's causing it?'

Gwen shook her head apologetically. Jack followed suit.

'But the Doctor didn't either.' Veronica told them. 'At least he didn't say he did. He might know but he just didn't tell me…'

'He probably just didn't tell you.' Jack smiled. 'That's the thing about the Doctor. He kind of just expects you to know.'

Veronica nodded, and then bit her lip. 'So um… how do I do it?'

Jack cocked an eyebrow. 'I was hoping you could tell us. How did you do it last time?'

'Well… I was asleep. That's why I just thought it was a dream.'

Jack nodded thoughtfully, then stood up and clapped his hands. Both Veronica and Gwen jumped. 'Well you look absolutely worn out to me. You should get some rest.'

'Is this really necessary?' Veronica asked, finding herself back on the trolley in the medical area with Martha approaching her with a needle. 'I mean, if you can be patient just give me a really dull book and about ten minutes and I'll be sleeping like a log. No needles needed.'

Martha smiled gently. 'At least we know this'll get the job done.' She said. 'If I'm perfectly honest with you, I didn't want to give you another sedative. It was Jack's idea.'

Veronica smiled nervously. 'He just likes knocking people out doesn't he?'

Martha raised her eyebrows. 'You have no idea. Now, do you know what you're going to say to the Doctor?'

Veronica nodded. 'Just about. By what you lot have been saying about him I'll be lucky if I get a word in edgeways.'

'Just talk over him.' Martha smiled. 'He'll compete with you for a while, but he'll soon shut up.'

'You know him too then?'

Martha nodded. 'Oh yeah. I travelled with him. For a long time.'

'Where did you go?'

'Oh, here and there.' There was a sparkle in her eye. 'Nowhere special.'

Veronica nodded and let out a deep breath. 'Well you better get on with it.' She frowned suddenly. 'Oh, I'm not going to be acting all drugged when I get there, am I?'

Martha froze. 'No,' she half laughed. 'At least… I don't think so. Don't worry about it. You'll be fine.'

Veronica nodded. 'Okay then. Go for it before I change my mind.'

Martha smiled and winked at her. 'See you on the other side then.' She injected the sedative. Veronica had a few moments of dizziness, and then she passed out.

And came to on her knees on the metal grate. She looked up, still overwhelmed by the sight of the large control panel even though she had seen it twice already. Three times if you counted her reliving the memory of when she was six. She got to her feet slowly and looked around. She could hear banging and clanging, but she couldn't see the Doctor anywhere. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do. So she just cleared her throat noisily.

A second later a head popped up from an opening in the floor by the control panel. It was the Doctor looking rather stunned with his glasses perched on his nose and a strange metal pen thing in his teeth. He frowned and scrunched up his nose. He snatched the pen from his teeth.

'You again!' he cried.

Veronica smiled warily. 'Me again!'

The Doctor hauled himself out of the hole and marched towards her. 'What are you doing back? You did a good job of disappearing without a trace last time. For a minute there I thought I might have actually had some help!'

Veronica recoiled away from his annoyed tone. 'I uh… I came back to help. I mean, I was sent to help. To help you get… um, unstuck.' She had known exactly what she was going to say but now it was gone. 'From wherever you're… stuck.'

The Doctor looked at her in disbelief. 'What, are you going to get out and push?'

Veronica blinked. 'What?'

'Do you know anything about Tardis', Victoria Mars?'

'Um, Veronica Myers…'

'Whatever.' The Doctor shook his head. 'The point is, you don't know anything about my Tardis, which means there is no way that you could help me get it up and running at full capacity again, is there? Now unless you have some neutron reverting tractor beam stuffed up your shirt then there's nothing you can really do, is there?'

Veronica found herself getting annoyed with his rant. Perhaps if he shut up for a minute and let her explain properly why and, more importantly how she was on board his precious space ship, he wouldn't resort to being so bloody rude with her.

From the look on his face, she realised she had thought aloud.

'So, are you going to listen then?' she asked, crossing her arms.

The Doctor gaped at her for a moment, and then stubbornly mimicked her movements, snatching his glasses off his nose in the process. 'Come on then, Miss Mars.'

'Myers.' She frowned.

The Doctor rolled his eyes and tapped his foot.

'Okay, now that you've shut up, maybe I can help.' She cleared her throat as she searched for words. 'After I came here the last time, I ended up in Cardiff, looking for Torchwood.'

The Doctor suddenly looked interested. His posture relaxed and he looked at her curiously. 'Okay. I'm listening.'

'And I found Jack Harkness, who rather rudely kidnapped me and stuck me in a bit of a stinky cell.'

The Doctor laughed. 'Ah!' he pointed. 'You got yourself Jack-napped!'

Veronica glowered at him. 'Anyway, I ended up strapped to a table and drugged. Then they made me remember something. Something that happened when I was a kid.' She held her scarred palm out to him and shrugged. 'Remember the little girl who go in here? Ran across the road and got hit by a car?'

The Doctor's mouth dropped open and he grabbed her hand. 'Oh…' he looked at her in disbelief. 'Oh, oh, oh!' Suddenly he was dragging her towards the control panel. 'That's it! That's why you kept coming back here! I probably would have noticed if I hadn't been too busy grumping.' He hauled Veronica behind him and she stumbled and protested loudly but he wasn't listening. 'When you cut your hand your DNA got mixed in with the Tardis! The Tardis isn't on partial shutdown because it's broken, it's because it was concentrating on bringing you here because it knew we needed you help! Brilliant!' He grinned and smacked the control panel hard. 'You beauty you!'

Veronica was stunned by his sudden change in manner. She was even more stunned when he turned and hugged her tightly. She shoved him off. 'Okay, that's enough of that.' She told him sternly.

The Doctor was almost bouncing. 'This is just fantastic. You do know that if you hadn't wandered in here when you were… how old were you?'

'Six.' Veronica replied.

'If you hadn't wandered in here Victoria Myers-'

'It's Veronica Myers. It's not that bloody difficult.'

He waved his hand dismissively. 'I could have been stuck here forever, do you understand?' He hugged her again. 'It's fantastic!'

'Right, okay!' Veronica cried, unable to prevent herself from laughing a little. 'It's fantastic! So can you please tell me what's going on so I can tell Jack when I get back?'

The Doctor let go of her abruptly, causing her to almost fall over. He dashed off. 'Yes, yes I can. Come here and pay attention.'

Veronica followed him to a TV monitor on the control panel. On it was a weird looking image consisting of three blue dots, one red dot and a bunch of lines. The Doctor pointed at the red dot. 'This is the Tardis.' He told her, and then pointed at the other dots. 'And these are the bugs keeping it in place. They are emitting about two hundred million volts of electricity to form a barrier that is penning us in. If I try and pass through, the Tardis is thrown back. Think of it like… when you throw a bouncy ball at a trampoline or something. Well, what I need Jack, or I suppose anyone at Torchwood to do is to knock out one of these bugs. It only takes one to break the circuit, do you understand?'

Veronica nodded. 'Yeah, I think so.'

'You think so? Because you need to know so.'

'Yeah. Yeah I do. I understand.'

'Good, because I'm only explaining this once. Right, the most important part, and this bit you can't forget because it's very, very important, is that you must not use-'

Veronica snapped awake. Immediately, everyone was at her side. She blinked and looked at them all.

'Well?' Mickey asked. 'What did he say?'

Veronica looked at them for a moment, and then scowled. 'Bloody hell!' she cried.