IDChapter9
When Rose came to, she felt like she'd been run over by a tram. Her head pounded, distantly she heard Jon calling her name. She reached out for him, only to find she was bound by restraints. She was abruptly (and painfully) yanked to her feet. Slowly she opened her eyes and blinked, trying to clear her sight. As her surroundings came into focus, she saw that they were in a room and surrounded by Krillitanes, most of whom were in their natural form. Two of them wore their human personas, and those were Janice Finch and Sally Campbell. They eyed her triumphantly.
"Have they been checked thoroughly for weapons?" Janice asked their captors.
"Yes, Mother Jan'Nes, and they have been disarmed. Their weapons have been secured."
"Then remove their restaints, but keep your weapons on them."
Once their restraints were removed Jon took Rose's hand reassuringly.
"Ah, Janice," he schmoozed, "So good to see you again. You're looking well. Tell me, how did you come to be in this part of the galaxy?"
Janice smiled dryly at him. "That's not for you to know, Doctor. Tell me, where is your daughter?"
"Oh, Arianna you mean? Well... that's a bit of a story there, you know, space travel not being the safest occupation to begin with and all that, so Rose and I decided to leave her with her grandparents for awhile, didn't we, Rose my dear?" He gave Rose a brilliant smile, and she returned it as best her aching head would allow her. Something somehow just didn't feel right.
"I saw you board the ship with her!" Janice hissed. "Don't lie to me, Doctor, you won't enjoy the consequences one bit!"
Jon cocked his head at Janice. "Really?" He waggled his eyebrows at her. "Are you sure about that? Maybe that's what we wanted you to see. If she really was on board with us, wouldn't you have found her by now? I'm sure you searched our ship thoroughly."
He waited, staring Janice in the eye. The first one to look away would lose, he knew.
Finally Janice looked at their captors. "Go search the ship again," she spat. "Tear it apart if you have to, but find that child!" She looked at Jon and Rose. "If you're lying, you'll pay - dearly - for putting me to so much trouble." She stood close to Rose, close enough to kiss her if she'd wanted. She stroked Rose's face lightly, tracing her lips slowly with her fingers. "It would be such a shame to scar this pretty face," she cooed, licking her own lips. "You're so pretty, I could just eat you."
Jon cleared his throat. "Really, I agree with you there, but there's something I've been wondering, if you might enlighten me?"
Janice stepped back from Rose reluctantly and looked balefully at Jon. "What would that be, Doctor?"
"Your wonderful, unique ability to evolve at will. What a fantastic thing to be able to do! I've always admired that about your kind, but how do you do it? I mean, I know your oil gives you the ability, but how exactly? Does it take a long time? Does it hurt? Does..."
Janice interrupted him. "Why should I tell you that, Doctor? I know you well enough to know that knowledge is your weapon of choice. Why should I give you that information?"
Jon burst into laughter, giving a discreet sideways glance at Rose, and she joined him. Together they encouraged a joint belly laugh, though Rose had no idea why.
Janice was not amused. "Enough of that!" She slapped Jon across the face.
"OUCH! Oh, I'm sorry, it's just that, here we are, totally at your mercy, surrounded as it were, with no way of escaping, and you're actually worried that I might use your words against you? Really? Blimey! How? With whom? I mean, here I am, I haven't really done a blessed thing in this universe, yet I've apparently got one amazing reputation! It's just really very funny!"
With that he and Rose barely suppressed their giggles, and even some of the surrounding Krillitanes had to look away and fiddle with their weapons to avoid smiling, and thus incurring the wrath of their leader.
"I don't have time for this," Janice said acidly. She looked at Sally. "Keep them here under observation, Daughter Sol'Le. I have a communication to take care of."
"Yes, Mother."
As Janice left Sally took her place in front of them, smugly observing them.
"Um, Sally," Rose said, "Seriously, how do you lot do that? It is pretty amazing, at least by our race's standards. Are there other species out there who can also do it?"
"No, we are the only race who have the intellect necessary to acheive conscious evolution. In order to do it, we have to study closely the race that has the characteristic we desire, in order that we may incorporate it in a way that will work with our current physiology. We then have to go into a deep meditative state and change our genetic makeup. Once we have a male and a female of our race who have undergone the genetic change, they have to reproduce and their offspring will be born with the new characteristic."
"Oh, so you can't just - well, become human, say - on a whim?"
"No," Sally laughed, "We can, however, adopt any species' form temporarily through morphic illusion, but that is a fairly easy trick, quite a few other races can do that."
"So your human form is really just an illusion then?"
"Yes, one we can drop and say, fly through the sewers pretty much at will. Handy little trick for evading Torchwood pursuers." She smiled at Rose.
Janice walked back into the room, accompanied by two assistants. "Enough small-talk, it's time to get this project underway. Administer the doses," she instructed them. As the Krillitane guards grasped them and held them, the assistants took vials of oil and held them up to Jon and Rose's lips.
"It's just Krillitane oil," Janice assured them. You can take it the easy way, or the hard way. But you will take it."
Jon and Rose's eyes met, and he nodded to her. They obediently drank the oil. It was pretty much tastless, no wonder it was so easily disguised, Rose thought.
"Good!" Janice smiled a genuine smile. "Now put them in their quarters!" she barked at the guards. Then, looking at Rose, "I'll see you later."
Jon and Rose were put into a cell with basic hygiene facilities and two shelves that could be used as bunks. "Well, what do we do now?" she asked him.
"See how the oil affects us, I guess. That must have been a whopping dose they gave us, considering they've only been dosing your coffee previously."
"What do you think it will do to us?" she asked, worried. She couldn't ask the question that was really on her mind, knowing they were undoubtably being monitored, but she desperately wished she knew what was going on back at their ship. Just then, her daughter's voice came to her, clear as a bell.
"Don't worry, Mummy, I'm fine. They don't know I'm here, and I'm safe." Rose gasped, and her eyes widened, but she couldn't say anything. She looked intently into Jon's eyes, and he nodded almost imperceptibly, and casually threw his arm around her and touched his head to hers, as if in comfort, as he reached into her mind with his and saw their daughter there.
"Good girl, Arianna, stay put and we'll be there for you shortly."
"Jon, what's happening? I mean, this is fantastic, is it real?"
"Oh yes, it's real! We're in each other's heads. We can communicate without the Krillitanes knowing."
"But how is this possible?"
"I've always had this ability, as has Arianna, but I suspect you've developed it as a result of the oil. That, and the shock they gave you. Remember what Davros' shock did to Donna?"
"Will I wind up like her? Will you have to take it away from me?"
"No, what happened to her was very sudden. You've had time to evolve, with the help of the oil. All the ingredients were there, Rose. You learned of my genetics, you've probably always wanted deep down to be like me, so that you could relate to me better. Your desires, knowledge, and the oil gave you the ability to adapt."
"But the Krillitanes have to reporduce to make the changes manifest. How is this possible?"
"You're human, well actually, more like Gallifreyan now, but anyway, just because that's how it works with them, it's no guarantee that that's how it will work with you. It explains a lot about Arianna, too. All children want to grow up fast, so that's what she's doing. Brilliant!"
Aloud he said, "Don't worry, we'll think of something."