"It's a tactic used in POW camps...they'd keep the lights on to wear down the prisoner's psyche. Confuses the hell out of them." Jack nods, proud of his own memory. Though, the burn of the memory remains from past experiences.
Clyde sighs softly, "I'm beat, but...I'm not going to sleep. Can't. Too much happening." He sits on the floor with his daughter, still in the attic of the old house. "Know what I mean?"
"All too well, Clyde." He moves away from the window to which he was peering through, "Looks like the Lagnoonians are lightening up."
"Maybe the Doctor and Sarah Jane were successful in whatever it is they did." The younger man begins to smile, "Right, Janey?" He chuckles softly when the girl claps her chubby hands together, "I won't be comfortable until they're finished."
Jack stands upright more, looking away from the two. "Hear that?" He furrows his brow slightly, whispering.
"Yelling." He slowly rises from the floor.
"Stay, stay. I'll take care of it." The man follows the source of the yelling, bouncing down the stairs on the toes of his worn boots before coming face to face with the two young women, "Time Ladies...could you please control yourselves?"
"War is never the solution. Violence does not beget peace." Drea glares to her sister, paying the man no mind.
"And I say that sometimes, it's the only logical thing to do!" Jenny counters, "This thing you've crafted...I don't even think you know what it's for. I think you just put something together instead of actually helping fight the beasts."
"I believe in Mom and Dad to pull through."
"I don't have a mother and it's been a long time since they've left." The blonde shakes her head slowly, returning her voice to a stable level, "And we don't currently have accurate readings for the death toll-"
"Have you thought that's because maybe there aren't any?" Drea folds her arms.
"And where is the other one...the girl. Sky, I believe her name was? Where has she been through all this? First you say she sabotaged your computer and then she's resting and we haven't heard from her for-"
"Sky is fine. She's protected and resting." It's obvious there's something the young woman is hiding, though not ready to divulge the information, "What happens to her is on my head, it's of no worry to you. I've got it under control."
"There is no control when there's amphibians storming the streets." Jenny waves her hand toward the window of the kitchen.
"Ladies!" Jack tries again, finally catching their attention, "This is not the time." He glances back and forth, "From the arguments I've just witnessed, I'd say the both of you are correct in some circumstances." Before they can answer, he continues, "Until then, we're going to take the device and do what it's supposed to do...we're going to give it a try. Isn't that correct, Andrea?"
Drea looks to him quickly before looking down to the device she's constructed, "I've...wait. I know this." She pauses, touching a lever, knowing all eyes were on her, "Yes, it's something to break the stasis shield. It's why it's been light here for so long. The ship is causing it. The poles are going to start to melt and that'd be a problem for everyone on this planet. I don't think they're doing that part intentionally. I don't think anyone is dying from the Lagnoonians out of malice and the only way to truly die anyway is by ingesting their secretions. Touching them causes pain and discomfort, as well as a rash or blister, but doesn't kill anyone."
Jenny listens intently, shaking her head slowly, "She didn't say any of that before...it was like she wasn't sure."
"Of course I knew." The brunette mumbles, "I knew."
Jack nods to the both of them, "Okay, good. So, lets ease up on the high ground. Andrea, go ahead and start the device, let's see what happens? While Jenny, you're going to go up and sit with Sky Smith."
"Sky is-" Drea tries.
"I'm sure you're right. However, I need an actual person with her to make me feel comfortable. Someone who isn't partial to her in case something serious happens." The man gently places a hand on her arm, "Andrea, you've done enough here. Let me finish the rest for you. What do we need to do for this machine to work?"
"Professor Chronotis...do you ever remember me speaking about him?" The Doctor stood at the blackboard within the confines of the TARDIS, scribbling something. "One of my mentors really."
Sarah smirked, "You had taken me to meet him once when you were...the other silver haired one. He seemed a bit...airheaded. Am I thinking of the correct man."
"Oh, yes. That's right." He spun on his heel, eagerly clapping his hands together, "Him being scatterbrained is not his fault. The Council thought he was too powerful and started shaking in their boots and...he ran. Just like I did, he ran. They wanted to ban him to Shada-"
"Shada?" She perked her ear, curious.
"Another time, Sarah. They banned him to Shada so that they'd never have to hear about or from him ever again."
"A criminal?" Sarah Jane tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, her stormy green eyes slowly drifting toward him, "Were you a criminal?"
"In the hundreds of years I've known you and this is the first time you've ever thought to ask that question?" The Doctor raised an eyebrow before shaking his head, "That isn't the reason I'm bringing him up."
"Then what is it?"
"Time Lords have the ability to retain monumental amounts of information. Thousands, if not millions, of times more brain power to that of humans. That is why we were only able to reproduce via a loom for far too long...there was a disagreement and a curse, but we won't get into all of that. The existence of our Andrea is nothing short of a miracle."
"You don't believe of miracles." Sarah Jane attempted to listen.
He doesn't delve into her comment, instead of continuing, "Time Lords, especially that without proper training during their youth, may start to go mad. They haven't a way to properly contain information, or to sort information. It's just...there."
"You believe our daughter is going mad?"
"I didn't say that." The Doctor had shaken his head, "I didn't say that at all."
"Then what are you saying?" She slowly began to walk toward him.
He blinked, pausing, rethinking of what he'd tell her, "No, no. I'm simply sharing an old memory with you, is all."
"You wouldn't bring him up if it weren't for a reason, Doctor." Sarah Jane's nervousness began to grow, "Is she...unhealthy, is she...should I...should we..."
"Do learn to finish a sentence, Sarah." When the Doctor received a terse glare from the woman next to him, he continued, "Keep an eye on her...keep a very close eye."
"This all seems too simple." Sarah Jane watches him, the door having just closed behind her, separating the pair from the rest of the world inside the TARDIS.
"Sometimes, it's exactly that simple, Sarah." The man smirks, "We have something much more important to investigate."
"Such as?"
"Besides the message from the children, there's also the matter of exactly who killed the Lagnoonian leader. Our friend Delany informed us that it was a woman and, because they're attacking Earth, they appear human in form." The Doctor nods, placing his fingers into the reader of the TARDIS, "Humans don't oftentimes travel through time and space unless they're with me."
Sarah Jane slowly walks up the ramp toward the TARDIS main console, "Have any suspects in mind?"
He shrugs, "Possibly."
When he doesn't continue, she nudges his side, "Well? Out with it."
"Three...well, four, but one is busy being the President of the High Council on Gallifrey at the moment, so I believe I can cross her off of my list." The Doctor lets out a sigh he wasn't aware he was holding, "Only two of the other three suspects have a pension for gun toting."
"Delany never said the leader was killed with a gun." Sarah Jane gently interlaces her arm with his.
"Didn't have to. He was beaten with the butt of a rifle. I just...it's one of those things I'm able to pick up." He massages the bizarre controls of his ship, "Yes, that's exactly how he went. While I was in Delany's mind, I was able to see it unfold. Scars her to this day."
"And you weren't able to see the perpetrator when you did that?"
"No, no, no. It isn't like that." The Doctor turns from the controls of his ship to face her, "No, it's about weeding through the memories. The painful ones are the most prominent, usually. Seeing the leader die was far more important than seeing the person who committed the crime. She truly loved her leader."
"Who are your other suspects, Doctor?" Sarah Jane watches him as he sprints to the blackboard not far from him, mapping everything out that was occurring in his head. She stares at the words and symbols, not understanding most of what he's scribbling, "Doctor."
He stops his ferocious scratching with chalk suddenly, "Sarah...I'm not going to like the answer, regardless of the direction."
"Will I like the answer?"
"In your revengeful, human mind, probably a bit." The Doctor murmurs, "Listen to me, listen, Sarah. I don't believe the children are in danger." When she doesn't say anything, he continues, "They simply think they are."
"That's just as bad sometimes." Sarah Jane grumbled, folding her arms.
He smirks softly, giving a wave of his hand after a few moments, "Home sweet home..."
Jack Harkness slowly stands upright at the sound of the blue box he's become so accustomed to, adjusting the ray of the device Drea had assembled. He grins broadly, "Doctor, you're a sight for sore eyes." He calls out.
"Captain Jack Harkness." The silver haired man scowls playfully as the tall man runs to him, pulling his thin frame in closely. "I'm not a hugger!"
"Oh, come on, Doctor. Get over it!" He gives a throaty chuckle, "And Sarah Jane." He hugs the small woman tightly, "As breathtaking as ever." When Jack notices her blush, he continues, "Listen, if things don't work out with this grump, you have my number."
"Jack." The Doctor warns before motioning over to the large device on the ground, "What exactly is that?"
"Oh, that?" Jack turns, moving back over to the machine, "This, this is, well..."
"A force field destabilization alternator, but I'm betting you probably refer to it as otherwise." He smirks, "Was this in the attic?"
"No, Andrea made it."
"Andrea? My Andrea?" The silver haired man moves closer, kneeling before it, "Quite impressive being she could only use what was around her...Oh, who am I kidding, everything she needed was in that damned attic."
"My attic." Sarah Jane folds her arms before looking toward the sky, "Things are clearing up here."
"Yes. Whatever it was you did, you did a great job." Jack moves around to keep a hand at the woman's lower back, "Started about twenty minutes ago. They still had a force field up, Andrea realized it. Bright girl you have there. Probably gets it from her mother."
"She does." The Doctor tilts his head to the side, "This is great. We'll leave it running for about an hour in total." He stands again, looking to the pair, then Jack specifically, "I notice something, Jack, and it's been bothering me." When the man makes eye contact, he continues, "Any time you speak of my daughter, you refer to her by her whole name when she isn't very fond of being called as such. I get the feeling you're the only one, outside of her mother and myself, that she allows to do that."
Jack raises an eyebrow playfully, "Does that bother you, Doctor?"
"It causes me to believe that the two of you are closer than you want others to believe. So spill it before we carry on. I don't do secrets when it comes to my family."
Sarah Jane walked along the suburban road, possessions in hand and a furry cardigan wrapped around her shoulders. She notices a red mustang slowly pull up alongside of her. Her luck. After separating from the Doctor under such upsetting circumstances, she probably couldn't take much more.
"Excuse me."
A woman? She wasn't expecting the driver to be a woman. She turned to face her, taking in the look of the very American car before anything else, "Nice wheels."
"I get that often." The American woman grinned to her, "You look like you could use some help. Are you a long way from home?"
"Um." The young woman in the awkward clothing glanced around again, "Well, could you tell me where 'here' is?"
The American sounding woman quickly parked her bright red car, "Aberdeen. Scotland, honey."
"Scotland? I told him South Croydon!" She looked even more flustered than she did before, a tear appearing in the corner of her eye.
"Well...that is quite a ways off. I'm actually driving near there, so you're in luck."
"From Aberdeen? Why that's...ten hours, easy...give or take." Sarah Jane shook her head, "I'm sure you probably-"
"No, I'm serious. I'm heading to Purley...all of five minutes from where you're going. I was just visiting here on holiday."
"How do you know where I'm going?" She appeared alarmed.
"You mentioned South Croydon." The American grinned to the other woman, "Listen, my name is Andrea. Go ahead and put your things in the boot." She, somehow, is able to unhinge the boot of the automobile automatically.
Sarah Jane stood straighter, shocked, "How did you-"
"Not even going to tell me your name?" She interrupted.
"I'm Sarah..."
Andrea grinned, knowing exactly who she was long before she even climbed into her car, "That's a beautiful name...It was my mother's name." It was bizarre, however, that her mother was about the same Earth age as herself at the time.
Sarah Jane smirked, shoving the things into the nearly empty boot of the vehicle before climbing into the passenger seat, "Did something happen to her?"
She shrugged, "Let's not start this journey on a low point. That'd be terrible. Especially since we have quite the journey ahead of us."