Authors Note

Yeah…sorry for the short delay. I had a bit of trouble writing this chapter, but I'm now posting it. The next chapter is already written, but I want to write to at least chapter 14 before I post again. Hopefully that shouldn't take too long.

Thank you for all the reviews so far!

I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Ten

"I'm human, and yet I am like you lot?" Rose asked still feeling confused. "You're Time Lords aren't you?"

"Sort of," the girl responded, "but not anymore. We've been used too much."

"Too much? Forgive me, I'm having a slow day," smiled Rose.

The girl laughed, as well as several other occupants of the cell. "That is alright. You cannot hope to understand why you are like us and yet different in species."

Rose swallowed. "I think I know though," she was rather hesitant about mentioning her power, but she knew she would have to if she would gain answers. "A few years ago I absorbed the Time Vortex from the TARDIS."

"And you survived?" the girl asked amazed. "No one should be able to – it's impossible."

Rose nodded. "I should have done, but…" could she mention the Doctor? "…the Doctor saved me."

A man moved forward, staring at Rose. "The Doctor is alive?"

"Yes," replied Rose, hesitantly. "How do you know him?"

"He helped us," the soft reply came from another woman, who sat back against the wall, looking very weak and tired. "Saved us from death, during the Time War. He helped us escape."

"But," now Rose was very confused! "he said that he's the last of the Time Lords and that he would know if anyone was alive because of telepathy."

"The glow – it cancels it out. We were taken by Risender, Rashdack's ancestor, shortly after we escaped the war. The Council sent the remaining youngsters to safety – the Doctor helped us, covering our ship as we escaped. We knew what the plan was – destroy the Daleks, but there was the risk of us being wiped out to. We didn't want to leave, but we couldn't fight. We were injured and we needed to preserve our society, so we left against our wishes. We felt the shockwave of our people dying and then we all blacked out with the pain of it all. We regenerated and when we woke we were no longer in our ship, but here. We have been here for nearly five hundred years. We cannot remember what freedom is like."

"Five hundred years?" asked Rose. "But I met the Doctor after the end of the Time War. I met him, just practically after that! It can't after been five hundred years for you. It's really only been five for him, I think."

"It has for us and for our captors," a man ventured. "Time doesn't move in linear for anyone, it moves differently."

"Oh," said Rose. "So, why am I like you if I'm human?"

"I'm still working that out," the girl replied and then she held out her hand. "I'm Loriana."

"That's nice. I'm Rose."

"What a very pretty name," a mocking voice said from the doorway.

So absorbed with the conversation that she had been having, Rose hadn't noticed the door opening, nor the fact that Rashdak was grinning, with a horrid glint in his eye.

"Now, Rose, have you decided?"

Rose swallowed hard.

"Right!" the Doctor swiveled round on his feet, fixing Jack with a cold stare. "We need to know where that energy source originates from – do you have any equipment that can help us achieve this quickly?"

"Yes, we do," answered Jack as he turned quickly and began talking to Tosh.

"I need the TARDIS. I'll be back shortly. Mickey, stay here and see if you can help out Tosh; Martha, come with me," the Doctor ordered. "We need to hurry. I have a very bad feeling that something is going to happen and that it won't be a good thing either."

"Yes, I have decided," answered Rose, holding her head high.

"And what is your decision?"

"I won't help you. You haven't told me what you need me for. How can I base my decision on something I have no knowledge of? What do you need me for, and then I'll give you my answer as to whether I agree to your terms."

Rashdak glared, but he had been unfair – he had hoped a human would've just agreed, but this one had courage. "We need to harness your energy. The time energy that courses through you – we adapt to make our ship work. We can feed on this energy as well. It helps us. Now you know what we need you for."

"This is what you were planning to do to the Doctor?"

"It was, until we discovered that you had more power then he. It is unheard of a mere human being more powerful then a Time Lord. I, of course, promise to leave the Doctor alone if you submit to our demands. In order to use you, you have to willingly give it – I cannot use force to gain the resources from you from which we depend on."

"And yet you threaten the Doctor? Isn't that necessary force?" asked Rose, feeling slightly smug.

"In a sense, yes, but you'd be admitting that you wanted to help us in order to save him. And trust me, Rose, that we know all about Time Lord Regeneration. If you do not submit I will make you watch as he suffers – until he takes his last breath in his thirteenth body."

"What's that noise?" Tosh's eyes widened as a wheezing sound began to fill the Hub; papers began to fly around the room, scattering light equipment as it brushed past them in a frenzy. In the centre of the Hub a light began to flash and that something began to fade into existence.

"What is that?" Gwen asked, cowering back as Owen pulled out his gun and held it in front of him, aimed at the slowly materialising blue box.

"Put that down Owen!" commanded Jack and he threw the man a glare. "It's just the TARDIS."

"A what?" All three asked, confusion apparent on their faces.

"It's the Doctor's spaceship."

Most surprisingly it was not Mickey or Jack that had answered, but Ianto.

"How'd you know that?" asked Jack suspiciously.

"It was in the Doctor's file in London Torchwood," Ianto offered.

"Ah, that explains it then," said Jack. He had made sure, since he had worked for Torchwood, that the Doctor's file was off-limits to anyone in his team. It was a way of protecting him. Ianto, after-all, had originally worked at the Canary Wharf branch, but shortly before the battle he had been transferred to Cardiff. Of course, Torchwood One was far more against the Doctor then Jack's branch ever had been.

"A blue police box is a space-ship?" asked Owen incredulously as the time-ship took shape. "It must be very cramped with four people travelling in such an enclosed space."

Mickey grinned, slapping Owen on the shoulder. "You'll be surprised just how 'cramped' it really is."

Owen edged away from Mickey, looking suspicious of him. Jack grinned at Mickey. It was always fun when Owen felt uneasy.

The door opened to the TARDIS and the Doctor came bounding out, with Martha following behind. He looked around at his reception and said, "What? Have I got anything on my face?" He was looking pointedly at Owen, who's jaw had opened slightly.

When the Doctor had bounded out of the TARDIS, Owen had got a glance of the inside and had seen how big it was.

"It's bigger on the inside?" said Owen, flabbergasted.

"Err, yeah," responded the Doctor, looking at Jack with interest. "Do you mind filling me in?"

"Owen thinks it will be cramped with four people in the TARDIS because it resembles a 1960's public police phone box."

"Ah, now I get it. Owen, Owen, Owen," said the Doctor, as if the man was an old acquaintance of his. "It's not impossible to have something bigger on the inside – it may be now, but it is not – and no, before you ask Miss Toshiko, I will not divulge Time Lord secrets as to why the TARDIS is bigger on the inside."

Jack laughed, slapping the Doctor's shoulder. "You don't even know that yourself, Doctor. You've never answered properly."

"Actually," the Doctor counted on his fingers. "I have answered that question, but human brains can't handle the quantum physics and mathematics decimals and all the calculations that make this possible. The human brain is too inferior to understand the complexity of this type of technology. And I'm being rude again, aren't I?"

Martha nodded, cupping her mouth with a hand.

"And that is one of his standard answers," responded Jack. "He never gives a proper one."

The Doctor waved a hand and marched right over to Tosh's computer. "What have you found?"

"The energy source is coming from past the Moon. It's being transmitted by something we cannot detect, but we know that it is in that region."

The Doctor nodded. "Okay. I need a visual, so Jack, come on."

"Where are we going?"

"To the moon," the Doctor's eyes glinted as he spoke. "I should be able to get a clear view of what we are dealing with and who. I didn't get a good chance to identify the species of Rose's kidnappers. Before we go any further, I need to make a risk assessment on what we stand on losing and we can't take any drastic action at this stage. Not at all."

To be continued…

Please let me know what you think!

To be honest, I've gone off of the pairing of Ten/Rose (I never really liked it to be honest, but felt like writing a series based on that couple anyway), so this story will be my last venture for 10/Rose. Sorry! I would like to write stories involving Series 3 Martha Jones and the Tenth Doctor, and I've already got a story in the works for that, so yeah, this will be my last proper story involving a romance with the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler. I am always determined to finish a story, which is why I haven't abandoned it because I've gone off the pairing of Ten/Rose, so this will be finished, hopefully by the end of October-ish, or maybe before then.

Until next time!

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