Chapter 10

Aaargh! This was supposed to be a relatively short story (five to ten chapters). Unfortunately all characters (mine and those who belong to the BBC) tend to do what they want and thus this is morphing into something much bigger. Must be the bad influence of my potted plant...


She should have realized the truth back when the Foamasi commander had mentioned the war his people had lost but she had been too caught up in distracting him. These people were refugees, the only survivors of their species gathered in a few ships.

Rose quickly went through everything she knew about the Foamasi. Reptil-like species, large tolerance of heightened radiation, preferred environment seemed to be deserts. Deserts – radiation. That rang a bell. In her original universe especially the United States and the United Kingdom had used deserts as test sites for nuclear weapons, not only in the United States, but also in Australia and even in Algeria. Many areas were still uninhabitable, at least for humans. Although she knew the relevant historical events in this universe – her college education had made sure of that – she wasn't certain about the whereabouts of nuclear tests here. She took her super phone, put the Foamasi on hold and dialled the number of one of her former colleagues at Torchwood. Mala stared at her with a questioning look in her eyes.

"This is a communication device," Rose told the girl. "I'm calling a friend to ask him something."

Mala nodded, but kept silent.

"Colin, it's me, Rose."

Colin Jordan was an attractive black-haired forty-two-year-old genius and the head of research. They had worked together on several projects and even dated a few times. She loved his smart mind and that he could make her laugh. But she had quickly realized that they would never be more than just friends. And that's what they were now – friends. Rose was certain that she could trust him, that he wouldn't bring Torchwood in unless she asked him to. She had even told him things no one else in this universe knew.

"So, Rose Tyler, how's your first day in freedom?" he asked jokingly.

She pictured him sitting in his office, legs on his desk, keyboard on his lap, typing frantically.

"That didn't last long," she gave back, a light tone in her voice. "At the moment I'm somewhere near Pluto – the planet not the restaurant – in an alien space ship trying to stop 'em from invading Earth."

"Nice joke. I must remember to use it on Janice when she calls next time." Janice was one of the secretaries at Torchwood and had a terrible crush on him. But Colin seemed totally oblivious to that.

"I need some information," she said in a more business-like manner. "Do you know the location of some larger nuclear test sites?"

"Why do you want to know that?"

"Colin...,"

"Okay, okay. Well, there's the US site in Nevada of course, we tested on some of our atolls and..." He paused and asked, "Does it have to be test sites or do nuclear incidents count as well?"

"I take everything, really. And it would help if it was located in a desert."

"Desert? Why a desert? Oh, never mind. You wouldn't tell me anyway, would you?"

Dealing with a nine-hundred-something year old alien with the attention span of a three-year-old for more than two years had taught Rose patience. So she only said,

"Colin..."

"Nuclear test sites in deserts. Wait a moment. Incident. A French company built a large reactor in the Sahara, in the early eighties. In 1992 it went critical and contaminated large parts of Mali, Algeria and Mauretania."

"How come I've never heard of this? And why did they build that reactor in the Sahara?" Rose asked. The event Colin had described sounded worse than any nuclear incident in her universe could have been.

"They used some new and untested technology for the construction. I'm not entirely sure, but it could have been alien. The French government considered it too hazardous to build it anywhere in France, for the sake of their population. Apparently they cared a lot less for the nomads living in the desert. And when the incident happened they managed to keep it mostly under the carpet. Not many casualties. That really helped," he said sarcastically.

"But what about the radiation?" The climate wasn't so different in this universe. "Wouldn't the sirocco have transported the radiation to Europe?"

"Yeah, of course. But during that time the countries on the continent were definitely not among those with an open information policy. That only changed at the beginning of the twenty-first century." Yet another difference in this universe.

"Do you know how large the contaminated area is?"

"Hundreds of thousands of square kilometres, I guess."

"Thanks, Colin. Bye."

"Bye, Rose. And don't forget to call."

Rose hung up and listened intently to the events on the bridge. Then she turned around, faced Mala and smiled.

"What do you think about visiting your Dad at work?"

~o~o~o~

In the meantime Romana had explained about parallel universes and E-space. In detail. Eventually she discovered definite signs of boredom, such as several Foamasi trying to stifle a yawn or hiding it.

"...and then you extrapolate the...," she interrupted herself and went on, "Well, nice chat, commander. But if you would excuse me now..." She turned around and walked towards the double-wing doors. Five steps, six, seven, eight.

"Stop!" a voice roared.

'Damn,' she thought. 'Only four more steps and it would have worked.' She turned back again and asked with her sweetest voice, "Yes?"

"You're not permitted to leave, human," the commander said.

Romana's reply came in an irritated tone. "I really thought we had agreed that I'm not human. Time Lady, if you care to remember!"

"That doesn't matter. You will surrender your planet or die."

"Actually, that's a completely different problem. See, my planet doesn't exist in this universe and even..."

"Despite whatever you were talking about there can't be other universes," one of the crew members, a Foamasi with prominent scarlet dots on the shoulders interrupted rudely.

"Oh really, and where did I spend the last two hundred and thirty years, then?"

"I don't care. In a hospital for the mentally challenged maybe? Parallel universes are impossible." Was the Foamasi trying to be politically correct or just sarcastic? Romana went for the second possibility.

"Even humans have more imagination. And believe me, they really can be thick if they want to."

"Surrender your planet, human!" the commander bellowed, interrupting his crew member who had just opened his mouth to reply.

"As I said, I'm not human." Romana began slowly, as if she was explaining something to a three-year-old. She really didn't want to explain the whole parallel universe thing again. "My planet was destroyed in a war. And as it seems, I'm the only survivor here."

Silence followed her declaration. That was a surprise.

In the silence the noise of the opening door wings seemed to be much louder than it would have been otherwise. And even louder was the scream from the door:

"Daddy!"

Romana saw a Foamasi child running towards the commander and hugging him.

The commander bent down and said, "Mala, dear. You know that you are not allowed to disturb me when I'm working."

"But Daddy, look. That's my new friend, over there."

Romana turned around and saw a now familiar brunette standing in the door frame, a brilliant smile on her face.

"Hello," the woman in the grey business suit said. "I'm Rose Tyler and I've come to negotiate the fate of Earth."