Chapter 9
The explosion rocked the TARDIS but it did not settle, it continued top shake ands rock, even more than usual. Ianto stumbled into the console room, gripping the bars around it 'What's happening?' he screamed to the Doctor
'The TARDIS is broken, its falling through the time vortex!' The Doctor yelled back, he hit the console with a hammer he had picked up from somewhere and the shaking stopped, 'the Daleks must have damaged it'
'Have we landed,' Ianto asked hopefully
'No, we've just stopped falling, we're in the time vortex, and we can start moving again at anytime, but we'd have no direction, and therefore no way to land.' The Doctor paced around the console thoughtfully, 'I could force it to land but even if that doesn't rip us apart who knows where we'll end up, inside a wall, or a planet'
'Well thats the one benefit of our situation Doctor,' Ianto said in a strange tone
'Eh?'
'If we both have to die that means this can't be the end of the line, we have to get to where we're meant to be' Ianto was going to say more but the Doctor grabbed him suddenly, back to his excited, eccentric state. 'Of course!' the Doctor exclaimed joyously, 'thats how we'll land the TARDIS!'
The Doctor ran off down a corridor and when he returned he carried with him a strange device that looked like a headset. 'Doctor what is that thing?' Ianto asked, worried at the devious look on the Doctor's face
'Its a temporal stabilizer,' the Doctor explained, but Ianto had long since given up pretending to keep up with him, this was a whole different level from Torchwood, 'a modified version of course, the TARDIS usually uses this to prevent small paradoxes from occurring, for example stopping us from landing on stage at a rock concert, instead guiding us to a closet backstage. It guides us to where we should be by looking to the future and the past to see where we should be next'
'I thought you said the guidance system was broken?' Ianto was confused, wasn't this thing what usually steers the TARDIS?
'Yes, the main guidance system is, but thats just takes us to pit stops along the way, points where time is in flux, what this does is forces the TARDIS to a point where I have to be, when I have to there.'
'I think I understand,' Ianto said not confident that he actually did, 'so we're going to force the TARDIS to where we should be next, by skipping all the inconsequential points along the way, right?'
'Yes, but most likely we'll end up at those points anyway, just later on,' the Doctor explained
'Well get on with it then,' Ianto gestured at the device as the Doctor connected it to the TARDIS console
'But it's not that simple,' the Doctor said, looking sheepishly at Ianto, 'if I plug myself into this machine, who knows what will happen, I'm a complex time event, there are a number of large pit-stops I could arrive at next. But human lives are shorter, and even if their time-traveling their timelines are still more or less linear, it's got to be you, we have to guide it to a central point in your timeline, but if we do that we'-
'We could end up back with the 456, where i die,' Ianto finished solemnly.
Ianto was hooked up to the machine, it wasn't very comfortable, but the strange feeling of the TARDIS being motionless in the time vortex was much worse. The Doctor was busy plugging in wires from the device into the console, as he flicked switches and buttons he muttered to himself, Ianto could only pick out a few words, 'come on, don't fail me now, not after all these years'
'Doctor,' Ianto asked nervously, 'exactly how sure are you that this will work?'
'About, 40%' the Doctor replied, he flicked another switch and the lights flickered, 'maybe 35.' Ianto didn't reply, he just closed his eyes and hoped to god the Doctor new what he was doing. But his worries were soon replaced by shock when the contraption on his head kicked into motion and the TARDIS began moving again, but more violent and uncontrolled, the Doctor fell back briefly before lurching forward and gripping tightly onto the console. 'Ianto!' He called out over the strange noises the TARDIS made, 'try not to think about the 456, think of something else, anything else!' Ianto tried, but he couldn't help it, the thoughts came to his head despite everything happenning around him. The 456, knowing he was going to die, the children speaking, the government building, the glass box, Jack... Jack.
The TARDIS landed finally, even though it hadn't physically fallen there was a sound like a large impact and dust blew in every direction around its landing site. Inside the Doctor pulled himself up, having been thrown to the floor. He saw Ianto on the floor to and ran to pick him up, the impact had broken the straps and restraints of the machine, he wouldn't be using that again. After a few moments Ia to came to and looked around with a start 'Jack!' he yelled, before he noticed his surroundings. The Doctor smiled slightly, realising what Ianto had been focusing on before they landed. The TARDIS was dead quiet, no lights were besides what was coming through the windows. 'What's wrong with it Doctor?' Ianto asked quietly, it was disconcerting seeing it like this, 'you said this would fix it'
'And it will, basically we've broken it so it will fix itself,' the Doctor explained, in that annoying way that made Ianto think we was just making things up, 'it will first have to grow a new guidance system, then we can take it to the rift to charge it up with energy again'
'The rift?' Ianto looked to the ground, 'so after this...' the Doctor turned to Ianto suddenly. 'Oh don't worry Ianto, we'll go to the future, after Torchwood and the 456 are long gone,' the Doctor said, looking at Ianto with a mixture of pride and curiosity, 'our adventures together are just beginning' the Doctor had found another companion.
After a few moments of the Doctor staring awkwardly at him Ianto decided to break the silence, 'so, if this place and time is a crucial point in my timeline, we should probably see where and when we are right?' The Doctor jerked out of his thoughts as if waking up
'Right!' he said, moving towards the doors, 'come along Ianto, your destiny awaits! and your destiny is...' the Doctor threw open the doors, 'frighteningly familiar.' They were standing in what looked like a high tech tower, or what was left of one, there were dead bodies lying around, time had decayed them into skeletons. Rubble had fallen as the walls began to crumble. 'What is it Doctor?' Ianto asked, seeing the look on the Doctor's face, 'where are we?'
'I think, is it? maybe...' the Doctor struggled to put a name to the place, he ran forward, Ianto following, limping slightly have hurt his leg in the fall. They ran until the Doctor came to a huge window, the wind billowed around them, the glass being shattered years ago. The Doctor span around and looked at Ianto excited 'Ah! New New York, I've been here before,' the Doctor checked his watch quickly, and a strange and worried look came over his face,
'Actually, I think I'm here right now'