Chapter Twenty-Eight – 42 Minutes:
The TARDIS jarred angrily.
Snapping awake in bed, Rose opened her eyes and immediately sat up, covers falling away from her stiff frame. Her room was dark save for the small night light she left on in the corner of the room and she looked toward it in confusion momentarily. The next second the phone box shifted again, bumping irregularly and she quickly shoved the covers off to jump to her feet. The clock on her wall read five in the morning and she growled under her breath as she pulled on a pair of jeans and changed out of her night shirt. She realized she had only been asleep an hour since the dream she'd had earlier as she slipped on trainers and reached for her sweater.
Emerging from her room and bolting down the hallway she came out into the console room, rubbing at her eyes. "What is it? What's going on?" she asked, catching sight of the Doctor at the TARDIS console, his shoulders rigid as he circled it intently.
"Did I wake you? Sorry," he said, not sounding sincerely apologetic in the least as he glanced at her quickly and then back at the console. "Distress signal coming through. The TARDIS is locking on-" The ship jolted once more, one violent bump that sent the Doctor off his feet to the grated floor and Rose back into the hallway.
Groaning at finding herself on her rear, Rose stood up once more and stumbled back into the console room as the Doctor jumped to his feet again. The ship had stopped rocking turbulently and they hesitated, glancing toward each other in silence for a long moment. Then with the Doctor leading wordlessly, they both sprang to the doors of the TARDIS.
Yanking the door open they felt the blast of heat that entered, Rose flinching away with a grimace. "Oh! That's-" she cried and she lifted a hand to protect her face as red light streamed into the TARDIS, the Doctor poking his head out through the doors "Where did we land?"
"Not sure," the Doctor replied and he stepped out of the TARDIS fully, looking about. "It's an engine room."
Rose finally followed behind him, lowering her hand cautiously and wincing at the immense heat. "Why is it so hot in here?" she asked, not really expecting an answer as she looked around. They had indeed entered what seemed to be a metallic room, more of a large hallway, heat and steam floating thickly all around.
"Good question," the Doctor murmured and he motioned with an index finger thoughtfully. "Venting systems should be cooling this place down but it's not-" He followed the ceiling line of the vents with a frown forming on his forehead. Without another word he floated over to a large metal door and took hold of the thick bar attached to the door's surface, twisting it and wincing as the metal seemed to burn him slightly. The door slid open with a long creak and Rose quickly came up behind him, scooting past as he held the door open for her upon peering in first. Once through, Rose stepped into a small red-lit corridor, pausing as a similar door on the other side of the hallway was opened, admitting three newcomers. The Doctor came out behind Rose, his hand still on the door as he caught sight of the three people suddenly in the corridor with them.
"Seal that door!" one of the three, a male, shouted at them and they quickly separated to let him through as he raced for the door they had just come in through.
Rose rounded on the other two, glancing from the Doctor to the second male and a woman as they reached them.
"Who the hell are you?" the woman demanded in disbelief as the first male secured the door behind them once more.
Seeming to ignore them all, the Doctor moved past them to a window in the corridor, pausing before it. "I'm Rose," she introduced herself with a small wave and then motioning to the Doctor as he noticeably stiffened at the window. "That rude one is the Doctor," she tossed out with a look.
"What are you doing on my ship?" the woman was still questioning, her skin gleaming with a thin sheen of sweat.
"We got a distress signal, I think-" Rose stated with a slight pitch of confusion and she broke off as a mechanical voice sounded throughout the corridor tonelessly.
"Secure Closure Active."
The woman whirled around, looking toward her two crew members. "Who activated secure closure?"
"Impact Projection: 42 minutes." The voice came again, metallic and firm.
Looking up, her eyes flying about in search for the owner of the voice, Rose asked quietly, "Forty-two minutes?"
"Rose," the Doctor murmured from the window.
Rose ignored him for the moment, feeling a sudden stir of uneasiness in the pit of her stomach. "Forty-two minutes until what?" she prodded the three crew members standing before her.
"Rose," the Doctor said again and this time his tone was stronger, demanding. He glanced toward her, a quick motion, and she instantly darted toward him, glancing back at the ship crew warily.
He wordlessly slid over a bit as she murmured, "Budge up," upon reaching him and then they were both looking out the small circular window. Outside, she could see a bit of the expanse of the ship they currently stood on as it hurtled through dark space. But as the ship spun slowly, almost gracefully, she saw what had worried the Doctor.
With the ship now facing ahead she saw the large sun that waited before them, the heat rising and curling from its surface in brilliant clouds of fire. And as she stared she realized what the problem was even as the Doctor whispered it. "Forty-two minutes until we crash into that sun."
Swallowing, Rose backed away from the window numbly, her hand lifting to the Doctor's and wrapping around his elbow.
"Right," he said a moment later and he was instantly in running mode, whirling to scan the corridor, unconsciously pulling out of her grasp with his frenetic gestures. "Engines?"
The woman, now perspiring quite visibly in the heat, threw him a look that stated she didn't quite trust him yet but she answered nonetheless. "They cut off a few minutes ago."
The Doctor's jaw clenched. "Crew members onboard?"
"Six, including us," she replied, the two males coming up to flank her on either side.
The Doctor nodded firmly. "Ok. Gather your crew. I'll get you off this ship." He brushed by Rose, past the three crew members, and went for the door they'd come through once more.
Immediately the two males went after him, the woman shouting, "No, don't!"
As the Doctor opened the door once more, a sudden heat burst from it, searing his hands. Instinctively he threw his arms up to defend himself, his form crashing to the floor as the two men circled past him and closed the door yet again.
Rose crouched beside the Doctor quickly, reaching for him. "Are you all right?" she demanded, winding an arm through his and hauling him backward.
"My ship is in there!" the Doctor shouted at the crew members, straining in her grip as he gestured toward the door.
One of the males scanned the gauges beside the door as Rose followed his movements with her eyes, her heart beginning to pick up speed. "It's three thousand degrees in there. If your ship is in there…" the man broke off, his meaning clear.
Swallowing momentarily, the Doctor's frame heaving in her arms, Rose glanced down at him. "Are we stuck here?" she asked the Doctor in an undertone, her voice tremulous. That would be a very bad thing with the ship heading directly for that sun outside. "Doctor," she stated when he didn't respond immediately.
He frowned, hearing her question then and shifting to his feet with her help. "No, of course not. The engines cut off, she said. Simple. We fix the engines, steer out of the way of the sun, problem solved. Is engineering down this way?" Without waiting for the crew members to respond he bolted down the corridor to a set of stairs, leading the group.
Rose threw the rest of the crew members a look and a small shrug before following after him.
Ahead of her, twisting his way through a couple of corridors, the Doctor came upon the room that was engineering. And upon entering, he slid to a halt, the crew members and Rose running into him from behind as they caught up. "This is engineering?" he asked in stunned disbelief.
The woman of the group stepped around him to see what had caused the confusion in his tone and was met with the disaster that had become her engine room. "What the hell happened here?" she asked hoarsely, taking a step to inspect the damage of large destroyed machinery and wires poking out in gnarled tangles. "Who did this?"
Rose came up beside the Doctor, her brow wrinkling as she took in the scene wordlessly.
"Where are Korwin and Ashton?" the woman demanded, taking charge, and she darted to an intercom system on the wall, smacking a button and immediately calling for the two crew members she had previously named. "Korwin should be here!"
The Doctor glanced toward Rose as she motioned to the ruined section of engineering. "So I take it that's not supposed to look like that," she stated flatly.
He arched his eyebrow at her silently and stepped to a small floor terminal attached to the wreck, examining it the console face. "No, it's not supposed to look like that," he sighed as he slipped on his specs and started up the terminal. He glanced over as the two males went to the ruin, observing it and digging into it futilely before looking back to the terminal. "Toraji System. I wanted to bring you here before," he said to Rose as she looked over at him but he was still studying the terminal. "This…isn't exactly the way I pictured the visit to play out."
"I bet."
The Doctor frowned behind his specs as he caught something on the monitor and he motioned to the woman of the crew. "Energy scoops for fusion still? Hasn't that been outlawed?"
The woman stared at him for a long thoughtful moment before waving away his question dismissively. "We're due for an upgrade next docking." She motioned to one of the males at the wreck. "Scannell, get me an engine report."
With a nod, one of the males moved, motioning the Doctor aside to inspect the terminal. The Doctor slid over, musing over the woman's answer before turning his attention to the man before him.
Scannell tapped the screen for a moment and then again, a frown crossing his face. "No response," he replied and as the woman whirled on him he motioned to the wreck his fellow crew member was inspecting. "I mean, look at this mess! They're wrecked! I can't get them back online."
Rose hovered to the side, moving from one foot to the other restlessly. "Well, don't you have backup engines…or something…" She threw the Doctor a shrug as he glanced at her.
"Auxiliary engines," the Doctor translated for the crew.
"They're in the front of the ship," the woman replied.
The Doctor stared at her, his head bowing. "So what are we waiting for?" he asked quietly.
She glared right back at him. "Secure Closure means exactly that. Secure Closure. We have 29 doors between us and the auxiliary engines. All doors are password-sealed. We'll never get through them in the time we have left-"
"Sonic screwdriver?" Rose asked, turning to the Doctor.
"Dead-lock sealed," he answered, his eyes scanning the wreck of engineering blindly. "No use-"
"No chance," the woman interrupted in a strangely flat tone.
Rose looked toward the Doctor as he sprang up once more. "Oh, there's always a chance! Just have to give it a go! Who has the passwords?"
The other male came forward at that. "They're randomly generated but I reckon I know most of them. Riley." He nodded by way of introduction.
"Good to meet you, Riley. What say you to getting on those doors now?" the Doctor inquired rapidly.
The man nodded once more, instantly darting to the wreckage and sifting through to pull on a backpack and dragging out a large metallic clamp. "Two man job. Need someone to come with me to drag this around." He hefted it up into his grasp.
Rose stared at the clamp for a long moment, feeling her skin grow cold. At the same moment the Doctor looked from the clamp immediately to her, his eyes wide. She realized she didn't have to tell him what the clamp reminded her of because he knew. Because he had been there. The clamp that she had been forced to release that day in Torchwood, when they had opened the seal together to trap the Daleks in the void. She felt her fingers cramp as she curled them in. But as the Doctor took a step toward her she said, "I'll do it."
The crew looked at her, Riley cocking his head in question, obviously not having expected her to volunteer.
"I'll…I'll go with you. I'll carry that, you do the passwords." She glanced at the Doctor as he closed the space between them, his expression questioning her silently. She recognized the look but feigned an easy smile for him. "It'll give me something to do in the meantime, while you work on this mess here."
Riley also approached the two of them, hesitant. "It's remotely controlled by computer panel. That's really the reason this requires two."
"It's fine," Rose said to the Doctor reassuringly as he merely gazed at her. "Honest." She turned back to Riley. "Ok, lead the way." And swallowing faintly, she reached out and took the clamp with both hands, testing its weight in her grip before falling into step behind the crew member.
"Be careful," the Doctor called after her.
She threw him another small smile before the two of them headed off. As they moved away she heard an unfamiliar voice over the intercom sound around them, glancing back over her shoulder to see the Doctor's attention already elsewhere. "McDonnell, it's Ashton," the male voice stated, echoing throughout the hallways as she turned the corner following Riley. "You there?"
"I'm here," came the crew woman's voice in response and Rose understood they were now communicating through the intercom. It seemed every room and corridor had an intercom installed in the walls and ceiling. "Where are you? Is Korwin with you?"
The man over the communications, Ashton, sounded wary as he answered, "Get to the med centre. Quickly. You need to see this."
Hearing the sudden rush of footsteps behind them, Rose glanced over her shoulder once more to see the crew turn the corner they'd just come from, the Doctor with them. Frowning, she felt the Doctor grasp her elbow momentarily as they passed by but when she turned to follow him with her eyes, they were already turning into another adjacent corridor and out of sight.
"Heat Shields failing. At twenty-five percent. Impact in 34:30," the mechanical voice intoned ominously as she and Riley reached the first dead-locked door in silence.
"What is taking so long?" she questioned Riley several minutes later as he tapped at a small console keypad. "Are all the doors going to take this long?"
"Ok, ok," he said, causing her to straighten once more. "Attach the clamp on."
She complied, attaching it securely with visions of Torchwood and Daleks running through her head as she did so. Fixing the clamp in place she looked at him to see him typing once more. "Now what are you typing?" she demanded.
"Each door's trip code is the answer to a random question set by the crew," Riley explained as he tapped at the keypad. "Nine tours back, we got drunk, thought them up. Reckoning was if we're hijacked, we're the only ones who know all the answers."
"Oh, that's just brilliant," Rose said with a glare.
"Was at the time," Riley said with a half grin. He motioned to the backpack he carried. "We type in the right answer and this sends an unlock pulse to the clamp. But we only get one chance per door. If we get it wrong the whole system freezes up."
Rose felt a small spike of ice dig into her midsection. "You didn't think to mention this sooner?"
"Ok, so let's see what the question is," Riley murmured, seeming to gloss over her question. He glanced at a readout screen. "Date of SS Pentallian's first flight. Aw, perfect!" A moment later he was typing in what seemed to be the answer. Upon finishing he turned to her and nodded. "Go!"
Turning to the clamp, Rose nudged a button and listened as it beeped softly. Then green lights lit up on the face of the clamp, the door hissing open. "Got it!"
With a wide grin Riley darted to meet her and together they pulled the clamp free. "Only twenty-eight to go!"
Over the intercom came the Doctor's voice then, sounding the smallest bit urgent. "Rose? Riley? How are you two coming along?"
"We're at twenty-eight," Rose replied loudly as they reached the next door. Glancing to her partner, she quickly set up the clamp as Riley paused beside the keypad to the door.
"You need to move faster," the Doctor replied through the intercom.
"We're moving as fast as we can," Rose grumbled and she turned to Riley. "Well?"
Riley seemed lost. "Find the next number in the sequence. 313. 331. 367…" He looked at her, confusion evident on his face.
"Don't look at me," Rose said, recoiling. "Shouldn't you know these answers?"
Riley grimaced. "The crew's changed since we set the answers," he revealed reluctantly.
Rose's jaw dropped open. "What?"
"379," the Doctor's voice came from the intercom bluntly.
Rose turned in the direction of the intercom. "How do you know that?" she demanded in disbelief.
"Are you sure?" Riley asked over her, staring at her but listening intently for the Doctor.
"Just enter it," the Doctor said in exasperation. "Any number which reduces to one when you take the sum of the square of its digits and you continue iterating until it yields one is a happy number. Any number that doesn't, isn't. A happy prime is a number which is both happy and prime, now type it in!"
Rose and Riley stared at each other for a small moment. Then Rose sighed with a shake of her head. "He's brilliant and he's almost always right. If he doesn't know this one then we're all in for it anyway." She motioned to him to enter the number.
Riley was hesitant still. "You trust him that much?"
Rose stared at him, her fingers loosening then tightening on the clamp. "Yeah. Yeah I do. With my life," she responded to that quietly.
Riley paused for another long moment before raising his eyebrows. "Ok, then. Good enough for me." And he typed in the answer, turning to her a moment later slowly.
Swallowing to calm her racing pulse, Rose pushed on the button of the clamp, trying to stop herself from wincing. But as the clamp beeped and the door opened with a small hiss she released her breath in relief, throwing Riley a smile. "See?"
Riley grinned and came up beside her, hefting the door open as she pulled the clamp free. "Brilliant!"
"We're through," Rose called out as the two of them went through the door and headed for the next one.
"Good," came the Doctor's voice, echoing around them as they hurried. "Keep moving, fast as you can." There was a hesitant pause and a short breath from the intercom. "Also, Rose, be careful. There may be something else on board this ship."
Rose paused at his words, the clamp suddenly seeming far heavier than it had been a moment before. "What do you mean, something?" she asked.
"Never mind," came his voice firmly. "Just keep working and keep an eye out." And with that the intercom went silent.
"Great," Rose mumbled under her breath and she hurried to catch up to Riley who was waiting at the next doorway.
"This is a nightmare," Riley was grumbling, examining the wall console. "Music quiz, really. Who had the most pre-download number ones, Elvis Presley or the Beatles?" His face twisted in confusion. "How are we supposed to know that?"
"Impact in 29:46," intoned the ship's computer.
"Yeah, thanks for that," Rose growled at the corridor around her and she paused to think, Riley also falling silent next to her.
"Doctor," came a woman's voice over the intercom, bringing them both to raise their heads.
"Who is that?" Rose asked Riley as the Doctor's voice also sounded, questioning the woman concerning readings.
"Abi," Riley responded absentmindedly, his gaze locked on the keypad. "Medical officer."
"-scaring me," Abi was responding over the intercom. "Korwin's body is…well, changing. His entire biological makeup is-" A bang sounded on her side of the conversation, cutting her off halfway through her sentence.
Riley jumped, Rose spinning to look toward the intercom.
A moment later Abi's voice came once more, frantic. "This is Med-center. Urgent assistance requested. Urgent assistance!"
Rose turned back around to look at Riley who was now also looking fairly uneasy. "Now what the hell was that? What's going on? And who the hell is Korwin already?"
"I don't know what the bang was," he responded tightly. "Korwin is McDonnell's husband." When Rose merely looked at him, he continued, "McDonell is the woman who was with us when you two showed up. She's the ship's captain."
Abi's voice echoed fearfully around them as she continued to cry out, "Urgent assistance requested-"
But then a second voice cut in, low and menacing, unlike any human voice Rose was accustomed to. "Burn…with me…"
Turning her head to look at Riley once more, she was not comforted by the utter mix of fear and confusion on his face. "Ok, so you don't know what that was either, huh?" she asked him. And when he shook his head slowly she nodded, straightening and forcing herself to concentrate on the matter at hand. They had a task to do and there was nothing they could do for the others at the moment. "Elvis."
Riley looked at her again, a quick glance, an eyebrow arching. "How do you know that?" he asked her shortly.
Rose shrugged, unwilling to show him that she wasn't actually sure of her answer. "Mum dated a musician," she replied. She added quickly, "So did I, actually. Different musicians. But musicians, both of them. Not the same one, I mean." She motioned for him to input the answer.
He did so gingerly, putting the answer in and then looking toward her once more. She turned to the clamp, fearful of even pushing the button. But as she hesitated there, she realized yet again that there was nowhere else to go and nothing else to do except push the button. Clenching her jaw, she did so, holding her breath.
The clamp beeped, the door opening. With a soft, "Yes!" she glanced at Riley, a smile crossing her face, mirrored by him.
They had just managed to open the door, slipping through and heading to the next one, when a scream cut through the intercom, Abi's voice strangling in mid-shriek. Rose slid to a dead stop, lifting her head to listen fearfully as shivers raced down her spine at the sheer terror in the scream. Beside her Riley also came to a halt, his lips parted, all blood draining from his face.
The second, deeper voice whispered again darkly, coldly, echoing over the intercom. "Burn…with…me…"
Hurrying to the door, Rose smacked at the intercom to speak. "Doctor? Where are those screams coming from-"
"Never mind about that!" the Doctor shouted back at her over the intercom, bringing her to a sudden stop. "Focus on those doors! Nothing else!"
Without another word, hunching her shoulders as the cold voice came once more over the intercom she motioned for Riley to move with a nod of her head. "Come on! You heard him!" And they hurried on.
Next Chapter – Chapter Twenty-Nine: Jettisoned
The Doctor said something else, studying the creature before him intently as he spoke. Rose recognized the look on his face. He was intensely curious, wanting to see, wanting to figure out what they were up against. And she didn't care as long as something was done to get them out of the pod. The man began to lift his visor, causing her to lean even closer to the window. Because she suddenly wanted to see now as well, wanted a look at this man who knew her, who had recognized her as the Bad Wolf.
