A/N: Well the Blizzard of '16 has landed. MOFFAT IS LEAVING! DING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD! Hopefully Chibnall fixes the disaster left behind from that cancer that ruined the show I grew to love. I have some hope.
Since the show never went in depth to what the 456 really were, I dug into the TARDIS archives and found a decent match. As per usual, much love and many thanks to every one of you lovely viewers! ;)
Chapter 51: Thames House of Cards
Silence hung over the TARDIS again. As if trying to stop the aliens from taking ten percent of the world's children wasn't their mission, now they threatened the entire human race if their bargain wasn't met. It made the Doctor's insides boil, his fists balling up on the edge of the console. The officials were all in on this. They actually believed that keeping all of this off the record was a good idea, becoming so gullible to fall under the creature's hypnosis and try to become their allies. He couldn't believe that humans, as brilliant as they could be, could also be this idiotic.
"But we still don't know what they do with them," Jack spoke up. "What does it want them for?"
"Stimulants," the Doctor ground out.
Everyone stared at him, confused. "What d'you mean, Doctor?" Rose asked.
His answer came out rapidly, his hands making gestures while he spoke. "Oh, the children, now it all makes sense. Growing bodies, humans are like giant pressure cooker, and these children were all pre-pubescent in 1965. Specific age ratio, and why? It's the stage where every chemical and hormone inside their bodies thrive and expand—estrogen and testosterone and every gland producing glycoprotein polypeptide hormones coinciding with precocious pubescence. An amalgamation of emotions and chemicals, a cocktail to stimulate the systems!"
"So what you're saying is that the children are like…drugs?" Alistair surmised.
"Essentially, yes. When I examined the latent psychic link in Clem's mind, I went as deep as I could to find its point of origin, to find a reverberation from the opposite end. Had Clem been a telepath he would have been able to contact them and identify the designation. Actually, no. To him it would only be a monster with no distinct label of rank or title or name."
"And you saw them through the link," Jack said.
The Doctor shook his head. "Didn't see; I heard them. Like when you're inside of a deep cave and make a sound and it echoes. That's all it was, just an echo of its identity."
"Then what is it?" Rose asked.
A muscle worked in his jaw, his face hardening. "Macra."
An inquisitive look crossed over the Brigadier's face, his hand resting on his chin. "That name…it sounds familiar. I believe I've seen some files on that species in the UNIT databases. If I recall, you mentioned something about them when you had a bowl cut and checkered trousers."
"Nice spark of memory, old friend," the Doctor said. "These are Macra. Well, Macra in origin. Descendants, rather."
"Oh, no," Jack murmured.
"What are Macra?" Ianto asked.
"Macra are a part of ancient race, known as 'the scourge of the M87 galaxy'." The Doctor turned to Rose. "Think of the year five billion."
His wife gasped. "New Earth," she breathed out.
He nodded with a look of distaste. "A crustacean plague to most cultures and for appropriate reason. Their home planet was colonized by humans in the far future, but the Macra took control and hypnotized every single human by turning them into slaves, mining poisonous gases as their food in order to survive. There's various races in the Macran Empire, each with their own distinctive appearances and traits, but there's only two specific main types that can either evolve or devolve. The ones here are different than most I've seen."
"I'm almost afraid to ask about the others when compared to these ones," Ianto said quietly.
"Well, there's the sapient species," the Doctor continued. "The type that was only slightly larger than humans with claws and multiple legs and with the standard brand of hypnosis that they would use to brainwash others telepathically or with insidious uses of propaganda." He paused, his lip curling up. "And then there's the species that devolved into hungry non-sentient beasts—predators feeding off the chemicals of humans, gases, and bodies in general."
"Makes sense," Rose put in. "It had three heads and looked like a deformed lobster."
"Thing is they're a hell of a long way away from home. To actually be able to travel to Earth after following a radio frequency over forty years ago seems off. They aren't the brightest of species, and interstellar travel for them won't be discovered for another eight hundred and fifty years. Moving throughout their star systems is one thing, but to actually make it across to this side is too far for their technology to manage." He raised his head, the tip of his tongue pressed against his top row of teeth. "Unless…"
"Tech boost?" Jack wondered.
"Seems like it," the Doctor mused.
Rose snapped her fingers. "What about that pillar of fire when they arrived? You said that could have been a teleport."
"Of course! A bigger scale! 1965, eleven children—no problem. Not a large amount to take away to be able to fit on a ship or form of vehicle transport. But ten percent of the human population? That would take an outrageous amount of power to transmit into a teleport if they tried to take them all away. The only way for them to even get away with that is by having access to a level two hundred subspace transmat!"
"Care to explain what a subspace transmat is, Doctor?" the Brigadier asked.
"It's a form of interstellar travel, sir," Jack answered before the Time Lord could, looking worried. "Like regular space travel, but able to work faster than a ship or standard teleport."
"Communications via subspace can make contact with people and civilizations light-years away," the Doctor added, a serious look still etched across his face. "Putatively it would take hours or weeks in order for the frequencies to connect and reach others, but this was enhanced. Signals were being sent out from galaxies away—billions of years away—and made contact in 1965 and now, all with little degradation and without any interference to throw it off."
"It was all planned," Alistair said fiercely. "Ever since the first encounter they were always meant to come back."
"Oh, God," Jack breathed out, his hands resting on the back of his neck, eyes wide, face full of regret. "The signs were there all along."
"You said it would take a lot of energy to make that work, yeah?" Rose said. "And if they didn't have any access to advanced technology, then they got it from Earth."
"Dekker," the Brigadier ground out. "I wouldn't put it past him that he was the one responsible for tracking them down. He's one of the few people that witnessed the first landing."
"A shady technician," the Doctor drew out. "I'd like to meet this man."
"That's just…" Rose spoke, shaking her head. "I don't even know what to call it. He's helping them try to take away children!"
"We won't let them," he said firmly. "No more children are being taken away just so these parasites could get another hit."
"What do we do?" Ianto asked. "The staff are going to hold a conference and discuss what their next move is."
"Then we'll wait until they gather all of Scotland Yard and listen in to what their 'ideas' are. Lois has gone this far for us and hasn't failed us yet. She'll let us in. And then…Rassilon only knows what happens next."
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Alice Carter was sitting on her small cot in the cell both she and Steven shared since last night. She knew that, ever since the aliens were hypnotizing every child and her father calling her not long after the first report, she would end up getting involved somehow. This was what she didn't want to deal with anymore. It was particularly the reason why she asked her father to keep his distance from her and her son—danger came step-to-step with his life. Knowing how people could easily come and go from living to dying, she made a promise to shield Steven from it, even if the lifestyle seemed amazing to him.
He was a young boy, his imagination always thrived. Of course he would be interested in finding alien lifeforms, but she couldn't risk his life. He wasn't like his grandfather—immortal with the ability to never die. Steven was still sound asleep with his head on the pillow and his legs curled up to his chest. The officers had barged in late last night to apprehend them and there was nowhere for them to run. They didn't give much of an explanation, but it wasn't hard to piece together. She leaned over to slowly stroke his hair, gently so not to wake him up. God only knew how much longer they would have to remain in their cell.
The outside door leading to the hallway opened. Alice stopped stroking Steven's hair and peeked through their cell door to see the female officer that had taken them in hours ago walking towards their cell. She was of average height, all donned in black at garb with a vest and gun strapped to her hip. Alice thought she heard the other officers call her Johnson. The woman approached the door, the same tired and serious expression on her face befitting for an authoritative figure.
"Before you have any thoughts, we're not releasing you," she said. "Only checking in to see how you two are doing."
Alice slowly stood from the bed and walked over towards the door, keeping her voice low so her son can remain asleep. "I can only assume you're holding us here as insurance against my father," she said.
"That's our business not to get into."
"Let me warn you. If you've angered him, God help you."
Johnson snorted in derision. "This from the woman who spent her life running away from him?"
"And why d'you think I did that?" Alice retorted. "A man who can't die has got nothing to fear. So you watch it, and you keep watching. You don't know what he's capable of doing when those he cares about are taken away from him."
Johnson arched an eyebrow before turning on her heel and heading out of the hall. Alice watched her leave and sighed. It was a lie, what she said. Everyone, no matter how brave and strong they were, had fears. And Jack Harkness had some of his own. If it weren't the end of the world because of some alien invasion then it was related to those close to him. He would bring death in his wake, whether it be those innocent lives that died because of him or for him, the end result wouldn't be a pretty one for these officers and their bosses.
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Ianto stood by the computer station, watching one of the screens showing a vacant hallway. Everyone exited the TARDIS about an hour ago—save for the Doctor who remained in the ship to work on something, whether or not it had to do with the Macra or with his wife and their child. Joining the rest of the group, the Brigadier explained what the Doctor had told them about the possible intentions of what the Macra want with the children. The others were horrified by the explanations as well and, if Ianto was completely and wholeheartedly honest, it made him feel sick in the stomach again.
Poor innocent children had been used as a life support system for an alien race. He's dealt with some mad and disgusting things over the years with these bloody aliens, but this was the latest to churn inside of him. While they awaited for the gathering of the staff members, Ianto prepared some coffee and handed it out. Everyone already had a helping to the hot beverage, but given the thick tension some more would work wonders. Rose was leaning against the blue box, staring into her mug in thought. Probably mentally conversing with her husband, he surmised. Gwen, Rhys, and Donna sat on the couch with Clem, who was still blenching in the corner with his usual twitches while the Brigadier stood by the computer station.
Jack had his back to everyone while he leaned against the desk, looking pensive. There was more though. Ianto knew that man well enough and has seen him in his silent states of brooding. A man who has been around for centuries had tons of baggage to carry. It still bothered him how the man he loved with all of his heart rarely opened up to him about anything personal. Granted, he could have been thinking about things that were too painful to even discuss or that he was afraid to mention knowing how terrible the actions may have been, but Ianto wished the immortal man would open up to him more.
Last night Jack told him that his Lazarus effect was permanent and could never be fixed, judging by what the Doctor said and what Rose did to him. He always gave a lot of thought to how Jack even acquired the ability, but he never imagined the answer he received. Although, from what he read on the blonde woman's profile in the UNIT database, he wasn't surprised. If Jack was going to live forever Ianto wanted every moment to count and not be wasted between them. He had one life, and he wanted to spend it with his lover.
"This must have been eating away at you," Ianto murmured as he walked up to Jack.
He was staring ahead, a bitter look on his face. "I've done my penance for what I did that day," he said quietly. "And I never stopped. Every night after was my punishment and then some. Sometimes…not enough."
"I could've helped. You could've told me about this sooner."
"No, you couldn't. There was nothing you could've done."
"That's not true—"
"Tell me, Ianto," Jack said sadly, finally turning around to face him. "What should have I done back then?"
"Stood up to them," Ianto replied. He opened his mouth to say more, but shut it the more he held the man's ancient gaze. "I've only just scraped the surface, haven't I?"
Jack pushed himself away from the desk with his arms crossed over his chest, his voice firm. "I've lived a long time—as long as the Doctor, probably even longer. I've done a lot of things, lots of them being things I'm not proud of. Things I wish I could take back but can't. I live on with every regret I've got." He paused for a second before staying silent altogether.
"How can I know about any of that?" Ianto asked. "You never tell me anything, Jack. You know everything about me. You know about my sister, my father, Lisa, my niece and nephew. I didn't even know you had a daughter and a grandson!"
"Well, you do now, what more do you want?"
"Just talk to me. It's like I don't even know who you are."
Jack dropped his arms and gestured at himself. "This is who I am, Yan."
Ianto shook his head. "No, it's not. There's so much more to you that you won't let anyone else know. Even…me."
"I'm gonna go find the Doctor," Jack announced, moving away from the other man. "I won't be long."
Ianto rolled his eyes in annoyance. "You're doing it again."
Jack whirled around indignantly. "I need to find him so I can help him with whatever his plan is to stop those bastards from taking the children. Is that okay?"
Before he could slip away into the TARDIS, the Brigadier put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't blame yourself for that day, son. You were following orders, as was I. There was nothing we could've done. I know saying no seemed like the thing to do, but we had no choice. It wasn't your fault. We didn't know what we were dealing with. We've all done penance for that day, but what happened then can't be changed. But with the Doctor on our side, we'll make sure we don't have a repeat of that night."
Jack let out a deep breath, remaining there for a moment. He briefly glanced over at Ianto before turning away and shutting the TARDIS door behind him. Ianto walked forward in an attempt to follow him, but stopped himself. There was nothing else to say. Rose, who had been leaning against the side of the blue box pushed herself off and placed a hand on Ianto's arm.
"Leave him be," she said softly.
"I've known him for years," he said quietly. "We've been close. Just…not as close as I thought. I don't even know who he really is. Everything about him is just…he's so enigmatic and amazing, and I love him. I tell him everything and I barely know him, even after all this time."
The blonde nodded as she comfortingly rubbed his arm. "I know how that feels, mate. I was like you once in the early days of when I first met the Doctor. He just pulled me in with that charm of his and that was how it all started. Over time I found out so many things about him that I never knew of. It took me years until he told me about his family among other personal things. Even now I know there's still some things I probably don't know about even though we're married and bonded."
"Really? I never would have guessed that."
"It's not always easy when the person you love is larger than life and the universe itself. They carry so much weight on their shoulders from the all of the yesterdays, todays, and tomorrows that they would rather brood about them themselves instead of talking about them."
Ianto shook his head. "How do you it? How do you get them to open up?"
"You wait," Rose answered. "Wait for them and be patient. Jack has been around a long time just like the Doctor, and they're both good for keeping things from people because they're afraid to let people in and see the things they regret the most, things they wish they could forget, things they beat themselves up for on occasion, things that could make people be ashamed of them. It can be hard for them, but you just have to be there for them. Listen to them, understand them. Push them into opening up a little more, that helps. Being around for so many centuries means they've got the thickest walls to keep people out, but with some persistence you'll be let inside. Make them feel comfortable. Make them grow. Because they're worth it. "
Ianto considered her words and let out a deep breath. She was right. Jack would always be worth it. He smiled a little. "You'd make an excellent counsellor with your advice."
Rose chuckled. "Just trying my best coming from experience." She patted his arm. "I promise Jack is going to come around to you. Just give him some time."
Ianto nodded before a beeping sound came from the computer. Everyone turned around to see the screen flickering again, the image showing a different room altogether. "COBRA," he said.
"COBRA?" Rose asked with a frown.
"Cabinet Office Briefing, Room A," he clarified. "Gold Command meeting's about to start!"
"Everyone gather!" Rose called out to the others on the couch while she tugged Ianto's arm as they dashed into the TARDIS with Alistair.
Jack was standing by the console with his arms crossed. "Let's see what brilliant strategy they're coming up with," he remarked.
The Doctor was nowhere in sight. Rose sent him a mental alert and he was in the room ten seconds later, his hair looking like a wild bush from running his hands through it rigorously. They all lingered near the monitor in their original positions, watching as Lois looked around the room to show them every member sitting at the large table. One man sat at the far end in a different chair, more posh and official looking.
"That's the Prime Minister," Ianto informed them. "Brian Green."
"So this is the one giving all the orders," the Doctor sneered. "Wonder what the Queen would say if she found out Downing Street is corrupted by political egotists."
"Looking back at all the trouble that came out of Downing Street she shouldn't be too surprised," Rose muttered.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Green began. "It's been decided that we're going to make the 456 an offer. A realistic number, something we can manage, and then we see what happens.
"You mean we're going to haggle?" a woman snapped indignantly. "What about the military option?"
"There's nothing to take action against," a man chimed in. "Evidently, the 456 must have some sort of base of operations in orbit, but our satellites are showing nothing. Whatever's up there is beyond or technology."
"Is that the subspace transmat they're talking about?" Rose asked quietly.
"Most likely," the Doctor said, his chin propped in his hand. "I managed to run a full scan from the TARDIS' range and picked up a blip of a signal. Nothing too strong, like they added a few filters on the frequencies to avoid being picked up, but the Old Girl has the most advanced technology and was able to pick it up. Nothing in the twenty-first century could find the wavelengths and match Her, no matter how experienced this Dekker may be."
"There's a target sat in Thames House," the woman said.
"Taking that out would be a declaration of war," the man replied.
"A war we can't win," another man remarked.
"And that's exactly why I've invited John to address Gold Command," Green spoke up. "In terms of managing the figures, what could we offer and get away with?"
Jack closed his eyes and ducked his head down, looking guilty.
"This won't just be Britain, will it?" the woman asked.
"The idea is that every country makes a camoflaugible contribution," Green said.
Frobisher, who was sitting beside Lois, leaned over to speak to Spears. "Can you pass me the FAS file, please?" The PA complied as she reached into her case and pulled out a manila folder and passed it over to him.
"FAS," Jack drew out. "Failed Asylum Seekers."
Rose shook her head. "They're actually doing this," she breathed out, her eyes wide. "They're really thinking about handing the kids over."
"The orphans in '65 becoming asylum seekers today," Ianto commented with thick sarcasm in his next words. "Some progress that is."
The Doctor let out a disgusted growl.
"No one would miss them," a man said. There was a brief pause as the Prime Minister and the woman exchanged looks. "We need more. Can you bump the numbers up to sixty?"
"I-I think so," Frobisher said hesitantly, shifting uncomfortably. "We can have them in from Oakenton first thing tomorrow."
Green nodded. "Thank you, John. Now go back to Thames House and consult with the 456. Make them an offer of sixty units. No more than that."
Rose let out a humorless laugh. "Units? They're humans! They're children for God's sake!"
The Doctor placed his hand over hers while sending soothing waves through their bond. She was a bit surprised that he was remaining calm but knowing him as well as she did, he was anything but that right now. The Oncoming Storm was still brewing inside of him. Once it came out at full force, everyone would have to part the seas and get out of his way.
"Another intermission," Alistair noted as Frobisher left the room by himself. "I can get us a UNIT car here as soon as possible to drive us up there right now."
"Not yet," the Doctor said, his teeth clenched as he spoke. "As much as I want to show up and have a word with the whole bloody cabinet, we have to wait to see what the Macra respond with."
"Then what?" Ianto asked.
He took a deep breath and straightened up. "I talk to them myself. I give them a chance to leave without any trouble, to leave in peace. If they refuse…then the skies open up," he added thickly. The TARDIS fell into silence. Taking another break, the others remained in the console room. The Doctor turned his attention to his wife and placed a hand on her arm, his tone soft and replacing the seriousness from his previous statement. "How're you feeling?"
"The same," Rose answered.
"Still feel anything? Like…any of those short tremors again?"
"Here and there, not too many."
"Good. Ehm, would it be okay if I were run a few quick scans while we wait? Just to have another look at how your insides are handling this and…well, if there's any changes?"
Rose nodded in agreement before he led her down the corridor to the medbay. The trip wasn't long since the TARDIS placed it closer for them. Sitting on the bed, she watched him move around the room, this time not as fast as he did last night. The atmosphere was comfortably quiet, a little better now that the shock had, for the most part, eased up some. It still seemed unreal, but more comprehensible than it had been when they first found out.
The Doctor seemed more relaxed. Maybe not fully with the Macra, but in regards to their unborn child. She could easily sense his enervation from the night before. Just because his sleep cycle could be pushed back didn't need he wasn't exhausted after spending countless hours sifting through alien files and her scan results. He kept it to himself and tried to hide it, much like his anxiety from trying to grasp onto the reality still. However, unlike last night, he didn't give off any blank expressions, which was an improvement.
"All good, yeah?" she finally asked when he appeared to be finished.
"Fine," he replied, releasing a deep breath. "No signs of any harm again, for both of you."
"Figured that since I feel fine."
"I know, Rose, I just…I just want to keep a close eye on both of you. With a pregnancy this…well, impossible, I need to monitor everything and keep it all on record for further references." He paused for a second. "About…about earlier—"
"Doctor, don't," Rose cut in, shaking her head.
"No no, I need to say this again," he replied gently. "I never meant to give off the impression that I wanted to lock you up in the TARDIS just because you're carrying our child. And I certainly wasn't implying that you were invalid. I just…" He sighed. "I just want you to be safe and careful, especially with everything were dealing with now with these Macran descendants. The last thing I'd want is for you to…" He cleared his throat and looked away.
Rose slid off of the medical bed and walked around the desk where he stood, placing a hand on his back to rub the tension in his muscles. He relaxed. "We'll manage," she said softly. "Like I told you last night, we'll be okay. Just take this one step at a time, yeah?"
The Doctor licked his lips before nodding. "Yeah," he whispered.
She knew this was going to become a frequent occurrence with them now—him running every single test known to man to make sure that both she and the baby were healthy and okay. She really didn't mind it. How else would a nervous expecting father act?
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Donna was standing by the computer station while Clem remained on the couch and Gwen and Rhys sat at the monitors. She felt ill. She couldn't believe that the government were considering on giving these aliens children. Children. Surely they all had their own at home. They'd actually send them to their deaths? It was terrible. She took another sip from her mug of coffee.
"Blimey, this is the best coffee I've ever had," she remarked.
"A specialty of Yan's," Gwen said.
"Aye," Rhys agreed. "No one brews better or even comes close. No offense, love."
"None taken."
"Shame he's already attached to Jack 'cause I'd've tried to pick him up," Donna joked.
The Welsh couple laughed. The small moment of light conversation ended abruptly when Clem began to speak up. "Three, two, five, zero, zero, zero."
"Clem?" Donna asked, walking over to the man. "Are you okay?"
"Three, two, five, zero, zero, zero."
"What're those?" Rhys asked. "Coordinates? Grid reference, maybe?"
The man continued repeating the same numbers in a mantra, his eyes far gone and distant. Donna ran for the TARDIS and thrust the door open. "Something's happening to Clem! Get the Doctor!"
"TARDIS should take care of that," Jack said hurriedly as he, Ianto, and the Brigadier dashed out.
"What are those numbers?" Alistair asked.
"We don't know," Gwen said. "He just started sayin' them over and over again."
Ianto ran over to the computers and pulled up the live news feeds around the globe. The Doctor and Rose flew out of the TARDIS in a flash. "American children are saying 'two, three, four, zero, zero, zero,'" the Welsh man reported, overlapping with Clem's numbers.
"C'mon, Clem, snap out of it," Donna said as she held the man by the arms. She led him away from the station, his motions zombie-like and his eyes still distant.
"Every country is saying a different number," the Brigadier said.
The Doctor was mouthing the numbers to himself. "Two hundred and thirty-four thousand, three hundred and twenty-five thousand—every country is saying their amount of the ten percent based on their location."
"They didn't take the deal," Rose said quietly. The Doctor buried a hand in his hair before grounding out a curse in his native tongue.
"It's confirmed," one of the members of Gold Command said on the screen, getting their attention. "Every country is saying a different number, which in each case amounts to ten percent of the children—er, units."
"I think it's fair to say that our final offer has just been rejected," Green said. All of the bureaucrats exchanged looks, some nodding tightly.
"It's worth considering, sir," the man added. "By 2050 the world's population will be nine billion—two-and-a-half billion rise. The UK will go from sixty-six million to seventy-one—"
"Rick, what are you suggesting?" Green cut in. "That a cull of ten percent would do us good?"
The man—Rick—shook his head. "I was saying that…if we need to spin this to the public, and God knows at the moment that spin is all we can do, then in an age when we're terrified by the planet's dwindling resources, a reduction in the population could possibly, if presented in the right way, be seen as…good, sir."
"They can't be serious!" Rose cried. "In no way is this the right thing to do!"
"With regrets, ladies and gentlemen," Green spoke. "I have to tell you that we're now facing the worst-case scenario. And right now we don't have time for a discussion on ethics, I'm afraid hand-wringing will have to wait. All we can do at the moment is address a number of vital and practical questions. Namely, how do we select the ten percent? And, how could we sell it to the voters? John?"
He turned to Frobisher as the man entered the room, but his voice was indistinguishable. "Goddammit," Jack muttered. "He's away from the camera."
"Wait, Lois is writing," Ianto said, narrowing his eyes at the screen's symbols. "The selection's not down to me."
"Nevertheless," Green said. "Practical solutions, please."
"Once the selection has been made, then my department can arrange to bus all the children to the rendezvous points together, school by school. My staff are compiling various school databases. You just need to decide what criteria you'd use for selection, which is out of my hands, sir."
Green rested his hands over his mouth, contemplating before moving his eyes around the silent table. "Anyone?" No one spoke. "Might I remind you that the clock is ticking?"
"It would have to be random," a man said.
"Nobody would believe it was random," the woman countered. "Not when they're waiting at school gates for empty buses to return."
"Well if the system we use is demonstrably fair and reasonably random, at least we can defend ourselves."
"You're willing to risk your kids to make it look fair?" she said incredulously.
"Then how else can we choose?" he shot back.
"We could do it alphabetically," Rick suggested.
"Oh, yes, thanks for that, Mr. Yates!" the woman snapped.
Rick appeared flustered. "No, I didn't mean…I've got no kids, I wasn't trying—"
"No kids, no consequences," the woman cut in. She turned to the other man. "And yours are already grown!"
"Let's keep this civil, Denise," Green told her.
Denise snorted indignantly. "Oh, yes, civil! Discussing the loss of millions of innocent children and be civilized about it!"
"If you wouldn't mind, yes," Green said sharply.
"Some house of cards this is," Donna commented from the side.
"Could we limit it to one loss per family?" the first man asked. "Second born children?"
"That would take more time and organization; things we don't have," Green said.
Silence fell over the table until Denise spoke. "Look, I'm going to say what everyone else is thinking. If this lottery takes place, my kids aren't in it."
"I'm sure the families of Gold Command will be exempted anyway," Green said. "This is hard enough already."
"We could have a show of hands," the first man said. " I hate to be crass, but under these circumstances…"
"Then who votes?" Denise asked. "Those with kids or those with no interest to declare?"
"No one," Green replied. "It's down to me to make an executive decision. Whatever happens, the children and grandchildren of everyone around this table will be exempt." Frobisher closed his eyes in relief.
"Oh, sure, make sure all of your own children are safe but forget about everyone else's around the country and the world," Rose said bitterly.
"What about nieces and nephews?" Denise asked.
"Don't push your luck," Green said firmly.
The woman gave him a disbelieving look. "You seriously expect me to look my brother in the eye and tell him to just sacrifice his children over to aliens from outer space and what, give him a condolence card?"
"That's the responsibility of government, Denise."
"No, the first responsibility is to protect the best interests of this country, right? Then let's say it. In a national emergency a country must plan for the future and discriminate between those who are vital to continued stability and those who are not. And now that we've established that our kids are exempt, the whole principle of random selection is dead in the water anyway…"
The group in the Hub listened in disgust and horror as they watched the building blocks to the government fall apart, overlapping each other with furious remarks and debates over what their strategy would be. Denise took over to address her plan with the children criteria. She brought up the schools where every child attended, but not leaning towards the ones that focussed on students looking to become staff of the workforce such as medical personnel or factory workers. In her own words, she believed that the aliens should be given the children from 'failing' schools—ones filled with pupils that were less able and less socially useful, ones destined to spend a lifetime on benefits, occupying places on the dole queue and the prisons.
Rose balled her fists up in anger at what the woman was implying. She believed that those children were underachieving, worthless, people who wouldn't make striving contributions to society in general because of their lower intelligence. These pompous, small-minded, egotistical excuses of politicians looked down on those lives with such disdain, labelling them as meaningless and without purpose. She never saw people in that filtered lens. Every life was important and precious and fragile, to live on with their usual domestic lives, not to be stamped on the forehead with words of degradation because they don't meet the authority's level of high regards.
"Anyone want to speak against that?" Green asked. None of the bureaucrats made eye contact with the Prime Minister. Frobisher appeared disgusted by the plan, as he and everyone should, but nobody uttered a rebuttal. Nothing.
"Someone say something," Rose whispered.
Everyone may have looked uncomfortable but no one objected. "There we have it," Green said. "We have the criteria and selected the ten percent."
"God, help us," Alistair said quietly, his face hard.
"We've got enough evidence recorded here to destroy every person in that room," Gwen said.
"And we can use it to force our way into Thames House, finally get face-to-face with this thing," Ianto said. "Then release your family." Jack inhaled deeply, his his head bowed.
"Humans," the Doctor ground out through clenched teeth, his frustration rolling off of him in waves. "You are one of the most amazing race of beings in the universe, have done so many brilliant things over the course of your history…and some of the most revolting and terrible."
Rose rubbed his back. "What's the plan, Doctor?" she asked softly.
"Like I said earlier, I still have to give them a chance to leave without any more trouble. We need to disclose the cabinet with everything we've recorded and keep them from making any more negotiations. So far they've only made things worse, but we need to come up with something clever and good as a plan of action to stop the Macra from absconding any more children."
"They've committed nothing short of treachery and perfidy," the Brigadier said. "That in itself makes treason the main alternative and not to be seen as unjust. I've got a few calls to make. I can send some more UNIT cars to bring John Frobisher, Andrew Dekker, and all of the cohorts into custody."
"Not Dekker," the Doctor interjected. "Not right away. I'd like a word with him. He's responsible for building the tank and you said I might've met him for only a second long ago, I'd like to catch up."
"Quite. Anyway, the others could be taken in easily. The Prime Minister would be more of a challenge."
The Doctor guffawed. "Oh, don't you worry, I can bring down his entire government within seconds by uttering a few words. But first I've got to make a call to someone who should know about this right away."
"Who's that?" Rhys asked.
He didn't respond as he barged into the TARDIS and shut the doors. The Brigadier asked to use the phone in Jack's office before slipping away to make his calls. He was telling soldiers to be ready to arrest Frobisher and asked for a company taxi to park in the Bay and take them to London. Rose mentally asked her husband who he was calling in the TARDIS, but all he told her was that he would let her know later if his phase worked.
Ten minutes later the Doctor emerged from the ship, appearing a bit smug. "It's done," he said. "Brian Green will be apprehended in about an hour or so. Well, the amount of time is unknown, really, but his time in office is limited from this point on."
"Who'd you phone?" Donna asked.
"Oh, just another old friend of mine. Where's Alistair?"
"Private Jenkins is on his way to pick us up," Alistair reported as he exited the conference room. "Luckily he was already about a half an hour away from the area monitoring other bases so the wait won't be long."
"What about Frobisher?" Jack asked. "What's his deal?"
"He will picked up soon. I informed the squads to locate that weasel Dekker and keep him from running away by the time we arrive. I also told the officers about your daughter and grandson being held hostage and reminded them to make Frobisher tell them where they're being held."
"What if he's lying? He's unwilling to co-operate with us at this point, he won't just spill it out."
"He's cornered," Rose said. "And even if he'd lie to us, Lois could let us know."
Alistair nodded. "Reliable as that woman is, I also told Colonel Oduya to send a few officers to John Frobisher's house to take in his family as well."
The Doctor didn't look pleased by that. "Alistair."
"Doctor, you know how I am," the Brigadier said, holding his hand out. "They won't be harmed or locked up in a cell with him or one at all. They'll just wait in the lobby area until further notice, nothing traumatizing or forceful. Just bringing them in for safety. Because if these aliens aren't meeting their standards and start getting nuclear, Lord only knows how that man will act knowing he was a part of it. We'll keep them all under our watchful eye."
The Doctor rubbed his chin for a moment. "Okay, that's not so bad. Just don't have any of them carry guns around the family. Bad enough they're involved in all this madness."
"Already taken care of."
"Right then, time to lay out our plan." He clapped his hands together. "Shall we gather in the conference room?"
