10
Three days later, the flight pattern seemly calmed and Toshiko now in control of the bird, the path set into the auto pilot so far flying true, they were all a little more relaxed. The engines were OK, one a mild retarded and they were watching it but hopeful. Even if it failed, they had three more right?
"So… it's been a week. What do we do to celebrate?" Owen clapped his hands together at the breakfast table "come on. A week… our first week anniversary."
"Why Owen, I had no idea you cared" John said with a wide grin "What is it traditionally for the first week? Paper? Space Rations? Anyone? Suzie love?"
"I don't know… after all… he's worn the same socks for a week too!" she replied.
"Hang on… there are plenty of socks in the clothing room we set up!" Ianto frowned at him.
"These are my lucky socks!" Owen declared, pointing at his feet.
"but… you were not wearing them in the pod when we woke you!" Ianto frowned at the weird logic.
Fiord was sniffing at him with his little nose screwed up, his whiskers back to show disgust as Owen grinned, wriggling his foot at him. Then Fiord froze, his little kitty head swivelling to stare out the door, down the corridor as he straightened up with a look of horror.
Then came a distant scream.
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"Just calm down" Gwen demanded, laying on the woman who was struggling beneath her, still crying hysterically.
"What happened" Owen yelled as he slid to their side, struggling with his bag of tricks to find a sedative.
"She just went nuts" Gwen grunted, the woman bucking as she found another level of anger.
"She told her they was deaded in there" Fiord said in a stage whisper "Said to stop being stoopid. Is my Mama deaded?"
Jack sighed as Daisy felt the needle slide in and cried out, her writhing slowly stalling out as she lay weeping under the woman who was triumphantly telling everyone she did what she could to stop her from breaking the seals.
"We need to tie her up, she could have killed us all" Gwen said as she stood up and adjusted her top.
Suzie swung, sending Gwen flying back to slam into the wall.
"You bitch" Ianto said with venom, looking at the poor woman now curled in a ball as she wept for her family beyond the doors "why. Just… why."
"Come on… let's get her somewhere to sleep this off" Owen rose and Jack carried Daisy back to her pod where she curled up still weeping softly.
"I don't know what to do" Ianto admitted as he turned to face Jack "I… I … just make her go away for a while, can you? I don't' want to hurt anyone but... I will take her head off if I have to look at her right now."
Jack nodded, heading out to move Gwen to somewhere safer… for everyone.
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"How is she?" Toshiko asked as she stepped into the room, finding Ianto sitting with the Kat in his lap watching over her. "Where is the little one?"
"In my pod, he has a pair of my socks rolled up and is wrapped in my shirt" Ianto said softly, rubbing the Kat's ears absently. Toshiko walked over and peeked in to see a single little paw visible in the mess of fabric.
"They grow so big and deadly."
"As do many things born gentle" Ianto relied sagely.
"I have an idea but I don't know if I can sell it to the others" she said motioning for him to step outside. Ianto placed the Kat in the chair and told him to watch over the poor mama. He followed her out of the corridor.
"The Service Bots" she said as she tapped her finger on a tablet "If we can get a few of them awake, we can send them out an airlock, along the fuselage and into the hole if it's big enough to check for the pod's life signs."
"Shit" Ianto considered "might work but we need to see if they will fire up without the primary flight deck engaged."
"That' s my worry, or when we spit them out they fly off into the black as we are going too fast but if we slow down…"
"We don't tell them. You pull in your team, don't tell the passengers. If it doesn't work they will never know… if you get in there and there are no life signs… they never know" Ianto whispered frantically.
"And if there ARE life signs… we celebrate and let that bitch know next time we will tie a rope to her and send her out to check!" Toshiko snarled.
"You know. I don't know if anyone ever told you… but you are pretty smart for a girl" Ianto said, her eye widening for a moment before she started to giggle, smacking at him as he squealed and yelled for mercy.
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"There you are, I wanted a quiet word alone."
Gwen looked up as he entered the room and she rose to greet him, defiantly raising her head to meet his eyes. She went to speak but he raised a hand as he did instead.
"You know… I am on this crappy flight to a dead end job for the betterment of my family." Ianto said as he canted his head and stared into her eyes "My sister and her children rely on me to send home my pay checks, that when joined with her husband's death benefits is what keeps them afloat. You know… I am worth more to them dead. Did you know that? If this fails, if we all die… she will get more than I can make in ten years. Imagine that Gwen … if we all die… I will have fulfilled my wish to save my family. Now take a moment… hold onto that thought."
Ianto leaned in close so their noses were almost rubbing and hissed "So the only thing stopping me form breaking that seal myself is my affection for everyone else on this bird. The moment I decide this is too hard… you people are too fucking annoying and I am ready to die... who can stop me from taking you all with me? Hmmmm?"
Her eyes bugged out as he stared at her long and hard then said "Thought so. You don't think much at all do you. So… shut the fuck up, smile and nod, get on with it and maybe… maybe the self-destruct sequence I have in my brain here will not be punched into the system's mainframe to enact it."
Ianto then slid back around the door to find John standing in the corroder, having heard everything.
"OK… I admit it" John said as he watched Ianto stand staring back, his chin ticked in and a feral glare as he eyeballed John back "You are more interesting than I first thought. There is much more to you than first shown, isn't there!"
"That's what they all say" Ianto smiled disarmingly, then wandered off, leaving John to laugh softly as he shook his head.
That was one hell of a move.
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sprained wrist makes this slower guys... sorry