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Chapter 39 - Situation Room
The Doctor walked out into the hallway and met Pete.
"Everything good, Doc'?" Pete asked.
"Yeah, everything is alright. I asked Rose to sit out of the meeting."
Pete nodded as they walked through the hallway. "I think that's best. I'm not really sure what all we will hear in there."
The Doctor noticed Pete rubbing his head.
"Hang on, Pete. How is your head?" the Doctor stopped walking and looked him.
"I feel like hell. You think I'd learn."
"Here, let me do something. You'll thank me later, but I'll warn you. Rose says it feels weird." the Doctor said.
He put his hands on both sides of Pete's head and closed his eyes. A few seconds later, Pete exclaimed, "Ah!" as his eyes got wide.
"What did you do?" Pete asked.
"Don't worry. It will help your cholesterol, too." the Doctor teased him.
"You have a tan. What the hell have you done?"
The Doctor laughed and slapped Pete on the back. "I took Rose to that island last night. I told you I was determined to get more range out of that gizmo."
Pete started walking with the Doctor as he smiled. "Really? How far can you get with it now?"
The Doctor looked at Pete. "Halfway to the moon if you had a reason to go."
Pete laughed at his disbelief.
The Doctor admitted. "I don't know how you feel about it, but I really don't want those back in the hands of Torchwood with this mess going on. Someone could use one and pop in and out and we would never know about it."
Pete nodded his head. "I agree. Although, I think Jake is trustworthy enough to have one. And it would be good for him to cut down on his transportation time."
The Doctor considered. "Yeah, I'll give him one. I'd like Rose to have one as well. Just in case."
"They don't have any long term damaging effects do they?" Pete asked.
"Nah. I used one for years. I had honestly forgotten about it until I started tearing this one apart. Touchy little things. I'm surprised these things even worked. It's a wonder someone hasn't been hurt with them."
"Thanks for looking at them." Pete said.
They got on the elevator.
"So, Rose liked the island? I wasn't sure. You know how she is about beaches."
"Yeah, she did. I think she surprised even herself. I've given her the task of picking out what sort of house she wants. She agrees that you are paying me way too much though, Pete."
Pete laughed. "Oh, if she only knew how much money you are making me! Don't worry about it. I feel like it's fair."
"What do you know about publishing books?" the Doctor asked.
"You want to publish a book?" Pete asked.
"No, I know a woman here who has written something that was huge in the other dimension. She's not been discovered here, but I found her this morning. I want to help her publish her books. They made millions in the Prime Dimension. Tony would love them." the Doctor said.
"Hmmm... I have a friend who works in publishing. What do you have in mind? Partnering with her? That would be the most profitable."
"I don't really care about the money for me. You already pay me too much. I just want to read the books again. Help her out."
Pete smiled as the elevator dinged and the doors opened. "You have a heart of gold, Doctor. I can call my friend and have him get in touch with you. Or you might just send her directly to him. If she comes with my and your recommendations, I'm sure they will publish her. No problem. But, think about it. You can never made too much money."
Pete stopped walking and faced the Doctor. "I didn't ask, and it's not my business of course. But are you alright? That trip to the hospital yesterday?"
"Oh, yeah. Everything is fine. I had something I was worried about, but it's nothing. I had to be sure though." the Doctor said.
Pete nodded as he looked at him. "Rose knows about it?"
"Yeah, she knows everything." the Doctor confirmed.
"Good. Then I won't worry about it. I have to admit. I was worried about you a few weeks ago, but you seemed to have settled in alright. Is there anything you need?"
"No, Pete. You have already been too generous to me. I truly appreciate it. I think I'm alright. I honestly wouldn't have imagined I would be this comfortable in a life like this. It's not without its' challenges, but I think I finally feel like me. Rose makes me feel more like me."
Pete smiled at the Doctor's admission and began walking down the hall again. "Yeah, she's wonderful. I'm lucky to have her. And you!"
They walked right into the White House's situation room. There was a buzz of the people who were standing around talking. Pete walked over and shook Jake's hand and kissed Harriet on the cheek. The Doctor did the same as he looked around the room at the collection of people. There were top military officers, some important people in suits, and some people he really couldn't figure out.
He was able to get a good look around the room when the door opened and President Howard Shepherd, Howie, walked in with a man in a uniform with lots of ribbons on it. The other military officers in the room jumped to attention.
"At ease, soldiers. Let's get down to it." Howie said as he sat at the head of the table. Everyone else took their seats.
Howie looked around the room. "Introductions might be appreciated. Let's start there."
"Yes, sir!" the military man said as he began. "Welcome everyone to the United States White House's Situation Room. " He pointed at the individual people as he introduced them.
"Our watch team here include three duty officers, a communications assistant and an intelligence analyst from the CIA. Today, we will be discussing the matter of the violence that has began to escalate regarding persons who are not native to this planet. Both here, and abroad."
" I'd like to welcome President Harriet Jones from the People's Republic of Great Britain, as well as Director Pete Tyler from Torchwood. Torchwood's Head of Security Jake Simmonds, also from Torchwood Doctor Johnathan Smith. "
The man also introduced three men who were there from MI6, two men from the CIA and the Deputy Director of the CIA, Richard Crowe. As soon as he was introduced, he stood up and began speaking.
"The past several hours have been interesting. The suspects believe their target, Miss Rose Tyler, is dead. Gentleman and ladies. Rose Tyler is currently upstairs, alive and well. We will review all of this information and decide what we will release to the public regarding that situation. I will allow my senior analyst to take over at this point."
Richard Crowe sat down as another suited man stood up and began speaking. "We were informed this morning that the body of Melissa Saroyan was identified in London. She was the victim of a terrible car accident a few days ago. It was previously reported that she was working with Ben Perrick from Atlanta, Georgia. But given this new information, we believe he wasn't being truthful. Mrs. Saroyan's accident seems to be just that. An accident."
The Doctor, Jake and Pete all exchanged looks. The Doctor felt like someone had kicked him in the stomach. After all, it was he that had suspected Melissa and asked Jake to look into that. Melissa was Rose's friend, probably her best friend here in this dimension. His heart ached at how upset Rose would be over the loss of her friend.
He sat back up in the chair and ran his hand through his hair.
The analyst continued. "We've traced several commutations from the bar where Perrick worked and discovered, with the help of MI6, that he was well connected. He made calls all over the world from that bar. Anytime anyone issued a hit, that's where they posted it. Imagine a hot bed for bad guys. That's what we had there."
One of the generals asked, "Why not just drop a bomb on it. Be done with the place?"
The Deputy Director of the CIA, Richard Crowe, interjected. "There are always other ways to handle things besides violence. Let's use our heads first, shall we?"
The Doctor crossed his arms and exchanged a look with Pete. He liked Richard Crowe.
"Unfortunately, the bar was just a small part. MI6 has been able to track several training camps around the globe that are connected to this. If you direct your attention to the maps currently being displayed on the screen, you will see where we know camps are operating at this time. Unfortunately, we are not sure which camps these people are in. The threat is worse than we thought. We received this message this morning. I will warn you. This might be disturbing."
He nodded his head, and a video started playing on the main screen that hung on the wall.
The video was dark, but you could see a man who was blindfolded. A gun was put to his head and fired. He fell to the floor.
The camera spun around and a man who wore camouflage spoke. His face was covered.
"We are the Human Purification Army. It is our mission to eliminate the threat that has started to infiltrate our planet. Refugees and terrorists from other worlds now reside here among us. Protected by our governments and other organizations. We are pleased to announce that our main target, Rose Tyler, was neutralized two days ago. Rose Tyler has helped more undesirable persons from other worlds settle here than any other person. She had even brain washed Vitex multimillionaire, Pete Tyler, that she was his relative so he would take her in. She was a powerful alien, of an unknown species, and we are thrilled that she will no longer be a threat to our way of life. "
"We also take this opportunity to announce that we have declared war on all non-humans that reside here on Earth. We only have resources for ourselves, we need not to take care of problems from some other place. This is your one, and only warning, to return to where you came from. We will no longer allow you to remain here. We will begin carrying out exterminations of the aliens on a global scale in the following days. "
The video stopped.
Howie leaned over and took Harriet's hand. She had covered her mouth during the video playing.
"I had no idea it had gotten so bad. Are we looking at war? Is that really what we are looking at?" Harriet asked.
Richard Crowe nodded his head. "That's what we need to discuss. How far do we think they will take this?"
Jake spoke up. "Well, the real question is, how much further will they take it when they realize Rose is still alive and well. Is it a risk we want to take?"
The Doctor watched the exchange of ideas across the table. So many minds working together was interesting. He had always jumped right into the middle of arguments like this one, but he was rather enjoying sitting back and watching it play out in front of him. He sat back, put a lollipop in his mouth, crossed his arms and observed. But he couldn't sit still too long. After all, he was still the Doctor.
He spoke up, "No. I think we're all missing the biggest question here. Who's funding these people? You don't just fly onto a cruise ship. Those things are expensive to operate. And you don't just set up a camp in a foreign country. The land has to be leased to someone. Someone has to be paying for this. Find the head of the snake!"
The General slapped his hand on the table. "I agree with Doctor Smith!"
Richard Crowe shook his head. "That's a great point, Doctor Smith. But going back to the problem of Rose Tyler's supposed death, they are going to find out that she is still alive. I think we should control when that is. Let them know now. It might force them to strike again. Then we have a better chance of catching them."
Jake asked. "How sure are we that Melissa's death was an accident? She was a close, personal friend of Rose Tyler's."
"100% certain." a man from MI6 stated.
Jake turned back to look at Pete and the Doctor.
"They might come after the Tyler family in retaliation." the Doctor stated.
Jake shrugged his shoulders. "Everyone already has security in place. Best of the best."
Pete rubbed his face and turned to the Doctor. "Why does this make me feel like we are kicking a hornet's nest?"
The Doctor patted Pete on the back. "I hear you mate. But, we can't hide and build our own prison."
Harriet spoke. "Rose is a tough girl. The things she's already had to endure are overwhelming. I think it would be best to allow her to go someplace where no one would know her until this is sorted out."
Pete interjected. "That's the problem! Because of all of these tabloids, everyone knows who she is! She's recognized everywhere she goes."
Jake moaned, "Too bad we can't just tell the media to give her a break. It would help with security so much."
One of the generals spoke up. "That would never work here. Press is protected in our freedoms of speech."
The Doctor became angry. "Even when it's dealing with security?"
The General nodded his head. "Yes, sir. Unless it is classified, the press can have access to it."
The Doctor grumbled under his breath around his sweet. "Well, that's just wizard."
The room erupted in arguments on every side. The Doctor sat back with his arms crossed, sucking his lollipop and watching. Pete leaded over and told him quietly, "You make me hopeful for myself. Apparently you grow more patience with age."
The Doctor looked at Pete and laughed. "It's not that you gain more patience as you grow older, you just get too tired to care about all of the pointless drama. Let them argue this out. This is normal for this sort of thing. I've experienced similar situations in the past. And Rose would find it hilarious that you find me patient. She tells me I'm the most impatient person she's ever met."
Pete laughed as Jake leaned over to ask. "Is this normal? Seems like everyone is arguing with their point of view."
The Doctor shrugged his shoulders. "Of course it is. Let them argue. I'm hearing some really good points being brought up. Although you have to keep in mind that the very powerful, and the very stupid all have one thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the facts. They alter the facts to fit their views. Keep that in mind with this, Pete. Oh! Before I forget. I need your watch, Jake."
"My watch?" Jake seemed surprised. He took it off and handed it to the Doctor. The Doctor held it up and looked it over.
"Yeah, that will work." he slid it into his jacket pocket.
He looked over at Jake. "Come see me after this meeting. I have something for you."
Jake looked skeptical. "Sure thing, Doc."
Howie whistled really loudly. It regained control over the room. He looked around like he was about to start swearing, but instead held his hand back out to the analyst to continue the meeting.
"As you can see, it is a bad situation. But we do need to make a decision. Or at least advise Director Tyler and Doctor Smith." the analyst said.
Pete looked at the Doctor. "I think I've made a decision. Have you?"
The Doctor nodded, "Sometimes the only choices you have are bad ones. But you still have to choose."
Pete agreed. "Yeah, that's this. Exactly. But, I believe the best option would be to go ahead and make it known that Rose is still alive. We've got as much security as we can have, at least we know that they will know."
The Doctor nodded in agreement. "I agree." the Doctor turned to the room. "Pete will have his PR department issue a statement recanting Rose's death this afternoon."
Howie nodded in approval.
They reviewed some more technical data, and witnessed a few more yelling arguments before the meeting broke up.
As everyone started to depart from the meeting, The Doctor managed to get Harriet over to the side and thanked her for her help getting him that information about his missing author. She shrugged and mentioned it was nothing but a phone call. She then had to go catch a ride to her next meeting.
The Doctor, Jake, and Pete started back upstairs. Howie had another meeting to go to.
The Doctor remained oddly quiet as the three men got into the lift.
"You alright there, Doc'?" Pete asked.
He looked over at Pete. "Yeah, just worried a bit about giving the process a little push."
"Yeah, I get that." Pete agreed as he looked at the ceiling of the lift.
"Let's agree now. Let me be the one to tell Rose about Melissa. I feel partly responsible for that." the Doctor admitted.
"Doc', it was an accident." Jake tried to reassure him.
The Doctor waved it away. He couldn't shake the feeling of guilt.
"You've been in meetings like that before, Doc'?" Jake asked.
The Doctor looked at Jake. "There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, where the sea is asleep and rivers dream. People made of smoke and cities made of song. There's always danger somewhere. There's always injustice. There's always a heated meeting. And somewhere the tea is getting cold."
The lift dinged. The Doctor playfully smacked Jake's chest. "Come on, I've got something you will love. Pete, Rose went to the residence with Caroline and Jackie. Can you tell her we're done and she needs to get a dress for tonight?"
Pete threw his hand up to confirm he heard the Doctor as he walked down the hall. "Sure thing! I need a drink after that!"
Jake walked with the Doctor to the room him and Rose were staying in.
"Have a seat. This will take a bit. Tea?" the Doctor asked.
"Sure!" Jake said, confused.
The Doctor picked up the phone and ordered tea from the kitchen. Jake took a seat on the couch.
The Doctor took off his jacket and lay it on the back of the chair next to the couch, and sat down.
"I had a look at that gizmo of yours and Rose's. Man, it is a wonder you guys haven't killed yourself using those." the Doctor started.
He looked at Jake seriously and held up a hand. "And if you have killed someone with them, I don't want to know." he ran his hand through his hair.
Jake laughed under his breath.
"Anyway. I reworked it to fit into a watch now. It has a range of 119,000 miles or 192,000 km for one person. I'm not sure for two, but I took Rose about 300 miles past Hawaii last night. I had one of these years ago, and it can be a pain in the ass. But, I think I worked out the bugs."
Their tea arrived. They both made a cup.
The Doctor took off his watch and handed it to Jake. "Take mine and pop back over to Torchwood for a bit today. Come back this afternoon, and I'll try to have yours ready for you."
"Damn, Doc'. That's crazy!" Jake exclaimed.
The Doctor laughed under his breath. "I'm making Rose one as well, but Pete and I have agreed to keep them just between the three of us at the moment. We popped out of the White House and back into it without anyone knowing. I'd rather not have these in the hands of people I don't know."
Jake nodded. "I understand, Doc. Okay, show me how this works. I'm anxious to try it."
The Doctor smiled at his friend. He explained how to use the watch.
"Hey, that's a lot easier than it was before." Jake agreed.
The Doctor smiled. "I tried to make it easy. There's no reason to over complicate things that should be simple. Ring me if you have any problems. Remember to turn it off so you don't accidently zap yourself somewhere. Trust me, you won't like that at all."
Jake laughed at him. "I'll never forget that. Bleeding hysterical, it was."
The Doctor laughed under his breath. "Yeah, Rose hasn't forgotten it either. I imagine no one will for a while."
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