Journey Amongst the Stars
By Lumendea
Chapter Twenty-One: The Empty Child: Mauve Alert
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the spinoff material and I gain no income off of this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.
AN: Thank you for all the amazing support. If you like my stuff, then you may enjoy my original fantasy series: The Iron Soul series which is available on Amazon. Book nine is available for pre-order now.
…
They'd decided on a quiet day in the TARDIS. Just yesterday, they'd gotten back to the TARDIS after a three-day adventure dealing with illegal colonization of a planet, a would-be dictator, and miles of swamp. It had taken an hour-long shower followed by a two-hour bath and a solid ten hours of sleep for Rose to feel human again. Even the Doctor had been a bit run down as the swamp water hadn't been kind to the sonic screwdriver.
So, after breakfast, they'd explored the TARDIS for several hours and found all sorts of odd little things in a storeroom. Rose had found a few of Victoria's lost things and gotten a promise from the Doctor that they'd stop by long enough to drop them off to her. Among them was a photo of Victoria with Jamie and the Doctor in his second body. She'd make sure to get a copy made first.
After lunch, they'd collapsed in the library. The Doctor had kicked off his boots and stretched out on the sofa to read Pride and Prejudice out loud to Rose while she painted on the nearby easel. While she'd never been a huge Jane Austen fan, the Doctor had given her new context for Austen's sarcastic style of writing that made the book more enjoyable once she'd understood that.
As much as Rose loved their adventures, she treasured the quieter moments like this. She'd never refer to them as domestic least the Doctor slip into an internal crisis and hide under the console for a couple of days, but she knew that he loved them too. Sometimes they just needed to recharge, and the TARDIS seemed to enjoy lazily floating in the Time Vortex as well.
An alarm broke the rhythm of the Doctor's reading. Rose had been mixing paints, and thankfully her jump didn't ruin the painting of the TARDIS library that she'd been working on for weeks. The Doctor dropped the book on the sofa as he turned and grabbed his boots. Rose shrugged off the apron she was wearing and headed for the door. The Doctor was right behind her as she raced into the console room.
Rose paused long enough to grab her shoulder bag and a black jacket. Pulling both on, she glanced down at herself and grimaced. She was wearing a tight Union Jack shirt that Sharon had given her as a sort of joke. It was comfortable with soft fabric, but it wasn't the sort of shirt she'd normally wear when time traveling. Still, hopefully, it wouldn't be an issue with whatever was happening now.
"What's the emergency?" Rose asked.
The TARDIS began to shake, and the Doctor was rapidly adjusting the controls. "It's mauve."
"Mauve?"
"The universally recognised colour for danger."
"What happened to red?"
"That's just humans. By everyone else's standards, red's camp. Oh, the misunderstandings. All those red alerts, all that dancing. It's got a very basic flight computer. I've hacked in, slaved the Tardis. Where it goes, we go."
"That doesn't sound safe, Doctor."
"It is." There was a crash, and the Doctor grimaced. "Mostly. Mostly safe." His eyes widened, and he flipped another switch. "It's jumping time tracks, getting away from us."
"What exactly is this thing?"
"No idea."
"Then why are we chasing it?" The console sparked, and the shaking grew worse.
"It's mauve and dangerous, and about thirty seconds from the centre of London."
The Doctor turned his attention to the controls. In the corner of his eye, he saw Rose brace herself and grab onto the edge of the console. He barked a few orders at her, feeling a flash of guilt for them, but thankfully Rose didn't seem offended. She quickly pressed the buttons he told her to, and it occurred to him again that maybe teaching Rose a bit about flying the TARDIS might be a good idea.
In the old days, a few of his companions had been able to fly the Old Girl. If Rose had been able to fly the TARDIS, then he could have gone to France rather than Rose. The five-day wait hadn't seemed to have bothered her, but he still hated that it had been necessary. When he took on a companion, he needed to do his best to ensure that they weren't trapped. Every time he'd failed that in the past had been a blow.
The TARDIS landed with a surprisingly soft thump despite their rough passage through the Time Vortex. Rose ran her fingers gently over the controls but quickly followed him towards the doorway. The Doctor pushed his musing out of his mind. There was something dangerous in London to focus on. Why was it always this city?
….
They were in a tightly packed back alley between a pair of terraced housing buildings. It was cramped and dark. The air tasted different on Rose's tongue, telling her that while this was London, it wasn't her era of London.
"Do you know how long you can knock around space without happening to bump into Earth?"
"We made it a whole week this time," Rose pointed out. "That might be a new record for us." She looked around the alley cautiously. "So, where is this thing?"
"Must have come down somewhere quite close. Within a mile, anyway. And it can't have been more than a few weeks ago. Maybe a month."
"We were right behind it! How could we have missed it by a month?"
"It was jumping time tracks all over the place. We're bound to be a little bit out. Do you want to drive?"
"Yes, I would as a matter of fact," Rose replied. "How much is a little, Doctor? You said it was dangerous." Rose gestured around at the buildings. "These are pretty modern buildings. If something fell in the middle of London, it's probably been picked up by the authorities by now."
"Then it's a good thing that I have this." The Doctor grinned and waved his psychic paper in front of her.
"Then what's your plan? Are you going to run a scan?"
"Rose, it hit the middle of London with a very loud bang. I'm going to ask."
Raising an eyebrow, Rose held back a couple of other suggestions and a sigh. "Again, if it was picked up by authorities, the average person might not know anything. Or worse, you could put us in the path of a young Torchwood."
The Doctor rolled his eyes and headed for a nearby door marked Deliveries Only. Holding it open for Rose, he smiled as he heard music flowing out into the street. He was far too calm, but now that Torchwood had crossed Rose's mind, she couldn't help but feel a bit worried.
"Door, music, people. What do you think?"
"I think you should do a scan for alien tech so we can keep a low profile."
"You're the one in the Union Jack t-shirt."
"We were having a quiet day at home."
"Mummy? Mummy?" a soft, childlike voice called from above Rose.
She turned and searched for the source while the Doctor used the sonic screwdriver to open the back door. Rose didn't immediately find the child and slowly turned, looking higher and higher as she checked the fire escapes.
"Come on if you're coming. It won't take a minute," the Doctor called. Rose ignored him.
"Hello?" Rose called. "I can hear you, are you alright?"
"Mummy?"
"No, sweetheart, I'm not your mum, but are you okay?"
Her eyes finally reached the rooftops only to widen as she found the source of the voice. A small boy in a gas mask was up on the rooftop.
"Doctor? Doctor? There's a kid up there!"
Glancing behind her, Rose found the Doctor gone and shook her head. That wasn't important. She'd catch up later. Heading for the fire escape, Rose reminded herself to stay calm. If babysitting had taught her anything, it was that kid's reacted strongly to the moods of those around them. The boy might be a bit confused and scared, wanting his mother, but he wasn't panicking. That last thing she wanted was to scare him with her own worry.
"I'm coming up," Rose called up. "Don't worry."
She reached the top of a flat roof, but the child was still on a higher section. There wasn't a ladder or more fire escape. Instead, there was a simple rope. No wonder the kid had gotten stuck. Climbing up ropes was easier than climbing down. She grabbed the rope and gave it a solid tug. It held. She couldn't see in the darkness what it was tethered to, but it would do.
"I'm almost there," Rose said.
"Mummy?"
"No, but I'll help you find her. Don't worry. I'm sure she's worried about you." Her child had wandered off in a gas mask and might be in shock. "Just stay there." She started to climb the rope.
…..
It was a jazz club. Nothing too fancy, but the song washed over the Doctor the moment he came in the back way. There wasn't much in the way of staff, and no one stopped him as he headed towards the source of the music and human voices. A good sized room was packed with tables and guests all swaying along with the saxophone.
The Doctor pushed his way towards the stage. The nightclub was a bit more minimalistic than he was expecting, but the patrons all seemed happy with the singer's performance. She was just going into the chorus again when the Doctor climbed onto the stage. He received a dirty look from a nearby patron but ignored it. He slipped in front of the microphone.
"Excuse me. Excuse me. Could I have everybody's attention just for a mo? Be very quick." The crowd quieted their chatter and protests and turned their attention to him. "Hello! Might seem like a stupid question, but has anything fallen from the sky recently?"
There was a beat of silence, and then the crowd burst into laughter. "Sorry, have I said something funny? It's just, there's this thing that I need to find. Would've fallen from the sky a couple of days ago."
Suddenly a siren sounded, filling the building with a high-pitched whine. Everyone quickly stood up, gathered their coats, and headed for the exits in a practiced rush.
"Would've landed quite near here," the Doctor tried again. "With a very loud-"
"Quickly as you can, down to the shelter," one man called.
The Doctor frowned and scanned the room again. With the people leaving, he finally caught sight of a poster on the far wall. It showed a falling bomb with the words "Hitler will send no warning!"
"Bang," the Doctor finished. He was not considering that Rose might have had a point and glanced around only to realize that she hadn't caught up with him.
The Doctor felt a brief flash of fear and worry before remembering that this was Rose. She was a Star Knight with an extremely sophisticated sword that played with quantum mechanics like he played chess. Not to mention that she was usually more aware of a situation than he was, case in point. She was fine. Still, he headed for the back door and the alley as the last of the patrons headed for the bomb shelter.
…..
The rope kept swaying as Rose climbed. With every passing moment, it seemed less secure, and a bit of fear was beginning to creep into Rose's mind. She had the bad feeling that she was missing something important. Then the whole rope suddenly shifted.
"Mummy, balloon," the child said.
She was drifting away from the building. The child was slipping further and further away. It stood absolutely still and watched her as the balloon carried her away from the rooftop. Somehow, Rose didn't let go or scream, but it was a near thing. As she climbed higher and higher above the city, Rose could see balloons tethered all across rooftops and searchlights combing the cloudy night sky.
"Oh guardians," Rose breathed. "No, no, no, no." In the distance, she heard the sound of engines and eyed the sky as a siren alarm sounded. "This was not a good shirt for today."
The balloon wasn't climbing fast, but the wind was causing it to drift over the buildings. Already, she was several blocks from where she had started and slowly ascending. Looking down was hard, and Rose quickly gave up trying to keep track of where the TARDIS was relative to her position. Her stomach was turning as fear sank in. Her hands were beginning to burn as the rough rope rubbed at her skin as she clung on.
Rose considered her options. She didn't know how high the barrage balloon would be able to carry her, but at this point, she was already becoming too high for a fall to be safe. Eying the balloon, Rose considered her options. The best one she could see at this point was to climb up and cut a hole in the balloon with her sword. A small one that wouldn't pop it right away. If she could cause a leak and get it to lose altitude, then she could get it low enough to escape. Surely it was made of heavy-duty material… had the Hindenburg happened already? She thought so. That probably meant that it wouldn't just explode.
Ignoring the pain in her hands, Rose started slowly inching her way up the rope. Her plan was dangerous, but it was at least a plan.
Meanwhile, a few blocks away, a man in a grey longcoat was standing on the balcony of an officer's mess. In his hand was a pair of binoculars that while recognizable to those in the mess behind him, would had looked a bit off. Through them, he was watching a blonde woman climb further up the rope of the barrage balloon she was taking for a ride.
"Get those lights out, please. Everyone down to the shelter," an officer called behind him.
"Jack? Are you going down to the shelter? Only I've got to go off on some silly guard duty. Ah, barrage balloon, eh? Must've come loose," a new man said, coming out to join Jack. "Happens now and then. Don't you RAF boys use them for target practice?"
Jack had zoomed in on Rose's derriere while the man spoke. "Excellent bottom."
"I say, old man, there's a time and a place," the other soldier said. "Look, you should really be off."
Jack grinned as he lowered the binoculars. "Sorry, old man. I've got to go meet a girl." He patted the man's derriere on his way past. "But you've got an excellent bottom too."