Journey Amongst the Stars

By Lumendea

Chapter Forty-One: Forest of Cheem: Into the City

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.

…

Nervous energy had a tight hold on Rose's body as they followed the trail of withering plants. It was becoming more and more obvious and Rose was beginning to worry that the effect built on itself. Was the plant's absorption becoming stronger the more energy and nutrients it took? Or was running exhausting the plant requiring it to take more? Given that they didn't seem to ever been far from the lab, that might be possible as it unlikely had much cardio training.

"We're close to the city," Jack called over. "Team TARDIS luck is holding. It's going into the city."

"Jabe knows what's going on now, she'll have put out an alert."

"Not that people were outside as it was."

"No, we don't' have to worry about it stumbling into market day."

Jack laughed at that, a real laugh and it helped Rose relax. It wouldn't be too bad. Not compared to how it could have gone, but she was going to worry until they had the plant somewhere safe for everyone. Up ahead, she saw the tall greenhouse buildings and eyed the path of wilted plants and went right to the edge of the stone street. But it ended there.

Rose realized that they had lost their breadcrumbs and judging from the way that Jack cursed, he had too. The hovercar came to a stop and Rose leapt out, running to the side and peering around to try and find a trace of the plant. Pulling on the sonic pen, she tried briefly to isolate the life form's readings, but with nearly half a million trees close by, she quickly gave up.

"Rose!" Jack called.

She raced over to join him next to a planter. The plants were wilted and oddly that made her feel better. They ran together up the first wide street of the city, Rose completely lost in terms of where Jabe's lab was. They paused to look down each street, searching for a green figure amongst the smooth stone and glass buildings.

"We need to split up!" Jack shouted.

"You don't have your phone," Rose called back. "I wouldn't be able to reach you!"

He cursed and Rose saw him shake his head. He didn't make any move to leave her side. Rose's stomach tightened with worry. They found another planter at an intersection stopped to looked around desperately.

"There!" Jack pointed to something on the next street. As they drew closer, Rose saw that it was a flower box around what looked like some kind of café. It was as good a sign as any. Rose just hoped that they weren't being led astray by neglectful gardening. "This way!"

Rose trusted Jack's lead. He seemed to have better eyesight than her. Likely an effect of being a human from centuries into her future. It was nice to know that they'd improve rather than all go blind from using screens all the time like her Mum was certain. They spun around a corner only to find two figures down the street.

A small tree, a child, was standing near the plant creature and staring at it in fascination. Rose ran, her mind whirling as she saw the plant reaching towards the child. A curious expression was on its face, almost childlike in its quality. It wasn't trying to harm, but if she couldn't get there, it would be a tragedy.

Jack was faster. He pulled ahead of her and yelled loudly. The plant stopped and looked up at them in wide eyes. The child's eyes widened in shocked surprise. The child screamed when Jack didn't slow down. He swept the child up in his right arm and knocked the plant away with his left arm. A scream split the silence as the child howled in alarm.

But it hadn't been touched. Rose skid to a halt in front of the plant as it retreated. Its limbs were tensed, ready to run. Panting for air, Rose kept her eyes on the plant, not even turning to check on Jack and the child. She caught her breath quickly and swallowed back her nervousness. She needed to stay calm.

"It's okay," Rose said softly. She smiled at the poor frightened creature and tried to keep her face calm. Gampus was a different species so she had no idea what kind of expressions the plant had learned to free. "We aren't going to hurt you. I know you don't mean to, but you're hurting others."

Thus far, her lessons in telepathy had all been about protecting her mind. The Doctor hadn't taught her basics of communicating yet, but as the plant had no language, it was the only idea that Rose could think of. Smiling gently, she kept her hands where the plant could see them and took a slow breath.

She wasn't sure how to do this, but Rose pushed a sense of calm and safety towards the plant. Thinking of the TARDIS library and how she felt there, Rose tried to share that sense of peace with the plant. It was hard. Her heart was racing. Nervous fear that something tragic was about to happen haunted her. Still, Rose clung to the memory of calm that the library provided and kept her focus on the plant.

There was no way for Rose to certain if she got through. She was too untrained for open communication which was the only way to be completely sure. The plant couldn't respond to her mentally or verbally. It stared at her, tilting its head slightly as if curious which gave Rose a flicker of hope.

The plant stilled, it didn't take off running when Rose took a slow step towards it. She glanced at Jack out of the corner of her eye and found him standing in front of the child tree protectively, but giving her space. Tree figures were appearing in windows in the nearby buildings and the nervousness returned.

The plant made a soft sound of alarm and Rose returned all her focus to it. Pushing more of her worry and care for the plant towards it, Rose could only hope that her compassion got through. Once again the plant fell silent and let Rose take another step forward. Lowering her hands a little, Rose extended them towards the plant.

Jack made a small sound of worry but thankfully didn't try to intervene. Tension was thick in the air and Rose was certain that any loud noise would spook the plant. They couldn't simply tackle it as they had no idea where they were. The plant didn't flinch back. A soft sigh escaped it and the creature melted to the ground. Marion knelt beside it and the creature reached over, tugging on a strand of Rose's blonde hair. A soft laugh escaped Jack, but Rose could hear him try to muffle it. Apparently, calming it down had worked.

"Sweetie, can you ask your mum or guardians to contact Jabe," Rose asked. She had no clue if last names were a thing and tried desperately to remember Jabe's introduction at Platform One. But there had been so many strange and unfamiliar species there that Rose had been excited to see. "Tell her where we are. We'll wait here."

"Hopefully," Jack muttered. None the less, he put the confused child down. "It's okay," Jack said. "Now, where's your home?"

"Upstairs," the child answered in a soft melodic voice. They pointed to an upper floor on a nearby building.

"I've got this, Jack," Rose said encouragingly. She wasn't convinced that the small child wouldn't forget to call Jabe. "Find out where we are and let Jabe know." Rose didn't move away from the plant and slowly pulled out of her phone.

The plant tensed when Jack approached, but a soft shushing sound helped settle it. The plant went back to playing with Rose's hair and a soft chuckle escaped Jack. Everything went silent after Jack and the child left. Rose finally relaxed a little and even smiled as the plant began to massage her scald curiously. That odd tingle as before rolled across Rose's skin. She wasn't sure what to make of it.

Hopefully it was nothing back. Maybe just a reaction to the odd texture of the plant's hands. It was a cross between a leaf and a vine with tiny odd filaments that were almost like hairs. Still, she didn't feel sick or weak and playing with her hair was keeping the plant distracted and calm. Rose would just let the Doctor check her over later.

…

Jabe arrived with three trees and a floating pod. All of them were in what looked like hazmat suits. She had to push calm at the plant creature again at the sight of them. It had become lethargic and barely reacted with Rose carefully pulled it to its feet. Jack made a joke about the thing being high behind her which Rose ignored. The biggest hurdle proved to be when the plant didn't want to release Rose's hair and Rose had to gently extract herself from its grip.

When the pod closed around the plant, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Jabe pulled off her helmet and smiled at Rose. "The Doctor is on his way with the others. I sent another vehicle for him and those pods."

"What's your plan?" Jack asked.

"The Doctor and I have prepared a treatment for them," Jabe said. "It will be slow, but we can keep them contained and healthy until their systems stabilize."

"You'll be careful with them, right?" Jack asked. "They could do a lot of damage to your city."

"They'll only stay here for the short term," Jabe explained. "I've already sent agents to evaluate Gampus' lab. We need to secure it anyway, but with some expansion, it would be a good place to keep them. If we add some security fencing around the ravine, it could make for a good environment as they adjust to real life."

"Thank you, Jabe," Rose said earnestly. "Really."

"Of course, they are living things. Besides, if we figure out how to counter their ability successfully then we can be ready in case this mysterious buyer tries again." Shaking her head, Jabe motioned everyone towards a large floating vehicle that was a bit like a massive flatbed truck. "Let's get this off the street so the cleaners can start sweeping through."

Rose didn't correct Jabe that there was no virus to be worried about. After all the public fear, it would probably help reassure everyone to see these cleaners on the streets. Jack shrugged and held his arm out to Rose. She accepted it with a smile and climbed into the cabin of the truck-thing.

The city flashed past them and Rose enjoyed the view. It was a beautiful city and she was finally able to relax and take it in. Jabe was speaking with someone through a small pad in her hands and had given Jack his phone back. When they pulled up at the science building, Rose and Jack hung back while a horde of scientists in hazmat suits descended. The Doctor was standing near the door, talking with a tree who looked exhausted at the effort of keeping up with the Doctor.

Rose held her breath, watching the pods as they were carefully carried into the building and bracing herself for something to go wrong. But the hover sleds stayed steady and the trees all kept a safe distance. Nothing tipped over and the remaining two plants didn't wake up. Whatever the Doctor had given them was keeping them calm and unconscious.

"We'll watch over them," Jabe promised. "Arrangements have been made to transport Gampus back to prison." Her tone was sharp with satisfaction and Rose was grateful that she'd never made Jabe mad.

"Back to prison?" Jack asked. "You were able to track him down after all?"

"Yes, he creates biological weapons to order." Jabe shook her head. "I've sent messages to every other plant-based lifeform in the galaxy to warn them that someone was trying to buy a weapon that would be devastating against us, but Gampus insists that he didn't know who the buyer was. We can't even be certain that it was intended for use against us. It might have simply been designed to deforest planets for mining." The words were bitter, but Rose had to admit that Jabe had a point.

"Very cloak and dagger," Rose grumbled. "But at least it didn't get far."

"No," Jabe agreed. She exhaled. "I'm not sure if we were lucky or not that he mistook Cheem for an uninhabited planet. While we'll have to be watchful for a time, at least he was caught quickly."

"Yes," the Doctor said. "I've stabilised their systems a little. They won't have the hyper absorption anymore so you'll need to watch their needs carefully for a bit until the surgeries are complete. I'm sorry that you lost some of the forest, but the new growth will be healthy. I promise. There's nothing wrong with it."

Jabe smiled a little and nodded. Then her eyes went back to the green figures in the lower room. One of the trees was inside with a datapad and showing them something. They were staring at it like eager little children and Rose found herself relaxing. Jabe's smiled softened, almost to one of affection and Rose smiled. At least these poor creatures were in good hands now.

The Doctor caught sight of them, a grin lighting up his face. Rose rushed over to him, hugging him tightly and sinking into the warm embrace he offered. Jack joined them a moment later, throwing his arms around them both. A giggle escaped Rose, but she didn't complain. Not one little bit.

"Well done," the Doctor said. He elbowed Jack who howled in fake pain. "Let go!"

Jack pouted as he did so and the Doctor's lips quirked as he failed to suppress his smile. He took Rose's hand and squeezed, bringing her a little closer to him. The last of the tension finally drained out of Rose as the doors of the science building sealed behind the final pod.

"I didn't ask earlier, but how did you calm it down, Rose?" Jack asked.

"I tried projecting my desire to help," Rose answered.

The Doctor frowned a little as she expected. "You used telepathy?"

"A little," Rose admitted. "No words or anything that complex, just that I wasn't going to hurt it."

"That's a lot for an early 21st-century human," Jack said. He was looking a little worried.

"I'm weird," Rose shrugged. "It worked and I don't have a headache or anything."

"You're getting stronger then," the Doctor remarked. "We'll do another lesson tomorrow to check your progress."

"Hurray," Rose groaned. "Lessons."

"Uh, quick thing," Jack said. "Do either of you remember where we parked."

As one, Rose and the Doctor turned and pointed towards the direction of the setting sun. "That way." Jack laughed when they shared a surprised look and the Doctor grinned. All in all, it had been a pretty good day in Rose's opinion.

…Coming soon: Sugar Plum Nightmare for Christmas…

Keep your eyes open for the first chapter of the Christmas special as a stand alone story.