Chapter CVI
Mira
She walked towards the two men, her hands held open at her sides to show that she was unarmed. Jack and the Doctor were following close behind her. She had exaggerated a bit – even back then they would have asked first and then shot – but she still wanted to do the talking. She could sense how confused they were, about them being here, finding a blue box and now maybe even recognising her. And yet they had themselves under control, despite not being much older than in their twenties. Of course, she thought, otherwise they wouldn't be with the Solar Fleet.
"We're unarmed," she started in Intercosmo, suddenly being glad she wasn't wearing her uniform jacket; not that they would recognise it, but still. "I'm sure you have a lot of que-"
"Ma'am!" One of them, a tall, haggard guy with pale hair and even paler eyes, suddenly yelled and saluted.
"What's wrong with you now, Jas?" the other one, a bit smaller and quite stocky with dark hair and beard and a face like an ancient Greek statue, turned his head around and asked.
"But- That's Ms Rhodan!"
"Is she now?" he asked sceptically and looked back at her again, one eyebrow raised, feeling not quite as self-secure as he tried to sound.
"He's right," she replied. "I'm Mira Rhodan, Officer of the Solar Mutant Corps. Scan my brain- and cellular wave patterns, there must be a copy for reference in your ship's positronic."
She just hoped he didn't want to hear her rank – not only that she still had no idea from which year exactly they were; she had been promoted and demoted quite frequently so she couldn't remember for the life of her.
"Fine," he said, held up his wrist-com in front of her for a moment and walked back to the shift to check the readings. "Jas, keep an eye on them."
A few moments later he returned, stepped up to her, put his weapon away, straightened up and saluted as precise as possible, yelling, "Ma'am! Sorry. But we didn't expect to see you. We didn't expect to see any human, to be honest."
"It's fine," she said and finally saluted as well, although much more casually. "You can never be too careful in a situation like this. Would you mind if we switch to English? My companions don't speak Intercosmo."
She found it quite incredible that the Doctor and Jack were still quiet and hadn't interfered so far – but she could feel the Doctor brimming with questions and curiosity beside her and she didn't want to strain his patience more than absolutely necessary. She only hoped that Jas and his dark-haired friend really were from a time where English had been a little bit more common than nowadays.
"Sure," he replied in English. "I'm Lieutenant Ben Hayu and that is Sergeant Jas Tardy." He had quite a strong accent, stronger than hers, but it was still understandable.
Jas, who had put his weapon away as well and nodded over to them.
"That is Jack Harkness," she replied and pointed at Jack, "And-"
"Hello," Jack said and smiled. "Captain Jack Harkness, by the way."
"... And that is the Doctor," she continued, being incredibly thankful that the Doctor for once didn't reply to Jack.
"Great to meet you then, I guess," Ben replied. "We're supposed to bring whoever we encountered here to the HECATE if possible– our Captain certainly wants to speak to you, especially now. If you would come with us?"
"Sure, I'm looking forward to meeting him," she replied, assuming the Captain was male and Ben didn't correct her, whilst she watched Jas speaking a few words into his wrist-com in Intercosmo.
"What is he saying?" the Doctor asked and nodded over to him.
"Nothing special, just that I and two other humans are about to come with them and-"
"Two humans?" He looked around. "Who's the second one? I can only see Jack and... Oh. Oi!"
Jas lifted his head and looked over to them, confusion written all over his face.
"Mira and one human," she said. "One human and me."
"So?" Jas asked and watched the Doctor up and down. "You're not human? Which species are you then?"
"Time Lord."
"Time Lord? Never heard of them. Fine." Jas slightly shook his head, lifted his hand and spoke into his wrist-com again.
"Just one more thing," she heard Ben's voice from behind her. "What's that?" He had walked over to the TARDIS and was just knocking against it, testing different spots. "Is that made of wood?" he added.
"That's my ship," the Doctor replied.
"Nah, that's not a ship," Ben said with all self-confidence and nonchalance humans at the height of the Solar Empire (and their youth) could muster. "It's made of wood. And it's tiny. What does it say? Police Box? What's that supposed to be?"
"It caused considerably less field damage when landing than yours!" the Doctor said after walking over to Ben, staring at him darkly with his arms crossed.
"Just saying that it looks a bit - unusual," Ben said casually after staring back for a moment, obviously remembering that he wasn't here for fun. "Doctor... Sorry, what was your name again?"
"It's just Doctor," she sighed and stepped between them, facing Ben. "Lieutenant? Can we go now? Don't want to keep the Captain waiting, do we?"
Doctor
They had entered the flying tank through an airlock at the front. Jas and Ben went up to the cockpit which sat on top of the vehicle under a transparent dome, also serving as a turret. Mira, Jack and himself were sitting in a small passenger cell with only two small, round windows. Without looking out he would have hardly noticed that they were flying at all – the inertia-dampeners in combination with artificial gravitation was working perfectly.
He didn't like it. As much as he was glad that Mira could meet some people from her own universe, even if only temporarily, he had never been in a situation like this. He didn't understand their language, he couldn't read the markings inside the shift which were written in Intercosmo, he had no idea which material it was made of, nor how the engines were working – well, he could guess the latter as it seemed to be nothing too fancy, and, above all, it was still working here, including the artificial gravitation which undoubtedly was the technology the inertia-dampeners were based upon, so it had to adhere to the same laws of physics that were valid in his universe – but no doubt the FTL drive of the HECATE would be a total mystery to him. He wasn't even sure it would work here. Normally he enjoyed not knowing something as it happened rarely enough, but, well – something. Not everything. At least they had switched to English as he found it highly irritating not being able to understand them.
But that wasn't his primary concern – Mira had said that they were from a time long ago before she had vanished from her universe. So even if they would find a way to return home, there was no chance for her to come with them. But she might get the idea to go with them anyway, waiting somewhere, even if it was for thousand years, until the version of herself currently still in her universe would come come to his universe. But that would create a massive paradox, so there was no way he could allow it. He remembered all too well the look in her eyes when they had seen the void ship.
A few minutes later they landed in a hangar. He hadn't been able to see much out of the tiny window, so he looked around now. The hangar was quite large, but not high; it seemed to be built for shifts and the discus-shaped little space-ships – space-jets – like the one Mira had been flying. He assumed that there were bigger ships on board. He had been able to take a short look at the hull of the HECATE as the shift was flying a curve around it, and there were outlines of much bigger hangar gates directly above and below the engine beading – probably two-hundred and thirty feet high.
Apart from the other ships and tanks the hangar was empty; at least regarding living people. Some robots were standing guard, or rather, flying, eight feet high and cone-shaped things, hovering in the air. He didn't like robots very much, at least not that type of robots. Too primitive, simple and... yes, primitive. His people had never bothered themselves much with them.
They headed towards a lock which was also guarded by robots, just this time they were humanoid, about seven feet tall, weapons integrated in their arms.
"Jack," Mira said, "I'm sorry but you'll have to hand over your weapon. They'll scan for it and will detect it, even though it's not a blaster."
Just as she had finished, earning a sceptical look from Jack and a slightly shocked one from Ben – he had obviously forgotten to ask them for weapons before boarding – one of the robots stepped in front of Jack. It said something in a deep, poorly modulated mechanical voice and even though he couldn't understand it the meaning was more than clear.
"Okay, fine," Jack sighed and held out his hands. "It's under my coat. Can I get it or will it vaporise me as soon as I stir as much as a finger?"
"You may proceed," the robot replied without any intonation or change in tone, speaking English now.
Jack, seemingly uncomfortable in his skin, pulled out the revolver, holding it at the barrel. Ben took it from his hand, turning and watching it with curiosity.
"That's ancient," he finally said. "A real antique. My great-grandfather used to collect them."
"Can I have it back later?" Jack asked.
"Sure," Ben replied. "As soon as you leave the ship."
Then the robots let them pass. They stepped into a corridor and onto a moving walkway – only one of three moving at different speeds – in each direction. They changed over to the fastest one. Jack tried to engage Jas and Ben in a conversation, but with little success. They seemed to be curious, but obviously had their orders to not talk or explain too much – quite sensible regarding the situation.
"So, where is everyone?" Jack asked after a while.
Indeed, the had only seen seven people, four of them ignoring them completely and two had looked twice at Mira, seemingly recognising her.
"There are only two-thousand people on board," Jas explained. "Sounds much and it's fully manned, but this ship is huge."
"Yeah, it's nice," he said casually. "Just a bit too big on the outside. Must be annoying to navigate sometimes."
"You can ask that our chief-pilot," Ben replied. "I think she might object."
"She's an emotionaut?" Mira asked.
"No," Ben replied. "The HECATE is a good ship, but not the flagship. But I might say she's as good as any emotionaut."
"What's that, an emotionaut?" he asked, but only to confirm his suspicion.
"It's quite complicated," Ben replied. "But essentially, they're flying by thinking."
By now they must be close to the centre of the ship, judging by the distance and bends and direction of the corridors they had taken so far. So they were taking them to the bridge – at least he assumed the bridge was in the centre of the ship, the best protected and less exposed part of it, not on top as one might think. Additionally, it slowly got a little busier here – the occasional human crossed their ways. At least he assumed they were human, some had a weird skin colour and some were a bit smaller or taller than the average human, but for some reason he was almost sure most of them weren't aliens; just grown up on different planets under different conditions.
Mira
The control centre was fully manned – yet not as busy as it would have normally been the case. Not really at least – it seemed busy because robots and worker were carrying out last repairs, and everyone was at their post, but they weren't doing anything. Apart from waiting and observing. There was few idle chit-chat, occasionally someone laughed too loud and too exerted, and the whole atmosphere was filled with a foreboding sense of impending doom.
The huge panorama screens showed the area around the ship. On a smaller side screen she could even see the TARDIS.
Ben was still walking ahead – and there was quite some walking to do to cross the command centre - but before they reached the centre of the room a man spotted them. The insignia on his uniform told her that he was the commanding officer of the HECATE.
"Ms Rhodan! I'm Colonel Tamar Vayanar, Captain of this ship." He stopped in front of her, looking up to her, eyeing her suspiciously for a moment. "So, the scanners were right then, it's really you - I had a hard time believing it when Sergeant Tardy told me. I have to admit, I haven't expected to see you here, of all places." He casually saluted but kindly refrained from shaking her hand – there was a real danger he would have crushed it. Someone must have also told him that he should speak English rather than Intercosmo. "Wherever here is," he added quietly as if talking to himself. "Anyway, welcome on board of my ship."
She wasn't surprised to find that the Captain was from the planet Epsal – many great captains of the Solar Fleet had been Epsalian, especially flagship captains – due to, but not exclusively, their incredible fast reaction time. He was barely 5 ft 3 in tall – three inches shorter than she was - but just as wide, and not only in his shoulders but his whole body. Gravity on Epsal was a little more than twice as much as on Earth and the first settlers had genetically altered and enhanced themselves to withstand that gravity. It had resulted in their short, wide, almost square-cut, and extremely muscular frame, with hands like shovels. She could see that Tamar was wearing a small gravity generator on his belt to simulate the gravity of Epsal.
Apart from the gravity Epsal was actually a rather nice planet – especially in comparison to more extreme worlds like Ertrus and Oxtorne, with their gravity not only about four times as high as on Earth, but also extreme temperatures and atmospheric conditions which could kill a normal human within minutes.
"Thank you, Commander." she replied. "So you trust your eyes more than the scanners?"
"It's just – well, I assume we are a bit farther from our own galaxy than I'd like to and - I just thought you were off in the east-side, together with Perry and the CREST XI."
"I probably am," she replied quietly.
The CREST X had been the flagship of the Solar Fleet sometime back in the twenty-ninth century, but she couldn't say when exactly. She had to sit down for a while and actively try to remember the details which were certainly still buried somewhere in her mind. Right now everything was blurry and so far away – even though it seemed as if it had been only yesterday when she had been in the control centre of a ship of the Solar Fleet – an Epsalian as captain, everyone wearing either the light-green uniform of the Solar Empire or the combat gear which also served as a space-suit. And it was not only what she could see with her eyes – she could feel the crew. The same kind of incredible people she had fought side by side with so often. All that transported her centuries back in time, making everything around her feel slightly surreal, bringing back memories so trivial she wondered how they could still be stored in her mind – but of course just not the ones she was trying to remember. Just like a sudden smell or melody could conjure up memories long buried and seemingly forgotten, and yet alive and colourful and overwhelming as if it was just happening all over again.
"Everything alright Mira?" he asked as she remained silent.
She didn't mind that he was using her first name now. It had become rather common at the end of the twenty-ninth century, and she certainly wouldn't complain when the commanding officer of an Imperial-Class ship did that.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied slowly, then focused on Tamar's light brown eyes. "We have to talk."
"Indeed we do," he said politely as it seemed to be his nature. "I hope you can provide me with some answers. But first let me welcome your two companions. Sergeant Tardy said something about one being alien? Forgive me but I just can't tell who of you two it is. What was it? Time Lord? Never heard of them before." He rubbed the stubbles of dark hair covering his head with his huge, left hand.
"That would be me," the Doctor said and extended his hand.
Hesitantly, Tamar lifted his right hand and merely put it around the Doctor's, wrapping it but now shaking it. It wasn't that he was unable to control how much force he put into his hands, but even a normal handshake between Epsalians would crush the hand of a normal human.
"Nice to meet you, Doctor- Excuse me, what was the name?"
"Just Doctor," he said with a big grin and his usual, enthusiastic tone – she doubted anyone but herself could hear the unease he tried to cover up.
"And I'm Jack Harkness," Jack said. "Captain Jack Harkness. Hello Tamar!"
"Jack, stop it!"
Tamar looked confused back and forth between Jack and the Doctor, but it took him only a moment to gather himself and replied, "Captain? Which ship?"
"Oh, he's not with the Fleet," she hurried to say.
"Fine," Tamar said. "Let's have a talk. Can I offer you something? Coffee?"
One of the service-robots occupying the control centre came closer.
"Tea?" the Doctor asked.
"Sure," Tamar said. "I prefer tea myself."
Understandable – coffee was a drug for Epsalians, making them quite high.
"Coffee," she said and looked over to Jack who nodded. "And a cigarette would be great if that's possible?"
Ben, who was still waiting nearby with Jack's revolver, must have overheard it as he hurried to offer her one of his cigarettes, then lighting one for himself. She tried to ignore Jack's and the Doctor's irritated looks. Sure as hell she wouldn't smoke in the TARDIS – but why not in here? It was Tamar's ship and he didn't mind.
They went over to a conference table with chairs, followed by the robot who produced plastic cups with tea and coffee and an ashtray.
"So," Tamar said as they were all sitting, activating an acoustic shield so no-one else in the control centre could hear what they were talking about. "What's going on Mira? I have a certain suspicion – well, the scientists have – but I'd like to hear your explanation first."
"Well," she started and caught eyes with the Doctor, then looked back at Tamar, deciding to get straight to the point. "This is not our universe."
"So it's true," he said. "Tchan, my chief-scientist, suggested that."
"Yes, he's right – just one question." She had to ask, yet she wasn't too sure if she really wanted to know the answer. But then again, she already knew that they weren't from her time. "Which date is it?"
"3rd of April, 2869. We are here for over a week now."
She reached for the ashtray, drew on her cigarette, trying to force back the memories she had of this time, blew out the smoke and replied, "My last day in our universe was about thirteen-hundred years in your future. That explains why I might be in the east-side just now. Can't remember to be honest; it's quite a while ago."
"So we've ended up in the same parallel universe but a thousand years apart, just by chance, and you found us here, just by chance?" Tamar asked disbelievingly.
"Well, maybe not quite by chance," the Doctor said. "I set the coordinates to random. Guess it was the TARDIS who found you, Captain."
"The TARDIS?"
"My ship. That little blue box which frightened you into activating your shields. Can never be too careful, can you?" He smiled but then leaned forward, suddenly all serious. "What happened, Captain? How did you manage to leave your universe?"
"We collided with something," Tamar explained. "Whilst in linear-flight. Some sort of energy-shield. We managed to penetrate it – leaving the linear space. As we've reconstructed by now it was a paratron-shield, containing.. something in hyperspace. The weirdest experience I ever had. We could see the hyperspace through it, at least we thought it was that – and bubbles," he shook his head. "Sorry, I have no better word for it, the specialists say that it was-"
"The other universes," the Doctor said quietly.
"Yes – how do you know?"
"Ah, I'm sort of a specialist for that stuff. So you've tried to escape but headed for the wrong bubble?"
"That's not possible", she said before Tamar could answer. "You can see those other universes, but the hyperspace is still part of our universe. You can't just leave it and head for any other universe. We would have done that a long time ago if it was possible."
"True, that's not quite what happened," Tamar explained. "We were followed by an object, a space-ship most likely, and shot at with an unidentified weapon. We weren't exactly heading for one of those universe-bubbles, Doctor."
"They've shot you out of your universe?" Jack asked.
So they had collided with something in hyperspace, she thought. Technology to create bubbles in hyperspace or even, which was way more difficult to achieve, in linear-space, had existed back then; just not in the hands of the Solar Empire. But any speculations on her end were futile unless she hadn't at least seen recordings and sensor readings.
"Did they follow you?" Jack continued into the stillness. "The ship, I mean. Could you identify it?"
"We haven't seen it yet," Tamar replied. "Doesn't mean it's not hiding somewhere. There are some of our corvettes out there right now, monitoring the system, but this ship could hide in the sun's corona, or outside the system. We couldn't confirm that yet as the linear-drive doesn't work here. We almost lost a corvette when attempting to use it."
So they were trapped, she thought. Not only trapped in this universe, but in this system, unable to travel faster than light. Good thing though that Tamar had not attempted to go into linear-flight with the HECATE but tested it was a corvette first.
Corvettes were spheric ships with almost two-hundred feet in diameter (or sixty metres, as back in her universe where, even though using mostly imperial measurements, ship's sizes were given in metres), much smaller than the HECATE but nevertheless fully-fledged space-ships with linear-drive, stored in the huge hangars above and below the engine beading. Normally an Imperial-Class ship could carry at least forty of them, along with about eighty shifts, seventy space-jets, forty so-called gliders - wingless, flying vehicles used for transport within a planet's atmosphere - and over five-hundred fighters and bombers with a crew of one to three people for use in space as well as in atmosphere. Thus, despite technically being a battle-ship, the HECATE was also – and primarily – a spacecraft carrier; especially in comparison to the Galaxy-Class which was about thousand metres larger in diameter but was only carrying ten corvettes more than the much smaller HECATE.
"Can you describe the ship?" the Doctor asked, suddenly rather excited. "Have you seen it?"
"We have readings, you can have a look at them if you want," Tamar replied. "Do you have a suspicion?"
"Do you know which shape it was? Did you receive anything?"
"Well, sort of roundish," Tamar replied. "Maybe hundred metres in diameter? Give or take."
She caught his eyes and knew what he was thinking about. "No," she said and slowly shook her head. "There are no Daleks in my universe, nor are they hiding somewhere there in hyperspace. But, more important right now, why is the linear-drive not working? We need to work out if we can fix that. Without that..." She didn't need to continue, everyone at the table was aware of the consequences. "We really need to see any readings you've taken so far – otherwise everything can only be speculation."
NicoleR85, djmegamouth, time-twilight, E-man-dy-S, OneWhoReadsTooMuch, bored411, Ellie68, MiaEther: Thanks for leaving a review :-)
lautaro94: Sorry, but Yes and Yes. It will stay like this and Jack will also stay. I wanted to write a few chapters with Jack, and see if I can get it to work. Maybe, maybe not, but he'll definitely stay for a bit longer.
