17
"Is her chameleon circuitry still there?"
"Huh?" Jack stared at John vacantly like he was being silly.
"Oh my god. She's an M class… ex-military. She will have cloaking idiot!" John laughed "We can simply tell her to become invisible… or… or one of the buildings in appearance. Once it's set she can power down. Come on, you know these people were always sharing tec with others, the Gallifreyans were happy to give something so simple to them in return for that Teromiert needed to make their TARDIS parts. Jack… it's in our history books. Space Freighters of the Omerga Sector have Chameleon circuitry if over a certain weight."
"I never listened to that part in class, never thought we would see one since they were rarer than hen's teeth!" Jack spluttered with annoyance "Ya bloody nerd, trust you to remember."
John stared at Jack and then tapped his VM "You did take notes in class though…. Right? Awww Javic. You slacker! You can't always get by with that Rear of the Year!"
Ianto could have face palmed as he heard the possibility that this entire time that vessel could have been invisible to others without the need to drain power from standard shields.
If it still worked, that might changed everything.
.
.
"Right, first we have to interface with the… ah… thing with the red light on the left with a little arrow…. Ah… there is it." John was under the main console on the flight deck as Toshiko watched on with obvious distrust. They could hear him muttering to himself and the occasional 'Ouch' or more worrying were the occasional 'oops, not that one smergot brain' that made Toshiko jump like someone had poked her.
Ianto and Jack shared nervous glances now and then as Johns' bots shuffled about at their feet. Then John grunted as he wriggled out and then lay there, panting like he had bane in some love tryst or something. "Right… hit it."
Ianto reached over him to push a button that had lit up, one he had not noticed before due to its inactivity. Hey, a lot of things on this old whale don't work anymore. A screen flickered to life and they stared at an array of pictures.
John clambered to his feet and grinned "See? Choose the one you want. A building… a tree even. That would be cool. Oh, there's that bloody phone box… huh. This has shared thoughts with that one then. You see, although these are not technically TARDISes, they contain the same circuitry for flight. It means they are like… a stupid inbred cousin to a TARDIS. They can talk. The Doctor's one must have been on this one at some stage for them to share…. Why are you looking at me like that!"
"This is the ship that almost destroyed the known universe as we know it. The Master used the Doctor's vessel onboard this one to try and… well… create a paradox that would have folded reality in on itself." Ianto calmly said as he looked at Jack "So… he didn't need the Doctor at all? He could have done it with this vessel all along?"
"No heart sweetie" Jack said softly "the heart of a TARDIS is it's … well… humanity. It's AI self. This does not have a heart, or a brain capable of AI tec. It is like… a coma patient compared to her"
"Could have done what?" John asked stupidly, and then looked at the others who were equally outside of the conversation, their head shaking telling him that was some sort of 'insider' thing none of them knew about either.
"But it did share with the TARDIS? This vessel did swap files?" Ianto asked.
"That one!" Toshiko said suddenly, breaking into their moments as she pointed and they all looked over at the image of an unsuspecting garden shed. "It will fit easily in the enclosure next to the Café and look like it's meant to be there. Can she do that? Can she get that small?"
"Are you kidding?" John laughed as he reached out to tap some buttons that had the image light up "Hold on to your tits."
They stood staring at him as he stepped back and waited…. and then he shrugged.
"John?"
"Bugger" he said, then before they could react, he kicked the console as hard as he could and a sound of something cracking slightly resounded. Then... the world seemed to flux like someone was looking at a reflection of it in water that rippled with the wind.
"Was that…"
"Yeah. There we are. When we exit the main cargo doors, we exit that shed doors. This is now just a garden style shed out there." John said happily "I can't wait to see an Away Vessel fly out of this."
"Oh god, will it fit out the doors? Can we fly into it confidently" Ianto asked with horror "No… we need to go bigger for that right?"
"We can go to the one next to it… see? It's a large vehicle shed, what is it called here… ah… a garage?" John pointed and canted his head "If one of your automobiles or tank things can fit in and out, an Away Vessel will. Right?"
They walked outside once he had done more clicking and button pressing...and another swift kick … to look at the large double door garage sitting on the grass, it would easily go to one side of the main building. It did look like just a vehicle garage. Not small, more like one a tractor or something might be in. Ride-on mowers and some other small things. Much like the other buildings nearby with the golf cart style vehicles with trailers that were clearly used for staff to get around while feeding out.
Yes.
That will do.
Jack was still embarrassed about forgetting that little part and John was over the moon to get one over him.
Ianto was just satisfied that this would work.
Once they were fully enclosed in the sanctuary again.
Time to get to work.
