Jack opened the door and led the way. They crept very quietly through the library, not wanting to alert anyone to their actions.
"If we just keep following this dot, we should be alright," Jack said.
"Should," Rose repeated, "How many times have I heard that word and ended up running for my life!"
"Too many I can imagine!" Jack said with a grin.
Outside it was darker, but still warm and humid. Jack picked a path through the forest as carefully as he could, but it was still slow hard work.
"This is going to be a nightmare when we head back," Jack said.
"That's what torches are for!" the Doctor said, producing one from somewhere within his coat and turning it on.
"You had a torch in your pocket and you let us struggle all that way?" Rose asked.
"Didn't want to waste the battery."
"You're hopeless!"
"Here we are guys and gals," Jack said. The dot on the locator was now directly above where they were standing.
"There's nothing here," Rose said.
"First rule of active camouflage?" Jack asked.
"Park somewhere you'll remember." Rose answered.
"Only in a place like this, where everything looks the same, there isn't somewhere obvious to remember. That's where this locator comes in, only I think our pilot has lost it." The Doctor said. "The Perthians are guarding the crash site night and day, and they are in hiding, so they can't get back to find the locator, and they can't find their ship."
"Does that make them dangerous or helpless?" Rose asked.
"Let's find out, shall we?" the Doctor said, then pointed his sonic screwdriver at the sky.
Rose watched as the camouflage began to melt away from the surface of the ship and the ship began to descend to ground level. As it came into the light of the Doctor's torch she gasped in fear.
"It can't be!" she said.
"That's impossible," Jack said, "it was the last one of its kind!"
"They were all destroyed, I saw it happen!" the Doctor said, backing away.
"Since when were they all destroyed?" Rose asked, "That one maybe, but surely there are others – there's a whole planet of them!"
"What?" Jack said.
"Hang on a minute," The Doctor said, folding his arms across his chest, "What do you think you're looking at?"
"A Slitheen ship, like the one that crashed into the Thames, right?" Rose answered.
"That's not what I see," Jack said, "I see a Chula medical freighter."
They both turned to the Doctor.
"And I see a ship from the Dalek fleet."
"But how is… how's that possible?" Rose asked, "There's only one ship."
"What do you think, Captain?" The Doctor asked.
"Oh I think I want to meet the guy that owns this baby!" Jack said, walking up to the ship with an excited skip in his step. "I've heard of this kind of thing before but never seen it, it's genius!"
"What is?" Rose asked, confused as usual.
"The TARDIS isn't the only telepathic ship out there," the Doctor began to explain, "Some have defence systems that work like the slightly psychic paper. The paper shows people what you want them to see, this system shows you what you don't want to see."
"So you see what you are most afraid of!" Jack finished, patting the ship affectionately with his hand.
"You're most afraid of an ambulance?" Rose asked. Jack looked a little embarrassed.
"No, but I don't rate that month as one of the best in my lifetime." He admitted.
"You've redeemed yourself," the Doctor said shortly, "Now, let's see if we can get inside this thing."
"I'm on it!" Jack said.
After about ten minutes of tinkering and poking, the boys finally got the ship opened up. Jack disappeared inside almost instantly, but the Doctor held back to show Rose where the entrance was.
"This thing's armed to the teeth!" Jack said from somewhere inside, "Literally!"
Rose held the Doctors hand as she stepped on board. She didn't recognise any of the weapons, but she could see Jack was right. There was enough in the way of firearms to kill someone in a thousand different ways.
"This is not good," the Doctor said, looking round.
"They have a Compact Laser Duluxe!" Jack said, taking a tiny weapon off the wall and admiring it.
"They have technology from so far in the future they can't possibly be here by mistake." The Doctor said.
"How far?" Rose asked.
"I don't know, but far." The Doctor answered. "This for instance," he said, taking something small and cylindrical off the wall, "Jack – you ever seen anything like this?"
"Nope," Jack answered, "What is it?"
"Video recorder," the Doctor answered, holding it up to his eye and looking around.
"But it's tiny!" Rose said, "It's just an eye piece."
"And you'll get a clearer picture out of that than any of your old Earth rubbish. It's the sort of thing used to record holographic projections, literally three dimensional filming." The Doctor explained.
"Even in my time those kind of things are huge!" Jack said, "You want to film a decent three dimensional, interactive picture, you have to have a whole room to do it in!"
"Exactly, so who, or whatever pilots this ship isn't from round here, not by a long stretch."
"But, if they have so much technology – why call for help?" Rose questioned.
"Good point, why?" The Doctor mused.
"Could be a fake, a signal meant to draw reinforcements, disguised as a harmless distress signal." Jack suggested.
The Doctor half registered what Jack said, but his eyes and mind were focused on something else altogether.
"Our trouble just increased tenfold." He said, picking up an insignia that was hung on the wall.
"What's that?" Rose asked, feeling the Doctor's fear. It was making her nervous.
"Assassin, it's the mark of an assassin."
"What would an assassin want on Perth?" Jack asked, examining the emblem.
"I don't know," the Doctor admitted, "But this is all a little suspicious, so be on your guard. Something isn't right and I have a very strong feeling our friend didn't just crash land."
"Wait a second, didn't that woman say something about opening a new library?" Rose said. The Doctor looked up at her with frank admiration.
"Rose Tyler you are a genius!" he said, "of course, Library 2000 – everybody who's anybody is likely to be there."
He started pacing backwards and forwards, muttering to himself and gesticulating. Rose and Jack had both come to know this meant he was thinking.
"What's the plan then Doc?" Jack asked.
"Right then, we go back to 207, find that woman and ask her for a guest list – look for likely victims. Then, we head over to 2000 and search the premises, look for likely hiding places for assassins, while all the time keeping eyes, ears and otherwise open for anything out of the ordinary or odd. Oh, and don't get killed while doing it."
"Simple then," Rose said with a grin.
"Better hide this thing again, so whoever owns it doesn't know we're onto them." The Doctor said, zapping the ship with his Sonic Screwdriver as they stepped outside.
"But, they've lost it," Rose said, "We've got the Locator."
"Maybe, maybe not, either way it's going to be fairly obvious if it suddenly appears in the middle of a dense rainforest when it was camouflaged before." The Doctor said, "And besides, I don't like to be messy."
"That's a first!" Rose said, laughing, "You normally make lots of mess and leave it to others to tidy up!"
"Oi!" The Doctor protested, turning on his torch and lighting the way back.
"What? It's true! And you know it." Rose said, falling into step beside him.
Jack took another look at the Compact Laser Duluxe he had pocketed while no one was looking, then jogged to catch up with them.
The next morning they were woken bright and early by Lalande knocking on the door.
"Blimey!" The Doctor said as he answered it, "Have you lot not heard of lie-ins?"
"Lie-in, a term used to describe sleeping in late or sometimes the propensity to not get out of bed, even when awake, yes sir, I know what a lie-in is." She said.
"I don't think I caught your name yesterday, care to enlighten me?"
"Lalande," she replied shortly.
"Ursa Major system," the Doctor said, "Nice place, not the star itself of course, just the system."
"When you are quite finished with the small talk, I have come to deliver a message. The manager of this Library, Mr Proxima Centauri, would like to speak with you," Lalande said, looking down at him over the rim of her glasses, "He requests to know your business, and the business with the distress signal."
"Well, talking is one of the many things I'm good at, so, lead the way Lalande! Why don't you two do a spot of sight seeing, spare you the business meeting." The Doctor suggested, looking pointedly at first Jack, then Rose.
"Sure Doctor, see you later." Rose said, nodding to let him know she had got the idea.
"Well then, sightseeing?" Jack said, offering Rose an arm.
"Welcome to 207 sir, I hope your rooms and services suit your needs," the old Perthian said as the Doctor sat down opposite him in a large chair, "Thank you Lalande, that will be all!"
Lalande nodded and left the room, closing the door behind her.
"Now then sir, my name is Proxima Centauri, you are?"
"The Doctor, just the Doctor."
"Curious name for an Earthling, well Doctor, you told Lalande you are with the Time Agency, but she had reason to not believe you, and I can see why, care to tell me who you really are?"
"Just a traveller, no one really," The Doctor said.
"You are no one, yet you stopped to try and work out what the distress signal was and where it was coming from."
"I have a curious disposition."
"Well, what did you discover?"
"I found the ship it is coming from. It's an assassin ship, from the future," the Doctor said, dropping the emblem on Proxima Centauri's desk.
The old Perthian picked it up and studied it closely.
"It matches the current assassin symbol, but with changes – the writing around the edge, I don't recognise it. Do you know what it says?"
"Same as it always says – 'honour and death come hand in hand', the assassin moto, only it's written in a text that won't appear in mainstream for another four hundred thousand years, at least. The technology on the ship was incredible – it had a shield which showed you your worst nightmare for a start, and a control system that even my associate Jack had trouble operating, and he really was a Time Agent."
"So you think an assassin from the future has crash landed on Perth?"
"No, I think an assassin from the future has pretended to crash land on Perth," the Doctor said, "Something about this whole thing is wrong, but I can't work out what yet. I may, and I really hope so, be wrong, but for now I'm working on the assumption that I'm right about this. So, I need to see the guest list for the grand opening of Library 2000 and access to the grounds so I can take a good look around."
Proxima Centauri regarded him gravely, then nodded.
"I will summon you a guide," he said.
"You know, I was thinking – they've been collecting knowledge and stuff for age right? How come they are only up to Library 2000?" Rose asked.
"Well, the number of Libraries is more closely related to the population than their knowledge bank," Jack said, "And all that studying doesn't leave much time for procreation!"
Rose snorted in a very unladylike manner.
"Look, the corridor splits up ahead – which do you want to take, left or right?"
"Oh, tough choice, but I will have to say…left."
"Ok, I'll take right then!" Rose said brightly.
"Sure you want to go on your own?" Jack asked. "We possibly have a mad assassin running around!"
"I can handle it!" she said, "Managed without pretty well before you arrived!"
"Ah, but you had the Doctor."
"Not always," Rose said, "I got locked down with the Dalek by myself, then there was that time in Cardiff, 1989, when I got locked in with a load of zombies, and when I first met the Doctor, I saved his life!"
"Ok then, you're tougher than you look, I mean, than I thought, tougher than I thought," He changed at Rose's stern look.
"Well, see you in a bit then!" she said.
"Yeah – have you got the room key?"
Rose flashed the room's key-card at him.
"Right here!"
Jack smiled then headed off down the left corridor. He looked around, scanning with his watch as he went. He wasn't getting any unusual readings but he knew better than to let that be an excuse to let his guard down.
"Can I help you sir? You look a little lost. Is it something in particular you are looking for?" A young Perthian boy asked him.
"Yeah, but nothing you'll know about kid." Jack answered more than a little impatiently.
"Try me," the boy replied politely, "Your planet may not be in my system but I'm good friends with Earth and we study together – I know a lot of Earth History."
"That's ok kid, really," Jack said through gritted teeth.
"Please, my name is Fenrir sir. It is actually a planet, but also a figure from Norse Mythology, from Earth. In those myths Fenrir was the big bad wolf, the son of the half divine, Loki. I find Earth myths fascinating."
"Well Fenrir, not so much of a big bad wolf as a little good one, you are! Thanks, but no thanks, I'm fine, really." Jack said, then left the room before the boy could offer his services again.
He had to get off this planet before the goody-goody attitude drove him to insanity.
Walking very quickly down another corridor and into the room on the end, Jack was so busy scanning around that he walked straight into another Perthian. The Perthian female was knocked straight off her feet and onto the floor. Jack gritted his teeth and turned to help her up.
"Sorry sweetheart," he said in his best charming voice, "Didn't see you there! Don't know how I missed such a pretty face." He held out a hand to her, but she shrugged it off.
"I can manage by myself," she said, hopping to her feet.
"You ok?" Jack asked, resting his hands on her shoulder in a very friendly manner. The girl may have been cat-like but she had the most gorgeous orangey-yellow eyes he had ever seen, and Jack was not one to turn down an opportunity to flirt. The girl looked at him scathingly.
"I will be once you remove your hands from my shoulders," she said, raising an eyebrow.
Jack raised his hands in submission and backed away.
"So, is that it, or do I get your name at least?" Jack asked, putting his hands close, but not touching.
"Raxacoricofallapatorius, so don't talk to me," she said shortly, then walked out the door shutting it behind her.
Jack grinned to himself, sometimes being rejected was as much fun as getting what you wanted, especially when they did it with attitude.
Jack laughed to himself, then carried on scanning. A little bit of sass was a welcome break among all these other wet blankets.
"Wait a second, since when do Perthians have attitude?" Jack said to himself, then ran for the door. Just before he reached it, he heard the lock bolt shut.
"Damn it!" he shouted.
Rose wandered into the end room, admiring the tall bookcases and high domed ceilings. This place was beautiful, even if it was almost unbearably hot and sticky.
"Rose!" Jack called out. Something in his voice told her something was wrong.
"Rose, we have to get back to the ship!" he said, putting his hands on her shoulders like he so often did.
"Why? Where's the Doctor?" Rose asked.
"He's fine, I saw him just now – told me to make sure you got to safety, so let's go!" Jack said.
"Ok, I've got the room key!" Rose brandished the card.
"Excellent! Lead the way!" Jack said. Rose ran back down the corridor and Jack charged after her.
"So, what's going on?" Rose asked.
"I don't know, the Doctor didn't say much – he just told me to get you out." Jack said.
"Must be trouble, d'you think he found the assassin?"
Jack shrugged.
"Possibly," he said, "All I know is it sounded bad, whatever it was."
"Well we better get back to the TARDIS then," Rose said, "Will he be alright on his own?"
"He'll be fine," Jack said, urging her forwards by putting his hands on her shoulders and pushing her slightly.
They ran all the way back to the guest accommodation. Rose skidded into the door and unlocked it quickly, before piling in with Captain Jack close behind her.
"Shut the door again, lock it!" Jack ordered. Rose did as she was told, then took out her key for the TARDIS and opened it, looking anxiously over her shoulder as Jack scanned his watch all round the room.
"In we go!" she said, and opened the TARDIS doors. As she disappeared inside, Jack paused hesitantly at the door then entered.
Rose ran straight to the console and tried to turn on one of the monitors. She didn't see Jack staring round in awe.
"Come on!" Rose said, "I know you can see pretty much anything on one of these screens, oh how does the Doctor do it!"
She lashed out a kick at the console, but it hurt her a lot more than she supposed it hurt it.
"Aren't you going back?" Rose asked, walking over to Jack. She looked up at him but he looked away.
"No, he told me to wait here," he said.
"That's not like you, just to sit here! Aren't you gonna break the rules or something?" Rose said.
"Too much at risk this time," Jack said. Rose backed away from him.
"He's in trouble isn't he? Real trouble! And he sent you back because you can fly me home!" she turned so she had her back to Jack. "Oh my god, what are we going to do?"
Suddenly the doors flew open and Jack came bursting through closely followed by the Doctor.
"Rose!" he yelled, pointing a gun in her direction.
"Jack?" Rose asked, completely confused, "But…"
"Drop your weapon," an unfamiliar, slightly hissing female voice said, "I really don't want to have to shoot her." Jack's weapon clattered to the floor.
Rose put up her hands and turned round slowly, to see a gun pointing at her head in the hands of an almost reptilian woman, with thick blue tentacles for hair, pointy shark like teeth, beguiling orange eyes, and long, icy blue fingernails that came to a sharp point.
"But you were, she was…Jack was, oh I'm confused, again!" Rose said.
"Quiet!" the woman snapped, poking Rose with the tip of her gun.
"Don't hurt her!" Jack said, stepping forwards.
"I won't if you stay where you are," she said, and Jack stopped dead in his tracks. A smile crept over her lips and she lowered the gun a little. "Glad we have an understanding. Now, down to business."
Thanks muchly to the people who reviewed!
