Chapter Seventeen: Insurance
The three time travelers collapsed onto the floor of the TARDIS control room in a fit of laughter, or, rather, two of them were laughing and one was ignoring them in favor of fishing through his pockets for the gwaila crystals. Despite the years between them, it was strange to consider how easily they fell back into the roles that had so well suited them. Rose leaned into Jack, her relieved laughter echoing through the still darkened TARDIS, "Ever notice that most of our adventures end up with us running for our lives?"
"Look at it this way," Jack grinned, "It helps me keep my girlish figure."
"You have a girlish figure?" the Doctor asked with a noticeable grin in his voice as he headed for the main console, a gwaila crystal in hand.
"I'd be happy to show you," Jack teased.
"Of that, I have no doubt," the Doctor replied, his voice muffled by the console as he worked underneath it, "Jack, what happened to the torch? My sonic screwdriver isn't casting enough light on this."
"The batteries died."
"How can the batteries die? It was an everlasting torch!" he groused.
"You need to get your money back," Jack advised.
"Jack, go get another torch. There should be one in the cabinet next to the coat rack in the secondary console room."
"You want me to stumble around in the dark, looking for a torch, which happens to be on the other side of the ship?" he asked incredulously, before grinning, "Gee, Doctor, if you two wanted to be alone you just had to ask. I promise I won't peak...Oomph!" All of Jack's breath whooshed from his lungs as Rose elbowed him in the stomach.
"Jack?" the Doctor asked again, putting as much warning as possible within the former Time Agent's name.
"Promises, promises," Jack smiled, standing, "Have fun you two, and please...do who...or whatever you want to. Really."
"Jack!" Rose exclaimed, but Captain Harkness was already gone.
Silence descended upon the console room as Rose leaned against one of the pillars and the Doctor continued to work. The silence was broken intermittently by either a muffled curse or the clatter of some tool hitting the floor. She began to feel somewhat anxious to leave the Talween, and the events that had occurred upon the ghost ship, far behind her – yet she had to know. Was it truly over? Was the Soul Eater gone? Despite the teasing banter between her friends, despite even Jack's devil-may-care attitude, she was worried. Could it all truly be that simple? Add one explosion, two mental fights, stir thoroughly and voila! - recipe for the death of one evil entity. Surely not. Finally, she could stand the unanswered questions no longer, "Doctor? Did the explosion kill the Intellivore?"
The clatter under the console paused for a moment, before continuing. "Evil never truly dies, Rose," the Doctor said, his voice echoing strangely, "Despite how many times we defeat it. It will be back – in the shape of another Davros, the Slitheen, the Editor, or any one of the various villains we've faced over the years. The best we can hope for is to delay it for a while."
"I tried that, you know," she replied thoughtfully, "Fighting evil, defeating the bad guy, saving the world. Each time I thought it was over, each time that I thought I had won, some other petty crook would pop up and ruin it all over again. Wasn't the same, though. Not without you and Jack. I just want to know that this time, this time we made a difference. This time we defeated the Intellivore and it won't be back ever again."
"There's a rucksack by the door," the Doctor seemed to change the subject, "Open it."
Rose was certain that the rucksack had not been there before – or she, Jack or the Doctor would have stumbled over it on their way inside the TARDIS. Squinting in the faint light, she opened the bag to find three grey deodorant cans inside. "Doctor, what are these?"
"Insurance," the Doctor said, "Or, at least, that's what Ace called them. It's Nitro Nine – an explosive. I'll have the dimensional stabilizer fixed shortly, and once it is – I want you to toss that lot into the Talween."
"Doctor?" she asked incredulously.
"You're right, Rose. This time we will be sure," the Doctor's voice was determined, "It won't survive that blast. For once, this evil will die." As if his last vow were a signal, the lights came back on in the TARDIS.
"How do I set these?" Rose asked, for a moment relishing the idea of being certain that just this once – evil will die.
The Doctor explained how to set the timer, and she did so quickly. At the Doctor's command of 'NOW!' she opened the doors to the TARDIS and tossed the canisters down the far too clean hallway. Rose shut the doors behind her as the TARDIS emitted the familiar wheezing groan that indicated movement.
She never felt the explosion that rippled through the Talween. She never saw the flames engulf the remains of the Intellivore. She never saw the rapidly expanding cloud of particles that was all that remained of the ancient starship or the entity. However, she could easily imagine it.
"It's over?" she asked as the TARDIS traveled through the space-time vortex.
"It's over," he confirmed, "For now."