Unto the Universe

Chapter Ten: The Hound of the Crack: Secrets

By Lumendea

…..

The parlor was a rather boring room in Rose's eyes with more pictures and paintings on the wall and good quality furniture. Weapons had been taken down off the wall despite the Doctor's words and warning glare. Rose knew that standards were different in her time, but the room lacked personal touches. There were more photos, but no other real signs that people used this room. No books were piled on tables, and no letters were waiting to be read. Everything was clean and in its place.

The Doctor kept tight hold of Rose's hand, and thankfully none of their 1900 companions said a word. They likely thought she was frightened, and Rose had to admit they weren't far off. The hound's vanishing and reappearing act had her worried. While they weren't being overwhelmed as they had been in India or when Jack was attacked and lost his memory, they were in an isolated location that was full of corners and rooms. Rose couldn't see when the hound was coming.

"I told you that your weapons won't harm the hound," the Doctor said to Conan Doyle as the man inspected a revolver. "You've seen it vanish and reappear. With that ability, it could trick you into shooting one of us."

That comment did seem to give Conan Doyle pause. He said nothing and looked out the window. The curtains in this room had not been drawn. The storm was still raging outside, and raindrops constantly collided with the glass.

"We can't wait forever," Conan Doyle said. "We should search the house."

"That thing will destroy us if we get too close," Jack said. "We can't risk it."

"Do you suggest staying awake all night? And then what? If the creature does not leave, or perhaps can't leave, then what?" Conan Doyle shook his head. "No, Doctor. If the Darsons are correct and some aspect of this house used to keep it safe from this creature, then something has changed. We should learn what. We might be able to make repairs and protect ourselves better."

"You want to go outside?" Jack asked doubtfully. "Into the dark with poor visibility."

"We must do something," Conan Doyle insisted. "You seem to know about this creature."

"Yes, and that's why I doubt there is anything outside to fix," the Doctor said.

"Well, do as you wish, but Robinson and I are going to investigate," Conan Doyle said. Robinson nodded in agreement.

"I'll get you some lanterns," Charles said quickly. He hesitated and looked towards his wife. "I should go with your gentlemen."

"Charles," Emily said softly. She was sitting on the narrow couch and reached towards her husband. "Please…"

"You should remain with your wife," Robinson said. He nodded towards Emily. "Arthur and I can handle this."

The Doctor huffed. "Jack and I will go with you. Make sure no one gets hurt."

Conan Doyle smirked briefly, clearly pleased with his victory, and the Doctor didn't respond to it. He looked at Rose, who was doing her best not to argue. She understood his decision, but it still sounded foolish. A crash upstairs made everyone look up with bated breath.

"Any pets?" the Doctor asked, glancing at Charles.

"None," Charles answered breathlessly. "Perhaps leaving the womenfolk inside is a mistake."

"If it is in the house, then we should hook the carriage back up and head for town," Jack said.

"Too dangerous in the storm," Robinson said with a shake of his head. "I don't like lingering here with that beast, but the moors are dangerous enough when you can see, and there's no chance of the horse spooking. In a storm like this, we'd never keep it under control."

"Any chance of getting back to the TARDIS?" Rose asked in a low voice. "I've seen you build something to repel Neverweres before."

The Doctor gave her a look but thankfully didn't ask. This wasn't the time, and Rose knew she'd need to figure out how to answer some questions later. That was one of their meetings where he'd erased his own memories. Relationship or not, they probably weren't ready for him to know they were engaged. Especially not since his Tenth self had been stunned at the idea of how long they'd been engaged from her point of view.

"Not sure we could find her in the storm quickly," the Doctor replied. "Same problem with the horse."

"Great," Jack muttered. "I'll help you with those lanterns, Charles. Rose will stay with Emily."

"I don't like this," Rose hissed.

"Rose," the Doctor sighed. "We can't let him go out there alone. He's a historical figure."

"And you want me to stay inside?" Rose asked with a raised eyebrow. "You must be joking."

"The hound seems to be in the house," the Doctor said. "You know that I hate to leave you, but if it is inside, then you are the Darsons only chance." He glanced around the house again. "Rose, with enough energy, Neverweres can erase constructed buildings. During the war, a horde of them even made planets vanish. It could be why this house has never been suggested…" He shivered. "Your sword is our best chance to stop the hound long enough to find the source of this temporal distortion. And I don't think we'll get Emily to go outside."

"Fine," Rose said. She glanced towards Emily, who was still staring up at the ceiling fearfully. "Leave the front door open for a quick retreat and shout if you see the hound. I don't mind the rain."

The Doctor nodded and leaned forward to kiss her forehead. Rose wanted more than that, but there were too many people from 1900 around. Jack nodded to her as he and the Doctor moved to join the others. Charles handed out a couple of lit lanterns and provided a bit of information about the outside. Rose barely noticed it; her ears too busy trying to hear even a hint of the hound. A howl echoed through the house, but Rose wasn't sure if it had come from inside or outside. Judging from the way the others were looking up and towards the windows, she wasn't the only one unsure.

Watching the Doctor and Jack file out the front door with the others and into the dark did nothing to settle Rose. The odds of them finding anything useful out there were next to none. If anything had been keeping the hound at bay, Rose was fairly certain that it had been overcome because there were time travelers nearby. But… she also couldn't dismiss the possibility that there was something to the outside of the house. If there was, the Doctor would find it, provided that those sharp time Lord senses of his could work in the storm.

"Let's turn on all the lights and open the curtains," Rose suggested. "Give those outside as much light as possible."

"That's a capital idea," Charles said almost gleefully. "Emily and I will brighten this room and the entry if you'll pop into the dining room."

Rose nodded and headed across the entry to the dining room. The lights were dimmer than they had been during dinner. The fire in the grand fireplace had died down, and the room had grown colder. Focusing on her task, Rose went to the closest window and drew back the curtain. Water was running down the window, and she couldn't see anything beyond the glass. Sighing, she moved to the next window and pulled back the curtain. But the room was so dark; Rose doubted it would achieve much.

Turning her attention to the fireplace, Rose located an ornate metal bucket of sorts with a few extra logs. She knew very little about setting fires but remembered enough from one of her UNIT training exercises to place the logs atop the coals without smothering the last glowing flames. Crackling and hissing reached Rose's ears before the first log caught and began to burn. Except, there was no rush of warmth from the flames.

Rose's eyes widened, and she turned around, summoning her sword. The hound was behind her, stalking towards her with gleaming eyes. The hound lunged. She stepped back on impulse, the back of her booth hitting the hearth. Beneath her, the wooden boards of the house shifted, and she stumbled. The hound snarled, and Rose swung her sword as it approached. The creatures shifted back to avoid the blow, and Rose narrowed her eyes. It seemed that the hound had some awareness or at least some instinct of self-preservation.

Then the creature turned and rushed into the kitchen. Rose sprinted after it, trying to catch its flickering form once more with her sword. It dashed into the dark hallway leading away from the kitchen, and Rose followed only to turn a corner after the hound and see it fleeing down a step of steps. Rose chased after it, ignoring calls from the Parsons. The hound looked over its shoulder at her but kept running. Low gas lights flickered around as the chill of the lower level rushed over Rose's skin. Still, she didn't stop. The hound was staying just beyond her reach. It was running for a dead end with a bookshelf. Then, it vanished into thin air.

Rose stopped moving and listened, straining her ears for any sound that might be the hound. Outside, more thunder rumbled, and she turned slowly to see where she was. There was no sign of the Parsons. Rose groaned loudly. She allowed herself a moment to be frustrated that having been separated from the Parsons. It was just one of those days.

Rose kept her sword at the ready and looked around carefully, mindful of the hound's ability to disappear and reappear. She could faintly hear voices upstairs but was turned around in the house that now seemed larger than it should be. Sweeping her eyes around, Rose noticed a few more photos on the wall and smiled slightly. There were so many of them, most of them featuring Charles and Emily in some way. The Doctor's reaction nagged at Rose again, and she sighed. Normally, she was the one who noticed strange things.

Then she stopped and looked behind her. One of the photos was a duplicate. It was of Charles and Emily on a beach. Then she noticed another duplicate of an unknown man in a studio portrait. Now that she was looking, Rose wondered if there should be so many photos. Weren't they supposed to be expensive right now? And why have duplicates? Was this what the Doctor had noticed before?

Maybe it was to make the home look nicer and better furnished at a glance. Rose knew from experience that some people would use all sorts of tricks to make their home look nicer. But she doubted that was at play here. This home was unknown to Robinson, so they weren't the social butterflies of the area, and they had servants, so they were decently well off. Rose felt ill at the thought of the servants and wished that there was a way to restore them. But they'd already been forgotten by everyone who wasn't a time traveler. And this area was out of view of visitors; they wouldn't go down into the basement, so why bother with photos here?

"Mr. Darson?" Rose called out. "Mrs. Darson? Can you hear me?"

There was no answer, and Rose was about to start retracing her steps when she glanced at the dead-end once more. The bookcase stood at the end of the hallway, filled with books and a few odd trinkets. Rose frowned and studied the hall. It seemed out of place down in the basement. Along with the photos, the hall seemed wrong. Rose distantly heard her name being called but headed for the bookcase. Something was off here, and this was her best chance to find out what. Guilt for leaving the Parsons nagged at Rose, but the hound had been running this way. It had looked back at her and hadn't vanished right away. Shaking her head, Rose went to the bookcase and pulled out her phone, turning on the torch.

There were scratches on the wooden floor by the bookcase. They were faint, but in the light of her phone's torch, Rose could see them. The low lamplight would never have revealed them, and Rose smirked in satisfaction. This bookcase moved. A giddy sense of pleasure took hold, and Rose tried not to grin. A secret door was hidden here based on the circular mark.

Reaching for the bookcase, Rose began to search for any handhold or trigger hidden on the side or if cartoons and old movies were to be believed in one of the books. When her hand knocked a small hourglass on the shelf, she heard a faint click. Rose grabbed the side of the bookcase and pulled. It wasn't easy, but she could hear more clicking as a gear started working, and the bookcase swung out towards her, revealing a door behind it.

Rose only moved the bookshelf a few feet out, only needing a little space to slip through. The door was locked, and she glared at it before sighing and summoning her sword. Rose was not in the mood for any games. She sliced through the lock and cut a circle so she could reach through and turn the handle.

The door swung open with a slow creak. It was a dusty old lab. Rose blinked and looked around, shining her torch around the space. Cobwebs hung on bookshelves and beakers. A thick layer of dust covered everything and tickled Rose's nose and eyes. There were no windows, and her torch was the only source of light she could see, except that the room was too bright. On the far side was a long workbench which had a large shape covered by a thick canvas covering. It was glowing softly, and Rose took a tentative step towards it. As she moved closer, the air grew colder and colder.

Rose gripped the tarp, already bracing herself for what she was going to find. The state of the room indicated that no one had been in here in a long time, but something was glowing. Those two things did not go together. Pulling back the tarp, Rose coughed as dust exploded into the air and waved it away from her face frantically as her vision blurred.

It was a machine made with bronze wiring and gears moving a dozen small strange greenish circles that were glowing brightly now that the tarp was gone. The color made Rose's stomach turn. There was something very wrong with it. She stared at the machine, listening to the click as the gears and cog kept moving and the strange hum that was growing louder in shock. It definitely didn't belong there. The technology was all wrong, even if parts of it were built from Earth materials of the time or near the time period at least.

Frowning, Rose raised her phone and turned on the camera app. She began snapping photos while listening to that strange hum grow louder and louder. Her teeth were beginning to ache when she stepped back and looked around the room one more time. It seemed that the Doctor was completely correct about this house being wrong. The question was, did the Darsons know about this place? It was hard to imagine they didn't.

Rose slipped her phone back into her pocket and turned back to the doorway. Slipping through it, she returned to the hallway only to stop in her tracks. Emily was standing in the hallway only a few feet away from her.

"Hello, Rose," Emily said calmly. Her frightened expression was gone, replaced with a cold and calculating look. "Have we been poking around?"

"I take it you know about the lab," Rose said. There didn't seem to be a point in pretending she hadn't found the machine given the look Emily was giving her. "What is that machine for?"

"You don't know?" Emily blinked and started to smile. "Well, it hardly matters. You and your friends are exactly what we need."

"So, this house is a trap?" Rose asked. She flexed her wrist and summoned her sword. Emily seemed curious about it but not surprised to see it appear. "Who are you? What are you?"

"Human," Emily answered. "I'd say like you, but I don't think that's exactly correct. You and your brother are out of your time, and your companion is a Time Lord." She took a step closer to Rose and eyed the doorway behind Rose. "Now, there is no need for violence."

"Did you make that hound?" Rose demanded.

"The hound was an unfortunate side effect," Charles said, stepping out of the shadows to join Emily. "This was never meant to happen, I assure you. Please, calm down, and we can work together to resolve this situation before anyone else is harmed."

Rose hesitated. Instinct told her not to trust them. Very few species and people had knowledge of the Time Lords since the Time War, but Emily had named the Doctor's race. And while Emily claimed to be human, Rose couldn't trust that. She really couldn't trust it given Emily's flippant remark about Rose being human. That was too close to something dangerous.

"I find it hard to trust you."

"We protected you from the hound," Emily pointed out.

"Because you need something," Rose countered. "When are you from, and what did you do?"

"We are from the 45th century," Charles offered. "We were studying time travel, but something went wrong. An… entity, for lack of a better word, reached out to us and tricked us. I'm not sure what they did, but it sent us through time to here."

Rose narrowed her eyes. That was a nice story, but it didn't exactly fit. "And the photographs?"

"The photographs?" Emily repeated in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Why all the duplicates?" Rose asked.

"Oh," Emily chuckled. "I suppose we might have overdone it. We were trying to give the impression of family history."

Rose narrowed her eyes. Then a crash from upstairs made both of the Darsons look up in alarm before a dreadful howl echoed down the hallway. The Parsons spun around to find the hound behind them; glowing eyes fixed on them.