Chapter Eight
He couldn't Keep The Secret
The TARDIS materialised across the road from where Jack and Jasmine were dealing with the body of a man in his fifties,
"What's going on here then?" The 11th Doctor asked
"Not sure, we found this man in the road and all the results from our scans tell us he drowned" Jack said
"How? He's bone dry and we're nowhere near water" The 11th Doctor said
"I know that, that's not why I called you" Jack said
"I know that" The 11th Doctor retorted and he rolled the man over to find 5 letters calved into his kneck, "HCKTS"
"He couldn't keep the secret" Jasmine said
Jack and the Doctor looked at her unnerved.
Once back at the hub Owen prepared the body for autopsy, taking photos of the letters and bruising on the body and taking swabs and samples from fingernails,
"What does HCKTS stand for?" He asked, stepping back from the body
"He couldn't keep the secret. I had a case years back, before I became trapped on the planet Waltz,
There was a murder spree in the town of Flicker Tame; we're talking 1204 here AD. We never found out what that secret was but anyone who couldn't keep it were burned from the inside out by unseen alien hands. I could offer little comfort. Suddenly the assailant went quiet and the only conclusion back then was that these men had stumbled upon a plot to destroy or overrule another alien force and were concerned these humans may have seen or heard something valuable to the opposite foe" Jasmine told him,
"I had your ship; you had no way of finding out who they were, what they were plotting or which of them killed those humans...now they're back but what do they want?" The 11th Doctor said in question
Adrian knocked on Chrissie' bedroom door, she was distracted, reading a diary and jumped out of her skin,
"Yeah!?" She snapped
"It's Adrian, you called me over" Adrian called
"Yes...sorry, come in" Chrissie called, Adrian entered the room, "Sit down, please I need you to see something"
"Should I be nervous?" Adrian asked
"It has nothing to do with "Us" and everything to do with Torcwhood, you, Liam, Emperor" Chrissie said and she handed Adrian the diary, "A diary of events, events I couldn't have been present at, like dreams but they're not dreams, I don't remember having them, waking from them, or even writing them down and that is my handwriting"
"Where was it?" Adrian asked, turning the diary over in his hands
"In a box in a hole in the wall under my bed" Chrissie said
"You think someone' abducting you? You write what you've seen down and hide it from them before you forget?" Adrian asked
"Is it so crazy?" Chrissie asked
"Aliens don't abduct, they can certainly take an interest in you but you'd only go if you were willing. I'll look into it" Adrian told her
"Any luck...you know, regarding us?" Chrissie asked
"I'm working on it" Adrian told her and with that and a peck on the cheek he left
Chrissie went out into the living area and Brendan shut off the TV,
"Why?" He asked
"The Singes are back" Chrissie told him simply and with she thought a cup of tea to herself, "He has the watered down diary"
Adrian entered his appartment and kicked the door shut tiredly, he then dropped the diary down on the sofa before making himself some tea. He turned as he heard a sizzle and found part the curtain singed,
"What the?" He said in question, examining the curtain, the floor and french doors, leading to his roof terrace,
Then he heard a thud and found the diary at his feet,
"Drowning victim on Porter's Lane...fluid in lungs suggesting he was in a fire, an unknown alien residue on the body not on the Torchwood database" He read aloud
Liam appeared in the mirror, he seemed to be in a vocanic cavern,
"I might get out of here some time this week" He said, "Hack into the CCTV for Owen' lab, I'll get you sound"
"OK" Adrian said,
Adrian grabbed his laptop and sat down on the sofa, he then hacked into CCTV for Torchwood and Owen' lab
Owen, Jack and Jasmine walked into Owen' lab and Owen took the results of his tests from a printer,
"OK, so I've examined the water from our victim' lungs and it wasn't water at all, it consisted of his natural fluids" He said, "Let me put this simply, if you're in a fire and are exposed to smoke your lungs fill with fluid and you drown"
"So he was smoked to death?" Jack asked with a frown
"Holey shit!" Adrian exclaimed
"Keep watching" Liam said
"No, I found traces of an unknown alien origin not on our database, for that and the sample I took from our victim' shoe. He was being chased by something he couldn't see and I've checked the CCTV for the area, but nothing. He must have been made aware of its presence and witnessed the death of another, then run for help or to simply get away, I'm at a real loss here Jack" Owen said
"You're not the only one" Jack replied
"The alien trace will still be there. You could try removing the CCTV of the surrounding areas and treat the lenses with Molsaphrilian minerals" Jasmine suggested
"What will that do?" Owen asked
"Help you see more clearly" Jasmine replied mysteriously before leaving the lab
Adrian grabbed the diary and read from the very beginning,
"She knew about you" Adrian said
"What?" Liam asked in shock
"You were killed by the Darlek Emperor" Adrian said, "I know how he'd have ended up where he did"
"You do?" Liam said nervously
"Well yeah, Davros was brought up on Gallifrey EY didn't you know that?" Adrian asked
"No" Liam sighed, shaken and suddenly sad. He vanished from the mirror,
"Good luck Li, wherever you are" Adrian said
The 11th Doctor sat with Jack and Jasmine in their room,
"So what did you want me for?" He asked
"Emperor has given me the same formula he used on me to make me immortal again but he's told me Owen isn't strong enough yet. I've been giving him injections to boost the defences and wake up his alien traits and abilities but it's a slow process" Jack began
"I know where you're going and the answer is no, I will not steal a recall device from the Blue Molsaphrilian caves'" The Doctor said, then before Jack could protest he added, "I do know one, who could"
"Absolutely not!" Partifimind snapped not a minute later as he, Jack and Jasmine stood in the court room, "Under no circumstances has it ever been deemed acceptable for a Time Lord to steal off one of its allies, whatever the reason!"
"What? Even if it means the difference between the saving of a planet that used to be ours, by a mortal, who has no idea he's a Time Lord Royal or his death and the continuous destruction and unnecessary agony of an innocent civilisation, a war their true king can only stop if he's immortal! Emperor has already given Jack the formula. Hardly any of Owen' alien abilities have been woken up, they have to be in order for this to work, it'll only transform the blood of a Time Lord" The Doctor said getting angry,
"How do I know you won't use it on yourself, it'd turn you into a God?" Partifimind tested
" No, I'd be a hypocrite! Partifimind, I know my elder forms were, have been and are selfish and maybe if they'd known they'd have tried to seek it out but I cannot be held accountable for that behaviour. The 7th ordering Owen' death, that was wiped from my mind"
"Woe! Hang on a second! 7!" Jack exclaimed, "What the hell?!"
"Oh now look what you've made me do! This is your fault Partifimind! You and your damn court altering their lives over and over, never revealing the reasons behind it! I can't not know everything but you can't punish me for revealing what I just did because thanks to Emperor I can never lie to these two again!"
"Oh calm down" Partifimind said, "The why is obvious, he'd tell you himself if Ryan could pin him down"
"I cannot be held accountable for that or Ryan' revival. Going back to the device a second and your question, there would be no point to Adrian' existence or Honour' for that matter and I know this is gonna work because it has to work" The Doctor ranted
Jack shook his head,
"I am going to knock someone out in a minute I really am" He said
"Some very bold statements there Doctor, another question, Time Lords are shape shifters, why have you never used that power?" Partifimind asked
"I'd rather take the credit" He replied
Jack grinned,
"There is a floor in your plan" Partifmind said
"You can't shoot what you can't see" He replied
"They see past perception we gave them that right a millenia ago" Partifimind said
"I'm not talking about perception" He replied
"No? What then? They'd still sense a theif"
"And that sense will lead them to a grave...call Liam out of the lost path" The Doctor said
"Fine but he has to go straight back the second he has the device" Partifiind said
Meanwhile at a house not two minutes from the hub a man and two teenagers are discussing a paper as paw prints burned into the carpet in the hallway outside,
"Come on dad, there's no way..."
"Secret...they're closing in...don't!" Came a voice
One of the teens and their father are singed to death while the seond runs screaming from the house,
"I'll go" Came a voice, just as sinsiter as HCKTS appeared on their throats this time
Owen was surprised to see Adrian in his lab the following morning,
"Uh, what're you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be on some sebatical?" He asked
"I have a problem. It's Chrissie, someone is taking her to the event then taking her back again, she writes about it because she knows she won't remember by the morning because they wipe it from her memory" Adrian told him
"Give me some examples" Owen said
"My abduction, my rescue, the protector and the finned tiger, the bite, the war, Honour being given to the 11th" Adrian said,
"Woe" Owen said, "We're going way back"
"Devine! Put in a cryogenic chamber! Honour' role in saving Jack from Satellite Five, 9' real feelings for him, telling a counseller after he left Jack that he couldn't be around him because he couldn't breathe. Losing him was the hardest thing he had to face since mum and me and the first chance he got he was going to wipe that pain from his memory. He didn't think he'd ever see him again" Adrian continued, "Liam' death and she had another two nights ago, I know this to be true because I hacked into your CCTV network, the 11th Doctor stepped walked towards two people who I know to be Captain Jack Harkness and Jasmine Ray. They were hunched over a body of a man in his fifties, goes on to say smoke inhalation caused the victim to drown. The man was with him when it happened; he said his male companion was burned by unseen hands, he watched through a window"
"There's a door singed shut at a body at the collage nearest the 50' Bay boarder" Owen said, taking the diary, "You need a binding spell?"
"Uh" Adrian said
"Let's deal with this, I may know someone, who'll be able to sort you out" Owen said, "We might be able to save this one, there's an address, let's go"
When Owen and Adrian reached the address of the male and his son the door was still hot to touch and Owen burned the back of his hand. He scanned the door and the front of the house but there was no fire,
"Could be a backdraft" Adrian said
"I have something we can use" Owen said and he took a small blue ball from his pocket
"What's that goning to do?" Adrian asked baffled,
Owen smashed it and the house iced over, Owen then kicked the door and it shattered,
"I got these off some elemental twinse, called Sky and Blue...I believe you know Sky"
"How?" Adrian asked
"Look in the mirror" Owen said with a wink
Adrian was stunned,
They went inside but the mintue Owen was about to examin the bodies they turned into skeletons and two words appeared on the wall,
"You lost" Adrian said
"The Singes!" Owen exclaimed backing up
Over at the collage Morgan found another skeleton and then looked sharply at Vivian, now a teenager, in the doorway,
"It's broken...we're done for" She said and with that she ran
"Owen...I just found Vivian, she said the Emperor' puzzle broke, I think she's gone to Iron Port" Morgan said when he called Owen
"I'll see if I can get hold of Jack" Owen replied
Jack and Jasmine were already on their way when Owen called,
"How did you know about it?" Jack asked
"I'll explain later, you need to get that puzzle off her, if it's not working then either she's too invested in Earth or it has a new heir" Owen replied
"I'd have guessed the same but who?" Jack said in question
When Jack and Jasmine arrived Vivian was reluctant to go with them. She was stood on the platform of Iron Port station, and had the now dull looking puzzle held out towards the trackline,
"It's over! I just heard on the radio two hosptials and a fire brigade have gone up but the dead aren't dead, they're skeltons, sound familiar? There hasn't been a train at this station for three days now. If I destroy the device..."
"That's what they want Vivian! They're using animals we can't see, called Secret's, to spread the virus, we can still reverse this, we just need to figure out who that puzzle will work for now!" Jack called
"Please Vivian" Jasmine begged, "Give me the puzzle" Vivian caved and gave Jasmine the puzzle, she scanned it, "Oh that's not good"
"What is it?" Jack asked in shock
"OK so this puzzle is the Emperor', the singes are beyond this boarder. So far all their victims came from this village and knew people from this village. If they control and kill just one, a successful keeper of Secret' then they can destroy this entire planet"
"We don't have that kind of tech" Jack said
"No but we know someone, who does" Jasmine said
Jack, Jasmine and Vivian met Owen, Adrian and Morgan back at the hub and called on Michael' experties to try and locate the Singes keeper,
"Dad is out of range" Jasmine said, then she handed the puzzle to Adrian, "You try"
Adrian took the puzzle in his hand and everything kicked off in the hub, lights blew out, windows smashed, fires started up everwhere,
"What the hell!" Jack exclaimed,
"You're getting the impact of each bomb used so far" Jasmine said calm as you like
"There are people in this room that can actually die can you reign in the blasé attitude?" Jack snapped as part of the wall came down,
"Michael, the Keeper?" Jasmine said ignoring Jack
"He's a teen, on route to Iron Port now"
"We'll never make it!" Jack cried
Chrissie grabbed Brendan and ported,
"What...?"
Brendan was stunned when he appeared on the platform. He called Jack on impulse, then put the phone down as he saw the teen climb down,
"Dad, start talking" She said as laughing Singes and creatures surrounded him
"Brendan' with them" Jack said, observing the computer, "How is he...? Never mind, Adrian how are you getting on with that puzzle?"
"Give me a bloddy minute!" He snapped
"We don't have a minute" Chrissie said from her stance on the platform, pointing at the information board,
"Help him...I can't reach that kid' mind" Brendan said
Chrissie ported to just behind Adrian and placed a beam of light around him. She slowed time right down and Adrian closed his eyes. He saw himself on a train, severing the ties between the Singes, the teen and Earth, then he opened his eyes and Chrissie vanished,
"We don't need a binding spell" She said with a smile as the Singes vanished and the teen came around
"Yes you do" Brendan said
That's when Chrissie heard it but she'd used too much outer power. The teen was struck. She screamed with such power it was heard throughout the universe. Shocking even the Doctor.