Chapter 15

Homeward Bound

The Smiths and the Tylers were in the busy departure lounge of Tranquility Space Port. The Lunar Conveyor was making its approach, and the cargo plane Intrepid had already departed to dock with it on its approach. The cargo plane Endeavour had already undocked from the Conveyor and would be arriving shortly. After it had landed and taxied along a branching track to the warehouse, the passenger plane Fortitude would launch to rendezvous with the Conveyor as it swung around the moon and headed back to Earth.

Rose took one last look around, admiring the architecture and committing it to memory. They'd had a great week. They'd dined at various restaurants from around the Earth. They had been to the leisure centre nearly every day, and the kids had loved the splash pool, which had a beach, palm trees, water slides, spray fountains, and a wave generator. She remembered how weird the water was in one sixth gravity. Their bodies had the same mass, but not the same weight, so they tended to float on top of the water.

'Y'know, it's a shame for all the people who won't be able to afford to come here and experience all this,' she said.

John nodded his agreement. 'Yeah, I know what you mean. I'd love to take the money we would have paid to come here, and give it to a family who can't even afford an earthbound holiday.'

'Oh, what a lovely thought,' Jackie said.

Pete nodded, deep in thought. 'Actually, that is a really good thought.' He looked around the departure lounge and found who he was looking for. 'Back in a minute,' he said, and hurried through the throng of passengers.

'What's 'e up to now?' Jackie asked.

'RICHARD, ALAN,' they heard him call out as he approached a group of people. 'Ah, HENRY . . . DIMITRY, YOU TOO.'

They watched him meet up with Richard Branson and Alan Sugar, and waited for Henry van Statten and Dmitry Kamenshchik to join them. Dmitry was a Russian businessman, chairman and sole shareholder in Moscow Domodedovo Airport, and owner of DME Limited, the Airport holding company. DME had built the spaceport they were now standing in. The group had a quick conference, and Pete slapped some of their shoulders and made his way back.

'What was all that about then?' Jackie asked him suspiciously.

'I've just pitched them the idea to have a Moon lottery. People pay a pound for a family ticket, and then two random tickets are selected each week for each of the launches. Profits will cover the cost of the tickets and the remainder goes to charity,' Pete said with a smile.

Jackie grabbed his face and kissed him. 'That my love, is a lovely idea.'

'Hey, it was John's idea really, I just put the idea into action,' Pete told them. 'We've still got to work out the details and see who else wants in on the idea.'

['Would all passengers for the return flight to Earth, please make their way to the departure gate please,'] a female voice said over the public address system.

'Ooh, here we go,' Jackie said, and they moved towards the airlock which led to the Space Plane as the message repeated.

Through the windows, they could see the plane sitting on the levitation track, with the tubular airlock tunnel reaching out to the passenger cabin. They could see people already on the plane, finding their seats and putting their hand luggage in the overhead compartments. After having their tickets checked, they walked along the airlock tunnel and found their seats. Ten minutes later, the hatch was locked into place.

The pilots had entered the cockpit an hour earlier to run through the pre flight checks, and now they were waiting for the green light from the closed hatch. The passengers could also see when the green light came on, which meant the ship was now sealed and pressurised. They heard the thrumming noise as the tunnel had the air sucked out of it, before being withdrawn back into the wall of the departure lounge.

['Ladies, gentlemen, and young people, this is your captain speaking. I hope you all enjoyed your stay on the Moon.'] There was a chorus of "yes's" from the passengers. ['All the preflight checks are completed and we have a go for launch from Tranquility Tower. Our departure will be timed so that we rendezvous with the Lunar Conveyor as it swings around from the far side of the Moon. I hope you enjoy your flight.']

After a few minutes, the countdown from ten started, and when it got to zero, it smoothly accelerated on the magnetic track. Although the plane had the same mass as on Earth, there was less gravity trying to pull it back down, and no air resistance trying to stop it from going forward. The end of the three mile track ascended the curved wall of a crater, and the Space Plane shot off the end at nearly one thousand mile an hour. The SABRE ignited its rocket phase, and accelerated the plane to a velocity which would allow the Conveyor to slowly close the distance.

For the passengers on board, it was a replay of the journey they had experienced when they had left the Earth. The Lunar Conveyor was a dot which got increasingly larger, and the Space Plane started to rotate to match it. After docking and airlock pressurisation, Captain Archer stepped through the hatchway and welcomed them aboard. For the next two days, they enjoyed the facilities of the Conveyor as they had on the outward journey.

When they approached the Earth, the Intrepid was launched nose first out of the back of the Conveyor with the magnetic track, and used its attitude thrusters to turn through one hundred and eighty degrees before firing its engines to decelerate into the Earth's atmosphere. The Endeavour was on its way to bring more supplies to the Conveyor and for the Moon.

The passengers in the Fortitude were pushed back in their seats, as the ship was ejected from the docking bay in the same manner as the Intrepid. The ship turned, and they were then pushed further back into their seats as the engines ignited and started the long burn to bring their speed down to Mach five. At this point, the plane turned through one hundred and eighty degrees, and started to fly into the upper atmosphere without the need for a heat shield.

The Space Plane flew along the equator, decelerating as it went until it approached the Chimborazo Spaceport in Ecuador where it landed as a conventional aircraft. The passengers disembarked to a media frenzy as reporters and news crews wanted to be the first to interview the first space tourists.

The Tylers and Smiths eventually made it to the Vitex airship, after having microphones and cameras thrust into their faces and giving impromptu interviews. "Yes. It was brilliant. No. I didn't throw up in zero gravity. Yes. The services were excellent." Jackie gave "mind yer own business" as an answer when one cheeky reporter asked if she had tried the adult, zero G fun zone.

'Whose for a cuppa,' Jackie asked as she made her way to the galley on the airship.

'Ooh Mum. I could murder one, thanks,' Rose said as she flopped down on one of the comfy sofa seats.

The airship rose gracefully into the air and headed north east towards the Atlantic ocean. At thirty two thousand feet, they caught the edge of the jet stream which gave its speed a bit of a boost, and bringing the flight time down to around twelve hours. Fortunately, the Vitex airship was like a flying hotel, and as well as the galley it had bedrooms, a lounge, and in-flight entertainments.

Gwen O'Toole's Apartment.

Bayswater, London.

"Ding-dong".

Gwen opened the door of her apartment to find Amy "Legs" Williams standing there in a black denim mini skirt, blue sweatshirt, leather jacket and cowboy boots, holding a bottle, a bag of Dorritos and a DVD. It was Sunday evening, but it was their "Wednesday night in", which they had missed last week due to them being on night shift, and Rose being on the Moon. They were holding it now, so they could catch up before their shift on Monday.

'Hi Amy. Go on through, Sarah and Chrissie should be here in a minute. They're sharing a taxi as usual.'

Gwen was about to close the door, when she heard footsteps in the hallway. 'We're here,' Sarah called out as they came around the corner.

'Just in time,' Gwen said as she ushered them inside. There were choruses of greetings from Rose, Alice, Julia and Angel, who were already there.

'Rose! How was the Moon?' Amy asked, giving her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. 'We saw all the news items, it looked fantastic.'

'Oh it was brilliant. I'll tell you all about it,' Rose replied.

'Right, let's get the wine open and we can pick a DVD,' Julia said with enthusiasm.

'Oh. I'll just have the new mango and passion fruit Vitex that I brought please,' Amy told them.

'Oh yeah. That's the new flavour Dad was talkin' about,' Rose said. 'Is it nice?'

'It's lovely,' Amy replied.

'You not on the wine then?' Gwen asked.

'Well. I thought I'd better lay off it for now . . . y'know, due to my condition,' Amy said with a coy smile.

'What condition?' Alice asked, but Rose had already caught on.

'Don't tell me you're pregnant.'

Amy beamed a smile. 'Yeah. I did the test yesterday and I've been burstin' to tell you all.'

There were squeals of delight with hugs and kisses all round . . . all except Angel. She smiled and congratulated Amy politely, but didn't seem as delighted as the others.

Rose could see that something was troubling her friend. 'Are you okay Angel?' she asked.

'Yes, I am fine. I am very pleased for you Amy,' Angel replied.

Alice slipped into psychologist mode. 'Something tells me you are not as pleased as you would like to be. What's the matter sweetheart?'

Angels eyes glistened with unshed tears. 'I'm sorry. I do not want to spoil your good news. It's just that André and me have been trying for a baby for a while now without success.'

'Oh Angel. You poor thing,' Rose said, sitting down on the sofa with her and putting an arm around her shoulder. Gwen handed them both a glass of wine.

Angel took the offered glass and took a sip. 'Because we are different species, I do not think our genomes are compatible.'

'Blimey. That's a clinical way of putting it,' Gwen said.

From her shared consciousness with her husband, Rose recalled a scientific paper that John had written years before and had published in The New Scientist. He had titled it "Evolution and the effect of trans-species gene compatibility".

Rose rubbed Angel's shoulder. 'Hey. Don't give up hope. We happen to have a very clever scientist workin' at Torchwood, and I reckon I could put a good word in for ya.'

Angel managed a laugh, and Rose closed her eyes. ['John. You got a minute?'] she thought to her husband.

['For you, always. What's up?']

['Well. A couple of things. Amy's pregnant . . .']

['Hah! Way to go Rory. The sly old dog.']

['And Angel wants to be pregnant but can't manage it.']

['Ah. I take it they've been trying. Course they have. Why wouldn't they. Couple of newly weds like that. I suppose it's down to incompatible biology,'] John thought like his runaway gob.

['Yeah. But you know that paper you wrote on trans-species gene compatibility. Was that just theory, or does it have a practical application?']

['Ooh, Misses Smith talking all sciency. Someone's been paying attention,'] he teased.

['Shut up,'] she thought back playfully. ['Can you help them?']

['In answer to your first question, yes it does have a practical application. And in answer to your second question, yes, I can help them. Tell Angel I'll have a word with Martha tomorrow, then if they come and see me in the lab after their shift, I should have some news for them.']

['I bloody love you. Just for that, I'm goin' to wear the police woman outfit for ya tonight,'] Rose thought to him, with the notion of what she was going to do to him.

['Ooh. Can't wait. Have a good time Love. See you later.']

Rose opened her eyes, and could see her friends were looking at her expectantly. They could always tell when she was communing with John. She grinned at them and looked at Angel. 'I've put a good word in for ya, and he'll see you after your shift tomorrow. He reckons he can help you have a baby.'

Chrissie snorted a laugh. 'I think that probably sounded better in your head, Rose.'

Everyone thought about what she'd said and burst out laughing.

'No. I meant he reckons he can help you and André have a baby,' Rose said, blushing and joining them in the laughter.

'Come on. Now we've got the mood back, let's get this girls night started,' Julia said picking The Full Monty DVD at random and putting it in the player. She opened the packet of Doritos and looked around. 'Where's the sweet chilli dip?'

Torchwood Reception.

Torchwood Tower, Canary Wharf.

08:00.

It was 08:00, and in the bright, airy atrium of the Torchwood Institute, Sarah Green and five of her colleagues took their seats at the curved reception desk for the start of their shift. She wheeled the chair in front of her screen, and logged on to the Torchwood server to check her emails before looking at the itinerary for the day.

On any weekday, the Institute would have visits from various global laboratory staff, engineers, government inspectors, and other interested parties, and today was no exception. It was the job of the receptionists to greet the visitors, contact the relevant departments to notify them of their arrival, and to make sure the visitors were issued with their guest passes.

They would also have unscheduled visits from members of the public who had something unusual to report, needed advice on some issue, or were just curious sightseers who had seen the television documentary. For the latter, there was merchandise that could be purchased as mementos of their visit.

Through the glass fronted reception, Sarah could see one of those unannounced visitors approaching across Reuters Plaza. It was a woman with short cut auburn hair, in her early thirties, wearing a long black coat over a plum top and black trousers. As the glass doors swished open and the woman walked through, Sarah thought her hairstyle and clothing gave her a slightly masculine appearance.

'Good morning and welcome to the Torchwood Institute. My name is Sarah, how may I help you?' Sarah said with practised ease.

'Good morning. My name is Doctor Margaret Haxby. I wonder if it would be possible to speak with Doctor John Smith?' the woman replied.

'Do you have an appointment?' Sarah asked, checking John's diary on the screen. John didn't usually arrive until he'd finished the school run, and she could see he wasn't scheduled to arrive early.

'Er, no. I don't,' Margaret confessed. 'Do you think he would see me anyway? We met in Dunwich last September, and I've got something unusual and of a . . . personal nature to discuss.'

'Dunwich?' Sarah said. That rang a bell. She typed the name on the keyboard, and the mission summary appeared on the screen. 'Oh. The village that was forced asleep. Is it in relation to that incident?'

Margaret had a troubled expression on her face. 'Yes. I believe it is.'

Sarah gave her a reassuring smile. 'I'm sure Doctor Smith wouldn't mind. He doesn't normally arrive until half nine or so. I'll put an alert on his ID badge which will send a message to his phone. When he arrives in the building, it will ask him to come to reception.'

'Thank you. That's very kind,' said Margaret.

'No problem. There's some comfortable seating over there,' Sarah said, indicating to the side of the entrance. 'There's a TV, some magazines, and an espresso machine or fresh tea in the pot. I'll send Doctor Smith over when he arrives.'

Torchwood Special Operations Standby Room.

Torchwood Tower, Canary Wharf.

08:00.

'And finally. Amy would like to make an announcement,' Rose said as she finished the briefing.

Amy stood up to whistles and applause. 'Er, thanks Rose. I told the girls last night, and it's just to let everyone know officially that I'm pregnant.' There were more whistles, cheers and applause.

'I didn't know Rory had got it in him,' Jake said jokingly. 'Congratulations Legs.'

'Okay people, you've got your assignments. Get the hell outta here,' Rose said with a grin.

"Other Craig" Owens held Amy's elbow and spoke quietly. 'Hey. Congratulations partner. I'm really pleased for you.' He gently kissed her on the cheek.

'Oh, thanks Craig. That means a lot to me.'

'And for what it's worth, I think you'll make a brilliant mum.'

Amy gave him a cheeky smile. 'Now don't go getting all soppy on me. Come on, grab your gear. We've got a blob of jelly to investigate.'

Rose shook her head and smiled as she watched them leave with their cameraman.

'The viewers are going to love that,' Chris Greenwood said as he took the camera off his shoulder. 'For all their sniping, it's obvious that they really care about each other.'

Rose smiled at him. 'Yeah. It's the same for all the partners in the team. Deep down they know that they trust each other with their lives.' She headed towards the office and then turned. 'Oh, and watch this space. There might be some more good news in the near future.'

Chris raised a questioning eyebrow, but Rose just gave him her tongue between the teeth smile. She went to the kitchenette and poured herself a mug of tea before heading to her office. Through the glass wall, she could see Jack Harkness approaching.

'Hi Jack,' she said as he walked in and closed the door.

'Hi Sweetheart. How was the Moon?'

'Oh Jack, it was great. Normally, we go somewhere in the TARDIS, and everythin' is already well established, and everybody has been there for years. But to be there at the start . . . it was brilliant.'

'I can imagine. I was watching all the news reports. It looked like everyone enjoyed themselves. Rex is saving up to buy us some tickets,' Jack told her with a laugh.

'You don't have to do that. We can take you in the TARDIS.'

'But if you did that, then we wouldn't get that pioneer feeling that you told me about,' he explained.

'Oh yeah. Fair enough. Anyway, to what do I owe the pleasure?' she asked him. He didn't normally come to Special Operations unless it was official business.

'Ah, yes. I wanted you to get the briefing out of the way before I brought you up to speed on the Dunwich case.'

'Dunwich. Has there been a development? I didn't see anythin' when I checked the briefing log this mornin'.'

'That's because it's not in the log. We decided to keep it a secret until we could get John to have a look at the data,' Jack told her.

She gave him a questioning look. 'We?'

'Alice. You see the development is quite sensitive and will have implications for the villagers.'

'What is the development?'

'I'd rather wait for John to get here and then I can tell you both together.'

'Oh. Okay,' she said with a frown. Jack didn't usually keep secrets from her. 'Do you want us to come up to your office when he arrives?'

'That would be great,' he said and then gave her his perfect smile. 'And don't look so worried. It's just that there will be social issues to be sorted out, and we don't want the media getting wind of it.'

'Ah, gotcha. Okay, we'll see you later.'

'Thanks Sweetheart.'