Chapter Twenty-Three

Jack closed the TARDIS door behind him and threw his coat over one of the coral struts in the console room.

"I'm back, honey!" he yelled.

A loud clatter from under the console and a string of curses in multiple alien languages followed his words.

Jack raised his eyes to the ceiling. "That bad?"

An affirmative hum was his answer.

He sighed. "Has he slept?"

This time the answer was decidedly negative, followed by something Jack couldn't quite interpret, but sounded like a decidedly pissed-off time ship giving a certain Time Lord a piece of her mind.

"I heard that," a muffled voice said from under the console.

"Good," Jack gave back, even though he had no idea what the TARDIS had said. "Did he eat?"

"You know, I'm here as well," the Doctor said somewhat acerbically.

"Yes, but since you're apparently not really talkative at the moment, I've decided to ask someone who is more likely to give me an answer."

"Oi!"

A new voice interrupted the impending argument. "Jack! Can you please tell that big space dumbo hiding under the console that he should stop whatever he is doing at the moment because the TARDIS refuses to give everyone back their hot water until he relents!"

Jack turned around and grinned at Donna, who was standing in the archway leading to the galley, glaring at the part of the console under which the Doctor was hiding.

"Donna! I didn't expect to see you here. Didn't you say you'd stay with your folks at least until next week, because you needed a break?"

She turned her attention towards him. "Yeah. I mean, walking fat? I still don't get how they lost an entire planet, but there you go. And the next few trips were even worse. All I wanted were a few quiet days at home, but what did I get?" She sighed. "My mum managed to drive me up the wall in less than twenty-four hours. I stayed another two days, but that was only for Gramps's sake. On Thursday I was ready to kill someone, so I came back. But if I'd known I'd end up in a war zone between an alien and a sentient time ship, I'd rather have signed up for another week with my mum." She once again stared angrily at the grating that was currently hiding the Doctor from her gaze.

"What do you think about a cup of coffee and you tell me what exactly is going on here?" he suggested in an attempt to calm Donna down.

"Tea would be great," she said, still glaring in the general direction of the Doctor. "But without any hot water that's not gonna happen. We can't even boil it because she's hidden the coffee machine and every kettle, pot and pan on this ship. Yesterday I was finally fed up with cold sandwiches and had to order in to get something warm to eat. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to get a delivery service to deliver a meal to a normally empty alley?"

At this point Donna seemed ready to spit fire, and Jack decided that he needed to calm her down. Quickly.

"Okay," he said. "Everyone into the galley. Now. That includes you, Doctor."

"And why would I want to do that?" the Doctor asked acerbically.

"Because the TARDIS is going to shock you if you don't-"

"Didn't convince me the last six times."

"…and is going to give us one kettle back if you do," Jack continued as if the Doctor hadn't interrupted him. He turned a megawatt smile at the ceiling. "Please?"

Even though the hum sounded decidedly grumpy, it was affirmative, which Jack considered at least a small success.

Ten minutes later everyone had gathered in the galley, and the tea was steeping. Jack and Donna were sitting at the table, the Doctor leaning against the counter, arms crossed, his face an expressionless mask.

Nobody had spoken since they had left the console room, and Jack was more and more feeling like a therapist who was supposed to be negotiating between an old arguing couple, without even knowing what exactly the problem was.

No time like the present, he thought.

"Anyone willing to tell me why the TARDIS decided to cut the hot water supply?" He stared at the Doctor intently, but didn't really expect an answer from him. Unsurprisingly, the Doctor didn't as much as blink an eye.

"I'd say because he didn't stop trying to modify her circuits when she wanted him to," Donna said, adding her glare to Jack's.

Jack sighed. This was worse than pulling teeth.

"Assuming Donna is right, anything you've got to say about that, Doctor?"

Once again the Doctor chose to ignore his question, so Donna answered instead.

"Well, if I have to guess from him babbling about spacio-this and temporal-that when he was still speaking it's because the TARDIS somehow can't make a connection with Rose anymore."

The Doctor glared at Donna, a thunderous expression on his face. "I don't babble," he said, spitting out the word as if it tasted like dishwater.

Jack laughed. "You do, on occasion. And since that was the part of Donna's statement you chose to focus on, I guess she was right about the rest."

The Doctor looked slightly uncomfortable, but eventually he relented. "There's a chance that I can get the equipment we found on Xeriax to work."

"But that's good, isn't it?" Donna said, a smile blossoming on her face.

Jack, however, was confused. "What's that to do with the TARDIS and her connection with Rose?"

The Doctor looked at him as if he had asked an exceptionally stupid question, then grumbled something unintelligible.

"Oi!" Donna glared at him. "No calling us stupid. In any language."

"You don't even know what I said!" the Doctor protested.

"No, but I can guess, and apparently I was not far off!" Donna shot back, then added, softer, "Doctor, we just want to help. So, please, tell us what's wrong."

The Doctor sighed and finally took a seat at the table. "Before the Time War, holding up a portal long enough for Rose to come through would have been easy. Two or three Time Lords working together could have done it, just with their TARDISes working together, but now it's a lot more complicated."

"That's where the equipment we, well, secured on Xeriax comes in," Jack said.

The Doctor nodded. "I need a few additional parts and have to make a couple of adjustments, but under the right conditions and with enough energy, I can hold up a portal on my own. Well, maybe. And only if I can find a natural weakness in the walls between universes. But it's not gonna work if I don't align universes first."

"What does that mean, 'align universes'?" Donna asked. "Can't you just, I dunno, cross over with the TARDIS, get her and come back?"

He shook his head. "It doesn't work like that. Rose's universe moves faster than this one, even if we don't know why. When we first crashed there, it was the same year on Earth as in our universe, but then it began to move faster. When Canary Wharf happened, they were almost three years ahead, and the rate is increasing."

"Does that mean Rose…?" Jack didn't finish his question.

The Doctor looked him in the eyes and nodded slowly. "Yes."

"Damn."

"Yeah."

"I still don't get it," Donna said. "Can't you just travel in time to get to her when you are in the other universe?"

"Let me guess," Jack threw in, understanding dawning. "Even if you can build a portal, it's going to be extremely unstable if the universes are not in synch."

"Exactly. And even if I could build a portal between universes that are not aligned, it would take up a tremendous amount of energy. And it's not as if the TARDIS can just fuel up anywhere. At least not while we're in another universe."

"Wait!" Donna said. "Are you telling me the TARDIS can refuel basically everywhere as long as we are in this universe? And we wouldn't have needed to go to Cardiff for that pit stop that ultimately landed us on Skaro?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "And again she decides to focus on the least important part of what I said. Donna, I didn't just want to go to Cardiff because I like the Roald Dahl Plass so much. I needed some information only Jack could give me. Using the rift for a fast refuel was just an additional plus. Otherwise we would have spent days just hanging in the Time Vortex, and honestly, I wasn't certain I would survive your cooking that long."

"Oi! At least I didn't almost manage to kill us because I felt the need to show off my non-existent cooking skills on that fish soup planet."

"Bouillabaisse. And I'll have you know, I make a fantastic crème brûlée. Who was I to know the Bouillabaissians wouldn't appreciate that?" The Doctor glared at her. "Anyway, the TARDIS can't refuel in the other universe. Last time, I gave her a part of my life energy, but that isn't nearly enough to travel in time there and to come back here if the universes are not in synch. Let alone that I currently don't even know if time travel is even possible in Pete's universe. Which brings us back to me having to align universes first."

"Which means you need the reason why the universes are currently out of synch," Jack concluded, suddenly realising what exactly was going on. "And Rose is the only one who can tell us. Only that she can't."

"Exactly. We always thought it had been the Cybermen, but that doesn't explain why it is getting worse. I put myself into a trance as soon as you had left the TARDIS to increase the chance to meet Rose, but the TARDIS refuses to bridge universes."

"Did she tell you why?" Donna asked.

The Doctor shook his head. "Just that it was too dangerous."

"But that doesn't make sense. Why now? What's different compared to last time?" Jack asked.

"No idea. That's what I've been trying to find out, but she won't let me."

The Doctor looked him in the eyes, and even though the Time Lord tried to hide it Jack could see that he feared for Rose. And apparently he was not the only one who had seen it.

"She's fine, Doctor. If it was because of Rose, don't you think the TARDIS would have told you?" Donna said. "It must be something else."

The Time Lord avoided their eyes.

Jack sighed. "Doc, pissing off the TARDIS is not going to bring us nearer to an answer. Neither is brooding."

"And what do you suggest we do?" the Doctor asked acridly.

Jack shrugged, then grinned. "What we always do. See the universe and find trouble on the way. And maybe we'll even find out what is going on here." He paused, suddenly thoughtful. "Because this is not the only unusual thing that happened in the last couple of weeks."

"What do you mean?"

"I did some catching up with my Torchwood team, and they told me that apparently some genius boy introduced a device that would reduce carbon dioxide emissions to zero."

The Doctor looked up. "That's way too early."

"My thoughts exactly, and apparently the Prime Minister thought the same. She said it was just too good to be true, even though several experts advised her to approve it. Turned out it was a Sontaran plot to conquer the Earth, and when they threatened to invade, she let the military destroy one of their ships with a weapon they had found in an alien space ship, years ago. The rest of the invasion fleet apparently got the message and retreated quickly."

"Sontarans? On Earth? But normally they are so involved in their war with the Rutans that they completely ignore the rest of the universe."

"Apparently they were losing the war and wanted to use Earth as cloning world."

"Like the Adipose?" Donna asked. "Did they lose their breeding planet as well?"

"No idea," Jack said. "But you have to admit that it's weird."

"Yeah, like the thing with the disappearing bees," Donna added.

"Bees? What bees?" the Doctor asked.

"Just something granddad said. The bees are disappearing."

"Bees. Disappearing."

"Yeah. People think it's air pollution. Or maybe mobile phone signals."

The Doctor rubbed his cheek unconsciously. "Could be they're going home."

"Are you saying the bees are aliens?"

"Some of them. But that doesn't make sense. Sontar and Melissa Majoria are basically on opposite sides of the universe. What do they have in common?"

"And don't forget the Adipose breeding planet," Jack threw in.

"Melissa Majoria, Sontar, Adipose 3," the Doctor mused. "Still doesn't make sense."

"They've got an S, an A and an O," Donna said, apropos of nothing.

"What do you mean?"

"Their names. They've got an S, an A and an O."

"Donna, we're trying to find out what's going on here, not trying to win a spelling contest."

"Well, you asked what those planets had in common. I'm just trying to help."

"Other ideas?" the Doctor asked, looking at Jack who simply shook his head.

"Oh well, in that case…" The Doctor jumped up, suddenly grinning manically. "Let's try the randomiser."

"What's the randomizer?" Jack asked.

"What it says on the tin: it sends the TARDIS to a random point in space and time."

"And how is that different from what happens when you're the designated driver?"

"Oi!"

~o~o~o~

"All of us suffered from the Nameless. All of us lost family and friends. And all of us are needed to rebuild the country. So let's finally abolish the zones that artificially divide a population that needs to stand as one against-"

Rose Tyler switched off the television. Once again Harriet Jones had tried to persuade people to finally get rid of the zone system. She was right, of course, but she would never convince enough MPs to join her cause. None of them had any idea what it meant to be treated as a second-class citizen, to be the last person being considered for a flat or a job, not having access to many areas of London and other major cities without having to pass through several checkpoints, being subjected to frequent curfews without a reason. Even though Rose had grown up on a council estate and people had looked down at her because of that, that wasn't nearly the same, and she hoped that Harriet Jones would finally succeed. However, most MPs wanted to keep things as they were, fearing for their safety. They didn't seem understand that what they saw as a means against social unrest would sooner or later turn into the opposite, that the people in the zones would rise against those who saw them as less worthy.

Rose sighed. People were mourning the loved ones that had been abducted by the Nameless or been killed during the siege. The government and most executive authorities had been mostly extinguished, as well as the civil service, and once again the planet had to rebuild everything from scratch, much like after the Cyberwar. And both government and parliament had decided to ignore a large part of the population, people who maybe could make a difference, who maybe would even fight for a country that treated them equally.

She grabbed a sponge and furiously scrubbed the tiles in the bathroom, silently cursing Terrence Gold for the umpteenth time. Her boss had forced her to take a few days off, telling her to finally make use of the endless hours of overtime she had accumulated over the last few months.

"If I see you here before Monday morning, I'll tell Pete to transfer you to Finance," he had said.

"But-"

"No buts. That's an order. You need rest. You almost botched your last assignment because you were completely sleep-deprived, Rose. I appreciate your dedication to your job, but in this condition you're a danger to your teammates. So either you take the rest of the week off, or else you work for Matt next week."

Rose had grumbled, but since Terrence never made empty threats and working for Matthew Powell was probably even further down on her list of favourite tasks than cleaning the toilet, she had simply nodded and gone home. Even though there had been no consequences to her trip in the tunnels, she was certain that Terrence had seen right through their cover story and knew that she had ignored a direct order. He might have tolerated it once, because of Tony, but she knew him well enough to know that he wouldn't do it again.

That had been two days ago. Until now she had spent the time cleaning her flat, but removing non-existent spots from the tiles was her last task, then every chore was done, even those she tended to avoid until she couldn't put them off any longer.

They still didn't know what had happened. One day two months ago, the ships had been there, hanging in the sky like they had for far too many months, then the Nameless were suddenly gone, the entire armada vanished within minutes. As soon as the scans had confirmed that the sky was empty again the consequences had hit her full force. For months she had refused to believe that her mum was dead, but the hostile armada gone meant that they had lost every chance to find out what had happened to her and all the other abductees. And since neither humans nor the few aliens Torchwood had diplomatic relations with had ever found out who the Nameless were, they had a snowflake's chance in hell to rescue their people. Which meant that even if Jackie was still alive, she might as well have died the moment she was transmatted.

Shortly after Tony's little detour into the tunnels Pete and she had told him that Jackie had been abducted by the Nameless. After the aliens had vanished and they had finally been able to leave Torchwood Tower, the little boy had asked if now his mum would come back. Even though Pete had expected the question, he had still struggled when he had explained to Tony what the aliens being gone meant for Jackie. Tony had nodded, accepting Pete's explanation that his mum was still lost and would most likely never come back, but that there was a teeny-weeny chance that they would see her again. Every now and then he asked if his mum would come back today, but he was a child: in play he could forget everything around him. To tell the truth, Tony seemed to be coping a lot better than she did.

Rose wished she had his ability to forget reality. Whenever she had too much time on her hands, the truth hit her with a sledgehammer: Her mum was gone, and the chance of her coming back was only infinitesimally better than a snowflake's chance in hell. Then the memories came, not only of her mum and the chance to warn her she had missed, but also of all those things she had seen and done during the siege, worst of all killing the man who had abducted Tony.

She had to admit that Terrence was right. She was sleep-deprived and exhausted to the bone. But she couldn't get herself to rest. Whenever she did, whenever she stopped, her thoughts began to wander. Now she understood why the Doctor never stood still. So she had taken a leaf from his book and thrown herself into work. Nobody had questioned her, because Torchwood was short on personnel, especially on field agents. Not only because many of her colleagues had lost their lives, but because others had quit service afterwards. Rose had gladly taken the opportunity, trying to exhaust herself as much as possible, so she would at least be able to sleep for a few short hours.

To make things worse, the dreams had stopped. She hoped that it was because she slept so little, but she feared something had happened to the Doctor, which was all too possible, given the life he led.

Her mobile rang, interrupting her thoughts, and she dropped the sponge in the sink, diving for her handbag to find the device before it went to voicemail.

"Tyler."

"Pete has called everyone in for a meeting. Something happened. He wants you here yesterday," she heard Jake's voice say. He sounded worried, which put her on alert immediately.

"Okay. Give me thirty."

Twenty-seven minutes later Rose slid into the chair between Mickey and Jake in a conference room in Torchwood Tower.

"Any idea what's going on?"

Jake shook his head. "No. Pete just gave me a list of people to call. But to tell the truth, I've never seen him look so worried."

"Yeah, and if possible, Stephanie McDonnal looked even worse," Mickey threw in. "Must be something big."

Another five minutes later, Pete entered the room, Stephanie McDonnal, the head of astronomical research, at his side. He took a seat, then looked at the Directors and the few field agents on the table.

"We have a situation. The stars are going out," he said without preamble.

"What does that mean? How can the stars go out?" Matthew Powell asked before Pete could continue, and even though Rose thoroughly disliked him, his question voiced her thoughts exactly.

"We don't know," Stephanie McDonnal said. "All we know is that the stars are going out. Literally. It's like they're just vanishing from the sky. One minute they're there, the next they're gone, as if they never existed, along with each and every planet circling them. And there's absolutely nothing that would indicate a supernova or even them being sucked into a black hole." She sounded as if she was about to panic, completely unlike the solemn, collected persona she normally presented. "That's not all. The speed is increasing. Even the rate of increase is increasing. If it continues like this the general public will notice in less than three months."

Pete took up the briefing again, and from the look in his face Rose knew he was about to deliver the really bad news. "According to our calculations, the phenomenon will reach the Solar System in less than seven months."

"Are you sure that this isn't just some sort of visual trick?" Terrence Gold asked.

"No," Stephanie said. "We have conclusive evidence from three earthbound telescopes and Hubble. Also, the Corrivex have reported that they're witnessing the same phenomenon."

"Do we know where and when it started?" Rose asked.

"The Corrivex first noticed it six months ago in the Theta sector, in an area they refer to as Firesnake's Blast, from where it spread in all directions. Apparently they have several allies in the region who asked for their help, but they were too late. The systems of their allies had already been swallowed by the darkness. As a result, their system was flooded with refugees. The Corrivex sent out a couple of space probes and two scout ships when the first refugees appeared in their system. Whenever one of them neared the coordinates of a system that should have been there but wasn't, they lost contact. Neither the space probes nor the scout ships came back."

"Is the phenomenon limited to a certain part of space?" Matthew Powell wanted to know.

"Unfortunately not. It's spreading into every quadrant."

"Any ideas what's causing it?"

Stephanie shook her head. "None. Our best experts came up with absolutely nothing. It just doesn't make sense. We thought it was completely impossible. Neither we nor the Corrivex or their allies have any idea what's going on, let alone how to stop it. Which means..." She trailed off and looked at Pete.

"Which means that even though we don't know what exactly will happen, we know that we, that this planet will cease to exist in less than seven months." Pete paused. "However, there is still one thing we can do, but only if the directors are all in agreement." He paused for a moment, then continued, "The last time we crossed in another universe, we were warned that both our and the other universe would collapse if we ever tried to weaken the walls again."

Rose looked at Pete, not even daring to breathe. Was he really going to suggest what she thought he would? Would he really redirect the entire resources of Torchwood into a dimension crossing project, to achieve what she had tried alone, during so many lonely nights in her hideout in the archives before the Nameless had invaded the planet? She tried to read his expression, but to no avail. Her thoughts raced, and she almost missed Pete's next words.

"Our entire universe is at stake. Our only chance is to once more cross into that other universe and find the one person that might be able to help us." He paused again, and this time he looked directly at Rose. "The Doctor."

Murmurs rose up, but Pete raised a hand and they died down. "It wasn't easy the last time, and this time it's going to be even more difficult, because last time the walls between universes had already been weakened on the other side. And there's no guarantee that we will be able to reach the other universe. No guarantee that we will be able to find the Doctor-"

"No guarantee we won't destroy the entire universe in the process," Matthew Powell mumbled.

"-and no guarantee that he will be able to help us," Pete continued, ignoring the comment. "The only certainty is that we will die, all of us, everyone we love, if we don't act now. So, your votes, please."

He paused for a moment, and the directors exchanged uncomfortable looks. Rose glanced at Pete, then at the others. Even if she would give almost anything to get back to her original universe, she wouldn't want to make that particular vote right now, in the knowledge that their actions might indeed cause what they were trying to prevent.

"Those against?" Pete asked. No hand rose up.

"Those in favour?" One after another the directors raised their hands, and even though Matthew Powell looked as if he was going to spit fire, his hand rose up as well.

"Then let's start looking for a way to the Doctor."

~o~o~o~

He was losing it. Totally losing it. Not because of the entity that was currently trying to consume him, that was more like a minor nuisance. The bunch of people currently discussing whether to throw him out of the bus into the lethal Xtonic sunlight of Midnight was a bit more serious. But what was really getting to him was Rose.

Ever since Rose had been trapped in Pete's World, he had turned to show her something or reached for her hand before he had remembered that she wasn't there. No tongue-in-cheek smiles, no comforting hugs, no hand to hold. Only Jack working beside him, Donna bullying him into eating and sleeping and travelling, and the dreams that linked Rose and him across the void had stopped him from going mad, the way he had been before he had met Rose.

But then the dreams had stopped, and now he was seeing her everywhere. He caught glimpses of her in alien markets or on the TARDIS monitor, but whenever he ran to catch her or took a closer look at the screen she was gone. And now he had even briefly seen her image on a screen in this damned bus, just out of the corner of his eyes, and once again she had been wearing the same blue leather jacket she always did, a jacket he had never seen her in before.

But even if he was going mad, and given his track record he couldn't be entirely sure that he wasn't, he was fairly certain that something was going on, and that it had something to do with all those lost planets. And if it was the last thing he did, he would find out what it was and who was behind it, and then it would stop.