Torchwood - Dark Stranger
Chapter three : Into the lion's den.
"I know this might be a stupid question," Said Owen, looking at the strange fountain, "but how do we open it? You gonna press a magic button on your watch like usual, Jack?"
"Wouldn't work for something like this. We use a key, of course." Said Jack, smiling. He reached inside his overcoat an pulled out the remote control. Pointing it at the fountain, he tried pressing some of the buttons.
After a moment of nothing happening, Owen let out a loud sigh. "Shall I go get the rocket launcher?"
Jack gave him a nasty look as he tried another button. There was a loud click, as if a huge door had been unlocked, and one side of the fountain folded in on itself. The group stared at the corridor inside, which seemed to be much longer than the fountain's exterior.
Owen leaned to one side and looked around the side of the fountain. "Neat!"
"Let's find Ianto." Said Jack, stepping into the doorway and drawing his pistol. The others did likewise. "Be careful in there."
The corridor was about two metres long and walled with what looked like dark gray marble. It opened out into a large hexagonal room, several metres wide and made of the same dark marble walls. More corridors led away from the centre of each wall of the room. In the very centre of the room stood some kind of control panel. It was about two metres wide and had several displays and keyboards which seemed to be in various different languages. In the centre of the console towered a clear tube which stretched two metres toward the high ceiling. The only light in the room was emanating from a kind of piston filled with lights moving slowly up and down within the tube.
"What is this?" Gwen asked Jack.
"It's a TARDIS." Replied Jack. "But it's got a bit more style than the last one I was in."
They used their flashlights on each corridor, but could not see more than a few metres along any of them.
"Ok." Said Jack. "Tosh and Owen, you take the first corridor on the left. Gwen and I will take the first on the right. Meet back here in ten minutes. Let's go."
They moved out of the room, using their flashlights and keeping their guns trained on the darkness ahead, not knowing what might jump out at them.
After about twenty metres, Jack and Gwen found a door in the side of their corridor. It looked oddly out of place in the marble wall, as it was made of thick oak panels. It reminded Gwen of the kind found in old manor houses she had visited as a child.
Jack nodded at the door. Preparing himself, he nodded again and Gwen turned the handle and kicked the door open. They both rushed through, Gwen behind unconsciously using Jack as cover.
They found themselves in what could have been one of the old manor house Gwen had been thinking of. Oak panels lined the walls, a huge stone fireplace in the centre of one wall held a roaring fire and the furniture was either oak or a deep red leather.
Exchanging glances, they shrugged to one another.
"Please, do come in." said a voice. Gwen's spine tingled. That was the voice from her dream.
The corridor that Owen and Tosh had been searching ended with a large metal door, reminiscent of something you'd find in a submarine. To the left of the door was a keypad, with a dozen buttons on it. The text was obviously not of Earth origin.
"Can you do anything with this?" Asked Owen.
"I'll see what I can do." Said Tosh, digging a device from her rucksack. Owen kept lookout as she placed the device against the keypad and pressed a button. Tosh then pulled out her laptop and pressed the device against the side of the screen. Pages of strange looking text scrolled up the screen.
"It'll take the machine a minute or two to translate it." She said.
"Any idea what language it's in?"
"No idea at all, but if any of the Torchwood sites know it, my laptop should decipher it." She replied proudly. The machine beeped and displayed a message on the screen. "Of course! It's from Gallifrey! The home planet of the Timelords! Should have guessed really. I just need to find an access code in the program."
As Tosh concentrated, Owen shone his torch along the corridor. Further down the corridor they had been exploring, there was a feint light coming from a room at the end of the passage. Walking slowly towards it, he caught his breath as he realised what he was seeing. Turning around, he saw Tosh crouched against the wall next to the door with her laptop on her knee. Further down the corridor past her, he saw the same dim glow that was behind him. This isn't happening, he thought to himself. Searching in his rucksack, he found what he thought was a non-essential item; a small tin of baked beans. With every ounce he could muster, he hurled the tin towards the dim light in front of him. He listened as the tin hit the floor and began rolling along. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as he realised that the noise of the rolling tin was no longer coming from in front of him, but behind him. He jumped as the tin hit the back of his foot.
"Owen, will you stop throwing things about? I'm trying to concentrate here!"
"Tosh, this place is too weird! It seems to be a maze that bends back on itself! You cracked the code yet?"
"Nearly. Keep your hair on." She replied, then jumped. "Got it!"
Studying the keypad, she glanced at the laptop's screen and tapped a few keys. There was a loud hiss of air, and the door swung slowly open, creaking loudly as it did so.
They peered inside the room. Ianto was strapped to a metal and wood chair, similar to the kind dentists use. His face was bruised and his usually immaculate black suit was hanging off his thin frame. After a quick examination, Owen announced that he had two broken fingers, a broken arm and at least two broken ribs. The most shocking thing was his face. The hair from his beard was halfway down his chest.
The owner of the voice was sitting in a high-backed leather armchair in front of the fire. Jack and Gwen slowly circled the room, keeping their guns aimed at the chair. A tall man with dark hair came into view, and smiled pleasantly at them.
"Who are you?" demanded Jack.
"I," said the man with a wider smile, "am the Master."
"Master of what?" asked Gwen.
"Why, of everything!"
"Master of the universe?" said Jack. "Sorry, but He-Man had a better physique."
"Very amusing Jack." The Master replied.
"How do you know my name?" Jack demanded.
The Master let out a disturbing laugh. "I probably know more about you than you do, Jack Harkness! Definitely more than you know about him, Gwen." Gwen shuddered at the sound of her name. "Your mind is a bit messed up, Gwen."
"And you're normal?" Snapped Gwen. Jack prepared to grab her if she tried to pounce at the man.
"You know, you didn't have to just barge in here. If you wanted your friend back, all you had to do was ask."
"And you'd have just handed him back?" said Jack.
"Why, yes. I'm sure we could have had some kind of exchange."
"Ianto for the Doctor? No deal." Replied Jack.
Gwen had to fight back the urge to smile at the comment.
"Come now Jack," Said the Master, rising and stepping closer to the roaring fire. "I can offer you other things, not just your friend returned."
"Like what?"
"Like answers. You want to know what you did in those two years that you can't remember about? You want to know exactly what the rift under this place really is? In fact, I could use my TARDIS to close the rift for you. And, on top of all that, you know what lies underneath the control console of a TARDIS, don't you Jack? I could give you what you want most of all!"
Jack laughed nervously. "And what do I want most of all?"
The Master smiled an evil smile. Leaning toward Jack, he dropped his voice to a whisper. "Mortality."