Chapter 4
Both above and below them thousands of humans gathered their meagre possessions, talking animatedly to each other. Finally they were to escape the dangers of living on the edge of nothingness. Finally they were going to the place that they all had been dreaming about for so many years. Padrafesh, Belto and Kistane Shefcaine walked over the thin metal bridge grinning to each other.
Back in the laboratory, everybody was working at a hectic race, Rose, Martha and Chantho following orders as quickly and efficiently. Turning her back to the rest, following the instruction the Doctor had just given her; Rose allowed herself a secret smile. It was so good to be back.
Outside the silo the last water collection truck passed through the gates, its' progress followed by the eyes of twenty leather-clad figures, hoping for a chance of feeding their starving bellies.
Far below Atillo looked at the red-lit room. It was strange to think that such an empty looking room could hold such danger, that it could evoke such fear in him. Behind him, his only real friend down here, Jake Mitchell was preparing to enter the Stet room, his hands shaking as he fastened the helmet onto his head and slid on his gloves.
Martha, Rose and Chantho walked down the corridor, pushing through the constant stream of people anxious to get to the rocket. The Professor had asked them to fetch more of the glass-like circuits that they had been working with before. They both saw a familiar blonde-haired head popping up a head of them.
"Hey, what was your name…?" Martha said, trying to remember the strange name she had heard used before, "Creet."
"That's right miss." Be answered brightly. Rose noticed a slight Scottish accent creeping through. Was there a Scottish planet, maybe?
"Who you with Creet? Got any family?"
"No miss, it's just me."
Martha's face fell in sympathy. Now she understood why he was working so young. He didn't have a choice.
"Oh," she replied sadly, "Well, good luck."
"What do you think it's gonna be like? In Utopia?" Rose asked, trying to lighten the conversation.
"My mum used to say the skies were made of diamonds."
"Good for her!" both Martha and Rose said, grinning at the way his little face lit up like the jewels that he was describing.
"Go on; get your seat." Martha laughed, ruffling the boy's hair affectionately.
As they walked on, neither the women, the boy or the last survivor of the Malmooth noticed the same woman with jagged teeth who had watched them being lead to the lab watching them, eyes narrowed. Time to get the plan underway.
Back at the laboratory, the Professor and the Doctor were working together on either sides of something the Professor called a "Nutrina map." It was basically a large, rectangular sheet of some transparent material, similar to either plastic or glass- like every other piece of technology so far. The Doctor sniffed. He had been putting in wires wherever the Professor told him when he had smelled something. He sniffed hi hands. It was something like food, though he hadn't eaten for at least an hour now. He picked up the wire he had just attached.
"Is that…?" he asked, gesturing to the Professor with the wire.
"Yeah," the Professor replied, nodding, "Gluten extracts. It binds the Nutrina map together."
"That's food." The Doctor said, awestruck, "You built this system out of food and string and staples." He took his glasses of, looking at the man in admiration, "Professor Yana, you are a genius!"
"So says the man who made it work." The scientist scoffed.
"Oh, it's easy coming in at the end but… you're stellar. This is… this is magnificent. And I don't often say that 'cause… well, 'cause of me."
"Well even my title is an affectation. There hasn't been such a thing as a university for," he thought, blowing out his cheeks, "over a thousand years. I've spent my life going from one refugee ship to another."
"If you'd been born in a different time you'd be revered." The Professor laughed, raising an eyebrow at the idea. "I mean it! Throughout the galaxies."
"All those damn galaxies! They had to go and collapse. Some admiration would have been nice. Yes, just a little, just… once."
"Well, you've got it now." The Doctor smiled at his new friend. It was the strangest thing, but it felt like they already knew each other… as if they had been friends for years. There was the tiniest of niggles, right at the back of his head, just ticking his mind.
"But that footprint… engine… thing." He continued, shaking of the feeling, "You can't activate it from on board. It's got to be done from here. You're staying behind."
"With Chantho." He confirmed, "She won't go without me; simply refuses.
The Doctor concealed a small smile. A female companion who refused to leave someone behind. Now why did that sound familiar?
"You'd give your life so they could fly?" there was no surprise in his voice. Hadn't he done the same, so many times; given his life so that others could continue with theirs?
"I think I'm a little old for Utopia. So I might have some sleep."
The Doctor and the Professor looked at each other for a long moment, understanding flickering between them.
Both of men looked up as Atillo's voice was heard coming over the intercom system.
"Professor? Tell the Doctor we've found his blue box."
"Ohhh!" said the Doctor happily.
"Doctor?" Jack said from where he was standing on the other side of the lab where he was stripping wires for the others to use, pointing to the small surveillance screen in front of him as the Doctor ran over to look at his beautiful ship, followed by the Professor.
"Professor," he said, patting the man on the back, "it might be a wild stab in the dark, but I may just have found your way out."
Little did he know that, as the old scientist looked at the grainy image on the screen, the drums in his head were getting louder and closer.
Finally finding the thick cable that he had been looking for under the metal-grille panelling that made up the flooring of the TARDIS, the Doctor's head popped up, dragging the cable with him as he hauled himself out.
"Extra power!" he said, bursting out of the blue wooden doors, and running over to another cable that he had found that could connect with the one from the TARDIS, "little bit of a cheat but who's counting?!"
There was the sound of energy building, accompanied by the doors to the lab opening as the three female companions walked in.
"Jack?!" the Doctor said, not noticing two of his friends walking in, "You're in charge of the retro feeds!"
"Oh am I glad to see that ship again!" Rose said loudly as she walked in, putting the circuits down and running over to the TARDIS and opening the door, looking into the place that had, for so long, such an age ago, been the place she called home. The lights of the control room lowered before coming up again, accompanied by a hum as the ancient ship recognised an important part of her life returning to her.
"Good to see you too my friend." Rose whispered fondly, stroking the panelled doors, "Thank you for saving me, and for keeping him safe while I was gone."
As she came back outside, closing the doors ajar because of the cable that snaked out from them, she noticed the Professor sitting down, Chantho standing in front of him.
"Chan Professor, are you alright tho?" she asked worriedly.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." She still looked worried, not moving, "I'm fine! Jus get on with it."
Rose moved forwards, picking up the circuits that she had put down before.
"Connect those circuits in the slot, same as the last lot." Jack said to her and the other women, "But quicker!"
Rose moved the circuits into one of her hands, raising a finger to her temple in mock salute and mimicking his American accent .
"Yes sir!"
Jack grinned at her, waggling his eyebrows at her.
"You know I like it when you call me sir." He said.
Rose rolled her eyes, "If I've told you once, I've told you a million times Jack; it's never gonna happen. Not on earth and not here."
Jack gave her a mock-wounded look, holding his chest as if she'd shot him before getting on with his work.
The Doctor moved over to where the Professor was sitting, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"You don't have to keep working, we can handle it."
The Professor shook his hand. "It's just a headache, it's just… noise inside my head Doctor, constant noise inside my head."
The Doctor knelt down, gaining eye level "What sort of noise?"
The Professor sighed heavily, "It's the sound of drums. More and more as though… it's getting closer."
"When did it start?"
"Oh, I've had it all my life. Every waking hour. Still," he said cheerily, slapping his hands down on his legs and leaning to the Doctor, "No rest for the wicked!"
The Doctor gave a lopsided smile, watching the Professor walk away before his eyes found the three women huddled together talking and working, cold fear rising inside him. Two women talking was a bad omen; three was like seeing the Grim Reaper.
"So how long have you been with the Professor?" Martha asked Chantho as they worked.
"Chan seventeen years tho." She replied.
"Blimey, long time." Rose said, handing her another circuit to install.
"Chan I adore him tho." She said, before suddenly looking uncomfortable, realising she had said too much.
The two other women shared a knowing glance.
"Oh right, and he…" Martha prompted.
"Chan I don't think he even notices me tho."
"Tell me about it." Martha and Rose said at the same time.
"Chan but I am happy to serve tho."
"Do you mind if I ask," Martha said, curiosity finally getting the better of her, "do you have to start every sentence with "Chan""
"Chan yes tho." She replied, looking as if it should be obvious.
"And end every sentence with…"
"Chan tho, tho."
"What would happen if you didn't?"
"Martha!" Rose hissed before saying to Chantho; "You don't have to tell us if you don't want to."
"Chan no miss, it's alright tho. Chan that would be rude tho."
Martha looked around, lowering her voice conspiratorially. "What like swearing?"
Chantho looked around, lowering her voice to match Martha's "Chan indeed tho!"
"Oh go on, just once!" Martha encouraged.
"Chan I can't tho!"
"Oh do it for us!"
Rose sent her a look, unnoticed by Chantho.
"Nn-no!" she stuttered before tittering giddily as Rose and Martha smiled as well.
Down in the launch centre beside the Stet chamber Atillo tried to talk to the Professor through the computer on his desk.
"Professor?" the screen looked like a snow storm aside from the thin strip of yellow at the bottom of the screen. "Systems are down…"
He typed slowly the word Yana as the Professor had shown him long ago. He had spent most of his life on one refugee camp or another and, somehow, he had never got around to getting a proper education, so he couldn't read or write very well. Luckily he had risen to a job that didn't require very high literary skills, just a knack with computers.
"Professor are you getting me?"
Suddenly the image came into focus, the man's face anxious. His discomfort with talking to a computer screen, as ever, was obvious.
"I'm here, we're ready! Now, all you need to do is… collect the cup links. Then we can launch." At the Professor's final words the image cut out again.
"For God's sake, this blasted equipment!" the Professor shouted, Martha appearing at his shoulder as he flung his arms in anger. "It needs rebooting all the time!"
"Anything I can do, I've finished that lot?" Martha offered helpfully.
"Yes, if you could," He stood up, offering her the chair and pointing to keyboard, "just press the reboot key every time the picture goes."
"Certainly sir, just don't ask me to do short hand." Martha replied, making the Professor laugh as he patted her on the shoulder.
As she pressed the button, Atillo's face appeared.
"Are you still there?"
Ah, present and correct! Send your man inside, we'll keep the levels down from here.
Atillo stood up, opening the door for Jake and giving him an encouraging nod. He closed the door behind him, watching him in fear through the small glass window of the door.
Atillo's face came back into view.
"He's inside."
"Captain, keep the dials below the red." The Professor said to Jack, the man nodding in acknowledgement.
The Doctor looked at the screen, taking out his glasses and placing them on his nose as the picture flicked to a red-lit room.
"Where is that room?" he asked, his brow furrowed.
"It's underneath the rocket." The Professor explained, "Attach the cup links and the footprint can work. But the entire chamber's flooded with Stet radiation."
"Stet, never heard of it." He said, ignoring Rose's snort from behind him. Oh how she was enjoying the one time the Doctor didn't know everything.
"Oh you wouldn't want to." The Professor said, either copying the Doctor in ignoring Rose or he hadn't heard her, "But it's safe enough, we can… hold back the radiation from here."
They watched in silence for a moment as the man inside the chamber attached the first cup link carefully. Jake looked up to his friend, both breathing a sigh of relief.
"It's rising…" said the Professor as a quiet alarm sounded, "nought-point-two, keep it steady."
Back in the room beneath the rocket Jake felt sweat dribbling down his face as he typed in the code that he had been told by Atillo.
Above them, in the control centre, the Futurekind woman ran in, hissing and looking around. She ran to a metal box marked; "Hazard" in capital letters, but then she had never learned to read. She pulled the door open and turned all the switches to off.
Another alarm sounded, louder and more urgent.
"Chan we're loosing power tho!" Chantho said, looking around in fear as Jack put his hands on her shoulder, trying to comfort her.
The third box that she came to, the crazed woman couldn't find any switched to throw, so she searched for something to use. Her eyes alighted on a computer sitting on a desk. She ran over, picking up the monitor without unplugging it and throwing it at the main power box.
People were running around the lab, throwing switches, pressing buttons, yelling instructions. Martha went to help, but Rose pulled her back, shaking her head.
"The only thing we're gonna do is get in the way. Just stand back."
Martha went to argue, but closed her mouth. She was right.
"Jack?!" the Doctor yelled across the room, flinging circuits into sockets and attaching wires all over the place. "Override the vents!"
Up above no-one could hear Atillo's yells at his friend, banging his hand on the door as the lights flickered and the alarm sounded.
"Get out of there!" he was yelling as Jake looked around, but continued working, sweat now flowing freely down his face. "Get out of there! Jake!"
The Futurekind woman laughed madly, the room filled with flames, bathing her in a flickering light that made her look as if she was in the centre of hell. Her leader would reward her most greatly; perhaps even make her his mate, so then she would have the best pickings of the rare meals that they had.
"Oi you!" came a voice from behind her as two soldiers came running down the stairs, rifles levelled. Too late her smile faded, too late for her to hide her giveaway teeth and she felt searing pain as the rifles cracked, bullets peppering her body before she fell into the flames.
Jack suddenly pulled two cables from the monitors, sparks flying as an idea struck him.
"We can jumpstart the override." And with that he brought the sparking cables together and screamed as electricity coursed through his body.
"Don't, it's gonna…" warned the Doctor too late, his words blocked out by the horribly, blood curdling screams of his ex-companion before Jack finally let go of the wires, letting them fall to the floor before following them. Martha ran forward, her medical training speeding her into action.
Nobody but Atillo saw as Jake Mitchell looked up, faint look on his face, his eyes drooping as vertigo took hold. For a split second he looked into his friend's face, before his eyes closed and his body became nothing more than a suit full of ashes. As he fell, his heavy suit fell against the cup links, closing the lid of the one he had just opened, but Atillo didn't notice as he screamed Jake's name, crying for his fallen companion.
"I've got him!" Martha said, kneeling down beside Jack's head.
"Chan don't touch the cables tho!" warned Chantho, grabbing the cable a safe distance away from the end and pushing it away.
"I'm so sorry." The Professor said sadly, leaning down as Martha tilted Jack's head to give him mouth to mouth, holding his nose as she tried to resuscitate him.
"The chamber's flooded with radiation." Said the Doctor, remarkably impassive about his friend dying, instead looking to the now empty chamber, nothing but a white all-in-one lying on the floor to show that anyone had ever been in there.
"Without the cup links, the engine will never start." Replied the Professor, shaking his head sadly "It was all for nothing!"
"Oh I don't know." The Doctor said nonchalantly , noticing Rose standing with her back against the wall, arms crossed, equally unmoved, watching Jack lying motionless on the floor. The Doctor moved forward, standing over Martha, "Martha, leave him."
He gently took hold of Martha's arms and pulled her away, shushing her.
"You've got to let me try!" she begged, struggling against his surprisingly strong arms.
"C'mon, C'mon, just listen to me." He said, standing her up, her eyes flicking between the face of the ex-Time Agent lying at her feet and the Time Lord. "Now leave him.2 he turned to the Professor, "Strikes me Professor, you've got a room which no man can enter with out dying, is that correct?"
"Yes." Nodded the old man in a hopeless voice.
"Well," the Doctor said a slight smile appearing, taking his glasses off as Jack gasped and Martha's eyes shot wide, staring at him in awe, "I think I've got just the man."
Jack looked around at all the people now staring at him.
"Was someone kissing me?" he panted as Rose rolled her eyes.
"Good to see your priorities are in the right order there Jack." She said walking over to him and poking him with her foot.
