Chapter 15
Chicago, Illinois
April 1-2, 2010
Jack Harkness started to down his second beer. He and Rose Tyler, who would be pegged as a previously missing quantum physicist by anyone looking closely, were in a bar at O'Hare International Airport awaiting their flight to New Mexico after they'd eventually been able to get out of Atlanta. He'd suggested the bar after they'd landed, the flight being extremely uncomfortable for his friend who had complained of extreme pain in her right shoulder. Now, they were awaiting the final destination flight to Albuquerque. As he sipped at his beverage of choice, the TV spot for Harold Saxon appeared on the screen above the bar.
"Hello," the smiling face said from the television. "I'm Harold Saxon, CEO of the Prometheus Institute. Here at P.I., we are working hard to make the world a better place. From finding solutions to world hunger to solving the energy crisis, P.I. is there for you. I am personally pleased to announce the Pi network, now available throughout the world, uniting people from across whole continents. Everything from the internet to telecommunications... right at your fingertips. World unity through technology. That is the promise of the Prometheus Institute. And that is my promise." A fancy logo came on the screen with a baritone announcer proclaiming, "The Prometheus Institute: Creating a Better World... Today."
The man sitting next to Rose piped up. "That Harold Saxon. He's a good man."
"Never heard of him," she commented with a frown. "Seems a bit fond of himself, if you ask me. I admit he's not hard on the eyes but... really. From the way he acts on that advert, you'd think he was humanity's savior or something."
The man turned to her. "You sound like you don't like him."
"Well, maybe I don't. I don't know. It's not like I'm ever going to meet him."
"I'm not sure I like your attitude at all. Harold Saxon is a good man."
"So, you know him personally, do you?"
"Of course not. But I know he's a good man. Everybody knows that."
"Nobody can know everything about him. He probably has a mistress on the side and is embezzling the company. Usually is the case when some executive type is really popular."
The man's voice got a little louder. "I'm telling you. Harold Saxon is a good man. You shouldn't be bad mouthing him like that."
"Everyone has their own opinion, mate. No need to get all upset over a little comment," Rose replied with a frown.
Jack turned as he heard the conversation beside him starting to turn a little testy. Realizing what this was about, he smiled with a grin that could light up the room. "Absolutely right. Harold Saxon is a good man." He said under his breath, "Rose, you don't want to fight this battle."
She turned to Jack. "I'm just saying that everyone has a right to their opinion. Why should this bloke care what I say about this Saxon guy when he obviously doesn't even know him?"
The man continued berating Rose as he praised Jack. "You sound like a sensible man, sir. You really need to get your friend in line, though."
Jack smiled back. "My friend just doesn't know him like we do. He's such a good man." Under his breath he warned again, "Just agree with him and say Harold Saxon is a good man."
"What? Why?" she whispered back to him.
"Just do it. Unless you want a bar fight on your hands. We need to get to New Mexico." His last call to the project had told him they needed to make it home soon. He recalled the news from two days before when the final satellite was put in place. He hadn't thought things would move this quickly but they had.
Giving him an odd look, Rose turned to the patron who had seemed intent on getting into a possible fight with her. "Sure. Yeah. Of course. He's a good man." She looked around the bar for a moment and found an empty table. "I'm... I'm just going to go over there. You know... think about what you said and all." Standing slowly, she took several steps away before gliding over to the table and sitting down. Seeing that Jack had joined her, she glanced at him. "That was weird."
"And it's going to get weirder," Jack said cryptically.
"What? All of a sudden, you can predict the future?"
"Not exactly," Jack answered. "Only that right now we're in a flux condition. Things are happening because someone is manipulating time. Until all the situations play out, we won't know which reality wins out."
"Okay, you're starting to sound like the Doctor. And when you start sounding like the Doctor, I get scared. How do you know time is in flux if you aren't either A) seeing the future or B) are actually from the future and have already seen this happening?"
"I've lived through the past, that's why, and knowing that past, I know that things are in flux now at this time."
"Okay..." Rose commented, frowning at his words. "That so did not make any sense whatsoever."
"You know that my organization is behind keeping PQL afloat, right?"
"Yeah. And..."
"Well, six months ago, the time flux started. I'm not even sure exactly how things are going to play out but I do remember witnessing Al Calavicci making a horrible mistake. We need to get to New Mexico so he won't make that mistake." He looked down at his time piece. "I can't believe it's so hard to get back to the project. You'd think they'd do better maintenance."
"Airplanes and trains... neither of them can leave or arrive on time," Rose told him. "Well, that's what the Doctor says anyway, though he does have an ornate fondness for trains."
"Yeah," Jack answered. There was an announcement over the PA system announcing Flight 2804 to Albuquerque would be delayed until six p.m. This was the third delay. Jack groaned. "Another hour."
"So... when do we have to be there to stop this... mistake?" Seeing Jack look at her for a moment, she quickly added, "I won't ask what this mistake is. Don't want to accidentally make things worse."
"As long as we get out to the project by 8:26 am, we'll be fine."
"So we've got a few hours then."
"God, I hope so."
"I'm guessing this 8:26 timeframe isn't set in stone then."
Jack looked at her with a furrowed brow. "If we're there before then, we have a chance. By all rights, we should be there already." He nodded to the departure screen outside of the bar. "We're quickly running out of options." As he spoke, he was dismayed to see the look on Rose's face begin to morph through a variety of emotions, none of which he wished to see. Confusion was first but the emotions quickly changed to anger and finally fear. The entire change took less than a minute but as the fear took over, she stood suddenly.
"Get away, get away, get away!" Before he could say anything she bolted away out of the bar.
Jack pulled his wallet out and threw enough on the table to cover their drinks before rushing after her. This was a new twist and he was definitely sure he didn't like it. Catching up, he grabbed her. "Rose! What is it? You look terrified! You need to tell me what's going on!"
Abruptly, she wrapped her arms around her friend, sobbing into his chest. "Jack... save me! Don't let them near!"
"Don't let who near?" he asked, holding her close and trying to sooth her.
She pressed harder against him, her eyes moving wildly as she looked over her shoulder, clearly frightened. "Get away from me! No!"
Disturbed by her obvious distress and even more so by her inability to tell him what was going on, he knew he had to get someone to help him and quickly. "Who do I know in Chicago?" he asked rhetorically. A moment later, a revelation came to him. He pulled out his cell phone and made a call. A moment later he spoke, "Colonel, Torchwood needs your help." After obviously hearing some positive response, Jack laid out his need for help to include potential medical attention for his friend and a lift to a spot in New Mexico. Receiving assurance that his contact would obtain exactly what the Captain needed, he hung up and tucked the cell phone back in its rightful spot before tightening his hold on Rose, brushing her hair and whispering into her ear in an effort to calm her as best as he could. He was able to obtain a room from the airport management to wait for the helicopter the Colonel was sending, indicating the woman had taken ill.
It was nearly a half of an hour before the transportation arrived and three UNIT personnel entered the room, two medically trained professionals and an armed escort. As they identified themselves, Jack at first didn't look up, still concerned with Rose. Her voice was coarse from screaming and pleading without giving the worried man any sense of what was going on in her mind. "She needs a doctor!"
"Good thing that I am one," came a clipped feminine voice as the doctor moved to examine the girl.
Jack's head snapped at the sound of the doctor's voice. "Grace! Grace Holloway! Damn, I'm glad it's you!" He paused and then added with angst, "You've got to help my friend! Sh... He's in pain and whatever is causing it is terrifying him."
"I should have known this involved you, Jack," the cardiologist replied as she regarded her patient. It was difficult for her to get an assessment of the man's condition, especially since he seemed determined for no one to touch him except for Jack Harkness. "I need to sedate him," she stated, frustration tingeing her voice. Reaching into her medical bag, she prepared the needed medication even as Harkness' panicked tones reached her ears.
"Do it. Just stop his pain!"
"Hold him still," Grace ordered, a syringe in one hand and an antiseptic wipe in the other.
Rose's eyes, seen as Sam's, widened as the doctor moved towards her and screamed as the thin metal entered her arm. A moment later though, her body relaxed in Jack's arms as unconsciousness took her.
"Thank you," Jack stated, his hand brushing her hair away from her now peaceful face.
"You want to tell me what the hell is going on?" the red-head demanded as she put a stethoscope in her ears, using the tool to listen to her patient's heart and lungs. "I don't want to risk moving him without having all the facts."
"I don't know exactly, but I'm going to find out." He pulled the cell phone from his pocket. Now that he knew Rose was in capable hands, he was calling the project as he was sure that there was a connection between what Sam was experiencing and Rose's reactions. He was rather surprised that the phone rang a good five times before it was picked up.
"Control," Gooshie answered the private line.
"Gooshie, where's Al? What's going on over there?" the Captain demanded.
"Power's off, sir. We've been working for the past six hours to figure it out and get the chamber back on line. Right now the emergency generators are only providing enough power to keep the core of the project operational."
"How can the power be off? You're on a separate grid from the rest of the world! Who's been watching over Beckett?"
"No one. Like I said, the chamber's offline." There was a short pause while Gooshie spoke to someone on the other end.
A second later, Al's voice replaced the programmer's. "Jack! I thought you were supposed to be here by now. Didn't you make it to Chicago?"
"We're in Chicago now but we've just had one hell of a delay. What the hell is going on with Sam, Al? Rose was completely freaking out a moment ago, kept screaming for someone to stay away from her."
"That's not good..." Al started.
"No shit, Sherlock!" Jack exclaimed. "Given that my doctor friend hasn't a clue what is wrong with her, it obviously has to be something on your end."
"Yeah. I don't doubt that. What I mean is the last that we saw of Sam, he'd been shot by some thugs in the mountains of Peru and the Doctor's been pushed off a cliff." A slight beat later, he asked, "What friend are you talking about?"
"What do you mean Sam was shot and the Doctor was pushed off a cliff?" the Captain pressed, not answering Al's question.
Grace's head shot up with Jack's words. "The Doctor? Is he all right? What's going on, Jack?"
"I mean just that," Al replied to Jack's demand. "They were trying to save this Brigadier guy who'd been kidnapped. Ziggy had given it a ninety-eight percent probability that this was Sam's mission. The Doctor apparently disagreed and, when they ran into these bastards, Sam wouldn't listen to either the Doctor or me. They shot him. The Doctor tried to help him but instead they rushed him and..." He paused before continuing. "I centered myself on his position. There was no breathing, nothing. I think he might be dead."
The expression on Jack's face shifted from frustration and anger to stunned shock. "But... that's not supposed to happen," he murmured quietly.
"What's not supposed to happen?" the female doctor tending to Sam demanded. "Jack, answer me!"
"What do you mean? You're not being very clear here, Harkness," Al complained.
Closing his eyes to mentally refocus, the ex Time Agent took a deep breath before opening his eyes again. "Al, you have to get that chamber back online. Pull whatever resources you have to but get it up!"
"We've already rerouted all the power that we have to the Imaging Chamber but it's still not enough," the Admiral answered. "Gooshie's still working on it."
Exhaling slowly, Jack shook his head. "Had a feeling something like this would happen someday." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Al, go to my office and to my bookcase. Pull the statuette of Nefertiti away from the wall and look at the base. You'll find a hidden touchscreen keypad. Type in '21011941.'"
"And what will I find if I do that?" Al asked.
"The code will reveal a hidden safe on the third shelf up on my bookcase."
"You have books there..."
"You're observant... but they just look like books."
"Of course. What was I thinking, you actually reading books."
He ignored Al's sarcasm. "Type in the code a second time to open the safe. Inside, there's a small orange cylindrical object. Take it and interface it with the main power. And don't touch anything else in that safe, Al," he said vehemently.
"What will the cylinder do?"
"It'll give you all the power you need to keep the complex running for at least forty-eight hours," came the answer.
"This isn't a time to kid around, Jack!" Al responded. "Nothing on Earth can do that."
"Exactly. Now go! I'll call you back just as soon as I've taken care of Rose."
"Right," answered Al. "Take care of her and get back here pronto. It's possible once we get to Sam we'll be able to get this leap completed and she needs to be in the Waiting Room."
The head of Torchwood rubbed at his eyes. "Right now, Al, completing the leap is the last thing on my mind." Without waiting for a reply, he hung up to find Grace's eyes burrowing into his temple. Turning his head, he raised an eyebrow.
"Jack Harkness, I think you have some serious explaining to do," she stated bluntly. "Like why you gave a Trilirian energy bar to an unauthorized person and why you keep referring to this gentleman as someone named Rose when it's clear that he is Samuel Beckett, the missing quantum physicist."
Jack blinked. "You figured out who he is, huh."
"Yeah, well, working five years for Torchwood kind of taught me to be more than a little observant," she countered.
"Four years, eight months, nineteen days, and six hours... roughly," he corrected.
She gave him a sarcastic smile. "And I thought you didn't care."
Giving her a kindly glare, he sighed. "Okay. This is the deal..."
She held up her hand before he could go further. "Tell it to me back at UNIT HQ Chitown. I'd rather not be having this conversation in a less than secure area, especially if this involves the Doctor."
"Yeah." He sighed as he thought of the Gallifreyan. Al was right. They needed to get back to New Mexico but not because of the leap. Well, not exactly because of it. "Is there any way that my friend can be treated on a UNIT plane?"
She blinked at his words. "I suppose but I'm not sure what is wrong with him in the first place."
"Working on it," Jack answered. He turned picked up Rose in his arms. "Let's get to that helicopter and to the UNIT base."
She rolled her eyes. "Typical Harkness answer," she murmured as she followed him out the door, her colleague and their escort taking point behind Jack.
