Chap 2
Inside the Mars Entry Vehicle 6 High G couches are spaced about the interior walls, crew names applied to them. Jack is still absent as Tosh straps herself in. The others stream aboard. Start restraining themselves in as Jack continues to try to shut the ship down back on the flight deck. Some circuits do, others flicker/free flow and refuse to stop. One particular circuit will clear, but only as long as he holds it shut manually - MEV Launch Release. Only takes him a moment to decide.
He's not happy, but tries not to let his concern show as he addresses the crew, "it seems I will not be able to join you and will maintain the manual release for the MEV from the Flight Deck."
"Captain?" John gapes.
He has no time or inclination to engage in discussion about his decision. "You are go for Mars descent, Lieutenant. On my signal."
John powers up the smaller craft. Seals the door. He can't believe he's doing this, but he has no choice. "We are green across the board."
The last of them finish strapping themselves down. John toggles his intercom to Jack, "Promise you won't leave if we don't like it there."
Jack respond with an equality upbeat quip, "I promise sweetie."
Jack clears his throat and tries again, "Lieutenant Hart, you have control authority of the MEV. Now."
He holds the circuit closed and in the pod lights are starting to flicker off on the board. Waiting is not a good plan. John calls out quickly "Crew secure?!"
"Secure." Is repeated four times, Ianto's quietly as he tries to hide his fear. John hits two large buttons on either side of him.
Explosive bolts blow the two halves of the cylinder away. The pod is a honey comb, revealed inside. As this is space, and a vacuum, there is no sound. However, in here, it's LOUD. The pod is blown free of the Torchwood. Again, oddly silent. Small directional jets flare for a moment, starting the pod out of orbit and in free fall towards Mars.
It drops, drops, drops and disappears, friction blazing as Jack watches from the Torchwood. There are still free-flows all over the board. Jack can't get them to shut down. They flicker, pop on and off. Systems start and shut down and start up again all over the ship. Checks the comm again. Still nothing.
In the pod a control panel on the wall flickers. We hear a ticking. Inside the panel, we see the switch sputtering on/off. It fails, arcs. Smoke begins to wisp out.
A red light comes on, on board the Torchwood. A soft humming and Jack turns. It's a smoke warning in sphere six.
Jack rushes through a sphere that's a garden. Another with orchids growing on walls. Artwork on huge LCD screens...Pulls open panels and slaps down banks of breakers as he goes. Rooms turn dark, the artwork disappears. Only small safety lights remain. More alarms.
Jack yanks out a fire extinguisher. Sprays down the offending area. He is thrown across the room by the force of the extinguisher without gravity to brace with. For a moment, though, it looks like he's succeeded. Smoke begins to wisp out again. He pushes over, anchors his feet and jams the nozzle into a fire port. Empties it. This time it seems as if he's triumphed.
And then a gentle voice on the intercom.
Fire. Sphere 5. Fire. Sphere 5. Smoke. Sphere 8. Smoke. Sphere 8.
He still doesn't panic. Hurls himself down another access tube and down on the planet a tiny flare of the pod entering the atmosphere would have been seen, if anyone were there to see it. A moment later, a sonic boom reaches the surface.
Jack fights a fire in another sphere. Dark now except for the flickering flames. This time we see them like fairies dancing in the air, lights glowing in the zero G. Smoke's in the air it's getting hard to breathe. He puts out the fire, but from the alarms, it's clear he's now fighting a losing battle.
Jack starts pulling master breakers. Lightbulbs are popping as the power surges. He's surrounded by a cloud of glittering glass fragments. The news is bad. Half of the lights on the emergency action panel are red. He yanks on a spacesuit. Slaps on a small oxygen container. Locks on the waist, wrists. Reaches back to what seems to be a hood. Pulls it over his head, locks the front down and throws the last breaker. Life Support. The ship is now dead, but still burning. He clips himself in with a set of safety straps and...Opens the main hatch.
The venting air manifests in a huge white cloud. Papers, books, cups, clothing flies out as well.
Jack is sucked towards the open hatch. Tethers hold. Watching all his air escape is not a calming moment.
Without oxygen, the fires subside and die. All of them. The ship is still and dead.
Total silence. Fire lights are out. Jack shuts the hatch. Finally he lets himself begin to react. Starts to hyperventilate and shake inside his spacesuit.
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The Pod has crash-landed. It's a wreck. Air bags deflate. Some have been damaged. The Homey comb attempts to open. A figure struggles out of the shattered craft, collapses on the ground.
"It wasn't supposed to be like this." Ianto gasps as he looks up at the sky.
Ianto drifts as his concussion gives him a surreal flashback.
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*********************FLASHBACK*******************
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The air is grey, sleet falls outside the NASA media room window. Stragglers in heavy protective gear struggle through the biting wind to an airlock on the side of the building and join hundreds of journalists in the audience. Lights dim. In front, face lit from below at a podium, Senior Scientist Yvonne Hartman, head of the Space Exploration Office.
"As many of you may know, in 2032 the Space Exploration Office began a series of unmanned flights to Mars."
The entire wall behind her, is a vid screen. As she speaks the images appear.
"It had been determined by 2020 that Mars harboured no life. Although beginning with the same resources as Earth four billion years ago, Mars didn't support any life beyond the microbial stage in the last 300 million years. Nor did it have an atmosphere or climate supportive of human life." She tells her captive audience, "It was, however, concluded that Mars was receptive to terraforming. If we could raise the temperature of the planet by only four degrees, the resultant melting of the ice caps would increase the density of the atmosphere, thus holding greater heat, melting the icecaps further. We could use the greenhouse effect to our benefit. To do this, we needed to increase the oxygen content of the atmosphere. A series of probes were sent, each releasing newer and newer genetically modified lichen and algae designed to stand the rigors of the Martian environment while augmenting the oxygen content of the Martian atmosphere. In the last 28 years, we have sent 2200 probes. The terraforming was initially successful."
She walks to the front of the podium as if she is imparting a secret, "The average temperature on Mars has increased two and a half degrees over the last three decades. The oxygen content began to increase as well. And then eleven months ago, the O2 on Mars suddenly began to decline. Soon after, all the remote sensors on the planet ceased functioning. We have no idea what's gone wrong. We need to know why. Man's very destiny may lie in the answer."
"We are about to embark on the greatest mission of human exploration. By using a number of Heavy Lift Launch Vehicles and a modified close lunar cargo ship, we have created a vessel capable of journeying to Mars."
"Three months ago, Hab-1, an unmanned living environment, was launched. In nine days Ares-1, our first manned mission, will be sent to Mars. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the first men and women to travel beyond the reach of Earth to the next planet in the solar system." Yvonne turns and introduces the crew, "Captain Jack Harkness will supervise the flight component of our mission. Their Captain has 2200 hours in space. He will be assisted by Pilot and Mission Specialist John Hart.
Yvonne steps up to Doc who is glowering at her for placing him in the spotlight, "And we're pleased to have Dr. John Smith come out of retirement as our Chief Science Officer. Doc brings a view as a generalist few can offer, with a Nobel in chemistry and a MacGregor in molecular biology. He was off getting another Ph.D., this time in theology when we asked him to join us."
"Dr. Toshiko Sato, who until recently has held the number two position in the Terraforming Office, is an expert in extremophile and cryptoendolithic biology." She bows to Tosh who blushes and reciprocates.
"Dr. Owen Harper, late of Western BioTech has left the private sector to help us." Yvonne smiles patronisingly at him and Owen grimaces back.
"And we are also joined by Ianto Jones." She places her hand on his shoulder and Ianto looks like a deer caught in the headlights.
John turns to Jack and quietly mutters. "The janitor."
His mic was on. It echoes around the room. But Ianto's too quick to let him try to apologize anyhow. "That's technically space janitor."
The audience titters with mirth and Ianto deadpans, "When the toilet breaks 80 million miles from the nearest hardware store, they call me. Actually, they called me now because then we would really be in the crapper."
The room erupts with laughter and Jack leans out from the line to look at the young man who has raised an eyebrow. Jack wonders if he's part Vulcan.
"To be more precise," Yvonne glares at John who shrugs, "Mr. Jones is the Mechanical Systems Engineer. We're glad to have him along."
Jack wonders if that will be true.