Chap 15
It's not big. The two of them are scrunched into balls. They chop away and pack the debris in the entry tunnel to block the cold. Shaking bitterly. Lips blue
Nothing. Darkness. Rocks. And in the midst of it all, our crazy hillock/snow cave.
Ianto looks up to find Tosh staring at him. Actually, not exactly at him. At his forehead.
"What? Is this some kind of cartoon moment where you're imagining I'm a giant chicken and you're going to eat me?" Ianto asks with a grin.
"It's melting" Tosh says softly.
"It's a Wizard of Oz moment?" Ianto giggles.
"The ice on your forehead is melting. The rock's really insulating us. We might not freeze to death." Tosh grins back.
"Oh. Good." And then the enormity of what's gone on hits them. And the exhaustion. Adrenaline is gone. Ianto physically droops. Tosh follows.
"I've never been this tired. I've never hurt this bad. You think dead is worse than this?" Ianto asks as they cuddle for warmth.
"Hell, we'll probably know soon. Shut up. Rest." Tosh mutters as she snuggles into his chest.
"We oughta probably tell someone we're not frozen solid. Yet." Ianto says and Tosh checks her watch.
"We're on the nightside, can't reach Houston. Jack's dayside for another forty-five." She tells him and he hums.
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The Mission Control Common vid-screen shows ground crew's projected position. Darkside of the planet. Estimated temperature of -20 degrees Fahrenheit and falling. The room's downcast. And bewildered.
"Not a word before it got dark." Gwen says sadly, "25 degrees. -30 degrees."
"They're dead. Or dying." Rhys swallows, "Let's get Jack home."
"He's gonna wanna waste a pass trying to get them on the radio." Gwen says an Rhys nods.
"Let him. He's got five and a half hours before the orbit starts to decay. If he has to do this so he can concentrate later on, so be it." Rhys agrees.
Gwen gets busy on the radio with Jack, "Torchwood, this is Houston..."
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Their breath condenses on the ceiling. Freezes. Then falls down. It's snowing. They've got their own weather system. Ianto watches it fall. Tosh seems kinda pissed.
"No, I don't know why the worms are here. No, I don't know why we're still alive." She snarls at Ianto who focuses away from the snow flakes and onto her.
"There's gotta be a reason." Ianto prompts her.
A moment, then "You're talking about faith, sweetie. Faith is another way of saying I know something you don't know but I can't tell you 'cause it's a secret. But I don't know why I know it. I live in the real world. I've lived there my whole life. I'm comfortable there."
"We're not in the real world. We're on Mars." Ianto growls back, "Nobody gets in a rocket ship to outer space without some kind of faith. Do they?"
Tosh doesn't answer. Not directly. But she looks like a third grader busted in some elaborate story she can't keep up.
"If you think I'm gonna have some kind of weak-ass epiphany for you right here in this cave, you're wrong. Now, why don't you get that light outta my eyes and let me try to rest." She finally huffs.
Ianto's satisfied. Lowers the light to a dull glow, leans back against the rock.
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.
The Torchwood slips into darkness.
Jack reaches for the mike, begins "Ground crew, this is Torchwood. Do you read?"
Jack waited but got no response.
"Ground crew, this is Torchwood. Do you read?"
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The radio lies on the ground. The green light flickers with his transmissions. But little signal seeps through the rock. What there is sounds muffled.
And they are fast, fast asleep.
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Time has passed. Jack has searched with the 10m scope. IR, thermal. he picks up the occasional footprint. Tracks their progress. Finds some odd rock configurations. And...Nothing. They're just gone. Finally, he gives up. Picks up mic sadly for one last time "Ground crew, this is Torchwood. It was a pleasure and an honour to serve with you, my friends."
Sits quietly a moment, then turns off the screen. Brings up a new image. Shows his current fuel status, position and projected path. He begins to work on getting home.
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Dead quiet. The two small moons shine faintly. A rime of ice covers everything. The hill glistens in the feeble light. The rock entrance is sealed over with frost.
Ianto and Tosh breathe shallowly. The inside of the cave is covered in white flaking hoarfrost. Lips are blue. Skin is pale. Ianto's eyes open. Something's wrong. Doesn't know what. And then he realizes the air moving in and out of his lungs isn't doing him any good at all. The door is caked shut with ice. There's no air.
He moves badly, uncoordinated, but manages to chop and shove it open. Fresh ice cold air rushes in. Tosh awakes. Only half-responsive. Ianto grabs her, drags her out.
"Breathe! Breathe!" he cries as he shakes her.
Cognizance returns. Tosh looks at her watch.
It doesn't make any sense. Three hours have passed. Three hours...
"Son of a bitch. Son of a bitch. We've been asleep for three hours!" Tosh howls with disbelief.
Ianto desperately hauls out the radio. "Torchwood, this is ground crew. Torchwood, this is ground crew."
"Forget it. He's dayside again. If he's even still here." Tosh flops onto the ground and growls with frustration.
"We gotta get to Cosmos." Ianto says and looks around. Oh God...It gets worse. "Can't see the landmarks."
Ianto starts to madly scan the night sky. "We gotta keep moving."
He yanks out his HCC. Mutters rapidly into it. We see the map appear. Hab/Cosmos line marked. Then a star chart for Mars on this day and time. He calls for it to change to a horizon projection.
The machine freezes, computes. Brings up a horizon. It matches what Ianto sees. And highlights a star sitting just above the horizon that will lead them on their way. Canis Minor. They start to run.
A beat. Myfanwy rises up silently from behind a rock and watches them go.
The two friends run. Lit by the two moons Phobos and Deimos - Fear and Terror. It's unbelievably cold. Plumes of breath light up around them as they go. Following the star on the horizon. Across a valley, over a ridge. Over a dune. Scrambling.
Up and over the next long, long gradient. They lose the star over this false horizon as they climb. There's something odd, however. A faint broad wash of light coming over the lip. They crest the rise to reveal a valley. Completely covered in phosphorescent algae. Pale green and glowing. A mile across, a mile wide. If they weren't rushing for their lives, it would be worth stopping to stare.
Across the vale Canis Minor sits directly in the centre of a small mountain pass. They're about to dash onward when something - intuition, it's hard to say what - hits Ianto. "Stop."
"What?" Tosh asks.
Ianto's not quite sure at first. But won't enter the algae. Walks left, walks right. Kneels down.
The algae glows. Otherworldly. And then movement. A worm, green, glowing and filled with algae, slithers through. And then another. And another, indistinguishable from the plants around them they've imbibed.
And then as Ianto plays his light out across the valley we realize it's entirely full of worms. Ianto takes an appalled step back. They're fucked.
"We're fucked."