Chapter 2: Rising Tide
"Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying."
-Arthur C. Clarke
April 24th, 2008
(Contiued)
Rose firmly knocked on the gray door to Professor Hagopian's trailer. By now the sun had all but set behind the hills, casting the camp into an early twilight. The deep hum of generators grew louder while the camp became quieter.
Off to her side, Ashley leaned her shoulder against the side of the trailer. After a quick discussion while they'd unpacked and settled into their trailer- the place had smelled faintly of mildew- the two of them had agreed that it would be for the best if they both went to talk with the professor. At the very least it would save either one of them from having to repeat everything. Also, Ashley's greater knowledge of history gave her a fair chance of picking up any important details that Rose might miss- lies or omissions- that might be made, especially if Rose's suspicions were right.
It wouldn't be the first time that someone had tried to keep something from Torchwood. Often the person in question either was trying to get famous -or they were under the influence of something else. Rose fought down a shudder at the memories of the latter.
"Come in, the door should be unlocked." Said a voice from within.
A woman who Rose estimated to be in her late forties looked up from a cup of tea.
The older woman's gray eyes narrowed slightly as she looked Rose over. Rose thought she saw a glimmer of recognition, almost surprise.
"I'm Specialist Rose Tyler of Torchwood Recovery and Research, and this is Ashley Stafford of Torchwood Recon team 12."
"Professor Jane Hagopian. If you don't mind me asking, do I know you from somewhere? You were on the telly awhile, back weren't you? Something to do with the director of Torchwood."
"I am, yeah. Pete Tyler's adopted daughter." Rose wasn't exactly amazed that was where the professor remembered her from. Given the level of attention both her and her mum had gotten, Rose had to admit that she half-expected it. When the media had gotten wind that Jackie Tyler had reappeared, three years after her supposed death, they'd had a field day. The cover story that Torchwood had invented was that she was suffering from a form of amnesia. At the time, Rose had still been getting over being trapped in this universe and had been thankful that comparatively little attention was being directed at her.
"That's what I thought." Hagopian said, as Ashley and Rose sat down in a pair of fold-out chairs. "Bit surprised to see someone like you working out here in the field. No offense or anything. Just too many people would use that to get a posh office job."
"None taken."
"So, what's all this about?" the Professor asked.
"Well for starters, could you tell us if you or anyone else have noticed or found anything unusual in the last week or so?"
"Why do you ask?"
Ashley shifted, glancing at Rose before speaking up. "Roughly 48 hours ago one of Torchwood's satellites' picked up an energy trace from an unknown source." Ashley explained "Unfortunately, it was too small to get a fix on. So we only got a general location instead of a precise one. But we did manage to narrow it down to an area about five kilometers wide. "
"And your dig site is smack bang in the middle of it." Rose added.
With a sigh, Professor Hagopian began to talk. "I think I know what it could be. We found a cave up in the mountains. Not that unusual in this area. What was strange was what we found inside it: a cave painting. Unfortunately, we don't have the equipment on hand to take photographs. Or to be more accurate, cameras that can take the pictures without risking damage to the artwork."
Rose could see Ashley leaning forward, interested.
"Sorry, but why's that unusual? And why would cameras damage it?" Rose couldn't help but ask.
"Most cave paintings that have been found are in Spain or France. Only a few from later eras have been discovered in England. The only reason why any of them remained in a good condition was cave offered protection from most of the elements. Exposing them to camera flashes and carbon dioxide from people after all that time would decay the pigments."
"Oh. I see," Which she did somewhat.
"We found quite a few artifacts elsewhere in the cave but the one I think you will find the most interesting will be this." Hagopian explained, retrieving a long box from a cabinet. Setting it down on her desk, the Professor carefully opened it up. "We found it with a sword of similar make."
A long dagger with a polished, almost silvery, blade glinted from within the box. Rose was surprised by how untouched it looked. Except for the missing handle, which had been snapped off a little ways up from the crossguard, there was little rust or damage. Insistently, Rose noticed that the end of crossguard had an image of what she could only assume was a wolf stamped into it.
"How'd something like this end up near a cave painting? I can't imagine that's normal." Rose looked it over, curious.
"Normally it's not. Though it's likely that the same clan or maybe a different one could have been using the site over time." Hagopian replied, deep in thought. "Don't touch it!" she suddenly snapped. Rose wasn't sure what she was talking about, and then realized her hand had been reaching out towards the box.
"Sorry." She muttered, embarrassed. What on Earth had she been thinking? "You said you found a sword, yeah?"
"Yes, it's in storage." Turning to Ashley she said, "And that was our guess as well…until we stumbled on to…well. This."
Taking the printout-picture from the Professor, Rose studied the picture. It was of a large cavern with stone walls half-looming out of the darkness. There was a man standing off the side, waving at the camera. In the center of the image was a blurry three-sided pyramid. Stalagmites and stalactites had partially grown over it. Given how close the man was standing to the ghostly green object, meant it was roughly the same height as him.
"At first we thought it might be some kind of prank. Or a part of an old movie set that got dumped out here ages ago."
"So what changed your minds?"
"Soon after that picture was taken it started glowing. After that we tried to keep it a secret while trying to figure out what it was as best we could. You have to understand, if we'd reported finding something like this without covering the possibilities of what it is and where it came from, it would hurt the credibility of not just me, but everyone involved." Hagopian continued as they looked the picture over.
"No that's alright. It's not an odd reaction." Rose said, trying to sound reassuring but not condescending. "When was this picture taken?"
"Roughly a day after we first found it. That would be almost seven days ago now."
"You said you were trying to figure out what it was, exactly how were you doing that?" Ashley asked.
"Mostly research to identify where it might have come from or who made it." Hagopian explained.
"Alright then. We'd appreciate it if you could give us copies of whatever information you have on what you've found and about the general history of the area. Notes, documentation and so forth." Not that the professor really had a lot of choice in the matter. Torchwood's status meant that if she refused to cooperate, Hagopian could find herself in a world of trouble.
"I can, but you have to understand that it'll take a bit to gather and make all those." Hagopian replied warily.
"I understand, but it's important that we know what we're dealing with here." Ashley assured her.
Rose hesitated, wondering how to ask her next question in light of what she'd been "told" a little earlier. Archaeologists usually didn't touch stuff, but someone could have...
"Could we have a list of whoever was in the caves yesterday and the day before?"
"I don't see why not. We've mostly left it alone after some cataloging. You think one of my people could be responsible?" The professor asked, surprised but also more than a little skeptical.
Rose shrugged and did her best not to remember the time she'd been tricked into accidentally reviving a Dalek in the same way. "It's possible. But at the moment we just want to keep track of who was in the area. Besides, for all we know they could have been affected by the energy in some way or at least seen something."
"I see then." Hagopian sighed. "Anything else?"
"When would be a good time to go up there? We'd like to take a look for ourselves."
Hagopian frowned in thought. "Tomorrow would be your best bet. Even with everything we've done to make the trip up there go smoothly it's still difficult at night. And after the storm we had, I wouldn't suggest risking it."
"Then that's when we'll be heading up. One more thing, is it always this warm up here?"
"Generally. I've been told it has something to do with the topography of the area."
"Alright then. Thank you for your time. If we find anything important, we'll let you know." Rose said, glancing at Ashley. They'd discuss events later before filling in the rest of the team about what was going on.
Following Ashley out of the door, she found that twilight had completely fallen. Crickets and night birds sang their soothing song. The temperature hadn't lessened. Stars peaked out of gaps in the clouds. Rose thought they looked lonely and very distant.
"So, do you think she's telling us the truth?" Rose asked, after they'd passed several trailers in silence, keeping her voice down.
"From what she told us?" Ashley shrugged. "I think so. Or at least what she knows of it. Still, she's being oddly helpful."
"A little." Rose agreed. "She might just want to get us out of here as soon as possible so she can do her job. But yeah, I think we should be careful. At least for the moment."
"Indeed...do you think the pyramid was the source?"
"Haven't seen anything quite like that before, but I'd assume so. I'd need to take a closer look first." Rose admitted, feeling a bit embarrassed. It wasn't exactly her fault and she realized this. It wasn't as if there was a ton of other people at Torchwood who'd had her experience with aliens.
"So no real idea what might have set it off then?" Ashley's voice carried a hint of disappointment.
"A few ideas, but just a few. Might have been something as simple as touch."
"I see then. Did you notice anything you did recognize?" Ashley asked.
Rose struggled with herself, hesitated with more than just the right words to say what she'd felt but more. To also find the right way to explain. She'd never really told anyone about what she remembered doing when she looked into the heart of the TARDIS. She wasn't going to start now.
Rose bit her lip before hesitantly admitting. "I'm not sure. There might be one thing."
At this, Ashley gave her a puzzled look. "What is it?"
"I've seen something like this before. Back in my universe I had a run in with a...creature that used wolves as part of its symbolism. As part of that, it called itself Bad Wolf. And maybe because of that, or maybe I'm just imagining it but somehow the dagger back there looked familiar to me in a way I can't place."
"Any special reason why you're so skeptical?"
"It's a long story, but what we're seeing here isn't that close to what I saw before."
"Well, could it be a different creature of the same species? Or just the same one, but a parallel version?"
"No. Far as I know, it was the only one of its kind. As for there being a parallel...trust me, there isn't one here."
"So almost certainly a dead end... with what you said about the pyramid being activated by touch and the dagger looking familiar to you, maybe there's a physic field or something? A form of compulsion that makes people touch it?" Ashley theorized.
Rose thought this over for a moment. "Might be the case. But I'm pretty sure I would have noticed if that was happening." Both the Torchwood here and its counterpart at home taught psychic training against telepathic manipulation or attacks.
"You're absolutely sure about that?"
That tiny insistent part of herself that worried if the retraining she'd done had been for nothing. That despite her actions and her best efforts to prevent it, what she'd gone through months before had or was happening again.
"Yeah I'm sure." Was Rose's firm reply. "Anyway, we should get in touch with Torchwood and let them know what we're found so far here. And I'd like to ask if they can discover anything about the weather around here. I don't think it's a coincidence that the weathers' weird and this thing is up here."
AN: While I did do some research, I freely admit that I'm not an expert on archeology. So please feel free to correct me if I got something wrong.