6.
Bristol was a solid one hour drive away from Cardiff – with Jack at the wheel, it only took them about forty minutes. Tosh's detection program led them to Friary, a street bordered by modern office and old industrial red-brick buildings.
A crowd of green, military UNIT vehicles and soldiers in their combat uniforms were already waiting for them in the parking lot of an abandoned factory. The sun was setting, but it was still light enough outside to see the smashed-in windows and the graffiti on the walls of the building.
Jack parked sharply and turned around to Tosh who was fiddling with a bulky gun in the backseat. "Time's running out."
"Almost done," she said, taking a rectangular, black battery from Gwen and slamming it into the gun.
"Are you sure this'll work?" Jack asked when Tosh handed him the gun. It was a sonic gun – or rather, it had been before Tosh had exchanged the battery. Now, it could do something else entirely. She hadn't come out and said it yet but Jack knew how a sonic gun worked and he knew that the battery she'd slammed into it was loaded with a very special kind of electricity. She had come through for him again.
"As sure as I can be considering I just built it on the drive over here."
Curiously, Gwen asked, "What exactly is it?"
They'd already been in the car and half on their way out when Tosh had asked Jack to stop and had run back inside to emerge twenty minutes later with a silver suitcase containing the sonic gun and a box from the archives wherein the rectangular battery had been nestled. Since then, she'd been silent, working quietly at assembling the sonic gun in the suitcase and solving equations on the built-in computers of the car.
"It's an EMP gun," Tosh said.
Jack smiled, looking down at the gun and cocking it. A low humming was heard and he looked up at her. "I could kiss you."
Gwen frowned. "An EMP gun?"
"Electro-magnetic impulse," Tosh answered. "We had the battery for it in the archives but not the gun. I've been thinking about combining it with that sonic gun for a while now since it works quite similarly to the gun the EMP battery normally comes with." She smiled self-consciously. "Or at least what we think it works like. I thought it would help us in taking out dangerous technology." She turned to Jack. "The range is pretty big but it would be more useful the closer you are. I'm not sure if it'll work at all but Golems are machines so it should take them out. You only have one shot, though. Then it'll need recharging."
"Okay," Jack said.
Somebody knocked on the driver's window and Jack opened the door to get out. Cold wind immediately brushed through his hair and the sounds of shouted orders permeated the air. Down the street, the police had cordoned off the area and civilians were watching the proceedings curiously. They weren't close enough to see what was really going on, though.
Jack looked at the UNIT officer standing to attention before him.
"Sir," she said in greeting. She was small but athletic, wearing her blonde hair in a tight knot underneath her red beret. Her blue eyes looked up at Jack with just enough respect to convince him that she was in charge here.
He heard his team slam their doors and come around the SUV to join him. He nodded at the officer, reading her name plate. "Captain Luckett, what can you tell me?" He looked towards the skeleton of the factory. UNIT soldiers were milling about, making sure the area was closed off and training lights on the building now that the sun was setting. A helicopter was circling the air.
"It's inside," Luckett answered. "We managed to get to it before it could get to its victim. He works in one of the office buildings around here and was just on his way to his car when the Golem attacked. He's being questioned by some of our men as we speak."
"Horizon?"
"He was part of it," Luckett said with a nod. "One of the best scientists on it, actually."
"I want the report on that interview."
"Yes, sir. I'll inform General Leslie of your request."
"It's not a request," Jack replied. "It's an order. He better deliver that report."
Luckett nodded, more a polite gesture than an affirmative. "I'll make sure he knows, sir."
Jack looked at his team. "Let's go in." He turned to Luckett. "Do you have a team ready?"
"Yes, sir. Waiting to go in under your command."
Jack grinned. "Well, that sure sounds like we're getting along, Captain."
xxx
Martha dropped the file on Ianto's coffee tale and rubbed her forehead in frustration. Peralta's notes were difficult to understand. Martha wasn't stupid but that man was a genius, and half of what he'd deduced from his experiences seemed to be in his head, not written down. She bit her lip. Thing was, she really wanted to be sure that the pregnancy was possible. She wanted to be sure that the nano balls worked, but she couldn't be. Plus, she needed more information about male pregnancy. More than Jack or UNIT were able to give her. She wanted to make this work for Ianto. It would require a small miracle but she was sure that it was possible. She needed more information. As it was, she just happened to know a medical database that covered everything from the common cold to the most advanced medicine. She just had to pull a string to get to it. The problem was figuring out if she should.
Martha stood up and walked to the door leading into Ianto's bedroom. He was sleeping deeply, a book lying next to the bed where it apparently had fallen from his slack fingers. She bit her thumbnail and then made a decision. She closed the bedroom door to avoid disturbing Ianto and went back into the living room. She pulled her mobile from her jeans pocket and scrolled through her contacts, then she cleared her throat and dialled.
After three rings, a male voice said, "This is not the real thing, just the answering machine. Beep."
The real beep came and Martha cursed, "You've got to be bloody kidding me, Doctor. I'm lucky the world isn't ending. When did you get an answering machine?" She sighed. "Fine. It's eight pm on February 23 in 2008. Track my mobile phone and come here as soon as possible." As an afterthought she added, "Thanks. Martha." Then she hung up.
She went to the kitchen niche to make herself a tea and maybe a sandwich, but stopped in her tracks when she heard the TARDIS arriving. A breeze accompanied the ship materializing and then, just like that, the blue police phone box was standing dead-center in Ianto's living room, nestled in-between the coffee table and the telly. Martha had one second to wonder if she should look for a therapist for finding this normal, then the door swung open and the Doctor strolled into the room. He looked just like she remembered him and her heart – treacherous – skipped a beat. His warm, brown eyes lit up when he saw her and a wide grin split his friendly face. He opened his arms and Martha gave a very undignified squee when she hugged him. Slender as he was, she could wrap her arms fully around him. The brown pinstripe suit smelled of tea and some kind of spicy herb she'd never been able to identify and a bit dusty – just like she remembered. She leaned back and took a proper look at him, from the top of his mussed brown hair down to his trainers. He hadn't changed one bit. "Doctor."
"Martha," he answered. She chuckled and it felt like back then, when she'd still been his companion and they'd just survived another dangerous situation on their travels through space and time. Her current life, in comparison, was almost boring. But she wouldn't complain. She'd wanted out, unable to face his ignorance concerning her feelings for him any longer. He left her hug and looked around curiously. "So, this is ..." He turned in a circle. "You moved to Cardiff?"
"Not my flat," Martha answered. "I'm visiting Jack."
"So this is Jack's flat?"
"No," somebody said from the door and they turned to Ianto, standing there with crossed arms and in his pyjama bottoms and an old white t-shirt. "It's mine. What's going on here?"