Right, here's the third part of Army of Ghosts, I'm not going to say anything here, except. Here we go.
"You... you've heard of me, then?" the Doctor asked
"Well of course we have." the woman said "And I have to say, if it wasn't for you, none of us would be here. The Doctor and the Tardis...!" Overcome, she started the applause again. The Doctor, who was clearly enjoying this, just a little bit, gestures for silence.
"And... and... and you are?" he asked
"Oh, plenty of time for that." she said "But according to the records, you're not one for travelling alone. The Doctor and his companion. That's a pattern isn't it, right?" The Doctor stared at her "There's no point hiding anything. Not from us." she said, her voice sounding slightly sinister "So where is she?"
"... Yes! Sorry. Good point. She's just a bit shy, that's all." He said as he opened the Tardis door just a bit more and felt around for his mother in law and pulled her out "But here she is: Rose Tyler." Rose was left inside to listen to proceedings, not making a sound. The Doctor looked Jackie up and down. "Hmm." he said "She's not the best I've ever had. Bit too blonde. Not too steady on her pins. A lot of that." He mimed chatting and Jackie glared at him, causing the woman to laugh. "And just last week, she stared into the heart of the Time Vortex and aged fifty-seven years. But she'll do."
"I'm 40!" Jackie argued
"Deluded." he said "Bless. I'll have to trade her in. Do you need anyone? She's very good at tea. Well, I say very good, I mean not bad. Well. I say not bad... anyway! Lead on. But not too fast. Her ankle's going." The woman turned to lead the way. The Doctor and Jackie followed
"I'll show you where my ankle's going." she hissed at the Doctor.
--
Rose watched them leave on the monitor
--
The Woman led them through a doorway "It was only a matter of time until you found us." she said "And at last you've made it. I'd like to welcome you, Doctor." She pushed open a doorway into a huge factory floor, full of alien artefacts and scientists working on them "Welcome... to Torchwood."
The Doctor looked around "That's a Jathar Sunglider." he said as he stared at it
"Came down to Earth off the Shetland Islands ten years ago." the woman said
"What, did it crash?" the Doctor asked
"No, we shot it down." the woman said "It violated our airspace. Then we stripped it bare. The weapon that destroyed the Sycorax on Christmas Day? That was us! Now if you'd like to come with me." Jackie shared an incredulous glance with the Doctor while the woman led them on "The Torchwood Institute has a motto: "if it's alien, it's ours". Anything that comes from the sky - we strip it down, and we use it. For the good of the British Empire."
"For the good of the what?" Jackie asked
"The British Empire."
"There isn't a British Empire." Jackie reminded her
"Not yet." the woman said "Ah, excuse me..." she took a weapon from a soldier "Now, if you wouldn't mind... do you recognise this, Doctor?" she asked
"That's a particle gun." he answered
"Good, isn't it?" Jackie tried to touch it, but the woman wrenched it from her grasp and ignored the interruption "Took us eight years to get it to work...."
"It's the twenty-first century." the Doctor said "You can't have particle guns."
"We must defend our border against the alien." she said as she returned the gun to the waiting soldier "Thank you... Sebastian, isn't it?"
"Yes, Ma'am." the soldier said
"Thank you, Sebastian." she said smiling then she turned back to the Doctor and Jackie "I think it's VERY important to know everyone by name. Torchwood is a very modern organisation. People skills. That's what it's all about these days." she smiled smugly "I'm a people person."
Jackie rolled her eyes
"Have you got anyone called Allonzo?" the Doctor asked, suddenly, remembering what he'd said to Rose a short time ago
"No, I don't think so." the woman said "Is that important?"
"I suppose not." the Doctor replied "What was your name?" He asked as he walked off to examine the other artefacts
"Yvonne." the woman said "Yvonne Hartman." The Doctor pulled a large device from a box "Ah yes. Now, we're rather fond of these. The Magnaclamp. Found in a spaceship buried at the base of Mount Snowdon. Attach this to an object and it cancels the mass. I could use it to lift two tonnes of weight with a single hand. That's an imperial ton, by the way. Torchwood refuses to go metric."
The Doctor threw the Magnaclamp back in the box and brushed his hands together.
"I could do with that to carry the shopping." Jackie said
"All these devices are for Torchwood's benefit." Yvonne said patronisingly "Not the general public's." Jackie pulled a face as the Doctor looked through a magnifying glass.
"So, what about these ghosts?" he asked
"Ah, yes, the ghosts." Yvonne said "They're er... what you might call a side effect."
"Of what?" the Doctor asked
"All in good time, Doctor." Yvonne said "There is an itinerary, trust me." Just then the Tardis was driven in on the back of a truck.
"Oi!" Jackie said "Where're you taking that?"
"'If it's alien, it's ours.'" Yvonne said
"You'll never get inside it." the Doctor told her
"Hm! Et cetera." Yvonne said and she walked away. As the Doctor watched the Tardis, Rose opened the door a crack and peeked through it. The Doctor saw her and nodded encouragingly before he looked away
--
Rose closed the door and walked over to the Doctor's coat, which was slung over one of the supports. She rummaged around in the pockets. "Psychic paper... psychic paper..." she said to herself. She found it and opened it, biting her lip as she anticipates what she could do with it.
--
Yvonne, the Doctor and Jackie walked down a corridor, flanked by armed soldiers. "All those times I've been on Earth, I've never heard of you."
"But of course not." said Yvonne "You're the enemy. You're actually named in the Torchwood Foundation Charter of 1879 as an enemy of the Crown."
"1879... that was called Torchwood, that house in Scotland." he realised
"That's right." Yvonne said "Where you encountered Queen Victoria and the werewolf."
"I think he makes half of it up." Jackie said
"Her Majesty created the Torchwood Institute with the express intention of keeping Britain great. And fighting the alien horde."
"But if I'm the enemy, does that mean that I'm a prisoner?" the Doctor asked conversationally
"Oh yes." Yvonne said lightly. They walked around a corner and found themselves outside a large black door. "But we'll make you perfectly comfortable. And there is so much you can teach us. Starting with this." she pressed her ID card against the digital lock, she opened the door. They walked into a room where a sphere was housed. "Now, what do you make of that?" she asked trying to sound impressive. A man notices their arrival, he straightened him jacket and approached the Doctor, who was gazing open mouthed up at the sphere.
"You must be the Doctor." he said "Rajesh Singh. It's an honour, sir." He held out his hand, but the Doctor was too immersed in gazing up at the sphere to notice.
"Yeah..." he said vaguely. Rajesh lowered his hand sheepishly.
"What is that thing?" Jackie asked
"We got no idea." Yvonne answered
"But what's wrong with it?" Jackie asked
"What makes you think there's something wrong with it?" Rajesh asked
"I dunno..." she said "just feels weird." The Doctor ran forwards and up the steps leading to the sphere.
"Well, the sphere has that effect on everyone." Yvonne said "Makes you wanna run and hide. Like it's forbidden."
"We tried analysing it using every device imaginable." Rajesh said as the Doctor put on his 3D specs and looked up at the sphere through them. "But - according to our instruments - the sphere doesn't exist. It weighs nothing. It doesn't age. No heat. No radiation. And - has no atomic mass."
"But I can see it!" Jackie said
"Fascinating, isn't it?" Rajesh said "It upsets people because it gives off... nothing. It is... absent."
"Well, Doctor?" Yvonne asked
"This is a Void Ship." the Doctor answered
"And what is that?" Yvonne asked
"Well, it's impossible for starters." he said as he put away the 3D specs "I always thought it was just a theory, but... it's a vessel designed to exist outside time and space. Travelling through the Void." He sat down on the bottom step, Yvonne and Rajesh crowding him
"And what's 'the Void'?"
"The space between dimensions." he answered "There's all sorts of realities around us, different dimensions - billions of parallel universes all stacked up against each other. The Void is the space in-between. Containing absolutely nothing. Imagine that - nothing. No light, no dark, no up, no down. No life. No time. Without end. My people called it the Void, the Eternals call it the Howling. But some people call it Hell."
"But someone built the sphere." Rajesh said "What for? Why go there?"
"To explore." the Doctor answered "To escape. You could sit inside that thing and eternity would pass you by. The Big Bang... end of the universe, start of the next, wouldn't even touch the sides. You'd exist outside the whole of creation."
"You see, we were right." Yvonne said smugly "There is something inside it."
"Oh yes." the Doctor said, catching her off guard with his tone
"So how do we get in there?" Rajesh asked
The Doctor stood up "We don't!" he said "We send that thing back into Hell. How did it get here in the first place?"
"Well, that's how it all started." said Yvonne "The sphere came through into this world, and the ghosts followed in its wake."
"Show me." the Doctor demanded before he walked away. Yvonne and Rajesh exchanged a look before she followed. The Doctor left the room and turned left.
"No, Doctor." Yvonne said and he turned right.
--
Rose tentatively stepped outside the TARDIS doors and found herself in a tucked away corner of the factory floor. She quickly dodged out of sight of two men talking - she tried to go the other way but two soldiers approached. She waited until they were gone, and then quickly grabbed a discarded white lab coat and put it on. She then walked confidently out into the open and no one gave her a second glance. She spotted one man striding purposefully through a door and decided to follow him.
--
Yvonne showed the Doctor where they had been running the ghost shifts from "The sphere came through here." she said "A hole in the world." The Doctor ran his hand over the smooth white wall "Not active at the moment. But when we fire particle engines at that exact spot, the breech opens up."
"How did you even find it?" the Doctor asked
"Well, we were getting warning signs for years." Yvonne answered "A radar black-spot. So we built this place. Torchwood Tower. The breech was six hundred foot above sea level. It was on the only way to reach it."
"You built a skyscraper just to reach a spatial disturbance?" he asked as he took the 3D specs out and put them on "How much money have you got?"
"Enough." She walked away and the Doctor removed his specs and folded his arms, still contemplating the wall. Jackie was looking out of the window in Yvonne's office.
"Hold on a minute..." Jackie said "we're in Canary Wharf! Must be! This building, it's Canary Wharf." The View from outside suggested that she was correct.
"Well, that is the public name for it." Yvonne said "But to those in the know, it's Torchwood."
The Doctor joined them
"So, you find the breech, probe it, the sphere comes through." he said "Six hundred feet above London, bam. It leaves a hole in the fabric of reality. And that hole, you think, "oh, shall we leave it alone? Shall we back off? Shall we play it safe?" Nah, you think "let's make it bigger!"
"It's a massive source of energy." Yvonne reasoned "If we can harness that power, we need never depend on the Middle East again. Britain will become truly independent. Look, you can see for yourself. Next Ghost Shift's in two minutes." She left the office and entered the main area
"Cancel it." the Doctor said
"I don't think so."
"I'm warning you, cancel it." He tried again, sounding angry
"Oh, exactly as the legends would have it." Yvonne said "The Doctor, lording it over us. Assuming alien authority over the rights of Man."
"Let me show you." He took the sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and stood on the other side of the glass partition between Yvonne's office and the main area. "Sphere comes through." He pointed the sonic screwdriver at the glass and activated it. The glass splinters and the cracks extend outwards, continuing to do so as the Doctor spoke "But when it made the hole, it cracked the world around it. The entire surface of this dimension, splintered. And that's how the ghosts get through. That's how they get everywhere. They're bleeding through the fault lines. Walking from their world, across the Void, and into yours. With the Human Race hoping and wishing and helping them along! But too many ghosts, and..." He touched the glass lightly and the whole thing shattered and fell from the frame.
"Well, in that case we'll have to be more careful." she replied before addressing her staff "Positions! Ghost Shift in one minute."
"Ms Hartman, I am asking you - please, don't do it." the Doctor said as he followed her
"We have done this a thousand times." she said
"Then stop at a thousand!" the Doctor said furiously
"We are in control of the ghosts." Yvonne told him "The levers can open the breech, but equally they can close it." They stared at each other for a few moments; locked in a battle of wills, until-
"Okay." the Doctor said lightly.
Okay, that may seem like an odd place to stop, but there is method in this madness I assure you. The next part will be the final part of Army of Ghosts which means the dreaded Doomsday. I'm actually looking forward to it, cause I have a plan.
But that's all I'm saying for now.
I'm off to organise the next part.
TTFN
Julie.