Ten

Reaching the bridge the lift stopped and the doors opened. On the wall facing the door Ianto reached up and placed a magni-grip on the surface of the shaft above his head at arm's length. Knowing he had only seconds he fastened a safety rope just as the lift doors closed and descended. Ianto's heart raced as he dangled one-handed, and he heard the creak of the hold fast take his entire weight.

On its return Ianto took the second hold fast and slapped it into place on the other side of the door. Quickly he configured it and looped the rope around the hold fasts and his harness to make himself more secure.

The lift descended again, working through the pattern of movements Ianto had programmed and then it returned. Hanging in open space Ianto took deep breaths to calm his wildly beating heart. He felt his left hand begin to lose strength so he released it. He had been expecting this. It was his one true weakness. The damage to his back meant his left side was considerably weaker than the right. The last time he had ignored all warnings he had fallen several feet, been slammed against a rock face and left hanging. Flexing his left hand he willed strength into it

On its third return Ianto configured the ropes to allow for more independent movement and a longer reach by attaching rigs wincher tools to each hold fast.

The next time Ianto prepared to weld a small ledge approximately two centimetres in depth door side of the shaft three centimetres above the top of the lift opening. Two lift cycles later he placed his right foot onto the tiny ledge; he immediately felt more secure as the boot locked itself onto the metal surface.

Almost ready Ianto pulled the pouch around his shoulder forward and slipped the cutter inside. Mentally he went over the plan imagining each step needed for this to work. Currently there were two people on the bridge not counting the Torchwood officer. Commander Sebol, he had learnt had no patience for the issues facing him. Every failure was met with more and more outrageous demands that the techs do what he demanded of them. 'Good,' Ianto thought. Frustration caused people to act less rationally.

With the Commander was a tech still trying to overcome the encryption locking the slavers out.

'This whole plan was certifiable,' Ianto thought. The crew was never going to fall for it and what if the ropes didn't play out as planned? Maybe he should have found a way to do this that didn't require him to be suspended over a five hundred meter drop. And he was easy pickings, all they had to do was sense something was wrong, send the lift down and open the bridge doors and there he would be a sitting duck. 'Spider,' he heard his mind reply. 'Sitting spider; one boom and it would all be over.'

'It's a good plan. All you have is the unexpected there was no way they could see this coming,' he argued with himself. Two against one with no weapon meant failure. One against one maybe if he could put up one hell of a fight. One man he had seen was a brute. If he was on the bridge there would no contest; his rescue attempt would be over.

He needed time; time to move the officer, and get a head start before the pursuit that was sure to follow began.

He felt a small ripple of hysteria begin to build. He was mad, madder than mad, madder than the Mad Hatter in 'Alice in Wonderland.' If the plan worked it would give him time, time, moving time…'

All change, said the dormouse!

With only a small amount of resistance from the ropes he stepped onto the lift roof. Taking out a scroll from the back pouch, unrolled it and spread it out across the lift roof affixing it so it would not unravel. Checking it was the right way up Ianto laid down on his stomach.

Sliding the roof panel he checked the lift doors were open and the lift was empty He had to get this right because there was only a small window of opportunity each time the lift doors opened and closed. Twisting to get a better angle he aimed the engineering wand into the bridge. The function of the wand was to convey instructions from a distance. All he had to do was hit a panel. Any panel would do. Nothing happened.

Biting his lip in concentration he adjusted the angle and fired it towards the lift panel. The lift doors closed and the lift immediately descended. Hanging there the ropes creaked and Ianto kept his eyes fixed on the top of the lift. Maddeningly time seemed to slow as the lift went to every floor on its way down then back up.

Adjusting the angle Ianto fired between the doors into the bridge. A few seconds when the bridge remained silent he knew he had failed again.

'Third times a charm,' Ianto heard himself say on his next attempt. He fired the signal from as many different angles as he could.

An ear-splitting shriek began to wail. Quickly Ianto replaced the panel, seating it correctly. Positioning himself on the small ledge all he had to do now was wait.

Keeping as far away from the captain's office as she could the tech tried to pretend she couldn't hear what she was hearing. It was beyond vile. Why didn't the man just give up the codes? There was no point anyway; another few days they would be towing this baby to base. His value would be zero especially if Sebol killed him and by his looks he might fetch a good price.

She watched as the programme she had set up worked its way through the system. The only positive was each failure gave her a clue on how to overcome the barrier. She counted; just as she reached thirty-two the panel went dead. She slapped it in annoyance. 'Damnit.' Her attempt had caused the panel to go dead. Walking around the bridge she went to check if any of the others had closed down when the lift door opened

And the first thing she swore she was going to do was 'fix was that blasted lift,' she said to herself; not turning her head. 'It had come and gone so many times it was as if the thing had a mind of its own.'

An ear-splitting high pitched shriek filled the bridge and she instinctively put her hands over her ears. Another warning, this time a voice, began to boom out followed seconds later by another. She scrambled towards the science station panel.

A short stocky man stalked onto the bridge and looked towards her. 'What the hell is going on?' he bellowed over the incessant noise.

As the shrieking increased in intensity the stocky man placed his blood-stained hands over his ears. From his moving lips the tech could see he was screaming something at her.

Halfway through his rant the noise ended only to be replaced with their own communication system filled with reports from all the slavers over talking each other.

'Glogan, report,' the stocky man hollered into his communication device.

'Glogan reporting,' a reply stated seconds later.

'What happened?' Sebol demanded

'No idea, it sounded live every engineering alert went off then all the instrument panels lit up like a celebration,' Glogan reported.

Sebol pointed at the tech. He was about to speak when a bland voice began to intone along with softer alarm.

'Warning, gravity failure in 3-2-1…gravity has failed.' All the detritus that was around them began to float. Both Sebol and the tech flailed around when the voice spoke again. 'Gravity restored.' Before either could react they hit the floor.

Sebol roared as he slammed onto his back, knocking all the wind out of him. Standing he grabbed hold of the tech's shoulders and shook her. 'Fix this.'

'How? I don't know what caused it!' She staggered back as he pushed her away.

'Not good enough.' He stepped towards her and she instantly took a step back.

'It's possible our attempts to override the main operating system have caused this,' she stammered.

'We have never had this problem before! I say this is your fault.' He narrowed his eyes and spat in her direction.

The tech pointed to a small plaque in the corner. 'This ship is one of the latest to come out of Space Industries. There are protocols and systems we've never seen. Even the older ships need a return to space port to unlock the main operating system.'

The commander smiled. 'Are the airlocks still working?'

'Yes, they are operated manually,' she replied quickly not sure what the point of the question was.

The commander grabbed her began to drag the woman towards the open lift door 'Then you are of no more use,' he snarled.

'Engineering!' she shouted out as she struggled against him. 'Engineering has panels, maybe them coming back online is a sign it might be possible to access the main operating system from there.'

Glogan, who had been listening in, interrupted, 'I think she might be right. Some of the panels controlling the secondary systems appear to be operating now.'

Sebol let her go. 'Get down there and remember there are things worse than spacing if you don't get this ship up and running.'

Not wanting to suffer the commander's ire any longer she hurried to the lift and requested the engineering level.

Turning Commander Sebol and stomped back towards an open door on the left side of the bridge

This ship was his prize. And his bounty was reducing with every passing second. If the ship wasn't under its own steam by the time the wrecking crew got there the capture bounty due his squad would go to the cartel.

Standing before the man in the chair, he admired his handiwork

There was such a demand for the slaves through the rift for tech slaves he would have commanded a premium tariff. Or some wealthy woman could have bought him for personal services. Or maybe even some wealthy man but the truth was for that line of work youth was more important than looks but he might have hit some specialist target market. Well his poster days were over. Right now his value was worthless.

Bloody and still defiant, the man spat in the direction of his voice.

'Time for another around Commander,' Sebol said gleefully. He took his time choosing the next instrument he would try out. He loved building fear. Picking up a long thin rod and checked the edge then he whipped it through the air so his prisoner knew what was coming. Satisfied he kicked over the chair which fell backwards and lifted his arm up.

'Where the hell is the tech you promised?' The communicator squawked and Glogan shouted at him.

'What?' Sebol brought his arm down.

'The tech. Where is the tech? Every board in Engineering have gone crazy and parts of the ship have lost gravity. I need her here now.'

'She left here minutes ago,' Sebol announced.

Another voice came on line and said one word, 'Lift.'

'Olaf thinks with all the problems with the power systems the lift might have gotten stuck or stopped somewhere. Try and see if you can get it to come back,' Glogan suggested

Sebol walked fully onto the bridge moving over to the lift. He punched the button with the side of his enclosed fist.

The communicator came back to life.

'Olaf has found the manual door override. We can't see the lift from down here; can you see it from where you are?'

'The doors are closed how the hell are they supposed to open if there's no lift?' Sebol growled.

'On the left hand side running down parallel to the lift is a manual lift release panel.'

'There is nothing there but wall,' Sebol replied looking the area up and down.

'If you tap the wall, left-hand side about meter up a panel should spring open,' Glogan instructed.

Sebol now punched the spot and the panel sprung open, revealing a metal level.

'Now pull the lever up and the doors should open.' Pulling the lever Sebol stepped back as the door opened.

'Can you see anything?' Sebol peered down. All he could see was darkness but as his eyes acclimatised he thought he could see something glowing in yellow.

'I think I can see something,' Sebol announced and pulled up the small light source attached to a tool belt around his waist.

The shaft was deep but he could just make out what looked like the top of the lift. 'Yes,' he leaned further over, 'there were letters.'

Hanging in his web Ianto felt less like a spider and more like a man at the end of his rope. Listening to the chatter he waited. 'How long did it take for the slavers to realise the techs had not arrived in engineering?'

His spirits lifted as the end play began. Just beneath his right foot the doors opened and a thickset man shone a torch down the shaft then leaned in to get a better look.

'Have a good trip. What the fuck does that mean?' The man below him read the message out loud.

Jumping off the tiny ledge Ianto's feet hit the man's shoulder blades square on. Sebol half twisted as he fell. Seeing Ianto he attempted to grab one of Ianto's feet. It was a futile gesture as he was already meters away and seconds later he hit the top of the lift with a shattering crash.

Hanging in mid-air air Ianto rocked forwards and backwards until he had enough momentum to reach the floor of the bridge. Once his feet hit solid ground he slapped the quick release on his safety harness, releasing the ropes. Now free he commanded the lift door bridge to close. Taking out the cutter he welded the manual door release into the closed position. Being a safety feature the lift doors would not open unless the catch was in the open position.

Now locked down it meant who ever wanted to get onto the bridge would have to cut their way through or prise them open with a hydraulic jack Hopefully the effort would slow the slavers down long enough for him to get himself and the injured officer to the inner core before he had to worry about any pursuit.

Entering the Captains office he saw the officer on his back tied to a kicked over chair. As he suspected it was Harkness. His face was a mass of swollen bruises and covered in blood. Vomit rose to Ianto's throat; he was expecting bad but being witness to the damage was a whole different experience. With a grunt he turned the chair over onto one side. Checking for a pulse his shaking fingers took a few moments to confirm the man still alive. Using the laser cutter he cut the binders. Fumbling with his waist bag he took out the hypo he had prepared earlier loaded with a stimulant and pressed it to the man's arm.

Jack came to, and realising his arms were free he began to flail around in an attempt to fight off his attacker.

'I'm here to rescue you,' a voice assured him.

'This is a trick. I will never tell you what you want,' Jack croaked out and started to throw out a fist.

'Sir!' Ianto said forcefully, 'you are being rescued. We don't have much time before their techs learn how to operate the lift manual override and cut their way through the door.'

Jack jolted at the honorific and stopped struggling. In seconds he felt himself being assisted to his feet.

Jack grunted in pain as his feet took his full weight and collapsed towards Ianto. 'Feet,' he groaned and Ianto looked down. Jack's feet were a bloody mess, with strips of flesh dragging off in long ribbons and every toenail was missing. Everything Ianto had eaten in the past hours seemed to burn its way into his throat.

'I'm sorry sir; we have some way to go before we reach safety. You will have walk.'

Placing his arm around Jack's shoulder Ianto tried to keep him upright. Jack gritted his teeth and moved with a shuffled gait that made it clear each step was agony.

Jack slumped against him as Ianto stopped and with a single tap opened the panel next to the lift opposite to the manual override panel. It was much larger than the maintenance entrances because this panel led to the emergency escape tunnel that led down all the way to the escape pods.

Ianto pushed and pulled Jack onto a ledge just inside the door. Squeezing in Ianto now paid attention to sealing the panel. As he clipped the panel back into place Ianto felt a vibration as the lift began to travel and the hunt began.

Turning to help Jack to the ladder the man began to struggle again, confused about where he was. Ianto put his hand over his mouth instinctually as he began to cry out.

'Sir, you are being rescued. Currently we are inside the emergency exit by the lift.'

The whisper of the word, 'Sir,' in the dark brought Jack back to himself again. Against the pain in his feet Jack steeled himself to mobility. The body of his rescuer was pushed up against his with his hand over his mouth to stifle his cry. His nose was blocked with blood and he was about to start struggling again when the hand was removed and he took a gasping breath.

A hand guided his left hand to a rung. He winced as he tried to wrap his fingers around the metal rung but they were useless so he quickly swapped hands. He heard the same comforting whisper met his ear. 'Up eight rungs up then to your left you will reach a tunnel.'

'Down,' Jack croaked.

'I'm hoping they will think we've headed down towards the escape pods or sick bay. If we go up it might give us some more time,' Jack heard the reply.

Using his left hand Jack pulled himself up. Each step sent arrows of fire into his legs. He felt himself begin to slip away when he heard the voice of his rescuer from beneath him, 'Only four steps to go.'

Concentrating he tried not to lose count of how many steps he had conquered. Shaking uncontrollably he reached the eighth run and felt a slight breeze. One more push upwards and he felt the metal floor of a maintenance tunnel beneath him.

Jack crawled forward on his knees and left hand using his elbow as he tried to protect his right wrist. 'Keep moving; five more steps,' the voice from behind instructed.

Counting through gritted teeth he slumped into a heap as he reached five. He felt hands on his backside and was pushed forward a few centimetres more.

'Thank you,' Jack managed to croak out as he heard fumbling.

'Don't thank me yet,' the voice told him. Jack listened and heard what sounded like fingers hitting a keyboard.

The events of the past hours seemed to be taking their toll and he felt himself begin to fade.

'Don't pass out on me; we've a way to go.' The voice caused Jack to snap back.

'Water?' Jack asked and after more fumbling sounds found a bottle against his lips. He took several grateful sips as the water cleared the blood from his mouth and eased his terribly dry throat. He tried to force his eyes open but they were swollen and covered in blood.

A light touch on his arm and Jack heard a hiss of a hypo. 'I know you are in a lot of pain and you deserve a lot more but I could kill you,' Jack felt woozy. 'I know this is hard but I can't move you on my own so you have to help me.' Jack nodded his understanding.

'Where are we?' Jack asked and found the water bottle at his lips again.

'Maintenance subsection five, junction 7E.'

'Crew?'

'Gone. Taken off ship.' Jack took another long drink

'We need to move and head for subsection 72, junction 6Q.' Jack understood they were moving toward the inner core of the ship.

'I think my wrist is broken,' Jack told his rescuer.

'From the angle I concur,' the voice agreed.

To get a head start Jack began to move forward as best he could.

'Let me go first,' the voice said then squeezed over him wearing what seemed like a large long bag. As the bag reached Jack's shoulders it got wedged. Using his good hand he freed it and it lurched forward. Within moments he felt hands pulling him forward.

The journey through the ship was one Jack viewed through either a red of white haze. For some reason the pain in his feet seemed to make him feel very hot, like he was aflame. Grateful the pain medication helped because he felt himself outside of his body making the pain seem distant. The problem was every time he put his foot down or knocked his wrist the pain came screaming back. What kept him going was the voice that spoke to him. It called him sir, and soothed, encouraged, entreated, apologised, badgered and promised true sanctuary.

In a haze of red Jack heard a noise and felt the man who was guiding him into another junction startle. It was the howl of pursuit and it was getting closer with each passing moment.

Ianto dragged Jack along the tunnel. From the sound of their pursuers they were only three junctions away. As predicted it had taken some time to open the lift doors. Now they were making up for lost time as they followed the trail of blood.

Jack reached the end of the tunnel and felt his good hand being placed on a rung.

The torture of each step seemed to race up his legs as the edge of each rung dug into each foot. They heard a clear shout. Their pursuers were now just were just one junction away. Terror infected him and he used the last ounce of strength he possessed to get up the ladder. Reaching the solid surface of the tunnel he began to crawl. Seconds later he felt himself being pushed from behind against a metal barrier. It was a dead end and he felt a terrible fear for his Good Samaritan.

His face creased from effort, Ianto pushed Jack down the tunnel. Harkness was at the end of his strength; in seconds this would all be over one way or the other. Just a few more feet…

Squashing himself against Jack into the dead end Ianto took off the pouch, reached in and found his pad. Flicking open the access panel he cursed as he fought against his shaking hands to plug in the cable.

Looking down he checked his position and brought up his feet across what appeared to be a line on the floor. Now he watched as the first of their pursuers stood on the ladder and held his weapon towards Ianto.

'Got ya and this time you won't escape. You are trapped with nowhere to go,' the pocked-faced man announced triumphantly.

'So it would appear,' Ianto replied.

'And you killed the Commander,' the man spat in Ianto's direction.

'Did he have a good trip?' Ianto asked.

'What?' The pock-faced man said.

'Did he enjoy being shafted?'

'What the fuck are you talking about?'

'Your commander; did he enjoy his trip to oblivion? Did his head fit the correct requirements, when it met the top of the lift?' Ianto spoke slowly as if the man was an idiot.

'You are mad…fucking loop the loop,' the pock-faced man said, inching forward.

'That is entirely possible,' Ianto agreed. There was a pause. 'You didn't answer my question.'

'You killed the Commander…'

'One down,' Ianto told him bluntly.

'Lot of good it did ya. You're still trapped with nowhere left to go,' the man sneered. 'So you know the Gaffer will be here soon with reinforcements. And you will be our gift to him. Once he's finished with you I'm sure we can find some way to work you to death.'

Ianto smiled. 'Well you seem to have the upper hand so to speak. But as much as I would like to meet your 'Gaffer' who I'm sure is an upstanding pirate in the best possible tradition, I have to respectfully decline. As you can see I'm far too busy rescuing the current captain of the ship who, considering his current condition, is going to need a lot of one-on-one attention. So please give him my kind regards.'

'You can be as smart-mouthed as you like but the truth is we have ya, done and dusted,' the man crowed and for the first time saw the man before him was holding a pad. 'Do you think that little bit of tech will stop me? One jab of this,' the man brandished his stunner weapon, 'and your fancy piece of tech will be dead.'

'Yes, as you say, done and dusted,' Ianto agreed then began to speak in his best teacher voice. 'This dead end represents the division between the inner core of the ship and the outer shell.' Ianto pointed backwards. 'Behind myself and Captain Harkness is bulkhead number 23V. All bulkheads are there for one reason; in the event the hull is breached the bulkheads close. However unlike seagoing vessels where the bulkheads only close in an emergency, the bulkheads on space going vessels are locked down. But the crew still has to transverse these tunnels on occasions. To move all I have to do is…

The pock-faced man suddenly realised what was happening and lunged forward. He screamed in frustration as the bulkhead snapped into place, just missing his nose and cutting his stunner in half.

'Send the command.' Ianto pressed enact and the bulkhead by his toes slammed shut and the one behind opened.

The head of the weapon hit Ianto's feet. He smelt ozone and it appeared to sizzle for a moment.

Twisting he turned to find Jack had passed out.

'Not unexpected,' Ianto told himself. The man was in such a state it was astounding he hadn't passed out earlier. They were so near but they still had three more ladders and tunnels to get through before they reached their sanctuary. Like many times in this adventure Ianto was left with a single option.

Setting up a low gravity field had taken more time that Ianto had anticipated. Although it was not strictly part of the life support, the gravity system was locked into parameters of either zero or earth normal. Also complicating matters was trying to overrule his programme of chaos which had been set in motion as he sat in the first junction after their escape.

Commands and counter-commands later he smiled as he felt himself become lighter. Gravity now at zero, he sent the final signal, this one aimed at the sensor array to enact the transfiguration process. If this worked when they got there everything they needed should be available. He checked his waist bag and double-checked the hypos stored there. If not, it was over. Ianto knew he done his very best but was at end of his strength. He was damned if he was going to be taken alive or hand his Captain over to those bastards or suffer the same fate.

Grimly he gathered everything including the end of the weapon and he packed it along with the cable and pad into his over the shoulder pouch Dead weights and moving them all had the potential for disaster because equal and opposite reaction took on a whole new meaning in low gravity. So it was with a light touch he moved Jack forward.

Jack felt strange, like he was drifting. He was almost comfortable and the pain for now seemed to belong to someone else. His reverie was interrupted when he heard the same voice that had guided him so far.

'Good, you are back with us. Not too far now; we are about to enter the final section and the low gravity field will end. I will do the best I can cushion you.'

Jack braced himself and found himself face down on open metal grating. Pain slammed into him as his feet and wrist made contact.

'I'm sorry about this but you have to stand.' Jack helped as best he could and he struggled upright.

The grating underfoot felt like hot knives burning into feet. A door opened and he was hit with a wave of hot air and a background hum that sounded familiar. His feverish mind told him he was in the main computer core.

'Four more steps and all you have to do is stand,' the man beside him assured. Jack found himself leaning against a wall. No matter how hard he tried he felt himself slipping downwards. Each time the effort to right himself moved towards the impossible.

Without warning he heard a loud clanging followed by a scraping noise of metal over metal.

'Just two more steps and you will be safe,' the voice told him. 'I need you to trust me, and just step forward.'

Stepping forward Jack panicked as he realised he had stepped into air. Before he could react his hips caught on what felt searing heat then there was a foot hit his shoulder and he fell.

Hitting several large sharp-sided objects he grunted with agony as his wrist collided with something, followed by his ribs. All the pain and trauma of the past two days crashed him into unconsciousness.

Sliding in Ianto fell on top of the prone man. From the ragged breaths Ianto figured Harkness was still breathing so he turned his attention back to the opening. Standing on top of a heap of equipment he brought his backpack forward and found his torch. A quick check below him and he aimed it towards the mattress.

Stretching on tiptoe, he reached for the grating and seated it back onto place. With one hand he placed the circle he had cut out back into place and using the laser welder he sealed them in.

His heart pounded as he completed the circle. Stepping down he used the torch to quickly check over the equipment. Looking up he saw the white hot metal in the welding above fade from red to black.