Notes: Rose is finally back in the land of the living and worried that John is on a downward spiral. But then he has a radical idea.

Chapter 6

The saucer shaped craft had approached the planet by hiding behind the single large moon and manoeuvred carefully up to the pole where it landed in a crater.

It had a clear view of the planet below, but was well hidden from prying eyes (and sensors). You would have to know where to look to be able to see it.

"Commander, a craft has left the surface and is moving away at speed," the science officer announced.

"Does the planet have interstellar capabilities?"

"Negative."

"It may be a visitor to this world. Track its course; we will investigate at a later time."

"I obey."

Rose was in a comfortable room with a sofa, bed, and en-suite bathroom that wouldn't be out of place in any hotel back on Earth. EJ was asleep in a crib at the foot of the bed.

There was a decent sized window, through which she could see the star field beyond. She took another swig of water from the small bottle to wet her dry throat. Four hours with an endotracheal tube down your throat gave you a raging thirst.

She felt the warm glow of John's calling card and sat down on the sofa. The golden glow came and went and she was sat in their living room back home with John by the side of her.

She grabbed his face and kissed him without speaking, as he returned it with passion. When they broke from the kiss she could see tears in his eyes and the look of self loathing.

{"I'm sorry Rose. I've let you and EJ down."}

{"No, shush. Don't, it's not your fault."} She kissed him again.

{"I should have seen that coming. Ships like this use force fields as a heat shield during re-entry and to protect against micrometeorites during flight."}

{"What's done is done. Let's take stock of our assets and formulate some plans."} She was a Torchwood agent and was trying to stay positive for him so that he didn't start descending into despair.

She needed him to be his manic, running around, ten to the dozen motor mouthed self. When he was like that, ideas poured out of him like water out a fountain.

{"Telepathy!"} she said. {"They don't know we can do this, is there anyway we can use that to our advantage."}

{"Well, you can talk to them and then you can tell me what they said. But they're not going to tell you anything important or crucial, are they."}

{"Oh come on John, please. This isn't like you. Think, think. What about EJ, you told me you could see through his eyes and hear through his ears."}

He suddenly went quiet as he was deep in thought. She'd done it, she could tell. She could almost hear the wheels turning in his head.

{"If you could sweet talk your way on to the bridge carrying EJ, I could look at the systems configuration and work out how to fly the ship."}

{"Part of hostage negotiation training teaches you to befriend your captors and gain their trust, I can do that."}

{"Okay then, later we would have to come up with a plan to clear the bridge and lock it off. This is going to take time love. EJ will miss his first Christmas; you might miss your birthday. It's going to be awful without you."}

Rose squeezed his hand. {"Well we haven't got a TARDIS anymore; we'll just have to take the slow road. But, however long it takes, we will get home."}

John had gone quiet and he had the Time Lord look in his eyes that she hadn't seen since he'd split into two Doctors. Rose reached up and stroked his face.

{"John, are you alright?"} He suddenly came out of his reverie.

{"What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine, fine... In fact I might be better than fine,"} he said mysteriously. {"I've got to go and check on something, I'll see you later. I love you so much. Give EJ a kiss for me."}

He pulled her into a passionate kiss as they were surrounded by golden light.

John lifted the visor on the couch and sat up. 'You're not in the TARDIS now John, we have to go through channels', Pete had said. Talk about rubbing it in, and then Rose had said 'Well we haven't got a TARDIS anymore, we'll just have to take the slow road.'

"We haven't got a TARDIS... yet," he said to himself. Yet being the operative word. "You might have to take the slow road Rose, but a TARDIS is a time machine."

A plan was starting to form in his mind. It was all wibbly-wobbly and oh so timey-wimey and very him. He leapt off the couch and ran out of the lab to find Jack.

He found Jack in the standby room, chatting to Jake and watching the TV. He bounced into Andy's office and asked if he could borrow Jack for a couple of hours for an important project.

Andy could see that it was important the way he'd got enthusiasm back. To put a smile like that on his face lately, it must have something to do rescuing Rose and EJ.

"Sure, just bring 'em back safe and in one piece," he said with a grin.

John raised an eyebrow in surprise; he was good, damn good.

"Yeah, thanks Andy." He ran out of the office.

"Jack, I need your help."

Jack looked over and saw the look on his face. He sprang out of the chair and walked over. "What's up?"

"I need to get some stuff from my house and I need to make some long term plans. I'll explain on the way."

In his home laboratory, there was a pressure vessel about two feet long and a foot in diameter, rounded at both ends. It had all sorts of coils, wires, pipes, tubes and dials on it.

"What the hell is this thing?" Jack asked as they struggled up the stairs with it.

"Oof. It's a plasmic shell shattifier," he told him and saw the look on his face which said 'you're going to have to give me more than that'.

"It's modifying the dimensional stabilization of a chunk of TARDIS. At the right temperature and pressure, it produces a foldback harmonic of 96.6. The growth rate is accelerating exponentially."

"What? You're growing a TARDIS?" Jack asked in amazement.

"Yeah, for just over a year now. It should be ready for transdimentional implantation in about three months."

"Where the hell did you get a chunk of TARDIS in this universe?"

"I didn't, it came from the other universe. I gave it to me after I'd split in two."

"It's never dull around you, is it?" Jack gave him his white toothed smile.

They got the vessel stowed in the Delorian and then went back to clear a two metre square corner of the lab. John went up to the bedroom to put some clothes in a suitcase. He was going to be away for a few months.

Finally ready, they went down the steps to the Delorian and headed back to Torchwood.

Rose was a bit giddy and light headed after her telepathic kiss, it always did that to her.

That look in his eyes, he was up to something, she was sure of it. Could it be possible that he had a plan to get them out of here? She didn't want to get her hopes up too much, only to have them dashed.

She was distracted from her thoughts by a chiming sound coming from the door.

"Hello?" she called out.

The door swished open and her yellow/green handmaiden lizard entered the room and bowed to her.

"Good day Holy Mother, I hope that you are well and recovered from your ordeal," she said with reverence.

"If by ordeal you mean being shot, kidnapped and paralysed, I've had better days. And stop calling me Holy Mother! My name's Rose but you can call me Mrs Smith," Rose told her.

She mentally kicked herself. She was supposed to try and befriend these people, although she could probably get away with it when talking to a servant.

"As you wish Mrs. Smith, is there anything that I can get for you?"

'A ride home', Rose thought. Instead she went for conciliation. "I'm sorry for snapping at you, I don't suppose you had any say in what they did to me." She looked down at the unflattering robe that she had been dressed in after being taken off the ventilator.

"Do you still have my old clothes? They were comfortable, and the blouse made it easier for me to feed my son."

"Of course Mrs. Smith. I will go and fetch them now." She was about to leave when Rose called to her.

"Another thing, am I permitted to leave this room, or is it my prison cell?"

"You are not a prisoner Mrs. Smith. I will ask his eminence to come and speak with you." With that she turned and left the room.

A while later, Rose didn't know how long because there were no clocks, the handmaiden returned with Rose's clothes.

"His eminence will be along in a while to explain which areas of the ship are available to you Mrs. Smith."

"Thank you... Er, what is your name? I am terribly sorry; I forgot to ask when you were here before."

"No need for apologies from the Ho... from you Mrs. Smith. It is I who should be apologising for not introducing myself to my mistress. My name is Elishka."

"Well Elishka, I'm sure under different circumstances it would be very nice to meet you. I'm just going through to the bathroom to get dressed."

"Of course. If there is nothing else I can do for you, I shall leave." She bowed and left.

In the bathroom, Rose stripped off the baggy gown and looked at herself in the mirror. She had a bruise under her left clavicle where the dart had hit her, but apart from that she didn't look too bad considering.

She pulled on her knickers and then her black, Alexander McQueen leather skirt. Next, she put on her bra and buttoned up her cream Jaeger blouse. That felt better, a bit more normal in a completely abnormal situation.

She went through to the main room and sat on the bed to put her Giuseppe Zanotti boots. She loved these boots with the heels, and now she felt ready for anything.

The door chimed again.

"Hello."

It swished open, and an elderly stooped lizard walked in supported by an ornately carved staff.

"You must be 'his Eminence' the gaoler," she said with a smile.

He stopped and looked at her, trying to decide if it was anger, humour or sarcasm. He hadn't got the hang of these human traits yet, so he decided to ignore it.

"Holy Mother, it is good to see you up and about. I hope there are no ill effects from your... transportation."

'Remember agent Smith, be nice', she thought to herself. "A bit of a sore throat, but it's nothing serious. Would you mind calling me Mrs. Smith rather that Holy Mother? On my planet it sounds like an exclamation of surprise."

The old lizard seemed pleased that she hadn't let loose with the tirade of anger and abuse he was expecting.

"Of course Mrs. Smith, if it makes you more comfortable." He said with a bow. "Your handmaiden told me that you were asking about allowed areas of the ship." He took a card on a lanyard out of his pocket and handed it to her.

"This pass will allow you into common areas of the ship and exclude you from the dangerous and sensitive ones," he said.

Rose took the offered pass, inspected it and looked at the lizard.

"Thank you your Eminence," she said with as much sincerity as she could muster for her kidnapper. The old lizard smiled and nodded as he turned and headed for the door. It swished open and he turned to speak. "When you are more settled, we will talk about his Holiness, the Kaliq-Farrash and his future role." He turned back and walked out.

When the door closed, Rose let out her anger and frustration on the sofa and punched one of the cushions.

"That's what you think!"

"Okay Pete, I've got a plan to get Rose and EJ back in the next few days, but I'll need some resources and cooperation." He was in Pete's office, bouncing on his toes, eager to get started.

"Hey, John, if it gets 'em back safe and sound, whatever you need and whatever it takes, you've got it."

"Great! Okay, I need the guys in the workshop to make me a capsule to these specifications." He took a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it over. "Next, I need maintenance to put an interlocking serving hatch in my lab, y'know the sort where only one door can open at a time."

Pete looked a bit puzzled and cautious. "Okayyy," he said a bit non-committal.

"Right, I'm going down to the warehouse to rummage through the off-world tech to salvage some parts that I'll need for later."

At the door he turned and spoke. "I forgot to mention, the sooner they can get the cylinder done and the hatch installed, the sooner Rose and EJ will be back."

"I'll get right on it."

Later in the day, John and Jack were pushing a large trolley piled high with all sorts of alien tech, past the workmen who were cutting a hole in the wall next to the door of his lab.

They started offloading the trolley onto the worktops and shelves around the walls.

"So, what's all this in aid of then?" Jack asked as he looked at a black sphere with knobbly bits on it.

"When the TARDIS is ready, it will be able to cannibalize all of these bits and pieces for various systems. If it had to do it from scratch it would take years."

"Hey Doc! Is this a warp star?" Jack asked in wide eyed wonder.

In the centre of an intricate wire polygon was a gemstone that shone with an intense white light.

"Yep, that's going to be the power source for the heart of the TARDIS."

They finished off loading the trolley to the sounds of whirring, buzzing and sawing noises, as the workmen installed a metal cube in the wall with a door on the inside and one on the outside.

"All done Dr. Smith. As you can see, if one door is open, the other one is locked." The workman demonstrated the principal.

"Brilliant. Thanks a lot for doing it so quickly."

As the workmen picked up their tools and left, Pete walked in and looked around the now cluttered lab.

"The fabricators in the workshop tell me your capsule will be ready by 16:00 hours," he said, still looking around.

"Brilliant! Molto Bene! Not long now before you'll be able to see Rose and EJ again."

"John, do I want to know what's going on?"

John stopped what he was doing and looked at Pete, his face serious and deep in thought.

"What I'm about to do is risky, it could easily cause a paradox and breakdown the walls of reality. That's why I've got to take precautions. I've got to put myself into temporal quarantine."

"Temporal quarantine, what the hell is that?" Pete asked him.

"It's a bit complicated, but what it means is that this lab will be sealed for a few months. No one must enter until I unlock the door with the keypad. I'll tell people that there's a delicate experiment running that can't be interrupted."

"Well that's answered my question anyway. I definitely don't want to know!"

Jack snorted a laugh and John just grinned.

Even for a part Time Lord, the time dragged up to 16:00. John, Jack and Pete had visited the restaurant and had a meal and a drink together before heading back to the lab.

As they walked down the corridor, they followed two technicians wheeling a large metal cylinder towards the lab.

"Oh well done!" John said as they squeezed it through the door. "This is perfect. Okay, let's start stacking the items inside."

They emptied the worktops and shelves into the cylinder and closed the door. There was just enough room inside for one more item, when it was ready.

John turned and looked at Pete; he had a sort of melancholy look in his eyes. He held out his hand and Pete shook it as John pulled him into a hug, slapping his back.

"You'll see me again in a few days," he told him. "And I'll see you in a few months."

Pete was about to ask him what he meant, but John had grabbed Jack in a hug.

"Thanks for everything you're about to do old friend. See you soon, eh?"

"You just hurry up and bring that gorgeous wife back so I can have a hug, and that adorable son back so I can have a cuddle."

"Okay, time to go. The door will seal automatically when you close it. Bye."

"Bye, and good luck."

'Click', 'hiss', John was sealed inside his lab.