The Doctor is finally free. He and Jack must now search for Clara...
Scene 26.
Seated on the floor, side by side, The Doctor could see the weariness etched on Jack's face.
"You did good." He said quietly, turning towards him.
Harkness tried to smile in reply.
"I tell you Doctor, I've scoured this bloody building from top to bottom. It's a maze.
I found their transmit beam...except it's more than that...it's a Time portal."
"A Time portal? Yes...I think they mentioned it...they were going to send me back to Earth, Jack, the ultimate bargaining tool. That's my function here. Using my influence as President to procure them more children, the collateral being Clara. God, knows what they've done with her. But I know she's somewhere near. Every now and then, if I concentrate, I can hear her, just on the edge of my mind, calling to me."
"You taught her how to form a telepathic link?"
"Yes, and she's remarkably good at it, it's not as strong as another Gallifreyan would be, but it's there nevertheless. I keep sending her a message back. I only hope she can receive as well as she's managing to send out."
"So that was your usefulness to the 456...they must have been planning this for age upon age Doctor. I also found a clone, of you, ready to be sent out if the latest one failed. Your Malcolm Tucker must have been the last one, the next would be soon to follow. It's a devilish scheme, Doctor. I can't think of anything more evil."
"That's why we have to find Clara, and destroy this place."
"Your peace mission forgotten then?"
"I don't think these creatures are in a negotiating mood Jack. I also know there's nothing to stop them coming back for more children, despite what they told me. Not only do I not trust them with that, I don't trust them to return Clara either. I'm refuse to be their bargaining chip. We need to find her and then end it."
"And I'll be the one to do that Doctor. Not you. It's my task. The Tardis bought you to me, knew that I'd be needed. It is me who has to end it, not you. You have to carry on, not live with that...I'm past redemption, it doesn't matter for me any more."
"You can't go on punishing yourself for all time Jack. What happened, happened. You can't change it."
"No. But this might go towards making amends somehow. Might mean that they didn't die in vain, Clement, Frobisher...and Ianto."
"You loved him, didn't you?"
"Yes. I did. More than I might have cared to admit, even to him. It's hard to completely let go of your feelings when you can't die. You know you'll outlive them all, watch them grow old, they'll leave you eventually, it doesn't get any easier."
"My dear Jack...no one knows that better than me. How many have I loved and lost? Look at me now, I've thrown myself in the deep end yet again. Setting myself up for another fall. It's a constant pain, an ache that doesn't go away. But what can we do? I can't keep Clara for my lifetime, I know that, but I have to have her, for whatever time we've got. I love her so dearly. I tried to hold her at arms length, but it just made things worse, made me cherish her all the more. Its far too late now, we're in too deep, both of us. Just like you and Ianto. Love is a promise, Jack. All there is to it.
Now...If you've got your breath back, we should start searching for Clara, as soon as ever we can."
"No time like the present Doctor. I tell you, I've hunted all over this place, she must be where they keep the children. It's the only place I haven't discovered yet. I know it's not on this level, so it's either underground, or way up high somewhere. We'll start looking together."
"Right!" The Doctor scrambled to his feet. "Lead the way!"
Together they scoured the passages, hunting ostensibly for a disguised or hidden door.
Jack figured the 456 would want to keep this part of their operation as secret as possible.
As they explored more and more of the complex, the enormity of the task seemed overwhelming. Jack could see the Doctor becoming more and more frantic, as the minutes passed.
"Let's separate." He suggested, "We can cover more ground."
The Doctor frowned, reluctant. But acquiesced.
He immediately headed for the lower levels, maybe there was something there.
Jack went in the opposite direction. For him...up seemed to be the way to go.
After some ten minutes, he reached a dead end with a blank wall he had no recollection of.
He paused.
Taking a torch from his back pack, he flashed it across the space.
And there it was...an entrance, almost invisible in normal light.
The door was punch key activated. The keypad also hard to spot.
It was not guarded. Presumably because it was so well hidden, there was no need.
He took out his gun, fired into the mechanism and it sprung open with a pop.
No one challenged him. There was no one around.
The frequency he'd set off earlier, as his diversionary tactic, seemed to have pulled everyone to other parts of the complex.
Passing inside, he came to a gargantuan hangar like edifice.
His gaze moved upwards, mouth agape, astonished...
'Oh... My...God!'
Floor after floor, soared up and away from him, it was impossible to see how far it went.
Along each level, behind a rail, were vast numbers of compartments.
Booths, with transparent walls.
Inside each one there was a child.
Jack felt nausea, for the first time, since discovering the clone tanks.
He crossed silently to the booth nearest him and peered inside.
A pair of blue eyes gazed at him. Unseeing.
The face was a child's, but wizened, stretched. Emasculated.
A mask covered the lower portion of the visage, nose and mouth.
A feeding tube passed in, a waste tube out. Read outs monitored vital signs.
An intravenous line 'milked' the drug from the child's blood, which the 456 craved for their recreation.
An existence. Not a life.
Beyond help.
Jack was both furiously angry and horror struck. Tears stung his eyes.
Released from this hell, the child, he realised, would immediately perish. It's life span stretched far beyond the natural.
Arms and legs withered and useless. It would die before he could even release the tubes.
How could hope to free them all anyway?
There were hundreds and hundreds here...none could be saved.
He knew that now.
It was the moment Jack finally realised...
He could not effect a rescue. This would have to be a mercy genocide.
Like putting down a sick pet, to spare it further suffering.
It was down to him to do this.
He knew The Doctor would never be able to come to terms with it.
He looked about him in despair.
He must find Clara.
She must be here.
He would find her, release her, then return with more charges and detonators.
He would blow them all to Kingdom Come...