Disclaimer: The characters and settings do not belong to me and I gain nothing but personal satisfaction from their use.
Author's note: Sorry this took so long, I moved countries so there was some upheaval. Enjoy!
As excited as she'd been to be back at work, it now seemed confining and Rose was anxious for the weekend. Thank god it's Friday, she thought as she stepped into Torchwood the next day.
She was barely in the door of her office when Commander Davis pinged her.
"Tyler, suspicious sighting in a warehouse down at the docks. Take your team in, I'll send coordinates to the cars. Double time."
"On my way, sir. Team, suits." She called as she strode from her office, snagging her gear from the rack as she walked purposefully to the express elevator. Her team crowded around her, shifting the bulky gear as the elevator dropped quickly to the garage. They all slipped the subtle earpiece communicators into their ears just before they reached the bottom level. Rose's comm had two settings, one to talk to her team and one to the Commander.
"Any more details, sir?" She asked as they slid into a Torchwood standard armored SUV.
"Not much. Reports of strange light and odd noises. Several watchers reported someone entering the building but never leaving. Be careful."
"Noted, sir. We will take every caution. Tyler out." She switched back to the setting for her team. "Not much information to go on. Strange lights and noises, possible disappearances. We're on double time."
Her team nodded. Vance, who was driving, flicked on the lights and siren that would get them through London quickly.
The warehouse had long since been abandoned by the owners. Rust streaked the metal doors and panels were missing from the roof. Through the gaps in the roof they could see flashes of colored lights.
"Vance, Lucy, and James, circle the building, look for external damage and any other entrances. I want one of you walking backwards. Check in every minute. Go. Brennan, set up the scanner, I want to know how many life forms we're looking at. Eliza, use the seismologer, scan for trap doors and tunnels." Rose ordered her team. She studied the building briefly before pulling out the caution tape and cordoning off the drive in. The building appeared to have two stories, though the top floor was most likely a loft. From the number of stacks sprouting through the roof, she imagined that there was a fair amount of equipment in the building. Large machines of some sort or another. They could limit both space and visibility inside.
"Checking in." Vance said over the comm.
He repeated it every minute, without fail until they returned to Rose. Vance was very by the book. Reliable, but he found it difficult to improvise in unfamiliar situations.
"Report." Rose told the three scouts.
"The far side has large sliding doors, big enough to move large machinery, and a single man door. No sign of damage or forced entry but all the doors appear to be unlocked." Vance told her.
"Brennan, life forms?" She asked.
"It's reading six and a half."
"A half?"
"Yes, Captain. I'm not sure how that is but I've checked it three times."
"Eliza?"
"No apparent underground entrances."
Rose chewed her lip. Three exits on two opposite sides of the building. With a complete unknown situation, she didn't like to split up her team, but she couldn't afford to leave exits uncovered until she knew what they were dealing with. She growled. It could be hostile enemies or it could be frightened tourists.
"Two groups, same as before. Vance, you'll come in from the other side on my mark. Try to come in as quietly as possible. Guns and torches out. One gun in each group should be set to lethal, the others at stun until we know more." The other three nodded and trotted around to the other side of the building.
"Set." Vance said from the far side on the building.
"Eliza, you have lethal, Brennan and I will take stun. No one shoots unless I give the go ahead." Rose took a deep breath. "3...2...1... Mark." She said as she slid through the cracked door, sensing her team behind her.
The warehouse was lit by an eerie red light with soft bursts of green. The light was merely a glow with no discernible source. In the torchlight, Rose made out stacks of dilapidated crates around the edges of the building and large boiler tanks in the middle.
"Captain we have a spaceship." Vance whispered over the comms.
"Where?" Rose asked softly.
"Above."
Rose looked up. Sure enough, there was a dark mass floating close to the ceiling. The edges of it were sharp and distinct, the shape distinctive, but Rose didn't know it. A door was open from the ship, spilling out the light. It opened onto the edge of the loft.
"Vance, your team to the base of the stairs, we're going up."
With Rose in the lead, the threesome crept sideways up the narrow staircase, keeping their backs against the wall. As Rose stepped onto the open loft, she wished desperately that the Doctor was there, or River, since Rose had certainly never seen the creatures in front of her before.
They were the kind of black that absorbs light with glowing, triangular green eyes. Their bodies were smooth and fluid without apparent joints or bones. The eyes were the only feature Rose could see but the shape of the face was different from a human. It curved out to a point before forming a chin. Rose couldn't count them, they were too dark, but there were at least four. She could see four pair of eyes. One lay on the floor and two others sat, limbs sprawling awkwardly, behind a standing one.
"Please," The standing one said, reaching out a hand, "We are injured and lost."
Shaking off her discomfort, Rose took half a step forward to introduce herself.
"Rose, get out." River's voice said in her head. "Get out. Get out now!"
"Everyone out!" Rose yelled, turning to run down the stairs. A hissing sound followed her and she glanced back to see the inky masses gliding towards her, their green eyes pulsing. She turned fully, aiming her weapon at them. She could at least delay them enough to get her team out. To her surprise, they stopped, flinging up their bendy arms to protect their head. The torchlight, she realized. By instinct she still had the torch and weapon aiming together. She walked as quickly down the stairs as she could backwards before sprinting for safety.
"Half-meditation..." River's voice echoed faintly in Rose's mind before fading away.
Outside, Rose's team was forming a defensive position at the SUV.
"We're clear," Rose told them, "They can't stand the light." They all relaxed, standing from their defensive crouches, and lowered their guns.
"What now?" Vance asked.
"Give me five minutes." Rose told him before jogging around to the other side of the building. Once out of sight, she stopped and sat, slipping easily into a half-trance, aware of both the world around her and the one in her mind.
"River?" She called mentally.
"Rose! Are you okay?" Came the answering cry. River sounded almost panicked.
"Just fine. What happened?"
"You wanted me there and suddenly I could see what you saw. We'll discuss it later. Right now, you need to deal with those Firtux."
"Is that what they are? I've never seen them before."
"Yes, they were originally scavengers, preying on the almost dead, but they moved on. They lure prey to them pretending to be injured before capturing them and draining them of life energy. They can live almost indefinitely if they have enough life energy."
Rose felt sick, she would have led her team straight into that trap.
"It's not your fault, Rose." River reassured her.
"Their weakness is light?" Rose asked.
"Some wavelengths. Red won't harm them, and most greens, but most of the wavelengths in visible light will kill them with enough exposure. A few seconds of sunlight would do."
"Thank you, River, I'll see you later."
"Stay safe, sweetie."
Rose stood and jogged back to her team. They were, to a man, glaring at her.
"That was stupid." Lucy told her.
Rose shook her head. "I had to double-check something. The Firtux can't leave the building now that it's light outside." She switched her comm settings.
"Commander this is Captain Tyler, we're going to need a helicopter."
"A helicopter? Tyler, you're already at the site."
"Or a zeppelin. We have extremely dangerous and hostile enemies with an aversion to light trapped inside a building. We need to airlift the roof off."
Half an hour later, a quiet zeppelin emblazoned with the Torchwood 'T' hovered overhead. Thick cables with electromagnetic clamps were lowered onto the roof where they were activated with a soft clang. The winches tugged away quickly and the zeppelin glided to side, exposing the building to sunlight.
Once more, Rose and her team moved cautiously into the building and up the stairs. In the loft were six petrified Firtux and one groggy human, an older man half drained of energy who was staring at the aliens turned to stone with a kind of horror.
"Commander, the threat has been neutralized. Tyler out."
"So," Rose said as she flopped into a chair next to River, "That was different."
"Different. And unexpected."
"Any theories?"
"I've been spending so much time in your head recently it may have amplified the link. If we were in the same universe, it wouldn't be very unusual for us."
"Whatever it was, I'm glad it happened. Thank you, River. You saved my life and the lives of my team."
"Anytime, sweetie."
Rose left after a long session pouring over the plans for the cannon, scanning desperately to find anything they may have missed. If River's time prediction was accurate, it was unlikely that Rose would have much time to refine and test the machine. Rose returned home to finish the designs, pushing late into the night, glad she had the weekend off. She wanted to send them to the fabricator first thing Monday morning and she knew her weekend would be busy.
She gladly switched off her alarm as she fell into bed well past midnight. She curled up loosely under the covers and dreamed of the Doctor.
Saturday dawned slowly on Rose as she became aware of reality gradually. First she heard birdsong outside her window, then she felt the warmth of the sunlight on her face, then the light that lit her eyelids, before she finally opened her eyes.
Ever since she was forced away from the Tardis, she couldn't bear to close the curtains if she didn't have to, having lots of windows was the best way to approximate a space that was bigger on the inside. Her bedroom had a large window on one side and a glass door opening to a balcony on another. It was perfect. Stretching and smiling, she crawled from the warm haven of her bed to meet the day. Over a steaming mug of tea as she waited for her breakfast to cook, Rose planned out her day. She needed to spend quite a lot of it practicing her Tardis abilities. She was also almost out of food and she was expected at the Tyler mansion for dinner. She sipped her tea as she tried to decide on a second place for her practice. In her flat would be fine, no one would see her stepping and spinning like an idiot if it didn't work or vanishing and reappearing when it did. But she wanted a second place in case she messed up the timing, she didn't want to have two of her in the same place. It couldn't be too far away either, if she ended up stuck, she wanted to be able to get home quickly, she decided, ruling out Dårlig Ulv Stranden. She decided on one of the abandoned council estates where they'd recently dealt with an alien crash. The empty buildings were tall and surrounded a courtyard that would be perfect for landing in.
She ate her breakfast and dressed quickly. It was a nice day for early spring, but it wasn't warm like the eternal summer in River's world, so if she would be outside for any period of time, she would need a jacket. Smiling to herself, she slipped on the Tardis blue leather jacket her mum bought her for Christmas. For luck, she thought.
Her flat wasn't cluttered but she moved all the furniture she could to the side, clearing a landing pad. She stood in the empty space, trying to wrap her mind around her task. River said she needed to access the Heart of the Tardis while still aware of her surroundings which wasn't something she'd tried before. It was much easier to examine her mind while in a meditative state. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, resisting falling into the trance, she probed into her mind. The warm, glowing, golden Heart and the haunting song that led to it were elusive and slippery with reality pressing in around Rose. She chased them through her consciousness. Every time she thought she might have found it, she found herself with empty hands. More than an hour later, she opened her eyes, nearly growling in frustration. Her legs and feet ached with not moving. She stretched carefully, working out the cramps in her muscles.
"The more force you strain with, the harder you will find it to relax."
The somewhat cryptic words of her meditation teacher washed around her as she massaged her calves. She paused, she'd struggled with meditation at first, trying to force it to come to her, but that wasn't how it worked. She'd had to relax and let it come to her. Chances were, this was the same. The harder she strained to hear the Tardis' song, the harder it was to hear.
She walked a few laps around her apartment, finally regaining feeling in her legs before stopping in the same spot as she had before. This time, instead of desperately chasing after the song, she waited with her mind open until she heard it. She let the beautiful, soulful melody wash over her, consume her, and she softly hummed along. The song grew louder as she waited and the golden light hovered on the edge of her thoughts. Rose forced herself to stay calm and the swirling tendrils crept closer. She shuddered with a sudden surge as the Heart of the Tardis flooded her consciousness. Slowly she opened her eyes.
It was as though a thin, golden fog had washed into the room, but at the same time, it was more fluid than that. Rose could see faint ripples and eddies in the haze. She wondered if she was looking at time itself. Cautiously, she checked her watch and noted the time. If she accidentally jumped in time, she wanted to know about it. Steadying herself, she took a step forward and spun, trying to twist out of space. She landed with an ungraceful "oof" on the floor, the gold receding from her mind. Yup, she thought, mentally popping the 'p', she had a lot of practicing to do.
A dozen or so attempts later, Rose collapsed on her sofa, hugging a pillow to her chest. She was getting nowhere. What was it River said? Twist out of space and time. What would that feel like? The golden tendrils still clinging to the edges of her awareness flung a memory at her.
It was 1942 and the sound of planes and bombs and Glenn Miller was all around. Jack's easy, false smile that promised so much but lied about it all as he asked her if she could make an offer on his space junk. He finished scanning for alien tech to find the Doctor and placed one of her hands on his wrist before slamming his other hand onto his vortex manipulator. Her stomach dropped as her body felt squeezed and compressed while spinning out of control. She staggered a bit as she felt solid again.
"Oh no." She groaned. If traveling was going to feel like that every time, she was not going to be happy.
She took a break and walked down to the shop to restock her refrigerator. She ate a light lunch. If she was going to experience that horrid feeling, she didn't want to do it on a full stomach. She was at least getting better at making contact with the Heart of the Tardis. Even then, not attempting anything, Rose could feel the golden presence on the periphery. A step in the right direction.
Rose checked her watch and prepared herself for another attempt. She braced herself against what she was sure would be an uncomfortable trip and the Heart of the Tardis faded from the front of her mind. One limb at a time, Rose consciously relaxed every part of her body before relaxing her thoughts and listening for the song. It trickled back into her awareness, slowly building until the creek became a stream, then a river. Rose smiled and waited just a moment longer so she could just rejoice in the feeling of the melody. Achingly beautiful, full of hope and longing, sorrow and joy, it was just so alive. Then it flooded through her. The river Rose was standing in, with its steady, gentle current pulling at her ankles turned in one moment into a tidal wave and Rose could do nothing but be swept along. She could feel the song in her bones. With confident movements, she took a step forward, spun, and vanished.