Child of Earth
By Lumendea
Chapter Seven: Black Archives: A Familiar Face
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the spinoff material and I gain no income off of this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.
AN: Thank you everyone for your reviews and comments. I'm so glad you enjoyed the first episode of Child of Earth. The Black Archive that appears in this episode is based on its first appearance in Enemy of the Bane in the Sarah Jane Adventures. You may recall that I established that the later Day of the Doctor Black Archive was under construction and not in use.
….
Rose Marion Tyler slipped her tongue into the corner of her lips as she gently tapped the tip of the paint brush against the canvas. Humming softly to herself, she carefully slid it along the tiny shape of the water drop, adding to the glowing effect before pulling it back. Outside the sound of rain made her smile and she glanced towards the window and watched a few droplet hit the glass and roll down.
Her tabletop easel was front and centre on her old work table with paint splatter decorating the old wooden table. Muted natural light streamed in through the window and Rose shifted slightly on her stool, leaning into the painting a bit more. Beyond the easel were a couple of baskets with tubes of paint and a jar of brushes. The pallet was a mess of droplets of colour next to her on the table. There were mixed blues, some soft shades of grey and a few mixes of violet and even a red that she'd been playing with.
The flat was quiet and the noises of her neighbours were muted as everyone enjoyed the lazy September Saturday by sleeping in except for Rose. A too large oxford that she'd stolen from the Doctor during one of his past visits hung around her shoulders over a tank top with flecks of paint from various projects on it. She paused and put aside the tiny brush in an old metal cup with paint thinner to pick up a slightly larger one. Taking a smear of rich purple paint on the brush, Rose paused for a moment before sweeping the colour around one of the rain drops on the right side of the painting. She smiled, it added just the right touch and she repeated the movement with a small droplet.
Pausing, Rose took in the painting. It was more refined than she could remember her work being in some time… more settled. The scene was simple really, well to her it was simple. She'd always loved rain, she loved walking in it and dancing in it. She had a marvellous memory of the Sleeping Beauty waltz with a certain Doctor in Prague. This time she'd painted a window with raindrops on it, but imagined it as if it was a window in the TARDIS. Instead of city lights illuminating the drops there was a nebula. The rain drops twisted the soft glow of violet, blue, green and gold. Someday she might have to see if it was possible to take some raindrops through the vortex to a nebula like that.
Rose smiled and using the detail brush made a small change to one of the droplets. It was almost done, her best piece in a few months easily. Rose set aside the brush for a moment and massaged her hands, glancing over the violin case next to her desk. She chuckled to herself, somehow despite all those years of studying math and science, she'd managed to become artistic. Of course inheriting knowledge from other lives hadn't hurt.
She wasn't sure what time it was when her mobile phone range. Rose paused and looked over to her desk. Sighing, she quickly put the brush into the cup of paint thinner and swung around on her stool. Rose crossed the room quickly, her bare feet silent against the floor and scooped up the phone. The caller ID read: UNIT and Rose brought the phone up to her ear.
"This is Tyler," she greeted quickly.
"Tyler," Benton's crisp voice greeted sounding alert but with a definite hint of exhaustion. "Benton here, we have a problem that I need you to come in for."
"What's going on?" Rose asked even as she began to move towards her bedroom, already shrugging off the oxford shirt.
"There has been an attack at one of our secure locations," Benton informed her calmly. "I can't tell you anything more on the phone, but the attempt at theft has… triggered a few things that we are uncertain of how to shut down."
The Black Archives. He didn't have to say anything, Rose knew exactly what was going on, well mostly at least.
"The location in on your side out of London and a car is on its way to pick you up," Benton told her. "Be ready within fifteen minutes."
"Will do," Rose answered sharply, not bothering to remind him that she wasn't required to do any job she didn't want to. "Do you need me to contact him?" she questioned, knowing that Benton would know whom she was referring to.
"No… not yet at least." Benton paused and sighed a little, letting his weariness bleed through. "He's not supposed to know about it."
"I see," Rose said slowly, letting her own distaste for that decision come through.
"That is not my call Rose," Benton defended. "And we shouldn't be discussing it."
"Alright then Benton," Rose agreed. "I'll see you soon.
The call ended and a soft sigh escaped Rose. Shaking her head, she set the phone down and finished pulling off her paint shirt. In a manner of moments, she was dressed in comfortable jeans that were loose enough to let her kick a man in the chin if necessary and an old science t-shirt that Shareen had given to her a couple years back. Her translator was firmly in place behind her ear and she was weaving her hair into a crown braid when her phone chirped again.
Sliding the sonic pen into the braid, Rose pulled on her leather jacket and put her phone into her pocket. She took a deep breath and looked around her flat as her fingers toyed with the TARDIS key around her neck just to make sure she wasn't forgetting anything.
"Okay," she told herself as she strode to the door. "Here we go again."
…..
It was a dark and rainy day beyond the edge of Cambridge and as the car raced along a back road, Rose didn't have much to amuse herself beyond watching the water droplets roll down the windows. Outside was farmland and a few scattered houses that were all still and silent. A yawn escaped Rose and she shook herself, forcing her eyes to scan the landscape once again for their destination. Their car swooped around a bend in the road and up head, Rose caught sight of a large building that looked like a grey brick in the distance.
As they approached, Rose leaned forward and watched out the front window. The Black Archive building was a large grey complex that looked a bit like a prison without windows amongst the rolling fields surrounding it. There were a few outer buildings and a tall fence that surrounded all of it. While Rose could understand the desire to move the collection of artefacts and information to a secret location, she still couldn't get behind the notion of putting it below a major city.
"We're here ma'am," her driver announced. "Just a few more moments to get inside."
Nodding, Rose toyed with the end of her sonic pen, adjusting the settings absentmindedly as their car stopped at the gate. Two soldiers pointed weapons at the car while another pair of soldiers moved to either window. Rose ignored the brief exchange that included her UNIT identification number and made a point of not responding to one of the guards making a surprised noise at her name. Apparently, they'd heard of her.
"Brigadier Benton is waiting inside for Thorn," the tallest of the guards informed them seriously. "Good luck," he added a moment later making Rose pause.
As they headed up towards the main large building, Rose looked it over critically. There was no smoke, no strange lights above it and no creatures running rampant. From the outside, everything looked normal or at least as normal as a military complex in the middle of nowhere could look. The car stopped and Rose climbed out of the car and climbed up the steps to the main door where another pair of guards turned a set of keys at the same time. As Rose raised an eyebrow the doors opened and she spotted Benton waiting in the entry.
"Welcome to the Black Archive," Benton greeted as she walked into the small entryway as the guards eyed her carefully. "The home of everything on Earth that doesn't belong here or as close as we've been able to manage." He informed her as he came to attention. "Thank you for coming down Rose."
"You're welcome," Rose answered calmly as she took a moment to look around. The entry was grey and boring with a pair of security desks and small holes in the walls that she knew allowed troops behind the walls to keep an eye on anyone who came in. "So why am I here?"
"There was an attempted breach at 0300 this morning," Benton informed her, gesturing for her to walk with him. "The security system started to crash and two of our men along the outer wall were killed."
"Did they get inside?"
"They must have though we aren't sure how," Benton admitted as they entered a long grey corridor that hissed slightly around them as the door closed. "Clean room," Benton explained quickly. "Just give it a moment."
Around Rose, the air changed and for a moment she struggled to breathe before everything seemed to go back to normal and the far doors open.
"Sorry about that," Benton apologised quickly with a sheepish look. "It's still better than what they had planned for the vault."
"Oh?"
"Memory wipe technology was being installed," Benton explained. "But with the new concerns about moving the vault… well, I'm not sure that's an issue I'll ever have to deal with."
"I'm still against moving it to London," Rose told him. "Just in case you're wondering."
"You, I and General Lethbridge-Stewart have all filed concerns," Benton assured her with a sigh. "Come on."
Benton led her out of the corridor and into a large room that was completely windows on the far side. The whole room was lined with computers underneath the windows with only one door that was made of heavy strange looking metal.
"This is the overlook," Benton explained in a soft voice. "We avoid putting our people into direct contact with most of the things in here."
"Makes sense," Rose agreed with a nod. "So what exactly happened Benton? Did the intruders get into this area."
"Yes, we're still not sure how " Benton informed her uneasily. "But they managed it somehow." He gestured towards the windows as his whole body tensed up. "Several items in the vault have become active Rose, some of them items that we have no idea how they even work or what they are."
From the overlook position, Rose was able to look down onto the rows of metallic shelves. At first glance, a person might be tricked into thinking everything was calm and well. The shelves were more like filing cabinets with heavy looking casing over many of them. Others had clear doors that allowed her a glimpse of what was inside.
Everything was quiet, but she could see a strange shimmer on the dark stone floors and the occasional flash of light that didn't belong in the air. Several of the heavy metallic units were sparkling and there was a soft vibration in the air that just didn't belong.
"So you want me to what?" Rose questioned. "Go down there and try to shut things do?"
"It's a bit more complicated than that…" Benton replied uneasily. "Uh, ideally I want you to shut things down at a distance."
Rose gave him a doubtful look but refrained on the basis that this wasn't Benton's call. Still, she had a strong feeling that she'd be calling the Doctor before the day was through. This had 'is going to get worse' written all over it.
The sound of someone entering the room made Rose turn back towards the door. An older woman, probably in her late sixties, strode into the room with her eyes locked on the small portable computer in her hands. Long white hair was swept up into a tight bun and a pair of glasses were perched on the edge of her nose. She looked a bit different without her long white lab coat, but Rose recognised the woman instantly.
"Rose Tyler please meet Doctor Elizabeth Shaw, one of our best scientist and until last week a member of the UNIT station on the moon. She was the assistant of the Doctor while he was grounded on Earth for a time." Benton introduced with a smile as he gestured towards the woman far more familiar to Rose than either of them knew.