Child of Earth
By Lumendea
Chapter Twenty-Five: Dark Minds: Telepathy
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.
…
Rose woke up slowly, still being lulled by the hum of the TARDIS she was in. For a moment confusion swept through her as she tried to remember why she was even asleep in the TARDIS. She hadn't seen the Doctor in a while, much less go on a longer trip with him. As she sat up and took in the brightening roundels it all started to come back to her. Rose listened for any sounds of distress outside, but there was nothing. She swung her legs out of the bed and caught sight of a pile of clothes on an armchair by the door that hadn't been there last night, at least she didn't think so. There was a note on top of it in unfamiliar handwriting that Rose climbed out of bed and snatched up.
Rose, thought you might like some fresh clothes. The loo is fully stocked with everything you'll need. –Ella
Her future daughter-in-law had left her clothes. The thought disabled Rose's ability to think for a moment but she soon recovered. There was no explosion of nervous giggles this time and Rose instead took in a deep breath before snatching up the clothes and heading into the attached bathroom. A shower and a few minutes to straighten out her thoughts sounded good.
It was still all so strange to Rose. She'd met Astra before, but that relationship had several years of friendship, a long distance one, but a friendship none the less before she'd learned that Astra was her daughter. Athena was lovely and while Rose was determined to treat the genetically created daughter of the Doctor as her own child, she had been created in a mostly grown form. And apparently by this time would be in a relationship with Jack and someone whose name started with Mel. She wondered if it was a Melissa, a Melinda, a Melody or something alien which was certainly a possibility. Rose chuckled to herself as she started the hot water.
Even with years of time travel and timey-wimey experiences, it seemed that you never got fully used to this. And that was aside from the issue that apparently she was beginning to develop telepathy.
…
Roughly twenty minutes later Rose walked into the empty console room and glanced around for any signs of Alistair, Ella or Adam. Pulling out her phone, Rose set it on the console with the speakerphone on as she began to braid her long damp hair. The strands were slippery but pleasant smelling and Rose wondered just what planet that shampoo came from.
"Hello, Rose," Spock greeted calmly.
"Spock, did you get the Bad Wolf virus out?" Rose questioned as she breathed easier than she had for hours.
"I fulfilled your orders last night," Spock assured her. "I pushed the phone and computer updates through last night, even overriding no update orders on computers. I believe that all remnants of the code have been wiped out. Interestingly there were a few instances of it far from Berlin."
"Well, some people travel," Rose pointed out even as she felt a rush of relief. "At least this won't go global. It's creepy enough watching the children march in like that with those vacant expressions."
"Indeed," Spock agreed. "Rose this won't change what is happening in Berlin-"
"I know," Rose cut in softly. "But it does buy Alistair some more time."
"Forgive me but I was unaware that the General was part of the operation there."
"He isn't," Rose answered with a soft giggle erupted from her. "Alistair is uh… this is under my secrets rule, Spock."
"Understood."
"He's my future son," Rose whispered into the phone feeling that odd rush of giddiness. "He's pretending to be the Doctor here in Berlin. I'll explain in more detail later, but he's working on how to stop the aliens before things get worse."
"I see," Spock said slowly. "Very well, remain safe."
"Will do," Rose assured him. "Thanks for handling that last night. My instructions couldn't have been very good."
"They were a little off," Spock agreed gently. "But the purpose of your orders were clear."
"Well again, thank you," Rose told him. "I'll be in touch. Keep your guard up," Rose paused and worried her bottom lip. "And do me a favour and keep an eye on the phones of the kids of the companions until I give the all-clear. Just in case they've got something else up their sleeves."
"As you wish," Spock agreed, ending the call.
Letting out a long sigh, Rose gave herself one more moment to collect her composure before she headed for the doorway of the TARDIS. Stepping back into the main workspace, Rose stopped short and stared at the mess surrounding her son and grandson. Half of the UNIT science division had been taking over in a messy work project. Several of the worktables had been pushed together and something that looked like a briefcase was open in from of Alistair and Adam. Long coils were spilling out of the case and bits of metal and glittering plastics had been secured to the inside of the case itself with melted metal, screws and bolts and liquid plastic making it a very strange sight.
Alistair and Adam were both scrambling over a strange thick band of shimmering gold tinted metal with lots of small wires curled around it. Pieces of technology were scattered across the worktable as Alistair brushed his fingers through a pile of small gem looking things until he found a red one.
"What are you making?" Rose asked quickly.
"Telepathic interface," Adam answered as he handed his father another piece of coil. "We're strong enough telepaths that with this we can overpower the signal."
"Giving us time to deal with the Bardonians without hostages," Alistair finished. "Right now…. Well, I'm not going to risk it, not when they have a link into the heads of young people all across Berlin."
"Morning, Rose," Ella greeted as she walked over to join them. "UNIT has some breakfast on the way up. I warn you though German breakfasts are a bit more like sandwiches."
"That's fine," Rose chuckled. "I don't think I could deal with a full English this morning anyway."
"You alright?" Alistair asked her, looking over at her with sharp worried eyes.
"I'm fine," Rose assured him with a small smile. "Just a little…" she struggled for the words and then gave up and pointed at her head. "All this."
"The telepathy will grow slowly," Alistair explained gently as he lowered his eyes back to his work. "There's just been too many cowboys through there, too many things that triggered unusual reactions in your brain."
"So it's been happening for a while," Rose murmured. "How comes the- you've never mentioned it before."
"It isn't strong enough away from a telepathic field to register on my radar," Alistair explained giving Rose a small smile at her catch. "You've got some time before it becomes that strong and once it is don't worry you'll have help."
It would be the Doctor wearing leather helping her then. Rose felt a rush of unease at that and just hoped that by that time they'd have at least a stable relationship and not one where he bolted like a rabbit every time things got a little intense. Honestly, it was almost a wonder that Alistair and his sister existed at all. Her son and grandson quickly became lost in their jiggery-pokery and Ella chuckled next to her as they both watched for a moment.
"You gonna help?" Rose questioned softly, unsure of if Ella was just trying to keep her company.
"Me?" Ella chuckled. "No, I'm better with ships, to be honest. I was actually spending some time in my father's home century working at a spaceport when I finally agreed to travel with Alistair."
"I'm sensing there's a story there," Rose remarked, noting the finally in Ella's statement.
"We'd known each other for years. I mean you and my mother are friends, but we didn't each other much as adults. Except we kept meeting, over and over in small little adventures. Me with my vortex manipulator and him with his TARDIS." Ella gave her a pleased little smile over the rim of her cup. "He fell first and kept asking me to come with him. I was a bit slower but agreed to meet him for dates now and then. We'd actually been dating for about three years relatively I suppose when I finally did agree to travel with him in the TARDIS."
Rose almost laughed again but kept herself contained to a smile. She could actually imagine Alistair falling for Ella and politely asking her to meet him at different points in time and space for dates. It was almost normal. Certainly more normal than her relationship with his father had ever been.
"Doctor!" one of the Captains shouted as he rushed into the room. "Something has activated. Hundreds of children are moving towards Kollwitzplatz!"
"Ah," Alistair breathed, a brief flash of panic on his face. "Bit faster than I thought."
"We're not done yet," Adam protested with a slight pout, but the captain looked terrified.
"We'll finish on the way," Alistair announced as he began to collect bits of wire and stuff them into his pockets. "We've made them angry by stopping the signal." Picking up the briefcase, he gently pressed down on the centre of the odd device and Rose gasped as the whole thing collapsed into the case. He closed it and snapped it shut and gestured towards the TARDIS. "We'll meet you there," Alistair declared. "Allons-y!"
Following her son into the TARDIS, Rose hung back as Adam began reaching up to press different buttons and Ella adjusted the small navigation orb. Alistair handed Ella the briefcase as he took her place and threw a long lever. The ship shook for a moment with the familiar grinding noise echoing inside. The TARDIS materialised again only moments later with a soft thump and Alistair raced past her to open the doors. They stepped outside as a group of UNIT soldiers drew back in silent awe from the TARDIS. Kollwitzplatz seemed bright and welcoming in the rays of the morning sun, but as they all stepped out amongst the UNIT vehicles Rose could see the ship clear as day hanging over the playground. The metal was shimmering in the sunlight and locals beyond the barriers were taking pictures with their phones. Rose wondered if this would be the one that would finally convince the world or if it would be written off as one more elaborate hoax. Next, to her, Alistair was using the sonic screwdriver to adjust a few more things in the briefcase that Ella was calmly holding open for him. Rose got the sense that her daughter-in-law was a bit used to this.
Rose looked around to try and see the whole of Kollwitzplatz. Rose gasped as she turned and watched the small army of children and teenagers marching up the street as if in a trance. Parents and other adults were hurrying along with them, calling their names and trying to wrestle them away from the group. But the horde just kept moving. They moved around the UNIT blockade and paid no attention at all to the soldiers. Rose called for Adam and Ella as she moved forward to get a better look.
Their eyes were glazed over as if they were sleepwalking and Rose wondered if that might be try. They were in a trace and a shiver went down her spine as she felt a twitch of sympathy and memory. She could remember how it felt to be someone's puppet, for your mind to be fighting every step of the way.
"They've activated all of them," Alistair observed behind her. "No point in trying to keep it quiet and too low numbers now."
"How could they get so many?" Rose whispered as she looked at the rows and rows of people crowded into the street. There were hundreds, probably more than a thousand.
"Wi-Fi, just like you said. You infect at popular public locations like the nearby coffee shops and it spreads from one computer to the next as kids link to the newest Wi-Fi signal. Give it a few months and if the program doesn't cause anything bad, no one notices." He pulled out the mystery phone and looked down at it with a frown.
Moving to a bench, Alistair waved back one of the UNIT officers and set down the briefcase. Rose saw a couple of people from the science department push their way forward and look at it eagerly. He pulled out what looked like some sort of circlet crown that hooked by long cables into the rest of the machine. Without a word, Alistair placed the device on his head and Rose moved over next to him. The device was a crisscross mess of wires, soldered metal with bits of alien tech attracted here and there. Oddest of all was that there was a small USB port just to the right of a large half orb right in the centre. The orb began to flicker slightly as Alistair let out a sigh.
"Alistair?" Rose asked softly.
"Easy, Mum," he whispered back with a smile. "Just need to override their command signal. Piece of cake, I promise."
The orb began to glow as bright white colour with small flickered of blue dancing across the surface as Alistair hummed softly. Ella joined them a moment later, holding tightly to Adam's hand though neither of them looked too worried. Above them, the ship's hum was becoming louder and stronger. The ache in Rose's head returned with a vengeance and Adam suddenly reached over to grab her hand, squeezing it tightly and somehow making the ache ease a tiny bit. She focused on Alistair who grit his teeth and glared up at the ship as the central orb glowed more brightly.
Something washed over her mind like a gush of cool water on a hot day. The pain eased and Rose felt something shift. It was similar to how she'd felt when the Silver Lord's control had been broken, but not exactly the same. Her eyes burned and she had to close them and force herself to take a deep breath. Around them, she could hear shouting and sounds of alarm as the parents and teachers who'd followed the children either ran or kept trying to get the kids' attention. The orb flashed a few times as Rose opened her eyes and the hum of the ship above them changed.
Rose wasn't sure what she was expecting, she wasn't sure what Alistair was even doing. Suddenly he seemed very alien to her again and an uncomfortable turn in her stomach reminded her that apparently, she was becoming telepathic too. Then suddenly the ship above them began to float higher into the sky. Soft cries began to erupt from the children around them and Rose spun around to find kids shaking their heads and pointing up at the ship with awestruck expressions. It floated higher and higher into the air and began to fade from sight once more. Rose felt a prodding at her head again, but then it all faded away leaving only the sounds of the shocked and relieved people and the birds.
"Doctor!" Captain Fischer called he jogged out, looking confused and out of breath. "Is that it? Is it over?"
"Yep," Alistair replied calmly as he traced the skies. "They're leaving."
"What will happen to them?"
"Oh I've alerted the Shadow Proclamation to them using nontelepathic creatures as a source of energy," Alistair explained with a lazy shrug as he pulled off the tech circlet and tossed it over the top of the orb. "But they won't be back here." Alistair nodded to the confused children. "Good luck with the clean up on this one though Captain."
"That it for us then?" Ella questioned, stepping up behind her son and putting her hands on Adam's shoulders.
"Probably best," Alistair agreed. "Before anything bad happens with the timelines."
Alistair held out his hand to Rose with a grin and she took it, still fighting back a headache and confusion. Captain Fischer was still looking confused like he was trying to remember something or come up with something to say. Alistair gave him a small smile and nodded.
"Thank you for your help, Captain, it was appreciated," Alistair told him politely before starting to lead them all back towards the TARDIS.
"Doctor?" the Captain asked as he eyed the closed briefcase on the bench. "Aren't you going to take that with you?"
"Oh, put it in the Black Archive," Alistair told the captain with a shrug, looking back over his shoulder. "It's genetically locked, you can't use it. Only my family."
"Your family," the officer repeated carefully and Rose could feel his eyes moving over to her. Lovely the idea had been officially seeded now, but then again maybe that was what Alistair had wanted.
"Really?" Rose questioned with a frown. "You're just going to leave it on Earth."
"You lot can't use it," Alistair chuckled but he winked at her.
"What if you need it?"
"I built it in…oh six hours, I can build another." He paused and his expression became a bit more serious. "Besides you might need it." Alistair gave Rose a lazy shrug and a smile. "Just so you know you don't have to use the headpiece. If you were to input a signal into the machine it would work as a telepathic hub itself and broadcast that signal. Not a bad piece of work for a quick job, but then I'm pretty good at gadgets in this body at least."
Rose wasn't sure what to make of that but nodded. "And the kids?" Rose questioned uneasily. "Well, their brains revert to normal or is this going to be a lifelong thing?"
"It'll take time," Alistair explained carefully looking as if he was measuring every word. "Without telepathic stimulus on a similar frequency then this won't be a problem again."
Following the small family into their TARDIS, Rose felt that wave of astonishment wash over her again. She chuckled lightly when Adam yawned loudly and rubbed his eyes. The little Time Lord seemed to be getting sleepy. Ella smiled and shared a soft look with her before she reached down and gently ruffled her son's hair.
"Time to say goodbye to Gran," Ella told him and Rose inwardly gasped at the casual way she said it.
Adam nodded in understanding and turned back to her. Rose knelt down and opened her arms to hug the young boy tightly as he grasped her in an eager hug. Over his head, she saw Alistair look on fondly as he crossed his arms and leaned against the console. Slowly she released Adam who leaned up to kiss her cheek. Then he turned to his mother and took her hand. Ella gave Rose a smile and vanished back into the TARDIS with Adam.
"Well, it's been interesting, Mummy," Alistair remarked with a wide grin. "Thanks for the help." He frowned a little. "Sorry, you didn't even get breakfast."
"I'll make UNIT feed me before flying back to Cambridge," Rose chuckled before she took a moment to gather her thoughts. "I still feel like I'm in a bit of shock, to be honest."
"Well as you recall Dad didn't exactly take meeting Astra the first time calmly," he reminded her with a soft laugh. "She was talking about that for months. Kept giggling."
Rose smiled at the mental image that created. It was nice to know it wasn't just her and apparently Alistair and Ella would be in the same situation with Adam at least once. She wanted to say something witty about not wanting grandchildren too soon or something like that, but nothing came out. Instead, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Alistair in a tight hug. He seemed to understand and calmly returned the hug. Her son smells a lot like his father with a hint of earthy soil in addition to the scent she'd also associated with time.
"Take care of yourself, Alistair," Rose told him firmly as she forced herself to step back. "And this family of yours."
"I will, Mum, try not to worry." He gave her another fond look. "And remember I'm from an era where if there's trouble there are others I can call. I've got you and Dad, my siblings, and family friends. We do just fine."
It was a relief to hear. A huge relief to hear and settled something churning under Rose's heart. She nodded and tried to think of something more to say. No words came and she settled for stepping forward and kissing her future son on the cheek.
"If I don't see you again before you're born then know that I'm going to love you very much."
"I'm confident you'll see me again. Timelines around you are always a bit messy," Alistair told her. "And you are loved very much as well, Mum."
Rose couldn't say it in return. The instinct was there and she wondered if this telepathy and time travel thing made her open to different out of synch emotions. That seemed like a stretch, but she felt a bit teary as she nodded to Alistair. It was hard to leave this TARDIS. So much about it was familiar and a very human part of her wanted more information, more answers to what the future would hold. Instead, Rose turned and stepped back out into Kollwitzplatz. She got a few looks from the UNIT soldiers, but calmly turned and smiled as she watched the TARDIS carrying yet another part of her future vanish into the Time Vortex.