Child of Earth

By Lumendea

Chapter Sixty-Two: Total Eclipse: Escape from the Bunker

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.

….

The rows of black figures marched closer and closer. Rose studied them with a frown. Something about them was off, too… Her frown deepened. They were all moving in exact time, the floor quivering with every stamp of their feet. It was too mechanical.

"Do something!" Jackie screamed.

"Doctor, are these robots or people?" Rose asked quickly. Her hand quivered a little as she pushed her mum to the side and jumped over to the doorway. With a shift of her wrist, Rose's sword form and she brought it up in front of her. None of the figures flinched back or even slowed down. "Doctor?!"

"Robots," the Doctor answered. His sonic screwdriver beeped. "Main control in heads."

"Great!" Rose all but shouted in relief. Jumping forward, she avoided the first robot trying to grab her and swung her sword. The blade sliced through the metal of the head and sparks went flying. "Robots are so much better. Much easier!"

Behind her, Rose heard the sonic screwdriver whirling and two of the robots suddenly stopped. Their joints were sparking slightly and they struggled to move. "This is familiar," Rose called back to the Doctor. He laughed and Rose swung her sword again, taking off another's head. "Mind you, I didn't have a sword then."

"The Pied Piper wouldn't have stood a chance," the Doctor chuckled.

Another two robots stopped as their joints froze. One of the robots swung at Rose with the electrified stick and she dodged it on instinct. Her mum yelled something, but Rose ignored it. Narrowing her gaze on the next one, Rose sidestepped one of the energy batons only to have another come within an inch of hitting her leg. She swung the sword again, slicing off an arm and then ducked down to take out a total of four legs.

Rose backed up again. Alarms were blaring and behind her, Jackie was shouting at the Doctor. She wasn't sure how many more there were but kept moving. Her sword flashed in the light as she beheaded another one and quickly sliced through the head on of one of the downed ones. Sparks were igniting around her and there was a dull machine whine as they collapsed. With two more swings, Rose took out the last ones and exhaled slowly.

Grinning, Rose turned towards the Doctor only to find him at the screen again. He was frowning and Rose glanced down the hallway again. It was a mess of parts and black limbs. Part of her mourned the chance to take one of these apart with Malcolm and Tosh. That would have made for a fun day.

"Doctor?"

"This isn't going to be easy to stop," the Doctor said. "The machine isn't here. This is a separate facility, mostly for prisoners and research according to this."

"Great," Rose muttered. "Where is it then?"

"That's what I'm trying to find," the Doctor grumbled.

"Some help you are," Jackie hissed. "You let my Rose fight all those things herself." Then Jackie threw herself forward, her hands checking Rose's arms and sides frantically. "Are you alright sweetheart?!"

"I'm fine Mum," Rose said. "The Doctor helped with several, but he needs to find out what's going on." Forcing a smile for her mum, Rose tried to ignore the disapproval on her mum's face. "Besides, I'm the one with the sword. Anyway, if Eclipse uses that machine again it'll be bad news for the whole world."

"What is this machine you're talking about?"

"Eclipse, the bad guys are a group of people who have collected alien technology and plan to use it to take over the world," Rose explained in a rush to her mum. To her surprise, Jackie was watching her with an intense expression. "They have some sort of atmosphere controller or force field generator."

"It uses the carbon in the atmosphere to form a barrier," the Doctor said. "Limited fabrication technology."

"The carbon? Oh great, they're using our pollution against us then?" Rose could have hit something. "That's a depressing thought. As if it wasn't bad enough already."

"Ah don't worry, you lot figure out ways of gathering the carbon and heavy metals in the next few decades," the Doctor said. He was almost dismissive.

"Well that's good to know," Rose said. "But what about today?" Rose looked into the corridor again. "Doctor we can't linger here. I'm sure that Eclipse has a lot more they can throw at us!"

"I'm in," the Doctor said. The screen changed in front of him. "But… it's not here."

"The machine?"

"It's in a base in the Sierra Nevada mountains," he grumbled.

"Uh that's familiar, but my geography isn't that great," Rose said.

"California," the Doctor said. He slipped the sonic screwdriver back into his pocket and stepped back from the terminal. "This is just storage and research. We can't stop them from here?"

"What if we dumped a virus into the system?" Rose asked. She was already reaching into her bag.

"Wouldn't do it. The fabricator has an internal computer system, its designed to be used in terraforming before any network systems are even established." The Doctor nodded towards the corridor. "Nothing more we can do here now Rose, let's get back to the TARDIS."

Rose nodded and at first reached for the Doctor's hand, but then hesitated and looked towards her mother. Jackie was eyeing them carefully, the sort of searching look that told Rose her mum was going to come to the right conclusion a lot faster than she wanted her to. Forcing a small smile, Rose rejoined her mum.

"Come on Mum, let's go before more robotic guards show up."

"You think there's more of those things?"

"I'm sure there are."

They stepped out into the corridor around the piles of parts. One started to move causing Jackie to scream. Rose summoned her sword and slashed the head open to finish the job. Taking her mum's hand she pulled her along back towards the TARDIS with the Doctor in the lead. His shoulders were tense and Rose was straining her ears for even the slightest sound of more danger. Suddenly the alarms began anew, echoing in the corridor and threatening to deafen them.

"Now what?" Jackie shrieked. Somehow her voice carried over the alarms.

Rose pulled harder on her hand to get her to speed up. Up the corridor a massive grate slid down from the ceiling and secured into the floor, blocking the way. Rose glanced around for the closet, but it was on the other side of the grate. Summoning her sword, she put on an extra burst of speed. Her feet tried to slide on the tile, but Rose swung her sword with a shout, slicing through five of the bars. She looked back as the Doctor reached her and found her mum was almost to them. Using her sword, she sliced lower on the same five bars to form a hole.

"Go through," Rose said. The Doctor caught her eye, but nodded, bending over so he could get through. To Rose's relief, he turned and helped Jackie through. "Keep moving!"

"Stop being so bossy!" Jackie snapped.

Rose climbed through the hole just as the tone of the alarms changed. Behind her, the gate began to rise to allow the robots through. The Doctor opened the door to the store room, looking back at the advancing troops. At least they only seemed to have one speed. Rose jumped forward and shoved her mum into the store closet behind the Doctor. Closing the door behind them, Rose kept her sword out as the Doctor unlocked the TARDIS.

"What are you doing?" Jackie hissed. Her mum looked around nervously. "Rose we have to go!"

"We are Mum," Rose promised. The door of the TARDIS opened and the Doctor gestured them inside. "Come on, into the TARDIS."

"The what?"

"Time and Relative Dimensions in Space," Rose said. Then she shook her head and grabbed her mum's hand, pulling her around the blue box. Jackie froze as the huge inside of the TARDIS came into view. "It's the Doctor's ship."

"It's alien," Jackie said. The Doctor rolled his eyes and stepped inside.

"Yes, Mum." Rose tried not to sigh but shoved her mum into the box. Jackie squeaked and Rose turned around as she stepped inside and closed the doors. "Good to go, Doctor!"

Rose exhaled in relief as the familiar grinding sound of the TARDIS taking off echoed around them. Then she turned to find her mum on the ramp, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open. Rose grimaced a bit and waited for the Doctor to remember their extra passenger.

"Mum?" Rose called carefully. "Uh, you okay?"

"How'd you do this then?" Jackie asked. She looked over her shoulder towards the doors and then around the large room again. "Shove a big room into a small box?"

"The TARDIS is transdimensional," Rose explained. "Time Lord technology bends normal physics so you can have a larger internal area mapped onto a small exterior area." Jackie gave her a blank look. "Bigger on the inside, it's advanced science. Not a trick."

"Time Lord?" Jackie repeated. "That what he is then?" She nodded towards the Doctor. The look on her face was still stormy and Rose really hoped that the Oncoming Storm didn't show up today. She couldn't deal with both right now.

"Yeah, he's a Time Lord," Rose confirmed. "And my friend so be nice."

"He's alien."

"To him we're the aliens."

"But he looks human."

The Doctor scoffed and glanced toward them. "No, you look Time Lord."

"His people predate us," Rose said. She gave the Doctor a warning look. "But he's here to help. We've worked together before and he's saved Earth lots of times. It'll be fine." Giving her mum a smile, Rose walked up to join the Doctor. "What do you think?"

"We need to find a way to disable the fabrication system," the Doctor said. "Based on what I found in their system it is largely damaged so at least it has limited function."

"But it's working enough to use the carbon in the atmosphere to create a shield around the planet," Rose said. "Which will massively affect all life and weather systems."

"Exactly," the Doctor grumbled. "Probably planning to hold the world hostage."

"Bond villains indeed," Rose sighed. "Do you think UNIT would be able to get to the machine?"

"Doubtful," the Doctor replied. He shook his head and touched the console screen. An image of steep mountains appeared. "This base is inside a mountain Rose. They have to get up there and get through whatever defences they have without them activating the machine."

"Okay so we take the TARDIS in and destroy the machine ourselves," Rose said.

"That's the plan," the Doctor agreed. He looked over at her mum. "Don't suppose-"

"No she's not coming with us into an Eclipse base," Rose said firmly. "So put that out of your mind." Rose paused and looked over at her mum who was poking at one of the coral beams. "But if you want to put her in an empty storeroom like you did Blon I wouldn't argue."

That got her a chuckle and the tension in the Doctor's shoulders eased a tiny bit. She could still see the worry in his eyes even as he adjusted the TARDIS controls. Around them, the TARDIS rumbled and the Doctor frowned. Rose felt an odd pressure in her head and looked up at the central console.

"What was that?" Jackie demanded. "Can't you drive this thing?"

The Doctor adjusted the controls only for the whole ship to shake. Rose grabbed onto the console and looked over her shoulder to find her mum frantically holding to a column. Jackie screamed a curse at the Doctor and aliens in general that he ignored. Flipping a switch, the Doctor released the console as the TARDIS stopped shaking.

"It's TARDIS-proof!" The Doctor snapped. He slammed a fist down on the edge of the console. "Bloody apes!"

"So we can't get through," Rose said thoughtfully.

"No, this lot has the same bad tech as UNIT," the Doctor growled. "Blocking my TARDIS!"

"Okay so we can't get the machine," Rose said. "But there are two parts to this… the carbon." Rose gripped the Doctor's arm. "Can we do anything about the carbon?"

"Maybe… we'll still have to get into that bunker."

"Well if this lot have super weapons then doesn't that mean your lot, UNIT, has some weapons of their own?" Jackie demanded impatiently. "I mean if they'd got you and all those other brains then don't they have ships or something? You could blast the bunker!"

"Ships?" Rose repeated. She blinked at her mum and something jostled in her memory. "The Enterprise!" Rose shouted. "That's it!"

"Enterprise?" Jackie repeated with a curl of her nose. "What are you on about? This isn't the time for your sci-fi shows."

"No, the actual Enterprise," Rose said. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes at her Mum and looked back at the Doctor. 'You said- uh you will say that it is important."

"There's actually a spaceship called Enterprise?" her Mum said. "Honestly who came up with that?"

"I voted for Enterprise actually," Rose answered. "I liked it better than Valiant."

"I like Valiant," her Mum grumbled.

"Well too bad Mum, you aren't part of the Science Department!" Rose turned back to the Doctor. "Does that make any ideas spring to mind?"

"A few actually," the Doctor said. He glanced towards her mum. "The problem is in the atmosphere, there's too much carbon. Our options are to shut down the machine or deal with the carbon."

"Machine would be easier in theory," Rose said.

"In theory, yes, but this lot have a small army guarding it. UNIT attacks them and they activate it, doing a lot of damage."

"So what's the plan? Or the gist?" Rose asked.

"Gist?" The Doctor repeated. Then he grinned a little. "I think I like that. Gist. Fantastic Rose Tyler. Well, the gist is to get the Enterprise. I have a few ideas that will let you put her chemistry skills to work without blowing anything up."

"Ace would be so disappointed in you."

"Not all problems can be solved by explosions Rose."

"Remind me how you dealt with the Autons?"

A manic grin was her only answer as the Doctor moved around the console. His eyes were brightening and Rose could see an idea taking shape. Looking over at her mum, she found Jackie glaring daggers at the Doctor and held back a sigh. It seemed today was going to be a rather mixed bag of the good and the bad. At least now her mum was safe and they had the beginnings of a plan. The TARDIS shuddered and the Doctor shouted for them to hold on.