Twists in Time

Chapter Twenty-Two: When, Where, and How: Flickers

By Lumendea

…

Even having the lights on did not make the ship more welcoming and friendly. The soft hum of the systems and engine seemed ominous to Rose. Otherwise, it was quiet. There was no hint of voices or an entertainment system running or anything.

"This corridor loops through the whole ship," the Doctor explained, breaking the silence. "We're on one of the lower levels."

"You're about to say split up, aren't you?" Martha asked softly.

"You can stay with one of us if you like," the Doctor said quickly. "Given it's your first time on an alien spaceship."

"Second," Martha countered. "Yours is alien to me after all."

"True, that it is. But we need to cover ground and try to find someone." The Doctor stopped and looked down a dim corridor heading away from the main loop. There was a simple staircase further ahead of them that was tucked against a wall. "I think the engine is that way. I want to check on it and make sure that gravity and oxygen systems keep working."

"I'll head up the stairs and try to find the bridge," Jack offered.

"I'll go with you," Martha said quickly. "But, how can we communicate if we find something."

"Ah, yes, give me your phone."

"What?" Martha blinked but pulled her mobile out. "It won't connect to any networks up here."

"No, but I think you've earned an upgrade." The Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out the sonic and a small thin chip. "This will connect you to the TARDIS. She can direct your calls to us without needing a network. Universal roaming. No charge."

Martha laughed softly. "I figured you had to have something going on, what with Rose's phone."

"Yep," the Doctor grinned as he worked on the phone. "Won't take a moment."

"I did very well in jiggery pokey," Rose offered with a smile.

The Doctor beamed at her and closed the phone. He flipped it over and quickly began adding numbers to it. "There you are, Jack and Rose's numbers."

"What about yours?" Martha asked.

"He's terrible at carrying the phone Rose got him," Jack said. "Gets lost in his pockets and he forgets to charge it."

"I'll have you know I currently have an ambient charging phone," the Doctor muttered. But he was entering the third number. "Just… doesn't charge right all the time at the bottom of transdimensional pockets."

"Rose," Jack said. He shifted closer to her. "Do you want me to stay with you or Martha?"

"Stay with Martha." Rose knew that Jack was torn between looking after the person new to time travel and trying to fulfil his role as disciple which he seemed to think meant bodyguard. "You have your phone." Plus, she was pretty sure that with how quiet the ship was, they'd heard each other if they screamed. Rose smiled at the Doctor and Martha as she reclaimed her phone with a slightly wonderous expression. "I'll keep following the loop until I get back to the TARDIS, just to make sure we aren't missing anything. If not, I'll find a corridor and start checking."

"Alright." The Doctor was frowning and twitchy with the need to investigate.

Rose gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and headed off in her direction. Part of her thought it was a bad idea, but another part of her just needed… she wasn't sure. Maybe some space. Maybe to find something she could actually do right. That was a bad thought and Rose tried to push it away. This level of unease was unfamiliar to her now. Still, she kept her focus forward and hurried on.

…..

"I can't believe you use regular phones hooked into the TARDIS," Martha said softly. "Feels like you should use… I don't know, anything else."

"You have to be able to find them," Jack replied with a smile as he guided Martha up the stairs. "Go too small and the tech becomes hard to manage. Outside of brain implants, which some people never warm up to and have all sorts of complications, the size of phones is always limited in how small they can get."

"Complications?"

"What can happen if the tech fails? Or if the company that makes it folds and the patents end up in fights. Or how to handle upgrades. Not to mention, some of the earliest models didn't go well and human memory can be surprisingly long."

"Yeah, I guess I didn't want to know," Martha said softly. "So… anything else I should know? I feel like you really need a checklist."

"Uh, well the TARDIS will translate for you," Jack said. "Has that been brought up yet?" He frowned. "We must have, what with the medical crisis on another planet."

"No." Martha laughed, it was a strange sound. "No, you didn't bring it up. I suppose I should have asked, but I was too busy processing mutations to my white blood cells."

"Yeah, we really need a pamphlet," Jack sighed. "But yes, the TARDIS has a telepathic field to help you understand spoken language. Not sure how it does with sign language though."

There wasn't much time for Martha to process that information because they reached the bridge. It was still and silent. Jack hated it. Everything about this ship put him on edge and he wasn't sure if it was his experience as a Time Agent or some ability from Rose. Given he now couldn't die, or at least didn't stay dead, it wouldn't surprise him if he had some senses surrounding her domain.

"Look!" Martha hissed. She shifted closer to him. "It looked like-"

Jack spotted the flickering, ghostly figure in the corner. Then he found another near a set of controls. With the lights back on, they were hard to see, but as he understood what to look for, he noted more and more distortions throughout the bridge. It appeared that they were still trying to operate the controls, but he saw no sign that they could interact with each other.

"Are ghosts real?" Martha asked softly.

"No," Jack answered. "But things that look like ghosts certainly are. Rose told me a story about York one time where people were out of sync with the real world but sometimes could be seen. I think that's what we're seeing now. This is the crew. Just as the ship is out of time, they are out of time with the ship."

"So…" Martha leaned around him cautiously. "What do we do?" She looked at one of the figures. "Can you hear me? Hello?"

There was no response and Jack shook his head. "I can't do anything, we need to find the Doctor," Jack answered firmly. "This is getting more and more complicated." He hesitated and stepped closer to a set of controls. "Just let me check a couple of things really quick-"

One of the flickering figures turned suddenly and passed through him. Jack shuddered and shook himself while Martha gasped behind him. That was… unpleasant mentally, but he hadn't physically felt anything. Shaking his head, Jack tried to get a look at the main navigation panel to see the ship's flight path and status. He wasn't sure what would help at this point.

….

Something was nagging at Rose. She wasn't sure what it was. Part of her assumed it was her mixed emotions regarding what was happening, but another part of her was sure that it was more than that. There should be signs of the crew. They had to be here somewhere. Surely? Spock's records didn't indicate any distress calls or the use of an escape pod system. Rose hoped not. If they'd cast themselves out, they might never be able to find them all. A shudder rolled down her spine. Rose stopped and looked around carefully, suddenly very aware that she hadn't been paying a lot of attention.

There was a flickering figure ahead of her. It appeared to be doing something with an open-access panel. What exactly, she couldn't see. Rose stayed where she was and watched, waiting for something. The figure's hands moved and seemed to be interacting with something solid.

"Hello?" Rose called.

The figure jumped as it startled and looked over at her. Their features were too blurry and vague for Rose to make anything distinct, but she had the sense from their stiff form that they were surprised.

"Hello," Rose tried again. She took a slow step forward. "Can you hear me? Can you see me?"

A nod. Rose thought they might be trying to speak, but she couldn't hear that. She took another step forward. The figure didn't pull away. They were hesitating, but then they stepped towards her. They extended a hand. Rose thought it might be shaking. She remembered that feeling all those years ago after finding Gavin after walking through an empty London. She hadn't known him, but she'd been so happy to see someone, anyone.

Rose reached towards the flickering figure. The odd feeling in her chest was growing. It was familiar, nagging at her to remember. Suspicion formed in Rose's head, but she wasn't sure and wasn't confident enough to voice it. Then her hand was grasping something. Fingers curled greedily around her hand and Rose squeezed back, hoping to reassure the figure. A soft golden glow illuminated her hand and spread across the hand she was holding. Rose sucked in a sharp breath and stayed still. She wasn't sure what to do but urged the glow to help the figure.

Her skin was hot. The slowly circulating air of the ship felt strange on her arms. It was like she'd just been sunburned. But Rose held on. The flickering was wading. A form, a real form was becoming more and more clear. Then a shiver rolled down her spine and she was holding the hand of a solid person. A person who immediately let go of her and sank to their knees.

They were breathing. Shaking, they stayed on the floor of the corridor and gasped for air. Rose stayed close and put a hand on their shoulder, but didn't try to manhandle them. They might be in shock. She wasn't sure. There was definitely a sense of relief around them, but also lingering fear that hung in the air.

"Martha!" Rose called. The sound was too loud and sharp and the figure flinched away. "I'm sorry," Rose said softly. "I'm here with a friend who is a healer. She can probably help you more than I can."

They looked up at Rose and nodded slowly. She could see them clearly now. The Doctor was right, they looked very human though Rose wasn't immediately sure of their sex or gender. Their dark skin had a beautiful bluish hint to it and their eyes were a soft grey color. They didn't have any visible hair and were wearing what looked like a simple blue uniform. No sign of any weapons.

"Rose?" Martha came around the bend of the corridor and stopped in surprise. "You found someone!"

Rose didn't correct her. She looked over at Martha and smiled as much as she could when Martha slowly approached. Martha carefully shrugged off her pack and held her hands up. Rose tried to remember if they had explained the language thing to Martha. Surely they had, right? She suddenly wasn't sure.

"Hello," Martha greeted. "My name is Martha Jones. I'm a healer. Can I touch you? I'd like to make sure that you're alright."

"I don't know what happened," the person said. "Everything happened so fast. We were just taking a shortcut. The ship was hit by… something and everyone vanished. I was in the dark and just wandering."

"It's gonna be alright," Martha said. "Help is here. What is your name?"

"Jonas."

"Alright, Jonas," Martha said softly. "How are you feeling?"

Rose shifted back to let Martha fully take over and glanced around. There was no sign of Jack. That was unexpected. Rose had figured he'd stick close to Martha, but maybe they'd found something. She looked back to Martha and almost asked, but Martha was using a stethoscope to check Jonas' heart and lungs. Hopefully, his inside was similar enough that Martha could figure her way through it.

"You're doing great," Martha said softly. "That's it. Slow your breathing. It's gonna be alright."

"The others," Jonas gasped. They were still struggling to stop panting and shaking. "I never saw them."

Rose watched Martha's features struggle to stay calm. She wondered if she and Jack had seen flickering figures too. Studying her hands, Rose struggled not to fall into a panic attack herself. Martha had her hands full with Jonas. There had to be more of them. But how many and could Rose… pull them all back? The ship itself was still out of synch, but Rose knew they needed to focus on the crew first.

"Martha," Rose said gently, not wanting to startled Jonas. "I'm gonna keep looking around."

"Right, Jack is upstairs on the bridge. There were…" Martha trailed off. "They looked like ghosts," she whispered.

"So did Jonas a few moments ago," Rose replied softly. Jonas didn't seem to notice their conversation. Not properly at least. She could only hope that they'd be alright. "I'll go and join him, see what I can do."

"I'll take care of Jonas," Martha promised.

It was exactly what Rose needed to hear. Her skin was still tingling and felt a bit raw, but she turned and hurried back towards the TARDIS with renewed urgency. She'd been able to pull Jonas back. Martha had said that Jack was upstairs. That there were more ghosts. That was the best place to go. If she could help them, pull more of them back.

Heading up the staircase, Rose paused when she heard the Doctor's voice. Jack must have called him or they met when trying to meet up or he found figures in the engine room. Nerves fluttered in her gut regardless of Rose telling herself it would be fine. The Doctor wouldn't blame her for this. He wouldn't. She knew that, but… Shaking herself, she finished the climb and headed towards the voices.

The bridge was darker than Rose would have liked. It made the figures stand out brightly against the shadows. The Doctor was standing beside Jack with the sonic screwdriver out. Rose heard it whirl and decided to wait.

"Blimey," the Doctor said. His eyebrows went up as he studied the sonic screwdriver and then looked up at the flickering figure again. "This is a mess."

"They're out of sync with the ship," Jack said. Curiosity and horror filled his eyes as he turned towards the Doctor. "That's why nothing was on. They can't interact with it properly."

"Scattered through time, but all linked to the ship," the Doctor said softly.

"I was able to pull one downstairs back to the proper time," Rose said.

They both turned towards her. The Doctor's eyebrows went up and intense curiosity filled his features. "Really? That's brilliant!" He glanced at the nearest of the flickering figures. "Were they alright?"

"Short of breath and panicked," Rose admitted. "Martha is with Jonas, that's their name, downstairs in the main corridor."

"There were several in engineering as well," the Doctor said. "More than up here. I was hoping to find more information. Was Jonas able to see the others?"

"Maybe some of them, but not most," Rose replied. "It sounds like they were all in separate seconds. Alone."

"Hey," The Doctor shifted closer to her. Grasping her hands, he peered hard at her face. "This isn't your fault. Rassilon was ripping at the time-space continuum, trying to warp the Time Vortex. And you were a surprise to him, remember. He wasn't coming after you. Trying to take your power was just a bonus to his plan to push the Time Lords into new energy forms." Rose had kind of forgotten that. Was that arrogant? To chalk everything up to her presence? The Doctor leaned forward and kissed her forehead softly. "I know what it's like to blame yourself, Rose. But… this isn't on you. Please, darling, try to accept that."

"I'll… work on it," Rose promised. It was the only honest promise she could give. Forcing a smile, she looked over at the nearest flickering figure. "In the meantime, let's see if I can figure out how to synch them back with the ship. We can't synch the ship back with regular time until all of them are safe."

"Alright." The Doctor slowly released her though he held onto one of her hands. "I'll see if I can record how you're doing it. Might be able to figure out a signal to speed things up."

Rose gave him a grateful smile. He squeezed her hand before releasing it but stayed close as Rose approached the closest of the flickering figures on the bridge.