Clear Blue Sky (35/55)
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
“Well, obviously, we’re not going to fly away from here and leave this place under siege,” the Doctor said, as he drained the last bit of tea from his cup and brushed crumbs from his scone off his knee. “Every problem as a solution, right?”
“Right,” Jack agreed, grinning at Nyssa. “You people have all this amazing technology; you need to fight back!”
“No,” she shook her head, firmly. “They’ve always been a peaceful people. And they’ve been gifted with great intelligence, far more than the other inhabitants of this system. They should look to that to save them, rather than descending to the level of their enemies.”
The Doctor nodded approvingly. “Quite right. The last thing the universe needs is to lose a planet full of peaceful, brilliant scientists and create a new world of warriors.”
“So you just want to sit back and let them destroy the place?” Jack’s chin was lifted defiantly. “Or do you want to run?”
Ianto had known, a few moments before it actually happened, that Jack would get annoyed. Jack always needed to be the one taking action, and could never stand to be a sitting duck. He might have bitched about being under attack, but he never really minded fighting, and he could even stand losing - as long as he was acting. To sit and do nothing was unthinkable; it went completely against his nature.
Ianto also knew that anyone else would probably crack under the kind of pressure Jack was capable of exerting; he’d seen it happen. It a battle of wills, Jack would always win. He saw it happen frequently with Owen and Gwen - both strong personalities - at Torchwood. Many times, he’d seen Jack’s sheer force of personality triumph over pompous bureaucrats from every level of officialdom, all of them accustomed to getting their own way. He’d faced it himself - he knew exactly how powerful it was. Even now, when he’d only just started to argue, Nyssa was beginning to look doubtful …
But if they were expecting the Doctor to be swayed, then they all had another thing coming.
“Neither,” the Doctor snapped irritably, his eyes flashing. “I want them to defend themselves … they have this amazing defensive system set up around the university. Why can’t we extend that across the whole planet? Then you can all carry on with your work. They’ll soon get tired of bombing you when they can see their missiles just bouncing off!”
Suddenly, everyone was talking at once. Nyssa, who knew the science, insisted that it couldn’t be done. The barrier was constructed out of a finite volume of matter, so stretching it further would weaken it to the point of uselessness. Jack was thinking about the sheer scale of the task, and how much time was available. The Doctor was trying to argue with them simultaneously. Even Ianto had some reservations, and opened his mouth to speak, before he realised that the last thing the chaotic scene needed was a fourth voice. So he sat and waited for a moment, but when the heated discussion showed no signs of slowing, he gave up and whistled loudly.
“All agreed, then?” he asked dryly, when they all turned to look at him. Jack and Nyssa both smiled and sat back down in their chairs, but the Doctor remained standing, looking down at them. Then he looked at Ianto.
“Can I speak now?” he asked, somewhat petulantly. Ianto nodded, like a parent indulging a child.
“Thanks,” the Doctor said tartly, then geared up into lecture mode once more. “As I was saying - not that anyone was listening - the mechanism already exists. The hard part’s done - thanks to you, Nyssa. Why can’t you believe that it can be improved?”
She sighed. “Because you have no idea of the difficulty of establishing it in the first place. Reserves of that particular mineral on this planet are scarce, and our tense relations with our neighbours have made it impossible to obtain more. I had to fine-tune the equation to an almost ridiculous degree to get it to cover the university …”
“How big’s the planet?” Ianto cut in suddenly, realising he knew nothing about the world he had landed on, other than the things he had seen with his own eyes.
“Not that big, but …” she replied slowly.
“About an eighth of the size of the Earth,” the Doctor put in. “If I remember rightly.”
Ianto gave that a moment’s consideration, then sighed. That was still enormous; probably hundreds of times the size of the university.
“I’ve been looking at other possibilities,” Nyssa said. “But nothing I’ve found can come close to the scale we would need. Every time you halve the density of the substance, you reduce its effectiveness by up to sixty percent. Spread any more thinly than it is now, it would be useless. So unless you have any ideas …”
“Oh, I’ve always got ideas!” the Doctor said confidently. “I’m having twenty-eight different ideas right now. No, wait,” he held up a finger. “Twenty-nine.”
They all looked at him expectantly.
“Of course, the first twelve-and-a-half are completely ridiculous,” he conceded, making Jack groan. “But don’t worry! That’s sixteen-and-a-half potentially brilliant ideas all bubbling away in here!” He beamed at them.
Nyssa leaned across to Jack. “Is he always like this these days?”
“Yeah,” Jack nodded, with the slightest tinge of exasperation, although he seemed less frustrated than she did.
As if he were suspicious that Jack and Nyssa were ganging up on him, the Doctor turned to the one remaining person in a small quest for an ally. “Ianto? Do you think one of my sixteen potentially brilliant ideas will work?”
Jack was watching him with amusement, and Ianto sighed. “Probably. But it’s the half that worries me. The idea that’s half brilliant and half ridiculous. Because something tells me that’s the one we’re going to end up using.”
The Doctor clapped him on the back, as though that had been a resounding vote of confidence. Then he turned to Nyssa. “I need to examine the source of this mechanism. Where will I find it?”
“In the observatory, at the very top of the hill,” she replied, gesturing in the general direction. “Shall I show you?”
“No, I want you to stay here and have another look at your research and calculations. Jack can come with me … and Ianto can stay and help you.”
Ianto looked at him in alarm. “I don’t think …”
“Nonsense!” the Doctor replied quickly. “I’ve heard all about how brilliant you are. And Nyssa’s very clever, too. I bet you’ll work famously together.”
It was no use protesting; the Doctor was already halfway out the door. And Jack was swept along with him, waving at Ianto with a smile that was half amused and half apologetic.
“We’d better get to work,” Nyssa said briskly. “More tea?”