Unfinished Symphony-E3-Walking in my Shoes-Part One
Prelude
Unfinished Symphony Episode Three
Walking in my Shoes-Part One
Parts of Donna woke up at different times.
Her legs were first, all the running around the ship had taken their toll. Swollen and tight, they ached as she slept. Her right arm was next, all the swinging of the pipe had pulled somethingin her shoulder, it throbbed as she drooled into the silver pillow her head was on. Her mind stirred slightly, just long enough for her to pull the metallic silver blanket over her body before she drifted back to sleep.
And she was fully awake.
She pulled herself out of the bed and almost stumbled over. She was in a room that looked like an 80's music video director would think the future might resemble if he hadn't a lot of money to create it. The walls were flat silver, there was some kind of thing on the wall that resembled some kind of feather art but could have been a memorial for a particularly ugly parrot who dove head first into the wall and they decided to leave it there. There was a window that had what looked like a rainbow hued film over it, making the Jetsons-like city on the other side look a bit hazy. There was a Star Trek like door in front of her, that refused to budge as she moved towards it. There was a tacky dresser against one wall, which looked like nothing else but a dresser spray painted with silver paint. All in all Donna was underwhelmed.
“HELLO!”, she screamed wondering if people screamed in tacky futures.
Almost instantly a bald man in a 70's metallic jumpsuit appeared before her. He had some sort of headset on his head, but it didn't look like it was resting there as much as it was attached to him. He smiled and said in a pleasant British voice, “Good morning Ms. Noble, I hope you had a productive sleep?”
Donna could see the door behind him as his image wavered slightly, obvious a holographic image, and a poor one from what she could observe. Her underwhelmness only grew, “Where am I?”, she asked in what she hoped was somewhat pleasant.
“You are a guest of the Shadow Proclamation”, he said opening both arms in a wide gesture that looked like part bow, part ta-da! “Can I interest you in some breakfast?”
“Don't change the subject!”, she snapped, “Where is the Doctor?”
His face flickered to a serious face, his entire form looked less inviting, “I am sorry Ms. Noble but ongoing investigations are sealed as per Shadow Proclamation code 109sub annex 3.”, and his face flickered again back to the smiling one, “Can I interest you in some breakfast?”
“How did I get here?”, she asked wondering if there was a way around this thing's rules.
His face flickered and showed a concerned and slightly sympathetic face, “I must apologize, you were accidentally brought in by a Judoon squad that had been ordered to bring in a fugitive from intergalactic law.”, flicker to smile, “Can I interest you in..”
“Shut it about the breakfast”, she said, “Fugitive? The Doctor isn't a fugitive from anything. What's was he charged with?”
Back to serious face, “I am sorry Ms. Noble but ongoing investigations are sealed as per Shadow Proclamation code 109sub annex 3.”, back to breakfast, “Please enjoy a complimentary breakfast courtesy of the Shadow Proclamation.”, he waved one hand towards the dresser and a sterling silver tray was on it now with a incredible assortment of breakfast pastries on it. Donna's stomach actually grumbled as she saw the food but pressed past, “I want to see the Doctor...NOW!”, she said getting in the hologram's beady little face.
“You are a guest of the Shadow Proclamation, please..”
“I don't want any bloody breakfast, I don't want any bloody smiles. I want to know how I got here and WHERE THE DOCTOR IS!!”, she was screaming in the hologram's face who stared at her impassively. He paused and then opened his mouth, “You are a guest of the Shadow Proclamation. Please enjoy..”
And something snapped in her mind again, “I want my lawyer.”
The hologram stopped talking instantly.
“You heard me light boy”, she said, “I know my rights. I want a bloody lawyer or a flipping phone call...NOW!”
The hologram floated for another second and then nodded his head, “As per Shadow Proclamation code 4, sub annex Miranda you are entitled to see legal representation. One will be sent to your room immediately. Please enjoy a complimentary breakfast on behalf of the Shadow Proclamation while you wait.”, it said and then vanished.
“Don't mind if I do”, she said smiling as she walked over to the plate of food, smiling like they were old friends she hadn't seen in a long time.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
The Doctor woke up all at once.
As soon as his eyes opened he lept to his feet in one movement. And then promptly crashed back to the floor as he realized his feet were bound by something. His head hit the floor and he closed his eyes from the impact for a moment. He examined the room he saw in the ¾ of a second his eyes had been opened in his mind. Against all odds he seemed to be in what looked like a stone prison with rusted metal bars. There had been slightly used hay spread around the floor, he assumed so that one could make a bed or pillow like thing out of it. There was a decrepit looking bucket in the corner and chains attached to the stone hanging from the far wall. His feet had been bound by tattered and stained rope. If he didn't know better he would have sworn he was in a 17th century French prison.
But as he was the Doctor he did know better.
Not only did he know he wasn't in a 17th century French prison, but he knew exactly where he was. Opening his eyes again the cell had changed from a dingy prison cell to a nice, furnished apartment. A little art deco, a little 60's mod, it looked like something out of a style magazine. The rope around his feet had become two metal manacles connected by a single cord, even the shackles looked stylish.
“Now come on”, he said out loud, “That's a bit excessive don't you think? Where would I run to?” He seemed to be talking to no one, but then the cord seemed to elongate out, giving him room to take a full step without hindrance. He stood and brushed his jacket off and looked around.
“If I have to be in a cell it might as well be livable”, he said. There was no door leading out so he walked around and then stood in the center of the room and looked up, “In accordance of convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation. I request an audience with the intelligence that has me captive.”
There was a flash of light and standing across from the Doctor was the Shadow Architect, the old woman who had demanded he lead them into war against the Daleks last time he was here. She hadn't looked happy when he left, she looked no more pleasant now. “You dare?”, she asked of him, “You dare invoke the Shadow Proclamation at me?”, she said drawing herself up in what he knew to be a universal stance for reagalness.
“With all due respect madam Architect, I had no idea who I was addressing.”, he slightly bowed.
“Don't play games with me Doctor”, she said unfolding her arms, “You knew enough to adjust the physco reactive properties of your cell to make this”, she said gesturing to the room, “You had full knowledge of where you were.”
'Well”, he said running a hand over the top of his head, “Yes...well no. I had a guess...can I ask why?”
“You know why Doctor”, she said coldly.
“I really don't”, he said, his voice rising slightly as his patience began to thin.
“Did you not think there would be any survivors from your crime? Did you think just because you were a time lord...”
“Am a Time Lord”, he said interrupting her, “I am a Time Lord Madame Architect.”, his voice was still polite but there was an undercurrent of warning there.
“You cannot be a member of something which no longer exists Doctor. One may be President of a planet but once that planet is gone, they are simply the former president. You sir”, she said arching one eyebrow and daring him to contradict her, “Are a former Time Lord”
He glared at her for a moment but said nothing. After a beat he said, in a voice that was obviously straining to remain neutral, “In accordance to your own rules Madame, I am afforded to know the charges brought against me and the accuser. Are you refusing me those rights?”
She scoffed a bit and waved at him as if dismissing him, “Fine Doctor, if you wish to play ignorant we shall do it the hard way.”, she waved her hands and a scroll appeared in it as if by magic. She placed a pair of reading glasses on her nose and began to read the charges that were printed on it.
“You are hereby formally charged with a unprovoked, hostile attack against a sentient species with a biological agent. You are charged with crimes against all Macrakind and you face fourteen charges of temporally maligning a race's future and resulting extinction. The sole remaining Macra has brought these charges against you Doctor...”, and she put down the paper, “How do you plead?”
The Doctor stood there silent, wondering what his next words would be.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Captain Jack stepped over the remains of the smashed door and called up to Sarah Jane, “Anyone fancy some girl scout cookies?”
“We're up here Jack”, a voice called down from above. As Martha and him made their way up she asked, “Girl Scout ?”
“Well I like girls and scouts...doesn't that count?”, he said with a smile. Martha shook her head as they entered the attic.
“So what has your supercomputer have?”, Jack asked, “Hi Luke.”, he said waving to the youth who seemed glued to the schematics that was being displayed on the screen.
“Captain”, he said not looking away, “That's the bridge circuit”, he said pointing to the screen. “Acknowledged”, Mr. Smith said moving the angle of the image.
“Whose the computer? The machine or the boy?”, he said pointing a thumb at Luke. By the look on Sarah's face it wasn't even remotely funny to her.
“They are working it out together, hello Martha.”, she said smiling as she grasped the other companions hand. They could both see the worry right behind each others eyes, a worry that only a companion can share. Martha squeezed her hand back, saying 'We will find him' silently.
“I think I have it mom”, Luke said excitedly, “Its some kind of a shunt I think.”, he said looking at her with wide eyes. She had to smile seeing the exuberant joy on his face of discovery. Just when she thought she had reached a plateau of how much she cared for the boy, he exceeded it with a smile.
“Actually it is a sub-space dimensional shunt”, Jack said smiling himself. The looks of disappointment from Luke and anger on the two womens face made him wonder if she should have said anything.
“You knew what this was?”, Martha said holding up her disk.
“Well yeah”, Jack said trying to smile again, “We use them all the time in the 51st century. Its a self contained subspace teleporter. It moves a person through space in time to a predesignated point.”, still no smiles from the room, “It's a summons to appear!”
“Why didn't you just say so”, Sarah said grabbing the disk off of Mr. Smith, “Why come out here at all?”
“I wanted to see if your computer was that good.”, Jack said taking a long look at Mr. Smith, “A computer like this can do a lot of good.”
“He does do a lot of good!”, Sarah said setting in front of him, “So eyes off!”
Jack backed up laughing, “I am just saying Sarah...how much more could you get done with our help?”
“Help?”, Sarah said in disbelief, “What help is that? The gun on your side? The codes to nuclear weapons? An arsenal of impounded alien weapons? No thanks, I do fine without any of that.”, she drew a breath and tried to calm down, “Not everything can be solved with weapons and force Jack.”
“And not everything can be solved with sonic lipsticks and a band of children.”, he said, no humor in his voice now.
They both stared at each other, each one on the opposite side of their moral beliefs.
“Can we please concentrate on one thing at a time?”, Martha said standing between them, “This”, she said holding the disk in front of their faces, “Means the Doctor is in trouble and WE need to do something about it. So can we shove this until we get that done?”
Jack and Sarah's eyes fell to the ground as they tried to find words for their collective shame, “Now can this thing get us to where the Doctor is?”, Martha asked out loud.
“If the Doctor is being held in the center of the universe, then yes.”, Mr. Smith said impassively.
“Center of what?”, Sarah Jane turned to ask while Jack slapped his head in realization.
“Of course!', he said, “That makes total sense.”
“Well it doesn't to me.”, Sarah said.
“To us”, Martha amended.
Jack looked at Luke who shrugged and waited for the older man to explain.
The Shadow Proclamation is the upholder of Galactic Law all over the know universe. They don't just regulate space, but with the fall of the Time Lords they must police time as well. The only place they could do that would be the center of the universe.”
“Why?”, Luke asked genuinely curious.
“Because it is nowhere”, Jack said, “Mr. Smith show me a rough estimation of the universe please.”
“Computing”, the computer said as a large grid map appeared on the screen, covering millions of light years from one point of the ever expanding universe to the other.
“Here', Jack said pointing to the center, “This is where they are.”
Where Jack's finger was there was a microscopic dot that expanded and showed a small circle of nothing in the middle of the universe.
“What is that?”, Martha said squinting at the screen.
“That's where the big bang started.”, Sarah said understanding, “But what's there?”
“Nothing!”, Jack said turning and grasping Sarah's arms, “Don't you see? It is a place, a small place outside of space and time. An oasis from the universe. If you were to drag a planet or some large asteroids there you could sit on the axis of the entire space time continuum and be completely safe unless you know exactly where it was located.”
Sarah nodded, “Of course. There would be thousands of races across the universe that would love to destroy their power, but being nowhere, they can never be found.”
“Its perfect”, he said marveling at the cleverness, “And now we can get there!”
“With these?”, Martha asked.
“Mr. Smith”, he asked, already knowing the answer, “Can you figure out how to activate these devices manually?”
“I believe so Captain”, Mr. Smith said showing a diagram of the disk, “With Luke's help I believe we have discovered the trigger mechanism. It is waiting for a subspace signal for the teleportation circuits to activate. All I would need to do is mimic that signal.”
“Is that safe?”, Sarah Jane asked.
“Perfectly. The device is designed to take us there by it self anyway. All we are doing is telling it to do it sooner rather than later.”
“Well then we can't waste any time.”, Sarah Jane said, “We need to find the Doctor as soon as possible, and I am not going to just sit here and wait to be summoned. Mr. Smith start working on duplicating the signal. Captain you might want to let Torchwood you aren't coming back anytime soon.”
“Already done”, Jack said smiling, “Somehow I didn't think I was going to keep two former companions from charging off to rescue their Doctor in shining armor.”
“It's not that Jack”, Sarah said grabbing a few objects and tossing them into her purse, “It's just what he would do for us.”
“Should I stay here with Mr. Smith?”, Luke asked as she gathered the last of her things. She stopped midstep and looked at her adoptive son. And almost instantly she said, “No.”, and then thought about it, “I am not leaving you alone again.” They way she said it Jack wasn't sure if she meant now or ever.
“Can this device transport two?”, she asked.
Jack nodded, “Its rated to bring life forms up to a class 8 density. If it can transport a hostile Menoptra it can handle you and Luke easily.”
“You're coming with me”, Sarah said kneeling down smoothing his hair down, “Go get your shoes on.”
“Yes!”, Luke said almost jumping up in joy. He took off, skipping three steps at a time to his room as Sarah looked back to them. Neither said a word but Jack could tell, she didn't feel great about her decision.
“The Shadow Proclamation is the safest place in the known universe Sarah”, Jack said trying to comfort her, “He should be ok with us.”
She walked over to a bookshelf and pulled a large book from it. She opened it up and inside was, what looked like, a nasty gun. She pulled it out, checked it and placed it in belt behind her back.
“Is that a proton blaster?”, Jack asked.
“Yes”, she said putting the book away.
“What happened to things aren't solved by weapons and force?”
“It is superseded by the phrase 'Should be safe' in conjunction with my son. Until it is, Will be safe', I will do everything I can to protect him.”, and she saw the shocked look on Jack's face, “Do not think for one moment you know me Captain Jack Harkness. You assume that I advocate peace and understanding over violence because I am a pacifist at heart. You will find those the most violently opposed to aggressive and brutal means of resolution, know the folly of those means first hand.”
And her her voice dropped slightly, “Those with the most blood on their hands are the first ones trying to avoid bloodshed.”, and then she yelled downstairs, “Hurry up Luke!! We need to go.”
Leaving a very shocked pair of Torchwood agents wondering if they had indeed underestimated the formidable Sarah Jane Smith.
To be Continued.....
Unfinished Symphony Episode Three
Walking in my Shoes-Part One
Parts of Donna woke up at different times.
Her legs were first, all the running around the ship had taken their toll. Swollen and tight, they ached as she slept. Her right arm was next, all the swinging of the pipe had pulled somethingin her shoulder, it throbbed as she drooled into the silver pillow her head was on. Her mind stirred slightly, just long enough for her to pull the metallic silver blanket over her body before she drifted back to sleep.
And she was fully awake.
She pulled herself out of the bed and almost stumbled over. She was in a room that looked like an 80's music video director would think the future might resemble if he hadn't a lot of money to create it. The walls were flat silver, there was some kind of thing on the wall that resembled some kind of feather art but could have been a memorial for a particularly ugly parrot who dove head first into the wall and they decided to leave it there. There was a window that had what looked like a rainbow hued film over it, making the Jetsons-like city on the other side look a bit hazy. There was a Star Trek like door in front of her, that refused to budge as she moved towards it. There was a tacky dresser against one wall, which looked like nothing else but a dresser spray painted with silver paint. All in all Donna was underwhelmed.
“HELLO!”, she screamed wondering if people screamed in tacky futures.
Almost instantly a bald man in a 70's metallic jumpsuit appeared before her. He had some sort of headset on his head, but it didn't look like it was resting there as much as it was attached to him. He smiled and said in a pleasant British voice, “Good morning Ms. Noble, I hope you had a productive sleep?”
Donna could see the door behind him as his image wavered slightly, obvious a holographic image, and a poor one from what she could observe. Her underwhelmness only grew, “Where am I?”, she asked in what she hoped was somewhat pleasant.
“You are a guest of the Shadow Proclamation”, he said opening both arms in a wide gesture that looked like part bow, part ta-da! “Can I interest you in some breakfast?”
“Don't change the subject!”, she snapped, “Where is the Doctor?”
His face flickered to a serious face, his entire form looked less inviting, “I am sorry Ms. Noble but ongoing investigations are sealed as per Shadow Proclamation code 109sub annex 3.”, and his face flickered again back to the smiling one, “Can I interest you in some breakfast?”
“How did I get here?”, she asked wondering if there was a way around this thing's rules.
His face flickered and showed a concerned and slightly sympathetic face, “I must apologize, you were accidentally brought in by a Judoon squad that had been ordered to bring in a fugitive from intergalactic law.”, flicker to smile, “Can I interest you in..”
“Shut it about the breakfast”, she said, “Fugitive? The Doctor isn't a fugitive from anything. What's was he charged with?”
Back to serious face, “I am sorry Ms. Noble but ongoing investigations are sealed as per Shadow Proclamation code 109sub annex 3.”, back to breakfast, “Please enjoy a complimentary breakfast courtesy of the Shadow Proclamation.”, he waved one hand towards the dresser and a sterling silver tray was on it now with a incredible assortment of breakfast pastries on it. Donna's stomach actually grumbled as she saw the food but pressed past, “I want to see the Doctor...NOW!”, she said getting in the hologram's beady little face.
“You are a guest of the Shadow Proclamation, please..”
“I don't want any bloody breakfast, I don't want any bloody smiles. I want to know how I got here and WHERE THE DOCTOR IS!!”, she was screaming in the hologram's face who stared at her impassively. He paused and then opened his mouth, “You are a guest of the Shadow Proclamation. Please enjoy..”
And something snapped in her mind again, “I want my lawyer.”
The hologram stopped talking instantly.
“You heard me light boy”, she said, “I know my rights. I want a bloody lawyer or a flipping phone call...NOW!”
The hologram floated for another second and then nodded his head, “As per Shadow Proclamation code 4, sub annex Miranda you are entitled to see legal representation. One will be sent to your room immediately. Please enjoy a complimentary breakfast on behalf of the Shadow Proclamation while you wait.”, it said and then vanished.
“Don't mind if I do”, she said smiling as she walked over to the plate of food, smiling like they were old friends she hadn't seen in a long time.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
The Doctor woke up all at once.
As soon as his eyes opened he lept to his feet in one movement. And then promptly crashed back to the floor as he realized his feet were bound by something. His head hit the floor and he closed his eyes from the impact for a moment. He examined the room he saw in the ¾ of a second his eyes had been opened in his mind. Against all odds he seemed to be in what looked like a stone prison with rusted metal bars. There had been slightly used hay spread around the floor, he assumed so that one could make a bed or pillow like thing out of it. There was a decrepit looking bucket in the corner and chains attached to the stone hanging from the far wall. His feet had been bound by tattered and stained rope. If he didn't know better he would have sworn he was in a 17th century French prison.
But as he was the Doctor he did know better.
Not only did he know he wasn't in a 17th century French prison, but he knew exactly where he was. Opening his eyes again the cell had changed from a dingy prison cell to a nice, furnished apartment. A little art deco, a little 60's mod, it looked like something out of a style magazine. The rope around his feet had become two metal manacles connected by a single cord, even the shackles looked stylish.
“Now come on”, he said out loud, “That's a bit excessive don't you think? Where would I run to?” He seemed to be talking to no one, but then the cord seemed to elongate out, giving him room to take a full step without hindrance. He stood and brushed his jacket off and looked around.
“If I have to be in a cell it might as well be livable”, he said. There was no door leading out so he walked around and then stood in the center of the room and looked up, “In accordance of convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation. I request an audience with the intelligence that has me captive.”
There was a flash of light and standing across from the Doctor was the Shadow Architect, the old woman who had demanded he lead them into war against the Daleks last time he was here. She hadn't looked happy when he left, she looked no more pleasant now. “You dare?”, she asked of him, “You dare invoke the Shadow Proclamation at me?”, she said drawing herself up in what he knew to be a universal stance for reagalness.
“With all due respect madam Architect, I had no idea who I was addressing.”, he slightly bowed.
“Don't play games with me Doctor”, she said unfolding her arms, “You knew enough to adjust the physco reactive properties of your cell to make this”, she said gesturing to the room, “You had full knowledge of where you were.”
'Well”, he said running a hand over the top of his head, “Yes...well no. I had a guess...can I ask why?”
“You know why Doctor”, she said coldly.
“I really don't”, he said, his voice rising slightly as his patience began to thin.
“Did you not think there would be any survivors from your crime? Did you think just because you were a time lord...”
“Am a Time Lord”, he said interrupting her, “I am a Time Lord Madame Architect.”, his voice was still polite but there was an undercurrent of warning there.
“You cannot be a member of something which no longer exists Doctor. One may be President of a planet but once that planet is gone, they are simply the former president. You sir”, she said arching one eyebrow and daring him to contradict her, “Are a former Time Lord”
He glared at her for a moment but said nothing. After a beat he said, in a voice that was obviously straining to remain neutral, “In accordance to your own rules Madame, I am afforded to know the charges brought against me and the accuser. Are you refusing me those rights?”
She scoffed a bit and waved at him as if dismissing him, “Fine Doctor, if you wish to play ignorant we shall do it the hard way.”, she waved her hands and a scroll appeared in it as if by magic. She placed a pair of reading glasses on her nose and began to read the charges that were printed on it.
“You are hereby formally charged with a unprovoked, hostile attack against a sentient species with a biological agent. You are charged with crimes against all Macrakind and you face fourteen charges of temporally maligning a race's future and resulting extinction. The sole remaining Macra has brought these charges against you Doctor...”, and she put down the paper, “How do you plead?”
The Doctor stood there silent, wondering what his next words would be.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Captain Jack stepped over the remains of the smashed door and called up to Sarah Jane, “Anyone fancy some girl scout cookies?”
“We're up here Jack”, a voice called down from above. As Martha and him made their way up she asked, “Girl Scout ?”
“Well I like girls and scouts...doesn't that count?”, he said with a smile. Martha shook her head as they entered the attic.
“So what has your supercomputer have?”, Jack asked, “Hi Luke.”, he said waving to the youth who seemed glued to the schematics that was being displayed on the screen.
“Captain”, he said not looking away, “That's the bridge circuit”, he said pointing to the screen. “Acknowledged”, Mr. Smith said moving the angle of the image.
“Whose the computer? The machine or the boy?”, he said pointing a thumb at Luke. By the look on Sarah's face it wasn't even remotely funny to her.
“They are working it out together, hello Martha.”, she said smiling as she grasped the other companions hand. They could both see the worry right behind each others eyes, a worry that only a companion can share. Martha squeezed her hand back, saying 'We will find him' silently.
“I think I have it mom”, Luke said excitedly, “Its some kind of a shunt I think.”, he said looking at her with wide eyes. She had to smile seeing the exuberant joy on his face of discovery. Just when she thought she had reached a plateau of how much she cared for the boy, he exceeded it with a smile.
“Actually it is a sub-space dimensional shunt”, Jack said smiling himself. The looks of disappointment from Luke and anger on the two womens face made him wonder if she should have said anything.
“You knew what this was?”, Martha said holding up her disk.
“Well yeah”, Jack said trying to smile again, “We use them all the time in the 51st century. Its a self contained subspace teleporter. It moves a person through space in time to a predesignated point.”, still no smiles from the room, “It's a summons to appear!”
“Why didn't you just say so”, Sarah said grabbing the disk off of Mr. Smith, “Why come out here at all?”
“I wanted to see if your computer was that good.”, Jack said taking a long look at Mr. Smith, “A computer like this can do a lot of good.”
“He does do a lot of good!”, Sarah said setting in front of him, “So eyes off!”
Jack backed up laughing, “I am just saying Sarah...how much more could you get done with our help?”
“Help?”, Sarah said in disbelief, “What help is that? The gun on your side? The codes to nuclear weapons? An arsenal of impounded alien weapons? No thanks, I do fine without any of that.”, she drew a breath and tried to calm down, “Not everything can be solved with weapons and force Jack.”
“And not everything can be solved with sonic lipsticks and a band of children.”, he said, no humor in his voice now.
They both stared at each other, each one on the opposite side of their moral beliefs.
“Can we please concentrate on one thing at a time?”, Martha said standing between them, “This”, she said holding the disk in front of their faces, “Means the Doctor is in trouble and WE need to do something about it. So can we shove this until we get that done?”
Jack and Sarah's eyes fell to the ground as they tried to find words for their collective shame, “Now can this thing get us to where the Doctor is?”, Martha asked out loud.
“If the Doctor is being held in the center of the universe, then yes.”, Mr. Smith said impassively.
“Center of what?”, Sarah Jane turned to ask while Jack slapped his head in realization.
“Of course!', he said, “That makes total sense.”
“Well it doesn't to me.”, Sarah said.
“To us”, Martha amended.
Jack looked at Luke who shrugged and waited for the older man to explain.
The Shadow Proclamation is the upholder of Galactic Law all over the know universe. They don't just regulate space, but with the fall of the Time Lords they must police time as well. The only place they could do that would be the center of the universe.”
“Why?”, Luke asked genuinely curious.
“Because it is nowhere”, Jack said, “Mr. Smith show me a rough estimation of the universe please.”
“Computing”, the computer said as a large grid map appeared on the screen, covering millions of light years from one point of the ever expanding universe to the other.
“Here', Jack said pointing to the center, “This is where they are.”
Where Jack's finger was there was a microscopic dot that expanded and showed a small circle of nothing in the middle of the universe.
“What is that?”, Martha said squinting at the screen.
“That's where the big bang started.”, Sarah said understanding, “But what's there?”
“Nothing!”, Jack said turning and grasping Sarah's arms, “Don't you see? It is a place, a small place outside of space and time. An oasis from the universe. If you were to drag a planet or some large asteroids there you could sit on the axis of the entire space time continuum and be completely safe unless you know exactly where it was located.”
Sarah nodded, “Of course. There would be thousands of races across the universe that would love to destroy their power, but being nowhere, they can never be found.”
“Its perfect”, he said marveling at the cleverness, “And now we can get there!”
“With these?”, Martha asked.
“Mr. Smith”, he asked, already knowing the answer, “Can you figure out how to activate these devices manually?”
“I believe so Captain”, Mr. Smith said showing a diagram of the disk, “With Luke's help I believe we have discovered the trigger mechanism. It is waiting for a subspace signal for the teleportation circuits to activate. All I would need to do is mimic that signal.”
“Is that safe?”, Sarah Jane asked.
“Perfectly. The device is designed to take us there by it self anyway. All we are doing is telling it to do it sooner rather than later.”
“Well then we can't waste any time.”, Sarah Jane said, “We need to find the Doctor as soon as possible, and I am not going to just sit here and wait to be summoned. Mr. Smith start working on duplicating the signal. Captain you might want to let Torchwood you aren't coming back anytime soon.”
“Already done”, Jack said smiling, “Somehow I didn't think I was going to keep two former companions from charging off to rescue their Doctor in shining armor.”
“It's not that Jack”, Sarah said grabbing a few objects and tossing them into her purse, “It's just what he would do for us.”
“Should I stay here with Mr. Smith?”, Luke asked as she gathered the last of her things. She stopped midstep and looked at her adoptive son. And almost instantly she said, “No.”, and then thought about it, “I am not leaving you alone again.” They way she said it Jack wasn't sure if she meant now or ever.
“Can this device transport two?”, she asked.
Jack nodded, “Its rated to bring life forms up to a class 8 density. If it can transport a hostile Menoptra it can handle you and Luke easily.”
“You're coming with me”, Sarah said kneeling down smoothing his hair down, “Go get your shoes on.”
“Yes!”, Luke said almost jumping up in joy. He took off, skipping three steps at a time to his room as Sarah looked back to them. Neither said a word but Jack could tell, she didn't feel great about her decision.
“The Shadow Proclamation is the safest place in the known universe Sarah”, Jack said trying to comfort her, “He should be ok with us.”
She walked over to a bookshelf and pulled a large book from it. She opened it up and inside was, what looked like, a nasty gun. She pulled it out, checked it and placed it in belt behind her back.
“Is that a proton blaster?”, Jack asked.
“Yes”, she said putting the book away.
“What happened to things aren't solved by weapons and force?”
“It is superseded by the phrase 'Should be safe' in conjunction with my son. Until it is, Will be safe', I will do everything I can to protect him.”, and she saw the shocked look on Jack's face, “Do not think for one moment you know me Captain Jack Harkness. You assume that I advocate peace and understanding over violence because I am a pacifist at heart. You will find those the most violently opposed to aggressive and brutal means of resolution, know the folly of those means first hand.”
And her her voice dropped slightly, “Those with the most blood on their hands are the first ones trying to avoid bloodshed.”, and then she yelled downstairs, “Hurry up Luke!! We need to go.”
Leaving a very shocked pair of Torchwood agents wondering if they had indeed underestimated the formidable Sarah Jane Smith.
To be Continued.....