Doctor Who and the Cathedral of Light - The Sontaran Police 2/7
Title: Doctor Who and the Cathedral of Light - The Sontaran Police 2/7
Characters: Jack/Ianto, The Doctor (10), OFC, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Benton, Harry Sullivan, Michael Yates, Wilfred Mott/Tom Campbell
Parings: Jack/Ianto
Disclaimer: Neither Torchwood or Doctor Who are mine
Summary: Someone is stealing soldiers
Spoilers: All Torchwood, including Children of Earth, all Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Warning: Talk of nudity
A/N: This answers the questions. Well… my questions anyway.
A/N2: This is a sequel to Doctor Who and The Infernal Inferno. You don’t have to read it, but it explains where the OC came from.
A/N3: Actual Jack/Ianto and CoE fix it in this one :-)
Prologue - Old Soldiers
Finishing her twentieth lap, Louise Ruth pulled herself out of the pool and began drying her hair. ‘Grew it back? Who does he think I am? How can you jettison a swimming pool and then just grow it back?’ Picking up her shoulder bag, she headed back to her room, towelling herself as she walked.
‘Hey, skinny, are we nearly there yet?’ Louise asked as she walked into the control room, now clad in clothes more suitable to the twenty first century.
Seeing a pair of disembodied legs sticking out from underneath the TARDIS centre consol, she repeated her question. ‘Are we nearly there yet? Are we nearly there yet? Are we nearly there yet?’ She asked in her best child-like voice. The Doctor slid from under the consol, adjustable spanner in hand, and backed up to where Louise Ruth stood.
‘Pass me the three eighths of an inch adjustable wrench from the box by the door.’ The Doctor asked, his attention fully on the centre consol and the plastic centre section, which moved slowly and gracefully up and down. ‘No, make that the four eighths spanner.’
Replacing the first spanner, Louise Ruth grabbed a second spanner and handed it to the Doctor. Thanking her, and without taking his eyes off the consol, he ran at it and slammed the wrench into a section of the consol, which immediately lit up.
‘There she goes. That should do the trick.’ Noticing her wet hair he smiled. ‘Found the swimming pool I see?’ Touching her head, she smiled.
‘No. I just like walking around with wet hair… oh, and we’ve run out of toilet paper. I don’t know where you keep the spare rolls.’ The Doctor looked at her as if trying to remember which question to answer first. Louise pre-empted him by again asking, ‘Are we nearly there yet?’ As if to answer her question, the centre consol stopped moving and the vibrating floor stopped vibrating.
‘Where are we Doctor? Where are we? Ancient Rome, gladiators, vestal virgins?’ She shook her head, ‘no, can’t be… I know, we’re on a moon base surrounded by eight legged fish that want to take over the Earth one chip shop at a time.’
‘Eight legged fish? What is it with you and fish? There are no eight legged fish… well, that’s not exactly true but… no, no fish.’
‘No, don’t tell me… we’re on another planet altogether. Hairy beasts with one eye and horns wanting to take over the universe.’ The Doctor shook his head and smiled.
‘Better than that… we’re in Stockton.’ Louise’s smile was even wider.
‘Stockton, that sounds…’ Her facial expression changed from ecstatic anticipation to grievous disappointment. ‘Stockton on Tees, near to where you picked me up… wait it’s Stockton back in 1825. You’re here to see the opening of the railway to Darlington… George Stephenson… the Rocket.’ The Doctor shook his head.
‘Been there, done that, met the Rani.’ With mounting exasperation, she shook her head.
‘You’ve come to see John Walker and give him some advice on marketing his friction match? That was about the same time… wasn’t it? Stockton, home of the friction match…?’ Again the Doctor shook his head.
‘We’re in the year 2010 and we need to help some people who are lost.’
‘What, who?’ Louise Ruth questioned as the Doctor headed for the door.
‘We’ve been asked for help.’ Louise followed the Doctor trying to keep up with his purposeful stride. ‘A couple of old friends have gone missing and we’ve been asked to look into it and find them. I’ve picked up a transmat signature in Stockton market, 2010 and we’re going to investigate.’
‘Friends… you’ve got friends? From what I’ve heard, they don’t seem to last very long.’
***
Captain Jack Harkness, late of Torchwood Three, drove the SUV through the night, tears of pain running freely down his cheeks. The light show he had put on had been for Gwen’s benefit alone. If she knew what he planned to do she would have tried to stop him, or worse, want to be a part of it. She was pregnant and had other things on her mind, other than aliens, the rift and a thousand and one things that could and would happen now that Torchwood Three wasn’t there to stop them.
He’d finally lost the team, one after another and it had all been his fault. First Owen and Toshiko died at his brother’s hand, and now Gwen had left to become a mother. She’d always wanted more and now she had it, a normal life.
A bomb had destroyed Torchwood Three, planted of all places, in his own stomach. But what was he left with, Ianto’s corpse lying in the back of the SUV where he’d put it after digging up his grave only hours ago. They say time can heal all wounds, it could heal this one.
Playing around with the time-line was strictly forbidden, the Doctor had told him that, but this was important. Was he right to commit a wrong to put an even greater wrong right? The computations and debate still raged about in his mind. The Earth, as everyone knew it, would end in seven days if he didn’t stop it and the only one that could help him was poor Ianto. Poor dead Ianto that had ran into a building that had been filled with poisonous gas, just because he had. Time would heal this wound, he knew, if only he could get there in time.
The code had been given and the alarm flashed on the dashboard of the SUV. Wilf, he knew, had already called in the attack on the Brigadier, using the old code. He Knew that he had only minutes to hit the transmat beam before it was too late. Not wishing to risk being stopped with Ianto’s body in the back of the SUV, Jack had left it till the last moment to remove his body and transport it to the park.
The wheels skidded as Jack took the next corner at eighty miles an hour. Checking the petrol gauge, he knew he had more than enough to get him there, but could he get there in time? Pulling the steering wheel sharply to the left, he narrowly missed a pedestrian, wiping out a bus stand in the process. As the concrete post flew behind him he saw the entrance to the park just a hundred yards to his left.
Working for the Time Agency, in the 51st century, had given him a strong overview of history and how manipulative it could be. One wrong action here and twenty thousand die fifty years later. It had been his job to prevent people doing exactly what he was doing right now. In the back of his mind he wondered if the Time Agency would send someone to stop him. No, they knew what he was doing. They needed the Earth saving just as much as he did.
He’d used his Vortex Manipulator to help get him to the future, after Martha Jones had fixed it, so he would be able to find a way to achieve what he was about to do. Hindsight was a great thing and his ability to travel through time meant that passed wrongs could be righted, but at what cost. He had deliberately forced himself not to interfere in Owen and Toshiko’s deaths, but Ianto… he’d died for no reason and it had all been his fault.
Cutting across the grass he headed into the woods, following the footpath. Just when he thought he could make it, with time to spare, a bright light flashed in front of him and was gone. ‘Noooo!’ Jack screamed, ‘not… this… time!’ Flooring the accelerator, the SUV almost leaped into the air as it passed a parked police vehicle and plunged headlong into the park. The last thing Jack saw was another bright light and then blackness as the SUV ploughed into a tree opposite.
***
Opening the door to the TARDIS the Doctor and Louise Ruth stared out on a scene typical of market towns in 2010. Overweight shoppers pushed passed each other, knocking into them without apology, and heading off towards their next port of call. Louise Ruth smiled as she noticed two large women helping each other up a short series of steps into the back of a gipsy caravan. The hinges protested as their combined weight threatened to over turn the small trailers. ‘Talk about the crowed turned ugly, look at that one.’
Looking around, the TARDIS stood in full view of hundreds of people, none giving it the slightest notice as they bustled passed. Seeing Louise’s gaze of incomprehension, the Doctor smiled and explained.
‘It’s the proximity filter that stops people from noticing it.’
‘But… I can see it.’ The Doctor shook his head.
‘You know it’s there, they don’t.’ As if the explanation answered all her questions Louise Ruth put it to the back of her mind and continued following the Doctor. Passing a newspaper vendor she picked up a copy of the Daily Mirror to check the date.
‘Wednesday July 2010, brilliant.’ Stopping, she returned the paper to it’s stand but not before noticing the headline, Army truck disappears in Hereford. Thrusting the paper into her shoulder bag without paying for it, Louise Ruth thought that the information could be relevant. ‘Perhaps these were the “friends” the Doctor had been talking about.’ She then remembered another use for the paper. She may need it if the Doctor had in fact run out of toilet paper. Besides, she could always do the crossword.
Hurrying along, she managed to catch up with the Doctor. Crossing the road and heading down a side alleyway, the Doctor moved like he had a purpose. Pulling out her mobile phone, Louise Ruth began punching in a number.
‘Damn, can’t get a signal in here.’ She said, gesturing to the walls surrounding them. ‘I’m trying to ring my sister to see if she’s alright.’ Taking the phone out of her hand, the Doctor removed the back and took out the battery. Taking out his sonic screwdriver with the hand, he let the blue light play up and down the insides of the small machine. Turning the buzzing noise off, he replaced the battery and handed the phone back to Louise Ruth.
‘There you go. It’ll work anywhere and in any time period. Privileges of rank; you’re my number two.’ The Doctor headed off down the ally as Louise Ruth punched in the number a second time.
‘Brilliant… not sure if I want to be a number two though.’ Waiting patiently for the call to be answered, Louise Ruth let the Doctor get ahead of her. ‘Laura… yeah… no it’s great.’ Her disjointed one-way call filled the ears of every passer-by as she headed off towards the side of a building the Doctor had disappeared behind.
Turning round a corner she stood face to face with the stockiest man she had ever seen. Clad in a silver space helmet and standing roughly five feet five inches tall and five feet five inches wide, the man advanced on her. ‘I’ll have to call you back Laura…’ Slowly the figure removed his helmet revealing an alien face, greenish-brown skin, and a distinctive dome-shaped head. ‘Hey wait a minute, what’s going on here?’ Stepping between them, the Doctor made the introductions.
‘Louise Ruth this is Crale, a Sontaran… er… policeman I suppose, all the way from the planet Sontar, in the southern spiral arm of the galaxy and, from the looks of things, he must have lost a few of his people as well.’ Crale looked Louise Ruth up and down and, deciding that she posed no immediate threat, turned back to the Doctor.
‘Well Doctor, so glad to see you again. I thought you would be at the bottom of this. What have you done with my men?’ Moving away from Crale’s extended grip, the Doctor smiled his most disarming smile.
‘How many men have you lost Crale?’ The Sontaran slowly but purposefully walked towards the Doctor.
‘As if you didn’t know; you’ve killed four of my best men and I want them back for burial. It’s the law under the Shadow Proclamation, section 17, subsection 49, All dead must be returned for burial or the Doctor will be squashed.’
Crale rounded on the Doctor, swinging both arms out in the hope of catching him with one of them. The Doctor managed to duck away from his powerful grip but knew that his evasive actions wouldn’t last for long. Sontarans were built for war, genetically made in test tubes to do only two things well, wage war and kill. With a movement quicker than the Doctor’s eyes could follow, Crale thrust out his right hand, grabbing him by the throat. Tensing the muscles in his hand he began to squeeze.
From out of nowhere, a blow struck the Sontaran on the back of the head, knocking him instantly into unconsciousness. His body fell forward hitting the cobbled stone floor with a sickening thud. Looking up, the Doctor saw Louise Ruth sporting a plank of wood she had taken from the surrounding fence.
***
Sitting up, he gasped for breath as oxygen forced its ways back into his lungs. He actually felt his heart begin to beat this time as his body warmed and his muscles flexed. His head thumped and nausea filled his stomach. Tuning to one side he felt tightness in his chest as he vomited. His head was spinning and his vision blurred, but he knew that wouldn’t last long. He had died so many times in the past and knew that coming back never felt good. Shaking his head to get rid of the thick cotton wool feeling that always came in these situations; he looked around as his vision cleared.
‘No, no, no!’ He almost screamed, realising he was in, what looked like a mortuary. It all came flooding back to him as the tiredness and nausea left him in a rush of adrenalin. He remembered the tree that had loomed in front of him, and then nothing. He’d been too late, he knew. The flash must have been when he collided with the tree and his neck had been broken. He had missed the transmat beam and died in the car wreckage… and Ianto…? Tears filled his reddening eyes as he swung his legs onto the tiled floor. Oxygen was pumped around the room and the cold of his nakedness began to eat away at his very soul.
‘Jack, I’ve found a couple of robes and I think there’s some tea on the boil, I’ll go and check.’ Jack’s head snapped round and stared into the warm familiar eyes of Ianto Jones. Naked before him, he held two robes in one hand and what looked like two mugs in the other.
Without a word, Jack ran to him and wrapped his arms around him. Tears flooded down his cheeks as he held on to Ianto for all he was worth. Seconds turned into minutes but Jack wouldn’t let him go. Dropping the robes and mugs onto a nearby gurney, Ianto reciprocated the hug, glad to be in Jack’s arms once again.
‘Err… tea or coffee?’ Ianto asked, but Jack ignored him. Eventually pulling away, Jack took another look at his friend and still couldn’t believe that he was looking at Ianto Jones once more.
‘I told you, you wouldn’t be just a blip in time,’ Jack said, unable to stop smiling even if he wanted to Ianto was about to say something when Jack covered his lips with his in a deep embrace that took Ianto’s breath away. After a few moments Jack released him realising that Ianto was just as excited as he was.
‘Err… call me old fashioned Jack, but I don’t think a morgue is the right place for this.’ Seeing the situation he was in, Jack agreed as Ianto threw him a robe. It was then that he noticed the thick metal bracelet that had been wrapped around his right arm. Looking back at Ianto, he noticed that he too had a similar bracelet covered in a series of buttons and lights.
‘I have a million and one questions, such as what happened to the 456 and the poison gas, and how did you revive me… were they bluffing?’ Jack threw the robe over his shoulder and, turning his head slightly to one side, smiled at Ianto.
‘The world is fine, the 456 have been sent packing, and you… well… you’re Ianto Jones, what can I say?’ Shrugging into the robe, Ianto knew that Jack was hiding something, but wasn’t he always.
Changing the subject, Jack walked towards six sheet-covered gurneys. ‘Let’s see what we have here.’ Lifting the first white cloth the face of an old man stared back at him. He’d seen that face before but couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Then it hit him. It was Wilf, Donna Nobel’s grandfather. Lifting the second sheet he was confronted by another old man, one he didn’t recognise. Checking his pulse confirmed what he suspected, they were all dead.
‘These must be the old soldiers that went missing from the park.’ Jack said, deliberately leading Ianto away from the gurneys. He knew that only five ex-UNIT soldiers went missing in 2010, so the sixth body must be Ianto’s. ‘I was on the trail of five ex-UNIT soldiers, pensioners that had just attended a reunion supper. There was an attempted mugging in the park at midnight. They were kidnapped, transmatted right out of their clothing…’ Jack looked down at himself and Ianto and added, ‘as were we.’
Looking around, Jack knew that something was missing. ‘Where did you wake up from, I mean, you can’t have been among these?’ Jack gestured towards the six corpses. Ianto looked towards a door to his left.
‘I came to through there.’ Putting an arm around Ianto’s shoulder, Jack lead him into the next room, surprised at the vastness of it. Tanks lined the wall like a giant pet shop. But instead of fish, each tank contained, what looked like, a squat naked Sontaran soldier, in a variety of growth stages.
‘This must be the cloning area for the Sontaran battle fleets. It seems they’ve taken to cloning humans as well, you and me both.’ Following a series of wet footprints he walked towards a section of tanks that were open at the top. Jack examined the first with interest. ‘I take it this is the one you came out of?’ Ianto nodded realising that they were his footprints Jack had followed. Placing two fingers into the thick fluid the tank was filled with, he rubbed it casually between his thumb and forefinger.
Looking across at the first five tanks, whose lids were open, he noticed that they too were empty. Walking towards the sixth he braced himself for what he might find. The lid of the tank was still closed but Jack could clearly see inside. A small, shrivelled figure that once could have looked like him lay dying in the fluid. It seemed that whatever kept him regenerating could not be cloned. Leaning forward he took hold of the umbilical cord that extended from the side of the tank and pulled. Red lights flashed on the tank and the figure began to writhe in the fluid. A minute later the body became still as it died in the tank.
Turing towards Ianto, he lifted up his left arm. ‘Right, find something that can take these things off while I look for a way out-’ Before he could finish the sentence, a bright light flashed between them and both robes fell to the floor. For a second time in a matter of hours, they both disappeared.
***
‘I didn’t hit him that hard. I just thought it would distract him.’ The Doctor smiled and knelt over the Sontaran, checking that he was still breathing.
‘It’s okay, he’s still alive.’ Louise looked incensed.
‘Still alive, step back Doctor, I’ll hit Mr Potato head again and see if I can make chips out of him.’ The Doctor restrained her, carefully removing the plank from her hand.
‘If you think he’s ugly, that do you think we are to him?’ The Doctor smiled as Louise Ruth stepped forward to examine the unconscious Sontaran.
‘He thinks we’re beautiful and is so upset by this he wants to kill us?’ She questioned hopefully, but the Doctor shook his head.
‘They come from a planet called Sontar which has a very strong gravitational field. They’re cloned and are very formidable opponents but as you’ve inadvertently found out, they do have a weak spot. It’s the probic vent at the back of their neck.’
‘What’s it for if they’re so physically powerful… I mean, why build a warrior like him and it make easy to disable or even kill him?’ The Doctor smiled.
‘It’s part of their culture. The Sontarans have a highly militaristic culture. Every aspect of their society is geared toward warfare. You see, that vent is also part of their cloning process. Its where they draw in nutrition. It’s there to stop Sontaran warriors turning their backs on their enemies, thus revealing their vulnerability.’ Louise Ruth nodded, she supposed she could understand the logic in that.
Looking through Crale’s back pack, the Doctor removed a small rod with two handles and a plunger at one end. To Louise it looked like a syringe. Smashing it on the ground, the Doctor continued to delve inside the bag.
‘What was that you just smashed? It may be important?’ Louise asked, noticing the Doctor shaking his head as he discarded the broken pieces.
‘It’s a Sontaran gun. It can cut through just about anything. It can hypnotise you, disarm you or blast you into a thousand pieces.’ Removing a set of restraints from the Sontaran’s belt, the Doctor placed them around Crale’s wrists. ‘Sontaran society revolves around the Sontaran Empire, and they’ve been at war with an entity called the Rutan Host for more than 50,000 years, depending on which century you happen to be in.’
‘And now five of them have gone missing?’ Louise asked as the Doctor nodded his head. ‘I saw the Mirror; it said soldiers had gone missing in Hereford, from the back of a truck. Were those your friends?’
Louise pulled the newspaper from her pocket in explanation. The Doctor looked at Louise, as if pondering, and then realising the Mirror was a newspaper, looked at the headline and shook his head.
‘No they must be different soldiers. Ours went missing in a park at midnight.’
Louise was just about to say something when she noticed that the Sontaran was beginning to wake up. Stepping back out of range of his powerful hands, she gazed down at him.
‘The female bested me?’ The Doctor nodded as Crale tried to stand then realised that he had been restrained. ‘Why didn’t she finish me off when I was unconscious?’
Crale looked over at Louise Ruth, respect showing in his eyes not revulsion, she realised. ‘Out of a million hatchings of cadets I originally paraded out with, I am the only one left. It took me ten minutes to achieve full adult hood and fifty years to learn the art of combat and killing. Now I find myself at the feet of a female felled by a plank of wood.’
‘Look Crale, we don’t have much time. Now I suggest we make a pact and find our missing soldiers.’ The Sontaran looked dumbfounded. Changing his gaze from Louise Ruth to the Doctor he nodded.
‘So it’s not you at the bottom of this Doctor. You’re in the same boat as we are.’ Crale began to laugh. ‘And you need my help?’ His laughing continued.
‘Tell me what happened and I’ll unfasten your restraints.’ Taking hold of his laughter the Sontaran thought for a moment then decided to tell the Doctor the truth.
‘There were six of us about two hours ago. We landed in the river next to the sailing craft the Endeavour. As we landed we were hit by a massive bolt of energy that totally destroyed all electronics on the ship plunging us into the water. We managed to get out and without being seen made our way to this location. I volunteered to head back to the ship and salvage anything I could find a use for, while the rest of the group set up camp and prepared for whatever attacked us.’ Despite the restraints Crale managed to get to his feet, testing the restraints as he stood.
‘When I returned all I found were five empty survival suits and… you Doctor.’ Hesitating for a moment the doctor removed his sonic screwdriver and proceeded to examine the suits lying around the courtyard.
‘Yes… I see what you mean.’ The Doctor paused, thinking, something wasn’t quite right. Louise bent over and lifted a survival suit and looked at it closely.
‘If they were killed with some kind of energy weapon, as you say Crale, wouldn’t the suit have disappeared as well, or at least been damaged?’ For a moment Crale was about to protest but stopped, seeing the logic in Louise Ruth’s statement.
‘The female is right Doctor.’ Pausing, he decided that there had to be another explanation. ‘No… you made them remove their suits to degrade them before you evaporated them.’ More comfortable with his anger intact Crale stared at Louise Ruth.
‘In that case, potato head, why are the suits still fastened?’ The Doctor ran over and lifted the suit up to show Crale.
‘You’re right, the environmental locks are still activated. The only way these suits could have been removed would be if the Sontarans inside them were transmatted directly out of them.’
‘It must be the Rutans, they’re responsible for this. I can smell them.’ Crale said, new anger and hatred burning in his eyes.
Walking over to Crale the Doctor removed his restraints letting them drop to the floor. Looking down at his free hands, his three fingers flexing and unflexing inside his leather gloves he came to a decision.
‘Ok Doctor, say I believe you and we’ve both lost soldiers. What’s our next course of action?’ Passing up and down the Doctor thought for a moment.
‘My readings state that a massive energy wave appeared in this square and when it dissipated your men went with it. All I have to do…’ the Doctor removed his sonic screwdriver and ran around the square and reading off the findings as he moved, ‘All I have to do is open a fault line in the energy field and follow the beam back to where the soldiers were taken.’ Standing still while the Doctor circled them Crale eyed Louise Ruth up and down, as if assessing her abilities.
‘You beauty… I’ve got it… by George I’ve got it.’ The Doctor ran for the alleyway entrance and then, stopping, turned towards Louise Ruth and Crael. ‘Well don’t just stand there, helmet on and follow.’
The Doctor left the square at high speed with Louise closely following. Crael picked up his backpack and hurried after. Thrusting a hand inside as he ran he produced a thermite grenade and twisting the top threw it back into the square. A brief explosion obliterated any evidence that Sontarans had ever been there.
Activating his helmet he ran through the market stalls pushing people out of the way as he went. His locator informed him that the Doctor and the female had entered a small square box on the opposite side of the street. Quickly he moved through the crowds and, diving through the open door, immediately felt the ground move under him followed by a vibrating sound that filled the entire room.
The Naked Now 3/7
Characters: Jack/Ianto, The Doctor (10), OFC, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Benton, Harry Sullivan, Michael Yates, Wilfred Mott/Tom Campbell
Parings: Jack/Ianto
Disclaimer: Neither Torchwood or Doctor Who are mine
Summary: Someone is stealing soldiers
Spoilers: All Torchwood, including Children of Earth, all Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Warning: Talk of nudity
A/N: This answers the questions. Well… my questions anyway.
A/N2: This is a sequel to Doctor Who and The Infernal Inferno. You don’t have to read it, but it explains where the OC came from.
A/N3: Actual Jack/Ianto and CoE fix it in this one :-)
Prologue - Old Soldiers
Finishing her twentieth lap, Louise Ruth pulled herself out of the pool and began drying her hair. ‘Grew it back? Who does he think I am? How can you jettison a swimming pool and then just grow it back?’ Picking up her shoulder bag, she headed back to her room, towelling herself as she walked.
‘Hey, skinny, are we nearly there yet?’ Louise asked as she walked into the control room, now clad in clothes more suitable to the twenty first century.
Seeing a pair of disembodied legs sticking out from underneath the TARDIS centre consol, she repeated her question. ‘Are we nearly there yet? Are we nearly there yet? Are we nearly there yet?’ She asked in her best child-like voice. The Doctor slid from under the consol, adjustable spanner in hand, and backed up to where Louise Ruth stood.
‘Pass me the three eighths of an inch adjustable wrench from the box by the door.’ The Doctor asked, his attention fully on the centre consol and the plastic centre section, which moved slowly and gracefully up and down. ‘No, make that the four eighths spanner.’
Replacing the first spanner, Louise Ruth grabbed a second spanner and handed it to the Doctor. Thanking her, and without taking his eyes off the consol, he ran at it and slammed the wrench into a section of the consol, which immediately lit up.
‘There she goes. That should do the trick.’ Noticing her wet hair he smiled. ‘Found the swimming pool I see?’ Touching her head, she smiled.
‘No. I just like walking around with wet hair… oh, and we’ve run out of toilet paper. I don’t know where you keep the spare rolls.’ The Doctor looked at her as if trying to remember which question to answer first. Louise pre-empted him by again asking, ‘Are we nearly there yet?’ As if to answer her question, the centre consol stopped moving and the vibrating floor stopped vibrating.
‘Where are we Doctor? Where are we? Ancient Rome, gladiators, vestal virgins?’ She shook her head, ‘no, can’t be… I know, we’re on a moon base surrounded by eight legged fish that want to take over the Earth one chip shop at a time.’
‘Eight legged fish? What is it with you and fish? There are no eight legged fish… well, that’s not exactly true but… no, no fish.’
‘No, don’t tell me… we’re on another planet altogether. Hairy beasts with one eye and horns wanting to take over the universe.’ The Doctor shook his head and smiled.
‘Better than that… we’re in Stockton.’ Louise’s smile was even wider.
‘Stockton, that sounds…’ Her facial expression changed from ecstatic anticipation to grievous disappointment. ‘Stockton on Tees, near to where you picked me up… wait it’s Stockton back in 1825. You’re here to see the opening of the railway to Darlington… George Stephenson… the Rocket.’ The Doctor shook his head.
‘Been there, done that, met the Rani.’ With mounting exasperation, she shook her head.
‘You’ve come to see John Walker and give him some advice on marketing his friction match? That was about the same time… wasn’t it? Stockton, home of the friction match…?’ Again the Doctor shook his head.
‘We’re in the year 2010 and we need to help some people who are lost.’
‘What, who?’ Louise Ruth questioned as the Doctor headed for the door.
‘We’ve been asked for help.’ Louise followed the Doctor trying to keep up with his purposeful stride. ‘A couple of old friends have gone missing and we’ve been asked to look into it and find them. I’ve picked up a transmat signature in Stockton market, 2010 and we’re going to investigate.’
‘Friends… you’ve got friends? From what I’ve heard, they don’t seem to last very long.’
***
Captain Jack Harkness, late of Torchwood Three, drove the SUV through the night, tears of pain running freely down his cheeks. The light show he had put on had been for Gwen’s benefit alone. If she knew what he planned to do she would have tried to stop him, or worse, want to be a part of it. She was pregnant and had other things on her mind, other than aliens, the rift and a thousand and one things that could and would happen now that Torchwood Three wasn’t there to stop them.
He’d finally lost the team, one after another and it had all been his fault. First Owen and Toshiko died at his brother’s hand, and now Gwen had left to become a mother. She’d always wanted more and now she had it, a normal life.
A bomb had destroyed Torchwood Three, planted of all places, in his own stomach. But what was he left with, Ianto’s corpse lying in the back of the SUV where he’d put it after digging up his grave only hours ago. They say time can heal all wounds, it could heal this one.
Playing around with the time-line was strictly forbidden, the Doctor had told him that, but this was important. Was he right to commit a wrong to put an even greater wrong right? The computations and debate still raged about in his mind. The Earth, as everyone knew it, would end in seven days if he didn’t stop it and the only one that could help him was poor Ianto. Poor dead Ianto that had ran into a building that had been filled with poisonous gas, just because he had. Time would heal this wound, he knew, if only he could get there in time.
The code had been given and the alarm flashed on the dashboard of the SUV. Wilf, he knew, had already called in the attack on the Brigadier, using the old code. He Knew that he had only minutes to hit the transmat beam before it was too late. Not wishing to risk being stopped with Ianto’s body in the back of the SUV, Jack had left it till the last moment to remove his body and transport it to the park.
The wheels skidded as Jack took the next corner at eighty miles an hour. Checking the petrol gauge, he knew he had more than enough to get him there, but could he get there in time? Pulling the steering wheel sharply to the left, he narrowly missed a pedestrian, wiping out a bus stand in the process. As the concrete post flew behind him he saw the entrance to the park just a hundred yards to his left.
Working for the Time Agency, in the 51st century, had given him a strong overview of history and how manipulative it could be. One wrong action here and twenty thousand die fifty years later. It had been his job to prevent people doing exactly what he was doing right now. In the back of his mind he wondered if the Time Agency would send someone to stop him. No, they knew what he was doing. They needed the Earth saving just as much as he did.
He’d used his Vortex Manipulator to help get him to the future, after Martha Jones had fixed it, so he would be able to find a way to achieve what he was about to do. Hindsight was a great thing and his ability to travel through time meant that passed wrongs could be righted, but at what cost. He had deliberately forced himself not to interfere in Owen and Toshiko’s deaths, but Ianto… he’d died for no reason and it had all been his fault.
Cutting across the grass he headed into the woods, following the footpath. Just when he thought he could make it, with time to spare, a bright light flashed in front of him and was gone. ‘Noooo!’ Jack screamed, ‘not… this… time!’ Flooring the accelerator, the SUV almost leaped into the air as it passed a parked police vehicle and plunged headlong into the park. The last thing Jack saw was another bright light and then blackness as the SUV ploughed into a tree opposite.
***
Opening the door to the TARDIS the Doctor and Louise Ruth stared out on a scene typical of market towns in 2010. Overweight shoppers pushed passed each other, knocking into them without apology, and heading off towards their next port of call. Louise Ruth smiled as she noticed two large women helping each other up a short series of steps into the back of a gipsy caravan. The hinges protested as their combined weight threatened to over turn the small trailers. ‘Talk about the crowed turned ugly, look at that one.’
Looking around, the TARDIS stood in full view of hundreds of people, none giving it the slightest notice as they bustled passed. Seeing Louise’s gaze of incomprehension, the Doctor smiled and explained.
‘It’s the proximity filter that stops people from noticing it.’
‘But… I can see it.’ The Doctor shook his head.
‘You know it’s there, they don’t.’ As if the explanation answered all her questions Louise Ruth put it to the back of her mind and continued following the Doctor. Passing a newspaper vendor she picked up a copy of the Daily Mirror to check the date.
‘Wednesday July 2010, brilliant.’ Stopping, she returned the paper to it’s stand but not before noticing the headline, Army truck disappears in Hereford. Thrusting the paper into her shoulder bag without paying for it, Louise Ruth thought that the information could be relevant. ‘Perhaps these were the “friends” the Doctor had been talking about.’ She then remembered another use for the paper. She may need it if the Doctor had in fact run out of toilet paper. Besides, she could always do the crossword.
Hurrying along, she managed to catch up with the Doctor. Crossing the road and heading down a side alleyway, the Doctor moved like he had a purpose. Pulling out her mobile phone, Louise Ruth began punching in a number.
‘Damn, can’t get a signal in here.’ She said, gesturing to the walls surrounding them. ‘I’m trying to ring my sister to see if she’s alright.’ Taking the phone out of her hand, the Doctor removed the back and took out the battery. Taking out his sonic screwdriver with the hand, he let the blue light play up and down the insides of the small machine. Turning the buzzing noise off, he replaced the battery and handed the phone back to Louise Ruth.
‘There you go. It’ll work anywhere and in any time period. Privileges of rank; you’re my number two.’ The Doctor headed off down the ally as Louise Ruth punched in the number a second time.
‘Brilliant… not sure if I want to be a number two though.’ Waiting patiently for the call to be answered, Louise Ruth let the Doctor get ahead of her. ‘Laura… yeah… no it’s great.’ Her disjointed one-way call filled the ears of every passer-by as she headed off towards the side of a building the Doctor had disappeared behind.
Turning round a corner she stood face to face with the stockiest man she had ever seen. Clad in a silver space helmet and standing roughly five feet five inches tall and five feet five inches wide, the man advanced on her. ‘I’ll have to call you back Laura…’ Slowly the figure removed his helmet revealing an alien face, greenish-brown skin, and a distinctive dome-shaped head. ‘Hey wait a minute, what’s going on here?’ Stepping between them, the Doctor made the introductions.
‘Louise Ruth this is Crale, a Sontaran… er… policeman I suppose, all the way from the planet Sontar, in the southern spiral arm of the galaxy and, from the looks of things, he must have lost a few of his people as well.’ Crale looked Louise Ruth up and down and, deciding that she posed no immediate threat, turned back to the Doctor.
‘Well Doctor, so glad to see you again. I thought you would be at the bottom of this. What have you done with my men?’ Moving away from Crale’s extended grip, the Doctor smiled his most disarming smile.
‘How many men have you lost Crale?’ The Sontaran slowly but purposefully walked towards the Doctor.
‘As if you didn’t know; you’ve killed four of my best men and I want them back for burial. It’s the law under the Shadow Proclamation, section 17, subsection 49, All dead must be returned for burial or the Doctor will be squashed.’
Crale rounded on the Doctor, swinging both arms out in the hope of catching him with one of them. The Doctor managed to duck away from his powerful grip but knew that his evasive actions wouldn’t last for long. Sontarans were built for war, genetically made in test tubes to do only two things well, wage war and kill. With a movement quicker than the Doctor’s eyes could follow, Crale thrust out his right hand, grabbing him by the throat. Tensing the muscles in his hand he began to squeeze.
From out of nowhere, a blow struck the Sontaran on the back of the head, knocking him instantly into unconsciousness. His body fell forward hitting the cobbled stone floor with a sickening thud. Looking up, the Doctor saw Louise Ruth sporting a plank of wood she had taken from the surrounding fence.
***
Sitting up, he gasped for breath as oxygen forced its ways back into his lungs. He actually felt his heart begin to beat this time as his body warmed and his muscles flexed. His head thumped and nausea filled his stomach. Tuning to one side he felt tightness in his chest as he vomited. His head was spinning and his vision blurred, but he knew that wouldn’t last long. He had died so many times in the past and knew that coming back never felt good. Shaking his head to get rid of the thick cotton wool feeling that always came in these situations; he looked around as his vision cleared.
‘No, no, no!’ He almost screamed, realising he was in, what looked like a mortuary. It all came flooding back to him as the tiredness and nausea left him in a rush of adrenalin. He remembered the tree that had loomed in front of him, and then nothing. He’d been too late, he knew. The flash must have been when he collided with the tree and his neck had been broken. He had missed the transmat beam and died in the car wreckage… and Ianto…? Tears filled his reddening eyes as he swung his legs onto the tiled floor. Oxygen was pumped around the room and the cold of his nakedness began to eat away at his very soul.
‘Jack, I’ve found a couple of robes and I think there’s some tea on the boil, I’ll go and check.’ Jack’s head snapped round and stared into the warm familiar eyes of Ianto Jones. Naked before him, he held two robes in one hand and what looked like two mugs in the other.
Without a word, Jack ran to him and wrapped his arms around him. Tears flooded down his cheeks as he held on to Ianto for all he was worth. Seconds turned into minutes but Jack wouldn’t let him go. Dropping the robes and mugs onto a nearby gurney, Ianto reciprocated the hug, glad to be in Jack’s arms once again.
‘Err… tea or coffee?’ Ianto asked, but Jack ignored him. Eventually pulling away, Jack took another look at his friend and still couldn’t believe that he was looking at Ianto Jones once more.
‘I told you, you wouldn’t be just a blip in time,’ Jack said, unable to stop smiling even if he wanted to Ianto was about to say something when Jack covered his lips with his in a deep embrace that took Ianto’s breath away. After a few moments Jack released him realising that Ianto was just as excited as he was.
‘Err… call me old fashioned Jack, but I don’t think a morgue is the right place for this.’ Seeing the situation he was in, Jack agreed as Ianto threw him a robe. It was then that he noticed the thick metal bracelet that had been wrapped around his right arm. Looking back at Ianto, he noticed that he too had a similar bracelet covered in a series of buttons and lights.
‘I have a million and one questions, such as what happened to the 456 and the poison gas, and how did you revive me… were they bluffing?’ Jack threw the robe over his shoulder and, turning his head slightly to one side, smiled at Ianto.
‘The world is fine, the 456 have been sent packing, and you… well… you’re Ianto Jones, what can I say?’ Shrugging into the robe, Ianto knew that Jack was hiding something, but wasn’t he always.
Changing the subject, Jack walked towards six sheet-covered gurneys. ‘Let’s see what we have here.’ Lifting the first white cloth the face of an old man stared back at him. He’d seen that face before but couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Then it hit him. It was Wilf, Donna Nobel’s grandfather. Lifting the second sheet he was confronted by another old man, one he didn’t recognise. Checking his pulse confirmed what he suspected, they were all dead.
‘These must be the old soldiers that went missing from the park.’ Jack said, deliberately leading Ianto away from the gurneys. He knew that only five ex-UNIT soldiers went missing in 2010, so the sixth body must be Ianto’s. ‘I was on the trail of five ex-UNIT soldiers, pensioners that had just attended a reunion supper. There was an attempted mugging in the park at midnight. They were kidnapped, transmatted right out of their clothing…’ Jack looked down at himself and Ianto and added, ‘as were we.’
Looking around, Jack knew that something was missing. ‘Where did you wake up from, I mean, you can’t have been among these?’ Jack gestured towards the six corpses. Ianto looked towards a door to his left.
‘I came to through there.’ Putting an arm around Ianto’s shoulder, Jack lead him into the next room, surprised at the vastness of it. Tanks lined the wall like a giant pet shop. But instead of fish, each tank contained, what looked like, a squat naked Sontaran soldier, in a variety of growth stages.
‘This must be the cloning area for the Sontaran battle fleets. It seems they’ve taken to cloning humans as well, you and me both.’ Following a series of wet footprints he walked towards a section of tanks that were open at the top. Jack examined the first with interest. ‘I take it this is the one you came out of?’ Ianto nodded realising that they were his footprints Jack had followed. Placing two fingers into the thick fluid the tank was filled with, he rubbed it casually between his thumb and forefinger.
Looking across at the first five tanks, whose lids were open, he noticed that they too were empty. Walking towards the sixth he braced himself for what he might find. The lid of the tank was still closed but Jack could clearly see inside. A small, shrivelled figure that once could have looked like him lay dying in the fluid. It seemed that whatever kept him regenerating could not be cloned. Leaning forward he took hold of the umbilical cord that extended from the side of the tank and pulled. Red lights flashed on the tank and the figure began to writhe in the fluid. A minute later the body became still as it died in the tank.
Turing towards Ianto, he lifted up his left arm. ‘Right, find something that can take these things off while I look for a way out-’ Before he could finish the sentence, a bright light flashed between them and both robes fell to the floor. For a second time in a matter of hours, they both disappeared.
***
‘I didn’t hit him that hard. I just thought it would distract him.’ The Doctor smiled and knelt over the Sontaran, checking that he was still breathing.
‘It’s okay, he’s still alive.’ Louise looked incensed.
‘Still alive, step back Doctor, I’ll hit Mr Potato head again and see if I can make chips out of him.’ The Doctor restrained her, carefully removing the plank from her hand.
‘If you think he’s ugly, that do you think we are to him?’ The Doctor smiled as Louise Ruth stepped forward to examine the unconscious Sontaran.
‘He thinks we’re beautiful and is so upset by this he wants to kill us?’ She questioned hopefully, but the Doctor shook his head.
‘They come from a planet called Sontar which has a very strong gravitational field. They’re cloned and are very formidable opponents but as you’ve inadvertently found out, they do have a weak spot. It’s the probic vent at the back of their neck.’
‘What’s it for if they’re so physically powerful… I mean, why build a warrior like him and it make easy to disable or even kill him?’ The Doctor smiled.
‘It’s part of their culture. The Sontarans have a highly militaristic culture. Every aspect of their society is geared toward warfare. You see, that vent is also part of their cloning process. Its where they draw in nutrition. It’s there to stop Sontaran warriors turning their backs on their enemies, thus revealing their vulnerability.’ Louise Ruth nodded, she supposed she could understand the logic in that.
Looking through Crale’s back pack, the Doctor removed a small rod with two handles and a plunger at one end. To Louise it looked like a syringe. Smashing it on the ground, the Doctor continued to delve inside the bag.
‘What was that you just smashed? It may be important?’ Louise asked, noticing the Doctor shaking his head as he discarded the broken pieces.
‘It’s a Sontaran gun. It can cut through just about anything. It can hypnotise you, disarm you or blast you into a thousand pieces.’ Removing a set of restraints from the Sontaran’s belt, the Doctor placed them around Crale’s wrists. ‘Sontaran society revolves around the Sontaran Empire, and they’ve been at war with an entity called the Rutan Host for more than 50,000 years, depending on which century you happen to be in.’
‘And now five of them have gone missing?’ Louise asked as the Doctor nodded his head. ‘I saw the Mirror; it said soldiers had gone missing in Hereford, from the back of a truck. Were those your friends?’
Louise pulled the newspaper from her pocket in explanation. The Doctor looked at Louise, as if pondering, and then realising the Mirror was a newspaper, looked at the headline and shook his head.
‘No they must be different soldiers. Ours went missing in a park at midnight.’
Louise was just about to say something when she noticed that the Sontaran was beginning to wake up. Stepping back out of range of his powerful hands, she gazed down at him.
‘The female bested me?’ The Doctor nodded as Crale tried to stand then realised that he had been restrained. ‘Why didn’t she finish me off when I was unconscious?’
Crale looked over at Louise Ruth, respect showing in his eyes not revulsion, she realised. ‘Out of a million hatchings of cadets I originally paraded out with, I am the only one left. It took me ten minutes to achieve full adult hood and fifty years to learn the art of combat and killing. Now I find myself at the feet of a female felled by a plank of wood.’
‘Look Crale, we don’t have much time. Now I suggest we make a pact and find our missing soldiers.’ The Sontaran looked dumbfounded. Changing his gaze from Louise Ruth to the Doctor he nodded.
‘So it’s not you at the bottom of this Doctor. You’re in the same boat as we are.’ Crale began to laugh. ‘And you need my help?’ His laughing continued.
‘Tell me what happened and I’ll unfasten your restraints.’ Taking hold of his laughter the Sontaran thought for a moment then decided to tell the Doctor the truth.
‘There were six of us about two hours ago. We landed in the river next to the sailing craft the Endeavour. As we landed we were hit by a massive bolt of energy that totally destroyed all electronics on the ship plunging us into the water. We managed to get out and without being seen made our way to this location. I volunteered to head back to the ship and salvage anything I could find a use for, while the rest of the group set up camp and prepared for whatever attacked us.’ Despite the restraints Crale managed to get to his feet, testing the restraints as he stood.
‘When I returned all I found were five empty survival suits and… you Doctor.’ Hesitating for a moment the doctor removed his sonic screwdriver and proceeded to examine the suits lying around the courtyard.
‘Yes… I see what you mean.’ The Doctor paused, thinking, something wasn’t quite right. Louise bent over and lifted a survival suit and looked at it closely.
‘If they were killed with some kind of energy weapon, as you say Crale, wouldn’t the suit have disappeared as well, or at least been damaged?’ For a moment Crale was about to protest but stopped, seeing the logic in Louise Ruth’s statement.
‘The female is right Doctor.’ Pausing, he decided that there had to be another explanation. ‘No… you made them remove their suits to degrade them before you evaporated them.’ More comfortable with his anger intact Crale stared at Louise Ruth.
‘In that case, potato head, why are the suits still fastened?’ The Doctor ran over and lifted the suit up to show Crale.
‘You’re right, the environmental locks are still activated. The only way these suits could have been removed would be if the Sontarans inside them were transmatted directly out of them.’
‘It must be the Rutans, they’re responsible for this. I can smell them.’ Crale said, new anger and hatred burning in his eyes.
Walking over to Crale the Doctor removed his restraints letting them drop to the floor. Looking down at his free hands, his three fingers flexing and unflexing inside his leather gloves he came to a decision.
‘Ok Doctor, say I believe you and we’ve both lost soldiers. What’s our next course of action?’ Passing up and down the Doctor thought for a moment.
‘My readings state that a massive energy wave appeared in this square and when it dissipated your men went with it. All I have to do…’ the Doctor removed his sonic screwdriver and ran around the square and reading off the findings as he moved, ‘All I have to do is open a fault line in the energy field and follow the beam back to where the soldiers were taken.’ Standing still while the Doctor circled them Crale eyed Louise Ruth up and down, as if assessing her abilities.
‘You beauty… I’ve got it… by George I’ve got it.’ The Doctor ran for the alleyway entrance and then, stopping, turned towards Louise Ruth and Crael. ‘Well don’t just stand there, helmet on and follow.’
The Doctor left the square at high speed with Louise closely following. Crael picked up his backpack and hurried after. Thrusting a hand inside as he ran he produced a thermite grenade and twisting the top threw it back into the square. A brief explosion obliterated any evidence that Sontarans had ever been there.
Activating his helmet he ran through the market stalls pushing people out of the way as he went. His locator informed him that the Doctor and the female had entered a small square box on the opposite side of the street. Quickly he moved through the crowds and, diving through the open door, immediately felt the ground move under him followed by a vibrating sound that filled the entire room.
The Naked Now 3/7