For rude_not_ginger The Death's Spiral system.
Follows on from thisJack held fast to the controls of the ship as they plunged into hyperspace. The g-forces on his body pressed him into the chair, and he focused all of his attention on keeping the craft smooth and flying. He'd worry about just where it was they were going later
( Read more... )
He directed the ship down towards the atmosphere. As they pushed through the clouds everything was dark; near impossible to see, and even the headlights on the front of the ship made little difference. It was hard to navigate, and not knowing exactly what was below them made it even worse.
"I'll get closer if I can but it's not looking likely."
A few more twists and turns and the ship neared the area that the screen told him the TARDIS was in. Just as he thought the scanners all told him the conditions below were unsuitable. They couldn't land there. It was as though it had been put in a deliberate awkward spot. That didn't bode well.
"Sorry, Doctor," he said, "can't get down there safely." He navigated towards his chosen landing area but the ground was broken and damaged and he had to go at least another half a mile before he found a suitable spot to set them down.
He lowered the ship and landed it with ease; nothing more than a small bump as they set down on the ground. "Best I could do," he said, slightly apologetic.
Reply
"Eat something before we open those doors," he said. "Any food begins to rot the moment it touches the air, and the last thing we need is to start wondering if we're there yet because of how hungry we are. And..."
He held up a long fishing spear he'd found in one of the sports cabinets. "Fishing equipment on a spaceship. Must be for the Tretarca cluster. Anyway. We'll need weapons. Though...considering I think the planet is uninhabited, I can't remember why we would..."
Reply
"Eat something. Right." He nodded and stepped up and over towards the Doctor, pulling a sandwich from the side to eat in almost one bite.
"No," he said decisively and also with a mouthful of food. "I'll do the weapons. You do... whatever it is you do." He wasn't sure why he cared so much, but the Doctor was always so against weaponry that Jack didn't even like the idea of that changing.
"I've got a gun," he told him, nodding in the direction of where the gun sat on a couch on the other side of the room. "Out of bullets, but there should be some on board, hopefully they'll be compatible." He turned his head up a little and thought aloud. "What else? Flare guns maybe, Maybe a couple of surge batteries, they give off enough of a charge to use them against people if you need."
And rather belatedly he turned back to him and added thoughtfully "Oh and that fills me with confidence, by the way. The planet of rot with an unknown enemy- No. No actually, that's just an average day with you, isn't it?"
Reply
He chewed on his sandwich and gave Jack's gun a distasteful look. "I think we can stick with harpoons for a while. I'm not even sure why we should need them, I don't see any life signs. And, besides, the atmosphere doesn't have enough oxygen for a Webley."
Well, it did, but the Doctor didn't like guns. Even in a place like this, the idea of a gun made him ill. Too many people died carelessly with weapons. There had to be another way.
Reply
He polished off the remainder of his sandwich and rubbed his hands together to discard the crumbs. "Fine," he sighed. "No guns then. Harpoons it is. You know I always did fancy myself as a Captain Ahab. Caught this thing in the bay once, about the size of three horses. You should have seen me."
Walking back over towards the pilots area he found an emergency kit. Inside it first aid and flares. "Bingo," he said. "This might be a good idea."
"So you ready to brave it then, Doctor?"
Reply
He pulled the oxygen mask over his face. The cool air blew against his nose, even sweeter than the pre-conditioned room. Outside, though, he had a funny feeling it wouldn't be so sweet.
He put a hand to the door lever. "This isn't going to be pleasant, Jack, I'm sorry."
Reply
He put the emergency kit and his empty gun in a rucksack that was stored in the same cabinet, and threw it over his shoulder before taking up one of the harpoons and putting it over his other arm.
"You can make it up to me later," he said as he came over to join him. "Oh, and you just called me Jack again."
Reply
The Doctor tugged down the door lever and a blast of icy cold black wind blew into the cabin. The smell was foul, like death and rot and the sweaty people on the #6 bus; it permeated the safe, sweet air of the masks, though the oxygen was too high to infect their bodies. The plants began withering immediately, and large patches of carpet began shriveling up.
He handed the vortex manipulator to Jack. "In case we get separated, or if it's too late for the TARDIS, get out of here. That should get you out of this system, at least."
Not waiting for a reply, he took the first step outside. The torch only gave a dim, ten-foot glow around him through the rotting fog. The ground felt like crumbling ash beneath his feet, and he had to reach out an arm and steady himself to stay level.
Reply
Jack's lip curved up into a half smile, but a smile that soon faded when the door opened and the putrid stench of the planet outside hit him. He glanced around them as the effects started to immediately be made on the ship. It wasn't good. He just hoped the TARDIS was secured enough not to be effected by the rot.
"Nice," he said with hint of Ianto Jones style sarcasm. "Reminds me of certain places in Cardiff after a Friday night."
He took the manipulator from the Doctor and buckled it around his wrist, feeling immediately better armed when it was securely there. Feeling a little less naked too. He shook his head though, and laughed to himself, speaking under his breath as he followed him out. "Yeah, you really don't know me if you think I'd leave you behind."
As they stepped out he squinted to see in the dark light. It was like nothing he'd seen before. Like a blackness that was tangible and consuming. Like something from a childhood nightmare.
"According to this," Jack said tapping his wrist strap, "it's that way." He pointed to their right, to an unappealing line of something that might have once been trees. Gnarled and dangerous rotted branches sticking out from the ground like spikes.
Reply
He looked where Jack pointed, to the spiky trees. "Charming," he agreed with Jack's earlier statement.
He took a few careful steps towards them. Sound seemed to get swallowed up in the darkness, and he found himself glancing back to make sure Jack was still there. It was very dark. Very quiet.
"Right," the Doctor said, startling even himself by the noise. "Tell me more about this Rose girl I have so little memory of." He really didn't care, as he'd remember once they got back to the TARDIS, he just needed to hear something other than his own breathing.
Reply
A beat later he spoke again, louder this time and forceful too. "Don't you talk like that, you're not dying and neither is the TARDIS. You'll both be fine."
The ground was hard to walk on, a little like sand as it moved beneath each tread, making steps need to be more precise and with more effort as the ground crumbled underfoot.
"Rose? Oh she was something. Really something. Just an ordinary girl, Doctor. An ordinary girl from an ordinary estate in London. That's what made her so special. She was young, blonde, and she was... well she was Rose. She wasn't afraid to say what she thought needed saying or tell someone when they were wrong. You opened her eyes, Doctor. And I think maybe she opened yours a bit too. You were good for each other."
Reply
"Blonde," he commented, approvingly. He always did fancy blondes. It had to have been something to do with meeting Madonna in his first incarnation, he was never the same after that. "But she keeps walking away." If they were so good for each other...well, it wasn't an unusual thing. He had many companions who were good for him that left him. He...he couldn't remember who.
He edged around another gaping crack in the ground, then stopped short as another, even larger crack appeared in front of him. It was at least five feet across as the light of the torch couldn't find the other side. It could've been an easy jump across, or it could've been miles and miles.
"What do you think?" he asked.
Reply
His eyes flicked towards the Doctor, squinting to watch him in the darkness. "She's gone," he said gently. "Trapped in another universe. She's fine. Happy, I hope. But she can't come back." He thought it best for now not to mention just who she's trapped there with. Might be a little complicated.
Jack held fast as the ground cracked beneath his feet and he crouched down to the ground, touching his fingers against it. His skin seemed to blacken, die and regrow in front of his eyes; a fact he quickly concealed from the Doctor with a shift of his hand from sight. Probably best not to make contact with anything here.
"Careful what you touch," he said. "If it does this to plants I don't want to think what it could do to us." He offered the suggestion idly, as though he hadn't just experienced it first hand.
"No," he shook his head. "No, if we jump this thing with the ground like this it'll likely just fall apart when we hit the other side. Sorry, Doctor, but I think we're going to have to find a longer way around."
Reply
He agreed with Jack, and turned, following the edge of the crack along. Eventually, another crack formed along his other side, creating a thin, bridge-like structure. Ash seemed to crumble to either side no matter which way he walked. And the bridge seemed to be getting thinner.
"Chronocitis," the Doctor said suddenly, loudly, as if that explained everything.
Reply
What?
"Excuse me?" He frowned, wondering why the Doctor had so suddenly brought it up. "What of it?"
Reply
He spun around and very nearly lost his balance. He caught himself, but pouted behind his oxygen mask at the lost drama of his excellent spin.
Though, really, his internal voice (which sounded remarkably like his leather-coated self) reminded him, there were more important things to worry about, like, oh, gee, the entire situation they were in.
"Time Waste is detectable by most authorities. It's the equivalent of intergalactic littering, and if you're driving about in a stolen machine, a tiny ticket is enough of a trail for anyone to follow. So they drive the TARDIS here, to hide. If he or she thinks she can repair the TARDIS, they just park her here and get to work. Except being in this environment will only make her sicker. Make the time waste leakage worse."
Reply
Leave a comment