Echoes of Summer - Chapter Twenty-Nine: Jettisoned
Disclaimer: Neither Doctor Who nor any characters, items or materials of any kind pertaining to Doctor Who or the Whoniverse belong to me. I’m just looking for a good time. Hee. Trying them out for a bit, see how they fit.
Plot Summary: He was left with his lips against her jaw, her figure pressed to him as if she belonged there. One of many moments between the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler after he breaks his own rules to retrieve her from Bad Wolf Bay. The walls between worlds begin to fall, two different realities merging. And on the horizon a threat rises that threatens to destroy everything the Doctor holds dear.
Pairing: Ten/Rose
Beta: bratflorida
Rating: Starts at PG. Runs the gamut straight through to NC-17.
Spoilers: Oh yes. Series One through Series 4 Specials.
Timeline: AU after the end of Series 2. Spoilers up to, including and going past Series 4 though. I’ve seen all of Series 1 through 4, including the series 4 specials but am not very familiar with the Classic Who much. As such, if I happen to include anything that really touches upon Classic Who, other than it being unintentional, I’ll be surprised out of my head. Really. You’ll probably see a lot of familiar things in the fic that play into the series of DW. Bear with me, it all ties in together.
Chapter Twenty-Nine - Jettisoned:
“Everyone, listen to me,” McDonnell’s voice came over the intercom, resounding throughout the ship. “Something’s infected Korwin. We think he killed Abi. Whatever you do, don’t go anywhere near him. Understood?”
Even as the rest of the crew agreed through the intercom, Rose wasn’t even paying attention. She burst through the latest door, lugging the clamp after her, Riley following close behind. “Quick, quick!” she shouted at Riley as he went to the keypad and she set up the clamp, waiting.
The intercom sounded again, an unfamiliar grizzled voice echoing. “Captain McDonnell, this mess in engineering…”
Rose looked toward Riley questioningly. “Ashton,” he said for her quietly, pointing to the intercom.
“These circuits are fried,” the man, Ashton, was continuing. “Even if we get these engines back online, it’s very likely we-“ He broke off suddenly, the air falling heavily into silence.
Rose lifted her head to listen, her eyes shifting toward Riley as he paused also.
A moment later shouts erupted, Ashton yelling. And the deep voice came softly, maliciously. “We must share the light…”
“Get on that!” Rose cried fearfully, motioning to the terminal Riley was working on. “Quick!”
“Rose!” came the Doctor’s voice over the intercom, frantic. “Where are you?”
Rose looked around in panic, her hands holding the clamp in place. “Um…we’re in…” she caught sight of another side door, a window in its face looking into a small room and then saw the number above the door they had just come through. “Area 17! We’re in Area 17! We’re working on the door now-“
A bang sounded back the way they had come.
Riley and Rose both whirled to look, Rose losing strength in her limbs suddenly. “W-what was that?” she asked Riley breathlessly.
Riley merely shook his head and he slowly left the terminal, inching back the way they had come. Peeking around the door they had come through, he started as a figure appeared in the corridor at the head of Area 18. “Oh,” he said a moment later, relief washing over him. “Ashton! You scared me-“
“Burn…with me…”
Rose stiffened, her eyes widening to the point of nearly popping from her skull upon realizing the eerie voice had come from the man standing barely twenty feet away from them.
The figure was staggering forward through the corridor, a metallic helmet over his head, one hand stretched out. As he halted in the middle of the corridor, Riley recoiling, the man suddenly turned to Rose, hesitating. His head tilted, his breath raspy under the helmet.
“Bad Wolf…” he growled eerily. “Forty…two…minutes…”
Fear exploded from Rose at his words, spurring her into action. She spun around and saw the opening to the other corridor of Area 17, the small window in its surface. Immediately and reflexively, she found herself going for the door, dropping the clamp and hearing it crash to the floor loudly behind her as she moved. With a wince she slammed her fist on a button on the wall console beside the doorway, reaching toward Riley with her other hand. “Come on!” she ordered and she squeezed through the sliding metal door as it opened slowly.
Without a fight, Riley followed after her, pushing into the new chamber. As Rose pressed herself to the wall, Riley pulled up to the inside terminal beside the door, punching in a code. The door instantly began to close, shutting just as slowly as it had opened. Holding her breath, her frame rigid, Rose settled in relief only when it sealed, a hand lifting to her head. To her left was another small chamber, this one with a circular door, and she hunched to examine it for a moment but then Riley was speaking.
“What the hell is Bad Wolf?” he asked frantically, his voice high-pitched in what seemed to be oncoming hysteria.
Rose looked at him quickly but merely shook her head. A moment later she cried out, terror spiking as the helmeted man appeared at the door, peeking in through the thick glass of the door. He raised his fist and slammed on the door, causing Riley to spin and recoil fearfully.
“What the hell-“
Clamping down on the rest of his sentence, he whirled back to the terminal stiffly. Rose turned to follow him with her head for a moment before her eyes shifted back toward the man standing outside the door. He seemed to be observing her intently and she bowed her head, feeling her muscles bunch up with adrenaline. There were many things she had seen traveling with the Doctor. A mere man was not about to intimidate her. And with the thought she braced herself, refusing to show the creature outside the door any kind of fear, any crack in her armor. At the terminal Riley punched in another code, and now the other doors of the smaller circular room came open, separating in the middle horizontally with a clang and a loud hiss. Immediately, Riley took hold of Rose and shoved her toward the opening doors, not unkindly. She went without a word, scampering in over the bottom edge of the door and shifting to huddle against one side of the tiny room as Riley climbed in after her. Turning to a small terminal inside the room, he jabbed at several keys and the doors began to shut once more, protruding outward again. “What is this?” Rose asked him tremulously, her hand sliding up the wall behind her.
The computer sounded. “Airlock sealed. Jettison escape pod.”
Rose spun around to face Riley. “Escape pod? Is that us?” she demanded, lips parted.
He was at another terminal, typing in frantically.
“Riley, damnit! Is that us?” she shouted again.
Clenching his jaw as he jabbed in codes, he murmured, “It’s about to be. Through no fault of mine.”
Heaving, Rose stood once more and peered fearfully through the small window of the escape pod. Directly on the other side of the pod stood the man with the helmet. As she came to peek through the glass he pounded on the window, causing her to cry out and fall away in terror. “He’s still out there-“
“Rose!” came the Doctor’s voice and she lifted her head in the pod, looking around quickly. Seeing the comm device against the opposite wall, she scrambled to it and cracked her fist on it to activate it.
“Doctor!”
“Where are you?” he demanded and he sounded as if he was running, his voice frantic.
“In an escape pod just off Area 17!” she cried in response and she looked over her shoulder to the man just outside the window. “One of the crew members is trying to jettison the pod!”
“Stay here and jump start those engines!” the Doctor ordered someone in his background, his voice jumping. “And I mean it this time! Stay here!”
“Jettison held,” the computer indicated.
Riley breathed in relief, his head bowing for a moment. He glanced toward Rose but she was watching the man through the glass, drawing close to the door once more as he vanished from sight. A moment later the computer spoke once more.
“Jettison reactivated.”
Riley spun back to the terminal in confusion. “What?”
Rose whirled to look at him, motioning. “He’s working the codes from his side! Stop him!”
“I’m trying!” he shouted.
The Doctor appeared just outside the escape pod in the terminal, bringing Rose to turn back to the door. Pressing closer to the small window, she motioned to grab his attention but he was focused solely on the figure before him, the same person standing just outside the escape pod latch. He shouted something at the man with the helmet, his frame stiffening with each word. She wished she could hear the exchange but the glass and thick metal doors muffled all sound. The Doctor said something more, his face dark, hesitating to wait for an answer.
Instead, with one ferocious gesture, the man punched his fist into the outside terminal, sparks flying from the burst. The Doctor moved slightly to stop him, his lips parting, but then the computer spoke, the voice firm.
“Jettison activated.”
“He smashed the circuit,” Riley whispered, pausing in the middle of his input. Curling his hands away from the terminal, he murmured numbly, “I can’t stop it-”
Rose held close to the door, her hand lifting to the window fearfully. The Doctor was still speaking to the man with the helmet but now the man was directly before him, standing close enough to lift the hair on Rose’s arms and neck. “What is he doing?” she demanded tremulously, her question falling on deaf ears.
The Doctor said something else, studying the creature before him intently as he spoke. Rose recognized the look on his face. He was intensely curious, wanting to see, wanting to figure out what they were up against. And she didn’t care as long as something was done to get them out of the pod. The man began to lift his visor, causing her to lean even closer to the window. Because she suddenly wanted to see now as well, wanted a look at this man who knew her, who had recognized her as the Bad Wolf.
But a moment later the man abruptly faltered, falling away from the Time Lord, and the Doctor frowned as he did so, seeming confused. The man hesitated, hunched over silently, his shoulders rigid. The Doctor waited for him, observing him closely, a frown furrowing his brow. With what seemed to be a renewed effort, the man straightened back to his full height but instead of attacking he merely lunged and shoved past the Doctor, heading back the way he had come in.
The Doctor hesitated for a moment, staring after him. Then, springing into action, he went to the intercom and spoke into it quickly, something Rose couldn’t hear.
“Airlock decompression completed,” the computer reported, bringing Rose back to the problem at hand. “Jettisoning pod.”
Rose looked toward Riley, barely hearing him as he cursed at the terminal. Turning back around, she saw the Doctor suddenly on the other side and she lifted her hand back to the window, banging on it frantically. At seeing him she felt the relief that peeked through her panic and her lips parted as she mouthed his name, fingers tapping to the glass lightly, her hand trembling.
He stood silent for a long moment, merely gazing at her. And then he murmured something, his mouth barely moving. She frowned slightly, attempting to hear him, wishing to read the words as they left his mouth.
The second time he spoke, she caught his words. “I’ll save you,” he mouthed, this time more pronounced. Firm. “I’ll save you.”
Abruptly the pod disengaged, Rose staggering slightly. Her eyes widened, her jaw falling open and she suddenly felt complete and utter fear, her skin draining of color. He motioned once more, bringing her attention back to him and he was still mouthing it, still attempting to comfort her.
“I’ll save you!”
But his face was growing smaller, falling away and she understood it was because the escape pod was leaving the ship, space beginning to separate them. She pushed closer to the window, frantic, banging on the door in terror but he merely shouted the same sentence to her. Over and over.
Next Chapter - Chapter Thirty: Infected
“I don’t know. This seems like a pretty desperate situation,” Riley sighed. “Maybe more than he can handle.”
Rose shook her head, lifting it once more and looking out at the stars. With the one sentence, he had just shifted everything into perspective for her. “No,” she said firmly, the smile blossoming. “There’s nothing he can’t handle.”