Teaser
"And given the state of your ship, you look like you could use some help…"
The bridge of the
Starship Aurora grew quiet at those words, and at the recognition among some of the name now attached to the speaker. The tall man in the brown coat and dark dress suit and tie with light blue dress shirt, but with very ordinary-looking white running shoes, next moved over to Barnes' console. "Oh, that does look bad. It's a good thing you're using the naqia or naquadah or whatever you want to call the stuff, so many names for it you know. If you'd been using anti-matter or a hyperspace tap you'd have been blown to bits."
"You're the Doctor?" asked Caterina, the first of the crew to speak. "You're really… the
Doctor?"
"Well, I hate to brag…"
"...no, he doesn't," the young woman with him, Rose Tyler, interrupted.
He made a bemused face in her direction before continuing. "...but I am the Doctor, yes. You've heard of me? From the Darglan, I'm guessing?"
"Well… you were in their databases." Cat shook her head. "That's all that's left of them, actually."
The Doctor's expression fell. "Let me guess." His tone turned dark. "It was the… well, their name is virtually unpronounceable, so let's go with 'Shadows'."
"Yes," answered Julia. She frowned. "Wait, how did you know them?"
When he resumed speaking, the Doctor's voice kept its subdued, dark tone. "What, you thought the Darglan were the first species to achieve interuniversal drive? Don't be silly! It's happened plenty of times. We just end up giving it up, usually. Don't want to attract the wrong attention."
"Wait." Rose looked from him to them in confusion. "What's this about interuniversal drive?"
"That's what our ship has," Julia said. "An interuniversal jump drive developed by a race called the Darglan."
"Ah, the Darglan. They were such a nice people." He shook his head sadly. "Ended up drawing all the wrong sort of attention, though. And that's putting it mildly. In the end we all had to come together to deal with that situation. I was there, and the Furlings, the Shadows and Vorlons and all those other First Ones with unpronounceable names, the Organians, the Endless and the Sword…"
"We saw," Robert said, finding his voice finally. He forced the fears and thoughts prompted by Rose's appearance and faced the Doctor. "We just found an old Darglan science base that had a recording in it. It showed the Darglan being sentenced to having their interuniversal drives taken away."
"It was the best solution we could manage," the Doctor said. "I thought they'd learned their lesson, but with the Shadows demanding their extermination and the Endless talking about decimating the population, well… that was the best compromise that didn't involve even more death." He directed his gaze toward Robert. And then he blinked. "Who are you, anyway?"
"My name's Robert Dale," Robert said. "I'm Captain of this ship, the
Starship Aurora. We're a part of the United Alliance of Systems."
"Really? Alliance of Systems?" The Doctor tilted his head slightly, as if in thought. "Sounds nice. All Humans then?"
"And the Alakin, the Dorei, and Gersallians."
"Ah, good. How are they? The Gersallians, I mean. Swenya finally got everything together for them?"
"Um… yes, I'd say," Robert replied delicately. "So, you're the Doctor. That makes you a…"
"...Time Lord," Caterina answered, just as the Doctor said the same thing. He looked to her with interest. "Well, it was in the records," she said to him, her cheeks blushing now. "And… and I did meet Sarah Jane and she knew you…"
A grin crossed the being's face. "Oh, you have. How is she?"
"Um, fine?"
"Well, except having her door smashed by that absorbing alien thing," Angel pointed out. "But she was getting that repaired."
The Doctor acknowledged Angel's remark with a nod, but he quickly looked back to Caterina. "Are you alright?"
"Huh?"
"I mean, you look a little pale. And like you're about to explode," he observed.
"Well, actually, we did just come within a few nanoseconds of dying," Caterina explained. "I… I think that's why I'm not shrieking in joy and trying to ask you a zillion questions."
"Ah." He smiled at that.
At that point Rose cleared her throat and held up her bag. "Laundry, remember?"
"Oh, right. Well…" The Doctor gave her a sheepish look. "...it can wait, can't it? I mean, this is a genuine Darglan Emergency Vessel, and it's been a long time since I got to see one..."
Rose sighed with some exasperation. "Alright. I'll call Mum and let her know we're coming." She pulled out a telephone.
"How do you know this is your timeframe?" Caterina asked.
"Oh, I set up the phone so she can call her mum whenever and wherever she likes," the Doctor explained. "But given the state of your ship, I'd say that you're in the same time we were planning to arrive anyway."
"How could you know that?" Jarod asked.
"Well, with what you've told me, I imagine you did something to gain the attention of the Shadows. You tried to escape with a jump point, they tried to destabilize it, and the result on this end was an unstable point that could act as a sort of magnet for the TARDIS. It's why we appeared here and now and not where and when I set the controls for." He inclined his head toward the viewscreen. "It's not the first time. Once I had a Darglan ship failing a jump that pulled the TARDIS right along with it. It was my fault, actually, wasn't minding the controls." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "The Daleks really regretted that mistake of mine, actually."
Julia, while listening, decided it was time to act. "Nick, you should get to the medbay."
"The lift in the conference lounge is still working," Jarod confirmed.
"Good. Jarod, Tom, go with him, and report to Scotty to begin repairs." After they obeyed and departed the bridge, Julia looked over to where the Doctor was observing. "I hope you don't mind that we get down to business?"
"Oh, of course not," he answered. "Although it looks like you're going to need a lot of work to get this ship going again."
"Exactly."
In the corner, Rose was saying, "No, I hate guessing, just go on and tell me…"
"I can lend a hand," the Doctor offered. "I…"
"What do you mean Granddad's coming?" Rose asked loudly, interrupting him. "Mum, that doesn't… right, I'll be there soon." She lowered her cell phone and noticed everyone looking toward her.
"Is everything alright?" the Doctor asked.
"No. No, it's not alright." Rose shook her head. Concern and confusion were written all over her face. "She just told me that my Granddad Prentice was coming to visit."
"Well, that sounds… nice?" Angel offered.
"I haven't met your Granddad yet," the Doctor said. "What's he like?"
"He was nice," Rose answered. "But, he's dead. He died ten years ago."
Undiscovered Frontier
"Between Two Fires"
Rose's news was, for the
Aurora crew, just one more thing in a day that had been terrifying and bizarre. The Doctor, for his part, didn't seem nearly as confused as they did. "So your mother's finally gone mad?"
"I… I don't know." Rose shook her head. "She didn't sound mad. She acted like it's perfectly normal. She says he'll be there in half an hour."
"Well, we'd better look into this." The Doctor turned toward Robert and Julia. "I hate to be rude, but it's her mum, and there's all sorts of nasty things that can look like ghosts. I'll have to check back in with you later."
"Oh, sure?" Robert and Julia exchanged looks. Robert continued, "I mean, you're not under any obligation to us. We haven't even asked for your help yet. I've got no problem with you checking out this 'ghost' thing." A thought crossed Robert's mind. A thought… and a feeling deep within him. "Maybe my security chief and I can help?"
"Help with ghosts?" Rose asked, clearly skeptical.
Robert nodded. "We can sense if there's anything to it. If it's some kind of life. Commander Meridina is a telepath and was trained by the Order of Swenya."
"Oh, that sounds lovely," said the Doctor. "Nice to know she got that order going. And I thought there was something interesting about you. Trained in that style, right? But I don't see a lightsaber anywhere on you, so I'm guessing you're not the combat type?"
"Not yet, and probably not ever," Robert admitted.
"Ah. Well, alright. Offer accepted."
Robert tapped the comm control on his chair. "Bridge to Security. Commander Meridina, are you there?"
After several moments a reply came, "
I am available, Captain. Is there something you need from me?"
"Report to the bridge immediately."
"
I am coming.
Security out."
Caterina stood. "Can I come too?" she asked. Everyone looked to her. "I mean… most of my sensors are busted, but my omnitool is still working, I can take scans of whatever is happening, help out with the science stuff? I'm… I'm good with science, Doctor." She focused her attention on him. "I love science."
Julia gave Robert an uncomfortable look. So did Angel. Robert drew in a breath and took a moment to think on the subject. To feel for what seemed to be the right answer.
"I have no objection," he finally said.
"Well, there's no harm in it, really."
Caterina grinned and jumped from her seat. Robert could sense her sheer enthusiasm at the prospect. He could also sense a sudden, sharp pang of something from Rose, who crossed her arms and looking away from Cat and the Doctor. Was it… irritation? That and maybe a little jealousy, Robert decided.
"Rob." Julia touched his arm and tilted her head toward his ready office.
"Hrm? Oh. Excuse us," he said, addressing that to everyone. He followed Julia into the office. There was no hiding her frustration or irritation. "Okay, what…"
Julia turned back and faced him with a sharp, disapproving look. "Rob, need I remind you that this ship just got sliced up? We've got dead and hurt crew, a ship stranded in another universe and out of communication, and now you're going to leave it to… to what, play 'Ghostbusters' with this guy?" She gestured toward the door. "This is irresponsible."
"I can see why you think that," Robert replied. "But the way I figure it, the sooner we help him with whatever it is going on, the sooner he can help us. And I know he will. The Darglan knew and respected the Doctor for a reason."
"And you know that's him? You can sense the truth of that? He's willing to help us?"
"I do."
To that Julia sighed. "Alright, that's a good argument to make. And I can even understand you going along since you've got these powers. But bringing Cat too? I mean, Meridina is one thing, but we could use Caterina up here. We need everyone we can get on the repair teams."
"Cat's smart, but she's not a full engineer," Robert countered. "If she comes with us, her omnitool scans can be the science side of what Meridina and I sense." Seeing Julia was still not entirely won over, he added, "I'm not bringing Lucy because, yes, the ship needs repairs, and Lucy's place is here on the repair teams. But Cat and Meridina, myself? We'll get more accomplished working with the Doctor and getting him back here quickly than we will joining a repair team." Robert looked her eye to eye. "Julia, I'm not just running off to leave this repair job to you. I'm doing this for a reason. I know this will help us. And given the state of the ship we need the help."
"I'm not upset at the idea of directing the repair," Julia countered. "It'll be useful for when I command my own ship anyway. But keep in mind that eventually you're going to have an XO not as understanding as me. You can't just keep running off on these kinds of missions, Rob. Not when you're the Captain of this ship. Your place is here, commanding."
"I know, but sometimes I have to do these things." Robert shook his head. "Besides, it's not like I'm always running off on these kinds of missions."
Julia raised her eyebrows in sarcastic surprise. "Really? You just spent nearly a week off the ship on a secret mission. The only reason you didn't go on a field mission on Solaris was because President Sinclair insisted on breakfast with you. You challenged Lincoln Osis to a fight. And let's not forget last year at Gamma Piratus when you and I did the exact opposite things we were meant to do."
"Those were all special cases." Robert's face betrayed his bewilderment at the conversation. "What's going on? Why are we having this conversation?"
"Because I care about you," Julia answered. "Because I'm not going to be around here anymore and I don't want you losing your command because you end up with someone like Commander King as your new First Officer, someone who's not going to overlook you trying to operate in the field."
"That's not going to happen," Robert pledged to her. "Don't worry about me." He checked his omnitool for the time. "Meridina should be here any moment. We should head back out."
Knowing the conversation was over, Julia nodded and turned. They went for the door together.
Meridina was nearly to the lift when Lucy intercepted her. "I'm heading to the bridge to begin fixing the consoles," she explained, indicating her tool belt. Her lightsaber was also affixed to it. "Is Robert sending you into the field?"
"I suspect so."
"Then be careful." Seeing that Meridina didn't quite understand what the problem was, Lucy took her lightsaber from her belt and activated it. There was a brief burst of light and then nothing. "Whatever was done to the ship also affected our lightsabers."
Meridina took her own out and tried to turn it on. It didn't work either. "Perhaps I should get my
lakesh?" she proposed.
"I doubt it'll do any good," Lucy replied. "The disruption field would have damaged the memory metal or the EM field system as easily as it did the lightsabers."
"So I will be without a weapon." Meridina considered this issue carefully. "Very well. Such things happen from time to time. I shall be careful."
"I wish I had time to fix them," Lucy said.
"You will find time when the ship's repairs have progressed." Meridina handed the weapon over to Lucy. "I shall speak to you later."
Lucy gripped Meridina's arm. Not tightly, but enough to get her attention. "This situation… I've got bad feelings about it, Meridina. Please be careful."
"I have felt the same, and I will be," Meridina answered. "I promise."
After a moment Lucy let go and they continued on, quietly, to the functioning lift.
The arrival of Lucy and Meridina to the bridge prompted a reaction from the Doctor. "It's so good to see a Gersallian again," he said brightly. "Look at you. And a
farisa too."
Meridina blinked at him. "You are familiar with my people, then?"
"Oh, quite familiar." He grinned. "I knew Swenya back in the day. She had quite the taste for jellybabies. More than that old grouch of a mentor she had." For a moment the Doctor narrowed his eyes at her. "You remind me a bit of her. I think it's the nose." He tapped his own.
Robert sensed Meridina's disbelief turn into surprise when she sensed the Doctor's sincerity on the issue. "Truly? If you knew the Great Foundress, then…"
"Really? Do you really call her that? I'm not sure she'd have liked that," he said. "But we can talk about that later. We have a date with someone who's supposed to be dead."
Robert nodded and turned to Julia. "We'll try to stay in communication."
"Jarod's supposed to be working on it," Julia said. "Until then… be careful."
Caterina bounded up to the door of the police box, eager to enter. The Doctor stepped up and opened the door for her and the rest. They entered to find a chamber just as big as the
Aurora bridge. But it certainly wasn't a control room like he expected. The interior design consisted of gold-surfaced, curved pillars coming from below the floor to the wall, with something of a coral look to them. In the center of this open chamber was a hexagonal platform. The round control console there was around a pillar with a mechanism inside of the tube, with wiring leading from the top to the walls. The ramp from the door to the control platform was tiled with red material.
"A dimensionally-transcendental field!" Caterina squealed in excitement. She continued in and went up to the controls to get a good look at the chamber. "It's… it's amazing!"
"Aren't you enthusiastic?" the Doctor mused with an amused expression. He walked up to join her. "Just be careful about touching her. My TARDIS can be fussy at times."
"TARDIS?" asked Meridina.
"Time And Relative Dimension In Space," Rose answered. "It's why it's bigger on the inside."
"Just like Darglan Facilities…" Meridina stepped on past her.
Robert, however did not. He glanced toward her and said, lowly, "Don't feel challenged by Cat, please."
"What?" Rose turned her head and faced him. "What do you mean by that?"
"What I mean is that if Caterina was going to have certain feelings for either of you, Rose, it'd be you," he replied. "And she's actually quite happy with her girlfriend, from what I know."
"What? Oh." Rose blinked with understanding. A blush showed on her and, Robert thought, a little embarrassment too. She looked to where Cat was asking questions about the TARDIS while the Doctor started operating the controls. "She looks really excited."
"Caterina is our science officer for a reason," Robert answered. "If it's something new, she's going to scan it thoroughly, examine it, and decide what it is and the science of it."
"Right."
"Alright, time to be off then." The Doctor looked over his console instruments and then glanced toward Rose. "Time to see if your mother's finally gone mad."
"You're not flying this through my ship, are you?" Robert was seized by the mental image of the police box flying through the corridors. It was both funny and disturbing.
"Of course not," declared the Doctor. "That's just silly. No, I'm simply dematerializing us from your ship, shifting us through the Time Vortex, and re-materializing at our destination. It's simple."
"I'm betting you say that about every impossible thing you talk about doing," Robert pointed out.
"Nah." The Doctor looked up from the controls. "Just most things."
There was a final pull of a lever somewhere and the mechanism in the pillar of the control console began to move. The "vworp" sound filled the air.
After several moments it stopped. The Doctor checked a monitor screen, nodded, and went for the door. Outside was a series of urban apartments with a nearby playground for children. The sky was clear and the morning sunny.
"Here we are then," he said at the door. "Time for laundry and Granddads who are supposed to be dead."
After the Doctor's ship faded from view on the
Aurora bridge, Julia settled into the command chair. Lucy was already working on the navigation console. She finished pulling away the access panel on the "back" (which, naturally, faced the front of the bridge).
With her console out and nothing to do, Angel walked up and sat in the VIP seat to Julia's left. "First our ship gets sliced up by ancient aliens that were supposed to be gone, now we're getting mixed up with some guy the Darglan treated like a legend. Is it just me or is this situation completely insane?"
"It's certainly out there," Julia agreed.
"Hopefully we don't have anything like this happen on the
Enterprise."
To that thought, Julia snorted. "Are you kidding? We'll probably end up in plenty of insane situations no matter what ship we're on. It's a crazy Multiverse."
Angel smiled despite herself. "Yeah, I guess you're right." After a moment's thought she asked, "Have you picked out a First Officer yet?"
"Nobody from here, I'm afraid," Julia said. "I'll have to get one from the rest of the fleet."
"What about Nasira Fanous? From the
Challenger? It'd be a step up for her."
"Maybe." Julia tapped the key on the chair to activate the comms. Which, she mused, seemed to be one of the few systems properly working. "Bridge to Engineering. Mister Scott, what's our status?"
"
Nae very good, Commander. Th' warp drive is shot an' will need a yard rebuild, th' jump drive will require hours o' repair an' I cannae promise it'll work even then, I need time t' deal with these bloody hull breaches, an' we lost both comm arrays. Mister Jarod will be rebuildin' 'em in th' machine shops. Dinnae expect any comms for another twelve hours or more."
"Any good news for me, Mister Scott?"
"
Give my teams eight hours an' I can get ye impulse up t' three-quarters."
"Just get us enough impulse capability for maneuvering. The safety of the ship comes first, after that the priority's going to be our jump drive or IU radio."
"
Roger that, Commander. Scott out."
Julia set her hands on the arms of the command chair and blew out a breath. Scotty and Jarod (and Tom and Lucy) would have the repairs well in hand, and Leo was undoubtedly busy with triage and care for the wounded. They wouldn't want or need her lingering around. There was little to do now for her but to wait.
It was somewhat awkward when the group showed up at the Tyler apartment. "Ah, Rose, you're just in time!" the middle-aged blond woman who met them inside the door cried. She embraced her daughter warmly. "Oh, how have you been?"
"Great, mum." Rose held up her backpack. "And I've got a lot of wash to do, and I've got you a present."
"You can show it to your Granddad," Jackie insisted. Next she grabbed the Doctor into an embrace and planted a clearly-unexpected kiss on his lips. "And you, it's good to see you too," she announced after the kiss.
The Doctor, still looking rather bewildered and a bit disturbed, said, "Ah, well, it's good to see you too."
Jackie turned to the door and seemed to finally notice Robert, Meridina, and Caterina. "Well now, who are you?" she asked. "And what kind of uniforms are those?"
"Alliance Stellar Navy uniforms, ma'am," Robert said. "I'm Captain Robert Dale of the
Starship Aurora. We're… well, it's a long story, but right now my badly damaged ship is in orbit and…"
He was interrupted when Jackie checked her watch and announced, "Oh, it's almost time! Glad to have you here, go on and make yourselves at home." She turned away and went back to Rose. "Your Granddad will be here in a minute. What's that?"
Rose held up a trinket made of an unknown material. "I got it from an asteroid bazaar. It's made of…" She looked to the Doctor with an unspoken question.
"Bazoolium," he answered.
"...it's Bazoolium. If it's going to rain it turns cold, if it's going to be sunny it turns hot. You can use it to tell the weather."
"Lovely, dear, let's go show it to Granddad Prentice."
"Mum…" Rose let her mother guide her toward the flat's kitchen. "Granddad Prentice, his heart gave out, don't you remember?" The Doctor and the others followed. It looked like a cozy little home to Robert and Cat, something like what they'd grown up in. Robert could sense it wasn't so cozy for Jackie Tyler, though. He could feel the yawning sense of loneliness in the older woman, living alone in the world.
Jackie was the only one to enter the kitchen fully. She answered Rose's question with, "Of course I do." She checked her watch. "Ten past. He'll be here any moment," she said, oblivious to her daughter's fear and apprehension at her words.
Caterina immediately activated her omnitool. "Huh, that's weird. I'm starting to pick up…"
A figure stepped through the wall and counters at the far side of the kitchen. It looked vaguely human, making Robert think of what a walking shadow might look like. Light seemed to curve ever so slightly around it. He consciously felt for it through the Flow of Life. But there was nothing definite there. No feeling of life. Just a strange sense of the thing being "off" somehow. A sort of hollowness in the world.
Caterina kept her forearm up. "It's a spatial disturbance of some kind. As in, it's warping space around it slightly. I'd almost think…"
The Doctor turned and ran past her for the door. Rose followed, and Jackie in turn followed her daughter. Caterina, curioused, followed right behind.
Meridina approached the figure still in the kitchen. "I will remain," she murmured.
Robert nodded and took off in pursuit of the others.
The relative quiet of the
Aurora bridge ended abruptly. "Commander?" Ensign al-Rashad looked up from sensors. "Something's going on with the planet."
Julia turned in her chair and looked at the younger Arab woman. "What is it?"
"Because of the damage to the ship's sensors I can't be sure of what I'm seeing," al-Rashad answered. "But what I can see are signs of a major spatial distortion on Earth. Something is generating a massive amount of energy and causing some sort of planetary-scale spatial disruptions."
"Can you give me anything specific, lieutenant?"
"I'm afraid not, ma'am."
"Keep me informed of new developments." Julia kept any worry from coming into her voice, but she couldn't hide it from herself.
Just what is going on down there?
"They're everywhere!"
Cat was the last to arrive. The Doctor, and Rose, were staring at the scene of more of the black ghostly figures standing and moving around. She checked her omnitool and confirmed that the spatial disruptions were even stronger out here.
"They won't be for much longer." Jackie checked her watch. "This shift's the short one, it's only a couple of minutes."
"Since when do ghosts have shifts?" The Doctor looked around, still incredulous. "Since when do shifts have
ghosts?"
"And why isn't anyone running away?" Rose asked. "It's like they don't care that all of these… things are walking around…"
"Everyone was panicking when it first happened," Jackie said. "That was a couple of months ago. But people began to think about it and realized how wonderful it is. To have all of our friends and family back."
"The spatial distortions are gone,' Caterina said. She lowered her forearm. "But… how do you know these things are… y'know, people?"
"They're not," the Doctor insisted. "This is something else."
Cat saw the upset look on Jackie Tyler's face and would have been surprised to see she had something of the same. For just a moment she considered what it would mean if it was true. Her very next thought was if one of those dark figures could be her Mama.
That caused tears to form in her eyes.
"You alright?" The Doctor was looking at her.
"Um… yes." Caterina wiped the tears away. "Sorry, just a… just a silly thought. I don't think ghosts would give off spatial distortions."
"Can I have a look at those readings?"
"S-sure." Caterina gestured toward the entryway leading back to the Tyler flat. "Inside? We're not supposed to show off our technology here. The last time I had to spend a whole day getting debriefed by government agents."
"Fair enough," was the answer. "Inside we go."
The TV in the Tyler home flipped from channel to channel. The Doctor sat on the floor in front of the device, watching intently as everything from commercials to news shows and talk shows spoke about the ghosts. "They're everywhere," Rose said.
"How peculiar," Meridina noted from where she was standing by the wall, watching the image of a trio of Japanese girls wearing ghost-icon shirts and shrieking with enthusiasm she previously had attributed to Caterina finding something she found terribly interesting. "The people of this world have not responded as I imagined they would."
"Probably for the same reason flying in spaceships stopped being quite so spectacular for us," Robert answered. "You get used to it."
"Mum, how do you know it's Granddad?" Rose asked. She was seated on the couch beside her mother.
"Well, can't you tell? He still has that old cigarette smell. You remember."
"I do mum." Rose shook her head. "But I don't smell anything."
"Well, you have to make an effort. You have to
want it, sweetheart."
"But then the question must be if it is truly there, or you are imagining it," Meridina pointed out to her. That won her a disapproving look.
"No, she's right." The Doctor shook his head. "The more you want it, the stronger it gets."
"Sort of," Jackie conceded.
"Like a psychic link. You want your old dad to be alive. And whatever they are, they might be trying to use that. To pull themselves into this world."
"You mean they may be trying to access the power of the Flow of Life?" asked Meridina.
"Maybe, maybe not."
Jackie's voice was cold to the point of hostility. "You're spoiled it. You're all spoiling it. Why can't you just accept the ones we love are trying to come back to us?"
"I understand." Caterina sat down on the floor in front of Jackie and looked up to her. "If I could see my Mama again, I'd do anything for that. I wish she was here with us as much as you want your dad back. But I think the Doctor's right. I mean, there's a scientific explanation for this, and these things may not even be human."
"They certainly look human," Robert pointed out.
"They do. I mean, they're all sort of blurry."
"True. That's because they're impressing themselves upon the surface of the world." The Doctor eyed them all. "But a footprint doesn't look like a boot."
"Maybe I can find some things from the Science Labs that will help?" Caterina suggested. "I mean, help figure out what these things are."
"Thank you for the offer, but I've got everything I need for this. Oh, right…" The Doctor looked apologetically to Robert. "Do you mind if I look into this first? Your ship's not going anywhere, right? Not going to run out of air any time soon?"
"I don't think so," Robert conceded. "We're just in a high orbit and out of communication with our people."
"Oh, I'll have that sorted out for you in seconds," the Doctor insisted. "This, on the other hand, bit trickier."
"Another 'fate of the world hangs in the balance' thing, I suppose?" Rose asked.
"Those are always the most fun, aren't they?" The Doctor stood up. "Alright, next shift is in what…?"
"In an hour or so," Jackie answered, almost automatically.
"Ah, good. We've got time." The Doctor went for the door.
"To do what?" Jackie called after him. But he was already out the door. Rose followed and, behind her, Jackie did as well.
The three
Aurora crew looked at each other. "So much for our repairs," Robert sighed.
"Yes, but he's right," Caterina said. "Whatever these things are… if they're from some other dimension, they could cause a lot of damage. If it's a breach between dimensional planes, or into subspace, there's no telling what kind of harm it could cause. Even the
Aurora might get affected. This really should be the priority."
"Meridina?" Robert faced her next.
"Caterina is probably right," Meridina said. "Regardless, I am concerned. There is something not right with these 'ghosts'. I believe something terribly wrong is happening."
"I'll call Julia and exchange updates with her," Robert said. "Cat, go ahead and help, if the Doctor needs it."
It was clear she didn't need to be asked twice. Caterina took off for the door.
For a moment Robert and Meridina shared an uneasy look. "You sense it, don't you?" Meridina asked.
"A general feeling off 'things are about to go to hell'?" He nodded. "And that's not the worse thing."
"Oh?"
"Rose Tyler." Robert frowned. "She's the one in my dreams. She's the one saying 'Bad Wolf'."
Meridina nodded. "I see. Perhaps you should ask her what the term means?"
"I'll have to." Robert swallowed. "But this feeling I'm getting, Meridina, it's bad. The dreams mentioned a 'choice' I'll have to make. That it could determine, well, everything."
"Choices often do," Meridina reminded him. "Although I agree that this one could be particularly important for us. I can only advise you as I always have; keep clarity in your thoughts and let your
swevyra guide you."
"Right." At that Robert let out a sigh. "I could do with a big neon sign from my
swevyra, or the universe at large. It's easier that way."
"The universe seems to pride itself on being difficult in that fashion," Meridina agreed. "Shall we follow the others?"
"We should."
They departed together.
The Doctor had accepted Caterina's assistance and, for the moment, had asked her to set up cones that would generate a field related to his triangulation attempt. Caterina was setting the last one up. With a careful eye she made sure they formed the triangle as the Doctor had instructed. Her omnitool provided final confirmation.
"Do you really want this?" asked Jackie Tyler. She was standing several feet away from the cone furthest from the TARDIS.
"Want what?"
"For him to spoil it," answered Jackie. "To take something wonderful and make it all nasty and simple. Don't you want your Mum back?"
The question made Caterina lower her head. "I've love to see Mama again," she admitted. "There's so much that's happened that I want to show her. So much I want to tell her and show her. But she's gone, and these things… I don't believe any of them are her or your Dad or anyone else's lost family. And whatever they are, we need to know."
"Why? Why can't it just be a miracle for all of us? Our families and loved ones coming back to be with us again. Isn't that a wonderful thing?"
"I'm not… maybe… but maybe not?" Cat shook her head. "I don't know. People say I, we, have to move on and live our own lives. And sometimes I think I do. Until someone says something or I smell anything that's like my mother's cooking. She… loved to cook, I mean. Even after getting off a ten hour work shift, she'd make sure that Angel and I had a dinner."
"Angel?"
"My sister."
Jackie nodded quietly at that.
"I miss that. And she always insisted on hugging me when I went to bed, even when I was already in high school." Cat had to wipe away a tear.
"So you know what I mean," Jackie insisted. "This could be everyone we've lost, coming back to us."
"But are they? I mean, they don't act like anyone," Cat pointed out. "They don't talk. They don't interact. They just… they just walk around like they're mindless. They don't even seem to care about the people around them. I mean, if Mama showed up in my quarters as a ghost, she wouldn't just stand around, she'd hug me and ask if I've eaten lately. Has this ghost ever done that for you?"
Jackie opened her mouth to mount a defensive reply. But she stopped because the truth was obvious. No, it hadn't. The ghost had only ever walked through the flat. It looked no different from any other of the spectral figures. You couldn't even tell them apart. And certainly her father wouldn't have ignored her. He might have wanted to know where Rose was, why he'd let Rose run off with a stranger… but ignore her?
But the smell of the old cigarettes. It seemed so
real.
The Doctor ran out of the TARDIS, Rose right behind. "How long until the next shift?" he asked Jackie.
"Quarter to." Jackie frowned at him. "Are you going to cause trouble? What's this lot do?" She indicated the cones Caterina had laid out.
"Triangulates their point of origin." The Doctor checked the placement of the cones and nodded to Caterina. "Excellent job…"
"Caterina." Cat smiled slightly. "Or 'Cat' if you'd like."
"Yes, Caterina! Such a lovely name."
"You don't suppose it's the Gelth?" Rose asked.
"Nah." The Doctor picked up one of the cones and began to fix wires to it. "They were just coming through one little rift. This lot are transposing themselves over the whole planet." He moved on to the next. "Like tracing paper."
"You're always doing this," Jackie protested. "Reducing it to science. Why can't it be real? Just think of all the people we've lost, coming back home. It'd be beautiful."
"Beautiful?" The Doctor looked at her. "I think it'd be horrific."
That remark prompted a look of shock from Jackie. Caterina looked at him in surprise before she thought about it. If this really was the dead, then it meant they weren't resting, but nor were they back. They were just mindless silhouettes and shadows, condemned to blipping in and out of existence. She imagined her mother suffering that fate and shook her head.
"Rose, give us a hand. Cat, I need you to keep that scanner active and make absolutely sure that the alignment of the cones doesn't change."
"Right." Caterina lifted her left forearm and activated her omnitool.
The Doctor pulled the wires hooked to the cones back into the TARDIS with Rose following. Jackie followed close behind.
Robert and Meridina walked around the cones to stand beside Caterina. "How's it going?"
"Great." Cat waved her hand over everything. "The Doctor set this up to track the distortions caused by these ghosts back to their point of origin."
"Right."
"I sense sadness," said Meridina. "Are you alright?"
"What? I'm fine," insisted Caterina. When she saw the quiet skeptical looks in their faces Cat sighed and shook her head. "Look, it's fine, okay? All this talk of ghosts just got me to thinking about Mama. If she came back as a ghost, and it was really her…" Cat stopped for a moment as she followed that thought through. For a moment she was distracted by the return of the Doctor. He began to use the device he had slung on his back on the cones. She waited until he and Rose exchanged information before continuing. "...well, I'd ask why she's not in Heaven, I guess. But then I'd hug her and cry a lot and show her everything in our lives now. This… this is what she wanted for me." Cat indicated her omnitool. "Being a scientist, I mean."
"I know." Robert patted her on the shoulder. "And she'd be proud of you."
The Doctor looked up from his work. "Caterina, is the alignment stable?"
Cat checked her omnitool. "It's still stable, Doctor."
"Excellent. We're almost there!"
"What about you?" Caterina turned her head to meet his eyes. "Would you want to have Mr. and Mrs. Dale back? Or Susie?" Caterina smiled sadly. "I always loved hanging out with Susie. She'd ask science questions and I'd answer them. And then she'd talk about what it'd be like if we were both aunts to your kids and how we'd have funs with nephews and nieces…"
Robert chuckled at that, not quite able to hide the pain. "You two thought Angel and I would have kids, huh?"
"Yeah. I mean, we were younger, it just seemed the thing that would happen." Caterina shrugged before putting her eyes back on the scanner.
"Here we go!" the Doctor called out, interrupting the conversation again.
From within the TARDIS, Rose's voice called out, "Scanner's working! It says, 'Delta one six'!"
"The alignment reading is still good," Caterina added. "I'm ready to confirm triangulation!"
The Doctor stepped back from the cones and stood to his full height. A bright, enthusiastic expression appeared on his face. "Come on, then, you beauty!" he called out, letting the last word roll with an open-mouthed grin.
Seconds passed. "Energy surge, spatial distortion forming," Caterina confirmed. Her fingers tapped at her omnitool.
Crackling energy formed between the three cones. Three more lines of the same jumped upward, meeting several feet in the air to form a pyramid shape within the cones. A black spectral figure materialized there. The Doctor pulled out a pair of what looked like old 3D plastic glasses, the kind handed out for 3D shows at theme parks, and put them on to continue observing the ghostly form.
After this effect held for several moments, the Doctor ducked down and began operating a control device that made Robert think of an old mid-20th Century radio. Lights flashed on it. The Doctor turned a brown knob on it back and forth, producing an electronic whine that was just as evocative of some old 50s-era radio or TV set. He never looked toward it, however, keeping his eye on the form within, now swaying and moving as if it were seriously upset or irritated. "You don't like that much, do you?"
"The anomaly is destabilizing. The distortion is faltering from interference," Caterina said.
"Who are you? Where are you from?" The Doctor knelt a little closer to the figure. When it swiped at him he stepped back. "Woah, that's more like it. Not so friendly now, are you?"
"I think you've made it mad," Robert noted wryly.
"I should think so," the Doctor answered. "I'm exciting the energy field. It's keeping this fellow from impressing on this world like he ought to, and it'll let me track the source of the field to boot."
"The field is weakening," Caterina said. "It looks like it's being shut down."
"Probably at the source, but it's too late for them to hide." The Doctor chuckled. "I've got 'em."'
The figure suddenly dematerialized. The energetic pyramid formed by the cones dissipated.
"Alright everyone, I'm off to track down the source." The Doctor looked at them briefly. "You can come with if you'd like." He started snatching up his things.
After he entered the TARDIS Caterina gave Robert an almost pleading look. Robert looked to Meridina, who nodded quietly. "We can do more good with him," she said.
"Alright," replied Robert. He had his own gut feeling - or was it
swevyra granted-insight? - that they would be needed. "We'd better go before he leaves."
Cat beat them all to the TARDIS door. Robert was the last to enter. As he did, he couldn't help but feel as if someone was watching him.
Lucy picked herself up from underneath the secondary tactical station. "Alright, I'm done," she said, getting the attention of Julia and Angel in particular as she pulled herself back to her feet. Behind her the console in question was active again, as were all of the bridge consoles once disabled by what had happened.
"Good." Julia leaned forward in the command chair. "Technical Officer, status on ship repairs?"
With all operations and engineering personnel diverted to the actual task of fixing their crippled ship, the watch at the bridge Operations station had gone to one of the ship's Technical Officers-in-training. The English-accented young man now at Ops, Technical Officer Matthews, turned back from the console to address Julia directly. "Engineering has brought another naqia reactor back online. Hull breaches in the upper decks have been reduced by three quarters. Impulsor drives are functional for maneuvering only. The armor repair systems are still offline, and we still have no warp drive or jump drive."
"Thank you."
"I'll go find Jarod and see where he wants me," Lucy said. "But looking at the damage to the ship, we're better off putting together another IU radio and calling for help."
"Mister Scott already thought of that," said Julia. "But the Shadows hit our machine shops while they were cutting up our drive section. Until those shops are fixed, there's nothing we can do."
"And you've got Scotty prioritizing hull breaches to stabilize structural integrity." Lucy turned away. "Well, I'll…"
To the others, she simply doubled over as if in pain. For Lucy, it wasn't a physical pain. Every part of her cried out in worry, almost terror, as if something dreadfully wrong was happening and causing danger to them all. She gasped as she dropped to a knee in shock.
"Lieutenant?" Julia got out of her chair and went over to her. Angel did the same, getting there a few seconds before Julia. "Are you alright?"
"You look like you've seen a ghost," Angel observed. "No pun intended."
"Something's wrong," Lucy gasped.
"Well, yeah," Angel said. "A lot of things…"
"No!" Lucy shot a hot look at Angel that stopped her in her tracks. "Something is
wrong. There's… there's something completely wrong here. The ship, this Earth, we're all in terrible danger."
Angel looked up to Julia, who helped her get Lucy back to her feet. "Can you be more specific?" she asked.
"I wish I could," Lucy said. She put a hand to her brow, now covered in sweat. "I… I need to go do something."