Andromeda Rising: Chapter Twelve

[amberfocus]

A/N:  Cassi learns her fate, Dare, Mars, and Tegan find what they're looking for and a bit more, the pack leader makes plans, and Jack and Andromeda leave their island hotel for a new destination elsewhere on the ocean world of Terrichon.

                                                                  Chapter Twelve:  Bultungin

Philia emerged from the Time Vortex in precisely the same place she had just vacated. Cassi checked the controls to be sure that at least six months had passed. She searched the surrounding area for signs of her parents’ TARDIS and sighed in relief when she located it.

A quick call to the TARDIS phone assured her that her parents were there and were preparing to couple the ships together. As soon as the process was over Cassi and Daniel hurried through the airlock. “Well?” demanded Cassi as she emerged into the console room.

“We haven’t looked yet,” the Doctor admitted sheepishly. “Afraid of what the answer might be, I guess.”

“Don’t you know it?” Cassi asked. “I mean, didn’t we go back and tell you what happened with the results?”

“No,” said the Doctor. “We didn’t want to contaminate the time line so when you left to come here we went to check up on Martha, Devora, and your Rafe. He’s doing well. They all are. We haven’t seen you in six months.”

“You ready?” Daniel turned to his wife. Cassi blew out a lungful of air.

“Not sure I’ll ever be ready. Not to know this,” she told him. Daniel reached out and gave her hand a gentle squeeze and then he dropped it and hurried into the Doctor’s lab. The rest of them trailed behind him. It only took seconds to find the appropriate test vial.

He held it up in the air with a frown, wondering how it was that such a pretty shade of green could indicate that his wife had indeed caught the virus. “What’s it mean?” asked Cassi, but she could tell by the way her husband, mother, and father all seemed to slump their shoulders forward that it wasn't going to be good news.

“It’s positive,” Daniel told his wife. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. You have bultungin virus.” Cassi looked stricken and her hands came down protectively over her abdomen. Daniel put the vial away and went to embrace his wife. As his arms enfolded her and he pulled her slight frame against him, she turned her head to the side and looked at her father.

“You said there was a place I could go. A place that might be able to cure me.”

“It’s a long shot, Cassi. They specialize in human diseases,” the Doctor told her.

“Bultungin is a human disease,” she told him.

“Your human heritage has allowed you to be susceptible to the disease, but that’s only twenty-five percent of your DNA. If you were even half human like your mother your odds would be much higher that they could cure you,” her father told her.

“But there’s a chance?” she asked, her clear brown eyes looking into ones so like her own as she searched his face for the truth.

“There’s a chance. There’s always a chance,” he admitted.

“Then give me the coordinates for this hospital and the latest time we can arrive there without running into you and Mum,” she said. The Doctor pulled a small notebook and pen out of his capacious pockets and scribbled down the necessary information. He tore off the paper and handed it to Cassi, who moved from her husband’s arms to take it.

“This is the closest you can come to our visit there, and I compensated for the cycle of the moon. Last thing you need is to change into a werehyena in a hospital full of cat nuns.”

“You mentioned there might be an ethical dilemma?” Daniel queried.

“Did I?” asked the Doctor avoiding Daniel’s eyes.

“Yeah, you did.”

“Well, it’s something your mother and I put right, so I don’t see why you shouldn’t benefit from the research that happened beforehand,” the Doctor responded.

Rose gave him a hard look but remained silent. Cassi scrutinized his face carefully. “What do we do if this doesn’t work? If they can’t cure me on,” she looked down at the paper, “New Earth?”

“There is another option,” Rose said softly. “But we don’t want for you to have to take it.”

“What?” demanded Cassi at her mother’s hesitation.

“You could regenerate,” said the Doctor. “It would kill the virus, remove it from every single cell.”

“But the baby,” said Cassi. “If I were to regenerate wouldn’t the baby regenerate, too?”

“Yes,” the Doctor said looking down at his feet. “Like what happened to you, when you had to regenerate before you were even born.”

“Is there any way I could regenerate but we could protect the embryo from doing it?” Cassi asked.

“No, sweetheart,” said Rose. “Because with Daniel’s DNA, your child is about sixty-five percent human. Even accepting for the fact that Gallifreyan DNA is dominant, it means there’s no chance the baby hasn’t been infected.”

“Which means,” the Doctor continued, “That if we did manage to find a way to keep the embryo stable, the baby would still either miscarry in a few months, or be a still birth a few months after that.”

“So the only way to save my baby is to take away one of his or her lives?” Cassi asked with tears shining in her eyes.

“I’m afraid so,” said her mother. “I’m so sorry, Cassi.”

“But to regenerate the baby on purpose? It’s bad enough what happened to me and that was an accident. How do I do it on purpose to my child?” she asked with desperation in her eyes.

“To save its life. If it’s the only way, you’ll find a way to do it,” the Doctor told her. “If we have to do it we’ll be careful. We’ll put you in the Zero room before we even start the process and we’ll make it as peaceful as possible to make the emerging personalities as stable as possible.”

“But all of this may be moot anyway,” said Rose. “Go to New Earth and see if they can cure you. Maybe you won’t have to regenerate at all.”

“Maybe,” Cassi said, but her voice wasn’t hopeful. They said their good-byes, Rose hugging her daughter tightly. Cassi, who wasn’t usually demonstrative with her father, welcomed his embrace next. Then she hurried out of the console room and into the airlock, her eyes glittering with unshed tears. Slowly Daniel gave his in-laws a long look, then nodded and followed his wife into the airlock.

As the lock cycled shut, a frightened sob was choked off mid-cry.



“This place is the back of beyond,” Tegan muttered, rubbing the back of her hand wearily across her forehead. “How can any culture operate properly if it’s got a two year backlog on filing its public records?”

“Feels like we’ve been at this for hours,” Mars agreed, his fingers reaching up to knead the tight muscles at the back of his neck. He looked up at the clock on the nearby wall. “Oh. Because we have been.”

Dare glanced at the children wondering if he should tell them to take a break, go out and find a place to eat or just stretch their legs. He sighed and glanced at the remaining stack of unfiled papers. He put the one in his hand down and reached for the next. He was shocked to discover he’d just found what he needed.

“Here it is, kids!” he announced excitedly. There were three pages stapled together. The first one was a copy of an original title to a ship named Goddess that had been registered to one Athena Morel and the second was a transfer of ownership to a man by the name of Jack Ashford, which Dare remembered as being an alias for his bond father. The third paper was a permit for change in title and the appropriate reassigning of his transponder code. Jack had renamed the ship The Conquered Goddess.

Quickly he jotted down the transponder code of Jack’s ship. He could have Marsden’s TARDIS try to do a spacial trace. Not the easiest of things but since the ship had departed this planet with Jack at the helm they’d pick up some kind of residual to follow. Of course, it might make more sense to start at Deneb 8, and trace the path of the Orion Cutlass to find the exact spot the little ship had departed from the big one and make sure that they had an even stronger signal to follow.

With relief the trio left the court house and had dinner at a small restaurant that served food that was passable. It was only upon leaving the restaurant and heading out of town that they were stopped by a small group of men in bright blue uniforms.

Dare pushed Tegan behind him and Mars stepped up to his side. One of the men, the oldest looking one, said, “I understand you’re looking for a man by the name of Harkness,” he said.

“We are.”

“What business do you have with him?” the man asked. His tone was pleasant but his eyes were cold. Time Agents, Dare realized. He should have recognized the uniforms.

“He’s family,” Dare said smoothly. “My bond father or...do you have godfathers here?” The man nodded. “That’s who he is to me. I was hoping he was on planet since we were in the area and my children wanted to see him.”

“Well, he’s not. And Harkness is not a name you want to throw around lightly, especially on Boeotia. In future, inquiries for this man should be made under the name of Jack Ashford if they must be made at all.”

“If he’s not here,” said Mars boldly, “Do you know where he might be?”

The man stiffened. “He’s on leave. I imagine he’s out enjoying himself with whatever man, woman, or creature is willing to take him into their beds, in whatever backwater planet he can find that’ll put up with his lack of morals.” The man drew himself up to his full height. “I think it’s best if you leave this town and don’t think about returning here.”

“We were just on our way,” Dare said smoothly, not wishing to provoke an incident. The men pulled back and Dare backed the kids away turning them and hastening away.

“What was that all about? You’re running?” Mars demanded.

“Not running. Walking quickly, maybe,” Dare responded.

“But why?” asked Tegan.

“Saw his nametag. He’s C.O. Delton Morel.”

“So?” the kids said in unison.

“So far as I know, he’s the one that gives the order to have two years wiped out of the mind of Uncle Jack. Only thing is, I’m not quite sure when it happens. If it already has, and he’s aware we’re making inquiries, then we could end up in serious trouble sticking around here. And the woman who used to own Jack's ship was also named Morel.”

"What does that mean?" Mars asked.

"I don't know. But I don't like it," Dare told him.

“Why’d you tell them I was your daughter?” Tegan asked.

“Because I did my research on Boeotian customs. An unmarried underage girl escorted by someone other than her father may be targeted by the unsavory element. As husband or a father I have the right to intervene on behalf of you if something were to happen. As a brother my word alone would not be enough to get the authorities involved.”

“What type of unsavory element?” Tegan asked.

“They’ve tried hard to wipe it out here, but it still flourishes in the underground.”

“What does?” Tegan said, getting irritated at his evasion.

“The sex trade and the slave trade,” he told her bluntly.

“Oh,” she said, slipping her hand into Dare’s. “Father it is, then.”



Acheron smiled as the ocean world of Terricohn appeared in the viewport of his light ship. The voyage had seemed to take forever without the ability to make hyper jumps, but finally they had arrived. The strong signal from The Conquered Goddess’ transponder assured him that the ship, if not its passengers, was somewhere on the surface of the ocean world.

He watched as Arctophonus brought the ship in to dock with the space station. They would have to leave the Alecto in space dock as its fueling requirements were too pollutive for it to be allowed to land on the protected biosystem.

When they exited onto the station Acheron used his rank and family money to secure a luxury suite at the finest hotel on the station, while Lycoctonus took care of booking their flight on a station to surface shuttle. The rest of the pack scattered through the station looking for a victim to take down. They’d been cooped up on the Alecto for far too long without anyone to take out their restlessness on.

Unfortunately for the pack, and fortunately for everyone else on the station, the Terricohn Station authorities were well aware of the proclivities of their species and quite a large police detail was sent to monitor their whereabouts. It was a tension-filled suite that they retired to that night. Acheron spent most of the night pacing, his body itching for a kill or at least a brutal attack.

They’d have to be careful on the surface as well. Though it would be easier to ditch a tail on a big island than it would be to do it on the smaller station, the ocean world was very hard on people who committed crimes. Even non-violent crimes were dealt with summarily and the results were rarely pleasant. Terricohn had the lowest crime rate in the cluster and, it was debatable, in the known universe.

Still, locating the girl would not be considered a crime. Neither would following her around be if they weren’t so noticeable as to be considered stalkers. Stealing a ship from the surface and kidnapping the girl, then taking off without clearance and getting far enough outside Terricohn’s jurisdiction would be the hard part. They’d have to move quickly. Not one thing could go wrong. They’d have to plan everything down to the last detail.

That went against everything instinctual in him. His needs told him to stalk, hunt, play, hurt, kill. They did not tell him to think things through. He’d learned that on his own, watching his litter mates fall one by one when they couldn’t control their impulses, until he was the only surviving prince. One thing he was sure of, once they were free and clear of the area, the girl was going to pay for more than just the indignities heaped upon him by her refusal of him. She was going to bear the brunt of his disappointment at not being able to hunt tonight.

He settled down into a tight knot amongst his pack mates, turning until he was comfortable. He fell asleep smiling, as he envisioned the cruelties he would heap upon her, and how he would make sure she remained conscious the entire time that he did.



As much as Jack and Andromeda wanted to linger in bed the next morning, they knew they had to pack up their belongings and be out of the room before the local lunch hour. “Where are we going next?” Andromeda had asked.

But Jack had only grinned at her and said, “It’s a surprise.” He’d led her to his ship and they swung their carry sacks and Jack’s duffel bag inside. Andromeda strapped in and listened to the changes in the ship’s tone as it warmed up. Perhaps she’d travelled in sentient ships too much if she was thinking Jack’s ship had a tone to its engine. That was a habit of a lifetime.

She knew his ship wasn’t alive. It was all cold, metal and plastic and synthetic fibers and there wasn’t a single thought wave broadcast from it. She missed Philia more than she ever thought she would, and yet, if given the chance she’d rather stay on this cold unthinking ship with Jack than be in the warmth of Philia’s hold with her mother.

When the ship was warm and Jack was granted clearance he lifted off just a few yards above the planet’s surface and headed out over the ocean. “They told me I just have to follow the underwater cables for 3012 klicks and then we’ll be at our destination.”

She watched out the side viewport as the ocean passed beneath them. It was a soothing image and she found her eyes becoming heavy. Even though she’d gotten to bed at a decent hour the night before, Jack had kept her up quite late with his exploratory hands. She smiled in remembrance at the way they felt as they slid across her skin. She felt a slow heat building and pressed her head against the coolness of the glass, trying to cool herself off.

“Stop thinking about last night, Andromeda,” Jack told her. “Or I’m not going to be able to pilot this thing properly. I need to focus and you’re radiating sexual thoughts at me.”

She blushed. “Not on purpose. I can’t help it.”

He grinned at her. “You got a way of temporarily closing down the link?” He asked.

“Yeah,” she said, and pulled herself in enough to put up a shield.

“Ow!” Jack said, one hand flying to his head in a panic as he looked at her. Hastily she let her shield drop back down and the pain left his face. He made rapid course corrections to put the ship back on its proper flight path.

“I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “I’ve only put up shields against my family before. I didn’t realize what cutting off the bonding link would do,” she said rubbing at her own head and the aching throbbing inside her skull. “On the bright side,” she added, “I’m not thinking about last night anymore. Ouch.”

“Why don’t you go back to the bedroom and lay down? You look exhausted and if your head hurts like mine does, you could use the rest.”

“Okay,” she said, “But first,” and she put cool fingers to his head, “I’ll dull the pain.” She found the source of the ache and soothed it away from his head.

“Much better,” Jack said. “Now go on.” Her own pain was mostly gone before she got to the bedroom, but because she was that tired, she went anyway. Within a few minutes she was snuggled into a pillow that smelled nicely of Jack, his soap, shampoo, and spicy aftershave. She pulled the blanket up over her body and urged sleep to come upon her. It was times like this that she wished she’d inherited her grandfather’s sleep needs and not her grandmother’s. Mere moments after she thought this, she was asleep.

Three hours later Jack put the ship on autopilot long enough to come back and wake her. “Come on, sweetheart,” he told her. “You’ll want to see this.”

As Andromeda yawned and dropped into the copilot’s chair she asked, “Why are we so high above the ocean?”

“We need the height for the dive,” he said.

“The dive?” she asked.

“That’s right. We’re going underwater,” he told her.

“In the ship?” Her voice squeaked a bit.

“Don’t worry. It’s waterproof. It’s made for space, air, and water cruising, but you have to hit the water from the correct angle and descent level for it to be a smooth trip,” he said.

Andromeda reached for the straps and buckled them quickly and Jack laughed but did the same. “You ready?” He asked. She nodded. “Okay, here we go.” He dropped the nose of the ship sharply and with incredible speed they entered the water. Beneath the surface Jack continued a descent towards the ocean floor. His ship’s lights lit the surrounding darkness and various creatures fled the intrusion.

“What are we doing down here, anyway?” she asked curiously.

“You’ll see in just a minute. Just keep looking out the forward viewport,” Jack advised.

She strained her eyes but slowly the distant view came closer and the focus cleared up. She saw a shimmering series of glass domes and inside them… She gasped.

Jack broke out into a huge grin. “Sandcastle City, buried in the bottom of the ocean. It’s huge. It’s roughly the size of the city where I met you.”

“How do we get inside?”

“There’s a huge airlock for ships of a certain size. We’ll be able to bring the whole ship inside. A bigger ship or a commercial submersible can hook into a passenger and freight only airlock on the far side.”

It took an hour of waiting in line and a further hour of cycling through and parking the ship along the cable lines before they were on dry land, or rather dry sand, again.

“And the castles are really made out of sand?” she asked with wonder in her voice.

“Not just sand, but yeah, mostly.” Jack shifted his bags, putting one on his back and the other in his left hand. With his free hand he took her left hand, leaving her to throw her carry sack over her right shoulder. “Our hotel’s just up here.” With a smile of delight she followed him to their destination.

 

Comments

[10-rose.livejournal.com]

Ooohh. Very lovely chapter :)

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[ehmi.livejournal.com]

Aww, poor Cassie! She's not my favorite character, but still, I feel bad for her. *sniff*

I'm glad the security guys know about Archeron and Co. I got a little nervous when I read that they all were gonna go hunt someone down! It makes me smugly happy thinking about them getting cock blocked, so to speak. XD

Where in the heck do you come up with these amazing ideas for where Jack and Andromeda are exploring and staying? I want to go to Terrichon!

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Cassi's a bit of a pickle, but she's got cause for her behavior, which will come out if I ever get back to Time Eternal.

Yeah, it's good for the pack to get stopped in the tracks every so often. They like to think they are a law unto themselves.

You know, I dream up a lot of them. I have very imaginative, creative, vivid dreams. And some just come out of the ether. My mind works in mysterious ways.

[stormarrow.livejournal.com]

Great chapter! Poor Cassi- I knew it'd be positive tho. I just can't wait for her to find out about Andromeda and Jack lol.

Also glad that you're safe from the flooding! That's insane how high the water rose!!

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

Thank you. It'll be some time before she finds out about Andromeda in Jack. Pretty much everyone in the family is going to be keeping things from her.

Thanks on the flooding thing. It is a little crazy.