A Sky Without Zeppelins: Chapter Fifty-Three

[amberfocus]

                                                                                                                         Banner by Mitashade

Title:  A Sky Without Zeppelins (53/55)
Author:  Amberfocus
Genre:  romance, action adventure, alternate reality, humor, fluff, smut
Characters/Pairings:  Ten2/alt!Rose, alt!Donna Noble/James Lumin, alt!Martha, Ten/Rose (briefly)
Beta:  amyo67 
Spoilers:  If you haven't seen Journey's End
Rating:  NC-17 for graphic sex, Please Note Rating Change!
Summary:  In a newly sealed off alternate reality, a chameleon arched human Ten meets a very different Rose Tyler after being left behind by his Time Lord self and the Rose he once loved.  This is their story.

Previous chapters:  http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/263349.html

Chapter Fifty-Three

 

Rose and Jonathon meet Donna in the car park with many hugs and a few cheek kisses before the three of them venture inside Illuminate together. Rose can tell that the weekend with her grandfather and mother have done Donna a world of good, though it’s still clear from Donna’s face that the woman isn’t sleeping well. She slips her hand into her friend’s and gives it a quick squeeze. “I’m okay, Rose,” Donna says with a sad smile. “Life goes on and I’ll survive this.”

“But we’re here for you,” Rose says.

“I know.” Rose lets go of Donna’s hand and they make their way over to the lift and up to their floor. Renee Pascal is sitting on the edge of Donna’s desk. Rose isn’t sure who she’s waiting for in her pool of pink chiffon – does the woman wear any other color? – and as her eyes focus on them one by one Rose is none the wiser.

Eventually her eyes return to Rose and Jonathon who are standing close together, far inside each other’s personal space but not touching. “Did you need something, Mme. Pascal?” Donna asks.

“Yes, I’m going to be reassigning Miss Tyler to work with Frank in Robotics. He needs a more permanent assistant and now that her own robot has been brought up to the specifications Mr. Lumin wanted for underwater exploration, there’s no need for her to continue working with Dr. Smith on a consistent basis.”

“But we haven’t tested it in a deep ocean environment yet,” Rose protests.

“And you won’t until September when Yumi has been fully trained to take it out with her and dispatch it so there is no need for you to continue working with Dr. Smith throughout the summer. You may rejoin his team in the fall when your skills are once again necessary to his project. For now, Frank needs you.”

Rose tries to keep her hands from clenching into fists at her sides. There is something in the woman’s short, clipped tones and the way she is looking down her nose at Rose even though she is seated and Rose is standing, that is driving her crazy.

“Don’t I get any say in this?” Jonathon demands. “Mr. Lumin--.”

“Mr. Lumin is ill. I am running this corporation,” Renee interrupts. “And while I am I will do what is best for this company. Frank needs the help right now and you do not. When Mr. Lumin regains his health and returns to take over again, then he may return your little…arrangement to its former state. Until then, Miss Tyler’s job description has changed.”

There is a hard look in the woman’s eyes. Rose sighs and then turns to Jonathon, gently rubbing her hand up and down his upper arm. “I enjoy working with Frank almost as much as I enjoy working with you. I know you don’t like change and losing your assistant, but I’m sure Miss Pascal can assign you someone else if you need help.”

“I know.” He turns a false smile on Renee. “I will at least need a junior lab tech.”

“Yes, I’ve assigned a young man by the name of Jeffrey Callahan.” Rose stifles a groan and Jonathon is very careful not to allow his face to fall. Neither like the earnest young man who showed Rose around, and hit on her aggressively, on her first day at Illuminate.

“Miss Noble, if you could get the paperwork rolling that would be appreciated. You can bring it up to Miss Tyler when it’s ready to be signed. Miss Tyler, Frank is waiting for you. If you have anything in Dr. Smith’s office that you need, I suggest you get it.”

Rose nods and turns to go. “Oh, and one more thing,” Renee says in a carefully neutral voice.

“Yes?”

“That’s a rather…charming trinket you’re wearing.”

Rose’s hand clenches protectively over the locket. “Thank you,” she says tightly. “It’s an heirloom.” 

“Well, it certainly looks old.” Her expression is smug and condescending.

“It is,” Jonathon says. “About two hundred years old and passed down through the generations. It’s real silver.”

“Did you have it appraised for her?” Renee asks.

“No, Jonathon gave it to me.”

It is all she can do to keep her expression calm at the priceless look that comes over Renee’s face. “It was my mother’s,” Jonathon says. “And hers before that and hers before that. It’s been in my family a long time.”

“What? Why would you—?” Renee splutters. The look she turns on Rose is nothing short of dangerous.

“Why would I have it?” Rose asks innocently.

“Yes.”

“Isn’t it clear?” Donna says finally tiring of the cat and mouse game that’s being played and of Renee’s attitude. “They’re lovers. They plan to be married. They’ve kept it quiet at work but anyone with any people skills can see how desperately in love they are. Now, if you don’t mind, Mme. Pascal, I need my entire work surface to do my job and you’re taking up half of it.”

Renee gets to her feet. “Miss Noble!” she admonishes.

“I suggest you take a look at my contract before you even think of trying to get me out of here,” Donna says. She turns to Rose. “I’ll bring the paperwork up to Frank’s office when it’s done.” She glances back at Renee. “Don’t you have a company to run?” she asks. With a humph of annoyance Renee saunters off.

“Donna, you shouldn’t take chances like that with your job.”

“My contract clearly states that the only person that can fire me is J-James.” She barely stumbles over his name this time. “And since no one knows the truth, my job is safe. Good on you coming out to her, though. I thought she was going to eat Jonathon alive last week. Maybe she’ll keep her paws to herself now.”

“She was interested in me?” Jonathon asks in surprise.

“She probably still is,” Donna says. “And that sort is used to getting what they want so be careful.”

Rose smacks his arm. “You’re so oblivious to your effect on women and how beautiful you are,” Rose says.

“He does seem to cause a bit of a riot when we go out, though I can’t see it,” Donna says with a slightly teasing smirk. “Skinniest piece of nothing I’ve ever met. Nice hair though,” she admits grudgingly.

“Oi, I’m right exactly here.”

Donna pats him on the shoulder. “We best get to work. Don’t know when the dragon lady will be back.” They clock in and go their separate ways somewhat reluctantly. It’ll be strange to have the three of them not all working on the same floor together anymore.

 

“I am so going to get fired.”

“Addie?” Martha Milligan quickly places the voice of her cousin Adeola Jones as it echoes down the phone line. “What happened?”

“I managed to get in and see the alien, and—well, I know I said I couldn’t do anything more than let you know his current condition, but…I snuck in a set of remotely operated teleport devices and stuck them on the bottom of the tank. The Captain says the creature needs to stay inside the tank for a week still, but if you take the entire tank wherever you want it to go, you can get him out of here safely. All I need are coordinates to transport him and I can get him out of here. But the sooner the better, Martha. The minute those things are discovered there’ll be a massive data sweep and I’m not sure I can delete the information from the scanner that I was in here.”

“What made you change your mind? They’re treating him well, aren’t they?”

There is silence for a long moment then Addie says, “He’s lonely. I can feel him in my head and he’s so lonely.” Like Martha, Addie has the telepathic gene passed down from their grandfather. “His song is so melancholy. He wants to go back to his home and his home is at Illuminate. He’ll heal faster there.”

“If you get fired for this, Addie, you have a job here with me. I promise.”

“I’m more concerned about retaining my memories. I did a data dump, Martha. You know where. If they wipe my mind, and you find me, it can be restored as of last night.”

“Maybe you should just get out of there as soon as you do it,” Martha says. “Don’t put yourself in unnecessary danger.”

“I won’t. But get me the exact coordinates to teleport him to so I can do this as soon as possible,” Addie says.

“Okay. Give me an hour. If you haven’t heard from me by then we are calling this off. It’s not worth the risk,” Martha says.

“It is though. This creature won’t be safe here forever. They’ll try to exploit him eventually and Martha, we can’t let that happen.”

“All right. If this doesn’t work we’ll find another way.”

 

Donna heads up to Frank’s office with a small sheaf of papers in her hands for Rose to sign. Jonathon has been moping all morning and she smiles softly at the man’s utter lovesickness when it comes to Rose. As sad as she is that her own romantic life is over, she hasn’t given up on love for the rest of humanity and seeing it between her two friends always makes her feel better. When she appears in the door to Frank’s lab, a laughing Rose greets her.

“How’s he doing?” Rose asks.

“Missing you, but getting on with it.” She hands Rose the papers and then says, “Just drop them in my inbox on the way out tonight.” Rose nods and sets them on a desk that is very clearly now hers.

“How are you doing?”

“Oh, I love working for Frank. It’s a great challenge and he keeps me laughing. No one tells physics jokes like he does.”

“I’m sure,” Donna says dryly. The last thing in the world she would think of as funny is physics. “Can I see the locket Jonathon gave you?” she asks.

Rose nods and holds it out to Donna, not quite willing to take it off. Donna pops it open and looks inside. “Those are his parents and the babe is him.” Donna nods and then closes the locket, gripping it hard for a moment. Rose’s hand closes over hers. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Sometimes…the loss…”

Rose lets go of Donna’s hand and pulls the older woman into her arms holding her tightly. “I know. We’re here. I promise you.” Donna clings to Rose for a moment before getting herself back together.

“I’m fine. I’m fine,” Donna says as she pulls away. “I actually have a question for Frank.”

The alien, who has drifted to the back of the room, comes forward. It is still disconcerting to Donna to see both his real image and the one he is projecting with the perception filter. “Yes, Donna?”

“I seem to be having an allergic reaction to the metal in my engagement ring. Do you think you can paint some rhodium plating on the inside to prevent it? I’d take it to the jeweler’s but I really don’t want to part with it for that long.”

“Of course,” he says. “I can have it ready for you by the start of lunch.”

Donna reaches down and grasps her ring in her hand. “First time I’ve ever taken it off,” she says hesitantly before swallowing hard and removing it. She hands it to Frank who takes it carefully in one tentacle.

“I’ll make it a priority.”

“Thank you.” She switches her gaze back to Rose. “Jonathon wants to know if you’d like to go out to Lombardi’s for lunch with us today.”

“Sounds great.”

“Okay. What about you, Frank?” she asks. “Now that you’ve got the filter and it works perfectly with folks who don’t already know who you are, do you want to go out with us for lunch?”

Frank smiles and his image ripples, colors streaking through his jellyfish-like body. “I’ve actually got a lunch date with Mandy in Accounting,” he says. “Maybe next time.”

“All right then. See you later.” And Donna takes her leave.

 

Jack Harkness frowns. The warp star would be at Illuminate Corporation, though that shouldn’t surprise him. Alien tech that doesn’t come through the Institute first always seems to end up on the sprawling campus before him. Because of who he is, he doesn’t particularly need an appointment, and because of his good working relationship with James Lumin before his death he’s not an unheard of visitor in this building.

Within five minutes he’s talking to the new head, a woman who looks vacuous and vapid, but from the clear calculation in her eyes and her position of authority within the company, he knows she is not. She is not as clever as she thinks she is and he is granted access to parts of the building that Lumin never would have let him in before. She does accompany him but he turns on his charm and is easily enough able to distract her as they make their way to the Robotics floor.

 

With Jack Harkness in the building and Renee Pascal out of her office, Martha Milligan knows there is no better time than now to attempt to transport Caelum out of the Institute and into the vault. The only thing she needs is the exact coordinates and for that she needs to take a reading. She hurries past Jack and Renee and into the lift, heading down to Jonathon’s floor. It takes only a brief explanation and a moment later the two of them are breaking into Renee’s office and taking the hidden lift down to Caelum’s former home.

Quickly Jonathon feeds the proper coordinates into Martha’s handheld computer and she transmits them across town to Adeola. Five minutes later Caelum and his holding tank appear safe and sound in the Illuminate vault and the alien is singing so loudly in both their heads, so happy to be home, that they have to slam down their personal shields. The creature apologizes immediately and with a laugh and a touch to his aching head, Jonathon promises that he’ll find a way to sneak the little one back in to see Caelum again.

As quickly as possible they make their way back up and out of Renee’s office. Jonathon takes care of erasing the security footage and covering the rest of their tracks. They have safely managed to get away with it. With a sense of relief he heads back to Donna. It’s nearly lunchtime and he’ll get to see Rose.

 

The woman’s insipid flirting is about to drive him right up the wall. Jack’s all for beautiful women throwing themselves at him but this one is taking it far too far. But she’ll flirt with anyone, which is obvious when they reach the lab his device is directing him to and she flirts with the head of the lab, someone who Jack can clearly tell is an alien in disguise. Apparently Renee cannot, or doesn’t have inhibitions about who she flirts with. Still it provides a bit of a distraction. He is surprised to see Rose Tyler there and she looks at him with unhidden suspicion.

He briefly scans her but she’s not in possession of the warp star. Still the device informs him it is nearby. He walks casually about the lab until he locates the likely source, a pretty ring with a large emerald stone sitting in its center. He knows there is more than meets the eye here, because warp stars are not green. Still, his compressed energy reader claims it’s in front of him. He waits until no one is looking and then pockets the ring. Now all he has to do is get out of Illuminate without getting caught.

His mobile suddenly goes off and everyone jumps at the harsh buzz inserting itself into the quiet lab. He excuses himself to the hallway to answer it. “Harkness,” he says.

He frowns at the confused man on the other end of the line. Somehow the alien they collected the night Lumin died has disappeared, along with their largest holding tank, from deep inside the Institute. “Damn it. You’re sure?”

“Would I be calling you if I wasn’t?” demanded the voice on the other end.

“I’ll be right there.” Jack hangs up the phone. “Sorry, there’s an emergency at the Institute. I need to go. What’s the fastest way out of here?”

“I’ll take you,” Renee says and eagerly leads him away. Once on the ground floor he takes his leave quickly. He can’t get away from the woman fast enough.

 

It is Rose who realizes two hours later that the ring is missing when Frank asks her to bring it to him so he can adhere the rhodium plating to the inside of the metal band. A sinking feeling fills her heart as she and Frank tear the laboratory apart looking for it. “We have to find it,” Rose says. “That’s the last thing he gave her. It’s all she has left.”

Frank waves his tentacles about frantically. “It’s not here, Rose.”

“It has to be.”

“It’s not. I didn’t move it and you didn’t move it. That leaves only two suspects. And since Renee Pascal didn’t venture anywhere near where I left the ring that narrows it down to only the man from the Institute,” Franks says.

“But why would the Captain steal her ring?” Rose asks. “That makes no sense. He had us in custody for several hours. He could have taken it then. Why wait until now?”

“Maybe one of his scans came back with something suspicious on it and this is the first chance he’s had to come here,” Frank says.

“There’s got to be a way to get it back,” Rose says.

“I don’t see how.”

“Well, we can’t just let him have it. She’ll be devastated if we don’t get it back. She’s already been through so much. Donna doesn’t deserve this on top of everything else!” Rose protests. “Can’t we just…call him and call him on it?”

“You don’t just call a man as highly placed as Jack Harkness,” Frank says.

“Do you have any contacts at the Institute?” Rose wants to know.

“I’m afraid not. I’ve kept to myself. You know that. Until Jonathon fitted me with the perception filter I’ve been a literal hermit. But maybe we can get Krattippe to hack their systems and get into his own personal files,” he muses.

“That’ll only work if he’s not trying to keep this from the Institute, too.”

“Why do you think that?”

“I don’t know, Frank. I just…don’t think the man trusts anyone. Or can be trusted himself. Anything he puts in his files might be a red herring.” She runs her hands through her long blonde hair in frustration.

“Why don’t you call Jonathon? This may require direct confrontation and he’s probably the best person to think of a plan on how to do just that.”

“Okay.” Rose reaches for the phone but it shorts out suddenly as a tiny explosion ripples through the lab.

 

The rest of the day is a frustrating mess for Jack Harkness. Whoever stole the creature covered their tracks. Not well, there are tracks everywhere and it will be found out, but it will take a few days. The culprit could be long gone before he ever finds out who it is. The only consolation he has is that the ring he had stolen from Illuminate is indeed what had made the compressed energy reader go off.

On the underside of the band just under the setting of the giant emerald is a tiny hinge that once released reveals a hidden compartment. Underneath the emerald is the much smaller warp star. It has taken him an hour to prise it from its gemstone case but he’s finally gotten it out. He puts the ring back together and attaches a tiny, self-destructing teleport device to it, and sends it back to the coordinates he’d stolen it from. With any luck no one will be the wiser that it has gone missing for a few short hours.

He takes the warp star into the palm of his hand. He knows he has to be incredibly careful. If he makes even the slightest misstep in setting it on its course, he risks blowing up the entire galaxy. If he doesn’t, two way time travel will never be possible and the entire future of humanity will never be the same. They will never venture outside their own solar system. They will never become the explorers they are meant to be.

He double checks his figures, once, twice, three times and then sets the warp star carefully inside the propulsive device. He adds the incendiary element, being careful not to use too much or too little. The calibration must be perfect. Pocketing everything he heads up the roof of the building and makes sure it is completely clear before he assembles the little rocket. Again he checks his figures and the robotics of the device and then with nothing more than a hope and a prayer, he fires it and waits for the world to end or the future to begin.

 

The explosion in the sky is seen across the entire kingdom of Great Britain. A burst of blue energy is followed by a burst of red light and then like a cork shooting out of a champagne bottle, a violent blast of green energy encompasses the entire city of London, coming three hours later to rest in a sharp pinpoint focus on Illuminate Corporation.

Deep in the heart of the Illuminate vault the battered, naked body of a man in his fifties lies in a coma against the cold, tile floor. He is battered and bruised and badly burned. His hair, once only streaked with silver, is fully white. He has aged much in the past several days and he may yet not survive, but for now the human form of James Lumin lives.

Ch. 54:  http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/278870.html 

Comments

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

Yep. Or rather the Time Vortex did. *grins*