Hunger Moon: Chapter Thirty

[amberfocus]

                                                                                                   banner by angelfireeast

Title:  Hunger Moon (30/?)
Series:  Better With You (Book 2)
Author: amberfocus
Characters/Pairings:  Alt!Nine/Rose Tyler, Jackie Tyler/Pete Tyler, Sarah Tyler, Kyle Tyler, Davin McBain, Mickey Smith/Suzie (Costello) Symmonds-Smith/Jake Symmonds, Toshiko Sato, Ianto Jones, Katie Harper/Owen Harper, Andy Davidson
Genre:  Action/adventure, romance, alternate universe, fluff, angst, humor, smut
Rating:  Adult, some chapters NC-17 with graphic sex
Betas: amyo67,corusca
Summary:  The psychic attacks of the Monoc'teru on the population of Pete's world sidetracks the Doctor and Rose's search for the spheres of Thessalameka, the second assignment on their quest to save the fabric of reality from unravelling forever.  Set ten years post-Doomsday in a world where Journey's End never happened.  Sequel to Wolf Moon http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/259862.html.

Chapter Thirty: Unexpected Progress

 

 

“What is it, Ianto? What’s so important? What’s gone wrong now?” Rose asked striding into the conference room. Jake was already there and Mickey had followed her back.

 

“Aside from the fact that the neural net is on again and everyone in Cardiff has gone crazy?” he asked sourly.

 

“Yeah, aside from that.” Rose’s smile was wry.

 

“I need you to go to Laugharne,” he said.

 

“Laugharne?” Jake asked with a frown. “Why? What can possibly justify going there when the net is on and people are acting crazy?”

 

“There are a couple of archeology students who’ve been working with a UNIT doctor on a dig up there. They’ve found something they think is important. Since Dr. Sullivan was injured in the first neural net broadcast, the kids have been on their own. UNIT’s requested assistance,” Ianto said.

 

“Why can’t UNIT babysit its own people?” Mickey asked. “Don’t we have enough to do here in Cardiff?”

 

Ianto frowned. He was unused to having his orders questioned. Rose hadn’t seen him unhappy before. Annoyed yes, but unhappy, no. His scowl was fierce, his scar standing out in sharp relief. For the first time Rose understood why his team had nicknamed him, ‘He who must not be named.’ “They will be sending a driver and a heavily equipped jeep. Rose, you’re in charge.”

 

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Mickey continued to press.

 

“Mr. Smith, I understand that you are used to operating under your own authority, but I am giving you a direct order.” He handed Rose a file and turned his eye on her, pushing against the eye patch as if he had a headache. “All the information you need for this mission is in here. I trust it will answer all of your questions.”

 

Rose nodded. “Yes, sir,” she said and the tension on Ianto’s face eased.

 

“Katie has developed a temporary vaccine against the neural network. There’s been very little time to test it but when Tosh went out this morning she didn’t lose her sanity.” He picked up a small device and pressed it onto the back of Rose’s hand. She felt a small pinprick and then a rush of heat as the vaccine entered her system. Ianto moved on to inoculate the two men. “There’s enough in this bag to inoculate the two students in Laugharne. Bring them and their discovery back with you.”

 

Rose’s team nodded and Domina McAvoy appeared at the door to the conference room. “The UNIT driver is here,” she said. “This way.”

 

Rose tucked the file under her arm and she and Mickey and Jake followed the red-haired secretary out of the room. “You’ll need weapons,” she said crisply turning towards the armory.

 

“I thought the UNIT jeep was fully equipped,” Jake said.

 

“It is,” Domina said. “Our weapons are better.” It was a short walk and when they stepped into the room Rose looked around in awe. The sheer alienness of the room was nearly overwhelming.

 

“We don’t have this sort of thing in London,” she said.

 

“No, you don’t,” Domina replied. “We integrate alien technology into our day to day lives far more than you’re allowed to in London.” She handed out personal body armor and waited while they strapped it on before stepping over to a shelf and hefting a small device. “This is a small force field cube. It will encompass up to ten people comfortably in the space of ten square yards if you have to sleep in it. Twenty if you’re all standing up and squished in like sardines.  It should repel all known Earth weaponry and most of the alien stuff we’ve run up against.”

 

“Should?” asked Mickey.

 

“Nothing’s perfect,” she said with a shrug. She clipped it onto Rose’s body armor. “Keep it on you at all times, Rose. The green button turns it on, the blue one off.” She retrieved a large gun and tossed it to Mickey who caught it with a small ‘oof.’ “This is a third generation Korelian laser rifle. You shouldn’t need it, but you never know. It’s lethal and there will be a lot of paperwork to fill out if you kill someone with it. Consider it a last resort.” The gun she handed to Jake was almost as large, but much lighter weight. “And this is a Darkston stunner. It’ll knock a person out for four hours. You should consider it your weapon of choice.”

 

She rummaged around a bit more on the shelves before lifting a small, compact gun off and passing it over to Rose. Rose swallowed hard. She recognized the weapon, had seen it once before, long, long ago in another universe. She’d joked about it being a squareness gun. “This comes from the planet Villengaard. It uses sonic energy to disable your enemy, or disintegrate them. Depends on the setting. The yellow setting immobilizes someone and the red one disintegrates. Again, if you kill someone with this, there will be a lot of paperwork so yellow setting is best. Use your best judgment.”

 

“I always do,” Rose said, tucking the gun into the holster attached to her body armor.

 

“Do you?” Domina asked looking Rose squarely in the eyes. “So that wasn’t your husband and you in the broom cupboard the other day?”

 

Mickey snorted and Rose blushed, feeling the heat start in her chest and flood her face as her heart raced frantically in embarrassment. “In the field I always use my best judgment,” she said firmly, meeting the older woman’s gaze steadily.

 

The woman’s lips twitched and then she gave a slight nod. “Well, you wouldn’t be where you are in Torchwood today, I suppose, if you didn’t. And allowances can be made for newlyweds, but you should be aware that there is a hidden camera in that cupboard. In all of them in the hub. I turned it off as soon as I knew what you were about, but…best not to let it happen again. Now, this way. Sergeant Reed is waiting to take you to Laugharne. He’s one of UNIT’s best men. Good in a firefight, even better in negotiations.”

 

She led them to the parking garage and a moment later they emerged. She introduced them all around and handed Sergeant Reed a bag that had been slung over her shoulder and another compact weapon identical to Rose’s. Rose swung up into the front seat next to Reed, and Mickey and Jake climbed in back.

 

As they started on their way Rose asked, “How is it out here today?”

 

“The crazies are out in full form, Miss Tyler. You really can’t slow down for a minute or they charge the jeep.”

 

“Good thing it’s only around 50 miles.”

 

“Bit more than that, really,” Reed said. “We’ll have to take the back roads. The mains are impassable.”

 

“Are we going to have a problem?” Jake asked from the back seat.

 

“Nothing I can’t handle,” he said, switching gears and accelerating. “Hang on. I’ll have to drive like a maniac to get out of town.”

 

 

 

The sergeant’s words had been an understatement. He’d driven like one of those crazy First Nations’ jeep drivers in the Canyon de Chelly Great Race that was broadcast every year and got better ratings than the international footie playoffs. It hadn’t mattered whether they slowed down or not. Any area that was highly populated had half mad people charging them. Even the back roads had seen their share of people pausing in their looting of each other’s homes to at the very least snarl and shake their fists at the jeep, and at the worst try to ram them with their cars. At least those who could remember how to drive.

 

“How has it gotten so bad in just a few hours?” Rose muttered.

 

“You think this is bad? Be grateful you haven’t seen London. The net there has been on the entire time. No breaks like in Cardiff. The death toll is at four percent above normal and rising,” Reed told her, his eyes never leaving the road, his fingers gripping the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles went white.

 

Rose’s eyes trailed down to the GPS. They had about five miles to go and were nearing the outskirts of Laugharne. “What’s that up ahead?” Rose asked as a dark swathe across the countryside became visible.

 

“I don’t know,” Reed said. As they got closer it became apparent it was people throwing themselves at what appeared to be an impenetrable barrier. On the other side of it was an armed group of civilians with their weapons trained on the lunatics. As the jeep approached the line every gun available swung towards them.

 

“We’re not going to be able to make it in this way. Hold on!” shouted Reed over the sound of sudden gunfire. He swung the jeep off the road and into an open field. They bounced along, the wild humans racing after them, the sane ones keeping their weapons aimed until the jeep was out of sight.

 

“What the hell was that? Those people seemed immune. I thought we were the only ones with a vaccine!” Mickey hollered from the back.

 

“You, UNIT, the government, and we’re working on hospital staff,” Reed said briefly as he turned the jeep onto a dirt road and began making his way along the edge of the city. A few minutes later they were back on a main road and as they passed the city limits sign it was like flipping a switch. Broken glass and abandoned cars were gone. No one was out. The sudden absence of crazed people on the roads was shocking after the past forty-five miles of sheer hell.

 

“Why didn’t the barrier keep us out?” Jake asked.

 

“Maybe it doesn’t extend this far,” Mickey said.

 

“It has to,” Rose said. “Just look around us.” She turned to Reed. “How much longer until we get to the dig site?”

 

“A couple of minutes if we don’t get stopped. It’s just around that bluff. They found the artifact about a mile from the estuary that’s down there.” He gestured with one hand towards the place where river and sea met.

 

Rose had only been able to skim the preliminary report what with all of the erratic driving, but it had left her with a few unanswered questions as to what she was supposed to be doing. “Why’s this artifact so important then, that they’d risk sending us out after it?”

 

“Isn’t it obvious?” Reed asked. “They think it’s causing the peaceful effect over this city.”

 

“What, the whole city’s like this?” Jake asked.

 

“Yes. It’s not been affected by anything the Monoc’teru have done. Other than that they are mounting watches on the main road in and out of town to keep the sanity challenged outside the proverbial gates.”

 

“Ah.” Rose tried once again to read the file and managed to get most of the way through it before they were pulling up to a series of tents and pavilions that had been erected around the dig site. Rose speed read through the remainder of the documents and when she looked up again saw that they were being approached by two people in their early twenties.

 

The young man had dark hair and bright blue, curious eyes and a slender frame. The girl was nearly a foot shorter than her companion and extremely pretty. Her dark brown hair curled nearly to her waist and her gorgeous brown eyes were wary as they settled on first the men, and then Rose.

 

“Hi, I’m Luke,” the man said, reaching forward and offering his hand to Rose to shake. “Luke Smith. And this is my—,” he paused for a moment that was barely perceptible, “fellow student Maria Jackson. We’ve been working closely with Dr. Sullivan for the last year.”

 

“I’m Rose Tyler,” she said. “These are my teammates Jake Symmonds and Mickey Smith. And this is Sergeant Reed from UNIT.”

 

“Yes, we’ve met Reed before,” Maria said. She smiled warmly at the sergeant. “He was assigned to Dr. Sullivan until the man disappeared.”

 

“Yes, about that,” Rose said. “I’d like to question each member of your team.”

 

“There’s only us left,” Luke said, the brightness in his eyes dimming slightly as he swallowed hard. Maria reached out and touched his arm and a look passed between them.

 

“Come. Let’s get out of the wind,” Maria said gesturing for them to follow her. She led them to one of the large tents. They ducked inside. “The others took off when things started getting weird with Dr. Sullivan.”

 

“Before he disappeared?” Rose asked sharply sitting down in one of the chairs next to a long table filled with archeological relics.

 

Maria nodded as the others arranged themselves around the table. Reed took up a position outside the tent, his weapon out and ready. “Yes. His personality…it completely changed. He was like a different man.”

 

“How so?” Rose asked.

 

“Well, like Maria said, his personality had changed,” Luke said. “Dr. Sullivan was the sweetest old man you could possibly hope to meet. He was in his early 60’s and he adored life and he was kind and patient and loved explaining things. One day he was himself, and the next day he just…changed.”

 

“He got mean,” Maria said. “He acted like he hated teaching, like he hated digging around in the dirt and the muck trying to find pieces of the past. He acted like what we were doing was a waste of time, like we were a waste of time. Luke was his favorite student and suddenly he couldn’t stand him, or any of us, really.”

 

“He drove away everyone but us,” Luke continued. “Maria and I are stubborn and we knew something weird was going on. Dr. Sullivan refused to go in for a medical scan but we had this piece of tech from UNIT and we snuck in there one night and scanned him. He was medically sound. But he still wasn’t himself.”

 

“The day we found the artifact, he disappeared.”

 

“Like into thin air?” Mickey asked.

 

“No,” said Maria. “Just one minute he was here and the next time we checked he was gone. None of the UNIT personnel guarding us saw him go.”

 

“There wasn’t a firm perimeter,” interjected Reed. “He could have slipped out between guards and hiked to one of the back roads. We just don’t know. No one has seen him since.”

How'd he get past you?" Rose asked.

"He knocked me out," said Reed.
 

“The day we found the artifact is also the day the rest of the world went crazy," Maria said.  "But we didn’t. No one in Laugharne has. I’m not sure what it does, but if your brain is affected it doesn’t let you within a five mile radius of this spot.”

 

“And you guys weren’t vaccinated?” Jake asked.

 

“No. There’s been no need. They’ve given it to the UNIT personnel guarding us just in case, but what we have is more important than us,” said Luke. “We didn’t rate.”

 

“You do now,” said Rose. “Mr. Jones sent along vaccines for you to use.” Jake pulled out the small device preloaded with vaccine and proceeded to inject the backs of their hands with it.

 

“How long does this last?” Maria asked.

 

“I’m not sure,” said Rose turning to the sergeant.

 

“A couple of weeks, they think. Hopefully long enough to end the threat,” Reed said.

 

“Now let’s get a look at this artifact, shall we?” Rose asked.

 

“Yeah, okay,” Maria said. She stood up and walked to a steamer trunk that was at the far end of the tent. She knelt beside it and unlocked it, pushing up the lid. Reaching inside she pulled out a soft, heavy black cloth and then stood up and returned to the table. Luke had cleared a space in her absence and she set the bundle down there. Luke took over, carefully unwrapping it.

 

Rose’s mouth fell open as she gazed on the perfect, glowing green orb shot through with streaks of gold. “Oh,” she breathed out in shock and awe.

 

“You know what it is?” Luke asked as all eyes turned on Rose.

 

“Yes,” she said slowly. She reached into the pocket of her trousers and withdrew a piece of paper. Carefully she unfolded it. It wasn’t the original, the Doctor insisted on keeping that on him at all times, but the reproduction still made it quite clear that it was what she’d been looking for. “It’s what the Doctor and I have been looking for. An orb of Thessalameeka,” she said.

 

She smoothed out the paper and then looked at Luke and Maria. “May I?” she asked and at their nods she picked up the orb. It was much lighter than it looked, but when she squeezed it, it did not give at all. It felt solid and strong, but when looking within it appeared hollow. It was incredibly smooth, as if it had been polished over and over again by the most thoughtful of hands. It was radiating heat, but nothing that would burn her. She held it close to the paper, comparing the details, but her mind had been right on first glance. It was the green orb they’d come to Earth to find.

 

“What’s this?” Luke asked leaning forward and tapping the other representation of an orb on the paper.

 

“There’re two of these orbs. The other one looks like that, cobalt blue shot through with crimson streaks. You didn’t happen to find anything else at the dig site, did you?”

 

“No, but digging was pretty much shut down when we recovered this one.”

 

“Take me to the spot you found this,” Rose said getting rapidly to her feet. “Reed, you’re with me. Mickey, Jake, stay here and guard this with your life.”

 

Maria and Luke led Rose to the dig site. It was a fair walk, half a mile in the increasingly heavy wind. Storm clouds were rolling in and the sky looked ominous. They stepped down a ramp made of boards that had been laid diagonally across one edge of a pit and the ground.

 

“This is where we found it,” Luke said gesturing to the spot. There was a clear indentation of where the orb had been pried from the ground. She laid her hand on the ground nearby, carefully feeling for any residual heat. If the other one was buried close to the first, it should give off a bit of heat like the green orb was doing.

 

Rose wished that the Doctor was there. Or at least his sonic screwdriver. It’d be a lot easier to scan for a heat signature than it would be to feel for it. She wondered if he’d returned from dropping off her family yet. She assumed Ianto would let him know what was going on and where she’d been sent. She’d left her mobile in the jeep. She’d have to retrieve it when they were done here and see if the Doctor had called her.

 

As she moved her hands over the ground of the dig site a sudden, biting, sharp cold penetrated her trousers and her knee instantly felt like it was freezing. She jerked off the spot, rolling to one side and then carefully felt back around it with her hands. “There’s something here,” she said. “Do you have your tools here?” she wanted to know.

 

“No, they’re back at one of the tents,” Luke said. “I’ll go and get them.” He hurried up the ramp and past Sergeant Reed. Maria had gotten down on the ground next to her and was gingerly feeling the earth where Rose had indicated they should dig.

 

“The other one gives off heat,” Maria said. “Wonder why this one is so cold?”

 

“I don’t know. Equal and opposite forces, I suppose.”

 

“The orb…it is alien, isn’t it?” Maria asked. Rose eyed her for a moment but didn’t say anything. “Only we grew up with weird alien stuff happening. It’s part of why we’re studying to be archeologists, Luke and me. They’ve been coming here for centuries, not just in this one. They’ve impacted our history. Dig sites like this show just how a group of aliens might have changed the culture of the indigenous people.”

 

Rose nodded. “Sounds like interesting work.”

 

“It is.” Maria talked on about some of the things she and Luke had run into under Dr. Sullivan’s watch until finally Luke arrived, panting and out of breath, with the tools of their trade. Ignoring the ramp he handed Maria the tool kit and hopped down into the pit.  The two of them got to work carefully digging and brushing dirt away. A few minutes later they were able to prise something from the dirt.

 

Maria took it and brushed the dirt away. “That’s not the orb,” Rose said in disappointment.

 

“No, no, it’s not,” said Maria. “It’s a 13^th century vase. But feel; the ground is even colder now. I think there’s something buried beneath it.”

 

Rose felt her hopes rising up again. Carefully the duo got to work clearing more dirt out of the way. Rose saw the start of a round object emerging from the ground. Maria dusted the top with her little brush and then reached out to touch the top of it. “It’s freezing,” she said pulling her hand back.

 

“Let me finish,” said Luke.  Maria backed away and Luke made short work of prying the orb out of the ground. He handed it up to Rose, who brushed the rest of the dirt away, wincing at the cold the object radiated.

 

“This is it,” she said. “This is the second orb. Let’s get it back to the other one.” They climbed out of the pit as lightning split the sky. Thunder followed a few seconds later and then the clouds opened up and the deluge hit them, soaking them to the skin. They ran hard for the shelter of the tents, the second orb cradled tightly against Rose’s body.

 

Ch. 31:  http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/310391.html