A Sky Without Zeppelins: Chapter Forty-Nine

[amberfocus]

honorh  for helping me name Dr. Eriko Sasaki with a proper Japanese name.

Chapter Forty-Nine

 

“James!” Donna screams. “James! James!” She wrenches herself away from Jonathon’s hold on her and runs towards the fading red light. She has to stop as the roof beneath her feet burns through the soles of her shoes. Scorching heat radiates upwards and only a few feet further on the surface looks molten. Rose’s gentle hands are pulling her away and back towards the more solid surface, but she refuses to retreat far. Her voice splits the night as she continues the litany of her lover’s name, as if crying it out often enough will bring him to her side. He does not appear and with each repetition her words break and crack just a little bit more until only a hoarse whisper croaks from her throat.

When the roof is cool enough beneath her she collapses to her knees and stares up at the sky as the smokiness begins to fade. The shield that had kept the rain off them has long since collapsed and the rain, no longer influenced by the Caligo’s cold, falls in warm drops, hissing into the heated surface before them. Sobs wrack Donna’s body as Rose kneels beside her. “James,” she whispers again, then one last time. “James.” Rose pulls her close and Jonathon kneels on her other side, his hand wrapping firmly around her limp one.

Jonathon gazes across to the far side of the roof where the bulk of Caelum lays. The creature is reduced in size, large enough now only to fill a room and not half of the roof top. He can’t tell if he is alive or dead, but he can sense the little one has survived sheltered safely within Caelum’s hold. He doesn’t know how long they stay there, but the sound of sirens splitting the night eventually intrudes upon them. The melting part of the roof collapses and he stumbles to his feet.

“We have to go,” he says grimly. Rose stands and they pull Donna to her feet.

“James,” she whimpers again, like it’s the only word she remembers. His heart breaks.

“He gave his life for us. He wouldn’t want us to die here,” Jonathon says firmly. He herds Donna towards the door, but the roof buckles further and their route is blocked. His eyes scan for a safe path around it. “Come on.”

They head for the fire escape as a helicopter appears over the top of the building. “What about Caelum?” Rose asks her worried eyes on the battered creature. “What about our little one?”

“We can’t save them,” Jonathon says brokenly. “There’s no way to get to them.” Another piece of the building collapses and the helicopter circles closer, the wind whipping violently against them. A ladder falls from the chopper and a man descends. He is tall, dimpled, black-haired and blue-eyed, dressed all in black and they’ve seen him before, at the expo after the last Caligo attack.

“Up the ladder, now,” he orders. “The building is going to go.” Jonathon nods, leading over first Donna and then Rose. Jonathon watches as the man skirts around the edge of the building heading towards Caelum. He steps onto the ladder as soon as Rose clears it. As he climbs the ladder he can see the evacuation going on in the street below. The stranger reaches the alien’s side and places something against it. He pushes a button and it flashes once, twice, then Caelum disappears.

As quickly as possible the man is on the ladder behind him and he hurries to climb it. Above him Donna and Rose are pulled safely into the helicopter and he scrambles inside next, the strong arms of two men dressed all in black heaving him inside. The chopper rises and retreats to a safe distance and only just in time. The left side of the building collapses, an enormous dust cloud rising from the rubble. He’s only seen things like that on the telly. The horror of watching it fall in real life is overwhelming, not knowing if the people below are safe, not knowing if everyone who lives or works there, including Rose’s roommate, has made it out of the building.

It’s too noisy for the enigmatic stranger to answer any of his questions so he sits back watching the crumpled form of his best friend huddled into the comforting arms of his lover. He is numb as he thinks about what happened to James Lumin. The man had rapidly been becoming a good friend; the sort of friend he didn’t normally have. A small part of him can’t help being relieved that it isn’t Rose that was killed. As much as he’ll miss his mysterious alien boss, if he’d lost Rose after losing everything else he’s lost in his life, he’s not sure he’d be capable of going on.

The feeling of relief makes him feel guilty. Donna’s silent grief fills the inside of the helicopter, nearly a visible force. She shudders and Rose makes some barely heard soothing noise and Donna stills. He hates the limitations of the helicopter’s seating. He wants to be back there holding onto them both, offering what little support he can. When he turns away there is sympathy in the eyes of the man sitting beside him. The man grips his shoulder and there is something undeniably comforting and vaguely familiar about it. He points out the window and mimes landing with his hands.

A moment later they are touching down on a building Jonathon recognizes as Canary Wharf. Ice water seems to flow in his veins for a brief few seconds and he struggles to shake it off. A vast white wall appears in his mind and an overwhelming sorrow threatens to bring him to tears. He glances back at Rose and instantly the feeling leaves him. He shivers in the aftermath. He’s avoided coming to this part of London before, instinctively wanting no part of it. He wonders if this is something he’s forgotten from his amnesiac past.

He waits until the man indicates that they are to disembark, signaling to keep their heads low. He helps Donna as she stumbles out of the helicopter, Rose taking her other side as soon as they are clear of the circling blades. The man leads them into a lift and they descend in silence. The doors open on what appears to be an infirmary and he ushers them inside.

“What is this, Captain?” asks a small Japanese woman in a lab coat.

“These,” he says, “are the people that survived the attack and were with the creature.”

“Hello,” she says with a slightly worried frown on her face. “I’m Dr. Sasaki. Did any of you get touched by the black cloud?”

“No,” says Rose softly. “Not this time.”

“One’s touched you before? And you survived?” The woman’s bright eyes focus tightly on Rose and she comes closer, a small handheld device pointing in Rose’s direction. Rose recognizes it as similar to the scanner Dr. Martha Mulligan from work keeps on her at all times. “There’s no trace of residue.”

“I was treated,” Rose says pushing the device away from her body. “Do you mind?”

“Yes, I mind,” she says firmly. “We still need to check that none of you were infected. The incubation to death rate is—.”

“Yes, we know,” Jonathon interrupts. “We were at the expo when the Caligo attacked last time.”

“Caligo?” the man the doctor had called Captain repeats sharply. “How do you know their name?”

“James told us.” The words emerge from the ravished throat of Donna Noble.

“James?” he asks. His eyes widen and Jonathon thinks the man is putting two and two together.

Hearing her dead lover’s name from someone else’s lips causes her to burst into sobs again and Rose moves to comfort her, but Donna steps away, no longer willing to be comforted. With great force of will she pulls herself together, taking the box of tissues Dr. Sasaki offers her and going through several as she blows her nose and cleans up her face. She looks up and meets the eyes of her questioner. “James Lumin. My fiancé.” There is quiet dignity in her voice now.

“Was he there with you?” the Captain asks.

Donna closes her eyes, forcing back tears but it’s too hard for her to speak again. “He was,” Jonathon answers instead.

“What happened to him?”

This time Jonathon’s throat closes. The Captain glances from one to the next and finally settles on Rose, who seems the best pulled together of the lot. “He saved us,” she says. “He saved all of us.”

“But where is he?” demanded the Captain. “There was no sign of him on that roof, not in human form or—.” He cuts himself off abruptly.

“You know what he was then?” Rose replies.

“And apparently so do you. And what do you mean was? Didn’t he just dissipate?”

“I don’t think so,” Jonathon says. “He killed the Caligo and…and he burned himself up in the process. I think it’s safe to say that James Lumin is dead.”

“Damn it,” the Captain curses. “Damn it!” He picks up a paperweight from a nearby desk and hurls it against the wall.

“Captain,” Dr. Sasaki says sharply. “Get a hold of yourself.”

“This world does not need James Lumin dead. Do you have any kind of idea the havoc this is going to wreak? Not to mention that he was our first line of defense in keeping this planet safe from attack. He could tell the good aliens from the bad ones.”

“Jack,” Dr. Sasaki says sharply gesturing at Jonathon, Donna, and Rose.

“If they know what Lumin is, they know about aliens, Eriko,” he replies dismissively. “Damn it,” he repeats. “We need that man. We need him alive.”  He shakes his head. “Check them out and then have them report to me for debriefing. I’ve got to go reposition Satellite Five and scan the area. We’ve got to make sure that was the last of the Caligo and make sure that…that there’s no possibility Lumin is alive and too finely dissipated to reform himself.”

“He’s not,” Donna says. “You didn’t see. He’s,” she swallows hard, “he’s gone. He burned up.”

“If he dissipated enough to be practically non-existent it’s possible—.”

“No! You don’t understand!” Donna cries out angrily. “When he’s in light form, I feel him. It’s a connection we’ve had ever since…ever since—it’s a connection we have and he—he’s not there. I don’t feel him and I would feel him! Even if there was just a bit of him left in light form…I’d feel him. He gave me his energy. I’ve held it and I know. He’s gone.”

Dr. Sasaki approaches them and abruptly presses something against Donna’s arm. The soft hiss of air is heard and Donna jumps away. “Ouch. What are you…?” She wobbles.

“Catch her, Jack,” Dr. Sasaki orders and the Captain leaps to do so as Donna crumbles.

“What’d you do?” Rose asks.

“I gave her a sedative.”

“What for?” Jonathon demands.

“She was getting hysterical,” the doctor answers calmly. “The trauma of the night has been too much.”

“You just wanted her docile,” Jonathon accuses.

“I wanted her manageable. I doubt that one is ever docile,” Dr. Sasaki says. “Now bring her along to the exam table. We’ve got to make sure you’re all okay.”

“I’m not authorizing a medical exam,” Jonathon says. “We know our rights.”

“We operate outside the normal law structure here,” the woman says. “You’ve come into contact with aliens. None of the usual rules apply. We have jurisdiction and we can label you as contaminated or a threat at any time and hold you indefinitely.” As pleasant as the doctor’s voice is, the threat is clear.

“That’s enough, Eriko. Stop trying to intimidate our…guests,” Jack says. He turns a charming smile on the conscious part of the trio. “Please cooperate and we’ll have you cleared and out of here in no time. I’ll be back to debrief you once you’ve been medically cleared.”

As the man begins to stride away Jonathon calls after him, “Wait. What about—what about the creature? I saw you tag him and teleport him away. Where is he? Is he alive? Is he okay? Was there anything with—?” He breaks off at the look on the man’s face.

“That’s classified.”

Jonathon breaks away from Rose and goes after Jack. “I don’t give a damn about classified. I want to know if my—I need to know if…” He stops, trying to keep his temper and his emotions under control. “Just…I need to know.”

Jack’s face softens. “I haven’t had a chance to find out.”

“And when you do?” Jack says nothing. “Please, this is important.”

“I’ll see if I can get you some kind of clearance,” Jack allows. “Now go back to Dr. Sasaki and get yourself checked out.”

With a sigh, Jonathon decides he will have to trust this man to keep his word. He nods and heads back to where Donna is being examined.

 

“What do we have here?” Jack asks, striding into the room where the huge alien was teleported.  He's just come from repositioning the satellite, or rather telling the computer to tell the satellite to reposition itself.  It'll take a couple of hours for the machine to actually carry out the minute adjustments that will move it enough so that he can scan for the dissipated remains of James Lumin.  If the man still exists.  His woman doesn't think so and Jack hates to admit she's probably right. “Dr. Singh?”

Dr. Raji Singh, who is bent over the bulk of the alien, straightens up with a syringe in his hand. He has withdrawn a vial of pale green fluid from the creature. “It’s alive,” he says. “It’s badly burned and it needs care, a lot of care, but it’s alive. I need to get this to the lab and see about synthesizing some kind of nutrient gel that we can put on it…on…on…him.” The man shakes his head, his dark brown eyes going wide. Jack can practically see the calculations going on in the man’s brain.

“Dr. Singh? Dr. Singh? Raji!” Jack says.

The East Indian man turns towards him holding up one hand. Jack sighs in frustration but Dr. Singh shakes his head. A moment later, he snaps out of it and runs a hand through his straight black hair. “I think he just told me what to do. I’ve got to get to the lab before I forget.”

It takes twenty minutes for Raji to synthesize a small quantity of the substance. He had handed the blood sample over to one of the junior doctors on his team the moment he arrived back in the lab and immediately written down the formula that had come into his head then set about creating it. It is only a small amount, what would be adequate to put on a human being’s entire body, but it is enough to test on a patch of the creature’s skin.

He applies it himself, too curious to see the results to let anyone else be in charge. The substance immediately disappears into the alien and the charred skin seemed to slough away and be replaced by a healthier looking salmon-colored tissue. He walks to the intercom panel and dials the lab. “Adeola?”

“Yes, Dr. Singh?”

“Can you tell Owen to start mass producing the gel I made? The formula is on my desk. Ideally, I’d like to have enough to fill one of the holding tanks and submerge the creature,” Dr. Singh tells her.

“Okay,” she says.

“And I know we don’t have enough of the ingredients on hand, but he’s to make up what we do have immediately. If I can at least get a thin coating on the alien now, we might actually be able to stabilize his condition before submerging him. Then he can just spend his recovery time in the tank.”

“Yes, sir.”

Dr. Singh turns away from the intercom and goes to where Jack is standing, contemplating the creature’s enormous bulk. “You thinking the holding tank on level four?” he asks.

“Only one big enough, Captain.”

“It’ll have to be flushed and the Moruno population moved to the smaller tank,” Jack replies.

“I know. But they’ll just have to deal with it. This creature needs the bigger tank more than they do. They’ll just be uncomfortable for a couple of weeks. He might die without it. Maybe the displacement will stop the Moruno reproduction cycle for a bit. Lelalia just laid three more eggs. And that’s with birth control constantly being cycled through their tank,” Dr. Singh told him. “I wish we could keep the males in a different tank.”

“Last time we tried that, half of their community suicided,” Jack says. “They’re too interdependent on social interaction as a species.”

Dr. Singh shudders. “I remember. Owen’s pretty sure he’s on to something there. He’s located the mutation in their genetic code. We may be able to drop their birth rate back to pre-war levels within the year. If so, they can be released into the ocean without fear of them devouring everything they run into.”

“I think I’d hate their opponents if I ever met them. Who thinks up a biological weapon that makes its enemy over-reproduce so much that it uses up all their resources? And to tweak it to make it a biological imperative that can’t be ignored and so pleasurable it’s more addictive than any drug I’ve ever run across?” Jack sighs and shakes his head. “But the creature will survive?”

“Yes, I think so.”

A buzz on the door rings through the holding area and Dr. Singh hurries to answer it. Young Owen is standing there with a large vat of the medicine the creature needs. “Moira is making more, but I thought it best to get it up here as it becomes available. Do you need help or should I get back to the lab and help her?”

“The more hands the better getting it spread onto him, I’d say,” Dr. Singh says. “Jack, can you help?”

“Yeah, sure.” Jack moves to help and Owen goes to inform Moira that he isn’t coming back until the medicine has been spread.

“There’re some paint rollers on seven that haven’t been used yet,” Owen says conversationally. “If we send down for them it’ll make the job go faster.” He goes arms deep into the goop and begins spreading it.

“Good idea,” says Jack, who hasn’t gotten his hands into the medicine yet. “I’ll ask Addie to get them.”

Ten minutes later Adeola Jones shows up at the door with a cart holding three paint rollers and four brand new mops that have never been used. “Thought these might help if the paint rollers don’t work,” she says with a shrug.

“Good, thinking, Addie,” Jack says with a grin and a wink that makes the young girl blush. “Want to help?”

“Beats answering the phones,” she says and grabs one of the mops. The long, stranded mops prove to be the better choice and soon they’ve managed to cover half the alien in the pale green gel. Moira arrives with another vat, her eyes going wide at the sight before her. She leaves without a word to return to the synthesizing process.

An hour later the creature has been covered as best they can manage. “I don’t know what to do about the underside. I don’t exactly think it’ll sit up and roll over like a dog if we ask it, too,” Jack says.

“He,” corrects Dr. Singh, “will not. He implies that he can wait to be teleported into the holding tank.”

“How is the removal of the Moruno population going?” Jack asks.

“I’ll find out,” Adeola says and heads to the nearest phone, calling down to check. She returns to Jack’s side a few moments later. “Captain Harkness, they’re just flushing the tank now. As soon as there is enough medicine in the tank, we can teleport him down.”

“That’s great news,” says Jack. “How’s he doing?” he asks Dr. Singh. “I’ve got some worried people down in medical that came in with him that want to know.” Dr. Singh raises an eyebrow. “I’ll get clearance first,” he says in annoyance.

“He’s absorbing the gel and returning to what I assume is his normal coloring. I think he’s going to be fine. Although…what appears to be a piece of him has broken off,” he replies.

He walks over to a small piece of what looks very like red coral that’s resting on the floor beside the larger creature. Jack moves to pick it up and the little thing abruptly disappears, leaving Jack with a shrieking headache ripping through his skull.

Ch. 50:  http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/266589.html