Hunger Moon: Chapter Thirty-Two

[amberfocus]

                                                                    banner by angelfireeast

Title:  Hunger Moon (32/?)
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 ,jeprdyfrndly
Rating:  Adult, some chapters NC-17 with graphic sex
Betas: amyo67, jeprdyfrndly 
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.

Previous chapters:  http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/263134.html

Chapter Thirty-Two: Evacuation

Rose rubbed at the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger. She felt a headache coming on and her skin felt uncomfortable. Tension had settled in the base of her neck and spine and everything felt off. She rolled her shoulders in an attempt to loosen her body. The Doctor would have been able to relax her instantly with just the right pressure at just the right points. She missed him. She missed him so much.

She tried to focus on the man in front of her. He’d been talking about something to do with getting as many people as possible into the convoy. She concentrated, turning her attention firmly on the man. He was asking for hard numbers.

“That’s just it. We’re not sure how big the radius is,” Rose told the Chief Councilor of Laugharne. She glanced at the bus that was filled with children, pregnant women, and a few heavily armed able-bodied men and women. “We’re hoping that anything between the jeep and the troop transit will be within the safety perimeter since it was protecting the whole town before, but there simply are no guarantees.”

Three more school buses pulled up, filled with people. “But you can try.”

“We’ll try anything at this point,” she said.

“If we can get even another hundred, hundred fifty people out of here, we’ll be grateful,” the councilor, a man by the name of Sherman Payne, said. He was a tall, thin man with sharp features, jet black hair, and piercing green eyes that seemed to drill right through a person. His voice, kindly and soft spoken, was completely at odds with his appearance. “We’ve heard such awful rumors about what’s going on outside the safety zone. The men who were guarding the fence…” He broke off and looked down, unable to finish his sentence.

“It’s hell out there,” Rose said.

“Yeah.” His eyes turned on the vans pulling into line before turning back to Rose. “Good luck.”

“You’re not coming?” Rose asked.

“I can’t in good conscience take a place that could be given to one of my people.”

“But they’re going to need an administrator when they get to the shelter,” Rose protested. “Someone to keep things organized and calm. I don’t think Torchwood will be able to spare anyone.”

“Yes, and that’s why my wife is going with the evacuees,” he replied. “Anything I can do, she can do better,” he said completely without guile.

“But you, you’ll be…” Rose couldn’t continue. In the last 24 hours she’d worked closely with this man, planning the evacuation. The thought he might be staying behind hadn’t even occurred to her, though it should have, considering what a good man he was. Rose swallowed hard. Damn alien invasions. They always meant losing good people.

“Just keep her safe and it doesn’t matter what happens to me.”

Rose unhooked the force field from her vest. “It matters to me. This is a miniature force field. It’s big enough to protect a small group of people, but they have to stay near you. It’ll repel the crazies. Save who you can. Hold up in town hall. It’s a virtual fortress with its security system. If there is any way at all that we can come back for you, we will. I promise you.” The man took the device gratefully and Rose showed him how to operate it. Then she asked him for the exact coordinates of town hall.

“Rose, come on, we have to go,” Mickey shouted.

Rose waved acknowledgment to Mickey, bit her lip, and looked back at the man who was willing to sacrifice everything just to save some of his city. “I hope I see you again.”

The man smiled tightly, nodded, then turned away abruptly and strode off to the small group of men who had been invaluable during the loading period, but who were staying behind. She watched as he activated the force field and a glowing blue light encompassed them for a few seconds, before fading to invisibility. Rose sighed and ran over to the jeep.

Jake was making sure all of the vehicle drivers knew what to expect on the trip back, so Rose took the spare bit of time to check her mobile. She’d had it on but in the noise and confusion of the evacuation she might have missed a call. She had. She hoped it was the Doctor and frowned when she realized it was just a text from Ianto. It read, “All clear on our end. See you soon. No news from the Doctor yet. Sorry. Ianto.” She sighed. The battery was about gone and her charger was in her gear in the back. She turned it off to save what little battery was left and shoved it in her pocket. She put on her seatbelt and settled in for the ride.

“The blue orb is riding with us,” said Mickey as Jake climbed into the jeep, “and Luke and Maria are on the troop carrier with the green one and two of Reed’s best sharp shooters. They’ll go last.”

Rose nodded swinging up into the jeep beside Sergeant Reed. She pasted a smile on her face. “Here goes nothing,” she said brightly. Slowly the convoy began to move out.



“So the neural net over the planet is basically like a giant computer system, made up of conscious thought from these invaders,” Suzie said, making sure she understood exactly what was going on.

“Yes. In a species like this, they either have everyone contributing one percent of their abilities, or they have at least one hundred beings focusing all of their abilities across the planet. The second option is most likely,” the Doctor said. “It would be a wiser use of resources in such a large invasion force. But to do that they’ve got to have them spaced pretty evenly around the globe.”

“What, in space ships?”

“Something small, like a personal transport or a life pod or a large satellite even,” the Doctor said.

“So it keeps out matter transmission and even telepathic waves, but does it keep out simple things, like a mobile signal?”

“You mean, can you phone home?” he asked. Suzie nodded. “I don’t know. To be honest it hadn’t occurred to me to try.”

“I’ve got my mobile in my room. I’m sure the battery is dead by now, but once it’s charged we ought to give it a try. Although I suppose we’re out of range of the satellites.”

“Doesn’t matter,” said the Doctor. “I can make it connect with a bit of jiggery pokery. I could make it pick up signals from the Scarlet Cluster if I wanted it to. Go and get it. Even if it’s dead I can charge it up instantly.”

“Okay.” Suzie left the workshop where she and the Doctor had been discussing everything while he built a small device that he hoped would open a small enough portal in the neural net to slip the TARDIS through. It would require the use of her skill in a way she’d never used it before, but if they were just lucky enough, it would work. When she returned five minutes later with the phone, he eagerly took it from her hands, charged up the battery with his sonic screwdriver and then flipped open the back. He made a few minor adjustments then shut it up again and handed it back to Suzie.

“Who should we call?” she asked.

“Rose,” he said immediately then looked at her sheepishly. “Unless…you want to call Jake or Mickey.” He’d been distracted for the last day and a half.  The absence of Rose’s presence in his mind had been disturbing. He didn’t like the way the link had been cut and he was starting to feel rather uncomfortable in his skin without her within reach. It wasn’t quite like the skin hunger of their first few weeks together, but if they were apart too much longer it was going to be more than just uncomfortable.

Suzie smiled gently. “Rose it is. As far as Mickey and Jake know, I’m still in the Zero Room. They won’t be worried. Rose’ll be having a harder go of it, I imagine.” She held out the phone to him.

Shooting her a look of thanks he plucked the mobile from her hand then looked at her. “Rose and I haven’t been apart more than a few hours since we met. I’ve not had occasion to call her before,” he admitted. “I don’t have her number.”

Suzie rattled off a string of numbers and the Doctor tapped them into the phone and put it to his ear. He frowned as it went to a message. “This is Rose Tyler. I’m busy saving the world right now, but if you’d like to leave a message, I’ll get back to you when I can.”

“Rose, it’s me. I wanted you to know that your family is safe but Suzie and I are stuck in a high Earth orbit. The Monoc’teru have put up some kind of force shield over the entire planet that prevents us from transporting through it. I also can’t reach you telepathically. The link is completely shut down. This might cause you severe distress. It’s only temporary, but the longer it lasts, the worse you’re going to feel. Just know that I am here, and I’ll get to you as soon as I can. I love you.” He looked over at Suzie. “If you’re with Mickey and Jake let them know that Suzie and the babies are doing really well.”

“And that I love them,” Suzie added.

“And that she loves them,” the Doctor repeated. “Please be careful, Rose. Good-bye.” He hung up the phone. “Did you want to try the boys?” he asked.

Suzie nodded and dialed a number. She spoke briefly into it, leaving a shorter message than he had, then hung up the phone. She folded it shut and slipped it into the pocket of her trousers. “All right,” said Suzie. “Let’s see what we can do about taking down the neural net.”




Toshiko sighed and sat back in her chair, stretching her arms high above her back and yawning. She’d been spending far too much time working and not enough time sleeping, par for the course during any alien invasion. She glanced over at Davin, who’d put his head down on his keyboard a while ago and fallen asleep, the side of his face mashed into the keys. He didn’t snore, she noted with a wry grin. Always a nice thing to know about a man. She shook that errant thought out of her head and yawned again.

He’d been working beside her for the last fifteen hours and they’d had very little time to eat or attend to anything other than trying to crack the rolling logarithm cipher the aliens were using to protect their computer/neural network interface. They were so close. Just four more digits to go and they’d have it.

She cracked her neck first to one side, then the other, and wiggled her shoulders. Well, her brain was about done in. She stood up and headed for the loo and went to find some coffee. As she staggered towards the little room they ate in, she crossed paths with Katie Harper.

“How’s it going?” Katie wanted to know.

“We’re making real progress, but I’m about on my last legs and Davin’s asleep at his desk.”

“Well, I can give you a stimulant if it’ll help, but it’ll only be temporary. Six hours and then you’ll shut down and have to sleep,” the doctor informed her.

“I think six hours might be enough to crack it,” Tosh said giving a mighty yawn.

“Come on down to the morgue when you’ve eaten something,” she said.

“The morgue?” asked Tosh in surprise.

“Yeah. That guy we brought in yesterday? The one who resisted the attack of the sphere? He’s dead,” she said.

“Dead? How?” asked Toshiko.

“I don’t know. One minute he was talking to Andy about his experience and the next he keeled over. He was unconscious for about three hours and then his heart just stopped. I couldn’t revive him. “I’m going to do an autopsy in a little bit.”

“Okay.”

Tosh went on into the break room and opened the fridge. Domina had brought her husband Lee to Torchwood and the two of them had moved into one of the conference rooms for the duration. Being in residence had turned her into a bit of a mother hen and she’d been making up meals for them and leaving them in the fridge. She pulled out the ones that were labeled with her name and then Davin’s and warmed them both up in the microwave.

Stacking them, she turned to the espresso machine and made a triple shot mocha for Davin and a triple shot hazelnut latte for herself. She pocketed some plastic ware and paper towels and then balancing the coffee on top of the meals she carefully made her way back down to her work station and distributed the food and drinks between the two desks.

The smell of food and coffee seemed to wake Davin up. He sat up slowly, rubbing at the compression marks on the side of his face as he did so. “How long was I out?” he asked. He leaned back hard in the chair, lacing his fingers behind his back to work out the kinks.

“Maybe an hour.” She sat down and took the lid off her food and dug in. “Katie said to come down after we ate and she’d give us stimulants. They should keep us going until we’ve cracked this thing.”

“So long as they don’t roll the cipher again,” Davin muttered.

“The time between rolls is getting longer. I think they’re growing complacent.”

“Here’s hoping,” he replied lifting his coffee in salute. “Is Rose back yet?” he asked.

Tosh glanced at her watch. “Nope. Probably another hour. Jake called in with a progress report about two hours ago. You were in the loo and I forgot to tell you when you got back. So far the convoy is making it okay. The crazy people are repelled by whatever force field the orbs are generating. They’re perfectly safe.”

“And the Doctor? Has he made it back yet?” Davin asked grudgingly.

Tosh shook her head. “No, there’s been nothing from him since he left to take Rose’s family to safety.”

Davin frowned. “I don’t like that.”

“Davin, I know you’re having a hard time with the Doctor and Rose being together,” Tosh began.

Davin held up his hand to stop her. “No, it’s not that. Rose called in yesterday. Ianto said she hadn’t heard anything from him either. He’s so madly in love with her, he’d never do that. He said he’d come right back. If he isn’t back and he hasn’t contacted her it means he can’t. And if he can’t…” Davin scrubbed his hand over his face, the stubble of whiskers making a scraping noise as he did so. “If anything’s happened to him, it’ll devastate Rose.”

Tosh frowned at the intensity of emotion on his face. “You still really love her, don’t you?” she asked softly.

“I just,” he waved his hands expansively. “I want her to be happy. Even if it’s not with me. And she’s so incredibly happy with him in a way she never was with me. In a way she never could be with me. If she loses him like she lost her first Do—.” He broke off, gave himself a little shake. “She loves him so much. I don’t think she could survive another loss in her life.”

“You’re a good man, Davin McBain,” Toshiko said. “Rose is very lucky to have you in her life.”

“Nah,” he said. “I was the one who was lucky to have her in my life, even if it was only for a few years.” He sighed and pushed away from his desk, rolling away from the computer and over towards the food Tosh had set on the far side. “What’d Domina make this time?”

“Mine’s spaghetti,” Tosh said.

Davin removed the lid on his. “Mine, too.” He took the wrapper off his fork and twisted some noodles onto it. He closed his eyes as the flavor hit him. “That woman is wasted as a secretary. She could be the greatest chef in the UK if she wanted to be.”

Tosh laughed. “Yeah, usually we have to settle for pizza from the place down the street, but they all went crazy. This is better.”

The computer started beeping wildly and Tosh rolled back in front of her console. “Yes!” she shouted waving a triumphant fist in the air. “One more down. Three to go.”

She returned to her food and was just finishing up when a scream tore from someone’s throat. “That came from the basement,” Tosh said. She was on her feet in an instant. “Katie!” She bounded out of the room, Davin hot on her heels.

Ch. 33: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/323306.html