amberfocus | Of the Vortex Born: Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen: Neatly Logical

“I wish they’d come back,” Jamie said pacing the confines of the cell. Her breath billowed in the air above her. She felt Luke’s eyes watching her move back and forth across the room. She was feeling more and more like a caged animal. She hadn’t felt near this kind of restlessness when she and Luke had been trapped in the life pod.

“What good would it do if they did?” Luke said. “The one who was here wouldn’t answer any of your questions.”

“Maybe not, but we could ask them to turn up the heat in here.”

“I thought you didn’t feel the cold like I do,” Luke said.

“I don’t. But even I’m starting to feel it now,” she said. She leaned her forehead against the glass and watched as her exhalation turned to frosty crystals before her eyes.

“If you’re cold come and get under the blankets with me. We can share body heat,” Luke said.

Jamie snorted and resumed her pacing. “I’d think you’d have had enough of being up close and personal with me,” she muttered. Luke didn’t say anything to that and when she turned to look at him he gave her a searching look. “What?” she asked when the silence had gone on too long. She picked up her pacing again and ran a hand through her curls.

“I didn’t mind it,” he said finally.

“You didn’t mind what?” Jamie asked.

“I didn’t mind being stuck in the life pod with you. I didn’t mind having to be close with you,” he said quietly. He looked down at the floor. “I liked holding you. It was nice.”

Jamie froze. “What?” she managed.

“I liked holding you,” he responded simply. “I like you, Jamie.”

“You like me?”

“Yes. You’re different from other girls,” he said.

“Well, yeah. I’m not human. That’s a pretty big difference right there,” she told him.

Luke stood up and walked over to her. He reached a hand out from under the blankets and took her hand. “Jamie, it’s not about you being an alien. You’re smart, and kind, and sweet, and you make me laugh.”

“You forgot about my amazing good looks,” she said trying to make a joke out of what he was saying because she wasn’t sure how to deal with how it was making her feel. All she knew was that her hearts were racing a million miles a minute and her palms were suddenly clammy.

“You’re a very pretty girl, Jamie,” he said. “I’d have to be dead not to notice that. I think you already know that I’m physically attracted to you. There was no hiding that,” he said and she blushed. “But what I like about you is the way you think. And the way that you are. You’re special. And I don’t mind you being up close and personal. I don’t mind it a bit,” he said earnestly.

Luke opened up the blankets and Jamie closed the distance between them, giving him a grateful hug. They made their way back over to the mattress and sat down against the wall, the blankets wrapped tightly around them, and Luke’s arm wrapped around her shoulders. She leaned her head against him. “I like you, too, Luke,” she said softly.

His arm tightened around her. “I know you do,” he said matter-of-factly. “I figured that out the day we met.”

“But you were oblivious!” Jamie protested. “I was asking you about girlfriends and special girls and you gave me that line about ‘I guess Maria’s special because she was my first friend,’ and all that. Do you mean to tell me you knew exactly what I was going on about?”

“Well,” said Luke, “Maybe not just then. But I knew when that boy came up to us at lunch the next day and you’d forgotten he asked you to the prom. Maria’s made it very clear to me just how important things like the prom are to girls. So if you forgot a boy asked you, it had to be because you liked another boy. And since I was the one you were focused on, it had to be me,” Luke explained.

“Neatly logical and you are nothing if not logical,” she said.

“Am I wrong?” Luke asked.

“No,” she muttered.

“Did I embarrass you?” he asked pulling away from her a bit and turning so he could look her in the eyes.

“No, just…You said I was different from other girls. Well, you’re really different from other boys,” she told him. “And I’m not quite sure how to…deal with it, I guess.”

“What would you normally do?” he asked with interest.

“I’ve never really gotten close to a boy before. Most of the boys I go to school with are a lot older than me because I’m in such an advanced educational track. Boys closer to my age I don’t know very well unless it’s the kids of parents my mum works with. So there really is no normal response for me to use.”

“Well, then what do you want to do?” he asked.

Jamie met his eyes, shrugged, and took a deep breath. Then she put her hands on his shoulders, leaned forward and pressed her lips against his. Her actions took him by surprise and for a moment he remained frozen. Then he returned the pressure for a few seconds before she pulled away from him. She put her head back on his shoulder and settled against him, her hearts beating out a maddening tango at her brazen move.

As the Kelly Green docked alongside the Dark Heart of Jupiter, Landon and Rose oversaw the automatic connection of the air lock between vessels. It took nearly an hour to make sure both ships were properly sealed together. The Dark Heart had transmitted its atmospheric conditions and the four soldiers were all dressed in full astronaut gear, while the Doctor, Rose and their children wore small breathers attached to little tanks. The Doctor insisted that they leave their weaponry behind. He was armed well enough with the Ritauel extract should they need something.

They were met just outside the airlock door as they emerged onto the Dark Heart. Rose’s eyes widened as she took in the being in front of her. He was so deeply black that light seemed to be swallowed up by him, though she knew that couldn’t be true because each movement he made caused glimmers and flashes to bounce off his body. Further down the corridor they were joined by a more translucent, frosty white smaller being, with a distinctly feminine demeanor.

It was odd that a species that reproduced asexually like the Ganyites did should have such distinctly male and female presences amongst them, Rose thought. Not that she’d seen everything the universe had to offer by a long shot but this was the first time she’d seen this set of circumstances.

“You’re offspring are being held in a room with proper atmosphere,” came the grating voice of the male.

“I hope it’s warmer in there than it is out here,” said Rose seeing her breath crystallize in the air before her.

“The ship is maintained at a constant temperature,” the female said. “It is necessary to us.”

“Jamie should be all right,” said the Doctor. “And hopefully Luke won’t have symptoms of hypothermia after just a few hours of exposure.”

“Did your ship fire missiles at our planet’s Moon?” Mairi asked loudly.

The female halted briefly in her tracks before continuing on. “The missiles were not fired by this ship,” she said.

“Do you know where they came from?” Mairi pressed.

“The missiles were not fired by this ship,” the creature repeated.

“That’s not an answer--.”

“Enough, Mairi,” Landon said sharply. “We have protocols in place for handling this sort of thing.”

“Then bloody handle it,” she fired back at him.

“When the children are safely in our custody again, we will,” he said. “Now cool it.”

Mairi subsided. At last they were led to a small cell with a large glass panel for its fourth wall. “If you will wait in here, your offspring will be brought to you. This room can be piped with your type of atmosphere to make you more comfortable.”

The small group made their way into the room and the glass panel lowered into place. The hiss of the ceiling pipes focused everyone’s attention upwards as the room filled with air. Rose and her children carefully removed their masks, followed by the Doctor, but the soldiers stayed fully suited.

“We will not keep you long,” said the Ganyite female. It was two hours before they figured out she was lying and they were trapped in a room that had been deadlock sealed. It was two and a half hours before everyone but the soldiers were unconscious. It was six hours before the oxygen ran out in the astronaut suits. By that time Jamie and Luke had already been in the possession of Torchwood for eight hours.