Of the Vortex Born: Chapter Ten
Jul. 25th, 2008 09:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amberfocus
Chapter Ten: Close Quarters
“Jamie! Run!” Jamie looked up to see one of the teachers holding open a door to the emergency life pods.
“What’s going on, Mr. Baxter?” Jamie said as she and Luke ran up to the teacher.
“There’s been some kind of attack. Dome Delta’s been cracked down the middle!” Mr. Baxter said. “We’re going to full life pod alert. This isn’t a drill. Be ready to launch if you hear the double trill siren.”
He shoved Jamie and Luke through the doors, checked his list and then slammed the door shut behind him. “Go. Now!”
“But what about Luke?” she asked. “There aren’t enough capsules left in this compartment.”
“Take him with you in yours, Jamie. It’ll be cramped but the two of you can manage.”
“But--.”
“Now! I can’t get into mine until you’re in yours. Move!”
“Fine. Come on,” she said pulling Luke by the hand she hadn’t let go of since the klaxon sounded. She cracked open her assigned capsule. “I don’t know how we’re going to do this.”
“Luke first, back on the cushion board, then you, facing him. Wrap your arms around his waist and then his will go around the outside of them. You'll be able to move around a little after your in space, but for now this is the safest way to launch.” Hastily they obeyed the teacher’s barked orders. He slammed the pod closed with a loud clang.
As soon as it sealed Jamie said, “Jamie Rose Tyler, 0135947, initiate pre-launch.”
“Voice print accepted. Identity confirmed.” The life pod lowered itself from its vertical position to a horizontal one and it slid forward.
“Computer, please record presence of visitor Luke Smith, temporary ID 6519.”
“Acknowledged.”
“What’s happening, Jamie?” Luke asked. He didn’t seem panicked or frightened, just curious.
“We’re getting ready to move into launch position. It’s a standard evacuation procedure. If we hear the double trill siren we’ll have to launch into space.”
“From the surface of the moon?” he asked.
“Yes. We’d launch with enough force to break free of the moon’s gravity then the jet engines take over. The pods are pre-programmed to head to the space station. They’ve got a six day supply of food, air, and water.”
“Jamie, is that for one person? Or two?” Luke asked.
“Well, it’s a one person carrier, so one,” she admitted. “But it takes just under twenty-four hours to reach the station. Even cut in half it’s a three day supply. We’ll be okay.”
“Okay,” said Luke.
Jamie was impressed that he wasn’t upset. He just calmly took in the facts as she presented them. Her Time Lady senses did not pick up anything fearful from him, no increased heartbeat under her ear, no spike of adrenalin, and no sweat or stink of fear. He was as perfectly calm as he appeared.
Even she was a little bit scared and she’d been through an actual launch once before. She had been in a two person pod with her mother that time and had felt completely safe. This was different. But at least she wasn’t going through it alone.
The life pod dropped beneath them and then the nose of the capsule edged forward. Suddenly a tremendous cracking sound came from all around them, resounding violently. The double trill of the klaxon sounded loudly in the tightly enclosed space. “Activate launch sequence,” Jamie said, her voice shaking slightly.
“Launch sequence activated.” And suddenly their life pod was being pulled backwards from their feet.
“It’s like a sling-shot,” she said. Without warning they shot forward, racing up the launch chute and breaking free of the surface of the moon. The engines fired to life beneath them, the roar dulled by sound dampening insulation.
She tightened her arms around Luke and felt a comforting return of pressure from his arms. “It’s going to be okay, Jamie,” he murmured. She felt his hand move against her hair.
“Shouldn’t I be the one reassuring you?” she asked.
“I don’t need it. You do. Besides, I’ve been in tighter situations than this. Well, maybe not tighter,” and he chuckled softly, “but tougher. And I’ve come through them all fine. It’s just another adventure, Jamie. In a long line of them.”
“The extent of my adventuring has been living on the moon,” she said.
“Well, now you can say that’s not true anymore.” She smiled and they settled into silence.
Jamie couldn’t keep quiet for long. She’d never met a silence she liked. “Have you been travelling with my father long?” she asked him.
“No. Just a couple of weeks. But I’ve known him for a couple of years now. He visits my mum from time to time.”
“Tell me about him,” she said.
“What do you want to know?” he asked.
“Everything.”
“Ah,” said Luke. And then he began.
It had taken the Doctor and Rose fifteen minutes to get back to the U.N.I.T. base, even with priority identification. They had just entered the building when the first tremor shook the ground. Alarms began going off all around them. Mairi met them at the door to the war room. “What’s happened, Mairi?” Rose asked, taking the file reader her daughter handed her and striding into the room, the Doctor on her heels.
“Dome Delta’s cracked. We don’t know why. It just happened. There was no warning,” she said.
Rose glanced over the information that was coming onto her screen. “Where’s Landon?” she asked.
“He was teaching this morning. He’s at the university.”
Jake charged into the room, followed by the Brigadier and a few of the other higher-ups around U.N.I.T. The chairs filled in around the table. “What do we know?” asked the Brigadier to one of the others, a man with a name tag that read Nikolas Onishenko.
“There were reports of strange activity amongst the wild life in dome Delta all night. Then all of the little birds and animals started shrieking. Next thing we know the dome had cracked and lost atmosphere.”
“What cracked it?” the Brig asked.
“Some kind of compression bomb. But it was on the outside. And none of the cameras saw anything.”
“Any survivors?” Rose asked.
“None of the life pods launched,” said Nikolas. “None of them operated a pre-launch sequence. It’s possible there are survivors in the pods but we can’t be sure of anything. I think we have to assume full loss of life there.”
“Something’s coming in,” said Jake who had been monitoring radar on his computer screen. “Oh, no, it’s heading for dome Epsilon. Sound the double klaxon. Do it. Now!” he ordered. A technician jumped to his feet and ran from the room. A few seconds later the double trill rang out, filling the facility with its harsh noise.
“How was the first one missed? How come we didn’t see this one coming?” demanded the Brigadier.
“It came in on a radar blind spot!” shouted Nikolas over the noise. A concussive blast ripped through the room and the ground trembled.
“That was dome Epsilon!" yelled Mairi turning to her mother. The file reader fell out of Rose’s bloodless fingers.
“What is it?” asked the Doctor. What’s in dome Epsilon?”
His daughter turned to him and said, “Jamie and Luke. That’s where her school is.”
The Doctor jumped to his feet. “What kind of evacuation plan is there?” he demanded.
Mairi stood frozen for a moment and he thought he was going to have to ask again. But she shook herself and said, “Life pods. Each child and teacher is assigned a life pod and at the first klaxon the children are to report directly to their assigned slots. There are extras available for visitors, staff, and volunteers. If a double trill klaxon sounds the life pods launch. They’re preprogrammed to go to the space station.”
“Is there any way to find out if Jamie and Luke made it out?” the Doctor asked.
“Yes.” Mairi retrieved the file reader her mother had dropped and picked up the stylus. It flew over the screen as she brought up page after page of information. “Got it,” she said. “Jamie made it to her pod safely and Luke…he’s with her. Yikes. In a single pod. Well, it’ll be cramped but they’ll be fine. They have plenty of food, air, and water to make it to the station.”
The Doctor looked at Rose. “It’s okay, Rose. Jamie and Luke are okay.” Rose nodded mutely, but froze when Jake shook his head and looked up from his screen.
“We have a problem,” he said.
“What?” snapped the Brigadier. “What else can go wrong?”
“You probably shouldn’t have said that,” muttered the Doctor.
“It’s the space station, Brig,” Jake said.
“What about it?”
“It’s gone.”
“What do you mean gone?” the Brigadier said.
“Just that, sir. One moment it was there, the next it just…vanished,” Jake said.
“But how? A space station doesn’t just disappear!” protested Nikolas.
“This one did.”
“Are you sure it’s gone?” asked the Doctor. “Could something be obscuring it?”
“No,” said Jake. “It’s gone. There’s a continuous link of information that flows back and forth between the station and our base here. Every single processor is off line. Even if the station were to have exploded the other day, we’d still be reading some processors. But there’s not even one. It’s gone. Some one took it and I’m willing to bet it was whoever sent the bombs in.”
“But what happens to the life pods if there’s no space station for them to go to?” asked Rose.
Nobody answered her. “What happens?” she demanded.
“Rose, if there’s no station for them to dock with, they’ll just keep going until they find the nearest facility that they can dock with,” the Brigadier said.
“No,” Rose said, “But that’s…that’s--.” She couldn’t continue.
“That’s Torchwood,” said Jake.
Ch. 11: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/107520.html
“But what about Luke?” she asked. “There aren’t enough capsules left in this compartment.”
“Take him with you in yours, Jamie. It’ll be cramped but the two of you can manage.”
“But--.”
“Now! I can’t get into mine until you’re in yours. Move!”
“Fine. Come on,” she said pulling Luke by the hand she hadn’t let go of since the klaxon sounded. She cracked open her assigned capsule. “I don’t know how we’re going to do this.”
“Luke first, back on the cushion board, then you, facing him. Wrap your arms around his waist and then his will go around the outside of them. You'll be able to move around a little after your in space, but for now this is the safest way to launch.” Hastily they obeyed the teacher’s barked orders. He slammed the pod closed with a loud clang.
As soon as it sealed Jamie said, “Jamie Rose Tyler, 0135947, initiate pre-launch.”
“Voice print accepted. Identity confirmed.” The life pod lowered itself from its vertical position to a horizontal one and it slid forward.
“Computer, please record presence of visitor Luke Smith, temporary ID 6519.”
“Acknowledged.”
“What’s happening, Jamie?” Luke asked. He didn’t seem panicked or frightened, just curious.
“We’re getting ready to move into launch position. It’s a standard evacuation procedure. If we hear the double trill siren we’ll have to launch into space.”
“From the surface of the moon?” he asked.
“Yes. We’d launch with enough force to break free of the moon’s gravity then the jet engines take over. The pods are pre-programmed to head to the space station. They’ve got a six day supply of food, air, and water.”
“Jamie, is that for one person? Or two?” Luke asked.
“Well, it’s a one person carrier, so one,” she admitted. “But it takes just under twenty-four hours to reach the station. Even cut in half it’s a three day supply. We’ll be okay.”
“Okay,” said Luke.
Jamie was impressed that he wasn’t upset. He just calmly took in the facts as she presented them. Her Time Lady senses did not pick up anything fearful from him, no increased heartbeat under her ear, no spike of adrenalin, and no sweat or stink of fear. He was as perfectly calm as he appeared.
Even she was a little bit scared and she’d been through an actual launch once before. She had been in a two person pod with her mother that time and had felt completely safe. This was different. But at least she wasn’t going through it alone.
The life pod dropped beneath them and then the nose of the capsule edged forward. Suddenly a tremendous cracking sound came from all around them, resounding violently. The double trill of the klaxon sounded loudly in the tightly enclosed space. “Activate launch sequence,” Jamie said, her voice shaking slightly.
“Launch sequence activated.” And suddenly their life pod was being pulled backwards from their feet.
“It’s like a sling-shot,” she said. Without warning they shot forward, racing up the launch chute and breaking free of the surface of the moon. The engines fired to life beneath them, the roar dulled by sound dampening insulation.
She tightened her arms around Luke and felt a comforting return of pressure from his arms. “It’s going to be okay, Jamie,” he murmured. She felt his hand move against her hair.
“Shouldn’t I be the one reassuring you?” she asked.
“I don’t need it. You do. Besides, I’ve been in tighter situations than this. Well, maybe not tighter,” and he chuckled softly, “but tougher. And I’ve come through them all fine. It’s just another adventure, Jamie. In a long line of them.”
“The extent of my adventuring has been living on the moon,” she said.
“Well, now you can say that’s not true anymore.” She smiled and they settled into silence.
Jamie couldn’t keep quiet for long. She’d never met a silence she liked. “Have you been travelling with my father long?” she asked him.
“No. Just a couple of weeks. But I’ve known him for a couple of years now. He visits my mum from time to time.”
“Tell me about him,” she said.
“What do you want to know?” he asked.
“Everything.”
“Ah,” said Luke. And then he began.
It had taken the Doctor and Rose fifteen minutes to get back to the U.N.I.T. base, even with priority identification. They had just entered the building when the first tremor shook the ground. Alarms began going off all around them. Mairi met them at the door to the war room. “What’s happened, Mairi?” Rose asked, taking the file reader her daughter handed her and striding into the room, the Doctor on her heels.
“Dome Delta’s cracked. We don’t know why. It just happened. There was no warning,” she said.
Rose glanced over the information that was coming onto her screen. “Where’s Landon?” she asked.
“He was teaching this morning. He’s at the university.”
Jake charged into the room, followed by the Brigadier and a few of the other higher-ups around U.N.I.T. The chairs filled in around the table. “What do we know?” asked the Brigadier to one of the others, a man with a name tag that read Nikolas Onishenko.
“There were reports of strange activity amongst the wild life in dome Delta all night. Then all of the little birds and animals started shrieking. Next thing we know the dome had cracked and lost atmosphere.”
“What cracked it?” the Brig asked.
“Some kind of compression bomb. But it was on the outside. And none of the cameras saw anything.”
“Any survivors?” Rose asked.
“None of the life pods launched,” said Nikolas. “None of them operated a pre-launch sequence. It’s possible there are survivors in the pods but we can’t be sure of anything. I think we have to assume full loss of life there.”
“Something’s coming in,” said Jake who had been monitoring radar on his computer screen. “Oh, no, it’s heading for dome Epsilon. Sound the double klaxon. Do it. Now!” he ordered. A technician jumped to his feet and ran from the room. A few seconds later the double trill rang out, filling the facility with its harsh noise.
“How was the first one missed? How come we didn’t see this one coming?” demanded the Brigadier.
“It came in on a radar blind spot!” shouted Nikolas over the noise. A concussive blast ripped through the room and the ground trembled.
“That was dome Epsilon!" yelled Mairi turning to her mother. The file reader fell out of Rose’s bloodless fingers.
“What is it?” asked the Doctor. What’s in dome Epsilon?”
His daughter turned to him and said, “Jamie and Luke. That’s where her school is.”
The Doctor jumped to his feet. “What kind of evacuation plan is there?” he demanded.
Mairi stood frozen for a moment and he thought he was going to have to ask again. But she shook herself and said, “Life pods. Each child and teacher is assigned a life pod and at the first klaxon the children are to report directly to their assigned slots. There are extras available for visitors, staff, and volunteers. If a double trill klaxon sounds the life pods launch. They’re preprogrammed to go to the space station.”
“Is there any way to find out if Jamie and Luke made it out?” the Doctor asked.
“Yes.” Mairi retrieved the file reader her mother had dropped and picked up the stylus. It flew over the screen as she brought up page after page of information. “Got it,” she said. “Jamie made it to her pod safely and Luke…he’s with her. Yikes. In a single pod. Well, it’ll be cramped but they’ll be fine. They have plenty of food, air, and water to make it to the station.”
The Doctor looked at Rose. “It’s okay, Rose. Jamie and Luke are okay.” Rose nodded mutely, but froze when Jake shook his head and looked up from his screen.
“We have a problem,” he said.
“What?” snapped the Brigadier. “What else can go wrong?”
“You probably shouldn’t have said that,” muttered the Doctor.
“It’s the space station, Brig,” Jake said.
“What about it?”
“It’s gone.”
“What do you mean gone?” the Brigadier said.
“Just that, sir. One moment it was there, the next it just…vanished,” Jake said.
“But how? A space station doesn’t just disappear!” protested Nikolas.
“This one did.”
“Are you sure it’s gone?” asked the Doctor. “Could something be obscuring it?”
“No,” said Jake. “It’s gone. There’s a continuous link of information that flows back and forth between the station and our base here. Every single processor is off line. Even if the station were to have exploded the other day, we’d still be reading some processors. But there’s not even one. It’s gone. Some one took it and I’m willing to bet it was whoever sent the bombs in.”
“But what happens to the life pods if there’s no space station for them to go to?” asked Rose.
Nobody answered her. “What happens?” she demanded.
“Rose, if there’s no station for them to dock with, they’ll just keep going until they find the nearest facility that they can dock with,” the Brigadier said.
“No,” Rose said, “But that’s…that’s--.” She couldn’t continue.
“That’s Torchwood,” said Jake.
Ch. 11: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/107520.html
