Of the Vortex Born: Chapter Twelve
Jul. 29th, 2008 11:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amberfocus
Chapter Twelve: Figuring things Out
“So, what are they, Doctor?” Rose asked. “What are they, what do they want, and are they after the Moon or the Earth or are we irrelevant and this is about something else?”
The Doctor ran his hand through his hair and pulled the photograph closer before pushing it away again. Rose picked it up in her fingers and studied it. “Well,” said the Doctor, “I recognize the ship from my universe. It doesn’t necessarily mean the aliens will be exactly the same as the ones I knew so long ago, but…” He sighed and trailed off.
“You’re stalling,” Rose said flatly.
“Noticed that, did you?” he asked.
“Some things never change,” she answered. “Now tell us.”
There was a slight edge of annoyance in Rose’s voice that made him sit up straight and go into full lecture mode. “If these are the same aliens, and I’m not saying they are, but if these are the same aliens that I’ve had dealings with in the past, it’s going to depend on what time period they’re from as to whether or not they’re evil.”
“What, you don’t call busting three of our domes wide open and killing at least a thousand people evil?” Mairi said sharply. Rose gave her daughter a quelling look. “Sorry, Mum, but I had friends in domes Delta and Phi.”
“We all did,” Landon said, his hand reaching out and squeezing his sister's before he turned his eyes back on his father. “Continue.”
“They’re Ganyites,” he said. “And their planet of origin is Jupiter, more specifically the moon Ganymede. They’re a carbonaceous silicate-based life-form. At this point in history in my universe, they’re still warriors though they do eventually evolve into a much more peaceful race of beings.”
“So, you’re telling me that we’re dealing with honest-to-goodness non-human life that originated in our own solar system?” Brigadier Cassidien asked.
“Yep,” said the Doctor popping the p.
“But there’s no life on Ganymede,” said Jake. “We’ve proved that conclusively. “Our probes have been all over Jupiter and its major moons. Callisto had algae but everything else was barren.”
“Erm…not exactly,” said Nikolas Onishenko.
“What do you mean?” The Brigadier turned his eyes on his subordinate, his voice holding back an edge of anger.
“Well, as you know, before I came here, I worked at Torchwood for several years. I was part of the explorations division. From their space station they conducted several one-man flights to various moons in our solar system. Ganymede was one of them. They found the ruins of a bipedal species. But not the species itself.”
“They live in the ice caverns,” the Doctor said. “Underground. The ruins are from an earlier peaceful version of their culture. The ice dwellers wiped them out but chose to remain where they were and let their conquered cities fall to ruins.”
“But if there are ruins, how come our cameras never picked them up on fly-bys?” the Brig asked.
“I believe that Torchwood had someone on the inside that tampered with the U.N. probes,” Nikolas said. “It was widely rumored when I worked there, but I never found any hard evidence of it.”
“Why would Torchwood want to hide the fact that Ganymede had alien life on it?” Rose asked.
“They never do anything unless it’s of benefit to them,” Landon said. “You don’t think…” He stopped as a look of comprehension dawned on his face. “Is it possible Torchwood is allied with this race of Ganyites in an attempt to take over the Moon?”
“Take over the Moon?” The Brig looked startled. “Torchwood is not allowed on the Moon by order of the United Nations.”
“Well, maybe they’ve gotten tired of being the underdog. This could be their move to take control. After all, whoever owns the Moon has considerable power over alien interactions as well as over Earth itself. All they’d have to do was get control of the defensive weaponry and turn it on Earth and they could bring the planet to its knees,” Jake said.
“No,” said Rose. “I don’t think, I mean, they wouldn’t try to hold Earth hostage to gain a higher seat of power?”
“Of course, they would, Mum,” said Landon.
“We’ve got to stop them,” said Rose.
Nikolas held up both hands. “This is just conjecture at this point,” he said. “It’s possible these Ganyites are working completely alone. But if they’re not…then we have to do something about our life pods. Because if they get a hold of our citizens, they can do some serious negotiating. And if they get a hold of Jamie and realize what she is…”
“We’ve got to get to the kids,” said Rose. “The TARDIS is out. The space station is gone. Any news on that?”
Nikolas tapped a few keys on his screen. “Yes, they’ve located it. It’s in orbit around Mars now.”
"The Ganyites would not have the technology to move a space station that quickly without anyone noticing. Torchwood very well could," said the Doctor. “Well, at least our people should still be alive,” said Rose. “We need to fire up one of the shuttles and track Jamie’s pod.”
“That’ll take too long, Mum,” said Landon. “By the time we’re on our way they’ll have already docked with Torchwood station.”
“Doesn’t matter,” said Rose. “We’ll retrieve them. Go in with guns blazing if we have to.”
“As for these Ganyites, do they have any weaknesses we should be aware of?” the Brig asked the Doctor.
“Not that I’m aware of. But they can be reasoned with.”
“Unlike Torchwood,” muttered Rose.
“Let’s just hope they’re not in charge.”
“We should have docked with the station by now,” Jamie said.
“How can you tell?” asked Luke.
“Innate time sense,” she said. “Part of being a Time Lady. “We should have docked three hours ago.”
“Is there any way of communicating with the Moon?” Luke asked. “Maybe we could find out what’s going on.”
“There’s a short range communicator. Maybe I could rewire it to make it long range. I don’t have any tools, though. I’d have to do everything by hand. It would take at least three hours.”
“What happens if we don’t dock with the space station?” Luke asked.
“We’d go on to the next available--. Oh!” Jamie exclaimed. “The pod would rendezvous with the Torchwood station.” She counted down the time it would take for them to reach Torchwood after missing the first station. “It’s only two and a half hours before we’d dock with Torchwood station. She squirmed quickly forward. “Maybe if I work really fast I can reverse our heading back to the Moon.”
“But we don’t know what’s happening on the Moon,” said Luke. “What if it’s a full out attack?”
“We can’t know without communications. I hate not knowing anything.”
“How much air do we have, Jamie?”
“Enough for another two days and nights, give or take a few hours. Why?”
“Can you disable the propulsion unit?” Luke asked.
“Yes. But why?”
“Well, we don’t want to end up on Torchwood station and if we disable propulsion we’ll slow down, won't we? I mean, I know inertia will keep us going forward, but not as fast, right? That’ll give you time to rewire the communicator for long distances and we can see if there is any news from the Moon. If there is, we can program the life pod to go back,” Luke said.
“Well, I said I could disable the propulsion system, but I’m not sure I could put it back together without tools,” she said.
“But you can do the communicator without tools?”
“Yes.”
“So if worst comes to worst and you can’t get propulsion back online and reprogrammed we can send out a signal and Torchwood can come pick us up. But chances are that won’t be the outcome. Your parents must know what is going on and there is no way they’ll let you fall into Torchwood’s hands without trying everything in their power to rescue you.”
“Rescue us, you mean.”
“I’m not important, Jamie. There’s not much they could do with me. But you--.”
“You are too important!” Jamie said fiercely. “Don’t say that.” She forced calm back into her voice. “I think you’re right, though. I’ll disable propulsion as carefully as I can and then I’ll redo the communicator.”
Jamie finished working her way forward, pulled open a panel and started pulling wires. Luke’s plan was a good one. She only hoped she could pull it off.
Ch. 13: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/111603.html
“You’re stalling,” Rose said flatly.
“Noticed that, did you?” he asked.
“Some things never change,” she answered. “Now tell us.”
There was a slight edge of annoyance in Rose’s voice that made him sit up straight and go into full lecture mode. “If these are the same aliens, and I’m not saying they are, but if these are the same aliens that I’ve had dealings with in the past, it’s going to depend on what time period they’re from as to whether or not they’re evil.”
“What, you don’t call busting three of our domes wide open and killing at least a thousand people evil?” Mairi said sharply. Rose gave her daughter a quelling look. “Sorry, Mum, but I had friends in domes Delta and Phi.”
“We all did,” Landon said, his hand reaching out and squeezing his sister's before he turned his eyes back on his father. “Continue.”
“They’re Ganyites,” he said. “And their planet of origin is Jupiter, more specifically the moon Ganymede. They’re a carbonaceous silicate-based life-form. At this point in history in my universe, they’re still warriors though they do eventually evolve into a much more peaceful race of beings.”
“So, you’re telling me that we’re dealing with honest-to-goodness non-human life that originated in our own solar system?” Brigadier Cassidien asked.
“Yep,” said the Doctor popping the p.
“But there’s no life on Ganymede,” said Jake. “We’ve proved that conclusively. “Our probes have been all over Jupiter and its major moons. Callisto had algae but everything else was barren.”
“Erm…not exactly,” said Nikolas Onishenko.
“What do you mean?” The Brigadier turned his eyes on his subordinate, his voice holding back an edge of anger.
“Well, as you know, before I came here, I worked at Torchwood for several years. I was part of the explorations division. From their space station they conducted several one-man flights to various moons in our solar system. Ganymede was one of them. They found the ruins of a bipedal species. But not the species itself.”
“They live in the ice caverns,” the Doctor said. “Underground. The ruins are from an earlier peaceful version of their culture. The ice dwellers wiped them out but chose to remain where they were and let their conquered cities fall to ruins.”
“But if there are ruins, how come our cameras never picked them up on fly-bys?” the Brig asked.
“I believe that Torchwood had someone on the inside that tampered with the U.N. probes,” Nikolas said. “It was widely rumored when I worked there, but I never found any hard evidence of it.”
“Why would Torchwood want to hide the fact that Ganymede had alien life on it?” Rose asked.
“They never do anything unless it’s of benefit to them,” Landon said. “You don’t think…” He stopped as a look of comprehension dawned on his face. “Is it possible Torchwood is allied with this race of Ganyites in an attempt to take over the Moon?”
“Take over the Moon?” The Brig looked startled. “Torchwood is not allowed on the Moon by order of the United Nations.”
“Well, maybe they’ve gotten tired of being the underdog. This could be their move to take control. After all, whoever owns the Moon has considerable power over alien interactions as well as over Earth itself. All they’d have to do was get control of the defensive weaponry and turn it on Earth and they could bring the planet to its knees,” Jake said.
“No,” said Rose. “I don’t think, I mean, they wouldn’t try to hold Earth hostage to gain a higher seat of power?”
“Of course, they would, Mum,” said Landon.
“We’ve got to stop them,” said Rose.
Nikolas held up both hands. “This is just conjecture at this point,” he said. “It’s possible these Ganyites are working completely alone. But if they’re not…then we have to do something about our life pods. Because if they get a hold of our citizens, they can do some serious negotiating. And if they get a hold of Jamie and realize what she is…”
“We’ve got to get to the kids,” said Rose. “The TARDIS is out. The space station is gone. Any news on that?”
Nikolas tapped a few keys on his screen. “Yes, they’ve located it. It’s in orbit around Mars now.”
"The Ganyites would not have the technology to move a space station that quickly without anyone noticing. Torchwood very well could," said the Doctor. “Well, at least our people should still be alive,” said Rose. “We need to fire up one of the shuttles and track Jamie’s pod.”
“That’ll take too long, Mum,” said Landon. “By the time we’re on our way they’ll have already docked with Torchwood station.”
“Doesn’t matter,” said Rose. “We’ll retrieve them. Go in with guns blazing if we have to.”
“As for these Ganyites, do they have any weaknesses we should be aware of?” the Brig asked the Doctor.
“Not that I’m aware of. But they can be reasoned with.”
“Unlike Torchwood,” muttered Rose.
“Let’s just hope they’re not in charge.”
“We should have docked with the station by now,” Jamie said.
“How can you tell?” asked Luke.
“Innate time sense,” she said. “Part of being a Time Lady. “We should have docked three hours ago.”
“Is there any way of communicating with the Moon?” Luke asked. “Maybe we could find out what’s going on.”
“There’s a short range communicator. Maybe I could rewire it to make it long range. I don’t have any tools, though. I’d have to do everything by hand. It would take at least three hours.”
“What happens if we don’t dock with the space station?” Luke asked.
“We’d go on to the next available--. Oh!” Jamie exclaimed. “The pod would rendezvous with the Torchwood station.” She counted down the time it would take for them to reach Torchwood after missing the first station. “It’s only two and a half hours before we’d dock with Torchwood station. She squirmed quickly forward. “Maybe if I work really fast I can reverse our heading back to the Moon.”
“But we don’t know what’s happening on the Moon,” said Luke. “What if it’s a full out attack?”
“We can’t know without communications. I hate not knowing anything.”
“How much air do we have, Jamie?”
“Enough for another two days and nights, give or take a few hours. Why?”
“Can you disable the propulsion unit?” Luke asked.
“Yes. But why?”
“Well, we don’t want to end up on Torchwood station and if we disable propulsion we’ll slow down, won't we? I mean, I know inertia will keep us going forward, but not as fast, right? That’ll give you time to rewire the communicator for long distances and we can see if there is any news from the Moon. If there is, we can program the life pod to go back,” Luke said.
“Well, I said I could disable the propulsion system, but I’m not sure I could put it back together without tools,” she said.
“But you can do the communicator without tools?”
“Yes.”
“So if worst comes to worst and you can’t get propulsion back online and reprogrammed we can send out a signal and Torchwood can come pick us up. But chances are that won’t be the outcome. Your parents must know what is going on and there is no way they’ll let you fall into Torchwood’s hands without trying everything in their power to rescue you.”
“Rescue us, you mean.”
“I’m not important, Jamie. There’s not much they could do with me. But you--.”
“You are too important!” Jamie said fiercely. “Don’t say that.” She forced calm back into her voice. “I think you’re right, though. I’ll disable propulsion as carefully as I can and then I’ll redo the communicator.”
Jamie finished working her way forward, pulled open a panel and started pulling wires. Luke’s plan was a good one. She only hoped she could pull it off.
Ch. 13: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/111603.html
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