Of the Vortex Born: Chapter Thirty

[amberfocus]

Chapter Thirty:  Chain of Events

“Well, that didn’t quite go off the way it was intended, did it?” the Doctor asked Rose casually after the air bags had finished deflating.

“We’re in space,” Rose said.

“Appear to be, yeah,” he agreed with her.

“Doctor, we’re in space,” Rose repeated.

“Had really quite gotten that, Rose,” he told her.

“In space!”

“Get a hold of yourself, Rose,” the Doctor told her.

“I am so not giving Dad a good review on this product,” she announced with a slightly hysterical laugh.

“No, I wouldn’t imagine that you would,” the Doctor said dryly.

“So, now what? When you were fiddling with stuff, did you figure anything out? Is there a way to steer this thing? Put it in orbit around the moon? Guide it back to the surface?” she asked him.

“Not really, no.”

“And how much air do we have left?” she wanted to know.

“Oh, a fair bit,” the Doctor said vaguely.

“Doctor?”

“It’ll be enough, Rose. Stop worrying, okay?” he told her.

“But…what if I have to use my power to save us?” she asked him her hand going down to cover her abdomen protectively.

“I won’t let that happen, Rose.” He put his hand over hers. “I’m looking forward to raising this one with you. No way will I let you lose him or her by using your powers.”

“But if we don’t we’ll die and the baby will die anyway.”

“Rose, we can go a while without oxygen and we’ll regenerate. And those bodies will be able to go some time. You’ve got a lot of lives yet to go through, if it comes down to it.”

“Well, you don’t. And will the baby survive regeneration?” she demanded.

“It’d survive the first one. After that, coming on the tails of the previous one… I just don’t know.” He wouldn’t lie to her. She buried her face in his chest. “We’re okay for a while without our space suits. Now we’re safe we should take them off and save them until we need them,” he told her.

She nodded against him and he pushed her away and helped her get out of the suit, then he quickly removed his own. Rose glanced at him mutely and then moved to close the distance between them, reaching for the knot in his tie. Piece by piece she stripped his clothing from him and then removed her own. She knelt down on the floor of the Moon Bubble and pulled the Doctor down with her.

“Make love to me,” she whispered to him. He lowered them both all the way down to the floor and covered her body with his own, kissing her softly and gently and between kisses telling her how very much he loved her as he did everything in his power to make her feel cherished and adored.



“Jamie! Luke!” Mairi’s voice startled Jamie out of a half doze.

“What?” Jamie called out.

“I just got a call from my professor. He said the minus are going crazy in the temporary lab. I need to go and see if there’s anything I can do to calm them down. Are you strong enough to come? I’m only asking since you have such a strong affinity for the birds.”

“I don’t think I better,” Jamie said. “I’m still feeling awfully weak.”

“Okay. Luke, take care of her. Make sure she rests. And no hanky-panky.”

Jamie rolled her eyes but Luke very calmly said, “Of course.”

Mairi departed hastily and Jamie turned to Luke. “Out,” she said.

“What?”

“Out,” she repeated. “I need to get dressed.”

“Why?”

“I’ll tell you in a minute. Go on now, and close the door behind you.” Luke gave a long-suffering sigh but did as he was directed. A few minutes later Jamie emerged dressed in jeans and a green t-shirt, her shoulder-length black curls pulled back into a ponytail. “Come on,” she said.

“Where are we going?” he asked her.

“TARDIS,” she said tersely.

“How come?” he wanted to know as he followed her to the front door of her living quarters.

“I’ll tell you on the way.”



Landon had watched in horror as the Moon Bubble had launched itself with his mother and the Doctor, he really needed to start thinking of the man as his father, into space. “Uncle Jake,” he called out.

“I see it,” said Jake. “Jenkins, radio to base and see if they can’t get a shuttle ready for immediate launch.” He turned back to Landon. “I’m sorry, son. There’s nothing else we can do for them now. But we need to clean out this nest of Ganyites. We’ll be close enough for short-range missile launch in sixty seconds. Fire up forward tubes one through eight,” Jake ordered.

Landon reached over his head and began flipping switch after switch as he brought the weapons systems online. “You sure these are going to work, sir?” he asked. “We’ve not had a need to use them before.”

“They worked in testing,” Jake said. “All we can do is hope.” The high pitched whine of the missiles coming online echoed through the troop carrier before leveling off to a more tolerable low level hum.

“Base says they can have a shuttle launched for the Doctor and Dr. Tyler in eight hours, sir,” Jenkins interrupted a moment later.

“How much air is in that bubble?” Jake asked.

“Between the emergency suits and what they have left in the bubble itself? Four hours, sir,” responded Landon in a carefully neutral voice.

“Damn it!” Jake burst out. “We’re not losing your mum!” He pulled himself together with visible effort.

“Don’t particularly want to lose my father, either,” Landon said grimly. “Missile tubes one through five and seven through eight are green. Six is still red.”

Jake stood up and walked over to the control panel above Landon’s head and gave it a good thump. A second later the final button clicked over into green and Jake returned to his seat.

“They’re firing on us, commander!” Jenkins said.

“Secondary shields up,” Jake ordered. “Just in case. And bring up the primary laser array.” His order came just in time as the interior of the cockpit lit up with a violent blue light.

“Shields are holding, sir,” said Jenkins as the transport rocked. “No damage.”

“We’re in range,” announced Landon.

“Fire at will,” Jake gave the order. Landon’s fingers danced over the keyboard in front of him and flashes of red and green light bounced back at them as the missiles roared towards their targets and lasers found their own path.

A massive explosion shook the ground beneath them and the enemy stopped firing on them. Shards of black onyx and shattered bits of diamond rained slowly down from above, pinging against the hull of their transport. It was several minutes before the dust and debris settled to the ground.

“Any signs of the enemy?” Jake asked in the silence that reigned inside the cockpit.

“No, sir,” said Jenkins. “It looks like they have been destroyed.”

“We have to make sure.” Jake stepped through the cockpit doors and called out to the rest of his soldiers, “Gear up for outside, men. Full mop up.” He turned back to Landon, his hand coming down in a reassuring grip on the other man’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry, son,” Jake said. “We’ll figure it out. We’ll find a way to save your parents.”

“We better. Or there will be nowhere in this galaxy the Ganyites will be safe."



Mairi stared into the cages in the temporary lab at the brilliant purple minu birds. The minus had been going crazy for the last fifteen minutes since she’d arrived and everything she’d tried to do to soothe them had failed. So their sudden silence unnerved her, as did the fact that the little vacuum birds were suddenly glowing.

“Professor Martin?” Mairi asked. “What’s wrong with them?”

“I don’t know. They did this once before, right before the dome cracked. Like they knew something was coming,” he said absently.

“Oh, bloody hell,” said Mairi. She ran to the edge of the room and smashed the glass over the alarm system, pulling the handle up and sounding a dome wide warning.

“What’d you do that for?” the man asked and Mairi rolled her eyes.

“Survival suit,” she told him, pointing to the emergency closet. “Now!” she yelled at him when he didn’t move.

“But--.”

“No, buts. Get it on!” Mairi had already moved to retrieve a suit of her own and was halfway into it when the professor very slowly reached for a second one.

“I don’t think this is necessary,” he said as Mairi snapped her helmet into place and moved to help him. A tremor shook the ground beneath their feet and she hastened his hands as she did up his suit and firmly attached his helmet. She was only just in time. With a massive crack the newly repaired dome split above their heads.

Ch. 31: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/140204.html