Hunger Moon: Chapter Twenty-Four

[amberfocus]

                                                                                                      banner by angelfireeast

                                                              Chapter Twenty-Four:  Spiderweb

“What?” asked the Doctor a little too innocently when Rose returned to Tosh’s work station a few minutes later, crossing her arms and glaring at him. Davin wasn’t back yet from analyzing the chip from the sphere and Tosh was nowhere to be seen.

“I think you know,” she said fixing him with a look and raising her eyebrow.

“Not sure I do,” he said teasingly.

“You have something that belongs to me,” she said mock sternly.

“Your heart?” he said with one of his soft, slow, sensual stares. The ones that could in equal turns melt butter and send a flood of arousal low into her belly. “Because I’m not giving it back.”

"You think you're so funny."

"I know I am," he said with a smirk.

She sighed and leaned into him a moment, reaching one hand up for the back of his neck. He dipped his head down and met her lips and he made a happy noise into her mouth. Rose’s other hand was busy slipping into the left pocket of his leather jacket. For some reason whenever he swiped her knickers or brought her bikini along for his own nefarious purposes it was always in the left pocket. She quickly found the bit of silk and lace she was seeking.

Stealthily she began to withdraw her hand when the Doctor caught her wrist and stilled it. He broke the kiss. “Ah, Tosh, sorry. You know how newlyweds can be.” Rose’s hand froze and then she quickly released the knickers and removed her hand from his pocket.

Toshiko looked at them bemusedly. “How long have the two of you been married?” she asked.

“Bonded,” corrected the Doctor. “In my culture it’s called bondmating.” He glanced over at Rose. “Nearly a month now.”

“We’ll have an Earth wedding in April,” Rose said. “At least we will if we ever get this case wrapped up and I can go and find a dress. Bondmating pretty much represents the same thing as a wedding, though. We’re technically already married because of it, he just likes to use the other term.”

“Either way, you’re my wife,” he said. He gave her a fond look then switched his gaze back to Tosh. “Has Davin discovered anything yet?”

She shook her head. “No. He’s just worked his way past the password protection but the data he’s pulling off the chip is encrypted.”

“If he can’t make heads or tails off it, perhaps Mickey can have a go at it when he returns,” Rose said. “He’s intuitive with stuff like that.”

“Perhaps Mickey should have a go at what when he returns?” Mickey Smith asked from the top of the stairs. He quickly made his way down them while Suzie moved at a more sedate pace, one hand on the guardrail and the other clasped in Jake’s.

Rose watched them come down. Of the two men Jake was the most outwardly affectionate towards Suzie in public. There were a lot of times when most people wouldn’t even be aware of the fact that the three of them were in a committed relationship, Mickey was so hands off. She often wondered why that was. He’d had no trouble with public displays of affection when she’d been dating him back in the old universe.

Then again, he’d fought to the teeth the last time Suzie and Jake had been threatened by an alien, with such a cold, protective fury that it had frightened her to death but left no doubt in her mind how much Mickey loved them. And it wasn’t like Mickey felt his masculinity was threatened by the unusual romantic grouping. He just seemed to close down his emotions outside the walls of his home or the privacy of his very close friends.

She sighed wondering why she was still so distractible and why she was fixating on the household of Symmonds-Smith of all things. She brought her attention back to the matter at hand. The Doctor was explaining what they’d discovered and Suzie broke away from Jake long enough to lead Mickey to the room Davin was working in. “How’s she feeling?” Rose asked Jake.

“A bit like her old self today. I knew getting her up on her feet again would be good for her. She almost lost it at the hospital though. The smells there…well, hopefully the morning sickness won’t last much longer,” he said.

“Suzie’s pregnant? Oh, congratulations,” said Tosh. “Is she all right?”

Jake smiled. “Thanks. She’s carrying twins so she tires much more easily than with a single pregnancy.” Jake put down a large manila envelope he’d been carrying. “Here’re the copies of the CT scan reports that Katie was able to get Owen to release. She’ll likely have more when she returns, but Owen kept citing patient confidentiality laws.”

Tosh rolled her eyes. “He gets like that sometimes. He ought to know better. If Ianto has to go down and ask for them himself no one’s going to be happy.”

Jake shrugged. “Well, this should be enough to start anyway. It should tell us if we’re on the right track. I’ve got ten patient reports right here.” He tapped the folder.

Tosh used one long red fingernail to slit open the manila envelope and withdrew a thick folder. “Doctor, what kind of doctor are you?” she asked. “Medical?”

“I get by,” he said. “I can certainly read a primitive CT scan.”

“This hospital is state of the art,” Jake protested. “Latest equipment and everything. Hardly primitive.”

“State of the art on Earth,” the Doctor said with a dismissive wave as he picked up the first report. “My TARDIS could take better readings than this easy. This is like reading an Etch-a-Sketch in comparison.”

“Being rude, Doctor,” Rose said. The Doctor just grunted and put down the first readout, picked up the second and read through it. It didn’t take him long until he'd read through all ten files.

“Ten out of ten of these people have had pieces of their brains removed. About two cubic inches of the right hemisphere has been excised in every patient,” he said.

“Always the right hemisphere?” asked Tosh.

“Yeah.”

“Why do you think that is?” Rose asked.

“Right side is where the so-called psychic gifts are seated,” he said with a shrug. “Well, most of them. Nearly always.”

“So then are they taking out the part of the brain that controls those particular functions?” Tosh wanted to know.

“Nah. Psychic function can barely be lateralized as it is to one hemisphere, bits of it do overlap into the left one, but the majority is on the right side and spread around a great deal. Your scientists are always claiming that humans don’t use much of their brains at all, but a lot of it is operating on a level that they haven’t come to understand yet,” he explained. “Besides, I don’t think these people were ever telepathic. I think they’re dead heads to begin with.”

“So if they’re not taking out the psychic functions, what the hell are they doing?” Jake asked.

“I don’t know. Did Katie give you any idea when she might be back with more scans?” Tosh asked.

“I’m back,” said a voice from the top of the stairs and they all whipped around in unison to see Katie Harper on her way down. Her arms were full of more files. “Ianto had to call in a favor from the president herself but I got them.”

She dumped the stack on Tosh’s desk. “I was able to examine a couple of the patients and they definitely have signs of post traumatic stress. What you’d expect in a typical true alien encounter. And although they very clearly have pieces of their brains missing they don’t act like they’re brain damaged. Well, except…”

“Except what?” the Doctor asked.

“Well, Owen says they’re all quite gullible. And it’s a new behavior in ninety percent of the cases. It’s like they’ve lost their ability to be skeptical,” she answered.

The Doctor frowned. “Healthy skepticism is a bit of an intuitive function. Must mean they really want to fool these people into believing something. I just don’t understand what possible good it can do them. Are there any other similarities between victims?” he asked.

“It seems random,” said Katie. “It’s hitting both genders fairly equally, all races, colors and creeds. A scattering of different ages. It’s not clumping in, say, forty-year-olds or anything like that. Although it does avoid children. But anyone twenty and older is fair game it seems. Oh, and the victims are all in good health. Or were.”

“I’ll design a program to pick out any similarities we aren’t seeing on our own,” Tosh said. “The computer never lies.”

Rose frowned. “While you’re at it, could you map the areas where the people were abducted from and also where they live?” she asked. “I’d like to see if any particular part of the city is in more jeopardy than the rest. We can put out a warning for people to stay out of those areas if it’s concentrated to a dangerous level in any one place.”

“Yeah, I can do that,” Tosh said. “That’s much simpler than the other one.”

“All right then, if you don’t need me for anything else, I’ll do a run for takeaway. Suzie needs to eat on a schedule or she turns a nasty shade of green,” Jake said.

Tosh opened her desk and pulls out a handful of menus. “These are all the restaurants in the general vicinity. Figure out what everyone wants.” She tossed Jake a credit card. “Put it on Torchwood’s expense account. This is a working dinner.”

Jake wandered through Torchwood taking orders while Tosh got down to work and designed her simple program. By the time Jake had gone out, having commandeered the Doctor into helping him carry the grub, Tosh had it up and running. Rose was busy scanning pages of the medical reports into the computer while Domina McAvoy had come downstairs to help with some of the data entry regarding the placement map of the victims.

Rose couldn’t help but stare at the women’s fingers as they flew over the keyboard. She was a fair typist herself, years of writing Torchwood reports had improved her speed and accuracy, but Domina left her in the dust. “Not just a guard dog,” the brassy red-head told her when she noticed Rose watching. “Best typist in the U.K.”

“I believe it,” she said in awe and the woman laughed. The two men returned with multiple bags of food just as Domina finished entering the data. She stood up and put on her coat.

“Time for me to head home to Lee,” she said. “Try not to need me for anything.”

“Did you want to take anything?” Tosh asked, gesturing to the various polystyrene boxes that the Doctor and Jake were unpacking in the conference room.

“Nope. Lee’s taking me out. It’s our date night so like I said, try not to need me for anything. My husband may be the dearest man to walk the Earth, but he doesn’t like it when his extra-curricular activities get ruined,” she said with a broad wink.

Tosh nodded. “I’ll make sure Ianto knows not to bother you unless it’s a dire emergency,” she grinned at the older woman.

As Domina departed Rose asked. “That’s sweet. How long have they been married?”

Tosh looked up at the ceiling for a moment. “They just hit their twentieth last summer.”

Rose glanced over at the conference room thinking what it might be like to hit twenty years married to the Doctor. Of course she had 200 and possibly 2000 years to look forward to with her husband. The scope of it awed her. Tosh sighed and Rose looked back at the woman. She looked wistful.

“Something wrong?” Rose asked.

“No…just…it’d be great to find that." The computer beeped and the two women turned their attention back to the monitor. The information Domina had entered was beginning to form a pattern over a grid map of London. “Come on,” said Tosh. “Let’s go eat.”

They headed over to the conference room and were soon joined by Davin, Mickey, Katie, and Ianto. Andy Davidson wandered in a half hour later, picking up a container of subgum chicken chow mien and a pair of chopsticks. He sat down on the edge of the table

“Did you get anything useful out of PC Cooper?” asked Ianto.

“She’s been interviewing some of the victims’ family members and they pretty much all say the same thing. The spheres come zooming out of nowhere, hover over their heads, and zap them with a flashing light. A new sphere appears out of nowhere, like it’s cloned itself, or something, then when the spheres retreat, the victim falls to the ground unconscious and when they wake up they present with symptoms of brain injury. But there are no outward signs of trauma and no loss of cognitive skills.”

“Nothing we don’t already know then,” Katie said rubbing her temples and looking rather disappointed.

Andy shrugged. “Gwen did talk to one victim where the process was interrupted. He seemed to be able to fight it and one of his mates knocked the sphere out of the air with a cricket bat. The man was disoriented but he was not traumatized. I have his name and address if anyone cares to follow up.”

“Rose and I’ll do it come morning,” the Doctor said. Then remembering himself glanced over at Ianto. “Unless you wanted to send one of your people?”

“I assume you have a reason for wanting to examine him,” Ianto allowed, “but I’d like you to take Katie along with you. She’s not just a medical doctor, she’s a trained psychologist and is very good at discovering people who are lying about things. She can also perform hypnosis for a clearer memory of what happened, if necessary.”

The Doctor nodded. He turned to Andy. “Did any of the victims live with someone with psychic potential?” he asked.

Andy stared at him blankly but it was obvious that he was going through things in his mind. His eyes regained focus. “Not that Gwen mentioned, no. I’m going to conduct personal interviews tomorrow with the victims that have filed police reports. I’d like Tosh to come with me if you can spare her,” he said glancing over at Ianto. “She has a steadying presence on people.”

Ianto nodded. “One more thing, I know that the media is referring to these people as abductees but they aren’t actually being taken anywhere, at least not anymore. The first few cases did have the victims disappearing for up to 24 hours, but that hasn’t happened in at least four weeks now. So either that was a different phase of the plan, or they’ve revised their methods to be less noticeable.”

Ianto pushed at his forehead, his fingers massaging the scar above his missing eye for a long moment. “All right.” He turned to Davin and Mickey.

“Have you figured out anything to do with the computer chip from the AI?” he asked them.

“Mickey wrote a program to try to decrypt the encryption. It’s beginning to unlock the information but there’s a series of even more complex ciphers underneath the original encryption blocking each file,” Davin said.

“We could probably use your help on that, Doctor,” Mickey spoke up. “You were—I mean the other you, was always good at figuring out complicated puzzles.”

“I’ll take a look at it before we head back to the TARDIS for the night,” the Doctor said.

“I think I’ll bunk downstairs tonight,” Tosh said with a yawn. “I’d like to keep an eye on my programs.”

“If you’ve got barracks,” Davin said, “I’d like to stay, too. If the encryption manages to break I can get inside those files and maybe find the source of the spheres. Other than the Monoc’teru, that is. A possible Earth location where they’re coming from would tell us a lot.”

“Unless they’re just beaming them down,” said Mickey. Everyone but the Doctor and Rose frowned at him. “Damn,” muttered Mickey. “I’ll never get used to their being no Star Trek here. I meant matter transmission,” he explained. “Or really, since they seem to be so tuned in to the psychic field of humans, teleportation and telekinesis, possibly.”

“Oh,” said Rose suddenly. “Oh, oh. OH!” She jumped to her feet and dashed out of the conference room and over to the monitor that was displaying the grid mapping of the victims. A clear and definite pattern was emerging. The others had followed her out and the Doctor looked over her shoulder seeing the same thing she did.

“They’re creating a neural network,” Rose gasped. “Look, so far the charting says that the victims are spaced precisely a quarter mile apart in every direction. It started here, where the first victim was taken.” She stabs at the monitor, indicating the location. “And it’s spread from the epicenter outwards.”

Tosh grabbed the keyboard and typed in a few things and suddenly a series of lines connected the dots in a spiderwebbing pattern. “Not just a neural network, a neural web over the city of Cardiff,” the Doctor said. “If each sphere is staying in the vicinity of its victim, or, or, or they’re programming the new spheres with the bits of brain and putting them into the victim’s location…”

“You mean…?”

“What better way to find access to the brains they really want, the brains with telepathic powers?” the Doctor asked staring at his wife.

“Wait, I’m missing something,” Mickey said. “What exactly are you talking about?”

“If they turn them on, all at once, they’ll be able to emit a brain wave emission that could, that could…” Rose stopped herself in horror.

Katie was the one who finished the sentence as the full implications of what the Doctor and Rose were saying hit her. “They could crash every human brain in the city of Cardiff!”

Ch. 25:  http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/194469.html