Hunger Moon: Chapter Thirty-Five

[amberfocus]

                                                             banner by angelfireeast

Title:  Hunger Moon (35/?)
Series:  Better With You (Book 2)
Author: amberfocus
Characters/Pairings:  Alt!Nine/Rose Tyler, Jackie Tyler/Pete Tyler, Sarah Tyler, Kyle Tyler, Davin McBain, Mickey Smith/Suzie (Costello) Symmonds-Smith/Jake Symmonds, Toshiko Sato, Ianto Jones, Katie Harper/Owen Harper, Andy Davidson
Genre:  Action/adventure, romance, alternate universe, fluff, angst, humor, smut ,jeprdyfrndly
Rating:  Adult, some chapters NC-17 with graphic sex
Betas: amyo67, jeprdyfrndly 
Summary:  The psychic attacks of the Monoc'teru on the population of Pete's world sidetracks the Doctor and Rose's search for the spheres of Thessalameka, the second assignment on their quest to save the fabric of reality from unravelling forever.  Set ten years post-Doomsday in a world where Journey's End never happened.  Sequel to Wolf Moon:  http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/259862.html.
A/N:  The image used to represent the neural net in this chapter is Barrett Lyon's map of the internet from 2003, The Opte Project.

Previous chapters:  http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/263134.html

Chapter Thirty-Five: For the Planet

Preparing the S.H.E.L.D.I.N. device for launch took the most amount of time. Fortunately the thing could be launched from anywhere so Tosh, Davin, and Mickey simply went up to the roof and set about the pre-launch sequence that the A.I. had drilled them on for several hours. The launch itself would take place before the Doctor opened a hole in the neural net on the off chance that the Monoc’teru would be able to patch it before they’d done enough damage to fully shred it.

It was beautiful really as each pentagonal face lit up in turn, every color of the rainbow and then some chasing around the surface of the dodecahedron. They called down to Ianto as Sheldin’s rocket self-ignited and the moment he launched Mickey called the Doctor and let him know so he could begin the countdown to opening the hole in the net. Mickey headed down below immediately to see if there was anything else he could do, while Tosh and Davin used a monitoring device to follow the path of the A.I. until it would be safely through the hole in an hour’s time.

“I don’t think there’s anyone with the capability of shooting it down right now,” Tosh said.

“What about the Monoc’teru still hidden amongst the human population?” Davin asked. “They’re camouflaged and still completely sane. They very well could stop this before it even has a chance to really start.”

“I don’t think so,” said Tosh. “They’d still have to move around and that could put them into danger of being attacked by the humans who have gone crazy.”

“But don’t forget about Torchwood London. People at the highest levels of authority have been replaced. Pete was. The false Pete is still actively in charge there. If he has any idea of what is going on right now, he’ll put a stop to it,” Davin said.

“Well, unless he’s monitoring the skies over Cardiff right now I don’t see as how he’ll even know about it. Safe Haven Earth was a top government secret,” said Tosh. “And even Torchwood didn’t know about the A.I.’s embedded as humans and scattered around the Earth. That Pete shouldn’t have a clue what’s going on even if he does see the launch. So unless he reacts instinctively and just blasts it out of the sky, it should be safe.”

“I suppose. And Sheldin did say he had a shield and a small weapons system,” Davin admitted. “I guess I’m just still really worried that something is going to go wrong and we’ll be stuck as the only sane pocket of people on the entire planet.”

Tosh reached out and squeezed his hand. “It’ll be all right, Davin. Our plan is going to work. It has to.”

Davin squeezed her hand back. “I hope so.” He smiled at her trying to find the same intense faith within himself that Tosh seemed to be showing.

A moment later she stepped away from him and made an adjustment to the monitoring equipment. Sheldin could no longer be seen by the naked eye, but onscreen he soared upwards on his way to do his part in helping the population of Earth to survive and remain free.



“Davin says it’ll be at the net in ten more minutes,” Suzie said hanging up the phone.

“I still don’t like this,” the TARDIS told the Doctor. “You’re ill. You’re not at your best. You’re not in any shape to anchor anyone.”

“I’m ill because I’m away from Rose. I’ll be fine once I get back to her.”

“Arguing with the TARDIS again?” Suzie asked. He nodded, holding up a finger to stop her questioning.

“I know, but this is a huge risk when your cognitive functions are compromised.”

“What else am I supposed to do?” he asked. “I can’t get to her any other way and Suzie can’t risk doing this without a telepath to anchor her.”

“But there’s no one to anchor you,” protested the ship. “That’s the problem. With your mind distracted by the strain on the bonding link both of you might not be able to find the way out again.”

“We don’t have a choice!” snapped the Doctor. “If you have another option then please, do present it.”

A small panel on the TARDIS console popped open. “Anchor to me,” she said.

“But we’re not bonded!” the Doctor exclaimed.

“We will be after this,” she said.

“Are you sure? There’d be no going back.”

“I’m sure. It’s the only way that it’s going to work. It’s the only way we have to get back to Rose.”

“So you’re doing this to save Rose?” he asked.

“No, Doctor. I’m doing this because it’s time. It’s past time that I became your ship,” she said gently. “And that you become my Time Lord. If…if you want.”

The Doctor swallowed hard, all sorts of emotions rising up in him at her offer. “Yeah,” he said softly. “Yeah, I want that. But we don’t have time now.”

“We can do it fast and dirty,” she said. “It’s easy enough when we’re both willing. Might hurt a bit."

“All right.” He turned to Suzie. "The TARDIS is going to anchor me while I anchor you. It’ll be safer but you might feel her presence in your head. It’s a bit more than what you’ll feel from me. Let her overwhelm everything you are. She’ll pull back almost immediately but you have to not fight her,” he said.

“Okay,” Suzie said.

“I’m going to initiate a link with her. You’ll need to watch the view screen. She’s switched the data feed to English. When the S.H.E.L.D.I.N. device gets within one tenth of a mile, turn on the device for ripping the hole in the neural net and then grab my hand and dive inside and do what it is you do,” he said.

“Me? I’m to use the device?” Suzie said.

“It’s the only way this is going to work. I have to be anchored to the TARDIS before you can anchor to me and I can’t work the machine if I am,” he explained.

“What do I do?” Suzie asked.

“When it’s time just press the big red button,” he said.

“That’s it?”

“That’s it. Could’ve given it more bells and whistles and made it all complicated, but what would be the point?” he asked. “Trying to get the job done, not look all impressive doing it.”

The monitor beeped and Suzie glanced at it. “Five minute warning. You better do what it is you need to do.”

The Doctor nodded. “I’ll do everything I can to protect the minds of yourself and your children,” he said. “So will the TARDIS.”

“I know,” she said. “Now do it.”

The Doctor turned away from her and with a deep breath, stuck his hand inside the panel and laid his palm flat against the crystal lattice there. The TARDIS rushed into his mind, her mind imprinting upon him in a violent explosion of emotion. It rocked him to the core as she wrapped tightly around his essence. An intense feeling of belonging and partnership ripped through him and then he was panting violently, trying to get in enough air. The wave pulled back at last, receding to the back of his mind.

“It’s done,” said the TARDIS. He could feel a slight edge of pain to her mind tone.

“Doctor, it’s time!” Suzie shouted. He heard her depress the button, felt her grab his hand, felt her presence on the edge of his link to the TARDIS. He pulled the three of them together, saw them all shining in his mind like a brilliant triangle with Suzie at the apex. The neural net tore at its weakest point and Sheldin screamed through towards the moon. Suzie dove forward into the vast writhing pool of minds and information, pulling both Time Lord and Time Ship minds with her.

It also brought an unexpected consequence, though if the Doctor had thought about it, of course this would be the outcome. “Doctor!” He felt Rose awake on a scream, the bonding link to her mate suddenly reestablished. He felt her mind hurtling at a million miles a second to meet his into the huge black field, the spider webbing of electricity in thousands of colors the only thing to light her way to him.



He felt her find him, felt her find the TARDIS, felt her find another presence that was familiar to her yet unidentified. All of it pulled her deeper into the mass of thoughts.  He felt her fear, felt the instinct in her that told her to pull away, to fight the unnatural mind space she suddenly found herself in. Then the Doctor was fully by her side, pulling her into his thoughts, telling her to remain calm, and not to fight or interfere. She relaxed into his presence, relieved at simply being linked to his mind again despite the physical separation. He felt her pull back from him but only a little bit, only to concentrate on helping, felt her recognize it was Suzie that was with him.

He felt her turn her focus without knowing why on helping Suzie with whatever it was that had brought them all to this place, simply because he was. She lost herself within the linkage and he focused with all his might on protecting Suzie as she worked to do her job. He felt it the moment that the triangle of the Doctor, the TARDIS, and Suzie was reinforced by Rose, becoming a pyramid that stabbed directly at the heart of the neural net and tore it to shreds.



“Rose!” cried Domina. Rose had screamed out the Doctor’s name and then become deathly still, her eyes unfocused and her breath shallow. “Go get Katie,” she told Lee, who took off quickly to do her bidding. She tried to get Rose’s attention, waving her hand in front of her eyes, repeatedly calling her name, and rubbing a cold, wet flannel over her face.

It didn’t take Katie long to arrive. She checked her pulse then listened to her heart. “Her heart rate has actually steadied.” After checking her temperature with an ear thermometer, she said, “Her fever’s gone. I think she’s stabilized.”

“Yeah, but she’s staring into space and unresponsive. That can’t be right,” said Domina. “We should be able to wake her. Rose,” she shook Rose’s shoulder. “Rose!”

“Don’t,” said Mickey who had followed Katie, albeit more slowly, up to Rose’s room. “Let her be.”

“What do you mean let her be?” Domina asked.

“Because we don’t know why she’s like this,” he said. “And it could have to do with the Doctor.”

“The Doctor?” Katie asked. “He’s not even here.”

“No, but the hole has been punched in the force field mind shield net thingy,” Mickey said. “Rose’s illness wasn’t just caused by the physical separation from the Doctor, but by the mental. Her bonding link with the Doctor allows for them to feel each other’s minds. I imagine the minute there was a gap she felt him.”

“And it made her lose her mind?” Katie asked.

“No, but it’s likely her mind has gone directly to him. And if we interfere in any way it might mess up what the Doctor and Suzie are doing. Leave her alone. As long as she’s breathing, I think it’s best to let the Doctor sort her out when he gets back,” Mickey said.

“Well, let me scan her brain at least. Make sure it’s that, because she could have had an aneurism or something. Mickey, can you carry her down to the scanner?” Katie asked.

“Yeah.” He picked up Rose’s limp form and headed out of the room and toward the lift that would take him down to Katie’s domain. Once assured that Rose’s brain and the rest of her body were in perfect health aside from a few biological anomalies that Mickey attributed to the changes in DNA that Rose was going through in her adaptation, they returned Rose to bed.

Katie volunteered to give Domina a break so she could get some sleep and sat in a chair at her bedside reading a book until such time as Rose awoke or she was called away to help with something else.



“The S.H.E.L.D.I.N. devices have all launched,” Ianto said staring at the wall sized screen that displayed a 3-D image of spheres set with coordinates of various locations of the Earth. Lines of latitude and longitude circled the globe, the continents drawn in with simple lines. The tracking information the A.I. had given them before the launch showed each of the other eleven devices heading towards space. “That means ours made it through the first hole the Doctor punched and sent a signal back to Earth.”

Andy watched the activity over his shoulder. Tosh and Davin entered a moment later. “Our part was successful,” Davin said. “Sheldin just radioed us.”

“He radioed the others, too,” said Andy pointing to the lines of trajectory on the screen.

“How do we know when the neural net has been completely destroyed?” Tosh asked. “Is there any way to overlay that on here?”

“No, there’s not. The only way we’ll really know for certain is when the Doctor and Suzie contact us,” Ianto said. “Or that’s what the Doctor said the last time I spoke with him.”

“What about the Sheldins?”

“Well, once our Sheldin activates the relay beacon on the moon the others will all move into geosynchronous orbit about the Earth and start relaying a signal.”

“I thought you said he had activated the signal,” said Andy.

“No, that’s a different signal. That one was just the emergency launch sequence. As far as each A.I. knows it simply means that it needs to head for space, not what to do when it gets there. That was always kept separate in a special hidden bunker on the moon. Once our Sheldin hooks into the computer there, he’ll be able to broadcast to the others that they need to move into the orbit it gives them,” explained Tosh.

“And once they’re in position they can broadcast a pulse back down to Earth that will disable every Monoc’teru camouflaged as a human and show them in their true form. It’ll also deactivate every one of the spheres they’ve had down here doing their dirty work,” said Davin.

“So by then, if the net is fully down,” took over Tosh, “humans will be restored to their previous selves and be able to fight off the invasion.”

“And is that when I go out and start trying to restore order?” Andy asked.

“Depends on whether or not they start shooting at us from their space ships,” said Ianto. “And how fast the restored personnel can get through the Canadian protocols and get the missile defense system up and running again.”

“Well, that’s not good. North America was hardest hit by the invasion so far,” said Andy.

“I know. We’ll just have to wait and see. Hopefully they’ll be reeling from the loss of their shield and their people on planet and won’t think to just open fire and destroy us,” said Ianto.

“Didn’t the Doctor mention some alien ships that were on their way from the far end of the solar system that weren’t Monoc’teru?” Davin asked.

“Yes, but we don’t know whether or not they’re friend or foe. It’s conceivable that they’re allies of the Teroc’manu come to help us fight off a common enemy, but we can’t rely on that,” said Ianto. He scratched under his eye patch and then fitted it firmly back into place. “All we can do right now is wait and see.”

“I hate wait and see,” grumbled Andy.

“We all do,” said Ianto. “That’s why we work for Torchwood. We always get to find out first. This feels like waiting forever.”

“It’ll still be first,” said Tosh, “no matter how long it takes.” Andy conceded the point with a nod and turned back to the monitor as a warning siren suddenly blared to life.



It was a monumental task, one Suzie had never dreamed of taking on before. She felt like she was unweaving a tapestry with her mind as she released, one by one, the human minds that had been caught up in the snare of the Monoc’teru net. Individual thoughts and feelings raced through her, thoughts that were not her own, would never be her own as each human returned to sanity. On occasion she would run into an alien mind that would fight back with vicious force. It was at those times that she drew hard on the anchor that bound her to the Doctor, his TARDIS, and Rose.

She followed each new line of thought with the determination of a blood hound on the scent of prey. She no longer felt the confines of her human body. She was simply mind, moving at the speed of thought, channeling thousands of beings through her own thought process as she performed her task over and over again.

Time held no meaning for her anymore. She was beyond it, outside of it, simply existing. She saw all that was about humanity, all it hoped for, all it dreamt of, all that was good and all that was evil about it. With thousands of minds at her disposal she could tweak and change and remold it all to her own image of what was right, take away all that was wrong, all that caused so much pain and—.

NO! The thought intruded deeply into her being, a melding of the Doctor, Rose, and the TARDIS. All of them were pulling her back, reining her down, steadying her, being the anchor that she needed. The madness of so much power receded in her and she focused once again on the task at hand.

Again and again she freed human minds, again and again her mind turned to goddess-like thoughts of using her power to change human thinking forever, and again and again her friends pulled her back. The threads she followed became fewer and fewer until she snapped the final one. The neural net was no more. The pyramid in her mind collapsed and she reached for her anchor, buoyed softly into the safety of their arms.

Reality reasserted herself and she was no longer simply mind, but body as well. She opened her eyes and sat up from her position flat on the floor. Her hand was still firmly grasped by the Doctor who was draped across the console, his other hand inside the machine. She pried her fingers free of his death grip and pulled him free of the ships controls. He stumbled to his knees as his connection with the TARDIS retreated to the edge of his mind.

His eyes opened. “Did we do it?” he asked softly. Suzie nodded. He tried to stand but sank back onto the floor. “Are you as weak as I feel?” he asked.

“Yeah, completely drained.”

He closed his eyes for a moment and then smiled softly. “Rose is okay.”

“I thought I felt her with us,” Suzie said.

“Yeah. I didn’t stop to think that the minute there was a way through the net our link would reassert itself. She came flying into the anchor the moment it did. Thankfully I was able to calm her panic and use her strength to help us.”

He rested a moment longer then pulled himself back up to his feet. Unsteadily he tried to program the ship to take them back to Earth but his mind felt completely unable to perform the simple function. “Take us back to Rose,” he asked the ship softly, then staggered to the jump seat and collapsed. Slowly the time rotor began to move up and down and the ship dematerialized, heading for Earth, Torchwood, and his beloved Rose.

Ch. 36: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/325577.html