Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 |
Turlough was impressed that he made it to Heathrow without getting sick. He wondered if it would be interfering with the time-line if he gave scientists the idea for a better form of transport. At least they'd stop using up their fossil fuels. He followed the two PROBE officers (now that Liz had told him what PROBE was) to the personnel offices where they had taken up residence. A policeman handed a report to Burke and then left the office.
"I'm going to contact the families of the other missing people. These strange dreams that your friend had may be a connection. Why don't you read through their reports and see what you think of them?" Turlough was pleased that Liz trusted him, finally. It helps to have friends in high places, he decided. Now if only Burke would either get over his distrust or simply leave them to save the day, life would be even better.
While Liz was on the phone, Burke came over to Turlough. "Looks like you story checks out. The Jovanka's said you were a good man. They are very worried about their daughter, however. You called them?"
"When I found the e-mail to PROBE, I called them and her fiancé. I also told them that I would do what I could to help Tegan. I'm glad I've been given the chance to do just that." Turlough looked back at the report on Cindy Taylor.
"You seem to have a record as well, but considering your computer talents, it's probably fake. Went to Brendan Court indeed."
Turlough looked up again. "I wish Brendan had been fake. Worst three years of my life were spent in that place."
Liz hung up the phone and returned to the two men. "I talked with Reynolds' family and Taylor's family. They both recalled them having bad nightmares, too. And they rarely had memorable dreams. Another interesting coincidence."
There was a knock at the door. Burke nodded and moved to answer it. Then he hurried over to where Liz and Turlough were. "One of the boys, Jeremy Newman, hasn't called in his report. He was patrolling the ground level of the garage and hasn't been heard from in over an hour."
"Perhaps he disappeared into that fissure you were talking about, Turlough."
Turlough nodded as he checked the chronometer. "The time spillage does seem to indicate it's at a lower level geographically. I'll try to see if I can get a fix. Can you direct me to where this officer was?"
"Time fissure? You sure there isn't a time fissure of your brain? This ain't Star Trek, my boy." Burke was wary of this young man's hold over Liz. He still didn't know why she trusted him when he was obviously a few bricks shy of a load.
Turlough merely sneered at Burke before he went back to fiddling with his apparatus.
"If you two are done with your mutual apprehension society, I'd like to visit this man's last known whereabouts. You said he was in the garage?" Liz waited for Burke to lead the way. He reluctantly headed for the garage with Liz and Turlough in tow.
As the trio neared the garage, the apparatus in Turlough's hands began to beep. "Oh great," muttered Burke, "it beeps."
"Any scientific contraption worth its sodium chloride beeps. Don't they teach you anything in your schools, Burke? No wait, don't answer that. I know they don't." Turlough pushed a button and the beeping stopped. "I think we are indeed getting closer. These readings are off the scale."
Liz was looking at the chronometer as well. The lettering was unfamiliar, but she recognized the waveform from some of the Doctor's experiments. "What could be causing that? And is there a way we can stop it? I mean, will we be able to save those people?"
"Well, my own knowledge of time fissures is limited."
"What do you know? The boy genius doesn't know everything after all!" Burke smiled at Liz. "Sorry."
Turlough continued as if he'd not been interrupted. "But the causes vary. It could be a leaking time machine, or a rupture from a temporal embolism. Or perhaps it is a natural occurrence. As for getting people out of it - that depends on what else is inside of it."
"Have you pinpointed it, yet?" Liz asked.
Turlough shook his head. "Wait, the waveform seems most stable in this direction." He walked down near where Tegan had parked. He pointed it toward the wall of the garage. "Seems to be in this wall, I think."
"Sure, next thing you'll do is walk through walls." Burke was still unconvinced by this beeping, smarmy con artist. "Look, I'm going to go back and get a forensic team near here. If there was an abduction here, they'll find evidence of it. Don't mess up any evidence there might be, okay?"
Liz nodded and watched Burke go back the way they had come. "So, what do you think? Do we try going through the fissure? You can get us back, right?"
Turlough made one more adjustment on his chronometer. "Yes, I think so. I've gotten the quantum frequency of this place mapped in here, as well as the fissure's frequency. There should be no problem getting out, if nothing stops us."
"Has anyone ever told you that you're morbid, Turlough?" Liz asked, smiling.
"Yes, and she's in there."
Officer Hartman was patrolling the parking garage's basement lot. He turned into one of the chambers in time to watch a man and a woman walk through a wall. He reached for his walkie talkie. "Um, patch me through to D.I. Burke. Thanks. Um, Inspector, two people just walked through a wall here. I, ah, I think I need to sit down." Hartman let go of the radio and leaned against the wall. He closed his eyes, waiting for the world to stop spinning.
Turlough stepped forward and suddenly the world went black. Before he could ask if Doctor Shaw was okay, his mind was attacked by something.
Brendan Court was Hell, there was no doubt. It was full of stupid snotty boys and even stupider adults. And the language they spoke was so archaic! It still used gendered pronouns and confusing tenses. Turlough was in the room they had assigned him. He refused to leave it. Why should he? All that were out there were ALIENS! And ignorant ones at that. He sat on the bed, then drew his legs up and wrapped his arms around them. Why was he here? Why was he alone? He tried to stop the tears, but they wouldn't leave.
He could still see his mother's face as she stood in the dispersion chamber. The chamber was designed to be used for waste products, a safe way to recycle matter. But the new regime had started using it for executing political "extremists." His mother was no "extremist," and certainly not political. But she refused to help the regime and to show their power, they were going to kill her for all to see.
Turlough closed his eyes. He didn't want to watch. But he didn't want to stop looking at his mother. Maybe they're just doing this to scare her into helping them. They wouldn't really kill her. Turlough looked at Rechtaht, the woman in charge of the new government. She was the "extremist" in the room. When he looked in her eyes, he knew his mother was going to die.
Turlough looked back to his mother. She was looking at him. She smiled. "I love you" she mouthed to him. Then she signed "be strong." He couldn't reply. He was almost in tears already. "You die now," said Rechtaht. She pushed the button to turn on the dispersion chamber. Turlough tried to shut his eyes, but the guard holding him twisted his arms more. He looked to the side, but the guard forced his head back toward the chamber. His mother was still standing there, smiling at him. She didn't scream as her molecules were broken down, although it was obvious she was in pain. She turned to stare defiantly at the regime leaders as she was slowly being consumed. Tears would form then evaporate. Then she died.
"Noooooooooooo!" Turlough screamed. "Why have you left me alone?" He collapsed in sobs. He couldn't seem to get his breath back. He felt the arms of the guard touch his shoulder, so he brushed it off.
"Turlough, it's okay. It's only me." The voice was gentle.
He looked up to see his mother looking down at him. "Mother?" he asked. He hugged her for all it was worth. She was holding him too. As he held her, he thought about the visions he'd just seen. Surely they weren't real. But as he got his thoughts back in line, he recalled that they had happened. That his mother was dead. So who was this?
Liz pulled away from the embrace. "I see you got to take a trip down memory lane too. It wasn't pleasant, was it?"
Turlough shook his head. He saw that her eyes were red too. "Those were memories that I'd rather not remember." He wiped his eyes on his sleeve, then looked at their surroundings. "Interesting architecture." He touched a wall. It seemed to give while still holding its shape.
"If you'd call it that. Seems more like it was grown than built."
"Or programmed. This is made from an energy matrix. There's no matter here. The lighting is unusual too. I can see you fine, but the ship itself is practically invisible. Most unusual. So why the mental attack? Is it a defense mechanism to protect this place from invaders?"
"You thought it was an attack?" Turlough nodded. "I did too. But it certainly finds interesting memories to attack you with. I remembered the time I was lost on my way to my first job. I was so frustrated. My car broke down and there was no one around for miles. Then I remembered my dad's funeral. That really hurt to remember again. It's still too close."
"Yes." Turlough said nothing else. He was still looking around the place. There were several places that looked like they could serve for doorways. "So, should we look to see if Tegan and the others are here?"
"Turlough, I can tell that some powerful memories were pulled up just now, but could you share them with me?"
"No."
Liz was thinking about Tegan's dream that Turlough had told her about. It seemed to be of a similar nature to her own. "I'm wondering if the type of dream is deliberate. You told me Tegan had been having bad dreams lately. Maybe hers were similar to ours. Maybe..."
"Maybe you should mind your own business." Turlough moved toward one of the "doors" and tested it with his hand. It went through unharmed, so he turned to her, "Coming?"
As they entered the next "room," they heard a sound. "Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh," moaned the voice. "Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" Liz shuddered at the sound. It was human and inhuman at the same time. They walked in the best approximation of where the sound was coming from. They went though another "door" when suddenly a dark shape rushed at them. Liz was pushed to the side and collided against a wall. So much for the wall feeling soft, she thought as she rubbed her arm.
Turlough cried out, "Get it off me!" Liz looked down to see the dark object hitting Turlough on the chest. She pulled off the thing to find that it was a person. A woman in fact. The woman's eyes were glazed over and she had spittle running down her chin. She kept moaning and thrashing. "Shhhhhh," whispered Liz. "It's okay. You are safe now. We're going to get you out of here."
The woman was still struggling, so Turlough came over to hold her arms down. "What happened to her? She looks mad." he asked.
"I don't know. She's probably in shock, among other things. Is this your friend?" Liz was helping the woman to a seated position. She seemed to be calming down.
"No, this isn't Tegan. I hope she's not in the same state." Turlough looked around the "room" to spot any outstanding features. It looked much like the first room, if maybe a bit bigger. He took out another instrument from his jacket pocket and began looking at the energy signature of the place. "Hmmmm, I think I've found more people. They're giving off a different quantum signature than the rest of this place. I'd suggest that we head this way."
"What should we do about her?" Liz had her arm around the woman, comforting her. She was rocking back and forth on her heels, but was no longer violent.
"Leave her." Turlough saw Liz grimace at his suggestion. "Well, I don't think that taking her with us is going to do her any good. She seems to have calmed down. Maybe she'll stay put long enough for us to find the others." Turlough paused before speaking again. "I wish Burke would have come with us."
"What?" Liz was incredulous.
"He could have stayed with the woman while we rescued the others. So, are you coming?" Turlough was moving toward what Liz felt was the inner part of the ship. She couldn't explain this feeling, but she was sure it was right.
"Turlough, about your memories," Turlough started to protest, but Liz stopped him with a motion of her hand. "You don't have to tell me what you saw. Just tell me this, what was the overall feeling that you had?"
Turlough walked in silence for a few minutes. "Loneliness. Isolation. Betrayal. And despair. A lot of that."
"If you were an alien life form, trapped on a planet you knew nothing about, what would you be feeling?"
Turlough laughed. "I'd be feeling exactly what I was feeling when I was an alien life form, trapped on a planet I knew nothing about. That was the first memory that this place evoked. It got worse after that."
Liz looked at Turlough. "I wonder if that was by design..." Before she could say anything else, they heard shouting from up ahead.
"If you don't leave me alone, I'll kill you!" The voice was male, yet very shaky, like a person just holding on to his sanity. "Get away from me!" The man screamed loudly, the strange acoustics of the ship distorting the sound. Turlough and Liz were more careful entering the room this time. When they entered, the man they had heard turned to face them. He had a knife in his hand. "Sure! Now you send new visions to haunt me! Well, here's what I think of them!" The man leapt forward toward Turlough, lunging his knife at Turlough's throat.
Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 |