Sequel: Torchwood: Children of Mirth ›
Dujo Who: Journey's End.
Four.
"Good Evening, this is Jojo Yates on CBS nightly news. The United Nations has issued an edict asking citizens of the world not to panic. So far, there has been no explanation for the 26 planets which have appeared in the sky."
---
"On Newsnight...well, this morning actually, we have resident astronomy expert, Cassie Tibbs. Now Cassie, where have these planets come from?"
"Well, Jeremy, it is actually an empiric fact that the planets didn't come to us, we came to them. Just look at the position of the stars. We've travelled."
---
"And now, live on air, it's Amy O'Grady!"
"Y'alright? You know, I looked up and there all these moons and things. Have ya seen ‘em? I thought 'What was I drinkin’ last night, furniture polish?"
---
Louise laughter echoed around the Hub. Vonny gave her a severe look. She was busy accessing the UNIT tracker satellites and there was Louise, laughing at Amy O'Grady while the whole planet was in danger. It couldn't be as bad as the Cybercreep invasion with all those Sceneks flying around London. It couldn't be as bad as the Year everyone forgot when the Master took over the world.
"There's a time and a place!" She barked. Louise, nodded slightly, turning off the television.
A small bleep caught Vonny's attention again. Success. They've got a logistical map. "Annaliese! Come here!" Vonny looked up, she was on the phone, reassuring her husband.
"Billie, I have no idea, okay? Just...stay indoors. Please? Look, call my mother and tell her, oh I dunno tell her to take some of her pills and go to bed. I’ll be home with you as soon as I can, I promise. I love you. You big idiot." she hangs up before his pleas changed her mind.
She took her place behind Vonny.
"Someone’s created an artificial, atmospheric shell holding in the air and keeping in the heat. So, whoever they are, they want us alive." Vonny explained, cool as ever.
"Well, that's a change." muttered Louise. Vonny looked at her again. Louise coughed a little before continuing. "Twenty seven planets, including the Earth" Annaliese stared at the screen. There was more than that. A small red dot in the center of the page.
"No, but what’s that? That's not a planet!"
---
Miss Kafka was jittering into life, her screens filled with numbers, statistics, scrolling news headlines: millions of symbols, codes and transitions. The twenty-eight thing in the sky was hiding from scanning. It finally settled on a map of the new system of planets. The metallic voice geared up.
"The readings seem to be artificial in construction." it said. Meg looked at it curiously. Years of travelling with the Dujo had taught her quite a few things: how to pretend to faint, how to handle giant robots and how to read a map. She recognized the red dot instantly.
"Some kind of space station, sitting at the heart of the web." Meg sat on a table to think more about it when Sara came back into the room, clutching the house phone.
"I called Maria and her dad," She said, smiling. "They're fine; they’re in Cornwall, hiding under a table. And Clyde’s fine he’s with his mum." Meg smiled, ruffling Sara's hair.
A sudden grinding noise emulated from Miss Kafka. New red streaks, thousands of them had started to explode from the initial space station.
"Meg, I have detected movement." Miss Kafka stated.
"Spaceships." she whispered, bordering on fear and excitement.
---
"Tracking 200 objects, earthbound trajectory, Geneva is calling a Code Red, everyone to battle positions," General Ryan said. This was a disaster. He was meant to be in Haiti, trying to work out a crashed spaceship. He was going to leave that day. Maybe he wouldn't need to, maybe this was this answer, in the sky. He rounded on the only contact with the ultimate scientific advisor. "Dr. Jones, if you’re not too busy?" Serena was busy with her cell phone, pressing a succession of buttons.
"Trying to phone the Dujo, Sir." she said, aggrieved.
"And?"
"There’s no signal, this phone can call any number in the universe, and it never breaks down," Serena said, shoving the phone in her pocket. "They must be blocking it, whoever they are. We have no contact."
"We don't have time to keep our head in our asses. We’re about to find out what they are. They're coming into orbit."
---
Josipa was walking along Sutton Court. There was an elemental instinct she felt that she had been here before. She had been to a similar Sutton Court in Courtney's parallel world. But this was nothing like that day. This was chaos. Everyone was running around, suddenly unafraid of breaking any damn law they liked. It was better they were running around, not noticing anything except plasma televisions and bricks. She was carrying a Copper-X particle gun: able to kill anything in the universe, including the two creatures that caused her to be locked in a parallel universe. The Cybercreeps were still around in her universe but the People's Republic had clamped down on them. They had invaded this world, her homeworld long ago. They had a war with the most evil creatures in existence: the Sceneks.
"End of the world, darlin’!" A drunken man interrupted her thoughts. "End of the stinkin’ world!" Josipa smiled back, feeling a bit amused at he's too drunk to notice anything in front of him.
"Have one on me, mate." she called over. He went on his way, knocking into looters as he went. Josipa looked around and found a computer shop. She walked inside to find two looters inside. She didn't need witnesses to the websites she had intentions of hacking into.
"Right! You two!" She yelled, catching their attention. "You can put that stuff down, or run for your lives." Josipa cocked the barrel, loading it. An electronic whirr started as the capacitors charged up. "Do you like my gun?"
The two looters legged it, one dropping a laptop in his wake. Josipa sat down and typed in usernames and passwords. Chels had taught her everything she ever needed to know about hacking and the passwords were the same in both parallel worlds. Jackpot. She looked at the screen, seeing the spaceships come closer to the Earth.
---
"On Newsnight...well, this morning actually, we have resident astronomy expert, Cassie Tibbs. Now Cassie, where have these planets come from?"
"Well, Jeremy, it is actually an empiric fact that the planets didn't come to us, we came to them. Just look at the position of the stars. We've travelled."
---
"And now, live on air, it's Amy O'Grady!"
"Y'alright? You know, I looked up and there all these moons and things. Have ya seen ‘em? I thought 'What was I drinkin’ last night, furniture polish?"
---
Louise laughter echoed around the Hub. Vonny gave her a severe look. She was busy accessing the UNIT tracker satellites and there was Louise, laughing at Amy O'Grady while the whole planet was in danger. It couldn't be as bad as the Cybercreep invasion with all those Sceneks flying around London. It couldn't be as bad as the Year everyone forgot when the Master took over the world.
"There's a time and a place!" She barked. Louise, nodded slightly, turning off the television.
A small bleep caught Vonny's attention again. Success. They've got a logistical map. "Annaliese! Come here!" Vonny looked up, she was on the phone, reassuring her husband.
"Billie, I have no idea, okay? Just...stay indoors. Please? Look, call my mother and tell her, oh I dunno tell her to take some of her pills and go to bed. I’ll be home with you as soon as I can, I promise. I love you. You big idiot." she hangs up before his pleas changed her mind.
She took her place behind Vonny.
"Someone’s created an artificial, atmospheric shell holding in the air and keeping in the heat. So, whoever they are, they want us alive." Vonny explained, cool as ever.
"Well, that's a change." muttered Louise. Vonny looked at her again. Louise coughed a little before continuing. "Twenty seven planets, including the Earth" Annaliese stared at the screen. There was more than that. A small red dot in the center of the page.
"No, but what’s that? That's not a planet!"
---
Miss Kafka was jittering into life, her screens filled with numbers, statistics, scrolling news headlines: millions of symbols, codes and transitions. The twenty-eight thing in the sky was hiding from scanning. It finally settled on a map of the new system of planets. The metallic voice geared up.
"The readings seem to be artificial in construction." it said. Meg looked at it curiously. Years of travelling with the Dujo had taught her quite a few things: how to pretend to faint, how to handle giant robots and how to read a map. She recognized the red dot instantly.
"Some kind of space station, sitting at the heart of the web." Meg sat on a table to think more about it when Sara came back into the room, clutching the house phone.
"I called Maria and her dad," She said, smiling. "They're fine; they’re in Cornwall, hiding under a table. And Clyde’s fine he’s with his mum." Meg smiled, ruffling Sara's hair.
A sudden grinding noise emulated from Miss Kafka. New red streaks, thousands of them had started to explode from the initial space station.
"Meg, I have detected movement." Miss Kafka stated.
"Spaceships." she whispered, bordering on fear and excitement.
---
"Tracking 200 objects, earthbound trajectory, Geneva is calling a Code Red, everyone to battle positions," General Ryan said. This was a disaster. He was meant to be in Haiti, trying to work out a crashed spaceship. He was going to leave that day. Maybe he wouldn't need to, maybe this was this answer, in the sky. He rounded on the only contact with the ultimate scientific advisor. "Dr. Jones, if you’re not too busy?" Serena was busy with her cell phone, pressing a succession of buttons.
"Trying to phone the Dujo, Sir." she said, aggrieved.
"And?"
"There’s no signal, this phone can call any number in the universe, and it never breaks down," Serena said, shoving the phone in her pocket. "They must be blocking it, whoever they are. We have no contact."
"We don't have time to keep our head in our asses. We’re about to find out what they are. They're coming into orbit."
---
Josipa was walking along Sutton Court. There was an elemental instinct she felt that she had been here before. She had been to a similar Sutton Court in Courtney's parallel world. But this was nothing like that day. This was chaos. Everyone was running around, suddenly unafraid of breaking any damn law they liked. It was better they were running around, not noticing anything except plasma televisions and bricks. She was carrying a Copper-X particle gun: able to kill anything in the universe, including the two creatures that caused her to be locked in a parallel universe. The Cybercreeps were still around in her universe but the People's Republic had clamped down on them. They had invaded this world, her homeworld long ago. They had a war with the most evil creatures in existence: the Sceneks.
"End of the world, darlin’!" A drunken man interrupted her thoughts. "End of the stinkin’ world!" Josipa smiled back, feeling a bit amused at he's too drunk to notice anything in front of him.
"Have one on me, mate." she called over. He went on his way, knocking into looters as he went. Josipa looked around and found a computer shop. She walked inside to find two looters inside. She didn't need witnesses to the websites she had intentions of hacking into.
"Right! You two!" She yelled, catching their attention. "You can put that stuff down, or run for your lives." Josipa cocked the barrel, loading it. An electronic whirr started as the capacitors charged up. "Do you like my gun?"
The two looters legged it, one dropping a laptop in his wake. Josipa sat down and typed in usernames and passwords. Chels had taught her everything she ever needed to know about hacking and the passwords were the same in both parallel worlds. Jackpot. She looked at the screen, seeing the spaceships come closer to the Earth.