A Question of Time

The TARDIS set down in a little alleyway, a normal enough location which, as far as the family and Donna knew, had no importance… except for the fact that was where Ianto had asked to meet the group.

The TARDIS landed without any major problems or small fires and Rachel poked her head out the door, smiling softly when she saw Ianto standing nearby.

“Ianto Jones!” Rachel smiled and practically ran forward. Ianto and Rachel hugged each other tightly as the rest of the family poured out and greeted the Ex-Companion.

“Haven’t changed a bit!” Jack remarked as he hugged Ianto.

“Neither have you,” Ianto laughed before moving to shake the Master’s hand (the Master didn’t do hugs).

“How's Torchwood Three?” the Master asked, and Ianto shrugged.

“Not so bad… confused as to why I had to run out on them.” Ianto paused as he caught sight of Donna. “Donna Noble? How nice to see you again.” Ianto politely shook the woman’s hand. “Rachel told me you’d joined up with the Family.”

“We keep in contact,” Rachel added when she realized her parents were looking at her in confusion.

“Speaking of which…” Ianto pulled a walkie-talkie out of his pocket. “This is Captain Jones, Operation Blue Sky is go. I repeat, this is a go.”

“Captain?” Jack mock whispered and Rachel giggled.

“UNIT gave the title to me…I knew you’d get jealous,” Ianto sighed, rolling his eyes before turning and leading the group out of alleyway…

UNIT soldiers, trucks and vans were rolling past, or rather the soldiers were jogging past, their weapons held ready. “Bit more obvious then I’d like… but UNIT just called me in because I know you,” Ianto remarked.

“What are they searching for?” Jack asked, raising an eyebrow at all the soldiers.

“Illegal aliens,” Ianto said, somehow managing to keep a straight face. “I don’t like it anymore than you, Doctor…”

“But they didn’t give you a choice,” the Master sighed. “Typical UNIT.”

“I bring you in… they trust my experience with the Rift in Cardiff,” Ianto explained as they moved closer to the building the UNIT soldiers were approaching. “We’re headed for the Mobile Field Base. Oh, and one last thing,” Ianto spun around and pointed at the Master. “UNIT still thinks you’re Harold Saxon, who left the government to become a companion to the Doctor… I couldn’t figure out how to explain it to them.”

“Joy,” the Master sighed, looking over at the Doctor. “How do you want to go about this?”

The Doctor looked extremely uneasy. “I'd rather just stick to that story, tell them after we save the day… if ever.”

“Works for me,” the Master shrugged as the group continued towards the Field Base, Ianto leading the way.

The Mobile Field Base was a large trailer attached to a truck… which, on the inside, looked like a normal enough office that was filled with extremely advanced (for humans) tech and military personal in full uniform.

Ianto stepped up to one of the uniforms, one which had what had to amount to a small fortune in medals pinned to his green suit. “Operation Blue Sky is complete… this is the Doctor. Doctor, Colonel Mace,” Ianto stepped back as the Colonel stared at the Doctor in what could only be described as disbelief.

“Sir!” The man smiled as he saluted, seeming not to notice how uncomfortable the action made the Doctor.

“Oh… don’t salute,” the Doctor sighed.

“Well, it's an honor, sir!” Colonel Mace seemed unable to understand why the Doctor wouldn’t want to be saluted. “I've read all the files on you and… technically speaking, you're still on staff. You never resigned.”

“You used to work for them?” Jack smirked, fighting the urge to laugh.

“Yeah, long time ago. Back in the '70s. Or was it the '80s? But it was all a bit more homespun back then,” the Doctor explained as he looked around the Filed Base.

“Times have changed, sir,” Colonel Mace remarked, moving towards a bank of televisions and computers.

“Yeah, that's enough of the 'sir',” the Doctor shivered slightly and glared at the Master, who seemed about ready to start rolling around on the floor laughing. “What happened to UNIT?” the Doctor asked, turning to Ianto.

“They have massive funding from the United Nations. All in the name of home world security,” Ianto remarked, taking care to make sure that only the TARDIS Family and Donna could see how uncomfortable he was with the whole thing.

“A modern UNIT for a modern world,” Colonel Mace remarked proudly.

“What, and that means arresting ordinary factory workers?” Rachel seemed to pop up on one side of Colonel Mace. “In the streets, in broad daylight?”

“It's more like Guantanamo Bay out there.” Then Donna popped up on the other side of the Colonel.

“Oh, and since you didn’t ask, it’s Rachel, by the way, Rachel Harkness,” Rachel remarked, folding her arms.

“And Donna Noble… we’ll have a salute,” Donna smirked at the look of confusion on Colonel Mace’s face… and Rachel smiled when he saluted.

“Thank you,” the two woman smirked, only just managing not to laugh.

“So tell us…“ the Master remarked, gesturing to the Factory that UNIT was invading. “What’s going on?“

Colonel Mace looked at the Master for a second, seemingly confused as to how Harold Saxon (of all people) had ended up traveling with the Doctor. “Yesterday 52 people died in identical circumstances, right across the world, in 11 different time zones. 5am in the UK, 6am in France, 8am in Moscow, 1pm in China.” He explained.

“You mean they died simultaneously,” Rachel realized.

“Exactly. 52 deaths at the exact same moment, worldwide,” Ianto confirmed.

“How did they die?” Jack crossed his arms as he looked at the information being displayed on the TV screen in front of them.

“They were all inside their cars,” Colonel Mace replied. “They were poisoned. No toxins in the biopsies, so it must have left the system immediately.”

“What have the cars got in common?” Rachel asked, twirling a strand of hair around one finger.

“Completely different makes, but they're all fitted with ATMOS.” Colonel Mace replied.

“And that, is the ATMOS factory,” Ianto added.

“What's ATMOS?” Jack asked.

“Oh, come on. Even I know that. Everyone's got ATMOS!” Donna remarked as Ianto led the group out towards the factory.

“I don’t’ know too much about it…” Ianto sighed. “ATMOS stands for Atmospheric Omission System. Fit ATMOS in your car, reduces CO2 emissions to zero.”

“Zero?!” the Master frowned.

“No carbon, none at all?” Jack blinked.

“Sat-nav and 20 quid in shopping vouchers if you introduce a friend. Bargain!” Donna smiled.

“And this is where they make it, Doctor. Shipping worldwide. 17 factories across the globe, but this is the central depot, sending ATMOS to every country on Earth,” Colonel Mace said, gesturing out to the Factory Floor.

“And you think ATMOS is alien,” the Master stated.

“It’s UNIT’s job to investigate that possibility,” Ianto replied. “When it first came out UNIT and Torchwood did full investigations…”

“But you couldn’t find anything.” Rachel sighed as they were lead to a room where all the components of ATMOS had been laid out. “So you called an expert.”

“Really, who'd you get?” the Doctor joking asked, drawing a laugh from his Family and a roll of the eyes from Ianto and Donna.

“So why would aliens be so keen on cleaning up our atmosphere?” Donna asked the Time Lords.

“Very good question…” the Doctor mused, looking down at the tech.

“Maybe they want to help. Get rid of pollution and stuff!” Donna smiled hopefully.

The Master shook his head. “Do you know how many cars there are on planet Earth?” He looked around at his family and companions. “800 million. Now… imagine that. If you could control them, you'd have 800 million weapons.”

The Doctor looked around, making sure that no UNIT soldiers were about. “Trust you to think of that, Master.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A short but nerdy while later…

“Ionising nano membrane carbon dioxide converter…” the Doctor mused as he poked at the device.

“Which means that ATMOS actually works… filters the CO2 at the molecular level.” Rachel sighed, running a hand through her hair, not knowing that the Doctor was doing the exact same thing at the same time.

“We know all that, but what's its origin? Is it alien?” Colonel Mace asked.

“No.” The Master replied, poking the machine and wishing he could pull out his laser screwdriver. “It’s just decades ahead of its time.”

“Like finding a cell phone in Medieval Europe,” the Doctor told the Colonel.

“Oi, you lot!” Donna shouted. She had gone off to investigate with Jack when things had gotten too nerdy for her. The two had reappeared and were now standing in the doorway. “All your storm troopers and your screwdrivers... you're rubbish! Should've come with me and Jack.”

“Why, where have you been?” The Doctor asked.

“Personnel,” Jack explained. “That's where the weird stuff's happening - in the paperwork.”

“You see, I spent years working as a temp, I can find my way round an office blindfold, and the first thing I noticed is an empty file,” Donna remarked, holding up said empty file, which was really an empty binder.

“Why, what's inside it?” the Doctor asked.

“Or what's not inside it?” the Master added.

“It’s for keeping a record of sick days,” Donna explained with a smile. “There aren't any.”

“Hundreds of people working here and no one's sick!” Jack smirked.

“Not one hangover, man flu, sneaky little shopping trip, nothing. Not ever! They don't get ill,” Donna said as she handed the binder to Colonel Mace.

“That can't be right,” Colonel Mace whispered.

“You've been checking out the building - should've been checking out the workforce,” Jack told the Colonel.

“I can see why he likes you.” Ianto smiled softly at Donna. “You are good.”

“Super temp!” Jack said, pointing at Donna.

“So this, this ATMOS thing. Where did it come from?” The Master asked the Colonel.

“Luke Rattigan himself,” Mace replied.

“And 'himself' would be?” the Doctor asked and Colonel Mace pulled up the man’s profile on a nearby computer.

“Child genius. Invented the Fountain 6 search engine when he was 12 years old. Millionaire overnight. Now runs the Rattigan Academy,” Colonel Mace explained.

“It’s a private school, educating students, handpicked from all over the world,” Ianto added.

“A hothouse for geniuses, wouldn’t mind going there,” Rachel smirked as she looked up at her fathers.

“We get lonely,” the Doctor explained to Colonel Mace.

“Jack and I will keep looking around,” Ianto replied.

“We’ll need a jeep,” Rachel remarked. “No guns!” she said before the soldiers could move.

“According to the records you travel by TARDIS,” Colonel Mace remarked.

“Yes, but if there is a danger of hostile aliens I think it’s best to keep a super-duper time machine away from the front lines,” the Master replied, struggling not to growl at the Colonel.

“I see. So you do have weapons, but choose to keep them hidden. Jenkins!” Colonel Mace sneered at the Doctor before shouting at a nearby soldier. “You will accompany the Doctor and take orders from him.”

“Yeah, I don’t do orders,” the Doctor replied… but Colonel Mace seemed not to hear him.

“Any sign of trouble, get Jenkins to declare a Code Red. And good luck, sir.” The Doctor flinched as Colonel Mace saluted him again.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ianto and Jack had split up… Jack investigating the upstairs and making sure UNIT kept in line, while Ianto found himself following two soldiers down to where Colonel Mace apparently wanted to see him.

Something was wrong… he just didn’t quite know what that something was. He forced himself to act normal and made sure he could reach his gun, for once thankful that Torchwood policy was to always have a gun ready.

Unfortunately, he never had the chance to reach for said gun, he was gabbed by the two soldiers and pulled back into a room… screaming all the way.

Meanwhile, the Doctor was sitting shotgun as Rachel and the Master took the back seat, and Ross Jenkins drove the UNIT jeep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“UNIT's been watching Rattigan Academy for ages. It's all a bit Hitler Youth: exercise at dawn and classes and special diets...” Ross, the UNIT Solider assigned to drive the three Time Lords around, was telling them about Rattigan.

“Turn left,” ATMOS instructed.

“Ross, one question. If UNIT think that ATMOS is dodgy…” the Master trailed off.

“How come we've got it in the jeeps?” Ross laughed softly. “Yeah, tell me about it. They're fitted as standard on all government vehicles. We can't get rid of them until we prove something's wrong.”

“Turn right.”

“Drives me around the bend,” Ross remarked and Rachel laughed as they actually did go round a bend.

“This is you final destination.”

A group of students in red-orange sweats jogged past as Ross and the Time Lords got out of the jeep. Standing a little ways away from the students was a young man with short black hair. He was wearing blue jeans and a dark red shirt.

“Is it PE? I wouldn't mind a kick around, I've got my chaps on.” The Doctor smiled as he approached Rattigan, who turned to look at the little group.

“I suppose you’re the Doctor…” Luke stated, before staring at Rachel and the Master.

“Hello!” The Doctor smiled. “This is my daughter Rachel, and perhaps you know Harold Saxon?”

“Your commanding officer phoned ahead,” Luke remarked.

“Ah, but I haven’t got a commanding officer… have you?” The Doctor asked, earning him a glare from the human ‘genius’.

“Oh, this is Ross. Say hello, Ross,” Rachel added.

“Afternoon, sir.”

The Doctor smirked and turned, practically running towards the doors of the school. “Let's have a look then, I can smell genius!” The Master arched an eyebrow at the Doctor’s comment. “...in a good way!” The Doctor protested.

Rachel saw Luke roll his eyes as he followed the Doctor and the Master into what turned out to be a room full of students performing all sorts of experiments… the three Time Lords were soon running around the room, remarking at the various devices they’d found.

“That’s clever…” the Master whispered, leaning in over a small sort of robot.

“Single molecule fabric!” The Doctor ran his hands over some dark grey fabric. “You could pack a tent in a thimble!”

“Gravity simulators and terra-forming!” Rachel laughed.

“Biospheres… nano-tech steel constructs,” the Master added from the other side of the room.

“This is brilliant!” The Doctor smiled as something puffed up a sort of cloud of fire behind him. “Do you know what they could do with this?” He asked Rachel.

“Oh, I don’t know… move to another planet?” Rachel shrugged, keeping herself from fixing an equation written on a nearby chalk board. Humans can’t know the real answer to that for another… oh, 75 years at least! She reminded herself.

“If only that was possible,” Luke replied dryly.

“If only that were possible…” the Master corrected Luke. “Conditional clause.”

Rachel smirked… another comment like that the Luke would probably hit one of them!

“I think you better come with me,” Luke stated before stalking off, the group following him after the three Time Lords shared a look… before long they were inside what appeared to be Rattigan’s private office. “You’re smarter than the usual UNIT grunts… I’ll give you that!” Luke muttered.

“He called you a grunt!” Rachel frowned as she looked over at Ross. “Don’t call Ross a grunt, he’s nice.”

“We like Ross,” the Doctor added as he looked around the room.

“Look at this place…” the Master whistled as he gazed around.

“What exactly do you want?” Luke asked, leaning on his desk.

“I was just thinking, what a responsible eighteen year old,” the Doctor remarked.

“Inventing zero carbon cars? Saving the world…” the Master remarked.

“Takes a man with vision,” Luke replied, crossing his arms.

“Welll…. ATMOS means more people driving, more cars, more petrol, end result---” the Doctor pointed at Rachel, as if they were in a class and he was the teacher.

“The oil's gonna run out faster than ever. The ATMOS system could make things worse,” Rachel replied.

Luke saw an opportunity and seized it. “Yeah, see, that's a tautology. You can't say 'ATMOS system' since it stands for 'atmospheric emissions system'. So you're just saying 'atmospheric emissions system system' d'you see!?!”

“It's been a long time since anyone said no to you, isn't it?” The Master laughed at the look his comment earned him from Rattigan.

“I'm still right though,” Luke sneered.

“Not easy, is it?” the Doctor asked Luke. “Being clever. You look at the world and you connect things. Random things. And think, 'why can't anyone else see it?' The rest of the world is so slow. ..”

“And you're all on your own,” the Master added on to his mate’s train of thought.

“But not with this,” the Doctor remarked, pulling the ATMOS device out of a pocket. “There’s no way you invented this thing single handed.”

“It might be Earth technology, but that's like finding a laptop computer in Feudal Japan,” Rachel remarked as the Doctor tossed the ATMOS device at Ross, who easily caught it.

“No, no, I'll tell you what it's like! It's like finding this in the middle of someone’s front room,” the Doctor said, pointing at a large square shaped object with a hollow center.

“Albeit a very big front room,” the Master said, leaning against one side of the object.

“And what is it?” Ross asked, looking between the three Time Lords.

“Yeah, just looks like a thing, doesn't it? People don't question things, they just say 'oh, it's a thing',” Rachel remarked, enjoying the look of frustration that was appearing on Rattigan’s face.

“Leave it alone!” Luke practically shouted.

“Me, I make these connections,” the Doctor remarked as he stepped inside the object. “And this, to me, looks like…” he pressed a button on the side of the pod as Rachel grabbed Luke shirt to keep him from stopping her father. “…a teleport pod.”

The Doctor was only gone for a few seconds… and when he returned he was running, with a short man in some sort of armor following him. The Master backed away from the teleport machine, drawing his laser screwdriver as the Doctor took out his sonic and aimed it at the teleport, which resulted in a puff of smoke and a small explosion behind the alien.

“Sontaran!” the Doctor shouted as he glared at the alien. “That’s your name, isn’t it?”

“You’re a Sontaran… now how did we know that, ay?” the Master added and Rachel figured out what her fathers were doing.

“Fascinating isn’t it? Isn’t that work keeping us alive?” Rachel finished.

“I order you to surrender in the name of the Unified Intelligence Taskforce!” Ross stated as he pointed his gun at the Sontaran.

“Well that's not going to work,” the Master sighed. “Cordolaine signal, am I right? Copper excitation stopping the bullets in the barrel.”

“How do you know so much?” the Sontaran asked before turning to Luke. “Who is he?”

“He didn't give his name.” Luke replied.

“But this isn't typical Sontaran behavior, is it?” the Doctor sighed, running a hand thorough his hair.

“Hiding!” the Master sneered. “Using teenagers, stopping bullets? A Sontaran should face bullets with dignity! Shame on you!”

“You dishonour me, sir!” the Sontaran growled.

“Then show yourself!” the Doctor shot back.

“I will look into my enemy's eyes!” the Sontaran said as he removed his helmet… revealing an alien that looked like a cross between a potato and a midget.

“And your name?” Rachel asked, managing to sound incredibly bored.

“General Staal, of the Tenth Sontaran Fleet. Staal the Undefeated!” Staal replied.

“Well, that's not a very good nickname,” the Master remarked, his nose sort of scrunching up. “What if you do get defeated? Staal the Not-Quite-So-Undefeated-Anymore-But-Never-Mind?”

“He's like a potato - a baked potato - a talking baked potato,” Ross gasped.

“Now, Ross, don't be rude, you look like a pink weasel to him,” the Master remarked, not looking back at the UNIT Soldier.

Meanwhile the Doctor had picked up a racket and was bouncing a ball on in as he talked to his daughter, although the conversation was really for Ross’ benefit. “The Sontarans are the finest soldiers in the galaxy, dedicated to a life of warfare. A clone race, grown in batches of millions with only one weakness…”

“Sontarans have no weakness!” Staal shouted.

“No, it's a good weakness,” the Master smiled. “The Sontarans are fed by a probic vent in the back of their neck, that's their weak spot.“

“Which means they always have to face their enemies in battle…” Rachel laughed softly. “That is brilliant… they can never turn their backs to an enemy.”

“We stare into the face of death!” Staal growled.

“Yeah? Well, stare at this!” the Doctor shouted, throwing the ball into the air and hitting it with the racket causing the ball to fly past Staal and hit the back of the teleport pod. It bounced back and smashed into the probic vent on Staal’s back. The Sontaran fell to the floor and Luke ran over to him…

Which allowed the Time Lords and Ross to escape.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ianto Jones had found himself secured to a sort of metal platform, not unlike a stretcher but… (Ianto suddenly wished he didn’t know quite so much about aliens) but it also looked like a Cyber-Conversion unit.

Over his head was a metal device, almost like a crown or some sort of brace. In fact it reminded him of a device that he’d seen hanging from the central column of the TARDIS… only more primitive and militaristic.

“Is someone going to tell me what the hell is going on?” Ianto yelled, struggling against his bonds. After a few seconds a short potato with two legs appeared in front of Ianto. “Great!” Ianto sighed. “You know, this isn’t my first time with aliens…” He glanced back at the two soldiers who kidnapped him. “I can guess what you did to them… some sort of hypnotic control?” He glared at the alien. “You going to do that to me?”

“With you we need something more complex,” the Sontaran replied, flipping a switch which caused the tub of green liquid near Ianto to bubble… and the immortal human watched in horror as a pale, humanoid hand rose from the liquid.

“What is that?” Ianto gasped.

“Soon… it will be you.” The Sontaran smirked before turning to his computer once more. “Completing mental transfer. The clone needs full memory access.

“Clone?” Ianto blinked and looked over at the green goop… a perfect clone of him was slowly rising from the liquid. Ianto struggled, trying to scream when the technology of the Sontarans overwhelmed him and Ianto Jones fell into a deep sleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Rachel shivered violently as the Master and the Doctor made the last modifications. The two Time Lords were insuring that the Sontarans couldn’t take control of their jeep. They’d managed to disable ATMOS just in time for the Master to see the shiver that passed through Rachel’s body.

“What’s wrong?” the Master asked his daughter.

“I don’t know… it’s like a goose walked over my grave,” Rachel whispered. “It’s like I’m missing something… some part of me that’s gone missing,” Rachel shivered, wrapping her arms around herself.

“Doctor?” The Master looked over at his mate, one eyebrow raised.

“What?” Rachel looked between her parents… but got no reply. “WHAT?” she asked again… but again she got no reply from the two Time Lords.

“Where are we going?” Ross asked, keeping his eyes on the road.

“Donna,” the Doctor replied. “Now that we know it’s Sontaran… we’ll be able to find out more about ATMOS.”

TBC