taxonomites | 001 [Holo] Arrival: Saving the world, it's a weight to bear

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001 [Holo] Arrival: Saving the world, it's a weight to bear

She had spent an hour folding his clothes, putting his things away carefully. It seemed to be the least she could do for him, after...

Tosh sat still for a moment, blinking back the tears that threatened to overwhelm her. She’d done the right thing, she kept telling herself. Let Tommy go home, do what he needed to do. After all, what was the stability of timelines in comparison to how she felt?

She stood up, aware of Owen watching her, and got her jacket, with the intention of heading outside. She needed some fresh air. She was aware Jack spoke to her as she left, but she didn’t respond. The Hub was too oppressive just at that moment.

Staring over the bay, she tried to make sense of it all. Her feelings, the fact that she knowingly encouraged someone to go to their death, how easy it all was. Gradually she was aware of someone coming towards her. Someone who at any other time she would have given her left arm to have him so concerned about her. Now? Now she was just confused.

“He trusted me,” she said after a moment. “Right to the end...”

“Because you were strong,” Owen replied, before standing beside her, looking out. He pointed out over the bay. “All of this is still here because of you.”

Tosh shook her head sadly. “Because of Tommy.” She was sure of that. It wasn’t her, it was him. “Let’s hope we’re worth it.”

She turned and walked away from Owen for possibly the first time in her life, intending to head back inside. But the scene around her suddenly changed. Instead of cold, damn, familiar Cardiff, she was inside a room, and unfamiliar weight about her wrist. She looked down at it. A bracelet, seemingly fused to her skin. She looked at it for a moment, noting the buttons. Beside it was a device she’d never seen before. She picked it up. Not human. Interesting.

“Owen? Jack?” she called out. If this was one of someone’s hairbrained ideas, she wasn’t happy. Not today. When she got no answer, she carefully walked down the steps, idly wishing she was armed. She was only going for fresh air, it had never occurred to her. “If this is someone’s idea of a joke, you wait till payback.”

No answer.

“I won’t even bring the coffee in next time!"

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It was the woman's reaction that caused Sarah to pause in the midst of her run, looking to the screen she had attached to her bracelet for the time being. "I don't think it would matter if you brought the coffee or not."

Tosh certainly wasn't expecting that, not to hear an American voice, coming from seemingly nowhere. Not in Cardiff, anyway, she thought. "Okay," she said, trying to work out what was going on. "And what do you recommend?"

"Not panicking, for one," why did she do this again? Sarah pushed the stray hair off her face with one hand, thinking she should have just ignored the holo. "How are you with alternate dimensions?"

Tosh was more curious now than panicking. "Better than most," she said carefully.

"Really?" Her brow went up, amused by the strange situation. "Then will it be so strange to tell you you're in a place called Taxon and none of us know how we get here and there's no way out?"

Another of the Torchwood monkeys, here? The captain must be throwing a party! If he had any idea, of course. The Master himself was content to push aside his work temporarily to 'greet' the woman - like any good, kind, former Prime Minister should do for the people he 'relied' on so very much.

"This is no joke, I'm afraid," he tells her solemnly, looking weary. "If only it could be that simple. Unfortunately, dear, you are no longer on Earth, and I'm sorry, but no one has yet to find a way to return." He casts her a grim look.

She picked up the tablet, after seeing it spring to life. Saxon. But, wasn't he dead? He certainly vanished after that wasted trip to the Himalayas.

"Mister Saxon?" she said, not sure what else to say. "I, uh... no longer on Earth? How is that possible?"

That's a good girl.

He sighs. "Oh, I don't know. Alien tech seems to be the common thought going around - abduction. I suppose it isn't too much fantasy, hm?" After all she's from Torchwood, but he supposes she's never been away from the planet, not like her gun-ho leader Captain Jack.

"No, I suppose not," she said carefully. "Alien tech in conjunction with the Rift?" she wondered.

He wants to comment that there's a lot more at work than just the Rift, that the Rift isn't the only source of alien technology, that she's being far too small minded. He doesn't say any of this, because here he is Harold Saxon, not the Master, and while Harry may have quite a bit more knowledge than the average politician (First Contact, anyone? Torchwood?), he's certainly still lower on the scale.

How unfortunate.

"That's more your department than mine. This place is called Taxon and a lot about it is kept secret from those of us who've been pulled here. There is quite a variety of residents." He taps his chin and shrugs a bit. "How is Cardiff?"

"Cardiff is fine," Tosh said, frowning slightly. "Wet, but that's nothing new. What kind of residents, sir?" She needs information.

"Strange," he says with a small shrug, looking distracted. "Alien, more than likely. Drone-like a fat lot of them." No, so sorry dear. He's not about to tell Tosh anything else interesting.

Toshiko frowned to herself. "Alien? And you... aren't bothered, sir?" she asked.

Please. Does she not remember that he dealt with the 'first contact' situation? With a straight face, nonetheless! "It was at first," he 'admits' plainly. "But I suppose I've settled in enough that it hasn't been as troubling."

Tosh was rather rattled, given the sudden change, and the fact that Harold Saxon was supposed to be dead. "And what are we supposed to 'do' here?" she asked.

"Finding a way to return us home would be a nice start. You know. If it wouldn't be too much trouble." He smiles.

"I'll, er, get right onto it, sir," she said, nodding to herself.

Buffy doesn't often do the welcome party thing. The reason for this being that she generally considers herself to be sucky at it. For some reason this time, however, she's moved to give it a try.

"Hi there. Pretty sure this isn't a joke. Or if it is, it's one of those abstract humor things with no actual punchline. You're in a city called Taxon."

American. Not Jack. Interesting. "Uh... Taxon? Where is that?" Tosh said, looking at the tablet that had suddenly come to life.

"Your guess is as good as mine, I'm sorry." Buffy's expression was genuinely sympathetic-- it's never fun hearing you've been kidnapped, even if one gets used to it surprisingly quickly.

"People just get... transported here, and we have no idea where here is, how it works, who's behind it, or why they're doing it. It's impossible to leave-- there are these weird, magnetic barrier things all around the borders. All we know is that everybody shows up in the creepy metal room with a tablet-- that's this cellphone thing-- and a tacky bracelet that doesn't come off." She lifted her hand, pointing to her wrist, to demonstrate.

"I saw the bracelet," Tosh said, glancing down at her wrist. "Not my colour, really."

She frowned. "How do they manage to keep us in here? I mean, if it's technology has no one managed to take it apart yet?"

"Not mine either." She scowled briefly at said bracelet, before directing her attention to Tosh again.

"Well, you can't get near enough to the barriers to touch them, there's like a... force field or something in the way. The tablets seem to be unbreakable-- people have tried."

"Really?" Tosh said thoughtfully, her mind racing over what it could possibly be. "That's unusual. Normally there is some weak point, even for force fields."

"'Normally'?" Buffy repeated, with a raised eyebrow. Most new arrivals didn't tend to take such things in their stride quite so well as Tosh appeared to be doing.

"This isn't a novelty for you, then?"

"Not entirely," Tosh said. "Though I've never actually been to a different place before." Travelled in time, yes. "Done other things though."

In spite of her curiosity to know about these other things, Buffy thought it wise not to press too much, considering they only just met-- so she changed the subject slightly, instead.

"Well, umm-- other than that, you should probably know that we're in a cave. Taxon is underground, the sky is some kind of projection-- somehow it still rains, though. There's also the hatches, they're these things in the walls that you touch, and they can produce pretty much anything you want, just by you thinking of whatever it is. They mostly get used for clothes and food. They're everywhere, you can't miss them."

Edited 2009-11-27 13:47 (UTC)

The scientific part of Tosh woke up at that. Indoors, but projecting weather? Technology well beyond anything she had seen. "That's fascinating," she said. "Interactive technology that reads brain waves." Figuring this out would help her work out just what she was doing here and why.

"I'm assuming there are things like places to stay as well?" she asked.

Sorry, rl got really busy, and been away from net for a couple of days with various things

Whatever Ianto had expected the day to bring him, it wasn't this. Not even in Taxon, where things rarely seemed to make sense. He could hardly believe his eyes, but it didn't even occur to him that this might not really be Tosh.

Hastily, he fumbled with his tablet, setting it to visual. His voice caught for a moment before he managed to speak. Because it's Tosh, and he never thought he'd see her again.

"Tosh?"

"Ianto?" Tosh said, looking down at the tablet she'd found beside her when the familiar voice appeared. "What the hell is going on?"

"It's difficult to explain," Ianto replied after a moments hesitation. In truth he hadn't made much progress in working out what was going on himself, even after months of being there. Ordinarily he'd just have gone through the basics through the tablet, but Tosh was different.

"Look, if you've got your tablet you should be able to leave the room. Just wait outside it. I'm coming to meet you. I'll try and explain when I get there."

He disconnected then, knowing full well that Tosh was smart enough to get through to him again if she needed to. The tablet was a simple enough device, something Tosh would have had no trouble working out how to use.

After grabbing his coat, Ianto made his way to the Sanctuary as quickly as he could, keeping a careful eye on the blip that marked Tosh At a hurried pace it only took him ten minutes, and he looked up as he rounded that corner, according to his tablet, Tosh should have been just around.

Tosh picked up the tablet, and looked around the room. She picked up a familiar item - the photo of her and Owen, taken a while back, the one Mary commented on. She walked over to the door, the only obvious exit to the room. She opened it, and stepped outside, carefully looking around her. It seemed so... normal, at odds with the room she'd just left.

She caught sight of Ianto, a relieved smile crossing her face. "Ianto," she said. It was all she could think of.

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001 [Holo] Arrival: Saving the world, it's a weight to bear

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