THE CULT OF THE DOCTOR

Chapter Fourteen

The Doctor was impressed. Rose knew her way around the place. There were many closed doors and the Doctor had to fight his urge to open them and peek inside. He figured that he was being watched closely so he kept his hands to himself and followed his lover while she led him and Robert somewhere.

After ten minutes of walking, Rose suddenly stopped by one of the doors and turned to the Doctor.

"Do you want to see the Dimension Cannon?" she asked him.

"Aren't we going to go to the archives?" the Doctor asked.

"Yeah…but I figured you'd be curious about the Dimension Cannon as well," Rose said with a shrug.

"You know me far too well, Tyler," the Doctor said.

"I like to think so," Rose said sweetly as the Doctor grinned.

Every door had a scanner beside it. Rose swiped her card through the scanner and they heard an audible click as the door unlocked. She opened it and stepped aside so the Doctor and Robert could enter. Inside the room was a huge metal platform with another platform installed into the ceiling above it. The whole thing reminded the Doctor of the transporter from Star Trek as he stepped onto it. Off to the side was a large metal console with buttons and switches and there were wires and cables running between both. Rose stepped up onto the console and watched while the Doctor pulled out his screwdriver and did a scan of the platform.

"This technology is very advanced, how did you build it?" the Doctor asked her as they stepped off the platform and walked over to the console.

"I'll answer that," Robert said, walking over to them. "We salvaged parts from a downed Vorad space cruiser."

"And who downed it?" the Doctor said, turning to him.

"Dunno but it wasn't us if that's what you're thinking," he said.

"That's exactly what I'm thinking. I had dealings with the Torchwood in my universe and they were a bit on the shady side."

"It's different here," Rose said. "This Torchwood is being monitored by the government and they make sure they don't do anything that would endanger Earth."

"Good. Because you don't want me shutting you lot down," the Doctor said.

He fell silent while he examined the console. Rose pointed out a few buttons to him and explained their function. The Doctor looked from the console to the platform and shook his head.

"You took a huge risk, Rose. This technology is highly advanced. You could have killed yourself or ended up trapped in the Void forever."

"I know but I had to find you. The stars were going out and you were our only hope," Rose said.

The Doctor raised his eyebrow and Rose smiled, knowing what that implied.

"And yes, I just wanted to find you as well," she said.

The Doctor laid a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it. He spent a few more moments examining the cannon before he let Rose know he was ready. Rose led them outside and closed the door behind them. She went to a lift and once they were inside, she took them down to basement level.

When the lift doors opened, they stepped out into a huge underground room that was so long and so wide the Doctor couldn't see the sides or the back of it.

"How big is this place?" he said to Rose as the doors slid shut behind them.

"No idea," Rose said.

"No idea?" the Doctor said in disbelief.

"Well, they keep building on to it all the time and there are several levels below this one. This is only level one of their storage."

She grabbed his arm when the Doctor staggered back. The Doctor regained his composure and turned to Robert.

"How long has Torchwood been building their little collection?" he asked them.

"Longer than I've been here. Torchwood's been around since the late 1800's so I suppose since they started."

"And all of this was lying on the ground?" he said, swinging his arm around to indicate the vast room and its contents.

"They did take some things without permission but since Pete Tyler came here, that no longer happens," Robert said. "We've met with several aliens and they've gave us some tech as a gesture of peace. I swear that."

The Doctor wasn't too sure but he decided it wasn't worth arguing over so he turned back to Rose.

"So how do you find everything then?" he asked her.

Rose beckoned to him and he followed her to a group of computers on a large wooden table.

"They have everything catalogued, just search for what you want," she said, pointing to a search engine on the computer nearest them.

The Doctor sat down and thought for a moment while Rose and Robert watched. Then he typed TRANSMAT SIGNATURE INDICATOR and hit enter. He folded his hands in his lap while he waited for the results. Thirty seconds later, three entries came up. The Doctor clicked on each one and studied the summary of what the thing was and what it could do, trying to decide what would be best to use. He settled on the second entry and pointed to it.

"So how do you find it?"

Rose scrolled down and the Doctor read what was there…

LEVEL TWO, SECTION 8, NUMBER 356.

"We need to go down one level," Rose explained. "Then each storage area is divided into square sections and each item has a catalog number. That's how we find it."

The Doctor nodded. He stood up and followed Rose and Robert back to the lift. They went down one level and when they stepped out, the Doctor was stunned to see a large spaceship in front of them. The entry ramp was down and people were walking in and out of it while carrying clipboards.

"This is a Rayton Glider," he said to Rose while he pointed to it. "It's fully intact. Where did you find it?"

"Dunno. It was here when I got here," Rose said, shrugging.

The Doctor glanced back at Robert.

"No idea," he said, shrugging.

Rose noticed the Doctor's jaw tighten and she knew he was thinking that it had been stolen or shot down. She knew he hated being here and if he didn't need to find his TARDIS he would be miles from this place. She took his hand and squeezed it reassuringly. The Doctor didn't look at her but squeezed back as Rose led them to a row of golf carts parked near the ship. She got in the driver's side, the Doctor got in beside her and Robert got in the back. She started it and drove off while the Doctor looked around. Once they got past the spaceship, the Doctor saw smaller ships along with weapons, computers and other assorted alien tech. His mind boggled at the amount of stuff Torchwood possessed and he wondered if one day someone would use the stuff to try to conquer the Earth. Knowing this stuff was in human hands made him ill at ease and not even the fact that his friends worked here soothed his fears about Torchwood going rogue.

Rose drove for five minutes until they saw a sign hanging down from the ceiling that said SECTION 8; she slowed down and stopped the cart. She told the Doctor and Robert to wait while she got out and walked over to a young dark haired woman who was writing something down on a piece of paper mounted on a clipboard. They spoke for a moment and the woman pointed off to the right. Rose nodded and walked back to the golf cart.

"Okay, Louise told me where 356 is located," she said to them as she started up the golf cart.

The Doctor nodded and folded his arms over his chest while Rose drove off in search of the artifact.

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