The Battle of Canary Wharf was over. The Void was sealed off and the Daleks were hopefully trapped forever in a place from which there was no escape. The Cybermen too had been sucked into the vortex and would be troubling this world at least, no more.  The Doctor would normally have congratulated himself for his brilliant efforts, but today was one of the rare occasions when he had to stop and question himself. Had the price for this success been too high? Rose, Jackie and Mickey had all been stranded in another world with no chance of escape. True they were alive and probably well in the alternative Universe, but he felt that he had failed them all none the less.

When Rose had slipped and been pulled towards the swirling maelstrom of forces at the crossover between the Void and reality, both of his hearts had almost stopped with the shock. The thought of her being trapped in that eternal unreality surrounded by hordes of the most deadliest of enemies didn't bare thinking about. When Pete Tyler had suddenly materialized at the last moment and saved her from that terrible fate, the Doctor had almost cried with relief.

But knowing that she was probably safe was not enough. Of all the companions he'd had over the many, many years, Rose was one of the very few that had touched his soul in a way that he found hard to describe. In the short time that they had spent travelling together, she had risked life and limb over and over again while helping others, just as he had. She had exhibited everything good that mankind had to offer, everything that kept him returning to the little blue green world on the edge of nowhere. She gave everything she had to offer and never once even thought to ask what was in it for her… and now she was gone forever, because of him.

It wasn't enough. It wasn't enough to know that she was probably safe, he had to know for sure. There had to be a way to contact her even if it was only for one last time, there just had to be. He confined himself to the TARDIS for weeks. He used every piece of equipment and every ounce of knowledge at is disposal to analyse the rift, to probe into the scar that had been left in the very fabric of reality where the doorway between worlds had been opened. Eventually he found a way, it was tricky but it was real.

For a short time maybe only a few minutes he would be able to send and receive a transmission to her world, but there was one small problem. The amount of energy required would be literally astronomical. He would have to harness a vast amount of power, so much in fact, that the only source he could think of that was capable of delivering such a huge supply was an exploding star. He would have to somehow channel the entire energy from a Supernova through the TARDIS. Tricky was an understatement.

The thought of Rose spurred him on. Regardless of how hard or seemingly hopeless a situation had been in the past, Rose had never once doubted him, not once. Her faith in him was what kept him going when they were together and now was no different. She would be waiting for a message, he knew it, and if Rose thought that he would send a message then he sure as hell wouldn't disappoint her… not this time.

It took Twelve months of planning, preparation and research before he was ready. He collected astronomical information from a dozen worlds and from a dozen others he collected some fairly exotic technology needed to adapt the TARDIS. Only when it was ready did he realise that he had no idea what he was going to say to her. He began the transmission as soon as it was possible regardless. There was only a certain window of opportunity and time was running out.

It worked. He managed to breach the barrier between their worlds one last time to speak to Rose. It was an emotional conversation for both of them, there were so many things he wanted to say and so little time. He was relieved to find out that she and the others were all safe but it pained him deeply to see how upset Rose was. Seeing her this way intensified the guilt he was feeling. So often in the past it had been Rose that lightened his mood when he was feeling maudlin and this time she did it with the news of her mother's pregnancy. Well another Tyler was sure to make their world just that little bit brighter and perhaps a little safer too in the long run. Perhaps having a little sister to look after would take Rose's mind off of the grief that she felt at their separation, he hoped so. Then out of the blue she said it, she said 'I love you' and he felt the cut of those words deeper than ever before. He already knew of course, the chemistry between them had been evident from the moment he met her. He almost blurted the words that she wanted to hear, but then he caught himself. He had to let it end here, not just for her sake, but for himself too.

In a way he was almost glad when the transmission failed a few moments later. He knew there was no point in trying to re-establish the connection, it would not be possible. She was safe that was the most important thing, Rose, Jackie, Pete and even good old Mickey the idiot were all safe. He was certain that there were still many dangers in their world, it had already proven to be a hazardous place but he had faith in them all. Together they were far stronger than any of them could have imagined. They would work together and they would overcome whatever troubles stood in their way, he was sure of it.

As for him, well he would continue on of course, he would never forget her but he had to put her out of his mind as much as he could. The shadow of loneliness and despair brushed across his soul as it did from time to time. He thought of her one last time and turned the shadow away.

Farewell sweet Rose.

Mickey Smith popped the handle of the torch into his mouth to free up both hands.  The light wasn't pointing where he wanted and he had to do some clever tongue work to get it into a useful position.

'Is this gonna take much longer Mickey, this place is giving me the creeps' complained Jackie Tyler's voice from out of the darkness behind him.

He  pulled the torch back out of his mouth again, 'It'd take a lot less time if you didn't keep asking how long it was going to take'.  Then a thought struck him. 'Hang on a minute, why am I trying to do all of this stuff by myself, come and hold the torch' he said, making virtually no attempt to conceal his irritation. 

Jackie adopted an almost mocking, childlike tone of voice, 'But I'm pregnant Mickey love, six months gone, you wouldn't want me to hurt myself now would you?'.

Mickey was having none of it, 'Oh shut up and get over here would you,  if you were in such a feeble state you wouldn't have come along in the first place'  he rightly pointed out.

'Oh all right keep your blinkin' hair on' the child like innocent tone was gone and Jackie was back to her normal, almost acidic, cockney self.

Mickey had a close affection for Jackie Tyler and although, at times, she could come across as hostile, self absorbed and quite often fairly rude, Mickey had seen her other side enough to know that she had a heart of gold, and what to some people might seem like hostility and rudeness was simply Jackie being… well Jackie. 

He thought back to the time just after Rose had broken off their relationship, a relationship that he thought had been going pretty damned well.  Mickey had initially felt anger and resentment when she had left to go gallivanting around the universe with the Doctor.  And during that period, he'd thought that Jackie would shut him out.  After all, he was suddenly old news, or that's how it seemed from his point of view. 

But nothing could have been further from the truth.  Jackie and Mickey shared a unique relationship. More than friends, they verged on family and every time that Rose and the Doctor had returned and then disappeared again on another adventure, the bond between Mickey Smith and Jackie Tyler had grown stronger and stronger.  They had more in common than anyone could have imagined.

Both of them had come from the humble beginnings of the council estates of East London and now both of them had been propelled into new and exciting lives.  Both of them had been trapped forever in this parallel universe as a result of the actions of the Cybermen, the Daleks and the Doctor.  Now Mickey liked to think that they had also both lost someone they cared for very deeply and had then had them returned.  In Jackie's case, Pete, her husband and in Mickey's case, Rose.  Even though Rose had never once given him the smallest hint that they might ever get back together again, he could wait.  Rose, he thought, was very much worth waiting for.

'I'm not touching that, it's been in your mouth' Jackie's disgusted voice snapped him back to the moment.  It was at times like these that he wondered if Jackie would ever understand the meaning of 'team player'.  Although it was almost completely dark in the tunnel, the light from the torch lit up his face well enough to show her that he was not at all impressed with her lack of commitment to the task at hand.

'Well wipe it off on yer jacket at least' she said coming closer and offering her hand.

With Jackie's help Mickey could now concentrate on what he was doing.

They were in a disused pumping station deep under the streets of London.  In winter the place where they were standing would have been three feet deep in water, but at the 
moment the tunnels and passages of the Thames overflow system were dry. 

Mickey reached into his pocket and brought out an odd looking object. It was obviously home made and in the crudest fashion.  The handle had been snapped in half to reduce its length and it was covered in layer after layer of black electrical tape. The rest of the makeshift tool looked more like a broken and badly bent carving fork than anything else, which was not surprising because a broken and badly bent carving fork was exactly what it was made from.

Mickey crouched and shifted his feet.  Grit crunched under the thick soles of his heavy boots as he leant closer over a barely visible, and motionless body lying on the floor in the darkness.

'Point it down a bit' he asked in a hushed tone and Jackie angled the bright beam down, the almost perfect circle of white light now clearly illuminating the spotless silvery chest plate of an unconscious Cyberman.

The tool that Mickey was using looked crude but it was perfectly made for the job he was now performing.  The two prongs of the fork had been bent and fitted neatly into the two tiny slots on either side of the logo in the middle of the Cyberman's chest. Mickey twisted the tool around and the logo began to turn with it, slowly unscrewing until it came free.

'Here hold this' he said passing the heavy metal disc back over his shoulder with one hand while putting the tool back in his pocket with the other.  He leaned a little closer to the unmoving Cyberman and reached right inside the now open chest cavity. 

With a well practiced yank his hand came free, now holding a small black computer chip marked with the Cybus Industries logo.  'Hey we've got ourselves one of the old ones' he whispered.  He slipped the chip into the top pocket of his jacket and at the same time took out another one which looked almost exactly the same.  He pushed the new chip into the socket inside the Cyberman's chest and then after retrieving the cover from Jackie, screwed the chest plate logo back into place.

'That should keep them on their toes' he said as he patted the Cyberman like an obedient pet. He stood up and took the torch back from Jackie.  He panned the light along the tunnel.  Dozens of Cybermen lined the walls, all motionless. The torch light faded away in the distance long before the Cybermen did.

'Come on, lets get the hell out of here' he said while smoothing down the Velcro fasteners on his jacket pockets.

'Best idea you've had all day' moaned Jackie, Mickey smirked in her direction through the darkness.

'No it's not, but I don't tell you all of my best ones'.   He smiled at her through the darkness and then they both set off back up the tunnel towards the light.

Rose bit her lip, it was the only way she could stop herself from calling the President an utter idiot to her face and get herself and her father in even more trouble than they were already.

She looked around the meeting room table at the faces of the key members of government. They were all pointed in her direction waiting for her to say something.  She had to take a deep breath to calm herself and then she asked again.

'Don't any of you think that it might even be possible that there are still stores of Cybermen hidden away somewhere ?'   In fact Rose and Mickey had already located several such stores right here in London and information that suggested there were many, many more, but Rose was keeping that little ace well and truly up her sleeve.

A small tubby man with red blotchy cheeks sitting across from Rose spoke first, he was the Secretary of the Interior or the Minister for the something or other in which Rose had zero interest.  Rose didn’t care what he said, all she knew was that he was a complete idiot, they all were.

'Obviously it's possible, but to be honest all intelligence reports indicate that even if there are undetected stores, the chances of them ever becoming active is now so remote that we might as well not even bother worrying about it.  With their Cyber controller defeated and the main body of their army gone it seems unlikely we'll ever see an active Cyberman again.'

'What about the incident in Paris last week' Rose snapped back. Referring to a news story that had claimed that three Cybermen had been spotted walking around in the Metro tunnels and had so far evaded capture.

The President's eyebrows almost jumped off her face.

'Any news coming out of France should always be taken with a pinch of salt… just like their food' she added as an afterthought.  This caused a ripple of chuckles around the table which irritated the hell out of Rose again.

She wished the Doctor was here, he would know how to talk to these people, to convince them that the danger from the Cybermen was not a thing of the past.  But he wasn't here, he was an entire universe away, locked beyond a wall that she could never pass through, over or around.

This was something that Rose had to keep reminding herself, The Doctor would not be making an appearance today or in fact any other day.  There was no way to open the doorway between their two worlds, well at least there was no way that Rose could imagine, and even if there were a way, the danger to both their worlds in fact both their Universes was too great to risk it.  No, the link between their two worlds would remain closed forever. 

The fate of this world at least now rested in her hands, well to be more precise it rested in the hands of herself, Mickey and her parents.  She looked across at Pete in the hope that he would jump in and somehow get it through to these people that they were all still in grave danger.

But Pete Tyler wanted to be here even less than Rose did. He'd used up the last of his few remaining favours with those of social standing just to get them into Downing Street and arrange this meeting and so far it was going very, very badly.

Rose was staring at him and an uneasy silence was developing around the table.

The President stood and began slowly walking around the huge, highly polished conference table, gently stroking her left hand along the backs of the chairs as she passed them.

'Look Miss Tyler, I understand that you are concerned, it's only natural after what we've all been through in recent times.  But I can assure you that at least here in Britain we are completely safe from the Cybermen, everything is under our control'.  At that she turned away from the table and walked out of the room.  The others all started to get out of their seats and follow her.

Rose sat silently and watched them go. A look of distrust was slowly building up on her face and Pete noticed it.

'What's the matter' he said

'I dunno, didn't you think that what she said was a bit odd?'  There was something niggling at the back of Rose's brain.  The President was hiding something, Rose was sure of it.

'Not really, I told you they wouldn't listen' replied Pete 'Those in power are nearly always oblivious to what's actually going on'.

Rose was convinced that there was more going on here than those in power were letting on and if there was one thing that Rose hated it was being lied to.

The huge crane lifted the cargo container away from the docks as if it weighed considerably less than it actually did.  Truth be told this was one of the heaviest cargo containers that this particular crane had ever lifted. 

The main boom arm swung out over the dock wall towards an unnamed ship which sat silently, floating in the pitch black sea, moonlight glinting off the surface of the water like liquid silver. 

There was no record of this cargo transfer and there never would be.  The ship with no name would never appear on the dock manifest and the local coast guards would have no record of its departure from Portsmouth on this night.

The crane had reached the correct position and began to lower the container onto the deck.  The ship was eerie in its stillness.  A vessel this size would normally have had dozens of deck hands securing containers and checking to make sure that the right cargo had been loaded. But tonight the deck was deserted.  There would be no mistakes made tonight. This cargo was far too dangerous for anyone to make a mistake and those involved in the transfer knew it only to well.

The container was almost on the deck now and the crane driver slowed its descent.  He made a last few tiny adjustments to the controls until it gently settled on the deck of the ship with only a slight thud. 

The container looked out of place on the vast, flat, and almost completely empty deck of the massive ship, and so did the nine other identical containers that were neatly lined up beside it.  All of them were marked with a single ominous warning, stencilled on their sides in bright red spray painted letters…

"Toxic".

Continue to Part 2

Acknowledgements

_{The composition Divide features characters and extrapolates on past situations and events seen in the BBC television series Doctor Who. The author and braingunk.com would like to fully acknowledge all relevant BBC copyrights, trademarks and intellectual properties related to the Divide project. The work is provided episodically and free of charge to all visitors to the braingunk website and will be available as a free of charge single downloadable ebook for registered braingunk users only. The work is published on a completely free of charge, non profit basis and may not be redistributed either in part or complete form without express written permission form braingunk and the author. The work may not be compiled into any collection either physically or electronically stored and redistributed either for profit or for free without express written permission from braingunk and the author.  In addition to these stipulations, the use of Divide and all other braingunk publications are governed by the general braingunk terms and conditions.}