Running through slightly abandoned ruins of an ancient civilization, the trio of travellers keep just ahead of their pursuers.
"Damnit, Doctor! I thought you said this was a peaceful planet!" the square-jawed brunette shouts on the run.
"It was three centuries ago, they shouldn't have evolved into such savages in such a short time," replies the short haired man in the leather coat.
"Just shut up and run!" admonishes the blonde girl just a pace behind the two men.
Following her instructions, they become silent, running a bit faster, heading towards safety.
The aggressive natives continue to follow closely, only the occasional glimpse in the darkness and frightful chuffing sounds indicating their nearness.
At last, a familiar blue box comes into view, the Doctor reaching into a pocket as behind him a grunt and the sound of stumbling feet indicate a change in their predicament. He turns, seeing the young woman fall to the ground as he shouts, "Rose!"
The other man turns, scooping up the light burden and yells, "keep going, Doctor, I've got her."
The Doctor looks back for just a moment, and returns to running to the box, key out and ready to open the door. The lock gives easily, he rushes inside and holds the door for Jack and Rose.
"Take her to the Med-bay," he shouts, closing the door and running to the centre console, flicking switches, pressing buttons and twirling knobs. The rotor begins to rise and fall as the sounds of an agonized brachiosaurus
The natives of Galnark IV come upon the box as it flickers and fades away.
Inside, the Doctor parks the TARDIS in the vortex and rushes to Rose's side.
Jack moves around the bay, Rose laying on an elevated couch, hooked into a medical scanner, tubes piercing her flesh at arm and throat.
"How bad?" queries the Doctor.
"The Med-scan can't seem to find what's wrong, but her vitals are dropping, no matter what I do," a frustrated Jack returns.
The Doctor moves to the scanner, sonic in hand, directing the beam at it's memory circuits, hoping to extend it's abilities.
"Doc, it's not working, she's crashing," Jack shouts.
Mumbling under his breath, the Doctor moves to another machine, pressing a few buttons, "Jack, back away."
Startled and about to argue, he sees the Doctor's stern face and steps away from Rose. A light purple beam encompasses her form, Looking over the read-out's on this new device, the Doctor's shoulders slump in momentary relief.
"Now we have some time."
"What have you done?" Jack asks, his face still worried.
"Placed her in stasis, until we can figure out what exactly is wrong with Rose."
Jack moves to a metal counter with a small tray upon it and passes it over . "Looks like some kind of poison dart."
"The Galnar's were always well versed in medical chemistry, it looks like that hasn't changed." The Doctor examines the data the scanner has provided, a frown forming on his face. "It appears to be some kind of combination of corrosive and neurotoxin with mutagenic tendencies."
"How do we treat that?" Jack asks, aghast.
"I'm not sure, our medical science lagged behind on once we developed regeneration."
"Then who has the science?"
"Besides the Galnar? I have no idea. I'm going to set the TARDIS to search, check the archives in the library, hopefully one of us will come up with something." The Doctor moves away, heading out the door when he's stopped by a question from Jack.
"What do I do?"
"Eat something, get some rest, who knows what we'll have to do next."
"I can't do nothing!"
The Doctor returns to an anguished Jack, placing a hand on his shoulder, "there's nothing you can do right now, but we both might need you later, it wouldn't do to have you drop from exhaustion."
Jack lowers his head, placing a hand on top of the Doctor's and nods his head.
"Good then, I'll let you know what I find out. Go on now," he gently pushes Jack before him, out of the room, following with a quick glance behind.
The Doctor and Jack's trajectories part after a walk down the hallway, Jack towards the kitchen, the Doctor heads deeper into the TARDIS, going straight to the library and his copy of the Gallifreyan Archives. Entering a large room, wall to wall with dark wooden shelves that would not be out of place in a nineteenth century mansion, he heads to a large wooden desk with a small mechanical device of marble and clear crystal, a hole in the centre, four centimetres in diameter.
Opening a drawer and pulling out a large box covered in what appears to be concentric type circles made out in cloisonné, he removes a blue crystal sphere and places it on the device's hole.
Holographic images rise above the device, flickering in front of the Doctor's face, equations, pictures, information downloading at an impossible rate. After a few moments, the images stop, a short grunt escapes the frustrated man as he removes the crystal and chooses another globe, this time a pale green, replaces it,
More information, delivered at a punishing pace, flickers into the Timelord's brain. As this one ceases, he stagers into the chair nearby, rubbing his head. Slumping, he breathes heavily, pulling himself back into some sense of normal.
After a few moments, he lurches out of the chair, back to the box of crystals, returning the green one and taking a moment to decide on which to try next.
It takes an hour to glean through the records, a difficult hour which leaves the Doctor looking haggard and older. Carefully replacing the spheres into the box and placing it back in it's drawer.
Slightly unsteady, he walks down the hallways to the console room, checking their position, and verifying the data from the TARDIS search. Slamming a fist down on the console in frustration, he's startled by Jack's reappearance.
"Nothing?"
"I can't find a cure or treatment, no planet with advanced medicine capable of handling this, this poison," the Doctor states, opening and closing his now aching hand.
"Are you sure, there's nothing we can do, no one we can take her to?" Jack pleads, pacing back and forth.
"Short of going back to the Galnar's, there's nowhere I can think….." his words taper off as he is struck by an idea.
Jack notices and asks excitedly, "what is it? You've thought of something."
The Doctor begins to whirl around the console, pressing buttons for coordinates, flipping switches to move out of the vortex. The rotor begins to rise and fall before the Doctor turns to answer Jack's questions. "There's one daft idea, I'm not sure she can help, but she's all we've got."
"Who?"
"An old friend. Let's get Rose ready," he finishes, moving back inside quickly followed by Jack.
This cobble paved street in Vienna was quiet this time of day, the sun hanging bright in the sky. Down the way, a large four-storey building looms, an unlit sign with a black raven and stylized writing 'Zuflucht'. A two sided door opens, a beautiful woman in a flowing silk gown exits, followed by two strong men. The woman walks south for a few paces and stops, looking further down the street, just waiting. A strong wind picks up, her long loose tresses blowing like a dark shadow about her head, the soft fabric of her royal blue gown flowing about her body showing the lithe and strong form underneath as it undulates.
A wheezing bellowing announces the arrival of the TARDIS as it begins it's materialization routine. The woman and her two men wait patiently, until the noises stop and the door opens.
Both doors open, the Doctor exits, Jack behind him with Rose laid upon a stretcher between them. "Ali, prompt as ever," he announces as he greets the woman before him.
She smiles at the new arrivals, signalling with a wave of her hand for the men behind her to take their burden. "Welcome," she returns, then directs, "take her directly to the infirmary."
Rose, removed from his care, allows Jack to close the doors to the TARDIS, and quickly follow the train of people back towards the building. Closing the distance to the Doctor, he asks, "aren't you going to introduce me?"
The Doctor looks behind him, "Jack Harkness, meet Alexandra Ravenna."
Jack reaches beyond the Doctor with an arm to take her hand, brings it to his lips, Captain Jack Harkness, ma'am."
"Not now, Jack!" the Doctor remonstrates.
"What?" he declares, "I was just saying hello," he defends. He looks up as they enter the building, noticing the sign. "Refuge?"
The woman turns about inside the foyer of the building, couches around the wall and a heavy curtain across he doorway further inside, the men with the stretcher walk through it taking Rose further inside. "Welcome to my home, club and Sanctuary, in the old style. There is only two rules, Harm none while you are within it's environs, and my word is Law." With this she smiles and pulls the curtain aside, beckoning them inside.
Inside is a darkened club, small tables about the place, a dancing floor and elevated stage for performances, immediately parallel to the stage is a large bar. She strides across the room to a door marked 'keep out" and passes through, the two men on her heels.
They enter a well lit hallway, doors on either side and a lift at the end, as well as a turning to the left. She moves purposefully down and turns, pushing open the door to the right. Inside is a well stocked infirmary, two treatment tables in the centre, with bright lights overhead. A curtained area to the left is closed, keeping whatever behind it apart.
Rose lays upon one of the treatment tables, still and quiet, a machine hooked by a tube to her wrist lays between her leg. Jack and the Doctor move to surround Rose as Alexandra heads to an odd machine, pulling her butterfly sleeves behind her and tying the ends into a knot to keep them out of the way.
Her pale arms are well toned and muscled, but with just enough fat to make them womanly. The passes her hands between two plates of the machine, a red light appearing to wave across them, then lavender nitrile gloves appear upon them.
She moves to her patient, gently moving the Doctor out of the way. "What happened?"
"We're were on another planet, Rose was hit by a dart," he pulls a plastic bag out of a pocket and hands it over. "We've tried everything I knew how, but nothing worked. We placed her in stasis and brought her here."
At this the woman opens a drawer inside the table and removes two sensors, placing one on Rose's head and the other upon her upper chest.
She moves to the curtain, brushing it aside with a brisk arm, revealing some unusual equipment. At a sort of microscope, she opens a clear box and carefully places the dart the Doctor handed over to her inside. Sliding it under an sensor, she powers it up and looks through a viewfinder. Pressing some buttons on the instrument, she tries to determine what's before her.
With a grunt, she removes the clear box from the reader, taking it to another machine with the appearance of a microwave oven. Placing it inside, she closes the door and types into a small keyboard on the side. After a moment, there is an odd warble from the machine and a small tape of white paper exit's a slot. Ripping it away, she reads the symbols, "damn this is a mess." She looks to the Doctor and shakes her head, "the trouble you get into."
She returns to her patient, arms crossed and considering.
"Well?" the Doctor asks, worry on his face.
She thinks for a moment, before answering, "this planet doesn't have the treatment…"
"But?" he continues, Jack looking lost beside him.
"There might be one way, as you figured, bringing her here," she looks to Jack and asks, "Could you turn off those lights over there?" she requests, pointing to the switches by the door.
Moving to acquiesce, he flips the switches, plunging the room into not quite darkness, a bit of illumination coming from small lights about the room. He stands there, watching the scene before him as he watches the woman climb upon the treatment table, straddling Rose, and at any other time he'd be excited by this.
Alexandra strips the gloves off and tosses them to the floor, eyes intent on Rose's face as she commands, "as soon as I tell you, remove the stasis and stand back."
She places her left hand over Rose's heart, the right over the wound site and softly speaks, "now."
The Doctor flips a switch on the machine behind her between Rose's legs, and as Rose's faces begins to twist in pain, Alexandra gasps and a silvery glow surrounds her hands.
Rose stills, as Alexandra breathes heavily, strain evident on her face, as an unhealthy colour passes over her. Panting, she continues, an energy crackling about her and through her, the silver light pulsing in time with her heart.
Suddenly the light dims, she gives a cough and carefully moves off her patient, slipping to the floor. Holding on to the table, she quickly checks Rose's vitals, the tiny lights on the head and chest sensors she placed earlier a steady green glow.
Satisfied, she exhales and begins to slump, the Doctor moves quickly behind her, catching her before she hit's the floor. Scooping her up, he carries her to the other table, placing her carefully. He shifts a quick glance to Rose, but sees her breathing evenly, relaxes a bit, before returning his attention to Alexandra.
Jack moves to Rose, placing a hand on her face, checking the reality of her healthy appearance.
An unstable breath from Alexandra and then she clears her voice, the two men look to her as she speaks quietly, "she's going to be fine, she'll sleep for a few hours to recover, but she's well." With this, she stops speaking, pain crossing her face as she winces.
The Doctor moves her long hair away from her neck, and in the same position as it had been on Rose, there is a puncture wound. He turns to Jack, "you might want to watch this," he quietly informs him.
Jack moves to his side, startled as he notices the wound. "What?" he queries.
The Doctor places a finger over his lips to silence Jack, and then points to the woman on the table.
Eyes shut, brow wrinkled in concentration as she breathes harshly, her colour unwell. A pale silvery light encompasses her form, prismatic colours glint off her skin, as she slows her breathing, her struggle showing in stiffened limbs. Slowly, her colouring improves, and the wound on her neck shrinks, fades away until her flesh is inviolate.
The glow slowly fades away, her strain falling away from her body. She relaxes deeply into the table, her body limp and sweating from her effort.
"How?" Jack asks, looking between the two, searching for answers.
"Later," the Doctor put's him off, looking to the shelf under the treatment table and pulling out a thin blanket. He carefully covers Alexandra as her eyes close in repose. He then moves to the other, grabbing the blanket under Rose and gently covers her as well, stopping to caress her face before he leads Jack out of the room.
