Author's Notes

Part 5 in the Twelfth Doctor Adventures, picking up where Web of Doom left off.

The story so far...

UNIT have warned the Doctor about Charlie Drake – and they may have had a good reason. Poisoned after an encounter with a deadly alien creature, the Doctor's on the verge of death.

Charlie was alone in the TARDIS with the Doctor.

The Doctor had collapsed to the floor, wracked with pain, struggling for his last breaths.

He was helpless. Charlie had no idea what to do – and he couldn't fly the TARDIS. The Doctor had seemed so confident that something was going to happen to him, which would magically save him. And it hadn't happened, and it seemed that the Doctor had lost.

He was dead.

"Charlie?" a familiar voice spoke softly into his ear.

Charlie reeled back in shock, stunned to see a flickering holographic figure crouching next to him. A cold wave of dread threatened to stop his heart, too.

The figure's gaze locked upon him, the eyes captivated – just to observe him.

"We can still save him, Charlie," the boy assured him.

"Nate?" Charlie breathed in disbelief.

The image of Nate's slightly swollen lips curled, and the holographic figure smiled a brilliant, boyish grin.

"You remember me," Nate muttered excitedly.

Charlie shook his head, willing himself not to believe what he was seeing.

Nate glided over to the console, and began flicking switches. His transparent hands passed through the controls – not quite touching, but somehow moving them. The TARDIS shuddered. They were in flight.

"How…?" Charlie managed to croak.

Nate perched on the edge of the console, and rubbed his brow.

"There are protocols for this kind of thing," he explained, "I can fly myself when I need to."

Charlie raised himself to his feet, aware of the floor falling away from him as he did so. He swallowed, his throat rough.

"You. You're not him," Charlie uttered quietly. "So you're the TARDIS?"

"The interface program."

"Who… why…?"

"Good question," he mused, nodding, and glancing over the room. "Why do I look like this?"

Nate threw his arms up, dismissively.

"It's the only form that can elicit a response from you."

He paused, and looked down at the metal grate beneath him, as if deep in thought.

"Elicit…?" he pondered. "I never used that word before-"

"Stop it!" Charlie spat. "You're not him. Don't you dare…"

His insides were volcanic.

"Sorry," Nate muttered, smiling at him apologetically. "But I do need your help."

Charlie hesitated.

"What do you want me to do?"

"I need you to save the Doctor," Nate said simply. "Because he's going to die. The Arachnid venom is destroying his regenerative abilities."

Nate slid down from his perch on the console, and walked over to Charlie. His pixelated eyes were level with his own, and burning intensely.

"It's not his time yet. This is not the moment he falls. You need to save him."

"How do I do that?" Charlie asked.

"You'll have to find him, and bring him back from death. From extremis…"

"Okay," Charlie said, resignedly. It wasn't an explanation, but there was nothing else he could do.

Nate pointed upwards. A compartment in the ceiling swung open, and a tangle of cables dropped from the opening, falling through Nate's form.

The hologram took a step back, and indicated a headset amongst the black wires. The headset was a metallic structure, shaped like headphones, with a third arm, each arm featuring strange circular etchings.

"Put that on," Nate suggested.

Charlie slipped the headset over his cranium. Nate gestured towards two silver beads, each connected to a cable.

"Place the electrodes over the Doctor's temporal bones."

Nate mirrored Charlie's crouching position, and watched Charlie study the Doctor's body, clueless as to the location of the Doctor's 'temporal bones'.

Nate placed his fingers in the correct spots, and Charlie moved the electrodes over, where they seemed magnetically attracted to the Doctor's forehead.

As soon as he had connected the electrodes to the Doctor's head, he felt a strange tingling sensation on the back of his neck.

"You don't have long," Nate quickly explained. "Your mind is not yet compatible with the Doctor's. I'll alter the relevant neural pathways."

"Wait, what?" Charlie interjected. He was cut short, as an intense burst of pain coursed through his head.

"I should warn you," Nate continued, as Charlie opened his mouth to yell - but he made no sound. "The path you're about to take is a very dangerous one."

Charlie began to lose consciousness. Nate's last words rang in his ears:

"Save him. Save the Doctor."

The floor rushed up to meet Charlie's nose, and knocked him out cold.