**
"If the Doctor is in Cardiff," The man said into his earpiece, idly playing at his wispy grey hair as he walked down the white sterile corridors which ran along the top floor of the hospital., "Then he will no doubt have taken an interest in us. All the files mention a connection between Torchwood Cardiff and the Doctor, mainly due to a close relationship between him and our.." He paused for a moment, thinking of the next word. "Benefactor. Yes, it seems the Doctor and Captain Harkness have a bit of history. We can use that. Imagine, with the Doctor's help we could neutralize the one flaw in the formula."
**
The Doctor looked around his surroundings which a touch of annoyance. How was anyone meant to snoop around here, proper, serious snooping, if Torchwood allowed everyone in everywhere? All the doors he tried were unlocked, so the Doctor left them. No one ever kept information, the type of information he was looking for anyway, in an unlocked room. All he longed for was one of those signs, the type that might as well jump up and down shouting "There's something you don't want to see in here!"
Keep out, no entry, staff only. Any would do, the Doctor thought as he passed yet another set of doors to private rooms. They were all occupied, he noticed. When he shut this operation down, not if, when, they would all go back to leaving their normal human lives. Back to the cycle of life and death. Not all of them would thank him, maybe none of them would, but only because they wouldn't realize what he was sparing them from. His own life wasn't eternal by any sense of the word, but it was long enough. Too long, if he told the truth. He imagined a nice life, seventy, eighty years or so, a normal life, punctuated with those normal, human, events. Birth, love death. He had seen a glimpse of it, not so long ago, but had to face the fact that it was not a life he could embrace.
He loved his life, he had to admit, but given the choice, if the decision had no repercussions on the universe, deep down he knew what he would choose. But that was because he knew what he was choosing between. An informed decision. Not like these people. They were choosing an option that they didn't understand, undoubtly only told about the benefits of living forever. Throughout the history of the human race people had searched for the key to eternal life but never understood just what it meant, not really. The Eternal Fallacy.
Ooh, the Doctor thought. That's a good one. If Rose were here, or Donna, or Martha, now, they would have been impressed. Well, maybe Rose and Martha. Donna would have mocked him for getting 'deep' and 'philosophical'.
The Doctor reached the end of the corridor, looking to the identical paths leading left and right. That was another thing his traveling partners were good for. Always off getting lost or captured, so the Doctor had to go and find them, usually leading him to just what he was looking for. Not this time though. This time the Doctor would have to find whatever it was he was looking for himself.
**
If only he knew.
"Doctor…" The whispered words were barely audible outside of the large glass tank, the Torchwood agent sitting at the computer post didn't even look up.
All around him, the golden energy flowed around him, just as it always did, fading only as his eyelids clamped shut yet again.
Eternal death.
""This is Agent Kells." The agent, a young man, no older than mid-twenties, said in to his earpiece, looking up at the large tube in the middle of the darkened room. "Yes, he's died again. Going on recent data, it will be around thirty seconds before he wake again." Kells kept his eyes on the tank, as the figure inside let out an inaudible gasp, his eyes snapping open. "Sir, he's back."
Eternal life.
He so desperately wanted to shout out, but even if he could he knew no one would hear. Especially not the one person who could help him.
"Doctor!"
**
"Who was that man?" The blonde doctor asked Susan, as she studied a se of screens sitting next to the bed, taking in the various sets of information being relayed through them.
"Just," Susan started, a little uncertain if she knew he was himself. "A friend." She faked a smile. "A friend of Grandfathers. Just came to visit."
"How nice." The doctor, Ellis Susan seemed to remember her name was, replied uninterestingly, her gaze not moving from the screen.
Susan looked to her Grandfather, apparently asleep now. At least she wouldn't have to explain herself to him. Not that she knew what she would say anyway, it was hard enough to justify the lie herself, let alone to anyone else. She didn't know why she had done it, other than the fact that she trusted the Doctor. Not like the staff around here, she looked to Doctor Ellis who was still staring intently at the set of monitors. She hadn't even tried to speak to her Grandfather yet, for half an hour now she had just stood at the computers almost silently, breaking it only to ask Susan about the Doctor. Susan noticed her press a series of buttons, and moments later a shimmering golden fluid flowed from the machine sitting directly next to her Grandfathers bed. She followed it with her eyes as it traveled along the attached tube until it entered her Grandfathers body. Susan looked away, she'd not seen the treatment in progress before. She coped badly enough with the thought of needles, let alone some odd fluid being pumped in to her body, any body. Ellis, however, seemed completely unphased, not reacting at all. She's used to it, Susan reasoned to herself.
The doctor did react however, when the old man suddenly bolted upright in the bed.
"Doctor!" He shouted, as Susan jumped back. That wasn't her Grandfathers voice, was it? "Doctor!"
Ellis turned to Susan's Grandfather for the first time, a look of annoyance on her face.
"I'm here." She snapped. "What is it?"
"No!" The voice was slightly different again, more fierce, more like an order than a cry for help. "I need the Doctor! Doctor! Doctor!"
"Grandfather!" Susan cried, perching at the side of his bed. "What's wrong with him?"
"Nothing." Ellis replied indignantly. "I've seen it many times before, just a cry for attention." She tapped at more buttons, stopping the flow of liquid through the tube. Susan looked on as her Grandfather shook a little, giving out one last cry before he drifted back to unconsciousness.
"DOCTOR!"
**
"Ah ha!" The Doctor let out a triumphant yell. "No admittance! Brilliant!" He looked over the silver door, no sign of a handle, just a keypad on the wall to the left, stepping forward, after checking over his shoulder, the Doctor gave it a slight push before tutting at himself. "Why is it," he sighed, reaching in to his coat pocket, "that after over 900 years of doing this, I still haven't learnt that there's no point in checking the doors?" The Sonic Screwdriver let out a high pitched buzz as the Doctor held its glowing blue tip to the keypad, which emitted a series of blips and beeps before the door gave a loud click. He looked down the corridor once again. No cameras, he noted. That wasn't like Torchwood, the Doctor thought to himself. Or maybe it was. Well, Torchwood London anyway. So overconfident, so secure in the feeling that they could do no wrong. Maybe they simply felt they didn't need cameras because no one was going to want to sabotage their little eternal life project. Well, who would?
"Then they weren't betting on me." The Doctor whispered to himself. "Big mistake."
The Doctor gave one last look at the sign on the door as he pushed it open.
"Sorry," He shrugged, "but I never pay much attention to signs myself. No offence of course." He paused, holding the door half open as a sudden wave of realization hit him. "I'm talking to a sign."
The corridors looked identical to those of the wards downstairs, except with fewer doors. No doors in fact, just a long straight corridor, leading to an elevator. The Doctor looked closely at the buttons on the outside of the elevator door.
"Hmm. Labs or offices." The Doctor looked up slightly, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Both sound so tempting." He pondered. "What happened to up and down? A nice, simple uninformed choice."
**
