Chapter 3 - Impressive Impressions
Rose ducked out of the corner shop, finding Martha and the Doctor right where she had left them. She slid her newly-purchased cell phone into the pocket of the Doctor's tuxedo jacket. "It'll need an upgrade, but that'll do," she announced, and watched as the Doctor adjusted his bowtie for the umpteenth time since they'd left Martha's flat. "Would you leave it alone?" she asked him, batting his hand away from his collar and taking his arm. "You look fine."
"I look like a penguin," he grumbled as they continued on their way. Rose was almost surprised he wasn't dragging his feet.
"I think it suits you," Martha offered. "In a James Bond kind of way."
"James Bond?" the Doctor asked, derisively, but seemed to warm to the idea. "Really?
Rose sighed. "Martha, please, the ego?"
Both girls shared a laugh, very much at the Doctor's expense and to his obvious annoyance.
"Here we are," the Doctor announced suddenly, leading the way up to the rather impressive entrance to Lazarus Laboratories.
Rose squeezed his arm just a bit to let him know she was teasing, as they paused to let Martha go ahead of them into the reception. The Doctor flashed the psychic paper as he entered with Rose, glanced over to her, and then winked, adjusting his bowtie yet again.
As they entered the main reception room, Rose eyed the large, white cabinet and pillars in the center. "Make-Me-Human Chamber?" she asked her companions under her breath.
Martha laughed, but the Doctor just shook his head. "Looks like some sort of... sonic microfield manipulator, maybe," he said.
He moved away from Rose to step closer to the machine, whatever it was, but was distracted as a tray of hors d'oeuvres passed by.
"Oh, look," he said, swiping a snack, "they've got nibbles! I love nibbles!"
It was Rose's turn to shake her head as he tossed the tidbit into his mouth, whole. Forgoing comment, she asked, "So, whaddya think it does?"
"Let's see if we can find out," he said, having made quick work of the snack. He slipped an arm behind her back and guided her over to where Martha stood speaking to another woman.
As they approached, Martha turned with a smile. "Doctor, Rose, this is my sister, Leticia," Leticia made a face before Martha continued, "but just call 'er Tish." As they shook hands, Martha added, "She's workin' in Lazarus' PR department."
"Professor Lazarus," Tish corrected, "and I'm head of the PR department, actually," she told her sister.
"You're jokin'," Martha said, obviously surprised.
"I put this whole thing together," Tish told her, indicating the reception.
"So," Rose interrupted, eager to avoid a sisterly catfight, "any chance ya know what this machine does?" She nodded towards the chamber. "What'd ya say it was?" Rose asked the Doctor. "A sonic...?"
"Microfield manipulator," the Doctor supplied, after quickly swallowing down another hors d'oeuvre.
Tish looked between the two of them, then something over Rose's shoulder seemed to catch her eye. Instead of answering, she muttered a hasty, "Sorry, if you'll excuse me," and disappeared into the crowd.
Rose turned to see what might have scared Tish off, but before she could locate any source of trouble, Martha exclaimed, "Mum!" and ran past Rose and the Doctor, enveloping an approaching woman in a tight hug.
"Guess that's Mum," Rose said quietly.
"Should think so," the Doctor agreed, as they followed Martha more slowly.
"You disappeared last night," Mrs. Jones was saying as they neared.
"I... just went home," Martha evaded.
"On your own?" her mother asked.
Instead of answering, Martha pulled Rose and the Doctor over. "Mum, Leo, I'd like you to meet some friends of mine. This is Rose," Rose shook hands with them both, "and the Doctor."
"Doctor what?" Martha's mother asked him after he'd shaken Leo's hand.
"Tyler," Martha answered quickly, at the same time Rose said "Smith," and the Doctor supplied, "Bond."
After an awkward pause, during which everyone looked at each other, then at the Doctor, Martha said, "Just, 'the Doctor', really..."
Their conversation was mercifully cut short, as someone tapped on their glass to gain the attention of the guests.
"Bond?" Rose whispered to the Doctor as they turned towards the center of the room.
"Hush," the Doctor said, avoiding her eyes as he took her hand and used it to gesture towards the elderly man standing up to speak. He was the same person they'd seen on the news broadcast earlier.
"Ladies and gentlemen," the man began, "I am Professor Richard Lazarus, and tonight I'm going to perform a miracle. It is, I believe, the most important advance since Rutherford split the atom, the biggest leap since Armstrong stood on the moon. Tonight, you will watch and wonder. Tomorrow, you'll awake to a world which will be changed forever."
As Lazarus was assisted into the cabinet, Rose quietly asked the Doctor, "D'ya think we'll find out what it's s'posed to do after the demonstration? Or 's it still gonna be a secret?"
The four pillars surrounding the cabinet began to spin, then rotate around the cabinet. Rose shielded her eyes from the bright, blue light they emitted. As they moved faster and faster, a klaxon sounded.
The Doctor immediately tensed, looking over to the computer bank that was controlling the experiment. "Something's wrong," he said, pushing his way through the crowd. "It's overloading!" The Doctor leapt over the computer bank, adjusting and sonic'ing the controls.
"Somebody stop him!" an elderly woman in the crowd ordered as the technicians fled from the sparking machinery.
Rose spun, and yelled back at the woman, "How 'bout helpin' him? He's tryin' to save your lives!"
The Doctor pulled a large cable free, and the pillars immediately began to slow their rotation. Martha moved to open the door to the cabinet as Rose helped the Doctor step clear of a tangle of wires.
Rose looked up as the crowd gave a collective gasp. Standing before the open cabinet was a much younger man than the professor who had entered.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he proclaimed, "I am Richard Lazarus. I am seventy-six years old, and I am reborn!"
"He did it!" cried the woman who had been chastising the Doctor. "He actually did it."
Martha rejoined them as the photographers captured the moment. "It can't be the same guy," she said. "It's impossible. It must be a trick."
"Oh, it's not a trick," the Doctor replied, eyes fixed on Lazarus. "I wish it were," he muttered.
"What just happened, then?" Rose asked, looking at the seemingly forty-something man, not really sure she wanted to know the answer.
"He just changed what it means to be human," said the Doctor.
To be continued...