Chapter Four
(Meanwhile in the year 100 trillion…)
Jack breathed a sigh of relief when he stepped into the TARDIS behind the Doctor.
"Oh yeah, it feels so good to be back in here." He said.
He looked at the Doctor.
"So, who is this Martha?" he asked.
"She's back here. Follow me." He said beckoning to him.
Jack nodded and followed him out of the room. He led him down the hall towards Martha's room. Jack stopped when they passed by Rose's room and opened the door. He leaned in. The only living thing in the room was Puff asleep in his cage.
"Jack."
Jack looked back at the Doctor.
"Rose, where is she?" he said.
"I'll explain in a minute. Just follow me." He said.
Jack nodded and closed the door. They passed by a few more doors and then the Doctor stopped and opened one. He leaned his head in and smiled. He nodded at Jack and he followed him inside. He paused when he saw Martha asleep in the bed.
"Wow, Doctor, you really do know how to pick the gorgeous ones." He said to himself.
He watched as the Doctor sat down beside Martha and shook her gently.
"Martha." He said. "Martha, wake up."
Martha frowned in her sleep and mumbled something.
"Martha, wake up."
She slowly opened her eyes.
"Doctor?" she murmured.
"Yes, it's me."
She looked up at him.
"You're the right Doctor, yeah?" she said hesitantly.
Jack frowned at that.
The Doctor smiled.
"Yes, I'm the right one, Miss Martha Jones, who I met on the moon."
Martha smiled and the Doctor helped her sit up.
"Ugh, I have a huge headache." She said rubbing the spot behind her left ear.
"I'll give you another shot of painkiller." The Doctor replied. "That'll fix it."
Martha looked over at Jack and frowned.
"Who's that?" she said.
The Doctor opened his mouth to speak, but Jack cut him to the quick.
"Captain Jack Harkness, it's a pleasure to meet you!" he said walking over and taking her hand.
"You too. I'm Martha Jones."
"Nice to meet ya, Martha Jones." He said as he started to bring her hand up to his lips.
"Stop it!" the Doctor said glaring at him.
"What, I'm just saying hello to her!"
"I don't mind, Doctor, really." Martha said to him.
"You will mind when he throws you in his bed and pounces on you." The Doctor muttered to himself.
Jack sat down beside the Doctor.
"Not to be rude here because it's a pleasure to meet Martha, but where is Rose?" Jack said looking at the Doctor.
The Doctor and Martha exchanged looks. The Doctor sighed.
"She's missing, Jack." He said. "She's been taken."
"Oh God. By who?"
The Doctor and Martha glanced at each other again.
"By me." The Doctor said to him.
Jack raised his eyebrow.
"Come again?" he said.
The Doctor took a deep breath and proceeded to fill Jack in on everything that had happened since he had first met his double.
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Jack sat in stunned silence when the Doctor finally finished.
"So this other you took Rose and now you don't know where he's gone." He said.
"Nope, I haven't a clue." The Doctor replied.
"So, you thought he might be in Cardiff?" Jack asked.
"No, I was there because I wanted to use the rift to power up before Martha and I began searching. I was just about to leave when you happened along. And now because of you, we're in the year 100 trillion."
"Me, what do I have to do with it?"
"The TARDIS was trying to throw you off, Jack. It went all the way to the end of the universe to try to get rid of you."
"Well, you were leaving, I had no other choice. I was screaming at you, but you wouldn't let me in."
"I didn't want to let you in."
Martha looked at the Doctor. Jack folded his arms over his chest.
"May I ask why?" he said angrily.
"Because you've changed, Jack. You're different."
"Yeah, tell me something I don't know." Jack replied.
"What do you mean, Doctor?" Martha asked.
"I'm immortal, that's what he means."
Martha's eyes bugged out.
"You are?"
"Yes, he is." The Doctor replied. "That's how he was able to survive hanging on to the outside of the TARDIS."
"But, why didn't you let him inside? Didn't you know he was yelling for you to stop?"
"Yes, I knew he was yelling and I tried to get away before he could reach me."
"Why?" Jack said angrily.
He leaned forward.
"Because you're wrong, Jack. You shouldn't exist. You shouldn't be here. Time Lords flee from the likes of you, Jack, and so do their TARDISes. That's why I left you behind on the Gamestation and why I tried to leave you behind in Cardiff."
Jack was stunned.
"So you left your best friend behind because he's a freak now?" Jack said angrily.
The Doctor shrugged.
"I can't help what you've become, Jack. I can't help it if I obeyed my gut instinct and did the thing that came naturally to me."
"So, you want me to leave then?"
The Doctor sighed.
"Now it would be kinda heartless for me to leave you in the year 100 trillion, wouldn't it?"
"And leaving me behind on the Gamestation wasn't heartless?"
Martha looked at the two men as they stared at one another intently. Finally, the Doctor let out a long sigh.
"I'm sorry, Jack." He said. "I'm sorry I left you behind. It was heartless of me to do that and I apologize."
Jack nodded.
"Apology accepted." He said.
The Doctor nodded.
"Good." He said.
"But," Martha said. "If you were stranded on this…Gamestation…how did you get back to Cardiff?"
"With this." He said pulling a black device out of his coat pocket. "A vortex manipulator. Once I realized I'd been left behind, I used it to travel back to the twenty-first century. Unfortunately, I ended up in the nineteenth and then it shorted out and I really was stuck. I spent the next hundred and fifty years waiting to catch up with him. That's one of the very few reasons why I like being immortal. I sat up shop in Cardiff and just kept my eyes open for him and finally he came back."
He sighed.
"I was hoping to see Rose too, but I guess that reunion has to wait." He said sadly.
"Indeed, and the more time we spend talking, the less time we have to look for her. So, I suggest we figure out where they might have gone and head out."
The Doctor looked at Martha.
"Are you strong enough now?"
Martha nodded.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Head's just aching a bit."
He nodded.
"I'll go get the painkiller then. Wait right here."
He got up from the bed. Jack and Martha watched as he walked out the room.
"So, how long have you known him?" Jack asked Martha.
"For about a year. We met when the hospital I worked in ended up on the moon and I helped him defeat a Plasmavore. After that, he offered me a trip as a way of saying thank you and then another and another and finally I just became his companion. I was by myself until we found Rose and then the two of us traveled with him. Now, she's gone and I'm back to being by myself."
"Are you upset about that?" Jack asked.
"Well, yeah, I like Rose. She's one of my closest friends. Why?"
"Well, you know, she and the Doctor have this thing and I know what it's like to be on the outside looking in."
"Well, yeah, I do admit I was jealous of Rose before I met her, because the Doctor did talk constantly about her. But, once I got to know her, I realized how childish I had been. I don't mind them being in love. I love that the Doctor's happy. It beats hanging around him when Rose was stuck in the other universe. The Doctor cares for me deeply in a platonic way and I've never felt like the third wheel around them. The three of us are a team and I wouldn't have it any other way."
"Darn, and I was all set to hear about the tremendous catfights that went on in here." He said.
Martha laughed.
"Nope, sorry, no catfights to report." She said.
"Good, I'm actually glad of that."
They looked over when the Doctor appeared carrying a syringe and a cotton ball in his hands.
"Ugh, you're giving me a shot?" Martha said making a face.
"Yeah, it's the quickest way for the medicine to enter your bloodstream." The Doctor replied sitting down beside her. "Now just hold still while I stick this in your incision.
Martha flinched.
"Excuse me? You're sticking that where?"
The Doctor's eyes widened.
"Your incision." He said. "If I stick this right in your brain, the pain will be gone in an instant."
"You are not sticking any bloody needles in my brain, mister!" She said jumping up from the bed. "If that's where it's gonna go, I'd rather do without it. I..."
She paused when she saw the impish grin on his face.
"You are such a bastard sometimes, you know that." She said as the Doctor snickered.
She sat back down and the Doctor pulled up her sleeve. He rubbed the cotton ball on her shoulder and she winced when he stuck the needle in her arm.
"Ugh, always hated getting shots." She muttered to Jack.
"Better than getting shot. That hurts even more." Jack said pointing to his chest.
The Doctor pulled the empty syringe out. He took it and the cotton ball and walked back out the door. By the time he returned empty handed, Martha's pain was gone.
"Feel better?" the Doctor asked her.
"Tons! What was that stuff?"
"Oh, just a special mixture I got from a shaman on Andromeda." The Doctor said shrugging. "Much more potent than any Earth medicine."
"Wow!" Martha said. "Glad you had it then."
"Yup, so did I. If we're gonna look for Rose, we need all the help we can get."
He looked at Jack.
"And that includes the stowaways." He said. "So, do you wanna help us?"
"Find Rose, are you kidding, of course I'll help."
"Good." The Doctor said helping Martha to stand. "Then, let's get to it. I need both of you to think of possible locations they could have gone."
They walked towards the console room as they brainstormed. Martha threw out a few suggestions, but since the Doctor and Jack were seasoned time travelers, she let them do the bulk of the brainwork.
As they entered the console room, the three friends paused when they heard someone banging and scratching on the front door.
"HELP! IF ANYONE IS IN HERE, HELP ME!" they heard a man scream."FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, OPEN UP! THE FUTUREKIND ARE AFTER ME!"
They looked at one another and the Doctor sprinted to the door. He opened it just in time to see the man running off followed by three men wielding weapons and yelling and screaming at him. The Doctor looked back at Jack and Martha.
"Come on, we gotta attend to this first before we can leave here!" the Doctor said.
Martha and Jack looked at each other and ran to the door. The Doctor let them pass and closed the door behind them as they went off to help the stranger.