IV.

-o0O0o-

"I hope your suite is to your liking."
The Doctor was livid. Understandably. Captain Corha eyed him warily. The oncoming storm. He had lost nothing of this majestic wrath that earned him the deep admiration of her race. "I can always arrange ̶ "
"I want to speak with him," he interrupted her with barely a whisper while he still didn't take his eyes of the screen surveying Sikhu who showed his human companion the Laboratory.
"Sorry?" With Sikhu? She needed time to…

"Your Commander. Now."
"I'm afraid, that's not possible." She hated to disobey. But the Commander had explicitly stated the rules of the Doctor's stay, which included them never meeting until he wished otherwise.
"Because he's dying," the Doctor splat sarcastically. "And now you have me in a cage, to be his successor. Let me inform you of something. I'll never let anyone of you in my head. Never."
"I know," Corha answered. That was the intriguing thing about him. His mercy.
"So?"

"He really can't. He is very weak, I'm afraid."
He scoffed and turned away, starring out to the unmoving stars. She needed to say something. She owed him that, after what they did.
"I am the captain of this ship and thus his second in power. Whatever you must discuss with him, I'll gladly substitute."

He glanced at her out of his eye. Then he turned and rose one finger. "No experiments on Amy."
Of Course. "I'm afraid that's not possible."
He towered over her, starring in her eyes. "You forget who you are talking to."
Oh never. Not in a million lifetimes.
She closed her eyes, hoping Sikhu was successful. How she wished for her Commander to be healed, to be able to establish their bond, so she just could simply close her eyes to slip into Sikhu's body and check on him. Now, she had to trust her brother in arms.
They were all going to die anyway. So, who cared about the wrath of a Time Lord.
"I see what I can do."
He nodded and left the bridge without another word.

-o0O0o-

Amy stared at the futuristic machines and weird constructs of metal and glass surrounding her. Why did the Doctor even allow them to take her with them? Oh right.
That creep of a head scientist Sikhu had promised to explain.
In every other scenario Amy would be amazed by the incredible work and somehow still organized chaos of Kapoaka buzzing around, tipping at screens , controlling flames on an experiment or feeding a brunch of animals in a corner, or whatever else the occupants did. Now she was only able to think of one thing.
"I'm going to die."
Sikhu sighted, clearly realizing she hadn't heard one word of his detailed explanation on whatever machine stood before them. "Not if I can help with it. Kapoaka are excellent Bio-engineers, and the people you see in this room are the finest of the finest."

"Then why didn't you find an antidote," she snapped back. Those guys had poisoned her, for all she knew. Used her as a lab rat. To hell with politeness.
He apparently didn't care. Of course. Empaths. She focused even more on her hatred of this full ship. Somebody next to her turned their head, but Sikhu still didn't react, but carried on.
"Because of the enormously fast mutation. Whenever the virus enters an organism, it takes a part of the new DNA into its own. It's constantly changing."
"Like the flue," she half-hardy asked. If they wanted to play with her life, she at least wanted to know why.

He flinched, then nodded. Interesting. "Like the human flu. The moment we have an antidote it has already changed. We can cure the people infected by that one type, but as soon as they are healed ̶ "
"They get ill again, " Amy finished.
"Exactly. Here." He made a motion of his hand and a blue two-dimensional field flared up before them. Amy watched baffled as he scribbled a circle with his finger on it and it stayed there. How cool was that! He then added five sticks to the first circle and drew small triangles onto them. "This is one form of the virus and this ̶ " he added a second circle with five sticks with smaller circles at the end to the first ̶ " is another Version of this Virus. The symptoms and how it affects the body are the same and yet it looks different enough , so the antibodies can't recognize it. Every vaccination against one of them has no impact against the other. And vaccinate is the only way to survive this. So, the key is to find the thing those two forms have in common. What makes this one and the same Virus. And train the Antibodies to attack it." He tapped at the circle with the five sticks.

Ok. He actually had taken the time to explain it easily? Now she was interested. "And how do I come into it?"
"Honestly? Fresh blood."
Amy gulped at this bluntness, but he continued. "We already isolated the common trait and are currently experimenting which components can be stripped off to create a save, yet effective vaccinate. If we take of too much it, the real treat won't be recognized. If we take of too little, it will still infect and kill. Everybody on this ship was infected at least once, so the experiments aren't neutral anymore. The already built antibodies are playing in."
"So, I'm nothing but a lab rat."

He barked out a short laugh. "Say, Miss Pond. Have you ever been on a star ship?"
Amy nodded.
He suddenly lunged forwards, sweeping her of her feet so she fell on her back. Before she could do anything, he pinned her down with his knee on her chest, his right hand at her throat and his left pressing her right hand on the floor. His black orbs of eyes were exactly above her, filling her whole view and she started thrashing. She needed to get him off! But she couldn't, he was too strong! Her breathing became ragged, her gaze blurred from tears and her head became dizzy. No! Doctor, please! Doctor!
She felt Sikhu's surprisingly cold breath on her cheek, as he learned forward to whisper in her ears.
"Liar. You never were. You are a smart human; the Lord Regent would never honor you by let him travel with you otherwise. So, feel it. Can you feel it."
She shook her head, not knowing what he wanted.
"Exactly. Nothing."

He pulled back and let her hand and her throat go, but still pinned her down with his knee. He let her take some breaths before he continued.
"This is a dead ship. A Death Ship. Every molecule of the air, of the interior, of the engine and of the beings here is poisoned with a virus, we can't win against. We ran out of fuel two week ago. And I, in my dedication and mercy, grant a mere human the gift of perhaps being the only person walking alive away from it. Because you can in that TARDIS of yours. Donating just three drops of blood every day you spent here, as an exchange for something everybody on this ship would kill you for. But we don't. All we ask for, are three days. The Antidote is already inside you. Just three days to save the universe, Miss Pond. Isn't that what you and the Doctor are doing?"
She stared up at him with tear-blurred, wide eyes, knowing he wanted a decision right now.

Amy didn't notice the lack of an engine, because the other spaceship she ever visited, the Starship UK hadn't one, either. I'm sorry for Sikhu.

KD 07072018