TEN
"The anti-human?" Martha asked.
"Yes, the Namuh Gnieb were created by the Otromalos race to be the opposite of human, in hopes of canceling out the human race. We studied them as a way to reverse-define humanity," Feeno explained. "Many of my fellow students did not believe in their existence, believed them to be a myth or extinct."
"The anti-human," the Doctor repeated, but more contemplatively. "That means they would know all human weakness, because to them, it's a strength!"
"That's what makes them so dangerous," Feeno said, despairing, sitting down on the edge of the bed.
"But if they were meant to cancel out the human race, that means there are more of them," Jack said, his voice rising.
"Well, as the story goes," said Feeno. "They made several million, but with several design flaws. They were exiled to a distant planet, and left to die out. I suppose it is rather surprising that some survived this long."
"They must be reproducing," Martha figured.
"Probably not," Feeno said. "Part of being the opposite of human is that they are not at all attuned to, or interested in, sexuality. They do not respond to the self-preservation instict in this way."
"Ah, that would be a pretty serious design flaw," the Doctor said. "More accurately, a flaw in their logic."
Worriedly, Martha felt compelled to ask, "So how do they respond to the self-preservation instinct?"
"By destroying others, of course," Feeno answered, expressionlessly.
A hush fell over the room as the implications of this revelation sunk in. "So did they come after us because they knew that we would try to stop them? I mean, did they recognise the Doctor or something?"
"More likely they recognised his time-travel vessel," Feeno said, thinking aloud. "But clearly they need the Doctor for something, otherwise they would not have poisoned Martha."
"So what do they want?" asked Jack.
"I suspect they will only tell the Doctor, since they want him in the control room."
"Well I'll tell you what," Martha practically shouted, piercing the somber mood, "You're not going in there alone. I'm not turning you loose to be particulated or whatever."
"She's right, Doctor," Jack agreed. "We'll present a united front. Besides, I kind of want them to see me all alive and stuff." He smiled broadly, placing his hands on his hips, proud of his resilience.
"All right," the Doctor said. "But we need to know more. We don't have loads of time, obviously, if they've injected Martha with something, but I don't think we should go in there until we know specifically how to fight them."
"We need to delegate," Martha decided. "I'll try to work out what's wrong with me, what sort of poisoning I've had."
"Any symptoms?" the Doctor asked her.
"Um, not yet," she lied.
He wasn't fooled. "Martha."
She sighed. "Feverish. Bit of nausea."
Jack joked, "Craving pickles too? Maybe they didn't inject you with just a syringe."
She pulled a face. "Ew. Shut up, Jack."
"Yeah, shut up, Jack" the Doctor agreed, making a similar face.
"Don't worry, Martha," Feeno reassured her, resting his hand on her shoulder. "Earth is one of the few planets whose inhabitants cannot become impregnated outside their own species. It's one of the things that defines the word species on Earth. Which, as an Earth scientist, you probably know."
"Good, Feeno, thanks for that," Martha said, still with a bit of disgust apparent on her face. She looked at the Doctor, and whispered, "Although, that does save us a conversation."
Jack heard it, and smiled.
Now it was the Doctor's turn to sigh. He muttered, "Fever and nausea. That could be anything." He took her head and shined a light in her eyes once more. "Open your mouth."
She obeyed him reluctantly. "Nothing yet," he whispered. "You keep us updated on your symptoms."
"Yes, Doctor," she said, rather cheekily. "And in the meanwhile, I'll be up there." She indicated the upper floor, strewn now with books. She mounted the staircase and dove into the section labeled Medicine.
"Okay, so Martha's working on… curing Martha. What should we do?" asked Jack.
"Well, Feeno, can you read Nevolish Sral?" asked the Doctor.
"Not well at all - I've only a passing knowledge. My training is in human languages, unfortunately."
"Then I'll go back to the Nevolish Sral book where I found references to the Namuh Gnieb race and their sedatives… I was starting to get on a roll with the language. Feeno, since you seem to know the most about them, I'd like you to scour the rest of the library and look for any other references you can. How many human languages do you know?"
"Let's see, English, French, Russian, Farsi, Latin, Japanese… I don't know. Quite a few."
"Good, that might be of some use, since this species might actually be related to humans. The Otromalos might have used real human DNA in creating the anti-humans," the Doctor postulated. "I have human texts up through the seventy-eighth century. Perhaps somewhere along the way, the humans figured it out."
"And me?" asked Jack.
"Sentry duty," the Doctor answered, quite seriously.
"Are you serious?"
"Quite."
"Aw jeez," Jack protested. "What am I, the muscle, while you guys are the brains?"
"Yes."
The two of them stared at each other for a bit, the incredulous man and the steely Time Lord. Jack waited for the Doctor to say something more, but nothing more came.
"Fine," Jack pouted. "I'll go stand over there with my big stun gun while the clever folk save the day."
"Oh, don't be such a child," the Doctor said. "It's not like I don't think you're capable of research. But we need someone who can read Nevolish Sral, we need someone who can wade quickly through medical texts, we need someone who will recognise a reference to the Namuh Gnieb when he sees it, and we need someone trained in armed combat. Or have you forgotten that we're being held hostage here? Which one of those people would you be?"
Jack stared back at the Doctor defiantly, and finally said, "I'll need a bigger gun, then."
"You know where the closet is."
As Jack slipped past him, the Doctor grabbed his arm and said, again, quite seriously, "Honestly Jack. You are providing a much-needed service. Thank you."
"Yeah, yeah," Jack said, wading into the weapons closet to find something comparably formidable as the Incendo-Particulators that their adversaries were using. He knew the Doctor was right, they did need someone to keep watch while the bookworms did their work, but he had a feeling that the Namuh would not come looking for them, and he felt quite ineffectual as the "muscle" of the operation, when he knew that he could make as much headway doing research as Martha or Feeno could.
With a big sigh, he set the bust of Churchill back up on the shelf, and took his post just inside the door.
The scene was intense and quiet for a solid fifteen minutes, until the Doctor looked up at Martha and asked, "Having trouble breathing?"
She pulled her eyes from the textbook in her lap and said, "I guess so."
"I've been listening. Over the past fifteen minutes, your lungs have been filling with fluid."
She shrugged, and looked at him despairingly. "Still could be anything."
"You're right about that," he said, taking off his glasses. He closed the three feet of floor space between them and placed his hands behind her ears. He pushed a bit on her skull.
"You're not losing bone mass," he said. "Your head is as hard as ever."
"Oi, watch it," she joked quietly, with a gentle smile.
He ran his fingers gently up the back of her head. "There isn't a seam forming up the back of your skull, either, so they aren't incubating you for a brain extraction."
With mock relief, she said, "Well that's always good news."
By this time, Feeno had come across the room to crouch nearby. He was examining her as well, though from a bit further away. "What are those?" he asked.
"What are what?" asked Martha.
"Those. She's got a protruberance beneath her left ear," Feeno said, pointing to the area in question.
The Doctor ran his hands down the side of her head and neck, and felt, as Feeno had said, a pustule below Martha's left ear. He pushed at it. It gave softly, as though filled with fluid.
Tears formed in Martha's eyes, as she knew the implications.
"Oh dear," sighed the Doctor.
"I have the plague," she said softly as the tears fell.
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