I've got the new ending almost finished! :D I've had a very productive weekend- got lots of projects done, climbed a mountain, saw my family… busy! :P But anywho. Here's what's next.
"So we save her from one disease by infecting her with polio, hoping she recovers from that, and also giving her chronic epilepsy," the Doctor despaired. He went over to Amy.
"What is it?" she asked, taking in his grim face. She had started to shiver, and the band-aid on her finger had been replaced by gauze and tape- it had continued bleeding, getting worse as her blood lost its ability to clot. Her eyes were slightly bloodshot, and her lips and cheeks were bright red in contrast to the rest of her pale face. Beads of sweat had formed on her hairline, and strands of damp hair stuck to her face. He stared at her for a moment, memorizing her face so he could show the memory of it to River later, showing her what she'd done.
"We've found something. But… it's not much better. All we've got, though."
"Tell me," she demanded.
"Well… Ood-Sigma noticed that, aside from a few extra carbon chains, this new mutated virus is identical to polio. He's currently starting to design an enzyme to break down the extra parts and convert it to polio. Picture a big, messy hedge. That's the virus. And he's making a gardener to shape it into something else. Still a hedge. But less ugly." He paused, reflecting on his last statement. "Actually, that doesn't really work. It's nothing like that. Not a hedge."
"I'm going to be cured, then?" Amy asked, shock and excitement beginning to appear on her face.
"Of H-S1," the Doctor said, grimacing. "But you're going to get polio. And when you recover from that, you'll likely have chronic epilepsy."
"Oh." She was quiet. "Polio… say again what that's like?"
"Minor polio, this one will be. It'll be like… a stomach flu, I guess. Sore throat, headache, nausea, vomiting, fever, stomach pains. The headache, though- that's a bit of meningitis. Which is where the epilepsy will come from." She gave him a blank stare.
"Meningitis is swelling of the brain and spine tissues," Rory explained, understanding what the Doctor meant immediately. "He knows where the swelling will be most severe, and it will permenately damage a part of your brain. Not bad, though. Your personality and smartness and IQ and everything will be the same. The part of the brain that's damaged, though, will cause seizures. Spontaneous, usually, but a visual overload, like a very fast slideshow or strobe lights, can induce the seizures. They won't be painful- you won't remember them. It'll be like passing out- one minute you'll be doing something, next you'll be waking up on the floor."
"Brain damage," she echoed. "Sounds… unpleasant. There's no other options?" she asked the Doctor. Her gentle, resigned, sad voice about broke his hearts.
"We don't have time. We're lucky to have stumbled upon this. Plus we still have to make the enzyme- that'll take about an hour to synthesize, and a half an hour to make enough for a full dose. Even that is pushing it." He produced a tissue from his pocket and passed it to her. She took it- her nose had started to bleed slowly. She dabbed at it, then looked in horror at the crimson stain on the tissue.
"Please hurry," Rory begged. The Doctor nodded, and went quickly over to Ood-Sigma, helping. Rory started to peel the electrodes off her, and carefully removed the IV.
"I thought those had to stay on," Amy said questioningly. "Not complaining though." She flexed her arm experimentally, relishing the relief of not having a needle in her elbow anymore. Rory grabbed some more gauze and tape from the table to wrap her bleeding elbow with.
"They've got what they need. Isolated the virus, and are making an enzyme. They don't need any more readings from you," he explained. "Plus… if things start getting, well… worse, it would be bad if you were tangled in electrodes and had a needle in your arm. You could hurt yourself." Amy looked away as he finished bandaging her elbow.
"An hour and a half. I can do that."
An hour later, she began vomiting blood.
"Oh, God," she gasped between retching. "Rory-," she started, but was violently sick again. Rory had reclined the chair until it was practically a bed, and had rolled her onto her side, placing a bucket beside her head, and held her hair back with one hand, patting her face with a damp, cool cloth with the other.
"It's okay, it's okay. I'm here," he repeated, trying to comfort her and feeling helpless. The Doctor and Ood-Sigma worked feverishly.
"Rory- I'm scared," she panted as he wiped drops of blood off her face. "Don't- don't leave me."
"I won't leave you, Amelia Pond, I'll never leave you," he reassured her.
"Crack… won't take you away again, and when I forgot you… God, Rory, I'm so sorry. I can't believe… forgot you…." Her voice faded until he couldn't decipher what she was saying.
"It's okay, you couldn't help it," he said.
"… jealous idiot. It's never been him, always been you," she muttered.
"Doctor, she's delirious," Rory said, panic in his voice. He walked quickly over to his side and looked at the screens, trying to decipher what was going on.
"Almost done," he said tensely, typing in a last string of numbers. Ood-Sigma poured a clear, glittery fluid in the top of what Rory had thought was a microscope (apparently not) and the Doctor hit a blue button on the side. Black, viscous liquid bubbled out of the bottom of the machine and into a flask, sounding oddly similar to a coffee pot. As soon as it finished, the Doctor snatched the flask and they spun around.
Amy was gone.
"But how… she was delirious. She was… dying," Rory stammered, in shock. "I lost her," he whispered, eyes huge.
"No, no, NO, you didn't! She… couldn't have gone far," the Doctor babbled. He spun around, but she wasn't in the room.
"It would appear as though Amy has made an unexpected recovery," Ood-Sigma said.
"No, no, Amy didn't recover. She's getting worse. No, she's gone through the primary and secondary phases of H-S1," the Doctor said slowly, setting the flask down and rubbing his brow, trying to relieve the stress.
"Is there a tertiary phase?" Rory asked, confused. "The voice interface said it ended in the secondary phase. There's nothing else."
"But obviously, there is. We're dealing with a whole new virus. It really did absorb that… I was right," he groaned, running his hand through his hair.
"What were you right about, Doctor?" Ood-Sigma asked.
"The virus. When it was in me, and Jack's energy rushed through me… I could sense it. Telepathically. Which shouldn't be possible, unless it became sentient. The energy from time itself, compacted into tiny virus particles, it used it and evolved. Tertiary phase- complete takeover."
I don't own the Doctor, and I don't add new chapters without 3 reviews.