14
"Better?" he asked her softly after a while, when she had calmed down.
Sniffing she wiped her still wet eyes with her sleeve, then pulled herself together. "Yes. I am." She put as much determination into her voice as she could muster and the Doctor rewarded her spirit with a warm grin. He patted her shoulder, "then let's rest a little and look after Jegor and later we can free the Shama that are trapped in the university laboratories."
"Those poor sods." Her gaze wandering from the her old carved sideboard and boxes piled up in one corner of the console room to the creatures that had huddled together in a rack.
Jegor was able to get up with a little help. Teria fitted him a makeshift sling for his arm and soon they were sitting, or in Jegor's case resting on the divan in the library with mugs of hot tea in their hands, Teria and Jegor doing their best to get accustomed to the shocking changes in their lives that the Doctor had so suddenly brought upon them and making plans for their future.
"You see, there is one good thing to all this, Doctor," Jegor said, about two hours into their conversation, " With your ship I'll be able to see my younger brother and his family again. It was my one big regret when I left home to work for the mining cooperation. With all my travels, my brother is about my age now and by the time I would arrive on Nermela in one of our ships he would be dead. So I have to thank you for the opportunity. You know, when I compare this to the gas explosions on Perax 5 for example or the outbreak of the Jeganian fever this was really not a big thing, but in a mining campaign you are always aware of the danger and we moved to New Polynesia to leave that behind." He took another sip of the strange beverage the Doctor had served him. "And then we get a Time Lord as our new neighbour," he added with a little chuckle. "But I guess it was worth the trouble, just for the chance to set foot on board of a vessel like this! I worked for an archaeologist for a few seasons and we found awesome remains of ancient civilisations but I always considered stuff like this to be space travellers yarn. Until today."
The Doctor grinned from one ear to the other in response. "I think by now the busy university folk will have gone to bed and I can free the Shama there," he changed the subject away from his person.
"We can," Sarah corrected him cheerfully, the prospect of some action dispelling her tiredness after this long day at once.
The Doctor just frowned back at her.
"Oh come on, my leg is as good as new, it's just a superficial wound and some bruises. You have never been so overprotective," she nagged, realizing that her status as his love interest might change his interaction with her in more ways than just by frequent blushing in her presence.
He exhaled audibly and pulled a face. "All right, all right," he gave in and got up, rubbing the back of his neck.
"I'll come with you, too," Teria declared.
"But be careful," her husband urged, sitting up.
Teria took her husband's hand and gave him a little kiss. "Of course we are." she assured him. "Like back in the old days."
In the console room both women expectantly watched the Doctor when he checked the scanner readings.
"I never knew that the Tardis has a scanner," Sarah mused.
"Well, the Tardis can sense the Shama with her telepathic receptors. And the scanner is what I've been working on for the last nights."
"To spy on me," Sarah stated.
"Sarah, I'm not spying. I simply want to know that you are safe, that's all," he retorted. "And the scanner comes very handy now. Will you now let me work, please?"
Sarah rolled her eyes. Obviously she had hit a sensitive spot and he was as patronizing as ever. Some things hadn't changed all that much between them and she felt, that they suspiciously sounded like some old couple from a soap opera.
"It appears that someone holds two of them in an estate, in some kind of private zoo," the Doctor carried on, ignoring her irritation. "We get these first. It's going to be easy, we materialize within their compound and our friends here will convince them to get into the Tardis," he declared, giving the Shama on the rack a pointed look.
"Okay," Sarah relented. "Then let's do that." She ran her hand over the Doctor's back and their eyes met. The insecurity that flared up in his gaze melted away her irritation, she figured out that he needed that kind of control to be sure that she was there for him. "It's okay," she whispered, continuing to rub his back while Teria discreetly turned away to leave the two of them their moment of privacy.
The Doctor wrapped an arm around Sarah's shoulders and rested his chin on top of her head for a second, then he cleared his throat, he wanted to say so much, but he doubted, that he could and the presence of another person made it impossible anyway. Vigorously shoving his silly emotions to some remote corner of his mind he took one step back, focussing his attention to the console and the task ahead.
This rescue was an easy one, everything went to plan and shortly later they were off from a large holding tank in the basement of a mansion with a bunch of Shama soaring about in the console room, exchanging greetings with obvious enthusiasm.
"Is the coast in the university lab clear, too," Teria inquired when the Doctor turned to check the scanner.
"Mmh, yes it is," he agreed. "Off we go!"
He operated the console. Moments later the whining of the engine died down, indicating that they had materialized. He peeked out of the Tardis doors, one of the Shama and the women on his heels. An instant later he recoiled with a yelp of pain, staggering backwards clutching his head with both hands.
Teria had the presence of mind to lunge forward and smash the doors shut while Sarah took the Doctor by the arm to steady him, reaching up to his face, tenderly covering his hand with hers.
"What's wrong, Doctor, what happened? You need help?"
"No, no...," he swallowed hard and rubbed his face, trying to get his racing hearts under control.
"I had my barriers down and they are... they are... torturing one of them." He blew out a puff of air, trying to shake off the experience, now he was shielded by the Tardis force field. "I hadn't expected that, just give me a moment," he uttered, then swallowed again, closing his eyes, concentrating, collecting himself for a short while until the acute pain vanished. But his face still showed a nauseated expression.
"I I'm ready to go."
A lot more cautious he opened the door. A row of simple glass tanks held about ten Shama, most of them curled up on the floor of their cages. They became alive when they noticed the intruders, some of them were floating up in their tanks, others hardly reacted at all. In a hurry he unlocked the cages with his sonic screwdriver..
"Teria, get them out of there and into the Tardis, Sarah, come with me," he shouted and vanished in a passageway Sarah on his heels into a little hall, where the quiet crackling of static didn't bode well. Quickly he assessed the situation. A massive machine at the centre of the ceiling held a Shama suspended in a force field, stimulating it's antigraviton emitters to an extent that the slowly burned out, causing the Shama excruciating pain, he realized. He forced himself to look away from the gruesome scene and the creature that had moments ago screamed in his head. His gaze fell onto the fuse panel of the energy supply, kicking his thinking mind back into function.
"I take care for the machine, you catch the Shama when the energy field shuts off," he ordered, with a few long strides he was at the controls, frantically running his hands over the panels, realizing that there was no way to shut off the energy but didn't have time.
"Sarah, it doesn't work the way I planned, I have to redirect the beam, catch the Shama, and then I might need your assistance!"
"What do you mean," Sarah blurted out.
"Do as I say. If a Shama can live through this for hours, it won't kill me in a few seconds," he cut her short and grabbed into the beam.
"No!" Sarah screamed. But it was too late. He didn't utter a sound but his whole body shook and his when the wide open eyes of her beloved friend latched onto her in sheer despair it hit her like a sledgehammer. The force field failed and there was no time to think. She lunged forward to catch the writhing creature. "I got it," she cried out, "let go!" but the Doctor was paralysed, breath ragged, his eyes begging her to do something to free him. Sarah set down the Saama on the floor.
"Teria, help me!" she shouted in anguish, hoping that the woman in the other room could hear her. She took a run and rammed into the Doctor with all of her little weight, in her despair hoping it was enough to break the contact. On impact a hot surge of raw energy ran through her and then they both toppled down to the floor, the force field cage back in place, but this time without it's prisoner.
"Doctor! Sarah!" Teria called hurrying to them.
"Ouch, that hurt," the Doctor whimpered, panting, and looking up at Sarah who had come to land right on top of him. "But I think I could get used to this," he gave Sarah a weak, albeit quite suggestive grin and then his head sank back to the floor with a groan.
"Doctor, come on, we have to get out of here," Sarah urged, exchanging a grave glance with Teria and shaking the Doctor.
"What?" he moaned.
"Doctor, you have to get up, I can hardly carry you." Together the women helped him to sit up. With much protest he staggered to his feet. "The Tardis, Doctor, we have to get back to the Tardis," she edged him on. Teria picked up the Shama, resting it in the crook of her arm and offered her other shoulder as support for the Doctor. They dragged him back the short distance to the smaller room. Rummaging and shouting voices from the hall announced that they had been detected. With joined effort they reached the Tardis. Sarah let go and with a huge sigh of relief smashed the doors shut.
"Do we have all the Shama on board?" She returned to the Doctor's side who leaned heavily against the console, activating the dematerialisation then his knees buckled under his weight and he sank down to the floor, back to the console and closed his eyes.
"I brought all the sick ones on board, our guests here didn't have any problem to persuade those captives. I think they are absolutely terrified." Sarah looked up and watched a dozen Shama zoom around in the croweded console room or hover with soft chirps over the rack where Teria carefully put the latest injured one to the other disabled.
"Have to... scanner...others," the Doctor mumbled.
"Oh, no, you don't. You rest now, at least for a little while," she ordered him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. Then she pulled his head down on her chest, her hand buried in his curls, and winced a little when the hard console painfully pinched the bruise on her back. The Doctor looked up at her with a raptured little smile and then then his eyes fluttered shut, snuggling against her warm breast, not thinking, just relaxing in her arms.