A/N: This chapter was partly rushed cause…well, honestly I type these up ahead of time and I was behind on my schedule. Many thanks to everyone who has reviewed, followed, and faved! I love your feedback. And to the guest reviewers, while I can't reply directly to you, just know that your feedback is equally appreciated ;)
Chapter 25: 42 Part 1
After the escapades with the lizards the Doctor treated the ladies to a relaxing movie marathon in the media room. He suggested The Muppet Movie, but both of them preferred something else instead. They wound up picking up with the Harry Potter franchise from where they left off. Martha was perfectly fine with the choice since she's seen all of the previous ones already, and Rose slipped in the next one: the Goblet of Fire.
As the three of them sat on the comfy couch—Rose leaning on the Doctor's chest—the girls couldn't help but laugh out loud when they realized how much the Doctor resembled the actor who played Barty Crouch Jr. Of course he immediately denied it and stressed that he had looked nothing like the man, but both Martha and Rose kept insisting that he did. When Rose mentioned that the man was handsome though, the Doctor seemed to change his mind and straightened his tie at the compliment.
After the movie finished the Doctor decided to take the girls to the place he had meant to take them to in the first place. It was a tropical planet called Ember Grove III, the largest field of vibrant flowers that can create a soothing and melodic tune just by a single touch. It also was known to have the greatest lemonade known to the universe, so how can they not have some of that?
Once the girls stepped out of the TARDIS they were immediately greeted with a warm breeze and a sweet combined essence of lemons and and honey. As far as their eyes could see was a vast, open field of various plants and flowers vivid with equally warm colors. Small stands appeared at the far end of the field with items to sell and serve. The Doctor informed them that the main rule in this area was to remove any footwear as not to disturb the foilage.
Doing so both Martha and Rose ran out barefoot onto the field letting the warm but soothing breeze blow through their hair. The Doctor stood at the door of the TARDIS and watched as they ran carefree with the wind, spreading their arms out wide as if they were trying to fly. He couldn't help but appreciate how the sunlight reflected off of the equal brightness of Rose's waves. She truly did burn like the Sun and showed off her golden glow, shining it wherever she went.
Toeing off his trainers he caught up with them and came up behind both girls and tackled them to the ground in a section of red flowers that smelled like strawberries. After laughing like a bunch of loons, he urged the girls to pick off a couple of them to hear what melody comes out from them.
Martha picked one up and lit up when a calming tune resembling that of a flute's emitted from its core. When Rose picked one of her own a soft humming sound almost matching that of the TARDIS came out. They both chuckled at the result. It was appropriate since those two were connected, giving off a beautiful sound to calm those around them.
After a few more moments of laying back in the bed of flowers and basking in the sunlight, the three walked over to one of the stands and purchased some of the lemonade. The Doctor wasn't lying when he said this was the best lemonade. It wasn't too sour and not too sweet—it was just right, and made the kinds back on Earth a poor comparison.
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"It was nice to be somewhere warm for once," Rose commented on the way back to the TARDIS.
"We're not always in cold places," the Doctor told her.
"No, but we're not always in warm ones either."
He scoffed as he made his way around the console while Martha sat down on the jump seat. "Those flowers were beautiful. Reminded me of when I used to run across the fields when I was little," she said in wonder before frowning.
Rose noticed her change in mood and sat down beside her. "What's wrong?"
She shrugged. "I just miss Mum and Tish, that's all. I wish I can talk with them once in a while."
"We can fix that," Rose said lightly. "You have your phone?" Martha nodded and reached into her pocket and handed it out to her. "Doctor, wanna help out Martha with some jiggery pokery?"
"Hm?" He hummed before exclaiming. "Oh, of course!" He turned around and took the phone from her and flipped it open. Grabbing the sonic he began to work on advancing her mobile. "How could I have forgotten?"
"Like you always say: too many things running around in that big head of yours," Rose answered.
He glanced up at her as he continued working on her phone before shutting it and cheering, "There we go! Universal Roaming," he tossed the phone back to Martha and pocketed the sonic. "Never have to worry about a signal again."
Flipping her phone open, she saw the screen say 'Universal Roaming Activated.' He face lit up. "No way. But it's…too mad! You're telling me I can call anyone, anywhere in Space and Time on my mobile?"
He smiled. "Long as you know the area code. Frequent Flyers' privilege."
"Welcome to the club," Rose commented as she took out her own mobile and held it out to her before putting it back in her pocket. "Go on, try it out."
Just as she was about to test out her new advanced mobile, the TARDIS jerked violently and nearly grounded the three of them to the grating. The Doctor moved the monitor over to peer at it. "Distress signal! Locking on!" he shouted. "Hold on, girls, might be a bit of-"
Another jolt cut him off as the three were sent flying to the ground. "Turbulence," Rose finished.
"Yeah. Ow," the Doctor said before pulling himself off of the floor, holding a hand out for both girls. "You two alright?"
"For the most part," Martha told him as she stood.
"Sorry about that. Ah, well, come on," he spun around and dashed to the door. "Let's take a look!" The girls were right behind him as he stepped outside and was greeted with a surge of suffocating heat and steam. "Whoa! Now that is hot!"
"It's like a sauna in here!" Martha cried as she shed off her jacket and tossed it into the TARDIS.
"I like the heat and everything, but this is almost unbearable," Rose commented as she discarded her long sleeved shirt and threw it in the TARDIS with Martha's jacket, leaving her in a thin sleeveless top.
"Little bit of heat won't hurt," the Doctor commented as he examined the equipment off to the side on the wall. "You're usually always up for it."
"Not to the point where I can't breathe," she said, adjusting her top.
He looked around again. "Venting systems," he said. "Working at full pelt, trying to cool down wherever it is we are."
"Now you know that's bad if the vents aren't working," Rose said, wiping her forehead. Oddly enough—well, probably not that much—she felt a chill run through her body, and that's never a good sign.
A door with a wheel was on the side. "Well, if you can't stand the heat…" Spinning the wheel the Doctor opened the door and stepped through.
"Oh God, that's so much better," Rose commented as the air, while still hot, wasn't as smothering and felt a little cooler against her already sweaty skin.
Not even a second upon entering the new area two men and a woman came running towards them. "Oi! You three!" one of the men yelled.
"Get out of there!" the woman shouted.
"Seal that door, now!" Both men rushed over and shut the door behind them tight.
"Who are you? What are you doing on my ship?" the woman demanded.
"Are you police?" the younger man asked.
The Doctor furrowed his brows in confusion. "Why would we be police?"
"We got your distress signal," Rose explained.
"If this is a ship, why can't I hear any engines?" the Doctor asked, glancing around the area.
"It went dead four minutes ago," the woman told them.
The older man rolled his eyes. "So maybe we should stop chatting and get to engineering…Captain," he added with a little sneer.
"Secure closure active," a computerized voice rang out followed by a loud pang.
"What?" the woman asked.
"The ship's gone mad," the older man said.
Another woman rushed into the room and slammed the door shut behind her. "Who activated secure closure? I nearly got locked in Area 27!" She cried before looking confused when she noticed the travelers. "Who are you?"
Martha answered for them since the others looked concerned. "He's the Doctor, she's Rose and I'm Martha," she introduced before her eye caught something distractedly. "Hello."
Rose noticed Martha suddenly walk slowly away to a small window. Clearly there was something interesting outside and she was curious to know what exactly was out there too, but they still didn't know about this crew and their situation. "And you are?" she asked.
"Kath McDonnell," the woman replied before gesturing to the other members in order from the older man, the younger man, and the other woman. "And that's Scannell, Riley, and Erina."
"Impact projection: 42 minutes."
"We'll get out of this, I promise," McDonnell said.
Rose nodded before following Martha towards the window. A golden light shone through, pouring into the area the closer she came to it. The moment she stood beside Martha her breath hitched as another chill shot down her spine when she gazed at the view in front of them. "Doctor," she called.
The Doctor hadn't registered her call for him and asked the captain. "Forty-two minutes 'til what?"
"Doctor!" Martha cried. "Look!"
Running over to the girls he peered over Rose's head and immediately sensed her discomfort, and he could easily see why. Placing a hand on her shoulder he froze up inside at the approaching object, slowly coming closer and closer and making him feel more uncomfortable.
"Forty-two minutes until we crash into the sun," McDonnell said.
Oh, this isn't good. In a flash the Doctor turned and ran back over to the captain. "How many crew members on board?" he asked quickly.
"Seven, including us."
"We transport cargo across the galaxy," Scannell spoke. "Everything's automated. We just keep the ship…"
"Call the others, I'll get you out!" The Doctor rushed over to the door they came through.
"What's he doing?" Riley yelled.
"No! Don't!" McDonnell yelled as the other crew members ran over to stop him before he opened the door.
But he already turned the wheel and pulled it open only to be taken aback by an even larger wave of heat, making him cry out at the sudden steam. Rose and Martha immediately went over to him just as Erina came over to the door wearing protective gear and sealed it shut. "But my ship's in there!" the Doctor shouted as he shook himself off.
"In the vent chamber?" Riley asked.
"It's our lifeboat."
"It's lava," Scannell told him.
Taking off her gear Erina studied the dials on the wall beside the door. "The temperature's going mad in there. Up three thousand degrees in ten seconds, and still rising."
"Channeling the air," Riley said. "The closer we get to the sun, the hotter that room's gonna get."
"We're stuck here," Martha said irritably.
Rose shook her head. "Not the first time we were stuck without the TARDIS," she commented quietly. At least they weren't outside of a black hole that could have sucked them in at any moment like last time…though crashing into a blazing sun isn't really that much better and any less dangerous. Still, it could be worse, right?
The Doctor tilted his head. "So, we fix the engines, we steer the ship away from the sun - simple!" He turned to McDonnell. "Engineering's down here, is it?"
She nodded. "Yeah." With that he took off down the corridor with the others following.
"Impact in 40:26."
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Making his way down to the engineering room he skidded to a stop and glanced around the area. "Blimey, do you always leave things in such a mess?"
"Oh, my God!" McDonnell cried when she saw the state of the room.
Walking over to the engine they examined it as smoke and steam poured out with bits of wire and springs were destroyed.
"What the hell happened?" Scannell asked.
"Oh, it's wrecked," Riley said.
The Doctor took out his specs to study it more. "Pretty efficiently too. Someone knew what they were doing."
"Where's Korwin?" McDonnell asked urgently. "Has anyone heard from him or Ashton?"
"No," Scannell said with a shake of his head.
McDonnell ran over to the intercom on the wall. "Korwin, Ashton? Where are you? Where the hell is he? He's supposed to be down here."
Rose twitched inside. An engine is suddenly totalled and torn apart and two of the crew members are missing. Coincidence? She thought not. If she wasn't already twitchy about landing on this ship, then that fact would have pushed it.
Moving closer to the Doctor she tapped him in the side as he studied a monitor. "Two crew members are suddenly missing after an engine's destroyed? If that's not bad enough," she whispered. "We shouldn't trust these people."
His jaw stiffened. "I know, just keep a close eye on them. But that's not the only problem." He swallowed and rubbed his eyes underneath the rim of his specs. "We're stranded…again. I've trapped you and Martha here."
She patted his arm. "We'll work this out, we always do. This isn't like the last time. At least the TARDIS is still onboard and not drifting away into space. She'll be fine, She can survive anything." He looked over at her with a regretful look and she squeezed his arm for reassurance. "Could be worse, yeah?"
"I suppose so, but never say that," he said with a faint smirk. Turning his head to observe the crew for a second before scanning what the monitor showed and stood. "Oh, we're in the Torajji system! Lovely! You're a long way from home, Martha. Half a universe away."
"Yeah, feels it," Martha snapped.
Rose moved over to their friend and put a comforting hand on her arm. "We'll fix this Martha," she said softly. "I promise."
She shrugged as the Doctor walked over to the captain. "And you're still using energy scoops for fusion? Hasn't that been outlawed yet?"
McDonnell hesitated for a moment then dismissed his question and moved past him. "We're due to upgrade next docking." The Doctor and Rose exchanged a glance as the woman went over to the older man. "Scannell, engine report."
"No response," he told her.
"What?"
"They're burnt out, the controls are wrecked. I can't get them back online."
"Right, so, repairing the engines isn't going to happen anytime soon," the Doctor said. "What else have we got?"
"What about a back-up engine?" Rose suggested.
The Doctor turned and smiled at her. "Exactly! Auxiliary engines! Every craft's got auxiliaries," he exclaimed.
McDonnell shook her head. "We don't have access from here. The auxiliary controls are in the front of the ship."
"Yeah, with twenty-nine password sealed doors between us and them," Scannell added. "You'll never get there in time."
Rose rolled her eyes while Martha asked. "Can't you override the doors?"
"No. Sealed closure means what it says. They're all deadlock sealed."
The Doctor ran a hand through his hair. "So a sonic screwdriver's no use," he muttered.
"Nothing's any use. We've got no engines, no time, and no chance."
Rose snorted. "Oh, my God, listen to yourself! How can you give up so quickly?"
The Doctor nodded and stood beside her and stared at the man with disappointment. "Defeated before you've even started! Honestly, where's your Dunkirk spirit?" He turned to McDonnell again. "Who's got the door passwords?"
Riley answered for her. "They're randomly generated. Reckon I know most of 'em. Sorry. Riley Vashtee," he clarified.
"Then what're you waiting for Riley Vashtee?" the Doctor asked as he put himself in command. "Get on it."
"Well, it's a two person job - one to answer the questions, and the other to carry this," he retrieved a backpack and put it on and lifted up a magnetic clamp, looking over to McDonnell. "The oldest and cheapest security system around, eh, captain?"
She smiled. "Reliable and simple, just like you, eh, Riley?"
"Try and be helpful, get abuse," he chuckled. "Nice!"
Martha stepped forward and took the clamp from his hands. "I'll help you. Make myself useful."
"It's remotely controlled by computer panel," Riley told her. "That's why it needs two."
She nodded as they walked off together. "Oi!" Both the Doctor and Rose called after her.
Turning back to face them, the Doctor told her, "Be careful."
"You too," she said, flitting her eyes between them and pointing a finger. "Both of you."
Just as the two walked away a voice came over the intercom."McDonnell, it's Ashton."
At the sound of her name, the captain ran over to the intercom and answered quickly, "Where are you? Is Korwin with you?"
"Get up to the med-center now!" Ashton hollered.
Without hesitation McDonnell ran to said room. Both the Doctor and Rose shared a quick glance before grabbing a hold of each other's hands and catching up to the woman.
Just behind them they heard the computerized voice announce. "Impact in 34:31."
Running down the corridor Rose shivered inside again, contrasting with the walls of suffocating heat rising on the ship. Something odd and serious was definitely wrong with this whole situation and it made her skin crawl. When she caught a glimpse of the approaching sun she felt an odd feeling in her mind, like a little tug. Whatever it was, she didn't like it one bit.
Finally making it to the room they saw a bed in a tube shaped chamber occupied by a man thrashing around in agony as another man and a womanstood over him, trying their hardest to keep him contained.
"Argh! Stop it!" the man groaned fighting against the others around him.
"Korwin, it's Abi!" the woman told him "Open your eyes, I need to take a look at you!"
McDonnell rushed over to them and cried. "Korwin! What's happened? Is he okay?"
"Oh, Kath! Help me!" Korwin pleaded before shouting, "IT'S BURNING ME!"
Rose inwardly gasped as a haunting whisper ghosted in her ears, speaking words that seemed all too familiar: Burn with me.
The Doctor felt her tense up and squeezed her hand. "Stay back," he told her before stepping up to the man with the sonic in his hand. "How long's he been like this?"
"Ashton just brought him in," Abi said eyeing the Doctor as he began to scan Korwin's body then flinched when the man cried out in pain again.
"What are you doing?" McDonnell demanded stepping up to them.
Rose leaned forward and grabbed her arm, stopping her. "Don't get too close," she warned.
The woman defied her as she shook her arm away from her grasp. "Don't be so stupid, that's my husband!" She rushed over to the head of the bed, watching over him.
"And he's just sabotaged our ship," Ashton snapped.
"What?"
"He went mad. He set the ship to secure closure, then he set the heat pulse to melt the controls."
"No way!" McDonnell said in denial. "He wouldn't do that!"
"I saw it happen, Captain," Ashton insisted seriously.
Putting away the sonic, the Doctor gently addressed the man in distress. "Korwin? Korwin, open your eyes for me a second."
The man convulsed. "I can't!"
"Yeah, of course you can," the Doctor said calmly. "Go on."
"Don't make me look at you! Please!"
"Alright, alright, alright. Just relax." Carefully moving away from the bed, the Doctor picked up a small syringe from the medical tray. He held it up to Abi and asked. "Sedative?" When the woman nodded in confirmation, he leaned over and inserted it into Korwin's neck. The man cried out in pain and thrashed again until he stilled then silenced.
Pulling the syringe out of the man, the Doctor placed it back on the tray. Rose stepped over cautiously to stand at the edge of the bed next to him. "Doctor, what's wrong with him?"
Taking a deep breath he wiped the sweat from his forehead and crossed his arms. "Some sort of infection. Rising body temperature, unusual energy readings…" he glanced over briefly to the chamber itself. "Stasis chamber. I do love a good stasis chamber." He turned to Abi. "Keep him sedated in there. Regulate the body temperature. And, just for fun, run a bio-scan and tissue profile on a metabolic detail."
"Just doing them now," Abi told him as she worked.
Rose smiled at the woman. "Nice. You're good."
"Oh yes, you are. I'll give you that," the Doctor agreed. "Anyone else presenting these symptoms?"
Abi shook her head. "Not so far."
"Well, that's something, yeah?" Rose said gently, looking over at the Doctor who simply nodded, his jaw stiff. She knew that look. The last thing they needed was an outbreak of some kind of infection to add to the already chaotic epidemic of this ship's situation.
"Will someone tell me what is the matter with him?" McDonnell asked frantically.
"Some sort of infection," Rose told her gently.
"We'll know more after the test results," the Doctor added before gesturing to the end of the corridor. "Now, allons-y. Back downstairs." He turned to Ashton. "Eh! See about those engines. Go," he told them.
Ashton followed the Doctor's orders and turned to leave. McDonnell, however, didn't appear to want to leave her husband in his time of distress. Rose walked over to her and placed a hand on her arm. "Just go," she said calmly. "There's nothing you can do right now. Just relax."
The captain was hesitant to leave but nodded. Taking one last glance at her husband she turned away and made her leave quietly.
When Rose turned around she found the Doctor standing right behind her with a soft smile on his face. "What?"
"That's another reason why I need you around," he said. "You're the kind one."
"Obviously since you're the rude one," she teased lightly.
He nodded and shrugged. "That I am." He threw an arm around her shoulders and began to walk out of the room until he turned back to Abi. "Call us if there's news. Any questions?"
The woman chuckled. "Yeah. Who are you two?"
"I'm the Doctor," he answered with a grin.
Rose patted his chest. "And I'm Rose Tyler."
"Abi Lerner," the woman clarified before they headed down the corridor.
As they walked, they heard the computerized voice once again.
"Heat shield failing. At twenty-five percent. Impact in 32:50."
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Making it back to the engineering room, the Doctor began to sift through the wreckage that was left of the torn up engine. Rose was also helping as she searched for any unbroken parts that could be used in repairs. Whatever was spreading through this ship was making its rounds, and he scolded himself for trapping the girls in such a place.
Déjà Vu, he thought.
This was Krop Tor all over again, and he swore he would never allow them to get stuck anywhere after that. But of course, he did anyway. And apparently some time in the future they would get stuck in 1969—like he was looking forward to that. Although he greatly disliked the idea and incident of being stranded in one place and in one time, he'd rather be stuck on Earth than on a ship preparing to crash into a burning sun.
That's saying something.
But he had to keep his focus on the situation at hand right now. Any of the people onboard could be susceptible to this infection…whatever it is, and he needed to prevent it from spreading any further. But he needed more information.
As the computerized voice kept announcing the amount of time until impact, he ran over to the intercom and called out for the young woman in the med-center. "Abi, how's Korwin doing? Any results from the bio-scan?"
"He's under heavy sedation," she answered. "I'm just trying to make sense of this data. Give me a couple of minutes and I'll let you know."
"Some good news," Rose commented from where she continued searching.
Nodding in satisfaction he switched the dial. "Martha? Riley? How're you doing?"
"Area 29, at the door to 28," Martha answered.
He licked his lips impatiently. That wasn't good enough at the moment. "Yeah, you've gotta move faster," he told her urgently.
"We're doing our best!"
Inwardly sighing he left the intercom on so they could still communicate with each other while he moved back over to the engine and resumed his work.
"Calm down, Doctor," Rose told him gently. "They're doing all that they could."
He nodded. "I know, but-"
Riley cut him off over the intercom. "Find the next number in the sequence: 313, 331, 367…" he paused for a second. "What?"
"You said the crew knew all the answers!" Martha said.
"The crew's changed since we set the questions," he said sheepishly.
Martha sighed. "You're joking."
The Doctor ran over to the intercom to give them the answer. "379!"
"What?" Martha asked.
"It's a sequence of happy primes," he explained. "379."
"Happy what?"
"Just enter it!"
"Are you sure?" Riley interjected. "We only get one chance."
The Doctor growled low with impatience before taking a deep breath to further explain in a rapid lecture mode. "Any number which reduces to one when you take the sum of the square of its digits and you continue iterating until it yields one is a happy number. Any number that doesn't, isn't. A happy prime is a number which is both happy and prime, now type it in!" He shouted with annoyance.
"Wonderful lesson once again, teacher," Rose commented from the side.
He turned to her and shook his head. "I dunno, talk about dumbing down!" He exasperated. "Don't they teach recreational mathematics anymore?"
She looked up at him and smiled. "Not in that way, I'd guess."
He snorted at her just as Martha exclaimed through the com. "We're through!"
"Keep moving, fast as you can," he said quickly before adding seriously. "And, Martha…be careful. There may be something else on board this ship."
"Any time you want to unnerve me, feel free," she commented.
He nodded and smiled lightly. "Will do, thanks."