This felt like it took forever. But, hey, at least I came up with the idea for the rest of this chapter! There's going to be one more after this, then onto other things. I wanted to finish this chapter, but it would have been way too long and I promised myself I would post a chapter tonight.

Enjoy!

.10.

42

Part Three

The Doctor and the crew are running around in the engine room. The Doctor is, of course, giving out orders. I'm trying to help as best as I can, but I know more about geography than I do about anything to do with engines. (And I am horrible at geography. For half my life, I thought Ontario was a state. In the USA.) I'm good at following directions, though, so when the Doctor shows me how to do something, I can do it, but he's getting that annoyed tone in his voice. You know, the condescending "I'm a 900 year old Time Lord and you're just a stupid human and how can you not know what a happy prime number is or how to put an engine back together with only some sweat and elbow grease?" tone.

The Doctor inspects a chunk of wires and warped metal. "We need a backup in case they don't reach the auxiliary engines in time. Come on! Think! Resources, what have we got?" He tosses the warped mess aside.

Well, you've got me. I know what's going to happen. I don't know how to fix anything, but I know how we get out of this. I think. Dammit, why can't I remember how they got out of this?

"Doctor?" Martha's voice echoes over the intercom.

The Doctor snaps like she's a nagging wife. "What is it now?"

"Who had the most number ones, Elvis or the Beatles? That's pre-download."

"Elvis!" the Doctor and I shout at the same time. We stare at each other from across the engine.

"Are you sure?" he asks.

I shrug. "No."

"No," the Doctor shouts to Martha. "The Beatles. No. Wait… umm." He starts hitting himself over the head.

"I want to say Elvis, but the Beatles were, you know, the Beatles," I raise my voice. My hand starts jerking in a circle and I start tapping my right foot. "Elvis was around longer…"

"I don't know!" the Doctor tosses his arms in the air. "I am a bit busy."

"Try phoning a friend!" I suggest, half in jest.

"Fine," Martha pouts. The intercom goes silent.

The Doctor turns back to the crew. "Now, where was I?" He gazes away for a second. "Here comes the sun. No, resources. So, the power's still working, the generator's going. If we can harness that… ah!"

McDonnell almost smiles. "Use the generator to jump-start the ship."

"Exactly! At the very least, it'll buy us some more time."

McDonnell shakes her head, unbelieving. "That… is brilliant."

The Doctor beams. "I know! See! Tiny glimmer of hope!"

The word glimmer knocks around my head. Glimmer. Light. Burning…

I'm missing something. Something very important… Korwin. Korwin is infected with the being in the sun. The sun being? Anyway, he infects someone else, kills at least one person. But who?

I step away from the engine, hands pressed against my forehead. Think, Lily. You can save someone. Just think. Who does Korwin kill?

Scannell goes to the other side of the room, intent on finding a way to jump-start the ship with the generator.

Oh god.

I watch him leave, my eyes wide.

He gets infected while trying to start the ship… Does he? Someone does.

My hands fall from my head.

"Impact in 28.50."

Scrub Girl, who I earlier learned is named Abi, comes over the com. "Doctor, these readings are starting to scare me."

I gasp. The Doctor's eyes dart toward me. Mouth agape, I shake my head.

The Doctor drops what he's doing and stops walking. "What do you mean?"

Then, not even thinking, I dodge around scrap bits of engine, almost slamming into the Doctor as I stop. I reach inside his jacket and pull out the sonic screwdriver from his breast pocket. Heart pounding, I spin around.

As I'm doing this, Abi is continuing. "Well," she pauses. "Korwin's body's changing! His whole biological make-up, it… it's impossible."

I run out of the room.

Running down the hall trying to find the right setting on the sonic is impossible. I've used one a couple of times, but it was 11's sonic, so it was a psychic interface. This one, you actually have to set to something.

Ok, maybe grabbing the sonic wasn't the best idea ever.

Seconds later, I've reached the med bay. I slide through the plastic door hangings, sputtering to a stop.

Korwin is standing with his eyes closed.

Screw it.

I point the sonic at him and press the button.

Nothing happens.

Figures.

"Abi, turn around!" I shout, shaking the screwdriver, hitting it against my palm.

Abi spins just as Korwin's head slowly turns to me. A rumbling growl issues from his chest. Abi, clearly the smart one in the room, turns back to the intercom. "This is med-center. Urgent assistance requested. Urgent assistance!"

I spot the red injection gun on a silver tray behind Korwin.

I don't even think about it.

I spin the sonic to a random setting and point to my right. I press the button. Something sparks and blows up, drawing Korwin's attention.

"Urgent assistance!" Abi's voice raises an octave.

While he's distracted, I sprint for the anesthesia, tucking the sonic screwdriver into my bra.

Erina, the Gap Tooth girl, comes over the com. "Abi. They're on their way."

Apparently I do have some luck. Korwin's slowly advancing on Abi.

Abi's quivering in fear. "What's happening to you?"

My fingers touch the anesthesia. A hand wraps around my throat. I gasp for air as my airway constricts.

There goes my luck.

"Burn with me."

The voice is deep, animalistic, almost demonic.

I struggle forward. Korwin's fingers dig into my throat. God, my hand is so close.

"Burn. With Me."

Clomp.

The sound of metal hitting someone's head. It takes me a millisecond to realize that it wasn't my head exploding.

The grip on my neck loosens. I crash into the medical tray, coughing. The tray flies through the air. Silvery objects glint in the light as they fly all over. The anesthesia gun scrapes across the floor, a couple feet from where I'm laying.

Korwin is now facing Abi, who is wielding a metal tray. It clatters to the floor. "K... Korwin, you're sick…"

Gasping, I crawl toward the gun.

"Burn with me!"

I clasp the gun, then, in a move I can't believe I accomplished without falling flat on my ass, I jump up, roll over the bed of the stasis chamber a la Dukes of Hazard, and thrust the gun against Korwin's neck, pressing the trigger as soon as I make contact.

He goes facedown, but I know it won't be for long.

I shove the gun into my pants. "Help me get him in the stasis chamber!" I order, already turning his heavy body around. Abi just stands there. I glare up at her. "Now! He's going to wake up!"

She grabs him by the shoulders just as the Doctor and McDonnell slide into the room. Scannell enters not even a second behind them.

"What?" The Doctor sputters.

"What have you done?" McDonnell cries.

I groan, trying to lift Korwin by his waist. "Don't just stand there! Help us!"

Between the five of us, we plop Korwin on the bed. As we step back, his hand starts to twitch.

"How does this thing work?" I ask, head darting to all four shocked faces. "Is there a way to keep him under with this?"

The Doctor holds out his hand. "Hand me the sonic."

I pat my pockets. Where did I?…oh yeah… Blushing, I pull it out of my bra.

The Doctor raises an eyebrow at me, then sonics the stasis chamber. The MRI part starts to glow blue. "That should do it."

I poke Korwin's side. "Are you sure? I think he can withstand more than we think."

"Until we know what's infecting him, I'm not sure of anything right now."

We lock eyes.

Martha's voice interrupts us over the com. "Doctor, is everything ok?"

"Concentrate on those doors" he shouts at the ceiling. "You've gotta keep moving forward!"

"Impact in 27.06."

Korwin's hand stops flicking.

I glance around the group, focusing on McDonnell. She's staring at Korwin in disbelief, tears in her eyes.

"When he opened his eyes," Abi says, voice shaking. "A bright light… I think he would have killed me if she didn't get here."

Everyone looks at me, in varying degrees of shock and confusion. I scratch the back of my neck.

"What?" McDonnell's voice cracks. "Do you think… no way! Scannell, tell him! Korwin is not a killer!

Scannell just gazes at the floor.

"You don't know what he is right now," I say.

The Doctor slides on his glasses as he waltzes over to a tray across the room and holds up a piece of paper. "Burn with me," the Doctor says, thoughtful.

Scannell clears his throat. "That's what we heard Korwin say. What does it mean?"

"His bio scan results…" he chin is high as he reads. "Internal temperature, one hundred degrees! Body oxygen replaced by hydrogen! Your husband hasn't been infected, he's been overwhelmed!"

"The test results are wrong!" McDonnell spits, ripping the paper from his grip.

The Doctor continues on as if she never spoke. "But what is it though? Parasite? Mutagenic virus? Something that needs a host body. But how did it get inside him?"

"Stop talking like he's some kind of experiment!"

The Doctor pulls off his glasses and pockets them "Where's the ship been? Have you made planet-fall recently?" McDonnell's face falls mysteriously blank. "Docked with any other vessels? Any kind of external contact at all?

"What is this? An interrogation?" McDonnell backs away. "We're just… a cargo ship."

Scannell takes her side. "Doctor, if you give her a minute…"

Awkward silence.

Abi turns to the stasis chamber and monitors the readings. The beeping is consistent. Korwin isn't moving.

Hey, we may get out of this yet!

The Doctor looks away from McDonnell. But by looking away, he looks at me. I stiffen. "And you, Lily. You left awful quick when Abi started speaking."

I bite my lip. "I had a hunch."

"No, that was a bit early for a hunch." He steps towards me. The dangerous look is back, though it softens when he sees my throat. He runs a finger over my tender neck. I wince. "You've got bruises."

"I'd prefer to think of them as battle wounds," I joke lightly, coughing into my fist.

"Tell me what you know," his hand falls only my shoulder. It's not threatening in the least. It's very kind, almost begging.

I shake my head. "I can't. I can't really remember…"

"What do you remember?"

I take a deep breath, then start coughing. I hunch over. The Doctor rubs my back, comforting.

"It's all right," he whispers. "Take your time."

"Impact in 24.51."

Oh yeah, Doctor, we have all the time in the world!

McDonnell's voice is now almost business-like. "Is the infection permanent? Can you cure him?"

Eyes blurry, I stand straight.

The Doctor shakes his head. "I dunno."

"Don't lie to me, Doctor!" her voice cracks again. She takes Korwin's hand in hers. "Don't lie. Eleven years we've been married. We chose this ship together. He keeps me honest. So I don't want false hope."

"The parasite's too aggressive," he says. "Your husband's gone. There's no way back. We're keeping him in stasis so that he doesn't hurt the rest of the crew. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

McDonnell caresses Korwin's cheek, nodding. "Thank you."

The Doctor looks at me, almost as if he's pleading for me to have a better answer. Rubbing my tender throat, I shrug.

"Are you… certain nothing happened to provoke this?" he steps towards McDonnell and Korwin. "Nobody's working on anything secret, 'cause it's vital that you tell me."

"I know every inch of this ship." Her voice is hard. "I know every detail of my crew's lives. There is nothing."

She's lying.

"Doctor, we're through to area 18." Martha's voice rings out.

He doesn't take his eyes off of McDonnell as he shouts. "Keep going. You've got to get to area one and reboot those engines." He starts issues orders again. "McDonnell and Scannell, back to engineering. We've got to try to get the ship starts. Abi, keep an eye on Korwin's vitals. The second something changes, you get out of here and warn us." Abi nods. "Lily, with me." He holds out his hand for me to take. I place my hand in his, his fingers wrapping around mine. Our palms are damp, but his grip is strong.

No one else moves.

He gives them a hard look, though his voice is almost light. "Allons-y. No time to spare."

With a final look at Korwin, McDonnell and Scannell leave the room. Abi turns back to the computer, staring at it as if her life depends on it.

Which it kinda does, if you think about it.

The Doctor tugs my hand. I look up at him. He cranes his neck toward the door. Falling in step together, we leave the med center.

I hope that's not a huge mistake.

"Doctor, there's another question we don't know," Martha's voice comes on again.

"Go ahead," the Doctor says, a touch of irritation in his voice.

"Who does not belong in this group: Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Keith Moon, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, or Amy Winehouse."

"They're all musicians," the Doctor murmurs.

I brighten. "Oh! That's easy! It's the 27 Club! Keith Moon! Drummer for The Who."

"Huh?" Martha says.

"Keith Moon is the only musician in that group who was not twenty-seven when he died. The rest are in the 27 Club." I grin up at the Doctor. "I did a report on Keith Moon in fifth grade. We had to write about a famous person who died because of drugs or alcohol. Everyone else did Elvis or Marilyn Monroe. Keith Moon was the greatest drummer ever."

"We're through!" Martha exclaims.

"You're welcome!" I chirp. "Glad to be of some sort of help!"

The Doctor and I continue on.

"That was a very brave thing you did," he says as we walk back to the engine room as if there is no hurry at all. "Stupid, but brave."

"I didn't want her to die," I explain.

He nods. "Yeah. But you put yourself at risk. You could have been the dead one."

Is he for serious? "Is this really the time, Doctor?" I try walking faster, attempting to twist my hand out of his. He just grips harder and tugs me close. I'm pressed against his chest, head inches from his. I give a little gasp.

"If you know something else, you have to tell me. It's vital, Lily. Listen to me," he places his hands on my cheeks and gazes deep into my eyes. "This is not a fixed event. You can change this."

The computer interrupts our moment. "Heat shield failing at twenty percent."

"I… I don't know," I say. "I know a few things, but I know there is more, but I can't remember."

"Try. Please try."

I close my eyes. Then pop them open, gasping slightly.

"They're mining the sun for fuel," I explain. "We need to give it back. That's the only way it'll stop. We might even save Korwin that way."

"What about the engines?" his tone is desperate, almost manic.

I shake my head. "I seriously don't know, Doctor. I really don't remember."

He pulls me into a tight hug. "We'll figure that part out, then. But first, let's get those doors open so we can vent the engines."

Martha's panicked voice interrupts once again. "Doctor! We're stuck in an escape pod off the area seventeen airlock." Both our heads whip to the ceiling, as if she's above us for something. He drops my face, grabs my hand again, and we're running down the hallway. "One of the crew's trying to jettison us! You've gotta help us!"

"That's not possible!" I exclaim. "Korwin was supposed to infect one or two of the other crewmembers, I don't know which, but he's in stasis right now!"

"Well, somehow someone else got infected!" the Doctor yells over his shoulder. "How did Korwin get infected to begin with?"

"I have no idea!"

We slide into the engine room.

McDonnell almost runs into us. "Why is this happening?"

The Doctor points at her and Scannell. Ashton is missing. "Stay here! I mean it this time! Jump start those engines!"

Oh god. Is Ashton infected?

The Doctor, still holding my hand, spins me around. We both dash towards area 17.

"More information would be helpful right now!" the Doctor drops my hand so that we can both run faster.

My breathing is getting heavier. I'm still not used to this level of running. "The sun is alive. I think it's particles from the sun that are infecting everyone."

"How?"

"I don't remember." I feel like a sprinter as I vault across the raised door jams. "I just know that part."

"Come on, think," the Doctor whacks himself on the head. "How can a sun be alive?"

I just shake my head. I can't run like this and talk at the same time.

"Korwin has escaped!" Abi's frantic voice comes over the intercom. "I repeat, Korwin has escaped."

Well, that is just Jim Dandy!

My steps are getting sluggish. A cramp has formed in my side. As I slow, I wave the Doctor on. He doesn't miss a step as he peels away from me.

I make myself continue forward, even if I'm going slower.

How the hell did someone else get infected? That doesn't make sense!

"That's enough!" I hear the Doctor say from a couple air locks away. I slow my pace even more so that I can catch my breath. "What do you want? Why this ship? Tell me!"

I can see him now. And the person in from of him. I think it's Ashton, though his head is covered in a giant orange helmet.

"Jettison activated."

I slink close to the wall, trying to calm my breathing. I peak over the side of a doorway.

The Doctor's voice drifts towards me. "Come on. Let's see you." Ashton advances, now almost nose to nose with the Doctor. "I wanna know what you really are…"

Ashton starts to lift the visor of the helmet.

Then he falls to his knees.

It's a brief respite. He's back on his feet again.

The computer proclaims, "Airlock sealed."

Ashton stumbles away from the Doctor, towards me. I bite my lip, pressing myself against the wall as he passes me without stopping. I watch him walk away, confused.

"McDonnell!" The Doctor calls. I step away from the wall to see the Doctor at another com unit. "Ashton's heading in your direction! He's been infected, just like Korwin!"

Scannell's voice comes over the com. "Korwin's dead, Doctor."

I nearly trip over my own feet. So soon?

"Anyone else?" the Doctor asks.

"We're all accounted for, Doctor," Scannell answers.

"Good. Stick together." He leaves the com unit, just as the computer gives another announcement.

"Airlock decompression pod."

The Doctor and I stumble to the doorway, falling against it at the same time. We peak through the glass. There's Martha and Riley. Martha presses her hands against the glass.

She mouths the word, "Doctor."

"I'll save you!" the Doctor shouts.

I turn from the glass, sliding down the door until I'm hugging my knees.

I guess I didn't save the day after all.

The Doctor continues shouting those three words over and over, until once again, the computer interrupts.

"Impact in 17.05."

The Doctor suddenly stomps to the com. "Scannell! I need a spacesuit in area 17, now!"

"What for?"

I jump as the Doctor yells, more angry than I've ever heard him, "Just get down here!" He slams a fist against the wall. The top of his head bangs against the wall as well.

"I'm sorry," I whisper. "I thought I could change things."

The Doctor doesn't answer.

"I thought by saving Abi the rest of this wouldn't happen. I guess it doesn't really work like that, huh?"

His voice is low, filled with so many different emotions. "Get someone to help you open the doors."

"Doctor, if you go out there, whatever that thing is, it's going to enter you."

He gives me a sharp look.

I raise my chin. "I don't want that to happen to you."

"Lillian," he growls.

I cross my arms over my chest. "Oh please, like I've never seen you angry at me before. Believe me, your future regeneration is even better at the whole Oncoming Storm thing. In six weeks, I think you got mad at me like fifty thousand times."

He climbs to his feet, menacing.

"Just… don't look at the sun, ok?" I plead. "I think that's how it's supposed to get inside you."

A couple minutes later, Scannell is helping the Doctor into an orange space suit. My mind cuts to when I saw him with The Beast. I shake my head, forcing the image away.

"I can't let you do this," Scannell says for the hundredth time.

"You're wasting your breath, Scannell You're not gonna stop me."

Scannell points at the door, frustrated. "You wanna open an airlock in flight on a ship spinning into the sun. No one can survive that!"

The Doctor almost smiles. "Oh, just you watch."

"You open that airlock, it's suicide. This close to the sun, the shields will barely protect you."

The Doctor's frustration bursts out. "If I can breach the magnetic lock on the ship's exterior, it should re-magnetize the pod. Now, while I'm out there, you both have got to get the rest of those doors open. We need those auxiliary engines."

Scannell makes one last attempt. "Doctor, will you listen! They're too far away, it's too late! Lily, do something!"

I shake my head. What I am supposed to do? No one can stop the Doctor.

The Doctor raises his chin. "I'm not gonna lose her." He places the helmet over his head.

"Be careful," I take a step towards him, placing a hand on his arm. "Don't look into the sun."

He covers my hand with his gloved one, then brushes me away. He opens the airlock door and walks inside.

Once the door closes, I press my nose against the glass.

"We should get the doors," Scannell says, awkward.

I don't move. "Get Abi to help you."

Scannell walks away, muttering under his breath.

"Decompression, initiating," the computer says. "Impact in 12. 55."

I watch the Doctor as he leaves the vessel.

I close my eyes.

Please. Please, if there is a god out there, let him get out of this safe.

I just stare out the window, waiting for him to finish.

"Impact in 11.15. Heat shield failing at ten percent."

I watch the Doctor's hand reach for something. The sun behind him shadows his hand.

The sun…

My eyes are drawn to the sun.

I try to blink, I try to look away, but I can't.

I keep staring, watching the swirling gold explosions twist and jump and dive out of the giant ball of light.

"It really is alive," I whisper.

Something pushes me back.

I gasp, automatically shutting my eyes.

Oh, this is really not good.