Finally seeing a little more evidence of Rose's accelerated learning capabilities and extensive library time. In my mind, anyway, it makes sense that she would gravitate more towards science, engineering, and math rather than history or literature or whatever on the whole, which explains why we haven't seen a whole lot of it thus far, even though she doesn't have to hide anymore. She'll never have a Time Lord mind or the Doctor's capacity for bits and bobs of random information, but she definitely has her own moments of brilliance...which, of course, completely confuse the Doctor, because, as I said to someone else, he may be a Lord of Time, but he's a veritable King of Denial.
Also, fourteen reviews away from 500, because I have the best readers ever. Kudos to the lot of you.
oOoOo
The Doctor and Rose spent a few minutes trying to sort through the wreckage of the engine controls before the Doctor started itching for status reports from Abi and Martha. The computer was still counting down to impact, and the situation was quickly spinning out of control. The only thing he could do was keep the information coming, so he jumped to the intercom.
"Abi, how's Korwin doing?" he asked. "Any results from the bio-scan?"
"He's under heavy sedation," Abi reported. "I'm just trying to make sense of this data. Give me a couple of minutes and I'll let you know."
He switched over, calling for Martha. "Martha? Riley? How're you doing?"
"Area twenty-nine, at the door to twenty-eight!" Martha told him.
He put his specs on to peer at the readout above the comm station, looking at the time of progress between doors. He didn't like it. "You've gotta move faster!" he urged her.
"We're doing our best!" Martha shouted back.
The Doctor turned, leaving the comm open, to find Rose next to him.
"Everything okay?" she asked.
"Yeah," he said, his voice going a little squeaky. "Um...yeah. Mostly. Sort of…not. But it'll be fine. Probably."
"Not exactly filling me full of confidence here, Doctor," she said, arching an eyebrow.
He opened his mouth to say something else, but the conversation between Riley and Martha filtered down to them instead.
"Find the next number in the sequence: 313, 331, 367… what?" asked Riley.
"You said the crew knew all the answers," Martha said, sounding scared.
"The crew's changed since we set the questions," Riley said defensively.
"You're joking…" Martha moaned.
"379," the Doctor and Rose said together, and his eyes snapped down to her.
"What?" Martha asked, startled.
"It's a sequence of happy primes," Rose explained. "379."
"Happy what?" Martha asked, sounding thoroughly confused.
"Just enter it!" the Doctor snapped, still looking down at Rose. Since when did Rose know happy primes?
"Are you sure?" Riley asked. "We only get one chance!"
The Doctor growled and spun around the intercom. "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," he said rapid-fire in an annoyed tone. "Any number that doesn't, isn't. A happy prime is a number which is both happy and prime, now type it in!"
"We're through!" Martha called after a minute, and the Doctor let out a breath.
"Keep moving, fast as you can," he said urgently. "And, Martha...be careful. There may be something else on board this ship."
"Any time you wanna unnerve me, feel free!" she said.
"Will do, thanks," he said lightly, switching off the comm. and turning to Rose. "379?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.
"You're not the only one who can indulge in a little recreational mathematics," she said with a tongue in teeth grin before turning and going back to the controls. He watched her with a slightly bemused smile. Part of him desperately wanted to pin her against the wall at the words "recreational mathematics," while another part of him was desperately trying to make sense of the fact that she knew anything about it at all.
Priorities, he told himself sternly as he followed her back to the controls. They moved the stricken machinery for a few more minutes before the Doctor stepped back in frustration.
"These are useless," he said unhappily.
"That's what I've been trying to tell you," Scannell said irritably.
"Is unhelpful pessimist your only setting?" Rose asked, and the Doctor smirked. "Or do you think you could maybe start being just a bit constructive?"
"We need a backup in case they don't reach the auxiliary engines in time," he said. "Come on! Think! Resources, what have we got?"
"Doctor!" called Martha's voice over the comm.
"What is it now?" he groaned.
"Who had the most number ones, Elvis, or the Beatles?" she asked. "That's pre-download."
"Elvis," the Doctor said confidently.
"The Beatles," Rose said...just as confidently, and at the same time. They stared at each other blankly for a second.
"Guys, you were the ones who wanted us to go quick, yeah?" Martha's voice came through the comm.
"Wait!" the Doctor cried. "Um…um…" he paused, screwing up his face and slapping the back of his head as he thought furiously. "Argh! Was that a remix? Um…I don't know! I am a bit busy!"
"Fine," Martha snapped, sounding a little put out. "I'll ask someone else!"
"Now, where was I?" he asked as the comm cut out. "'Here Comes the Sun'. No, resources. What've we got?"
"Well, the power's still working," Rose said slowly. "Generator is still operating, so shouldn't we be able reroute some of that, bypass the controls?"
"Use the generator to jump-start the ship," McDonnell said while the Doctor stared between them.
"Right," Rose said, nodding. "It should be able to at least buy us some time, yeah?"
"That…is brilliant," McDonnell said, impressed.
"See!" the Doctor cried as the crew smiled, finally believing they might have a way out of this mess. "Tiny glimmer of hope!"
"If it works," Scannell said morosely.
"Oh, believe me," McDonnell said, pinning him with a look. "You're gonna make it work."
The Doctor looked at her with new respect as Scannell trudged off, looking a little dejected.
"That told him!" he said with a smile.
They all moved to various tasks as they tried to work out a way to reroute the generator power around the controls. At some point, Rose moved past him, and he grabbed her round the waist, pulling back against his chest and leaning down to her ear.
"Remind me to explain to you later how unbelievably sexy you are when you're being brilliant," he said in a low, slightly husky voice, and smiled when he felt her shiver.
"I'll hold you to that," she whispered back before moving away from him again.
oOoOo
"Doctor," Abi called over the comm several minutes later. "These readings are starting to scare me."
"What d'you mean?" he asked, striding over to the comm station.
"Well, Korwin's body's changing," she said. "His whole biological make-up, it…it's impossible." She went quiet, and the Doctor was about to ask for more information when she started speaking again, her entire demeanor changed as she switched channels so that her voice carried through the ship. "This is med-center. Urgent assistance requested. Urgent assistance!"
The Doctor stared at the comm in shock for a split-second before taking off.
"Stay here!" he yelled as he ran. "Keep working!"
Rose wasn't surprised to see McDonnell run after him, but was a little relieved when Scannell did as well. At least he'd have some back-up if something was seriously wrong, because one of them had to stay down here to help with the engine repairs.
"Urgent assistance!" Abi called again.
"Abi, they're on their way," Rose said quickly into the comm.
"What's happening to you?" she heard Abi ask fearfully-the comm was still wide open in the med-center.
"Burn with me," said a deep, sinister voice. Rose stared at the panel in alarm. "Burn with me."
"What was that?" Erina asked in a shaky voice. Rose shook her head.
"Burn with me," came the voice again.
"K-Korwin, you're sick…" Abi said, terrified.
"Burn. With. Me!" the voice repeated again. A second later, they heard the screaming start. Rose's hands went to her mouth as it seemed to go on forever-and then it stopped.
"Doctor?" Martha's voice called after a beat. "What were those screams?"
"Concentrate on those doors!" the Doctor yelled. "You've gotta keep moving forward!"
"Come on," Rose said, ignoring the slight static of the still open comm. "We've got a job to do too."
She turned her attention back to the controls, trying to concentrate. She listened with half an ear to Ashton giving Erina a list of parts to get; he paused for a moment when they heard the sound of three running footsteps before the comm finally cut out from the med-center.
"I'll go with you, Erina," she said, needing to walk, needing to move, anything. She was sure Abi was dead…no one screamed like that—or stopped screaming like that—and stayed alive. The situation, already so completely out of control, was getting impossibly worse, even as they inched closer to the sun.
She barely paid attention while Erina complained about Ashton's bossiness all the way to equipment storage, the girl prattling on without really needing someone to hear her, just needing to talk about something other than what they'd heard. Rose nodded and umm-ed along as they moved through the corridor.
"Everybody listen to me!" McDonnell's voice called over the comm as Erina approached a storage locker. "Something has infected Korwin. We think…he killed Abi Lerner. None of you must go anywhere near him, is that clear?"
Erina looked at Rose in horror. "She's…dead?"
"I'm sorry, Erina," Rose said softly, stepping back to lean against the wall between two banks of lockers.
"Erina?" Ashton called. "Get back here with that equipment."
"Whatever you say, boss," Erina said sarcastically, and Rose closed her eyes, rubbing her fingers on her temples. She was getting a ridiculous headache, most likely from everything unraveling around them. "Go there. Come back. Fetch this. Carry these. Make drinks. Sweep up! Please, kill me now."
"Burn with me," a voice said, and Rose's eyes snapped open. Someone—Korwin, she corrected herself—was standing just in front of Erina, wearing a protective mask and gloves. His breath rasped through the mask, and he advanced on the girl, driving her back towards another wall. "Burn with me," he said again, and Rose stepped out from her accidental hiding space to try to confront Korwin, just in time to see him put a hand up to raise his visor, a blinding light spilling out and making Rose back away, closing her eyes again as Erina screamed—and then stopped. She opened her eyes again as Korwin closed the visor and turned.
"Burn with me," he said, and Rose did the one thing she knew she could do better than anything: she ran. She tore through the corridors, heading for the med-center to find the Doctor, then stopped dead.
"Ashton," she murmured, spinning around and heading back for the engine room to warn the other man about Korwin, hoping to god she didn't run into the infected man on the way. She got lucky, making it all the way to engineering and pressing through the plastic at the entrance without running into anyone, only to halt just inside at the sight of Korwin gripping Ashton by the front of his jacket.
"Korwin… it's me," Ashton said, trying to plead with the infected man. "We're mates!"
"They are getting too far," Korwin said. "We must share the light."
Korwin raised his hands to the other man's head, and steam rose as the other man screamed. Rose hesitated, and then cursed herself as she spun back around, knowing that hesitation was exactly what had kept her from saving Ashton from Korwin in the first place. Now it sounded like they'd have two infected on board as well as two dead. She needed to find the Doctor, now.
oOoOo
"There's something I'm missing," the Doctor said, leaning against the bed in the med-center. "The first thing Korwin did when he was infected is destroy the controls. Why? It could have killed you anywhere."
"That's encouraging," Scannell said.
"Sorry," he said, shaking his head. "It just doesn't make any sense. Why keep you here to fall into the sun if it's just going to kill you off anyway?"
He heard running feet just outside and spun as he straightened to see Rose barrel into the room, looking alarmed.
"Oh, thank god you're still here," she said breathlessly. "Korwin, he killed Erina, and I'm pretty sure Ashton is infected."
"What?" the Doctor cried, leaping toward her and grabbing her by the upper arms. "What happened?"
"I went with Erina to get equipment," she explained. "He found her there, backed her against the wall, then raised his visor and there was...this light. And then she was gone."
"He didn't see you?" the Doctor demanded, his eyes raking over her face.
"He did, but I ran," she said. "Learned from the best. Anyway, I double-backed to warn Ashton, but Korwin got to him first. Said something...something about needing to share the light."
The Doctor cursed. Two dead, two infected, and inching ever closer to the sun. Brilliant.
What light?
"Come on," he said quickly, spinning Rose around and pushing her out the door. "You two as well," he hollered over his shoulder. "We need to get back down to engineering, get those engines jump-started. The sooner we get away from the sun, the sooner we can focus on the infection."
"Doctor!" came Martha's panicked voice over the intercom, and he stopped dead in the corridor, nearly ready to beat his head against a wall. "We're stuck in an escape pod off the area seventeen airlock. One of the crew's trying to jettison us! You've gotta help us!"
"Oh my god, this is a nightmare," Rose moaned, running a hand through her hair as the Doctor jumped to a terminal, bringing up a diagram of the ship to find the best route to area 17.
"Why is this happening?" McDonnell asked.
"You two, stay here!" the Doctor ordered. "I mean it this time! Jump start those engines! Rose, come on."
They tore off through the corridors again, hopping over door frames and trailing wires everywhere.
"I could've stayed to help them," Rose called as they ran.
"I'm not letting you out of my sight again until we're back in the TARDIS," she heard him growl ahead of her. Not a happy Time Lord. She followed him as he ran through the door to Area 17 to see Ashton standing in front of a control panel wearing the same protective gear Korwin had.
"That's enough!" the Doctor yelled. "What do you want? Why this ship? Tell me!"
Ashton didn't answer, but gave a roar and slammed a fist into the control panel in front of him, sending sparks flying. He then turned and took a few purposeful steps toward them.
"Doctor?" Rose asked uncertainly. "Don't...don't let him look at you, Doctor."
"What are you?" the Doctor asked as Ashton advanced until they were nearly nose to nose. "What do you want with this ship?"
Ashton raised his hand to his visor, and the Doctor tried to push Rose behind him even as she tried to tug him away. Before the infected man could do anything else, though, he gave a shout, doubling over in pain and backing away. Within seconds, however, he was standing straight again and walking past them out the door.
"Why didn't he go for us?" Rose asked.
"For the moment, let's just be glad he didn't," the Doctor said, jumping for the intercom. "McDonnell! Ashton's heading in your direction! Any sign of Korwin?"
"Korwin's dead, Doctor," Scannell called back.
The Doctor looked back at Rose, and she knew he was torn. He didn't like that someone else was dead…but Korwin was already too far gone, and his death meant one less infected person on board. She moved him on to more pressing matters.
"Doctor, where's Martha?" she asked.
"Airlock decompression completed," a computer voice informed them. "Jettisoning pod."
They looked at each other in horror, both of them jumping for the airlock door at once, but they couldn't make it budge. The Doctor raised his head and looked out the window.
"Doctor?" Rose asked, her voice shaking.
"I'll save you!" he screamed through the door, sounding desperate. "I'll save you!"
He spun away from the door again with a frustrated growl, just as the computer informed them that there were seventeen minutes left until impact. He ran his hands over his face, thinking hard.
"Doctor, we have to get her back," Rose said in a low voice.
"I know," he replied. He stood still for another second, tension coming off him in waves. He glanced at her, then jumped for the intercom. "Scannell! I need a spacesuit in area 17, now!"
"What for?" Scannell asked.
"Just get down here!" he yelled angrily.
"Doctor, what are you going to do?" Rose demanded. "You can't go out there, you'll get roasted!"
"Would you rather it be her?" he snapped in frustration, turning to her with a glare. "If I don't take that risk, she falls into the sun, is that what you want?"
"Of course not!" she retorted quickly. "But I don't want to lose both of you because you went on a suicide mission with no chance of success, either! What are you going to do?"
The Doctor took a deep breath and ran his hands through his hair in a concentrated effort to calm down. "If I can breach the magnetic lock on the ship's exterior, it should remagnetize the pod. It'll only take a few minutes. The ship's shields will protect me from the worst of it."
"Are you sure that will work?" she asked.
"It has to," he said curtly as Scannell came in with the space suit. The Doctor grabbed it from him, pulling it on hurriedly as he explained his plan.
"I can't let you do this," Scannell argued.
"Don't bother, Scannell," Rose said, frustrated. "If I couldn't stop him, you certainly won't."
"You wanna open an airlock in flight on a ship spinning into the sun," Scannell said, ignoring her. "No-one can survive that!"
"Oh, just you watch," the Doctor growled.
"You open that airlock, it's suicide," Scannell said. "This close to the sun, the shields will barely protect you."
The Doctor avoided Rose's eyes when they flew to him. "Trust me, I can handle it. While I'm out there, you have got to get the rest of those doors open. We need those auxiliary engines."
"Doctor, will you listen!" Scannell cried. "They're too far away, it's too late!"
The Doctor didn't respond, but finally looked at Rose. She saw the determination in his face to save their friend, and she knew nothing was going to stop him now.
"I want that space suit back in one piece," she said, stepping closer as her eyes burned.
"Yes sir," he said, giving her a small smile before wrapping an arm around her waist and kissing her hard. "I'll see you later."
"Not if I see you first," she replied as he released her and pulled on his helmet.
Scannell started the decompression once the Doctor was in the airlock, showing her the sequence for recompression when he made it back in before taking off with the kit for the doors. She went back to the door, leaning up to look out the window as the airlock door opened and the Doctor struggled his way out of it. He was hanging out the side for several minutes before she moved back to the comm.
"How're you doing, Doctor?" she asked, trying to keep as much concern out of her voice as possible.
"I can't...I can't reach," he panted. "I don't know how much longer I can last."
Fear rose in her, but she kept her voice even as she said, "You can do this, Doctor. She needs you."
She turned back to the window, biting her nails furiously and willing him to finish whatever he'd started and come back to her. She glanced over when the controls chirped, and moved to see the screen readout. She gave a whoop when she saw the word "remagnetizing" pop up, jumping back for the window to see the Doctor kneeling by the airlock door, looking out at the returning pod.
"Rose, close the airlock or that pod'll smash right into him," Scannell said over the intercom.
"Doctor, move back," she yelled into the comm before closing the airlock and starting the recompression sequence. As soon as it was complete, she jumped back over to the door and hauled it open and the Doctor lurched out, his helmet already off. He groaned and fell to his knees in pain.
"Doctor?" she asked, dropping to his side as he pushed himself back to the wall, his eyes closed tight and a grimace on his face. "Doctor, what's wrong?"
"Stay away from me!" he yelled in a furious voice, his voice deeper than it should be as he opened his eyes briefly and blinding light poured out.
"No," Rose whispered. He couldn't be infected. Not now. Not him. They'd never get out alive if he couldn't make it through.
"It's…it's the sun," he panted as he screwed his eyes shut again.
"Doctor!" Martha's voice came behind her as she scrambled through the door. "Rose! You did it!" She paused, taking in their positions. "Is he ok?"
"No," Rose snapped.
"What's happened?" McDonnell demanded as she made her way to them.
"It's your fault, Captain McDonnell!" the Doctor shouted.
McDonnell looked momentarily shocked, but quickly pulled herself together. "Riley! Get down to area 10 and help Scannell with the doors. Go!"
"You mined that sun!" the Doctor shouted as Riley hurried away. "Stripped its surface for cheap fuel! You should have scanned for life!"
"I don't understand," McDonnell said.
"The...the sun's alive?" Rose asked, stunned.
"They scooped out its heart," the Doctor said angrily. "Used it for fuel, and now it's screaming!"
"What do you mean?" McDonnell asked, frightened. "How can a sun be alive? Why's he saying that?"
"Because it's living in me," he told her.
