Okay, so for those noticing the me/she switches that I keep missing. I'm currently going over the story to edit this. I hope I'll catch them all or at the very least most of them. I'm really sorry about this but for some reason this story is still wired as 1st person in my mind which makes me mess up more than I'd like.
For those who pointed it out to me. Thank you so much. Again, I'm sorry. Feel free to tell me if I miss something via PM.
Enjoy,
Nick
Tyra was once again sitting on the jump seat, watching what was going on in front of her with a small grin. The Doctor was using his sonic on Martha's mobile phone, ensuring that she could call anyone, anytime, anywhere. It was as good as an admission that she was a Companion now. Not that she hadn't been before but now it was official.
"Right," the Doctor nodded, handing the device back to Martha "There we go. Universal roaming. Never have to worry about a signal again."
"No way," Martha gaped "This is too mad. You're telling me I can phone anyone, anywhere in space and time on my mobile?"
The Doctor nodded "As long as you know the area code. Frequent flier's privilege." He gestured to the mobile "Go on, try it." Before she could, though, the Tardis shuddered, causing the Doctor to snap back to attention "Distress signal. Locking on. Might be a bit of…" The two of them were knocked to the floor, while Tyra barely managed not to fall from the seat "Turbulence."
"A bit?" Tyra snorted "Doc, we have to work on your warnings."
He shot her a small glare "Sorry," he huffed with a pout "Come on, then. Let's take a look."
They stepped out of the doors into a small room filled with steam and glowing red "Distress signal transmitted," the computer announced.
"Whoa," the Doctor gasped, waving his hand at the air "Now that is hot."
Martha groaned "Urgh, it's like a sauna in here." Tyra shrugged off the jacket she was wearing, throwing it through the still open doorway behind her.
Meanwhile, the Doctor had started looking around the room curiously "Venting systems," he pointed out "Working at full pelt, trying to cool down. Wherever it is we are." He paused, raising his eyebrow at Martha "Well if you can't stand the heat…"
"Oi," a voice called out as the three of them stepped through a bulkhead door "You three."
"Get out of there," a woman demanded, her tone somewhat panicked.
The man who had spoken first slammed the door close "Seal that door, now."
"Who are you?" the woman blinked as soon as it was done "What are you doing on my ship?"
"Are you the police?"
The Doctor narrowed his eyes "Why would we be police?"
"We got your distress signal," Martha pointed out.
The Doctor paused "If this is a ship, why can't I hear any engines? Ty, do you hear anything?"
Tyra tilted my head "No. Well, except for what I think is the venting but nothing that would be…"
"It went dead four minutes ago," the Captain of the ship cut her off.
Another man walked up "So maybe we should stop chatting and get to Engineering… Captain."
"Secure closure active," the computer announced, causing the crew to startle.
"What?" the Captain frowned.
"The ship's gone mad," the man who had entered last huffed.
Another woman came running towards them, bulkheads slamming shut behind her "Who activated secure closure? I nearly got locked into Area twenty-seven." The last bulkhead slammed shut and the woman seemed to notice us "Who are you?"
"He's the Doctor, I'm Martha and that's Tyra," Martha introduced them with a small wave "Hello."
"Impact projection forty-two minutes twenty-seven seconds."
"We'll get out of this," the Captain told her crew "I promise."
Tyra turned my attention to Martha who had gone over to a porthole "Doctor," she called out.
"Forty-two minutes until what?" the Doctor asked.
Tyra pointed to Martha "I think Martha might know," she murmured, leaning to look around her. At the sight, she blinked "A sun? Well, at least it's not a black hole this time. Although… What's worse?"
"Sun," the Doctor gave back absentmindedly before turning to the Captain "How many crew members on board?"
"Seven," the woman replied "Including us."
"We transport cargo across the galaxy," they explained "Everything's automated. We just keep the ship space-worthy."
Tyra looked around "And apparently aren't doing a good job at it?"
The Doctor raised his hand to lightly hit her over the back of her head "Call the others," he told the crew "I'll get you out." He ran to the door they had come through earlier.
"What's he doing?" one of the men demanded, his eyes wide.
"No," the Captain called out "Don't."
As soon as the door was open, the Doctor got knocked back by a blast of heat. Another one of the women put on a welder's mask, pressing the door shut as quickly as possible "But my ship's in there," the Doctor breathed.
"In the venting chamber?"
"It's out lifeboat," the Doctor muttered.
The man next to the captain shook his head "It's lava."
"The temperature's going mad in there." The woman took off the welder's mask, turning towards the newcomers "Up three thousand degrees in ten seconds and still rising."
"Channelling the air," the other man murmured "The closer we get to the sun, the hotter that room's going to get."
Martha let out a shuddering breath, leaning a little closer to me "We're stuck here."
The Doctor huffed "So, we fix the engines, we steer the ship away from the sun. Simple." The others looked at him uncertainly "Engineering down here, is it?"
"Yes," the Captain nodded, raising her eyebrow.
"Impact in forty twenty-six."
On the way to Engineering, the crew introduced themselves as Tyra stayed close to Martha, making sure that she was alright. In almost three years with the Doctor, she was more or less used to being stranded somewhere with no way out "It's going to be alright," she mumbled, nudging Martha's side.
"How can you be so sure?" she asked, turning to look at her.
Tyra pointed to the Doctor "Have you met him? As if this is the first time something like this happened." She grinned at the Doctor's back when she heard him grumbling under his breath "At least the Tardis is still on board and hasn't fallen into a black hole yet."
"Blackhole?" Riley questioned, looking back at her curiously "You mentioned that before."
"It's a long story," Tyra gave back with a sheepish grin "Nothing that someone would believe if you told them. Trust me, I tried."
The Doctor tilted his head "Who did you try to tell?"
"Kol," she shrugged.
"Kol didn't know what a black hole was at the time," the Doctor pointed out "You can't compare that to not believing."
Tyra snorted "No, but he didn't believe that we met the Devil."
Martha choked "Sorry, what?"
"You really don't want to know," Tyra told her.
"Alleged Devil," the Doctor pointed out.
Tyra shot him an annoyed look "Whatever. Anyway, that particular adventure included a lot of things falling – including us."
Martha was about to say something else when the Doctor made a shocked noise "Blimey, do you always leave things in such a mess?"
"Oh, my God," Captain McDonnell gasped, staring at the destruction that was their engineering.
"What the hell happened?" Scannell frowned.
Riley inspected the engine. It was practically a collection of bits and pieces by now "It's wrecked."
The Doctor nodded "Pretty efficiently too. Someone knew what they were doing."
"Where's Korwin?" Captain McDonnell asked, looking around in something akin to panic "Has anyone heard from him or Ashton?"
Scannell shook his head "No."
Martha stepped forward, coming to a halt next to the Doctor "You mean someone did this on purpose?"
The Captain ignored her, walking over to the intercom "Korwin? Ashton? Where are you? Korwin, can you answer?" She let out a sigh, stepping back "Where the hell is he? He should be up here."
"Oh," the Doctor exclaimed, catching a glimpse out of the window "We're in the Torajii system. Lovely. You're a long way from home, Martha. Half a universe away."
"Yeah," Martha mumbled "Feels it."
The Doctor looked at the crew "And you're still using energy scoops for fusion? Hasn't that been outlawed yet?"
"We're due to upgrade next docking," McDonnell explained "Scannell, engine report."
"No response," Scannell shook his head, looking up from what he was doing.
"What?"
Scannell shrugged "They're burned out. The controls are wrecked. I can't get them back online."
The Doctor scoffed lightly "Oh, come on. Auxiliary engines. Every craft's got auxiliaries."
"We don't have access from here," McDonnell muttered "The auxiliary controls are in the front of the ship."
"Yeah," Scannell added "With twenty-nine password sealed doors between us and them. You'll never get there in time."
Martha frowned in confusion "Can't you override the doors?"
"No," Scannell shook his head "Sealed closure means what it says. They're all dead-lock sealed."
"Ty doesn't seem to have a problem with dead-locks," Martha murmured.
Tyra huffed "Just because I kicked in a few doors."
"A few?" the Doctor laughed "I think you opened more dead-locked doors since I knew you than anything else."
"Didn't hear you complain before," she rolled her eyes.
Scannell tilted his head in confusion "How can you…?"
"Best not to ask," Tyra advised "Even though you'll probably find out anyway. Not now, though."
"Nothing's any use, then," Scannell grumbled "We've got no engines, no time and no chance."
The Doctor crossed his arms, shooting the man an unimpressed look "Oh, listen to you. Defeated before you've even started. Where's your Dunkirk spirit? Who's got the door passwords?"
The second man from before popped up from wherever he had been "They're randomly generated," he explained "Reckon I know most of them. Sorry. Riley Vashti."
"Then what're you waiting for, Riley Vashti?" the Doctor gestured "Get on it."
Riley hesitated "Well, it's a two-person job. One, a technish for the questions and the other to carry this." He shot his Captain a look "The oldest and cheapest security system around, eh, Captain?"
"Reliable and simple, just like you, eh, Riley?" McDonnell shot back.
Riley huffed in amusement, putting a massive backpack on "Try and be helpful, get abuse. Nice…"
"I'll help you," Martha offered "Make myself useful."
"It's remotely controlled by the computer panel," Riley explained "That's why it needs two."
The Doctor turned to look at Martha when she went to follow the other man "Oi. Be careful."
"You too," Martha smiled "Ty, make sure he stays out of trouble."
Tyra saluted playfully and had to suppress the laugh at the Time Lord's annoyed expression "Why are the two of you always ganging up on me?"
"Because you're making it too easy for us," she snorted.
"McDonnell," a man's voice came through the intercom "It's Ashton."
"Where are you?" the Captain demanded "Is Korwin with you?"
The man was silent for a moment "Get up to the med-centre now."
Tyra followed the Doctor and McDonnell past Martha and Riley out of the door, glancing back at the Martha for a moment.
"Impact in thirty-four thirty-one."
Tyra looked up at the ceiling "Cheery. Time limits are always very… fun," she grumbled to herself.
"Really?" the Doctor sighed "You're not normally this… Well."
"What?" she challenged, raising my eyebrow.
The Doctor shook his head "Never mind."
It was then that we arrived at the med-centre where a man and a woman were trying to hold another man down. From the looks of it, they were trying to put him in some sort of MRI. Tyra was sure that it wasn't it but she had never seen this machine before "Argh," the man screamed "Stop it."
The woman leaned forward "Korwin, it's Abi. Open your eyes, I need to take a look at you."
McDonnell pushed past them "Korwin," she breathed "What's happened? Is he okay?"
"Help me," Korwin pleaded "It's burning me."
The Doctor let out a long breath "How long's he been like that?" he asked Abi.
"Ashton just brought him in," Abi replied, watching the Doctor scan Korwin with his sonic. Tyra just stayed back, watching what happened from the side-lines. It wasn't as if she could do anything helpful anyway.
"What are you doing?" Captain McDonnell frowned, trying to get closer to the man writhing on the table.
The Doctor shifted, blocking her way "Don't get too close."
"Don't be so stupid," McDonnell snapped "He's my husband."
"And he's just sabotaged our ship," Ashton muttered, glaring at the other man.
McDonnell whirled around "What?"
"He went mad," Ashton explained "He put the ship into secure closure, then he set the heat pulse to melt the controls."
"No way," McDonnell denied "He wouldn't do that."
Ashton shrugged "I saw it happen, Captain."
"Korwin?" the Doctor called out quietly "Korwin, open your eyes for me a second."
Korwin shook his head jerkily "I can't."
"Yeah, course you can," the Doctor encouraged "Go on."
"Don't make me look at you, please," Korwin pleaded, getting more and more panicked by the second.
The Doctor let out a sigh, taking some sort of gun from a nearby medical tray "Alright," he soothed "Alright. Just relax." He glanced to Abi next to him, gesturing to the gun "Sedative?"
"Yes," Abi nodded.
"What's wrong with him?" McDonnell questioned as soon as Korwin stopped struggling.
The Doctor bit his lip "Rising body temperature, unusual energy readings. Stasis chamber… I do love a good stasis chamber." He turned to Abi again "Keep him sedated in there. Regulate the body temperature. And, just for fun, run a bio-scan and tissue profile on a metabolic detail."
Abi gestured to the monitors "Just doing them now."
"Oh, you're good," the Doctor grinned, coming over to where Tyra was leaning against a wall "Anyone else presenting these symptoms?"
"Not so far," Abi shook her head.
The Doctor nodded "Well, that's something."
"Will someone tell me what is the matter with him?" McDonnell demanded, looking from Abi to the Doctor in annoyance.
"Some sort of infection," the Doctor murmured "We'll know more after the test results. Now, allons-y, back downstairs." When McDonnell didn't move, the Doctor waved his hand in front of her face "Hey. See about those engines. Go. Hey. Go." The Captain hesitantly followed Ashton out of the room, leaving Abi and the two time travellers with an unconscious Korwin "Call us if there's news." When it looked like the woman was about to say something, he tilted his head "Any questions?"
Abi nodded "Yeah… Who are you?"
"I'm the Doctor," he introduced himself "That's Tyra. Come on, let's go to the others."
Tyra hesitated "Actually, I think I'm going to stay here. Make sure everything is alright… I don't think you need me down in Engineering. Not like I can help anyway."
"Are you sure?" the Doctor asked quietly.
"Yeah," Tyra smiled, nudging him towards the door "Go. I'll be here." He nodded, squeezing her shoulder on his way past. She sighed as soon as he was gone and shook her head "Stupid, overprotective friends…"
Abi sent her an amused look "He do that often?"
Tyra grimaced "You have no idea. I don't even know why he's that worried."
"Because he cares, I guess," Abi shrugged.
"I know that but it's not like I can die easily. He should be more worried about himself," Tyra muttered, leaning against the desk next to her. One glance at the monitors taught her nothing at all "Mind explaining what's going on there? That's practically another language for me."
Abi laughed lightly "Sure." She gestured to all the different digits and parts of the screen, explaining what was going on and what she was testing.
Just when she finished explaining everything, the Doctor's voice came through the intercom "Abi, how's Korwin doing? Any results from the bio-scan?"
"He's under heavy sedation," she replied "I'm just trying to make sense of this data. Give me a couple of minutes and I'll let you know."
The Doctor hummed in agreement "Martha? Riley?" he questioned "How are you doing?"
"Area twenty-nine," the medical student called back "At the door to twenty-eight."
"Yeah… You've got to move faster."
Martha scoffed lightly "We're doing our best."
"Find the next number in the sequence three one three, three three one, three six seven," Riley read out "What?"
Tyra was completely focussed on their conversation at this point, keeping quiet as to not distract Abi more than strictly necessary "You said the crew knew all the answers," Martha pointed out.
Riley huffed "The crew's changed since we set the questions."
"You're joking," Martha deadpanned.
"Three seven nine," the Doctor cut in before the two could argue any more.
They were quiet for the shortest moment before "What?"
"It's a sequence of happy primes," the Time Lord explained "Three seven nine."
Tyra frowned in absolute confusion. Happy what? The medical student apparently echoed my sentient "Happy what?"
The Doctor let out a groan "Just enter it," he grumbled.
"Are you sure?" Riley asked somewhat hesitantly "We only get one chance."
"Any number that 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," the Doctor explained with a sigh "Any number that doesn't… isn't. A happy prime is a number that is both happy and prime. Now type it in." His voice lowered a little and Tyra could imagine him running a hand through his hair in frustration "I don't know, talk about dumbing down. Don't they teach recreational mathematics anymore?"
Instead of answering him, Martha breathed a sigh of relief "We're through."
"Keep moving," the Doctor insisted "Fast as you can. And Martha? Be careful. There may be something else on board this ship."
"Any time you want to unnerve me, feel free," Martha scoffed.
Tyra looked over at the intercom "One good thing about this, Martha. It's not the Devil. Doctor, I have a bad case of deja-vu if I'm honest. I may not get any of those stupid readings but…"
"So, I'm not imagining it," the Time Lord sighed "Abi, got anything?"
"Not yet," she shook her head "Nothing I would be comfortable with. There are some things I have to recheck first. A few more minutes."
"Impact in thirty fifty."
Tyra glared up at the ceiling "Did I ever mention that I hate countdowns? And computers on spaceships? They tend to deliver bad news wherever we go."
"The more I heard from you, the less I want to have your life," Abi murmured, keeping her focus on the screens. Her forehead was wrinkled as her eyes flew over the data.
"And to think you barely heard me mention anything. Maybe I should rethink my life," Tyra remarked jokingly.
"Doctor?" Martha asked a moment later.
"What is it now?" the Doctor snapped. He seemed to be a little stressed. Not that Tyra didn't understand. Time limits were always nerve-wreaking.
Martha ignored his tone "Who had the most number ones, Elvis or the Beatles. That's pre-download."
"Elvis," the Doctor answered "No. The Beatles… No. Wait. Er, oh… What was that remix?" He sighed "I don't know. I am a bit busy."
"Fine," Martha huffed "I'll ask someone else." A moment later "Ty, do you know?"
Tyra scratched my head "Do you honestly think I'd know? Hell, I don't even know anyone who would know that."
"Urgh, alright. Plan C it is," Martha sighed, going quiet.
A quiet gasp from Abi alerted Tyra that something was wrong "What is it?" she asked, looking over her shoulder.
She swallowed "Doctor, these readings are starting to scare me."
"What do you mean?" the Doctor asked urgently.
"Well, Korwin's body is changing. His whole biological make-up." Tyra whirled around when a noise caught her attention and froze for a moment. She thought Korwin was sedated but he was getting up… This was bad. She tilted my head and frowned. His heart was way slower than it should be "It's impossible."
Tyra grabbed Abi's arm "We have to get out of here," she hissed at her, keeping her eyes on the man who was slowly walking closer.
"Tyra? What's going on? Tell me," the Doctor demanded.
"Urgent assistance requested," Abi breathed out shakily, her wide eyes glued to Korwin's form.
Tyra shook my head "No time for this." When the man was starting to open his eyes, showing glowing gold, she wrapped her arm around Abi's waist, speeding out of the med-centre as fast as she could. A few corridors away, she slowed down a little "Engineering. Where is it again?" Abi didn't reply, staring at her "Abi. Where do we have to go?"
"T – This way," she stuttered, hurrying back the way that the Doctor and Tyra had walked earlier. She recognized several doors and corridors but it was better to have someone lead me.
"Tyra," the Doctor called out from the other end of the corridor "What happened?"
She gestured over her shoulder "Honestly, I have no idea. But I think that Korwin is possessed by something. His eyes…"
The Doctor tilted his head "What's wrong with his eyes?"
"Burn with me," a low, raspy voice echoed through the intercom.
McDonnell gasped, raising her hand to her mouth "Korwin." She turned to her crew member "Abi, what happened?"
Abi shook her head "His bio-scan results were… weird. I think Tyra might be right with the possession thing. His internal temperature was one hundred degrees, body oxygen replaced by hydrogen. Korwin wasn't infected. He was overwhelmed. Judging from the results he isn't human anymore or at least not completely."
"Burn with me," the voice rasped again.
The Doctor rubbed his hand over his face "It doesn't have to be possession… What else could it be, though? A parasite? A mutagenic virus? Something that needs a host body."
"Stop talking about him like he's some kind of experiment," McDonnell snapped, rubbing Abi's arm gently.
"Where's this ship been?" the Doctor questioned "Have you made planet-fall recently? Docked with any other vessel? Any kind of external contact at all?"
McDonnell gritted her teeth "What is this, an interrogation?"
Tyra raised my eyebrow at her "You're kidding right? Whatever is inside Korwin or whatever happened to him… He almost killed us. If I hadn't been there, Abi would have probably died."
"W – What are you?" Abi questioned, looking up at me "I mean… How did you get us out?"
"Vampire," she shrugged "I'm a vampire." Scannell who had been standing closer to Tyra before took a few steps back. She glanced over at him "I don't bite, you know? At least not normally."
McDonnell inhaled sharply "I need to warn the crew." She walked over to another intercom terminal "Everybody, listen to me. Something has infected Korwin and we don't know where he is at the moment. None of you must go anywhere near him, is that clear?"
"Understood, Captain," Ashton voiced his agreement.
"We need to get to the med-centre," the Doctor murmured, making his way back down the corridors "See if he's still there. Ty, can you hear anything at all?"
Tyra closed her eyes for a moment "No, nothing. No heartbeat, no sound except for the five of us. I'm not positive though," she admitted "His heart was really slow earlier, so it might have stopped already."
Abi furrowed her brow "His heart was normal on the scan."
"It slowed as soon as he stood up, I think," she shrugged.
"So, you can hear heartbeats from a distance?" Scannell questioned, glancing over at her from the corner of his eyes.
Tyra nodded "Yeah. I can hear better, see better, smell better… Erm, basically all my senses are heightened."
The man shuddered "That would be a nightmare."
"It has its advantages," Tyra pointed out "But yeah, occasionally it's more of a curse."
McDonnell looked back "You said that his heartbeat was too slow… Does that mean that his infection is permanent? Abi, is there a way to cure him?"
Abi licked her lips "I don't know."
"Abi? You know our backstory," the Captain pointed out "He kept me honest… I don't want any false hope."
The Doctor glanced over at the younger woman, seeing her struggle "From what I heard… Your husband is gone," he explained quietly "There's no way back, I'm sorry." When McDonnell just nodded, he sighed "Are you certain nothing happened to provoke this? Nobody's working on anything secret? Because it's vital that you tell me."
"I know every inch of this ship," McDonnell replied "I know every detail of my crew's lives. There is nothing."
"Then why is this thing so interested in you?" the Doctor frowned in confusion.
McDonnell sighed "I wish I knew." Just before they entered the med-centre, Tyra listened again. Nothing. When the Doctor raised his eyebrow at her questioningly, she shook my head. As far as she could tell there was no one inside anymore. The Captain entered, looking around "He's gone."
"Doctor, we're through to area seventeen," Martha informed us.
The Doctor nodded "Keep going," he answered "You've got to get to area one and reboot those engines."
"What do we do now?" Scannell questioned "Do we go looking for Korwin?"
"I think it's better, yeah," the Doctor murmured, looking over the test results on the monitor quickly.
McDonnell turned to Abi "Abi, can you go down and help Riley with the rest of the doors? I think having three people there isn't too bad of an idea. Especially since Korwin is around somewhere."
"Erm, yeah, sure," she shrugged "But wouldn't Scannell be better? I'm not good with self-defence."
"You're better than you think," the Captain told her with a small smile.
Abi nodded "Alright. They're in area sixteen, right?"
"That's what they said," Scannell said.
Abi looked at the Captain for another moment before jogging off. The Doctor dragged his eyes away from the screen, his face set in grim determination. Tyra tilted my head "You alright?"
He hummed, wrapping an arm around her shoulder "I'm fine. I just don't understand where this thing is coming from. Whatever it is couldn't have come from nowhere. That isn't how this works."
"But if they say that nothing happened," Tyra pointed out.
"That means that either they're lying." Here McDonnell huffed "Or they don't know."
Tyra looked at the Captain for a moment before leaning against the Doctor a little more "I'm going with the latter one."
"Yeah," the Doctor trailed off, eyes going back to the screen.
"Doctor," Martha shouted panicking "Doctor. We're stuck in an escape pod off the area seventeen airlock." The four of them froze, staring at the direction the voice was coming from for a moment before starting in the mention direction "One of the crew's trying to jettison us. You've got to help us. Tell me you can stop it."
McDonnell ran ahead of the Doctor and Tyra, panting a little "Why is this happening?"
The Doctor reached out to stop her in what appeared to be a storage area "Stay here," he commanded, looking at them sternly "I mean it this time. Just start those engines." He grabbed Tyra's hand, pulling her along.
Just before they were out of earshot, Tyra heard McDonnell's breathy voice "It's picking off, one by one."
"Jettison held," Tyra heard as soon as we were getting closer to area seventeen. Not even a moment later, the computer spoke again "Jettison reactivated."
The Doctor skidded to a halt when he saw the figure by one of the keypads "That's enough," he growled, glaring at the figure "What do you want? Why this ship?" When no answer came, his voice got louder "Tell me."
Ashton looked over at us for a moment before putting his fist through the keypad. The computer's voice sounded again "Jettison activated."
"Come on," the Doctor called out "Let's see you. I want to know what you really are."
Ashton stalked closer to them, stopping when he was nose to nose with the Doctor. He was just beginning to raise his hand to the visor when he doubled over in pain "Airlock sealed." As soon as Ashton was standing again, he walked past the Doctor and me, back the way we just came from.
The Doctor turned to the intercom urgently "McDonnell? Ashton's heading in your direction. He's been infected, just like Korwin."
"Korwin's dead, Doctor," Scannell's voice informed them.
The Doctor let out a breath before turning to look through one of the windows in the airlock door "I'm going to save you," he articulated to who Tyra assumed was Martha "I'll save you. I'll save you."
Tyra placed her hand on his arm and glanced out to see the pod floating towards the sun "How do we get her out?"
"Manual," the Doctor exclaimed, straightening up.
"What?" she frowned.
"Scannell," the Time Lord called out "I need a spacesuit in area seventeen now."
"What for?"
The Doctor hissed under his breath "Just get down here."
"Well, go on," McDonnell urged.
Scannell hesitated "Ashton's still out there."
McDonnell sighed "I'll deal with him."
A few minutes later, Scannell hurried towards Tyra and the Doctor with a spacesuit in his hands "What do you plan on doing?"
"I have to go out and get her back. It's the only way," the Doctor explained, grabbing the spacesuit.
Tyra licked her lips uneasily. She really didn't want him to be the one going out. He might be a Time Lord but still… She hated the fact that he was constantly putting himself in danger and she knew that he wouldn't let me go if she asked him. There was only one possibility. She had to restrain him somehow and quick but Tyra didn't like the idea of hitting him or knocking him out. She glanced around until my eyes landed on a side door that didn't seem to have an electric lock in favour of one of those spin wheel things. This could work. She shifted, looking back at the Doctor who was just about to step into the spacesuit. Now or never. She ran forward, dislodging the Doctor's grip from the suit, speeding him to the door.
"What are you doing?" the Doctor demanded, fighting against her grip "Tyra, don't you dare."
She slipped his sonic into her pocket, shoving him into the room, locking the door behind him. From the looks of it, the closet didn't have a way to get out from inside. Stupid design but it suited her purpose just right "I'm sorry," she whispered, placing her hand on the door for a moment. When he slammed his hand against it, Tyra stepped back.
"Dammit, Tyra. Let me out," the Doctor shouted.
Scannell was still standing in the space he had been in, gaping at Tyra in surprise "What…? Why did you do that?"
"I can't let him go out there," she murmured, grabbing the suit "Actually, no. I won't let him go out there and he's too much of an idiot to let me go out. I…" She shook her head "It doesn't matter. I have to get out there."
Scannell looked at her "I can't let you do this."
"Why?"
"You want to open an airlock in-flight on a ship spinning into the sun," Scannell pointed out "No one can survive that."
Tyra tilted her head "I can survive a whole lot more than you think. Hence why it's me doing this."
"It's suicide," Scannell exclaimed, looking over his shoulder at the door the Doctor was banging against "This close to the sun, the shields will barely protect you." He looked at Tyra for a moment, sighing at her determined expression "Do you even know what you're doing?"
She grimaced "Somewhat. The Doctor explained it earlier. Something about re-magnetising the pod."
Scannell sighed "There are four buttons where the pod was. Two of those you have to press. One blue and one green," he explained "Press both of those and pull the lever in the box a little to the right."
"I can do that," she nodded, holding the helmet tightly "Thanks."
"You have to hurry," he murmured "The farther away they're getting, the worse it gets for them."
"What changed your mind?" she asked before realization dawned on her "Abi."
Scannell nodded before pushing Tyra towards the airlock door "Go, now."
Tyra looked over her shoulder as she reached the outer airlock door. One press of the button next to it, caused unfiltered sunlight to stream in. She squinted, shivering as the burning heat washed over her. She gritted her teeth, climbing out, clutching the edge of the airlock as tightly as she could "Come on," she breathed, trying to ignore the pain that was flowing through her body "Come on…" She pressed the buttons Scannell had mentioned before looking for the box. It was just beyond, a tiny bit out of the reach of her arms. Well, crap.
"Tyra, how're you doing?"
"I can't reach it," Tyra panted, stretching as far as she could "It burns. Now I'm definitely glad that I didn't let him do this."
"Come on," Scannell urged "Don't give up now. I know you can do it."
Tyra bit the inside of her cheek harshly, reaching as far as she could "How mad is he?" she questioned, ripping the cover off the box. Tyra let out the breath that she was holding, pulling the lever down with the rest of my strength.
"From the shouting… Very. I'm so glad that I'm not you," the man murmured.
"Funny," she remarked, pulling herself back into the airlock "This is the second time I heard this today." As the pod slowly returned to the dock, her eyes drifted past it to the sun. The moment her eyes caught sight of it, she gasped at the invasion in her mind "How?"
"Close that airlock," Scannell shouted "Now. That pod's going to smash into it."
"Stay here," Tyra heard McDonnell, her voice faint.
Tyra stumbled backwards, hitting the button before pressing her eyes closed as the burning sensation threatened to overwhelm her. She fell to the floor, trying to contain the heat from the sun, not letting it out of her tight grip. With a desperate strength, she knocked off the helmet, crawling out of the airlock just as the pod docked.
"Are you alright?" Scannell questioned, helping to prop Tyra against a wall "What happened?"
"Tyra," Martha exclaimed, falling to her knees next to her "Are you okay? Where's the Doctor?"
Tyra glanced to my left, bright light shining from her eyes "Don't… Argh."
"Shit," Scannell cursed "The Doctor." He glanced to his two crew members "Abi, come help me with this." Tyra leaned her head back against the wall, grimacing at the effort it took to keep the sun contained.
The Doctor had his ear pressed against the door to the cupboard when he realized that there was no way out of here without help. He was silently steaming, thinking about all the ways he could hurt Tyra. Not that he would but the girl messed up. Badly. A small part of him was flattered that she didn't want him hurt badly enough to risk alienating him but it didn't help.
Outside the door, he could hear a muffled conversation that was getting closer hurriedly "Get me out," he called, hitting his hand against the door.
"Give me a second, Doctor," Scannell replied, opening the wheel with the help of Abi. He had been right. Tyra had indeed gotten the wheel stuck a little. It had needed more force than normal.
The Doctor stumbled out of the storage room, eyes blazing at the man who had just allowed Tyra to put herself in danger "Where is she?" he hissed, seeing Tyra flinch where she was sitting. Not a minute later, his tone changed "Tyra? Ty, what's going on?"
"It's alive," she gasped out, opening her eyes for the shortest moment "The sun… It hurts."
"Damn," the Doctor cursed, holding onto her "Riley, go with Scannell. Get through the rest of the doors. And get me McDonnell here."
Tyra felt Martha's hand grasping hers tightly "I can't… hold it back… for much longer… Doctor."
The Doctor let out another curse before hands tilted her sweaty face up. Regardless of how hot she was, Tyra was shivering. She was about to ask what was going on when she felt the Doctor's lips seal over hers with urgency. His lips were familiar. This – This was different, though. Tyra gasped into the kiss, her eyes opening of its own accord as the sun was being pulled out of her. The more it left her, the narrower her world got until everything went black and she slumped to the ground.
Almost as soon as Tyra slipped to the ground, the Doctor followed suit with a small groan. Ty hadn't been lying. The sun really did hurt in the way it burned through your body, trying to take over. He couldn't let it though, instead, he hurried to find out what was going on here. Why would the sun kill these people? No. He almost gasped as the answer was made clear. The Doctor could feel hands on his face "Doctor?"
He jerked away, knowing that he wouldn't be able to fight the sun forever "Stay away from me," he rasped.
"What happened?" McDonnell questioned, stopping in front of the group. The scene was confusing since she had been so focused on getting the doors open. Tyra was lying on the floor, out cold and the rest of them were crowded around the Doctor who had his eyes closed, a grimace on his face.
"It's your fault, Captain McDonnell," the Doctor groaned in pain "You mined that sun. Stripped its surface for cheap fuel. You should have scanned for life."
The Captain frowned down at him "I don't understand," she admitted.
"That sun is alive. A living organism," the Doctor explained as calmly as he was able to, internally fighting as hard as he could "They scooped out its heart, used it for fuel and now it's screaming."
"What do you mean? How can a sun be alive? Why is he saying that?" she asked, looking over at Martha.
She flinched back when the Doctor opened his eyes "Because it's living in me."
"Oh, my God."
"Humans," the Doctor complained "You grab whatever's nearest and bleed it dry. You should have scanned."
McDonnell shook her head "It takes too long. We'd be caught. Fusion scoops are illegal."
After this, the Doctor dismissed her, thoroughly annoyed that she not only put her own crew in danger but Tyra and Martha as well. He could feel Tyra's presence close to his leg and turned his face to Martha "You've got to freeze me," he pleaded "Quickly."
"What?" Martha blinked, running her hand through the Doctor's sweaty hair. She had checked over Tyra but it seemed like she was just unconscious, trying to heal from whatever it was that the sun did to her. All in all, she shouldn't be out for much longer.
"Stasis chamber," the Doctor explained "You've got to take it below minus two hundred. Freeze it out of me." He stopped to inhale as much air as he could "Freeze it out of me. It'll use me to kill you if you don't. The closer we get to the sun, the stronger it gets." The Time Lord straightened with difficult, stumbling a little before his arms were grabbed by Martha and Abi "Med-centre. Quickly."
"Impact in seven-thirty."
"Tyra," a voice called from further down "Are you alright?"
"Martha," she breathed in relief, letting the medical student pull her up gently "Where's the Doctor?"
Martha pointed behind her "We had to try and freeze him in the med-centre. He told me to leave, though." Tyra didn't wait for more, sprinting off to where the Time Lord was "Ty, don't."
"Impact in four oh eight."
Tyra stumbled into the med-centre, seeing the Doctor half inside the stasis chamber "Doc," she breathed, going over to run her hand over his half-frozen face "I'm sorry." This was what she had been trying to stop. She wouldn't have cared if the sun killed her. As long as it wasn't him.
"Ty," he gasped, turning his head into her hand "Get out of here. I can't… I…"
"I'm not leaving," she told him softly "Please, you have to fight it. I know it's hard… Very hard actually but you're stronger than me."
The Doctor's hand shot up, grabbing onto her arm tightly "Don't… Say that… Ever again."
"What?" she frowned.
"You're not weak," he shot back, arching off the table with a shout "I… I can't fight it." Tyra took a couple of steps back when his eyes opened and his voice changed "Give it back or burn with me." His head turned to Tyra "Burn with me."
"Impact in one twenty-one," the computer announced as Tyra scrambled away from the Doctor, her back hitting the wall "Life support systems reaching critical. Repeat. Life support systems reaching critical. Impact on one oh six."
The Doctor was getting closer and closer. She might have been able to run but… Why should she? This was her fault. Tyra's fault that he was taken over instead of her. She tried to protect him and messed it up even more…
"Collision alert. Collision alert. Fifty-eight seconds to fatal impact."
Tyra was pressing her back against the wall, completely flattening herself as the Time Lord slash sun reached out for her "Burn with me," he rasped.
"Fuel dump in progress. Fuel dump in progress."
As soon as those words let the computer, the lights went out in the Doctor's eyes and he slumped, practically landing on top of Tyra. She gasped, her hand going to his face automatically "Doctor," she breathed, burying her face in his hair.
"Impact averted. Impact averted."
"Are you alright?" she asked carefully, feeling the Doctor's movement.
The Doctor turned his head to look at her and she flinched away from what she saw. Now that it was all over, the anger and disappointment were returning full force and Tyra just knew that this would end badly for her… Before he could start talking though, Martha ran in, throwing herself at both of them "Doctor. Tyra. You're okay." If they hadn't been on the floor, they probably would have been by now.
On the way to area thirty where the Tardis was waiting for them in a now cold room, the Doctor didn't talk at all, preferring to steam silently.
Martha placed her hand on Tyra's arm, squeezing it gently "It's going to be alright," she whispered "He's just mad."
Tyra shrugged "I know. I messed up but… I couldn't let him get hurt," she muttered, wrapping one of her arms around her stomach.
A little while later, the Doctor, Martha and Tyra were standing in front of the Tardis with the three of the remaining crew standing in front of them, looking at the Tardis in surprise "This is never your ship," Scannell murmured, blinking at the blue box owlishly.
"Compact, eh?" the Doctor grinned, his hand going to the back of Tyra's neck. She froze for a moment before relaxing again "And another good word, robust. Barely a scorch mark on her."
Martha looked at Riley, Scannell and Abi "We can't just leave you drifting with no fuel."
"We sent out an official mayday," Riley replied with a small smiled. He really seemed taken with Martha. It was nice to see her get some attention as well "The authorities will pick us up soon enough."
Scannell hesitated, wrapping his arm around Abi's waist "Though how we explain what happened…"
"Just tell them what happened," the Doctor murmured "That sun needs care and protection just like any other living thing." His grip on Tyra's neck tightened, turning to pull her into the Tardis with him.
She glanced over her shoulder, throwing them a wave "It was nice to meet you," she called, almost stumbling over the doorway when it came sooner than expected.
As soon as the two of them were inside and by the console, the Doctor turned to Tyra, a hard look in his eyes "I'd say that we need to talk but to be honest… I'm too pissed off to not shout right now."
Tyra looked at him for a moment before lowering her head with a small nod "I'll just…" She gestured to the corridor "You know where to find me." Just before she left, she turned back, her voice soft "I really am sorry. I didn't want you to get hurt."
The Doctor closed his eyes when he caught Tyra's quiet words. He knew that she was sorry… He knew that he shouldn't be this mad at her. It wasn't like he wouldn't have done something similar if it would have worked. That didn't mean that Tyra didn't mess up. Although – He probably would have ended up possessed anyway.
"So," Martha entered, her tone turning into teasing "Didn't really need you in the end, did we?" At the Doctor's look, she winced "Sorry. How are you… Where's Tyra?"
"Around," the Doctor murmured, his hand going to his pocket.
Before he could get out the Tardis key, Martha started glaring at him "You can't seriously be this stubborn. Just get your head out of your ass and go talk to her. I might not have known you for too long but she blames herself, Doctor."
"What?" he breathed. He had known that Tyra seemed a bit more subdued but not that she was blaming herself for what happened. It wasn't her fault. He chose to take the sun out of her.
"How can you be so freaking blind?" Martha groaned "I swear… Go and talk to her. If you won't, I will."
The Doctor sank onto the jump seat, pulling out the key "Before I forget. Here. You'll need this."
Martha's face lit up "Really?" she asked, taking the key from his hands, looking down at it almost reverently.
"Frequent flier's privilege," the Time Lord shrugged "And for… Well, you know."
Martha was about to say something when a thought crossed her mind "Oh, no… Mum." She hurried off to her room to call her mother in private, leaving the Doctor to his thoughts.
The Doctor looked after her with a small, exasperated smile. He shook his head, making his way to the console to lock the Tardis in the Vortex for a few hours, allow them to rest without drifting off into the depths of the universe.
As soon as he finished, he yelped, taking a step back "What?" he hissed, shaking his hand in annoyance. Another spark from the console made him duck away "Will you stop that?"
The Tardis let out an angry hum, sending him an image of Tyra. The sight made his heart drop. He whirled around, stalking through the corridors to find his girl.
After the incident in the console room, Tyra had withdrawn to her sanctuary. Instead of going to the Pavilion, she walked further than before, huddling again a huge tree that seemed to shift, hiding her with its leaves.
As soon as she had left the room, fear had started to bloom in the pit of her stomach. What if he threw her out now? What if she had to go back to her life from before? She didn't think that she would be able to survive. In the past three years, Tyra had gotten so close to the Doctor that she couldn't even think of going back to how it was before. The Tardis was her home. Her hand wrapped around the necklace, the promise that the Doctor made and pulled it off with a low sob.
Tears started to flow out of her eyes against her will at the thought of the Tardis. It might sound stupid but the Tardis was as good as a mother to her. She knew when Tyra was feeling bad and tried to cheer her up whenever she could.
A warm hum echoed through her mind, a branch stroked over the top of Tyra's head "I'm sorry," she pleaded. Leaning her head again the bark of the trunk of the tree "I didn't mean to make him mad."
The Tardis let out an angry huff but Tyra had a feeling that it wasn't directed at her.
"You mean that it's not my fault?" Tyra frowned, rubbing one hand over my eyes, trying to get rid of the evidence of her earlier crying.
"Tyra?"
She whirled around in shock at hearing the voice from outside of her tree cocoon. How didn't she hear him coming? "Yeah."
The Doctor raised his hand and made to enter the waterfall of leaves when one of the branches twitched hitting him over the head. He let out a groan and glared up at the sky "Again? Can you stop?"
Tyra patted the trunk of the tree, a small grin stealing its way across her face, her other hand clutching the necklace tightly "It's alright. You can let him in, you know."
"Thanks," the Doctor murmured when he was standing in front of Tyra. He shuffled uncomfortably, biting at his lip.
"I didn't…" Tyra held out her hand "I suppose you want this back?"
He shook his head "Don't. I am the one who should apologize, Ty." Tyra froze, looking up at him "I can't act like I wouldn't have done the same thing. Hell, I did the same thing before. I am a hypocrite for getting mad at you." He reached out to close her hand over the necklace with a small smile "As for this? It's yours."
Tyra licked her lips, lowering her eyes "I don't like you running into these situations. I – I'm less likely to die."
"That doesn't mean that I like seeing you hurt any more than the other way around," the Doctor pointed out, raising his hand to Tyra's cheek "There's something else we need to talk about... Do you remember what happened before you passed out?"
Tyra froze internally before she swallowed down her nervousness "Yes. I… Yes." She chewed on her lip before wrapping her arms around the Doctor's neck, kissing him lightly. As soon as she pulled back, she looked into his eyes deeply "Yes."
The Doctor blinked in confusion before a grin lit up his face "Yes?"
"Yes," Tyra nodded "I'm sorry it took me so long."
The Doctor whirled her around before pressing another, deeper kiss to her lips "I love you, Tyra. And I'm sorry for snapping at you. I was scared that I'd lose you."
"I think that's a problem both of us have," Tyra sighed, leaning her head against his shoulder "We're both too stubborn in trying to protect the other."
"Hmm," the Doctor nodded, nudging their noses together "Yeah… I guess so." Tyra let out a jaw-splitting yawn, causing the Doctor to let out a laugh "Come on. Let's get you to bed."
Tyra sent him a smirk "Will you, now?"
The Doctor's steps faltered before he turned to her "If that's what you want," he shot back.
"Okay, I didn't expect you to go along with it," she snorted "Can we just cuddle?"
"Of course," the Doctor nodded "I know that this is a – sort of – first for you. You set the pace, alright? I'm just happy that you decided to give me – us a chance."
