A/N Hi Yumari, Hope you like it. NW

The Time Lord's eyes knitted together as he concentrated, going over every poison he knew. Suddenly his eyes grew wide as he recognized the toxin. "I understand, please give us a little more time. I have a solution we will test." "Agreed." Rachels physical readings returned to normal.

Chapter 39 Solution

He left the room returning the guard to his post telling him to allow one nurse to change the girls IV and that was all. He was to lock the door when she left. He went to the head nurse. "Excuse me, please give Rachel an IV of a light saline solution. We need to keep her hydrated." "Yes, Doctor."

"Remember- nothing more and lock that door." "Yes Doctor." He went back to the lab to test his theory. The lab techs were returning from the field with their samples. "Listen up, I think I know what it is. I want each of you to test your samples for high levels of copper. Tell me where in town it's the worst."

After what seemed an eternity the results were in. High levels of copper everywhere. Copper is a known fungicide. It was leaching off the buildings, many of which had copper roofs or decoration. There were copper statues and fountains. Even the homes of the colonists had copper gutters or copper ornamentation.

The highest level was the construction depot near the river where everything was stored before assembly. The roofs and trim were the last to be applied, so they were on the ground in the weather for a very long time, leaching out copper into the river and groundwater. He remembered noticing it's use during the town completion celebrations. He had his answer. Now to sell it to the president and town council. Everything copper must be removed from the planet.

The Time Lord found the council in chambers and told them his findings. "Copper is deadly to this life form and must be removed at once. If not, you will have a war on your hands you can't win. It is a simple solution. Will you do it?" The President stood and addressed him. "Doctor, Please allow us a moment to deliberate. Wait outside, we'll call you." "Of course Mr. President." He turned and walked up the ramp to the lobby.

He left the room to find Quinn in the hallway. "Has the President told you what we found out?" "Yes, Nasty business this is. Have you discovered the poison yet?" The Time Lord nodded, "Copper. It's leaching off the roofs and killing the Reshnak. If we remove it they will leave us in peace."

"Sounds easy enough, though what we will use as a replacement will now be your next problem." "That's probably what they are considering now. I hope they are not going to be stubborn about this. It could still turn out very, very, badly."

He waited for about twenty minutes when they called him back in. "Quinn, will you come in with me? I'll need your help to coordinate the removal and we might as well get started." "Sure, Right behind you."

They came into the room and the President stood up. "We have agreed to your proposal Doctor. How do you want to proceed?" He breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you. I know this is a great inconvenience for you, especially after having just completed the work. I'm going to the hospital and tell the Reshnak we are removing the copper from the buildings. Hopefully they will accept our solution. Unfortunately, copper is a heavy metal and will remain in the surface soils until it oxidizes completely, but at least we will not be adding to the problem.

Quinn and I will develop a plan for removal, replacement and disposal." The President was happy to have found such an easy solution. "When you have such a plan, come back to the council for approval and implementation. That's all" He brought the gavel down and the official session was over. Quinn went with him to the hospital to speak with the Reshnak. He allowed Rachel's parents in the hospital room and left the door open for all to hear.

He took the girl's hand gently, "Noble Reshnak, can you hear me?" Again the monitors jumped, indicating their presence. "We hear you." "We have found the source of the poison and are going to remove it from our community. We are truly sorry that it has caused harm to your species.

We will begin at first light tomorrow. It is a common substance for us and will take time to completely remove it. Even then I'm afraid the ecological damage may linger in this place for some time. This city may always be poisonous to you. We will never allow this substance on the planet again so it will be contained here.

Is it possible for you to migrate to the west where there is no danger?" The Reshnak answered, the translator was capable of conveying emotion, and no one there was prepared for the sound of such terrible sadness. "The time of renewal is at hand. All mature Reshnak will die soon and send forth our spores into the world to carry on our species. It will be known to migrate to the sunset and leave this place." The Time Lord was moved by what he heard, but there was still a question to be answered.

"Thank you. Will you release the humans you now inhabit?" Everyone held their breath. "Agreed. Take them to a place without poison. A small cut on any extremedy will release us." The monitor returned to normal, signifying their release of the child's brain. He looked around the room. Dr. Fuller was listening and was already making preparations to move the patients.

"Quinn, we need to get the word out to everyone. They must remove the copper from the outside of their homes as soon as possible. Do you have a means to collect it?" "Yes, I can arrange for collection and transport, but transport to where?"

"The only safe place for it on the planet is the ocean. They can't live there because of the high salt content." Quinn was considering the logistics. "We could take it to the deepest part of the ocean and dump it. Unless you think there's some kind of creature down there that would take offense."

The Time Lord chuckled, "I don't think so. I had the Tardis scan for dangerous life forms when we arrived. Strange that she didn't find the Reshnak. I've been assuming they have been here all along. It's possible they only just arrived. I will have her do another scan just in case."

Rachel's mother came up behind them. "Doctor, is it true? Will they release her?" The Time Lord smiled "Yes, Dr. Fuller is making arrangements now for all the victims." Just then he arrived in the room with a gurney and two nurses to take Rachel to the ambulance. Dr Fuller looked at them and said, "We're all set. The others are in ambulances waiting for a destination. Which way do we go?"

The Time Lord took a deep breath, "West. We'll take them as far as we can, and then go on foot. There's no road to the meadow. Quinn, can you get some of the soldiers to follow us and carry them into the woods?" Quinn chuckled, "I spose so. I know the commander fairly well and he's a reasonable guy." speaking of himself. "I'll meet you at the woods."

Quinn left to make the arrangements, and Rachel was being taken downstairs. The trip wasn't very long, they arrived at the woods. Two soldiers took each unconscious patient on a stretcher for the long walk to the meadow along with a team of nurses and families of the victims.

Dr Fuller had brought the medication to bring them out of the coma. The soldiers laid them in the tall grass. Water had been brought, and each patient's hand was given a small incision and laid in moist soil. They waited a few minutes and then Dr Fuller gave them the medication.

They all awoke not knowing why they were laying in a meadow. The nurses took their vital signs which all seemed to be normal. Everyone there was cheering and clapping. The fear was over. The cleanup would take weeks.

Not only the village needed to be cleaned up, but the new city as well. Thankfully, the city had opted for aluminum and steel decoration and, except for one building, standard roofing.

There were a few statues, and some plaques in copper, but that was all. They had taken all the copper out to sea and that would be the end of it. President Sinclair contacted the colony ship and told them about the Reshnak and not to allow copper on any outside surface.

It was over.

Chapter 40 Wedding Bells