"Underlined dialogue." = Computer announcements
Chapter Thirteen: Race Against the Clock.
Series: Three.
Episode: 42.
Part: One.
They were gathered in the console room ready for another day of adventures. The Doctor was currently performing his usual jiggery-pokery on Martha's phone with his sonic.
"Right, there we go. Universal roaming. Never have to worry about a signal again." The Doctor exclaimed, tossing Martha back her phone with a flourish.
Martha caught the phone in mid-air, face suspended in shock at the Doctor's claim. Rose grinned. It did sound too good to be true, impossible even, they were in a time machine for god's sake! And yet...
"No way. This is too mad. You're telling me I can phone anyone, anywhere in space and time on my mobile?" Martha questioned, staring at her phone in disbelief.
"As long as you know the area code," The Doctor told Martha "Frequent flier's privilege. Go on, try it."
Martha grinned at the mention of being a frequent flier, it made Rose giddy to think about too. Though she couldn't help remember how they'd intended to leave Martha behind after being kidnapped and before everything kicked off with Lazarus. They'd almost taken that from her.
The TARDIS suddenly juddered, sending her occupants to their knees as they scrambled to find a handhold at the abrupt turbulence. The Doctor pulled the monitor around to read out the display at it's insistent beeping. Recognising the sound from previous distress calls, Rose hunkered down for the inevitable tossing as the Doctor put his shoes on the console in order to fly the ship.
"Distress signal. Locking on. Might be a bit of-" The Doctor was thrown to the floor before he could finish his warning, Martha joining him. "Turbulence. Sorry. Come on. Let's take a look."
The Doctor was already at the door when he called for the two girls who were still brushing themselves down.
"You'd think there'd be less turbulence when we actually know where we're going," Martha muttered.
Rose rolled her eyes.
"You'd think! But something about using the signal to pull the TARDIS through knocks the navigation system partially offline giving him less control." Rose told her with a dismissive wave as she repeated the excuse the Doctor had given her a million times as if she didn't believe him. Which was fair considering the Doctor was generally not a great driver. "Let's go before he wanders off and gets all the fun."
From outside the TARDIS doors, they heard, "Distress signal transmitted." From an automated voice.
"Whoa, now that is hot." They heard the Doctor comment.
Martha grinned at Rose and raced out the door, she ducked back in moments later to toss her stripped off cardigan over the railing. Noting this, Rose shed the t-shirt she was wearing leaving her in a plain vest and ditching the proffered jacket at the door. She pulled her hair into a quick bun as she joined them outside of the TARDIS.
"Automated distress signal transmitted." The computer repeated.
"Whuff, it's like a sauna in here," Martha complained.
"Venting systems. Working at full pelt, trying to cool down. Wherever it is we are. Well, if you can't stand the heat." The Doctor pulled open the door before them, ducking through the bulkhead. "That's better."
The two girls followed after him into a cooler corridor that was unfortunately still uncomfortably hot and were met with shouts from what was most likely the distressed ship's crew.
"Oi, you three!" A male shouted.
"Get out of there!" A second voice joined this one a woman.
They turned to spot three crewmates, running towards them, sweaty and dirty.
"Seal that door, now!" The first voice told them as the third person charged past them to slam the door they'd just walked through shut.
"Who are you? What are you doing on my ship?" The woman - apparently the captain - asked.
"Are you police?" The third said from behind them.
"Why would we be police?" The Doctor asked, face crumpled in confusion.
The travellers looked between the captain and the two crewmates in confusion at the accusatory tones directed towards them.
"We got your distress signal," Martha told them.
"Surely you were expecting someone, weren't ya?" Rose followed on from Martha.
"If this is a ship, why can't I hear any engines?" The Doctor asked.
"It went dead four minutes ago." The captain informed them, eyes flitting between the travelling trio.
"So maybe we should stop chatting and get to Engineering. Captain." The first bloke spoke, tagging on the title at the last second.
The captain rolled her eyes, clearly used to his attitude.
"Secure closure active." The computer drolled.
"What?" The captain looked around in confusion.
"The ship's gone mad." The quieter bloke of three of them commented.
From behind the captain, they could see the bulkheads slamming shut with a heavy thud, a petite brunette running to stay ahead of them, a welder's helmet in hand.
"Who activated secure closure? I nearly got locked into area twenty-seven." She asked upon joining them, looking as equally scruffy and irritated as her other crewmates.
The last bulkhead - labelled area 30 - slammed shut. The newest arrival stared at the travellers uncomprehendingly.
"Who are you?" She panted.
"He's the Doctor, she's Rose and I'm Martha. Hello." Martha said distractedly as she drifted towards the window.
"And you lot are?" Rose asked.
"I'm Captain McDonnell this is-"
From above them, the computer spoke again, interrupting McDonnell, "Impact projection forty-two minutes twenty-seven seconds."
Distracted from her own question by the announcement, Rose tried not to think how ominous it sounded and all the different ways things could go wrong.
"We'll get out of this. I promise." McDonnell told them sincerely.
Martha stared out the ship's porthole before calling for the Doctor's attention.
"Doctor."
When the Doctor stayed rooted to the spot, Rose made her way over to Martha to see what she'd spotted, her mouth dropping open at the sight.
"Oh god." It was worse than she'd even dared to imagine.
"Forty-two minutes until what?" The Doctor asked McDonnell.
"Doctor! Look." Martha tried again with greater urgency now, now clutching at the porthole ledge.
The Doctor darted over to join them finally seeing why the two girls and the crew were concerned.
"Forty-two minutes until we crash into the sun."
The enormity of that statement settled over the ensemble. The trio stared at the swirling star they were hurtling towards. It was burning Rose's eyes just looking at it, she tried not to think about how she'd feel in forty-two minutes.
Especially as upon reflection, she realised the burning was coming from inside her head, specifically the little corner of her mind where the TARDIS resided. The TARDIS that was trapped in the sauna-like ventilation chamber.
The Doctor was fumbling for a plan as Rose rubbed at her temples trying to ignore the hot, stuffy feeling inside her head that reminded her of that one time in year 9 when she'd caught the flu.
"How many crew members on board?" The Doctor asked, running over to McDonnell and grasping her arms.
"Seven, including us," McDonnell spoke quickly.
"We transport cargo across the galaxy. Everything's automated. We just keep the ship spaceworthy." The first bloke, the one with the longer hair, informed them.
"Call the others, I'll get you out." The Doctor told them, running towards the bulkhead they'd first stepped through.
"What's he doing?" The second bloke spoke.
"Doctor, don't!" McDonnell shouted.
The Doctor was knocked to the floor by a blast of heat upon opening the door. Rose and Martha rushed to the Doctor's side. The other woman put on her welder's mask and slammed it shut again.
"But my ship's in there!" The Doctor told them.
"In the vent chamber?" The shorter-haired bloke queried.
"It's our lifeboat." The Doctor told them seriously.
"It's lava." The longer-haired bloke said bluntly.
"The temperature's going mad in there. Up three thousand degrees in ten seconds, and still rising." The woman in the welder's mask read out the temperature gauge.
"Channelling the air. The closer we get to the sun, the hotter that room's going to get." The shorter-haired bloke explained.
"We're stuck here," Martha said, looking at the Doctor with an almost accusatory gaze.
The Doctor looked quickly away from Martha, not wanting to face her accusation, as he spouted out a plan.
"So, we fix the engines, we steer the ship away from the sun. Simple. Engineering down here, is it?"
And for how simple it sounded, Rose already knew it wouldn't be that easy it never bloody was.
"Yes." McDonnell agreed.
"Impact in forty twenty-six." The computer helpfully reminded them.
They made their way down to engineering with the Doctor leading the way, as usual.
"Blimey, do you always leave things in such a mess?" The Doctor asked rhetorically at the sight of the obvious sabotage done to the engine.
"Oh, my God," McDonnell exclaimed.
"What the hell happened?" The longer-haired bloke asked.
"Oh, it's wrecked." The shorter-haired bloke commented.
"Pretty efficiently too. Someone knew what they were doing." The Doctor said.
"What sabotage? But why would anyone want to crash a ship - that they're on - into the sun?" Rose asked, confused.
"Where's Korwin? Has anyone heard from him or Ashton?" Captain McDonnell asked, unable to see either of the aforementioned crewmates.
"No." The longer-haired bloke said simply - from where he was running a torch over the engine - in what Rose was beginning to understand was his usual way of speaking.
"You mean someone did this on purpose?" Martha questioned, equally confused.
McDonnell headed over to an intercom embedded in the wall, likely to question the whereabouts of the other crewmates she'd queried about.
"Korwin, Ashton? Where are you? Korwin, can you answer? Where the hell is he? He should be up here." She said in frustration.
The Doctor ignored her from where he stood in front of a data bank, reading out the display.
"Oh, we're in the Torajii system. Lovely. You're a long way from home, you two. Half a universe away." The Doctor told them, sounding pleased.
Rose couldn't help smile, even in life and death situations you could count on the Doctor to find joy in the littlest of things.
"Yeah. Feels it." Martha replied tonelessly.
"And you're still using energy scoops for fusion? Hasn't that been outlawed yet?" The Doctor asked McDonnell in that way he did when he already knew the answer but wanted to see how they'd responded.
Rose watched on in interest. McDonnell's eyes flickered to the shorter-haired bloke's, as he climbed down the ladder, before answering. But Rose already knew.
"We're due to upgrade next docking." She quickly changed the subject as she moved away from the Doctor, "Scannell, engine report."
The longer-haired bloke - now identified as Scannell - moved over to the databank that the Doctor had abandoned.
After a series of negative beeps, he informed them, "No response." Already walking back towards the other end of the engine.
"What?" McDonnell vocalised her confusion.
"They're burnt out. The controls are wrecked. I can't get them back online." Scannell reported, throwing down the burnt-out wires.
The Doctor whipped off his glasses, "Oh, come on. Auxiliary engines. Every craft's got auxiliaries."
"We don't have access from here. The auxiliary controls are in the front of the ship." McDonnell informed him.
Of course, they were. Hadn't she thought it wouldn't be easy? Of course, they'd landed in the vent chamber, of course, secure closure had been activated, of course, the control's were wrecked and of course, the auxiliary engines were behind 30 closed bulkheads. Rose leant back against a support beam, it was going to be one of those days it seemed.
"Yeah, with twenty-nine password sealed doors between us and them. You'll never get there in time." Scannell added on.
"Can't you override the doors?" Martha queried.
"No. Sealed closure means what it says. They're all dead-lock sealed." Scannell explained.
Of course they were, Rose thought to herself rubbing her temple. Bloody hell they could do with some good news right about now because the bad news pile was starting to cave under it's own weight at this point.
"So a sonic screwdriver's no use." The Doctor murmured.
"Nothing's any use. We've got no engines, no time, and no chance." Scannell snapped.
While his persistent pessimistic nature was grating, Scannell did have a point. They were racing against the clock to avoid being burned alive in a nearby sun and everything was going wrong. This was the Doctor's third rescue plan already.
"Oh, listen to you. Defeated before you've even started. Where's your Dunkirk spirit? Who's got the door passwords?" The Doctor shot back, directing the last part to McDonnell.
"They're randomly generated. Reckon I know most of them. Sorry. Riley Vashti." The shorter-haired bloke finally introduced himself, stepping forward.
"Then what're you waiting for, Riley Vashti? Get on it." The Doctor instructed.
"Well, it's a two-person job. One, to take this for the questions, and the other to carry this. The oldest and cheapest security system around, eh, Captain?" Riley explained pulling down the large two-piece security system that seemed to be comprised of firstly a large backpack containing a portable computer and keyboard and then a mechanical clamp of equal size.
"Reliable and simple, just like you, eh, Riley?" McDonnell teased.
Riley shouldered the backpack as he shot back at the captain, "Try and be helpful, get abuse. Nice."
"I'll help you. Make myself useful." Martha offered, taking the clamp from Riley.
"It's remotely controlled by the computer panel. That's why it needs two." Riley told her as they turned to leave.
"Oi." The Doctor called Martha back, "Be careful."
"You too." Martha smiled.
Rose watched the pair go, gnawing at her thumb as she did, she had a bad feeling about this. They hadn't had many calm trips since Martha had joined them, the stakes seeming so much higher recently - Martha had been kidnapped at gunpoint for god's sake! - it didn't seem right to let her out of sight but there was a lot of work to be done. She'd just get in the way tagging along on a two-person job.
A voice suddenly spoke over the intercom, getting all of their attention "McDonnell. It's Ashton."
McDonnell darted over to the intercom system in the wall that she'd been using earlier.
"Where are you? Is Korwin with you?" She asked.
"Get up to the med-centre now!" Was all Ashton responded with.
McDonnell fled the room, the Doctor close on her heels. Rose deliberated all of a second before charging after them, someone had sabotaged those controls and now there was an emergency in the med-centre? It couldn't be a coincidence. And she'd like to know what else they were going to have to deal with other than the inevitable solar impact.
"Impact in thirty-four thirty-one."
They arrived at med-centre to find a woman in scrubs holding down a screaming man with the help of an older bloke, likely the Ashton that had spoken over the intercom.
"Korwin! What's happened? Is he okay?"
"Kath? Help me! It's burning me!" Korwin writhed on the medical bed, eyes clenched shut.
"How long's he been like this?" The Doctor asked the medic, as he helped restrain Korwin.
"Ashton just brought him in." The medic responded.
The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and began scanning Korwin with one hand.
"What are you doing?" McDonnell demanded to know.
"Don't get too close." The Doctor warned.
McDonnell took Ashton's place by Korwin's side regardless of the Doctor's warning, "Don't be so stupid. That's my husband."
"And he's just sabotaged our ship." Ashton corrected.
"What?" McDonnell snapped at Ashton.
"You're kidding? He doesn't seem to be in much of a state to do anything let alone the damage we saw." Rose said, doubt colouring her tone.
The man before her, contorted in pain, didn't look like he'd be able to walk across the room without assistance let alone cause the level of damage they had seen downstairs. Rose briefly wondered if Ashton himself was responsible and was blaming his incapacitated crewmate, as he wasn't in much of a position to defend himself. It wouldn't be the first time she'd seen someone use that tactic.
"He went mad. He put the ship onto secure closure, then he set the heat pulse to melt the controls." Ashton elaborated.
"No way. He wouldn't do that." McDonnell rebuked.
"I saw it happen, Captain."
"Korwin? Korwin, open your eyes for me a second." The Doctor attempted to coax Korwin.
"I can't!" Korwin screamed.
"Yeah, course you can. Go on."
"Don't make me look at you, please."
The Doctor takes a hypo-gun from a medical tray next to the bed.
"All right, all right, all right. Just relax." He told Korwin before turning to the medic, "Sedative?"
"Yes." She agreed.
The Doctor placed the hypo-gun at Korwin's neck, injected the flailing man with the sedative, his body went limp almost immediately.
"What's wrong with him?" McDonnell asked.
"Rising body temperature, unusual energy readings. Stasis chamber. I do love a good stasis chamber. Keep him sedated in there. Regulate the body temperature. And, just for fun, run a bioscan and tissue profile on a metabolic detail." The Doctor said rapid-fire.
"Just doing them now." The medic informed him, looking perplexed at the instructions from a stranger.
"Oh, you're good. Anyone else presenting these symptoms?"
Rose tried to ignore the flare of jealousy that the Doctor's praise evoked, especially when she registered what else he'd said.
Oh god please don't let them have landed in the middle of a contagion on top of everything else, Rose thought desperately. Her head was still throbbing and at this point, she couldn't tell if it was due to the TARDIS or the ever in surmounting odds they seemed to have found themselves up against.
"Not so far."
"Well, that's something."
Took the words right out of her mouth.
"Will, someone tell me what is the matter with him?" McDonnell demanded.
"Some sort of infection. We'll know more after the test results. Now, allonsy, back downstairs. Hey. See about those engines. Go." Ashton left to do as instructed, but McDonnell hesitated at her husband's side, "Hey. Go."
McDonnell managed to peel herself away from her husband, reluctant to do so but her ship was still half an hour away from crashing into the sun. And as captain, she had a responsibility to her crew.
"Call us if there's news. Any questions?" The Doctor asked as they headed towards the door.
"Yeah. Who are you?" The medic wondered.
"I'm the Doctor."
They headed back to engineering, the Doctor's mind flicking through all the different possible outcomes and solutions, it was practically written on his face. Rose knew it was best to just let him mull it over for now. If the guilt and responsibility started to weigh on him she'd pull him back.
Another burst of heat came flaring through her link with the TARDIS, wincing she massaged her temple, not letting the pain stop her from keeping in step with the Doctor.
"You alright?" He asked, concern colouring his tone.
"Yeah course. Stuck on a sabotaged ship that's half an hour away from crashing into the sun, separated from the TARDIS and with a potentially contagious crew member on board. Must be a Thursday." Rose grinned, partially to reassure him and partially because as terrifying as the situation was, she couldn't ignore the thrill adventures like this always gave her.
"Must be." The Doctor agreed, returning her grin.
"Heatshield failing. At twenty-five per cent. Impact in thirty-two fifty."
They both looked up to the ceiling at the computer's announcement. The unnecessary reminder that the clock was still ticking and they were running out of time and options.
"Come on, better get back." The Doctor broke the silence that had fallen over them in the wake of the computer's sombre announcement.
"Good idea."
"Abi, how's Korwin doing? Any results from the bio-scan?" The Doctor asked the medic over the engineering intercom.
"He's under heavy sedation. I'm just trying to make sense of this data. Give me a couple of minutes and I'll let you know." Abi replied.
"Martha? Riley? How're you doing?" The Doctor switched channel.
"Area twenty-nine at the door to twenty-eight." Came Martha's reply.
"Yeah, you've got to move faster."
Rose raised an eyebrow at the Doctor as he came to join them back at the engine, she could understand the necessity for speed, impending solar impact and all that but still.
"Oi! Being rude."
The Doctor opened his mouth to defend himself but was cut off by Martha's equally snarky response.
"We're doing our best."
"Find the next number in the sequence three one three, three three one, three six seven. What?" Riley's voice filtered through the intercom.
"You said the crew knew all the answers." Martha's reply filtered through next.
"The crew's changed since we set the questions."
"You're joking."
The Doctor leapt over piles of junk and spare parts to get to the intercom, "Three seven nine."
"What?" Martha asked.
"It's a sequence of happy primes. Three seven nine."
"Happy what?"
"Just enter it."
"Are you sure? We only get one chance." Riley questioned.
"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. Any number that doesn't, isn't. A happy prime is a number that is both happy and prime. Now type it in!" The Doctor clarified with mounting irritation before turning to McDonnell who happened to be closest, "I don't know, talk about dumbing down! Don't they teach recreational mathematics any more?"
Rose rolled her eyes but didn't stray from her task of sorting through the wires and components to discard any that had been destroyed by the heat pulse.
"We're through!" Martha announced.
"Keep moving, 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."
"Will do, thanks."
"Impact in thirty fifty."
The Doctor rejoined them at what Rose had privately nicknamed 'junk mountain'. He picked up a melted cable to inspect.
"We need a backup in case they don't reach the auxiliary engines in time." He tossed the melted junk back down, spinning to address each of the crew in turn, "Come on, think. Resources. What have we got?"
"Doctor?" Martha's voice interrupted from the still open intercom channel.
"What is it now?" The Doctor asked sharply.
"Who had the most number ones, Elvis or the Beatles. That's pre-download."
"Elvis. No! The Beatles! No! Wait! Er, er. Oh, what was that remix? Er, I don't know. I am a bit busy." The Doctor snapped.
"Fine. I'll ask someone else." Martha muttered.
"Now, where was I? Here comes the sun." The Doctor said, the name of the remix finally coming to him but seeming ironic out of context to the crewmates who knew little about the Beatles. "No, resources. So, the power's still working, the generator's going. If we can harness that. Ah!"
"Use the generator to jump-start the ship," McDonnell answered, catching the Doctor's drift.
"Exactly. At the very least, it'll buy us some more time."
"That is brilliant."
"I know. See? Tiny glimmer of hope."
"If it works." Scannell cut in.
"Oh, believe me. You're going to make it work." McDonnell shot back.
"That told him." The Doctor grinned, as Scannell disappeared to do as told.
"Impact in twenty-nine forty-six."
Everyone set about following the new plan, when suddenly Abi's confused voice could be heard over the intercom.
"Doctor, these readings are starting to scare me."
"What do you mean?" The Doctor asked.
"Well, Korwin's body's changing. His whole biological make-up. It's impossible." Abi's voice suddenly changed, panic morphing into terror through the intercom, "This is Med-centre. Urgent assistance requested. Urgent assistance!"
"Stay here! Keep working!" The Doctor instructed running from the room, McDonnell following after him.
Rose was tempted to follow too, but they still didn't know the cause of Korwin's sickness and avoiding crashing into the sun seemed like their top priority. They could deal with the contagion after they'd gotten out of the first life and death situation if necessary.
"Urgent assistance!" Abi repeated.
"Abi, they're on their way." The woman who'd almost been trapped by secure closure reassured her.
Rose really needed to learn her name, but there never seemed like a good moment to ask those kinds of questions in these kinds of situations.
"What's happening to you?" Abi's question to Korwin filtered through the still open intercom.
"Burn with me. Burn with me. Burn with me." A deep, gravelly voice unlike Korwin's chanted.
"Korwin, you're sick."
"Burn with me!"
A gut-wrenching scream that could have only been Abi's followed after. The entire crew froze at the sound.
"Impact in twenty-seven oh six."
"Oh, would that bloody thing shut up!" Rose hissed, Abi's scream still ringing in her ears as she tossed another melted component onto the scrap pile.
She may have been shaking she couldn't tell nor did she care. Her nerves were the least of their problems right now. That right along with the uncomfortable sensation of sweat gathering on her overheated skin.
Voices drifted through the intercom as the trio finally reached the med-centre.
"Korwin's gone," McDonnell announced perplexed.
"Oh, my God," Scannell exclaimed. "Tell me that's not Lerner."
"Endothermic vaporisation. I've never seen one this ferocious. Burn with me." Came the Doctor's voice.
"That's what we heard Korwin say."
Whatever else was said was cut off as a click announced that the channel had been closed.
Endothermic vaporisation, Rose thought to herself. Abi had been vaporised. What the hell kind of infection changed a person's biology and allowed them to vaporise people?
She was definitely shaking now. She needed a proper distraction, something to consume her focus sifting through junk just wasn't cutting it. She threw herself back into the task anyway. Distracting or not it still needed doing. And she wasn't much help on the engineering side of things, sure she'd helped Mickey down at the garage a time or to, or assisted the Doctor in repairs but she didn't have the understanding to go along with it.
It didn't take long for her to finish sorting through the different engine components for what was to be scrapped and what could be salvaged. So when the woman that had almost been sealed in by secure closure - who she'd come to learn was called Erina - left to get some tools that Ashton needed, Rose went with her. Needing something to do as well as not wanting the woman to be alone in light of the whole vaporisation thing.
The two women babbled to each other as they walked, a needed distraction from the chaos unravelling around them.
Rose had learnt that Erina was an engineer, low level, but had hoped that cargo tours would lend to better experience in a more hands-on environment. She'd made a little quip about how if every day was as hands-on as today, she'd probably not have lasted more than one tour. Rose had laughed and shared some of her own 'hands-on' experiences.
Any doubts they'd had about what had befallen Abi was cleared when McDonnell spoke on all channels.
"Everybody, listen to me. Something has infected Korwin. We think... he killed Abi Lerner. None of you must go anywhere near him, is that clear?"
Erina looked distraught and overwhelmed when she put a hand to her forehead, floundering for a moment before yanking open a locker door. Rose wanted to comfort her but was unsure if the gesture would be appreciated, she was just weighing up the merits of such an action when her head whipped back to the corridor they'd just come down. Sure she'd heard movement.
"Understood, Captain. Erina? Get back here with that equipment." Ashton's voice replaces McDonnell's on the intercom.
From behind her, Rose heard Erina mute Ashton. But she was still otherwise occupied. It took a moment to register what the shape was that lurked in the shadows. A figure in welding helmet and gloves wearing the same jumpsuit as Ashton and Korwin… except Ashton's in engineering.
"Whatever you say, boss. Go there. Come back. Fetch this. Carry these. Make drinks. Sweep up. Please, kil-" Rose cut off Erina's complaining by grabbing her arm and dragging her down a corridor.
"We've got to go!" Rose explained.
"Burn with me," Korwin said from too close behind them.
Rose ducked behind a doorframe pulling Erina with her. Korwin scorched the metal of the corridor instead of them, the visor falling back into place and shielding his blazing eyes.
"Impact in twenty-four fifty-one."
They ran for several minutes ducking and weaving their way through the ship. At some point, they realised Korwin was no longer following. Panting they headed to engineering to deliver what few tools they hadn't dropped along the way to Ashton. From the entrance, they spotted Korwin looming over Ashton.
"What's he doing to him!?" Erina cried, in a shrill whisper.
"Nevermind that. Run!" Rose pushed her down the corridor. "Get out of here."
She stayed rooted to her spot as she watched Erina leave. She had to find out what Korwin was up to, then they'd stand a better chance at stopping him. They couldn't risk saving Ashton, they'd barely gotten away once let alone twice.
Korwin held Ashton up by his grip on his jumpsuit. The older man trembled in his grip as Korwin placed both gloved hands on either side of his head, after announcing that they must 'share the light'. Smoke billowing from the old man's skin as he shook, eyes rolling back in his head.
Rose crept back away from the entrance before bolting down the corridor away from the two infected men, Ashton's screams echoing behind her.
"Heat shields failing. At twenty per cent."
She pulled off into a side corridor that seemed to be storage of some kind when she felt she was a safe distance away. She headed for the intercom, pushing the button for 'all'.
"Doctor? We saw Korwin. He's wearing this welder's helmet and there's something wrong with his eyes. He tried to attack Erina. We got away but he seemed to do something to Ashton. I think the infection's spread."
"The infection's spread? Are you safe now? What do you mean there's something wrong with his eyes."
"Yeah, I'm fine. He said something about 'sharing the light' and then he touched Ashton and his skin started smoking. After he said 'burn with me' he raised his visor and there was this bright light coming from his eyes and it scorched the wall."
"If you're safe just stay there. I'm working on something for the infection."
The com clicked off.
Rose scoffed to herself in the now silent storage room.
"No chance."
Like hell was she going to hide away when there were two homicidal crewmembers on board and they were twenty minutes from crashing into a bloody sun. She left the storage room in search of Erina, if she had to make a bet on where the young engineer would have gone, Rose would put her money on going back for the tools they dropped. It was unlikely that Korwin would go back that way, so it was a good place to start.
Elsewhere on the ship, Riley and Martha were struggling to get the computer to work when they were distracted by the sound of footsteps.
"Is that Korwin?" Martha asked quietly.
"No, wait a minute. Oh, Ashton, what're you doing?"
"Burn with me." Ashton's voice boomed from behind the welder's helmet.
Realisation dawned on Martha, Rose had been right that Ashton had been infected too then. She started to creep back when she noticed that Riley wasn't following.
"Move! Rose said he's infected too. Come on!" Martha shouted slamming a door button on the panel next to her.
Rose had just found one of the abandoned tools - sans engineer - when Martha's panicked voice rang out over the intercom.
"Doctor! We're stuck in an escape pod off the area seventeen airlock. One of the crew's trying to jettison us! You've got to help us!"
Rose looked about fitfully. She knew she had to get these tools to engineering and make sure Erina was safe. But Martha was in danger, granted the Doctor was likely already on his way to help her but it was Martha!
Going against what she'd much rather do, Rose continued in her search for Erina. A couple of moments past before the Doctor came sprinting passed her.
"I told you to stay safe. Get to engineering!" He told her as he passed.
Rose resisted the childish impulse to roll her eyes at him and the second more petty impulse to follow after him in spite. She knew he was right which was why she hadn't gone to Martha in the first place.
She finally made it to engineering to find Korwin trapped under a vent screaming.
"What are you doing?" McDonnell shouted at Scannell, who Rose could just about make out was turning some kind of valve.
"Freezing him. Ice vents."
"You'll kill him!"
"It's not Korwin anymore, McDonnell." Rose tried to reason, though it was hard to do so with another person's screams ringing in her ear for the third time that day.
"He recognised me!"
"He killed Abi. Korwin wouldn't have done that." Erina reasoned.
Rose hesitated for a moment, both equally valid points, but it didn't matter as a moment later a frosted Korwin dropped to the floor unmoving.
"McDonnell? Ashton's heading in your direction. He's been infected, just like Korwin!" The Doctor informed them over the intercom.
"Korwin's dead, Doctor," Scannell told him, from where the four of them were kneeling besides Korwin's body.
She couldn't save him, he was already gone, there was nothing she could do. It didn't really matter what excuses she gave. Another person was dead. She hadn't saved Ashton either. Now Martha and Riley very well might join that list before the day's end.
No TARDIS, no time, no engine and a whole bunch of bodies. How the hell were they going to get out of this one?
A/N: TO BE CONTINUED… Starting to get somewhere with the plot, I'm so excited. Anyway, let me know your thoughts in the comments. See ya next chapter :)
Comments:
Melikalily:
I'm glad your enjoying!
Debygoebel:
Yes there was a lil hint at 11's adventures in last chapter, I do intend to write his era (when i eventually get there) and hopefully I'll be able to shake things up quite a bit with Rose's addition
Ace of Spies:
The TARDIS is definitely doing her own thing and just dragging Rose along, eventually they will become more harmonious but Rose is still human and the TARDIS very much is not so thats going to cause some issues and side effects. Thank you sweetie!