Unto the Universe

Chapter Twenty-Three: 42: Planning

By Lumendea

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the spinoff material, and I gain no income off of this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.

….

The Doctor's mind whirled as he and Jack rushed through the dying ship with the captain. Rose's words to him hung heavy on his shoulders. She was right, of course. The small details, the oddities of someone's behavior were Rose's specialty. Even when she didn't understand the technology, she still understood the people.

But how could an energy scoop trigger all of this? There was no connection between that system, as ugly as it was, and someone ripping apart an engine. At least nothing that he could see yet. He glanced around. The ship was old but showed signs of thoughtful care even if it clearly lacked the most up-to-date equipment.

The medical bay was a decent-sized room, but exposed pipes and wires didn't fill the Doctor with much confidence. A stasis system was installed into the wall opposite the main door, and a man and a woman in scrubs were trying to wrestle another man onto the gurney. Jack lunged forward, grabbing the man's leg as he tried to kick at the woman. The man was sweating, and his eyes were held closed tightly.

"Argh!" the man screamed. "Stop it!"

"Korwin, it's Abi," the woman said. Her voice was worried but calm. "Open your eyes; I need to take a look at you."

"Korwin!" McDonnell cried, taking a place at the man's shoulder. "What's happened? Is he okay?"

"Help me!" Korwin cried. "It's burning me!"

"How long's he been like this?" the Doctor asked, joining Abi on her side while Jack shifted to keep the man's legs in check.

"Ashton just brought him in," Abi replied, nodding to the other man. He was an older bald man with worn hands that showed years of labor.

Taking out the sonic screwdriver, the Doctor ran a quick medical scan.

"What are you doing?" McDonnell demanded.

"Just a scan," the Doctor answered. "Don't get too close."

"Don't be so stupid," McDonnell snapped. "That's my husband."

"And he's just sabotaged our ship," the man, the Doctor assumed to be Ashton snarled.

"What?"

The shock on McDonnell's face was real and stark. Sweat rolled down her features, but there was ice in her eyes at the very suggestion. The Doctor believed it as he watched the man thrash on the table. Something was wrong, something was very wrong, but how it all connected was still a mystery.

"He went mad," Ashton explained, still fighting to keep Korwin still. "He put the ship onto secure closure; then he set the heat pulse to melt the controls."

"No way," McDonnell protested. "He wouldn't do that."

"I saw it happen, Captain," Ashton said firmly. His tone left no room for argument.

"Korwin?" the Doctor called. "Korwin, can you open your eyes for me?"

"No," the man yelled, panic in his voice. "No, I can't!"

"Try," the Doctor urged, not liking how the man was thrashing in pain and working so hard to keep his eyes closed. That wasn't natural; that took effort.

"I can't!"

"Why not?"

"Don't make me look at you, please," Korwin begged, his tone shifting towards terrified. "Please."

"Why can't you look at us?" the Doctor asked.

Korwin groaned and bowed his back in pain. Heat was radiating off the man. Glancing around, the Doctor spotted a hypo-gun on the nearby medical tray. Taking one hand off of Korwin, he grabbed it and held it up for Abi to see.

"All right, Korwin," the Doctor said. "Keep your eyes closed. Sedative?"

"Yes," Abi said. She nodded, and the Doctor reached forward to sedate Korwin.

The effect was nearly immediate. The man slumped back on the gurney, eyes still shut but his features relaxing a little. There were still signs of discomfort, and the man's skin was still too warm.

"What's wrong with him?" McDonnell asked, a quiver in her voice.

"He's too hot for one," Jack said. He was frowning thoughtfully at the man, no hint of flirting or innuendo at his statement.

The Doctor moved to the read-out screen. It was simple, too simple, and he turned his attention back to the sonic screwdriver. "Rising body temperature and unusual energy readings," he announced. He eyed the stasis chamber. "Is that still functional?" Abi nodded, and the Doctor felt a bit of relief. "Good, then keep him sedated in there. Regulate the body temperature." He eyed the controls again. "Run a bioscan and tissue profile on a metabolic detail. We need to know what his body is doing."

"Just doing them now," Abi said. No arguing. The Doctor liked that.

"You're good," the Doctor complimented. The woman deserved the praise. She was keeping it together while the rest of the ship was trying to fall apart. "Anyone else presenting these symptoms?"

"Not so far." Her voice betrayed her worry.

"That's something at least," the Doctor sighed.

"Will someone tell me what is the matter with him?" McDonnell demanded, cutting in.

"An infection of some kind," the Doctor explained. "We can't identify it yet; hopefully, the tests will help. But we need to work on those engines."

"Come on," Jack said to McDonnell. "We won't do any good here."

Ashton nodded to Jack and gave McDonnell a small push on her shoulder that earned him a glare. But the woman didn't argue. She gave her husband one more look before heading off with Jack and Ashton.

"Alert me once you have the results," the Doctor ordered. "Any questions?"

"Yeah," Abi said. "Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor," he replied calmly before turning to follow the others out.

"Heatshield failing. At twenty-five percent. Impact in thirty-two fifty." The computer read off.

McDonnell and Ashton were ahead of him, talking over specifications of the ship with Jack, but with his long strides, he caught up quickly. Jack looked back at him, and the Doctor had a moment of gratitude that Jack's engineering knowledge was as diverse as it was. He wasn't an expert in any era of technology, but as a Time Agent, he'd worked with and been prepped to work with tech from multiple eras. The Doctor eyed the Vortex Manipulator on Jack's shirt. The man had long since rolled up his sleeves thanks to the heat. McDonnell and Ashton kept going, calling for them to hurry up.

"Doc?" Jack asked, following the Doctor's eyes. "I'm not sure it can help. Programming it to bypass the doors-"

"The short-range teleport with the ship falling towards a sun would take too long to program." The Doctor stepped closer to him. "But, standing orders apply."

"I figured," Jack replied. The Doctor hated the idea, but he was grateful to know that Jack knew to get Rose and himself out. Jack paused. "The recharge time window is bad. I can't take everyone, but I could get a few of them out."

"What's your limit?"

"I wouldn't risk more than three at a time," Jack admitted. "And as I have to go to use the manipulator, that's only two at a time. But the TARDIS-"

"If she falls into the sun, she'll automatically activate some defense measures. She should teleport away, back to Rose's house on Earth. I've set that as the default return point." The Doctor exhaled. "Focus on fixing the ship, keeping the crew safe. If it goes down to the end… we'll make a decision then."

"Understood."

The Doctor and Jack hurried into engineering. McDonnell, Ashton, and Scannell were picking at the engine, trying to sort out the damage. Jack joined Ashton and started helping the man shift some of the scraps while the Doctor went for McDonnell.

"What about the energy scoop?" the Doctor pressed. "When did you last use it?"

"That can't be-" McDonnell started to say.

"We just did," Scannell answered. He gripped McDonnell's arms. "Less than an hour ago."

"The sun we're about to crash into," the Doctor said. He inhaled slowly. "You scooped that sun, and then this all started happening."

"It's just a star," McDonnell said. "What kind of infection could survive that heat?" She glared up at the Doctor, her face stubborn and proud. "And the crew doesn't interact with the fusion material directly. That would be a death sentence, so there is no way that this could originate from the sun."

"When you've seen as much of the universe as me, you don't say things like that," the Doctor said.

"Any change in tasks?" Jack asked, looking to the Doctor.

"No," the Doctor huffed. "Keep working on the engines, but be careful. We don't know what this is yet." He eyed Jack for a moment, seemingly debating telling him something. "Try to make sure no one goes off alone."

Jack nodded his understanding, and the Doctor would have smiled if not for the situation. He hadn't been sure about Jack when they first met. For a few reasons, a couple of them more… human than others, but the man was proving to be one of his better companions. The pair went to work on the engine problem, with the Doctor doing his best to keep track of the comings and goings of the humans.

….

Sometimes the future was disappointing. Rose had known this for years. Humans in her time, the ones who had faith they'd survive global warming at least, had so many ideas of what the future would look like. They imagined sleek cities that balanced human homes and greenery. They assumed ships would lack hard edges and rough spaces. Humans dreamed of a clean and controlled future. And Rose had seen that too, many, many times in her travels.

But now, she was hauling a large oversized magnet and transmitter. This apparently was a security system. This apparently was technology that was standard in the future. She didn't know when they were, but based on the Doctor's earlier comment, it was a good jump into the future for these humans to be so far from home.

Yet their ship was all rusting metal, exposed wiring and pipes, and cheap security devices. Yet, their ship was falling towards a nearby star, and Rose just knew that they'd done something wrong. It wasn't normally she view to blame those in danger, but she couldn't unsee that strange reaction from earlier. And whatever it was about was important. She just had to trust that the Doctor would figure out the connection and keep working.

"Rose? Riley?" the Doctor's voice called through the intercom. "Where are you?"

"Area twenty-nine," Rose answered. She hoisted the transmitter and stuck it to the center of the next door while Riley started up the unlocking sequence.

"You need to move faster."

"We're doing what we can," Rose huffed, a flicker of annoyance sparking in her chest.

"Find the next number in the sequence three one three, three three one, three six seven," Riley read off. Rose did not like the lost tone in his voice. "What?"

"You said the crew knew all the answers," Rose said, turning to look at Riley.

He grimaced and gave her a sheepish look. "The crew's changed since we set the questions," he admitted.

Rose opened her mouth, but no words came out. A few untranslated curses the Doctor had used from time to time, usually when he hit his head while messing with the TARDIS, ran through her head.

"Three seven nine," the Doctor said suddenly through the intercom.

"What?" Riley asked.

"Just put it in," Rose said.

"You only get one chance," Riley reminded her.

"The Doctor knows maths," Rose replied impatiently. "We can't just stand here second-guessing."

"It's a sequence of happy primes," the Doctor snapped through the com system. "Rose is right, don't second guess, just go."

Faced with Rose's stern glare and the Doctor's tone, Riley swallowed and inputted the answer. The transmitter beeped, and the small light turned green right before the door clicked open with a hiss. Rose didn't wait for any further discussion, hoisting up the device and glancing back at Riley. Thankfully, he was right behind her.

"Rose," the Doctor's voice said through the intercoms. "Be careful. There may be something else on board this ship."

"Lovely," Rose replied as she kept moving. There was no time for stopping.

Something else on board the ship. She trusted the Doctor. He usually knew what he was talking about, so what did that mean? Had they scooped up some kind of lifeform that was infecting the crew and trying to mess with everything?

They reached the next area, and Riley quickly hooked his half of the system while Rose connected the device to the doorway.

"Oh, this is a nightmare. Classical music. Who had the most pre-download number ones, Elvis Presley or The Be-atles? How are we supposed to know that?" Riley groaned.

In Engineering, the Doctor was eyeing the engine with a frown. "We need a backup in case they don't reach the auxiliary engines in time," he said. "What other options have we got?"

"There's nothing," Ashton said. "That's the backup system."

"Not thinking enough," the Doctor barked. "The power is still working, so your generators are still online. We can use that."

"Use the generator to jump-start the ship," McDonnell said, her eyes widening only a little in surprise.

"It's not a fix for the engines, but it can buy us more time to reach auxiliary and complete more repairs," the Doctor said.

"That is brilliant," McDonnell agreed.

"He's good at that," Jack chimed in with a smile.

"It if works," Scannell said doubtfully.

"Oh, believe me. You're going to make it work," McDonnell told the engineer firmly.

"What do you need?" Jack asked.

"Impact in twenty-nine forty-six," the computer announced.

…..

One lovely thing about Spock was that he always picked up immediately. "Hello, Rose," Spock greeted calmly. "How are you?"

"No time for that, I'm afraid, Spock," Rose said, keeping her phone close to her ear as steam hissed around them. "I have an emergency. I need you to look up who had the most pre-download number ones, Elvis Presley or The Beatles?"

Riley raised an eyebrow at her pronunciation of The Beatles, which almost made her laugh. There was a brief pause that Rose hoped meant Spock was checking on the answer for her.

"Elvis," the computer answered a moment later.

"Brilliant," Rose said in relief. "Riley, Elvis." Thankfully, he didn't argue or ask. Rose was just grateful that Spock was so quick in sorting through information. "Might have to call again," Rose said. "Thanks, Spock."

"Good luck, Rose," Spock answered.

Rose exhaled and slipped her phone back into her jeans pocket. So far, the model was holding up against the heat. It was from a bit in the future from her own time, and the Doctor had promised that the case was good, but it felt like the heat here might finally test that. Hoisting up the unlock device, she dashed through the open bulk hold with Riley right behind her.