A/N: Absolute bonus September points if you have any idea who Millennia is. Oh yes, I am the champion of the minor character :P

Chapter 8: Dawn of a New Millennia

After an hour of conversation Jack finally went to get a bit of sleep, leaving the Doctor in the main room with his good arm and right ankle tied to the chair with a slack of rope, just in case he started to hallucinate again. So stuck to the chair, the Doctor's mind had been whirring all night, considering the validity of what he'd experienced in his nightmare. He knew the Lanwa's had taken Rose over this way - when her nightmares had started to become real, and when she hadn't been able to escape. What had happened to Rose was now happening to him.

The Lanwa's was clearly trying very, very hard to overtake him. But as Jack had said, it had tried when he'd been at his most vulnerable, and it hadn't worked. That could only be a positive sign. But, he thought, if Panacea hadn't been there, he wasn't even sure if he'd have ever woken up again.

He also didn't know if he was just overreacting. Maybe it hadn't been the Lanwa's. Maybe it was his own nightmarish combination of a sky high fever, pain, and a dire set of circumstances for his subconscious to feed from and create the most horrific world possible inside his own head. It wouldn't be the first time his brain had sabotaged him, after all.

Either way, he wasn't willing to risk the Lanwa's trying again. He just wasn't sure he'd be able to escape a second time. So for three hours he stayed there sitting at the table staring out of the window until finally dawn arrived and the sound of gentle chiming to signify 9 o'clock lightly dusted the room with its harmonious tones.

He jerked out of his thoughts, and abruptly realised just how hungry he was. But as he'd consented to being tied to the chair, he was stuck.

'Good morning, Doctor,' Panacea suddenly said, blinking into existence on the other side of the table. 'I am glad to see you are feeling much better. The biosuit is detecting your body temperature had nearly returned to almost levels at 20 degrees. I have adjusted the thermal regulator in your biosuit accordingly. Are you experiencing any pain?'

'Just the usual constant agony but I'm getting used to it,' the Doctor assured her.

'I can administer medication if you are happy with this.'

'No, ta. I've spent long enough feeling numb.'

'Very well. It seems we have gotten through the worst of your side effects. If you are feeling well enough, I can book you in for your first familiarisation session later today.'

'As soon as possible, please,' the Doctor said.

'Of course.' There was a brief pause. 'I have booked you in for your first session at 3pm this afternoon, on floor 587, room 6.'

'Thanks.'

'Please call me if you need any help. Have a good morning,' she said, and disappeared.

He looked at his arm. It was still shielded in light blue semi-transparent plastic, obscuring what was beneath. He placed the dead arm on the table - it was throbbing a little bit, but nowhere near as painfully as it had been. Carefully, he peeled back the sheet and revealed what the surgeons had done.

His arm was still mostly there, just with large chunks cut out and holes drilled to fit the exotronic perfectly, stretching from his fingertips to his shoulder. It was a tiny bit swollen in places with some red patches, but he knew that was a good sign. It meant there was some sort of physical connection and flow going on between his arm and the rest of his body. Where it had previously been pale to the point of his skin nearly being translucent, it was now more fuller and colourful.

He tried moving his fingers experimentally, but they didn't react - it obviously hadn't been turned on yet as there were no lights. He was considering powering it up with the sonic to take it for a test drive when the far door opened and Leah walked in, rubbing her tired eyes.

'Leah,' he said immediately, slightly nervous after what had taken place the previous night.

'Hi,' she said tiredly, speeding up to meet him for a hug. That stunned him a little. He'd been expecting a far more reserved greeting. 'Are you feeling better?'

'Yeah,' he said. 'About last night. I'm so sorry.'

'Why are you sorry? The hot made you crazy, you couldn't help it, mmkay?' Leah told him informatively, looking up at him with those big blue Jackie Tyler-esque eyes with both of her arms locked around him.

'But I scared you and I'm really sorry.'

'Um, yeah, a bit, but I know it wasn't you. Anyway, you can't hurt me cos of the bond so why would I care?'

He smiled. 'Good point.'

'Anyway you feel a lot better now so I'm kinda sure you're not gonna try and kill me,' she said, still beaming a beautiful smile up at him. Her eyes drifted to his arm, and immediately she was intrigued and the subject of the previous night vanished into thin air. 'Oh! Does it work?'

'It's not turned on yet,' he replied.

'Oh. When are you turning it on?'

'Weeeell …' he began, considering. 'I could turn it on now.'

She pulled back, looking at him sternly. 'Are you allowed to?'

'Hey, it's my arm,' he pointed out.

'You're not supposed to though.'

'Well … no.'

'Then don't do it!' she told him with a sigh, exasperated. 'You're so difficult. Imma go have a pee now so don't do anything stupid while I'm gone.'

'I'll try not to,' the Doctor assured her.

By the time Jack got up, he walked into the main room to find the Doctor, Theo, and Leah at the table conversing in gallifreyan. Theo was sitting on the table and Leah was opposite, both of them in pyjamas.

He had no idea what they were talking about, but he lingered in the doorway for a few seconds just to listen to the sound of the beautiful moribund language in full flow. After the past few days and what had happened the night before, it was just nice to see the Doctor communicating normally again.

He eventually discerned from the gestures and flow of conversation that it was to do with the Doctor's arm, which was now lying exposed on the table. It looked much, much better than it had, just slightly red. Theo was poking it and running his hand along the metal, clearly trying to make sense of it. The little boy, despite having only relearnt English a few days previously, seemed to now be at the gallifreyan level of his sister after just an hour of conversation.

Jack was finally noticed by Leah, who waved him over. 'Uncle Jack, how big were daddy's ears in his last body?'

'Like satellite dishes,' Jack told her and Theo, demonstrating with his hands on his ears. They both giggled.

'Hey!' the Doctor protested.

Jack grinned, and looked at the two kids. 'Why don't you guys go and get dressed, I need a chat with Dad.'

'Okay,' Leah said, and grabbed her brother's hand to pull him back to the bedrooms.

Jack and the Doctor briefly watched them go, before Jack moved to him. 'How you feeling?'

'Much better,' the Doctor answered, nodding. Jack rested a hand on his forehead.

'Still kinda hot for you,' Jack commented.

'Twenty degrees,' the Doctor informed him. 'I'm okay, mum.'

Jack grinned and looked more closely at his arm. 'Anymore hallucinations? Had blackouts?'

The Doctor shook his head. 'I've been awake all night.'

'All right,' Jack said, and finally untied him. 'Want some food?'

'I thought you'd never ask,' the Doctor said. Jack retrieved him a cup of tea and some toast, dropping them in front of him as he took the opposite seat.

'Thanks,' the Doctor said, cramming the toast in his mouth. 'Oh, how was the Celene, by the way?'

'Oh!' Jack realised, the woman in the aether suddenly coming back to him. 'So I rolled up, expected to see Gray, but no. There was a woman I didn't recognise at all. She asked to see you. Which is weird because they're not supposed to talk.'

'Oh? What did she look like?'

'Err, really pretty, young-ish, with blue hair and definitely humanoid, with …'

'Wait, blue hair?' the Doctor asked, his eyes widening.

'Yeah.'

'What was her name?' he asked urgently.

'Don't know. Something happened I couldn't see and she rushed off. Didn't get her name. Why? You know her?'

The Doctor paused. '... Sounds like … no, it can't be.'

'Who?'

'Someone I knew a very long time ago. But ... she's dead.'

'Well it is the Celene. She called you Theta, though. you got a sister we don't talk about?' Jack joked. 'Dunno why she was appearing to me, though, maybe it was a glitch.'

'That's quite a glitch.'

'I dunno then, something like interference. Panacea was monitoring you really heavily so maybe there was some crossed wires, there. Like the system got confused to who it was reading the memories of.'

'Maybe.'

'Either way, she kept asking to see you.'

The Doctor thought briefly, taking another bite of his toast. There was a long, dramatic, silent pause as he chewed contemplatively, clearly wrestling with some ethical challenge in his head. He finally swallowed. '... Okay. Let's go to the Celene.'

Not for the first time, Panacea seemed to know exactly where they were going when they stepped into the lift. The Doctor was still a little weak on his feet, but it was nothing holding onto the side rail couldn't cure.

If it's who you think it is, seein' her won't help anythin'. It's just gonna hurt you. It's gonna bring it all back, Doctor.

He did agree with his subconscious, but he was far too curious to ignore this little mystery. If Panacea had managed to conjure up the image of the person he thought it was, then he'd know just how far the computer's roots were going inside everyone's heads. She was touching ancient memories behind centuries worth of barriers in his head. If he could just find out a little more, then finally he might start to find some answers to the millions of questions he had about this strange computer.

The lift arrived at the Celene. He followed Jack in unusual silence, ignoring everything bar the straight, strangely inviting long tunnel ahead of him. Just before entering, Jack stopped him, snapping the Time Lord out of his thought trail.

'You're scared,' he said, puzzled.

'Just a bit,' the Doctor admitted.

'Who the hell d'you think it is, exactly?

'Doesn't matter,' the Doctor replied, his eyes refocusing on the tunnel. 'Let's get this over with. C'mon.'

Jack obediently shut up as they moved forward. No words were exchanged until they were out the other end. There were a couple of people hovering at the aether talking to holograms, but it was strikingly empty.

'Just step up to the aether. I'll wait here,' Jack offered.

'Nah, it's okay,' the Doctor assured him.

'You sure?'

'Yep,' the Doctor said, and moved forward. He heard and felt Jack move to stand vaguely near him as they waited for something to happen.

After a few silent moments, something finally stirred. Light patterns began to coalesce together slowly and gently, like stirring dye together in a large pot. It was forming the shape of a person - definitely a humanoid female, with two legs, two arms, and one head.

As soon as the vague shape had turned into a hard-edged construction, details began to emerge. A small nose, big eyes, a slit for the mouth and the inside pattern of the ears all swerved into focus. Then distinct blue hair emerged, cascading over her shoulder and down her back. The eyes turned blue, and an expression grew from the blankness into a beautiful and distinct smile.

The Doctor knew her immediately. 'Millennia,' he croaked, stunned. It was exactly who he'd been expecting to see from Jack's description, but seeing her again after hundreds of years seemed to suck all of the air out of his lungs as his head exploded with a mish-mash of completely disorganised thoughts and feelings.

She said nothing, just standing there now fully formed and gazing at him with those bright, wide, and beautiful eyes. A million memories rushed through his head as he recalled everything that had happened to her in striking clarity, and his hearts immediately seized up with guilt and pain.

The image of Millennia stared at him sadly, seemingly reading his addled mind. She then opened her mouth, and spoke three very precise words:

'I forgive you.'

He froze.

'I forgive you,' she repeated softly, smiling reassuringly.

There was a very long pause as Doctor struggled to understand exactly what that meant coming from a hologram. He spontaneously felt some anger and frustration bubble up inside him at the fact Panacea had managed to get that far inside his head. 'No.'

'No?' Millennia's image repeated, confused.

'This isn't fair,' he suddenly snapped, looking up at the ceiling. 'You can't use her image and forgive me with her voice, Panacea.'

'It's not a trick,' Millennia's image said softly. 'I promise.'

'You're too far inside my head, Panacea!' he insisted, ignoring her.

'This isn't what you think,' Millennia's image told him, suddenly sounding a bit desperate. 'Please, Theta. Listen to me.'

The Doctor gazed fiercely at her for a moment, bordering on the edge of completely losing it. He then turned on his heel to leave.

'Nei'Veeto ...! Don't leave me!' Millennia's image cried.

That made him even more angry as he spun back. 'Stop reading my memories, Panacea!' he yelled at the image of Millennia. 'Millennia's dead!'

'Theta, calm down,' Millennia's image said quickly. 'Please. It's me. I promise it's me. Just breathe, and look. I swear it's me.'

'I don't know what you're trying to do, Panacea, but stop it, right now,' he ordered.

'Please listen to me, Nei'Veeto, for once in your life,' she said pleadingly.

'Don't call me that.'

'It's me. I promise, it's me. I'm here. This isn't a trick. I need your help.'

'How can I possibly help you? No, sorry,' he said, and turned away again.

'Please just let me explain,' the image of Millennia begged. 'That's all I ask. I'll tell you everything. If you're not convinced, you can leave. I won't stop you. I couldn't, anyway. I'm a hologram.'

His eyes fixed on Jack, whose facial expression was portraying an emotion somewhere on the spectrum between bewildered and intrigued. He looked back at Millennia as the memories rushed back again. The foolhardy trip of his youth, where he, Rallon, and Millennia had stolen a TARDIS and gone to the realm of the Celestial Toymaker, thinking they could beat him. The Celestial Toymaker overwhelming the three young gallifreyans, taking over Rallon's body and mind, and turning Millennia into one of his toys as a prisoner to be held for centuries. The contact the Doctor had received eventually in his fifth life, that had ended up with him having to destroy the Toymaker's realm entirely, and the captured Millennia along with it.

He'd murdered her, and he knew it.

Listen to her. You've got nothin' to lose.

The Doctor sighed, and turned back again. 'Okay. I'm listening. You've got two minutes.'

She took a deep breath, and began, 'I'd spent so long being a prisoner I forgot who I was. I forgot how to think. I forgot Rallon. I forgot you. But when you came back that second time and destroyed the Celestial Toymaker's Realm ... I woke up. He lost his control over my mind as he died. Everything came back - you, Rallon, the Toymaker, and what had happened to me. I didn't know how long it'd been. I didn't know what I'd been doing in that time. But all I could hear was Rallon's possessed body screaming.

'I tried to help him, but I couldn't get there. Everything was falling apart. His whole body burnt up and disappeared right in front of me ... I tried to run but there was nowhere to go. I screamed for you, but I don't think you were there. I couldn't escape as I watched myself burn up - my entire body gone. Then I was just my own consciousness. I don't know how, but I got out of the realm before it collapsed. I got back into the real universe.'

'As a form of consciousness?'

'Yes. I was just … floating. I don't know how long for. I don't even know how I managed to exist as just a consciousness.'

The Doctor paused, thinking about that. Despite his instinct to resist everything she was saying, he had to admit there were a million reasons that could have happened. '... How did you get here to Pleaneas?'

'I don't know. I just did. I got here and managed to get inside a machine. I thought I could communicate and ask for help. I tried everything, but I just couldn't get through. I realised they were trying to program a medical computer for fast diagnosis. So I thought I'd stay and help them.'

'Wait … you created Panacea?' the Doctor asked.

'Yes. The scientists think it was them, but I was constantly rewriting their lines of code to be better.'

'This is why everything's so fast,' Jack realised. 'It's you.'

She nodded. 'I thought if I helped them develop their AI machine, I might be able to control her and ask someone for help.'

'But it didn't work out that way,' the Doctor supposed.

'No. Panacea is her own sort of consciousness, more than I thought possible. I've never been able to control her. But that was okay. I kept improving her so she could be the best medical diagnostic computer in the universe. We started getting more and more patients, and I kept improving her to meet the demand. Everything was going really well. Then I realised you were alive, Theta.'

'How?'

'I decoded an item on the universal communication network about you being imprisoned in New Shada. I knew it was you, though you'd changed your name. Couldn't mistake you.'

'You could've come to find me,' he pointed out.

'I wanted to, but I knew I couldn't leave Panacea,' Millennia replied. 'Everyone was relying on her. We were curing so many people and I just wanted to help. I thought I'd stay and just wait to see if you came here. I was so surprised when I saw you come through the scanner. The hard part was trying to get your attention. I worked very hard to get your friend here.'

'You got me here?' Jack wondered.

'I'm really sorry I manipulated you, Jack,' she apologised, and then gestured around the room. 'None of this is real, not really. The Celene is still in a prototype phase and no one is allowed down here.'

Jack frowned. 'But …' he began, looking to the other people in the room they seen when they came in. They weren't there anymore.

'Just holograms, to put you at your ease,' she said, seemingly reading his mind. 'To get you here I analysed your psychology from the database and thought the idea of the Celene would interest you. Panacea helped.'

'You really got me there,' Jack admitted.

'Yeah. I had a good guess on what you'd want to see. I'm truly sorry, I had to see Theta,' she apologised again. 'Please, Theta. I don't want to be in machines anymore. I want to breathe again. I want to feel. I want to get a physical form again. Please help me.'

The Doctor paused, staring at Millennia. He then took a breath, and then opened his mouth. 'So you'd want me to find you a body?'

'I've already got a body ready to be inhabited,' Millennia countered. 'I asked Panacea to grow it. It's not gallifreyan, just a basic humanoid sort of amalgam, but it'll be more than enough for me. It's in a laboratory on the lower floors. I need someone to physically get there and finish the transfer so I can move my consciousness into the body.'

'Sounds easy,' Jack mused.

She shook her head. 'Not as easy as you think. There's a catch.'

Jack sighed. 'There's always a catch.'

'It's in a very heavily-guarded area of Pleaneas - it's where the inner workings of Panacea are. They won't let anyone down there they don't recognise. Some spy from a rival corporation tried to get in there to sabotage her once, and they shot him dead. It was all hushed up.'

'Jesus,' Jack breathed.

'I can open doors for you but I can't give you any security clearance,' she said. 'It's going to be dangerous. To preserve her mechanical workings there's no oxygen either. There are security cameras everywhere, sentries, and traps.'

The Doctor gazed at her, chewing thoughtfully. 'Why haven't you just taken over someone's body up here? Just jumped into a patient? It'd be much easier.'

Millennia looked aghast. 'And kill their consciousness? What do you take me for?'

The Doctor smiled. 'I was hoping you'd say that. Okay. I'll help you.'

There was a long, emotional pause as her eyes welled up with an intense and complex combination of relief, joy, and fear. 'Thank you so much, Nei-Veeto.'

'I'll need all the information you can give me on maps, security, codes, and emergency procedures, as well as what you need me to do.'

She nodded hastily. 'Yeah. But not yet. You need to heal first.'

'I can do it,' the Doctor insisted.

'No. Please go through with rehabilitation to make sure you've got your arm to a functional level,' she insisted. 'I can't control Panacea but I've been asking her to watch over you more closely and correcting her errors. The rehabilitation should work. I've designed this program for you.'

The Doctor nodded. 'Okay.'

'But … please be sure about this,' she suddenly begged. 'I know this would be putting you in danger. The last thing I'd want is for you to be hurt because of me. If you feel it's too dangerous, then you can leave. I won't hold a grudge.'

The Doctor stepped forward to her, feeling Jack's eyes on him. He took a deep breath. 'Eight hundred years ago you willingly became a prisoner to let me escape, Millennia,' he stated. 'I've lived with that for a very long time. So now it's my turn to save you.'