Chapter 5

Nita regained consciousness. She was in bad shape, the paid in her head was suffocating and yet the drugs in her system wouldn't let her rest. There was a drugged intensity in her eyes. On the monitors, graphs measuring her life signs made beeping sounds which moved more quickly as the drugs took hold. She could not raise her head. She saw Ensign and Anderson.

"Leave us," Ensign said to Anderson.

Anderson left. Ensign moved closer to Nita. He was deceptively calm, sympathetic. "I am Minister Ensign from Internal Security. You are Nita, an alien."

Nita's eyes narrowed.

"Yes, we know."

Nita struggled to speak. "Please. Bring my husband here."

The beep on the monitor skipped a beat. Nita blinked with the shock of her internal agony.

"In time. In time. But first, I need to ask you some questions."

Carolyn entered Coe's office. "Thank you for seeing me."

Coe looked at her, still disappointed. "If I did not depend so much on your experience in space matters, I would have asked for your resignation."

"I felt I was acting in the best interests of our people, Chancellor."

"When you are selected to occupy this office, then you'll have the privilege of deciding the best interests of our people," Coe replied sharply. He softened. "The Doctor, I can excuse. But you, Carolyn, you should have trusted me."

Her eyes dropped, she nodded, understanding. "Chancellor, we must release Nita to the Doctor. Any hope for a relationship with these people depends on it."

Coe knew what she was after, and shook his head. "I cannot afford to be the idealist you are, Carolyn."

"Nita…"

"I am prepared to release Nita after we've interrogated her."

"Are you prepared for her to die, Chancellor? Her injuries are extremely serious. A mob at the medical facility almost killed her. Ensign has ordered drugs to be used to revive her for questioning, drugs that are dangerous in her condition. Without medical aid from her ship, I believe Nita will not survive the day. You must tell the Doctor where she is."

In Nita's room, the interrogation continued. Nita was exhausted.

"You have lied since the moment of your capture, and I believe you are lying now, woman."

"We… are here on a mission of peace."

"Such noble creatures." He pulled out the phaser. Nita looked at it. Ensign aimed it at a lamp in the corner and destroyed it.

The beeper on the medical monitor fluttered. Nita's eyelids came halfway down. Ensign glanced at the machines. "Perhaps, like many conquerors, you believe your goals to be benevolent. I cannot. For however you would describe your intentions, you still represent the end to my way of life. I cannot permit that to occur."

Nita reacted, puzzled.

"Eventually, Coe would choose to welcome your people with arms open and eyes closed. I must force him down another path." He put the phaser in Nita's limp hand, and aimed it at himself. "When they find us, I will be dead, killed by you. The lines will be drawn. A peaceful accord will no longer be an option."

Struggling for one word… "No."

"For my people," said Ensign quietly. A calm smile came to his lips, and he pressed Nita's finger on the phaser, firing at himself. He went down.

The Doctor was studying something on the console. Just then a message popped up from Chancellor Coe, requesting his immediate presence. It was in regard to Nita. The Doctor acknowledged the message and set the coordinates for Coe's office.

Nita struggled to reach out toward the phone device, but the sound of the vital sign monitor stuttered, and she collapsed. A monitor displayed very low peaks, widely separated.

A matching monitor was at a station in a corridor, manned by Sachi and Anderson, with a few medical personnel around.

"Life signs are failing on one…" Sachi said urgently.

Anderson just looked at her.

"She's dying, Anderson, you can't just stand here, or can you?"

She ran down the hall, Anderson finally following along with two others.

As they entered Nita's room, they reacted to scene before them.

"What?"

Anderson added it up. "She shot him. The alien shot Ensign."

Sachi went to Nita as Anderson went down to see if Ensign was alive, everybody moving with expert efficiency, controlled chaos.

"Get me three octares of adrulmine, high frequency E-M charge unit – now!" cried Sachi.

"I have a circulation pattern, very weak, we need to get him on vital buffers right now!" yelled Anderson.

They turned and reacted frozen in terror to the sound of the TARDIS materializing. The Doctor stepped out and went directly to Nita and used his sonic screwdriver to assess her condition. Sachi and Anderson backed away in fear.

"I'm a physician of sorts, don't be frightened." He saw Ensign. "What happened?"

"The… she shot him," replied Anderson, terrified. "With that phaser."

The Doctor went to Ensign after giving Nita an air hypo. Nita was near death. But there was still brain activity. He had to get her back to the TARDIS. He saw that Ensign had a phaser would in his upper chest. The Doctor decided he should take him with him.

The Doctor returned to the TARDIS and then materialized it around the patients, and the TARDIS made sure that they ended up in the sick bay.

Later, the Doctor let Carolyn and Coe into the TARDIS and excorted them to the sickbay. "They're both going to be okay, I was able to stabilize Nita, if I'd been any later…"

The ending was obvious.

"Ensign?"

"He was never in any real danger, the phaser was on stun. I have a good idea of what happened. Based on the angle of impact, it suggests that Ensign had his right hand on the phaser when it went off."

"They were struggling for the weapon?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Nita was in no position to offer any kind of struggle, Chancellor."

"Ensign was trying to be a martyr?"

Coe took a deep breath, moved over to Ensign, who opened his eyes, and saw where he was. Coe took his hand, held it in his two hands.

"Where is this?"

"You are aboard the spaceship, my foolish old friend," Coe replied gently, with a sad smile.

"No. Chancellor, you must not, you must not pursue relations with them, you must not."

Coe patted his hand and nodded. "I know," he said softly. "I know."

Carolyn and Coe were with the Doctor in his study.

"But Chancellor…"

"Carolyn, it goes against every instinct in my being." He turned to the Doctor. "But my people are not ready to accept what you represent. Everything that happened at the hospital proves it. Ensign is the best evidence of all. We must slow down and allow all those like him to join us in the present before we move into the future."

"But when we encounter other beings in space, our people must be ready…"

"The warp program will have to be delayed, we will divert more resources into education and social development to prepare for the day when we are ready."

"Chancellor, I strongly disagree."

Coe nodded, sadly. "I know. Doctor, you once said that if I ask you to leave, you would without hesitation. I'm afraid I must ask you to do just that."

"It is your decision, Chancellor. But I must say I regret that we won't have the opportunity of knowing your people better."

Coe acknowledged. "We are good people, Doctor. A society with much potential. Once we cross this threshold of space, we will have to give up the self-importance, the conceit that we are the centre of the universe. But this is not the time. For now, it is better that we continue to enjoy that sweet innocence."

"But how can you keep us a secret, when so many have seen and heard so much?"

"The stories will be told for many years, I have no doubt, of the ship that made contact, of an alien who was held prisoner in a medical facility, there will be charges of a government cover-up, some of the witnesses will tell their tales and most people will laugh at them and go back and watch more interesting fiction on the daily broadcasts. It will pass."

"I'm sorry to say, he's probably right."

The Doctor rose.

"Doctor, I have one last request," said Carolyn. "Take me with you."

The Doctor reacted, glanced at Coe.

"She will be unhappy with the restrictions I must place on her at home, Doctor," said Coe, giving tacit approval.

"We may not be back in your lifetime. And I have to believe that you are not fully prepared for the risks of space, Carolyn."

"I have been prepared for the risks of space since I was nine years old sitting in a planetarium."

"I will escort you to the door, Chancellor, and then find quarters for you Carolyn. You may stay on board."

"Thank you."

"Until we return then…"

"With luck, we will both be around to renew our friendship, Doctor."

They all left the room.

The TARDIS dematerialized and entered the vortex, leaving the planet behind.