CHAPTER 3

"HE IS DIFFERENT…"

The Doctor and Jason walked slowly along the edge of the stream, climbing the hill they had seen on the viewer. Upon reaching the crest, they saw what appeared to be a small farming community side in the valley below, and Jason commented on how peaceful it looked. The Doctor responded with the observation that looks could be deceiving, this remark having been intended for the Alterran's amusement. As it turned out, it was truer than either of them would have liked.

They came across a small footbridge, which was really nothing more than a few planks thrown over the water, and crossed to the other side heading, more or less, towards the woods. Jason spotted a patch of unusual spongy moss growing at the base of a tree and went over to investigate. The Doctor went over to another tree that had a vine growing up its side. There were several large pink flowers on the vine that seemed to "see" his every move. He passed his hand up and down and from side to side, each movement being mirrored by the plant.

"How very interesting," the Time Lord muttered and then called out, "Jason, come take a look at—" He got no further. The flowers abruptly spat a cloud of spores in his face and he gasped. Nothing happened. Backing away, the Doctor tried unsuccessfully to breathe.

"Doctor!"

Jason turned just as the cloud hit the Time Lord in the face. He dashed over to him, arriving just in time to catch him as he collapsed, still unable to breathe. Jason forced himself to remain calm. He was, after all, a trained Healer. Scanning the Doctor, he discovered the spores had completely coated his lungs, cutting off his oxygen. He knew he had to dislodge them fast and could only think of one way. "I'm sorry about this, Doctor," he said and then thumped his friend on the back as hard as he could.

The Doctor coughed and then gasped. Encouraged, Jason tried again. To his immense disappointment, he found he had only managed to dislodge a small portion of the spores. He was only semi-conscious and still weakening, but at least he was breathing! Jason leaned him back against the tree and looked into his seemingly vacant eyes. He could see the life of his best friend ebbing away—and there was nothing he could do to stop it!

Ellis took his captives to the Research Center, entering the large building unobserved through the rear doors. The Center had been on the planet several years before the present colonists arrived and the main settlement was some distance away. The official reason had been a safety precaution. If one of the laboratories had a major accident, the inhabited areas would not be endangered. The true reason was so that no one would discover what was going on inside.

The Terrellians were brought into a room just outside the main laboratory and strapped to examining tables. An efficient looking blond woman in a white lab coat appeared and started to look them over. She had her hair pulled back and tied neatly in a bun, which only enhanced her hawk-like features. She put on a large pair of eyeglasses, her eyes flicking approvingly over the frightened beings who had regained consciousness and cowered at the sight of this all too familiar face. This was Dr. Lilith Jordan.

"Have you checked their ID numbers?" she snapped.

"We did that first thing, Lilith," Ellis replied, waving the notebook in the air. He opened it to his notations. "According to the records, it's been…ten weeks for F90. And…close to a year for M52 here."

"Excellent." Lilith took a syringe from a tray and injected the Terrellians with a drug that would temporarily paralyze them. Two lab technicians appeared in the doorway to her right and she motioned them in. "Take these two and make the preparations," she ordered. "I'll be in in a moment."

"Doctor? Doctor can you hear me?" Jason gently cupped the Time Lord's face in his hands and was relieved when his eyes opened slightly and then seemed to clear. "Don't try to talk," he said urgently. "Your lungs are coated with some kind of spore from those flowers. I'm going down to the settlement we saw to get help."

The Doctor closed his eyes and nodded that he understood.

"I hate to leave you alone like this," Jason said concernedly as he mopped his friend's brow.

The Doctor smiled weakly and squeezed Jason's hand as he handed him the handkerchief, trying to reassure his companion that he would be all right—he hoped—until he returned.

Jason sighed heavily and rose to his feet. Turning in the direction of the settlement, he held out his arms and his body shimmered as he changed into a large eagle. With a quick glance back, the Alterran took wing, flying the distance to the colony in less time than any human could run.

Dr. Jordan entered the main lab followed closely by a thin, sandy-haired man carrying a clipboard, this being her assistant, Jacoby. "We'd better take a few samples from these two," she was saying as she crossed the room. She waved a hand at the captive Terrellians, who were in the process of being thoroughly examined by the lab technicians. Their current state of health would ascertained and added to the records. At the same time, another group of technicians prepared the equipment for the next phase of their ordeal, which was the taking of tissue samples. After that came the final step. Under the watchful eye of Dr. Jordan, the Head Technician would draw close to a full quart of the Terrellian's unusual, dark green blood.

Jacoby made a few notes before asking, "Do you want just the routine samples taken after we've taken the specimens for cultivation?"

"Just from the male," Lilith said thoughtfully. "We ran the routine stuff on the female no more than two months ago. But it's been nearly a year since we've seen him." With a knowing smile, she added, "And we do want to keep up the appearance that we're doing legitimate research, now don't we?"

The Doctor hadn't been any happier about being left behind than Jason had been about leaving him. Breathing was increasingly more difficult, and despite the fact that his Time Lord body had a respiratory bypass system, he knew it wouldn't keep him alive indefinitely. With nothing else to do, he tried to concentrate his mind and energy on simply breathing. Jason would return soon, he hoped.

After several minutes, the Doctor became aware of a rustling sound coming from somewhere in the forest behind him. At first, he thought it to be the leaves moving in the branches of the trees. That is, until he heard the unmistakable sound of a twig snapping under the weight of someone's…or something's foot. The rustling soon became footfalls. Whatever was making them, it sounded very large. It was also moving closer. He tensed as it seemed to move up behind him, but he knew he was powerless to defend himself against any large animal that might attack him.

As the reason for the noise appeared in the Doctor's field of vision, he immediately concluded that he was losing his grip on reality. Instead of an animal, he saw two plants exit the forest and move slowly towards him.

The Doctor had no way of knowing that the walking plants were, in fact, Terrellians. The first was female; large and light green with veins of brown across her skin. The other was male: younger, smaller and darker green with rust colored marking on his torso and skirt-like tendrils.

"He has inhaled the trura dust," Marjora, the larger of the two observed quietly.

"Good. Let him die, then," came the bitter reply.

"Laurel! There is nothing good about death!" Marjora reproved sharply.

Had the Doctor been able to hear their conversation, he would have readily agreed. Especially since it involved his own death.

"Mother, you're not going to help him!" Laurel gasped unbelievingly.

"We have helped the humans before."

"Not like this!" her son pointed out. "This isn't a lost child we can guide back to the settlement."

"If we do not help him, he will die," Marjora stated matter of factly. "I've seen the humans take the life of their own kind. Perhaps it's the same with this man. I do not know." In her own mind only one thing was important. If this man had been left to die by the other humans, then he was no less a victim of their evil than her people and therefore deserving of their help and any and all of her medical knowledge.

"Mother, he's a human, and humans are evil. That much I've learned."

"I will not learn to kill!" Marjora snapped and went over to the moss Jason had been examining. She pulled up a large sheet with her powerful claw-like hands, shaking off the dirt. She dunked it in the stream several times and then squeezed out the excess water. As she moved toward the Doctor, she looked over to Laurel. "I'll need your help."

Laurel stiffened and remained where he was, folding his arms and shaking his head vigorously. Marjora gave him a withering look and, reluctantly, he obeyed, moving with his mother into the Doctor's failing field of vision. They knelt down on either side of him and Marjora pulled a strip from the sheet of moss. "Hold him," she instructed, and then held the wet mass firmly over the Time Lord's mouth and nose.

This quite naturally took the Doctor by surprise and he fought back weakly against his assumed attackers. Laurel's grip on his wrists was powerful and restrained him from pulling the hand from his face. When he started to cough, the pack was removed and he was gently pulled forward, supported by Marjora until the coughing fit passed. He was then leaned back against the tree and another cold, wet mass was pressed over his mouth and nose.

Somewhere in the Doctor's slowly fading consciousness he realized these creatures weren't trying to kill him, but were trying to help him and he stopped fighting, discovering at the same time that he was actually able to breathe more easily. After another coughing fit, he blacked out.

Marjora studied him closely. "He is different from the others," she observed softly, touching the Time Lord's long scarf. "His garments are…peculiar."

"What do we do now, Mother?" Laurel asked practically. "Do we leave him?"

"Perhaps…that would be best," she replied hesitantly, although she would have preferred not to. It would take time to completely destroy the spores, and that would require several more treatments. Were she to leave him now there was no guaranteeing the Doctor would survive. Conversely, if she continued to treat him, there was no guaranteeing he would not take her captive as soon as he recovered.

At that moment four others came out of the forest. They moved in awe toward the unconscious Time Lord. It was the first time any of them had been this close to a human without being a prisoner. After a barrage of questions, there was a heated debate and then a decision was made. Since Marjora had taken it upon herself to save the life of this human, she would have to continue to treat him, which meant only one thing. They would take the Doctor prisoner.