Hello chaps!
Now, many apologies for the extreme lateness of this chapter, but this week has been horrific. My brother has just left for uni, and the preps were tedious and tiring, I'm trying to do several million things at once, and so great was my busyness that I have barely had 5 minutes to come on the PC. Luckily I had a mini brainwave with this whilst relaxing in Biology, so this story continued in the only spare time I have currently. A 5th year's lot is not a happy one.
This story will probably be at least 8 chapters long. I have most of chapter five sketched out, ready for another boring lesson, and so far, the plot seems to be moving at a quite average pace. Please refrain from asking me if this is the end yet after every chapter, because I know that I am awful at posting regularly, and I do apologize but I can't work more than 24 hours a day. (There are times I truly wish I had a TARDIS).
And now without further adieu, I give you the (regrettably short) chapter four.
Chapter Four.
"It's Gallifreyan." Her heart dropped like a stone.
"What?" she whispered disbelievingly. Gallifreyan, the race of the Doctor, the race of the Time Lords, that very DNA, was in her blood? Her mind was numb, she couldn't think. Her heart was leaping into her throat, she could barely breathe. She looked down at her hand, the pale skin seeming unreal in the light of this new information. The blood that pumped along the veins just visible under her skin was alien blood.
"H-How?" she said shakily, still staring at her hand as if it was going to change under her very eyes.
"I don't know." The Doctor replied, his voice indeterminable. "But whatever it is caused your headaches and when you fainted."
"You mean," she struggled with the concept. "You mean I've been changing for days and I didn't notice?" The Doctor sighed.
"It looks that way."
"And you can't stop it?" she asked, looking up at the haggard alien. He shook his head.
"Not until I know what's causing it." There was a short silence, until Jack burst into the room, panting heavily.
"I've got it!" he cried, staggering into the room, trying to catch his breath. He turned to Rose. "How long have you had those headaches?"
"We've been through that already," Rose said, still pale from shock. "About a week." Jack's face lit up.
"About since I joined you?" he checked, and she nodded uncertainly.
"Jack?" the Doctor asked, confusion all over his face. Jack turned to him.
"It all makes sense." He said seriously. "If Rose has been ill since you met me, that means it must be something from 1940's London. Now, the only thing with the technology for something like this had to be either from my ship, yours, or the ambulance, right?" The Doctor paled as realisation hit him.
"Not the Nanogenes…" Jack nodded, keeping eye contact.
"Some of them must've got onto the TARDIS, just enough of them. But the question is, why?"
"Nanogenes don't just repair. Remember, I told you? Nanogenes are designed to recreate an entire species if necessary. An extinct species like mine would be a prime target."
"Wait," Rose called from the bed. "You're sayin' those little robots are rebuildin' me, just like them people in London?" A sudden vision of herself as a gasmask person flashed over her vision, and she swallowed back nausea.
"Not quite." The Doctor said. "There are less of them, so it's taking longer, added to the fact that us Gallifreyans are a complex race. And so far only the basics seem to be changing –DNA, probably cardiovascular system, stuff like that. You'll probably still be you, but you'll also be Gallifreyan."
"But the human body isn't built for that!" Jack said.
"The Nanogenes won't care; they'll cope, change anything that needs it." A thought hit him. "What about you?" Jack did a double take.
"What about me?" The Doctor walked across to the desk, grabbed the blood analyser and quickly took a sample from the human.
"Any headaches? Anything weird happen?"
"No, nothing." The Doctor jumped across to the control panel and inserted the blood sample, sighing with impatience as it whirred into life.
"You might not be affected then." The Doctor frowned. "But why not?"
"Maybe I'm incompatible." The Time Agent suggested, with a shrug.
"Be glad." Rose mumbled from the bed, clutching her head wearily in one hand. Both men immediately were at her side.
"Another headache?" Jack said sympathetically, and she smiled wryly.
"At least now I know what's causing it." Rose said bravely, as the Doctor produced yet another device. Pressing it to her temple, he fiddled with the controls, and, with a strange hissing sound, the pain receded to a manageable level. "Thanks."
"It's the least I can do." He said, with a shrug that belied his emotions.
"So what do we do now?" Jack said eventually, looking between his two friends.
"We stop it." The Doctor said sharply, turning away from them. With swift movements, he grabbed the results from earlier and walked out, startling both Rose and Jack.
"What the-" Jack started, his brow furrowing. Rose sighed, and placed her head in her hands, despite the lack of pain. When he made to move, she reached a hand out to stop him, and he sat down again.
"I think I know." She said softly. She knew Jack didn't know much about the older alien, besides the basics – after all, they hadn't been travelling together for very long. He couldn't know.
"The Doctor, he was part of the Time War," she said, and he nodded, fixing her with his full attention. "His race, the Time Lords, lived on a planet called Gallifrey…"
"Yeah, it's one of those modern myths." Jack agreed. "Apart from this one's real."
"Anyway, the Doctor and his race were up against these things called Daleks…"
"Rose, I fought in the Time War, I know most of this already…" Jack interrupted.
"Yes, but you need to know this to know the rest," she explained impatiently. "Because he was, is, the last. All his people are dead. You, and others fought in the Time War, and people, planets, races died. Can you imagine that? He's the last of the Time Lords, he told me once. His people used to be able to talk to each other telepathically, and now he can't hear anyone. Him, and the TARDIS, they're the only ones left. Until me."
Jack was still confused.
"Look, if what you're saying is right, and I'm turning into a Gallifreyan, then I'm going to be like him. A permanent reminder of all he's lost. The Nanogenes picked up on the fact that his DNA is unique. He knows that, but forcing it on him, it still hurts." Jack's eyes widened slightly in realisation.
"And it's not just that – he's worried." He said. "What happened on Earth – you saw it," he shivered in memory. "He cares about you a lot you know." Rose blushed slightly despite the situation.
"He worries about everything." She said quickly, avoiding the topic. Then her expression turned serious again, and she looked up into Jack's eyes. "What do we do?"
"As the Doc said, we stop it." He said quietly. "I'm sure there must be a pretty simple way to reprogram them or something. The Doc'll work it out."
"Yeah." She replied distantly, looking back down at her hand again, her mind superimposing the memory of millions of golden lights under her skin.
The Doctor sighed, rubbing his grainy eyes forcefully. Blinking to refocus, he tapped a few keys, and frowned at the result. Hopeless. He had been working for over twenty-four hours straight already, and before that, when had he last slept? He frowned as he tossed the matter over in his mind. He hadn't slept since Jack had joined them – he hadn't needed to. It was over a week at least, which meant he was overdue forty winks. But with everything that was happening, and the long work ahead of him, there was no chance for sleep. So, gritting his teeth, he forced himself back on track and continued to slug at the problem.
In this state of near exhaustion, he didn't notice the figure stood by the door, until he tapped him on the shoulder. He jumped and turned quickly, panicked, nearly hitting a worried-looking Jack right on the jaw in the process.
"Jack!" he exclaimed, cursing himself for being so tense.
"Doctor, you all right?"
"I'm fine." He waved it off quickly. "How's Rose?"
"She's fine, apart from being even more worried about you than I am."
"I'm fine!" the stressed Time Lord retorted, as the other man's eyebrow rose.
"OK, so you've been working for at least two days straight, you just tried to punch me, and I'm sure we haven't been boxing, so those rings under your eyes aren't bruises. You are not in anybody's book 'fine'."
"I am fine." The Doctor said firmly, returning his gaze back to the computer screen. Jack, now thoroughly annoyed, folded his arms.
"Right, we aren't going to have that argument again. Either you go to bed of your own volition, or I knock you out and drag you there myself. You are not doing anyone any favours, least of all yourself!" He glared at the Doctor, who turned to face the worried and angry Time Agent. For the first time in a long time, he crumbled. 'Must be really tired', he thought to himself. Hitting the standby button on the screen, he pushed back the chair, glared at Jack's triumphant grin, and got up. And fell down.
"Really should remember to sleep more often." He muttered as he dragged himself back to his feet, Jack pulling his arm and transferring some of the weight to himself.
"You should remember to work out more often." Jack complained, flashing him a grin. "Fancy it sometime?"
"As long as you're locked up in your room." The Doctor retorted, still finding the energy to fend off the indefatigable man.
"Touché." Jack replied, glad he had already sent Rose to her own bed not long earlier.
When they reached the Doctor's bedroom, the Time Lord turned to the other man.
"Right, off you go."
"What?" Jack replied, grinning. "And miss a chance to get into the bedroom?"
"Down boy," the Doctor warned. "Get into your own. You've got me this far, I'm sure I can manage to get into bed myself." Jack shot him a disappointed look, and sauntered off, to find his own bedroom.