A/N: Since I've recently been through these, I'm being able to edit a lot quicker then I thought. It's possible i might get the majority of these done today.
Chapter Fifteen: New Earth
The following morning, when we emerged from the TARDIS, we found mum, Rose and Mickey waiting. Rose had a heavy rucksack on her back making it clear that she didn't want to be left on earth again for nearly three months
"Have you got everything?" Mum asked Rose worriedly. She knew that I would be fine, I was used to living on my own and I hadn't been staying on earth (from her point of view) for nearly seven months (not counting the year I missed). Rose wasn't used to being on her own, nor had she been with the Doctor as long as I had been.
"I've got everything, don't worry." Rose responded, hugging mum.
"Be careful." Mum said, holding on to her tight before letting go and repeating the process with me.
"You'll have to call Mo about that…" Rose began to say, reminding mum that she still needed to talk with her sister.
"Oh, never mind Mo." Mum waved her off.
"Okay, I'm going now. I love you!" Rose said to mum before turning to Mickey and kissing him on the cheek. "Love you." She told him in farewell before turning to the TARDIS. Once she was inside, I said my own farewells and reminded them that I would be calling to keep in touch before I also entered the TARDIS.
"So, where are we going?" Rose questioned excitedly, placing her bag on the pilot seat while the Doctor bounced energetically around the console room.
"Further than we've ever gone before." The Doctor answered just as the TARDIS lurched and I had to grab the banister to stay on my feet, and Rose to keep her on her feet.
"It's the year five billion and twenty-three." The Doctor explained as we landed and left the TARDIS to find ourselves on top of a hill that over looked a river. On the other side of the river was a massive city that reminded me quite strongly of New York but the whiter buildings and flying cars gave it a futuristic feeling. "We're in the galaxy M87, and this?" the Doctor motioned to the view before them, "This is New Earth."
"That's just. That's just…" Rose said lost for words as she stared around in amazement.
"It's wonderful." I said, leaning slightly on the Doctor's shoulder when he offered me his arm with a smile.
"That's amazing. I'll never get used to this. Never." Rose laughed as she jumped slightly. "Different ground beneath my feet, different sky. What's that smell?" Rose asked suddenly, turning to the Doctor curiously.
"Apple Grass." The Doctor answered, bending down to pick a blade and offer it to the disbelieving Rose.
"Apple Grass." Rose repeated, sniffing the grass to see if he was having her on.
"Yeah." The Doctor agree, putting his free hand in his coat pocket.
"It's wonderful." I repeated my earlier statement with a smile as Rose wondered off slightly to look around a bit. "Not just the planet, but travelling with you." I looked up to the Doctor with a smile. "Travelling with you is amazing, and I love it."
"Me too." The Doctor agree smiling down at me for a moment before calling out to Rose and wondering to a different part of the hill with a better view of what was around them. "Come on!"
The Doctor took off his jacket to lie it on the ground so that they could sit down without getting covered in grass.
"So, the year five billion, the sun expands, the Earth gets roasted." The Doctor explained to Rose who was sat on my other side.
"That was our first trip." I recalled absently as I watched the bustle off flying cars that surrounded the city.
"Yes, it was." The Doctor agreed with a smile. "So anyway, planets gone, all rocks and dust, but the human race lives on, spread out across the stars. Soon as the Earth burns up, oh yeah, they get all nostalgic, big revival movement, but then they find this place. Same size as the Earth, same air, same orbit. Lovely. Call goes out, the humans move in."
"What's the city called?" I asked curiously.
"New New York." The Doctor answered and I laughed lightly.
"What's so funny?" Rose questioned curiously.
"When I first saw the city, I thought it looked like a futuristic New York. It seems I was right. They probably designed the city after the original one." I answered, otherwise they wouldn't have named it as such.
"Although strictly speaking, it's the fifteenth New York since the original, so that makes it New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York. What?" the Doctor finished with a question, noticing the way Rose was staring at him.
"You're so different." Rose answered.
"New New Doctor." the Doctor and I chanted back together making Rose giggle. I didn't mind the difference in the Doctor. This incarnation was chattier then the last, talked faster and was more openly affectionate. However, he's still full off so much wonder and excitement about the universe, talks fast when explaining something, communicates with the TARDIS like she was a person capable of holding a conversation, was full of so much kindness and a deep underlining of anger and hurt, and so much more.
"Can we go and visit New New York, so good they named it twice?" Rose asked excitedly as she jumped to her feet.
The Doctor got up and helped me to my feet as well before answering Rose. "Well, I thought we might go there first."
The Doctor pointed to a pair of curved skyscrapers standing apart from the city on the side of the river that they were stood on.
"Why, what is it?" Rose asked, staring at the building curiously.
"Annamae, do you know?" The Doctor asked, putting to the test the knowledge I was learning from him and the library.
I frowned over at the building, taking in any key identifying features. It took a moment before I spotted the green moon on the side of one of the skyscrapers. "Oh…it's a hospital." I answered with a bright smile.
"Green moon on the side. That's the universal symbol for hospitals." The Doctor explained to Rose who was trying to find what I had spotted. "I got this." The Doctor held up the wallet he kept the psychic paper in. "A message on the psychic paper."
"Ward 26, please come." Rose read aloud for me since I couldn't see what it said.
"Someone wants to see me." The Doctor explained, frowning lightly at the hospital. He rather disliked hospitals.
"Hmm. And I thought we were just sight-seeing. Come on, then. Let's go and buy some grapes." Rose said, grabbing my free arm and pulling us towards the hospital.
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Rose had noticed the slight frown on the Doctor's face as they got closer to the hospital and had called him out on it.
"I can't help it. I don't like hospitals. They give me the creeps." The Doctor was complaining as they entered the large, open reception room of the hospital. It reminded her rather starkly of some of the big banks in London as opposed to a hospital.
"The Pleasure Gardens will now take visitors carrying green or blue identification cards for the next fifteen minutes. Visitors are reminded that cuttings from the gardens are not permitted." A female voice said over the speakers.
"Very smart. Not exactly NHS." Rose observed, staring around.
"No shop. I like the little shop." The Doctor pouted, when he looked around the empty area.
"It's a hospital Doctor, they probably didn't want the distraction of the shops in their entrance hall." I commented in turn. I had never understood why there were shops inside the hospital. I could see sense for shops being next to the hospital, for those who left and wanted a drink or for the visiting families, but the hospital provided food and refreshments for any patients staying during the meal times (unless that had changed in the future).
"I thought this far in the future, they'd have cured everything." Rose commented.
"The human race moves on, but so do the viruses. It's an ongoing war." The Doctor answered calmly.
Rose finally took notice of the women dressed as nuns (who I assumed where the nurse and doctors), who were cats. Of all the things I had seen, cat-nuns were not the weirdest thing so I didn't look twice.
"They're cats." Rose turned to the Doctor shocked.
"Now, don't stare. Think what you look like to them, all pink and yellow." The Doctor answered, wondering to the lift while Rose continued to stare at the passing nurses. "That's where I'd put the shop. Right there." the Doctor pointed over to an empty corner before he led me into the lift. "Ward 26, thanks!" he called up to the ceiling.
"Hold on! Hold on!" Rose called, trying to run to the lift as the doors started closing.
"Oh, too late. We're going up." The Doctor called through the closed doors.
"It's all right, there's another lift." Rose called back.
"Ward 26." I reminded her; Rose most likely having forgotten the place where we needed to go.
"And watch out for the disinfectant." The Doctor tagged on.
"Watch out for what?" Rose's voice shouted back, but it sounded distant as we began moving.
"The disinfectant!" The Doctor shouted back.
"The what?" Rose's reply was barely audible.
"The disin... Oh, you'll find out." The Doctor gave up.
"She isn't going to be pleased." I commented releasing the Doctor's arm and shooting him a smile. Despite the Doctor's dislike of hospitals, this was not the first one they had visited in the future. I had been rather impressed with the disinfecting process that everyone had to go through before visiting any patients, which likely stopped the spread of deceases to either the patients or the outside world – since they had to go through it again to leave.
"No, I don't think she will be."
"Commence stage one disinfection." A voice said moments before a spray came from the walls and ceiling.
I closed my eyes, and spread my arms slightly so that I became completely drenched. After a few seconds the spray was replaced by the warm air. I laughed brightly when I opened my eyes to see the Doctor and I had spread our arms slightly to allow our long coats to billow behind us. The Doctor exchanged an amused smile with me.
When the lift opened, they were met by one of the veiled nurses. The Doctor offered his arm once more as we followed the nurse who introduced herself as Jatt, through the halls.
"Nice place. No shop, downstairs. I'd have a shop. Not a big one. Just a shop, so people can shop." The Doctor was nattering as they wondered.
The nurse removed her veil and looked at the Doctor disapprovingly. "The hospital is a place of healing."
"A shop does some people the world of good. Not me. Other people." The Doctor responded slightly awkwardly.
"The Sisters of Plentitude take a lifelong vow to help, and to mend." Jatt responded as they passed by an open cubicle. There was a man leaning up against the bed, moaning slightly in pain as his skin was turned to stone.
"Excuse me! Members of the public may only gaze upon the Duke of Manhattan with written permission from the Senate of New New York." The woman who was stood worriedly at the man's side snapped angrily when she saw them stood there.
"That's Petrifold Regression, right?" the Doctor identified the illness with a frown.
"I'm dying, sir. A lifetime of charity and abstinence, and it ends like this." The man said, his words disagreeing with his girth and fine cloths.
"Any statements made by the Duke of Manhattan may not be made public without official clearance."
"Frau Clovis! I'm so weak." The Duke said, causing the women – Clovis – to run to his side immediately.
"Sister Jatt. A little privacy, please."
"He'll be up and about in no time." Jatt responded, calmly leading us away.
"I doubt it. Petrifold Regression? He's turning to stone. There won't be a cure for oh, a thousand years? He might be up and about, but only as a statue." The Doctor disagreed.
"Have faith in the Sisterhood. But is there no one here you recognise? It's rather unusual to visit without knowing the patient." The Sister questioned as my eyes landed on the patient at the end of the ward.
Releasing the Doctors arm I dashed forward and knelt in front of the Face of Boe. But now I knew who he really was, who he began as. Now that I had met him as a human, now that I had made him immortal, I could recognise him right off. And it tore at my heart to realise that my brother must have lived such a long and lonely life. I vowed that as I passed through time, I would try and meet up with him as often as I could – either as the Face of Boe or as Jack. He needed some consistency in his life as the humans and aliens he surrounded himself with perished and died.
"Novice Hame, if I can leave this gentleman and lady in your care?" Jatt asked the nurse who was sat on a stall next to him.
"Oh, I think my friend got lost. Rose Tyler. Could you ask at reception?" the Doctor caught Jatt before she could walk away.
"Certainly, sir." Jatt responded before leaving them.
"I'm afraid the Face of Boe's asleep. That's all he tends to do these days. Are you friends, or…" The nurse asked, looking between the Doctor and I sadly.
"Old friends." I answered, reaching out and gently touching the glass container where Jack's cheek was.
The Doctor reached out and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. As far as he knew, we had only met the Face of Boe once on Platform One, but I couldn't tell him about Jack. The time wasn't right. He would find out who he was in time, and then he would understand why it saddened me so to see him in the hospital.
"What's wrong with him?" the Doctor questioned.
"I'm so sorry. I thought you knew. The Face of Boe is dying." The nurse answered sadly.
"Of what?" the Doctor asked, joining me in my crouch and wrapping a comforting arm around my shoulders.
"Old age. The one thing we can't cure. He's thousands of years old. Some people say millions, although that's impossible."
"Oh, I don't know. I like impossible." The Doctor answered, turning sad eyes on Jack and resting his hand on my own. "I'm here. I look a bit different, but it's me, it's the Doctor."
"And I'm here to, like I promised." I spoke as well, getting a confused look from the Doctor.
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"Hope, harmony and health. Hope, harmony and health." The automated voice was saying over the coms sometime later. The Doctor had wondered off to get something to drink while I was leaning slightly against Jack's tank, humming Glenn Miller softly to him. The nurse – Novice Hame - was sat in her chair watching. Sometimes she would get up and make sure that all the equipment Jack was hooked up to was working properly but otherwise she sat and listened.
"That's very kind. There's no need." Novice Hame said, accepting the cup the Doctor handed her.
"You're the one working." the Doctor reminded her.
"There's not much to do, just maintain his smoke. And I suppose I'm company. I can hear him singing, sometimes, in my mind. Such ancient songs." Hame said sadly as I stopped humming. "The one you sing is one of his favourites I think."
"Are we the only visitors?" the Doctor asked, frowning at the fact that the nurse was the only company the Face of Boe had. Did he not have any friends or family?
"The rest of Boe-kind became extinct long ago. He's the only one left. Legend says that the Face of Boe has watched the universe grow old. There's all sorts of superstitions around him. One story says that just before his death, the Face of Boe will impart his great secret, that he will speak those words only to one like himself."
"What does that mean?" the Doctor asked with a frown.
"It's just a story." Noivce Hame said, shaking her head.
"Tell me the rest." The Doctor asked gentle.
"It's said he'll talk to a wanderer. To the man without a home. The lonely God." Novice Hame answered. I looked sharply at the Doctor and he stared back at me in shock. The message, and those words meant that the Face of Boe had called him there because he thought he was dying and wanted to tell his secret.
"Doctor," I tossed him my phone. "Rose has been gone for a while, could you call and make sure she's okay?" I questioned.
"Of course, will you be okay?" he asked, hesitating about leaving me alone while he went to make the phone call.
"Yeah, I'll be fine." I promised, getting to my knees and then standing. "I'm just going to wonder the floor for a bit, I'll see you back here."
"Be careful." He warned.
"Always." I answered.
While wondering the ward I discretely asked about some of the patients. The diseases these patients were presenting with where like nothing I had ever seen before. And not a single person seemed to be anticipated to die despite how horrible the illnesses where. No matter how advanced the medicine in this time was, I found it highly unlikely that there wasn't a single disease that didn't have a cure. It was impossible, and the Doctor's words about the cure for Petrifole Regression not being invented for a thousand more years came back to me. Something was wrong with the hospital. I could feel the deaths that were happening, it was why I disliked hospitals because I could tell you the exact mortality rate that day. And yet, not a single person I had gone past was to die.
When I returned to Ward 26 it was to find that the Duke of Manhattan was laughing and the Doctor was wondering over to his cubicle – most likely drawn by the noise.
"Didn't think I was going to make it. It's that man again! He's my good luck charm. Come in. Don't be shy." The Duke cheered when he spotted the Doctor. I stepped forward and took the Doctor's hand. Gentle squeezing it to let him know I had something to tell him.
"Any friendship expressed by the Duke of Manhattan does not constitute a form of legal contract." Clovis said officially.
"Winch me up. Up! Look at me. No sign of infection." The Duke said, spreading his arms as he was pulled into a sitting position.
"Champagne, sir, Ma'am?" a waiter asked, approaching with a tray of wine flutes.
"No, thanks." The Doctor dismissed the offer without really taking it in as he was frowning at the Duke. "You had Petrifold Regression, right?"
"That being the operative word. Past tense. Completely cured." The Duke laughed joyfully.
"But that's impossible." The Doctor denied as a nurse I didn't recognise approached.
"Primitive species would accuse us of magic, but it's merely the tender application of science." She informed them calmly.
"How on Earth did you cure him?" the Doctor asked with a frown.
"How on New Earth, you might say." The nurse responded with a smile.
"What's in that solution?" The Doctor pointed at the orange saline bag that was attached to the Duke's arm, not remotely amused by the nurse's attempt at joking.
"A simple remedy." The nurse answered, her smile becoming a bit fixed at the questioning.
"Then tell me what it is." The Doctor answered, hiding the frustration he was feeling behind sarcasm.
"I'm sorry. Patient confidentiality. I don't believe we've met. My name is Matron Casp."
"I'm the Doctor." he answered, frowning at the avoidance. Since when did medication come under patient confidentiality? He had already identified what the man had, which was what was normally covered by the confidentiality oath.
"I think you'll find that we're the doctors here."
"Matron Casp, you're needed in Intensive Care." Jatt appeared, looking slightly worried.
"If you would excuse me." Casp bowed her head before hurrying away with Jatt. The Doctor and I frowned after them.
"What did you find?" The Doctor questioned as they moved towards the Face of Boe so that they couldn't be heard.
"Everyone on this ward, and the wards close by have horrible illnesses. From what I can determine they all have something that would normally be fatal but the nuns say they'll be up and ready to leave in the next three days. No one is predicted to die, yet the death rate here is greater than any other hospital I have ever been in. And those deaths, they're concealed somehow." I explained softly to the Doctor.
"They're up to something." The Doctor agreed. "Let's do some snooping."
"Ambient temperature stands at fourteen degrees. This temperature is designed to promote healing and well-being." The voice said over the intercom as the Doctor led me around the cubicles in the area so that he could more closely examine the patients and their medication. They had just past a man floating in mid-air without any support, his skin dyed red, when Rose entered the Ward.
"There you are." The Doctor dashed forward, grabbing Rose's hand and pulling her back to me.
I frowned slightly; something was wrong. Rose didn't feel like Rose. I smoothed out my expression, not wanting to alert whoever was using Rose's body that I knew something was wrong. "Come and look at this patient. Marconi's Disease. Should take years to recover. Two days. I've never seen anything like it. They've invented a cell washing cascade. It's amazing. Their medical science is way advanced."
"And this one…" he led them to the next bed over which held a man whose skin was bleached white. "Pallidome Pancrosis. Kills you in ten minutes, and he's fine. I need to find a terminal. I've got to see how they do this. Because if they've got the best medicine in the world, then why is it such a secret?"
"I can't Adam and Eve it." Rose responded in a bad cockney accent. The Doctor frowned, finally taking note that something was wrong with Rose.
"What's, what's. What's with the voice?" The Doctor questioned.
"Oh, I don't know. Just larking about. New Earth, new me." Rose responded, her voice becoming a bit more sensible but still sounding off. There was a slight lilt to her voice. The Doctor exchanged a subtle look with me before relaxing and trying to act normal.
"Well, I can talk. New New Doctor." the Doctor responded with a smile.
"Mmm, aren't you just…" Rose responded, and then she pulled the Doctor down for a long and hard kiss. He struggled, trying to pull back but he didn't want to hurt Rose by using his strength. Rose released him, turned on her heal and began walking away with a pleased smile on her face. "Terminal's this way."
The Doctor looked at me with wide eyes. "I'm sorry… I couldn't stop her…" he stuttered out.
"It's okay." I soothed him, taking his arm and offering a gentle smile so as to calm him down. Smiling was the last thing I felt like doing when someone had taken control of my sister, but the Doctor needed to know I didn't blame him for that kiss. "I know, but I think we need to find out what's wrong with my sister."
"Yes, yes we do." The Doctor agreed seriously, before they followed after Rose.
The terminal they ended up using was right next to the lift in a small bland room.
"Nope, nothing odd. Surgery, post-op, nano-dentistry. Still no sign of a shop. They should have a shop." The Doctor said, rambling as he frowned at the screen his mind working a mile a minute.
"No, it's missing something else. When I was downstairs, those Nurse Cat Nuns were talking about Intensive Care. Where is it?" Rose asked, leaning over the Doctor's shoulder as she scanned the screen.
"You're right. Well done." The Doctor said, staring at the side of Rose's head.
"Why would they hide a whole department? It's got to be there somewhere. Search the sub-frame." Rose ordered and my frown increased. Rose didn't know a lot about computers and technology, it wasn't the sort of thing she was interested in. So, unless Mickey had given her a complete intensive study on computers, and Rose had actually listened, in the time she was on earth that shouldn't have changed.
"What if the sub-frame's locked?" the Doctor questioned, testing her.
"Try the installation protocol." Rose said like it was obvious with a role of her eyes.
"Yeah. Of course. Sorry. Hold on." the Doctor agreed, running his sonic screwdriver over the screen.
They all stepped back as the whole wall slid down to reveal a corridor. I stumbled slightly to the side, forcing the Doctor to place a supporting arm around my shoulders. The slightly muted feeling of death and wrongness that had surrounded the hospital had suddenly become fall force. There were people's lives here, being force started and stopped before they could truly live and opening that door was like punching me in the gut with the feelings that had barely reached my senses before.
"Intensive Care. Certainly looks intensive." The Doctor commented once I was able to take my own weight again.
Rose led the way without hesitating into the Intensive Care Unit. The walls were lined with cells, thousands of them glowing faintly green indicating that they were occupied. On the corridor they were stood on, only one cell was a dull green, indicting unoccupied and I couldn't see other ones like it on the other floors. The Doctor opened one of the cells at random. Held supported by arm bars was a very sick young man.
"That's disgusting. What's wrong with him?" Rose gasped, stepping back in horror while the Doctor and I looked sorrowfully at the man.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." The Doctor apologised, gentle closing the door before opening the next one to reveal a young woman who was just as ill as the man.
"What disease is that?" Rose asked, shocked.
"All of them. Every single disease in the galaxy. They've been infected with everything." The Doctor said angrily.
"What about us? Are we safe?" Rose asked worriedly.
"The air's sterile. Just don't touch them." the Doctor answered sadly, closing the door on the women and turning to lean on the railing and looking out at all the cells.
"How many patients are there?" Rose asked, looking around.
"They're not patients." I answered darkly.
"But they're sick." Rose denied.
"They were born sick. They're meant to be sick. They exist to be sick. Lab rats. No wonder the Sisters have got a cure for everything. They've built the ultimate research laboratory. A human farm." The Doctor explained in disgusted anger.
"Why don't they just die?" Rose asked.
"Plague carriers. The last to go." I answered sadly.
"It's for the greater cause." Hame's sad voice caused them to spin around and face the way they had come.
"Novice Hame, when you took your vows, did you agree to this?" the Doctor asked, taking an angry step forward while I kept a calming had on his arm. The placement of my hand wasn't enough to restrain him, but it would keep the Doctor grounded and stop him going full storm on the nun. They needed answers, and if the Doctor scared Hame to much she was more likely to deny everything, than communicate with them.
"The Sisterhood has sworn to help." Hame explained, trying to remain calm and confident but her eyes were sad and ashamed.
"What, by killing?" the Doctor asked with dark sarcasm.
"But they're not real people. They're specially grown. They have no proper existence." Hame denied.
"But they do. They have thoughts and feelings. They scream out for touch and a chance to live and you deny them that. That chance to live and be who they are." I told Hame sadly, trying to get the cat to acknowledge the harm she was doing.
"What's the turnover, hmm?" the Doctor agreed, hoping that they could stop this mass slaughter before it got any worse. "Thousand a day? Thousand the next? Thousand the next? How many thousands? For how many years?"
"Mankind needed us." Hame answered, but her voice came out slightly unsure as she tried to explain what the nuns had done. "They came to this planet with so many illnesses. We couldn't cope. We did try. We tried everything. We tried using clone-meat and bio-cattle, but the results were too slow, so the Sisterhood grew its own flesh. That's all they are. Flesh."
"These people are alive." The Doctor violently motioned to the cells.
"But think of those Humans out there, healthy and happy, because of us." Hame responded imploringly.
"If they live because of this, then life is worthless." The Doctor spat.
"But who are you to decide that?" Hame asked, confused by the authority the Doctor spoke and carried himself with.
"I'm the Doctor. And if you don't like it, if you want to take it to a higher authority, then there isn't one. It stops with me." the Doctor informed Hame strongly.
"Just to confirm. None of the humans in the city actually know about this?" Rose peaked between the Doctor and I to ask a question.
"We thought it best not." Hame responded cautiously.
"Hold on. I can understand the bodies. I can understand your vows. One thing I can't understand. What have you done to Rose?" The Doctor asked with forced calm in his voice.
"I don't know what you mean?" Hame asked in confusion.
"And I'm being very, very calm. You want to be aware of that. Very, very calm. And the only reason I'm being so very, very calm is that the brain is a delicate thing. Whatever you've done to Rose's head, I want it reversed."
"We haven't done anything." Hame responded, not understanding what was wrong with the human girl. I frowned at Hame, she really didn't know what had happened, which meant that whatever was wrong with Rose was something separate to the nuns.
"I'm perfectly fine." Rose tried to reassure the Doctor who turned to face her with a frown.
"These people are dying, and Rose would care." The Doctor answered.
"Oh, all right, clever clogs. Smarty pants." Rose leaned in and whispered in his ear. "Lady-killer."
"What's happened to you?" I asked with a frown while the Doctor pulled back quickly with a frown.
"I knew something was going on in this hospital, but I needed this body and your mind to find it out." Rose answered.
"Who are you?" the Doctor demanded.
"The last human." Rose answered.
"Cassandra?" the Doctor and I asked together.
"Wake up and smell the perfume." Cass-Rose answered, spraying something in his face. Immediately the Doctor collapsed and I was only just quick enough to catch him and lower him to the ground.
"Now what are you going to do?" I demanded to know, gentle cradling the Doctor's head. I couldn't attack Rose because it was still her body even if Cassandra was in control of the mind.
"You've hurt him. I don't understand. I'll have to fetch Matron." Hame said, dashing forward to check on the Doctor.
"You do that, because I want to see her." Cass-Rose responded. "Now, run along. Sound the alarm!" Cassandra moved over to the wall and pulled a wire which set of an alarm. Hame got up and quickly ran. "As for you, we'll I don't really need you." Cass-Rose said before spraying the phial in my face as well.
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When I came too it was to find myself supported by the Doctor's arms, and the man shouting at Cass-Rose who was looking at them through the small window in the cell door.
"Let us out! Let us out!"
"Aren't you lucky there was a spare? Bit of a squeeze with two." Cass-Rose answered calmly.
"You've stolen Rose's body." The Doctor accused.
"Over the years, I've thought of a thousand ways to kill you, Doctor, Anna. And now, that's exactly what I've got." Cass-Rose ignored the Doctor. "One thousand diseases. They pump the patients with a top-up every ten minutes. You've got about three minutes left. Enjoy." Cass-Rose said, turning and stepping away from the cell.
"Just let Rose go, Cassandra." The Doctor shouted.
"I will. As soon as I've found someone younger, and less common, then I'll junk her with the waste. Now hushaby. It's show time." Cass-Rose said.
"Your screwdriver?" I asked the Doctor quietly.
"Inside, left pocket." The Doctor answered. "I can't get to it." he explained moving his arms to demonstrate how they were trapped by my body.
"Right." I answered, carefully turning around. With the limited space we were working with, I was forced to stand pressed against the Doctor as I turned around. Through the cell we could hear the conversation going on between Cassandra, Jatt and Casp.
"Anything we can do to help?" Jatt questioned calmly.
"Straight to the point, Whiskers. I want money."
"The Sisterhood is a charity. We don't give money. We only accept." Casp responded with some amusement.
"The humans across the water pay you a fortune, and that's exactly what I need. A one-off payment, that's all I want. Oh, and perhaps a yacht. In return for which, I shall tell the city nothing of your institutional murder. Is that a deal?"
"I'm afraid not." Casp denied.
"I'd really advise you to think about this." Cassandra warned.
"Oh, there's no need. I have to decline."
"I'll tell them, and you've no way of stopping me. You're not exactly Nuns with Guns. You're not even armed."
I finally turned all the way around and reached into the Doctor's pocket. With the way they were bigger on the inside it took a couple of seconds for me to find the screwdriver.
"Who needs arms when we have claws?" Casp responded.
"Well, nice try. Chip? Plan B." Cassandra said in a panic. There was a moment's pause before the door opened. The Doctor helped me out since I was facing the wrong way. But our cell door wasn't the only one that opened, all the doors on their level also opened. The prisoners were slowly and confusedly stepping out onto the landing.
"What've you done?" the Doctor demanded, looking around in horror.
"Gave the system a shot of adrenaline, just to wake them up. See you!" Cass-Rose responded before she started running down the stairs.
"Don't touch them! Whatever you do, don't touch!" the Doctor shouted as we ran after Cassandra, ignoring the panicking nuns.
"Oh, my God." Cass-Rose breathed in horror when more doors started opening on all the levels.
"What the hell have you done?" the Doctor demanded in horror.
"It wasn't me." Cass-Rose responded.
"One touch and you get every disease in the world, and I want that body safe, Cassandra. We've got to go down." The Doctor said, pushing Cass-Rose forward slightly to get her moving again.
"But there's thousands of them!" Cass-Rose shouted back.
"Run! Down! Down! Go down!" the Doctor shouted, deciding that it was pointless responding to what Cassandra had said.
Over the inter-com a voice sounded. "This building is under quarantine. Repeat, this building is under quarantine. No one may leave the premises. Repeat, no one may leave the premises."
"Well, that's a relief," I told the Doctor dodging the arm of one of the patients who had just stepped out of their cell.
"It will protect the people in the city." The Doctor agreed.
They finally reached the basement and Casandra ran to call a lift.
"No, the lifts have closed down. That's the quarantine. Nothing's moving." The Doctor explained, trying to decide which way to go.
"This way!" Cass-Rose said, taking the decision from the Doctor. From behind them a man covered in drawings appeared, cut off by the ill-people who had followed them.
"Someone will touch him." The Doctor tried going back but Cass-Rose didn't stop.
"Leave him! He's just a clone thing. He's only got a half-life. Come on!"
"Mistress!" the doodle man said, looking around in panic.
"I'm sorry, I can't let her escape." The Doctor shouted back.
"Hide." I advised before following after the Doctor.
They entered a room which had wires and Cassandra's old frame in it. I closed and locked the door in hopes of buying us some time while Cass-Rose ran to the back door, but she was forced to close it immediately as there were more ill-people on the other side.
"We're trapped! What am I going to do?" Cass-Rose asked panicked.
"Well, for starters, you're going to leave that body. That psychograft is banned on every civilised planet. You're compressing Rose to death." The Doctor shouted angrily as he pointed to the device on the wall.
"But I've got nowhere to go. My original skin's dead." Cass-Rose said, her eyes going wide and pleading. Trying to use the Doctor's sympathy and friendship with Rose against him.
"Not my problem. You can float as atoms in the air. Now, get out." The Doctor ordered.
"You asked for it." Cass-Rose said and before I could warn the Doctor, she took a deep breathe before blowing energy out to the Doctor. Rose stumbled and I darted forward to catch her.
"Blimey, my head. Where'd she go?" Rose asked, looking around confused. I didn't answer because the Doctor's body straightened out.
"Oh, my. This is different." He said in a very effeminate voice.
"Cassandra?" Rose breathed shocked.
"Goodness me, I'm a man. Yum. So many parts. And hardly used. Oh, oh, two hearts! Oh, baby, I'm beating out a samba!" Cassandra made the Doctor do this little dance thing.
"Get out of him." Rose ordered, but I decided to take control.
They didn't have time to argue right now and the Doctor's mind was strong enough to support Cassandra for a little while and his mental strength had improved with his regeneration which meant he would be able to block his memories from the women. Rose however didn't have that mental strength due to only being human and I didn't want to risk the damage her mind would undergo if Cassandra forced her way back in.
"Cassandra, admire the Doctor's body later. Rose, don't argue. Everyone up the ladder." I ordered pointing to the ladder that was at the back of the room. The other two didn't move right away, but when the ill-people burst through the door, Cassandra dashed for the ladder and began climbing. Rose got on the ladder right behind him and started climbing.
"I'm sorry. You're so alone and you just want to be held. But we need to find a way to cure you first, and we will. I promise," I told the women who was leading the group. She hesitated, intelligence shinning in her eyes; it wasn't so much the understanding of my words that made her pause, as it was the meaning behind my tone and emotions that I projected to them: my desire to help them. I took the time in their hesitation to get on the ladder and begin climbing up.
"If you get out of the Doctor's body, he can think of something." Rose called up to Cassandra as they passed the seventh lift shaft.
"Yap, yap, yap. God, it was tedious inside your head. Hormone city." Cassandra scoffed.
"Cassandra, use m…" I was cut off as something grabbed my ankle. Looking down I found that Matron Casp had somehow gotten on the ladder before the ill-people and she was holding my ankle tightly.
"Let go," I ordered, tightening my grip on the ladder and trying to shake the women off.
"All our good work. All that healing. The good name of the Sisterhood. You have destroyed everything." The nun accused.
"Go and play with a ball of string." Cassandra yawed, looking down.
"Everywhere, disease. This is the human world. Sickness!" Casp suddenly screamed as she was caught by the ill-women from before. Her grip loosened and she fell.
"Thank you." I told the women. "Move." I ordered Cassandra and Rose who hadn't moved when they saw the ill-women had caught up.
"Now what do we do?" Cassandra wailed when she couldn't get the doors of the last level open.
"Use the sonic screwdriver." I ordered.
"You mean this thing?" Cassandra asked reaching into the Doctor's pocket and pulling out the sonic screwdriver.
"Yes, that thing." Rose rolled her eyes.
"Well, I don't know how. That Doctor's hidden away all his thoughts." Cassandra complained.
"Then go into me. My mind is strong enough to support yours for a short time." I told Cassandra. When she hesitated, I rolled my eyes. They didn't have time for this. "Now, Cassandra." I ordered sharply.
"Alright, hold on tight." Casandra warned before letting out a deep breath of energy.
When the energy hit me, I tightened my grip on the ladder, closing my eyes. Cassandra invading my mind wasn't as painful as when Voldemort did it, but I could feel her pressing against my mind and trying to take over. Having never let anyone take control of my mind before, I wasn't going to start now. Pulling my shields into place, I sectioned off Cassandra so she couldn't escape or take control but she could still see and hear what was going on.
"God that's weird." I muttered, opening my eyes and trying to get used to the second mind in my head
{What did you do? How did you do that?} Cassandra demanded when she realised that she had absolutely no control. It was worse than in the Doctor's mind who hadn't had the chance to stop her taking control – only section of his memories.
"Annamae?" the Doctor asked, shocked.
"The one and only. I've contained Cassandra for now, not sure how long that will last. Would you mind opening the door?" I questioned, motioning to the screwdriver with one hand.
"You're brilliant." The Doctor cheered, opening the doors. He quickly helped me and Rose through before closing the door.
"It's good to have you back." I told Rose, pulling her into a hug since I hadn't had time to do so earlier.
"Thanks, it's good to be back." Rose muttered back, returning the hug.
The lift door they had gone through led to ward 26. As the Doctor opened one of the doors, Frau Clovis lunged at them with a chair.
"We're safe! We're safe! We're safe! We're clean! We're clean! Look, look." The Doctor held out his hands to show the women and calm her down.
"Show me your skin." Clovis ordered.
"Look, clean. Look, if we'd been touched, we'd be dead." Clovis lowered her chair and the Doctor entered the ward completely with us following. "So how's it going up here? What's the status?"
"There's nothing but silence from the other wards. I think we're the only ones left. And I've been trying to override the quarantine. If I can trip a signal over to New New York, they can send a private executive squad." Clovis answered, holding up the hand-held device she was typing in.
"You can't do that. If they forced entry, they'd break quarantine." The Doctor frowned.
"I am not dying in here." Clovis snapped back.
Not prepared to deal with the argument on top of the headache that trapping Cassandra was giving me, I reached for, and snatched, the device from Clovis. Before she could protest or take it back, I pulled out the battery and threw it to the corner of the room where it shattered. I handed the now useless device back to Clovis.
"We can't let a single particle of disease get out. There is ten million people in that city. They'd all be at risk. I won't let you kill those people because you're being selfish."
"Rose, Annamae, Novice Hame, everyone!" The Doctor drew attention back to himself before Clovis could be outraged at my actions. "Excuse me, your Grace. Get me intravenous solutions for every single disease. Move it!" the Doctor shouted, and soon had everyone running through the ward and getting all the medication they could find.
{What's he doing?} Cassandra asked, confused.
{What he always does: saving as many as he can.} I responded to Cassandra as I helped the Doctor attach the bags to the silk rope he had collected from somewhere.
"How's that? Will that do?" The Doctor asked as I filled the last space on the rope.
"It's going to have to, we're out of room." I answered. The Doctor smiled at me before running to the lift doors and sonicing it open.
"The lifts aren't working." Rose reminded him as they looked down the very large drop that was the lift shaft. The lift itself was below them, which was fortunate if the Doctor was about to do what I think he is.
"Not moving. Different thing. Here we go." The Doctor answered, placing the sonic in his mouth and taking a run up so he could launch himself into the lift and grab the cable.
{He's mad} Cassandra shouted in my mind.
{Yes, yes he is} I answered as the Doctor attached a round piece of equipment he had taken from the Duke's bed to the cable.
"Rose, stay here and make sure they don't do anything stupid. Annamae, you coming?" The Doctor questioned.
"Always." I answered.
{Wait, what?! You're not going to….} Cassandra's question turned to a scream as I jumped and landed on the Doctor's back.
{Live a little, Cassandra} I told her with a laugh.
"And down we go." The Doctor said, as the improvised wheel led them into a controlled fall down to the lift at the bottom of the shaft.
"My head," I groaned in pain when the Doctor stopped and we stepped onto the roof of the lift.
"Annamae, you need to hold on. Not much longer now." The Doctor soothed, grasping my hands in concern.
"It would be easier if Cassandra wasn't screaming in my head all the time." I admitted, giving the Doctor a weak smile of thanks.
"Well, maybe this will make her quite." He said, crouching next to the tank full of disinfectant and began pouring the medicine into it. "When I say so, take hold of that lever." The Doctor pointed to the lever next to the hatch on the floor.
"Right," I nodded my assent.
{What will that do, the quarantine is still in effect?} Cassandra questioned confused.
{It'll do exactly what the Doctor wants it to.} I responded.
"Ready?" the Doctor answered, opening the hatch and offering me a smile.
"Ready." I agreed.
"That lever's going to resist. But keep it in position." The Doctor warned before he dropped down into the lift.
"I'm in here! Come on!" The Doctor called out to the diseased people, and I took that as my que to pull the lever. "Come and get me. Come on!"
"Commence stage one disinfection." The system announced as the Doctor became drenched in the solution.
"Come on, come on." the Doctor shouted happily as the ill-people entered the lift and I laughed in joy along with the Doctor. "All you need to do is pass it on. Pass it on!"
{Pass on what? Pass on what?} Cassandra questioned, confused not being able to access enough of my thoughts to pick up what was happening.
"Pass it on!" The Doctor cheered as the disinfectant finally stopped having run out of solution.
I jumped down into the lift where the Doctor was stood, soaking wet and beaming away.
{What did they pass on? Did he kill them? All of them?} Cassandra asked, as I stepped out of the lift with the Doctor.
{No Cassandra, that's your way of doing things. He's the Doctor, and he cured them.} I answered proudly as I began walking among the new-humans. The first one that I approached was the women that I promised I would help, and I pulled her into a hug which she returned tightly.
"I told you we would find a cure." I told her softly.
Together the Doctor and I wondered through the people, allowing them to hug us and hold our hands as they reassured themselves that they were cured and could touch others.
{A new sub-species, Cassandra. A brand-new form of life. New humans. Look at them. Look!} I encouraged Cassandra as I smiled over at the Doctor. {Grown by cats, kept in the dark, fed by tubes, but completely, completely alive. You can't deny them, because you helped create them. The human race just keeps on going, keeps on changing. Life will out.} I reminded her of the words I had spoken on the observation deck about the human race continuing, adapting.
{You're mad, the both of you.} Cassandra said, her voice softening from the snobbish attitude she had previously worn like a cloak.
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A little while later the quarantine had been lifted. The Doctor had mostly dried off, but he was still a bit damp.
"This is the NNYPD. Please step away from the shuttles. All staff will present themselves to the officers for immediate arrest. I repeat, immediate arrest. All new life forms will be catalogued and taken into care. All visitors to the hospital will be required to make a statement to the NNYPD." The NNYPD were announcing over the hospital speakers. We watched as Novice Hame, one of the few surviving nurses, was led away in cuffs.
"Doctor, the Face of Boe." I reminded him.
"Right." The Doctor offered his hand and we ran off together.
Ward 26 was deserted off everyone except for Rose and Jack. Jack had woken up and was sadly watching Rose but it appeared as though he had made no attempt at contacting her.
"You were supposed to be dying." The Doctor commented as we both crouched in front of his tank, Rose hanging back a little since she didn't know who he was.
"There are better things to do today. Dying can wait." Jack answered, projecting his voice to all of them.
"I'm glad." I told Jack, reaching out and gentle touching his tank as I had done when I first saw him in the Ward.
"I have grown tired with the universe, Doctor, but you have taught me to look at it anew." Jack admitted.
"There are legends, you know, saying that you're millions of years old." The Doctor commented.
"There are? That would be impossible." Jack chuckled, but he sounded sad. I had no doubt that he was millions of years old, he just didn't want the Doctor to know that yet.
"Wouldn't it just. I got the impression there was something you wanted to tell us." The Doctor frowned.
"A great secret." Jack agreed.
"So the legend says." The Doctor trailed of suggesting.
"It can wait."
"Oh, does it have to?" the Doctor whined.
"We shall meet again, Doctor, for the third time, for the last time, and the truth shall be told. Until that day…" And he beamed away.
I giggled softly as the Doctor grumbled. "That is enigmatic. That, that is, that is textbook enigmatic."
The Doctor stood and helped me up, but he didn't let my hand go. "Cassandra, you can't stay in Annamae's body."
{But everything's happy. Everything's fine. Can't you just leave me?} Cassandra complained.
{Cassandra, I can't keep you contained to a corner of my mind forever. It will harm the both of us.} I told her sadly.
{I don't want to die.} Cassandra said, a scared sob in her voice.
{Cassandra, how long have you lived? You've been alone for so long, will you really just cling to my life forever alone and trapped watching me?}
{Help me.} Cassandra pleaded.
{I can't} I told her sadly.
"Mistress!" the doodle man that Cassandra identified as Chip arrived. "I kept myself safe for you, mistress."
{A body. And not just that, a volunteer.} Cassandra said thoughtfully. Before I could stop her, she escaped from my mind and entered Chip. I stumbled slightly, the Doctor reaching out to steady me while Rose stepped forward and grabbed my arm.
"Oh, sweet Lord. I'm a walking doodle." Cassandra said, looking down at her hands.
"You can't stay in there. I'm sorry, Cassandra, but that's not fair. I can take you to the city. They can build you a skin tank and you can stand trial for what you've done." The Doctor said, glad that he could now address Cassandra directly instead of having to wait for Annamae to talk with her.
"Well, that would be rather dramatic. Possibly my finest hour, and certainly my finest hat, but I'm afraid we don't have time. Poor little Chip is only a half-life, and he's been through so much. His heart is racing so. He's failing. I don't think he's going to last" Cassandra started falling to her knees, but the Doctor and I darted forward and lowered her gentle to the floor so she didn't hurt herself.
"Are you alright?" I asked in concern. This woman may have tried killing us, and taking over our bodies, but she had started to change.
"I'm fine. I'm dying, but that's fine. That's okay." Cassandra said softly.
"I can take you to the city." The Doctor offered.
"No, you won't. Everything's new on this planet. There's no place for Chip and me anymore. You're right, Doctor. It's time to die, and that's good." Cassandra agreed, smiling slightly.
"Come on. There's one last thing I can do." The Doctor said sadly as we helped Cassandra to her feet and began the long walk back to the TARDIS.
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The Doctor brought us back through Cassandra' timeline to when she was completely human and hadn't had a single surgery. They arrived at a party, and helped Cassandra leave the TARDIS. So as to not alarm any of the party guest she was wrapped in a clock.
"Thank you." Cassandra breathed softly as she watched her younger self laugh.
"Just go. And don't look back." The Doctor said sadly.
"Good luck." Rose said sadly.
I took the Doctor's hand and led him back into the TARDIS with Rose, Cassandra didn't need us there to see her die.