The Doctor opened the TARDIS door. A single unit of soldiers wearing black and burgundy were stood outside. The man in the lead had knocked on the door, but they all saluted as the Doctor went out making the time lord wince. He'd not been directly involved with UNIT for some time, They'd been there at 10 Downing Street during the Slitheen incident, but that was coincidental rather than collaboration and the men in front of him seemed very young. "At ease, gentlemen," the Doctor suggested.
"Ready for your orders, Sir."
"It's Doctor, please, just call me Doctor. No salutes and no sirs, and no orders, I need your help that's all, is that understood?"
"It's an honour, Doctor, we have read all the files."
"You've probably read more files than I have at this point in time, so we need to refrain from reminiscing about all the things we have done the last time I was involved with you, because looking at you all, you hadn't been born the last time I worked directly with UNIT. How many of you are there?"
"Sixteen."
"Sixteen, okay, hopefully that is enough of you for now. Do you have maps of the storm drains and the cave system in this area?" he asked.
"Yes Sir, I mean, Doctor."
"Are you in charge?"
"Lieutenant Grainger," the soldier confirmed with a nod. "Greyhound 14."
"What is your first name?"
"Steven."
"Steven," the Doctor acknowledged. "Okay, Stevie," he commented and raised an eyebrow at the solider. "Every time you or one of your men call me Sir I am going to refer to you as Stevie, is that understood?" he asked making everyone around smile and relax a little more. "Let's have a look at these maps?"
There was a small station being set up by six of the sixteen very young looking soldiers who had arrived. A fold out table had been put up and Lieutenant Grainger got the maps of the area and laid them across it. The Doctor went to get a pen from his jacket pocket, forgetting for a moment that he was only wearing a T-shirt — a black one at that. "Pen?" he asked accepting a pen from one of the other men who had gathered to look at what he was doing. "Have you had any kind of briefing at all?" the Doctor asked them.
"Something about creatures in caves."
"Okay, I don't suppose at this point you need to know much more," the Doctor accepted. "There are creatures in this cave system here. They have killed people and they are highly dangerous. The biggest one I have encountered must have weighed around 250lbs. They're very fast. They have a lot of teeth and trust me when I tell you they have very sharp claws. I have determined that as a minimum they are located here and here," the Doctor marked the two caves he had been in. "I also believe that there are more of them down in this direction, and as you can see from the geological survey map there are multiple caves down here - really multiple. Blimey, that's a lot of caves - it goes on for, what is that? Two and a bit miles?" He puffed out a heavy breath, if the whole cave system was infested? "Individual animals have been encountered here in this storm drain and here as well. Here, external to this storm drain there is a feeding station where they are being delivered illegal animal waste. They are deadly and I also suspect they are being driven mad by their own genetic make up. You can't cross a dragon with a dog and come up with something sane."
"A dragon and a dog?"
"Amongst other things, well, a Komodo dragon and a hyena anyway. Explains how they're able to crush bone in their jaws. Be careful. I have set up a sonic beacon which is located in a tree here." He put a cross on the map. "It is emitting a sonic pulse of energy every 20 seconds and it is keeping them underground at the moment. How long it will continue to do so I don't know. I need you to take post on all storm drains and any direct cave entrances in the area. At least four of you will need to be down on this storm drain. Two to watch for the animals and two to monitor activity in the abandoned slaughterhouse. Make sure whoever you send down there has a strong stomach, there are dumped butchered animal carcasses down in the stream there. It's pretty gruesome. Do not go exploring underground - I can't reiterate enough that these animals are deadly and we currently have little way of knowing what their population is. Engage if you have to in order to protect yourself, but do not go looking for trouble. Oh, and I've also left explosive charges down there ready to detonate. They are here on the map, just stay above ground and remain on the perimeter, do not go down there and do not let anything come out." The Doctor marked the last point on the map.
"You heard the Doctor, arm yourselves and get your maps out."
"I need to go back in. I have a patient at the moment and I'm not sure how patient he is going to be. When Major Magumbo arrives call me out again. We will begin to develop a plan to enter the caves and resolve the issue then. For now maintain the perimeter and make sure everyone stays safe."
"Yes Sir, I mean, Yes Doctor."
"Thank you Stevie."
The Doctor returned to the TARDIS and into sickbay. At the same time as he'd been trying to organise the soldiers to maintain the perimeter he'd been trying to figure out what he was going to say to Josh. He'd tried to rehearse his apology, but nothing he could think of was going to be good enough. Not when it was about a boy thinking he could save his family. When he got into the sickbay Josh was sitting looking a framed photograph he'd retrieved from his rucksack. He hadn't expected the Doctor to be back as quickly and he hurriedly put the photograph away. The Doctor didn't comment on it. He still hadn't worked out what to say, so he didn't say anything about Josh's request.
"The UNIT unit, hmmm, UNIT unit, that sounds odd doesn't it? Anyway, the UNIT unit from Leeds have arrived. They're taking post on all the entrances and exits to the cave system in the local area. They will make sure nothing comes out and no one goes down there until the rest of them arrive."
"Good."
"Are you okay?" the Doctor asked him quietly.
"I realised that you can't tell Mum not to get on the plane can you?" Josh asked him.
"I'm sorry."
"I don't think it's your fault," Josh assured him. "I just realised it's impossible. Even if you could tell her something is going to make her forget everything so she'd forget you'd told her as well wouldn't she? But, if she didn't get on the plane then I'd not be here to ask you not to tell her to get on the plane would I? Then she'd just get on the plane because you'd not tell her not to. It's like a time loop or something."
"It's called a paradox," the Doctor commented. "A time loop is when events repeat each other over and over. Time loops are pretty rare and tend to be quite easily fixed. Unfortunately, potential paradoxes are more common and more dangerous. Not that it matters one way or another at the moment. I am very sorry, but you're right - I can't tell her."
"Gramps told me you cared about my mum a lot and you were best friends," Josh told the Doctor. "You know about all of this now when you shouldn't, so I am sorry too."
"That's very kind of you," the Doctor acknowledged. "How is the hot chocolate?"
"It's good."
"That's where I was supposed to be going today. There is a planet that claims to have the best hot chocolate in the galaxy, and I was going to go and taste test it to see if it is the best hot chocolate, and, if it is then I was going to take Rose. I took her to a planet that is supposed to have the best hot dogs, but they were really rubbish," the Doctor told Josh. "I just, whatever it is that happens, what ever caused your mum to have to forget, and all the things your great grandfather might have told you about saving planets and saving people, just know there are going to be plenty of trips just to find out which planet has the best hot chocolate as well, okay?"
"Gramps said that," Josh offered. "He said you were brilliant and that you made Mum better and no matter what happened none of it was your fault and I should never hold you any bad will. I still don't know if I really believe the stories, but, somehow I think at least that bit of it is true."
"Thank you."
"Are you allowed to see a photograph if you've not met my mum yet?" Josh asked him.
"If you want to show me?" the Doctor confirmed. Josh retrieved the framed photograph back out of his rucksack and handed it to the Doctor. There was a nasty crack through the glass covering the picture, but the Doctor regarded the red headed woman in the photo. She was laughing freely and had her arm linked through a taller man who looked warm and gentle. Josh was standing in front of them and he was holding the hand of a younger girl who must have been his little sister. "It's a lovely photograph. You all look very happy."
"The frame got cracked," Josh reported sadly. "It must have been when they were throwing my rucksack or maybe when they were attacked, but you got it back for me, thank you. Gramps isn't in this one because he'd just had his hip done. I've got one of him as well. Do you want to see? He liked you a lot. He said he had his own adventures with you, and that you saved his life, but they were nothing like the ones you had with Mum. Gramps used to go up the hill all the time with his telescope. Sometimes I went with him, even when Mum was alive, and we would look at the stars and different planets. Then he'd joke that he was also looking for a little blue box. He only told me what that meant after mum died. He said he'd promised you he'd look out for you each night on mum's behalf. I think he always did."
Josh rummaged in his bag for the other photograph to show the Doctor. As he pulled it out something caught on the corner and fell out of the bag and onto the floor. The Doctor tried to catch it, but then leant right forward in the chair to pick it up where it had rolled under Josh's bed. The Doctor stretched to reach it, but then flinched and paused as he felt the wounds in his back pulling despite the spray. "Uh-oh," the Doctor commented as he felt fluid gushing down his back. A lot of fluid. It ran down his back and where he was leaning forward it also ran down his arm to drip on the floor. That was definitely a lot.
"Oh Jesus?!" Josh exclaimed. The Doctor's T-shirt was black but he could see it was soaking and sticking to his skin. It was also pooling in the seat behind him. "That's a lot of blood. That's really a lot of blood."
"It's okay."
"How is that okay?! That's not okay. You're bloody kidding me if you think that's okay!"
"Oi, language," the Doctor warned. "It's just been collecting under the sealant. When I stretched it's burst, that's all. It's like a water balloon."
"A water balloon filled with blood."
"Yes, well, there is that," the Doctor agreed. He slowly sat back up feeling another flush of fluid run down his back. It squelched in his underwear. "Yuck," the Doctor pulled a face. "I think that confirms the theory that they produce an anticoagulant."
"Komodo dragons do," Josh told him. "They have bacteria and anticoagulants in their saliva. Maybe that has come out in their claws? If you're still bleeding this much you need to do something about it."
"You're right, I do, but I'm also okay," the Doctor reassured him. "It's sore and it's a bit messy, but I will produce blood cells quicker than I will lose them. In order to find out what it is that is stopping the wounds from clotting, I need to analyse it and run it through the TARDIS. Then I'll know what I need to do to counter the anticoagulant and stop the bleeding. Are you going to be okay to take a swab for me?" he asked Josh. "If you gut rabbits and eat badgers I can't imagine you're squeamish."
"I'll do it," Josh confirmed. The Doctor went to the pharmacy area. He got a bit of gauze and a swab. He took his T-shirt off. His entire back was shining, wet, and bright red with blood. The sealant was peeling away in blue chunks where the blood had forced it up and stopped it adhering properly to the wounds it had been supposed to seal. He returned to Josh.
"Go high into one of the scratches," the Doctor instructed. Wipe any new blood away from the cut first with the gauze and then take a swab. You're going to have to get right in rather than just get the blood that is leaking," the Doctor suggested. He leant down so Josh could take the swab for him. He didn't want to get any blood on Josh's bed and the chair he was sitting in when his back had burst had a puddle in the seat. Josh cleared some blood away and then took the swab. He dug it right into the top of the cut.
"Maybe they've got leech DNA in them," Josh commented. The Doctor didn't answer him on the account of having a cue tip stuck in his flesh. He didn't want to let Josh know quite how much that hurt, but it was good that he'd got it into the tissue rather than just into the blood. Josh handed him the swab when he was done and the Doctor prepared a slide the same way as he'd shown Josh. He set the TARDIS to analyse it to find out why the bleeding wasn't stopping.
"It's going to take a few minutes to run the test. I'll go and clean up. At this rate I'm going to run out of T-shirts."
"Are you sure you're not going to run out of blood?"
"I won't run out of blood. The very most that will happen is that I might get a bit tired. My body can cope with this level of blood loss for an extended period of time. It would be better if I didn't have to, but it's not going to kill me or anything. I am squelching in places I really don't want to be thinking about, so I need to grab another shower. I won't be long."
The Doctor quickly cleaned up. It was quick largely because he was feeling a little nauseous with the sensation of blood in his underwear. He shouldn't have done, but he really didn't like that. He dried himself off and got redressed but didn't put another shirt back on straight away. He wrapped another towel around his torso to soak up some of the blood and went back into the sickbay.
"The test has completed," Josh informed him and indicated to the monitor.
"What does it say?"
"I've not looked."
"Let's have a look then," the Doctor suggested wanting to include Josh. "The TARDIS knows my blood chemistry so she will just highlight anything that is at an abnormal level or what shouldn't be there at all," the Doctor explained then looked at the results. "Oh, that's a little bit cheeky," he commented.
"What is?"
"There are two chemicals in the tissues around the scratches that are in quite high levels. One is an anticoagulant which we expected, but the other one is an anti-platelet chemical. Not only will my blood not clot because of the anticoagulant, but there is a reduce number of platelets in it and that is what would form the clots. That's doubled it up and a little bit like cheating," the Doctor complained. "That creature has basically turned me into a temporary haemophiliac."
"How temporary?"
"That, I can't say, but it will only be temporary. My body is dealing with it. I've will produce an enzyme that will get rid of the organics. If I was human then it would be a different story. I'd probably bleed to death," the Doctor commented. "I'll be okay though. There isn't much I can do to combat it. Just let nature take its course and be prepared to wash some T-shirts." He saw Josh looking at him. It was clear that he still didn't fully trust him and didn't know what to believe. He didn't blame him. He wasn't just having to believe he was the Doctor and an alien, but it was complicated by stories of him travelling with his now dead mother when he hadn't met her yet. It was a lot for anyone to take in. "You can check if you want to," the Doctor told him.
"Check what?"
"It's my blood in there now. That tab will give you access to the planet of origin database."
"What about Factor 8?"
"Factor 8?"
"Isn't that what haemophiliacs take to help their blood clot?" Josh sked the Doctor.
"It is, but I don't think it would work on me. It's a human blood factor."
"You're being affected by an anticoagulant that has come from Earth, so, either you're being affected by it because you're human and Factor 8 would work, or you're not from Earth but you're still being affected by the anticoagulant so Factor 8 would work."
"It's not quite that simple. You're assuming that the anticoagulant and the anti-platelet chemicals are having the same effect on me as they would on a human. The end result is the same because I'm still bleeding. My blood isn't clotting, but the interactions in my systems are different, so the treatment to correct them would have to be different as well. You have to treat the interaction and not the symptoms, so it wouldn't work in this case," the Doctor explained, but then because he didn't want Josh to feel he was shooting him down, he added. "That's really good thinking though. How do you know about Factor 8?"
"There was a boy in my school who was a haemophiliac."
"You strike me as someone who would miss school rather than someone who would be happy to run away from school as well as their foster home?"
"I read books," Josh told the Doctor. "I try to follow what I would be doing at school. I've got two here in my rucksack." Josh got them out and showed the Doctor. They were GCSE companion books. "I'd not be starting these until September but I'm getting ahead."
"Science and maths," the Doctor acknowledged. "These books are from a library. Richmond library."
"Richmond is the nearest town that has still got a library - it takes all day to walk there and back."
"How do you book library books out if you don't want anyone to know where you are?"
"I don't book them out."
"You steal them?"
"I take them back within four weeks. I just don't check them out. I only have to read things once to remember them so I don't think I'd be getting behind with my school work."
"If you're going to be staying with me until you're healed then you're going to be having proper lessons," the Doctor informed Josh. He expected the boy to grumble or complain about the idea, but he seemed to perk up a bit more and he actually smiled.
"Will you really teach me stuff?"
"Yeah," the Doctor chuckled. "I'll teach you stuff."