"Hold on a minute" Rose said scrunching her nose up "I've never done this before, I might blow it up"
"What!" Martha shrieked causing Rose to jump and almost drop Martha's precious mobile phone.
"Martha! I'm trying to do some serious jiggery-pokery here, something I only seen happen once and with you screaming I'm most likely to drop your phone than blow it up"
"Jiggery-pokery?" Martha raised an eyebrow.
"Funny enough that is a technical term, I checked, didn't believe the Doctor when he told me that line…"
"Did the Doctor do this to your phone?"
"Uhuh"
"So I'll be able to call anyone from anywhere from any when"
"Also it never runs out of battery and you never have need to top up your credit. A super phone indeed" Rose slipped the plastic backing back on the phone and handed it to Martha "there you go"
"Thanks" Martha said pocketing the phone in her uniform red leather jacket.
"Now!" Rose said flickering a couple switches "I was thinking we should go to Korchah they have the most gorgeous mineral springs, we can just rest and relax before running off to the next adventure" the Doctor took her there once, she had a good laugh seeing him in his swim suit before they had to run off and save the planet. She really has to stop thinking about him, he's never coming back.
Before Martha could reply the TARDIS shook violently sending the pair to the floor. A beeping, buzzing noise came from the console and Rose grabbed hold of the monitor. "Distress signal" she said "locking in, hold on" she pulled down a lever sending the two of them back onto the floor.
"Ouch" Martha whined rubbing her back as she stood up.
"Sorry about that, turbulence" Rose said smiling apologetically.
The two of them stepped outside to find themselves in a dark, hot room. A very hot room.
"Blimey it's like a sauna" Martha said practically ripping her jacket off before tying it round her waist.
Rose pulled open the door and sighed "it's a bit cooler out here" she called back. the two of them stepped out breathed in the slightly cooler air.
"Oi you two!"
Rose and Martha turned round to see three people; a woman and two men running down the corridor towards them.
"Get out of there!" the woman called urgently, leaping over a doorway.
"Seal the door, now!" one of the men ordered, as both men dashed past them. One of them slammed the door shut and the pair sighed.
"Who are you?" the woman asked panting, trying to catch her breath. "What are you doing on my ship?"
"Are you police?" the younger of the two men asked.
"Why would we be police?" Rose asked.
"There was a distress signal--" Martha started to explain.
"If this is a ship, why can't we hear any engines?" Rose interrupted.
The woman, hands on hips, looked away a moment. "It went dead 4 minutes ago."
"So maybe we should stop chatting and get to engineering," the older man said. "Captain," he raised his eyebrows at the woman.
An alarm started to whine.
"Secure Closure. Active," a recorded voice rang out around them.
"What?" the woman, the Captain of the ship, sounded exasperated.
"The ship's gone mad," the younger man threw his hands up.
"Who activated secure closure?" a voice cried from down the corridor.
Another woman was running toward them. She jumped through one of the doors as it slammed shut.
"I nearly got locked into area twenty-seven," she gave the others a slightly accusing look. She was young and wore mechanics overalls. She turned to see Rose and Martha "who are you two?" she asked.
"I'm Rose and this is Martha" Rose said giving them a mocking wave "want to tell me what's happening?"
"Impact projection," the recorded voice called, "Forty two minutes, twenty-seven seconds."
"Forty two minutes till what?" Martha asked.
"Till we crash into the sun of course!" the Captain snapped waving her hands into the air.
"How many are there on this ship?" Rose asked.
"Seven, all crew members" the Captain said.
"My ship is just through there" Rose said pointing to the door behind her. "I'll get you all out to safety" she turned round and released the seal of the door ignoring the crew's panicked cries only to have a face full of steam and stumble back. The older man reached out and slammed the door shut. "My ships in there!"
"You parked your ship in the ventilation" the younger guy said raising an eyebrow in disbelieve.
"It's our lifeboat" Rose said ignoring him.
"It's lava" the older guy muttered.
"The temperature is rising" the mechanic looking girl said reading the dial. "Three thousand and rising. The closer we get to the sun the higher it'll get"
"So if we fix the engines everything will be fine?" Rose asked. "Well show me the way"
"You're a mechanic?" the mechanic girl asked.
"Well no but I learnt some things when my ship needed to be fixed. All self learnt" Rose admitted.
"We're doomed" the younger guy muttered to the older man.
DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW
Rose eyed up the controls with a frown "you're using an energy scoop? Aren't they supposed to be outlawed or something?"
"Yes well we haven't had the chance to dock and upgrade" the Captain said hurriedly "Scannell report!"
The older guy now identified as Scannell looked up from the controls "no response, everything is burnt out. I can't get them back online"
"Oh come on! Auxiliary engines! Everyone has those" Rose said pushing her back in frustration.
"We don't have access to them from here" the Captain said "auxiliary control is on the front of the ship"
"And twenty-nine password sealed doors between us an' them," Scannell added. "You'd never get there on time."
"Can we override them?" Rose asked.
"Can't they're deadlocked sealed" the Captain said.
"Damn! My sonic screwdriver is no use then"
"We're dead!" Scannell groaned "no engines, no time and no chance of surviving"
"Oh come on where's your spirit!" Rose protested "look who has these passwords?"
"They're randomly generated" the younger guy said "reckon I know most of them though. Sorry I'm Riley Vashti"
Riley moved to a wall, started taking down some equipment. "It's a two person job. One to take this for the questions," he strung a backpack over his shoulders. "The other, to carry this," he took down a weighty-looking clamp. "The oldest and cheapest security system around, hey Captain?" he winked.
"Reliant and simple, just like you eh Riley?" the Captain nodded.
"Try to be helpful, get abuse," he adjusted the straps on his shoulders. "Nice."
"I'll help," Martha stepped forward, grabbing the clamp. It was heavy, but not impossible.
Riley nodded to her and dashed for the door. Martha followed, clamp in both hands.
"Martha" Rose called.
Martha turned to face her.
"Be careful" Rose said quietly.
"You too" Martha replied before running off after Riley.
DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW
"All right," he muttered quietly, and then stepped away from the laptop like object, pointing at the clamp. "Press the clamp on the door!"
Martha did as she was told, pressing the clamp to the door. "What are you doing?"
Riley called over his shoulder as he went back to typing, tapping the screen occasionally as well. "Each door's trip code's the answer to a random question set by the crew," he grinned. "Nine turns back, we got drunk, thought them up, Reckoning was, if we're hijacked, we're the only ones who know all the answers."
"So you type in the right answer from there?" she prompted.
"This," he indicated the computer, "sends an unlock pulse to the clamp," he typed ferociously again, his eyes scanning the screen. "But we only get one chance per door," he turned a dial on the side of the box. "Get it wrong, the whole system freezes."
"Better not get it wrong then," Martha muttered.
"Okay," with triumph, Riley put his hands either side of the screen, and then read; 'Date of S.S. Pentallian's first flight?' That's all right," he typed the answer confidently.
Martha looked down at the clamp as there was a beeping noise, and the lights at the top of the clamp turned from red to green.
"Go!" Riley grabbed the laptop in his arms, pulling out the cables.
With a final longer beep, and a hiss of a seal breaking, the door opened.
"Yes!" Martha grinned, taking the weight of the clamp in her arms again.
Riley dashed past her. "Twenty eight more to go!"
Martha ran after him. Riley had the laptop already up on the platform and plugged in by the time Martha set the clamp in place.
Rose's voice came over the intercom. "Martha, Riley, how you doing?"
"Area twenty nine at the door to twenty eight," Martha called out, weighing the clamp against her legs as she held the handle and waited.
"You've got to move faster!"
"We're going as fast as we can," Martha called back gritting her teeth, she would like to see Rose try and do this.
Riley was reading from the screen again. "'Find the next number in the sequence. Three-one-three, three-three-one, three-six-seven.' What?" he gave Martha a panicked look.
Martha knew this would happen – they had put the system in place when they were drinking. "You said the crew knew all the answers," she whispered.
"The crew's changed since we set the questions," Riley shrugged helplessly.
"You have got to be kidding me," Martha rested her head against the door and sighed. What were they going to do?
"Three-seven-nine," Rose's voice sounded out over the intercom again.
"What?" Martha asked.
"It's a sequence of happy primes. Three-seven-nine," she repeated.
"Happy what?" Martha said looking confused.
"Just enter it!"
"Are you sure," Riley insisted. "We only get one chance."
"Any number that reduces to one when you take the sum of the square of its digits, you continually trace it till it yields one is a happy number, any number that doesn't isn't, a happy prime is a number that's both happy and prime, now type it in!"
Riley startled a little, did as he was told. The beeping sound came and the light flashed green. Martha exhaled slowly.
"How the hell did you know that?"
"When you travel with the Doctor you're bound to pick something up. Keep moving, fast as you can. And…Martha, be careful. There may be something else on board the ship."
DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW
After a frantic phone call to her mother, Martha had found the answer about who had the more number ones the Beatles or Elvis? It was Elvis go figure, she ignored her mother and hung up.
Then they bumped into someone wearing a red helmet gasping out 'burn with me' repeatedly. They ran into an escape pod and got sent off heading to the sun. Martha phoned her mother again to say goodbye though she had believe that Rose would save her.
Martha squealed when she saw Rose and flung her arms round the blonde "I know you would do it! I told Riley, told him I believed in you" Rose let out a groan and instantly let go of Martha, stumbling away from her. "Rose?"
"Stay away!" Rose cried out, holding a hand out to ward Martha off. Sweat was running down her face quickly, it almost looked like she was crying.
"Rose what is it? What's wrong?" Martha asked getting panicked.
What's happened?"
Martha turned to see the Captain beside Riley.
"It's your fault, Kath McDonnell," Rose growled in a low voice that Martha never heard her use.
"Riley. Get down to area ten and help Scannell with the doors. Go!"
Martha tried to hold Rose who was thrashing and screaming, her eyes screwed up close. Martha never felt so useless in her life.
"You mined that sun," Rose screamed. "Scooped its surface for cheap fuel," she was breathing very quickly. "You should have scanned for life!"
"I don't understand," McDonnell said hurriedly.
"What do you mean?" Martha asked him.
Rose was withering and shuddering "the sun is alive!" she shrieked "and they scooped it's heart out" Martha looked at Captain McDonnell with disgust. "Used it for fuel and now it's screaming!"
"What do you mean, how can a sun be alive, why's she saying that?" McDonnell pleaded.
"Because it's living in me," Rose sobbed.
"Oh my god," Martha tried to help Rose who pushed her away.
"Humans!" she screamed. "You rob whatever's nearest and bleed it dry! I'm ashamed to have been human" she arched back, her head banging against the wall. Martha shuddered while trying to lift Rose's head back.
"You should have scanned!"
"It takes too long, we'd be caught," the Captain explained weakly. "Fusion scoops are illegal."
Rose leaned back and groaned. "Martha, you've got to freeze me - quickly."
"What?" she shook her head, placing a hand on Rose's head, pushing her hair that was sticking to her sweating forehead back with her thumb.
"Stasis chamber," Rose murmured.
Martha nodded.
"Gotta keep it below minus two hundred," Rose continued panting a bit. "Freeze it out of me!" she cried, lurching forward.
Martha grabbed a hold of Rose, trying to make her stand.
"It'll use me to kill you if you don't," Rose managed, a hand on the wall as Martha pulled her to her feet. "The closer we get to the sun, the stronger it –!" she stopped, screaming again. "Med centre! Quickly! Quickly!"
"Help me!" Martha called to the mortified Captain.
The Captain nodded, shaking herself and grabbing Rose's other arm. They hurried to the med centre.
"Impact in seven, thirty."
DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW
Rose was whimpering as she was laid down in the stasis chamber, Martha was beginning to tap in the code that McDonnell gave to her when Rose called out "Martha, Martha where are you?"
"I'm here sweetheart" Martha said softly, reaching out to hold one of Rose's sweaty hands.
"Remember, ten seconds minus two hundred" Rose gasped out before letting go of Martha's hand "I'm scared Martha, I'm going to die"
"No you're not" Martha said soothingly.
"Then I'll regenerate and I'll no longer look the same"
"Rose you got to believe in me, like I believe in you"
"The Doctor believed in me once and look where that got him" Rose whispered before screaming "it's burning me up! I can't control it! If you don't get rid of it I could kill you, kill you all! Please Martha do it now!"
"I will" Martha quickly typed in the rest of the code, her finger pausing at the enter key.
"NOW!"
She hit the enter key hard and closed her eyes shut as Rose screamed and screamed painfully. At minus seventy, the screen switched itself off. There was a hum in the air, a powering down noise.
"No," Rose called tiredly from the stasis chamber. "Martha you can't stop it, not yet."
"What's happened?" Martha rushed to the panel, then looked back at McDonnell questioningly.
"Power's been cut in engineering," she replied quietly.
"Why?" Martha yelled at her.
McDonnell didn't seem to hear her, her eyes on the door. "Leave it to me," she dashed off.
Martha turned back to the keypad. It made noises, but nothing was working, the screen was blank. She could hear Rose moaning in the chamber, muttering words she could barely understand.
"Martha, listen," she gasped suddenly, "I've only got a moment, and you've got to go. Get to the front," she explained. "Vent the engines. The sun particles in the fuel, get rid of them."
"I am not leaving you," Martha snapped, pressing the keypad buttons in effort to get the system started again.
"You've got to! Give back what they took! Please, go!" Rose screamed.
"I'm coming straight back for you, got it?"
DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW
"Impact in four, oh-eight."
Martha ran the length of the ship, leaping over each doorway. The intercom was getting another workout, as she ran. McDonnell, saying she was sorry. The ship, reporting that the exterior airlock was open. Scannell calling McDonnell's name in question.
Martha didn't stop running. She knew, somewhere on the ship, McDonnell had just said goodbye.
She leaped over another doorway into area four.
"Martha."
Rose's voice on the intercom made her stop in her tracks.
"Rose what are you doing?" she shouted.
"I can't fight it," Rose roared. "Give it back! Burn with me, Martha Jones."
"Life support systems reaching critical. Repeat, life support systems reaching critical. Impact in one, oh-six. Collision alert. Collision alert."
"It's not working!" Riley shouted. "Why's it not working?"
She leaped into the room. "Vent the engines. Dump the fuel!" she called.
"What?" Scannell fired.
"There's sun particles in the fuel, get rid of them," Martha ordered. "Do it! Now!"
Riley and Scannell jumped into action, running down the length of the engines, turning knobs. The ship's running commentary reported a fuel dump was in progress. Martha wrapped her arms around a railing as the ship was thrown around.
"Impact averted. Impact averted."
Martha sighed in relief while Riley and Scannell hugged each other and laughed.
"Oh could I have a hug?"
Martha turned to see Rose leaning against the doorframe and flung her arms round the blonde.
"Thank you Martha" Rose said into her shoulder "you saved me"
"Just doing my job" Martha replied.
DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW
Rose tried to hide it but she was sure she wasn't fooling Martha. Having the sun posses her had affected her, the burning feeling was so familiar. The only difference was that something was ravaging through her mind while that other time she simply could see…everything.
However she put on a false smile and handed Martha a key to the TARDIS welcoming the woman on board properly and decided to celebrate with some margaritas…not that they had the same effect on her as they did before but it was still fun.