Chapter 10

As the vial shattered, the Master laughed.

The Doctor looked at him darkly, and then a smile briefly flickered about his lips.

"You haven't won."

The Master's amused expression vanished.

"But I have, Doctor… your condition is now incurable. I have no intention of ever sharing the secret of the antidote with you."

"And your plans to wipe out the human race will come to nothing!" the Doctor said in a low voice, "This ship doesn't reach earth. It's a ghost ship, a ship of death, vessel of the damned... call it what you will, but this ship does not reach earth. You should have done your homework before choosing a random vessel passing by as my Tardis brushed its dimension. You've set this trap for nothing – the earth is safe!"

The Master's eyes grew wider. Despite his only hope of survival being shattered, the Doctor still had a look of victory in his eyes.

"He's right," Ace added, "This ship explodes before it reaches earth. No one knows why. Something to do with the self-destruct, that's the theory. Perhaps you tampered with too many of the ships controls… maybe you caused it. But this ship doesn't get to earth."

The Master looked down at the shattered glass and the lost antidote.

"At least you lose too, Doctor," he replied, and then he smirked.

And then Ace lost it.

The Doctor's gaze had briefly shifted to the broken vial, and then his view of it was obscured as a blur in bulletproof clothing dashed forward, the bat swung in the air and the Master put up his arm in a futile attempt to deflect the blow.

The bat cracked bone, he fell to the floor and she swung the bat again as he tried to get up, smacking him across the side of his face.

The blow knocked him down again and he rolled, and the Doctor's first thought was that a blow like that would have shattered a human jawbone…

"You're gonna DIE for this!" Ace yelled, hitting him again, this time a second blow against his broken arm.

"Ace, NO!"

The Doctor lunged forward, he threw his arms around her but she was still wrapped in the red mist urge to kill, to pulverise the Master until nothing was left… She pushed him off and the Doctor fell backwards, but scrambled to his feet as Ace prepared to bring the bat down on the Master yet again.

He dived at her, knocking her to the ground with force, they rolled together and the bloodstained bat was still in her hand as she landed on her back and finally realised it was the Professor who was holding her down.

"NO, Ace!" he said firmly, "He's the only one who knows how to make the antidote – if you kill him, I really do stand no chance!"

His grip on her loosened as the anger faded from her eyes. She looked up at him, saw the Professor was pale and exhausted from the struggle, and then blood ran from the wound beneath his hair where the implant was missing, it trickled down his face and dripped on to her shoulder.

"No more fighting," he said in a weary voice, "It's not the solution…"

Then as he heard a cry of pain he turned his head in time to see the Master crawling back through the door of his concealed Tardis.

The door closed, and there was a sound that filled the room, a sound not unlike his own Tardis in many ways as the time control activated, and the steel column faded from view and vanished.

"You let him go!" Ace exclaimed, sitting up as the Doctor's blood ran down from her shoulder and on to her clothing, "Why did you let him go?"

"Because as long as he's alive, there's a chance the antidote can be recreated."

Ace got to her feet and went over to the spot where the vial had smashed. Nothing remained of the cure to the toxin; it had melted away, simply evaporated and left no trace behind…

"It can't be gone."

She sounded tearful.

The doctor leaned on his umbrella as he got up, and then walked over to Ace and put an arm around her shoulder.

"He designed it to evaporate if the vial was smashed," he said quietly, "His way of ensuring he could torment me with its destruction."

Her eyes were glazed with tears as he looked back at the Doctor.

"What now?"

"Now we need to warn the captain about the dangerous contents of the cargo hold. They will have to find a way to keep the area isolated until the virus can be destroyed safely. Maybe they should freeze the contents with nitrogen, it could be worth suggesting. But they'll need to thoroughly scan the hold first. Off you go, then."

Ace blinked.

"Professor?"

"Off you go," he said to her, "I need you to go and explain about the virus in the cargo hold."

"And what about you?"

"I need to get back to the medical centre. The antidote's gone, I need to know if Carla's theory of chemical treatment is a real possibility or not."

"And if it's not?" Ace said quietly.

The Doctor smiled sadly as he leaned closer to her and looked into her eyes.

"If there's no hope left, I know a very beautiful and peaceful planet where I'd be happy to spend my last days with you," he told her, and he fondly touched the tip of her nose, "Go and speak to the captain, Ace. I have to see Dr Bailey."

She hesitated.

"I'd rather come with you –"

"Go and speak to the captain, explain everything. And then meet me at the medical centre."

He gave her a brief kiss.

"Go."

Pain flickered in her eyes as she wondered what news awaited her when she rejoined him, but Ace simply blinked away tears, nodded, and then she walked away.


The Doctor waited for Ace to leave by the stairway and gave her time to reach the lift before he walked alone down the same route, calling the next lift and heading for the medical centre.

When the doors opened and he stepped out he felt certain about his decision:

If nothing could be done, he would take Ace off to a beautiful place, where he would live with her, until he died from the effect of the toxin. He would set the Tardis controls to make a final journey before the console fell dark forever – he would pre-program a flight to earth, to make sure Ace got home safely…

But if Dr Bailey could help him, he would take up her offer, he would grab his only chance of life and take it and fight until every last reserve of strength was gone. He wanted to live, he wanted to be with Ace and have a life free from pain, but he would take the pain if he had to, if it meant he could hold on to life…


Carla Bailey was in her office.

She was studying a print out and then turning back to her computer, and as he walked in she looked up sharply, and then she put down the papers and rushed to his side.

"What happened to you?" she said in alarm, "I heard there was a fire warning on staff level, but scan showed up nothing –"

"Long story," he replied, "The Master was here. But he's gone now, and so is my last hope of a cure. He had the antidote in his hand and he smashed it."

And he looked into her eyes, silently begging for some hope.

She steered him over to a door and led him through to a treatment area.

"How did the implant come off?"

"I burned it off with my sonic screwdriver."

"You did what?" Carla exclaimed.

She led him over to a couch and he sat down and she hit a button reclining the chair, and then she turned his head and parted his hair to expose a bloody wound.

"I have to seal this, it won't close up on its own."

"More pain. Go for it while I'm still coming off the last wave that almost killed me."

She grabbed a spray can and hit the wound with a short blast that made the heat from the sonic screwdriver feel like mere warmth. As it burned and burned deeper still the Doctor caught his breath and blinked away tears. He could feel her cleaning up his hair and his face and neck, wiping away the blood quickly, but all that he could think about was the burning pain as the wound dried out.

"You burned it off? You could have killed yourself!" she said in disbelief.

"Do I really have much left to lose?"

She turned his head and he looked up at her. It surprised him to see she was tearful now.

"Yes you do!" she said, "Of course you do! And don't touch the other implants yet!"

"Yet?" he felt a spark of hope ignite within his hearts.

She pressed the button again and the couch shifted, sitting him upright sharply. The pain was fading fast and as he looked at her, he knew he was right – there was hope in her eyes, too, and he could have kissed her to see such a welcome sight.

"I've been working on the drug treatment idea. I've come up with a formula to treat the toxin, it won't destroy it completely, but as long as it can push the poisonous levels in your blood down to less than thirty percent, you can live with it. I can't promise the levels won't rise again – they most probably will, perhaps within three to six months of treatment, and that means we start treatment all over again. I know it's not as good as you hoped for, but it makes your condition treatable."

He smiled, but then he noticed she looked hesitant, and his smile faded.

"I would have preferred the bad news first. What's the down side to this?"

"The formula is a combination of fourteen very strong drugs. So on top of this you will also have to take medication to counteract the worst of the side effects, and there will certainly be some to deal with – not all are definite, but it's going to be a very rough ride. It's not an easy option, its painful and when it's over the effect won't last forever. You'll have to go through it all again, it's going to be a vicious circle until we either find the antidote or come up with another way to cure your condition. So it's not perfect, but it's better than nothing at all."

The Doctor fell silent for a moment. He had expected to react to bad news with thoughts for himself and the pain that lie ahead – but instead, his hearts ached for Ace, and with that heart ache came an unexpected change of plan.

"This is so unfair on my wife," he said quietly, and as he recalled sliding the wedding ring on to her finger, he wanted to cry for all that Ace would have to endure, this was the price she was paying, because he loved her, because he had been selfish enough to make her his wife, now she would have to watch him endure a great deal of pain. That had not been his plan when they had married, he had been filled with the romantic notion of living out his final days with the woman he loved, just enjoying the simple act of sharing life together while he still had life left – and now he felt as if he had cheated her out of that brief time of happiness; all she would do now was watch him suffer, and it would break her heart…

"Ace can help you." Carla said to him, "She can support you through all of this."

He looked at her intently and saw nothing there reflected back at him but the very best of intentions, and because of it chose not to snap at her as he gave his response.

"It's bad enough I'm going through hell. But to put her through it too? No, I can't do it to her, I'd rather leave now and take her with me –"

"Professor…"

He looked to the door and saw Ace standing there.

As she walked over to his side he noticed her eyes were blurred with tears.

She grabbed his hand and held it tightly and kept hold if it, refusing to let go.

"I heard that," she said quietly, "And you are not giving up now! We've gone through too much to stop fighting, understand me?"

And she gently smoothed his hair over the sealed up wound to the side of his head as she blinked to clear her vision.

"You are going to take that formula, all fourteen of those drugs and I don't care how bad it gets, you are going to keep taking the treatment until it works, and when it stops working, you're going to do it all over again and keep going until we find the Master and find the antidote!"

He reluctantly met her gaze as his eyes stung with tears.

"I know you're right," he said quietly, "It just seems wrong to force you to suffer too."

"I won't," she said, sounding stronger now, "I'll do what I do best, what I've always done. I'll watch out for you."

And her grip on his hand tightened, and then he started to smile as he found he was glad Ace had reminded him of that fact. Yes, she was there for him, and always would be no matter what happened in his crazy paving life…

And he silently made a decision.

He was still holding his wife's hand as he looked at Dr Carla Bailey.

"I want you to work on the formula in my lab on the Tardis. It's far superior to the facilities you have here. I'd like you to pack up all the chemicals and meds and everything else you need and take it over there now. Could you do that for me?"

"Right now?"

His eyes reflected an apologetic expression.

"Just do it, before I change my mind?"

She smiled kindly.

"Of course, Doctor," she said, "I'll get started right away. I can work in your lab until we arrive on earth – in fact it's probably for the best, as the ship's going for a refit and I'd hate to switch labs in the middle of this."

"Good idea," the Doctor replied, and then as she gathered up paperwork and turned for the door, Ace shot the Doctor a surprised look as she lowered her voice to a whisper.

"But this ship won't reach earth –"

He put his fingers briefly to his lips, nodding in the direction of Carla, who was walking out the door.

"You've warned the captain about the risk carried in the cargo hold. They'll deal with it, Ace. This ship will land safely on earth."

She started to smile.

"You just saved three hundred lives."

"Maybe…"

Ace frowned.

"Maybe?"

The Doctor got off the treatment couch.

"I hope so. But who knows what will happen? If the explosion was nothing to do with the Master's virus, it could still happen. But we've done all we can to prevent it."

He slipped his hand into hers and gave it a squeeze.

"I think I stand a chance of surviving, it's not a cure but it's my only hope now."

They began to walk out of the lab.

"Are you scared?"

The Doctor stopped walking and looked into her eyes.

"Yes," he said in a hushed voice, "But I don't have a choice, and I do have you to get me through it. Are you scared, Ace?"

She wasn't going to lie to him.

"Of course I am."

He gave her hand another squeeze.

"Come on," he said, "Let's get back to the Tardis. The sooner she sets up her lab, the sooner I can get the treatment over with."

And then they left the room together, walked through the office and out into the corridor, heading in the direction of the Tardis, and in the time it took them to reach their destination neither spoke another word, but Ace's hand never left his grip for a second, she held on, just like she promised she would.


After several hours of having boxes and equipment moved into a room deep in the winding corridors of the Tardis, Carla was busy setting up her lab.

The Doctor waited with Ace in the console room as he checked the ship's functions.

"Why are you doing all this maintenance? Ace asked.

The Doctor closed a panel on the console and slipped his sonic screwdriver back into his pocket.

"No reason," he said leaning on the console as he spoke, "I just wanted to be certain the Tardis is fully functional, because it is linked to me and I was concerned its functions might be affected by the state of my health. But so far, so good."

And then he looked down at the controls, scratched his head and spoke up again.

"I might do a brief test flight – just take her out into space and then back to the ship, just to be sure she's functional."

And he checked his watch.

"I'll do it in a minute," he murmured, and then he gave a heavy sigh as he looked at Ace.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly, "I didn't intend for things to work out like this. But I'm glad I married you. I love you, you deserve marriage, I couldn't have taken you and used you and treated you like what we had didn't matter. I could never cheapen that, Ace. I'm proud to be your husband."

Ace smiled as she looked at her Professor, he was so tired, so weak, and yet he still had a sparkle about him when he looked at her with love shining in his tired eyes.

"You'll never know how proud I am of you," she said softly, "You're so brave, my brave Professor…"

And she embraced him, and when she let go her eyes were filled with love and admiration.

"I hope you always feel that way," he remarked, and turned back to the controls.

Ace frowned.

"Of course I will. Why wouldn't I?"

The Doctor didn't answer her. Instead he checked the time again, and then he hit some buttons and threw a lever.

The crystal column in the centre of the console began to rise and fall as the Tardis whooshed and wheezed and the view from the window changed from the steel corridor of the Cassandra-Aurora to the darkness of space, and from the viewing port the ship could be seen in the distance, still on its way to earth.

"Great!" Ace said, "Everything works…now we'd better get back –"

"No."

He was leaning on the console, looking down at the controls.

"Professor, why can't we go back?"

Ace sounded confused.

The Doctor looked up and as he met her gaze she saw a very different expression to the one that had reflected the man she loved. His eyes had darkened, and when he spoke again, his voice was hushed.

"Because there is no time to go back."

And then the screen on the console indicated an incoming signal.

The Doctor opened the channel, to see the face of Captain Bracken looking back at him.

"Doctor? You just left the ship, we detected your movement on the scanner…do not return, I repeat, do not return! The cargo hold was opened and the virus was booby trapped, resulting in an explosion. Airflow and life support systems now report we are infected with a deadly virus. We are a plague ship as of now. And I must make the decision to self-destruct."

The Doctor slowly nodded.

Then the channel turned to static.

Ace was staring at the Doctor, he knew it, he could feel her eyes on him, accusing, angry, shocked…

"You knew…you always knew!"

He looked up at her.

"Yes," he said quietly, "And I made a decision."

Ace was wondering what the decision had been, and then that decision walked into the console room looking bewildered.

"What was that strange noise?" Carla stopped, staring at the sight of outer space and the Cassandra-Aurora in the distance.

"We're off the ship?"

"I had to test the flight controls. They're linked to me and as I'm unwell I wasn't sure my ship was still functioning. But it's fine."

He sounded distant. His eyes were fixed on the sight of the large silver ship floating against the blackness of space.

And then the vessel exploded, burning up brilliant white.

Ace gave a gasp as her eyes widened and she watched the ship dissolve into a fireball that scattered debris into deepest space.

Carla caught her breath, stumbled against the console and then gave a sob as the Doctor caught her, turned her away from the sight of the burning vessel and pressed her face against his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry," he said to her as he held her, "The captain just messaged me telling us not to go back. It seems the Master set a booby trap in the cargo hold. They tried to remove the virus safely but there was an explosion and it turned them into a plague ship. They had no choice."

And as she wept against his shoulder he looked at Ace, who was staring at him in a way that reminded him of the days of Fenric, and the time he took her back to Gabriel Chase...

"You knew…" she whispered.


The Doctor stopped embracing Carla and then put his arm around her and led her from the console room.

"You need to lie down for a while," he said kindly, "I know this has been a dreadful shock."

She was cold and shaking and the look in her eyes was one of utter devastation.

"It should have been me," she whispered, "They all died – why not me? I belonged on that ship…with my colleagues…my friends…I shouldn't be here."

"But you are!"

The Doctor stopped walking and placed his hands on her shoulders as they stood together in the Tardis corridor.

"Why not you?" he asked her, "Why feel guilty about living? You fought so hard to save my life and you're still fighting for me! If not for that, you would have been on that ship! It's about decisions, Carla, left or right turns…consequences, and no more than that. You're fighting for my life and I'm fighting too. Because of it we all survived. Think about that. We have a common bond."

Then he opened a door that led into a spare bedroom, and she half stumbled as he took her over to a soft bed and she sat down on it.

"Get some rest," he said gently, "Sleep, I can wait for you to prepare the formula, the implants are still functioning."

Carla lay down on the bed and closed her eyes, giving another sob.

The Doctor stood over her, running a hand over her long, raven shaded hair.

"That's right, you rest. Go to sleep, Carla. There's nothing to fear, the disaster happened and we can't change it, but you are safe."

And then he left the room and closed the door behind him.


Ace was still in the console room.

As the Doctor walked in she looked down at the gold band on her finger, then back at the Doctor and anger still burned in her eyes.

"Did you know?"

"Know what?" he asked.

"Did you know that cargo hold was booby trapped?"

His eyes widened.

"No, Ace, I knew nothing about it! We did all we could to stop the ship from being destroyed - we could do no more! Did you want me to stay there, to wait it out purely to trust that I'd got it right when there were so many other factors that could have led to that explosion? Did you?"

The rising anger in his eyes outweighed her own.

"Should I have done that, Ace? Or was it better to play it safe and get out before the zero hour?"

She paused, confusion clouding her eyes.

"But you brought Dr Bailey along just in case... you saved her because she's the only one who can treat the toxin! And you never told her that!"

"She doesn't need to know," he said dismissively, "History played out the way it was supposed to. It was always the Master's trap that led to the destruction of that vessel. And Carla Bailey is safe and well and about to set up her lab, so she can build the formula."

Then he paused, and as the anger left his eyes, sorrow replaced it as he looked intently at Ace.

"Do you still want to stay?" he said quietly, "Because what I'm about to go through won't be easy to watch. I do need you but if you'd prefer me to leave you in Perivale and come back for you when it's all over, I'd understand."

And she looked into his eyes, saw how pale and tired he looked, how exhausted he had become from the confrontation with the Master. His shirt was stained with blood and deep shadows still hung beneath his eyes, reminding her how fragile he really was.

"What's it to be?" he said in a hushed voice, "Home on earth, or home here, with me, and all the pain I'm about to face? It's up to you. I don't want you to stay if you can't bear to watch me suffer, I love you too much to do that."

He was forgiven in an instant as Ace stepped forward and linked her hand with his.

"Of course I'm with you, and I'm staying with you!" she told him, and as she put her arms around him he clung to her, closing his eyes as he pressed his face against her shoulder, feeling thankful that he had been right about the girl from Perivale:

Yes, she loved him and she would not leave him no matter how rough life got, she would weather the storm with him and come out of it the other side and still be holding on to his hand. And he felt grateful, because Ace was his strength now, and he knew Ace would never let go…

End

Author Note:

I hope this fic has been enjoyed by all who read it.

AND… There is a sequel to this story on the way very soon, and it is called "The Doctor's Mistress" ~ Aline Riva