Chapter Seven

Plugged In

Ashley and Mitchell left the house of a man who had been plugged in for nine years and appreciated the fresh air. The house had reeked and had been hot and stuffy. While Mitchell had cleaned the man up, Ashley had watched him and wondered how he could possibly do this every day. She knew she wouldn't be able to. Mitchell must have had a lot of determination.

Ashley admired him for it.

'I'll take you back to Mr Cartwright's house.' He told her, glancing at his watch. 'But then I should really carry on. I didn't get very far at all today after running into you two.'

'Sorry about that.' Ashley smiled. 'It seems we're making a habit in just dropping in on people. At least he does it all the time… I'm new at all of this.'

Mitchell glanced to her briefly. 'So are you married?'

Ashley laughed too loudly. 'No! No way. Ha, nope…' She lifted her hand. 'See? No wedding ring.'

'Okay.' He only looked a little confused by her outburst. 'So why are you travelling with him?'

'We're just friends.' Ashley nodded.

Mitchell nodded. 'So where do you go when you travel? Do you have a ship?'

Ashley shrugged. 'Well I guess it's a ship. We've only really been three places… and I suppose one of them doesn't count because it was my town.' She laughed. 'But it's good. He has a death wish, but it's good.'

'He puts you in danger?' Mitchell frowned.

'What? No… it's not like that.' Ashley tried to think of how to explain it, but the more the thought about it the more it would sound like the Doctor just liked to run into trouble. Which he did. 'He's just curious. If there's something going on he likes to go and see what it is. He's clever though. He doesn't let anything bad happen. He only tries to help.'

Mitchell shrugged his shoulders. 'Well maybe there's some things he should just keep out of.'

Ashley frowned slightly. She didn't want to get into an argument with him. 'If you knew him you wouldn't feel that way about him.'

'And do you really know him that well?'

Ashley didn't answer. She looked ahead and saw Mr Cartwright's house. 'We're nearly there.' She said flatly.

They walked the rest of the way in silence.

Ashley stopped at the bottom of the stairs and turned to Mitchell. He looked back at her in expectation, but whatever she had wanted to say to him evaporated when he settled those pretty blue eyes on her. She swallowed, and then half smiled.

'You shouldn't be so quick to judge the Doctor you know. He's a good man.'

Mitchell shrugged. 'If he does something to change my opinion, then I'll change it.'

Ashley looked at him for a moment, and then decided that he probably had better things to do that to listen to her try and defend the Doctor. He didn't care either. He had already made up his mind. She half nodded and then headed up the rest of the stairs.

'I have nothing against you, you know.' Mitchell said, walking behind her. 'You seem keen to help in the practical way. It's been a while since someone has helped me with a job.'

'Oh, I don't think I could do that every day.' Ashley shook her head. She put her hand on the handle and pushed open the door leading to Harrison's bedroom. 'I don't have the patience…'

She trailed off as she stepped in the room. At first she thought it was empty, but her gaze moved to the bed as Mitchell shoved past her and ran to it. She felt her stomach churning.

'Doctor!' she cried, running to the side of the bed.

He was slumped sideways on the bed, eyes bulging and staring right ahead. He was rigid and a single wire was attached to his temple. Mitchell was checking his pulse. Ashley shoved him aside and grabbed the Doctor, pulling him into her arms so she was cradling his head.

'Doctor!' she cried. 'Can you hear me? Doctor! Oh god, is he dead?' She looked into his widened eyes for a reaction. He stared straight ahead, his pupils just tiny pinpricks.

'He's alive,' Mitchell replied, pulling over one of the machines on a trolley. 'It's a good job we came back when we did.'

'What the hell happened?' Ashley demanded.

'You have to lie him down on the bed.' Mitchell told her calmly. 'Lie him flat.'

'What?' Ashley cried hysterically. 'No! Take this plug out of his head! Now!'

'I can't do that,' Mitchell told her, his voice remaining calm and level. 'He's just been plugged in. It takes the brain at least twenty-four hours to adapt to the new environment. You pull it out so quickly after it's been inserted and there's a eighty per cent chance of instant death.'

'Then what are you going to do?' Tears were now forming in Ashley's eyes. 'We can't leave him plugged in like this! Look at him! He's like… he's a bloody vegetable!'

Mitchell grabbed Ashley's shoulders and shook her once, hard. 'You're going to have to calm down.' He told her sternly. 'I need to lie him flat and set him up. If he stays like this then he'll die for sure, okay? Now move out of the way.'

Ashley scowled. 'You don't-'

'Move!' Mitchell demanded. 'Now!'

Ashley gritted her teeth and frowned at him, but she reluctantly let go of the Doctor and stepped back. She watched as Mitchell pulled him up the bed and lay him down. He closed the Doctor's eyes lightly with his fingers, and picked up another wire.

'Wait, what's that?' Ashley demanded. 'You're not putting more wires in him, are you?'

Mitchell turned and frowned at her. 'Do you want him to die? Then let me do this.'

Ashley crossed her arms and watched, biting her lip. Mitchell attached three separate wires to the Doctor's head, and then placed the blackout goggles over his eyes. He stepped back and scratched his head.

'We're going to have to leave him for twenty-four hours.' He said. 'So he can become adapted. Then we can start the unplugging process, but that can take up to two weeks.'

'Two weeks?' Ashley cried. 'I can't wait that long! I can't wait two weeks!'

Mitchell looked to her sympathetically. 'There's nothing else to do. If we pull the plug out right now, he could just die.'

'But Harrison didn't die!' Ashley insisted. 'Speaking of him, where the bloody hell did he go? If he did this I'm going to kill him.' She gritted her teeth and held up a finger. 'I swear to god I'll burn him alive.'

'Calm down.' Mitchell told her. 'Don't lose your head or we'll never be able to get him out.'

Ashley sighed sharply. 'I can't wait two weeks.' She insisted.

Mitchell glanced down at the still Doctor. 'The only other way is to get him to want to come out. Once he's in there he can bring himself out whenever he wants. After the twenty-four hours, of course. But twenty four hours is usually the amount of time it takes for people to decide they want to stay.'

'He wouldn't want to stay.' Ashley told him. 'You saw how he reacted to this place. Those machines. He wouldn't want to stay plugged in. He wouldn't want to stay in a fake world!'

Mitchell looked at her grimly. 'Even the strongest of us can be drawn in.' he told her.

'No!' Ashley shook her head. 'He wouldn't! Where the hell could that machine take him that would make him leave everything behind? He can go anywhere!'

The Doctor's eyes snapped open and he took in a deep, sharp breath. As soon as he did this, there was a sharp pain through his head and he let out a anguished yell. He rolled onto his back and his hands shot to his head. He scrunched his eyes shut, fighting the pain away.

What had happened? He couldn't remember. He had been in the Tardis with Ashley and then…

No… that wasn't the last thing. They were on a planet. An empty planet…

No, no that wasn't it either. The wires. The old man. Plugging in.

The Doctor's eyes snapped open once again and he gasped.

He had been plugged in.

At first his eyes wouldn't focus. He squinted and frowned, finally managing to register the orange sky above him. The air was cool on his skin. He blinked slowly. Both his hearts were thudding. Slowly, he sat up and gazed around.

The silver leaves on the surrounding trees reflected the enormous orange sun in the sky, giving the illusion of burning. The Doctor gazed around in awe. He could smell the plants and he could feel the soft ground beneath his hands. He turned and looked behind him.

The Citadel stood in all of its glory, the dome glistening and shining in the light. Faintly, he could hear chattering. Voices. Music.

The Doctor unsteadily got to his feet. He rubbed his head. Then he smiled.

'I'm home…' he mumbled, and staggered towards the dome.