Chapter Ten
Susan was out of the TARDIS and on her knees beside Jerom in a flash. Death was something she'd faced a lot in her lifetime- a side-effect of travelling with the Doctor and being a nurse- but she still found it a terrible experience to check a body for life signs only to find none.
She checked his pulse and breathing just to be sure. Nothing. She sighed and rocked back on her heels. "What happened?"
"He just keeled over!" sobbed Ylea. "Not a word, not a sound!"
"Nothing else?"
"He seemed to glow for a moment," admitted Herom. "But whatever the light was, it faded." Suddenly, he fell too. His eyes glowed, and he looked incredibly calm. Susan watched in horror as the light faded. In the corner of her eye, she sensed something float past her. She followed it, and what her gaze fixed on made her gasp as she put two and two together, to arrive at an accurate, correct, and severely unwanted four.
"Into the TARDIS, everyone, now!"
"We won't fit in there," said Jalem doubtfully.
"Trust me, we will," Susan assured him, shoving him through the door. "MOVE!"
They did as they were told, and Susan dashed back into the lab, where the Doctor was bent over what looked like a metal pipe with levers sticking out.
"Grandfather!"
"Just a second, Susan, I'm almost done." He tweaked it a little. "There!"
"Grandfather, Jerom and Herom are dead!"
The Doctor looked up, his eyes wide. He grabbed his pipe and ran out of the lab, Susan right behind him. In the control room, Donna had shepherded the remaining Elders into the seat beside the console. Sani had her arm round the still-sobbing Ylea.
"What exactly happened?" asked the Doctor urgently, waving for everyone to step back from the console.
"He just sort of… keeled over…" began Sani shakily, "and there was this light-"
"I think Atlantis took their life energy," said Susan flatly. The Doctor nodded as if this had been what he'd expected, which it probably was.
"It looks like he's picking you off by age order. Who's next?"
Ylea gasped and sobbed even harder.
"I'd imagine that means you, then," murmured the Doctor, peering out the door. "Oi, Atlantis!" he yelled. "Stand over there, please!" Without waiting to see if the giant had obliged, the Doctor dashed back to the console and hooked his fingers under the control panel. Then he paused and looked round at the assembled humans, Atlanteans and human/Time Lord hybrids and bit his lip. Susan looked at him questioningly.
"Donna, could you take this lot somewhere else, please, like the lab. Susan, stay here." Donna looked puzzled, but did as she was told. As soon as they were gone, the Doctor handed his pipe to Susan.
"As soon as I lift this panel," he instructed quickly, "shove this pipe in so it's pointing out the door, and whatever you do, don't look inside."
Susan nodded and did as she was told. She looked away, but not before she'd caught a glimpse of a blinding white light- the Heart of the TARDIS.
The Doctor flicked various levers on his modified pipe.
"They're connected to filters based on the blood samples," he explained in a rush, wincing at the bright light glaring through the pipe and into the waiting Atlantis. "Like I said before, I can't give him the energy in its purest form, but I can filter it and give it a few artificial flavours and vitamins…"
Susan watched in fascination as Atlantis became a huge figure seemingly composed of light, then watched the light shrink, until his Heart was glowing like a sun. The Doctor watched with wide eyes; Susan could see the light reflected in them.
The spectacle lasted only a few moments; bent by Atlantis' watery body, the light cast rainbow colours and rippling patterns over the cavern. Then the water fell from the Heart with a great splash, leaving the crystal floating in the centre. The Doctor clapped.
"Oh, that was brilliant!" He yanked the pipe from the console, a huge grin plastered on his face.
"You want to explain it all?"
The Doctor took a deep breath: "Well, since the energy from the Time Vortex is too much for Atlantis, I created filters based on the blood samples from Kaelah and myself and the sample from Plato, then it was a simple matter for me to fit them into this pipe and calibrate the-"
"Never mind," interrupted Susan, sighing. It had been too long since she'd listened to a science lecture, and a lot of it was going over her head now. "Anyway, will we call the others back?"
"Yeah, go on, then."
Donna looked a little indignant as she emerged from the lab.
"Is it over?" asked Sani timidly.
"Nope," replied the Doctor cheerfully. "It's just beginning." He waved expansively at the brightly-lit cavern. "Check it out, Sani, a new Atlantis. A new life for everyone upstairs.
The group gazed in awe for a moment. Then Ylea broke the silence.
"What about Herom and Jerom? What will we tell everyone?"
The Doctor turned to look at her, his face serious.
"The truth."