Chapter 2: 27:44
"Now." Said Francine. "We need to have a serious talk about..."
Her mother's voice was cut off as a blood curdling scream echoed through the ship.
"What was that?" Said Francine, after a moment's silence.
"I'll have to call you back." Said Martha
27:40
Korwin could feel the floor beneath him beginning to sag from the heat radiating off from him. To stop himself dropping out of the ship, he pulled on the heat suit he'd been wearing shortly before he'd changed. Complete with the helmet and the eye shield.
27:15
"Doctor," Martha's voice came over the intercom, "what were those screams?"
"Concentrate on those doors." Said the Doctor. "You need to keep moving forward."
They'd reached the med centre now. Rushing in, they found the room deserted.
"Oh my God." Said Scannell, starring at the far wall.
They looked over themselves. A large patch of the wall was scorched black. The only clear patch was a silhouette of a human figure, with the arms held up as though it was shielding itself. A small pile of ash lay on the floor next to it.
"Tell me that's not Lerner." Said Scannell.
The Doctor pulled on his glasses to get a better look at the burn. "Endothermic vaporisation. I've never seen one this ferocious. Burn with me."
"That's what we heard Korwin say!" Said Scannell.
"What?" Said McDonnell, struggling to comprehend it. "Do you think... He wouldn't. Scannel tell him! He can't vaporise people, he's human!"
But the Doctor had found a print out on a table. "These bio scan results. Internal temperature, one hundred degrees! Body oxygen replaced by hydrogen! Your husband hasn't been infected, he's been overwhelmed."
McDonnell snatched the sheets off him. "The test results are wrong!"
"What is it though?" The Doctor wondered aloud. "Some sort of parasite. It would need a host body but..."
"Stop talking like he's some sort of experiment!" McDonnell snapped.
"Where's the ship been? Have you made planet fall recently?" The two of them shook their heads. "Docked with any other vessels? Any sort of contact?"
"What is this an interrogation?"
"I need to stop him before he kills again."
She took a deep breath. "We're just a cargo ship." She turned away to put her face in her hands.
"Doctor, if you have a minute." Said Scannel
"I'm fine." She shook herself off. "I need to warn the crew." She went over and hit the intercom. "Attention everybody. Something has infected Korwin. We think..." She gulped. "He killed Abi Lerner. None of you must go near him. Is that clear?"
25:32
"Understood Captain." Ashton's voice came over the intercom. "Erina, get back here with that equipment, quickly."
Erina cut off the communicator and muttered in frustration. Several years studying advanced astro-mechanics, so many credits invested in her education, all so she could pass Ashton tools and read off dials for him. She wanted her credits back.
"Please, kill me now." She muttered.
"BURN WITH ME." Growled Korwin.
Erina spun round to see him towering over her. She backed into a corner and held up the wrench she was holding to defend herself.
Korwin reached up and lifted the visor on his mask. A blinding mass of light shot out and began to sear the girl's skin.
24:51
"Is the infection permanent?" Said McDonnell.
The Doctor thought for a long time. "I don't know."
"Don't lie to me Doctor. 11 years we've been married. We chose this ship together. He keeps me honest. So I don't want false hope."
He sighed. "The parasite's too aggressive. Your husband's gone. I'm sorry."
"Thank you."
"Are you sure there was nothing that might have provoked this? No one was working on anything secret? Because it's vital that you tell me."
"I know every little detail about my crew's lives. If anything happened, I would have noticed it." She said stiffly.
"Then why is it so interested in you?"
"I wish I knew."
23:58
After correctly guessing the last time the New York Yankees had won the North American Cricket Cup, Riley and Martha were through to area 17. Two fifths of the way there.
23:50
Ashton fiddled with all the bolts he could without the necessary wrenches. He'd already disassembled and reassembled this engine so many times since he'd joined the crew and he knew all the ins and outs. Once the Doctor had planted the idea in his mind of how to proceed, it had been relatively simple to work it out. All he needed was the right tools, which his useless crewmate was taking her time over.
Finally he heard footsteps. "You got those tools Erina? 'cos I'm..."
Warm hands grabbed his ankles and dragged him out from under the engine. Korwin grabbed him by the shoulders and hauled him to his feet.
"Korwin." He said. "It's me. Ashton. We're mates!"
"THEY ARE GETTING TOO FAR. WE MUST SHARE THE LIGHT."
He pressed his hands against the sides of the mechanic's head. Even through the gloves, he could feel the heat burning through. Almost digging his way into his skull, flooding his mind with new images.
23:00
The ship was getting hotter as more and more of the coolant was diverted to keeping the outer hull intact. It now felt more like the rainforest in the middle of summer. Any damp patch was rising up in puffs of steam.
"Philosophy:" Riley read off the screen. "Douglas Adams believed what to be the answer to the great question of life the universe and everything?"
Before he could answer, he heard footsteps approaching "Who's there?" He said nervously.
A figure walked through the steam, clad in a heat suit.
"Is that Korwin?" Said Martha.
Riley squinted as it came closer then sighed in relief. "No, it's Ashton. Ashton, what're you doing here?"
"BURN WITH ME." Said Ashton.
"Well, if you wanna help..."
"BURN WITH ME! BURN WITH ME!" He reached to lift up the visor.
"Move!" Martha shouted. She looked at the still locked bulkhead behind her and the second door to her left and made a split second choice, hitting the large button that said open on it and dragging Riley through. The door closed behind them.
Ashton's head appeared in the window in the door and opened his visor. Though the door kept the heat from radiating in, the bright light passed through and begun to heat up the tiny passageway like a greenhouse.
"We've got to keep moving." Said Riley, opening a smaller door behind them, which they scrambled through. This one had a window also, but it was tinted to the extent that Ashton's glowing eyes had no effect. He seemed to acknowledge this and rolled his visor back down.
"What is happening on this ship?" Said Riley.
"Never mind that. Where are we?" Said Martha, as she watched a second sheet of glass slide across the door.
"Airlock sealed. Jetison engaged." Said the computer.
"That doesn't mean us!"
As Riley hurriedly jabbed at a keypad, Martha hit an intercom button. "Doctor! We're in an escape pod. One of the crew's trying to jettison us! You've got to help us!" She turned to Riley. "Tell me you can stop it."
21:40
Passing by the equipment store, the Doctor, McDonnell and Scannel had felt an even greater concentration of heat wafting out and paused to investigate when Martha's voice had come through.
"Why is this happening!" The Captain cried.
"Stay here!" The Doctor shouted. "And I really mean it this time! Jump start those engines!" And with that, he ran off.
The other two took a look at Erina's silhouette on the wall. "It's picking us off." Said McDonnell. "One by one."
21:24
Riley found the right command and the computer announced "Jettison held." He and Martha sat back, relieved.
Ashton hit some buttons on the keypad to his right. "Jettison reactivated." Said the computer.
Martha screamed and hammered on the locked door, while Riley whacked at the keypad even more furiously than before.
21:05
The Doctor had to dodge around all sorts as he charged through the ship, and not just steam. With so much power being diverted to the heat shields, other systems were starting to fluctuate, causing the lights to flicker and sudden bursts of wind to shoot out of the vents in his face.
As he ran through section 21, he discovered that the gravity was fluctuating too. And in this section, it was operating at 0.2g. His furious pace caused him to fly up and whack the ceiling, before drifting down to the floor. Running suddenly got much harder and he was forced to moonwalk forward at a snail's pace.
21:00
"Tsilpinski sequence. This'll get him." Said Riley.
"Jettison stabilised." Said the computer.
Martha saw Ashton's head tilt as though he was genuinely baffled by this. "You are pretty good."
Ashton pulled a screwdriver from his belt and pried the control panel from the wall.
20:35
"Ashton?" McDonnell called around the engine room, upon finding the engine room deserted.
Scannel, meanwhile, was looking over the engine, which was suddenly even more frazzled than before. "Someone's wrecked the electronics. I won't be able to jump start the ship now!" He kicked the nearest panel in frustration at the direction his life had taken. He'd been promised excitement adventure and really wild things when his partner had first led him on board. Said partner had then run off with some other man two tours later and was probably sitting in a nice bar with them, somewhere, laughing, while he was about to die in the heart of a star.
As he went to pace angrily, McDonnell spotted another figure coming through the stream. "Korwin?" But she was under no illusions as to his true nature. She backed away as he advanced. "What are you? Why are you attacking my crew? What did you do to him? What did you do to my husband?"
Korwin stopped suddenly and tilted his head.
"You recognised me!" She cried. "It's Kath. Your wife."
"MY... WIFE?"
She suddenly felt a glimmer of hope. "That's right! You're still in there! I'm your wife."
He thought for a moment. "IT'S YOUR FAULT!"
19:32
The Doctor had bounced through two sections before the gravity restored itself, dropping him to the floor. He picked himself up and sprinted the rest of the way.
Up ahead, Ashton had discovered the circuit board used for activating the jettison sequence and pulled it out. At the same time, pulling out one of the less useful copper wires.
"That's enough! What are you up to? Why this ship? Tell me!"
Ashton used the heat from his hand to fuse the two ends of the wire across where the control chip went, then turned to block the Doctor.
Riley took one look at the screen and cried out in despair. "He's hardwired the circuit. I can't stop it. I can't stop it!"
19:07
"What do you mean it's my fault?" Said McDonnell.
"IT'S YOUR FAULT. NOW BURN WITH ME." He reached up to lift his visor, but was abruptly hit by a jet of gas and screamed in agony.
McDonnell spun round to see Scannel turning a valve hurriedly. "What are you doing?" She shouted.
"Freezing him. Super coolant vents."
"You'll kill him!"
18:59
"Come on a bit closer." Said the Doctor, as Ashton approached. "I wanna find out what you really are."
Ashton stepped up so that he and the Doctor were toe to toe. He reached for the visor on his helmet.
18:39
Korwin's screams got quieter and more feeble until he finally collapsed to the ground.
18:37
At that exact same moment, Ashton also doubled over in pain. Once he'd recovered, he stepped around the Doctor and went elsewhere.
The Doctor decided not to follow right now. Instead, he hit an intercom button. " Ashton's been infected, just like Korwin."
"Korwin's dead, Doctor." Said Scannel.
The Doctor pondered this. Ashton had keeled over at around the same time Korwin must have died. Had he felt his pain? Was this infection in some way connecting them telepathically?
But he couldn't think for long, because at this point, a voice announced "Decompression complete. Jettisoning pod."
He rushed up to the window and looked through, to see Martha furiously banging on the glass, her face overjoyed to see him there.
"Doctor!" Martha shouted.
"It's too late Martha, he can't hear you." Said Riley.
And then the Doctor's face was getting smaller as the pod drifted away from the airlock, and away from the hull. But as she drifted away towards the sun, she saw him mouth one last thing. "I'll save you."
Author's notes: It occurred to me, timing everything, that Korwin walks to Martha and Riley in less than half the time it takes the Doctor to run the same distance. I presume something must have delayed him off screen. Hence why I wrote it in.