Etched in History

Primary Diagnosis

"But then again, you two know all about that, don't you?" Rynne abruptly went back into the recollection that someone had put these two actors up to impersonate the works of her masterpiece. "Stop changing the subject, and get out. Now. I'm not joking!" Her voice became higher with every new phrase, furious about everything that had happened. The strange expressions on those two strangers were beginning to frighten the student much more than you would first imagine: why would such a genuine look of horror appear on the faces of people that should have been laughing at her and her stories?

Martha was just about to say something, but then the Doctor cut her off, knowing that this was the best time to just back away. "It's alright, we're going." Holding up his hands, as if the girl were holding up some sort of weapon to him, he then slowly reached into his pocket, pulling out a piece of paper and a pen. Scrawling out some words, the man held out the paper for Rynne to take, but she just stood and looked at him, her eyes narrowing. "It's the address where we're staying. Just in case you need us. Nothing scary, honest."

Reaching out to the gesturing hand, Rynne then paused, looking at the manuscript, and suddenly thought better of that idea. "Just put it on the desk, and leave." As the Doctor and Martha shared a slightly confused glance, the Doctor did as Rynne commanded, although he almost brushed past her. It was bizarre to see someone leap back so much, as if they were afraid of the touch, but he still said nothing, backing out of the room with Martha in tow. The pair didn't even utter a goodbye, they were too shocked by everything that had just happened. As they left her sight, Rynne plucked up the courage to call out after them, "Careful, I hope you haven't left the TARDIS parked on double yellow lines!"

The Doctor and Martha power walked from Rynne's home, the Doctor's expression grave whilst Martha was still reeling from what she had heard. "Did she just say TARDIS? And what was that she said about you? That wasn't real, was it? Maybe she was like a, a telepath or something!" She couldn't help but try to explain the phenomenon, but the Doctor still said nothing. "It had to be that, yeah? I mean, what else could it be?"

"I just need to think." The words were final, Martha's own suggestions not making sense. How could a girl know all about his life? It was impossible. Of course, the Doctor dealt with the impossible on a daily basis, but this was something else. If this was merely some kind of premonition, Rynne should have had some dramatic realisation of that fact, instead of believing that he and his companion were some kind of mocking of her work. If he had visited her earlier on, later in his own timeline, then Rynne would have recognised him, or at least understood that the Time Lords were real... oh, the spinning was starting to get to him, the man feeling a headache coming on. "C'mon, we need to get back to the TARDIS. Brush up on her history, see if we're missing anything." That had to be it. See if they were missing something elementary: didn't answers often come from the most unlikely of places?

Martha just nodded, keeping up with the person - being? - that she trusted the most. "Maybe we can visit her later, see if she calms down or something." The Doctor made a noise agreeing half-heartedly with Martha's sentiment as he was lost in his own thoughts. By that point, though, they were already back at the blue police public call box, opening the door, and walking inside. As always, the inside was infinitely - almost - larger than the outside, so Martha leaned on one of the railings inside. The Doctor, of course, went straight to the control panel, whirring some part to the machine as he stared into one of the screens, deep in concentration. "Find anything?"

"No," he replied. "Not yet. How odd..." The shock had sunk in by now. A young woman from Martha's present somehow had the details of his life, and was writing a book about him. In any other circumstance, the Doctor would have been almost flattered, but because it was so surreal, and completely dangerous, this was too strange to leave alone. He had to read that manuscript... perhaps there were only some bizarre coincidences that happened to make he and Martha seem like characters from her book. Perhaps she had seen the pair of them running towards the TARDIS, overheard a few bits and pieces, and that information had happened to travel through her brain, escaping through her creativity. It was a long shot, but the Time Lord hoped that that was the case.

Martha was taking the information a little differently. The danger of such a publication didn't really register for her, but she was a little hurt to not even have her name specifically mentioned. Companions? If Rynne really could see into the Doctor's life, then did this just mean that she was one of a long list of people that had travelled in Time with him? Okay, so the memory of Rose was one that would stay with the Doctor for the rest of his life, but Martha felt even less important thinking that there were more than just one or two others who had spent time with him, travelling and escaping, whatever may be happening. "What's odd?"

"I can't seem to cross reference any of the symptoms that Rynne showed when she collapsed with any known medical illness in the universe." A stroke of his chin, and the Doctor pulled out those black plastic glasses, placing them on the bridge of his nose, scrunching his face up even more as a finger trailed down the screen before him.

"Maybe she lied about them."

"What about the middle of the street? Do you really think she faked that?"

"No, that was genuine. But..."

"But what? She was angry with us back at her place, and she didn't want any more information out of the bag." A thoughtful pause. "And her heart was a little too far to the left? That's only really possible with a heart malformation, but if there was no trace of that, why would there be seizures?"

Martha had no idea. "Hey, you know what was weird though?"

"Hmm?"

"She really didn't want to touch you, did she?" The Doctor stopped completely, looking at his companion without saying a word. "Well, it's true. She wouldn't let you help her back home, then she wouldn't take the paper from you. If it was a stranger thing, then she wouldn't have let me touch her, but she was fine with that. Doctor?" Martha noticed that he had taken the spectacles back off, eyes darting back and forth.

"I need to read that manuscript."