Chapter 5
"Any plans?" Martha asked.
The Doctor remembered something he had noticed earlier. "Yes, but you might not like it," he said.
With the door locked and communications cut, he could think of only one solution. He had no plans of remaining trapped in this room while a Dalek was on board. Not one of his better plans, he thought, but it could work. The Doctor forced open the panel holding the comm device and began to take it apart while Martha and Jake watched in silence. He changed a few things around and put in back together, then sonicked it causing the device to spark on a give a static sound before dying again. He let the device drop hoping it had worked.
A clicking of metal was head from above but nothing else.
"I think it worked," the Doctor said turning to smile at Martha.
"What worked?" Martha asked.
"We are getting us out of this room," the Doctor said happily walking away from the door.
"And what does that mean exactly?" Jake asked suspiciously.
"It means..." the Doctor said but was cut off by an announcement.
"Removing all oxygen from unit 130 of the cargo hold"
"Wait a minute," Jake said perplexed, "we are in unit 130."
"Exactly," the Doctor said.
"Doctor, I think we need a bit of an explanation," Martha said.
Sighing heavily the Doctor said, "We need to open those doors but the computer has locked us out and cut us off from the rest of the ship. But," the Doctor said dramatically, "if I could trick the computer into thinking this room is not part of the ship,"
"By say having an atmosphere like that in space," Martha interrupted
"Yes, it would release control of the room lock and allow me to get it open," the Doctor said.
"So you need to remove all the oxygen to make that happen," Martha said . Thoughtfully she added, "But isn't that going to kill us as well?"
The Doctor waged his head, "Well,."
"And how sure are you that your plan will work?" Martha continued.
The Doctor started pulling on his ear, "There is every chance it will work."
"Of course there is," Martha placed her hands on her hip and sighed, "Never a dull moment."
"Is that all you're going to say?" Jake asked Martha when she didn't make any further objection.
"I trust the Doctor, and if he says this could work then we just have to wait." Martha replied.
Jake shook his head in disbelief. He turned to the Doctor an said, "That is the worst escape plan i have ever heard."
"Well, I have thought of worse," the Doctor replied.
"This is crazy, you're going to kill us," Jake said in disbelief.
"It's too late to stop it now," the Doctor said.
Determined Jake walked to the door and began banging and shouting for help.
"You're wasting your time, we are on the far side of the ship, no one can hear us from here," the Doctor stated taking a seat of one of the crates and twirling his sonic. He knew it would take a few minutes before the room run out of oxygen.
Jake stopped and glared at the Doctor. He removed his gun and pointed it at the Doctor who continued to twirl his sonic screwdriver. "Make it stop," Jake demanded.
The Doctor grasped his sonic in his hand and raised one eyebrow not believing Jake would actually use his gun.
Martha approached Jake cautiously and said, "Jake put down the gun, that isn't helping. The Doctor said there is no way to stop it." When Jake didn't move Martha placed her hand on his arm and said, "Remember what you assured me?"
Jake shifted his eyes from the Doctor to look at Martha remembering his promise to stop using guns (which he had already broken). Knowing Martha was right that threatening the Doctor would not accomplish anything, Jake lowered his gun in frustration.
"Thank you," Martha said softly. "Can you try to trust the Doctor, he knows what his doing,"
"Trust him?" Jake said with a huff, "I don't even know him."
"Can you trust me?" Martha asked.
Jake took a long breath in before he answered, "Yes."
"Then trust that I trust him," Martha said.
Again breathing in deeply Jake said, "Okay." Jake grumbled to himself and went to stand at the furthest position in the room from the Doctor.
The Doctor watched Martha as she spoke to Jake but failed to catch what they said. Jake turned and walked away and Martha looked over at the Doctor and gave him a tense smile. She walked over and the Doctor made space for Martha to sit beside him. Even though the Doctor wanted to ask her what she said, he instead asked,
"Are you okay?"
Martha turned to face the Doctor and he looked at her, "Give me a few minutes, and then ask me again."
"You'll be fine," the Doctor assured confidently.
"You seem sure of yourself," Martha said.
"I'll make sure of it," the Doctor said.
"You promise," Martha asked playfully nudging him with her shoulder.
"Of course," he replied.
Martha smiled and said, "I'm holding you to that mister."
Jake interrupted them from across the room by saying, "Martha will you grant a dying man his last wish."
Martha turned away from the Doctor and saw Jake was now kneeling against the far wall, "And what would that be?"she asked cynically.
"One last snog before I go," he said with a mischievous grin.
The Doctor gave Martha a sideways look.
"Nice try, but I don't think so," Martha answered.
"I had to give it shot," Jake stated smirking but directing it at the Doctor.
"Jake why don't you sit down," Martha suggested noticing his breathing seemed akward, "you look like you're about to collapse."
Huffing Jake said, "That's the least of my problems." Jake took a seat on the ground against one the crates. "I never knew it was going to end like this."
"We aren't going to die," Martha said.
Jake didn't reply but pulled his knees up and placed his head against it.
"Doctor how much time do we have," Martha asked. Except for a small tightness in her chest she did not feel the lack of oxygen yet.
The Doctor who was still holding his sonic looked at it and said, "We have less than 5%."
"Jake," Martha called, "how are you feeling?" Getting no reply Martha called out to him again. "Jake did you hear me." Martha stood up and went to kneel beside him, "Jake are you okay?" Martha asked. She touched Jake's shoulder but he didn't respond.
"Jake is unconscious," Martha called to the Doctor.
"How are you feeling?" the Doctor asked Martha.
"Okay," Martha said, "Surprising so, I can't feel the difference. That shouldn't be."
Martha checked Jake's pulse before screwing her neck to look up at the Doctor, "Something isn't right here. I feel fine but I shouldn't. I should be unconscious or at least struggling to breathe. Yet, I'm okay."
"Remember when we first met?" the Doctor asked.
"On the moon, of course. It's hard to forget," Martha replied.
"You had a hard time breathing but I was able to cope better," the Doctor said. "Time Lords don't need as much oxygen as humans. Our respiratory system can survive for a long time with little oxygen and even for a few minutes without any."
"That's fine for you but what about me?" Martha asked.
"Martha?" the Doctor asked arching his eyebrow as a question a prompt.
Realization hit Martha suddenly. She wasn't completely human anymore after her encounter with the Mannar. She was part Time Lord (or Gallifreyan as the Doctor liked to correct). Unconsciously Martha took a deep breath and asked, "Did you know this would this would happen?"
"I knew it was possible," the Doctor replied.
"How much have I changed? I mean, you told me everything was basically the same. I was there when we looked at the scans you took. Nothing had changed and yet I'm breathing without oxygen," Martha said.
"Martha what happened to you made you unique, which means there are an endless possibility of things which could happen," the Doctor replied.
Suddenly becoming very serious Martha asked, "Did you cut off the oxygen knowing we would be fine and Jake wouldn't?"
"I knew I would be fine," the Doctor said.
"But you knew there was a high probability that I would be too. You did it knowing you were putting Jake's life at greater risk than mine, and I'm not okay with that," Martha said.
"Anything could have happened," the Doctor corrected. "I could have told you what this could have happened but it was just as likely that you would be laying down here like Jake. I wasn't going to tell you something would happen when I could be wrong."
"Doctor I can't have you coddling me thinking I need protecting. This was something important, something I needed to know. Whatever is happening to me I need to know. And you need to trust me and respect me enough to know that I can handle it. Whatever it is," Martha said.
Seeing the determined look in Martha eyes, the Doctor said, "I'm sorry you're right, I should have told you."
"Yes you should," Martha said.
Martha noticed a small vibration starting in the Doctor's pocket, "Doctor what's that?" she asked.
"The doors," the Doctor said leaping to his feet and running to the doors. The Doctor sonicked the doors and then flung open."It worked," the Doctor said happily.
"Doctor I need your help to get him outside," Martha called. "His stopped breathing."
The Doctor went to help Martha drag Jake into the corridor. Once there Martha began CPR. Martha sighed with relief when Jake started coughing and opened his open his eyes with a start.
"Take it slow, you're fine," Martha said calmly. "Take a few deep breathes first."
"Am I still alive?" Jake choked out.
"Yes," Martha said smiling.
"Just checking," Jake said as he pushed himself to a sitting position with Martha's help. Jake saw the Doctor and said, "I should have thrown him out the air lock when I had the chance."
"Be nice now, we just saved you're life." Martha said with a smile.
"After he killed me," Jake accused.
"Let's not get into specifics now," the Doctor said.
"As long as we don't repeat that," Jake replied.
"Well, his plan did work" Martha said giving the Doctor a quick glance.
"That's one way of looking at it," Jake grumbled.
"We need to get go and warn the others," the Doctor said.
"Can you get up?" Martha asked Jake.
"I think so," Jake replied.
"Then let's get going," the Doctor said as he strode off.