"Still remains…"
The Doctor and Donna rested for about twenty minutes before they felt the pressing need to get moving once more. The feel of the ship had begun to subtly change around them and the Doctor knew that they couldn't delay much longer.
They didn't speak much as they made their way towards the lower levels where the entrance to the temporal core could be found. The Doctor had to lower Donna a few times from an upper level as the stairs leading from one level to the next had collapsed into the darkness below.
She could feel the pain slicing through the Doctor's body every time he gently lowered her to a walkway below, but he pushed resolutely onward through pain that would have been completely debilitating in any other person.
Donna paused for a moment as the Doctor carefully dropped down onto the walkway behind her, her eyes darting frantically around the space in front of them before she turned back to look at the Doctor as he walked towards her.
"It's getting worse, Doctor. I don't know how we're going to be able to make it much further through this mess."
The Doctor frowned slightly, his eyes sliding closed as he let himself focus fully on the sensations that were assaulting Donna's senses. He hadn't left her mind for an instant since she had collapsed several levels above, but he still needed to focus on her perceptions when he wanted to see as she did.
He braced himself as he opened his mental eyes, his mind momentarily overwhelmed with the pain of not only Donna's injuries but the never-ending assault of temporal energy along frayed nerves. The space in front of them was conspicuously free of spheres, and as much as he was grateful that they wouldn't be needing to dodge the things closer to the core, it was the shimmering in the air that caused a steady dread to build.
It looked almost as if they were standing on the edge of some vast sea and the tide was rapidly rising around them. The Doctor had sensed the pulsing of temporal waves against his skin, but he hadn't realized that the field had been quite this large. It looked like the wave was emanating from the temporal core that was now just one deck below them, and it flowed outward in a continuous tide that was building into an energy wave that would destroy the ship once it reached its peak.
The Doctor took a deep breath and pulled his awareness back into his own body, his gaze turning down to find Donna looking up at him expectantly. "We're almost there, Donna. It looks like the spheres have been pushed away from the core by the energy wave that's building, which should make the rest of our journey a little less perilous but no less urgent."
Donna's hands tightened along the railing for a moment, her thoughts turning inward to the space that the Tardis had just so recently occupied which had ominously gone quiet. She could feel a sense of expectancy from the space though, almost as if the Tardis were holding her breath while she waited for their next step. "I can't hear her anymore, Doctor. Are we already too late?"
The Doctor shook his head as he reached out for her hand, his fingers twining with hers before he pulled her away from the precipitous drop below. "She's still there, Donna, but it feels like she's conserving her strength. She's very weak right now and we're nearly out of time. Now I need you to listen to me very carefully. Things need to be done in precise order and we will not have another chance to get this right. Do you promise to follow my exact instructions and not do anything unless I instruct you otherwise?"
Donna froze when she heard the implacable command in his voice, her hand tightening briefly while her mind tried to sift through his thoughts. He was resolute and didn't shy away from her exploration, but he also didn't guide her search. He would not coax her in any particular direction, and merely waited for her to find her answers before she responded to him. "What's going to happen, Doctor?"
He shook his head, his eyes blazing down into hers before he repeated. "I need you to promise me, Donna or we won't take another step on this walkway."
Donna scoffed at his words, her incredulous gaze darting around the cavernous space beyond them before she retorted. "You said the ship would destroy itself if we didn't fix things, Doctor, you can't be serious."
The Doctor didn't move, his hand tightened around hers before he bit out. "I'm completely serious, Donna. Give me your word."
She was getting upset at the tone in his voice, her mind was snapping within his but she could tell that he wouldn't move another step further until she responded. She knew now that the moment was at hand for him to reveal to her just how dangerous this repair was going to be and she also could tell that he was terrified she would put herself in danger to save him should the need arise. "Why don't you tell me what I'm promising first, Doctor?"
He said nothing, simply stood there watching her while his thoughts remained completely calm and placid within her own. He would not nudge her in any direction and so he waited, with all the serenity that Time Lords were renowned for until Donna finally muttered, "Alright, Doctor. I promise that I will do exactly as you say, no matter what might happen."
She could feel the relief that burst within him, his hand tightening on hers for a moment before he pulled her into motion once more. "I'm going to have to go into the temporal core in order to make this repair, but the core itself is unstable and so it's very dangerous right now."
Donna was listening intently to the Doctor even as she fought for every step forward, her legs felt like they were moving through molasses as the waves of energy continued to buffet the both of them. The containment field had nearly collapsed and so the unfettered energy of the vortex was pouring into the ship and accelerating the damage that was even now in danger of tearing the Tardis to pieces.
"The Eye of Harmony is usually contained within its own energy field, but from the readings I'm getting off the sonic and your own unique perceptions, it looks like that field has failed completely. What would normally be a matter of simply changing a part is now going to be much more difficult."
He paused as they came to a solid wall, the walkway beneath them trembled slightly as it had fallen away from the walkway above and was hanging completely unsupported. The Doctor sighed when he looked up at the dark opening above them, his lips pursed as he carefully walked over to the edge of the walkway before turning back and making his way to her side.
"I seem to have made a wrong turn, or a right turn depending on how you look at it."
Donna scowled softly at the Doctor's words, her gaze following his up towards the dark opening above them before she muttered. "What are you talking about, Doctor? Do we have to go back, because I don't know how much farther I can continue?" She hated admitting to any weakness, but she knew that the Doctor could already tell how tired she was and how even now it was hard for her to maintain her connection with her body. If it hadn't been for the indomitable will of the Doctor's mind anchoring hers, she was afraid she would have drifted off into the darkness a long while ago and would never have found her way back.
The Doctor turned back to look at her, his gaze softening for the briefest of moments before his hand rose to brush a straggly strand of hair from her forehead. "We're here, Donna. I'd thought we had another deck to go, but it looks like I was mistaken. That doorway up there is the entrance to the temporal core, but I'm going to need to lift you up to it. Do you think you're up to climbing the last little bit? I'll be right behind you."
Donna's eyes slid closed when she felt the brush of his fingers over her face, her breath catching for a brief moment at the feeling of bone numbing exhaustion that nearly drove her to her knees. She took a deep breath before she licked her lips and opened her eyes, finding the Doctor looking down at her with a troubled expression when he had felt the exhaustion wash over her. "I'll be just fine, Doctor. Are you going to be alright lifting me up? You're not exactly in the best shape either."
The Doctor nodded softly, his hand gripping hers tightly before he turned them both to face the wall in front of them. "I've got plenty of fight left in me, Donna, don't you worry. Now, on three."
Donna braced her hands against the wall as she felt the Doctor wrap his hands around her hips, his voice low as he counted down. "One." She could feel the tightening of his hands for a brief moment before he whispered, "Two."
One final, deep breath to brace himself against the pain from his ribs before he grunted, "Three."
Donna pushed off the walkway as he lifted her up towards the opening above them, her mind whiting out for a moment at the wave of agony that blasted through her mind from the Doctor's body. His hands shifted under her bum and with a final heave, she was able to crawl into the opening and land in an inelegant sprawl on the floor of a short corridor that ended in a large door.
She rolled over onto her stomach just as the Doctor jumped up to grab a hold of a portion of the walkway that was hanging below the opening and using that as leverage, he then pulled himself up the rest of the way.
He leaned back against the wall behind him, his eyes clenched closed around a soft cry of pain as he crossed his arm protectively across his chest. Donna scrambled to her knees, her hands reaching out to gently move the Doctor's arm out of the way. "Are you sure you're up to this, Doctor? Is there anything I can do to help with the pain?"
The Doctor looked up at Donna with a weary smile, his breath hitching at the feather light caress of Donna's fingers over his bruised body. "I've got to have all my wits about me, Donna. Once this is done, then we'll both be able to rest and properly heal."
She looked unconvinced as she continued to fuss over him, her mind repeatedly nudging his in an attempt to help him shoulder some of the pain. He resolutely blocked the worst of the pain from her though, fearful that any more pain would completely overwhelm her already taxed system. He'd dealt with worse pain in the past, besides it was nothing compared to what he was going to be subjected to in the next few moments.
"I'm going to need your help to throw the switch that should hopefully reset the containment field and bring the transducer back into temporal alignment. I'm essentially going to be hot wiring the old connection so that we can get the Tardis under control and exit the vortex at which point, I'll then be able to swap the damaged part for a new component. It won't be an exact fit, but it's the closest thing I have available and should work in a similar fashion."
Donna frowned at the uncertainty in the Doctor's voice, his hand was fiddling inside his one remaining pocket and he was looking everywhere but at her. "It should work, Doctor? Are you not certain about this repair?"
The Doctor sighed and pushed himself to his feet, grimacing slightly before he reached down to pull Donna up with him. "I'm as certain as I can be, Donna. This has never happened before, at least not that I remember and so I'm only going on assumption and hope."
Donna could tell that the Doctor didn't like not having all the answers, especially when the stakes were so high, but he would do everything in his power to make sure that they had the best chance possible to survive. "I understand, Doctor. What do you need me to do?"
He led the way to a large door at the end of the corridor, similar in design to the doors one would see on a ship at sea with a large round portal set into it at eye level. There was a pulsing orange glow emanating from within the circle, the angry color seemed to be throbbing like a gigantic heartbeat and it was from that orange glow that Donna could see strident lines of energy racing out in all directions.
She held her hand up to the glass, her eyes squinting as she tried to see beyond the coruscating lines of force and into the chamber beyond. "Is that it, Doctor?"
The Doctor came up beside her, his hand rising to twine gently with hers before he nodded softly. "Yes, Donna. The Eye of Harmony is on the other side of this door."
His hand was trembling in Donna's grasp and she could feel the pounding of his twin hearts as he braced himself to enter that chamber of fire. Donna clutched his hand tightly, her mind threading itself deeper into his thoughts for a brief moment before she felt him take a deep breath and turn to look at the wall behind her. "The door offers some protection and the energy from the Eye shouldn't immediately harm you, but once I'm in that chamber you won't be able to help me until we're out of the vortex and the energy has dissipated."
Donna gasped when she heard the Doctor's words, her eyes darting back to the sullen orange glow before she blurted out, "What do you mean, I won't be able to get you? What if you're injured? What if you need my help?"
The Doctor stepped away from Donna, his hands deftly popping two panels off the wall before he slid open a compartment and very carefully pulled a control panel from the interior of the wall. A large lever was set in the middle of the panel with a series of lights set in a circular pattern around it, though the lights were for the moment dark.
He looked back to Donna with the same implacable expression that he had worn just a short time ago, his mind snapping almost painfully within hers before he reminded her, "You promised that you would do exactly as I instructed, Donna."
She bit back an angry retort, her eyes blazing up at him for extracting such a promise from her without letting her know the particulars of that promise. "You never told me that I might have to watch you die, Timeboy!"
The Doctor winced at her angry rejoinder, his body turning so that he could grab her shoulders and gently pull her closer to him. "Would you have promised if you had known, Donna?"
Donna growled softly up at him even as tears spilled down her cheeks, her hand rising to cup his bruised cheek before she muttered, "I wouldn't have had a choice, would I, Doctor?"
He shook his head softly, his hands tightening on her shoulders before he pulled her close for a last, lingering embrace. "I'm so sorry, Donna. I'm so very, very sorry but no, you wouldn't have had any choice in the matter."
She clung to him, her body shaking as she realized that she might very well be saying her final goodbye to him and she desperately didn't want to let him go. "I'm scared, Doctor."
He rocked her gently, his eyes slipping closed as he bent his head and placed a reverent kiss on the crown of her head. "I know, Donna, trust me, I know."
They stood wrapped in each other's embrace for a moment longer, before he pulled back and directed her attention to the lever beside them. "When I complete the connection, the lights around this lever should start to blink in sequence. They will start out a red color and will cycle through to blue when the cycle has completed itself and the system is ready to be initialized. I need you to throw this switch when the last light on the right has turned to blue. Have you got that?"
Donna looked to the lever, following the motion of his hand as he indicated the direction that the lights would illuminate before she nodded. "Yes, Doctor. I'm ready."
He took a final, deep breath and leaned down to claim her lips in a bone searing kiss; everything that he couldn't say poured from his mind into hers and she could tell that he was saying goodbye in the only way he knew how.
When he pulled away, Donna held tightly to his hand for a moment more. "Come back to me, Spaceman."
He turned to look at her with a soft smile, his hand brushing across her cheek one last time before he whispered, "I have every intention of coming back, Donna."
The Doctor then threw the lever and carefully pulled the door open, shielding himself behind the door as a blast of orange energy burst through the opened portal. Donna cried out when she saw the fiery energy blaze out of the doorway before the Doctor stepped around the door and into the chamber slamming the door quickly closed behind him. The ominous clang of metal on metal spurred Donna into motion and she threw herself towards the portal just as the handle turned and locked into place.
She pressed her face against the portal where she could just make out the Doctor's form as he walked across a catwalk towards a panel that looked to be set into a wall several meters into the chamber. "Doctor!"
She knew that he couldn't hear her through the glass, nevertheless he turned towards the portal and smiled one last time before he closed his mind to her completely. She stumbled when she felt the connection between them dim, though he didn't let go of the hold that he had on her mind. Even though she had felt a flash of agony from him before he had closed their connection, he hadn't completely let go of his hold on her thoughts and so she remained anchored in her body even as the rest of his mind had gone blank.
The Doctor knelt before the panel, his hand rising to undo the large bolt that held it in place before he pulled it open and set the large covering aside. He was gritting his teeth as his body seemed to be flayed by the energy that was pouring off the unfettered Eye of Harmony, it felt like his skin should be seared from his body but a quick glance down at his arms showed that the sensation was only in his mind.
He rummaged around in the space beneath the jumble of wires that was the central nervous system of the Tardis, his fingers deftly sorting through assorted spare parts before he pulled a specific item free and stuck it into his last remaining pocket. It wouldn't be an exact fit to the original transducer, but it was a part that he had picked up on his travels several centuries earlier and had held onto just in case he might need it in the future. Little did he know how dire his circumstances would become and with the loss of Gallifrey, it was the best he could hope for.
He reached into his pocket, hand closing around his sonic before he pulled it out and carefully scanned the junction in front of him. He left the spare part in his pocket as he didn't want to risk it being sent flying should the ship be tossed violently once the containment field began to repair itself.
The sonic sputtered and coughed because of interference from the temporal energy that was buffeting him, but it did work long enough to show him exactly where the damage had been done. He tucked the sonic back into his pocket and reached into the mess of wiring in front of him, where he found a part no bigger than the palm of his hand that had been charred to a crisp.
He grunted when he saw the damage, his tongue caught behind his teeth as he dared to glance back up towards the door where Donna stood framed in the window. Her hands were pressed on either side of her face and he could read the concern that was etched on her face even if he couldn't feel her fear, he met her eyes and nodded towards the side of the door where the lever was and waited for her to follow his gaze before she turned back to look at him with a firm nod.
Confident that she understood and was ready for his next actions, the Doctor tossed the ruined transducer aside and reached back into the mess of wires inside the wall. He took four separate wires, his hands shaking as he carefully peeled back the covering to expose a decent length of silvery conduit. He could feel the shuddering in the deck beneath him, the Tardis was in its final death throes and he couldn't wait a moment longer.
The Doctor held his breath as he pressed the wires together, his eyes momentarily blinded by the surge of power that raced through the panel in front of him as the circuit was once more completed. He screamed when the energy raced up his arms and into the wires before him, his body becoming part of the circuit as the Tardis suddenly began to buck wildly beneath his feet. He needn't have worried about being thrown free from the wires because the current held him firmly in place, but the agony that washed over him ricocheted through the bond that he hadn't completely severed from Donna and he could feel her responding cry echo through his mind.
Now, Donna! Don't worry about me, throw the lever now!
He could feel her screaming in his mind, her thoughts trying to shoulder some of the agony he was bearing even as she turned to do as he instructed.
Donna clung to the portal as the ship heaved beneath her feet, her eyes remaining glued to the Doctor until she heard his shout and agony tore through her mind. It took every ounce of will that Donna possessed to turn away from the portal, her mind was crumbling beneath the pain that was pouring through their bond and she barely managed to throw herself at the lever just as the final light flashed to blue. She pushed the lever upwards, grunting at the unexpected resistance that met her motion. The Doctor was yelling loudly in her mind, the strange disjointed Gallifreyan words offered a haunting counterpoint as her hand was finally able to slam the lever home.
The ship began to cartwheel through space when the connection was completed and the agony in her mind suddenly subsided as the Doctor was thrown free from the panel. She felt like a gale was rushing past her, her mouth opened around a bloodcurdling scream as wave after wave of temporal energy scoured her body. Her cry was suddenly cut short with a painful grunt as her body was flattened against the wall, the rush of temporal energy that was being sucked back into the Eye of Harmony seared across overloaded nerves until Donna thought the pain might drive her insane.
There was a sudden explosion of sensation in her thoughts and the presence of the Tardis filled Donna's mind to near bursting. She was blinded by the raw power of the Tardis as she was flung from her panic room, her consciousness reaching out to connect once more with her matrix in an attempt to regain control of her battered shell.
Ducky! Donna whimpered as she felt the warmth and weariness emanating from the ship; but other than a soft caress of thought, the Tardis was too focused on reestablishing the connection with her circuits to spare both her pilots more than a passing thought.
The Tardis had been fading into nothingness and hadn't known how much longer she would have been able to hold on to her form when she felt the power surge through her shell and her prison had suddenly cracked like an egg.
She had latched onto Donna's consciousness before the Doctor's and had used their presence as a guide to her battered shell, the ricochet that had flung her from her prison had been strong enough to throw her consciousness nearly completely free into nothingness and it was only the strength of her connection to her pilots that allowed her to find her way home.
Donna was weeping against the wall when the wind finally died down, allowing her to claw her way to the portal where she was able to just make out the Doctor's form lying in a crumpled heap against the wall opposite the panel on which he had been working. She futilely pounded against the glass, her voice quickly growing hoarse as she cried out to the Doctor.
The ship began to shudder around her, the unmistakable sound of materialization echoing through the cavernous space beyond the little corridor in which she huddled. Donna slid down against the portal as the strength finally melted from her body, her shoulders shook with fresh sobs and she found she didn't even care where they had materialized.
The Doctor had told her that she wouldn't be able to get to him until the repair was complete, but he wasn't moving and she wasn't sure just how the repair would be completed when the ship wouldn't let her open the door to help him.
She huddled within herself, whimpering when she felt the weak touch of the Tardis brush gently across her mind. Donna looked up with a sniffle when she heard what sounded like footsteps pounding down a corridor that had suddenly appeared at the end of the corridor in front of her.
"Donna! Doctor! Where are you?"
Donna jerked in disbelief at that voice, her head spinning as she moved too quickly. It couldn't be, could it?
"DOOONNNAA!"
"Jack? Martha?!" Donna cried out when she saw two shapes run around the corner in front of her, her body sagged against the door in relief when she saw Martha and Jack racing down the corridor towards her.
She had never seen anything as beautiful as the chaos that seemed to surround Jack's body, and it was as the strange sensations of his presence washed over her tortured senses that Donna knew she would always be able to find comfort in his steadfast friendship.
Martha threw herself to the ground beside Donna, her hand reaching up to unwrap her stethoscope from her neck just as Donna whispered, "Please save the Doctor."
The darkness that had been held at bay rose up with a vengeance and dragged Donna down into its murky embrace, her last sight was of Jack and Martha looking down at her with shock and worry etched on their faces.
They'll figure it out soon enough, my pilot. Rest now and heal. I will make sure our thief is rescued as well.
Donna felt the Tardis exert a final push on her mind and she was powerless to resist the fall into total darkness.