Chapter Eight
Jack heaved the Doctor's lifeless body back onto the bed and pulled away the leads that were still attached to the Doctor.
He threw them away, and waited anxiously for Martha to return. He wished she would hurry herself, but she didn't, moving in that unhurried, yet quick movement of a professional.
"Get out of the way Jack," she said firmly as she wheeled the crash cart into the room.
When Jack didn't respond instantly, she shoved him out of the way.
Jack stood silently and watched as she rubbed the paddles together before pressing them to the Doctor's chest.
The Doctor's body arched and fell back, but was still lifeless.
"Clear!" Martha said, and this time the crackle of electricity made the hairs on Jack's arms tingle, and he swore he could see sparks arc across the Doctor's chest.
For a moment Jack thought it hadn't worked as the Doctor lay still once more, but the Doctor drew in a large gasp of air and clutched at his chest, before becoming still again.
"Is he?" Jack said quietly.
Martha placed a hand against the Doctor's neck. "He's alive," she said and began re-attaching wires and the room was once again filled with sounds of monitors.
She moved over to the monitor that she was using to keep an eye on the chip, and as she suspected the chip was malfunctioning, interfering with the Doctor's neural patterns.
Jack looked at her, his faced creased with concern. "Martha?"
"I need the Dilisian scanner, do you still have it?"
Jack stared at her. He knew what the scanner was for. "Martha what's wrong, is it the Doctor?"
"Jack, just get me the scanner," she said.
Jack went to say something, but the sudden authority in her voice made him move and he was out the door at a run.
He reappeared minutes later with the scanner. "Be careful with it, we still not sure how it works."
Martha nodded and placed the scanner, which was no bigger than her I-phone and ran it over the Doctor's head.
As she did a three dimensional image began to form, and the intricate workings that was the Time Lord's brain were displayed in front of Martha and Jack.
"Wow!" Jack said as he watched sparks of electricity skitter across the surface of the image in front of them.
As Martha moved the scanner round, the small black dot that was the chip came into view.
"Whoa, wait a minute, what was that!" Jack exclaimed when something caught his eye, just as Martha moved the scanner.
"Go back a bit Martha," he said quickly. "Look, there!"
He pointed to a small area near the chip, and Martha eyes widened in surprise. How could she miss that?
She stopped the scanner and touched the screen, and the image zoomed in on the area, and then she saw it. It was no more than a thread, but it was there, a single black strand, moving almost too slowly to be noticed, but it was wrapping itself round the chip.
"That looks like that DNA strand," Jack said, moving closer to the image. "Is it growing, that's not possible, is it?"
Martha studied the slowly moving strand, she was even more convinced that whatever the DNA strand was, it wasn't beneficial to the Doctor. She knew what she was going to say next was going to upset Jack, but she had to say it.
"There's nothing I can do, this is way out of my league. My best guess is it isn't just DNA, it's...how can I describe it, like one of vines, it invades its host and changes it at a genetic level, eventually turning it into a replica of itself," she said.
Jack looked at the slowly advancing black tendril.
"It's only going to get worse, isn't it? Is that what was driving him insane?"
Martha thought for a moment. "It could, if it acts more like the cordyceps fungus than a vine."
Jack frowned. "Explain."
"It a predatory fungus, it invades the host, usually an ant or some kind of insect. Its victim behaviour gradually becomes more and more erratic, and eventually the spores overtake the whole body, and it bursts through the shell of its victim, and the cycle begins again."
Jack looked at her in horror, then at the Doctor. "That thing's going to kill him?"
"I don't know Jack, I'm working in the dark. But why would White Coat want him dead, he's too much of an asset to want him dead."
"I don't care what he wants with him, he's never getting near him again," Jack snarled.
Martha looked at Jack, her face serious.
"Jack, I don't think we have a choice, I can't fix this. The Doctor certainly can't. You have to decide....let this thing drive him further into insanity and end up killing him, or you have to get your hands dirty, and deal with the devil."