A/N: So this took a weirdly long time, I know! I rewrote it about eight times and I still don't like it but hey ho etc.

Chapter 31 - Electric Brain Machine

Jack had watched, horrified as the Doctor's body had another seizure, and this time, he was screaming all the way through it. It happened so quickly and so violently that Jack only just got his hand under the Time Lord's head in time to stop it hitting the floor.

'Jack!' Seth said, running to him. 'What's going on!?'

'Seizure,' Jack replied shortly, not taking his eyes off of the Doctor. After what felt like a lifetime the Doctor finally stopped and just laid there, his eyes closed.

Seth stooped down, pulling the Time Lord into the recovery position. Jack tried not to panic, taking off his coat to cover his best friend. He then decided on a plan of action and looked up at the ex-guards. 'Can we control landing permissions from here?'

The ex-guards collectively nodded. 'What ship needs permission?' one asked.

'Tardis, type forty,' Jack replied. 'Directly in this room.'

'On it,' he replied, and ran off.

Jack turned to teenager next. 'Seth, take some people to the slave area and get everyone out.'

Seth looked at the Doctor, then nodded. He turned and bolted from the room, several ex-guards in tow.

Jack looked around at the crowd. 'There's a man outside, lying on the floor, hurt. Can someone carefully bring him in here?'

There were several nods before more guards left.

Jack looked back at the Doctor, who was shifting slightly. He knelt down immediately. 'Doctor? Rose?' he asked.

The Doctor's eyes snapped to him.

'Thank god,' Jack breathed. 'Are you okay?'

'We need the Tardis, Jack,' the Doctor said, but his head suddenly jerked, and he looked back up at the Immortal. 'Jack, what's goin' on?' he asked with Rose's accent.

Jack frowned. 'Rose? Is that you? Or the Doctor?'

'It's me, the Doctor,' the Time Lord replied, and then his head twitched again before he refocused. 'It's Rose!'

Then Jack realised what was happening as the penny dropped with a nasty clatter. 'Doctor, Rose, you're both conscious at the same time and you're fighting each other ...'

'Give me the medication, left inside pocket … Jack, we've gotta fix him, now!'

Jack quickly reached inside the indicated pocket and drew out the half-filled bottle of black liquid. He opened it nervously. 'All of it?' he asked.

'Yeah, quickly … Do whatever he's sayin'!'

Jack held the Doctor's head up, and tipped the contents of the bottle down his throat. The Doctor swallowed it without hesitation. He pulled the bottle away and winced. 'God, what the hell did I just give you …?'

'Tasted like jermanin buns … God, that was disgustin'.'

Despite the situation Jack couldn't help but smile at that. 'I'll get the Tardis here,' he said, just as the Doctor had another violent convulsion and just laid there, not moving an inch. 'Doctor? Rose?' he tried, but neither of them were responding. He took a breath, lifting his palm to his mouth, which the communicator was still secreted in. 'Brax, come in.'

'Here,' Brax's voice replied. 'How is he?'

Jack ignored that. 'We need the Tardis here now. Va'A'gnorn Palace. You've got landing permissions.'

'On my way.'

The Doctor's head was spinning like he'd taken a large amount of nitrous oxide and sat on the fastest ride in the fairground. He was catching glimpses of Brax, Jack, and everyone else around him, but he was also paralysed and couldn't move. He was marginally aware of being in different places; first the palace, then the console room, then the infirmary – lying on a bed surrounded by a lot of people.

'They are fighting to be the dominant consciousness,' Brax was saying, his face large and looming over him; the world bright, big and slightly terrifying. 'If we don't do something, we'll lose one of them for sure.'

'Save Rose,' the Doctor tried to say, but he couldn't move his mouth to form the words.

'Let me have a look,' Brax said, pressing his fingers to the Doctor's temples. Almost immediately the Doctor felt the intrusion, like an elephant stamping around his head, struggling to get his bearings. The Doctor was hardly in a position to keep his shields up, so thoughts and memories of both him and Rose were flying at Brax like an enthusiastic child throwing balls at a coconut shy. Brax was swooping and winding around the assailing thoughts and memories; a rollercoaster struggling to keep on the track.

'I think I've found Rose,' a male voice said, one which the Doctor could no longer place a name to. 'Whatever he drank, it's ungelled her from him. But I don't know how to get her out.'

'He's bleeding again,' a different male voice said.

'Knock him out,' a woman said.

'What?'

'Look, they're fighting for consciousness. What if we made him unconscious? We'll keep him monitored, and then we can work on Zak. He needs surgery right now. We can try and figure out the Doctor when we've got more time to think.'

'Okay, we'll do that,' said the first voice. 'Get something to put him under.'

The Doctor immediately felt very vulnerable, and utterly terrified. Finally he seemed to get some of the feeling of his body back, and he impulsively began to struggle – trying to get away. Someone pinned him down, which made him panic even more.

'Doctor! Just relax!'

'We're helping you, stay still!'

'I've got the sedative.'

'Get it in him!'

Something cold pressed against his neck and hissed. He continued to struggle, but found himself slowing down until he couldn't move again.

'Is he out?'

'No. Increase the dose.'

Another hiss. He was then paralysed again, and barely able to think.

'He's still not out.'

'Increase the dose.'

'We're in the danger zone. He can't take much more than this.'

'Okay, don't risk it ... Thete? Can you hear me?'

The Doctor tried to reply, but he still couldn't move a single muscle.

Thete. Please answer.

He tried to, but he couldn't seem to organise his thoughts enough to telepathically reply.

'He's not answering, I think he's gone.'

'Okay, let's sort out Zak.'

Seth made it to the slave area with his new friends in tow. One of them announced Pargeont Va'A'gnorn's death to the entire area through the PA system. There was a chorus of deafening cheering, laughing and the slaves' one-time captors helping them up. But Seth couldn't feel the joy.

He'd spent most of the journey to the slave area wondering what he would do now Elliott was dead. He imagined there would be a new order and a new world for the underground people, filled with shops, schools and hospitals – stuff Elliott had said was on their home world, but he didn't feel part of it. There would be no call for his skills as a thief, and he didn't know enough about medicine to be a doctor. He was too physically weak to help with rebuilding, and he couldn't cook.

He could go to school to learn how to read and write, but it seemed a little pointless. He had no particular ambition, and now he had no one who was waiting for him to come home. No one to talk to. No one to rely on him. Elliott had been the one everyone went to see and talk to. He was just Elliott's little brother. Now he wasn't even that.

'Seth!'

Seth looked up to see Kyeeta, the chef, running towards him. She met him in a hug.

'Oh, Seth,' she murmured, rubbing his back. 'I'm so sorry. But he saved us, all of us. Va'A'gnorn threatened to gas out the underground and kill the children in here if Elliott didn't do what he said,' she explained, pulling back to gaze at him. 'He's a hero.'

'Yeah,' Seth muttered, trying not to cry. But it was no use. The tears fell abruptly, and then he was shaking in her arms as she held him again.

'It'll be okay,' she said.

'I-I don't …' he began but couldn't get the words out on his first try. He tried again. 'I d-don't know what t-to do now.'

'We'll look after you,' she told him. 'For Elliott.'

That was it, Seth mused. He was now the little brother of a hero; a little brother that needed to be looked after.

Tense hours passed in the TARDIS. Brax and Martha had quickly whisked Zak into surgery with Gwen and Mickey to help, and as the only one left with knowledge of treating war wounds, Jack had opted to stay in the infirmary to tend to the apparently unconscious Doctor.

He cleaned and bandaged the wound and checked for any damage to his neck, but it was all superficial bruising. He then made the Doctor comfortable before he took a seat next to the bed, staring at the Time Lord blindly.

He couldn't stop thinking about Zak. The looks Brax and Martha had had when they'd whisked him into surgery were enough to tell Jack just how serious it was. He'd already known – of course he'd known – just how badly he was hurt, but now he couldn't stop imagining Zak dying.

He could see Brax and Martha walking out of the surgery, their hands in their hands. He could see himself staring at Zak's lifeless, destroyed body under a cold plastic sheet. He could see everyone standing around in black, throwing flowers onto the coffin at the funeral.

The doors of the operating room suddenly opened, and Jack jumped up as though he'd just been electrocuted by the chair. Everyone was there in masks and surgical garb, wheeling out a bed. Jack hesitated, but on Ianto's thumb up he bolted straight to the bed, staring down at Zak. He was looking a lot cleaner than he had before, although he had several bandages and casts, and was attached to quite a few tubes and wires.

'Is he okay?' Jack asked anxiously.

'He'll be fine, as long as there's no complications,' Brax replied. 'Gallifreyan bodies have a tendency to bounce back.'

Jack smiled and kissed Zak's forehead as they wheeled the bed into place and Brax connected him up to several machines. Jack sat beside him immediately, taking his hand gently.

'Any problems with the Doctor?' Martha asked.

Jack shook his head. 'He's been quiet.'

Brax moved to his brother, placing his fingers on his temple and closing his eyes. He remained still for a few, silent seconds before pulling back.

'I tried to speak to him inside his mind, but he's not responding,' he announced, taking his brother's wrist. 'Pulse is fine.' He checked both his hearts next. 'Steady, both going.'

'Any ideas?' Martha asked, looking at Brax.

He paused, thinking. 'Her consciousness is now dislodged from his. We need something to transfer her back to her body. A psychograft might work now. She was too well cemented before.'

'What's a psychograft?'

'It takes the consciousness of someone and puts it inside the body of another,' Brax explained to Martha. 'Usually the second consciousness compresses the original consciousness to death, but in Rose's case she's already empty, so there should be no ill effects. We will have to keep an eye on her, as well as Thete.'

'This sounds dangerous,' Martha mused.

'The only other option I can see is a heavily modified mind probe.'

Jack stood up immediately. 'No. Not in a million years. He can't defend himself from a mind probe when he's like this.'

'Psychograft, then,' Brax concluded. 'We will need to locate one. Keep him under sedation.'

It took a while, but Leah and Alex waited patiently until the commotion was over before they crept into the infirmary together. Their gran was asleep in a chair beside their mum, so they tip-toed past and continued to their dad. Using a combination of a stool and each other, they jumped up and commenced poking him.

'Daddy, Daddy, Daddy,' Leah said, jabbing her finger into his cheek. 'Daddy. Wake up.'

He didn't respond. Leah frowned, continuing to prod him. He still didn't move.

Leah looked at Alex, who pointed at their dad's head. Leah nodded, and pressed her fingers to his temples.

'Daddy,' she whispered out loud, trying to speak to him in his head. 'Daddy.'

'No,' Alex said shortly. Leah obediently moved out of the way to allow him to try, and the moment he put his fingers on his dad's temples their dad gasped, his eyes shooting open.

'What …' he began, struggling to focus.

'Hi,' Leah said, hugging him immediately, along with Alex. He looked confused. 'Are you okay?' she ended up asking at his expression.

'What time is it?' he asked in a South London accent.

'Um … 10pm, isn't your time sense working?' Leah replied, pulling back to look at him. His eyes looked glazed over. 'Daddy?'

'Why did you wake me up so late?' he asked, staring at no one.

'Everyone was worried so me and Alex sneaked down here and …'

'What's wrong with granddad?'

'Um, what?'

'But he can't be dead. He only came over yesterday.'

Leah bit her lip, looking at Alex. 'Err …'

'He said he was gonna take me to Piccadilly Circus on Saturday,' the Doctor continued.

'Daddy, wake up,' Leah demanded, standing up on the bed to hold his shoulders, shaking him slightly.

'No, please don't cry,' he said, oblivious to being shaken.

Leah looked at Alex, biting her lip. He jumped off of the bed and ran out of the door immediately.

'Don't ditch me!' Leah moaned, but he was already gone. She looked back at her dad. He was crying, now.

'Don't cry, cos when you cry, I cry,' he said.

'Daddy,' Leah moaned, waving a hand in front of his eyes. 'Wake up.'

'It's okay, cos granddad's in Heaven now,' he said next.

'Leah!' came a hiss from behind her, and she turned to see her gran, now awake and standing behind her, hands on her hips. 'What did you do?'

'Nothing,' Leah replied quickly.

'He was being kept sedated, he –'

'He was a good person and all good people go to Heaven, that's what Miss Birch said,' the Doctor interrupted Jackie.

'Oh my God,' Jackie realised, hand over her mouth. 'I don't believe it. Rose?'

'So don't worry about him cos he's happy and he's not sick anymore,' the Doctor added. He was still crying.

'Oh sweetheart,' Jackie breathed, moving into hug him. 'It's okay.'

'What's going on?' Jack yelled as he came running into the infirmary with Alex and Brax in tow.

'I didn't do anything!' Leah said innocently, jumping off of the bed.

'It's Rose, she's having some kinda flashback,' Jackie said. 'She's havin' the conversation we had when her granddad died … Just her half of it.'

Brax checked his brother's temple immediately. 'We need to put him back under.'

'He's already on enough to down a horse,' Jack said, checking the IV lines.

'He's stopped,' Jackie interrupted. Everyone looked, just as the Doctor moved again.

'Arehc'ei'werak, Glospin,' the Doctor suddenly said in Gallifreyan, looking scared, but determined.

Jackie pulled back, not understanding the gallifreyan. 'What did he say?'

'Ei'poha'afa kyla!' the Doctor continued, panicking now. 'Jishh'berr!'

Leah looked at her uncle, confused.

'Don't listen,' Brax said to her, a little anxious.

'But he's …'

'Koshh'qe!' the Doctor yelled.

'What's he sayin'?' Jackie asked, worried.

'He's saying that …' Leah began, but Brax stopped her.

'He's now in his own childhood,' he stated. 'If we can't sedate him we need to get him to a psychograft, now.'

'Qe'wi-all, Glospin!' the Doctor yelled.

'But we haven't located one yet,' Jack said anxiously.

'Koshh'qe!'

'Get him to the console room,' Brax ordered as he took out all of Rose's tubes and wires in three seconds flat, before picking her up and running with her.

'N-ei'holl'koshh'qe!' the Doctor demanded as Jack took hold of him and Jackie found a hoverchair.

'What's he saying?' Jackie asked Leah.

'He shouting at someone called Glospin to let him go,' Leah said, confused. 'Uncle Jack, who's Glospin?'

'No idea,' Jack confessed.

'Wi-jahi'eon'afa'besha'ei!?'

'C'mon,' Jack prompted, running with the Time Lord out of the infirmary and down the corridor to the console room. There was a jolt, and a distance surge of engines. Brax had put the TARDIS into motion.

Suddenly the Doctor tensed. 'Fo! Wi-fo! Iviv-o! Naqu, Glospin, wi-naqq! Ei'alimka ye ce'ayiak!' he failed, and let out a cry. 'Glospin!'

They made it to the console room, where Brax was already running to the doors holding Rose just as the Doctor yelped and cried out in pain, his entire body jerking.

'Ei'wi-riiala, ei'holah-o'cejoi-n … Fo! Wi-fo! Lei-o'arehc'ei vivi! Lei-o'oglab qe! Wi-naqu! Glospin!'

Brax beckoned quickly. Jack followed him out of the doors and into a room carved in stone, fires breaking out everywhere and the sounds of lasers and ships screaming overhead. The room was shaking from a nearby bomb blast.

'Ai-naqu…' the Doctor whined, crying.

'Where are we?' Jack asked as Brax began to run again.

'Glospin! Innocet! Badger!' the Doctor yelped.

'Planet of the Ontarions!' Brax shouted over the noise as Jack followed, Leah in tow. 'They were scholars and inventors, they invented the psychograft, but their planet was detonated by the Parquons in a war – this one!'

'This one?' Leah yelped, alarmed.

'We've got six minutes before the planet explodes!' Brax shouted back as he turned a corner.

'Oh, that long?' Jack commented insincerely, looking at the Doctor. He'd gone silent, looking terrified and shaking. The building had another violent judder. The immortal sped up, pursuing Brax until they eventually emerged into a half-destroyed room filled with technology.

Brax set Rose down on the floor. 'Stay here while I look!' he shouted, and ran off.

'Jesus Christ,' Jack muttered, checking the Doctor. He'd stopped shaking, and was now just staring blankly ahead. Jack waved a hand in front of his eyes, but he didn't respond. 'Stay with us, Doc.'

'R-Rolas,' he suddenly said, his eyes staring through the immortal. 'Ei'besha-o.'

'What did he say?' Jack asked, looking at Leah.

'He's talking to you, Uncle Jack,' Leah said. 'He said he can't move.'

'Tell him we'll fix him.'

'Kai'afa'agrrev, pohh-n,' Leah said quickly.

'Fo, fo, tera qe'afa'wi-ayiak,' the Doctor replied, clearly terrified.

'He said it's really dark,' Leah translated.

'It's gonna be over soon, Brax is finding the psychograft right now, you're gonna be okay,' Jack said firmly, resting a hand on the Doctor's shoulder.

'Qe'afa'eloli-n itra, Weepo-Brax'afa'eril … eee…' Leah hesistated mid-translation, wide-eyed. 'I dunno the word for psychograft! Eee … nezy'to'togri …?'

'Rolas, saral'Liala-n, wi-naqu,' the Doctor said next, looking desperate.

'He said to save mummy,' Leah translated, terrified now.

'No, no one is getting priority,' Jack shot back without hesitation. 'Both of you are gonna survive.'

'Fo, nijec'afa wila cege. Eon su ber'kari-n,' Leah said.

The Doctor's entire body jerked, bleeding from his nose again. 'What?' he suddenly asked. 'I don't understand! Jack, save the Doctor!'

'Rose, no one is getting priority!' Jack snapped just as Brax yelled something from the distance. Jack took hold of the hoverchair again and followed his voice to a machine with two chairs in it, coated with wires. Brax was already wiring the comatose Rose into one of the chairs, putting some sort of headpiece on her and securing her in. The infrastructure of the room was beginning to collapse around their heads now, the room shaking again from another blast.

'Put him there!' Brax ordered, pointing at the second chair. Jack obliged as Leah just stood there, terrified. With some more help from Brax, they managed to jam the headpiece onto the Doctor and get him locked in. Seconds later, Brax was at the controls.

'No time for safety checks,' Brax said, his fingers a blur across the keyboard. 'Three … two …'

'What!' Jack cried.

Brax didn't even pause at Jack's protest. '... One … Activating.'

Everyone had to shield their eyes as the entire room suddenly seemed to explode with blue and red light, completely consuming the Doctor and Rose. It lasted for only a few seconds, but they seemed excruciatingly long before the light disappeared and Rose and the Doctor were left hanging limply in the chairs.

'Did it work?' Jack asked, poised to move forward at Brax's command.

'No idea, but we have three minutes until the planet is completely destoryed, we need to get out of here back to –' Brax stopped himself mid-sentence, his eyes widening. 'Take cover!' he suddenly yelled, just as there was a massive explosion from the right, and debris began to fly.

Translation

Arehc'ei'werak, Glospin - Leave me alone, Glospin

Ei'poha'afa kyla! Jishh'berr! - My father is near! Let go!

Koshh'qe! - Stop it!

Qe'wi-all, Glospin! - That really hurts, Glospin!

N-ei'holl'koshh'qe! - I said stop it!

Wi-jahi'eon'afa'besha'ei!? - Where are you taking me!?

Fo! Wi-fo! Iviv-o! Naqu, Glospin, wi-naqq! Ei'alimka ye ce'ayiak! - No! No! Please, Glospin, please! I'm scared of the dark!

Ei'wi-riiala, ei'holah-o'cejoi-n … Fo! Wi-fo! Lei-o'arehc'ei vivi! Lei-o'oglab qe! Wi-naqu! - I swear I won't tell anyone! No! No! Don't leave me here! Don't close that! Please!

Eee … nezy'to'togri - Umm … electric brain machine!