Last Words
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"Doctor!" the cry broke him out of his calm, happy state. He turned to see Hame looking desperately at the Face of Boe as the glass of his tank cracked. The next thing he knew the Face of Boe was on the ground and he and Hame were kneeling next to him.
"Boe! Are you alright?" he asked in concern.
"Thank you, Doctor," the Face of Boe rasped.
"Hey, it's what I do," he said cheerfully, but you could tell by the quiet tone of his voice that he was trying to cover up the tone of despair, realising that the Face of Boe was not in a good way.
"Doctor?" Martha's voice echoed through the senate.
"Over here," he called softly.
"Doctor!" he heard her cry in delight. She ran around the corner, a smile on her face, but a sad question on her lips. "What happened out there?" That was when she noticed who he was kneeling next to. "What's that?"
"It's the Face of Boe," he said gently. "It's alright. Come and say hello. And this is Hame. She's a cat. Don't worry." Cautiously Martha began to approach them and kneeled down next to him. "He's the one that saved you, not me."
"My lord gave his life to save the city," Hame said. "And now he is dying."
"No, don't say that," he told her. "Not old Boe. Plenty of life left."
"It's good to breath the air once more," he rasped.
"Who is he?" Martha asked.
"I don't even know," the Doctor said looking up at her, sad wonder on his face. "Legend says the Face of Boe had lived for billions of years. Isn't that right?" he asked Boe. "And you're not about to give up now."
"Everything has it's time," he replied, reminding him of something Sarah Jane once said. "You know that, old friend, better than most."
"The legend says more," Hame prompted.
"Don't," he said, his voice a little harder. "There's no need for that." Boe could make it. He didn't want to know the secret if it meant his life was coming to a close.
"It says that the Face of Boe will speak his final secret to a traveller."
"Yeah, but not yet. Who needs secrets, eh?" he said trying to get her to stop.
"I have seen so much," Boe gasped. "Perhaps too much. I am the last of my kind. As you are the last of yours, Doctor."
He ignored the shocked and confused look Martha sent him. "That's why we have to survive," he said, his voice straining as if he were holding back tears. "Both of us. Don't go."
"I must," Boe said. "But know this, Time Lord. You are not alone. You must go back to the hospital. Find what was lost." With these last words, he opened his mouth to speak them, rather than in their heads. Slowly his eyes closed and he let out his last breath.
The Doctor, who had been on the verge of tears, now sat staring uncomprehendingly at the Face of Boe. What could he have meant? There was no way there could be anyone else out there. He would know. And what could be back at the hospital? He had only been there once, and now he found those memories too painful. What had been lost?
Still in shock he stood up, not long after Martha who had tears in her eyes. He put an arm around her shoulder and held her to him. Beside them Hame began to sob. There was nothing they could do for her. And there was nothing they could say.
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"The hospital… What does he mean, Doctor?" Martha asked after a long moment. "Does he mean where I train? You know, when we were on the moon? Isn't that crossing our timelines? I thought something like that would be forbidden or something."
"It is," the Doctor said, his voice shaking and his face rather pale. "But that wasn't what he meant. Hame…?"
"He always used to send power there," Hame said quietly when he couldn't finish his question. Wiping her tears, she stood and looked at him. She could tell from the look in his eyes that something about the place upset him. And she would bet everything it had to do with the blonde woman who was no longer at his side. Rose, the Face of Boe had called her. "I'm not sure why, but he would always send the tiniest bit of power he could spare there. I don't know why. I've been there, I've checked for survivors. There was none. Nothing there. But he always told me that something important was there. Something you would need."
"Well… always worth a look," he said cheerfully. But Martha saw the shadows in his eyes as he brought back his bouncy façade. "Let's go get the TARDIS. I can imagine the hospital will still be in lockdown for a while longer. Brings back memories, doesn't it Hame." He tried to smile, but both women could see through it.
Cautious not to say anything more until they had figured out a little more, Martha and Hame followed him back down to the Under city to get the TARDIS.
?...DW…?
The TARDIS materialised into the main lobby, and the three of them walked out. Despite the pure white walls, the place still looked dark. Bodies littered the floor everywhere they looked. It sickened him, the memories this place was giving.
"Aw, still no little shop," he muttered as he looked about. "Okay…" he said quietly. "Hame, would it be in ward 26?"
"No, I've already checked there," she told him, her voice just as quiet.
"Alright, well, the message was for me, so it will have been somewhere I've been here."
"Where else have you been then?" Martha asked. She was being quiet too. There was just something about this place.
"Well, there was the 'intensive care' unit."
"That was destroyed and cleared out not long after you left," Hame said. "It's just maintenance corridors now."
"The elevators."
"They'll be off with the lockdown."
"Right… only one place left then…" he sighed, heading for the door that lead to the maintenance stairs.
"Where's that?" Martha said in a hushed tone.
"The basement," he replied. Then he opened the door and headed down without waiting for the others to follow.
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He used the sonic to illuminate the slightly familiar room. It was still recognisable. Nothing had changed since he'd been here last. Cassandra's frame still sat near the wall, her expired brain, still pickled in its jar.
"What is that?" Martha said in disgust.
"This is what's left of Cassandra O' 17 - the last pure blood human… Well, not that you could really call her a human anymore. She was pretty much a stretch of skin with eyes and lips… and somehow a voice box… a really loud voce box."
"I'm guessing you didn't like her," Martha judged from his tone.
"Not really," he told her. "First time we met her, she tried to kill a bunch of people so she could profit from their business shares."
"So… what happened to her?"
"She used a psychograft," he pointed to the machine in the corner, it still hadn't been moved. "It transfers one person's mind into another's body. The original mind is ever so slowly compressed to death. Last time we were here, she lured Rose down here and tricked her into the psychograft. She possessed Rose and pretended to be her. I knew something was wrong, but I didn't know what.
We found out that the hospital had created humans with Flesh and were experimenting on them to create cures. Thanks to Cassandra, they got loose and started to spread every single disease through the hospital. We stopped them, used the cures to heal them. Cassandra went between my body and Rose's the whole time. She ended up moving to her assistant's body. But he was a force grown clone and his body couldn't handle it. They both died."
"Maybe you're looking for something to do with her," she suggested.
"Who knows…" he sighed. "You know, it's a little odd seeing Boe this time. Every time I've met him, Rose and Cassandra were there. Now Cassandra's dead and Rose is… Come on, let's try this way," he changed the subject, acting falsely cheerful, and headed down a corridor. They passed by an elevator and he guessed this was where Rose had come the first time.
Behind him Martha paused, looking at the wall and muttered something. It had sounded a bit like 'Bad Wolf'. But it couldn't have been. That was over. That was done. Rose was gone. He looked over his shoulder just to make sure, but by no they had passed it and that part of the corridor was once again shrouded in darkness. So he ignored it. It just couldn't be. It had been a message to Rose. Maybe she had tried to warn herself not to - or even to go down to Cassandra.
He refused to let himself hope.
They stepped into the dark room and he sonic-ed on the power. Lights flickered dully, feebly trying to glow, but not quite being able to do so after so long. This place looked fairly familiar. But that was just because it was only a few rooms away from where Cassandra had hid all those years ago. But this place was a little different. It wasn't so abandoned.
This place looked like it had once been used on a daily basis. There was medical equipment and computers everywhere. Judging by the patches everywhere, he suspected this was where the chemicals had been created. There were even a few bodies left that had been caught by the 'Bliss' virus. He could see by the garb on the decaying feline bodies, that they had been Sisters of Plenitude.
Hame looked about forlornly at the bodies of those she had once called sisters, before moving to a large metal dais in the middle of the room. It seemed to be the first thing that Martha noticed too. But what he noticed first was the tiny red dot on each monitor that signalled that they were only asleep.
Quickly he rushed about, turning them all on to reveal years and years of forgotten data. The thing that drew his eye most, though, was two strands of DNA. He could tell almost at a glance at one that they belonged to the same person… but one strand was horribly wrong. Whipping on his glasses he leaned in closer to see.
The first strand, the normal one, was human. Pure human. As a matter of fact, the records showed that this vial of blood had been from 2001. But it had been fresh when it had been analysed, so someone must have gone back in time to get it… but why?
The next one almost stopped his hearts. He was right, it was from the same person, but it had been taken straight from the patient. Here in this very room. And that was far from the worst of it. That hadn't been what had made him freeze dead with the blood in his veins slowly turning to ice. This strand of DNA had been tampered with. He didn't know whether it was natural or a result of experiments (even though he was leaning towards natural). But it had changed.
It had extra DNA attached to it. DNA that was far superior to what it had been… a very familiar strand of DNA wove throughout the original. It was familiar… because it was the same strand that he saw when he tested his own blood.
Oh, this person wasn't a Time Lord. Far from it. Still human… well, mostly. But it was more that… a little bit of Time Lord DNA got in the mix. It was similar to that of the early Gallifreyan race… But hang on, yes, it did look very much the same to Time Lord DNA. But there was something a little different about it. But that little difference in the data, meant a whole world of difference in reality.
Whoever this was… they were something entirely new.
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"What is it Doctor?" Martha asked.
"It's a person," he murmured. "Their DNA is like nothing like anything I've ever seen again… it's… well, it's part Gallifreyan."
"So, what? Do you have to find them or something?"
The Doctor sighed heavily and took off his glasses and rubbed his eye. "If I had to take a guess, Martha, I would say that she is inside that pod in the middle of the room."
"What!" she cried jumping back from it. "Then we have to get them out!"
"It's too late," he told her. "Whoever it was, she's been in there for twenty-four years with no one to care for her and no food."
"So, she's dead. Then why would the Face of Boe send you back here?"
"I don't know!" he said in frustration before he turned sadly back to the results.
There was a small chance - the slightest, most tiniest chance in existence - that going by this information… the person could be alive. But it wasn't at all likely. Looking at the computers he found what appeared to be a log. He scrolled backwards through it.
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'Emotional chemical 'Bliss' has finally been extracted from the patient. Ready for manufacturing.'
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He scrolled up past the chemicals section, his mind only breezing over them.
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'We have discovered that the patient is able to project her emotions, feelings, etc. through to other people. It is almost a form of telepathy, but we believe there is a way to transfer and use it. We are working on a way to extract this. It may benefit patients who are distressed or upset. - Especially as she seems to be happy most of the time.'
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He scrolled further up to the top, only half reading all the medical talk.
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'Patient almost woke again today. She dreams quite often. Her life sounds dangerous. We can only hope her Flesh survives.'
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Flesh. As in, the Flesh, flesh? Oh, that makes so much more sense now. Flesh had been invented in the 22nd century as an inhabitable second body, so that people could do hazardous work without any actual harm to themselves. That's what the dais was. A psychic link pod… But why would they need a double?
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'Patient was successfully taken and swapped with Flesh ganger. Hit a few snags when the stock of Flesh was discovered. Matron was killed. Sister Veed has taken charge of the hospital and the Goddess Project. The Goddess's companion is still oblivious to the swap and they have left New Earth.'
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Suddenly he felt his hearts beat faster, and fear creep into his mind. Quickly he scrolled right to the top of the page. He had to quash his fear… or confirm it.
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'After extensive research about the Goddess of Time, we have finally gotten results. She is Rose Tyler, a human born in the 21st century on the original Earth.
Blood tests from 2001 - procured by a Time Agent - show there is nothing special about her at the age of fifteen. But rumours say she became a goddess after travelling with her lover, the Lord of Time.
Our source tells us that she is currently doing so, but that he is fiercely protective of her. We will replace her with a Flesh ganger once she is acquired.
This project is only to be known about by myself - Matron Casp, and Sister Veed. All others are who are working on it are to remain oblivious.'
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'We have set a trap. We have ensured that a friend of theirs will spend his dying moments at our hospital. It is rumoured that he will tell a secret to the Lord of Time with his last breath. We have paid our source to lure the Goddess to us, although she seems entirely too demanding and rather untrustworthy.'
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Turning away from the computers he drew a shaky breath. Tears filled his eyes as he looked at the dais. It was Rose. They had taken Rose.
"Doctor?" Martha asked in concern.
The Doctor didn't say anything, he just slowly walked up to the dais. He could feel the tears threatening to spill over. All that time - an entire year! - and he hadn't even noticed. He hadn't noticed something was different and he had ignored the warnings. All that time and she was really here, being experimented on.
Part of his mind was rejoicing that she had never been stuck in the parallel universe. Another part yelled at him that not only had she been experimented on for god knows how many years, but she had been abandoned for the last 24 years with no one to look after her. And another screamed at him not to give up hope, that there was till a 3.8% chance she was still alive.
He didn't know weather she was alive or dead… he was facing a literal Schrödinger's box here. But could he bring himself to do that? Could he bring himself to open the pod and see her still, dead form, wasted away into death before him?
"Doctor?" Martha tried again quietly, seeing the state he was in.
Still he didn't answer. Hesitantly, he pressed the button on the side of the pod and it hissed as it opened. He closed his eyes as it creaked from lack of use as the top lifted and moved itself off, revealing a body lying on a table. He opened his eyes when he heard Martha's soft gasp.
There she was, pale and still as death. Her skin was pale and translucent, her veins showing starkly against it. There were dark shadows below her eyes and she was so skinny she almost looked like a skeleton.
Tears falling down his cheeks, he placed a hand on her cheek, cupping her face. And that's when he felt it, the faintest whisper of a breath against his skin. Martha seemed to notice the fall of her chest at the same time.
"Oh my god, she's breathing! Doctor she's alive!"
"Rose!" he cried desperately before she'd even finished speaking. He ignored the shocked gasp that escaped her lips and focused on the girl before him. "Rose, it's me. I'm here," he said quietly, his tone still desperate. "Oh, Rose, please stay with me," he begged.
Then he saw her eyelids twitch. Slowly she struggled to open them even half way. He caught a glimpse of hazel before they closed again, but the tiniest smile attempted to form on her face.
Carefully he picked her up bridal style, cradling her to his chest. He felt her fingers curl, feebly trying to cling to his jacket where her hand rested against him.
"Let's get back to the TARDIS, quickly," he said. Then he walked back the way they had come, going as quickly as he could without jostling her.
"Doctor," Martha said, running to keep up with his long strides. "Is that Rose? As in the Rose that you always talk about, 'Rose'?
"Yes," he replied impatiently as they walked. He felt Rose's mouth twitch and figured she was trying to smile. That although she appeared unconscious, she clearly wasn't.
"What's she doing here?" I always thought she'd left or something."
Suddenly the Doctor stopped and spun around to face her. "No," he snapped. "She would never leave. Not by choice. Do you know how many times I send her away for her own safety? And every bloody time she came back for me!" Realising he'd stopped. He turned back and picked up his pace again.
"I'm sorry," Martha apologised. "It was only a guess… obviously a really wrong one. But what did happen to her? You said you'd been here before, is that when you lost her?"
"Not exactly," he replied, starting on the stairs. "They replaced her. The Face of Boe being here was a trap. They took her then replaced her with a ganger. These - these gangers, this Flesh, it mimics biology. You can even link the original mind to the body. That's what she was in, a psychic link pod. It's so flawless that not even the mind inside the Flesh can tell. But I should have noticed!"
"Hold on, I'm confused. You're saying that she was taken here and replaced with some sort to clone with her brain in it-"
"Just her mind. Her body was back here, but her mind was linked to the Flesh. She was living through it while her body slept."
"Right - and neither of you noticed for how long? And then what? How did you lose her?" She ran ahead and got the stairwell door for him.
"Nearly a year. And we were separated at Canary Warf. She was trapped in a parallel universe, no way to get her back… But she never really left… is it horrible that I'm now kind of happy that this happened? I mean, not what with what's happened to her, but that she never really got stuck. Martha, left coat pocket, TARDIS key," he said stopping at the door to his ship.
Martha dug around in his pockets a moment, going down to her elbow. Finally she got it and unlocked the door for him… And that was when he noticed that Rose's grip had slackened.
"Rose?" he asked. Nothing. "Rose?" he tried again, giving her a small shake. "Rose, do something, please. Anything, just something to show you're okay, please!" Still Rose remained motionless. He couldn't feel her heartbeat against his chest, but that was probably because his hearts were beating so hard. "Quickly, med bay!" he commanded, sprinting into the TARDIS and down the halls. Martha and Hame followed him and came into the med bay in time to see him lying her down on a bed. "Rose, I'm so sorry, but I have to hook you up to more machines. Martha, Hame, you've both worked in hospitals. Please, I need your help!"
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Sorry, bit of a cliff-hanger there. But on the positive side, they ARE back together…