Landing on a river is something very new. Sure, he landed on the riverbank of London before, but at least he landed on a field, not on water.
Especially the water itself is filled with so much garbage that's stink.
"Ugh," Arthur quickly covers his mouth and nose with his hand before running into the land, looking "Great!" He muttered, upset that his clothes get wet by water.
"Hey, kid!" A girl with modern clothes running to him. "Sorry, excuse me. Have you seen my friend, Jamila? She's a little taller than me, brown hair, last time wearing a purple sweater and blue jeans?"
Arthur shook his head, intending to ask her more... when a black bird suddenly drops out of the sky, scares him to death.
"What the hell?" She muttered. "That's weird."
"Don't touch it," Arthur warned as she's about to reach her hand to the dead bird. "It might be dangerous!"
"Yeah. He's right," a voice agreed from behind. They both look and find Ryan standing, looking concerned. "Something's wrong with the birds."
"Ryan!" Arthur waves and smiles. It's been a while since he saw him.
"Hey, Arthur," Ryan greeted with a smile. "Glad to see you again." He frowns with the girl. "Who's she?"
"She's looking for her friend, Jamila, who's missing."
"Sorry, but I haven't seen her. I'm here because of what's wrong with the birds."
"The birds?"
"You think I'll buy that?" She suddenly dared, keeping Arthur away from Ryan. After all, this man could kidnap her friend. For all she knows, a child could be in danger, and she can't risk that. "How do I know you're not kidnap her?"
"Look, I'm not armed. There's nothing in me bag. Check yourself if you don't believe me," Ryan stated, giving his backpack. "How long has she been gone?"
"I last saw her before I went to sleep last night. Stand still," she insisted after checking Ryan's backpack and checking his body like those security guards often do at the airport during inspection.
"Have you tried her phone?" Arthur asked, tilting his head.
"Of course I've tried her phone. I tried her on everything. I just messaged some contacts on Reddit to access emergency services and satellites," she responded before checking Ryan's chest. "Ooo. You work out?"
"I do a lot of running," Ryan confessed.
"I'm Gabriela," she introduced, holding her hand and shaking his hand before doing so with Arthur. "I'm guessing you two know that."
"No," both boys replied.
"Two Girls Roaming? The travel vlog," Gabriela shared, which just earned confusion. "That's me and Jamila."
"Sorry. Bit behind. I do a fair bit of travelling myself. I'm Ryan," he said before moving closer to the bird. "Need to take that bird. These markings, they're not natural."
"Like it's infected," Arthur murmured as Ryan covered the bird with sacking before picking it up.
"What are you doing?" Gabriela asked.
"Birds are falling out of the sky. I'm trying to find out the reason."
"Is the Doctor with you?" Arthur inquired.
Ryan shook his head. "She's in Madagascar. We're splitting up to make the investigation much easier," he denoted Gabriela's phone suddenly ringing. "That her?"
"No. But someone's found out there was an emergency call-out this morning," Gabriela informed. "One mile away. Ambulancia."
"That could be a trap," Arthur proposed.
"True," Ryan agreed. "But it's best to check it out. Might have some clues."
▪︎▪︎▪︎
So, the trio decide to check the location Gabriela had on her phone that leads them into a place called Hospital San Pedro.
"It looks abandoned," Arthur noticed.
"This is the hospital the ambulance brought her to," Gabriela informed.
They slowly enter the place. First they look at the security post office. "Hello?" Ryan called, finding nobody in there. He bangs the window. "Hello?" He repeated, still nothing.
"Maybe we should check inside," Gabriela suggested as they all entered the building, wander around the corridors. "Where are all the staff?"
Arthur gasps as he sees a dead bird on the floor. "It's just like that one," he realized.
"What are you doing?" Gabriela asked as Ryan's kneeling near the dead bird.
"The same as the river," he responded as they heard a door banging so loud. Slowly, Ryab, Arthur, and Gabriela walk into an area where the lights are flickering. Arthur spots some black and yellow tape crossing the corridor.
"Hey!" Gabriela grabs both hands of Ryan and Arthur. "The whole point of quarantine is not going in where it says quarantine."
"Do you want to find her or not?" The man inquired as Gabriela let go. They push open the doors to see a figure covered in a sheet.
"Tell me that's not her," Gabriela begged. Ryan pulls back the sheet, revealing a woman with some white stuff covering half of her face. Gabriela covers her mouth with her hand, shocked. "Jamila."
"I'm sorry. So sorry," Arthur apologized, looking sad.
Gabriela slowly approaches Jamila, stroking her hair. "Melhor amiga," shs whispered.
"Doctor? I found something that you wanna see," Ryan called, using his earphone.
"Who are you talking to? How are you calling a doctor?"
Ryan glances at Arthur. "You've seen these markings before?"
"No, never," Arthur confessed. Not from what the Doctor taught him, at least.
Gabriela touches Jamila's face and her eyes open wide, just pure white. "Jamila!"
"Hey, get away from her," Ryan warned, keeping Gabriela away from her friend as Jamila kept shaking.
"No! She's alive! Jamila!" Gabriela yelled and continued speaking in Portuguese, "calm down. Everything is alright."
"I don't think she's alive," Arthur told her, backing away beside Ryan.
"We have to help her!"
"No, Ryan's right," the Doctor said, suddenly arriving inside. "She's not alive. Whatever caused her death seems to still be attacking her body," she glances at Arthur. "Hey, Sunny!"
Gabriela frowns. "Who are you?"
"She's the Doctor," Arthur mentioned.
"Doctor, her face," Ryan pointed out.
"Yeah. I've just seen the same thing on a naval officer in Madagascar," the Doctor said as Jamila's skin is finally covered and she explodes into dust.
"Jamila," Gabriela cried.
"Same as Zach on the beach."
"No, no, no, this can't be happening."
"Hey, it's okay," Ryan assured her.
"No, it's not!" Gabriella snapped.
"Two identical deaths on two different continents. It's even more dangerous than I thought, and it's spreading," the Doctor realized. "Which could mean," she looks at Ryan, "Have you heard from Yaz and Graham?"
▪︎▪︎▪︎
Fearing for Yasmin and Graham's safety, the Doctor sends the TARDIS back to Hong Kong where she tasked those two to investigate the matter. While going out, Arthur stays inside the old box alongside Ryan and Gabriela.
"Is it like, uhm... an optical illusion?" Gabriela asked, having a hard time to adjust.
"It's actually a dimensional transcendentalism, which happens thanks to dimensional engineering, so the inside is bigger than the outside," Arthur shared.
Gabriela and Ryan look entirely confused. "I don't think that explanation helps much," Ryan noted.
"Really? The Doctor taught me about that during spare time. I understand the concept."
"Yeah, well, not all of us are quick to understand complicated stuff in a matter of time," Ryan added, looking at Gabriela. "How long have you and Jamila known each other?"
"5 years," she recalled. "I don't know what I'm going to do now."
"You'll get through it."
"Cos you've known me for how many hours?"
"We're going to find out what happened, and we're going to put it right," Ryan assured her. "So you really don't believe this thing travels?"
Gabriela shook her head. Arthur smiles and holds her hand, forcing Gabriela to stand up and walk outside the door. As the boy opens it, she looks out into the alley. "No way," she mumbled, stepping outside with Arthur and Ryan.
From inside a factory, the Doctor steps outside. "Through the doors, past Ryan," she instructed others. Arthur frowns when spotting two strangers he never see before. An astronaut and a man that looks like a thug that's carrying the astronaut alongside Graham.
"We're not all going to fit in there," the astronaut argued.
"You'll be surprised," Graham noted. "Ryan, Arthur, this is Jake and Adam."
"Come on, Yaz," the Doctor called as Ryan let Graham, Jake, and Adam get inside.
"No," Yasmin responded, earning a confused look from the Doctor and Arthur himself.
"Sorry?"
"There was a device in there. I couldn't get it free in time. It looked really important to them. I want to go back and get it."
"That's dangerous!" Arthur argued.
"You go. Come back for me in, what, I don't know, an hour or something," Yasmin suggested.
"I agree with Arthur," the Doctor remarked. "It's too dangerous."
"We need to know why Adam was taken there and what they did to him, and how this is all connected to those other events."
"I'll come with you," Gabriela offered. "I'm more than ready to fight something."
The Doctor turns to Yasmin. "One hour," she insisted before walking inside the Tardis with Arthur.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"So the box is the doorway to this building?" Jake, the man who looks like a thug, asked.
Arthur quickly shook his head as the Doctor flew the Tardis. "You're still inside the Tardis."
"The what?"
"Tardis. Stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space."
"But the box was smaller than this," Jake argued.
"It is, since, it's bigger on the inside than the outside," Arthur reasoned, finding the man's reaction weird. He's not like Clara from the Victorian Era, who quickly accepts the Tardis and asks more about the Tardis. Jake just keeps asking regarding the reality he's witnessing.
Jake just looked around. "That's not possible."
"It is! It's just that technology isn't possible for human capacity."
"Don't be ridiculous."
"I'm not! Honest!" Arthur insisted, getting annoyed by his denial. Even the Tardis' also getting annoyed by Jake.
"What? a 9 years old child like you just believes any of this nonsense?" Jake huffed.
"I'm 10 years old! And yes, I believe it. Cos the Universe is always full with mystery and fenomena beyond our imaginations."
The Doctor smiles softly beside him. That's one of many things she likes about this boy, his perspective mind regarding the Universe itself and how he simply accepts them without trying to think much of it. A quality that is similar to her old companion Jamie, despite she's sure he was just getting along with despite getting confused about everything. "Adam, you really don't look well. I need to do an MOT," she told him, jabing one of her medical equipment into his neck.
"Ow!" Adam yelped.
"I did say it'd hurt."
"No, you didn't," Arthur disagreed.
"Well, I meant to, Sunny," she reasoned. "It takes a blood sample for analysis," she added, and uses a stethoscope to check his body. "So, International Space Station. Was it awesome?"
"Really awesome."
"Best bits?"
"Just watching the planet turn across a day. The aurora borealis. Seeing hurricanes start to form from above," Adam shared. "It just changes how you... see everything."
"I know," Arthur denoted, remembering those times he had back in the orphanage and now. Oh, how much he truly finds traveling and adventures as amazing as those fantasy stories he read. Of course, the dangers should be considered, but if he puts that aside, then he appreciates what the Doctor has given to him that no-one ever could.
A phone suddenly rings. "Sunny, can you answer that?" The Doctor asked.
"Sure," he noted and answered it, showing a hologram of a woman.
"Is this the Doctor?" She inquired.
"No, she's busy. Who is this?"
"I'm Suki. The Doctor said to call if anything else unusual happened."
"What kind?" The boy wondered, letting the Doctor listen.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
As they arrive in Madagascar, Arthur finds out that there's another incident happening as well, since Suki, and a guy named Aramu, seems to also know about the Doctor and helping the Doctor to solve the situation too.
What truly concerns him is the large birds just flying around the beach, looking like a huge flock, ready to attack, reminding him with flies ready to attack someone or a group of many wasps eating people's corpses, which makes him grimances for the thought.
"The birds are looking wrong here, too," the Doctor stated what Arthur just thought.
"I only saw it the past few days," Aramu mentioned. "At first I thought... 'it was okay, you know? It's not the first bird to fly off its course.'"
"It's not native to Madagascar?" Ryan asked.
"No," Arthur answered. At least, from what he knows.
"Hey, don't get too close," Ryan warned Aramu.
"That's not the only one. Others have started to come," Aramu added, gesturing to those huge flock above.
"Yes, they have. But why here?" The Doctor pondered.
"There was a dead bird in that deserted hospital before and another over the riverbank where Gabriela and her friend were camping," Arthur recalled.
"And now they're circling this beach where Zach washed up."
"Alien birds?" Ryan suspected.
"I don't know. If I could get hold of one to analyse it," the Doctor said.
"Ryan actually carried one in his backpack," Arthur informed.
"That's why you smell like a dead bird," the Doctor commented at Ryan. "I thought you'd change your shower gel."
"Doc!" Graham called. "Doc, Adam's in a bad way in there. I think we made a mistake by disconnecting him from all that gubbins in Hong Kong. Or maybe you just want to stand out here watching birds."
"They look like they're watching us," Arthur remarked, tugging at his green jacket.
"You go inside. I'll keep my eye on them," Aramu said.
"Let's take a look at Adam," the Doctor stated, telling others to get inside. "Let us know if anything changes, Aramu," she added before going inside with Arthur. "So where have you been, Arthur? Great trips?"
"Yeah! And some teaching too!"
She chuckles. She's glad that Arthur loves studying. "Well, my last incarnation does love lecturing."
"You know, you could warn me about my ability to jump," Arthur pouted. "I was so confused about everything."
"I know, but I can't do that, remember? You told me in the past that I never told you anything. I must keep that. Speaking of that," she opens the door and enters with Arthur, "where were you before?"
Arthur looks down. "Uhm... I met Scottish you... with River. We went to Darillium."
The Doctor gaped, but simply sighs, looking solemn, probably thinking of the last night with River, knowing they won't see each other again.
"So here's your present from Peru," Ryan said as he opened the sacking, letting the Doctor inspect while Arthur covered his nose, finding the smell getting smelly.
"Ryan... will you dissect it for me?" The Doctor asked.
"What?"
"You must have done it at school. Doesn't need to be elegant."
"Good. Cos it won't be."
"Wanna get some help?" Arthur proposed.
Ryan smiles. "Thanks, mate. But I can handle it."
"Nice lab. Very well equipped," the Doctor admitted to Suki.
"Thanks," Suki thanked her.
"Right. First things first. How are you off for broad-spectrum antibiotics?"
"Yes, but only a small..."
"Great!"
"...supply."
"Graham?" The Doctor asked, checking on Adam. "Jake. See if you can rig up an IV. We need to get some medicine into Adam. Try and stabilize him."
"I have... no idea how to do that," Jake confessed.
"I'll give you a hand," Graham asserted. "I've seen a few intravenous drips in my time. Finally, it comes in handy."
"I might need a high-powered microscope, blood cultures, rapid genome sequencing, a spectrophotometer, and a super fast incubator," the Doctor told Suki.
"I've got most of that," Suki denotes, which makes Arthur narrow his eyes at her.
Those things the Doctor asks... all of those are quite high-technology and aren't normal for someone to have. He knows this because the Doctor taught him all those high-tech things. But he quickly shook his head. Maybe Suki's just rich or has a great sponsor for her project to buy all of those equipment.
"So what is it you do here?" The Doctor pondered while checking a laptop.
"We're working on a marine filtration system connected into the Crystal Oceans Initiative," Suki shared.
Arthur quietly nods. Well, that explains everything.
"Ah, Hence the water filtration system," the Doctor realized. "Micro version, is it?"
Suki nods. "You take a lot in, very fast."
"Yes, I do. It's one of my skills. And Sunny as well, here and later," she denoted, winks at Arthur. "Ah. Here we go. Initial blood analysis for Adam."
Arthur starts to get nervous when her expression changes after reading the result. "Doctor?"
"I'm sorry, Adam," the Doctor suddenly said to Adam. "Your bloodstream's been infected with an alien pathogen, presumably in Hong Kong."
"Is it bad if I don't know what a pathogen is?" Ryan inquired.
"I'm glad you asked that, cos I... I didn't want to look stupid," Graham admitted.
"It's a microorganism that carries disease," Arthur replied.
"In this case, alien bacteria, which is latching on to lifeforms... and killing them," the Doctor grimly added. "I'm afraid it's inside you, Adam, and right now, I don't know how we stop it overwhelming you."
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"I've gene-sequenced blood cultures from Adam and that bird," Suki informed, showing the Doctor and Arthur the result.
"Wow, you are fast," the Doctor exclaimed.
"If I track changes in the optical density and confirm the bacteria's growth rate, we might be able to use that data to genetically engineer a virus."
"That's what I was thinking. We're so sympa."
"The antibiotics aren't working. He's getting worse," Jake told them.
"Doctor!" Graham shouted while running in. "Doc. Doc. Aramu says that the birds are getting really angry out there."
"Not surprised, if this is what their insides are like," Ryan noted, pointing at the dead bird that he dissected. "Take a look. They're full of plastic."
"Once plastic gets in the ocean, birds mistake it for food," Suki shared. "I've seen hatchlings regurgitate 200 individual pieces."
"It's feasting on the plastic in the birds and taking them over. The alien pathogens attacked the plastic. The plastic metastasised as if it was living," the Doctor realized.
"Like... Autons?" Arthur guessed, remembering Delaney's story about how the Doctor met Autons before.
"No, it can't be Autons. They don't work like this. Not bacterial," she muttered. "Come on, brains! Move it along!"
"Did she say brains, plural?" Graham frowns.
"Yeah," Arthur answered, knowing the Doctor had more than one brain.
"How does that explain what happened to Jamila?" Ryan wondered. "Like, she just got taken over."
"Yeah, how does it?" The Doctor pondered. "It attacks the plastic in the birds, but there's no plastic in humans. Except..."
"Microfiltration," Arthur replied, looking at the filtration system. "The microfiltration system in the water. It filters out microplastics."
"Alien bacteria homing in on microplastics because humans are full of them," the Doctor remarked.
"Excuse me, I'm not full of plastic," Graham argued.
"Full of something," Ryan added.
"I'm afraid you are, Graham," the Doctor addressed. "It's in the air, it's in your food, it's in your water. Humans have flooded this planet with plastics that can't be fully broken down, so much so that you're ingesting microparticles whether you know it or not. You're poisoning yourselves as well as your planet. An alien bacteria has come to this planet, and it found a feast."
Graham uses a remover to touch the dead bird. "Hey, Doc, let's get rid of this bird, cos it really, really smells."
The Doctor, who looks into something with a microscope. "No. Look."
"What?" He frowns at the Doctor dragging him to see the microscope.
"See what the birds' natural enzymes are doing."
"Oh, yeah. Clear as mud."
"Let me see!" Arthur insisted, curious as ever. The Doctor fondly carrying him so he can see it.
"Planet Earth. So clever. Two strains from Peru fighting back, ganging up on the bacteria, holding it back to allow natural decomposition," she muttered.
"Come on. Catch me up on this, please," Ryan beckoned.
"Ryan Sinclair picks up a dead bird in Peru, and might just have saved the world."
"Well, I am here for you guys, you know?"
"If we isolate and boost the enzyme, then splice them, we'd have one supercharged virus," Suki proposed.
"Yes, we would," the Doctor agreed and communicated with someone using an earphone just like Ryan did. "Yaz, how are you doing? Cos we've literally got the most exciting rotting bird that I've ever seen... well, you don't do things by halves." She seems to be listening to what Yasmin said, her expression turns into a serious one, looking at Suki. "Yeah. Thanks, Yaz. Sit tight."
"Doctor?" Arthur inquired, concerned.
But the Doctor simply grabbed him protectively. "Suki Cheng," she called, "out here all alone in an over-equipped lab. I should have spotted it straight away."
"What's happening? Where's Yaz?" Ryan asked, confused.
"I was so worried when you turned up," Suki revealed. "When you took him from Hong Kong. But you've really helped. Got even more answers from you than we did from experimenting on Adam."
"You're experimenting with him?!" Arthur gasped, and couldn't believe she could do something horrible like that. The Doctor shields Arthur away from Suki and glares at her.
"We call the infection Praxeus," Suki specified. "Trust me, it's smart, it's relentless, and it knows you're onto it." With that, she teleports away.
"Oh, I'm a sucker for a scientist," she muttered, sounding disappointed.
"Where did she just go?" Jake asked as the birds outside were getting louder and louder.
"We need to get out of here," the Doctor stated, holding Arthur closer when they can hear nothing.
"Have they gone?"
But sadly, Jake's clearly wrong as suddenly, the birds invading the laboratory without mercy, intend to take them all.
"Doc, come on!" Graham yelled.
"Take cover!" The Doctor commanded. "Let's go!"
"Come on!"
"We need to get out. Don't let them scratch you, they'll infect you. I need to get the samples."
"I've got it," Arthur yelled, holding the sample carefully despite their situation.
"Smart kid!" She praised him.
"Doctor, Arthur, come on!" Graham shouted as Jake's helping Adam away.
"This is why I don't go abroad!" Jake commented.
"Let's go! Doc, catch!" Graham noted as he threw her an oar. She waves it at the birds while holding Arthur closer, protecting him. "Come on!"
After making sure everyone's safe and sound, the Doctor shuts the lab door behind her, leading others into the Tardis as the birds get out from the lab. "Head straight for the Tardis, quick as you can."
"They've seen us! They're following!" Ryan informed.
"Just keep running!" The Doctor insisted as they all ran. "In here, all of you. Come on, Ryan! Come on Sunny!"
She ushers the rest to come inside before the birds can get them.
"Yaz, we're on our way, locked in on your commdot signal. We're coming for you, wherever you are," she informed Yasmin before closing the comm.. "If Praxeus is being spread by birds, it could get around the world incredibly fast, attacking and infecting every living thing. We may potentially have a cure, but we don't know if it works," she added as Arthue gives the sample
"Test it on me," Adam suggested.
"No. Too dangerous."
"It's too dangerous if we don't do it. You said yourself there's no time. You need a clinical trial, a human body, and now you've got one."
"No," Jake disagreed.
"We don't have time to argue," Adam insisted.
"Adam, no. No way. I'm not gonna let you,"
"It's not your choice to make."
The Doctor sighs as she quietly prepares the cure and adjusting some equipment to be uses for Adam. "Bioreadings synced with the Tardis," she informed. "If the antidote works on you, the Tardis will make more. Sure?"
"Stop faffing about," Adam simply said. The Doctor injects his hand and he reacts in pain.
"We're landed," Arthur denoted, looking at the console. "But no detail about the location."
"Stay in here. We'll be as quick as we can," the Doctor said, grabbing Arthur and gesturing Ryan and Graham to follow
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"Yaz!" The Doctor called as they stepped outside, finding Yasmin and Gabriela. "Found you."
"Thanks for coming to get us, eventually," Yasmin remarked.
"Look at you, going off on your own and not getting killed."
"Plus, totally found an alien colony."
The Doctor scans the area. "Sort of. It is an alien construct, but it's not an alien colony."
"Then where are we?" Arthur asked.
"A long way below the Indian Ocean, beneath a gyre of plastic pollution."
Graham frowns. "We're under the sea?"
"It's a naturally occurring hot spot where ocean currents trap pollution," she said. "There are 5 major gyres on Earth right now. Praxeus is attracted to plastic. It's built a whole environment here from the plastic. A world of pure Praxeus! This is where it all started. Seabirds infected with Praxeus, transporting the bacteria around the world, transferring it to humans when they attack."
Ryan frowns. "But how does the alien bacteria end up in the Indian Ocean in the first place?"
She scans again. "There's something else down here, and I think it's connected to our friend Suki. Come on."
▪︎▪︎▪︎
With Yasmin's direction, Arthur and the rest find someone that, according to Yasmin, actually the same gasmask people during Hong Kong when they rescued Adam. But since it doesn't disintegrate, the Doctor proposed the person isn't an actual person, just having a similar physical look. Looking at the state of the victim, Arthur finds Praxeus as much more disgusting rather than horrifying.
Soon, they find Suki, who comes in through an airlock.
"Going somewhere?" The Doctor asked. "Who were they, Suki, the infected people in the hazmat suits?"
Suki doesn't say a word. "My crew. I'm the last one left," she revealed.
"Wait. That's a spaceship, right?" Gabriela pondered.
"Technically, yes," Arthur replied.
"Just when I thought things couldn't get any madder," she said as Suki took a gun. "Whoa."
"How did you get here?" She demanded.
"I was going to ask you the same question," the Doctor admitted, keeping Arthur behind her, "but I presume that ship is how. So the question is... why?"
"Praxeus devastated my planet. The survivors were assigned to lab ships to find an antidote for the few of us left alive."
"You're infected," Arthur realized.
"Cellular mutation is slower for us," Suki informed.
"If you're scientists in lab ships, please tell me you didn't bring this infection here deliberately," the Doctor remarked.
Suki stares the Doctor for a moment, which gives enough clue. "Praxeus breeds in plastic, and this planet is saturated in it. We travelled across 3 galaxies to find the perfect living laboratory."
"To use Earth as a petri dish, destroying one race to save the remnants of your own."
"That's horrible," Arthur muttered, unable to believe Suki went that far just to save her own species.
Suki scoffed. "You're so naive, kid. This is the reality. Nature won't be kind to all of us, unless we fight back."
"I know you did those for your kind. For survival. But using other species is so wrong!"
"It was necessary!"
"But this down here, this environment, it wasn't deliberate," the Doctor added. What Suki did was horrible, yes, but she did so for her species survival. That kind of act was way better than her own action back when the war still happened, and her action used the Moment to stop the war.
"We lost control of the shuttle on entry," Suki explained. "Crash-landed. Bacteria flooded out, irradiated, formed this world."
"And a broken spacecraft sending out pulses of energy from the bottom of the ocean was enough to down and frazzle a returning space capsule. This is the centre of where everything's been happening!"
"Your arm," Arthur pointed out Suki's right arm that had a scratch.
"You've been scratched by those birds," the Doctor realized. "You've had a double dose of Praxeus."
"But you've showed me how to find a cure. Thanks to you, my mission was successful. They already have the transmission of how the cure could work," Suki stated.
"No, Suki, the cure is designed for humans, and we don't even know if it works on them. If you're not human, who knows what will happen? Please tell me you haven't administered it on yourself."
Suki didn't say a word. "Stay out of my way," she warned before entering her spaceship,
"Stay here," the Doctor warned for a while before returning, looking grim.
"You okay?" Ryan asked before frowning. "Where's Suki?"
"She doesn't survive... does she?" Arthur guessed.
The Doctor nods while patting his head. "Succumbed to Praxeus. But I think this may give us a way through. I promise, Sunny," she assured him. " I need a crew in here."
"Count us in," Jake said, carrying Adam beside him.
"Hi," he greeted others before standing up. "Turns out it worked."
"Your machine spat this out," Jake added, bringing some sort of blue chemicals.
"The antidote!" Arthur remembered.
"Oh, and by the way, where the hell are we?"
"Uh... long story?"
"Follow me. Lots to do," the Doctor alluded.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
They quickly worked together on the shuttle. Yasmin with engine vents on, Ryan with setting system, Gabriela with manual bypass, Graham with dials, Adam with putting antidote inside organic fuel cells, Jake with alignment trajectory aligned, while Arthur disabling spatial regulators and the Doctor checking the antidote and autopilot systems.
"No idea what any of this means, but is that literally the controls for up, down, left and right?" Jake asked regarding the controller.
"Pretty much," Arthur answered.
"Adam Lang, your job is so easy."
"Shuttle initiating autopilot take-off."
"Gold stars for my apprentice engineers," the Doctor complimented.
"What is actually happening?" Gabriela asked.
"Once the ship is in the stratosphere, the engines discharge the virus in one big blast burst, dissolving it around the world so Praxeus ends for good," Arthur claimed.
"Only one tiny flaw in the plan," the Doctor added. "Send this into the atmosphere, it'll rip a hole in this world, and we'll be crushed under the entire Indian Ocean."
"That's more than a tiny flaw, Doc," Graham disagreed.
"And that's why I set the autopilot. So everybody, out, now."
They all soon leave the shuttle. After making sure they are all out, the Doctor sonics the airlock.
"Go," she commanded, but it sparks.
"What was that?" Graham asked.
"Autopilot failure. It can't connect."
"But it's still going to work, right?" Arthur asked.
"I dunno. It might not," the Doctor responded. "But it's definitely going to take off. We need to get out of here."
"What if it doesn't work?" Jake proposed.
"Too late to fix. Come on," she insisted, ushering others to move forwards, into the Tardis. "Got to be fast taking off."
"Where's Jake?" Adam asked, looking around. "Where's Jake?"
"He was right behind us," Yasmin recalled.
"Are these comms on?" A hologram of Jake appears near the console. "Spacecraft to blue box, can you hear me?"
"Jake, what are you doing?" The Doctor demanded.
"Manual pilot making up for broken autopilot. Any idiot can fly a spaceship, right?"
"Jake... I don't want this," Adam noted sadly.
"Maybe I do. Maybe I need this."
"You're entering into the stratosphere," the Doctor informed.
"Yeah, that really doesn't mean anything to me. But if I was a betting man, and my husband would tell you I really am, I'd say the automatic release is bust. Tell me what I need to do."
"The controls by your right hand will vent the antidote. You need to flick the three switches at once."
"I'm going to give it a go," Jake addressed.
"The ship's gonna break up," Adam muttered.
"You have to wait until the shuttle's in the right position," Arthur added.
"Adam? Adam, I'm sorry I wasn't at the launch. This is me not dodging. Don't say I never listened to you."
"Shuttle's in position."
"Dispersing antidote... I think."
"Jake, you've done it. Antidote particles being dispersed into the jet streams," the Doctor shared.
"Hope it works. The ship's very knackered. About to blow!"
"Doctor, you can save him, right?" Arthur asked the Doctor, hoping she can truly save Jake.
"Let's try!" She simply said, works the Tardis controls before Jake is there with them.
Adam approaches him. "I hate you," he said before they kiss.
"Yes, I can save him, just, if I materialise around him in the millisecond before the ship breaks up," the Doctor explained to Arthur.
"Nice work, Doc," Graham amused.
"What can I say? I'm a romantic," she confessed, smiling, before slowly looking sad. Arthur quickly takes that chance to hug her, knowing she's remembering River and their last conversation at Singing Tower of Darillium, which she gladly accepts without second thought.
Arthur frowns. "Oh, my head hurts "
The Doctor releases the hug. "Well, then. See you soon, Sunny," she said with a smile as he disappeared into nothing.
"Uh, what just happened?" Gabriela asked, pointing at where Arthur was standing.
"He's leaving, as usual," the Doctor replied sadly, going back to the console, to land Gabriela, Jake, and Adam back home.
"Don't ask her," Yasmin whispered to Gabriela before she asked. "It's too painful."