Twists in Time

Chapter Thirteen: Path of the Healers: Questions of Infection

By Lumendea

…

Martha hadn't known the Doctor and his crew for long, but she'd been around them enough to know that when things escalated, they did so quickly. There was no invitation for tea or a chat to catch up. Instead, Nyssa went straight to business. Gesturing for the Doctor to follow her, she led them out of the small room and down another corridor.

"It's alright, Taridorn," Nyssa told the sputtering man who had led them there, to begin with. "They have the same mutation that I have. I don't need to check them over."

"Glad to know that it's been helpful to you," the Doctor murmured. "But you do know that it doesn't prevent everything."

"I'm still alive after spending literal decades on plague ships, working at the worst hospitals in the galaxy, and even helping in the Time War." Nyssa glanced meaningfully towards the Doctor. "And I am still alive. I liked to consider it a way that you protected me even after I left the TARDIS."

"It's really good to see you," the Doctor said softly.

There was something unsaid there. Martha wished that she could see their faces, but she was bringing up the rear. She couldn't even see Jack and Rose's face. Frustration filled her chest. Martha didn't like not knowing. Mysteries were to be solved, and puzzles were to be unravelled. She was missing data. It was hard not to ask, but as they stepped into what could only be a medical lab, Martha stilled the impulse.

Nyssa led the Doctor to a large series of scans being displayed on screens on the wall. The Doctor pulled on a pair of glasses and peered intently at the screen. Martha studied it over his shoulder, but none of the data displayed on it made any sense to her. She knew the words, of course, but this appeared to be the findings of a medical test using odd terminology and what she did understand made no sense.

"That makes no sense," the Doctor snapped, echoing Martha's thoughts. "You have people who are sick but can't find any trace of any virus or bacteria?"

"Correct." Nyssa nodded and then sighed. "You can see my problem. I have plenty of experience in treating diseases once we isolate the virus or bacteria behind it, but we've been completely unable to find anything." True frustration slipped into the woman's refined speech. "I've tested salvia, blood, waste, and even internal tissue samples from both the living patients and the deceased." Nyssa's shoulders slumped, and she suddenly looked much older. "I am so grateful that you're here, Doctor. I have no idea what to try next."

The Doctor reached over with only a hint of hesitation and wrapped an arm around Nyssa. She leaned into the hug and inhaled deeply. Martha glanced over at Rose, but she didn't react beyond a slightly sad smile.

"Thing is…" the Doctor hesitated. "There isn't supposed to be any sort of a plague on this planet right now, Nyssa. Pele is supposed to be starting a surge of growth with artists moving in and new cities being built. Not having everyone in their homes." The Doctor shook his head. "What are the symptoms?"

"The usual at the start, people feel tired and worn down. Then comes a fever, and they have trouble keeping food down. There aren't any marks or visible signs of infection, but the organs just start… failing. It's like they age rapidly and simply can't support life anymore. We're lucky that we have some cloning facilities in the city. We've been doing transplants to replace the dying organs and DNA grafts to help keep those we can alive, but the physical toll on the patients is serious."

"Any organs in particular?" Martha heard herself ask, wondering if it was some kind of alien cancer that attacked something specific.

"No," Nyssa answered without hesitation. "We've had hearts, lungs, livers, kidneys, and even brains. Anything is open to whatever this is, and we start seeing the signs of organ shutdown, just like we see with natural old-age deaths. But the people are young and healthy. Pele is a very safe planet."

"Yes." The Doctor rubbed his neck and paced as he studied the scans. "Yes, it is. Which is why it should be seeing an age of immigration and growth right now."

"That's not good," Jack said. His expression was darker and more serious than Martha had seen before. "That's a shift to history."

"It's the Game Station all over again," Rose said.

Again Martha was confused. But she didn't ask questions. This wasn't the time to try and get a full rundown of their past. Nyssa looked curious as well but nodded and tapped a few places on the screen to bring up fresh scans.

"I am at a loss," Nyssa said. "Any thoughts, Doctor?"

"Have there been any major arrivals or deliveries of supplies?" the Doctor asked. "Anything unusual that came to the planet recently?"

"No. Everything that is shipped in goes through a sterilization process for that very reason. It is possible that someone landed on the planet without coming through the proper channels," Nyssa gave the Doctor a fond look as she said, "But no one has come forward with any unusual sightings of strangers."

"Walk me through how things developed," the Doctor told Nyssa.

"I wasn't on the planet when it started," Nyssa explained. "Three households all got sick around the same time and didn't respond to any treatments. Then it kept spreading to the people who had contact with them, even a few of the medical staff who first treated them despite those people using protective gear. I was contacted for aid three months in when the death toll hit one hundred. The planet's population is small enough still that it was cause for serious alarm."

"Well, at least they're taking it seriously," the Doctor nodded.

"Yes, there is a quarantine on the planet," Nyssa said dryly. Rose and Jack chuckled while the Doctor appeared a little sheepish. "Would it kill you to check on such things before opening the door, Doctor?"

"You know that isn't the point, Nyssa." The Doctor grinned at her, but it faded quickly. "I'll take a look at the data." He turned his attention to Jack. "Why don't you look through the arrival records, Jack? You might notice something to explain the change to the timeline."

Jack nodded; his expression was serious and thoughtful. "On it." Jack glanced at Rose, and she gave him an encouraging smile.

Change the timeline. Those words sent a chill of dread down Martha's spine. Rose stepped closer to her and studied Martha for a moment before turning back to Nyssa.

"Martha's a trained doctor, but I do have some medical training through UNIT. Can we be of assistance?"

"Yes." Nyssa smiled and nodded. "Given you've travelled in time like me, I have greater confidence that you'll be safe. Nursing is falling by the wayside, I'm afraid, so some additional hands in the ward would be greatly appreciated." She glanced towards the Doctor as if checking on the instructions. He nodded to Nyssa but didn't look at them, still studying the screens. "If you'll follow me."

She turned and walked back down the corridor, leaving Martha and Rose hurrying after her. They were led to a lift and ascended to a large corridor that had several large windows looking into small medical wards. This was familiar, and despite being worried about these people, Martha was soothed by a sense of knowing what to do.

"I'll follow your lead," Rose said kindly. "My training was more focused on immediate field care. I have no hospital experience."

Martha puffed up a little at the deference to her experience. It was the first time she'd felt grounded since they'd landed.

"This is Rose Tyler and Martha Jones," Nyssa told one of the staffers who was looking through a window. "They are here to help." There was a small huddle of people, all with tablet-like things in their hands and wearing protective gear.

"Healer Traken…" one of the staff looked at them uneasily. "Are you sure it is wise to allow them access?"

"They work with an old friend of mine," Nyssa explained. Her perfect calm never faded. "And I have reason to believe that they have some of the same mutations in their immune system that I do. Besides…" Nyssa's expression turned sad. "We need all the willing help that we can get. The patients aren't receiving the best care right now in terms of comfort."

The other healer sighed and nodded. They didn't look happy, and Martha understood that, but they didn't argue. She finished pulling on the protective gear, shocked at how familiar it was. But Martha supposed that there were only so many ways to design the gear. The material was lighter and much cooler, at least. She listened attentively as they received their instructions from Nyssa before she headed inside. Martha immediately began to check on all the dozen or so patients in the room, one at a time.

Rose moved through the room with a sad expression on her face. There was a hint of conflict in her features that Martha didn't understand. Still, she focused on using the familiar little sponges to give water to the still patients. The thrum of the machines was also familiar. Martha focused on that even if some of the patients had oddly coloured skin.

She looked up when Rose was directed into another ward to help one of the healers with a round of nutrition supplements. Nyssa slipped into the room, dressed in full protective gear once again.

"I am sorry if I alarmed you earlier," Nyssa said gently. "You reacted oddly when the Doctor and I were talking about people willingly travelling with him. It was a joke. We were teasing each other. My… friend Tegan wandered into the TARDIS thinking that it was an actual police box and was therefore taken along with us when we left the area." Nyssa chuckled. "It was quite a journey getting her back home, and then she decided to come with us by choice afterwards. And I… well, I was with the Doctor when my planet was destroyed. I didn't have anywhere to go. In a way, I was his ward for a while."

Martha barely kept her gasp contained. Nyssa's past tense suddenly made more sense. Her planet was gone. What… how… what was that like to live with? She couldn't even begin to imagine. But Nyssa just shook her head a little and kept working.

"I'm so sorry," Martha said softly. She couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Thank you. It's been years. I've accepted that the grief will never go away, but I am still alive, and I seek to make them proud with my actions."

Martha fought not to feel small at the words. Her own actions of leaving Earth in the TARDIS as a way of escaping the pressures of school and her family chaos suddenly seemed wrong. Shaking herself, Martha pushed away the thoughts. She'd helped the Doctor, Rose, and Jack on the moon, and while she hadn't done anything against the Carronites, she'd been able to help Peter Street and keep him calm when their attack started. That wasn't anything.

"Let me know if I can help more," Martha said instead. She nodded at the equipment built into the walls. "I'm not trained in your technology, but I'm a quick study in patient care. And I know the basics of humanoid biology."

Nyssa smiled at her, a soft and pleased expression that made Martha feel a little better.

…..

"Anything?" Jack asked the Doctor.

"Not yet. This disease or infection isn't registering to any of their tests, and they'd done a full gauntlet of them." The Doctor pulled off his glasses and rubbed his eyes for a moment before slipping them back on. "Anything unusual in the arrival records?"

"No one that stands out," Jack admitted. "And no unusual cargo that could be a contaminant." Jack paused. "But we arrived in the TARDIS with any alerts triggering, so teleports might not be picked up, and that opens up a lot of possibilities."

"It does."

"You alright, Doc? We weren't expecting to find Nyssa here?"

"It seems to be my fate lately to run into old companions. It's… no, it's good to see her. I'm both proud of her that she's still working to help others and concerned at the same time."

And that was the truth. The Doctor was so proud that Nyssa had put her marvellous mind and biology education into the field of medicine. It was a good fit, but the knowledge that she hadn't slowed down and built a personal life for herself concerned him. Maybe she had. After all, in a crisis, you didn't necessarily stop to give your entire life's story. There was nothing wrong with her never marrying and being a travelling medical professional. Prior to his relationship with Rose, he'd done the exact same thing. But at least he had friends that travelled with him. Of course, they eventually left. Was Nyssa the same? He hoped it had been happier.

The Doctor also hadn't expected to be thinking of Gallifrey so much after seeing Nyssa. All of his attempts to support and comfort her after the destruction of Traken now seemed so pitiful. Nyssa had gone through the trauma of her entire world is gone and had to immediately help save the rest of the universe from the Master as he pranced around in her father's body. He'd been grateful and admired her strength at the time, even as he worried about her. Now, he understood it too clearly himself. The need to do something. To try and leave that pain behind. But Nyssa seemed to be doing that better than he ever had still. Healer Traken. It was a small way to honour her planet, but her patients would associate the name Traken now with her intelligence, diligence, and kindness. There were worse memorials.

"Anything yet, Doctor?" Nyssa asked, returning to the room.

"No." The Doctor shook his head. "The variation in which organs are affected concerns me. But no one has had their skin affected from the information we have here?"

"Not as the first organ," Nyssa agreed. "We do see signs of wear and age to it as the illness goes on, but it is difficult to say for sure if the skin is being fully affected or if it is in response to the trauma the internal structures are facing."

"Possible."

Nyssa looked at Jack. "Have you found anything?"

"Not in the official records." Jack shook his head. "I'm gonna check on Rose and Martha, Doc, and give it a think. I'll be back soon."

The Doctor nodded, and Nyssa gave Jack instructions to get to the ward. Then he was gone from the room, leaving the Doctor with Nyssa.

…

The man in the bed was still save only the slightest movement in his chest. Staff dressed in heavy-looking protective gear were moving between the beds and making small adjustments, but it was obvious there was little they could do. Martha frowned thoughtfully. The scene was so familiar. If she didn't know that she was centuries into the future on a whole other planet, she could have thought that they were on Earth in a regular hospital. She stepped out into the corridor and pulled off her medical head cover.

"Martha?" Jack asked softly. He was walking up the corridor. "You doing okay?"

"It looks so normal." Martha shook her head. "I thought that medicine would look a lot different by now."

"Some aspects do," Jack answered. "Shots, for instance, do need needles anymore and don't hurt. Cloned organs are very standard, and lots of planets have personal medical robots who assist doctors and nurses. Medical testing equipment is beyond what you know." He nodded through the window. "But the core of it… well, when you don't know what's wrong, medicine returns to the basics. Try to make the patients as comfortable as possible and do what you can to ease the symptoms to give their body a fighting chance."

"I suppose so." Martha found herself smiling a little at the words. It made her chosen profession sound… she didn't know. Martha had been fascinated by medicine ever since she broke her arm as a child. "I hope we can help."

"I don't know much about Nyssa," Jack admitted. "As Rose said, there's a group of the Doctor's former companions on Earth that we talk with sometimes. Tegan has talked about Nyssa's genius in glowing terms more than a few times. Combine that with the Doctor, us, and the people who have been working on things, and I think we'll be able to make a difference."

"Has he travelled with a lot of people?" The question slipped from Martha. She didn't know why it bothered her. Rose and Jack had literally been on the ship already when she came aboard. "Is it just a conveyor belt of company?"

"I'm not sure," Jack admitted softly. "Sarah Jane told me once that the Doctor likes to travel with an entourage. Rose has told me that he doesn't like to be alone and that other people help keep him grounded in the where and when he is." Jack shrugged. "He travels with women a lot, and when I tried to tease him about that, he pointed out that he seems like less of a threat if a woman is with him, and children are usually taught to seek out help from women in a crisis. Plus, not all men are willing to play second fiddle. But I agree with Rose; I think he likes having people in the TARDIS, and when you travel through time and space, you're gonna meet a lot of interesting people."

"I suppose so."

"He wouldn't have asked you along if he didn't think you could take it. If he didn't think you'd appreciate it," Jack assured her. "And your first meeting with him was much better than mine was." At her curious look, Jack shook his head. "I'll tell you that story later. Now isn't the time. If you want to go home, he'll take you," Jack promised. "There's been… some difficulties with that from time to time in the past, but the TARDIS is more reliable on landing in the right time period on Earth now. But the Doctor won't try to stop you."

Martha nodded. She believed that. But she also had a strange feeling of sorrow over that. The idea of being here one day and then just another note about his past wasn't a good one. She'd been on the TARDIS such a short time… then again, she didn't know if they were planning for her to stay for long anyway. They'd offered a quick trip and stretched it out a little more. Tomorrow she might be dropped off anyway.

"I'm not worried," Martha lied. "You're a strange lot, but you're all nice, and I trust your morality."

"You shouldn't," Jack said. He grimaced a little. "Morality can be fairly grey, Martha, especially when you're dealing with threats to the timeline and a whole planet. The Doctor and I… even Rose have done things to stop disasters that you wouldn't consider moral."

Martha's stomach dropped at the words. She could tell that he meant them. Swallowing, Martha nodded her understanding. She didn't really, but Martha didn't want to keep talking about it. They were on a planet facing some sort of unknown plague. Jack gave her one more little smile and slipped off to check on Rose, saying something about going to check security footage next. Martha shook herself, grabbed new protective gear and headed into the next ward to complete the scan that Nyssa had shown her how to do.