Twists in Time

Chapter Sixteen: Path of the Healers: Calm and Cure

By Lumendea

AN: There's going to be another chapter. Like last season, episodes are running a bit longer on average. Everyone wants character moments.

…

The small ward the Doctor had set up in the TARDIS was very quiet. Martha couldn't even begin to pretend what the Doctor was doing as he saw to the first patient. Part of her rallied against the rapid speed at which he and Nyssa had decided on the new course of action. They'd selected one of the patients in the worst condition and wheeled him through the TARDIS. There were no trials in advance, no panel to discuss who to treat, and no debating about the potential ramifications. It didn't sit well and made her think of Jack's remarks about the grey they operated in.

Nyssa likely had emergency powers or had gotten permission to try anything that might help from the patient's family. She seemed like a good medical doctor. At least Martha told herself that. Neither Jack nor Rose blinked at the sudden surge of activity. She tapped her fingers against the coral of the TARDIS walls.

"Relax," Rose said gently. "The Doctor is the best expert in the universe regarding temporal mutation."

"Without a doubt," Jack agreed. He was still pale and looked vaguely sick as he flipped through the notebook his old… friend or coworker had given him. "If this can be fixed, then they'll fix it."

"You're worried about the Alchemist," Rose said softly, staring at Jack.

"Raydrin gave up very easily."

"He might have left, so you two weren't in conflict," Rose offered.

Jack snorted and gave Rose a tender look. "I wish that were true, but no. He's not that sort of person and our relationship was never that healthy, Rosie."

Martha bit the inside of her mouth to hold in the questions. Rose just looked sad, but not surprised. Anything more that was going to be said on the topic was cut off by Nyssa and the Doctor stepping out of the med bay. Nyssa appeared tired, but pleased and the Doctor was grinning.

"Success," Nyssa said.

"Brilliant success," the Doctor corrected. "It isn't often that I get to really be creative in the TARDIS medical bay."

"That's probably for the best," Rose said softly.

"What?" The Doctor blinked. "Oh, yes. Right. Probably. No, definitely. We successfully isolated the incomplete mutation and completed it with some help from Vortex radiation. Easy."

"Hardly easy." Nyssa shook her head. "But smoothly done and it can be replicated."

"I somewhat understand the whole mutating the immune system thing," Martha said lightly. Her tone was probably a little tense. She couldn't help it. "But this seems like too much. How could an incomplete mutation cause this kind of issue? Shouldn't it just impact their immune system? Why would it effect the organs?"

"It's very complicated, Martha," Nyssa replied gently. "I've evaluated my own mutations many times over the years. There is a cascading effect. Time travel is more dangerous than people usually think about."

"What, like the grandfather paradox?" Martha asked. "Stepping on a butterfly and changing history?"

"Time travel is very dangerous," the Doctor agreed. "People often debate and consider the ramifications of time travel. To the point that some have convinced themselves it isn't possible." The Doctor chuckled a little at that. "But it is. Obviously. But what they often don't consider is the ramifications on the body. They don't think about what would have to change in a person to survive travelling in time. For instance, take your own body, Martha!" The Doctor gestured to her, his voice excited and eager as he studied her. "Your molecules, the very atoms that make up your body, have been across the universe! They were once part of the Big Bang, then a part of stars and planets before becoming a part of Earth and then a part of you! And as you live, as you shed skin cells and rejuvenate new ones, that mass is being added to and taken from the world around you! And when you travel in time, you're moving that mass. It's going far from where it was. A hair you just shed here has skipped literal centuries of the time it would have been existing and jumped solar systems! And the water you drank is molecules from the future that when you go back in time, you're taking back with you. But they already exist then, somewhere out there in the universe, so they've been replicated! The changes that the Time Vortex brings to a person are critical. It makes the physics of the world more… flexible with regard to you so that your very footsteps don't break anything. At least not just by walking through the world. You can still break things if you trigger a paradox or something else stupid."

The Doctor paused and his manic grin dulled a little. "The first-time travellers were my people. There was a schism, a rip for want of a better term, in time and space on our planet. We evolved in its energy. Developed senses beyond yours and our bodies became a little more flexible regarding moving through time. Humans like you, and other species who want the power of time travel don't have the luxury of your evolutions. I can't say for certain if the Time Vortex causes that effect naturally or if it was put into place to protect the universe. I wouldn't put that past the Guardians, but this is necessary for time travel to be remotely safe."

Rose suddenly felt that she had the answer to why the White Guardian didn't like his disciple travelling in time. Too disorderly indeed. She held back a smile at the thought. The Doctor was whirling around the room, checking every machine and scanner. Her eyes went to the patient. It might be her imagination, but Rose was certain that they were breathing better now. They… felt stronger to her. She briefly wondered if that was an ability tied to her role as the Guardian of Life. It certainly seemed possible.

"I'm starting to feel like there should be a training to travel with you." Martha was smiling, but Rose could see the stress and disbelief creeping up in her eyes.

"That would be less fun," the Doctor said dismissively. "Anyway, Nyssa, what do you want to do next?"

"Oh." Nyssa blinked in surprise at the question. "Well, I want to take the patient back to the hospital ward for the final tests. It will reassure the others if they can see some of the tests. They've been very patient, but me immediately switching focus to work with you has confused them." Martha could more than understand that. There were so many questions she would ask in their shoes. Already there were questions that she wanted to ask. "Obviously, it will take some time for them to recover fully, but the cellular deterioration is already slowing to normal levels. It's like… I don't know, they're functioning on the correct flow of time again."

"Exactly so." The Doctor nodded, looking more than a little pleased with himself. "Out of synch. We're bringing them back into the proper… let's call it resonance with the rest of the universe."

"Absolutely mad," Martha murmured. But she was smiling now. "What about long-term side effects?"

"They'll actually be more resistant to diseases," the Doctor told her. "Just as well, given the organ transfers they had to undergo. They'll be better than new!"

"They'll be able to live full lives," Nyssa corrected. "Though I am still very concerned about this Alchemist. It seems so strange to inflict this on a planet and then just… vanish. Not even try to stop its healing."

"They likely already got what they wanted," Jack murmured.

"Alchemist," the Doctor repeated. "Alchemist, Alchemist, Alchemist." He sighed. "I feel like I should be getting something from that name choice, but I'm not."

"It's an old Earth term, is it not?" Nyssa asked. "An alchemist is a practitioner of alchemy. I remember reading about them in some of the TARDIS fantasy books. They seek immortality and gold."

"That's the standard version, yes," the Doctor agreed. "But the concept of alchemy is old and has been connected to a lot of goals. Alchemists sought to purify, mature, and perfect certain materials, including their bodies and souls. It is an odd term."

"Perhaps not," Nyssa offered. "This experiment here might tell them something regarding how to alter how time affects the body. Would that not be useful to someone seeking immortality?"

"And if you could figure that out, the gold would come rolling in," Jack added lightly. "Doesn't matter how good medical tech gets, there's always someone who wants to live even longer."

"Just seems a bit on the nose," the Doctor grumbled. "Eternal life and gold. There's probably more to them than that."

"Well, they would have gotten access to at least the old Time Agency files." Jack shook his head. "I hate to think of the damage a person could do with that information."

"Did Raydrin say why the Agency closed?" Rose asked. "Any details?"

"No. He just said there were only a few of us agents still alive." Jack swallowed and Rose felt guilty for asking the question. "Nothing about what triggered that. Might have been a lot of things."

"Might have been," the Doctor agreed. "The Time Agency had a wide reach, but it was only active for a relatively short time. Even I only ran into them a handful of times." The Doctor drummed his fingers and then ran a hand through his hair. "But I don't recall anything about what made it collapse! Think! Think!" Suddenly the Doctor stopped and sighed, dropping his hands. "Then again, due to its very nature, its collapse could have been constantly in flux."

"Easily," Jack agreed. He shook his head. "Raydrin's notes were his copy. He left before I could stop him, so we should assume that the Alchemist knows everything, maybe more, about this experiment that we do."

"That's an unsettling thought," Nyssa murmured. "I hate to say it, but is there any chance that this is a Time Lord?"

"No." The Doctor shook his head. "The Master and the Monk were the only other survivors, and they died recently."

"But Rassilon opened that door," Rose said softly. "Someone else might have slipped out. Or there were others in hiding."

"There were also other species who experimented with time travel," the Doctor countered. "I can only feel those on Karn. No one else."

"Fair." Rose nodded a little. "So what do we do?"

"Focus on the patients," Martha said. The last few sentences of the Doctor and Rose's exchange rang in her head. When they looked at her, she straightened up. "I can understand being frustrated that we can't find who did this just yet, but right now we focus on helping the patients and making sure that they're alright."

"Good," the Doctor said with a smile. "It is really all we can do at this point. Jack, I want you to keep an eye on the security systems. Just in case your old friend or his employer decides to sweep in at the last second."

"Agreed," Jack said. He looked down at his Vortex Manipulator. "I don't like this either. I wouldn't put it past Raydrin to pop in and try to grab one of the patients to examine himself."

Martha looked at him with outright horror. He didn't look like he was joking. Jack's features were stern and serious. Her stomach turned, and she shook her head.

"What about the treatment?" Rose asked. "Do you plan to bring all the patients to the TARDIS one at a time?"

"No." The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck. "That's probably too slow. But now that we've isolated the cause, and I was able to narrow in on exactly what features of the Time Vortex radiation they were lacking, I can make a… well… for lack of a better term a radiation grenade."

"Doctor!" Nyssa scolded.

"What? It will be a device that releases the correct radiation in a brief burst so that everyone is exposed to it. Because you and I both know that there could be silent carriers in the medical staff and the general population who haven't had the symptoms manifest yet. Last thing we need is this incomplete mutation surviving somewhere."

"Did you figure out how it was being spread?" Martha asked.

"Modified retrovirus by the looks of things," Nyssa replied easily. "Once infected, the subject's DNA was slightly altered with the incomplete mutation. It explains how it spread, why I wasn't affected, and how it did what it did."

It was also proof that this was an attack or an experiment. Martha's stomach turned once more. But they had a solution. She focused on that. They could treat those affected. Making her decision, Martha excused herself from the others and hurried back to the main ward to help prepare the patients for the treatment the Doctor and Nyssa had cooked up.

…

The lab was quiet. The Doctor fought down the urge to pace or play with his hair. He was less settled in this new body. That surprised him. He'd expected the raw energy and urge to run that had been such a key part of his last body to ease, not increase. Nyssa walked over to one of the scanners and pulled up the latest report on the patients. Then she sighed, nodded to herself and quickly typed in a reply.

"What's next for you?" the Doctor asked Nyssa softly.

"Not sure. I suppose there will be another message for me, asking me to come to some other world soon enough."

"Is that enough? Are you happy?"

Nyssa turned to look at him, her expression surprised and quizzical at his question. The Doctor fought not to fidget under that stare. It was hard. This body was made to be constantly moving. Standing still and being peered at was difficult.

"I am content with the purpose I have found."

"You could come with us."

"I'm not sure that I'm suited to travelling with you again, Doctor," Nyssa answered softly. "I'm not as young as I used to be. Nor as idealistic."

"You're spending your life helping as many as you can. You still seem plenty idealistic to me, Nyssa." The Doctor swallowed. "I'd just like to know that you're happy. Properly happy. Is there nothing I can do?"

"I…" Nyssa hesitated. She turned and stared at one of the machine screens. "I don't know, Doctor. Traken is gone. I have no family. I haven't seen you in years. Focusing on the task at hand and then the next one is what has helped me keep my head. Helped me find… something in this universe."

"I'm sorry," the Doctor murmured. "I should have checked on you more."

"I'm the one who left, Doctor." Nyssa chuckled and shook her head. "You are not responsible for my choices."

"Still…" he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"No. I was not your ward."

"You sort of were."

"As an adult, I made a decision to focus on medicine." Nyssa studied her hands and a soft sigh escaped her. "But I do…. I don't know. Seeing you again is so strange. You're older, though you look almost the same age."

"Sorry, regeneration is odd like that."

"Despite everything that happened, despite the Time War, you've changed so much."

"Not really. I'm still travelling in the TARDIS, helping where I can and finding trouble here and there." The Doctor gave her a smile, but Nyssa's expression didn't change.

"You have a partner. A romantic partner. That's a big change." Nyssa dropped her eyes again. "I suppose it makes me wonder if I'm missing something."

"Romantic love isn't necessary for happiness. I don't want you to think that I've spent centuries miserable. I haven't."

"No, and I didn't mean it like that." Nyssa tucked a stray strand of greying brown hair behind her ear. The Doctor studied her.

She looked so tired. Worn down, and he hated it. Hated it with a vengeance. He tried not to play favourites, but Nyssa had been a favourite companion of his. They'd communicated better than he had with Tegan and Adric, making things a little easier. She had a scientific mind and despite her relative youth, she'd been very capable and proven invaluable on more than a few occasions. He wanted to feel proud of her and all the tremendous work she had done, but he felt sad.

"I could take you somewhere else," the Doctor offered. "Another time period. A fresh start or at least a break."

"I don't know," Nyssa said softly. She stood up and brushed off her clothes, though they were free of any dust. "I'll consider it, Doctor. But for now, I should check in with the rest of the medical staff and make sure that everything is in place."

"Right." The Doctor nodded. "And I'll get the… uh, mutation stabilizer unit ready."

Nyssa smiled at him not calling it a grenade. He took that as a small victory and fled back into the TARDIS, disliking the mixture of emotions churning in his gut. There were so many reasons that he'd never looked back before. So many reasons why he still shouldn't. Yet it was happening more and more. And now, beyond saving these people from a rogue time experiment, he wanted to make sure that Nyssa was better than just alright when this was over.

…..

Martha found Nyssa at a workstation tucked near one of the wards. Another of the doctors was nodding at something she said before hurrying off. She only caught a glimpse of their expression. It was a cautiously hopeful though still worried.

"Can I help with anything?" Martha asked. She stepped forward slowly, glancing at the monitors. "How is it going?"

"Slow, but well." Nyssa smiled. "The Doctor's method was perfect." She shook her head and laughed. "It's good to see that he hasn't lost his touch. Though we used more of the TARDIS equipment than usual."

"I suppose so." Martha wasn't sure how to respond to that, as she had limited experience. "Can I get you anything?"

"No, Martha. Thank you. I'm just waiting." Nyssa sat down in one of the small chairs at the side of the room. "Sit down. This is the part where we wait."

"Odd to have that part," Martha replied. But she stepped forward. "At my training hospital, it's one patient to another immediately and then meetings to discuss treatments. More rounds and then crawling home."

"Sounds like a poor way to train healers. Rest is an important part of focus and learning." Nyssa tilted her head thoughtfully. "Tegan never mentioned anything about that."

"Right, you're not from Earth." Martha grimaced. "Sorry. I haven't been travelling with the Doctor for long. The whole humanoid alien thing is still confusing to me."

"He explained it to me once. It is strangely common." Nyssa gestured to the chair beside her and Martha finally sat down. "And I take no offence. How are you holding up? You've been very focused on helping the other healers. I appreciate that, but falling ill due to exhaustion yourself will not help."

"When was the last time you rested?" Martha countered. "You haven't taken any breaks either."

"Fair enough." Nyssa sighed and leaned back. "I've never been good at slowing down. Not since I left the TARDIS at least. Tegan was always good at convincing me to take breaks. And the TARDIS library was fascinating."

"Me neither. About the breaks, I mean. I haven't seen the TARDIS library yet."

"A shame. Tell the Doctor you need a day in when this is over. I'm sure Rose or Jack will show you the library. The medical history section is remarkable." Nyssa smiled a little. "Though, Tegan would drag me out of it often to watch television shows from her era or further in the future. She always insisted that I couldn't just study."

"Sounds a bit like my sister. Tish is always telling me I need more of a social life."

"Do you two need anything?" Rose asked.

Martha looked up to find the blonde woman approaching them. Her smile was almost cautious as she looked at Nyssa. It made Martha wondered if something had happened between them… or more likely something between the Doctor and Nyssa that Rose had just learned of.

"No," Nyssa answered. Her eyes were curious as she looked at Rose. "Just resting for a moment. It's strange to think that this is all about to be fixed. It's been a long time since I've had a definitive moment like that with my work."

"Well, the Doctor is almost ready. Jack is still monitoring the security and everything is quiet for now."

"For now," Nyssa repeated. "Let's hope it stays that way."

The two women shared an understanding look. A feeling of worry. And an odd sense that Nyssa had just said the wrong thing. One of Tish's teasing sentences about jinxing herself before an exam last term suddenly replays in Martha's head. The other two are braced for trouble. They're waiting for it. Martha exhaled and found herself waiting, too.