42
We were traveling through the Time Vortex and I was standing at the console, making sure everything was going smoothly. While my uncle was using his sonic on Martha's phone as she watched, "There we go! Universal Roaming. Never have to worry about a signal again." He tossed the phone back to her.
"No way! But it's... too mad!" she said, "You're telling me I can call anyone, anywhere in Space and Time on my mobile?!"
"Long as you know the area code," I said with a smile.
"Frequent Fliers' privilege." said my uncle, "Go on. Try it."
She started to dial, then the TARIDS jolted, throwing all of us to the floor. We got up and I saw he monitor started to flash red, "Distress signal! Locking on!" I said as I flipped a switch on the console. "Hang on! There might be a bit of…" Then there was another jolt sending just flying again. "… Turbulence. Sorry!" We got up and ran to the door.
"Come on Martha! Let's take a look!" said my uncle as we reached the door.
He opened the door and were hit by a wall of intense heat. We walked outside and it looked like we landed in some kind of engine room, it was glowing red because of how hot it was. "Whoa! Now that is hot!" I said as I took off my cardigan leaving it on the hat rack by the door inside the TARDIS. I also took off my Fedora. I made sure to get my sonic out of my cardigan pocket as I closed the door behind me.
"Whoa! It's like a sauna in here!" said Martha as she took her jacket off.
My uncle walked over to a piece of equipment, "Venting systems. Working at full pelt. Trying to cool down… Uh, where-ever it is we are. Well! If you can't stand the heat…"
We followed him over to a door, he opened it and walked through, "Well, that's better…"
Just then three people, two men and a woman, came running towards us from the opposite direction. They all looked very hot.
"Oi! You two!" said the younger men.
"Get out of there!" shouted the woman.
"Seal that door! Now!" he said as he pointed to the door.
I looked at Martha and The Doctor and I could tell they were just as confused as I was. We watched as the two men sealed the door. "Who are you? What are you doing on my ship?" asked the woman.
"Are you police?" asked the younger man.
"Why would we be police?" asked The Doctor.
"We got your distress signal." I said.
"If this is a ship, why can't I hear any engines?"
"It went dead four minutes ago," said the woman.
"So maybe we should stop chatting and get to engineering. Captain." said the second man.
"Secure closure active." said the ships computer.
"What?!" said female captain as she turned. We heard load clang sounds coming from behind her.
"The ship's gone mad," said the older man.
Then we saw another woman running down the corridor. There were doors slamming shut behind her. "Who activated secure closure? I nearly got locked in to area 27." Then she looked at the three of us, "Who are you?"
I was about to answer but Martha stepped in, "He's The Doctor, she's Teddy and I'm Martha. Hello." Martha looked a little distracted.
"Impact projection: 42 minutes." said the computer.
She walked toward a small window and I followed behind her. We looked out the window and my eyes went big at what I saw.
"We'll get out of this. I promise," said the captain.
"Doctor…" said Martha in a shaky tone of voice.
"Forty-two minutes 'til what?" said my uncle.
"DOCTOR!" I shouted… "Look!"
He came over to the window and saw what we saw, that we were about to crash into a burning sun.
"Forty – two minutes until we crash into the sun," said the captain.
The Doctor ran away from the window, over to the woman, grab her arms, and asked her in a panicked tone, "How many crew members on board?"
"Seven, including us.," said the captain.
"We transport cargo across the galaxy. Everything's automated. We just keep the ship," said the older man.
My uncle ran to the door we came in, "Call the others, I'll get you out!" He went to open the door and the crew members rushed to stop him.
"What's he doing?!" said the young man.
"No! Don't!" said the captain.
When he opened the door he was blown back and knocked off his feet by the force of the heat coming from the room the TARDIS was in. Martha and I ran over to him. As another member of the crew comes in wearing a breathing apparatus and closes the door.
"But our ship's in there!" I shouted.
"In the vent chamber?" asked the young man.
The crew member with the breathing apparatus took it of. It was another woman. She stood by the door and read the gauges. "It's our lifeboat!" said The Doctor.
"It's lava," said the older man.
"The temperature's going mad in there!" said the woman who closed the door, "Up 3000 degrees in ten seconds, and still rising."
"Channeling the air," said the younger man, "The closer we get to the sun, the hotter that room's gonna get."
"We're stuck here," said Martha.
"So? We fix the engines, we steer the ship away from the Sun! Simple! Engineering down here, is it?!" said the Doctor as he got up and began to run down a corridor
"Impact in 40.26," said the computer.
We followed him into the engine room and saw that it had been torn apart. Wires, Springs and casings were all over the place and steaming. "Blimey! Do you always leave things in such a mess?" asked my uncle.
"Oh my god!" said the captain.
"What the hell happened?!" said the older man.
We walked around what was left of the engine and survived the damage, "Oh, it's wrecked." said the younger man.
"Pretty efficiently too," I said, "Someone knew what they were doing." The Doctor and I walked over to a computer terminal, attached to the wreckage, and put on our glasses.
The captain looked around and she asked, "Where's Korwin? Has anyone heard from him or Ashton?"
"No." said the older man.
"You mean someone did this on purpose?" asked Martha.
The captain ran over to an intercom, "Korwin? Ashton? Where are you?" No response. "Korwin, can you answer?!" There was still no answer. So she walked away from the panel. "Where the hell is he? He should be up here!"
During this, The Doctor and I had been scanning to find out where we were, "Oh! We're in the Torajji system! Lovely!" He said.
"You're a long way from home, Martha," I said, "Half a universe away."
We walked way from the terminal.
"Yeah. Feels it," said Martha, sarcastically.
The Doctor and I walked up to the captain and I asked her, "You're still using energy scoops for fusion? Hasn't that been outlawed yet?"
The crew looked at each other, "We're due to upgrade next docking." she said. I looked at her. She was hiding something. She walked away from us and looked at the older man, "Scannell, engine report."
Scannell walked over to the computer terminal. The machine beeped several times. "No response," he said. Then, he ran over to the wrecked engine.
"What?!" said the captain.
He examined pieces of wire sticking about from the wreck, "They're burnt out. The controls are wrecked. I can't get them back online."
The Doctor took his glasses off, "Oh come on! Auxiliary engines! Every craft's got auxiliaries!"
"We don't have access from here. The auxiliary controls are in the front of the ship," said the captain.
"Yeah, with 29 password sealed doors between us and them," said Scannell, "You'll never get there in time."
"Can't you override the doors?" asked Martha.
"No. Sealed closure means what it says. They're all dead-lock sealed."
I took my glasses off, "So a sonic screwdriver's no use…"
"Nothing's any use," said Scannell, "We've got no engines, no time, and no chance."
"Oh listen to you!" said my uncle, "Defeated before you've even started! Where's your Dunkirk spirit?!" He looked at the captain, "Who's got the door passwords?"
"They're randomly generated," said the young man, "Reckon I know most of 'em. Sorry. Riley Vashti."
"Then what're you waiting for Riley Vashti, get on it!"
"Well, it's a two-person job," said Riley. He went and got a huge magnetic clamp and a huge backpack. " One, it takes to answer the questions, and the other to carry this." He put the backpack on his back, "The oldest and cheapest security system around, eh captain?"
"Reliable and simple, just like you, eh Riley?" she said with a smile.
"Try and be helpful, get abuse. Nice!" said Riley.
Martha walked up to him and took the clamp from Riley, "I'll help you. Make myself useful."
"It's remotely controlled by computer panel. That's why it needs two."
Riley turned and walked away and Martha followed him.
"Oi," said The Doctor. Martha turned to face him, "Be careful."
"You too," Martha smiled and left.
Then a male voice came over the intercom, "McDonnell? It's Ashton."
The captain ran over to the intercom panel, "Where are you? Is Korwin with you?"
"Get up to the med-center NOW!"
McDonnell then ran out of the room, with The Doctor and I, hot on her heels.
"Impact in 34.31," said the computer.
In the med-center, a man was thrashing about in agony on a bed, by what looked to be an stasis chamber. His eyes were shut tight. While a man and a woman tried to restrain him.
"Argh! Stop it!" said the man on the bed as he screamed in agony and pain.
"Korwin! It's Abi! Open your eyes, I need to take a look at you!" said the woman
"Korwin!" said McDonnell, "What's happened?! Is he OK?!"
"Oh God! Help me! It's burning me!" said Korwin.
"How long's he been like this?!" asked The Doctor.
"Ashton just brought him in."
The Doctor got out his sonic screwdriver out and began to scan Korwin. "What are you doing?!" asked McDonnell.
Korwin gave another shriek of pain, "Don't get to close," said my uncle.
"Don't be so stupid, that's my husband!" she said as she pushed to the head of the bed.
"And he's just sabotaged our ship!" said Ashton.
"What?!"
"He went mad. He set the ship to secure closure, then he set the heat pulse to melt the controls."
"No way! He wouldn't do that!"
"I saw it happen, Captain."
The Doctor finished his scan and showed me the sonic so I could see the results," Korwin? Korwin, open your eyes for me a second." He said.
"I can't!" he screamed.
"Yeah, course you can. Go on."
"Don't make me look at you! Please!"
The Doctor moved down the bed and picked up a sedative dart gun off a tray, Alright, alright, alright. Just relax." he looked at Abi, "Sedative?"
"Yes." she replied.
The Doctor pressed the gun up against Korwin's neck, and administered the sedative. Korwin gave one final shout, then fell silent and still. The Doctor set the gun down and crossed his arms, "Rising body temperature, unusual energy readings…" He pointed at the stasis chamber, "Stasis chamber. I do love a good stasis chamber. Keep him sedated in there. Regulate the body temperature." Abi looked at him for a second and the started to follow his orders. "And, just for fun, run a bio-scan and tissue profile on a metabolic detail."
"Just doing them now." said Abi.
"Oh, you're good." said The Doctor.
I rolled my eyes, "Anyone else presenting these symptoms?"
"Not so far." said Abi.
"Well, that's something."
McDonnell was still standing by Korwin's bed, "Will someone tell me what is the matter with him?!"
"Some sort of infection," I said, "We'll know more after the test results."
"Now, Allons-y, back downstairs," said the Doctor, "Ay! See about those engines. Go." Ashton left but McDonnell stayed next to her husband, "Ay! Go." reluctantly she left.
"Call us if there's news!" I said as I left.
"Any questions?" asked my uncle as he left..
"Yeah. Who are you?" said Abi.
We stuck our heads back in the room "I'm the Doctor!"
"I'm Teddy." Then we ran out again.
"Heat shields failing. At twenty-five percent. Impact in 32.50." said the computer.
A short time later, Ashton, McDonnell, and I were working on the engine. The Doctor was talking into the intercom to Abi in the med-center. "Abi, how's Korwin doing? Any results from the bio-scan?" he asked.
"He's under heavy sedation," she said, "I'm just trying to make sense of this data. Give me a couple of minutes and I'll let you know."
"Martha? Riley? How're you doing?" asked The Doctor.
"Area twenty-nine, at the door to twenty-eight!" replied Martha.
"You've gotta move faster!"
"We're doing our best!"
Then Riley spoke, "Find the next number in the sequence: 313, 331, 367… what?"
"You said the crew knew all the answers."
"The crew's changed since we set the questions."
"You're joking…"
I ran over to the intercom, "379!"
"What?!" said Martha.
"It's a sequence of happy primes. 379."
"Happy what?"
I rolled my eyes, "Just enter it!"
"Are you sure? We only get one chance!"
The Doctor ran over to the intercom, "Any number which reduces to one when you take the sum of the square of its digits and you continue iterating until it yields one is a happy number. Any number that doesn't, isn't. A happy prime is a number which is both happy and prime, now type it in!" The Doctor turned to me, "I dunno, talk about dumbing down! Don't they teach recreational mathematics any more?"
I rolled my eyes and said, over the intercom, "Keep moving. Fast as you can. And, Martha, be careful. There may be something else on board this ship."
"Any time you wanna unnerve me, feel free!"
I smiled, "Will do, thanks."
"Impact in 30:50," said the computer.
We were looking at a piece of the broken engine, and The Doctor said, "We need a backup in case they don't reach the auxiliary engines in time. Come on! Think! Resources, what have we got?!"
Martha's voice comes over the intercom again, "Teddy? Doctor?"
"What is it now?" he said.
I hit him on the shoulder, "Be nice…"
"Who had the most number ones, Elvis, or the Beatles? That's pre-download," asked Martha.
"I have no idea…" I said.
"Elvis. No! The Beatles! No! Wait! Um… um…" said my uncle. He looked like he was in physical pain. Then began to slap the back of his head, "Argh! What was that remix? Um… I don't know! I am a bit busy!"
"Fine. I'll ask someone else!" said Martha.
"Now, where was I?" asked The Doctor, "Here comes the sun. No, resources. So, the power's still working, the generator's going. If we can harness that.. Ah!"
"Use the generator to jump-start the ship," said McDonnell.
"Exactly! At the very least, it'll buy us some more time."
"That… is brilliant."
"I know!" said The Doctor, I rolled my eyes and he continued, "See! Tiny glimmer of hope!"
"If it works," said Scannell.
"Oh, believe me. You're gonna make it work," said McDonnell.
Scannell walked off, looking dejected. "That told him!" said The Doctor.
"Impact in 28:50," said the computer.
"Doctor, these readings are starting to scare me," said Abi, over the intercom.
"What d'you mean?" asked my uncle.
"Well, Korwin's body's changing! His whole biological make-up, it… it's impossible…" We heard a bang. Then Abi's voice came back, "This is med-center. Urgent assistance requested. Urgent assistance!"
The Doctor and I looked at each other then we started to run to the med-center. "Stay here! Keep working!" yelled my uncle as we ran. McDonnell followed us.
"Urgent assistance!" called Abi's voice.
"Abi. They're on their way," said Erina, The woman we met early who closed the door.
"What's happening to you?" said Abi.
Then we heard a a deep, threatening male voice, "Burn with me… Burn with me."
"Captain?!" shouted Scannell as we ran.
"I told you to stay in engineering!" said The Doctor.
"I only take orders form one person round here."
"Is he always this cheery?" I asked the cam
"Burn with me," we heard over the intercom
"K... Korwin, you're sick…" stuttered, Abi.
"Burn. With. Me!"
Then Abi screamed and we started running faster. "Teddy, Doctor, what were those screams?"
"Concentrate on those doors!" I shouted as we continued to run, "You've gotta keep moving forward!"
"Impact in 27:06," said the computer.
We ran through the plastic sheeting that acted as a door to the med-center. Scannell was already there, looking round. I looked over to bed where Korwin was. It was empty.
"Korwin's gone…" said McDonnell.
"Oh my God…" said Scannell, I looked at him and saw he was staring at a wall. I turned and saw a charred, black shape on a wall, in the shape of a person with one hand in the air. My jaw dropped as I watched my uncle walk toward the shape, "Tell me that's not Lerner."
"Endothermic vaporisation," said The Doctor as he ran his finger around the outline of the shape, "I've never seen one this ferocious. Burn with me…"
"That's what we heard Korwin say."
"What?! D'you think… no way!" said McDonnell, "Scannell, tell him! Korwin is not a killer! He can't vaporise people! He's human!"
Just then I noticed something on the floor. I picked it up and saw it was x-rays and bioscans, "His bioscan results…" I said as I put my glasses on to read them, "Internal temperature, one hundred degrees! Body oxygen replaced by hydrogen!" I took my glasses off and looked at McDonnell, "Your husband hasn't been infected, he's been overwhelmed!"
She grabbed the results out of my hand, "The test results are wrong!"
"But what is it though? Parasite? Mutagenic virus? Something that needs a host body. But how did it get inside him?!"
"Stop talking like he's some kind of experiment!"
"Where's the ship been? Have you made planet-fall recently?" asked The Doctor, "Docked with any other vessels? Any kind of external contact at all?"
"What is this? An interrogation?!"
"We've got to stop him before he kills again," I said.
"We're just… a cargo ship." she said as she turned away from The Doctor and I. She was very distraught. She went to Scannell and he tried to comfort her. I felt bad for the woman. She wasn't telling us something. Whatever it was it must have lead to what happened to her husband.
"Teddy, Doctor, if you give her a minute…"
I nodded and then McDonnell said, "I'm fine. I need to warn the crew." then she walked over to the intercom, "Everybody listen to me! Something has infected Korwin. We think… He killed Abi Lerner. None of you must go anywhere near him, is that clear?"
"Understood Captain," said Ashton.
"Impact in 24:51." said the computer.
The Doctor and I were still looking at the bioscan results. What we were seeing wasn't making any sense. Korwin's body was changing. Something was infecting him. But whatever it was it wasn't picked up in the bioscans. McDonnell was sitting in a chair near us and asked, "Is the infection permanent? Can you cure him?"
The Doctor and I looked at each other, "I dunno." he said.
"Don't lie to me, Doctor," she responded, "Eleven years we've been married. We chose this ship together. He keeps me honest. So I don't want false hope."
"The parasite's too aggressive," I walked over to her knelt by her chair and took her hand, "Your husband's gone. There's no way back. Sorry."
She nodded, "Thank you."
"You're welcome," I said as I stood. I knew that if I was in her position I would want to know the truth as well.
The Doctor walked over to us, "Are you… certain nothing happened to provoke this? Nobody's working on anything secret, 'cause it's vital that you tell us."
"I know every inch of this ship. I know every detail of my crew's lives. There is nothing." replied the captain.
The Doctor stared at her, "Then why is this thing so interested in you?"
She shook her head, "I wish I knew…"
"Doctor, we're through to area 17." said Martha's voice on the intercom.
"Keep going. you've got to get to area one and reboot those engines."
"Heat shield failing. At twenty percent." said the computer.
The Doctor and I remained in the med-center while McDonnell and Scannell went back to the engine room. Then, we heard Martha scream over the intercom, "Doctor! Teddy! We're stuck in an escape pod off the area seventeen airlock." We ran out of the med-center, "One of the crew's trying to jettison us! You've gotta help us!"
We reached, the engine room and McDonnell asked us, "Why is this happening?"
My uncle took his glasses off, "Stay here! I mean it this time! Jump start those engines!"
We ran as fast as we could to Area 17. When we finally got there, we saw Ashton in what looked like a welder's mask, tapping on a keypad. "That's enough!" said my uncle, Ashton looked at us "What do you want? Why this ship? Tell me!"
Instead of answering him, Ashton turned, and put his fist through the keypad. "Jettison activated." said the computer.
I wanted to run to the panel but I couldn't get to close to Ashton, because he could either kill me or infect me.
"Come on. Let's see you." said my uncle. Ashton moved closer to us. I backed behind my uncle. They got almost nose to nose. "I wanna know what you really are…"
Ashton lifted his hand to his visor and then all of the sudden doubled over in pain and backed away from us. But it didn't last long, he stood up straight and headed toward us again. "Airlock sealed," said the computer. But, instead of continuing to attack us, Ashton just walked past us and out of Area 17.
Once he was gone I ran over to the intercom, "McDonnell! Ashton's heading in your direction! He's been infected, just like Korwin!"
"Korwin's dead, Teddy," said Scannell
"Airlock decompression completed," said the computer, "Jettisoning pod."
Just then we realized that Martha was still inside. We ran over to the airlock door. We looked through the window and saw Martha, just a few feet way, tapping on the glass calling our mouthing our names. "Doctor! Teddy!"
"We'll save you!" said The Doctor.
"Doctor! Teddy!"
"We'll save you!" I shouted
"I can't hear you!" mouthed Martha, as the pod disengaged.
"We'll save you," said the Doctor over and over again.
"Impact in 17:05," said the computer.
The Doctor ran over to the "Scannell! I need a spacesuit in Area 17, now!"
"What for?" replied Scannell.
"Just get down here!" shouted my uncle.
A short time later, my uncle was dressed in a space suit, "I can't let you do this," said Scannell.
"You're wasting your breath, Scannell," said The Doctor, "You're not gonna stop me."
"You wanna open an airlock in flight on a ship spinning into the sun. No-one can survive that!"
I smiled, "You don't know The Doctor."
"You open that airlock, it's suicide," said Scannell, "This close to the sun, the shields will barely protect you."
"If I can breach the magnetic lock on the ship's exterior, it should remagnetize the pod," said The Doctor, "Now, while I'm out there, you have got to get the rest of those doors open. We need those auxiliary engines."
"Doctor, will you listen! They're too far away, it's too late!" said Scanell.
"I'm not gonna lose her."
I handed my uncle the helmet. "Good Luck…"
"I'll be back…" he said.
"You better be," I said. He put the helmet on. He walked pass Scannell and into the airlock.
"Decompression, initiating." said the computer, " Impact in 12:55." I sat next to door of the airlock and waited for my uncle to return. "Impact in 11. shield failing. At ten percent."
I heard the exterior door open. Through our telepathic link I could tell my uncle was struggling. 'You can do it… Uncle Theta…'
'I can't reach it…' he said
'Yes you can! You are The Doctor, you can do anything!'
He grunted, 'Got it' then a couple of moments later. There is another grunt, 'I did it'
I smiled, 'I knew you could. Now get your butt back in here!'
I could sense him struggling to get back inside, 'I'm in' he said a few moments later. I smiled but then I heard him say, "It's alive… It's alive?... It's alive!"
"What's alive?" I asked, then I thought for a moment, "Oh my god…"
"Impact in. 8:57" said the computer, "Airlock recompression completed."
The doors to the airlock opened and my uncle literally fell out of the airlock onto his knees. I went over to him as Martha and Riley rushed out of the escape pod.
"Doctor! Doctor!" said Martha as she crouched next to him with me, "Are you OK?" She helped me flip him onto his back.
He opened his eyes and I gasped. His eyes were glowing like two miniture suns. "Stay away from me!" he growled. Then he closed his eyes and continued to writhe with pain.
Martha and I stood up and backed away from him, "What's happened?" said McDonnell.
I turned and looked at her. All the pieces fell into place in my head and at that moment, I wanted to kill the woman. "It's your fault, Captain McDonnell!" shouted my uncle.
"Riley! Get down to area 10 and help Scannell with the doors. Go!" she said.
"You mined that sun! Stripped its surface for cheap fuel! You should have scanned for life!"
"I don't understand,"
"I do," I said with bitterness in my voice.
"What's he talking about?" said Martha.
"That sun is alive… A living organism…" I said. Then I turned and got in the face of Captain McDonnell, "You scooped out its heart for fuel and now it's screaming!"
The captain started to panic, "What do you mean?" she said, "How can a sun be alive? Why are you saying that?!"
"Because it's living in me." said my uncle.
The captain's eyes got big as "Oh my god…
"Humans!" screamed my uncle, "You grab whatever's nearest and bleed it dry!" Then he screamed in pain before continuing, "You should have scanned!"
"It takes too long! We'd be caught! Fusion scoops are illegal."
"You've got to freeze me, quickly!"
"What?!" said Martha.
I thought for a half a second, "The Stasis chamber!" I rushed over to him, "Martha help me!" she got one side of him and she helped me get him to his feet. "We got get his body temperature to below minus 200 and freeze it out of him!"
"It'll use me to kill you if you don't! The closer we get to the sun, the stronger… it gets! Med-centre! Quickly! Quickly!"
"Impact in, 7:30," said the computer.
We got to the med-centre, them Martha and I put him on the stasis chamber bed. McDonnell followed us. Martha grabbed the instruction manual for the stasis chamber, "I can do it!" she said.
"Teddy, where are you?!" asked my uncle with his eyes still closed.
I took his hand, "It's alright… I'm here…"
"Minus 200, yeah?" asked Martha.
I nodded, Then McDonnell said, "No, you don't know how this equipment works! You'll kill him! Nobody can survive those temperatures!"
"He's not human!" I said.
"She says he can survive, then he can," said Martha.
"Let me help you then!" said McDonnell.
"No…" I said with venom in my voice, "You've done enough damage."
"Ten seconds. That's all I'll be able to take. No more!" said The Doctor. Then he screamed, "Teddy!"
"Yeah?" I said as I looked at him.
He gurgled and retched, "It's burning me up. I can't control it. If you don't get rid of it, I could kill you. I could kill you all."
"But you won't," I said, "You would never to anything to hurt me… And you'd never let anything hurt me…"
"I'm scared! I'm so scared!" he said.
"Just… stay calm," said Martha, "You saved me, now I return the favor. Just… just believe in me."
"We do," I said with a smile.
"It's bloody killing me!" said my uncle, "Then what'll happen?!"
"That's enough!" said Martha, "We've got you!"
"There's this process. This… this thing… that happens… if I'm about to die."
"Shhh…" I said, "We don't need to talk about that because that is not gonna happen. You and I are going to be together for awhile."
"You ready?" asked Martha to my uncle.
"No!" He said.
I stood up and reluctantly let go of my uncle's hand. Martha pushed the lever that slid The Doctor into the stasis chamber. She typed in '-200', and pressed the button to start the process. Inside, my uncle screamed as the temperature dropped.
"Heat shields failing. At five percent." said the Computer.
We watched the readout that showed the temperature inside the machine rapidly dropping. When it hit minus 70 degrees, the machine turned off. "No!" screamed my uncle, "Martha you can't stop it! Not yet!"
"What's happened?!" I asked.
"Power's been cut in engineering," said McDonnell.
"But who's down there?" asked Martha.
"Leave it to me," said McDonnell then she ran from the room
"Impact in 4:47," said the computer.
Martha and I tried to get the stasis chamber working again, "Come on!" said Martha as she it hit, "You're defrosting."
Inside the chamber, The Doctor cried out in pain, "Teddy! Martha! Listen!" we looked inside, "I've only got a moment. You've gotta go!"
I nodded but Martha protested, "No way!"
"Get to the front! Vent the engines! Sun particles in the fuel! Get rid of them!"
"I am not leaving you!"
"We've got to go!" I said, "We've got to give back what they took!"
"Please! Go!" he screamed.
"We'll be back for you," said Martha, then we started to run to the front of the ship.
"Impact in 4:08," said the computer. We passed through Area 21, and the computer gave us another update, "Impact in 3:43."
Then we heard the McDonnell's voice over the intercom, "Riley, Scannell. I'm sorry."
"McDonnell! McDonnell!" said Scannell.
"Exterior airlock opened," said the computer. We knew what happened, McDonnell had sacrificed herself to hopefully save the rest of us, "Impact in 2:17. Survival estimate projection. Zero percent."
We entered area 4 when we heard my uncle call out on the intercom, "Teddy! Martha!"
We stopped, "Doctor! What are you doing?" asked Martha.
"I can't fight it. Give it back or…Burn with me, Teddy! Burn with me, Martha!"
We continued running, we had to save my uncle… I couldn't be the Last of the Time Lords… "Impact in 1:21," said the computer. We made it into Area 1 as the computer called out ,"Impact in 1:06."
We saw Riley and Scannell frantically pulling, pressing, and realigning controls, "Vent the engines. Dump the fuel." I said.
"What?" said Scannell.
"Sun particles in the fuel. Get rid of them," said Martha.
The two men just stood there doing nothing, "Do it. Now!" I shouted.
The men sprang into action and begin turning dials to release the fuel.
"Come on Uncle, hold on." I said.
The ship then started to lurch and we were flung all around the room.
Then the computer announced, "Fuel Dump in progress… Fuel Dump in progress…"
"There!" said Scannell, "The auxiliaries are firing!"
The ship lurched again and the computer announced, "Impact averted. Impact averted."
"We're clear!" said Riley, "We've got just enough reserves."
We all smiled and hugged but then we realized someone was missing, "Doctor…" I said.
Martha and I ran out of the room and found my uncle as he was pulling himself to his feet. We could see his eyes were back to normal. The two of us ran up to him and gave him a big group hug and the three of us giggled in happiness.
A short time later, the three of us met up with the two surviving crew members at the TARDIS. The Doctor and I walked around it to make sure she's OK.
"This is never your ship!" said Scannell.
"Compact!" said my uncle, "Eh! And another good word, robust! Barely a scorch mark on her."
"We can't just leave them drifting with no fuel," said Martha.
"We've sent out an official mayday. The authorities will pick us up soon enough," said Riley.
"Though how we explain what happened…" said Scannell.
I opened the door to the TARDIS and said, "Just tell them. That sun needs care and protection, just like any other living thing." Scannell nodded and the Doctor and I headed inside to prepare the TARDIS for departure.
Martha stepped into the TARDIS, and shut the door. Then, she walked up the ramp to the console.
"So! Didn't really need you in the end, did we?!" said Martha. She looked at him and saw that he looked sad and distant, "Sorry. How're you doing?"
"Now!" said my uncle as he smiled, not wanting to answer her, "What do you say? Ice skating on the mineral lakes of Kooharn... Fancy it?"
Instead of smiling, Martha looks disappointed, as she wishes the Doctor would open up to her.
"Whatever you like," said Martha, unenthusiastically.
I gave my uncle a nudge, then he turned to her and said, "By the way, you'll be needing this." Then, he took a TARDIS key on a long chain out of his pocket.
"Really?!" she said with a big smile.
"You earned it…" I said.
"Frequent Flier's Privilege." He said as he slowly dropped it into her hand, "And…Thank you."
"Don't mention it." She said, "Oh no! Mum!"
Martha then ran out of the console room to talk to her mom.
A/N: Wow… Another chapter in the book. A bit of warning on the next chapter… I won't be doing Human Nature, The Family of Blood, or Blink in the same style I have been because I don't think there is anyway I could properly put Teddy into the story like I have been for Human Nature & The Family of Blood. Plus, Blink is such a short chapter because it is so Doctor & Martha-lite . So the next chapter will a psudo-combination of those three stories. I hope you like what I do with it, it should be interesting to write.