Prologue
The TARDIS sickbay was in a state of frenetic activity. The Doctor's companions were rushing about, grabbing equipment and moving consoles in preparation for some imminent emergency. Carolyn grabbed her medical scanner as she directed the others to action.
"Get the stasis units in here and bring them on-line. Tell Michelle to use ward three for the ambulatory cases, I'll take the…"
"Control Room to Sickbay. They're coming in now."
"Acknowledged. Ready everyone."
They all turned towards the door as Michelle and three other people entered, carrying the Doctor. One of their guests was also injured and fell to the floor, while the other two were standing up, with weapons in their hands.
Carolyn and Nita rushed to aid the wounded. Nita moved to the Doctor and helped Michelle to put him down on the operating table. She could see that there was a large scorch mark on the Doctor's chest. Nita immediately began scanning him with her scanner. "What happened?"
"Foamasis attacked us outside the conference room."
"He's in cardiac arrest. Get the pulmonary support unit."
The clamshell was moved into place over the Doctor's chest. Michelle moved away to give them room and she looked on with concern. Nita continued to read the scanner.
"Internal hemorrhaging, both of his hearts have stopped, damage to the spleen and liver… what kind of weapon did this?"
"A compressed Tachyonbeam."
"Forty cc's inoprovaline."
An alarm sounded from the clamshell.
"Activity in the isocortex is falling. Cortical stimulator."
Nita handed Carolyn a device, which she placed on his forehead. A monitor in the room began to show a flatline and alarms were continuous now.
"Now."
The Doctor's body jerked… then nothing.
"Again."
His body jerked again… nothing.
There was silence. The Doctor was standing in blindingly white limbo without walls or ceiling. He was dazed and confused, unsure where he was or what was happening to him. He struggled to look around, but he could not discern anything in this uniformly bright place. Suddenly an even more intense light filled part of the area. The Doctor held up a hand to shield his eyes from this painfully intense light, but he did not retreat. He struggled to look at the light.
The glowing luminescence had a form… it was the shape of a figure standing in the light.
The Doctor, determined to find out who this was, moved towards the silhouetted figure. He finally stopped in front of it. He could barely look into the light at all.
The figure reached out for him with one hand.
The Doctor reached out toward the hand… they clasped hands and suddenly…
There was The Black Guardian standing with the Doctor, holding his hand. The Black Guardian was wearing white flowing ethereal robes. "Welcome to the afterlife, Doctor. You're dead."
The Doctor looked at him, shocked.