A/N: Hope you enjoyed the last chapter! Now, onward with the adventure! These chapters are based on the Doctor Who episode, 42.
I do not own Doctor Who. All I own is my OC Katy, and this story.
Please review and no flaming will be tolerated.
Cheers xx
MAKE HAY WHILE THE SUN SHINES
"Time is waiting.
We've only got four minutes to save the world.
No hesitating…"
– Madonna (ft. Justin Timberlake & Timbaland) '4 Minutes' (Hard Candy [2008])
Tardis
The opportunity to travel through time and space is not an offer given lightly. It comes with certain conditions and rules. Should you break those conditions and rules, the guilty party risks being permanently banned from the Tardis by the Doctor himself. Case in point, Adam Mitchell, who so far was the only companion whom the Doctor had allowed to travel with him, that was booted from the Tardis after only one adventure, when he attempted to filch information from the distant future to alter his timeline. However, if your intentions to travel through time and space are pure and from a desire to explore and learn about the progress of mankind, then you may earn little perks, such as a superphone, which was granted to Katy and Rose, as frequent travellers, and now, Martha.
"Right, there we go. Universal roaming," the Doctor finishes adjusting the alterations made to Martha's phone with his sonic and hands it back to her with a flourish and a grin. "Never have to worry about a signal again."
"No way!" Martha beams from ear to ear as she flips open her phone and starts exploring it, with an amused Katy hovering nearby, grinning at her friend's child-like exuberance. "This is too mad. You're telling me I can phone anyone, anywhere in space and time on my mobile?" She looked slightly incredulously at the Doctor.
"As long as you know the area code," the Doctor nodded; pleased with Martha's enthusiasm.
"Frequent flier's privileges," Katy stated.
"Go on, try it!" the Doctor encourages Martha, then frowns slightly when the Tardis suddenly judders a little.
"Woah, what was that?" Katy questioned.
"Distress signal," the Doctor replied, accessing the monitor on the console. "Locking on." He studies the monitor for a few moments and grimaces slightly. "Might be a bit of—" They suddenly get thrown roughly to the floor. "—Turbulence. Sorry, you two," The Doctor apologises as he helps both Katy and Martha off the floor. "Come on! Let's take a look."
The Doctor snatches up his trench coat and shrugs it on, gesturing insistently to Katy and Martha, who hurry to investigate for themselves what was beyond the Tardis doors.
Area 30
They step from the Tardis into a room filled with lots of steam and glowing an ominous red. Immediately, all three of them flinch from the intense heat they could feel.
"Distress signal transmitted…" An overhead computer-operated voice announces, as the Doctor changes his mind and peels off the trench coat, flinging it back inside the open Tardis doors and draped it back over one of the Tardis's coral-like support beams.
"Woah, now that is hot…" the Doctor commented, sweating a little.
Katy swipes a bit of her fringe out of her face when the wet heat causes it to stick to her forehead, and she peels off her jumper, tossing it in the direction of the Doctor's trench coat, revealing a casual black and white t-shirt, and shoves her long brown hair into a messy bun.
"Automated distress signal transmitted." The computer continues announcing.
Martha follows her friends' example.
"Whuff, it's like a sauna in here," she comments also, removing her leather jacket and tossing it inside the Tardis too.
"Venting systems. Working at full pelt, trying to cool down wherever it is we are," the Doctor deduces before shrugging nonchalantly. "Well, if you can't stand the heat…" He reaches for a bulkhead door directly in front of them and goes through, followed by the girls.
Area 29
On the other side of the door they had just stepped through, it is labelled 'Area 30'. Almost immediately, two men and a woman come running towards them, carrying tools and other mechanical items. All of them looked hot and sweaty, and dirty from what looked like motor oil, dirt and other miscellaneous things.
"Oi, you three!" One of the men shouts at them, sternly.
"Get out of there!" the woman adds.
"Seal that door, now!" the man orders, and the Doctor, Katy, and Martha quickly move out of the way, just as they slam the bulkhead door shut. The woman immediately turns on them, looking at them authoratively.
"Who are you? What are you doing on my ship?" she demanded.
"Are you police?" the man questions them, and the Doctor fixes him with a quizzical look.
"Why would we be police?" He asks.
"We got your distress signal," Martha added, as Katy glances about curiously before making an observation.
"And if this is a ship, what happened to the engines?"
"It went dead four minutes ago," the woman responded guardedly. The second man steps forward looking somewhat impatient.
"So maybe we should stop chatting and get to Engineering, Captain," He suggests.
"Secure closure active…" the computer reports causing the woman to react with shock.
"What?"
"The ship's gone mad," the second man comments, shaking his head in frustration. Suddenly another woman comes running down the corridor towards them, bulkheads slamming shut behind her.
"Who activated secure closure? I nearly got locked into area twenty-seven." She demanded, immediately focusing on the Doctor, Katy, and Martha just as the last bulkhead door closes behind her with a loud bang. She frowns at them, suspiciously. "Who are you?"
"He's the Doctor," Martha indicates to the Doctor. "She's Katy," hooks a thumb in Katy's direction, and said girl nodded awkwardly. "And I'm Martha. Hello." She introduces them to the four strangers in front of them.
"Impact projection forty-two minutes twenty-seven seconds…" The computer announces, and the four strangers pale almost immediately. Katy spots a nearby porthole and wonders over to it to look outside into space. The second man attempts to be optimistic.
"We'll get out of this. I promise." He tells the first woman, who appeared to be the one in charge. She nodded, looking unconvinced. The moment Katy looks out the porthole, she instantly understood the reactions the four strangers had to the computer's ominous announcement.
"Doctor…" Katy's horrified voice, causes the Doctor to adopt a concerned frown and goes over to her, summoned by the tone of her voice. Martha frowns in confusion.
"Forty-two minutes until what?" She questioned.
"Doctor, we're in trouble…" Katy announces, and the Doctor looks out the porthole for himself and his eyes widen in horror.
"Bloody hell…" He mumbles.
"Forty-two minutes until we crash into the sun…" the authoritative woman tells Martha who pales and rushes over to see for herself what the Doctor and Katy were seeing approaching them at great speeds. The long, thin, but utilitarian spaceship they were standing in, was spinning towards a massive yellow fusion reactor.
"How many crew members on board?" the Doctor immediately demands.
"Seven, including us." The woman, who was known as McDonnell only, responded. The second man, who went by Scannell, explained why there were in this mess in the first place.
"We transport cargo across the galaxy. Everything's automated. We keep the ship space worthy." He justifies their actions, and the Doctor, naturally, is quick to offer a possible solution to their predicament as he abandons the porthole window and makes his way back to the bulkhead door leading to Area 30.
"Call the others, I'll get you out!" the Doctor promises as he reaches for the bulkhead door handle. Riley, the first man who had spoken to the trio, immediately started to panic.
"What's he doing?"
"No, don't!" McDonnell warns a little too late, as the Doctor opens the door and is knocked back by the blast of heat that escapes from the room. Katy goes to the Doctor's side as the second woman, Erina, puts on a welder's mask and shuts the door again.
The Doctor is horrified.
"But my ship's in there!" He protests, struggling to his feet with Katy's assistance.
Riley looks at him dubiously.
"In the vent chamber?"
"It's our lifeboat," Katy explained helpfully.
"It's lava," Scannell corrects her.
"The temperature's going mad in there," Erina confirms, grimly. "Up three thousand degrees in ten seconds, and still rising."
"Channeling the air," Riley nods. "The closer we get to the sun, the hotter that room's going to get."
"So, we're stuck here," Martha concludes, looking aghast. However, the Doctor doesn't see this, and Katy could see the cogs clicking around in her boyfriend's head as he quickly devised a plan to fix the situation safely.
"So, we fix the engines, we steer the ship away from the sun," the Doctor stated like it was obvious what they needed to do. "Simple. Engineering down here, is it?" he inquires, pointing down a randomly selected direction, and McDonnell nodded, looking warily at him.
"Yes…"
"Good! Allons-y!" He takes off down the corridor with both his companions right behind him.
"Impact in forty twenty-six," the computer continues counting down. McDonnell and her crew exchange looks between them before they hurry to catch up with the mysterious trio.
Engineering
Engineering was a mess. It looked more like a junkyard than an engineering room with collections of bits and pieces strewn around the place, and the Doctor looked around with a hint of disapproval on his face.
"Blimey, do you always leave things in such a mess?" He commented, not noticing the look of dismay on McDonnell's face, indicating that something was definitely amiss.
"Oh, my God…" She mumbles.
"What the hell happened?" Scannell was bewildered as he takes in the fact that the engine is a collection of bits and pieces.
"Oh, it's wrecked!" Riley lamented with frustration.
"There's an understatement, make no mistake…" Katy muttered, looking a bit worried about the state of things.
"Pretty efficiently, too. Someone knew what they were doing," the Doctor stated, picking up a random piece of junk off the floor to inspect it for himself. McDonnell suddenly looks alarmed and turns to both her crewmen.
"Where's Korwin? Has anyone heard from him or Ashton?"
"No," Scannell responded.
Martha looked surprised that someone would go out of their way to trash something as important as an engineering room.
"You mean someone did this on purpose?"
"Looks like it, Martha." Katy confirmed, a bit bemused. McDonnell goes over to what looked like an intercom on a nearby wall and immediately speaks into it, sounding rather urgent and worried.
"Korwin, Ashton? Where are you?" There was no response, which only served to agitate McDonnell further. "Korwin, can you answer? Where the hell is he? He should be up here." The Doctor at this point had headed over to yet another porthole to figure out exactly where the Tardis had brought him, Katy, and Martha.
A pleasantly surprised grin lights up his face.
"Oh, we're in the Torajii system. Lovely!" He comments to Katy and Martha. "You're a long way from home, Martha. Half a universe away."
"Yeah, it feels like it." Martha agreed. The Doctor spots something else amiss apart from the state of the engineering room, and he frowns in suspicion.
"And you're still using energy scoops for fusion? Hasn't that been outlawed yet?" He inquires and McDonnell immediately looks uncomfortable and fidgety.
"We're due to upgrade next docking," She stammers an explanation before hurriedly addressing Scannell which draws suspicion from the Doctor. "Scannell, engine report."
"No response."
"What?" McDonnell blinked.
"They're burnt out. The controls are wrecked. I can't get them back online," Scannell explained.
The Doctor looks at them, mystified.
"Oh, come on. Auxiliary engines," He reminded them like it should've been obvious. "Every craft's got auxiliaries." McDonnell scowls at him for his interference.
"We don't have access from here. The auxiliary controls are in the front of the ship."
"Yeah, with twenty-nine password sealed doors between us and them," Scannell snorted. "You'll never get there in time."
"Can't you override the doors?" Katy questioned.
"No. Sealed closure means what it says. They're all dead lock sealed," Scannell stated.
"So, a sonic screwdriver's no use," the Doctor looked a bit put out.
"Nothing's any use. We've got no engines, no time, and no chance." Scannell insisted, and the Doctor scowls at him disapprovingly.
"Oh, listen to you. Defeated before you've even started," then he offers an encouraging grin. "Where's your Dunkirk spirit? Who's got the door passwords?" He asks, with a determination.
"They're randomly generated," Riley explains. "Reckon I know most of them. Sorry. Riley Vashti." He leans over and offers his hand to the Doctor, looking slightly sheepish, and the Doctor takes it and shakes it, nonchalantly.
"Then what're you waiting for, Riley Vashti? Get on it." The Doctor urges, and Riley hesitates.
"Well, it's a two-person job. One, a technish for the questions, and the other to carry this," He picks up a strange, heavy looking 'gun' and grimaces. "The oldest and cheapest security system around, eh, Captain?" He looked pointedly at McDonnell who glowers at him, annoyed by his cheeky statement.
"Reliable and simple, just like you, eh, Riley?" She smirks at him. Riley rolls his eyes as he pulls on a massive backpack, that contains a portable computer and a keyboard.
"Try and be helpful, get abuse. Nice," He drawls, and Martha sighed and goes over to him, helping him pick up the necessary equipment to get through the password-generated doors.
"I'll help you. Make myself useful." She offers, and Riley smiles at her appreciatively.
"It's remotely controlled by the computer panel. That's why it needs two." He tells her, and Martha nodded. As they prepare to go and get started with their task, the Doctor grabs Martha and gives her a pointed look.
"Be careful?" He urges her, and Martha smiles and nodded.
"You too."
"Good luck!" Katy wishes her, and Martha smiles at her too.
"McDonnell. It's Ashton." A male's urgent, frantic voice calls over the ship's intercom system. McDonnell goes over to the intercom and presses a button, immediately responding.
"Where are you? Is Korwin with you?" She asks.
"Get up to the med-centre now!" Ashton requests, and McDonnell runs out past Martha and Riley, heading towards the ship's med-centre, with the Doctor and Katy following also to lend assistance, if possible.
"Impact in thirty-four thirty-one."
Med-centre
The three run into the med-centre to find a man and a woman were trying desperately to hold down a man so they could put him in what looked like an MRI scanner but was in fact a stasis chamber. The struggling man looked like he was in intense pain and was resisting all efforts to help him.
"Argh! Stop it!" He whimpered, obviously scared. The woman attempting to assist him leans over him, attempting to determine what was wrong with him.
"Korwin, it's Abi. Open your eyes, I need to take a look at you," Abi insists just as McDonnell rushes over to them, looking horrified at the struggling man's condition.
"Korwin! What's happened? Is he okay?" She demands to Abi, who looks helpless because she is unable to examine a resisting Korwin.
"Help me! It's burning me!" Korwin pleads. The Doctor and Katy come over to look for themselves, and both are astonished by what they are seeing before their eyes.
"How long's he been like this?" the Doctor questioned.
"Ashton just brought him in," Abi explained, briefly looking over at the Doctor before returning her attention on her patient. The Doctor wordlessly withdraws his sonic and starts scanning Korwin with it.
McDonnell immediately protests.
"What are you doing?" She demands, fiercely.
"Don't get too close," Katy suggests, knowing how annoyed the Doctor could become when he is being hindered from performing a task such as this. McDonnell scowls at her.
"Don't be so stupid. That's my husband."
"And he just sabotaged our ship," Ashton reveals, sharply. McDonnell looks at Ashton with shock.
"What?"
"He went mad," Ashton continues explaining. "He put the ship onto secure closure, then he set the heat pulse to melt the controls."
"No way. He wouldn't do that," McDonnell denies.
"I saw it happen, Captain," Ashton persists insistently. The Doctor hovers over Korwin's head and speaks calmly, but firmly to him.
"Korwin? Korwin, open your eyes for me for a second." He instructs, but Korwin shakes his head frantically.
"I can't!"
"Yeah, of course you can. Go on!" the Doctor encourages him, soothingly.
But Korwin is adamant.
"Don't make me look at you, please!" He begs.
"Alright, alright, alright. Just relax…" the Doctor reassures him. Katy spots a hypo-gun on a nearby medical tray and picks it up, looking over to Abi for clarification.
"Sedative?" She asks.
"Yes," Abi confirms, and Katy reaches over and sedates Korwin; the Doctor shooting her a brief look of gratitude before finally examining Korwin further. McDonnell looks at her husband with anxiety.
"What's wrong with him?" She asks the Doctor. He checks the results on the sonic as he scans over Korwin's body. However, the more he scans, the deeper he frowns in grave concern.
"Rising body temperature, unusual energy readings." He glances over at the stasis chamber thoughtfully. "Stasis chamber. I do love a good stasis chamber." The Doctor looks at Abi. "Keep him sedated in there. Regulate the body temperature. And, just for fun, run a bioscan and tissue profile on a metabolic detail." He instructs.
"Just doing them now…" Abi clarifies to him, and the Doctor grinned approvingly at her.
"Oh, you're good." He addresses the rest of the crew whilst pulling Katy to his side protectively just in case. "Anyone else presenting these symptoms?"
"Not so far," Abi confirms.
"Well, that's something…" Katy mumbles, looking nervously at the sedated Korwin and squeezing back when the Doctor squeezes her hand in comfort. McDonnell shakes her head and looks at the Doctor with frustration.
"Will someone tell me what is the matter with him?"
"Some sort of infection," the Doctor diagnoses. "We'll know more after the test results. Now, Allons-y, back downstairs." Ashton obeys the Doctor's suggestion, and McDonnell frowns at him and reluctantly turns to follow, but not before the Doctor stops her once again. "Hey. See about those engines. Go. Hey. Go." McDonnell follows Ashton, and the Doctor turns towards Katy, looking at her seriously. "Katy, stay here and help Abi. I'm going with them to figure out what's going on with those engines." He suggests, and Katy nodded, eager to help in any way that she could.
"Sure."
"Good girl," the Doctor plants an affectionate kiss on her forehead before looking over at Abi. "Call us if there's news. Any questions?"
"Yeah. Who are you two?" Abi asks.
"I'm the Doctor, and she's Katy." The Doctor gives a large grin to Abi before turning and leaving the med-centre. Unseen by Abi or Katy, Korwin's hands start to twitch.
"Heat shield failing. At twenty-five percent. Impact in thirty-two fifty…" the computer continues its ominous announcement.
Katy stood off to the side, keeping out of Abi's way, but also lending assistance where it was required. Korwin was not doing as well as either of them hoped, and the odds weren't in his favour. If anything, it seemed like he was deteriorating.
"Abi!" the Doctor's voice rang out from the intercom. "Any results from the bio-scan?"
"He's under heavy sedation," Abi replied looking gravely at the ailing man. "I'm just trying to make sense of this data." She peers down at a paper readout in her hand with obvious stress on her face. Katy comes over and reads over her shoulder. The medical jargon in this century was confusing, but she got the gist that Korwin wasn't in a good way. "Give me a couple of minutes and I'll let you know."
Neither of them notices that Korwin was waking up.
Engineering
Ignorant that both Katy and Abi were in grave danger, the Doctor reluctantly acknowledged Abi's confirmation and moved his attention on Martha's progress.
"Martha? Riley? How're you doing?"
"Area twenty-nine…" Martha responded, sounding a little breathless; possibly because they were frantically moving as swiftly as both she and Riley could go down the corridors. "At the door to twenty-eight."
"Yeah, you've got to move faster," the Doctor hastened, and rolled his eyes when he heard Martha huffing in obvious annoyance.
"We're doing our best."
"Find the next number in the sequence three one three," Riley's voice called out. "Three three one, three six seven." He muttered to himself, obviously sounding uncertain. "What?"
"You said the crew knew all the answers," Martha was a bit accusatory.
"The crew's changed since we set the questions," Riley replies defensively.
"You're joking!" Martha groaned, and the Doctor immediately jumps in with the correct answer.
"Three seven nine!" He shouts impatiently.
"What?" Martha blurted out. The Doctor rolled his eyes, feeling a bit judgmental and irritated with the entire situation as he leans over the intercom and quickly explains the answer he had given.
"It's a sequence of happy primes," the Doctor rattles off distractedly. "Three seven nine."
"Happy what?" Martha was baffled by the explanation, and the Doctor somehow manages not to shout out in irritation; mystified that he had to justify his explanation.
"Just enter it!" He insisted.
"Are you sure? We only get one chance," Riley pointed out, and the Doctor sighed heavily.
"Any number that 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," he explains at top speed, somehow still sounding legible. "Any number that doesn't, isn't. A happy prime is a number that is both happy and prime. NOW TYPE IT IN!" He yells out fiercely before stepping away from the intercom. "I don't know, talk about dumbing it down! Don't they teach recreational mathematics anymore?" He mutters to himself as he returns to what he had been doing before he had to give his quick explanation about happy primes. Behind him, McDonnell, Scannell, and Erina were looking at him with wide eyes, surprised by his ferocity.
A few minutes later, Martha chimes back in.
"We're through!"
"Keep moving, fast as you can!" the Doctor urged. "And Martha, be careful. There may be something else on board this ship."
"Any time you want to unnerve me, feel free." Martha half-heartedly joked.
"Will do, thanks." The Doctor acknowledged distractedly.
'Impact in thirty fifty…' the computer reminds. The Doctor raced around trying to take stock of what the ship had to back up should the engines fail to start up in time.
"We need a backup in case they don't reach the auxiliary engines in time," the Doctor points out to McDonnell. "Now come on, think. Resources. What have we got?" He mutters to himself.
"Doctor?" Martha's frantic and slightly sheepish voice rang out once again over the intercom system. The Doctor frowned and turned his head in the direction of the intercom to respond.
"What is it now?" He snapped.
"Who had the most number ones, Elvis or the Beatles? That's pre-download." She asked, and the Doctor sighed heavily.
"Elvis," He replied almost immediately, but then hesitated. "No! The Beatles! No! Wait! Er, er. Oh, what was that remix? Er, I don't know! I am a bit busy!" He exclaimed.
"Fine. I'll ask someone else…" Martha mumbled defensively. The Doctor refocuses his attention back on McDonnell.
"Now, where was I? Here comes the sun… No, resources." He checks his facts. "So, the power's still working, the generator's going. If we can harness that. Ah!" McDonnell seemed to see where was going with his train of thought.
"Use the generator to jump-start the ship."
"Exactly!" the Doctor approved. "At the very least, it'll buy us some more time." McDonnell grins at him, triumphantly.
"That is brilliant."
"I know," the Doctor agrees. "See? Tiny glimmer of hope." Scannell snorts doubtfully behind them, causing both to look back at him questioningly.
"If it works."
"Oh, believe me," McDonnell smirks at him. "You're going to make it work."
"That told him," The Doctor approved.
'Impact in twenty-nine forty-six.' Said the Computer, still counting down.
Med-centre
Meanwhile, back with Katy and Abi with the 'unconscious' Korwin; Abi is looking increasingly disturbed by the results she was deciphering in her hands as Katy looks at her worryingly. Abi immediately goes over the intercom and speaks into it.
"Doctor, these readings are starting to scare me…" Abi relays to the Doctor, shakily.
"What do you mean?" He responded back, sounding serious. Abi glances over at Katy before swallowing hard and responding.
"Well, Korwin's body's changing. His whole biological make up … it's impossible." Both she and Katy jump when they hear a noise behind them, and Katy turns and stares with wide horrified eyes to see Korwin standing up from the med-bed, while Abi catches a glimpse of him through a steel bowl above the intercom. Korwin's eyes were shut tight. "This is Med-centre. Urgent assistance requested!" Abi demands frantically, as Katy immediately starts backing away from Korwin. However, he appears to ignore her completely, focusing his entire attention on Abi at that moment. "Urgent assistance!" Abi insists.
"Abi, they're on their way!" Erina reassures them both, but neither Abi nor Katy really care as Korwin starts lumbering towards Abi like a zombie in a cheesy B-grade movie.
"What's happening to you?" Abi questions Korwin. But Katy has a different answer for the frightened medic.
"I don't think that's Korwin anymore…" She stated, making Abi look at her in a combination of disbelief and confusion. She is about to question what Katy meant by that, when Korwin suddenly speaks.
"BURN WITH ME." Korwin's voice is not his own. It was deeper, angrier and menacing. "BURN WITH ME."
Corridor
Realising that Katy was in serious danger the moment Abi started requesting assistance, the Doctor immediately drops what he is doing and races for the med-centre. McDonnell follows, obviously concerned about her husband's wellbeing, thinking that the reason why Abi was asking for extra help was because something bad was happening to Korwin.
Scannell tags along with them.
"Captain?" He addresses McDonnell who barely acknowledges him back. The Doctor glowers at him in annoyance.
"I told you to stay in Engineering," He scolds, but Scannell just blanks him.
"I only take orders from one person round here." He argues, and the Doctor rolls his eyes and looks at McDonnell.
"Oh, is he always this cheery?" He asks, sarcastically.
Med-centre
Korwin had managed to back Abi up against a nearby wall, with the terrified woman looking at him with horror, and Katy off to the side, attempting to hide underneath a nearby examination table, watching helplessly; praying that the Doctor or somebody would arrive quickly to help them before things took a turn for the worst.
"BURN WITH ME!" Korwin insisted, and tears started forming in Abi's eyes.
"Korwin, you're sick…" Abi whimpered, cringing against the wall.
"BURN WITH ME!" Korwin stands directly in front of Abi and opens his eyes, allowing a blinding white light to shine from them, which causes both Abi and Katy to look away to protect their retinas from damage.
Abi starts screaming out of fear and agony, and Katy cupped her hands over her mouth in horror and looks away. With her eyes closed, and not daring to open them, just in case Korwin was ready to turn on her and bestow the same fate upon herself; Katy hears his heavy footfalls, thankfully moving away from her hiding spot. Korwin puts on some heavy-duty protective gauntlets and a helmet with a built in Polaroid filter, which he lowers over his eyes to shield the lethal blinding light.
"Doctor! What were those screams? Was that Katy?" Katy hears Martha ask, sounding both concerned and worried. She opens her eyes and reacts in confusion when she realises that Korwin had disappeared. But she doesn't dare come out of hiding just in case it was a trick.
"Concentrate on those doors," She hears the Doctor respond, firmly. "You've got to keep moving forward!" the Doctor urges, just as he, McDonnell, and Scannell come running into the room.
'Impact in twenty-seven oh six…' the computer warns them.
The Doctor looks about frantically.
"Katy!?" He calls out, urgently.
"I'm over here…" Katy whimpered, and the Doctor's head immediately snaps over to the examination table she was hiding under.
"Katy!"
Frightened tears were streaming down her face as she crawls out from underneath the table, and the Doctor lets out a sigh of relief as he rushes over and helps her to her feet, before crushing her protectively against his chest.
"Oh, my God…" She shuddered; her eyes wide like dinner plates as she saw what remained of Abi, although this wasn't immediately clear to the Doctor, who assumed her whisper of alarm was because of her ordeal.
"You're alright, oh thank God…" the Doctor mumbles into her hair and repeatedly kisses her forehead firmly in his relief. McDonnell looks around the med-centre with alarm.
"Korwin's gone…" she stated, despairingly.
"Oh, my God!" The Doctor, and McDonnell turn towards were Scannell was, looking at an image of a figure burnt onto the metal x-ray shield. Katy shudders harder in the Doctor's arms; knowing that that could've been her too, had Korwin not vanished as mysteriously and as surprisingly as he did. "Please tell me that's not Lerner." Scannell begged.
The Doctor goes closer to the wall to examine the figure better, not letting go of a trembling Katy's hand for one second; especially when he realises exactly what had just happened to poor Abi could've just as easily happened to Katy.
"Endothermic vaporisation," the Doctor was shocked. "I've never seen one this ferocious." He then frowns when he remembers what Korwin had been saying over the intercom. "Burn with me…" He mumbles curiously.
"That's what we heard Korwin say," Scannell realises. McDonnell looks over at her colleague, realising where he was going with this statement, and then glowers at the Doctor defensively.
"What? Do you think? No way!" She turns towards Scannell. "Scannell, tell him. Korwin is not a killer. He can't vaporise people. He's human!" The Doctor spots the test results Abi had been going over right before Korwin pulled his zombie act and vaporised her to death.
"His bioscan results," He lets go of Katy's hand momentarily to pick up the paper and read the results. "Internal temperature, one hundred degrees! Body oxygen replaced by hydrogen…" He looks up at McDonnell with a stricken expression on his face. "Your husband hasn't been infected, he's been overwhelmed."
"The test results are wrong!" McDonnell insists. However, the Doctor ignores her; still trying to piece together the evidence as he saw it.
"But what is it, though? A parasite? A mutagenic virus? Something that needs a host body, but how did it get inside him?" He ponders out loud, which only increases McDonnell's ire.
"Stop talking like he's some kind of experiment."
"Where's the ship been?" The Doctor asks her. "Have you made planet-fall recently? Docked with any other vessels? Any kind of external contact at all?" McDonnell frowns at him, looking a bit cornered.
"What is this, an interrogation?" She accused, and Katy frowns at her suspiciously; wondering why she wasn't answering the Doctor's questions and instead dodging them with accusations and behaving very standoffish.
"I don't know, should it be? You tell us. You're behaving very oddly considering we're asking a couple of extremely reasonable questions to figure out what's happened to your husband, and you're biting our heads off." Katy points out, and McDonnell withdraws a bit, avoiding direct eye contact with her and the Doctor.
"We've got to stop him before he kills again," the Doctor insists.
"We're just a cargo ship," McDonnell insists, rather quietly.
Scannell steps in when he notices how uncomfortable his captain was looking.
"Doctor, if you give her a minute." He defends her, but McDonnell recovers and waves Scannell off.
"I'm fine. I need to warn the crew." She wonders over towards the med-centre's intercom and speaks into it. "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?" She orders.
"Understood, Captain." Ashton confirms. "Erina? Get back here with that equipment." He requests. McDonnell turns back to the Doctor and looks at him vulnerably.
"Is the infection permanent? Can you cure him?" She asks, quietly. The Doctor hesitates before responding.
"I don't know."
"Don't lie to me, Doctor." McDonnell warns him. "Eleven years we've been married. We chose this ship together. He keeps me honest, so I don't want false hope." She looks at him pleadingly, and after a brief look at Katy who smiled at him encouragingly, he sighed heavily and relented very reluctantly.
"The parasite's too aggressive," He informs McDonnell whose falls in despair. "Your husband's gone. There's no way back. I'm sorry." He says sincerely.
McDonnell swallows hard.
It is obvious that what the Doctor had said had hit her hard, but she forces herself to keep it together and nodded at him.
"Thank you." She acknowledges him. Katy looks at her with sympathy, as the Doctor refocuses on the situation. He lets out a low, frustrated groan.
"Are you certain nothing happened to provoke this?" He asked her, urgently. "Nobody's working on anything secret? Because it's vital that you tell me." McDonnell frowns at him, sternly.
"I know every inch of this ship. I know every detail of my crew's lives. There is nothing." She insists.
"Then why is this thing so interested in you?" Katy ponders with a curious frown that she exchanges with the Doctor. Both of them firmly believe that McDonnell is definitely hiding something that may be crucial to their discovery.
"I wish I knew," McDonnell mutters sadly. Katy goes over to the Doctor and leans in close enough that only he could hear what she wanted to say to him.
"I think she knows more than she's letting on, Doctor." She mumbled, and the Doctor discreetly looks over his shoulder at the guilty looking McDonnell and nodded in agreement.
"Oh, definitely…"
"Doctor, we're through to area seventeen!" Martha announces over the intercom, and the Doctor sags with relief; at least something appeared to be progressing rapidly.
"Keep going!" He urges. "You've got to get to area one and reboot those engines."
Area 17
Riley and Martha were making progress, but they weren't going as fast as they would like to. Many of the questions were difficult to answer, plus the computer they were using to gain access, continued to glitch.
"Come on!" Riley growls in frustration as he hits the portable computer to make it work. "Everything on this ship is so cheap." Suddenly, the bulkhead to area 18 behind them clangs open; alarming both him and Martha who glance nervously at it. "Who's there?" A figure appears through the smoke but doesn't say a word to give an indication who it could be.
"Is that Korwin?" Martha questioned. Riley does a quick scan of the person, but immediately dismisses the idea.
"No, wait a minute…" He requests. The person standing in front of them was wearing a helmet; similar to the one Korwin had donned back in the med-centre after he had vaporised Abi to death. Riley finally recognises who the person is. "Oh, Ashton, what're you doing?"
"BURN WITH ME!" Ashton growls using the same menacing voice as Korwin did. However, Riley doesn't immediately sense that something is wrong.
"Well, if you want to help…" Riley invites Ashton.
"BURN WITH ME. BURN WITH ME." Ashton repeats himself before he moves to raise the Polaroid filter on the helmet. Instantly, both Riley and Martha realise that they were in danger. Martha seizes Riley's hand and starts pulling him away.
"Move! Come on!" She urges as both book it away from the obviously possessed Ashton.
They both head towards one of the ship's escape pods.
Escape Pod
Martha and Riley sprint towards a door leading towards the escape pods. She opens the door to a small adjacent area, then shuts it when they are both in. Thinking that they were safe and out of reach of Ashton, they both sigh in relief … until they see Ashton appear at the window in the door. Thinking fast, Riley opens a nearby small hatch and pulls Martha towards it, and both climb inside. Outside, Ashton touches some controls, and a second door slides closed over the hatch.
Riley is mystified.
"What is happening on this ship?" He wheezes, slightly out of breath.
"Never mind that, where are we?" Martha questions.
'Airlock sealed. Jettison escape pod.' The computer announces overhead, causing both Riley and Martha to pale.
"Doesn't that mean us?" Martha shouted, before immediately darting over to the intercom, while Riley attempted to circumvent the orders. "Doctor!"
'Pod jettison initiated.'
"Doctor! We're stuck in an escape pod off the area seventeen airlock!" She shouts desperately into the intercom. "One of the crew's trying to jettison us! You've got to help us! Tell me you can stop it!" She begged.
'Jettison held.' The computer confirms.
"Thank you…" Riley is relieved. However, Ashton has other plans and uses the keypad outside the airlock.
'Jettison reactivated.' The computer confirms, causing Martha to scream in panic. Riley immediately dives for the control panel, trying to override.
"Come on!" Riley mumbles through gritted teeth as he and Ashton fight via keypads to keep the escape pod on the ship. He grinned triumphantly when he hits a final button on the keypad. "Tsilpinski sequence. This'll get him."
'Jettison held. Escape pod stabilised.' The computer confirms.
Martha looks at Riley admiringly.
"You're pretty good," She compliments him; and Riley looks a bit bashful; his eco taking a boost from being complimented by an attractive woman. Their eyes widen when Ashton immediately types something else into his keypad.
Area 17
The battle between Ashton and Riley continues back and forth until eventually, the Doctor and Katy show up to lend aid.
"That's enough!" the Doctor growls, and Ashton turns towards him. "What do you want? Why this ship? Tell me." He demands. However, instead of responding to the Doctor's question, Ashton simply puts his fist through the keypad, disabling it from use.
"Oh, shit!" Katy swore, and the Doctor doesn't bother to reprimand her for her language; he was thinking it also.
'Jettison activated.' The computer confirms, as inside the escape pod, Riley panics.
"He's smashed the circuit. I can't stop it. I can't stop it!"
"Come on. Let's see you," the Doctor attempts to get Ashton to focus on him instead of the escape pod that was currently jettisoning from the ship. "I want to know what you really are." He challenges, and Katy instantly protests.
"No!" She grabs onto the Doctor's arm, trying to pull him away. But he twists his arm out of her grip just as Ashton stands close to him, almost nose to nose and raises his hand towards the visor. However, just as he was about to open it, Ashton suddenly doubles over in pain, much to the Doctor and Katy's confusion.
'Airlock sealed.' The computer confirms, as Ashton immediately turns and walks back past the Doctor, back the way he came like nothing had happened. The Doctor rushes over to the intercom.
"McDonnell? Ashton's heading in your direction." The Doctor alerts them. "He's been infected, just like Korwin!"
"Korwin's dead, Doctor." Scannell reports back.
But before the Doctor could respond to that, the escape pod makes another sound causing Katy and he to run over to the airlock door to peer out of the window helplessly.
Escape pod
The pod begins to detract from the side of the ship, with both Martha and Riley trapped within. They were heading for certain death within the confines of the sun directly behind them.
"This thing's locked!" Martha panicked.
'Airlock decompression completed. Jettisoning pod.' The computer revealed, and Martha looks through the window to see both the Doctor and Katy looking back at her with horror.
"Doctor!" She shouts, despite the fact that he could not hear her.
"I'll save you!" He mouths back, desperately. Riley looks at him, then at Martha defeatedly.
"Martha, it's too late…" He reveals, but Martha refused to accept this.
"Doctor!"
"I'll save you!" the Doctor insists.
"I can't hear you!" Martha responded, despairingly.
"I'll save you!" the Doctor continues repeating himself as the pod leaves the side of the ship and starts floating towards the sun. Tears well up in Martha's eyes as she watches the Doctor and Katy slowly moving further and further away from her.
"I'm sorry…" Martha whispered.
Area 17
Katy steps away from the window and leans against the wall, also despairing over the fact that her friend was about to die. She glances over at the helpless look on her boyfriend's face and realises that there had to be some sort of fulcrum release lever or switch nearby that could reverse the escape pod's trajectory. Downside, she had a horrible feeling that it was likely to be located outside the ship. But Katy was determined to do anything she could to remove the despairing look on the Doctor's face.
So, she planned.
"Scannell! I need a spacesuit in area seventeen now!" She requested firmly into the intercom, drawing the Doctor's attention almost immediately. It didn't take long for Scannell to respond.
"What for?"
"Quick as you like!" Katy ignored the question. The Doctor comes over to her, questioningly.
"What are you doing?" He demanded.
"Saving Martha," Katy responded, looking a little hesitant as she looked at the airlock. "Or make a valiant attempt to, as it were." She added on. The Doctor looks at her with confusion at first before realising what the spacesuit was for and what she was going to do, and his eyes widened in horror.
"No, you can't." The Doctor protested as Katy glowers at him in annoyance.
"Well, someone's got to try." She insisted.
"It's too dangerous! I won't let you." the Doctor scowls at her.
"Do you lack faith in my abilities, Doctor?" Katy accuses him and the Doctor sighed heavily.
"Of course I don't. But we don't know if you would be capable of withstanding that amount of heat in the amount of time it would take to release that switch." He points out logically.
"That's a crock and you know it. You'd have the same number of limitations as I would." Katy growls.
"But I'd have a better chance at reaching the switch than you would." The Doctor counters, and Katy finally pauses when she sees his point. "Let me do it. It should be me anyway." He insists, and Katy nodded.
"Fine. But don't put yourself into unnecessary danger."
"Wouldn't dream of it…" the Doctor agreed as Scannell arrives with a spacesuit in hand, which the Doctor immediately snatches from him and puts on.
"What the hell do you need this for?" Scannell demands.
"We're going to attempt to release the fulcrum switch on the side of the spaceship to bring back the escape pod." Katy confirms, and Scannell looks taken aback before turning to stop the Doctor.
"I can't let you do this," He objects, and Katy rolls her eyes.
"You're wasting your breath, Scannell." Katy tells him as the Doctor ignores him and heads for the airlock. Scannell looks at him like she was insane. "You'll have Buckley's chance trying to convince him otherwise."
"You both want to open an airlock in flight on a ship spinning into the sun," Scannell pointed out. "No one can survive that."
"Oh, just you watch!" the Doctor challenged him.
"You open that airlock, it's suicide." Scannell was stubborn. "This close to the sun, the shields will barely protect you."
"Our friend's safety is paramount, sir. We would risk anything to bring her back home to her family safely." Katy stated.
"If I can boost the magnetic lock on the ship's exterior, it should remagnetise the pod." The Doctor explained. "Now, while I'm out there, you have got to get the rest of those doors open. We need those auxiliary engines."
He goes to the airlock, but Scannell grabs his arm.
"Doctor! They're too far away. It's too late."
"We're not going to lose her!" the Doctor shouts angrily before putting on his helmet and going into the airlock. Scannell gives up and waits with Katy to see what happens next.
'Decompression initiated. Impact in twelve fifty-five.' The computer reports in.
Airlock
'Impact in eleven fifteen. Heat shield failing at ten percent.'
Katy glares at the computer for the constant unwanted reminders, before turning back towards the airlock window. She watches with large, worried eyes as the Doctor opens the outer airlock door, causing the unfiltered sunlight to come streaming in. He visibly flinches at the heat and grits his teeth as he climbs outside and reaches for a row of four buttons on the ship's hull. Easier said than done though, because to reach for those buttons, the Doctor is forced to hold on to the edge of the airlock without the aid of a safety line to prevent him from drifting off into space, or worse, directly into the path of the oncoming sun.
"Doctor, are you okay?" Katy asks urgently via his inbuilt microphone inside his helmet. She can visibly see him struggling to accomplish the task. He doesn't respond right away.
"I'm fine," the Doctor eventually responds, gasping underneath the intense heat. "Could do without the heat though…" He joked weakly, continuing to reach for his prize. "Come on! Go on, my son!" He mutters through grit teeth. The Doctor manages to press two of the four buttons he needed, then moves on to his second task: reaching for a nearby box just beyond the buttons.
"Doctor, how're you doing?" Scannell chimes in too.
The Doctor struggles a little more to reach. The tips of his fingers are just inches away from the box … and he caves at the last minute, almost at the brink of exhausted tears.
"I can't, I can't reach!" he admits, tearfully. "I don't know how much longer I can last."
"Come on. Don't give up now." Scannell urges him.
"You can do it, sweetheart. I believe in you!" Katy tags on.
The Doctor, partially inspired by his girlfriend's encouragement, and the fact that if he did not do something; Martha was going to die, summons the last of his determination and makes a desperate lunge for the box, ripping off the cover and with a big shout, pulls the lever down. Katy lets out a triumphant shout of glee.
"YES! He did it! I knew you could do it!" She praises him, and the Doctor, panting from exertion, cracks a small appreciative smile as he quickly gets back into the airlock, as the escape pod containing Martha and Riley returns to its dock. However, he suddenly pauses, and the smile falls from his face as he looked back at the sun.
His eyes widen in horror.
"It's alive…" He mumbled in realisation. "It's alive. It's alive!"
"What? What do you mean?" Katy calls out to him, confused. "What's alive?" She questions him.
"Doctor, close the airlock now!" Scannell interrupts before the Doctor could respond to Katy's question. "That pod's going to smash into him!" He warns Katy, whose eyes widen as she heads for the door that leads to the airlock chamber.
Area 17
The Doctor manages to make it to the chamber and stumbles his way inside the ship. The Doctor has his eyes shut tight as he takes off his helmet and crawls out of the airlock, pushing away Katy's helping hands just as the pod docks.
'Airlock compression completed.' The computer confirms, and Martha and Riley stumble their way out.
"Doctor! Doctor! Are you okay?" Martha demands, coming to help Katy. He looks up at both girls and opens his eyes briefly. A blinding white light shines from them, causing both Katy and Martha to instinctively jump back from him in horror.
"STAY AWAY FROM ME!" the Doctor hisses desperately.
"Like hell…" Katy retorted and she and Martha ignore him and come closer to aid him, concerned about his condition: he was sweating and in obvious pain and fear.
McDonnell bursts into the room.
"What's happened?"
"It's your fault, Captain McDonnell!" the Doctor growls at her angrily from where he was desperately clinging to Katy after giving up his attempts at resisting her help and Martha's. McDonnell pales, but instead of responding to his accusations, she first addresses Riley.
"Riley, get down to area ten and help Scannell with the doors." Riley hesitates, glancing at Martha and Katy, who were attending to the Doctor. "Go!" McDonnell barks and Riley nods and runs off. The Doctor bucks in Katy's arms when another bolt of searing pain floods through him.
He takes out his frustrations on McDonnell.
"You mined that sun," he accuses her, causing Katy and Martha to do a double take between him and McDonnell in both shock and confusion. "Stripped its surface for cheap fuel. You should have scanned for life!" He snarled.
"I don't understand," McDonnell frowned.
"Doctor, what are you talking about?" Martha questioned him.
"That sun is alive," he explained urgently. "A living organism. They scooped out its heart, used it for fuel, and now its screaming!" He lets out a scream of pain himself.
"What do you mean? How can a sun be alive? Why is he saying that?" McDonnell demands to Katy and Martha, who look just as perplexed as she did, but also were looking at her accusingly.
"Because it's living in me!" the Doctor confirmed.
"Oh, my God!" Both Katy and McDonnell exclaim in dismay. Katy winces as the Doctor digs his fingers into her biceps when he attempts to regain his balance.
"Humans!" the Doctor snarls angrily. "You grab whatever's nearest and bleed it dry! You should have scanned!"
"It takes too long," McDonnell confesses anxiously. "We'd be caught. Fusion scoops are illegal."
"You've got to freeze me, quickly." The Doctor urges Katy and Martha who blink at him in surprise.
"What?" Martha blurted out.
"Stasis chamber," the Doctor elaborates. "You've got to take it below minus two hundred. Freeze it out of me!"
"No, Doctor. No…" Katy immediately protests, but the Doctor is incredibly insistent.
"It'll use me to kill the both of you if you don't. The closer we get to the sun, the stronger it gets!" The Doctor buckles over in pain, whimpering. "Med-centre, quickly! Quickly!"
"Martha, help me!" Katy snapped and the medical student wastes no time and hooks the Doctor's other arm over her shoulder as both girls half-carry, half-drag the Time Lord towards the med-centre.
McDonnell doesn't hesitate to follow them.
'Impact in seven thirty.' The computer reported in.
Med-centre
The four of them stumble into the med-centre, and Martha immediately transfers the Doctor into the capable hands of Katy while she makes a beeline for the instruction manual for the stasis chamber.
"I can do it!" Martha stated as she frantically flips through the pages. Katy leads him over to the bed and helps him up onto it.
"Katy?! Martha?!" the Doctor shouted out in fear. Katy immediately grabs onto his hand and smooths back his sweaty hair from his forehead, while Martha looks at him with concern.
"Shh, Doctor. It's alright, we're both here." Katy murmurs to him, tears brimming in her eyes.
"Stasis chamber, minus two hundred, yeah?" Martha asks the Doctor who nods frantically. Martha goes to put that into the system when she is immediately stopped by McDonnell.
Both girls glare at the older woman.
"No, you don't know how this equipment works," She protests. "You'll kill him. Nobody can survive those temperatures."
"Yeah, well. He's not exactly human. If he says he can survive, then he can." Katy retorted acerbically. McDonnell let's that bit of information sink in before heading over to Martha.
"Let me help you, then—"
"—You've done enough damage!" Martha cuts in just as harshly as Katy was before finishing type the directions into the stasis machine. The Doctor grimaces again before speaking up again.
"Ten seconds. That's all I'll be able to take. No more." He tells Martha who hesitates. "Martha!"
"Yeah?" She whispers nervously.
"It's burning me up. I can't control it. If you don't get rid of it, I could kill you and Katy. I could kill you all." He warns before he starts whimpering once again. This time Katy can't keep back the tears and they trickle down her cheek as she watches the Doctor thrashing helplessly on the stasis chamber bed. He squeezes her hand in his fear. "I'm scared! I'm so scared!"
"Don't be. I'm right here, and I'm not leaving your side. I promise!" Katy tells him.
"Just stay calm," Martha adds on. "You saved me, now I return the favour. Just believe in us."
"It's burning through me. Then what'll happen?" the Doctor panicked.
"Stop it! I've got you!" Katy scolds him, firmly.
"Katy, you remember what happens when I'm about to die?" the Doctor prompts Katy who glowers at him.
"That's not going to happen, Doctor!" Katy stated firmly. "Now, are you ready?"
"No…" the Doctor whimpers.
Martha uses the joystick to roll the Doctor completely into the chamber, forcing Katy to momentarily let go of his hand. Martha then types 200 into the keypad and, after hesitating for a moment, presses a large green button that activates the machine. The Doctor lets out an agonised scream of pain as his body temperature starts falling, while Katy, Martha, and McDonnell watch.
'Heat shields failing. At five percent.' The computer reports. Suddenly, the stasis chamber suddenly cuts out at 70 degrees.
"What the…?" Katy blurts out and looks inside the chamber in confusion. The Doctor is covered in frost.
"No! Martha, you can't stop it. Not yet!" the Doctor shouts in alarm.
"What happened?" Martha asked.
"Power's been cut in Engineering," McDonnell realises.
"But who's down there?" Martha frowned.
"Leave it to me," McDonnell requests before heading back towards Engineering, leaving Katy and Martha with a thawing Doctor.
'Impact in four forty-seven.' The computer states, as Martha goes over to the other side of the stasis chamber bed the Doctor was attempting to get off of, much to Katy's objections.
"No, stop. You're defrosting!" Katy points out to him, but the Doctor impatiently brushes her away, all the ice he had accumulated had melted off. He sits up on the side of the medical bed weakly.
"Katy, Martha, listen! I've only got a moment. You both have got to go!" He urges them, but Katy shakes her head.
"I'm not going anywhere."
"Yeah, no way." Martha agrees. The Doctor growls in frustration.
"Listen to me! You need to get to the front," the Doctor instructs. "Vent the engines. Sun particles in the fuel, get rid of them." Katy grabs the Doctor by the shoulders and makes him face her.
"When are you going to get it into your head? I am not leaving you!" She shouts at him.
"You've got to give back what they took!" the Doctor protests angrily.
"Fine! But Martha is more than capable of doing that. I'm staying here!"
"Katy!" the Doctor yells at her.
"Doctor!" she mimics him back. He blindly reaches for her face and cups it between both his hands.
"Please go!" He whimpers pleadingly. However, Martha makes the decision for them.
"Katy, just stay here with him. I'll be back for the both of you." She promises and goes.
"No, Martha…" the Doctor protests and growls in frustration when he realises that Katy had defied him and stayed behind against his wishes. "Katy, please, just go with her. I will never forgive myself if anything happens to you." The Doctor stated and Katy responds by kissing him on the forehead, wincing at the high temperature he was radiating because of the part of the living sun residing within him.
"Then that is my problem." She mutters against his skin.
'Impact in four oh eight.' The computer reports.
Katy retreats away from him but retains a hold of his hand.
'Impact in two seventeen. Primary engines critical.'
The Doctor pulls his hand out of Katy's grip and falls out of the stasis chamber and starts crawling across the floor, stubbornly avoiding Katy's helping hands when she attempts to help him up.
'Repeat. Primary engines critical. Survival estimate projection zero percent.'
"Katy! Martha!" the Doctor screams in anguish.
"Doctor, what's wrong?" Katy questions him worriedly.
"Doctor! What are you doing?" Martha responded, fearing the worst. "Katy, what's happening with him?" She demanded.
"I can't fight it," the Doctor whimpers. Then his voice gradually starts becoming menacing; just like Korwin and Ashton's voices had become. "Give it back or burn with me!" Katy's eyes widen in horror. The Doctor then suddenly turns towards Katy and struggles to get to his feet as Katy backs away. "BURN WITH ME, KATY!" The Doctor growls threateningly.
'Impact in one twenty-one.' The computer states. Precious seconds go by as Katy continues to cautiously retreat from her boyfriend, before: 'Fuel dump in process. Fuel dump in process.'
Katy sags in relief; Martha had made it in time.
She returns her attention back on the Doctor and sees that the blinding white light fades from his eyes, and he keels over. Katy immediately lunges towards him and manages to catch the Doctor before he could face-plant on the metal ground. He groans in both exhaustion and pain as the ship lurches, then starts to pull away from the sun as the countdown reaches one second.
'Impact averted. Impact averted. Impact averted.'
"Doctor?" Katy inquires timidly, and the Doctor looks up and smiles at her shakily, but with obvious relief on his face.
"Hi…" He greets her, before resting his forehead on Katy's shoulder; returning the tight hug she gives him. A few minutes later, Martha rushes back in and joins in the hug, happy that the Doctor was out of danger.
Area 30
A few hours later, in the safety of interstellar space, everyone had learned the fate of McDonnell: she had made the ultimate sacrifice to save what remained of her crew on board, and to save the Doctor, Katy, and Martha, by throwing herself and Korwin into the vacuum of space and into the path of the then approaching living sun. It was a sad outcome. But what's done is done, and it left a bitter taste in the Doctor's mouth at the thought that he once again had been unable to save another innocent person.
"This is never your ship," Scannell stated dubiously, as he took in the deceptive size of the Tardis when the Doctor led them back to the vent chamber, so that he, Katy, and Martha could move on. The Doctor grinned at his comment, but the humour didn't completely reach his eyes.
"Compact, eh? And another good word, robust." He runs an affectionate hand across the Tardis's unblemished paint job with pride. "Barely a scorch mark on her."
"We can't just leave you drifting with no fuel." Martha pointed out, but what was left of McDonnell's crew just brushed aside her concerns.
"We've sent out an official mayday," Riley reassures her. "The authorities'll pick us up soon enough."
"Though, how we explain what happened…" Scannell trailed off looking wary.
"Just tell them," the Doctor advised sagely. "That sun needs care and protection just like any other living thing." He tells them, as he gives them a mock salute in farewell before turning and seizing Katy's hand and going inside the Tardis with her.
Martha turns to follow them when she is momentarily stopped by Riley.
"So, er, you're off then. No chance I'll see you again?" He questioned her, a bit hopefully. Martha shakes her head and smile sympathetically at him.
"Not really," She admits, and Riley looks a bit disappointed. "It was nice, not dying with you. I reckon you'll find someone worth believing in." Martha reassures him, and Riley shrugged.
"I think I already did," he admits a little bashfully. Riley's eyes widen in surprise when Martha impulsively leans in and kisses him briefly and chastely.
"Well done. Very hot." Martha compliments before winking at him flirtatiously and heading into the Tardis, which materialises almost immediately after she goes in.
Tardis
Martha walks up towards the console and grinned at a very quiet Doctor and Katy. She leans against it and attempts to make conversation.
"So," both the Doctor and Katy look up at her inquiringly. "Didn't really need you in the end, did we?" Martha points out to the Doctor, who looks away almost immediately and focuses on making adjustments to the buttons and switches he was using to take them to their next adventure. Martha's teasing smile sobers up. "Sorry," she states sheepishly. "How are you doing?"
"Now, what do you two say?" the Doctor quickly changes the subject, glancing between his girlfriend and Martha. "Ice skating on the mineral lakes of Kur-ha. Fancy it?" He asks brightly.
"Whatever you like," Martha responds, taking the hint that he didn't want to discuss their latest adventure.
"Sure. I've never been ice-skating before. Should be interesting." Katy agrees, taking his hand in hers and squeezing it comfortingly. He returns the gesture, grateful.
"By the way, you'll be needing this…" the Doctor holds up a Tardis key on a chain to Martha, whose mouth falls open in pleasant surprise as she takes it from him.
"Really?"
"Frequent flier's privilege." The Doctor confirms. "Thank you." He tells Martha sincerely, and she nodded back. Then her eyes widen when she remembers something important. She pulls out her phone from her back pocket and dashes down the metal staircase to the lower corridors of the Tardis to make a phone call.
Katy turns and gives the Doctor a serious look.
"But seriously, Doctor. How are you dealing with what happened?" Katy questions him and he looks up at her with a sober expression on his face.
"I just take it one day at a time, love." He quietly acknowledged. "Nothing more I can do but that." Katy nodded, accepting his answer. "And thank you."
"For what?" Katy blinks at him in astonishment.
"For staying with me. I appreciate it." The Doctor complemented her, and she smiles, wrapping him up in another hug.
"Always."
A/N: Stay tuned for the next chapter.