"Sergeant Benton? Good lord, man, what are you doing here?"
The man's smile dropped. "I'm not so sure, myself," he said. "I've been stuck here a couple of days." He rubbed his forehead, listing to the side. "I think I'm forgetting something, but what..."
Book stepped forward to catch the man's arm. "Are you all right?" He looked over at the Doctor, who had simply stood there, to find him staring at his hand.
"Something... some... urch." Benton doubled over and retched. Both the Doctor and Book stepped back, the Doctor fumbling with his key, turning to unlock the door of his ship.
"Doctor, should we help-" Book noticed that the Doctor was staring past him- no, leaping forward. He turned to see a glowing blue and gold-flecked cloud of particles waft out of Benton's mouth and haze out into the surrounding air.
The Doctor leaned down and hooked one of Benton's arms over his shoulder. "There's your answer," he said. "Help me get him into the TARDIS, quickly!"
Book shouldered his other arm and started forward, only to get a faceful of another cloud of particles. They seemed to sink in... twisting...
"Nnngh," he said. He hadn't intended to make any noise, but oh dear Lord the pain!
"Oh, blast!" said the Doctor, pulling hard on Benton and pushing the door open. "Inside!"
He staggered forward into the control room, his hands going to his face. The Doctor took the full weight of the man between them, setting him down in a chair near the door before shutting the doors and racing to the center console.
"Just hold on... well, both of you. Shepherd, you've just received a chronon burn, please try to remain... ah, there we are." He finished punching something in on two keypads, then reached over and turned a knob. Book felt the bizarre twisting in his face subside.
"Stabilization field to twenty-seven point five, that should help."
He turned around, and went back to Benton's side.
"Well, he's stopped leaking chronons, at any rate. It's rather astonishing he's still intact... there must have been something at least partially protecting him on his fall through time." He motioned to Book, who came over and helped him lift Benton in a fireman's carry. "I realize you've never been in here before, and I'm sorry I can't explain the size right-"
"We have an injured man here. How can we help him?"
The Doctor paused, eyebrows raised. "Very good. We'll take him to the infirmary."
Book started to turn toward the door, but the Doctor shook his head. "No. Doctor Tam is talented, but he has absolutely no grasp of trans-temporal obverse chronon toxicity. Normal drugs won't work on something that won't be there until yesterday, even though it was there next week."
"Doctor, I hate to interrupt, but this man could be dying. Could you come to the point? Where are we taking him?"
"Well I thought it would be obvious. My ship's infirmary is rather better equipped to deal with such things." He turned his head toward Benton's, which was slumped forward. "Steady on, old fellow. We'll have you back running the Brigadier's errands in no time."
Benton shuddered, then a child's voice came from his mouth. "Da, Michael won't give the ball back, it's my ball. Make him give it back, Da!"
Book stared at him, then at the Doctor, who was looking at Benton with a thoughtful frown.
"Hm. Perhaps some extra speed is in order."
They went through the door, moving as fast as they could through various halls, down two flights of stairs, then into a wide, blue room. It appeared only to contain a gleaming white counter and four medical beds.
"Over here," said the Doctor, walking them over to one of the beds. They set Benton down, then the Doctor stepped back. "Lie him out flat." He then went over to the counter and pressed a button. A monitor lowered from the ceiling, while two keyboards seemed to form out of the material of the counter. Book laid Benton out on the bed, keeping a careful eye on his head, then went to remove his boots.
The Doctor looked up from where he was typing. "No, don't do that!"
"Why not?"
He indicated the monitor. "With the level of saturation, they're tied into his intrinsic field. If we remove anything before we deal it, he could end up losing a body part."
Book looked back at Benton, then at the Doctor. "I'll admit, this is far beyond anything I've seen."
The Doctor had gone back to typing, and looking over at the bed as a section of the ceiling slid aside, and several gleaming devices lowered over Benton. "You've been doing a remarkable job of coping."
"Well, I-" Book's eye caught a mirror, and he turned away. "I think-"
He spun back around and stared. The face of a murderer!
No, he couldn't have gone back, he was still...
He realized that the Doctor had stopped working the controls, and was studying him. The devices over Benton were working with a steady hum. They appeared to be drawing the bluish energy out of him, while the man himself was surrounded by a soft pinkish glow.
"Pain damper field," said the Doctor. "He'll be fine. I'm concerned about you, though."
Book looked at him a moment, then back to the mirror.
"Many men your age would be delighted to have the face they had at twenty," said the Doctor. "They would be more upset to learn it would be only temporary."
"I guess I'm not one of them," said Book.
They stood there a moment, then he sighed, turning away from the mirror.
"There are plenty of men who don't like the people they were before."
"I... suppose I was startled by the circumstances," said Book. He looked back at the Doctor. "The Lord called me to bring his works to others, to help them. This other man... I've made my peace with what I once was."
The Doctor looked off to the side, his face neutral, but eyes downcast. "I wish I could say the same."
Before Book could say anything else, the Doctor looked back over to the bed. "Ah, finished already!" He stepped over to the computer console and typed in a few commands. The pink field vanished, and the machines over the bed retracted into the ceiling. He leaned down and helped Benton into a sitting position, then stepped back.
"How do you feel, old chap? That was quite a contamination."
Benton sat slumped a moment, panting. He gulped. "I- I think I'll be all right."
"Do you remember how you got here?"
"Y-yes. I haven't been here days... I don't know why I said that. I was getting some files for the Brigadier; there was some suspected Auton activity in the area, and he wanted to look over the notes."
The Doctor nodded.
"I was walking by your laboratory, and there were noises inside." He looked up. "It sounded like your phone box, so I thought I'd take a look. The Brigadier still wants that paperwork, you know."
The Doctor snorted. "I'm sure." He frowned. "That certainly wasn't my TARDIS. Another Time Lord messenger?"
Benton shrugged. "To be frank, I was hoping for something that tame. In any case, I entered the laboratory, and saw what I thought was one of your experiments about to overload or whatever, so I grabbed it-"
The Doctor was aghast. "Without proper protection?"
"Seconds count, I believe you said once, Doctor. I laid hands on it, then I heard that grinding noise your box gives off. I tried to get off it, but it wouldn't let me go!" He stared at his hands. "After that... I can't credit anything I saw..."
Book looked over at the Doctor. His face was grim.
"The space-time vortex," the Doctor said. "If that was a TARDIS you laid hands on... someone must have left the shields open. That would explain the protection, I suppose."
Benton's eye's widened. "Protection?"
"You're alive, and not scattered across twenty parsecs and five hundred years. I'd say you were protected." The Doctor turned toward the door. "This bears further research, which won't happen here," he said. "Come along." He walked out into the hallway.
Book looked after him, then Benton hopped off the table and started out the door.
"Tell me," said Book, following him, "is he always this... enigmatic and presumptuous?"
"I wouldn't go with the big words, Father-"
"Shepherd."
"- but that's pretty much it."
"Did we really have to spend that long at that clothin' store? They hardly had anythin' there!"
"Oh, quiet," said Jo, smacking Jayne with her bag. "You're the one who ripped my dress. Didn't we spend at least that long at that guns shop?"
"Ain't the point," said Jayne, scowling. " 'Less ya forgot, they're probably lookin' for us - an' I gotta get back to my ship. Could be trouble for them."
"That's not what you said earlier!" said Jo. "You said we had to lie low and stock up on supplies! 'Go to ground,' I think you said?"
Jayne rubbed at his cheek. "Done that long enough," he said. " 'Sides, Jed wanted us ta use that card for supplies, not frills an' such!"
Jo shook her head. "Well, let's go already!"
"Hold on," said Jayne, stepping closer. "Might as well answer now. Where'd ya get that... thing?"
"What thing?"
"That little... oh, ya know what I'm on about!" Jayne mimed flipping a switch on something and waving it around. "It's a, whatsis..." He scratched his head.
"My... lipstick! That's what it is?"
Jayne frowned. Assumin' he was stupid, like everyone else... "Sonic somethin'. Screwdriver. Ain't it?"
Jo jolted, then blinked. "Um. Maybe?"
"That's what I thought. Doctor's been lookin' for you, I think."
"The Doctor?" Jo gaped, then grinned, eyes tearing. "I knew it! I knew he wouldn't forget about me!" She jumped and threw her arms around Jayne, heedless of the bag he was carrying. "Thank you thank you thank you!"
"Easy!" said Jayne, pulling her off with care. "Lotta bang in that bag, remember?"
She stepped back. "The Doctor's at your ship?"
"Yeah, but-"
"We've got to hurry!" She took off at a run. Jayne's brow furrowed. How the 涂奶油的猴子拳头 was she not fallin' over, trying to move that fast in platforms? Then he realized something more wrong was happening.
"Get back here - you're goin' the wrong way!"
He started forward to grab her shoulder, then saw the head of the group entering the far end of the street. Looked a lot like trouble.
"Oh! I'm - eemph!"
Jayne grabbed her and carried her into a side alley. "Shaddup. There's trouble." He pressed her to the wall, then took a rifle scope out of the bag, pressing it to his eye. He started scanning the approaching group, backing further in, pressing Jo back behind him.
"What are you doing? Who's over-" Jayne's hand was over her mouth. She glared at him.
Jayne turned back and studied the group through the scope. Buncha guys, a flatbed with a smallish crate... he scanned ahead. "Of all the ruttin' crazy..." he muttered. Mal and Padrone, side by side!
He upped the magnification. Mal looked pissed, but like he didn't really have a choice. Wasn't lookin' zombified like some of the others, so he'd cut a deal.
"What the 烟肉乳酪地狱 are ya up to?" he muttered.
"What are you looking at? Who are they?" whispered Jo.
"Trouble. Ya know a guy named Padrone?"
"No..."
"Wants ta have people call him the Master."
"The Mast-!" Jo's horrified squeal was cut off by Jayne's hand again.
"Thought so. He didn't seem too happy to hear about the Doc, an' Mal's takin' him right to him."
Jo looked up at him, pleading. "We've got to get there before them!"
Jayne gave her a long look, then sighed. "Yeah, I guess we can try."
Good thing he'd bought some grenades.
The group entered the main console room, starting toward the door. Book glanced over at the console, and his eyes lighted on the main monitor. What?
"Doctor, what area does this screen show?"
The Doctor stepped away from the main doors and came over to look. "It's directly outside... Good Lord!"
Benton came over to look. "Well, it's never a boring day with you around," he said.
On-screen, a platoon stood in the cargo hold. Four men in front held Alliance stun rifles trained on the main doors, while three several yards behind held heavy machine guns. One off to the side was aiming an automatic rifle off-screen, upwards.
"Well, I guess Zoe knows about our visitors," said Book.
An officer stepped on screen, and looked directly into the camera.
"How did he know where to look?" said the Doctor. The man began to speak.
"Doctor John Smith, by the authority under Article 23 of the Finae Accords, I'm placing you under arrest for desertion. You are bound by law!"
Book looked over to the Doctor. "What is he talking about?"
"The Finae... what?" The Doctor stepped back, glaring at the screen. "What do those blasted fools think they're on about?" He stalked over to the doors.
"Wait, Doctor," said Benton. "What are you doing?"
"Typical military idiocy," said the Doctor. "These people need a proper sorting-out."
"Doctor, please-"
It was too late. The door was open, and the Doctor had stepped out into the hold.
"I'm the Doctor. What in blazes do you want?"