Doctor Who and the Ties that Bind
A/N: here it is the first chapter of the LONG awaited Adult version of Ties that Bind. Eventually I'll get back to making graphics, but hey, you all love me anyway, right?
Short Summary: Sequel to Doctor Who and the Great Eclipse. The TimeWar left him shattered & alone. Experiments left her shattered & open. The tools for revenge also form a web that cannot be broken. Before he met Rose, The Doctor had to survive meeting Her... A Doctor Who / Firefly / Riddick (Dark Fury) crossover.
Summary: The Doctor, reeling from the effects of the TimeWar as the last surviving TimeLord, stumbled into a situation he was unable to ignore when the TARDIS landed him inside a ship clearly in trouble. After the rescue, he found himself left with eight survivors that he must somehow get to safety. But the situation was not as cut and dry as he might like. His people may be gone, but the stamp he’d made on the universe still existed, and he discovered himself caught in a web spun of the choices made in the past…
2517; Something in the past prompted humanity to explode out from their home world. Could the events of 2164 be responsible? Was Earth a myth or was it real? In fleeing Earth-that-Was, humanity scattered to the stars across the galactic arm. Initial survey teams targeted likely planets and systems for habitation and not all of them ended up on the same side of the sector. Blue Sun exists on one side, separated by a patch of ‘wild space’ filled with exotic binary and triple star systems, from the rest of civilized space. Few ships brave the route. But luck had it that one ship did. Risking a ghost run, the only contact that the two sides have, the Hunter-Gratzner crashed midway through its journey. Original Port of Departure: Eavesdown Docks, Persephone. Mixed Sino-Anglo culture. Original Port of Call: Tangiers-5. Darkside. Mixed Islamic-Anglo culture. Crew complement: Four. Passengers: Forty. Living ‘Cargo’: Two. Survivors: Eight plus One
So what happens to Dr. Simon Tam, his brilliant but damaged sister, a convicted murder by the name of Richard B. Riddick, and the other survivors from the crash of the Hunter-Gratzner at planet M-344/G-2 now that they are on their way home? What secrets does Jack B. Badd hold? And just how is this related to the TimeWar?
A Doctor Who / Firefly / Riddick cross-over.
Features Doctor 9, Rose Tyler, The cast of “Firefly”, and the survivors from Pitch Black: Carolyn Fry, William J. Johns, Imam Abu al’Walid, ‘Jack B. Badd’, Ali Abdullah, and Richard B. Riddick…
Doctor Who and the Ties that Bind.
Part One:
Aggravation
The TARDIS sat, rather innocently, in the Time Vortex. The human passengers had no idea that the ship was delaying at all, being that they expected there to be time in transit. Normally such a small hop would have been quite fast and easily done. Only this was not a normal situation. One would think that being a Time Lord would make one aware of such things, but for several sleep cycles the pilot of the rather cranky and headstrong living ship remained oblivious the situation, trying one trick after another to ease her out of the vortex. She thwarted each one without causing him further pain.
Nothing the Doctor did could force her to budge if she didn't want to. That was the nature of their bond. They were equal partners in this adventure of their life. So she retained her free will, so rare a thing in her species, and found that the emotions (ones she wasn't supposed to have) of fear and worry made her protective enough to refuse his commands to exit into normal space. She'd not be the cause of more pain if it would kill him. Even if she had to cause him some to convince him of it. Well, she had been forced to zap him, after all. It wasn't her fault that he found the remains of some old override that he tried to repair... It had been the one thing that would have involuntarily made her materialize.
So the Doctor had gotten a bit of a shock for the effort, a warning really. Nothing more than a sharp tingle in his fingers that made him aware that he wasn't to do that. She only used such methods on him when he refused to listen to her anyhow. He could have pressed on, Omega knew. Other Time Lords would have. Then - other Time Lords would have died from the parasite and stubbornly insisted it was better to have Time fractured beyond repair then to stoop to using 'primitives' to fight it. Her pilot wasn't so blind. And Verity loved him for it.
He made a face at her central column and watched the glowing crystalline pillar move. The trick was in deciphering her mood. He knew she felt emotions, as he reformed her basic equations in such a way as to allow her to, on the assumption that it was emotions that made them better than those they used to call their kind. Since she already knew some feelings, like anger and self righteousness, he'd not needed to alter much to allow her a fuller range of emotional expression. The problem was, even when she shared the raw sensation she was experiencing with him, how she felt it and declared it was uniquely alien. And it was really no wonder, being as she existed on more dimensions than he did.
In fact only Love and its related expression of Lust were straightforward in a way that he fully understood. And those only because he insisted on 'evolving' her in a compatible fashion to himself. She was his 'wife' in many, many ways. And he supposed she functioned as his 'sister' and his 'mother' in others, sometimes prodding him to do things and other times acting like an overprotective mother hen. She was his home, his House, his family... his everything. He supposed that in some fashion he was her everything too. The alien tendrils of her feelings brushed through his mind, like a whale-song written in the language of Time itself. Her native communication could only be experienced and was only understood while it was in progress. Then like a psychic vision or a dream, it faded to mere impressions that sometimes couldn't be fully expressed in any other language. As it faded this time he was left with an ache in his hearts and tears misting his eyes. So much fear and worry filled her that he couldn't deny what she was telling him. “All right then, maybe they do need more time to recover from the ordeal. I would just feel better if they were gone, is all,” he tried to explain.
Verity fell silent gently probing both his head for the foreign energy and her database for anything similar. Her pilot's expression of pain bothered her, worried her. How long could his mind endure the memory replaying over and over again of his last death? He'd contained it, mostly. The energy slithered away from her grasp, fleetingly leaving her with a glimpse of its thick smoky sludge-like appearance. She knew the Doctor didn't take her lack of answer as a personal affront, but she pulled the proper file from the military records and he frowned at the security lock on it.
“Well, that's sorta pointless, don't you think?” But he activated the lock anyhow, opening up the file without further protest. He came to the conclusion that perhaps his stopgap measure hadn’t been enough. Likely, it hadn’t. The feeling of the molten lead brick still existed in his forehead. He knew River still felt like she had planes of fire bisecting her brain. At least they couldn’t pass this horror onto the others, but that didn't mean that the Parasite, the Skaro-based energy life form turned into a weapon, couldn't kill them both with another exposure to the materialization energies given off by a TARDIS. With a frown he turned his attention back to the military files and watched the stream of untranslatable characters flicker past. He would need to cure River first, and the only way to do it would be to take all of the parasite into himself.
And then he'd have to find a way to kill it without killing himself in the process. That conclusion reached, he closed his eyes and breathed in a calming pattern, one he'd learned from someplace that had proved to be effective in most situations. He realized now that sitting in the vortex was, most likely, the TARDIS' way of refusing to allow her Doctor to do something that was really rather stupid. The passengers here were safe enough, had enough room inside the ship to get lost several times over should they want space, and chances are were more then happy to stay put for the time being. The others on board had no idea what was going on, nor did they care that they could have arrived before they left even.
The file in front of him indicated that what he'd come into contact with was bad. The final outcome of being infected with this was bad. He'd been contaminated with a substance of a unique sort that would, more than likely, cause him great harm once they exited the vortex. Delaying this seemed to be his ship's top priority, beyond even getting the other humans home. Since it was usually rather a fatal thing, the treatment options listed were extremely scanty. And being as he and Verity were the last of their kind, bad did not even cover it. If he died, and with this infective agent in his brain he would die not regenerate, then his ship would die too- and chances are the entire universe would collapse behind them.
The human guests could wait.
Now of course, Verity knew that the answer here had to be in forging a new path, a new way of being, because the parasite would be looking to attack anything that smarted of the old reflex links. Since those had been broken, even though the Doctor's brain and psyche were under constant attack and he was in great pain, the actual damage being done was minor. His connection to River that the parasite used to bridge the gap between host and target had not been the same as the links that it had been breed to follow, and this meant it could only flow one way. So now the goal would be to get the Doctor to take her hints and look at the clues she was giving him- make him see the idea she had, one that might save him. If he would just pay attention and do the proper research to fight the doomsday agent that flowed through his nervous system both in physical and psychic senses they might have a chance here of turning this negative into a huge positive.
Verity turned her attention to another level, trying her best to sooth while keeping some distance from the parasitic energy. She could see it, clear as crystal, attacking her pilot's green matter with a persistence that only a last ditch weapon could possess. No wonder he wasn’t thinking clearly. But how to get him help when he was the last of his kind? Or - was he? Did he really need other old blood Time Lords to fight this as the military document suggested? Somehow she did not think so.
Earth to Air, Fire to Water, Aether to Void. The use of the ancient ways had been scoffed at - right up until the end of the war when Rassilon himself had been awoken - The First Time Lord had chosen to consult with the Pythia and the seers showing the others below him that using the Vision and the old ways was not something that should have been ignored. Of course- there had been other problems because of his awakening, ones that led to her and the Doctor's current plight as much as any other. It paid then to look at those ancient beliefs for the truth that might have been embedded into them. Somehow she suspected that the six-fold god, the guardians, had not totally fled. Perhaps then that was their answer.
She scanned the others he had brought into her. Earth to Air- The Imam's young charge Ali, the mysterious boy Jack- both earth. But more important was “Richard” - her Amadak, brought home again although he didn’t realize it yet. The grounding connection was already there, suppressed. Earth they had, crystalline and pure. The paradox was that even with the guardian being one of fiction and 'dreams' it was the hope and insight brought from those that lent Amadak the very practical will to survive no matter what the odds.
Air then needed to oppose that grounding- Simon Tam did, well enough, as she supposed the Imam could do if asked, even if he was not ideal for it.
Fire to Water -One, a girl, was infected just as her Doctor was, but she was Water and heavy with possibility and power her aura was. Already she fed the Doctor's aura on a low level, even though they shared the parasite. It was that the energy was caught between Thete and River that allowed Verity to probe it without fear, as it was attuned to Water at the moment, and the ship's natural element did not register with it.
But why if River was infected and Simon had been right there with her the entire time had he not been infected? He could have been, surely enough. Only he wasn’t. She checked their past and realized that the parasite had not been picked up naturally- it had been implanted in River. And the Doctor had been wise to this possibility. The agent was blocked from finding the physical connections it needed to move into Simon because the Time Lord had thought to chemically block it.
Fire was harder- they had two potentials, Carolyn Fry and William Jonhs. Both of the Fire-children here were not so suitable- Carolyn because her aura was weak, William because he was just not on the same wavelength as the Doctor was. Trying to force that to mesh would have horrible results. They would need to seek another Fire.
Aether to Void- that was her and her pilot, but they would need others, possibly, to trick the parasite into the trap that would kill it. She would have time to find these last two very rare individuals once they got the the situation under some control.
She tried leaving the hints for the Doctor. Perhaps he’d see the solution. She hummed happily. Not so alone as to have lost everything, after all. And this Parasite might not be so deadly. Ancient connections forged between them might just be enough.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Richard watched the alien in the main control room, slouched over as though the energy he had the day before was all but gone. He was sure that the man knew he was there, but perhaps not. The lean pale form was talking it that musical language; sounding like he was carrying on a conversation that was one sided yet complete. What the impression that the ex ranger got from it was that the Doctor was pleading a bit, and arguing a bit, and perhaps even being a little irrational. The semi bright arc of power off the console spurned another verse of words and confirmed his impression.
He felt this - pull - in the center of his chest, like he was being tugged out of his shadows. Or urged, slightly by some unseen force. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to go. Rather, the silver-eyed man feared with he might do if he did go. He’d watched the gent shower, watched every move he made, the play of his muscles and tendons under his oh so smooth skin… even thinking about it now made him grateful for the loose style of his clothing. His mind raced ahead of his actual movements picturing him moving up to the other man and and turning him away from the console. Kissing him with total abandon, ignoring the possible cost of the actions that would surely follow.
He’d been placated by a caress, a touch the second time. And he barely dared to remember the first time- so intense that was as to threaten to set him off again. He knew he was addicted to the Doctor now, his scent, his feel, his touch... and really he wanted the man well and healed so they could explore this -whatever it was- between them. All he knew was that he felt complete when he was near the other man, more so then he'd ever felt with anyone. The Doctor's touch soothed him. Like it defused the lightning building between them.
But it was still there, that tension. And he’d never been so compelled and so frightened in all his life. As he watched the flickering pages of characters scroll across the screen reflected on that chiseled face he could see the temperature rise on the man’s skin. He wasn’t fixed. Far from it. But how to help him? How to save him from this doomsday weapon that was burning him up inside? The tug eased then increased. He moved forward, a slight whisper of his shoes on the metal floor the only indication of his approach. “Doctor?”
Music flowed from those lips that were too warm, looking almost pink in Riddick’s vision, before he catches a word he recognized, “ - Amadak.”
He was struck by the sudden increased desire to suck those musical words into his own soul, to exist off the other’s breath, to give those lips a reason to be warm. “You’re - hot - again,” Rich said as he instead reached to run a hand over the other man’s soft, fine hair. He felt only mild surprise that the Doctor paused his reading and leaned into the touch slightly. He took the moment to look at the untranslated characters. Like the spoken version, and their speaker, the characters struck him as beautiful. Everything about this alien and those things that belong to him seem beautiful to the ex-ranger. “I’m worried about you.”
“Ah, well… I’m not going to lie, Richard,” the Doctor was hard pressed to not hiss from the relief that he felt just from being grounded. He wondered in passing if perhaps their suppressed bond could help him defeat this thing in his head, if in fact the grounding was not necessary for still more reasons then he'd figured. If so then he'd have to face the risks and complete that bond sooner rather then later. The fingers on his neck press in and pick up a light but natural Gallifreyian massaging pattern, seemingly at random and without thought. He found his eyes just about rolled up into his head behind closed eyelids from the skittering jolts across his awareness from it.
“You said you could fix this,” Amadak didn’t move his hand away, instead lightly kneading the back of the man’s neck, feeling the tingle build and wondering how long he was going to be satisfied with this level of touch. He was rather unaware that the pattern his fingers followed were anything but human in their motion. It felt right, and that was all that mattered.
Intense eyes studied him as the Doctor turned his head. “And I can, given the time. Just like I could repair your eyes and restore your color vision, actually.”
Richard watched the sickly heat slowly ease off, as their connection again seemed to balance whatever it was that the parasite was unbalancing. Even so, he wanted to do more, and the Doctor was likely doing too much, “Anything I can do to help?”
The Doctor found himself thinking, 'Um, you should kiss me,' but he knew he could not say that. Instead he thought something more practical would be better, “Yes. You can handle the boys’ chemistry lesson today. It shouldn’t be too difficult for you.”
Richard smiled a teasing smile, flirting as the spark returned to the Time Lord's eyes, “Lucky for you, I liked chemistry.”
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Simon glanced over at River who was slumped over in a plush armchair with some sort of game in her lap. Her brushed hair fell over the top of the strappy sundress she wore that was made of some soft floral lightweight fabric. She was intensely focused on the pale gray ball-like object, although he couldn’t tell why she would be. The multi-sided shape seemed to have no interactive spots on it, no real point at all when he first saw it in the Doctor’s hands. But the hairless gent had done some sort of demonstration to River that she understood, and now the item tinkled with soft lights and sounds as she ‘played’ it. Possibly it used psychic impulses to work. If so it was beyond his current ability. Might always be beyond it, actually- but he hoped that eventually he'd understand her path enough to accept it in the very least.
One of her dainty bare feet wobbled in a rhythm that was odd. It took Simon a moment to realize that she was wiggling in time to what was the Doctor’s pulse. He also concluded that he wouldn’t have picked that up if it wasn’t for the fact that he was studying the medical diagrams for the species that the Doctor belonged to. He turned his focus back to the data and stared at the information, dense as it was, almost more so then he was used to seeing even if it was in his field of profession.
Now, he didn’t fancy himself as an expert on exobiology or anything, but if he was going to be around the gent, he better know what he could and couldn’t do in an emergency, just in case the Doctor himself fell ill or injured. Thus far he’d discovered that certain branches of human medicines were absolutely out. He scribbled down some notes to himself in shorthand on a tablet that the ship had provided him. He’d need to alter his emergency medical supply kit. Anything that was deadly to the Doctor's species would have to go. This he was doubly sure of, as River might well need the gene therapy to repair the physical damage done to her brain. This would mean she too picked up those weaknesses, and he'd rather kill himself then allow her to be exposed to something he could prevent.
Behind him Ali and Jack walked in. “So, why do we gotta do school work, again?” Jack was asking. Simon pinched the bridge of his nose a moment, wondering how River was able to ignore the wash of colors in the room from the three earth toned individuals. Ail was extremely bright green and yellow in his aura, apparently quite as ease here. Jack's olive tones were somewhat better. Then Richard was nearly black at the moment, like obsidian- which he supposed was caused by worry.
“Because you do. Trust me, you’ll find this interesting,” Riddick said. “It’s science, see. Once you have the theory down we can do some experiments in the lab that the Doctor set up for you.”
“I liked the last chemistry lesson,” Ali prodded Jack, “It was fun.” The lad was nearly bouncing in his eagerness. Richard pointed them toward a table with the books set out on it.
Even though Jack moved that way without protest, he still rolled his eyes, “Because the Doctor is crazy that’s why. Who else would make glowing, smoking, gelatin?” Secretly he had enjoyed it too, but it was something he thought he already knew, and he really wanted to learn new not old. If anything the lesson had been too easy. His eyes flicked over the stack of books and the words 'strong chemical reaction' caught his eye. Would Richard be teaching them what he thought Richard was teaching them? OK this might be rather cool...
“It tasted like fizzy bananas!” Ali settled into the chair happily and pulled the junior level book his direction. He had the impression from yesterday that Jack was more advanced in chemistry then he was, so whatever he did not understand, surely his friend would.
Simon looked over at the boys with alarm; “You ate that?”
“It was harmless, Doc. Just be thankful the boys didn’t serve it for desert last night,” Rich made sure the two children were down and into the lesson for the day before he let his own curiosity over what the young doc was looking at get the better of him.
“Harmless? It looked radioactive.”
Fortunately something about the day's lesson got Jack's attention right fast and it seemed like he was not going to keep being an issue on this. The boy was very bright, a fast reader and nearly gave the ex-ranger the impression of great intellect and cunning behind the child-like visage. Not that he was frightened by the kid, but rather that Jack needed more simulation to stay interested in things then other kids might need. The boy would be miserable in a standard level educational setting, that much Riddick was sure of. He waited a little longer before he peered over Simon’s shoulder at the diagrams that the doc was looking at, “Nope, not more than normal anyhow. So, what are you digging up?”
“General procedures in case of emergency. I don’t want to kill our host when I’m trying to mend something.” Simon was still at perfect ease with Richard, which still boggled the larger man's mind somewhat. He was glad for it, though. Something told him that he and Simon would be around each other for some reason or another for rather a while yet.
The goggled man nodded and focused on something with a frown, “Huh, extra ribs?” This was extremely familiar and that he did not know from where bothered him.
“And double most of the internal organs that humans have. Mostly it would seem as a backup for one set failing, but that’s not the most intriguing thing. This is,” Simon flipped to the previous diagram to show the unusual tri-helix, triplicate design that appears on the cellular level. “Certain standard drugs attack this structure. Willow bark, for instance, would kill anyone of the Doctor's species if they ingested it. Yet mercury would be no problem.”
Riddick peered at the structure on the screen and found himself admitting, “I’ve see that before, somewhere. I must’ve been quite young to not place it right away.” His face morphed into frustrated puzzlement. “Something about this really bothers me.” The bronze skinned man moved back, staring into the air, trying to grasp something that hovered just at the edge of his awareness. “What would happen if this structure was combined with human DNA?”
“Huh?”
“I mean, would it be possible? Or no?” He cannot tell Simon why he's asking- but still, he'd hate to go this route with the Doctor and there be something horribly wrong happen.
Simon frowned, “I haven’t even looked.” He turned back and searched through the database. “The species has a natural genetic ability to adapt to foreign genomes, and according to this can become or adopt any exterior appearance they desire within thirty-nine human hours of -- regeneration? I’ll have to look that up. But it appears that if they choose a human-dominant genome set then they could, if they wanted.” He glanced over at Richard and noticed the other man was about a million miles away, “-- You all right?”
“ - Fine,” the ex-ranger glanced at the data again, “Is this showing Male gender dominance?” He was sure it was, and to him this all sparked off the awareness that he had seen all of this info before somewhere, although he'd forgotten it. He knew this all instinctively, and somehow it also applied on some level to him, although he had no idea why or how. He was human, right?
Dr. Tam looked back at the data and has to puzzle out what the other man has seen, “Err… Yes, I think so.”
Richard laughed in spite of himself, “Not your field of expertise, I know. I wonder how the hell any species can survive with only a two percent chance of a girl being born is all.” The looms, dimwit- his mind said to him. Simon's confusion and turning back to the data meant that the deep frown on Richard's face actually was missed.
“What?”
“Look, it’s right there. If any of these genes on this sequence are off, even one, the outcome is male. And even if they are all right to be female the hormones the fetus is exposed to can’t vary or the result is male. Biologically, then, the chances of a girl is just two percent. - And are there mention of something called 'Looms'?”
Simon looked at where the finger was resting on the screen and read the data again, “Oh.” He had to read that entire section over again, paying more attention to the actual information there and in doing so the question posed to him was ignored.
Richard thought maybe that was best as Ali's voice cut in, “Mr. Riddick? Can you help me, please?” He pushed away the smart-ass voice in his head, took a breath as he rested a hand on the Tam scion’s shoulder for a moment. This he knew was enough for Simon to not think he was mad at him. Richard did not answer Ali, choosing instead to move over to assist the boys with their study. It left the medical doctor wondering how a convict would know about genetics.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
The redhead sat in the clinic/med lab on one of the beds. Scared, hell yes- terrified. But he knew he had to do this. The Doctor had Johns' sleeve pushed up and was wiping his arm with some sort of disinfectant cloth. His cool fingers are no more or less pleasant for the gloves he's wearing. “So you’re saying that the shiv comes out after I’m clean?” He shivers without wanting to, even though the room itself is warm.
“Would you rather risk never walking again, William?” The pale man kept a firm grip on his arm holding him steady, even as he drops the used cloth in the trash.
Bill managed a weak smile, “Of course not. But I can feel it. Ya know? Like it’s rubbing the bone raw. That’s the reason I started on the morphine in the first place. How can I function like this?” He was clammy, shivering, flushed in the cheeks, and in pain.
The Doctor placed a hand on the man’s forehead, “This is the price you pay, young man.”
“I ain’t no baby, Doc.” The glare made him blurt out, “Bob?” The look doesn’t change, “Heh. Sorry. Doctor.”
“I’m going to make you sick now.” The smile the marshal got was chilling, “But it will speed the process. Day after tomorrow Simon will have the metal out and the scar will be noting but a small white line. Or you can suffer through this the old fashioned way.”
Johns swallowed. He backed out now and Rich would give him hell, “I’m ready.” He watched the needle slide into his arm with practiced ease, like the man had centuries of doing this behind him, “You sure you’re not a real doctor?”
“Oh, I studied a bit. Here and there. Nothing formal like Simon has under his belt though.” He eased the redhead down on the bed and slid a bedpan over so he can reach it. “Relax, William. I’m not going to leave you alone to suffer. I’ll be here with you.” Not that it makes the badge feel better about puking his guts up for the next few hours…
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Carolyn and Imam were in the kitchen, as it was their turn to fix the meal, although the indications were that perhaps no one really minded making their own, the steady habits of eating together that they started on the planet seem to be something expected here inside the ship. “I don’t think I’ve ever had fresh fruit when in space,” the docking pilot said as she sliced something that was about the size of her palm, covered with a fuzzy plum toned skin that reminds her of Kiwi fruit, even though the inside was more of a bright yellow than green. “His food stores are fantastic.”
“I believe that this produce comes from his garden, Carolyn,” said the Imam as he diced some deep bluish-green crunchy leaves for the salad he was preparing.
“Garden? This- wait, really?”
“Yes. I keep asking if it would be possible to take Jack and Ali there to show them some of the plants and insects. The Doctor told me that there’s entire biosystems preserved in microclimates. I get the impression however, that he’s not totally sure how to reach it.”
“How can he not know that?”
“The TARDIS is a living thing, in and of itself. I would guess that if she feels that trouncing through the garden might disrupt something she might hide it.” Abu slid the chopped ‘greens’ into the mixing bowl and reached for another vegetable.
She raised an eyebrow and checked the pasta boiling for the main course. “Amazing. You know, I think these are done.” He checked them and nodded. She drained and tossed the handmade pasta with the sauce and garnish for them, finished with the fruit plate, and pulled the rolls out. “The only thing missing is hand churned butter.”
“There is some in that cabinet.” The dark skinned man pointed at it and then placed the salad on the table, “Should take the others all of a tick and a half to get here, I’d guess.”
“Yeah, all but Bill. Poor guy.”
True to prediction, the others began to filter in, Simon and River entering first, followed by Jack, Ali, and Richard. The Doctor came in right on the dot, behind the others. “William’s sleeping, I placed him a purge isolation bath. You’ll need to double check his vitals within the hour, Dr. Tam.”
“He’s not going to drown is he?”
“Rassilon, no. If I wanted to kill him there are much easier methods.” The Doctor smirked at the dark haired man, “Besides it would be quite a waste now that we’ve almost gotten him to start acting human again.”
“No more black,” River said.
Simon looked over at her, “I noticed that too, the aura around marshal Johns has shifted to lighter tones.”
“And once he’s not in pain, I think you’ll notice that his personality is slightly improved too,” the ex-ranger added, “but make no mistake, he’s still gonna be a bastard. He’s got a dark sense of humor and likes to laugh at his enemy’s suffering. And he can be very cold blooded.”
The docking pilot paused in her chewing, “I don’t think any of us are expecting him to become a saint, Rich. No more than you would. But if he’s off the hype then at least he won’t go fucking things up.”
“This is true, Carolyn.” Riddick nodded at her. “So, Doctor… you said something about undoing the damage I did to my eyes and restoring my color vision. I assume this will be after Johns is out of post-op?”
“Um… I need to scan your eyes and see exactly what was done. But there are several ways to undo it, and your eyes being restored to brown would ease suspicion about who you are. Although, I might not be able to totally erase the sheen in the back of retina.”
“No big to me. I don’t care if they stay silver. It just might be nice to see in color again.”