Fic: Pockets in Time Part 8
Author: helloprilly
Characters: Ten/Donna
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 3764
Part 7
“Within the sound of silence.”
“Come on, Donna, stay with me.” Martha was frantic as Donna fainted against the wall that she had been leaning against, and she noticed the dried blood that seemed to have come from a very nasty looking bruise on Donna’s left temple.
Jack stood helplessly beside Martha while he looked around the small battered corridor in which Donna had been huddled, but he couldn’t see any sign of the Doctor. Donna’s last whispered words were echoing like a klaxon through Jack’s mind, his body was tensed as he waited for whatever had damaged the Tardis to come for them as well.
It had surprised the both of them when the Tardis materialized in the center of the hub, her doors swinging open in silent invitation. Jack had been the first to overcome his shock and had darted towards the darkened opening when the Doctor and Donna hadn’t immediately stepped out to greet them. It was only when he saw the devastation in the control room that he knew that the Doctor was not just making an unexpected social call.
There had been a faint light leading off a corridor to the right of the entrance and Jack had instinctively raced down the corridor, hoping that the light would lead him to the Doctor and Donna. He hadn’t expected to find Donna alone, and in what seemed to be very serious condition.
“How is she, Martha?”
Martha shook her head as she flipped open Donna’s eyelids one by one, her face was grim before she carefully leaned around Donna’s head and found a second large contusion on the right side of her skull. There was dried blood smeared across her face and what looked to be faint burn marks crisscrossing her exposed skin, but it was the two reddened dots with puncture wounds in the center of them that worried her the most.
“She’s not doing well, Jack. She’s got a massive concussion as well as other internal injuries that I can’t even begin to diagnose right now. Her pupils are sluggish to respond and remain unevenly dilated, but it’s the wounds on her head that concern me the most.”
She looked from Donna to Jack, her face set in grim lines before she reached for her phone and dialed Mickey’s number.
“I need you to come back to the hub as fast as possible, Mickey. The Doctor and Donna have returned and Donna’s been seriously injured, we don’t yet know where the Doctor is but I need help transporting Donna into the medical room.” She paused when she heard Mickey’s exclamation over the phone, her voice rising slightly to cut through the barrage of questions that were suddenly hurled in her direction.
“I don’t have time to explain, Mickey. The Tardis appears to be severely damaged as well and I can’t know whether or not the medical bay is working until we locate the Doctor. I need you to bring a back board as well, just in case Donna has other injuries that I can’t see at this time.”
Jack frowned when he heard Martha’s request for a backboard, his body abruptly turning as he began to walk towards a glowing orange portal that was set in the wall several meters to his left. He was worried about the severity of Donna’s condition, but he was more worried about the fact that the Doctor was nowhere to be found when it seemed Donna needed him most.
The silence of the Tardis was unnerving and he could tell by the dimming of the lights around them that she was rapidly losing power due to whatever had caused her damage. He leaned up against the portal, hands rising to shield his eyes from the harsh glare and he jerked when he saw a crumpled form laying in a heap against a wall on a walkway that led to a large chamber space beyond.
“Martha! I’ve found the Doctor and it looks like he’s hurt!”
Martha jumped up at Jack’s cry, her hands quickly pocketing her mobile phone before she hurried to his side. She pressed her face against the glass set into what looked to be a door, her hands rising to shield her gaze much as Jack’s had done and it was only then that she was barely able to make out the darkened shape that was lying on the walkway. “We’ve got to help him, Jack! Quick, help me get this door open.”
Martha reached down to grab what looked to be a lever to pull open the door and gasped when a large spark leaped off the metal to shock her hand. She cried out at the surprising flash of pain though it was more of a light sting then an actual shock, her confused gaze looked up at Jack when she caught him frowning at the door. “What in the world do you think caused that?”
There was a muffled groaning through the corridors, a wheezing sound that seemed to moan down through the air towards them before it faded away. Jack looked back the way they had come before he looked back to Donna’s unconscious form. “There’s a reason Donna isn’t in that chamber with the Doctor, you know that she wouldn’t have allowed him to put himself purposely in danger if there was anything she could do to help him.”
Jack looked down at the handle again, his mind spinning furiously as he thought that maybe the Tardis was trying to protect Martha from something that would possibly harm or even kill her. “Let me try the door, Martha.”
He gently pulled her away from the door, his hand reaching out towards the handle while he closed his eyes in anticipation of a similar shock. His fingers closed around the surprisingly warm metal, but there was no corresponding shock of energy with the contact. He opened first one eye and then the other before he looked back at Martha with a toothy grin. “It looks like the Tardis doesn’t want you to go into that room, most likely because it’s too dangerous for humans. You take care of Donna, I’ll go in and get the Doctor.”
Before Martha could even open her mouth to argue, Jack had yanked the door open and stepped into the golden room beyond. Martha threw herself at the portal, her hand reaching for the handle only to have it zapped away once more. “All right, all right! I’ll just wait here for them then, it’s not like I could do anything for them if I was dead.”
Martha thought she could almost feel a grim sense of purpose from the Tardis at her words, and she found she couldn’t argue with the ship as they both waited for Jack to bring the Doctor back to safety.
~~~
The silence was deafening.
The Doctor was lying on a hard surface, his eyes clenched closed against blinding waves of energy that had been pouring off the Eye of Harmony. He had felt the ship materialize and had heard Donna’s screams in his mind, but he seemed to have lost all control of his muscles and so he could do nothing more than lay in a crumpled heap against the wall where he had been flung.
He could barely breathe through the pain that seemed to envelop his entire body, his mind was teetering on the edge of blackness and it was only through sheer force of will that he was able to maintain consciousness. He had to somehow gain control of his body enough to finish the repair that would then allow the Tardis to shut down properly, but his limbs refused to listen to his mind.
He had finally stopped for a few moments and maybe it would be all right if he just rested for a little while longer before he tried to move again. He knew that Donna would be worried about him, but he was too tired to even reach out to comfort her.
A hand dropped on to his shoulder, startling the Doctor because such a touch should have been impossible with the Eye still out of sync with real time. Oh god, Donna!
With a titanic force of will, he forced his eyes open and flopped onto his back where he expected to see Donna even now dying from the unfettered energy that filled the room. His mouth dropped open when he saw Jack leaning tiredly over him, the smile on his face was nearly blinding before he tried to pull the Doctor up into a sitting position.
“What the hell is this place, Doctor? I just died trying to get to you, and I feel like I’m flying apart at the seams.”
The Doctor tried desperately to work moisture back into his mouth, his jaw working uselessly for a moment before he was able to force his limbs to move in some semblance of order. He could see that Jack was struggling against the energies in the chamber, his chest was rising in rapid panting breaths against the pain that was quickly rising to consume him. “You’re the Eye of Harmony, the source of the Tardis power.”
Jack blinked at the Doctor, before he dared to look beyond the wall beside them. His eyes widened when he saw the massive ball of searing gas that was suspended in the empty space in front of him, he jerked back and looked at the Doctor. “Is that a… Is that a STAR??” Jack’s eyes rolled back into his head as he slumped down, dead at the Doctor’s side.
The Doctor groaned when Jack fell against his chest, his head falling back at the explosion of pain from his broken ribs but he knew that he didn’t have much longer to finish the repair to the Tardis before her matrix failed completely.
He had felt her consciousness break out of her panic room, but the connection was incomplete until the final part was in place. Her connection to her matrix was tenuous at best and she was expending tremendous energy that she just didn’t have in order to keep her interior intact until her passengers were able to safely make their way off the ship.
He reached up and with a grunt, rolled Jack onto his back; black dots swam across his vision before he was able to force himself up onto his hands and knees.
He patted Jack’s hand affectionately, his eyes locking onto the immortal as he waited for the shock of energy that would bring Jack once more back to life.
The energy in the Eye of Harmony was having an especially devastating effect on Jack’s unique Artron fueled body. It was disrupting the flow of that energy and thus was causing all of his systems to shut down simultaneously in a bid to preserve his own impossible life. He would continue to die and revive in an endless cycle until the Doctor was able to get him out into the halls of the Tardis.
He forced himself to his feet, body swaying as he felt the vertigo wash over him in nauseating waves but he simply gritted his teeth and forced himself to take one step after another towards the panel where he could see the wires glowing brightly with unfettered energy.
He was glad that he had kept the spare part in his pocket, because he hadn’t been expecting the violent backlash that had thrown him free from the panel when the Tardis had reconnected with her matrix. His head was spinning and he knew that he didn’t have much longer before he succumbed to darkness once more and then who knew what would become of the Tardis then.
He dropped to his knees, his hand reaching into his last tattered pocket to fish out the spare part that he had found. He licked bone dry lips, hands reaching out to the four wires that he had spliced and fully expecting to be thrown across the walkway once again but the Tardis was in control of her systems enough that she was able to halt the flow of energy just as his hands wrapped around the silvery threads.
Whispering a quiet thanks to his battered ship, he quickly wired the new part into place and nestled it back into the cradle that had held the previous transducer for over a millennium. The power flowed almost instantly through the new component.
The Doctor looked up, a soft smile on his face as he saw the eruptions that had been sprouting all over the surface of the Eye of Harmony suddenly settle into quiescence. The giant prominences that had been exploding off the surface of the dying star were quickly sucked back into its surface and the energy that had been ricocheting in an uncontrolled rampage throughout the ship quite simply disappeared.
The Doctor let out of tired cry of triumph, his body going limp as he sat down hard on the walkway beneath him. The containment field had finally been fully restored and the Tardis could safely shut down her circuits and rest while she soaked up the energy from the rift.
He shouldn’t have been surprised that the Tardis had locked on to Jack, she had known that he would be the only one that would be able to save him once he had gone into the power chamber. Even though she had been so terribly damaged and was still fighting to hold her consciousness together, she had made sure that she did everything in her power to protect both her pilots.
There was a sudden gasp across the walkway before Jack sat up abruptly and looked around him with wild eyes, his gaze settled on the Doctor’s battered body and he quickly pulled himself across the distance between them. “You look like hell, Doc.”
The Doctor just shook his head with a weak chuckle, his hand reaching out to clasp Jack’s outstretched hand. “You don’t look so good yourself, Jack.”
The immortal pulled the Doctor to his feet, his gaze following the line of bruising across the Doctor’s face and down to the massive black mark that covered most of his chest. The Doctor cried out at the sudden motion, his arm instantly rising to cradle his tortured ribs before he leaned unashamedly against Jack. “What was in here that killed me so quickly, Doctor and why do I feel just fine now?”
They stumbled back towards the portal where an anxious Martha stood plastered to the window, her hands splayed against the glass beyond which she waited for them to make it to safety. “It was part of what was wrong with the Tardis. The force from the Eye of Harmony is part of the energy that made you immortal, but your energy mutated enough that it conflicted with the force in this room. The Eye was unstable and would have destroyed itself eventually if I hadn’t finished that repair, but now it’s fine and the containment field is back in place.” He paused to take a shallow breath, a low groan of pain bubbling through clenched lips before he was able to finish his train of thoughts. “It would’ve most likely ripped you apart eventually if you’d stayed in here for much longer.”
Jack winced softly when he heard the Doctor’s words, his mind flashing back unbidden to the last time he had been aboard the Tardis and had died so terribly. “The ship wouldn’t let Martha come inside, it shocked her hand to keep her from opening the door.”
The Doctor nodded tiredly, his hand reaching up to pull the latch back before he responded. “The Tardis cares about each of my companions and she also knew that Martha or Donna would’ve been killed almost instantly if they had entered the chamber while the Eye was out of control. She would’ve made sure to keep them safe.”
Jack smiled as the Doctor pushed the door open, his hand reaching out to lightly pat the wall beside the hatchway in gratitude. He’d always felt a fond connection with the ship and he could’ve sworn he felt a gentle caress brush against his mind before it faded away once more.
Martha pounced on the Doctor the instant he was through the doorway, her arms rising up to grab him in a tight hug before she pulled back at his instant cry of pain. “What the hell happened to the two of you, Doctor?”
The Doctor looked beyond Martha and felt his face go pale at the sight that greeted him. Mickey was kneeling at Donna’s side with a huge smile on his face when he saw the Doctor stumble out of the portal. Donna, however, was strapped to a backboard that had been lain on the ground in preparation for transport, her skin was waxen and there seemed to be fresh blood dripping from the wounds on her temples.
“Donna!” he cried out as he threw himself to his knees beside her body, the pain that screamed through him at that motion was barely noticed while his mind reached out to try to make contact with her thoughts. He breathed a sigh of relief when he felt the warm flicker meet his probe, his body suddenly collapsing beside her as all the terror he’d felt in the last desperate hours finally drained completely away. “She’s still alive.”
Martha knelt beside him, her hand reaching up to gently stroke his unbruised cheek while her touch was a welcome distraction to the shocking loss of energy that left the Doctor momentarily breathless. “Yes, she’s alive, Doctor but she is hurt very badly. I need you to tell me everything that happened and also what medication, if any, you gave her, so that I can treat her appropriately.”
The Doctor looked sharply back at Martha, his breath catching at the throbbing pain that lanced through his temples at the sudden motion. “How do you know I gave her anything?”
Martha indicated the twin red marks on Donna’s arm, the slightly puffy area around an obvious injection site was all the indication she needed to realize he had tried to treat her as best he could. “I couldn’t sterilize the needle or the area before I injected her and the medical bay had been nearly destroyed so that most of my more advanced means of administering any drugs were useless. I had to use an old fashioned hypodermic needle to get medication into her system as quickly as possible. You’re going to need to give her a broad-spectrum antibiotic in order to combat the infection, but once the Tardis finishes her repair cycle then I can finish any extra treatment she might need in the medical bay.”
Martha nodded softly when she heard the Doctor’s words, the trepidation that she had felt when she saw those injection sites fading away with the knowledge that it had been the Doctor that treated her.
There was a soft whisper in the Doctor’s mind, a tired sigh that caused the Doctor to look up at the ceiling with sympathy. The Tardis needed rest desperately to finish healing and they were taxing the last of her energy to the limit the longer they remained on board.
“We need to get off the Tardis now, she’s still badly damaged and needs to be able to shut down completely so that she can let her systems repair themselves.”
“I’ll help Jack with Donna, Doctor, let Martha help steady you as we make our way out of here. The way back is a mess of broken conduits and buckled walkways, you don’t need to have a nasty fall now that you’ve come this far.”
The Doctor smiled at Mickey, surprised at how easily he took control and his voice brooked no argument. “Thanks, Mickey. I will leave her in both of your capable hands.”
Jack chuckled softly as he and Mickey carefully lifted Donna’s stretcher and settled it between them for the trek back to the hub. Martha lifted the Doctor’s arm and draped it over her shoulder as she slid her arm around his waist for support. “Don’t try to walk completely on your own, Doctor. You look like you’re about to fall over and trust me, I don’t want to have to send the boys back in to rescue your skinny hide again!”
The Doctor grinned down at Martha, not at all surprised that she was speaking to him in such a no-nonsense tone when he had never been a very good patient for her in the past. He gratefully leaned against her, letting her bear some of his weight as together they slowly began to climb out of the wreckage of the Tardis.
It was only the Doctor that noticed the lights fading behind them, and the corridor slowly disappearing with each step they took towards the exit. He reached out to his ship with a final softly whispered command. Rest now, old girl. You’ve earned this time, take as long as you need.
There was a faint response that was filled with so much gratitude that it nearly brought tears to the Doctor’s eyes. Thank you for not giving up on me, my thief.
The Doctor smiled and reached out a hand to pat the wall beside the door before he responded, I will never give up on you.
He stepped out of the Tardis and sighed softly when the doors swung resolutely closed behind him. He felt the connection with his ship quiver for a moment longer, then the consciousness slowly faded to a dull murmur as the Tardis let herself drift so that her battered shell could finally begin to repair itself.
The Tardis had brought the both of them to safety even though she had been near death, and the Doctor knew that he would never be able to adequately express his gratitude. The beauty of their bond meant that he would never have to worry that his ship didn’t know.