when a Doctor needs a doctor [ota]

[celeryboy]

He hadn't responded to the message from his older self concerning one Perpugilliam Brown, as opposed to the multiple versions of her he'd already encountered in the corridors of the station. His fault. All his fault. If he had kept better tabs on her rather than allow the TARDIS to drag him to this infernal place without her

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[peri_patetic]

The Doctor was changing so fast, not like the others she'd seen in the corridors. He wasn't going to get any better if she didn't say anything. And he was so still on that table.

As still as death. She'd seen him like this before. Sometimes if he got hurt, he'd fall into some sort of trance or a coma while he recovered, but how could you recover from turning into somebody else?

Her arms hung loosely at her sides, easily taken for a blood sample. She raised her eyes, trying to look at the face of the man beneath that helmet...

A face that sorta looked like an older version of the pale man who'd helped the Doctor...

Was...was he a victim of the virus too? But--

"I," she started, voice still soft. She glanced over at the pale man. He seemed so mild. Almost friendly. Maybe...maybe they wouldn't get mad after all? "It's me. It's all...it's all me. I was infected with this bio-engineered viral weapon and I got pulled here to the station before I could be cured. If there's anything I can do to help," she glanced over at the prone Doctor, whose body had already shrunken down to her height, those silly cricket whites looking baggy and oversized on him already.

"...I'm s-sorry. I didn't...I didn't mean to..."

[dr_arik_soong]

"No no no, not your fault. This is good. Not the virus but finding you. Usually I have no problem with cloning but this is out of control." He went ahead and took the sample, this one receiving a red label. "Here, Data. Take it."

Data acquired a look, puppyish and serious, and obeyed as he took the vial. He wanted to help his friend, even if he could do little more than obediently follow directions. And move out of the way as Arik went to take the sample from the Doctor.

"Data, take it over to the sequencer and start highlighting all the differences in the original DNA from the altered sample. We're going to have to come up with an anti-body and do manage to do in a few days what normally takes seven years without actually inducing cancer."

The last part was rambling, almost to himself, and thankfully he took that sample before that horrifying change had finished up. Data went to put both samples in the sequencer. Arik patted the Doctor's shoulder. "Perhaps it's better he's unconscious for this. With any luck, we'll have him fixed before he knows any better."

[peri_patetic]

"But...but the Doctor's not human. Is that gonna be a problem?" How much of that alien DNA was fighting off the infection, and how much was gradually acclimating to it? She figured that it would be better for the people who were already human, and only had to deal with getting changed into another human.

But with someone who was a completely different species...

"Um..." She tapped the pale man on the shoulder. Hopefully she wouldn't come off as annoying, but she was curious. "Why aren't you wearing a protective suit too?"

[empirical_data]

"I am an android. I am incapable of being infected." He glanced over his shoulder at her with bright gold eyes, before returning his attention to the computer screen in front of him.

"Which means he doesn't need gloves. Data, lay out the helixes of four victims for comparison." Data and Trance were far less encumbered than he was at the moment.

Data place samples on all of the scanners, and knit his brow.

"...Dr. Soong. The Doctor's DNA has a triple helix. I am also detecting the presence of another virus that might have enhanced his alteration." Strange, though, the other virus looked like it belonged. Integrated with his leukocytes.

Arik grunted. Ideas. He needed ideas. He needed to speak with Trance. "Do a spectral analysis of the other virus. I want to know everything about it and its affect on his bloodstream."

[peri_patetic]

"You're an...oh..." She should've known, really. All that time with Kamelion in the silver-skinned guise of her stepdad, but this guy was different. Well, she supposed that when androids weren't under the control of a madman, they were perfectly useful and nice.

Didn't mean she had to get attached, did it?

Despite herself, Peri took a glance at those scanners. Not that she really could make heads or tails of it, but what Data said was pretty interesting. Like the Doctor's DNA being triple helixed.

And he was already sick?

No, it didn't sound like it.

"I've watched him fight off poison and disease before," she said. "Usually he just needs sleep. Like that." And she pointed at the prone figure on the table.

[empirical_data]

"...Is that... bad?" he asked innocently enough, wondering at her tone as his hands played over the controls. She sounded that sort of disappointed that the Doctor had when he had taken his clothes without solicitation. He was aware that some people disliked androids, but he did attempt to be cordial and useful. If he knew why, he could be inoffensive as possible.

Arik ruffled a hand through Data's well kept hair, messing it up with his gloved hand affectionately. "Seems the Doctor is more alien than I thought. But we know it's not exclusive to humans now." This other virus could be useful, especially if what Peri said was true.

"I think this kills off dead cells and replaces them with new cells. How long until the spectral analysis is complete."

"Twenty minutes, Dr. Soong."

[adoctornota]

The doors were opened again, revealing a figure in Starfleet medical blues. Doctor McCoy's quest to find information was slightly hampered by the group of medtechs hovering around him the moment he walked through the door, who were currently trying to fit him with a biosuit.

"Oh, for heaven's sakes!" he said, brushing off a particularly persistent tech, before fixing them all with a glare. "Don't you all have jobs to do?"

As they scurried off, fitting complete, McCoy headed towards a group clustered around one of the examination tables.

"Can somebody tell me what the hell is going on here?"

[peri_patetic]

"Not bad, I guess, but--" But she still found it difficult to forgive Kamelion, even if he couldn't help himself. He still tricked her, forced her to do things she normally wouldn't have done. It'd take time. And besides, he was helping with the epidemic.

Peri hopped in surprise when another man showed up, and all she really wanted to do was to blend into the background, which was pretty hard considering every single one of the patients were in the process of turning into clones of her.

[dr_arik_soong]

"Who are you to ask?" Arik asked, brow knitting because he hadn't seen this man before.

Data simply cast a casual glance over his shoulder and then forward again, going back to what he was doing. "Dr. Leonard McCoy, known as 'Bones' to his friends. He was the ships chief medical officer aboard the Enterprise NCC-1701 and NCC-1701 A."

Arik glanced at the android, and then motioned for Peri to stand off to the side because this doctor looked rather cranky. "A contagion. This girl was infected with a disease that alters everyone to look like her. It apparently isn't racially exclusive. That poor man changed in under a minute," he motioned to the Doctor on the exam bed.

[adoctornota]

McCoy looked a little taken aback. "What do you mean, A? There's only one Enterprise in the galaxy, thank goodness." He looked at the man with strange yellow eyes carefully; took in what he was wearing. "You're Starfleet," he said, "though I don't recognise the uniform."

He thought the other man looked familiar, as well - though he couldn't quite place it at the moment. And right now, there was a medical emergency to be concerned with.

"Huh. Reminds me of something I read about, back in medical school." Pulling out his medical tricorder, McCoy ran it over the man on the bed. "His DNA is changing pretty quick," he said, frowning down at the display. The man's lifesigns were also reading as non-human, which was pretty interesting.

"How long has all this normally taken?"

[peri_patetic]

Peri did as Arik instructed, trying to keep out of the way while the others started to work.

"You'll be able to help, won't you?" she asked all of them. "I mean, not just him..." Who seemed more like a 'her' at the moment. "...but everyone else? Please. If there's anything I can do--"

Which she doubted. She'd already given a blood sample. What else could she do? All she was, was a Botany major. She knew a lot about DNA and stuff, but only as it pertained to plants, and plants weren't people.

[empirical_data]

"Starfleet no longer exists in my source timeline. The Klingons invaded and enslaved Earth, and I was an android created to negotiate and correct the timeline approximately a century in your future." He nodded to the figure on the table. "He is the Doctor. He is a Time Lord. He regenerates when he is sick or injured or even dead."

Arik knit his brow. "Most people its 24 hours. It must have worked with this other virus to go faster on him. Don't worry, sweetheart," he said, not sounding condescending but kindly and paternal. As he'd spoken to Persis. "We'll help everybody."

"He is my friend too, Dr. Soong."

"I know, Data. We're going to fix him and everyone else."

[adoctornota]

"Time travel. And Klingons," he grumbled. "Figures." Some of his least favourite things in the universe.

McCoy looked over at Peri, and his expression softened. The poor girl looked absolutely petrified. "He's quite right, young lady," he said, gently. "We're gonna fix this."

He moved over to where the older man - Soong, apparently - was standing. "We need an antidote," he murmured. "And fast." McCoy gestured over to the table, glancing down at his tricorder. "If this fellow regenerates when sick, maybe he's the key."

The name 'Soong' was very familiar, though he couldn't quite place it at the moment.

[peri_patetic]

C'mon Peri. Put on a brave smile, like your mom always says to. Face your problems head on and nothing'll stand in your way. Wise advice for a girl who liked to travel in a big blue phonebox, but how was she supposed to be brave when the one man she thought would never fall ill or grow weak was lying near her, getting sicker faster than anyone else?

She gave them all encouraging looks, and maybe a smile did peek through that worry. "O-okay." And then... "Um...what's gonna happen to me?"

Because she was sure she'd probably get locked up in a cell for what she did to the space station.

[dr_arik_soong]

"Hopefully we'll make it so you're the only one in size four pants again. Five. I don't know women's sizes." He watched the screen, reaching out and pinging damaged base pairs among the victims. He didn't seem to think anything would happen to her. If anyone ended up in jail on this station at any point, he figured it would be him.

"I've seen cures for physically altering viruses before, but they left the victim remaining altered. Stopping the virus where it stands I think we can do with some cultured antibodies from her. But it'll leave the victims altered for the moment."

He bit his lip up between his teeth, and abruptly grabbed the rest of the sample and jogged across the room. "First parts first. Stop the virus and save lives. It doesn't matter if you look like yourself if you're dead. You should probably take a few first, Doctor Bones who works for Starfleet. You've not been in a biohazard suit."

[adoctornota]

"Don't look at me - Jim's the one women always seem to fall over." Just for something to do (and in case it might prove useful, later), he glanced over at Peri, tricorder still in hand. "If you don't mind, miss, I'd like to do a scan."

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I swear I've read about something similar, in med school. Pre-Federation, perhaps?"

One of the medtechs from earlier glared over at McCoy as Dr. Soong made his comment about suits. To his credit, the good doctor looked a little sheepish. "Never liked putting on one of those damn things," he said, before indicating to the medtech. They returned not too long afterwards (looking more than a little smug) carrying a biohazard suit, which McCoy proceeded to put on.

"Soong," he said, looking over as the suit was fitted. "I've heard that name before." Perhaps it was the mention of 'pre-Federation', but a name came to mind. "Any relation to Arik Soong?"

The android was from the future, so he presumed that the doctor was, too. It never occurred to him to think of the past.